Green Monster Epic

Chapter 318: A Desperate Run

A cone-shaped force field wave spell caused a powerful shockwave to erupt in the area before Richard, engulfing the two masked figures charging towards him.

The taller figure quickly shook off the effects of the force field and attacked again, while the other, relatively shorter figure, swayed uncontrollably under the spell's influence, temporarily halting their assassination attempt on Richard.

Two daggers radiating a faint blue light struck Richard's mage armor, creating ripples in the air.

As the opponents' weapons and figures drew closer, Richard finally completed his next spell, taking a step and disappearing from the scene before him, reappearing dozens of meters away.

The seemingly heaven-defying Dimension Door skill helped Richard temporarily escape the assassins' attacks.

Emerging from the Dimension Door, Richard's expression initially held some relief.

Having created this distance, he could cast one or two more spells and engage his opponents.

However, as two sounds of rushing wind approached, Richard's gaze turned icy.

Two arrows, having targeted him long ago, seized the moment when Richard emerged from the Dimension Door, momentarily without magical protection, and shot directly at Richard's vital points with piercing intent.

"Boom!!"

A mage's shield appeared before Richard as a mana gem on Richard's staff shattered.

However, this shield only manifested for a fleeting moment before dissipating into the air under the powerful shot of the first arrow.

"Mana-Breaking Arrow!"

Richard's heart sank to rock bottom.

The arrow, having broken through his shield, continued its flight with undiminished force, about to strike Richard, who was still unable to prepare another defensive spell.

"Ding! Clang!!"

A gust of wind suddenly grazed Richard's face, and the two arrows aimed at Richard lost their momentum due to the sudden appearance of this gust, falling to the ground before Richard with a soft thud.

Alan, from afar, glanced at Richard with a hint of lingering fear, relieved to see him unharmed.

If Alan hadn't awakened in time, turned back to rescue Richard, and unleashed two Furious Strikes from afar to intercept the arrows, Richard would have suffered at least serious injuries by now.

After saving Richard, Alan finally located the archer hiding in the shadows.

Without further delay, he charged out directly, engaging in a chase with the archer.

Compared to the two assassins, Alan always believed that the archer posed a greater threat to them.

As Richard regained his composure, casting protective spells on himself and activating Dimension Door, he engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with the two assassins.

At least for the short term, Richard's danger wouldn't be too great.

The archer's pointed ears betrayed his identity, revealing him to be an elf, despite his masked face.

While speeding away from Alan's pursuit, the archer occasionally turned back to fire arrows at Alan, slowing his progress.

However, Alan's skill in deflecting arrows, honed over the years, had become an instinct.

Even when facing arrows directly in front of him, he could easily deflect them to the side, without affecting his movements in the slightest.

Any other Beorning would likely only be able to take a beating against a nimble elven archer, but with the Fury skill buffing him, Alan's speed was almost comparable to that of a Sword Dancer, who relied on speed and agility.

Therefore, catching up to the archer was only a matter of a dozen or so breaths.

"Clang!"

Bonecleaver collided with a slender one-handed sword, and then the elven archer's body flew back several meters as if struck by a heavy blow.

However, just as Alan thought he had seriously injured the opponent, the elf rolled on the ground, got up unscathed, and drew his bow to fire a barrage of arrows at Alan in a multiple shot attack.

"Ding, ding, ding..."

Bonecleaver in Alan's hand transformed into an iron curtain, blocking the arrows directly in front of him, but one arrow still bypassed Bonecleaver, arcing towards Alan's temple.

Just as the arrow was about to strike Alan's temple and pierce his skull, Alan tilted his bear head slightly to the side, opening his mouth to reveal a row of sharp teeth that directly met the tip of the arrow, forged from refined iron.

"Thud!"

One of Alan's incisors broke, but he finally managed to block the opponent's magic-guided arrow.

Shaking his somewhat dazed head slightly, although he blocked the opponent's arrow, the force from the arrow was still fully absorbed by Alan's bear head.

As Alan was still stunned, the elf opposite him retreated again, firing several arrows at Alan and Richard.

Alan regained his focus, activating Wave Step again, which allowed him to cut through several arrows and resume chasing the opponent's agile figure.

The heavy strike finally clashed with the opponent's thin sword again.

The elf still used the same technique as before, borrowing force to deflect Alan's heavy blow, and using this to increase the distance between them.

But the same trick could only succeed once for Alan.

This time, after learning from his previous experience, Alan exerted force with his two thick legs just as he passed the opponent, stomping hard on the ground and chasing after him, only a few steps behind.

At the same time, Alan's two Furious Strikes transformed into two crescent moons, shooting towards the elven archer's landing point ahead of Alan, forcing the elf, who had just slid several steps on the ground, to draw his thin sword again, using a thrusting motion to break the energy balance of the Furious Strikes, creating gusts of wind.

Just this short delay allowed Alan to close in on the opponent, and he savagely chopped down at the opponent with a Triple Wave strike.

The elven archer tried to create distance to dodge Alan's strike, but ultimately, under Alan's Wave Step, he watched Bonecleaver gradually approach, and desperately thrust his thin sword straight out, attempting to block Alan's heavy chop from Bonecleaver.

"Ting!!"

With a crisp sound, the thin sword shattered into several pieces, shooting in all directions.

At the same time, the elf rolled backward again as if struck by a heavy blow.

But this time, the roll was no longer about borrowing force to deflect it, but rather the elf's entire body rubbed against the ground, stirring up gusts of air.

The disheveled elf quickly got up, a faint trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth.

Even the mask covering his face fell off during the friction, revealing his light green skin and a face that was both delicate and somewhat ferocious.

Alan has always liked to overwhelm people with force.

After gaining the advantage in close combat, he would seize the advantage and continue to expand it, until the opponent was either injured internally by his heavy sword or directly cleaved in two.

He was no exception at this time.

Facing the elf who had lost his close-quarters weapon, the longbow he carried on his back was not only useless now, but even a hindrance.

The elf was well aware of his predicament.

Taking advantage of the fact that Alan was closing in on him, the longbow slipped to the ground, and the taut bow suddenly stretched out.

However, Alan didn't see this scene, but directly continued to chop down with Bonecleaver, the indomitable momentum in his eyes was startling.

The elf suddenly bent down, staring at Alan's movements.

Just as Alan's Bonecleaver slashed horizontally towards him, and a gust of wind swept towards him, the elf's body suddenly bounced up and flew horizontally, then wrapped around Alan like a python, actually using a very rare close-quarters grappling and locking technique.

The sudden change in fighting style made Alan somewhat difficult to parry for a moment.

After the opponent wrapped around Alan's waist, his legs clamped around Alan's waist and abdomen, while his arms spread out to strangle Alan's throat.

But Alan quickly adapted to the opponent's fighting style.

His left hand transformed into a claw, grabbing the opponent's right arm that was exerting force, preventing the opponent from continuing to strangle his throat.

At the same time, he jumped down, slamming his entire body backwards against the steep slope.

The elf on his back tried to change his posture, but Alan gave up Bonecleaver and grabbed the thigh of the opponent wrapping around his waist with his right hand, firmly controlling the opponent on his back, until the heavy recoil from the body hitting the ground came.

The elf's strangling motion faltered, and Alan's left hand also took the opportunity to insert into the opponent's neck, and violently exerted force on the spot, directly breaking the opponent's lock.

The elf wanted to jump away, but forgot that one thigh was still under Alan's right-hand control, and suddenly staggered and tilted to the side.

How could Alan let this opportunity pass?

He spread his arms and used the same move that the elf had used against him before, only this time the positions of the two sides were reversed.

Without any strangling or other movements, Alan simply strangled with his arms, crushing the elf's slender waist and abdomen, causing cracking sounds of bones breaking, and then the elf's corpse was directly broken in two at the waist, Alan simply strangling the opponent's spine.

It was also thanks to Alan's inherent talent in speed and his early breakthrough of the physical bottleneck of a level 9 warrior, which greatly increased his speed, otherwise, in the hands of this elf who excelled in speed, any opponent who excelled in strength could only sigh at the opponent's figure and be played around at will.

A gleaming bowstring was revealed in the elf's hand on the ground.

Only at this time did Alan feel a slight stinging pain in his neck.

The opponent almost used the bowstring to slit his throat.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Alan then bent down to pick up Bonecleaver on the ground.

Unknowingly, his chase with the human archer had already broken out of the valley and he couldn't see Richard and the others in the valley anymore.

Daring not to delay any longer, the Fury skill only had 1/4 of its duration left.

Alan didn't know what the situation was with Richard fighting the two assassins in the valley.

Apart from the sporadic sounds of explosions and collisions coming from the valley, telling Alan that the battle inside was still going on, allowing Alan to breathe a sigh of relief, it wasn't until Alan ran madly into the valley and saw the 3 figures still fighting that Alan was completely relieved.

"Ha!!"

Alan hadn't even arrived yet, but three Furious Strikes, regardless of the rage consumption, had already flown towards the 3 distant figures with fierce force.

When Alan arrived, Richard's situation was really bad, because his casting movements were becoming more and more sluggish, and his body was constantly swaying, as if he was seriously injured.

As two bursts of angry energy blocked the two assassins from attacking Richard, buying him some time, he immediately used another Dimension Door, reappearing next to Allen. This caused Allen, who was originally charging forward, to stop abruptly, gripping Bone Cleaver tightly to protect Richard from behind.

“How is it? Are you badly hurt?”

Allen had actually rarely partnered with equally matched teammates. He was used to fighting alone, which wasn't inherently wrong. However, when his companion was a mage who needed more protection, his approach actually put Richard in a difficult battle.

If Allen could have coordinated with Richard in the fight, even with an archer constantly harassing them from afar, as long as Allen could help Richard block the two assassins who posed a greater threat, then Richard could have better unleashed his exquisite magic.

Of course, Allen's choice couldn't be said to be entirely wrong; it was just that his fighting style completely separated his cooperation with Richard, relying more on his solitary combat habits from the wilderness.

“I'm alright. Their weapons are coated with poison. Be careful,”

Richard took out a bottle of high-grade antidote from his dimensional bag and drank it. Then, after reapplying layers of protective spells on himself, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be a lie to say that Richard didn't resent Allen. The reason he chose Allen as a companion was that he hoped Allen could act as a shield to protect him when facing assassinations, rather than abandoning him to chase after an enemy alone.

However, Richard himself also had a problem. He should have stopped Allen at the beginning, preventing him from chasing the enemy. Also, he had forgotten to practice and coordinate with Allen during their communication in recent days, which led to the current predicament.

“Okay, don't worry.”

Allen was actually blaming himself. He had previously looked down on Cole and the others for their lack of cooperation, but when he was actually in battle, it seemed he never coordinated with his teammates, and instead caused Richard to be poisoned.

Thinking of this, Allen suddenly felt displeased. The look he gave to the masked assassins standing on either side became more fierce.

“Shua! Shua!”

The two assassins failed to assassinate Richard before Allen returned, causing them a moment of frustration. However, having been in the assassination business for a long time, they didn't experience much emotional fluctuation because of this, and still stared at their opponents with solemn expressions.

As for the whereabouts of their companion who was being chased by Allen, it was not within their consideration. As the two of them simultaneously shot a crossbow at Richard from the left and right, they launched their attacks again.

“Bang!!”

One of the assassins lunged directly at Allen, a sharp dagger stabbing straight at Allen's face, revealing many openings in his body. Just as Allen sneered and Bone Cleaver unhesitatingly chopped at the opponent, a flash of light burst from the tip of the dagger, instantly dazzling Allen's eyes.

A zero-level cantrip, Flash, had no offensive power, but when used suddenly at certain key moments, it could often achieve extraordinary results.

Allen's pupils briefly lost their vision, but he didn't panic too much. Bone Cleaver in his hand still chopped out heavily according to the direction the opponent had lunged from before. When the force was exhausted but he didn't hit the expected opponent, Allen used his left foot to exert force, causing his whole body to spin. The Sword of Tempest transformed his body into a whirlwind, not only protecting Allen's body, but also carrying Allen towards Richard's position in his mind, intending to protect Richard as well.

The opponent's sudden move must not have been to target himself, but to delay himself while launching a fatal blow to Richard. Allen learned from his previous experience, and his current approach was in line with what a teammate would do, but he didn't expect that Richard, who was originally somewhat relaxed because Allen was protecting him, would truly face the enemy's most fatal blow.

Almost at the same time, the two assassins simultaneously initiated Shadow Step, emerging from the long shadows cast by the Flash spell. At this time, Allen's pupils had just lost their vision and were a blur. And Richard, the mage, was casting a wide-area Frost Storm, originally thinking that the several protective spells he had just cast would at least buy him enough time to complete the spell, but he didn't expect that he would be caught in the close-quarters assassination of the two assassins in an instant.

Daggers flashed like rain, and the magical shields on Richard's body, like peeling an onion, rapidly disintegrated in front of the four rapidly waving daggers, eventually revealing the main body wearing a mage robe.

“Pfft!!”

In a panic, Richard used the staff in his hand as a weapon, swinging it horizontally to deflect the two daggers that were stabbing down, while awkwardly twisting his body to avoid vital parts.

However, at Richard's ribs and abdomen, two daggers flashed coldly, directly piercing through.

Before the two assassins could twist the daggers that had pierced into Richard's body, Allen's Sword of Tempest finally arrived, the raging winds flying, bringing with it a chilling killing intent.

Seeing this scene, Richard took the initiative to move closer to the range of Allen's Sword of Tempest. After a moment of weighing the situation, the two assassins directly pulled out the daggers that had pierced into Richard's body and retreated.

Finally, the blurred scene in front of Allen's eyes regained clarity, but when he saw the miserable situation of his companion beside him, a layer of frost immediately covered his face. Just as Allen wanted to rush out, the anger rolling in his body suddenly receded like a tide, and the Frenzy skill actually reached its time limit at this moment.

Richard struggled to take out a scroll of Etherealness and slapped it on himself. His weakening body seemed to regain vitality for a time, and his face became flushed again.

Without being stingy, he once again took out a scroll of Greater Heal and cast it on himself again, and Richard finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Just as Richard wanted to say something, Allen suddenly picked up Richard's body around the waist, and just like that, he shook off the two assassins who were eyeing him covetously and ran wildly towards the outside of the valley.

“……”

The two assassins, who were about to launch an attack again, were directly delayed for a moment by Allen's sudden escape.

Then they looked at each other, and reached a consensus in the exchange of glances. At the same time, they moved their lithe steps and chased after Allen's figure.

The weakness brought by Allen's Frenzy skill affected Allen the most, naturally weakening his physical strength, but it didn't affect his speed that much. Therefore, at this time, when Allen was carrying a human weighing less than two hundred pounds and running wildly, it would take some time for the two assassins behind him to catch up.

Richard, being carried on Allen's shoulders, didn't stop moving either. He took out scrolls from his dimensional bag one by one and threw them at the pursuers behind him as if they were worthless: Bramble Net, Quagmire, Spike Growth, Force Wave…

With these scrolls hindering them, it was really a difficult thing for the two assassins to dodge various spells while chasing Allen and his companion.

The more they chased, the more frustrated the two assassins became. If it were someone else running for their lives, they might just accelerate explosively for a period of time, and then their speed would drop, after all, their endurance couldn't keep up. But looking at Allen, as time passed, his wild run not only didn't show signs of slowing down, but even seemed to be slowly increasing, filling the eyes of the assassins chasing behind him with frustration.

The physical essence of a level 9 warrior is not much different from that of a legendary body. Further up is the extraordinary body that only demigods can obtain. At that time, the physical body has already left the mortal womb and been promoted to another level. Therefore, Allen's Frenzy weakness period is much shorter than other berserkers' weakness periods, and at the same time, his endurance is so strong, as if he doesn't know fatigue.

Gradually, Allen's figure carrying Richard became more and more distant. After chasing for more than one magic hour, the two assassins could only despairingly give up. The speed of the rogue profession was certainly not bad, but their physical strength was indeed incomparable to the warrior profession, and long-distance running was not their strength at all.

In the initial burst, they failed to shorten the distance with Allen, which actually foreshadowed that their pursuit later would be futile, but they knew that they had finally managed to severely injure the target, and they were afraid that it would be difficult to have such a good opportunity to assassinate him next time.

Of course, even if they no longer chased, with the injuries Richard had suffered, it was probably a high probability that the other party had already lost half of his life, with only a glimmer of hope left.

The pursuers behind him gave up the chase, but Allen still didn't stop, still carrying Richard and running wildly on the wilderness, as if he wanted to run until he was exhausted.

He had dealt with too many rogue professionals and knew their tracking ability, so he didn't plan to stop until he had completely distanced himself from them.

“P-Put me down!”

After running for a long time, Allen gently put the other party down from his shoulders and leaned him against a nearby rock, after he felt that the enemy was unlikely to catch up in a short time, in response to Richard's weak call.

“Tear~~”

A relatively intact and expensive mage robe was torn into two pieces directly by Allen's strenuous tearing, revealing Richard's slightly thin figure under the robe.

The two knife wounds on the left rib and lower abdomen were also exposed when they lost their cover: the wounds were actually not too big, only a little more than two inches wide, but the dark purple color spreading around the wounds was the poison that the assassin had smeared on the blade, which began to penetrate the body and destroy Richard's vitality.

“You bear with it!!”

Without giving Richard a chance to refuse, Allen took out a dagger and directly began to clean up the gradually necrotic muscles on the wound, and then a big mouth directly buried into the other party's wound, and began to peck and suck, until the blood sucked out changed from black to dark red, then he stopped.

At this time, Richard had already fallen into a semi-coma state, and his breathing was also gradually becoming weak, making Allen feel at a loss.