Chapter 729 - 38: The Counterattack (Part 2)
The black-robed man attacked with reserved strength, able to nimbly evade even on the trees.
Despite being at a height, his courage and actions remained unaffected. After avoiding the gun’s thrust, he initiated a second round of attacks.
The gleam of the blade flickered, the shadow of the spear in disarray.
The sound of metal clashing was unending.
Accompanied by the clashing of blades and spears, Chen Zhou’s adrenaline began to surge, and he completely entered a combat state.
His attack speed quickened, his evasion became more agile, and his attack positions grew more cunning.
Most importantly, as the battle persisted, he gradually memorized the black-robed man’s knife technique. The long saber that initially posed a slight trouble had been thoroughly understood by him, no longer causing any trouble.
As one side grew stronger, Chen Zhou grew braver with each fight, causing the black-robed man’s defense to falter.
The long saber is a short weapon, inherently at a disadvantage against a long spear. Initially, he could suppress the enemy below with skill, but the sharp knife techniques not only failed to have the desired effect but became familiar to the enemy, becoming a burden.
The muscle memory formed by years of practicing knife techniques couldn’t be changed for the moment.
On the contrary, the opponent’s long spear, initially with no change in tactics or technique, relied solely on quick thrusts and fierce momentum to force him to dodge.
Now as both sides understood each other more, the long spear became increasingly cunning, always attacking at moments when he was collecting his saber or exerting his strength. If not for his exquisite knife technique, he would likely have been injured by now.
...
Continuing this way is not a viable plan.
In round after round of engagements, the black-robed man vaguely saw his own end, a fatal end.
Hence, he began to shift his fighting style from offense to defense, retreating while blocking the spear with his saber and figuring out how to escape.
As a skilled assassin, the black-robed man was more accustomed to covert attacks and killing in one strike rather than confronting the enemy head-on.
As he retreated, Chen Zhou also realized that the cunning enemy harbored thoughts of fleeing again, raising his vigilance a few notches.
Both wielding weapons in one hand to battle, the other hand and body maintaining balance, one advancing, one retreating, without realizing it, they had moved from the heights to closer to the ground, only 3 meters away.
This is an ambiguous height.
Ordinary people jumping from this height would likely injure themselves, while a trained person could leap down without injury if they handled the landing moment well.
Chen Zhou noticed the black-robed man’s intention to jump down, slightly relaxing the grip on his spear—
He intended to wait for the black-robed man to leap down and then directly throw the spear from above, piercing the black-robed man’s heart.
Fighting until now, his physical strength was still abundant, while the black-robed man’s movements became sluggish. He was certain the black-robed man couldn’t evade this spear.
What was needed next was just a perfect opportunity.
To lure the black-robed man into his planned script, Chen Zhou deliberately intensified his offensive, with the spear flying like a serpent flicking its tongue, forcing the black-robed man to defend with all his might.
This storm-like offense persisted for a while, and just as the black-robed man was about to give up jumping down the tree to escape, Chen Zhou’s offensive suddenly paused, like fatigued, greatly slowing down.
Like a fish peeking out to breathe before the repressed rain, the black-robed man seized this rare offensive gap, kicking the tree trunk, loosening his arms, and decisively jumped down.
At the moment he jumped down, a sly smile appeared on Chen Zhou’s face, and he threw the spear following the black-robed man’s jumping shadow.
...
The spear precisely pierced into the black-robed man’s back.
Only a "tear" sound was heard as the spearhead tore through the black robe. Chen Zhou could almost envision the black-robed man being pinned to the ground by the spear.
However, the outcome did not fully adhere to his script—
For some reason, the black-robed man was not pierced by the spear, merely knocked to the ground, spat blood, then scrambled up in distress, dropping the long saber on the ground, and continued fleeing.
Unbelieving that even after this he couldn’t kill the black-robed man, Chen Zhou hurriedly jumped down to pursue.
After barely chasing two steps, without even retrieving his long spear, a burst of smoke, carrying a pungent odor, erupted in front of him, obstructing his sight.
Worried that the smoke might be poisonous, he didn’t dare venture in recklessly, and by the time Chen Zhou circumvented it, all he saw was a discarded long saber and a ripped wide black robe on the ground, while the wearer was nowhere to be found.
...
"Damn, he actually managed to escape?"
Chen Zhou simply couldn’t believe his eyes.
The spear he threw not only should’ve pierced a person but would penetrate even a mammoth’s weak spot, yet the black-robed man’s physical resilience must be so robust to survive that strike.
Not only surviving, but also managing to escape in a short time.
At this moment, Chen Zhou felt regretful for his lack of finesse in attack techniques—
If he had focused on studying cold weapons techniques, especially spear techniques, he would likely have captured this man already.
During the encounter, he could distinctly sense that the opponent’s strength and speed were less compared to him, only the high skill in technique, adept in deflecting force, dodging, and blocking with proficiency, dragging out the encounter for so long.
If not for the combat dragging on like this, leading him to decide to end it in one move, deliberately revealing a flaw, this person might have been unable to escape.
Upon reflection, the opponent’s slow pace and fatigue might not be purely a trap.
This flaw might not have been self-created and could’ve been engineered by the opponent to tempt him.
...
The smoke dissipated swiftly, leaving behind a mix of pungent and foul smell in the air. Chen Zhou picked up the long spear and collected the black robe, squatting on the ground.
Before him was a pool of fresh blood, the crimson hue exuding a faint smell of blood.
The smoky smell subdued the scent, rendering Chen Zhou unable to discern where it led. But he knew, although the black-robed man could still escape, he was severely injured, and continuing the pursuit meant he would not escape.
Folding the black robe and tying it with a rope on his back, he picked up the long saber dropped by the black-robed man, turning around to lock onto the direction of the smell before beginning his hunt.
...
The ground of the Black Forest consisted of low-quality lignite and solid rock, making it difficult to leave footprints.
For Chen Zhou, the smell was the only guide.
Fortunately, the thick trunks in the forest shielded the wind, ensuring the blood scent remained undispersed.
...
After a fierce battle followed by a pursuit, Chen Zhou was now far from Paul.
Weaving through the forest along the trail of blood scent.
The scent grew heavier along the way, more pronounced.
When Chen Zhou thought he was about to catch the black-robed man, he passed a large tree only to find a piece of fabric fixed to the bark.
The fragment clearly came from the black-robed man’s back, cut off, with not only the knife’s slit and blood stain but also marks left by shuriken tips—
Both sides of the fragment had diamond-shaped protrusions. These flat squares were wrapped by the fabric, showing only once the fabric was pierced by the shuriken tips.
This was a layer approximately 1.5 cm thick, structured with interwoven sections resembling chain armor.
The fiber net was clearly a special material for stab resistance. Despite Chen Zhou’s strength in throwing the spear, the shuriken still couldn’t fully penetrate the net, only punctured a small hole injuring the black-robed man.
The sharp weapon attack was mitigated by this fiber net, turning into a blunt force; had Chen Zhou not exerted great strength, this spear might not have severely injured the black-robed man.
...
Picking up the fabric fragment, Chen Zhou constantly kept an eye on the surroundings, wary of the black-robed man’s ambush.
Yet, the anticipated assault never occurred, the rocky forest remained silent.
Observing the blood-stained fragment, reflecting on the path followed during the pursuit, and the direction taken, Chen Zhou’s mind gradually mapped out a route—
From departing Paul to reaching here.
The first half of the path closely followed the black-robed man deep into the forest, the latter half trailing after his escape.
The two segments formed an irregular ellipse, and his current position was less than a kilometer from the starting point.
Realizing this, Chen Zhou was startled—
The black-robed man meticulously lured him here, likely not just to draw him away.
Given his vengeful nature, ambushing Paul by leading him here, while attacking Paul could possibly be, and even likely.
Everything held numerous possibilities.
Whether he intended to seize the chance to attack Paul or suffered severe injury preventing him from escaping far, deliberately created confusion to lure Chen Zhou back, with a chance to flee again?
Chen Zhou was caught in indecision.