The Cornflower Witch Chapter 50

Chapter 50: Moving Shot

The wild boar below charged incessantly, its tusks swaying, occasionally blocking the arrow’s trajectory and further increasing the difficulty for Hylial to aim.

Mick gradually led the giant boar away from Kaelen and Lei. He ran nimbly through the mountains, occasionally turning back to throw stones, attracting the attention of the giant wild boar.

He stomped heavily on the ground again, his foot sliding slightly, splashing some dirt, then he pushed off again and charged forward.

Since his attention was entirely on the giant boar and escaping, he didn’t notice that Hylial had already jumped onto a tree on the other side.

The enraged giant boar grunted, chasing relentlessly. Its seemingly massive body was not at all clumsy or sluggish; instead, it crashed through the forest like a thick spring. Its fleshy body occasionally bumped into large trees, but it only swayed slightly, causing no harm to the giant boar.

No.

After aiming for a while, Hylial lowered her bow. In this situation, she couldn’t aim at all. There were too many interfering and changing factors, and her arrow had to hit the giant boar’s eye precisely to be effective with one shot.

Realizing it wouldn’t work, she jumped through the branches again. Thanks to her agile body and sharp vision, she could always find a branch to land on, but this jumping was very strenuous and required the use of the Meditation Method to achieve the necessary strength and speed.

Opportunities were limited, and she couldn’t drag it out any longer.

After contemplating for a few seconds, she decided to descend and aim at the giant boar from the ground. This would provide a better shooting angle, but it would also be more dangerous.

With this thought, she leaped down from the tree, her toes lightly touching the ground. Then she took a few steps forward to cushion her speed, and while running, she drew her bowstring and aimed at the giant boar that was also chasing from the side.

From this angle, she not only avoided the interference of the wild boar’s tusks but also, by adjusting her own speed, achieved a state of relative parallelism with the giant boar, reducing the point changes caused by the boar’s movement.

At this moment, Mick finally noticed Hylial’s actions. He was amazed at how agile this young girl was and understood that this was a critical moment. So, he no longer dodged around but ran in a straight line, trying to make the chasing giant boar also run in a straight line.

Time passed with extreme tension. Hylial tried to adjust her breathing, keeping herself in the most stable and calm state, then slowly aimed her arrow at the synchronously running giant boar.

1 second… 2 seconds… 3 seconds…

In the 5th second, Hylial finally found that momentary opportunity. She leaped into the air, and time seemed to slow down. The arrow, in a brief two seconds, slowly aimed at the giant boar’s eye until it was completely locked on.

The bowstring was released, and the white-feathered arrow shot out, piercing through the gaps in the forest leaves, heading towards the giant boar running in the opposite forest.

A blood flower blossomed on the giant boar’s face; the arrow had accurately hit its fragile eyeball.

(‘Basic Archery’ proficiency +56)

The shaking arrow shaft quickly broke, but the arrowhead remained in the giant boar’s eye. The injured giant boar became exceptionally ferocious. It angrily changed direction and charged towards Hylial, but unfortunately, due to the loss of one eye’s vision, the wild boar couldn’t effectively dodge the trees along the way. It could only break down tree after tree, its thick hide scraping off flying debris on the trunks.

“Roar—” It exhaled thick white steam from its mouth, then let out a fierce roar.

Such a roar caused the hearts of the two nearby people to clench, causing extreme pressure and discomfort. If it were an ordinary small animal or rabbit, it would probably have its heart instantly ruptured.

“Go!” she said, putting away her bow. Hylial quickly left, and Mick also sped up to follow her.

Because one eye was injured, the wild boar’s speed slowed down, even when chasing, and the two slowly put distance between themselves and the boar.

Ten minutes later, Hylial finally stopped, leaning against a large tree, panting and resting, while Mick slumped directly against a tree.

Slight jogging and full-speed running consume completely different amounts of energy. At this moment, the two could only hope that the giant boar wouldn’t chase them.

As if remembering something, Hylial reached for the small pouch on her waistband, took out the black cloth-wrapped bracelet, and put it on.

A warm surge of vitality instantly spread from the bracelet, extending throughout her body, dispelling the fatigue and muscle soreness from before. Even the side effects of using the Meditation Method were slowly smoothed out.

In that case, wouldn’t it mean that she could use the Meditation Method for a longer time every day? No wonder the Blazing Sun Aspect was considered one of the top three Aspects; its effects were so versatile and powerful.

About a minute later, Hylial had fully recovered, her heart rate and breathing returning to normal. If not for the lingering beads of sweat on her forehead, it would have been impossible to tell that she had just been running for her life.

Mick, on the other hand, was not in such good condition. He just barely managed to stand up, having recovered some strength, but the lingering side effects of using the Meditation Method and muscle soreness were still unbearable.

“Let’s go.” He knew they couldn’t stay long and led the way for Hylial.

…

Half an hour later, the two met up with the other three, and this thrilling forest trip finally came to an end.

“Let’s go back, back. I’d never dare to stay here again,” Komia said, raising her hand.

“Agreed.” No one else objected. After all, it had been a close shave.

The five packed their belongings and began their journey down the mountain, but going downhill was not as easy as going up. Their speed was considerably slower.

The journey was relatively smooth until they were halfway down when several Orange-Red Teewolves ran out of the woods and appeared before them.

“How come we didn’t encounter any on the way in, but now there are five all at once?” Komia couldn’t help but complain.

“Perhaps they smelled our sweat,” Kaelen analyzed. When they came, they were full of energy and not in a hurry, so they didn’t sweat much.

“Uh, can it be like that?”

“It’s time to fight, comrades.” Kaelen was the first to draw his short sword. At this distance, there was no time to shoot arrows.

The five Orange-Red Teewolves didn’t stand idle. As Kaelen drew his sword, they swarmed him. Kaelen first kicked one away, blocked another’s bite with his sword, but one he couldn’t dodge, allowing it to bite his wrist guard, barely holding on.

The situation was critical. Mick rushed forward, drawing his sword to block a wolf from behind, while Lei, who should have been guarding Kaelen’s other side, was too slow and could only watch as the Teewolf bypassed him and charged towards Kaelen’s back.

However, this Teewolf ultimately did not succeed. Another sharp short sword stabbed out, piercing directly through its neck, causing it to let out a struggling whimper.

Pulling out her blade, Hylial stepped on the wolf’s body, then plunged her sword into its head again, killing it instantly. She then moved forward to help Kaelen deal with the remaining Teewolves.

Soon, with the cooperation of several people, these five Teewolves were killed one after another, without even a chance to escape. The cost was a shallow cut on Kaelen’s wrist.

After cleaning the wound, Hylial carefully bandaged Kaelen, and only then did the group calm down.

“That giant wild boarthere probably won’t chase us here,” Kaelen said, looking back at the boundless mountain forest.

“And we have five more prey,” Mick said, counting the Teewolves on the ground and nodding with satisfaction.

After the group settled down, they started to tally their gains. Because they were in a hurry to escape earlier, many unimportant prey and harvests were discarded. What they still managed to keep was only a small packet of lightweight herbs and the five wolf carcasses in front of them.

While Kaelen and Mick were skinning the wolves, Komia finally realized some issues.

“Lia, you ran so fast just now, and your speed wasn’t bad, and even your swordsmanship is amazing!” she said, a string of questions.

“Yes, yes.” The young girl sat on a rock, her short sword and longbow resting on her knees.

“Actually, I know the Meditation Method, and I also have some combat ability,” she explained, twirling a strand of hair around her ear.

“Do you remember the assessment that day? I was originally going to participate.”

“I didn’t expect Teacher Hyde to tell me not to go, so I dropped the idea.”

“Later, although there were opportunities to explain, I thought it would be good to keep a low profile and avoid a lot of trouble, so I never told anyone.”

“Whoa, doesn’t that mean Lia is an all-around genius!” Komia exclaimed, saying what the others present were thinking.

No wonder she could guide me and Lei on our combat techniques, Mick realized.

That’s probably why Lia learned archery so quickly, Kaelen also thought of this.

“I can’t claim to be all-around; it’s just that I’m relatively good at the things we’re learning right now,” the young girl said, shaking her head slightly. She understood the principle that there’s always someone better.

“And, Lia is also very beautiful!” Komia added, an overlooked point by everyone.

Because of the continuous running and fighting just now, the bothersome glasses had been thrown somewhere unknown long ago. At this moment, Hylial couldn’t conceal her already outstanding appearance.

“Yay, the prettiest Lia, the most talented Lia, the cutest Lia~” Komia circled the young girl, happily chattering.

For this, Hylial could only show a helpless and shy expression, waving her hand, telling Komia to stop talking.

“Alright, alright, I know Lia is embarrassed, hee hee.” Komia stopped.

After tidying up the wolf skins, the five set off again. The conversation along the way almost entirely revolved around Hylial: her origins, why she concealed her appearance at the time, and where she learned swordsmanship, among other things.

“Since everyone knows now, let’s make time to train outside the city in the future. Not only can it hone our combat skills, but it can also help Lia avoid the attention of other classmates,” Mick and Kaelen suggested.

“Outside the city, huh? Wouldn’t that mean we’d have to walk a long way every time?” Komia showed some reluctance.

“Komia, don’t you want to train your eye technique? Like trying to mesmerize small animals in the bushes with your eyes.”

“Ah, you’re right. There’s never a suitable target for that in the city.” Komia thought about this and no longer objected.

As the three talked, they slowly arrived at Burntstone City.

“Finally, we’re here. This day has been particularly heart-pounding.”

“I need to report to the Hunters’ Guild in the city. The giant wild boar’s danger is not small,” Kaelen said.

“Mm-hmm, I also need to go back to the Adventurers’ Guild to see if there are any short tasks recently, to practice and earn some money,” Mick thought.

There are many wild beasts in the mountains, and those with complete aspects are even stronger than humans of the same rank. This is because individuals who survive in such an environment are inherently strong within their species.

These ignorant beasts were once the overlords of the Fourth Epoch, powerful rulers of the land, but alas, with the passage of time, their era is long past.

––

Aspect [Beast Fang]: Fallen Star-Gazing Beast, degenerate struggle and slaughter

(End of this chapter)