Nile saw two figures, both of them covered in fur and heavily injured. Their pelts were deeply matted and coated with thick blood. Nile recognised them immediately.
'They're the exact same wolves that came sniffing around the tree where I was hiding earlier.'
One wolf was noticeably smaller than the other. The bigger one was so severely wounded that it was no longer moving; its chest was completely still.
The smaller wolf was resting while curled up tightly like a ball. Its chest was falling and rising rapidly. Sensing Nile's approach, it lifted its head and looked at the person approaching.
"Hey now, I didn't know it was you," Nile said in a surprised tone.
The wolf didn't move its body— it just sat there silently observing him.
'This wolf is quite weird, it keeps staring at me like a doll.'
"Sorry to disturb you, Wolfie. I'll be g—"
Nile saw the dead wolf's body lying near the surviving wolf, motionless. He moved toward the dead wolf in small steps, slowly approaching it without alerting or provoking the other wolf.
The other wolf was still silently observing Nile.
Nile used his blade and gingerly poked the dead carcass.
"It didn't move. Will it suddenly come back as a zombie?"
"Just to be safe—"
Nile raised his blade and struck down at the neck of the dead wolf.
Chop!
Chop!
Nile struck twice before he completely severed its neck from its body.
"Uff.. That should do it. Now it wouldn't become a zombie and be a problem to anyone."
Nile said, wiping the blood off his face. Some blood splattered onto his face while he was chopping.
The other wolf started growling at Nile. It couldn't move much due to its injury.
Maybe it was angry at Nile for what he had just done, or it was afraid, thinking it might be next.
"Hey, hey, no need to be angry. I just saved your life. If I didn't do that, it would have risen as a zombie and killed you. And you, being injured, can't do anything about it."
"So no need to thank me."
"Since you look heavily injured to hunt, and as a compensation. I'll be leaving some of this behind."
Nile left 3 small strips of beef jerky on the ground.
'Why the f**ck am I explaining to a wolf. Well, it might be smart, but not to the point where I should explain everything I do. And most importantly, I should get going. I need to keep my promise.'
Nile walked away from the wolf and headed his way to the camp.
Nile walked out of the forest and came out in the open, directly facing the camp.
The camp was filled with dead bodies of wolves and blood all over the ground.
Nile put the blade back and took out the bow he had taken. He took out an arrow from the quiver and placed it together, ready to draw whenever it is ready.
Nile slowly walked towards his objective while seeing the battlefield that had just happened.
He saw Guiteng's body lying motionless.
He looked at the burned body of the fearless zombie wolf.
Not far from him, a person's chest was falling and rising slowly. His breath was shallow. Hearing the footsteps of a person. Aegis slowly opened his eyes. He saw a silhouette of a person coming towards him, holding something like a bow. He couldn't see clearly who it was until it came closer. He clearly saw it was the boy whom he had picked up from the ruins.
The boy who had nothing on him before was now wearing Aegis's men's clothes. A blade was tucked to his belt, a quiver of arrows at his back and a bow and an arrow aimed at him.
'How ironic the fate is.'
He gave a cold laugh; even that small laugh hurt him so much.
Nile, slowly walk up to Aegis. He kept his distance from Aegis about 4 meters. He didn't dare to get any closer to him.
'This should be enough. Even if he still has another trump card left. I bet I can still escape.'
A question had been bugging Aegis' mind after his fight with the corrupted. Where did his men go? What happened to them? If the corrupted had killed them. Why hasn't the creature controlled his men and brought them out in the fight? And it looks like his question has been answered when a young man came out wearing his men's clothes and weapons.
Aegis voice sounded hoarse and low. But still didn't let his guard down.
"⊠⊠ ⊠⊠'⊠ ⊠⊠⊠"
"D⊠d.. y⊠⊠.. ⊠i⊠⊠ ⊠⊠⊠ ⊠y ⊠e⊠?"
"D⊠n't y⊠u f⊠nd... h⊠w... ⊠r⊠n⊠c f⊠t⊠ ⊠s."
Nile stood there, shocked, not because he didn't understand him, but because he was slowly understanding his words.
"What a⊠e you wa⊠ting f⊠r? D⊠ it."
"I'll be waiting for you in The Underworld."
Aegis closed his eyes, waiting for his fate.
At this point, Nile clearly understood what Aegis was saying. But he still didn't respond to what the bandit's boss was saying.
He drew his bow with all his might and released it. The arrow struck the left shoulder of Aegis.
'Is my aim so bad? I was aiming for the head.'
A low voice of agony escaped from Aegis lips.
Nile again drew his bow and released it again. It struck the right shoulder of Aegis.
Aahh!
"If you are going to kill me, just kill me. Why torture me?"
Nile took an arrow from his quiver and drew his bow. He took a deep breath and clearly focused. He releases the bow.
seeing Nile's amateur posture while shooting,
"Wait, don't tell me you don't know how to sho—"
Thwack!
The third arrow buried itself dead center into Aegis's forehead, cutting the sentence short. The bandit leader's head snapped back against the cliff wall, his eyes rolling up as his body finally went entirely still.
'Damn, my aim is bad. Well, the third try is the charm."
The ethereal runic words appeared without Nile summoning them.
[System Initialization— 100%]
[System integration: Completed]
Before Nile could take a more detailed look at it.
A voice cut through his ears and startled him.