72: Pain

As time seemingly slowed down in Silver's eyes and his impending doom became clearer than ever before, he was able to see Joe's sword swing clearer than ever before.

Although he was able to see the sword's movement with ease, almost making its movement seem slow, Silver knew it was anything but slow.

His eyes widened in fear, and he tried to dodge the seemingly slow sword swing, but he was only able to move his neck by a centimeter, and then…

The greatsword went through his neck.

Panic, shock, fear, disbelief, and unwillingness flashed in his eyes as he looked in the direction of the greatsword, fully expecting to feel death embrace him like a loving mother.

But…

Confusion flashed in Silver's eyes when he saw something that he did not expect.

He saw the same greatsword in a position that was a little bit further than where he last saw it. Its blade was no longer in his neck.

In fact, he felt no pain in his neck.

Silver barely had time to think of this baffling situation. He could feel his instincts screaming at him to move, screaming to take this opportunity that arrived before him.

And Silver took it.

He quickly bent with his hands touching the ground.

WHOOSH!

SLICE!

BANG!

A shockwave was instantly generated from Joe's swing of his greatsword. The trees around them were instantly cut into two, and the upper trunks fell to the ground with a loud bang generating more dust clouds in their surroundings.

Joe frowned in displeasure and surprise.

Meanwhile, Silver's heart skipped multiple beats as he struggled to not be blown away from the shockwave generated by Joe's sword swing.

Not even a second passed, and his instincts screamed at him once again.

He didn't know what attack was coming at him, but he just followed his body's instincts and quickly rolled to the side.

However…

BANG!

The greatsword slammed to the ground, causing a somewhat large crater and also another shockwave that blew Silver away.

Silver grunted as his body tumbled without his control. He quickly stopped his tumble with his left hand, but three seconds after he did, he felt pain and he felt the ground beneath his left hand become wet.

He also felt dizzy. He shook his head and looked at the ground with clear eyes.

"What the? Blood?"

He looked at his left arm, and when he did, horror and dread flashed in his eyes, and then his brain finally picked up the pain.

And he screamed.

"ARRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

Silver subconsciously held his left arm, and even that brought him more pain, causing him to scream a lot more with tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Damn brat! This would not have happened if you had followed us obediently."

Joe's voice reverberated in the surroundings, but Silver could not hear any of it.

The only thing he felt, heard, and saw… was pain.

Hans appeared beside Joe who standing in front of Silver, and a disgusted expression instantly appeared on his face.

"Did you have to injure him that badly? Now his price would have dropped drastically."

Hans scolded Joe while pointing at Silver's peeled left arm.

Most of the skin on Silver's left arm, from his shoulder to his wrists had been peeled off, revealing the muscles and even the bones of his left arm.

It was a gruesome sight.

"It's not my fault that he ended up dodging and moving like a rat. If he had stood still, he would have died a painless death."

Joe snorted with a tinge of displeasure in his tone, and Hans knew the reason for his displeasure.

'It's because this Spartan kid was able to dodge his first sword swing. Even I was surprised when I saw him dodging it.'

'It was almost like the kid knew the direction of the sword.'

Hans furrowed his brows with a pondering expression.

'I guess the Morningstars are truly great and fearsome warriors like they say they are. Even their kids are somewhat scary. Even the poison on my arrow does not affect him. I wonder if his bloodline has awakened…' 

Hans squinted his gaze.

'...But from the looks of it, it hasn't... I wonder why the poison does not affect him then.'

Hans released a sigh, and then he nonchalantly grabbed the writhing Silver by his shirt and started walking away while dragging him on the ground without a care for his severe injuries.

"AHH!" Silver cried out in pain.

"Where are you going? What of the lion corpse?"

Joe followed while asking with a confused expression.

"The lion corpse is in this kid's spatial ring." Hans indifferently replied, "We need to leave this place since your sword swing and our chase might have attracted some beasts. It'd be better to use the teleportation device in a safe place."

Hans replied, and Joe looked back. When he saw the destruction his sword swing had caused, a proud and slightly embarrassed expression appeared on his face.

"I guess I got carried away."

Joe said, and Hans scoffed.

"You sure did.

Joe chuckled with a smile. Then he looked back.

"Anyway, it seems we're pretty lucky. Seems like that beast that released that loud roar isn't coming here after all." Joe said, and Hans smiled.

But just as he was about to speak, the ground beneath them trembled.

"Did you feel that?"

Joe looked at Hans with a baffled expression, but Hans did not reply. Instead, a terrible premonition emerged in his heart and he looked back.

"Don't tell me?"

Joe also looked back, and the terrible premonition also emerged in his heart as he felt the ground quake more and more.

They both took a step back in fear and three seconds later, they could finally hear and see what was the cause of the trembling of the ground.

And when they did, their eyes widened in horror and extreme fear.

It was not just one beast as they expected, but a MULTITUDE of them!

"A BEAST TIDE!"

Hans and Joe simultaneously exclaimed with fright as they watched the approaching multitude of beasts.