71 Responsibility

Two meters... one meter... half a meter... The woman stopped her footsteps. But just when she raised her dagger, her face was heavily scratched by something. Immediately after, several creatures surrounded by spooky atmospheres pounced on her. She was greatly frightened and desperately stabbed her dagger around.

Just then, Han Jin got down on one knee and dodged the dagger. Both of his hands gripped the hilt of his sword and thrust it backward into the woman's chest.

"Agh..." The woman let out a mournful cry.

Han Jin was right. She was well-maintained. By 'well-maintained', he meant that she must have lived a very comfortable and privileged life. Even though she reacted and struck very quickly, she was clearly not in her prime. If hard exercise improved one's skill, a relaxed and comfortable life could do the opposite.

Even Han Jin hadn't expected that he would be able to dodge her attack and strike back so easily. He was shocked. The woman fell down forward and landed on Han Jin's back.

But suddenly, maybe because she returned to consciousness before death or recalled her son being murdered, she regained her strength and grabbed Han Jin's hair with her right hand and stabbed her dagger at his face.

The wind caused by the quick-moving dagger warned Han Jin of the danger. He reached out his left hand and firmly grabbed her wrist. However, her strength went beyond his expectation. The dagger only wobbled and stopped several centimeters away from his face. The woman couldn't drive her dagger down any more, but Han Jin couldn't push back her hand either. Meanwhile, the woman ripped wisps of hair from Han Jin's head with her right hand. But he had no time nor energy to care about his hair or try to stop the woman. Turning bald was better than turning into a hornet's nest.

Han Jin clenched his teeth. His right hand randomly shook the sword to aggravate the woman's injury, while the five ghosts continued their non-stop violent attacks. Han Jin could feel his body becoming wetter and wetter. He must have been dyed red by her blood. On top of that, as the ghosts attacked, some unknown liquid splattered on his face. The woman's voice became more and more painful as she grew weaker and weaker.

Not long after, her strength finally ran out and Han Jin could finally gradually push back her dagger. With a hard twist of the hand, Han Jin threw the woman off from his back, and immediately darted away a long distance before collecting himself and leaning against the tunnel wall. He then opened his hand. A cloud of mild and white light raised from his palm, illuminating the tunnel like the daylight.

Having studied magic from Cessacioun for several days, Han Jin now excelled in casting small fireballs and the illumination spell. As long as he had fire elements, he could release such spells at any time.

The five ghosts kept attacking the woman, regardless of her current state. Her body was now covered in blood, as if she had just climbed out from a pool of blood. Han Jin took a look at himself and gave a bitter smile. He looked no better than her.

At this time, some voices faintly came to him. He controlled the ghosts to stop, and they simply floated in midair.

"Madam..."

"Madam, wait for us..."

The voice was coming toward him. Han Jin hid himself at a corner and waited in silence. Not long after, a few men appeared in the tunnel. The one in the lead was a magician, who was actually floating in midair instead of standing. An incredibly bright ball of light was in his hand, one which illuminated the tunnel like broad daylight. Some soldiers in heavy armor followed behind him. The armors looked to be luxuriously crafted, as they were bright yellow and engraved with many mysterious patterns.

"What..." They were all frozen in astonishment after they turned into the tunnel and saw the body lying on the ground, as well as the ghosts floating in the air.

Han Jin waited for a long time. Suddenly, he raised his hand and threw out a charm of fire. A shield-sized fireball appeared out of nowhere and pierced through the air at lightning speed, along with a harsh zing, and landed accurately on the leading magician.

Boom! The magician was knocked upside down and hit a warrior behind him. Han Jin jumped out and was going to throw the Wooden Army Calling Charm in his hand - he was not the kind of person who would spare a person at a disadvantage - but before he could unleash his charm, he blanked. The magician opposite him was unscathed and smiling sinisterly.

Han Jin immediately reacted and drew back the Wooden Army Calling Charm into his space ring, quickly darting toward the tunnel wall. A streak of immense thunderbolt followed him and exploded where he stood a moment ago. A loud noise resounded in the tunnel and transmitted out for a long distance, but Han Jin could not hear it anymore.

****

Numerous small grains of snow were profusely and disorderly drifting down like a white sandstorm across the heaven and the earth. Moxinke shrunk his neck. It was the exact kind of snow he hated, as the grain hit his face like small drops of ice. If they were normal snowflakes, the weather would definitely be much more tolerable. However, releasing strength of fighting for something as trivial as snow was a bit too embarrassing. Who knew what the others would think of him if he really did this. Thus, he had to endure it.

They had continued running for over dozens of kilometers the day they escaped. After a short rest, Sunier continued to ride her horse forward, while the others climbed over a large mountain and settled down in a small village. The next day, Sunier came back to meet them. Then they had a long and intense discussion on what to do next. Finally, they agreed to stay here and wait for Han Jin.

In fact, they all knew that the chance of Han Jin remaining alive was very small, but both Moxinke and Steelberg insisted on staying here. They held on firmly to the idea that if Han Jin was still alive, they should find him, and if he had died, they must at least see his corpse!

The problem was that even if Han Jin was still alive, they had no idea where he would go. So they figured out a way - a very dumb way really - which was to let Moxinke and Sunier wait at the side of the road everyday.

A few days later, they finally got news. It was said that lots of knights from Holy Crown City had appeared within the boundary of Beitman, searching for something or someone day and night. They even had some small-scale conflicts with the troops from Beitman.

This news inspired them all. If troops from Holy Crown City trespassed into Beitman territory in spite of the potential diplomatic crisis, it must mean that Han Jin had escaped! Moxinke ran to the roadside as soon as he got the news and drew a row of letters on a large tree. It read: Have you eaten today? But he felt that this sentence was too obscure, and after a second thought, he changed it into: Can you eat a whole Bear of Earth?

Surely Han Jin can understand this. If he saw it, he would know they were camping nearby, Moxinle explained.

But as time went by, their spirits lowered again. If Han Jin really was still alive, he would have come to meet them by now. However, no matter how disappointed they were, Moxinke and Sunier still insisted on waiting by the roadside every day. They insisted that they would continue to do so, at least until the next spring. As friends, they must at least be accountable for each other, for their own sake if nothing else.