The a.s.sa.s.sin was getting closer behind them . Six hundred feet, 500 feet, 400 feet—the distance between them began to shrink .

He had taken severe damage to his abdomen from the enemy, who was also a Level-9 Warrior like him . Only death awaited both him and Princess Annie if he were to go up against such an adversary head-on .

He ran through the woods, looking left and right frantically for a safe place to hide themselves .

Huge globs of fresh blood flowed out from the open wound and spattered on the ground . Kanorse felt himself growing weaker by the minute . Suddenly, he heard Annie's weak voice from his arms .

"Kanorse, leave me . . . I . . . can't go on . Take . . . the letter, go north, give it to Link . "

Annie's hand was dripping with fresh blood, which had also stained the letter itself . Her face was deathly pale at this point, and her eyes were noticeably dilated . Kanorse began to panic at the sight of this .

"Hold on, Your Highness! Hold on!" Kanorse gnashed his teeth and exerted the last of his strength to widen the distance even more between themselves and the a.s.sa.s.sin .

He was a Warrior, and he would be d.a.m.ned if he were to let Princess Annie die here with him!

But as determined as he was, there was no point in resisting the inevitable .

Kanorse's burst of speed did not last long . Three minutes later, exhaustion finally caught up to him . Due to the intense exertion, the wound on his waist had opened up even more . Half of his body had gone numb, and both his legs had turned to lead . At this point, it was like wading through knee-deep mud .

In his arms, Princess Annie had gone silent . She seemed to have pa.s.sed out, though she clutched tightly still Link's letter, which was now crumpled into a ball and soaked in her blood .

There was still nothing but the forest in front of them, which began to grow denser as he ventured deeper into it . His senses sluggish, he had lost all sense of direction and now ran in whatever direction the path in front of him took .

Before long, his vision began to blur . He laughed somewhat bitterly to himself, "Is this it for me?"

A few seconds later, something incredible happened .

Kanorse saw his body running on ahead of him . Like an observer from the outside, he was now looking on as his own body bolted straight on without him .

This was too unreal .

He looked down at himself, and saw that his limbs had become transparent, along with Princess Annie . It was like holding air in his arms .

Kanorse stopped running . "Am I a spirit? Am I dead now?"

As he stopped to wonder at his current state, a voice called to him from behind a tree, "Don't just stand there, come over here!"

Kanorse turned to wherever the voice came from, but could not see anything . He realized then that this must be the act of a Magician .

He walked over to the tree, and saw to his surprise three people squatting behind it .

He instantly recognized Skinorse among them . The other two were a young woman with wavy hair and a middle-aged man wearing a grey wide-brimmed hat . Judging from his appearance, Kanorse reckoned that the latter must be a Magician .

He opened his mouth to speak, but then Skinorse pressed a finger on his lips . "Shh, not a word . "

Skinorse then took out Annie's spatial bracelet from her wrist and brought out her crossbow from the bracelet .

"This is good stuff!" whispered Skinorse in admiration, and then from the spatial bracelet he took out the crossbow's quiver . He turned to his companions and spoke, "Alright now, the a.s.sa.s.sin's approaching . Make sure she doesn't see us . "

Kanorse held his breath, one hand gripping tightly on his sword .

A while later, the a.s.sa.s.sin ran past the tree without even noticing them behind it, as she intently pursued the magical illusion still running up ahead .

Looking at this, Skinorse gave the Magician a thumbs-up, and mouthed out his words noiselessly, "Morrigan, your spell worked like a charm!"

The Magician grinned back at him, apparently pleased at this as well .

The a.s.sa.s.sin had now disappeared off into the depths of the woods in pursuit of the magical illusion .

Skinorse stood up and said, "It's not safe here, we'd best get a move on . Give me the princess, Kanorse . "

Now extremely weakened from the loss of blood, Kanorse handed Annie over to him .

Giving the princess a glance, Skinorse frowned and said to the young woman beside him in an urgent tone, "She's badly injured . I can barely feel her heartbeat . Moya, quick, she's in need of an emergency divine spell!"

The young woman did not need to be told twice . Her hand was already holding a white globe of light, which she pressed against Annie's chest . Kanorse could see clearly that Annie had begun breathing even more deeply .

It was definitely a good thing they had a priestess in their midst .

Skinorse then waved a hand at them . "Alright, let's go . The Naga may be back for us soon . "

Saying this, he began leading the way through the woods . He seemed to be the most familiar with this stretch of the woods . After walking along a narrow pathway through the woods, the sound of running water finally reached their ears from up ahead . After a while, in front of them appeared a cliff, which was a hundred feet drop to the ground . A waterfall thundered down along the cliff face .

"This way, everyone this way . Morrigan, you're up . "

Skinorse then tied a rope around everyone's waist, while Morrigan began casting Levitation on each member of the party .

"Now jump!"

Skinorse was the first to jump down the cliff, and his two other companions followed suit . Still having his reservations about this, he jumped after the others nonetheless .

The five of them started free-falling along the waterfall . When they reached 50 feet off the ground at the midsection of the waterfall, Morrigan released a Level-3 Gale spell .

With the sudden gust of wind, all five of them were blown towards the waterfall while floating in mid-air . Just when they were about to collide against the waterfall, Morrigan gave his wand another flick, and from the water jutted out a rock which split the downward current of water in half . A two-foot-high, three-feet-wide hole had appeared below the waterfall .

The group floated into the hole, and the rock closed up behind them, bringing the curtain of water back down against the cliff face .

The cave that they found themselves in was around 100 square feet, and the air inside was somewhat humid . With a wave of his wand, Morrigan gathered all the water in the air into a small sphere of water . He then guided the ball of water out of the cave back through the hole beneath the waterfall with his wand . In an instant, the cave felt drier and more comfortable than before .

With a laugh, Skinorse explained, "This is a hiding hole carved out from the cliff face with stone magic by Morrigan himself . It's pretty handy . With the waterfall outside cloaking our presences, the Naga should not be able to find us here . "

While saying this, he placed Annie on a stone platform, letting the priestess to begin treating the princess' wounds . Kanorse let out a sigh of relief and took out a bottle of Greater Healing Potion to drink from it .

"If I were you, I wouldn't start drinking potions now," said the priestess Moya all of a sudden without looking at Kanorse . She was slowly extracting out the broken pieces of wood from Annie's back with a silver scalpel .

Somewhat surprised, Kanorse put down the potion . "Then what should I do?"

"Lie down there . I'll heal you after this," said Moya rea.s.suringly .

She seemed to be an expert in the healing arts among the group . Kanorse shrugged and found another stone platform to lie on .

Skinorse gave Kanorse a wide grin, pointed at Moya, then gave him a thumbs-up . He whispered, "She's the leader of this group, her word is law here . "

Kanorse smiled weakly back . He knew that he could trust Skinorse, despite his treasure-hunting tendencies . He relaxed himself on the stone platform .

"Morrigan, I need some clean water," said Moya .

"Coming . " Morrigan went to the waterfall and filled a silver dish with water from it . A fireball appeared from the tip of his wand and melted into the water, which then began to boil violently . About ten seconds later, Morrigan drew out the fireball from the water, bringing the water temperature down in an instant . All impurities had been removed completely from the water as a result .

Morrigan then brought the water to Moya . Looking at Annie's back, he sighed . "Her wound looks deep . "

Moya washed the silver scalpel in the water and continued cleaning Annie's wound . "It's truly a good thing none of her vital points were hit . The biggest hurdle here is removing every single piece of broken wood from her body . If I miss even one, there may be complications . "

Moya once again conjured a ball of light in her hand and began repairing a broken blood vessel .

As she treated Annie in concentration, on the other side of the cave, Skinorse and Kanorse had begun a conversation with each other .

Skinorse asked, "Why were you being chased by those Nagas?"

Kanorse was somewhat confused . "Nagas? You mean those two a.s.sa.s.sins?"

"Of course, didn't you notice how supple their bodies were? We had crossed paths with them a week ago . . . I would have surely died right there if I had not run fast enough," said Skinorse, still looking tense from the memory .

"Tch, I was the one who saved you . You even tore a big hole in the crotch of your pants," added Morrigan .

Skinorse blushed furiously . "I just couldn't use my portal rune in time . Do you guys even have one?"

He took out a red runestone and began brandis.h.i.+ng it in the others' faces .

Kanorse asked, taken aback by this, "Wasn't this given to you by Master Link?"

"He cheated it from him!" Morrigan interjected .

"To deceive others is a talent in itself, and sadly, not many are gifted in it," said Skinorse slyly . He put back the runestone, and then asked, "I see that both of you are heading south and that there's a letter in Princess Annie's hand . Whose letter is it, if I may ask?"

Skinorse brought out the letter that was drenched in the princess' blood .

Kanorse did not bother hiding the truth . "We were to send it to Master Link on the marshall's orders . . . Seems that the marshall has come across some problems . "

"I see . Well, let's have a look at the letter then, shall we?" said Skinorse .

"No, it's only for Master Link's eyes . . . Ah, you . . . "

Skinorse had already torn open the envelope . "Don't be such a stiff, Kanorse . I'm just taking a peek at the letter, it's not like I'm going to swallow it . "

He took out the letter, and after reading it a few times, he frowned at it, clearly troubled by its content .

When he had finished reading the letter, Skinorse gulped, wet his dried-out lips with his tongue, and stared at his companions . "There's gonna be trouble, people!" he said hoa.r.s.ely .

Chapter 472 Trouble AheadTranslator Nyoi Bo Studio Editor Nyoi Bo StudioThe a.s.sa.s.sin was getting closer behind them . Six hundred feet, 500 feet, 400 feet the distance between them began to shrink . He had taken severe damage to his abdomen from the enemy, who was also a Level 9 Warrior like him . Only death awaited both him and Princess Annie if he were to go up against such an adversary head on . He ran through the woods, looking left and right frantically for a safe place to hide themselves . Huge globs of fresh blood flowed out from the open wound and spattered on the ground . Kanorse felt himself growing weaker by the minute . Suddenly, he heard Annie s weak voice from his arms . Kanorse, leave me . . . I . . . can t go on . Take . . . the letter, go north, give it to Link . Annie s hand was dripping with fresh blood, which had also stained the letter itself . Her face was deathly pale at this point, and her eyes were noticeably dilated . Kanorse began to panic at the sight of this . Hold on, Your Highness Hold on Kanorse gnashed his teeth and exerted the last of his strength to widen the distance even more between themselves and the a.s.sa.s.sin . He was a Warrior, and he would be d.a.m.ned if he were to let Princess Annie die here with him But as determined as he was, there was no point in resisting the inevitable . Kanorse s burst of speed did not last long . Three minutes later, exhaustion finally caught up to him . Due to the intense exertion, the wound on his waist had opened up even more . Half of his body had gone numb, and both his legs had turned to lead . At this point, it was like wading through knee deep mud . In his arms, Princess Annie had gone silent . She seemed to have pa.s.sed out, though she clutched tightly still Link s letter, which was now crumpled into a ball and soaked in her blood . There was still nothing but the forest in front of them, which began to grow denser as he ventured deeper into it . His senses sluggish, he had lost all sense of direction and now ran in whatever direction the path in front of him took . Before long, his vision began to blur . He laughed somewhat bitterly to himself, Is this it for me A few seconds later, something incredible happened . Kanorse saw his body running on ahead of him . Like an observer from the outside, he was now looking on as his own body bolted straight on without him . This was too unreal . He looked down at himself, and saw that his limbs had become transparent, along with Princess Annie . It was like holding air in his arms . Kanorse stopped running . Am I a spirit Am I dead now As he stopped to wonder at his current state, a voice called to him from behind a tree, Don t just stand there, come over here Kanorse turned to wherever the voice came from, but could not see anything . He realized then that this must be the act of a Magician . He walked over to the tree, and saw to his surprise three people squatting behind it . He instantly recognized Skinorse among them . The other two were a young woman with wavy hair and a middle aged man wearing a grey wide brimmed hat . Judging from his appearance, Kanorse reckoned that the latter must be a Magician . He opened his mouth to speak, but then Skinorse pressed a finger on his lips . Shh, not a word . Skinorse then took out Annie s spatial bracelet from her wrist and brought out her crossbow from the bracelet . This is good stuff whispered Skinorse in admiration, and then from the spatial bracelet he took out the crossbow s quiver . He turned to his companions and spoke, Alright now, the a.s.sa.s.sin s approaching . Make sure she doesn t see us . Kanorse held his breath, one hand gripping tightly on his sword . A while later, the a.s.sa.s.sin ran past the tree without even noticing them behind it, as she intently pursued the magical illusion still running up ahead . Looking at this, Skinorse gave the Magician a thumbs up, and mouthed out his words noiselessly, Morrigan, your spell worked like a charm The Magician grinned back at him, apparently pleased at this as well . The a.s.sa.s.sin had now disappeared off into the depths of the woods in pursuit of the magical illusion . Skinorse stood up and said, It s not safe here, we d best get a move on . Give me the princess, Kanorse . Now extremely weakened from the loss of blood, Kanorse handed Annie over to him . Giving the princess a glance, Skinorse frowned and said to the young woman beside him in an urgent tone, She s badly injured . I can barely feel her heartbeat . Moya, quick, she s in need of an emergency divine spell The young woman did not need to be told twice . Her hand was already holding a white globe of light, which she pressed against Annie s chest . Kanorse could see clearly that Annie had begun breathing even more deeply . It was definitely a good thing they had a priestess in their midst . Skinorse then waved a hand at them . Alright, let s go . The Naga may be back for us soon . Saying this, he began leading the way through the woods . He seemed to be the most familiar with this stretch of the woods . After walking along a narrow pathway through the woods, the sound of running water finally reached their ears from up ahead . After a while, in front of them appeared a cliff, which was a hundred feet drop to the ground . A waterfall thundered down along the cliff face . This way, everyone this way . Morrigan, you re up . Skinorse then tied a rope around everyone s waist, while Morrigan began casting Levitation on each member of the party . Now jump Skinorse was the first to jump down the cliff, and his two other companions followed suit . Still having his reservations about this, he jumped after the others nonetheless . The five of them started free falling along the waterfall . When they reached 50 feet off the ground at the midsection of the waterfall, Morrigan released a Level 3 Gale spell . With the sudden gust of wind, all five of them were blown towards the waterfall while floating in mid air . Just when they were about to collide against the waterfall, Morrigan gave his wand another flick, and from the water jutted out a rock which split the downward current of water in half . A two foot high, three feet wide hole had appeared below the waterfall . The group floated into the hole, and the rock closed up behind them, bringing the curtain of water back down against the cliff face . The cave that they found themselves in was around 100 square feet, and the air inside was somewhat humid . With a wave of his wand, Morrigan gathered all the water in the air into a small sphere of water . He then guided the ball of water out of the cave back through the hole beneath the waterfall with his wand . In an instant, the cave felt drier and more comfortable than before . With a laugh, Skinorse explained, This is a hiding hole carved out from the cliff face with stone magic by Morrigan himself . It s pretty handy . With the waterfall outside cloaking our presences, the Naga should not be able to find us here . While saying this, he placed Annie on a stone platform, letting the priestess to begin treating the princess wounds . Kanorse let out a sigh of relief and took out a bottle of Greater Healing Potion to drink from it . If I were you, I wouldn t start drinking potions now, said the priestess Moya all of a sudden without looking at Kanorse . She was slowly extracting out the broken pieces of wood from Annie s back with a silver scalpel . Somewhat surprised, Kanorse put down the potion . Then what should I do Lie down there . I ll heal you after this, said Moya rea.s.suringly . She seemed to be an expert in the healing arts among the group . Kanorse shrugged and found another stone platform to lie on . Skinorse gave Kanorse a wide grin, pointed at Moya, then gave him a thumbs up . He whispered, She s the leader of this group, her word is law here . Kanorse smiled weakly back . He knew that he could trust Skinorse, despite his treasure hunting tendencies . He relaxed himself on the stone platform . Morrigan, I need some clean water, said Moya . Coming . Morrigan went to the waterfall and filled a silver dish with water from it . A fireball appeared from the tip of his wand and melted into the water, which then began to boil violently . About ten seconds later, Morrigan drew out the fireball from the water, bringing the water temperature down in an instant . All impurities had been removed completely from the water as a result . Morrigan then brought the water to Moya . Looking at Annie s back, he sighed . Her wound looks deep . Moya washed the silver scalpel in the water and continued cleaning Annie s wound . It s truly a good thing none of her vital points were hit . The biggest hurdle here is removing every single piece of broken wood from her body . If I miss even one, there may be complications . Moya once again conjured a ball of light in her hand and began repairing a broken blood vessel . As she treated Annie in concentration, on the other side of the cave, Skinorse and Kanorse had begun a conversation with each other . Skinorse asked, Why were you being chased by those Nagas Kanorse was somewhat confused . Nagas You mean those two a.s.sa.s.sins Of course, didn t you notice how supple their bodies were We had crossed paths with them a week ago . . . I would have surely died right there if I had not run fast enough, said Skinorse, still looking tense from the memory . Tch, I was the one who saved you . You even tore a big hole in the crotch of your pants, added Morrigan . Skinorse blushed furiously . I just couldn t use my portal rune in time . Do you guys even have one He took out a red runestone and began brandis.h.i.+ng it in the others faces . Kanorse asked, taken aback by this, Wasn t this given to you by Master Link He cheated it from him Morrigan interjected . To deceive others is a talent in itself, and sadly, not many are gifted in it, said Skinorse slyly . He put back the runestone, and then asked, I see that both of you are heading south and that there s a letter in Princess Annie s hand . Whose letter is it, if I may ask Skinorse brought out the letter that was drenched in the princess blood . Kanorse did not bother hiding the truth . We were to send it to Master Link on the marshall s orders . . . Seems that the marshall has come across some problems . I see . Well, let s have a look at the letter then, shall we said Skinorse . No, it s only for Master Link s eyes . . . Ah, you . . . Skinorse had already torn open the envelope . Don t be such a stiff, Kanorse . I m just taking a peek at the letter, it s not like I m going to swallow it . He took out the letter, and after reading it a few times, he frowned at it, clearly troubled by its content . When he had finished reading the letter, Skinorse gulped, wet his dried out lips with his tongue, and stared at his companions . There s gonna be trouble, people he said hoa.r.s.ely .