Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
The track the caravan had left in the snow was clearly visible. Han Jin and his companions followed it for miles, and although they couldn’t find a single person, they found two more tracks leading into the forest.
Han Jin stopped at the fork in the road and felt unsure. However, Edwina’s eyes were sharp, and she suddenly realized that something was on the trunk of a nearby tree. She darted forward to get a closer look, and happily shouted when she realized what it was. “This way!”
Han Jin also moved next to Edwina. A figure was carved into the tree, which was made up of six weapons: a dagger, two bows, two swords, and a wand.
“This is our emblem!” Edwina pointed forward. “Gibran and my sister must be going that way!”
“Go!” Han Jin let out a low roar.
The three of them entered the forest and continued to follow the truck. But as soon as their figures disappeared, a carriage came from the direction of Isolated Cliff City. A woman wearing a white leather dress appeared in the snowy field; it was Jocelyn. The carriage that had brought her there continued, while she walked toward the forest with a pile of pure white powder in her hand. She scattered the powder at every step, and the tracks Han Jin and the caravan had left all gradually started to disappear. Finally, she arrived beside the tree and scraped the figure off with a knife.
Meanwhile, Han Jin and his companions were becoming increasingly nervous. They were confident that they were going in the right direction since they had found marks left by Gibran, as well as carriage tracks every few miles.
After tracking their target for who knows how long, the tracks in front of them took a turn into a secluded hollow. Han Jin lifted his head to look at it, and uncertainty flashed across his eyes. He suddenly said, “We are almost there. Edwina, you stay behind. Try to keep your distance.”
“Alright.” Edwina nodded.
“Hayden, follow me!” Han Jin jumped up and immediately dashed into the hollow.
Hayden hurried behind Han Jin, while Edwina waited for a moment before dashing toward the other side of the hill.
About thirty meters into the hollow, Han Jin turned a corner. Immediately after, he saw two women, who looked to be in their late twenties, quietly standing there, staring at him.
Han Jin immediately braked; at the same time, Hayden finally struck with his sword. The sword flashed toward Han Jin, greatly sped up by Hayden’s momentum, and instantly arrived in front of Han Jin’s shoulder. As a ninth-grade professional, Hayden of course knew which spots were lethal, but he didn’t dare actually kill Han Jin. His job was only to wound him.
At the same time that Hayden drew his sword, Han Jin flew back. The two figures moved at the speed of lightning, and only narrowly avoided colliding. A green short sword had somehow appeared in Han Jin’s hand, and he pushed it to his side and slid it across.
Hayden’s sword missed, while Han Jin’s short sword slid across his throat. Hayden continued forward for a dozen more steps, and almost slammed into the two women. He fell onto the ground and covered his throat with his hands. He cried like a dying beast and pleaded for mercy with his eyes.
Both women showed a scornful smile when Han Jin appeared, but both of their smiles froze as soon as Han Jin’s blade slid across Hayden’s throat.
The woman on the left seemed to have a short temper and sent Hayden flying with a kick. She coldly said, “You knew he was a traitor?”
“Wasn’t that hard.” Han Jin shrugged.
“Sister, don’t believe a single word! If he knew Hayden were a spy, it would be Guevara here, not him!” The other woman smiled.
“You are too confident in yourself. Why even go through all this trouble?” Han Jin played with the short sword in his hand, his expression still calm and collected.
“Then I’m really curious. How did you realize?” The woman was still smiling.
“This.” Han Jin smiled and exhaled.
The two women looked at each solemnly. They both realized the flaw in their plan. It was the middle of the winter, and the forest was already covered in snow. When Han Jin exhaled, white steam rose out. But when the two women breathed, it was almost invisible. Humans were warm blooded, while vampires were cold blooded like snakes. That was an unconcealable trait.
“And you concluded he is the traitor?”
“At least, he’s changed. He is no longer the Hayden I knew.” Han Jin flatly said, “I’m not dumb, so of course I went on high alert.”
“When did you realize?” The woman asked again.
“Are you here to kill me or chat with me?” Han Jin smiled and changed the topic. There were things he should talk about, and some he shouldn’t. The two women were obviously trying to figure out when reinforcement was going to arrive. They seemed to be extremely afraid of Guevara.
The woman who was called ‘sister’ coldly laughed. “And you still dared to come here?”
“Of course. I need to end the source of my troubles.” Han Jin suddenly said, “How much did Manteco pay you?”
“Manteco? I don’t know any Manteco!””
“Then it’s Eva?”
“Don’t know who that is either.”
Han Jin was extremely confused. Now that he was right in front of them, there was no need for them to lie. However, he went on, “No matter who’s paying you, I’ll offer you twice the price. As long as you tell me where the person who hired you is.”
“Gold?” The ‘sister’ suddenly started maniacally laughing, and her expression turned vicious. Staring at Han Jin with cold eyes, she said, “Do you think gold can bring my son back to life?”
“Your son?” Han Jin looked up and down at the woman, “That must be a misunderstanding! You seem to be from the Abyss; I have never been there before.” A long time had passed since they had been hunted by vampires, and Han Jin had almost forgotten. Beside, everyone thought it was Eva returning for revenge, which also greatly misled his decision.
“It’s been a year… almost a year…” The woman’s face turned even more ferocious, and two tusks started to grow out from her mouth. One word at a time, she ferociously said, “My wish is finally granted!”
“Who in the world are you?” Han Jin frowned.
“You should consider it an honor to die by the hands of the Vampire Queen Caroline,” the other woman smilingly said.
“You… you are…” Han Jin quickly reacted and immediately realized who they were. Fear showed on his face.
Caroline was extremely happy. The reason why she hadn’t allowed Hayden to kill Han Jin, and why she had talked for so long, was so she could enjoy his terror. She wanted him to die slowly and terrified.
However, though Han Jin looked horrified, his actions said otherwise. With a flip of his wrist, a twenty meter long greatsword flashing with green light appeared out of thin air. Then, accompanied by a light brighter than the sun, it slammed toward Caroline’s head at an unimaginable speed.
With a loud boom, a dozen meters long trench appeared on the ground. Mud, shattered rocks, and snow went flying everywhere, forming a giant ‘V’ shape which was centered around the blade. Mist formed by vaporized smoke covered everything all the way up the hill, and every tree within several hundred meters started violently shaking.
A figure shot up among the chaos, then landed steadily with a twist. Caroline dodged the attack by an inch of her hair. However, her face was also pale. Betty, on the other hand, retired for a dozen meters before she stopped. She looked even more shocked than Caroline, and a trace of fear even appeared on her face.
Dodge?! Han Jin couldn’t believe his eyes. At the same time, his heart also sank.
He had decided to come despite Hayden’s unusual behavior because he had been confident! Back when they had been battling Manteco, he had not yet forged this flying sword. Now, with the help of the green radiance, his strength had immensely grown. No one, or at least no one that Eva could find, would be able to survive his attack. Unfortunately, there were two flaws: his enemy hadn’t tried to block, nor were they hired by Eva.
Many thought the saying, “Know your enemy, know yourself,” was a useless piece of advice because it had been repeated so many times, but it was true nonetheless. If Han Jin had known who his enemies were, he wouldn’t have expended so much energy trying to attack Caroline.
Caroline’s face twisted. With a sharp roar, her body turned into a blur as she dashed toward Han Jin like a lightning bolt.
Han Jin’s left hand formed a sign, and he waved his right hand. The giant sword which had been floating in the air suddenly disappeared, and the green short sword appeared in Han Jin’s hand again. He lifted the blade as if he planned to block the attack with it, but his left hand moved even faster. A dark streak of light fiercely swept across the air with a shrill whistle, going straight for Caroline’s slim waist.
Caroline let out another sharp roar, leaned back, and Han Jin’s whip missed her nose by an inch. Then, with a twist of her feet, she kicked up a wall of snow to block Han Jin’s vision.
Before Han Jin could react, a fist that didn’t seem very big shot out from behind the wall of snow and heavily landed on his chest. Han Jin involuntarily spat out a mouthful of blood.
A humph and a scream echoed across the air as the two separated. Han Jin was the one who had humphed, and Caroline was the one who had screamed.
Even if Han Jin could dodge the punch under the influence of Spirit Possession, he had chosen not to. Instead, he had decided to gamble with his life! Hidden inside the mouthful of blood he had spat out was a small flying sword, glowing with a faint red light, which was almost completely camouflaged; a ‘gift’ for caroline. On top of that, the two of them were too close; even if Caroline had discovered the sword, she wouldn’t have had any time to react.
Han Jin retreated for eight steps before spitting out another mouthful of blood. However, he was smiling.
“Betty, what do you think you are doing?!” Caroline screamed.
“This little kid is quite troublesome,” Betty slowly said.
Han Jin’s expression immediately turned ugly. He had thought Caroline would be severely wounded even if she survived, but judging by her scream, she didn’t sound wounded at all!
Caroline clenched her fist. The sword had left a hole in her chest, but no blood came out. On top of that, it had already started healing. Normally, Caroline’s pride would never allow her to ask for help. Besides, she hadn’t been using her full power, because she was confident that she could defeat her opponent. The problem was, Han Jin fought like a madman. Caroline had never faced such a mad enemy before – one who would use his full strength and even gamble with his life as soon as the battle began. It was quite an absurd feeling; after all, she was the one going after revenge. She should be the one going mad!
