Chapter 174 - Aernest VS Four Enemies

Episode 167 - Aernest VS Four enemies

Aernest's eyes widened as he found himself suddenly surrounded.

"Who are you?"

10 minutes ago...

Before he had been surrounded, he had been training his ear sensitivity by concentrating his hearing on the waterfall. This was done by closing off all his senses and focussing on his ears only. The last time he focussed this hard, he was able to distinctly hear something in the middle of the waterfall. It was the sound of something shuffling inside the waterfall. 

He tried many times to concentrate on that particular sound however he was never able to hear that sound ever again. But today! Today was different from all days! He had heard something shuffling inside the waterfall again! However, the 'something' he heard wasn't just 'something', but was more like footsteps moving around in a panic as if rushing to hide.

Just as his mind was about to comprehend that information, his ears were bombarded with loud whistles going off one after the other. It was a high-pitched sound that did not belong to nature, hence waking Aernest up from his deep concentration. Whatever he heard at the waterfall was soon forgotten as he clutched his ears in pain. He hadn't been wearing headphones and had also concentrated all of his senses on his ears, so his ears were extra sensitive, particularly when it came to receiving that ultra-high pitched sound.

He forced his eyes open after a while and faced the object that was causing the sound. His eyes followed the flare that shot high to the sky as it burst red. The red smoke fell quickly to the waterfall, sinking into the water and disappearing. Even though he was in pain, Aernest got up very quickly and was just about to run when a red flare went off close to where he was. 

There was a tight clench he felt on his stomach and he knew deep down inside him that going back to the estate alone was impossible, hence instead of making any attempts at escaping, he decided to hide instead. 

Hiding worked well for 10 minutes until… it didn't. Though he knew by his ears that people were approaching, he still found himself surrounded by four people as he hid inside the hole, under the platform. It was a dangerous place to hide and one mistake would cause him to fall to his death. 

He did not think anyone would find this hole, but because the four people above him were preparing to attack him at all costs, he decided to attack them first. With the bow and arrow he crafted within 5 minutes before he hid, he fired one arrow at the closest enemy. 

Very quickly after that, he shot a decoy and jumped up to the platform. 

The four enemies pounced on him without any hesitation and did not care about the borderless cliff they were standing at and attacked him senselessly. Aernest grabbed an arrow with his ultra-sharp arrow and stabbed it to the person in the middle who dodged left. Using this momentum, Aernest kicked the calf of the person on his right and ran to the middle of the platform. 

The enemies didn't seem affected by Aernest's actions and they began to pursue him before he could reach the forest. 

"Who are you?" Aernest eyes were dark as he glared at the four enemies who surrounded him. Everything happened so fast that he didn't have time to think about who attacked him or how these people got here, but now that they were standing face to face, fighting, he was finally able to notice one very important detail. 

The enemies… weren't tall. Weren't mature-looking. And most importantly, they appeared to be his age. 

The enemies didn't reply as if they did not hear what Aernest was saying. Their blank eyes appeared to contain no soul or emotions. The only thing that expressed anything at all, were their bodies that were attacking Aernest.

Their blank state reminded him of something, however, there was no time to think when the tallest enemy moved forward and kicked him.

The speed of the taller boy wasn't fast nor slow. It was enough for Aernest to dodge the 2nd attack onwards and even gave him the time to attack back. Aernest's attack wasn't heavy but also wasn't light. Simply put, it was mediocre. Many times, Aernest could have cut the arteries of the enemy in front of him, or injure him severely, but he chose not to because he couldn't bring himself to do it. 

This was Aernest biggest mistake. And before Aernest realized it, his opponent's attack became faster and faster, landing hits on him in critical areas. His opponent's fighting style evolved quickly as if he was studying Aernest and growing the more they exchanged hits with each other. 

It was alarming but it was also too late when Aernest began to fight with the intention to kill because his opponent's allies began to gang on him. Luckily the attacks of the others did not evolve as much as the taller one did, hence making it easier for Aernest to concentrate his attacks on the shorter opponents instead. In a quick motion, he grabbed his arrow and stabbed it to the boy on his left. His stab was fatal, and the arrow went through to the boy's chest. 

Using the arrow stuck on the boy's chest, he pushed himself up and kicked the taller boy with all his strength before pulling the arrow that was stuck in the boy's body and using the body as a shield to block the attacks from the other two. 

All this while, Aernest was apologizing in his heart as he felt cowardly for using this trick. But the enemies did not seem to care and did not stop even though they were attacking the ally. They kept attacking as if they could punch through to their ally to reach Aernest. 

Aernest reached for the last arrow that was hanging on his waist, threw the boy he was using as a shield to his enemies, and jumped to his enemy on his right. Like the boy, he stabbed the chest of the girl, but unlike the boy, he wasn't able to subdue her as he continued to attack despite the arrow being embedded into her chest. Every time she moved to attack, blood would spurt out of her mouth, however, she didn't stop and continued to stare straight into Aernest's eyes as she attacked.

The sight of the girl made Aernest face turn very ugly however he was unable to do anything. He had no other weapon and could only defend against the three, especially the tallest whose attack landed everywhere on Aernest's body. 

Who knows why, but suddenly the tallest stopped, reached for the girl's chest, and pulled out the arrow from her chest. The young girl dropped to her knees almost instantaneously and her eyes rolled back. As if the boy was mimicking Aernest, he began to stab Aernest, specifically his chest.

"!!" Why would he ever be willing to be stabbed?! Is he crazy?! Like a lunatic, Aernest began to dodge. Whatever was attacking? All he could do was roll on the ground and evade! Little by little, blue and purple bruises began to appear on Aernest's body from being repeatedly hit, but also from slamming himself to the ground to evade. The bruises on Aernest's body looked incredibly painful, but there was no time for Aernest to stop to feel pain. 

Reaching for his bow, he began to use it just like a sword to deflect the boy's frantic thrust. 

But using the bow isn't enough. The more the fight prolonged, the stronger the taller boy and his leftover ally became. Aernest was unable to keep up with opponents, and his face was soon covered in cuts made by the arrow. Overall, his appearance looked sorry and wrecked. 

Rage was all Eugene could feel as she saw Aernest in this state. As if something in her had snapped, she prepared to murder the two enemies even though her brain was able to comprehend them as being around her age. Before the knights could react, Eugene was already gone.

Her step-flash was unlike Levis's. Levis's flash made him appear to cross long distances in an eyeblink, while Eugene's flash appeared instant. As if she had been there from the start.

From behind Aernest, she thrust to the center of the child's face. The taller boy didn't care about his facial injury and did not stop trying to attack Aernest, as if he was a robot. Eugene also didn't care about whether the boy was reacting or not, and repeatedly stabbed at the child's face. A lot of blood splattered on Aernest's face without touching Eugene, and she didn't stop even when the boy was on his knees.

To her, the sight of Aernest being covered in bruises and blood looked more devastating than the child's whose face could no longer be called a face. The knights took care of the last child, but unlike Eugene, only made it so that he wasn't able to move or even crawl.