Chapter 108: Constraining a strong foe
Despite being injured, Trunks still fled at a quick pace. Some old, broken tree roots and thick overgrowth of shrubbery seemed to have no effect on him.
Except, the injured Trunks was unable to deploy his maximum speed, whereas Han Shuo was in peak condition and was leveraging the surveillance of the original demons, following Trunks like a tight burr on his back. The distance between the two grew continuously closer.
The arrow in his butt had long since been yanked out as Trunks started running. He’d planned on dressing his wounds first, but when he discovered Han Shuo’s pursuit, he had to give up cleaning his wounds first out of resignation and flee heedlessly, whether or not his injury was still bleeding.
And so they continued this chase for more than ten minutes. Trunks’ endurance was astonishing as he grit his teeth and continued to run. Every time Han Shuo appeared in his vision, he would tap deep into his potential and bring forth another burst of speed, attempting to shake off Han Shuo.
It was a pity that having trained his magical yuan, Han Shuo’s originally weak personality had long since been trained to the peak of fortitude after repeated baptism via pain. Apart from the stubbornness of Han Shuo’s will exceeding Trunk’s imagination, his speed never decreased throughout the entire pursuit and in fact he seemed to be growing addicted to the chase and relished the chase more and more.
Although Trunks was exceedingly familiar with the surrounding terrain, with one of Han Shuo’s original demons hanging around him, it was as if a pair of hawk eyes were circling him, observing everything. No matter what Trunks did, he was still unable to shake off Han Shuo by virtue of him being familiar with the terrain alone.
Finally, after half a day of pursuing and running, Trunks gradually realized that this couldn’t continue in the face of his continued blood loss. He was unable to shake off Han Shuo, and with the increasing speed of circulation of his blood combined with the inability of being able to treat his body’s injuries in time, Trunks had a short spell of dizziness.
He leaned against a tree trunk and stopped, wiping away blood from the corner of his mouth and panted as he watched Han Shuo approach with decreased speed. He huffed as he said, “So it’s only been you who’s been following me. I think you’re looking for death.”
Panting twice, Han Shuo’s fiercely beating heart, due to sprinting during the pursuit, slowly recovered its calm. He was already grasping the Demonslayer Edge in his hand and the expression on his face was neither joyful or tragic. He stared coldly at Trunks and was in no hurry to approach Trunks. He slowed down the rate of his footsteps considerably.
Although Han Shuo knew that Trunks was heavily injured, but as injured as a swordmaster was, he was still an exceedingly dangerous existence. A lethal attack could come if he let his guard slip. It was precisely because Han Shuo couldn’t be certain how severe Trunks’ injuries were. Therefore, he didn’t actually dare make a move now that his prey had stopped.
“If you weren’t injured, I’d have no chance of facing you alone, but with the current situation, we’ll have to see if you still have any ability to do anything to me.” Han Shuo suddenly stopped roughly fifteen meters from Trunks and roved his eyes over Trunks’ body, opening his mouth to speak faintly.
Han Shuo once again took out the crossbow after speaking, loaded it with a crossbow bolt, and then took accurate aim at Trunks, using this to test Trunks’ current body condition.
“Do you dare only test me from far away? If you have the same amount of guts that you displayed last time, you would be rushing at me with no hesitation whatsoever.” Trunks planted his back against the tree and watch Han Shuo’s movements with cold eyes, speaking disdainfully.
“Do you take me for a fool or are you the fool? You should know that our identities have been reversed. You’re now the prey and I’m the hunter. I control how the game is played.” Han Shuo was completely unconcerned by Trunks’ mockery as he decisively shot out the bolt after taking aim with the crossbow.
The tip of the bolt gleamed with a bit of a cold light in the duskiness of the evening sky. A sharp sound abruptly whistled through the air as the bolt shot towards Trunk’s chest like electricity.
Trunks’ expression didn’t show anything out of the ordinary as his body flew out at almost the same time that sound whistled through the air. The crossbow bolt nailed firmly onto the big tree that Trunks had been leaning against just now. Having dodged the blow, Trunks’ body soared through the air for a few meters as he adroitly crossed a distance of fifteen meters and landed in front of Han Shuo, his speed greatly outside of Han Shuo’s imagination.
Milky-white fighting aura filled Han Shuo’s vision in the span of an instant, like he was residing in the center of a tornado. Han Shuo’s body was enclosed in milky-white fighting aura as his muscles instantly became taut. It seemed incredibly difficult to even make the slightest move and he could only watch as he drowned in fighting aura.
His body was unable to move, but the magical yuan within his body was flowing freely without obstruction. Han Shuo’s mind and heart were of one thought as the Demonslayer Edge flew out of his palm, suddenly dancing in the air around Han Shuo’s body. The air around Han Shuo’s body was suffused with the light blossoming from the Demonslayer Edge in the blink of an eye.
A violent sound of metal clashing rang out around Han Shuo, accompanied with Trunks’ furious yells of incredulity. Just as Han Shuo’s ear drums were about to go deaf, all the ear grating metallic sounds vanished utterly and the previously immobile Han Shuo finally returned to normal.
“Impossible, this is impossible! How can your weapon still defend against my Restrained Dragon Slash? Just who are you?” Han Shuo immediately heard Trunks’ shocked yells as soon as his body had returned to normal.
Concentrating his gaze, Han Shuo suddenly discovered that the broadsword Trunks had been wielding all along had suddenly shattered with many cracks. Trunks’ gaze kept darting back and forth between the broadsword and Han Shuo, a look of disbelief and incredulity on his face as he kept repeating, “This is impossible!”
Han Shuo’s shirt had been ripped to shreds all over and now hung on him like a rag. Many long superficial cuts had appeared on his muscles, revealing the red blood and flesh inside. The Demonslayer Edge seemed to have been flung away as it laid motionless in the distance, but there weren’t any dings or marks on it.
“Nothing is impossible!” Han Shuo suddenly bellowed and rushed forward with a sudden punch, taking advantage of Trunks’ abnormal mental state.
It wasn’t until this punch had made its way to Trunks’ face before he was able to react, lifting the now rigid broadsword to block Han Shuo’s punch.
Dong rang out crisply as Han Shuo’s right hand went numb, but Trunks’ body staggered backwards. Joy flashed through Han Shuo inwardly as he knew that Restrained Dragon Slash just now had taken most of Trunks’ fighting aura. Therefore, he immediately drew close to Trunks and started raining down a crazy barrage of kicks and punches.
Renowned in the Dark Forest for being a character not to get on the bad side of, Trunks had now become the weaker side after being heavily injured. He retreated continuously under Han Shuo’s string of attacks, until he finally fell backwards, as stiff as a board.
“Wait!” Just as Han Shuo had grasped the Demonslayer Edge again and was about to end Trunks’ life, he suddenly opened his mouth to stop Han Shuo and looked at him, “No matter what you’ve come to the Dark Forest for, I can help you! We don’t actually have any irreconcilable differences between us, just the matter of the twin headed dragon. That actually wasn’t that valuable.”
Han Shuo thought carefully after Trunks had spoken and discerned that this was the case. Han Shuo had made his moves earlier because he didn’t want to be threatened by others. Now that he wanted to kill Trunks, that was because he wanted to head off Trunks’ possible revenge. To be honest, he didn’t really have a deep hatred for Trunks.
He walked in front of Trunks and suddenly stabbed swiftly downwards with the Demonslayer Edge four times. He then coolly put the Demonslayer Edge away after a round of Trunks screaming like a pig being slaughtered.
The Demonslayer Edge stabbed downwards four times, piercing through the vitals in Trunks’ two hands and feet. Although it wasn’t enough to cause fatal damage, it also wouldn’t affect Trunks’ future training and strength, but he would absolutely not pose a threat to Han Shuo in the short run.
“My apologies, I feel that this is better insurance because you’re a more than dangerous person.” Han Shuo shrugged and said naturally, then smiled slightly at the grimacing Trunks after a pause, “I think we can have a good discussion now, will you be able to help me if I don’t kill you?”
“Oh… it seems like another cruel hunter has appeared within the Dark Forest. Haha!” He first moaned in pain and then burst out loudly in nervous laughter, with absolutely no strength in his body. Except, his current bedraggled condition was offset by his burnt hair, and his expression was an indescribable sort of ugly.
“Behave if you want to live. Tell me what you can help me with.” Han Shuo asked with a slight smile as he looked at Trunks.
“Then the first thing I need to ask is your purpose in coming to the Dark Forest. Why have you come?” Trunks’ expression didn’t have any traces of panic. Although he still emitted cries of pain, his expression was quite calm.
Starting, Han Shuo felt that there was no need to conceal anything and spoke directly, “I’m here for the Fruit of Dagmar. Can you help me obtain it?”
“I’ve been in the Dark Forest for many years and have heard of all sorts of legends. I know a bit about where the Fruit of Dagmar is and can bring you there, but I’m not certain if I can obtain the Fruit of Dagmar either. If you let me go this time, I can promise to help you with all my strength and won’t pursue this matter in the future. If you’ve heard of my reputation, then you should know that I never go back on my promises!” Trunks looked at Han Shuo as he promised solemnly.
“Deal!” Han Shuo nodded and responded quite decisively.