On the high cliff, the view was wide open.
A tall, thin man stood there, wearing a hunting hat with a feather in it and leather hunter's armor, looking like a hunter.
The quiver he carried was empty. All his arrows were stuck in the ground around him, forming a red heart, like an archery target.
In his hand, this man held a strange-shaped bow. Embedded in the center of the longbow's curved arm was an eye. At first, it seemed like decoration, until it filled with blood, and then one realized it was a living eye.
"Magic archer." Owen's eye, the one on the longbow, blinked. A calm, indifferent voice slowly emerged:
"Who is that?"
Recently, Owen had shot the village chief of Irog and the knightly order sent by the lord. Then he noticed an old man slipping away from the village, preparing to go to the Spirit Tree Forest to spread the news.
He didn't mind the old man reporting, but he remembered, while observing through the magic bow's single eye, that the old man had good relations with everyone in the Spirit Tree Forest.
If I kill the old man and hang his body publicly, it will surely anger them even more and make them easier to provoke, right?
Owen became interested and did it.
The first arrow, due to an accident, didn't kill the old man with one shot. But the second arrow, calculating wind direction, wind speed, and distance, would surely hit. However, the arrow was intercepted by a suddenly appearing figure.
Owen had long observed the prey from afar through the single eye of the magic bow, watching their lives and assessing their relationships.
He was sure he had never seen this knight before. The knight had apparently arrived here today.
Thinking about it, it's no wonder. He's spent too long on this hunt, and the group of prey has found helpers.
However, being a hunter requires patience.
During the hunt, the roles of hunter and prey can be reversed at any moment. Without patience, one would never survive to the end. He had understood this before becoming an Apostle.
Whatever instructions these angels gave, Owen would proceed at his own pace.
Besides, the Spirit Tree had been destroyed by him. His goal was achieved. Only his personal grudge remained.
Owen thought about this and touched his shoulder and chest.
There was a deep wound on him, left by the Dragonslayer, which had nearly killed him.
In truth, he didn't feel strong resentment towards Guts. On the contrary, he still very much enjoyed this feeling—this feeling of competing with each other in the light and darkness. He hadn't encountered prey worthy of the hunt in a long time.
In the past, he had been obsessed with this kind of hunting, gradually losing his social nature as a human. He had retreated deep into the mountains and fields, shone in the endless wilderness, and become a terrible man-eating beast there.
He loved this feeling—hiding in the darkness, delivering a fatal blow to the prey, and sometimes deliberately making noise, causing the prey to make all kinds of chaotic decisions in fear, and then calmly beginning.
Tigers, leopards, wolves, and eagles are naturally good prey, but in the end, the most blood-pumping and thrilling prey are truly humans.
He no longer remembered how many people he had killed, or whom he had killed. Later, he even truly considered himself a beast, eating the flesh of his prey and drinking its blood.
No hunter could catch him. No knight could catch him. Even if a knight came, it was impossible to catch him, except by the scythe of death.
In the end, humans have a lifespan limit.
To continue hunting forever, Owen decided to sacrifice all the warmth that remained in him in his human state.
The girl he had accidentally saved, who firmly believed he was not a bad person, and who wanted to live in seclusion with him in the mountains, became one of the sacrifices.
Offering all this in exchange for the body of an Apostle, Owen never regretted it. He believed it was worth it.
If not for the Apostle's body, how could he have survived until now, fighting Guts the "Berserker," and now seeing a knight capable of stopping his feathered arrows?
The witch Flora was actually very good, but too weak and suppressed. Owen couldn't muster much interest in her, so he could only include her in the secondary prey list.
Only Guts could awaken his hunting instinct. And perhaps this knight also possessed that potential.
Owen took a deep breath and pondered: should he shoot another couple of arrows to test this man's quality, or, as before, temporarily hide for a few days, observing secretly through the eye of the magic bow?
Clop, clop, clop—!
At that moment, he suddenly heard the sound of hooves from a distance. When he turned his head, he saw two familiar figures.
"There! There!"
The goblin Puck shone with golden light, flapping his scales and waving his golden needle, pointing at the mountaintop where Owen was.
A horse galloped past Puck, rolling up its tattered cloak, revealing the large, thick Dragonslayer lying horizontally behind, and the Berserker Armor with fierce intent in the pitch darkness.
Guts grabbed the reins, flipped off the horse, drew the Dragonslayer, and stared at Owen with burning eyes.
"Finally caught you again."
Puck also flew onto Guts's shoulder and danced excitedly: "And indeed, I, Lord Puck, still need to act! Hahahaha..."
Owen looked at them and frowned.
It could be said that under the eye of his magic bow, all movements, intentions, and habits of the prey should be hidden.
Only this little goblin—the target was too small. Even in the field of vision of the magic bow, it was impossible for him to become prey before. But now, it had repeatedly caused him trouble.
Just like now, Owen was momentarily distracted simply because of the existence of the wandering knight, and this little goblin discovered him and attracted the "berserker" Guts.
If it were normal, Owen would surely have noticed Guts nearby. He would either have suddenly used cold arrows or calmly evacuated. The initiative to make decisions was in his hands.
This distance was not suitable for his current fighting style.
What's more, it was unwise to face this knight along with these two dangerous, worthy prey at the same time.
Hunters never put themselves in dangerous situations.
It seems one of them needs to be dealt with.
Owen pulled out the arrows stuck in the ground, one by one, and put them back in his quiver.
"I won't let you escape again." Guts approached step by step, raising the Dragonslayer in his hand, his eyes resolute. "This time, I will definitely kill you."
Owen put away all the arrows, reinserted the magic bow into the leather bow and arrow case on his back, and then slowly moved towards the cliff.
"By the way, lately, I've been competing with you in human form. Showing you my Apostle form for the first time, right?"
"This should have been a great battle between you and me. But I was interrupted by that witch Flora, and I was put at a disadvantage because of it. You cut me and seriously wounded me."
"Now that I've recovered from my serious injuries, there's no 'witch' beside you. You've put on this Berserker Armor again. Perhaps today is the perfect time to decide the victor."
"Then I'll choose the battlefield."
Guts frowned, ignoring that Puck was shaken by his movements. He spread his legs and rushed towards Owen, raising the Dragonslayer to cleave him!
FWOOSH—!
The Dragonslayer traced a silver arc, but it cut through the air, allowing Owen to kick off and fall from the cliff, his back to the sky.
Guts lowered the Dragonslayer, stepped onto the cliff edge with one foot, and looked down.
As Owen fell, he was enveloped by flesh and blood erupting from his body, beginning to transform in midair!
Black hair grew all over his body, long and thick. His entire form resembled the legendary "centaur" appearance, but with the human part behind the beast's body.
The beast body below was not a horse, but a pair of curved and massive horns, like a deer's, and also like a wolf's beast, with an open eye on the front of the beast's head.
The "magic archer" Owen fell from the cliff, but calmly kicked with his four hooves and landed steadily on the ground.
Stopping, he pointed at the village not far ahead and looked at Guts.
"Come on, Guts." Owen said. "In this village, let it be your final battlefield."
After these words, Owen didn't wait for Guts's reaction. He took four steps and ran towards the village.
Puck flew up, landed on Guts's shoulder, saw clearly, and said anxiously, "Isn't that the Village of Irog? Why did he choose that?"
"Damn it!" Guts immediately turned and ran towards his horse. "This bastard wants to take the lives of the villagers to gain an advantage. He's going to kill the defenseless villagers of Irog to use them."
He mounted his horse and gave chase.
At that moment, Puck also climbed into the pouch on Guts's waist and asked:
"What should I do? I remember the people in this village were brainwashed by the teachings of the Holy See. Recently, many tragic things have happened. They don't flee; they still live there..."
Guts's face also fell. He said coldly, "There's no other choice. We have to end this quickly."
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