Volume 5 Chapter 37: The Pain of Life

As Hill called out, Hansen’s chopping knife, which was aimed sideways at Kael, suddenly stopped. His body involuntarily lunged forward due to momentum.

At that moment, The Disciple’s eyes flashed with sharp light. He kicked Frank in the butt from the left front, used the force to do a backflip, and desperately followed Hill to escape.

However, Frank, who was used as a cushion, didn’t have it easy. He was already facing Kael, and after being kicked, he stumbled even more toward the Martial Artist. But Frank’s face showed no emotion, as if he had expected all this. He gritted his back teeth, and a faint sound of breaking glass came from his mouth.

Yet, faced with such a good chance to attack, Kael stood frozen in place, keeping the punching pose from the previous second. It was as if he had been struck by lightning and completely lost the ability to dodge. He even staggered when Frank bumped into him, still looking utterly confused.

In fact, not just Kael, but all the team members under Fink’s leadership froze in place. It was like time had skipped a beat, or as if some god had suddenly taken their souls away, turning them all into zombies temporarily.

Of course, the truth was very similar to this result! At this moment, a message flashed like thunder in Fink and his team members’ minds, making them lose all ability to think instantly.

“HG522 Apostle Team, team member 52270 Apostle—Qingming, has died!”

“Qingming!” Fink’s lips trembled slightly. He felt a surge of heat rise from his stomach to his head, his face instantly turning purple. His eyes widened, and he shouted angrily, “Kill them…”

Fink was filled with deep regret at this moment and almost wanted to kill himself. A few minutes earlier, Qingming had sent a message in the Team Channel, confirming that Qin Lun was an Apostle but couldn’t be sure if he was connected to the current enemies.

Since the two battlefields were several kilometers apart, even if Yu Mo, the fastest in the team, rushed to aid immediately, it would still take over ten minutes to reach the hill cave in the current terrain.

Plus, the enemy before them was already on the verge of collapse and would break in just a few minutes. Victory was in sight. So Fink decided to let Qingming hold on for fifteen minutes. Once he was free, he would send Yu Mo to support Qingming.

In Fink’s impression, Qin Lun didn’t seem very strong. Even if he had undergone a Class Change, he was only a low-level Professional Apostle. A one-on-one fight with Qingming wouldn’t give him an overwhelming advantage, leading Fink to make the wrong decision.

Of course, even if Fink had Yu Mo set out as soon as he got Qingming’s message, Qin Lun would still have had enough time to kill Qingming.

But if that had happened, Qin Lun might have abandoned his plan outright. No matter how smart he was, he couldn’t have calculated the exact time needed to kill Qingming. And if Yu Mo left earlier, with three against five, the fight here would likely end in a stalemate, with neither side winning. Both teams’ hunting plans would have failed together.

Qingming’s pretty face flashed before his eyes. Thinking of that stubborn woman who was cold on the outside but warm inside, now dead because of his wrong decision, Fink felt as if a knife was twisting in his heart, and his mouth filled with the taste of bloody metal.

Fink raised his arm, and a five-foot-long greatsword instantly appeared in his hands. He swung it with a sharp gust of wind, aiming at Sas, who was nearly exhausted. At this moment, he no longer had any schemes; he only wanted to split his opponent in half and bury him with the dead Qingming.

Sas’s eyes were filled with deep confusion. Weary and drained, he hadn’t yet grasped what Hill had said. He also couldn’t understand why the enemy, who had been so passive before, suddenly became as fierce as if they had taken a powerful tonic.

However, faced with the swift sword strike, Sas didn’t dare delay. Knowing he might not block this hit, he clumsily rolled on the ground, trying to create some distance. But Fink was now in a frenzied state. Sas’s retreat only made the storm of sword strikes surge toward him like a tide.

“Dead, just like that! How could you die? How could you die before me? Qingming, Qingming…” Kael still held his punching pose, staring blankly at his fist, muttering to himself.

In this team, Qingming was cold, and Kael was arrogant. The two often bickered and teased each other. But everyone knew Kael had a crush on Qingming, though no one knew if the icy woman understood his feelings.

Kael slowly retracted his fist, his eyes completely red. Beneath his bangs, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Frank, who was turning to run away.

“Qingming, wait! I’ll send all these people to accompany you on your journey, so you won’t be lonely!”

Qingming had just died, and now his opponents were fleeing. Putting this together with the team’s strange behavior all along, even if Kael wasn’t as sharp as Fink, he now understood they had fallen into a trap. While they were hunting others, this team was also scheming to hunt Qingming.

Kael’s body suddenly shook like a poor-quality image, producing two blurry afterimages before vanishing without a trace. A small whirlwind formed where he had stood.

When Kael reappeared, he was behind Frank. The Martial Artist slightly crouched, fists pulled to his sides. His right foot stamped, and a two-inch deep footprint silently appeared on the ground. Shifting from a horse stance to a bow stance, he twisted his waist and hips, throwing his right fist with all his fury into Frank’s back.

“Thud!” Frank’s whole body shuddered as if struck by lightning. A dark mass shot out from his chest, hitting a tree trunk ahead and turning into a messy pulp.

Frank wore an expression of disbelief as he slowly looked down, just in time to see a blood-covered fist retract from the large hole in his chest.

Was that my heart? Frank felt the world spin, everything turning blurry. Before he could collapse, a tremendous force struck the top of his head, plunging him into complete darkness.

Kael leaped into the air, glanced down at the giant below who had lost his heart and had half his head stomped into his chest, then flew off into the forest without looking back, chasing after Hansen and Hill.

What was happening? Cora couldn’t believe her eyes as she watched the team suddenly fall apart—one dead, two fleeing—leaving only herself and Sas. Her blood rushed up, sweat drenched her body, and her heart sank.

Facing the suddenly crazed Rogue and Dwarf, the Esmira policewoman felt all the doubts she had harbored since entering the Sanctuary Camp explode in her mind. She sensed that her worst fears had come true.

Suddenly, it all became clear. She saw through the fog that had clouded her and her husband’s eyes since they joined the team and entered Nals Inner World.

Why would those three, who were as strong as her, invite Esmira people—who were looked down upon by humans—to join the team? Why did they sell the Purple Tower Shield and Dark Gold Staff to her and her husband so cheaply? Why did they choose the Sanctuary Camp over The Spire? Why did the enemy team come to the camp and provoke Hansen directly? Why did Qin Lun leave the team to hunt that Hill Giant alone?

So, she and her husband had been used as bait, shields, and pawns by those three all along! She and Sas had foolishly thought they had found a truly united team, free from the oppression of larger groups.

It was all a lie! The three they considered companions were so despicable, so cruel, so heartless!

Could it be that as an Apostle, one could no longer find friendship or loyalty in Shattered Starry Sky?

What was the point of living like this?

Unknowingly, tears streamed down Cora’s face. She felt her heart turn to ashes.

“Cora! Go, run!” a familiar roar snapped Cora out of it.

The Esmira policewoman saw Sas, now covered in blood, holding the Purple Tower Shield in front of her.

“Sas… we…” Cora looked at her husband, choking up, unable to speak.

“Go!” Sas roared with all his might, as if pouring out all his anger, not turning back.

Cora trembled, fighting back tears, and ran toward the woods.

In her confusion, she seemed to see her husband turn back with a smile and mouth a silent phrase. Unable to hold back her sorrow any longer, she let out a piercing scream and dashed into the bushes.

“Live on… Cora!”

…

“You two chase! I’ll handle him! Be careful of the archer who killed Qingming!” Fink’s face was dark as he waved Yu Mo and Sen away, steadily approaching Sas, who was now barely conscious.

Yu Mo and Sen nodded. Mentioning Qingming left them in no mood to reply. They turned and ran straight after Cora.

Because their team had formed a wedge shape to face the enemy, they actually blocked escape routes on the left, center, and right. So, whether it was Hill and Hansen who fled first or Cora who followed, they all ran backward, with Kael, Yu Mo, and Sen in the middle, forming a straight line.

Among them, neither the escapees nor the pursuers had completely left each other’s sight. Even though they had completed the Main Quest, they still couldn’t leave the battle and return directly to Shattered Starry Sky.

But now, Hill and Hansen found someone blocking their way, looking around curiously. This person was riding a strange creature that, at first glance, looked like a wild boar. On closer look, it was an Arrowhog Beast with all its back spines plucked out.

Perhaps because its spines were all gone, the Arrowhog Beast seemed weak. But the person riding it was full of energy, watching Hill and the others with keen interest.

“Over here, over here, run this way!” Casey waved cheerfully at the group.