Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

Chapter 319: Chapter 15 Deathmatch_3

“It shouldn’t have gone far!” the old Hunter shouted encouragement to everyone.

Following the blood and signs of destruction, a group of riders, each armed, carefully searched the wooded area.

The bear’s movements seemed to be slowing, staggering; the trihedral spearhead made the wound difficult to close, and instead of diminishing, the blood trail in the forest was actually increasing.

However, the dense vegetation seriously hindered the riders’ progress, and it was extremely easy to lose sight, inevitably causing the team to stretch out.

The normally peaceful forest now felt exceptionally dangerous in the hearts of everyone.

“Sir! Look! Someone made a mark!” Ralph suddenly pointed to a freshly exposed tree trunk.

“There might be militiamen ahead of us chasing that thing.” Winters took the firelock out of the saddlebag, “Keep chasing!”

Continuing forward, the same kind of mark was still there. It was obviously no coincidence, but someone had carved arrows into the tree bark to indicate direction.

Without further doubt, Winters and Ralph summoned the other riders to gather and quickly pursued along the direction marked.

But after passing through a large birch forest, the mark and the blood trail disappeared at the edge of a low cliff. The previous mark had directed them here, but there was nothing on the trees at the edge of the low cliff.

“The mark is gone!?” the old Hunter was both shocked and puzzled.

“Down below?” Winters, frowning, urged his horse closer to the low cliff.

Their position was about eight or nine meters higher than the ground ahead. It seemed a collapse had occurred here, forming this low cliff.

Just as Winters brought his horse to the edge of the cliff, a voice, as if from someone with a changing voice, suddenly sounded from behind him, “Watch out!”

What followed was a spine-chilling roar. The giant bear they had been chasing all along burst out from below ground, opening its grotesque mouth to bite at the forelegs of the chestnut horse.

Only then did Winters realize that there was a large burrow at the edge of the low cliff, which the bear had used as its den. However, due to the angle of view, one could only see this burrow by approaching the edge of the cliff.

The chestnut horse, startled, violently stamped the ground and leaped to dodge, narrowly escaping the bear’s lethal bite. But Winters, caught off guard, was thrown from the saddle, crashing down to the ground, man and gun together.

Before Winters could catch his breath, the bear, having missed its first strike, abandoned the chestnut horse and charged roaring directly at him.

With the sudden outburst of the bear, Ralph, Sergei, and the other Dusacks were too late to come to the rescue.

At this life-or-death moment, Winters clenched his teeth and rolled off the edge of the low cliff.

The beast, missing twice, also roared and leaped off the cliff.

Before the Dusacks could react, a slim figure wielding a long spear dashed out of the woods, shouting and following the bear down.

As his body uncontrollably fell along the cliffside, tumbling down, Winters clutched his firelock tightly. He knew it was his only chance for survival.

However, what he had not expected was that the leaping bear would land before him. Its body heavily smashed into the ground, but the ferocious creature just shook its head and stood up again.

The instant he hit the bottom of the cliff, Winters, enduring the pain, raised his gun to aim at the bear.

At the same time, the bear also charged at Winters with a ferocious growl.

Time seemed to stop at that moment.

If he was lucky enough, he might be able to shoot the 35g lead bullet into the beast’s mouth—but he knew that wouldn’t kill it, having already tried.

To shoot? Or to wait? There was only a moment to decide.

Accompanied by a shrill shout, a thin figure leaped from the low cliff, plunging the long spear straight down towards the bear’s neck.

On its own, this frail primate could never have penetrated the bear’s hide. But gravity—though in this era no one knew what was called gravity—lent a hand, making it all possible.

Height became speed, speed became force, and the spearhead, like a hot knife through butter, pierced the bear’s neck fur, fat, muscle, and through the body, embedding itself into the ground.

The bear, struck by this heavy blow, was brought to the ground, blood gushing from the wound.

But the savage beast did not die immediately. It pushed off the ground with its forelimbs to stand once again, swinging its neck to shake off the foreign object and the human on it.

No matter how much brute strength the bear exerted, it could not shake off the thin figure clinging to the spear shaft. Each shake only inflicted more damage upon itself.

Winters, who had escaped death by a hair’s breadth, finally saw the face of the fierce and thin spearsman—it was Anglu, the small groom from Dusa Village.

So, it was clear what that piercing shout that was too shrill to discern had been—it was “Telqing.”

Winters struggled to his feet. Anglu had created an opportunity for him, and he could not waste it. He sprinted towards the bear, and the moment he inserted the barrel into the bear’s ear, Winters ignited the gunpowder.

With a “boom,” shrapnel flew in all directions, leaving Winters with a ringing in his ears and his vision swimming. The lead bullet did not successfully fire, and the matchlock gun exploded in his hands.

The heavy matchlock gun had burst its barrel.

The bear became even crazier, wildly lunging at Winters. Caught off guard, Winters was knocked to the ground by the bear. Seizing a cartridge of gunpowder in desperation, he blocked the bear’s savage bite.

The next second, he ignited the gunpowder.@@novelbin@@

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