This entire process, perhaps less than a second, was enough for him to confirm the presence of the enemy.
As for the two people in front of him, they were completely unaware.
Until Xia Nan stood up to warn them, John seed to react instinctively, springing up from the ground like a monkey, climbing up the thick tree trunk beside him, hiding in the shadow of the treetop, clutching his longbow tightly.
Colin’s reaction speed was noticeably slower, but just as John promised before setting out, his young apprentice did not hold back the team.
Even though he didn’t know what he would be facing, after being reminded, he climbed up another towering oak tree like John.
However, seeing his hands and feet tremble slightly, it was obvious he was extrely nervous.
Under normal circumstances, an adventurer team with even a bit of discipline encountering danger in the forest would often contract inward to ensure formation, increasing the team’s error tolerance and ability to respond as much as possible.
But the situation for these few people right now was entirely different.
From the perspective of team roles, two shooters and one warrior made a totally unreasonable team composition; the strength gap was imnse, making the two hunters more like "attachnts" responsible for leading the way rather than helpers.
Therefore, Xia Nan naturally didn’t need to adhere to the usual unwritten rules of an adventurer team, to contract and retreat.
Moreover, at this mont, he had already confird the identity and approximate number of enemies through the air that slled all too familiar, even sowhat nostalgic, and other details.
A strange smile that was hard for others to detect flashed across his shadow-covered face, and with a step, his entire figure vanished into the depths of the dense forest.
From the perspective of Colin hiding under the treetop, he had just climbed the tree trunk, pulled the bowstring, and fitted an arrow.
But the fully ard black-haired adventurer was no longer within his sight.
The air suddenly fell into a heavy silence.
Colin could even hear the faint thumping sound of his heart in his increasingly rapid breath.
The arrowhead, reflecting the cold gleam under the sunlight, aimlessly pointed forward at the dense shrubbery, any cluster of which could potentially spawn enemies, and he involuntarily recalled those chilling demon images he had heard about before.
Without any intense physical activity, but under extre ntal tension and taut muscles, the sweat silently soaked through his clothes.
At this mont, Colin was tense to the extre.
The silence was broken by a piercing scream filled with pain from deep within the forest.
Colin almost shuddered twice, his bow and arrow nearly slipping from his grip.
His first thought was whether the young adventurer nad "Xia Nan" had encountered any danger.
After all, Colin thought, facing a potential hidden enemy and walking into the dark forest alone seed too reckless.
If he...
No!
Colin shook his head, quickly regaining awareness.
That shrill wail was significantly sharper than that of an ordinary human, likely not emitted by the adventurer.
So, had he already engaged the enemy in combat?
Colin hesitated in his heart, wondering if he should go to support.
But then, another painful shriek echoed from the forest.
One after another, in succession.
Amidst a faint bloody scent, the air faintly carried the noise of breaking branches and the swoosh of sharp objects cutting through the air.
The young man, lacking experience, naturally couldn’t make any decisive judgnt.
While hesitating, the commotion from the deep forest had unknowingly ceased.
Replaced by a terrifying silence, like a tide surging again.
"Has the battle... ended?"
Colin speculated in his mind.
Recollecting the constant screams, he thought Xia Nan probably achieved the final victory.
But if anything unexpected happened, or if the encountered demons were too strong, what should he and Uncle John, left behind here, do?
Could they make it back alive?
The extre tension made this overly naive young man start to overthink.
And imdiately after, the overly quiet environnt and the delay in seeing the returning adventurer further heightened his fear.
Colin even wanted to risk shouting to Uncle John on the other tree to ensure he hadn’t been abandoned, left alone at the original spot.
Just at this mont.
"Creak!"
A bush in the front suddenly shook, and the sound of hurried footsteps abruptly resounded within it, rapidly approaching at an extrely swift pace.
Colin montarily held his breath.
His bowstring instinctively pulled taut, his arm trembled slightly from excessive exertion, the sharp arrow pointed at the bush shaking violently.
Bang!——
A thin, deford, ugly figure suddenly burst out from the depths of the bush amid fallen leaves and broken branches.
The figure was hunched and twisted, its rough and repulsive pus-green skin surface covered with pustules and mud, its feet wrapped in slippery rotten leaves and mud, a pair of brown-yellow eyes seed to bulge out of their sockets.
Goblin!
Colin’s mind went blank.
Under village hunter John’s training, this young man had had so experience in wild hunting and had seen such dangerous demons, like cockroaches, spread everywhere in the world.
But for safety’s sake, John never allowed him to approach, only looked from afar before leading him to retreat.
Not to ntion killing one or two himself, he hadn’t even had close contact.
And perhaps because of this.
Now, as Colin saw the goblin’s bald head, full of blue veins and warts, its mouth dripping thick saliva from jagged yellow-black rotten teeth, and sensed the incredibly strong, mixed with sweat, blood, and mud stench in the air.
A trace of fear unconsciously arose in his heart.
The fully drawn longbow abruptly relaxed, the bowstring rebounded, the arrow shot forth.
But the intense nervousness made Colin’s arrow, which should have hit perfectly at such a distance, miss its mark slightly.
The arrow whistled past the goblin, directly shooting into the forest behind.
"Hiss!"
The sharp and harsh shriek erupted.
The unexpected miss left Colin’s mind blank.
And soon after, the startled scream from the goblin in mid-run and its glance in the direction the arrow ca from further petrified the 16-year-old boy.
He lost his footing, his body’s center of gravity went out of control.
His entire body fell directly from the tree.
At this mont, the inexperienced and extrely tense Colin had lost the ability to think.
He didn’t notice why his fall from the tree had slowed as if he were a falling leaf, almost floating down to the ground;
Nor did he think about why, despite seeing him falling to the ground and losing the height advantage, the goblin showed no intention of attacking but instead sped up its twig-like short legs to run away from him;
And he couldn’t notice the fresh blood on the goblin’s body surface, nor the undisguised panic and fear in its deanor.
He was simply driven by his muscle mory, leaning against the tree trunk, pulling arrows from the quiver behind, fitting them to the bowstring, aiming at the fleeing goblin in front, drawing the bow...
"Snap."
A strange hand reached out from behind, grabbing the arrow shaft about to shoot.
Colin could even see, reflected in the smooth, dark, cold arm shield, his own sweaty, dazed face.
"Don’t rush."
Accompanied by a strong bloody scent, the familiar voice rang from behind.
Just like the deep silhouette with edges basking in the setting sun when his elder brother opened the door, the tall, slender figure stood there with the light at its back.
"Let its fear lead our way."
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