Chapter 107: A Ludicrous Sneak Attack, Thoroughly Seen Through

It had to be said that Trunks was incredibly familiar with the terrain here. Mounted on his beast, he seemed like another magical beast himself. With his extraordinary strength, the assistance of the manticore, and his mastery in navigating and utilizing the terrain, he was a top-tier expert.

Without the surveillance of Han Shuo's original demons, the group would have been completely helpless against Trunks's attack, and they would have suffered heavy casualties in the pitch-black night. After all, in a one-on-one fight against Trunks, not one of the seven adventurers here—including Han Shuo—could have lasted more than a few exchanges.

However, now that the original demons were monitoring his every move, everything had changed. Trunks, who was supposed to be the hunter, was highly likely to become the prey for the very first time.

"He's here!" Han Shuo, who was sharing a tent with Odysseus, suddenly spoke.

Odysseus did not show too much curiosity about Han Shuo's miraculous perception. Hearing him speak, Odysseus merely tightened his grip on his longsword and stared at Han Shuo, asking, "How should we handle this?"

"No need to rush. Trunks is observing us. We'll wait until he actually makes his move," Han Shuo explained to Odysseus, sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.

High up in the surrounding trees, Trunks was as agile as a monkey. Utilizing the flexible branches, he leaped and swung between the trees without making a single sound. In the dark night, no one could have noticed him.

The manticore was some distance away from Han Shuo and the others' tents, slowly circling them. As a creature highly skilled in pouncing on and killing prey, it was just as patient a hunter as Trunks.

Gradually, Trunks closed in, hiding within the branches of the large tree directly above Han Shuo and the others' tents. He stared coldly down at the tents below, seemingly contemplating his next move.

He picked up a few small stones. Two of them whistled through the air toward the tents, while another landed with a soft thud in the nearby grass. A few panicked cries echoed from the tents, and then Han Shuo and Odysseus rushed out, heading toward the direction where Trunks's stone had made a sound to investigate.

On the other side, the manticore also intentionally made some noise. Once the two swordsmen, including Gordon, stepped out of their tent, they exchanged a glance and walked toward the direction of the manticore's sound. The two mages and the archer remained in place, their eyes shining as they scanned the surroundings, guarding the camp to support the others.

Once Han Shuo and Odysseus reached the area where the stone had landed, and Gordon's duo had also moved away, Trunks, high above, suddenly used a flexible branch to swing toward Gordon's direction. It appeared he intended to finish off Gordon and his companion first.

"Let's go!" Han Shuo whispered. Leading Odysseus in a detour, he approached Trunks's position from another angle.

Gordon and his companion walked slowly, their eyes filled with vigilance as they constantly scanned the surrounding grass. The manticore lay in ambush in the bushes just ten meters away, waiting for them to draw closer before launching a surprise attack.

Swinging by the branches, Trunks miraculously made no sound and revealed no trace of his figure. He slowly closed in on Gordon's duo, quickly appearing right above them.

Suddenly, a heavy crossbow bolt tore through the air. In the silent night, the sharp whistle of the bolt was incredibly piercing. As Trunks swung from the flexible branch, he suddenly realized that the crossbow bolt was aimed directly at him, leaving him utterly horrified.

With no foothold while suspended in mid-air, Trunks had no choice but to drop to the ground. At that moment, the two mages and the archer, who were supposed to be guarding the tents, miraculously appeared. A water dragon, a bolt of lightning, and three flying arrows suddenly rained down on him.

Mid-fall, Trunks could not stop his descent. With great difficulty, he unleashed a milky-white battle qi from his broadsword to defend himself. However, caught off guard, he clearly suffered a setback. Though he managed to sever Nia's three arrows, he was struck by the lightning, and the water dragon slammed hard into his chest. With a muffled groan, he crashed into the thick underbrush.

"Five paces in front of the third tree on the left, attack!" Han Shuo calmly shouted from a distance.

Several attacks blasted out, targeting the spot where Trunks had just landed. The underbrush was extremely dense, and Trunks had nimbly slipped into hiding the moment he hit the ground. Logically, it should have been impossible for Han Shuo and the others to pinpoint his location.

However, reality defied expectations. Just as Trunks had hidden himself, Han Shuo's shout directed a barrage of attacks right at him. This time, Trunks dodged the two mages' spells, but an arrow fired blindly by the archer Nia, who could not see him at all, happened to strike him square in the buttocks.

A cry of pain rang out. Trunks, clearly bewildered, cried out and immediately changed direction, attempting to launch an attack from another angle. Yet, as Han Shuo continued to call out his coordinates, the group's attacks rained down in succession, all miraculously locking onto Trunks's exact position.

"What the hell is going on?!" Having been bombarded repeatedly, Trunks had never felt so frustrated in his life. He finally couldn't help but curse out loud.

For a long time, Trunks had been extremely confident in his stealth and ambush skills. He never believed anyone in the Dark Forest could see through his movements. Yet this time, facing a group of adventurers whose strength was not particularly outstanding, he had suffered a massive setback for the first time. No matter how he dodged, he was overwhelmed by attacks, and in just this short span, he had already sustained significant injuries.

The lurking manticore, seeing that its master's plan had failed, could no longer contain itself and charged from a distance. As it ran, bushes flew in all directions, and a single swipe of its claws brought down a tree as thick as a man's waist with an incredibly terrifying momentum.

"The manticore is coming! Attack!" Odysseus yelled. The three swordsmen immediately fanned out, blocking the manticore's path.

Some of the attacks that had been focused on Trunks were suddenly redirected toward the charging manticore. However, the manticore possessed a tough hide and moved as fast as lightning. Most of the attacks missed, and the few arrows fired by the archer Nia did little damage when they struck its body.

Right at that moment, Han Shuo's face turned cold as he began to manipulate the Demonslayer Edge using the Demon Controlling Technique. In the dark sky, a purple streak of light shot out, drawing a beautiful arc through the air before suddenly stabbing toward the manticore's back. As a level-one magical beast, the manticore clearly sensed the impending danger and agilely dodged the Demonslayer Edge's first strike.

Meanwhile, Trunks emerged from the distance, limping. Gripping his broadsword, he furiously approached the two mages and Nia, intending to combine his strength with the manticore to slaughter them all on the spot, regardless of the cost.

"Ignore the manticore! Focus all attacks on Trunks!" Han Shuo suddenly shouted, causing the two mages and Nia to immediately turn back and resume bombarding the rapidly approaching Trunks.

Among Odysseus and the two swordsmen, Gordon split off to head toward Nia's side, while the other two rushed the manticore, blasting it with their battle qi. As Odysseus closed in on the manticore, it swiped at him with a claw, completely shattering his fully gathered battle qi. Odysseus was sent flying far away, while the other swordsman seized the opportunity to stab the manticore, but it only left a tiny bloody scratch, which served only to infuriate the beast even further.

The enraged manticore raised another claw, intending to crush the nearby swordsman to death. Just then, the purple light that had briefly vanished suddenly reappeared, stabbing fiercely toward the manticore's tail.

Sensing the danger, the manticore leaped forward in a rush, allowing the swordsman standing so close to narrowly escape with his life. Although the manticore had dodged in time, the Demonslayer Edge had already sliced open its back, sending the biting cold of the Glacial Demonic Qi surging into its body.

A roar of maddened fury erupted from the manticore's mouth. Controlling the Demonslayer Edge, Han Shuo felt the manticore's rage and immediately focused all his attention on directing the weapon, determined to kill the beast on the spot.

"Damn you all! How dare you hurt my partner!" Trunks limped, an arrow still sticking out of his buttocks. Drenched from the water dragon's blast and charred black from the lightning strike, his previous composed demeanor was completely gone. Blood seeped uncontrollably from his mouth, making him look incredibly disheveled and battered.

"I'm going to hurt you too, let alone your pet!" With a cold, mocking chuckle, Han Shuo spoke as the Demonslayer Edge relentlessly pursued the manticore like an inescapable specter.

A sharp, piercing whistle suddenly sounded from Trunks's mouth. Upon hearing the whistle, the furious manticore immediately leaped backward and fled into the distance. After whistling, Trunks glared hatefully at the group before fleeing rapidly in the opposite direction of the manticore.

"Stay here, I'm going after him!" Strike while the iron is hot. Since Trunks was clearly heavily injured, Han Shuo knew exactly how to seize the opportunity. Seeing Odysseus, who had been sent flying by the manticore, spitting blood as he climbed back to his feet without any life-threatening injuries, Han Shuo immediately gave chase in the direction of Trunks's escape.