Steel, gunpowder, and spellcasters

Chapter 128 Death Fight
The old hunter roared and drew his longbow to its fullest extent; a flash of cold light and a heavy arrow swept across the mountain stream. Guided by the wind, the arrowhead found its way precisely to the giant bear's left eye.

Blood mixed with other substances gushed from the giant bear's eye socket. The arrow's kinetic energy did not dissipate there, but continued to penetrate deeper until the shaft was more than three inches into the left eye.

Even the strongest longbow combined with a heavy arrow that hit the eye directly failed to kill the beast, instead making it even more dangerous.

Driven by excruciating pain, the giant bear instantly went berserk. It let out a roar that shook the mountains, abandoning Winters who was nearby, and pounced on the opposite bank of the river to tear the old hunter to pieces.

The old hunter, despite his sprained ankle, didn't run away; he just stood there and continued shooting arrows at the ferocious beast.

He shot with incredible speed and accuracy, the nearly two-hundred-pound bow handling like a toy in his hands. The bowstring vibrated repeatedly, each arrow striking the beast's head with pinpoint accuracy.

But the arrows could not penetrate the beast's hard skull. The giant bear ignored the arrow stuck in its head, and the impact stirred up thousands of splashes in the river. The shallows, which were six or seven meters wide, looked ridiculous beneath it.

With nowhere to run and no way to escape, the old hunter roared and futilely fired arrow after arrow at the giant bear.

Winters, having regained some consciousness, struggled to his feet. He picked up a rock and hurled it at the beast, yelling, "Don't run! Come and kill me!"

The giant bear closed the distance of thirty meters in an instant. The old hunter watched helplessly as the ferocious beast drew closer and closer, and closed his eyes in despair.

The giant bear was less than ten meters from Ralph when, at the critical moment, a tall, black horse galloped out from a bend in the downstream river.

Seeing that Ralph was on the verge of death, the black horse rider neither dodged nor avoided, but instead rammed into the giant bear.

Even such a colossal beast was knocked off its feet by the charging warhorse.

But the warhorses and riders were in even worse shape. The warhorses, with countless broken bones, lay in the riverbed, whimpering in agony and struggling to get up.

The rider on the saddle was thrown off, arcing through the bear's bulging shoulder blades before crashing heavily into the river.

Winters certainly recognized the black horse; it was Girard's beloved steed.

"Mayor Mitchell!" he shouted as he ran toward Girard's location.

The bear, now regaining its balance after stumbling, grew even more enraged. With a single blow of its massive paw, it shattered the black horse's skull, killing Gerard Mitchell's prized steed, Khahanu, instantly.

As the ferocious beast tried to tear the archer apart again, more riders rushed out from the bend in the downstream river.

Reinforcements have arrived; Dusak has arrived.

"Damn it! Does this thing eat shit? It's so big! Damn it!" Old Sergei cursed as he rode his Crimson Sun Horse past the hunter at high speed.

In a flash, as the man and the horse crossed paths, Ralph grabbed Sergei's outstretched arm and leaped onto the horse's back with an acrobatic move.

Chi Yang Hong maintained its speed and carried the two people to within a dozen meters in the blink of an eye.

The bear roared and tried to chase Ralph, but two more riders galloped past it. As they passed the bear, the riders used their horses' speed to throw javelins.

The kinetic energy carried by the javelin far exceeded that of an arrow, and the javelin tip pierced the bear's abdomen without any obstruction, puncturing its internal organs.

Upon seeing the javelin hit its mark, Dusak, who was throwing the spear, immediately grabbed the rope attached to the javelin and pulled it in the opposite direction from his horse.

Meanwhile, more Dusaks arrived at the battlefield. Although they were all initially terrified by the bear's size, they quickly recovered and used their horses' speed to throw their javelins at the bear. Once they hit it, they immediately pulled the ropes in the opposite direction.

The riders, hunting beasts, were like a pack of wolves fighting a bear.

Another rider led an unridden red horse to Winters' side. Gerard's son, Pierre, dismounted, grabbed the horse's reins, and shouted, "Brother Winters! Rejc!"

This unmanned red horse was none other than Winters's Redmane—Réjaccio, which Pierre had brought to Winters.

"Don't worry about me! Go save your dad!" Winters shouted anxiously. "Your dad has fallen into the river!"

Pierre's expression changed drastically, and he turned and rushed into the river.

Winters helped Pierre drag the unconscious Girard ashore.

“We thought you were dead!” Pierre said incoherently. “We immediately swam upstream when we saw the horn floating down.”

“Not dead yet.” Winters laughed loudly, spitting out a mouthful of bloody saliva.

The group that had fallen behind Winters were startled to see Redmane returning all alone. Mayor Mitchell immediately led Dusac ahead, leaving the unhorsed militia behind, and followed the instructions left by the old hunter at full speed.

Fortunately, this is why the Dussacks were able to arrive and rescue Winters and Ralph; the militia from the other villages are still nowhere to be found.

Winters first scooped the water out of Girard's tongue, then leaned over Girard's chest to listen, and then checked Girard's breathing.

Pierre knelt beside him, at a loss for what to do.

"He's still breathing! Come help!"

Together, the two men lifted the unconscious old Dussac onto the horse's back. Winters helped Pierre into the saddle: "Take your father and go! Hurry! Go find Father Carmen!"

After saying that, he slapped Pierre's horse hard.

The horse, in pain, took off galloping. Pierre glanced at Winters with a complicated expression, then spurred his horse and disappeared into the shadows of the trees at the bend in the river.

Old Sergei and Ralph rode across the river together on one horse and returned to Winters' side.

"Sir! This won't do! We have to make them all disperse! They all have to leave!" The old hunter, who was more than ten meters away, couldn't help but shout loudly.

The giant bear in the river had been impaled with more than twenty javelins. The riders pulled on the ropes in all directions to the west, and the beast seemed unable to move for a moment.

"why?"

"This beast has a mouth injury and can't eat. If we just keep it going, it'll eventually give out." The old hunter rushed to Winters' side and said anxiously, "Doing this now is just provoking its ferocity!"

Winters understood the hunter's meaning. He leaped onto the red mane and ran towards the giant bear, shouting at the Dussacs with the amplification spell amplified, "Let go! Scatter! Scatter!"

However, it was too late; the inability to move was merely an illusion. The giant bear roared and swung its body, dragging several Dusaks off their saddles before they could react, while the ropes binding the others were also released.

Without the rider's control, the warhorse could no longer resist its innate fear of wild beasts and fled in terror, abandoning its rider.

The bear immediately pounced on a fallen Dussac. Winters, seeing this, had no time to think. He pulled a javelin from the saddlebag of the rider next to him and thrust it into the horse's ribs, charging at full speed towards the bear in a pincer-like position.

The combined strength of man and horse converged at the tip of the spear, striking the giant beast's flesh. Winters felt as if his right shoulder had been ripped off, but the javelin in his hand was also deeply embedded in the bear's back.

The giant bear let out a painful roar, turned around and slapped Winters with its front paws. Red Mane nimbly dodged the counterattack and with a few leaps, returned to a distance of more than ten meters.

Taking advantage of this lull, the other riders rescued the fallen Dussacs.

The bear did not launch another attack. It stood in the river, panting heavily, and looked around at the humans.

Hot breath mixed with blood and foam occasionally wafted from its nostrils and mouth. A dozen or so javelins were stuck in its body, and the blood gushing from the wounds stained the river water beneath it a dark red, stretching downstream.

Humans and beasts stood facing each other in this way.

The giant bear let out a mournful cry; the wild creature was now at its wit's end.

There was no anger in its eyes; in the dim eyes of this creature, Winters saw only despair, sorrow, and pain.

"You ate people, this day was destined to come!" Winters, spear in hand, spurred his horse forward. He knew the beast before him couldn't understand human language: "Let's settle this here! I'll end your suffering!"

As if it were truly sentient, the giant bear responded to Winters' words with another mournful cry.

It shook its head twice—the heavy arrow Ralph had shot was still stuck in it—and lunged at the riders standing downstream.

Dusac, who was standing in its way, dared not confront the rampaging beast head-on and quickly turned his horse to give way. The bear did not chase after the riders to tear them apart, but instead broke through the encirclement and ran downstream along the river.

“From the smallest grasshopper to the largest bear and tiger, no living being except humans will give up the will to survive.” The old hunter approached Winters and said softly, “That beast doesn’t understand you; to it, it’s just instinct.” “We’ll chase! Two people on one horse. Horses aren’t fast, so only one person should ride on each horse. Those with mounts, follow me; the rest of you follow from behind. Give one horse to Ralph!” Winters methodically reviewed the group before him.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Winters retrieved the two muskets. The Dussacs who had just fallen from their horses dismounted, and some of them headed upstream to retrieve their own steeds.

Sergei selected a rider, and Dusak, who was assigned the task, reluctantly gave his warhorse to Ralph.

A team quickly finished tidying up and headed downstream along the trail of blood.

Old Sergei suddenly remembered something, his face changed drastically, and he exclaimed, "Oh no! Those peasants are following behind us; we're probably going to run into that beast!"

Premonitions are often wrong when they are good, but right when they are bad.

Realizing something was terribly wrong, Winters led the Dussacs in a full-speed chase. The bloodstains never reached the shore, and the riders galloped through the mountain valleys.

They chased the bear for three or four kilometers downstream to a shallow area, where they lost track of it.

It's not that there's no blood left, but rather that there's blood everywhere.

Apparently, the militiamen behind them ran into the wounded bear, resulting in some deaths and injuries, while the rest were frightened away.

"Damn it! We actually ran into them!" Old Sergei cursed. "With human blood and bear blood mixed together, how are we supposed to chase them? If you're not capable, then don't make things worse!"

“Those who come to join the militia are all brave and good men!” Lieutenant Montagne glared at Sergei. “Mr. Morozov, stop saying such insulting things about them!”

Old Sergei awkwardly shut his mouth.

"Can you tell?" Winters asked the hunter.

Ralph dismounted, examined the area carefully for a while, and pointed to the woodland southwest of the riverbank: "That beast must have gone this way!"

The Dussacs looked somewhat apprehensive. On the open riverbanks, they could ride horses and outmaneuver giant bears. But the woodlands were the domain of wild beasts, making horseback riding extremely difficult.

“Ralph and I will lead the way.” Winters loaded the two guns with ammunition. “Don’t engage in a direct confrontation. Everyone be careful.”

"They shouldn't have gone far!" the old hunter shouted, encouraging everyone.

Following the trail of blood and signs of destruction, the riders, each armed, entered the woods and carefully searched.

The bear's movements appeared to be slowing and becoming unsteady, and the triangular javelin tip made it difficult for the wound to close. The bloodstains in the forest were not decreasing but increasing.

However, the lush vegetation severely hindered the riders' movements and made it easy to lose sight of them, inevitably causing the distance between the groups to gradually increase.

The usually tranquil forest now seemed exceptionally dangerous to everyone.

"Sir! Look! Someone has made a mark!" Ralph suddenly pointed to a fresh, bare tree trunk.

“There might be militia chasing that thing too.” Winters took his musket from his saddlebag. “Keep chasing!”

Further on, there were still these markings. Clearly not a coincidence, but rather someone had used a knife to carve arrows into the bark to indicate direction.

Winters and Ralph no longer doubted, and called for the other riders to gather, then quickly chased after them in the direction marked.

But after passing through a large birch forest, the markings and bloodstains disappeared at the edge of a low cliff. The previous marker indicated this place, but there was nothing on the trees at the edge of the cliff.

"The mark is gone!?" The old hunter was both surprised and suspicious.

"Down there?" Winters frowned and spurred his horse closer to the low cliff.

They were positioned about eight or nine meters above the ground in front of them, and it appeared that a sinkhole had occurred there, forming this low cliff.

Just as Winters spurred his horse to the edge of the low cliff, a voice that had just gone through puberty suddenly rang out behind him: "Watch out!"

Then came a chilling roar as the giant bear, which the group had been chasing, sprang up from the ground and opened its blood-red maw to bite at the red-maned foreleg.

It was only then that Winters realized there was a huge burrow on the edge of the low cliff, where the giant bear had made its nest. However, due to the limited viewpoint, the burrow could only be seen from the edge of the cliff.

Startled, Redmane leaped and dodged, narrowly avoiding the bear's sharp teeth. But Winters, caught off guard, was thrown from his saddle and crashed heavily to the ground, gun and all.

Before Winters could catch his breath, the bear, having missed its attack, abandoned its red mane and roared as it pounced on him.

The giant bear suddenly attacked, and Ralph, Sergei, and the other Dusaks were unable to provide assistance in time.

In a life-or-death moment, Winters gritted his teeth and rolled off the low cliff.

Having missed its two attacks, the ferocious beast roared and leaped off the low cliff.

Before the Dussacs could react, a small, thin figure carrying a spear emerged from the woods, shouting as he chased after the giant bear and jumped down.

As his body tumbled and rolled uncontrollably down the cliff face, Winters clung tightly to his musket, knowing it was his only chance of survival.

However, to his surprise, the giant bear that leaped down landed before him. Its body crashed heavily to the ground, but the ferocious beast simply shook its head and stood up again.

As he plummeted to the bottom of the cliff, Winters, enduring the pain, raised his gun and aimed it at the giant bear.

At the same time, the giant bear roared and pounced on Winters.

Time seemed to have stopped at this moment.

If he's lucky, he might be able to fire the 35g lead bullet into the beast's mouth—but that won't kill it; Winters has already tried.

Shoot? Or wait? The decision is made in a split second.

With a mournful scream, a thin figure leaped down from the low cliff, thrusting a spear straight down into the giant bear's neck.

On its own, this frail primate could not possibly pierce the giant bear's skin. But gravity intervened—though no one at that time knew what gravity was—making it possible.

Altitude equals speed, and speed equals power. The spearhead pierced the bear's neck fur, fat, and muscle like a hot knife through butter, emerging from the top and embedding itself in the ground.

The giant bear was knocked to the ground by the heavy blow, and blood gushed from the wound.

But the savage beast did not die immediately. It pushed itself up on its forelimbs and stood up again, swinging its neck in an attempt to shake off the foreign object stuck in its neck and the human on top of it.

But no matter how much brute force the bear used, it couldn't shake the frail figure off its back. The frail figure clung tightly to the spear shaft, causing the bear to inflict more damage with each swing.

Winters, who had narrowly escaped death, then saw the face of the fierce, thin spearman clearly—it was Anglu, the young stable boy from Dusa village.

Then it becomes clear what that shrill, inaudible scream was: "Telerqing".

Winters struggled to his feet. Anglu had created an opportunity for him, and he couldn't afford to waste it. He dashed to the bear's side, and the instant he inserted the barrel of his gun into the bear's ear canal, Winters detonated the gunpowder.

With a deafening roar, shrapnel flew everywhere, leaving Winters with ringing ears and dizziness. The lead bullet failed to fire, and the matchlock gun exploded in his hand, breaking in two.

The heavy matchlock gun exploded.

The bear grew even more frenzied, lunging wildly at Winters. Caught off guard, Winters was knocked to the ground by the bear, but in desperation, he grabbed a gunpowder cartridge and used it to shield himself from the bear's bites.

The next second, he ignited the gunpowder.

Happy holidays everyone! I'm only finishing writing this now because I haven't figured out how to send it off yet. It's late, but it's not a dove, coo coo.

Thank you to all the readers who voted for the book before;
Thanks to readers Kamen Rider Fan and Calm Gray for their monthly tickets;
Thank you to the following readers for their recommendation votes: Kunkun, 20180717103520318, xiaoheizi369, Jiangxue Diaoweng, Yushitongzhou, Zhonghuajia de Huangtuzi, Kamen Rider Shuangfen, Ke kkkkk, Zhengyi Chunjie Shi Koala, Lixiang Sanxun de Mou Dashu, and Danding de Huiguo. Thank you all.

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(End of this chapter)