I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

According to Qingdeng's estimation, the speed of the arrows shot by the Nue was no less than that of the bullets from a musket!

Although just recently, when annihilating Kitahara Kōnosuke and others, Aoto personally slashed at the pistol bullets fired at him.

But to be honest... he himself didn't know how he did it.

At that moment, he swung the knife entirely by instinct—and actually hit the bullet.

If you let Qingdeng try again, try to cut the bullet with a knife, he'd guarantee: I can't do it!

If you don't have enough confidence to cut down an arrow that's as fast as a bullet, you shouldn't rush in recklessly.

Qingdeng opened his eyes wide, not daring to blink.

The "Eagle Eye +2" talent, which enhances dynamic vision, and the "Swiftness +4" talent, which improves reaction speed, both radiate golden light in the system list, indicating that they are "activated".

With these two talents, Qingdeng barely managed to catch the trajectory of the arrow and then dodged the first arrow shot by Nue, which was neither difficult nor easy.

The darkness swallowed the arrows flying into the distance in an instant.

There were still about 200 meters between him and the Nue!

No sooner said than done, the second arrow from the serpent came flying.

Qingdeng followed suit, using "Eagle Eye +2" to track the trajectory of the arrows and "Swiftness +4" to dodge them.

However, this time, Qing Deng's movements were no longer as graceful as before.

As the distance between them decreases, the reaction time left for Qingdeng becomes shorter and shorter.

There were still about 100 meters between him and the Nue!

In the blink of an eye, the third arrow from the hawk arrived!

The arrow pushed through the air, carried by the wind, and pierced Qingdeng's chest.

Qingdeng twisted his body to the right with all his might.

Although he dodged immediately, but...

"Well……!"

A cry of pain escaped from the tip of his nose.

Qingdeng's current state can probably be described as "a stroke of good fortune amidst misfortune".

Fortunately, he avoided being hit head-on by the arrow, thus avoiding an extra "ornament" around his waist.

Unfortunately, the sharp arrow still grazed his side ribs, taking away some flesh.

There were still about 30 meters between him and the Nue!

He could already see the face of the Nue that was crouching on the tree trunk!

However... at the same time as seeing Nue's face, he also saw Nue nocking an arrow and drawing the bowstring, as well as the fourth arrow that was shot at him.

Whoosh-!

Because the two were already extremely close, the sound of the arrow piercing the air was incredibly sharp and loud!

At this distance, even "Eagle Eye +2" and "Speed ​​+4" are of no use.

Relying on his combat instincts honed through countless battles, Qing Deng reflexively turned to the left.

The next instant, excruciating pain radiated from his right calf and spread throughout his entire body.

The arrow grazed Qingdeng's right calf, and although it did not penetrate the flesh, it still cut a rather deep wound.

When the body is moving at high speed, it is already difficult to maintain balance.

In pain, Qingdeng lost his balance and fell to the ground, raising a cloud of dust.

The distance between him and the Nue was less than 20 meters...

Seeing Qingdeng fall to the ground, Ye's hand, which was drawing an arrow, froze in mid-air.

After hesitating for a moment, he put the arrow, which he had already drawn halfway out, back into the quiver.

Although at first glance, Nue's face appears expressionless as always, a closer look reveals a faint hint of joy between its brows.

His expression was just like that of a hunter who had successfully hunted his desired prey.

At this moment, Qingdeng was lying face down on the ground.

This posture is very disadvantageous for drawing a bow.

If Qingdeng wanted to retaliate against the Nue with a bow and arrow, he would first have to sit up, then draw the arrow, pull back the bow, and aim... It would take him at least 3 or 4 seconds to complete this whole set of actions.

20米不到的间距、3、4秒的时间……这都足够鵺将青登射杀个1、2回了。

Thinking of this, Nue couldn't help but relax.

"What a disappointment! The so-called 'Nioh' is nothing special!"

Nue, who rarely speaks loudly, deliberately raised his voice so that Qing Deng, who was not far away, could hear his taunts.

Feeling confident of victory, he adopted a "playing with his prey" mentality and was not in a hurry to take Qingdeng's life.

Just as Nue was contemplating whether to humiliate Qingdeng further or immediately shoot this hateful fellow who had caused them so much trouble—

"Hmph... Hmph! Hahahaha...!"

Qingdeng, who was lying prone on the ground, suddenly let out a strange laugh.

Immediately afterwards, Nue saw Qing Deng slowly raise his head and show him a toothy smile.

Against the backdrop of the darkness, Qingdeng's full set of white teeth appeared incredibly menacing.

At the same time, the corners of his red mouth stretched to both sides, almost reaching his ears.

Such smiles, such expressions... it's almost impossible to tell who the villain is.

Qingdeng's lips moved slightly, but Nue couldn't understand what he was saying.

It's understandable that he doesn't understand.

Because Qing Deng reads in English.

"Checkmate!" (I'm about to die)

The next moment, Qingdeng suddenly pulled out his right arm, which he had been hiding in his arms since he fell to the ground.

In his right hand he held a revolver that gleamed in the moonlight!

Bang!

Qingdeng pulled the trigger.

The scorching bullet flew out of the barrel, creating an invisible shockwave.

In that instant, Nue's eyes widened in shock.

He was then struck in the chest by a shockwave.

In the blink of an eye, the bullet struck Nue squarely in the chest.

The nue's body bends into a bow shape from the center, and like a long jumper, it bounces backward instead of forward.

Overall, this "long jumper" was really bad.

He only "jumped" less than two steps before he fell like a kite with a broken string.

Perhaps it had lost consciousness, because Nue did not adjust its body posture in the air and was unable to complete the recovery.

[Note: "Taking the body" (or "falling technique") is a self-protective method used to reduce the impact force when being thrown down by an opponent or falling to the ground.]

He crashed headfirst into a hard, large rock.

With a cracking sound.

Qingdeng heard a very loud sound of bones breaking.

[Ding! Talent detected]

Successfully copied the talent: "Sharp Eyes +5"

[Talent Description: Enhanced vision. The brain's ability to process "visual" information is enhanced; the brain will not struggle to process excessive information due to enhanced vision.]

Since a system notification sounded, Nue must be dead.

Whether he was shot or died from "banging his head on the ground," Qing Deng has no idea.

The talent of having a built-in number suffix... Just hearing "+5" made Qing Deng's heart leap with joy.

—My eyesight…not bad! After my hearing, my eyesight has finally improved too!

Qingdeng thought to himself with amusement as he waited for the familiar warmth that had enveloped his eyes to fade away.

Under the influence of the warm current, he involuntarily closed his eyes tightly.

After the warm current disappeared, Qingdeng eagerly opened his eyes.

"This is……?!"

Qingdeng blinked, both surprised and excited.

The world is still the same world.

But the world in Qingdeng's eyes is completely different from what it used to be.

The dramatic change in his vision took him by surprise.

Qingdeng's eyesight was already very good; converted to modern medical units, both eyes had a visual acuity of 5.0 or higher.

Based on this, with the blessing of "Sharp Eyes +5", Qingdeng's current vision level has been improved to a level that is difficult to describe in words.

We can see more details in objects that are close by, such as the veins of grass blades or the cracks in stones.

My field of vision has expanded by at least two times! Distant scenes that I couldn't see before can now be seen clearly.

Qing Deng finally understood why Nue was able to launch long-range sniping attacks—what was a target beyond visual range for others was simply within Nue's field of vision for him.

"fine……"

Qingdeng stared at the revolver in his hand and muttered to himself.

"My marksmanship hasn't deteriorated..."

*******