Capítulo 82: Chapter 82: Tide of Blood
"Damn, why are there so many?!" Feld swung his hammer, causing blood to splatter everywhere.
But the scene remained crimson!
These weren't wolf demons, but bloodfish!
Their structure was simple, resembling water droplets. The round end was a mouth that could open nearly 180 degrees, filled with sharp teeth. They had no eyes, no nostrils, just a pair of fins and a tail.
With a weak bloodthirsty power within them, they could float about half a meter above the ground, their bodies around a meter long and highly agile, faster than the average person's sprint.
Their rank was very low, only around brass level, with a few reaching silver rank if they were around one and a half meters long. But facing Feld, they all met their end with a single swing of his hammer.
However, there were just too many of them.
The group surrounding Feld contained at least thousands.
Even though he could take out seven or eight with each swing, he had to continuously swing hundreds of times.
This wasn't the real problem; it was that when the bloodfish died, the bloodthirsty power within them would dissipate, gradually forming a blood mist in the air with more and more dead bloodfish.
This blood mist was toxic, causing blood to surge within anyone exposed to it. If Feld got a wound, he would bleed several times faster than usual!
Of course, this wasn't a problem for Feld with his robust physique, stamina, and powerful self-healing ability.
The real issue was that the blood mist emitted a strong bloody scent, attracting more bloodfish from afar, increasing their numbers.
Feld estimated that if this continued, it wouldn't just attract bloodfish; it would also attract wolf demons, savage wolf demons, and even more powerful bloodthirsty creatures!
Seeing the increasing number of bloodfish, Feld's head throbbed.
He had been following the battle traces left by Hilda all along, but then he noticed other battle traces appearing in between, likely left by mercenaries or adventurers who encountered bloodthirsty creatures.
The scale of the battles was considerable, completely disrupting the traces left by Hilda.
Faced with a fork in the road, with traces of retreat and battles on both sides, Feld chose the path with fewer traces, indicating fewer people.
But when he saw two torn corpses, he knew he had chosen wrong.
Just as he was about to turn back, a group of bloodfish appeared, probably out foraging and coincidentally encountered by Feld.
The bloodfish surrounded him, and more and more gathered.
Seeing that this couldn't go on, Feld saw wolf demon figures appearing on the distant mountain top.
So he chose to break through and leave.
With a loud bang, Feld erupted with a fierce magical power storm, sending all the bloodfish within dozens of meters flying.
"Hold on tight, Ki-Ki!" Feld shouted as Ki-Ki on his back hurriedly wrapped her arms around Feld's neck.
Feld then began to swing his heavy hammer and charged towards the area with the fewest bloodfish, intending to break through.
The bloodfish couldn't stop Feld.
But there were more than just bloodfish here!
"A roar!" Roars echoed, and Feld saw a group of wolf demons swiftly moving among the bloodfish, rushing towards him.
There were over twenty of them!
And two of them were exceptionally large.
They dashed while roaring.
As the savage wolf demons roared, the bloodfish around them seemed to lose all vitality, collapsing to the ground, their blood flowing into the two savage wolf demons, entering their second phase.
Feld's eyes twitched.
Could it get even worse?
Sacrificing teammates to power up?
Regardless, Feld knew that breaking through wouldn't be easy.
The two savage wolf demons were incredibly fast, and with the bloodfish obstructing him, he couldn't shake them off. Soon, they caught up.
Exposed to the savage wolf demons, it was definitely a mistake.
And he had Ki-Ki on his back.
To break through, he had to deal with the troublesome wolf demons at least.
Helpless, Feld could only run towards the mountainside. At least that way, he could ensure that his back was against the mountainside and clear of enemies.
Soon, he reached the mountainside and smashed a gap in the rock face several feet high with several swings of his hammer.
"Get in!" Feld said, stuffing Ki-Ki into the gap.
The crack wasn't large, but it was enough for Ki-Ki to hide.
Ki-Ki didn't have Feld's physique, and with the toxic blood mist and blood poison, even a bite from a bloodfish would cause big trouble, so Feld had to protect her.
Then Feld turned around, using his broad back to block the gap, and faced the onslaught of bloodthirsty creatures.
Come on, he wasn't running anymore!
Today, he would see how many he could kill!
Bangs kept coming, roars kept sounding, and tremors from outside kept coming.
Ki-Ki couldn't help it anymore, reaching out her small hand to push Feld's back.
"Big guy, go, go..."
But Feld's voice came back with a smile.
"What are you saying? I'm almost done killing them all!"
"The wolf demons are all dead, just a bunch of small fish left!"
But Ki-Ki clearly heard roars outside that didn't belong to bloodfish.
"Big guy..." Ki-Ki's voice trembled more and more. Even though the outside roars were deafening, Feld always seemed to notice her voice.
"Don't let me leave, it's breaking my oath!"
Feld's deep voice came back.
"What are you talking about? I'm a real man!"
"If they want to touch you, they'll have to dig through my chest!"
"Haha, bring it on, bring it on. A savage wolf demon is worth three to five thousand gold coins, a bloodfish four to five hundred gold coins. Today, I'll be the richest man in the Sea of Stars!!!"
This time, Fjeld got a taste of what a bloody tide really meant. Of course, this was at most a minor bloody tide, but it was terrifying enough. Thousands of bloody creatures had surrounded the area, making it impossible to escape. Just when he managed to kill hundreds of them, another few hundred would swim over from afar. If it weren't for Fjeld's stamina far surpassing his peers, he wouldn't have been able to withstand this prolonged battle.
Fortunately, the nearby bloodfish seemed to be decreasing in number, and fewer and fewer were coming from afar. Fjeld estimated that as long as he killed the two thousand or so in front of him, it would be almost over. Two thousand, that's just a few hundred swings of his hammer. Let's not forget that when he was forging iron, he could swing his hammer tens of thousands of times in a row! As long as his stamina held, what were two thousand? He could keep on killing!
With his breathing technique operating, providing him with formidable endurance, the bloodfish posed no threat, and his self-healing ability countered the blood poison. The only troublesome aspect was the occasional arrival of wolf demon squads.
Typically consisting of eight to twelve individuals, with one leading a pack of bloodthirsty wolves. Only the leader could inflict harm on him. By now, there were already four dead wolf leaders at his feet. Perhaps intimidated, the wolf leader in the distance had not approached yet, instead, it let the bloodfish continuously assault Fjeld's hammer line, wearing down his stamina.
Thanks to the advantageous terrain, the mountain wall's angle allowed Fjeld to face only seven or eight bloodfish at a time, wiping them out with each swing. But under this assault, the mountain wall was obviously struggling. The bodies piled up, turning into bloodwater that was knee-deep for Fjeld. Moreover, bloodfish under the command of the wolf leader had started to attack the mountain wall. At this rate, both he and Keiki would be buried alive here.
So Fjeld prepared for a final breakout. If necessary, he would play his trump card, though its consumption was significant, and he wouldn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
"Keiki, I'm going to break out. Hold on tight to me!" With a swing of his hammer, Fjeld made his way toward the distant wolf leader.
Seeing this, the wolf leader turned and ran. Bloody creatures were fierce but not stupid enough to throw themselves to their deaths. It had seen four of its kind being hammered to death by Fjeld. While Fjeld had wounds all over his body, with almost no intact flesh left on his chest, he still maintained a high-intensity battle as if nothing had happened, becoming almost monstrous.
Watching the wolf leader turn and flee, Fjeld grinned. Bloody creatures could run away too? But he wasn't really going to kill the wolf leader. After breaking out of the corner of the mountain wall, Fjeld jumped high into the air, jumping nearly a hundred meters. With no wolf leader to harass him, what could stop him?
Upon landing, he crushed a group of bloodfish, then jumped again. Fjeld estimated that he could jump out of the bloodfish group with just four more jumps. The wolf leader realized too late and tried to chase, but it was already too late.
During his second jump, and then his third, as he prepared for the fourth, a blood-red light suddenly appeared in the distance. Three blood-red arrows shot through the air, aimed directly at Fjeld's back.
Fjeld's pupils contracted. This was bad... It had been emphasized not to jump in front of him, as it would end in a gruesome death. But when he was jumping, there was the same danger. At this moment, he was in mid-air, and the blood-red arrows were sure to hit his right back, aiming straight for his heart.
Three blood-red arrows flew in a "品" shape towards Fjeld. He knew he couldn't dodge them in time, so he immediately tried to take Keiki off his back.
But Keiki held onto his neck tightly. Fjeld was shocked, turning his head to look at Keiki, only to see her also looking at the approaching blood-red arrows. Her body even leaned towards his back.
Fjeld immediately understood. This stupid cat wanted to block the arrows for him!
"Damn it!" Fjeld's eyes widened, with a golden light about to burst out.
But just as Fjeld was about to use his trump card regardless of the consequences, a golden light suddenly struck, accompanied by golden feathers falling.
"Buzz!" The sound of a sword rang out, and Fjeld landed steadily. He turned to look at the figure standing where he had landed, a look of pleasant surprise on his face.
"Hilda!"
Hilda smiled slightly at him, then flicked her sword. "I told you, my sword will block the arrows aimed at your back!"
At that moment, even though it was night, Hilda seemed to glow in Fjeld's eyes, as if she emitted light.
Too cool! Fjeld thought to himself. But then Hilda pouted. "So my sword is scrapped again." She had just cut off the blood-red arrows, and they had corroded her sword, leaving it pitted and smoking.
It was evident that if those blood-red arrows had hit Fjeld, the damage would have been enormous.
Dropping the scrapped sword, Hilda took out a spare one.
Fjeld regained his senses and said, "Let's go, there's a main boss behind them!"
Although she didn't know what a "boss" was, Hilda knew this place was not safe for a prolonged stay—the large group of bloodfish was catching up.
So the two of them immediately ran towards the distance, running for more than ten kilometers before Fjeld activated the teleportation array. Ten seconds later, with the bloodfish group not catching up and the blood-red arrows not appearing again, the three successfully teleported away.
As the light from the teleportation array slowly dissipated, ten kilometers away, a blood-red figure lowered the blood-red arrows in its hands, indifference in its crimson eyes.
...
Hai Du.
Upon landing and seeing the familiar Hai Du teleportation square, Fjeld breathed a sigh of relief, sitting directly on the ground and then taking the now-softened Keiki off his back and holding her in his arms.
"Next time, don't do that, okay?" Fjeld pinched Keiki's cheek.
Keiki pouted, then buried her little face in Fjeld's chest and burst into tears.
Seeing this, Fjeld didn't say anything more to her, just gently stroked her blood-stained short hair, silently comforting her.
Hilda looked around and asked, "Is this Hai Du?"
"Yeah," Fjeld nodded. "I was in a hurry and didn't look at the teleportation
point, so I just teleported."
"It's okay, we'll go back later," Hilda said, then looked at Fjeld's wounds with concern. "You're seriously injured..."
"It's nothing, just external wounds," Fjeld shook his head.
Then he stood up, carrying Keiki in one direction, without saying a word.
Seeing this, Hilda immediately followed suit, without asking any questions.
Before long, Fjeld's figure appeared in the Steel and Iron Tavern.
Seeing Fjeld, John and the others stared wide-eyed. Fjeld was covered in blood, as if he had just walked out of a pool of blood, his wounds shocking to behold. And beside him, there was a golden-haired girl. She was so beautiful that they felt if there were angels, they would look like her.
The combination of one being extremely beautiful and the other severely injured created such a huge contrast that everyone's brains seemed to shut down, not knowing what to say. The whole tavern fell silent.
"Give me a clean private room, and bring some medical supplies," Fjeld said to John.
John nodded dumbly, then quickly led Fjeld upstairs.
Now obviously wasn't the time to ask questions; they needed to get Fjeld settled first.
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