Chapter Fifty-One: Desperation

“Chitter, chitter, chitter…” The horned apes attacked from all sides, encircling Alex and Perrin.

As elite members of the town guard, their cooperation was seamless. They stood back to back, shielding one another, their iron swords relentlessly hacking at any horned ape that dared approach.

Yet the sheer number of horned apes left them both wounded, their bodies marked with many gashes.

“Damn it! There are just too many of them,” Alex panted, despair flickering in his eyes as he watched the ever-growing swarm of horned apes joining the fray. “I’m sorry, Perrin. My arrogance dragged you into this!”

“Town guards fear nothing!” Perrin replied, emotionless as she cut down another horned ape. “My duty is to keep you safe!”

“I really should’ve listened to Zach earlier and returned to the squad,” Alex said with a bitter smile. “Without a powerful triceratops mount, we can’t scare off the beasts of the demon forest!”

“No point in talking. Save your strength for fighting!” Perrin’s hands trembled, her stamina draining rapidly. As a woman, her endurance was less than Alex’s.

“Thud!” Alex killed another horned ape, breathing heavily. “If we make it out alive, I don’t want to keep hiding my feelings. Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Are you talking about me?” Perrin asked flatly, cutting down two more of the encroaching horned apes.

“Yes!” Alex nodded. “Honestly, I noticed you as soon as I joined the guard. I kept my feelings buried, too afraid to speak. Now, I don’t even know if we’ll survive, so I’m telling you outright! If we make it out alive, will you be my girlfriend?”

As the relentless army of horned apes pressed closer, Perrin fought to keep them at bay, panting. “When you reach the strength of the captain, I’ll agree. I only admire the strong!”

“Believe me!” Alex’s face lit with hope. “If we get out safely, I know I can do it!”

The man and woman spoke back to back, never ceasing their attack on the horned apes. The corpses piled up around them, and their own wounds multiplied. Once handsome and beautiful, they now looked utterly battered, their bodies slick with blood.

Exhaustion weighed them down; their hands gripping the iron swords grew heavier, their defenses against the horned apes’ attacks slowed.

“It looks like we’re done for…” Alex’s face filled with despair. “I’ll never avenge my father, nor have the chance to be with you. I should have confessed sooner!”

“It’s the same for me,” Perrin replied, still expressionless. “Unless you’re strong enough, I’ll never agree!”

“Not even a little comfort before death?” Alex sighed.

“I’m going to use the last of my strength for a sweeping strike. Take the chance to get away!” Perrin said, still fighting.

“What do you mean?” Alex shouted.

“The captain tasked me with ensuring your safety!” Perrin replied loudly. “A town guard always keeps their word! I’ll draw all the horned apes’ attention with my sweeping strike. You escape!”

“Are you kidding?” Alex couldn’t help but shout. “What about you?”

“I will fulfill my duty!” Perrin’s face betrayed no emotion. “I’m nearly at my limit. There’s only a slim chance. You must seize it!”

“No! I won’t abandon you!” Alex frantically slashed at the horned apes.

“Prepare yourself!” Perrin ignored his protests, kicking a horned ape aside and taking up the stance for her sweeping strike. “I’m starting!”

“Don’t be foolish, Perrin!” Alex pleaded.

“Dodge!” As the horned apes lunged again, Perrin, battered and bleeding, gritted her teeth and shouted, then spun her sword in a full three-hundred-sixty-degree arc.

Alex felt a surge of energy explode outward. Instinctively, he bent low and leaped aside. Turning back, he caught sight of Perrin’s graceful figure as she unleashed a fleeting circular wave of sword energy.

“Slash, slash, slash!” Groups of horned apes dissolved into bloody mist under the attack, provoking even more to frenzy and swarm toward Perrin.

The sweeping strike was a fundamental sword technique taught personally by the captain, the town guard’s signature move. Though it seemed simple, its power was formidable; used well, it could instantly turn the tide in battle.

Perrin was an exceptional guard, her mastery of the sweeping strike unmatched in the squad. Alex had only barely begun to grasp its basics and couldn’t yet wield it properly.

Yet the number of horned apes was overwhelming. After executing her sweeping strike, Perrin had no strength left to resist. In the next moment, she would surely be torn to shreds!

“Perrin—!” Alex let out a heart-rending cry, then ran desperately down the path they’d come from, not daring to look back. Tears streamed from his eyes; the woman he loved had used her life to give him a chance. He couldn’t let her sacrifice be in vain. “Wait for me! I’ll come back and avenge you!”

Clang! After her sweeping strike, Perrin had spent the last of her strength. Her iron sword slipped from her grasp and fell to the ground.

Weakly, she caught her breath and tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. Facing the furious horned apes, she had no strength left to fight back…

But at least the mission hadn’t failed. The captain’s charge, to protect Alex, seemed fulfilled—he should be able to leave the forest safely. That was her greatest comfort.

Is this the end? Perrin closed her eyes, waiting for the moment her body would be torn apart by the horned apes.

Whizzing sounds! At that critical instant, countless crossbow bolts suddenly rained down, piercing horned ape after horned ape.

“Chitter, chitter, chitter!” The horned apes howled in rage at the sudden intervention.

Perrin opened her eyes to find the horned apes suffering heavy losses under the crossbow barrage. They shifted their attack to another direction. Just as she thought she was saved, she turned and saw that her new adversaries were a pack of gnoll tribesmen! Her expression collapsed instantly. Gnolls were even more terrifying than horned apes; they ate human flesh. Travelers and villagers frequently vanished, hunted by gnolls, and those taken never returned—nothing was ever found of them.

No one dared search the demon forest for the bodies of the dead.

Perrin did not want to become gnoll food. She was unafraid of death, but not in this way. As a proud town guard, her death should be dignified!

Thinking this, she gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand, intending to escape, only to find several gnolls emerging from another direction, their crossbows trained on her. At the same time, a hulking gnoll chieftain fixed his savage eyes upon Perrin.