Although the blade was not sharp, it was still easy to slice through the thin skin on the neck. The momentum of the blade continued, severing the trachea, larynx, carotid artery, and vagus nerve beneath. Dark red blood instantly gushed out in a lively stream. William Ford clearly saw the health bar of this masked servant in his field of vision suddenly empty. The body jerked up and then crashed down heavily, the eyes bulging like a dead fish, and then turning vacant. William Ford, quick as lightning, snatched up the short sword that had been flung from the servant’s hand, preventing it from hitting the rocks and making a noise. Then, with a vicious stomp, he pressed down on the still-bleeding wound, stopping the soft “gurgling” sound of blood entering the trachea from alerting the others.

At this moment, William Ford noticed a small line of numbers appearing in the lower left of his field of vision: Heavy Swordsman 0 (2), Masked Servant 2 (6). (Note: the one fetching water earlier also counts) Points 0 (300).

The next six masked servants were also killed in their sleep.

Then William Ford walked up to the heavy swordsman lying beside the driest boulder, planning to use the same method. He targeted the enemy’s throat again—this was the only vital spot not covered by chainmail.

However, at the very instant the sword swung down, the heavy swordsman, perhaps from lying in one position too long, suddenly rolled over!

William Ford had already studied the fatal points of the human body in the real world when he resolved to avenge his parents. Unfortunately, when he killed those fourteen people, he mostly did not use violent means, so he had little practical experience. That’s why he failed this time.

The heavy swordsman, who had unintentionally avoided a fatal blow by rolling over in his sleep, immediately came to his senses and let out a low growl. He sprang up and launched a fierce assault on William Ford. However, William Ford simply sidestepped, blocked the greatsword thrust with his arm, and appeared to slash at him with his own sword—but the real trick was a powerful kick!

That kick landed squarely on the heavy swordsman’s groin.

William Ford could even feel, with the top of his foot, two oval objects instantly bursting into a complete mess, the pain so intense it was almost tangible. Then he noticed his own health bar had dropped by a fifth, while the heavy swordsman’s health bar instantly plunged to the very bottom—but not quite to death! The heavy swordsman’s helmet suddenly shattered, revealing a twisted, ferocious face, and his eyes turned blood-red. He pounced, pinning William Ford to the ground. Even with his strength attribute doubled by the environment, William Ford could not withstand the enemy’s frenzied assault for the moment!

Mutation!

Pressed beneath the heavy swordsman, William Ford could smell the thick stench of sweat and hear the man’s beast-like, ragged breathing. Though his neck was being choked, making him dizzy and short of breath, William Ford still kept his cool.

He completely gave up struggling—and suddenly rolled over!

The two of them tumbled together into the campfire!

The blazing flames engulfed the two locked in a life-and-death struggle. Fire is fair, burning everything that dares enter its domain without discrimination. William Ford saw his own health bar plummet rapidly, but the first to succumb was the mutated heavy swordsman on top of him. After several dozen seconds in the flames, the swordsman finally let out a long, helpless wail from his throat and collapsed in defeat.

A narrow escape from death.

That was the only thought in William Ford’s mind.

In fact, luck played a big part in all this. If the heavy swordsman hadn’t been sleeping without his groin armor, if William Ford hadn’t studied one-hit kills in the real world due to his own lack of strength, if there hadn’t happened to be a blazing campfire nearby—this brief and perilous fight taught William Ford many things. First, even though the setting here was a world modeled after the Knights of the Round Table, the people inside were all living, breathing humans! They had intelligence, thoughts, emotions, even explosive power! If you underestimated them, the price was death!

All around was silent. William Ford caught his breath for a while, spat out the dirt and sand in his mouth, feeling his heart pounding as if it would burst from his chest, and his temples throbbing with pain. Frowning, he climbed to his feet and carefully checked his body, finding that the worst injury was from blocking that heavy sword thrust with his arm! The flesh at the point of impact was horribly torn, and even the blood vessels had been instantly scorched by the high temperature of the blade, so not much blood was actually flowing out.

At this point, the burns on his body also began to ache faintly. Only now did William Ford recall the scenario prompt: pain sensation reduced by 70%. That meant the pain feedback to his nerves from his injuries was reduced by seventy percent. With his endurance, aside from some restriction in the movement of his left hand, his other abilities were barely affected. Just then, William Ford noticed something else: on the waist of a nearby masked servant’s corpse, a dazzling but not blinding light was flashing.

Curious, he walked over and easily found a dusty metal key. As soon as he picked up the key, the corpse turned transparent and disappeared. The Nightmare Mark gave a prompt: You have obtained an ordinary key. Do you wish to summon a treasure chest now? Yes/No?