The black arrow reflected a hint of metallic sheen in the scattered shards of sunlight.

The shortbow was drawn so tight it emitted a faint creaking sound.

Sss!!

A white streak suddenly shot out.

Clang!!!

Andrew felt his scalp tingle. An unprecedented sense of danger surged into his mind, as if a sharp spike was about to pierce into the center of his brow—cold and stabbing.

In an instant, the chip transmitted a stream of data into his brain.

No time to think, Andrew suddenly twisted his body, using all his strength to dive to the left, hiding behind a large tree.

Bang!!

The sound of a sharp object piercing wood reached his ears. The thick trunk he hugged with both arms trembled, and tiny leaves were shaken loose, falling like rain.

“Huh?” A middle-aged man’s voice called out from afar, seemingly surprised that Andrew hadn’t been hit.

Andrew’s face turned pale. He shrank behind the tree, gasping for breath, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

In that split second, if he hadn’t dodged as the chip instructed—or even if he’d been a little slower—his head would have been smashed to pieces.

Never before, not once, had Andrew felt so close to death.

“What do I do? What do I do?” His mind was blank. “I don’t want to die… I finally got another chance to live… How can I just die again like this!!”

Andrew was trembling all over, his face deathly pale.

After all, before crossing over, he was just an ordinary young man. On Earth, in such a peaceful and safe environment, even hunting was considered a dangerous activity for him—let alone the peril he faced now.

“Run!! That’s it!! Hurry back, once I get to the castle I’ll be safe!!” Andrew suddenly snapped back to his senses. He listened carefully to the sounds around him; the person behind seemed to have gone quiet, which made him uneasy.

Still, the urge to get back drove him to start moving slowly.

Andrew crouched down, carefully moving his feet, inching in the direction he’d come from.

Suddenly, another sharp chill swept over him. The chip’s data stream instantly flooded his mind.

“Right side! Thigh!” Andrew immediately knew where the next attack was aimed. He rolled forward on the spot.

His head hit something on the ground, sending a jolt of pain through him. No time to think, Andrew scrambled to his feet and sprinted madly in the direction he’d come from.

Thud!!

A dull impact sounded from the ground behind him.

“Damn it!” The man’s curse drifted over. “Second time!”

Andrew ran like mad. Trees on both sides blurred past. After more than half a month of activity here, he was extremely familiar with the area—even in the dense forest, his speed barely slowed.

But that cold, chilling sensation crept up his back again.

Andrew dove forward to the left, but the chill on his back remained. Hiding behind another large tree, the strange coldness was still there.

Andrew grew more and more panicked. Gritting his teeth, he kept dodging, his body getting scratched all over, but he didn’t care. Yet that icy feeling clung to his back like a shadow.

“Optimal response: turn and block.” The chip’s analysis came through.

But, with terror written all over his face, Andrew didn’t dare turn to face it. He just kept running back frantically. Because he’d hunted too deep into the forest, he was still about a hundred meters from the castle’s training ground. But that hundred meters felt like an unbridgeable chasm.

“Optimal response: turn and block.” The chip kept prompting.

Crash!

Andrew rolled to the side again.

A sudden metallic clatter sounded where Andrew had just been. A black, arm-thick chain shot out in front of him, wrapping three times around a tree trunk before hooking firmly onto a branch. The hook at the end snapped into the bark with a crack, blocking Andrew’s way back.

“Run!!” the man’s voice came from behind. “Damn it! What a cursed day!”

Andrew scrambled up to run again. Suddenly, a chill hit his shoulder, and he rolled to the right.

Another crash—a chain shot past him again, nailing itself into a nearby tree trunk.

“Run… I can’t run anymore…” Despair welled up in Andrew’s heart. That bone-chilling cold had locked onto his whole body. He didn’t dare make any big moves.

“Am I going to die again?” He slowly stood up, turned around, and looked behind him.

A black figure silently emerged from the woods.

It was a middle-aged man wrapped in a black cloak, wearing a black mask, with rare golden eyebrows. He held a chain in each hand.

“It’s over.” The man let go of one chain and flicked his hand. A black streak shot out, much faster than the previous attacks. The black mark sliced through the air with a sharp whistle.

Andrew stood frozen. An intense stabbing pain and chill radiated from his brow.

“I don’t want to die…” he murmured.

I don’t want to die…