CHAPTER 1546: CHAPTER 332: INTERTWINING BATTLES

As soon as the Hunting Arrow came into Pannis’s hands, he noticed Nellie’s pupils suddenly contracted to the size of pinpoints. Although her power had not yet peaked, the Hunting Arrow’s stimulation had already emitted an invisible aura as substantial as a giant wave, enveloping Pannis and pressing down on him like a tidal force. Behind this wave of aura, a cold gleam at the tip of the lance lurked within, like a venomous snake thirsting for a Blood Offering, baring its ferocious fangs at its prey.

"Oh, how stupid." Pannis cursed himself in annoyance, trying to prevent the rise in energy within Nellie, forcing her to attack before her state reached its peak and disrupt her attack rhythm. Indeed, this had been Pannis’s intention when he drew the Hunting Arrow to increase the threat to Nellie. However, it seemed the timing was a bit later than expected and the effect had manifested too quickly. Thus, not only was the attack stronger than anticipated, but it also came much sooner than expected. In the blink of an eye, the glowing cold gleam had already reached directly in front of Pannis’s chest. The lance arrived first, followed by the sound of the air tearing, a noise like fabric ripping, which swallowed the tail end of Pannis’s curse, making it almost inaudible even to himself.

Pannis clenched his teeth tightly, his feet still planted on the ground, but he twisted his muscles to lean as far to the right as possible. The lance, originally aimed at his heart, grazed past his left arm. However, the violent energy enveloping the lance still tore through the skin of his left arm, with Blood Offering spraying out like a gushing fountain with the pressure of the wind brought by the lance. Yet, Pannis acted as if the arm wasn’t his at all, completely ignoring the rolling muscles and the splattering Blood Offering, as the Hunting Arrow in his hand thrust straight towards Nellie’s chest.

Theoretically, only Elves could use the Hunting Arrow; humans couldn’t activate its effects unless with the Bow of Release. Therefore, for Pannis holding the Hunting Arrow was no different from wielding his one-handed sword; neither would make any difference against Nellie. But Nellie, driven by instinct, did not know these details. To her, all she knew was that the Hunting Arrow and the person in front of her wielding it posed a significant threat. She had no concept of needing the Bow of Release. Thus, when the Hunting Arrow was thrust at her, Nellie instinctively interrupted her impending follow-up attack, stepping back quickly to her starting point, warily observing Pannis’s next move.

"Hiss, that really hurts." Pannis glanced at the still bleeding wound on his arm, grimacing and muttering to himself, but made no move to treat it. Instead, he used his injured left arm to take over the green arrow, withdrawing his one-handed sword with his right hand.

"You see, I told you, you forced my hand," Pannis said, holding an arrow in one hand and pointing it at Nellie, "I really didn’t want to fight you. If this is really your instinct, you’d probably prefer to lie down and take a nap rather than chase after me."

Nellie once again ignored Pannis’s words. In the blink of an eye, she suddenly disappeared from her spot, causing Pannis to completely lose track of her. However, Pannis did not feel surprised or panicked; the instant Nellie vanished, he also moved rapidly to the side, allowing a lance aimed from behind to shatter the afterimage he left in his original position.

The lance’s thrust missed its target, and Nellie slightly twisted her wrist, drawning the lance’s tip horizontally across Pannis’s neck. At such high speed, the sharp lance head was no different from a blade, capable of decapitating Pannis. However, it seemed like Pannis had once again anticipated Nellie’s movement; as she rotated her wrist, he had already started moving. He bent his knees, letting the lance pass over his head while simultaneously thrusting the arrow in his left hand.

Nellie furrowed her brows, seemingly dissatisfied that Pannis was not willing to be killed obediently. Her wrist sank down, and the heavy lance, as if losing weight, completely defied the rules of inertia. It changed from a sweeping motion to an upward thrust, while the tail of the lance’s handle guarded in front, blocking the incoming arrows.

"So troublesome, can’t you show even a hint of vulnerability with a long weapon?" Pannis was murmuring in complaint, but his body didn’t stop moving. Before the arrows were blocked, he had already retracted them, his feet spinning rapidly, circling to Nellie’s back and once again thrusting the Hunting Arrow harshly, his force as if there was a deep hatred between them.

This time, Pannis didn’t retract his attack because it completely missed its mark. By the time the attack reached where Nellie was supposed to be, the female knight’s body had already left its original place. However, it seemed Pannis didn’t aim to hit her. After the Hunting Arrow stabbed through the air, he didn’t even pause but used the momentum of his thrust to roll forward continuously. Sure enough, the lance probed out again from behind, fiercely poking the spot he had occupied.

"This is indeed the toughest battle I’ve ever faced," Pannis said as he got back to his feet, wiping the sweat from his forehead. He waved his fist threateningly at the female knight, who he had put some distance between them, and his next move was to jump straight up three meters high, allowing the knight, who had initiated the Charge of Fearlessness and turned into a streak of light, to dash under his feet.

This was a dangerous move, in a battle between equals, leaving the ground was akin to giving up the ability to react, not much different from suicide, because an opponent would not miss such an opportunity, just as Nellie did, stabbing upward diagonally with her lance as she swept under Pannis’s feet, the power of her lance enough to impale and nail Pannis on it.

However, this was not an ordinary world; this was the Divine Kingdom built on fantasy. If the ruler of the Divine Kingdom was conscious, then everything would conform to the will of the ruler. If, like Nellie, the consciousness was asleep, the body taken over by instinct, then the Divine Kingdom’s rules for its inhabitants were wholly determined by each individual’s understanding.

So, when Pannis reached the highest point of his jump, the void beneath his feet seemed to turn into solid ground, providing him enough support to start running forward from the highest point, as if he had eyes on his back, narrowly dodging Nellie’s lance and readjusting his height relative to hers.

"Huff, huff, huff"—despite the high-speed offense and defense not exhausting much physical energy, for Pannis, the energy consumption was terrifying. Lacking Nellie’s strength and speed, he had managed to keep himself mostly unscathed, suffering only a minor injury, relying entirely on predicting Nellie’s moves. The time spent together in the past had made Pannis very familiar with Nellie’s fighting style, thus allowing him to accurately predict her next move and respond in advance, evading Nellie’s attacks. However, this was incredibly draining on his energy, and a slight miscalculation could lead to severe damage.