Seeing Esdeath growing weaker under the soldiers’ siege and the encirclement shrinking, Bali could not help but reveal himself.
Ever since Esdeath humiliated his son, Tak, a few months ago and subsequently displayed her exceptional talent and strength, Bali had found her increasingly intolerable.
Although he was a tribal elder, he envied Alei’s strength and power, and he also looked upon Esdeath with disdain.
He wanted the tribe to prosper forever, but it had to be a tribe led by him.
Now that Alei had died due to his schemes, with only the dying Esdeath remaining, Bali just wanted to laugh out loud; if he didn’t show himself to mock her now, when would he?
“Hahahaha!
Esdeath, you didn’t expect this, did you?
That you all ended up in this state today is entirely my doing.”
Esdeath was busy fending off the attacking soldiers and had no time to respond to Bali’s provocations.
Head Elder Bali—it was actually him who colluded with the Chinubi Tribe to harm their tribespeople.
The few tribespeople still fighting in a bloodbath saw Bali and immediately cursed in anger: “Bali, you actually colluded with the Chinubi Tribe!
You will meet a terrible end!”
Bali did not care about the tribespeople’s curses: “This is the choice of a smart person; how could you people, who are on the verge of death, understand?”
After laughing, Bali’s expression suddenly turned cold as he looked at Esdeath: “Hmph, it was your blessing that my son fancied you back then.
You actually rejected him and even humiliated him.
Ending up like this now is what you deserve.”
“You are just as annoying as your father.
He blocked my path, and you blocked my son’s path just the same.” Bali laughed rampantly, “But he is already dead, and you are about to die too.”
Esdeath felt her body slowly becoming sluggish.
Her stamina was exhausted, and her swinging blade could barely deflect the cavalry’s spears and lances.
Bali continued to vent his emotions: “From now on, I will be the chieftain of the Barutesu Tribe, and you can all go to hell!
Hahahaha!”
Seeing that Esdeath was about to die, Bali no longer maintained his usual disguise.
He was extremely brazen, revealing everything.
Esdeath’s eyes, beneath a small cluster of blue hair on her forehead, stared straight at Bali, engraving him into her memory.
Just as the soldiers were about to deliver the final blow to the young girl before them, Esdeath activated the ability of Time Reversal.
“Time Reversal!”
A ripple, invisible to ordinary people, spread from around Esdeath, instantly sweeping across a hundred meters.
All people, horses, and objects within a hundred meters immediately returned to their state from ten minutes ago, following the temporal ripple.
The rushing Barutesu Tribe caravan was on their way back, about to enter the Great Canyon from the plains, and Esdeath was in the middle of the group.
Esdeath felt her stamina and injuries fully recovered, though her mental energy remained in the state after using Time Reversal, and her head throbbed with pain.
But she had no time to attend to this and quickly scanned the surrounding tribespeople.
As expected, the dead tribespeople did not return, and neither did her father…
Seven people, plus her and Bali, made nine tribespeople in total.
Except for her, no one had any memory of what happened before; they were still focused on holding the reins and riding, thinking they were on their way home.
Esdeath did not say a word and maneuvered her horse to the side of Bali, who had somehow fallen to the back of the group.
Bali looked at Esdeath, who had come to his side, and felt something was off, asking: “What’s wrong, Esdeath?”
Esdeath said indifferently: “You once told me to go to hell; now, I am returning those words to you.”
Bali was bewildered.
While he was stunned, Esdeath drew her Blood-Drinking Long Blade, unleashed double the speed, and a blood-colored blade light flashed, directly severing his head.
Esdeath’s sudden outburst gave Bali no chance to react; his head fell to the ground just like that, and he lost consciousness.
The headless body tumbled from the horse’s back, and the killing intent Esdeath unleashed caused Bali’s horse to bolt in fright.
“Esdeath, what are you doing?” The rest of the tribespeople were shocked.
They could not understand why Esdeath would suddenly kill Bali.
Had she gone mad?
Esdeath showed no expression, her tone flat but firm: “Bali colluded with the Chinubi Tribe and betrayed us.
There is an ambush in the canyon ahead.
The Chinubi Tribe is likely colluding with the Northern Barbarians.
If we ride into the canyon, we will be shot dead by the army’s crossbows immediately.”
Indeed, those soldiers were not dressed like Imperial troops, and the closest people to the Empire’s northern border were the Northern Barbarians, who would occasionally harass the people on the northern border, burning, killing, and looting.
“If you want to survive, follow me now.
If it’s too late, there won’t be any time left.”
Esdeath did not give these people any time to absorb the information; she turned her horse around and galloped away from the rear right.
The incident was sudden, and the amount of information was overwhelming.
Although Esdeath’s expression was serious and her words were firm, not a single one of the seven tribespeople immediately followed her.
One tribesman muttered: “This is too absurd.
Has Esdeath gone mad, or have I?”
“What do we do now?
Should we go catch Esdeath?”
The seven tribespeople were still wondering if Esdeath had lost her mind and run away after killing Bali.
A rumbling sound of hooves arose.
The seven tribespeople seemed to sense something and turned back, only to see over a hundred cavalrymen rushing out from the snow on both sides of the canyon, brandishing swords and spears, charging toward them with murderous intent.
It was the ambushing enemy who, seeing them not entering the canyon for a long time, had changed their battle plan.
“Damn!
There really is an ambush!”
“Run!”
The seven tribespeople, having realized the situation, hurriedly urged their horses to chase in the direction Esdeath had left.
In this life-or-death moment, while they regretted not listening to Esdeath and running away immediately, they instinctively believed that this young girl, who was much younger than them, was their only chance for survival.
Esdeath lay low on her horse, charging into the forest.
Winter actually had a terrible disadvantage for those fleeing: whether it was horses or people, walking on the snow would leave tracks.
They used to use this method to find prey when hunting.
And now, the enemy would use this same method to find them.
The seven tribespeople also charged into the forest at this moment.
“Come here quickly, two people to a horse.”
At this point, no one questioned Esdeath’s order.
Three tribespeople got off their horses to ride with the other three, and the remaining tribesman rode with Esdeath.
Just as they were wondering about Esdeath’s order, they saw her shoo the four extra horses away in different directions.
As the horses ran through the snow, they immediately left tracks in various directions, and then they suddenly understood Esdeath’s intention.
This would be able to confuse the enemy regarding the direction they had fled.
“Go!”
The four horses, carrying the eight people, headed toward the depths of the remote southeastern ice plains under Esdeath’s guidance.
“Esdeath, aren’t we going back to the tribe?” a tribesman asked, “If we go back and meet up with the tribespeople, that would be better, right?”
Esdeath did not answer, but another tribesman had already answered his question.
“You idiot, Bali betrayed the tribe, and the enemy had an ambush set up long ago.
Our base camp has probably already been attacked and fallen to the enemy.
Going back is just asking for death.”
Indeed, Esdeath could only lead the tribespeople to flee toward the most remote places with the most wild beasts.
A small group would not disturb any Danger Beast, but the pursuing Chinubi Tribe or the army would certainly be seen as invading enemies by the Danger Beasts.
In an instant, they were reduced to fleeing tribespeople.
Thinking that the Barutesu Tribe might no longer exist, everyone felt terrible, but the current situation did not allow them to grieve; they had not yet escaped the danger.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”