Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 203 Bad Luck (Part 2)

Ada shook her head, her eyes fixed on Caslan, as if trying to find the answer.

She doesn't understand.

Kaslan didn't keep her waiting long.

"Many years ago, I killed Sila Darkrai at the Thirty-Eight Watchpoints..." the white-haired old man slowly began, answering Ada's question.

“He stabbed me in the chest with an axe before he died,” Kaslan said, stroking his left chest. He looked at the scimitar beside him with a complicated expression, then at the Soul-Slaying Spear, and sighed, “I don’t know how many ribs were broken… I was already waiting to die at that time.”

Ada's expression changed.

"That day, a mad army doctor named Ramon and a dwarf craftsman with an unusually long name..."

"With a bit of luck, some tricks, and some ideas that I don't know if they were geniuses or madmen, they snatched me back from the ferrymen of the Hell River." Kaslan gave a wry smile and tapped his chest.

clang! clang!
A strange sound came from his chest cavity, and it didn't sound like human tissue at all.

This sound...

Ada froze, her eyes slowly widening.

Kaslan sighed and revealed the truth: "Those two guys used special metal to replace and repair my poor ribs... God, that kind of pain tormented me for a whole year."

There was a moment of silence between them.

It wasn't until Ada, after the shock, regained her long-forgotten breath.

The elf's face showed astonishment, her pupils slowly shrinking: "Metal...ribs? How did you do that?"

impossible.

The human body is too fragile to withstand anything, whether it's controlling bleeding or dealing with broken bone fragments...

Kaslan gasped for breath, his lungs whistling like a broken bellows.

“I don’t know… cough cough…” Kaslan coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of blood: “I heard from that mad medic that they used some forbidden methods that were not allowed…”

"Anyway, after that, they were taken away by the people in the dark room and disappeared without a trace."

Ada closed her eyes and frowned deeply.

“So,” she shook her head regretfully, her body drenched in cold sweat, “my knife clearly pierced your chest, but it got stuck in that metal.”

"That's why I couldn't kill you just now."

Kaslan let out a mournful laugh:

"Yes."

“If you had used a narrower dagger or short sword, you could have killed me by simply piercing a blood vessel.”

“But you just happened to be using a curved blade with such an exaggerated arc.” The old man shook his head, his eyes filled with subtle emotions.

Ada didn't speak. Lying on the ground, unable to move, she could only let out a helpless sigh.

“Because of that ‘accident,’ my lungs were severely injured, and they still torment my breathing—I don’t know how much longer I can live,” Kaslan said painfully, coughing up blood. “If I continue for a few more minutes, I won’t be able to hold on any longer.”

Ada's expression changed again, and her mouth opened into an "O" shape.

"What?" She endured the excruciating pain, forcefully straightening herself up, her eyes wide with exaggerated surprise. "If only I had known..."

Kaslan gave her a wry smile and nodded.

Ada seemed completely oblivious to her defeat. She exhaled regretfully, then collapsed back to the ground with a thud, looking aggrieved.

he.

mom.

of.

I should have kept dragging it out.

Why take such a desperate gamble?

“And your special ability has truly opened my eyes,” Kaslan patted his chest, coughed a few times, and then chuckled, “Fortunately, I wasn’t thinking about that past incident when we met, otherwise you would have been prepared…”

Ada looked utterly dejected and shook her head unconsciously.

“You’re pretty smart too, kid,” she said listlessly. “Just keep the thoughts of ‘survival’ and ‘kill him’ in your mind, and then leave everything to your instincts… so that my ‘consciousness’ can’t read anything.”

Kaslan's smile froze.

He lowered his head, his white hair fluttering behind him.

“That’s not intelligence,” he said softly, his eyes dim and his tone dejected.

“On the most brutal battlefield,” Kaslan said slowly, closing his eyes, “you will only have these two thoughts.”

Ada raised an eyebrow.

“Is that so?” The elf seemed to be trying to distract herself from the sharp pain in her shoulder. She puffed out one cheek, let out a bored sigh, and muttered, “Although you’re not very old, only in your sixties, you seem to have a lot of battlefield experience.”

"battlefield?"

This time, Kaslan's voice was resolute: "That's hell."

"It is an endless hell that turns normal people into monsters."

“There are only two kinds of people there.”

"Dead people, and people who are about to die."

Ada on the ground rolled her eyes.

“Thank you, although I don’t remember very clearly,” Kaslan seemed much better, and said in a low voice, “but that feeling just now… was like going back to those hells, facing four or five different and terrifying opponents in an instant.”

"To unleash all my potential once again."

Ada gave a soft hum.

Four or five opponents?
He even sensed those things.

Ada gazed at the sky and asked helplessly, "A raging sea, isn't it?"

Kaslan's brow twitched, as if he were somewhat surprised.

“You’ve discovered it,” the old man smiled slightly after a few seconds. “I always thought my power of termination was well hidden—when I was in service, everyone thought it was the melting of glaciers.”

Ada nodded listlessly: "Raging Seas and Surging Waves, a rare power of termination. It has a small increase in strength and speed, but it can give you superb instinctive reactions, allowing you to deal with any change in an instant."

“Just like the ocean,” Kaslan exclaimed with certainty, “no matter how terrifying the storms may be, the ocean remains constant and unwavering for millennia.”

Ada shrugged, but the movement aggravated the heavy injury in her right shoulder, causing her to grimace again.

“Although they are somewhat different, that kid Kayla has the same finishing power,” Ada said through gritted teeth, panting heavily. “I only remembered it when you swept that shot.”

Kaslan's expression shifted again.

“Prince Keira?” Kaslan’s tone was tinged with excitement and exhilaration: “To be compared to the legendary ‘Wolf Enemy’ is truly an honor.”

But Ada just lay on the ground with a droopy face, like a child who refused to admit defeat, shaking her head desperately.

"Damn it, if I hadn't recognized her, I wouldn't have decided to risk that strike," she stopped shaking her head, looking pitiful, and said sadly, "Trading injury for life, breaking the deadlock with death—this is the best way to face Kayla, to face the raging sea."

Kaslan smiled slightly and nodded slowly.

“Indeed, the Holy Elves, who rose to power through war and slaughter, are different from the conservative White Elves. Even without superpowers, you are still a formidable warrior,” Kaslan glanced at Ada and sighed, “You are not those guys who only know how to shoot arrows.”

"I'll take your compliment, you little brat," Ada said with a bored sigh.

The two remained silent for a few seconds.

“And you even know the ‘Wolf Enemy’ from a hundred years ago… The so-called immortals, with their hundreds or thousands of years of experience, are no joke,” Kaslan said slowly. “Instructor Eda, may I ask your age?”

"Age?" Ada's eyes widened, her pupils darting around. "Wait, let me convert it..."

In that instant, Ada's eyes suddenly deepened. "Age," she said softly.

“I was born in the ninth century after the War of the Dragon Slayers, the fourth century after the War for Survival, on the eve of the withering of the Tree of Immortality.” Ada’s tone became very low, yet it carried an air of composure.

"As old as the empire."

Something new appeared in her eyes, settling down quietly.

Kaslan was taken aback. In that instant, the elf gave him the feeling of an innocent child suddenly transforming into a mature adult.

"The Dragon Slaying War?" Kaslan asked tentatively.

"The last large-scale war between elves and dragons," Edda said calmly, "was fought by humans who also served as vassals of the elves."

"And the part of the war that you fought against the ancient orcs is known as the War of the Saints."

Kaslan was suddenly struck by a realization.

The campaign to expel the saint, wouldn't that be...?

But the next second, Ada shook her head.

“But I came of age very late,” her tone softened, returning to her previous nonchalant tone: “It took me a full eighteen hundred years, until just before the Third Continental War, to come of age.”

Ada wailed inwardly and sighed:

Unlike her older sister—that freak who became an adult three hours after birth.

Well, I can't let her know what I'm thinking.

Forget it, forget it, forget it quickly.

Kaslan frowned.

Is it the same age as... an ancient empire?
So, an elf over two thousand years old?
Even counting from adulthood, it's over three hundred years old.

Kaslan gazed silently at the elf lying on the ground and sighed, "The pinnacle of elves, monsters built up with time and experience."

“A loss is a loss,” Ada snorted indifferently. “Besides, among those inexperienced humans who can only make up for their disadvantages with their reactions and wits, you are quite outstanding.”

"You're just unlucky." Kaslan smiled kindly and tapped his chest.

"Yeah, what bad luck,"

“First, I encountered a warrior who could shut down his consciousness and thoughts, thus suppressing my greatest advantage,” Ada said, shrugging with a helpless expression. “Then, he even had a pair of steel ribs.”

Kaslan laughed heartily, the laughter aggravating his old lung injury, and the old man immediately began to cough violently.

“Fighting with you…cough cough…is an honor in my later years,” Kaslan said with a pained expression. He grabbed his Soul-Slaying Spear amidst his heart-wrenching cough and said with difficulty, “After retiring, to be able to fight against Sakel’s instructor…is something I never even dared to dream of.”

Ada twitched the corner of her mouth.

The next second, her expression changed.

Kaslan reached out and picked up the Soul-Slaying Spear.

Ada felt a pang of sadness.

The old man let out a long sigh and twirled the legendary anti-magic weapon in his hand.

The gun barrel slowly aimed at the elf on the ground.

Looking at the dark, menacing blade, Ada's heart skipped a beat.

The elf revealed his eight beautiful teeth and gave an ugly smile.

"Hey, can we make a deal..."

Whether from pain or frustration, Ada, with a mournful face, whispered to the owner of the Soul-Slaying Spear, "Legendary anti-magic weapons shouldn't be misused, right..."

But the next moment, Kaslan's actions stunned her.

The old man smiled slightly, placed the gun tip on the ground, and slowly stood up.

With the support of his spear, Kaslan turned and stepped past Ada.

"I'm leaving, Instructor Ada."

He limped away, turning back with a smile and saying, "Take care."

Ada's expression froze.

"Huh?" Ada clutched her right shoulder, her expression a mixture of pain and confusion. "You're not going to kill me?"

"You're not planning to capture me either?"

Kaslan exhaled and shook his head with a smile.

“I have achieved my goal, ‘dealing with that master of the extreme realm,’” the tavern owner said with emotion. “And you have lost your fighting ability and cannot affect the situation. That’s enough.”

Ada's eyes widened, then she breathed a sigh of relief.

She pursed her lips and her eyes darted around.

The next moment, the elf grinned:
"I see... So, would your boss agree?"

Upon hearing this, Kaslan was slightly taken aback.

what?
He immediately smiled and said helplessly, "That's true. Since you've put it that way, it's not easy to explain myself..."

Kaslan pulled the Soul-Slaying Spear from the ground: "Then I'll do as you say..."

Ada's expression changed instantly.

"Hey, hey, I was just saying it offhand..." Ada's face instantly turned into a mournful expression: "Look at the state I'm in..."

Kaslan laughed heartily.

But a few seconds later, Kaslan's smile vanished.

His expression gradually darkened, his eyebrows twisted, and he looked somewhat sorrowful.

"What I am doing is an unforgivable act."

Kaslan lowered his head, looking at the scimitar on the ground, his eyes filled with complex and profound emotions, his tone heavy and his words desolate.

Ada's eyes narrowed slightly.

“But I can’t turn back now,” Kaslan said in a daze, his voice trembling. “At least, I can do something small in the end to make amends and comfort myself.”

Ada stared at him blankly.

Kaslan raised his head, leaning on his Soul-Slaying Spear, and walked away from the ravaged street.

A few seconds later, Ada struggled to sit up, pale and sweating profusely from the pain in her right shoulder.

“Hey, kid,” Ada hesitated for a moment, watching Kaslan’s retreating figure, before finally uttering a few words, panting:

"See you later."

Kaslan paused slightly in his tracks.

With his back to Ada, he suddenly laughed.

The laughter was long and drawn out, but its meaning was desolate.

"Do not."

Kaslan didn't turn his head, and said calmly.

“Instructor Ada, I have a premonition,” the old man raised his head to look at the distant Hall of Heroes, his white hair fluttering in the wind, disheveled: “We’re afraid…”

Kaslan sighed and shook his head:

"...This is goodbye forever."

(End of this chapter)