"How can he be so fast? Thomas, did he break through to the Earthripper Realm?"
A fierce punch wind blew past his ear, interrupting Henry's shocked suspicion.
He knew Thomas had taken action.
Having just used too much force, the momentum was too full, even if he released his grip on the sword now, he couldn't evade Thomas's punch, so he didn't let go.
In a death sentence like this, Henry should feel fear.
Yet he didn't, and instead, showed a smile of success on his face.
Whoosh…
The sound of arrows piercing the air echoed, and from the tree where William and Barry were hiding came two waves, a total of four arrows, speeding towards here.
The targets were clearly Thomas.
The arrows took extremely tricky angles, the first two aiming at Thomas's left hand pressing the sword and his right punch aimed at Henry; the last two arrows flew straight towards his face.
Having paired with the William brothers for many years, the tacit understanding among the three had reached the point where they didn't even need eye contact; Henry's frontal charge with the sword wasn't meant to harm Thomas, but merely to create an opportunity for William and Barry.
Never could they have imagined Thomas's speed being so fast, not only easily dodging Henry's slash but quickly countering against his sword.
Though the counter was successful, it also restricted Thomas's own movements.
The four arrows almost sealed Thomas's retreat.
Even if he withdrew now, he could at most dodge the two aimed at his hands, the two aimed at his face were unavoidable.
However, the following scene stunned everyone.
Thomas didn't dodge, his punch wind became even more fierce.
Clang, clang, clang, clang…
All four iron-tipped arrows hit their targets, and astonishingly, one of the arrows in the second wave even hit Thomas's right eye, penetrating at least ten centimeters.
Boom…
Yet even so, Thomas's fierce right punch still landed.
Henry didn't even have time to turn his head before his body was blasted onto the snow behind him like a cannonball, creating a loud crash.
Though he had the Axeheart Realm strength, with a solid body, his skull wasn't shattered by the punch, but it did sink nearly a half.
One blow, life taken.
Henry died, just like that.
And Thomas, with four arrows embedded in him, seemed unfazed, stood up, then turned his head.
His unpierced left eye stared through the night at the two large trees behind, with that eerie smile fixed on his face.
Whether it was the seven entangled with the enemy or William and Barry hiding in the trees, at this moment, their hearts were filled with fright and horror.
"Run, he's not the real Thomas, he's the mimicking monster from Redwood Ridge!"
At this point, if William still couldn't see it, he might as well not be the leader.
He shouted in alarm, drawing his bow and firing all eight arrows from his wooden tube on his back in one breath.
The targets were not Thomas, but the seven Axeheart team members being held.
On the other side, Barry did the same.
The seven Axeheart team members were already in turmoil due to William's words about the "mimicking monster," but being obstructed, they couldn't retreat at once.
Now with over ten arrows assisting them, the seven thought they could retreat safely, and they seized the chance while the arrows flew towards the enemy, turning to flee.
However, just like Henry's earlier fate.
The Harper Axeheart team members did not evade the arrows.
They allowed the arrows to hit their bodies, relentlessly continuing to pursue.
Several were knocked down by the powerful impact of arrows hitting their chests, and those hit in just the limbs moved slower.
The two slowest among the seven were instantly caught.
Don't even mention resistance, they didn't even turn around before being brutally hacked into pulp with stone axes by the people behind them.
The five who had escaped turned their heads and saw this scene, not daring to slow down at all, swiftly escaping to the back, following frantically fleeing behind William and Barry.
However, that "Thomas" clearly had no intention of letting them go.
Thirteen people, each with arrows pierced in various parts of their bodies, pursued swiftly from behind, led by "Thomas," with an arrow in his right eye bobbing up and down as he ran, creating a truly chilling image.
"Don't head towards the camp. If we lead them there, we'll all die."
Even while fleeing chaotically, William wasn't entirely muddled, deliberately leading Barry and the other five in the opposite direction from their camp.
Whoosh…
A sharp sound pierced his ears, causing William's face to tighten.
This was the second time.
How could he not discern?
As soon as that sound echoed previously, three people inexplicably died.
What exactly was it?
William, anxious to the extreme, hastily turned his head to look around, forcing himself to calm down and locate the source of the sound.
Suddenly, a dense, long streak of dim light reflected into his pupils, and William, who was fleeing madly, swiftly lowered his head, while shouting to alert those behind:
"Duck down quickly, something's up ahead!"
The closest to him, Barry, was the first to duck.
Three of the five behind also ducked.
Only the last two, whether because they didn't hear clearly or reacted too slowly, didn't duck and charged straight ahead.
Clearly seeing nothing obstructing them, yet those last two froze abruptly like the three before them, followed by three mysterious red dots appearing on their foreheads.
Blood oozed from the red dots, and the two fell simultaneously.
William's heart was nearly bleeding with grief as he fled madly.
A few days ago, while hunting Snow Mane, three were lost, including his biological brother, and now eight more had died.
The Taylor Axeheart team had sixteen members, now there were only five left.
Crucially, even their lives weren't certain to be kept.
Because that mimicking monster was still chasing them relentlessly.
Their stamina was waning, speed dwindling, but looking back at the monsters behind them, their speed showed no sign of slowing.
The Taylor Camp probably wouldn't last.
Just as a sense of utter despair rose within William's heart.
A sharp and youthful voice suddenly rang out from the right side.
"Finally found you, let's see where you can run now!"
This sound, to William and others who were frantically fleeing, was like celestial music.
As the sound reached their ears, a breathtaking sword light also came into view.
Though the sword light was dozens of meters away, it arrived in an instant, fully demonstrating its speed.
The sword light sliced through the air, emitting a sharp shriek, signifying its sharpness.
Both hearing and seeing it all happened in a split second.
The sword light arrived abruptly like a streak of silver silk, also in just an instant.
The sword was truly too fast, so fast that before William and the others could fully see, two of the thirteen men who were chasing them had been decapitated by the sword light.
Although it was night, this was the outer part of Redwood Ridge, where the trees were not as dense as in the inner layers, coupled with the white glow emitted by the snow on the ground, so William and others' vision was not significantly affected.
The sword light stopped, and naturally, the person behind the sword light was also seen by William and his group.
At a glance, including the leader William.
The first reaction of everyone was a bit of inferiority.
He was a youth appearing only in his early twenties, wearing a brown fur beast skin coat; around his neck was a smooth white fur neck warmer, evidently made from the tail of a Cold Beast; on his feet were a pair of glossy black beast skin boots.
The inferiority felt by William and the others was not without reason.
The five of them were wearing just beast skin skirts, and even those were the kind full of holes, shabby beast skin skirts.
However, even such beast skin skirts, among the more than three hundred people in Taylor Camp, fewer than fifty could wear them.
The vast majority of others wore Dry Leaf Clothes.
The so-called Dry Leaf Clothes were clothes pieced together from larger leaves collected and sun-dried.
Of course, it wasn't just Taylor Camp.
Around Redwood Ridge, aside from the slightly better-off Rogel Camp, other camps were in this situation.
No way around it, a complete piece of beast skin inherently represented proof of strength.
Even Rogel Camp couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't damage the pelts of prey during hunts, let alone these smaller camps.
So, the complete set of clothing the youth was wearing at this moment was enough to make these people feel ashamed.
Not to mention, the shiny silver longsword in his hand had wiped out two mimicking Monsters in an instant.
Amidst the astonishment and suspicion, the youth moved again.
His swordplay was like a dance; in an instant, amidst sparks, the cold edge sliced through the darkness and brought out seven or eight sword lights in the air, almost with the speed of cutting through melons and vegetables, beheading all ten remaining mimicking Monsters behind "Thomas".
Recalling their own scene of escaping in disarray from the mimicking Monsters, and then looking at the youth leisurely slaying the monsters, such a stark contrast made the inferiority in the hearts of William and the five grow even stronger.
After beheading ten people, the youth did not immediately attack Thomas; he only looked at him calmly and slowly said, "The things you've done…"
Swoosh…
Before the youth finished speaking, that familiar sound suddenly rose again.
William's face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly shouted a warning.
"Be careful, sir!"
However, his warning was a bit superfluous.
Even before he spoke out, the youth had already turned to look behind him, his ears twitched slightly, quickly turning his gaze and locking onto the top of a large tree on the left side of the dense forest.
"In the tree, Matthew, George, attack together!"
As he shouted loudly, two figures swiftly came rushing from the right side, quickly heading towards the tree that his gaze was fixed on.
At the same time, the youth no longer concerned himself with "Thomas", and with a mighty push off the ground, rushed towards the tree.
The speed of the three was incredibly fast; William couldn't even have a clear look before the youth had already cut the tree in half.
The entire upper half of the tree came crashing down with a roar.
This scene caused the expressions on the faces of William and his group to freeze instantly.
Especially when they discovered that inside the broken tree was a glint of gold.
Their pupils trembled greatly, and they swallowed simultaneously.
"The toughest Golden Frost Tree, chopped with one slash?"
They only ever chose Red Frost Trees for Axeheart.
It's not that Golden Frost Trees can't be chopped; they can.
But the problem is, a Golden Frost Tree would take them at least ten continuous hours of chopping to fell.
But what did they just see, the Golden Frost Tree was cut down with a single slash?
As they looked at the youth, their gazes instantly filled with reverence.
And after the Golden Frost Tree was felled, a shadowy figure leaped out like a ghost from its top, heading towards the inner layer of Redwood Ridge.
But the youth and the other two reacted extremely quickly as well.
The three swiftly formed a triangular formation, tightly enclosing the shadowy figure in the center.
"Think you can run? It's not easy to come across a low-tier Craftsman mimicking Monster; I can't let you escape just like that."
"Don't let your guard down; this is a Wood Puppet Monster, and those I just killed were probably crafted by it using wood and corpses, and it might have other tricks up its sleeve, so be careful."
William responded quickly, listening to the conversation and glancing at "Thomas", who had been stiff and motionless since the shadowy figure appeared, he roughly understood now.
Craftsman mimicking Monster, Wood Puppet Monster, both likely referred to the shadowy figure.
Thomas and those loggers were obviously controlled by it.
Moreover, among the two names shouted by the youth earlier, there was one that William knew, and recognized.
George, the current leader of the Rogel Camp and son of the former leader Steve.
Indeed, William looked carefully once more.