When he looked back, he saw not one, but two waves of shooting arrows raining down on them. He knew full well that if the first wave of arrows failed to hit them, the second wave of arrows would most likely hit them. He turned to look at Abrafo and shouted in horror, "We will not survive this!"
"Nonsense. These arrows won't kill us," Abrafo shouted. He turned to look at the mountain pass and saw a person sitting on the back of the black panther running towards them, but it was too far away to see who it was, but he knew that Michio and Ya escaped with the black panther the night before. So, the person rushing towards them was probably Michio. "Michio! Stop!"
Hearing Abrafo's voice, Yul watched the black panther run towards them. "What is he doing? Michio! Don't come!" Yul yelled.
Abrafo and Bong waved their hands, trying to attract Michio's attention as he rushed towards them, but Michio seemed not to notice Abrafo and Bong and continue towards them at high speed.
Hajime rushed forward with the black panther. He did not look at the people coming towards him but stared at the two waves of countless arrows falling like raindrops. He rushed forward towards with the black panther, past Abrafo and Bong, towards the last wolf.
Abrafo saw that the person who just rushed past him was Hajime, and shouted, "Hajime! Come back!"
Seeing Hajime riding the black panther passing by Yul, Yul's heart almost stopped beating. He looked back to see what Hajime was doing and saw that the black panther quickly turned around and followed him.
Hajime threw the dragon scale into the air. A single white shiny dragon scale multiplexes into three large scales. One dragon scale blocked the arrow coming straight, while the other two dragon scales hovered above the heads of the five people. The three wolves carrying Yul, Abrafo, Bong, and Fufu formed a line and headed towards the mountain pass.
"Told you, we'll make it," Abrafo said, looking at Bong with a smile.
Standing on the riverbank looking at the overgrown mountain pass, U-ri and Michio stood next to the vine woman and waited patiently, while the other nine women and three men were pacing back and forth, feeling deeply worried. Every time the nine women and three men looked at the overgrown mountain pass and saw no one approaching, they shook their heads in despair.
After waiting for a while, Ya found that Michio had begun to meditate, and U-ri had also sat next to the wooden woman and started writing something in his journal. Ya walked to the two Tanzanies and found that their faces were still very calm. Since Michio was already meditating, she didn't want to disturb him. She sat on a rock next to U-ri and asked, "Sir U-ri, are you worried?"
U-ri looked up at Ya and said, "No. They have encountered the worst situations before. Escape from arrows is nothing compared to past life and death situations." He continued writing in his journal.
"It's been quiet for a while," Ya whispered, feeling like the outcome would be worse than good. She stood up because her anxiety was overwhelming her, and she couldn't sit still like U-ri and Michio.
U-ri sighed and put away the book of life. He walked up to Ya, who was still looking at the mountain pass with worries written on her face. He said, "Child, don't worry too much. Look at the sky, the weather is clear. The clear sky means they are out of danger and are coming towards us."
Ya asked, "How do you know?"
U-ri said, "If we are in danger, we usually mark our last known location and as far as I know I haven't seen any markings so that means they are not in danger and are heading towards our way."
"But it's been so long, why haven't they come yet?" Ya said worriedly, then turned to U-ri. "Are they going to make it?"
"Yeah, with so many arrows, it's almost impossible to escape unscathed," a woman said. "I'm worried that probably not everyone will escape alive."
Bo walked up to U-ri and asked, "Sir, are you sure that one person can save them and outrun those arrows?"
Bo turned to look at the wooden woman standing on the riverbank, with vines growing from her fingertips. The vines from the wooden woman's fingertips have pierced the ground of the riverbank, and the vines on the edge of the riverbank have also emerged, building a small bridge across the river to the other side of the riverbank.
U-ri said, "They will arrive at any time. Just make sure you are ready to leave as soon as they cross the river." He turned to look at the anxious people. "Did you see it with your own eyes? Our Hajime flew you from the safety of the cliff to here. He will also bring them back safely."
"Sir U-ri is correct," said Ru. "We have to have hope. Just last night we thought we would die hopelessly in that pagoda, but now look at us. Because of Hajime, we are still alive, so we must have faith in him."
"I saw something moving," a woman shouted, pointing across the river.
U-ri looked around and said, "Hide quickly."
The women and three men rushed back and hid behind some rocks in case the approaching men were Malik's men.
The wolf carrying Bong rushed through the overgrown path, quickly jumped over a log in the middle of the path and headed straight for the small single-person vine bridge. Following Bong are Abrafo, Yul and Fufu.
"U-ri! Yul yelled. "She needs help now!"
U-ri stood up from behind a boulder next to the vine woman. "Yul," U-ri waved to Yul. "I'm here."
The wolf carrying Yul and Fufu walked straight towards to U-ri. Yul jumped off the wolf and helped Fufu to the ground.
"Fufu!" Ya quickly walked towards Fufu. "Oh heaven..." She gasped in horror when she saw the tip of the arrowhead piercing Fufu's chest. "Oh, heaven."
U-ri said, "Hold her down."
"I don't need anyone to hold me down, old man," Fufu groaned in pain and slowly sat up. "Do what you need to do. This isn't the first time I've been hurt."
U-ri said, "Alright." He handed a piece of folded cloth to Fufu.
Fufu took the folded cloth, put it in her mouth, and bite it.
U-ri asked, "I have to push the arrow far enough for me to grab it, and then pull the arrow out of your chest." He looked at Fufu who was sweating profusely. "Are you ready?"
Fufu nodded to U-ri.
Abrafo looked around and saw only U-ri, Michio, and Ya. "Where are the others?" Abrafo asked.
Michio said, "They were hiding." He stood up and looked around. "Hajime? Where is Hajime?"
Bong said, "He is right behind us."
A wave of arrows was fired from the other side of the river, causing those who came out of hiding to quickly hide behind the boulders on the riverbank.
As soon as Hajime and the black panther crossed the vine bridge, the vines quickly pulled away. The black panther, still have the white dragon scale as his protection, rushed towards the vine woman standing beside the riverbank. Hajime cut off the tip of his middle finger, put his bleeding finger on the vine woman's shoulder and he closed his eyes.
At this moment, the vine woman raised her head and looked at the people on the other side of the river. As soon as Hajime opened his eyes, the vines rushed out of the ground at high speed, stabbing at the horses carrying Anu and thirty soldiers. Xun, Anu and the four soldiers jumped off their horses in time to avoid being injured by the vines.
The vines were running so fast that the twenty-six soldiers on horseback holding bows and arrows were unable to protect themselves. The vines pierced the bodies of the soldiers, lifted them into the air, slammed their wounded bodies onto the boulders by the river, and dragged the wounded and dead soldiers into the river, pressing them to the bottom of the river.
Witnessing this scene, Anu was amazed that a man could use such magic to block his fierce arrows and well-trained soldiers. Anu stared at Hajime, raising the left corner of his mouth into a half-smile, he knew that with his current ability, he could not defeat the white-haired man opposite him.
"Retreat," Anu said, turning from the riverbank.
Xun looked at Anu and grabbed Anu's arm. "Retreat?" Xun said angrily. "They were right there; how could you retreat at such a critical moment?"
Anu withdrew his arm from Xun's hand. "They're right there on the other side of the river and you're free to rush across the river." He led four soldiers back to the mountain pass.
Abrafo looked at Xun and shouted, "Hey, loser, I suggest you also retreat too."
Since he had no chance to cross the river due to his inability to swim, Xun glared at Abrafo angrily and followed Anu and Anu's soldiers back to the mountain pass.
Seeing that U-ri had started to take off Fufu's shirt, Yul turned around and saw Hajime and Abrafo not far away from him, so he quickly walked towards Hajime, and when he found Hajime's wolf and the vine women starting to disappear, he rushed to Hajime's side and caught Hajime in time before Hajime's unconscious body hit the ground.
"Hajime..." Yul said softly. "Hajime..."
"I'm fine...I just..." Hajime lost consciousness.
"Hajime!" Abrafo and Bong shouted in unison, running towards Hajime and Yul.