Assassin's Chronicle

Chapter 77: Attack

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Neither Anfey nor Christian slept well that night. Anfey had only spoken half of his thoughts. He couldn't tell Christian some of the plans, and Christian kept tossing and turning, his thoughts unknown. He rolled over into Anfey, who also had trouble falling asleep, and met his eyes. They exchanged smiles, and once again turned away in different directions.

Everyone got up early in the morning and efficiently divided the labor. Blavi, Sanchez, Feller, and others stayed behind to look after the base camp. Anfey, Christian, Riska and the main force went to dig up the unicorn corpse. Anfey was a little worried that the two-footed flying dragon might come to provoke them, so he especially took out a piece of the highest quality magic crystal to have Christian form a magic array. Soon afterwards he led the main battle squad out onto the prairie.

Ten miles from the manticore's den, Christian and Suzanna were preparing the final touches. The trap was about five meters wide, with four tree branches on top to hold it in place. A net of woven tree sticks was laid on the branches as well. They had prepared a lot of timber for building houses these days, and weren't lacking these materials.

At the very bottom of the trap, Christian had arranged a magic array with increased gravity. As long as he was at a far distance to stimulate the operation of the magic array with his mental strength, within ten meters of the magic array, the gravity would increase seven or eight fold, the weight of the branches and the net of sticks on top of the trap would also increase. With the addition of surface dust and the weight of the corpse of the unicorn, the branches would abruptly break, and everything on top would fall down.

After building it, Suzanna and Christian went around the trap, and even ran up on top of the trap and stomped on it a few times. It was pretty durable, although there was a loose feeling beneath the feet. But in the magic beasts forest, there were fallen sticks and leaves everywhere, and even if the ground appeared to be very strong, it was still surprising to suddenly have one foot trapped in the midst of a pile of fallen leaves.

Anfey, Riska and the others had carried the unicorn corpse over. At this time, Christian had already formed a magic array to mask all the fluctuations of the elements, ten meters away behind the bushes. After having placed the unicorn corpse properly, they would just have to wait.

The first to arrive weren't the seven-winged magic flies, but a few types of small magic beasts. Anfey was surprised that he actually saw some magic beasts similar to grayish black rabbits biting at the carrion of the unicorn. He did not have the impression that rabbits were carnivores.

As time passed, an increasing number of magic beasts gathered near the unicorn corpse. It was probably due to the fact that the unicorn corpse was too immense, and caused all the magic beasts to believe there was enough food. There were no conflicts between them; they ate their own fill and appeared to be very peaceful.

The commotion of the gathering of all types of magical beasts quickly caught the attention of the seven-winged magic flies. Two golden lights appeared and sped nearer, finally stopping eight or nine meters in the air, and shining downwards.

Anfey had heard Christian tell him before that the seven-winged magic fly was enormous, and similar to the size of a human brain. That was why Anfey had subconsciously thought of the seven-winged magic fly as a type of spherically shaped magic beast. It wasn't until he had seen with his own eyes that he understood that Christian meant the body length. It could only be said that Christian's description was mistaken.

The seven-winged magic fly had a very soft body. Its body was about as thick as a person's two fingers, its whole body appeared to be a pale gold, and there were indeed seven pairs of wings, three pairs on each side and a pair on their back that appeared to be very small and short compared to the other wings.

This splint on the back helped it to be able to change its flight direction even more rapidly, which made it even more difficult to predict the course of its flight.

The seven-winged magic fly is a worthy flight master; its action of being suspended in air seemed very easy and natural. Behind it was a small sunflower shaped sucker that shook around as if it was looking for something. A seven-winged fly rapidly turned its body around and flew in the direction it came from, and another seven-winged magic fly then continued to circle over the unicorn corpse.

Not long after, the distant forest began to glow with bits of golden light. A group of seven-winged magic flies flew towards them aggressively, and the magic beasts that were fighting over the unicorn corpse seemed somewhat afraid. They slowly stopped eating and looked towards the sky.

This group of seven-winged magic flies first attacked the grayish black rabbit-looking magic beast. It seemed that not only humans know to pinch persimmons that are ripe [1]…

The rest of the magic beasts stood aloof, as if it did not affect them, and took a bite of carrion from time to time. That rabbit-like magic beast obviously wasn't an opponent, and would soon be banished and disappear in the midst of the magic beast forest.

Immediately after that, the group of seven-winged magic flies started to attack a big spider with a weird totem on its back, and thus, at that moment, it finally experienced the fruit of having watched coldly on the sideline.

It waved it's little legs in rebellion as it let out calls of chirps, as if it was asking the other magical beasts to rescue it. But just as it had not help the rabbit just then, no magic beasts came to help it now.

The seven-winged magic flies attacked very fast, and once they attacked, they flew away immediately, not lingering over the big spider. In the blink of an eye, their attack came wave after wave, and left many wounds on the big spider. Luckily, the seven-winged magic flies' could only heal themselves once. If it could be combined, this big spider probably would have been immobilized already.

Finally, the big spider couldn't stand the collective attack of the seven-winged magic flies and fled into the forest. The seven-winged magic flies regrouped in the air, as if they were choosing their next opponent.

A magic wolf with a lame leg let out a howl to warn the seven-winged magic flies not to mess with it; to go bully the others because it was not to be trifled with. Who could have known that even before the wolf's cry had stopped, a very horrible scream came from afar. Immediately, a huge figure in the sky came pressing towards them.

The wolf was very vigilant.. Before the other magic beasts could respond, it had already opened its mouth and ripped off a big piece of carrion from the unicorn corpse, and immediately went into the forest. Even though it had just pronounced its solemn declaration, it fled into the forest in the blink of an eye; that was too much of a loss of face. But high-level magic beasts were at the top of the food chain in the magic beasts forest. Even a group of starving magic wolves wouldn't dare to wage an attack on the two-footed flying dragon, and magic beasts like the magic wolf don't really care for its reputation either.

The rest of the magic beasts coaxed to disperse. The magic beast forest was a region where the strong ones were respected, and it was also a region of survival of the fittest. All the magic beasts understood that; they knew what they should do when in the face of irresistible force.

A two-footed flying dragon lazily landed. This two-footed flying dragon was a bit bigger than the two-footed flying dragon that broke into the cave yesterday. It was too lazy to pay attention to the scattered fleeing magic beasts.

It tilted its head and looked around, then shook its stout body and slowly walked towards the unicorn corpse.

Within the magic shield, Anfey carefully watched the two-footed flying dragon's every movement, but Christian was watching Anfey instead, and was quietly waiting for Anfey to give a signal.

The two-footed flying dragon finally set down on the trap under everyone's eyes. But at this moment, an accident occurred. Although Anfey and everyone had carefully compiled the branches into a net, and Suzanna had carefully inspected it as well, there would always be some omissions. In this case, this two-footed flying dragon's weight was beyond imagination. As a result, its right leg broke the branches underneath, and it fell deep into the trap, with its whole body slanted.

"Begin!" Anfey said in a low voice. He wanted the painstakingly created trap to be of great use; to be able to kill all the seven-winged magic flies and even a few two-footed flying dragons. But hope is just hope. That two-footed flying dragon's accident had already destroyed Anfey's hopes.

Christian quickly used mental strength to launch a magic array to increase gravitational strength. There came a light hoot from the air, and the surrounding weeds ten meters or so from the unicorn corpse, as well as the shrubs, fell neatly onto the ground all at the same time, as if the ground beneath had some random force of attraction. Their leaves stuck entirely onto the ground, and also produced breaking sounds from time to time.

The most unfortunate were the seven-winged magic flies. Their wings were actually very thin, and they relied on having a light body in order for them to be able to fly fast. During the start of the magic array, there body weight immediately increased a few times.

At the same time, they flapped their wings rapidly on instinct, in hopes of ridding that kind of force of attraction. Due to the intensity of the struggle, their wings either abruptly snapped, or their bodies were strained. They fell to the ground one after another as a result.

But the two-footed flying dragon and the unicorn corpse in front of it disappeared together. The ground trembled. An adult two-footed flying dragon's weight was around 4,000 pounds, and with the addition of the increased gravity, something around the weight of nearly 30 thousand pounds crashed into the trap. It was not a surprise to have this kind of result. Not to mention that the unicorn's corpse was also affected by the increased gravity, and together, it would be an intimidating figure.

Suzanna jumped up and rushed towards the trap first. To have arranged the magic array in the middle of the trap was a last resort; they would not get the desired result if the magic array were formed in other places. But after the heavy weight had fallen into the trap, it could possibly have done damage to the magic array. The effect of the increased gravity would disappear, and she did not have a lot of time.

Suzanna stopped for moment when she rushed out of the area enveloped in the magic array. The undulation that the magic array produced suddenly disappeared. Only then did Suzanna conveyed her energy for battle and sprung up straight towards the inside of the trap like a meteor. She wanted to resolve the hidden danger before the two-footed flying dragon restored its combat power.

The second one to charge was Anfey, while Riska released a frost tactic. White frost flowers that are visible to the naked eye began to condense on the ground surrounding the trap. The seven-winged magic flies like hot and humid weather; the frost tactic would make them suffer! As for Suzanna and Anfey, a temperature around zero degrees was completely tolerable.

Since time was short, there were only three raised top sharp-pointed stakes in the trap. The two-footed flying dragon was lucky: it laid right in the middle of the three stakes, and only one of the stakes gave it a minor scrape. The two-footed flying dragon struggled to flip its body, wanting to get itself upright. The light from the sword that Suzanna released had already arrived. A crescent moon shaped sword light struck the belly of the two-footed flying dragon and immediately left a wound about 4 inches long, and the two-footed flying dragon screamed loudly.

"Yeah!" Suzanna yelled, and kicked the inside wall of the trap forcefully with her right leg. Her attack when her whole body was shrouded in combat mode was very scary. That kick made a big hole in the wall, and Suzanna sprung up and leapt towards the two-footed flying dragon's neck.

The two-footed flying dragon had an unusually agile neck. It was the main weapon for hunting, but it was also its fatal weakness. Compared to its huge body, the two-footed flying dragon's neck was way too thin and small, and it could not withstand an attack that was too fierce.

And at the moment, Anfey was waving the tail needle of the manticore, attacking the seven-winged magic flies that practically had not defense against it. Suzanna was the strong one anyways; there was no need for him to exert his utmost strength.

A brutal cold light flashed across the small pupils of the two-footed flying dragon. It shook its neck and bypassed Suzanna's attack, and instead, it bit towards Suzanna's lower abdomen from below. Although the two-footed flying dragon was fighting Suzanna while lying down on the ground, its speed of movement was still very rapid.

Suzanna gripped her left fist tightly, and bounded with dazzling combat energy, she struck out downwards. Suzanna's small hand normally appeared to be delicate, but after conveying combat energy, her hand became hard like iron, and her punch struck the two-footed flying dragon's head with a direct hit. Suzanna only felt bursts of soreness in her hand, and her body could not help but to float upwards, while the two-footed flying dragon screamed loudly in more pain.

At this time, Christian and Riska came charging forward. Christian raised his hand and a flash of lightning fell out of thin air and struck the two-footed flying dragon's head. Riska's release of magic was much slower than Christian's, but what he released, however, was a fire meteor. The two-footed flying dragon still flipped over on its belly, but it simply could not dodge, and could only watch the fire meteor crash onto its body.

Hot flames shot everywhere. Suzanna eyed the exact position of the two-footed flying dragon, and still relying on the overpowering combat energy, she pushed into the fire. The two-footed flying dragon was about to go crazy with pain, and did not expect a human silhouette to sprung out of the flames. There was no time for it to resist again, and the long sword bathed in combat energy heavily hacked onto the back of its neck.

Although the sword attack that Suzanna had summoned with all her strength did not fully chop through the two-footed flying dragon's neck, the attack left the dragon with no chance of survival. The two-footed flying dragon's scream suddenly died down, and its long neck fell weakly to the ground. Under its mouth was the unicorn corpse of its dreams: It was a pity that it did not have enough strength left to even eat just a small piece of the carrion.

Riska let out a breath of relief, and repeatedly released a few whirlwinds. The two-footed flying dragon's ability to resist magic was the lowest amongst the high level magic beasts, and their ability to resist the magic of the fire series was beyond hideous and horrible to look at. The fire meteor abruptly exploded a hole in the two-footed flying dragon's chest. The stink of burnt flesh penetrated the air, and Riska could barely stand it.

Christian and Suzanna's expressions became more relaxed, and they turned around together to look towards Anfey. Anfey was seriously brandishing the manticore's tail needle, and the attack made the last seven-winged magic fly that was trying to escape fall to the ground. Sante and Zubin followed behind Anfey, collecting the seven-winged magic flies. The three strong combatants—the high level swordsman, the beginner level magister, and one who had just become a magister—joined forces, and Anfey was not worried that they would have some type of accident. His concentration was all on the seven-winged magic flies.

Although there were countless good things in Anfey's dimensional ring, they were not his own. Anfey never had a selfish thought of private possession; they would have to be returned to Saul sooner or later. But the unicorn corpse, manticore, and the seven-winged magic flies were different. These were the fruits of their team's labor. Anfey had always valued his own private belongings…

Achoo … Anfey contentedly took back the manticore's tail needle into the dimensional ring and sneezed. The effects of the frost tactic had gradually dissipated, but the air was still very cold. On the other hand, Christian was waiting for people not in the midst of combat and was surrounded by the magic shield, so he had no problems. Anfey glanced with envy at Christian and the others; he didn't know when he'd be able to generate a magic shield. How impressive would that be.

"Is everyone alright?" Anfey jumped in place a few times and began to do warm-up exercises. Anfey's wariness gradually decreased with the increase in the amount of time he had spent with everyone, and his temperament became easy-going. In the past, he would not have done this type of action under everyone's eyes.

"We still have no problem in dealing with a two-footed flying dragon," said Riska confidently. They all said that strength was ambition's cradle. With the increase of strength, almost everyone's ambitions would gradually grow. In actuality, confidence would also increase along with strength. Knowing that he had broken the bottleneck, and that becoming a magister was just around the corner, Riska became more confident.

"Don't be careless!" Anfey shook his head. "Suzanna, take out that two-footed flying dragon's magic crystal and poisonous tooth before the other two-footed flying dragons rush here."

Anfey was beginning to like Suzanna more and more, but this was not the usual kind of affinity between a man and a woman. Apart from the times when they had disputes, Suzanna did not have that many shortcomings, and her merits were obvious. She could endure hardship and trouble, she was willing to exert her utmost strength, her ability was the strongest amongst the team, and she knew how to obey commands. She was simply the role model citizen of another world…Where could one go to find such a good opponent?!

"Okay." Sure enough, after Suzanna nodded, she obediently extracted the two-footed flying dragon's poisonous tooth.

"Anfey, let's go check out the two-footed flying dragons' nest. Although the two-footed flying dragons live in groups, they are separated when they are hunting, and at most only two or three are together. If we go to their nest, we might have a lot to gain," Christian suggested. Having won so easily gave him a lot of confidence, and all those people at the scene were all the core members of the team's combat power. No one would be getting in the way of anyone. In case they came across any danger, there would still be no problem in retreat.

"Might as well." Anfey nodded his head. It did not mean that they would definitely have to fight if they went. Without the seven-winged magic flies being their eyes and ears, the two-footed flying dragons would have a hard time discovering them, and they could use the eye of the sky to observe movement from far away. If there were advantages to take, then they would attack. If there were no advantages, then they would just go back.

They all knew the specific location of the manticore's nest. After Suzanna had taken out the spoils of war, everyone rushed toward the nest of the two-footed flying dragons together. Christian released the eye of the sky once again, at the place where everyone had stayed last time, and searched for the trail of the two-footed flying dragons.

Compared to last time, the surrounding scenery had changed a lot. First, on the ancient tree near the resting ground of the manticore, there were seven or eight large mud nests. Those were indeed the nests of the two-footed flying dragons. The two-footed flying dragons liked to rest in trees, because their night vision was very poor, and resting on top of trees could help them to avoid a lot of dangers. Otherwise, a group of magic wolves could cause them big trouble at night.

After having searched for a while, Suzanna exclaimed in surprise, "Weird, how come I can't see even one two-footed flying dragon?"

"Search again," Anfey said quietly.

After searching again, they were still not able to find a single one. Christian suddenly became nervous. "Anfey, they didn't go attack our camping ground, right?"

"That's probably not possible." Anfey pondered for a moment, "You don't have to worry. Didn't we already arrange a magic array to protect everyone? Besides, they have a lighting chain scroll and hell's fire scroll. Even if all the two-footed flying dragons went, they would still be able to ward them off."

"I say we go back immediately," Christian said. "We'll talk again in a while." Anfey shook his head. "Riska, release the eye of the sky as well, and go in two different directions with Christian to search for the two-footed flying dragons!"

According to Christian and other people's analyses of the habits of the two-footed flying dragons, even if they had gone out to hunt collectively, there should still be two or three two-footed flying dragons that stayed behind in the nest. But now not a single one was to be found, and Anfey kept feeling it was a bit strange.

In order to find the two-footed flying dragons' trail faster, Christian and Riska both increased the scope of the eye of the sky this time. Searching from two directions, Riska shortly found a two-footed flying dragon's corpse first. "Anfey, hurry and come look!" Riska shouted. Anfey and the others quickly rushed over. A two-footed flying dragon's corpse lay quietly in the grass, with a blood hole as thick as a baby's arm on its body. Their initial estimate was that there were probably more than a hundred two-footed flying dragons. The surrounding shrubs hadn't changed that much, which proved that the battle ended very fast!

"Riska, give me your magic coordinates!" Christian said anxiously.

"Alright," Riska nodded his head.

With accurate magic coordinates, Christian's eye of the sky's search range moved closer. After they both worked very hard, they again found another two corpses of two-footed flying dragons. If it was a battle of equal strengths, then the surrounding grass and shrubs would not have been untrampled. But the scene of the two-footed flying dragons' death appeared to be very peaceful.

"Could it be…done by the top level magic beasts?" Anfey asked.

"Not possible. This way of attack does not seem to be of magic beasts," Suzanna shook her head.

"Then what do you say it was?"

"People!"

"People?" Anfey was surprised. The first person he thought of was the old Phillip, whom he had never met. "Could he have already caught up to us here?" Anfey thought.

"It must also be a lot of people!" Suzanna's second sentence gave Anfey a huge feeling of relief.

"Anfey, what about me?" Christian asked. His mood at the moment was very contradictory. Having been hanging around in the magic beasts forest for so long, he really wanted to see other people, but he was also worried about coming across danger. Human nature could not be controlled, and even Anfey had wanted people to come onto the island.

"Christian, meditate with Riska for a while first, and then we will go over there to look together." Anfey pondered for a moment and made up his mind. Kings always had a saying, "How can an outsider sleep on my bed!" Anfey and they had risked danger to eliminate the unicorn and manticore, and were even prepared to get rid of the two-footed flying dragons. It was for the team that he could become the ruler of this region, and so they would be able to live safely. But now a group of people appeared randomly; they had to get to the bottom of this no matter what!

Christian knew that it was a serious matter, didn't say much either and went into meditation with Riska. The two had mastered the method of deep meditation. They had not lost much magic energy, so returned to their best condition fast.

Following along the magic coordinate, a party very carefully made their way to the scene of the battle. This time, everyone appeared to be much more cautious. When investigating the nest of the two-footed flying dragons, Christian and the others had released a drifting tactic, and landed when they had just rushed in. But at the moment, he was carefully going through the forest with Suzanna. Not only were their movements very slow, and they heard some noises now and then, their companions also became silent, and only continued to move forward after deciding that there were no dangerous circumstances.

Apart from Anfey, the rest of them could not accurately estimate the time. After 20 or 30 minutes, everyone rushed to a two-footed flying dragon's corpse and began to carefully examine it.

Two or three wounds were nothing, but hundreds of holes crowded together seemed a bit scary. The two-footed flying dragon's eyes were still opened, and its light green skin had already became greenish black. There were bloodstains all over its body. Anfey walked to the front, pinched a small piece of flesh from the wound with his fingers, and tore it off with force. He then gently twisted it between his two fingers, and concentrated fully on feeling the elasticity of the flesh.

But Suzanna and the others did not understood what Anfey was doing. They observed vigilantly, and sensed the state of affairs of the outside world while looking at Anfey.

Anfey again grabbed a handful of bloodstained soil from the two-footed flying dragon's corpse, smelled it, then gently let it go. He then broke off a branch from the middle of the shrubs, broke the twigs and leaves, and inserted it deep into the two-footed flying dragon's wound. The wound wasn't deep, but it wasn't shallow either; it was about seven or eight centimeters deep. Anfey had also tested a few other wounds, and found that they were about the same depth.

It could be said that there was no lethal wound on this two-footed flying dragon's body, but the key was that there were too many wounds. No matter what magic beast, excessive blood loss would lead to rapid exhaustion and would lead straight to death!

"Anfey, what did you see?" Suzanna asked.

Anfey pondered for a moment, "Minus the time they spent searching for the two-footed flying dragons, minus the meditation, minus the time spent rushing here." He came to a conclusion: "This two-footed flying dragon just died right before we arrived here!"

"Then what about these wounds? Can you tell what kind of weapon it was?" Suzanna asked.

"Suzanna, how deep of a wound can you inflict on the two-footed flying dragon's body if you summoned all your combat power, and attacked with full force?" Anfey asked in return.

"Let me try." Suzanna gathered her combat power, walked slowly to the front of the two-footed flying dragon's body, and forcefully stabbed towards the two-footed flying dragon's belly. As a result, the sword went in deeply, almost to the sword hilt.

"This does not count." Suzanna shook her head. "After a magic beast dies, its defense would decrease, and…I think that this two-footed flying dragon is very strange, as if it was a bunch of grass. I could not feel any resistance at all."

"Take a look at this." Anfey raised up the tree branch in his hand, "If you were facing a live two-footed flying dragon, and used a full force attack, would you be able to stab such a deep wound?"

"Probably two or three times as deep as this," Suzanna said.

"Then that would be thirty centimeters…" Anfey pondered for a moment. "Depending on a high level swordsman's combat power, with a handle of mystery in hand, always unwilling to tell of the origin of the top sword, only then could Suzanna leave a thirty centimeters deep wound on the two-footed flying dragon. What kind of person is he? Could it be there were hundreds of beginner level swordsman?"

"I have a feeling this two-footed flying dragon's body does not contain the magic crystal anymore!" Suzanna exclaimed suddenly.

"Oh?" Anfey was stunned.

Suzanna did not wait for Anfey to speak, and had already jumped onto the two-footed flying dragon's body. She stabbed downwards, split opened the carcass, and this time Anfey and the others all saw the strange and unusual sight. The unicorn's magic crystal grew in the unicorn's brain, and the two-footed flying dragon's magic crystal grew in its chest, wrapped up by its heart.

When Suzanna had retrieved the magic crystal from the two-footed flying dragon that had been in the trap, she chopped and cut, and after after working hard for a while, she finally retrieved it. But now, this two-footed flying dragon seemed as if it was made of mud, and was easily cut open by Suzanna. Both were two-footed flying dragons and both were corpses, so there shouldn't have been that much of a difference!

"Heavens! There is indeed no magic crystal! How did they do it?!" Suzanna exclaimed in surprise. She had already cut the two-footed flying dragon's heart open. It was empty inside; there was no magic crystal, and not even blood!

Just at this time, hundreds of meters away in the forest, came a person's scream. Anfey and the others looked back towards the location of the scream.

"Attack!!" Another person's shout was heard. Promptly, that person yelled again in a very furious tone, "Who screamed just now!? I will f***king cut him into pieces!!"

Immediately, a dense javelin like thing shot out from the forest in every direction, and landed at the spot Anfey and the others were.

There was a penetrating whining sound everywhere in the sky, and the javelin-like thing that was shot overhead was like a group of dark clouds.

Luckily, Anfey and the others had already developed a sense of vigilance. Christian and four mages had already set up four walls, which firmly blocked everyone, and Christian also released a magic shield, which protected everyone inside. Christian brought out the sword, stood at the very front, and anxiously guarded.

Although the momentum of the javelin was jarring, the wall was a very effective magic shield. The javelin destroyed two walls in a row, but in front of the third wall, it did not have much energy left and could only drill into the wall in vain, its tail still trembling.

"My god! Orc!! Let's get out of here!!" Suzanna screamed urgently. Numerous savage faces emerged from the forest, and came charging forward at swift speed.

Christian and Riska held onto Anfey on either side, levitated, and flew into the sky. Zubin and Sante also followed from behind.

"Turn!! Towards north!!" Anfey said in a low voice, then preceded to lift his voice, "Suzanna, catch up with us, hurry!" Although having suffered from the sudden attack, Anfey's senses were very clear, but Christian was actually thrown into a panic. He fled straight towards the camp, but this could probably lure the Orcs to the campsite. In order to temporarily protect the safety of the camp, there had to be a change in direction.

Footnotes:

[1] To pick on those who are easy to bully