Chapter 1067: The Hunt

The charging champion hunter seemed wholly unbothered by the flames, there was no signs of discomfort, no sound of pain emitted from behind the mask, even as the robes caught fire, the hunter kept moving forward, and soon, two blades clashed.

“Foul creature…” the silver knight grunted, against his Zweihander, such a puny blade should be easy to swat away, but it felt incredibly heavy, the force behind the swing was unnatural, no fighting spirit had been sensed, and yet, a mere swing required all of his focus to be blocked.

It might be explained by the curse that befell him, but no, that alone was not enough to warrant for him to struggle to do something so basic- With another surge of fighting spirit, he freed himself of the shadow hold, and stomped forward, pressing against the black blade as the masked executioner of heroes held his ground.

What could only be described as a cold, inhuman chuckle escaped his opponent, the first sound he had made, and it wasn’t a good one, the silver knight felt his blood boil at the mockery, channeling his power into his weapon, the blade heated up, turning red as the two swords ground against one another.

The silver knight was the first to falter, not due to a lack of strength, but because a mace came smashing into his back, allowing the enemy in front of him to break free of their clash and swiftly slam the pommel of his short sword directly against the knight’s temple.

Of course, his helm, made from a precious material, and reinforced by fighting spirit, protected him from the blow, but the dreadful strength still managed to get through in a certain amount, a searing pain was proof of it.

He backed off, the sword user, and mace user began walking around him like predatory felines, the third one was still a distance away, seemingly doing nothing, this told the knight that he was probably the most dangerous of the trio.

The flames that had been eating through the robes of the one with the sword died out, and most frighteningly, the article of clothing began to regrow like it was flesh.

Looking around, the battlefield was vast, but the enhanced senses of the silver knight allowed him to know a lot even with just a glance, to put it simply, the humans were losing, a direct confrontation had been their best bet, and yet, it was looking like a terrible idea at the moment, soldiers were dying in great numbers, struggling to contend with the monstrous dirt-blooded, the junior knights and apprentice warriors should be doing better, but they were falling victim to dreadful ambushes by the Ill-Bred Minutemen.

And of course, the silver knight, the strongest man present in the fort, was currently facing the abominable forces that had allowed the dirt-blooded to somehow form an army and challenge the millenia-long rule of both humankind, and elvenkind.

Neither of those three seemed to be the true leader, but they already had a reputation, ever since they revealed themselves, any individual with power, or those with great potential would have targets on their backs, those foul beings would descend into clouds of miasma, and perform what could only be called an execution.

Only intervening when they deemed that a worthy prey had shown itself, and furthermore, they were known to all be immensely powerful, resourceful, and seemingly indestructible.

Yet, they never showed up alone, always at least in a duo.

The silver knight knew, the two circling around him were enough to bring him down, he could fight for a while long, but his guts told him that this was a fight that could not be won, the third assaillant… He was there to make completely certain that the prey was slain, even if a miracle occurred and the two were shaken off, the last member of the trio would be there.

“Dammit… Only three? I was hoping to break a record, you know? Am I not that much stronger than that bastard?” the knight laughed to himself, his stance robust and stalwart as he made the first move, slashing toward the enemy wielding a sword.

A loud clang echoed throughout the loud battlefield as the weapons clashed, letting one hand remove itself from the handle, the silver knight grabbed the wrist of the mace wielder moments before impact.

Fire surged, blades cut through the air with finesse, footwork was employed to its maximum degree, the armour was struck, once, twice, thrice… The armour failed, the black blade left a deep gash across his abdomen, and immediately, black tendrils manifested from the wound, spreading across his body.

The sword was cursed, having been bathed in cursed blood for a very long time before being handed to the champion hunter.

The sudden weakness left the silver knight wide open, and a mace came slamming down repeatedly against his helm, once was fine, twice and he was feeling lightheaded, thrice and the helm began to cave in…

Champion hunters preferred to make sure their target was dead for good, so they didn’t just content themselves with the fact that they could sense his life force fading away, they beheaded the knight and carved out his internal organs as well, only then did they turn back into trails of smog and left the area.

The rest of the battlefield was none of their business, and anyways, the humans were losing, following the fall of their strongest, everything quickly fell apart, some tried to desert, some tried to go back to the fort, neither achieved their objective, the fort and the people inside were at the mercy of the victorious side.

“This fort is not that particularly interesting or strategic, I wonder why such a powerful warrior was stationed here?” Dimios overlooked progress, and indeed, that particular fort was not exactly a prime location for either side, placed in a somewhat awkward area, the walls were not that resilient, and it wasn’t like there were any mines or resources nearby that could explain its existence.

Or so the undead had thought.

Once the fort changed owner, a discovery was made, in an inconspicuous hall, there was a secret passage that led deeper underground, discovered by chance by a dirt-blooded.

The underground was empty, but the traces of what was being done there were clear.

The ground was littered with broken eggshells, judging by their sizes, and the abandoned equipment, it seemed like the humans were attempting to create their very own dragons, a creature that had supposedly been exterminated many years ago by the combined effort of the elves and humans.

It was rather interesting.