CHAPTER 553: BATTLE OF DIM HOPE

"D*mn it! They found us!" Derek spat out.

His eyes widened as the distant riders emerged through the frost-covered fog. One glance at their band told him exactly who they were.

His first thought was that the runaway puppy had guided the knights to them. But he found no trace of Rhen among their ranks. The little dog had disappeared as if swallowed by the mist.

There was no more time to waste.

If the knights reached him now, he’d be forced into a fight that would bleed away his dark energy that he couldn’t afford to lose. Every spell tore through his reserves, and replenishing them meant submitting to yet another ritual.

Anna’s fresh blood would grant him faster power than the dried remnants he’d consumed before, but even that required time—time he no longer had.

"Move!"

He seized Anna’s wrist and jerked her violently towards him. The princess cried out, twisting against his grasp the moment she realised help was near.

"No! Let me go! Let me go, you sc*mbag!" she screamed.

"You b*tch! Now that your men are here, you dare curse at me?" Derek snarled, his voice cracked with rage. "Pathetic w*nch!"

Helen lunged as best she could, her injuries making her movements sluggish, but she managed to clamp her hands around Anna’s shoulders.

"Let her go!" she cried, breath ragged from pain.

She had nearly no strength left, yet she forced her trembling arms to anchor Anna in place.

"You’re really begging to die today!" Derek roared.

He snatched a dagger from his belt, raising it high.

Anna’s scream tore through the clearing as she shielded Helen, certain the worst was about to happen, but the sky answered first.

’Thht-thht-thht!’

Arrows slammed into the earth around them, quivering in the snow. Derek froze, startled by the sudden barrage.

He whipped around just as Noah, riding at the front of the formation, lowered two raised fingers—the signal to cease fire. The message was clear enough: a warning shot to the Bargesians.

"Blast!" Derek snarled, fury seething through clenched teeth.

Any hope of slipping away had evaporated.

The knights of Gerhard were here, along with Callis, the Mederian Princess and Clara, the knightess. By firing first, they had thrown down a direct challenge to him and his companion.

The air shifted, thickening with danger. There would be no turning back now.

Meanwhile, a short distance away, Brone, struck by the arrow, remained standing before the fallen Damon. With a growl, he pulled out the arrow embedded in his twisted, blackened arm and tore it free.

His roar ripped through the plains as the weapon left his flesh, shredding corrupted muscle and spraying black blood across the snow.

The pounding of boots followed as the Knights of Gerhard landed on the ground. They stormed into the clearing, spreading out to encircle the enemies.

Callis followed, holding Kiev’s white bow in her hand, its gleaming aura still pulsating with the residual magic she had unleashed.

Clara descended from the warhorse moments later but stayed back, careful not to obstruct the battle that was about to ignite.

"Release them, or I’ll cut you both down where you stand!" Noah bellowed with his thundering voice, steel raised.

But Brone did not budge.

The Bargesian leader glared back at the knight with a feral, unblinking intensity—unmoved by the threat, and unshaken by the arrows that had nearly pinned him moments before.

Noah grit his teeth, wanting nothing more than to charge and end the fiends before him. But he could not while Anna and Helen were still locked in Derek’s grasp, hovering a dagger near them. The pregnant princess could be the first to fall if they were reckless.

Behind him, Callis nocked her next arrow, light shimmering around her fingers.

Brone exhaled a slow, rumbling breath. Without warning, he snapped the white arrow cleanly in his fist. As the severed shaft dropped to the ground, the flow of the black blood halted.

The gaping wound twitched. Then, before the watching knights could comprehend it, the torn flesh started to coil and pull inward.

The muscle tissue knitted together, and the skin sealed itself. Veins reformed beneath the monstrous hide. In just moments, the injury disappeared as if the Bargesian leader had never been harmed.

A horrified murmur rippled through the Knights of Gerhard.

Callis’s breath plummeted.

"Oh no..." she whispered, tightening her grip on her luminous bow until her knuckles whitened. "The enchantment wasn’t enough."

If the pure magic of Kiev’s arrow couldn’t keep Brone down, then they were facing something far worse than the Mederian Princess had feared.

The Bargesian leader let out an arrogant chuckle. His dangerous gaze slid toward Derek.

"We’ve been conserving our strength for this moment," he growled, flexing his freshly healed limb. "It seems we have no choice but to unleash everything now, hm? Or do you still intend to be stingy?"

Derek’s expression hardened, shadows deepening under his eyes. There was no escaping this anymore.

His eyes darted to Callis—the silver-haired lady with the glowing bow. Recognition flashed.

As the wielder of the magical weapon, she was the one whose power had pierced Brone.

The mage could feel the rare, potent aura radiating from her, even from this distance. It was the same aura he had sensed during Anna’s proclamation in the plaza.

That moment had been his first sight of her, when he mistakenly thought she was the Ro’an princess.

Now he knew she wasn’t. But who she truly was no longer mattered. What mattered was the flicker of doubt in her eyes—fear. For Derek, that was enough.

A slow, crooked smirk stretched across his lips.

"No. Strike at full blast. Their magic won’t be able to defeat us. The advantage is ours," he murmured, dark energy pulsing at his fingertips. "Let them come."

Brone mirrored the expression with a grin.

"I would be honoured."

He rolled his shoulders, his neck cracking sharply as he tilted his head from side to side.

The Bargesian leader stepped forward, fixing his gaze on Noah, the nearest among the circle of knights surrounding him and his companion. Behind the knight, Callis steadied her aim, her arrow trained directly on the Bargesian leader.

Brone drew in a breath and charged, the dark force within him awakening like a hungry beast.

A thick, shadowy aura seeped from his body, drifting like black vapour across the snow. The ground beneath him trembled faintly as the dark energy erupted.

Whatever critters were hidden nearby had long since fled, as if nature itself recognised the danger.

The Mederian Princess took a quick stride and moved to stand beside Noah, bow raised.

"Sir Brooks," she whispered, her voice shaken despite her effort to control it. "I don’t know whether we can win this. Truly... I’m uncertain."

"Why not?" Noah murmured back. "Didn’t you just shoot him with the magical arrow? It went clean through, even pierced that monstrous arm. We all saw it."

"But he healed," she argued, fear tightening her tone. "Completely and rapidly! This isn’t like anything I’ve fought before. This is too dangerous! We might lose our lives!"

Noah’s expression shifted from confidence to concern, a muscle twitching at his jaw as veins tightened along his temple.

He still hadn’t signalled his team to move, not with Anna and Helen dangerously near the enemy. The remaining knights were prepared for battle, their boots digging into the snow, waiting for his go.

Noah’s gaze flicked towards Damon, who lay motionless on the snow.

He couldn’t gauge the full extent of the knight’s injuries, but the faint rise and fall of Damon’s chest indicated that he was still alive.

Blood streaked his face, half-freezing in the cold, yet he hadn’t stirred once since they arrived.

Noah swallowed tightly.

Every second they hesitated gave the Bargesians an upper hand... but a reckless order could kill the hostages instantly.

"How low are our chances?" Noah asked quietly, his voice barely audible.

Callis’s expression tightened, her crimson eyes shadowed with grim certainty.

"Very low... Only the Khasif could outmatch him. But..." She swallowed hard.

They both understood the unspoken end of that sentence. Anna, weakened and bearing a child, could hardly fight. Even if her power returned now, using it could endanger both her and the baby.

Noah exhaled sharply, forcing a rueful smile.

"God is really throwing a joke on us, isn’t He?" he said in a playful tone.

Callis didn’t answer—her gaze alone was enough to tell him how dire she believed the situation truly was. But the moment passed quickly, and the knight’s expression turned serious once more.

"Don’t worry. I won’t let any of you die today. Not under my lead," he said with firm resolve.

At that exact moment, a sudden commotion erupted at the centre of the encirclement.

Helen, who had managed to push herself upright, suddenly lunged at Derek. With a surge of desperate strength, she seized the mage’s wrist, the one gripping the dagger.

"Helen!" Anna cried, terror swallowing her voice at her assistant’s bold action.

Both Derek and Brone froze, stunned. They had not expected the frail assistant to seize such an opening when they were entirely focused on the knights.

"Run, my lady!" Helen shouted.

"No!" Anna panicked, seeing the woman struggling fiercely for control of the blade.

"Run!" Helen roared again, clinging to Derek with everything she had.

Anna shed every last hesitation in her heart, though guilt tore at her for leaving her assistant in such danger. But she knew the truth—she was the obstacle. As long as she remained in the enemy’s grasp, the knights could not strike.

The princess rose and ran, stumbling through the thick snow towards Luke, who was the closest. The knight threw his bow and lunged forward to catch her, but the Bargesian leader snarled, raising his monstrous arm and unleashing a fireball in blind fury.

’Dum!’

The explosion hurled Anna’s body through the air, but Luke responded quickly, diving from a few metres away. He lunged toward her, wrapping his arms around her delicate frame and pulling her close.

Snow and hot debris rained over them as he twisted his body mid-fall, taking the brunt of the impact while shielding her completely before they hit the ground.

The princess trembled violently in his hold, her breath coming in shallow gasps from the sudden jolt and the shock of the attack. Her fingers clutched instinctively at his cloak, trying to steady the terror trembling through her body.

"I’ve got you, my lady... I’ve got you," Luke whispered gently, crouching over her as another wave of heat rolled past.

His heart hammered against his ribs; he could still feel the force of the blast reverberating through his armour. Snow hissed where stray embers landed, filling the air with the smell of smoke and scorched earth.

Caught between shock and fear, Anna could only cry, unable to speak while in the knight’s embrace. Behind them, shouts erupted.

Derek’s furious cry cut through the air, "No! Don’t harm the princess, you fool!"

But before the Bargesian leader could respond, another chaos burst open.

"Attack!" The moment Anna was saved in Luke’s hands, Noah’s voice thundered the order.

Callis’s arrow shot past first, followed swiftly by a storm of others.

Brone’s enraged roar answered them. Power burst from him in a sweeping shockwave, violently ripping through the snow and hurling it aside as he launched his first retaliation.

A full-force battle had just begun.