‘No matter who stands in our way, I will fight them to the death…I must avenge the Knight of Combat….’

Livon Clave’s entire being radiated unmistakable rage.

His superior was maimed while he and the other knights were unconscious, a fact that brought him great amount of personal shame.

As a knight, he had failed his duty.

Unable to ever reach the level of a Holy Knight, he considered himself as the true epitome of disgrace and talentlessness.

And now, he even failed his sworn duty.

He knew he was talentless, but now he was a talentless failure.

An utterly worthless human being.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself, if the enemy was someone who could harm her, then there was very little you could have done”

An unexpected voice addressed him.

As he realized who spoke to him, Livon gasped.

“Knight of Mind! Sir, I…I…I am sorry!”

“It’s all right. No need to apologize, faults is mine for reading your mind without permission” Cereb shrugged.

“It is just…Sir, I was there, when the enemy snuck in, we were not alerted, nay, we were asleep! Even though it was our duty, we couldn’t accomplish even that…” Livon stomped on the ground hard enough to leave an imprint.

“That might not be the case, Clave. From what I have seen within your mind, you did not fall asleep, more like; someone erased a portion of your memory during the time the Knight of Combat was maimed. It is safe to say that you fell under an enemy’s spell, though I don’t know what kind. You are lucky to be alive, instead of cursing yourself for something that can’t be taken back, thank the gods for giving you another chance while you are still alive.”

“I shall do as you say, Sir!”

“Belius is fine, lad”

Currently the Knight of Mind was leading them; his original squad had some members from the Knight of Combat’s former squad in it.

Knight of Mind had given communication scrolls to the other heroes for them to contact him if something came up, so when the Knight of Combat was maimed, her squad naturally contacted the Knight of Mind.

Knight of Sword’s squad did not contact him, so the Knight of Mind assumed her squad was still active.

As for the Knight of Earth….his squad was almost completely annihilated. Only four knights and their hero remained alive, and from what they communicated to him, Knight of Mind learned that Knight of Earth was gravely injured.

The culprits were the demons.

“Still, Knight of Earth was attacked by demons who were able to badly wound him, so they were at the very least Demon Lord level. If that is the case, the ones responsible for maiming the Knight of Combat likely are the demon-kind as well”

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Why do demons commit such atrocities?! Why can’t they go back to hell from which they spawned from?”

Livon’s rage was now overflowing like a red aura that only Knight of Mind with his blessing could perceive.

“Demons…Vile creatures. If they get your hands on you, they don’t kill you immediately, no, they make sure you suffer for each and every second of it. If you are unlucky enough to be captured by one, kill yourself, otherwise…Even if you survive the ordeal, you will never be whole…Not in body or mind.”

“Understood, sir”

“Good, now then…Huh, why do I have to deal with this irritating guy?!”

“Did I say something wrong, sir?”

“Not you, you are fine. But right ahead of us is somebody I was hoping we will not run into”

“Is it monsters or perhaps demons?!”

“No. Worse…. It’s the Knight of Ice”

“Knight of Ice? But isn’t that great?! With two heroes, there will be no foes that can stand against us!”

“That may be…But…Frankly, that guy pisses me off…”

* * *

“Well, well, Belius. So we were led to the same location by the Blessed Stones, isn’t that convenient? Your troops can serve as my backup while you will be my second in command…”

“Excuse me?!! Who put you in charge?!”

“I did, just now. Deal with it.”

“I truly wish you were a demon, you certainly have the tongue of one, at the very least I could have cut you down on the spot”

“Oh, is that so? Bring it on, weakling Belius~”

From the looks of things, the two heroes were more likely to fight each other rather than address the common threat.

Their troops were in front of what seemed like an entrance to a cave.

‘So the Holy Maidens are there, huh, at least according to the Blessed Stones, they should be somewhere inside the caves, but…’

Livon glanced at the Knight of Mind and Knight of Ice grabbing each other by the collars.

‘Is this really going to be ok? Out of all the heroes, these two have the worst compatibility…’

“Uhm, Knight of Ice, Knight of Mind, please tell us your orders”

Immediately, the two heroes resumed their professional appearance, not a trace of their childish bickering remained.

“Glad you asked, lad. So your knight is more reasonable than you, Belius?”

Knight of Mind clenched his fist, but did not respond.

“Well, obviously, we will be entering the cave and if anyone fights against us, we will crush them, does that sound simple enough for you, Bel-brain?”

“Clave, please tell this Frozen Fool that the cave has hordes of living beings inside it, but they are not humans, though not demons either, I can only tell that they are driven mostly by animalistic desires and there are too many mental voices to overhear anything specific. It would be wise of Rison to take caution”

“Uhm, Rison?” Clave was a little confused.

“That would be my name, Creos Rison” Knight of Ice clarified.

“Oh, my apologies”

“Worry not. If they have thoughts this idiot can distinguish, then that means they are living, which makes my job far easier”

Now the Knight of Ice stepped forward, brandishing his blade.

He addressed the troops behind him.

“If you don’t wish to die, I suggest stepping back.”

The Knights immediately obeyed.

They made sure to stay away as far as they could from the Knight of Ice, knowing full well what he was about to unleash.

As the Knight of Ice came closer to the cave, the figures of the ones guarding inside became visible.

Green humanoids…

‘Goblins, huh…’

As soon as the goblins saw him, they proceeded to head towards him, one after another, until he was facing at least thirty of them.

He was surrounded.

Yet, he smiled.

“It is the end for you”

He snapped his fingers.

Immediately, the entire area within a hundred meter radius of him became covered in ice, freezing everything in its wake.

The bodies of the goblins attacking him were standing still, like statues made of glass.

“May the frozen peaks of hell await you on the other side”

He proceeded to send a single wave of air slash at all of the frozen goblins.

All of the frozen goblins were shattered into pieces, their body parts cut up into still frozen portions.

“Amazing~” Livon couldn’t help but utter.

“Show off” Knight of Mind was a little irritated.

“So what are you guys waiting for? Invitation? We have Holy Maidens to rescue, so let’s go!”

They proceeded to enter the mouth of the cave, which as they found out led to a much longer space, almost like a dungeon.

None could have known then what they have walked into…