‘What was I thinking, challenging her like this?!’

Meros barely avoided being beheaded by her mighty blow, and without wasting her movement, she countered with another strike.

But this time, Meros managed to have his sword clash against hers.

As their blades collided, the difference between their skills became obvious.

He was using every fiber of his being, pushing his muscles and bones to their very limits, but even then, her strength and skill were far superior.

She was at a great advantage.

Pushing him away, she unleashed a slash towards the earth, transmitting her swordsmanship skill through the ground.

Now the force of her slash combined with the earth fissures were heading fast towards Meros.

Concentrating his mind upon nullifying the incoming attack, Meros countered it with a slash of his own, nullifying the earth attack heading his way.

But he had underestimated her speed.

Just within a moment he was distracted by earth attack, she snuck up behind him and delivered a slash towards his neck.

It was too late to avoid.

Just before the blade could strike him, his body disappeared.

Caught off guard by her enemy disappearing into thin air, she could help but utter.

“Where is he?!”

Knight of Sword looked around, turning her head left and right, her enemy, the swordsman clad in black clothing that completely concealed his face except for the eyes, was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

“That elf may not like me, but I am really feeling thankful for her making this.”

Meros looked at the ring on his left hand.

One of the new members of Shadow Lords, an elf named Lukalis Kreschen, felt that the system of teleportation they have been using up to now was not efficient and very impractical, which is why she made Teleportation rings for each member of Shadow Lords to use.

The ring had a blood seal on it, meaning only first the user who marked it with his blood could use it, which meant that in case the ring is stolen, none could take advantage of them.

To anyone but the true owner of the magic item, the rings are just useless trinkets.

Of course, the teleportation rings have limitations; they consumed mana in order to function, though Lukalis modified them so that mana used for teleportation itself was collected from the atmosphere, so the only mana used was in order to activate the ring, making them extremely mana efficient.

Another limitation was the fact that the ring could not take the user somewhere the user does not know.

This meant that the user has to have been in the previous location in the past and be able to visualize it for the ring to function.

As for the range, as long as the user knows the locations, it could cover up to the entire human kingdom, which earned Lukalis a sincere praise by the Dark Lord.

Now hiding behind a tree, Meros tried to catch his breath.

‘Ok then, how am I going to do this?!’

‘Sooner or later, she will find me. I highly doubt I will have a chance to ambush her. I know well enough that her hearing is far better than her sight.’

‘Might as well come out to the open. I always wondered just how strong she is, I might not get another chance. I would like to find out how far the distance between the two us is.’

‘A clash between the two of us was inevitable from the start. At least now, I can face her sooner than later.’

“I am glad I can finally fight you, Verita Welles.”

Meros now stood out of his hiding place behind the tree, about 20 meters away from where he was before.

“How do you know my name?”

Her expression was tense, almost as if she was judging whether he was an ally or a foe.

Her single eye was focused on Meros.

“I have admired you ever since I was a kid, it has been my dream to reach you… and now I finally get to fight you.”

“It seems you have got your wish. But know that if you are my foe, you will not leave alive.”

“I am prepared for that.”

Now the titanic duel had begun.

Like a wolf fighting against a tiger, Meros used all the strength he could muster in order to fight against her.

Now that he had his left arm back, holding his sword with both his hands, he fought not just for his life, but to win.

Jumping up into the air, she sent slashes towards Meros that crashed towards the ground like meteoric impacts.

By cancelling the power of the air slashes with a slash of his own, Meros was the only thing that was not flattened into craters by Knight of Sword’s attack.

“You’re not half bad.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“I guess fighting half-heartedly is not going to get the job done.”

The ground around her seemed to be shaking due to the power she concentrated within her body.

Meros could almost see the fiery aura surrounding her, like a feral beast that has finally found its prey.

And now, that beast finally had a reason to go all out.

With a flick of her hand, her sword caught fire.

Meros knew that skill well.

Depending on how skilled a swordsman is, the sword could be used to generate or redirect elements, just like air slash or earth strike.

But more skilled swordsmen could take it even further by being able to generate fire by creating friction through the air with the blade.

Now, at her command, her sword sent a flaming vortex in his direction.

‘Just as I thought, she is a monster.’

Meros desperately sent an air slash at the incoming fire attack, but the flames simply swallowed the force of his slash, becoming even stronger.

Another attack he had no chance of avoiding.

With a loud crash, the dust was scattered in every direction.

“I wonder if that was all you had.”

“Definitely not!”

Knight of Sword proceeded to effortlessly block Meros’s attack.

At the last moment, before the flames could hit him, he teleported behind her to deliver a sneak attack, but even that plan had failed.

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“I am impressed. Maybe you are not hopeless after all.”

She kicked him in the stomach, sending him rolling back.

But he immediately stood up.

No matter what, he could not back down from this fight.

“Why do you keep standing up? The difference between our strength is as clear as earth and sky? What do plan to gain from this? What is your goal?”

“You” Meros replied, breathing heavily.

“What?”

“You are my goal. I don’t care if I break all the bones in my body, I will stand up again and again, because the one I seek to reach is you, only you.”

“How strange, if you were not my opponent, I would have thought it was a love confession.” A playful smile appeared on her face.

“Oh, believe me, it is….”

Knight of Sword blocked another one of Meros’s attacks.

“….And I will not stop before I reach you”

“I am flattered.”

Their blades separated before clashing once again.

Due to how much power they were using, their surroundings were steadily destroyed by getting caught in between their mighty strikes.

But as the battle kept on, Meros was steadily losing his edge.

She was simply too strong.

It felt like a cat playing with its food, and he was the mouse.

After parrying her countless attacks, he was caught off guard when she used the handle of her sword and struck him hard with it to the chest with enough impact to make him loose his breath and end up being sent flying backwards.

She was a warrior in her natural element, a shark in the sea… while he was a mere fish that got in its way.

When he quickly stood up to block yet another one of her attacks, the impact was so strong that he felt the wrist on his left hand snap from its socket.

But he felt no pain.

One of the advantages his new left arm had over his old one was the fact that it did not have sense of touch or sense of pain.

He proceeded to snap his left wrist back to where it was before.

Verita Welles, she was something else, all right.

But Meros Solros was not going to give up without a fight!

* * *

After a half an hour of ceaseless duel, Meros was left on the ground, covered in countless bruises, his sword out of his reach.

He fought as hard as he could, but it was nowhere near enough.

“Even with my full strength, this is my limit, huh.” Meros sadly remarked.

He gave it his all, but it was still not enough.

“For a warrior, you have done a splendid job facing me, but you are nowhere near the level of a hero. It was fun while it lasted, but now it is time to end this.”

She raised her sword up, Meros was too exhausted to move and in his current state of mind, he couldn’t even think of activating his Teleportation ring on time.

“I wish you a safe passage to the afterlife.”

Instead of closing his eyes, Meros stared at his would be reaper with fearless gaze.

He accepted the fact that he lost and he was prepared to face his upcoming doom.

But instead of being struck down, Meros witnessed many tiny needles land upon Knight of Sword’s neck and body.

Her hand holding her sword was now shaky.

Another needle landed on her body, and then another…

With each needle whizzing through the air and landing upon her body, her body balance was steadily shaking.

She fell upon her knees, holding on to her sword for support.

“Eugh, Camilla thought that she would never go down.” Snake demon’s voice could be heard.

“Scaly, is that you?”

“Of course, and now she is finished.”

“Do you think I am going to go down that easily!!!?”

Knight of Sword’s single eye gained a shade of red as her body was driven to a bloody frenzy.

Her body was radiating extreme aura of bloodlust.

From her aura, Camilla could tell, she has entered a state of mind of utter and pure destruction.

“Berserker mode. To think she has actually achieved this.” Meros gulped.

That state was not easy to achieve, much less control, not even for someone at the level of a hero.

Berserker mode allowed the users to transcend their natural limits and keep moving even with grave injuries.

Sensing danger coming their way, Camilla yelled.

“We need to get out of here, now!”

Camilla grabbed hold of Meros and teleported both of them out of the way just as the Knight of Sword unleashed a gigantic wave that destroyed everything in her path.

* * *

“What the hell was that?”

“Berserker mode, an extremely powerful skill. As she is now, only someone like Knight of Light or Demon King is a match for her.”

“Camilla is surprised she was able to shrug off Camilla’s poison. It should have taken her down in an instant.”

“Just how much did you use on her anyways? I think I saw thirty needless at the very least.”

“Let’s just say Camilla used enough poison to be able to kill a war elephant. Camilla can’t fathom how she could be immune to it.”

“She is not immune; at least I don’t think so. The Berserker mode allows her to access great strength, but it also increases her blood circulation, allowing her to gain a power boost, but at the expense of using up her body’s stamina very quickly. In a sense, it’s an extreme adrenaline rush. Though it doesn’t seem like it, her body is not able to negate the poison; it is just ignoring it, for now.”

“If that is the case, we can just wait it out…however, Camilla cannot guarantee we will survive if she manages to catch us during that time frame. We can just teleport away to a safe location and wait before her Berserker mode wears off, but then the Knight of Sword will have a chance to escape…”

“In that case, let’s take her down.”

“Are you sure about this?” Camilla was visibly hesitant.

“I will distract her and you sneak up on her and use the strongest poison you have, that will be our strategy.”

“It might work, but your life will be at the most risk.”

“True, but to defeat her that is the only way”

“Camilla will have to agree with that.”

“In that case, let’s go!”

* * *

“Over here!”

Meros showed himself wide in the open.

Knight of Sword’s body seemed to be steaming with heat evaporating out of her body.

Her movements were still fast, but it seems like the poison slowly started to take effect.

Slashing her sword across a nearby boulder, she left glowing marks upon it.

It seems like her slashes now not only burned, but melted across anything they touched.

Meros knew that if he got struck by that directly, then it would be the end.

With a war cry, she proceeded to charge towards Meros.

While Meros distracted the Knight of Sword, Camilla proceeded to sneak behind her and deliver a bite to her neck.

Camilla’s sharp fangs embedded themselves like needles into Verita’s neck, injecting her body with extremely potent poison.

Not willing to give up, Verita grabbed Camilla by the neck and threw him hard towards the tree, making Camilla leave a mark on it with his body.

But after so much poison has entered her system, she could no longer sustain her Berserker Mode.

As her Berserker Mode wore off, her control over each of her body parts waned until she succumbed to the poison.

Finally, she fell on the ground with her back facing the sky.

But from her labored breathing, two of them could tell, she was still alive.

“Camilla can’t believe she was able to fight off my poison for so long…”

“She is a granddaughter of a deity, so it is not too much of a surprise.”

“Even then, her tenacity is most impressive.” Camilla remarked with awe.

“What will you do with her?”

“About that…” Camilla proceeded to undress the Knight of Sword, examining every inch of her body.

“Camilla doesn’t see any blessing on her.”

“She does not have any blessing.”

“Camilla understands; then Camilla might as well kill her.”

Camilla brandished a dagger, fully intending to stab the Knight of Sword in the heart.

“Wait! Did Master tell you to do this?”

“No, Milord did not order Camilla to kill her, but leaving a hero alive is a foolish choice. She must be killed so that she does not interfere with us in the future.”

“Scaly, please, leave her alive. If master did not order you to do so, it should be ok to let her live. I am begging you. Please.”

Camilla could not understand why Meros would want their enemy to live, but chose to respect his comrade’s wish.

After a moment’s hesitation, Camilla proceeded to put away his dagger.

“Thank you”

“However, if Milord orders you to kill her, you will do so without a second thought, do you agree?”

“If it is Master’s order, then I have no right to refuse.”

“Yes, it shall be as Milord desires.”

Now both Shadow Lords proceeded to walk back towards the tents filled with immobile knights.

“Are they dead?”

“No, but they are in death-like state. Milord asked Camilla to procure some guinea pigs for experimentation purposes.”

“I see, in that case, let’s teleport them away.”

“Of course”

With all the knights but one teleported to the dungeon, Meros and Camilla were now ready to go back to the base.

“I can’t believe we pulled that off.”

“Milord would be most pleased.”

Now both of them proceeded to teleport away, leaving only one unconscious knight and the hero left in near-death state.

* * *

“Oh, what did I drink…my head…” Rowl Noken soon woke up after the paralyzing poison wore off.

He did not know for how long he was out cold.

Last thing he remembered was being ambushed from behind and…

“Knight of Sword!!!” He cried out and rushed forward, searching for his leader.

He did not have to look too far.

After following a trail of destruction, he found, much to his horror, the hero, lying naked on the ground, her body barely moving.

“Oh no, no, no, this can’t be happening!”

He quickly proceeded to check the hero’s pulse, right after covering her with his cloak.

She was alive, but slowly fading.

“Please be alive, please be alive, please be…”

“No…ken…” hero’s words were slurred as though speaking in itself was a burden.

“I am here, my lady.”

“We must….warn…the…Holy…Order…Quick…Help…me…”

With the barely alive hero clinging to his back for support, Rowl Noken, with a weird luck of his, was the only knight survivor of his squad.

When he checked the tents once again, all the knights inside have disappeared and the Blessed Stone that the hero used was nowhere to be seen.

‘Who could have done this to someone of her caliber?’

Rowl could not help but wonder, but he knew full well that it was his duty to get the Knight of Sword to the Holy Order, nothing else mattered, not even the fact that he was frightened to death, so much so that he could barely keep his bladder in check.

* * *

“The Blessed Stone of Holy Maiden of Water, just as you requested, milord.” Camilla now proceeded to offer the Blessed stone to his master.

“Excellent.” Dark Lord proceeded to take the Blessed Stone in his right hand and with a strong squeeze; he shattered the stone into countless pieces.

“Now that is one problem out of the way. What happened to the hero?”

“By Meros’s request, Camilla let her live. Should Camilla go back to kill her?”

“No need to. Her being left alive might be for the best…though how is her condition?”

“She is poisoned and barely clinging to life, Camilla does not believe she will regain her full strength any time soon. She should be crippled for life.”

“Perfect! Having a hero turn cripple should demoralize the humans, so having her suffer while she is still alive might be better than let her die peacefully.”

“I stepped out of bounds, my sincere apologies, master” Meros bowed his head.

“Do not worry about it. You both did a splendid job. In fact, you far exceeded my expectations.”

In reality though, Dark Lord tried many combinations of Shadow Lords to fight this hero, so in his case, it was more of a trial and error.

“You are too kind, master.”

“Thank you, anyways, that is one out five, though I have slightly different plans for each of them….”

“Your wish is our command, Milord/Master” Camilla and Meros proclaimed.

“Splendid. Truly splendid”

Dark Lord’s crimson eye seemed to shine with devilish delight.