Chapter 31: Into The Unknown (4)
Third Person's Point of View
'Tch!'
Aiden clicked his tongue as he dodged the incoming attack from one of the heads of Cerberus. He is a member of the 3rd Platoon Knights led by Keaton Cavelier, currently on the -34th floor.
Their platoon already dealt half on the monster and there's no doubt that their Captain Keaton and vice-Captain Treso are the ones responsible for it.
Aiden stepped back several times waiting for his ally to switch attacks, then he glanced at his far right side where vice-Captain Treso hit the Cerberus heads continuously with his brute force. On the other hand, a few steps behind vice-Captain Treso was Keaton who was swiftly dodging and attacking the dog like an assassin. Among others, those two people are the only ones who don't have any scratches or graze in this battle.
'…They really…haaa… I'm envious. Even though we don't have information about this floor, Captain Keaton quickly formulated a plan after seeing what kind of monster and how many they are so far in less than two minutes.'
"Ah!"
One of Aiden's allies got scratched by one of Cerberus's claws on the arm. Aiden jumped over to pull his ally with him, but he was a second late when the middle head of Cerberus opened its mouth to bite the poor knight. Aiden got scared when the left head of Cerberus growled and bared its teeth at him.
But before he even stepped back, he saw a dashing man pass him and grabbed his ally's back collar before throwing him aside. Aiden's eyes grew wide to see the guy with serious deadly glare staring at the Cerberus Aiden and his group trying to subdue.
The astonished Aiden blurted out, "Captain!"
It was just seconds ago when he watched him fighting the Cerberus behind vice-Captain Treso, but he managed to save his ally several steps from where was.
Keaton charged at the Cerberus while Aiden quickly glanced at the Cerberus their Captain was fighting with earlier. It was now dead.
'What a monster'
Keaton's movements are fast, especially his footwork; in just a blink, Keaton was now at the back of Cerberus before immediately stabbing its abdomen two times. Aiden thought it was already finished but he gulped when Keaton moved again, severing all heads without mercy.
No wonder they're still complete since before they enter the dungeon, there's no death and even when they had an incomplete booklet at hand, they are confident they could reach the end floor still intact.
Record: 273/273 3rd Platoon Knights remaining.
-*-
On the other side, 4th Platoon Knights are facing four serpent-like monsters on the -32nd floor, suffering no casualties - but they had also encountered missing information in the booklet, including this floor.
Valentine may look like an airhead but this guy earned his title The Butcher of the Battlefield or Wild Butcher for a reason. Unlike Devon Colombelles who is known to be a calm, strict, meticulous but fair Knight and Commander, Valentine is the reckless, mad dog and psycho Knight.
Many Soldier Knights testified that Valentine laughed like a psycho when running out on the battlefield during the Orc War two years ago.
And now, the same guy is laughing like a psycho in front of the four Ichthyosaur.
"Those worms are ugly! HAHAHAHA they look so weak that I got bored just by seeing it. Weak! Weak! Weak!"
Valentine jumped as high as 4 meters to meet one of the Ichthyosaur's necks. He wielded his sword and swung it to slash the monster's neck, though it got stuck. However, another Ichthyosaur's head tried to snatch-bite him, but…
"Hahahaha is that all you fucking worm? At least leave a scratch on me! Die, die, die!!" Valentine used his sword that was stuck as a jumping board to get to the Ichthyosaur's head that attempted to bite him.
It was unbelievable sight but it was a success.
Valentine pulled out his dagger which has a strengthening buff to successfully penetrate the Ichthyosaur's scales. He repeatedly stabbed its forehead and eyes, grinning like a maniac.
Some of his soldier knights stared at him blankly while some of them forgot to close their half opened mouth. On the other side, two of the Ichthyosaurs are binded by harpoons and magic, and left alone by Valentine's command.
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"This is more like a massacre than a battle…" one of them knights commented.
Record: 275/275 4th Platoon Knights remaining.
-*-
In front of the frightening predator with Amber eyes staring at him. Devon gripped his sword tightly looking back at it with his burning anger.
'They helplessly got ambushed by this monster.'
Never did it slip on his mind that there could be a rare monster- No, classification isn't the case, but its level. This monstrous creature should never get out of this dungeon. Devon felt his Death from it, but if he must sacrifice himself just to prevent it from killing anymore people, then he won't hesitate to do it.
The monster and him stare at each other for a few minutes, feeling each other and trying to predict each other's movement. Until both of them finally move. The Elder Kamacuras moved its scythe-like front leg, Devon saw it and jumped as fast as he could and threw a poisoned dart in its direction.
But the dart was just blocked by its thick exoskeleton. Devon threw another set and when it touched its body, this time he shouted, "Explode!"
It was a bunch of Explosive stones. Cracks form at the site of explosion but not enough to expose the monster's flesh. The monster shrieked just like the lower-level Kamacuras but after that, it dashed at Devon. In a random direction, the Elder Kamacuras consecutively swung its sharp arms at Devon while shrieking.
Devon's troop ran back to avoid the collision, however, Jullian couldn't just watch his Captain fight that creature alone. He commanded the soldier knights to aim the harpoons at the Elder Kamacuras' neck and legs.
Devon wasn't surprised by Jullian's quick actions, rather he was grateful because the Elder Kamacuras got its leg immovable. Moreover, Venter, the magician, casts different protective barriers over Devon while the other magicians give up the idea of making multilayered barriers on them.
They're feelings of fear changed as they watched their captain's struggles to fight, instead they cast a destructive spell to help break the Kamacuras's skin. They were motivated and their fear turned to strength.
Unknowingly enough, Devon felt stronger and he even blocked the Kamacuras's scythe with his sword and had the chance to push it back. He gritted his teeth and forcefully swung his sword until the monster's left scythe-like arm broke and severed.
His body may be covered in scratches and shallow wounds, but didn't give a damn about it and ran over the Elder Kamacuras that stepped back after their exchange. Devon used this chance to go for its neck, however he didn't expect Jullian to attack the monster while aiming for its eye. Stabbing the monster's right eye, then Venter, on the other hand, casted a spear to pluck out the other eye. The other Knight went to restrain the monster's remaining arm and legs.
'Everyone is working hard'
Smile formed on Devon's mouth before confidently cutting the monster's neck with all his strength.
Devon, the current strongest person in Cartania Kingdom, Commander of the Royal Knights, and Captain of 1st Platoon Knights. Defeated the Elder Kamacuras at level 100, one of the rarest and strongest monsters.
Record: 203/276 1st Platoon Knights remaining.
-*-
On the vast dark field of -38th floor.
Polestar reaped everyone in his sight, he was angry because the man he expected to help him subjugate these ghoul with his divine spirit, ran away along with the knights.
'That bastard! Among the knights that ran away, he was the fastest. I need his divine spirit because it could kill these demon ghouls quicker than with a single sword. Tch.'
Ghouls are weak to divine magic, specifically when battling with divine summoners, ghouls end up crumbling to ashes.
'Just where the hell is that Yoren bastard?'
Polestar forcely sighed while dicing the ghouls trying to attack him. Dicing is a technique Polestar polished, once used, the enemy will be literally diced to pieces. The brutal nature of the crown prince couldn't be hidden when he is mad or just grumpy.
He was at the center of about 25 ghouls, but the only expression on his face was a frown. His anger wasn't directed to these ghouls but to Yoren, the grand summoner. He didn't really expect him to run as fast as an ostrich during that time. They were taken aback by the appearance of ghouls and it wasn't even included in the booklet information, even then, Polestar was careless about it and didn't blame Randall, unlike the others.
Polestar may have prejudice against Randall but Randall already provided them with information, that much is enough. It was their fault that they relaxed and let their guard down inside the dungeon. Majority of them died because of that reason.
The remaining ghouls attacked him altogether but in an instant 14 ghouls got diced. Normally, swords won't affect them. That's why he commanded his knights to run away so he and Yoren could deal with it. He got a blessed sword from the Asterian Temple, while Yoren got his divine spirits/beasts.
From the far corner, he spotted one of his knights struggling while fighting one ghoul. Polestar knew right away that it wouldn't affect the demon no matter how many times he cut it… it's because ghouls can regenerate nonstop from normal weapon attacks. Polestar rushed to the struggling knight but he stopped when he noticed the technique the knight performed.
It was sloppy that it couldn't possibly belong to any of his knights. The guy was wearing a hooded cloak and had a skinny body. There's nothing special about his movements, then the guy thrusts the ghoul's head to stop its advancement with his sword before pulling a knife and stabbing it to the same spot where he thrusted his sword. And the ghoul was then reduced to ashes.
'…a blessed weapon?'
Polestar quickly tried to approach the guy, and he looked at him. "Hey you! That knife… isn't that a blessed weapo- Hey!"
The guy ran away before he even finished his sentence. Polestar was confused because no one except his platoon members were currently on this floor, so why would his knight run away from him? It was suspicious, but he thought maybe he was just afraid of him just like the other knights.
'Okay. It's not like I'll gobble you alive when talking to me. Tch, how boring.'
Polestar turned around scratching his head, he brushed the guy off his mind and focused on eliminating the remaining ghouls. In addition, it's good for them if that guy was with them, as of now, blessed weapons are needed to accomplish the -38th floor.
-----
At the same time on -38th floor.
Yoren was with three ghouls, he couldn't kill them so he set a trap and captured them. He may have no ability to kill monsters, but he still has his brain to function during times like this.
Like a skewer, three ghouls are thrust in one pointed wood against a tree, and bind them with a vine to keep them from moving. He almost lost his mind but he did a good job capturing them.
"B-Brother Yoren? Is that you?" A woman's voice was heard from behind him.
Yoren immediately turned around and face woman and pulled her in the collar.
"You dare leave me there? Do you know how long I've been waiting for you to summon the divine beasts?! I almost died because of your negligence!" Yoren yelled angrily.
"…I'm s-sorry brother, it's just that many ghouls swarmed around m-"
"Excuses! What's good about your excuse if I died there? Do your designated job properly, will you?" Yoren tightens his grip on her collar.
"…yes." Amelia looked down like a puppet heeding the orders of her master.
'…we're supposed to be lovers, why are you getting angry?'
Amelia's hopeless eyes watered but stopped herself from crying, instead she looked behind Yoren and saw the skewered ghouls against the tree. She was in awe after seeing that, it's because Yoren had no ability to fight and she knows how weak he was, but he managed to stick these ghouls together and incapacitated their movements.
"Kill them and summon your divine beast to kill them." Yoren ordered and Amelia heeded his command unconditionally.
Record: 137/276 2nd Platoon Knights remaining.