Chapter 64:

I didn't think that there would come a day where I would fear myself. Fear that I might destroy everything that I care for.

This are the sentences that a dear friend of mine said to me before that would forever remain in my memory.

- Written in Hugo's journal during his travels outside the city.

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"None of you can pass by me." Hubert declared to the three flying monsters as he slash them with his sword releasing a huge amount of aura that attracts their attention in the process.

Each one of the flying creatures have distinct features from one another but all of them can be classified as a mutated creatures caused by the mysterious fog.

The most threatening one among the 3, is like a huge bat creature with 7 snakes head, and each head is capable of breathing acidic breath that continuously erodes Hubert's aura barrier.

The other one, has the body of a huge bird with 3 pairs of huge wings on its back, and a huge steel claw on its feet with 3 deformed body of upper human. The wings of this creatures can also release sharp blades of air to attack and even used it's own wings to defend itself. This creature were also able to use the raw power of corruption that is constantly trying to erode Hubert's will, as a human being to convert him into a mindless puppet but thanks to the blessings he received from the shield of obedience Hubert was able to ignore it's erosion.

The power of corruption is also considered as one of the many distorted energy that can erode the very nature of any living form and this is also what the church of Agatha likes to purify the most using their god's blessings.

The last creature that managed to received Hubert's attack, is a huge monster with a balloon like body. And contrary to the other two, this creature doesn't have any large wings on it's back to support its large body, but it only has a small tail that it used to flap continuously, to move on air and despite looking harmless, Hubert felt the greatest feeling of dread upon approaching this creature. Nevertheless, he still continues his slash creating a huge empty gap in the clouds.

But even with this kind of attack, the three mutated creatures remain unhurt, and Hubert quickly knows the reason why. Because under the thick black sludges that cover the body of this creatures, is a skin covered in a black metallic scales, that protects them from physical attack, lessening the damages they get from his sword's attack.

This is the first time that Hubert have encountered something like this, and it left him speechless for a while. Although his attacks have clearly hit them no significant damage was made. It is highly known that there are only a few materials that can survive an attack from a Grandmaster knight or wizard, such as the shield of obedience by the church of Agatha, that Hubert now hides in his own vault for safekeeping.

The sword attacks have already passed but the 2 creatures with multiple heads still keeps on attacking him with countless skills, trying to bypass his defense but none seems to be effective. While the last creature, the one that has a balloon-like body only ignores him and proceeds to go in the direction of Florentine city causing Hubert to act in haste.

"Oh no, You Don't." Hubert said as he grab it's small tail and yanked it towards the other two which makes them stagger on air.

"If my sword can't kill you then I'll use my fist to punch you all, to smithereens." Hubert declared as a huge amount of energy flows towards his appendages covering his entire arm in a white aura that also makes his muscle twitch in excitement.

"Haaaaa!" He yelled as he release a heavy punch toward the monster that has 3 pairs of wings hitting it in the very center of it's chest.

And when his fist landed on its skin, for a moment, everything becomes silent, and even the ongoing war on land have lost all its sounds, before it was broken by a loud sonic boom that was heard throughout the surroundings. This one punch have also created a small pulse of airwave that spread in the air showcasing the sheer amount of power this punch contains, and for the mutated creature it hit the ground hard, creating a small crater destroying a small patch of the forest.

"Ha, see that! you're skin might become durable beyond what my sword can cut but your meat remains tender ahahahhahaha" Hubert said in glee.

"This is not good. It seems like master Hubert is losing his control." Hugo said in alarm as the other soldiers and Knights turn their heads towards him.

"Are we going to see it once again?." Daniel said in horror as he momentarily stopped from releasing his skills.

"I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried in regards to this situation." Isaac muttered as he takes a short glance towards Hubert's direction.

"Master Hubert." Michael uttered full of concern.

"What- What's going on? why is father reacting like that? Michael do you know what's happening?" Lucas asks in concern as he throws several large spears in succession killing the 4 monsters that managed to climb the city wall.

"There's a reason why you're father has the title of Harbinger of death despite his calm and peaceful personality." Hugo suddenly muttered those words while he approached Lucas and heavily pat his back.

"You're not using your aura, as usual, it seems like you haven't drank any potion yet. You should rest first and recover before you get back in action, I would first handle everything here." Hugo said as he forces Lucas to sit back first and drink some mana potion to recover his energy.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Michael you should also fall back and stand as a guard for the young master, just keep this guy away from disturbing him." Ordered by Hugo before jumping toward the incoming wave of monsters.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Lucas ask in a corner as he gulped down a bottle of mana potion.

"It's sir Hugo were talking about here so he will be fine. He can even take and survive a solid punch from your father." Michael says while watching everything unfold in front of him.

"But I still don't understand what Hugo told me earlier, about why my Father has the title of harbinger of death. Do you know something about this Michael?" Lucas said as he watched his father drag the mutilated creatures that has 3 pairs of wings before waving it in the air treating it as a baseball bat.

~Sigh~

Michael's only response is by releasing a huge breath of air as he tilted his head to stare at the ongoing fight in the sky before speaking to Lucas.

"Your father have attained great achievements at a very young age and everyone knows that, but only a few people know what this power do to him. Sir Hugo have told me this story before when I was still a young man training to become a knight. He said that they learned it through your grandfather when he was still alive." Michael says in dazed while both of them watched as how Hubert trampled the 2 remaining monster on air.

"Due to the urgent needs to stabilize the situation in the city after the great war and in order to have a strong foothold for the Beaufort family. Your grandfather was forced to use a cheat, that would enable your father to advance in knighthood level despite his young age. And although sir Hubert is a talented man, his talent alone should not be enough for him to breakthrough the Grandmaster rank at his current age." Michael explain as they both saw how Hubert forcefully pull the monster with 7 snake heads towards the bloated creature.

Michael talks about the time when the 2 eldest brothers of Hubert died due to the great war leaving a young man like him as the sole heir of the Beaufort family and as the third child he never prepare himself for the responsibility to lead an entire territory thinking that he won't have the chance since he has two elder brother before him so he was caught by surprised by this event.

"So what happened then?" Lucas asks with a puzzled expression on his face as he shoots down another creatures that almost reach them.

"There's a side effect of using that cheat and both of them are aware of this, they have no other choice but to use it, or the Beaufort family would collapse from all the pressure. And because of this, the more power that sir Hubert used in a fight, the more he loses himself to it. It means that he becomes wilder the stronger he becomes, and no matter what he do, he can't control it." Michael uttered in a low voice as he picks up his sword and released a coppery blade of aura cutting the 3 mutated creatures that managed to climb the wall into half.

"The cheat has affected your father's mental strength, something like a strain of evil has blended into his mind making it harder for your father to control his emotions especially when he uses his own power." Michael explained as Lucas stand beside him and once again use a smaller-scale attack sword of destruction.

"Young master what are you doing? You haven't fully recovered yet." Michael said in shock as he looked at the small floating aura sword that constantly sparks out an arch of lightning at the top of Lucas head.

"Sir Hugo needs help down there, it seems like he gathered so much attention that most of them are now focussing on him" Lucas said while looking at the wave of mutated creatures that now occupied most of the empty space of land outside the city.

Even the farm that was extended outside the wall of Florentine city has now been destroyed, and none of the crops that were planted before would survive this devastation, as this wave of monsters doesn't only come with an intention to eat and kill, but also to pollute the land itself making it impossible for anything to grow on it.

"What the- Why are there still so many of them?" Michael uttered in shock at the sight before them, causing their skin to have some creeps.

"I know right, my father's attack earlier and the power that was released by other knights should already be enough to reduce their numbers, but look at them now, were about to be over run by them if we don't do something." Lucas said in a hurry before firing his electric sword once again.

*Bzzzzzt* *Kabooooooom*

A strong flash of light suddenly lit up the city wall before it was followed by a small explosion that momentarily distract everyone in the vicinity. The power behind the skill that Lucas has released is noticeably smaller than the first one, but the effects of it are now clearer than before, since everyone on the battlefield has finally witnessed how this strange sword of lightning affects the mutated creatures.

The sword made of aura doesn't immediately explode upon impact. It actually managed to pierce through dozens of monsters leaving them paralyzed and shaking from the lightning that was left in their body. Before it landed on the soil creating a small explosion that resulted to countless snakes of lightning that spread on the crowd of mutated creatures.

They found out that lighting also seems to be effective as every monster that were hit by the lightning shows an immediate reaction to it causing the collapse of the black sludges that constantly heal and protect the mutated creatures, leaving them defenseless and vulnerable to normal attacks.

However, it's still not enough to stop all them as Lucas only managed to stop a small portion of the incoming wave of monsters but this scene has finally gave them a breakthrough on how can they end this madness.

"Did you see that Michael?" Lucas asks while staring deeply at the place where his attack has landed.

"The lightning! It's the lightning, that's their weakness." Michael delightedly confirms as he converted his aura to lightning element.

A Knight's aura is like a wizard's mana and both have the same source of energy but they used it differently in a way that wizard mainly uses the very nature of mana itself hence their attack is more powerful and has a wider application.

But being a wizard is not easy at all compared to being a knight, and both profession is considered as transcendent human. Since it allows them to break the shackles of mortals surpassing their own limitations, the only problem is there are only a few people born, capable of wielding magic, compared to the knight's profession that everyone can trained to.

A wizard is not only required to have a strong mental strength but they must also have a strong memory and a special type of body that can synchronize with the mana elements which is hard to achieved.

Not unlike knighthood where everyone is eligible to train the only thing that matters is the talent and resources, as well as perseverance since training all day, is not an easy feat to do.

The meditation alone required to enhance mental strength takes astronomical time to cultivate so only few people can actually finished it and it is no wonder that there's only a few transcendent people in the city of Florentine.

Both professions have similarities in the way that they can convert the main elements of their power to a new element allowing them to use it, albeit the power has become less. But the similarities ends there as wizard used the natural nature of mana while knights used their own body and power to forcefully summon their aura.

"Sir Hugo! It's the lightning element, used the lightning element." Michael shouts in a hurry as the wave of mutated creatures have finally overwhelmed the first line of defense.

"Boom" An explosion caused by a massive release of lightning was suddenly heard in the surroundings as a huge portion of monsters was blasted into smithereens thanks to Hugo's attack.

Like a super Saiyan, Hugo's body is now covered in a flare of golden aura with a strong release of lightning around him that destroys the black sludge that covers their body weakening all the mutated creatures within his vicinity.

Hugo also releases several golden lances made out of pure golden aura floating behind his body wrecking havock everywhere it points its sharp blades, as it can kill several dozens of mutated creatures within one move from his hands.

But everything was broken when Hugo's attack encountered a single monster that is unique among the mutated creatures as it is the only one that has a blooming flower as its head. A combination of a plant type and an unknown creature which is a first among its kind.

This bipedal plant-type monster managed to stop all 6 of Hugo's golden lance mid-air as it manifested a unique skill, using its own bloody petals as a shield enlarging them by several times of its original size, and as the golden lance touched this petal they quickly disintegrated as if all the power stored inside of them was consumed.

Hugo immediately frowns upon seeing this sight but still decided to hide his emotion as as he knows that Lucas and Michael are still watching him from afar. Showing weakness at this moment is not an option as it would greatly affect the soldiers moral which would only hinder them from their fight. He has no other choice but to send them away from this place, as he knows how much aura he uses to create each one of this golden Lance, destroying all of them at once only shows that this plant type monster is something that normal knights can't handle and something that he needs to be serious about.

"Go and help the others, some part of the wall needs more reinforcement than here, and make sure that you won't allow anyone of this creatures to enter the city as our families are still there so always engraved that on your minds." Hugo said to them as he sent them away before resuming his destructive means of attack on the creature that has a blooming flower as it's head.

Thank you for reading and once again see you next week.