Chapter 70: Nighthoot.
"If my guess isn't wrong then I think it was a Nighthoot. A bird like creature that is only active during the night." Old Albie explain with a heavy frown on his face.
At this point Lucas have already read almost everything in their mansions library but still, this is the first time he heard the name of that beast.
"A Nighthoot?" Lucas murmured it's name with unfamiliarity.
"What the heck is that?" Jamie whispered in a low voice besides him.
"Wait, I thought they were gone?" An old soldier suddenly said.
"What's a Nighthoot?" Lucas ask in puzzlement.
"A Nighthoot is basically a mystical creatures, mainly it belongs to the age of the distant past." Old Albie said in a mysterious way.
"What?"
"What do you mean?" Lucas ask once again. Baffled by the words he hear from the old Albie.
"Nighthoots are known as the magical steads of elves." Albie said shortly.
"But no one have seen them for a thousand years?"
"Exactly! That's why I thought they were gone. I've only known their depiction based on the old story that was past down to us, but lately too little people have interest on listening to them." Old Albie grumbled in short breaths.
"Young Master I don't understand how could this information help you defeat that thing?" Jamie said suddenly.
"I also have no idea." Lucas said in a low voice. Earning him some strange look.
"I thought you were asking me because you already had a plan to save those potions." Old Albie said grumpily.
"I do have a plan but I also just wanted to find out what kind of creature could possibly have that kind of speed that's not normal at all." Lucas said defensively.
"I would attract its attention while you guys pull that carriage away from this place. Is that clear?" Lucas added before holding his sword.
"Are you sure young master your strength haven't recovered yet."
"It's okay I might be low on mana but I still have the strength to fight and if I can't defeat it I still have enough stamina to run away from it." solemnly answered by Lucas.
"Then be careful." Old Albie suddenly said.
"If you need some assistance I might be able to distract it for a bit by using this." Old Albie said as he suddenly pull an shotgun like weapon from his body.
In this world gun already exist but they aren't very popular to transcendent people since their power is very limited. It can only kill those people who is on the junior rank and it's only effective if you shot them in surprise. Because once they find out that they been targeted by this weapon they can temporarily flare up their mana around their body forming a temporary barrier to invalidate the attack.
"Where did you hide that thing?" Jamie said in alarm while looking at him with amazement.
Even normal soldiers from the city know about this weapon because people from outside especially those low ranking nobles and merchants are often equipped with this gun aside from their normal sword.
Although it's been in existence for quite some time it never became popular in Florentine city since its not easy to shoot off moving target like magic beast especially if there's a lot of trees hindering your sight. Aside from that it's also the first time they have seen this new model of gun as they are more familiar with the old caliber.
Hubert also wanted their soldier to have this shotgun but many of them have actually declined his offer mainly because they're more inclined in using their sword. At the same time, they are not fond of the idea of wasting money for each shot of it's bullets. As they rather have that coin in their purse than in the body of their target.
"Where did you get that?" Lucas said suddenly as he also wanted to have this kind of weapon for himself.
It might not be a powerful weapon in this world but still this is something that can give him a piece of familiarity of his old world.
"I got this from the luggage of one of those people that have escape during the first week of invasion and Sir Hugo have allowed me to keep this weapon for souvenir." Explain by Albie.
"Fine this would greatly help me in my tasks. If you saw it gets nearer of the carriage you should shot it from the opposite direction luring away its attention while I try to drag it away from this place." Lucas said firmly.
"But I only have 2 bullets with me since they're rare and I don't know where to buy them so I didn't dare bring all of it." Old Albie added shortly.
"It's okay, two shots is more than enough for me to deal with it."answered by Lucas.
"Then get ready Im about to attack it now." Lucas said as he turn his back to them showing his metal armor covered in small lines of crack.
"Oh! And I want all of you to be careful about the mutant wave behind it they mustn't approach that carriage and take care of Michael, alright?" Lucas suddenly said as he quickly turn his head towards them before running back towards the rampaging mass of tentacles leaving them in the dust.
"What are you all looking at? MOVE NOW." Old Albie angrily said as he commanded the rest of the soldiers to quickly act.
"Don't just stare at him, move all your ass and get to position, remember what our young master said to us? We are responsible for pulling that carriage away from that thing while he attracts it attention so go now." Old Albie said in a short breath.
"Fools." said by an old soldier behind him.
"Ha! They're all new, so they always need someone to command them, our young master is still inexperience when it comes to leading our soldiers, so it's not surprising to see this happening." Old Albie said in response to him.
"Yeah I know, but at least he is improving compared to before."
"Such a change in him might have something to do with his maturity." Implied by the Old Albie before running away with his shotgun.
"Tsk, is it really because of that, or did lord Hubert have finally discipline that child?" Whispered by the Old soldier before running off to others.
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Meanwhile Lucas is currently occupied with rescuing the carriage containing the potion that can help him purified the parasites in Michael's body.
"What's going on with this tentacled creature? it feels like it is much stronger than that bird." Lucas said while warily staring at it.
"Now, What should I do to get it's attention?" Lucas ask while looking around on his surroundings.
With his current mana reserve it won't be enough to construct another mana sword to used his newly created skill.
So now, he need to find another way to attack it with his remaining strength.
"Sword of destruction can definitely injured this creature since it's a powerful skill but it's mana consumption is enermous. It seems like I can't use it casually on a fight or I'll be on a disadvantage later on." Lucas said to himself as he realizes the consequences of using most of his aura on the early stages of a battle.
When suddenly his eyes have cast upon the sword on his waist giving him some ideas.
"Maybe I don't have to use all of my remaining mana to attack it, and an aura imbued sword might be enough." He thought off before grabbing his swords with both of his hands as he removed it from its sheath.
Revealing the sharp metallic luster of his blade.
It's unique sharpness is also one of the reasons why Lucas decided to purchase this sword despite it's hefty price.
But now, it wasn't even a year since Lucas purchased his sword but the blade is already covered in cracks due to his brutal used of his weapons damaging it in the process.
"After this fight it seems like I would need to used my old sword." Lucas murmured in pain.
And as he tightly held his sword, Lucas immediately bring his self to concentrate. And in just a few seconds, he immediately felt the invisible ripples of energy inside his body. Prompting him to control its flow and gather it towards his arms before transferring it to the blade of his swords.
This entire process happen in just a matter of seconds, and as his energy fills the sword, a hazy blaze of coppery energy can be seen appearing on it, and a little humm can also be faintly heard coming from it.
Causing the metal to creaks in response to stress from receiving a huge amount of energy with it's current state. Further decreasing it's durability.
But Lucas paid it no mind and in just a few breath of time, He managed to gather some of his remaining strength into his arms before he decided to forcefully throw his sword into the tentacled mass of creature, stabbing it at the very center of it's body, where all it's tentacles was attached.
The tentacle creature was immediately sent several steps back due the inertia of his sword, leaving only the sword handle visible as the rest of its body have sunk into the creature.
But instead of celebrating from his success from attacking the monster, Lucas is rather feeling nervous with the present situation.
He might have successfully attracted it's attention but his attack have also caused it to stagger closer to the carriage containing those precious potion that he wanted to save.
"DAMN IT! I'm really unlucky today." Lucas whispered in nervous breath.
When Lucas suddenly heard the loud yell of an old but familiar voice.
"Young Master should I take a shot?" As Lucas turn his head to the left to see the owner of the voice.
The owner of that voice is old Alby equipped with his shiny shotgun that he got from one of the people who escaped from their city during the first week of the invasion.
He was currently situated on the top of the roof of a broken house which is on the other end of the street.