Chapter 5 - Saving Konan Village (3)
Armon:
I know that Lily told me to not use magic, but it was too troublesome to handle these people with just my sword. Besides, the sooner we end this, the less likely Konan Village will suffer. In any case, after suffering from my [Decree of the Thunderlord], only the two Lieutenant were left still standing.
“W-what is this?What are you?” The curly mustache lieutenant asked in a frighten voice.
“I was scared for nothing… this is a bit too easy. But, looks like my magic isn’t enough to kill all of you. Some are just paralyzed, it seems my level is still too low.”
“Wah!! M-monste-!!” With their body paralyzed, I easily killed the soldiers.
“Now then.” I swung my sword and the drops of blood flew off its blade while a smile floated on my face.
I had always wanted to do a cool scene like this, wait this is real though. I quickly regained my composure and decided to kill them quickly instead of playing around with them. Somehow I have an urge to though, still I kept my mind clear and aimed for a finishing blow. In the flash of an eye, I appeared before them and slashed horizontally, severing their heads from their body.
“Eh?” Confused looks could be seen on their flying head as they just now realized they’re dead.
This time I didn’t even get a drop of blood on [Thunder Eye], as I quietly sheathed it. Looking around I made sure everyone was dead before I quickly headed over to where Ken should be. I don’t know why but I am overly worried about him recently. Halfway there, I met Lily who also seemed to have taken care of her side.
“You used magic didn’t you? I saw the sky light up while I was running over.” Lily stared angrily at me.
“Ehehe, I didn’t want to take too long, or get hurt.”
“Pshh, as if a mighty dragon would get hurt.”
“Seems you did well yourself.”
“Yep, turns out I can quick cast and multicast. Costs a lot of mana though, don’t think it’ll be very useful till my mana pool is larger.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. Well, you’re heading to Ken too right?”
“Yeah, let’s go.”
With that short exchange, we quickly went to look for Ken, but judging from the sounds of things it’s not that far away. Neither of us even thought of the situation that we were about to encounter. Ken was standing in front of Hana while fighting off the soldiers that ran at them.
“W-what? Why is Hana here?”
“Armon, look. A Crowned Shadow Reaver!”
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Ken:
Right behind the village was a small clearing of the forest, and this was where I waited to attack them. Obviously I wasn’t the one standing in the clearing, that would make me easy target, instead I awaited them on the side closest to Konan.
“Huff, feels bad to be hated so much even though I didn’t do anything…” I spoke to myself as I waited.
Not too long afterwards, the footsteps approaching became louder as a man took a step into the clearing. With lighting from the moon, I could see that he was a burly man, and on the chestplate of his armor the insignia of the Goldcrest. Following him were 20 or so men, they also walked into the clearing. Suddenly before the battle would start, my hands began shaking.
“Heh, fighting real life people is a completely different feeling than monsters… I can’t shake this unease, but I have to steel myself. Huff, a shower of death, befitting the allies of darkness [Light Storm]!” At my current level the rain of light can’t kill them, especially with armor, but it is enough to catch them off guard.
“Gah, what the!?” One of the soldier fell to the ground, and unsettling feeling surges in my stomach as I looked back to see the bloody mess.
“Ugh…” I felt like vomiting.
“It’s an enemy! Prepare for battle!!” The leader responded quickly, reorganizing everyone.
“Mages, place up the barrier!” Shouted another person, she seems to be a lieutenant judging from her uniform.
“Come out bastard! I know you’re there.”
“Tch.” I could only kill one person with that opportunity I created because I faltered halfway through.
With no other choice, I stepped out into the clearing as well. There was no point in running since I wanted to stop their advance anyways. The moment I did so, the captain's eyes bulged out in surprise. The lieutenant was similarly shocked, only some of the other soldiers were surprised though.
“Hah, Princess Lucy. You’re the last person I expected to be here, was the frontline too tough for you? Haha. And that attack earlier, I was expecting more.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but sadly I’m not this Princess Lucy you speak of. The name’s Lux.”
“The name of the Ancient dragon that once protected your family? Hah, but you can’t fool us Princess, everyone may not know how you look like, but everyone knows only the Whitefall has white hair and silver eyes. Besides, I’ve seen you before.”
“Ugh…” There’s no point to this useless chatter.
“Since you’ve killed one of my men, I can’t just let this go. Come, Reaver!” As he shouted, a dark shadow suddenly appears in front of him.
The murky shadow swirled into a vertical vortex and steadily enlarged. Once it was the size of an adult male, a skeletal leg came out, followed by the rest of its body. Although it looks just like a skeleton, if you look carefully, you could tell that was just its exoskeleton. Underneath those bony armor was red flesh pulsating with strength, its skull forming the shape of a crown.
“A Crowned Shadow Reaver… why is that thing here?” It’s just one demon beast after another, this Reaver is also a Rank A demon beast like the Shadow Saber.
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“There’s no need to tell a little girl who knows nothing but how to bully her own people.”
“Guh, that’s really starting to get aggravating… !” A loud clank resounded as metal met metal, my arm had reflexively raised to parry the slash from the enemy captain.
If this body and its equipments weren't so high spec, I would’ve died to that sneak attack. The sword that came out of another black vortex, retreated back into it and disappeared again. My head was still barely processing what had just happened though.
I-I almost died, holy crap… I, have to be careful or else I’ll really die. C-come on me!
My grip around the hilt of the sword strengthened as I sharpened my mind. At the same time 15 of the soldiers had surrounded me and are beginning their advance. Each time three would approach me and attack without giving me any room to breath. I also had to be wary of the sneak attack that the captain would occasionally throw into the fray. Slowly but steadily my reaction and attack speed increased along with my focus. It got to the point where everything was starting to seem as if they were in slowmo.
“Hoh… not bad Princess, but sorry we’re tight on time and there’s something precious I must have in that village there. Hope you don’t mind me taking her as you’ve obviously not seen her worth.” The Reaver as if knowing what its master wanted, walked into the vortex and before long came back holding onto a shaking girl.
“Hana!? Fuck!!” I forgot that the Reaver could also use [Shadowgate], a teleportation skill most Shadow type demon beast have.
“I wanted to get their food supply too, but from the looks of things my men have been stopped. Tch, this is going to be hard to report to the superiors… but this girl will at least lessen my punishment. Well, I’ll take my leave then.” The captain turned his back to leave with Hana still in the Reaver’s grip.
“Oh, no you don’t! Lend me your strength, Ancient Dragon, to face my foes [Heritage of Lux]! [Zero’s Seal:Unleashed]!”
The hilt and blade of [Zenith] fused into a single piece as the cross guard grew out and extended towards the blue crystals that formed on its pommel. The white aura around me also transformed into translucent wings as I feel my body becoming lighter and stronger. In the next instant, I completely vanished from the encirclement and appeared right behind the Reaver. Behind me, the 8 men in my way all collapsed with blood spurting out of their wounds.
Without stopping or hesitating, I cleaved the Reaver’s arm that was holding onto Hana then gave it a powerful kick towards its master. The force was enough to send them both tumbling through several trees. As for the mages that were about to transition over to offensive magic after seeing that I wasn’t going to use magic anymore, I also quickly ended their lives. All of this happened in the blink of an eye after activating [Lux’s Heritage].
“Are you hurt Hana?” I questioned her without looking back as I was still preoccupied with the remaining soldiers.
“Y-yeah…” She barely managed to squeak out in her state of fear.
“W-what was that? I-I thought this was supposed to be an easy mission!? I didn’t sign up for this!” A few of them are beginning to panic.
“Calm down! Whether or not you like this current situation, our only option left is to fight! Unless you think you can escape that speed just now!”
“Guh… I… dammit all!! Huuuua!!!” One by one the remaining soldiers came at me, as if lining up to the Grim Reaper.
“Wait, you imbeciles! Dammit, I didn’t think it’d be this intense. Captain Lee I’m releasing the other demon beasts that were in reserve! Come to me my pets, feast and devour our ene- Ah!”
“I’m gonna have to stop you right there, [Thunder’s Roar]!” A bolt of lightning socked the lieutenant before she could finish her chant.
“Ar- I mean Rai and Renna?!” I turned back in surprise to see them running out of the forest.
“Yo, we finished cleaning up our side, so we came to help.” Lily waved nonchalantly at me.
“Tch, reinforcement? Jenny retreat, I’ll hold them off.” A serious and deadly face appeared on the captain.
“B-but…”
“Do you think I’ll lose to these bastard? Go!”
“Ah, a-alright.” After hesitating for a bit she left quickly back the way they came.
“Not a chance!” I lunged after her but was immediately blocked by the captain.
“I’m nothing like my useless men, Princess. [Limit Breaker]! [Galeforce]! [Herculean Strength]! [Ironhide]!” A series of light shone off his body as he activated his enhancements.
“Hmm, [Appraisal]!” Lily checked the status of the captain.
Status Name Lee Gales Level 68 Class Magic Knight Age 35 Race Human Gender Male Blessing Blessing of the God of Wind Empyrean Title Assassin Knight of the Lion Health 653/770(+200) Mana 405/730 Attack 645(+400)[+300] Defense 445(+300)[+300] Magic 445 Resist 445(+100) Speed 425[+300] Stat Points 0 Bonus [Blessing: Silent Movement] [Lion Blade] [Lion Captain’s Armor] [Ring of Life] [Intimidation] [Limit Breaker] [Galeforce] [Herculean Strength] [Ironhide]
“Uh, hey Lux… this guy is actually crazy strong. We have to be careful.”
“Hmm, you must be pretty strong to actually be able to see my stats. No matter, [Wind Arts: Cyclone Slash]!”
From a tiny whirlwind created by the swing of his sword, a giant gale of wind started sucking the air around us into a huge tornado that wouldn’t stop growing.
“An elemental sword art?”
“I’ll stop it, [Sword Arts: Aura Blade]! Ha!”
The blade of [Zenith] began to glow a light blue color and with a wide swing, that very light flew off it to form an aura wave that easily sliced through the ever growing tornado. With it slashed in half, the wind quickly dissipated leaving behind uprooted trees and vegetation.
“Hmm, it would seem you’re not the Princess Lucy after all. She could never have countered my attack just now… we will meet again, Lux! I’ll leave the child to you for now but next time you won’t be so lucky, you and your friends!”
“W-where…” No matter where I looked, noone was there anymore.
All who were left was me, Lily, Armon, and Hana. Not even the dead soldiers were left behind. It would seem that the Crowned Shadow Reaver took the time we were focused on the captain to gather everyone. Now the problem was whether they return here or not after reporting back to the Holy Leon Kingdom.
“Ah… that’s finally over… my hands shaking again… Ugh.”
“Are you okay Hana, not hurt anywhere are you?” Lily bent down and carefully examined her.
“N-no I’m okay, but… I’m so sorry for not believing you Princess Lux… *sniff* e-even though we threw you guys out of the village and… *sniff* and even said you were trying to kill us, you still protected me! P-please spare everyone in the village… *sniff* i-if you must, kill me inst-”
Hana was on the verge of tears as she was talking right before Lily cut her off.
“Wowowow, hold on a minute! Kill you? Well in this world I guess that’s normal… ah! I mean, we would never do that sort of thing. Especially not Lux, he- ah, she loves children.”
“Hey! I can’t help it that they’re cute!”
Lily’s line also drew my attention from the fact that I had just killed actual people earlier.
“Phew… luckily he decided to back off, we might not have won with our current state. For now let’s take Hana back to the village, her mother must be worried.”
“Huff. It’s as Armon says, let’s go, though maybe I shouldn’t enter the village? Hahaha…”
As I was laughing wryly while saying so, Hana suddenly jumped off the ground and firmly stated otherwise.
“P-princess, I- no we, really owe you… p-please, if you’ll will it, allow our tiny village to house you even if only for tonight… It’s the least we could do.”
“Ah, w-well, I suppose…”
“Not like we have any choice either.”
“Yep, I’d rather not be outside.”
With that decided on, us three began walking Hana back to the village, just like the other day. The difference this time is that Hana isn’t staring at me with eyes full of fear. Quite the opposite, in fact she clung to me the entire way back.