Chapter 69

Shrouded in the dark, and half-hidden behind the thick trunk of an oak tree, Rain stood with a solemn expression. In front of him, laid out four people, three men, and one woman. The men were heavily wounded, with blood dying their armor, as they desperately tried to protect the woman that seemed to be quite high in standing. She must be a noble or something like that. Rain thought as he saw the clothes and armor she was wearing, as well as feeling the air lingering around her.

In terms of appearance, this girl was greatly inferior to Lafetti or Zarda, whom he loves. However, she still has her own strength that made him feel attracted. Even more so, what can catch someone's eyes in an instant the moment they look at her was that her body contained quite a heroic spirit that could not be found in ordinary woman, as well as the profound stubborn, crafty, and unruly attitude. Furthermore, despite wearing full body armor meant for women, one can still see that she possess quite an incredibly slim body, and ample breast hidden within.

She's quite beautiful... even in the standard of his previous life.

Not even a famous celebrity or model could compare with her.

She has an oval face; her nose was exquisitely elegant, sleek lips, wide-set but alert eyes, thin brows curved like moons, and slim limbs that were extremely fresh and delicate. Overall, her beauty certainly one of those who can warm the heart and delighted the eyes. However, although she was beautiful indeed, what attracted Rain more was the pair of long legs that were breathtakingly gorgeous, draped with the battle skirt.

And although she was tall, her lower half body was much longer than her upper half. A plus. Even with her amazing eye-catching long legs, you would still not find her body disproportionate. Thanks to her slim figure, you could see most part of her long legs through her dirty, and bloodied skirt. Her legs were not merely thin and straight like they were boney, but they were with attractive curves, implied with agility and energy, at the same time full of softness and flexibility.

Her skin even looked very smooth, despite the dirt and blood staining it. As if they were coated with milk, they looked shiningly pale- this definitely meant a fatal attraction.

Rain was never a leg man, but he still felt as if he was the moment he saw her. Perhaps, it's because ever since he had come into this world, he has never seen any women's legs, but his eyes couldn't help but drawn into them. His gaze just can't help but look down and stare at those incredibly magnificent masterpieces of Gods. Thus, the moment he saw her, he immediately knows that she was not a normal girl. She surely has been born in an incredibly wealthy and noble family.

However, right now, her beautiful golden-silver knight armor was already damaged all over, and her body was covered with dark red bloodstains. He didn’t even know whether that was her own blood or the blood of the monsters she had killed. And around her, there were many corpses of monsters and magical beasts alike.

Rain snapped out from his daze and look at the four people. They are fighting desperately, with their lives already in the inevitable doom. Even an idiot would realize it. The more they fight here, the lower their chances of escaping this situation alive. After all, the scent of blood in this place, especially on them was so strong, it would make any Magical Beast and Monsters crazy. They would be flooding in until these four people would drown.

But don’t they know? The more they fight in here, the more blood they will scatter, and the more monsters will come. They are just laying a trap for their own doom. They should have not stopped, and instead, used all their strength to run away. But now, they are trapped. Encircled with no hope of breaking through!

Making their last stand might be the correct choice, but that only applies in other places...not here!

In this kind of place, that's the dumbest thing one can do!

Looking at them fighting, he frowned and thought, this should have been a large group, with now remaining four people. The smell of blood in the air, and the scent of human blood, was too thick for it only to come from heavy wounds of these three people. Although he had not transformed into his Wolf form, his senses were still like that of a beast. Hence, he can tell.

... ...

“My Lady, you need to run now! We will stop them here!”

“But I just can’t leave…”

“This is not the time for that Milady!”

They were going as they fought towards the rushing monster.

“To think we would meet a Monster King, damn it! This is a nightmare!”

They were originally a large group. Over a dozen of them, extremely powerful than normal adventures, and considered elites of elites. However, due to a single mistake, they had lost most of their people in an instant.

Some were able to immediately escape with the sacrifice of others. However, their mana is already almost exhausted and they are panting hard. They were unsure whether tiredness or hunger was predominant in them at that moment.

They have been fighting while running, and they are losing hope as they speak.

It has been several hours since the battle began, their retreat has been difficult. They are fine with handling the beast one at a time, but when a huge wave swells up and attack, worst, along with a Monster King, they are forced to deplete their magical power and stamina. The powerful monsters that show up from time to time drain their mana and energy.

Almost half of them are in the state of mana depletion or have been wounded, their strength dwindling miserably. They conserve their remaining stamina and keep switching the vanguard to hold up the battlefront. But they don't know how much longer they can last; they are close to the campsite where they had made a few days ago, which is the only hope that keeps them going.

But they know that they would still be unable to last and then things turned worst. Because they can't cast powerful enough spells because of the lack of mana, a powerful Ogre managed to close in on them and cause serious damage. That was the start of their tragedy.

Half of the group had immediately fallen, with the ogre breaking their formation, they were scattered like chickens, and the monsters took advantage of this, pouncing on them with merciless vigor.

Now they were only four of them left.

... ...

The four people tried to stabilize their breathing as they continue to defeat the unending torrent of magical beasts and monsters. But they know they wouldn’t last long, and held on. They will be outnumbered, drowned in numbers, and slaughtered. However, the Knights fought hard, and Rain saw them as incredible, courage and bravery sprang forth on their every move as they fought to protect the young female knight.

The remaining group desperately protected their master as they continue to retreat from the forest. Though, it seems like the beautiful woman was not just a pretty vase, as she held with a sword, and was quite proficient on it as well. The blue cape, though travel-worn, still hung well and the thigh-length doeskin boots gave her the look of a fierce medieval warrior.

The beautiful woman grimaced, and her face pale.

‘…we will bring peace to the land,’

Her exalted Elder Sister’s words rang in her head. They warmed her heart, even in the chaos of this moment.

The beautiful woman’s blade found purchase in her foe. The fierce magical beast roared in agony, red blood pouring out along the line of her sword before the monster's body slumped to the ground. Life bled from the beast quickly, but the knight didn’t witness it. She was already turning to her next target, swinging her sword high to block the attack of her new adversary’s hatchet—a Hobgoblin.

An arrow ricocheted off the armor of the Knight protecting her. She whipped her head around, fierce green eyes catching sight of yet another group of monsters coming from the deep, gloomy forest, seemingly never-ending.

The Knight groaned, but he bit his lips and broke off the arrow that had stabbed through him. He then let out a roar and charged like an angry bull towards his enemies, swinging his sword that was now covered with blood. Another Knight howled a curse, swinging his blade wide, attracting most of the attention of the monsters that were attacking the injured knight. The inertia of his blade cut straight through a creature’s torso, rending them in twain.

“All of you be careful!”

The beautiful woman turned, boots clattering on the muddy ground with every stomp in her charge towards the archer’s direction. A Hobgoblin. She watched as the monster notched another arrow, and took aim at her head.

The creature had dirty green skin. His body hunched and an ugly face with an elongated nose and drooling fangs. His bow was primitive, like all of the other armaments of his ilk yet that didn’t keep the Hobgoblin from attaining deadly precision.

Fury coursed through the beautiful woman’s veins as she vaulted over a monster’s corpse, sending a hundred pounds of steel into the air. The Hobgoblin archer’s yellow eyes went wide and the arrow he launched missed its mark, bouncing off her breastplate harmlessly. She then came down, landing heavily on her feet, gravity pulling her blade through the creature’s torso.

The Hobgoblin let out a pitiful cry as it fell to the ground, its large body slumping lifeless.

“Milady!!”

She turned. Dozen more creatures were charging her, and past them, her remaining comrades, her knight protectors were beset on all sides. Her knights, three remained now. All tried to block the fury of the Monster King, and let them escape, while some died along the way, set upon by the monster's claws and teeth after fighting against many, seemingly endless groups of monsters that had chased after them.

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The beautiful woman swung her longsword up with one hand and the shield she took from one of her fallen companions, with the other, knocking aside the crude weapons of the attackers. She swung wild, driving her blade through one monster as her shield blocked the blows of the others. They surrounded her, not only Hobgoblins but wild magical beasts and monsters, all intent of taking her life and tearing him apart.

The beautiful woman’s green eyes burned with anger, as she attacked and blocked with desperate actions.

…and Rain saw everything from where he is.

“Just endure for a bit! My sister should have sensed the situation already, and is rushing here! As long as we can endure for a few minutes,” she said as she slashed a rushing panther.

Her movement and skills were quite impressive, it was apparent that she was quite a skillful martial artist. And more so, her unnatural strength and speed, Rain was certain that she was stronger than him…perhaps even above him in level.

That same goes with the Knights though…

Rain bemused as he continued watching the battle. Despite their losing grounds, their exhausted magic power and were even heavily wounded, they are still standing tall and were like a towering shield in protecting the woman. What’s more, the enemies are Trolls, Hobgoblins, Ogres, and several Magical Beasts, each one could give Rain a hard time even in his current state, now there were dozen of them together.

This group is something that would surely spell death for him.

And what did they say before?

A Monster King?

His icy blue eyes narrowed.

This is trouble… he grits his teeth. What the hell are they doing here, anyway? He knows the existence of several Monster Kings in this Desolate Forest. It was something that Zarda and the others always told him to never antagonize or meet. And once encounter must escape as soon as possible.

Zarda can be classified as a Monster King, and if all Monster Kings are rival her in power, Rain knows he’s in a bad situation if ever he meets one. Hence, he always never forgets the warning of others and recalls them over, and over.

I can’t help. I’ll only die…if the Monster King was on their tail, more so. Rain lamented. He wanted to rescue other people from trouble whom he could rescue with his ability. But the current him didn’t have much ability to rescue her. If only he was even a bit stronger, then he would not think twice about it, and would surely dare to take a risk to try and rescue them. But with his current strength, even if he tries to save her, he would just be courting his own death.

Although he has his own sense of justice, it still didn’t reach the point where he would try to rescue a stranger by placing himself in mortal danger. He was not that great or selfless. Much more, he can’t afford to make a mistake and die. Not now, with Laffeti and Zarda, and the Lamians he saw as family already in his hand. He would never forsake them just because of some unknown stranger!

If there were Zarda and the others, things would have been different, but this place was too far from the Village. And most especially, he cannot let them inside the village, or else he would be putting everyone in danger. In addition, even if he saves them, he doesn't have anywhere to bring them after. He knows how Zarda and the others hated humanity, and it would be a betrayal if he brings them over to them.

Rooooooaaaarr—!!

A roar echoed in the entire forest, along with a bolt of lightning and thunderous rumble.

This roar…a Lion?

Rain winced, but more so with the four humans.

“It’s coming! Milady, you need to go now!!”

One of the four knights grabbed the pretty woman’s elbow and drags her away.

“I’m not leaving you!!”

But the pretty woman was as stubborn as hell.

“If I die, then I’ll die! I would never leave you here! Most of you have died enough, I’ll stand my ground, or else I would be tainting the name of the Geminin!” the pretty woman gritted her teeth and cried out.

The three Knights glanced at each other and then nodded.

“I’m sorry, milady,” the knight grasping the pretty woman’s arm said and stealthily raised his arm behind the pretty woman, and Rain could understand what they were about to do.

He had seen them often in movies before.

With a groan, Rain rested his head against the tree trunk. When had he become such an uncaring prick? Even though he’d been stripped of his humanity, did that mean he had to act like a heartless monster?

That’s not Rain Revert’s style!

This is not his style!

“Dammit!”

Rain grumbled. But even though his expression was troubled, for some unknown reason, his heart was light and peaceful more than ever.

I'll just apologize to Lafetti and the others later...

When the knight was about to strike the back of the pretty woman’s neck, Rain made his move. And the Knights immediately sense something the moment he moves from the tree, and their actions stilled—it was then followed by the sound of a dull explosion that struck towards the Ogre that jumped in the air at the same time, aiming for the vanguard knight that bores the shield.

Lightning bolts flying over the knight’s head with incredible accuracy, hitting the arm of the Ogre dead on. A series of explosions rang out, in accordance with its aim, blowing the Ogre's arm away. By the time the vanguard composed him, the Ogre was running away yelping.

Following immediately is something that is beyond the human group's expectation—

A black figure flips in midair with weightless grace, aimed for the ground, and shot out several lightning bolts. The lightning bolts hit the ground with the sound of an explosion. The lightning bolts struck the face of the beasts together before blasting the magical beasts and the ground away.

The merciless magic destroyed a large number of magical beasts and monsters through carpet bombing. The knights stared aghast, not knowing what had suddenly occurred. Even the pretty woman could only watch as the black-haired youth, who rush in like a black bullet, landed on the ground just in between the Knight’s group and the monsters.

Who is he?

Rain growled, but he knows better not to transform into a large wolf, less he would be seen as not human. He grasped his favorite dagger with his right hand and then reversed grip the dagger with a fluid movement. He then made a roundhouse kick at the beast that tried to pounce on him. His leg sweeping over its head, blowing it away. Then, with [Agility Ex] and other speed enhanced abilities in his arsenal, his figure accelerates as he leaps, just like a bullet. He uses the momentum to catch up with the limping Ogre that lost its arm, slashing off its head with a black dagger.

The head flew into the air and the massive body collapse.

He would not be able to achieve this feat if it was before, with the Ogre’s power that had already broken through Lv2, he was still weaker than it. But now, he was stronger. With Magic, obtained abilities, and most of all, with the power of the wolf in the night of full moon that doubles his strength and speed, he was far beyond what he was before.

Rain lands with enough force to dig into the ground, turning his head as he slides and points his palm at the other magical beast. Lightning Bolt was rapidly cast from his hand, engulfing the monsters in the explosions that shake the ground. Half of the monster’s body was charred and falls.

"Now... Now's the chance! Kill them before the Monster King comes and we’ll leave this place!"

The pretty woman was stunned by Rain’s sudden intrusion into the battlefield, but she didn't let the chance slip away.

Her command made the Knights move, finishing off the other remaining monsters. The Monster King that was being held off by her comrades, surely it would be rushing right now at this place—and if that happens, the survival of the rest of her group would have been doomed already.

They had protected her well, and even though the beautiful woman was grieving in her heart, the deaths on her shoulders, she wouldn’t fall…not now.

She didn’t want to leave the three Knights she had now, because she had already left many people just to survive. But if these Knights would lose their lives as well because of her, she wouldn’t be able to endure it if she leaves them too.

She turned towards the one who had saved him, and she couldn’t help but took a deep breath. He was stunning. All she could see was the right side of his face since he was fighting so courageously against monsters, but what a profile.

A sharp straight nose, high cheekbone, and a jawline that curved into a strong chin. He was handsome. Clean, and Neat, especially in this kind of place. When she looks closely, she noticed that his skin was a bit pale. But that didn’t reduce his charm. Rather, it made him even more attractive to her. Whoever he was, whatever he was doing in this place, he had saved their lives!

The Knights woke up from their daze and hurriedly fought against the monsters, all while slowly retreating. With the intrusion of the unknown man, the weight burdening slowly eased and they were able to have some breath to take. Although they know nothing of the man, they were surely grateful for his assistance.

But they can only give their appreciation after they survive this ordeal.

Rain slammed the blunt handle of his rapier into a charging boar-like monster’s face and snickered. An old vestige of human honor and morals pricked at his raging heart. How such innocent chivalry could excite him he didn’t know. But he continued hitting the monsters that rush at him nonetheless.

Thunder rumbled angrily overhead while crooked spears of jagged lightning tore the night sky, momentarily lighting the fortress. Fierce winds whistled along with the trees and plants, shrieking sibilantly. But fortunately no rain.

Rain swung his left hand which was holding his dagger, deflecting an incoming axe, and with a twist of his waist, whipped his leg towards the Ogre that came crashing at him. No time to think. He blocked the thrust of a stabbing spear with his rapier, but the Troll caught his return thrust on a buckler and tried to kick him in the belly. Rain jumped back, but another group of monsters came from different directions, trying to drown him with a pincer attack. And he was caught between no retreats.

“Help him!”

Rain heard the woman cried out, and then followed was a Knight’s charge towards his direction. But Rain didn’t need their help. When the monsters leap at him simultaneously, he slams his palm against the ground, and bone stakes speared out from the ground.

The monsters were caught off-guard. Some were killed, skewered by the bone stakes which was now over a meter length after increasing its level, while there were also managed to dodge in time. Rain heard a gasp of shock after the appearance of the bone stakes, but he had no time to mind it.

With an open path, a monster took advantage of it and charged towards him.

“Aaah!!”

A monster’s cry as the troll, wielding a large spear sprang out from the bushes and run straight towards Rain. and then the Troll swung about his weapon, ready to use the sharpened blade on the black-haired human, and was amazed by the sudden near-successful attack, it cried out as it lunged forward, arms straight, the point of the spear aimed for the human’s throat.

It never got there, however, a black figure landed from above, catching the Troll with its sharp mandibles, and clamped their jaws towards its body, creating a sound of snapping bones.

“A Killer Ant!!”

Rain heard a gasp of shock and horror.

“This is bad, with a Killer Ant here, there are hundreds of them coming!” another panic cry.

To humans, a single Killer Ant could be a disaster. After all, when one is sighted, it means a colony is nearby.

“Look out!”

Again, a woman’s panic cry rang out.

When Rain turned around, he saw a black giant ant rushing in his direction. The charge was scary. But it was only scary. He didn't move away or dodged. He only smiled. When the human group thought Rain would be attacked by it, they were shocked and dumbfounded when suddenly they saw that there was a plot twist!

"Creeeeeaaahhhh!!"

Rather than attacking the black-haired youth, the Killer Ant was instead, attacking the monsters nearby. It then stood beside Rain, protectively. Then, another Killer Ant came from the bushes, and another, and another. Over ten Killer Ants and some of them were Flame Killer Ants at that. However, to the human group’s astonishment, they all surrounded the black-haired youth protectively and started attacking the other monsters.

Perhaps they were a group who was wandering nearby and managed to sniff him in trouble and came out to help? Or maybe, they also came here intending to join the other monsters and attack the human group. But after seeing him, they instead came to protect him, which was much more likely. After all, before they evolved into Antmen, from what he knows, Killer Ants don’t think much and so, would never see him as a friend and help him when in trouble.

It must be the scent left by the Ant Queen on him, that they saw him as an ally.

Whatever the case, he was much grateful for their appearance.

He looks at the Killer Ants that were standing beside him.

What is going on? That question appeared inside the three Knights and the woman’s mind, but they couldn’t entertain such a question as the appearance of an ally is a welcoming event for them. They look at each other, and nodded, they then slowly walk towards the black-haired youth’s position.

Perhaps, just maybe, he was their ticket in surviving this despairable ordeal.

And they would hate to miss him.

… …