The sudden loss of the friend directly before his eyes made Robert fall into a stupor. It was not the first experience for him, but in such a shaking way, right after being saved by him, it made his mind stop for a second. One moment Paul was smiling with a branded shy look, and in the next, he was dead. What hit Rob the most was the casualty of the event. It wasn’t some kind of heroic death. Monk didn’t bleed out while fighting against tens of the enemies. He didn’t trade his own life with the enemy’s commander. He didn’t cover random beauty or children from a lethal hit. This battle even wasn’t that important at all and their own faint attack had been already done by this moment. Moreover, the opponent had predicted it beforehand with probability, according to its current counter, making this entire plan unneeded in the first place. Everything went to the direct confrontation of the main forces in a completely different place. However, Monk was dead.
The knight didn’t even notice him, cutting through half of dozen soldiers just to fight with our own… Fuck! That is bullshit!
The surge of emotions made Robert’s body tremble. Anger, remorse, and sadness mixed inside him in a strange cocktail, clouding his mind. Especially, when the rage started to dominate, taking the biggest part in this mixture. He pushed himself on his feet, gripping the handle of his mace tighter. Making a few fast steps to increase his speed, Robert used all his strength to throw it directly into the back of the enemy’s knight. However, the weapon bounced back after the impact, only making the place of the hit shine for a moment. The knight even didn’t react to Rob’s attack, focusing on a fight with his opponent. The only opponent, who could be on par with him.
Shit, that will not do. Need to exhaust his energy before I can do anything… But what the hell? Where is the kinetic force from impact?
The absence of results slightly calmed Robert, cooling his boiling emotions and helping to clean his mind. His state was a mess with a wound on the face and a broken left arm. He was still on the battlefield and that knight wasn’t the last enemy here. He was lucky that his splash of rage made him throw the mace and not rush directly into a suicidal melee just to follow Paul in the afterlife. Therefore, Rob took a deep breath again and tried to gauge the current situation.
Almost nothing had changed in the surroundings after the appearance of the knight. Enemy’s soldiers continued their retreat only to be followed by the biggest part of Rob’s allies. However, around a dozen stayed in the place, clearly not wanting to be engaged in confrontation versus knight, but also having no wish to chase after enemies in the center of the village, where the main forces would fight. On the other hand, they couldn’t leave through the hole in the palisade either as that might be seen as a desertion. Therefore, they waited for someone to find the solution, just to do the same, having only a single simple goal – to survive.
Where is the Wolf? Lost his during the initial attack and don’t see him here. Hope he is alive.
Robert sighed, turning his attention to the main figures of this fight. Both knights looked very similar. Fully clad in metal from head to toe, they both wielded longswords, which were flying in their hands as they were weightless. Both had emblems pictured on their chests. But from further observation, the difference could be noticed in detail. The ally’s knight had more edgy armor with odd metal plates, protecting his armpits, and an open helmet, which left his jaw open. Later was still covered with a separate piece, attached to a chest plate. Together that left a bigger gap but a better vision. On the contrary, the enemy’s helmet was more classic knight one with a visor and small dots before the eyes. It was the same situation with other parts of armor – more rounded, it had bigger and thinner pauldrons and overall looked more massive. That definitely led to lesser mobility. Still, with their strength and speed of motion, the difference wasn’t noticeable.
Both knights were trying to hit the opponent as much as possible, clearly having no ability to penetrate each other’s armor, imbued with mana. On the other hand, they also tried to defend using side deflection and not blocking directly, even without the fear of damaging the sharp blade. They didn’t jump or make any pirouettes, but no one stayed in one place, moving freely across the battlefield, as nothing except their opponent could pose any threat.
Well, shit. Ours is slowly losing it…
The knight with an image of two white moons above the bonfire – Highmoon’s banner – made another long thrust, simultaneously stepping forward. The enemy with a painted wolf head sidestepped, deflecting it with his own sword, and immediately went into his own swing, using the momentum. Moon-knight gripped the blade of the sword with his other arm, turning it into some kind of staff while continuing to move. In the next moment, he hard-blocked the hit from Wolf-knight only to try to drop the enemy’s defense with rotational motion. Pushing the blade from himself, Moon-knight made the edge of his sword to be on the level of his opponent’s neck. Unfortunately, he hadn’t enough time to go for the hit, as he was shoulder-bashed and almost dropped to the ground. Somehow, he managed to stay on his feet and even distanced himself from Wolf-knight, but that pause only lasted for a few seconds and a new exchange began.
Robert continued to watch the fight for a minute while picking several weapons and gathering them around him. A new mace was hooked on his belt just in case. Waiting for an opportunity, he threw a few axes without any noticeable pauses. The effect was the same – everything bounced back, losing all energy and just triggering the glow on the metal surface. However, that still bothered the Wolf-knight, making him stop an attack and even lock his eyes on him for a moment, before continuing the assault on his opponent. This in turn led to most soldiers leaving the place at a fast pace, not wanting to be the target of the knight without any chances to defend themselves. Someone from his squad tried to call Rob, but he ignored them. The battle in the center of the village wasn’t over, but Robert wanted his revenge. Maybe with not his own hands, but whatever. Only the end result mattered. He wanted that shithead dead!
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
So, he can absorb kinetic energy from quickly moving objects, but he can’t neutralize everything. That shoulder push clearly threw Moon-knight from balance. Moreover, if they had infinite energy, both would definitely fight from the start and not hide until now. No, they are saving their mana… spirit… whatever they call it. I just need to accelerate his expenditures to turn him into a highly armored but at the same time an ordinary warrior.
With a long spear in his hands, Robert took a deep breath, concentrating. The small rest he had while observing the fight made his both abilities trigger. However, Spirit Body didn’t have enough time to recover everything and only slightly patched his broken hand to be barely, but usable. After that, Adaptation took all his mana to refresh him in exchange for stopping wounds from complete healing. Therefore, he was in a better state than a few minutes ago, but not even near to being in peak form. His left arm could be moved through the pain, and he still felt blood inside his mouth. Multiple bruises also didn’t disappear as if his regeneration started from the most harmful injuries.
It is enough for it… I hope the Moon-knight won’t miss the moment. Fuck it! Let’s go!
In the next moment, he rushed in a wild sprint, putting his spear forward and aiming for the bastard’s back. He didn’t roar to warn the enemy and instead tried to keep as silent as possible. In addition, he hoped that a close helmet would make it even harder for Wolf-knight to notice him from behind. Fortunately, it worked. The knight was in a high stance with sword raised, planning to do the overhead strike against fallen to the knee of Rob’s ally. Robert had a mere moment to confirm the target of his hit – the small gap between the helmet, the bottom part of which was almost a collar, and chest plate.
The tip of the spear entered this gap, going deep enough to be stuck. The sound of metal grinding informed about an inability to injure the enemy, but that wasn’t Rob’s goal in the first place. Stepping forward and almost touching the armor of Wolf-knight, he planted the other side of the spear in the ground, so it almost turned into an odd variant of the spacer. The enemy’s head was forcefully bent forward and was fixed in this position, being unable to take off from this improvised hook. Moreover, Robert didn’t stop on that as he immediately dropped the spear and jumped in the air to grip the longsword. The strength of the knight managed to handle his additional weight for a moment before Robert put both his feet against his back and pushed himself. The armor glowed, absorbing the kinetic impact and thus helping Rob with a proper fulcrum. Therefore, no matter how strong the knight was, the uncomfortable position with other factors made him lose his grip on his weapon.
Wolf-knight roared from anger in an attempt to prevent it from happening, but he was stuck. Exclaiming loud curses, he managed to turn around, breaking the shaft of the spear and hurting his neck in the process from overtaxing. Despite the pain and clear limited motion of it, the knight tried to get his weapon back but was met with a mace head, flying into his face. Imbuing the mana directly before the impact, he managed to capture a glimpse of his longsword in ten meters, before turning his attention to the annoying soldier. However, the strike was followed by a body ram from the latter. The knight dropped on the back, making his neck pulse with a new wave of pain.
Seeing the disoriented state of the Wolf-knight, Robert again tried to hit him with the mace but had to interrupt himself, when he noticed the glimpse of the incoming blade by the edges of his sight. The Moon-knight was back on its feet and seemed to be not bothered by possible friendly fire at all. Stepping back for a safe distance, Robert observed with calmness as his ally hammered the enemy with non-stop hits, not giving the unarmed knight a chance. The armor glowed from multiple hits, exhausting the energy and just delaying unavoidable outcomes. Wolf-knight seemed to be unable to move freely as before, which led only to more strikes to take.
In a mere minute, everything was over. The glow pulsed once again before completely disappearing. By this point, Wolf-knight didn’t show any sign of resistance. Rob’s ally stopped his sword. They both exchanged silent glances before Wolf-knight slowly kneeled while taking off his helmet. What opened to Robert was the face of a middle-aged man, who looked more like a kind baker than a cold-blooded warrior. He raised his head, focusing on the sky above himself trying to enjoy it until the very last moment. Still, that didn’t soften a heart not him, not Moon-knight, as the latter put his blade against the enemy’s neck before thrusting. The man dropped without sound, continuing to watch the blueish firmament with a now glassy look.
Robert wasn’t happy, but he also had no regrets about helping to kill the knight. The man was guilty of the death of his friend. Monk maybe wasn’t the closest person to him, wasn’t very chatty, and liked to appeal to his god in any situation, but he was still his friend in this world. Maybe someone might call such relationships as acquaintance and not friendship, but for Robert, it was the latter, despite it being in a nascent state. Still, the revenge couldn’t bring him back. Therefore, Rob was just standing there motionless, looking at his surroundings with tens of corpses and thinking about the purpose of all this – the war and him being here as a mere soldier. However, he didn’t manage to get to the clear point in his thought process being interrupted by a strong punch directly into his face that knocked out a few teeth and literally threw him to the ground in complete dizziness.
“Know your place, peasant! I didn’t need your help in the first place! If you are going to interfere with my noble fight just one more time, your death will be quite painful! Be grateful that I am willing to spare your worthless life and not send you for execution immediately for your insolence.”
I am starting to really hate all knights…