Chapter 5: I don't speak Bull

At the age of 5, Lyle was brought to the Silver Sword 10th division barracks by a stable caretaker. He was an orphan from a clan that was destroyed during a war. The barrack was then invaded by a horde of goblins that started to pillage and destroy. The barracks at that time was unfortunate for sending most of their trained men to war against a neighboring rival country. Only one Art expert remained and that person was only a rank 1 arts practitioner-in-charge of the cafeteria.

The goblins and hobgoblins led by a goblin general brought havoc on the barracks. Lyle, together with the other servants of the barracks fled to the inner camp escaping from the slaughter when suddenly a knight protecting them was shot by a goblin archer. The arrow pierced through his eyes through the back of his head. Instant death.

Lyle picked the knights sword. He was full of courage and fearlessness of death. He had no family and no one to care about. Even if he died, no one would weep or miss him. So, he was determined to fight to the death.

"If I will die anyway, I will bring a lot of enemies with me!" He said to himself.

Unknowingly, a bloodline skill was activated. His clan's bloodline, the Spirit Sword Arts woke from his blood and opened his cultivating body to rank 2 mortal arts. Although it was a low rank 2 mortal art, it was a bloodline art. He can suppress experts up to rank 4. So when his power was awakened, he slaughtered the invading goblin army including the rank 5 mortal art goblin general. Since that day, his name rang throughout the empire and was named Lyle the Silver Wolf.

He grew up with Alice and her sisters. And fell in love with the eldest of the three. He was then tasked by her lover to watch over their little sister. For many years he has done his duty. For many years he has endured greatly. For many years… he suffered daily. This is because of the carefree run-off-the-mill Alice. A headache… this little lady truly causes heart problems. Fortunately, Lyle was already immune to shocks done by Alice due to his many years of experience.

"Ok let's look for the little tomboy" Lyle sarcastically said while smiling as he ran into the dense forest.

"…." The rest of the silver cloaks blankly stared at the back of Lyle.

"Wow… this kid is brave… talking about her like that."

"Yeah. I wouldn't call the lady 'little tomboy' even if she is"

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"Well, the Silver Wolf does have a special relationship with them."

They were amazed and astonished at Lyle. They had deep respect and admiration for him who was now well-known throughout the empire. Then they followed him towards the Sleeping Vine Forest.

~Inside the sleeping vine forest~

Alice was jumping from tree to tree pretending to be a ninja. She then saw a beautiful pond in the middle of the forest. Beside the pond is a single cherry tree that shows its age as something that has survived thousands of years. The old tree that bore the scars of being cut down. A bloody bandage was wrapped around the trunk signifying that it was placed back up and was mended.

"This tree… there's a homey feeling surrounding it." Alice thought to herself while nearing the pond.

She then saw that around the pond were strawberry patches planted in an arranged order. Inside the pond, she noticed something moving. Alice neared the pond and looked at the center. Then fear struck her. Beads of sweat started to drip from her face.

Two blue glowing eyes were present inside the semi-translucent pond. An aura that cannot be measured! As Alice was standing near the edge of the pond, blue aura filled the pond like wild flames. She saw a huge creature, 8 feet in height, slowly rising from the center of the pond.

It was the spirit bull!!

"Oh my stars…" Alice nervously said as the tyrannical spirit bull showed itself.

The spirit bull was surrounded by an aura that looked like blue flames. An arrogant expression can be seen on its face, looking at her with its scornful looking blue eyes. It had two horns but the right horn was cut. A scar over its left eye, a body formed with well-toned muscles.

The presence of the spirit bull brought heavy pressure to its surroundings. Its power level surpassed Alice 10 fold.

It was angry. It was happy. It was annoyed. It was surprised. It was confused. It was angry again. A dozen expressions can be seen on the face of the spirit bull. It sensed familiarity with Alice but then it showed aggression.

"He now big thing… I'm just passing through…" Alice nervously smiled at the bull.

"Nguu?"

"Huh?"

"Nguuuu???"

"Err… sorry I don't speak bull."

"Nguuuuuu!!!!!!!!"

Arts Aura came out from the bull's body adding more pressure to her.

"Now… what have you gotten us into…"

Lyle arrived with the rest of the group. They were also shaking from the aura of the spirit bull.

At first, their main objective in this expedition was to investigate and hunt a mischievous monster. An elder of Lopan village issued a quest to the Silver Sword empire's hunter's guild. But the guild won’t accept the contract because of the very low payment. So the Knight Academy took the job as training for their students. The monster has been causing havoc in their village for many years that even their records cannot determine when this started. Each time the monster comes to visit, its route has been determined. It first smashed a hole in the village chief's house, takes some carrots from a nearby farm plot, visits a worn-down wooden house and sits in front showing the feeling of sadness and longing, then returns to the deep dark forest.

"At a count of 3, ready yourselves… we will attack with all our strength." The leader softly said. "one… two…"

Lyle grasped the handle of his sword, ready to swing in a few moments while Alice was readying her Arts.

"Three!!!!"

The seven silver robes from the hunters guild jumped and aimed their weapons at the spirit bull.

"Seven-star formation!!" This was the hunting formation the guild used to hunt titan level creatures. They deemed the spirit bull to be a titan class. Their most powerful hunting formation. It required seven people with arts above rank 2 Mortal Arts.

As their attack neared the spirit bull, the big "bringer of calamity" calmly watched. It had a mocking grin and arrogant look.

The moment their formation reached the blue aura of the bull, something unbelievable to the hunters occurred.

Their attack was reflected by the aura and damage them instead. The seven of them spew blood as wounds appeared on their body. It was the damage caused by the seven-star formation.