Chapter 97
The Horseback Chase
Sergio and his two followers had been riding for about a half an hour with him at the head. Their faces were grim and there was no conversation between them, safe for the occasional orders to right their directions.
That was until Bernardo felt the hair on his back stood on end. He turned back and saw a dot far behind them.
“Sergio. There is someone following us.”
Sergio nodded. “Use your Skill and check.”
“Eagle Eye,” Bernardo declared his skill. His eyesight instantly expanded and he could clearly see their pursuer.
“Did you see them?” Andre asked.
“Yeah. Also, that’s not a horse our pursuer was riding on. That’s a Centaur,” Bernardo turned off his Skill by blinking his eyes a few times. “That’s Miss Akula and a Dark Elf.”
“A Centaur letting someone ride on her back like a common mare?” Sergio scoffed. “Haha!”
“A dark elf? Hmm…” Andre tried to remember. “If I’m not mistaken, The Hero’s target has a Dark Elf with her.”
“Then should we go capture them?”
“No,” the muscular painter shook his head. “The fact that they are pursuing us means that we are going in the right direction. We march on! Keep the distance! They won’t be able to catch up to us at this pace!!”
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“There! I see them!” Illumca shouted when she spotted three figures in green. “There are three men on horses galloping towards Selbez Forest.”
“That’s them. We need. To catch up,” Akula acknowledged with short, punctuated sentences.
Akula was gritting her teeth under the veil. Ever since they started their pursuit, she had been running at full speed to catch up to them and she was extremely tired. Her two lungs were on fire and her legs had gone past being on fire and had begun to feel numb.
Even Illumca could feel the heat coming off from her back, pronounced by the sting of cold air as they rode through the plains.
“Can we catch up with them like this?!” she shouted.
“We can’t!” she answered.
“Then why - ?!” before she managed to finish her words, Akula cried out. “Hang on tight!”
Akula raised her Item Ring and took out a bow.
The moment her left hand caught the bow, she swerved to the left a bit due to the weight.
The bow was massive in her arms, with a thick body made of wood with tribal carving on its handle, and a bow string thicker than any Illumca had ever seen. She could not imagine the strength needed to be able to pull such a bow.
“We’re not! Going to catch up to them! We’re! Stopping them!”
When Illumca saw the arrow, she commented. “I’ve never seen this type of arrow before!”
“That’s right. Elves don’t use. These types of arrows.”
The arrowhead was made of iron with the shaft as thick as a lady’s little finger. Akula kept her pace as she nocked the arrow. She pulled the bowstring with her thumb and kept her arms steady. She took a deep breath.
And she let the arrow loose.
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“Hm?”
Andre, who was riding behind Bernardo and Sergio heard the sound of something whistling behind him and turned his head around when he felt a sudden pain at his chest. He looked down and saw a thick arrow stuck there, breaking through his chainmail and into his spleen.
“Bernardo!!” The man tried to warn his comrade, but another arrow had pierced through his horse’s stomach, causing the poor animal to neigh in pain and threw the poor man off.
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Hearing the loud neigh, Bernardo and Sergio looked back and saw Andre rolling on the plains after being thrown off.
“What in Sud-Ghazid?!” Bernardo cursed when he saw this. “Eagle’s Eye!!” He declared his skill, just in time to see the Centaur having loosed another arrow. This one aimed at him.
“Whuh?!” Bernardo shielded himself with a buckler. But to his surprise, the arrow did not break as he thought it would. It pierced through his buckler and dug into his shoulder.
“Bernardo!” Sergio shouted in alarm.
“I’m fine! It didn’t get my bone!” Bernardo shouted as he pulled the arrow from his wound. He had never seen such arrow and was briefly surprised by it. “The arrow is really heavy!”
Bernardo took out a bow and arrow of his own, but the wound on his shoulder made him unable to use the bow.
“What a blunder! To think that the Centaur is actually better at archery than she was at spearfighting!” Sergio shouted, but there was no anger in it. In fact, there was amusement. “Bernardo!! Switch with me!!”
Indeed, a Tonsulde worth their weight in gold needed to be versed in the art of war, whether it was in close combat or ranged. Archery was one of the most well-known arts. However, to be able to fire an arrow that could pierce through armor while on full gallop was a notable feat, even in her tribe. And this was thanks to Akula’s unnatural gift.
“We can do this!” Shouted Illumca, her arms still stuck tight around Akula’s torso.
“Not enough power.”
Akula grabbed another arrow. This time she endowed it with the power of Skill.
“Windsong Arrow!”
The tip of the arrow hummed with fearsome power and green light began to emanate from the body.
The moment she unleashed the arrow, her body jerked back from the recoil. The arrow pierced through the air with a deafening cry, aiming at Bernardo.
The fat man tried to dodge the arrow, but it was too fast.
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King Gennaro and his retinue were resting at a rural inn one day’s journey from Courandhel. He had rented the whole inn for the day and was taking his lunch alongside the top members of his retinue; Giosco and Dario. While picking on a plate of grapes, he unloaded his worry and complaints about the Hero, mostly the latter.
Giosco and Dario listened to him while nodding occasionally as it was a daily occurrence by this time.
“Speaking about the Hero…,” the King said. “This Vice-Captain of yours; Sergio, the one you assigned to him,” he paused to sip on his wine. “He seems very different from you. And he doesn’t seem to hold anyone with high regard.”
“I assure you, Your Majesty. He will do well,” Dario asked.
“I don’t have any complaints about that, I gave you free rein to choose the members of the Watchmen, after all,” he continued. “But he doesn’t seem like someone you’d choose as a Vice-Captain.”
“That’s because until about three months ago, he was just a Painter.”
“…can you repeat that again?” The King’s expression froze.
“Dario, you should explain it from the beginning. These kinds of thing is why people often misunderstand you,” Giosco sighed. “Your Majesty, do you know of the ‘Battle of the Verdant’?” Giosco asked.
“No, not that I am aware of. What is that?”
Being both a High Priest - Patria in Vorzennian - and a King, Gennaro had little time for trivialities such as art. He himself had no love for such things. Hence, despite Vorzenny being known for its art, Gennaro knew almost nothing about it.
Giosco sighed again, knowing of this little peculiarity of his King, and continued. “It is a painting that adorned the facade of the Temple of Giancana. A large painting made entirely of different shades of green, depicting the Battle of the Verdant more than 200 years ago, led by Patria Antica Giancana Toscano.”
“Only green?” the King raised an eyebrow. “That would make a very boring painting, I’d think.”
“And that’s what is amazing about it. Though it was green, it was painted with such mastery of the shades that it became something otherworldly. It was as if I was seeing the world through a different set of eyes. War seen through the eyes of something beyond human understanding.”
“What about it then?” the King asked again.
“It’s because one of the colors used for that painting came from the blood of Demons,” Dario added. “I just happened to see the newly created painting during one of my annual visits to the temple. I was stricken by it and just had to meet the Painter. Once I met him, I was doubly stricken by what I saw,” It was rare for Dario to speak for so long and the King could not help but listen closely. “As you know, he is built very differently from other Artists and Painter.”
The two nodded in agreement.
“And when I asked him about how he got his hands on such colors, he told me about them. And one of the shades came from Demon’s blood. And not just any Demon. A Named Demon. I asked him how he did it. And he said that he smuggled it from the Frontline.”
“Couldn’t he just lie to you?”
“Of course. So I asked to spar with him. And the result was my loss.”
“You? Lost?! The King was wide-eyed from the revelation. Dario was strong, even compared to the General. He was at least number three in strength in Vorzenny, Even when taking in the strength of their General, who was an Unrestrained.
“I knew then and there that Vorzenny needs this man’s loyalty,” the usually untalkative man was rather fired up as he spoke. “That man is as gifted in the art of painting as he is gifted in the art of war. But what is more important…is that he has the potential to become an Unrestrained.”
Unrestrained.
The King sat back, overwhelmed by this sudden revelation.
Unrestrained were titles given to those who had reached the limit of the Races and broke through it, obtaining powers beyond the confines of level. Heroes were also given the potential of becoming Unrestrained upon their arrival in Grea. But most did not manage to reach that level.
It was not widely known, only spread by the word of mouth by those who had the ability and right to know. Because if such existence were to be known, it would break people’s will.
After all, absolute strength is the envy of men. But when that strength became too much, it became a threat.
“A Hero and an Unrestrained…” he muttered. There was excitement in his heart as he imagined a future where his country would become the strongest one in Grea.
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“Shit!”
Bernardo was sure that he was going to die, but the figure of the gallant friend of his made him sigh in relief.
Behind them, Akula could not believe her eyes. One of her arrows! One of her strongest Skill!! Blocked with a hand!!
Sergio had caught the arrow with his bare hand. He did not even flinch as the power of the arrow tried to escape his grasp. The friction caused by the Skill and his bare skin made a burning smell. Sergio threw away the arrow and threw them a Vorzennian mocking gesture.
“Gonna have to do better than that if you want to stop us!”