CHAPTER 427: ZURNALIN (1/2)
With the Brackishwaters River being so near the main city of the Shadowhunter clan, there was no way you could ever convince me that anyone could approach the city without being noticed. After all, the Dark Elves were not only expert assassins, they were expert trackers and scouts as well. In just those two fields alone, the Dark Elves were unmatched.
Despite knowing that, I still couldn’t help but furrow my brows as I asked, “invaders, perhaps?”
“Impossible. No one can approach our territory without being detected.” Paliseth confidently refuted my concern. “At this time… perhaps it’s the Blood Drake Riders returning from their field exercise?”
“Blood Drake Riders?”
“The Blood Drake Riders are the strongest mounted soldiers we Dark Elves possess. Every month, they would engage in a field combat exercise.” She smiled as she explained. “That was five days ago so they should roughly be back by now.”
Just as she finished explaining, the human-sized mushroom forest ahead of us was suddenly parted in half by a bunch of frightening, dark green monsters trampling over the mushrooms in front them.
These monsters were almost three meters tall and had the typical dragon head but without horns. It stood on its two hindlegs while a pair of comparatively shrivelled up looking claws hung in front – basically a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a dragon-looking head. However, that wasn’t all there was to these monsters. Each of them wore a simple set of black armor that covered their head, chest, neck and thighs. On their backs was a saddle with a fully armored knight dressed in black.
The armor on these knights wasn’t of the heavy variant. Rather, they seemed heavier than your normal light armor but just not to the extent of a plate mail. Every one of them had on a fierce mask that resembled the hideous visage of a Devil. Their headdress even had a pair of bull horns that curved upwards like a Devil’s. From far, they looked more like demons than Dark Elves.
(Rumbling noises.)
The Blood Drake Riders galloped onwards in a straight line towards the Brackishwaters Bridge, passing by us with several dozens of meters to spare. The lead rider seemed to have noticed our presence and ordered the riders to halt in the clearing. Then, with two other attendant riders, she rode towards us.
“Wait… if those Undermarsh Murlocs can swim in water, and that Fluorescent Swamp you mentioned clearly is a swamp, then…”
I was a little confused about what she just said so I had to pause for a second there out of sheer puzzlement. “Those Blood Drake Riders don’t really look like they can swim or even move about freely in a swamp…”
Swamp, river, armor, dinosaur… hmm… no matter how you look at it, those armored riders don’t seem very buoyant. In fact, can they even navigate a swamp?
“Blood Drakes can all swim. Plus, their original habitat is a swamp so there is no better choice than them to hunt these Murlocs.”
The moment she said that, I swore my jaw fell right into the river. The fact that a tyrannous rex with a dragon head could actually navigate through a swamp with ease and was even proficient in swimming was just… no wonder they say you can’t judge a book by its cover, or a Dark Elf by her marital status. Even monsters aren’t an exception anymore… geez.
While we were conversing, what seemed like the leader of the Blood Drake Riders came up to us with a pair of attendants. The three riders hopped off their mounts and half knelt towards Paliseth. The leader in the center of them even took off her headdress as she did so, revealing a flowing head of silvery hair that fell to her shoulders. The face beneath was an androgynous one that lingered between the boundaries of handsome and beautiful. However, while her beauty was a little ambiguous, the resolve in her eyes were anything but. She was a warrior. And a proud one at that.
“Interim Blood Drake Rider Corp Leader Zurnalin pays her respect to the Matriarch.”
Zurnalin had a short hairstyle which only reached up to her mantle. She herself was a mature lady that could be considered both handsome or beautiful at the same time. Even as she knelt with her headdress under her arm in subservience, that did nothing to lessen the imposing aura she gave off as a battle-hardened warrior. While one could not tell if her respect was genuine based on that emotionless expression she had on, but there was no faulting her etiquette.
The question then was this… does that iceblock of a face ever thaw?
“Zurnalin, before paying your respects to me, I would first like to introduce his holiness to you.” Paliseth gestured towards me. “Sir Mo Ke is the child of our great goddess, Lolthe. You may address him as his holiness. You must respect his holiness the same way you respect our goddess.”
“Your holiness.”
Zurnalin addressed me with that same icy look she gave Paliseth. However, I could detect a distinct aloofness in her tone like how one would address a pet dog or cat someone shoved in your face.