volume 3 - Chapter 105 (1/2)

TL: I have no ETA for the next chapter, so expect to wait for days before the next chapter (kind of need to do stuff).

Chapter 78 – Outside one’s control

The two people started to sprint to their own camps, shouting at the top of their lungs. The Nightsong Tiger immediately pursued them. His body seemed to meld together with the trees’ shadows; he was not fast, but his movements were silent and practiced to the point of awe, as if he was a creature of the night.

The chains dragged across the floor and created a ringing sound.

[The disciples have discovered the commotion over in this area, my plans must change.]

He frowned as the girls behind him withdrew their crossbows. The other mercenaries took out their weapons in silence and stared anxiously into the forest, readying themselves for combat.

“My lord?” Amandina asked.

Brendel shook his head. The plans he had decided earlier had developments that were outside his prediction, and he needed to solve the situation quickly. He reached inside his pouches and took out a gleaming crystal.

The crystal lid up in an instant, casting soft light in the area.

“M-my lord?” Amandina opened her eyes in shock.

“Brendel!” Romaine was also stunned.

Everyone’s attention was taken by the sudden appearance of light, which grew increasingly bigger before it expanded in all directions, but Brendel threw it out as soon as it did so.

The lit crystal flew in an arc that pa.s.sed through trees before it ended in thick foilage. Despite the layers of leaves, the amount of light emitted from the crystal still managed to light up the surrounding area.

Three human figures who wore black hooded robes stood there. Even though their faces could not be seen, they appeared to be startled as they stood motionlessly for a few moments. However what took Amandina’s breath away were three demons half the size of an average human standing beside each man. The creatures had hoofs for their feet, grey-greenish skin with black spiraling patterns, long goat horns and sharp teeth.

Chains were wrapped around their feet and ended with the disciples’ wrists. These were indeed the lowest ranking familiar from the Jurgen Underworld.

“The higher ranking familiars are on the opposite area!” The mercenaries immediately yelled out. These legendary mercenaries had fought against great malevolent forces, and certainly knew what these creatures were.

But Brendel already knew where they were.

Once he saw the three figures, he had turned to the other direction and raised his hand. The silver ring on his thumb shone brightly as he recited the word to activate it.

“Oss!”

The air currents seemed to be like visible lines that surged forth towards the area, before an immense blast resounded throughout the forest. The nearby pine trees were dragged along the shockwave, cause them to break and splinter, while the trees that were directly in the shockwave’s path were turned into powder.

Once the maelstrom of wind ended, the trees were gone and became a clear path in front of Brendel.

The mercenaries showed signs of awe in their eyes, but Amandina screamed and covered her ears.

[He’s a wizard! A wizard! This knight is actually a wizard!] Her mind kept echoing this thought.

Romaine had seen Brendel’s action more than once and merely tilted her head, and just as she expected, Brendel had disappeared from his original location as his body blurred—

Only the mercenaries saw his action clearly. Brendel had charged forward ten times his speed, casting afterimages in the opening area before he disappeared.

“The Sun Knight’s ‘Charge’ ability!” One of the mercenaries immediately commented.

Even though both their leaders were gone, someone from the mercenaries stood out and pointed his sword at the location where the crystal fell: “I, vice-captain Rocco, am taking temporary command. My first order is to launch an attack on these disciples!”

“””I hear and obey.”””

Eleven figures immediately pounced on the three surprised disciples.

On the other end, Brendel had caught up with the Lord of Thorns. The red demon was standing beside his owner, a man who wore crimson robes.

The Lord of Thorns appeared like a red version of the smaller demon familiars, but it had a gigantic pair of muscular wings, which resembled the descriptions of a demon within medieval folklore. On it were chains with a steel spiked ball at the end.

It had considerable injuries on its body. Not only was it missing an arm, one of its wings were gone. Brendel did not feel surprised as his ring were incredibly effective against monsters that were level thirty and below. It was considered the best artifact of its tier, with the only criticism that it had a long cooldown.

Typical demons also did not have any defensive armor, with the exception of bladed monsters.

Brendel observed the man in front of him with narrowed eyes while he was still in the air.

[A high ranking member of the Disciples of Black Flames.]

He turned once in the air with his sword pointed at them and ready to strike. This battle was different from Buga’s duel, and he did not hold back his strength. A high ranking disciple was only level 21, but there was a real demon beside him.

“White Raven, Sword Rave!”

Brendel’s sword slashed vertically with the addition of Power Strike, and a wind blade was released from his sword. The disciple was still checking the injuries of its familiar, and completely did not expect the enemy to come so quickly. He raised his head, only to find the invisible shockwave ravaging through his whole body.

Brendel would have likened the disciple as a boss a month ago, but now the disciple was unable to resist Brendel’s full power.

The man screamed as blood splattered all over the place.

When Brendel killed a disciple in the game, the demon would regain its freedom once the summoner was dead, but the contract’s dark energy between them would cause it to go insane, and Brendel wanted this situation to happen.

When he landed on the ground, the chains had already swept past his back.

“Gah……” Brendel felt fiery pain on his back.

[The demon is moving twenty percent faster from a ‘Berserked’status, it seems like the disciple is dead. d.a.m.n that hurts… The skin on my back is definitely torn off.]

Brendel grabbed the spiked chains and ignored the sharp apin in his hand, allowed himself to be dragged by the demon’s pull and went straight to the opponent.

Even though the Lord of Thorns was considered to be a high ranking familiar, it was a low level demonic existence in the Jurgen Underworld without a complete soul. Furthermore, it was driven insane by the dark energy and did not possess the intelligence to handle the unexpected attack.

Brendel borrowed its strength and pointed his sword at the demon, directly sending it into the enemy’s eye. His action was as trained as ever in the game.

The Thorn of Lord bellowed in agony as it felt the sword went through its eye, and the guttural noise echoed throughout the forest. The youth creased his brows, landed easily on the demon’s shoulders and swung his sword across the gigantic creature’s neck.

Blue colored blood spurted out like a sharp arrow, cutting the bellows to a stop and turned it into gasping noises. It struggled for a while before it finally fell over to the ground with a heavy thud.

Brendel finally relaxed. The disciples were known to be dirt poor, so he ignored the bodies to look at the situation with the remaining three disciples, but the mercenaries had already dispatched them like he expected.

This did not mean that the matter had came to a close. There were movements within the forest that he noticed, regardless of whether it came from the Grey Wolves Mercenaries’ camps, or the opposite direction.

“d.a.m.n it.” He ordered his summoned men in his heart: “Prepare to retreat, and bring along that two b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.”

He turned his head to look at the red demon. It was still holding on to life and did not die yet. The demons were known for their resilience, and were ranked amongst the top three hated monsters in the game, along with the undead and plant-type monsters.

Suddenly Brendel realized that the creatures he had encountered were undead creatures, the Golden Demonic Tree and its creatures, and now demons. Before he had the chance to mock himself for his bad luck, green words filled his vision.