Twelve People (3)

This was a disgrace.

Without question.

As a Divine Grace Knight, he had to protect the priest behind him at all times. Yet now the priestess's blood had splattered across his body. This was a disgrace!

Rivers held his knight's sword, one hand lightly stroking the armor on his body.

The faintly marked armor, paired with blood that still held warmth—Rivers slowed his breathing. The priestess had died in an instant. She had kept the Gift of True Knowledge active the entire time; even invisibility would have struggled to escape her sight. That made the enemy's location worth considering.

The problem was that he did not possess the Gift of True Knowledge. In this pitch-black night, let alone continuing forward, he could not even discover the enemy's position. How was he supposed to defeat them?

Tears slid down Rivers's cheeks. After thinking for a while, he lightly tapped his armor with a finger. The tapping sound was especially crisp in the silent night.

"Pfft."

At the faint sound, Rivers hurriedly dodged aside. Something shot past him and embedded itself in an abandoned house nearby.

"I was right. He's using sound to sense where I am." Rivers suppressed his grief and thought without pause. "He attacks by shooting, and the positions of the two attacks were different."

"Her... her blood splashed onto me, which means his attack had been aimed directly at me. But this attack came from my side. He changed positions, yet I didn't hear any sound at all."

"Pfft."

Another piercing whistle rang out. Rivers immediately raised his guard to the utmost, only to realize the attack was not aimed at him. After the sound of it cutting through the air, he heard a very distinct sound of flesh being pierced.

The knight froze. He had not been attacked, and the enemy would not be stupid enough to mutilate himself. Then the purpose of that attack was obvious. That fellow, that damned fellow, had actually not even spared a corpse—he was trying to attack the priestess's body and force the knight to reveal an opening.

Rationally speaking, if he wanted to win, he could only endure it. Make no sound, then find the enemy's position. But how could that possibly be done?

She was his comrade. They had fought together, and they trusted one another. She was his eyes; he was her sword and shield.

That bastard was attacking her corpse like this. How could he possibly bear it?

Rivers's knuckles turned white from how tightly he gripped the sword hilt.

Another whistle tore through the air, and the knight moved without hesitation.

"My lord has bestowed upon me the power to protect others!" A layer of white light spread over Rivers's body, forming a shield that provided a little visibility. He saw a ghastly white bone spear, wrapped in black threads, skimming along the ground toward the priestess's body lying on the earth.

Rivers took a step forward, gripped his knight's sword in both hands, and slashed upward, cleaving apart the incoming bone spear. Then he heard another tearing whistle. A bone spear shot toward him from another direction, and the knight hastily drew back his sword to defend, using the power of the Gift of Protection to split the bone spear apart.

The light brought by the Gift of Protection gradually faded. Rivers stood beside his comrade's corpse with both hands on his sword, no longer concealing the sound of his breathing. There was no need to hide it anymore. To protect his comrade's body, he had completely exposed his position.

"The attacks skim along the ground. Is the one launching them lying on the ground?" Rivers thought. "And the attack directions are different. Are there multiple enemies?"

"There are intervals between the enemy's attacks. Otherwise, now that my position has been exposed, they would have attacked already. Yet since that last attack, quite some time has passed without another one." Rivers constantly calculated every piece of information that might allow him to defeat the enemy, hoping he could avenge his comrade.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, the two closest people to Rivers and the priestess were Gelosk's two trusted guards. They had heard Rivers's shout when he activated the Gift of Protection, but though they wanted to offer support, their hearts were willing while their strength failed them. They were facing an even more dangerous enemy—the Scale-kin.

These people infected by Dragon Blood were constantly oppressed by the Dragon Might within it. Their minds had already gone mad, and they were like violent beasts without reason. Apart from the methods Negary had researched to control them, only objects carrying a dragon's aura could make them hesitate slightly.

The two trusted guards of the merchant were both powerful warriors. In their younger days, they had been renowned mercenaries with abundant combat experience. Gelosk had always kept them at his side to guard his safety. Now, having sent them out, he had also made a promise: whether they returned or not, they would receive great rewards.

What tempted them most was the recommendation to study at Interkami Royal Knight Academy, where they might have a chance to learn a Breathing Method.

And if they failed to return, their families would receive compensation, while the place at the Royal Knight Academy could be passed on to their descendants.

For this, they had agreed to join this operation. With their rich experience, they located the Scale-kin through the sound of its frenzied charges, and they had only managed to evade its ambush by relying on Dragon Powder.

One man held a longsword and listened closely to the movements around them. The other took out two small balls with rough surfaces and rubbed them together hard. Smoke and sparks emerged from the two balls, and he threw one in each direction.

The little balls hissed as they smoked, then flared up and began to burn. One on either side, they provided illumination.

The Scale-kin's dark-golden figure flashed through the firelight. The two men held their weapons, stood back-to-back, and watched their surroundings warily, constantly chewing something in their mouths.

"Over there!" one of them warned. Both moved with extreme speed, rolling in opposite directions. With a flick of his hand, one threw the rope at his waist to the other. Half-crouched with their feet spread apart, they pulled the rope taut with all their strength.

The Scale-kin flashed past, its scale-covered foot catching on the rope. The two men lurched and fell to one side. The rough rope scraped across their palms, grinding through the bandages around their hands and tearing open the skin beneath.

But the result was equally obvious. The Scale-kin was tripped by the rope and pitched forward, bracing itself on the ground with both hands. The caught leg was twisted slightly, and its vicious face turned back to look at the two men.

Ignoring the injuries on their hands, the two charged straight at the Scale-kin with their weapons. Without that terrifying speed, the so-called Scale-kin was nothing more than a beast with a more horrifying appearance.

But their charging bodies suddenly stalled, as though something had blocked them. One swung his longsword, trying to cut through whatever it was, when pain shot through his hand. Something tugged at his hand, twisting the arm holding the sword aside and directly slashing a huge gash across his companion's neck.

Then he felt that thing continuously burrowing from his hand into his body. His own hand raised the sword to his neck beyond his control.

Blood splashed. Adre jumped down from a nearby tree, black threads drawing out from the corpses and returning to his fingertips.

At this point, three of the fifteen-man assault force had fallen.

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