After tethering their horses, the three young squires hurried off to find water.
Their ring mail was soaked with sweat, and exhaustion showed in the way they walked. They had clearly just endured hours of travel and fighting.
The old knight before him stood in the sunlight, the golden morning light throwing his broad shoulders and straight back into sharp relief. His warhorse stood beside him, panting heavily with its head lowered. Sweat had matted its mane into clumps, and it stayed close to its master.
Renato stared at the formidable enemy he had fought to the death only hours earlier, unable to keep his gaze from sweeping over him.
Although the Death Knight's swordsmanship had not seemed outstanding to him, and his techniques and routines were clearly outdated, his decisive battlefield judgment, ferocious physical strength, and those two sudden torrents of negative energy had still left an extremely deep impression on Renato.
Throughout their brief, intense clash, neither had yielded for a moment. They had fought furiously to seize the initiative, each seeking to kill the other in as few exchanges as possible and refusing to give his opponent any chance to breathe.
By the instant the Death Knight blew himself up, even the nearly hundred temporary hit points Renato had accumulated through repeated casts of 'Dakoul's Blessing' had been completely exhausted, finally forcing him to endure part of the surge of negative energy with his own flesh and blood.
The chilling negative energy had seeped into his flesh like cold air. It caused neither pain nor discomfort, but Renato could clearly sense his life slowly draining away.
According to the [Guide], his hit points had even fallen below 100. For Renato, who had barely lost any health in Samoriel City, that was exceedingly rare.
Although he had downed