Soul of Negary

This was a disgrace

Undoubtedly.

As a Knight of Divine Grace, he was tasked with the absolute protection of the priest supporting him from behind, yet it was that same priest’s blood that splashed on his body while he was completely intact. That was disgraceful!

Rivers held his knight’s sword tightly in one hand and lightly touched the surface of his armor with the other.

Feeling this well-worn armor of his that was wet with blood that still carried a bit of warmth, Rivers tried to calm his breathing down. The female priest’s death was instant, she had been constantly using the Grace of Understanding, so even if the other party had a camouflage ability, they wouldn’t have been able to escape her perception, which made the enemy’s position quite something to think about.

The problem now was that he didn’t have the Grace of Understanding. Stuck in this darkness, he couldn’t even find the way to advance, let alone discover where the enemy was and defeat them.

With tears running down his cheek, Rivers thought for a few moments and lightly flicked his armor with his finger to create a tiny sound that was especially noticeable in this silent and dark environment.

Shu!

As soon as he heard something, Rivers hurriedly ducked down as something flew past, almost grazed him and was stuck on one of the abandoned buildings not too far away.

So I guessed correctly, the enemy is using sound to determine my position.

Rivers suppressed the sorrow in his heart and continued to think.

It was a projectile, and the direction it came from was different.

Her… blood splashed all over me, which means that the shot must have come from directly behind me before, but this attack came from my side.

The enemy changed positions, but I couldn’t hear them at all.

Shu!

The sound of projectile soaring through the air could be heard again, Rivers immediately became 120% wary, only to realize that attack wasn’t directed towards him, because he clearly heard the sound of it sinking into flesh right after the shot was fired.

The knight’s body froze, since he wasn’t attacked and the enemy wasn’t stupid enough to attack themselves, the target of that shot just now was very clear.

Bastard, that damned bastard!

They didn’t even let a dead body rest!

The enemy was attacking the female priest’s body in order to force the knight into showing an opening.

From a rational perspective, he had to endure it in order to win. He had to make sure not to make any sounds while searching for the enemy’s position. But how could he do such a thing?

She was his comrade, they fought alongside one another, they had mutual understanding and trust, she acted as his eyes and he was her sword and shield.

And now a hateful enemy was desecrating her body even after she was dead, how could he just endure it?

Rivers’ hand was gripping his sword so hard that it had turned white.

When the sound of the next projectile appeared, the knight acted without hesitation.

“My Lord’s Grace grants me the power to protect others!” a bright white glow appeared around Rivers’ body, it formed a barrier and allowed him to see for a brief moment. He finally saw a pale white spear of bones with black threads wrapped around it soaring along the ground towards the fallen female priest’s body.

River put strength into his feet, he gripped his knight’s sword tightly with both hands and cut the flying bone spear down. Almost immediately, he heard another shot and found another bone spear flying at him from a different direction. The knight hurriedly pulled his sword back, still clad in the Grace of Protection and parried the second spear.

As the glow of the Grace of Protection faded, River kept both hands on his sword and stood by his fallen comrade’s body. He was no longer trying to hide his breathing, as there was no need to. To protect his comrade’s body, his position was already completely exposed.

The attack was close to the ground, so the one who attacked was lying down?

Rivers had such a thought.

The direction of the attacks were different, so I’m facing more than one enemy?

The enemy needs time to prepare their attacks, because no follow-up attacks have come for a while even after I exposed my position.

Rivers was constantly collecting information on his enemy for the sake of victory, waiting to avenge his fallen comrade.

…

On the other side, the team closest to Rivers and the female priest was the team of Grosk’s two personal guards. They clearly heard Rivers’ shout as he used his Grace of Protection, but they could not go help them even if they wanted to, because they were currently facing an even more dangerous enemy—– the Bizarre Scales.

These people injected with Dragon’s blood had completely lost their minds and became mindless, ferocious beasts due to long-time exposure to the [Dragon Pressure] within the Dragon’s blood inside their bodies. Besides Negary who found the method to restrain them, only items that carried a dragon’s smell or aura could make them hesitate just a bit.

The merchant’s personal guards were powerful warriors and were previously widely-known mercenaries. They were both experienced veterans who Grosk trusted enough to rely on to protect his daily personal safety. He asked them to take on this job with the promise that regardless of whether or not they could return, there would be a great reward waiting for them.

The reward that caused them to feel the most tempted was a recommendation into the Interkam Royal Knight’s Academy, where one had the chance to learn [Respiratory Art].

If they couldn’t return alive, their family members would be reimbursed for their loss, and the quota to enter the Royal Knight’s Academy would also be transferred to their closest direct family members.

That was the main reason why they agreed to join this operation. They first used their experience to determine where the Bizarre Scales was from the beast’s mad rampage, then immediately used the dragon powder to avoid its ambush.

One of them wielded his sword and kept cautious of their surroundings while the other took out two small spheres with rough surfaces and rubbed them together. As the sphere began to give off a bit of light and smoke, he threw them in opposite directions.

The two spheres let out a small fizzling noise before bursting into unabating burning flames, the two spheres landed in their vicinity and provided them with illumination.

The Bizarre Scales’ golden scales were only seen for a very brief moment before it flashed and disappeared. The two men stood back to back and kept up their guards while constantly chewing something in their mouths.

“Over there!” one of them called out. The two of them acted instantly and rolled away in opposite directions. They both tossed a length of rope from their hips towards the other person, simultaneously crouched down close to the ground, extended one leg to brace themselves, grabbed the other’s person rope and pulled it tightly.

The Bizarre Scales’ figure abruptly appeared, its scaly legs had been caught by the ropes. Both of the two men’s bodies were pulled in just a little bit, the rough and thick lengths of ropes directly ripped through the layer of cloth they wrapped around their hands as well as the skin underneath.

But the results were certainly outstanding, the Bizarre Scales had tripped over and fell directly forward, both of its hands propped on the ground in front of itself. The leg that was caught in the ropes was already slightly twisted as the beast turned its ferocious face full of anger towards the two people.

Ignoring the slight wounds on their palms, the men drew their weapons and directly charged at the Bizarre Scales. Without its terrifying speed, a Bizarre Scales was nothing more than a slightly uglier beast.

Just as they charged forward, their bodies halted abruptly, as if they were caught on something. As they swung their swords to cut it down, one of them felt pain in his arms. The unknown thing then controlled his arm and shifted his swing off its course, directly slashing his companion’s neck open.

He then felt that ‘something’ crawling deeper into his body and taking complete control of his arm. His arm then held the sword against his own neck.

As his blood spilled, Yadley jumped down from a nearby tree, pulled the black thread out of the dead body and absorbed it back into his finger.

At this point, 3 people had died in the raid team of 15 people.