Chapter 266: Shadow Knight
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Anfey’s tone was too fake and everyone could tell he was lying. Annunciata frowned and did not say anything. If it was up to her, she would not care about his so-called secrets. Annunuciata went to Country of Mercenaries by herself because she wanted to be stronger and fulfill a legend. Now, all of her plans had gone to waste, and she herself was injured. The Mark of Holy Glory had been torturing her everyday and she was suffering. Anfey was the one that alerted Slanbrea and caused her suffering. What was even more infuriating was the fact that she could not do anything. In order to calm the other elders down, she had volunteered to host the chase. One of her most important goals was to capture Anfey alive.
"Do you want me to go first?" Anfey asked. He glanced at Bruzuryano and the Death Knight, who were staring at each other but did not attack each other. Anfey frowned and suddenly jumped forward.
His blade swept forward as he ran. Compared to Bruzuryano, Anfey’s figure appeared much lighter. He could jump forward several feet by just pushing on the ground, and was in front of the zombies in a flash. He jumped up into the air and brought the blade down on the head of one of the dark knights.
Anfey was used to disguising himself, and even in extreme situations like this, he would still pretend he was not using his full power. He may have appeared to be in control and relaxed, but he was already using all of his strength. He did not know why Slanbrea had insisted on advancing, and did not know if Slanbrea had another plan. Now was not the time to think about that, however, because the only thing he could do was to stall for as long as possible. He wished he had the power to control the situation, but he did not, and all of his hope rested on Slanbrea. He had protect his friends.
Anfey felt power amassing within him. He may have looked relaxed, but he was much stronger than he appeared.
The dark knight still had its battle instinct, and raised its lance to block Anfey’s attack. The two weapons clanged against each other loudly. The knight’s body shook, and the blade in Anfey’s hand bounced back.
His attack was only an illusion. Anfey knew his own strengths and weaknesses, and would not do anything that could put himself in danger.
As his blade bounced away from the lance, Anfey, still in the air, kicked the knight in the head. The skull shattered upon impact with a sickening crunch. Anfey landed and kicked out towards the knight’s chest.
The dark knight was still trying to defend himself with a lance, but Anfey’s blade had already pierced its body and thrown him off the horse.
Another knight rode over to its companion’s rescue. It raised its lance and aimed it at Anfey’s chest.
Anfey understood what the knight was planning, and dove forward with his blade held out in front of him. The knight’s lance quivered, but it continued to ride forward, and the lance thrust forward towards Anfey’s shoulder.
Anfey had just landed, and his body leaned back. His blade hit the ground and helped him to maintain his balance and avoid the lance. The knight rode past Anfey, and its figure was suddenly shorter. Its horse’s legs were all cut through by Anfey’s blade. The horse should have fallen, but it was still struggling to walk. The knight’s legs were dragging on the ground.
Anfey jumped up and twisted a few times in the air. He dove down towards the knight, his blade aimed at the knight’s back.
The dark knight raised its lance, but it could not block Anfey’s blade. Anfey swept his weapon across the knight’s neck. Its head flew off and rolled into a nearby bush. Thick, dark blood oozed out of the knight’s neck. The grass that was touched by the blood quickly withered and died.
Bruzuryano smiled. He could tell that Anfey was already very good at controlling his strength, and could defeat two dark knights in a short amount of time. He knew he did not have to worry about Anfey.
"Glory…" a dark knight croaked as it dashed towards Bruzuryano. It was much slower than the other knights, and its lance was dragging on the ground. It was about fifteen feet away from Bruzuryano when its speed suddenly picked up. Its ghost horse created a pale blue shadow behind it due to its high speed, and its lance was pointing at Bruzuryano’s chest.
Bruzuryano bellowed and his large bear claw struck out towards the knight. The knight’s attack was very powerful, but Bruzuryano was even more so. The lance was almost knocked out of the knight’s hand by Bruzuryano’s attack. Bruzuryano slammed his claw into the ghost horse’s head and shattered the animal’s skull. Chunks of rotting flesh flew everywhere, the ground was covered with thick, blue droplets.
Bruzuryano was not expecting the strength of his attack. He did not have the time to think when he was fighting. He slammed his claw into the knight’s body as it began to lean forward. The knight’s body bent back and snapped.
Bruzuryano felt a sudden wave of dizziness. The dead horse and the snapped knight disappeared like an illusion, and another knight came riding towards him.
The lance was less than five feet away from him when he realized something was wrong. He only had enough time to knock the lance off of its course. He realized what this knight was. It must be the shadow knight from over two centuries ago.
Before the two were about to collide, the lance suddenly sank, and the lance glided past Bruzuryano’s claw and towards his chest. Bruzuryano swept his left claw across towards the knight’s body.
With a loud boom, the lance struck Bruzuryano’s chest and Bruzuryano’s claw hit the knight’s body. Dozens of cracks appeared in Bruzuryano’s armor and there was a hole in the middle of his chest. Blood oozed out slowly, and Bruzuryano was forced to take a few steps back to steady himself.
The knight did not fare better. Even though Bruzuryano was struck first, he was still a bear over fifteen feet tall, and his claw was not much shorter than the knight’s lance. The knight was still moving and was hit by the claw. Its dark red armor had half a dozen deep, long gashes, and the gemstone on its armor shattered. Bruzuryano’s paw was as wide as the knight’s chest, and his claws were over ten inches long. The claws were as important to the druids as swords were to swordsmen, and could rip through most armor.
The upper half of the ghost horse disappeared again. Blue flame burst from its broken neck.
If knights and swordsmen were turned into dark creatures after death, their combat power would be turned into death power. Converting combat power to death power was not an equal conversion, however, and a person would lose part of his power after it was converted into death power. Of course, the amount lost often depended on how powerful the necromancer was. Annunciata was one of the necromancer elders, and she was no doubt very powerful. The shadow knight, however, was also very old. By comparison, the shadow knight was only half as powerful as he had been in his heyday. Otherwise Bruzuryano would not have been able to rip the knight’s armor apart so easily, and Bruzuryano’s wounds would be much more serious.
Bruzuryano grunted and he walked forward slowly, dragging his body. The wound on his chest was no longer bleeding. Druids healed much faster than knights and swordsmen. This was an advantage of fighting near nature. If they had been fighting in Fog of Decay, the wound would have been enough to kill Bruzuryano and turn him into a creature like the shadow knight. Here on the meadow clearing, however, his wound was already healing.
The shadow knight’s healing ability, however, was much stronger than Bruzuryano’s and worked much faster. The dark red armor wiggled like it was alive, and the gashes were welding together at a visible rate. What was even stranger was the horse. It was stomping on the ground and backing away, but did not show signs of falling to the ground. It stopped by the edge of the fog. After a few seconds, a new head appeared among the blue flames bursting from its neck. After the head was completely grown, it shook its new head, as if showing off its regenerating ability.