More cracks webbed along the edges of the triangular shape of the portal. The convoy had come so far. They were almost there. And now, Ollie was saying the portal’s unstable? What the hell did that even mean? It looked fine to him.

“Everyone, run faster!” Rachel said.

That didn’t help. Everyone continued at their pace. They were all already tired from running for so long. The able-bodied men had also already abandoned any of their luggage in place of carrying a child.

The convoy crested a small upward slope and reached the apex. All eyes were now on the wide open tear that broke through reality itself. It stood right at the edge of the meadow’s cliff with a glow that pulsed like a heartbeat.

“Eyes on the prize!” Ollie shouted, pistol drawn, firing wildly into the tide of beasts and undead in front of him.

Suddenly, Gale heard a rumbling sweep through the meadow. Along with that rumbling, the surroundings looked as if they grew darker, which they did. Darkness that seeped into his skin. Coldness emanated from the touch of this darkness. All too familiar.

Gale looked everywhere. What the hell? Something was coming.

That darkness itself was a signal that halted all the beasts. Not one single beast moved forward. Instead, they all turned tail and made a dash back towards the forest. A couple of the beasts trampled on the smaller ones to get to the forest. They were scared of something.

“What’s happening?” Rachel asked. They were all not entirely sure what was happening.

Anna’s scream tore through the silence that fell on the meadow. Her body shook, shivering uncontrollably. Crouching down, she put herself into a fetal position.

“The eyes. It’s here. The eyes. It’s here. We’re all dead. Dead! Dead! Dead!” she shouted to the point where it sounded like her vocal cords couldn’t take the stress. “It’s coming here! Run, you fools! Run! Run!”

The convoy’s progress faltered. Feet slowed down. Confusion set in. Men and women clutched at their heads. Screams spread throughout the convoy once again in unison. Each one sounded like their vocal cords would tear at any time.

A gunshot snapped everyone out of their trance.

“Run! The exit is right there!” Ollie shouted.

The rumbling grew in volume. Slowly increasing, until it became deafeningly loud, and Gale could no longer hear Anna’s screams and shouts.

And in a twisted joke of life, a figure crashed in front of the convoy right in the direct path to the exit rift. A figure clad in armour as black as the castle’s wall stood. Impossibly tall. It carried a giant sword that lay on the ground. Strands of inky darkness and tendrils seeped out from the knight, an all too familiar feeling to Gale.

The knight took one step forward. All the convoy members stepped back once. Whatever that thing was, it was after the convoy.

That one graceful step told Gale all he needed to know about the knight. There was no chance of winning. They were so close to escape, and now this… thing stood in their way.

And to the back of them, a different threat that didn’t care about the knight. Elliot and his army of Blue Haven thralls continued their march to the convoy.

“You can’t escape! The princess will have her sacrifices!” Elliot shouted across the meadow, voice seemingly filled with maniacal glee.

“Ollie! Annett!” Gale called out. “Get everyone ready to move. You lead them around the knight. Don’t wait for us.”

“Right. Everyone this way!” Ollie led them around where the knight stood. Somehow, it didn’t move towards them.

“We’ll cover you from the exit. Stay safe.” Annett shouted at Gale, still carrying the sick survivor on her back.

“Can you handle Elliot and his army?” Gale turned to Rachel.

“Ready whenever. Careful not to get close to my area. I’m not holding back anymore.” Rachel began her stride to meet the thralls.

Gale, on the other hand, turned his back to the oncoming thralls. There stood a thing life threw at him. Impossible odds. Fuck. It was always something impossible.

Distort activated. Light bent around him. Gale became a blurry silhouette in the flatlands. Hopefully, this helps.

The dark knight stood motionless. Its armour absorbed any remaining light from the eclipsed sun and the blue moon’s haze.

Slowly, Gale walked up to the knight, sizing up the new player. A chill ran down his spine, literally. Dad always told him to know his limits. Never go up against something he couldn’t win. Yet here he was.

A grin surfaced on his lips.

Would mom and dad be disappointed in him now that he went against their mantra?

There were so many openings in the knight’s stance. It stood casually. Too many openings. But analyzing each opening, all he could see was a wall that couldn’t be penetrated.

An explosion erupted behind him. Rachel had started defending her area. The fire had become close to white. Again, reminding him of Ollie’s description of her. A fireball of energy. A living inferno that swallowed anything that got close.

During this glance, the knight hadn’t even moved. Arrogant asshole. He would’ve died if the knight took that opening.

Gale continued circling warily around the knight. Even when he was invisible, the knight’s visor stayed on him. Distort wasn’t working. It saw through the illusion.

Without warning, the dark knight lunged. Its massive sword cleaved horizontally through the air at where he was. Gale barely managed to dodge, ducking under the swipe. Strands of hair fell from his head.

Before gaining back his balance, the knight’s foot was already aimed at his torso.

Sabre went up. Blocked. The force of the strike sent him skidding backward, his feet leaving a trail on the withered grass. He gritted his teeth, adjusting his grip on the bone sabre. A crack had appeared where the sabre was hit.

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Gale launched a counterattack. Struck at a blind spot that was supposed to be there. The giant sword easily went into position to block his stab at the joint.

Another kick came at Gale. This time he was prepared. He ducked, sliding under the knight’s giant form. Another stab sent at the joints of the knees. But the knight’s leg moved just enough that the sabre hit only the armour.

Again. His free hand stopped his momentum on the knight’s leg. Using that leg as a handhold, he pushed himself up to meet the knight’s face. Nothingness in the visor. Gale stabbed his sabre down in the middle of the hole in the visor.

The giant sword spun vertically. Sabre deflected. Balance broken. Gale was knocked away to the side. The knight’s sword was held up high, swung down.

Gale rolled sideways. The giant sword barely missed him. Dirt exploded upwards from the sword’s strike.

Phase Touch activated on the blade. Let’s see if that metal can handle this.

Gale feinted left, then to the right. No good. The visor completely tracked his movement. Sabre swung at the knight’s head anyways. His own sword again met the giant’s sword.

A clang echoed across the meadow that sounded like two pieces of metal hitting against each other.

Hands numb. Blood went cold. Phase Touch didn’t work. It felt like hitting a brick wall. That was supposed to cut through everything. Even the toughest of bones wasn’t enough to stop his focused Phase Touched sabre.

The massive sword swung again at him. Gale ducked and rolled back. Alter activated this time. Changing the length of the sword. Changing his style to use his sabre more like a glaive, he swung at the knight multiple times.

The knight adapted instantly, closing the gap and narrowing the battlefield. The lengthened sabre now put Gale at a disadvantage as it was harder to swing when in close range.

Behind him, another explosion erupted right in the middle of the thralls. Bodies flew all over the battlefield.

“Be a sacrifice to her majesty!” Elliot shouted, unaffected by the explosion.

“Shut up!” Rachel shouted. “You’re crazy!”

Elliot laughed. “You cannot escape! The princess shall get her elixirs!”

Releasing Alter, Gale continued backpedalling as the knight pressed its advantage even more. The giant sword moved like a blur, whistled like it wasn’t a giant slab of metal.

Gale parried each strike aimed at him. Each strike forced him back. The sword was barely visible. Reflexes pushed to their limits. Bones groaned from the weight of each parry. He had to rely on Breath of the Void to feel where the next strike came from.

The world slowed down. He let a little bit of the skill into him. Senses enhanced. No longer did the giant sword look like a blur. He could follow its movement and the minute shifts in the knight’s stance.

Gale anticipated one strike to his left lower leg. He somersaulted sideways. The sword passed through below him. Sabre whipped at the knight’s face while it was still in mid swing.

Sparks flew from the knight’s helmet and visor as it met his Phase Touched sabre. For a split second, Gale saw something within the void of the visor. A pair of eyes. Both eyes wide, staring at him with the same crazed expression as the fake priest behind him.

The knight’s attack came faster. Left flank. Blocked. The force was too much. Gale’s body flung to the side, skidding through the grass.

[Essence: 11/100]

Gale’s arms burned with exertion. His hands were numb from the impacts. Essence was basically almost out. He couldn’t keep this up much longer.

Then suddenly, Rachel from behind him screamed in pain. She stumbled, her right arm limping at her side. A ghoul had managed to scrape her arm, leaving a gash that dripped blood.

Fuck. Gale couldn’t fail. Not for her. Stay in his lane. She’s got this.

With a cry, he charged back at the knight. He blinked Distort when he was about to strike. He pushed his body using all of his limbs to manoeuvre around the knight’s body. Pushing off the knight’s sword. Kicking back at the knight and using the momentum to propel himself away and then pounce right back in. Gale made his movements as unpredictable as possible, using the body of an awakened to its fullest.

For a moment, it seemed to work. The knight stepped back thrice. As he pushed himself off to be airborne, a movement almost too fast to follow even in his current state, the knight countered. A wild swing directed at his neck.

Sabre blocked it. Cracked. Broken. Split in two. The blow spun him mid air. A kick to his torso sent him flying backwards, near to Rachel’s side where the temperature was at an unbearable high.

Dazed and weaponless, Gale looked up to see the knight mounting over him, its sword poised for a killing blow. Time slowed down as the blade descended on him.

He saw his life flash before his eyes. From the years of isolation at the orphanage to the recent struggles he faced alone in this harsh world, to the newfound connections he found in Rachel, Ollie, and Annett.

Desperation filled him to the brim. He rolled to the side. Air rushed down as the massive sword struck the ground where he had just been.

Gale reached behind his back, closing his grip around the familiar feel of the bone spear. Once again, he drew the spear and took a defensive stance.

The dark knight turned to face him once more. Gale couldn’t shake the feeling that this entity was toying with him or at least testing his limits.

“Come on, you goddamn life,” Gale growled as if anyone could hear him over this chaos. He twirled the bone spear, its length providing a greater reach than his sabre had. But the knight had already proved its technique against this length of weapon.

The knight obliged, lunging forward with frightening speed. Gale parried the first strike, the impact sending shockwaves through his arms. Quick thrust as a counter, aimed at a gap in the knight’s armour at a gap on the shoulders.

Surprisingly, the spear found its mark. However, instead of penetrating, it bounced back as if an unknown force rejected the spear coming inside.

The knight charged. Gale backpedaled. The fuck was that?

Focused Phase Touch on the tip of the spear. Again, he hit the same mark. Again, the spear’s tip was repelled and rejected. The knight no longer cared about defending and let the spear hit. And when he hit the bare metal of the armour, it was like bone striking against metal. Literally. No damage.

The fight between Rachel and Elliot’s army raged on. She had created a wall of fire, effectively cutting off half of Elliot’s forces. The thralls couldn’t pass through.

Ollie and Annett took advantage. Annett slowed the ghouls that filtered through Rachel’s wall while Ollie fired multiple shots, no longer caring about ammo.

Breath of the Void fed him information on what was happening behind him. He caught glimpses of the battle raging behind them. Rachel had created an intense wall of fire, effectively cutting off half of Elliot’s forces.

Acting on instinct, Gale tapped further into the Breath of the Void, allowing it to seep into him deeper.

The world around him sharpened, details becoming painfully clear. The scenery twisted into an unrecognizable form. In that moment of twisted perception, Gale saw the true form of the knight.

Beneath the imposing armour was a man, tears dripping from his eyes. A shadow extended beyond his form. A veil that held thousands of eyes. Its presence and essence felt familiar. The same feeling he felt in the stone tower and whatever that dwelled down there. This knight was no mere enemy. It was a remnant of something far older and more terrible than Gale had imagined.

The knight lunged in. Its sword swept in an arc. Gale barely managed to bring his spear up in time. The giant sword sliced through the shaft of the bone spear.

Weaponless again, Gale stumbled backwards. The knight pursued. Sword poised for a killing blow.

He should’ve listened to himself. He would still be alive. Should’ve ran away when he could. Now he was—

A raging inferno crashed into the dark knight. Rachel had punched right at the knight’s helmet. Fire spewed out the other side where she had punched.

The knight immediately caught her arm and threw her upwards. She was airborne.

Gale saw it clearly.

The massive sword slithered into a tiny point aimed upwards at Rachel’s heart.

“RACHEL!!!!” he shouted.

The sword skewered her in the chest, and then the knight flicked his sword away, throwing her body onto the ground as the sword reverted to its original giant size. Blood marked where she skidded.

Rachel’s blood. A river of it pouring out of her chest. Her flame sputtered until it disappeared completely.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep