The Devouring Knight

"Lord Lumberling, Lady Vaenyra, Viscount Liraeth, thank you all for coming to save us." Grand Elder Tian held his injured arm, a deep cut running across it.

Lumberling nodded. "What are you all going to do now? Duke Hadric... he probably fell with the city."

"That..." Grand Elder Tian lowered his head, his expression turning lost.

"Forget about that for now," Lumberling said, giving him a light pat on the shoulder. "As a friend of Duke Hadric, I’ll welcome all of you. Come with us and get yourselves treated first. You can decide what to do after you recover."

Tian looked at him for a moment before slowly nodding. "Thank you, Lord Lumberling."

Not long after, their reinforcements arrived. Several elves and some of Lumberling’s captains rushed over and began helping the injured and carrying away the dead.

Lumberling and the others, meanwhile, dragged their three captured Vikings along with them.

"What are you planning to do with those old men?" Aurelya whispered as she moved closer to Lumberling. "Don’t tell me you’re actually going to take them in."

"That’s up to them," Lumberling replied. "But I’d prefer if they stayed. Their knowledge and experience in cultivation could be very useful to us."

"You really do learn fast," Thessalia said from behind them, having overheard the conversation. "But we have a bigger problem."

"Hm? What problem?"

"That Viking King," Thessalia said, her expression turning serious. "He might come after us next. We killed one of his ten chosen warriors, and now we’ve taken down three more of his elites."

Lumberling’s expression became slightly heavier.

Aurelya suddenly raised her hand. "Alright, let’s run away now."

"What?" Lumberling and Liraeth both looked at her.

"What?" Aurelya crossed her arms. "Do you really want to fight him? That’s impossible. Once we get on his radar, we can only run. I’m telling you, let’s leave now and return to the Aetherborn Empire. He won’t dare set foot there."

Aurelya and Thessalia both looked toward Vaenyra, but she remained silent. She neither agreed nor disagreed, leaving the decision to Lumberling.

"Do you really think it’s impossible?" Lumberling frowned as he thought about it. "Would he even know that we were the ones who killed his men?"

"They’re pirates," Aurelya replied. "They have their own ways of finding people. I’m telling you, we should leave before he finds us."

"Aurelya" Vaenyra called out as she shook her head. Silently telling her to not persuade him anymore.

Lumberling then turned toward Liraeth, who had been quietly listening to them.

"What do you think?" he asked. "Do you think he’ll come after us?"

Liraeth gave him a small, helpless smile and shook her head. "I don’t know. I haven’t seen any sign of it yet. But... I can try."

"I appreciate it. But if nothing comes, we can’t force it." He closed his eyes for a moment, thinking carefully.

"If we can’t figure this out ourselves, then we’ll ask for help."

"Help?" Aurelya asked, looking confused.

Lumberling opened his eyes and smiled faintly. "I’ll tell you once I know whether it’ll work. If it doesn’t, then we’ll come up with another plan."

.....

As soon as they returned, Lumberling went straight to his room and wrote a letter to Lucian Arden. He then sent it with a flying pigeon toward the capital.

"Could they really track the Viking King’s movements?" Liraeth asked as she stood beside him. "Don’t they already have enough problems to deal with?"

"Maybe they can’t," Lumberling replied. "But House Arden is still part of the royal family. There’s no way they would let a Viking King move around their territory without keeping track of him."

"Even if we find out where he is, that doesn’t change the fact that he might come after us," Aurelya said, crossing her arms.

"I know," Lumberling said. "But at least we’ll have some time to prepare and decide what to do next."

"Stop worrying too much," Thessalia said calmly. "For now, all we can do is wait."

Lumberling nodded and smiled. "Then let’s make use of our time. We still have those three Vikings to deal with. I’m sure their essence will be worth something."

....

They soon arrived at the underground prison.

The three Vikings were chained to the wall, their bodies still covered in deep wounds from their earlier fight. One of them slowly opened his eyes and saw Lumberling and his lovers standing before him.

He sneered. "Look who’s here. Are you going to interrogate us? You might as well give up. I won’t tell you anything."

"Shut up, idiot," Aurelya said. "We don’t need anything from you."

Lumberling chuckled at her response and looked at the three prisoners. "So, who’s going first?"

"As your first lover, obviously me," Aurelya said proudly. Thessalia and Vaenyra both rolled their eyes, while Liraeth let out a small laugh at her antics.

"No need to fight, ladies. I can handle both at the same time. All of you, even, if you want." Lumberling said with a grin.

The elves and Liraeth immediately realized what he meant, their faces turning slightly flushed.

"Bastard. Don’t you dare," Aurelya snapped.

Lumberling only chuckled before raising his spear. Without giving the Vikings any chance to react, he pierced them one after another.

"Wait! We can talk..." One of them tried to plead, but it was already too late. Lumberling’s spear pierced his heart, and the same fate soon fell upon the other two.

As their bodies went still, their essence began to leave them. And he quickly took control of the essence. Thin threads of light floated through the air, flowing toward Aurelya and Thessalia.

Then, to Liraeth’s surprise, another stream of essence moved toward her.

"Lumberling, I can’t..."

"It’s fine. I’ll only give you a portion."

Liraeth hesitated, but the essence had already reached her.

Lumberling then looked toward Vaenyra, but she simply shook her head.

Understanding what she meant, he stopped trying to send any essence to her.

Instead, the essence of two Vikings flowed toward Aurelya and Thessalia, while Lumberling absorbed the last one himself and shared only a portion of it with Liraeth.

Aurelya, Thessalia, and Liraeth closed their eyes as they absorbed the essence, feeling it slowly spread through their bodies.

Liraeth’s brows were slightly furrowed. Even though he had given her only a portion, the essence of a Wyrdforged was still far too strong for her current level.

Her body suddenly trembled. Golden light flashed beneath her skin as her mana surged. Her eyes snapped open, and her emerald eyes slowly turned gold, the pupils changing into strange shapes like the hands of a clock.

Then her aura grew heavier. Liraeth had finally broken through her limits. Her Knight power had risen from the Peak Knight Apprentice stage to the Quasi-Knight stage. With her Expert-level Oracle Path already at the same level, she had now reached the Quasi-Knight stage in both paths.

A short distance away, Thessalia’s aura began to rise as well. She had been stuck at the Peak of Knight Stage One for some time, but the powerful essence finally gave her the push she needed to break through.

BOOM! A wave of energy burst from her body.

Thessalia slowly opened her eyes as her aura settled. She had successfully broken through to Knight Stage Two.

Her Knight Path had finally caught up with her Mage Path, which was already at Magic Circle Six.

She turned toward Aurelya, who had also opened her eyes, and gave her a small smirk.

Aurelya immediately noticed the change. She could clearly feel that Thessalia had grown much stronger. Although she had also gained a good amount of power and improved some of her skills, her change wasn’t nearly as big.

"Hmph. I’m still stronger than you," Aurelya snorted, crossing her arms.

Thessalia simply smiled. "Keep telling yourself that."

But among them all, Lumberling was the one who changed the most.

A system message appeared before him.

(You have devoured the Wyrdforged’s essence. 8,000 essence absorbed. Absorbing a portion of the Wyrdforged’s memories and experience.)

(Low-Level Spearheart Doctrine Lv.9 → Intermediate Spearheart Doctrine Lv.1 | Power +2,000)

A powerful surge suddenly spread through his body. His muscles tightened as a rush of energy filled every part of him, while fragments of the Wyrdforged’s memories flowed into his mind.

He gritted his teeth and endured the rush. Then, a heavy pressure burst from his body.

BOOM! The ground beneath his feet cracked slightly as his aura rose.

He had finally stepped into Knight Stage Two.

At the same time, the jade leaf within the sprout in his heart began to grow. It became larger than the other two, and the entire sprout seemed to pulse with new life.

He could feel it clearly. The Devourer’s Seed was growing.

When he finally opened his eyes, his three lovers were already looking at him with smiles.

"Congratulations," Aurelya and Liraeth said almost at the same time as the two immediately rushed over and hugged him from both sides.

Lumberling laughed as he found himself trapped between them. "Looks like everyone had a good harvest. Shouldn’t we celebrate? How about we head to the bed now?"

"What?" Aurelya stared at him, while Liraeth’s face instantly turned bright red.

"I’m kidding." Lumberling chuckled, then leaned over and kissed each of them on the cheek. He then did the same to Thessalia and Vaenyra.

"Congratulations to all of us."