Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Escape
***
“It’s been so long, why hasn’t Carlos come out yet? Could there be something wrong?” Nick Williams looked at the black smoke cage in the distance, his expression filled with undisguisable worry.
The horned horse whinnied softly, kicking its hooves in apparent unease.
“Don’t worry, my Legion Commander, please trust in Sir Carlos’s abilities.”
Archbishop Ansel, standing beside Nick, adjusted the light golden robe on his body and spoke words of comfort. However, his gaze toward the black smoke wasn’t as calm as his words suggested.
“It seems the Archbishop has great trust in Sir Carlos.” Nick paused, appearing to choose his words carefully. “We really troubled the Archbishop this time. If it weren’t for your use of powerful divine miracles to suppress that monster’s movements, I fear Carlos would have had a much harder time subduing it. Thanks to both of your efforts, we were able to achieve victory so smoothly.”
Archbishop Ansel seemed somewhat displeased at these words, his wrinkled face slightly furrowed as he pointed towards the devastated battlefield in the distance.
“Legion Commander, you call this smooth?”
“Archbishop, what are you saying?” Nick smiled bitterly. “We all know that when facing such terrible Abyssal monsters, suffering only these casualties is already fortunate. I’ve ordered the priests to contain the spread of the Abyssal mire, at least regarding the safety of surrounding towns, we’ve achieved complete victory.”
There were many human towns and villages in the surrounding area, and because of this, the Holy Church took this operation very seriously. They had evacuated the civilians half a month ago, and not only dispatched Carlos for battle but also requested Archbishop Ansel to coordinate with his actions.
“How do you plan to handle the sacrificed knights?”
Fighting with Abyssal monsters was different from ordinary bandit suppression or rebellion quelling, it was exceptionally cruel. Only a tiny fraction of knights could leave behind complete corpses, most would be devoured without even ashes remaining.
“They are all heroes,” Nick said softly.
Ansel nodded at these words. That statement was enough, he believed Nick knew what to do.
Just as he was about to speak again, he suddenly felt his chest tighten, and couldn’t help but break into violent coughing.
“Archbishop, are you alright?”
Nick hurried forward to support him.
“It’s nothing, nothing,” Ansel waved his hand. “I’m old, just a bit of activity and my body can’t keep up… When I released the first Holy Spear earlier, I was actually aiming for that monster’s right leg, trying to restrict its movement first. But my old eyes failed me, and I hit its right shoulder instead. If I hadn’t reacted quickly enough, this old bag of bones might have ended up here today… But honestly, this Abyssal being felt somewhat strange this time, Nick, did you notice?”
“Please elaborate, Archbishop.”
“I keep feeling that this monster didn’t seem as fierce as usual. I noticed it hesitating, even feeling like it was… like it was thinking about something. I think this is why we were able to end the battle so quickly.”
“Is that so? This is my first time directly facing an Abyssal being, so I don’t have any clear impressions. But now that you mention it, that monster indeed didn’t seem like the purely instinct-driven existence from the rumors… Do you have any concerns, Archbishop?”
“I wouldn’t say concerns, it’s just…”
Before Ansel could finish speaking, they suddenly saw a burst of brilliant white light in the distance, and the two speakers immediately looked up in alarm.
They saw the slowly writhing black smoke cage suddenly begin spinning rapidly and quickly contracting inward. Then the ground crackled as countless thick ice spikes taller than a person shot up, the air temperature plummeted, and a biting cold could be felt even from far away. Frost even formed on the armor of the knights closest to it.
“All troops, listen up! Fall back and form ranks, prepare for battle!”
Nick charged forward on his horned horse.
With a soft “pop,” a black smoke ball emanating white light burst from the cage and flew out.
“Carlos!!” Nick shouted toward the direction of the black smoke but received no response.
His heart rapidly sank.
After breaking through the cage, the black smoke ball trailed a long tail of flames and flew more than 10 meters before falling to the ground and dispersing into smoke. A white figure flashed out from within and sprinted toward the distance without any pause.
Carlos!? No, wrong, the figure was too small, it wasn’t Carlos, who was it? What had gone wrong… it seemed to be escaping?!
“Archbishop! Please check on Carlos’s situation! Right wing units 2 and 3, follow me in pursuit!”
Quickly making a judgment of the situation before him, Nick shouted and gave chase.
…………
“Huff… huff…”
Running, constantly running, running with every ounce of strength.
There was an unexpectedly pleasant surprise, although this body looked frail, its physical capabilities were far better than imagined. When running at full speed, the small legs could move incredibly fast. My right hand tightly gripped the cloak wrapped around my body to keep it from fluttering, while my left hand pulled the hood down to cover my head. Even after running a long distance, I didn’t feel particularly exhausted, much better than when I was still a man.
Back then, I was consumed by work, sometimes staying at the company for over 10 hours, frequently working overtime and staying up late, with no energy left for exercise, developing quite a belly despite being young.
The sounds of knights behind me seemed to be getting farther and farther away. My heart was full of secret joy, it’s over, it’s over! I’ve escaped!
In the final moment within the black smoke, though I wasn’t sure why the swordsman hesitated, it was precisely his hesitation that bought me time. I successfully reconnected with the black smoke, and even sensed that cold feeling from when I was wrapped in the Abyssal mire.
That seemed to be a power that allowed me to control frost.
Although currently I could only release it all at once, completely unsure how to control it. But the sudden burst of black smoke and ice mist was enough to throw him into confusion.
Then that bearded swordsman was frozen in place, and I’ll never forget that bitter expression on his face, hahaha, how delightful!
That’s what you get for bullying me, hmph.
Unable to suppress the smile on my face, I couldn’t help turning my head to look back, but completely forgot that due to the huge height difference between Carlos and me, the cloak wrapped around me was too long, and because of my twisting motion, the hem of the cloak once again dragged on the ground, then got stepped on by my foot.
At this moment, I was running at full speed with all my might, and before I could even cry out, I flew through the air just like when I was hit by the Holy Spear earlier.
With several “thuds,” I hit the ground and bounced up again, rolling countless times before finally coming to a stop, motionless.
The phrase “pride comes before a fall” was perfectly illustrated by me at this moment.
I lay face-down on the ground, in so much pain that I couldn’t breathe for a long while. Slowly pushing myself up and pushing aside the cloak to look, my arms and lower legs were covered in scrapes of varying severity. My left knee had a large patch of skin scraped off, swollen high with blood spots seeping through the bruise, making me inhale sharply from the pain.
“This… is… bad…”
It took quite a while to recover from that winding sensation, and I had no time for cursing, scrambling to my feet and continuing forward at a limping jog.
The trees around gradually increased in number, and further ahead, I could see the vast sea of towering ancient woods.
That was my destination.
This fall had wasted too much time, and I could already hear the “thud thud” of hoofbeats not far behind me. At this moment, all my previous smugness was gone, and I was frantically running forward, but the injury to my knee had slowed me down too much.
The hoofbeats grew closer and closer, and a shout came from behind.
“Don’t try to run!!”
The clang of a weapon being drawn rang out.
I instantly became alert, immediately dropping into a backward slide. In the moment I fell, a sword stroke whooshed past above my head.
That was close! I broke out in a cold sweat.
My body slid forward a short distance with the momentum, my back and bottom stinging fiercely. Before I could adjust my posture to stand up again, the sense of danger struck once more.
I quickly rolled to the side, and a “thud” sound came from my previous position. Looking back, the knight commander was glaring at me fiercely while pulling his short sword out of the dirt.
A massive beast flashed out from behind him, letting out low growls mixed with heavy panting, lowering its horned head to charge at me.
I was terrified and immediately jumped to the side, while white frost mist burst from my body. However, due to having no time to adjust my posture, plus the pain in my knee, I slipped, causing my jump to go off course. Though I barely avoided the beast’s horns, I was still sent flying by the impact.
“Ugh——”
My body spun twice in the air before crashing down with a “thump,” letting out a muffled groan.
This impact left me seeing stars, my whole body feeling like it was falling apart with pain everywhere, not knowing if any bones were broken.
Not having time to get up, I hurriedly looked behind me, where the beast now lay rigid like an ice sculpture.
“Who are you?! Where’s Carlos!? Where is he! What did you do to him!”
The knight commander had just been forced back several steps by the sudden burst of cold wind, and now had a slight frost emanating from his body as he strode toward me with his short sword pointed downward.
I showed him a fierce expression, though the wide hood covered most of my face, so I wasn’t sure if he could see it.
What could I have done to that bearded jerk! You should ask what he did to me!
Seeing that the knight commander was about to reach me, I crouched on the ground and waved my right hand at him.
“Crack crack crack crack——”
Countless ice spikes burst up from beneath my feet, raising a sky full of frost, striking straight for the knight commander’s square face.
The knight commander dodged the thick ice spikes shooting up from below with a side roll, his left hand flashing purple light across the short sword, making the blade suddenly buzz and light up inch by inch with dazzling radiance.
At the same time, I heard chaotic footsteps and shouts from not far away, and understood that if I didn’t leave now, it would really be too late.
“Stay here!”
The knight commander took a wide stance, holding his purple-glowing short sword at eyebrow level, bent his knees, curved his back, jumped, and his earth-leaving figure blocked out the sun, pressing down on me like a mountain.
Why are you forcing me like this! Must it be a fight to the death?!!
My heart hardened, black smoke rose from beneath my feet, my arms were wrapped in ice-blue frost mist, and I leaped up to meet the knight commander.
“Crack-boom!!”
“Ugh.”
The heart-stopping collision lasted only an instant before the knight commander’s body was filled with small ice spikes, half his body covered in frost and ice shards as he flew high into the air.
“Commander——!!”
Someone shouted from not far away.
I looked down at the short sword piercing my abdomen, stumbling a step.
The forest was almost within reach.
Once I got into the forest, they would have no way to deal with me.