Herbert, who was in alert mode noticed Ingrid's anxiousness, but he didn't pay her any mind. Her abilities did not have any use as she still needed time to grow. The most that she could do was to stay still and be protected. Nevertheless, he still kept her here as he knew that the safest place for her would be by his side.
Together with Ingrid, Herbert stalked the night while maintaining vigilance. Like a hunter silently waiting for its prey, their group lay entrenched on top of the long branches of the trees.
With their dark cloaks, it was hard for others to realize that they were sitting there wide awake and ready for an ambush.
As Ingrid continued to wait with bated breath, she indulged in the feeling of being in a life-or-death scenario. It wasn't that she had never experienced a fight before, she had done that when she had been trained at the Featherwing Fortress. However, that fight was still a form of training, others were still there to support her in case she fails to protect herself. This was something that she had experienced which she believed had dampened the potential that she could have unlocked for herself.
She was even lucky enough to have two Transcendents watch over her during her training, this was something that inevitably lowered her chances of growth and she had only noticed it after having a recent reflection.
This time, although there was still Herbert to protect her, she knew that any single mistake might cause her death, but she was at least prepared to die since her goals were high and lofty. Killing the current head of the Rozenblood family is just one step toward her goal of eliminating those who had harmed her in the past.
All of a sudden, the broken branches and twigs on the ground started to crack. Loud noises, heavy breathing, and infuriated shouts started to bombard their ears. The silence of the nearby surroundings had now been broken by the shouts and sounds of rustling from the greenery. And judging from its volume, the direction of this noise seems to be coming straight to the ambush location.
Their breaths seemed to have stopped as they watched two distinct groups of awakened moving swiftly nearing them. One was a group that seemed to be continuously retreating while the other seemed to be their pursuers.
Lord Eric, who was also a high-ranked awakened, currently appeared to be miserable as he pretended to be weak in order to lure the enemy to the target ambush location.
As part of the Hawkwood family, he had a pair of glorious brown wings, however, one of them seemed to be very bloody. This seemed to be the cause of his inability to take flight which the enemies perceived as a chance. Likewise, Lord Eric's teammates seemed to also have varying degrees of injuries that ranged from minor wounds to major injuries that reduced their mobility.
This was something that had never happened before whenever the two sides clashed. The result of this new scenario caused the opponents to continue to give chase. In their eyes, this situation must have been an opportunity that had been sent to them from the heavens. They could already imagine the reputation that Lord Eric would have for failing in a night attack and even getting himself killed in the process while their names would resound for ending this territory war. The generous rewards that they could potentially get had tickled their greed and had given them a genuine desire to keep on pursuing.
It didn't take long for them to pass over the location where Herbert and his guards were standing. With Herbert and Lord Eric's eyes meeting, they soon knew that it was time to pull the rod to catch the big fish that had caught the bait.
In that instant, Lord Eric and his group spread out in a semi-circle around the enemy.
"Oh? What's this? Are you finally giving up even running? I didn't think that you could also be so courageous, Eric Hawkwood."
Lord Eric didn't reply. Instead, he merely looked on. From the opponent's back sides, Herbert and his guards encroached upon them and slowly completed their full encirclement which linked up with Lord Eric's.
"Looks like the little bird is scared he won't even talk! Come, watch my sword!"
With a charging move, the one who seemed like the leader from the enemy side used his sword and made a fierce stabbing action. His movement was powerful, it was akin to the force of an enraged ox.
In an instant, the opponent's side soon made their move as they each separated and faced off against their targets.
Likewise, Herbert, who was observing the battle from above, soon spotted his first target and prepared to make a move. His first target was the opponent of the other female of Lord Eric's group.
Although his strength had already reached the Transcendent level, he was only at its lower ranks, if ever there was somebody within the enemy ranks that could unleash an attack that can cross levels and deal damage similar to a Transcendent then he would never forgive himself for fighting them head-on.
Attacking them from their blind spot and in great numbers should do the trick. He wasn't a stuck-up that fought others head-on for the sake of fairness. He was aiming to kill them, there was no reason for him to make it harder for himself by announcing his presence.
"Attack."
His voice was low and almost inaudible, the only thing that mattered was that his guards heard his command and had also made their long-range attacks by launching an assault at them through the use of projectile feathers.
In the next second, their target was like a bucket with holes in it. In just a second, his life was extinguished and was made irrecoverable. His back was filled with black and bloody feathers. Making haste, Herbert and his guards quickly recalled their feathers and proceeded to head for another location.
Their teammate who had just been saved merely looked on in amazement. This method of killing was simply too fast, even she, herself, did not even have the time to react before her opponent had been killed.
"As expected, having a genius on our side is amazing!"
As she inched closer to observe the corpse, she saw a hideous wound on its direct center. It hasn't even been long yet the wounds appear to be decaying at speeds visible to the naked eye.
"This- is this a mutated bloodline ability? I don't think the Ravenmoons have this characteristic… If this isn't a mutated bloodline then, could it be? Does Sir Herbert have a Transcendent ranked guard at his beck and call?"
The scene had now been deeply ingrained in her mind that the mere thought of having Herbert as an enemy made her shiver.