Chapter 19: Intent to Kill (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
"Young Master Angele." Wade greeted.
"Old Wade, what happened? You look worried." Angele asked.
"Nothing special. I am just too busy recently, and I am already old you know." Wade said.
"Alright, could you do me a favor?" Angele asked before telling Wade about the thing Celia asked. Her mother, Miss Katyusha, wanted Angele to remove her fruit import tax.
"Sure, I can do that. I will remove the tax, but the amount of fruits she needs to import will not change." Wade said and smiled.
"Yea, sure, thanks." Angele smiled as well.
"Now I have something I have to take a look at…" Wade said.
"Sure, you can go." Angele had nothing else to say anyways. Wade went up stairs quickly, and Angele decided not to ask what actually was going on.
"Well, I will just keep increasing my attributes. I want power. Zero, check my body condition.'" Angele thought.
"Angele Rio: Strength 2.1 to 2.6, Agility 2.5, Stamina 2.2." Zero reported.
The Blue Bamboo Shoots were working well for him. His strength increased from 0.8 to 2.6. That was the maximum number the bamboo shoots could help him reach. Angele could feel that his body was resisting its efficacy, and he did not find any other helpful food after.
"Maybe it's about time to use that power…" Angele made the decision in his mind.
********************
Ten days later in Audis's territory.
It was early in the morning, and the sky was clear. There was a clean river running through the verdant forest, and the cobble in the river looked nice and colorful. A group of soldiers were letting their horses drink water by the riverside; the baron stood underneath a tree and looking at the route. A middle-aged man was standing beside the baron; his hair was already white. There was a silver long sword on his waist, and he looked relaxed.
"I did not expect to see you here, Chris," the baron said in a light tone, "I still remember the moments where you fought by my side during the wars."
"Yea, and you are always on the frontline. You also taught me several fighting techniques. I'd be dead a long time ago if you did not help me," Chris said.
"Wait, why are you here again? I thought you went to the north," the baron asked.
"Karl, did you get the letter from the Dark Emblem?" Chris asked, "That's why I am here. There is something I have to let you know about. Come with me," he said.
"Sure, I haven't seen you for a long time. We could chat for a bit, too." The baron said as he started to walk towards the forest. Chris also started to walk, and they disappeared in everyone else's sight quickly.
"I think no one else is here, tell me why you are here." The baron stopped after walking a while and asked with a deep voice.
"Karl… I!" Chris remained quiet for a second and said.
KA!
Suddenly, Chris drew his sword and stabbed it right into the baron's waist, but somehow his attack got deflected by something.
"Chris! You!" The baron did not expect him to attack, and he yelled, but Chris did not talk as he continued attacking the baron again.
"Traitor...!" The baron grabbed the greatsword from his back with his eyes filled to the brim in anger.
********************
In the forest outside the castle.
Angele was disappointed as he walked out of the deep forest with his longbow in hand. It was already his fourth attempt in searching for the Crazy Mountain Bear. He wanted to slay it after he increased his attributes. He wanted to make it pay for what it did to his father. However, the thing never showed up even once. Angele had even tried to lure it out using blood.
There was nothing Angele could actually do if it just didn't show up, so he decided to walk back to the castle. He changed his clothes and headed to the special library after he returned. That was the place he loved the most in the castle because it was quiet and peaceful, and he could enjoy his own time there.
********************
In the forest, the baron laughed as he raised his greatsword.
"Farewell, Chris!" The baron said as he tried to attack.
"Ahhh!" Suddenly the baron's right eye was struck by an arrow from the bush. Blood started to ooze out of his eye, continuously dripping to the ground. A green arrow hit the baron's eye, making him drop his greatsword while in pain.
Chris took this chance to roll away and stood up quickly. Though the baron was badly injured, he still tried to remain cautious.
"Lisa! It's you! AHHH!" The baron was yelling like crazy. He grabbed the arrow in his eye and pulled it out. Blood rushed out of the wound and spilled all over the grass. Two people walked out of the bush. One of them was a middle-aged woman who had a small bow in her hands. There was a black ring worn around one of her fingers.
"Long time no see, Rio." The woman was very calm.
The other man made the baron become even more flabbergasted.
"Audis… You too?!" The baron could not believe what happened, but Audis stood beside Lisa quietly and did not say anything.
"Rio, you had such a high expectations for your future. You wanted too much! And the things you did for your son made too many people unhappy!" Chris laughed and yelled.
"Knight Audis's son's girl was abused to death in your castle, and the reason why it happened was because your son said he wanted that girl. You need to pay for what you have done!" Chris kept saying.
"Wait… You guys waited until I was on my way to the mine. Wade is in this too?!" The baron said. He stood up with his eye still bleeding.
"Yes, otherwise someone will at least notice you are missing. My sister was killed by you, and my father! Today is the day you pay for all this!" Lisa said.
The baron stopped talking. He was going through his memories with the people in front of him. The woman he loved, the man he saved, and the young warrior who admired him were all trying to kill him now.
"Kirin…" He also remembered the one he loved the most.
It was a chance for the three, and they looked at each other before attacking.
"Go!" Lisa yelled.
The three grabbed their weapons and started attacking.
****************
"Father…" For some reason Angele just felt that something was going on with his father. He had just met his new father after the reincarnation, but he could really feel the love from him. He held his silver family insignia in his hand. There was an eagle surrounded by some thorns on the insignia.
"Something is wrong here… Wade was really worried there, and it seemed like my father knew nothing about it. Father had the most power in the castle so he should at least know if anything was wrong…" Angele felt so confused as if he felt like he missed something important.
"What am I missing…?" Angele said as he looked around the family insignia.
PONG!
The door of the study was pushed open. Angele turned back and saw Wade standing there, smiling. There were four heavy armored swordsmen standing behind him.
"Young Master Angele." Wade said. The four swordsmen drew their swords from their backs, and the atmosphere became heavy in the room right after. Angele stayed in his seat and put down the insignia.
"What are you doing, Wade?" He was surprised.
Chapter 20: Near (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
"The baron is not doing his job well. He does whatever he wants in the territory, and the taxes are way too heavy. I decided to do something about it to make the Rio territory peaceful again." Wade smiled as he spoke.
Angele stared at them in surprise. He finally realized that they had betrayed the baron.
"Wade, you decided to betray my father, too?" Angele felt a bit sad because he actually liked Wade.
"Too? Ha, Young Master Angele knew about this already?" Wade was a bit surprised. Angele looked way too calm, so he felt a bit worried.
"Well, since Young Master already knows about this, we could make things easier for you." Wade said.
"Easier? Ha?" Angele laughed. He then drew his sword slowly and disappeared from their sight.
"AH!" Suddenly, two guards outside the door yelled. Angele slashed their neck open, and they died without knowing what happened. Their blood splattered all over the ground.
"I have no need for traitors." Angele said.
Wade never expected this kind of scene to unfold, so he forgot to react. He started to sweat profusely. Angele could see the sweat all over his forehead. Wade could not figure out what Angele just did. He was a mid-level knight, yet Angele was much faster than him.
"Top level knight?!" Wade said, his voice shaking.
Angele lowered his sword with a facial expression that screamed indifference, seemingly uncaring at all. He had slain two guards in but a second, and he really did not think Wade could do anything to him. There was a wide disparity between each level.
"You are a top level knight?!" Wade stepped back with a pale face. The young man just killed two guards easily, and at this moment, he was nonchalantly trying to wipe off the blood on his sword. It was as if the act of killing was something of a normal occurrence to him.
"I really… did not expect you to be a top level knight…" Wade knew he could not escape Angele's sword, so he just stood there.
"How could Angele Rio…" He finally made up his mind and took out a black iron claw.
"You took care of me for so many years. I will do it swiftly." Angele looked at Wade and said.
"Heh…" Wade knew his plan failed because no one would've expected a playboy to be a top level knight.
"You can kill me, but you can't save Karl." Wade calmed down, and he laughed.
"Yea?" Angele asked coldly.
Wade yelled and started to run down the stairs like a ghost. He also threw something towards Angele's waist.
Dang!
Angele blocked the black knife easily, and the knife flew towards the stone wall. He then rushed towards Wade like a white flash, which was much faster than Wade. The two ran out of the living quarters and reached the training grounds. It was early in the morning and there were about thirty people training there.
The two ran outside the castle quickly, and they were so fast that they looked like two shadows. One of them was white, while the other was black. The white shadow occasionally struck the black shadow, and people around could hear the noise of metal clashing against each other. No one actually knew who the two were, but they knew the two were at knight-level.
The training grounds became lively, and the students were completely interested in the identities of the two. Only several teachers saw the clothes that the two were wearing, but they never thought that the two were actually Angele and Wade.
Angele was right behind Wade. He had trouble reaching him. He could kill a mid-level knight, but if Wade was just trying to run away, Angele would not be able to kill him like how he killed the two guards. They kept running, and they were already several kilometers away from the castle. Angele was going so fast that the trees on the side became blurry.
"Wade, you think you can run away from me? I am young and you are old. You won't last too long. How about you stop and tell me your whole plan. I can probably let you go. You served the family well all those years, after all." Angele said while chasing.
"Let me go?" Wade laughed and stopped talking. Wade thought Angele was just like his father, so he really did not think that Angele could keep promises. The baron had just killed two guards after making promises at the training grounds. There was no way for Wade to trust Angele.
If Wade kept running, he could probably escape Angele. Angele was a bit nervous. Though Wade was old, he still had his seed. The seed could help him increase his power within certain duration, and it could also boost his speed. Angele also wanted to make Wade spill the beans about the situation of his father.
Angele grabbed something from his pouch and threw it right towards Wade. Wade heard something was coming and tried to avoid by leaning to the right, but his left arm was still grazed by it.
"It's poisoned!" Wade screamed and jumped away. He stopped at a large stone by the roadside. Angele stopped there, too, and looked at the old man that served Rio Family for so many years. He was having complex feelings about Wade.
"Any last words?" Angele asked calmly. Wade tried to make his wound stop bleeding, but it seemed like nothing was working. He knew the poison was going to kill him.
"I guess I am done here. I did not expect a result like this, I just…" Wade laughed.
"I will leave you here, but I will take care of your family. Also, I did not kill you." Angele sighed, and he took out a black card. There was a bloody red spider shining on the card.
"You are an assassin from the Dark Emblem? You are just fourteen years old and you already have ability like this… How talented you are." Though Wade was not sure if Angele was the assassin, or if Angele killed the assassin and grabbed the card, he knew he could not win this fight.
Wade took a deep breath; the poison had already paralyzed half of his body.
"I will tell you where the baron is, and the actual situation. Just make sure my family is taken care of." Wade said, and then he started to tell Angele of all the things he knew.
**************************
BOOM!
Audis was blown away and flew towards the bush on the side. His blood that splattered on the ground left a trail. In the forest, the baron was holding his greatsword while still standing. Blood was still trickling out of right eye slowly, and there were wounds all over his body. He had a crazed expression on his face while glancing around.
"We were the best group in the army, but now…" The baron suddenly started laughing. Chris and Lisa were standing by the trees, and the three formed a triangle. Chris had a wound on his left arm, but it was not deep.
Lisa was severely injured and her waist was almost cut open.
"Karl, everything has to end today!" Lisa yelled in pain, her shaking voice apparent. Audis finally stood up in the bush and spat out some blood. He tried to support his weight using his sword. It looked like he was hurt, too.
"I thought we were on the same level…" Audis laughed.
The baron's long hair was covered in blood, which made it look like it was glued together. However, he still looked wild and gentle.
"I treated you like my own blood, Audis! You've really disappointed me…" The baron said.
"Disappointed?" Audis laughed.
"You had all the power in your hand, and you had Kirin, too! I gave you my silver mine and my son's girl! Why?! Why did I do all those things?! You are going to die!" Audis yelled.
Chapter 21: Near (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
It looked like the baron was trying to say something, but he decided not to talk. The wound on his eye made him lose a lot of blood, and he knew there was not much time left for him. If he did not take the arrow before the fight started, he could probably handle three knights easily, but now, he was trying his best to stay alive.
'I can't give up my life here, Angele still needs me.' Karl thought. The most important person to him was his son, and the beautiful woman he could sometimes meet in his dream.
"Why? Karl, are you afraid of death?" Lisa asked coldly, and she saw the baron was trying to escape. "Today is our best chance. You are not going anywhere!" She yelled.
The three surrounded the baron, but no one wanted to be the first one to attack again. They were hurt during the first several attacks, and the baron's power was out of their expectation. The baron was dying, and they could probably just hold their positions. The baron might try to at least get some of them if they started to attack again. At this point, no one wanted to make a dangerous move.
*********************
Angele was running towards his father as fast as possible. He was so fast that he could barely see the trees by his sides, and he was only looking at the front. Angele learnt the location of the baron from the dying old Wade. Angele was actually familiar with the location, and he still remembered the days he spent there when he was young.
Knight Audis took him to hunt there many times, and Angele knew the location when Wade said the name. He knew he had no time to waste, and his father's life was on the line. Angele almost reached the limit of his speed. He had an agility of 2.5, and it was about twice of an ordinary human being. However, it would take him a lot of stamina to maintain his speed, and he had to take some rest along the way.
Angele knew he needed stamina to help his father, and if he used up all his stamina, he might just die with his father. He also took the poisoned dagger back, and he wanted to use it as a secret weapon.
*********************
The baron slashed forward.
DANG!
There were sparks flying off in all directions.
Audis blocked the attack right away, but his whole body was shaking, and there was blood coming out of his mouth. Audis's face was soaked with blood and sweat, and it looked horrifying. On the side, Lisa kept firing arrows towards the baron, but the baron dodged them easily by leaning to the sides.
Chris quietly moved his position, and stabbed the baron in the back. His slim sword went into the baron's strong muscle, but got stuck there. The baron used his elbow to fight back, and his attack landed on Chris's chest. Chris screamed and fell down to the ground; he spitted out a good amount of blood. It was looked like a bear pushing a human away.
The baron then pushed Audis back, and turned around. He ran into the forest behind him.
"He is trying to escape!" Lisa yelled. The three got excited, because they knew it meant the baron could not handle the attacks anymore.
Without hesitation, they followed the baron into the forest.
**********************
Angele ran to a high ground in the front, and he wanted to view the whole forest. The location he got was part of the forest and he needed some other intel. Luckily, his chip could do the job, and he decided to scan the area for living beings.
The high ground looked like an empty ground, and there were only some stones on it. No grass or plant could be seen. Angele had a great view of the area on it.
"Zero, scan for human beings, and try to recognize Karl Rio if you find any." He said.
"Scanning..." Zero reported.
Suddenly Angele's sight was covered with blue colored information and data. Human beings were being marked as red dot in the forest.
A group of merchants, two men walking around the forest, some robbers, and several red dots were shown by the edge of Angele's sight.
'Scan completed, Karl Rio was located, about 13.4 kilometers from here.' Zero reported.
'How's his situation?' Angele got excited.
'Losing blood, chasing by three knight level people.' Zero reported.
Angele left the high ground right away, and started to running towards the location at full speed.
*********************
In the forest.
The baron was running around some small paths. He started to feel the weight of his greatsword, and it was not a good sign. He could easily carry it for days if he was not hurt. The leather armor on him was broken into pieces.
There were three people following him in the back, and they were his best friends. But now the three were just trying to take his life away. The baron's face was getting paler and paler, and he was sweating heavily. Some of the sweats got into his wound, and he felt extremely painful.
His right eye was not bleeding anymore due to his excellent recovering speed, but the wound looked infected. The three in the back were not trying to get close, and it looked like they just wanted to waste the baron's stamina. However, the baron could not stop even though he knew their plan.
Suddenly an arrow was fired towards him, and the baron dodged it easily. The arrow hit the tree by the side, and dropped to the ground.
"You are not going anywhere, Karl!" Lisa's voice came from the back, and she sounded very tired.
"You guys are going to die too!" The baron yelled, and he knew it was a competition of their stamina levels.
Chris started to accelerate, and got very close to the baron quickly. He again tried to stab the baron's back, and Audis tried to attack with his greatsword from another angle. His greatsword was very heavy, and the baron could hear the sound it makes.
The baron rolled back and dodged the attacks. He then hit Chris and Audis with greatsword, and they flew to the side. The baron did not control his strength well, and the blade went into a tree on the side.
At this moment, Lisa jumped to front and tried to stab the baron with her black dagger. She was light and fast, and the baron was still trying to take his greatsword out of the tree. He looked at the coming dagger, and somehow he was very calm. He saw the angry face of Lisa, and he was not scared at all, he was actually thinking of someone else.
"Angele... How are you going to survive this world alone...?" The baron said while staring at Lisa.
DANG!
Lisa's dagger was hit by a silver flash, and the two weapon sparked a little in the air. The silver dagger was thrown with extreme power, and Lisa's balance was broken in the air, she fell down to a bush on the right.
A familiar face appeared from the shadow, and everyone there was surprised.
Angele was breathing heavily, and there was sweat all over him. He was holding his sword tight.
"Father..." Angele said. The baron stared at his son, and he thought he was dreaming.
"I am getting you out of here, father!" Angele finally smiled after seeing his father was still alive.
"And I will kill everyone who is trying to hurt you! I am going to hang their heads over the entrance of the castle!" Angele yelled.
Chapter 22: Leaving (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
Angele's words silenced the three people behind. Audis looked at Angele and tried to figure out how strong he was.
"Good, I didn't know a playboy like you actually had such strong power. However, it is too late!" Audis said.
"What do you even mean by that?" Angele walked forward and stood by his father's side. He lowered his silver sword.
"It's simple." Chris coughed and said.
"You really think Karl is our only target? I think your castle is in chaos right now. We brought an army there." Chris said as he laughed coldly.
"Wade... And?" The baron asked.
"Karl, aside from your son, almost everyone in the castle is on our side. Just give up already." Lisa said. Her abdomen was greatly injured but she still maintained a calm demeanor.
"Also, Saladin's soldiers will arrive here tonight and their first target is your castle!" Lisa said.
"You are with the Saladin Empire?!" The baron got angry, and said. Angele had mixed feelings about this because he knew the Saladin soldiers he had killed were up to something.
Angele drew his sword and jumped towards Chris, trying to mount a surprise attack on him.
DANG!
Chris was able to block Angele's slash, but he still took a hit. Angele then quickly attacked Chris with a low kick, smashing against his abdomen. Chris lost his balance and stepped back to stabilize his body. His face turned pale and stared at Angele with a surprised expression. Angele immediately seized this chance to finish him off, but his path was blocked by a greatsword.
Without hesitation, Audis tried to chop Angele's head off with a quick but precise attack. The baron saw the situation and tried to help, but Lisa jumped on him. Angele dodged the slash with ease and aimed his sword toward Audis's right chest, but his sword was blocked by Chris's slim sword.
Angele had just travelled a long distance at full speed on foot so he was out of stamina. After his attack was blocked, he had to step back and keep his distance with the two. Angele could deal with Audis by himself because the latter was already severely hurt. Audis had high strength while Chris had high agility; their abilities complemented each other.
The two became surprised at Angele's speed, and then they stopped attacking. Angele was gazing at them intently and trying to formulate a plan to win the battle.
"Master Audis, I never thought we would be in a fight like this. I actually find it funny..." Angele said as he was trying to recover his stamina.
"Me too. I didn't know you were so strong. Karl has a good son." Audis said in a light tone, and it seemed that he was trying to recover some stamina. He decided to have a little chat with Angele.
Angele smiled. Though he was stronger than Audis and Chris, he was still having trouble fighting the two at the same time. However, he had stored a great amount of data about Audis in his chip.
'Analyze the situation and devise a plan to execute Knight Audis.' Angele ordered.
'Beginning analysis... Gathering data... Finished. Plan completed.' Zero reported.
'Show me the plan.' Angele thought.
'Visible data placed in front of you.' Zero reported.
Angele started to see the blue colored information points in front of him and his vision was covered with helpful hints. Audis's weak points were marked with red dots and the plan devised by Zero was sent to Angele's brain. Zero suggested possible ways of attacking and the possible counterattacks Angele might face.
Zero could easily do that if it had enough data. Angele raised his sword and rushed towards Audis, and he struck Audis's greatsword three times in a row. He then turned around and dodged the attack from Chris. After dodging the attack, he rolled to the right and hit Audis on the ribs with his left elbow.
"Shit..." Audis failed to dodge it due to the weight of his greatsword, but he managed to punch Angele right in the chest in retaliation. Angele and Audis jumped back again with the latter's face turning pale. The strike inflicted on his rib was right at the wound the baron inflicted on him. Audis felt really sick and really wanted to vomit.
"Damn..." Angele stepped back right after he got punched. Chris chased him down and started attacking him again.
They both had high agility and they kept blocking each other's blades. Suddenly, they backed off after trading hits. Chris had his hands covered over his neck as he sat down by a tree. His face was drenched in sweat, and Angele could see blood leaking out of Chris's neck. Angele almost cut Chris's neck open, but Chris somehow dodged the deadly attack.
Angele's left side of his waist was stabbed and the wound looked like a bloody hole. He successfully stopped Audis, but he still had trouble dealing with Chris after. Audis and Chris were very close to the top level, and if they were not hurt before the fight, Angele would have a hard time.
However, the tides of the battle had been turned. Audis probably lost the ability to fight and was in great pain. He held his stomach with his hands, his organs were injured. Angele had twice the strength of a normal human being, and his low kick had been aimed right at Audis's weak point. Even if Audis could survive this, he would probably sit on a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
Angele looked at Audis and stopped his wound from bleeding by putting pressure around it. He grabbed his sword with his right hand and turned toward Chris. They both took a hit, but Chris was still bleeding badly and his face turned paler and paler.
On the other side, the baron kicked Lisa on the waist and the woman flew toward a tree on the side. Leaves fell down after the impact and were soaked with the blood coming out of Lisa.
"It's over." Angele said. Though he was hurt, he still looked better than the other three. He won the fights with his sword skills and the help of the chip. Angele's body was not as strong as the baron so the baron could take more hits than him. He had to dodge as many attacks as he could because his body just could not ignore any wounds.
"Yeah, it's over." The baron walked over and looked at the three with mixed feelings.
"Heh... Karl... Your victory means nothing." Lisa laughed and said. She raised her head and stared at the baron in the eyes.
"The Saladin Empire is coming. They will take everything from you. All these years you spent will be burned into ashes... All..." She did not finish her words and spat out a lot of blood out of her mouth.
"So what?!" The baron laughed coldly and kicked Lisa right in the waist again. It was not a light kick, making Lisa roll several meters away. The blood was all over her body.
"Lisa, I will take 'good' care of your son and two daughters." The baron stared at her and said.
The woman on the ground wanted to say more, but her mouth was filled with blood. Every time she tried to talk, the only thing that came out was her blood. She was dying.
"Father, just finish them off. The Saladin soldiers are coming. We have to head back and deal with them." Angele said.
The baron was satisfied with how his son handled things.
"You head back first. I will be right back when I am done here." The baron said.
Angele looked at Chris and Audis. Chris was losing a lot of blood and Audis probably could not fight back anymore. He thought his father was not in danger anymore and now he needed to formulate a plan to deal with the Saladin Empire. Angele thought they needed to go back to the castle as soon as possible and get all the traitors. If this did not happen, they could probably fight the Saladin soldiers back. Now that the baron and Angele were injured and the castle was filled with traitors, the best plan would be leaving the castle with whatever was left.
Angele again looked at the three on the ground and nodded his head. He left the place quickly while keeping the pressure on his wound. The other traitors in the castle would not be able to fight him even if he was hurt. A normal warrior could probably never win a fight against a normal knight. Also, since their leaders were all dead, they would probably just surround him.
Chapter 23: Leaving (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
If Saladin Empire really sent an army here, Angele would try to grab whatever he could before escaping. Anyways, he needed to check the situation in the castle. Angele chose the route he came from and found a horse on the way. The horse was probably from the criminals he saw earlier and it helped him save some stamina.
It still took him a while to get back to the castle, and it was already afternoon. Angele went across the training grounds outside the castle and he saw the door of the entrance was already lowered. There were bodies and blood everywhere and he could still hear people fighting inside.
"The situation isn't so bad." Angele got off the horse and said. He was still applying pressure on his wound to prevent it from bleeding. His face was pale, but he had no problem walking. Angele drew his sword and walked inside the castle quickly. Some of the bodies were the guards and some were the post knights. Dark blood stains were everywhere and Angele even saw two post knights trading their lives by stabbing each other in the neck.
It looked like not everyone was trying to betray the baron. Angele walked towards the training ground beside the living area, and there were people fighting. Over the main tower, one blonde man and some of his followers were carrying out tons of coins and jewelry. They were yelling and laughing. In the living quarters, several students were trying to guard the entrance while the guards were trying to break in.
Angele looked around and rushed to the training grounds with his sword on hand. One of the student heard his footsteps and tried to attack him. Angele dodged the attack easily and slashed the student's neck open. The student fell down to the ground and died. Those post knights were just too weak and very slow. Angele felt like they were moving in slow motion, and he just killed everyone who tried to point their swords at him.
People around finally realized who he was.
"It's Angele!" They yelled. Many people watched him dancing around the traitors and cutting their necks open. The guards and students that were trying to protect the castle started cheering for him. The people in the living quarters were watching the situation through the windows and they saw how strong Angele had become.
"Wo...Woah..." Celia and Maggie were surprised. The others around were speechless, too. The ones who were looking down on Angele felt ashamed.
The battle did not last too long and many traitors started to run for their lives after knowing that Angele was at a knight's level. They threw away the valuables and just tried to escape. They needed some heavy weapon to actually deal with Angele. The blonde man ran away first and without him, the rest all escaped quickly.
Some guards went out to chase and were able to kill about ten of them. They returned to the castle while cheering. Angele asked the doctors who were still alive to help the injured ones. The baron had just returned to the castle as well and asked the workers to start packing up all the valuables. He also awarded the ones who defended the castle a huge amount of coins. After dismissing some of them, the baron gathered the main members of the family and about twenty loyal guards.
Angele sat down on a chair and took a break. He watched the baron organizing the things in the castle. Maggie and Celia stood with their parents, deciding to leave the castle with the baron. Several other children of the baron decided to leave, too. Everyone else were either killed or have already escaped the castle.
Cecilia survived as well. She hid in a large water tank this whole time. Her clothes were soaked with water and she was standing beside Angele. The baron glanced on the group he just gathered and looked at his son for several seconds.
"Tonight, the army from Saladin Empire will be invading my territory. We have to leave this place forever. We might not be able to come back in the future. If anyone of you wants to leave with me, then you only have this one chance. If not, you may leave the castle now." The baron solemnly spoke with a deep voice.
The survivors started chattering and some of them decided to leave right away. The twenty guards decided to leave with the baron and only about 12 people from the family decided to depart with him. The castle once had hundreds of people living in it, but now, only 32 people decided to stay with the baron. Angele and his father had mixed feelings about it.
Maggie's father pushed her on the shoulder and she understood what her father was trying to tell her what to do right away. She saw Angele sitting on a chair with a cold expression on his face. His sword was lying beside the chair and he could grab it quickly if he wanted to. Maggie felt her heart beating very fast as the current Angele did not seem like a playboy at all. He looked like a totally different person.
Celia ran towards Angele and gave him a hug. The girl looked like a bird that just got scared and started crying.
"Angele, are you alright?" Maggie walked towards them quickly and asked. Her face was blushing. Angele looked at the two girls and the people around him. They all lowered their heads and looked at him with a tinge of fear on their faces.
"Maggie and Celia, are you leaving the place with me and my father?" Angele asked calmly.
"Yes!" Maggie replied without hesitation. She knew that this would be what her parents wished. Angele had already shown his power and he had huge potential. Maggie's parents saw his performance and were very happy that they asked Maggie to become close with him.
"Me too." Celia said in a light tone.
The baron was conversing with the guards on the other side, planning their escape route and resources. He recovered fast thanks to his high stamina. Though he lost an eye, it was not a very big deal. The baron felt much better after taking some special medicine. The doctors cleaned his wound on the eye and covered it with cloth.
He was yelling at the workers for the preparations and sent some of the guards out as scouts. He wanted to make sure that the Saladin army haven't arrived yet. Angele was just talking to some of his brothers and sisters on the side. Angele also understood his father's plan after listening to his orders.
The baron decided to leave the Rudin Empire together with whoever wanted to follow him and go east to the Andes Alliance's dock called Marua. His young sister, Maria Rio, lived there. She got married with a noble there a long time ago, and they had a close relationship with the Rio Territory. They communicated with letters from time to time. The baron wanted to take some good rest there and also wanted to plan for the future. He lost almost everything today and it was impossible for him to stay in the Rudin Empire. Andes Alliance was a better choice for him at present.
Chapter 24: On the Way (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
The baron's plan was based on the fact that the Saladin Empire would invade the castle tonight. The sun had not set yet, but it was getting dark. The sky looked beautiful while the sun going down. Outside the castle, the baron was standing by a large stone in the training ground. He was looking towards the west, and it was where he sent the sentries to. The others already packed up their belongings and there were three large carriages on the road. About twenty people were just standing there and waited.
Angele asked the leader of the guards, Mark, about the route to the Andes Alliance. Cecilia was standing beside them, and looking at Angele. She was sold to the family, and there was nowhere for her to go back.
"I heard the Andes Alliance is a very different country than the Rudin Empire?" Angele asked.
Mark was in his mid-forties, and had some thick beard on his chin. His face looked like yellow wax, and one of his ears was broken. He lost half of that ear to a Saladin Soldier during the early war.
"Yes, I have been there once, and I was escorting Miss Maria to her new home. It was a great trip." Mark said.
"Empires such as Rudin and Saladin put all the power in the king's hand. The Andes Alliance has a king too, but they also have the house of commons. The king could not do whatever he wants. Also, the Marua Harbour is a very nice place to stay. It's much better than our territory, and it might even be better than the Candia City!" Mark said, and he looked excited.
"The streets there were so f*cking clean. Many races lived together, and you could buy whatever you wanted. There were many stores, and crap ton of ships. The place was… probably the most beautiful city I had ever been too." Mark said.
"Really?" Angele got curious, and people around were also attracted by Mark's description.
"If we get on the road right away, it will take us about half a year to get there. It is pretty close actually. We need to travel across the Anser Plain, and we will see the border there. We have the baron and Young Master Angele in our team, and we could easily deal with the robbers on the way." Mark got very excited and said.
"There are robbers on the way?" Angele scrunched his eyebrows and asked.
"Yea, not many. The situation is much better now." One of the guard on the side said.
"I am from the Andes Alliance. When I arrived here a long time ago, I encountered several robbers on the way, and they killed half of my team." He kept saying.
"Well, it sounds dangerous." Angele said with a light tone.
"It doesn't matter!" Someone said, and people looked over to the direction the sound came from. The baron was walking here with a serious face, and a guard was following behind him. The guard looked very tired.
"Get ready everyone! Those Saladin skunks already crossed the border, and they will be here in 15 minutes!" The baron yelled.
Angele grabbed his long bow and quiver, and checked his sword on his waist. He was ready.
The three large carriages started to move on the road. Angele and the baron sat on the first carriage, and they were the only people in that one.
"Father, it would take us half a year to get to the Marua Harbour? How far is it from here exactly…?" Angele wondered. Angele could travel through the whole Asia on the earth for half a year. He was really curious about the size of this world.
"Yea, it took me about six or seven months last time." The baron scrunched his eye brows, and answered.
"Don't worry, we have enough money. We will take two stops on the way, and we could get some supplies there. The worst case we can still hunt in the forest." He said.
"How was your eye?" Angele nodded and asked.
"It's fine, I can still live with one eye." The baron said. Angele stopped talking and asked Zero to examine the baron's body condition.
'Karl Rio: Strength about 2.2, agility about 2.4, stamina about 2.1. Condition: Injured, strength and stamina will increase after the burst. The agility lowers.' Zero reported, and it surprised Angele. The numbers were much lower than the last time. He just could not believe that.
'Get me the previous data.' He thought.
'Karl Rio before the injury: Strength 2 to 4, agility 3.4, stamina 3.9.' Zero reported.
'Why did the numbers decrease?' Angele asked.
'Permanent organ damages.' Zero reported.
'Any chance of recovery?' He asked.
'Had a recovery chance of 11%. Many highly processed medicines are necessary.' Zero reported, and listed a whole bunch of medicine names. There was no way for Angele to find those, and he probably could not help the baron right now. He took a deep breath, and sighed.
**************************
5 days had past since they started to trip. There were only trees around the team, and they were still on the way. Angele and the baron had the first carriage, and the other two were full of supplies besides carrying people. Mainly food and water. Some of the girls had to walk for a while to let the horses rest.
Angele just sat on the carriage and he was recovering. He was badly hurt during the fight, and he needed good rest. The chip made him a recovering plan, and that helped him a lot. He could do some general activities on the fifth day.
Angele woke up from the dream, and sat in the carriage. His body was shaking as the road was a bit bumpy. He could hear the hooves stomping on the ground. The sunlight made the carriage very warm inside, and Angele grabbed some water to drink. The drink got warm too, and he opened the door to get some fresh air. He decided to sit by the coachman.
The sun light was really burning, and Angele just kept drinking water. The coachman was very slim and thin. His name was Ant, and he was one of the baron's relatives. He looked weak in the grey suit. Ant smiled when he saw Angele sat by his side.
"Young Master Angele, you woke up." Ant greeted.
"Where are we now?" Angele yarned and asked.
"Two more days and we will be out of the forest. The baron said there is a river ahead, and we could get some water there." Ant answered politely.
Angele nodded his head, and started to look at the trees on the side. The carriage sometimes bumped due to the stones on the road. The wind was hot, and it was blowing all over his brown short hair. Angele still felt very hot, and he knew the baron was probably having some 'fun' with one of his wives in the back there. He was a bit speechless when he thought about it.
'Zero, how was my body condition.' He asked.
'20 secs of activity will blow up your wound. Estimated recovering time: 15 days." Zero reported honestly.
"That's going to take a while…" Angele said, and suddenly he smelled something.
"The smell of blood!" Angele sensed the smell from the warm wind, and yelled.
"Ant, stop the carriages!" He ordered.
Ant nodded right after he heard Angele's words, and grabbed the long stick on the side. The stick had a whiter cloth on top of it, and Ant waved the stick several times. It was the signal to stop the carriages. The three carriages slowly stopped, and the people got a bit nervous about the situation.
"Rock, Berries, you two go take a look on the side, and the rest get ready!" Mark smelled the blood too, and ordered. Angele grabbed his gear and jumped off the carriage. Angele was checking his gear, and he saw the baron got off one of the carriages in the back. He was still putting on his clothes.
"What happened?" The baron asked with a light tone.
"Something happened in the front, I smelled the blood." Angele said.
The way was forked in the front, and there were some blood stains on the left side. The blood was on the grass, and it made a trail to the side bush. It was the route they were going to choose.
People got noisy, and were trying to figure out what was going wrong. Angele and the baron got serious when they saw a broken wooden shield beside the blood stain. There was an owl and axe sigil on the shield, and it was enhanced with black iron. Apparently the shield did not help its master, it was broken, and it was covered by blood.
Chapter 25: On the Way (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
"That is a thick wooden shield forged with black iron. I can't even break through it even if I am uninjured…" the baron said in a serious tone.
"What should we do?" Angele got nervous. Though he was a top level knight, he could not break a shield like that; at this moment, he could even imagine a sinister scene coming into fruition.
"Owl and axe; it is the insignia of Viscount Candia," the baron said.
"No one here could break a shield like that, so it is probably someone from the Saladin Empire. Angele, come with me," the baron said with a deep voice.
Angele nodded his head. Only he and the baron were the knights in their caravan. Even though Angele was merely 14 years old, in such situations, age became a meaningless constituent. They commanded the guards to maintain a circumspect behavior and walked towards the wooden shield carefully.
They saw a corpse equipped with black armor lying there; the engraved insignia on the armor was visible to them.
"It's Ruhr…" the baron said. Ruhr was the strongest knight under Viscount Candia. The man's corpse was then turned over by the baron using his feet. Countless flies plagued around him, and a rotten stench leaked out of his corpse; the corpse had already become pallid from its post mortem state. His head had been split open with a wound the size of a finger's width.
Angele felt a bit nauseated as he looked at the corpse. The man had a huge physique; he was slightly fatter but shorter than Knight Audis. His head injury was so deep that Angele could even see small chunks of brain matter coming out of it. The grass around the corpse was dyed red, and several roving insects were all around it.
"He was not assassinated," The baron said as he inspected the corpse; he seemed to be unaffected by the repugnant stench.
"It took the opponent about two hits to finish Ruhr off. Only a grand knight could do something like that," the baron said after checking for a while.
"Grand knight?" Angele never heard of that before.
"What kind of knight is a grand knight, father?" he asked.
"A grand knight can kill me without incurring injuries," the baron said.
"The last time I saw one was during the Orchid War. Saladin Empire is being serious this time. They even sent out a Grand Knight to lead the attack…" the baron said in a worried tone.
"What should we—" Angele's words were cut off by the baron. The baron examined the trail of blood and traced it into a corner. After about 5 minutes, he asked Angele to slow down while he hid into a bush on the side. Angele, too, realized that something was amiss at their front.
It sounded as if people were in a battle within the close proximity of the two. Angele left the bush together with the baron as they trod uphill. They lowered their bodies and peered down, gazing at an empty ground beneath the hill.
There was a fight taking place in that area. A long-haired man in a brown leather suit was surrounded by a small army in the middle of the ground. About 10 swordsmen were also with him, but all of them were wounded. They all had green-striped cloth tied around their arms. On the other hand, the soldiers surrounding them all wore black iron armors and they numbered about several hundreds. Two knights in white armor stood at the forefront, looking at the long-haired man. Many had been killed already, such that their lifeless bodies were strewn all over the ground. It seemed that the battle was already way past its crescendo.
"It's the black army of Rudin while the ones in the middle are from Saladin." the baron explained in a low voice.
"Just surrender already, Martin Francis. You don't want to lose your life here as a Grand Knight. That would be a pity." One of the knights in white armor said calmly as though he was very confident.
"You think that's possible?" the long-haired man laughed. He had a strange accent and a voice that sounded like he was singing.
"I am just the leader of the Third Vanguards from the Saladin Empire. There are more to come. You guys are done, Jones. How about joining us? Master Andre will treat you well." the long-haired man laughed and said.
For some reason, the knight named Jones did not order his men to attack and only kept trading words with the man named Martin. Angele and the baron listened to their conversation for a while, and then decided to first go back.
"They have many archers there, and the grand knight won't be able to deal with them." the baron said.
"Archers? You mean the ones outside the circle?" Angele asked.
"Yea, I was a leader in the sentry squad during the war. I once saw a grand knight being slain by a group of archers; it only took several seconds for him to go down. A whole group of archers is a powerful force. Well, let's go back and choose a different route since we don't have much time to spare. Though the black army is from our country, they might still attack us." the baron said.
Angele nodded, but did not say anything.
"The Saladin Empire is serious this time. The Rudin Empire and Saladin Empire have thousands of miles gap between their border lines. They need more than three grand knights to be the vanguards and countless knights to follow up. If the Forest Knights are here, the Rudin Empire won't be able to do much…" the baron kept saying; he looked despondent and at the same time, uneasy.
Angele could understand why the baron was worried. Knights were rare in small noble territories, but there were countless knights in the whole country. Knights were mere elites of an army and there could be thousands of them. The Rudin Empire never recovered from the previous wars, so it would not be able to handle the Saladin invasion this time.
Suddenly, they heard the sound of archers firing arrows in the back and the battle cry of the grand knight. Angele asked the chip to analyze the grand knight's ability right away.
[Rough analysis of the grand knight: Strength is around 7 to 9, Agility is 6 to 7, Stamina is 5 to 8. Attributes might increase greatly during the potential burst.] Zero reported. The data was based on the ongoing fight.
[How is that even possible…] Though Angele knew the numbers were going to be high, he did not expect such higher numbers. He bit on his lips as he became worried. The man was probably much stronger than the Crazy Mountain Bear because he was a trained warrior, and he had battle skills the bear did not have.
[Zero, show me my numbers.] he asked.
[Angele Rio, injured. Strength is around 2.1 to 2.6, Agility is 2.7, and Stamina is 1.8, it should be 2 normally.] Zero reported.
Angele was again in shock. He was proud that he could kill a knight and also of the fact that he didn't have the feeling of helplessness from before. However, based on the differences of the attributes between him and the grand knight, he would be killed easily just by their pure strength and speed. He would not have a better ending than Ruhr if he were to engage him in a battle.
"I am still so weak… The grand knight was a leader of a whole troop and he was not the only one." Angele said. He felt that the situation was really bad.
"It's fine, Angele. Your body has certain limits due to various reasons, but if you focus on improving sword skills and archery skills, you can still be very strong. However, the grand knights are definitely out of our concern, especially when they all have very strong backgrounds supporting them." The baron saw Angele's expression, and said. He did not know how Angele increased his attributes in such a short period. Though he tried to give Angele the Life Energy Seed, his son did not have the potential to accept it. The baron was still trying to cheer Angele up anyways.
Without the seed, people could never become a grand knight. Human beings had limits to their body developments and their attributes would eventually reach the limitations. They needed the seed to break past the limitation and condense battle aura around them. Angele read about it in the special library.
"All hail the Saladin!" the voice was extremely loud.
Angele and the baron were shocked by the voice and so turned back to the battlefield. They knew it was the last words of the grand knight. Saladin Empire just lost one of their greatest warriors.
"If I was not injured this time, I can probably become a grand knight in ten years. But…" the baron said. He sounded a bit forlorn. However, his injury was severe to the point that he could never recover to his original state.
"My hopes are on you now, son…" The baron stared at his son. Angele knew his father was looking at him, but he did not stop his footsteps. He walked towards the front quickly.
[Zero, how much agility will I gain from the emerald's energy?] Angele asked.
[About 2.1, and 0.3 stamina. It will take 11 days. The remaining energy is about 1/12.] Zero answered.
[Remaining energy? What do you mean?] Angele was surprised.
[Body development is reaching the limit. The limit is set by your gene. Only the special energy will remain.] Zero reported.
[You mean I can never become a grand knight?] Angele asked.
[94.53% probability that you will not become a grand knight.] Zero reported.
Angele suddenly gripped his sword tightly and stopped walking. He started to stare at the sky, but his sight was blocked by the tree leaves and sunlight. The sunlight was hot and dense, which Angele could feel with his hands. However, he felt a bit bleak from hopelessness.
"What happened? Angele?" the baron asked from behind.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Let's get back and start move again, father." Angele answered.
"Yea." the baron said.
Angele suddenly thought of the ring, the mysterious ring that had special engravings on it.
Chapter 26: Coincidence (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
It had been four days since the baron's caravan avoided the battleground and had chosen another route. Trees were becoming sparse as they continued to advance, which meant that they were nearing the outskirts of the forest.
Night slowly descended. The baron was driving one of their own carriages with Angele seated beside him. He steered the horse with its reins, occasionally glancing at his leather-made map as he navigated through their preordained route. Twilight was falling, and blanket of darkness and shadows gradually covered the forest bit by bit. Angele raised his head and looked at the sky. The clouds could still be seen with the naked eye. It hid the sun behind, which caused these clouds to be dyed red by the color of dusk.
The wind was blowing across Angele's face, carrying with it was the fragrance of flowers that wafted into his nostrils. The heat from the day could no longer be felt much, but it was still there. Some random insects began to produce noises, signaling the overture of their concert at night — a scene that reminded him of Earth. Angele laid on his back at the edge of the carriage, lethargy slowly creeping toward him.
"Father, are we out of the forest now?" he asked.
"Almost, we will enter the Anser Plain by tomorrow at noontime. We are around Vlasov Woodland now," the baron answered Angele's question. While he did so, he kept track of their current location on the map.
"Vlasov Woodland? What is this place?" Angele became curious.
"After we turn left here and advance for about five kilometers, we'll start seeing a bunch of maple trees. There is an abandoned manor there, formerly owned by a noble from Vlasov. It had been burnt down during the war. There are rumors saying that only ghosts lived there now. I've never entered it when I passed by several times during my travels before," the baron said in a fearful tone.
"There is something amiss with the manor. I don't know, but I just think it's dangerous to enter," he said. Angele felt that he had read about it on a book once somewhere, but he just couldn't recall which book it was.
"Wait, how could've those Saladin armies traveled so fast? We didn't even see them overtake us," Angele asked.
"They are after the major territories. Some of them had gone too deep and gotten themselves killed instead just like the grand knight we just met." the baron explained as he kept the map back into his pouch. A well-drawn map was like a precious treasure in this era.
"Vlasov Empire was once a tyrannical power. Now, it has been turned into ashes. Nothing can contend with the passage of time, not even such a powerful empire…" The baron emotionally sighed.
Angele stopped talking. They continue to sit side by side. The only ones making noises were the horses. It was becoming dark, and the air was becoming chilly. Many miniscule shiny objects flew around the carriages, each of it about the size of a nail. This painted a scene as though they were traveling with a blue halo around them.
Angele's eyes became wide open as he looked at this mesmerizing scene.
"What is this?" He couldn't help but grab one of these objects. The blue object was the size of a piece of nail that fell down on his palm. As he looked closely, it seemed like a seed of a dandelion. It was tiny, and had a shiny blue color on it. The seed would've looked just like any other plants' seed if it wasn't shiny. Angele could only barely feel it even when this blue seed laid on his palm. Its blue light reflected on his face, which made him look slightly blue as well.
"It's a Green Ear Masa. In the Volasov language, it means 'the umbrella of the sea'. The Volasov people consider themselves as the sons of the sea that they even think that this plant is sent by the mother sea to protect them on land. It has been a while since I last saw the 'Rain of the Masa'." It seemed as though the Masa reminded the baron of something.
"The road is now barely visible from the darkness. Let's set up camp here." Baron Karl shook his head as he spoke.
"Alright." Angele said. The carriages slowed down as it afterward stopped, and were then parked beside the camp area. They found a suitable empty ground to camp, and some guards decided to survey the area. Several people picked up branches to be used for the campfire while some dragged the carriages to form a triangle formation around the campsite. It was a good formation for defence in case something happened.
It took about ten minutes for them to set up everything. One campfire was lit up in the middle while three were lit up around the outer perimeter. The guards were assigned to take turns for the nightwatch. Meanwhile, the women and the workers settled in the middle area. They began to take out the cooking equipments and food to be prepared for dinner. The camp became lively quickly.
The baron went inside on of the carriages and had his wound on the eye checked by a doctor. The latter also reapplied some medicine on the wound for the baron. For the time being, Angele grabbed a blanket, placed it over a stone and sat on it. His longbow and quiver were carried on his back, his unsheathed sword by his waist, and the silver daggers in his pouch. Also, he tied the chain claws on the back of his waist. Angele wore his leather hunting suit since it was more suitable in such an environment. The suit was lightweight and it had moderate defensive power. Wearing a heavy armor in a forest would only make him an easy, slow moving target.
Angele sat on the stone and looked over the sky.
"How beautiful…" he said while feeling relaxed. He looked over the gap of the carriages and saw Maggie organizing their things together with Celia and some other girls. Mark was checking the situation of the area with the guards. Several guards were adding branches into the fire, and they lit several torches after. They did so to increase and ensure the safety of the people in their caravan.
No one checked on Angele because people knew that he loved to sit by the side alone. He had asked the people not to disturb him, so they followed his request. Angele took out a necklace that had chained the emerald ring. He held the ring in his hand, and started walking around the camp. He kept glancing over the bushes at the side.
After walking for awhile, he suddenly lowered his body by a small bush. There were several small, round red fruits borne on it. This plant had long, hard leaves, and he could even see small insects moving on it. There were also several shiny Masa seeds that dropped on the bush. Angele took one of these red fruits and threw it into his mouth. It tasted quite sour and at the same time, bitter.
'Angele, this wild fruit contains moderate poison. Data obtained from the Wild Plant Record. No enhancement effect detected,' Zero reported. Angele became disgruntled as he heard this and spat out the remaining. 'It's a no-go. I really want to find something useful,' Angele thought as he stood up. He walked around for awhile, yet he found nothing special. The chip did not find anything useful to him. Angele still desired to reach the apex as fast as he could even after knowing that his body had a certain limit. He wanted to become stronger, and the easiest way to gain strength was, still, eating food. He didn't need to actually eat them, though. He only had to put the item he wanted to analyze into his mouth to get the result. Otherwise, he would've already consumed many poisonous plants.
Angele was still curious about this world, so he was quite interested in everything. He had always felt refreshed whenever he encountered something new to him.
Nothing much occurred that night, and in the next morning, their caravan vacated the place. Angele felt as though they were about to leave the forest because the trees around them weren't as many as before. The baron was sitting in the first carriage, and he opened the window to check.
"We are almost out of the forest. The Anser Plain is just ahead," he said.
"It means there might be some bandits around the intersection, right?" Angele asked while he wiped his sword with an oiled cloth.
"Yea, that's why we must stay alert," the baron said.
Angele nodded and put his sword back into the sheath. His agility had reached the limit with the help of the mysterious energy.
'What's my body condition.' Angele asked.
'Angele Rio: Strength is around 2.1 to 2.6. Agility is 4.1. Stamina is 2.2.' Zero reported. Angele felt slightly despondent, but at least his agility now could be considered eminently high by him. He should be stronger than the him of the past ten days, nearly reaching the level of an uninjured Baron Karl. He had far better sword skills, so he might even be stronger than the baron himself in certain situations.
However, he knew that he was still considered pretty weak in this world. The grand knight from before was much stronger than him, but even then, he couldn't survive a barrage of arrows from a whole troop of archers. He thought of the emerald ring again and the mysterious power that might've come from the wizards of the ancient times. Angele still had qualms about the source of this power, but he knew the ring was enchanted.
He suddenly heard sounds of people fighting up ahead, and he stopped thinking right away.
"Something is going on there!" The baron asked the coachman to slow down. The carriages slowed down, trying to lessen the noise.
"Father, I am going to take a look." Angele jumped out of the carriage and said. The baron nodded his head as he knew that Angele was good enough for such a task. Angele quickly rushed forward, leaving the forest right away. He hid himself in a bushed and surveyed up ahead.
A caravan of five carriages was surrounded by bandits who each wore grey scarves on their heads. The guards of the caravan were fighting against them. Three knights mounted on horses were fighting against five bandits who seemed to be the leaders in the encirclement of carriages. Angele sharply sensed from the battle in that area that the people there were far stronger than the others outside of the encirclement.
'Get me their data.' Angele ordered.
Zero put up the blue data in front of his eyes right away, and Angele looked over to one of the knights.
'Target unknown: Strength greater than 4. Agility greater than 2. Stamina greater than 3.' The data read.
'A knight with such strength is actually in trouble? … Just how strong are those bandits?' Angele was surprised. The baron once told him that people with knight-level strength existed amongst bandits, so lords would definitely hire any knight-level warrior. The knights would live much better lives than being bandits.
On their way to Marua Harbor, bandits were usually in groups of ten, and the strongest ones were probably close to post knights. But the ones ahead of Angele looked quite different. Angele looked at one of the bandit leaders. He saw the blue data popping out on the side.
'Target unknown: Strength greater than 4. Agility greater than 4. Stamina greater than 3. Burst potential is close to Karl Rio's, about 72% similarity detected.' Zero reported.
Chapter 27: Coincidence (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
Angele had difficulty in ascertaining the current situation, so he checked the other leaders' statuses. The weakest of the five bandit leaders was a mid-level knight while the rest were all top-level knights. There were also another ten knight level bandits who fought with the caravan guards. Meanwhile, the caravan only had two top-level knights and a single normal knight, which undoubtedly showed the dire straits they were in.
Angele had also noticed that those bandits didn't seem like the typical bandits he knew of. They carried out orders in a precise manner and fought differently compared to typical bandits — much like how armies fought in skirmishes. It seemed as though they were authentic soldiers who were disguised as bandits. Thus, Angele was able to deduce their identities as well as their motives for doing so. It might be that they lacked supplies, which was why they were raiding supplies from travelers and caravans. With that, Angele gained a highly probable idea of the situation from his deductions. He then withdrew and returned back to their caravan. It didn't take him a long time to inform the baron of the situation. The baron became surprised after hearing the current situation. Subsequently, he made a decision to change routes again so as to avoid getting in conflict with those "bandits".
"It must be the Ukusas Empire Border Army!" the baron said.
"They must've heard of the invasion plans of Saladin Empire, thus they decided to raid several fleeing Rudin nobles. That caravan must've originally been from a major city since they even have three top-level knights. Yet, they are still having trouble escaping." he continued. Angele was concurrently feeling nervous, even having his senses keener as he tried to catch every sound he could hear. He wanted to guarantee that those bandits did not notice their existence.
Angele also did not forget to get intel on some of the weaker bandits while he was scouting from within the bush. It seemed as though that not only were they raiding, but they were also training at the same time. An average knight could handle around five post knights. If those bandits found out the location of Angele's caravan, they could easily wipe the caravan with the bandit leaders' assistance.
Angele finally realized that in a countryside territory like Rio Territory, knight-level warriors could already be considered rare. However, larger families in major cities could easily train hundreds of post knights and half of them could even become real knights. This showed the stark contrast between them.
***********************
The bandit leaders were overseeing the fight while conversing with one another.
"Master Ceylon, a young guy in the bush observed us for a while. He could be a scout of the enemy!" One of the bandits with a grey scarf on their heads came in and reported.
"A young guy? Those Rudin bastards really don't learn. Ha, Caster, you want to take a look? Otherwise, I am going." The man named Ceylon turned to another man and said.
"You go. Just make it quick since we don't have much time left. We still need to meet up with the leader, and we definitely can't those royal members from Rudin escape. We're going to be in deep trouble if we fail our actual mission," the man called Caster, who had a gentle disposition, calmly said.
"Sure! I will finish him in 20 minutes. It's just the countryside, so how strong can a young man from the countryside be? Hahaha." Ceylon wiped his bald head with a piece of blanket and grabbed his greatsword.
"I need five men. Anker, Hasis, come with me!" he yelled.
"Affirmative! Master Ceylon!" Two knights wearing black-greenish leather suit stepped out. Both of them held a broadsword in their hands.
"I'll accompany you. Things are finished here." Another leader stepped out.
"Orisis, why do you always seem to get in my way?" Ceylon said as he looked at the man named Orisis. The latter smiled without responding. Orisis carried a metal longbow on his back and his quiver hung on his horse's saddle.
"How can that be, Master Ceylon? You do know that I admire your strength and skills." Orisis said while still smiling.
"Whatever! Let's go!" Ceylon cut off the conversation then waved his hand. The two knights followed him from behind, at the same time bringing about ten horse riders. Ceylon's company started traveling toward the eastern direction relative to them swiftly.
"Master Ceylon, we have two top-level knights here. Why are you so nervous? No one can escape my arrow, you know?" Orisis said, his tone light and his voice slightly feminine. It was a voice that could make people uncomfortable.
Ceylon didn't respond. Instead, he continued to increase his speed.
**********************
In the forest.
Three carriages were moving slowly between the trees. The gaps between the trees were wide enough for them to get through. The atmosphere in the caravan was quite tense since not even a single person was talking — only the sounds made by horses resounded throughout. This signified just how nervous they were with the current circumstance. The guards around the carriages carefully scrutinized the surroundings constantly, apparently showing their increased vigilance.
A fully-equipped teenager with short brown hair was sitting on the coachman's seat. A wooden longbow was being held in his hand. A silver crossguard sword hung by his waist as well as a quiver of arrows that was being carried upon his back. He wore a leather suit as his armor and also had a pouch with him. There was something inside the pouch, but no one knew of its contents. This teenager was also keeping track of the surroundings in a careful manner.
Their traveling pace wasn't too slow nor was it too fast. Yet, the highest possible speed had already been reached to its limits. A man jumped into the carriage and sat beside the teenager. The man who had a long brown hair had his hair draped all over his shoulders. This man was the baron, Karl Rio, who still had his right eye covered with a bandage.
"Angele, ten more minutes then we'll make a turn and enter the Anser Plain. Our current location is nearly at the border of the drawn map. Beyond that, we have no way to navigate the path, so we cannot afford to lose the right direction," the baron said with a deep voice.
"Sure, Father," Angele said as he nodded in affirmation. He looked the inside of the carriage and saw the girls who seemed quite nervous. The guards around the caravan already had themselves prepared for battle.
*******************
At the intersection between the plain and the forest.
With the sound of hooves stomping on the ground, a company of mounted bandits arrived at the location that Angele's caravan had recently passed through.
"Someone was just here. There are traces of passing carriages on the ground. You guys, go search for them!" Ceylon yelled after he took a glance at the ground.
"No need. I can track their general direction," Orisis yelled. He got off his horse and started to carefully observe the leftover traces.
"They've most probably already found us and tried to change routes. Let's go after them!" He said as he pointed at the direction the baron had chosen.
"Huh! Nice tracking skills, let's go!" Ceylon had to admit that Orisis was a skilled tracker, even though he was still quite unhappy with him.
Suddenly, they heard the intense noises of fleeing carriages moving at high speed.
"A big group! About ten carriages! We could obtain a lot from them!" Orisis, Ceylon, and everyone else accompanying the two looked excited.
"Hasis, Anker, you two go take out the small fry! The rest, just follow me!" He raised his greatsword and advanced onward.
"I am in this, too!" Orisis said as he followed suit. Hasis, Anker, and the other four bandits became speechless after being left behind by the two.
"Well, let's go for the small fry. I hope we don't bump into someone strong." Hasis said after shaking his head.
"What are you afraid of? We have the best weapons in our arsenal you know." Anker laughed and subsequently took out a brown crossbow.
The rest of the mounted bandits retrieved their own crossbows from the bag of their own horse's saddles.
"No one will know it's us if we clean up the scene properly," Anker said.
"Sounds like a plan. Let's go." Hasis nodded his head and said.
They started their pursuit toward the origin of the sounds.
*******************
'Enemy detected. Six mounted bandits are getting close.' Zero reported. Angele had already noticed them actually.
'In the end, we were still tracked.' Angele thought as he jumped off the carriage.
"Keep going! Don't stop!" he yelled. The guards were becoming more and more high strung, and yet, no one made any sound. They were, after all, well-trained and would faithfully carry out orders.
"What happened, Angele?" The baron saw Angele jumping off the carriage, so he asked.
"Father, some people are pursuing us, so I am going to stall them to gain ourselves more time. You guys, just keep advancing." Angele calmly said.
"No, you go with them. Let me be the one to stall them!" The baron jumped off the carriage and walked toward Angele.
"It's fine. I'm just going to shoot arrows at them. I'll catch up shortly after," Angele said while smiling.
"Father, just keep an eye on the caravan. It will be easier for me to escape if I am alone. Besides, I won't directly engage with them," Angele said. The baron looked at Angele. He knew the latter had great skills in archery and thought the latter would be fine if he found a good vantage position to shoot from.
"I'll stay with you," the baron said in a deep tone.
"Our whole family is in the carriages, Father. It will be better if you stay with them. I will catch up shortly, so don't worry," Angele said.
The baron looked at his son for a while. At a short distance, the sound of their fleeing carriages was gradually becoming further.
"I'll give you 15 minutes. If I don't see you back after that time, I'll come and find you," the baron said.
"Sure!" Angele nodded.
The baron knew that his son was competent enough to handle himself. However, the location of the enemies was unknown at present, so he still felt worried.
Angele made sure that his father left with the carriages before turning back. At this time, he could already see the mounted bandits emerging from the forest. He nocked an arrow on his longbow and pulled the bowstring as he drew it until the phantom of a full moon came forth from the fully drawn bow. Sunlight shone upon the arrowhead, which caused an azure hue to be reflected on its surface.
Chapter 28: Mystery (1)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
CHI!
Angele shot the arrow drawn by him with his longbow. The target who was one of the mounted bandits cursed in surprise as he fell off the horse after being struck by Angele's arrow, which the latter heard through the chip. He stayed calm as he grabbed another arrow from his quiver, nocking it once again on his longbow. He was about 200 to 300 meters away from the mounted bandits, but with his chip's assistance, his accuracy and precision had reached 100%. That was an advantage he had over his opponents.
Angele focused on his targets while he pulled the bowstring to a full moon. He kept switching positions accordingly using the information provided by the chip. Suddenly, Angele felt a pain coming from his left arm, and he lost his balance along with his bow. The white-feathered arrow he had nocked on his longbow was dropped on the ground. A black crossbow bolt pierced his left arm, such that it nearly went through it.
'It's a crossbow!' Angele became surprised at this realization, and without hesitation, he rolled away.
CHI!CHI!CHI!
Three crossbow bolts sank onto the land Angele had formerly been, leaving only half of the shafts visible.
'How… Crossbows are actually impressive in this world!' Angele thought. He ran and hid behind a tree while applying pressure to his wound.
'The person who shot from such a distance must be strong and might even be a knight.' Angele tried to withstand the pain and grabbed the chain claw from his back. He cut the bolt head and the fletchings along with a part of the shaft, leaving the remaining part of the bolt in his arm.
'Zero, any good plan?' Angele thought as he cut the bolt to prevent his wound from continuously bleeding.
'Thank god they didn't poison their arrows. I'd already be dead if they had done so.' Angele felt lucky. It would seem that people in this world frowned at the notion of using poison, or he just hadn't encountered one. The chip analyzed his wound right away and sent the data to his mind.
'The head of the bolt has the shape of a rhombus, thus making you bleed constantly. You are losing blood at a rate of 1% per minute. Please finish the fight within 10 minutes.' Zero provided the most optimal plan.
'Damn! They have rhombus bolts!' Angele thought as he checked the battle record from the chip. He saw the warning of the incoming crossbow bolt, but because it was way too fast, it got overwritten by the data regarding the inflicted wound.
'The chip won't be helpful if it's an attack that has absurd speed.' Angele grabbed another arrow from his quiver after he thought of this matter. He was in great pain. Nevertheless, he still fully drew the longbow. His face was covered in beads of sweat from feeling the pain coming from his left arm at a constant rate. With a difficulty like this, he needed to double his focus in maintaining his accuracy.
The sound of hooves stomping on the ground became louder as the mounted bandits pursued him closely. He suddenly jumped out of the cover toward his left and shot the arrow when he was still in the air. It struck only empty space, then pinned itself onto the tree beside a mounted bandit. The wound on his arm and this situation he had never encountered before lowered his accuracy. He had also never practiced such maneuver, thus it only made the horse scared. Two horses at the forefront stopped and raised their hooves, neighing as they tried to flee, yet their riders held the reins tightly to stop them.
"He can't run from us! Anker, let's go!" One of the mounted bandits yelled.
"Got it!" Two other mounted bandits increased their speed, rushing toward Angele. Each drew their respective broadsword on the way. As Angele heard the sound of swords being unsheathed, he threw his longbow right away and grabbed the chain claw.
Angele listened intently to the sound of the hooves drawing closer to his position. He momentarily shut his eyes and pinned one side of the chain to the tree he was hiding in. When the sound reached Angele's position, he threw the chain towards that direction quickly. The black chain claw flew to the thick branches and twined around it, thus making a simple trap to trip the horses.
The two horses, being unable to slow down in the slightest, rushed toward the trap.
BANG!
The branches broke into pieces and the horses crashed down with the chain on their feet. The horses neighed in pain resulting from their front legs being broken from the impact.
"Crap!" One of the mounted bandits fell off the horse and smashed his head against a stone on the ground. Angele became ecstatic in the effectiveness of the trap. He dropped the chain and unsheathed his sword, slashing the mounted bandit who rolled toward him after he stepped forward.
DANG!
The mounted bandit blocked Angele's sword and attempted to kick the latter in retaliation. Angele stepped back but felt a chill from behind before he could attack again. He leaned to the side, successfully dodging a slash.
"Little f*cking bitch!" The mounted bandit behind cursed loudly, his accent resembling to that of a resident of Saladin. Angele could easily understand him because the language of Saladin resembled that of Rudin's. The dialects might be different, but it wasn't hard to understand. The mounted bandit who nearly got pummeled by Angele took this chance to stand up and waved his sword toward Angele right away, perfectly complementing the other mounted bandit's attack. Angele couldn't retaliate and even had to retreat.
These two mounted bandits flawlessly kept on attacking Angele in perfect coordination, such that they began to increase their pace. Although Angele blocked nearly every attack, he started having trouble in handling the strength of his opponents.
'These two have impressive coordination with each other, and they are definitely close to a top-level knight. Even Audis will have trouble facing them.' Angele seemed calm on the outside, but he was actually getting overwrought.
PONG!
Angele was blown away by the impact of a kick that he had failed to dodge. Since he himself knew he couldn't stop moving, he rolled toward the side. His high agility helped him dodge four crossbow bolts when he rolled, but his wound had gotten worse in return, which left a trail of blood on the ground. Angele hid in a bush and ran behind another tree to take a breather. He started to breathe heavily and beads of sweat even dripped down his chin.
'What should I do in such situation…?!' Angele was really nervous. He even thought it was already the end of the line for him.
Two knights that were close to top-level and superb coordination skills. About four crossbows aimed from the side. With these factors, he couldn't take chances in fleeing with his speed. Also, he wouldn't be able to win against the two knights head-on. Angele racked his brain for ideas, but he couldn��t come up with a plan. He was starting to become frustrated at his helpless situation, especially when his current circumstance was much worse than his encounter with Dice. Dice's knives were much slower than the crossbows that greatly hindered him from reading the information gathered by the chip. The first bolt had already taught him of the lesson.
'Zero, give me a plan.' Angele ordered.
'Stamina dropping quickly. Please take out the ranged enemies and escape right away.' Zero reported.
'I wouldn't ask this question if I could deal with these goddamn crossbows!' Angele got angry.
'The left part of your head will be hit after one second,' the chip warned. Angele lowered his head and counterattacked with his sword. He blocked the attack successfully, but the opponent blocked his slash easily. The two mounted bandits performed pincer movements with perfect coordination. Angele was forced to remain encircled by their attacks and the sword skills he was proud of couldn't do anything. Those two mounted bandits also had some well-practiced sword skills, leaving little or no unnecessary actions in their movements. Angele couldn't find the chance to retaliate since after one of the two mounted bandits missed an attack, the other would fill the gap right away.
The two continued striking Angele, such that the three had already exchanged no small number of blows within a short span of time. Actually, Angele was being forced out of his cover due to the pressure they were exerting on him.
'The crossbows will easily get me from any angle once I'm out of the bush. They don't even need to get close.' Angele grasped the situation correctly, but the two weren't letting him move freely. Angele was being forced backward due to the impacts of the blows that the two mounted bandits showed especially since it was because they had a similar strength level as him.
Angele would've already been long dead if he didn't have the special sword skill set constructed by the chip. There was barely any unnecessary movement in the set, which made him gain the ability to block the attacks perfectly. However, Angele's wounds were inevitably opening because of his actions. The kick also injured his left arm and he was losing blood and stamina at a fast rate. His blocking capability was becoming weak and his eyesight was getting blurry. Sweat even dripped down into his eyes.
"You are very strong as a teenager. Are you some child of big noble family?" One of the bandits laughed and said.
"Only those kids have the chance to learn grand knight level sword skills and your attributes are quite high for your age. It must be nice to be a kid in a big family." He continued.
"If Master Ceylon was here, this kid would've died already." The other bandit said, not even slowing one bit. Their swords seemed like two silver flashes in their hands as they continued attacking Angele from both sides. Every attack was accompanied by another, showing no flaws at all. Angele tried to find an opportunity, and yet he failed to do so. He wanted to take out his knives, but he had absolutely no time to spare.
CHI!
One of them slash Angele's chest, resulting to an injury about 10 centimeters long.
"It's over!" One of the bandits yelled as he slashed toward Angele with his full strength.
Angele did his utmost to block the attack with his crossguard sword, but he was still blown away to the ground. He couldn't stand up after the impact. His plan had failed and the power of the crossbows was something he hadn't expected. Angele had already experienced death before, and at this instance where death had once again chanced upon him, he actually calmed down completely. However, he was out of strength and severely injured, even losing no small amounts of blood and stamina.
There was no way for him to stand against two bandits with strength of a top-level knight and four crossbows. His eyesight was already too hazy, but he could still see the bandits slowly walking toward him while shaking the blood off their broadswords.
'Zero, any plan left for me?' Angele thought.
Chapter 29: Mystery (2)
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
'Chances of survival: 5.15%. No plan available other than the reserved one.' Zero's reply made Angele lose all hope.
Angele wasn't surprised at the result, but it seemed as if he would have to use the reserved plan as his last resort. He had plans on increasing his growth speed using the special energy, also deciding to save the energy for future research. However, he probably had to use it now, otherwise, he would just have himself killed here. Angele wanted to at least slow them down.
'Commence the plan,' Angele said. He was lying on the ground and staring at the sky. Several clouds moved slowly and a black bird flew over while chirping.
'The sky looks like a pure gem…' Angele thought.
'Wait, gem?' Angele stopped thinking for a second as he remembered the magical word.
"Manss!" Angele didn't think too much and yelled out the word.
Suddenly, intense green light covered him and made him look like a shining sun — a scene strange enough for one to witness.
"Enchanted item! Back off!" The two bandits looked surprised that they even backed off right away. It was as though they had seen something horrifying.
KA!
Time ceased its incessant passing as everything turned black and white. The bandit was frozen in his motion with one of his feet still in the air. The leaves that were falling off the tree hadn't reached the ground. One mounted bandit was still aiming his crossbow at Angele. The golden sunlight turned into a black and white flash. No sounds could be heard, and even then, the wind that should've been blowing came to a halt.
Angele laid on the ground quietly. Green light perpetually emanated out of his body. Everything around him had come to a stop, such that the only thing in motion was nothing. Angele could somewhat smell something fishy, reminding him of the smell of the sea. He felt his body being covered by gentle wind.
'Warning! Warning! Radiation is infecting your body. Stored energy is being consumed quickly… 10%, 9%, 8%, 7%...' Zero kept reporting. Angele finally realized that he was still alive, and then he stood up quickly. Successive ripples flowing like the waves of the sea was the current state of the green light on his body. Then, he walked toward the two bandits.
CHI! CHI!
Suddenly, the monochromatic state of black and white returned to its former hue, and even the movements of all things returned. The footsteps of the bandits, the noise of wind blowing through the trees, and the chirping of birds — all came back like nothing happened. The green light dissipated from Angele's body, and the world was once again dyed in its original color.
The two bandits were still retreating, but their heads suddenly dropped to the ground and rolled backward. Blood spurted out of their necks, and the remains of their existence dropped to the ground.
"That was the power of… wizards?" Angele was completely dumbstruck and he couldn't believe what he just did. He looked at the two decapitated heads that had their eyes still open.
'Energy level reduced to zero.' Zero reported. Angele thought for a moment that he'd only been dreaming however fleeting of a moment it was. Still, he lowered his body quickly, evading three crossbow bolts that flew over his head. He retrieved his daggers and threw it toward the remaining mounted bandits. One of the mounted bandits screamed in response to being struck while the other three fled on their horses with fear in tow.
Angele looted the money pouch on the two dead bandits and headed back to the caravan. He felt his body paralyzed, unable to feel pain from all the wounds he had. However, he felt pain coming constantly from his brain. His vision was already too blurry, yet he ran onward to the direction of the caravan to return.
Angele thought that the power he wielded was different to the one he had before, but he was more confounded at the fact that time had been frozen still. The power was too great and mysterious that it made him feel more fearful. He kept on running, uncertain of how much time had passed. Finally, from Angele's hazy vision, he saw someone he was familiar with.
"Angele! God!" The baron's voice was shaky.
Angele saw the surprised expression of the baron after he slumped on the latter's arms. The baron looked very nervous, and even people around them were screaming. Angele felt the pain in his brain getting worse. He saw his own reflection in the baron's eyes.
Blood was coming out of Angele's orifices. His face was pale, eyes unfocused. The chip was sending information to him, but he could only hear nothing. The pain coming from his brain hindered him from thinking.
*******************
Fifteen days later.
In the endless plain, three black carriages were slowly advancing through the grass like ants. The wind was blowing across like the billowing waves of the sea. In the carriage at the forefront, a teenager with brown hair was looking outside the window. His body was covered with gray bandages and his face looked pale.
"Angele, are you feeling any better?" A man asked with a deep voice.
"Much better, Father. I think I will fully recover shortly." Angele nodded and said.
"That's good. Next time, I am not letting you fight alone." The baron looked relieved as he said this.
Angele smiled with mixed feelings. It had been 15 days since they left the forest. He was in a coma for two days, but he slowly awakened. According to the chip, his muscle was badly injured, and he lost a lot of blood. The bone in his both arms were fractured, and also had moderate concussion and stroke.
People in this world had general better physiques than the ones on Earth. It only took Angele 15 days to recover from such injury, instead of taking at least two months in the hospital on Earth. He was recovering very fast with the fruits of his daily training giving him assistance. Angele put his hand on the edge of the window and looked at the beautiful scenery. Although in reality, he was checking some information on the chip. He spent a long time trying to find out what actually happened that day.
He had a general idea about the situation. The ring was found on Dice's body, but he never used it before he died. If he had used the energy, Angele would've been dead for sure. He spent several days on analyzing the energy consumption and compared it to the moderate use he did before. Angele finally understood why Dice did not activate the ring.
'The radiation energy can only be used if the owner already has a certain amount of similar energy in the body, and it could only be activated using the command. The first time, the ring only brought some green light and agility enhancement, but it was nothing like that after. I guess the ring must have some sort of system to limit its power output.' Angele thought.
Angele used the radiation power to increase his attribute, and his chip helped him store a certain amount of the power in his body, which fitted the condition for using the ring. The chip extracted all the power and broke the limitation set on the ring. That day, he successfully activated the power by yelling the proper command. The radiation power was released from the chip in full and consumed it all. The result was strong but horrifying.
'Dice probably had only obtained it recently, or else he could've used the power before he died. Obviously, he could not activate it himself, so he kept it with him to store some radiation power into his body to fulfill the requirement of utilizing the ring.' Angele guessed.
'I finally understand why Dice didn't use the ring. The horrifying power damaged my muscle that day, probably due to the freezing of time. My speed was boosted to an impossible level, making me faster than time itself. Why did everything become black and white though? Maybe it was the radiation that changed the color around.' The carriage was moving slowly with Angele still making conjectures.
'Zero, show me the light spectrum that day.' Angele ordered.
'The color of the sunlight was removed by the radiation energy, leaving nothing but white. The shadows remained black, so you could only see black and white.' Zero reported and showed a graph of light spectrum to him. The columns on the graph kept changing to demonstrate the changes during that time.
'Why were there green lights on my body?' Angele asked.
'You were the source of those lights.' Zero reported. It could analyze Angele's questions quickly, so it instantly sent the conclusions to him.
Angele nodded his head slowly, finally having a general idea of the power. However, he used up the stored radiation energy.
'If the chip did not extract the energy, I wouldn't be able to use the ring myself. It requires the owner to have the similar energy as the ring, which means the owner must be a source of such energy already. People with such energy must be the Wizards.' Angele thought as he grabbed the ring on his necklace.
'It's most likely the case that the ring can only be activated by wizards. The two bandits spoke of it being an enchanted item. It might be the name for treasures such as this.' Angele looked at the ring carefully while using his finger to rub the emerald gently.