I only see one Shadows here. Not too big in size, it didn't seem like it's been a Shadows for long. Avalon's vampires conduct experiments on humans. After infecting them into vampires and turning them into slaves—they did something to them to make them physically stronger.
The Shadows were monsters whose physique was similar to that of primates without fur. They also wore armor to cover their sensitive skin. The Shadows couldn't be exposed to the sun so they move at night. Their hands were long, their nails were very sharp and they were always thirsty. They no longer had a mind of their own.
They had agile movements and every attack was deadly. They would attack anyone, except the Avalon's Vampire.
Because they were fast and had a long range—close combat was not an option.
"Kyle! You come with me!"
I carried Kyle on my back, while the rest of the Raven team ran to scatter. I need to confuse the Shadow. It couldn't attack all of us at once, especially if we kept our distance from it.
The shadow finally focused on chasing one of the slightly large vampire knights. Maybe its predatory instincts felt he had more blood in his body. That was when I ran after it from the side.
"You can do it Kyle, This is like our old hunting activities, use your silver arrows," I instructed.
Kyle nodded and even though he was riding on my back, and I was running unsteadily—he seemed confident. He was used to my running speed. I need him for this. He had high accuracy in aiming even on unstable footing. But he needs my running speed to catch up to Shadows.
Kyle fired his arrow, hitting its head which was not covered by anything. it was hairless and now one of its eyes had blackened and burned. We should be after its heart. But his body was covered in armor so it wasn't that easy. But now Kyle had left it half blind.
"Once again!"
Kyle hurriedly drew and aimed its other eye. He was right on target as usual.
The Shadows roared in pain. Now we had taken away its sense of sight. It could only attack blindly.
I raised my hands in the air, after lowering Kyle back to the ground. The knights saw me. I coded with my hand movements. It was a sign language the knights of Florentia knew. I asked them to move quietly. I asked them to wait for the Shadows to start weakening from exhaustion. The silver arrows were still stuck in its eyes. It wouldn't be able to regenerate easily.
We all keep our distance. I drew my sword. Now was the time for us to actually kill it.
But I had to remember, even if its eyes are deformed—shadows were still dangerous. If I get hit by its hand—I might lose some parts of my body like the captain. I'm not here as a real knight. I didn't want to go home disabled.
Next, we had to disarm him.
I raised my hand in the air, and the knights saw me. Then I clenched it. We move together. Aiming for its arms.
With sharp swords in hand—we ran towards it in unison. One of the knights managed to cut off one of its long primate-like arms. Unhealthy fresh blood gushed from it. We shouted with joy. But I didn't waste it either. I ran towards it with the sword drawn then I slashed another arm.
He roared, opened its mouth and stuck out his poisonous, jagged tongue—trying to hurt me at the end of his life. I got goosebumps a little looking at it. Maybe it was the first time I had seen such an ugly thing. My hand reflexively slashed its head. I didn't have time to aim at its neck. But I crushed half of its head instead. From the cranium I saw part of its brain burst out and emit a disgusting smell.
Oh disgust! How disgusting! Part of its head stuck to my clothes. Gosh! I really want to take a shower now.
"Is it really dead?" Kyle hesitantly approached it and kicked the still warm carcass with his boot.
I still feel goosebumps. I try to take a breath.
"It's really dead, good job guys," I said encouragingly.
"Valor! You're great!" One of the knights praised me. Another tapped my shoulder.
"Well I couldn't have done it without you guys either," I flattered slightly while rubbing my nose. But suddenly I realized my finger was covered by the remains of the Shadows carcass and felt sick again.
"How's the captain?"
"The bleeding has stopped, he will be fine. We are lucky that no one died."
"We will check the condition of the villagers first. they must be scared," some of the soldiers left immediately. I was still at the place accompanying the weak-looking captain. We did have to end our mission early. But at least we needed to find a safe place to rest. The night was very dangerous for us.
I was about to take the captain to one of the residents' houses and start carrying him. As a vampire, even though I'm a girl—it's an easy thing for me. I could even carry Kyle while running.
Unfortunately, I'm too happy to have managed to kill a Shadows. So I let my guard down and didn't know if any other Shadows were about to pounce on me at this point. I think I'm too late. I had to turn around to dodge but I knew I would suffer a painful wound.
However, a glint reflected from the moonlight had dazzled my eyes. The movement was so fast, I only saw before my eyes that the Shadows were sliced and torn apart by something behind them. The glint came from a sword that belonged to one of Florentia's finest knights.
"You have to remember that Shadows never move alone, this is a war situation. You shouldn't let your guard down," Raphael Chastain told me. He flicked his black sword to wash away the blood that had stuck to it.
How could he defeat those Shadows so easily? Is that the power of a commander? But Raphael was no ordinary commander. He was a Shadows hunter. I know other people with the title of commander like Charles or my current commander. They didn't seem to be able to kill Shadows alone.
"Lord Chastain, thank you for saving me," I lowered my head slightly, showing my respect. He was a little arrogant, but I couldn't help but admit that he was cool.
He was part of Florentia's elite knight. They were purebloods who had high combat skills. They thought Shadows were just a bit of an annoying animal. Raphael himself had five subordinates, all purebloods who were no less tough and strong.
They work directly under the generals. They were the vampires who would face Avalon's commanders head-on. Of course it wasn't easy for me to reach their level. Especially being a general. But in Florentia or in any faction, being the leader didn't mean you have to be the strongest.
Like the generals of Florentia today, who needed more to strategize and ensure each knight maximizes their potential.
"It's not safe for you guys to travel with injured people. Your captain must recover first . . You all will come with us for a while until things are safe for you," Raphael re-sheathed his sword and asked us to follow him.