The ones at the back—the Cannibals— were currently spectating from the back, with their predatory crimson eyes peering through their hoods.
Looking at their faces which Conan saw even in the darkness made him smile wryly. 'They are just babies' He thought. At his age, he didn't know what 'teenager' or 'adolescence' means.
The cannibals in question were composed, they patiently leaned on the trees. Their appearances had shifted from the bony-faced monster to cute human teenagers.
"Oh, we know they're with you and you seem to be their leader. Why haven't you shown up all this time though? I take it you're planning something big."The Captain said, and with that statement, he ruined the little of the good impression that Conan had of him.
The man was utterly pessimistic. And was over-calculative.
"... What? Do we look like we need any more leaders than we already have, you dumb farce?"The roguish voice of a boy came from the back. One of the cannibals protesting.
"Hey—."The knight with poleaxe became annoyed and was about to retort, but was stopped by the captain.
Silence ensued for a while and Conan was still stuck in the middle. He switched glances from front to back, again and again until a voice came from the back.
"Well, we came because we perceived a new type of blood type, so we are here for a sweet supper. If you try to stop us, then you will be chewed on."A hoarse and hostile girlish voice was heard, and the one at the front raised their head, revealing their dark crimson eyes.
"We apprehend the terrors of the night and protect the venturers thereby. We will apprehend both you cannibals and the..."The Captain heroically said, but then paused on seeing Conan's eyes and was puzzled. Should he call him a serpent? Knowing serpents were just myths or should he just call him a serpentine monster?
"The serpent man..."The glaive-wielding lady Knight completed his statement to which he awkwardly nodded—although he hid the awkwardness well.
"You already failed at everything you intend to do, especially the first..."The girl—leader of the cannibals— said, her voice especially turning into growls at the end of her statement. The same as the others, aggressive snarls came from their mouth and their hostility became evident that it caused the air to stagnate and made an eerie coldness descend.
"Wait a minute did you just say want to eat me?" Conan turned towards the leader of the cannibals and asked in astonishment.
"Yeah, I did, because damnation, your smell is too breathtaking to not kill for. I would very love to taste you up."The girl said in a sultry voice that gave even Conan the creeps, but she wasn't done.
"And my friends too will join..."She turned towards her cannibal friends and added.
"Ha! That sounds romantic! Ha-Ha"The lady knight with a freckle on her upper lip zinged.
"Not the time for silly jokes Mogen!"She was reprimanded again.
"Sorry, sir..."She apologized.
"It's okay, you're still a mercenary after all..."The knight softly said, albeit grumpily. He was getting irritated already but the captain was too patient and calculative.
"Sorry if that came out wrong, but I'm too aroused by your smell to think properly."The girl spoke again but this was even more sultry than before "...also, that came out wrong."She added.
"You should avoid speaking at all."Another girl spoke, from the cannibals' side. Her figure had curvey proportions that the mantle failed to hide due to her posture. "You always come out wrong."
"Thank you..."She turned towards the one who rested her back on a tree. The other shook her head and sighed in response. She seemed older than the rest.
"Oh well, let's start the orgy shall we?"The leader of the cannibal said and suddenly her skin pulled tightly over her body and her bones bulged, her fingernails elongated into frighteningly sharp and long claws with pointy ends, emphasizing their piercing power. Each claw in the semblance of a dagger.
The same change happened to the others and their aggressive growls dominated the night.
"Pfft... Orgy?"Mogen laughed, but a glare from the knight with a poleaxe shut her up. She seriously brandished her darts in readiness to fight.
The knights and The Cannibals faced each other and Conan was in the middle. He looked at the knights in amusement. They seem like good guys to him.
He looked at the Cannibals and was even more amused. They want to eat him? Thinking this, he created two ice polearms with a short shaft and a long single-edge blade and pointed each of the blades at the two factions—good and evil— with him at the middle—neutral.
Seeing this, the Cannibals charged forth in sync, changing positions as they hopped from the trunks of one tree to another. Another running straightforward on four limbs. All in all, they were speedy.
The Night Knights also charged forward and brandished their weapons. The captain, in particular, spun his sword in one hand making it generate airwaves as he ran.
Conan was at the clash point between the two forces but he wasn't going to stand still. He has stuck in it already, so why not try to make 'acquaintances'?
The leader of the Cannibals latched on the bark of a tree and used all strength in her leg to leap forward. She propelled forward like an arrow and trees fell in her wake.
Her claws whooshed toward him, aiming to tear him apart. Her prong teeth bared at him hungrily as drool escaped from her mouth. Her white lifeless pupils constricted in anticipation to taste something delicious.
Being the first to reach him, she swiped her dagger-like claw at him, aiming to leave a deep slash on his torso but Conan sidestepped and fluidly left a cut in the stomach of the cannibal girl.
To his surprise, no blood spilled out and the girl herself didn't act hurt. The wound started closing up rapidly.
Soon, the wound closed up and no signs of it were left, except for the clean cut on the clothing she wore under the mantle.
Given some space, she pressed the back of her hands inwards and thrust forth, hurling forth her claws. A total of ten dagger-like claws detached from her hands while she rapidly generated another set.
They tore through the air and swished their way toward conan. All threatening to pierce his vital spots.
He spun, and twisted his body in unnatural angles, maneuvering to dodge the claws in the little space. Because of the little space, a claw pierced his shoulder but didn't go past his flesh.
He pulled the claw out and tossed it, the cannibal girl was ogling already on smelling his blood. Although the claw pierced his shoulder, it was too fickle to take into account.
But what surprised him was that the claw pierced his armor, which brings about the question, 'am I that weak in this mortal form? or is she that strong?"
As he was nonchalantly thinking with his hands on his hip, the cannibal girl took this as an opportunity to mortally wound him while he was not looking.
She lunged forth, and amidst all the clashing and cracklings, she raised her claws, which regenerated after the ejection of the previous ones and slashed downwards.
Albeit Conan wasn't looking, he responded. His leg whipped through the air and landed on the girl's abdomen, making her spit blood out from the force.
The kick hurled her backward and buried her in the leaves and branches of the fallen trees that had clustered together.
Conan's head then abruptly turned to the side upon sensing an attack coming toward him. Turned out the lady knight with a freckle on her upper lip—Mogen—was rushing confidently towards him.
She leaped into the air and split her dart into two, with a chain connecting the halves. She landed on the ground, making leaves blow away at her feet, and hurled the first half of the dart toward Conan.
The chain extended as the dart tore through the air, and reached Conan in no time. Conan waved as the dart threatened to pierce his serpentine eyes and grabbed the chain, wrapped it around his fist, and pulled the lady knight in.
The lady knight yelped at her inability to resist the strength of the pull, thus, she lost her footing and her body was pulled forward with the help of the chain.
As her figure drew closer, Conan spun and kicked the lady Knight's figure in the same direction he hurled the cannibal girl.
The kick hit her stomach and she yelped out, feeling the air being pushed out of her, despite her wearing a plackart over her loins. Then she felt her body hit a couple of branches and also, a body.
Conan on the other hand turned around to leave, the fight didn't concern him. So he ignored them all and got ready to leave, in fact by manipulating space.
But, the captain won't let him do so by standing before him and brandishing his sword. He pointed the sword at Conan making him feel the cold gleam.
"Another obstacle..."He sighed and created an ice greatsword of his. "...to remove before getting back to my babies."
It was then that he questioned if his decision to go out in the middle of the night was the best thing to do, given that the babies were also clueless about their environment.
But he had to admit, he found what he was looking for; information, and fun. For the first time in thousands of years, he felt like a normal being again and not a celestial, or immortal that everyone revered.
Meanwhile...
The Cannibal leader and the Lady knight both made their way out of the debris of leaves and branches. They faced each other daringly until the Cannibal girl turned away and made a shooing motion.
"Scram, I don't do women..."Then she turned to look at Conan, who was being confronted by someone else. Someone stronger, for some reason, felt like she had failed and felt the need to leave.
But also felt the need to add to her previous statement on smelling Conan's delicious smell "...I don't swing that way..."
"...What?"The Lady knight frowned on hearing such a ridiculous statement. Wondering as to how what she said had anything to do with what was going on.
"You know what I mean, I don't eat women."The Cannibal girl added and glared.
"I'm a lady."The lady knight grumbled and glared back.
"I fail to see the difference."