"Dark Knight...! Come here...!" Leburo shouted, shaking the dark and dusty corridors of his castle. There were cobwebs in every corner of the ceiling, as if they were deliberately maintained to add to the castle's eeriness.
A black knight, clad in armor as black as night, with an eerie, murderous aura, immediately approached his lord and knelt before Leburo. A tribute to the Dark Lord, the ruler of all evil and terror in Aeros.
"You call me Lord?" asked the Dark Knight in a hoarse and weak voice, as if his tongue had been swallowed behind the black iron mask that covered his entire face except for his eyes, nose and mouth, confirming the Dark Lord's call.
"I feel strange, Dark Knight, there seems to be another force resonating with the atmosphere of Aeros, this force bothers me a lot. Raykogi feels it too." Leburo looked at Raykogi, who was tucked away in a scabbard at his waist, which was also buzzing irregularly. To some, it sounded like the buzzing of bees, to others it was more like the sound of a waterfall hitting the rocks in the valleys.
"What is this power that bothered you, sir?"
"I'm not sure, Dark Knight, that's why I called you here to find out and confirm to whom the power belongs."
"Then what should I do when I find the owner of the power, Master?"
"Bring him to me! You will probably find him in the east of Aeros, that is where I feel the disturbance coming from," Leburo ordered as he pointed and told his subordinate where to go to investigate the disturbance he felt.
"Yes, My Lord!" the Dark Knight replied obediently, then stood and bowed respectfully before turning and leaving the Dark Lord's presence.
The Dark Knight then blew a long whistle to summon his mount, a dragon, but it had been enchanted into a four-wheeled motorcycle, an animated vehicle. When the owner dies, the vehicle automatically follows its master, because that is the spell that bound the animated vehicle.
The dragon motorcycle drove strangely, hovering about half a meter off the ground. The Dark Knight directed his vehicle to the east of Aeros, where Leburo felt the strange power vibrations. Dark Knight's eyes were blank and he looked at the scenery he was passing through without any emotion.
After Dark Knight passed, an ugly, round-bodied creature with a rat-like face appeared from behind the curtain of Leburo's castle wall. In fact, it was a half-rat half-human creature, the most voracious and foul-smelling monster in all of Aeros, the disgusting Ratgottus. A monster that came from the darkest and dirtiest culverts of Aeros. Stench is his middle name.
"Do you know what to do, Ratgottus?" Leburo asked.
"Yes, My Lord, I will keep an eye on the Dark Knight."
"Good, you are my loyal servant, but remember not to let him know you are watching him. Do you understand?"
"I understand, My Lord." Ratgottus replied with a grin as he wiped his rat whiskers with his long, black, dirty, unkempt hands.
"Now get out of here!" shooed Leburo.
As Rattogotus moved out, several of his half-rat, half-human henchmen immediately lined up behind him. They then boarded several horses, which had also been chanted to become half-hoverboard vehicles, but still with horse heads. They moved cautiously, following the Dark Knight from a distance. They had to make sure that the Dark Knight would carry out the orders of Leburo the Dark Lord properly. And be ready to take over his duties if Dark Knight disobeyed the Dark Lord's orders.
Although Ratgottus would have preferred Dark Knight to fail in his duties, of course he and the Dark Lord's other men would get an exciting spectacle of Dark Knight being tortured by Leburo. It was certainly more fun to watch than the Dark Knight being praised and rewarded.
It was common for Leburo's men to compete with each other for the master's attention. They were used to dropping each other and being jealous if one of the men was more favored by Leburo. This time it was Dark Knight who was given a mission, although it was the first time Dark Knight had led a mission since joining Leburo some time ago. For Ratgottus, he is quite a tough rival, Dark Knight's strength is still a mystery to him, even to all of the Dark Lord's other men.
"The Dark Knight is a serious threat to me. I, who have served for almost dozens of Quarkos, but still become a subordinate who is at the bottom of the order. As for Dark Knight, he suddenly came and rose to the rank of knight and was trusted by Leburo. I don't know what kind of power Dark Knight has. But I hope he fails in this first mission. While Dark Knight is being tortured by Leburo, I'll be watching and biting into his flesh to eat. It must be delicious! Hahaha...!" Ratgottus laughed out loud at the thought of what the Dark Knight's flesh would taste like, he even salivating.
Ratgottus frowned, he felt strange about the direction the Dark Knight was heading. For the direction the knight was heading was towards the light part of Aeros. A real border between darkness and light.
"Strange, did Lord Leburo really tell the Dark Knight to go to the bright part of Aeros? Isn't the light part where all the White Knights are?" asked Ratgottus thoughtfully.
"Sir, we are beginning to enter the light part of Aeros. How is that? We're not used to see so much light. If we continue, we could all be weakened and become easy targets for the palace knights of Aeros," one of Ratgottus' men warned.
"Contiue and keep following Dark Knight! This was an order from Lord Leburo. We cannot fail to carry out his orders, otherwise you all know what the risk is, right? We will be tortured and possibly roasted alive by Lord Leburo!" Ratgottus explained.
Ratgottus' men, who were half-human, half-rat monsters, nodded. They had no choice but to obey and carry out their master's orders. The risk of disobeying Leburo was great, and not only for them. If they failed and returned home without fulfilling their duties, all of their people would be destroyed by Leburo without exception. The cruelty and wickedness of Leburo the Dark Lord was no mere nonsense. Therefore, it would be a disaster for them if they failed.
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