Arsh felt a deep clutch on his very soul as soon as he heard the familiar voice once again. It was impossible for him to ever forget that voice. A complicated feeling which was a mixture of confusion, fear, and rage brewed inside of him. And the reason for all that wasn't the overwhelming bloodlust released by the person present behind him. In fact, it hardly mattered at all.
Arsh stood up from the ground and moved toward the tree where the shining dagger had dug deep into. Pulling the unknown shining dagger out of the tree, he slowly turned back. His red eyes looked back in the direction of the dense forest, from where the dagger came.
Suddenly a silhouette came into sight, walking out of the dense forest with a smile on his face. A man looking barely in his 30s came slightly into view. And four other people in similar-looking attire followed him from behind. They all had tunic white robes on their bodies, covering most of them. With a symbol of the sun embroidered on the middle of it from both sides.
The adventurers involuntarily took a step back looking at the robed man. They didn't know who the man was, but they for sure knew from his robe. He wasn't going to just leave them alone.
Alan with a grave expression unsheathed his black sword out of the scabbard, calling out for his shadow armor next. Gelina also stood up from the ground, moving away and standing next to Alan.
"...Looks like none of us are going to leave this place alive."
Gelina mumbled slowly, reverting to her Griffin form instantly. She didn't need any other evidence than his presence to know who the man in front of the group was. And if even that wasn't enough of a clue to base it on. The symbol embroidered on his robe was clarifying it all.
The embroidery of the scorching sun. The symbol of the ruler of the light himself.
The Church of Sun.
Arsh recognized the robed man the moment he came into view. Not from the presence, not from symbols, and not from the attire. It was due to the repulsive feeling he was having for a few minutes by now.
'...Found You!'
The reason for Arsh's life was now in front of him. The person who brutally murdered his mother and village without fault. One of the five people who could answer Arsh's every answer.
The person who needed to die.
Arsh had so much to say to the robed man…. So much to do for revenge. But his body didn't move nor speak. It just stood straight in its place, looking at the man's face voidly.
He took a deep breath, as the seething rage inside of his head subsided a bit. It wasn't the time to give into feeling now. He needed a better course of action than that. Running directly into the first sword of a church without a plan was suicide.
And he for no condition was ready to let the robed man walk out alive. The man needed to take his final breath here in front of Arsh.
"Hmmm… You guys are much more composed than I thought you would be."
The robed man remarked. A little smile made its way onto his face.
"...I was sent to the northern continent to hunt for the shadow of death, who was missing for a few years. But…. Look what I have found."
"Two Griffins of Satar. The runaway master blacksmith Leo. That cursed child who we promptly lost during our last voyage, due to Death God's intervention. It is all finally coming together."
He looked at them again. This time his eyes focused on the band of adventurers.
"And there is also a bit of betraying rubble on the sidelines too…. This is going to be really fun."
The man licked his lips menacingly as he unsheathed his pure white sword out of its scabbard.
"... Let's redo the massacre of the North again."
Arsh swung both of his daggers in the air out of pocket, calling out for the shadow envelope in quick succession. Catching his daggers again his red eyes showed with a murderous gaze directed at the robed man.
The adventurers and the four behind the robed man all unsheathed their weapons looking at each other. Standing in a fighting position the adventurers nodded at Alan.
Smiling widely, the man took a step forward. But, before he can run amok, he was intercepted in the middle by a harrowing shadow.
"... I'll show you what a true massacre looks like. Dog of sun."
Alan appeared in front of the robed man and lunged his black sword forward. His disheveled black hair swayed in the air.
The man's eyes widened as he quickly stopped the sword by deflecting and took a step back. His demeanor changed from haughty to cautious in a single second.
The person behind the robed man conversed.
"Saint Jake. Please be cautious. That outlaw is the greatest fiend of espadan camps….He had a history of killing many second swords of other churches in the past."
"Even though he is nowhere near your level. Please be wary of him."
Alan smiled mockingly toward the sun saint, pointing his black sword in his direction. And In the next moment, it was all just chaos in every direction.
The adventurers stood in their place, taking a defensive stance. The robed man commanded something to the person behind that Arsh wasn't able to catch and they all dispersed away in a different direction.
The adventurers were struggling with two of the subordinates of the robed man. While the other two were chasing Arsh from behind throughout the whole forest.
Alan and Gelina were doing everything they could to stop the robed man from advancing. But it only looked futile from the sidelines. The robed man was easily dodging their attacks without much effort at all. In return attacking them with his own swift and sophisticated sword art.
But, Arsh didn't have the luxury of worrying about others. He averted his eyes away from them, running straight into the densest part of the forest. He had his own problems to deal with.
More specifically, two of them.
The following intruders appeared in almost the third phase from their pulverizing aura. And Arsh himself knew. It was borderline impossible for him to win against a person in the third phase in a fair fight, much less two.
Though after training with Alan for almost a year. Even if he hadn't learned any real overwhelming skills from him. He for sure had learned trickery from his demeanor.
And as Alan always used to say.
'With a bit of trickery, even a coyote-level monster can scale a Millennium…. Though, they don't have enough brains for that.'
Arsh needed to be in the darkest part of the forest to commence his plan. So he didn't stop running away. But what he didn't know was the strength of his opponents. Which he had severely underestimated.
The woman in a white robe caught up to him after a few minutes. Suddenly appeared at his side and kicked him with inhumane force.
Caught off-guard, Arsh wasn't able to dodge the assault of the robed women. He rolled down to the ground, getting plastered in the nearby tree.
'.....SHIT! That hurts'
Arsh clenched his daggers hard. Wincing in pain, he tried standing up from the ground. The kick had really done numbers on him. Especially because of its location, which directly damages internal organs.
Arsh didn't need more proof than that to know. That she had abilities related to superhuman strength. The way she had just crushed several bones in his body from a single first hit was a living virtue of that.
'...I have to stay away from her.'
Arsh cursed her under his breath. He wasn't sure if he could even survive half a dozen punches from her. So fighting hand-to-hand against her was completely out of the question now.
Looking around for a moment Arsh smiled suddenly. He wasn't that much of a fighter anyway. And he had already entered the dense part of the forest giving him an unfair advantage over his opponents.
'Everything is fair in love and war.'
Shadow Envelope|
Arsh called for the menacing armor. And in the next moment, he disappeared from his spot, leaving nothing behind on the spot. He moved back to one of the trees trying to hide away from any kind of light in the vicinity.
But the moment Arsh's eyes stopped on them. Every sense in his body rose up to the max. When his trembling eyes saw both of his opponents smiling, looking directly at where he was hiding.
Path of light|
The intruders chanted the spell. And a blinding light shone in the whole of the dense forest. Making his body completely visible to them again.
Arsh went pale looking at them. He had severely miscalculated everything from the start.
There was no way they were going to lose to the shadow spell…. They were emissaries of the sun God after all.
'...I am fucked….all over again.'