When Denver died, he was still clutching his sword.
The gloom of the woodland made him miserable. He sat under the tree, his face shocked, as if the fear of his heart had killed him first. Shire saw that he had been cut from his chest a huge wound, the blood had congealed and darkened, the stomach was broken, the mouth was half open, and the teeth were all blistered with blood.
Char didn't feel sick, just sad.
Two demon hunters, one old and one young, find the body of their companion and watch from a distance.
"Don't hide from his eyes. You have to get used to dead people." Etienne, a master of the Shire, had been a demon hunter for more than thirty years, and was no stranger to it.
"Yes." Char replied quickly.
Charles Grani, Etienne's apprentice, had only been with the old hunter for a year, and was a new recruit among the hunters. He had learned the art of demon-hunting, and had heard tales of horrors, of bloody oddities that had previously only been a fantasy, but were now in sight.
Etienne, sensing Charles's panic, kept silent until the young apprentice was used to it.
"He... How did he die?" Shire see Denver chest huge wound, manpower can not cut out that kind of marks.
"Who knows, maybe it was the Blade demon himself." Etienne looked up at the dark sky. "If we don't make it to the meeting point before nightfall, we'll have to face it."
Shire swallowed and felt afraid. The Blade demon killed him. Will he kill me next? What to do? I'm just a rookie hunter...
The Kingdom of Loman is located in the western part of the continent, and it is a turbulent era, dark heresies emerge in an endless flow, and the four borders are troubled, suitable for the activities of demons, so-called demons, are a creature that feeds on the soul and cannot restrain its hunger. In response to these soul-harvesting monsters, hunters whose job it was to hunt demons appeared.
Char and seven other hunters, assembled in undisguised pursuit of the Blade Demon. It is a cunning demon Lord, a high level demon in hell, who first entered the real world severely weakened, weak, and driven by hunters into the twilight forest. However, the demon's whereabouts are so mysterious that the hunters have to split up and expand the search area to prevent it from trying to escape.
In this situation, they are being broken. Charles knew the plan was bad, but he was in no position to speak, and Etienne remained silent, without explanation.
"What are your impressions of Denver?" Etienne asked.
"He was a good man." Shire felt a strong pang of sadness. He was talking to me the other day, and now he's dead. Life is so fragile.
Denver was his age and a recruit in the hunt. Only Denver was fat, and Char was tall and thin.
"When a man is nothing, we say he is good. Recruits come and they die. No wonder. All right, go and get the gear off him. He won't need it anymore." Etienne surveyed his surroundings. "Beware of an ambush. The blade demon may be hiding above your head."
Char could not help looking up.
A cork tree with its thick branches can really hide a vicious demon. Demons come from another world, with powers so varied that no mortal can fight them. He had heard that demons possessed more than a thousand sorceries, and that a demon hunter would have to be well trained and clever to compete even slightly with them.
Gotta find a way to survive... Things haven't been easy since we got into this forest. People quarrel with each other, decisions are divided, separate actions, and Denver is killed alone... Can we really succeed in hunting down demons? Char thought uneasily.
Fighting back the stench of the corpses, he had the courage to look around, watching for the terrible spells and crisis messages left by the demons, who possessed a multitude of terrifying spells that could alter reality and manipulate people's hearts.
Char unsheathed the bloody scabbard from Denver's belt and put it around his waist, then took his crossbow, arrows, and potions, opened his knapsack, and took its contents.
Crossbows were banned by Loman law, but demon hunters were on the fringes of normal life, so they never obeyed the law, and almost everyone carried them. The potion was dispensed by the witches of the Otter School. Denver had a bottle on him that would have been clear to the ear, a disguise, but he died before he could use it. His knapsack was full of jerky, wine, and cheese, and Charles carried them all with him.
Denver is dead, and now it has been taken by the Shire relics, it is even thinner, so it is left in the twilight forest.
Shire prayed to Denver's body for a moment, hoping that the gods would help and the souls would rest in peace.
"Don't look, we'll come back and bury the Blade Demon after we've killed him." Etienne said.
"All right." Charles followed Etienne in silence.
"Denver was Julius' apprentice, and when Denver is dead, he's probably dead too..." Etienne said to himself.
"Mr. Julius... Where could he have gone?"
"Actually, I wish he'd run away, out of the twilight forest, into civilization, and let everyone mourn for us for a moment."
"Are we going to die?" Shire was startled.
"Not necessarily, but at this point, the situation we're in is just too dangerous." Etienne looked around. "Look here, little Charles, how weak we are, and how strong the devil is. You grow fast, but not fast enough."
Shire followed the old hunter's eyes.
At dusk, the forest environment is deep, the trees grow wildly, long deserted, weeds and shrubs cross and multiply, the sun shines through the leaves, leaving a dim shadow. It was quiet, and the animals could sense the supernatural presence of the demon and had already fled.
We're the only ones still standing here, trying to fight the devil.
"Scared?" Etienne asked.
"Yes." Shire admitted that he knew that his inexperience and youth made such a task too dangerous for him.
But the demon hunter industry is special, there is no time for him to learn for three or five years, he has to follow skilled hunters to participate in every action, and learn to survive in extremely dangerous situations.
"There's no need to be afraid." Etienne turned to face Charles, the old hunter fifty years of age, gray temples, tall body, face weathered, "after the completion of this mission, you are finished with all the tests, I will be in the Hunter's Chapel to honor you, declare you a true demon hunter, use the power I have taught you."
"Really? Become a true demon hunter!" Shire looked forward to it.
"You remember the hunter's code."
"I promise, I swear, never to believe a devil, never to save a devil, never to forgive a devil." Shire's tone was firm.
"Pull out the sword you've got."
Char drew Denver's sword from his waist, and he could not help but grasp the hilt, feeling its weight.
It was his first time holding a sword, strange and exciting.
"Man is an animal, but he is also the most powerful of all animals." Etienne pulled out his sword and waved it gently in the air, the blade reflecting a dim light. "We have sharp eyes that can see very far away; Our bones are strong enough to withstand impact and light enough not to stop us from running and jumping; Our arms are strong enough to swing your five-foot sword, enough to make a sound through the air; And the sword in your hand comes from skilled craftsmen, who have honed it on the anvil with the best iron that men have ever hewn, and will live up to your trust."
Shire swiped the sword in his hand, the silver blade skimmed through the air, and sure enough, there was a roar. He could not help looking closely at the sword. It had a sharp edge. It was a fine weapon, designed for combat, strong enough to cut through armor and flesh.
"To find the Blade Demon, we had to split up and go deep into the woodland. Yes, you saw how Denver died, defenseless, easily disemboweled... But because we are human beings, and are the elite of human beings - demon hunters, so we know that the death situation, we know that the body and head may be separated in the next second, we must try, we must find and defeat it, we must not let it escape. Even at the expense of There is also value, or sacrifice, so that everything has meaning." Etienne said slowly.
"We can't leave." 'said Shire.
"No, we can't go. The safety of the whole region depends on us, we are not strong, we are depleted, only eight people, and we are even dying. But we are the only ones who know how to fight the devil, Char. We are the only ones who have any hope of defeating the devil. Even if the enemy is strong, the devil hunter cannot run away."
"I understand." Shire was thrilled.
"Oh, and one more thing, if you die, make yourself look good with a smile and a dream. You look at Denver, death is not very happy, I think the heart is very desperate, others see also uncomfortable." Etienne moved on.
Shire's face darkened.
His parents sold Char to a group of human traffickers, who then handed him over to a group of evil witches. They tie Charles to the altar for the sacrifice, and in the middle of the ceremony, Etienne enters it alone, defeats the witches without falling wind, and saves the children.
Faced with the kidnapped children, Etienne let all the others go, but chose Charles, and asked him to follow him to learn to hunt demons.
It's a complicated career for Shire. He faced unprecedented danger and learned a great deal of hunting skills, such as shooting, spells, and demon lore, which he never knew he would need.
All in all, it's time to push on.
They walked through the forest for a few minutes, and then the silence broke without warning.
"Help --" came a hoarse cry in the distance.
Etienne clicked his lips, clenched his sword in his hand, and galloped in the direction of the shout.
Shire followed, he did not dare to fall behind, in case in the forest alone, the devil will come to find him.
The cry for help led them to a green alder tree.
Shire was startled to see Julius, the demon hunter, hanging upside down in the distance, his skin torn, a black rope chained the branches to his ankles, forcing him to writhe in the air in agony. His stuff was lying on the ground, his hands in the air.
"I -- we have to get him down." Char could not help saying.
He smelled a strong stench. It was unusual.
"Think about who could have hung him from the tree." Etienne snorted coldly. "It's not time. Let's go."
Julius looked desperately, saw Charles and Etienne, and cried out: "Etienne! Help me!"
"You know you're going to die. For the sake of Loman, give us some peace." Etienne prepared for war with his sword, and Charles could not understand why the old hunter had reacted with such vigilance.
"No -- help me! You see Denver? It's already killed Denver! It's near! Help me -- please -- please -- Etienne, don't -- please -- "Julius implored.
Charles clearly remembered Julius as he had once been, with his black beard and big hood, calm and able, but he was now in danger, completely lost his usual qualities, all his abilities had been lost, and he could only desperately seek help.
"Don't mess around." Etienne reprimanded, "You want to drag us into this? Let's go, Char. '
"But -" Just leave him there to die?
"Let's go." Etienne was resolute, then lowered his voice again. "Don't you smell it?"
Stink of The smell, the smell just now. Char came to his senses, and it smelled exactly like Denver.
He and Etienne took a few steps when they heard a harsh cracking sound behind them.
Click -- click --
Charles turned around and saw Julius's body rapidly festering, his intact skin burst out in layers, his huge knife wounds emerged, and the dirt that had been hidden on the ground was reformed.
'A vision! Char realized the devil's trick.
Etienne narrowed his eyes.
"You just don't know when to stop." Julius' shrivelled lips closed and a bloody machete flew from his split belly. This knife is undoubtedly the evil thing made by the devil, under the control of unknown forces, rapidly across the air, towards them, blood flying along the way, the situation is terrible.
Etienne quickly assumed a defensive position, and immediately realized that something was wrong: "-- Charles! Move away!"
Char instinctively tried to flee, the blade of depraved before him.