The archer was a middle-aged man with a lean build, sharp facial features, as well as a piercing glare. He didn't rest by the side of the river and drink deeply like his companion. Instead, he leaned on an ancient tall tree at the bottom of the cliff, constantly assessing his surroundings while occasionally turning his ears to listen for movement in the woods.
Any trace of strange sounds and he would have his finger on the bowstring. If he felt anything out of place, the sharp arrow on his bow would instantly shoot out.
The rogue, on the other hand, was an agile fellow. While everyone was resting, he climbed to the top of the cliff and looked about, periodically leaning down and using hand signals to communicate with the archer.
"How is it? Did Jack find anything?" A spellbreaker knight couldn't help but ask once he was done drinking.
Jack was the rogue's name.
The archer shook his head, his face white as a sheet, "Nothing at all! This forest is way too quiet. I have been making a living in Greenland Forest for five years, and I have never seen the woods be so quiet; so quiet, not even a small animal can be found! Sir, this forest has been enveloped by an ominous feeling. Why don’t we go back?"
The slightly younger spellbreaker knight, his face full of determination, sternly replied, "You lot cannot go back now. We hired you to come here for the purpose of finding the den of those heretics. Before we find anything, none of us here are allowed to go back! If you escape on your own, you will still receive the harshest punishment when you get back. So let go of your pointless thoughts, and focus on how to safely complete the mission!"
The older spellbreaker knight took out an old parchment map from his arms, and started to evaluate their current location. It was obvious that the road that they still needed to search was very long, evident from the bending and curving route drawn on the map.
The warrior shrugged and put on a helpless expression upon hearing the spellbreaker knight's words. Meanwhile, frustration and hesitation appeared on the archer's face.
While he was in a daze, a vine dangling from the tree he was leaning on curiously moved without any wind blowing. Silently, the vine that almost touched the ground started to curl like a snake, raising itself upwards.
The tip of the vine split apart, revealing a set of sharp teeth like that of a beast.
Just as the vine was slowly inching forward, its sharp teeth about to touch the archer's exposed neck, the rogue on the cliff leapt downwards. The throwing daggers in his hand screeched through the air and slashed past the archer's ears, hitting square on the tip of the vine.
"Clang!" The crisp and clear sound of metal clashing. The archer's body trembled. Aware of the danger, he didn't turn around, and instead flipped forward instantly.
The vine wasn't cut or damaged by the throwing dagger. It even let out a metallic sound similar to clashing swords when it was hit. The lunging vine didn't manage to bite the archer's neck, having been stopped by the dagger. It's sharp teeth bit nothing, letting out an odd grinding sound as the teeth gnashed together.
It evidently knew it had been exposed, as a weird cracking sound rang out from the roots of the old tree beneath the cliff. The tree pulled out its fine yet dense roots from the ground, entangling and fashioning them into limbs that resembled human legs, before slowly walking towards the humans.
Moreover, the dozens of vines dangling from its body started to move, their tips splitting into mouths with sharp teeth, letting out terrifying snapping sounds.
"Dammit… what kind of monster is this!" The warrior roared as he waved the large sword in his hand and charged forward.
As a small adventuring group, he was the only one who could charge forward, do frontal assaults, and other sorts of dangerous activities. His two other companions couldn't take on such an odd and powerful magical creature from the front. On the other hand, the two spellbreaker knights, as the employers, had the right to remain neutral until the adventurers failed.
The archer quickly put some distance between himself and the tree-shaped magical creature. Snapping sounds came ceaselessly from the bowstring in his hands, as one arrow after another shot towards the enemy in a straight line. This was the first time he had ever seen a magical creature like this. With no means of identifying the enemy's weakness, he could only choose to attack the enemy's thick tree trunk.
The rogue clearly had the same idea, as the envenomed throwing daggers in his hands were also desperately thrown towards the enemy's thick body.
Unfortunately, most of the their attacks were brushed aside by the madly waving vine serpents. Even when some arrows and daggers made it through, they didn't seem to have any effect.
Evidently this terrifying magical creature was not scared of attacks from such small sharp weapons!
The warrior slashed the tree several times, sending wrinkled and rough tree bark, as well as tree sap, flying everywhere. But before he could do more damage, a thick root came up from the ground, binding his legs and making him fall flat.
The ancient tree moved its forked ‘legs’, slowly moving towards the warrior. The vine serpents dangling from its branches snapped their jaws, as if they were about to devour the warrior whole.
The two spellbreaker knight looked at each other and nodded, before immediately activating the runic equipment on their bodies. The small shield bound to their left hands emitted a semi-translucent energy shield, while a sliver of elementium flame appeared on the runic sword in their right hands, before slowly extending to the rest of the blade.
Energy shields and flame swords.
These two spellbreaker knight were also experienced soldiers. They knew that fire was undoubtedly the greatest counter to such beefy plant-type creatures.
One spellbreaker knight stepped forward, the flame sword in his right hand slashing forward vigorously. The flame blade extended outwards and left a burning crescent moon trail in the air, slicing through the roots binding the warrior.
The roots broke, sending viscous green sap flying everywhere.
The ancient tree-shaped creature shook in pain, and all the vine serpents moved to the front of the trunk, snapping at the spellbreaker knights.
One had to admit that the spellbreaker knights, with their runic equipment, were the natural enemies of all magical beings!
The energy shield with no elemental alignment could block curses and almost all spells, with the exception of spells with penetration effects. They also had exceptional defense against physical attacks. This ensured the personal safety of the spellbreaker knights. With the addition of the flame longsword in their hands, which dealt double attribute damage of both physical and fire types, they could deal incalculable amounts of damage to the enemy.
If this ancient tree, with its tree bark armor, had been left to the adventurers to deal with, at least seven or eight casualties would have been needed to take it down. But with the spellbreaker knights' powerful defense and offense, they were able to set the ancient tree on fire, while only paying the price of the warrior being lightly injured.
Indeed, when the spellbreaker knights cut a deep opening on the ancient tree's body and used the flames to ignite the green sap, the entire tree started to let out ear-piercing scream. It was like that of a human’s as it painfully burned in the sea of fire.
The three-man adventure group was naturally ecstatic at being able to successfully eliminate such a powerful magical being.
However, before they could loot the spoils from the burning body of the ancient tree, the two spellbreaker knights gravely shouted, "Hurry up and come back! Get ready. The true enemy is about to arrive!"
The three-man group was horrified.
Such… such a powerful magical creature still wasn't the enemy’s main force?
Just as they were hesitating, the overwhelming sound of thrashing winds suddenly filled the entire woods nearby.
A large black shadow started to emerge from all over the woods, screeching as it surged towards them.
"Bat swarm! It's a bat swarm…"
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br /> The next moment, their shouts were drowned out by the bloodsucking vampires that surged forth like a tide!
Chapter 197
In less than seventeen seconds, the three-man adventure group had turned into corpses.
The two spellbreaker knights remaining stood back to back and were fighting off the vampire swarm with their energy shields and flaming longswords.
It was unfortunate that most of the swarm consisted of vampire spawn, who were much weaker than the first generation of vampires that Mary had personally Embraced. As they gathered together, surrounded, and circled the spellbreaker knights, not only were they unable to break through the opponents' defenses, many of their companions were even killed by the runic longswords shrouded in flames as well as and the flame blades that burst forth every so often.
As the vampires engaged in a brutal fight, a red silhouette appeared on the low cliff beside the battlefield. A slim female proudly stood there.
Bright red armor, crimson longbow, seductive body, perfect looks, and that pair of crimson eyes glowing bright red…
Mary stepped on the stones of the cliff, her flawless figure displayed before everyone. However, her attention didn't seem to be on the battle before her, and was instead drawn to the woods nearby.
With the vast sea of trees and dense foliage, it was extremely difficult to see through the layers of green and to see what was below. But now, using countless Magic Eyes spread throughout the vast forest, she was able to see everything within a radius of ten to fifteen kilometers.
The stationary Magic Eyes, along with the agile vampire scouts, turned the dense forest into her ally. It was no longer an obstacle, but an advantageous homefield that allowed her to launch attacks as she willed, exterminating numerous small squads of witcher-knights at the same time.
The witcher-knight army had suddenly stationed themselves in Blue Hillock City half a month ago.
Their arrival had undoubtedly attracted the protests of the Blue Hillock City governor as well as its local nobles. Sadly, when faced with the overwhelmingly powerful dragon knight, the local forces had no choice but to keep their heads down and obediently follow the instructions of the opponent.
Meanwhile, the authorities of Blue Hillock City that had been turned into Mary's blood servants had settled down, and were continuously feeding information about the witcher-knights' movements to the adepts' base.
The two dragon knights had finally been able to determine that the evil invaders were most definitely hiding in the southern area of Greenland Forest, a vast area of dense trees that stretched for a hundred and fifty kilometers. And the opponent's identity was obvious! It was the heretic adepts that came from the World of Adepts!
This was clear from examining the injuries of the poor green dragon.
Amongst the massive planar world in the infinite sea of stars, the World of Adepts was always a nightmare that small and mid-sized material planes were never able to get rid of.
This was a terrifyingly large-sized plane that very much favored invasions!
A group of evil adepts that chased after knowledge with an impassioned madness, while ignoring all rules of society, lived within the plane. They had twisted minds and travelled about the depths of the sea of stars in groups, using their evil magic to find weak planes that could bring about resources and wealth for them.
They appeared fair and just! Everywhere they went they shouted for fair trade and equivalent exchange, as if they were a group of casters that kept to a strict set of principles. But the moment they realized the opponent didn't possess sufficient power to resist them, they would put on another face.
The adepts would use powerful martial strength, terrifying voodoo beasts, and horrifying plagues to weaken the wills of those who opposed them, then forcibly enslave their enemies.
They would prop up obedient puppets in every plane they conquered, turning them into leaders and having them order the natives to excavate mines, dig for jewels, and use every bit of their strength to exploit all the precious resources of the plane.
In the hearts of all the weak and small material planes’ natives, the adepts were a bunch of horrifying spellcasters that had twisted minds and insatiable greed, possessing powerful and evil magic to back up their desires.
Once these adepts were allowed to break into a plane and put down their roots, the only thing awaiting the plane was endless humiliation and a life of slavery that lasted for a thousand years. It would last until the last bit of the plane’s resources had been exploited!
Therefore, the moment they determined that the invaders were a group of evil adepts, the higher-ups of the knights' army hastened their actions.
The witcher-knights haven't finished rallying? Then we rally while we fight!
The resources for a planar war have yet to be prepared? Then we prepare while we fight!
The enemies' den has yet to be found? Then we search while we fight!
The first group of witcher-knights that gathered in Blue Hillock City numbered around 2300 men, while the spellbreaker knights, that had the power of First Grade adepts, had also reached 150 men. The radiant knights that represented the higher-ups of the knight's army, and who had power rivalling that of Second Grade adepts, numbered 20 men.
There were even two dragon knights with the power of Third Grades.
Sadly,Dragon Knight Kalyk’s dragon partner had been gravely injured, and could only be sent back to Dragon's Cliff to rest for the moment. This caused the witcher-knight army to lose an extremely mobile force!
The army of the witcher-knights had already been amassed. They only needed to determine the true location of the enemy's den, and then they would be able to charge forth with the force of lightning to thoroughly exterminate the enemy.
Unfortunately, due to the complex environment of Greenland Forest, the dragon knight’s numerous high-altitude investigations yielded no clues as to the location of the evil adepts. With no other choice, the higher-ups could only send out large numbers of small squads, paired together with adventurers and mercenaries, to launch a large-scale sweep of Greenland Forest’s southern area.
Meanwhile, to stop the knights' search operations, the adepts had emptied all of their reserved resources to construct a large batch of grim voodoo beasts, sending them into the surrounding woods.
Thus, countless savage and horrible battles that were bloody beyond imagination erupted in this vast sea of trees stretching for hundreds of kilometers. Of course, the number of human mercenaries, knights, and voodoo beasts that fell under the dappled shadows of the canopy was countless as well.
After a dozen days of bloody back and forth, the higher-ups realised that their search squads, led by witcher-knights, might be able to stave off the voodoo beasts that used all sorts of weird and peculiar abilities. But the moment they met the evil adepts wandering about the depths of the woods, they were dead, without even the chance to send out even the simplest of information.
Therefore, to increases the survivability of the search squads, most of the squad leaders were replaced with the powerful spellbreaker knights. These spellbreaker knights travelled in pairs and would mostly be able to survive even under the assault of adepts, as long as their luck wasn't absolutely terrible. Moreover, they would be able to bring back exceptionally valuable tactical information.
On the other hand, thirteen adepts were pulled from the base, along with the vast numbers of voodoo beasts, and sent to the woods in the south to hinder the knights' continuous searching.
The vast number of voodoo beasts fought alongside the evil adepts, and created a line of extermination within the southern woods of Greenland Forest, engaging the endless hordes of knights squads in repeated bloody and cruel pursuits and hunts.
However, as individual radiant knights started to impersonate spellbreaker knights, going undercover in squads, the situation on the battlefield started to become increasingly chaotic and terrible. Everyday, one could hear news about the extermination of knight squads
or of adepts being killed.
For example, in the battle that was happening below the cliff now, Mary clearly had an overwhelming advantage in combat. As long as she joined the fight, and broke the united defenses of the two spellbreaker knights below, the swarm of vampires would most definitely be able to devour the two.
However, Mary, who was standing proudly on the cliff, only took a quick look at the battlefield with her bright red eyes before proceeding to ignore it. Even though her subordinate vampire spawn were suffering heavy casualties, she had no intention of helping.
With their backs to each other, the two spellbreaker knights were still fighting off the attacks of the bats, and started to show signs of worry in their eyes. The slightly older spellbreaker knight kept glancing at Mary. He finally couldn't wait and longer when he saw that the opponent had no intention of joining the fight.
Following a deep shout, the aura around the middle-aged knight started to increase rapidly. Violently surging runic energies gathered within the rune swords in his hands, ultimately turning into a radiant crescent moon, slashing towards the position Mary was standing at.
Mary's body flashed away from its original position. Her bat wings unfolded and she floated in midair, looking down on this middle-aged knight with a trace of disdain in her eyes.
When this battle technique that was most commonly used by the knights–Crescent Moon Slash– landed on the cliff, the highly concentrated runic energies instantly exploded. The strength of the energy was no less than a spell with 150 points of power. If Mary hadn't dodged, just that blow alone would have severely injured her!
It was almost as if a miniature sun had exploded on top of the cliff, as the violent runic energies instantly blasted apart half of the cliffside. The side of the cliff facing outwards started to crumble in a flurry of dust and crumbling rocks. Countless shattered stones and a ton of debris started to roll downwards, instantly flooding the battlefield beneath the cliff.
After some difficulty, the two knights were able to free themselves from the torrent of dirt and rock, and were finally able to find a spot to stand after retreating a hundred meters backwards.
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