Book 2, 50
The knight truly was extremely beautiful, with an air of mystery surrounding her. Her misty eyes made it seem like she was forever stuck in a battle with a lover, and at that moment she was so close to him she was practically leaning. Their faces were merely ten centimetres apart, and the priest could feel the warmth of her glowing face and enchanting breath.
He struggled to lower his head once again. Outside of her deep cleavage and the rest of her body exposed by the scant outfit, the most shocking thing was that her hands were held tightly onto a double-edged dagger.
Even with the dagger completely buried into his chest, the wound did not expand. Only a little blood seeped out, but while the dagger’s tip had been in front of him before now it was the hilt instead. He hadn’t even felt the change happen, much less see it.
The old priest did not speak a word, but he was not yet dead. The short blade had pierced his spine, not his heart, and lifeblood was still pumping vigorously from his beating chest.
The knight suddenly let out a malicious smile, but her beauty added an element of animalistic charm to it. She suddenly placed her hand on his chest and pushed in with abrupt force, managing to pierce his ribcage and pull out a violently beating heart.
The priest gaped up at the sky, his gaze slowly blurring. The knight stuck out her crimson tongue and crudely licked his face, after which she took his heart to her mouth.
*Squelch!* A crushing sound rang out as she took a clear bite, starting to chew.
However, she frowned after a few bites, spitting out flesh and blood as she cursed loudly, “It reeks!”
She waved her hand at the same time, sending the remains of the heart flying. It lit up with gentle flames as it arced through the air, and a gust of wind whistled past as her beast swallowed the heart whole. It then landed in the midst of the battlefield, narrowing its eyes as it opened its big mouth in delight. It was as though that small heart was the best thing it had ever tasted.
The beast had crushed dozens of soldiers with its weight, and judging from the minimal twitching of their bodies it seemed like they had met their end.
It was only then that the old priest’s body slipped down, falling to the ground with a thud. The knight fished out a clean, white handkerchief out of who knows where as she carefully wiped the blood off her left gauntlet. The fights were still raging on in her surroundings, but the battle was already over. The loss of the priests and clerics were a heavy blow to the enemy soldiers, the magic supporting them vanishing as they lost more than 30% efficiency instantly. Tens of black knights continued to step out of the portal, and with the front lines collapsed the battle became a massacre. Some deserters could even be seen at the edge of the battlefield.
The knight finally finished wiping her gauntlet clean, and followed up by dabbing away the blood and flesh left at the corners of her mouth. However, her lips were still stained crimson— it was as though they would drip with more blood at any time.
She looked at the old priest’s corpse with eyes still wide open, spitting out viciously with a look of disdain, “A level 15 priest but he’s still rancid! As expected, old meat really isn’t for me. I should find something soft and tasty...”
By that time, the battle had already ended. The fierce knights had decimated the ambush with the help of the great mages, even taking out those who tried to flee. The deserters hadn’t gotten very far before they were caught.
The near three metre tall leader walked to the female knight once again, bowing almost ninety degrees to reach her height. He spoke in an incredibly respectful tone, “All the enemies have been killed, my Lady. We lost nine of our own in battle, and our number now stands at 71. What instructions do you have?”
The knight was in no hurry as she surveyed the battlefield. Over six hundred corpses lay on the battlefield, with more than half of those surrounding the fallen knights and their mounts. The knights, and even their mounts, had launched a formidable counterattack when they neared death.
The battlefield reeked of blood, with more still flowing out of the piles of corpses to seemingly dye the entirety of the land red. The knight took in a deep breath to soak in the stench in the air, closing her eyes with a look of incomparable euphoria on her face. After what seemed to be forever, she finally murmured, “Wherever you are, blood always smells so good!”
The knight captain let out a few maniacal laughs, “So true!”
The female knight opened her eyes once more, “For a plane limited to level 18, sending a level 15 priest is quite the effort. But all that’s useless against me. Alright, gather everyone around, I want this battlefield cleaned in ten minutes. After that, let’s go take a look at what the people at the base were doing and why the portal opened up at such a god forsaken place that we got ambushed!”
Having given the order, she walked to the large manticore while saying coldly, “I hope there’s a few tasty humans in the base. I’ll only consider sparing those worthless creatures if I’m satisfied tonight.”
The leader of the knights let out a deep laugh, “Then it looks like there will be more blood tonight, Lady Sinclair!”
Sinclair responded viciously, “Don’t rain on my damned parade!”
The knight immediately went quiet, trembling slightly.
Any noble from Norland would recognise this female knight. She was Sinclair Schumpeter, one of the elite daughters of the Schumpeter Family. At the same time, they would also recognise the family’s elite warriors— the bearguard knights.
From their mounts to the knights themselves, the bearguard were specially bred. Each individual was at least level 12, and they had three runes on them as a standard. Only being a few hundred years old, the Schumpeters only had about 150 of them, but the fact that Sinclair brought out more than half to this plane proved that they put a lot of stock into this battle. It also showed their sincerity and determination to remain in the top circles of Faust: were Sinclair to meet with any mishap on this incursion, the family would not be far off from losing its island.
Only in her early twenties, Sinclair was just level 15. However, most people focused on her leadership in battle— her strange and ferocious style of command would be put on for all to see. If not for Alice Archeron’s meteoric rise to the top, she might have been the brightest female general in the Sacred Alliance.
In a secondary plane with the power limit capped at level 18, the Schumpeters had sent Sinclair, two great magicians at level 14, and eighty bearguard knights alongside support from an existing base. This would be more than enough to serve as the seeds for controlling this plane. Why would there be any chance for failure? The biggest expense for the family had been transporting this entire team.
However, any accidents could happen in the endless planes. Half an hour later, Sinclair was stood in front of the Schumpeter base with an ashen complexion.