Amber Sword

Ben Brand had just finished off the first Hellhound when the second Hellhound finally rushed up. That clean, decisive blow with which he’d taken out its fellow had obviously startled it. Hellhounds might not be very smart, but they were still a bit cleverer than Little Demons; seeing Brand coming forward with his blood-soaked Sword, it immediately shrank back in fear.

But unfortunately Brand didn’t give it that chance. He simply leapt forward and brought his Sword down hard toward its forehead. With this strike Brand had already activated the Charge Skill; the Hellhound had absolutely no room to dodge. On top of that, it had already started to think of retreating, so trying to turn back in that instant was out of the question. Caught between advance and retreat, it took Brand’s Sword squarely to the forehead.

With a sharp crack like a hunter’s bowstring snapping, Brand’s Sword, carrying the momentum of his Charge, immediately smashed half of the Hellhound’s body brutally into the ground. The terrifying Strength born from Golden Peak Element Manifestation tore its body apart in an Instant, blasting it into a spray of minced flesh and shattered bone.

A Hellhound died so suffocated and unceremonious right there. As Brand landed, he finally sucked in a heavy breath. Although his Golden Peak could be said to firmly suppress a Hellhound, Monsters were Monsters after all, and dealing with such a thing without using Mana and while trying to conserve his stamina really wasn’t easy.

He could only rely on Experience to seize an advantage.

He turned his head back; Nicholas and the Flame Temple Templars had just finished killing a Hellhound each as well. Hellhounds were few to begin with, and in one go most of them were gone. But that didn’t mean their pressure had lessened. For the remaining Knights, let alone handling Hellhounds, even just dealing with the Hellhounds was already starting to strain them.

In fact, being surrounded by Little Demons alone had already made it extremely hard for them to cope. Once the Hellhounds joined the fray, the Knights of Lantoniyan immediately began to suffer grievous casualties.

Four or five Knights in succession were suddenly seized by charging Hellhounds, dragged straight off their warhorses in a single bite. The others were all hard-pressed to fend for themselves, with no room at all to save anyone; what awaited those dragged down, one could well imagine.

The remaining Knights were almost forced to bunch together, clustering around Delphire and the Princess. If not for the Old White Lion Reid watching over that side, they would probably have been drowned under the tide of Little Demons in the blink of an eye.

At this rate, there was no way to advance.

Brand couldn’t help but knit his brows and look up. The situation was already somewhat beyond what he’d anticipated—how were the Demons reacting this fast? This was completely different from the Monsters of Jogen Digan in his memory. He glanced toward the distant Teleportation Gate; there were still more than two hundred meters to go.

But those two hundred meters were already like a natural chasm for them.

"Mr. Brand, we have to think of a way to carve out a path!" Nicholas had clearly noticed the same problem and couldn’t help shouting.

Yes—but what now? Brand swept his gaze around. Enemies on all sides, a cacophony of shrieks shrouding each of them; everywhere he looked were fangs and claws. He felt his heartbeat faster than it had ever been, his blood surging only so that his thoughts could be clearer.

So that he could find a way out of a desperate situation.

The first person he thought of was Gallock, but he immediately shook his head. A high-level Law Mage like him might be able to find a way to connect the Laws of Space, but every Space Magic Spell required a massive expenditure of Strength to maintain—there would only be one shot. Brand would rather save that for the very end.

"Wind Queen Lord!"

"Hm?" Saint Ausor had clearly sensed his predicament as well and responded at once. Although she’d said she wouldn’t bother with him again for the rest of the day, when true danger arrived she still couldn’t bring herself to ignore him—this was already the second time.

"Do you have any Skills with a movement effect?"

"Skill? Movement?"

Brand realized that, in his anxiety, he’d let something slip, and hurried to patch it up: "I mean, is there any swordsmanship that can get me over to that Teleportation Gate in one go? I know there are a few forms of swordsmanship with effects similar to Knight Charge!"

"That sounds like swordsmanship from later eras," the Wind Queen was slightly taken aback. "I’ve never heard of any swordsmanship like that."

"Nothing even similar?"

"Nothing even similar."

"Then is there any similar Spell that could do it?"

𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"Spells like that are all Space Magic. With that half-baked Elemental Mage level of yours, you’d better not even think about it." Saint Ausor sighed.