Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
The sun was setting, and the team stopped advancing under the dimming light. Soldiers got off their horses and equipped themselves with the heavy weapons and shields they brought here. They then tied their horses beside a tree.
Angele let one of the soldiers take care of his black horse and then walked straight toward the logging area to check the surroundings. He saw red flowers growing beside the bushes between the tree stumps. The place was misty and the visibility around was a bit poor.
It was sultry, and the smell of blood mixed with the fragrance of grass was floating in the air. The Knights and the soldiers were trying to find traces of the beast in the bushes. Angele could hear something howling in the forest from a distance.
“Damn Ghost Birds, they’re really making some disgusting noises!” a soldier said in a light tone as he walked passed Angele.
“But they’re tasty.” Another soldier laughed.
“How about we catch some for dinner after we finish the beast off?”
“Let’s take care of the beast first,” a knight said, walking over. “You can catch as many as you want when we start the group training. Stay alert for now.”
The soldiers around got noisy after hearing what the Knight said, some even clapping their hands while laughing.
“Stop. We are on a mission.” Harland waved his right hand.
Angele was walking around the tree stumps alone. He sensed the presence of something dangerous, and he thought the place was way too quiet. They were deep in the forest, but he did not hear any insects making noise.
He looked at Harland and saw a serious look on the Grand Knight’s face. The man held his axe tight and was checking the surroundings with his eyebrows scrunched. He knew that something was wrong as well.
Harland walked towards Angele and whispered, “I don’t think it’s a Glowing Beast.” He was still looking at the trees that were not cut down yet, wanting to make sure he was prepared for the oncoming threat.
“ “You’re right.” Angele nodded. “Glowing Beasts are not cunning, they will come for us once they know we are here, but this one hid itself well.”
Harland nodded. He was wielding a large axe and a tower shield. Before he could respond, someone suddenly yelled, “I found it! It’s here! … AH!”
*Bang*
A man was hit by something, and he was blown away by the impact. He screamed and died within seconds.
“Watch out!” Harland yelled and rushed towards the soldier that just got killed. Several other soldiers also quickly ran to the body. There was a basketball-sized hole on the dead soldier’s chest. It looked like the man was hit by something with extremely high temperature because there not a single drop of blood could be seen on the grass around him. The man’s wound was clearly burned closed.
“Goddamn! It’s Aurens…” A soldier who knew the man tried not to stare at the body.
“His chest piece didn’t do shit.” Another soldier sighed.
“Damn! It’s the Glowing Elephant! Not Glowing Beast!” Harland had seen a similar wound before, and his expression changed. “Everyone, rally to me!”
The soldiers and Knights heard Harland yelling, and they quickly started to move towards his location. The situation was intense. No one was talking, and they all looked serious.
“Jack, Belem!”
Two strong Knights stepped forward after hearing Harland’s order.
“You guys go check that bush. Raise your shields and don’t go too fast. Glowing Elephants are very strong. I just want you two to confirm its location, don’t do anything stupid.” Harland pointed at the bush that Aurens was attacked at.
“Affirmative!”
The two started to walk slowly towards the bush.
Angele and Tinos were at the end of the formation.
Although there were two knights protecting Tinos, he was nervous, and he was holding his sword so tight that his knuckles turned white.
Angele scrunched his eyebrows, listening carefully. ‘Zero, do you know anything about the Glowing Elephant?’
‘Glowing Elephant: a mutant. Its size is about the same as the Glowing Beast’s, but it is much faster. The Glowing Elephant prefers to attack its prey with its sharp tusks. You can make low-level enchanted items with its heart,’ Zero answered quickly.
‘Faster than the Glowing Beast?’ Angele drew his sword, trying to figure out a plan.
“Master Angele, please go to the top of that small hill with Tinos. We will take care of it,” Harland spoke in a deep voice.
Tinos gritted his teeth. “Master Angele, let’s go. My brother can handle it, and there is nothing we can do here.”
Angele wanted to stay, but he did not have enough information about the Glowing Elephant, and Zero only showed him some common knowledge about it. It seemed that Harland had experience of fighting one in the past, and he wanted Angele to make sure Tinos did not get hurt. It also meant that Harland wasn’t sure if he could protect his brother during the battle.
They had seen how Aurens died at the logging site, and how the plate armor had done nothing for him. The Glowing Elephant had to have some exceptional strength to able to do something like that.
“All right, let’s go.”
Angele nodded, and they started to retreat with the two Knights by their side. They were heading to the top of a small hill not too far away; the Glowing Elephant was huge, and it would not be able to climb up a hill like that.
They could also survey the battlefield from the top of the hill.
The four looked down and saw another dead soldier. He was also penetrated by the Glowing Elephant’s tusks. Angele heard Harland shout out a loud battle cry, and then the man rushed into the bush with two Knights covering the sides. There were many things going on, and the sounds made by the weapons were intense.
The visibility down there was still bad.
Angele suddenly heard the loud trumpet from the Glowing Elephant. Right after that, a shining red elephant stomped into the logging site, and the trees on its way were easily knocked down by it. The elephant was about four meters tall, five meters long, and it looked more like a mammoth than an elephant. Its hair was red, and its tusks were long and sharp.
The elephant looked really strange with its glowing red hair, like the light was coming from inside its body, and it was almost translucent. The Glowing Elephant trumpeted again and grabbed a tree with its long trunk. It wielded the tree like a weapon, trying to hit the soldiers with it.
*BAM*
A Knight tried to block the attack with his greatsword, but he was not able to handle the elephant’s force and was pushed back. The Knight hit a tree and stopped, his face pale.
Harlan roared like a lion and jumped forward. He then hit one of the elephant’s feet, hard. The elephant had just finished attacking with the tree and failed to defend. Right away, blood spurted from the wound. Harland raised his tower shield and quickly backed off.
“Throw the spears!” he yelled while retreating.
The soldiers around started to throw the short spears toward the elephant. The spears hit the elephant’s skin but dealt almost no damage. The skin was extremely hard, and normal attacks would not do anything to it.
The Glowing Elephant trumpeted in anger, and Angele felt the ground shaking.
*Boom*
The elephant rushed towards Harland and hit his shield. He was knocked back several meters, and the centre of his tower shield was dented.
The soldiers did not stop throwing the spears, but most of them just dropped to the ground after hitting the elephant’s skin, not even scratching it.
“Damn!” Harland turned his head back and yelled, “Jack! You do it!”
The Knight named Jack nodded and grabbed a short spear. He aimed at the elephant and threw the spear towards it at full speed.
The short spear howled through the air, accurately hitting the right side of the elephant’s body, and the spearhead finally cut the skin open. But there was barely any blood leaking from the wound because the elephant somehow moved its muscles to pressure the cut. It then rushed to the right and five soldiers were blown away. Even elite soldiers could not deal with the elephant’s strength.
The elephant then swung its tusks, and two of the soldiers failed to dodge the attack, getting skewered.
*Sizzle*
It sounded like their bodies were being roasted. The elephant swung its tusks again, and the dead soldiers were thrown back to the ground. Their chests were penetrated, but there was no blood coming out of the wounds.
“Don’t get hit by its tusks, they’re ablaze!” Harland yelled. “Knights, follow me! Others back off!”
Harland inhaled once, and it looked like his body was coated with white light.
“For victory!”
Harland’s angry battle cry echoed through the forest. He raised his tower shield and charged forward. His strength was so strong that the ground started to shake, and his footsteps sounded like thunder. He was approaching the Glowing Elephant at full speed.
Translator: Leo Editor: DarkGem/Frappe
It seemed like the huge creature had figured out who the real threat was to him. The Glowing Elephant turned back and lowered its head. It then aimed at Harland with its tusks and charged toward him.
“HA!”
Harland roared and struck the elephant with his tower shield.
*BOOM*
The loud sound of collision made everyone’s ears ache.
Harland’s tower shield was almost broken, and it had barely blocked the elephant’s tusks. The Grand Knight’s left arm was bent at a strange angle, the elephant’s attack probably having broken his bone. However, the injury did not stop him from striking the elephant’s stomach with his axe.
Harland and the elephant were both struggling. The Glowing Elephant was in deep pain. It raised its head and roared. A translucent green fireball suddenly appeared between its tusks.
The fireball was growing bigger and bigger, quickly expanding to the size of a basketball. The elephant swung its head and threw the fireball toward Harland. Harland stayed calm and stepped back immediately after seeing the elephant’s actions. He tried his best to raise the tower shield in the air and hide his whole body behind the shield by leaning toward the right.
The fireball hit Harland’s tower shield, and the green flame splashed everywhere. Some of it dropped onto the grass, and a lot of smoke spread into the air.
Angele, Tinos, and the two Knights were still surveying the battleground from the top of the hill. The battleground was lighted up by the elephant’s green fireball attack. Although the visibility was still bad, Angele could see the green light dots through the smoke.
“My brother will be fine,” Tinos said with mixed feelings.
Angele looked at him but did not say a word.
‘Zero, did you collect enough data to calculate the elephant’s statuses?’ Angele asked. He was more than five meters away from the elephant, so Zero would not be able to directly obtain the creature’s data. It had to collect relative information and do the analysis.
‘Estimated Results:
Glowing Elephant: Strength larger than 8. Agility larger than 4. Stamina larger than 15. Mentality larger than 7. Talent Skill: Blazing Tusks (Damage Increased), Glowing Strike (By draining energy from the heart, it can make fireballs).’
Angele read the information, and he was surprised by how high the elephant’s attributes were. He was also impressed by Harland’s ability to fight. Angele wondered what he could become if he could break his gene limit, however, there was no way for him to do it, and he would never become a Grand Knight.
At the moment, Harland was still fighting with the Glowing Elephant, and the other two Knights were supporting him from the sides. They had slashed at the elephant several times with their swords, but most of the time, they were just dodging its attacks.
Three soldiers failed to dodge another green fireball thrown by the elephant, and they were burnt to death in seconds. The situation was getting worse.
“You two! Go help them,” Tinos ordered, turning his head back.
The two Knights looked at each other, hesitating. “Mr. Tinos, our skills are not based on strength, I’m afraid we won’t be able to provide any support…”
“It doesn’t matter, just distract the elephant,” Tinos said in a serious tone. “Just go.”
“Roger that.”
They drew their swords and ran down the hill.
Angele noticed the swords in the Knights’ hands were slim and would do no damage to a creature with such high defense. Their Agility was definitely high, so they needed lighter weapons to unleash the full potential of their skills. The order they had received was probably just to protect Tinos.
Only Angele and Tinos were standing on the top of the hill after the Knights left.
Angele thought Tinos and Harland hated each other when he first time met them, but now Angele realized that they were just expressing their love in a strange way. Tinos admired Harland, and he was sometimes jealous of what Harland could do, but he still wanted to help his brother when Harland was in trouble.
Tinos was just childish. He wanted to become stronger and better than his brother one day, but at the same time, he was still relying on Harland a lot. He admired Harland and regarded him as his role model. Tinos always hid his feelings when he was with Harland, and he did not want others to know how he thought about his brother.
“Don’t worry, the elephant is dying,” Angele said, trying to comfort Tinos.
“Is it?” Tinos looked relieved. “Wait, I’m not worried about him!” he then yelled after realizing what Angele was implying.
Angele did not respond. He just smiled.
“Why are you smiling?” Tinos stared at Angele. “I can’t let him die because my father will be sad if he’s killed by the Glowing Elephant!”
“I know, I know.” Angele nodded, knowing that Tinos was just shy.
“You… Whatever!” Tinos decided not to explain any further.
Angele quietly put his crossguard sword back into the sheath.
“The fight is almost over. The Glowing Elephant is losing a great amount of blood, and it’s dying,” Angele said with a light tone.
Tinos immediately looked at the battlefield after hearing Angele’ words.
The Glowing Elephant’s attacks were no longer as powerful as before. The loss of blood was making it weaker and weaker. It tried to fight back, but it could no longer hit Harland or the Knights. The elephant tried to use Glowing Strike again but did not have enough power to create the fireball.
Angele started to think about the information he had recently collected about Tinos.
Tinos’s father was Lord Alford, and his mother was a daughter of a Duke. She left home due to an argument with her parents and got married to Lord Alford, but later she went back to the Duke’s territory. Now, she had great power in the country, and the army was also in her control.
Harland once told Angele that his father, Lord Alford, actually feared Tinos’ mother due to various reasons. The woman would do anything to acquire the things she wanted, and she was not satisfied with what she already had. She loved Tinos a lot, but for some reason, she left her son with Alford.
Tinos never respected Alford and never cared if the man liked what he was doing. Before Angele had visited them, Tinos had once found out that Alford had affairs with two women in the city and slain them right in front of Harland’s mother. Harland’s mother had never known about Alford’s affairs prior to this. She left her husband and went to live with Harland after what Tinos did, never coming back to Lennon City.
Alford begged Harland to stay with him to no avail, and that was the reason why Angele thought the relationship between the father and the sons was strange when he first time visited the castle.
*BOOM*
The Glowing Elephant fell to the ground.
Angele’s expression suddenly changed. He stopped thinking due to the noise he just heard.
“Wait! Another one! One more Glowing Elephant is coming for us!”
He suddenly turned his head back and saw the crying Glowing Elephant that was charging toward Harland.
Tinos did not understand what Angele was talking about. He quickly turned back and looked in the direction Angele was staring at. His face turned pale after seeing the other Glowing Elephant. Harland and the rest of the team had just finished their battle, and they did not expect another one to come for them. They were injured and tired. Although Harland was strong, he would not be able to block the charge from an angry Glowing Elephant at this moment.
“But…” Tinos wanted to say something, but he saw Angele quickly running down the hill and disappearing into the bushes. He gritted his teeth, drew his sword, and followed Angele down.
********************
Angele had no expression on his face. He lowered his body, moving quickly through the bushes.
Leaves kept dropping down on Angele’s head, twisting in the air due to Angele’s extreme moving speed. He could sense the danger in front of him and see the giant shadow of the elephant.
Angele’s eyes started to shine. He put his hand on the handle of his sword.
‘Approaching the target…’
‘Show me the plan.’
‘Target locked: Glowing Elephant. Analyzing… Plan confirmed…’
‘Battle mode: On.’
Various types of blue holograms appeared in Angele’s sight, and a lot of information was displayed beside the objects he saw.
Angele drew his sword and increased his speed again. He was so fast that his body blurred.
He rushed out of the bush and passed the Glowing Elephant. He easily cut open its skin, making it wince in pain.
*Trumpet*
The Glowing Elephant stopped and roared. Its eyes turned bloody red, and it turned around right away, starting to chase Angele.
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