The Kingmaker System

Chapter 730 - 729. Dance Of Fire And Shadows (1)

The rain stopped.

For several moments, nobody noticed.

The battle had gone on for so long beneath the relentless downpour that the sudden absence of rain barely registered amidst the chaos. The three dark mages had dragged the fight in the forest that was close to the town.

Water still dripped from leaves and broken tree branches while muddy forest floor remained marshy from hours of storm and bloodshed.

Neither Eric nor Miri paid attention.

They were far too occupied trying to survive.

A burst of fire erupted as Eric’s sword collided against the dark mage’s scythe once more. Flames exploded outward upon impact only to be swallowed by the dead mana pouring from the black weapon. The collision forced Eric backward yet again and before he could properly regain his footing, the scythe was already sweeping toward him from another angle.

Farther away, Miri narrowly avoided another arrow aimed at her blind spot.

The projectile pierced through a tree bark behind her and black decay immediately spread through the wood. She clicked her tongue in irritation before raising another barrier of sand to intercept the next volley heading toward several retreating knights.

The pressure never eased as the dark mages gave them no opportunity to breathe.

Near the outskirts of the ruined town, however, a new force had arrived.

Several mounted knights rode through the damaged streets before finally slowing their horses near the rear lines. Their armor carried familiar insignias and the moment the exhausted soldiers recognized them, visible relief spread throughout the gathered ranks.

One of Fairisles family knights immediately stepped forward.

"You finally made it."

The newcomer pulled off his helmet and nodded.

"We came as quickly as we could."

The surrounding soldiers visibly relaxed, they recognized these men.

This was the battalion that had been deployed alongside Baron Sebastian Oberon and Count Zachary Erkens earlier that day.

One of the wounded knights frowned.

"Did you get all the undead?"

"Yes." The knight nodded, "We finished clearing the undead from our assigned region."

Another knight immediately asked, "You didn’t encounter any dark mage?"

The newcomer exchanged a glance with several of his companions before answering.

"No, and what dark mage?"

The Fairisles knights pointed at the battlefield where Eric and Miri were busy fighting.

"We tried to help but we’re only getting in their way."

"It’s demoralising that we can’t even provide proper aide to His Highness or Her Majesty." One of the knights grimaced.

The newcomer knights observed the battlefield with a serious look before they looked back at the Fairisles knights.

"Actually, Count Erkens received a message."

"What message?"

The knight’s expression became more serious.

"A report that His Highness Prince Eric and Her Majesty Queen Miera were in danger."

Several nearby soldiers immediately stiffened, one of the newcomer knights who was watching Miri couldn’t help but frown.

"One of them is an archer, right? Couldn’t you pinpoint his location and set your archers to help Her Majesty?"

The knights shook their heads.

"We tried, but we lost five of our archers and even if we try to use our swords to aide His Highness against that bastard. His weapon is something strange, it rusts our blades right away."

"Not to mention there’s a healer on their side. So, even if His Highness or Her Majesty manage to injure them, they’re quickly healed." One of the younger knights said with anger and frustration clear in his voice.

"That must be why, Count Erkens received a message. But who sent it?"

The Fairisles knights looked among each other and they looked clueless.

The newcomer watched the knights before he spoke, "The Count changed direction immediately after hearing it. The Baron agreed and both of them headed here."

A brief silence followed.

The surrounding knights looked toward the battlefield where Eric and Miri continued fighting amidst the destruction.

Then one of them blinked.

"All right."

He looked back toward the newcomers.

"So where are they?"

The question caused several members of the battalion to pause.

One knight scratched his cheek awkwardly while another glanced around, the third looked toward the battlefield.

Only then did they realize something.

Neither Baron Oberon nor Count Erkens were with them.

The two nobles had disappeared long before the battalion arrived.

The last time anyone had seen them was nearly half an hour ago.

Count Erkens had read the report, exchanged a few words with the Baron and then both men had ridden ahead without waiting for the rest of their forces.

The knight slowly frowned, "Actually..."

Several people looked toward him.

"...we don’t know."

The surrounding soldiers stared, "You don’t know?"

The knight shook his head, "They left ahead of us."

Another soldier immediately groaned, "Of course they did."

A few nearby knights exchanged knowing looks.

Considering the personalities involved, nobody seemed particularly surprised.

One of them let out a tired sigh, "Those two are impossible."

The group collectively turned toward the battlefield again.

Somewhere beyond the ruined streets, collapsing buildings and fighting mages, two Underworld Lords had apparently vanished without a trace and somehow that worried them less than if the pair had stayed with the battalion.

It was an open secret after Ocean had stepped in and started uprooting the Esmertia clan that he had become the Lord of the Underworld. But just as the first assumption was made that he may be one of the lords, soon the situation was clear enough for the people to realise that, Ocean wasn’t one of them, he was their new leader. The Underworld Lords who were targetted by the Queen were immune because they had Ocean standing behind them.

The said Underworld Lords had split up earlier just as they were close enough to the battlefield. Zach had got the message from one of the guard teams about the dark mages and also that Ocean had ordered for them- Lord Snake and Lord Devil to be dispatched to aid the Prince and the Queen of Mordino.

They hadn’t thought twice and had quickly finished they side of cleaning up before commanding their men back.

Zach and Lord Devil split up going for different targets.

Zach had earned himself the title of being one of the top ten strongest assassins under Ocean and he lived up to his reputation. He crouched atop one of the trees surveying the place carefully, observing the pattern with which this archer moved. He could see that the archer was using the trees as his cover and he was probably using magic to change his location so quickly.

Zach watched closely and saw the trail which he was looking for and it made him chuckle.

On the other side, the healer was at hard work to keep both of his comrades at their best.

The healer who had been actively moving across the forest with the ongoing fight, stopped near a boulder to make sure no one knew of his location. He could see the other two dark mages and the couple who were fighting against them.

He noticed that the humans were getting exhausted and he couldn’t help but smirk, the plan was working, he released the steady stream of the black mist infused with dead mana towards his comrades.

He was also aware of his own surroundings to make sure no one sneaked up on him, but he couldn’t notice the strange way his shadow rippled on the boulder while he was looking at the battle.

His shadow rippled as if it was a mere reflection on the water before a black booted foot stepped out of it followed by the whole man. It was Baron Sebastian Oberon aka Lord Devil.

The healer stiffened as he felt a presence right behind him but before he could turn, he felt the cool sensation of blade slitting his throat in a swift motion.

He turned and saw the smiling face of a middle-aged man who then turned his black eyes without a care of the dying healer.

Baron Oberon watched as the heart’s eyes glazed over before he brought up the communication brooch up to his lips and spoke.

"I’ve taken out the healer."

Zach, who was waiting for this, smirked as he too was now ready for some action.

Miri was getting exhausted after using so much of her mana and yielding no results and so was Eric, he could see Miri having a hard time but he couldn’t lend her a hand. If only he were a little more capable-

Just as he thought that, he couldn’t help but realise that the scythe wielder dark mage had begun to slow down a little. He would get distracted and keep turning and looking around as if something had unsettled him. Thanks to that, Eric found several openings and managed to cause some deep injuries on the mage.

But just as he expected for the mage to get healed up. He didn’t.

Eric was amazed.

Miri, on the other hand, had also started finding the archer’s arrows missing her several times as if he was trying to aim at someone else.

She created the large wall of sand which blocked the arrows but when she did let it fall, no arrows came her way.

She kept moving despite being confused, wondering what happened.

Eric’s opponent also seemed to notice the archer’s lack of movements and he turned his head to look at the trees.

Eric didn’t waste this opening as he leapt ahead and started gaining an upperhand on the scythe wielder.

The huge scythe and the blade that was capable of turning his blade to rusted scrap was still an issue but his mana was enough to keep them at the same level.

Just as they were fighting, Miri saw a figure drop from the trees almost gracefully like a bird landing. She would have attacked had it not been for the familiar face that she saw.

It was one of Sestia’s nobles who was close to Ocean. Count Zachary Erkens.

The man smiled and bowed to her, Miri couldn’t say anything as she noticed the blood splattered over Zach’s cheek.

Zach noticed her gaze and then smiled, "I’ve taken out the bug that was harassing you, Your Majesty. I’m sorry, I was a little late."

Miri frowned and Zach brought forth the severed arm which made her eyes go wide.

"I had to keep his right arm, he was a good archer."

The scythe wielder who saw Zach immediately changed his focus and started rushing towards him. Zach didn’t appear fazed as he simply leapt away just as the large blade embedded into the earth where he had been standing just a second ago.

The dark mage turned his head to look for Zach who stood beside Miri with an unnerving smig smile.

The scythe wielder picked his weapon and was about to jump on him again but, he couldn’t move. His feet seemed like they were stuck in the place, he looked down to see his shadow somehow had wrapped around his ankles and was keeping him there.

The dark mage didn’t have much time as Eric charged in with his blazing sword.

It didn’t take much of a fighting after that as Eric stabbed the mage taking out the last of the three.

Eric breathed raggedly as he yanked his sword free from the man’s chest and then turned to look at Miri and Zach.

The shadow magic was extremely rare and usually was associated with the dark arts practitioners so, who was it?

"We apologise for being tardy, Your Highness." Eric turned his head to see Baron Oberon walking towards them at his normal pace.

"Are all of them dead?" Miri asked.

"Yes," Baron Oberon confirmed.

Eric and Miri looked at the duo before releasing a deep sigh, Miri was relieved but Eric still had a knot of worry in his stomach.

If there were dark mages here, then they might also be at the harbor and they might have realised by now that Carlos had betrayed them. He could only hope that everything went according to the plan and this wouldn’t turn out to be a disaster.