CHAPTER 7: Conflict in the forest of doom(END)
The priest looked happy with his face breaking to a smile while the red knight unsheathes the claymore hanging in his belt. With the helmet on, Isaac doesn't know what the knight looked like or what his expression is but he can imagine what the knight is feeling. Two new otherworlders versus two people who lived longer in this world, it's clear who has the advantage. They have the experience and the strength to be confident enough that capturing both the otherworlders is as easy as taking a stroll in the park. He can use the knight's pride and carelessness to quickly kill the knight by using the most powerful attack he can muster.
The katana revealed its jagged spikes as black blood coming from the edge of the jagged spike started dripping to the ground. Just by the color of it, he's sure that it's poisonous. He planned on stabbing the knight once he's in range but to his horror, the knight charged forward with a blinding speed that only when the blade is running towards Kyle's body that Isaac noticed the movement of the red knight. In mere seconds, he saw Kyle flying through the forest before landing in the trees. His body was contorted and misshapen.
A chill run towards his back as he quickly turned around only to meet a sword towards his neck. He used his weapon to block it but the force is enough to lift him off the ground and straight flying into the air. He landed a couple of meters back as his body screamed in pain. His eyes blurred with blood and his arm fractured as the weapon laid near him. The difference in strength was too huge that the both of them can't even cast a single spell. Putting up a fight is useless but his eyes glowed with humiliation and anger as he grits his teeth. Using his left hand, he lifts himself up before grabbing his weapon. His right arm dangling while his left hand wielding the weapon.
"Don't kill them" the priest shouted
"I know i know, but a few broken bones wouldn't kill them you know" the red knight walked slowly towards Isaac.
"Come one, swing at me" the red knight revealed his weapon while opening his arms wide to let Isaac hit his body.
"Chaos Magic: Annihilation" a small black orb appeared behind the red knight as it destroys the armor before rotating once it's inside the body. The red knight falls to the ground screaming in pain. It's like a small black hole is tearing the body towards it. Blood is splattered everywhere before returning back towards the black orb. The red knight twisted and turned his body to remove the black orb. Flesh and skins started entering the black orb as the body of the red knight contorted but a white light encompassed the red knight. The body healed but it continuously tore the red knight's body. Putting him in extreme pain like someone is stretching his body continuously but never dying.
"Light Magic: Continuous Heal" the priest cast with his staff
"Isaac, do something!" Kyle's rugged voice can be heard behind the red knight who was laying and wriggled in the ground. Kyle might have perfect control over the chaotic powers like Isaac but he can never outdo the mana of the priest who continuously heals the red knight. Sooner, he would be incapacitated and fatigue that he will lose control of the black orb as it continually tore the ground and everyone including him. His nose started bleeding as he sees the world around him spinning. He coughs up blood but he wiped it with his hand. He can't afford to lose control now, it's one of his trump cards but the most dangerous one. If he loses focus, the orb would expand and absorb everything. Killing him and Isaac. Luckily, the priest is also focused on healing the knight so he can't use any spells since if he stops healing the red knight would die. It's the fight on who can last longer.
Seeing this, Isaac wielded his weapon. With his fractured right arm and blurred vision, he limped towards the knight who is shouting and crying in pain. Using his left arm to stab the knight, he tried piercing the armor only to bounce the attack off. The red knight is covered with armor except for the black orb near his heart that is tearing the flesh from the inside. Isaac can't stab the black orb itself since it might explode, be destroyed, or kill him. The priest keeps on healing the knight so if the black orb is destroyed, the red knight can recover. He also can't run and stab the priest since his legs are bruised, he might trip or he might lose the time given by Kyle. He gritted his teeth once more and forced himself on continuing to strike and stab the bastard itself. He continued until the blood is fully covering his eyes, he can only hear the screaming of the red knight and the sound of metal bashing each other. It continued for what seems to be an hour before the screaming stopped, still he continued on swinging and stabbing.
"Stop now Isaac.." Kyle's tired and fatigue voice can be heard beside him as he can hear him breathing hard and quickly. He stopped swinging as his legs gave up, his weapon clanking on the ground and his own ragged breathing is the only thing he can hear. His eyes are closed but he can feel the warm blood dripping in his face. He tried opening his eyes only to pass out from the pain and fatigue.
"Impressive, very impressive" the witch clapped with an amused smile on her face. The red knight might have been too confident and lowered his guard but the fact that Kyle was able to use supreme magic although much weaker is still surprising. One needs to have a complete understanding of the space element and its uses to use that spell. Still, the spell didn't sound right and there is no space element involved in the spell. This only fueled her curiosity and she will make sure that once they recover she would devise a plot to know more. The witch only chuckled, as her face contorted with extreme happiness.
The witch personally teleported there to grab the both of them, once she reached there. She can see a metal ball full of blood dripping and forming a puddle, and beside it is Isaac who continued swinging his katana like someone who has lost his mind. She noticed there is a priest retreating so with a flick of her finger, the trees surrounding the priest contorted before the branches are wrapping around his body before a sickening crack and crunch can be heard. Still, she glances around the battlefield, and not far from the metal ball is Kyle who is laying on the ground with his own blood. With a sigh, she teleported them inside her mansion. She can't leave them to die, at least not for now.
A few days passed and the battle inside the forest has come to an end with thousands of dead knights laid around the forest and carcasses of monsters. The forest and trees absorb the corpses and carcasses back to the ground while some of the corpses are eaten by the surviving beast and monsters in the forest. The cause of the forest of doom being named like that is the fact that no corpses will be retrieved once inside of it. Only a few can survive to return but not without any injuries or a missing limb. Still, after a thousand years no one was able to enter the center of the forest except for the witch of calamity who made it her home.
That's why even when it's close to the Lederion Kingdom, it was never conquered. There have been 10 explorations and 3 large legions amounting to a total of 12,000 knights, 500 red knights, 100 black knights, 10 golden knights, and 3 S class adventurers all dying or suffering injuries so severe that they can't fight for the rest of their lives. This resulted in peace talks between the witches and the human kingdoms since they can't afford to waste manpower and money if they can avoid it.
A few days later the emperor of the Lederion Kingdom stated and announced that they are rogue knights who rebelled and attempted to live inside the forest of doom, and informed that they didn't break the treaty itself. Condemning the families of the knights in shame while praising and rewarding the witch by killing them while giving a 1000 mithril bars.
Waking up in a bed, Isaac looked around his body to notice that there are no injuries. His fractured right arm and bruised legs are all healed. Still, a throbbing headache lingers in his head. Although he doesn't feel pain, he is still weakened from the injuries he received from that single attack. It really shows the difference in power, as he can't imagine living here as a normal citizen without the strength to protect someone or themselves. Although he won't be the protector of the weak, he would be at least the judge of the crimes committed by the powerful people who uses their strength to take advantage of the weak. For that, he needs to be stronger. Although he finally killed the red knight it was not satisfying, he feels empty like his heart has a hole inside. So he decided to make a new goal, to take revenge on the Lederion Kingdom and become the judge of all sinners.
"Yo, you alive? you kept on swinging that weapon like a madman" Kyle chuckled while leaning his back on the wall
"Sorry, i was not helpful" Isaac said with a bitter smile
"It's fine, i'm the stronger one anyway" Kyle said with a smug smile
"Still, we were outmatched by a ton so i'm surprised we won that. Maybe we have the plot armor" Kyle laughed
"Stop joking, we won that because of your spell and the stupidity of that knight" Isaac sigh while gazing at the window
"Don't be so pessimistic, you're helpful too. Without your crazed continuous attack, the knight would outlive my spell because the priest is still healing and the spell would have a hard time tearing him apart. It's like your tenderizing the meat to have an easier consumption, probably a bad example but you get the idea" Kyle smiled trying to lift Isaac's mood.
"I guess, so what's the plan?" Isaac asked
"Check your status first"
"Status"
Name: Isaac Jackson
Age: 20
Class: None
Level: 6
Major stats:
Strength: F-
Vitality: E-
Agility: F
Intelligence: G
Mentality: SS
Charisma: G
Minor stats:
Perseverance: A-
Bravery: B
Skills:
Pain Resistance (SS)
Blood Manipulation (D-)
Blood Regeneration (E+)
Blood Control (E)
Blood Magic Creation (E-)
Spells
Blood Magic: Blood Spike (D-)
Blood Magic: Blood Explosion (E-)
Weapon Art: None
Technique: None
Weapon Style: None
Traits:
Vengeful
Caring
Calm Mind
Talents:
Minor weapon affinity
Paragon of Blood
"There's a lot of new things right?" Kyle asked with a smile on his mouth. He's looking forward to knowing what skills and talent Isaac has.
"Yeah, there are minor stats and I have a new talent. My skills improve by a rank and my stats improve by a tier or a rank" Isaac said absentmindedly
"I want to know the specifics"
"Why?"
"So i can plan ahead"
"Plan for what"
"Aghh, just tell me your new talent or any existing talent" Kyle was not sure if Isaac is doing this to anger or annoy him but nonetheless he succeeded
"Why should i?" Truthfully, even if Kyle saved him. He still doesn't trust him completely to tell anything about his status. Like any games he played, knowing someone's status is basically knowing their strength and weaknesses to a more specific level. They only met a couple of days and there's no way he's trusting him.
"Okay fine, you win. I'll tell you my strongest stat, my talent, and level in exchange for information regarding your strongest stat, your new talent, and level." Kyle massaged his temple in annoyance while glaring at Isaac. Seeing this, Isaac looked at him passively before nodding
"My strongest stat except for mentality is strength, my talent is spear prodigy and i'm level 6"
"What does that do?" Isaac asked
"My spear prodigy? i have a 200% learning rate in any spear arts and spear styles while gaining 30% damage when hitting a weak point"
"Oh, mine is mentality, minor weapon affinity, and 6" Isaac replied
"Clarify what is 6? and i said except mentality since it's a given that our mentality would be the highest one since we suppressed or sealed the ego"
"I didn't know that and you didn't tell me that" Isaac said before a couple of seconds passed without any clarification. Silence enveloped the room. A minute passed but Isaac merely glanced at Kyle with a confused look before gazing at the window. Kyle revealed the spear and his eyes full of bloodlust
"An eye for an eye, and teeth for a teeth. May your rest smoothen my soul" Kyle said calmly like reminiscing something before stabbing towards Isaac only to be stopped by the maid Catherine with a headlock.
"Release me woman!! I need to beat some sense in him!" Kyle struggled while shouting in anger but the maid wouldn't budge. A slow sound of footsteps echoes inside the room as the struggling Kyle was released and falls to the floor as the maid bowed. Kyle coughed like he was out of breath before realizing that the witch is gazing at him. With an awkward movement and smile, he bowed with his knees followed by Isaac who looked at him peacefully.
'that asshole, i'm surely gonna punch him in the face" Kyle gritted his teeth while glaring at Isaac.
"Quite an energetic bunch" the witch chuckled
"You may lift your heads now" the witch continued
"Yes your highness" Kyle responded with a dignified expression
"I was impressed by the both of you, so in a reward. I would give both of you artifacts if you do something for me" her lips parted into a smile
'impressed my ass, you didn't teleport us when we are clearly outmatched and i was forced to reveal my cards. You only teleported us after the fighting was finished. You lying scheming son of a- his thoughts were cut off immediately by the witch's next words
"I will give you a book containing the dragon spear style used by the dragonkin and i will give Isaac here a book containing the signature skill of the vampires, blood rush if the both of you agreed" The witch smiled gently
"Depends on what you want us to do" Kyle said quickly with a confident expression
"If i tell you, the reward would lessen. Do you want that?" the witch sighed with a helpless smile
'damn this witch, she really is a scheming lady. The reward is mind-blowingly good since the dragon spear style is one of the strongest spear style in the Aleria with each strike containing the power and ferocity of a dragon meanwhile blood rush is a skill which allows someone to gain monstrous strength and speed the more they bleed, perfect for someone who doesn't have any talent on weapons' his thoughts lingered as he contemplated on what to do, he glanced at Isaac before surveying the smile of the witch. With rewards this good, it would probably have a higher risk of failing. No one gives artifacts and books for free no matter how nice a person is.
"I agree, i think we should take the risk Kyle" Isaac replied and giving Kyle no time on responding back. No matter what it is, even if he would risk his life. For the goal of being stronger, he would need to take any risk, go to a dangerous area and sacrifice what he needed to sacrifice as his eyes gleamed with anticipation.