Chapter 40 The Baron of Death

Nesterin smiled as he watched the messenger leaving the kitchen. Jharteel, Thalanil, and the others were also there.

"So it's time," Jharteel said. "The army will attack the sect in a few days."

"Yes, they will attack. And Hax will use every soldier we have to do it."

"Except us," Thalanil said. "We're too far from Barmwich or the Boiling Volcano. It would take more than a week to return."

"We have our own role," Nesterin said. "And it just happens to be information gathering. Don't feel so bad. The information we got is useful. Without it, we won't know that there is an opportunity to attack."

Gormon sighed. "I want to fight the sect too. But I guess it's fine."

"The Man Hunter will brag their kills to us."

"And the messenger said that Hax made a new weapons. It was some kind of armor? Why do we never enjoy his new weapons first?" Jharteel said.

Nesterin smacked him in the head. "Don't be a kid. Those are weapons, not toys. I'm sure when we return we'll also got our own armor. Let's just do our job properly and gather more information that Hax might need."

A man came running into the kitchen and immediately approached Nesterin. "Sir, news from the scout! A strong cultivator has been spotted. It's possible that he's one of the elders."

"Where is he?"

Nesterin led his men, traveling through the hills with their magic bulls. He currently had 800 men with him, the rest were still in the Royal Palace. But he believed it was enough to ambush one man. Even if he was an elder, how strong could he be?

Soon after, Nesterin saw a massive winding ravine with a river that as dry as his throat. He took a water sac and gulped all the water inside. The air became hotter and humid as he approached the canyon.

He would kill for a minute under the shade right now. His throat sore because all of this heat. All around, he started seeing dead animals and their bones. This was a harsh place, why would an elder of a sect traveled through this place?

The wind whistled in the distance, over a tall, smooth spires.

Nesterin pulled out a cloth and wiped his sweat. The dry wind blowing his hair didn't help with anything. In fact, it made it worse.

A man with waved towards him in the distance. He signaled for them to stop. They did and approached the man on foot.

"There, sir." The man pointed beside the dried river bed. "He was resting in that small caves for a few hours, after that he continued his journey in a slow pace."

The man had a sword on his waist. He wore a red robe with sword symbols all over.

"That guy is from the Nefarious Sword sect," Nesterin said.

"How can we be so lucky to stumble on him?" Jharteel said.

"What do we do now? Do we attack immediately?"

"We'll use our usual plan," Nesterin said. "Send a few carriages with gunpowder towards him and ignite it. After that we shoot him until he died. We did it a couple times, I'm sure it'll work."

Jharteel nodded. "I like that plan. We defeated the Royal Army with it."

"That's right. That elder wouldn't suspect a thing."

"Let's do it then."

Jharteel ordered a squad of wagon to go to the canyon. The river was dry, so the coachmen could bring their magic bulls there.

They were experienced. In the battle against the Royal Army, they were the one who brought the wagon to them. They still felt proud after their operation was successful. And the were glad to do it again. Especially, to kill the elder.

The coachmen circled the canyon and went into the distance. There was a slope where the carriage could go down from there.

The Black Wolves waited patiently. Most of them were not allowed to peek since Nesterin didn't want their position to be known. He also told them to split up so they could attack from multiple directions. This would confuse the enemy even more. He knew because he tried it before when fighting the Royal Army.

The wagon were in sight. And they approached the elder slowly before stopping to a halt in front of him. The coachmen offered a sac of water to the elder, and they talked to the man trying to bait him to steal their wagon.

Nesterin ordered his men to aim. It wasn't the time yet. He must wait for the coachmen to leave before he could ignite the gunpowder.

And as predicted, the coachmen left their wagon and ran away. When Nesterin felt that the coachmen were in a safe distance, he ordered his men to fire.

"Fire!"

The Black Wolves pulled their trigger. Rifles and BC-75 roared and exploded the wagon into a burst of fire. They continued to stormed the place with bullets. The flame couldn't let them see the elder, but they didn't care.

And then something shocking happen. The flame swirled and spun like a tornado before it vanished completely.

"Continue to shoot. Don't let that man live!"

The firing never stopped. They had already prepared their ammunition on the ground. If they ran out of bullets, they could take a clip below their feet.

The elder touched the handle of his blade and suddenly the wind around him flashed, deflecting and cutting the bullets that flew towards him.

He was unscathed.

In fact, he didn't even seem like moving. Standing still like a statue yet nothing could touch his skin or even his clothes.

The elder looked up, staring towards them with curiosity.

"Are you the rebellion army?" The elder asked.

Nesterin didn't reply. He just wanted the man to drop dead like any other cultivator. But his mood dropped as time goes and the elder still stood like nothing happen.

"You young people don't know when to give up, eh?"

The elder pulled out his sword and held it with one hand. "Let me introduce myself. I'm Elwin. The sect leader of the Nefarious Sword."

Nesterin had his eyes expanded. The sect leader? He didn't expect to meet one. Who would've known a random cultivator in the middle of nowhere was actually a sect leader.

But he had something more urgent to take care of. How to defeat this man? If he couldn't be killed then all of his men would die.

Suddenly, Elwin disappeared. Where was he?

"Where did he go?"

"Hey."

A hand tapped his shoulder. And to his shock, Elwin was there, right in front of him with a gentle smile on his face.

"Are you the leader?"

Nesterin aimed his BC-75 to the man's face and fired.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The man didn't even move yet all the bullets were cut in half and fell to his feet.

"Why don't you die already!" Nesterin expanded all his bullets until it ran out. Smoke came out of the barrel as he dropped his weapon and tried to punch the man. The next thing he knew, his right arm lost its feeling and he couldn't move it.

"What have you done to me!"

"Calm down young man. Can we just talk for a moment?"

"I have nothing to talk about!" Nesterin swung his left hand and yet it didn't even budged. He couldn't feel it too.

"Nesterin!"

"Leader!"

His men aimed their weapons towards the sect leader. They didn't dare to fire since the Nesterin was close by and friendly-fire was highly possible.

One of the BC-75 in a man's hand suddenly disappeared. Then it appeared in Elwin's hand like magic.

"What an interesting weapon. You norms alway surprise me."

"Shoot him!" Nesterin shouted. "I don't care if it kills me! Just shoot him!"

The soldier hesitated and none of them shoot.

"Damn! Just shoot him!"

"No, Nesterin, I can't," Jharteel said.

"You have a good friend," Elwin said. "I can see loyalty and brotherhood in each of you. What a lovely group."

Nesterin gritted his teeth. "You know nothing."

"Ah, of course. Young people always think that they know everything. I've lived for a thousand year, yet the young would always reluctant to listen to me." Elwin shook his head. "It's hard to be an old man."

"If you're so strong then why don't you kill us. Why do you waste your breath to talk. Isn't you cultivators hated it when you look at the norm?"

"Hate? Ah, you mean the superiority complex that young cultivators have? Yes, that's a problem isn't it. I tried to fix that, but you know the young hardly listen to me. Even if I was their sect leader, my disciple just won't listen to me. But they're still a child. Won't you forgive their naughty act?" Elwin bowed slightly.

Vein pulsed on Nesterin's forehead. "You cultivators killed my wife and daughter and you ask me to forgive them?! To hell with you! I will kill every single one of you Nefarious Sword. I will cut your sect apart and parade your disciple around the kingdom!"

"Nesterin," Jharteel said, shocked at the revelation.

"Just kill me!" Nesterin said. "Don't talk to me like you have nothing to do with their act!"

"Men! Let's save our leader!" A squad of men charged towards Elwin they swung their BC-75 at him.

But then blood burst out of their throat and they fell to the ground.

"Oh no. I didn't meant to do that," Elwin said. "This is not good."

"Don't make me laugh," Nesterin said. "You cultivators have always kill us whenever you like."

Elwin looked at the distance. "Not this time."

"Why?"

"Because they can smell the dead."

"Who?"

"That." Elwin pointed towards the distance.

A giant monstrosity walked towards them with steady yet humongous steps. In its two arms were a large blade, seemingly made out of bone. On its back were spears that went through and out to his chest. The monster had a giant pair of tusk in its mouth. Its eyes were dark, staring at their souls, wanting to consume it.

The smell of rotten flesh pierced his nose. Nesterin winced from the smell. It was such a foul smell that only came from a wet rotten corpse. The monster were still a distance away, yet its smell couldn't be contained.

"Ganulf, The Baron of Death, we have meet again," Elwin said.

The soldiers trembled and their legs seemed to turn into twigs as they retreated.

Nesterin stepped back. He never saw such monsters. He had never heard of its existence before. How could something like this exist.

"You have aged well," The monstrosity said with a harsh voice like sandpaper going against each other.

"People always tell me that I look young."

"I'm not talking about your skin."

"Ah, you mean my soul?"

"Let me have a taste."

"Only if you can kill me." Elwin moved into a fighting stance.

"You can't defeat me. I have become stronger. Your soul shall be mine to have."

"You come alone?"

The monster grinned. It send a shiver to Nesterin's spine just to witness it.

"I don't want anyone else to take you."

"I'm flattered."

Boom!

A mysterious force pushed all the norms away, throwing them tens of meter before they rolled to a stop. Elwin and Ganulf stood still as they stared at each other.

Nesterin fell face first, and then Jharteel helped him to stand. He still couldn't feel his arms.

Hiyah!

The monster roared and raised his enormous greatsword. It slammed down, towards the sect leader, but Elwin was already gone. The ground cracked and exploded rock and dust upward.

The sect leader jumped to the side and attacked the creature's waist. Rotten flesh fell of, and Nesterin winced again. The soldiers couldn't stand it too. They closed their nose like the smell could take their life.

Ganulf pulled his sword above his head. Elwin took a step back and rolled around, yet the monster didn't move yet.

Only when Elwin was about to stand did it send a sweep attack with both swords.

Elwin dodged, his face almost got crunched.

When the sweep attack reached its end, Ganulf spun to the opposite direction, sending another sweep attack towards Elwin.

The sect leader didn't expect that move. He blocked with his sword and the ground exploded from their clash.