And me

Neigh!

With a loud whicker, the horse stood tall on its hind leg before settling down. No, that wasn't quite it. It stared at me, the surrounding skeletons, and almost quivered. The other horses were the same. They'd seen Undead before, but probably not skeletons.

However, the riders didn't seem to be that affected. At least on hindsight. In reality, I could make out some clatter… they were shaking.

"Skeleton," the white knight said.

Standard language of this country. Or maybe he was speaking a different tongue? I wasn't sure. But I understood people of this world without any difficulty whatsoever, even if they spoke different languages. Kind of why it was so easy for me to assimilate the written form.

"Knights," I beckoned.

The white knight jumped off the horse, a naked sword dangling from his waist. No, the scabbarded was so thin and shiny, I thought it was a sword. It was not. "I thought the rumors were false, but it's true," he said.

He had a rather complicated armor. First, I couldn't even spot a single spot that appeared to be a joint. It felt like a seamless piece of armor layered on top of his skin. Fitted to perfection. And his helmet too. No holes whatsoever. Almost like a motorcycle helmet, but instead of glass on the front, it was fully metal.

The others didn't have this sort of armor. In fact, they had regular armor, the type I'd seen in movies and games. Typical silver full plate.

However-

What's this feeling? It was almost as though my chest was quivering. But I didn't have a beating heart, so what the hell was happening?

Was I? Instinctively afraid? It was possible. Certainly possible. However, the fear turned to excitement as I pondered the possibilities.

"Rumors can be many things, but as you might know, where there is smoke, there's often fire."

"Thurbolg Denegeal," he nodded.

Was that his name? Was he asking for mine?

"Sean Jackson," I said.

He glanced once at my skeletons and turned back to me. "Might I inquire what you're doing out during such late hours?"

It wasn't even midnight yet, so I wasn't sure what he meant by late hours. However, "Just some routine hunting."

"What a coincidence."

"Though I've been noticing how most of the monsters I used to hunt have been ending up as corpses instead."

"That would be us," he said.

"Is that why you're out here? To kill monsters?"

"Yes, in fact, that is our duty."

Well, he wasn't hiding the fact it would seem. And these people weren't necessarily trying to pick a fight with us either.

That was odd.

"Well, we appreciate that you fight and kill our monsters for us, but, but we would appreciate it more, if you just… left."

"I'm afraid we cannot do that. We haven't fulfilled our mission. Yet."

"And what would that mission be?" I was cautious. Really so. I had a firm grasp on my shield and my sword. If push comes to shove, I could use magic to divert him and then strike him.

Holy knights were strong, and particularly strong against undead because they could use light-based attacks. However, just like dark was weak to light, light was also weak to dark. So technically, we both were at a severe disadvantage but also… at quite advantage.

"We were ordered to find out if an Anacobra had truly revived in these parts," he said.

"Oh yeah, one had," I said. "Me and my friends killed it."

The knight paused for a good three minutes. "I see. Then our information was correct. An Anacobra truly had emerged two decades earlier than predicted. And these friends you speak of, were they halfdead Escalor and Siarre?"

"As a matter of fact-"

They were. I attempted to say. But before I could finish, his sword flew in an arc, almost slicing my throat. But I'd dodged, barely.

I saw it coming, and I was prepared. Yet, I barely dodged it.

"Then you must perish, for the greater good-"

Huh?

I had to die because I knew Escalor and Siarre?

Because this guy said so?

HUH!

Well, fuck you too.

"Darken," I snuffed the lights out.

Holy knights could light up everything, but if I already made it super dark in the first place, how the hell were they going light that up?

"Lighten!" He proceeded to light up the environment anyway. Oh well.

But- "Thunder!" Electricity streaked and I zapped about three of them since they were close enough. Vivia dashed forward and knocked them out, while the skeletons surrounded the others. Apparently, those weren't really holy knights, just knights.

The real problem was this dude, the guy in white armor.

Holy knight Thurbolg Dene-something.

And he just made the biggest mistake of his life. After all, he wasn't just fighting me. He was fighting basically the strongest people of our guild. And me, of course.

"We could have talked this out," I said.

He glared. "Not when you're friends with those monsters!" He swung his sword in a vertical swing.

I dodged.