XXXIX. The Pendant

"I think so," she replied.

"Well, let's go then. We have to hurry, those men could come back..."

As Dag was talking as he looked at the woman, an arrow pierced her head. Blood spatter splashed on Dag's face, who was paralyzed.

With her mouth open and her eyes lost in the void, the woman fell to the ground lifeless.

"Aaah... fuck!" exclaimed Dag, holding his sword.

The men on horseback had returned, evidently, they had not fully believed Dag's story.

Dag looked at the woman on the ground. For a moment she thought she was safe. Maybe at least she died without suffering.

Dag felt a sense of anger. An innocent woman had just been killed before her eyes by power-hungry men. He won't never forgive them.

He bent over her body and slid out her husband's necklace from the woman's neck.

He didn't know why, but instinctively he felt he had to protect that object, to preserve the memory of that man who died unjustly.

He put the necklace in his pocket and took a few steps back.

The men were riding in that direction.

Dag pointed his sword at them.

The three men stopped a few feet before him.

"Eh eh eh... boy, why did you lie to me?" said the man on the armored horse.

"What do you want from this woman? She didn't do anything to you!" said Dag, on the defensive.

"How dare you make fun of the big Kval, you little garbage?" said one of the men behind.

So that was his name, Kval of Horns Of Heimdallr.

Kval got off his horse.

"Give it to me boy, and no one's going to get hurt," he said.

"What do you want?" said Dag, still pretending not to know anything.

"I'm really losing patience! The pendant, you idiot! You know what I want!" yelled Kval.

Dag pulled the pendant out of his pocket. At the sight of the necklace, the men's eyes lit up as if they had just seen a priceless treasure.

"This?" asked Dag.

"Give it to me now!" said Kval, approaching him.

Dag put the necklace back in his pocket.

"Why do you want such a low-value pendant so much? It's the last memory that woman had of her husband. And you killed her in cold blood. I can't stand this kind of thing," Dag's expression changed radically, becoming gloomy and angry.

He looked at the men defiantly.

Kval raised his arms and signaled to the two men behind him to get off his horse: "take it"

At these words, the two men charged simultaneously towards Dag.

One of them was armed, the other with his bare hands.

The second tried to hit Dag with a punch: it was a good opportunity to try Magni's technique!

Dag focused on the incoming fist.

In the middle of his opponent's middle finger, he saw it as a small bright dot. It was supposed to be the center of gravity!

Dag moved the sword in his left hand and with the palm of his right hand blocked the shot, trying not to impress too much force: the man seemed to be decidedly less strong than him, too much energy would not activate the ability.

The fist hit Dag's hand. He felt like a rumble behind him.

Judging by the enemy's astonished expression, it looked like Adamant Mountain had worked!

Dag rotated his hand and the man fell ruinously to the ground.

In the meantime, however, the other was also attacking him.

Immediately after landing the first, Dag raised his sword and managed to parry the blow.

Then he stared at the man on the ground.

He moved at times and seemed unable to get up from the ground. He did it! He had learned Magni's personal skill with very little practice!

These were the only thoughts in Dag's mind, who fought those men more as a workout than a real threat.

He turned to the man who tried to hit him.

With a quick stroke of the hilt he hit his chin and when the man resented the blow, Dag shoved to his side and pierced him in the ribs.

The man uttered a cry of pain when Dag turned the blade of the sword inside his body, shattering his rib cage.

The man stopped screaming.

Dag pulled the sword out of the enemy's body, kicking him to the ground.

"Minus one," he thought.

That fight was even fun for him. Real enemies were certainly better opponents than inanimate old dummies.

The man on the ground began to regain the sensitivity of the limbs. He tried to get up.

When he put his hands down, trying to push himself, Dag threw his sword at him, piercing him on the shoulder.

He walked towards him, snared the sword still impaled and drew it violently, causing abundant bleeding in the man.

Before this one could say a word, he struck him again by slitting his throat.

The man began bubbling, spitting blood and dying slowly.

Dag stared at Kval, with the bloody sword in his hand.

Kval began to applaud ironically.

"Well well, who the fuck are you, boy?" he said, as he drew a double-headed axe from his back.

"One that's better not to provoke too much," Dag replied, ironically.

Wielding the big axe, Kval began to walk with a menacing air toward Dag.

"Oh oh oh, listen to this one!" he said.

He came up again and without saying anything, waved his axe against him, striking him.

Dag parried the blow, but it was of such power that he threw it against a tree about 3 meters behind him.

Dag slammed back into the trunk of the tree, then fell to the ground.

"What the...?" he whispered to himself.

He stood up, staring at Kval, who kept walking towards him.

"Boooy! Listen to me, give me that necklace," he said.

He kept insisting on that pendant.

"Why is a stupid pendant so important?! I just don't understand!" replied Dag.