Chapter 68

I'm posting some chapters ahead of time on my discord server: https://discord.gg/r2VSvS5kaH

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'How did he do this?'

The lance Aya was asking herself. Her eyesight was too slow to notice what had happened. The person was faster than light, he simply emerged in front of her when the explosion of black flames occurred. She found herself in a barrier that protected her from the lingering flames. Meanwhile, the person who was standing in front of her was doing nothing.

'I must do it.' The elf forced herself to stand up. The pain was unbearable, but by using augmentation, she managed to raise herself on her knees and then on two legs. She was in a must-do situation, where death was the least of the sacrifices she could make.

She takes a step forward to deal with the black flames, but the person gives her a glance, making it clear to her that the person had something planned and it was best not to interrupt. In the next second, she enlarged her eyes as the dangerous magic just dissipated. Every little spark of the flames was now nonexistent. For a moment, she came to regret the decision, the scythe lunged at the person, with his sickle prepared to strike.

'Shit!'

The auburn-haired wasn't even looking at this opponent. Was he caught off guard? Funnily enough, instead of him being stabbed, the sickle just stopped on his skin with a clang. Aya asked herself how tough this guy could really be if the metallic sickle, which could tear apart everything, was stopped like this.

The scythe jumped away the moment the person laid eyes on him, out of fear? Yes, Aya could now clearly read his expression. The previously unshaken scythe trembled with fear. He was close to pissing himself off...

'Just how strong is he?'

More surprises came when the scythe was caught in the air by a mysterious force. The purple hue surrounded the scythe, and the shape of it really resembled the palm of a human. The floating man was about to be squashed by this purple hue. He was definitely under pressure and blood was leaking from his nose.

"I'm friendly. You can leave for your initial mission. I'll take care of this."

She flinched. This voice didn't resemble the appearance the teenage guy had. It was a low, authoritative voice; the words sounded like a command. Aya was unsure if she could've left them. There was also this giant bear... which was now bowing its head towards auburn-haired.

"I believe it's not time to process things slowly. As proof of my allegiance, I'll finish this off, instead of you."

He was right, though. Aya couldn't proceed according to the situation. Even though it was a requirement for lances to act as quickly as possible in situations where normal soldiers couldn't. But what exactly could she do?

'Princess Tessia!' The elf girl needed help, and it was her duty to protect the royal family. She needed some kind of antidote or a healer who could've neutralized the poisonous liquid.

"Can you neutralize poisons?!"

Aya screamed at the teen, hoping that her answer would be what she wanted. At first, it wasn't what she would like. The guy just threw something else at her. The thing was a vial with golden ornaments, and bloody red liquid filled it. 'What is this?' was what Aya had thought at that moment.

"There's no need for anything, Tessia is alright."

Aya, first of all, wanted to ask how she knew who she was thinking about. Nonetheless, instead, she questioned how Tessia was alright. The liquid that the scythe was using was no joke. She herself was lucky to handle the situation well.

"How do you know that? Princess Tessia had a big scar, it was large enough for infection to occur."

"She had contact with stronger poison and she was great as ever. Believe it or not, she has immunity to any kind of poison you or anyone in this world could've ever made."

She had contact with a stronger poison? Aya wondered what position could've been stronger. It was natural that she acquired immunity against poison, but how strong exactly was that poison if it gave immunity to all others. She had to be hospitalized, but there wasn't even a case of her feeling bad.

"Just go. You don't want to see what's going to happen…"

She trembled when she heard these words, they were so cold and emotionless. For the first time, Aya felt bad for her enemies. She wouldn't want to wish them and experience whatever was about to happen to that scythe.

"By the way, who are you?"

"Ashborn Leywin."

She didn't question further, and at high speed she flew away from the place, leaving the scythe with two dark beings. The tank soon shrunk into the teen's shadow and disappeared from his sights, which made things seem worse. He was now alone with an actual monster.

"You have failed me, Tank. I expected you to defeat the lowly snake with your strength, but I have to intervene."

The shadow monarch was disappointed, of sorts. He couldn't be mad at his own soldier because of not having enough strength, it all depended on him in the end. It would be just better if Tank was strong enough to defeat at least the Scythe-level opponent. In the near future, in an enormous battle that will transpire, he needs strong soldiers to fight alongside him against threats unseen by this world.

"Are they really that strong?"

Ashborn looked at the scythe caught in the air. In his eyes, those scythes weren't even a percentage of the tank's strength. The shadow soldier had brute strength and an enormous amount of mana coming from him. Along with monstrous regenerative powers, Tank seemed unbeatable.

"Are you that strong?"

He directly questioned the scythe, bringing the man closer to him. Still, in a trace of the monarch's authority, the terrified scythe begged with that look in his eyes to let him go. Ash didn't stop there, he only brought him closer until his eyes were right under his nose. He stared down at them, scaring the poor creature even more.

With the movement of his fingers, Ash controlled the mana-shaped hand with ease. He began slowly clenching his fist, as the thumb and index fingertips were narrowing each other. The scythe felt his inability to breathe. Something was pressing on his neck on two opposite sides at the same time.

His neck was being squashed now, and the breathing pathway was only getting narrower. Together with an intimidating persona, he craved oxygen now more than ever before. The tears escaped his eyes.

"Kh-ep."

The man wanted to scream with everything he had to reach out for someone else. He begged his imaginary gods, the Vritras, the ones who gave him the power, to come and rescue him. Make this nightmare end.

There was already blood streaming out of his neck, and with each second it was getting worse. There was a cold sensation that he felt in his lungs, the breathing pathway was being filled with a red liquid instead of the air he so hungered for. With every second passing, he was choking out the blood.

His face was getting bloodied. His eyes were also leaking blood now. Instead of the expected screams, the blood was coming out of his mouth. Everywhere there was blood, and the body itself was becoming a mess of blood! However, for Ash, how the skinny person had so much blood, was more questionable than how the person was feeling right now.

He continued until the person had no light in their eyes and was dead. The resistance died down, and Ash finally released the scythe, dropping him on the ground lifeless.

"I still need you."

The scythe became a part of Ashborn's quickly made-up plan. To test the effectiveness of the Scythe shadow soldiers, will they be as powerful as Asuras? Or will they reach the level of Uto? The sadistic soldier was with Ashborn for a long time, and he developed together with Ashborn as well. Maybe the newly acquired Scythe will have the same strength.

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"Alea!"

When Aya reached the fellow lance, she was on the outskirts of the forest together with Claire and Tessia. Far away from them, they could also notice Bairon, another colleague of theirs, and under him was a squad of thirty or so people. They have just rescued the former disciplinary committee members.

"Lance Aya, Lance Alea. For a moment, I thought we'd lost the two students. Thankfully, you have rescued them. Alright, we are returning for now." Bairon flew down to his colleagues and greeted them. However, Aya had to reject his instructions.

"We aren't leaving anyone behind. We'll still stay here."

"Why? I'm sure I haven't missed anybody else in the forest. I had their classmate in my squad, and he only mentioned those that we got correctly."

"Our classmate?" Tessia asked.

"Elijah Knight, previously an A-Class adventurer and Xyrus student, entered service in my squad long before you began fighting on the frontlines. "

Claire and Tessia were stupefied. So that's why Elijah disappeared from their sight, he's in Lance's team. They didn't know about Elijah being an A-Class adventurer either. In the academy, he looked like a quiet and calm kid... and that quiet kid is now fighting for Dicathen.

"No, we have one left in the forest."

"And who exactly? If there is one, why are we standing here?" Bairon pressed on the question.

"Hah, Bairon, weren't you pissed in your pants when you heard his name?"

The tall man raised an eyebrow at Aya. How could she mention such a thing in front of children and who was she talking about? There was nobody who made him scar-

"Ashborn Leywin is in the forest."

Now he realized, actually, yeah he is frightened by that person. 'I mean who isn't?' That was how he reassured his pride sometimes. Out of everyone else, it had to be a teenage boy who scared him.

"Ash is back, finally!"

Tessa's eyes brightened. At least some great news today. Out of happiness and fatigue, she slumped onto the ground, sure of today's victory. Ash, for Tessia, was the only person that could be trusted, aside from her parents and Arthur.

"It's alright guys, you can rest."

As the teen elf slumped on the green grass, she released a relieved sigh. Claire could also finally take a deep breath to calm herself down. Had their time to finally receive good sleep arrived? If so, it was all thanks to Ashborn.

"It was supposed to be in a year…" The lances mumbled to themselves.

"He could have returned earlier than supposed, we should get back and ask if he'll proceed with the plan now or later."

"Get up, we must go to the nearby outpost."

Bairon gave a stern glance to Claire and Tessia. Both were confused, but because of fright, they stood up. They've heard about Bairon. He was an all seriousness lance with anger issues, but he was qualified for his status. On the battlefield, his commands were still the orders. The status of the princess didn't help out.

"Elijah! Don't stop and move towards the nest!" The male lance shouted for his subordinate, and after receiving a positive reply from the dark-haired boy, he flew up in the air and floated somewhere else.

Tessia asked the nearby lance what was going on. Alea only replied with a smile and assured them that everything was alright. Although the platinum-haired wasn't so sure, the look on the second female lance wasn't as calm as Alea's.