Chapter Twelve

Valak's chest loudly pounded as he ran through the forest. Right now, they were being chased by those beastmen. Had he not known better, he would have mistaken those beastmen for monsters. He was sure that if those guys and the basilisks confronted each other, it would become a bloodbath. Those guys were that dangerous. 

Looking at the other hunters, he realized that he was not the only one panic-stricken by now. At any moment, those guys were going to catch up to them. The mere thought of those axes cleaving them in half gave him the shivers. 

I know this may seem impossible, but I want everyone to remain as calm as possible during our surprise attack. I want everyone to completely heed my instructions, no matter what. 

Those words uttered by the Young Master before they commenced with the assault reverberated within his mind. 

"You damn bastards! You scum! Stop hiding! Show yourselves! Where are you?!"

A loud shout echoed in the forest. Ravens flew in flocks as trees rustled. 

The Young Master raised a hand, signaling everyone to stop and stay still. The footsteps of their pursuers were getting near. 

Everyone held their breaths, just like the time when they were hunting in the forest around Gahelpa Village. With their keen visions developed from hunting for several decades, they could already see the silhouettes of their enemies despite the darkness of the night. 

The Young Master made a fist, and on cue, everyone channeled some mana into their bows and fired their arrows. The arrows whistled past the trees and perfectly struck their targets. Azura and his adjutants successfully blocked it using their weapons, while some of the beastmen were pierced right at the forehead. Several beastmen fell limp and lifeless on the ground in an instant. 

"Over there!" shouted one of the beastmen. 

Commander Azura's veins popped and he ran towards the direction of the hunters, his speed bordering the absurd. 

'Do it like we've practiced,' Valak reminded himself. 'Trust the Young Master.'

The Young Master said, "Scatter."

On cue, the hunters dispersed into two groups. Lark remained in his position while the rest of the hunters ran towards opposite directions. 

Seeing this, Azura shouted at his men, "Don't let the other humans get away! After them!"

The beastmen also divided themselves into two groups, each being led by an adjutant. They chased after the hunters. Azura, on the other hand, continued charging at Lark. 

Lark purposefully leaked out his mana, making Azura target him personally. The Commander of the Vanguard knew that this young human was probably the leader of this small private army. 

Upon reaching Lark, Azura raised his battle-axe into the air and slashed at the human. The speed of his strike created a small gust of wind. 

"What?" Azura was baffled for a moment. He was sure he successfully struck his target, but now he realized it was nothing but an afterimage. 

He turned around and saw Lark a good distance away from him, his hand holding a scroll. He opened it and channeled his mana into the runes engraved inside. 

"The lizard we've captured was not lying, huh?" Lark smirked. "The Commander is indeed a musclehead. With the Vice Commander dead, this army's nothing but a stringless puppet."

The runes in the scroll glowed, before turning into flames and eventually dispersing into ashes. To Azura's surprise, the sound of footsteps around them vanished entirely. He could no longer feel the presence of his men, nor those of the fleeing humans. 

In this forest, there was only him and this young man. 

"What did you do?" Azura frowned. 

Lark shrugged. "There's no need for you to know."

Upon the utterance of those words, the figure of the young man slowly faded away, eventually disappearing into the night. Only his voice remained. 

"You're strong, indeed. I have no intention of using up all my mana for a musclehead like you, you see," said Lark. "Let's talk? I've heard that the United Grakas Alliance plans on invading the Eastern Region. Is there a way out of this?"

Azura snorted. This human was obviously buying enough time – but for what? 

"It is a decree of the Beast King." Azura rested his axe on his shoulder, his eyes swiveling left and right as he tried to locate the presence of the human. "His will is absolute. There's no point in questioning it."

There was a sigh. "There's no point in questioning it? A typical answer of a musclehead. How disappointing."

Azura's non-existent brows twitched. He snarled, "This damn, puny human dares to…"

"It's not even a year since I began implementing the new policies in my domain. I've been planning on making it self-sufficient within the next half a year, at the very least, you see. But if the United Grakas Alliance successfully crosses over to the Eastern Region, I'll have no choice but to forcefully postpone my plans." The human's voice was ice cold. "To be frank, I have no interest in your war, whatever the reason is."

Commander Azura still could not locate the presence. How was this possible? The magic of this human was comparable to the magic of Captain Stone. 

"Human, come out!" Azura growled. "No matter what you do, there's no stopping this war! Just like I've told you, the will of the Beast King is absolute! The United Grakas will reclaim the Eastern Region!"

The human momentarily paused. "Reclaim? I see. So this land once belonged to your people?"

"That's right!" Azura grabbed his axe and swung it in the air once, creating a gust of wind. "But enough with this petty talk! Come out!"

Azura heard rustling sounds from his left. Soon, three figures emerged. All of them wore full plate armors, the cloaks they wore tattered. There was something eerie about these guys, but Commander Azura was unable to pinpoint it out. 

"About time," said the human. His figure slowly appeared from the darkness of the night. "This is war. You wouldn't say that four versus one isn't fair, right?"

Azura finally understood. This puny human was stalling for time for these guys to arrive. But what difference would it make? At the end of the day, humans would still be humans. 

The suits of armor walked towards the young man and in unison, knelt down. The one at the middle groaned. 

As though he understood what was said, the human nodded. "You've successfully completed the mission, huh? Good job."

He placed a hand at the one at the middle, and the dents, scratches and holes in the armor closed in. He did the same for the other two, reverting them into their original states. 

"Let's start," The human breathed. "I still have to annihilate the rest of the army after this, so I can't spare you all of my mana." He said to the three suits of armor, "Kill him."

The suits of armor groaned, stood up, and started charging at Azura. It was a direct attack, without strategy or tactics involved. 

"These guys are confident with their strength, huh?" Azura snorted. He found it funny that these three humans would even try to contest with him using only pure strength. "Come!"

The suits of armor swung their swords at him, and Azura immediately blocked it one after another using his battle axe. Using his three other arms, Azura would strike the suits of armor with his fist every now and then. Several dents were created on the armors, but his three opponents did now show any signs of taking damage. 

What was happening? Shouldn't the human inside the suit have some of his organs crushed by now? 

Azura shook off his thoughts. It did not matter. As long as he kept pummeling these guys, they would eventually die. No matter how tough they were, they were still humans. 

Azura gnashed his teeth, raised his battle-axe, and struck the body of the suit of armor next to him. His axe cleaved through half the armor. The feet of his opponent sank several inches deep into the ground from the tremendous impact. 

But to his surprise, the suit of armor simply glared at him. It groaned, and stabbed him at the thigh using the sword. 

Azura looked at the place where his battle-axe struck. There was no blood. He realized it was hollow inside. He realized these guys were not humans. 

"Damn it!" Azura roared and punched the suit of armor at the face. It flew into the air and hit the nearby tree, but immediately stood up and charged again at him afterwards. 

Azura pulled out the sword stabbed through his thigh, making his blood spurt out. He tossed it onto the ground. This was nothing. He had been to more perilous situations before. 

"There's no way you guys are immortal!" roared Azura. "Come!"

The battle continued. The three suits of armor continued their attacks despite the dents and cuts in their bodies. Despite his injuries, Azura continued parrying the attacks, retaliating with deathblows every now and then. He could not even charge at Lark, who obviously commanded these puppets. Just blocking the attacks from these three monsters was taking his everything to survive. 

After half an hour, the three suits of armor finally fell limp on the ground. Their bodies were cut and dented in several places. One of them tried standing up, before its body quivered and fell down the ground. The light inside their visors started dimming as inaudible groans escaped their lips. They all still wanted to stand up and fight for their master, but their bodies refused to move. 

Azura, on the other hand, was still standing. He was huffing, his chest rising and falling rapidly. The battle-axe he held have several chips at the edge, while his entire body was riddled with several cuts and bruises. Blood dripped down the wounds, blanketing the ground he was standing on. Still, despite the injuries, the bloodlust in his eyes continued blazing. 

Azura wiped the blood dripping down his mouth. "Now, you're next, brat."

Lark, who have been standing on the same place since half an hour ago, did not reply. He simply pointed a finger at the suits of armor lying on the ground. A thread of mana flowed from his finger tip and enveloped the suits of armor. 

The suits of armor groaned, their armors clanked, and they started standing up. The cuts on their bodies started closing and the dents reverted.

Although this consumed a lot of mana, this was still far more efficient than using Middle Tier Magic to confront this Commander.

When the suits of armors were finally reverted to their original state, Commander Azura was in stupor. It took him everything just to survive the nonstop onslaught, and now he had to do it all over again, with this battered body of his? 

He was livid. As expected, humans loved to play dirty.

"This damn coward," he growled. "Stop hiding behind those puppets and fight me! Damn human!"

Lark did not bother to give a reply. He flicked his fingers and the suits of armor began their charge. 

The three continued their assaults against the injured Commander. This time, the battle went quicker. In less than half an hour, the head of Commander Azura flew into the air, then dropped and rolled on the ground. 

Lark noticed that there were tears at the corner of the beastman's eyes. Was it rage? Frustration? Regret? He did not know. And there was no need to find the answer. 

This was war. He needed to devour these invading bastards before they started touching his town. 

Lark ordered one of the suits of armor to retrieve the head and put it inside a small leather bag.

Lark looked at the sky. "The moon's beautiful tonight."

Two down, three to go. It was finally time to hunt that lizardman bastard. The one that almost killed Gaston. 

Lark reserved his mana for this moment. 

"Now, Captain Stone," said Lark. "Where are you?"

Accompanied by his puppets, Lark disappeared through the shadow of the night.