บท 14: New Enemy
Luca saw that Sergio stopped walking as the last light of the sun was raining down on them. Sergio pulled out the map he got in the town and looked at his pocket watch. Sergio was lost in thought as he tapped his feet. Sergio checked out his surroundings as he saw the sun's red rays on the flat green grasslands that they had traveled on for a few hours now. There were a few bushes here and there. And a few small trees and vibrant yellow flowers that sparsely populated these grasslands.
It was so peaceful here and unlike the savage forests that they had previously traveled by, he asked Damien why that was.
"You see Luca the forest you were in previously wasn't ordinary. From what you've told me where on the Santuari continent. It's a continent that's separated by shallow water on all sides, on one side is the Santuari continent and on the other side is the Vad forest. The forest surrounds the Santuari Continent. The forest is enormous, to put it into perceptive, imagine a 5-meter wide pond of water and in that pond sits a small rock the size of your clenched fist. That's how big the difference is in size. The forest is said to be home to the most dangerous spirits beasts alive. In reality, it's the home of the ten noble-beat bloodlines, not including ours. But they are located to the east of Santuari, we traveled the south of the forest. Which is the safest part of the forest and the smallest part of the forest. Ask Sergio who that girl was to be sure what we're up against."
Luca was frightened when he heard that they were in such a huge and dangerous forest! Sergio and he were fighting every day in the forest. He asked Sergio who that girl was and he responded with a casual expression.
"I was able to get the girl's last name from one of her guards earlier before he died. She's the daughter of a Baron who only owns a few towns around the border. He wouldn't dare lay a hand on me. But that doesn't mean he won't send nameless assassins and pretend that he hasn't sent them since we can't "prove" that he was the one who sent these assassins if he's careful about it."
"How powerful is a Baron ?"
"It's the second lowest title of nobility that's only above the title of a knight. Barons only control one castle and a few towns. We don't have to worry about that bastard sending an army or anything." Sergio scoffed at the mention of the Barons lowly title.
Luca learned something new about this world. He only knew that there existed royalty and nobles. He wasn't sure about the ranks of nobility. His mind then drifted off as they ran at a pace that he could keep up with. They rested the night and Damien told him that he wouldn't have any lessons for a while as he was keeping a lookout during the night. Instead of teaching and training him. Luca was more than happy to finally get some genuine sleep instead of resting in that limbo state that the shard put him in.
The next morning they kept going, curious about where they were going, Luca asked.
"Where are we going? Aren't we going deeper into your rivals kingdom?"
"So you are paying attention, the map shows that the academy is to the northeast from here. It's a straight line if we go through the Hastam Kingdom. If we go around then we won't make it in time. It'll be fine I've got a plan." He spoke with his chest puffed out a bit, with a confident smile.
Luca wasn't worried if Sergio wasn't, so he put it in the back of his mind. He heard Damien click his tongue saying how carefree young people are and how naive they are. He said that when trouble came around he would have to help even if he didn't want to. After that, he didn't hear Damien speak for the rest of the day.
They traveled like this for a few weeks, and you could say that Luca had almost forgotten about the possible threat to his life. It was morning and he was playing with his spear. Stabbing the small rocks that he threw in the air while he waited for Sergio, who was finishing his food that they caught, deer. When he suddenly felt the hairs on his hand standing up. He could feel danger coming!
He got serious as he stopped playing around and looked at his surroundings. He transformed into his beast form, and that's when he found the source of his suspicion. He could smell iron and he could hear smoothing coming towards them fast. He turned to his left and realized that an arrow was flying towards him! It was fast and he could feel the power behind the arrow as he used his spear to hit the arrow out of the air. The force of the arrow caused him to step back!
Never would Luca think that an arrow could force a person back. That meant whoever shot it was powerful and was wielding a strong weapon! He then heard Sergio as he walked past Luca and picked up the arrow from the ground.
"Why would they come after us? There's no way a simple baron could send these guys here. Interesting, it seems we've caught the attention of somebody with some power." He looked towards the direction that the arrow came from, which was surprising in the opposite direction!
Luca quickly turned and followed Sergio's line of sight. With his enhanced vision he could see that there were three small green dots on the horizon. They were moving quickly and in 3 seconds they were already 1 mile away. Luca could see them clearly.
There were three people in dark green scaled armor that covered their chests and upper legs. They had brown pants and a dark green mask on their faces. The mask covered their whole face and only left two holes visible, where he could see their green eyes. They had a short sword strapped to their side and a beautifully decorated brown recurve bow, quivers on their backs.
He could see that they didn't have a crest on their chest like a knight. Who were these people and why did they give up their long-range advantage to close the distance? Luca had never seen someone with green eyes before and was a bit fascinated by them. He got his spear ready and got into an attack position ready to strike if he had too, as they got within half a mile. Sergio walked a bit further away from him and talked. Since cultivators could use primordial energy to boost their voice at longer distances
"Well if isn't the dogs of the Hastam Kingodm. When did we get the attention of a powerful Duke of the Hastam Kingdom? Afterall, who else has the power to deploy the Hunter Greens? The special forces of the Hastam Kingdom!" He smiled with a smile that was filled with killing intent.
The Hunter Green in the middle of the group stepped forward and spoke.
"Well if isn't the royal trash of the Octsio family, sadly it isn't you where after. Hand over that bloodline holder and well make sure that you leave here in one piece." A deep voice came from behind the mask as he mocked Sergio
Luca was shocked, why where they were after him!
"I don't negotiate with middlemen, bring me your master and if he kisses my feet maybe ill consider it!" He laughed as he looked down at them
"BASTARD!" The Hunter Green on the left spoke, and it was a girl's voice.
The leader of the Hunter Greens put his hand up and it made the left Hunter Green stop. But Luca could smell her anger as it was overwhelming. She was really upset. He then heard Damien speak to Luca.
"I was afraid of something like this happening eventually. There must have been a skillful spy that was able to accurately recall your fight back in town. High blood are hard to get a hand on, and all high bloods are either kings, queens or nobles. Someone you like is rare, a high blood that's roaming without any power is a juicy target for some sick and twisted noble. They would experiment on you and keep you as a pet, the bastards!" Damien was pissed.
This was the first time Luca heard Damien being so emotionally before. But knowing what they wanted to do with him made him a bit scared and angry. How dare they!
"Once you get into a bigger city don't use your beast form unless your life's in danger. You're too weak to protect yourself right now. If someone asks, you're just a cultivator who discovered an ancient cultivation manual or something, for your safety, if we make it out alive." Damien spoke.
Sergio was sizing up the three and cracked his neck back and forth. Sergio opened his palms and put them forward, creating a huge square shield that was 4 meters tall and 2 meters wide. He threw it to Luca and told him to use it. The leader of the Hunter Greens spoke once again but with killing intent.
"That first shot was only a test shot to see what these high bloods are made of, not bad! He's lucky that our boss wants him alive, but he did say we could use force!" He and the other three pulled out their bows.
Sergio held his hands out to the side and his body was covered in black armor in an instant. Then black sabers appeared in both hands. This was the first time Luca saw this piece of armor, and it seemed that he was taking this fight more seriously.
"Let me make it clear you might be strong, but that's nothing in the face of true power!" He rushed forward like a bull.
The three jumped back and separated in three different directions. They loaded arrows into their bow and shot three at a time. The moment the string was released, a tiny shockwave was heard. Nine arrows went towards Sergio from the North, East, and West. He pushed forward and like a windmill, he rotated his sabers and cut the arrows into pieces. He then slid on the floor as more arrows came, some would curve through the air and attack Sergio at impossible angles. But saber was always there to cut them to pieces
The female Hunter Green seemed to think that Sergio was pre-occupied with her comrades and shot five arrows at Luca. Luca could barely see them and moved the shield to block his front. He put primordial energy into the shield and could feel the shield break apart and cover him in a sphere of flying metal. They would move wherever they felt strong pressure and block the attack! This shield was something else! He'd never seen anything like this! He could feel that the arrows were the weaker, it seemed that the more arrows they shot the weaker each arrow got.
Sergio as if having eyes behind his back threw his saber like a boomerang and it flew towards the female Hunter green. She saw it coming and had to retreat as it barely missed her as it flew and cut some of hair off. Sergio created another saber and this time he put primordial energy into both sabers. They glowed partially white as the runes on them were now visible.
"Is this all you've got? I'm just warming up!" Sergio said
The Hunter Greens seemed to take it more seriously as they casted spells on their arrows. The arrows glowed in different colors. Luca was worried, but he knew that he would only cause more problems for Sergio. He wanted to help but held himself back, and he watched as the fight started to get out of hand. He hoped that Sergio would make it out alive!
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