Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Monster of the North (9)

When a person sees death coming straight for them, they tend to close their eyes to avoid it. They do so out of fear. But for Aurora, although she was also afraid, be it the first time or be it this time, she refused to do so. To her, looking away meant accepting death. And that was one thing she didn’t want to do.

Staring at the shadow coming straight for her, Aurora watched as everything played out in slow motion.

The ground under her suddenly shook.

In the next second, an enormous beast dug its way out right in front of the shadow. With its back against her, the monster made chewing noises as it crunched on the meal it caught. The stench of blood filled the forest.

Aurora stood up shakily, widening her eyes with unbelievable shock as if she was petrified. Torn clothes and her hair wet from sweat hung onto her body. Her face was stained with blood that probably belonged to the shadow.

The beast’s long tail swished back and forth, showing its joy. It didn’t take long for it to finish and turn its beady eyes toward her. Its next prey.

Before this actually happened, she had already long started to run. Because she knew if she hesitated or took her time to think, it’d be over.

Earlier, when she was in an open area, it gave the beast a chance to attack her. But this time, if she used the trees as a cover, the places it could pop up from was limited.

At least…that’s what Aurora thought.

The ground shook beneath her once again. The tree in front of her trembled and then toppled over. It snapped into two as though it was brittle. The beast with the appearance of a giant mole with two horns on its head quickly attacked her without pause.

Thanks to the training she went through in the past, she was able to jump back in reflex and make it miss a fatal strike. But because of her weakened state, she was grazed on her calf by its sharp claws.

Fresh blood poured down her leg.

When it missed her by only a millimeter, it accidentally hit the tree behind her, slamming its head. But that didn’t faze it at all, as it soon turned around to go after her once again.

What to do??

What can she do??

Attack it?

But with what? How?!

In the end, running was all she could do.

Her injured leg made it difficult for her to run, and it was only a matter of time before it caught up to her. No matter what, she needed to endure so she could reach the barrier.

Time passed so quickly, yet so slowly for her. Enduring the pain in her leg, she ran. And ran. And ran. When she finally spotted the tree with her mark, her dim expression brightened.

Almost.

Almost there!

Just a few feet away from her goal, the ground once again shook. She didn’t let this stop her. She had already started to understand the monster’s attack pattern. The beast was fast and used that to its advantage to ambush her from ahead. So, Aurora stopped, changed her direction, and ran. With this, she’d bypass the trap.

Sadly, it didn't end up the way she imagined.

The mole-like beast dug its way up from the front. Seeing this startled her. Did it just read what she would do? And on top of that, outsmart her?

But Aurora didn’t stop. She didn’t have the leisure to. She planned on her next course, intending to turn around and try again. Before she could, her foresight warned her. An exact copy of the mole beast was waiting just behind her.

There...there wasn't only one!! There were two!

Out of ideas, she found herself ensnared between two intelligent, fast beasts. Both creatures ran towards her intending on ripping her into pieces. There was nowhere she could hide. On the verge of giving up, she heard a sharp clang and a low growl.

Aurora slowly raised her head.

Standing in front of her was a young man with red hair, holding a sword in each hand. One sword gold. The other, completely black.

The youngest Duke of the Epheria Empire, ruler of the Rizar dukedom, Lucius Rizar.

With both swords raised, he stopped the beast from further advancing. Although he was pushed back at first, the Duke was soon able to force it back. Without Aurora noticing, the other monster was already thrown a few feet away.

Snarling in anger, the beast stepped back and bared its fangs. Both monsters stood in front of her and Lucius, preparing for another round.

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Someone tapped Aurora’s back, getting her attention.

“Are you alright, Miss Aurora?” It was Tanya.

Aurora nodded her head. When she looked back, she saw a group of Knights standing behind Tanya. Wearing the Rizar Knight’s black and gold uniform, they had a completely different aura from when they were at the mansion.

The Rizar Knights were widely known as the Black Gold Eagle Knights. Led by a Commander with unbeatable physical power and strategical intelligence, even the Emperor could not easily order them. But Aurora still had no idea that she was living with a den full of ferocious wolves.

Their crest was that of a black eagle holding a sword in each claw. Seeing Lucius wielding two swords, gave her the image of a proud, noble eagle, standing above all.

“Oh! Is this the beautiful young lady I’ve been hearing so much about? Boss has been working me to death the last couple of months, so I haven’t been around much.” A man around the same age as Lucius leaned down towards Aurora. Although he was wearing the same uniform as the others, he wore it more casually, with the coat tied around his waist.

“I’m Siathrich Niall, 21 years old and single! Call me Sia pretty lady!” Sia saluted with his right hand and grinned.

Aurora blinked her eyes and nodded her head in greeting. “Hello.” He somehow reminded her of Halon. His carefree attitude immediately changed the tense atmosphere.

His messy long gold hair tied to the back in a ponytail and his violent eyes gave him a pretty boy appearance. He was surely a playboy. But Aurora was disgusted with his attitude because she knew that at least 90% of his words were just playful.

“Vice Captain Siathrich Niall, if you have time to flirt, maybe I should send you back?” Raya glared at the frivolous young man.

Sia shivered in fright. “No, no, no. I’ll get to work immediately!” He jogged to the front where the Captain was preparing the other Knights to handle one of the creatures. “Ah…didn’t I say not to call me by my full name? It’s fine if it’s someone else, but it’s scary when you do it!” He mumbled as he took his sword out.

Aurora was shocked to see such a young person be the Vice Captain of the Knights. It was already surprising that Lucius, who was in his early 20s, was a Duke.

Tanya, who was cleaning Aurora’s wounds, understood what she was thinking and explained. “He’s young and a bit reckless, but when it comes to his skills with the sword, he might be even best the Captain in a battle to the death. Like His Grace, he’s also a Swordmaster."

Tanya moved her eyes away from Sia. "...Don't tell him I said that."

Aurora nodded her head, but she didn't know if Tanya was asking her to not tell the Duke or the Vice Captain.

Still, watching him stop the beast on the left from escaping with no effort, Aurora could only believe Tanya. While the Captain and Vice Captain subdued one of the beasts, the Duke alone took on the other. It didn’t take long for him to deal a killing blow.

But when one died, the other lost control. His tiny eyes turned red, and a third horn grew on its head.

When Tanya covered Aurora with her own body, she wanted to resist, but everything happened so fast.

The beast’s mana exploded. It was enough to blow Sia and Raya a few feet away, injuring them in the process. Although the Captain was able to stand back up, Sia fell unconscious, and so did several other Knights who were close by.

Aurora felt Tanya’s grip around her loosened and quickly checked to see if she was alright. “Tanya, are you…” Before she finished asking, she pulled her hand back and saw that it was covered with red. The place she touched just now was Tanya’s back… “You’re hurt!!”

Tanya pulled back and winced in pain. “I’m fine. This much is nothing,” She panted as she said this. Tanya wanted to bring Aurora away from the battle but hesitated because she was afraid of worsening the injury on her leg.

She could only cover the Miss with her own body.

“Careful, it’s a mutated beast!!” One Knight yelled.

“It’s in berserk mode!” Cain and Lyle stood in front of Lucius with their daggers raised. “Protect the Duke!!”

The beasts are called evolved beasts, and were ranked from E to A. The lowest being rank E and the highest being ranked A. These beast were wild, normal animals that evolved in the area the erosion spread. The higher the rank, the more powerful and intelligent they are. But there was one exception to this. Rank S mutated beasts, which were on a whole different level.

One couldn't kill them using normal means. 

Seeing his people get hurt, Lucius frowned.

To hurt the people he promised to protect in front of him, that was one thing he’ll not allow to happen again.

Lucius raised the black sword in front him and sheathed the other one. The temperature around him dropped dramatically. The air became so cold that even their breath was visible.

“Ssss…sasa…ssss…sasasa….”

A low whistling sound spread throughout the forest. The sound was so faint that if one didn’t listen closely, they would think it was the rustling of leaves.

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