Noel stared at the dead body of the hunter that was bisected cleanly in half in horror, his feet refusing to move.
You're kidding, right?
This has to be a joke, right?
Isn't this just an F-rank rift? What the hell is a marshal-level guardian doing here?!
How are we supposed to kill that thing?!
Noel was not the only one completely frozen in fear and horror. Katherine, Gabe, Vale, Carl, Wind, Lara, and the remaining two hunters were terrified by what they saw, their feet immobilized in terror.
The Undead Knight stood motionless, fresh red blood dripping from its massive greatsword as it stared at them, its unsettling and malevolent aura gripping each of them. They felt like they were facing a prehistoric beast, and they felt the threat of death loom over them.
Katherine stared at the towering figure of the Undead Knight with dread, and at the very next moment, she screamed at the top of her voice.
"Run! Everyone get out of here!"
Unfortunately, escape or retreat was no longer an option for them. The Undead Knight instantly vanished from their sights, and in the next second, it was swinging its massive greatsword at the head of one of the hunters. With a simple yet fluid motion, the Undead Knight cleanly separated his head from his body.
The hunter didn't even know what happened, but he was dead before his body reached the ground.
"No way…"
"MASON!" Gabe bellowed. Fear, anger, and pain at the loss of his old friend and colleague enveloped him, and he lost his sense of reasoning.
"You son of a bitch! I swear I'm going to take your head!" Gabe roared in fury, his grip on his battle-axe tightening.
"Blood Pact!" Gabe roared furiously, his rage fully evident in his voice. Instantly, the ambient mana surged toward him and coated his burly body, with crimson runes appearing all over his skin. His muscles bulged, and all the veins in his body burst open as his strength exploded past its limits.
Blood Pact was a berserk skill meant for Berserkers, and it was one he had learnt from an ancient tome found in the ruins of a kingdom within a D-rank rift. It had cost him a fortune to purchase, but it was worth every credit.
He was only a Novice Berserker, but after activation, the skill forcefully expanded his mana pool into a mana stream, letting him use techniques meant for a Master Berserker. The drawback, however, was extremely steep, and he could only stay in the berserk state for eight seconds before the backlash hit.
Gabe's transformation was rapid, and in less than a second, it was complete. With a fierce roar, he stomped and leapt into the air, cracks appearing on the ground he leapt from.
"You're dead, you son of a bitch!" Gabe roared angrily, his muscles tensing as he swung his battle axe with deadly precision towards the Undead Knight's neck, intent on severing its head in a single swing.
The Undead Knight remained still as Gabe's battle axe went for his head, seemingly unbothered by Gabe's actions. Just as Gabe's axe was about to hit its target, the Undead knight finally moved.
It raised its greatsword and parried the full-powered blow from Gabe effortlessly, twisting its wrist as Gabe's eyes widened in horror. The next second, Gabe's torso was cleaved in two, blood and intestine spraying across the cracked stone floor as his body hit the ground with a dull thud.
"GABE!!!" Vale, the Guardian Knight, charged forward with a cry of fury, his shield perfectly positioned to protect him.
"Wall of Steel!" He bellowed as he slammed his shield down, dropping into a stance—one that he had learnt from the ruins of a rift. His shield locked into place with a thunderous clang, and a towering wall of steel emerged from the ground in front of him.
The Undead Knight slowly turned its gaze to Vale and tilted its helmeted head in a disdainful way. It then walked forward and vanished.
Vale's eyes widened as he tried to follow the Undead Knight's movement, but it was futile. Suddenly, the Undead Knight reappeared, raised his greatsword, and made a vertical slash, cleaving through the air and bearing the weight of death.
Vale's instincts screamed at him, but he barely had time to react before the aftermath followed. It split everything within a 2-meter radius in front of it cleanly, like a hot knife through butter. The wall, which was harder than steel, was split cleanly through the middle, and Vale was no exception. His body fell in two halves and landed on the ground with a sickening thud.
The whole exchange took less than five seconds, and Gabe and Vale, both Novice class awakened, were slaughtered like livestock.
It was brutal.
Carl, the Assassin, who had been in stealth and had been waiting for the perfect time to strike, suddenly appeared from behind the Undead Knight and executed the most powerful combat technique in his arsenal.
Absolute Strike!
His twin daggers were coated with mana, and he was sure that his ambush would be a perfect success; but just as his mana-infused daggers inched closer to the Undead Knight's helmet, it suddenly spun and grabbed him by the throat!
Its grip was as firm as a pair of iron steel bars, crushing Carl's windpipe and giving him no space to breathe. Despite how much Carl struggled and thrashed about to break free, the Undead Knight's grip did not weaken. With each passing second, Carl's grip became weaker, until he finally went limp, his limbs hanging from his sides like broken branches.
Katherine screamed, and at this point she wasn't thinking anymore. She ripped a different longbow from her back and nocked a pitch-black arrow, wringing all the mana from her mana stream dry. Her fingers trembled from the violent torrent of mana surging through her limbs as crimson-coloured runes suddenly appeared on her face as she activated her berserk skill. The excruciating pain set her nerves on fire, but she could care less about the drawback now.
Death Arrow!
As she released the arrow, a deafening crack echoed in the air, and the very space around her showed signs of fracturing. The arrow broke the sound barrier instantly, leaving a shockwave in its wake as it sped toward the Undead Knight's helmet.
In the blink of an eye, the arrow appeared in front of the Undead Knight. However, rather than dodging the full-powered arrow, it raised its hand and swung its greatsword upward lazily and simply shattered the arrow.
Before Katherine could even lower her bow, the Undead Knight vanished again and then reappeared in front of her. She barely had time to lift her arm before the greatsword pierced through her side, launching her into the far wall with a sickening crunch. Blood soaked the wall she landed on, and her motionless body plopped down to the ground.
What followed next was a massacre.
Noel dropped to his knees, the weight of the terror he felt making him unable to stand anymore. His vision blurred at the edges, his breathing came out ragged, and his mind went blank from fear. The Undead Knight's presence was suffocating, like a violent storm pressing down on his chest.
I'm going to die.
That was the thought that hit him first.
There was simply no way around it, as the Undead Knight was too terrifying.
Is this it?
Is this all I amount to? Noel thought, his mind enveloped in fright as his body trembled under the Undead Knight's horrific aura. The monster had slaughtered Gabe, Katherine, Vale and other experienced hunters without even breaking a sweat. He was only a Novice Necromancer. How on earth was he supposed to kill such a monster?
No!
I don't want to die!
I have to do something!
If I don't do anything, I'm going to die!
Noel's fingers trembled as he drew his magic circle and cast his summoning spell, tracing line after line in the air as he wrung the remaining drop of mana from his mana stream. Fortunately, he completed the magic circle, and the only skeleton he could summon emerged from the shallow magic gate.
The skeleton immediately charged forward, brandishing its rusted sword as it rushed forward, but the Undead Knight didn't even blink. With a lazy swing of its greatsword, it shattered the skeleton into bone dust and then turned to face Noel.
The eerie blue embers behind its helmeted head seemed amused, and it was as if it was mocking Noel for sending such a weak member of its kin at him.
Noel flinched, and the Undead Knight vanished.
Where—?!
The next instant, Noel felt a piercing pain as the blunt edge of the massive greatsword smashed into his side, lifting him off the ground and sending him crashing into a jagged wall of debris.
Noel screamed in pain as he crashed into the wall, several of his ribs breaking from the impact. He could taste blood on his lips, and he couldn't breathe anymore. Without a doubt, he was sure that his lung was pierced.
I can't fall here! I have to save Julius!
Stand…
I need to stand…
The Undead Knight tilted its helmeted head, as if amused by Noel's death struggle, and then it moved again. This time, the massive greatsword struck his leg, and the sound of bone cracking echoed in the necropolis.
Noel screamed as his leg became useless, tears mixed with blood falling freely from his eyes. He collapsed but forced himself to crawl forward, dragging himself with his arms, his fingers tracing a magic circle that refused to form properly.
Why?
Why am I so weak?
Since I'm so weak, why did I even try so hard?
"I don't want to die…" Noel whispered, his tears blurred with blood running down his chin.
"I haven't saved Julius yet…"
"I haven't done anything worth living for …"
"Is this the end?"
"If only I had strength…"
The Undead Knight stared at Noel's crawling figure, and its countenance suddenly changed. It was no longer interested in toying with the weak human. It raised its massive greatsword, preparing to end Noel's life in a single strike.
I'm sorry… Julius…
However, at that moment, the ancient seal started emitting a pale golden light, and a golden brand started searing itself into Noel's body, ancient runes tattooing themselves on his skin. In the midst of the process, divine flames suddenly exploded from the seal and consumed everything in its vicinity, and the Undead Knight was no exception.
The Undead Knight tried to escape the blinding inferno, but it was too slow to react. It didn't even have the time to react before its bones turned to ash. The pitch-black armor it wore clattered to the ground, alongside the helmet and the massive greatsword. They were the only things left behind after the Undead Knight perished.
"What?..."
Before Noel could make sense of what was happening, a ping sound suddenly echoed in his ears, and a floating video game like screen appeared in front of him.
[Hidden Condition Completed]
[System Synchronizing with Host]
[Synchronization Complete]
[Welcome, Noel Augustus]