Chapter 71

Adrian didn’t even hesitate, his body moved instinctively to follow the Lord of Cameron as he passed them by, before he noticed the others staying still. Without hesitation, he grabbed Lord Jayson’s shoulders and pulled him.

“Let’s go!”

Lord Jayson, still confused, was prompted to follow him, and the others followed in turn.

“Lord Tuckstone, what’s happening?” Adrian asked the lord, who was lightly panting now.

Without turning to look at him, Lord Tuckstone responded, “A monster unlike anything we’ve seen. We encountered a team that had been wiped out before it hunted us…” 

Lord Tuckstone grimaced. “One of the knights with me died, while the other sacrificed himself to lead the monster away.”

Adrian was alarmed. He knew of the Lord of Cameron’s skills, not to mention the strength of the knights with him, yet they could only run away? 

Moreover, this monster had already wiped out an entire team. He didn’t doubt the lord’s words, he saw that the man had no reason to lie.

“What did it look like?” Lord Jayson asked while Adrian was lost in his thoughts.

“Like a true monster!” This time, it was the knight beside Lord Tuckstone who responded. He was heaving breaths, his tone trembling, clearly terrified.

Adrian exchanged looks with Lord Jayson, who wore a serious expression. They didn’t ask for more, as further questions and exchanging words would only slow them down.

Instead, Lord Jayson signaled to Sir Wallis, who immediately grabbed the horn and blew it hard.

“Keep doing it, repeat it. Teams and people are bound to realize something is more than wrong.”

They ran, though it was more like a jog, as they had to avoid straining themselves. It was an hour into the journey, and likely more than an hour or so before they would reach their destination, when they encountered a group of people in charge of retrieving captured monsters. They were hauling a monster on a cart drawn by two donkeys.

Confusion washed over the workers' faces when they noticed the running group, which quickly turned to alarm. Adrian's group only slowed down a bit as they spoke to them.

“Leave the cart and go back quickly! There’s a powerful monster on the loose.” Lord Tuckstone said in a commanding voice before the group passed them by.

The servants only exchanged alarmed looks before abandoning their cart and donkeys to join them in running.

Nothing bad happened on the way, which made some of them complacent, though it might have been because the others, mostly the servants, were running out of breath. Even Adrian was feeling it, as much as he was proud of his stamina, running around in armor, light as it was, wasn’t easy.

“We should take a break…” Lord Jayson spoke, heavily breathing now.

Lord Tuckstone took only a moment to nod, and the group slowed down to a stop.

“But we can’t all stop. Someone needs to go ahead and inform the others of what happened, right?” Adrian spoke up.

“I can go…” the knight with Lord Tuckstone said. He was panting with his hands on his knees, but he looked determined, or scared more likely. The monster had truly terrified him.

Lord Jayson and Lord Tuckstone exchanged looks before nodding. The man took one large breath before moving again. Even though his movements were a little sloppy now, the man pushed on.

“What happened exactly?” Lord Jayson turned to Lord Tuckstone while recovering his breath.

Lord Tuckstone took a few moments to gather himself before he responded, reiterating what had happened.

Apparently, they had discovered a knight’s head crushed to a pulp. From the sigils on the armor, the victim had come from the west. That was when this monster, a mixture of a tiger, a wolf, and a horse, it seemed, came up to them. 

What was eerie, however, was that it approached them slowly, as if wanting them to run.

They tried to fight it for a moment, though "fight" was an overstatement, the monster easily took them down. Before Lord Tuckstone and the others ran, one of the knights under Lord Tuckstone heroically stayed behind to let the others escape.

“It was unlike anything we’d seen. It was... an abomination, a true monster,” Lord Tuckstone finished.

Adrian exchanged looks with the others. The servants, standing mostly to the side, were discreetly listening.

“It seems this competition has taken a turn for the worse.” Sir Wallis said.

“It should have been expected, I guess.” Adrian couldn’t help but comment.

“How so?” Lord Jayson turned to him.

“We don’t fully know everything about these monsters.” Adrian said simply.

Lord Jayson nodded slowly, lost in thought.

Then, a low, deep, and powerful horn rang out in the distance, but it wasn't too far from them. 

Adrian was alarmed by how close it was, and he quickly turned to the others.

“A team is in trouble? Or did they encounter the monster?” Sir Wallis asked. “What should we do, milord?” He turned to Lord Jayson.

The others did the same, as the highest-ranking noble present, Lord Jayson had the right to decide.

Lord Jayson pondered for a moment before turning to Adrian and Lord Tuckstone. “What do you think? Are we able?”

Lord Tuckstone grimaced but looked determined. “If it’s the monster, provided it hasn’t wiped out the team yet, we can help them and fend it off. If not…”

Then, Lord Jayson turned to Adrian. Adrian’s expression was complicated. He didn’t want to go and risk his life, but since it was so close, he gave a neutral answer, passing the ball back to Lord Jayson.

“Well then, let’s go check it out. At any signs of trouble, we bolt immediately.” Lord Jayson decided. Then, he turned to the servants with them. “You guys go on ahead and continue, let the others know of what happened.”

The servants were visibly relieved and grateful. Soon, the fighters prepared themselves. Sir Wallis gave their horn one last blow before they set off toward the team that needed help.

They trudged through the terrain, slowing down as they got closer. It took a bit of guessing to figure out where the team was, until the sounds of a struggle pointed them in the right direction.

When they arrived, it wasn’t the beast that Lord Tuckstone had previously encountered. Instead, it was a different one, another strange, quick creature, accompanied by a buzzing sound in the air as it shot rapidly toward a knight.

“Ah!”

An arrow was the first to reach the battle. Garold released it, and it struck the monster, making it pause. 

This gave Adrian and the others a clear view of what it was, an unholy combination of a mantis for the upper body and hind legs for the lower body, complete with twisted wings and scythe-like arms.

It hissed before jumping toward them. Adrian only saw a blur before blood splattered into the air, accompanied by Sir Wallis’s yelp.

Sir Wallis, who wasn’t wearing a helm, grabbed his cheek where it was bleeding.

“Wallis!” Lord Jayson called out before thrusting his blade at the creature. Supported by its wings, the monster easily jumped back a few meters in a single bound.

“Lord Jayson!” someone called out.

Ahead, leaning against a tree, was a man in fine armor, finer even than Lord Jayson’s. From the craftsmanship, Adrian knew it belonged to one of the twin princes, but the helm prevented him from knowing which one. 

The royal had one hand pressed against his stomach, where blood could be seen soaking through.

But Adrian's attention was snapped back to the monster as it dived toward them with unbelievable speed once again. This time, Adrian stepped forward with a shield and spear in hand. Anticipating its trajectory, he blocked its path with his shield.

The creature crashed heavily against the metal, but Adrian was prepared and refused to be deterred. 

For a brief, tense moment, its grotesque head hissed directly in his face, its scythe-like claws trying to slash him. Adrian grunted, leveraging his weight, and slammed the monster hard onto the ground.

The whistling of another arrow sliced through the air, striking the creature's side. The monster quickly reoriented itself and leaped backward. It landed squarely on the trunk of a tree, somehow able to stick to the bark despite its weight. 

It hissed again, and this time, Adrian felt its focus shift toward their archer. Adrian was incredulous that such an abomination could even possess that level of intelligence.

Before it could dive again, Adrian tried to intercept its path. To his shock, the creature actually changed directions mid-air. It landed down on the ground before launching itself sideways toward Sir Wallis, who was still trying to staunch the bleeding from his cheek.

Lord Tuckstone, who was nearby, thrust his spear forward, but it missed. The deadly, blade-like scythe sliced toward Sir Wallis’s neck. 

Only the knight's reflexes saved him as he threw his hands up, but the claw still surprisingly cut right through his armor, and the sheer force of the blow knocked him flat onto his back.

“Fucking…” Adrian cursed. The monster was fast, not to mention it could still move at full speed despite the multiple arrows protruding from its body, as if it couldn't feel pain at all.

“Arrgh!” one of the prince's knights charged the beast, but it simply jumped back a few meters in a single bound before charging right back. This time, the monster rammed hard into the knight's chest plate, sending him tumbling backward.

Lord Jayson dragged his fallen knight behind a tree for cover while Garold prepared another arrow. Meanwhile, Lord Tuckstone rushed to the prince's side to protect him.

Adrian threw his spear aside and drew his sword. Swinging it in a wide arc, “Oi!” he shouted loudly, drawing the beast's focus. 

The monster turned its attention back to him and dived once more. Adrian responded by charging right back at it.