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Chapter 111 Death Prince and his queens (3)
Chapter 111 Death Prince and his queens (3)
Chapter 111 Death Prince and his queens (3)
Chapter 111: Death Prince and his queens (3)
The monster tide.
It was a stampede of the forest monsters that hunters from the villages, cities, and the first hunter union had been dealing with on a daily basis. Their reproduction rate was way above average, which was naturally because of the demons pulling strings behind the scenes.
Now that those vile creatures were gone, the monsters had no one to order them around. Unfortunately, as one could see, that was not the end of the problems. The demons' plan included the monster tide to kill lots of humans to get their souls for their ceremony.
Which meant that those monsters had been installed with an order to steamroll into neighboring villages until the very end.
They wouldn't stop until no human was in their sight.
Such a condition had been noticed by hunters' keen eyes, and their plans began using themselves to thin out the wave of the monsters by separating them into smaller groups. Humans were also owners of those lands, and they had lands on which traps were strewn or areas they could use to gain a significant advantage over their foes—for instance, a high ground.
Things weren't looking so bright for humanity, however.
It took a lot of strain and exceptional coordination to safely and effectively lower the numbers of the monsters. To say nothing of humans coming from different branches—nobles, hunter union, villages, and more—each group had a different level of teamwork, and their goals on the battlefield were different.
Just by looking into hunters from the villages, one could see that they were fueled by the thirst for revenge. Wanting to see the death of monsters who had killed their loved ones and friends was their priority, and that translated to them barging into other groups' hunts or even blindly believing they were more than capable of facing some monsters alone.
Death, troubles, and disruption followed the wake of those village hunters, mainly affecting the more proficient hunters of the first hunter union.
Speaking of those hunters, most were guided by their desire to bolster their standing at their workplace. The majority of them were newbies like Hunter, who had come to this region to start their first mission, so it was quite natural for them to focus more on themselves rather than the plight of others.
The virtue of being a hunter and the cause of this occupation trailing monsters and hunting them down wasn't in their blood yet, let alone their hearts.
Self-profit was the most important goal here. The ire of village hunters hadn't helped them remember what it meant to be a hunter, either, and it even left the opposite effect—the hunters became more steeled to focus on themselves, for those villagers were too much of a bother.
Some hunters from the union switched tactics and began using those people to lure monsters; some went as far as using those poor, blinded people as traps.
Such was a life on the battlefield. Of course, forgetting about nobles would have been a grave mistake, for those were the most coordinated forces, and some were like 'Spear and Shield', getting rid of monsters while saving defenseless humans and their mindless hunters.
To be in their area of work could be called a blessing for anyone, regardless of the occupation, as nobles were saving anyone that could be saved.
Stories about the nobility reached even the cities, swelling the ego of all citizens. Since all nobilities wore conspicuous armor that sparkled on the battlefield like a glitter of hope for humanity, the news of their achievements and good deeds were shaped into stories of the golden knights.
Yet, as Madam Erika, a noble adored by many citizens and villagers, had announced that the monster tide would soon cease to exist despite their numbers blanketing the horizon on all fronts, the stories were about to take a different turn.
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The noble camp belonging to Madam Erika was shrouded in a commotion. Well, to call it a commotion was quite an understatement, as two things had thrown soldiers into confusion and shock. They couldn't believe that their master had announced such an impossible thing.
All of them had seen how many monsters were left to be killed, and their numbers even seemed to grow as time passed, which said just how many of them were there. Even if their master were to use some secret lineage skill or a treasure, everyone doubted its scope would be enough to encompass all monsters to a man.
Of course, the common soldiers didn't even know if Madam Erika had either of those things, but they weren't stupid enough to not suspect that their master had something at hand to protect her house and people. Such a thing would indeed be enough to leave a deep and vast scar on the monster tide, but would that be worth it?
After all, just like they thought, such things or skills were meant to be used as a last resort to keep her blood and household intact. It shouldn't be used on the monster tide. Let her forces work with other nobles to slowly thin the number of foes instead.
Moreover, all other minor nobles should have one or two aces up in their sleeves as well, yet no one had made any grand moves to this point. It was clear that this monster tide wasn't meant to see the noble tricks!
Which was why no one could believe that Madam Erika had announced the cease of the battlefield.
"Has she lost her mind?" said a troubled soldier without a hint of disrespect, only a worry.
"I can't tell at all," replied another one as he tended to his long spear with care and love she had never shown to her husband.
That was exactly when the battle tent housing Madam Erika and her loyal attendants had opened its curtains, gathering everyone's attention as though imbued with magic. Well, the news surely had put some magic on it.
Expecting to see their master, everyone's eyes widened upon noticing that it wasn't Madam Erika leaving the tent first but someone else. That someone else took the helm of the group like a leader, and its presence blanketed the entire camp in coldness and oppressive aura, not giving anyone a chance to speak—some weaker soldiers found it hard to breathe.
What came out was a hulking black armor that seemingly stood over two meters tall. It was so huge that soldiers doubted whether it was a human encased within it. Some believed that there was a demon inside operating this mighty frame, for it surely couldn't belong to a woman.
As that realization sank into the hearts of single females, their hearts skipped a beat, and their eyes seemingly wanted to tear through the visor of this man to see whether he was a demon or a male human. Some exceptions were bound to appear in the world, and the recent finding in the yearly hunter exam—Hunter—was the example of it.
It could be a male human in that armor that could turn their lives upside down!
In the crack of that black visor, blue eyes soon shone, charming the soldiers further. It meant that this man— if he was really a man— wasn't a demon! The coldness froze their eyes and hearts, commanding all to not even blink in his presence.
As the mood heightened and female soldiers saw themselves shedding their muscularity and assertiveness in the hands of this man, their bubble of exciting dreams broke as fast as it conjured itself, for the towering existence had two companions sheathed in similar armor following him.
It was indeed similar but for two reasons. The soldiers could only discern one reason with their bare eyes as those two existences following the man's wake were undoubtedly women. In addition to those companions being smaller than the hulking man, the armors were slender and seemingly thinner, focused more on the movement instead.
Each also had long, lustrous hair draping her back—golden and crimson, respectively. The golden armored woman also had feathered wings sprouting from her back, which seemed like a demon's wings to many. Fortunately, that was when Madam Erika made an appearance and abated the fears of her people, pointing out the differences between the demon wings and the woman who had joined their camp.
Madam Erika also had an oddity beside her. It was a smaller woman whose face and curves were shrouded in the black robe. For whatever reason, she didn't want to show herself and dress herself adequately for the situation, but she still wanted to participate in the monster tide.
She arrogantly drew Madam Erika's attention and implored her to follow the Black Prince. Surprisingly, Madam Erika warmly smiled and nodded, picking up the pace to witness what these three sudden helpers were about to perform.
Hunter, Aimee, Seraphina, and Mayun had arrived on the battlefield.
That was the beginning of their tale that would soon be known as 'The Death Prince and his queens', much to Mayun's anger as she will have to correct people and tell them it's the Black Prince!
No one's gonna listen to her, though.