Way of the Knights

Chapter 333 - Statue

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The Nagas issued a piercing shriek as they saw him. Raven's eyes narrowed dangerously but he didn't retreat, instead he did the opposite of that. 

*Boom!*

Raven sent one of the Nagas back with a mighty swing of his hammer, his target shot back at a fearsome speed and the momentum caused it to be deeply embedded on the nearby wall. 

The rest of the Nagas screeched in rage and came slithered towards him with malicious intent in their eyes. Raven's face became incredibly serious as he raised his alertness to the maximum.

Swords, hatchets, sickles and spears came from all direction, giving Raven no room to evade. He took a couple of steps back and controlled his physical strength and focused them on his hammer. With a wide and strong swing, a loud clapping sound occurred and a strong projectile was sent by him.

Raven's strike caused the air to be compressed, turning it similar to a cannonball. It hit one of the Nagas and caused its guard to broken and its arms to tremble, the remaining air pressure was dispersed to those nearby and caused them to falter slightly. 

That attack gave Raven some room to maneuver. He then turned into a blur and appeared right next to another target. With an overbearing might, he swung his hammer, causing another Naga to shoot backwards. His monstrous strength caused its bones to shatter and it's arms to become useless. 

Alarm bells rang on Raven's ears, he followed his instincts and hopped back, just in time for a gastric acid projectile to hit the ground where he stood before. He then leaned backwards and dodged two phantom spears that was targeting his head. He shifted his weight and supported his body using his arms, he then issued a strong kick and sent another one flying. 

He somersaulted back and observed the incoming enemies. His brain worked fast and accurately formed a plan on how he could make this battle easier for him. An idea flashed into his mind, however he needed the proper opportunity to act on it. But of course, he didn't get much time to think since the Nagas were charging towards him once more. 

They were outside of the main castle at this point, which is more advantageous for him since he has a wider space to move around. So far, he had been able to injure three out of the ten Nagas who's coming after him but even if that's the case, it's still a little early to count them out of the battle. These creatures are tenacious, they won't go down that easily. 

*Shew!*

"!!"

Raven immediately ducked close to the ground, narrowly dodging an arrow from one of the Nagas. Raven clicked his tongue in disappointment since he failed to notice that two of them actually pulled out bows and arrows out of nowhere and started shooting at him. He dropped his focus on the battle for one second and he was nearly shot to death. 

'Great, now I have to watch out for those as well. Where did they even got that? I didn't see them holding one before.'

Fortunately, his instincts greatly helped him out and warned about the incoming shot. Else he might've already lost an eye from that. 

Raven closed the distance while sending out compressed air projectiles on his way. Their defense got broken from each projectile they received, some managed to dodge but Raven didn't mind it. The two Nagas that were holding bows and arrows, placed it away after they saw Raven entering a certain distance from them. Raven guessed that they these might prefer close combat instead of just aiming and shooting. 

Raven formulated a plan for this. He would rather have them going towards him instead of him going towards them, so in order for them to not shoot arrows at him, he had to remain close. Of course, this will cause him to be mobbed by their numbers but that's fine since doing this will also help with his earlier plan. 

Five Nagas attacked him at the same time, was able to saw the where they were aiming thanks to his enhanced awareness. He shifted his body in a weird angle, allowing all attacks to miss him. And since they were all standing very close to each other, their attacks caused their comrades to get hurt. 

Raven used this opportunity to jump on to one and immobilize it. He swung his hammer a couple of times, targeting its joints and disabling its mobility just like what he did to the previous one. His target was still alive after that but that's fine, it doesn't matter if it was dead or alive anyway since what he wanted was a meat shield, and he got what he wanted. 

He grabbed the Naga that he disabled by its head and marched menacingly towards the rest of them. The Nagas flinched since they could tell what Raven was trying to do, and whether they like it or not, it was working. Needless to say, it is their duty to stop from desecrating their place so they have to do what had to be done. 

The Nagas charged at him once more, Raven smirked and used the meat shield to block some of their attacks while delivering one of his own. The Naga on his hand screech in pain but he didn't care. This tactic might be dirty but he didn't care for that as well. This is a battle to death, it's either him or them, nothing in between, so anything is permitted here. 

He managed to gravely injure one from that exchange. He then saw that they are summoning bows and arrows once more. Raven snorted and didn't falter, he marched towards them with his meat shield in front. He reversed his grip on his hammer and used the handle to poke the back of the Naga he was holding. The pokes he issued were calculated and rhythmic. After he done, the Naga's eyes widened and it suddenly started spitting out gastric acids uncontrollably.

'Yeah, you got arrows, I got this. Come at me, bitches.' Raven inwardly snorted. 

The gastric acids melted the arrows before it even reached him, Raven also took this chance to rush at them violently since he wanted to not only melt their weapons but also singe their skin using the gastric acids. 

And this move worked wonders. 

The Nagas ran towards different directions to dodge him. Some of them were unfortunate and not only had their weapons melted but also their skin. Screeches of pain sounded throughout the field, Raven's plan was a success since he managed to finish of at least five of the Nagas before the one he was holding finally kicked the bucket. 

Those that were left are gravely injured but is still capable of fighting, a naughty grin was plastered on Raven's face. 

'If I could do it once, then I could it again.'

That's what he was thinking, and that is also what he precisely did. He abducted yet another Naga, disabled it, poked its back multiple times to force it to vomit gastric acids uncontrollably and then chased off the rest with then intent of finishing them off. 

It didn't take long before every Naga was taken care of, Raven was panting a bit but he was mostly fine. He only had a couple of grazes and superficial wounds, he could ignore those since his regenerative abilities will take care of that. Raven had a great life force due to his fortuitous encounters on his journey, it would take more than just mere grazes and wounds to take him down. A couple of deep breaths from and him and these wounds will disappear like they weren't even there at the first place. 

"Ugh, I smell gross." Raven complained upon smelling himself. 

One of the disadvantages of using a blunt weapon is that it's messy. Killing someone or something using it will cause the user to literally bath in blood. This happens a lot for Raven. 

Sometimes he would feel something on his face and would realize that it was some random flesh from a random body part. Raven often used a barrier to keep himself clean but now that his cultivation base is sealed, he couldn't do that. He also can't change clothes either since his storage are also sealed. Now he's forced to endure this fate until he cleared this place. 

He shook his head and sighed. He then observed his surroundings once more to see if some Naga managed to lived but there was none, so he ought to move forward.

Raven then marched back towards the opened doors of the castle. Without the Nagas blocking his way, he could now see and appreciate the interior of the main castle. 

As soon as he entered, he was greeted by a massive statue of a woman with a crown and was holding a majestic trident on her right hand and some sort of a boulder on her left hand. Her lower body is that of a squid and despite being a woman, she has a very long beard that almost reached her stomach. Raven's eyes sparkled as he said:

"The Kraken Priestess."