Way of the Knights

Chapter 38 - Vine Clearing

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Everyone here knows that the Black Curtain Guild is a very formidable enemy.

The sheer amount of attempts they made to occupy the kingdom had reached a mind boggling number that nobody could keep track of. But for some reason, the people who are present right now felt like they were getting desperate.

"Unbelievable! How could they possibly do all of this without us even noticing it?" One random person said while clenching his hand into a tight fist.

"Well…the answer to that question is very simple." Raven smiled wryly.

No one spoke, everyone here had an idea of what he was trying to say. It is a bitter pill to swallow but they can't escape the reality.

Some of their colleagues had betrayed them.

This is the only plausible reason as to why none of them managed to catch the perpetrators in action. If it weren't for the situation that happened earlier today, then they might not even be able to tell that such thing was happening.

"Let's deal with that later, more importantly, the vine is really pissed off right now." As he said this, another round of hissing from the vines were heard. Everyone summoned their weapons and some people even stood in front of Raven to protect him.

As some people were about to attack, Raven's voice rang in their ears. "If you see a pale colored vine, cut it. That should instantly kill it."

While most of the people were skeptical, Jackson wasn't one of them. He rushed forward like a phantom towards the Flesh Eating Vine. As the thing sensed him, it sent countless of thorny vines on his way to attack him but Jackson's movements were erratic, just as when everyone thought that a vine pierced him, they will find out that it's just an afterimage that was struck and not Jackson himself.

Meanwhile, Jackson was actually looking for the pale vine that Raven said. This time, he didn't doubt any of Raven's words anymore. God knows how many time he had encounter these things outside of the kingdom and each time he will be forced to retreat from it. He had searched for records on how to deal with these things but the one's he found in the library were incomplete, but he did read that it was possible to kill these things in one stroke.

As he moved between the gaps of the Flesh Eating Vines' attacks, his eyes suddenly flashed as he saw the pale vine that Raven was talking about, flailing not far from him. He picked up his speed and flashed like a wind, cutting the pale vine in the process.

The Flesh Eating Vines stopped moving, it's whole body withered in a speed visible to the naked eye. Everyone was astonishing, even Jackson who did deed was also astonished.

A carnivorous menace that is a terror outside of the kingdom was killed in one hit.

If Jackson spread this information towards the other Lair Hunting Knights, it may cause a huge commotion.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they say the thing die. But before they could celebrate, Raven caught their attention: "One camp done, 16 more to go. There should be a seed that's left in there, you guys decide if you keep it or burn it."

"Burn it." Maddock didn't even hesitate for a second. These things could grow just by absorbing blood, he can't afford to let any mistakes from now on. Jackson also think that this is a good idea so he quickly searched for the seed and decided to burn it.

Maddock gave out instructions to his subordinates so that they could clear out the remaining camps on the center. Raven showed the marked spots on him map and discussed with Maddock the best way to clear out the remaining vines.

***

"I seriously cannot thank you enough for all of the assistance that you have provided young friend Raven. If it weren't for your help, then all of my hardwork would've been for naught. If there's anything that I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to send a word to me. I'll provide all the help I could as well." Maddock bowed towards Raven once more while uttering these heartfelt words.

"I'll hold you up to that Chief, but not now. There will be a time for that. Anyways, I should head back now, my friends might be worried about me now." Raven smiled and said.

Maddock nodded and had some of his subordinates escort Raven and Jackson out of the facility. As he watched them leave his sight, his expression became colder as he uttered:

"Robert!" A shadow emerged from his back, bowing in salute.

"Your servant awaits your orders Master."

"Prepare the Dream Catcher and the Illusion Phantasm. It's time to smoke out the rats." His orders were cold and absolute, the servant bowed once more and disappeared like a smoke. Maddock then faced the rest of his subordinates and said…

"Spread the word that I'm doing a mass meeting, every personnel of this center should attend and I mean EVERYONE. Failure to comply will have them Hunted. Move!"

***

As the dusk emerged, Raven and Jackson were walking down the streets while discussing about the ways on how to ensure that Hopper will grow to adulthood.

Raven actually gave Jackson a list of things that he could feed to Hopper along with some advices on how to deal with common dangers outside of the kingdom.

As Jackson was about to thank him, he was suddenly startled when Raven stopped on his tracks and his whole body radiated a cold feeling.

"What's wrong?" He asked, he raised his vigilance and warily looked left and right.

"The Inn is surrounded." Raven said in a frosty tone. Jackson was startled and immediately focused his vision towards the Inn.

Their current location wasn't that far from the Inn. Since the path towards it was rather obscured, no one would see them easily as they investigate the place out.

"I don't see anything wrong." Jackson uttered in a low voice.

"Converge some energy onto your eyes and look at the roof."

Jackson did what he said and converged some energy onto his eyes. Doing this basically means that he was activating his Energy Vision, a technique that could be done by anyone so long as they have a good control over their energies.

The scenario changed in Jackson's eyes now that his Energy Vision was activated. He saw that there were at least 6 to 7 people that are standing on top of the inn's roof. All of them had a mask covering their faces along with a black veil and wore all black attires. He saw that everyone was watching over the vicinity of the inn, possibly waiting for something or someone.

Jackson's eyes constricted, he didn't need to confirm it to anyone, this were certainly Black Curtain Guild's men! Raven's prediction was true. The students were truly being targeted!

"Thankfully, my Hawk saw them before we entered their field of vision." He lied, he didn't need to use the Hawk for this."I didn't expect that they will suddenly have this place heavily guarded. Did they caught news about what happened in the Beast Domestication Center?"

Raven truly didn't expect this to happen at all. He started wondering if this scenario also happened during his past life. In fact, he had already messed up the whole timeline eversince he started cultivating. For starters, he wasn't supposed to be Muscle Training Stage right now, he and his brothers weren't supposed to be hanging out with Anne, Ellen and Luna. He wasn't even supposed to be on this trip at all!

During his past life, he opted to not join this since he wanted to focus on his training, his brothers joined without him and only through their mouths and some gossips he found out the things that happened in during the trip.

But now, everything was out of place but he wasn't really worried about the changes as he was prepared to face them. He decided that it was no use thinking about this now and he should focus on how to deal with the situation.

"Sir Jackson, are you able to tell their cultivation levels?" Although Raven had a good guess of it, he decided to ask him just to be sure.

"3 pinnacle Fighters." He meant Marrow Cleansing Realm experts. "The other's are Knights, two early stage and one Peak Stage a total of six people. But I have this feeling that these aren't all of them."

Raven's guess was the same as Jackson's. He then quickly formed a plan in head to deal with the situation. None of these people are someone he could mess with in a frontal battle so that's marked out. They could try sneaking in but there are six people who were watching and their senses must be sharp since these people came outside of the kingdom where dangers are ever so present.

As time goes on, Raven formed one plan after another until he finally had a solid plan that made him show his fiendish grin.