"Woohoo, freedom!"
Briar plunged into a small patch of woods, away from the flames of war, and whooped with her mouth wide open.
Once she was sure no one had caught up, Briar slowed down and looked at her stomach, which was so empty it felt like it had caved in. A phrase came to mind, something about being so hungry your stomach could eat itself.
That was pretty much her situation right now.
"That person just now looked so tasty."
She sighed regretfully. For the sake of freedom, she had no choice but to endure the hunger.
The scent of blood and meat in her nose had nearly made her lose control several times and release the bloodstone pillory on the spot.
In truth, she had been able to break this seal for a long time. She simply did not want to.
After all, if she released it, she could not guarantee she would still be herself.
"I'm so hungry I'm almost out of strength."
She walked forward one step at a time. The weakness brought on by hunger made Briar slump her upper body, trudging along as if she were hunched over.
Just then, her ears twitched. Her sharp hearing caught a few sounds.
"You've got to be kidding me. They're sending us to die!"
"Only an idiot would keep playing along."
"I'm done!"
On the other side, several Noxian soldiers fled into the woods in a panic, gasping for breath, their faces covered in sweat.
Some supported each other, while others kept watch over their surroundings, their nerves wound tight.
"How are we supposed to beat Demacia when they have that many monsters?"
"Exactly. Even those living weapons weren't enough."
"Kabud, are you sure no one saw us?"
"Not sure, but it's not a big problem. Maradi can't win this battle. No one's going to hold us accountable."
"Yeah, I don't care either way. I'm not dying for this."
The deserters fled the battlefield, each of them deciding to leave this place as quickly as possible. Staying alive came first.
Just then, they heard the bushes rustle. They instantly tensed and raised their weapons.
"Who's there?"
"Who's in there?!"
They shouted warily at the bushes.
The next second, a small hand pushed out from the grass first. Then a bare little foot stepped out, followed by a conspicuous set of restraints and a flash of pinkish-white hair.
The moment they saw her, the soldiers froze in shock. Their tension shot through the roof, their hearts pounding hard as cold sweat instantly drenched their backs.
The strongest living weapon?
Damn it. Why was she here?
Before the fight had even begun, the soldiers were already feeling despair.
Briar looked at the people in front of her in surprise and said happily, "Great! I thought I was the only one."
When they saw that she had actually spoken, the soldiers were stunned at first. Then they realized she seemed capable of communication.
"Briar, we know you. We're on the same side."
"Right, right, we're all Noxians."
"Do you understand what we mean?"
They spoke over one another, cold sweat pouring down their foreheads, their eyes full of fear.
Briar looked at the way they greeted her while still guarding against her. She tilted her head, then grinned, revealing white, razor-sharp teeth.
"I've always wanted to eat a few more Noxians. Thank you, Mother Nature."
"Don't just stand there, attack her!"
"She still has that seal on. Maybe her combat strength isn't as high as we imagine!"
"Kill her!"
The soldiers no longer hesitated and decided to fight with their lives on the line.
Briar tapped her toes against the ground. Her small body shot forward in an instant, and in the blink of an eye, she arrived in front of one soldier and kicked him.
The soldier flew backward at once, slammed hard into a tree, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Then he watched helplessly as Briar flashed to the side of another soldier, leapt up, and swung a claw.
Her sharp claws tore straight across his neck. Blood spilled onto the ground, and that soldier collapsed as well.
Seeing two fighters taken out in an instant, the remaining two soldiers completely lost their will to fight. Terrified, they turned and ran.
At that moment, they burst out with the fastest speed of their lives.
Briar looked at the two people fleeing in different directions and fell into a brief dilemma. In the end, she decided to chase one first, then the other.
This was precious food. She absolutely could not let even one escape.
Briar had no interest in playing the Big Bad Wolf chasing rabbits, because she felt that if this went on too long, it might affect the taste of the food.
So she quickly caught the two portions that had fled and dragged them back, perfectly satisfied as she prepared to dig in.
On the battlefield.
One of the two behemoths was sent flying by Galio's heavy punch, then crashed hard into the ground with a pained cry.
After stubbornly struggling back up, it had been beaten until it lost all will to fight. The ill-tempered, bad-natured behemoth chose to turn and flee.
The other one was smashed unconscious by Galio on the spot and lay motionless on the ground.
After the two behemoths either fled or fell, Galio was officially free to move on to the enemy army.
Having fought to his heart's content, he looked especially energetic. The enormous gale he stirred up swept away countless enemies.
Once those exceptionally durable living weapons gradually fell as well, the battle finally turned into a one-sided rout.
Before Maradi died, he ordered the entire army to retreat. Whoever could escape, escaped.
His final thought before death was that they could not fight this.
They simply could not fight this.
Demacia's strength was beyond what they had predicted. A dozen or so living weapons were completely unable to oppose them.
He could not even understand why Briar, the one praised as the strongest living weapon, had run away.
Weren't they supposed to be designed to go mad at the sight of blood?
This could not really be blamed on him. After all, even the person who created Briar might not have known that he had created a living weapon with "reason."
In the end, the Noxian army of over a hundred thousand had set out with great confidence and numerous preparations, only to flee in utter misery.
The number who survived in the end was pitifully small.
For Noxus, this had likewise been a battle of devastating losses.
After the battle, the battlefield was cleaned up as usual.
Demacia naturally would not waste usable enemy weapons and armor. Picking them up and reforging them would make for a considerable amount of resources.
As for the corpses, they were handled as usual, piled together and burned.
In this battle, Demacia's greatest gain was instead the two behemoths.
One of them had been beaten unconscious. After waking up and seeing Galio resting, it prostrated itself on the ground and adopted an extremely obedient posture.
For a proud magical beast of this temperament, that represented submission.
The behemoth Noxus had spent an enormous price to capture had acknowledged a new boss after getting beaten up by Galio.
As for the other one, under the guidance of the first, the Demacian army found it as well.
When they found it, it was hiding downstream in a river channel, and it was also taken in.
With a single fire, the corpses of the Noxian soldiers began to burn fiercely in an instant.
But the army preparing to leave had no idea that in the small woods far away, a figure was anxiously stomping her feet while watching the great fire rise.
"How can they do that? That's too much! How can they burn it all?"
Briar hid behind a tree, peeking at the fire with great urgency. She wanted nothing more than to rush over and put it out.
She had been thinking that once the people fighting left, she would secretly run back. By then, there would be fresh ingredients all over the ground. Just thinking about it was enough to make her giddy.
But before she could enjoy that thought for long, she saw the Demacian army set it all on fire.
Damn it.
A mere four portions of ingredients could not fill her stomach at all.
It was one thing to burn the meat, but the greatest pity was all that countless blood.
As a vampire, Briar's true favorite ingredient was actually blood. Meat was only an extra, and she usually ate only the meat she liked.
For example, the heart. It was responsible for pumping blood, and after being nourished by blood for years, it could be said to be absolutely delicious.
So those four people just now had only served as an appetizer for Briar. Because of that, she was even hungrier now.
Then she saw the scene in front of her, and at that moment, she was practically burning with anxiety.
The heat waves from the fire had already drifted onto her face, carrying a certain roasted-meat smell.
Could she put out these flames?
Briar swallowed her saliva wildly as countless bold ideas flashed through her mind.
She felt that sometimes fire might not be as hot as she imagined. Maybe she could "rescue" one or two?
While she was thinking, Briar's body had already rushed out.
She arrived in front of the large pyre. The heat burned so fiercely that she could barely open her eyes. Very bravely, she reached her hand toward the fire, and unsurprisingly, she jerked it back after getting burned.
"Whew, whew, whew."
She hurriedly blew out the fire on her hand. The burned skin was slowly repairing itself as she looked toward the blaze.
For some reason, the flames seemed to surge violently in an instant, releasing waves of fire. They twisted like a demon, blocking her, as if refusing to allow her to snatch away the "food."
Baring her teeth at the fire, Briar sighed and left in despair.
This fire was wrong. At the very least, it was different from ordinary fire. She could be unafraid of fire, but if she insisted on stealing the "food," she might set herself ablaze.
Her instincts told her that.
Now in a bad mood, she even had to kick the stones by the roadside.
After sending one stone flying far away, Briar lifted her head, looked at the cloudy sky, and felt better again.
"At least I'm free now! I can go wherever I want."
As Briar walked, she muttered, "Maybe I should make a plan."
"First, fill my stomach."
"Then, make sure I can always fill my stomach."
"Then, make a few friends."
"That should be about it."
Briar nodded. When she had been counting the days in the little dark room, she had always longed to have a few friends.
The feeder had been her friend. Unfortunately, it seemed she would not be able to see him again.
Because the current her no longer needed feeding.
So she needed to find a few new friends.
Briar did not know why she wanted friends, but she simply did.
At that moment, the very good-looking person she had met on the battlefield suddenly flashed through her mind.
Drool immediately flowed out. She thought that person's blood must be delicious.
Because she had never felt such a tremendous craving after seeing someone before.
As she kept thinking, her footsteps unconsciously turned, following in the direction of the Demacian army.
She murmured to herself.
"I'll just follow and take a look. Just one look."
The army continued marching forward.
Luke rode on horseback, his eyes thoughtful as he considered the living weapon he had just encountered.
Although the other party had run away directly, he still knew she was clearly a different sort of living weapon.
Briar, the Restrained Hunger.
Her name flashed through his mind. Luke's gaze flickered, and he fell into thought.
Just then, he saw Quinn return to the formation.
Quinn reported to him, "Your Highness, I found the living weapon you mentioned. She has been following behind us the entire time. I don't know what she intends to do."
Luke nodded slightly and continued thinking.
For a relatively dangerous existence, he naturally had to keep an eye on her.
So the moment the battle ended, he had immediately sent Quinn to look for the Briar who had fled, in case she did something dangerous at some unknown moment.
Now she was following behind the army?
Snapping out of his thoughts, Luke decided to go meet her.
"You all keep moving. I'll go to the rear and take a look."
Luke tugged the reins and turned, quickly heading toward the back of the army.
On the way, he made a few preparations in case they were needed.
Briar's trail was not hard to find. Perhaps she thought she was hiding very well, but in reality, she was simply switching from behind one tree to behind another. Sometimes she would also hide in the grass.
Sneaky, yes.
But she did not hide her presence at all. She exposed herself openly and brazenly there, even staring with an extremely heated gaze.
So Luke found her with almost no effort.
At this moment, Briar had not expected Luke to come straight to her on his own, and in a state where he was alone and separated from everyone else.
As for those Demacian soldiers, she naturally knew they were more difficult to deal with.
After all, she was not stupid. From the one-sided battle just now, she could tell that those Noxians were absolutely no match for them.
So she began to hesitate. Should she hide and ambush him, or jump out directly?
After a brief moment of hesitation, Briar suddenly jumped out from the grass and blocked Luke's path aggressively.
She was probably only about four foot nine. With the bloodstone pillory on and her head lowered, she looked even shorter. Her skin was bloodlessly pale, her hair pinkish-white, and her eyes pure white, a size larger than a normal person's, making her look a little dazed. Around them was a ring of pink.
Her mouth was only slightly open, but at a glance, one could see the sharp fangs inside.
She wore a gray striped prisoner's outfit stained with fresh blood. Her figure looked rather thin and gaunt, and her feet were bare.
Anyone who did not understand her would probably underestimate her a little at the sight.
Luke, however, knew that the one before him likely could not be taken lightly.
Briar had jumped out aggressively and had meant to say a few fierce lines, something about a robbery and handing over his blood.
But the moment she jumped out, she saw the handsome man on horseback looking at her with calm, undisturbed eyes. He looked down on her from above, radiating an invisible pressure.
That aura, how should she put it, made all the hairs on her body stand on end.
Her instincts kept sending warning signals of danger.
So her own presence weakened all at once. On top of that, he did not speak either, leaving the two of them staring at each other in a rather awkward silence.
Briar looked at Luke, who remained unmoved, thought deeply for a moment, and then politely said, "Can you let me drink a sip of your blood? Or a bite would work too."
Luke rejected her without even thinking. "No."
"All right, then I'll take it myself!"
That answer gave Briar a reason to act. She absolutely could not allow such an incomparably delicious-looking portion of blood to sit right in front of her without being able to taste even one bite.
No matter whether the person before her was hard to provoke or not, she had decided to try her luck.
Briar leapt up and swiftly appeared in front of Luke, swinging a claw down at him.
However, Luke drew his longsword even faster and blocked the strike. Her claws scraped across the blade, throwing off sharp sparks.
At the same time, Briar felt a tremendous force and was thrown backward uncontrollably.
As she flew through the air, she saw Luke leap up. His feet stepped on the air as if it were solid, and he swung his sword down toward her.
That unreasonable behavior of stepping through the air made even Briar freeze for a moment. She felt as though the person before her was flying.
In the next second, another slash knocked her into the ground. Fortunately, she reacted quickly enough and crossed both arms in front of her chest.
Otherwise, a bloody gash might have been carved across her chest.
Briar had not even gotten up when Luke's attack fell again. His sword carried a gust of wind as it cut down at her.
Briar hurriedly turned and dodged, then immediately discovered that Luke's slash followed right after her.
In just these few moves, she was beaten into scurrying around with her head covered, completely without room to fight back.
Even she could tell that the person before her was terrifyingly strong.
After continuously blocking several times, Briar ultimately lost focus for a split second. A cut was instantly carved across her slender arm, followed by a slash across her stomach.
After regaining her "reason," the effect that made her immune to pain had vanished along with it. So right now, she could feel pain.
And in ordinary times, this kind of wound should have healed almost instantly, but now it was recovering very slowly, sending intense pain through her.
Briar was not afraid of pain, but she found it annoying. So her mood soured.
"All right, you made me mad first!"
She bared her teeth and roared, deciding to get a little serious.
In an instant, the bloodstone pillory trembled. With a hum, it unlocked itself. Several heavy iron pieces dropped to the ground, and a crimson bloodstone flew into the sky.
The remaining parts transformed into two daggers and were gripped in Briar's hands.
A vivid red light erupted in her eyes, and that face became utterly frenzied, even gaining a touch of savagery.
Those mad eyes locked onto Luke at once. Then, with a loud roar, she charged out like a beast.
Only an afterimage remained in the air as she appeared before Luke.
That speed surprised even Luke, because it was indeed very fast, at least several times faster than before.
And there was no need to mention her strength. With two daggers in hand, every strike was heavy. Paired with her extremely fast attack speed, only lines of sharp, blood-red light could be seen in the air.
At one point, Briar's dagger merely brushed across a tree unintentionally, and in an instant, that tree was sliced in half. The cut was incredibly smooth.
Briar seemed tireless, chasing Luke and slashing wildly. Every attack erupted with all of her strength.
Luke silently observed her strength while also blocking seriously. As expected, she was far stronger than those ordinary living weapons.
If her traits of being hard to kill, durable, tireless, and growing stronger the longer she fought were added on top of that, she was worthy of the words "living weapon."
Because she was a product born of hemomancy, living weapons like Briar basically all had the trait of becoming stronger the more blood they saw.
The more blood they absorbed, the more combat power they could display. They were an extremely terrifying kind of enemy.
Having tested enough, Luke prepared to counterattack. He found an opening and instantly slashed out several times.
Sharp sword light flashed through the air, dazzling to the eye, but Briar forcibly blocked such an offensive.
She used her fast attack speed to block Luke's attacks.
Their strikes left afterimages in midair, and the surrounding ground was even split by the sharp sword energy, leaving crack after crack.
However, Luke's sword strikes grew faster and faster. Without him noticing, Conqueror had already fully stacked.
He gradually began to suppress the battle. Briar was beaten back again and again, and even in her frenzied eyes, a trace of self-doubt appeared.
In this state, she had no reason, but she did know how powerful she was.
So when she found herself being suppressed, she was still a little baffled.
She was actually being beaten by a human until she could not fight back?
At this moment, she seemed able to receive Luke's attacks, but in truth, she was already forcing herself.
If not for her powerful physical body and the support of hemomancy, her body would have been unable to withstand it and collapsed long ago.
That stifled feeling made Briar increasingly irritated. She let out an enraged roar and drove the hemomancy throughout her body. Blood aura burned over her as she went even more madly on the counterattack.
Yet she was still suppressed.
Every sword Luke slashed out had no flaw to speak of. One sword wound after another began to appear on Briar's body.
In this state, she was unafraid of pain and could not feel it at all.
But she could sense that the wounds that should have recovered instantly were now healing very slowly.
And as time passed, she felt the strength in her body decreasing bit by bit.
"Whoosh!"
Just then, Luke gathered all the sword intent in his body and suddenly slashed out with force. In an instant, an enormous tornado roared out, sweeping up Briar in front of him and blowing her into the distance.
Within the tornado, the wind blades that erupted tore constantly at Briar's body. The prisoner's clothes on her petite frame were shredded, and cut after cut appeared across her pale body.
When the tornado vanished, Briar was thrown onto the ground. The grievous wound effect and weakening effect left even her powerful body unable to move.
Her body was covered in shocking sword marks, and blood seeped from them.
Her eyes rolled upward, and she briefly lost consciousness, as if she had fallen into a coma.
A few memory fragments flashed through her mind, but only for an instant.
She saw an iron cage. She saw blood. She saw a pale-faced man. She saw a woman with a face full of smiles. She saw severed arms, broken limbs, and organs.
Then she suddenly woke up. Her lost reason caused her to forget those memories all at once.
At this moment, she was panting heavily, and even in her frenzied eyes, a trace of fear toward Luke appeared.
No matter how frenzied a creature was, it would still feel fear toward a powerful enemy.
Especially Briar, who still retained a sliver of "reason."
She struggled up from the ground. The very fragrant scent of blood drifting from Luke made her reluctant to leave, but she also did not dare approach. She could only stop in place, like a wary little dog, constantly baring her teeth at Luke.
Luke looked at her without saying a word. Naturally, he had held back. Otherwise, he could have executed Briar long ago. However, he felt killing her just like this would be somewhat wasteful.
Briar had not killed any Demacians. As far as he knew, it seemed she had been locked up in Noxus ever since she was "made."
She had probably killed quite a few Noxians, though.
Just then, Briar suddenly froze in place. The fragments of the bloodstone pillory on the ground began to tremble. Like magnets drawn to one another, they rose into the air and shot toward Briar.
Then they rapidly combined, restoring the shape of the pillory and locking Briar in again. She also regained her reason.
Of course, this was her own decision.
Because her subconscious had recognized the danger, and that danger could not be dealt with in a frenzied state.
After regaining reason, Briar immediately felt pain coming from every part of her body. But what rang alarm bells in her mind right now was still Luke before her.
She continued staring warily at Luke, but her feet kept shifting backward, ready to look for a chance to flee.
She had finally regained her freedom. She absolutely could not die here.
"You should know that if I wanted to kill you, you'd already be lying on the ground."
Luke looked at Briar, who was planning to slip away, and spoke.
Living weapons were difficult to kill, but that did not mean they could not die. Even someone as strong as Sion could be killed.
What sustained their vitality was only hemomancy.
If hemomancy lacked a supply, it would lose its effect all the same.
Briar shivered all over. Looking at Luke's smile, she only found it incomparably terrifying. At this moment, she could not even bring herself to act fierce.
She was already this strong, so why were there still people stronger than her?
Damn it. She did not understand.
The outside world was so dangerous. She suddenly wanted to go "home." Although it was dark there, there were no guys this scary.
She only wanted to drink a little blood. What had she done wrong?
While Briar was constantly grumbling in grievance inside, Luke suddenly threw something into the air.
A fragrant scent entered her nose. Briar instinctively leapt up, opened her mouth, and swallowed what Luke had thrown.
She chewed a few times and instantly froze. Then light shone in her eyes.
What was this?!
What was this flavor?!
How was it so delicious?!
She felt as if a door to a new world had suddenly opened. With a gulp, she swallowed the large mouthful of food into her stomach, then looked at Luke with confusion in her eyes.
She seemed not to understand why Luke, who was her enemy, would suddenly feed her food.
However, she was a vampire with backbone. She stared at Luke fiercely and said, "If you think you can bribe me with that just now and earn my forgiveness…"
Before she could finish speaking, Luke tossed out another piece of meat.
Briar reflexively leapt up and swallowed it in one bite. She chewed with a blissful face, then mumbled, "Then you succeeded. Is there more? I still want to eat!"
It was simply too delicious. She had never eaten anything this tasty in her life.
It could practically compare to delicious blood.
At this moment, she crouched on the ground and looked at Luke eagerly, exactly like a little dog.
So Luke threw out another piece of roasted meat.
This was roasted meat from the corpse of a drakehound. Drakehound meat was fairly fresh and delicious, and completely edible.
The Noxians were reluctant to eat them because they were reliable combat power, but Demacians were different.
This sort of magical beast that could not be tamed a second time naturally had to become ingredients.
Before setting out, Luke had specially roasted some. He had also sprinkled strange-flavor pepper on top, allowing Briar to taste a flavor she preferred even more.
Briar still swallowed the third piece of roasted meat in one bite. Her mouth was stuffed full as she ate in huge mouthfuls, the sound of meat juices bursting in her mouth making it look especially delicious.
At this moment, she no longer cared about the wounds on her body at all and was completely immersed in the food.
In fact, it was not hard to notice that even after being affected by the grievous wound effect, the wounds on Briar's body were still slowly healing.
As the grievous wound effect vanished, they recovered completely in the blink of an eye. Her skin looked perfectly smooth, though still especially pale.
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