A thick, milky white fog blanketed the Forbidden Forest heavily. The scent of ozone from the static electricity radiating from Henry Percy's spear clashed sharply with the metallic stench of blood and carcasses. Ahead of them, hundreds of Grave Hounds and other wild monsters were rampaging blindly, confused as they searched for the source of the explosion.
Darius Greyvein covered his nose with a silk handkerchief. "Absolutely disgusting. This forest is crawling with starving wild dogs. The smell makes me nauseous."
Henry Percy stared at the sea of monsters with chilling coldness. His silver spear crackled softly. "That mana explosion was centered right in the middle of these ruins. Whoever triggered it, their probability of surviving a monster siege of this magnitude is absolute zero."
Darius snorted in disappointment. "So that rat Draven is already chewed to death? What a pity. I really wanted to snap his neck with my own hands for what he did to my brother, Damius."
Henry made his tactical military decision swiftly. "We retreat. We will sweep the outer perimeter. If by some miracle they are still alive and fleeing, we will find their tracks. Wasting energy and Mana to enter this meat grinder is a pointless and foolish act."
The Upper Class troops turned around in unison with highly disciplined movements. Just as they were about to step away, an incredibly loud and deliberate sword whistle sliced through the air from across the horde of monsters.
Atop a ruined stone pillar, right behind the roaring sea of monsters, a silhouette emerged from the fog. His gray robe was torn and filthy from battle, yet his eyes burned a bright red. Kael Draven stood there, gripping the giant Blood-Iron sword in his right hand.
Kael did not scream like a madman. He spoke in a moderate tone amplified by the echoes of the ruined stones. "Retreating just like that? Orvelis will surely be very disappointed to see that his expensive dogs are actually afraid of the dark forest."
Darius spun around instantly. His eyes glared piercingly through the fog. "Draven! You are still alive, you trash bastard?!"
Kael smiled mockingly, pointing at Darius with the tip of his black sword. "That voice... Greyvein, isn't it? I heard your little brother now has to eat through a straw because his nasal bone is crushed. How about it? Do you want to join him tonight?"
After throwing that personal provocation, Kael jumped down from the stone pillar. He deliberately vanished back into the shadows of the ruins.
Darius's emotions exploded completely. He drew his longsword and prepared to order half the troops to charge straight into the monster horde to chase Kael.
"Finish him!" shouted Darius furiously.
However, Henry stepped forward quickly. He barred the shaft of his silver spear right across Darius's chest, physically halting the man's advance. Sparks of lightning lightly stung Darius's armor as a stern warning.
"Hold your position, Darius! Use your brain!" snapped Henry with a sharp, rational tone. "This is a basic trap. He is deliberately provoking you so we waste our energy breaking through those monsters. Those ruins are a deadly needle's eye!"
Darius swatted Henry's spear away roughly. The veins in his neck bulged as he restrained his anger. "Remove your spear, Percy! You saw it yourself, he just headed into the underground passage! If we let him escape now, do you think Young Master Orvelis will accept that cowardly tactical excuse of yours?!"
Henry fell silent for a moment. His eyes narrowed behind his protective helmet.
Darius continued to press using dirty noble politics. "You swore a blood oath to bring his head tonight! Draven only has three crippled people with him. We bring dozens of elite Upper Class Cadets! Slaughter these monsters and drag Draven out! Or do you want Orvelis to revoke your family's inheritance rights tomorrow morning?!"
Darius's words struck Henry's weak point flawlessly. The family oath to the Nightbane faction was a chain binding his neck. Henry knew this was sheer foolishness. He knew his military instincts were correct, that Kael was planning something inside. However, the political threat forced him to swallow those instincts.
"Damn it," Henry cursed softly, realizing he was forced to play to his enemy's rhythm.
Henry took full command with a frustrated face and a hardened jaw. He divided his troops into two units.
"Heavy defense line, move forward! Form a V-Formation!" Henry shouted, giving the command. "Use your mana shields to the absolute maximum! Your only task is to part this sea of monsters and hold them on the outside. Do not stop to kill them all! Just open the path!"
Henry turned to Darius. "Darius, you and a dozen of the fastest fighters come with me through the breach they create. We target the snake's head."
Six heavily armored knights advanced simultaneously. They detonated their respective protective Auras and collided violently with the pack of Grave Hounds. The sounds of breaking bones and denting armor echoed back and forth. The wild monsters bit and scratched at the knights' mana shields.
Amidst that chaos, Henry darted like lightning. His silver spear blasted deadly large-scale lightning. Bright blue flashes incinerated a dozen monsters blocking his path into black ash in a matter of seconds.
Kael's strategy proved to be absolutely perfect. Henry and his troops had to burn immense physical energy and Mana reserves just to open a path to the edge of the ruins. The layered defense of hundreds of wild monsters truly drained the stamina of Orvelis's executioners.
Henry, Darius, and the elite troops finally managed to break through the last line of monsters. They jumped inside, crossing the rocky boundary of the ruins, right to the spot where Kael was last seen vanishing.
They thought they would be welcomed by the hard and elegant stone floor of an ancient temple, where they could duel in neat, open formations. However, reality spoke otherwise. The moment their feet landed behind the shadows, their expensive iron boots immediately sank knee-deep into wet mud.
Henry's eyes scanned the surroundings quickly in the darkness. The ground ahead of them had been artificially dug and altered into the contours of a jagged trench network in a zigzag pattern. There was no grandeur of ruins whatsoever. There was no room for wide maneuvering. There were only dirty dirt corridors, mud walls, and dense shadows.
The air felt incredibly silent inside the trench. The atmosphere contrasted sharply with the savage roars of the monsters held back outside the stone barricade.
Darius cursed in disgust as he pulled his leg from the mud with great difficulty. "Damn mud! What is this filthy place?!"
Henry spun his spear. Blue flashes of lightning from his weapon illuminated the mud on the trench walls for a moment. His calm face was now replaced by a gaze of absolute murder. He fully realized that he had just stepped into a dirty slaughter arena prepared by the veteran.
"He wants to play dirty in the mud?" hissed Henry softly, lightning crackling wildly across his arm guards. "Find him. And leave his corpse to rot here."
The elite troops marched in, following the narrow trench corridor. They were completely oblivious that the Deck Hound squad was waiting for them with drawn weapons, right behind the very first mud bend.