Chapter 76 - Nest of Devourers

[136 Days Remaining]

"Now, let me tell you something about the Grim Hunters," Caldrun said from atop his horse. I was riding beside him. "All the hunters in our organization are personally funded by King Balan, bless his soul. We are few in numbers, so we're stretched thin across the regions. We take care of anything that goes bump in the night. Actually, day and night, since some monsters feel more comfortable during the day."

Caldrun let out a small chuckle as he led our party of five hundred soldiers, all on horseback, to where his companions were waiting. "You should see some of the day monsters I've battled. Goblins can go back to sucking eggs from their grandmothers compared to Day Walkers. They look exactly like humans, but they're far faster and stronger."

I frowned inwardly. How had I never encountered such monsters in my past life, especially if an entire organization was needed to deal with them?

Caldrun shook his head. "These days, though, monsters are becoming more frequent, to the point where some of our hunters need help from regular soldiers. The reason is unclear, but the number of monsters started increasing about two and a half years ago."

"How come I've never seen any of these monsters you’ve described?"

With a lopsided grin, Caldrun stroked the twin swords and crossbow strapped to his back. "We're very good at our jobs."

"The nest of Devourers must be something, then, for you to request aid."

A dark look crossed Caldrun's grizzled face as he touched the huge scar on his left cheek. "Ah yes, the Devourers. Those fucking monsters are eerily human-looking, and they like to capture their prey alive. They keep them as a food source for a long time. Prisoners for years, they become..."

It was easy to tell from his words and manner that the hunter had a deep grudge against Devourers. Perhaps he had been captured by one and used as a food source himself.

"What’s their food source?"

"I would've thought it was obvious from the name, but I guess not. I don't blame you." There was a short pause before he answered. "Our vitality... They like to devour our life essence."

"How interesting..." I replied.

Caldrun studied my face for a long time before speaking again. It was a look I had seen many times before. "You’re a strange person, Verath."

"How so?"

"Just a feeling I get from you. I've learned to trust my gut. It’s saved my life more than once."

I let out a small laugh. "I get that a lot."

"Your gut talking to you? Or…"

I pointed a finger at my long, white hair.

"So it is," Caldrun said, nodding. "So it is."

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[134 Days Remaining]

We had been traveling for two days and it was late at night when our group met up with Caldrun's companions. We had been traveling on horseback from Asolance for a few hours, our party attracting the attention of the townsfolk and villagers we passed by. We were at a forest near a town called Falder, just a little south of Asolance. It was a large town with perhaps a few thousand people. All of our horses had been left in the care of the townsfolk. Typically, it would have been the duty of the commoners and lower folks to take care of soldiers (within reasonable realms) on urgent tasks, but I had left encouragement in the form of coins. After all, it takes a lot of money to feed five hundred horses.

“Ah yes, Verath—you don't mind if I do not call you knight commander, right—meet the two other Grim Hunters I am traveling with. Gunther and Lyra, that's their names.” Caldrun said, gesturing toward the leather armored man and woman sitting on a fallen log by the campfire. Both of them were inspecting their crossbow bolts. Their weapons and equipment were similar to Caldrun. Perhaps they were standard weapons of Grim Hunters, I thought.

“Back already, Caldrun?” Gunther said from beside the fire. He had put away his bolts and was inspecting a wicked-looking dagger the length of a man's forearm. “I would have thought your request of aid would have taken longer. Pity. I would have liked a longer break than a day's time from killing monsters.”

Lyra, the female Grim Hunter, looked up from her inspection. Her eyes wondered toward the group of soldiers behind me. Then they finally settled on me, measuring my prowess. “Just five hundred soldiers, Caldrun?”

Scratching at his scar, Caldrun casually replied, “Baroness Calina figured that five hundred soldiers and their commander would be enough.”

“Maybe if we were facing three Devourers, but a nest of them? I doubt a thousand soldiers will be enough. The three of us would be hard pressed to even kill one Devourer.”

“How many is a nest of Devourers?” I asked.

“It's six Devourers,” Lyra coolly answered.

I did a rough calculation based on if we had the hypothetical thousand soldiers. That meant that the three Grim Hunters combined were as strong as over a hundred and fifty soldiers, or one Devourer.

It made me even more curious as to what the Devourers were.

“Don't mind Lyra. She is just a little grumpy because I killed the previous monster we were hunting.” Caldrun formed a small, grim smile—it made him suitable to be a “Grim” Hunter. “Baroness Calina seems to fully trust you and she seems competent enough, so I will extend my trust in you also. We should probably survive in the upcoming battle. If we do not...” Caldrun gave a small shrug. “That's just the life of a Grim Hunter then. We go to our graves violently, most of us dying from monsters.”

“Let me tell you what we are up against,” Caldrun said.

I nodded for him to continue.

“Our scryers and scouts have confirmed that there are six Devourers. They have taken up residence in the forests of the next town up ahead, a whole morning's travel there by foot. Our plan will be to surround them, while you and my party will lure them out of their hiding hole. Then”— there was a glint in his eyes—“we fight to the death. It will be either us or them.”

“Any special things my men and I should note about them?”

Caldrun unsheathed his sword strapped beside his waist, the steel glinting against the night in the firelight. “Yes, a face shoved full of steel will kill these monsters. Be wary of their touch though. They can drain a man's life in mere seconds if they feel like it. One must also be wary of their speed and strength, for they are beyond a man's.” Caldrun glanced at the other two Grim Hunters before looking back at me. “We are all talented in fire magic—useful for burning monsters—but Devourers, however, are resistant to magic. So it is quite useless, magic, that is. Only steel works.”

“Thanks, I shall tell that to my men now.”

I held my head high and stood in a proud, confident manner, as I faced my five hundred soldiers; I had learned that a commander needed to remain confident no matter what the situation was. It was always good for the men to see that you had a plan (even if you don't) up your sleeves. I raised my voice, just enough so that it would reach them all. Their faces were hard and unyielding. All of them soldiers who had seen battles. None of them were green and still learning to suck eggs from their grandmothers.

I explained the strengths of the Devourers we would face to my soldiers and that we would surround them in the forests of the next town. Then I made an attempt at a small speech.

“I will not lie to you and say that we will all return home alive, that we will all return to Asolance. Know, however, that the Devourers have never seen the likes of us before. We are the best of the best in the northern region. We have all seen our shares of battles and we will not go down easily. We will fight to the last arm, leg, teeth, and nail, if necessary. In the name of the White Demon, the monsters shall learn to fear us.”

Each of the five hundred soldiers drew their swords free and held it high. No words were spoken. No cheers were let out. None was needed—we had all learned to trust each other during the 70 days of turmoil.

That, and it would not have been logical to scream out cheers in the middle of the night. We had our own way of cheering, the soldiers I led.

“Let us make camp now, and head out early morning tomorrow to the forests near the town of Rygrad.”

Each of the soldier carried large packsacks that contained basic essentials such as food and blanket. We had only carried the minimum items to make travel as quick as possible on our way to Rygrad. I also did not need to tell some of the soldiers to stand as nightwatch while the rest of us slept. The captains of each fifty men squad would do that instead.

“Nice speech,” Lyra, the female Grim Hunter, said. She had gotten up from where she was sitting and walked toward me until we were a few feet apart. “It sounded like the croak of a dying man.”

Gunther, the other male Grim Hunter, continued inspecting his equipment and weapons, not even looking up to see what was going on. I guess he was the silent type.

“Thank you, Lyra. It's always a good thing to croak hard when you are dying.”

“I have heard a lot about you,” Lyra said, not the slightest bit hindered by my retort. “Bards and minstrels have been spreading tales of the White Demon in the northern region, of a white-haired man who can easily turn the tide of battles by himself. A master mage and swordsman. Those who have fought him steel to steel swears that you are the fastest and strongest opponent they have ever fought. Almost makes one believe that you are not human.”

I showed a small smile, but didn't comment. It was a smile that urged her to continue on with her speech—I was waiting for what she truly wanted to say.

“Let us test our mettle in a small spar. Agreed?”

“If you wish,” I said, feeling that her words were somewhat unexpected. I had figured the female Grim Hunter would have accused me of being a monster. I suppose their scryers and scouts still did not know about me? Or were they just biding their time, since I had a connection with Baroness Calina, the ruler of the northern region of Shail Kingdom, just one step below King Balan and equal in power and position to the other three barons. Two, actually, since I had killed the eastern baron and all his immediate family; they had all been in the towers that I had reduced to rubble.

“Draw your steel, White Demon,” Lyra said, her weapon out in a flash. It was a steel sword half a man's height. Sigils were etched onto the blade of the weapon and the guard of the sword looked almost like the skull of an animal.

I looked toward Caldrun—he was obviously the leader of the two Grim Hunters, him being the oldest and most experienced looking. There was this air of power and experience to him.

Caldrun shrugged his shoulders as if to say it was not his problem. Perhaps, like Lyra, he wanted to see the level of my skills. But I already knew the result of this bout. Even my soldiers knew it—only a few chose to watch, while the rest prepared their camps and took up watch duties.

I drew my blade free from its sheathe. It didn't lit up like Lyra's blade. Instead, my enchanted black longsword seem to almost absorb the light from the campfire, not even giving out a dull reflection. It was pure Astraldite, a material which enhanced a mage's magic power; it was akin to all the strengths of steel. There were lines of sigils carved onto it, all of which enhanced fire magic. The weapon had been specially made by the Mage Academy after I had made a request.

I also had a set of enchanted black armor currently in the makings at the academy, but a full set of armor made entirely out of Astraldite would take long, so I still did not have it. It was why I was just wearing a plain white armor.

I stood still, my breathing even and my sword held in the Wandering Flame stance. I had been practicing without fail every day, or at least whenever I had the time. Lyra, a few feet to the front of me, was in a stance I did not recognize. It didn't look to be the stances of Moon and Void or Flowing Water.

“Wandering Flame, eh,” Lyra said, taking a step toward me. “An aggressive fighter, I suppose. Just my type of opponent.” She switched the sword into her left hand—a leftie, I thought, probably trained with both hands.

Lyra attacked then, instantly closing the distance between the two of us. She was fast. Much quicker than all of the opponents I had faced so far. Even the Knight Commanders would have been no match for her.

I jumped to the side, dodging her lightning slash, and spun a swift pirouette. Lyra did not even lose balance, quickly spinning on her heels to meet my attack. There was not even one second of delay in her block, even though she had missed her initial attack. Our swords clashed for a moment before she drew away. That small second of clashing had told me that she was not all speed. She was also strong, very strong, despite her slim, but muscular arms.

Lyra had made the correct decision in not choosing to clash swords with me any longer. She had most likely figured that I was the stronger of the both of us. As she drew away, I followed her, this time taking the attack. My stance, after all, specialized in its aggressiveness.

I traced a quick, semi-circle with my blade. Then I leapt, feigning a whirling movement above her head. The another toward her right side. Without a second hesitation, I quickly slashed upward at her from downward. Another feint, but Lyra did not rise to the bait, merely stepping backward to dodge it by a hair's breadth.

I spun around using the force of my downward to upward swing to slash at her side. The transition from all of my attacks had been smooth and quick, but Lyra blocked them all with just a mere turn of her blade, using the least strength to deflect my blade.

We had only been a few seconds into the fight, but I knew it was not going to get anywhere. It was time to use more of my strength and speed.

I went at her, twice as fast before. She blocked my attack, but I noticed a little pause, just the barest hint, before she deflected—her eyes were having trouble keeping up with my movement. I allowed her no rest, continually attacking her. Left, right, left, right, up, down, up, down. Of course, it was not in a pattern like that, but you get the idea.

Then I started fighting dirty. I swiped at her face with a gauntlet hand. It surprised Lyra, her eyes widening a little at the suddenness of it. She quickly moved her head backward, barely dodging it, and pulled back her sword and whole body, choosing to disengage.

She returned with a little vengeance in her eyes, slashing downward toward my neck. I raised my sword, blocking it. Then I blocked her kick toward my groin with my own leg, not letting her go any further—I had been expecting some form of dirty attack from her.

It brought me close to her, our faces almost upon each other, our lips almost in a lover's kiss. She was close to my height and we were almost level, since my knees were bent a little to block her. I breathed softly onto her lips, eliciting an amusing reaction from the female Grim Hunter.

She glared at me and muttered, “bastard,” under her breath. It made her seem younger than her twenty-seven years of age or so, probably, if I was a trustworthy judge of a woman's age.

Our blades were still locked together. It was the perfect moment. I increased my strength, bearing down on her and she became off-balanced, her sword turned away.

That was the end of our fight, my free hand instantly taking the opportunity to grip her sword-hand. It was a little awkward since she was fighting left-handed and I was fighting right-handed, but it was still feasible. My grip was iron and unyielding, my strength making her grimace a little in pain. I pulled at her, turning her around and went behind her. The sudden motion and force made her drop her blade, while my own blade came at a stop to her throat.

In a fashion, it almost made me seem like an evil lord holding a princess hostage at sword-point to her dainty neck. A fairy-tale like story, except this was no dainty princess, and I was not an evil lord –well, not really.

I waited for Lyra to struggle free, but she did not. She knew when she had been beaten, and would make no fuss about it. I waited for her surrender and surrender she did.

“I yield,” Lyra said, her voice hard and cold as she said the two words.

Hearing that, I let go of her gloved wrist and backed away to a comfortable distance. Then I picked up her fallen weapon, returning it to her. Her lips became pursed as she accepted the blade from my outstretched hand.

“Thanks.”

I nodded and turned my back to the three Grim Hunters. There had been a quick flash of amusement in Caldrun's eyes, and a small thin smile before I walked toward my men who had been spectating. They did not cheer at my win—it would have been discourteous to the Grim Hunter. They, themselves, also knew that my opponent had been a top-notch fighter, far more experienced and talented than them.

Still, the look of admiration in the soldiers' eyes could not be hidden. There was almost hero-worship in the soldiers who were commoners. A Gold Knight Commander was rare, but a non-noble Gold Knight Commander? That was almost like a dream.

Thus, the night was over and we all went to sleep, granted, except for the soldiers with night watch duties.