novelbin Chapter 349: Children of the dark moon
Chapter 349: Children of the dark moon
"What? He’s what...?"
Dravenyx’s eyes froze, and he looked down with a stunned expression. The young man that had been burning for four days now was looking directly at him.
The young man was naked, his clothes seemingly burned away. His skin was strangely smooth and had a red color to it like baked red earth. His hair was a mass of darkness that pooled like dark water behind him. And his eyes—they were striking red, his pupils perfectly round like a full moon.
Silence spread in the hallway of giant stones. The three looked at each other before finally, the young man spoke. "Before I ask what you are doing here, before we talk about anything, do you have clothes and food?"
Kaelvaris and Dravenyx shared a look. Kaelvaris had a look of disgust and frustration because the direct order restrained him from doing anything stupid. But Dravenyx only had a thoughtful expression.
Dravenyx was cautious. Because the young man before him could either be very important or dangerous. Or he could be both. Anyway, their mission was to deliver him alive.
"Here, I have some spare clothes here, and you can also have some of our food. What will you pay for it, though....."
Before he even finished speaking, the young man snatched the clothes from him, wore only the trousers, and then he fell on the food, hungrily devouring it at a rapid pace.
The food that Dravenyx provided was simple meat and bread. But the meat was produced from high-rank monsters, capable of providing essence when eaten and even doing minor healing.
Dravenyx was impressed by the way the young man ate; everything just seemed to disappear as soon as it touched his mouth, as if he was hiding a black hole there. Within minutes, he finished the feast and shamelessly drank the water provided by Dravenyx.
Kaelvaris sneered. "You don’t even care that you’ll be poisoned? Are you even a knight with that attitude?"
The young man wiped his mouth and sighed. "This is really good food. Thank you. And why should I fear poison? You two are Master Knights. If you wanted to kill me, I assume there were lots of chances before now."
Kaelvaris grinned. "Really? How naive. Do you think death is the only endpoint of poison? Do you not fear mental corruption? Body corruption? Possession? Turning you into my obedient lapdog through poisoning of the mind?"
The young man froze, and his eyes widened, which made Dravenyx realize that the man had indeed not thought of that. ’...the Hinterlands, eh...always brutal, straight brutality with no beauty to it. Everything should not lead to death, and death is sometimes even a mercy, a weakness...’
Kaelvaris, realizing he now had something over the young man, smiled even wider. "A shame. Your type are so very easy to play with. A shame, truly a shame!"
The young man paused, then he nodded deeply. "I would thank you for not poisoning me, but I get the feeling that you’re not the one I should be thanking. Whose order are you following?"
’...he’s smart too...’ Dravenyx thought. ’...but I still can’t figure out how he’s important. The Hollow Grave is a lofty organization that even the High Clans are wary of. How could he be important to them? How? And what if he’s dangerous....’
Dravenyx just couldn’t put it together. The young man and dangerous. He was a Master Knight, and as such, he had his bulk of experience. He could smell danger, and even though he knew not to underestimate anyone, power was something that could barely be hidden.
’...I can’t see it on him. He’s dangerous? He’s important? Or both?....maybe his strength isn’t something that’s directly tangible...anyway, I should get information from him, then I can directly make him owe me... that might come in handy...’
Dravenyx adopted a casual posture and even smiled, managing to pull off a warm expression. Kaelvaris rolled his eyes where he was. He wasn’t fooled by his partner; he knew Dravenyx had seen something he could benefit from, something that would benefit both of them. He’s just like that, building bridges where Kaelvaris burns them. They both had their attitudes and approaches to things, and somehow they made it work.
"Is that important? Those that ordered us to come here are not here. We are, and we have come to save you."
The young man had a strange expression on his face. "Well then, thank you, the two of you. Thank you."
Dravenyx was surprised again because the young man was sincere. He actually meant it.
Then silence followed, nobody saying anything as everyone just looked at each other.
’...are you not curious? Why are you not asking us anything...wait...can this be the son of some of the higher-ups? But we are mostly an organization of the Dark Order. Well, that doesn’t mean other Orders are not present. They are just not as prevalent...so he might know about all of this already...’
But then the young man sighed. "You guys were sent by him, right? To capture me."
Dravenyx’s suspicion rose. He asked with caution, giving Kaelvaris a look. "Who?"
"Him. The Old Man."
For a moment, Kaelvaris and Dravenyx looked at him blankly. Old Man? Who’s that? All of their superiors—none of them went by that name. And the way the young man said it wasn’t like just referring to an old person; he put emphasis on the words.
"Who is the Old Man.....!!"
Suddenly, Dravenyx froze, and he took a step back, recoiling. "The Old Man...do you mean the Old....One?"
Kaelvaris growled and moved back as well.
The young man shrugged. "He’s old, white hair, shapes floating in his eyes. He uses a scythe."
Kaelvaris and Dravenyx froze. Then, as one, their eyes turned red and their faces twisted, becoming more refined and taking on a beastly look as fangs jutted down. Thick bloodlust rolled out of them, mixing with the pressure aura of the full power of their ranks to weigh down on their surroundings.
Without hesitation, they went on full alert. If this young man was the enemy of the Old One, then they couldn’t be too cautious! He must be dangerous!
The young man looked at them with interest. "Dark Orders. Your powers are Nightstalkers, right? Shapeshifters that can use their powers to study a single path of any night creatures of their choosing and use the corresponding powers. You guys are children of the dark moon. Bloodsuckers, vampires! Blood Masters!"
Kaelvaris smiled, his fangs flashing. "I’ve not heard our subsidiary race being called by such praise before. What a strange thing. And we are not Blood Lords—that’s for the Grandmaster. We are Blood Masters."
The young man smiled. "I am Vale."
The change in conversation made the two look at him with confusion.
Vale pointed at himself. "My name is Vale, Vale Athrimir. Since I can see we are going to fight, I think it’s just polite to give you my name."
The two looked at each other.
"I am Kaelvaris."
"I am Dravenyx, but we do not need to fight. In fact, why are you thinking of fighting two Master Knights as an Errant Knight? We only want to bring you back as a guest."
Vale didn’t buy it. "I’m not going to follow you, and you are not going to leave me be. You see? We arrive at an impasse. I thank you for the food and the clothes, and for not poisoning me. But I won’t be following you."
They looked at each other—the three of them. Then Dravenyx turned to Kaelvaris. "Well, we’ll make this quick and painless."
Kaelvaris snorted. "We just have to take him back alive, right? Doesn’t mean he shouldn’t lose a limb."
Dravenyx sighed. "Just be careful. He might be a sleeping Dragon."
Kaelvaris snorted again. "And we are two Master Knights. One of the strongest. How about that?"
Vale stood up and dusted himself. "Forgive me, but I’ve not really got a firm grip on this power of mine. I might be.... a bit rough, and I might be testing things."
Kaelvaris and Dravenyx shared a look again.
"I think he’s just mad, Dravenyx."
With that, silence returned, and their voices were replaced by tension. They stood there, looking at who would make the first move. And yet, the tension kept rising.
Dravenyx blinked. ’...wait...it’s not the tension that’s rising....’
The temperature in the room was rising sharply, and it was followed by a pressure that was steadily rising as well. At first, it rose to the height of two Errant Knights. But it kept rising—an aura pressure of heat and weight.
And it was coming from the young man in front of them.
Dravenyx’s eyes fell. ’...so...he’s a sleeping dragon? Better not let him wake!..’
Already, the pressure was at the stage of a weak Master Knight—but it was still rising!
"Attack!"
Dravenyx instantly devolved into a mass of whirling darkness that shot forward like an abnormally large blanket. On closer look, it could be seen that the darkness was made up of tiny bats.
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