Kael straightened his posture. He rolled his shoulder, ignoring the shallow wound across his arm. He didn’t look tired at all and was instead brimming with energy.
Leveling up with the Eldritch Devouring System had had a huge impact on his cultivation since reincarnating.
The system’s thod of cultivating was quite unique to him as most of the inhabitants of the Azure World relied on absorbing primal energy in the air through ditation or by using primal stones while he only needed to kill stronger opponents and devour their essence to advance his cultivation.
Kael looked around, four more bodies had joined the previous six. Only the Knight Guards and Dorian remained.
Dorian’s gaze hadn’t left him once.
He leaned slightly forward with one of his brows raised, looking intrigued. "How curious," he murmured.
Evelyne stepped forward, drawing her blade which looked odd and different from the rest. It looked etched or inlaid with weird runic cravings on the curved edges.
"Do you want him alive?" she asked.
Dorian didn’t answer right away. Instead, he squinted slightly as if coming to an understanding. "He’s still alive?..."
Evelyne’s eyes narrowed. "You recognize him?"
"Not exactly. He’s nothing but a bug I thought my n squashed in the lower levels of the dungeon."
She waited for more information, but Dorian’s voice turned languid once again. "Keep the royals safe. I don’t want them dying before I finish the Trial of Morality."
He looked straight at Kael again with a smirk of amusent and then gave a small wave.
Kael ignored the gesture and instead focused on his opponents in front.
Evelyne’s expression hardened. She turned to the remaining three Knight Guards. "Formation two," she said coldly.
They moved instantly.
Kael watched their steps, his dark silver eyes locked onto the four Knight Guards as they shifted into formation, their movents were in sync, like predators circling prey. He could feel it—these four weren’t like the ones from before.
While there were eighteen levels before awakening and advancing to the first minor stage of the First Rank Evolution Tier, the massive gap of levels between warriors wasn’t that defining until after awakening.
However, that doesn’t an having a higher level wasn’t a ga-changer against lower-level warriors; it was. But for soone like Kael who had the Eldritch Devouring System, surmounting levels to fight wasn’t an issue in this pre-awakening stage.
Evelyne was a Runebound Knight and she stood at the forefront, the edges of her blade gleaming with faintly glowing runes that pulsed with power. Behind her, Voss, Isolde, and Garrick fanned out, each exuding a distinct aura that set them apart from the guards Kael had just dispatched.
The System’s Quest tir ticked in the corner of Kael’s vision:
———
[SYSTEM QUEST: Trial of Morality]
Quest Type: Trial Quest
Difficulty: F
Objective: Decide the fate of the captive royals and clear the third level of the dungeon.
SYSTEM WARNING: To be completed within 2 hours after selecting an option. And keep in mind, "There is no true justice—only the justice you create. Choose wisely."
Selection ti fra ends in: 00:42:12]
———
He didn’t need to check the details again. He needed to fight and reclaim the royals from Dorian’s hold or kill them before the tir ran out.
Evelyne raised her sword, the runes flaring brighter. "Voss, hold the front. Isolde, flank him. Garrick, you wait for an opening." Her voice was sharp, leaving no room for hesitation.
Voss, the Shieldbearer, stepped forward, his massive fra dwarfing the others. His heavy shield which was reinforced with Evelyne’s runes, shimred with an unnatural durability.
He planted his feet, the ground cracking slightly under his weight, and raised the shield like a wall. "Co, boy," he growled, his voice wild and deep. "Break yourself on ."
Isolde vanished in a blur, her Phantom Knight speed leaving only a faint ripple of dark energy in her wake.
Kael’s perception flared, the glowing rings beneath his eyes catching the subtle distortions in the air where she moved. She was circling, waiting for a gap to exploit.
Garrick, the Crimson Knight, stood still, his twin axes dripping with a faint red glow. His eyes burned with anticipation and a manic grin spread across his face as he licked his lips. Every scar on his exposed arms seed to pulse as if his body craved the pain to co.
Kael didn’t move. He stood with his dagger in his right hand loose at his sides, his tattered cloak fluttering in the breeze.
The Knight Guards expected a charge or a reckless attack. Instead, he waited, his senses stretched to their limit.
Voss grew impatient. "You deaf, boy?" He slamd his shield into the ground, sending a shockwave of earth and dust toward Kael. The runes on the shield glowed, amplifying the force.
Kael sidestepped, the ground exploding where he’d stood. Dirt and pebbles rained down, but he was already moving, his body a blur.
He closed the distance to Voss in two strides, his left fist cocked back. The Shieldbearer raised his barrier, the runes flaring to absorb the impact.
Kael’s punch landed. The air cracked, a shockwave rippling outward. The runes sparked violently, holding for a heartbeat before spiderwebbing.
Voss grunted, his massive fra sliding back a foot, his boots carving trenches in the dirt. Surprise flashed in his eyes. "Stronger than you look," he muttered.
Before Kael could press the attack, a gust of dark energy slashed at his side.
Isolde was finally impatient to attack. Her daggers, wreathed in shadowy tendrils, sliced through the air with lethal precision.
Kael twisted, blocking one of the blades with his dagger, but the other one slithered strangely, catching on his forearm. The dark energy bit into his skin, drawing a thin line of blood. He ignored the pain, his other hand snapping out to grab her wrist.
Isolde dissolved into a cloud of shadow, reappearing a few feet away, her daggers already spinning for another strike. She was fast—too fast.
"Slippery one," she hissed, her voice echoing with an unnatural reverb.
Kael didn’t respond. His perception tracked her movents, the glowing rings under his eyes pulsing faintly. He ducked under her next attack, the daggers grazing his cloak, and rolled forward, closing the gap to Voss again.
The Shieldbearer swung his massive arm, aiming to crush Kael’s skull. Kael dropped low, sliding under the blow, and drove his knee into Voss’s gut.
The impact forced a grunt from Voss, but he didn’t budge. His endurance was monstrous, the runes on his armor glowing to reduce the damage.
Kael leaped back as Voss’s shield ca crashing down, splintering the ground where he’d stood.
A searing pain suddenly erupted in Kael’s back. Garrick had made his move.
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