🔥🔥 You can find 40 chapters ahead here
Support link: pat_reon.com/Redon1
Also other exciting fanfic available 🔥🔥
----------------------------------------------------------
Asher followed Artoria's gaze. A man in white armor was half-crouching at the entrance of the alley. His messy purple hair fluttered in the evening breeze. A crowd of people gathered around Lancelot, pointing and seemingly discussing something at the alley entrance.
"Something seems to have happened," Artoria said.
"Let's go take a look." Asher stepped forward, and the surrounding crowd consciously made way.
"King Arthur," Lancelot noticed the young man behind him and respectfully greeted him, then his gaze returned to the alley. Asher's gaze followed to the alley entrance.
It looked dark and damp due to the lack of sunlight.
Inside the alley, a man had already fallen in a pool of blood.
"Killed in an attack?" Asher's eyes narrowed slightly, muttering to himself.
"It shouldn't be human," Lancelot pointed to the claw marks on the man's back and the faint marks on his neck.
"It looks more like a monster did it." The man's clothes on his back were torn by three sharp, bloody gashes. His eyes were wide open, as if he had encountered something terrifying before he died. Asher frowned slightly. For some reason, seeing this claw mark gave him a very familiar feeling, but he couldn't pinpoint why.
"Do you know who the killer is?" Asher asked. Lancelot shook his head regretfully. "He was already dead when I arrived, and I didn't see any suspicious traces." Towards the end, Lancelot looked up at Asher and said, "King Arthur, you should go back first. I'll have someone handle this later."
Asher thought for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Then I'll leave it to you, Sir Lancelot." Even if he stubbornly stayed here, it would be meaningless. The killer might not reappear, and Asher trusted Lancelot very much.
After all, the other party was known as the strongest among the Knights of the Round Table; there was no need to question his strength.
Lancelot nodded solemnly. "By the name of a knight, I will do my best to catch the culprit."
"If you need anything else, you can send someone to find me. I will provide as much assistance as possible," Asher said, then turned and left the scene. Lancelot's gaze returned to the corpse. His handsome face was grim as he stared intently at the man's neck. It clearly wasn't done by a human, so what could it be...?
________________________________________
The sky unknowingly darkened. Artoria followed beside Asher. The two walked through the town, enveloped in a silent atmosphere.
"What are you thinking, Ash?" Artoria finally couldn't resist asking. Asher had been walking with his head down the whole way, seemingly pondering something, and
Artoria was a bit curious about it.
"I feel like that claw mark earlier looked a bit familiar," Asher came back to his senses and turned to Artoria.
"Lily, have we seen similar claw marks somewhere before?"
Artoria thought carefully for a moment, then said, "Now that you mention it, I do have a slight impression."
"Where could it have been..." she muttered to herself.
Although she had some impression, she couldn't immediately recall where she had encountered similar claw marks.
Looking at Artoria, who was frowning in thought, Asher comforted her, "If you can't think of it, then don't worry about it for now. We can talk about it when we get back.
Maybe Lancelot will catch the real culprit tomorrow."
But Artoria still had her head down, showing no reaction.
Seeing this, Asher could only helplessly shake his head.
He regretted telling Lily. This girl was too prone to getting stuck in a rut. Once she committed to something, she would go all out until the matter was resolved.
The two walked in silence along a small path. The town residents, at this dusk hour, were packing up to return home. The stained walls of every household were tinged with varying degrees of dim yellow light. The blood-red sunset gradually sank, and the outline of the moon could vaguely be seen. A cold evening breeze swept by, and Asher couldn't help but shiver, hugging his arms, shaking off his recent thoughts. It's quite cold. Is winter coming soon? No...
Asher suddenly felt a chill down his spine and grabbed Artoria's collar, pulling her back. In that instant, a sharp claw seemed to descend from thin air. Asher's reaction was still a bit slow. Just as the claw was about to scratch Artoria's chest, the girl seemed to have a premonition. She gripped her spear tightly and raised her Vanguard Spear to block the attack. Clang!
The sharp blade scraped along the spear with sparks.
Artoria retreated two steps, and Asher drew his forged Sword of the Lake, slashing at the cloaked enemy in front of him. The sword energy, accompanied by golden light, swept past. It quickly retreated, but its hood had been torn by Asher's blade. Soon, its ugly face came into view.
"An elf?" Asher suddenly froze as he looked at the silver-haired elf, who had distanced itself from him. A certain memory gradually emerged in his mind. It was the elf that had run out of the Gate of the Otherworld when they were conquering a certain territory earlier! He had thought it had disappeared, but unexpectedly, it had appeared now. This elf's eyes were like a snake's. Just being stared at gave him goosebumps.
This guy's ability to conceal its presence is truly astounding. Asher secretly thought with alarm. If it weren't for his intuition, he probably wouldn't have discovered this thing by now. And... it seemed much stronger than before. What exactly is this thing?
"It seems that the one who attacked the villager just now was it," Artoria gripped her spear. "Perfect, we'll capture it right here!"
"Be careful, it's a bit strange," Asher warned. Back then, this elf had managed to escape safely even when surrounded by so many knights, and even before that, it had killed many non-human soldiers. How much more so now? This elf was very dangerous! Whoosh!
The next second, the elf moved. Its movements were fast, almost instantly disappearing into the night. Asher and Artoria stood back to back, looking around. The next moment, Asher suddenly turned and slashed to the left.
The elf's sharp blade and the Sword of the Lake collided.
The moment the elf attacked, Asher's prophecy skill also activated. He saw the elf's movements five seconds in advance. His sword strike was steady, without the slightest tremor. Even though it was a forged Sword of the Lake, even though it was a forged Sword of the Lake, having been forged by Vivian, it was much stronger than ordinary weapons, easily blocking the elf's sharp claws.
The elf's attack failed. It immediately raised its other sharp claw and slashed at Artoria. As Artoria turned to block this attack, Asher swung his sword again. With the support of magic, the special magic and his own magic intertwined, creating a dazzling golden light. The lingering sword energy made the distant leaves rustle, but the elf cleverly dodged the sword energy with a single leap. It didn't stop there.
Its withered foot stomped back, and its speed increased significantly again. Dozens of scenes flashed through Asher's prophecy skill in that instant. Even if he could predict the elf's attacks at first, facing such a fierce offensive, even if his prophecy skill could keep up with the elf's assault, Asher's body couldn't react in time to dodge. Asher frantically dodged several of the elf's attacks, but his body struggled to avoid such an onslaught. Seeing the sharp blade about to pierce his abdomen, Asher barely managed to block the attack with the flat of his sword. He stumbled back several steps uncontrollably before regaining his footing.
The elf didn't hesitate. A sharp claw swung fiercely.
Artoria stepped forward, but the elf suddenly dodged, lunging at Asher. "This guy is so fast!" Artoria spun around abruptly, but the elf had already pounced in front of Asher. Asher barely raised the Sword of the Lake, about to enter overload mode, but at that moment, a graceful song suddenly came from afar. A massive ice wall rose out of thin air in front of Asher. His vision was completely blocked. Then, dozens of ice shards swept in from all directions with a whistling sound.
A crisp, piercing sound echoed under the dusk sky. When the ice wall disappeared, the elf had already maintained a safe distance from Asher. It held its other injured arm with its left hand, staring coldly and warily at the woman slowly walking towards them, then turned and disappeared into the night.
Asher only looked back after the elf had vanished. Skadi had somehow appeared beside him, her arrogant expression seemingly conveying her disdain. She was tall, her skirt flowing, and she never once looked at Asher, instead turning her face away. But she looked like a "say thank you quickly" tsundere.
"Thank you," Asher said. If Skadi hadn't been there, even if they had managed to escape earlier, they would probably have paid a considerable price.
Skadi snorted softly, casually brushed a lock of her beautiful hair aside, and said faintly, "Don't misunderstand, I just found it annoying, it has nothing to do with you." "Also, don't think that just saying thank you will make me forget your attitude towards me over the past half-month." Towards the end, Skadi's voice grew colder. She glanced at Asher and said again, "I just happened to be passing by."
After speaking, she ignored Asher and walked away, her high heels clicking on the ground. After a few steps, she turned around again and said faintly, "Please don't misunderstand, don't think I would act like a stalker.
Today was really just a coincidence. You won't be so lucky next time." With that, she left without looking back, as Asher watched her go.
"Are you alright?" Artoria's voice sounded.
"I'm fine," Asher composed himself, put away the Sword of the Lake, and then slowly exhaled. "Fortunately, Skadi was here just now." If Skadi hadn't been following them like a stalker recently, dealing with this monster with just him and Artoria would have been quite troublesome.
"I'm very sorry just now," Artoria said softly, lowering her head. She had no idea that the elf would completely ignore her and go straight for Asher. Asher raised his hand and patted the girl's head. "That's just because we're still young. We'll definitely become stronger later."
Under Asher's comforting hand, Artoria lowered her eyes, her ahoge swaying gently, seemingly somewhat intoxicated. But after a moment, as if waking from a dream, she quickly slapped Asher's hand away. This guy is treating her like a child again.
She seemed to be enjoying it just now... Asher muttered to himself, looking at the somewhat shy girl. And, Lily felt quite nice to touch. Of course, Asher would never say such a thing aloud. He could only keep it to himself.
"Anyway, let's go back first. It might still be dangerous to stay here. Who knows if that elf will attack us again?" Asher quickly collected his thoughts and walked towards the direction Skadi had left. He still had too many questions about that elf, but now was not the time to consider these matters. The immediate priority was to quickly return to the palace and then arrange for someone to assist Lancelot in investigating the elf.
Artoria followed closely behind Asher. After a moment of hesitation, she asked, "Do you still plan to treat Miss Skadi the same way you did before?" Skadi's intervention just now made her feel a considerable amount of apology towards Skadi. Asher thought briefly, then gently shook his head. Skadi and Shishou's personalities were too different. That goddess was too much of a tsundere.
Dragging this on would not benefit either of them. "When we get back, I really need to have a good talk with her."
__________________________
🍊 Boost This Fanfic! 🍊
Every 350 Power Stones gets 2 bonus chapters! 🚀
Want faster updates? Show your support by dropping Power Stones, leaving reviews, and sharing your thoughts in the comments! Your engagement keeps the story going strong!