Eryas cradles the broken silver watch in his hand, his fingers tracing the familiar cracks. It was the first gift Helena had given him, and a surge of sentimentality washed over him. He holds it close to his face, his breath fogging the glass.
"Once we're out of this, I promise, I'll find you. I'll make up for all of this," Eryas vowed, his voice filled with determination.
The silver watch was then put on the dusty table. Beside the watch, there is a simple breastplate armour. Eryas zips up his worn-out jacket all the way and then takes the armour and puts it on. It fits onto his body nicely.
The armour only covers his torso. Then, from the dusty old table, he took the city guard sword that he got from Edward. This special sword is given to city guards to enable them to carry out their duties effectively. And now it was his.
The sword scabbard was clipped onto his left hip. He adjusted the angle so that he could reach and pull out the sword anytime. On his right forearm, there is a small leather bag tied tightly. He then took the three throwing knives lying on the tables and placed them in the leather bag.
When everything is nice, he walks away from the table, heading towards the front door of the workshop. As he approaches the front hall, he looks towards the front door and notices that it and its walls have been shattered into rubble.
Standing at the entrance are six people from the earlier roundtable meeting, and there seem to be two more strangers with them. Eryas walks closer towards the six comrades. He notices that Greg was talking to the other two strangers.
The people he saw are the scouts who help bring him here. From what he heard Greg was talking, he commanded the two of them to look after the people inside the building. The other survivors would be in a dangerous situation if no one protects them.
With everything in place, the seven of them stepped out, leaving the safety of their refuge. Hars, the seasoned veteran, held a staff with a guiding light at its end. The luminous beam pointed the way forward. Greg, Caen, and Emma took the lead, ready for any threat.
Eryas and Edward covered their flanks, protecting Clara and Hars. They were a well-oiled machine, prepared for the impending battle.
On their way to the leader of all of this, they encounter a few tainted monsters. But they easily dismiss the threat, as Greg, Caen, and Emma were their spear. Caen and Emma are trained guards and soldiers, respectively. So that their combat capabilities are exceptional.
Meanwhile, Greg is not just any blacksmith. Before becoming a blacksmith, he was a member of the hunter corporation. This mercenary organisation helped manage affairs outside the scope of government.
Higher-ranking government officials will hire these mercenaries to handle their dirty work.
This mercenary group is very different from the assassin school Eryas went to. Where the mercenary does work for the human kingdom, while the assassin school accepts any kind of job, even if it's from the darkness.
So in the past, even Eryas had his fair share of the inevitable destruction of the world. But now, he has thrown all of that away. Now he wants to start his life fresh, free of impurities. Well, end is the most appropriate word to use.
As they walked onto their enemies, Hars suddenly resounded.
"Remember! We don't know what those things look like. So always be careful. They might even attack us from where we least expected."
Edward, who was walking behind Hars, glanced at him and said.
"Hey, Mister Hars, you said that you once fought with the intelligent one from the darkness. So, how dangerous are they compared to the mindless ones?"
Hars turned his glance towards Edward.
"Have you seen the mindless one use magic?"
"Nope. So far, I have fought none; those creatures only come at me with their fangs and claws. Wait, don't tell me…"
"Yes, the intelligent ones are capable of using magic. That's what makes them so dangerous. They can think, use magic, and their magic is different from ours," Hars explained, his voice tinged with fear.
"Different?"
Eryas, who was walking behind Clara, overhears the conversation between Hars and Edward. He had heard all this harrowing knowledge during his days as an assassin.
The intelligent creatures of darkness are ten times stronger than the average royal soldiers, and as a manaless person, the power gap between him and the intellect is a hundredfold. Encountering one would mean instant death.
Hars continued.
"The magic we use is from the blessing of the gods, while their magic is from the element of darkness itself. This magic can infect opponents with darkness, corrupting them. This is one of their ways of tainting this world with darkness."
Edward hugs himself as he shivers.
"That does sound terrifying."
Indeed, simply getting attacked with the darkness magic can corrupt any living being. But that was in the past. Nowadays, countermeasures are in place to help people avoid being easily tainted by darkness.
When a child is born, they are already under a protective spell that prevents darkness from corrupting the newborn. This special spell will linger in a person until the day they die. But the effect of the spell itself will weaken over time.
Clara turns around to Eryas, noticing that his gaze was locked on the conversation between Hars and Edward. He looked tense, so Clara tried to cheer him up.
"Hey, don't tell me you're scared?"
Eryas quickly turned his gaze upon hearing those questions. His face still maintained a serious expression.
"a little."
Clara hears those replies with a shock. He thought that Eryas would reply that he is not afraid or something along those lines. She tries to lighten the mood.
"Hey, don't worry if anything happens, I will protect you. I'm pretty strong myself, you know."
Eryas looks at her with amusement in his eyes.
"Yeah, sure."
"Hey, that doesn't sound like you trust me at all."
Both of them laugh afterwards. But then Eryas reached for his knife's pouch and took out one of the knives.
"Clara, take this."
Clara looks at the throwing knife in Eryas's hand.
"Why?"
"Something bad is gonna happen. It will come in handy later."
"What… what do you mean?"
"I'm not really sure, but I could tell. So take this, it will protect you.
She looked at Eryas with a weird look before slowly reaching for the knife. The moment she held it, she felt something strange.
"Wait, what is this knife?"
Eryas just smiled.
"Just make sure you don't cut yourself with it."
***
After a while, the group of seven finally closed in on their target. Right now, they were on top of a huge broken building. All of them climbed on the building to take a clear view of their enemy.
Right in front of them, a vast crater held a humanoid figure standing in the middle. The dust surrounding them blurred their vision, so they could not really tell what it looked like.
Hars stands in front of everyone. He turns, looking at the others.
"That is the creature that caused all of this."
Greg crossed his arms and looked at the sky.
"So that is our target. I could already feel the creature's chilling sensation. We need a plan to attack it."
All of them went closer to discuss the plan, except for Eryas. He was still standing near the ledge of the broken building, staring intently at the dark creature inside the crater.
'Something's wrong.'
"Eryas!" Greg called Eryas.
He turned and walked towards the group. Greg sounded his voice.
"Attacking that creature head-on would only mean suicide. So the plan is to ambush it and strike when it doesn't notice us."
All of them are planning the assault. They took a few minutes planning the attack. After that, the seven of them took positions. Greg, Caen and Emma were circling the monster from three different directions.
Clara had to stay close to the assault, as she could be sent quickly if someone needed a heal. Edward had to stay close to her to guard her. Meanwhile, Eryas and Hars were left atop the broken building.
As Hars is unable to fight, Eryas needs to stay close and guard him in case something happens.
Greg, Caen and Emma were in position. The three of them attack the unsuspecting creature using their most potent magic. Greg brought his hands forward; a light-blue magic circle appeared, then a giant ice pillar.
Caen aims his right hand, and a small, deep blue magic circle appears, and a blue lightning bolt appears. Emma isn't capable of any projectile magic, so she took a massive piece of rubble and lifted it up.
She had personal magic that let her lift objects heavier than she was. With that, the three of them shoot and throw at their opponents. Each projectile flies at a tremendous speed.
Even if the creature notices it, it won't be able to react in time. The projectiles land on their mark, causing a massive explosion at the centre. Edward covered Clara from the flying dust, as they were also close to the impact area.
Eryas, who stood on the ledge of the building, couldn't really see what was happening, but he saw the explosion's huge impact and the flying dust heading towards him. He turns his head to the right, towards Hars, who also stands near the ledge, not far from him.
Eryas holds his throwing knife in his left hand. He quickly dashes to his right and swings his blade at Hars.