BXBX NOVEL volume 2 - 99
Brendel shook his head.
[I was hoping to meet the disciples during the journey to the Lizardmen, but to think that you would really offer yourself on a silver platter to me. This service of offering your equipment and XP is exemplary. But that figure over there—]
He rubbed his forehead and then beckoned with his hand to that direction.
“Come out.”
Silence answered Brendel.
The mercenaries in front of him were puzzled because they did not see anyone there, and they turned back to look at Brendel and the Elven commander with confused eyes; Brendel was slightly surprised to see nothing happening despite his invitation.
“Hmm? You don’t wish to come out?” He sneered, and pointed with his thumb. “Oss!”
He did not have any patience for hide-and-seek, and did not mind to use violent methods to bring his wretched enemies out. The air around him instantly went into a frenzy, seeming to converge into a single point where it was compressed with violent winds before it was released forward with a loud explosion. The blast of wind shot directly towards his targeted area and the trees that were in its path snapped and cracked one by one. A deafening thunder echoed throughout the vicinity as it exploded in a circular radius, and once the dust settled, a red-haired girl was revealed.
The powerful gale had torn the robes on her body, revealing red-black armor and a war-dress that reached to her knees. She wore a pair of boots fashioned out of layers of overlapping steel armor, and was similarly painted with red and black. She stood in a battle stance and guarded her body with a halberd, as though this action was enough to prevent the Wind Bullet from advancing any further.
There were clear tracks on the ground where the air current split in front of her and traveled into two directions where it pulled dirt over ten over meters before gradually stopping.
Powerful.
This was what Brendel’s group thought of the girl.
[That ring has the destructive force of a Silver-ranked fighter, so it also requires a Silver-ranked fighter to defend against it. But to withstand it without any damage and not even flinch..... A Gold-ranked fighter.]
The Nightsong tiger rubbed his forehead admist the gasps of the mercenaries. He wondered if they actually came to the Era of Chaos. They kept encountering Gold-ranked fighters for the past few months and every one of them was young. Perhaps the capital or the most crowded cities would have such people appearing, but they were in the southern region and they even traveled to a rural place like this. What was going on in this era?
After a moment of silence, the red-haired girl raised her head up and stared at Brendel without blinking. Her reddish-gold irises seemed to burn with the intention of battling. She straightened herself up and swung her halberd forward. A bright arc of electricity trailed behind the weapon, and at the same time, the trees in the direction of her weapon were lopped off and crashed down loudly onto the ground.
She smiled, revealing her canines. “Is that all you have?”
[It really is her.] Brendel sighed as he had completely forgot to factor a boss like this. The Bishop of Lightning, the Crimson Spectral Knight, Milford. Brendel stared at her unique halberd and immediately recognized her. He had forgotten about this character and her Spear of Lightning which had made numerous gamers vying for that weapon. It was unexpected because this Spectral Knight was already in this forest while she was only supposed to appear a few years later.
When the Card Resonance happened he had formed an answer, but until the girl was revealed he was not certain that he was right.
[The Laws of Eversong. They turned out to be related to unyielding hearts. Their hearts yearned for the light but fell into Darkness, and the Song of Lament is sung over and over again. This region gave birth to two Spectral Knights and actually resonated with each other.] Brendel took out the Eversong Card and glanced at it. [Mother Marsha, I named this card in the hopes of gaining an undefeated army like the Elves, and not because of this reason!]
Suddenly he jerked his head back at the red-haired girl, realizing that she was not a spirit yet.
[But that appearance is definitely Milford’s appearance. But what is up with the air around her? She feels like there’s a complete transfusion of the Blood of Gods within her, not to mention the contradictory facts within the game. Milford is an incomplete bishop of the Tree Shepherds, and she also has a Spectral Knight’s form, but that’s definitely a real body.]
“Scarlett! Redi!” A voice rang out beside him.
Brendel turned his head and saw it was Sanford who was brought back by the Mercenaries of Lopes. He then followed the shocked gaze and saw white hair somewhere behind the girl. He was hiding behind a bush, trying to shrink as much as possible into it. Was it not that arrogant little prick, Redi?
[Fuck. It’s this pretentious bitch again.] Brendel cursed inside his heart. He thought he had given a good lesson to him last night and at least became a little more humble, but he came to look for trouble again—
Brendel narrowed his eyes as he wondered how he actually hooked up with the disciples. There was indeed a demonic boar beside him.
[Hah! So that’s how it is.]
He could not help but laugh with contempt: “You defected to a new owner in a single night, and couldn’t wait to drive your former friends to their death. My, my, my, you really are quite hardworking to try and please the Tree Shepherds.”
The Grey Wolves Mercenaries were stunned—
“Redi, y-you joined them?” Some of them could not believe their ears but they are not idiots. If they thought about what happened earlier, everything made sense. There was one who had a bad temper and immediately yelled at him: “You fucking cuntface, I treated you like my brother!”
“Redi, how could you let us down like this!”
Sanford simply asked: “Redi, what’s going on?”
If glares could kill someone, Redi would have executed Brendel many times over and even eat his heart alive. He had wanted to hide behind in the back to allow the disciples to kill his ‘companions’ and ‘brothers’. That way, he would not need to have such a guilty heart.
But that was quickly broken by Brendel’s attack, and he started to curse everyone in Brendel’s group—
[These fucking pointy-eared shit pieces of....... Elves?]
He suddenly realized there were twenty Elves who were covered in full armor.
[Where did these bastards come from? Did the commander, no, that cunning fox, Makarov, place them here?]
He looked carefully everywhere, afraid that it was a trap. He soon calmed down as he realized Scarlett was here. She had become a full Gold-ranked fighter and with the numbers of high ranking disciples he had, the thirty odd Silver-ranked fighters guarding Brendel would not be able to win.
He straightened his body up and looked down on the Elven warriors. These Elves were really crazy to act like heavy infantries. Their weak bodies were more suited to become rangers, archers or hunters. He smirked as he observed them, before he realized his former allies were staring at him with questioning gazes or hateful eyes.
He needed to explain himself. How could he allow himself to be branded as a traitor?
Redi relished that he had made this plan to drive the Grey Wolves Mercenaries to Brendel’s location. He wanted Brendel to guard these weakened mercenaries, while having an excuse to defend himself if the situation required it.
“No, everyone! I did not join Commander Conrad. I merely made a deal with him to borrow his forces in order to deal with this bastard—”
He pointed at Brendel: “This is the fucking son of a bitch who is the cause of all our trouble.”
“Me?” Brendel pointed at himself and felt the situation was a little funny.
“That’s right, it’s all because of you!” Redi roared at him, his old and new memories of hatred mixed together, causing his eyes to be bloodshot. “If it’s not because of you, I wouldn’t end up like this. That fucking shit Makarov used us as baits in order to lure the attention of the disciples, just so that you can leave safely. It looks like the treatment for people are really different for some individuals. I think Makarov did not expect the final situation to turn out this way.”
He laughed manically: “Ser Brendel. You’re so amazing with your twelve Silver-ranked guards. I’m really so terrified. What do you want do now? Do you really think you still have the confidence and courage to teach me a lesson again?”
Brendel was infuriated over the crazy narcissist in front of him. He wanted to speak but Redi raised his hand and interrupted him: “There’s no need to worm your way out of this. Commander Conrad has already told me everything. Why would he send me with so many elite members of his troops just to attack you? I’m not an idiot as well.”
He took a pause to emphasize his point. “You are the real Eke, right?”
[Huuuh? I’m Eke?] Brendel felt like he was being turned into stone— [Fuck your ‘right’ you imbecile!]