Ankoku Kishi Monogatari - Chapter 57.2

Chapter 57.2 : Lizardman 

If I had to point the difference compared to before, this place became too quiet. 

We were ambushed by goblins and cockatrice as soon as we entered the labyrinth before. 

But now, I couldn’t even felt their sign from any building. 

「How’s the situation, hero of wind? found any lizardman yet? this place is quite big after all.」 

Godan was right, the surface area of the labyrinth was really spacious. 

It was even bigger than Teseshia. 

The number of escaped lizardman were eight. Searching for them was quite a chore.
 

「No, not yet. It seems we’ve to wait for them to appear. Everyone prepare your weapon.」 

After he said so, Zefa was nocking his arrow on his bow, ready to fire his arrow at anytime. 

Hero of water, Nephim was also preparing his spear. 

「Oi, what’s that mean!!」 

Novis asked Zefa. 

「Don’t get impatient, hero of fire. According to my investigation, thpse lizardmans usualy ambushed the freedom fighter who came to exterminate them. Some of them even ambushed as soon as they entered the labyrinth. I’ve had no idea how they knew the incoming of the intruder.」 

Zefa said so while looking at the surrounding. 

「I see, so that’s why you told us to preapre our weapon. Everyone, prepare for battle.」 

We prepared our weapon as soon as big sis Keyna told us so. 

I drew my sword.
 

Thus, we were advancing even further into the labyrinth. 

Our formation was ; Godan as our vanguard, Madi, Nora-san, and Zefa as our mid-range, following by me and Justy, Novis and Nephim to guard our sides, and lastly big sis Keyna and Leylia-san as our rear guard. 

「I wonder from where will they came to attack…」 

Madi said so with slightly anxious voice. 

「You relied too much on your eyes. Those guys could change their skin color according to their surrounding. That’s why we’ve to find them with my perception first and let that elf miss over there to do the rest.」 

Zefa said so while looking at Nora-san. 

「Such heavy responsibility…」 

Nora-san said so while preparing her bow and arrow, ready to fire at any moment. 

Nora-san’s long ears were moving up and down as if to not letting even the slightest sound escape her detection. 

As an elf, Nora-san was gifted with keener perception than any normal human. 

I’ve heard that hero of wind, Zefa’s perception were cut above the rest of normal ranger. 

「Oi Zefa!! Canwe really win this fight!? It won’t be the re-enactment of your embarassing defeat against the centaurs right?」 

Zefa ended up groaned when big sis Keyna poked his sore spot again. 

「Let me to tell you, Keyna… I was unprepared when they defeated me last time. In the first place, those centaurs were different from the normal centaurs. They’re veteran warrior of the arena. Don’t group them together with your average centaurs. But it’s different now. I’ve investigated them thoroughly and prepared counter-measure for any situation. Moreover—」 

And then Zefa was looking at Novis, Godan and Nephim. 

「I don’t think we’re going to lost with this kind of line up.」 

Zefa was grinning from ear to ear as he said so. 

The other heroes were also grinning along with him. 

Sure enough, the four of them were that amazing. 

Hero was a title granted to the strongest warrior. And currently, there’s four strongest warrior working together. 

Maybe, there’s no one could defeat this party save for Reiji-sama and co. 

Hero of earth, Godan who gifted with defense magic and strongest in term of physical power was acting as our tank. 

Hero of fire, Novis who gifted with high mastery of fire magic will shoot down our enemy with his destructive fire magic. 

Hero of water, Nephim who gifted with healing magic and water magic will act as our healer. 

Hero of wind, Zefa who gifted with keen perception rivaling that of an elf will find our enemy and give a covering fire with his prided archery. 

Although each of them were powerful in their own right, there was no doubt in my mind that we stood a better chance facing such powerful demons together, as a team. If we watched each other’s backs and proceed with caution we would be able to emerge victorious in this battle against the Lizardmen. I did not want to see a comrade fall in battle, my goal for the mission was to get us in the labyrinth, exterminate the lizardmen and get all of us back out safely. 

「It really would be a good thing if that was actually the case but…」 

Heaving a tired sigh, Big sis Keyna uttered her statement under her breath, barely audible. Her comment was depressing and despair inducing, as if pouring cold water onto Zefa’s remark. It challenged his leadership and preparation for the mission, slightly shaking the remaining members’ confidence in him although none of us let our doubts reflect on our faces. Keyna was the only one with such audacity, it was as if her every action was scornful- meant to thoroughly chastise Zefa and not give any approval to him. In first place, Big sis Keyna and I shared the same opinion regarding this mission. Her stand was the same as mine in the manner that neither of us really wanted to participate in the extermination of the Lizardmen. The orchestrators of the whole idea were Zefa and Nephim anyway, and of course they had no problem roping Novis and Godan into their hare brained scheme. We were just here for the ride, and to balance out their stupidity of course. 

Apparently, it seems like there was information about a handsome reward posted regarding solving the situation with the Lizardmen. It was prepared and ready to be claimed by anyone who could completely exterminate those lizardmen which were perpetually acting as a thorn in the side of the villagers. I guess they were desperate enough to get rid of them that they posted such a large reward. However, I didn’t give two licks about the reward, however much enticing it might seem to other people. I wouldn’t be swayed by greed, my life was far more valuable to me than any reward no matter how big. After all, what was the point of having money and no life to spend it during? Yeah, most definitely not my cup of tea- there was no way I’m going to risk my life for a measly reward. 

Though I reluctantly participated since I’m forced to because of Novis, somewhere, in the corner of my heart, I still held out hope. 

Losing such an amazing person would be devastating. He was a treasure among the drivel and the ordinary chattel of this world, a diamond that shone radiantly in the sunlight. Indeed, when I met him, the world seemed to become even brighter. Like a weight was lifted off of my tired shoulders and life suddenly became less cumbersome, like a blockage in the tributary of a river that had been cleared, everything seemed less rigid, more flowing instead. Naturally, I’m not that shameless that I would try to woo him. I didn’t have any foolish expectations in mind. But, at least I could treat him like eye candy, couldn’t I? That much could remain under the radar, I would just admire him surreptitiously. He would never notice, right? After all, he had legions of fan girls swarming around him at any given moment, there was no way I would catch his attention. 

「May I ask you to stop right there and go back to your home now?」 

A mysterious voice suddenly asked that question, his voice echoing in the vast expanse of the labyrinth. Upon hearing that question which was really more of a command as the tone it was spoken in left no room for any argument or semblance of refusal, we all abruptly turned on our heels to look ahead where the voice seemed to originate from. 

Over there, partially hidden amongst the shadows, we saw someone wearing obsidian balck armor similar to that of a knight’s. He seemed to almost blend into the shadows, wearing them as comfortably as a warm cloak donned during the worst of the weather in the winter. The armored individual stood regal and straight below the stairs that led to the topmost level of the temple. 

Such an aura seemed to suit him, as his body was totally covered, from head to toe with a menacing and sinister looking jet black armor. The armor seemed to be enchanted with some sort of amazing magic, so powerful that I could feel it even from far away. It was clearly an unknown variant of magic that I had never encountered before, so powerful that it emanated power that could be felt leagues away. His armor in addition to the Stygian black mantle that he had donned, reminded me of the starless night sky visible in the city. In fact, he seemed like the epitome of the same, forbidding and ominous, as if all the light and good had been winked out of existence. 

I couldn’t help it as an involuntary shiver racked my spine. My hands were clammy as I frantically wiped them on the rough fabric of my dark pants. I could feel my shirt plastered to my back due to the cold sweat that slowly formed, like a frightened child hiding behind their mother. Sweat kept flooding from my pores despite the cool air. At this moment, I most definitely felt like prey and my mind was screaming at me to follow his order and run, run far away, as fast as possible. Would I even make it out of this alive? Oh why did I have to be a part of these guys’ misadventures?! I knew this was not a good idea. Damn. 

Every single one of us was surprised, varying degrees of shock evident on our faces. This encounter was surprising in too many ways to count. 

「No way…. Since when did you… And why I can’t feel anything.」 

Zefa emitted a guttural groan of frustration. 

Amongst all of the current members of the party, Zefa had the highest skill level in terms of detecting and ranging. He should have been able to detect a sign as ominous as this man earlier than any of us! Despite the distraction of the ongoing conversation, such a blatant foreboding presence should have alerted him immediately. 

When I looked over the rest of the party, I observed that Nora-san was also shocked, the same astonishment that colored Zefa’s face was painted across hers as well. 

「What the hell even is that? Even though I couldn’t detect the slightest sign of his presence at all, the air trembled as soon as he appeared in front of us.」 

Nora-san shook her head frantically, color draining from her face with every passing moment until she was ghostly pale. She looked ready to keel over at any moment. 

I couldn’t criticize her at all, I felt exactly the same. I was positive that her appearance was an accurate estimation to what mine must be looking like as well. I couldn’t take my eyes off from that man as soon as he appeared in front of us. The unrelenting and merciless pressure emitted from that dark knight was crushing us like a giant boulder. I could feel my heart beat pick up, my blood roaring in my ears- we were trapped. 

「What is…. this feeling….. 」 

It was an unpleasant feeling to say the least. It was what I imagined in my darkest nightmares, as if my entire world was wrapped tightly in darkness, so that not even one sliver of light could needle its way in. It was suffocating. Throat tight with fear, I had no choice but to continue looking at the knight in front of us, who seemed to be the exact opposite of Reiji-sama. He was an existence that would turn a cheerful sunny day into a cold, starless night as soon as you spotted him. Death seemed to trail after him like a faithful dog. 

「Who are you? There’s no way someone like you is a lizardman.」 

Big sis Keyna had made a really good point. It turned out to be just as big sis Keyna said. Lizardmen don’t wear armor. Their biggest advantage was their ability to take their enemy by surprise, granted to them due to their mimicry skill. Using armor would only hinder that. I could tell that the question ringing through my mind was one shared by everyone present in our company. 

This man isn’t a lizardman so who in the world is this knight?! 

「Oi hero of wind! take a closer look at the crest engraved on that man helmet!!」 

Raising a quivering finger, Nora-san pointed at the knight clad in coal colored armor. I couldn’t get a clear look since he was so far away, The etching was a bit hard to discern on the black metal background of his helmet. 

「Oi ain’t that… The Demon King’s Crest?」 

Zefa groaned yet again. 

I squinted my eyes, straining to make out the symbol etched on the helmet. A star octagram, the Demon King’s crest? Wait, wouldn’t that make him one of the Demon King Modes’s followers? 

「Speaking of the knight wit Demon King’s Crest… He remind me of Nargol’s Legendary Dark Knight—-」 

Madi uttered anxiously, her voice low and trembling with barely suppressed terror. It was slightly muffled as she bit at her nails uneasily, agitated by the knight’s unexpected presence and overwhelming aura. 

Nargol’s Dark Knight was an existence that was often sung of in the legends. Disaster followed him like 

「DARK KNIGHT OR WHATEVER, I’M SO GONNA KICK YER A*SS!!!」 

Novis leaped towards the Dark knight after arrogantly proclaiming his intentions. 

「YOU IDIOT!! PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER!!」 

Novis blatantly ignored Zefa’s warnings as he bulldozed his way past him and made a beeline towards the Dark Knight. 

「TAKE THIS!! EXPLOSION1!!!」 

Explosion magic was one of Novis’s greatest strengths. Even an ogre wouldn’t be able to withstand the extreme power behind various attacks using that kind of magic. Especially if Novis attacked head on, there was simply no chance for survival, attempting to defend against such an attack was ultimately futile. 

「Did that attack beat him?」 

As soon as Big sis Keyna uttered that query, the smoke from the explosion began to clear up, the dark tendrils disappearing as they slowly winded across the area, revealing the figure of the Dark Knight. He was not injured, he withstood the attack with nary a scratch. Like water brushing off of a duck’s back, he seemed completely unbothered and unaffected by an attack which, in theory, should have ended him. And then, I noticed that there wasn’t even a scorch mark or any other trace of an explosion around where he stood. He was completely unscathed. 

「HEYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! FLAME BLADEEEEE!!!」 

Despite seeing his strongest magic turned useless, not working one bit on the Dark Knight, Novis kept recklessly charging towards the Dark Knight with his flaming sword in hand. That fool didn’t even take a moment to consider the various approaches he could have taken- no, as usual, he had to charge head on every single time. 

That flaming sword was a lethal weapon, there was no doubt in my mind about that. On various occasions, I had seen it slice through orcs and other monsters like how a hot knife slices through butter. They were decimated. 

The Dark Knight was on a whole other level though, he easily parried Novis’s attack with simply his index finger. It was almost unfathomable that he had power in such a small appendage than Novis possessed overall. In any other situation, it would have been laughable even if I wasn’t so scared out of my skin. 

「GODDAMN IIIIT!!」 

Novis never gave up, he relentlessly kept swinging his sword, making one arc after another in the air. I couldn’t decide whether his determination was adirmable or just plain idiotic. Of course, just like the first one, all of his attacks were easily parried by the Dark Knight. The only actual effect of Novis’s continuous slashes seemed to be the heat waves that were generated every time his flaming sword arced through the air only to be brought to a stop by the Dark Knight. No matter how hard Novis tried, sweat dripping into his eyes as he gazed at the visage of the Dark Knight with an unquenchable fury, none of his attacks could reach the dark knight. In fact, he seemed to barely move, needing little to no strength to fend off Novis’s attacks. It was as if he was shooing away a fly, Novis registered as little more than a pest in his eyes. The Dark Knight seemed almost…bored. 

「WHAT THE!!」 

Novis was thoroughly exasperated and frustrated at the moment. His face contorted in an ugly fashion pulled in different directions by his anger, his grimace akin to the gargoyles perched on gothic churches, frozen in malice. Although, I could only see their fight from behind, I saw the scene when the Dark Knight simply pinched the tip of Novis’s flaming blade between the index finger from his right hand and his thumb. The Dark Knight did so very nonchalantly, as if it was all a matter of fact. 

「GODD*AMM IIIIT!!」 

Novis seemed to be trying to pull the sword from his grasp but it wouldn’t budge at all. The scene was reminiscent of the legend of the Sword in the Stone- many people tried desperately to extract Excalibur from the stone to no avail until King Arthur came along. 

「The way you swing your sword is a mess…this might sound like me simply being cocky but, I would sincerely suggest you start training from the basics once again.」 

After he said this statement, the Dark Knight struck novis across the face with his available left hand. Despite it not being his dominant hand, the strength behind the blow was no joke. It looked like it hurt…a lot. Unbeknownst to Novis, he had got the sword teaching he so desperately desired, just from a different teacher…one with a remarkably unique approach. 

「GAH!!!」 

Novis was blown back while screaming in an indescribable pitch which caused us all to flinch. Novis was tossed through the air like a ragdoll- blown back, rolling over twice as he landed on the ground before stopping. He seemed like a lifeless mannequin lying on the ground after the ordeal, he didn’t even twitch. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if he was still alive. 

「NOVIS!!!」 

Justy, who had been standing by my side this entire time, immediately rushed towards Novis. Tears streaked down her pretty heart shaped face as she was overcome with tears. It wasn’t an unexpected reaction, after all, it was plain to see that Justy was in love with Novis. Well, and dozens of other fangirls. 

「Leylia-san!! Please, heal Novis!!!」 

Leylia-san calmly nodded as she slowly made her way over to where Novis was lying down, sneaking a glance at the Dark Knight in the meantime. The black figure remained stationary so she took it as a cue that she had permission to begin treating him. While Leylia-san was dealing with the whole Novis situation, the Dark Knight took over. 

「So… what are you going to do? You have two options : stay or leave this place immediately. If you leave, I won’t chase after you and you’ll leave here with your lives. If you stay…I can’t promise you’ll get such a clear cut chance again. So, you better choose wisely. What will it be?」 

The Dark Knight clearly issued an ultimatum to us while throwing Novis’s sword at our feet like it was trash that we neglected to pick up. Though his voice was rather soft and subdued, I could hear it clearly. 

「DAMN IT, WHAT THE HELL WITH THIS GUY APPEARING IN THIS KIND OF PLACE!? IS HE REALLY THAT LEGENDARY NARGOL’S DARK KNIGHT!!? 」