Chương 276: The Rumbling Of Advanced Weaponry

The ambushers seemed dead-set on remaining in place… Were they emboldened because only one person had made the move to reach them? Or are they simply hyper-focused on trying to shoot down the Unwanted Presences? I am sorry to disappoint, but not only is the dome I summoned quite thick, but the bodyguards I summoned are currently busy digging into the ground to further protect the three otherworlders by placing them in a lower spot than the enemies would have thought they were.

I would have assumed that the attackers would have at least a couple of mages to join in on the rain of projectiles, but so far, the only spells that had been cast had come from the mages in charge of assuring the safety of the three Unwanteds. In any case, I was rushing through the woods, running uphill and sometimes moving from tree to tree like a monkey.

Thanks to Nara, I knew exactly where I needed to go to reach the spots I had seen bolts come from, and thanks to my ability to manipulate steel, I was able to basically smell my targets, as they all wore bits and pieces of armour or carried a weapon on their person. So even if they had moved, I would still be able to find them. In any case, as I laid eyes upon the second group of sharpshooters, it started to become clear that they didn't have allegiance to a single country, or even a group of countries.

The duo I had run into had had a human and a demon, but this one? It was made up of a beastfolk, a monsterfolk, and a cyclops. The one-eyed fellow was wielding another kind of 'special' crossbow. The sort of crossbow everyone was familiar with was apparently not enough for these people, so they had shown up with some rather unusual weaponry that was typically only seen in battles or put to use by people in charge of defending a rampart.

The heavy repeating crossbow that the demon had tried to shoot me with wasn't very precise, so it was actually meant to be used at a rather short distance from a target, or more ideally–Shot in a hallway at a group of incoming enemies that would literally be incapable of dodging anything, but well… The version that could be carried by hand, while nifty, was inferior to the mounted variant anyway.

Here, the cyclops was wielding what an unknowing mind might think is a piece of a thick, rectangular wood pillar, but that assumption would be incorrect. This hunk of wood was actually a heavy crossbow capable of firing some devastating bolts at a slow rate, but with the possibility of great precision as long as the wielder knew what they were doing. … I had actually never gotten to fire one of those, I'll definitely be stealing it and storing it in the Gravescape.

I might even flood it with negative energy and customise it a little. Using it could be a lot of fun, I feel. I watched them while standing on a tree branch. It seemed like they had seen me rushing into the forest like the previous group, but unlike the last two guys, they hadn't been so close as to notice my approach. They were wholly unaware that I was here right now, so I took some time to listen in on what they had to say.

Only one was on the lookout for my possible arrival, while the other two were busy shooting. The cyclops was wielding the weapon, and the beastfolk was helping him reload to make the process smoother and allow for a more speedy fire rate. Unfortunately, their discussions to kill time were rather uninteresting. For some reason, the cyclops and beastfolk were discussing toothbrushing methods. Mmh… They actually have a point… Oh well, let's see how they like my most recent progress with my knightly form.

With how much steel I had consumed and got to consume on a daily basis, as well as how much time I spent in my knightly form… I had had a ton of time to experiment and refine my skills when it came to using the various innate abilities provided to me with this form. In particular, I had been doing a lot of work with 'Steel Shaping' and trying to figure out ways to manifest steel in ways that were a little more… Let's say 'impossible'.

I had been working on this due to the fact that, since I could only manifest and control steel, there were certain types of weapons that I just couldn't manifest properly due to them requiring something such as a bendable or flexible material. Eventually, this hurdle had been surpassed. I was already pulling steel out of thin air, or rather, pulling from steel I had devoured in another form entirely.

The ability was already odd enough on its face, so eventually being able to give unusual properties to steel wasn't too out there as a concept. It was most costly, but I was quite rich in steel…

"So you see, that's why you shouldn't be brushing your teeth so violently, it harms them!"

"Huh… I never thought you could go too hard with this""I learned it from le-" Just as the cyclops was speaking whilst taking aim–Which was surprising now that I was thinking about it, could he even evaluate distances with a single eye? This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Anyway, as he was taking aim, an arrow made of nothing but steel lodged itself right through his oversized eye, stabbing into his brain and killing him instantly.

The man fell like a plank, and proving that there was some level of skill around, the beastfolk did not let panic freeze him for even a second. He quickly moved, resulting in only his triangular ear being torn apart by an arrow.

"Shit! She's here!"

"Shouldn't there have been those two idiots in her way first?!"

"She must have killed them quickly!"

"Quickly?! That big demon motherfucker killed quickly?!" They exchanged words with shouts, but they didn't just speak. The monster folk bared his finger-sized red claws, snarling with his lipless face full of jagged teeth. Energy is rapidly accumulating in his claws Nara warned me just in the nick of time. I leapt out of the tree right as ten slashes of dark red energy were launched at me. The tree was cut into pieces without even being able to resist.

Ah, I knew there had to be at least some moderately powerful attackers in the midst… By the way, those slashes looked weird. Was that a weird element, or…? This wasn't mana. You must know about sword intent, right? Well, intent is a kind of energy, and I would suppose that this guy has claw intent or something like that. It is a bit hard to tell with just a glance, intent is very personalised I see.

After landing, I quickly fired three more arrows toward the monsterfolk, but he dodged two and slapped the third out of the air. I dropped the bow to the ground. I was quite proud of the flexible string of steel on it, but it was clear that the arrows I was shooting weren't nearly quick enough to hit this guy.

"Get the hell out of here and get me some reinforcements!" The monsterfolk shouted, and the beastfolk immediately followed the order. It seemed like, as quick to react as the beastfolk had been, he wasn't considered good enough to be of assistance in a fight against me. I made no effort to stop him and instead focused on the adversary before my gaze.

Monsterfolks were just as diverse as beastfolks and demons in the sheer number of different species the term encompassed, so I had no idea what exactly this guy was capable of. His claws and fangs were obvious weapons he could use, but there could be more I was unaware of.

"Maya, the Silent Knightess… It seems we underestimated how deep your affinity with steel ran" So they really were using wooden bolts in an attempt to mess with me? What a nice compliment, I am noteworthy enough to be treated as a threat that needs to be planned against because of my knightly skills? If it wasn't an assassination mission, I might actually think he was trying to flirt with me!

You know, I would have assumed that the thought of a monsterfolk flirting with you wouldn't have been a reason to be pleased… I am a monster now, Nara. I can expand my horizons, and besides. He's cooler than ugly with his monstrous traits. Are you just trying to divert my attention away from Mari and Leou? Maybe yes, maybe no. Regardless, I have to kill him. A slash of red flew my way, which I elegantly sidestepped and used 'Spectre Blade' to launch an attack of my own.

My opponent seemed aware of this trick of mine as he reacted without any worry and evaded the attack as he began rushing straight toward me. Close-quarters for a guy with just claws was definitely an ideal position, but that was only if he could actually tear into my armour. I rushed forward as well, with a sword in my right hand, and a heater shield in the other. His claws ground against the shield like nails against a blackboard.

I swung at him whilst keeping my guard up, but he didn't back off, and instead began filling his claws with his red intent. It almost felt like the intent couldn't be used at maximum strength immediately. I could tell that the sharpness and strength of his claws were increasing over time. Nonetheless, I stayed on the defensive and even stepped back as he kept swinging without stopping, even whilst dodging my sword strikes.

"What's wrong, Miss Knightess? Struggling to keep up? I thought you were stronger than this!" I am indeed stronger than what I am showing right now, but fighting would be a truly dull experience if it were all about raw strength, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, I couldn't speak to enlighten my opponent. Therefore, he just kept going until I had him right where I wanted him. From the very beginning, my positioning had been calculated.

Not because I believed that I couldn't win head-on, I definitely could, considering that he had no idea that there was no flesh inside the suit of armour, but I had come down with a very specific idea in mind, and I would be damned if I didn't make it a reality. I took one last step back, and he took one last step forward. There, I feinted, strengthening my guard by dropping the sword and grabbing the shield with both hands. In turn, he accelerated his attacks and only noticed movement to his right too late.

As his eyes turned, he saw the heavy crossbow partly lifted off the ground. It was aiming straight at him. The steel mechanism on the inside went off, and the bolt already loaded inside was fired. The monsterfolk failed to react in time, and the bolt separated his upper and lower halves, leaving him as an agonising mess with his guts spilling out. Well, whatever guts hadn't been shredded by the bolt.

He tried to crawl away like a wounded animal, but all this accomplished was causing some of his organs to come sliding out of him alongside a torrent of blood. With a kick, I flipped him over and manifested a two-handed hammer. He tried to raise his arms in defence, but the hammer came right down onto his face, caving it right in and putting an end to his misery. Damn, those crossbows are stronger than I thought. This fucker got bisected. I definitely need to keep it. Are you not going to catch up to the beastfolk?

There's no need to catch up, Nara. He is going to get intercepted before he can alert anyone. I would like to keep doting on them, but it is inevitable that they'll have to face danger eventually, so it is best if they can sharpen themselves against weaker opponents first…