Chapter 169 - Monke And The Siege (7)

~ Third Person POV ~

Wulfstan gave off a bloodthirsty smile as he danced between the heavily armored bodies of the soldiers, their slashes and strikes harmlessly passing through the air as the experienced hunter gracefully put one foot in front of the other, his demented weapon cleaving through those foolish enough to even attempt to strike at him.

The same could be said for the twins. Their silent huffs, accompanied by a shower of blood, caused a smile to form on their lips, their minds relishing in the kills they had reaped.

For the soldiers and mages, however, this was nothing but a nightmare, but they were determined to lay down their lives for their Goddess. Such is the strength of their faith.

As they say, soldiers can be swayed, but fanatics are a whole different set of problems.

As the three hunters violently thrust into the backline, Erika wasn't unoccupied either. She hefted her sword to block a metal claw coming at her, sparks emitting from the clashing of blades. In front of her, her foe gave off a scowl as he brought his other arm equipped with another claw to strike at her, only for Erika to quickly push of deadlock with her strength and back away slightly, enough to dodge the claw by a hair's breadth.

All around her, her soldiers were busy fighting against the newcomers and the regrouped monsters which were numbered less than before.

'Eleven newcomers: three at the back, all humans; eight around us, all demi-humans.' Erika gritted her teeth at the sight of eight demi-humans hindering her progress. With a snarl, she quickly conjured up wind beneath her feet and propelled herself towards the tiger demi-human in front of her, her sword ready to strike at the scowling demi-humans.

The tiger demi-human, not to be underestimated, leaned back with his agility, narrowly avoiding the thrust from the propelling knight. Quickly moving his arm, he grabbed the leg of the speeding female knight right above him and slammed her down on the ground, rattling the pieces of armor strapped to her body.

Erika coughed out a bit of spit from the impact, but swiftly recovered from the slam by kicking the offending limb grabbing her leg off and using magic to propel her away from the demi-human.

'Surprise speed is a no go…' Erika gritted her teeth as one of her options for battling the foe was rendered useless. 'Defense and pure strength…'

Channeling her mana once more, she covered her body in gusts of wind, and instead of making it propel her body in any direction she wanted, she made sure that the wind coating her form was razor sharp, as seen by a leaf falling on her body being torn to shreds in a split-second.

"Come, demi-human. Face your death." Erika lifted her blade and rushed towards the tiger demi-human without any augments to her speed. In his complete lack of understanding of his opponent's strategy, Tigre backed away as he tried to distance himself from the raging tornado of razor-sharp blades. 'But deception is better...'

Seeing that her foe was fleeing, she gave a brief smirk, once again pooling mana around the soles of her feet. In an instant, Erika once again dashed towards the tiger demi-human, who, in his haste and ignorance, jumped to the side of the incoming bullet of raging winds.

Only to be met with the blade of a soldier sinking into his side, blood seeping out of the deep wound as Tigre quickly sliced the soldier in half with his claws and strength.

Grabbing the sword still lodged in his body, he decided to risk taking it out and bleeding to death, instead of having it mess up his organs more while he runs back to his teammates to recuperate.

Said teammates watched in horror as their leader and love-interest took a fatal blow to the side by a soldier while he was distracted with the raging tornado of a woman right in front of him.

"Kck… Mierda…" Tigre cursed out as the blade was cleanly pulled out in one swift pull as he stumbled to the ground, his pain receptors blaring out in his mind. "Necesito detener el sangrado (Need to stop the bleeding)."

"Tigre!" One of his teammates yelled out after him as she quickly made quick work of the soldier she was currently facing. "Ril! Get him out of there! We're retreating!"

In one quick swoop, Ril, another tiger demi-human, all but demolished the soldier in front of her with her hammer, chunks of iron mixed with flesh slowly dripping from the flat surface of the hammer.

Once she was done with that, she ran towards the downed Tigre, who was now flickering between consciousness and unconsciousness as he put pressure onto his bleeding side, blood staining the grass red as it dripped from his wound.

"Leaving so soon, demi-human?" Erika, who landed a few meters away from the bleeding tiger demi-human, smirked as she once again lunged, her figure a blur to normal people as she closed the distance in just a second, only to be blocked by another demi-human female with a giant shield, Erika's wind blades raging around her body putting scratches and marks all over the shield. "Not bad demi-human, but not enough."

With a mighty push, Erika stabbed through the shield with her sword coated in razor sharp wind, piercing through her defenses and cutting through flesh. The demi-human behind the shield gasped out in shock and pain, but was able to minimize the damage by stepping back. Bits of iron from her armor now lodged inside her chest.

"Compadres, we need to leave... Regroup back at the wall…" Tigre, noticing their current plight, weakly voiced out as his head hung limply, his strength fading as his blood ran low. The rest of the group, now together, grabbed their two wounded and rushed out of the clearing, the healthy ones taking the front.

Behind them, Erika stood to chase, but was impeded by some monsters, which she butchered without relent. That, however, cost her the time chase after the group of demi-humans.

"… Such a waste. Then again, there are still three heretics behind us…" Erika turned around and looked at the three humans who were still going strong, their demented weapons cleaving through the soldiers like paper.

Erika wasted no time in rushing in to save her subordinates, the wind around her once again growing fiercer by the second. Upon arriving at the scene, she spotted at least a dozen corpses of both soldiers and mages, and more than enough monsters.

"At least they died with honor." Erika looked at the three humans with a glint in her eyes. "And these heretics must be purged."

She broke into a sprint, her sword poised to strike at the feminine-looking human nearby. Seeing the approaching threat, the female hunter leaped to the side and grabbed an ancient looking pistol from within her coat.

Aiming it at the female knight wielding wind magic, she pressed on the trigger and the gun let out a loud bang, a round bullet being launched out of the barrel faster than the eyes can see.

This did nothing, however, against the raging winds around the female knight's figure. Giving her a devilish smirk, Erika once again lunged at the female hunter, who tucked away the pistol with masterful sleight of hand movements, and dodged once more to the side.

"If you weren't a heretic, I would be glad to have you on my side." Erika said with a frown, her previously unstained sword now stained with blood. "Sadly, you're allegiance with these monsters prove that you are nothing but a threat to humankind. As such, allow me to end your miserable life."

The female hunter dropped to the ground as she felt blood pouring out of her wound in her neck. Luckily, it didn't hit her in the throat, otherwise, she would've died where she stood, but the blood dripping out of her wound was incredibly alarming.

Her twin brother, noticing her predicament, dropped his fight with another soldier to prioritize getting his sister to safety and giving medical aid. Wulfstan, as well, decided to cut his losses and haul their asses back to the wall, where they would make a final stand against the group of soldiers, which they were able to whittle down to 150 men strong.

"Men! Don't let them leave!" Erika's command brought the remaining soldiers to life as they encircled the three hunters who were deep within enemy lines. One of them was wounded, and the other two were nearing the limits of their stamina.

'This ain't good.' Wulfstan felt the sweat on his brow trickle down on his cheek. 'Constantin is panicking, and Cecilia is at death's door… We need to leave now…'

Looking for a way out but not finding one, Wulfstan thought to throw himself to the wolves to save his two apprentices, only for his thought to be unneeded by three more humans joining the fight.

"Erika… What the hell happened to you…?" One of them, a human wearing a cloak with twin gauntlets covering his arms, growled out as he looked upon the female knight touched by the storms with melancholy.

"… Teacher…?"