Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

A sword was plunged into his chest forming a pool of blood underneath him. As he gasped for breath, his life waned with each passing moment.

Compared to him, Blake who was bathed in the blood of his enemy that formed a crimson mist that swirled around him like a shroud of death, looked extremely fornlorn and solitary.

And although his body was equally battered and bruised, his armour rent asunder by Marshall Cavalier's powerful attacks he stood standing with laboured breaths. His figure which stood straight as a sword refused to budge down even at this moment.

The observing allies and enemies alike felt a sense of dread and fear as they watched him slowly finish off his opponent. His eyes which burned with a fierce intensity, reflecting the pure ruthlessness of his soul as he cut down his enemy without mercy thus carving his name into the annals of history of the kingdom.

Nobody dared to utter a peep, or stand against him. Blake's power was undeniable, his skill in battle unmatched. The power he had shown caused the enemy to think twice before challenging him again.

"Blake are you alright?"

Frida and his other allies carefully walked towards him. Their eyes which looked at him carried concern and a foreign emotion as if they were looking at a familiar yet unfamiliar person.

Thanks to getting completely caught up in the heat of the battle, Blake's features seemed to have merged with the blood mist surrounding him. This kind of transformation was new even for his teammates who had been with him and seen him fight numerous battles.

"Yeah, I am alright. Sorry, I have made you all worry"

When Blake turned to face them, the ruthless and savage aura quickly disappeared along with his transformation, causing him to revert back to his original self.

"You idiot, why do you have to always take on the most troublesome opponent yourself" Frida berated, her figure flashed and she quickly dug herself into his embrace.

"Haha" he laughed winching in pain from all the injuries he suffered. The next second, his eyes scanned over the battlefield and took in everything that was going around.

With Marshall Cavalier gone, there were only a few people left in the opposing army who were actually a threat. That said, the kingdom's army should be able to secure a victory without abnormal existences like the marshal and former knight captain as opponents.

"Even though I won against the Marshall, don't let your guard down everyone. The enemy is still there" Blake cautioned.

Even though he had just snatched victory from the hands of an incredibly tough opponent, he did not revel in the moment of triumph. He knew that the battle was far from over. There were still enemies to be vanquished, and challenges yet to be faced.

The biggest of all was the General who was the commander in chief of Blakthorn's forces and the highest level person present on the battlefield.

At this current moment, the princess was facing him; however, from the look of the situation up there, things didn't seem as positive as when they were sieging Castledor.

The general was not like the Duke of Montford. Not only did the latter possess many unconventional attacks and skills, like the greyish black energy for example, but they were also extremely high level individual.

The General's level was far higher than even the strongest man of the kingdom, Benny Beckerman. Needless to say, the battle with such an opponent won't be easy.

What's more, as long as he stood standing, it did not matter if he took down the Marshall or the guard commanders' group defeated the former Kngith captain. As long as the General still stood, all of their efforts would have been for nothing.

On the battlefield, a single powerful opponent can dictate the tide of the entire battlefield. That is to say, as long as the general wasn't defeated, there was no meaning to their victory.

Although I can't defeat the general for you, I can still hold down the other enemies and reduce the casualties on our side.

Thinking so in his head, Blake ordered his teammates "I'm sure you guys haven't had your fill right? Let's go and cull down some enemies".

Seeing the person still talking about fighting after the scare he just gave them, Wyot and the others smiled bitterly; nonetheless, they still nodded their heads. A heated expression on their face; no matter what one says, a battlefield was the perfect opportunity for one to level up.

With so many opponents here, it was practically the perfect place to grind levels other than the dungeon.

With a steely determination, Blake followed behind his teammates. It wouldn't be long before victory and defeat would be decided for once and for all.

If the general won, the kingdom of Ellesmere would forever disappear from the maps of Althaea and its people would be subdued and ruled under a new king. If Cynthia won, then her name would be passed into the stuff of legend.

She would become the first female ruler of this land and the kingdom of Ellesmere would usher into a new era. The fate of the kingdom hung on that delicate shoulder of hers.

.

.

Up in the sky, Cynthia took a deep breath and suppressed the exhaustion that welled up inside her body. Sustaining the Beast Inheritance skills not to mention using so many high ranking Lost Ancient tier skills was mentally and physically extremely straining.

If not for the fact that Leo was aiding her, her body would have already collapsed from using the Beast Inheritance skill a long time ago.

That said, even though she could feel her body screaming for rest and muscles tearing, she did not turn off the Beast Inheritance. The reason for that was simple, and that was her opponent was still standing. Novel Fire - novelfire.net

As long as he wasn't defeated, she couldn't remove her beast inheritance state.

"Haha, I can see that you are already at your limit. Why don't you give up already, it would be easier for you? You can't defeat me"

The General mocked, a berserk amount of mana carrying along a greyish black miasma formed into a gigantic fist as it slammed into Cynthia.

The latter materialised five elements which revolved in an anticlockwise manner before hurling it towards the oncoming fist. Right before the two attacks collided, the five orbs emitted intense light and formed a distinct array in the sky.

BOOOM… a powerful shockwave enough to distort the space and cause all kinds of unnatural phenomena, erupted from their clash.

After cancelling out the General's attack, Cynthia sneered in response "What are you talking about? I am still perfectly fine. On the contrary, you are the one who looks quite haggard. That peculiar energy I am sure there is a huge drawback for utilising such strength"

"How long can you keep it up? And besides, how can I give up now when we are this close to winning this war?".

It was just as she said, the tide of the battle was totally in control of the kingdom's army now. With the threat of Marshall and former Knight Captain gone, the soldier's morale soared and they started fighting back fiercely.

The adventurers from the tower town took on the difficult task of handling the powerful adversaries in the enemy ranks as such, all the soldiers had to do was fight the ordinary Tainted Knights and the Hellfire Artillery Mages.

"You!!"

The General's expression distorted in rage when he saw the cheeky smile on her face. The death of Marshall Cavalier and the Perfect Tainted Commander was a sore spot for him. He wanted to help them; however, the woman before him proved to be far more difficult to handle than he thought.

What's more, the beast she got the inheritance from, was quite powerful as the attacks she used were quite tricky and difficult to avoid. Even he who was using the Gift that 'lord' bestowed on him, was having a tough time against her.

If not for that, he wouldn't have allowed them to defeat the two. The loss of Marshall Cavalier and a Perfect Tainted Commander was a hard one to account for. What's more, they died under his watch.

Even if he turned the situation around and won the war by himself, the loss they suffered was too big to write off. When he returns back to Blackthorn he won't be able to face his Majesty.

"Dammit, it's all because of that damn remnant consciousness. If not for him, how would it be possible for your soldiers to be a match for our forces?"

The general grunted feeling extremely vexed. Just right before his death, the man who was the knight captain of this kingdom before becoming a perfect tainted commander, utilised his last bit of strength to stop the tainted energy from flowing into the bodies of the Tainted knights and tainted commanders.

Thus causing their power which had strengthened unnaturally, to return to its previous level.

This move of the knight captain hurt the forces of the Blackthorn very much as the tide of the battle completely shifted after this. If not for that, the kingdom's army wouldn't have been able to suppress the Blackthorn forces the way they did now.

"Hmmm… I don't understand it very well but it looks like the knight captain, even at this deathbed did a favour for our kingdom" Cynthia smiled.

"Hmph, don't think you have won just because you all took out Marshall Cavalier and a Perfect Tainted Commander. I am still here and I can assure you that you will find me very different from those useless piece of trash"

ROARR…