The very exemplar of a gatekeeper stands alone in their presence. With a green longbow that’s almost her height, she lays before them full of hostility and hatred.

She looked at the lord with a gaze that could seemingly pierce him and the knight behind him.

Her appearance immediately kicked the knights into action. They all suddenly assumed combat stances, yet only stood in their places, waiting for whatever comes next. Waiting for her move.

There was a long silence. Not even the trees, which you would normally think sways by the wind, are making any noise. It’s as if the whole forest itself is colluding.

If one has good enough hearing, they could probably hear the breathing and raised heartbeat of knights facing her. If they had the choice, they’d probably just lower their weapons and peacefully walk away from the scene, not trying to provoke her. Unfortunately, they don’t have the luxury.

“…”

“W-well? A-aren’t you going to l-l-let us in?”

The lord said as he drags the dryad woman closer to her, highlighting the blade that’s pointed in her heart. And while he tried to act tough and unfazed, his stuttering implies the opposite. And besides, everyone can visibly see the twisted alarmed expression in his face. Sweats pouring down on him like he had just taken a bath.

“Let. Her. Go.”

Tylla uttered slowly. Giving emphasis on each word and each tone.

Yet there were no response.

“I said… LET HER GO!”

She shouts on top of her lungs in utter rage. Knights who were close enough from here could see the veins becoming more defined in her nape and neck.

It was enough to startle everyone presence. In fact, it was enough to startle the whole area of the forest. Birds flew away, and small critters and animals instinctively took shelter to wherever they can find. The wind blew past them, as if to match the loudness of her shout. Instead of gently caressing the trees and the leaves, it’s more of a careless fanning, causing the trees to sway violently for a short time.

“Hiiiih!?”

The lord let out an expression unbecoming of a nobleman such as himself. That is understandable though, as even the knights around him who were trained in combat and has probably seen their share of violence also couldn’t help but gasps and flinch. Even Reinhard, who’s had casual interaction with Tylla, was startled at the sudden explosive anger she’s emanating.

“W-we will let her go, but only if you tell us where the possessor is!”

The lord, slightly trembling with his grip, replied with fake bravado.

Reinhard, who was helplessly watching the scene unfold before him in great irritation about how he’s unable to help, suddenly heard a whisper coming from somewhere behind him.

“Hey! Reinhard, over here!”

He looked back to see who that was. Initially, he was unable to see anyone due to the shade of the forest canopies and the sheer lushness of the shrubs but after carefully looking, he saw Fraenis hiding in one of the shrubs, signaling him to come.

Trying as hard as he can not to get noticed, Reinhard tiptoed backwards while laying as low as he possibly can. It seems that the three levels he has on [Stealth] is paying off. Occasionally, when a knight would look in his general direction, he’d lie down on the ground, letting the shadows of the canopy mask him in darkness. After about half a minute of moving undetected, he finally reached Fraenis and took great effort in trying not to sound the brushes as he moves into them.

“What’s happening here?”

Fraenis asks in a whisper, her voice carries a great deal of confusion.

“Why are there humans here?”

“I-I don’t know. They seem to be looking for me. They arrived just earlier and took her hostage.”

Reinhard replied. His tone sounds like one that is powerless to do anything. All this time, he felt like this all happened because of him, and the inability to resolve it was gradually consuming him from within. Guilt mixed with hatred slowly starts to build up inside him.

“Don’t worry, it’s not your fault.”

Fraenis said, trying to comfort Reinhard after seeing him struggling to contain his guilt.

“How is it not? They came here for me, they beat her because of me, and I couldn’t do anything! I was weak, some ‘chosen one’ I was, I couldn’t even stand in the same breath as the previous ones!”

Reinhard snapped. Uncaring of how loud he speaks, he replied to Fraenis, letting out all the suppressed feeling of uselessness.

“Okay, okay. Shhh.. Lower your voice, they will hear us!”

Fraenis whispered to him, trying to calm him down. Unfortunately, it’s too late.

“Hey! There’s people here!”

Suddenly, a knight that came to check out what the noise was found them and immediately shouted. He instantly drew his sword and the others near them followed suit.

“Who are you?”

Reinhard immediately stood up and materialized both of his staves, dual wielding them on both of his hands and pointing them at the knight.

Seeing this, Tylla, who was currently trying to convince the lord that the possessor wasn’t in the village, hastily knocked her bow as tall as her. There was no physical arrow though, what pulled the string was a green haze of magic energy on the shape of an arrow. She pointed it towards the lord.

Everyone is now on the edge, waiting for the first move. That first attack, the signal that combat has begun.

The one foolish enough to break the fine line was the knight that found Reinhard and Fraenis. He held his sword high upwards and sprinted towards their position. Fraenis immediately begun to knock an arrow on her shortbow but it appeared that she wouldn’t make it.

When the knight was about three meters from them, he was suddenly pushed back by a torrent of purple liquid. He landed a meter away from where he was hit, clanking the armor for everyone to hear and kicking-up the dirt on his landing site.

“K-knights!”

The lord shouted upon seeing the display. In a timely and orderly fashion, the knights near the Tylla immediately began rushing towards her, and so does the ones near Fraenis and Reinhard.

“Tsk!”

Tylla expressed in annoyance.

Then, she loosened the hold on her longbow’s string, releasing the immaterial arrow on it.

It traveled through the air like a speeding bullet, and all that the knights could see was a green afterimage. However, Tylla could see more. She could see the knights’ running slowly, the trees’ swaying. She could also see the arrow as it travels slowly in the air, heating up its surroundings due to the friction.

Without even a blink’s time after releasing the arrow, the knight that she had just pointed it to was knocked away about five meters, clashing with everyone in his path and equally impaling them with the immaterial arrow. By the time that he stopped being flung away, he has already taken three other knights with him to the grave. Even their full-plate, incredibly priced armor did nothing against it, almost as if it were mere butter. In fact, it had only increased the weight of the impact on those unlucky enough to be hit.

Seeing this casted doubt and hesitation on the minds of the knights currently charging towards Tylla, making them freeze in their tracks and be on the defensive. After all, none of them wanted to be at the receiving end of that monstrosity.

Meanwhile, Reinhard and Fraenis are struggling to hold their ground against another detachment of knights.

Reinhard is unsure exactly how many knight he’s currently facing, although a quick guess would be about seven to eight just basing it on what he currently sees. The knight that was pushed down to the ground by Reinhard’s venom staff has already stood up. They’re not just haphazardly charging though, as they were very wary of what his other staff could do. After all, they’re not just a bunch of brigands with swords. They’re trained knights of a kingdom.

Glancing at the knights surrounding them, Reinhard had determined that the average level of them would be about level 15 as the lowest to 20 as the highest, except for the one knight that’s beside the lord, which is a level 30. Above that level 30 knight was his ‘name’.

Unlike the warg and the “snakes”, there’s no symbol of any element besides his name.

“You there, you’re a human are you not? Why are you taking their side?”

The knight who was just attacked by Reinhard suddenly asked.

By the looks of it, it appears that the [Venom] debuff isn’t doing that much to him. He’s breathing faster than before, but it can just easily be because of the adrenaline and not his stamina being depleted. He also doesn’t seem to be suffering from the continuous damage of the debuff.

“Not being able to see the enemy’s HP makes it extremely difficult to gauge their situation…”

“…”

“If only I have some way of looking at their more detailed status… Even if it’s just for combat! Not having information on the enemy makes it hard to strategize around them.”

*Ping!*

All of a sudden, a notification appeared in front of him, hovering in mid-air in that familiar gray interface.

[SYSTEM]

Acquired: [Arcane Eyes] Passive Skill.

“What is this? Eh? I don’t remember this being in the available skills to learn?”

He may have not noticed it, but his pupils have suddenly grew a shade of red on them. Although it’s not really noticeable at first glance, only when you stare long enough at it will you see that it’s now red-brown in color.

While he was busy being confused, the knight that had asked him earlier once again spoke.

“Well? Are you mute or are you deaf? I asked you a question! Why is a human like you taking the side of the long-eared?”

When Reinhard glanced at the speaking knight, he saw that there is now a red bar in top of his name and level. There was no number on it, however.

“Is that his HP?”

The bar was depleted by about 20%, and it’s still continuing to lessen, although the exact numbers of how much it loses isn’t revealed, but it doesn’t seem to be affecting the knight in the least. Furthermore, Reinhard could now also see that below the HP bar and the name is a purple box with the “Venom” written on it.

“So he was afflicted by venom. But why is it only doing that much? Is it because of his level? Possibly… He’s a level 20 after all, he may have a lot of resistances and a large pool of HP. This is fine, at least I can now measure the effects and extent of my attacks.”

“What are you saying? Aren’t you lot the aggressors here?”

He replied to the knight. His intentions weren’t to provoke or to intimidate. No, the only thing that’s going through his mind right now was “I need to dispatch of these worms.”

“If only your long-eared friends complied, this wouldn’t have to turn violent. This is their fault, they should have just obeyed and told us where the possessor is!”

“Complied? Obeyed? You march into their land, take one of their kind, beat her and then took her hostage, and you’re saying they’re the ones at fault!?”

Reinhard thought, grinding his teeth in outrage.

“Unacceptable. Unacceptable. Unacceptable! They want to find the possessor? Fine! I’ll show them who the [Possessor of the Branch of the World Tree] is!”

He held out his earth staff and pointed it towards the damaged knight.

In response, he, and the other knights with him, took a stance that’s readying themselves to dodge whatever projectile comes out of it. However, they did not anticipate what happened next.

The ground beneath the damaged knight suddenly sprung up, like a vague hand made out of earth and rock came out to grasp him. However, it did more than just grasping him. The rocks and earth moved in an impressive way, skillfully warping and navigating itself on his limbs and joints, and then—

“AAAAGGGGGH!!”

*Crack! Crack! Crack!*

The knight suddenly screamed of pure agony.

What now lays before them was a knight, held up by the earth, with his hands and legs twisted and bent by the rocks in unnatural manner.

“S-stop! Please! Stop!”

He begged while tears, snot and saliva flows down from his facial orifices, but it didn’t stop. Instead, the grip only grew tighter. The knight was now struggling to even breathe.

“S-s… Shtohp! I’m begging you… Pwease… Shto…”

Then the knight went limp, like a broken mechanical doll that had stopped functioning, or a puppet whose strings had been cut.

It was only then that blood began to escape his body wherever it can.

*Ping!*

[SYSTEM]

Acquired: [Killer] Title.