“Uggh! This guy is tough!”

“No kidding, his mental fortitude is strong as well, no matter how many illusions I project, he dispels them in an instant!”

“Yet it takes him at least five seconds to dispel your illusions, so they can be counted on. If it weren’t for your illusions distracting him, we would have been dead by now.”

Three members of the Shadow Lords, Lake Luondo, Kyra Kara, and Lukalis Kreschen, were facing off against Boroi Daren, the Knight of Earth.

All three of them were wearing dark, armored clothing and masks to conceal their identities.

Their opponent was one of the heroes, Knight of Earth

The problem was that the Knight of Earth was far stronger than they assumed.

Using a war hammer that seemed to be made for a giant to wield, the four meter tall Knight of Earth unleashed his mighty blows.

Physically, he was as strong if not stronger than Lake, who was by far the strongest member of Shadow Lords, at least in terms of raw muscle strength.

Though, it was justified due to Lake being a tiger-type demi-human, thus his muscles were larger and denser than that of an average human.

On foot, Lake stood taller than most, about 2.5 meters in length, but his great height paled in comparison to the hill-like opponent standing before him.

When the Knight of Earth’s war hammer clashed against Lake’s large shield Lake couldn’t help but be pushed back by the sheer force of the attack.

Knight of Earth had enough strength to overwhelm nearly any opponent.

Then, the Knight of Earth disappeared, and proceeded to reappear from underneath the earth, launching a surprise attack by using ground to travel like a mole.

If it weren’t for Lukalis’s barrier, Lake would have been dead by Knight of Earth’s attack that shook the ground in a ripple-like pattern.

They were fighting a monster within its native element.

As long as he was in contact with the earth, he was at a massive advantage.

He sure was a tough nut to crack.

His troops on the other hand were easy to deal with.

Kyra put them under an illusion, forcing them to fight each other to death, while Lukalis trapped them within a barrier so that they would not interfere with the battle against the hero.

But they completely underestimated the might of this hero.

It is said that a hero is worth an entire army, and this particular hero was a living testament to such claim.

Using the element of earth, he would launch earth projectiles in their direction and then use the earth to travel by causing a landslide, which he then used to launch columns of earth from under them, knocking them off their feet.

“Earth Crush!”

The earth swallowed the three of them in what seemed like flower petals closing, but strangely no sound of pain came from within the flower bud.

Then, he sensed them touching the ground.

Due to his blessing, he could detect any movement that occurs on top of the earth within a mile range.

Looking up, he spotted them.

In an instant, Boroi Daren proceeded to launch his attack.

Putting his hand upon the earth, he sent of a destructive wave of earth while simultaneously launching sharp earth projectiles shaped like pyramids.

For some reason, the enemies he saw there were gone right at the instant the attack hit them, almost like they were not there to begin with.

Then, he saw them, so he began his attacks anew.

* * *

“My illusions will not fool him for long!”

“Calm down, we need to approach this carefully and methodically….”

“I will attack now!” Lake proceeded to jump out of the protective bubble that Lukalis had created to float around the battlefield.

“Idiot…” Lukalis sighed.

“There you are!” Knight of Earth grinned in triumph.

“AAAAAAGGHHH!” With what seemed like a roar of a wild beast, Lake launched an overwhelming attack using his own war hammer.

Just by coincidence, their main weapons happened to be the same.

Holding on to his war hammer with both hands, Knight of Earth blocked Lake’s attack with the long hilt of his hammer.

The sheer force of the impact made Knight of Earth’s feet sink several inches into the ground, as well as breaking the hilt of his war hammer in two.

Now Knight of Earth war hammer had less than half a hilt, but Knight of Earth did not have any trouble using the war hammer one handed.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Knight of Earth struck the earth once, causing a small earth quake that made Lake lose his balance, then proceeded to strike Lake with his hammer.

Lake barely managed to block the hammer with his shield, as he felt his left arm dislocate, he found himself launched backwards.

Now the Knight of Earth jumped up into the air to deliver the final blow.

His hammer struck the barrier Lukalis created and the Knight of Earth was struck by a bolt of lightning, which seemed to only push him back a little.

“Shouldn’t a lightning bolt to the body have finished him off?” Kyra fearfully asked.

“Stronger warriors can withstand the impact of such low level spells, though it seems like he used earth magic to redirect the force of the lightning into the ground.”

Lukalis made a calm analysis of the situation.

‘If I was at my full strength, an opponent like him would have been a small fry, but now I have less than half of my mana points within my body, all of my spells are weaker than before, heck, even casting level 4 spell: Lightning Bolt, winded me out. To think I was reduced to such a weakling, having to rely on others to fight a single opponent.’

Using her magic, she made Lake’s body quickly float towards her as he barely avoided being squashed by Knight of Earth.

‘Level 5 Spell: Fire Blaze!’

Five swirling flame projectiles launched themselves in Knight of Earth’s direction, intending to pierce through him.

Knight of Earth proceeded to erect a wall of earth in front of him that absorbed the impact of the fire projectiles.

Then, using earth magic, he travelled through the ground, and proceeded to emerge like a mole, his weapon in hand.

But once again, his hammer hit nothing as what he saw in front of him disappeared into nothingness.

* * *

“Huff Hufff huff…How long to we have to keep this up?” Lake was panting for breath, for the last three hours, they have fought this hero non-stop.

“As long as it takes” Kyra adamantly answered.

“Though we may be tired, considering it was three of us, we were able to not waste as much stamina if we had faced him one on one. He, on the other hand, fought all of us, simultaneously, all alone. Even a hero level fighter is not absolute. His movements are slowing down; he has reached his limit as well.”

“But so have we.” Lake grimly remarked.

If this continued on, if they got lucky, they would reach a stalemate, and the Knight of Earth would escape.

But fighting against an opponent whose power over the earth was developed to such a degree was no easy task.

No matter what kind of offensive magic Lukalis launched, he either managed to block them with earth walls and shields or he shrugged them off while still taking some damage.

His body was something else, all right.

Lake managed to land quite a few blows on him, and they did have impact, as evidenced by Knight of Earth bleeding through his mouth, but that was not enough to keep him down.

Kyra overused her demon eye, causing her vision to blur, Lukalis was nearly out of mana, and Lake’s body felt as though he had tumbled off the top of the mountain.

None of the three were in the best shape to say the least.

Lake would do a physical attack, Kyra would cast an illusion to trick Knight of Earth to attack it instead, meanwhile Lukalis would launch an offensive magic at him.

If he managed to find and attack them, they would use their teleportation rings to apport themselves to a nearby location.

The trouble was that the Knight of Earth could sense them landing on the ground, and using the spell to make them fly above the ground consumed large amount of mana.

This cycle continued on non-stop, with neither side being able to overwhelm the other.

Knight of Earth was in a very battered shape.

He was resorted to summoning his second war hammer after his first one was destroyed by one of Lukalis’s spells.

His mana levels were depleted and his stamina was almost used up.

The spells he could use now were weaker than normal and his movements were far slower.

But he continued to stand against them regardless.

“In the name of the Holy City, I shall bring judgment upon you, demons!”

Apparently he thought that his three masked attackers were demons, which was not completely wrong.

“We shall see about that!” all three of them took their fighting stances.

Then, they heard a sound of clapping hands.

Looking up, they saw a figure at the top of the nearby tree.

“Bravo! Bravissimo! What a splendid performance!”

“Are you one of them? Who the hell are you?” Knight of Earth looked at the masked man standing on the branch of the tree.

“The closing act, if you may”

Now the man disappeared from their sight, reappearing right in front of the Knight of Earth.

He had a crystal dagger in his hand.

Instinctively, Knight of Earth launched an attack at the person in front of him, but then he felt a strange feeling as though his hammer had become lighter.

As he looked in shock, he realized that the head of the hammer was cut off, leaving him only with the long handle.

Without wasting a single movement, the masked man proceeded to deliver a downward slash at him.

Using the handle of his weapon, Knight of Earth tried to block the weapon but it just cut the metal handle in two.

Before the crystal dagger could strike him, Knight of Earth erected a wall between him and the attacker.

But the attacker appeared right behind him.

Too fatigued to react in time, Knight of Earth proceeded to instinctively coat his hands in rock gloves; at the very least he would be able to block the incoming dagger.

But to his horror, the crystal dagger proceeded to slice through his right hand.

Using the earth to get away, Knight of Earth panted as he was holding on to the bleeding stump of his right hand.

The masked man who attacked him was walking towards him; with each step he came closer and closer.

“Get away!”

Knight of Earth desperately launched earth projectiles, but the man proceeded to swat them away with his right hand as if they were just pebbles.

“What’s wrong, Knight of Earth? Your earth projectiles are smaller and weaker than usual, and I imagine your mana has been sufficiently depleted for you to not be able to launch any large scale attack any time soon.”

As the Knight of Earth ran out of mana, the masked man teleported himself to his location, and with a quick move, masked man slashed out his eyes.

Knight of Earth screamed in agony, but the masked man was not finished yet.

As if to add more cruelty to Knight of Earth’s fate, he proceeded to cut off his left leg as well.

Now the once proud warrior was reduced to a screaming mess that was thrashing on the ground, desperately trying to stop the bleeding on his limbs.

“Oh, don’t worry; I will not kill you just yet.”

Approaching the blinded hero, Dark Lord stabbed him shallowly on the chest, the location where the Knight of Earth’s blessing was located.

“Kuat Endi Meniki”

Now the mark upon Boroi Daren’s chest disappeared; absorbed into the crystal dagger.

Dark Lord now turned his back upon the hero, facing his subordinates.

“Well done, Shadow Lords”

“Milord, we have failed you” Kyra bowed her head.

“Nonsense, you did exactly what you were meant to do, that is, make him weak and exhausted enough for someone like me to finish the job.”

“So that was your plan from the start, huh? Using us to wear him out, and then swoop down on him like a vulture? Seems hardly fair” Lukalis was visibly irritated by the manner Dark Lord used them.

“But you can’t complain about the results” Dark Lord smiled.

He chuckled a little.

Indeed, this was far better than he expected.

“Now then, out of the three of you, who should I give the blessing to?”

“I can already use earth magic, so it is not necessary” Lukalis now smirked before looking away.

“That type of magic seems rather rough around the edges; does not seem to suit me.” Kyra admitted.

“True, it does not fit well with your style….Well then, that leaves you, Lake. I see you have been battered the most, so think of it as a reward for your hard work.”

“It would be an honor, milord”

As the Dark Lord approached him, Lake knelt on the ground.

Placing the blade of the crystal dagger upon Lake’s furry shoulder, Dark Lord uttered.

“Kuat Endi Seniki!”

The blessing was now transferred into Lake’s body; the mark briefly appeared on his chest before disappearing. The blessing can only be seen if it is activated; otherwise it stays in dormant state.

Lake felt a new power flowing through his body.

Blessings are only as strong as their wielders have allowed them to grow, but the blessing he received now had been made very powerful by the tireless efforts of the Knight of Earth.

Now, looking at the maimed and helpless hero, Lukalis asked.

“Should I kill him?”

“No. You can take down the barrier now and Kyra, feel free to dispel the illusion upon his knights, hopefully at least a couple are alive…”

“Yes! Four knights seem to be still alive.”

“Excellent, now, then, we got what we came for; it is time for us to depart.”

Four masked figures now proceeded to disappear into nothingness, while the horrified knights realized they have killed many of their own and that their leader was in a dire state.

It was a complete and utter defeat for the Knight of Earth Squad, who could only blame their fortune for giving them such a grim fate at the hands of what they assumed to be demons.