Chapter 693: The Forsaken Apostate

The sound of metal scraping against stone broke the silence of the plateau.

Lian kept his eyes on the huge knight standing in the center of the field.

The creature’s armored fingers slowly tightened around the handle of its sword, and the twelve gray wings behind it remained almost motionless under the red light of sunset.

’A servant of White Oblivion?’

Four’s voice echoed in his mind through the Colony bond.

’Aye, my lord, he is one of its servants.’

Lian looked at the knight for a moment.

’How much do you know about him?’

’Unfortunately, my knowledge of all his abilities is incomplete, however, I advise you not to underestimate his presence. This creature is no ordinary guardian.’

’I already figured that out myself.’

He glanced at the twelve gray wings.

’What about that seal on his forehead?’

But before Four could answer, another sound echoed across the field.

Crack!

The knight’s huge sword moved slightly inside the stone.

The creature raised its head.

Two faint lights appeared through the openings of its helmet, and its gaze fell directly on the four humans standing before it.

At that moment, a transparent window appeared before their eyes.

[ Name: The Forsaken Apostate ]

[ Race: Withered ]

[ Rank: Unholy ]

[ Level: 35 ]

For several seconds, no one spoke.

Rindo initially stared at the number thirty-five.

He himself was only Level 34, during the day, after killing those monsters, he had managed to reach this level, and in his current condition, even fighting an ordinary Level 35 monster could be extremely difficult for him.

But when his eyes reached the creature’s rank, he felt his fingers tighten around his spear without realizing it.

Unholy?

He read the information once again.

"Is it really Unholy?"

Rindo had seen powerful creatures before, and during the recent events, he had been forced to fight enemies above his own level many times.

But the situation in front of him was completely different.

The Unholy rank did not simply mean a higher level, creatures of this rank were far beyond ordinary monsters in terms of the quality of their power, physical structure, and special abilities.

’Even if all four of us attack together...’

Rindo glanced at the knight’s huge sword.

The rest of his thoughts were not very hopeful.

Beside him, Alicia was also standing motionless.

The girl knew very well what an Unholy meant.

Her academy training and family education had given her extensive knowledge about monster ranks.

But none of that training was meant to prepare her to stand before such a creature, especially without any preparation.

Level thirty-five...

Her gaze moved from the information window to the knight’s sword.

’If it attacks right now, will I even be able to see its strike?’

Her fingers tightened around the handle of her sword.

Even so, she did not draw the blade.

She was unsure whether she should even enter the battle.

It was more than uncertainty, she was terrified.

She looked at her body, without realizing it, all her limbs were trembling with fear.

This was a damn Unholy!

And its level was almost higher than all of theirs.

Even defeating a Fallen of the same level was nearly impossible for any of them alone.

Noah was not in a better condition either.

The young Frenchman, who usually found something to joke about even in dangerous situations, was now only staring at the words in front of him.

"Unholy... Level thirty-five?" His voice was so quiet that it sounded more like a whisper.

He swallowed for a moment.

"This really isn’t a joke anymore." His eyelids were trembling with fear.

His heartbeat had increased so much that not only he, but everyone could hear it.

But right in front of them, Lian had a completely different reaction.

He looked at the information window for a moment.

Unholy, Level thirty-five.

’Three levels below me.’

Even so, that number alone did not mean much.

He himself had Four and Three under his command, creatures of the Unholy rank whose power he had already seen.

On the other hand, the knight in front of him still possessed a fragment of a Demon’s Core.

In every way, the monster standing before him was the strongest thing he had ever faced in his life.

Lian glanced at the gray wings.

’Let’s see how powerful you really are.’

Rindo took one step closer to him.

"Lian..."

"I know."

Young Vorhelm did not even take his eyes off the knight.

Rindo paused for a moment.

"No, I don’t think you understand what I mean, this is an Unholy. We might even lose against an ordinary Level 35 monster."

He took a short breath.

"If we fight it directly, we probably won’t stand a chance, in fact, we don’t stand a chance against it under any circumstances."

"For the first time, I completely agree with Rindo, if we can still turn back, I promise I won’t complain even once." Noah immediately nodded.

Lian finally looked at them.

Their fear was completely understandable.

Even he, under normal circumstances, would probably think about retreating when facing such a creature.

But the situation was different now.

Even with everything about their current situation, he still believed there was a chance of victory.

"Lower your weapons."

Rindo paused for a moment.

"Lian?"

"I said lower your weapons." His tone was calm, but it was different from before, there was no smile on his face and no sign of his usual jokes.

Alicia glanced at the knight.

"But if we’re going to fight, we should also—"

"No."

He interrupted her.

The girl fell silent.

Young Vorhelm looked between the three of them and continued.

"Listen carefully to what I’m saying. In this battle, there’s nothing you can do to help."

Rindo unconsciously tightened his fingers around his spear.

Lian continued without paying attention to his reaction.

"This is a Level 35 Unholy, even if all three of you attack together, I doubt you’ll be able to cause it any serious damage. On the other hand, just one direct hit from it would be enough to kill any of you."

Silence followed for a moment.

"So stay away from the battlefield, if you come close, you’ll only become an extra burden, and I’ll have to watch over you instead of fighting it."

This time, no one answered immediately, at best, they were prodigies by ordinary standards.

They were neither Lian nor Seris.

Alicia pressed her lips together.

Lian’s words were harsher than she had expected, as one of the selected knights of the English Academy, she was proud of her abilities and was not used to someone telling her so directly that her presence in a battle would be useless.

But when she looked at the four-meter-tall knight again, she could not disagree.

He’s right.

Even if she managed to survive one of the Apostate’s attacks, there was no guarantee that she could escape the next strike.

Rindo was in a similar situation.

He was unhappy that he could not fight beside his friend, but he knew very well that the difference between him and a Level 35 Unholy could not be overcome with determination and courage.

’If I enter the battle, Lian will constantly have to worry about me.’

He looked at his spear for several seconds and then asked quietly.

"Then what do you want us to do?"

"You won’t be doing nothing." Lian immediately answered.

He pointed toward the eastern part of the plateau, where several broken stone statues stood along a deep cliff.

"Rindo, examine the surrounding area, I want to know if there’s another way to reach the back of this place, even a narrow passage could be useful."

Then he looked at Alicia.

"You go with him, keep an eye on the retreat path and the condition of the ground. If we’re forced to leave this place, I don’t want us to start looking for a safe path only then."

She nodded.

Lian looked at Noah.

"You watch the surroundings of the plateau from a safe distance, especially the paths leading to this area. If more Withered appear or something changes around us, let me know."

"So you’re going to do all the fighting yourself?" Noah looked at him for a moment.

"Yeah." More precisely, he and his Colony members, it was time to use the help of all of them.

"That’s an Unholy, Lian."

"I know."

Noah wanted to say something else, but when he saw young Vorhelm’s expression, he gave up.

There was no excitement or desire to show off in that gaze.

Lian was completely serious.

And that, more than anything else, showed that he also understood the danger of the creature before them.

Rindo let out a short breath.

"Alright, we’ll examine the eastern path."

But before leaving, he looked at his friend again.

"Just one thing."

Lian raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"If you can’t stop it, don’t try to keep fighting because of us."

"Don’t worry. I didn’t come here to die." Young Vorhelm remained silent for a moment and then answered.

He turned his gaze back toward the knight.

"I came here to get through."

Rindo nodded and moved toward the eastern part of the plateau with Alicia and Noah.

Lian watched them until they had moved a suitable distance away, and then turned his attention back to the four-meter-tall creature before him.

Well then.

He raised his right hand.

[ Hive Dominion ]

[ Special Members Summoned ]

Two streams of light formed on either side of him.

A moment later, a huge ant with six powerful arms appeared on the left.

One.

On the right, a huge wolf appeared.

Two.