“Ah!”

Mia turned her head with a shout after feeling a presence behind her, but a large hand quickly covered her mouth. At the same time, another figure grabbed Raymond by the waist and covered his mouth.

“Ah…!”

“Hmm?”

The knights turned their heads after hearing Raymond’s curt scream. Over in the distance, far from the road, they saw Mia and Raymond being overpowered by a figure under the tree.

“Princess!”

“My Prince!”

They stopped what they were doing and ran toward the two figures in alarm.

Swoosh!

Almost simultaneously, a short ray of light split the air with a compressed boom.

Thuck!

“Keugh!”

In the blink of an eye, a dagger cut through the air and struck the wrist of the figure covering Mia’s mouth.

“Kyaahk!”

Mia instinctively bent down, and the figure turned his gaze while feeling a sharp, stinging pain in his wrist.

Kwuoooo…

Even though the figure barely met the eyes of the dagger’s owner, he felt an overwhelming presence bearing down on him. He felt his whole body stand on edge after being subjected to the suffocating, menacing spirit.

Most importantly, the dagger’s owner was way too fast.

“Run!”

The figure shouted before flinging himself back. At the same time, the figure holding Raymond also bounced back like a spring.

Shuack!

After narrowing the distance to 10 meters in an instant, Isla’s rapier left its sheath and drew a sharp line, leaving behind a trail of blue spirit.

Shuack!

“Kuagh!”

A man slightly larger than Raymond’s kidnapper let out a horrible scream. One of his legs had been cut off while he was attempting to flee into the dark forest. 

However, the other figures had already disappeared like smoke along with Raymond.

“Interrogate this man and protect the princess! I will chase them! Do not leave this place!”

“Yes, sir!”

The knights were greatly flustered. However, they answered in a unified voice. A member of the Pendragon Kingdom’s royal family had just been kidnapped. Moreover, Raymond was the direct successor of the royal lineage.

Caw! Caw!

Chirp! Chirp!

Only the cries of crows and unknown mountain birds could be heard in the forest. It was eerily silent. Isla quickly flitted across the grass with a cold, calculating gaze.

‘I cannot feel their presence?’

Isla forced himself to suppress the burning anger from influencing his decision, keeping a cool head and focusing his thoughts. 

He felt frustrated even in anger. 

Although he wasn’t involved in many battles after the war seven years ago, he never neglected training even for a day. Nevertheless, he could not feel the presence of those responsible for kidnapping Raymond.

Isla did not stop running.

“Huah…”

‘Focus.’

Isla focused his breathing in an instant, then partially closed his eyes before focusing all of his attention and energy on his five senses. 

He could hear the sounds of grass bugs busily flying around, the sounds of small animals scurrying through the forest, and the mischievous wind switching directions at whim.

After a moment, his eyes opened wide. 

He felt a heartbeat – it was slightly different from the animals. He sensed the heartbeats belonging to three humans.

Papapat!

Isla darted in the direction without delay. A blue flame burned inside his eyes.

‘How dare you…’

They dared to threaten the lord’s younger sister and kidnap one of his two children. The Stormbringer’s rage reached its peak for the first time in nearly seven years.

*** 

“Hurry!”

“Yes!”

Raymond’s two kidnappers ran through the bushes like the wind. One was a young man, and the other was a cool, expression man who looked to be several years older.

“Dammit! I cannot believe Number 5 was done in so easily…”

The young man burst into anger. Although he ran without stopping while carrying Raymond on his shoulder, he appeared unfatigued.

“…..”

However, the cold, expressionless man did not answer, only looking around at the surroundings without stopping. He was never the one for conversation, but it seemed he was literally shocked speechless.

‘The Knight King of Valvas…’

The knight of the legends truly exceeded their expectations. Normally, knights were overwhelming only in duels or battlefields. They were somewhat vulnerable to surprise attacks and ambushes. 

However, he was different. 

The Knight King was able to grasp the situation in an instant, even throwing a dagger in that short moment to accurately hit the wrist of the perpetrator. 

A single mistake could have meant the dagger hitting the princess instead, but the Knight King of Valvas was frighteningly calm and cold.

‘Moreover…’

The frightening sword aura. 

The Knight King of Valvas was famous for his spearmanship rather than swordwork. Even his main tool of slaughter was Thorca. 

It was said that a single swing of Thorca brought forth thunder and lightning. 

As such, they had expected his swordsmanship to fall short of his skills with the spear, but their guesses had been completely amiss. 

If he was directly facing something like that, then…

‘Number 2, no, even Number 1 is not guaranteed to win…’

“Number 3! We’re here!”

The eyes of the one called Number 3 glimmered at the young man’s words.

Kieeeehk!

A large brown-winged griffon was standing under a tree.

Woosh!

The young man hoisted Raymond onto the griffon’s back before climbing onto the creature himself.

“Come on!”

Number 3 was about to take off his foot at the young man’s words.

Fwoosh!

However, he unsheathed his sword without delay and swung it after a strong spirit poured towards him from behind.

Kwang!

“Keugh!”

Number 3 stumbled back several steps while correcting his posture. 

His heart began to pound.

There were many knights capable of imbuing spirit in their weapons. Those capable of emitting the spirit to attack enemies within the distance of a few meters were rarer, but still common. However, those who were able to strike the enemy to deliver a strong blow from a distance of more than 10 meters could be counted on one hand.

And now, Number 3 faced an absolute powerhouse capable of such a feat. Surely there were less than ten figures in the world capable of rivaling such a figure.

“Go.”

Kieeeek!

Although they were colleagues, the young man pulled on the griffon’s reins as soon as Number 3 spoke. The large creature rose into the air with huge flaps of its wings.

Paat!

Almost simultaneously, Isla jumped into the air and slashed down with his sword.

Shuak!

A large burst of spirit shot forward towards the griffon’s wings as an intangible blade.

“Haap!”

Number 3 swung his sword with all his might.

Clang!

Isla’s sword spirit scattered in the air as fragments of light, and he once again turned towards Number 3 with a surprised expression. After destroying Isla’s attack, Number 3 grabbed an object from his waist and threw it.

Paaat!

A deep, purple powder filled Isla’s view like a smokescreen.

“Huap!”

Isla held his breath and collected his spirit, concentrating the dense energy around his body while fiercely swinging his blade.

Fwoooosh!

The blade cut through the air and scattered the purple powder obscuring Isla’s eyes. After regaining his line of sight, Isla once again jumped into the air to attack Number 3 and the griffon. 

However, he was unsuccessful in his attempt, as two swords broke through the obscuring powder and quickly approached his eyes.

Whoosh!

Kakang!

Isla twisted his arms and utilized both his sword and sheathe the block the two daggers, landing on the ground afterwards. The momentum contained in the daggers was larger than expected, so he had been unable to continue his flight.

Isla hurriedly raised his head.

“…..!”

The griffon was already flying high in the air.

His eyes caught sight of Raymond, who was draped across the griffon’s back as if he were dead.

Crunch.

His eyes were submerged in anger as his grip tightened on the handle of his blade. His infernal gaze met with the eyes of Number 3, who had a pale complexion.

“I will kill you.”

Isla’s words were directed to Number 3, though the latter probably could not hear them. However, Number 3 inferred Isla’s words by the shape of his mouth.

He trembled. 

He sensed death. 

He did not know when it would come, but he was certain that he would die at the hands of the knight – the Knight King of Valvas and the strongest knight of the Pendragon Kingdom.

*** 

“Should we head to the village?”

“No. I want to stay outside today.”

Soldrake shook her head at Raven’s words.

“Hmm? Are you getting tired of it already?”

“No. It is good to see how humans live, but it has been too long since I was alone with Ray. I want to be with you, looking up at the night sky like before.”

“All right.”

Raven smiled lightly and nodded.

He could understand. She had lived all her life, an immeasurable amount of time, in solitude as the Queen of All Dragons. It would be difficult for her to become accustomed to the busy, hectic lives of humans. 

All roads began with a single step. She could slowly learn during their two-month trip to the east.

“This is rather good, since we were running out of money.”

“Money? You have the gold and jewelry from Langaro and Drian, right?”

Demon God Langaro and Dragon God Drian had provided Raven with a few jewels and gold when he descended with Soldrake. However, such large and precious jewels were incredibly rare in the human world. As such, he had a hard time disposing and converting them to something usable. In addition, the gold chunks were as large as a fist. 

As such, Raven had to split the gold chunks into small pieces with his sword to afford their trip.

“Even so, we should be frugal. It’s not like we can spend freely like we did in the past.”

“Is that so?”

Soldrake tilted her head with innocent eyes, having no concept of money in the slightest. A smile crept up on Raven’s lips at her response. 

He suddenly raised his head.

“Hmm?”

Soldrake also turned her gaze into the sky.

“Did you see that?”

“Yeah. A griffon.”

Soldrake responded with an indifferent expression, but Raven narrowed his eyes.

“Griffons are not native to this area… That’s strange.”

He spoke in a quiet voice, knowing well that wild griffons had their nests in Mount Ancona and nearby areas. In addition, the griffon happened to be flying in the direction of the forest where the two had decided to set camp tonight.

“That is strange.”

Raven shrugged before continuing to ride. 

It was certainly strange, but it had nothing to do with him. 

The most and only important thing for him now was to revive his cooking skills to create a dish to satisfy Soldrake.

*** 

Flap! Flap!

The griffon vigorously flapped its wings before settling in the middle of a forest with a fairly large vacant lot situated in the middle of a mountain.

“Dammit! Hurry!”

The young man quickly jumped off the griffon’s back before helping Number 3.

“Kuagh!”

Number 3 coughed up dark, crimson blood.

“Keugh! What a monster…”

The young man shuddered. Number 3 was the third strongest of those he knew, but he had suffered such serious injuries without even directly confronting the Knight King.

“The opponent is the Knight King of Valvas. It’s only a matter of course… Kuagh! Cough!”

“Dammit! Stop talking. Rest here. I’ll bring that little bastard, no, the royal highness.”

After sitting Number 3 down on a large log, the young man took Raymond into his arms.

“Ungg.”

Raymond opened his eyes. His mouth was covered with a rag.

The young man took an expression of wonder after meeting Raymond’s gaze.

“Hooh? That was a strong anesthetic, but you woke up already? Well, I guess the blood of Pendragon speaks for itself.”

“…..!”

The eyes of Raymond Pendragon, who was still only seven years old, quivered violently.