Tension between the three stirred, as Karciel muttered those words loud and clear.
Rita grasped her staff tightly, as though already expecting a situation like this, and Kyle only shifted, his hand instinctively wrapping around the hilt of his sword.
"You brought us out here to die?" Kyle muttered in a low tone.
Karciel’s face grew into a frown and he hissed, "Don’t take it too personally. It’s just how things work here."
Kyle raised a brow and spoke in a low dark tone, "What is that supposed to mean? Didn’t your leader mention we would be needed to escape the realm... The more the merrier."
He didn’t know Karciel’s strength, and given this realm where the old hunter had thrived for who knew how long, he would definitely be far more powerful than Kyle could imagine.
So avoiding a fight till later was his very best option... Hopefully.
Karciel let out a low mocking chuckle that carried in the night wind like a revelation, and then spoke.
"Not really. Well, you see, Lena is a fool... And all she does is spout nonsense," Karciel began. "In this realm, killing a fellow human will automatically transfer all of that person’s soul fragments to the killer — which is basically saying, if I killed you, I would have a massive jump in strength."
Karciel paused. He didn’t need to complete his words for Kyle to know reasoning with him any further was pointless.
What was the use of expendable numbers compared to a single formidable force of a player.
Even to Kyle, Karciel’s reasoning seemed logical and the best choice. He might have probably made it, placed in the same condition.
Yet, he didn’t fail to ask one more question.
"What would you tell Lena then? Is she also in on it?"
Karciel shrugged, rubbing his rough goatee with one finger, "I don’t even care if she isn’t... For all I know she might just be waiting for the moment to kill all of us and steal all that strength for herself, so I’ll rather be ready for that time."
With that, Karciel pulled out the old curved katana from its sheath and pointed its bloodied blade over at the two.
"You both should be aware of my strength..."
"You talk too much."
A flash of bright yellow radiant flames burst through the air, surging towards Karciel from Rita’s palm with insane speed.
Clearly she was not a fan of long monologues.
As the fireball spiralled forward, Karciel sprinted out of the way twice as fast, letting the ball collide with the ground, raising mounds of ice and cold water.
Rita sent another, then another, at the demonic player.
Each one missed by clear meters as Karciel easily predicted and evaded each one.
He was skillful, experienced, and undoubtedly dangerous.
Kyle drew out his sword, knowing he was to face the close combat wrath of Karciel when he neared. Right now, Rita had a better chance of taking down the formidable hunter than him, and for that he needed to protect her no matter what.
Karciel reached him, his katana flashing in the air towards Kyle’s neck.
The attack was fast, desperate, hungry to cleave at his organs. But Kyle was skillful enough to block, using his sword to parry the heavy attack that threatened to knock his sword from his grasp.
He staggered backwards, watching as Karciel quickly changed stance and thrust his blade towards Kyle’s gut.
Kyle sidestepped, clamped down onto Karciel’s wrist as he evaded the sword, and then cleaved towards the face of the hunter.
His attack... missed its mark.
Karciel somehow, someway, ducked under the attack, letting strands of his pitch black hair get sliced up.
"Shit!"
In the next moment, though, Kyle felt an immense pain in his gut — not from a sword driven into it, but a devastating knee strike that sent pain permeating his entire being.
Then a hand grabbed onto his shoulder. Karciel, the horrid knight, hoisted Kyle off his feet and threw him into the air like he was nothing.
Kyle crashed down onto the cold hard ground, grunting. He was disoriented for a moment, but quickly pushed himself back to his feet.
He was in battle currently, and a second wasted would be enough to get him killed.
But Karciel was not after him.
No.
The experienced hunter knew well enough the main threat was the powerful mage, Rita. With her out of the picture, he would definitely kill Kyle without breaking so much as a sweat.
So he lunged forward at her, hoping to meet her in close range and end her life in one fierce attempt.
However... as he closed in on Rita, he caught something at the peripheral of his vision.
"Arggh!" Karciel grunted, halting his charge and leaping backwards, sword raised high, just as a fist the size of a boulder came crashing down for his skull — knuckles like rusted iron, trailing the groan of overworked metal.
The weight of the attack almost knocked his blade from his grasp, his icy cold palms peeling off and growing red from the strain of holding his blade.
For the first time, Karciel’s cold demeanor was plagued with worry and fear, for just a second...
Then he backed away as quickly as he could, giving some space between him and his attackers.
His demeanor fixed itself, and then he straightened, taking a long breath before releasing it.
Karciel’s eyes narrowed at his opponents, now three of them. His eyes instinctively turned to Kyle. "So, a summoner. You are just as dangerous."
Kyle frowned, watching the face of the brutal hunter revert back to a cold silent gaze, the fear of his demise quickly disappearing like it was never there.
’Fucking bastard,’ Kyle turned over to Lord Roach, his supposed companion, staring at its fist, which was barely damaged from the earlier impact.
Then he turned back to Karciel.
The ruthless hunter seemed to be doing something.
Kyle raised a brow in confusion at what he was doing...
"Was he... dancing?"
No, that couldn’t be. Karciel was making a few strange movements, but none of them were dancing. His hands cut through the air as though etching symbols only he could see, each stroke paired with a deliberate, opposing step of his feet, like some grim rite half-remembered.
Kyle turned to look at Rita, eyes begging for her to take the opportunity for a sneak magic attack and end the life of the hunter before he realized it.
However, she remained still, her eyes glaring at Karciel, unwilling to react or throw any spells at him.
She simply... shook where she stood.
’Is she afraid?’ Did she know something Kyle did not?
Just as paranoia started to wash over Kyle, Rita finally wrenched her mouth open and yelled something over to Kyle.
A word that caused his entire being to quiver.
"Run!"