Chapter 81: Frenzy

And again, he did it.

With the situation as bad as it was, Yulis didn’t spare a thought for conserving arrows. One after another, he shot them into the slits of the helmets, all while Ralph desperately fought to keep the Temple Knights in front of him.

After loosing twenty arrows, Yulis lowered his bow, a stern expression on his face.

’The effect ended, huh?’

But he’d done what he needed.

Yulis could return to Acolyte duty.

He’d managed to fully blind a second one, and two others seemed half-blind, reacting to anything on their left a half-breath late.

With their vision impaired, Maura found the perfect opportunity to decapitate one of the blind ones after it fell flat on its face.

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Knight]

Peace watched its shadow as the Temple Knight behind it stepped over, swinging down on Ralph.

No Acolyte had spawned in the wake of its death.

’Some luck...? I guess!’

However...

"Geruh!"

Ralph grunted as he lifted his shield to take the blow, bracing it with his elbow.

The thick sword slammed against the metal, sending sparks flying. The sheer force of the impact nearly knocked Ralph onto his back.

Stumbling backward, Ralph caught himself, then tried to raise his shield against another incoming blow.

’No... it was that bad?’

Peace’s eyes narrowed as he watched Ralph’s shoulder.

’Why did he have to act tough?!’

"Volkar!"

There wasn’t time to relay his intent, but the Giant seemed to understand the panic in his voice.

"Buurahh!"

Stepping forward, Volkar swung his axe into the path of the sword strike, knocking it back just before it could slip over Ralph’s shield, which he’d failed to raise.

’Shit!’

A single step too far.

Even if Ralph was their target, the Temple Knights weren’t going to ignore someone standing directly between them and their prey.

And Volkar had lost his footing in his haste, sliding forward in front of Ralph.

Two Temple Knights began swinging at him from either side.

Kicking off the ground, Peace screamed:

"Get back!"

Maura jumped forward, trying to intercept the one attacking from Volkar’s left, though it was clear she was a half-step too late.

"Volkar!"

Ralph threw his shield aside and rushed forward with his sword alone.

"Dumbass!"

The Giant himself planted his feet and stood tall.

"For honor!"

Completely ignoring the attack from his left, Volkar swung his axe to the right, slamming one of the heads into the side of a Temple Knight with all his strength. The blow bit deep and sent the cretin stumbling back into its comrades.

Then...

The terrifying, quiet sound of flesh being sliced cut through the air.

A sword found Volkar’s side, cutting into his obliques and stopping only at the ribs.

But that wasn’t the only attack.

The others had also begun.

One attacked from the front, stabbing Volkar in the gut. The blade didn’t penetrate too far, as Volkar managed to catch the blow.

Yet he could do absolutely nothing about the last blow aimed at his head...

In a blur, Maura’s axe barely knocked the blade aside, redirecting it into Volkar’s shoulder instead of his neck.

"Buurahhahah!"

Volkar screamed as he dropped his axe and pushed the blade from his side with one hand and the one still trying to mangle his guts with the other.

Blood ran down his body like a horrid suit of death.

And that wasn’t nearly the end of the onslaught.

But Peace...

Peace had stopped watching and waiting.

His mind was consumed by fury. A single-minded desire to destroy his opponent.

To utterly demolish...

Slipping past Ralph, Peace dove between the legs of a Temple Knight.

"Huh?! Pariah!"

Immediately, the ones behind it tried to slam their swords down on him, but Peace came out of the roll and zipped to the side.

He positioned himself at such an awkward angle that the Temple Knights couldn’t redirect their blows without risking cutting through one another to reach him.

Finding his footing, Peace slipped through a gap barely wide enough to accommodate his skinny frame.

The last three Temple Knights at the rear all locked onto Peace, two thrusting their swords toward him and one trying to bash him with its shield.

Peace slid past, narrowly escaping a sword that claimed a few strands of his hair.

Rolling onto his stomach, Peace pushed himself off the ground and kicked off with one foot, launching himself toward their backs.

Before any of the three could turn, Peace threw his arms around one and held it still, clinging to its back.

Without a thought for care or consequence or the natrue of chainmail, Peace lowered his teeth toward the chainmail protecting its neck.

He bit.

Peace clamped down as hard as he could, his teeth struggling against the metal links until, finally, they forced their way through.

They punctured the dry, flaky flesh hidden underneath.

The Temple Knight let out an inarticulate, deathly wail as it staggered back, dropping its weapon and trying to throw Peace off its back.

But its fate was sealed.

Applying more and more force, Peace sank his teeth deeper into its neck, wrangling his head from side to side to keep his grip from slipping.

The other two had managed to turn around, but seemed completely at a loss. What they were witnessing was clearly something they were neither equipped nor designed to deal with.

Light Temple Knights didn’t dare attack another practitioner of the Light.

Uncaring of the fetid black blood and metal in his mouth, Peace bit down until his teeth clamped together.

Then, Peace kicked off its back and jumped away, giving himself some distance.

Enough distance to comfortably watch as the Temple Knight swayed and tried to bring a shaky hand up to its neck before it gave up, falling to the floor and convulsing for a few moments before finally...

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Knight]

But that wasn’t all...

He couldn’t see it clearly, but his party members were whittling down the Temple Knights from the opposite side.

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Knight]

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Knight]

[You have slain Tier 9 C-Class, Defiled Light Acolyte]

Almost instantly, the two others focused on him were upon him.

Even if his mind allowed it, he didn’t have the leisure to worry about his party members beyond his reach.

All he needed to focus on was carnage.

Killing the bastards in front of him.

Swallowing whatever was in his mouth, he studied his attackers.

One was leading with its shield while the second was already swinging its sword.

Stutter-stepping, Peace changed his direction just in time to jump out of the sword’s path.

As the Temple Knight followed through, Peace blitzed it from its side, attempting to wrestle it to the ground.

Grunting, he drove his heels into the ground and pushed up.

"Grrruah!"

The Temple Knight’s feet left the ground.

It began to bash Peace’s head with the pommel of its sword. Each blow was heavy enough to concuss him and break the skin, yet Peace held on for dear life.

Pushing his weight forward, Peace slammed the Temple Knight to the ground, then straddled it.

His claws snaked their way to the bastard’s neck, disregarding the multiple others looming around him and the one preparing to strike down at him.

Curling his fingers in, he drove his nails down and into the chainmail.

When they couldn’t pierce it, he threw his hands toward its head and tore off its helmet. Behind the metal mask was a horrid face sculpted of decayed and rotting flesh adorned with vacant eyes devoid of light.

Peace glanced up for a moment, just in time to read the trajectory of a strike coming down from above. Shimmying his shoulders, he dodged as best he could so that the blow slammed into his thin pauldrons.

The shoulder armor was immediately crushed by the blow, and a sharp pain emanated from his arm, but he momentarily ignored it.

Instead, he focused on the one he had pinned...

He drove his fingers into its mouth and began pulling down. With his other arm, he stuck his entire hand in its mouth—its dry mouth bereft of saliva.

If he couldn’t reach its neck with his claws from the outside... he’d do it from the inside.

It tried to fight back, punching at his side and slamming Peace’s oblique with the pommel of its sword.

But it wasn’t nearly enough to shake him off.

After driving his hand deep into its throat, he began to reach into the flesh and tear at it wildly.

It didn’t take long...

[You have slain Tier 9 A-Class, Light Temple Knight]

But killing one more was no reason to celebrate.

There were still six left, and one was actively charging Peace with its shield raised.

Peace tried to get off the bastard, but a sudden sharp pain in his lungs dulled his movements for a fraction of a second.

And that fraction of a second was all it took for the Temple Knight to get a clean blow, barreling into Peace and knocking him flat on his back.

Peace barely had a moment to register what had happened before a sword was being slammed down upon him.

Still in a delirious and frenzied state, Peace acted upon pure instinct...

Kill what was trying to kill him.

Peace tried to weave around the blow and launch a counter at the armored knight, but the sword was too swift and Peace too slow from the accruing injuries.

The double move left him a hair’s breadth late.

The sword slammed down into Peace’s left forearm, pinning him to the ground, nearly slicing it off entirely, which it would have done if it had been angled differently.

"Gah!"