Apparently, a dozen or so gold-ranked knights couldn’t stop him in his blood shura state, and Asher figured that out two nights ago.
The only thing Asher remembered from that night was when he found himself pointing a sword toward Kelvin.
Every other person was knocked out but not killed. It seemed like even when he was an emotionless shura, he could vaguely determine between enemies and allies, but if there was one thing he had discovered, it was that cutting himself or relying on his blood shura state was a big mistake.
It was too dangerous to be controlled.
It could only be his last card.
Asher sat in his study, reading quietly as he had been doing for two days now, when someone knocked at his door.
“Your Lordship.”
Kelvin’s voice rang.
“Come in.”
Kelvin opened the door and walked in. “We have set up the apothecary shop, and the man is still waiting for your arrival.”
Asher nodded, but his eyes were still on what he was reading.
“My Lord?”
“Kelvin, why do you think this winter’s tide was so weak?”
Asher asked out of the blue.
Kelvin adjusted his gold-rimmed spectacles and coughed softly. “I have no idea. This is supposed to be good news, Your Lordship. We only recorded wounded soldiers and not one death; this is the best winter, especially in our current stage.”
Kelvin saw that although Asher listened to him, his heart was still set on figuring out what went wrong or what he wasn’t seeing.
“Your Lordship, winter will soon end. You should host a celebration for the entire stronghold and make them more devoted to you, their lord. As you grow, you won’t be able to see everyone, so it’s best to cultivate a close relationship with these people because they are the foundation, and as the foundation, they will let others know of you in the future.”
Asher averted his eyes from the book that had a depiction of gloomy clouds and an army of terrifying beings toward Kelvin.
Bam!
Exhaling loudly, he shut the book.
“Send a letter to Alex.”
Asher said and left.
He couldn’t be the one with the pessimistic vision. Asher massaged his forehead as he went into his room and sat on the bed while staring at the mural.
“Zenas.”
A picture flashed through his mind.
It was an image of Zenas clad in dark golden armor pointing his sword at his enemies from the top of his giant wolf, the great Shura!
If there was one iconic thing about this picture that might have been an effect of his talent, it was Zena’s and Shura’s pure white eyes.
He massaged his forehead harder.
‘I need to rest.’
Asher puffed out as he lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling and praying for sleep to come.
……
Clang! Clang!
Boom!
Bam!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
All sorts of sounds, some came with trembling and some were subtle as it tore through the air.
Asher found himself on a mountain. It was foggy, but the roars of war led him to the cliff, and from there he saw thousands of green-skinned creatures, both short and tall, skinny and stout, launching a great attack on a wall he knew all too well.
It was the wall of Nineveh!
Asher’s eyes widened.
His heart pounded against his chest as he watched his men valiantly fight back, but the horde were slowly creeping in, weakening his men, and in the next moment, the gates were broken and the horde dashed into the stronghold.
Suddenly, Asher found himself behind a dozen guards who were using their shields and spears to kill as many creatures as they could.
Neigh!
The sound of a horse made him turn. It was Lambert and his cavalrymen sprinting toward the gate with such great momentum that they seemed like a force of a thousand cavalrymen.
Their red cloaks danced in the billowing northwind as they raced through the passage opened by the shieldbearers into the massive horde outside the stronghold.
Asher looked at the rumbling black clouds that hovered ominously over Nineveh, and his eyes shook.
……..
A pair of dull golden eyes snapped open, and Asher sat up, sweating profusely. White mist appeared with each exhale.
He closed his eyes and clutched his quilt tightly.
“Just a nightmare.”
“Where’s Lord Asher?!”
A loud voice from the corridor fell into his ears, causing him to lift his head.
“I’ve been knocking, Sir Kelvin.” A voice, probably from a vanguard, responded.
Bam!
The door was slammed open, and Kelvin walked in with a vanguard whose sword wasn’t in his scabbard.
“Nineveh will soon be under siege, Your Lordship.”
Kelvin had an expression that spoke volumes of how he thought himself foolish to have ignored the signs and even wanted his lord to do the same.
“What are we facing?”
“An army of abyss creatures. I believe these are the ones that went into hiding in the mountains.”
…….
Some minutes later, Asher could be seen wearing his vambraces while walking through the corridor, toward the exit of the castle.
“Alec and Eritrea are positioning the army for defense.”
Asher’s eyes gleamed. “No. I shall ride with the Bladebreakers into their army and slaughter every one of those beings before they hurt even one citizen.”
Boom!
The huge castle doors were opened, and a cold wind hit Asher’s face. Looking up, he saw black clouds coming from the north. It kept rolling and rolling and Asher knew it was coming for Nineveh.
These creatures that were coming were abyss creatures, and their numbers were staggering, or else they wouldn’t have caused this phenomenal effect.
This was the abyssal curse.
The endless north had been reduced to the wastelands and the desolatelands, which were also known as the beyond because of this curse.
All five shura vanguards mounted well-fed horses, which were clad in mail armor and followed Asher, who mounted Sirius.
Asher went to the top of the wall and looked at the horde of goblins that covered a vast part of the land, growling as they made their way toward Nineveh.
“Winter definitely isn’t over.”
