Ezra woke up before just a bit after midnight, he sensed incoming danger and he found out that there were two hawks eying on him. He had recovered half of his magic capacity. As Ezra was preparing on his plan he overheard the conversation below.
"Something seems to be wrong," blurted a puzzled Phobos.
After the statement, the sleeping knights abruptly awoke from their slumber.
"What seems to be the matter?" Deimos asked.
"The felbeasts seem to be surrounding us, this does not look good normally the animals in this area are minimal. This behaviour is baffling, they are not attacking, it looks like they are waiting. This has never happened before,"
"Yeah, I"ve never seen them act like this, these creatures are supposed to be attacking each other and filled with bloodl.u.s.t once the sun sets, this place has always been a refuge to us."
"What do we do now?" asked a fully alert Rycharde.
"I think we should break away from the encirclement before they attack, let"s dash to Anticourt, I have a bad feeling about this," Deimos answered with a determined look,
Rycharde complied. "Okay, we"ll prepare the horses." He beckoned to the Blackfyre guard as they swiftly readied their steeds.
Ezra didn"t look down, he could not take his eyes off the birds of prey that were circling him, it was too risky for that.
"So that was the cause of the unearthly bloodl.u.s.t, whenever night strikes this forest all the creatures in it seem to be affected," Ezra thought, still not taking his eyes off the hawks.
"But the knights don"t seem affected, and the Demon Hunters seem to have already travelled at night before. So what are the factors that contribute to the bloodl.u.s.t? Is it my youth or my heritage? Hmm,
"If those knights leave without me I"m done for! I might turn into a feral child! I must let them know that I am here, I guess I"ll just have to show myself and explain,"
But as Ezra thought of going down the hawks attacked. He quickly evaded and jumped on one as he stabbed it with his dagger. The hawk made a shrill cry.
As Ezra rode the hawk he plummeted along with it 30 meters away from the circle. He felt intense bloodl.u.s.t but fought it.
"This is bad, I must get back,"
As he landed he saw a mult.i.tude of animals gathering toward the circle, it seemed that they were not affected by the miasma of the forest, rather, it looked like they were soldiers preparing for battle. He looked back as he drove down the urge to kill something. He saw a human-like silhouette, but he did not pay attention because he focused on getting back and having the knights help him.
Rycharde squinted. "Is that a toddler stabbing a boar? Wha?"
Before anyone else could comment a group of wolves encircled the periphery of the pillar.
"This doesn"t look good, they have totally covered all exits," said a troubled Deimos.
"Let"s thin the herd for now," Phobos replied. "Protect the mounts we fight here,"
"Galwell, stay in the middle. Everyone else, try to conserve as much magic as possible," added Deimos.
The wolves which were two times bigger than the average wolf, attacked. They were agile and could dodge the attacks of Rycharde and Evered but the wolves who were not so lucky got their heads cleanly clobbered off. Blood and fur covered the battlefield as the fight continued. It was a bloodbath.
In the midst of the battle with the attacking felbeasts, Galwell decided to switch his weapon to his trusty spear. He effectively stabbed the felcougars and some felwolves.
The two demon hunters were fighting the beasts right and left but their outstanding teamwork kept the beasts at bay. Two mountain lions pounced at them but they dodged at the same time making the two crash into each other, Deimos took his whip and coiled the two lions as it cracked, Phobos automatically drew his dagger and slit their throats while dodging a charge from a felbear.
Ezra successfully disengaged from the boar that attacked him, and was running toward the encirclement, the boar"s wounds made it fairly slower than the others, but as Ezra went closer to the pillar it appeared that more and more animals were following him, he drove as much magic to his legs but could not dash into a straight line as many felbeasts that were formerly in groups broke away to chase him.
As he approached the twenty-meter line there were ten animals chasing him, a wolf from his right side flanked him but dodged the wolf by leaping forward but another wolf flanked him from the left. He had trouble advancing, just as he dodged the two wolves a huge bear blocked his path. Ezra"s face was worried now, he was consuming magic because of the willpower requirement. He did not know if he could make it to the other side
Evered gasped as his mace smashed a felboar"s skull. "Is that a toddler running toward us?" he said as he squinted.
"What the. . . Oooff. " Rycharde was. .h.i.t by a charging felboar as he was distracted by Ezra"s frantic run but he quickly recovered as he tossed the boar to a bunch of wolves.
"That"s Lord Ezra! Quick, Oswyn Dynham, cover him,"
Rycharde did not even think why the little lord was in this forest he just quickly issued orders for the protection of Ezra.
Upon being alerted of Ezra"s presence the two muscular bodies of Oswyn and Dynham dashed forward as they disengaged from their opponents, Rycharde and Evered quickly closed the gap that Oswyn and Dynham exposed.
Two bears blocked their path as they charged forward. The bears counter attacked the slash and thrust of the two knights. They couldn"t easily kill the two bears as the two animals focused more on blocking and defending rather than attacking. The two frustrated knights couldn"t help as they saw Ezra being slowly surrounded by felbeasts, a mad plan formed in Oswyn"s mind.
He suddenly charged and used the length of the polearm to vault across the bear he was fighting, the bewildered bear just stood and reached out for Oswyn, but the swipe was not high enough to reach. Just as the plan seemed successful, a boar pounced on Oswyn"s chest in mid-air, flinging him further away from Ezra. Oswyn pounded the ground in frustration.
"d.a.m.n it," Ezra thought.
AMP could not calculate a suitable route for Ezra, he needed to dispose a few more beasts but that would just leave room for more beasts to pursue him, he backed against a tree but there were hawks that were guarding the air above, he could not successfully climb up there were too many hawks and they did not leave openings with the bloodl.u.s.t affecting him he could not use AMP to the fullest extent, even though he tried the method of directing his rage toward a beast. He was just 10 meters away but the encirclement grew tight and there was no way he could get out without charging through.
"Am I going to die here?" Ezra thought
He held his dagger and decided to gamble and push forward, but there was a bear swipe he didn"t notice he flinched as it was about to land. Suddenly, it was brushed away as a knight charged forward with his lance.
A knight with a plate armour appeared riding his steed, his helmet toward his visor looked like a fish opening its mouth. His resplendent aura was emanating. He seemed to be a heroic angel in Ezra"s sight.
"Lord Ezra, let"s go home."
Evan had arrived.