10. A Refined System

Nathanial listened to the eerie rustles of leaves swaying in the wind. The ambience of the forest faded, and a silence took hold over the surroundings. Two minutes remained until the mission was over. His eyes scanned the treeline for any signs of life, yet nothing came into sight.

“Is something bugging you?” Fredrick asked.

Nathanial narrowed his eyes. “I—”

Before he could finish his sentence, an overwhelming pressure pressed down on the shoulders of every single Everheart soldier in the area. Fear held onto their hearts, and the sound of a roaring downpour drowned out their courage.

Nathanial stared down at his trembling hands. The violent sensation nearly engulfed his entire body as he desperately fought back against the overwhelming force. Pieces of his armor were shaking, and the stones on the dirt road quivered. His eyes shifted to Richard, a two-star aura user who was barely holding himself upright.

This wasn’t a psychological effect, but a physical one.

The snap of twigs reached Nathanial’s ears. His gaze focused on the figures wearing dark cloaks, just like the archer they had killed. They numbered about a dozen men strong, each bright crimson aura enveloping their bodies.

How? How are there so many of them here?

Nathanial gritted his teeth and clenched the hilt of his broken blade. Droplets of blood that had yet to dry fell onto the ground. The surrounding men were shivering with fear, and nothing he said could restore morale. Yet Nathanial didn’t want to give up here.

It would be easy for him to run. He could easily abandon the men locked in fear, but how could he? To run away from the men he fought beside didn’t sit well with him, and a desire burned within him. One that wanted to overcome the adversaries standing before him. He locked eyes with the leader of the Empire’s forces—the person who stood in the center with an aura like flames drifting into the clear blue sky.

The only one who could harm them was Richard, but he had his limits.

Nathanial slowly breathed in, readying his blade while pointing the end at the man before him. His eyes scanned the treeline. Twelve men wearing black garments stood along the treeline that he could see. Many more had probably surrounded them from all sides to cut off their escape.

His broken blade gleamed in the sunlight. Roughly fifty meters existed between the two forces, and with that distance, it was enough time for Nathanial to react. He just needed to dodge the first strike.

Yet the moment he blinked his eyes—the leader of the Empire’s forces was standing right in front of him. Only a meter away, with his blade aimed toward his heart.

What the hell!

Nathanial paled. The crimson-shrouded figure moved with inhumane speed, blurring across the clearing in a single heartbeat. A feat impossible for a common soldier. Nathanial wasn’t facing a three-star aura user. The man was at least a four-star aura user. An elite who had unlocked the latent properties of their soul to transcend physical limits.

Sweat dripped down the side of Nathanial’s face. He could see the hollow, lifeless eyes in his foe’s gaze and the lethal path of the oncoming blade. Pouring every ounce of strength into his legs, Nathanial twisted his body, pivoting his weight to force a desperate counterattack. He ignored the steel racing toward his ribcage. Narrowly changing the trajectory of where the attack would land while focusing entirely on a flicker of weakness in the enemy’s aura.

The blade was inches from his chest, and Nathanial held his own.

But at that moment, a faint sound broke through the tension.

A low rumble that manifested into a roar. The earth buckled and split apart with large, jagged monoliths of stone erupting from the chasms. The cracks fanned out like spider-webs. Each split hunting down the Empire’s forces.

The man who was mere centimeters away from ending Nathanial’s life immediately snapped his head to the side, leaping back toward the treeline as screams and cries of pain engulfed the battlefield. In an instant, the battlefield turned in their favor.

Nathanial steadied his racing heart.

Who had come to their aid?

That was the question on his mind, and as he was searching for answers—a man wearing a dark green cloak emerged from the foliage of the forest. On his cloak’s seam, there was a dull badge that had lost its shimmer. A symbol of an owl with its wings spread out below a crown.

Nathanial’s eyes widened. Everyone in the Everheart Kingdom knew what the symbol meant. It was the sigil of the Order. The organization tasked with completing grueling missions behind enemy lines and the very same group that discovered the Empire’s treacherous plot before it was too late.

The watchmen of the kingdom.

All the patrol members rose at the sudden appearance, but Nathanial knew it wasn’t enough. Even with the surprise attack injuring several of the Empire’s men, there were still twelve of them and one watchman.

The man wearing the green hood glanced over at Nathanial’s battered body. “You bastards really had your fun with our men.”

“Are you in a position to say that?” the enemy leader asked. “After all, you watchmen have been hunting down our forces along the border in numbers that make ours pale in comparison—”

Before the man could finish his sentence, a flash of silver arced through the air. He bent his knees as he ducked beneath the crescent blade’s path.

Nathanial saw it only as a blur. The heavy iron of a halberd wreathed in a pulsing azure glow in the hands of another watchman. The weapon tilted mid-swing before cleaving downward, slicing through the man’s crimson aura like silk under a razor.

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As blood sprayed across the stone, the Empire’s black-clad agents froze. The momentary silence shattered instantly as they scrambled outward, and the two watchmen immediately sprinted into action. Chasing the foes that scattered like roaches into the depths of the forest.

But right before the watchman wielding the halberd left, his hazel eyes gazing through the strands of his black hair met Nathanial’s and a curt nod followed.

“Well done.”

Those were the last words he heard before the watchman disappeared without a trace. Their steps made no sound, like they had never existed, and all Nathanial could do was stand there in disbelief until a firm hand grabbed onto his shoulder.

“Leave it to them; we’ll only get in the way, and we have to head back and report what’s happened to the others,” Richard said. “Besides…”

He stared in the direction the watchmen went. “For the Order to show up here means that the situation has taken a turn for the worse.”

“Yeah… and the scale of this war is about to go beyond our reach.”

Fredrick held his side. “We barely made it out, huh?”

Nathanial nodded, unable to find the words for their bittersweet victory. He took one last glance at the bodies littered on the floor before following the other men. They had barely survived their encounter with the Empire’s forces, and every fight felt like an uphill battle.

But despite this, Nathanial continued doing what he could, and that was moving forward.

He walked down the broken road where uncertainty held his life as a soft ding entered his ears.

[ Time Remaining: 0 minutes. ]

[ Quest Completed: Hidden In The Depths. ]

[ Reward: Vow System Unlocked. ]

Nathanial lifted his head, ignoring the aching pain in his body. His gaze focused on the golden, translucent screen. If there was one fact he was certain of, it was that the system itself was forcing his growth. But was it really trying to save the world?

Or was there something else it was after?

As that question lingered on his mind. His status screen appeared once more.

***

Status

Name: Nathanial Silverlight

Aura Rank: One Star

Titles: Champion of █ █ █ █ █, Levy of the Kingdom

Long-term Mission: Save the world.