The knight of terror

WOOSH!

A brilliant ball of blue sped through the air, crashing into a white gorilla. Snow flew into the air, and the gorilla fell to the ground, a gory hole in its chest.

Blood sinked into the snow, giving it colour. A woman walked up to the body, her golden hair prominent in the snow filled area.

Sarah Foster cast a glance behind her, where her group members stood. As the group got higher up the mountain, the weather changed. From moderately warm, it dropped to a terrifying cold.

A gust of wind blew, and Sarah Foster felt winter caress every inch of her skin. Though it left an uncomfortable feeling, or didn't bother her too much. At least, not as much as it bothered her party members.

She stole a glance at the group behind her, all of whom were trembling like a blade of grass in a storm. They couldn't stay in the cold any longer, they'd freeze to death. Sarah Foster grit her teeth. Should she have left them behind? Should she take them back now? If she left them at the bottom of the mountain where it was warmer, there was the risk of them encountering an A-rank monster. They'd die without a fight, since the gap between C-grade and A was far too large. Forget about that, a majority of the entire group were below C-class. "Dammit! If these rangers die, it'll be my responsibility. I am the one who offered them assurance of safety."

"Captain." A voice called her.

Sarah Foster turned around to see one of her party members, a young boy with a buzz cut. He was young, a small amount of beard was only forming on his chin.

"Yes?" She turned to face him.

"Don't worry too much about us. We should be thankful enough that you've offered a chance to weak rangers like us. Without you, we'd still be raiding low level dungeons, barely making enough to provide for our family."

That's right. All, or most of the people here, were from poor backgrounds... Just like herself.

But still, despite everything materialistic she'd provided them, their lives took importance over it.

Just as she was going to continue breaking her head thinking about what to do, she heard the flapping of wings. She spun around, her expression full of caution.

"A monster!? How did it escape my detection?"

A blue energy danced around her like a storm, ready to strike at any second. Hidden in the snowstorm, which was as thick as a goats milk, was a silhouette. It was of a large 2 legged creature, with two wide wings. It looked like... A dragon?

Sarah Foster's eyes widened, and she drew her palms back to attack. A deep, and icy voice however, froze her into place.

"Cease your offense. I come in peace."

Emerging from the curtain of snow, was a large, and graceful beast. Smooth, red scales darker than the color of blood. Spikes from above it's head, right upto its tail.

Though, most notably, were the blue crack like lines that glowed like the full moon.

~°~°~°

BOOM!

CRASH!

Dust filled the air, hiding Alden within. The snake lifted its head, and opened it's fangs to let out a deadly hiss, it began circling the dust filled area, ready to strike.

A distance away, landed a dragon. Skin charcoal black with crack like lines that glowed. On the dragon, was a young, dark skinned boy. On his face, was an expression of worry and expectancy.

Prince watched as the dust cleared, until what was hidden within showed. Alden stood, unhurt, his eyes following the moving snake.

Alden had easily avoided the attack, and he was more interested with "recruiting" the snake.

"Can it be called recruiting? I mean, guys got not choice but to work for me. A better word would be coercion, yes..."

Unfortunately, Alden couldn't keep thinking about it since the snake had once again lunged for him.

"Yikes! " He yelped, leaping a few meters away. "You see now that..."

He shot toward the snake, his hand ready to swing.

"Was very rude!"

THUD!

His fist pummeled the snakes tough exoskeleton. He expected it to fly away like all the other monsters, but it barely flinched. Furthermore, his fist only left a tiny crack on the snakes exoskeleton.

The snake, turned its head, it's head glaring at Alden in annoyance.

"Uh oh."

The creature began creeping closer to Alden, and Alden took slow steps back.

"Let me tell you something...let me tel you something... ahh!" The snake lunged, and it's Jaws closed around Alden's arm, pulling him into the air like a doll.

"Not my arm again!" He yelled, but alas! The snake clearly didn't care. It began to smash him into the ground. Smash. Smash. Smash. Until it finally threw him aside before preparing to lunge once again.

"Argh..." mumbled Alden, it's fangs had broken his skin and he could already feel the poisen spread throughout his body. His armor had been cracked, and his cloak was a little torn.

"Time to get serious..." he couldn't get too severely injured before he found the boss.

[SELF HEAL(lv1) ACTIVATED]

A light shone, layering his skin. The hole in his arm began closing, rather miraculously. All of the strange sensations of the poisen devouring him disappeared, and he felt reinvigorated.

"Perfecto..." he readied himself to attack. He could just remove his swordstaff and attack but he wanted to challenge himself. Also, his pride. He didn't want to believe that he couldn't beat a puny snake without weapons. It was like the system had instilled a desire to fight against difficult odds, and win.

"Huh?" Alden suddenly muttered. It seemed like Bizarro had found Sarah Foster. She was quite a distance away. This led to Alden wondering, how big was this dungeon?

"Hiss." The snake had attacked again, seemingly furious that Alden had healed his wounds easily.

"It's got powerful defense..." Alden thought, there only seemed to be a single way to beat it. He'd have to try it.

Alden leaped into the air, avoiding the snakes attack. Then, he activated gravity, and plummeted into the creatures head.

BOOM!

His attack landed. It was far more powerful this time. The snake whipped it's head toward him. Alden retreated into the air.

He needed another opening. He knew just how to get it, though. Alden dove through the air, straight at the snake.

[GLITCH (lv 3) ACTIVATED!]

He appeared above the snake. Alden clasped his hands together, and hammered the snake.

BANG!

A magnitudinous sonic boom filled the air, and this attack was enough to send the snakes head into the ground.

He raised his hand, and swung it.

BOOM!

He hammered the creature again.

BOOM!

Again.

BOOM!

Panting, he leaped off the creature. He cautiously walked to it, before lightly kicking it with his foot.

A notification gave him peace, and he sank into the ground, resting his back on the creature. A few minutes later, a voice caused him to glance to the side.

"Hey Alden! You good?" Prince called.

"Well... Yeah. I'm just relaxing for a bit."

Prince regarded Alden with a strange expression.

"What?" Alden asked, raising his brow.

"Well, generally you don't speak much but when you're fighting..."

Alden's eyes widened with surprise. That was true, when he fought he began trash talking. Well, he'd have to watch his mouth.

Beside that, he still spoke a lot nowadays. He did like speaking, but he'd grown used to being quiet after being abused for so long. He only began speaking when he opened up or trusted someone... Did that mean he was opening up around Prince? He was open with Lily, but that was because of what they'd been through. Additionally they'd be working together so he had to trust her, but why Prince?

Was it because of his likeable personality? Alden didn't know. As far as he knew, Prince wasn't too bad.

"Hey Prince," Alden called.

"Yeah?" he asked.

Forget about all that. He had to stop the kid from wasting so much money on Reawakening. He wouldn't tell him about his secrets, but he'd try to convince him otherwise.

"Don't try and become stronger."

Surprise flashed across the boy's face.

"What?" he seemed to ponder, before he spoke. His brows were furrowed as he spoke. "Please don't intrude unto my intentions. You're already so strong, you've no right to tell me not to get stronger."

At his word, Alden let out a scoff.

"Are you laughing at me?" Anger seemed to seep into Prince's voice.

"No," Alden looked at Prince. "I'm just amused at what you just said. Me? Strong?"

Alden shook his head.

"You're stronger than me. "

"This isn't funny..." Prince's frown deepened.

"I'm not trying to be."

Alden stood up.

"It took several close encounters of death for me to wake up. So weak I was, that I nearly killed myself. Why? Because a video of me spread on the internet. I'm pathetic."

Alden placed a hand on Prince's shoulder.

"But you're far more powerful than me. Your mental fortitude is remarkable. You don't need to worry about getting stronger and earning money because I am opening a guild. Lend me your strength, and I will compensate you."

Prince seemed to hesitate, before he removed Alden's hand from his shoulder.

" Thank you for your concern, but I want to earn what I get."

Alden sighed.

" Suit yourself. " he shrugged. Then, he turned to the snake, before transforming it into his soldier.

In a few seconds, he had acquired a new soldier. He however, commanded it to enter his domain, since he didn't need it.

Suddenly, Alden flinched. Deep within his bones, he felt a terrifying presence. Though it did not overwhelm him, it's power was terrifying.

Alden spun around, and his eyes landed on the horizon. Calmly walking toward him, was a man in full body armor. In his hand, was a sword.

"Human!" he called out. "Are you ready to die a dogs death? A death, with no honor?"