Return of the Mythic Bloodline

Chapter 489: Twilight Sword vs Troll King

Ezekiel understood the situation in an instant. The pool of blood on the ground belonged to the scouts that had sent the information about the cave. It had been a trap from the beginning, designed to make them lower their guard.

"Everyone to your feet! We are surrounded by enem—"

Before Ezekiel could finish the announcement, a massive mace struck her down from above.

Bam!

A loud thud echoed through the whole cave, jolting every sleeping knight to their feet from the explosive noise.

"Grrrr...Impressive," Grendel chattered through his tusks, his large grey eyes looking down at Ezekiel, who had blocked the attack at the last moment with her sword.

"You will regret coming to me yourself," Ezekiel muttered, her blue eyes glowing bright behind the helm as a dense, liquid aura of the same color began wrapping around her sword. "I will finally put an end to you today, Grendel!"

She swung her sword with both hands, pushing Grendel’s mace back, if only slightly. Meanwhile, the other knights arrived behind her with unsheathed weapons.

"Spear battalion, make sure the route outside isn’t blocked! Shield battalion at the front, Sword Battalion follow me!" Ezekiel declared the orders loud and clear as she rushed at Grendel.

The knights followed her command in an instant. A squad armed with spears retreated toward the cave’s exit while the others bolted forward, following Ezekiel without a single hint of doubt or fear.

Before the knights could reach Grendel, they were stopped by several trolls that emerged from behind him. The trolls were enormous, each one almost reaching the high ceiling of the cave, their dark hides glistening with moisture in the dim light. In just a few seconds, the wide cave turned into a battlefield, filled with the deafening clang of weapons clashing against the hardened flesh of the trolls and the grunts of men pushing against something far larger than themselves.

"Your minions...cannot protect you now...Grrrr.... Twilight Sword," Grendel said, a horrifying smirk forming on his face.

The knights had been completely surrounded by the trolls, leaving only Grendel and Ezekiel at the center.

"You must be having the wrong idea, Grendel," Ezekiel said as a towering blue aura, thrice the length of her sword, surrounded the blade. "Not even once did I need the protection of my subordinates."

The ground split open beneath her as she moved forward with a sudden jolt, swinging her sword at Grendel’s throat.

Just as the blade drew closer, its speed significantly reduced. Ezekiel’s eyes moved toward her subordinates who were engaged in the clash with the other trolls behind Grendel. If she swung with full force, they might get caught in the aftermath.

"This is why...Grrr...I chose...this cave," Grendel declared, striking the blade with his mace at full force.

The impact forced Ezekiel’s sword backward. Taking advantage of the opening, he slammed the mace straight into Ezekiel. The sheer width of the mace was as large as her whole body. The strike sent her flying several feet through the air, the sound of bending steel ringing out sharply over the noise of the battle. She forced herself to a stop by driving her sword into the ground.

"Cough...cough..." Blood gushed from the tiny opening in her helm. A massive dent had been carved into her chestplate where the mace had struck her.

"Darn it, I can’t use full force or the ceiling might come down," Ezekiel muttered, pulling her sword out of the ground. "I somehow need to get him out of the cave."

She glanced back toward the exit. Unsurprisingly, it was being blocked by a unit of trolls, where the spear knights were already engaged in battle against them.

"Do you feel it now....Grrrr...the fear of being trapped?" Grendel’s voice rumbled as he moved toward Ezekiel, each step shaking the ground and leaving deep, engraved footprints in the stone.

"They are both quite weak compared to when I fought them," I murmured, watching the battle from above. Grendel was much smaller here than he had been inside the black gate, and his strikes weren’t even close to half the strength he had displayed there. On the other side, Ezekiel’s sword aura was only at its beginning stage. If her sword techniques had been as refined as they were in San Francisco, she would never have struggled to contain her own power.

"I suppose these memories are from long ago, before either of them had reached the peak of their strength," I concluded.

On the ground below, Grendel began slamming his mace onto Ezekiel with his full strength. Ezekiel used only enough force to block each blow, but the sheer gap between their physical capabilities was taking a visible toll on her body. Her arms trembled faintly with each deflection, and the stone beneath her boots cracked from the repeated force she was being made to absorb.

The impact of their clashes shook the entire cave, and the shockwaves were already causing the knights and trolls alike to stagger from the aftermath. Unlike Ezekiel, Grendel paid no mind to whether his own subordinates were being caught in his attacks. Debris and rocks began raining down from the ceiling in several places.

"I can’t keep on like this," Ezekiel muttered inwardly, blood dripping from her gloves, turning the silver hilt of her sword crimson. "Do I have no choice but to sacrifice my subordinates? I have no relation with them. They haven’t even seen my face. I shouldn’t care about them."

Her actions and thoughts were in complete contrast. Even after repeatedly convincing herself that she didn’t care about the knights, she was still enduring Grendel’s relentless attacks out of fear of hurting them.

"You seem distracted," Grendel said, striking the fingers that held her sword.

The sword dropped to the ground from the sudden attack. Grendel didn’t waste the chance. He grabbed his mace with both hands and brought it down on Ezekiel.

Tang!

A loud metallic ring echoed as the stone mace struck a human-sized shield of steel.

"Th-thank you for holding back for us, Sir Ezekiel," a knight muttered through clenched teeth as he blocked the mace with his shield. The impact still broke several of his bones. He was the same auburn-haired knight who had carried the calmest expression among the squad.

Following him, five other knights arrived, swordsmen and shieldmen alike.

"We will stop him, Twilight Sword," the man continued. "Please clear the path in the meantime."

For the first time, Ezekiel didn’t feel the burden of carrying her subordinates through the fight.

"Don’t blame me if you die," she said, picking her sword up from the ground. She pivoted on her foot and rushed toward the exit.

"Grrrr!!! No you won’t!" Grendel snarled, stepping forward to follow her.

"We are the ones you are facing now," the auburn-haired knight said, slamming his shield before Grendel. The other shieldmen placed their shields beside his, interlocking them together while the spearsmen attacked Grendel from behind the formation. It was an unbreakable stance they had learned in order to hunt monsters several times stronger than themselves.

However, Grendel was far from any ordinary monster.

"Out of my way!" He roared, smashing his mace into the interlocked shields, sending a ripple of air rings outward.

The knights were immediately driven to their knees from the impact, one of them falling to the ground entirely, unable to bear the shockwaves. The spearsmen stabbed at Grendel’s arm through the gaps, but being a troll, his skin regenerated immediately before he raised his mace again.

Bam!

He struck again, and another knight fell to the ground.

Bam!

Bam!

Bam!

He struck continuously, carving massive dents into the metallic shields. Each time a knight dropped, those who remained had to absorb the shockwaves of his position as well. Only the auburn-haired knight remained standing. His skin had been torn apart by the shockwaves, blood seeping from every gap in his armor, which had cracked yet still held as he stubbornly maintained his defensive stance against Grendel.

"Die, you ant!" Grendel shouted, bringing the mace down again.

The knight closed his eyes, as if he already knew he would not survive the next strike.

"You have done well holding your ground," a voice reached his ears instead of the mace.

He opened his eyes to find Ezekiel standing before him, catching the descending mace with her sword.

"Everyone move out of the cave, or don’t blame me if you get in my way!" Ezekiel’s voice tore through the cave.

She had already cut down the trolls at the exit, opening the way.

The knights broke off from their engagements with the trolls and quickly began moving out.

"Th...thank you, Sir Ezekiel," the auburn-haired knight murmured as he was supported by the retreating knights around him.

"Grrrr.... don’t let them get away," Grendel ordered.

The trolls could not stop the retreating knights. They had been positioned to prevent the knights from reaching Ezekiel on the opposite side of the cave, and only a handful had managed to break free from their trap. The trolls stationed at the exit had already been cut down.

Within seconds, the knights rushed out through the opening. The remaining trolls moved to follow, but Ezekiel appeared before them, standing as the final line of defense for the retreating knights. They attacked her, but unlike before, she did not hold back. Every troll that attempted to pass her was left with only its headless body on the ground.

As the final knight moved outside, she gripped her sword with both hands, the tip of the blade pointing toward the ceiling.

The aura around the blade extended exponentially, stretching all the way up to the roof of the cave. The pebbles on the ground began to tremble and rocks broke loose from the ceiling above.

"Sword of Valtorian: The Final Stand!"

Waves of aura blades radiated outward from different heights along the sword, each one unstoppable, piercing through everything in their path including the walls, the trolls, and the rocks themselves. Grendel moved behind his subordinates to shield himself, but they were cut down by the blades all the same, as though a hot knife were passing through butter.

The entire hill shook from the continuous impact of blades into the cave walls, and the whole ceiling came down.