Way of the Knights

---

Hiding behind the mountains near the market, there's a place dense with trees and tall grasses.

If one ventured even further, one would see a regular sized hill that is filled with huge holes. As for where these holes lead to was a mystery for everyone who saw them. But one thing's for sure though, this holes are where the big ants comes from, and they are the reason why this place is bustling with activity now.

The area 50 meters around the said hill is basically the arena on which the knights and the ants were battling. Loud explosions and fierce collisions were happening everywhere here. The battlefield is filled with large craters, eroded steel and left over carcasses of the ants that fell here, the ground is stain with purple blood which came from the ants and some red blood which obviously came from humans.

"Report!"

Someone shouted inside the camp. His voice got the attention of someone who's sitting inside a tent while looking on some documents. This person raised his hand and gestured for that recruit to continue his report.

"We have some new Fighters who wanted to join our defence."

The man who's sitting inside the tent raised his head to meet the recruits eyes. He then said: "How many?"

"A total of six Sir, all of them reached Bone Tempering Realm."

"Bring them in."

"Affirmative!" The recruit went outside of the tent to escort the six people he was talking about. He came back with them and as soon as they went inside, the man who's sitting inside the tent inspected their appearances one by one.

'I do not know these people.' The man thought to himself. He hadn't see these faces before so he was a bit skeptical about their identities. He placed a very strict expression as he slowly stood up and went closer to them.

"I'm assuming you guys are the one's who wanted to join our defence against these huge ants."

One guys stepped forward and performed a small salute before saying: "Technically I'm the only one who wanted to join but I don't want to be alone so I dragged my friends with me."

There were collective groans behind the who spoke but he ignore them. The camp supervisor was shocked and a little bewildered about his claim. It was then replaced by a tinge of annoyance since he felt like these people aren't taking this scenario seriously.

"Tell me your names." His voice turned a bit stricter here but it failed to cause any changes on the man's expression.

"My name is Crow. These are my friends, Andy (Paul), Jack (Mark), Sheila (Ellen), Fiona (Anne) and Bianca (Luna)." And of course, Crow is Raven in disguise.

When Raven asked them if they want to come with him, Paul and Ellen said no vehemently. Knowing Raven's personality, he would everything in his power to find a way in order to fight with those ants. And in all honesty, Paul and Ellen weren't confident enough about their strength to defeat those. The only person who probably agreed to come with him was Luna.

It was then that Raven said that they have to at least experience real combat. The Virtual Beast Arena was good for starters but it will lose it's magic real fast. Even though it is a simulation of a life or death battle, the experience they will receive to the real one is something that a simulation can't replicate.

In the end, he managed to convince the rest to come with him, albeit unwillingly. Paul and Ellen aren't specifically looking forward to this.

"Well then Crow tell me…" the supervisor's voice turned a little deeper, suddenly his eyes widened as his whole cultivation flared up. The recruit almost fell onto the ground since he felt that the gravity inside the tent was doubled. But even so, he didn't said a word, it would be a bad idea anyway since for whatever reason, these people managed to piss off his boss, it was evident by the killing intent he was releasing. "…Do you think that what we, knights of the kingdom, do here is a game?"

The camp supervisor wasn't actually mad at them, this was just him testing their resolve. They weren't the first one's who came here with this kind of attitude. He met these type of people, accepted them and saw them flee at the first sign of danger, causing their casualties to rise exponentially. Honestly he was quite tired of it, that's why he is testing them.

Imagine his surprise when he saw their reactions after all this. Raven was still smiling, Paul was uninterested and was picking his nose, Ellen and Mark raised an eyebrow while Anne and Luna blinked multiple times. The camp supervisor was quite shock to be honest, he had never seen anyone who could outright ignore his supression when they are weaker than him.

"Err…you asked us to introduce ourselves but you haven't done the same. Isn't that a little rude?" Raven's smile fell a tad bit as he said this, and the recruit could swear that he felt shivers running down his spine just now.

"Hoh?" The camp supervisor was intrigued, he smiled and said: "My bad. My name is Larry, a pleasure to meet you Crow."

"A pleasure to meet you too." Raven replied, "Allow me to be frank. Our purpose is training, we will help you defend but only defend. Don't expect us to follow you in the depths of that thing. And to answer your question Sir Larry, no. Of course I don't think of it that way."

Larry narrowed his eyes and sized up this man before him. He had been a knight for decades now and during that, he had met a lot of people but this was the first time that he felt a strange tingling sensation as he was stared down by someone.

"Alright then." Larry nodded, he then faced the recruit and said: "Escort them to the frontline."

"Yes sir!" The recruit saluted, he was about to ask them to follow him but he heard Raven speak once more.

"Err…Sir Larry? Can we harvest the meat of the ants we killed?" This was another reason why he was here, this was an opportunity to gather any many food as possible, how could he pass such an opportunity?

"You may." Larry replied. Raven clapped and then…the supression of Larry's cultivation base was gone.

"Great! Let's go guys!" He then started to walked outside of the camp, leaving the bewildered Larry behind.

As Larry watch their disappearing silhouettes, he had one thought on his head: 'Who is he?'

***

"We're here." Jonas, the recruit, told them as soon as they entered a tall gate made out of thick logs.

The battlefield was barricaded by similar type of defences and one could see some armed people who were on stand by and guarding the the perimeter. Raven and his crew followed them inside and were immediately welcomed by sounds of clashing forces on a distance.

Reading or hearing about them is one thing, seeing them personally is different. Raven his crew saw one of the presumed Lord Ants and truly marveled on it's size. It really is as big as a normal horse carriage and longer too. The one in front of them had green prismatic-like eyes, long antlers, sharp fangs, thick red shell, and moves quick too. They saw how two people struggled to prevent it's rampage and kill it.

Except for Raven, who was busy inspecting the creature, all of them visibly swallowed hard. Nervousness crept up to the younger ones since their brains were screaming danger at the sight of the thing, this time it's not a simulation anymore. This is real, and if they fight recklessly here, they will truly die. Just this thought alone was enough to cause them to sweat nervously.

The ground shook faintly from the collision and Raven's eyes shone along with a golden ring appearing on his pupils, his eyes inspected the beast once more and now he was able to zoom in to the creature's body to take a closer look. Once he fully inspected it, he could now saw that his guess was right, it really is Lord Ants but with a slight difference. action

Raven then looked at the ground, raised his brow and said: "Let's fall back a little."

His words somewhat woke up the people around him, they unknowingly followed his advice and together they retreated a few steps from where they were standing earlier. Now that they're nearer towards the entrance, the ground suddenly shook and something rose up from underground. It was another Lord Ant, and it precisely showed up from where they were standing earlier.

The team was horrified, the recruit almost fainted on the spot. 'H-holy shit that was so close! I was this close to dying! Oh god!' This was his thought, his eyes then landed on the guy who told them to retreat.

"H-how did you know?"

"Instincts buddy…instincts."