Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“How persistent. It’s time they learned to give up.”
Breathing heavily, Albert looked behind him with a hard expression.
Not far from him, a hoard of monsters was fast approaching. Smoke and dust billowed behind them as they closed in on him.
Some of these monsters Albert recognized, others he didn’t.
Among the monsters he could recognize, Albert was surprised to find that many of them were natural enemies. But for some reason they were working together to attack him.
Albert felt a chill down his spine as he looked at their hostile and murderous gazes.
With a shudder, Albert gathered his wits.
Albert gripped both his hands tightly around the hilt of his sword that was stuck into the ground for support and stood up shakily.
Sensing how badly his physical condition had deteriorated, Albert once again uttered,
“Upon my sword I swear…”
At his words, his sword began to glow. The light seemed to infuse Albert with vitality and he stood up straighter.
Pulling out his sword, Albert pointed it at the emerald divine tree and shouted,
“I will not fall until I reach my destination!”
Light burst forth, and a surge of power flowed from the sword into Albert’s body.
Rejuvenated by this power, Albert was once again combat-ready.
However, he did not choose to fight. Albert knew that he could not face all of the forest’s monsters alone.
Albert held his chest, face pained.
Hang in there. I will absolutely not retreat!
His firm conviction reactivated the previous oath, and another burst of power surged into Albert’s body.
Strengthened by the buff from dual oaths, Albert disappeared in the blink of an eye. When he reappeared, he was a good seven hundred meters away.
Oath Knights were able to exchange oaths for all sorts of incredible powers.
The more severe the oath, the stronger the power gained.
Although the oath gives power, the knight is also bound by the oath.
Once an oath takes effect, Albert is required to abide and fulfill said oath.
Now that Albert had pledged to never retreat, he must forge ahead steadfastly. If his will wavers, he would suffer the backlash of the oath.
Thus, be it for the sake of achieving his objective, or for the sake of fulfilling his oath, Albert had to set off in the direction of the divine tree no matter what.
The mechanical bird watched Albert and the monsters disappear into the distance. Then tilting its head, the mechanical bird flew in the opposite direction.
“How’s things?” George asked upon noticing the return of the mechanical bird.
Celia channeled her magic into the mechanical bird, turning it back into a round disc.
Following which, a projection appeared on the disc. Celia’s eyes glowed pink with magic as she quickly browsed through the scenes in the projection.
After a long while, Celia closed her eyes and put away the disc.
“There are no monsters nearby.”
Hearing Celia’s voice, George swallowed the fruit in his mouth and turned to look at her.
Once she had put away the disc, Celia turned to explain to George,
“The monsters seemed to be attracted by something and are all moving towards the tree.”
“I see. This probably means the fruits of that tree are about to ripen huh.”
George looked towards the emerald tree.
“Everything makes sense now.”
With that, he continued eating.
“What do you plan to do?”
“Wu num gu wu gaw ~”
“Swallow your food first.”
Gulp! George swallowed the fruit in his mouth, then looked at Celia and said, “It’s fine even if we give the Fruit of Gifts a miss. We’ve already gained more than enough from this trip.”
George felt that they had no reason to force their way through the hoard of monsters there.
Compared to joining the fight for the fruit, it made more sense to stay and eat all the fruits in this area while the monsters were not around. They could level up and hightail out of this place.
Growing stronger was the way to go.
Celia felt the same way, so she didn’t raise any objections.
From start to finish, Celia didn’t mention a word about Albert.
It was as if this person did not exist.
On the other side of the forest, with his life in danger, Albert had unleashed 1000% of his potential.
The surrounding scenery flashed past him as the glowing emerald tree slowly grew larger and larger in his field of vision.
When his intended destination was finally in sight, Albert couldn’t help the excitement that filled him.
Perhaps it was the surge of emotions, Albert felt himself pick up the pace.
Behind him, all the monsters stopped in their tracks when they saw Albert enter the area around the emerald divine tree.
The monsters stopped and stared,then looked at each other in a very human-like way. None of them knew what to do next.
“All of you, fall back.”
A weather-beaten voice suddenly sounded in mid-air.
The monsters seemed to know who the owner of the voice was. As soon as he finished speaking, without any hesitation, they immediately started retreating. Scattering like birds.
“Phew, they’ve finally left?” Sensing the hostility and killing intent behind him dissipate, Albert let out a sigh of relief.
It seemed like he hedged his bets correctly this time.
Albert was about to take a break when a sudden force dragged him into an unfamiliar hall.
So fast!
Before Albert could even react, he was already inside the grand hall.
Albert looked around. Intertwining plants and vines covered the hall. Through the gaps between the vines, Albert could vaguely see the former glory of this hall.
Turning around, Albert looked calmly at the gaunt man seated at the head of the hall.
His gaze lingered on the gaunt man’s pointed ears for a moment and couldn’t help but speculate.
Elf or demon?
The man admired Albert’s composure.
As such, he took the initiative to speak up
“Welcome.”
After confirming that the man before him was real, Albert put on a solemn expression. Performing a proper Knight’s Salute, Albert introduced himself.
“Pleased to meet your acquaintance sir. I am an Oath Paladin under the Radiant Saint Hall… ”
The gaunt man had no patience for Albert’s lengthy self-introduction and cut him off abruptly,
“Just your name will do. I know the Temple better than you do, Oath Knight.”
Albert was taken aback at first, but immediately replied,
“Yes. My name is Albert. Thank you very much for your assistance, my lord.”
“You may call me Bremont. I’m not a lord. Just a tomb keeper,”
The gaut man, Bremont, responded casually.
“I was wondering if Lord Bremont had seen a man and a woman? That man is actually a saint candidate for the Divine Temple…”
It was obvious that Albert was planning to use Bremont to locate George’s party.
However, before Albert could finish speaking, a huge image that appeared in mid-air caught his attention.
In the image, a beam of light shot up into the sky, then towards them..
“What’s that?”
Albert looked questioningly at Bremont, who did not respond. Instead, he just stared intently at the white light wordlessly.
Albert wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt nostalgia and sorrow emanating from Bremont..