"Baron, the Shadows left no traces of their departure." Long Sang Allen reported solemnly but respectfully to Todd.
Todd gripped his longsword, scanning the surroundings warily.
The area was gloomy and dark, filled with the raw scent of earth and the stench of decay. Towering black firs and all manner of strange shrubs blanketed every direction—it was little different from the depths of the Melzer Black Forest. The only notable feature was a peculiarly shaped boulder. "There are no rivers here. How did they evade the Shadows? Unless—" Danger!
The thought had barely formed when Todd slammed into Allen, his longsword sweeping upward in a blood-tinged arc. At the same time, his left hand—its iron gauntlet already shattered—flickered with metallic light, rapidly stretching and elongating into a square shield that he raised above them.
As Allen was sent tumbling sideways by the impact, a figure in white knight's attire leapt down from the crown of a towering black fir. Her longsword, wreathed in silver-white serpentine lightning, was brought down in a savage overhead strike.
A sharp, resonant clash of metal rang far through the quiet forest. Natasha's descending strike, fueled by her falling momentum, beat Todd's blood-glowing longsword aside. A rift in empty space appeared across the steel shield his body had transformed into, nearly cleaving it in two.
But Todd ultimately withstood Natasha's ambush.
Moreover, having been on guard, he let the shield dissolve into silvery-white liquid before reforming it. However, countless arcs of lightning crackled across his steel-plated body, numbing him momentarily and preventing him from counterattacking the instant Natasha landed.
Seeing that her ambush had failed to kill Allen, Natasha showed no greed—she turned and fled swiftly into the black forest in the opposite direction.
After shaking off the numbness, Todd set off decisively in pursuit of Natasha's retreating figure. Though he was shocked that she had suddenly erupted with fifth-level power, their brief exchange told him she hadn't fully recovered—he had managed to withstand her heavy blow even while caught off guard!
Moreover, the fact that she fled immediately after her ambush confirmed his deduction. She had most likely only recovered temporarily through some kind of potion, and had tried to assassinate Long Sang Allen—who possessed tracking expertise—in order to throw off pursuit for good.
Todd charged forward in long strides like an iron golem, closing the distance to Natasha. As long as he could kill her, whether Allen—left behind here—was killed by another knight was of no concern to him at all. The two, one chasing and one fleeing, soon vanished into the dense forest.
Meanwhile, after being knocked away by Todd, Allen rolled through the air and landed steadily on his feet. But from the crown of another towering black fir, a dark figure wielding a cold-gleaming longsword lunged down at him.
After chasing Natasha for some ten seconds, the gap between them was rapidly shrinking. This reassured Todd further—her power had recovered to, at most, ordinary fifth-level. The only reason she had beaten his sword aside was the downward momentum of her leap and the Thunder Sword's ability to amplify her strength to roughly his level. And now, even she—who was normally more coordinated and faster than him—couldn't outrun him!
Just as he was about to reach Natasha, she suddenly spun around, gripping the Thunder Sword's hilt with both hands and swinging it like a greatsword. Todd blocked with his left-hand shield and parried with his right-hand longsword. After a loud metallic clash, he successfully deflected the Thunder Sword, and the seamless rift born of the "Sword of Truth" bloodline power failed to penetrate his shield.
After this exchange, Todd's confidence grew even stronger. Raising his "Iron" shield and wielding his blood-glowing longsword, he charged forward.
Natasha refused to retreat either. Her eyes, turned silver-gray once more, focused intently on Todd as she unleashed a relentless barrage of overhead strikes, slashes, and pommel attacks—as though she had forgotten her goal of luring Todd away and circling back.
The two clashed in a furious melee, the thunderous reports of their clashing swords echoing like actual thunder. The shockwaves sent nearby shrubs, small stones, and sections of rotting black fir hurtling backward, while the tall trees within their battle's radius were either sheared in half or charred black by the lightning.
After weathering Natasha's fierce onslaught, Todd began methodically counterattacking, carving several non-trivial wounds into her body. Yet Natasha's attacks after sustaining those injuries did not grow fiercer or more powerful—they remained at their previous rhythm and strength. "Can you no longer grow stronger the more you're hurt?" Todd taunted coldly. "It seems, Your Highness, that you only recovered a portion of your power by stimulating your bloodline again in combination with a potion! How long can such a recovery last? Do you really think you can defeat me?"
Though his strength ranked among the strongest of his peers, his bloodline had made him a Great Knight far more skilled in defense than offense. As such, he possessed a keen ability to observe and provoke his opponents' emotions. And Todd truly despised Natasha's mutated bloodline ability—if not for the explosive power that grew with each wound, how could the "Shield of Truth" Count Verdi, a man whose defensive prowess was second to none, have been broken through in fewer than ten seconds? Of course, the most critical factor was the Sacred Light Strike that struck at the crucial moment, shaking Count Verdi's resolve. Otherwise, even with Natasha's increased strength, she would have been held off for at least another minute!
Natasha brought her longsword crashing down, but Todd barely managed to parry. She sneered: "Ha! Before long, I'll break through your defenses head-on!"
Todd raised his longsword and slashed toward Natasha's left shoulder, but she pulled back her hilt and smashed it into his blade to block: "If not for that wretched lightning damage and paralyzing effect, I'd have killed you already!"
His steel transformation was particularly vulnerable to the Thunder Sword's secondary effects. Just moments ago, it had even summoned an actual bolt of lightning that nearly struck him—an unlucky fir tree had been completely charred in its place.
Natasha didn't bother trading quips with him. She simply focused entirely on attacking and defending. Since the start of her knight's training, she had undergone the full course of Church knight instruction—forest survival, hunting, monster combat, battle drills, and faith tempering. She had even seen real battle and killed heretics. But she had never faced a situation as perilous as today's, or found herself fighting at such a disadvantage.
Whether it was the earlier lance charge that broke through Count Verdi, or this close-quarters battle with Todd, the immense danger she faced had also granted her a precious combat "treasure"—not only had it sharpened and strengthened her willpower, but it had given her the opportunity to thoroughly understand and master her own bloodline.