Einder Bloodline

Chapter 25: Control

"I underestimated you," Robert softly uttered as his eyes gazed upon what could be said as the grotesque remains of he dismembered corpses littered the surroundings in front of him. His face was disgruntled as his grip on his sword became tighter. His eyes turned bloodshot as he silently passed through the lifeless corridor.

He felt frustrated, not for the fact that Cray had escaped nor was it because they were being besieged by a horde of monsters. He felt frustrated because the people that had died were the talents that he had personally hand-picked and the loss of these talents was tremendous. Now only was the time and effort wasted, the resources that he had used on them were too and to think that they would have mostly died just on one day was just frustrating.

Right now, most of those specially cultivated subordinates have either died off from the monster invasion or had just died from the hands of Cray. He knew that if this were to continue then the after-effects would be just horrendous. For five years, he had made these soldiers extremely loyal to him while making sure that they got stronger as time passed. All of his efforts had just been popped like a bubble.

It was just like paying a five-star restaurant for a meal only for it to be eaten by another person right in his face. "You're gonna pay for this, mark my words." He softly said before he once again set off to find Cray himself.

Meanwhile, inside the makeshift command room were a group of people who were previously shouting orders one after another slowly held their breaths as they watched in horror at the screens that were reflecting the current state of the battle. All of them had a look of disbelief on their faces, "No way... What is a lord Class doing here? Impossible....."

They had been temporarily silenced by the fact that monster horde which they considered to be on par with their current strength suddenly turned into a force that would certainly spell doom for the rest of them. There was no way they could fight out the enemy like this. Only their current commander, Robert would have the ability to deal with that kind of monster.

However, before they could even rekindle their hope of survival, they were once again reminded by the incoming requests for reinforcements coming from their established front lines.

Being on a mission could only mean that they would have to accomplish it to the very end as soldiers of the empire. "Everyone, it's been an honor to be fighting with you." A soldier who had given up on surviving this calamity had now a resolute-looking face as he had resolved within himself the possibility of death.

That face that he was making was the face that was prepared to throw away everything, even his own life. This became a new beacon of inspiration for those that were in that room as they stood one by one.

The soldiers who had previously been distracted by the sudden drop in mood and had given up hope had stood up with a strange fire in their eyes. Their backs that previously looked as if they were carrying a huge burden on their shoulders now look as if it had just been lifted off, these men were prepared to give up their survival.

"What are you saying? If the youngest says that then it would only make it worse if we wouldn't join you." A man who gave a quite refreshing smile nodded his head.

"Brother! we're all in this together! If we die, we die trying!" Just like that, their morale which was falling had begun to skyrocket. They were being pushed by this mood that if they put their heads together then everything will be alright.

But they were just being naive. None of them could hurt the lord class as they were now. But this did not concern them now as it was akin to something that most would call as the fight in a flight or fight response.

No matter how impossible it seemed, they needed to at least hope to continue moving despite their inevitable demise, it was just wishful thinking born from the absolute despair that they had to make up as hope to stay sane within the intense pressure that bore down on them.

However, reality will never be that easy as to change simply by having the will to do so as the situation outside had just turned for the worse. The monsters which had been empowered by the appearance of a Lord Class monster began to attack with much more vigor than ever before.

Previously, if their attacks had critically wounded a monster then it would at least try to escape, which made them capable of holding their line of defense but as of now, the monsters would continue fighting under the command of the Lord Class monster no matter how injured it is. It almost seemed like every one of them had bloodthirsty eyes as if to signify that they have lost all their reasoning.

"It is tough fighting a Berserk monster, especially the one who is under the command of a Lord Class." A man said so while holding his huge cannon that never stopped adding onto the stacks of dead monster bodies scattered around on the floor. He was another one of the skillful men that Robert has under him.

"Now I guess this is my fifty-sixth kill?" He then looked at a lady who was wielding a large scythe with a smirk.

"Humph! This is already my sixtieth you i***t!" The girl pouted despite her feisty response. Even she could already start feeling the dread and pressure from the new incoming wave of monsters.

"Oh... Well, I guess this is as far as we could go. Even my cannons can not possibly pierce through that thick skin." He then pointed towards the domineering appearance of the lion that was meters away from them.

"We should retreat and regroup for now." A man who had finished off another monster said as his gaze fell upon the battlefield. "Everyone! We're going to retreat into our second line of defense!" He shouted as he instructed.

Cray, on the other hand, was currently hiding while lurking around the shadows. "I'm still not used to chanting to manifest my powers. Well, I guess I shouldn't complain because if Cray didn't have a good affinity with my hell flames then I would have needed to expend more power only to use a lot less." He muttered as a jet-black armor enveloped his body. "On the other hand, Cray's affinity with Zwei is bad. I guess I wouldn't be able to use his healing flames. Why is the second the only one which had the healing characteristic with his flames? I miss the old days when pops would just use Second's flames to heal me."

He somewhat felt excited as to what kind of flames his son would manifest. At the same time, he was inwardly panicking. As far as he knew, Cray had sustained fatal injuries and he had no other way to treat them with his power. He tried searching for the infirmary but to no avail, he wasn't able to enter it. The reason being was that it was located right beside the command room, and around that place was the most dangerous as he could feel that Robert who he considered as the highest threat was lurking.

He had tried to assassinate him once by throwing a dagger but with his limited powers, he had failed. However, he did manage to make a run for it as he knew that as an assassin, the most important thing to do after failing to do so was to run away.

Since he did not manage to kill Robert in one fell swoop, he was in a slight predicament. The only reason that Cray's supposedly half-dead body was able to move was all thanks to him as he had used his power to create a temporary fix for all of Cray's injuries. He cursed those vile torturing devices that were placed on Cray.

If only they didn't use it then I would've been able to at least make Cray escape this place. That was in his mind as he tried to think of a different way. The device that was placed on Cray had not only tightened as time went by, it also injected a parasite inside him. It will serve as a tracking device and a biological weapon as it eats away bits and pieces of their host. Although he had already killed the parasite that had inhibited Cray's body, it had already eaten up some of Cray's muscles penetrating the bones and had rendered him immobile.

This was a huge headache for him as he thought of his next step. He knew that his time was only limited. He wanted to treat Cray as soon as possible but he currently had no means to do so.

He had none until he resolved himself to utilize just the right timing to make sure that he remains unnoticed.

After calming himself down and making sure that he had perfectly erased his presence, he then silently made his way towards the command room once again in an attempt to get to the infirmary.