Henry knew he shouldn’t be so excited but he was. Deep down, he had a twisted desire, a desperation, a necessity, to know where his strength stood among others. Moreover, if he could distinguish himself as being stronger than the Arch Knights, then he would have no need to worry about the other Arch Knights too much. It was a variety of factors that fuelled his excitement.

  Henry wanted to just emerge from his hiding and confront the Arch Knight head-on. He wanted to know just how strong the Arch Knight was. If it wasn’t for Ulrum and his women, he would have done so already. The other reinforcements were not too far from one another. If there was an explosion or a fire, it would rattle the other battalions. He had to pick them off one by one and make it look like it was the work of the forest’s creatures.

  And so, Henry waited patiently as the army drew closer and closer until the barrier finally passed through him. He braced himself for the confrontation that might just happen. He froze when he saw the soldier walking beside the Arch Knight stop the march. In his hand was some kind of circur pte, dangling from his neck with a string. He was staring intently at it.

  “What is it, lieutenant?” asked the Arch Knight.

  “It’s… the forest. The beasts. They are watching us. The barrier detected a few.”

  “Are they approaching us?”

  “No… yes. It’s hard to tell. They’re moving around. They’re scrutinising us.”

  The Arch Knight sighed. “Of course they are. This forest didn’t get its reputation for nothing. We keep moving and only act if they decide to come for us. If we stop for every… jitter, it would take us weeks before we can get out of here.”

  “Yes, sir. Understood.”

  With that, the march resumed and Henry heaved a sigh of relief. Things worked out the way he assumed. The army might have picked up on his presence but they chalked it up to just another creature of the forest. He moved slowly and carefully away from them for a bit before he continued following them.

  Perhaps seeing and sensing Henry’s non-hostility, some of the creatures who had fled began to return to where they were loitering before. Some even joined Henry in stalking the army. Henry welcomed them. Their presence only served to strengthen his camoufge, providing that they did not start attacking him. Thankfully, they didn’t.

  After some time, a few of the soldiers began to fall behind. Marching through a forest was not an easy task, especially with the hot weather and the fact they were all in armour. Henry could see in their eyes, their gres directed at the golem that were carrying the mages and the officers. The discontent was rising and the dissatisfaction was building. It wouldn’t be long before all the grievances over the unfair treatment blew up and he would be the catalyst.

  Henry trod close to them upon seeing the stragglers slowing down more and more. They were warned by the others of the consequences but it was physically impossible for them to just be better. Soon enough. Five of them strayed behind enough for them to start verbally expressing their resentment over this expedition.

  Just as Henry was about to take them down, three panther-like monsters pounced on the five soldiers from seemingly out of nowhere. Two of them died instantly while the three who survived the initial shouted their distress and cried out their pain as the panthers cwed into their bodies.

  “Wow…” Henry gasped and immediately remained still.

  The army stopped their march and sent a small group to check on the stragglers. They saw the panthers gnawing on the corpses of their companions but they did nothing. They quickly returned to their superiors and reported on the stragglers’ fate. Not long after, the army resumed their march.

  Henry couldn’t help but chuckle. He could see the kingdom’s colours through the actions of these officers. Ulrum contained too many benefits for them to ck behind from caring about the lives of a few foot soldiers. No doubt they were worried about being te to the party and not getting a slice of the pie.

  Henry continued to follow the army from behind. There were more and more stragglers. Some even straight up fainted mid-march. However, the officers cared little about them. They even made an announcement that it was the stragglers' own fault for being too weak. As Ulrum would be more treacherous, it was better for them to die here and now than to become a burden ter on. Henry was baffled by their speech as if they expected it to be a morale booster but in actuality, it was quite the opposite.

  “I suppose people in power are the same no matter which world it is.”

  A few hours ter, the march came to a stop and this time, it was for the purpose of letting the soldiers have some rest. The officers protested but the Arch Knights argued back. Just like that, the officers relented, though their expressions looked twisted with discontentment. They could easily command the Syers to strike down the Arch Knight for disobeying a superior’s orders, but they didn’t.

  “Is this just how strong and powerful an Arch Knight is?” Henry mused.

  While the soldiers began to get comfortable, the Arch Knight was letting his gaze wander around.

  “What’s wrong, sir?” asked the lieutenant.

  “Everything’s wrong. We have already lost a tenth of our force. We will lose more. Hell, we might not even make it through this forest.”

  “We have you, sir. And the syers. And the mages. We will make it through.”

  “...Something’s watching us.”

  “Everything’s watching us. It’s only because we are in a rge group that they didn’t attack us already.”

  “That’s not what I mean. Something… big and strong… powerful. It feels as if it’s biding its time until our force has dwindled enough.”

  “Is there truly such a creature, sir?”

  “I hope not. It would be great if it’s just me being paranoid.”

  “You’re an Arch Knight, sir. Just give the word and we will track this creature down.”

  “As if those geezers would let us. They’re too worried about reaching Ulrum as soon as possible.”

  While Henry was eavesdropping on the two’s conversation, a small group of soldiers were wandering towards him. Henry was confused at first at the group’s bold and stupid decision to leave the main group. Were they so eager to die, he wondered. Then, everything became clear. One of the soldiers brought a small pack of white powder. He distributed a pinch to each of the soldiers present. Together, they stuffed the powder into their noses and they all shuddered in unison as their eyes rolled back.

  Henry snorted in amusement. To satisfy their addiction, they would risk wandering from the main group just to get a hit off. Adding to their misfortune, they wandered too close to Henry. He said a few quick words of prayers before ending their miserable lives in a silent and concealed manner. There was no scream or wail. They probably didn’t even know they were dead until it was too te.

  Despite the warnings, there were a lot of soldiers who wandered off from the main group. Some did it for recreational purposes while others did it with the intent to desert. Both reasons were stupid in Henry’s eyes. Henry didn’t need to do much as the forest natives took care of most of them.

  But of course, the forest’s natives weren’t as efficient and quiet as Henry, which alerted the main group of the army and also sent them into panic.

  “You fucking idiots!” the Arch Knight roared. “Are you all so eager to die?!”

  The Arch Knight’s fury silenced the army and also froze them in pce.

  “From now on, you will not stray from the group, or I will personally take care that you die a gruesome and painful death. We will not make it through this forest if we keep making these… retarded decisions. Only in a rge group can we deter the beasts and monsters of this forest. Only—”

  A series of screams interrupted the Arch Knight’s speech. The screams came from all around them. Before the Arch Knight could figure out what was going on, monsters appeared and began sughtering the army.

  “We’re under attack!!”

  None of these were Henry’s handiwork. He didn’t need to do much in the first pce. The forest itself was more than the army could handle. Henry guessed that the creatures decided to attack now because the fear that was emanating from the group was far too much. The monsters were fast and ferocious.

  “Shoot the fre!” the Arch Knight shouted as he drew his twin swords.

  A soldier took out a rod from the sack he was holding and pointed it towards the sky. He pulled on the string dangling at the bottom and a fre was shot into the sky. However, before the fre could rise high above the trees, a bolt of fme struck the fre down.

  The Arch Knight widened his eyes in disbelief. He began to search for the one who shot down the fre. He first looked towards the mages but they were still inside the golem. He then turned his suspicions towards a certain direction, where he had been getting the ominous feeling from.

  Needless to say, it was Henry who shot down the fre. He didn’t pounce on this opportunity immediately as he feared they had spare fres. He couldn’t let a single one release successfully into the sky. At the same time, the Arch Knight had decided to act on his instincts and began running in towards Henry.

  This wasn’t his pn but he didn’t expect his pn to go smoothly in the first pce. Things rarely went according to pn after all. Instead of approaching the Arch Knight or the army, he decided to distance himself from them. In doing so, he could lure the Arch Knight away.

  Unfortunately, the Arch Knight wasn’t as dumb as the soldiers. He quickly realised he was being lured away and he immediately headed back.

  “Well, it was worth a try.” Henry didn’t expect it to succeed anyway. If it did, he would have been greatly disappointed. This way, he could see the Arch Knight in action before he fought him.

  Once the Arch Knight had returned to the group, he helped the soldiers fend the creatures away. He cut his way through the monsters as if they were cake and cheese.

  Henry let out a whistle of awe. Come to think of it, this was the first time he had seen genuine swordpy in this world and it was simply a marvellous sight. The Arch Knight moved so fluidly and decisively around the battlefield, cutting down all the monsters in his way. From the way he moved, Henry knew the Arch Knight was at least as good as Vishara, solely in terms of techniques and skills. Physical strength was another story. There were multiple instances where the Arch Knights faced trouble in cutting through the monster’s tough skin.

  “Damien, get these accursed monsters off of the golem now!” shouted an officer from atop the golem carriage. The officer didn’t even bother to hide his fear as his shoulders, legs, and voice were trembling uncontrolbly.

  With soured expression, the Arch Knight, whose name was Damien, rushed towards the golem. An ephemeral glow enveloped his body along with his swords. He became faster and stronger, slicing through the monsters with greater ease.

  “Is that Aura?”

  There were Syers around the golem but they were not enough against the onsught of the monsters. The moment Damien reached the golem, the onsught dwindled. In no time at all, the monsters stopped their attack and began to retreat.

  The soldiers couldn’t wait to cheer for their apparent victory even though some of the monsters were still lingering around. Their morale was boosted by the Arch Knight’s performance. The remaining monsters were no match for the spirited soldiers and they quickly took care of the remnants.

  “Well, shit,” Henry muttered. “The Arch Knight is going to be a real fucking headache.”

  Just as everyone thought the onsught was over, Henry included, a howl echoed throughout the forest.

  Henry’s expression brightened. “Looks like the show’s not over.”