Escape

After traveling for several hours, Neil stopped his horse; observing his surroundings, he muttered, “Looks like their camp is a few hours from now."

When Neil was roughly half an hour away from their camp, the wind direction suddenly changed.

A strong, foul smell reached Kentio's nose; he panicked and started running back. Neil tried to calm him, then the wind direction changed again.

Kentio calmed down. Neil pulled blinders and a mask-like thing from his saddlebag and jumped to the ground. Neil put the blinders and mask on his horse's face; after adjusting his horse's mask, he climbed back onto his back.

"Now it's my turn," Neil said while wrapping pieces of fabric around his own nose, making a mask-like thing. After ensuring it was secured enough, he signaled Kentio to move forward.

Kentio moved for a while, then a piece of flesh fell near him; Neil moved Kentio in such a way that the flesh was out of his vision.

After observing for a while, Neil concluded, “This is human flesh.” Neil shaded his eyes with his left hand; as he turned his eyes towards the sky, he instantly found the source of the same.

Several vultures were flying over the area; Neil kept moving his horse forward. As he moved forward, the vulture group became larger and larger.

After moving for a few minutes, he saw hundreds of corpses piled over each other. The area was completely filled with human flesh and blood spread by the vultures.

Neil moved his horse near one of the corpses. Its face was badly injured, the majority of its flesh was already eaten, yet a vulture was still feeding on it.

Neil carefully looked towards that corpse; after a while, its blood gained his attention—it had a little black tint in its blood.

"He is a Neothaliyan soldier. What about the others?" Neil said while giving a quick scan to the other corpses. "These corpses look similar," he continued.

After searching the area for a while, he found only Neothaliyan soldiers' corpses. In confusion, he said, ”What happened here? The Acroniyan army wasn't here, so who did this?"

He glanced at the dead soldiers' bodies which were eaten by the vultures; their faces were deformed and unrecognizable even to their acquaintances.

Neil clenched his fist in anger. “They are pure evil; they don't care about their own men.” He looked towards the fallen soldiers and said, “I cannot help you right now, but on my way back, I will set you free."

After riding his horse for 20 minutes, he was able to see the enemy camp; he hid his horse at a distance. Before moving, he turned towards his horse and said, “Kentio, please be safe. I will be back in a few hours. If I don't, return back to the Acroniyans."

He walked towards the camp on his feet; within 10 minutes he was there. After killing a soldier, he switched clothes with him. After ensuring everything was okay, he adjusted his mask a little, then sneaked in.

Roughly for an hour, he was moving inside their camp, gathering information as much as possible.He was able to estimate their size based on their supplies; to confirm his speculation, he entered the armory.

He was only able to explore a little, but before he could go any further, he sensed something, and he quickly ran from there.

A large, bulky man carrying a long sword suddenly stopped; two soldiers following him smashed into his back.

When that person suddenly stopped, the soldiers asked, “Is something wrong, Commander?” He replied and shouted, “He is here! Get everyone ready for a battle!”

Neil rushed out of the camp and whistled. His horse answered his whistle and ran towards Neil. Neil jumped onto the horse; since they didn't have time to stop, Neil was facing the horse's back. Kentio, using the momentum, took a turn and then started running back as fast as possible.

Due to their position, Neil was facing the enemies, whereas the horse was facing the opposite side of the enemies. The horse started running at his full speed. As Neil was facing the enemy, he saw archers pointing arrows towards him, while soldiers were standing behind them.

Those soldiers were hiding something; Neil tried to recognize it, but when he found what it was, his eyes opened wide on realizing the threat.

The guard ordered, “Now.” The soldiers spread oil on the arrows and lit them with a torch.

The arrows started burning in those hot flames; the metal present in the arrows was hot red, and the archers were struggling to hold them. The guards ordered, “Fire!” Those fire arrows released from their places in an instant; Neil drew his sword and defended against the arrows.

“Side,” the Commander of the Neothaliyan army said. His soldiers moved, creating a path for him; he moved to the front and saw Neil running.

"How far can you go?" he muttered. He turned towards the soldier standing beside him and said, "Bring me a spear." The soldier relayed the order to his subordinates.

After some time, a soldier brought him a simple-looking spear, yet it was quite heavy. He submerged it into oil, around an arm's length deep; after a little while, he put the tip of the spear in another oil, then ordered, "Ignite it."

The soldier ignited the same with a flaming torch; a plume of black smoke exploded, forcing the soldiers to take a few steps back, but he was unaffected.

His eyes locked on his prey; with a smile on his face, he launched the spear. The spear flew towards the intruder with high velocity; in mid-flight, the oil around the shaft caught fire.

Neil sensed that spear's power; his brain was working very fast, evaluating all the possible options. He grabbed his blade tightly, which still had that flaming red gem.

"I have to deflect it," Neil muttered while preparing for the impact. As the spear made contact with his sword, a devastating impact traveled through his body. The impact was so powerful it dragged the horse for five meters, and as for Neil, his hand was fully numb, but he kept struggling.

Neil used all his strength; after a while, he was finally able to change its direction a bit, which was enough for him. When the flaming spear made contact with his sword, a few sparks flew towards him and his horse. The horse was sweating, so it didn't hurt him much; as for Neil, he was wearing armor over his clothes, so it was also safe for him.

But then he felt heat; the cloth covering his face was hanging, and the hanging part was covered in flames. He didn't wait; he unwrapped the same and threw it away.

At the same time, the spear hit the ground. Because of the spear's velocity, even a tiny deviation from his target was enough.

As soon as the spear touched the ground, dust clouds started to rise, and along with it, a shockwave traveled through the ground.

Neil was closest to the spear, so he felt most of the impact; his horse was struggling to maintain his balance, but somehow they pulled through.

The archers launched hundreds of arrows towards them; their target was his horse. Neil gave him a gentle tap with his leg; understanding the signal, the horse sprinted with full force.

They were out of the arrows' range, yet a few arrows made it through; with a casual swing of his blade, they turned into ash. Their metal heads destabilized and fell to the ground, leaving them unharmed.

"Commander!" the soldiers around him shouted, bringing him back to his senses. He took a brief pause and saw Neil disappearing from his sight. He shouted, “Scouts, track him! If he escapes, find his soldiers; they must be nearby.”

With worry on his face, he was running through the camp; after running for a while, he stopped in front of a tent. It was one of the most isolated places of the camp. He didn't have the courage to enter and said from outside, "Greetings, sir. As you expected, he was here. Neil is back.”

“You have done very well.” A voice came out of the tent, and soon a person moved out of the shadows. He was carrying a pitch-black scythe on his shoulder; his left eye had a scar, from which he could barely see.

He said, laughing like a psychopath, “I will take my revenge, Neil. For one scar, your friends, family, and everyone who you know or who knows you will be killed by my very own hands."

He paused for a brief moment, then exploded in laughter.

"How could I forget that?" As he continued, his expression turned serious. In a cold tone, he said, "Didn't I take one of your family members a few years ago? I don't even remember how that person used to look. Was that a he or a she? What a shame."

He just laughed and laughed; with each passing second, his laughter turned more and more insane.

The Commander was trembling in fear, his body was shaking, and he lost his balance and collapsed to the ground. That person stopped laughing; the area was covered in pin-drop silence.

In fear, the Commander raised his head; he saw blood-red eyes. The mere pressure from his gaze was unbearable; it felt like it was piercing through his soul.

"Call your men back; he was alone," that person said in an emotionless tone. He glanced towards the Commander once, then turned his eyes away. As his gaze shifted, the pressure on the Commander started to lighten up.

When the Commander was in a stable position, that person continued with a heavy breath, "You are in charge of this army; you better not disappoint me."

The Commander, watching his back, replied in a trembling voice, "Yes, I... I will." That person just nodded his head and then returned into the shadows of his tent.

Next time on The Seventh Slayer of Acroniya:

”It started again. He can't fight.”

“I am sorry, I can't help you.”

Chapter 6: Mysterious Voice