The creature came out into the open as if unafraid. There was a distance of about 17 meters between him and the creature.
The bandit boss looked at the creature which just come out in the open.
He was aghast at the creature because he knew what kind of creature it was.
Two words came out of his mouth.
"A corrupted!"
"Why does it have to be a Corrupted creature?" he muttered in a low voice.
He gripped his sabre with his right hand and pointed it towards the creature and yelled with his voice as high as he could,
"YOU ARE THE ONE CONTROLLING THE WOLVES, RIGHT? YOU WILL PAY WITH YOUR LIFE."
Heh-heh-heh-kak-kak!
"So you do understand what I'm saying. Come at me, you piece of shit."
'I can't believe I am speaking so much foul language.'
The creature lunged forward towards the bandit boss, maybe it was provoked by his words.
For a beast of its massive size, its launch speed was terrifyingly abnormal. It looked abnormal with its asymmetrical hands.
"What? Can't you handle foul language? Here, take another one. You look so hideous like a pile of sh*t."
The bandit placed his right foot back and left foot forward. He was readying his stance.
Pain ached when he placed his right foot, to be exact, it was his right calf. It was the area where the wolf bit his leg.
He can't run with this injured leg. He can only limp.
But he can do one thing at this moment.
The creature was close to him.
There was some fear in his heart. Who wouldn't be afraid when facing this kind of creature? But that fear was nowhere enough to make him dull his decision or hesitant to move. Because a second of hesitation can cost his life.
The creature slashed with its long nails, aimed to scratch his chest.
Its hand came at him with a huge force.
The bandit rolled to his left, narrowly avoiding the reaching hand.
The creature slashed the empty air. It turned over facing the human.
Krr-hroaaargh!
It sounded as if it was angry and annoyed.
It jumped into the air with a heavy sound towards the human, trying to cover the distance between them. It was trying to catch him and tear him apart.
The bandit rolled, dodging again.
The creature landed on the ground with a heavy sound.
Thud!
Due to its massive size, its body movement was slow.
The bandit boss quickly fixed his sword stance. With the sabre at his hand, he slashed the back of the creature in '/' direction.
'Too shallow!'
The cut was too shallow to actually deal massive damage to the creature.
It swung both its hands like a clock hand, sweeping both air and dust with them.
The bandit was late to dodge— he tried to block it with both of his hands together.
The massive, asymmetrical hand hit him. It hit him with a lot of force.
The bandit boss's body was violently launched backward through the air. He skidded and rolled uncontrollably across the dirt until his spine collided brutally with the hard rock face of the cliff wall.
Crack!
He spat out blood from his mouth.
Aaahhh!
He wiped the blood from his mouth with his sleeve. Wincing in agony, he drove his sword into the ground, using the hilt as a desperate crutch, he forced his trembling, broken body to stand once more.
"Am I really going to die here?"
The creature walked towards him. It knew he had no strength left to fight.
The bandit boss was like an injured deer in the maw of a beast, nowhere left to run.
He remembered a very familiar face to him, an imposing face marked by many battle scars. It was none other than his father.
'I can't believe I am thinking of my shitty father. When I'm about to die.' He gave a cold laugh.
His father was a valiant, renowned knight who couldn't stand injustice. Countless people loved him and praised his name. But the bandit boss didn't love him—in fact, he hated the man to his very bones. His father had always been cold to him, showing blatant preferential care to his eldest son. He only showered praise and affection onto the brother who made him proud.
He had tried so hard to make his father proud. He had trained until his hands bled, desperate to surpass his elder brother, yet he could never obtain the one thing he wanted most. Their entire household had been believers and worshipers of the Keeper of the Nightfall. One day, while the family was gathered in solemn prayer, he had quietly walked out the front door, swearing to become the one thing his father would despise most. He became a bandit, stealing, killing, and looting.
Yet, destiny was strange. During a raid on a rival bandit camp, he had freed a group of prisoners. Among them was a horribly emaciated girl. She had clutched his muddy boots, weeping, begging him to save her little brother who was dying on a straw bed from a severe sickness. He had saved them. He and that girl had fallen deeply in love, eventually marrying. He had built a family out of the outcasts.
His thought quickly spanned to the moment his father taught him when he was a kid.
"Remember, my son Aegis, there are many dangers in this world, and we, the House of Valour, should protect those who can't protect themselves."
"Yes, father." The young Aegis said in an enthusiastic tone.
"Aegis, do you know what you should do when you are in danger or lose your way?"
"Umm... Pray to The Keeper of the Nightfall."
The corrupted creature was coming closer to finish him.
'Haha.... Even in my dying moment, I can't defy you, father. Fine then.' the bandit boss gave a cold laugh.
He shouted in a loud voice as if he had a lot of energy.
"I, Aegis Valour, will be taking your life for the crime of killing my brother-in-law."
The next words which came from his mouth, he shouted with all his strength.
"Keeper Of The Nightfall, hear my cry."
"Your velvet sky outlives the fleeting sun."
"Even brilliant sun descends to your arrival."
"All living beings rest in your embrace."
Aegis was chanting the prayer— the corrupted creature sensing something knew that it must stop. It lunged forward toward the human to stop him.
"Your sacred silence conquers all mortal fear."
"Grant us wisdom to overcome with might."
"Blessed be the keepers of your night."
The creature was a fraction of a second too late. Its reaching claws missed Aegis's chest by the length of a human arm. Ageis had finished chanting the prayer. Right after he finished, the air around them was sucked. No, it was like the space in between them was folded by an unimaginable power. The sabre, the creature and the very fabric of space imploded, collapsing inward into absolute nothingness.