A Summoner?

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Chapter 133: The Darkness Before Dawn (Part 2)? by Harem-Fan

     Like the Lifeless Pass, we enter a wide deep valley that travels and winds between low mountaintops.

     As the sun was blocked by high mountain peaks, we did not notice the crooked smile on Lark's face, as he knew we have entered the trap.

     "Sir Roland, we are nearing the bandits hideout, about 1 hour into the pass, follow me young man."

     After Lark Sun's horse, I and Chuck lead Vera and Kim.

     The backup rear group trailing further back to protect us, consist of Nevin, Frank, Dial, and Kelly.

     Naturally Grog is blocking the rear, while Doll follows Vera to protect our front groups back.

     The reason to split up our team into two groups is to keep both groups from falling into a sudden ambush together so easily. This is one of the Military Strategies taught in the Academy when fighting in narrow environments like this. Especially for fighting Bandits and Cultists.

     Dial and I separated into different groups because of our magic rings, to avoid ambushes within 30 feet of the two of us. We can also find each-others general direction with the red-string feature.

     This pass is around 100 feet wide, and easily handles the occasional traffic from merchants, like now...

     Coming from down the road between the canyon walls, we saw a group of around 200 people with many covered carriages built for moving goods.

     At least half of the group are Mercenaries on Demonic Camel Beasts from the Anubis Kingdom.

     I have seen these animals plenty at my home and the Anubis Embassy, as these beasts are like a bull and camel fused into a 10 foot tall beast with wide feet. Even on the sands of Anubis, they are as fast as any Horse could be on roads.

     The carriages and wagons are decorated in reds and browns, as the national colors of the Anubis Kingdom.

     Many of the men and few women are tanned-skinned, from spending much of their family life under the bright sun.

     Now mind you, those with Aura and Magic do not necessarily have dark skin, but those Knights and Mages from commoner backgrounds, with normal Human mothers do not have fair and pale skin-tones like my two Anubis Princesses.

     If both of your parents are from a family of Knights and Mages, your skin-tone tends to look like the Southern and Northerners. So based on the complexions of these Knights, you can tell they are not nobles but normal members of the sand dunes.

     Both sides are holding light sources to avoid worrying the others of hostile activities as we near.

     And as we began to pass their caravan on our left side, we could see the weary gazes of the otherside.

     We could hear the accents of the Anubis language that is only ¾ identical to the Northern Human Language.

     In the middle of the caravan that was slowly moving along, I saw a Royal Knight guarding a noble's carriage in the middle, so I pulled out a small badge in gold, showing the Anubis Royal Crest given by the King, and held it up to the Knight.

     "Knight, I wish to ask you some questions..."

     When the Knight wearing Red desert-robes and a small brown-turban saw it, his eyes opened wide, then he quickly blew a goat-horn on his side.

     Breeeeeeeeeew~! As the deep but mellow sound filled the pass, my lips twitched because the entire carivan halted.

     The Knight leaped off of the desert mount and knelt on one knee, with his right fist on his heart.

     "Knight Farsi greets Crown Prince Lucas, what do you order?!"

     I saw all of the other Royal Knights cover their hearts and slightly bow their heads in my direction, and I asked the Knight.

     "Actually, I was only wanting to know if Princess Daniella and Princess Dream are doing well?"

     The Knight with a pair of Scimitars on his back, stood upright and responded.

     "Prince Lucas, I have not personally seen the two Princesses, but I have heard they are doing well at the Capital City, and no bad news has reached my ears. Um, Well, Prince Percy Windless might know more... He is in the carriage, and is married to the 2nd Princess Windless. Like you, he was adopted by the King into the Royal Family last year after you and Princess Daniella were engaged."

     Creeeeeek~! At this time, the carriage door opened, and a man wearing gold and see blue robes exited the side.

     Thump! As his reinforced sandals hit the rocky ground, he stood up tall, about 6 feet. He is very handsome with blue hair, lighter in color to me, but his ocean blue eyes look wise, as he glanced at me.

     He had an ornate Trident on his back, and he is exuding an Aura of a 7th Circle Water Swift Knight.

     As his eyes and mine collided in midair, a strange feeling of familiarity washed over me. This is the same feeling I had when I first met George Lion, and I could tell he was a good man and an honorable Knight.

     He smiled seeing me and waved his hand to me.

     A maid had come just behind him, and unlike the black and white western-style-maid outfits of the North, the Desert Maids all wear the belly dancer uniforms like Dream wore as her Academy uniform, but the material is gold color universally for maids.

     As he walked to my side, I got off my large horse to greet him. He held his hand out for me to shake, so I did.

     "I greet you Prince Lucas, and I am Prince Windless. Please call me Percy, for we will be brother-in-laws in April, haha."

     "Percy, I am sorry for not knowing more about you. I only heard a few things from Daniella and Dream, but nothing bad I assure you."

     Percy lowered his voice and said a bit more.

     "Actually I am in the same age group as Mari, Rebeca, and George. You can say they were my rivals during all of our yearly exams, especially Lion, that proud guy. As fellow Swift Knights, we always competed to see who was better... So when you cooked him in your first year Tournament, I celebrated, haha."

     Now I understand more about him, because the 2nd Princess was a student two years ahead of me and behind Daniella.

     I asked the same question about my ladies and he said,

     "The 1st Princess has been staying in the Palace and I have not seen her for a while, but I saw Dream recently at a Ball. She moved in with Daniella after they returned from the previous Examination. But otherwise, they are good. Also..."

     He pulled out two letters from his space pouch, and then handed them to me.

     "I was on my way to the Royal Lucas Capital, and the Princesses had me deliver them to the Embassy, but meeting you saved me a trip, now I only have to meet the Royal Family to deliver the invitations to the Anubis City Capital for April's gathering. Also..."

     He looked serious and said,

     "Thankfully you did not try to marry my now Wife... I have loved her for a long time. When I heard back then she and the 4th Princess were also going to be offered to you, my heart sank. But it seems fate was kind to me, and an accident happened..."

     He glanced at Dial, but I could tell he was thankful in a twisted way, for the dispute that worked out for himself. He is kinda thankful the Canberra siblings messed up the 1st Princess plans for recruiting me. I grinned and said.

     "Actually, I would have felt a bit bad to break up someone's love. If I would have known, I would have turned her down though."

     He was happy to hear my words, and patted my shoulder, then said before leaving.

     "A while ago, my Guards and I confronted some low strength Demons in the pass, so be careful. It is getting dark, and the caravan must leave the pass by nightfall, so we must part, but I will be ready to greet you along with my Wife when you come to get married. Sam Lucas, till we meet again... I am glad we will be brothers, goodbye. Now I have to go find Lion and challenge him to a friendly fight, haha!"@@novelbin@@

     I got back on my mount as we watched the Anubis Caravan leave.

     Something about him made me feel funny?

     Our group continued and I passed on the warning he gave me...

     (Trivia: George, Percy, and Sam are all Swift Knights, whistle...)

-

     Drake Fulbright and his two companions had just passed by an Anubis Caravan, and was about to catch up with the Royal Party.

     The Knight, Healer, and Mage all had an uneasy feeling as they noticed how dark it suddenly became... Too Dark...

     Black supernatural fog blew in from all sides, blocking their vision.

     Rumble~! Crumble~! In the darkness, the sound of rocks breaking and something massive coming out of the mountainside was clearly heard ahead, so the Secret Guard Dark Mage cast her spell...

     "Clear away this bleak haze... [Area Shadow Utility]"

     Thud Thud Thud! As the Dark Fog was erased, what the 3 Humans saw made their hearts tremble.

     A large 40 foot long Great White Shark looking Demon with four Dragon legs emerged, and then its red glowing eyes swiveled to lock onto the Humans.

     Then It spoke while its teeth filled maw roared.

     [YOU SHALL NOT PASS!]

     Then with its mouth wide open, a spell-like ability was launched at the three Humans and Horses.

     [Outer Space Vacuum]

     From a center-point in the air, an entire 60 foot wide sphere of black-nothingness engulfed the area, absorbing all air, dropping the temperature to absurdly low levels,causing weightlessness, and eliminating pressure in living beings bodies.

     Whoosh Hum~! As the dark void covered them all for a moment in the void of space, the six living beings all suffered varying degrees of pain, damage, and suffering...

     """Nay

     As the black void of space vanished, the Shade Shark saw that only the Horses died, and the Humans were only injured, as it prepared to attack again, the Humans acted first...

     Drake seeing the Black Clydesdale belonging to Sam and Evil Loli had died, made him sweat in his heart.

     "Fuck you, the Headmistress is going to kill me, so die Demon... [Bull Rush Stun]"

     Smash! Drake, using his favorite move, launched himself into the large Demon without fear of death...

     While the Rush interrupted the Demon for a moment, the Dark Healer cast her spell...

     [Dark healing comes forth... [Radiate Healing Aura]!]

     In a 70 foot radius, a gentle black ripple continuously radiates outwards, and slowly recovers their wounds...

     The Dark Mage points to drake and casts her spell..

      [Make this Knight live longer... [Resist Darkness]!]

     Drake, seeing his time has come, then stomped the ground to try and keep the Demon from reacting again, even for a moment...

     "This will be a tough fight, so let's rescue the Prince and Princess... [Ground Stomp]"

     And because the Demon was still on the ground, the rubble and debris launched up at the Demon, also delayed it for a moment.

     The Healer pointed to herself and made a hand movement while casting her protection spell...

     [Dark resistance, protect me... [Resist Darkness]!]

     The Dark Mage then held her hands to her mouth and cast...

     [Erupt in pain... [Shadow Dragon's Breath]!]

     Whoosh~! Then a black cone 70 feet long sprayed out of the woman's mouth, as black and deep gashes covered the Demon's body, making black-blood leak and causing it some pain.

     [CRUSH YOU HUMAN!]

     Bang~! And the Demon also used a [Ground Stomp] to send black-tendrils of energy upward, knocking Fulbright to his butt.

     But just as the Demon was about to bite down on the unstable Knight, another player entered the battle...

     [Snort~! Nay!]

     The dead Clydesdale that Drake rode and had died, stood up again, with a faintly glowing red-hand-print in the shape of Sam's palm, faded, and the jet black Undead Monster with glowing red eyes, looked at the Demon with hostility.

     Then red flames burst forth from its hooves and nostrils. When it crouched, it suddenly leaped at the Demon... [Meteor Leap]

     Bang~! As the two front hooves of the Monster landed, the entire body of the Demon shook and it stumbled to the side, taking a decent amount of damage...

     The Mage woman said in surprise...

     [That is a 6th Circle Nightmare! Well, we have a helper, let's hurry...]

     Then the long battle was underway...

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