Life steal was a very advanced form of Dark magic. The immediate feeding and healing of the bodies are only present among the highest-ranking vampires and other beings. Low leveled vampires wouldn’t have such strong ability. Though vampires do heal through the absorption of Dark energy and blood, it wasn’t as fast as Kyros’s exaggerated effects.

The strange thing was that the healing came directly from the sword. The blood was clearly rising from the sword hilt, and the blood rushed up to the arm of Kyros, which in turn was used to heal the wound.

“You will all be fuel for my sword!” Kyros made a sadistic laugh.

[Taunt activated.]

“Stop it now! Before it heals itself!” The woman cried out and immediately retrieved a bow and began to fire.

Kyros was standing near a torch, and when he moved out of the light, he activated Dark Cloak and disappeared.

The arrows missed, and it exploded upon contact on the wall behind.

“A Force user… How can a Force user be here on the Lowlands? Fate really is cruel. Am I to expect warriors at the same caliber of my father and uncle soon?” Kyros frowned. 

“Assume a formation! Knights to the front! Archers to the-“

“Are you sure you want to challenge me? I killed everyone here before they could light the Alarm beacon.” Kyros laughed.

[Oration skill activated.]

The woman was surprised and looked at the beacon. None of the archers or the Mage managed to shoot a fire arrow or fire magic to the top to light it up. She couldn’t understand just how fast this creature killed them.

Kyros began to retreat to an unseen location and summoned his three golems.

The rocky sound of the golem moving out of the earth alerted the group.

Immediately, Kyros put away the Earth Core and brought out the Entropy Core. Although he couldn’t summon Mardock since he was already accompanying the Avary and team, he could still harness the Entropy magic from it.

With an external form of energy that provided Entropy, Kyros enveloped several arrows with Entropy.

He taunted the group at the beginning to give the impression that his weapon was a sword. As Taunt was activated, and since Kyros also hinted that he managed to kill everyone with his sword, the team of soldiers was on the alert to prepare for Kyros’s charge, which would attempt to assassinate them.

The knights formed a perimeter around the team. Inside the formation were the archers, the mage, and the woman.

“Captain! We should retreat! That monster massacred everyone!” A knight urged.

“Yes, Captain!” Another archer added.

“Spike, you retreat and warn the outpost up north! That’s the nearest place where you can find reinforcement. We’ll buy you some time!” The woman decided.

“Captain! We should all retreat!” a knight argued back.

“It killed the entire outpost without even giving them time to light the warning beacon! This thing is fast and strong! If we retreat, we fall prey to this hunter! Haven’t you seen its figure? Its dark powers made it hard to see! If we flee, we stand at a higher risk of getting massacred. Our goal is to make sure someone gets to the nearest outpost and warn or light the alarm beacon! To do that, some have to stay and fight!” The woman explained.

“Screw this!” A knight retreated and broke formation. Soon the others followed.

“Knights! You hold your ground! Stop!”

“Leave her! She’s supposed to die anyway!” The mage shouted as the group retreated.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

The arrows flew and struck the mage and two archers.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Even before these three could scream, another volley struck the knights and the remaining archer.

The group was unprepared. The summoned golems continued to make sounds, and the soldiers were naturally putting their attention there. Unfortunately, they didn’t see Kyros move to the side.

“Arrows! Evade!” The woman warned.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

The last set of three arrows flew, and two hit the target, but the woman who led the eight men managed to evade it and shoot several volleys to counter Kyros.

The arrows flew with fantastic accuracy, and if it weren’t for Kyros’s high dexterity, he would have been hit.

The last arrow even required Kyros to make this two shadow familiars jump forward to weaken the arrow.

“She’s strong! Stupid Fate! This isn’t an average Force user! Just how strong will my future enemies be?!” Kyros then ordered the golems to rush and attack.

“Men! The dark being is an archer. Do not escape! He can kill you! Do not-” It was then that the woman noticed the men were screaming in agony. She turned to peak and saw that the mage and archers were already dead. The knights that should have survived a single arrow were screaming in agony as the part that was struck was leaking greenish energy.

One of the knights removed the arrow that was lodged on his shoulder and kept screaming. Finally, he removed the armor in a panic and found that his shoulder was turning green as a powerful gnawing sensation kept attacking it.

The other knights did the same thing. One of the knights who was struck near the neck died as the strange poison got to his throat and caused him to be unable to breathe.

“Poison! I’ve been fooled! He was not just a swordsman!” The woman cursed. She was so focused on fighting a swordsman that the arrow attacks that had poison surprised her.

“These arrows are sharp! The arrow is made of some strong material!” She cursed. The arrows that attacked the knights easily penetrated through their armor.

Kyros laughed.

“Those arrows can pierce through rocks. Those pitiful armors of your men are useless. Just die! Golems! Kill her!” Kyros ordered.

Suddenly, the golems appeared and charged for attacking the woman.

The woman paused and took a deep breath. Then, she glanced at the approaching golems and concentrated.

FWIP! FWIP!

Several more arrows flew to attack the woman, but the woman began to ran and used force on her feet to jolt her backward.

“She used a version of Explosive Arrow on her feet? Damn… She’s good!” Calaminus praised.

“She is indeed. And her dexterity is quite high that I wouldn’t be able to kill her. No choice. Let’s use our secret weapon.”

“Secret weapon?” Calaminus wondered.

“Splash.” Kyros smiled.

“I’m a secret weapon?” Calaminus blushed.

“I can’t believe Splash is a secret weapon. I wonder if I’ll learn Tackle soon…”

“Get ready!” Kyros urged.

The woman jumped and rolled on the ground, taking a sword from the knight rolling in agony. She charged and stabbed at the golem, and the sword exploded upon contact.

The woman evaded the punches of the golems which were now surrounding her. She punched and kicked the golems with each hit containing the explosive force, but it wasn’t enough to kill the golems.

Kyros continued to shoot arrows and ordered the golems to start killing the surviving knights.

But the woman’s movements proved skillful. She evaded Kyros’s attacks and pushed, kicked, or struck the golem with his swords to keep the knights alive.

FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!

Another trio of arrows was shot, and the woman evaded two but then caught the remaining one headed for her head. 

BANG!

The woman’s grip contained the same explosive force which stopped and broke the arrow to pieces.

Kyros shot more arrows, but they were either being evaded or caught in the woman’s explosive grips.

[Calaminus used Splash!]

“Gotcha!” Kyros shouted.

The woman suddenly jumped backward as she felt the strange tap, and she used her explosive kick to launch her further away as she landed. 

When she found nothing there, she immediately turned her attention to the side and found an arrow headed straight towards her. 

She caught the first one and broke it, and immediately went to catch the second one. 

By the time she noticed it, it was too late.

The second incoming ranged attack wasn’t an arrow. It was a Dark Bolt.

BOOM!

The woman was struck on the chest as the dark bold slipped through her arm.

BOOM! BOOM!

Two more dark bolts struck her on the leg and on the arm.

She stumbled on the ground and was in pain. She felt the dark energy corrupting his body, and a grave sense of heaviness prevented her from moving her arm and the leg that was struck.

“My muscles are torn?” She laughed.

She could see the golems approaching, and the dark figure revealed itself once more as it approached her.

“I am Martha of the Bowheart Clan! My bow can only bend or break. And today, my bow finally breaks!” She shouted. There was a sense of release in her cry. She could finally rest.

“Martha of the Bowheart Clan? Could it be… her?” Kyros was amazed. That was a name he had heard in his past life.

“It was an honorable fight. You fought with great trickery and made a fool of this archer. But a loss is a loss.” She laughed.

“Yeah… about that… I don’t think I can kill you…” Kyros hesitated.

“Really? She just said she’s Martha, and you’re not killing her? I didn’t know Ascension of the Nephilim had a Snyder Cut.”

“Martha Bowheart? The Genius Archer abandoned by his family?” Kyros asked.

The woman was amazed.

“Who… Who are you?”

“Do you know someone named Aron Steele?”

“Aron Steele, the Half Paladin?”

“Force Paladin. But yeah. That one.”

“I have heard of him… What business do you have, oh, creature of the night?”

“Are you… by any chance… single?”