Rise of the Blood Sovereign

72  Fighting the Hawks

The hawks possessed incredible speed, and with the caravan using the narrow road of the mountain in order to traverse it, they had an advantage as the adventurers and mercenaries could not move as freely as before and had to be incredibly careful during battle.

There were about 14 hawks coming at them. Out of the 14, 4 were Bronze Core hawks and their size and speed were much greater compared to the ones below the Bronze Core realm. Even the Bronze Knights that were masters at long-range combat couldn't easily deal with the four hawks and would need to fully focus on them, leaving the other long-range attackers to deal with the other hawks.

The melee combatants wouldn't be of much help here since the hawks attacked by swooping down, grabbing a person, and then flying up before letting go of their prey and allowing gravity to do its work.

The hawks would have to be dealt with before they were able to get too close.

Even though a couple of Bronze knights had prepared themselves in anticipation of the hawks coming down and attacking them, they knew that if too many arrived, it would be hard for them to save everyone.

That was why it was instrumental for the long-range combatants to at least kill half of the hawks before they were able to get to them. Luckily, there was a high number of long-range attackers and it shouldn't be a problem for them to take down most of the hawks.

Even though it was night and the visibility was worse than usual, the long-range attackers each had their specialty and could deal with such monsters. Some had already used their long-range skills and had launched them at the hawks, unfortunately, they were way too eager and should have waited a bit before doing so.

The hawks were not only incredibly fast, but had great eyesight and would easily be able to dodge any attacks that would be thrown at them from such a distance.

Lyle sighed before staring at one hawk that was moving to the side in order to avoid a golden arrow that had been launched at it.

'I can't kill it with my knives from such a range, but I can at least do this much.' Lyle thought before he threw his dagger with full force at the hawk.

He made sure to hide his throw, but even if somebody was to see him, they wouldn't think much of it, only that he was a fool that overestimated his abilities and dared to actually throw a small knife from such a distance.

Thanks to his blood manipulation and the fact that he was a Bronze Knight, Lyle was not only able to launch the knife with incredible power, but he had also placed a thin layer of blood on the pommel of the dagger.

When the dagger had passed about two-thirds of the way to the hawk, Lyle activated his ability and caused the layer of blood to explode, which in turn boosted the speed of the knife and allowed it to penetrate one of the wings of the hawk.

It tore a hole in the wing and caused the hawk to suddenly shift to the side, putting it right on the path of the golden arrow that suddenly struck it.

The arrow was launched by a high-grade adventurer and the one attack was enough to fully penetrate through the body of the hawk and completely decimate it. The monster was almost torn in half by the golden arrow, and the adventurer that managed to hit it smiled widely upon seeing so.

"Hell yes, come on you bastards, let me see what else you got!" The archer said confidently as he 12:50

notched another arrow on his bow, only for Lyle to suddenly widen his eyes and shout out, "Watch "Hell yes, come on you bastards, let me see what else you got!" The archer said confidently as he notched another arrow on his bow, only for Lyle to suddenly widen his eyes and shout out, "Watch out, behind you!"

The archer simply glanced at Lyle with a confused expression before his neck was bitten by a monster.

A black panther of the Bronze Core realm had suddenly appeared on top of the carriage. The other combatants that had been on top of the carriage together with the man all screamed out in fear as the panther simply turned around and jumped up in order to escape.

It had waited patiently for the caravan to arrive and hid behind a rock above the road.

The panther was able to easily jump down to the roof of the carriage and claim a life as everybody had focused on the hawks and thus didn't really pay attention to their surroundings.

"No, you don't!" One Bronze Knight yelled out as he suddenly appeared next to the panther.

His body was covered in lightning as he arrived at incredible speed and slashed at the panther. With one swift strike, the man was able to decapitate the monster and send it tumbling down the mountain.

"Damn it, we were careless!" Said the man as he glanced down at the body of the killed archer before jumping on the carriage.

"Attack the hawks, don't worry about any more monsters attacking you, I will make sure all of you are safe!" The man said as he clenched his sword and looked around him, ready to move and attack any monster that would dare strike at them again.

'Hmmm, a high-grade, or perhaps even one at the peak of the Bronze Knight realm, that's reassuring, with somebody as strong as him, everyone should be able to focus now.'

'Not to mention that he is a lightning user, those such as himself are well known for their incredible speed and ferocious attacks, somebody like this is just what we need in order to keep the caravan safe at this moment.' Lyle thought before looking up again.

The Tier I long-range combatants were launching their skills and arrows relentlessly at the Tier I hawks.

( Author: So once again, what the world calls Bronze Knight or Bronze Core realm, is Tier I by the system, so I will be using this at times in order to not repeat or prolong sentences when it's not needed. )

The hawks were thus unable to come close enough to the caravan, as they were too busy dodging the attacks and spells that were sent their way. The normal hawks had almost arrived at the caravan, but they only numbered 5 now.

They had been able to kill half of them, but 5 was still not a low number.

"Adam, aim at the one closest to us, try to be as accurate as you can, but leave the rest to me," Lyle said as he grabbed a javelin and gave it to Adam. Some blood had been smeared on one side and Adam simply nodded at Lyle before aiming.

He was not trained at all when it came to throwing weapons, but he wasn't that bad either. Compared to an expert like Lyle, of course, he was a mere amateur, but he could at least follow the hawks and easily calculate where to throw the javelin in order to hit it.

As the javelin left his hand, he used a mana blast to further propel it. It would affect the accuracy a bit, but it would make the javelin much deadlier.

As the javelin made its way to the hawk, Lyle could see that it would hit, but barely.

It wouldn't really be enough to take the monster down, so he got ready to activate his ability as well. He also threw a couple of throwing knives quickly whilst keeping an eye on the javelin, and just as it struck the hawk, Lyle used his ability and willed the blood he left on it to get in the hawk.

With his blood inside the hawk's body, it was incredibly easy for Lyle to kill it. But he didn't do so as that would be suspicious. He simply solidified his blood and made it cut up one of the wings from the inside, making the hawk lose control and start plummeting down.

From what anyone else could see, it was Adam's javelin that struck the hawk and deal enough damage to completely incapacitate one of its wings, but the young man of course knew that it was mostly thanks to his master that the hawk was brought down.

'Hmm, I can definitely use my skills and ability more times now, but I still need to conserve them and not go overboard with using them.' Lyle told himself as he grabbed another dagger and placed some blood on the pommel and on the blade itself.

He solidified the blood that was on the blade while making the one on the pommel explode to give the knife a boost.

The knife was not only fast, but its cutting power was also a notch above now and it was able to easily penetrate through the body of the hawk and come out from behind.

The knife had penetrated the hawk's heart, killing it instantly.

From what the others had seen, however, the hawk had suddenly started plummeting down while some blood was visible on it. Nobody knew who exactly it was that hit it,  but nobody cared as they now only had 3 hawks to deal with.

The long-range attackers could even simply relax as the Bronze Knights could deal with the hawks with ease once they came closer. The only issue that was still at hand was the four Bronze Core hawks that were still engrossed in a battle with the long-range Tier I combatants.