"Three of them? And there's a Royal Guard?" Maria muttered. She was clearly confused by their appearance, but she kept her composure. As she stabbed a vial of Blood into her leg, she called out to Gehrman. "Should we retreat?"
He couldn't help but frown at the question. Each of his Hunters was usually stronger than the average Vileblood, but the addition of a Royal Guard changed things. The quality of their silver armor was such that it would be very tough to deal damage to them.
If two of his pupils were up against such an entourage, than he would indeed recommend their retreat. But it wasn't his pupils who were being stared down by the Vilebloods, it was Gehrman and Maria.
"No. We'll kill the non-armored ones and question the last Guard. Laurence says their activity has been picking up lately. And Logarius wants to launch an attack soon. We need more information."
Of course, this was not the entire reason why Gehrman chose to stand and fight. But those could be worried about later.
At the moment, they needed to worry about getting shot at.
Bullets started to rain down upon them. Ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem. Hunters had a magnificent constitution, and the stronger ones could shrug off bullets. But they had actually managed to injure Maria, and the reason was clear.
From a long distance, Gehrman's eyes squinted and analyzed their weapon.
Both of the Knights wielded this long range pistol. It was a strange weapon that seemed to be modified for elegance over practicality. The long and embellished barrel resembled twisting rose thorns.
However, these weapons were deadly in the hands of Vilebloods, for their skill with blood allowed them to wield this weapon with frightening power.
Fortunately, they couldn't damage what they couldn't hit.
Each time Gehrman and Maria heard the crack of the gun, they would strafe, missing each bullet by inches. Their quickness did not allow them to react to the bullet moving well over the speed of sound, but they could easily predict its path based on the angle of their shooters.
What's more, it seemed that these Vilebloods were not aiming for the kill. Indeed, if they intended only to kill them, then the first shot should have pierced Maria's head. They were trained killers after all, if they could not land that shot then they wouldn't be let out of Cainhurst Castle.
But instead they simply seeked to maim them.
It struck Gehrman as odd, even though he did recognize the reasoning behind this tactic. Maria had long told Logarius and the Church what she knew of the Vilebloods. This was how Gehrman knew how to distinguish between the Knights, and the much more dangerous Royal Guard. And so he knew how they hunted.
The Vilebloods treated the hunt as an artform instead of a task. The more bloody and glorious the kill the better. After all, every kill was a monument to their Queen, and a sneaky kill from a sniper would sully her name.
Right…these guys are morons. I almost forgot.
The pair of Hunters moved their way out of the poisonous swamp and onto the pale cliffs of Loran. Neither of them suffered anymore injuries, and as soon as they were protected by rock, the shots stopped.
"Lady Maria!" A shrill, prim voice echoed throughout the valley. "You have committed treason against the Queen. Slay this man and you may live out the rest of your days in the lowliest of prisons. If you do so, you may have the chance to win back the favor of Her Majesty, The Great Queen Annalise!"
"Wow, what an offer," Maria sneered. "Allow me to make a different one. Lay down your arms and you won't be slaughtered. Otherwise, you will bring shame to the Queen with a pitiful death that will occur within the next two minutes."
Gehrman couldn't help but crack a grin at his pupil. Despite the situation, she still held absolute confidence. Even when faced with figures from her past, the pride of a Hunter burned bright within her.
"Insolent wench," the Royal Guard spat back at her. "I will enjoy splitting you apart and carving out your foul mouth."
"...Are you flirting with me?"
The echo of four bullets came at once, the rocks shook with the powerful impact of the Knights guns.
Four shots? Either the Royal Guard has two more of those or those knights are dual wielding. Didn't they have rapiers strapped to their waist? Or was that…
The flash of a blade came for Gehrman's skull with shocking speed. The Knight had come from above. Even with his [Sixth Sense] Gehrman was slow to react to his shocking speed. Don't tell me they are also Ascended!
The point of the rapier came down with surprising power. Instinctively, Gehrman raised his gloved hand and knocked it away, but he had been terribly mistaken.
The Knight was not using a simple rapier. Instead, the fine weapon had been modified into a bonafide trick weapon. Very similar to the kind used by Gehrman's Workshop Hunters. He recognized it too late.
The Reiterpallasch.
The silver rapier that doubled as a gun. And that gun fired at close range.
Gehrman's [Hunter Attire (Sealed)] was Ascended, and it could reach heights close to Transcendent when covered in blood and activating its [Forged by Blood] enchantment.
But the Reiterpallasch was close, and the person wielding it had the power of an Ascended human.
Gehrman's head had moved to the side when he had pushed the rapier aside, but that did not mean he was in a good position.
In an instant, his entire left arm and part of his thigh were blown away.
The pain was tortuous… but Gehrman had already experienced pure Agony when he was a Demon. At this point, his pain tolerance went beyond superhuman and seemed to become a powerful Attribute in itself.
His blood which was about to splatter across the ground rose to form a thin needle that moved to pierce the Knight's eye. He twisted midair, and landed several meters away. His expression was confused, he was having trouble comprehending what he saw.
Then, the white sparks that had been growing since the second Gehrman first noticed the attack finally solidified.
Four vials of Fallen Blood exploded, coating his scythe, attire, and blunderbuss. While the last one entered his mouth.
Gehrman's pupils dilated and his body started to rapidly regrow. The process may not have been as bad as pure Agony, but it was similar enough to accumulate a good amount of madness.
And for the first time since coming to this Nightmare, he let the madness flow.
He entered a state he had mastered during his time hunting the last Forgotten Shore creatures with Nephis.
His frenzied mind grabbed more details than normally possible and he entered a hyper focused state. As long as he did continuous calculations. The overwhelming thoughts of frenzy would be too busy processing these to cause any real damage.
This time though, he went a bit further. On instinct, he started to emanate the madness of Agony.
The sight of this old man being devoured by Blood was startling enough, but the pain that struck the Vileblood Knight forced halted him in his tracks. The man's breath shuddered as he quickly tried to acclimate to this new state.
However, Gehrman was already moving forward. His blade whistled through the air with killing intent. Gehrman's blood (which had previously formed a needle) also moved in tandem with the attack.
Unfortunately, Gehrman was still of the First Rank, and this Knight was of the Third. Though Gehrman's weapons were of equal Rank (and likely a bit stronger) than this Vileblood, he himself did not have the Soul to cause death in a single swing.
This was the difference between humans of different Ranks fighting each other as opposed to a human fighting a Nightmare Creature. Gehrman had used multiple tricks in the past with compounding effects that could injure creatures of the third rank. But these tricks would not have the same effect on a human. Their will was clearer and sharper than a Nightmare Creature of the same Rank.
As such, the needle of blood didn't even pierce the Knights attire. And the Burial Blade failed to sever the Vileblood in half.
It still cut very deep into him though.
The Knight let out a pained grunt as he felt his skin break and his ribs fracture. But in a karmic twist, no blood fell from the wound. It was second nature for Gehrman to draw blood from an exposed enemy wound. But this enemy had the same trick as he did. And the blood of this Vileblood was much more attached to its master than any other blood he had seen.
In fact, the blood surged and pushed out the scythe, throwing Gehrman off balance. The gun from the enemy fired once again, this time from his off hand.
The Fallen Blood on his attire coalesced to meet the bullet, and the enhanced attire kept it from piercing. But this blow broke a rib of Gehrman's.
In under ten seconds, both warriors had dealt devastating blows to the other.
It was only at this point that Gehrman realized that he ought to be profoundly grateful to Maria, for she was fighting off both the other Knight and the Royal Guard as well. It seemed that they were all of the same Rank, but Maria was in another league in terms of combat proficiency. Even without using her blood manipulation abilities, she fended them off easily.
Which was good, since Gehrman was fighting a very uphill battle.
He took half the blood from his scythe and sent it down his throat, snapping his rib back into place.
His pupils shook and he released even more Madness. The practical application of his [Inheritor of Madness] Attribute had finally started to become apparent.
"What the hell are you?" The Knight's voice quivered only slightly. The clear trepidation in his voice was the only thing that gave Gehrman hope that he might be able to pull this off.
And he had to pull this off. Even if Maria could take down the other two, he needed to be able to prove himself superior to one of the Knights for his plan to work.
Mustering great strength he dove forward, the dust surrounding his feet exploded outward. He raised his blade, and at the moment when the Vileblood moved to counter, he let loose a fire from his blunderbuss.
The timing was perfect. The Vileblood was stunned, and Gehrman leaned forward for a visceral.
But his fist never connected.
The rapier flashed once again, nearly piercing Gehrman's chest. This time, he was ready for the follow up shot. He strafed in an odd maneuver, dodging the shot and ending up beside the man.
The Knight turned, both of their blades met and sparks flew. The superior power of the Vileblood pushed Gehrman back.
He used the blade as a saber, its thin side pushing back the large scythe due to the sheer might of its owner. The weight behind the small rapier was unbelievable, and the Vileblood was straining to break his stance.
But when he finally did it was not what he had expected. Gehrman may have been at the ultimate disadvantage in terms of Rank. But there was one crucial advantage Gehrman had: he was fighting with a Memory. An enchanted weapon that took time to summon, but could be dismissed instantly at any point.
The Vileblood couldn't even fathom such a thing.
When the scythe vanished into a wave of light, Gehrman sidestepped the Knight. The force of his enemy's attack caused him to plummet to the ground. It was as if a chair had been pulled out from under him. The confusion of what just occurred distracted him.
In this fight, he had seen impossibility after impossibility. Even though he was a seasoned warrior he was well and truly disoriented.
So much so that he didn't realize that his off-hand weapon had been lightly snatched from his grasp.
Gehrman pressed the long barrel to the Knight's head and fired.
This was a weapon that could pierce even Maria's attire and flesh.
The Vileblood Knight didn't even have time to scream before his head exploded.
[You have slain an Ascended Human, Vileblood Knight Cecil.]
[You have received a Memory.]