Chapter 172

On the stone bridge, the group was currently resting just by one of the tunnels entrances. Jack was completely worn out and Ray could see his body slowly healing and even the others looked pretty hurt. Ray had managed to just catch Jack transforming back to a human at the last second and immediately knew what Jack was. Jack was what was known as a Werewolf, one of the very few true half breed creatures. Not entirely human but not a beast either. It finally explained why Jack had such a strong Ki force on his outer body and when that ki was used up, why Ray could see a red aura surrounding his heart. Just like Dragon's the Werewolves of the past used to be plentiful but a long time ago a civil war broke out between their race. Some of the Werewolf's felt like they were a superior version of the human race and were meant to lead them. While others saw themselves as protectors for being stronger. In the end, the war was won by the Werewolf protectors, for they also had the support of Humans but many of them had died in the process. It seemed like over the years there had been less and less until eventually, they had been long forgotten about. Even Ray had nearly forgotten about them until he saw Jack just now. Ray started to think if Jack's parents knew they contained werewolf blood or if they passed it on unknowingly. Most likely someone in Jack's family should have known about this. Perhaps the Werewolf's had gone in hiding and if so, then maybe Ray would be able to use them in some way. While the group was resting and healing up, they told Ray about their encounter with Morfran and everything that had happened. "This is bad," Ray said. "If Morfran is down there then perhaps he is guarding the route. If they are using someone as powerful as him, they could be planning to attack the city soon." Ray once again tried to send a message to the others above. "What wrong?" Garry asked seeing the concerned look on Ray's face. "It's my system, for some reason I can't use it to contact anyone." "Then we have to leave now and warn everyone." Just then from the tunnel the group was standing by, they could hear the sound of clanking footsteps. The others could no longer rest and stood up immediately walking backward to the bridge. Finally, the figures making the sound stood into the light of the crystals, their black armor could be seen. Three Black knights in armor from head to toe, holding longswords came into view. "Aren't they the Black knights of Avrion?" Gary asked, "What are they doing down here?" But without saying a word one of the Black knights immediately dashed forward towards Gary. The Black knight was fast and swung its sword but Ray was able to intercept the strike with his gauntlet and then struck the knight with his other hand. The knight went back a few steps but looked undamaged. This was one of the things Ray feared most. The Black Knights armor acted as some type of suppression device making their aura seem a lot smaller than it actually was.

Ray could never tell how powerful the Black knights were. All he knew was that they were Avrion's trump card and never left the elder's side and now he knew why. They were really powerful. Badger and Monk were still recovering from the strike of Morfran leaving Jack and Gary being the only ones able to help Ray. They immediately went into combat with the other two knights while Ray was busy dealing with the first one. This was the worst situation for Ray. He had to fight conservatively which he hadn't done in a while. In the past, he was able to be reckless due to his mana steal skill. He could always grow in power or use his skills as much as he liked and later use mana steel on the Red wing members but right now that wasn't possible. Ray was trying his best to fend against the knight just using his gauntlets. If he was to use magic he would only do so at the right time. However, the Black knight was not only strong but incredibly skilled, far more skilled than the master knights. Their swordsmanship was fast, swift and powerful. Clashes could be heard as the three of them continued to fight on the stone bridge but eventually, Ray had made a slip up completely missing with a punch of his. The Black knight swung from the side at Ray, it managed to hit Ray's chest and pierce the Armadillo Chest piece causing a big cut along his chest and his blood to be drawn. Gary and Jack weren't doing too great either. Both of them had yet to fully recover. Attacks that had landed on Jack that usually wouldn't have done harm to his body were starting to cause cuts. Jack was sluggish and slow from his transformation and the knight was too agile for him to land any attacks. Gary fared only a little better manging to Block most of the Black knight's attacks but still, Garry was consistently on the defensive and saw no way of attacking back. Ray watching the whole situation and was starting to get annoyed. Ray then placed both hands on the ground and cast his ice bind skill on the Black knight. The Black knight's legs were frozen but they wouldn't be for long. Ray then Rushed over to Badger and Sloth and threw them over the others and into the entrance of the tunnel. The Black knights didn't bother to try to catch the two in the air for they could deal with them later. The Black knight had finally freed himself from the ice bind but when he did, he was surprised at what he could see. All of sudden there were two versions of Ray. Ray had cast his doppelganger skill. ***** Special thanks to Christian_Jacobs, Xmarty_Xhumit, Alexander_Bingham, Fenrir2040 and DarkShadow_DS for the gifts. They fuel my power to continue writing.