Rise of the Eromancer

"They are there! The tracks of the search party lead to the large stone over there!"

The soldiers of Thebes all squinted their eyes as they looked at the large stone over the horizon; their feet, quickly kicking their horses as soon as they saw a silhouette standing next to it.

"I see someone there! It must be the man who took the Princess!"

"Hurry! They might spot us and start running away! We must kill the Princess!"

"For Prince Ducetios! For Thebes!"

The soldiers let out a roar that was louder and more violent than the galloping of their horses — they all unsheathed their swords and raised them in the air as they let out a war cry; a roar that caused the helmets that were covering their entire head except for eyes, the side of their nose, and their mouths.

They roared, even though they were just going to kill a single woman, and there were 6 of them.

"Do not let her escape! We must—Guekh!?"

"Pataicus!?"

Well, there were 5 of them now. With the soldier named Pataicus just being left by his horse as his entire chest caved in and was pierced by a spear — caved in, as he was not really hit by the sharp end of the spear — but still, it went through without any resistance at all as Pataicus was now hanging from the spear which was embedded through the ground.

The soldiers of Thebes stared at Pataicus's lifeless body for a few seconds before focusing their eyes in the direction where the spear came from, only to see the silhouette they saw earlier very slowly become visible — and it was a man, a tall man who still had his hands stretched toward them from having thrown the spear.

"Did that man… just throw the spear all the way from there…!?"

And with that realization, all the soldiers pulled on their reins; their horses spinning in place while the soldiers kept their heads and their eyes turned at Rhys.

"It… it must be a fluke!" And after deliberating what just happened, the loyal soldiers of Thebes just once again rushed toward Rhys — once again raising their swords and letting out warcries and roars.

As for Rhys, well, he just very calmly returned to a neutral position; just giving the soldiers of Thebes a little glare for a few seconds before glancing at Princess Clio, only to see her still offering a prayer to her dead soldiers.

Very soon, however, Clio's eyes opened wide as she finally heard the roars of the soldiers from Thebes. She quickly stood up and looked at the soldiers, before just quickly running to their horse and untying it from the rock its reins were attached to,

"We should go, Rhys of Wilder!" Princess Clio was about to jump onto the horse, but then noticed that Rhys was not moving at all and just staring at the soldiers rushing toward them, "Rhys! What are you doing!?"

"They are only going to chase after us again," Rhys let out a small but very deep sigh before shaking his head. And instead of stepping toward Clio and the horse, he stepped forward to meet the incoming soldiers, "I am going to have to silence them."

"What are you—"

And before Clio could even finish her words, Rhys just suddenly ran toward the soldiers of Thebes and their large horses. And of course, he made sure not to use Olga's superspeed at all since it was still daytime — and someone might truly be watching him from above.

"Rhys!?" Clio could not believe what he was trying to do — sure, she had already seen Rhys completely tear down a door with a metal chain on it, but the door and the chain both already looked rusted and rotten. For all she knows, they might have just been at the end of their lifespan — as for these soldiers, well, Rhys told them they killed each other.

Sure, Rhys could carry her all the way through the entire mountain range without resting, but that was only a show of his strength and his stamina — fighting 5 men on horses at once all at the same time?

"Rhys, we should just run!" But alas, Clio's breaths fell on deaf ears as Rhys continued to run toward the rampaging horses. Clio slightly lifted her foot up as she leaned closer to the horse, but before she could actually mount it, she gritted her teeth and just quickly rushed toward the corpses of her shoulders, grabbing one of their swords,

"I… I will help you!" The princess raised her voice as she clumsily ran to follow Rhys; the sword in her hand wildly flailing about.

And as Rhys heard that, he could not help but just glance back; a small smirk, very slowly crawling on his face before he just focused on the soldiers in front of him, which were now only meters away from making contact with him.

"Die, you behemoth!" One of the soldiers waved his sword as his horse passed by Rhys, only to find himself just suddenly being pulled down from the saddle as Rhys grabbed his wrist; crouching so he could avoid the other swords swinging toward him and putting one of them to the ground at the same time — and without even letting the soldier let out even a tiny grunt, Rhys crushed his head along with the helmet with a single punch.

He then grabbed the man's circular shield and then threw it like a frisbee toward the soldier closest to him… completely separating the man's head from his shoulders as he was able to hit him right on the gaps of his neck.

But of course, Rhys was not done as he grabbed the soldier's sword this time and then just threw it like a tomahawk toward one of the 3 remaining soldiers — the sword, just crushing the soldier's skull through the helmet before just dropping and hanging by the saddle; his face grating through the ground as his horse continued to run.

"W… what!?" And in just less than a minute, 3 of the soldiers were already dead and only 2 remained — all of their dead brothers, dying a very swift death. But of course, Rhys would kill them as fast as possible. After all, these people did not have any power at all or the blood of gods running through their veins; they were powerless, and any delay in their execution would just be bullying.

The two soldiers, now completely aware that it wasn't a fluke at all that Rhys was able to hit their friend from yards away, just completely shifted their attention to Clio instead, who was holding a sword in the distance and pointing it at them.

"Let… let's just kill the princess and get done with this!" One of the soldiers raised his sword and also pointed it at Princess Clio, "You go deal with the giant and stop him from chasing after us!"

"What!? You stop him, I will go for the princess!"

"This is not the time for a debate!" The soldier then suddenly moved closer to his comrade; slashing his horse's neck and just causing him and his horse to tumble across the ground. Fortunately for the other soldier, he was quick to dismount and prevented himself from being crushed by the weight of his horse.

"Did… Did you just kill Aga!?" The soldier could not help but just throw his helmet on the ground in frustration as his horse was killed by his very own comrade, "Why would you do that!? We—"

Before he could finish his words, however, he heard a small whisper from behind him — he quickly looked back, only to see Rhys checking on the horse's wound. And with a small sigh, Rhys just snapped the horse's thick neck with his bare hands — he could have healed the horse, he wanted to. But whoever was watching him from above would know that he had the same abilities as the gods.

The only ability he could use without him feeling watched was his herculean strength.

Rhys then turned to look at the soldier on the ground, before focusing on the last soldier, who just dismounted from his horse and was now walking toward the princess… who was stupidly holding a sword like she was going to do anything with it from how hard she was trembling.

"For…" The soldier on the ground picked up his sword and pointed it at Rhys, "For The—"

And before he could even finish his words, Rhys threw a punch at his chest armor; completely caving in his armor and crushing his entire ribs and organs… instantly killing him. He did not waste any time, however, as he grabbed the soldier's sword and then threw it toward the the man's back — his blood, just now spurting and showering at Clio.

And as if that was not enough, the soldier fell down to his knees forward… the soft flesh beneath his chin landing straight toward Clio's sword.

"!!!" And the weight of flesh being slowly torn apart just caused Clio to let go of her sword immediately.

"I…

…I killed someone?"