PATH OF THE STAR HUNTER

420 Chapter 420 Between a rock and a hard place

Shockwaves and blurry figures could be seen across Serith’s ordinarily clear and sunny sky. Even from a distance, it was possible to discern the tremendous explosions and resulting wind currents.

A couple of dozen seconds had already passed, and the battle in the air was still taking place. However, calling it a battle was perhaps an exaggeration. Like a cat playing with a mouse, the royal knight was taking his time tormenting Desmond and sapping his strength.

Desmond’s expression was severe to the extreme; he never expected things to come to this point. Desmond didn’t understand the royal family very well. He hadn’t had enough time to thoroughly study them, which is why he had not foreseen their intervention.

Usually, Desmond would have the confidence to fight almost any opponent head-to-head. Even when he was not invincible, he still had many cards up his sleeve and was confident in his strength. Things changed completely when he faced this flying knight who kept tormenting him.

Like a ceaseless furious gale, the royal knight continued his barrage of attacks, each sword strike accompanied by a massive blast of compressed wind.

As long as one wasn’t an idiot, it would be evident that it was only a matter of time before Desmond was defeated. It wouldn’t be Desmond Astryd, though, if things were to end this way.

Taking advantage of the moment, the flying knight charged them again. Desmond took advantage of the continued thrust of the attack to gain some stability as he was dragged back. The royal knight’s long blade was pushing hard against the sword in Desmond’s hand when the latter made an unexpected move.

Desmond weakened his resistance to the sword strike by slightly tilting his sword inward and twisting his body. Caught off guard, the royal knight momentarily lost his balance, like a bull fooled by a red flag.

Pushing his right shoulder forward, Desmond twisted his sword arm and slammed his elbow into the flying knight’s temple. Stunned by the sudden impact to the skull despite his helmet, the flying knight was helpless as Desmond’s left knee slammed into his chest.

.....

Desmond raised his right leg above his head to finish off the man in front of him while gathering a massive amount of metallic mana on his heel. And like a guillotine, his leg fell, seeking to rip off the royal knight’s head.

Midway through his murderous move, Desmond felt slightly jerked and lacked coordination. This was between the wind straps that held him up and the wings that allowed him to be airborne, which caused a slight delay in his downward kick. Being a real knight, Desmond’s opponent’s combat experience was certainly not small, so he decisively seized the window of opportunity to get out of harm’s way.

Only now did Desmond understand how the royal knight flew, as he could take a closer look at his armor and flying techniques. On the back, the calves, and other parts of the armor were small metal projections from which jets of compressed air at high power came out. Like a jet, the royal knight shot out, leaving behind a sonic boom, before appearing nearly a hundred feet from Desmond.

Desmond couldn’t be more helpless in his current situation. He was at a total disadvantage, and the royal knight was hell-bent on not letting him set foot on earth. In the first instance, Desmond hadn’t even reached the standard of the strength of a royal knight, so facing one at this kind of handicap was a slow but sure death.

Although dizzy and on the verge of vomiting, Cecilia was still aware of her current situation. She could see that Desmond was somewhat vulnerable; keeping one arm busy to support her wasn’t helping.

On the other hand, the flying royal knight parried his incessant attacks for a brief moment. The knight removed the helmet covering his entire head and face, revealing a man in his thirties with light-blue hair and eyes.

An incredibly faint bruise was decorating the royal knight’s handsome face, but he didn’t seem too upset about it. On the contrary, he seemed excited to be able to fight someone who wasn’t completely helpless.

“Royal Knight William Wivernwing. I pay my respects to Holy Knight Desmond Astryd and Holy Priestess Cecilia Laezir.”

The confident smile on William’s face betrayed that his polite words were nothing more than that, just words. Even if William didn’t seem threatening now, Desmond knew that could change at any moment, plus he felt the man was just trying to slow him down.

“It’s Astryd.”

Desmond answered while he was still trying to find a window of opportunity.

Unable to understand his mistake, William looked confused, although his face was still relatively neutral and confident. “what?”

Although he knew the man was just playing for time, Desmond was in no position to offer resistance at the moment. So he could just play along even though it bothered him a lot.

“Her name is Cecilia Astryd.”

It’s true. I’m part of Desmond’s family now. That was what Cecilia thought as soon as Desmond introduced her using his last name; a feeling of warmth suffused her body from head to toe.

On the other hand, William was quite surprised by Desmond’s statement, as its implications were quite heavy. However, he wasn’t here to worry about such things; he only had to fulfill the mission entrusted to him.

“I’m afraid that doesn’t make any difference. Mr. Desmond, you must have already noticed the disadvantage you are at; please deliver Miss Cecilia. You don’t have to worry; she will be safe with the royal family.”

Desmond had senses and instincts so keen that he would put many wild beasts to shame, so he could tell that William’s words were more or less true. Though ignorant of politics, Desmond didn’t need his father’s detective skills to know there was something fishy about all of this.

Unfortunately, Desmond had no wiggle room; William had him between a rock and a hard place. No matter how monstrous Desmond’s talent was, he couldn’t hope to surpass William’s years of aerial combat experience. Even more so when Desmond still relied on Kyuru to fly.

Of course, Desmond would still rather rip off my arm and leg than leave a member of his family to the mercy of others. Even if his ties to Cecilia were light-years away compared to his relations to Claire or Sasha. Desmond had even promised to give her his last name. William had no way of knowing how heavy the Astryd name was on Desmond.

It wasn’t a matter of lineage or status. Desmond didn’t carry any real estate title or prestige associated with his last name; Desmond had something hundreds of times heavier. Astryd, the name of his parents, is an eternal reminder and a bond that time could never erase; Desmond was born an Astryd and would die as one.

The kind of love and loyalty contained in those six simple letters was not something many could understand. In Desmond’s books, the family was everything, and anyone who would draw a sword against his family had to get the worst possible death.

Being born with the natural gift of sensing the emotions of sentient beings, Kyuru understood this aspect of Desmond very well. When Desmond agreed to hand over Cecilia to the royal knight, she knew this was another one of Desmond’s tricks.

On the other hand, Cecilia didn’t understand Desmond that deeply, so his words puzzled her, but she still chose to trust him. It didn’t matter that they had only known each other for a month. Cecilia knew Desmond wasn’t the type to give in to others, not to mention that he could be a man of some pretty devious tricks.

William was also surprised by Desmond’s positive response. He expected Desmond to put up more resistance; in fact, he was pretty sure Desmond wouldn’t budge at all. William had not lived a long life in vain; through his fight against Desmond, William already had more or less an idea of ??his character.

Desmond was a capable, tenacious, determined individual who would try to turn the smallest of possibilities into victory. William learned much from his brief encounter and the blow he received to the head. Although William kept a calm and confident expression, only he knew of the cold sweat that covered his back after almost being decapitated by Desmond.

It was evident that Desmond lacked the experience to fight in the sky, which was precisely why William found him so terrifying. Amid a barrage of attacks, where he was constantly being pushed into a corner, Desmond still managed to create a slight chance. The lethality with which he exploded scared William.

Because of this, William did not dare to be careless; he didn’t want to end up losing his life to the terrifying young man in front of him. Cautiously, William slowly approached Desmond, always keeping his eyes focused for the slightest sign of movement.

Desmond stood still as if he really had given up and was ready to hand over Cecilia. Already being incredibly close to each other, when tension was in the air as William reached out a hand to take Cecilia, Desmond made a move.

Having waited for this long, William was ready; his most robust defenses were in place. He could lash out with a terrifying counterattack as soon as Desmond made his move... It was just that Desmond’s move would never arrive.

William just watched in utter disbelief as Desmond released Cecilia leaving her on the ground more than a hundred meters away. This was no different from killing the woman; the priestess’s fierce guardian had just hurled the woman to her death.

Complete nonchalance filled Desmond’s face as he let out a slight. “Oops, I dropped her.”