1. Prologue (His Past) - 11. The Hunting Competition

The hunting competition almost began but Angel still hadn't found her. His anxiety began to dominate his heart and mind as his feet continued to move and his eyes looked for Rose among the guests.

A loud sound of a bell rang, indicating the hunting competition had almost started. He walked toward the hunting ground's front gate as his eyes continued to search her among the crowd. In front of the gate, nine participants had gathered, one of them was Ilex.

A middle-aged man in Asteria's official uniform approached and bowed to greet them.
"Welcome to the hunting competition. My name is Herdin. I will explain to you the rules."

"The rules are simple. After all, participants enter the hunting ground, we will put the bait in the middle of the field to lure monsters around it. Each dead monster will be worth ten points, while the main hunt will be worth one hundred points. . The first person who can reach one hundred points is the winner. "

Herdin gestured his hand towards a guard. The guard approached them with a tray containing some magic bracelets.
"Each participant will also get a teleport bracelet. For participants who want to give up just shout 'I surrender', he will be moved out of the hunting ground."

All participants took the bracelets and put them on their wrists.

After they were ready, two guards opened the gate.
"Now, you may enter the hunting ground," said Herdin as he gestured to them to enter.

As soon as the participants entered the hunting ground, the bait was placed in the middle of the field near the entrance and the gate was closed.

The smell of fresh blood from the bait lured monsters around it. The sound of howls and footsteps could be heard from all directions. In an instant, they were surrounded by dozens of Shadow Wolves.

All of the participants fought fiercely, one by one the Shadow Wolves died. They started collecting their points, but Angel hadn't gotten any points yet.

He simply dodged or brushed off the monster's attacks and let other participants kill it. Occasionally his attention was directed towards the front gate where the guests gathered, hoping to get a glance of her. A participant's scream made him turn his attention back to the hunting ground and saw a Fiend Bear roared in front of them.

Some participants immediately surrendered when they saw the Fiend Bear, the others surrendered after realizing that their attack couldn't hurt the monster. Now, only two participants were left, Angel and Ilex.

He looked around, his brain was trying to make a plan. A tree with a large branch caught his attention and gave him an idea. Quickly, he approached Ilex.
"Ilex, climb that tree and wait for me there. I will lure that monster, after I give the signal, attack the back of its neck."

Ilex glanced at the tree.
"Fine, I'll follow your plan." Then he ran towards the tree.

As soon as Ilex moved, the monster shot its spikes at him. Angel quickly covered Ilex and broke all the spikes.

The monster roared with anger, now it turned its attention to Angel. The monster jumped at him fiercely. Swiftly, Angel raised his hand, restrained it with his sword and pushed it.

A direct battle was unavoidable. The clashing sounds between the monster's claws and his sword were clear. The monster kept attacking him repeatedly with its claws. While he dodged and parried it. His feet kept moving backwards towards the tree. Meanwhile, all the guests hold their breath in tension. Their eyes stared at the battle in front of them without a blink, since only a few people had the courage to fight one on one with a Fiend Bear.

He glanced over to make sure Ilex was ready in his position.
'Now I just need to find a chance to attack its eyes.' He remembered that the monster was smart enough to make a tactic to lure them out of their hiding place last night, so he decided to be careful.

But without warning, Ilex suddenly jumped and swung his sword towards that monster. The monster noticed it and swung its claw before his sword reached it. Feeling in danger, Ilex shifted his sword forward to protect himself from the monster's attack.

- Brak!

In one hit, Ilex was thrown and crashed into a tree.

Angel clicked his tongue in annoyance out Ilex's recklessness.
'I haven't given the signal, why did he attack it ?!' Now his plan failed and he needed to find another way to help Ilex to kill the monster.

Before Ilex could get back to his feet, the monster swung its claw to him.

Angel quickly covered Ilex and brushed it off. The monster swung its other claw, he dodged down as his hand took a handful of sandy soil under his feet. Then he quickly stood up and threw it into the monster's eyes. The monster groaned angrily, its hands covering its eyes.
"Ilex, go up and attack from above!"

No answer ...

"Ilex!" shouted Angel again. Since Ilex didn't answer him, he glanced at Ilex behind him and saw Ilex was still sitting under the tree in shock and fear. That attack left Ilex in shock since it was the first time he almost lost his life.

'Dammit! He will be killed! ' thought Angel. Petrified on the battlefield was a clear defeat because it was tantamount to giving the opponent an opportunity to attack. Seeing Ilex's state, Angel knew he had to do something.

Without wasting time jumped onto Ilex's shoulder, making it as a foothold as his left hand reached for a large branch above him and pulled his body onto the branch.

After he made sure the monster was still rubbing its eyes, he jumped and swung his sword into the back of its neck. As his sword managed to pierce its neck, the monster struggled and groaned in pain. He kept hold on to his sword, his body hanging and shaking violently on the monster's neck.

The monster's hands tried to reach his body, but before it reached him, he kicked it and made it a foothold to push his body over the monster's shoulders. Then with one pull, Angel tore off half of its neck. The monster struggled and groaned in pain, its hand trying to reach him again, but he quickly jumped down to avoid it.

Finally, after the monster struggled and raged blindly for a moment, it lost its balance and died. He knew by this he had disobeyed his uncle's orders, but he had no other choice but to kill the monster because Ilex was petrified. On the other hand, he couldn't take Ilex to run away, since Ilex's body was too much for him.

Everyone fell silent ...

Herdin's voice broke the silence.
"Prince Angelus managed to kill our main hunt! The winner of this hunting competition is the second Prince of Asteria, Angelus Raizel Reinheart!"

Loud applauses were heard.

Angel turned his attention back to the crowd at the front gate, which was filled with cheers and applause for him. His eyes kept searching for the girl he had met last night, but he didn't find her. Disappointment filled his heart, though he knew he shouldn't think about it now. He turned his gaze to Ilex who was still sitting under the tree and sheathed his sword. Then Angel approached him and extended his hand to help Ilex up.

Ilex brushed off Angel's hand in anger and shame.
"I don't need your help!" he said in displeasure. Ilex couldn't deny it was his fault, but he couldn't accept that he, a real Reinheart, a descendant of the Holy Knight family who had defeated the Dark King, was defeated by an illegitimate child who was pretending to be his cousin, both in courage and swordsmanship. Without further ado, Ilex stood up and walked to the front gate.

Knowing Ilex's anger, Angel just sighed and followed him from behind.