Saga of Astral Mysteries

Meanwhile, Ashe was preparing for the assassinations of the Bugbears, and Valkorion was waiting for the opportunity to strike down below, on one of the paths that were leading to the plateau where the Bugbears were constructing their tens and accommodations. 

As he looked at himself, he seriously contemplated buying some new armor and a sword because even though his leather armor was made from the skin of Extraordinary Creature, namely from the hide of Sequence 7 Violet Mountain Bear, it wasn't as powerful as it seemed.

And his sword was even in the worse condition; preferably, he wanted to buy both armor and sword made from Valyrian Steel, but even though this was the Valyrian Freehold, one couldn't just buy Valyrian Steel out of nowhere. 

The Council put a ban on selling Valyrian Steel freely, be it weapons, arms, other objects, or even ordinary Valyrian Steel Ingots. It was rather hard to buy it, even though, Valkorion knew that he could most probably afford it, as the Valyrian Steel wasn't actually that pricy. 

Prices were running in the thousands for the swords, depending on the size, though the most important factor was the blacksmith who was making the weapon. If it was a weapon made by a powerful Beyonder Blacksmith and made with the flames of older and more powerful Dragons, then the price would be even in the tens of thousands.

Still, the most problematic thing when it came to buying anything made from the Valyrian Steel, especially weapons and armors, was to have permission to buy such thing.

Lords Freeholders that were creating together the High Council of the Freehold were forbidding selling the Valyrian Steel outside of the Dragonlord Families, Aristocratic Families, Freehold Legions, and some other exceptions such as the Church of the Dragon God or some other Beyonder Organizations. 

That was because Valyrian Steel was a very powerful material, and weapons made from Valyrian Steel could be countered only by some other Valyrian Steel weapons or weapons made from different Extraordinary Materials.

Valkorion obviously couldn't buy such a thing freely because he couldn't even use the name of the Tenebraenys Family; that would be rather foolish to risk his life for a weapon, so he could only wait for the opportunity. 

Right now, his best bet would be to find something in the Painted Mountains or through the connections of the Clan Ferros.

'Still... if this continues, I would need to look for a new weapon. From what I heard, Mid Sequence Beyonders couldn't use normal weapons anymore, as their power would destroy them at a very fast rate...'

He pondered over the matter as he then saw a bullish-looking arrow fly through the air, directly aiming at the plateau where the Bugbears were camped, which was his signal for the actions.

Several seconds later, he heard roars from the camp of the Bugbears, when several of their members were killed by Ashe. Immediately afterward, Valkorion gripped his sword and rushed towards the Bugbears, who were right now in a state of panic as their leaders were killed by assassination. 

For a few moments, they tried to find the shooter of the arrows, though, unfortunately for them, they couldn't pinpoint the location of the archer. Thus, the sole thing that they could do was to leave the plateau so they wouldn't be so vulnerable.

The physical strength of the Bugbear was something that wasn't to be underestimated as he approached the encampment of the Bugbears with a sword in his hand. As the digestion of the Warrior Potion was speeding up, his physical strength was also being increased, and now, he knew that he could leave around eight hundred kilograms.

According to his calculations, his physical strength would hit the limit when the potion was completely digested, around one ton, which was a tremendous amount. That won't be less than many extraordinary Creatures living in the Painted Mountains. 

Fortunately for him right now, even though his sword wasn't made from any Extraordinary Material, due to the superior smithing methods of the Valyrian Freehold, it was still capable of serving him well, even though the situation wasn't ideal.

Just a few seconds was everything that was needed until he arrived at the end of the narrow pathway and appeared on the plateau, which was completely covered by the Bugbear's shabby tens and other things as they were building here...

He also saw the Bugbears that were panicking right now because another one of them went down, lowering their overall number to approximately twelve or so. It was rather hard to tell because it was possible that some of them were hiding in their tens and preparing to ambush the invaders.

In the end, Bugbears could be pretty cunning if they wished. 

Valkorion readied his sword and looked at the nearest Bugbear. The goblinoid noticed him as well and raised the enormous cub that he was wielding. He rushed at the human wielding a sword and observed the goblinoids. 

He just stood there, unmoving and observing the Bugbear that was rushing at him, scoffing internally seeing his shabby movements, as Valkorion just moves to the right and with a single swing of his sword, he slit the throat of the Bugbear.

'Too aggressive... or maybe scared from the assassin in the form of Ashe, overall rather disappointed, but corresponding to the common style of the goblinoids.'

Bugbears or Hobgoblins were not particularly skilled in the area of combat, and they rather relied on their physical superiority, brute strength, or sometimes in combination with numbers to crush their foes.

It was their most common strategy and the first thing that they would do during the fight. That was also the reason why most of the Bugbears were carrying those unreasonable large weapons that they could not even properly use.

In the end, it corresponded to their physical strength, and with the cub, they could squash their enemies like a bug. When Valkorion saw the cub that the recently deceased Bugbear was holding, he knew that even many Low Sequcne Beyonders would not be able to effectively wield such a weapon.

Immediately, there were three other Bugbears rushing at Valkorion when they noticed an invader in their encampment. All of them were wearing ramshackled armors and armed with oversized weapons that were rather impractical for real combat. 

Most of their weapons were rusty and in heavy need of maintenance... or they just dropped them to the furnace and smelt them into something new because they looked ripe for the garbage bin.

Valkorion immediately got into the combat stance of the Juyo, the 1st Stance, and in a flash, appeared in front of the three Bubbears that immediately swung their weapons towards him, as he dodged and flipped beneath one of them as he stabbed his sword into the stomach of one of them.

"One down, two to go..."

He muttered, turning his attention to the other two Bugbears, who immediately attacked Valkorion when they noticed that one of their compatriots was killed.

Meanwhile, Valkorion attacked the Bugbears and attracted their attention; Ashe killed another one of the Bugbears who attempted to take command of the other Bugbears. 

That would certainly complicate the matters for Valkorion, who was fighting the Bugbears at their camp.

***

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