Michael's eyes widened in shock from the sudden attack, though his body instinctively moved and pulled the claymore from his back to block it!
Clang!
He was only halfway through from pulling his sword, but he barely managed to block it on the part just above the sword's hilt. He was gritting his teeth and his arm was shaking as the two weapons clashed against each other, and it wasn't long before that he felt himself floating up from the ground and got sent tumbling on the ground while cursing, even losing his sword in the process.
"Arrgghh!"
Just before Michael and his attacker clashed, Daryl had already scrambled to the side while letting out a curse. "F*ck!"
"Kyaa!"
The same goes for Natasha, and she was lucky since if she just moved a couple more steps towards Michael, the horse would have crashed onto her and possibly killed her.
Ba-da-dum! Ba-da-dum!
The horseman did not pause and had started circling around them while moving between the trees.
Witnessing Michael being down for the first time, Daryl was slightly alarmed, but he quickly calmed down and loaded his crossbow.
He aimed it and followed the movements of their attacker and analyzed his movements before squeezing the trigger.
Twak!
The arrow disappeared in a blink of an eye, and just when Daryl thought it was over. He noticed the person moving his head towards the direction of the arrow. He saw a spark alongside a loud clang from the two forces colliding.
"What the fuck?"
On the other hand, the horseman felt their head ringing after blocking the arrow with their helmet.
"Urghh."
The person groaned from the pain, but when he saw the silhouette of the buck head sitting on the tripod. Anger immediately started surging his mind, overriding his dizziness and pain before letting out a roar full of madness.
"Uoooh! Heretics, die!" He roared and turned his horse towards Natasha and Michael, who was helping him up.
Even when he was in pain all over, MIchael had remained vigilant and quickly reacted by wrapping his arms around Natasha and rolled to dodge.
Swoosh!
Michael dodged the sword by a hairsbreath, and the two rolled onto the ground while groaning.
Bang!
The horseman immediately turned his horse around towards their direction and was about to charge at them again when a sudden gunshot made everyone paused in their tracks.
Thud! Clang!
The horse slowly fell over, along with it was its rider, who immediately started screaming in anger.
"Arggh!" He groaned loudly and you could hear the anguish within, either from the pain after he fell or losing his steed. He quickly tried crawling towards his sword and at the same time, to get his trapped leg out from under the body of his dead steed.
Daryl didn't let this chance get away and quickly ran over and delivered a kick to the man's head and twice more before effectively shutting him up for good.
"Effing bastard!" Daryl cursed and spat on their unknown assailant before turning his head to look at Michael and Natasha, who had barely gotten up.
"You two good?"
Michael grabbed his shoulder and started loosening up his body. "Yeah, I think I'm good. What about you?"
"I-I'm fine, just some scratches." Natasha replied as she went over and picked up the flashlight on the ground and shone it towards their attacker.
"I had some suspicion, but to think he was really wearing an armor. Does he think he's some kind of a knight or something?"
Their assailant, now lying motionless on the ground, became completely exposed under the flashlight. He was wearing full body armor like those knights in the movies and when Natasha moved the light towards the dead horse, Daryl slowly lost the amused expression on his face and was in disbelief.
"Even the horse too? Did they come out of a movie or something?" Except for its legs, the horse was also wearing a full chainmail. Unfortunately, it did not provide any protection from Daryl's bullet.
Natasha and Daryl were looking at them with curiosity while Michael remained silent and in contemplation.
'Just what the hell is going on here? I can understand the appearance of a cultist group, but a person wearing a knight armor of all people? Pretty amusing, I say.' Michael was more confused than ever, and his aching body wasn't helping.
"I thought I was gonna die." Michael sighed and mumbled. He slowly walked towards a tree and leaned his back on it before slowly sliding down to sit. He watched as Daryl and Natasha moved the man in armor and bound him with his hand with a belt.
Not long after, Glenn and Nolan along with the little girl in his arms soon came running over. "What happened?"
"Holy shit!" Glenn barely finished his words when Nolan exclaimed as his eyes landed on the motionless armored figure on the ground.
"Is there a person under those armor?" Fascinated, he asked and put down the little girl before slowly walking over towards the armored figure.
"Yeah, and for reasons unknown, that guy was hell bent on trying to kill Michael." Daryl replied while taking off the chainmail from the horse with Natasha helping him.
Glenn looked around them and when he finally found Michael's lonesome figure quietly leaning on a tree. "He's not dead, right?"
"I'm not." Michael heard him and replied in a gruff tone.
"Did he get you?" Glenn walked over with worry on his face.
Michael just chuckled. "Nah, my body just aches a lot. That guy came out of nowhere and just started attacking us like he was some kind of knight or something."
"He was yelling things like we're heretics type shit. Man, this dude is crazy." Daryl came over and joined them. "Anyway, what do we do about this guy?"
Michael slowly stood up. "Can you start a fire?"
"Yeah, but what for?"
"We might have to stay here for a while." Michael smiled, then turned his eyes towards the armored figure. "We need some answers before we leave this place."
"Go wake him up."
"I'll do it!"
Nolan quickly volunteered when he heard him and started taking the helmet off from the guy.