“Arslan, what do we do now?” a pretty girl asked the teenage boy who was seated on top of a boulder.
Arslan sighed as he looked at the map in front of him. Surrounding him were over two hundred young men and women who were waiting for him to make a decision.
They were considered to be the elite among the young generation of the Zelan Dynasty. However, against the might of the Elves, there was nothing they could do.
“The capital and the four surrounding cities around it have already fallen to the Elves,” Arslan said in a serious tone. “According to our friends that are staying in the North, the Elves seemed to be building a teleportation gate.”
The faces of everyone surrounding him immediately turned grim. They were geniuses in their own right, so they fully understood what building a teleportation gate meant.
“They plan to bring in more reinforcements?!” the pretty girl gasped. “W-What do we do now?”
This was the question of everyone who had followed Arslan, who was hailed to be the best prodigy of the Zelan Dynasty. This same prodigy gathered all of his acquaintances and escaped the capital which was now being controlled by the Elves.
In the beginning, they thought about helping their other friends who had been captured by the invaders. However, after a few skirmishes, their numbers had dwindled in size due to the Elves’ superior strength in battle.
After a series of defeats, they escaped to the edges of their kingdom, and hid in a forest near the Hellan Border, where the Fortress that James had defended was located.
Arslan scratched his dark brown hair, as he looked at the map in front of him. They had already retreated far enough in the hope that they could organize a mobile army that could do guerilla warfare with the Elves.
However, after their first few skirmishes, they finally understood that the Elves outclassed them both in physical, and Magical prowess. The elves were also proficient in forest warfare, which made things very difficult for Arslan and his team of freedom fighters.
“Paul, you said that the Crown Prince left for the Hellan Kingdom, right?” Arslan asked. “Where in the Hellan Kingdom was he headed?”
Paul, one of the Prince’s loyal subjects, stood up to answer Arslan’s inquiry.
“Back then, I was with the royal guards who bought time for the Crown Prince to make his escape,” Paul replied. “His Highness said, ‘Iif I am able to escape the Elven pursuers, I will head to the Town of Lont located in the Hellan Kingdom’.”
“Do you know it’s exact location?”
“According to the Crown Prince it is found on the outskirts of the Western Part of the Hellan Kingdom.”
Arslan rubbed his chin as he contemplated their next course of action. This was the first time that he had learned of the town of Lont and wondered why the Prince left to go to that place.
‘There must be a reason why he decided to go there of all places,’ Arslan thought. ‘I guess we should meet up with His Highness first and think of a way to make a comeback.’
Arslan rolled the map and returned it to his storage ring. He then scanned the faces of the survivors who had resisted the Elves alongside him.
“I’m sure that all of you have realized it by now, but we don’t stand a chance against the Elven Prodigies,” Arslan said. “I hate to admit this, but they are stronger than us.”
The teenagers around him reluctantly nodded their heads in agreement. This was the truth, and there was no use in trying to deny it.
“Our Crown Prince had fled to this town called Lont,” Arslan continued his explanation. “It would be best if we reunite with him and plan our next course of action. Do any of you have any objections?”
Arslan waited for someone to object, but a minute passed and no one said anything. After this brief silence, he nodded his head and gave out his order.
“Paul, go to–“
Arslan immediately dodged to the side as an arrow passed through the spot where he sat a while ago.
“Everyone, follow Paul and retreat!” Arslan ordered. “Paul, I’ll leave them in your hands. Find His Highness!”
“What about you?!” Paul asked as he summoned his short sword and shield to stand beside Arslan.
Several whistling sounds echoed inside the forest as a storm of arrows rained upon Arslan and the other survivors.
“I’ll hold them back!” Arslan said as he created a dome of Earth to block the arrows aimed at them. “Go now! I’ll buy you as much time as I can!”
Paul gritted his teeth as he ran, leading the other survivors with him. The other children looked back at their leader who had created a great wall of Earth in order to delay the Elves’ advance.
The sounds of explosions resounded in the forest as Arslan fought tooth and nail against an Elven Platoon that was sent to look for their whereabouts.
The Elves had played a little game among themselves and made bets on which team would be able to catch Arslan and his subordinates. Due to their superior strength and abilities, they didn’t even bother to call their comrades to assist them in capturing the freedom fighters.
Arslan, was at the peak of the Platinum Rank, and was a match for an Elven Prodigy. However, this was not a one on one battle. He was fighting against Thirty Elven Prodigies.
The word fighting was an exaggeration. What he was doing was merely buying some time for his comrades to escape as he created a spiked wall of Earth to prevent the Elves from crossing over.
The sounds of explosions resounded on the other side of the Earthen Wall. Aslan, on the other hand, who had his hands pressed against the Earth, was sweating buckets. He was channeling all of his strength into keeping the wall from falling apart due to the Elven bombardment.
Ten minutes later, the bombardment stopped and the Earthen Wall collapsed. Arslan panted as he held two short swords in his hand as he faced the hateful Elves who had made his friends prisoners.
“Looks like we got lucky, Captain.” A handsome elf whistled as he looked at Arslan. “We caught the Big Fish.”
A delicate looking Elf Girl smiled as she appraised the sole Human teenager who was standing before them.
“Well, I guess his looks are above average in terms of Human standards. However, they are still not good enough,” the Elf Girl said as ripples of Wind Magic formed around her hands. “Capture him alive. Commander Elandorr has given us strict orders to bring him back to the capital. You can break his arms and legs, but none of you are allowed to kill him.”
“”Yes!””
The Elven fighters grinned as they charged towards Arslan who had already taken a fighting stance. For them, this game of cat and mouse was a very entertaining way to spend their time in the Human lands.
They had grown bored because those who tried to resist them had failed miserably. Only Arslan and his band of freedom fighters were able to survive their repeated attempts to capture all of them in a drag net.
Arslan stood his ground, he knew that it was only a matter of time before he was captured. Even so, he was the type that wouldn’t go down without a fight. When the first Elf came within his strike range, he unleashed the Earthen Trap he had prepared beforehand.
When he set up the wall, he had also prepared a nasty surprise for the arrogant long-eared brats who looked down upon the Human race.
An explosion followed by a cry of pain reverberated in the forest as Arslan’s special ability, Earth Bomb, exploded upon the unsuspecting elf who had stepped onto it unknowingly.
The explosion decimated the Elf’s entire leg and stained the ground in red. Arslan’s victim screamed in pain and rolled on the ground, making the other Elves back away from him. Arslan stomped his foot and an Earth Spike pierced the screaming Elve’s chest, which ended his life.
“You Elves always talk about how superior you are to Humans,” Arslan snorted. “In the end, the color of your blood is the same as mine.”
Arslan then made a taunting gesture using the short sword in his right hand. “Whoever wants to die next, please, step forward.”
The True Prodigy of the Zelan Dynasty raised his head in arrogance. Power gathered in his hand and feet as he prepared to fight the Elves with everything he had. Although he was outnumbered, the Elves had made a mistake in attacking their camp.
The reason why many people in the Zelan Dynasty hailed Arslan as its top Prodigy was not because of his strength, but his uncanny ability to predict his enemy’s movements and place Earth Bombs in their path.
His Earth Bombs didn’t radiate magic, making them difficult to detect even if someone used a powerful magic detecting artifact.
This made Arslan’s Earth Bombs very lethal to his enemies.
This was why no one in the Zelan Dynasty wanted to fight against Arslan and his team during Group Warfare, because of his uncanny ability to place undetectable traps that were strong enough to kill anyone below the Platinum Rank.
Several other explosions reverberated in the forest as Arslan and the Elves fought. It only stopped half an hour later when more than two hundred teenage boys and girls had safely left the borders of the Zelan Dynasty.
