A series of loud explosions erupted as Drauum’s Earth Dome blew up. William didn’t let his clones fire all at once. Six clones fired one grand bazooka every second, which resulted in a non-stop barrage of one of William’s deadliest attacks.
William had already messaged King Minos to take everyone to safety before he fired his first shot.
Just like William, and Ezkalor, King Minos had his own domain. He forcefully teleported everyone inside it before vanishing from where he stood. He reappeared seconds later on the ramparts of Gladiolus and watched William’s answer to Elandorr’s vile action.
William could create clones, but making them had a price. It would lessen the duration of his Heroic Avatar drastically. Right now, he only had half a minute before his transformation was undone, but he didn’t care.
He would use it all up and give the Elves a taste of their own medicine.
Empress Sidonie, Prince Jason, and Evexius stared at this scene with varied emotions. They were the three leaders of the Kraetor Army, and right now, they were witnessing something that they had never seen before.
King Minos waved his hand and William disappeared from where he stood and made the boy reappear beside him.
Thick smoke covered the sky as William’s clones disappeared one by one.
When the smoke cleared up, a blazing sea of fire and magma appeared on the battlefield.
Drauum’s Earthdome had shattered, but the combined effort of the four other Guardians had kept the Elves safe, or at least, kept them from dying.
Drauum, Nalzrig, Ezkalor, and Zyphon then worked together to deal with the magma that had formed around the Elven Army.
William looked at the body of the Giant White Ox, and raised his hand.
“Legion Recall.”
Erchitu’s body turned into a beam of light and shot toward William. Suddenly, more beams of light that numbered in the hundreds of thousands shot out from the Elven Formation and flew towards him.
Although it was only temporary, all the Beasts that had joined him in this battle were now members of his King’s Legion. Even though they were dead, William was able to recall their bodies and send them back to his Thousand Beast Domain.
King Minos looked down at the Half-Elf beside him with gratitude.
No decent Sovereign wanted to leave their brave and honorable warriors to be treated as freshly slaughtered meat in the market, and be cooked at a later time to fill one’s hunger.
When the last beam of light pierced William’s chest, the Elves had also finished stabilizing their surroundings.
“Did you run out of steam?” Eneru sneered. “Is that all you’ve got?”
William looked at him indifferently as his gaze landed on the Elves.
“Yes. that’s all I got,” William replied. “Did you like it? Relax, there’s more where that came from. Let’s see if you will always be there to protect these elves from my wrath.”
Princess Eowyn, who had just experienced a bombardment that could have easily wiped out the entire Elven Army if their Guardians weren’t there, shivered at William’s words. If the Half-Elf wasn’t lying then they would really be in big trouble if they were to step out of their Guardian’s protection.
A week.
William could only use Sun Wukong’s power an hour every week. However, in that one hour, if he wished for it, he could deal catastrophic damage if he threw his morals to the wind.
Shefal frowned when he heard William’s words. His ears were still ringing from the explosions that had continued non-stop for half a minute.
At first, he looked down on the boy because he didn’t think much of him. He even wanted to capture William, and use him as a hostage to blackmail the Half-Elf’s family in the Silvermoon Continent.
Now that he had seen what he was capable of, he changed his mind and wanted to nip him in the bud to prevent him from growing up and becoming a threat, just like his father.
“Do you think that we will allow you to leave?” Drauum asked.
William snorted. “Do you think you can catch me? Come. I’d like to see you try.”
He had already made adequate preparations. If Drauum really did make a move to capture him, he would immediately open his domain and hide inside. If the Ancient Golem, or anyone else was foolish enough to follow him inside his domain then they would be in for a nasty surprise.
After that episode with Cernunnos, William had prepared a trap for those who attempted to enter his domain without his permission.
The Half-Elf then stared at Elandorr and marked him. He would be the one to personally kill the bastard Elf who dared to commit that vile act to his friend.
“Talking is futile,” Eneru stated. “Go! Let’s finish what we started.”
The Elves looked at their Guardian then back at Elandorr who was their appointed Commander.
Elandorr took a deep breath as he stored Erchitu’s Beast Core inside his storage ring. He then raised his sword and ordered the Elves to attack.
At least, that was what was supposed to happen.
Four beings stood in front of the Elven Army, and blocked their path of advance.
“What are you doing?” Eneru snapped. He glared at the teenage boy with light-blue hair that had forcefully taken his whiskers from him. “We had an agreement. Why are you getting in our way?”
The teenage boy chuckled as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“This battle ends today,” the teenage boy replied. “You can continue it tomorrow. Our Empress is now tired and wants to take a nap.
“And what does your Empress taking a nap have to do with our war?” Shefal asked. “Surely, she can continue to nap while we finish our business here, right?”
The teenage boy shook his head and gave Shefal a weird look as if the Old Elf lacked I.Q.
“Orders are orders,” Nero, the White Tiger replied instead of the teenage boy. “Our Empress wants to see the entire battle unfold. How can she do that if you fight against each other while she is taking a nap? This won’t do. You should do as our Empress wishes.”
“And why must we follow your Empress’ desire?” Drauum challenged. “This isn’t part of our agreement?”
“Our Agreement stands only because our Empress agreed to it. If she no longer agrees then there is no longer an agreement.”
The purple-haired lady beside Nero giggled. She then glanced at the Ancient Golem with a teasing smile as she supported his colleague’s statement.
“Because, if you continue to fight today… our Kraetor Empire will have no choice but to stop you by force. Our Empress gave her orders, and they must be followed. Since you don’t want to follow then we have no choice but to… make you follow by force.”
The purple-haired beauty then glanced at William and waved at him.
William played along and waved back at the girl, which made Drauum and Eneru exchange glances.
“Well, if you think your Elven bones are strong enough to handle our combined armies then we can continue this war,” the teenage boy with light-blue hair proposed.
Clearly, he was itching to fight after watching William’s dominating performance.
Ezkalor stepped forward to face the Three Protectors of the Kraetor Empire. As for who the last person was, he had no idea. The man or woman was covered in a black robe, and their face was hidden from sight.
Even so, Ezkalor could tell that the latter was a Pseudo-Demigod, just like Drauum and King Minos.
“Let me confirm something,” Ezkalor said before his colleagues accepted the Kraetor Army’s provocation. Although they could fight them in a one-on-one battle, William and his army were still very much alive.
If these two armies were to ally themselves with each other then they would be forced to make a hasty retreat back to the Zelan Dynasty and their campaign would end as a failure.
“You said that the battle ends today, but we can continue tomorrow, is that right?” Ezkalor inquired.
“Yes,” Nero replied. “That is what Her Majesty wishes.”
“Then, if we continue this battle tomorrow, you will no longer interfere?” Drauum asked.
“No,” the teenage boy answered. “You can fight all you want and we will not lift a finger to stop it.”
Ezkalor then raised his head to look at the Half-Elf who was standing on top of the City Walls.
“When the sun rises tomorrow, this fight will continue,” Ezkalor declared. “Use this time to think about our Princess’ offer. Although she might not hold any authority in this expedition, she is still the daughter of the Elven King.”
Ezkalor turned around because he had already said what he wanted to say. He wished that William would come to his senses and just accept Princess Eowyn’s compromise.
Zyphon stared at William long and hard before it turned its head to return to the Elven Encampment along with Ezkalor. If possible, it didn’t want to fight against William because it had already determined who he was.
Drauum stared at King Minos before merging with the ground. Although it didn’t show on its face, the battle against the Minotaur King had exhausted it.
It never thought that a mere Beast King would be able to fight it on even ground, even though the Ancient Golem had already been using the power of the Earth with all its might.
Elandorr reluctantly gave the order to return to the Elven Camp. He knew that William wasn’t going anywhere, and the Guardians had already made their stance clear. Fighting was no longer an option, so he decided to give the order to retreat.
King Minos waved his hand and released all those that he had forcefully taken inside his domain. They had all seen what happened outside because King Minos allowed them to see it.
Conner snorted as he returned to his temporary residence inside the palace. They had been given a day to prepare for the next fight, and he would use that time to scheme and find a way to get the upper hand.
Ian materialized behind William and supported his body.
The Half-Elf was only barely able to stand due to her support inside his Spiritual World. He didn’t want to show the enemy any signs of weakness, so he endured and stood tall until they had safely returned to their camp.
“Rest for now,” Ian said. “I’ll wake you when it’s time for dinner.”
William weakly nodded as he closed his eyes.
Frankly, he was still exhausted from dispelling the weakness that had befallen the Minotaur Race.
Doing it day after day had taken a toll on his body, and mind. Even though he was able to rest, the exhaustion never went away completely. Ian sighed when her lover had finally fallen asleep in her embrace.
To be honest, she was tired as well, but her exhaustion was nothing compared to William’s.
Wendy, Est, and Celine checked his condition in turns to see if he was seriously injured during the battle. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case so they decided to bring William to one of the rooms in the palace to rest.
King Minos watched as the red-headed Shepherd was carried away by his loved ones.
“Ariadne, what are our chances of winning?” King Minos asked. “What is the possible future that you see?”
A portal appeared beside him and the young lady that took care of William inside the Minotaur’s Sanctuary stepped out of it.
“There are several possibilities, and all of them lead to one ending except one,” Ariadne replied as she stared at the dark-gray clouds that hung in the sky. “However, that future is only a possibility, and the price that needs to be paid for that future… will affect the entire world.”
“Is it that bad?” King Minos asked once again.
Ariadne smiled faintly and shook her head. She didn’t see that far in the future. More like, she couldn’t see that far in the future. The only thing she knew was that before morning came… a decision had to be made.
A decision that only the sleeping Shepherd could make.
