Elmer charged and then swung down his sword, but then Zelos used his charging technique and then targeted the stomach and the hands of the enemy with the tip of his weapon… Once again, the enemy moved his gauntlet in his left hand and blocked the attack. The sound of metal colliding echoed again, but then the enemy showed a look of discomfort in his face, and he lost the strength in his attack and was pushed backward.

  The smile disappeared from his face, and then he began to study Zelos as Zelos did the same. He didn’t cause much damage… so something must have happened. Since the enemy wasn’t wounded, something else happened that made him feel uncomfortable. Something related to the gauntlet…

  “The gauntlet… can’t work like that without some cost… perhaps it consumes his magic with each attack.”

  The explanation seemed logical and on point… It confirmed that Elmer changed his stance and moved his left hand to the bottom of the handle. He was right-handed, so that was the proper way to hold the sword to maximize his attack power and precision. The previous form allowed him better reaction time and freedom in his movements.

  Elmer’s expression suddenly changed, and then he opened his eyes widely and then swung down his sword. Zelos had a bad feeling about that and moved his sword to block the attack with the side of the weapon. The impact pushed away as he managed to block most of the attack with his weapon, but then Zelos felt a deep, excruciating pain on his left shoulder… the pain gave room to a stinging hot feeling, and soon Zelos lost control over his left arm. It fell limp on his side. It wasn’t chopped… but the wound had damaged the muscles and ligaments.

  “Shit…”

  Zelos never thought that Elmer’s technique could become even more powerful from a distance as long as he put more strength behind his attacks. That was a hard lesson that he was forced to learn. Blood was coming out from the wound, but Zelos knew that in a couple of minutes, the bleeding would stop… but he still was in deep waters.

  “This is quite embarrassing… forcing to be this cautious against a kid. I guess I developed some trauma over being locked down for a couple of months. Killing all those kids would be perfect, but I will be satisfied in killing only that bitch aside from you.”

  He was definitely talking about Edea… despite her skills, he still would be able to cut her down since he was able to wound Zelos like that at ten meters of distance. Still, it wasn’t time for Zelos to worry about her. He took a deep breath and then calmed down while enduring the pain.

  “Well, then, should I finish the job on that arm, or should I target the other arm?”

  Both options were pretty bad for Zelos, so he was forced to use his head as quickly as possible. Zelos lowered his sword and then the enemy couldn’t help but smirk. However, the tip of the weapon cut the small bag where his iron balls were… they began to fall and Zelos didn’t hesitate in kicking them.

  The enemy saw the iron balls and soon swung his sword to repel the only one that Zelos kicked. A wind blade actually split in half the iron ball before it could reach him, but in a fraction of a second, Zelos used his charging technique and then stabbed the enemy before he could recover… the dark blade pierced through Elmer’s stomach with ease.

  With an expression of shock and pain on his face, Elmer slowly lost control over his body and then fell to the ground…

  Zelos sighed in relief once the enemy stopped moving. Soon he felt a bit weird for feeling like that after taking a life. Regardless, the pain in his shoulder and body made him forget that. The enemy tried to take his life, after all.

  Zelos looked around and soon saw that the battle was far from over. He didn’t know if he could fight like that, he probably couldn’t, but he had to take some countermeasures. First of all, he recovered his iron ball, sword and then he took out the glove that Elmer was wearing and equipped on his right hand, even though it was supposed to be equipped on the left one.

  After that, he began to retreat where the others were supposed to be while carrying the iron balls in his right hand and ready to throw them at the enemy if he had to. Just when Zelos found them, he saw Hei arriving with a large force of cavalry that soon began to move in circles around the area and then disposed of the enemies around. When Hei finally slowed down, Zelos had the chance to approach and then Reina also arrived in the area… carrying the head of Elmer’s brother.

  “... It seems that you pulled off as well, but why didn’t you bring that guy’s head?”

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  “I would become the target of his underlings in this state and that would have been the same as a death sentence. The body is there.”

  Reina looked at her underling with the stone club and then he left to recover the body. At the same time, the others in the group approached Zelos and checked his wounds. He was a mess… they thought that he got lucky against Elmer since his trait was nasty and pretty infamous as well. It claimed the lives of hundreds of warriors.

  “Wait here and don’t move. Soon the healers will arrive and then will treat your wounds. We will rally the soldiers and demoralize the enemies by using the heads of their leaders.”

  That was one of the few things that Zelos couldn’t understand when it comes to war. The goal was to make sure their allies wouldn’t lose their lives and make the enemies lose their fighting spirit, but that still bothered him. Regardless, Hei left the area and then the group finally had the chance to rest. Irlan sighed in relief.

  “It feels like we didn’t do much and Zelos got all the glory… and got all the wounds as well. By the way, where did you get that gauntlet?”

  “From our dearest friend Elmer. If it weren’t for this, I would have surprised him and avoided most of these wounds.”

  Everyone realized that it was a relic, even at first glance one would be able to tell that. They didn’t know what it could do yet, but it probably would be very useful on Zelos hands.

  Regardless, it didn’t take long for the battlefield to change again, while showing the heads of the enemies leaders, Reina and Hei managed to completely make the enemies lose their willpower. They still outnumbered the attackers, but they could no longer think of that. They just began to run away in all directions.

  For all intents and purposes, the battle was over, but the attackers kept chasing the enemies even after sunset… they weren’t planning to let not a single one of them escape.

  After sunset, the healers finally arrived and then they came to check on Zelos wounds… however, aside from some red bruises on his body that looked like they were swollen, he looked completely fine. He was starving, though.

  “... Father?”

  Kaitrine suddenly said that and then everyone opened their eyes widely. Then they looked in the direction she was looking and then they found a middle-aged man that had the same hair and eye color as Kaitrine.

  “Hei sent the message that you all should just return to the camp and rest, we will keep chasing the enemies nonstop and we will also invade the town and villages that belonged to those two. With the natives’ help, this will be easy and without their army, the people there will have to surrender. Your battle is over.”

  Kai immediately left the area without waiting for the group’s response. It wasn’t like they had many options, after all. Still, they felt like they truly weren’t participating in the battle and on its conclusion as well. It was a weird feeling…

  “We might not need to fight anymore, but there are plenty of things to take care of here. Let’s focus on that for the time being. Besides, things will be busy for a while if we try to annex another territory to our own. The conclusion of this battle won’t take place for quite a while.”

  Everyone understood that and so they began to work on organizing their tools, helping the healers or delivering the food for those who needed but couldn’t move. Zelos couldn’t help but feel like sighing since his body was still hurting, and he had to do that kind of job yet. Hopefully, he will be rewarded for it.

  As it turned out, Heirina group took the role of commanding the base on the hill since the captains and most of the warriors were chasing the enemies… they truly were being restless. Heirina wondered if they weren’t going too far. Still, considering that they never went on the offensive, perhaps they were enjoying the moment.

  Kai appeared a few times to deliver some messages and give reports, but there was nothing out of the norm. Two days after the end of the battle, Reina and the natives returned and reported that the five villages in Elmer’s territory and his brother’s town was taken over by Hei and the other clans… the issue was how the enemy’s country was going to respond to that.

  “Our job is over, we are going home.”

  Heirina wondered what she should say in that kind of situation. The natives lost twenty of them in that confrontation. It was quite a small number. Still, they deserved some rewards, but they didn’t care about that. Celebrating the victory wasn’t of their interest either.

  “Thank you, Reina. We are heavily indebted to you. If you need help with anything, you can call for us and we will be there in no time.”

  “I will remember that.”

  There several ways to say that kind of thing, and Reina chose the one that sounded like a threat. Regardless, she didn’t sound particularly mad, she sounded the same as usual and just like that, the natives began to depart.

  “She sure knows how to leave an impression.”

  The girls of the group looked at Irlan with eyes filled with suspicion. That was why it was a good idea for him to learn how to keep his mouth shut. Still, it looked like he wasn’t smart enough to read the atmosphere.

  “Relax, guys. Give it ten more years and you will be able to feel confident in front of Reina. Right, Zelos?”

  Zelos had already left the area as well to do some training. He was unable to do that in the last few days since the places where he had been wounded hurt like a bit… when he insisted, he saw the scar on his shoulder turning red almost like it was becoming a wound again. This time around, he was able to swing his sword a bit better, and the scar didn’t hurt either.