Chapter 210: Go Big or Go Home, She Is Determined to Stay in the Holy Capital

Chapter 210: Chapter 210: Go Big or Go Home, She Is Determined to Stay in the Holy Capital

Zerev flew through the sky carrying Ophelia. She looked back at the pursuing Fire Phoenix Clan males.

Twenty males of the Fire Phoenix Clan had shifted into their beast forms and were hot on their trail, closing the distance by the second.

Ophelia glanced toward the city gates and called out, "Zerev, fly a little lower once we pass the gates!"

"ROAR!" Zerev let out a resounding dragon’s roar in response.

In the blink of an eye, Zerev soared over the gates of the Holy Capital. The dark swarm of shadows flying overhead quickly caught the attention of the city’s residents.

Stationed not far outside the city, Klein had spotted the commotion early on. His sharp eyes immediately recognized Zerev leading the pack. Noticing that Zerev was clutching something in his dragon claws, Klein quickly ordered, "Archers, with me!"

He led thirty archers to the gates to provide backup. As they drew closer, he confirmed that it was Ophelia in Zerev’s grasp.

The moment Zerev flew directly over their heads, Klein gave the command. "Fire!"

A volley of arrows shot into the sky in perfect unison.

To keep up their pursuit of Zerev, the Fire Phoenix Clan males had also lowered their altitude, placing them right within the archers’ firing range. Initially unaware of the lethality of bows and arrows, the pursuers paid no mind to the sudden barrage flying up at them. But as their companions were struck down one by one, panic began to set in.

"Aim for their wings," Klein instructed in a deep voice.

The specially trained archers were incredibly accurate and shot with tremendous force. A single volley from the thirty men found its mark on nearly all the Fire Phoenix Clan males. After two rounds, all twenty pursuers were injured. Ten of them took direct hits to their wings and plummeted out of the sky.

As they crashed to the ground, Laxus rushed forward with his men and captured several of the wounded males.

"Don’t move!"

Klein ordered his men to detain the ten captives.

Taking advantage of the earlier chaos, Ophelia had secretly brought Kohen out of the System Space and carried him into a tent in the camp. Inside, Ophelia bandaged Kohen’s wounds using golden sore medicine.

Outside, realizing the situation had turned against them, the leader of the remaining Fire Phoenix Clan males frantically barked orders. "Retreat! Fall back!"

Unable to worry about their fallen comrades, they stumbled and floundered in the air as they fled back toward the city. Knowing better than to push his luck, Klein didn’t order a pursuit.

Once they finished securing the perimeter, Laxus and Klein entered the tent. The sight of Kohen’s wounds left them heartbroken.

"How did Kohen get hurt so badly?"

"Are they even human? How could they be so ruthless to a cub?" Laxus’s knuckles turned white as he clenched his fists in fury.

Klein’s expression was equally dark.

Laxus turned his glare on Zerev. "This is all your fault. If it weren’t for you, Ophelia and the cubs wouldn’t have been in danger."

In a fit of rage, Laxus punched Zerev square in the face. Zerev didn’t even try to dodge; he took the blow head-on.

"I’m sorry, Laxus."

"What good is ’sorry’? You’d be better off figuring out our next move," Klein scoffed coldly.

Wiping the blood from his lip, Zerev asked in a low voice, "What do you have in mind?"

"Since we’re already here, we can’t just tuck our tails and go back."

Zerev understood what Klein was suggesting, but he didn’t exactly agree. "Aside from the Fire Phoenix Clan and the Winged Dragon Clan, the Holy Capital is home to the Giant Ape Clan and the Panda Clan. The members of those four major families alone total in the thousands. Your two or three hundred men can’t possibly match them."

Klein chuckled lightly. "We don’t need to match them all. As long as we show the people of the Holy Capital just how powerful our new weapons are, no one will dare stick their necks out against us."

If they could strike fear into their enemies, sheer numbers wouldn’t matter anymore. What they needed right now was to make an example out of someone, and the Fire Phoenix Clan was the perfect target.

"Klein is right. Since we’re here, we’re going to fight. I want to carve out a place for myself in the Holy Capital, too," Ophelia said, wiping the blood from her hands and standing up, her expression cold and her tone fierce.

She had always tried to avoid the people of the Holy Capital, yet they had come knocking on her door and hurt her cub. Since that was how it was going to be, she wasn’t going to hold back anymore. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. She was determined to secure her footing in the Holy Capital.

"Since you’ve made up your mind, I support you," Zerev said, ceasing his objections. If he and Ophelia could successfully intimidate the four noble families of the Holy Capital, then his partnership with a female from a low-level tribe wouldn’t be seen as such a grave issue. After all, when caught between family pride and life-or-death survival, everything else paled in comparison.

Meanwhile, at the Fire Phoenix Mansion.

The Fire Phoenix Family Master looked at the ten returning males, all of them battered and crippled. His expression was incredibly ugly.

"Dammit, to think their weapons were this powerful. Where is Kosa? Call him over!" the Fire Phoenix Family Master shouted, slamming his hand on the table.

A male standing nearby trembled as he answered. "Family Head, Kosa is dead. It... it was likely Zerev’s doing."

The two males who had discovered Kosa’s death earlier but failed to report it exchanged a look, deciding to pin the blame on Zerev. Besides, it was highly probable that Zerev had been the one to kill Kosa anyway.

"You useless trash! Two outsiders infiltrated the Fire Phoenix Mansion, and none of you noticed a thing! What use do I have for you?" Furious and exasperated, the Fire Phoenix Family Master glared at an arrow resting on the table, then beckoned to a middle-aged male beside him. "How is the research on the new weapon coming along?"

After Brada’s death, Kosa had presented the new weapon to them. The Fire Phoenix Family Master had then ordered the clan’s skilled craftsmen to study how to manufacture bows and arrows. Through Kosa’s verbal descriptions, they understood that some sort of mechanism was required to launch the wooden sticks.

"Family Head, we’ve nearly figured it out. We’re already in the testing phase."

"Oh, really? Take me to see it." The imminent completion of the bows and arrows was a rare piece of good news for the Fire Phoenix Family Master.

Much of his earlier gloom dissipated as he followed the middle-aged male to the small plaza within the Fire Phoenix Mansion.

The middle-aged male picked up the bow he had crafted and began a demonstration. The body of the bow was nearly identical to the one Lantai had made. He nocked an arrow with a sharpened tip, drew the string, and let it fly. The arrow embedded itself firmly into a tree trunk as thick as a wrist.

"That’s it? It’s done?"

The Fire Phoenix Family Master couldn’t believe that such a simple contrivance could hold such destructive power.

"Pretty much. All we need now is iron ore to forge the arrowheads, and they’ll be ready for use," the middle-aged male said, brimming with confidence.

"Iron ore? The Fire Phoenix Family doesn’t have any iron ore."

"Family Head, we don’t, but the Giant Ape Clan does."

"Iron ore is a rare commodity. Why would he be willing to share it?"

The middle-aged male stroked his beard and smiled. "As long as you offer enough sincerity, Family Head, the Giant Ape Family Master will definitely agree."

His eyes drifted toward the bow in the Fire Phoenix Family Master’s hands. Frowning slightly, the Family Master immediately understood his implication. But he was truly reluctant to share such a formidable weapon with the Giant Ape Clan.

"Family Head, without iron ore, plain wooden sticks won’t inflict any real damage on those males." Having worked so hard to successfully manufacture the bow, the middle-aged male was desperate to create the perfect arrows to match, continuously fanning the flames from the sidelines.

The Fire Phoenix Family Master furrowed his brows. Thinking of his son’s tragic death, he gritted his teeth and relented. "Fine, I will go negotiate with the Giant Ape Family Master. In the meantime, you must guarantee that you can produce identical weapons."

Seeing that the Fire Phoenix Family Master had agreed, the middle-aged male grinned from ear to ear and repeatedly assured him, "Rest assured, Family Head. I will absolutely get it done."