274 Chapter 10
Kalya turned around and smiled broadly at Ziel after she eradicated all the magical beasts in the sky in one hit. Her armor disappeared into particles, and she changed into casual clothes. When Kalya walked closer to Ziel, her body suddenly staggered, and her head felt dizzy. Luckily Ziel quickly moved and caught her before she fell.
“You should have been more careful after firing such a large-scale attack with that much power consumption. Your body is still not used to losing that much mana and spirit power.” Ziel smiled and warned Kalya.
“I’m sorry for being careless. It’s my first time using that attack, and I didn’t know it would consume that much of my power.” Kalya smiled shyly and buried her face in Ziel’s chest.
“I realized about it. Your current strength is amazing and what you should do next is practice your fighting skills. At this rate, I’m sure it won’t take long for you to be able to fight against Azalia.” Ziel stroked Kalya’s hair gently. He was pretty satisfied with the destructive power of Kalya’s attack. He mentions Azalia’s name in his compliments because he knows that Kalya has a strong sense of competition with her and hopes to motivate Kalya even more.
“Are you telling the truth? Is my strength close to Azalia’s, and I can fight with her soon?” Kalya looked at Ziel after hearing those words. Her rivalry was provoked when Azalia’s name was mentioned.
“Of course. But on the premise, she doesn’t train as hard as you. Maybe you can fight her in the next few months.” Ziel said honestly because he didn’t want to instill false hope in Kalya. But he knew Azalia wouldn’t be able to train as hard as Kalya for these few months because she was busy retrieving the world altar fragments in the Rubelia Kingdom.
Ziel still hadn’t heard any news about the Rubelia Kingdom losing something or the castle having been infiltrated by thieves until now. Ziel concluded that Azalia still hadn’t acted to retrieve the last world altar fragment. So Azalia should still be focused on thinking about it and not have the time to train like Kalya.
“I understand! I’ll never slack off my training, or maybe I should just do it even harder…ugh!” Kalya said with a serious and determined face. But before she could finish her sentence, Ziel suddenly flicked her forehead.
“Didn’t I tell you before not to push yourself?” Ziel couldn’t help but sigh after hearing Kalya’s words.
Ziel will never stop Kalya and the girls from becoming stronger. That way, they could protect themselves when Ziel wasn’t around. But he didn’t want to see the girls push themselves to the point of hurting themselves. Ziel could help them become stronger quickly, but it would be a long and challenging process if they wanted true strength. Therefore, he wanted the girls to go step by step until they fully mastered their abilities.
“But… if I don’t do that, I might take longer to catch up to Azalia, and it will break the expectations you gave me earlier.” Kalya lowered her head and said weakly. She wanted to train harder because Kalya didn’t want to disappoint him. Since Ziel had been told she could fight Azalia soon, she had to live up to his expectations. Ziel smiled gently after hearing Kalya’s reasoning.
“You don’t have to worry about that. All you need to do now is the practice as usual and not push yourself. The most important thing is that you have to train your combat power. Because of that, you may need more powerful monsters in the future.” Ziel advised Kalya while rubbing her head. Kalya’s body and mind became calmer after feeling Ziel’s treatment of her.
“I understand. But where should I find powerful magical beasts here? Should I head to the Alba Mountain Range or the Earth Dragon Desert?” Kalya wanted to do it according to Ziel’s advice. She would train her combat power against powerful monsters. But she couldn’t do it in the territory of the Aurelia Kingdom, and she didn’t want to go far away and part with Ziel again.
“You don’t need to go anywhere because your opponent will come naturally.” Ziel didn’t explain further and let Kalya guess.
“Hmm… what do you mean, Ziel? Wait a minute! Is it possible that the dragon will come?” Kalya initially did not understand Ziel’s words. But she quickly remembered why the magical beast horde had come to the Aurelia Kingdom. Ziel didn’t answer her and only responded with a smile.
“Anyway, it’s time for us to go because the kings will be here soon.” Ziel narrowed his eyes and saw King Leonida and the other four kings heading toward the tower.
“Let’s get out of here… kyaaaa!” Kalya turned her eyes in the direction Ziel was looking, but then she was startled by Ziel’s sudden action toward her.
Ziel suddenly carried her in a princess hug. Kalya smiled widely and quickly wrapped her arms around Ziel’s neck. She rested her head on his shoulder, trusting her body entirely to him. Then the two of them disappeared from the tower.
***
Time goes back to when King Leonida and the others suddenly heard the sound of a bell during lunch. The kings were confused by the situation. Not only them, the nobles and the royal family in the hall felt the same way after hearing it. Just as King Leonida was about to check it in person, a soldier came rushing over to him.
“I apologize for my impudent behavior for interrupting your lunch, Your Majesty. But there is something to report immediately, and it is urgent!” The soldier knelt on one knee in front of King Leonida.
“Say it!” King Leonida said with dignity. He wasn’t angry because he knew that something had happened after he heard the sound of the bell.
“The royal mages said that a group of monsters suddenly appeared a few kilometers outside Oriana city, and all of them were high-level flying type magical beasts!” The soldier reported in a firm and loud voice. He told King Leonida precisely what the royal mage had explained to him.
Everyone in the hall heard the report from the soldier. The atmosphere in the place became noisy due to the panic of the nobles and their families. They didn’t expect a horde of high-level magical beasts to suddenly appear near Oriana city without the royal mage knowing.
The faces of King Leonida and the other kings sank upon hearing the report. They suspected a conspiracy behind the appearance of the beasts while the Five Kingdoms Conference was taking place in the Aurelia Kingdom. But now is not the time to look for the cause. What they had to do right now was eradicate the hordes of monsters.
“Do you know how many monsters are in that horde?” King Leonida asked with a serious face.
“The royal mage said that the number was in the thousands!” The soldier did not receive a clear explanation of the number of magical beast hordes from the royal mage who detected it. But one thing is sure, the number of monsters is estimated to exceed thousands.
“What!?”
“Thousands of high-level magical beasts suddenly appeared!”
“How is this possible!?”
The nobles panicked and spoke in somewhat high-pitched voices. Their behavior made King Leonida and the other kings both annoyed and embarrassed.
“Okay, you can go now. Please convey my orders to general Marius to gather soldiers and be ready to fight against the magical beast hordes.” King Leonida didn’t want the Five Kingdoms Conference to be interrupted because of the monsters’ invasion.
King Leonida knew that he would not be able to overcome the hordes of magical beasts easily, even with the help of other kings. At least there would be significant damage to the city, and many of his soldiers would probably be victims. Therefore he wanted to finish off the monsters quickly to minimize any possibility.
“I understand, Your Majesty!” The soldier quickly left the room to take the order from King Leonida to Marius.
King Leonida approached one of the windows in the hall to confirm the report he had received from the soldiers. The other kings also followed him to see the current situation outside. When they saw that the sky in the distance was dark, their faces became gloomy. The kings saw that the darkness was not a cloud but a thousand monsters covering the sky.
The Princes, princesses, and heroes were behind those kings, and they opened their mouths wide in astonishment at the sight before their eyes. Some time ago, Oriana city still looked calm and peaceful with clear skies. But after the Five Kingdoms Conference lunch break, the sky darkened, and the city’s situation became dangerous. They were sure there would be many casualties and damage if they fought against the magical beast hordes in the city.
“Father, what should we do now? Are we going to fight those monsters? But if we do it in the city, I’m afraid there will be many casualties from the residents. Even if they were in a shelter, that didn’t guarantee that the situation would be fine after the war broke out. Besides, I’m sure the number of casualties from the soldiers will be much higher.” Prince Fritz asked King Leonida.
Prince Fritz had various simulations in his mind about the battle between them and the monster horde. He was confident that they would be able to overcome the monster’s invasion. But the result is that they will suffer losses regardless of whether they can win easily or not.
“I understand what you’re thinking. But being too careful isn’t good either, Fritz. Sometimes you have to dare to make decisions for the best results. Besides, I have no intention of fighting them in the city. The magic barrier from Oriana city will block them for a while, and we will fight the beast hordes at that time.” King Leonida smiled with satisfaction after hearing Prince Fritz’s words. He was happy that his son had matured and had the qualities of a leader. Prince Fritz wanted to reply to his father’s statement, but a girl’s sweet voice cut him off.
“If you want to fight those monsters, please allow me to join forces with the soldiers and mages from your kingdom.” Princess Cordelia suddenly entered into the conversation between the father and son.
“Me too!”
“I’m coming too!”
“As a hero, I have to join the fight!”
“I will fight with all my might!”
Prince Fritz, Prince Albert, Hikaru, and Sintaro didn’t want to lose after hearing Princess Cordelia’s words. They couldn’t stand still when they saw a woman bravely volunteering to fight against hordes of monsters.
King Leonida was slightly taken aback by Princess Cordelia’s request. Then he looked at the other kings because he couldn’t decide on his own.
“I agree to that.” King Gustave answered briefly. He was confident in the strength of his son and daughter. Moreover, with the heroes along with them, King Gustave was sure it wouldn’t be challenging to fight the monsters.
“I also agree with their request. After all, we need a lot of energy to exterminate the magical beast horde as quickly as possible so we can immediately resume the Five Kingdoms Conference.” King Raghnall nodded and also agreed to the request.
“With their current strength, they will be fine even if they have to deal with several high-level magical beasts at once.” King Raghnall added. On the other hand, King Jonathan and King Elrick could only reluctantly nod in agreement as they were worried about their daughter, who didn’t have much fighting experience.
“Okay. Then, we’ll…” Before King Leonida expressed his agreement, he suddenly stopped his words when he saw a giant spirit circle form in the sky. The other kings, princes, princesses, and heroes also turned their attention to it. After that, the sky was dyed with a blinding green light, and a massive laser beam shot toward the horde of monsters and engulfed them.
After the light disappeared, King Leonida and everyone there opened their eyes wide as the magical beast horde had wholly disappeared, leaving only the empty sky. King Leonida and the other kings’ mouths went dry after imagining the terrifying destructive power of that green laser beam.
“What has happened?” Prince Albert muttered.
“I think it came from the bell tower in the middle of Oriana city.” Prince Fritz said uncertainly. He saw a flash of light coming from the tower’s direction before the horde of magical beasts disappeared.
“I’ll check it out. You must stay in this place.” King Leonida looked to Prince Fritz and the others. Then he opened the window and flew towards the bell tower. King Gustave and the other kings followed suit.
The princes and princesses in the room fell silent as they were still thinking about the scene they had seen earlier. At that moment, someone suddenly muttered and broke the silence.
“Somehow, I feel familiar with that power.”