CHAPTER 19

WITH A DIRECT blessing from the Mistress of Flame, Zassia's fire was more lethal than the others who had received their flame essence through lineage. With just one wave of her staff, she made three scalding hot fireballs appear behind her, rapidly shooting at the scorpion Grath was fighting. But even though her flame was fierce, she was nothing compared to the other flame sorceresses when it came to control. In terms of attacks, she could only make fireballs because of her lack of training and experience.

But fireballs were enough to save her life and fight alongside her companion. Not being a dead weight was enough for her. So she conjured fireballs after fireballs, shooting at the scorpions and helping her group escape.

Looking at Zassia really trying hard to help everyone with her blessing, Sollel felt no regrets, even though her strength had weakened. Sollel had to be very careful now; after that blessing, her current strength was not enough to summon a firewall to protect her from sudden attacks anymore.

Sighing, Sollel whisked her hand, and flames erupted on the ground, blocking the scorpion that was about to attack. She then sent a fireball to finish it. Looking around, after that explosion that shook the ground, Sollel realized that the scorpions started avoiding her, as they were afraid of her flame, and attacked the others instead. There were even scorpions on Hakken, Xeke, and Cira's side, and the three were fighting head-on and all out.

Sollel clicked her tongue because of how calculative these scorpions were. As if I would let you escape my flame! she thought. Sollel ran toward Hakken's group, while Zassia and Grath ran to safety after seeing an opening. As they did, Zassia shot fireballs after fireballs at the lizards and scorpions surrounding Hakken, Xeke, and Cira.

"There's no end to this!" Hakken cussed as he slashed a lizard with his war blades and evaded the tail of the scorpion. "Xeke!"

"I got it!" Xeke, who had been looking for the lizards' weak spot, finally found what he was looking for. "The end of their tail!"

Hearing that, Cira stopped assisting Hakken and used her agility to sprint and jump, and in midair, she released three arrows, simultaneously hitting the end of three lizards' tail without missing an inch. Her aim was indeed perfect as she shot another arrow, but when her feet landed on the ground, she became vulnerable to the scorpions' and lizards' attacks. Cira was a fierce warrior in midair and high places, but not on the ground where she couldn't move and shoot her arrows freely.

Xeke, seeing Cira at a disadvantage on the ground, willed his ten daggers to come back to him. Then by his control, his ten daggers floated around Cira, rapidly circulating around her, hitting all the beasts surrounding Cira. The daggers didn't leave fatal wounds on the beasts, but the damage was enough for Cira to get back on her feet.

"Soar to the sky!" Xeke shouted at Cira while recalling one of his daggers to counterattack the lizard's tail that was trying to smash him to the ground. "I'll help you!"

Cira didn't know how Xeke could help her soar to the sky when he was meters away from her, but her question was answered immediately after.

The daggers surrounding and protecting Cira moved to make a stair for her. The five daggers were floating flat in the air, waiting for Cira to climb it, while the four were floating around Cira.

"Go!" Xeke bellowed at Cira when he saw the tails of a lizard and a scorpion about to slam Cira.

Cira immediately stepped on the floating dagger, and as she jumped to the next, Xeke appeared behind her and used his five daggers to cut the tails that were about to pierce Cira's back.

Cira continued ascending with the help of Xeke's daggers, and in midair, she did what she does best—shooting her arrows precisely and lessening the lizards' numbers. Cira didn't need to worry about falling because every time the gravity started to pull her down, Xeke's dagger was there to help her soar into the air again. It was like she had her own ground...in the air.

Cira wanted to kill some more beasts to take advantage of her aerial position, but when she reached for her quiver, she had already run out of arrows.

"Oh, for deities' sake!" Cira cussed and was about to jump down when Xeke just appeared out of nowhere in the air, in front of Cira, and handed her a handful of her arrows that were scattered on the ground In a split second, he disappeared like he was never there.

Cira smiled at that after she realized how Xeke did it. Indeed. That's an impressive ability he has.

Securing her arrows on her quiver, Cira returned to eliminating beasts with her bow and arrow.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Hakken was slammed by a lizard's tail multiple times as he focused his attention on attacking the scorpion, which was deadlier that the lizard. He was surrounded, and he had no way out. His war blades were the only thing keeping him alive.

Hakken grunted when another lizard's tail slammed on his body and sent him flying. He vomited blood at the impact. Even with a searing pain in his body, Hakken forced himself to get up, using his war blades to assist him. But just after he got up, a scorpion's tail lunged toward his chest; before the tip pierced his skin, a ball of flame knocked it back and burned it alive.

Hakken immediately glanced at where the ball of flame came and saw his lady running toward him, her hands wrapped in flame.

"Hakken!"

The way his lady's voice sounded, Hakken felt her need of something. "What do you need, my lady?!" he shouted to cover their distance.

"Sword!"

Hakken flipped one of his war blades to hold it in reverse, and then he ran to his lady to meet her in the middle, slashing, evading, and killing the beasts along the way. When the two were finally only a meter away, Hakken tossed his right blade to pass it to Sollel at the same time Sollel imbued Hakken's left blade in his hand with her flame.

Together and back-to-back, Hakken wielded his flaming weapon while Sollel cut her palm with Hakken's blade, letting her blood cover its sharp edge.

"Blood of flame, come forth and burn my foes." Sollel swung Hakken's blade at the same time her blood of flame erupted, engulfing Hakken's sword in her hand with a scorching flame that only she could wield.

Sollel knew her blood of flame would not last, and it would melt Hakken's sword afterward. Not wasting time, Sollel gripped the blade with her two hands, one holding the pommel of the blade and her dominant hand holding the handle, and then she raised the sword to her chest level and commanded her blood of flame to burn brightly and fiercely, consuming all her strength.

"I will make a path," Sollel said to Hakken, who was still guarding her back with his. She could only do this because the beasts' numbers had lessened, and they were finally near the edge of the battlefield. "After I unleashed my flame, my strength will be drained, and I'll be useless, so clean up the beasts that my flames couldn't reach and let's get out of here."

"By your will, my lady," Hakken replied without hesitation.

That made Sollel smile before she became serious and swung her sword with all her might. "Blood of flame! Burn them all!"

Hakken's eyes widened in awe when Sollel swung her sword, releasing her flame, and saw how it covered nearly a hundred yard long and a dozen yard width, devouring and burning any beasts that comes in contact with it.

The humungous flame that covered such a large area made everyone stop in their tracks to watch it devour everything in its path. Even the beasts became fearful and didn't dare to move hastily. And in the midst of that, Hakken's voice was heard.

"Let's get out of here!"

Zassia and Grath ran toward the path the flame cleared, Xeke used half of his daggers to maneuver the distance and move himself stealthily, while Cira was running in the air with Xeke's moving dagger as her surface.

While everyone was running to safety, Hakken grudgingly carried his unconscious lady over his shoulder. He wanted nothing more than to carry her in his arms securely, but it wouldn't be feasible, knowing he had to fight the beasts that will block their way of escape.

With his lady draped on his shoulder, Hakken ran, his war blade on his dominant hand. The flames were still lingering, scaring the beasts away, but there were some fearless ones, blocking their path and attacking them.

Aside from Hakken fighting to clear the rest of the path, Grath, Xeke, and Zassia were all giving their best to clear the way while Cira was assisting them from midair.

The relief that everyone felt when they got out through the path Sollel made was so palpable, but no one stopped running. Everyone continued sprinting even when their breathing was all over the place. They continued running until they couldn't hear the clicking sound of the lizards and the hissing sound of the scorpions.

Hakken glanced at Xeke. "Could you look for a place to rest? A safe one." Hakken moved Sollel from his shoulder to his arms.

Xeke just nodded and threw his dagger upward. When his dagger multiplied in the air, he gave one to Cira so he could easily find them, and then he vanished into the thin air.

Cira went to stand in front of Hakken to check up on Queen Sollel. "What happened to her highness?" Cira didn't believe that the queen would pass out for a small reason.

"I think the last flame she unleashed drained her," Hakken answered.

"Her flame covered an insane large area." Zassia was in awe with Sollel. "She's so amazing. Most flame sorcerers and sorceresses would die if they tried to cover that kind of large area with their flame, but she just passed out."

"Of course, she's amazing," Cira replied proudly ass he fixed Queen Sollel's cloak and hood to cover her hair. She's the Mistress of Flame, after all. The Queen of Flames of Yther!

The conversation halted when Xeke appeared out of nowhere the same time the dagger in Cira's hand disappeared.

"I saw an empty cave two kilometers from here," Xeke reported. "We can rest there."

Hakken nodded. "Lead the way."

Xeke nodded and led everyone to the cave. Upon reaching it, everyone dropped into the ground except for Cira who took out her cover and pillow from her satchel and placed it on the ground and Hakken who carefully laid his lady's body on the cover Cira made.

"She'll be fine, right?" Hakken asked Cira, not looking at El's face because her hood was skewed. He didn't want to see her face without her permission. He wanted to keep that trust between them.

Cira fixed Sollel's cloak and hood to cover her hair. That was the most important thing—the reason Queen Sollel wore a cloak was because of her hair and eyes. "I will mix a medicine for her."

Hakken nodded and went out of the cave to survey the surroundings to make sure that everything was safe. When he came back inside, Grath was resting, Zassia was sleeping, Cira was taking care of El, and Xeke was cleaning and sharpening his blade.

"I'll keep watch. You can all rest," Hakken announced and stepped outside again.

When night fell, Xeke stepped out from the cave to switch places with Hakken. Everyone needed rest, especially in this harsh environment.

When Hakken entered the cave, he sat beside Sollel and asked Cira, "How is she doing?"

"A little better," Cira answered, lessening Hakken's worry. "She woke up a little earlier and took some medicine I made. She'll be okay by tomorrow."

Hakken sighed in relief. "That's good. You should rest. I'll look after her."

Cira glared at Hakken. "Don't you dare seduce her."

Hakken looked at Cira blankly. "She's asleep. How could I possibly do that?"

Cira shrugged and threatened Hakken, "If you touch even a single hair, I will shoot you with my arrows."

Hakken shook his head and just leaned on the cave's wall, while Cira narrowed her eyes on Hakken before leaving the cave to talk to Xeke.

"Thanks for the support earlier," Cira told Xeke as she sat beside him on the ground. "I would've been injured if not for you."

"No problem." Xeke was flipping his dagger around his fingers; he was used to doing it, and it had become a habit. "I travel a lot, but that was the first for me."

Cira looked at the horizon of the barren land in front of them. "You could've escaped if you wanted. I mean, that's your ability, right?"

Xeke chuckled and glanced at Cira. "If I did, then I wouldn't have seen you fight so spectacularly."

Cira snorted. "What's so spectacular about that?"

Xeke stared at Cira. "I know elven warriors are fierce, but you're the fiercest one I've seen."

"I'm not an elven warrior," Cira denied what Xeke said.

Xeke chuckled amusedly at Cira's denial. "I told you, I traveled far and wide. I know an elven warrior when I see one."

Cira looked down. "I'm not...not anymore."

"You were kicked out?"

Cira nodded. "I broke the rules."

Xeke sighed. "I heard that elves have some strict rules, but I never knew someone could be kicked out because of it."

"I broke into a tabooed place." Cira smiled and looked up at the sky. "I don't regret it though. I met the person I wanted to meet for so long. I'm blessed." Few seconds later, Cira got up. "See you tomorrow. I need to rest."

Xeke nodded and let Cira leave.

Alone outside the cave, Xeke took a deep breath and laid his back on the ground to look at the dark night sky. Remembering the event that happened earlier, Xeke sighed and closed his eyes.

"Warlord, my friend, just what the hell are you planning to do?"



CECELIB | C.C.