Chapter 289: Contact

Prontea

The proud capital city of Arcadia was the home to more than two hundred thousand Arcadian citizens. It was the first city that was established as the foundation of a treaty between human and elf races two thousand years ago.

Situated in the center of the vast land of Arcadia, Prontea was the heart of the kingdom itself, and was also considered to be the heart of the continent due to its geological location.

It was undeniably the largest city of the Arcadian Kingdom, as a third of the entire population of Arcadia lived in the city. 

At this moment, the sky of such a city was shrouded in black, as the unknown spaceship gradually made its descent. The sudden appearance of a huge mass of steel managed to stop all activities happening in the city, as if time had stopped.

The people had seen the steel bird that their king used from time to time. However, the one they were seeing at the moment was at least 100 times bigger than what they usually saw. Hence, the reason for their stupefaction.

The sight of the unfamiliar gigantic steel bird naturally caused a strong wave of intimidation in people's hearts.

As expected, many citizens quickly panicked. They immediately put an end to whatever they were doing and went indoors. 

Of course, there would always be the curious ones among the common folk. Those kinds of people decided to find the highest ground they could reach or went to the top of their buildings, all to take a clearer look at the thing that came bearing down on the city.

The situation turned even more intense when the town guards and even the knights rode around the streets while telling the people of Prontea not to panic and go inside their homes. They were instructed to stay there until further notice.

At the palace, on the other hand, the elites of the kingdoms were once again gathered to be briefed about the situation the kingdom currently had at hand.

Three of the five senior mages came, while the other two stayed at the magic academy to protect it if any crisis arose there. 

Cecilia and Vain, the Kingsblade commanders who always stood by at the palace, naturally attended the meeting as they waited for their orders. 

As for the knight commanders, there was only Garson of the Red Division who accepted the summon. It seemed Starling, as usual, was undependable when they were needed the most.

Standing before these elites was the famous figure of the Arcadian Kingdom, the one known as the Great Wizard, Tobias. He would be the one to explain and manage the situation, as per the current king's order.

"Master Tobias, where is the King?" asked one of the senior mages, anxiety was evident on his face. "What should we do now?"

Tobias turned to the man and calmly said, "He's planning something at the moment. As for now, we are given orders to stall for time."

Upon hearing it, Commander Cecilia decided to speak her thoughts about the current matter.

"Tobias, do we know who we are dealing with? What is their intention?" asked Cecilia to the old wizard. "I believe that the best course of action should be to open communication with them, to learn about their true intention of coming here. I mean, they might not even have ill intentions towards us."

The words that Cecilia uttered actually make a lot of sense. By the fact that many who heard it nodded their heads, agreeing with the notion. Tobias himself also only heard about these space knights from the professor, so he was not really sure if those people really came with ill intentions. 

The new king did order them to stall for time, and opening a communication could be considered as such. Therefore, it didn't take long for Tobias to come to a conclusion.

"Alright, that's what we're going to do." Tobias said. He then turned to one of the Kingsblade commanders. "Vain, you are the best scout among us. Do you have any idea on how to get more intel?"

The man called Vain was renowned among the peers as Vain the Night Owl. He was, in fact, one of the strongest people in the room, probably only second to Tobias.

His moniker came from his reputation for being able to come in and out of the enemy territory, the Dark Elves and Aesirs, undetected. It was uncountable how much information the man had collected from those two territories, and how much it had helped Arcadia. Therefore, it was no wonder he was the best candidate for this job.

In response, the Kingsblade commander calmly nodded his head. He accepted the task and would find a solution for it. 

Tobias, however, would definitely not hang his hope on the man alone. After all, despite his illustrious reputation, the opponent they had to face this time was something they encountered for the first time.

He further brief Cecilian and the mages about other way to handle the situation 

-----

Not long after, from the tower situated just next to the royal palace, a dozen large birds could be seen flying to the sky. People dressed in similar white uniforms were seen sitting on its back, with myriad kinds of weapons each on their side.

These people were proud elites of the Arcadian Kingdom, the third squad of the fabled Kingsblade. Apparently, they rode the mages' eagles as means of transportation as they closed in on the spaceship.

Due to the location where they departed from, the citizens in the city could clearly see the sight of the dozen eagles flown heading in the direction of the unknown steel bird. As a result, cheers began to appear throughout the city.

"That's the third squad!"

"Commander Vain!"

"Aahh! Commander Vain is the one handling this matter. We will definitely be fine!"

"I love you, Commander Vain!"

There were three new members within the twelve of the Kingsblade's third squad who were currently flying. They were the three people coming from Vanyar: Sindur, Elyon, and Alanis.

Naturally, all the other nine people of the squad had the same strength as the three. Some could even overpower the three in a one-on-one fight. To put it simply, this squad consisted of the best from the best.

The man who flew at the front, who was wearing all-black clothes and radiating faint pressure, was none other than Vain the Night Owl, the leader of the Kingsblade's third squad.

The commander led his men, as the group made their way to the objective with confidence.

They flew across the sky, cutting through the wind as they got closer to the hovering spaceship. Slowly but surely, they started to feel very miniscule as they compared the gigantic thing in front of them.

"What do we do now, Commander?"

"Are we looking for a way to enter this thing? Should we spread out, Commander?"

Vain raised his hand, giving a gesture to not do anything. He then said, "You all wait here. If something happens to me, do not do anything and just return to the palace."

"Yes, Commander." replied everyone in the squad without exception. They all understood that if even their commander was unable to handle the situation, neither would they.

The group was just hovering in the sky, about a mile away from the spaceship. They all stood by while watching the eagle ridden by their commander approach the ship.

"What do you think the commander's plan is?" said Sindur to the other two.

The two elves could only shake their heads because they didn't know either. Unexpectedly, it was the vice commander of the squad who answered their confusion.

"You three shall see how great our commander is. He always has a brilliant plan to complete the mission." She said. "As for us, we are here just to add more pressure to whoever is inside that spaceship."

Sindur was actually disappointed when he heard the vice commander's words. As he failed during the gauntlet last time, he wished this time he would succeed. In fact, he wanted to earn more merit in this mission, so that he could give more of a good impression to the Arcadian people. Unfortunately, the situation didn't allow him.

However, not long before Vain arrived in front of the spaceship, the squad was quickly startled when they saw multiple machines seen on top of the ship move. They were all aiming toward their commander.

"This is not goo-!" shouted Sinder.

He didn't even have the chance to finish his words before he and the others saw their commander being blasted repeatedly by the machines, which apparently were some kind of weapons. Sindur could only watch as numerous explosions materialized where Commander Vain was, leaving only ripped parts of flesh scattering over the sky.

The whole squad was shocked by the unexpected development. The vice commander quickly shouted, "Retreat! Everyone, retre-"

SPLAT!

She didn't finish her words before her head burst apart like a melon.

"AAAAAA!!!"