Chapter 133: General Class Jarkales

East Branch, the next morning

Reslan stood in front of the Main Building's Green Gate for Howard and Priscilla to return from their nighttime raid. He hadn't been so nervous in a long time, and couldn't stop his sweat from contaminating his braided brown beard. 

Monica had woken him up in the middle of the night, and spent over an hour interrogating Reslan about Howard's whereabouts. He was supposed to be back by nightfall, and was supposed to give her a special seventeenth birthday present. Thus, she had been extremely upset when he didn't return, and stormed Reslan's room for answers.

Of course, he told her that he'd be back in the morning, but he was no longer so sure. The Jarkales were going to arrive in 8 hours, and he might be down his two strongest students. His options for winning the battle against the Jarkales were now razor thin. He couldn't protect all his students and the White Mist Warriors at the same time.

'Come on! Didn't Barabin call you a monster unlike any he's ever seen!' Reslan waited by the dorms in a set of silver armor custom made for his 5 meter frame. It had been made by the best manufacturing students of the East Branch over the course of an entire year, and had dozens of orange hue embedded jewels in the silver armor that increased Reslan's defense and strength. However, it did nothing to help bear the constant pain surging along with the beat of his heart. 'Hurry up and return Howard! Monica will kill me if anything happened to you!"

A moment later, he spotted a girl dragging a body through the desert. The girl seemed to not care what the body hit. A few rocks bashed against the torso trailing behind her. Every few seconds, a droplet of blood fell out of the woman's mouth, yet she had a smile on her face.

"We're finally back Howard. Now can you wake up?" 

Horned took different amounts of time to reincarnate depending on the damage. Since Howard got shot in the head, it take on average 8 hours for him to reincarnate. To be more precise, his Ki Cells required 8 hours to heal a wound to the forehead, 3 hours for a death by the heart, and about an hour from death due to blood loss. 

Unfortunately, only 6 hours passed since Howard had gotten killed, and so Priscilla had no choice but to drag him through the desert. For some reason, her injuries hadn't fully healed, and her normal ability to control Ki had disappeared like a small fire in a powerful frigid winter storm. However, finally, she saw a large, muscular giant rushing towards her. He moved so fast, that she only saw a blur appear in front of her a few seconds later.

"Reslan, he-he tried to protect me. I-I made a big mistake,"

"What the hell happened?" Reslan leaned down and gently peeled back Howard's eyes with his massive fingers. "How many hours has it been since he died?"

"6.. Give or take… He-he told me not to kill this one Jarkales and I didn't listen to him! I-I just wanted to protect the Horned okay!! I-I'm sorry! I was just trying to be the leader" Priscilla's tears formed gigantic tears before she collapsed on the ground. "We-we only lived because this-this silver armored monster let us live! He-he must have been their general! He was terrifying! Reslan, we have to evacuate! Just give them the damn Valley!"

"I can't do that. We have too many people to move, and no where to go," Reslan's hands began to turn bright orange before a powerful Ki surged through Howard's slender frame. Howard's black shirt had been torn beyond recognition, and his pale muscular had been revealed. However, the most terrifying thing had to be the large wound in his chest. For some reason, it hadn't started to heal.

Reslan could only do his best to provide Howard's body with additional Flame Ki to nurture and heal his wounds. Luckily, a few minutes later, his indented chest had started to heal and a golden tint appeared on his skin. Moments later, his eyes fluttered open, before he saw a large fist traveling towards his face.

"You-you idiot!" Reslan slammed his fist right into Howard's chest! "You-you died! What did the enemy find out!"

"Calm down! It was my fault!" Priscilla jumped in front of Reslans' fist. "You just revived him! What are you trying to do? End his life for good!"

"It-it is my fault. I'm sorry," Howard's blue beady eyes opened widely and took in the morning sun. "Where-where's Monica? Oh god, did I miss her birthday?"

"Birthday? You both are going to tell me everything about this monster you fought, and why the hell you two idiots are alive! I-I'm glad you're back! I'm so glad you're back!" Reslan laughed and used just two fingers to pull Howard up from the ground. "You-you guys are so lucky. Tell me what the hell happened out there?"

Reslan had made a huge mistake that the Jarkales wouldn't send anyone of the general calliber to fight a war against them. He'd talked to Bermenthol, and he made it very clear that they'd most liley have ten commander class Jarkales with them. These men had strength roughly in the A rank, so because of that he felt comfortable that Founder Arista could leave. After all, from what he witnessed of Howard in his fight against Priscilla, he should be able to take on someone at the peak of the A rank!

However, Reslan felt a sense of nervousness in his heart. If they had a general, that meant that had sent someone in at least the S rank! He, himself, was just in the beginning of the S rank! Even if he took on the general by himself, that meant Howard, Priscilla, and Monica would have to deal with all the A rank commanders by themselves! The upcoming battle was not at all in his favor!

"Howard, go inside the East Branch. I'm giving you an hour to make things up to Monica. However, not a word that you died last night! Do you hear me?"

"I like being honest, are you sure?" Howard scratched his head in surprise and pushed himself off the floor. "Heh, and do we have an hour. What if the Jarkales attack now?"

"I can sense them. They are 8 hours away. 8 hours for you to say your goodbyes to your loved ones just incase we die. Now go! Priscilla, however, you're staying with me! For the next hour, you're going to teach me every attack you saw the general do!"