Chapter 210 - It Must Hurt

In the end, the enemies' army only arrived after two days. They probably decided to march at a slow pace to save their strength. Still, in the end, they surprised everyone. Even Zaos, Drannor, and Erean were having a hard time hiding their surprises… right at the bottom of the mountain. They could see an army of one thousand heavily armored soldiers.

"It seems that they don't plan on underestimating us any longer," Zaos said.

"This is good or bad, Captain?" Drannor asked.

"It is hard to say…" Erean furrowed his eyebrows. "Ferdinand probably hired all the soldiers he could find in the nearest islands in order to get rid of the only thing that stands in the way of his goal of becoming the most influential man of this nation… us. On the other hand, if we stall for enough time, the army will lose morale, and Ferdinand will lose the support of his followers. At least some of it."

Those who weren't soldiers were hiding inside the mine, but most of them saw the army when it approached. So they also knew that they would have a hard time even if they worked together. However, other things were bound to happen even before the battle.

"Family heads of Vezar, I am the commander of this small army. You can call me Julien," A certain man who had a battle ax stepped forward and then said. "If you surrender now, I give my word that you and your families will be spared. We only ask you to bring Orleand Ojala's head to us. Lord Ferdinand doesn't want anything more aside from leading our country to a bright future, and to reach that goal, we can't let Orleand leading all the other families."

That army seemed a bit off. Even the commander was weird, considering the usual guards that were usually employed in the islands. It wasn't like they couldn't wear full plate armor. It was more like it didn't fit their fighting style since they had several types of weapons. That army only had soldiers with shields and spears, not to mention, they were more prominent than the usual Verzanians soldiers.

"I see now… this Ferdinand fellow had his own private army hidden in this country," Erean said, and by the look of things, they all are criminals and deserters of our country."

"Did so many soldiers of our country desert in the last few years?" Drannor frowned. 

"Do you know why despite those battles in the North, His Majesty never sent Reinforcements?" Erean asked. "It was because the other sides of the country were also facing some problems."

"Even the Eastside?" Drannor asked. "I thought we had a good relationship with this country."

"We have, but they have their own criminals… pirates," Erean said. "You two are exceptions to the rule, but when some kids discover what they had to deal with in the bases in the extreme sides of the countries, they give up on training after seeing death getting close to them so many times. Some of them return home and live with shame. Still, others don't return home and eventually find themselves in these kinds of military groups."

Zaos sighed. In the end, it didn't seem like he and the other kids who trained in the north had been unlucky. Still, he didn't remember hearing about desertion there. Regardless, what didn't matter was the fact that the commander's speech made some of the people inside the mine waver.

"You have until tomorrow's sunrise to surrender. If you pass that time, I won't show any mercy," the commander said and then turned around.

"You talk too much," Zaos said and then aimed his crossbow at the enemy.

Zaos enhanced a bolt with wind magic until it turned to electricity in the blink of an eye. Once that happened, he pulled the trigger. He tried to hit the back of the enemy since he was sure that he could do it even if he didn't pierce the vitals with that much energy. However, Zaos missed him since he was five hundred meters away from him. That being said, the bolt pierced his left shoulder, and the commander screamed in agony while the bolt was shocking him.

"That is a noise that you can make as much as you want," Zaos showed a refreshed smile.

In the end, Zaos gave up on finishing the Commander since his soldiers stepped forward with their theirs raised. It would be much easier to face a commanderless army, but even Zaos could only do so much with a weapon he wasn't that good at it yet. The enemies raised their shields because they didn't know how a bolt could have hit one of them from so far away. They probably would feel less worried if they knew that Zaos was trying to shut up the Commander once and for all.

"You sure like to make enemies that fast, Zaos," Drannor said.

"I won't deny that I find it relaxing," Zaos said. "Besides, it will be easier for me if they charge at me like mad bulls."

Since the enemies decided to give them that much time, Zaos decided to bully them and make them regret that choice. He began to meditate in order to recover the mana he used. After twenty minutes, his mana was full again, and he prepared another enhanced bolt. This time, he went with fire magic, and even though the projectile lost some speed and elevation. It didn't hit the target, Zaos hit the ground, and the projectile exploded, burning five soldiers around.

"How do you like that? Stupid dumbasses," Zaos raised his voice and then grabbed the attention of the enemies.

When they recognized the voice that the attack was just a kid whose voice still was kind of acute, the soldiers got pissed, but in the end, they didn't try anything stupid. They only retreated to their camp a little bit.

"It must hurt to be that stupid," Zaos said and then attacked again.