Chapter 211 - Progress

Zaos already knew that wind magic made his projectiles fly for longer. Still, he insisted on using fire-enhanced bolts to damage several enemies at the same time. After a few hours, Zaos couldn't even hit them anymore with his bolts since they retreated for more than five hundred meters.

"Ah, that was fun…" Zaos said. "I guess I am going to take a nap. They said that they will wait until morning, but since I killed some of them, they might change their minds."

Zaos entered the mine and let some soldiers watch the surroundings, but it seemed that he won't have the chance to rest before the battle. He didn't notice before, but the atmosphere was kind of weird inside the mine. He knew the reason, some people were considering the offer of the noise commander, and that was exactly why Drannot and Erean were on the side of the Ojala family. If someone tried anything, they were there to stop it.

"I wonder how these people can be so naive…" Zaos said and then sighed.

That offer was just too good to be true. It was an obvious trap to lure idiots and make them disturb group cohesion. However, since most of these people have lived the good life, they couldn't see when someone was trying to fool. It wouldn't be weird if some of them think that they are too smart to be fooled.

"Hey, Ameria," Zaos said. "Wake me up if something happens here or the dumbasses outside approach again."

"That is how you ask a favor for a princess?" Ameria frowned. "Did the enemies retreat? Why?"

"I played with them a little," Zaos said. "Regardless, they won't give up any time soon. I just got on their nerves a little bit."

Ameria went to check, and she saw that Zaos had burned many trees and a lot of smoke was spreading around the area, which certainly was bothering the enemy's army that was now hidden in the woods. In no time, Zaos fell asleep, and Ameria couldn't help but frown since the atmosphere inside was very suspicious.

"Don't let them fool you, guys," Drannor said. "While we headed to the port, we passed by each one of your houses, and all of them were empty. Even the houses of those that left this group on the first day. Do you know what that means?"

"Can you prove that?" Someone asked.

"What kind of proof do you want?" Drannor frowned. "Did we have to bring the corpses of those who left with us? Think calmly about this. Ferdinand won't be able to rule fully when the people who know what he did still breathe." 

"We know that you are tired of this situation. We all are," Erean said. "But there is no easy way out of this."

"Bullshit, if Orleand had paid attention to his servants, we wouldn't have been drugged, and we wouldn't be in this mess." Another someone said,

"Well, if you want to play this game of blaming others, I can also say that you didn't train your guards enough," Erean shrugged. "After all, neither of you have guards that did their job properly."

"Are you trying to blame us for this as well?" Someone asked.

"I am trying to say that we can stay here all day trying to blame others or look for an easy way out," Erean said. "That won't change anything. There is only one way out of this mess. Or do you want to surrender to the guy who had planned to kill all of you, your families, and then takes your riches? I suppose you need another level of courage to work with that kind of person."

Although Erean's words sounded like mockery, he was speaking the truth. It was insane to work with someone that tried to kill you before. The next backstab might come at any moment, and this time, both parts wouldn't just wait for it. They would try to backstab each other. Every single adult in the mine knew that, but in the end, they had to at least consider the least of two evils since the lives of their whole families were on the line.

In the end, many of the people there considered the Commander's offer. Still, they didn't accept it since their kids would have to see them dirtying their hands while betraying the very people who protected them when they were utterly vulnerable despite the hardships.

Since nothing happened, Zaos had the chance to sleep until dinner time, and once he filled his belly, he left the mine. The enemies were probably thinking of using that strategy at some point, but Zaos will use them against them first since he had the chance.

He couldn't feel their presence from so far away, but the campfires gave their exact location away. Hitting the targets would be difficult, but since the wind was in his favor now, Zaos was confident that at the very least, he would cause some damage to several enemies.

After considering the distance, the wind, and the elevation of his crossbow, Zaos filled the bolt with fire magic and then fired. The projectile flew and then began to fall in an ark. Thanks to some beginner's luck, Zaos actually hit his target… a campfire. The flames exploded and grew in size thanks to his attack, and everything in a twenty-meter radius began to burn.

Your Archery had reached level 24.

Your Archery had reached level 25.

Your Magic Archery had reached level 14.

Your Magic Archery had reached level 15.

"Hahaha, that is very nice…" Zaos laughed and then said it.

Drannor, Ameria, and Noemi came to check things with Zaos. Still, they stayed quiet since Zaos needed to concentrate and because he looked scary and creepy as well. Regardless, before the enemies had the chance to react in any way, Zaos bombarded their camps with fire-enhanced bolts. Several explosions happened, and even though he was using a considerable amount of mana, he judged it was worth it since he could tell that many enemies were suffering damage.