The main force of the Valoratians had made it in time to reinforce the sidelines thanks to the three deployed assets.

However, doing this risky maneuver to cover the flank left the main battle line in shambles.

The Elderian adventurers that were routed unexpectedly scaled-down the cliffside to make that fact even worse.

You could never underestimate the crafty adventurers that had varying people of many different expertises after-all.

It was mainly the mountaineers and professional hikers that came into play.

Some mages even helped carried people down the cliff with their magics.

[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/455394821364908032/467291621604720641/unknown.png]

((Another better tactical map stupid thing-!? Help... Maybe I should research about strategic warfare?))

The last of the Valoratian Knights did not give up until the very end as they were pushed back against their last encampment.

If the Enchantians were to break through, the Valoratians could also resort to retreating into their country's territory.

However, if they did so without surrendering, they would risk an all-out full-scale invasion of their homeland.

Considering such things, the brave knights of the roaring plains made their last stand... They fought till the very end.

"Hah... Damnit... At this rate, that warmonger won't be satisfied... They'll invade this continent and the innocents will die---!?"

Ivan kicked the drafting table which ended up tumbling the tent on top of him.

Groaning slightly, he crawled outside the fallen cloth to witness his encampment walls slowly begin to catch on fire.

The soldiers guarding on the wooden palisade fortifications fell as they succumbed to the flames that enveloped them.

A bunch of unsightly corpses laid on the ground, either put to death by flaming arrows or magical projectiles.

He glanced towards his subordinates who did their best by the last barricade at the soon-to-crumble gates.

Heavily plated horses of the Katraian cavalry crashed and busted through as the last line of defense fell.

Within seconds, the allied soldiers flooded into the encampment like water bursting through a broken dam.

Ivan was could witness it all.

His unsightly defeat.

Amongst the crowd of the significant members which confronted him stepped up the little archmage Johnathan Bluestars.

"This is the end Adviser Ivan... I suggest you surrender..."

Ivan didn't even break a sweat.

"Hah... Me... Surrender...!? Sorry, but I'll be keeping this track record of never getting caught!"

He brushed his hand to the side as three top-of-the-line Valoratian Elites rushed out from the crumbled tent's covers.

"Ahm... They were in there all this time...?"

Alexei who stood nearby somehow felt a bit sorry for the knights.

The three valoratian elites formed up before charging against the group.

A clash occurred as Jessica stepped out front to protect everyone.

She busted her claymore into the first knight and trusted forward, causing him to lurch back.

Following up with a swing to the right, the second one halted in his charge and backed away.

Jessica then spun around, shoving the third one away with a straight kick.

"To think a Valoratian Elite would betray her own...!? Hah!"

"Ara, I was sure my former Lady once said, "Unnecessary comments are necessary, seriously." "

"Hah... Why you-!?"

Jessica ignored Ivan as she pointed her sword toward the Valoratian Elite who ran back at her first.

WOOSH!

Wind magic propelled from her blade as it staggered the Valoratian Elite's momentum, causing him to brace his stance.

"Hoh... My efforts back in Enchantia weren't for nothing!"

Jessica did not let the opportunity escape as she skidded forth to cleave.

The Valoratian Elite's armor, despite being made from Valoratian Steel, did little to protect him from the immense impact.

He wasn't cut anywhere but was knocked out by Jessica's sheer force which left a visible dent on the side of his breastplate.

"Hah... And here I thought I had the best of the best 'Elite Trio' to guard me..."

Ivan turned tail and ran, leaving the two remaining Valoratian Elites behind.

Being occupied by two masters of their craft, Jessica grumbled as she focused herself to parry away their skillful strokes.

"Dear brother, take your friends and go after him! I'll hold them off here!"

"Be careful... Sister..."

Jessica aggressively went forward with a half-sword, causing the two elites to once again make the distance.

"Aye lass, don't die now! We'll be back to help soon!"

King Alderius then hauled John onto his shoulder as he ran after Ivan alongside Alexei.

The advisor ran past the command post and climbed over the wall in a panic before tumbling down onto the grass.

Quickly getting back up, Ivan continued to run up the hillside before coming out onto the sunlit evening plains.

"Damnit... The people of this continent are crazy strong physically and can also use external magic... Hah..."

WHAM!

The encampment walls were busted aside by a gigantic dirt spike.

Alexei rushed out of the busted hole alongside John who sat on Alderius' shoulder.

Ivan who was caught off guard was then struck from behind by a weak jolt of lightning.

"Grrh-!?"

He staggered and fell, rolling about in the grass while gasping for breath.

"Ahm... Give up, Adviser Ivan! We promise your safety!"

Ivan clutched his back and tried to look confident as he unsteadily got back up.

Two cloaked figures then suddenly popped up, appearing from the tall grass beside him.

Ivan immediately recognized the elven archer but did not recall the shady mage to his left.

"What... Hah... I've never seen you before... You're also with her...?"

Ivan asked out with an unsure tone before seeing the hooded figure nodding once.

Upon reconfirming his bearings, Ivan continued to run up the hillside plains without a shred of hesitation.

"Heads up, lads... Those guys don't look normal to me!"

King Alderius let John off his shoulder and readied his sword and great shield.

"Go on without us, Lord Protector... This one is strong..."

John's deep blue eyes begun to glint as tempests whirled around him.

The shady mage, in return, bowed slightly before he compelled his hands upwards to launch forth a dozen of ice spikes.

All the ice shards that were timed at different angles were then intercepted by John's fireballs which erupted the airspace.

"Go..."

Despite trying to sound serious, John could only look at Alexei with a mundane face that was frowning slightly.

"Ahm... Got it!"

Regaining visual on Ivan who was stumbling up the evening plains, Alexei began his pursuit.

But before he could move, a roped arrow tangled him on the spot.

Upon trying to cut himself loose, another arrow was already flying towards him.

CLANK!

The arrow bounced off Alderius' Great Shield as he stepped in.

"Don't worry lad, I gotcha!"

He then cut loose the rope arrow and reeled in the elven archer.

The archer, after being drawn in, kicked away from Alderius' shield as they began to confront each other.

The archmage was now nearly flying as he dashed around in the ball of tempest surrounding him.

In return, the enemy mage moved around by shifting the ground below his own feet with Earth Magic.

They both mutually avoided and traded blows with the magical attacks they threw at each other.

Whatever went through his mind in those few seconds, Alexei snapped out of it.

He certainly knew that it was only him and no one else that can stop the escaping Ivan.

That's right... Who cares if he wasn't as skilled as the others-!?

Ivan staggered to the top of the elevated plains and fumbled through the short dense grass.

He panted and glanced weakly over his shoulder at the Alexei that was catching up onto him.

Alexei threw his kite shield into Ivan's exposed back.

The adviser coughed out in pain as he fell over the grass.

"You... Were you the one who sent that assassin after the princess...!?"

Alexei growled out as he pulled down his retractable helmet to reveal a face of anger.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Hah! What are you going to do? You promised me safety! A dog like you won't ever be acknowledged by that monster!"

"Monster...? Are you perhaps talking about Vixella...!?"

"Hah...? I meant Princess Sasha! She knows... Too much... Such a young age... She's manipulating everyone... Even you!"

"As if you know of the Princess' true ambitions!"

Alexei shouted out as he swished down the bastard sword to point it at Ivan's neck.

"Hah... You... Do it then..."

"That's right, a piece of shit like you can just die!"

Alexei lifted his sword high and plunged it down.

"Not so fast, kiddo!"

An assassin wielding a saber ran up to intercept his strike.

Alexei reflexively diverted his sword to protect himself.

A Penta-Hit from the saber made contact with his sword and shield as he was fumbled away by the combined force.

Underestimating his opponent, the assassin was then met by Alexei's whip mechanism that flailed out to entangled his saber.

Not being able to break free due to his lack of strength, the scruffy-faced man was then unexpectedly reeled in towards Alexei.

A solid hit to his unprotected face by Alexei's kite shield was all that it took to take him out of the short fight.

Despite being overly agile and deadly, the saber assassin wasn't physically strong enough to handle much beating.

The saber assassin collapsed down as he grumbled out in pain.

"Fuck... I should've eaten more meat..."

Before Alexei could advance towards Ivan, shivers ran down his spine as he saw a blank steel mask in the corner of his vision.

Despite wanting to slash around at her, he was completely stopped as the strangely strong woman restrained him by the wrist.

Alexei growled out as he spun around the other direction with the kite shield.

It was also stopped by her other hand as she simply held onto the shield itself.

Being bound, Alexei glared at the blank steel mask.

Thinking he was done for, Alexei didn't expect the assassin to let go of him before backing off a few steps.

Alexei immediately shifted into a defensive stance as he heaved for breath.

"Gah... What's up with you..."

The masked assassin then placed a flask of herbal medicine beside the saber assassin Alexei had defeated earlier.

"Thanks..."

The saber assassin who bled from his nose groaned out from below.

The air swished about as the masked assassin, from the distance, pointed her Falchion at Alexei.

Sweat ran down Alexei's face as he took deep breaths to recompose himself.

Ivan grasped his back slightly and got up to his feet.

"Hah... We don't have time for this... Just pick up that guy and let's escape..."

The masked assassin seemed hesitant as she looked between Ivan and Alexei.

Gripping his sword even tighter, Alexei soon took a few unsteady steps forward.

Ivan said Princess Sasha was a monster?

Then what was the masked assassin before him?

She was nearly as strong as Vixella...

That thought scared him to the very core.

Alexei steeled himself to glare at death itself.

"Gah... If Vix was here, I'm sure she could take you on..."

"Hah! You mean that Lady Vixella...!? Bullshit... All rumors!"

"You wouldn't know, she's way stronger than any of us!"

Alexei finished his sentence with a slight shift in his stance.

He began raising his bastard sword high in an offensive stance.

The assassin reached out a hand, gesturing at him to not even try.

Glancing down at his legs that shook on the spot, Alexei pulled up his helmet.

He took a few unsteady steps forth before roaring out as he began a charge.

The bravest man on the battlefield that day was surely no other than Alexei.

Right there, the gods no longer played the die.

It was all up to the fateful two who met by the sunset.

A CENTURY LATER

(Last Boss Transition Music)

Despite chasing after her with his best efforts, all his attacks were easily avoided.

The assassin did not make any useless movements as she took minimal effort to dodge.

Every stroke of Alexei's sword did not find any resistance as it seemed to just gently slide against her form.

Perfect Evasion.

After being fed up, Alexei eventually slipped out a wide cleave.

In that instant, the assassin sheathed her Falchion and grasped onto its hilt.

He never did see it coming.

The blade that never left its scabbard had already slashed into his left shoulder.

"Gah! I'm hit! Augh! Arghughughaaweqqweq-!!?!" ((MP3 FILE REFERENCE IN POST CHAPTER NOTES LOL))

Alexei screamed out as he was then struck and whacked multiple times by the assassin's Falchion.

Causing many dents on Alexei's armor, her fast yet heavy strokes of the wide blade were bruising and hurting him a lot.

Luckily enough, no major slashes went through, all thanks to the enchants and protective runes on his armor plates.

However, the attacks that went into the gaps cut clean through his chainmail and leather padding without remorse.

Blood trickled down from his left shoulder as Alexei's shield arm was now dangling due to having the tendons severed.

Alexei stood in an unsightly state, taking a few steps back to pant heavily before lurching forth unsteadily.

The blood that was running down his forehead and face blurred his vision as he blinked a few times.

The helmet's visor that was now busted sideways made it hard for him to see.

He didn't even think as he grabbed and tossed away the broken retractable helmet.

Still pointing his bastard sword with one hand at the assassin, Alexei did not plan to give in to the pain.

He spat out blood on the ground in front of him.

"Gaah... Stop holding back... Fight me for real...!"

Alexei's body wavered as he took a few steps forth.

It looked like he was ready to collapse anytime.

The assassin threw two daggers at Alexei, in which he unsteadily deflected with a swish of his whip blade.

Before he could regain composure, she had already closed the distance to jab into his right arm with a poisoned dagger.

"Paralyzing poison again...!? Why...!?"

Alexei roared out in frustration, not understanding why the assassin won't just kill him.

Losing the grip of his bastard sword, a full right hook that followed swiftly with an uppercut-elbow met Alexei's exposed face.

The assassin in return looked a bit unsure as she took a few steps back from the bloodied Alexei who was still on his two feet.

His arms that were both disabled dangled about as blood trickled out here and there, running down his mangled form.

"Gahahaa... Kill me---- ALREADY...!!!"

Alexei coughed out blood as he angrily glared up at the masked assassin.

The saber assassin weakly stood up as he overlooked the fight from the side.

"Yeah, what are you doing... He's in a lot of pain... Just kill him already..."

The assassin glanced down at her Falchion before shorty sheathing it.

She then pivoted her feet to instead face against Ivan who seemed a bit confused.

Alexei, being nearly out of it, looked up at what he could still see and perceive as reality.

Still dazed by exhaustion and blood loss, he could not make out what was going on.

"Hah... I see how it is... It seems like this great infiltrator Ivan shall be the one to end your suffering then...!"

Ivan unsteadily barked out as he reached into his coat to brandish the strange object that was held in his right hand.

It was shaped like a boomerang, held awkwardly, and had a spiral-bored cylinder barrel.

Underneath the compressor-looking device by the middle was also a spring-loaded hopper filled with lead pellets.

Outback was something like a magical jar that was integrated into the strange mechanisms itself.

Alexei who came back to his senses for a second looked up at the weird object Ivan that was pointing down at him.

He did not know what the weird object that reeked of murder yet became sure that it would be the last thing he'll ever see.

He who was no longer in a state to do anything began to give up holding onto life as he lost his balance and fell backward.

A slight shift alongside the sound of shattering steel echoed upon the evening plains.

Croak.

The crow on a nearby withered tree took its flight.