Margaux

"It will be fine," I said, seeing my friend looking south, toward Panar.

"I am worried," she said after a few seconds of silence.

We have received a message not long ago. Lord Silver had entered Panar to root out the undead.

"Me too, but there is nothing we could do. Here, we might do something, if the walls are breached," I said and looked toward Deerpond.

In less than five hours, they will be in the city.

She didn't say anything to that, nor did I speak anymore. Instead, I turned to the beautiful city.

The view from the tower is amazing; one could get an idea of how the city is growing. I have been coming here every week and always see something new.

If Master Silver had waited for a few months. He would have been better prepared, with the bigger army, but wouldn't have had such a chance, Stena had said.

"What do you think about his words?" I asked.

Her expressions become serious, understanding what I am talking

Before he left, he said something and asked for our opinions on it. It will shock, the entire city, the entire region, and even the continent.

"He needs to conquer the city first," she replied.

I didn't say anything more and turned back to the city, with the hope, that it would survive, what was coming for it.

It needs to, till its lord returns.

…

Stone

Clang Clang Clang!

Our weapons clashed hard as they met each other at the blurring speed.

Rip!

She is fast, and she is a mage.

It is why, I dodged her sword at the cost of the injury and defended against the Bone Lances, before moving to defend against her sword.

She was the most difficult enemy; I had ever faced. Also, the most powerful, but that is not important.

I had killed those more powerful than me, but those difficult had nearly killed me.

They are the dangerous kind, and she is the most dangerous, I had ever fought.

"You are good. better, than the elder-blood, I had killed," she said and came at me with another attack.

At the same time, two more attacks came from spectral hands, holding the bone swords.

Rip!

I dodged her attack and the bone sword but was cut by another bone sword. Which she controlled, finely enough, that it had cut the small, unprotected part of my arm.

It hadn't been even fifteen minutes since we had started fighting and she had already injured me all over my body.

It is a good thing, that my elder-blood is good at dealing with magical injuries or it would have been troublesome to deal with.

"I heard, you had some methods. Why aren't you using them?" she asked as she came at me with another attack.

"I will, it is not just the time," I replied and defended against the attack.

Using this method would be a bad idea. Especially this early in the battle. I have to conserve my strength and use it as sparingly as possible.

Unlike her, I can't just take the energy from the undead around me. If I am drained, I am drained. There is nothing that will help me recover other than time.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"It is time, my dear, elder-blood. If you don't use the methods now, you will not get a chance to use them again," she said, attacking me again with a barrage of Dark Bolts.

I had experienced them well, in the last battle and manipulated my energy to create a later to defend against them.

Ting Puch Ting!

They were able to reduce more than half of their power before they hit me.

I ground my teeth in pain and hoped my internal defenses would deal with them quickly.

Hun

I had just dealt with that when I found arcs of black lightning in front of me. I swiftly move my halberd and distort.

Rip!

As I did, my whole body shuddered with a feeling of danger and I leaped back, but still got a bloody cut in my chest.

She is Mage Knight, her class is made of two powerful classes of their category. It gives her the might of the Knight and the versatility of the Mages.

She is proficient in using both, unlike Bartram, who was a Knight, despite knowing spells.

The intelligence said, her level is in her mid-thirties. It is powerful and with her class, she is more powerful at that level. Warriors or even mages of the same level are no match for her.

As she kept saying, she had killed an elder-blood before, which isn't easy.

Given our abilities, which make us stronger, move faster, and heal swifter. We are a nightmare, to our enemies, but someone like her counters us well.

She is as strong as us, fast as us, and has more abilities than us in the form of spells and skills.

We dread the enemies like her, who could counter our every advantage.

If I had the option, I rather not face someone like her, even with a broken artifact in my hand. I am at a disadvantage, but I have to keep fighting.

If I had lost; the entire battle would collapse, and it is already under strain, and it is increasing every minute.

I could sense it all.

She may have silenced all the communication, but many other skills are working.

My Battle Awareness is working.

I could see my army. Most of them have already started engaging with the enemy, which is coming at them on all sides. From houses to alleys to roads.

There is so much, I want to do.

I could direct the army, to deal with the enemy more efficiently, but now because of communication blockade, I couldn't.

A lot more people are going to die due to it and the sole reason for that would be the woman in front of me.

My heart rages when I look at her; I want to burst out with all my strength and attack, but that would be the most idiot thing, I could do right now.

Giving into my emotions is giving her what she wants.

Currently, I am fighting. I am getting injured, but fighting. That is my strategy for the battle.

I am confident, that I will get the advantage in the battle. If I burst out with full strength, it wouldn't be enough to kill her. If it had been, I would have already done it.

Killing the enemy fast is the best way to end the battle quickly and save a lot of lives, but I do not have confidence in killing her.

The best course of action is to keep fighting as I am right now and survive.

It won't win me the battle, but that is what the army is for.

I have trained them myself and chosen each officer for this battle.

I know they are capable.

The enemy might be suppressing them now, but it won't be forever. Not again this enemy, which barely has any chance to prepare.

If the enemy, like her, had even a day to prepare. It would have been terrible. I wouldn't have attacked the city, even in my dreams.

By attacking, in the twelve hours of fighting battle; at the time, they have least expected had provided us with an opportunity, that we might not have got ever.

So, many things have lined up for this attack; that I couldn't just say no when Lord Silver asked, despite the innumerable risks.

Including leaving Greltheaven with less force, than we had brought here.

Which made the people, who should be our allies, attack us.

I clearly thought and focused on the enemy and needles she had attacked me.

These needles aren't normal. They are covered by the fire, her sword coming at me.

The energy came out and covered me, while I moved my halberd to deal with her attack.

Ting Puch Ting!

The armor and energy saved me, but some still pierced into my body. I quickly pushed them out with the energy, but they had already done the damage.

I proactively moved the energy into my body to deal with the damage.

It is hard to control the elder energy, but I have an excellent teacher. It is because of her; that I have become so good at controlling the energy.

She is the reason I was able to get more than one method in less than a year of awakening and was also proficient in using them.

"I have fought many giant-bloods; even spar against an old one, but you are the most impressive one,"

"It seemed like, they are right, what they say about the bronze giants," she said and cast another group of needles.

I didn't say anything to that. I had heard a few things, but not enough to comment concretely.

I have just awakened and barely started receiving things. The elder blood provides a lot of things, but one needs to be worthy of it.

More than half of the elder blood didn't progress much, but some were able to reach, heights beyond imagination.

It is just like the class and levels.

How high, one could go depends on her individuals' efforts and luck.

Hun!

Suddenly, a shudder rang through my body, and I saw her sword coming at me, but I brought my halberd down, toward my legs.

I cut the translucent binding moving to surround me and retreated.

Rip!

She used the chance to give me the biggest injury. A long cut across my chest, that runs bone deep.

It is serious and painful, but better than the fate, I would have suffered.

If I hadn't acted on time and given that translucent binding opportunity.

It would have slowed me down enough to give her the opportunity to push that sword into my chest and it would have been game over for me.

"It's the attack, I had used to kill the elder-blood; it didn't work on you," she said.

"It would have, if I had reacted even a fraction late," I replied, looking at my bloodied chest, which is throbbing painfully.

She didn't say anything to that, but came at me with a powerful attack.