Smoke and dirt drifted everywhere. The normally deserted suburbs were turned into turbulence with the constant commotion arising from the battlefield. The ground was littered with debris from the surrounding abandoned shops. Adrius created a strong gust of wind, pushed the smoke away and cleared the vision. The enemy’s commander was out of his sight while the prince was still stuck here with his army.

- Damn, their great shields are so annoying.

- I know. My shockwave didn't move them either.

In front of him, a solid formation was raised to prevent anyone from passing. Ten hooded men stood in a horizontal row, with each of them armed with an oversized great shield. All formed a strong shield wall blocking the way for Adrius and the Royal Guards.

The most annoying thing is that they are resistant to magic. Any elemental spells Adrius casts have no effect on this defense. His Wind power even bounced back, causing his teammates to be knocked away. Thamarin, the commander of the Guards with the ability to create high-level commotion from his hands, was also helpless when his attacks could not penetrate the layers of thick shields ahead. Furthermore, these shields also have offensive capabilities. By holding onto their shields and simultaneously charging forward, the opponent can even push Adrius' team backwards. The air pressure they create is relatively large, along with the impulse resonance coming from the ability to coordinate smoothly, making this shield thrust more powerful. At least 3 people on Adrius' side were already knocked down, the young prince was more or less bruised.

This formation has been well-trained for many different situations, with the aim of nothing but stopping the advance of the enemy. If the enemies jump high, they will move backwards very quickly. If someone circles to the side, they will stretch out the wall to close in immediately. Having to carry a great shield doesn't seem to be a problem, as they still move with great flexibility. The only weak point is behind. However, if the enemy is only in front, then they completely dominate. On the battlefield, it would be well suited to repel a charging troop, then flank with an infantry squad to disrupt their formation. And right now, with fewer numbers, they concentrated on stopping Adrius's team until the commander left and then they would retreat.

- Thamarin, we need to find a way to attack from behind.

- But Your Highness, we can't even touch them.

- I’ve got an idea.

Adrius's spellbook flips quickly while floating in the air, showing him chanting a spell. Touching the ground with both hands, Adrius transferred his energy to the Earth-type, then leaped forward. A giant fist made of sand and rock hit the shield wall. A strong tremor occurred, Adrius was bounced backwards, his fist shattered into small pieces of detritus that were splashed in all directions. The echo of collisions, the shattering of glass, the sound of broken signs… After the smoke and dust dissipated, the shield wall still stood tall. They had cornered the Althia Royal Guards.

- Foolish. Not only were your fists not able to penetrate this wall, but even your comrades were injured by that attack. - one shieldbearer raised his voice.

- I know. But that's the price we had to pay to lure you in here," replied Adrius.

As he spoke, Adrius continued to exert force in his hands. The book flipped back and forth again and again as if a strong wind was blowing on it. This time, his hands shone like a bright halo.

- Thamarin, it’s time.

The Royal Guard commander clasped his hands together, then slammed the ground hard. The impact sent debris scattered on the ground into the air, and at that moment, Adrius released a beam of light energy from his hand.

- Behold my “Dance of Light”!

The target he aimed at was the shards of glass broken from the impact from the earth punch earlier, which were now floating around the shieldbearers thanks to Thamarin's concussion. The beams of energy shot chaotically, reflecting off the glass shards in unpredictable trajectories. Thanks to the surrounding "glass formation", his attacks were able to circle behind the enemy without them knowing it. It was only when light force hit the back and nape of the neck, where they were defenseless, that the shieldbearers realized they had fallen into Adrius' trap. Although the attack was not lethal, it was enough for their formation to be disrupted for a moment, and enough for an experienced warrior like Thamarin to seize the opportunity. He leapt into the middle of the wobbly shield wall and smashed it with a single strike. All of them were thrown far away from each other, and the “unbreakable wall” was officially pierced.

- My prince, you go after the commander. I'll hold off on these guys and follow you.

- On it.

The prince ran at full speed towards the city center. Watching him, Thamarin thought: "He's really grown up". The battle just now showed the future king of Althia's keen observation, clever judgment and great magic capability. Not everyone at this young age can ultilize the power of the four elements simultaneously like Adrius. In addition, although he isn’t highly experienced in battle, he always learns very quickly and always finds the solution to difficult circumstances. With these qualities, he was honored to be a Mage when he was only 20 years old. Many people could say that he received this title because of his noble background, but Thamarin himself knew well that Adrius had earned that position worthily.

The shieldbearers were still trying to fight back the Royal Guard separately. They were much easier to deal with then. His mission was to neutralize all of them, then catch up with Adrius to capture the fugitive. But it seemed the enemy was not ready to give up. Two of them put together two great shields, then strap them on another's back horizontally. Suspecting something was wrong, Thamarin approached but was stopped by the rest of the squad. The horizontal shield-bearer pulled a rope from behind, then suddenly the heavy thing on his back popped out into a paraglider, lifting him into the air, just before the Commander of the Guards could catch him.

- What the hell was that??? - A royal guard shouted

Still looking at what he had just missed, Thamarin was almost hit by a carriage coming from a small alley, if it weren't for one of his soldiers pushing him aside. The paraglider guy fired a grapple at the vehicle, with the other end fixed to his belt. Just like that, the cart pulled him along as if it were flying a kite at the same time.

- Sir, they are chasing our Prince - Another soldier reported.

Damn, I was careless. The guy up there must have had a vantage point to determine Adrius's location. The prince is in danger!

***

A beam of energy shot straight ahead, grazing the cape of two people galloping along the main street in the center of the city.

- One of them is after us.

- Bloody hell, is our shield formation broken?

- What else could it be? If it weren't for you being so confident in them, they wouldn't have caught up with us.

- Oh, I definitely am proud of them. They don't know what our shieldbearers are capable of.

- Anyway, this guy is an elemental mage. He needs to be cut off immediately.

It was a conversation between the big guy who stole Valdikjack from the Adrius’ team, and a mysterious girl sitting behind him. The smuggler was still tied to the horse's side, unconscious. On the other side was a bag containing heavy iron spears. The girl turned to sit on the opposite side, back to back with the commander. She pulled out a spear, held it in one hand, and threw it at her pursuer.

On the other side, Adrius was also taken aback by the attack, and if it weren't for his quick reflexes, he would have been tightly pinned to the ground with a huge hole in his chest. How could a medium-sized woman launch a heavy iron spear with such ease? Who are these people?? It reminded him of someone… Even though he dodged the blow, the spear also created a commotion that caused the chamois Adrius was riding to stumble and panic. He had to soothe the beast gently to get it back on its feet and keep moving forward. I should keep my distance from them to avoid attacks like that.

Having to rob a chamois on the roadside from a Yetian merchant (a snowy mountain tribe settling at the north of Gogborim Ridge) didn't make Adrius proud, especially after he had begun his insults in the native tongue. If Florence were here, she would certainly be sarcastic about his not-a-prince behavior. But pride cannot help him get through this situation. I'll at least try to get it back to him healthy and… a little compensation, I guess? The important thing now is how to approach them without getting hit by those iron spears. Not to mention that chamois are often mounted when traveling on rough terrain such as mountains.; On city roads they can hardly keep up with the speed of horses.

While thinking about what to do, Adrius heard a rumbling noise behind him. Looking back, he saw an oversized carriage approaching, knocking over a series of stalls on the side of the road where it passed. Accompanied by it was a series of arrows that flew straight at him from above, making it very difficult for the young prince to dodge. He finally identified the person who shot the arrow: a guy wearing a paraglider, using a grapple to tie it to the carriage. It helps him float in the air and attack from above with crossbows. Two crossbows, each firing 3 arrows at once, from a location that couldn't be more open. Looking at his clothes, Adrius could tell that it was one of the shieldbearers that had stood in his way previously. Then this carriage is also theirs. I wonder whether Thamarin is okay?

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

But now is not the time to worry about him, because Adrius' current situation was no different from a cheese sandwich. In front of him was a lady who could throw deadly iron spears. Behind him was a carriage that was approaching him very quickly, along with a "flying sniper". Move slowly and the carriage will run over, or worse, arrows will find him; on the other hand, if he accelerated, he would be in the sights of the girl with unnaturally strong arms. The only thing he could take advantage of right now was Grydour's bustling market with crammed stalls, somewhat blocking the sniper's view. If Adrius wanted to find a way to approach the guys in front, he had to get rid of the sniper early. But Adrius was exhausted after continuously using magic. Alternating between the 4 magical elements caused him to lose stamina quickly. With the remaining energy, to shoot down a guy high above or even a carriage at this distance might not be possible. How can I bring him down when I can't even reach him? Think, Adrius, think!!

The arrows were still rushing, plugged into the brick walls, drilled holes in the sunshade and broke all kinds of goods, ... The chase caused the whole food section of the market to fall into chaos, people frantically looking for shelter. The area ahead would be the jewelry section, where the sidewalks are wider and less bustling, meaning that Adrius will have nothing to cover for him anymore. The sniper must be dealt with now, or his body will suffer the same fate as those canvases: badly pierced. Wait, I'm riding a chamois! Seeming to have thought of something, the prince spurred his reluctant mount forward, closing the gap with the couple ahead. The girl saw that the enemy was in her sights, gently reached into her bag and took out two iron spears. One in each hand, she gathered her strength and hurled them at Adrius at full speed. He is looking forward to this. Gripping the reins firmly, he controlled the chamois to jump high to avoid the spear, and use the impact of the throw to propel them both higher, before landing on the roof of a stall on the right side of the road. From here, he continued to jump to the left roof, then to the right roof, and so on, creating an unpredictable zigzag, making it impossible for the sniper to have an easy target.

This is the superior ability of chamois compared to horses. They can jump high and balance well on extremely narrow lanes. That is why people in mountainous areas with difficult terrain often use them to move. And in Grydour, for the first time, a young man was seen controlling a chamois to climb the closely spaced stalls and cling to the ledges to avoid the pursuit of the enemy. In fact, Adrius didn't only dodge. If he did, it would be better to stay close to the ground than to climb up high and unshielded like this.

The risky move he was making was to aim for the top plank of the construction scaffolding at the end of the market, as that was the highest point to land. The sniper also seemed to have realized something, but to him the higher Adrius went, the easier it was for his arrows to hit, so he didn't doubt it. The annoying movement of the chamois along with the blinding sunlight affected the accuracy of the two crossbows more or less. Yet he also sprained Adrius after hitting his left biceps and grazing his shoulder several times. He was good, but that was not enough to make that guy down there succumb.

Finally, the jump reached the right spot. The distance between the scaffolding and the building across the street was so large that the chamois almost tripped, but eventually it managed to get its rider up to his desired position, just as the arrows hit the columns and wall array right ahead of them. The prince gasped heavily for a while, but he managed to calm down. From here, Adrius performed a final diagonal leap into the air, taking himself to the highest point that he could reach the sniper. It still wasn't high enough to hit him, but Adrius knew where to aim.

He used a Wind Blade, firing a moon-shaped air blade at the sniper. He also prepared for this moment with a barrage of arrows fired at Adrius. But the prince was faster. His wind blade severed the connection between the paraglider and the carriage, causing the sniper to be dragged backwards into the sky. Because of that, his arrows did not hit the target when fired. In the distance, Adrius could still hear his stinging screams, growing fainter as his shadow grew farther and farther away. He crouched low, reaching down to peel off the road’s patches with his Earth Force and lift them up high, making a landing space for his chamois. But with insufficient energy and miscalculation of the weight when landing, the pieces of land lost their balance and dragged the two into a free fall. Fortunately, right before the rock crashed to the ground, the chamois jumped out, so the impact he suffered was not too severe. Adrius and his mount were exhausted, but the two continued to charge forward to chase after the one who had taken away his "package", with a carriage still close behind. At least now the kite-flyer is off of the danger list.

Speaking of the sniper, at last he landed on the road after being dragged a long distance in the air. This massive weight-shifting parachute helped him land faster, but he was still far behind in the chase. He needed to find another carriage and get back to the race quickly. In the distance, a delivery car was moving towards the center. Waiting for the right distance, the sniper pulled the rope from behind his body so that the device turned into a paraglider again. However, during the operation, a large figure suddenly charged toward him from far away, quickly closed the gap and delivered a powerful hook straight to his jaw before he could draw the crossbow. The parachute bounced off the back of the sniper, who was now unconscious, pulling both him and the man who had knocked him down into the sky.

***

The chase continued in the downtown area, with luxury shops and restaurants. After a few attempts, Adrius also trapped the carriage behind by knocking over a large wooden sign blocking the road. This is truly a massive destruction of public property. It would be really troublesome if I get caught! Mayor Hillshard certainly wouldn't have overlooked this if he had known Althia's army had infiltrated his city. However, Adrius still has not been able to find a way to stop the couple ahead and end this race. He was already beginning to feel exhausted from having to use multiple spells continuously in a short period of time. If he approached now, he probably wouldn't be able to dodge a direct iron spear.

Both sides were moving towards the city's center square, where people were crowded and vendors were all around. The highlight of this space is a large triangular Obsidian fountain with a statue of the Mayor carved above it. The amount of water was enough to create a wave that sent them flying. Of all the elemental spells, however, Adrius was the worst at controlling water. Since birth, he has been very sensitive to magical energies, but with regard to Water Magic, no matter how hard he tries, he cannot master it. Those who had trained Adrius knew this problem, but no one could explain why.

Although he cannot use magic to create water on his own like other elements, Adrius can still use magic to manipulate the water around him. Realizing that the two people in front were getting farther and farther away from him, he had no choice but to stretch his right hand forward and use all his remaining strength to pull water from the fountain. The water bubbled and rose a little, then collapsed. The distance is still quite far. Adrius continued to put strength into his right hand to use aquatic force. The water had risen higher but still not enough to be pulled out. In front, the two riders he was chasing suddenly turned left, heading out of the square. No, they're about to escape! Released from the reins, Adrius stretched both arms forward, using both Wind and Water force in each hand to lift the mass of water out of the fountain. His hands became heavy, as if he could no longer hold the amount of magic he was casting. The wound on his biceps bled more and he became stunned. Every last bit of strength is being worn away. Just a little more…

The water swirled and rose up into a massive column of water. It spilled out of the fountain and fell into the square. Although they tried to run away as fast as they could, the couple could not avoid the wave and were washed to the side near a residential area. Adrius, after his attempt to raise the water, was also unable to control its direction, causing both him and the chiamos to be knocked down. People were panicking and drenched. Struggling to his feet, Adrius smiled to see the chamois was fine, shaking himself to drain the water on his fur with an expression of indescribable indifference. "Perhaps I should get one after this”. Suddenly, a noise behind him interrupted his thoughts. The carriage that had been blocked off had returned, cutting through the chaos and rushing towards him. Adrius tried to get up quickly, but his whole body was numb, like every muscle no longer listening to him. A feeling of helplessness welled up inside the young Prince.

And then the savior appeared. A figure descended from the sky like a meteor into the exact position of the vehicle, and with his fist, he shattered it with a single strike. Fragments of debris were scattered everywhere and a thick cloud of smoke caused Adrius to cover his eyes. The horses neighed in panic and ran to different sides of the square. From the rubble, Thamarin stepped out. In his hand was one of the two charioteers, dressed like the shieldbearers earlier. He dropped him to the ground, now unconscious, then approached Adrius and stretched out his strong hand to help him up:

- Forgive me for showing up late, your Highness.

- No, Thamarin, you ‘re absolutely on time. And how did you appear from up there?

- One of them gave me a ride on his paraglider.

- Ah, how convenient. Thank you very much. It must be unsightly to be run over by a carriage in the middle of the square like this.

- Come to think of it, just this morning I destroyed two carriages. An unprecedented record!

- Maybe you'll be named in books for that. Now, we need to go get the package back, before the Grydour army arrives!

In the distance, the collision caused Valdikjack to fall off the horse's side and wake up. The smuggler's fabric bag was torn, but the only thing that got out of it was his head. Seeing Adrius and Thamarin approaching, he struggled and slithered away like a pupa, muttering repeatedly: "Get away from me, you bastards!" When Thamarin arrived and was about to lift him up, an axe came flying and he had to step back to avoid it. Immediately afterwards, the enemy commander charged with a powerful punch, but Thamarin quickly blocked. He immediately changed his stance, plunging his knee to attack, causing the opponent to retract his arms to defend and take 3 steps back. He lifted the axe stuck in the ground, while Thamarin drew his greatsword from his back. Two guys exchanged moves with their weapons. Every time they touched each other, they created a tremor, causing the surrounding ground to crack. A close confrontation with the commander of the Althian Royal Guards proved that this man was no ordinary opponent.

Adrius was about to move closer to help, but he was stopped by the mysterious woman, with a surprise kick to the side. Contrary to the other guy's strong fighting style, she had a very flexible moveset, performing attacks at a fast pace that made Adrius unable to react. Very quickly, he was overpowered and pinned to the ground, his neck pressed by the shaft of the iron spear. Only then did he clearly see the person in front of him. A surprisingly familiar face…

E.. Evelyn?

Adrius? - The girl raised her voice.