Chapter 49: Because I’m a father
Inside Tegralle, the evacuation of the town was still ongoing.
The guards reacted quickly in accordance with the strict training drilled into them for several years. They didn’t panic and, following the orders of their captain, didn’t try to engage the enemy directly.
They gathered together and covered the civilians rushing out of the town by following lit up torches.
The men attacking in the middle of the night killed several unprepared guards and wrecked chaos on their path by burning several houses but didn’t try to engage with the retreating guards or the fleeing population.
With Vated by their side, they weren’t afraid even if they had to face the whole town.
However, they didn’t have time to lose with that.
Without anyone to obstruct them, they directly rushed toward Millodas’ house before giving chase leaving a desolate and quiet town behind them.
Only the crackling of fire burning several buildings could be heard after they left.
The unprepared civilians and guards finally calmed down with their departure, but they quickly understood who was their target.
“It’s happening again.”
A tall middle-aged woman close to Millodas and his family couldn’t help but utter these words with helplessness and anger in her voice.
The people near her understood what she meant.
Millodas and Seledia saved this town but only got their only son kidnapped as a reward.
Everyone understood that another tragedy was about to befall this family.
The mercenary group led by Vated, that left Tegralle to pursue Millodas and his daughters, has already gathered and began fighting against Millodas.
Even if they couldn’t win against him, they never thought that he would put them in this situation.
They watched helplessly as the last living Lovrax, ridden by Millodas, disappeared beyond the darkness of the night at an astonishing speed.
They only had five Lovrax accompanying them for this mission. Vated clearly held a deeper interest in artifacts, and precious pieces of equipment than in fast mounts.
The other mercenaries didn’t have any other mount either.
Compared to the fast but expensive Lovrax, the commonly seen Preel wasn’t of any use. Its robustness was quite good, but its speed was average. Bringing a slow and noisy mount for this mission wasn’t wise.
Therefore they only brought these Lovrax to chase down Millodas if something went wrong with the silent kidnapping of the girls.
However, when they saw their target's fleeing figure disappearing beyond the darkness of the night, they began to regret their previous choice.
They could only chase after him on foot together.
“Boss isn’t going to be happy about that…”
“Tell me about it.” Helplessly shrugged one of his nearby comrades who knew better than anyone else the bad temper of their leader.
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After Millodas rushed out of the encirclement, he used the speed of his new mount to let his pursuers far behind.
Blood continued to ooze from various wounds while his breathing was still somewhat rushed but he ignored it.
Fear for his daughters was tightly grasping his heart making him shiver, but he didn’t lose hope.
The screams of Idlan still resonated in the night and led him across the darkness.
Hearing the heartbreaking screams of his friend made him more anxious, but it also showed that Vated was still there.
Even with the speed of his mount, it still took some time for Millodas to reach the place of the screams.
When he saw his daughters and Gaya lying on the fresh wet grass, Millodas felt his entire body turn colder.
“Hiiiiiiii”
However, before he could rush forward, his mount issued a heartbreaking cry filled with pain. The powerful Lovrax suddenly stumbled to the ground without any prior warning just like a puppet having suddenly lost its strings.
Millodas was caught off guard by the sudden fatal injury that caused his mount to fall in a shocking rain of blood and was violently thrown dozens of feet forward by the accumulated speed.
However, he still managed to fix his posture in the air to some extent before landing safely but heavily on the ground.
“How?”
Millodas mumbled unconsciously to himself before raising his head by reflex.
Only a couple of feet away from the little girls lying on the fresh grass was standing a tall man with his right hand still raised. He had a massive large axe fixed on his back.
Even by standing more than fifty feet away and with the dark slightly obstructing his view, the strong body and familiar savage-looking face of this man was enough for Millodas to recognize immediately who he was.
“Vated!”
After hearing his name, a wide devious smile appeared on his lips. There was some blood on his face which added to his savage appearance as it was obviously not his.
He was standing proudly like a ruler before his subject, but the man curled up before his feet made him more look like an executioner.
When Millodas finally noticed the young man at his feet, he abruptly stood up from his previous crouching position while screaming.
“Idlan!!!”
The man twitched a little when he heard his name before weakly muttering.
“Sorry… I couldn’t…”
Millodas couldn’t bear to look at him in this state and was ready to rush forward when Vated’s rough voice finally resounded at the other end of this vast grassy plain just at the edge of the forest.
“I didn’t think that you would be able to come here with my men fighting against you. Seem like I will need to train and discipline them a little more after that.”
It was easy for Millodas to understand from his speech that for him, his presence made no difference.
“Well, this guy was almost done for anyway.”
After finishing his sentence, Vated gave a slight kick in the stomach of the curled up Idlan at his feet as if he was already bored with him.
Idlan didn’t even react from the kick and simply stayed motionless as if he was already unconscious.
“You should have kept the little elf near you, that would have been smarter instead of him running everywhere. You aren’t a challenge for me!”
Millodas coldly listened to his taunt while looking at this scene and trying to come up with a solution to save everyone from this situation.
He couldn’t delay for too long as the rest of the mercenary group was already rushing toward them. Once they were gathered together with Vated, Millodas knew that he wouldn’t stand a chance.
However, before acting he still had to understand something.
“How did you catch them so quickly? I didn’t see you bypass me earlier and I doubt that you were simply waiting here all this time before luckily encountering them.”
“Well, it’s one of my magic. I can merge with the earth and move with quite a good speed if I say so myself. I can also sense the footsteps around me so it’s quite convenient. I would be glad to show it to you, but each time I use it, my clothes get dirty and dusty.”
Vated wasn’t forced to answer, but he didn’t mind either. For him, it was just another opportunity to taunt and laugh at his opponent because, no matter what, Millodas wasn’t his match in his mind.
After hearing his words, Millodas’ expression contorted in displeasure.
Seeing this, Vated’s smile grew wider.
“Seem like you understand what this means. No matter what kind of trick you use or how fast you run away, I will be able to sense and follow you. As long as I’m here, your daughters can’t get away no matter what.”
The wide disturbing smile was still hung on his face, but his rough voice gradually turned sharper and more menacing.
His previous playful tone felt like an illusion when he continued his talk.
“Your only choice is to kill me and bring your daughters away before my men come here.”
Millodas expression further darkened while he clenched tighter his sword in his hands.
“As for him…” Vated cast his cold gaze to his feet.
“We don’t need him anymore. You won’t be able to bring him along with you anyway.”
He abruptly bent and stretched his large and powerful hand to grab Idlan by the neck before raising him with unbelievable ease above the ground in front of his eyes.
Millodas face greatly changed as he watched the cruel scene unfold before him.
“Don’t!!!” He madly yelled.
As if aroused by his scream, Idlan finally twitched and began to struggle with his feet kicking the air above the ground.
He looked completely powerless, but just as Vated was ready to mock him further, his sluggish movements suddenly became sharper and faster.
In the blink of an eye, he took out a hidden dagger from his sleeve and immediately aimed at Vated’s throat while he wasn’t looking.
*Clang*
His sudden action surprised Millodas who was ready to rush forward to save him.
However, the sound of pierced flesh and blood flowing wasn’t the result of his last struggle.
“Don’t ruin the mood!”
The wrist of Idlan was firmly caught by a large hand stopping his movement and preventing the dagger from moving further.
“You won’t need that anymore.”
His hand exerted a stronger pressure and made Idlan drop his dagger.
However, the pressure on his wrist continued to increase.
*Snap*
“Ahhhhhh!!!!”
The scream of Idlan once more resonated across the plain as his right wrist broke with a loud noise.
“Don’t make things difficult. It will be over very soon.”
His other hand suddenly increased the pressure on the throat in his grasp.
“Gaya, run!”
Vated was ready to kill Idlan, but Millodas' sudden shout distracted him and made him turn his head in reflex toward the girls.
However, Gaya wasn’t up.
She was still unconscious and lying near the two other girls.
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Vated wanted to curse, but the whistling sound of the wind made him react on reflex before he could speak.
He used Idlan in his hand as a human shield toward the three sharp projectiles coming from Millodas.
His reaction was faster than the surprise attack of Millodas.
A smile appeared once more on his lips as he saw the attack reach Idlan’s back.
“How heartless.”
The projectiles reached Idlan and hit him at full speed.
However, there wasn’t any loud noise, scream or blood flowing from the impact.
The apparently solid and sharp chunk of earth completely disintegrated upon contact, only leaving behind a large and dense cloud of sand engulfing the upper bodies of Vated and Idlan.
“Son of a bitch!” Vated cursed while coughing.
“Well, I shouldn’t speak like that of my boss.” He immediately added in a playful tone.
This attack surprised him and obstructed his view. Nevertheless, he didn’t panic.
He prepared his magic to quickly disperse the cloud of dust around him when he saw a palm near the right side of his face. A small flame suddenly appeared on this palm and headed toward his head.
Idlan, who was almost strangled to death, poured all his remaining strength into this attack.
This sudden fireball, aimed at point-blank range to his face, couldn’t be avoided.
It would have been the case if Vated was up against a Saint mage able to complete instantaneously this magic.
However, Idlan was still far from that level.
Even by gathering his mana in his hand before releasing his magic, the attack still took a couple of seconds to activate.
It was just enough for Vated to swing his hand down on reflex with all his strength.
The violent movement threw Idlan on the ground while his fireball missed its target and flew in the sky.
The impact was so strong that it made his entire body crack under the pressure. Idlan didn’t lose consciousness, but before he could try to stand up, a strong foot pressed him against the ground.
“You piece of…”
Vated began to loudly cursed in frustration, but his expression suddenly changed.
He retracted his foot just in time to fix his posture and face his real opponent.
Millodas didn’t have the leisure to have the same relaxed attitude as Vated. He used the time bought by this surprise attack to gather and accumulate the power of the earth in his legs.
The large cloud of sand was still covering Vated and obstructing his view when the sound of the earth shattering under Millodas’ feet echoed.
With his sword raised, he crossed the distance separating them in an instant before striking downward in his momentum.
He went all out with this strike.
The sword avoided Idlan and aimed at Vated’s neck, but a large axe suddenly appeared in its path to block.
*Bang*
Speed gave power to an attack.
However, even with his speed, the sword was easily stopped, unable to advance further.
It was as if Millodas had hit a wall.
The shock nearly made his sword slip from his grasp.
“I misjudged you Millodas.”
The cloud of sand finally naturally dispersed with the cold wind of the night.
With a sharp pain across his entire arm, Millodas looked in shock as Vated turned his head to give him a murderous glare.
The moment he saw his eyes, he understood that Vated wasn’t playing around anymore.
“You’re not as weak as I thought. That strike was quite good, it forced me to use my weapon. You can be proud.”
The apparent words of praise made Millodas furrowed his brows. Even within the cloud of sand, he clearly saw that Vated only used an instant to fix his posture and a single hand to block him with his large axe.
Despite that and his all-out attack, he was stopped with utter ease.
“You monster…” Millodas uttered in disbelief.
“Well, thank you.”
Vated suddenly put more strength in his left arm which almost made Millodas fall backward.
Millodas was far from his match in terms of strength even with the ‘Earth blessing’ magic as a support.
Vated knew that and continued to progressively add more strength while watching him struggle.
He liked to fight, but playing with weaker opponents wasn’t bad either in his opinion especially because he couldn't kill Millodas according to his agreement with Dano.
While Millodas and Vated were in an apparent deadlock with neither side retreating, Idlan finally gathered his spirit and stood up.
Seeing this Millodas eyes lit up and Vated’s expression finally changed.
“Run with the girls. I will hold him back.”
The sudden voice of Millodas reached Idlan who was painfully standing while holding his broken wrist.
Even after the torture and wounds he suffered in Vated’s cruel hands, he still reacted quite quickly and began to run with difficulty toward them.
“Where are you planning to go?” Shouted Vated in anger.
With a violent movement, his tyrannical strength erupted and finally pushed back Millodas’ sword.
Millodas was forced three steps back, but he quickly rushed back to prevent Vated from attacking.
“Yaaa!”
With a loud battle cry, Millodas attacked fearlessly. Vated was forced to turn his attention back toward him. He quickly raised his large axe above his head ready to cut anything in his path.
Idlan, who had his head spinning furiously, was still struggling to reach the girls while Vated and Millodas were exchanging violent strikes against each other.
Vated’s physical strength was far above Millodas’.
There wasn’t any possible contest between them.
However, Millodas was nimbler than him. The powerful strikes of the axe couldn’t be stopped no matter what, so Millodas simply avoided them.
Vated couldn’t hit him carelessly with his axe either. He didn’t want to deal a fatal blow so he couldn’t use his entire strength recklessly.
Despite his superiority Vated couldn’t easily get rid of him, but Millodas’ strikes weren’t strong enough to penetrate his defense.
Without taking a single step back, he was able to dominate him and overcome his assaults just like an unmovable mountain.
After much more time than wanted, Idlan finally joined the girls and struggled to painfully carry the three of them with his only valid arm.
“Fortunately, they are so small.” He couldn’t help but mutter while running away from the intense fight.
Seeing this, Vated gave a sudden violent kick to Millodas’ stomach. The powerful strike sent him flying several feet backward.
Vated used this moment of weakness to turn his attention toward Idlan.
Seeing Vated rushing angrily toward him made Idlan pale face crumble further, but Millodas didn’t let him down.
He fixed his posture and, as soon as he touched the ground, he triggered his magic.
“Earth life!” Millodas suddenly shouted while putting one hand down.
Immediately after, the earth around Vated began to move, preventing him from giving chase.
Three impressive pillars of earth as high as Vated appeared around him.
He waved his large axe and immediately cleaved the weird magic surrounding him.
However, it was as if nothing happened. The towers of earth didn’t crumble, but continued to stand around him while changing shape.
The straight chunks of earth each grew two long and sharp spikes while their figures continued to take a human-like shape.
Millodas was still pouring his mana into the earth to maintain his magic while Vated was furiously striking against his magic.
He didn’t panic seeing Idlan awkwardly running away with the girls, but he clearly wasn’t willing to chase after them another time.
His previous smile hanging provokingly on his face was nowhere to be seen anymore.
“So this is your plan? You want to hold me down to allow this half-dead man to run away?” He loudly asked while striking again against Millodas’ magic. However, the result was the same. In a few seconds, these opponents made of earth reformed and resumed their awkward but violent attacks.
“I already told you, you will have to kill me if you want to save them!” Screamed Vated with anger and frustration.
“That’s my intention!” Millodas coldly snorted before using even more mana than before.
The three rough humanoids made of earth, that were relentlessly attacking with their long spikes like arms, began to once again transform. Their bodies lost their human shape and grew wider while numerous small and long spikes of solid earth grew all over them.
Vated continued to attack with his axe, but in a few seconds, Millodas’ attack was ready.
“Eat this!”
Millodas suddenly put his hands together in a forceful clap. At the same time, the three earth entities covered with sharp spikes like three living weapons gathered together and attacked from all around him.
*Bam*
No matter how large his axe was or how wide and overpowering his movements were, Vated couldn’t block this attack.
With a loud noise, the three masses of earth covered with deadly spikes landed on him. Vated’s muscular body almost completely disappeared, hidden by the impressive mass of hard earth.
Millodas adjusted his posture to look at the man still standing, but with his face hidden by the strange magic. Seeing that his figure remained motionless like a statue even after several seconds made Millodas doubt his own success.
“I did it.” He muttered while looking at the man with disbelief.
He was confident in his strength, but he never thought that Vated would fall for his trick so easily.
“You really underestimated me, didn’t you?” Muttered Millodas.
However, before he could truly rejoice, the noise of several men running toward him from behind suddenly caught his attention. Now that he wasn’t exchanging blows anymore, he realized that the mercenaries he left behind earlier finally caught up with him.
“I can’t fight all of them on my own.”
He was ready to turn heels when he finally understood why he felt something was wrong.
There was no blood flowing from Vated’s body.
“Pathetic!”
The sudden loud and mocking voice made his expression sink.
At the same time, the strange cocoon of sharp earth around Vated crumbled to piece without any movement from his large body.
Vated was covered with a dark-brown layer of earth on his face and probably on the rest of his body.
The earth slowly disappeared revealing his uninjured state to the horrified eyes of Millodas.
“Catch the man running away with the girls. He went that way.” Coldly ordered Vated while pointing at a direction beyond the darkness.
“Yes, Boss!” Answered this group of men.
Seeing the dozen men trying to bypass him, made Millodas turn his attention toward them. With a flick of his arm, he shot more than a dozen sharp spikes of earth in an attempt to block them.
However, the mercenaries were no pushover. They were far from Millodas and had more than enough time to skillfully avoid without losing much time.
Seeing Millodas shifted his attention to deal with his men made Vated coldly laugh.
“You want to hold all of them back with just you. Don’t be so full of yourself. You’re not even my match. Don’t forget, if I wanted it, you'd be dead already!”
The reality of the situation finally overwhelmed Millodas’ resolve.
He couldn’t win.
He wasn’t strong enough for that.
If Seledia was there, then everything would be different.
However, he was alone.
He feared this day for four long years but, in the end, he was completely powerless. Despite his preparations, he couldn’t stop them from taking these innocent girls away from him.
If this was the result, then why did he train for so long?
Why was he so weak?
These questions assaulted his mind and threatened his sanity. However, thinking about Seledia made him realize that he would never have the courage to face her if anything happened to their daughters.
As a husband and as a father, he couldn’t bear this kind of pain and shame anymore.
He preferred to die.
Millodas clenched his fists and finally took out a small round stone from his pocket shining with a strange brown light under the moonlight. The stone inspired an impulsive desire in those who saw it as if nothing else in this world was more precious.
Just like a natural treasure of the world, the brownish light of the stone dominated the darkness around.
It didn’t take much effort to notice that this wasn’t an ordinary stone.
“Where did you get that?”
Seeing this stone in Millodas’ hands made Vated unconsciously shout in shock.
“You threatened to take away my family for years. Did you think that I would let you act without preparing anything?”
“You’re crazy! If they learn that you have that, the Ryuno clan won’t let you off!”
“It’s you who forced me. I won’t let you take away my daughters! No matter what it takes.”
Millodas strongly declared before clenching the stone tighter in his hand.
The pale brown luster began to grow stronger as if competing with the light of the moon to outshine it.
All the mercenaries turned their heads at the same time toward the unknown luster, but it was already too late.
“Earth eater!” Furiously shouted Millodas.
Immediately after, the dense earth around him patched with fresh grass began to crumble and turned into sand.
At first, only a couple of feet around him were affected, but the light of the stone in his hand suddenly grew stronger. Under the influence of the strange yet dominating brown light, his magic expanded all at once.
In the blink of an eye. The entire vast plain was changed into a sand desert.
Vated and his group didn’t have the time to avoid because of the sudden expansion. They were caught inside the range of effect of this magic.
They felt their feet immediately sink into the ground.
Vated was the quickest to react.
He gathered his strength and was ready to jump out of range of the magic, but the sand under his feet abruptly moved, sucking him downward, and preventing him from extracting himself.
The suction force of the sand was too much to bear for most of the mercenaries who lost their footing and fell into the whirlpool of sand with their whole body.
Only Vated and a couple of his men had enough resources and strength to endure the violent suction. Even so, the spinning and sucking whirlpool of sand prevented them from going out of range of Millodas’ magic.
“Bastard.” Screamed Vated in a fit of rage.
He was well known for his strong physique powered by his magic, but without a stable footing, he couldn’t muster the necessary amount of strength to extract himself from this trap. He couldn’t use his magic to enter the ground either as he needed to be perfectly still for that.
This strange flow of sand was also disrupting his flow of mana preventing him and his men from using magic.
“You’re way too confident. I was like that a long time ago. It’s too late for you to regret. As long as I’m standing, you won’t leave!”
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While Millodas was using his magic to trap Vated and his men, Idlan continued to painfully run toward the hideout with the girls. He also heard the words of Vated. He could follow and catch him with ease just by locating his footsteps.
If this was the truth then his only chance was to reach the hideout before Vated could use his magic. Once there and, as long as he didn’t move, Vated wouldn’t be able to locate them.
He was worried about Millodas but there was nothing else he could do at this moment.
For the first time in his life, Idlan truly hated his weakness.
In this Kingdom, if you didn’t have money or status then you could only rely on yourself. The strong dominated the weak without any care.
It was because of his strength that Vated was allowed to rampage with complete impunity. There wasn’t any authority to help them. Not a single noble house would stand up for them as they didn’t have anything to win.
Having lived in this small town all his life, Idlan never really thought about it, but while he was pitifully running across the forest to save these innocent little girls from this cruel madman, he finally realized.
Something wasn’t right in this Kingdom.
Sellysse and Lynadia were under his valid arm while Gaya was on his shoulder. Despite his efforts, Idlan moved quite slowly with this kind of burden and injury. However, he didn’t give up and clenched his teeth to hold on.
Minutes as long as hours for him continued to pass.
The violent noise of the sand swirling behind him was growing fainter.
Idlan clearly understood that it wasn’t that he crossed a long distance. It was the magic itself that was weakening.
“Millodas…”
He awkwardly tightened the grip on the girls with his remaining arm before picking up his pace.
The deepest part of the night was already over, but for him, the situation never seemed as obscure as it was in this instant.