anwhile, in front of the temple that served as Idor’s residence, Ard, Eva, Hardim, Thorena, Geoffrey, Lesnar, Alicia, Mirea, Claudia, Beatrice, Adeline, Rosalind, Pyria, Ainsley, and Irwin stood before the entrance. They were joined by twenty soldiers from Kresus and Lesnar’s legions.
"Has it been five hours?" Eva asked Ard.
"Not yet... just wait," Ard answered casually.
Suddenly, Irina appeared between Ard and Eva, startling them. Seeing her looking breathless and disheveled, they both turned to her imdiately.
"What is it, Irina?" Ard asked.
"Lord... Kresus... has been captured. I think I was spotted following him in. Idor caught him, and just as you suspected, King Vogir is definitely not himself. He’s been infused with that potion you ntioned," Irina replied, panting.
Ard, Eva, Hardim, and Lesnar fell silent, glancing at one another. Then, Ard and Eva smiled. They reached out and pulled Exgrandal and Exelion from their dinsional storage. Turning toward Idor’s residence, Ard spoke.
"Let’s attack," Ard said.
"Alright... everyone, move out!" Lesnar shouted.
But before they could take more than a few steps, "Graaaaaaah!" They were halted by a thunderous roar from above. "Boom!" Idor, having transford into a giant monster, landed right in front of them. Lesnar and the giant soldiers, who stood between 10 and 13 feet tall, had to look way up at the monster towering nearly 50 feet above them. The transford Idor looked down, his eyes narrowing as he spotted Ard and Eva holding Exgrandal and Exelion.
"So it’s you. I knew you were the ones who sneaked into my ho yesterday," Idor said, though the voice was clearly a booming female tone.
Hearing this, Lesnar and his troops were shocked, as were Hardim and Thorena, who hadn’t expected the terrifying monster to have a woman’s voice. But Ard, Eva, and their friends remained unfazed. Instead, they stepped forward and summoned all their familiars. Ard and Eva moved to the front, pointing their swords toward the sky.
"Hooo... so it really is you. How have you been, Goddess Ophelia?" Ard shouted.
"Your influence actually reached all the way down here, huh? What do you want with this kingdom? Planning to mobilize the giants for a war on the surface?" Eva shouted.
"Obviously, she wants to level the surface and free Malekh, right?" Ard added with a challenging smile.
"Shut up, the lot of you! Do not interfere in my business!" scread Ophelia, speaking through Idor’s body.
Without delay, the monster raised a leg that looked like a withered, mummified log with a massive foot, intending to crush Ard and Eva. "Boom!" The foot slamd down on top of them.
"Ard! Eva!" scread Alicia, Mirea, Claudia, Beatrice, Adeline, Rosalind, Pyria, Ainsley, Irina, and Irwin, all drawing their own swords.
But two bright gray lights began to spiral up the monster’s leg. The two streaks of light continued upward and shot into the air, manifesting as Ard and Eva. Suddenly, "Kieeeeeeek!" Ace the Garuda and Greta the Griffin appeared in their giant forms, soaring toward the monster’s head with Ard and Eva standing atop their respective familiars. The monster tried to snatch them with its four mummified, long-fingered arms, but Ace and Greta maneuvered nimbly, flying close until they cleared the monster’s head.
Ard and Eva leapt backward, rging Exgrandal and Exelion in mid-air into a massive, majestic gray blade enveloped in a gray fla aura. The two of them descended together, slicing through the monster’s body from head to toe in a clean, straight line. They landed in front of the beast as it split perfectly down the middle.
"You... you bastards... you’ve rembered who you are?" asked Ophelia from within Idor.
"Yep, pretty much," Ard replied, standing up and brushing the dust off his clothes.
"Damn it... it wasn’t supposed to be like this... watch yourselves... I haven’t lost yet," Ophelia scread.
"Yeah, yeah... alright then. See you around," Eva shot back.
"Sraaaak!" The two halves of the monster’s body fell away to the left and right, collapsing and burning on the ground. Idor, who had been inside the monster’s body, drifted slowly toward the floor. Lesnar imdiately ordered his troops to move in and capture the falling priest. Ard turned to Eva and raised his palm; Eva imdiately high-fived him, their palms eting with a sharp slap.
Naturally, the others imdiately sward around Ard and Eva, while Hardim and Thorena stood frozen with their mouths agape after witnessing sothing extraordinary and completely nonsensical right before their eyes, struggling to process it all. Suddenly, the doors to Idor’s residence burst open. Several soldiers wearing hoods like sect monks rushed out, and when they saw Lesnar and his troops capturing Idor, they drew their weapons without a second thought and charged.
"Attack!" Lesnar roared.
Lesnar and his troops imdiately attacked the soldiers who had just erged; a fierce battle beca unavoidable. Alicia, Mirea, Claudia, Beatrice, Adeline, Rosalind, Pyria, Ainsley, Irina, and Irwin also charged forward with their familiars and their new swords, making the fight end quickly because the sect soldiers were no match for them—even though their numbers were far greater and they were, of course, much larger as giants. Seeing this, Hardim and Thorena were naturally more stunned than ever before.
"It’s not just Ard and Eva... the others are incredible too... who are you people exactly?" Hardim asked Geoffrey, who hadn’t joined the fight because he was guarding Thorena and Hardim.
"We’re just ordinary academy kids," Geoffrey replied casually.
"What... are you as strong as them too?" Thorena asked, turning to look at Geoffrey.
"Hmm... yeah, sothing like that," Geoffrey answered nonchalantly while watching the battle in front of him, seeing Beatrice, Adeline, Pyria, and Mirea take down enemies however they pleased and with total ease.
Suddenly, "Clang!" Geoffrey turned while gripping the sword hilt at his back; he was surprised to see Claudia smiling broadly as she casually parried the slashes of three swords held by a four-ard, hooded soldier. Claudia effortlessly held back the three blades until the soldier struggled, then she glanced at Geoffrey.
"Hey... move aside a bit, it’s dangerous," she said casually.
"Okay... sorry for getting in the way," Geoffrey replied.
With a relaxed motion, Claudia threw off the three swords and imdiately slashed the soldier’s stomach until he fell prone in front of Geoffrey, while Claudia had already leapt back into the center of the battle with a cheerful expression. Hardim and Thorena, looking at the giant corpse near them, appeared in awe. They looked once more at Geoffrey, who stood tall with his arms folded across his chest, watching the progress of the fight with a face that looked like he wanted to join in but couldn’t.
anwhile, Ard and Eva, who had already pushed back the enemy forces, approached Idor lying on the ground. Ard flipped over Idor’s unconscious body and pulled back his hood; he no longer saw Ophelia’s mark on the back of his head. Ard turned to see Eva squatting beside Idor’s large but withered, dried-out body, holding his neck. Then Eva looked up at Ard.
"Ard... he’s dead... and if I had to guess, he’s been dead for a long ti," Eva said.
"Hmm... so all this ti he was just a mummy controlled by Ophelia," Ard muttered.
"It seems so," Eva replied, standing up.
"It’s a good thing we weren’t too late getting here... the Dragon God was truly tily in sending us," Ard said.
"Yep, you’re right. Co on, Ard, let’s help finish this battle quickly," Eva said.
"Too late, it’s already over... look," Ard said, pointing toward the residence entrance with Exgrandal.
Eva turned to see the last of the troops had been killed right in front of the open doors of Idor’s temple residence. Then, Ard and Eva led Hardim, Thorena, and Lesnar inside. Ard took them straight to the basent and entered the dungeon; after that, he unlocked the door using Exgrandal while being lifted by Lesnar because the keyhole was set so high. Once the door swung open, they all stepped inside. Hardim and Thorena were shocked to see Elr inside a tube-like sarcophagus, right next to the giant princess Grethia, who was also inside a sarcophagus beside him.
"So... Brother Elr is here," Thorena said sadly.
"Yes, hurry and save them!" Hardim shouted.
"I’ll open the sarcophagi," Lesnar said, stepping forward.
As they walked forward, they saw shards of the fake Githiess eggs scattered in front of the machinery. Finally, Elr and Grethia were successfully rescued; they were taken out of the sarcophagi and laid on the floor. They were breathing and had no wounds on their bodies, yet they remained unconscious. Thorena imdiately hugged her brother, while Hardim looked at the shards of the fake eggs on the ground and turned to Ard.
"Then where is the real Githiess egg?" Hardim asked.
"It seems we’ll have to ask Prince Elr and Princess Grethia once they wake up, but for so reason, my gut tells the egg’s whereabouts has sothing to do with the missing Princess Lurgena," Ard answered.
"Yeah, for so reason, I feel the sa way," Eva added.
At this mont, they could only watch Elr and Grethia lying on the ground, with Thorena weeping as she embraced Elr, her brother. Ard, Eva, and Hardim could only remain silent, deep in thought as they searched for clues regarding the whereabouts of the real Githiess egg and where Princess Lurgena might be.
Reviews
All reviews (0)