22 "Bonzai for being weak!"

In the Throne room.

" Sir we have spotted the army of the Kingdom of Scaoze. They have come prepared sir. We don't know the exact numbers yet but they have battle mages, warriors, rangers, priests and also non-class based infantry. They mean war, Sir."

" How can this happen. WHO spread the word about our Kingdom being weak at this moment? "

" Sir the intelligence department says they have been camping there for a week now."

" They must have been waiting for the day of the veil and when they saw the light in the sky they knew the s.m.a (1) had been used and with that our capital would be weakened. To make matters worse is that we used it twice... Not attacking us in this position would be a massive blunder on their part." Daruin Ashbinder thought.

" Let it be known we are now going code B (2)."

The Knight that reported the news sucked in a large breath of air when he heard code B.

After the news was delivered, horns began blowing and drums began beating. The horns and the drums went off five times.

.....

" Do you hear that? Something is going on outside?" Lucas said.

" Do you think that is because of us?" Layla Palmer said.

" No, when we escaped the Capital was code D. This is the drums and horns of code B. Our threat level is far below that. The only logical option is that the capital is preparing for war." Lucas said.

" This is perfect. They no longer have any manpower to search for us. We can't escape yet as the gates are now completely shut. No one is leaving or entering. But we are safe."

Layla Palmer was very happy to hear this. Lucas said, " We just need to wait in here until the right moment. Then we can make our escape."

.....

Outside of the capital.

" Sir, they have now issued a full lockdown on the capital. They have activated all the defence systems too."

" It doesn't matter. Let them do what they have to. Resistance is futile." The General said and shooed the soldier away.

The Army of Scaoze was now outside of the of the gate.

" Begin the bombardment I want this barrier broken."

All the battle mages began casting their spells and bombarded it with all types of offensive magic. There was however one squadron that was chanting spells in unison and releasing stronger offensive magic. They continued to bombard the barrier. Magic of all types, shapes and sizes were exploding on the barrier. It looked very similar to fireworks from Lucas's world.

...

" Reporting, The Army of Scaoze have begun their assault on our barrier. The intelligence department says that it will be destroyed by nightfall. By then we only have our defence systems to rely on but even that won't buy us enough time before they break through the gates."

Daruin Ashbinder was under a lot of stress. He could not let the capital fall lest he wanted his head to fall too. " I have that option. But I could never show my face with pride if I use that option." he thought.

" Have the Army prepped tell them that they will be fighting tonight. I will come later to make a speech to boost morale."

With that Daruin Ashbinder shooed the Knight away.

.....

Hours later... It was now nightfall. The barrier had just been broken. There was absolute silence throughout the entire capital. It was the calm before the storm.

"ATTACK!" The Scaoze general commanded. The battle mages and squadron began their bombardment of the gates and the defence systems. While the defence systems were shooting at the Scaozen troops.

Bodies were dropping like flies while the durability of the gate kept plummeting. Inside the capital the civilians were scared. Mothers were hiding their children in cupboards and Fathers took up arms. The nobles and the very rich hid in underground bunkers with their servants. The army was just waiting until the gate fell and then they would charge out. Currently the moral of the Pantelan army was good. Daruin Ashbinder had delivered a mighty speech.

Boom, boom, boom the sounds rang out across the entire Capital. But much deeper below growling and rumbling could be heard.

Not sure of what to do Layla Palmer put her hand over her face as she blushed. Her stomach gave her up. It was now clear to Lucas that she was hungry. Which isn't surprising as they have been in the sewer for the whole day. Lucas wasn't hungry though, this was thanks to the apple of longevity. Lucas had more of them but feeding it to her now would lead to instant death. How could he complete his quest then?

" I'm so sorry. I do not have any food on me at all, otherwise, I would gladly share with you. Just hang on a little while longer. I can hear them banging on the gates. We will sneak out as soon as it is safer. To the north of the Capital is the forest of Talem. This is a massive forest with all sorts of creatures. I'll kill one of them and cook it up for us to eat. I'm not sure if you will like the way people of Earth cook but it's something..." Lucas said.

Layla Palmer took her hand off her face and said," Don't worry about me. Yes, I am hungry but I can bare this much. I can't fight biology, so yes my stomach will growl from time to time."

Lucas smiled at her. For he was glad his walking Exp was okay with her current circumstances. He did, however, admire her strength. She hadn't shown any sign of weakness or breaking down, despite everything she had been through.

Suddenly the sounds of the magic hitting the gates stopped and the sound of human roars and metal clanking against each other could be heard across the capital.

" Kill every last one of them!" The Scoazan general commanded while pointing his hand forward. With that command, the Rangers started chanting their spells. All of a sudden their bows in their hands caught fire. The fire was there but it was not burning the bow. One by one they loaded their bows with an arrow and they fired it at the buildings. The sky was raining flaming arrows. Only destruction was left as the rain of arrows come pouring down. The entire outer district was up in flames. After that, he stopped them and had the long-range magic squadron start attacking the outer-inner district.

People ran around the alleys scared for their lives. Others rolled on the ground trying to extinguish the flames. It was complete and utter chaos.

Watching from a lacrima (3), Daruin Ashbinder gritted his teeth as this development unfolded. His army was being wiped clean. The enemy had a diverse set up of classed soldiers. More importantly, they had a squadron of D rank mages where they had only had a few here and there. They were also outnumbered by the number of classless infantry they had. It was an outright bloodbath.

" I guess I got to use that now..." Daruin Ashbinder thought. He then took out a silver flute from his spacial ring and slowly blew the D note. Moments after the ground began shaking like an earthquake was going to happen. Because the ground was shaking Daruin Ashbinder could not see properly, his vision was blurry. He looked forward and he saw a figure of a man appear before him.

" Took you long enough to summon me. "

" How did you get here so fast?"

" Master knew you would fail, so he had me surveil you only to jump in before the situation gets irreversible. Judging by the state of this Capital, I would have jumped in whether you summoned me or not."

" You never were one to mince your words..."

....

" You can hear the war going on above us. That means the gate must have been destroyed by now. We need to escape amidst all the chaos before the chaos becomes normal." Lucas said.

Layla Palmer nodded her head. Lucas began prepping his mana. He then shouted " support spell of invisibility". A white magic circle appeared under Layla Palmer and flashed. When the flash was over she was now invisible. Lucas could see her though because it's his spell. Lucas told her to climb up the manhole and wait on top. Afterwards, Lucas climbed up too. He then activated his ring of invisibility. She was startled because she could no longer see him. But Lucas held her hand to guide her.

It was only when they began walking that they realized the whole district was up in flames. The district wasn't exactly livable, to begin with, but this was an absolute disaster.

While they were walking they saw all the dead bodies on the ground. The children were crying because their parents were either dying in front of them or were already dead. Lucas felt some resistance while he was walking with Layla Palmer, it was clear she wanted to do something about it and was reluctant to leave. Lucas held her hand tighter and pulled her along with him until she started walking at his pace. It was not that Lucas was heartless but he had no means to save them and himself.

It took about 10 minutes to walk from the sewer to the main road. They had walked past a lot of dying people on the way. They both had to steel their hearts for they were in no position to help anyone. Just getting out themselves depended on luck.

In the road, the two armies clashed. The one side was overwhelmingly dominant. You could see it in the hearts of the losing side, they were losing morale. Lucas kept walking to the gate that was busted wide open. It was only 100 meters away. Lucas was happy he was thinking he could do this. He was invisible, as long as he didn't bump into anyone they wouldn't know Layla and himself existed.

Lucas was 75 meters in when he got the feeling someone was looking at him. His heart was thumping loudly. He thought, " I must be paranoid, how can someone see me". But when he looked at the direction the stimulus came from. He saw that the Scaozen general was looking directly at him!

" System, I am invisible how can this guy see me?"

[ When you reach C rank you are capable of using the skill spiritual sense. Which means you send your mana around you. The dispersed mana reacts with the mana of all living things which in turn gives its location away. It also tells the person the general strength of those within reach. He can't see you but he feels you. Spiritual sense can be blocked though. Unfortunately, you cannot yet.]

Lucas kept walking but he was scared as to what the Scaozen general would do. Would he let two people escape? Lucas wasn't too optimistic about that. The General looked like the bloodthirsty type.

But what could he do but continue walking? He could not take a C class whatever he was. The guy was a general too, meaning he had loads of battle experience. Lucas himself wasn't a beginner when it came to fighting but he was in this world. Where magic is used. This is a whole different way of fighting.

While Lucas continued to walk he noticed that the General had stopped looking at him. Lucas wondered why the General had left them. Maybe it was karma because Lucas was magnanimous to the goblins. So fate made the General do the same. Lucas quickly dispelled this thought because there is no proof that was the case. He then looked at the General to see what took his attention away from him. Lucas looked in the direction the General was looking. Lucas stopped walking and looked behind him to see a human flying towards the army.

The General looked quite spooked by the incoming human. It was clear the General could tell that this human was strong. Lucas now understood why the General had left him alone. Lucas was a rat in his eyes but a dragon was on its way. It does not take a genius to see what would garner more attention.

Of course, Lucas did not care at all that he was looked down upon. " Hooray, bonzai (4) for being weak!" Lucas rejoiced in his mind. Lucas started walking away. He wanted to leave before the General changed his mind. He was still holding Layla Palmer's hand. They walked at a steady speed until they reached the gate that was busted wide open. They walked right out unperturbed. Lucas didn't play any games when he was outside the walls. He immediately cast his teleportation spell and with a white light, they were gone.

[ Quest: complete

Rewards:

2000 Exp

SP:15

AP: 20]

1. S.m.a - Soul migration array

2.-Code D. Any potential threat that poses a danger to an unknown degree.

Code C. Any threat to a large number of people.

Code B. Any threat to a Kingdom.

Code A. Threat capable of destroying the world.

3. Lacrima - A crystal used for long-range surveillance. It projects in real time whatever the drone ( It's not really a drone but think of it as something similar) is looking at.

4. Bonzai- A Japanese phrase which means "10000 years!". This can be used in any celebratory way. The English equivalent would be Hooray.