17 Chapter 15 (Reprisal)

*Panic* "hii~" *horses are Rearing (trying to drop their rider) in panic* "neigh... neigh~"

Everyone is panicked and their horses are also making a panicking sound while trying to run away from the place. A Geomancer has caused such chaos in the middle of the Cavalry by backstabbing his own Captain. But, Amzi's horse is still calm like nothing serious is happening around him and that is the quality of the good species' and well-trained horse. Even the surprise attack of Hugo didn't startle him that much...

"Dhum~ *Sound of falling* creak~ *sound of breaking woods/tiles* ow...!" *Screaming in pain* Hugo fell on the ground due to extreme pain in his waist. He screamed as he realized that he actually fell on the spikes made of Sand and Rocks. The spikes made several wounds on his left body and now he is bleeding so much that his left side clothes' can't hold on to the blood and it is dripping on the ground. Now, he is regretting not holding on to the lead rope of the horse... He must be cursing Hugo in his heart because he knows it is Hugo who attacked him with the Earth Spike, as no one can use earth magic in his Cavalry... and now even he cunningly laid down the beds of sharp and tiny spikes around him for the sole purpose to torture him, as the deep puncture on his waist is not enough to make him lose his mind in pain.

// Lead rope is attached to a halter (headcollar) that is used to lead or tie up the animals and horses. It fits behind the ears and around the muzzle of the horse to handle the horse. //

As everyone looked around, near their captain to find out who actually did this to the captain, once more their attention is diverted towards the pillar. Hugo shouted towards them... "Hey hey, leave him alone. look here I have a trophy for you all." In the next moment after the attack, he was standing on the front of the Pillar made by himself. Everyone turns towards him... He raised his right arm and another Pillar rises from the surface on the top of which a Human child was laying on his back while the other parts of his body are basically hanging outside of the pillar. The pillar is too short to accommodate his whole body and Hugo just happens to use the tall pillars' to only show the captured Prince to the entire Cavalry and the Magi's at the back. Why would he make a cozy platform for enemies Prince to lay on it comfortably?

The enemies' are now dumbstruck and confused... what to do now? They finally discerned who did it, it is Hugo who used his Geomancy to attack their captain. But, they are confused by the fact that How come Hugo can also use a long-range attack like a Magus when everyone knows that he is still not even in the stage of an apprentice Magus like this fifteen Magus around them... It is now evident that he was deceiving all of them by hiding his true potential and secretly conspiring from long ago to capture the Prince. Now they can't even run, it was an option before they knew that the Prince is also captured and the senior Magus is already dead by now. On top of that, a Spy betrayed them and stabbed the Captain in his vital area... They can't run while leaving the prince in the enemy's hands, and they can't even stay there to get killed by us. What to do now?

*Intimidatingly* "Why not surrender...!" I answered my own question while shouting towards them. Everyone turns towards me while dropping their weapon. Ah, looks like I took the words right out of their mouth. As there is really no option left for them besides following our orders. We have their Prince... they have nowhere to run even if we do not surround them. Amzi finally got up on his feet while healing himself with the 'Healing beds stone'. The stone is very effective in healing wounds and sometimes it can even heal those wounds that are life-threatening but the use is only one time and it will vanish after depleting its Mineral and vital Energy. The 'Healing beds stone' can't regenerate large wounds' like if your hand is cut by the sword, it can only stop the bleeding and heal the arms from the end to make it look like the hand is missing from birth.

Also, we can't use it every time here and there cause the result can be very dramatically life-threatening if used simultaneously and without proper channeling of mana. Only a skilled user can use it properly and every type of wound requires a specific type of 'Healing beds stone'. You can't use the same type of 'Healing beds stone' for recovering every part of the body, because it can create issues like blood cloth, bone dislocation, and irregular muscle composition. On top of that, if you use 'Healing beds stone for abdomen' for healing your Skull or any part of the Brain, it can severe your mental Health, a layer or ball of skin will appear on your skull and it may stay irregular for the rest of your life.

Each stone is created by the alchemist with several weeks' of effort and deep concentration as the process to create each bed requires deep knowledge of minerals, vitamin's and other essential vitals requires to regenerate the damaged parts of the body. They also need to learn about each part of the body in full detail. Also collecting and extracting those minerals is itself is a very challenging task to do... a separate group of people is allocated for such tasks' and they usually consist of apprentice alchemist. They have to search for different types of plants and stones to collect necessary ingredients for making 'Healing beds stone'. The reason why you can't use same type of 'Healing beds stone' for different parts of the body because they are made for specific parts of the body and consist of a variant composition of required minerals and vitamins. Your hand has distinctive composition than your feet, similarly, your chest has a different composition than your abdomen.

"No... *Shouting* why did you betray me? Why? huff~ *panting* I have even saved your ass that time when you were being held for treachery. I shouldn't have saved you that time, huff... I never knew you were really so cunning and treacherous!" Amzi shouted towards Hugo in rage and sounding a little nostalgic. He unsheathed his sword to fight even though his Troops has already surrendered.

*irritatingly* "Huh~! *Surprised* Really, well I doubt that... *Solemn* It was you bastard~ who betrayed his own Captain and stabbed him on the back just like this...! I clearly saw that day~" Hugo replied while pointing at him. Amzi lowered his head after realization, but he still didn't lower his weapon. He is actually preparing to fight Hugo and Rescue the Prince... He is confident that he can still kill Hugo even though he seems more powerful than before, cause Amzi is of course as powerful as that magus protecting the Prince. But, can someone tell him How stupid he is to think that in such a state? Hugo noticed it and as Amzi was preparing to dash towards him he flicked his right hand and on his movement the Pillar which was holding the prince shred a thick part of it, making it look like bamboo. Along with this Hugo crushed the armor of the Prince on his body. Amzi stooped after taking a few steps' but he was actually halfway between Prince and his previous position...

A normal human can not be that fast, he literally traveled more than twenty meters in just one breath, even a normal werewolf warrior in our Troop can only run at most sixteen meters in that split of a second. The reason is that he is very strong and he is using the help of the wind to dash while consuming his mana. The Captain of the Cavalry has gone through a baptism of 'Steel-water' which can enhance the muscles and bones of a Being. In fact, it is a privilege given to the higher rank warriors and Amzi is one of them and only one of his Troop... He was also using 'Aero-shield' to protect himself from the incoming attack of Hugo, but instead, Hugo attempted to threaten him by attacking the prince under his control. He dropped his weapon right after stopping as he realizes he is not fast enough to attack Hugo, he knows what was the intention of Hugo as he reduced the thickness of the pillar into a bamboo size pole... One step forward and the Prince will have his heart puncture in instance if Hugo lowers the thickness of the pole to a spear.

"Enough! tie them up and get them inside the fortress." I ordered my Troops, so to no delay the matters. Amzi glanced towards me as he realized that the Captain they were looking for is actually that exact girl he was barking on. It's time for the punishment game~

// a.k.a Reprisal //