Chapter 8: Arrived At The Slum

Back to the Crusadia team, After a day of departure began a new journey full of magnificence and heroism, the group was lost in the ocean shortly after. Elastor looked at the map, then at the ocean, then back at the map, and said:

"Hmmmm, yeah we're lost."

The crowd behind Elastor shouted angrily:

"How the hell did you bring the map of the Continent up here?!"

Lamalia lamented:

"Ah, why let that idiot prepare everything for us to go?"

Elastor said:

"Hey, did you forget we only have the Highland Continent map?"

Belle replied:

"Okay, okay, calm down everyone. We still have the compass, okay then just keep going west..."

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at the compass that had lost its needle. Everyone looked up and saw Grim flossing his teeth with a compass needle, he looked at everyone and said as if nothing happened:

"What? I just have a bit of a toothache."

Immediately Grim's face swelled up after dozens of kicks from everyone. People continued to get lost in the ocean and kept flying in a straight line with no direction. Grim continued to throw coal at the steam engine to keep the zeppelin flying while everyone was using spyglass to look around for land. Eva said:

"Damn it, how did we get there at this rate?"

Julia replied with concern:

"Look, everyone, the smoke of the enemy zeppelin is fading, and the oil spills are slowly being mixed by the seawater."

Eva said worriedly:

"Not good, we are slowly losing track of the enemy. The new journey that could not have just begun has ended."

Grim stepped up from below the machine room and said:

"And to make matters worse, we only have a third of the coal left, we don't even have enough coal to return to the Highland Continent."

Grim created for him a new smoke right arm, this arm had sharp claws and claws along the arm. Elastor said:

"New arm? At least it's better than seeing your right arm amputated. Hey, can you use your smoke to operate the steam engine?"

Grim replied:

"Hey idiot, a steam engine needs only steam, no smoke."

Elastor roasted Grim:

"How can you be so useless when you're the only one who can keep your element?"

Grim roasted Elastor too:

"Hahaha, better than someone who lost his element and struggled to use his sister's element."

Elastor and Grim banged their heads against each other with angry eyes and the girls ignored them. By now they were a bit hopeless, they lay on the floor and looked up at the hot sun. Eva said:

"I didn't think we would die at sea like this."

Belle replied:

"Welcome to the fact that we're going to be the worst leaders in history."

Elastor said:

"Well, at least dying alone is worse, I love you guys."

Suddenly there was a thunderclap, Lamalia said wearily:

"Elastor, stop striking lightning."

Elastor replied:

"What are you talking about? I've already swapped elements with you."

Julia said:

"So where did that thunder come from?"

Grim replied:

"Well, if it's not Elastor's it might be Lamalia's but she still doesn't know how to use thunder. So the worst case scenario is a thunderstorm."

At this time, the whole team was startled to sit up and look ahead. A giant thunderstorm was approaching their zeppelin. They gasped and hurriedly prepared to weather the storm. The little zeppelin moved slowly into the storm like a monster swallowing a raft. The strong winds were blowing stronger, the black sky struck lightning that lit up the storm, the waves rose violently, the rain poured down continuously and the little zeppelin was struggling to survive against the power of the ocean. The zeppelin was swept by the fierce wind. People cling to everything they can so they don't get carried away. Only Grim was always standing upright in the middle of the floor, he was confident as if he wanted to challenge the storm. Elastor shouted angrily:

"Hey you idiot, do you really want to commit suicide?"

Grim laughed confidently and replied:

"Hahahaha, these winds don't mean anything to me."

Suddenly Grim was floating in the air because the wind was blowing, Grim thought in pain:

"Damn it. I ate so little last night."

Everyone was shocked at Grim's stupidity. Grim immediately threw out his long smoke arm and scratched the floor to hold him back, he proudly said:

"Hahahaha, you think you can blow me away?"

But Elastor, Belle, and Julia below were sawing off the smoke hand while they looked at him with a sinister look. Grim shouted angrily:

"Damn it!"

Suddenly Lamalia shouted in worry:

"Look! Tornado."

A tornado was approaching frantically, everyone was startled as if they were about to die. Zeppelin was quickly caught in the tornado and was blown to the center. People were dizzy from the tornado's rotation, but they still managed to hold on. Suddenly Julia lost her hand and was blown away, but Elastor caught her hand in time, he said:

"Julia, it's okay, I've got you."

Julia responded with emotion:

"My Elastor."

But suddenly Grim also clung to Elastor's hand to break the romance in the middle of the storm and casually said:

"Give me a place to hold."

Julia and Elastor were pissed off and immediately threw a punch and a kick in Grim's face. The zeppelin was slowly being destroyed by the storm. Eva said in concern:

"We won't be able to survive."

Lamalia held Eva's hand to keep them together, she said strongly:

"No, remember why we started this journey. We'll survive."

Eva said:

"Okay Lamalia, we will survive."

Grim was now unleashing his full power of smoke. Grim immediately tied a rope to the zeppelin's head and said excitedly:

"Give me a boat ride!"

Grim spread his wings and transformed into his half hyena form. Grim pulled the zeppelin with it and flew forward at lightning speed. Grim dragged them along the water cannon and flew high into the sky, past the dark clouds. Suddenly Belle saw in the distance that it was land, she hurriedly said:

"Look! Land! Just a few kilometers away."

Grim smiled excitedly and said:

"Hahahaha, hold on tight!"

Grim immediately dashed to land at supersonic speed, his wings cutting through the air. They quickly flew over the storm and headed for land. Everyone shouted with excitement that they were about to reach land, but suddenly a shovel flew out and hit the back of Grim's head. He spat blood and thought wearily:

"What the hell..."

Everyone gasped at the sudden sight when the zeppelin was only a few feet inland. Grim only managed to drag the zeppelin a little further and then drag them crashing down to the beach. The zeppelin and everyone crashed hard onto the beach and their only vehicle was destroyed. After a while, Eva suddenly sat up and hurriedly said:

"Everyone, how are you?"

Lamalia pushed away a wooden plank and replied wearily:

"Still alive."

Elastor and Julia held hands, so together they were hooked to a nearby coconut tree, exhausted they said:

"There's still the two of us."

Belle sat up simply, she brushed the sand from her hands and kicked the steam engine out of the gap between the two rocks where Grim was hiding. Grim just smiled awkwardly and said:

"Helle there."

Everyone was still alive but the zeppelin was gone. Grim knelt before everyone and hurriedly prostrated himself to beg forgiveness before their evil eyes. Eva sighed and said:

"Zeppelin's gone, we have to walk from here. Everyone, let's pick up everything we can and move on."

Then they obtained a few bags of food and meager water. Grim pulled out three working muskets and just enough six horns of gunpowder. After carrying all their luggage, the Crusadia team headed deeper into the forest to go further inland. Elastor took the lead to clear the way while everyone else stayed behind. Eva said:

"Julia, can you see the direction of the enemy's smoke?"

Julia replied:

"No, they're completely gone, maybe the storm blew them all away or we're not in the enemy's direction."

Eva said:

"What about the smoke in those mountains?"

Eva pointed to a cloud of smoke rising behind a wide mountain range. Belle observed it and said:

"Perhaps it's worth a try, if not an enemy maybe a village so we can rest."

Elastor replied:

"Okay then, let's move on."

Crusadia team continued to move deep into the forest towards the mountains. On the way they passed many streams, Grim hunted some wild boars for dinner, Belle picked up some tobacco leaves by the roadside, and Elastor was bitten a lot by mosquitoes. It took them a long time to go through the forest until in the evening they opened camp to spend the night. Grim was happily enjoying the roast pork he had caught, but was suddenly slapped on the back of the head by Elastor. Grim shouted angrily:

"What are you doing, you bastard? I'm having dinner."

Elastor replied:

"Idiot, if you have food, why don't you eat it?"

Grim grumbled:

"Because I'm not a vegetarian, you bastard. I don't like wheat."

Girls looked at them and Lamalia said:

"Never bring them along, they always quarrel every time they meet for no reason."

The others replied:

"Agree."

Belle said:

"We're going to cross the mountain tomorrow, we should rest early."

Eva replied:

"Agree. Good night."

Crusadia team went to sleep, but Eva couldn't sleep because she was still haunted by Rhohan's words about this world. The truths about this world were collapse and corruption, that kindness was destroyed by evil. Then she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. The next morning the Crusadia team continued to the mountain range, they started climbing the nearby mountain. While everyone was struggling to climb up, Grim easily followed everyone because he still had the ability to fly. Belle hugged Grim's back to fly with him, Grim laughed and said:

"Hahaha! Pathetic you idiot Elastor, you can't fly without your wings."

Elastor immediately took the rope and threw it and tied Grim's legs, then everyone grabbed the rope and they said together:

"Okay, let's fly."

Grim had to endure the bitterness and make a new vehicle for everyone to fly over the wide mountain range. Grim thought bitterly:

"Those useless losers, just wait! Except for my Belle."

They continued to fly far away, they flew over a few small villages destroyed by the empire, making them even more hateful of their cruelty. By evening when Grim was exhausted and landed on a mountain top, he became as thin as a bamboo. But by the time they reached the place where the smoke was flying, it was also the mines of the Kraton Empire. Everyone hid behind the top of the mountain and watched down. Eva took spyglass to look below and said:

"We've come to the right place, there's the flag of the Kraton empire, this could be their mines according to Urizen's diary."

Elastor replied:

"Okay, what's our plan now?"

Eva watched in the distance as the train carrying raw materials to the factory, she said:

"Bingo, the enemy train. We will use it to get to their city."

Belle replied:

"Can you see their city from afar?"

Eva looked along the track and saw that it led very far, she said:

"No, this track is very far. So we have to hurry before they leave. At the same time, we have to help the miners."

Elastor, Julia and Belle picked up the musket, Elastor looked below and said:

"It's a bit crowded, maybe a few hundred. We can sneak up to the train, but they're too numerous to spot us."

Grim replied:

"Looks like my smoke is a bit useful right now."

Eva summoned Peace bow and she carried a bag of arrows on her back to shoot. Lamalia summoned Strike claws to instantly scratch enemies and Grim summoned Hollow sword to quickly kill enemies. Eva prepared an arrow and said:

"Everyone split up. Elastor, Julia and Grim to the left and to the right, we'll surprise them. And Grim, give them a thick smoke."

Everyone nodded and parted to go down the mountain. In front of the mines, soldiers were whipping the miners to make them work. Meanwhile the manager sat at a nearby table counting the money. The soldier who was whipping the other yelled angrily:

"Hurry up you weaklings, the train will leave in two hours. If you don't have enough materials, your wages will be deducted, understand?"

Suddenly a miner was so exhausted that he fell down and fainted, that soldier approached him and angrily said:

"Exhausted? You dare to sleep exhausted?"

Just as he was about to whip the weak miner, he was shot in the head and died. All the soldiers and miners were so surprised by that and they stopped what they were doing. The manager stood up and said angrily:

"What's going on? Why are people dying here? Miners dare to kill people?"

Suddenly the soldier on his left was shot in the head and on his right an arrow pierced his throat. The fat manager was scared and looked for a place to hide, he shouted in worry:

"Didn't you see anything? Find them!"

Suddenly three more guys on the watchtower were shot dead. Then a guy standing outside got scratched in the throat and died. At the same time another guy was slashed in the throat. The miners were scared so they retreated to the mines while the soldiers were still worried and confused about someone attacking them. Suddenly a large cloud of smoke flew around and made the soldiers lose their way and see nothing. Two guys approached a mine cart when suddenly two gun barrels pointed out and shot dead. A hyena jumped out of the smoke and bit one soldier to death, the others raised their guns to shoot it, but its body was smoke, so they accidentally shot each other. Three more were killed by three arrows from a distance. A scared guy tried to run but was pulled back by a smoke hand, he screamed in utter fear and was killed. The miners didn't know who was killing the soldiers, they only knew there was a carnage going on. Gradually the Crusadia team killed all of them one by one. The train driver looked outside and saw the smoke, he curiously said:

"What's that, are they having a party?"

When he looked back into the cockpit, Lamalia raised her claws in front of him and said:

"Shut up or I'll kill you right away."

The driver was scared and had to sit still. Grim had jumped out of the smoke and slashed one of them to death, he shot his smoke hand and grabbed the man behind him. The three men behind immediately opened fire on Grim, but he used the enemy as a meat shield and charged. Grim lunged forward and slashed two more and The Predator leapt forward and bit the other's throat. Then the smoke faded and all the soldiers were killed. As for the manager who was hiding behind a box, he hurriedly ran towards the train. Belle immediately summoned the Fairy wand and activated the stone element, which she controlled a big rock and threw it at the manager. The manager got hit in the leg and lay down in pain. Elastor and Julia immediately went over and pointed their guns at him, Elastor said:

"Who is this fool?"

After the miners saw that Crusadia team easily killed all the soldiers, they slowly came out of the mine and knelt before Eva and respectfully said:

"Thank you heroes, who are you?"

Eva replied:

"Oh, no need to do that. Just get up, we don't need that."

They slowly got up and quickly took the soldiers' food to eat and divide it among many people. Elastor also gave them some of their food for the miners. Eva said:

"Okay, let's go to the city. Get their guns, we'll need a lot of weapons to attack the minions around the ship."

The manager was being watched by Julia, he angrily said:

"Insolent bastards, do you know what you're doing? You dare kill the soldiers of the empire and save the miners."

Elastor approached and grabbed his collar, he easily lifted him up and said coldly:

"And you shut up, we know you're the manager here because of your expensive clothes. You think we're insolent, you're even more cowardly than us. The Star!"

The Star was summoned and its appearance has also changed because of the swapped element. Its fur turned from black to white, and its tail and four legs had the vines curled around. The Star growled at the manager making him unable to help but panic. The manager was scared and said:

"Who are you really?"

Elastor replied:

"We are the ones who successfully survived fighting your Grand Generals, I even defeated Bahamat. We survived the attack by the mighty army of the empire, and we are here to avenge you no matter the cost."

The manager became frightened by the fact that Elastor had defeated Bahamat, one of the strongest Grand Generals. Then Elastor said to Grim:

"Hey Grim, where are all the muskets?"

Grim brought out nearly a hundred muskets and replied excitedly:

"Here it is, I've loaded it all up."

Elastor said:

"Okay, let's take this bastard with us now, we need a big guy here as a hostage."

An old miner said to Eva:

"Lady, are you going to the city of the empire?"

Eva replied:

"Yes sir, we need to go to their castle. We have to take something from there."

Miners were surprised by the recklessness of the Crusadia team, another miner said:

"We know you're strong, but I don't think you'll be so reckless as to go there."

Eva replied:

"We've lost our home, we have to end them forever or more people will die."

The old miner said:

"Then we will help you, in the slums no one knows the way better than us. Let us return to the slums, we will take you to a safe place."

Eva replied:

"Okay, we agree. We know miners are the labor force at the bottom of society so we also understand how much you hate the empire because of everyone's hard life."

Miners bowed to the Crusadia team. Then the miners carried the weakest people onto the carriages at the rear of the train. A few people with the Crusadia team went up to wagons carrying half of the iron ore and took a large cloth to cover them. Elastor hid in the cockpit pointed the gun at the driver and said:

"Let's go, let's go to the city."

The train driver started the train and drove them back to the kingdom. And the manager who was being watched by Grimm was in the soldiers' carriage. The rest would stay so as not to be suspected by the empire. The train went into the night. In the wagons, Eva said to the old miner:

"Sir, what's your name?"

He replied:

"My name is William, and yours is?"

Eva said:

"My name is Eva Gloria. So William, when we get there, how many soldiers are there? How are we going to get inside the slums?"

William replied:

"There aren't too many soldiers so we can kill them all. But the surrounding watchtowers might spot us."

Eva said:

"Don't worry, we can get through them. Get ready."

The train arrived at the station, it slowly stopped and then stopped completely. Grim pushed the manager off the train while he hid. Julia, Belle and Lamalia prepare to fire. Elastor picked up the second musket. The captain there went to the manager and said:

"Sir, why did you return to the city?"

When the soldiers were about to unload the goods, when they pulled the cloth, the Crusadia team immediately opened fire. They threw away their empty guns and took their loaded ones and continued to fire. Miners also took up guns and opened fire. Elastor kicked the train driver away and shot the captain. The manager tried to run but was caught by Elastor and held the gun to his back like a heart. Enemies on the nearby watchtower immediately blew their horns to alert the troops to the station. Everyone quickly retreated, they ran while shooting at the enemy. Eva and William took the lead so they could show the way. The Predator and The Star were summoned to protect everyone. They ran through the loading dock and broke the fence to run into the slums. The soldiers behind fired at them but Grim parried all the bullets and released smoke to hide them. After entering the slums, the surrounding watchtowers shined lights everywhere looking for them, but they only saw smoke on the street so they couldn't see anything. Everyone ran into a house near the center of the slum, William knocked on the door and said:

"Jake, it's William, we need you to open the door now."

A man opened the door, he was a fat but slightly dirty man with a bald head. Jake looked at William and said in confusion:

"William? How can you be here? You won't be back until next month."

William replied quickly:

"I'll explain later, we need shelter now."

Jake looked at everyone behind him and said:

"It's crowded, I'll let everyone rest at the bar. Hurry up, or the guards will find us."

Everyone rushed inside and Grim was the last to close the door. At that moment a group of soldiers passed by to look for them, but they did not find anything. Crusadia team finally arrived at the kingdom of the Kraton Empire.