Episode 47: Tragedy (2)

******* Carolus' POV *******

"Let go of my hand already." I can hear Rose talking beside me but I just ignored her and keep on staring at the dark sky.

There too many of them for Rose and I to handle. We are the only one here that can use a bow powerful enough to reach them.

Thousands of phantoms circling in the sky probably just waiting for the giant phantom to shriek again. That is probably the giant phantom's way of giving out orders.

The giant phantom is not really that big. The monster is only about the size of Queen Arachne but the problem is this one CAN BLOODY FLY. It is really hard to fight an enemy you can barely reach.

The giant phantom suddenly shrieks after flying for a while.

Oh, god. What will happen now?

A lot of regular phantoms started flying straight down towards the houses around us. They are flying down so fast that I'm sure they will not survive the impact.

The Phantoms went through houses roofs and another wave of phantoms started flying straight down.

The next wave is different though. They are flying down slow and went through the holes the first wave of phantoms managed to punch through.

There are now hundreds of citizens being carried in the sky.

Great. What a crazy world I'm in.

I can feel Rose pulling her hand out of my grip and preparing her bow to save those people but I quickly stop her.

"No. They are too high in the sky that the impact on the ground will kill them." I said to Rose.

"What!? What are we supposed to do? Just watch them get taken?"

Even with the distance, I can see all of their faces of the people filled with so much fear and hopelessness but my eyes quickly glued on a child.

I can see the child's eyes filled with indifference like what is happening right now is inevitable and he already accepted whatever will happen to him.

I took a few steps back and grabbed a bag of potions in inventory.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked me.

"This will not stop until we take care of that giant phantom. I'm going to attack it while you focused on saving those people." I said to her while drinking all the battle potions and other stuff that I think will be useful for aerial battle.

I then bend my legs and aimed at the general direction of the giant phantom.

"What are you talking about? How are you supposed to fight a flying..."

Rose didn't get the chance to finish her sentence since I jumped so fast and so high in the air.

The Potions of Leaping VI is really efficient. I haven't found a use for this potion so this right here is a perfect opportunity.

I'm heading straight to the giant phantom and it seems it knows my plan.

The giant phantom quickly maneuvered itself to avoid me but I'm coming in so hot that it didn't get the chance to evade me.

I managed to latch on the body of the giant phantom and quickly equipped my spear.

I thrush my spear on the giant phantom's chest and the monster shriek so loud.

After making sure the spear is burry in deep, I threw an ender pearl below and let go of my spear.

I'm free falling for a moment until I suddenly teleported on the roof of a house.

I grabbed on the chimney of the house and invoke the Loyalty III enchantment of my spear.

The force is really great and the chimney was about to get ripped off but it managed to hold on and the giant phantom is now starting to fall in the sky.

I quickly jumped off on the ground below to avoid getting hit by the giant phantom.

The giant monster rammed through the house. I hope no one is inside since I didn't check on it.

Snow particles started to fill the area and my spear suddenly appeared and it is now flying straight to me.

I managed to grabbed my spear and put it back in my inventory.

The giant phantom is now grounded and I want to keep it that way.

The monster burst through the wreckage and I quickly equipped a bow in my hand.

The giant phantom tried to fly but I quickly shot an explosive arrow in its face.

A loud shriek roared in the air and the snow particles that is obscuring the place is now replaced with smoke.

After a while, the smoke cleared and the giant phantom still standing while its face is now slowly regenerating.

Great. Don't tell me this monster also has the ability to heal itself.

I decided to use an eye of ender.

**************

Name: Giant

Level: 56 (2 down) 79%

Race: Legendary Phantom

Age: 689

Status: Healthy

Health:

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Abilities:

Phantom Strenght Level 6 (0 up) 41%

Phantom Speed Level 2 (0 up) 68%

Heat Resistance Level 10 (Max)

Cold Resistance Level 10 (Max)

Poison Resistance Level 10 (Max)

Ender Dragon's Gifts:

Undead Body - cannot age no matter how much time passed.

Phantom Supreme Leader - can command thousands to tens of thousands of phantoms by his will.

Daywalker - can walk in the heat of the sunlight.

Nightwalker - can see in the dark.

Regeneration - gradually heal itself over time.

Hunger - Phantom Strenght and Speed level will increase for every being eaten. Speed Level is a third time slower to gain experience from Phantom Strenght. The experience gain for both also varies depending on what type of being is eaten.

**************

Interesting. This giant phantom has the same abilities and gifts of the giant zombie as far as I can remember since I was interrupted reading the status window of the giant zombie at the time.

I also noticed that his level is decreasing. What is going on? Is his level is being used for his healing?

Damn. It is bad enough that this monster has 50 hearts but he also has 50 or so levels to use to heal itself.

The giant phantom though has the lowest level I encountered so far. All of the legendary I met and used an eye of ender on has at least over a hundred level. I wonder why this guy is low-leveled.

I just leave the status window of the giant phantom open to keep track of his health and then prepared for battle.

******* Rose's POV ********

The battle between the giant phantom and King Carolus is really intense. Most of the houses around them are now destroyed and they still keep on going. The people on those houses are now on the streets running towards the castle.

I ignored them for now and decided to think about how to save my people.

There is too many of them in the sky.

I could use the same tactics that we used to save the soldiers but they are not trained to swim in a cold ocean so they probably freeze to death.

What to do?

"Send half of the garrison of the castle outside right now," I ordered to the soldiers who are near me.

"My lady. The castle only has 500 soldiers defending it. It will be heavily undermanned if we send out half of them." I can hear one of the soldiers talking to me.

"What? Are you telling me that there are only one thousand soldiers defending the eastern territory?" I faced the soldier and said to him.

I can see the soldier having a difficult time staring at me.

He didn't answer for a moment and I was about to lose my patience.

"Well, my lady. Most of our soldiers were sent to the southern border." The soldier finally said to me.

"Why would they be sent there?"

"To defend the kingdom from the army of Xaerin."

What? The Kingdom of Xaerin started invading again? The Kingdom of Aezeokar already have enough problems with phantoms and drowned monsters and the Xaerin Kingdom decided to add to those problems.

I'm so frustrated that kicked the merlon in front of me. The stones broke off the wall and are now flying in the distance.

I didn't expect that to happen. It seems I haven't mastered my new found strength. I have to be careful.

Everyone around me started to distance from me but I just ignored them.

We have a much more pressing matter to focus on.

More and more people are now getting carried away towards the east. The Phantoms are probably taking them back to their island.

After calming myself down, I quickly formulated a plan.

I can't really think of a solution for the people who are already carried away so I just have to focused on saving the others who are still in their houses.

"Open the gates. Evacuate the people and send them into the castle." I quickly ordered and the soldiers around me bowed and started running.

The entire fleet of the eastern territory and most of its soldiers are on the other sides of the kingdom so this is the best plan I could come up with.

We just have to hold out and wait till the sun goes up.

I closed my eyes and started praying.

'Goddess, please help those people who are being carried away. I promise I will save them as long you help them survive in whatever hell they will be facing.'

******* Prince Raimer's POV *******

The night is still young and the whisper of sorrow can still be heard in the air.

I'm sitting in the meeting room right now together with all of the nobles and generals who are loyal to me.

"Prince Raimer. I don't think inciting a rebellion right now is a good idea. The kingdom is already low on resources and the spoils of war is the only thing that is keeping it alive."

The words of the man who is talking right now are true.

The Kingdom of Xaerin is on a brink of destruction but we still have to push on.

"The only way to end the war that the Xaerin Kingdom started is to cut off the person who planned it," I said after a moment and everyone around me stare at confusion.

"What are you talking about, your highness?"

I didn't answer the person's question and just started thinking deeply.

Even we managed to get rid of my father, the amount of pain that we inflicted to the other kingdoms will still be fresh so it will not be easy to find peace.

The meeting goes on for a while until midnight.

After the meeting, I was about to get back to my room when I suddenly stopped by the head priest.

After receiving the gifts of the Goddess, I decided to restore back the church and have the daily preaching return.

This is my way of paying back to the Goddess but I know this is not enough.

The Xaerin Kingdom didn't have any troubles regarding monsters but this is not the same as the other kingdoms. They are suffering from the constant attacks of the vicious beings and they are also suffering from hunger since the Xaerin Kingdom cut off the trade of food.

The kingdom of Xaerin is located in a flat plane with a warm climate. There are thousands upon thousands of farmlands here and the food is the kingdom's primary resource.

We have to sue for peace quickly and have the food distributed again. We also need to provide aid to their troubles regarding monsters.

"Prince Raimer. I'm sorry for stopping you even though it is already late." The head priest quickly said to me while bowing his head.

"No. It is nothing. Raise your head. What is it?"

"Your Highness. I'm happy that you allow the priests and the people to worship the Goddess once again but is this fate really worth rebelling for?"

I slowly approach the head priest and put my hands on his shoulders.

"Trust me. This is not only for you, the people here or even me. This is for everybody in this world." I said to him with a smile on my face.

The head priest eyes are full of admiration and I quickly asked him to rest.

Tonight will be peaceful but tomorrow and onwards will be different. War will be coming in the capital and I will be the one leading it.