73. String and Fire

Noam and Zane sped up, their swords ready. With a quick glance, they agreed to separate the two. They would have to fight alone.

"What are they planning?" Hana muttered worriedly as Noam and Zane approached the two enemies.

Rose just narrowed her eyes, suspecting that she could guess what their reckless plan was. She could only snort at the thought.

Zane was after Dean and Noam was after Hans. Both enemies were quick to dodge. They knew that Noam and Zane planned to separate them and they happily followed, hoping to have their own fight without interference.

Arion widened his eyes in shock, 'They plan to fight one on one? The chances of that working are slim to none! They won't be able to win!'

"Oh? What's this? You finally decided to attack?" Dean asked in a carefree tone as he easily dodged all of Zane's sword blows, especially because of their height factor.

Hans snorted as he dodged Noam's sword slash, "So arrogant."

Noam grinning confidently, "What do you mean arrogant? We're confident!"

Dean moved with ease as he dodged many of Zane's sword strokes. He admitted that even though these kids were beginners, their sword techniques weren't too bad. There were only a few careless moves. But those very moves could trick him if he wasn't careful.

Dean hummed happily, "This one's pretty eager too." He drew his dagger and parried the sword that almost hit his hand.

Zane clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Stop assuming we're playing around!"

Dean chuckled, "But we are." He directed several threads that appeared behind him to attack Zane, who jumped back to avoid them. As a result, the threads only stuck to the ground where Zane had been standing.

Dean whistled in admiration of his quick reflexes before noticing something strange, "Wait a minute. Where's the other boy?"

Zane refrained from cursing as Dean began to notice Eric's absence. He quickly lunged forward, the magic already enveloping his sword to distract Dean.

"Oh?" Dean stared at the sword in Zane's grasp with interest. It was the first time he had seen the boy's magic up close.

Dean nimbly stepped back to avoid Zane's slash before jumping to the side as Zane's sword movement accelerated. Each stroke made the air around them colder.

Sensing something was wrong, Dean quickly kicked Zane in the stomach until the boy was thrown and landed hard, groaning in pain as he clutched his stomach.

"Zane!" Noam cried worriedly, but he couldn't get close as Hans kept blocking him.

Meanwhile, Hana covered her mouth to keep from gasping in shock. The kick looked pretty hard. Zane's young body must have been bruised pretty badly.

Meanwhile, Rose grimaced at the sight of Zane clutching his stomach with a look of pain on his face. From his expression, she could already guess how much pain he was feeling right now.

Arion could only stare in horror, 'That's not a kick a 5 year old can take! The bruise will definitely hurt a lot and throbbing with pain endlessly. Not to mention if he feels like vomiting because the kick hit his in the stomach.'

At least that was how Arion had felt in the past. He couldn't and didn't want to remember how old he was when all the beatings happened. But he remembered that the younger he was, the more fragile his body was to take all those blows. It felt three times more painful than what adults felt.

Sensing another presence not far behind him, Dean looked back and found the boy he was looking for near the servant he had captured.

Eric was already preparing to cut the threads with his sword when he realized he had been caught by Dean, who looked at him with amusement.

"So that's your plan, huh. Very funny." Dean chuckled at their attempt to distract him and Hans. Good plan, but bad effort.

Rose sighed tiredly, "I knew that was their plan."

Hana looked at Rose with a worried expression, "What do you mean, Rose?"

Rose looked at her seriously, "Noam and Zane planned to distract the enemy when Eric freed Nova. Not that I'm underestimating them, but this plan was impossible from the start."

Arion nodded silently in agreement, 'Because the difference in their strength is great. The two children couldn't possibly hold off the enemy for long.'

Hans raised his eyebrows when he realized Eric's existence thanks to Dean's remark. He admitted that these kids were pretty brave and reckless. Either they were overconfident or too desperate.

Noam refrained from cursing if the intruders had figured out their plan. He had to get Eric and Zane away, but Hans kept preventing him from getting close to his friends, making him growl in exasperation.

Dean hummed with a smile, not looking like he wanted to stop Eric, "Just try to cut off my thread if you can."

His casual remarks only made the three boys more cautious. There was no way the enemy would just let Nova go. After all, Nova had been their biggest obstacle from the beginning.

But with no other choice, Eric slashed at the threads that bound Nova. Instead of cutting, the blade stalled when it hit the thread with a loud clang, unable to cut it.

"What!" Noam shouted in disbelief as Zane's eyes widened in shock. Eric's sword couldn't cut it? What was the thread made of?

Eric winced as he felt his hand tremble under the weight of his sword hitting Dean's thread that felt so hard, "Ugh! My sword can't cut it."

Dean chuckled amusedly, "You think my thread is that easy to break? Too bad."

Eric gritted his teeth in annoyance before raising his sword again, "One more time!"

This time the blade didn't hit the thread hard, instead the thread became more elastic and threw the blade back, causing Eric to take a few steps back.

"Useless." Dean said casually.

Hans snorted amusedly, "The thread can become hard, but it can also become rubbery. I doubt you can even cut it with magic."

Hana stared in horror while Rose gritted her teeth in annoyance, "Then there's no way for the three of them to free Nova."

Arion frowned nervously, 'It's all messed up.'

"Shit!" Noam swore angrily as the flames on his sword grew stronger.

Hans snorted amusedly, "Kids shouldn't use swear words like that, you know."

Having said that, Hans moved so fast that Noam's eyes couldn't follow. One second Hans was standing a few meters in front of him, one second later Hans was kicking Noam hard in the stomach, just like Dean had done to Zane.

"Noam!" Zane shouted in panic as he saw Noam fall to the ground with a loud scream of pain.

"What are you looking at, kid?"

Dean's words broke his concentration until his guard was down. Without realizing it, Dean managed to plunge one of his daggers into Zane's left shoulder, causing him to scream in pain.

Zane jumped back, holding his shoulder with a groan of pain. He slowly pulled the dagger out and immediately the blood flowed even faster. He quickly froze the wound with his ice magic.

"Zane! Noam!" Eric shouted in panic as he saw his two friends injured, especially Zane who was bleeding.

"We're fine! Just concentrate on your task!" Noam shouted back when the pain in his stomach hadn't gone away. He slowly got to his feet, holding his throbbing stomach.

Noam looked worriedly at Zane after noticing that his friend had a bloody wound on his shoulder. But for the moment he couldn't help it as Hans approached him with an interested look.

Rose looked at the stab wound on Zane's shoulder, "That wound doesn't look good."

Hana nodded nervously, "Even though Zane froze it, it still won't heal. If he leave it too long, it will get infected."

Rose shook her head slowly, "There's nothing we can do for now."

"You're a descendant of the Flammen Kingdom, aren't you?"

The question made Hana and Rose gasp in surprise and go back into hiding, hoping the enemies hadn't noticed their voices from earlier. As for Noam, the question took him by surprise before he regained his alertness.

"So what?" Noam replied sarcastically. The enemies must have gathered information about all the kingdoms. Surely they already knew the answer.

Hans grinned maniacally, "I've always wanted to compare my magic to that of a direct descendant of the Flammen Kingdom."

After saying that, Hans pointed his left fist forward before it was enveloped by a large flame. His sword experienced the same thing.

Hana and Rose gasped in shock, "That..."

Noam was stunned, "No way... Fire magic?" He whispered in disbelief.

Actually, fire magic hadn't always belonged to the people of the Flammen Kingdom. But if the fire was so strong, then it belonged only to the people of his kingdom. That's why Noam was shocked that someone outside his kingdom had such powerful fire magic.

Hans grinned cruelly, "Let's see whose fire is hotter!"

Noam clicked his tongue as he took a few steps back, slightly intimidated by Hans' magic power, "Even though you have fire magic, you're not from the Flammen Kingdom, are you? Does your magic come from that black pill?"

Hans raised his eyebrows before looking at Herris with a displeased expression, "Did that fool leak it? I've always disliked his loud mouth."

Hans shrugged dismissively before the smirk returned to his lips, "You're right. My fire magic comes from this pill."

Noam snorted in annoyance, "I knew it."

Hearing their conversation, Zane couldn't help but give Dean a sharp look, "So is your thread magic, right?"

Dean chuckled, "Kids are so smart these days. I can't stop being amazed," He said cheerfully, seemingly unperturbed by the discovery of their secret.

"How about we have a contest to determine the strongest fire magic user, kid?"