Zectas Volume IV: The Salubrious City of Centzo (31 page)

A red-haired HighElf and four Maneators came to where a DarkElf was still crouched under his Manatl. In less than a few minutes, Smoke, Sierra and the Maneators wiped out all of the bandits in the area.
"That was good thinking," said Sierra as she restored his life bar to 100%. "Did you learn that from Darius?"
"No, it was Guro. She taught me some new battle tactics that pertained to large-scale armies," answered Smoke humbly. He looked towards the city and saw black smoke everywhere.
"I think we've got the northern part secured, but we have to check on the other two gates," he said abruptly. "Can I ask you to finish up here?"
"Of course, go right ahead. Just be sure to inform me of your next move," said Sierra as she gently squeezed his shoulders.
Smoke nodded, and without a word he jumped off and glided away. Together with Igniz, he flew towards Incitant's gate as that was where the smoke and screams were coming from.

* * * * * * 

Smoke zoomed in on the city streets where Incitant was supposedly defending. There, he found teams of Brandals destroying buildings, houses and other properties of Centzo's residents.
More flaming boulders came crashing down on the capital's walls as Incitant never managed to get one catapult. He looked around some more, and found a few dead bodies scattered on the streets. He caught a glimpse of some of them before they faded into oblivion.
Smoke was relieved to see that most of the corpses were bandits and only a few Sonstwelters. He surmised that they must have been from Incitant's alliance.
"Guard the blockades! They must not pass beyond our defenses!" shouted an Archbishop loudly. Smoke was taken by surprise to have heard the man from far away, he zoomed in on him and recognized him as Incitant.
'He must have some special item or ability to enhance his voice,' assumed Smoke, as his own voice never carried that far.
Smoke admired Incitant's battle-cassock and would have liked to get Sierra one as a gift. From above, he could tell that Centzo's Sonstwelter alliance gave up on defending the wall entirely.
Instead, they moved their defenses to the inner city. Incitant and his alliance built wooden-blockades and had Archers, Wizards and other Priests set up on top of them.
He then heard the source of the screams. They were from the residents of Centzo. Some of them had evacuated to the nearby tall buildings behind Incitant's blockade, and could see the constant attacks of the Brandals' catapults and their steady advance of bandits on foot.
Yet, no matter how many of the flaming boulders came crashing down from the sky, none of them made contact with their temporary wall.
The Brandals who rushed in were slaughtered by the dozens as they were sniped by their long range attackers.
From the way the battle progressed, Smoke guessed that Incitant had no intention of going out of their self-made barricade.
Smoke quickly called Sierra.
"Can you send the Therianthropes, Tikbalangs and the surviving war-chariots over to the western gate or are you still fighting with the bandits?" he asked bluntly after she accepted his call.
"We are about almost done here. I can send them off ahead and the rest of us we will just catch up afterwards," replied Sierra briskly.
"By the way, how bad is it?" asked Smoke out of the blue. "How many of our men died?"
"We lost about five-thousand Mercenaries and two-hundred-twenty of our Vigilantez," replied Sierra somberly.
"But I'm positive that the next time we will fight we won't have as these many losses," she added quickly as if trying hard to convince herself.
"What makes you say that?" asked Smoke.
"Well, all of the survivors have greatly risen their levels, and not to mention their gained battle experience from fighting the bandits. Especially Jeter, he gained more than ten levels." said Sierra proudly.
"That's really good to know. That Avendre really has some potential..." said Smoke as his voiced trailed off.
"Let's hope for the best," he said with an inspirited voice, but deep down he was doubtful. "I will coordinate with Incitant and see how we can help. Please send over the troops as soon as you can."
"Copy that, Smoke, just be sure to stay safe," she said worriedly.
"Don't worry. I'll play nice," he replied and ended their call.
Smoke dove down swiftly and went to where Incitant was taking command of the Sonstwelter Alliance.
He landed discreetly from behind their barricade and walked up to the Archbishop.
"Hey, Incitant. My group and I have just finished up with the northern area, and I was wondering what we can do to help," said Smoke cordially.
"Get out of here!" shouted Incitant rudely. "I told you that I don't mind working with you, but I don't need you stealing the spotlight from us. This is our time now!"
Smoke was taken aback. He thought Incitant would have welcomed his help, and wanted to end this war with the Brandals as quickly as possible.
"I'm sorry, Smoke, but please. We have this handled," spoke Incitant in a forcibly calmer manner. "If you want to help someone, then go over to Prosjak's side. I'm sure he will welcome your help, but here, we don't need it."
"Alright then. I will go over to the southern gate," replied Smoke flatly and walked away.
He then called Sierra as he got out of earshot from the Archbishop.
"Change of plans. Please send our army over to the southern gate instead," said Smoke angrily.
"Huh? But that's in the opposite direction of where we are," stated a confused Sierra.
"It's a long story," said Smoke while shaking his head. "Incitant just wants more accomplishments under his belt, and finish off the Brandals by themselves. He says he doesn't need our help."
"That doesn't sound like a long story to me," replied Sierra sarcastically. "So, are we going to go around the capital and for the eastern side of the city?"
"No that would take too long. Just have all of our men climb the mountainside. We are going to pass through the city directly," said Smoke.
"Alright. I'll tell our men, but I'm sure the war elephants won't like it," replied Sierra. "You know how they hate climbing steep places... Oh, or I could just have Ledur carry them on a platform or something."
"I'll leave all of that up to you," said Smoke with a grin. "I'm going to Prosjak's side, and ask what we can do to help."
"Okay, but it will take us a lot longer to get there," said Sierra and ended their call.
After he saw the damage dealt by the catapults on Incitant's western wall, Smoke worried about the eerie silence from Prosjak's side.
'I hope Macher hasn't done too much damage on the southern district,' thought a perturbed Smoke, but he prepared himself for the worst possible scenario….

Smoke was once again gliding above Centzo's capital. He expected to see a decimated wall on the southern gate and wrecked buildings. Yet, he was pleasantly surprised to see that there was not a single scratch on Centzo's main entrance.
'How in the world did they managed that?' he asked himself in astonishment.
He zoomed in, and saw several people casually standing on top of the wall. He saw Espion talking to a middle-aged man, wearing worn-out royal clothes.
Closing his cape, he dove down towards them and swiftly opened it only moments before hitting the ground. Smoke landed softly in front of them.
"Welcome, Smoke, we have been expecting you," greeted Prosjak and extended his hand.
Smoke shook the royal adviser's hand with a bewildered expression. "You were? But you sent us to defend the northern gate."
Remembering his query earlier, he looked in front to see how they stopped the Brandals' siege weapons and was amazed by what he saw.
In front of him was a massive iron-curtain that was draped before the city walls.
Suddenly, four massive boulders, three times the size of the ones loaded on catapults came at them. Smoke instinctively blocked his arms in front of him.
CLINK CLINK CLINK CLINK
Four boulders simply rolled down from the curtain and rolled back down the mountainside, straight towards Macher and his invading army.
"What in the world is that?" asked Smoke in disbelief.
Espion patted Smoke's back and gave him a knowing smile. "That's exactly what I said when I first saw it too."
Prosjak shouted and ordered their Bards, Minstrels and Dancers to enchant the iron-curtain with more defensive and protective aura around it.
"This was a joint project by our Blacksmiths, Tailors and Seamstress. They've been building this iron-curtain for the past month," explained Prosjak proudly. "Sadly, they only managed to make one big enough to support a single gate."
Then, five bandit groups started climbing up the mountainside. They were widely spread out. When they reached about a fourth of the climb, Prosjak suddenly shouted. "Archers, fire!"
"Damn it! They changed their strategy when you arrived," said Prosjak while looking at Smoke.
Three of the Bandit Groups were stopped by the arrows, while two of them reached the walls. They placed numerous exploding gems, magical stones imbued with compact explosion spells, on the city walls.
"Damn it! I'm getting too old for this," said Prosjak and threw two massive chests down the wall.
THUD THUD
From the loud impact they made when the hit the ground, Smoke could tell that something heavy was inside the chests. They were also large enough to fit an entire body, but the middle-aged man lifted them like they were empty boxes. He landed gracefully on the ground, as if he were temporarily suspended in mid-air before touching the earth.
Smoke couldn't see clearly what Prosjak was doing. Also he saw was that the royal adviser flicked his fingers at the numerous exploding gems, and all of the gems were removed from the wall. He then threw them back to the bandits.
BTOOM BTOOM BTOOM BTOOM BTOOM
Several bandits flew up in the air as they were blown away by their own exploding gems.
After the explosions ended, the Brandals circled around the lone middle-aged man.
"Why isn't anyone else jumping in after him?" Smoke asked Espion.
"Apparently, he likes to fight alone," replied Espion quickly. "It's best just to watch from afar."
Prosjak then bowed down before the Brandals. "Gentlemen, allow me to tell you the story of Prince Dosadno and Prince Neizvestan. Brother princes who protected their city in different manners."
After Prosjak ended his sentence, the lid on the two chests opened simultaneously. Two human-sized puppets with the heads of jack-o-lanterns came out simultaneously. One of them had on a silver royal armor with two silver zweihänders. Whereas, the other puppet wore a golden royal armor and had a golden shield with a matching golden claymore.
Neizvestan, Prosjak's puppet in silver armor, blindly charged at the bandits as the puppeteer moved him with his right hand.
Meanwhile, Dosadno, his golden puppet, remained by his side. Rightfully so, as numerous bandits got out of the silver puppet's way and went after Prosjak directly.
Dosadno blocked most of their attacks and got stabbed by the bandits' knives which the puppet could not stop. Yet, the puppet remained unfazed as it did not have a life bar and continued on fighting the Brandals.
The silver puppet moved farther away from Prosjak as it slaughtered more and more bandits. One of them managed to hit the silver puppet's jack-o-lantern head, but the pumpkin head fixed itself right after the bandit's knife was taken out.
'So, his puppets don't get damage at all. With that golden puppet sticking to him like an overprotective parent, there's no way Prosjak is going to get hit by the bandits,' thought Smoke with admiration and envy. He had just received new subordinates himself, but they were not immune like Prosjak's puppets.
Despite Prosjak's fighting prowess, Smoke felt that it was still better to aid the middle-aged man than just to watch idly by.
"Archers, aim for the bandits out of the puppets' reach!" yelled Smoke. Unsure whether they would listen to him or not.
Luckily, the Archers followed his command and began firing their arrows. Smoke also equipped his power chainsaw bow and began attacking from on top of the castle wall.
In the midst of the constant rain of boulders, Prosjak held the ground battle by himself, against more than a thousand bandits.
Smoke and the Centzo Archers greatly reduced the life bars of the bandits on the ground, but Dosadno and Neizvestan fought like machines of death.
Twenty minutes after the battle, the bandits near the southern wall were finally wiped out. Smoke used his enhanced-eyesight ability to see how many were left on the foot of the mountain. He found several pitched tents with only five-thousand bandits left guarding the catapults and trebuchets. He quickly jumped down the wall and landed right next to Prosjak.
"Where are Macher and his Knights?" Smoke asked worriedly.
"He should be down there inside his tent," replied Prosjak confidently. "I haven't seen any major movements coming out of there since the start of the battle."
"I don't think he's there," blurted out Smoke and leapt off the mountainside, gliding straight for Macher's tent.
"Igniz, light me up," he ordered his symbiote, and the dark ember sprite instantly obeyed.
CRASH
Torn pieces of the burnt tent floated in the air as Smoke landed squarely on it. He was left uninjured as the bandits near the siege weapons were taken by surprise of his sudden aerial attack.
Smoke hurriedly took to the air once more before the Brandals could get to him. As he reached a higher altitude, he saw more smoke coming out from Incitant's side of the city.
He hurriedly called Sierra.
"Pick up, pick up," he said out loud to himself as she wasn't answering his call.
With more buildings being destroyed on the western side of the city, he decided to head to Incitant's forces as quickly possible.
 

* * * * * * 

Incitant's inner blockade was destroyed. Thousands of bandits along with hundreds of Cavalry Knights had already swarmed the western part of the city.
Smoke saw a group of people hiding in one of the tall buildings throwing down pots at six bandits who were trying to break through their locked doors.
Swiftly, he switched to his power chainsaw bow. Together with Igniz, the two of them targeted the Brandals. It took them less than two minutes to finish them off. He then created earth pillars to reinforce the defenses on the lower floors of the building.
After saving that building, Smoke looked around and found dozens of buildings in a similar state. Brandals were on their doorsteps, forcibly removing the planks of woods on their doorways.
'What in the world is Incitant doing?' he wondered to himself as he thought how to save all of them.
"Igniz, cover the doorways with your firewall, but make sure that they don't hit their wooden planks," he ordered his symbiote. "We just need to make the bandits back off until I can get to them."
After Smoke's command, Igniz immediately blazed down to the nearest building and started implementing his orders.
Whereas, Smoke landed to the building next to it. Equipped with his black lightning rods, he bashed the skulls of the marauding bandits.
He faced Brandals numbering from four to seven of them, who were harassing the tall buildings with Centzo's citizens in them.
After he finished off five groups, he saw it. A water elemental, a four-meter-tall humanoid water-entity, was viciously attacking Incitant.
BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK
The Archbishop's shield was blessed with divine protection, and a small cross appeared over it each time the water elemental struck it with its fists.
Incitant's life bar was still at 60%, but it only displayed (144,000/240,000 HP). Smoke guessed that he must have placed his stats on Intelligence, as he was not a battle oriented healer like Sierra.
Smoke crossed the black lightning rods together and aimed at the water elemental. A blue, blinding flash erupted out of his twin weapons. His Lightning Strike hit the water summon directly on its back, and inflicted 102,900 damage points to it.
The water elemental instantly disappeared.
"Thanks, Smoke. It was immune to my physical attacks, and I get separated from my magician members," explained Incitant defensively.
"Don't worry about it," replied Smoke cordially. "Exactly where are—" he stopped talking as another water elemental sprouted right in front of them.
Smoke tried to block the water summon's fist with his twin rods but was knocked back to the building behind him. He quickly looked around and searched for the summoner, and found a female Elementalist being protected by a male Archbishop.
"Macher, over here. We found Smoke!" shouted the Elementalist.
"Avidite, he can't hear us. Macher is on the other side, remember?" explained the Archbishop.
'So, they're with Macher,' realized Smoke, and searched for the dastardly Cavalry Knight.
"Incitant, head over to where your group is. I'll hold them off," said Smoke.
"No, I'll support you while you fight them. You're a High Wizard, right? I work well with magicians," replied Incitant flatly.
"Crescere Vita!" Incitant started shouting out blessings on Smoke. "Vitam Reficio! Medeis Reficio!"
 

"Oh, do you have one more of those one-hit K.O. attacks like that lightning one earlier?" asked Incitant curiously.
"Hm. The cooldown for that one is pretty long, but I guess I have one more attack that could do as much damage," explained Smoke.
"Good," said Incitant and blessed him with one more spell. "Duis Zamia!"
 

Smoke was amazed to see so many blessings at once, since this was his first time to fight together with an Archbishop.
'No wonder Amahan and Tristan have such powerful attacks,' he thought to himself and hoped to have an Archbishop in his own private army soon.
Suddenly, Smoke was forcibly brought back to reality when the gigantic water elemental started attacking the two of them.
He swiftly switched out his black lightning rods for his white metallic staff, and created a concave Manatl large enough to protect himself and Incitant.
SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD SCHILD
The sounds of the purple barrier being pummeled by the water elemental rang above him.
"What kind of barrier is this?" asked Incitant curiously as he hid behind Smoke. " I've never seen anything like it."
"It's a special kind," said Smoke enigmatically. "Anyway, that last blessing you gave me. It doesn't have a duration does it?"
"Technically, it doesn't but it disappears when you log out of Zectas," explained Incitant.
"Alright," said Smoke with a grin. "You better stand back for a while. We need to take a few more hits."
After five minutes of the water elemental's incessant attacks, Smoke's purple Manatl still showed no signs of degradation.
'My training with Ledur really paid off,' he thought to himself proudly, but he knew that it was time to finish this. He estimated that he had gathered enough energy for his purpose.
"Run behind the building and stay there for a while," said Smoke abruptly.
Incitant nodded and hid far away from him. With the Archbishop in a safe distance, Smoke canceled his Manatl and expertly dodged the water elemental. He used his Hyper Jump ability to glide to the top of the building.
The female Elementalist, who controlled the water summon, searched for Smoke on the roof tops. Then, she sensed something was behind her, she turned around and was taken by surprise when she saw a white flash of light appear in front of her.
Enhanced by Incitant's Duis Zamia blessing, Smoke struck his energized white metallic staff on the Elementalist's head and killed her with one hit. Her life bar instantly displayed (0/280,000 HP).
The water elemental near Incitant lost its ability to hold its form, and turned into a puddle of water.
Smoke quickly switched to his black twin rods and began attacking the Archbishop with the Elementalist. The Archbishop tried to block his attacks, but Smoke was simply faster.
The Archbishop could not heal himself as Smoke wouldn't give him the opportunity. Finally, after three minutes, he drained his opponent's life bar to 3%.
Smoke's opponent fell down on his knees.
"Poltron, no!" cried out Macher from across the destroyed city block.
Smoke watched Macher blindly charging towards him on top of his dirus wolf. He remembered how Macher betrayed him on the mounted race and trapped him inside the labyrinth. He glared at the Cavalry Knight and swiftly delivered the finishing blow on the Archbishop.
"Smoke, you bastard!" shouted Macher and kicked his mount in order for it to run faster.
Suddenly, a massive war hammer smashed into Macher's side as Stark blindsided him.
Sierra and the rest of his private army shortly arrived afterwards.
Smoke and Incitant rushed towards them.
"Why are you here? I thought I told you to go to the southern gate?" asked a smiling Smoke.
"Thyrsus' falcon saw you heading here. So, I knew something was up," explained Sierra.
"Where are the two misfits? They're the ones carrying my magnetic rocks, right?" inquired Smoke as he was excited to see his metallic golems in action.
"Laernea and Gandiva are still nowhere near us. So, you can't use your new toys. But Sharur and Jinggu should have their catapults set up soon."
Smoke then looked over to the blown away Macher. His life bar was fully restored as one of his Priests went over to him. They still had more than nine-thousand Cavalry Knights at their disposal. The mounted Knights either had glaives or long-spears on hand.
"What did I ever do to you!" shouted Macher from far away.
Smoke was about to scream how he tricked him during the mounted race, but quickly remembered that it was his other persona, Ilad "the Flame Knight," who Macher tricked.
"I detest how you and your men have dealt with the Zectians of Centzo!" shouted Smoke back.
"Where's Ilad? I don't see any purple Flame Knight," said Macher as he observed the surviving Elemental Knights of the Vigilantez.
"He's out on an important mission," answered Smoke. He lied to stall for more time.
"Tell him that if he ever wants to step foot in Centzo again, then he better join my side," stated Macher boldly. "After all, I'm going to be the Mayor of this city."
"Duke Macher! Doesn't it sound nice?" taunted the Cavalry Knight.
Sierra then whispered to Smoke. "Sharur and Jinggu are ready."
"Macher! Let me show you what I think of you being Duke," said Smoke menacingly.
Twenty-six flaming boulders flew out from behind Smoke as the twin OrkElves used their captured catapults. The Cavalry Knights in the destroyed city block were targeted. Clouds of dust covered them as the rocks crumbled upon impact.
Most of the bandits and the lower level Knights were flattened under the debris of rocks, but Macher and his private army of Knights survived.
Smoke didn't see what ability they used to attack the boulders as his vision was blocked by the dust.
"You didn't think that this measly attack will do us in, did you?" said Macher sarcastically and pointed his glaive at Smoke.
The Priests under Macher worked fast on healing their injured party members. They created several white casting circles, and everyone inside it received healing as small white balls went up from below the ground.
Macher kicked his dirus wolf's belly and rode angrily towards Smoke. However, a red Maneator stepped in front of his path. The Cavalry Knight used his glaive ability, Illusionary Strike, and nine afterimages of his weapon appeared.
Stark tried to block Macher's attack, but was blown away instead. The Maneator's life bar displayed at 65% after receiving the Cavalry Knight's glaive.
Unopposed by any other Vigilantez, Macher galloped forward to the DarkElf.
Smoke created a concave Manatl and prepared for impact.
TWANG
Sierra suddenly leapt out from the side of the buildings and struck her Armored Armadillo Shield squarely on Macher's face and fell down his dirus wolf.
The two of them tumbled on the ground. Before Macher could recover from being stunned, Sierra used her Energy Mace on him. She bludgeoned Macher's metal helmet and made small dent on it.
However, Sierra flew backwards as she was attacked by afterimages of Macher's glaive.
Then, more Cavalry Knights behind Macher charged in after him. Yet, they were hurriedly met by Guro and her troops of Ranseurs and Iron Knights. They were also aided by the Arcus' arrows as the Vigilantez ranged corps attacked them from behind the safety of their melee forces.
Despite the sudden emergence of the Vigilantez, they were still losing. The levels of the Cavalry Knights were well beyond that of an ordinary bandit or even that of a Brandal Captain.
Fortunately, several white casting circles appeared where the Vigilantez stood. Incitant and other Priests variations of their Sonstwelter Alliance supported them from behind, while their low level mages fired out airballs, fireballs and waterballs at the Cavalry Knights.
Then, a silver puppet and a golden puppet appeared from the side. Prosjak arrived, and his two human-sized puppets wiped the floor against four Cavalry Knights at the same time.
Steadily, Prosjak fought his way towards Macher.
"Your army in the southern gate is lost!" said the middle-aged adviser. "Surrender, and maybe Duke Jeune will show you mercy."
"Are you insane?" replied Macher. "I still have you outnumbered and outclassed!"
"Raaaaah!" came shouts from behind Macher's forces. He turned around and was surprised to see more Vigilantez appear.
Adder, Thyrsus, Vijaya, Sharanga, Ichaival, Jeter and the rest of the Avendre Mercenaries from Smoke's army finally arrived, blocking the entrance of the broken down wall. They had circled around the destroyed city block in order to lock Macher and his men in.
Smoke hurriedly walk over to Sierra and helped her up. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I was barely scratched. Go finish Macher," she replied with a grin. However, her life bar still displayed 75% despite her tremendous defense.
He squeezed her shoulders and carried her to one of the white casting circles made by Incitant's forces. There, she left her to recover.
More Cavalry Knights charged at Smoke, but they were all met with Ranseurs led by his four Maneators.
Macher easily handled Prosjak's silver jack-o-lantern puppet. The afterimages of his glaive broke through the puppet's two zweihänders. Fortunately, the silver puppet did not have a life bar. Otherwise, it would have been killed.
Prosjak had to use both his puppets, Dosadno and Neizvestan, against Macher in order for them to fight evenly.
However, after a few more exchanges, Neizvestan's twin swords damaged Macher while Dosadno's defense left Prosjak's life bar untarnished.
Smoke faced two Sonstwelter Cavalry Knights from the side of their battle, and waited for the perfect opportunity to join in.
Since the Sonstwelters he was facing were much slower when compared to Macher, he was able to dance around them. He could even ride on the back of their dirus wolf and hit them from behind before they could attack him with their long-spears.
Slowly, the Cavalry Knights began to die out as Smoke's, Incitant's and Prosjak's forces gathered around them.
Macher's concentration was disturbed as he heard the screams of his personally trained Knights being killed off by the Vigilantez and the Avendre Mercenaries. His life bar was reduced to 65%.
He watched the well-known core members and observed whether he could attack them, but saw that they were well protected by Iron Knights, Ranseurs, Arcus, Shamans and Acolytes. He also noticed that most of their Priests had died out, which led to more of their Knights dying as no one was there to heal them.
"Garcon, ride on my back, I'll make sure you stay alive," said Macher to one of their surviving Zectian Priests near him.
The Zectian gratefully accepted the offer. "Thank you so much, Sir Macher. I'll be sure to heal you until my dying breath."
"Just make sure to stay with me," replied Macher, and enjoyed the warm feeling of white lights entering his body as he was being healed.
Macher looked around and knew it was a hopeless situation. He needed to get out of there with what was left of his private army. He couldn't allow them to die here, not without him conquering a city.
TOOT TOTOTOOT TOOT TOOT TOOOOT TOTOTOOT
Sounds of Cavalry Trumpets rang from outside the walls.
'He still had more men?' wondered Smoke in disbelief.
"Old man, you defended your city well, but I found the pattern to your golden puppet's defense," Macher said to Prosjak, and used his ability called True Strike.
Macher threw his glaive and eighteen afterimages of his weapon appeared. Dosadno tried to block most of them, but he couldn't stop them all. The golden puppet defended the ones that could target the vital portions of Prosjak and neglected the ones farther out of its reach.
However, the ones that got past the golden puppet disappeared and instantly reappeared in front of Prosjak and stabbed him through his stomach.
Prosjak fell down and displayed a life bar of 25%. Apparently, the middle-aged man had a low HP and an even more lower defense. His life bar displayed (52,500/210,000 HP).
Smoke quickly rushed to Prosjak and took out Macher's glaive. The middle-aged adviser was inflicted with the Bleeding status. Due to the large wound the glaive left, 1% of his life bar was being drained per second.
"Incitant! We need your help!" cried out Smoke but none of the Priests could hear him as they were still busy healing everyone else.
Then, he heard Macher's voice. "Farewell, Smoke. We shall meet again!" he said threateningly and rode off towards the Vigilantez blocking his escape.
Smoke couldn't understand how Macher could have hid more of his Knights from outside the city. "Igniz, fly up. I need to see this," he ordered his symbiote, while still holding on to the injured Prosjak.
At once, Igniz blitzed upward.
Smoke used his Symbiote Vision and saw four-thousand Cavalry Knights riding on muscular acinonyx cheetahs. From one look at those Cavalry Knights and mounts, he could tell that they were of a special breed.
"Everyone, retreat! Follow my lead!" shouted Macher and went straight towards Adder's formation.
'Oh no! He's going after my core members,' thought a worried Smoke. He stood up, but Prosjak grabbed on to his arm.
"Where are you going? Please help me," begged Prosjak. The royal adviser's skin was becoming paler by the second.
Thankfully, Sierra arrived and began healing the middle-aged man. "Go Smoke, I got this," said a fully recovered Sierra.
Smoke took to the skies and readied to crash down on Macher. "Igniz, to me!" he yelled out and his symbiote flew towards him.
As soon as Igniz started covering him in flames, several long-spears went straight for him. Smoke fell down to the ground, impaled with three spears. Coupled with the damage from the fall, he had less than 25% of his life bar. He took out the spears, but Horrabelle's curse, Decay Aura, activated and his life bar was steadily being depleted together with the draining damage from the Bleeding Status.