Chapter 456: Taking One For The Team
The flying carriage carrying the insignia of the Angorian War Sovereign landed in Lont. three days after William and Conner finalized the conditions of their alliance, he decided to go back to his hometown to inform Prince Alaric about the details of their cooperation with Deus.
Just as he expected, Prince Alaric wasn’t happy about working with The Organization who was responsible for this whole mess. However, the Crown Prince of the Zelan Dynasty also understood that it was their only chance of winning against the Elven Army.
“Very well,” Prince Alaric replied. “We will travel to the City of Gladiolus to coordinate with Conner. How about you? What are you going to do?”
“I will keep on looking for allies to aid us in battle,” William stated. “Although the current threat we are facing are the Elves, we still don’t know what the Kraetor Empire is thinking. It is also possible that they have plans for complete dominion of the Southern Continent.”
Prince Alaric sighed. This was also one of the worries in his heart. It was not only the Elves who were planning to call for reinforcements from their homeland. The Kraetor Army was doing that too.
William and Prince Alaric shared a knowing glance at each other. It was highly possible that the Kraetor Empire was only waiting for the Hellan Kingdom, and the Elves, to exhaust each other before they moved in for the kill.
They were currently in an advantageous position and once they made their move, it would send waves rolling in every direction.
“How resilient are you against Charm?” Prince Alaric suddenly inquired out of the blue.
William smirked because he already knew what the Crown Prince was thinking. “You want me to visit Empress Sidonie and ask her for help?”
Prince Alaric nodded. “As fellow Humans, it is only natural to unite against the threat of a different race. If we can get her aid to wipe out the Elven Army then it would still be a victory on our side.”
The Crown Prince was about to say more when he suddenly remembered that William was not a fellow Human and was considered to be a member of a different race.
“Cousin, I apologize if I have offended you.” Prince Alaric hurriedly apologized because he had forgotten that William was a Half-Elf and not part of the Human Race. “It was not my intention to include you in the race that I want to be wiped out.”
William waved his hand in a casual manner because he understood what Prince Alaric was trying to say.
“There’s no need to apologize,” William replied. “About your proposal, I think it is also a good idea to visit Empress Sidonie. This way, we will know if she is hostile towards us or not.”
Prince Alaric nodded his head. It was better to know who their enemies were. Although both teenagers didn’t want the Kraetor Empire to become their enemy, they had to prepare for this possibility as well.
‘Should I take one for the team and give the Empress my babies?’ William thought seriously. ‘If I could get her help then I am willing to make this sacrifice.’
If Prince Lionel and Prince Jason could hear William’s thoughts, both of them would join hands to beat the crap out of the red-headed boy and feed his remains to the fishes.
They would refuse to believe that their beloved Empress would extend her help to William if the latter agreed to give her his babies. In fact, they would definitely hack him to pieces before the Half-Elf could even touch a strand of her hair.
—–
Meanwhile in the Northern Regions of the Zelan Dynasty, an important meeting was taking place.
“Only the Myriad Ant Queen of the Anaesha Dynasty could have commanded the Warrior Ants to attack the Teleportation Gate,” Elandorr said with conviction. “Right now, they are the greatest threat that we are currently facing.”
The Elders of the different clans, who had accompanied Elandorr on this mission, nodded their heads in agreement. Alessio, who was the leader of Deus in the Silvermoon Continent was also in the meeting and quietly listened to the conversation.
The meeting was being held in an open place because The Qilin, Eneru, as well as the Ancient Golem, Drauum, were also there to participate.
Drauum had already informed them that it could sense the presence of powerful beasts in the direction of the Anaesha Dynasty that had the ranks of Myriad Beasts and above. What greatly alarmed Elandorr and the officers of the Elven Army was that Drauum concluded that there were more than three of them.
“Three is the minimum and five is the maximum.”
These were the words that Drauum had said when someone in the meeting proposed that they attacked the Anaesha Dynasty with the help of their Guardians.
Although Drauum was strong, it was not too keen about fighting two factions at once. Although Jekyll was weaker than it, the Taotie wasn’t a pushover. Drauum knew that if it forced Jekyll into a corner, the latter would throw caution to the wind and fight back with everything he had.
As one of the Four Evils, a desperate Jekyll was not someone that Drauum would want to face. Drauum knew that the Taotie would risk his life to devour him, or die trying. The Ancient Golem was not confident that it would be able to escape if Jekyll decided to bring it down with him no matter what.
“Your Excellency Eneru, Your Excellency Drauum, is it possible for us to launch an attack on the Hellan Kingdom with our current forces?” Elandorr asked.
The Qilin snorted as he looked down on the young Elf with contempt before glancing at Drauum who was seated on top of a large boulder.
“We can, but I will advise against it,” Drauum replied. “If we leave the Zelan Dynasty, the Kraetor Army will move in to conquer it. It is also possible that they will ignore conquering the Zelan Dynasty completely, and cooperate with the Hellan Kingdom to trap us in a Pincer Attack.”
Elandorr bit his lip helplessly. He had already witnessed William’s battle abilities and he had no choice but to admit that he fell short of the Half-Elf who was also the son of their Saintess. Also, what truly made him despair was that his connection with his Beast Companion had been severed.
It could only mean that the Silver Dragon, Deoldreoss, that was given to him by the Patriarch of their Clan had been killed.
Back in the Silvermoon Continent, Elandorr was envied by his peers, not only because he was strong, but also because of the Silver Dragon that had become his Beast Companion.
Now that he had tasted the bitter taste of defeat in William’s hands, the commander of the Elven expedition finally understood that he couldn’t underestimate his opponents. Although William was a disgrace to their race, he was still Half an Elf, which gave him racial advantages as well.
Half-Elfs were beings who had the best of both worlds. They were born with the best traits of both of their parents, making them far superior than a normal Human and, at times, more powerful than an Elf.
Elandorr didn’t believe this in the past, but now he believed it. His greatest wish was to personally step on William’s dead boy and spit on his face.
This was the only way that he could rid himself of the humiliation that he suffered in the Half-Elf’s hands.
“Then, what should we do now?” Elandorr asked after reigning in his emotions. “Should we hole ourselves up in Briar Glen until a new Teleportation Gate has been built?”
Although it was shameful, this was the only course of action that would allow them to preserve their forces while waiting for reinforcements.
The Elders were unhappy with Elandorr’s proposal, but they also knew that this was the best course of action for now.
Being attacked by the forces of the Hellan Kingdom and the Kraetor Army would be too much for them to handle.
“Building the Teleportation Gate is something that has to be done,” Drauum replied. “I will personally oversee its construction and make sure that the last incident will never happen again. As for what you should be doing next, isn’t that already obvious?”
Elandorr clenched his fist as he reluctantly nodded his head.
There was only one thing they could do and that was to negotiate with the Kraetor Empire. Only by doing so would they be able to build their Teleportation Gate safely and bring in the reinforcements that were waiting in their homeland.
As for the price that they would have to pay for such an agreement, Elandorr didn’t know. All he knew was that he needed to do his best to negotiate with whoever was in charge of the Kraetor Empire. This was why he was chosen to lead the Elven Expedition and bring glory to their Clans.
He needed to endure the humiliation until the Teleportation Gate was completed.
That is the only way that he could ensure that the mission that was handed to him by his Patriarch would be carried out without fail.
For that to happen, Elandorr was willing to do anything, with the exception of bowing his head to the race whom he hated the most in his life.
He would rather die than bow to the filthy Humans that used their race as slaves. A race that they used to warm their bed, do their bidding, and breed the filthy Half-Elves that were a stain on their pure and noble bloodline.