28 Rugi and the Elf King

The army continued to march onwards toward the capital of the Theocracy, it would be a bloody and difficult siege no doubt, but they had to succeed.

Many more places could be seen burning in the distance as the army marched onwards, whenever a nearby settlement was attacked, they would rush to their aid, but alas, there was only so much they could do before they had to get back on track.

As the night settled over the camp once more, Crusader could be seen standing guard with Rushelia, Eve could be seen sitting at a nearby campfire, still struggling with her sleep schedule.

"...Miss Eve, would you like to join us?" Crusader called out to Eve, who jumped slightly in surprise, seemingly snapped out of her thoughts by her name being called.

"Oh-Uh, yes sir!" She stood up and saluted, she then approached the two.

"...You should first approach, then salute." Rushelia educated the young girl when she got next to them

"O-oh, my apologies Miss Rushelia." Eve felt rather flustered, but luckily, her commanders were understanding enough to forgive such slight inconsistencies, all that mattered was the meaning behind the action after all.

"It's fine faithful child, you may redeem yourself by fervently serving the Supreme Ones."

Right, there were 41 Gods, not six, which caused quite a stir when Crusader revealed the fact without caring much about the consequences.

But order was maintained, and the new information was carefully spread to the nearby cities, though it was in a significantly more careful and controlled manner, with only the upper echelon being aware of the truth for now, and with time, the common folk would also be enlightened.

If they learned of the fact that they were worshiping the wrong people all this time, the uproar would be insane, which might cause the collapse of the whole nation if things were not handled with appropriate care.

"Of course." Eve nodded.

Crusader then turned to the forest edge which was not too far away and spoke, "Right, I would like to ask-" As Crusader was in the middle of speaking, an arrow suddenly flew out of the forest and slammed straight into him, sending him flying.

Rushelia and Eve immediately took cover, while the impact woke up the whole camp, which was now in an uproar.

Crusader stood up from the small crater now below him, the dirt and grime fell off of him with ease, leaving his armor glittering soon once more.

His eyes burned with brilliance as he scoured the forest edge, and soon enough, he spotted the very edge of a bow, he then rushed into the forest, running after the assassin.

Rugi, one of the many daughters of the Elf King, could be seen running away, she looked like a child around 8 years of age, but her true age was likely even lesser than that.

She has a glazed expression that makes her look like a doll. Given the treatment that she suffered at the hands of her father, it's likely that the elf girl was miserable throughout her life, and her dead eyes only strengthened that theory.

She ran with all her might, in her hands, a large bow, far too large for her small stature, could be seen, with a similarly oversized quiver on her back, both of these things were given to her by her father, who wished to awaken her abilities, or rather, he wished to awaken his genes in her.

She nimbly jumped through the trees when she suddenly heard loud stomping and the sound of wood being shredded apart, she looked behind her, and she froze for a second in shock.

Crusader could be seen sprinting after her, he avoided the trees sometimes, but when he decided it would be faster, he simply charged through the thick trees in front of him, causing them to often collapse to the ground, clearing a path of destruction through the woods.

'What the hell is that thing?!' Rugi couldn't help but scream in her mind, the man was an unstoppable force! What is she supposed to do against that?!

"...A child?" Crusader mumbled in a confused tone, what was this child trying to even do?

Rugi turned around and fired a couple more arrows at Crusader, but he, now aware of the incoming attacks, easily dodged or even grabbed the arrows out of the air with his bare hands, crushing them in the process with his immense strength.

Rugi immediately gave up on fighting and continued to flee, but with Crusader's significantly superior stats, he easily caught up to her, and with a simple jump and grab, he dragged Rugi to the ground and pointed a blade at her neck.

Rugi felt the air be knocked out of her lungs as she back hit the ground with noticeable force, as she regained her bearings, she noticed the blade now pushing up against her neck.

"Do not move. I shall give you one chance to surrender, if you do not, I will slay you without hesitation." Crusader's eyes seemed to pierce her soul, the white orbs glowing with divine fury, the only reason he even spared her was that she was a child, most sinners would already be killed without mercy.

Rugi did as commanded, she looked around, hoping for rescue or to find her bow, but unfortunately, it was too far away for her to use.

And even if she did, what could that thing do to this unstoppable force of a man?

"I-I surrender!"

Crusader slowly put his sword away from her neck, "Now that you realize escape is futile, we will head back to the camp, but first, we shall take your weapons." Crusader turned to the bow, but as he did, he felt a new presence appear.

"What a disgrace you are Rugi, how unfortunate, it seems you have no potential after all." The elf king appeared, his tone and body language as high and mighty as ever.

Suddenly, he charged at Crusader, who dug his legs into the ground, preparing for the impact.

Decem Hougan, the elf king, was significantly stronger than Crusader expected, despite being prepared for the attack, he was still pushed back by his strength.

Decem, shocked by the power of this adversary, smiled slightly.

"Goodness! You are quite powerful, too bad you are-" Decem was going to continue with his monologue until Crusader punched him in the face, sending him crashing through multiple trees.

"Shut your mouth heathen." His voice seemed to boil with fury, now he understood the situation, this girl was most likely his daughter, and he sent her out to fight to awaken any of her potential abilities.

"To think you would send out your child to fight your war, what a disgrace." Crusader looked down at the elf, who now stood up.

Decem stood tall, the veins on his forehead bulged with anger and he reached out his hands.

"Come to my aid Behemoth!"

The ground shook as from it, a large being appeared, its body a mismatched structure of minerals and various rare ores, it towered over everyone else, being as tall as the trees in the Great Forest of Evasha where the elves are from.

Crusader looked at his two opponents and immediately knew he was outmatched, now, he had to flee.

He dashed towards Rugi and picked her up, he looked towards the bow and quiver, but he decided not to take them, instead, he ran with all his might in a random direction, not heading towards the camp as that might draw the king's attention to it.

Decem looked at Crusader as he ran with his daughter thrown over his shoulder and he made sure to memorize him, for he would find him and kill him personally for his disrespect.

As for his daughter, it didn't matter to him if he took her away, he was just here to reclaim his possessions in the first place, so he walked over to his bow and quiver, which originally belonged to his father, and he picked them up.

"I'll find you you ant, and you will regret making light of me..." His every word was laced with venom, and then, he teleported away after dismissing Behemoth.

Meanwhile, Crusader had stopped running after running for three minutes, with no one following them still, they were probably in the clear.

He gently set Rugi down, who looked rather worried, and he immediately kneeled on one leg and stabbed his sword into the ground, causing the flowers and grass around to bloom and grow.

"Oh Lord, please hear my prayers and appear before me, something urgent has happened and I need your aid."

As he spoke those words, after a few seconds of tense silence, a small child appeared.

Dressed in a perfect black suit with a black tie, his body seemed to scream innocence and purity, while his eyes scanned the area with unwavering confidence.

The boy seemed to begin speaking, but he stopped for a second when he saw Rugi, he then began speaking again.

"Hey bud! What happened?" His voice seemed like that of an innocent child too, and Rugi couldn't help but feel Crusader was serving the wrong person.

Crusader meanwhile, was debating whether or not to force Rugi to kneel, this was incredibly disrespectful to the Seraph no doubt, but still, reporting took priority, he would teach the child some manners later.

"My Lord, I apologize for bothering you, but something urgent has happened." Crusader continued, "A powerful elf with a primeval guardian had appeared-" the child spoke, interrupting Crusader.

"I am aware of the elf king, and do not worry, a crusade will be launched to kill the heathen." He turned to Rugi, who froze up as she was suddenly made the center of attention, "For now, make sure Rugi is protected, if she wishes, she may aid us, but do not force her."

Rugi froze up as her name was mentioned, and as she made eye contact with the child, who looked older than her by a bit but was nonetheless still a child, she couldn't help but immediately look down at the ground, subconsciously recognizing his superior abilities.

"Understood my lord, I shall do as you command." and with that, the child nodded and disappeared.

Crusader stood up, the dirt falling off of his sword as he pulled it out of the ground.

"Next time, when in the presence of the divine, you shall kneel, am I understood?"

Rugi doubted that boy was as impressive as Crusader believed, but she wasn't stupid enough to refuse or even insult the master of the creature that... kidnapped her? Protected her? It was pretty unclear, not like she wanted back to the elf kingdom anyway, so she didn't mind.

"I will." Crusader nodded at the response, and the duo headed back to the camp, which was in an uproar.

Scouting parties were sent out to search for the Crusader while they prepared to march again for the final time.

The search parties proved rather useless, of course, they easily found the path in the forest, the Crusader didn't try to hide his tracks there, but it was a simple matter of distance. He had traveled incredibly far away incredibly quickly, making it very difficult to reach wherever he was, so much so that he arrived at the camp first with Rugi in hand before they managed to reach the location where he prayed to his master.

Nonetheless, they managed to make it back, and after ensuring no one would Rugi, the army set out again.

And so, after a day of travel, with the average soldier a bit stronger and more skilled thanks to the tutelage of the Crusader, they arrived at the capital.

It stretched on before them, the large bustling metropolis was no doubt worth being referred to as the beating heart of their nation, and soon, it would be liberated from the corrupt heathens.

The insides of the city could be seen filled to the brim with soldiers, the people hid away in their houses, fearing the power of the Cardinals, who were all very powerful priests.

The city seemed to come awake as the guards noticed the large army approaching, with each day, more people joined it in its mighty crusade, and now, the army stood at an impressive 20,000 men, a mighty army no doubt.

They quickly encircled the large city, setting up many camps at regular intervals to effectively divide their supplies among the men.

And so, the siege began.

-x-x-x-

THANK YOU TO MY PATRONS! patreon.com/MarAuthor

NAZARICK NPC's (1): Jorge _2602 (1 USD/month)

AREA GUARDIANS (0): NONE (2 USD/month)

FLOOR GUARDIANS (2): LightningGodWolf, Jonathan M... (4 USD/month)

SUPREME BEINGS (1): ElusiveBucket (6 USD/month)