Meanwhile, at Southpoint Town.
The morning sun shone brightly in the sky. Commander Irwin spurred his horse to lead his troops towards the town. His face looks proud and confident. This was the first time he had been given such great trust by the king and he was sure if he succeeded to carry out this mission he would get a promotion. On the other side of the town, Asteria's reinforcements were ready to sneak through the wall near the West gate once enemies' attention diverted to Commander Irwin's main army.
Commander Irwin raised his hand, ordering his troops to stop. He stared along the town wall suspiciously, the situation was so different from he had attacked before, the town wall was so quiet without any guards. Not even a single person was seen there and what makes it even stranger the gates were wide open as if to welcome them in. No sound was heard except wind and animal's sound as if there was no one besides them there.
He swept his gaze around to check on the situation, but there were no signs of enemy troops.
'Tsk! Is this also that cunning woman's plan?' He thought.
"Magic users prepare the barrier!" He ordered. Then he swung his hand forward, commanding them to advance.
They moved forward carefully through the gate, their eyes watching every movement and situation around them. But there are still no signs, not even a sign of the civilians as if they just disappear.
'What exactly happened?' Commander Irwin thought in confusion.
*
*
*
Flare looked down from the stone fence on the wall near the West gate, awaiting Asterian troops' arrival. She had evacuated civilians to the town hall since last night . She had also instructed the magic users to spread several low explosion formations around the town hall's courtyard to lure them, while her troops had cleared the Asteria reinforcement troops before they had managed to infiltrate the town.
Commander Irwin and his troops walked slowly down the streets, they seemed to be carefully watching the surroundings. Flare watched Commander Irwin's troop movements while hiding. As soon as she saw them enter the town square, she blew up the magic formation.
-Boom! -Boom! -Boom!
The explosions sound accompanied by the civilians screaming drew Commander Irwin's attention and his troops.
"Town Hall!" ordered Commander Irwin as he spurred his horse to advance as fast as possible there, followed by his troops.
Seeing Commander Irwin enter her trap, Flare shot 'signal fireworks' into the sky.
-BUM! —Trekk — Trekk — Trekk!
The magic fireworks symbolized the king's crown crest of Euphorion visible in the sky, followed by four large explosive sounds from the four town gates' direction.
-BOOM! –BOOM! -BOOM! –BOOM!
Commander Irwin and his troops were shocked when they heard the sound.
'Damn! I knew this was a trap! '
"Defend formation!" Ordered Commander Irwin.
His troops immediately formed a large pentagon formation with archers and magic users in the middle while the swordsmen surrounded them. They took out their weapons, preparing to attack and sweeping their gaze around them, waiting for the enemy to arrive. But there was no sign of the enemy coming to them.
"Who are you looking for, Commander?" A woman's voice startled them.
They turned their attention towards the origin of the voice. From a distance, they could see Flare sitting on the town wall facing them while looking down at them with a contemptuous look. Her legs folded, one of her hands supporting her chin. Commander Irwin looked at Flare sharply.
"Miss General, is this all your game?" His anger seeped in his voice.
But Flare returned his sharp gaze in a casual gaze.
"Your face looks worse if you get angry. I just want to say goodbye, can't I? "
"Goodbye?" said Commander Irwin, his forehead furrowed in confusion.
"Yes. We will meet again next time, but maybe things will be different from now. "
How could be a general give up so easily? Even before the battle started. Commander Irwin just opened his mouth to ask her. But Flare interrupts him. "Have a good day, Commander," said Flare. She stood up, turned and jumped off outside the wall. In front of the wall, the 'Black Wings Army' was already lined up waiting for her, she immediately climbed onto her horse and spurred it towards Eternal Harmony City, followed by her army.
"What exactly happened?" Commander Irwin muttered. But he quickly dispelled his confusion and tried to return his attention to his first priority, which was to save the hostages.
"We must immediately save the hostages," he said as he turned the reins in his hands, directing his horse toward the town hall.
But just as his horse turned around, a yellow dove messenger flew towards him.
'An emergency message?' He held out his hand as the place where the bird could land. As soon as the bird landed on his hand, it turned into a golden light that shattered into pieces, a message entered his head.
'The capital is under attack.'
He gasped in shock and immediately gave his orders to his troops.
"Half of you will stay here to help the hostages. The others are coming with me, we are returning to the capital! " Commander Irwin spurred his horse followed by half his army to the West gate.
'That damn general has no intention of fighting us from the beginning. She just wants to lure the king to send his troops here. I hope I can save the capital on time.' But he was shocked once again when he reached the gate. The gate is closed and the iron handle is damaged by an explosion. Without it, the gate will not be able to open and it will take a long time to fix.
"Damn it!" he cursed as he turned his horse towards another gate. They spurred their horses again, inspecting every gate in the town, but none of the gates could be opened. Commander Irwin got off his horse and approached the North gate in anger, while the other troops scattered to inspect the other places.
"Order the magic user to prepare the 'explosion formation' scroll!"
He had just finished giving an order, suddenly one of his troops who was examining the town walls shouted in panic.
"Commander! You have to see this! "
Commander Irwin turned, climbed the wall and approached him. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw the view in front of the town, dozens of dreadful monsters went back and forth impatiently waiting for the town gates to open. He turned his gaze to the wall and realized the outer wall had been painted with blood. He punched the stone fence in anger.
"She predicted everything!"
He took a deep breath trying to calm himself.
"Tell the magic user that I cancelled my order. We will get ready to clean up all these monsters, "he ordered in a calmer tone, which was immediately carried out by one of his troops. But despite his calm tone, he actually tried to contain his anger.
He stared at the monsters in front of the wall which began trying to climb and to make it worse, there were more monsters waiting in the forest.
'As long as the blood on the walls doesn't disappear, these monsters will continue to come.' He could only wait for the rain to cleanse the blood or wait for the smell of blood to disappear by itself. He turned his gaze far towards the North, towards Eternal Harmony City.
' Your Majesty, please hold on."'