Chapter 17
The father elf extended his hand out towards Rhys and began to plead for mercy.
"Hold on, Lucious might have been wrong about these foreigners. Things don't have to get ugly if-"
Thud!
A swift and succinct blow to the elf's neck was landed, causing him to fall lifelessly to the floor.
"You think it's okay to make deals with dragons? You are Zelderoth from house Freyean, are you not? I'll be sure to report your actions to Lucious when I'm done with them here."
Rhys took one glance at the dragon, his presence was overwhelming and the fact that he had not done anything up until now only made him seem more ominous.
"What is going on with him?"
This dragon was nothing like any other opponents that Rhys had faced in his life. Though, he was sure that his victory would be inevitable, he doubted even needing the intervention of sir Winstes and sir Cornelius. That was just him following protocol as his position required him to do. But in all of the village there truly was no elf like Rhys.
"I'll be sure to make this quick, everyone in this village needs nobody else but me."
He continued to gaze at the dragon whilst pulling an arrow out from his pouch.
"I hope you came ready to die today as well, dragon."
Krack!
A fierce blow was dealt to the side of the elf as Areon had firmly plunged his foot to the side of his face, sending him flying across the street. He caught a brief glimpse of the flames bursting from the boy's hands, directing him to Rhys' weak point.
"What a nuisance, this will be today."
Areon looked up at Krieus and began to point towards the rest of the search party of elves that were currently running towards them.
"How much time do you think we have to finish these guys off before that Winstes guy gets here. It's better to clear these guys out now, right!?"
Krieus rose his head in the direction of the north before he could answer Areon's question.
"Indeed it is best to take them out now, but do it quickly, Areon. Those two are coming fast."
Areon directed his gaze back at the incoming mob of elves that was the search party. Thoroughly infuriated that their captain had fallen, they took a hold of the tired bodies that they had been using to search for Areon, and rushed towards him with brandished weapons. The boy looked back at them and did nothing but snicker.
"Just as I thought. I don't have long before the others get here so I need to take you out quickly."
He aimed his hands at the ground and blasted it, sending a bunch of dust into the air, creating a smoke screen.
"Mister Puff Puff! Can ya deal with these guys here? I need to take down that wind user before things get out of hand."
Without so much as a sound, the wolf leaped down from the dragon's back and began to plague the elf soldiers inside the cloud of dust.
"Argh!"
"Captain! Help us! Please!"
Their pleas were completely useless as mister Puff Puff bit into their thighs, ankles and any other body part that would immobilize them.
Rhys struggled to get up after the blow. He heard the cries and screams of his subordinates yet he was still in a world of pain.
"How is it one hit from that kid could hurt so much?"
He had severely underestimated the amount of force behind the attack earlier. Nonetheless, Rhys had intended to carry out this job without even a single casualty. He had not carried the name of Ryhs the leaf cutter for nothing.
When he was just six years old he was already praised as a prodigy. His precise aim of arrows led him to be able to slice leaves that were falling from a tree. Without training a day in his life, Rhys watched others who spent large sums of their time honing their craft, he found it useless. Since none of them ever were able to best Rhys. He figured that he was born for the bow and arrow and that's why he had seen success.
He soon climbed the ranks of the elf soldiers, again without much effort which only solidified his belief, he figured that he was born to be a solider. He thought that for one to see success in an endeavor they must be born for that thing, otherwise their effort was useless.
Rhys soon picked up an element stone and found that he had a natural affinity towards that as well. It all seemed so clear, he was a natural born wind user. An individual's worth was determined at their birth. And there was no birth greater than that of the elves. This made him certain that he was an indispensable gift to the world.
"So why!?"
Rhys wrestled with his mind to pull himself from the floor.
"Why am I being disgraced right now by a filthy human!"
Areon blasted himself towards him, easily clearing the distance from afar to in the face of Rhys and punched him in his skull sending him straight back to the ground.
"Damn it all!"
He screamed before sending a large gust of wind to thrust Areon away. The child went flying throughout the village and while tumbling in the air he saw Rhys gather his bow and arrow and take aim at him.
"Crap!"
The boy was still being carried by the current of the wind and was sent flying through the streets. He grabbed a hold of one of the houses to anchor himself but the wind slowly caused the piece Areon was gripping onto to start creaking, bit by bit it was breaking, as he watched with bated breath until Rhys let go of the trigger. The piece of the building Areon was holding on to broke off and flew into the sky.
The arrow mercilessly pierced right through the part of the building leaving nothing left as it shattered into pieces. Rhys was satisfied by the lack of a body.
Until Areon appeared behind him and sent a burst of fire to his back.
The explosion sent him rolling around the ground again. He scrambled to his feet and furiously asked the boy.
"How the hell did you survive that?"
Areon chuckled before sharing.
"You totally thought I was a novice! I figured that the piece of that house was going to fall off so I used it as a surface to jump off of and direct myself behind the house so that your wind current wouldn't hit me. After that I just made my way here and hit you in the rear. And even if it didn't break off in time, I would have blasted the piece off earlier myself, just to make sure that I could get the drop on ya. It's a simple tactic, really. "
Rhys grit his teeth.
"Your speed will prove tricky, but not impossible."
He began to pull from his arrow, but Areon had already zipped to where he was and hit him with his knee. Landing another hit on Rhys' face.
"Argh!"
The boy took the elf's bow that has the element stone attached to it and held it with his two hands.
The eyed of the elf captain widened with fury as he watched Areon's hands heat up with an orange glow before snapping his precious weapon in half, as though it were a twig.
"You're decent from afar with your weapon and element stone, but up close you totally suck! It's like you don't even train. How is it this easy to hit you?"
Rhys began to seethe with red-hot rage. He had never needed to train, as he was largely good at shooting from a distance and using his wind to amplify that, this was all he needed. The notion of training directly opposed his beliefs.
"Shut up! Training is for lesser beings like yourself! A truly born talent has no use for such things that's why I'll defeat you!"
Then Areon's expression turned grim as he glared at Rhys throwing his broken weapon to the ground.
"No, you're wrong. The reason I'm gonna beat you is because I hit the ground more times than you ever have."
With a quickness Areon flashed from where he was to right in front of Rhys' face before delivering a final punch covered in flames that sent the entitled elf's head right into the dirt.
There was an blast that was so large a crater had formed, leaving Rhys in a hole of his own shame.
"Arh, no…"
The elf let out his last sentence before going unconscious.
Areon walked towards Krieus and mister Puff Puff who had completely incapacitated the remains of his team. The crowd of elves were somewhat taken aback, as of what to do.
On one hand they just saw this foreigner fight against their own kind. But not a single elf in the crowd was in favor of Lucious' plan anyway, and after witnessing how they were willing to treat Zelderoth. The elf's opinions were starting to change.
When Areon looked to the side of the streets expecting to find stones and insults hurled at him. He was surprised to see the elves cheering for his victory.
"You go, little human!" One shouted.
"Show them that they can't push us around anyway that they want!" Another elf yelled out for a frenzy.
One by one the elves began leaving the sidelines and joining Areon in the middle of the street. All of them willing to help Areon fight.
"You know what, I'm gonna help save the mother tree too! Dragon or no dragon!"
"Me too!"
"I'll be damned if my kids starve because of Lucious!"
The boy's eyes widened as he witnessed the applause of the elves, the overwhelming support caught everyone off guard to say the least.
Areon unsheathed his sword and thrust it in the air.
"Who's ready to take back their home?"
The crowd yelled in deafening roar. Having put together even more forces, Areon was ready to destroy the Maimo, now having the support of the elven tribe.