Chapter 238: Slaying Elementals (Patreon)

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No Cliff. This chappy starts with a flashback.

AN: Got some editing suggestions? Suggest it on the Google Docs here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QreBNkKsQnnxsnvx6_VVPi8AQLp0W4PflZU3FZzdmvk/edit?usp=sharing

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Alexander breathed heavily, barely holding himself up by his sword. Verdant and Dwohl held each other up, laughing in triumph over the Barbarian Kings. The Kings had allied against them, something he didn’t think they would do. The Kings were always at war against each other, but the threat he and his companions posed forced them to put their differences aside.

Kayafe was slumped against a large piece of rubble, looking completely exhausted. Alexander sat next to her and leaned against the broken stone wall, looking over the city. The liberation army took prisoners and freed slaves. Elves, Dwarves, and countless other races broke free of their chains and took revenge upon the surviving oppressors.

“We finally did it,” Alexander said.

“Yes, but how will our people heal? It’s not just my people; so many others have been enslaved for so long that we’ve long lost who we were. What were we called before? What language did we speak? What were our traditions like thousands of years ago?”

Kayafe’s entire race, as well as dozens of others, had been enslaved for so long they were only known as “slaves”. Their race and “slave” basically meant the same thing. Everything of value had been stripped from them, and it was only because of their journey that Kayafe realized what her people were missing.

“If you lack any purpose now, then why not make a new one? This is an opportunity to mold your people in the way you deem best. If your people lack traditions, then create some. Make a new name for your own people; make a language you can call your own.”

“I don’t even know where to start.” Kayafe shook her head.

“Then start somewhere. Lots of places worship the Spirit gods, right? Although I don’t think it’s healthy to worship stronger beings, I can’t argue that faith is a good foundation to cement good ideals. Your people will need guidance, even if you aren’t there, and that is exactly what faith does. Every society is held up by three pillars: knowledge, culture, and strength. Does that remind you of some people?”

“Venaro, Myrou, and Varath,” Kayafe replied after a minute of silence.

“Yes. You got along well with them, well, Venaro was more transactional, but you seemed to connect with the other two.”

Kayafe lightly chuckled.

“Venaro really wanted to know how to enhance [Manipulate Mana], but he seemed friendly enough.”

“So start there. Your people need you now more than ever, Kayafe. They will look up to you for guidance; they need you to give them purpose.”

* * *

“You’re leaving?!” Alexander asked, shocked at the news.

“Yes,” Kayafe nodded solemnly.

It had been three years, and the city was still being rebuilt. The Runalymo built their own settlement a few hours away, as did many of the freed slave races.

“Everyone is fearful they will just be made to serve Humans again if they continue to live in Human lands, so everyone voted on whether or not we should leave entirely. Almost everyone agreed to find our own kingdom so that we may never live under another race again.”

“Where will you go? All the land around us is already claimed.”

“Half of us want to settle in the Forest of Illusions, west of the Dwarven Land—”

“Are they crazy?! Half of them will die within the year; it’s too dangerous!”

“That’s what I said, but not everyone is willing to follow a ‘friend of the Human King.’”

Alexander leaned back in his chair with a sigh. “I suppose they are set in their decision?”

“Yes, they are willing to take the risks.”

“They won’t listen to anyone, I suppose. We can’t make them change their minds, not after they were recently freed. We will just have to let them go and hope they survive. But what about you? Where will you lead your followers? The continents to the north or south?”

“East.”

“East? The Leviathan Sea? There’s no land to be found at all; why go East?”

Kayafe sighed.

“Because my people want to go as far away as possible. It can’t go on forever, there has to be new land on the other side of the Leviathan Sea, and I can protect them. Hopefully, we’ll find virgin lands untouched by the hands of sapient races.”

“Do you really have to go? What if you find a land ruled by tyrants? Why take such a risk? If not this continent, then why not a neighboring one? We can come to your aid if you are closer!” Alexander pleaded. But Kayafe only shook her head.

“No, we need to find our own land. As long as there are more powerful races around us, we’ll only be at their mercy. For us to truly become our own people, we need land, however small, to be only for us.”

“I see. Then I wish you a safe journey, Kayafe.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kayafe looks like she hasn’t changed since he last saw her, even her classes and Bond haven’t increased much. What happened to cause her to stagnate for so long?

“Yes, it’s been too long, Kayafe.” Alexander smiles warmly.

“Emperor, Alysara only has three airships left; we need to help the others now,” Jordan says through the telepathic network.

Looking down Alexander sees the last of the Soul Lords being slain, the biggest threat is over, but it came at a hefty cost. Over sixty percent of his Oathbound have fallen in battle and the ones that remain are exhausted.

Two Earth Elementals have been slain, but there are still five more Elementals to deal with. They pose a major threat if they wander near a city, which at least one of them most certainly will. They will have to be slain, but there’s simply too many to fight on his own.

“Elizabeth, Jordan, engage the Elementals.”

”Yes, Emperor!” They teleport down and start working in tandem with the airships to fend off the Elementals.

“It seems like you need help,” Kayafe says.

“That I do. It will be just like the first one we fought, except I am serving the role that old Phoenix did.”

“We need to catch up after this,” Alexander says before turning his attention to his Knights. “Jonathan, how many more can you slay?”

“One, maybe two,” Jonathan struggles to say. “Their souls are so much stronger than anything I’ve encountered before, but the soul barrier backlash doesn’t compare to my training with the Pain Master.”

“Work with Jordan and Elizabeth to take out the one not engaged with the Fire Elementals.”

Challenging those Fire Elementals had been a really good idea. Apparently, Elementals of different elements don’t like each other, something he didn’t know. It helped to contain the freed Elementals.

Alexander teleports into the fray, helping Jordan restrict the Elemental. He wraps his bond around the rampaging being like chains and charges into the battle, shaving off earth and stone the size of buildings from the Elemental’s main body with each sword swing.

Kayafe suppresses its mana generation as much as she can, but she still isn’t as powerful as the Elemental. Regardless, her efforts are invaluable as it means the Earth Elemental can’t conjure mountains in seconds anymore, making it easier to disintegrate the Earth. All that needs to be done is to isolate the Elemental from the ground or restrain it long enough for Jonathan to cut its soul.

Considering that Jonathan needs the kill more than he, Alexander opted to simply restrain this one, plus he can get the Elemental heart that way.

The Elemental thrashes around, but being suppressed, it’s only a matter of time—

“Shit!” Alexander teleports just in time to deflect a stray ball of burning plasma away from three of his Knights. No, it wasn’t a stray shot; the Earth Elemental it was battling is running away, and now this Fire Elemental has set its sights on his Oathbound!

“I’m not going to let you!” Alexander shouts and teleports beneath it, ignoring the terrible heat, and launches it high into the sky, far above the raging mana storm generated by this battle. He’s going to have to hunt down the fleeing Earth Elemental, but he needs to deal with this one first.

Teleporting up, Alexander catches a burning star with his presence and snuffs it out with great effort. The Fire Elemental takes the opportunity to conjure seven lances of the hottest flames, so hot even the fabric of space burns around them and, like lasers, fires them at Alexander.

Alexander lets out a war cry, shouting as loud as he can and projecting his Bond forward and curving the trajectory of the fire lances so that they fly out into the sky.

Back and forth this goes as Alexander awaits the message of the Earth Elemental being slain, and several minutes later, he finally hears the chime of a world message.

Ting! Oathbound Jonathan, the Human, has slain an Earth Elemental!

“Jonathan, kill the Fire Elemental still fighting the Earth Elemental! Kayafe, Jordan, Lin, and Elizabeth, with me! Everyone else, wait for the opportunity to finish off the last Earth Elemental!”

“Yes, Emperor!”

Kayafe and the others teleport up to join the fight in the sky. Kayafe suppresses the Elemental while firing off several spells. Lin, with the help of the surviving mind mages, stuns the Elemental by attacking its mind while he, Jordan, and Elizabeth combine their powers to slowly chip away at it. They disintegrate the Elemental’s main body, a ball of intensely burning plasma, with each blow, faster than it can regenerate.

However, despite the onslaught of attacks, the Fire Elemental would not go down so easily. It spreads out its body, making it far more difficult to kill.

“We’ve crushed its mind,” Lin reports.

That should make it easier now. It would still be incredibly hard to slay; even if it can no longer retaliate, it still produces a lot of mana, but Kayafe is solving that problem.

“How long can you and the others last, Lin? You guys must have spent a lot of energy in the fight already, and by helping Jonathan.”

“We can last all day, Emperor!” Lin boasts, but Alexander knows that’s a lie he’s telling himself. Every Oathbound will fight to unconsciousness if they have to, but that’s too dangerous. He can hold off the Elementals himself if he has to, so his Knights should rest if they need.

“Everyone who needs to rest, do so while you can—”

However, before he can finish, a flood of ten messages interrupts him, messages of his Knights suddenly dying to Elves. Looking down and with a wave of his hand, he parts the storm and sees a group of Elf assassins battling and killing his weakened Knights!

“YOU COWARDLY ELVES!” Rage fills Alexander at this unjust action, and he channels his anger through his Bond. The sky quakes, and the earth shudders. Falling leaves halt, and gusts of air stop in their tracks as if time has stopped. The Elves freeze as if gripped by an invisible force as Alex’s presence seizes the entire land.

Space begins to crack as a ball of light manifests before beams shoot down and envelop the assassins. Three of them manage to get away, either by an item or their own power, but the others are utterly annihilated, erased from the land entirely.

He immediately feels weak and exhausted. Rationality returns to him as he realizes he has spent too much power. He didn’t even know he could do that, he even gained a dozen levels in his Bond, but this wasn’t the time to let his anger get the better of him.

He received several Legendary points from killing those assassins, which must have surely weakened what looks like their elite order of assassins, but he doesn’t need so many. He’s already got so many unspent points, and he simply doesn’t know what to do with them all; it would have been better for his Knights to get them.

Ting! Oathbound Elizabeth, the Human, has slain a Fire Elemental!

His outburst must have restrained the Fire Elemental he was just fighting too, enough that it could finally be slain. Once Jonathan kills the other Fire Elemental, it will just be the last remaining Earth Elemental and the other that ran away.