Chapter 122: 74

Chapter 74: Amid the Smoke and Rain

"Brother Erwin, you're back!" Christine paid no heed to everyone else as she dove headfirst into Erwin's arms. Erwin had only just gotten off his horse, and he was almost knocked over by Christine's enthusiasm.

Onean took an indifferent glance at Erwin upon seeing this.

"I am, Christine," Erwin said with a wry smile as he patted Christine on the shoulder. "Looks like we'll have to trouble you again."

For some reason, the sight of the tearful Christine evoked a sense of sorrow deep in his heart. However, the fact that the airship was still in Xeto was the first piece of good news that he had received in the past few days.

"What's going on? Do you need to use the airship again?" Christine asked in a curious manner.

"We do. One of our friends has been injured, and I'll have to trouble you to take her back to Sarus," Erwin replied.

"That's all I need to know? That's not an issue at all," Christine said with a smile. "You left so much money for me last time, I have to return that favor somehow."

Upon his departure from Xeto a few days ago, Erwin hadn't taken all of the Loonies with him. Instead, he had left 20,000 Loonies for Christine. His logic was that all he needed to take with him was enough money to support the Four Winds mercenary legion for the next two months. Little did he know that he wasn't going to need anywhere near that much.

"What? You think taking someone back to Sarus for me is enough to repay the favor?" Erwin chuckled. "You really are a shrewd businesswoman, aren't you?"

"Of course," Christine replied with a pleased smile, then asked, "What about you? Are you not going back to Sarus?"

"We're also going back to Sarus, but we're in quite a hurry, so it would be too slow to travel by airship," Erwin replied with a resigned expression.

Christine nodded in response, then cast a glance toward Onean. The fact that even the princess was in such a hurry to get back to Sarus was a clear indication to her that the war had ended very badly. In fact, she was already speculating that perhaps the king was no longer of this world.

She then turned back to Erwin as she sighed, "Of course it's slow with all of this armor plating installed onto it. On top of that, it's very heavy and difficult to maneuver in its current form, which is why I'm getting all of the armor plating removed. I'm sure it'll be a lot faster and more maneuverable once I'm done."

Erwin raised his head to take a look, upon which he discovered that around half of the armor plating installed onto the airship had already been removed.

"Make sure you don't throw these pieces of armor plating away. I don't know what type of material they're forged from, but they have exceptional defensive properties. They may be a little heavy, but they could come in very useful in the future," Erwin said.

"Don't worry, Brother Erwin, all of the pieces of armor plating that have been removed have already been stored beneath the deck of the airship," Christine replied with a smile while thinking to herself that both she and Erwin seemed to be quite miserly and resourceful.

"Christine, I have to give you a word of warning. This trip to Sarus most likely isn't going to be a peaceful one," Erwin said as he swept his gaze through the surrounding area. "Why do I not see your father here? Do you want to consult his opinion about this before you make a decision?"

By the time the airship arrived at Sarus, perhaps the soldiers of Burmen would've already made it to the capital city, and Erwin didn't want Christine and her father to be unnecessarily swept up into this war.

"It's alright, I've always been the one making the decisions," Christine said. "I can tell from your expression that this is quite a difficult matter for you, so that's even more reason to help you. If I don't help you in your time of need, how would I be able to repay you for what you did for me and my father?"

Erwin nodded in response, then suddenly ducked down and whispered urgently into Christine's ear, "There's no time to remove the rest of the armor plating. You have to return to Sarus as quickly as possible. The situation is extremely urgent, and speed is of the utmost importance, so make sure you don't delay. I'll be waiting for you at Sarus."

Christine was a little bewildered to hear this, but she still nodded firmly in response. At the same time, the fact that Erwin had whispered this to her clearly indicated that he didn't want someone here to hear what he was saying, and she couldn't help but wonder who exactly he was keeping this from.

"Carry Gwen down from the horse," Erwin said as he turned to Kaiba. "You can go back with her on the airship. Her injuries are quite severe, so she'll need someone to look after her. This is where we'll part ways for now."

After bidding farewell to Kaiba and Christine, Erwin hurriedly left the city together with Onean.

By then, Francis had already delivered the supplies that Erwin had requested to the foot of the mountain. All of the remaining members of the Four Winds mercenary legion were eating dry rations in an exhausted manner, and Erwin heaved an internal sigh upon seeing this, but he knew that it still wasn't time to rest yet. If they wanted to be able to rest in relative comfort, then they would have to at least leave the state of Burmen first.

"This is where we part ways then, Mayor Hugh," Erwin said as he turned his gaze toward Francis.

"Take care," Francis replied in a solemn voice, and his gaze was lingering on Onean.

As for Onean herself, she was looking out at the provincial road leading to Newen in the northwest, seemingly absorbed in her own thoughts.

Looking at just how obviously enamored Francis was with Onean, Erwin couldn't help but feel a little amused. At the same time, it was most likely only thanks to Francis's attraction toward Onean that they were able to leave Xeto safely.

...

Thus, following an order from Erwin, the unit of several dozen mercenaries continued on their long and depressing return journey.

Francis stood atop the city wall, watching as Onean rode away into the distance, and he couldn't help but lament the fact that he couldn't provide her with any more assistance. All he could do was watch as she came and went, forever unable to express his feelings to her.

"You know, Mayor Hugh isn't a bad guy," Erwin suddenly said as he turned toward Onean.

"What are you trying to say?" Onean asked in a cold voice without even taking a glance at Erwin.

"There were quite a few people back in Xeto who saw us enter the city, many of whom are soldiers serving under Lazaar. I'm afraid he's most likely going to be punished for letting you go so easily," Erwin said with a wry smile.

"I don't have the time or energy to be worrying about anyone else right now," Onean replied in an expressionless manner.

Looking at her expression, Erwin knew that she wasn't interested in talking, so he fell silent and focused on the road ahead.

For some reason, even though it had been bright and sunny just a moment ago, rain suddenly began to fall. In the beginning, it was only a very light shower, but it didn't take long before the rain became heavier and heavier. It was currently near the end of winter and the beginning of spring, and the cold rain falling upon everyone gave them an even more dejected and solemn appearance.

Before noon had even struck, the group had already arrived at the southern side of Newen.

Erwin cast a careful gaze toward the city wall, then immediately raised his arm, making a hand signal for everyone to stop. Thus, everyone in the Four Winds mercenary legion immediately pulled on the reins in their hands.

A string of loud neighs rang out as the weary horses drew to a halt.

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Erwin wore a cold expression as he looked ahead at the row of Burmen soldiers in the distance. At a rough visual estimate, there were around 1,000 soldiers in total, and his expression changed ever so slightly at the sight of the red-haired woman the soldiers were being led by, but he then quickly adopted an expressionless facade again.

"Sherry, get everyone to protect Her Highness and travel to Windmetal Fort. I'll take care of them," Erwin said in a cold voice, then began to ride forward atop his steed on his own.

"Have you gone insane?" Onean yelled as she immediately rose up from the back of her horse, then pulled out her staff, and with a gentle flick of her wrist, light began to surge along the entire length of the staff. Immediately thereafter, a protective shield was conjured up in front of the mercenary legion. She executed the entire sequence in a very smooth and effortless manner, and it was impossible to tell that she had already traveled in a state of exhaustion for an entire night.

"Fire!" Lana immediately ordered as she cast a cold gaze toward Onean.

The 1,000 Burmen cavaliers each raised an arm in unison, thereby raising the angle at which the crossbows on their arms were aligned, following which a volley of arrows was fired.

"Run!" Onean yelled at everyone behind her as she continued to support the protective shield with her magic power.

However, what she had failed to take into account was that this was still Erwin's mercenary legion, so Lanyon and Sherry only answered to him.

"Sherry, get the mercenaries wearing Falcon Beak Lizard scale armor to the front! Hurry! Lanyon, take all of the remaining magicians with you and cover us from the sky!"

Erwin knew that a battle was unavoidable here.

After receiving Erwin's orders, Sherry and Lanyon immediately began to organize what little remained of their mercenary legion.

While the first few volleys of arrows were being kept at bay by the protective shield conjured up by Onean, Sherry and the several dozen martial artists clad in suits of Falcon Beak Lizard scale armor adopted their positions at the forefront of the unit.

Right at this moment, a burst of black light swept toward Erwin and his group at an alarming speed. Upon closer inspection, Erwin discovered that it was a black wyrm shrouded in a layer of azure flames.

Erwin knew that this was Lana's Arcane Inferno Black Dragon spell.

During the battle on the Marrod Plain, Lana was the grand magic mentor who had expended the least magic power among all of the participating parties. Most of the time, she had been protecting Mistress Faye, and aside from unleashing that Arcane Black Phoenix to oppose Piro's white phoenix spell, there were no other instances where she had to expend large amounts of magic power.

Near the conclusion of the battle, she had many opportunities to strike down Erwin, but she couldn't bring herself to do so in the end. This was also why Erwin had urged everyone else to escape while he faced Lana's army alone. He was gambling that Lana would let him go once again.

Even though this wasn't an all-out attack from Lana, it was still powerful enough to break through Onena's protective shield. After all, Onean was already a spent force. After unleashing that astonishing storm of fire in the sky above the Marrod Plain, her reserves of magic power had already run out. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had so much trouble dealing with Lana's sword array. The protective shield that she had conjured up was nothing more than a bluff that was only capable of warding off the oncoming arrows, but was no match for Lana's powerful spells.

The ferocious black wyrm pierced directly through the defensive line of mercenaries, and all of the mercenaries who were even slightly grazed by the azure flames burning on its body were instantly devoured by black arcane energy.

Right as the black wyrm tore through the protective shield in front of Onean, a partial light shield suddenly appeared in front of her, shielding her from the attack.

Lana was furious upon seeing her black wyrm being stopped in its tracks.

How many times has he saved that silver-haired vixen's life? she thought to herself in a resentful manner, and spurred on by her fury and jealousy, she increased her magic power output into the black wyrm.

Right as the black wyrm was about to tear through Erwin's partial light shield, a halberd came flying through the air right behind it.

The halberd had been hurled by Aiden, and it was a powerful strike that even his father would've been proud of.

It was clear that even Lana hadn't anticipated this turn of events, and she looked on with alarm and horror as the halberd hurtled directly toward Erwin.

On the previous occasion, Aiden wasn't able to pierce through Erwin's hand with his attack, but on this occasion, he succeeded where he had failed last time.

"Argh!" A cry of excruciating pain escaped from between Erwin's lips, and he was only able to stop the halberd before it pierced through his chest by grabbing tightly onto its shaft with his other hand.

His plan was to absorb the energy of the Arcane Inferno Black Dragon using the space-time rifts around the partial light shield, but he also failed to anticipate that Lana's spell would be followed by a flying halberd. Even though he was already using all of his magic power to ward off the attack, he was still unable to stop it. During the past couple of days, his magic power had been severely taxed, so there really wasn't much that he could muster up in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Onean skirted around from behind him to inspect his injury, upon which she caught sight of the gruesome wound on his hand.

There was a look of murderous fury in her golden eyes, and it looked as if she wanted to go and fight Lana and Aiden to the death. Erwin put on a feeble smile as he consoled, "I'm fine, but I'll probably have to change my staff-wielding hand in the future."

After that, he gritted his teeth and used his left hand to pull out the halberd, upon which let loose another involuntary cry of pain. Blood was gushing out of the palm of his right hand, which was trembling uncontrollably, and the blood was mixing with the cold rain falling from the sky before flowing down his fingertips.

Sherry cast a concerned glance toward Erwin's injured hand, then hurriedly yelled, "Get away from here, Master Erwin! I'll hold them off while you escape!"

He then turned to the remaining mercenaries around him as he yelled, "Hold your formations! We need to cover Master Erwin!"

"Sherry's right, Master Erwin, you need to get out of here! We'll hold off the enemy for now!" Lanyon also yelled down at Erwin from above.

Erwin cast his gaze toward the rain and mist in the northeast, and he discovered that there were even more troops approaching from that direction. He knew that if he were to remain here for much longer, the entire unit would be entirely wiped out.

Thus, he pulled back the halberd in his left hand, then hurled it viciously toward Aiden. As soon as the halberd left his grasp, he grabbed onto Onean's hand and pulled her onto the saddle of his horse, then galloped on horseback toward the southwest without so much as a single backward glance.

Aiden caught the oncoming halberd, and he was just about to set off in pursuit, only to find that Lana had reacted even faster than him, having already bolted forward on the back of her steed.

She drew a pair of semi-circles in the air with both of her slender hands, and two bright red whips of light swept through the air, leaving lethal arcs in their wake, instantly knocking over all of the mercenaries in her path.

Lana didn't spare even a single glance at the felled mercenaries as she sped right past them on her horse.

Lanyon and the magicians in the sky wanted to intercept her, but they were unable to do anything against the bombardment of instant-release spells she unleashed up toward them.

Aiden looked on as his sister sped into the rain and mist in the distance, and he couldn't help but heave a faint sigh. It was clear that Lana was still far from getting over Erwin.

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