Meanwhile on the middle side of the kingdom, Jonus stepped out from his hiding spot and glared down from the roof of a really tall building.
He watched as the ground rankers flooded out from the middle tower, looking for the enemies. He knows something that he doesn't like, and he let out a sigh as he mumbled.
"This is not good..."
If he let these rankers from the middle tower reach the others, then they might have a hard time fighting all of them. Not even him can fight all of them and survive.
But, he stepped down anyway.
"Hello there, rankers!!"
Jonus shouted at the rankers running in front of him, and they all turned to see him.
Seeing that a suspicious black hooded man with a half face mask called out to them made them realize immediately that this guy is an enemy.
Merida and Albredo is also within this group, along with the other grounded level 1 rankers. Aside from the level 1 rankers, there are also other rankers that is also from the other levels.
This is a difficult battle for the Flame King…
But, Jonus kept on walking confidently while setting his arms ablaze. His entire body slowly got eaten by the flames, and even his hair is burning blue. His hood was long gone before the flames even came out, and his entire body is just glowing bright blue.
The rankers watched in awe and worry as the man lit himself in flames, but the ones receiving the heat were not him.
With a mad grin, Jonus opened his mouth again.
"Care to have a little fun…?"
.
Fran leaped from building to building while trying to dodge the attacks from the flying rankers. Sometimes she can't dodge, and she had to smack some magic attacks away with her sword.
Before long, she stopped her jumps and landed on a long building's roof. The flying rankers glared down at her. They are led by level 2 rankers, and they are very confident about it.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Mazino's Swordsaint…"
The front level 2 ranker spoke loudly, and Fran suddenly put off her stance. She took off the face mask and the hood, showing her beautiful hair and face.
"Looks like I have been caught… How did you know?"
"Anyone with that bright sword is you. That's already an unwritten rule."
"Oh..."
Fran glared at her sword, and he placed it back on her sword.
"See? No more sword."
She puts her mask and hood back up, and returns to her stance without the sword.
"Now you all have no idea who I am, right?"
"... How laughable. Kill her! She is weak without her sword!"
The flyers quickly moved in to attack at close range, but then Fran took a deep breath while closing her eyes. She opened it wide, and moved like the blue lightning she is.
The rankers got beaten down by lightning punches and kicks at high speed, and they all fell unconscious to the ground. Fran is now merely meters away from the level 2 ranker, but his friend shoved her away with his strong wind magic.
Fran managed to land and glared upwards, and now there's only three of them up in the air, and they are all level 2 rankers.
"Now, can you really beat us? Without your sword?"
"We shall see…"
The level 2 rankers dashed down while setting off their powerful attacks, but Fran merely stood still. It didn't take long before the entire area became bright as a heavy blue thunder strike struck the area.
.
On my side, Brod, Rath, and Emily have arrived and helped us.
"This way!"
The three led the way while beating some ground knights and rankers, while I simply stayed close to protect Lescia and Egile.
"There's one on the top left."
"On it."
Rath said to Emily, and she quickly fired a lightning conjured arrow at the archer on the roof. The archer got zapped by a million jolts of blue lightning, and he fell down to the ground along with his bow.
These three were specially trained together, and their teamwork is better than anyone. They really are the most powerful team.
"How far… is the exit?"
Lescia asked them while partially writhing. She can't keep running forever, since she has quite a weak physique. Rath realized that the path outside was still quite far, and they had no choice but keep on running unless they wanted to get attacked by the rankers.
Lescia…
I could have rushed out. I could have gone insane and just killed everyone. But, my mind is still worrying about the hostages.
Those villagers… where are they?
Then an idea came across my mind. It might be a stupid one, but it is currently the one I can think of.
"Rath!"
I quickly called out to Rath, and he immediately approached me.
Meanwhile, Emily and Brod are standing face to face with three rankers in front of us, but they weren't fighting at all. It's a deadlock, neither side wants to fight, because they know they will lose.
I used this chance and whispered the plan to Rath, and he immediately understood my plan.
"A-Are you sure?"
"Yes. The villagers are more important."
"Then, the princess..."
"I'll stay with her."
Lescia hugged my body almost immediately, making Rath and I very confused. But, I simply grinned.
I understood her reason, and I turned back to Rath.
"I'll protect her, don't worry."
Rath looked quite hesitating for a while, but then he nodded at me. He quickly turned to the others, specifically to Emily.
"We are leaving."
"What!?"
Ignoring the shocked Emily, Rath turned around and shouted at me.
"Captain! We are leaving this to you!"
Brod quickly grabbed the knight captain by the back of his collar and pulled him like a cat towards Emily, who was already closing her eyes and focused.
She conjured the wind force around her to lift them up. Like in fairy tales, Emily and the others flew away like fairies while the rankers and the knights on the ground tried to shoot them.
Seeing that the enemies had flown away, they turned to the ground where me and Lescia were supposed to be standing, but we disappeared from that place long before Emily even went airborne.
"Where did they go!?"
"I don't know?? Up?!"
"No, idiot! There were two more! Search around!"
The knights commanded, and the rankers along with the other knights searched the large road for signs of me and Lescia.
But, the two of us have already left that area.
Meanwhile on the middle side, Jonus is fighting the battle of his life as four level 1 rankers are pushing him really badly.
His entire body is cladded in wounds, but his flames are still burning densely. The other rankers were slightly covered in burn wounds as well, but no one was as damaged as Jonus.
"Come on! Is this all the power a rank 1 can offer!?"
The rankers became even more pissed. Merida shot more invincible attacks at Jonus, and he couldn't dodge it at all since he couldn't see it. More flesh wounds can be seen on his left knee and right arm.
"Tch! That invincible attack is annoying!"
Jonus exploded the fireball in his hand and threw flames everywhere. Simply the heatwave alone can melt a man's skin, and they managed to push the rankers back.
"What should we do? This guy is dangerous."
Albredo asked, but the other rankers had no idea what to do.
Suddenly, a loud sound of the wind gushing can be heard from above as a giant boulder fell from the sky.
Brod throws the giant boulder he lifted from the ground towards the level 1 rankers while the group is closing in on Jonus from the skies.
Jonus saw that the ones coming were friendly, so he quickly opened a flame wall behind him for the others to get close. Once they were closer, he noticed something odd.
"Where is the princess?!"
"We have to leave those two! Captain got a plan."
"Damn it, chicks with their secrets!!"
BOOMM!!!
Jonus boosted himself up and landed on Emily's airplane. He immediately sat down cross-legged on Emily's invisible wind platform.
"You looked battered up."
Rath commented, and Jonus can only snort.
"Those people are level 1s... I'd like to see any of you guys do any better."
"I can do better."
Emily suddenly said with a grin, Jonus simply turned to her and chuckled.
He then recalled when he got beaten so easily by Rize earlier, and he realized something that he disliked.
"What is up with the newer generation… geez."
The invincible airplane then continued flying in the air while looking for their allies. They came across Fran who just finished beating a group of level 2 rankers. She immediately leaped up and joined the invisible airplane.
They conversed for a while as they flew towards the southern side.