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nAs much as they wanted to help, the wounds that Nakin and his squad suffered had been healed, but they still weren’t in their best shape. Aleni was also in the same condition, so they would sit this one out and work together in groups around the city to make sure that Elkim, Helen, or Perkis wouldn’t try to run away. While Nakin and the others weren’t so sure that was the best of plans, they didn’t voice their worries since Aleni was acting like everything would be just fine.

nZaos didn’t want to kill people because he was worried about Milliendra and because the world would need all the help to win against the demon god. Still, he didn’t have to worry about that now because traitors and greedy bastards were, most likely, the ones who would side with the demon god, anyway. So, when the sun rose in the next morning, Zaos walked toward the town by himself.

nAfter a couple of hours, Zaos finally could see the town and a massive army waiting outside for him. Zaos had also never seen so many siege weapons before… not even if he put all those he destroyed in the wars he fought in his youth. Still, that didn’t faze him.

nThe mercenaries had heard what the target had done, and they had heard of his accomplishments over the years as well. It was their golden chance to kill a famous former hero that now had become the most wanted man in the world. Still, some of them couldn’t believe in everything they had heard. It was common for kings and queens to manipulate information to create their own heroes to calm down the masses, after all.

nThat being said, they didn’t expect that the target would appear while walking nonchalantly toward them. Zaos looked big enough even without the armor, and that was the sign that he had a well-trained body. Still, he didn’t look big enough to take down hundreds of enemies in a matter of minutes… aside from the old rumors, only a few people had seen Zaos fight up-close. None of them was among the mercenaries.

n“I suppose Drannor might have told those three everything he knows about me…” Zaos muttered and then lowered his head while he was advancing.

nZaos had been holding back all the anger and frustration that he had accumulated over the last few weeks. Still, he decided that it was time to let those explode… he almost could feel some pity toward the poor mercenaries that will die today… almost.

n“Come to think of it, once I defeat those three, their territories will belong to me,” Zaos said. “This won’t make up for what they have done to my mercenaries, but I suppose it is a start.”

nZaos and Aleni could no longer try things the same way as before, and now that things escalated this much, Zaos could tell that the demon god’s arrival was quickly approaching… Considering that he waited for almost twenty-five centuries to achieve his goals, Zaos was pretty sure that he could barely contain himself from returning.

nNevertheless, when Zaos entered their range, he saw the catapults being ready to be used. He could have destroyed them, but they are going to become his after this battle, so there was no point in damaging them. Several boulders were thrown toward him, but Zaos watched them approaching without a care in the world. Two of them landed twenty meters away from him, but the third finally was about to hit the mark. The massive boulder raised a curtain of dust when it fell, but in the end, after a couple of seconds, Zaos left the curtain of dust completely unscathed. The mercenaries frowned when they saw him clearing the dust from his clothes…

nAfter a brief moment of shock, the mercenaries tried again and again. Boulders, dead cows, balls of cow’s ** on fire… they used everything they could to attack Zaos, but dozens of siege weapons didn’t get even close to hitting him. It was true that siege weapons were better against large armies and fortresses, but to think that dozens of them still wouldn’t hit a single man… that was insane. The mercenaries unsheathed their weapons while starting to think that the legends and rumors about Zaos were more accurate than lies. Not to mention, he was carrying a short sword on his waist, and a large one on his back like it was nothing… When the archers finally stepped forward to do their thing, Zaos equipped the sword he used in his days in the army… he never gave it a name, but he began to wonder if he shouldn’t… if one was the guardian’s heart, the other could be the guardian’s brain, but it didn’t fit the image of the weapon.

n“How about… the Guardian’s Sentence?” Zaos asked himself. “It seems a bit edgy, but I guess it is fine.”

nZaos used his ice magic and increased the length of his greatsword, and he also added a layer of ice in the handle to protect his hand. Once that was done, he raised the weapon and blocked the hundreds of arrows that began to fall around him. Every single spot around Zaos got hit, but Zaos himself walked without suffering a single scratch. That also made the mercenaries realize that Zaos indeed was a top-rank mage… probably the best of his time. The ice he created didn’t suffer a single scratch even after hundreds of arrows hit his sword. Eventually, the archers changed the angles of their arrows, but that didn’t help them in hitting Zaos from the front.

nThe massive army was divided into twenty battalions of five hundred, and five of those stepped forward with tower shields and long spears. They only took the place of the archers and didn’t move forward. Instead of that, two battalions of light infantrymen left the sides of their formation and then began to march toward Zaos. Once that was done, Zaos equipped Guardian’s Heart…

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