Chapter 357 - 357. Pursuit Catching On
Bailey assigned two soldiers to accompany the prince as they continued to flee, while the rest turned around and engaged the chasing army. Bailey brandished her spear and made successive thrusts. Uncountable images of spears made of wind slashed through the orc soldiers one after another, stopping them on their tracks. Bailey especially targeted their mounts which fell with just one or two hits from her spear. The other soldiers spread out and made sure that none of the orcs could chase the prince.
As Bailey was stabbing one orc after another, a loud roar suddenly erupted, making the ears of everyone in the vicinity hurt. A large orc leaped forward at Bailey, swinging his large two-handed hammer down. Bailey did not want to be careless in accepting the blow of this powerful-looking hammer. She backstepped a few times as the heavy hammer slammed into the ground, which then erupted into several large pikes that thrust outwards. If Bailey did not retreat, she would have been impaled by these earth pikes.
??
"I am Hubesi Loudroar! State your name before I kill you!" The orc declared.
"I am Bailey, the prince's guard, and I will not let you take one step further," Bailey exclaimed.
Jack who was still running around alternating between being a bait and attacker at the rear line, noticed the disturbance on the distant battlefield. His Dragon's Eye skill allowed him to see very far. Though not as good as John's binoculars, he could still see several groups of humans getting chased by the orcs. He saw Prince Alonzo amongst one of these groups.
At this time, the orc's left-wing that disengaged from the battlefield was almost upon them. John had asked all the teams to rush to the right side. He had mostly arranged for everyone to wreak havoc at the left and center side of the orc's supply carts. The right side which had been left alone had very few defenders at this moment. They were to deliver a concentrated blitz attack on the right side and destroyed as many of the supply carts as possible, then ran away before the left-wing army got to them.
While the others were galloping to where John commanded them to, Jack turned the other way.
"Expert, where are you going? You do know the 3 o'clock direction, don't you? Or do you suddenly suffer from a case of idiotic syndrome?" John called out.
"Sorry, I leave the rest to you all. I have to go to the prince's aid!" Jack replied, ignoring the sarcasm.
"Do what you must. Everyone, continue onward!" Now was not the time for argument. Time was short, so John just proceeded without Jack.
Jack was not doing this out of impulse as well. He knew that destroying the supply carts was the key to their victory, but losing the prince would also make the entire expedition losing its long-run goal. Not to mention, he had been given the quest to safeguard the prince by the Royal Advisor. Now was the time to fulfill this given duty.
Jack watched as Lieutenant Bailey stayed behind to stop the pursuing orcs together with a large portion of the soldiers. The prince continued to run with two guards. No, there was another one, riding at their heel not far away. He focused his sight and recognized this last one as Ronnie. He urged his team to hurry as they ride toward where the prince was heading.
Prince Alonzo continued to urge his steed to gallop. He tried to turn to the East, but there were some orcs on that side shadowing in the distance. He could only turn westward, getting further from the main army.
Bailey won't be able to hold all the chasing orcs, some still slip through. There were already four of them closing in. In this hot pursuit, the prince seemed to lose direction in this expansive desert. He didn't know which way to go. His indecision caused the pursuit party to catch up.
The two guards that followed him put themselves forward to block the orcs. The four orcs didn't rush to get the prince as they dealt with the two guards.
"Your Highness, run!" One of the guards yelled.
"But…" Prince Alonzo was hesitant.
"Prince, you have to go, now!" The other guards exclaimed.
Prince Alonzo steeled his heart to flee, but as he turned around, a shadow abruptly crashed onto him. He felt his steed suffered quick successive attacks before it fell. This rare steed of his despite having a large amount of HP, had already been continuously bombarded by range attacks while he was on the run. These last sudden attacks had finally claimed its life.
The prince looked up and saw Ronnie. "You!"
Ronnie unmounted, "I'm sorry, prince. Please don't take this personal. I'm just carrying out order."
"Order? From who?"
"Do you even need to ask?"
"You… traitor! Is Samuel in on this?"
"That dumb geezer? No, he is as thick as a dolt, stubborn bastard. Same as my family, do they think they will get a happy ending serving a losing prince? I am doing this to save them. Otherwise, once the crown prince takes the throne, it will be my family that is going to suffer. I have to do something about it."
"Save me your excuses. You are just doing this out of greed, do not pretend it is for the sake of others," Prince Alonzo spat in disgust.
"Hehe, you are right. Well, then let's get this over with," Ronnie brandished his sword and attacked the prince, who had long prepared his sword and shield.
Ronnie was a level 35 Elite. While the prince was a level 26 Special Elite, one level more compared to when he left the capital. Although his higher grade and excellent equipment helped him to cope with Ronnie for a while despite 9 levels lower, Ronnie's experience eventually gave him the upper hand. The light-green sword in his hand seemed to be not simple as well, it might have been given by the crown prince for this assassination purpose.
Prince Alonzo felt his speed growing slower, and his HP also gradually decreased even when he did not suffer any hit. He looked at his wounds which Ronnie had managed to land on several occasions. There were some green blisters on the skin around the wound.
"You… your sword is poisoned?" Prince Alonzo asked upon realization.
"Please just accept your fate, prince," Ronnie said as he thrust out.
The prince managed to dodge despite his body's heaviness, but suddenly another slash came from the other direction and hit him cleanly. Prince Alonzo stumbled back as he lost a significant amount of HP. He looked and saw Ronnie was holding a saber in his left hand.
Ronnie was wielding two weapons. He had been attacking with only one sword all this time, the sudden appearance of his saber had caught the prince off guard and scored him a critical. He was grinning with success so close. If he could bring the prince's head back for the crown prince, he would be awarded an even better reward than having the prince died at the hand of the orcs. He had been working so long to find this opportunity, he must thank the orcs for this. If not for their assault, he did not know how long still he had to wait.
He was about to resume his attacks when someone lunged at him. It was one of the guards that were holding down the orc pursuers. He was full of wounds and had very low HP already. Ronnie evaded his desperate attack.
"Prince, run!" He called out. A heavy axe slash landed on the guard's back after his shout. He fell to the ground. The two orcs that were fighting with him before had come over. One of them saw Ronnie and charged at him.
"Hey, I am on your side!" Ronnie exclaimed.
"Scheming human, do you think me stupid?" The orc said as he resumed his attacks.
"You dumb orc! Didn't you see me fighting with the prince a moment ago?" Ronnie cursed, incensed by the orc's stubbornness.
The other orc was going for the prince, but something grabbed at his leg. He looked down and saw the dying human was clinging to his leg tightly with both hands.
"Prince, go…!!!" He called out with all his strength.
Prince Alonzo could not bear to let the guard's dying effort be in vain. He turned around and ran as fast as he could. However, the poison in his blood slowed his movement. He had drunk an antidote to alleviate the poison, but this poison was not a common one. Although his HP had stopped decreasing, his body still felt weak and heavy.
He took out a second mount whistle after putting a little distance, he did not want his mount to get attacked again. Every one of the cavalry troops had been given two mount whistles. Although this spare one was not as good as his previous one, it was better than nothing. He quickly mounted up.
As he was about to ride off, he watched in despair as several orcs on mount appeared in front of him. He turned to his left and right, there were also orcs there. He had been surrounded.