Chapter 410 - Hindered

While Aurus was making his way to the Seraph Kingdom as it was the closest kingdom to where he was approximately, in the Seraph Kingdom, something else was happening.

After Aurus had destroyed Vallachia City, King Zeldrion went ahead and asked those from the provinces to make their way to the Seraph Kingdom even faster. Although he knew that the chances of them being killed by Aurus would be increased at the kingdom since he had a feeling the latter would go all out after seeing so much people, he already made sure to prepare for this, appointing a few of his trusted men at the provinces that did not have that much strength to act as reconnaissance and tell King Zeldrion any signs of Aurus as soon as possible.

This was the plan that King Zeldrion had created after listening to Dalton's suggestion. In fact, even those that told King Zeldrion that Aurus might become a thorn to them said that the idea was great, giving them a chance of defeating The Great Calamity once and for all. 

With that, almost all of the people from the provinces surrounding the kingdom had arrived at the kingdom's capital itself, overworking most of the government that were related to the management of housing. Fortunately, thanks to the sheer size of the kingdom, all of the people had been fit inside homes, with most of the people that had to share their homes with others more or less finding it reasonable as they were told of The Great Calamity's malevolent deeds.

Surprisingly, even the princes helped out in the endeavor of making sure that every person coming from the province had a roof under their heads. Utilizing the various houses and buildings that some of them had ownership over, they allowed the people to stay temporarily, making others wonder as to what had possessed them to be so charitable, even though the war for the throne was only about 8 months away.

If one were to ask the princes regarding this question, then all of them would say that they were doing it for the sake of the kingdom's future and its citizens, which would surely make the populace love them. But of course, in reality, the main reason for most of them to do such a thing was because if The Great Calamity was successful in destroying the kingdom, then there was no point in the war for the throne anymore. Sure, they could be given the title of crown prince, but what was the point if the kingdom they would have control over in the future was destroyed?

With all of that happening, one and a half weeks had passed as King Zeldrion was at the highest point in the royal palace, watching over a great portion of the kingdom as he tapped on the railing of the balcony he was in. Although a solemn expression could be seen on his face, his consistent tapping on the railing showed that he was still anxious. Even though the ones he asked regarding Aurus said that the chances of them succeeding was quite high, he still could not help but doubt those words, which was the intrinsic nature of man.

Taking in a deep breath before letting out a long sigh, King Zeldrion was about to head back into the palace when one of the palace's attendants hurriedly ran towards him, the person's face showing that he had urgent news to tell him. After giving the king a respectful salute, the palace attendant then told King Zeldrion, "Your Majesty, we've received reports from one of our men that The Great Calamity has entered one of the provinces near the kingdom."

"Did he leave once he found out there were no people? Or did he destroy the whole province first before leaving the province?" King Zeldrion asked in response, to which the palace attendant replied, "According to the messages we've obtained from the other men that are surveying the empty provinces, after finding out that there were no people in the province, he then went to the next province, only to find out that there were none."

The man continued, "He only truly left the provinces after visiting all of the provinces at least once. As for what happened after that, the man Your Majesty has appointed to act as reconnaissance over the first province The Great Calamity entered said that it is heading in the general direction of the Seraph Kingdom."

Nodding in response to the palace attendant's words, King Zeldrion then told him, "Tell the mage team to activate the detection spell at full power. Remind them that we have to know of The Great Calamity's position at all times."

"Understood, Your Majesty." After bowing in front of the king, the palace attendant soon left King Zeldrion alone to himself once more as he conveyed the king's orders. As for King Zeldrion, he could not help but tap on the railing once more as he let out a light sigh, muttering to himself, "I hope this detection spell tracks The Great Calamity in time."

As preparation for the arrival of The Great Calamity to the kingdom he ruled over, King Zeldrion asked Dalton, the Supreme Sage of the Arcana Tower, to formulate a spell for him that would allow him to detect a certain entity over large distances. In response to his request, Dalton gave him a spell that allowed one to detect a target over a radius that was decided by the grade of Mana Stones being fed to it.

Well, to be more exact, what was given to him was not a detection spell, but instead an energy construct capable of detecting targets. With Rank 9 Mana Stones being the energy construct's full power, it was capable of detecting any entity it wished to within a radius of 500 kilometers. Of course, a great number of Rank 9 Mana Stones from the palace's reserves were used to achieve such a range. In any case, King Zeldrion had nothing to lose if the kingdom's existence was at stake.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, a cyan light covered the whole kingdom before continuing to expand beyond it, tinting the ground with a faint cyan hue. Seeing the energy construct being activated, King Zeldrion became slightly more at ease, only for him to tense up as a strand of energy soon entered his mind, telling him, "Your Majesty! We've received readings of a strong enemy appearing near the 500 kilometer border of the spell!"

"The enemy has access to a teleportation ability! At its current speed, it's moving at about 3 kilometers per second. It would arrive at the kingdom proper within 2 minutes at most, Your Majesty!"

Hearing the reports enter his mind with every passing second, King Zeldrion's expression turned solemn as he took in a deep breath, taking in every piece of information he received as he tried to formulate a plan wherein they'd be able to defeat or capture Aurus. After about ten seconds or so, King Zeldrion sent a strand of energy to another place while he continued to receive reports, telling the person that would receive the strand of energy, "Commander, I want you to deploy the 1st Regiment of the Royal Seraphim Forces right now. Intercept the entity that'll soon appear at these coordinates 100 kilometers away from the kingdom walls."

Not even a split second later, he received a strand of energy in response, asking him, "Your Majesty, I've relayed your command to the 1st Regiment and they're now making their way to the coordinate you've given us. Shall we make a preemptive move?"

"Wait for my next orders for now, Commander," King Zeldrion replied, sending back a strand of energy. "Even if the 1st Regiment loses against the enemy, it wouldn't be too late for us to make the next move."

With that, the fight to protect Seraph Kingdom from The Great Calamity has finally begun as King Zeldrion cut off the connection between him and the kingdom's commander. Letting out a light sigh, he then muttered to himself, bracing his head with a hand as he felt a headache incoming, "I may be the king of the Seraph Kingdom, but strategies really aren't my strong suit. If only Dalton was here."

"You called?" As if responding to his words, a voice soon resounded out from behind King Zeldrion, prompting the latter to look behind before jumping from shock as he exclaimed, "Gah! Dalton! How did you get here?"

"Hehehe. I'm a high-level mage. I have access to teleportation." In response to the king's reaction, Dalton merely smiled as he moved closer to the balcony's railing, looking over the whole kingdom that was slightly tinted with a light cyan hue. He then looked at King Zeldrion, who was still recovering from the shock he felt and said, "Your reaction from my response is passable. I'd give it at 4 out of 5."

"4 out of 5…4 out of 5, my ass!" Hearing how nonchalant Dalton was, King Zeldrion could not help but become angry, only to take in a deep breath as he already knew of his friend's eccentric personality. Lightly sighing, he then asked, "So, what brought you here?"

"Well, there's a chance that the Arcana Tower might be destroyed because of that being, so I was thinking of helping you out in defeating it," Dalton said in response, to which King Zeldrion could not help but find it confusing. "But isn't the Arcana Tower covered in barriers that can withstand even 1,000 Rank 9 class holders working together?"

"Have you ever thought about the possibility of the opponent being a Transcendent?" Dalton said, prompting King Zeldrion to shut up as he realized he had never thought about the possibility before. Although it has already been a long time for others, to King Zeldrion and Dalton, beings that had Rank 9 classes, such an event seemed like yesterday, barring the Transcendents from entering the world of Erudinia.

"So, you're thinking that this being is just a newly ascended Transcendent?" King Zeldrion asked, to which Dalton shrugged his shoulders in response. "There's a possibility. In any case, you've done the right choice. We'll formulate our second move once we see how the Royal Seraphim Forces fare against The Great Calamity."

Whoosh!

With that, a mirror made out of water soon appeared in front of the two before showing an image of the regiment that King Zeldrion commanded to deploy. From afar, they could see the silhouette of a dark red being gradually getting closer to the regiment, prompting both of them to look at the scene with a hint of trepidation.

…

Aurus, who was just making his way to the Seraph Kingdom to repeat what he had done to the various settlements he had destroyed, could not help but stop in his tracks as he noticed that a group of people numbering around 30 were standing just a few hundred meters ahead of him. Looking closer, he noticed that all of them were wearing the same uniform while all of them were covered in an intangible aura.

Compared to the various city leaders and higher-ups that he had fought, their intangible auras were nothing compared to the people in front of him, making him feel like he wasn't only fighting against 30 people, but instead 300. Nevertheless, he did not think of them as anything else but nuisances as he activated and allocated energy towards [Dark Universal Blade] and [Impenetrable Shield of Nil] before going ahead and activating [Supreme Deification].

Just as Aurus was about to teleport in front of him and hit them with one of the claws made out of blades, the group of people had surprisingly made the first move, dashing towards Aurus as they arranged themselves into an arrow formation. Then, extending the spears that were behind their backs all this time, they then channeled their intangible auras before shooting it out, forming a barrage of arrows.

"In the name of the Seraph Kingdom, we, the Royal Seraphim Forces, shall strike you down!"

"[Lesser Seraphim Art]!"

"[Tears of the Grieving Seraphim]!"