Leona and Krieg were escorted back to the surface by Lest. The ship was still in the same spot without any signs of being tampered with.

  With her knight’s help, the princess climbed back on it and looked at Lest one last time.

  “Thank you for your service, Lest.”

  “I should be the one thanking you, Princess Leona.” He held a firm smile on his face. “Bring that monster down, maybe then we can have a long lasting peace between our kingdoms.”

  She nodded.

  “I will. I promise you.”

  But before she could fully turn around, the soldier voiced his concern.

  “One last thing you should know, Princess.” Lest warned. “During the battle, there was a goat monster that kept attacking the Arcadian army. We couldn't find any trace of it, but it’s probably hiding itself in the Great Forest. Be careful if you end up going there.”

  She nodded once again.

  “I will keep that in mind.”

  “She’s here! Seize her ship!”

  Lest quickly pulled up his hood and readied his rifle.

  “Go! I’ll keep them busy.”

  Leona turned to Krieg and shouted.

  “To Arcadia!”

  The ship’s propellers started to spin until they were off the ground and in a few seconds they were taking to the skies. The men below tried to shoot at them, but Lest was proving to be more than a match for them on the ground with his fast cycling of the bolt action rifle.

  But something was wrong, looking down, the soldiers began to run instead of trying to stop the ship. Leona looked over the back of the helm and noticed something move amidst the rubbled city.

  There was a flash and then darkened smoke before eventually an explosion shook the ship.

  “Full speed ahead!” She shouted atop her lungs. “They got cannons!”

  “At once!”

  Krieg cranked the lever to its maximum speed. Leona lost her footing and hit the wooden railing with her shoulder as she peeked over it. Multiple plumes of dark smoke started to emerge from the middle of the city and more explosions burst near them.

  She raised Avalon and focused. Mana started to unravel from her wrist and staff before creating a mesh of light blue hexagons. With a burst of mana, Leona made those hexagons take shape into solid mana and one of the shells fired at them detonated midair, exploding right against her protective barrier.

  The shattered mana wall absorbed most of the impact but it made the ship wobble sideways violently. Another shell exploded on their right side—shrapnel tore right through the propeller and the ship started to spin while also losing height.

  “We’re going down!”

  Krieg shouted as he was trying to hold the ship steady.

  “Hold onto me Krieg!” She yelled through the deafening sound of machinery and the knight let go of the wheel, holding her body tight. “You’ve got to jump out of it!”

  He looked at the side the propeller stopped working and ran towards it before taking the leap. The ship crashed loudly into a ghastly blue explosion while Krieg and Leona were left in a free fall towards the forest below.

  “Clench your teeth!”

  Leona screamed as she aimed Avalon towards the forest. Mana flowed from her core towards the center of her staff. The prismatic orb within the dragon talon’s grasp started to emit an intense green glow as she unleashed a blast of wind that gradually became stronger and stronger—slowing their fall just enough that when they hit the treeline below, none of their bones broke.

  Krieg broke through branches and leaves as he shielded Leona all the way down to the ground. His back hit the forest floor with an unusual thud as if he was wearing some sort of armor. Leona shakily stood up and asked.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah.” He replied nonchalantly as he patted his clothes. “Dragon Aspect does wonders to protect the body.”

  With one smooth motion, he arced his back and swung his legs—standing on his feet. After adjusting the shield on his back, he looked around. They were in the middle of the forest with no visible trail in sight.

  “What do we do now?” He asked.

  Leona first looked at the crashed ship—the mana engine had gone up in flames. The blue glow and sickly scene of ozone in the middle of the forest was a sure way to tell where they had crashed.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  “We should create some distance from here.” She looked up at the sun amidst the canopy and then pointed to the opposite side, where the shadows stretched. “Let’s go this way.”

  “Got it.”

  Krieg unsheathed Arondight and held his shield strapped to his left arm. He took the lead while Leona kept an eye on their surroundings.

  “Do you know the area around here, Krieg?”

  “Not really. I was never assigned to patrol the outskirts of the capital.”

  “I see. Is there anything we should be worried about?”

  “Outside of patrols? Not much. Maybe the occasional bear but nothing more dangerous than that.”

  “Right… then we should expect patrols, bears—or that thing Lest mentioned.”

  “What thing?”

  “A goat monster from what he said. I vaguely remember hearing a few soldiers comment about it the last time we were here.”

  “A goat monster they say…”

  “It’s good to keep it in the back of the mind just in case.”

  He nodded.

  Krieg pushed through the thicket as if it were nothing, but Leona was having a bit of trouble even while following his footsteps. The high grass and soft ground made for a poor environment for trekking without proper balance, but she managed to keep her pace behind him.

  “Krieg.”

  “Yes?”

  “Did my father ever tell you anything about his past with the Lorraines?”

  “No.” He swung Arondight to clear some of the tall grass to help his liege move easier. “The only order lord Jean left me with was to protect you.”

  “I see…”

  “Why do you ask? Are you having second thoughts?”

  “I wouldn’t say second thoughts, but I find all of this to be strange.”

  “Strange? How so?”

  “Even if Alexander wanted to take revenge on my father. Why would he try to capture me alive first? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Do madmen even need a reason?”

  “I thought the same when I heard it from Kaeli, but it still bothers me. He clearly meticulously planned everything up until the siege at our household and yet he sought to capture me specifically.”

  A low growl could be heard from the thicket ahead of them. Making both of them stop and ready their weapons. Leona tried to look forward from behind the knight, but she couldn’t see anything with the grass blocking her view.

  “What was that…?” She asked.

  “I don’t know. It’s just up ahead.” He raised the shield in front of his body. “What do we do now?”

  “Do you think you can handle a death angel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then press forward.”

  He nodded and started to slowly make his way through the grass. Leona followed closely behind him.

  The knight’s foot broke through the thicket into a clearing. The stench of blood instantly hit his nose and beyond the tall grass was a lumbering death angel.

  Just as tall as Krieg and twice as muscular, the death angel had its back turned to the knight. He was readying to unleash a strike of blade energy when both of the beast’s arms were grappled by large dark claws.

  ‘What-?!’

  He instinctively raised his shield and a roar erupted from beyond the death angel. The angelic beast’s arms were torn off with a deafening rip of muscles, sinew, and bones.

  The death angel turned around with its arms flaying purple blood around as it tried to flee. Krieg witnessed its vertical maw lined up with serrated teeth as it ran at him, but its body was suddenly slapped away to the left with so much force that it crashed against a nearby tree with a multitude of cracking bones before it fell limp on the ground.

  His eyes snapped back to what had swatted a fully grown death angel like a fly. The monster had roughly the same size as the angelic beast. Two thighs with twice the thickness of his arms ended in two distinct hooves; its upper body was covered in black fur that served as both insulation and natural padded armor; its goat face housed two beady red eyes glowing with rage.

  When it saw Krieg, it lowered its stance with both claws digging into the dirt as if it was ready to pounce at the knight. Leona peeked from behind the knight and her eyes widened in surprise.

  The beast was absolutely massive. One swing of its claws would surely kill her.

  “Krieg! Don’t let it charge!”

  “On it!”

  Krieg led the charge with his shield aimed at the beast’s face. Its red eyes and horizontal irises stared him down as it had to abandon its low stance or risk getting hit square in the face by his shield.

  Its left arm tensed up and slashed against his shield. The sharp claws snagged against the angled edge and the beast tried to rip it away from his arm.

  Krieg flexed his legs and kept his left arm locked in place. He then lifted Arondight and stabbed the monster’s other hand. With a terrifying growl, the beast backed away—deep red blood sprayed on the grass.

  Leona peeked from behind Krieg and pointed Avalon at her target, but something felt off.

  “Huh?” She gasped.

  The monster had coiled light brown horns—one of them was broken, snapped clean at the base. The beast snarled and turned at her with fangs bared, but once they locked eyes—time seemed to stop.

  The beast was grasping its own bleeding hand while letting out a puff of foggy breath. Krieg remained ready to defend his liege, but Leona simply stood still.

  There was recognition behind those monstrous eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.

  “Adele…?”

  Leona spoke without even realizing.

  That name made Krieg lower his shield just a tiny bit to look at the beast’s face. In doing so, the creature turned at the knight and then back to Leona.

  It took half a step back, then another, then—it fled. It pushed its massive body through the trees and foliage like it was nothing.

  “Wait! Adele!” Leona cried as she was about to run after it. “Is that truly you?! Adele!”

  Krieg blocked her path with his shield arm.

  “What are you doing, Krieg?! That’s-”

  “We don’t know if it’s truly Adele.”

  “But-”

  “Leona, you must lead.” He lowered the shield and turned to her. “I am your sword and your shield. If you tell me to capture her, I will do so in a heartbeat, but you must be the one leading the kingdom first and foremost.”

  She slowly lowered her gaze to the ground while gradually tightening her grip around Avalon.

  “You… you’re right…” She looked at the direction the creature fled and let out an exasperated sigh before turning to where they were supposed to go. “Let’s keep moving. For her sake as well as ours.”