Author's Notes

Thank you for all of my loyal readers. I apologize I had a meeting yesterday after work that stopped me from being able to complete and upload the chapter.

*I will be going back to edit earlier chapters to fix issues that have been brought to my attention this week so please bear with me.

*Matsuro and Sky are the same person. I will be making that edit. In future chapters starting with 44 Hiro's stats will be shown at least at the end of each chapter to keep his stats consistent and the increases will be shown in red to let readers know what the increases are.

Thanks for all of your support! You guys make writing this story so worthwhile.

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Chapter 33

Hiro woke up before the sun came up. He decided to take the opportunity to power up some more before he went out to battle. He went downstairs where Leo was sleeping soundly. Hiro decided to let his friend sleep then he got his armor, shield, and sword. Once dressed, he went outside to the training grounds and found Caesar’s weights. He began to try lifting it.

Amazing now I can do several repetitions of these clean and jerk Olympic lifts. I still can't get it all the way above my head like Caesar but this is definitely an improvement from the yesterday.

He decided to rest and repeat the process several times before he did calisthenics for the day. He decided to try to make his calisthenics more difficult. He began doing one arm pushups and one legged squats. He also decided to go from sit ups to hanging leg lifts. He felt his body was going to need the extra power. After completing the exercises Hiro felt pretty exhausted.

Your strength has increased by 45 points.

45 points!? That means my strength is over 300 now!!

He looked out and saw that the sun was just beginning to creep over the horizon. He decided to spend some time getting used to his sword and shield.

Hiro began practicing his movements with his sword and shield. His strikes were so fast that it felt like he was cutting the very wind around him. He was even able to attack at a range of about 25 meters with a fireball or lightning bolt fired straight from the blade of the sword. Hiro began to feel something strange as he practiced though. It was as if the sword was telling him something. He paused and stayed quiet.

He heard a quiet voice and it said, "Concentrate your ki into the blade and then swing it. "

It seemed strange but he decided to give it a try. Hiro took his fighting pose with the blade pointing out over his shield. He concentrated on the sword and his ki began to flow into it. The sword’s flames and electricity began to get stronger. Hiro then swung the blade and a wave of what appeared to be red lightning came from the blade completely leveling several trees that it touched.

you developed a new sword skill, Red lightning slash.

The red lightning slash combines the properties of fire and lightning creating an attack that is extremely fast and very destructive. Enemies that are struck with this attack are burned and have chance to be paralyzed.

That was pretty good. This can definitely be beneficial to me in the upcoming battle.

He kept practicing. Now he began to incorporate his boomerang shield attack. The teeth on the shield ripped through the bark on the trees and seemed to return to Hiro even if he moved after launching the attack. After practicing for a little longer, Hiro decided to sit down and meditate. He wanted to improve his ability to gather his energy for his ki blast so he did it over and over again.

You have learned a new passive skill, Ki manipulation.

Due to you constant practice you have developed the ability to manipulate you ki all around your body. Now it moves faster and can be gathered at will.

This is great!”

He decided to test his new ability immediately he placed his hands in position and it felt like immediately the attack was ready. There was no longer a wait to gathter the ki. Next, he fired the attack and it was just as powerful. His continued dedication to his training has shown tremendous dividends. Hiro now had several ranged attacks to compliment his close range fighting style. He now felt ready to go into battle. Then he put his armor and got ready to greet his troops as he heard the gathering bell ringing in the town square.

Hiro and Leo stood front and center facing all of the troops. In front of each unit was a captain. The captains stood out front of their units. Behind each captain, stood their unit in perfectly spaced out rows the army had been trained well. He went to Foria and gave her the set of studded leather armor that he had created. Her eyes were shining brightly as a smiled crept across her face. She took the armor and hugged Hiro tightly.

“Thank you. It is fantastic.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

Next, Caesar, Foria, Rain, and Kaura were chosen to lead each individual unit. Hiro began to address the crowd. “These monsters feel like they can come to our land and take our land from us! They think they can tear down all that we’ve built! They think we will back down because they might be bigger than us or outnumber us! Men and women we will be the line that stops them!”

“Howoo!!” , shouted the army.

“We are the light in this dark world!”

“Howoo!!”

“We will fight to our last breath to defend this land!”

“Howooo!!”

“We will fight and they will die!!”

“Howoo!!” Leo breathed fire into the air in agreement.

“Move out troops!”

“Howoo!!”

The army moved out marching toward the base of the hobgoblins. Many of the youth that made up the army were nervous but after seeing their commander in action realized that they would be able to take on anything with him on their side. Kaura and Orochi used their camouflage ability and scouted ahead. They found several scouts but being undetectable allowed Kaura and Orochi to kill them quickly and quietly. Once they finished their scouting mission, Kaura and Orochi reported back to their commander.

Kaura began to report, "The area is filled with well over 400 hobgoblins. They had a large force of over 80 archers and about 20 mounted units who rode on the backs of Ligers."

Leo growled in displeasure.

Kaura continued, "The heavy infantry held large tower shields. The shields look extremely strong and would be hard to penetrate. The commander was not visible from my vantage point but I noticed several heavily armored Troll’s standing near the cave entrance."

"Hmm.. so we do not know exactly who or what the leader is and their capabilities?"

"No sir but I also saw some humanoid looking creatures being taken inside of the cave."

Hiro began to understand that these Hobgoblins were definitely a danger to the town and they had to be stopped. Hiro gave the signal and the army continued to march until they came close enough to see the cave and then they were seen by the enemy.

The hobgoblin army frantically tried to get into their ranks. Meanwhile Hiro calmly commanded the troops to get into formation with his heavy infantry in front light, Kaura’s light infantry flanking his right and Caesar’s infantry unit on the left flank. The mages followed behind the heavily armored force with archers split into two separate groups on the flanks of the mages. Hiro order his heavy infantry with the large shields to lock them together if arrows were fired. They began to move forward. The archers began firing. The arrows came down like rain dropping hobgoblins all over ass they tried to charge the human army. Hiro continued to march forward with his unit slowly closing in on the man force. Rain and her unit began to cast spells like chain lightning charring the bodies of the incoming army. Now Hiro’s unit was almost upon the enemy.

Hiro dismounted from Leo and instructed Leo to take out his rage on the enemy. “Leave none standing my friend!”. Leo roared and Hiro yelled charge.

The heavy infantry engaged the enemy and stopped their forward advance. Hiro unleashed his devastating new shield attack. His shield flew through the air slicing the head off of a charging hobgoblin. They hobgoblins continued to charge and finally collided with the human army’s heavy infantry. The strong shields held but several of the humans were knocked to the ground.

“Form up! Do not let them break our formation!” , yelled Caesar

While the heavy infantry was engaged at the front lines, the hobgoblin archers began to fire arrows.

“Turtle shell!”, yelled Hiro.

The Heavy infantry troops quickly followed their commander's order and placed their shields together in the front and the lines behind locked their shields together overhead making them appear to be like a medieval tank.

“Kaura, take out those archers!”, yelled Hiro

Kaura’s unit immediately removed itself from the flank and charged the archers from the left flank avoiding the concentrated arrow fire. The fighting continued to intensify. Several humans had now been slain but they were holding their own against the larger force. Rain and her mage unit were casting healing spells on the infantry force while the archers continued to pummel the force with their arrows. Hiro decided that he would go out and be the difference maker.

As soon as the arrows stop, We will attack the enemy head on and crush them.

There was a short break in the arrow fire. Hiro looked out through the interlocking shields and saw Kaura’s force decimating the archers. The savage brutality that was inflicted upon the archers was surreal. Orochi began to bite the archers with his enormous fangs while his tail either whipped into the enemy causing them to go flying or he crushed them with his powerful coils. The rest of the troops who were able to get close where archers were at a distinct advantage. The time it took the archers to ready their bows and arrows was far slower than Kaura’s lightly armored unit could swing their short swords and daggers. They were crushed in the blink of an eye.

It is time to deal a crushing blow.

Hiro yelled,” advance!”

The three infantry units removed the turtle shell and begin to march forward ready to destroy anything that came at them. Leo roared freezing many of the hobgoblins ahead. They were not within striking distance of the hobgoblin main force.

It was time. Hiro shouted, “Attack”, and his troops charged the hobgoblin force led by their commander and his faithful partner.

Hiro began his onslaught using his red lightning slash. His blade emitted the blood red lightning and it charred the front line of the hobgoblin force. Leo breathed fire on the ground beneath the force and they broke their formation trying to escape the flames. The human army engaged. Their blades struck true. The hobgoblin army was being overwhelmed. Foria’s unit moved closer and began to support Hiro’s troop with cover fire. The arrows were placed with pinpoint accuracy. The hobgoblins were struck down one by one.

Caesar and Gori pressed forward as well showing their brute strength. Caesar used his monstrous strength to swing the hammer which Hiro had given him. Each strike let out a seismic wave causing internal damage to the target as well as those within a 2 meter radius. The strikes were so heavy that this became unnecessary as nearly no hobgoblin was able to withstand the force of his blows. Gori simply punched and wrestled with his opponents. His punches seemed so powerful that the enemy would simply be knocked 10 to 15 meters away resulting in huge concussive damage when they struck an object or the hobgoblins would simply be killed by the initial blow. Gori would also grab enemies and rip them apart with his powerful arms other times he would knock them down and pound them with both hands until they were a bloody mess. It was crude yet effective. The front lines continued to press forward. Hiro started to feel uneasy. He knew his army as powerful but this was going a little too well.

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Thanks for reading. Please rate and review. All comments will be read and taken into consideration. You guys help my writing to be better when you comment. The conclusion of the battle will be out later today.

Upcoming Chapters:

Battle conclusion

Sadness and loss

Training and growth