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Well here you go chapter 35

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Chapter 35

Kaura came up. “Sir, shall I search the cave?” Hiro nodded.

Kaura and Orochi disappeared into the cave. Rain and her group came down and began healing all of those with their spells. The familiar warm glow covered the bodies of the wounded warriors.

A short time passed and Orochi and Kaura emerged from the cave followed by several humanoid beings. They were all in bad shape. They were covered with wounds from head to toe and their clothes were torn to pieces. J

Judging from the looks of it some of them, they were probably raped and beaten. Others have definitely been starved.

They appeared to be various types of elves. There were 3 males and 6 females. All of them except one had golden blonde shoulder length hair with pale skin and pointy ears. Their eyes were blue with flecks of gold inside the part of the eye that would normally be black. One the females had platinium silver hair with jet black skin eyes that were blood red. All of them had the very same physical shape. They were all physically slender with athletic physiques. They were not overly muscular but they still looked strong.

Kaura brought them out to meet Hiro. The female elves looked at him with tears in their eyes all except the one with the jet black skin. The way they had been treated must have been awful. Their bodies had been beaten and many had not even been bathed. Their smell was discusting. The males turned their eyes from Hiro until one spoke. Hiro was unable to understand what he was saying. The male bowed his head and clasped his hands.

He must have been trying to convey his thanks for being rescued.

Hiro asked, “Kaura, were their any others.”

She nodded yes and said, “That they were unable to make the trip because they were either dead or unable to walk.”

Hiro then told Leo, “Go in the cave with your ligers. Eat any dead elves in hopes that I can learn their language. The ones that cannot walk please carry them out.”

He went in and found the elves, Six that were freshly dead and 3 others that were barely clinging to life. Their bodies were still warm. Leo devoured the elves.

"Ding!” you learned to speak in the elf language.

You can now able to communicate with the elves.

“Ding!” Your hide skill has improved to conceal.

You can now erase your presence in dark places making you invisible to detection.

“Ding!” You have improved you hearing.

You can now hear much softer things from a greater distance.

Hiro began to speak, “I am Hiro, the commander of this army. What is your name?”

“You speak elvish? How does a mere human know our language?”

“That is not important” replied Hiro “Please answer my questions as we want to know what happened.”

“I am called, Kavlish. I am the commander of this small expeditionary force. We were escorting some dark elves when

were ambushed by those hobgoblins” replied Kavlish.

“Were they criminals?” asked Hiro

“No they were not criminals, they are dark elves and we do not mix with their kind so we decided to escort them from our land.”

“So what kind of elf are you?”

“We are wood elves. We come from the forest”, replied Kavlish.

“Wood elves and dark elves do not get along?”

“No, we have been at peace for a very long time but the peace continues because our treaty keeps us on opposite sides of border lands. It is forbidden to trespass in the lands of the other race.” Hiro nodded his head.

“We will give you shelter until you are strong enough to return to your homeland or you can decide to stay with us permenately in our town.”

Kavilish looked at his people who nodded their heads in agreement. Hiro turned to the army and raised his sword.

“Never forget the cost of this victory! Our friends, who have fallen, let their memory never leave your hearts and minds! Grab any weapons and armor you can find and prepare to return home.”

“YEEEAAAHHHH!!!”, shouted the army.

“Caesar, lead them home. I wish to remain here for a short time” said Hiro.

Caesar nodded and began to walk off with army. Leo roared instructing his freed pride members to return to their land.

They roared and ran off. Hiro then began to talk to Leo.

“I want to train with Master Matsuro so that we can become stronger, strong enough to protect everyone.”

Leo roared to show their agreement.

“Let’s start by seeing what they could gain from those that we killed.”

Leo began to eat the trolls that they killed. After a few moments he had devoured the 5 trolls.

“Ding!” your regenerate ability has improved.

“Ding!” you have learned the passive ability “animal speak”

You are now able to speak to any type of animal you come in contact with. You can also understand the animals even if you have not tamed them.

“Ding!” you have learned the passive ability “beast slaying”.

Now your attacks do an extra 15% damage to any beasts.

This will be good, as we will now be working on improving our skills out in the open.

Their natural regeneration had already healed nearly all of their wounds.

"We should return to the town and repair my weapons and armor before going out to train with Matsuro"

"I agree", said Leo

The two began walking towards the town.

Hiro and his companion reached the gate to the town. There were about 100 people standing out front. Several of the people were soldiers others were townspeople including the dwarves who owned the blacksmith shop, the elves who had just been saved. Hiro noticed that Korin was not present as he would have expected.

The two came closer and the people began to clap. “Hiro, Hiro, Hiro!” they cheered loudly.

Hiro could do nothing but smile. He had never experienced this type of joy for simply doing what he thought was right. He patted Leo on his side. They all walked proudly into the town. The people ran out to greet their heroes. The children hugged Leo and the rest shook the Hiro’s hands. Hiro was overwhelmed with pride in how he had led the army.

The warm welcome he received washed over him like a wave until he entered the city. Inside he saw the teared up faces of the loved ones of the fallen soldiers. In the middle of the town square stood Korin, who was crying tears of sorry after seeing the condition his sister was in when she returned from battle. Hiro walked towards him and tried to comfort him but before he could Korin jumped to his feet.

“How could you let this happen” asked Korin with tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I tried to save her but I could not make it in time. She was hurt badly but she is alive.” replied Hiro.

His prediction ability showed the blow coming towards his face but he did not avoid it. Korin struck him in the face. Hiro’s mouth was bleeding.

Hiro spit out some blood and said, “I’m sorry. I tried. You have to believe me.”

“She was all I had left and you almost let her die. You promised me you would protect her. How can I believe you now?”

“I will get stronger. Matsuro has agreed to train me and no longer will I be leading our army in offensive battles. We will only be fighting if someone tries to attack our town. Now I need you to lead these people and honor the memory of their fallen.” said Hiro softly.

Korin looked at the tears in Hiro’s eyes. He instantly saw how heartbroken he was that he had allowed Foria to be injured on the battlefield. The pain that Hiro carried on his face was so deep it caused Korin to burst into tears. Korin ran and hugged Hiro and the both cried morning the pain of nearly losing the person they both loved most in the world.

The evening came and there was no celebration for the victory. This victory had come at too great a cost. Hiro left Korin and took Amaterasu to see Foria. Upon reaching the house the servants let the group in. They traveled quickly to Foria’s bedroom where she was laying in her bed. She had bandages on her arms and her chest. She was also badly bruised.

“I’m so sorry Foria” Hiro said as he clasped her hands in his.

“It is ok Hiro, I am a warrior like you. This is a result of my weakness. I must grow in strength in order to be with the man I love on the field of battle. I must gain enough strength that I can be your support on the battlefield like it was when we first met.”

Amaterasu whimpered as Leo nuzzled his nose on her neck.

“It is ok Amaterasu. I will be fine. I just need some time to rest. The healing spells can fix some things but it cannot replace the blood within your body. That must restore itself on its own.”

“I will watch over her.” Said Amaterasu to Hiro and Leo.

Oh my! Her voice is so soft and distinguished it is almost regal. How did…. Oh that’s right my new ability let’s me speak to and understand animals. After Foria gets better I definitely want to test this later.

“I will trust you with the love of my life. Take care of her.”

“I will”, replied Amaterasu.

“We will be back tomorrow to check on you two. Get some sleepy Foria.”

Hiro leaned in and kissed Foria on her forehead and left the room. He and Leo returned to his home where the rested for the night.

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I hope you enjoyed this emotionally charged chapter. I will be continuing to regularly update the chapters at the very least each Monday. Be on the lookout for my newest chapter.

Humanity's Last Hope

I hope you enjoy. I'm thinking about putting my donations link back up if anyone is interested in supporting my writing. Again thanks for reading and the next chapter will be up by Monday.