Just a few more kilometers to go. Eden was riding as fast as possible to rejoin with Expat. Then she heard a silent whistle. She moved her face back and raised her arm to shield her face. An arrow flew past her. She looked at the direction of the attack. Archers were already sending their attacks. Eden dropped a potion that increased her speed. She then stopped to say, "Arthur, tortoise formation." Her army quickly positioned itself with its shields up to protect themselves from the archers. Draco caught up and stood in front of Eden's army. His arrows were just hitting the shields. While there was still movement behind the wall they created. Draco ordered his ground to move in as he followed behind them. Eden waited until they got to a certain distance before she ordered, "send in the calvary!" The wall she had opened in three different places to release the calvary waiting behind. Then the wall closed. Draco smiled and it made Eden gasped a little. She looked around to see what she was missing. Then at the top of a hill to the North west, she saw the archers getting ready to shoot. "Arthor, take over, ensure low casualties." Eden then rode into the battle. This crazy man is willing to sacrifice his own people for a win she thought to herself. She then told Thunder to return behind the wall. The horse protested, but Eden gave it a reassuring pat. Eden jumped off the horse and ran as fast as she could to get to those archers. She had confidence her cavalry will win, but the casualties from an archer attack would be greater. Draco saw Eden headed towards his archers and made a quick turn to catch her. Eden was not too far from the archers, when Draco intercepted her. They collided with their swords. Eden kicked Draco right in the chest and he rolled back a few times before he was able to balance himself. He looked even more upset that she could send him back that far. Eden was already in a stance. Eden's heart was pounding because she had to make a choice between fighting Draco who would persist in stopping her or retreating to prevent more casualties to her calvary. Eden jumped and threw her shield in the path of the arrows that were being released to throw them off course. "That's only slowing down the outcome." Draco said and chuckled. "Yes, your defeat." Eden said with confidence. She switched gear and ran up to him. Their swords thundered. Draco tried to fancy kick Eden to make her fall, but she shoved her sword into his foot and onto the ground. Then backhand smacked him while pulling her sword out. "You fight like a ruthless savage," said Draco as he spit out some blood. "How do you think I've made it this far?" Eden said as she swung her sword to clean the blood from its tip. "Well, since you're a savage like your people, then I won't hold back." Eden laughed a little, and stopped a few feet away from him then said in a loud voice. "Surrender and admit defeat. Do you hear anything?" Draco was confused, until he looked around to see his entire army was already decimated. He looked for his archers and a tall man was standing there instead. Expat had arrived at the meeting place to see Eden was already defending from archers. He quickly went to her side and asked for the plan. Eden said, surround the enemy. She pointed to the hill where to go. It was the same hill the archers were hiding that she didn't know were there. Luckily she had picked the area because of the terrain and she had sent Expat to the right location. "I will fight to the death rather than to give up to you, you filthy savage" said Draco. "Suit yourself," said Eden and she walked away. Draco was confused, was she letting him go? Just like that? Then Expat landed in front of him and said in a low tone "You insulted her three times, I will make you scream three times before you meet your end."
Eden went back to her army and asked for the status report. She used healing potions she received as part of her reward. Casualties were less than she predicted. She was lucky it wasn't a strong player who spotted her. They must be organized to have spotted her so quickly and determine the exact coordinate. We need to move again, we defeated this guy named Draco and he was in an alliance. That means his battle will show up in their records, someone will come to see if they are watching. She looked at the map and picked a different location. Expat arrived and noticed that the army was already getting ready to move again. Then Expat said "We have not looked at what needs to be replenished and located a new target." Eden nodded in agreement, "yes, but we had a battle here and we need to move before he respawns and reports us. "I killed him twice, by mistake. I forgot to ask him the questions you told me to ask. I was so angry," said Expat as he ran his fingers through his hair. "I agreed to let you finish any opponent off as long as you did that," said Eden with a sigh.
They moved to a new location. Eden had her scouts check the area for any hidden enemies. They returned to report there wasn't one nearby. "I believe they are more organized than we are. The plan that we received was garbage," said Eden while she rubbed her forehead. "Why didn't you take charge or say anything?" ask Expat as he replaced his bloody shirt for a clean one. "I didn't want to step on anyone's toes and could you change somewhere privately or warn me before you do that? It makes me uncomfortable," Eden replied irritatedly. "But you are my love, is it not normal?" asked Expat with a whiney voice. Eden rolled her eyes and replied, "normal for a real couple." If only others saw this side of him. His reputation would go down as a love puppy. Thankfully it was just the two of them and no one else was around. "We should observe and attack, then move position. We sleep back in our territory where we can activate a shield," said Eden a little more softly with her eyes staring at her feet. There it was, Eden's soft side that she doesn't let others see. It was the reason Expat decided to follow her.
Both Eden and Expat defeated 18 enemies before getting tired. Their stock was depleting and they were beginning to see their casualties were getting higher regardless of the win. They went back to their server and camped somewhere outside the main cities. They could serve as reinforcements if needed.
Eden was laying on her makeshift bed thinking that she hadn't encountered someone stronger than her. She knew she wasn't the strongest and there was a possibility they had more titans on their side. She recalled the reports she reviewed and noticed that it was only the over confident ones who attacked them. There were reports of scouts getting away, but no attacks followed. Then again, they moved quickly after. Eden had a few spots she checked on her map to travel to. Still she felt some kind of feeling something was going to happen. Things felt like they were working out too well. Murphy's Law crossed Eden's mind. Before she closed her eyes to rest, she looked at her stats. Without testing my stats, I don't know how well I can do, thought Eden. That night Eden kept tossing and turning. She kept thinking of the information they got from their defeated, but nothing useful was obtained.
Erza sounded an alarm that the enemy was in route. Eden jumped from bed and said, "Equip armor." She ran out as she looked around to see what was going on. There were multiple opponents rushing to the cities behind Eden. She was safe because of her shield, but an unsuspecting city was without one. Where is Expat wondered Eden. Then she saw him rushing into battle. "Crap, hes going in alone. Erza, deactivate the shield and cloak yourself. Archers get ready. Fire!" The arrows whistled to take out the calvary rushing towards Expat. Then suddenly a shadow was over Eden. Before she could turn to look in the direction of it, a loud bang was heard from her golden shield she had raised in an instant. The force was so strong that she went flying meters away while bouncing from the ground as she rolled. Her left arm felt like it was on fire. Her legs shaking from the impact. Eden rolled a few times before she was able to stab her sword into the ground and land on a one knee kneel. She felt body aches right away. Eden looked up and saw this large man, the size of a small giant running towards her with an ax. He was covered in animal fur skin with silver gauntlets, a viking hat and long brown hair with a few braids. At the top of his head was a red diamond. She knew this was probably what her gut was telling her the entire night. An opponent that would be difficult to fight alone. "He must have baited me into reacting without thinking it through," Eden though to herself as she drank a recovery potion quickly before getting on both her feet. It didn't give her a full recovery, but enough to regain her speed. "Arthur, you're in charge of the army while I battle here," commanded Eden. The man laughed as he swung his sword and said, "He will die soon, just like you."