Project : New World

Chapter 28 : Real Fight Begins

[Thornhollow Forest, United Nations Expedition Team]

The lifeless body of Cerberus is now lying in the middle of the forest. The whole battle lasted an hour and the soldiers were clearly tired.

Sergeant Nicholas was also exhausted by the battle which made him open his limiter. He was sweating heavily as he was sitting near Cerberus' stomach then his companions approached him.

"Is it over?"

This is the question posed by Private Vasques as he gets off from the armored jeep. Sergeant Satsuki faced palm from the Privates' stupid question.

"Vasques don't raise a flag!" Lieutenant Rina shouted.

Everyone laughed at what Lieutenant Rina said while Ariel just tilted her head. She clearly does not understand what the soldiers meant.

"Reporting!"

The Commander of Sector One approached Lieutenant Rina and salutes. He opened his wrist terminal then he stated the casualty report.

"Zero KIA, Three WIA, Zero MIA," The commander clicked his wrist terminal and began scrolling "Only one vehicle was damaged from the magic projectiles and most of the IFV only got scratches from the codename: Hellhounds"

"Compile everything and report to the Headquarters," Lieutenant Rina nodded at the Commander's report "You may leave"

"Acknowledged!"

When the Commander left, the Lieutenant walked towards the armored jeep to rest. When she opened the door, she saw Ariel sitting on the side of the jeep. She sat down and asked Ariel about the prince.

"I did not know that Prince Edward was hiding his talent and strength"

"Yes, he's hiding it. When he saw the ability of you 'You-en' people he thought that the era of swordsmen had ended and he felt useless against your black staves," Ariel sat down next to the Lieutenant and continued "I think he did not expect that he would reveal his secret immediately".

Lieutenant Rina nodded at Ariel's explanation. She recalled the Prince's elegant movements when he used his sword. It was pretty and dazzling.

"When we met you, why were you wounded? With Prince Edward's strength you could have fought the bandits."

"We were exhausted from our journey and were outnumbered when they showed up. We could not fight in that condition so we decided to just run and luckily, you found us"

The two enjoyed their conversation for a while. Then Lieutenant Rina opened her wrist terminal to check the time. Twenty minutes have passed since they began their conversation.

She said goodbye to Ariel and opened the door of the armored jeep. She returned back to her team to check Cerberus.

She saw the Marines examining the body of the lifeless Cerberus. They were marveled in awe at its plumage and couldn't explain its rigidity and endurance. Everyone's eyes widened when Prince Edward tried to enter the Cerberus' stomach.

"What are you going to do?"

"Give me a moment, I'll take something important"

Lieutenant Rina tried to run towards Prince Edward to stop him but before she could get close, the prince had already gone inside. She couldn't do anything so she just let him go and waited for the Prince to come out.

Minutes passed and finally the prince came out from Cerberus' stomach. His body and clothes were still clean as if they were still new but it was not the one that made everyone surprised, it was the strange gem he was holding.