Chapter 1052 Unforeseen Attack!

"Is that who you want to become?" asked Arthur with interest. "Does the young lord Dorian Stormblade wish to be a hero who defeats villainous men like me?"

"I have no desire to assume any role," replied Dorian as he leaned back. "My current goal is to defeat you. I will think about more difficult things later," said the man who held his spear tightly.

"You can try anytime you want," replied Arthur with an amused grin. "I thought you were the kind of man who would not miss a celebration, especially since you had a hand in its reason. What makes you sit here with me?"

The music coming from outside mixed with the snoring from the bunk beds, creating a peaceful symphony. However, Dorian looked anything but at ease, rather more burdened than before. Arthur did not like seeing him like this.

"What makes a carefree man so worried?"

"I saw the skills that the eye offered," said Dorian as he lowered his spear with a piercing gaze. "I heard about the ten artifacts, never considered we would obtain one so easily."

"Although the tower tried to make it harder for us, we had some luck on our side," said Arthur before rephrasing his question. "How is that making you worried?"

"With you around, we will obtain at least half of the artifacts before the battle," said Dorian with narrowing eyes. "Xeloria will grow too powerful for any other city to oppose it."

"That should be a good thing."

"Wars will never cease if that's the case. Countless lives will be lost and the suffering will continue. Resources are distributed by the tower after every war, and if Xeloria destroys all other cities, the rest will live in famine until the next war."

"Arrogant young lords don't think about these things, so who are you, Dorian Stormblade?" asked Arthur with a frown as he raised his chin. "You mock the weak and the strong alike, but still worry about other cities."

Hearing his words, Dorian was silent and did not say anything more. Arthur could sense that his prospects had broadened, and he had started to have empathy, but he still lacked a proper goal or conviction.

The night came to an end, and so did the celebration. Jonathan wrote to his lord about their victory, and Dorian wrote to his father about the people he wished to save. As dawn broke through the tower's artificial skies, the army saw their next target.

"They call it Thieves Den," said Koby as he looked at the map and then at the mountain, which the squad could see from their windows. "This mountain is filled with bandits, forming a formidable force. If we want to take the artifacts from them, we would first have to find it."

"In such a large place, finding something so small is almost impossible," said Joey as he stretched above their carriage. "I doubt the bandits would just have their artifact in an altar like before. They are bound to use it."

"This is what makes the bandits the harder bunch to handle," said Arthur as he looked at the mountain with piercing eyes. "I can sense three thousand powerful presences in this forest alone. Furthermore…"

"What?" asked Dorian with a frown before an explosion echoed close-by. The entire carriage started shaking as smoke covered their eyes. Joey, who was outside, was flung away before landing a great distance from the carriage.

"Enemy attack!"

"Where did the explosion come from?"

"Save Lieutenant Hawkins!"

Shouts filled their ears as the group tried to rush outside. Once in the open, they saw smoke rising from one of the larger carriages in their platoon. Fire covered the entire carriage as half of it had exploded. Soldiers rushed inside to find their lieutenant, creating mayhem.

Arthur rushed before the rest, approaching the scene. However, the entire carriage had been obliterated with no chance of anyone surviving. The explosion was so powerful that a crater formed around the scene.

"Save the lieutenant!"

Soldiers dove straight into the flames, but Arthur knew that Hawkins had died. Red particles rose from his carriage, signifying his definite death. Although he would revive in the closest city, Arthur knew that his stats would be severely reduced.

His squad and the other lieutenants rushed as well, each horrified by the scene. No one had foreseen that one of them would be bombed in broad daylight. However, before the fire could consume the carriage, the world turned gray, and time stopped.

"Although stopping time has no countdown, rewinding it is a different matter," muttered Arthur with a sigh as he fiddled with the watch he obtained from Watchman. "If Hawkins was not a good man, I would not have wasted this ability."

Arthur adjusted the watch in his hand before he resumed time. He jumped back five minutes, the maximum he could, right before the explosion happened. He found himself sitting with his squad still talking about the mountain.

"They call it Thieves Den," said Koby the same sentence while looking at his map. Arthur jumped from his seat and kicked the carriage door open. The rest were surprised by his actions and rushed outside following him. "Alexie! What happened?"

Arthur had no time to explain to them and just rushed toward the large carriage carrying their lieutenant. Without waiting for the soldiers outside, he grabbed the door and flung it away, sending it hurling in the distance.

Inside the carriage was Hawkins still having his breakfast. He was surprised to see Arthur barge in like this and looked confused. Arthur walked inside and looked around, but no enemies were there.

"Alexie? What is happening?" asked Hawkins as he rose from his chair while seeing the urgency in Arthur's movements. "Is there an enemy here?"

"We need to leave this carriage now. There is a bomb in here!" said Arthur without looking further, grabbed Hawkins' arm and rushed outside. "RUN! THERE IS A BOMB!"

His shouts made the soldiers panic and run away. Everyone left the carriage, and moments later, bright lights came from its windows. The entire camp shook by the explosion, which sent Arthur and Hawkins flying.

Boom!

The resounding voice echoed in the mountains, making monsters and animals flee. Smoke rose from the burning carriage, but no one was killed in such a grand explosion.

Hawkins turned around while on the ground, looking at the bright fire with shock. Then, he turned toward Arthur who had an apprehensive face while looking at the carriage. He tried to say something, but Arthur rushed into the flames before he could vocalize it.

"Alexie! What are you doing?!" shouted the lieutenant as Arthur jumped into the burning flames, diving straight into the center of the explosion. His black lightning covered his body, making him unharmed even in the burning flames.

Arthur looked around for any abnormalities. True enough, he found the source of the explosion. It was a small artifact in the center of the carriage, right where Hawkins was having his breakfast. However, Arthur remembered that nothing was there before.

"They planted a bomb and detonated it at the same time?" muttered Arthur as he picked the bomb's remains before rising from the ground. He walked outside as he canceled his lightning, making flames burn his uniform.

As he walked from the middle of the flames, Arthur saw the countless soldiers surround the carriage. His uniform was still burning as his hand grabbed what remained from the bomb. However, the scene might have been too impactful for the soldiers, who stared at him as if he was a monster.

"This is what remained from the bomb," said Arthur as he raised the small artifact, which looked like a small box containing residue mana. "Someone targeted our lieutenant and planted a bomb in his carriage. The problem is that we don't know how they did it."

"Alexie…" muttered Hawkins as he walked toward him. "You saved my life. If I died in that explosion, I doubt that I would lose just a few levels!"

"That's not the current issue," interrupted Arthur with a shake of his head. "If they did it once, that means they can do it again. We cannot be safe until we find out how they did it. I want a lockdown on the entire camp. Everyone who went into the carriage must be investigated. Now!"

His tone was commanding and gave no room for discussion. The soldiers actually saluted him and rushed to form barricades around the entire area. As they did, Jonathan and the rest arrived, looking at the scene in confusion.

"What happened here?" asked the knight, and Hawkins explained everything. "How did you know that an explosion will occur here?" asked Jonathan with confusion, but Arthur remained silent. "It doesn't matter. Search for the culprit!"

The lieutenants rushed to comb the area as well. Even amid the chaos, every soldier in the camp changed their opinions after witnessing Arthur rising from the flames. If not for him, the lieutenant would have lost his life, weakening their forces before the enemy appeared.

The fire was quickly put out before an emergency meeting was conducted. Despite being a newbie squad member, Arthur was invited as well. After all, he was the one to notice the explosion and prevent it from killing their members.