Will of a Prince

Chapter 197: Run Run Run

Slimo sprinted outside of the small room his father had led him to. Luckily, he knew the place like the back of his hand, since he grew up in this kingdom. He was looking for one person who was the only one capable of delaying the catastrophic event. However, when he got back, it appeared as if the very person he was looking for was already preparing for the very thing Slimo was going to ask him.

Abby was hugging Harold tightly with small tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Just be safe, my love. Goodbye for now."

"Don’t say goodbye. I am not going anywhere. I promise I will be back, someday in the future."

Slimo stopped in his tracks, staring at the scene in front of him. The team-dynamic he had arduously built over the last month had finally paid off. There were no words needed to be shared between anyone. All they knew is that their friend was taken, and they needed to get him back. The reason didn’t matter in the slightest. Slimo walked over to Harold and pulled him aside.

"You already know what I am going to ask you, right?"

Harold nodded his head.

"Enki is building me a tracking device right now. Thankfully, we were able to spend enough time with Doc as to get his DNA over all of our gear... or maybe Squabee’s power helped us with that."

"Good. Listen, I need to talk to you about the importance of this mission."

"How much more important can it be? Our friend and doctor just got kidnapped!"

Slimo struggled to continue talking for a moment before whispering in his ear, explaining to Harold the whole situation with the corruption, the end times, and the revival of Zalo. Harold’s face remained motionless as Slimo pulled away. He took a moment and looked back and Abby wistfully.

A heavy sigh escaped his lips, and he pulled out a small box from his back pocket and gave it to Slimo.

"Here. Give this to Abby in case something... in case... you know what I mean. Promise me."

Slimo stared at the small box. His heart ached knowing what its contents were.

"Only if you promise me, you’ll try to come back alive."

Enki walked over to Harold and gave him a small contact lens to put in his eye. Enki looked at Slimo and remained silent before walking away.

Harold situated the lens in his eye and turned away from Slimo.

"If keeping Doc away from those people means buying you all more time... buying this world more time, I cannot come back."

He looked over at Abby, taking in the beautiful sight of her short, pink hair, her gorgeous smile, and infatuating gaze one last time.

"Thank you, Slimo. For everything."

Slimo’s face darkened as he looked at the floor. The wind from Harolds take-off blew everyone’s hair up in the air. Slimo tightened his grasp on the small box and stored it securely on his belt, hidden from anyone’s sight.

He turned to face the group.

"Is everyone listening?"

Immediately, everyone stopped moving and turned towards Slimo, hearing the somber tone he was portraying. Squabee was the first to walk up to him.

"What’s wrong, Slimo?"

Slimo looked at the woman’s pink eyes, struggling to give a proper answer to that question.

"All of us are going to war. We must defeat the Monlo Empire to the west."

Harold was sprinting through the massive kingdom at crazy speeds. He had managed to become so fast that the things around him appeared to move much slower. His senses had managed to adapt to his speed after the long month of training with Lidia.

His training mostly consisted of running at the bottom of a river that was flowing downstream. He was never allowed to run in the same direction the river was flowing, as to allow for maximum resistance. Therefore, Harold was by all means at his strongest he has ever been. His agility, stamina, and strength were all well beyond what was capable of a normal human.

His legs were thick and wide like trunks of a tree, his calves exploded to double their size, and each step he took would indent his footprint in the ground when going fast enough. The air whistled through his hair as he sprinted through the open gates of the kingdom. Some guards were put in charge of carrying the dead creatures back into the kingdom, most likely to use them as food or resource.

Looking through his one eye, Harold was able to see a strange white line that showed him which path to follow. Using all his power, he followed the white line for hundreds of miles. He passed dozens of creatures on the way, all of whom took their turn at trying to catch him.

For one of the first times ever, Harold was able to run as fast and as free as he wanted. The feeling felt... strange. Not unwelcoming, but different. A solitude like this was something he had never had before. The peace was almost frightening in a way. However, he knew that what he was out here for wasn’t for nothing. He needed to get his friend back before something terrible happened to the rest of the world.

And just as he was running through these thoughts, he had spotted Doc, tied around a tree in a strange marsh land. Two epigones were by his side, seemingly gaining some energy before making another massive teleport to another destination. Without wasting any time, Harold made his move.

"Are you sure we have the right guy?"

"If we don’t, his death is of little consequence to us."

"Not true. We betrayed our allies to the east. Our manpower has decreased.

"Do you really think we still needed them? I am sure Mistress Annis would laugh hearing such ignorant words."

"I wasn’t aware we had grown so much. Very well then. I take it back."

Suddenly, Harold roared by and tackled Doc off the tree. He was moving so fast that the air resistance burned the ropes holding him down. An explosion from Harold’s acceleration rang through the air, causing the two unsuspecting Epigones to falter.

"I got you! Eat my shit you dirty cult followers!"

Harold zoomed away as fast as he could. The wind was pushing hard against Doc, who was in the process of trying to figure out what had grabbed him now.

"H-Harold? Is it really you?"

Harold smiled as he looked down at Doc for a brief moment.

"It is. We need to get you ou-"

Just then, an arrow shot through Harolds back. He grunted and fell to the ground, rolling hundreds of yards before coming to a stop. Harold sat up and stared at the arrow in shock before ripping it out and breaking the stem. Doc helped stop his bleeding.

They looked around and saw a terrifying sight. The Epigones were keeping up with them perfectly, which meant only one thing: they were somehow just as fast, if not faster than Harold.

Harold realized this and grabbed hold of Doc once more.

"Shit."

He darted away as fast as he could, but almost as soon as he did, the Epigones were already on his trail.

"How the hell are they so fast?! What are these things?"

One of the Epigones readied a bow and took aim once more. Harold managed to dodge three more arrows until a massive shoulder rammed into his back.

Just as he was about to trip and fall, Harold planted his feet deep in the ground, a blue aura wrapped around his legs, his teeth clenched, his eyes glowed, and he shouted the words he was desperately hoping to save for a later fight.

"RELEASE!"

Harold seemingly teleported away. The shockwave created from him pushing off the ground lifted up thousands of tons of rock. It looked as if a meteor had crashed into the earth where he had taken off. The amount of force from the air was getting to be too much for Doc. Even Harolds body was slowly being shredded, but he didn’t stop his power until he was far enough away.

Harold stopped and dropped to the ground, heavily panting and holding his heart. It felt like it was about to explode in his chest. Harold sucked in as much air as he could. His vision started getting blurry, but he slowly caught himself and studied his surroundings.

"That should buy us enough time. We need a plan. Are you okay?"

Doc dusted off his clothes and took in a few deep breaths.

"I actually do have an idea, but we passed the place we need to go. We need to head further south into a forested area. Are you sure you can make it?"

Harold panted heavily and slapped his knees.

"Do I have much of a choice?"

Not even moments later, the Epigones had finally caught up.

"They must have put a tracking device on you, Doc. We need to find a way to get rid of it after we shake these two."

Harold picked Doc back up and pushed through the pain in his legs.

"By the way, what advantage will a forest provide us? I can find one much closer."

"No. It has to be that one. It’s not that the forest is dangerous, it is what lives inside of it."