Protector

We are all severely outnumbered. Not only that, but I can't use hot flames like I had been using without possibly killing all of the elves. I can hear the screeches steadily approaching, and the elves were beginning to hear them to.

"Do you hear that?"

"It sounds like a lot."

"No, it sounds like more than a lot. I think we might be in trouble!"

The elves were slowly beginning to realize the danger they were in, but by the time it settled in, I had come up with a plan.

I stood up from my seat in the carriage and stepped outside.

"What are you doing?"

Elizabeth called out to me from the carriage, clearly confused by my actions, but I have a plan. It's fairly simple actually. All I need to do is creat a force field of dense air around the entire escort and kill the Raging Rats as they pile up. This way, I can ensure keeping the Elves safe as well as disposing of the Raging Rats.

With my plan in mind, I began the execution. Creating a dense field of air around the escort, I had the forcefield up and around the Elves and I. Once we had all been safely secured within the field, I simply waited.

All of the Elves got into battle positions as the Raging Rats neared, but then the Rats stopped. They were all clearly confused, but they stayed in position, ready to fight at a moments notice. None of them cowered despite the overwhelming number of Raging Rats. Admirable.

As they Elves watched on, they saw as the Raging Rats began to pile on top of one another, slowly beginning to cover the field. Within only two minutes, they had completely covered a forcefield meant to hold a small castles worth of Elves. As the Raging Rats reached the top of the field, I noticed how the red dots on mini map simply covered us.

Well, now is as good a time as any. Since I have no idea if the King's Castle is near or not, as I have no way of distinguishing ruins and cities on my map, I should avoid using any intense wide area attacks. Instead, I just need to use an attack that will kill all of the Raging Rats in the immediate vicinity.

Simple. I'll have them pulled into the ground. It'll be good for the plant life too, I think.

With my Earth Magic, I began to pull all of the Raging Rats into the ground, one after the other. Their high pitched screeches as they panicked to escape what had essentially became quicksand filled the air. I refused to let a single one escape, however, pulling them all far into the ground.

The Elves watched with awe as I used my magic to efficiently deal with all of the Raging Rats. Even Elizabeth's soldiers who had done plenty of impressive fighting themselves seemed truly astonished.

As soon as all of the Rats had been pulled under the earth, the screeches that had filled the air only moments before disappeared, replaced by a pleasant calm carried by the wind. Once I brought down my forcefield, I went back into the carriage and sat in the same spot I had been sitting before, acting like nothing had happened.

There was a few moments of awkward silence as all of the Elves tried to process what exactly they had just seen, before one of them finally did something.

"Woohoo!"

With that one call of celebration, all of the townspeople began cheering louder than thunder from a thunderstorm. They cheered at an absolutely deafening volume, and considering what they had just survived, it's no wonder they are happy.

Elizabeth on the other hand just kept looking at me with a captivated look. It seemed like she was in another world as she gazed at me with her bright blue eyes. After a few moments when she realized she was staring at me, she snapped out of her daze. She was clearly embarrassed, as her face was flushed red and she kept twirling her finger in her hair.

I just looked back out the window and stared outwards into the vast lands around us. After a few minutes of loud and slightly obnoxious cheering, they finally stopped, allowing the escort to continue forward. Even though the cheering had stopped, the Elves still continued to talk amongst themselves.

"I can't believe a human could be so powerful!"

"Right!? And to think she used that power to save all of us! That human is nothing like the humans from the stories!"

"I'm just glad she kept the princess safe!"

I guess they didn't really expect me to do anything. Considering they think poorly of humans, I guess I can understand. As I was thinking quietly to myself, Elizabeth moved over to my side of the carriage and sat right next to me. Before I could say anything, she laid her head down on my shoulder.

"Princess?"

"Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Congratulating you for saving my subjects."

It was the truth. I always knew instinctually if someone was telling the truth or lying, and right now, she was telling the truth. There were no other motives behind what she had just done right now. That didn't stop me from being extremely uncomfortable though.

As much as I wanted to ask her to stop, it was clear she was having a moment, and I would hate to ruin it, so I let her stay there.