Unfortunately for the Spear of Touval, she was right.

  Everything she deliberated on and the realizations she came to, were all correct. She didn’t miss a single beat.

  Rick had spent the last five days doing absolutely nothing. He sat there on the battlefield by himself and just waited. He didn’t eat. He didn’t drink. He didn’t sleep. He didn’t talk. His thoughts were empty, and all that remained was focus. He was like a sleeping dragon just waiting patiently for the wrong person to climb his mountain. During this time, his body had more than consolidated its strength; it now wholly expressed it.

  Velora was correct in her assessment that Rick did indeed finish his evolution early, and while she was still trying to figure out how and why that happened beyond her theories, it didn’t change the fact that it was an early evolution. That meant his body had to bear the cost of such a thing.

  When he first appeared on the battlefield, Rick couldn’t tell at that moment, but he indeed wasn’t at full strength. Even without having the regular activity of consolidating his strength after a recent evolution, his body was still bouncing back from the rigorous activities he had put himself through to reach this point. The fact that he had somehow accelerated his evolution wasn’t something you recovered from overnight.

  Now, after five nights, that would paint a different picture, especially when the person in question did absolutely nothing for that entire time.

  Needless to say, it was the first time in a long time that Rick did absolutely nothing, and his new and improved body needed it.

  During this time, none of the goblins had approached him. All of them took his words to heart, resting and receiving medical attention.

  Even their usual scouts had pulled back their scope of influence just enough that they could rotate more of their members. Rick had given an order, and they would see it followed, rest and get medical attention. The King clearly wasn’t in any mood to negotiate his instructions.

  Now, while no Goblin approached Rick, there was a group of Goblins who were a bit closer than the others.

  Commander Meegra had gathered all members of the Royal Guard and sought to bring them before Rick, only to realize that he was not in any mood to meet her. The Goblins and the Chiefs who had exited the council told her of his order to rest and get medical attention. So she allowed the Royal Guard to rest, which included herself, but despite that, she made sure that they were in direct view of Rick. When he moved, they would move.

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  For now, they would rest.

  And it was indeed a much needed rest, although both Rick and Meegra feared the worst when the other Royal Guards didn’t immediately come to see Rick. She quickly learned that it was because they were holding down one of the fronts almost entirely by themselves.

  It was, of course, part of their training to do just that, but that was with Rick and Meegra taking the brunt of the battles in front of them.

  Maybe, just maybe, the Royal Guards would’ve all lost their lives defending the front almost entirely by themselves if not for one thing happening, Loruk had evolved.

  He was already in the Fifth Tier, and all of the fighting he had done on the front had finally paid dividends. He fought harder, longer, and far more desperately than any other member of the Royal Guard. It wasn’t like the others weren’t trying. No, they were also giving it their all, but Loruk had a level of desperation that couldn’t be explained.

  For him, this went back to when he was forced to run with his future King on his back while the rest of his comrades sacrificed their lives just so that he could escape.

  The memory of that pained him to no end. It kept him up at night, and it forced itself into almost all of his thoughts…the memory of his legs, and how he somehow reached the point where he couldn’t feel them any longer, yet they still kept moving out of sheer will and drive to get his king to safety.

  While others died in their place, that wasn’t a memory he wanted to relive.

  So, with the situation being what it was, that same drive and will he showcased on that day quite some time ago had once again resurfaced in full. He fought and he fought, he killed and he killed, and he did everything in his power to make sure even one more Goblin would live to see another day as long as he was alive.

  It was with that dedication and desperation that he managed to climb to the Sixth Tier, and it was that boost that allowed the Royal Guards a bit more breathing room as they fought valiantly to defend the front they held.

  As fate would have it, Rick’s Royal Guard was here, and they were far more menacing now than when he had left them. On the sixth day, when a reorganized force of Humans and Demi-humans made their approach toward Rick, the Royal Guards stood because so did Rick.

  He wasn’t in a hurry. He didn’t look bothered. He simply sensed the approach of the enemy and took his time getting to his feet. He even had time to pat the dirt off his person.

  After that, he simply stood there watching, a blank expression on his face, as the members of the GES rapidly approached. Their formations were a bit different now. Instead of being spread around like they had been in all the previous battles, ready to pin the Goblins in and slowly whittle their numbers down line by line, they looked more like an arrow now.

  All of their remaining Tier Sevens were at the front in the shape of a wedge, with the Spear of Touval at its point, and everyone else fell in behind them. That was how they decided to enter the field.

  And in a long list of unfortunate events for the GES... Rick would have it no other way.