Lith and Solus stored the warg's remains inside their pocket dimension before scouting the surrounding area to search for the rest of the pack . Thanks to the beta's sacrifice, the warg had been able to quickly retreat inside their underground den .
They hadn't been expecting a mage, but a voice in the back of their heads had warned them not to stray from their haven . Even though it was hard for them to even grasp the concept of caution, the alpha had followed the advice .
With intelligence came fear . None of the monsters would hesitate to sacrifice their lives to save their kin, but with each new member of the tribe, the warg experienced more emotions .
If before life was all about feeding and breeding, now they wanted more . So much more and enough time to enjoy their achievements . They weren't willing to die in a blaze of glory, the monsters wanted to live which made them more dangerous than all of their new abilities .
Lith was slowly expanding the search area when his army communicator drew his attention .
"Where are you?" Baroness Enja asked with more than a tinge of fear in her voice .
"Taking care of your enemies . Your call might as well have given the creatures the time to escape . I told you not to bother me unless it's an emergency . "
"Four watchtowers are down, we have dozens of casualties and injuries, plus the only mage for kilometers is outside the city walls . I'd say it's quite an emergency . If another attack happens in your absence, the city will fall . Come back immediately!"
Lith hung up in reply, pondering what he should do .
'Dozens of casualties? Four watchtowers? This doesn't make sense . Only two exploded before we left and we counted less than six corpses . If the attack continued even after we engaged the warg warrior, it means someone else was acting as the tribe's eyes and ears .
'We'd better get back to Maekosh . Something doesn't add up' He thought as his civilian amulet lit up .
"It's everything okay? Are you alright?" Lith asked . Kamila had never called him during her working hours just to chat .
"That's my line! We are getting reports of monster tribes popping up like mushrooms . The central command is revoking all leave until the matter is resolved . "
"Are you saying the whole north is affected? Not only the Kellar region?" Lith could see from the hologram that she was pacing around what looked like a smoking area .
"Not just the north, but the whole Kingdom . Or rather, according to a friend of mine in the foreign affairs department, the same is happening to all of our neighbors . To make matters worse, some of the reports say the monsters are abnormal . "
"Abnormal how?"
Kamila checked her surroundings to make sure she was still alone before answering .
"Some seem to be more powerful, others more intelligent, and a few both . The information is considered strictly confidential so as to not spread panic . At least until the central command can confirm the claims, so you heard nothing from me . "
"Actually, you may hear about it from me soon . My warg case falls into the worst case scenario . I'll give you a full report as soon as I finish examining the corpse I collected . "
"I don't care about a full report . When I call from my personal amulet, I'm your girlfriend, not your handler . I want to know if you are all right or not, you dummy!" Lith's lack of care for his own well being irked Kamila to no end .
"Oh, sorry . I'm perfectly fine . The warg I faced was completely different from what I expected, but overall it wasn't much . I'll call you later, Baroness I've-got-a-stick-up-my-ass is in sight . " Lith put the amulet away before landing on the western wall .
Enja was waiting for him along with the soldiers . She was wearing the blue shirt and brown pants which made up the uniform of the city guard . On her sleeve, there was the insignia of a captain while an enchanted blade rested at her side .
The situation was much better than he had expected after looking at the Baroness' stern face . Aside from the destroyed watchtowers, there was no significant damage .
"Thank you so much!" Several guards offered him their hands .
"Thank the gods the attack stopped almost as soon as you left . Otherwise we would have lost a lot more men . " Said a middle aged sergeant whose uniform was covered in dust and dirt .
"You saved our lives by blocking all those spells . Your powers must be unparalleled . " Said a young guard who gave Lith a deep bow .
"Why did you disobey your orders?" The Baroness looked relieved to see the morale so high, yet she wanted to understand if Lith's actions had lessened or aggravated the carnage .
"The enemy wasn't in sight, there was nothing I could do by staying on the walls . "
"Is that true?" She asked the guards who promptly nodded .
"It was a nightmare . An invisible enemy kept raining death on us from thin air . We were like fish in a barrel, waiting for the slaughter . " Said the sergeant .
"There's no such thing as invisible enemies . Warg can use each other as relay points for their spells . It was only a matter of finding their sentry and kill it to stop the attack . " It wasn't actually that simple, but spreading the news of mutated monsters in a city under winter lockdown was a recipe for disaster .
"Excellent work, Ranger Verhen . Please follow me . " The Baroness made way without waiting for his reply . Lith could tell that all the angry façade and the captain dress up was for the troops .
Enja was good at bluffing, but not good enough to make him fail to notice that she had some urgent matters to discuss . The city lord would never expose herself for a small skirmish . To be where the crossfire could start again at any moment, she had to have a problem that couldn't wait .
Otherwise she would have just summoned him to her office . Enja walked down the stairs to the base of the wall, where a stagecoach was waiting for them . After a short trip, the carriage stopped in front of the city morgue .
It was a one story stone building . The ground floor was furnished as a waiting room for the relatives of the deceased and the underground floor was insulated to keep the bodies in a cold and dry environment .
Lith noticed a couple of guards were standing behind the double doors leading to the lower level . They tensed up when the entrance opened, but relaxed the moment they saw the Baroness .
The basement was neat and orderly . Metal scaffolds which held corpses covered by black blankets were placed along the walls . Most of them were empty, Lith counted a dozen bodies .
Three metal slabs occupied the center of the room, but they weren't enough to deal with the recent events . Several stretchers were lined up next to the slabs, and each one carried a body .
"The ones on the scaffolds are the victims from the city wall . " The Baroness walked to the nearest one and uncovered a couple of corpses . Lith nodded, recognizing the damages an amateurish fireball could cause .
"The ones on the slabs guarded the west city gate . Please, tell me what you see . " Lith's eyes sparked with interest . The attack site was far from the gate . He removed the blanket from the stretcher, revealing a butchered corpse .
Someone had tried to cover the claw wounds with first magic, but fire could never tear flesh that way and only made the marks on the bones more evident .
Note : Please download the sponsor's game to support us!
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login