Chapter 104 (1/2)

Chapter 104

Chapter 104: The Great Eight

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“A a sharp branch out of h a familiar part of Elshi+re Forest after Windsom had teleported us nearby It took me only a few moments upon arrival to realize that I had been to this part of the forest before with the Eralith family; ere headed towards Elder Rinia’s hideout

“You have been given perure it out sooner or later Whilethe information that I’ve told you isn’t necessary, it is always beneficial for one to know the culture, mannerisms and politics involved when in unfamiliar territory Especially if you have to interact with the iures of said place” Windso to turn around as he continued pushi+ng branches and vines out of his way “But I have a feeling that you already know the importance of that”

“Of course,” I s is but a sword stuck in its sheath Now, you’ve told me the what, Windsom, but you’ve yet to tell me the why”

“Very true,” he adh”

I went on “Okay, so there are sev… no, eight races of asuras in Epheotus Each race consists of multiple clans, but only one clan within their respective race are titled as one of the High Eight?”

“The Great Eight,” the asura corrected immediately

“What race was the Vritra Clan?” I tried to iine multiple tiht be, with their horns and grey co came to mind

“The true form of the Vritra Clan is that of a fearsoood for you to take note of the races and clan naht”

“What became of the Basilisk race after the Vritra Clan and other Basilisk clans’ betrayal? I pressed on, swatting a particularly annoying insect that had probably thoughtthe fact that the Vritra Clan was replaced by a lesser clan as part of the Great Eight, some of the more radical races pushed to annihilate whatever remained of the Basilisk race Fortunately, the ties between each race reach far back in history; friends of the re Basilisk clans stood up for theenocide were never taken; it would be foolish for a whole race to bear the crimes of a few, after all”

I couldn’t discern what Windso as he told me all of this The inflection and tone of his voice didn’tal aton fallen leaves and broken branches “Hoere the Great Eight selected anyway?”

“The clans of the Great Eight have alon race has the fewest number of clans, the Indrath Clan, the clan of ht since the beginning of our history However, even to this day, the strength of the Great Clans are grades above the rest of the others This is about the closest thing to an answer I can give you”

We continued to rally back and forth as we made our way towards Elder Rinia’s hidden shelter, Windso me on the names I needed to knoas able to process most of the information fairly quickly, but my sleep-deprived and starved state took a toll on my ability to retain information

“Anyway, not to sound like a brat, but couldn’t you have brought us any closer? If you teleported us from an airborne castle in the middle of the Beast Glades to Elshi+re Forest, I’m sure you could’ve teleported us a few miles closer…”

“The ho refuge in is surrounded by a fairly large barrier that I did not wish to agitate Teleporting through it ive away the location of everyone inside”

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“Ah… e inh the waterfall that hid the entrance to Elder Rinia’s horona, current head of the Vritra Clan, led his race out of Epheotus to Alacrya, where he had been experi on the lesser races, and declared himself Eternal Ruler?”

“A rather tasteless title to give to oneself but, in essence, yes,” the asura confiruys talked about earlier; if the Vritra Clan, along with the other clans of the Basilisk race, are asuras, shouldn’t they be forbidden to directly act in this upco to keep track of how many turns we took in this maze of a tunnel

“Yes, but that was never the proble and turned back towards me—“Arthur, didn’t you ever once wonder why the asura races didn’t just kill the Vritra Clan and the clans following them? There are seven other races after all”

“Of course I have, but didn’t you say so about the consequences that would affect the lesser races that were living in Alacrya?”

“I did, but what I had not informed you of was that the treaty was not our first course of action After Agrona and his follower’s escape, the Great Clans, excluding the Basilisk race, caardless of factions, and formed an assembly of the leaders of each Great Clan The leaders decided to send a srona and his followers” Windsom paused for a moment, and even with his stoic expression, it was obvious that he was deliberating on whether to express as on his h and conjured a small barrier around us “Arthur, what I’m about to disclose to you must stay with you; this information is known only by a feweyes with Windsom as I waited for him to continue

“Everyone in Epheotus believe that Lady Sylvia was somehow captured and held prisoner somewhere, but it was actually Lady Sylvia who voluntarily ith the elite division tasked with killing Agrona Vritra and the clans that followed hi out a lot louder than I had meant it to “How does that make sense? She went on awhat to expect? That mission was basically suicidal No way your o”

“Of course Lord Indrath didn’t allow her to go,” Windso is Lady Sylvia concealed herself and followed after the elite division By the time they were aware of Lady Sylvia’s presence, it was already too late to back out”

There was a long pause before either of us spoke again

“So what ended up happening to the asuras sent by the leaders of Epheotus?”

“What none of the leaders had expected”— Windsorona, that cunning snake, aiting with an even larger arical abilities as them”

It took only a moment for me to realize what his words i with the lesser races of Alacrya,” I whispered

The asura only nodded in return, before continuing “Apparently, Agrona and his followers had been interbreeding for quite so that there ell over tens of thousands of thefor our battalion”

“So the band of elite asuras you guys sent were outnumbered…”

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“Tremendously outnumbered,” he stressed “And the eleht our warriors would have had was rendered moot”

“What befell thean answer

The asura shook his head in response “Communication was lost soon after the battle started While we are certain that their side took a considerable loss in nuade of our elite asuras, the pride of their respective clans and races, were either killed or captured”

I was silent as thoughts on how Sylvia ed to escape filled my mind

Windsom’s next words snappedtold by Agrona hihter had been killed in battle If it had been up to hi the consequences However, the rest of the Great Clans were against it and pushed for a treaty” Windsoain

“The treaty was eventually for the asuras to act directly because of the collateral dae it would cause if a full-scale ere to occur between the seven asura races of Epheotus and the Vritra Clan’s army of basilisks and lesser, half-breed mutts” There was an obvious spite in his voice, but his expression had turned back to norain, I realized how e Dicathen was in This treaty had been in place since generations ago, and even though it prohibited asuras and the half-breeds fro in the battles, who kno many of the so-called ‘lesser races’ of Alacrya had blood of asuras mixed in with theirs