Chapter 432 (2/2)
“Good!” Chul’s voice boo several nearby phoenixes flinch “Tiave hions erous for you to accoht of that, didn’t we?” Wren said, his words barbed “I developed an artifact that will hide Chul’s unique nature so that he presents as just another dimwitted human”
“So quickly?” I asked
Wren Kain snorted “Quickly? It’s been two months, boy”
Chul puffed out his chest and held up a nondescript ed of dull metal “While I strive to be the spear that drives into our foes, I will don theRealnature was powerful but did not stand out as being inhuman “You couldn’t have fixed his eyes, too?”
Chul crossed his ar “My eyes are not broken”
“It’ll have to be enough then” I held out a hand to Mordain
He stood and took it, shaking it fir the attention of Dicathen’s new guardians There is a secondary exit that will take you quite a distance froround I will show you the way As alk, I can tell you what little I know about the dragon presence on your continent”
“Farewell then,” I told Wren, offering his and won’t hold your anger against you But I’d prefer to part on good ter atwith Aldir just to hide” His gaze juave him a soft sh rarely used tunnels”
As we approached the end of the long, roughly-dug tunnel, thick tree roots began overtaking the ceiling and walls A sort of den had been carved out of the roots, withinto it Where the tree should have been above us, instead only a hollowed out stu wood had been scored black
“A phoenix wyro,” Mordain coons even fronatures, but I doubt you could sneak all the way fros and for those who have things to hide,” Chul said, his voice so deep it shook dust loose fro out above us
“You're e need to hide, sis said with a snort
Wren rolled his eyes, and Chul scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed frown
“These are Kezess’s soldiers Supposedly, they are enerate even more suspicion thanto”
“How you proceed is up to you, of course,” Mordain acknowledged, nodding He took Chul’s hand in his own fist and held it against his heart “Do not let your passions fly aith you If you truly wish to find justice for your mother, it will take tiuide you in this”
“Let them protect me from my oorst impulses, you mean?” Chul said seriously “I understand”
“Farewell then It is my hope that you’ll return to us when all this is over” Toyou to watch over one of my own, Arthur Leywin It is not a duty—or trust—that I place on you lightly”
“Goodbye, Mordain,” I said, then leapt through the burned out stump to land on the forest floor above The others flew out behind natures,” I said, then began h the thick underbrush
We were surrounded by huge, leafy trees like guardtowers that blotted out thefor the erous mana beasts that inhabited the deepest parts of the Beast Glades There was no mana beast on either continent that would pose a threat to this group, but I didn’t want the delay or distraction of having to dispatch the kinds of mana beasts ere likely to encounter
“At this rate the ill be over before we get anywhere,” Chul gru to walk the whole way?”
“No,” I answered quietly “This should be far enough”
Like the others, I had been holding back the aetheric aura that always radiated out froons I unclenched, like a fist releasing, and nature radiated outward like a beacon I actively pushed, wanting to make sure it was sensed
Wren and Chul couldn’t sense aether, but they could feel the pressure “What are you up to?” Wren asked, eyeing me uncertainly
A roar rent the air like a thunderclap Tree limbs snapped and heavy clawed feet crushed and scraped at the forest floor The ground shook with each footfall
Chul grinned and stepped confidently out in front of the others A colossal weapon appeared in his fist, littlehaft Cracks in the sphere let out orange light as if the core was molten The head itself was as wide as hed a ton, but he held it effortlessly
A towering, bipedal horror barreled into sight, its ated jaide, three beady eyes on each side of its flat skull dilated with the thrill of the hunt It res, except its arms were thick with corded muscle and ended in razor sharp claws, and it stood over twenty feet tall
With a gleeful battle cry, Chul launched hi the weapon down on its head
The S-class beast’s natural protective ht orange flames sputtered out from the cracks in the weapons head as it crushed the thick, leathery hide, rock-hard bone, and race for one so large The round h the forest A handful of si on our position halted, then slowly dispersed
“Ah, to feel the blistering heat of battle flowing like honey-wine inin a deep breath “Too bad this venator was so young Had it been fully !”
“They’re cole patch of bare sky we could see through the dense tree liround,” Wren said, coled mass of hair
With a wave of his hand, earth-attribute round to harden into solid stone Within seconds, a shi+p hs of the huge trees It was conjured out of stone, but the textures were so finely uishable from wood and cloth
Sylvie slipped her ar, setting us down on the deck The others followed, and the shi+p began rising up through the branches
Regis took a deep breath and let it out happily “This is great I’ve alanted to be a pirate An eye patch would really enhance uish aesthetic, don’t you think?”
“What is a ‘pirate’?” Chul asked, his blunt features pinched in confusion
Resting , I looked west toward the distant Grand Mountains The vast desert of Darv lay on the other side, and hidden beneath it was h, I could feel the distant but oppressive waves of the King’s Force radiating fro, but slowly, like we’re searching for soan to drift over the tops of the trees, enerally ard
“We should have sonal if you wish us to attack,” Chul said seriously, staring in the direction of the closest nature “Perhaps if you shout, ‘Attack’”
“Noted,” I said, ons
Sylvie stepped up beside idity to her posture I wasn’t accustomed to You okay? I asked in herabout what Mordain said These dragons will knohat I ain to foresee all the—the…’ Sylvie winced, her eyes clenching shut She turned her face away and the mental connection between us cut off as she shi+elded herself
“Sylv, what’s—”
She shook her head, and her eyes fluttered back open “Nothing Just some kind of aftershock froht ahead in the direction where two of thefroaze straight ahead as well One signature, co from the north, becahtly farther, flying from the mountains to the northwest The third approached from the coast to the southwest
The first to arrive was a large, eon, half the size of our shi+p When he was a hundred feet away, he turned so he was flying alongside us, his bright yellow eyes scanning the deck They stopped on Sylvie, first squinting as if unsure he could trust his own eyes, then going wide
The second, slightly larger than the first, with pearlescent white scales that glinted in the sunlight, circled around to fly above and behind us, her huge bulk eclipsing the sun and plunging the deck into shadow
The third was a lithe creature with dark cri or shi+ning even as his wings beat His face, with jaws large enough to s even Chul whole, was covered in battle scars, and there was a tattered rip in the edge of his right wing He banked sharply along our port side so that the dragons had us flanked
The green dragon spoke, h the words to carry them easily across the noise and distance “Arthur Leywin We have not nize you by description Lord Indrath will be pleased to know you are alive There has been…concern at your long absence”
“Where have you been?” the red dragon growled, tipping his wings to drift closer to the shi+p, his large ochre eyes probing each of us in turn, ending with Sylvie “What are a dragon, a titan, and a couple of hu this deep in the Beast Glades?”
“This is hardly the reception I think randfather would have expected forto look both irritated and apathetic at the saon In contrast to her outward poise, I felt a squirh our connection as she invoked Kezess in our defense “You should be careful who you aze”
The red’s eyes widened and he pulled back “Lady Silvie Indrath?”
The three dragons exchanged disbelieving looks It was the white who spoke, her voice tight with emotion “Lady, you must co this world with Epheotus Lord Indrath—”
“Stop,” Sylvie said, her voice ringing with command “My duties lie here in Dicathen for the moment If you wish to infor you”
The dragon winced at her words, wounded and fearful “Lady, Lord Indrath would wish—”
Sylvie released a tangible wave of on’s words short once on uttered quickly before turning to the other two “Escort Lady Sylvie to her destination”
Wheeling away, the white dragon flew at speed to the east, deeper into the Beast Glades
Only then did I sense the subtle ht breeze was blowing it ard over the Beast Glades “What is that?” I asked Wren, who had so far looked on in silence and not addressed the dragons directly
“Lord Indrath has opened the way between the words,” he said softly “Epheotus lies bare to the wider universe”
“You two, give us soon “You are not escorting prisoners”
The green nodded respectfully before banking away, flying a few hundred feet to our starboard The red hesitated, inspecting her closely, then his gaze went to me and his face hardened Much more slowly than his counterpart, he drifted away
Our shi+p picked up speed and corrected course so ere flying straight toward the Grand Mountains
In the distance,over the mountains and the border between the Beast Glades and the Elenoir Wastes
A shi+eld of wings, fire and claws
‘A shi+eld…or a prison,’ Regis sent back with a smirk “Let’s see which it is”