Two long horns came out from the crimson Emperor Beast’s shoulders, protecting the sides of its head.
The long tail allowed it to balance its weight while the creature stood on its hind legs, while the violet feathered wings on its back looked too pretty for such a feral creature.
Lith recognized Feela the Behemot’s voice, the beasts’ representative in the Council and leader of their faction.
“The Kings of the woods signaled us the presence of the Horseman of the Black Night so we needed to assemble a force that could take on her and her siblings. Baba Yaga’s children help each other in times of crisis and we couldn’t afford them to escape.” Feela said.
“Otherwise we would only achieve an empty victory and be forced to wait for their return. If we want to put an end to their threat, they must be destroyed or at least captured.”
Despite his anger, Lith couldn’t refute the logic of both humans and beasts. Royal Guards needed to swarm a place before the enemy could dispel their Gates, whereas beasts could protect their arrays but they needed first to assemble a force capable of matching that of the Horseman.
‘Without Yurial’s Hexagram and my countless tricks, Night would have made a short work of me thanks to the dimensional sealing array. Even if the beasts charged blindly, Baba Yaga would have appeared anyway and I doubt that anyone but the Abominations could strike such a good deal from her.’ He thought.
“What in the gods’ name happened here?” Orion asked while looking at the crater where once Zinya’s house was, at the ruins of Selia’s home, and at the ground surrounding the Verhen household that had been upturned by the Demons rising from their graves.
“Indeed. We received the call but a few minutes ago.” Feela said. “A Horseman’s power is great, but not even them can bring this kind of destruction in so little time.”
At the wave of the hand of their respective commanders, Emperor Beasts and Royal Guards spread out in search of enemies or survivors. Feeling reassured by the presence of such a mighty force, Captain Locrias of the Queen corps came out of Lith’s house and started to tell everyone about the events he had witnessed.
The description of the mysterious Wyrmling’s and its army’s battle prowess left Orion flabbergasted and made a smug expression appear on Feela’s snout. When the Captain reached the part where Elina had unleashed Yurial’s Hexagram her surprise matched Orion’s.
When he told them about the six odd-looking Emperor Beast that had beaten Night to a pulp and even forced Baba Yaga to bargain for her life, both Orion and Feela thought that Locrias had gone mad from the shock.
Meeting a single member of a Guardian’s bloodline was a rare event but six of them at the same time was something unheard of even in legends. Only the accurate description of Baba Yaga in her Mother form and of her tower, along with Lith’s family testimony saved Locrias from a thorough medical examination.
‘I still can’t understand why those monster-Abomination hybrids helped me without asking nothing in return.’ Lith thought. ‘I get that Xenagrosh considers me a member of her bloodline, but I doubt that her companions feel the same way about me.
‘Yet their rage was as genuine as it was groundless. The hybrids kept talking about their pain, their blood, their family. No matter how tight the ties between them are, I refuse to believe that Xenagrosh considers me part of her family after briefly meeting me once.’ Lith thought.
‘Maybe they consider your family members to be Abomination hybrids as well since you all share the same blood.’ Solus thought.
‘You could be right, but I’m pretty sure everyone is safe and sound. Their words made no sense.’ Lith checked his communication amulet, sighing in relief as he noticed that no communication rune had disappeared.
“I’m really sorry, Scourge.” Sentinel the Garmr, who had replaced Protector as leader of the Ry pack said. Her fur was covered in blood despite both her Skinwalker armor and the use of Invigoration.
She still lacked a front leg and several fangs that even the breathing technique needed time to replace.
“We thought about opening a Warping Array to transport you here or summon reinforcements, but to open such a long-distance Gate open would have required all the Kings and kept them away from the battle.
“Even with the weapons you provided us with, we couldn’t let our magical beasts brethren go to battle alone. The undead are too powerful for them and the chances to rescue Rena’s family would have been near zero.”
“No need to apologize, Sentinel.” Lith took lots of food out of his pocket dimension that the Emperor Beast wolfed down to accelerate her healing process. “You did the right thing. Arriving here faster would have been pointless if my pack died for it.”
While the Royal Guards fixed the fields and the Beasts took care of their injured, Lith reached Tista and the others in the woods to bring them home.
“Your little army came just in the nick of time.” Nalrond said while still in his Rezar form. He had lost his left arm and most of the scales on his back were either broken or missing.
Despite Tista’s best efforts, he had so many open wounds that his body looked like a bloody railroad map.
“There were too many undead and every time they touched me, I could feel my life force abandoning me.”
“Why is he still like that?” Lith asked in surprise.
An Awakened’s breathing technique was supposed to heal even such ghastly wounds in a matter of seconds.
“Because he’s on the verge of dying. Healing his life-threatening wounds drained Nalrond of nutrients. After I made sure that Rena was alright, keeping him stable and feeding him potions was the best I could do.” Tista replied.
“His life force is compromised from the injuries he sustained, the darkness magic that the undead used, and the mana abuse for using too many spells. It’s taking me everything I have just to keep his cores from breaking due to the built-up strain.
“I can’t even allow Nalrond to lose consciousness or he might not wake up.”
Lith examined the Rezar with Invigoration, noticing that Tista was right. Using light magic to accelerate the absorption of nutrients would further compromise Nalrond’s body.
Without an external source, Invigoration would break down his flesh and bones to heal him, resulting in death. To make matters worse, both Nalrond’s mana cores and life force were in critical conditions.
“I’m sorry to bother you, little brother, but have you seen Professor Vastor?” Rena pulled his shoulder to get Lith’s attention.
“Why the heck should I care about him? The Professor is probably in the safety of the academy drinking wine whereas Nalrond here is dying!” Lith snarled at his sister’s tactlessness.
“You don’t understand. The Professor was here. How do you think Zinya managed to survive?” Rena’s words struck Lith like a punch, giving him one more piece of the puzzle but raising more questions than they answered.
“Zinya is heartbroken and has never stopped crying. She thinks that he died to protect her or that the undead took him prisoner.”
