Chapter 64

I'm posting some chapters ahead of time on my discord server: https://discord.gg/r2VSvS5kaH

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'Kill those who resist.'

With the command given, the shadow soldiers waited no more and revealed themselves. Thousands of them, including gigantic silhouettes, appeared, overshadowing nearby buildings. The fear assaulted Alacryans, even those who were on the outskirts of a human city. Far away from the city, at the coast where many of the ships were docked, the enemy soldiers also began to notice abnormalities.

The giants were moving towards them, and there wasn't even a signal coming from their comrades. Since the soldiers hadn't returned to the ships, they had to wait for their return. A clock ticked, and the Alacryans still haven't returned. With the exception of the Alacryan navy and civilian hostages, the Etistin Bay was deserted.

"Admiral…"

"Anything else from the city?"

"No, but this!"

The conversation between the commander of the Alacryan ship and the sailor was interrupted. Their ship began shaking madly, as if the huge waves were hitting the hull, causing everyone to stumble on their feet. When the Admiral looked over to check on what was causing this, the black creatures completely flooded the sea. The gigantic hands and claws quickly came out of the water and dug into the ship's hull.

*Crack*

The water entered the ship's hull, so either it should be docked right away… But the first option should be dismissed. Would the shadow soldier who seeks their liege's enemy's blood allow that to happen? No. There was no way. The shadow soldier would turn this ship into a submarine and nobody would stop him.

"We are sinking!"

With no hope, the petrified sailor could only stare at his commander in disbelief, expecting him, to at least have some emergency plan. Meanwhile, the commander was out of his mind. Down there, under the ship, there was something else they won't be able to escape from. He could witness how the huge dark claws broke down his ship.

The water flooded the hall, and it began sinking. When the creature dug out his claw, even more water gushed into the ship making it only sink faster. The sailors were running out of the interior, to escape their demise. Luckily, before the water could reach their feet they were already on the deck. Steadily, the ship merged with the water, its damaged part finally couldn't hold on, and the massive Alacryan utility was split in half.

One half with the sailors, the second with dark emerging monsters.

"Punny creatures, stop resisting and embrace death! You were all given a chance to have a new purpose!"

Suddenly, in front of the sailors, another black creature appeared. This one looked much stronger, just his presence was enough to inflict striking fear. Also, this time it was addressing them and telling them what?

'Embrace death?'

The admiral thought about it, was this a chance to save his life? But what could the black creature mean? It couldn't possibly mean to…kill themselves.

"Exactly, punny creatures…embrace death. Kill yourself and I might spare your subordinates…" The black creature whispered near his ear. Its cold breathing was now close to his skin. There was no turn around now was there?

Will the admiral of the humongous fleet have enough courage to risk his life for his trusted subordinates? But he didn't want to kill himself. The only thing he was thinking about now was how to save his life.

"Attack… kill this creature! For Alacrya!" His screams were unheard by the sailors. When he turned around, the admiral realized why. Every one of his subordinates was pierced by a dark spike. Some of them were sticking out with organs on the tips. It was a horrible spectacle.

"Bad decision, Admiral." His eyes snapped towards the voice, to be met with a maniacal grin plastered on the creature's face. "Let's get rid of those eyes." The next thing he could remember was how two fingers covered his sight, completely cutting his consciousness from reality.

"What a shame, I would've liked to play more, but the command is a command. Isn't that right guys?"

"Yes, Lord Uto."

Uto laughed at the response of his subordinate. As much as he liked to play with the lives of mortals, there was much more to accomplish. The port city wasn't the only one to be cleared, there were more, far away from this place. Just like other commanders, he had to supervise all the processes.

"We are done with this place. Let's go to Xyrus."

"What about the king's castle, Lord Uto? There are many battles nearby, they could attack the castle at any moment." The shadow soldier worriedly asked Uto, who shook his head with a little smile.

"Sheesh, honestly. It's good that we aren't there. I wouldn't want to anger Lord Beru anyhow."

Chills ran down the shadow soldier's spine when it heard the ant king's name coming out of Uto's mouth. You know the castle is protected when even the bloodiest and craziest person doesn't want to go there because there's an ant king nearby.

"Should we get going then, Lord Uto?"

"Obviously, my hands are still so clean. They can fit much more blood than this."

Grinning Uto, together with hundreds of shadow soldiers, blended with the shadows and disappeared. Leaving hundreds of broken ships, bloodied corpses, and a literal reddened sea. The sharks would be having a great meal today.

Back to Ashborn, who his family was now hugging. Reynolds and Alice, no matter how hard they tried to hug, it seemed they couldn't get enough of it. They just wouldn't let go, the situation worsened, even more, when the Twin-Horns joined in.

Certain red hair was lying on the ground with teary eyes and begged for them to stop. "Guys, why are you doing it without me!" Adam was immobilized and badly injured, but that didn't affect the Twin-Horns, they only laughed in response. Bullied Adam painfully looked away.

"Ash, do you know how worried we were?!"

It was uncomfortable to look into the eyes of your parents, especially when they were crying. Thankfully, they were tears of happiness. "I see." Indeed, he could see and feel it very well. A normal kid would be crushed under this pressure, Rey's strength exerted in this hug was no joke.

"I'm here now. Am I not? Let go of me, so we can talk normally."

"Ah, alright." Instantly, everyone retracted their hands, freeing Ashborn of the human chains. He could now comfortably talk.

"I got what I wanted, and I'm ready to bring Arthur back. I thought it would be appropriate to visit you first before I go again. Also, there is a place where I should bring you all."

"You know where is Arthur?!" Alice's eyes instantly brightened up. Hearing at least something about his kidnapped son brought back the hope she was losing. On the other hand, Reynolds' expression became grim, the exact opposite of Alice's.

He asked, "But it's not that simple, is it? Ash…"

"Well... it's a lot more problematic than any of you can imagine." Ashborn replied to his father, setting their emotions at their peak. Especially Alice and Reynolds, whose heart rates increased twofold.

"That's why I should take you to the hideout, for better protection. Not just you…" The whole population of this planet, if possible. Or at least some part, to preserve previous life on the planet. That's how serious the situation was, crazy to say the least, but Ashborn wasn't exactly normal either.

"My king, sorry for interrupting, but I fear the girl is close to waking up."

"Already?" Surprised, Ash glanced at the approaching shadow soldier. The Vritra held a navy-blue-haired girl in its hands, who was about to wake up from her slumber.

"Ash who is this?" Rey and Alice were also surprised, not by her awakening, but by her appearance. She was really beautiful and cute. 'Is it what I'm thinking about?' The parent's imagination began working really fast.

"She is an Alacryan. I gave her something to increase the mana-core level, but it was too strong and she fell unconscious."

"Poor girl." muttered Alice.

Reynolds, however, "Did I just hear Alacryan?" He glanced at his son, searching for answers.

Ash nodded. He then explained what he was doing in Alacrya. From the very beginning of how he entered the relictombs and what was waiting for him outside, after he finished his ascent. He left the information about Seris behind, though.

"So she was framed for betrayal wrongly. Damn those Alacryans." Reynolds clicked his tongue.

"It's surprising that you took her, Ash."

At Jasmine's words, Alice and Reynolds thought about the whole situation with the girl once more. It's not usual that Ashborn brings someone else. The only time he actually brought someone else was done for Art; he simply brought Tessia for him. What about now?

"She is a student of my acquaintance. I couldn't leave her unconscious."

Alice proudly smiled. At least he cared about that. Reynolds was giving winks to Ashborn, who stared back at him blankly. The cute exchange between parents and son had to end soon. Unfortunately, Caera woke up.

"Ugh…" A painful grunt escaped her mouth, as she opened her eyes and stared up at the dark figure.

"My king, she woke up."

"I see that clearly and well."

Caera panicked at first, those voices sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember what had happened. Why was she unconscious in the first place? Through her blurry sight, she recognized Ashborn and realized she was in a vastly different place. There were more people.

She rubbed her head in pain. For the first time, things like this happened to her, and it was not a great feeling. 'Caera, what did you get yourself into?' She questioned herself, but her inner self never planned to answer the questions.

"Caera, you absorbed a lot of mana and your core evolved. Does it hurt?"

"A little…" Groggily, she tried to stand up. Her feet couldn't reach the ground, so when she looked around, she found herself in that certain dark figure's hands.

Her eyes snapped wide, "I remember this one!" Definitely, she used the horn of this creature to get stronger, which was previously gifted by Ashborn. This was the leader of the Alacryan continent, or was, before. It was Agrona Vritra! But now he is turned into a shadow soldier. She still had those memories of how Agrona's head rolled on the floor after Ash cut him down. and now that she remembered it, her body trembled. That was some 'emotional damage' level of memory.

"She's fine, my lord. I can remove the pain if you so desire."

"Do it then, Agrona."

The snake shadow soldier complied. With his unique magic, he could easily heal almost any kind of injury. Bringing back someone dead to life was also possible, although that wasn't necessary here. Agrona just did little manipulation with the brain.

"It's all done, my lord. Now she should be perfectly fine, with no pain at all. Although I'm surprised her Vritra body could adapt to this well, she might be more worthy if you turn her into one of us, my lord." Agrona suggested. The thought of turning Caera into a shadow soldier was denied by Ashborn.

Ashborn shook his head, "Don't mention these in front of people. And no, I'm not planning to turn anyone here into my soldiers."

"That's a shame, my lord, but what about others like the orange-haired retainer over there. They will be way more useful to the Lord, than to Alacrya." Agrona pointed at Hawky, dragging the orange-haired man.

Others, including Caera, stared at them in shock. The orange-haired man that caused so much ruckus was deformed to the extent that he was unrecognizable. Hawky, though, seemed to be happy. He was bringing that man to Ashborn. Like a faithful dog that always brings back thrown toys.

"He might be useful, for now, let's get going. We don't have time for the break." Ashborn brought forward his hand and cracked the space open. "Get in this portal, Hawky, you carry Adam."

Hawky dropped the dead body of the retainer and proceeded to carry the immobilized Adam. The rest waited for Adam, and then together they entered the portal. Soon they found themselves under the surface of the earth, in a certain cave-like construction.

"We…are back in the nest." The twin-horn muttered excitedly. It was such a quick way of transportation; it was like portable teleportation gates!

"First time?" Caera asked the twin horns, at which point they nodded at her.

Ashborn walked forward and motioned for others to follow him, "We can finally reunite with Ellie, let's go. There are also Alacryans attacking."

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The nest was in a chaotic situation. People had no rest for quite some time as the injured were brought in non-stop for a few hours. Healers overworked themselves, most of them ran out of mana a few hours ago. The Alacryans dealt heavy damage to Dicathen in just a few hours of confrontation. The nest was still in better shape than other bases, unlike them, the nest had heavily stockpiled supplies.

This was why injured people were brought here to be treated. This increased the need for healers, which was pretty limited for the underground city. The non-magician nobles had no experience treating others since their education level was low. There were a few who studied biology, but it wasn't enough. Ordinary people with at least some knowledge picked up the bandages, and just stopped bleeding. Sanitation wasn't forgotten and infections were mostly avoided.

The Helstea family wasn't an exception, they also helped out the nest. Together with Ellie, they tended to the injuries of soldiers who were brought. Also, Ellie had a little time to work with Emily and Gideon and helped them out by delivering the necessary package.

"Agh… this is so tiring." Ellie wiped off the sweat from her forehead. Her hair was soaked in sweat from all the running she did today.

She was once again waiting at one of the many entrances to the hideout. Her duty was to help out in carrying supplies or just transporting the injured. Her laziness did show a sign a few times earlier, but a sense of responsibility didn't let her leave the duty she voluntarily signed up for.

The entrance finally opened and Ellie saw people entering the hideout. Many of them were exhausted. Some of the injured, while remaining in good shape, carried unconscious comrades. Dirty and covered in blood, Dicathenians acme through the nightmare, but survived.

Ellie tried to recognize at least someone, Tessia and her class had to come through this entrance. She couldn't see them in the first line. Maybe they were a little late.

While helping the injured, she so asked. "Excuse me, has Princess Tessia returned yet?"

"Princess Tessia and her team were encircled. Those damn Alacryans just fight differently, we couldn't pick a normal direction for attack!" The soldier grunted.

"How are they now?"

"I don't know! Lance Alea commanded us to retreat, I believe she is with them. The situation didn't look good. Even the lances wouldn't be able to overwhelm that horde."

Alacryans turned the battle for strategic position into front warfare, with their large numbers. The literal line was drawn at certain places on the continent of Dicathen simultaneously, and from there, the Alacryans began expanding this line.

"I'm not sure if they will come back, that's just crazy."

"No way…" Muttered Ellie in disbelief. That could just mean they were already dead or fated to die any time soon. She looked down at his shadow. Ellie knew there was someone who could help out, but the shadow told her once, that it wouldn't leave her side.

"Then I should try and get there myself." Whispered Ellie to herself. She is ready and set to help out her friends.

"No, you won't, Ellie."

Hearing the eerie, familiar voice, Ellie snapped to her left. There she saw her family, the twin horns, and some other people she didn't know, but that wasn't important. She almost dropped the injured person on the ground and ran to her family.

"Ah, Dobby, please switch."

A dark creature jumped out of her shadow, and Ellie helped to place an injured soldier on its back. Now she could finally reunite with her beloved family. "Mom, dad, brother!" She crashed into their embrace. Still, this didn't stop Ashborn from bonking her on the head.

"Don't decide on reckless things, at least not without telling me."

"But Tess is in danger!"

"I'm not sure about this one, though." Ashborn had one word on his mind, and that one word was Tank.