Chapter 378: The Calm Before The Storm
“To think that James was right,” Jekyll said with undisguised curiosity. “How do you do it? No, don’t say anything. Just let me dissect you. I promise I’ll put you back together as if you were brand new.”
William hurriedly hid behind the Erchitu who was now standing on its feet. After adding them to his herd, William made them eat Lily’s Pink Lollipops to remove the status effects that had been plaguing their bodies.
After that, he used Healing Wind to help them recover from whatever injuries they had suffered. When William asked Erchitu in a discreet manner how they got here, it said that they were swallowed by Jekyll and stored inside his stomach.
This made William become even more wary of the always smiling Dentist of Lont. He also made a vow that he would never again meet with the Dentist alone. Jekyll’s latest outburst of wanting to dissect him made William realize that the Dentist was half serious with his teasing.
If given the opportunity, he really would dissect William to find out what made him tick!
Jekyll grinned when he saw the boy’s reaction. However, since the matter with the Minotaur race was done, it was now time to return to Lont.
Jekyll rode the Wyvern and returned first because William said that he wanted to talk to Erchitu in private. Although he was curious, the Dentist decided to give William some privacy and left him to deal with his own business.
William and Erchitu discussed for an hour before making their way to Lont. When the procession of over a hundred beasts appeared within their area of responsibility, Lufie and the Wyverns immediately went to intercept them.
However, when they saw William sitting on the shoulders of the Giant White Ox, the defenders of Lont lowered their guards and allowed their new allies to pass through. The kids who saw the, never before seen, Beasts for the first time looked at all of them with wonder.
The corner of the Erchitu’s lips twitched when William left it near the Entrance of Lont where Lufie usually sat. The two giant beasts sat opposite each other while the children of Lont played beside them.
“Does this always happen?” Erchitu asked Lufie through telepathy.
Lufie nodded its head and gave his new comrade a grin that said “You’ll get used to it”.
—–
“Cousin, I thought I had already overestimated you, but this…, how did you do this?” Prince Alaric asked in disbelief. When William had returned to Lont, Prince Alaric was one of the people that went to meet with him because there was something he needed to discuss.
However, when he saw William sitting on Erchitu’s shoulders, the Prince was unable to hide the shock spreading across his face. After his escape from their capital, he ordered the Lamassus to go to the battlefield where Erchitu and the other beasts were stationed.
When he arrived there, none of the beasts could be found. All he saw were the soldiers that had turned into statues, still holding their weapons and wearing their armors.
After retrieving some important supplies from the army camp like food, water, and clothes, Crown Prince Alaric headed straight to Lont to ask William and his family to shelter them.
Never in his wildest dreams did he think that he would meet their Dynasty’s Beast Commander in Lont.
“It’s because of my overflowing charisma,” William replied as he flipped his hair. “For the time being, Erchitu will work with me to fight off The Organization in the Hellan Kingdom. I’m sorry, but I can’t make you any promises that we will help you take back your Dynasty. We can’t defeat the Elves with our current forces.”
Williams sighed as he looked at the Giant White Ox in the distance. ‘One Millennial Beast won’t make a difference at this stage.’
Although the Erchitu was strong, and had recovered its power to the peak, it alone was not enough to overthrow the Elven Army that had stationed itself within the capital of the Zelan Dynasty.
William was worried about the teleportation gates that the Elves were currently building, but there was nothing he could do about it. Before he worried about the affairs of others, he needed to fix his own problem first.
For now, he planned to get some resources from the Undying Lands to strengthen his own private force. Now that he had obtained the Flames of Purification, the Dracolich would definitely beef up the defenses of Avalon.
It didn’t expect that William would steal one of the priceless treasures that was hidden inside the Fortress. The Dracolich thought that it could easily capture William using his minions and force him to release his seal.
What it didn’t know was that a certain System had already fully mapped the interior of the fortress and labeled the locations of the treasures that would be beneficial to Willaim’s goal to fight against The Invaders.
The Dracolich may be powerful, but it couldn’t do anything in its current state. The attack it formed to prevent William from taking the Undying Lands was a one-time thing. It had used the accumulated Dark Energy that it had gathered over the years to kill the boy, but it was all for naught.
Instead of taking his life, the System happily absorbed the dark energy and turned it into experience points!
“Now that you have a sizable force by your side, are you going to take control of the Hellan Kingdom?” Prince Alaric asked. He wanted to know if William was finally planning to fight The Organization that was responsible for all of this mess.
“Not yet.” William shook his head. “One Millennial Beast is not enough. I need more help.”
“I will give you command of all the Lamassus that are with me right now,” Prince Alaric said decisively. He knew that the sooner William dealt with The Organization, the sooner he could deal with the Elves, who were the nearest threat to the red-headed boy’s kingdom.
William carefully considered Prince Alaric’s offer before nodding his head. “I accept your generous offer, but leave five of them behind. Also, continue to stay here for the time being. As long as you are here, I can guarantee your safety.”
“Guarantee my safety?” Prince Alaric raised an eyebrow. “Just where is that confidence of yours coming from?”
William didn’t answer the Prince’s inquiry and simply smiled. Even if he were to tell the Crown Prince that a Demigod was currently safeguarding Lont, he had a feeling that Prince Alaric wouldn’t believe him.
Since that was the case, he just decided to play it cool and give a mysterious vibe.
Seeing that William didn’t plan to answer his inquiry, he decided to ask.
“What now?”
Although the Prince’s question only consisted of two words, its meaning was conveyed properly.
“I need to leave Lont,” William said with a determined expression. “I need to look for allies while I still have time.”
“While you still have time?” Prince Alaric asked. “Do you have some kind of deadline?”
William nodded. “Three months. After three months, the current situation will escalate. The calm before the storm will have passed and a powerful force will sweep across the land. If we don’t want to get blown away by the powerful winds, we need to brace ourselves for the impact.”
The red-headed boy looked at the gray clouds that were hanging in the sky. The clouds that had cast a gloomy atmosphere into the hearts of the survivors in the Southern Continent.
If possible, he wanted to sweep them away and allow the light of the sun to warm the hearts of everyone. Unfortunately, this was not possible at this point in time.
The only thing he could do was to gather as many allies as possible. He only had three months to do it, and even William himself didn’t know if he would succeed in this endeavor.
“I’ll be leaving tomorrow, see you later, Prince Alaric,” William said softly. He then walked towards the Ainsworth Residence to tell Matthew, Leah, Celine, Ian, and Jekyll the plan he had in mind.
Although he would like to stay in Lont for a few more days, time wasn’t on his side. He already had some ideas on whom to invite to fight with him. The only question was, what price would he have to pay in order to gain their help.