Chapter 980: Return
...
Somewhere, at another location in Malentansium...
Several hours had passed since Izroth and Ranazera set foot into the territory of Duke Verkesrie.
The two ran into a few monsters along their journey; however, their troubles stopped there as the monsters were quickly disposed of by Izroth.
As for the skounae, they had not come across any since they arrived in Duke Verkesrie's territory. But this was not too strange considering how far away they were from the main city in the territory.
Of course, this was not to say that their existence had gone completely undetected.
Every so often, Izroth could feel a watchful gaze eyeing him from a distance. But, whenever he tried to use his Energy Vision Sense to pinpoint its exact position, the watchful gaze vanished into thin air.
Since he did not sense any killing intent, Izroth decided that it was not worth delaying their journey to dig any deeper. Besides, even if they did make a move, it was not as though he feared confrontation.
"I've been curious for a while now. But no matter how much I think about it, none of it makes any sense. If the Night King has the ability to manipulate the bloodline of a skounae and turn them into a Night Lord, why do they not just create an army of Night Lords? Why go through this whole Great Rebirth thing with the Dukes that would only serve to weaken their overall strength?" Ranazera said with furrowed brows.
"Who knows? It could be a limited resource issue. Or, perhaps, to them, it's all just for the sole purpose of self-entertainment. It is not easy to understand the thoughts of someone in a position of absolute control. Their version of common sense may not necessarily match yours or mine." Izroth said in a carefree manner.
He then continued, "But, you sound rather troubled, considering Tempest is allied with Malentansium. Would it not be a good thing for you if your ally could produce an endless stream of Night Lords?"
"What ally? In the end, everyone is just running around doing whatever they want with no regard for the other. Even as we speak, the Duchess has probably already long returned to Tempest after learning the fate of the mages." Ranazera commented.
Izroth and the 9th Division eliminated the mages that were supposed to be used to open a Gateway of a Thousand Bloodless Hands. Therefore, even if a large battle broke out as they predicted, Tempest no longer had a reason to be present at the Night Lord's Crypt. After all, why would they risk their own forces without any potential benefits to gain?
In fact, one could even say that the permanent death of a Night Lord was in their favor since it may make Malentansium cooperate more voluntarily.
Ultimately, Tempest was doing what was in their best interest. But, Izroth had already predicted that this would happen.
In the end, Tempest and Malentansium wanted two different things. They may have a few temporary goals that lined up together; however, their core goals did not align with one another's. Because of this, the longevity of their so-called alliance was always in great jeopardy of collapsing.
The moment either side felt that the other had outlived their usefulness, they would not hesitate to hang them out to dry.
'If the Tempest forces have retreated, all that's left to worry about are the Pzenium mercenary warriors and the League of the Eidolon.'
To Izroth's knowledge, there were three forces who would support Malentansium in defending the Night Lord's Crypt.
The first was Tempest, who had likely already fallen back to their kingdom, so this took care of one problem.
The other two were the Pzenium mercenary warriors and the League of the Eidolon.
Since they hid in the shadows and would not likely strike until a critical moment, there was not much Izroth could do to take care of the League of the Eidolon. Therefore, he could only hope that the War Intelligence Group properly followed his instructions and prepared themselves.
As for the Pzenium warriors, naturally, he had plans for taking care of them.
'As long as the scrolls were safely delivered to Commander Aurie, the Pzenium warriors should not make it anywhere close to the Night Lord's Crypt. It will be difficult to find any traces of the League of the Eidolon until the fight breaks out; however, even if they do appear, the agents from the War Intelligence Group should be ready. If everything goes as planned, we will have effectively cut Malentansium's battle power by roughly 30% before the battle has even begun. With this, the odds are starting to lean in our favor.'
BANG!
Out of nowhere, something crashed into the earth a few meters in front of Izroth, causing a large cloud of dust to form and sending out a small shockwave.
"Another ambush?!" Ranazera braced herself as she went on high alert.
Izroth, on the other hand, seemed totally unfazed by the events unfolding. Instead, a carefree smile found its way onto his face as the dust started to settle.
"I was beginning to worry that you'd gotten lost," Izroth said calmly.
"You should have more faith in this brother of yours, youngest. That beast was quite persistent. It just took me longer than expected to shake it off my trail." A familiar voice sounded as the dust was forcibly dispersed.
The one who emerged when the dust cleared was, of course, the Son of Thunder, Astratis.
Izroth examined Astratis and noticed that he had a couple of small scratches on his arms.
"Are you injured?" Izroth inquired.
"Ha? Oh, this? It's just a couple of playful scratches made by that oversized feline. Hahaha, youngest, you really are too bold. But, I like that about you." Astratis said as he tossed a small pouch over to Izroth.
Izroth caught the pouch in his hands as he inwardly shook his head. That "oversized feline" who made the playful scratches he spoke of was the Overlord of the Ferae Jungle, Beast King Invigris.
It was not just any beast, but one close to breaking through the shackles of the legendary realm and ascending to become a divine beast!
For Astratis to say that he only received a few playful scratches from such a creature just went to show how truly fearsome the Son of Thunder was.
Izroth had not seen Astratis since they parted ways in the Ferae Jungle after encountering Invigris.
Back then, Izroth entrusted the Divine Flower of Renewal to Astratis so that he could meet up 9th Division. Of course, Izroth told him that if it became too difficult, all he had to do was simply discard the Divine Flower of Renewal. After all, to Izroth, Astratis was much more important than some item.
Izroth opened up the pouch, and the moment he did so, a powerful wave of aura leaked out and immediately overwhelmed the surroundings. Before it got too out of hand, Izroth closed the pouch and placed it into his inventory. Without a doubt, it was the Divine Flower of Renewal!
"I've troubled you," Izroth said as he made a thankful gesture to Astratis.
A part of him felt a little bad having Astratis run away at his request.
"Hahaha! What are you saying, youngest? It's been a while since I've had such fun! It reminded me of the time I escaped from a wild Alogonix affected by a wicked curse. At that time, I had to rely solely on my wits and quick feet to escape its pursuit. I also..." Astratis went on about his adventures back in the Ancient Celestial Realm.
'That's right. How could I forget that he's this kind of person?'
Rather than seeing it as a burden to Astratis, every experience in the Mortal Realm was a new adventure.
Meanwhile, Ranazera was dumbfounded and lost as to what was unfolding before her eyes.
Just now, that person made such a grand entrance, yet she could not feel a single drop of mana or any other energy, for that matter, coming from him.
This could only mean that he was using a magic treasure to hide his true power. Or, his strength was so great that she was unable to perceive it!
Of course, the sixth princess had no way of knowing that the true reason she could not feel Astratis' presence was due to him being from the Ancient Celestial Realm.
As Astratis rambled on about his adventures, it seemed that he finally became aware of Ranazera's presence as he stopped his words and looked over at the sixth princess.
"Youngest, this is?" Astratis asked inquisitively as he sized up Ranazera.