POV: Jal Igaly
Running like the wind, far above the speed of sound.
It was quite refreshing.
It had been some time since I ran at maximum speed. Well... what can I do? I was the most suitable for this mission. I really am very fast. Probably the fastest my leopard tribe has ever seen...
But seriously.
What kind of mission is this...?
As I ran like a madman across the desert lands of Gaslow Province, I couldn't get that question out of my head.
It was very strange to be sent as support to another continent.
I mean, a few hours ago I was in the Kingdom of Gaia, right?
This feels so strange and crazy. Teleportation circles are scary.
What could Jino be so busy with that he can't come in person?
Even though I'm currently the second fastest in the Kingdom, I'm really a bit against going to other continents like this. Is that asking too much?
But Miss Aisha looked very serious when she gave the order.
Orders are orders.
"Oh."
There's a monster over there.
A huge Green Lizard was running through the desert. It had to be at least a few dozen meters long. I sensed it from far away thanks to my enhanced senses.
Perks of being a Beast Emperor. I passed by it like a blur.
Haha! It got pretty startled. Come to think of it, that must've been strange for it.
Imagine seeing such a small being suddenly running at more than ten times your speed — when you were the one hunting.
Haaah...
Anyway, what was it again?
Ah, right.
Fort Necross.
Who was the lunatic who dared invade Fort Necross?
Fortunately, Miss Reida was on the Demon Continent and was able to get there pretty quickly.
Let's see what was relayed to me...
I pulled the communicator from my pocket while still running. Yes, I can run at absurd speed and read at the same time.
Unidentified mana signatures were detected moving through a teleportation circle that gave direct access to Fort Necross.
That was already a problem, but the more serious thing was something else: there was a monster-class presence. Someone with mana that couldn't be measured by the device.
That is, at minimum, God-level. Problematic.
Reida Lia was on a mission to hunt an S-Rank monster — Tremor Strangler. An extremely difficult creature to kill, causing problems on the Demon Continent.
A fortunate coincidence: when the alert came, she immediately went through Fort Necross's teleportation circle.
Unlike me, I appeared much farther away.
Let's see... four invaders. No further updates.
Is that bad? I guess it must be.
On the horizon, I finally saw the outline of Fort Necross. An imposing black fortress, I must admit.
I accelerated once more, let's avoid an extreme situation here.
Alright, serious mode.
Activated.
I sensed everyone's presence inside ahead of time. I adjusted my expression. I put on the serious and intimidating facade I always use in these situations.
As they say, fake it till you make it. There were lots of rubble and wreckage scattered around; apparently, things had gotten ugly.
I entered the Main Hall of Fort Necross, it was completely destroyed.
"Hahahahahaha!"
A very loud laugh echoed through the hall. Who's laughing so much?
I thought, but didn't say it out loud.
I carefully observed the scene, ready to use Wild Light on the first one to show hostility.
"Hahaha! You got beaten up by my son! What do you think of that? You may beat me, but you can't beat my son!"
Atoferatofe was the one laughing and bragging.
Leaning against a large rock was Reida, being healed by Moore. Weys was also there beside them, watching in silence.
Reida replied, irritated:
"You idiot, your son is our enemy! Me losing to him is bad!"
"Hmph! And who cares?!"
Atofe looked extremely satisfied, none of them had noticed my presence.
Well... that's a source of pride, I guess.
I cleared my throat and spoke, trying to sound as mysterious as possible:
"Who can tell me what happened here?"
Their job was done, defending this fort was the mission assigned to them, but mine was just beginning. It involved following some guys and investigating a few clowns.
----
Aisha was looking at Jaly's report, thoughtful.
It wasn't good news, but it wasn't bad either.
To say the least, at least the alert system in the teleportation circles was working perfectly. That was already something.
This event had everything it needed to turn into a loss.
Atoferatofe was a notably unstable person — within what was possible for someone like her. Even though Rygar had made it absolutely clear that she was his subordinate, there was still the possibility that she could be influenced.
Who could guarantee that she wouldn't fall for her own son's persuasion? In the worst-case scenario, Atoferatofe would join the Dragon God faction.
Or she would be captured or kidnapped; all of those scenarios were bad. She was very useful, an immortal warrior. No one in their right mind would want to lose something like that.
And, of course, there was the best-case scenario... the invaders would be captured and interrogated. As for killing them or not, Aisha still hadn't reached a definite conclusion.
But there was no use thinking about that, they were not captured.
The biggest surprise came from Reida's side. She was defeated by Sándor alone, the Second North God, in a one-on-one fight.
Aisha found that quite unbelievable; she knew the full extent of her master's abilities, and doubted that Reida had held back.
It was something else entirely, Sándor simply performed above expectations, he pressured her relentlessly. He didn't allow her to use the Deprivation Field even once.
As for that, there wasn't much to be done now, but she would need to speak with her master. Reida would have to start thinking of a way to fix that glaring weakness.
On the other battlefields, Zanoba Shirone also surprised them, he destroyed Ifreet, one of Verdia's summoned Spirits.
Ifreet was powerful.
Strong enough that his flames could completely incinerate even King-level warriors, and they were fast and difficult to avoid by simply dodging.
He was destructive and extremely aggressive, but had little defense.
And the devastating flames that would normally incinerate anything... merely singed Zanoba's Battle Aura.
Apparently, the title of Super-Strong Miko was no joke.
Fortunately, Atoferatofe, Moore, and Weys managed to gain the upper hand in the fight against the Magic King and the woman with the Sniper.
They even confiscated the rifle and seriously wounded Rudeus, her brother.
But that was all. Time was limited, so there was no opportunity for an elaborate ambush.
Even so... a result like that was better than suffering a loss. Especially considering that this was a surprise operation by the Dragon God Faction.
Probably aimed at making Atofe switch sides, a movement on such a large scale said a lot.
First, something big was happening, and the Dragon God was preparing. The question was... preparing for what? She had two things in mind, and needed to verify which of them was correct.
She had to find out whether it was related to her Master's exploration of the Dragon God's Hole, or if it was connected to the Ever-White Desert.
The answer would change her next actions; if they had relevant information about that, she needed to obtain it.
And if it was something related to Rygar, she would need to warn him immediately. Aisha continued moving the pieces in her mind.
Constantly, trying to stay ahead of the enemies. Trying to understand their intentions and hide her own.
Her communicator activated again, a new message from Rufus. She read it and a faint gleam appeared in her eyes, the modifications to her new sword were ready.
There was still no message from Jino, she tapped her finger on the table for a few seconds.
Thinking.
Then she decided that before anything else, she would go get her blade. She stood up and walked to the window, whistled loudly and jumped.
At the exact moment Helios flew by, she mounted the dragon naturally.
And they headed toward Dwarf Territory.
---
In a coffee in Tinaver, there was a table occupied by four people.
Tallhand, a high-level blacksmith among the dwarves.
Zenith, a healer from a temple in the Great Forest.
Ghislaine, one of the strongest warriors in the Kingdom of Gaia.
And Elinalise, an elf who was a housewife.
The four were silent, only staring at each other.
The sound of cups being set onto saucers, the soft murmur of the café, the smell of freshly roasted beans — everything seemed distant near that table.
Until Elinalise opened a bright smile.
"My, why is everyone so serious? We're old companions!"
She tilted her face, analyzing each one.
"Actually... hey, wait a second. Why does it seem like I'm the only one here who didn't move up in life?"
She brought a hand to her chin, thoughtful. She realized she was the only one who had abandoned any career to take care of the house.
Zenith smiled gently.
"Taking care of children is an exhausting task. Remember when I had Rudeus? I had to hire a nanny to help."
Ghislaine crossed her arms.
"It doesn't seem very difficult to me."
Tallhand snorted loudly.
"Hah! I bet you don't even see your kids' faces every three weeks or something like that!"
Ghislaine slowly raised an eyebrow, and then... smiled.
Tallhand shuddered.
"My god... you're very different, woman..."
"Hahaha! And you haven't changed at all, Tallhand!"
Elinalise smacked him on the back, the impact made the dwarf almost spit out his coffee.
The ice was finally broken, the old Fangs of the Black Wolf group started truly talking.
Catching up, Tallhand said he had planned never to return home again.
And so he did, he never returned to the Dwarf City again, but the world was big. And there were many opportunities for a talented blacksmith even outside the dwarves' city.
With his method and skill, he became a known name in Tinaver. Now he had his own private forge.
He never married, according to him, he was still too resentful because of his first love.
Elinalise talked a lot about what it was like living in Sharia, in the Kingdom of Ranoa. But her current topics revolved mainly around her husband and son.
There was pride in her voice.
Zenith didn't have much to add.
But, at a certain point, the subject of the Latreia House stopped existing became an important topic, so she spoke a lot.
Ghislaine didn't talk much.
But when she did, it was about fights, and about what it was like to run a daycare full of the children who were Rygar's kids.
As she listened, she also analyzed Elinalise.
The elf had already spoken openly about her initial goals there. To rescue Zenith and Norn, though she had failed, of course.
Even so, it was bold of her to invite Ghislaine, knowing exactly whose wife Ghislaine was.
Still... Ghislaine liked being invited. She cherished her memories as an adventurer. And, honestly, she didn't want to be treated differently because of the position she held today.
For a moment, she wondered whether she should interrogate Elinalise about the Dragon God faction. But it seemed clear that Elinalise avoided getting involved in any of their missions or operations.
She made a point of it, and tried to maintain impartiality to avoid conflicts. Although that was never entirely possible.
It was a habit she had developed over the centuries.
After all, for an elf... two hundred years could pass, enemies might die, but friends could still be alive.
And she would still be alive.
Because of that, she avoided making life-or-death enemies.
Reuniting the old group ended up being much more pleasant than any of them had imagined.
It was almost funny, everyone seemed to be on different sides now.
Even those who weren't present, Geese was one of the main opponents on Hitogami's side, and Paul was dead.
The years had passed, the life of each person there had changed in ways they would never have imagined in the past.
The reunion was hard to make happen. But, unexpectedly... right on target.
-----
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