Chapter 91 - What harm can a midnight stroll bring?

As Jack sleeps during the night, things are stirring elsewhere as the blood moon high in the sky shines its malevolent light over the land. The people living their lives as they normally do on the land wouldn't notice a thing as the thick fog of evil blankets the land, giving them respite from the red light of the blood moon.

A respite that is short-lived as the distant screams and wails of demonic creatures fill the countryside that only a short time ago was an almost picturesque landscape prime for nearly anything. The demonic creatures, first stage 'Faceless Demons' are now a common sight once one leaves the protection of a town.

The second stage creatures, the strange masked creatures filled with stronger and purer demonic energies, creatures much larger than the first stage ones, are becoming a more common appearance, as the night continues on yet things are strangely quiet in the immediate area surrounding Dragon - Phoenix Village.

The small villages surrounding Dragon - Phoenix Village have mostly evacuated, the many trips made by the riders delivering food, supplies and news giving the weary people a respite in this strange world where people can appear from the village heart while also being born naturally.

The land is almost pitch-black from the shadow cast by the thick fog, yet that doesn't stop the people doing their jobs.

The workers in the village do not rest as they prepare the building materials for housing and defenses, the blacksmith and forge workers do not rest as their tools bang away all day and night. The new alchemy workshop is still busy as the workers shuffle about inside yet outside the door, the familiar sight of Fenrir is nowhere in sight.

No one has noticed that he is missing, the people inside the building have not noticed he has gone and they have not noticed that someone much smaller and unnoticeable has disappeared too.

"Ahh, you dumb stinky wolf. Why are we out there? I said that I wanted to help Big Brother by planting some herbs" a young girl yells as she is sitting on the back of a gigantic horse.

The horse lets out a huff as it continues trotting along, beside the enormous horse is a smaller yet still giant wolf and a young girl with dark green hair covered in vines.

Fenrir stops for a moment to sniff at the ground and make a slight turn in their course, Mai doesn't interrupt the wolf from what he's doing as Sleipner follows after him.

The trio are some distance from the village yet still within the village territory, allowing them to see quite clearly, yet in the distance the ominous fog surrounds the entire territory blocking vision of everything.

Only the red light from above shines through the thick atmosphere, casting the all too familiar red glare over the land.

Mai sits atop the horse and plays with various herbs that she has collected from all over the place, but one in particular is familiar as it's the very first herb that Mai fed Jack. A black and gold herb in the form of a flower, the Demon-Suppressing Herb.

Fenrir suddenly pauses his footsteps and lets out a guttural growl, a low evil voice as flames look like they're developing within his eyes. Sleipner stays back as Mai is currently on his back while the little girl is wide eyed looking forward.

"What is it? Is it another rabbit? Are you hungry?" Mai asks while frowning.

Fenrir doesn't respond as an eerie quiet comes over the group, a wind gently blows over the area causing the foliage to rustle yet all attention is where the Hellfire Wolf King is looking.

*rustle rustle*

A rustling sound comes from the side, yet before giving the girl a chance to even look.

*BOOM* *Crackle*

A fireball and lightning strike travel to the area, launched by the two king creatures.

"AHHHH"

Mai cannot help but scream from the suddenness of everything that just happened covering her ears before waiting a moment and looking around.

A small fire rages in the distance where the shrubbery once stood, now a small puddle of black water now sits.

"Give me some warning next time, jeeze idiots."

Mai gracefully jumps off the horse and lands on the ground, her attempt to walk towards the black puddle is stopped by Fenrir who is using his body to shield the young girl from the black puddle for some reason.

"Why are you stopping me from looking at that? I know what it is and if we leave it alone, well Big Brother won't like that very much. Come on you stupid wolf let me through…" Mai puts up a token resistance against the wolf that is many times her size but he does not budge.

"Come on you stupid wolf let me through."

"UOAUWUUUUUUU"

*Crackle Crackle*

A strange noise comes from the black puddle but before anything can happen, it is bombarded with a round of lightning from Sleipner settling down the area again with only the wind making a noise now and then. Mai is crouched down with her fingers plugged in her ears looking annoyed at Sleipner.

The horse ignores her expression as it looks at the puddle without blinking, moments pass without any sort of reaction allowing it to turn away and rub its head against the young girl's head.

"Are you guys done yet? What even was that about? What was that noise? Is it the demon creatures?" Mai stands up and pats Sleipner.

*GRRR*

Fenrir makes another growl this time much louder than previously before letting out a howl.

*AWOOOOO*

Another howl comes from the distance in response yet it's too far away, they do not give Mai any time to process what is going on as she is nudged onto the back of Sleipner again giving her a better view of the surrounding area.

"Eww where did all the bugs come from?"

Mai looks in the distance where hundreds of giant insects are not far away and approaching the trio's location, Sleipner doesn't wait for them to get any closer as he starts off running in the opposite direction away from the insects as Fenrir stays back to launch multiple fireballs.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

The fireballs land in the distance yet the insects do not stop coming, illuminated by the fire Mai can see that they're covered in many colours but majority of them are covered in black, indicating that they're being infected by the demonic energies that permeate everything right now.

The trio rush away, yet they aren't able to lose the insects as they seem to appear from nowhere chasing them.

"Wait why are we running away from the village?" Mai speaks up after noticing the direction they're running in.

"We need to go back to town to make sure everyone knows about these dumb bugs!" Mai tries to steer Sleipner but he's not responding as he runs full speed in a particular direction. Fenrir is closely behind letting out fireballs now and then covering the plains with random fires.

A high-pitched whistle comes from the distance causing Mai and Sleipner's ears to twitch and as they look towards the source of noise, a couple of bright lanterns being held by people provides a much needed beacon for the trio to run towards while still being chased by the insects.

Fenrir lets out a couple fireballs as they come across the group of people on the plains, the first one to speak up is a large Draconic man.

"Little Miss Mai, what are you doing out so late and why is Fenrir launching so many fireballs? We will need to send some people out to take care of them later" The Draconic man speaks up bringing a wave of relief to Mai.

"Drakon! Why are you out here? There's so many insects chasing after us you have to be careful!"

"Slow down, what's going on?"

"Bugs, lots of black-coloured bugs are chasing us!"

"What?"

Drakon takes a moment to peer into the distance as Fenrir comes upon the group and launches a final fireball illuminating the distance and revealing the extent of the insects that are enclosing upon the group. Mai looks around at the group of soldiers and civilian hunters nervously as she waits for Drakon to speak up.

Drakon squints into the distance as he analyses what he sees before yelling, "Weapons ready! Get ready to fight! Holy weapons!".

The soldiers and hunters in Drakon's group prepare their weapons as a few of them take out their bows, notching the arrows and standing there patiently.

"Archers, first wave ready…." Drakon holds his hand up before lowering it, "NOW!" he yells as the insects get within range.

*WHOOSH*

The several arrows fly through the air but don't make a dent in the overall numbers of the creatures that are quickly approaching them, several thousand of these creatures that came from no where.

"Shit. Ready the next volley and prepare the formation!"

Drakon pulls out several pieces of paper and hands them to the soldiers by his side as the archers send out another wave of arrows, several of the insects fall yet it's far from enough to make an impact in their numbers.

The soldiers nervously grip their weapons as they wait for the onslaught to begin while a few of them quickly put together the pieces of paper on the ground and start chanting a strange incantation.

"General Laoshe, formation is ready to go!"

"Ok, start the Five-Point Heaven's Concealing Barrier. Let's hope that it works!"

A ripple occurs over the group but it appears nothing changed, the soldiers stand still as they wait for the group of insects to approach. The bugs are only a dozen steps away now, the sound of their feet and the stench from their bodies fills the soldiers with dread.

Mai closes her eyes as she waits for the noise of battle to start yet, nothing changes.

"Looks like the formation worked, we're lucky there. Maintain vigilence but we might have survived this!" Drakon announces as he approaches Mai.

"What were you doing out there?" Drakon quietly asks Mai.

"I wanted to plant some herbs for big brother but these two wanted to follow me, if I didn't have them then I could have gotten away from all those stupid bugs."

"You should have waited until day time and told someone you were leaving. Lord would be sad if he heard that you were hurt."

"I told people I was leaving... but it's ok because nothing here can hurt me" Mai smiles at Drakon showing off her muslces.

Drakon smiles at the young girl trying to show off, "Yeah sure you could have escaped all of these..." he trails off his sentence as he watches the insects make way for the barrier and then continue on in the same direction.

"General, how many creatures are there? How could we handle them?" one of the soldiers speaks up.

The rest of the soldiers look at this first one but they don't have anger in their eyes but thankfulness, as if he was expressing their inner thoughts.

"Men, we are soldiers for the Lord and need to handle anything he requires of us. That includes territory management, this is the Lord's land but it is also our land that we need to protect. No one else will do it... do you think that these creatures will leave you alone if you're not part of the military? If you're not in a town?"

None of the soldiers respond as Drakon continues.

"We need to be strong for the people behind us for is we aren't then what's the point of us even being here?"

The soldiers still look uneasy as silence comes across the group.

"This level of creature is nothing, the only advantage they have is numbers but look at how stupid they are. This barrier does nothing but conceals everything behind it yet they do not even realise they are being parted for us hiding here. They have probably even forgotten that we're here as they're mindlessly devoted to their single task."

"Men, you do not need to think. You just need to act! Lord will not lead you to pointless throw away your life and I will not do that either. You are the proud soldiers of Dragon - Phoenix Village and men under the Lord, only several weeks ago this land had nothing yet now look at it. You were all villagers living in poverty on these plains and now look at you!"

"This number of creatures is nothing, we will wipe them out when the time comes and it'll be as simple as snapping our fingers so do not fret, feel excited for the future and what it entails!"

Several of the soldier's perk up upon hearing his words, "Are you going to let these creatures have you running scared back to the system city or are you going to be proud soldiers of the lord?"

"We're soldier's of the lord not coward who hide behind the system city walls!" one of the soldiers responds.

"YEAH!" several other respond.

"That's right, you aren't cowards and each one of you will look back at this day, at this number of insects, of creatures and laugh at how you reacted!" Drakon gestures around him, the soldiers start yelling and brandishing their weapons.

Mai smiles at the shift in mood that was inspired by the short speech.

*SCCHHHROAAAAAAAAAAAAR*

A strange sound comes from the distance, the direction where Mai was running from drawing the attention of everyone. A strange sound like a mixture of a roar and a screech.

Everyone turns their heads towards the sound and can see two large malevolent lights hovering in the sky as if they're giant eyes, Drakon and Mai both widen their eyes as the insects that were filing around the group start making their way back.

"What is that?" one of the soldiers ask.

"That... that is a third tier demonic creature...." Drakon responds while furrowing his brow.

"Third tier? What?" he responds.

"Where are you Big Brother... where are you elder sister...." Mai mutters as she looks in the distance.

"Get ready to move out, we cannot stay here much longer!" Drakon yells.

The loud screeching roar can be heard all across the village territory waking people up and stopping them from what they're doing, Jessica stands by the windows of the alchemy workshop holding the little phoenix chick.

"Why did that show up here? It's not time yet for that thing to show up..." she softly mutters as stares off in the distance.

"Did you say something? What was that roar?" Lunamarie asks as she's wiping some sweat off her forehead.

"Oh it's nothing, we just might have some problems tomorrow night... Are you done for the night?"

"Tomorrow? That's fine then, uhh no I'm not quite done with the processing tonight because I got some sudden inspiration looking at that strange poison tree in the garden. Where is uhh little Mai? I wanted to talk to her about growing some more herbs."

"She's out causing mischief in the countryside, it's ok though because the two kingly creatures are with her..."

"Kingly creatures? Are you feeling alright?" Lunamarie looks at Jessica, who is still staring off in the distance out the open window.

"I'm fine, just missing Jack..."

"Ah missing him? How?" Lunamarie smirks as she prods Jessica.

"In here..." Jessica holds her hand to her chest without turning her head.

"Ohh..." Lunamarie raises an eyebrow at this interaction but doesn't ask anymore as the night continues.

Back at the merchant city, within a soft comfy bed, a young man suddenly jerks up out of bed and looks around.

"Jessica? What? Where am I....? Oh yeah..." the young man mutters.

"Why am I sleeping? I have to train, I have to get stronger!" the young man jumps out of bed and sits crossed leg on the floor oblivious as to what has been going on.