Chapter 59 | A Little Announcement

(It's not hiatus, just some cool info.)

Trodius Flamesworth was one hell of a noble.

He was the kind of person who could sell his own daughter in favor of his nobility and lineage. The nobleman would rather sacrifice his children's lives for the sake of his status.

Although he had decent capabilities as a leader on the battlefield, even then, there were plenty of people who outclassed him. Either way, the worst side of him shadows his pluses.

And this man right now was the leader of a rearguard group where the party of Twin-Horns was assigned. Her daughter, Jasmine Flamesworth, an unfavored child of Trodius, was one of the members of that party.

'This man…' Jasmine gritted her teeth and clenched her fists in anger.

"Hey, calm down." Adam protectively put his hand on Jasmine's shoulder. While the giant shielded her from the man's view,

"Jasmine, we are here. I know you hate him, but it's not the best time for it." As much as Reynolds would like to help his friend, he won't be able to. At least not right now...

Jasmine was overcome with rage, as if there was no way to make her feel better.

Reynolds sighed, "Hey, listen... I know this sounds crazy coming from me, but I can help you. Just wait a little longer." He then patted a short woman.

"Huh?" Everyone stared at Reynolds, baffled to hear it coming from such a reckless man.

In response, he scratched the back of his head and answered uncertainly. "You see…a certain someone kinda owes me a favor and that man can certainly do something."

Alice narrowed her eyes in suspicion, "Who could owe you something?"

"Well, not exactly owes me…" The king of Sapin, however, adores his family a lot. He literally told him to ask for anything if needed, so this might be a great time.

"What is it?"

"Just believe and wait."

"You are asking for the impossible."

"Oh, come on…"

Trusting Reynolds is something not even an idiot would accept. He was known to get into bad situations just like Arthur. His unluckiness knew no bounds; maybe after Arthur, he would be the first. (This is if we exclude certain monarchs.)

"Without the proper explanation, someone just won't wait. So, just do it, Reynolds."

Reynolds sighed, and after nodding, he began explaining. Simply put, he could send a letter to the council with a request to appoint a different person as the commander of his groups. This was the best option as the council holds absolute authority over the troops; even the Lances can't argue with them if the council itself won't reconsider.

The decision was surprisingly approved by everyone. This was the safest way and, partly because of Jasmine, all of them agreed to this. The short woman managed to calm down, but before they send a letter, they should wait and try to avoid the commander's sight.

"Jasmine, you got it, right?"

"Alright…"

Jasmine was driven by emotions and had to be controlled by others. Knowing how much she hates her father, they had to constantly monitor her. They even created a special schedule so that there would be at least one person close to her all the time.

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The first task for their group arrived with a special letter the day after their assignment. While the major groups are on break, the rearguard will continue to perform their duty. It was patrolling the Etistin woodland today.

"Alright, we are setting off!"

The hundreds of warriors astride the horses gave one slap to start racing in the direction of the woodland, subsequently to Trodius's word. Because there were no teleportation gates in the forest, the only means of transportation could have been horses and mana-beasts.

The fast horses were enough to transport a few hundred soldiers, so the party of Twin-Horns quickly found themselves near the forest.

"Group number one will stay here along with the second to guard horses, while other groups proceed with caution! We are entering the forest!"

Back with Twin-Horns, Jasmine felt sick hearing commands from that man. Fortunately, under the hoodie, she was safe from being noticed by the man.

"According to plan, we'll be searching till we reach the coastline. Then we return, report, wait for others, and then depart." Reynolds explained briefly.

"That's it?"

"That's it. No more details were explained, except that if we do spot enemies, we'll have to retreat and notify the commander."

"It doesn't feel reassuring. How can we retreat in case we are spotted?" Helen inquired.

"We were given these if we were in need of immediate support. We simply flare this in the air and nearby groups will come to our help." Reynolds took the tube out of his pocket. It was just remarkably similar to a flare gun but didn't have the handle pistols had. Nevertheless, it copied its functions.

"You guys ready?"

"Yes."

"Then let's go."

The Twin-Horns approached the woods after leaving their horses with someone. Their silhouettes began to fade once they moved farther into the woods. The woodland itself was exactly as you'd imagine.

It was filled with trees, and nature blossomed everywhere. The party even encountered a few peculiar animals on their way as well. Already dry dirt crushed under their feet as they walked further into the forest.

"There aren't any signs of someone even walking here." Helen, with her sharp eyes, couldn't notice footprints on the dry ground.

"That's a good sign, but don't let your guard down." The group leader, Reynolds, warned them.

The group continued traveling through the woods in this fashion. They'd occasionally come across another animal that made them feel uneasy. Animals produced sounds while running away. Reynolds even joked that the bear-sized man scared them.

"This mist keeps thickening further we are going."

"This creates problems, guys you might augment your eyes."

The group heeded the advice, and they augmented their eyes, except for a few who didn't have to. Helen particularly needed to view large distances; she was an archer, after all. The advice came in handy as they spotted some moving beings.

"On nine o'clock guys." Helen warned others. They immediately turned to face the direction Helen had told them about.

"How far?"

"Maybe 400 meters, but they are coming to this direction pretty quickly."

"Alright guys, get in the formation immediately!" Reynolds shouted. Everyone did as he said. Helen jumped on the nearby tree, Adam and Jasmine took their places on the sides, while Durden and Angela stood behind ready to conjure their spell. The point most incapable of fighting was in the center, protected from all sides.

Helen, who took the higher position, could much more easily view what was in front of her. Her pupils enlarged after seeing the scene of the mana-beasts running towards them.

"Reynolds, they're mana-beasts!"

'What the hell are mana-beasts doing this far away from the Beast Glades?' Everyone had the same question. It was bizarre to meet hordes of mana-beasts far away from the beast-glades. This was mostly because the beast glades were surrounded by the grand mountains.

"Were there any reports of beast outbreak from glades?"

"No, there wasn't any. We weren't even told anything about this."

Reynolds was personally briefed on the task, and the commander's direct subordinate explained what he needed to do. There was the possibility of engaging with enemy troops, not some mana-beasts. Even then, the mindless beasts weren't to be overlooked.

"Reynolds there are tons of them!" Once again shout came from Helen,

"Sh*t, we'll have to use this so quickly." Reynolds shouted his profanity at the top of his lungs. He next took out the flare and lit it with his palm while pointing the cylinder at the sky.

"Here it goes!" When Reynolds saw the thing flare-up, he exclaimed, but his unluckiness reared its ugly head once more.

The flare's top was actually pointed down at the ground, and it flared down, not up into the sky. The yellow sparkling ball fell down on the ground, startling Reynolds.

"Huh?"

Reynolds tapped on the flare, but nothing came out of it. While the compressed ball-like structure on the ground began creating a yellow, very noticeable smoke.

"This thing isn't working?"

"Reynolds, you dumbass!" Everyone, including Alice, screamed at Reynolds. Now they have lost a way to send a message to nearby groups. They'll have to make their way out of the forest on their own.

"Guys, I think we got a massive problem there."

Helen's distressed voice got everyone's attention. She was pointing at the sky. There, instead of the usual clear blue sky with fluffy white clouds, loads of yellow signals could be seen.

"My god…"

"What the hell is even happening?"

_________________________________________________________________________

"General Varay!"

Someone barged into Etistin's headquarters, loudly calling out for the general. The shout attracted a lot of attention. Even the white-haired woman, General Varay, was startled by the sudden shout.

"What happened?"

"General, there's a report from watchtowers. They have spotted a lot of emergency signals in the direction of the forest!"

Varay was at a loss for words. She had anticipated that the attack would come sooner or earlier once again. but not exactly on the day where shifts switched. This could mean only one thing,

"Prepare! We are setting out as well!" With a shout, she stood up and abruptly left headquarters.

'Tch, someone definitely gave us out!'

Only soldiers knew of the schedule at which forces operated, and today it was the rearguard's time to patrol. Obviously, as just a backup sub-division, it was best to attack during their time... But the problem was, who could have betrayed them?

_________________________________________________________________________

"Reynolds there are too many of them!"

The shout came from Helen, who had just shot another mana-beast right in the head. The rest of the party, as well, were resisting a massive horde of mana-beasts as much as they could. Jasmine cut mana-beasts one after another, and it wasn't enough for her as she did the job for two.

Help hadn't arrived yet, and it didn't seem to come soon enough. Nonetheless, they had to somehow fend off the beasts. Reynolds had a vague idea of how to do it, although he wasn't sure if he would last long with it.

'Alright, I'm going to do it.' He gathered all his resolve and closed his eyes for a second. In one instance, the hair on his head grew longer, along with the hair on his hands. The nails on his hands sharpened, and his body stiffened all of the muscles.

"What the hell Reynolds?!" Because of the sudden transformation, Adam was surprised and almost got bitten by another beast. However, the same beast stopped moving. Instead, it squealed in fear.

"I haven't shown you this right? This is my beast will!" He shouted in excitement. The thirst of monster blood that gushed out from Reynolds's was so dense that the beasts nearby him all stopped, stupefied at the beginning.

The mindless beasts still shrugged it off, but the effect of it still remained. It was as if they were being less aggressive this time, luckily for the twin-horns. The time won by Reynolds' was enough for them to gain momentum and strike back.

"Come at me monsters!"

'Rey, you stupid!' At the same time, Alice, who didn't partake in any actions against the mana-beasts, stood ready to cast a healing spell. She was an emitter, so her battle capabilities were severely limited. She could only watch as the rest of the gang fought against the beasts.

Reynolds was recklessly charging at mana-beasts. The entire aura around him had changed. Now it resembled that of a hungry wolf searching for a slice of meat to bite. She was concerned about him, but she knew Reynolds was the reason for their sudden advantage.

"There aren't many left. Just pressure them! They will squeak away!" The male Leywin's gloves were already ripped off from his hands as he kept swinging them like wild beasts, killing a few monsters in the process. Funnily, he was still clean from all the blood that he spilled from other beasts.

.

"Fuh, what the hell was that?!"

Adam shouted as he slumped down on the ground from exhaustion. This battle was short but very tiring for everyone. Mainly for Reynolds, who even used his beast-will to gain an opportunity.

"We should probably hurry back, this wasn't just a simple attack from beasts."

Everyone agreed with Helen's assessment; the beasts they faced were far from simple. Who has heard of a wolf or snake having damn horns? The older Leywin, with his beast-will, took notice of the wild mana around the beasts, and they used their abilities as if they were new to them. Beasts instinctively know how to use their abilities, but those didn't.

"Adam, can you walk?"

"You ask me this now? Of course, I can. I still want to get the hell out of here and make a fami-"

"Ok, ok. Stop ranting."

"So what's the plan?" Jasmine asked.

"If everyone is in shape, we should hurry back to our horses." stated Reynolds. Adam grumbled before getting up. Others were already up, so they set out for their new destination pretty quickly.

Before they were going to the coastline, the western part of the forest, but they might have altered their trajectory a little because of the mist. Now they had to travel through the forest by guessing. And the one who guessed the direction was... Reynolds.

They saw the footprints and the bloody remains of people. The bones were sticking out of the ground along with the red flesh, like the predator had buried its meal for the future. Alice wanted to throw up. The smell of iron in the air attacked them like venom.

"What the f*ck…"

"Quick, let's go!"

Their encounter with another horde of beasts arrived quickly, and once again, the same types of beasts they fought earlier. This time, even in bigger quantities, they could at least spot people fending off the monsters.

"Where the hell is reinforcement?!"

"Where the hell is commander?!"

The screams, all alike, were coming from various soldiers. The Twin-Horns were as perplexed as they were. Anyway, they joined the fight right away to help out the soldiers.

"Which group are you guys from?! Any signs from the commander with you?" They were immediately questioned after they joined the battle. Unfortunately for the soldiers, even the twin-horns didn't have an answer.

"We haven't seen any of the commanders, only corpses!"

"Damn it! We'll have to hold our ground or the beasts will go after the city!"

"Got it!"

With the available forces, which consisted of the teams, with an entire count of 100 soldiers, the Dicothenians engaged with the mana-beasts. Even with the heavy disadvantage of one hundred versus thousands, they could still fight for at least half an hour. There were few soldiers who could be considered as strong as Jasmine, or maybe even stronger, and, unlike mindless beasts, they at least had intellect.

Under heavy pressure, the soldiers tried to minimize their mistakes and fought with all their might. Those with experience backed up newcomers who only got better as the fight went on. The fear of death had a terrifying effect, as the soldiers surely were progressing during the battle.

Although there were casualties, they were natural. The horde that consisted of thousands would sooner or later overwhelm them. If not for the forest, with its trees, the beasts would have overrun them in a matter of minutes.

"Rey! Can you use your beast-will once again?"

"Sure I can!" Reynolds once again began transforming into a hybrid of a wolf. The nearby soldiers were surprised, but seeing other beasts around the vicinity halting, they sensed an opportunity for an attack.

"Thanks, Rey!"

The beastly instincts that Reynolds received began tingling. He wasn't overwhelmed by them, but the fear still began creeping up in him. From his understanding of the beast-will, they were never wrong about upcoming dangers.

'Something is wrong…'

"Rey, you are getting distracted!" Helen snapped him out of his thoughts as she shot another mana-beast in the head, backing up the Leywin.

"Thanks for the cover!"

Reynolds began closely observing the battlefield. He was sure that the mana-beasts by themselves wouldn't have left the beast-glades. Someone must have been controlling them, or somehow lured them out here. There were no one nearby the beasts. Their actions were also uncontrolled. Some of them even eat one another.

"There's a guy behind those beasts!" Someone's shout rang out in his ears.

'Where?!' Thinking it was an ally, Reynolds tried to locate that someone. With his heightened sight, he could see quite far away, but there was no one.

"I swear there was som-!" Before the soldier could finish, he was impaled by the vine that came out of the ground and was directly thrust into his stomach.

"How amusing, pathetic lessers…"

Reynolds's beastly instincts began screaming; they were telling him to run away. He realized that someone strong was near him. The attack inflicted on the poor soldier couldn't even be noticed by the naked eye. If not for his beast-will, Reynolds wouldn't have even caught a glimpse of it.

"What is this? A dog? I want it." With a blur, the woman appeared in front of Reynolds and tried to grab his neck.

'Who is this?!' With his eyes wide open as a pan, he stared at the incoming hand. He could see in slow motion as the hand was already covering his sight...

*Crash*

The strong gust of wind was accompanied by something crashing close to him. At the same time, the cold assaulted everyone nearby him.

"And who you…might be? Such a soft skin…white hair… beautiful proportions…Grrrrrrr" Now Reynolds could see the owner of this voice. Was it a woman? For his entire life, it was the first time Reynolds had seen someone who looked like this!

The woman had pale skin and a thin body that didn't have an ounce of muscle. She also wore a mask to hide her face, along with a shiny dress, which didn't make her seem beautiful at all. To say it simply, she was ugly.

"Reynolds Leywin! Notify the rest, help the wounded, and retreat. Reinforcements are already close!"

Reynolds snapped out of his trance at the same time the white-haired woman landed next to him.

"General? Ah, yes!" Not wasting a moment, Reynolds proceeded to fulfill the command.

Varay Aurae had arrived at the battle scene right after hearing the report. She flew there immediately, not waiting for her division to even prepare. She lied about it arriving soon, but this will give them the necessary time.

'There are a few of them.' Her eyes traveled around the battlefield, and even though her sight was limited because of the trees, she could still sense the strong enemies.

"Those pesky soldiers we were told about… Ah, how annoying!" The same thin woman who avoided Varay's ice attack screamed.

"I know there are few of you, come out already." Varay calmly voiced that her plan was to lure out the enemy soldiers and then try to take them out at the same time. It was risky but worth a shot.

"Heh, this woman has noticed us. What a surprise…"

A few more silhouettes came out of the shadows. There were three retainers, to be exact, all of them strong enough to fight a lance and stand their ground. But Varay was confident in her abilities. She can most likely hold her ground against these three...

"The order was to capture this continent as soon as possible and defeat the remaining forces."

'What an idiot, revealing your intentions…this will be your demise.' Taking a deep breath, the white-haired woman's face stiffened as she sent out massive waves of ice at her enemies.

.

"Guys! Are you alright?!" Reynolds ran up to his group, worried about their goodwill. Her wife kept healing the wounded Adam, while others were defending them from the monsters.

"What happened to Adam?!"

"He was bitten by a venomous beast. Alice quickly neutralized the venom, but it's still in effect."

"Sh*t…" Reynolds joined the others, while Alice kept using healing magic on Adam. The beasts still seemed never-ending, as the battleground was filled with screams, screeches, and roars of various monsters.

There were also thunderous sounds coming from far away, the ice cracking and crashing, all together with explosions... It was hell for every soldier on the battlefield.

"Interesting, so lessers aren't as instinctively driven as I thought." Someone's voice entered Reynolds's ear from behind. He turned around his head to be met with prying red eyes staring at his own. The bulky man that towered over him then continued,

"Or they are." The bulky man caressed his own beard. Reynolds caught a glimpse of the man's horns as well. He was one of those guys he had previously encountered, but this one was much stronger.

"And that black-haired girl, you look like that lesser who sold you guys out…" The man continued musing.

Since his appearance, the party of Twin-Horns, as well as mana-beasts, have been frozen. They weren't making any movements, even their muscles feared to twitch.

"I'm interested. Will you sell out your friends just like that man? If you kill your friends, I will spare you." In a blink, the man disappeared and appeared next to Jasmine.

"So? What will you do?" He closed the distance between Jasmine and himself with his face. For a moment, as the man breathed on scared Jasmine, he flinched.

"It appears that Agrona has not taught his pets not to disturb a sleeping dragon."

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This chapter appeared to be a little thicker than I intended, but that's actually better no? and yeah about the cool info I told you about.

You might have noticed how my writing styles are changing, those few chaps were kinda tough to write because of it. I began writing the future banger... I hope it will be...

Basically, I'm in preparations to drop new fanfic. Creation of backlog is in process, I'll stack up as much as possible. The chapter will be THICC, each of em thicker than the previous lmao(For some it might sound massive "5k", but it's optimal for the story). The story is... interesting and intriguing. I'll upload it on WN and Wattpad after I finish SM.

Peeps on my disc are already getting spoilers and stuff: https://discord.gg/2wyWZKt8PR

Anyway,

Cya!