Chapter 50: An Invisible Enemy

Year 2, Day 28

Today, I finally met the young Lady.

If anyone reads this, would you believe me if I told you that the young Lady is the same crazy girl from yesterday afternoon?

When I saw her, I thought I was hallucinating.

Anyway, back to the point, I no longer have to worry about her temperament. She may be a bit strange and combat-obsessed, but she seems very kind.

However, she should not be taken lightly. She is at the pinnacle of the Foundation Establishment realm. One could even say she is halfway into the Golden Core realm, and it won't take her long to break through.

Even if she is strange, I think she has a good heart. In any case, my father told me before leaving to be wary of women. According to him, they are a separate species that can get angry for no reason.

…

Nearly a hundred and fifty figures moved silently, winding along the ridges of mountains and volcanoes.

From time to time, the mages in the group had to create bridges for the weaker members to cross the rivers of lava.

Thud

"Ouch!"

A small gray figure cried as he fell headfirst onto a volcanic rock, making one of the rank 3 nagas sigh.

"Ugh, seriously, why do we have to deal with this bunch of weaklings?" he said out loud, paying little attention to the looks the mountain dwarves gave him.

Tap

"Ouch, who did that?" he roared as he turned around, but his angry expression vanished when he saw the person behind him.

"Sorry, Captain, I didn't know it was you," he said with an embarrassed look.

"Adjutant Leine, how many times do I have to tell you? Stop talking nonsense, and if you have enough energy to blabber, use it for something useful," the captain said with a frown.

The naga sulked and crossed his arms.

"But Captain, why do we have to play babysitter for these guys? It would be easier if we left them here and took care of the mission ourselves. It's been an entire day, and we haven't even arrived yet!" The sergeant finally couldn't hold back and grumbled, forcing the captain to sigh.

"Do you see that mountain dwarf over there?" the captain asked, pointing to the one standing in the center of the dwarves' formation, and the only one wearing a decent outfit, by the way.

"That dwarf gives me the same feeling as the divine envoy of our lord. Do you understand what that means?" As he spoke, the captain began to get angry and released a bit of his pinnacle mage aura.

"No matter the strength of these mountain dwarves!" he said as the impetuous naga was cornered. "What really matters is the strength of the one pulling the strings. Answer me adjutant, are you ready to bear the consequences of triggering enmity between gods?"

The captain was almost shouting, drawing everyone's attention in the team.

The sergeant felt shivers run down his spine as he realized the potential consequences of his actions, then lowered his head.

"Answer me, adjutant!" growled the novarian, forcing the naga to lower his head even more.

"N-No, Captain," he finally said.

The captain nodded. Even though he was still a bit angry, he knew it would serve as a lesson to the entire section.

"Good, better late than never. Now let's move on and not waste more time; we have schedules to keep."

…

A few hours later, as night had already fallen, the troop finally reached the vicinity of their destination.

They looked up and saw an active volcano nearly a kilometer high.

Fortunately for them, the lava flowed down the other side of the volcano, allowing them to climb up easily.

Even so, the temperature soared and was already around fifty degrees.

Nevertheless, no one was really bothered by the temperature. The mountain dwarves were made for such environments, and after reaching rank 2, even a race destined for aquatic environments could withstand these conditions.

Since they could climb the volcano, they wasted no time and began their ascent.

The mortal dwarves had some difficulties climbing certain rocks, while the mages in the section used earth spells to move the ground beneath their feet, and the cultivators simply jumped from rock to rock.

The slope wasn't very steep, and the terrain not that complicated, so it took them only about half an hour to reach their destination.

As the troop stopped, they faced a large cavity carved into the side of the volcano.

At a glance, it was about five or six meters high and wide; enough for two or three nagas to fight side by side.

Everyone got into combat position, with two squads in front of the mountain dwarves, two squads behind, and one in the middle of the group, at the same level as Lucie's incarnation.

Speaking of which, the composition of the squads was quite regulated. If the adjutant, who was at the beginner or confirmed rank 3, was a mage, then there were generally seven cultivators, two other mages, and one healer.

Conversely, if he was a cultivator, there were usually seven mages, two cultivators, and one healer.

And about healers, they were mages who primarily focused on healing spells.

Of course, they often knew other offensive or defensive spells, but healers were often weaker than the other mages.

Nevertheless, no one dared to look down on them. After all, everyone would need healing at some point.

Moreover, the power gap wasn't that big either.

One could say that everyone had their own affinity, whether cultivator or mage, and then everyone would use techniques to modify their body to improve their affinity.

This is also why one shouldn't use a technique of an element opposite to their affinity, as not only would it slow progress, but it could also limit potential.

Again, when cultivators used techniques and mages cast spells, spells of their own affinity were much more powerful while being much easier to learn.

Even though it was possible to use other elements, it would require much more effort for a less effective result.

Nevertheless, most mages learned low-level spells of all elements because they were very practical, such as Mage Hand, Water Condensation, Fireball, Cleaning, and many other useful everyday or emergency spells.

Even so, most healers were mages with affinities for water, light, nature, plants and so on.

…

Back to our story, the troop advanced slowly into the dimly lit cave with sparse luminous crystals.

The cultivators in the vanguard were very vigilant and moved slowly, paying attention to every little detail.

"This isn't normal!" When they had already traveled about a hundred meters into the mountain, Lucie finally noticed something strange and called the section captain.

He nodded, placing his hand on the hilt of the sword hanging in a sheath at his waist.

"Hmmm, that's clear. No matter how primitive this tribe is, there should be guards," he said darkly.

Finally, the corridor opened into a large, dimly lit cave.

Faced with the strange situation unfolding before their eyes, the adjutants of the reconnaissance squads immediately scanned the cave with their spiritual sense.

"Damn it!" said the adjutant of the first squad.

He quickly sent a mental transmission to the captain.

"Captain, it seems we arrived a bit too late. There are about three hundred mountain dwarves here, but no sign of rank 2 or rank 3. Their camp is in disarray, and they seem to be searching for something. Apparently, something must have happened, but I'm not too sure what. What do we do?"

The captain hesitated and finally decided to share this information with Lucie, who made a decision without hesitation.

"Let me talk to them; we'll try to bring them back to the camp and interrogate them there!"

…

The following days were rather lively at the main camp.

The expeditionary troops returned one after another, and the camp already had nearly 12,000 prisoners.

Some were no longer really prisoners as they had been directly recruited by different armies of the same race, while others were housed in barracks.

Even though they had food and water, their comfort was rather limited.

…

Finally, the last expedition returned, and Sylvera held another assembly.

The three rank 5 leaders of the Great Army stood at the head of the table, looking at the nearly thirty people who led the student armies.

"Well, since everyone is gathered, it's time to start. First of all, congratulations to all. The expeditions went well, and all monster groups were eliminated, with a total of zero losses and only a few injuries."

Sylvera spoke and offered a kind smile (or at least something resembling one) to all the war chiefs present at the table.

"Now, let's get down to business. Captain Heck, Captain Killian, Commander Reise, please come in."

At Sylvera's call, a novarian, a female naga at the pinnacle of Foundation Establishment, and a novice Valyr magus entered the command center wearing the official uniform of the Great Army and bowed before the assembled people.

"We salute Marshal Nagaïa, High Priestess Vossenheim, Guardian Luminara, and the war chiefs."

Sylvera smiled, seeing the manners of his soldiers, and made them rise and come forward.

"Commander Reise, explain to everyone what you wrote in your mission report," he said once they were seated.

The Valyr magus stood up and spoke in a loud and clear voice.

"Reporting. I took command of the ninth regiment of the second division of the forth Legion and headed towards the second-largest monster group in the sector, alongside the troops of Warlord Manork of the fire kobold tribe."

Manork was not very powerful, barely a beginner rank 3, and represented the army of a student from the ordinary class.

He stood up and introduced himself, confirming Commander Reise's announcement, who continued his report.

"After a day's journey, we reached the monster colony which, according to the information, contained about three thousand fire kobolds, including half a dozen rank 3 and a hundred rank 2."

As he continued his report, he took a graver tone.

"However, when we arrived, there was no sign of the leaders. The only ones left were some rank 2 who had gone hunting. Each had taken control of a faction and fought among themselves, reducing the number of fire kobolds to less than two thousand five hundred."

The man took a deep breath and continued.

"According to the traces we found on-site, there was no major conflict in the tribe before the return of the hunting teams. It was as if the leaders had vanished into thin air without warning. Lacking time and proof of their presence, I gave the order to withdraw and took all the kobold prisoners."

Sylvera nodded and addressed the kobold warlord.

"Mr. Manork, do you have anything to add?"

Manork was surprised by the respectful tone of the naga despite his great strength, but managed to keep his composure and respond calmly.

"Indeed. Although these comrades are still in a wild state and will take time to adapt, it is still possible to communicate with them. Although the situation remains unclear, some claim to have smelled the scent of blood the day the leaders disappeared. It wasn't the scent of kobold blood but more like what you find on a battlefield: it was omnipresent, everywhere. The sensation was so intense that several of them went half-mad. And it wasn't just one or two, but almost twenty people."

Manork shivered just thinking about the screams his comrades had made.

Sylvera nodded and invited Manork and Commander Reise to sit down.

"Well, that may not be very useful to us for now, but it could serve as a lead for the future." With that, he turned to the novarian. "Captain Heck, your turn, please."

…

As the naga captain sat down, Sylvera looked at the assembly members with a grave expression.

"As you can see, it seems that something is afoot here. If it had only happened once, we could have say that a bored spirit beast decided to play a trick, but the same situation occurred on the same day in three different places, and maybe more that we are not yet aware of. It is clearly a deliberate action by an unknown person for an unknown objective. The only clue we have is the presence of a scent of blood so, in other words, nothing."

Sylvera straightened up and took on a serious demeanor while Isabella watched the scene with amusement, more concerned with Sylvera's broad and powerful back than the current situation.

"There are now only two possibilities. Either this is the work of an isolated individual for personal motives. This, I won't lie, would greatly simplify our lives. The second option is that this phenomenon is the work of an organization with a specific purpose."

As he spoke, Sylvera unconsciously let out a dangerous bloodlust.

The lower beings were too weak to even perceive it, but all the ranks 4 present felt their souls tremble under the saint's aura.

"Given the efficiency of the operation and the lack of evidence, it is very likely that it is the work of a unknown organization. As a precaution, we will conduct a thorough search of the prisoners. The Great Army of Alandal will also distribute communication tools to each group. All teams on missions must be extra vigilant and contact the main camp at the slightest uncertainty!"

Sylvera took a small pause before declaring with a deep voice.

"From now on, I am instituting martial law!"