16 The Herald of Leilade

That eerie atmosphere stayed for a while. In truth, none of them had any good ideas. The only ones they got were the best of a very bad situation. In other words, barely better than bad. From what they gathered from the souls of the fallen soldiers, they were in the middle of the spring. So at least, none of them will have to worry about winter and ice for a while.

Seeing the state of mind of the four others, Leilade was arguing with the Viscount inside her mind. He wanted to attack the rest and absorb their lifeforce while they were still weakened, something that Leilade disagreed with. Not by compassion or mercy, but only because she thought it was safer with them acting as baits and meat shields. But that posture didn't allow her to quickly regain her mana or even fully heal her burned body. The heated discussion derived to toward their future as 5 if they were allowed to survive.

(No matter what will happen, you can't stay as 5 forever. First of all, it is impossible to hide Ymir and Davion forever, Kardel can at least turn into a monster and you can try to convince other people that you tamed it. But taming a blue and red monster like them? Not a single chance. That's why it is better to work alone and try to get back to the Demonic Empire.)

"It's a planet created by the Ancient, without Davion we will have no way to find their tricks and all the defenses that they probably made. If we are even more unlucky, one of their watchdogs is here and will hunt us if we dare to make a fuss."

(Outlander, don't curse us like that. If we are really that unlucky for one of those lizards to be present here, we won't be able to do anything anyway. If a Sak …)

"STOP!"

Leilade shouted at the spirit in front of her. She dared to talk about the guardians of the Ancients but was not stupid enough to call them by their name. The main reason why even after thousand years without the appearance of the Ancients their planets were still not conquered were them. The most perfect creature in the Universe. Cunning, intelligent, strong beyond any measures. Created by their technology and fused with the mana, they were capable of using it without any problems and capable of manipulating as they wished. But even with all that power, they were restricted to just one task. Defend at all cost the planet they were living on and if they failed, destroy all the invaders.

The cost to create them was so high that not all the planet had one. But for those that were hidden a monster in their depths, a price will be paid in blood to conquer them. A century before, the Demonic Empire reach one planet like this. They decided to just blow it, not wanting to deal with one of those lizards. On the other hand, that peculiar lizard hunted the entire fleet responsible for that attack. He was capable of traveling in the void of space and more than ten thousands of spaceships were destroyed by it until he was finally killed. After that shameful battle, every planet guarded by them were just ignored. And it worked, if no one invades the planet, they won't move.

"Forget about that part, here what will happen. I will summon him, and hopefully, he will be linked to the local mana. Then, I will just lay low for a few years, wait for the Demonic Energy to be created. As for the rest, they will do what they want. If they want, I can even create a few illusions to hide their real form."

(If this is what you really want Outlander then it will be done. But may I say just one more thing that will be a lot more enjoyable than laying low? The annual search for the magicians is starting in a few days. If you want to not be bored, maybe you can hide into one of their school. Who will dare to not accept someone with such a strong magical power such as you?)

Leilade pondered a bit about that. Joining one of those human schools? Is it really better than just patiently waiting here, doing nothing? She will have to interact with those inferior creatures and most importantly those children. She was not considered as a human since a very long time and in truth, she didn't miss a single bit that. All she experienced was torture, experiments and killing attempts. But, if she could manage to grab some stuff capable of restoring her mana, like a lost apprentice that will magically disappear or even some monster corpses, that would be great.

"That could be possible, that would even be good. And the chance of them realizing what is truly in front of them is near zero. If I want to hide my powers, no one would be able to see them. That's it, you are right, I will pass the time in of those schools. Can't be worse than staying here in a mountain. In the meantime, rise and shine my herald. Rise and shine."

The rest of the group broke through their pensive stance and watched Leilade creating a dark circle on the ground. They all could see the darkness leaving her body to form a black pond on the ground. When she finally was done, the tentacle that was previously growing was not even a tenth of what it was. Even the small hands of the Empress were bigger than it. But it was worth it. Soon, a small blue ball was dropped in the center of the obscure spell and after a few seconds, a grave and terrifying laugh resonated on the silent mountain.

MWAHAHAHA MWAHAHAHAHA

If a normal human was able to hear the laugh, it would instantly freeze the blood in his veins and he would drop dead. Even the four commandants of the Demonic Army shuddered when they heard it. But instead of being scared, they were delighted since they all knew who it was. At first, a black claw left the circle and second followed shortly after. They were bigger than even the hand of Ymir, the giant demon. Four fingers formed them and they were similar to the point of a spear. The flesh covering the hand was rotten but incredibly sturdy. All could see the creature trying to break free and push on its two arms.

Finally, the tip of the head was shown. Two curly horns similar to the ones on a goat appeared. After that, instead of a normal head, a black hood was covering the entire face. Only the mouth, filled with yellow canines was seen smiling. Besides this, the rest was hidden behind the shadows. The monster propelled himself in the air and floated twenty centimeters above the ground. His black robe inscribed with many dark symbols reflected the moonlight.

"WHICH PATHETIC PLANET IS DOOMED TO BE DESTROY BY MY HAND?"

After seeing his signature sentence, the summoned servants finally start to look around and saw the states of the group. Instead of using his previous threatening voice, he started to converse in a more normal and agreeable tongue.

"Wait for a second, Ymir, Davion, Kardel and the beautifu… not that beautiful anymore Meridiana? What happened?"

At first, he was looking high and mighty, but because he knew who he was and what was his rank. But none of the four in front of him was any weaker and they were all deeply injured. Turning back, he saw his mistress riddled with wounds and with nearly no mana. He was normally asleep and only awaken when his help was needed. As a former Elder Lich and an undead that was modified personally by the Empress of the Underworld, he was capable of conquering some small planets on his own.

"Mistress! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!!"

Leilade used the same spell to transmit the information to her servant but he was not relieved at all after understanding everything. A planet created by the Ancient? Only a few seeds and insects to turn the mana of entire planet into Demonic Energy? Some beings apparently strong enough to threaten them? After hearing all of this, he began to shake his head. Turning his sight toward Leilade, she telepathically described him the situation of the Vault of the Souls.That didn't make him stop to shake his head at all.

"That's bad, that's really bad. But don't worry, Malakov, the Herald of Leilade is here to solve some of your problems. First of all, [Flame]."

In the hand of the undead, a small fire was seen burning. Malakov didn't even need to say the name of that spell like some beginner in magic but he still said it for the rest. Funnily, such a weak and small spell managed to make everyone smile. The expenses of creating the body of Malakov was so high that Leilade couldn't do it a second time even if she wished. But her servant managed to be linked to the mana of this planet and that will be enough to do a lot of things. She then transmitted her instructions for the future.

"It will be done, Mistress!"

The floating monster bowed and then begin to create multiple types of undead. They were all incredibly weak in combat, allowing him to create them in great number. As for their purpose, they were quite obvious. Some were looking like the skeletons of a mole and they began to dig in the mountain. The rest were looking more like short humans with swords instead of hands. They descended the slope and will target the trees in the valley. Creating wood or any material was possible with mana, but the cost to do that was very high. Even higher if it was not something found in nature.

Two other types of undead were also created. One was a small spirit that soon spread far and wide. They will scout the surroundings. And at last, a few very, very weak skeleton warriors. That was a precise instruction from his mistress, to create one of the weakest undead possible. In the hands of those soldiers, a broken shield, a rusted sword and some were even missing some ribs. A total of fifty of them were created and they followed the woodcutters. They will be responsible for testing the true strength of the beings living on this planet. Feeling satisfied by this, Leilade stared at the four survivors of this disaster. "How can they be used?" was her thoughts.