44 Marching forth

Draig successfully suppressed the Guilders and began turning them to thralls, he gained even more skills while doing this and distributed them properly. Though before he had done so he had a change of heart, he needed to have a reward system in place.

Calling the Coven in for a meeting he passed the job of explaining the new system to them, Draig began inspecting the Skill tree system in the meantime.

According to the system's short explanation he would be able to upgrade through the Skill tree using Blood Points. As he learned these points were based on how many liters of blood he consumed, this was also where he had a problem.

If he spent the Blood Points then he would without a doubt see his advancement plateau for the time being. It had to be known that if he didn't advance then he wouldn't grow in the same increment but perhaps it was better to solidify his base.

It also turned out this Skill tree contained three branches at the moment, Vampire Mystic, Vampire Slasher, and Vampire Primogenitor.

He had yet to inspect these branches as he had not consumed blood since the reboot of the system, however he had high expectations. He had long put the matter of Zarra out of his head, he couldn't bare the thought of the Mage being dead.

Draig shook his head disbanding those wandering thoughts and turned to look at the supplies that had been scavenged from the battlefield. They were useless after having ravaged and looted the City of Elves, their inherent ability to enchant weapons and armor left other sets lacking in comparison.

Draig shook his head and sent them to be melted down and deconstructed, he knew they had to start waging this war as soon as possible. However he didn't know where to begin, it would be pointless for them to just march in a random direction but he was unable to divine where the opposing forces were residing.

Draig was close to marching recklessly but suddenly came up with a plan.

'Most of these races are in the middle of the forest in this Forbidden Zone' plotted Draig before a cruel smile crossed his face.

"Sylvie, have lets have a bonfire to celebrate our victory" stated Draig as he walked out the place he had been residing.

Everyone turned to look at Draig as he made his way to the wall of the city, curious whispers surrounded this action but were soon turned to panicked voices.

Draig raised his cane and torrents of fireballs shot into the distance causing smoke to rise, these flames were peculiar however as they burned a blue color instead of orange or red.

These flames clearly burned hotter as they quickly turned their areas of contact to ash quickly and began spreading rapidly. Seeing this many were wondering if their leader had gone mad but they couldn't be more wrong.

Draig was opening a path for them, a path painted in the death of thousands if not millions of monsters and beasts. His intention was clear to him but vague to others. Walking to the head of the city Draig rallied everyone to prepare for a trek.

Behind him almost immediately were the coven and Oddities painting a image of tyranny and awe in the eyes of those Guilders and troops.

"We follow the flames and leave no one standing, we slaughter the weak and devour the strong. Now We March" stated Draig but over this silent crowd those words resounded like thunder.

Nobody hesitated as they followed swiftly gathering into a familiar formation, Summoners in the front with Close Combat classes following and finally magicians and other long range fighters. Initially this hadn't seemed like such a formidable march but with the bolstered numbers it was like a legion marching forward to conquer the world.

The aura being projected by this group was one of resilience and blood lust, these people were riled up from the previous encounter and had not been able to act. Their want for battle climbed steadily especially after hearing how the Contribution Points would work, more kills mean more points.

To them by this point killing meant power, and power meant killing. The Guilders on the other hand felt themselves being infected by this atmosphere and started hunger for battle as well.

This group followed behind Draig obediently with no one acting out, such was the control that Draig had over these troops.

Finally the group came to a stop as they waited behind a wall of fire that was not slow but not faster than their march. It was at this moment that Draig's actions made sense to the gathered forces, they couldn't be ambushed without cover and they would be hard pressed to receive a direct attack as well.

Goeki noted this strategy for later while Stein played with a few deviations of his own for such a tactic.

Draig smiled as he heard bugles in the distance, foolish in his opinion. This was just allowing him to be aware of the distance between his people and their enemies.

While Draig was saturating himself in his monstrous nature the charred figure had just drank a potion causing the burns on his body to recede at a visible rate. He grit his teeth feeling this warped flesh contort until he regained his original features.

"That brat sure knows how to impress, old Liam wasn't even his match. Unfortunately that stunt cost me quite a bit of my power, the Inner world is decimated." stated the figure as a smirk landed on his face.

"Don't worry leech brat, Daddy is on the way." stated the Figure as he donned a set of ominous looking robes and grabbed a staff with a skull adorning the top.

Stepping into the light of day the figures features were revealed to the world.

"Allow me to show you all why they call me Zarra the Black" Laughed Zarra as it echoed into the surroundings sending shivers down the spine of any who listened.

'I'm back baby' thought Zarra as he floated into the sky