Chapter 246: Group Meeting

Chapter 246: Group Meeting

Whatever was encased in those crystals was long gone, and based on the clues, the monsters spread out in all directions. Combined with the recent attacks and kidnappings, at least a few tens of thousands of these monsters were now freely roaming in the Kingdom.

And now even the Giant was helping them destroy the land. As they came back to the crater where the caverns used to be, they noticed a small puddle forming at the bottom. The underground river was apparently blocked off, and in a few days, a lake would be formed.

Any eveidence of what happened would then be impossible to find.

While the commanders were thinking of ideas with gloomy expressions, the scouts started coming back one by one. They explored the area and came with vital pieces of information to report.

The nearby farms were all decimated and mostly burned to the ground. No survivors, or corpses, or monsters were to be found anywhere, it was like they disappeared into thin air.

Some landlords and wealthy ranchers managed to survive the attack, and their guards had a few sleepless nights defending the land from beastly invaders.

They told of the hordes of Goblins that came running from all sides, of demonic wolf-looking beasts with Orc riders on top, of small dark figures shooting flames

Those that couldn't fight, retreated to bigger cities in the middle of the night, and it was unclear if any survived. As the news would begin to spread, the fortified settlements would soon be overrun with refugees. The Kingdom was not prepared for such a panic!

"We're leaving!" The commanders decided at once. "We'll follow the Giant and see if we can thin out the monster hordes. Hopefully, we can slow them down enough for the capital to prepare" One of them gazed at the sky and silently said a prayer in his heart. 'Be safe, my love...'

***

The message reached The King.

"I'll get my soldiers ready," said Razor Northendark shortly after glancing over the contents of the letter.

Auralba was preparing for war for a while now, and yet, it was all still happening too fast. The Empire didn't even knock on their door yet when the number of monsters suddenly exploded all over the Kingdom.

In the following two days they received news from all corners of the realm of brazen monster attacks. The beasts didn't even bother to be sneaky anymore. They attacked in broad daylight and lay waste to small remote villages and towns.

His breathing was calm and controlled, and a gentle smile sat on his lips as he meditated. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes slowly. He looked at the watch.

"Two hours" he grinned. With each monster leaving his mind, the speed of Mana regeneration increased. Individually they didn't change much, a few seconds or a minute at most, however, when this happened hundreds of times, he could feel his mind expand and his head clear.

He could see Mana flowing all around him like gentle, bright, colored light, even when he wasn't using Magic Eyes. It was everywhere, and it was all fatally attracted to his body. Each breath filled him with energy, and the air started having a peculiar smell he never experienced before. A certain freshness lingered, like cool fresh mountain air, with a tinge of nature and peace.

The peculiarity made him curious, and with great effort, he held Mana at bay, away from his face.

The freshness and calming smell were gone.

"Holy shit!" Gerald gasped and relaxed his mind, getting a whiff of the aroma once more. "I can smell Mana!"

The discovery was amazing, sure But other than being a nifty bonus to his life, it wasn't that useful. At least now he could determine the concentration of Mana in the air with a simple sniff.

After having established the changes that took place in his body, Gerald stood up and went out to train. He refrained from consuming any Essence Orbs while being injured so his strength remained at just over five metric tones.

His body was also already at the limit of what could be considered safe for his flesh, so he decided to abandon his search for quick power boosts that would leave him fragile in the long term.

Maybe if the Essence Extraction method was more well-rounded he would continue, however simply becoming a glass cannon was not to his liking.

His teammates needed training, and he also desired to stretch his limbs, so he went to the back garden where they established a fighting ring. He had a few things to say.

It was a simple place. The ground was covered with gray stone, and six tall pillars held a simple canvas canopy over it, keeping the sun at bay.

Warren trained his sword swings on a dummy while the three girls were having a mock battle a few steps away. The strikes rained down at a fast pace and the assault was fierce, however, at the same time they took great care in making their spells and sword strikes only painful and not in any way life-threatening.

"Alright, gather around everyone!" Gerald called. The exchange of blows quieted down at once, and Qiona and Blum also came out to the garden behind him for the meeting.