"Enough..."
The voice sounded frail, like a whisper, yet also as if someone was gathering every ounce of her remaining strength to speak. But the sound silenced all the monsters present.
Their eyes, filled with hatred as they had been directed towards Nezena's Raid Army, slowly shifted towards the source of the voice. Nezena's green eyes gazed upon them all, her expression indiscernible, but her frustration palpable.
"For... give.. me.. and... my... ar..my..." The words came out fragmented, but they were enough to make all the monsters swallow their words.
With heads bowed and tears streaming down their cheeks, all the monsters answered, "Yes, Holy Queen."
Just then, a strong gust of wind blew, accompanied by a loud sound. A tall and imposing figure soared above them and landed with a resounding thud, raising a cloud of dust that obscured their view.
Even though their eyes were covered, their noses could still detect the scent of the newly arrived monster. He was the king of all monsters, the ruler of Bitter Maja, and the prophet of The One.
KuMoku.
The heads of all the monsters bowed even lower, afraid to meet the gaze of their king, known as the immortal one. If Nezena was the sacred woman to be protected, then Moku was the unbeatable king, the embodiment of strength.
All the monster races, once engaged in endless wars, now saw themselves as a symbol of unity under his eternal power and illustrious name. Several years had passed since the establishment of the Wilwatikta Kingdom, and the tales of Moku's battles with seemingly invincible enemies had become legends and bedtime stories for the new generations of monsters.
They admired, respected, and feared the orc who surpassed the limits of his race and became the world's first Asura.
Moku paid no attention to the awestruck monsters. He observed Nezena's dire condition, so severe that even the Valkyrie's regenerative abilities were unable to heal her.
There was a reason why Nezena had to be seated atop Sabeth. The white unicorn, elevated to a Silver Tier Danger, possessed a mana organ that could sustain someone on the brink of death as long as that someone touch the unicorn's body. That's why Nezena couldn't be carried or placed in a carriage. Her body had to remain in close contact with Sabeth; otherwise, death would claim her.
Without uttering a word, Moku approached Nezena and channeled his dragon prana into her body. As an Asura, being the husband of a Valkyrie, he could freely flow his dragon prana into his wife's body without any hindrance.
Sensing Moku's dragon prana, Nezena immediately activated her regenerative abilities to repair her body. However, the wounds on her body were not ordinary wounds. They contained the mana color of a mage, which slowed down her regenerative capabilities significantly.
Frowning, Moku sensed the hindered regenerative abilities caused by the mana color. He channeled even more dragon prana, not to replenish Nezena's reserves, but to consume the lingering mana color within her body.
The mana color resisted Moku's dragon prana fiercely, but the nature of dragon prana, capable of devouring any form of energy, swiftly put an end to the struggle. Moku's dragon prana consumed all the mana color attached to Nezena's wounds and only then did her regenerative abilities start functioning as before.
Moku turned to an Asura who remained slumped and reluctant to meet his gaze. "Where is Mige?"
Although Nezena was the highest commander of Nezena's Raid Army, Moku still placed Mige as her advisor. Mige possessed the most exceptional military strategy intelligence among the other Asuras, making Nezena's task easier.
With a pale face, the Asura replied, "Report, Ku. Mige is currently in critical condition. He is in the carriage at the rear of the troops."
Moku remained silent. Using his inner eye, he peered into the carriage at the rear of the troops. There, he saw Mige in a critical state. Although his wounds were not as severe as Nezena's, he still teetered on the edge of death.
Similar to Nezena, there were mana colors of a mage attached to his wounds, slowing down his regenerative abilities. However, unlike Nezena, Mige was a pure-blooded Asura. He possessed his own dragon prana, which was currently slowly consuming the mana color.
"Summon his wives and instruct them to channel their dragon prana into Mige's body," commanded Moku.
"Yes, Ku!" the Asura immediately stood up and bowed before flying off to Mige's residence to summon his wives.
"As for the rest of you, return to the barracks! Await my further orders!"
"Yes, Ku!"
Immediately after that, Moku carried Nezena and flew toward their residence. Currently, Moku and his family had moved to the newly constructed castle by the goblins. Although they said the castle was not yet perfect and needed some further modifications, it was already suitable for habitation.
With Nezena no longer in critical condition, she no longer needed to ride Sabeth. Sabeth, being an intelligent creature, knew how to return to its own stable. Besides, in the Wilwatikta Kingdom, no one dared to touch the Holy Queen's mount.
In less than a second, Moku and Nezena arrived at their castle. Nedira, who was enjoying the sunlight at that moment, was startled by Moku's sudden arrival.
"Moku, has Sister Nezena returned? I heard the commotion at the southern gate, it must be Sister Nezena and her troops," Nedira said, welcoming Moku, but then her eyes focused on someone in Moku's arms.
Her nose quickly recognized the person's scent, and her eyes widened, "SISTER NEZENA!!!"
Tears streamed down Nedira's cheeks as she saw her sister, with half her body missing and in a critical state.
"Moku, what is this? What happened to Sister Nezena? Who did this?" Nedira said, her teary eyes filled with confusion, anger, and vengeance.
Moku shook his head, "I don't know exactly what happened, but it seems they were attacked by a very powerful mage. A quarter of Nezena's Raid Army is missing, and the rest have suffered severe injuries. Even Mige's condition is not much better than Nezena's," he replied, carrying Nezena toward their room.
Nedira widened her eyes and clenched her fists tightly, "That damn mage, how dare they!!"
"Nedira, call Luna and your other sisters. We need to heal Nezena first before we find out who is responsible," Moku said, his voice calm but his eyes burning with anger. The only thing holding him back from going berserk and seeking out whoever did this to his wife was the necessity of treating Nezena first.
"Okay..." Nedira said before sprinting off at lightning speed to summon Luna.
-----------------------------------------
Several hours later, all the division heads and staff from the Military Administration had gathered in the throne room of Moku's new castle. As before, the throne room had a throne surrounded by chairs on both sides.
Moku also summoned an elf prisoner who surrendered to the Wilwatikta Kingdom and became their slave. This elf had shown loyalty to the Wilwatikta Kingdom by raping more than ten elf women and impregnating one of them.
The elf's name was Dreven, previously known as Shadowthorn, but Moku changed it to Parupak, which means "slave" in the monster language.
Mige was also present at the meeting. Although he still appeared weak, with the help of dragon prana from his wives and children, Mige was able to sit up straight. The others who attended this sudden meeting were Nevare, Nerphyl, Nedira, Goku, and Swa.
Boku couldn't be present as he was currently on a journey, carrying the carcass of a platinum-tier danger-mutated animal that Moku had just killed earlier that morning. Nezena was still in a condition that made it impossible for her to attend.
Currently, Luna was trying to heal Nezena with the assistance of Nezena's children, who were channeling dragon prana into her body to expedite the regeneration process.
Moku actually wanted to summon the other monsters, but they were currently too busy with their tasks, which were almost impossible to leave. For instance, Ez was busy managing all the administration to ensure Moku's orders were carried out smoothly.
But Moku felt that those present were enough. This meeting was simply to gather information about the enemy and assess their strength.
"Sorry, I can't open this in a formal manner as usual because we're in a critical situation. But I still pray for all of you to be able to fight together again in The One's Heaven."
"May We Fight Together in The One's Heaven!"
Moku nodded, then turned to Mige, "Mige, how are you? Are you able to recount the details of what happened? Or do you need to summon your subordinates who were also there to provide more information?"
Mige shook his head, "There's no need, Ku. Our Holy Queen is severely injured, and I, who was assigned to assist her, couldn't prevent it. Let me ease my guilt a little by reporting the incident directly to you."
Moku simply nodded. He knows Mige likely blaming himself for this incident.