Back with Ren and the others, Kaida glanced at the horizon with a concerned expression on her face.
“Ren, isn’t Alister taking too long? Shouldn’t they be back by now?”
Ren let out a sigh, he was equally worried. He clicked his communicator and tried to contact Alister.
“Alister, do you copy? Alister, come in.” Static filled the channel, and no response came through. He frowned, attempting again. “Alister, are you there?”
The signal remained dead. Ren’s brow furrowed deeper.
“This isn’t good. I can’t get a signal through. Something might be wrong.”
Razorgrin, leaning against the side of the truck, scoffed. “He’s probably up to no good, like always, even after we decided to trust him. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen, the kid has three freaking dragons for pets,” he said with a smirk.
Ren shook his head, clearly troubled. “Even if that’s the case, we need to make sure he’s safe. We can’t afford to lose contact with them out there.”
Kaida nodded, her eyes looking around the horizon. “What should we do, Ren?”
Ren thought about it for a moment before responding. “We’ll give it a few more minutes. If we still can’t reach him, we’ll have to go look for them ourselves.”
Razorgrin shrugged, with an indifferent expression on his face. “Whatever you say, Ren. But mark my words, he’s probably just messing around or doing something he shouldn’t.”
Ren ignored Razorgrin’s words, “Stay alert, everyone. We need to be ready for anything.”
….
Alister felt a strange pull in his stomach, an unfamiliar sensation that made the monster remains around him seem oddly palatable.
‘The hell?!’
He shook his head, dismissing the idea. “I won’t eat a monster,” he said to himself, trying to push the bizarre craving away.
Just then, the system notified him:
[Ding!! The devouring value of your dragons has reached 40%.]
Alister was a bit surprised at how quickly it had increased. ‘Forty percent already?’ he thought.
‘I thought we just got here a couple moments ago?’
‘So can I consider that as one hundred and sixty of my dragons eating their fill or all of them eating a quarter of their fill.’
Before he could think further, he sensed a threat behind him. Spinning around, he saw a fairly large salamander leaping at him.
Alister prepared to counter, his claws glowing with golden mana. But before he could strike.
KRAKOOM!
Purple lightning rained down on the salamander, electrocuting it mid-air. Draven landed with a thud beside Alister and swiftly devoured the fallen salamander.
Alister, watching in surprise, remarked, “I didn’t know you ate monsters.”
Draven looked up, slightly shocked, and responded, “Surely you jest? Are there living beings that do not consume something for substance?”
Alister’s expression remained serious as he repeated, “I’m not joking, Draven. I didn’t know you, Cinder and Terra ate at all.”
Draven tilted his head, clearly puzzled. “But… Isn’t that part of the reason you took permission to leave the others? To find sustenance and grow stronger?”
Alister sighed, rubbing his temples. “How have you been going on all this while without eating anything?”
“We’ve been relying on your magic power.”
Alister frowned. “That doesn’t make much sense to me. Explain further.”
Draven hesitated, struggling to find the right words. “It’s… complicated my lord. Your presence and your magic… it sustains us, somehow. I believe Terra would be better at explaining such things.”
Before Draven could speak further, the system echoed Alister’s thoughts.
[Ding!! An overlord’s presence boosts and supports the growth of the dragon race.]
Alister slowly understood. “So, my mana alone has been enough to sustain you and help you grow?”
“Exactly, though actually eating something is far better.” Draven confirmed.
Alister nodded, then asked, “Why haven’t you asked to eat before now?”
Draven looked slightly embarrassed. “I thought it was your silent decision to keep us relying on your magic power, since it seemed you had a lot of it.”
Alister chuckled softly. “Well, I suppose it makes sense now. But if you need to eat, don’t hesitate to let me know. I want you all to be at your best.”
Just as Alister was about to continue with his raid, an ominous system notification appeared:
[Warning!! Twelve of your wyverns have died!]
Alister’s eyes widened in shock.
‘What?!’
Before he could fully process the information, Terra’s voice echoed in his mind.
‘My lord, a group of humans is approaching. They’ve already slain twelve of our kin.’
“A group is humans? A guild?” Alister mumbled in shock, his heart racing.
‘Must be a raid team of another guild.’
‘They must be really strong if they are able to end the lives of twelve wyverns…’
‘And pretty skilled as well to be able to target monsters so high up in the sky.’
Before he could think further, Alister then felt a strange spike in conflicting emotions.
He was calm a moment ago, but then there out of nowhere came this…
Anger, but from what he could tell… it wasn’t his. Suddenly, Cinder’s enraged voice roared in
his thoughts.
‘How… How dare they!’
‘Mere humans killing our kin?’
‘Such is a sin that cannot be forgiven!’
‘Leave it to me my lord. I shall personally teach these humans a lesson they won’t forget. How
dare they lay their hands on our people!’
Alister heard these words in a familiar voice, yet the manner of speech was strange to him.
Alister was about to call out to Cinder to avoid making contact with the humans, but just then, another system notification appeared:
[Ding!! Quest received!
Responsibility Of An Overlord: As one who will become the Overlord, your duty to your people should always take first priority!
you must avenge the deaths of your people. Objective: punish the one responsible and avenge your kin.
Reward: Azure rock summoning conduit.
Failure Penalty: all stats permanently drop by 100.]
Alister’s eyes narrowed as he read the quest.
‘This just got complicated…’
Alister’s eyes remained fixed on the quest notification as he muttered.
“But this doesn’t look like a quest I can afford to fail.”
His voice echoed telepathically to Cinder, Draven and Terra, his expression serious.
‘I need you three to return immediately. We can’t waste any more time.’
Cinder, still seething with anger, paused while she spared in the ar towards where she could
sense their fallen kin,
‘But my lord, we should-‘
‘Are you talking back to me?’ Alister cut her off sharply.
Cinder’s voice died in her throat, and she fell silent. Alister continued, his voice firm.
‘I will not let our people die in vain. I’ll make sure to punish whoever is responsible, but I cannot do that if the three of you are here. You’ll give away my identity. Which could make things complicated when we go back to the city.’
Terra and Draven nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation. ‘Understood my lord.’ as they did, their firms slowly dissolved into particles of light, returning to the mind space. ‘U-understood… my lord.’ Cinder reluctantly said, her body now beginning to dissolve things
in the air.
Alister’s hands reached into his inventory, pulling out the Phantom Spade’s mask, then he wore it on, his voice suddenly got deeper.
‘And Cinder, when this is all over, you and I will need to talk.’
‘Un… understood, my lord.’
“Good, now I will go and find out who exactly is the murderer.” as he spoke he dropped the
edge of his black scarf, adjusting it slightly as his yellow eyes glowed brightly.
…
Anya and her team moved cautiously across the rugged terrain, the air thick with the scent of sulfur and the low growls of the salamanders.
The sun was high up, casting long shadows over the rocky landscape. They were already in formation, with Maila in the air above, while Anya, and the others as they made their way across the treacherous ground.
Maila hovered with her metal construct zipping through the air. She targeted wyverns with swords, her constructs launching, impaling them and sending them crashing, metallic shards that pierced the wyverns’ hide with explosive force.
Each kill was met with a momentary flicker of satisfaction in her eyes as she adjusted her
position for another strike.
“Maila, keep those wyverns off us! We’re about to engage the salamanders!” Anya called out,
her voice barely audible over the roaring winds.
Maila’s voice crackled through the communicator. “Got it, guild master. I’ve got the aerial
threats covered.”
On the ground, Anya led the charge with her punches. Halzor, his massive gauntlets, smashed through salamander ranks with explosive punches, each strike causing the ground to tremble. Nyra darted between the creatures, her blades flashing as she dispatched salamanders by
slitting their throats.
Thorin’s focus was sharp as he parried a salamander’s swipe with his bare hands. He watched
as Halzor’s gauntlets crushed another salamander, sending its remains skidding across the rocky surface.
Nyra, moving like a shadow, struck at the important leg muscles in the spots of the creatures, immobilizing then ending them.
“We’ve got to push through to the other side!” Anya shouted, rallying her team as they fought
their way forward.
Just
as they were making progress, a roar echoed through the battlefield. Anya looked up to
see a salamander hurtling through the air, seemingly propelled from a distance.
The creature landed with a thunderous crash, just inches from Anya, its massive body
sprawling out before her.
Anya’s eyes widened in surprise. “Who sent that our way?”
Before she could process the situation, a voice cut through the chaos, calm and somewhat
amused.
“Well, this seems a bit… much. But oh well, I don’t have a choice now do I?”
Anya turned towards the source of the voice, her gaze narrowing as she searched for the
speaker in all the dust risen from the crash.
Slowly… Two yellow eyes could be seen in the distance. And just then a masked figure
emerged, all black and wearing a strange black mask. They then spoke up, their voice
seemingly vibrating their surroundings.
“Now tell me…”
“Which one of you has been hunting wyverns?”