Leon led Richard, Leonidas and Kai to a secure room where they could speak within Michael’s temple. He did not want to take them to his mansion because of security concerns. The Peak A rank golems that guarded the throne room would surely be able to do something if Leonidas tried to pull a sneaky move.
When the four of them were seated, Leon waved his hand and a cabinet to the side of the room opened. A bottle of strong wine floated out and landed in his grasp, followed by four wine cups.
As the glass cups touched down on the tabletop, Leon’s body morphed, and skin stretched over his bones, covering him up and giving him a human form.
Leonidas watched this with an interested gaze. He had seen a drawing of Leon’s human form in Fort Bender, but seeing it in person was very much different. His sharp eyes glittered and a wide grin graced his stern face.
“You are a truly remarkable person, Leon.” Leonidas could not help exclaiming with a small laugh. Leon had been pretty level headed ever since they arrived, and not once had Leonidas sense any flustered emotions from Leon.
“Thank you. I would say the same about you.” Leon nodded his head. Of course, the emperor of such a large and prestigious empire was a remarkable person.
Leonidas laughed while Richard took a sip of the wine. His eyes were sharp as they darted around the corners of the room. He could feel the thick energy permeating through the air, and he could tell that the density and concentration of Holy energy was one of the highest he had ever felt in his life.
Leonidas also noticed this and was secretly even more amazed at Leon. He had heard from Kai how Leon possessed traces of Holy energy within him, and how he seemed to be the Envoy of a God, but seeing it for himself was completely different from hearing it from another person.
‘Just how is it possible?’ This question rang through both Richard’s and Leonidas’ minds as they spoke with Leon about unimportant things.
Eventually, Leon decided to get to the bottom of things.𝑶𝐕𝐿xt.𝔠𝒪
“Enough with the chit chat. We should get to more important matters.” Leon abruptly cut off Leonidas’ words, bringing an end to the conversation.
The emperor’s eyebrows rose up in surprise. Very few people ever dared to cut him off. Leon was one of those few people.
From the side, Kai who had mostly remained silent was frozen in shock. He watched as surprise plastered itself over his father’s face and feared for the worst. But he was proven to have worried for nothing when Leonidas burst into a fit of hearty laughter.
“I was not expecting that. Most people tend to tiptoe around me in a conversation.” The man said when he finally calmed down. “Yes, you are right. We should get down to business.” He nodded his head.
“To get straight to the point, we are here to lend out support in the war against the Demon Continent. We have already contacted a few ally nations that are willing to lend their strength to us in the battle.” Leonidas leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees.
“I am glad to hear that.” Leon smiled and took a sip of wine. He was very relaxed at the moment. Mostly because he was certain that there was nothing Leonidas could do if he wanted to retaliate against him for snatching ownership of the Despair Dungeon.
“We should discuss war. We need to make solid plans on how to handle the attacks that will soon come. According to Richard, they should be getting ready to attack at any moment, yes?”
“Yes, they should-” Leon opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly paused. His eyes went wide and his eyebrows rode up into his hairline.
“What is it?” The atmosphere in the room changed as everyone noticed the sudden change in Leon’s demeanor.
A small smile spread over Leon’s face as he looked up. “It seems the Demons are already carrying out their attack.”
.
.
Out at sea, a massive fleet consisting of over a hundred ships cut through the sea water at a quick pace. The sound of chatter could be heard on the ships as the Demons manning them joked around. Sharp claws and shiny teeth glinted in the sunlight as the Demons spoke amongst themselves.
At the head of one of the ships toward the front, a young man was standing. His eyes were sharp as he focused on the distant land that he was only able to see thanks to his heightened eyesight. He was also aided by a special telescope that allowed him to peer through the visual effects that shrouded the fleet.
Vander hummed as he turned to his two friends and subordinates, Viktor and Raiko, the shadow duo.
“We will be arriving on the shore of the continent soon. But I think there are already decent preparations to stall us. We move as fast as we could, but whoever Nasir leaked the information to was apparently faster.” Vander cursed.
“It will be fine. With the three of us being part of the first wave, we should be able to topple whatever defenses they have. I doubt they would have expected to face A ranks in the first wave.” Viktor sneered. He always looked down on his opponents, so he was feeling quite confident on the prospects of this first battle.
Caw!
A bird cawed up ahead and Vander looked up in surprise. He could not feel the presence of this bird for some odd reason. The moment he set eyes on the black feathered bird, he instantly lost sight of it.
‘Teleportation?!’
Vander’s senses spread out, but he was not able to find the location of the bird.
“We’ve been found out!” Vander announced out loud, his voice spreading through every ship in the fleet. His expression was tense as he tried to figure out how they had been found out.
The fleet was covered by a mysterious fog that hid them very well. If anything breached the fog, they would instantly be sent into a sort of trance like state that would make them soar through the entire fogged up area without registering anything within the fog. Only after they passed through would their senses return to them, and they would not remember the fog.
The mage that had put up the fog illusory barrier as a Peak B rank mage who specialized solely in Illusion magic, so he was one of the best that Vander could have gotten. However, that strange bird had been able to shrug off the effects of the fog, enter the fog to spy on them, and then get away.
Whoosh!
Behind Vander, wind swirled as Raiko took to the skies, turning into a dark shadow that vanished into the fog around the fleet. A few seconds later, he landed on the deck with a grim look.
“I was not able to find anything.” Raiko silently said and shook his head while looking at Vander.
“Damn, we can only move forward as it is. Tell everyone to keep their guards up. The enemies will be expecting us.” Vander said with a grim look.
Things had just taken a turn in one of the worse directions that had been predicted by the planners of the battle. They would need to make adjustments to their approach now.
.
.
Back on the mainland, Leon had already left the temple with the others. Leonidas and Kai quickly returned to where the men from the Gublin Empire were waiting, while Richard waited back with Leon for a moment.
“What was that back there?” Richard asked Leon when the two of them were alone.
“What was what?” Leon asked, a bit confused.
“What was with the Holy energy? Since when have Undead been immune to it?” Richard asked. He wanted to know if this was just a unique case with Leon, or if it was a new thing that they needed to watch out for when fighting the Demons.
“That is how I am. I am immune to Holy energy.” Leon shrugged. He did not want to explain it to anyone at the moment, but he did not mind them knowing that he had an immunity to it. Instead, it would make them feel he was even more mysterious and unfathomable. His one true weakness suddenly had no effect against him anymore.
Normally, this would have been a great way to surprise anyone who tried to backstab him, but he had yet to see anyone try to attack him with Holy energy yet. Perhaps Amelia Steelheart might try it when next they crossed paths.
“I wonder what her reaction will be like.” Leon chuckled to himself.
After that short interaction, he split up with Richard as the silver haired Werewolf took off to go and address his men. They agreed that they would meet back at the portal where they would be transported to the shore of the Desolate Lands.