I was in the room where we are going to have the meeting after the battle, I was the last to arrive and I was talking to the Sapphire village leader when suddenly Nix contacts me through my mind, for her to avoid using my shadow to talk to me I mean that must be something important.
"(What happened?)" (I)
"(Why are you saying we're going to have to change our plans?)" (I)
"(A Wind Spirit just arrived, he was the one who was responsible for watching over one of the other two patrolling Farus troops that we were going to attack.)" (Nix)
"(This Spirit flew here to warn you that the two troops have changed direction and are heading towards us, besides they will meet in less than a day and should arrive here in two days maximum.)" (Nix)
"What!?" (I)
"How is that possible? Has he already discovered us!?" (I)
"What's going on Zenos? What are you talking about?" (Sapphire)
I was a little shocked by the turn of events that I ended up speaking out loud rather than just conveying my thoughts to Nix, I only realized what I had done when the village leader spoke to me.
"…" (I)
I look around and notice that everyone is looking at me, the room was completely silent while everyone looks worried as they look at me, even the village leader has a serious expression.
"(Thanks for the info Nix, I'll send Layla to get this Fairy.)" (I)
"(Okay.)" (Nix)
I contact Layla.
"(Layla, get out of the Dungeon and bring the Wind Spirit that Nix points to the mansion, I need you to do it now.)" (I)
"(Just when I thought I could rest, it's ok, I'll be right back.)" (Layla)
"(Thank you.)" (I)
"Don't keep us waiting, say something Zenos." (Sapphire)
"Sorry, I was talking to Nix and Layla, I'll explain to you what's going on." (I)
I pull out a large map that represents the mountain range, then take a pen and set it next to the map.
"I'll be straight, the other two troops of Farus that we were going to attack one by one are heading our way now." (I)
"The two troops should join in less than a day and arrive here in about two days." (I)
"Did they find us?" (Sapphire)
"I'm not sure, but we'll find out more soon." (I)
"How did you find this out?" (Nymph leader)
"I just learned, the Wind Spirit that brought this information is being brought here by Layla." (I)
"How many are now among the combined army?" (Ghoul Leader)
"If the numbers of the two troops are the same as the one we won, then it will be 10000 soldiers, 10 captains and 4 generals." (I)
"DANG! We're going to be outnumbered again, we're only around 8000." (Orc Leader)
"Farus' troops also surpass us in strength, it takes two of our own to defeat one of his warriors." (Ogre Leader)
"Even if they don't like to say it, I think we should get out of here." (Ogre Leader)
"Let's not make hasty decisions, we don't know anything yet, we have to get some information first." (Sapphire)
"I arrived!!!" (Layla)
As we discuss the door opens and Layla enters riding on the back of a bird twice her size, a green bird with translucent wings.
"Now that we're here, could you get off of me?" (Wind Spirit)
"No, I'm too lazy to fly alone." (Layla)
"Get out of me you lazy Fairy!" (Wind Spirit)
The Wind Spirit spins fast in the air throwing Layla in my direction, I dodge and let her hit the back of the chair I'm sitting on and land on my shoulder, as the chair is padded it feels fine.
"What are you doing with a fragile beauty like me, you stupid bird!" (Layla)
"You too master!" (Layla)
"Why didn't you stop me? Why did you dodge instead of helping me? Idiot Master!" (Layla)
"It looked like a lot of work, if you wanted you could have flown instead of hitting the chair." (I)
"I thought you were going to get me." (Layla)
"Stop it both of you!" (Freya)
"I apologize for my master, he gets off topic easily." (Freya)
Without realizing it I got distracted by Layla, so Freya puts a glass of juice hard in front of me causing the table to shake while looking at me seriously before pointing out that I strayed from the subject without realizing it.
"Well let's get back to the important matter at hand." (I)
"This bird is the Wind Spirit who brought the information, so it would be best to let him do the talking before we start asking questions." (I)
Everyone is quiet and looks at the green bird waiting for him to start talking.
"Do us a favor and tell us everything that happened." (Sapphire)
"I and three other spirits and two Fairies were split watching these two troops of Farus as the village leader asked our Contractors before we left the village." (Wind Spirit)
"As we were watching from afar while staying hidden we couldn't find out much, all we know is that a bird-type Undead monster landed near the two troops, a few minutes later they changed direction." (Wind Spirit)
"With their current speed they should meet in less than a day and then it should take them two days to get to where we are." (Wind Spirit)
"Do you know how long ago that was?" (I)
"It was about three hours ago." (Wind Spirit)
"How did you get here so fast?" (I)
"The other Spirits used their Runes on me to increase my speed, I also spent almost all my power coming straight here, I was lucky not to encounter any monsters along the way either." (Wind Spirit)
"I think that's all we need to know, now we should think about what to do." (Werewolf leader)
"I think maybe they haven't discovered us, maybe they're going on a trip to Farus' stronghold, they must have been called back, there's no way they could have been notified of our attack on that troop three hours ago." (I)
"That was just before the battle started." (Sapphire)
"If that's true, then why didn't this troop receive any visits from an Undead Bird?" (Nymph leader)
"Because these troops were already on their way back, that's why we chose to defeat them first." (Sapphire)
"That makes sense." (Ogre Leader)
"The important thing now is to decide what to do, we can fight or run back to the village." (Ghoul Leader)
"We will really be in a bad position if we decide to fight, what do you think of this situation Zenos? Do you think we would win against these two troops together?" (Sapphire)
"Even if it's dangerous, I still think we should fight, our plans were to weaken Farus' troops by decreasing the number of his army and killing some Grade S strength generals." (I)
"Not knowing why these two troops are heading back to their base makes me worried, besides, we may not have another opportunity like this." (I)
"How do you plan for us to fight so many enemies? Your plan may be of help so far, but I don't think it will be useful this time." (Sapphire)
"It will actually be very useful, the main feature of the plan we've been using is separating the enemies and throwing them where we want." (I)
"You may also have noticed that we have people capable enough to face the generals of Farus, all we need is to attack the generals first, they are the biggest threat." (I)
"Sorry to interrupt, Master." (Leo)
"But before you continue planning our next move, I need to inform you about something that happened during our battle today." (Leo)
"It must have been something important for you to want to talk about before we formed a plan against the two troops that are coming here." (I)
Leo steps forward and stands by my side, he looks a little nervous about having interrupted our conversation, it looks like something important has actually happened, I imagine that's what he wanted to tell me about when I arrived.
"Go ahead and tell me what you want to talk about." (I)
"The place where I fought today was the one that had the most deaths on our side, this is due to a Mage who appeared near the end of the battle, as soon as he saw all his allies on the ground dead and that he was surrounded by our allies he smiled, that Mage pulled out a purple crystal which he threw on the ground to shatter at his feet." (Leo)
"When the crystal shattered a magic circle formed and began to absorb the power and vitality of that Mage, after that this Mage became an Undead as the magic circle expanded covering the entire room turning all the dead into Undead. " (Leo)
"But I noticed that the Undead we had already defeated were not affected by the magic circle, only those who were alive before were turned Undead." (Leo)
"This is new, I didn't know they could do this without Farus, did you know that village leader?" (I)
When I looked at the village leader I saw an expression of surprise and after concern on her face, it seems that she didn't know that either.
"I didn't know that either, what kind of item was that crystal? Was it an item they got in the Dungeons?" (Sapphire)
"No, it was probably a crystal with the magic stored inside." (Vanessa)
Vanessa who was supposed to be tending to the wounded and then resting came back at some point without me noticing, she looks a little tired but her expression is serious.
"Looks like you know what this crystal was, can you tell us more about it." (I)
"Of course, but Anton would be better to explain everything about this crystal as it is an item used in the construction of weapons and magic items." (Vanessa)
"First tell me what you know, I don't need a full description about it, I just need to know how this crystal is used, I'll also need to know how rare it is." (I)
"This crystal is made using monster cores as a base by Alchemists, its manufacturing process is not difficult as far as I know, but the process is very time consuming and needs a lot of mana." (Vanessa)
"There are many different types of crystal, from the purple color Leo mentioned it should be a crystal made using Affinity with curses." (Vanessa)
"These crystals can store magic circles inside to help the Mage, using it as a disposable item as Leo mentioned might increase its power, but it's a silly way to use it." (Vanessa)
I understand Vanessa's explanation, but it worries me that Farus may have more of these crystals, it could be dangerous from now on.