The fort was burnt thoroughly and it ignited a forest fire that reached elf villages nearby. Fang's scout has gathered enough information to conclude that out of the two damaged villages, only one of them was razed. The number of dead bodies is immense but Fang showed no interest in their souls as it is too risky to approach the village.
Reaching the cave, fang has shown her the path and told her where are the traps placed in the forest.
As for the new addition to the team...
The demoness apparently does possess recollections of her past life, such as the fact she came from planet Earth, just like Fang. But, unlike him, her memories are nothing but a blur.
"Wait, you don't have a name?!" Asked Fang.
"I never needed one and I can't remember my old name." She said.
"Preposterous. A name is needed for simple communication. I say we find you one before this meeting." the baffled Isgram said.
"In terms of comfort having a name will ensure clear and smooth communication."
"I did not know it matters so much... how should I call myself?"
Asked the unsure girl with a tired expression. She did not sleep and her dress got muddy from running all night in the forest.
"How about Gaia? I read in a book that she was considered the god of the earth. As you are an earth mage it should be only fitting."
Isgram nodded. "I agree, if this Gaia is a god then it should bring you luck. Besides, it's a simple and short name so it won't be a hindrance."
"Then from now on, I'll be Gaia. Can we move forward, please? I would like to sleep before sunrise."
Isgram coughed and started the meeting. "This is the first meeting of us three so I will start documenting some of the things said here and the number of meetings held. An archive would serve us well in keeping information and keeping track of things. Do you two agree?"
"I do."
"Sure, why not."
"Then let's start this meeting. First things first, the village that got burnt down is filled with corpses, almost a hundred of them according to Fang's scout. Is there a need for us to go there to help you soul absorb, Fang?" Isgram straightened his gaze towards him.
"I have chosen not to go there to avoid the risk of being followed or caught. Besides, there are many better souls to hunt than those poor level one peasants."
"If I remember correctly, you just got another level up, right? I believe you're level 4 by now."
"Indeed, I am. My increasing power is not a reason to get cocky, it is a reason to be more careful. We must lay low for a while and strengthen. I hope the elves will redirect their forces toward rebuilding the village and would give us a quiet week."
"What's next then?" Asked Gaia, tapping the marble table impatiently.
"I will go train and study the cave some more, maybe find more uses to the minerals here. I just wish I had more of those glowing rocks so I could work at night properly."
Gaia spaced out a bit as she clenched her fist. She loosened her fist and a blue noble light erupted. She was holding a blue stone that was far bigger than the ones Fang and Isgram had seen by now.
"Will that work for you?"
"yes... can you make more?"
Gaia made a few more of them, perfectly round and smooth. Isgram interest was piqued to a new extent. The conversation kept rolling for more than half an hour between the two mages.
"It looks much better than the regular stones, don't you agree Fang? Fang?"
While Isgram Chatted with Gaia, Fang used the time to meditate and reorganize his spell ideas on how to raise a body for the first time.
"It looks like lord handsome here is busy..." she said while licking her lips.
"sigh... He's changing so fast. The dark mana in his body is turning him stronger."
"Then I'm not the only one?"
Gaia said as she stared at Fang's long white hair slightly levitating. The mana flow in his body is not something to joke about.
"What do you mean?" Isgram stood up and turned to the stove he built. He started cutting some meat from a pig he hunted a few hours ago. The skin of the bear was charred black but isgram just sliced the entire damaged meat off before cooking.
Gaia followed right after him.
"I felt different before. When I got here, I was pretty scared. I was strong, sure. But I was still scared.
But it all changed when I got my powers. I felt physically strong, I felt like nothing could move me.
I felt..."
Isgram saw her struggle and patted her back.
Gaia sighed.
"I feel like my powers changed me. Especially my personality. I like it but it's weird." she said
"Since I got my fire magic I started acting faster and stronger. My determination is increasing and getting stronger is starting to be fun. I believe our elements affect our personalities as well."
Fang breathed in and out calmly, holding more and more mana inside him
{INT +1}
{Meditation +1}
"Isgram," he said in a commanding voice.
"What is it?"
"I think we will have some company soon but I would like to nap for a while. Can you throw a fireball far from here? Preferably towards the villages, it would buy us some more time."
"who's after us?" isgram had now a worried look on his face.
Fang muttered silently, hoping he wouldn't really encounter them in real life:
"Mages. a whole squad. I think they call themselves the bear hunters and they were looking for the culprit in the village."
Isgram and Gaia exchanged surprised looks. The utter shock on Isgram's face resembled a bug caught in the net of a venomous spider, looking for his next prey.
"The elf mages are vicious. They don't have to hold back and they don't mind the consequences since they're too important to lose. The king will let them burn us alive if they wish it."
She said as she crashed into the chair.
Isgram sat and sighed, looking at the big cave he managed to work up.
"it would be a shame if this place was burnt down. I can't let it happen."
"I have an idea. It isn't genius but I think we should try it." Said Gaia.
"What is it?" Fang concentrated on his forces scouting the forest.
"How about we'll use my minions and embed some coal in them? Then, Isgram can ignite them and they would be sent to the nearest village. The mages will assume they're just stray minions of mine. They don't know what ruined my castle, but they should expect refugees."
"A brilliant idea. If there's any way I can assist do tell, I'm going to experiment on necromancy a bit and train on controlling it in case we'll need it."
Isgram thought his ears didn't work well.
"You mean to tell me you're willing to sacrifice your minions as if they were some stray dogs?!"
"Isgram, this is a sacrifice. We cannot risk our lives. If you forgot, our minions are just spells, and while we value them in a certain way, we must never put them above us. They serve us, not the other way around."
"It feels wrong Fang. If you say that's the plan I'm not sure if I want a part in it."
Isgram clenched his fist, his eyes burning with morals and dedication.
"I'm the new leader. Although I won't make you do it I think you should think it through. After all, they are simply mana."
"Remind me what you're made of?"
Gaia stepped in. "Those are my troops. I conjured them and I gave them life. They will do as I say and it's not your choice."
Isgram and Gaia stared at each other for a few seconds, their mana levels rising and the air in the cave got denser. But there was another source of dense mana, one even denser sitting on a chair.
"Enough!"
The two mages sat down, awaiting Fang's judgment.
"Isgram. You have 10 minutes to give me a better way to cool the situation. Is there a need to remind you that you are a fire mage who's called to cool things?"
"I'm sorry. I will find a solution, I will not let you sacrifice troops for no reason." Isgram said it and looked at Fang.
"I'm going to sleep. My minions will start rebuilding themselves with coal. Wake me up if something happens or there is a new decision."
Gaia stepped deeper into the cave, noticing that there were no doors or artificial rooms. Just before she started to disappear into the cave she said one last thing.
"I don't want to die. Make sure it won't happen or I won't stay around to see it happen."
With that, Fang and Isgram went over several plans, some included burning the forest again or placing more advanced traps around the cave.
With the help of Gaia, they can get steel and iron pretty easily and more valuable metals.
It seems that as long as Gaia has mana, she can create materials out of thin air. This will serve well in creating weapons and metal-based traps.
"If you think it will work. I'm willing to try it," said Fang.
"I'm telling you it will work. If we'll create a big enough fire away from here then we can lead the mage squad further into the forest. In the meantime, you should create a pit that can be blown from below."
"We need to get her permission first. I'll go talk to her, you will work on gathering as much mana as you can to spread the fire into the deeper parts of the forest.
Do me a favor before, smelt some of our metal and create a few balls of steel, preferably the size of a fist."
"Balls of metal? what for?"
"You'll see. Let's just say I want to be remembered as the man with the balls of steel."
Fang has talked to Gaia and she agreed to the plan only if she could summon her minions and ambush in case of an invasion.
With that, the preparations started.
"I like how this is going. I should keep on meditating."
And so the mages started advancing towards the woods unknowing of the dangers lurking there.
A big fireball was shot into the forest as high as isgram could aim. The resulting fire created several small rings of fire in the forest, which prevented the mages from advancing in the direction of the cave.
As Fang kept on meditating, isgram made balls of steel that could only be described as small cannon balls. Each one was quite heavy and dense but they were the size of a fist.
"Gaia, please tell your minions to carry the balls and pile them up in a stone container you can make. Preferably tall."
Isgram preferred to not be rude and ask her instead of assuming command as the second in command.
Her devilish smile made him fall a bit in love but at the same time, he grew wary of her even more.
"Sure little man, why won't I dance naked too?"
"If you're offering why not?" Isgram teased right back.
"Hmph! A rude man, nothing more..." She grunted and started building the large silo for the balls.
"If you can build stairs to the top of the silo and a small trap door on the side so we can take them out easily later it would be great."
The end result was a 3-meter-high square container made of hard rock.
There were stairs that the rock golems could climb on and drop the balls in the silo.
"Good job Gaia, thank you."
While the mage squad was desperate to resolve another fire, fang's group started to form and their power rose from the new addition to the team.