Chereads / Madness Apostle / Chapter 202 - Best laid plans

Chapter 202 - Best laid plans

There were several things that Arthur wanted done before the day came that he would destroy the Village. He wanted to make sure that the next caravan had long since passed, and everything that he could possibly gain from interacting with such a caravan was taken, one way or another.

Arthur also wanted to make sure that no-one other than the Fae Masters that he wanted to live, would remain living, even if they scattered out into the regions around Parachenko Village. Possibly even some of the hidden bunkers or hideouts that Arthur's Father had established.

He wanted to take every single Fae possible from the Clan as well, and anything that he couldn't carry, he would dispose of, leaving absolutely nothing to chance.

If someone more knowledgeable found traces of Fae that could only form in another Continent in the Azure Envy Continent, then the outcome could be catastrophic if they were to trace everything back to this Village.

They would try and hunt down all the remaining Kovacs Clan members, and probe them for information until his secret was revealed.

His Father, a Rank 4 Fae Master wouldn't know what an Immortal Fae was, considering that he had never seen, held or even touched one before. But those Fae Masters from the more developed regions of the Azure Envy Continent would most definitely would.

They would see that this particular Winter Solstice Salamander is Arthur's Origin Fae, and come to a conclusion almost immediately.

This Immortal Fae's secondary ability is to go back in time. That is the only way that a Rank 2 Fae Master, even one with a Sovereign Boundary Physique, was capable of possessing, and contracting an Immortal Fae.

Arthur wanted to avoid this at all costs, even if he had to get Nyssa, Parvan and the others to purchase Fae for him.

The only other thing that Arthur wanted to do, was get these nine ready for actual combat.

Parvan, Iryna, Zlatanna and Milena may have seen combat during the beast tides, but they had the assistance of Rank 2 and higher Fae Masters. They didn't have to worry about battling opponents stronger than them, since those Fae Masters only let the lower ranked spirit beasts through for them to fight.

Other than the areas and regions developed by Sects and Clans, there existed an enormous percentage of the Azure Envy Continent, and even of Human Heaven that was home to spirit beasts.

These beasts intelligence might not be as high as a Humans was, but their ability to breed and reproduce even exceeded Humanities by a huge margin. Their emotional and social intelligence was low, especially without a Beast King to guide them, but spirit beasts could still feel hate, and anger more than most other emotions.

Hatred Fae formed in these areas quite often, perhaps not as much so as a Human Territory, but definitely more than one might think.

If Arthur and the others came across a herd of spirit beasts, they either had to wait for them to pass, or push through them and kill anything that tried to stop them. This might not even happen just once, travelling through large stretches of land or sea would force them to pass through the territories of multiple different spirit beasts.

A fight was inevitable, the only question was, how many?

"Starting in the next few days, just before the caravan comes to Parachenko Village, I'll take all of you guys out to the forests surrounding the Clan. You all need to develop a more rigorous fighting style, and need to learn on the fly how to kill your opponents quickly while also mitigating the costs to your origin essence seas".

Parvan and Milena raised an eyebrow.

"Really? I mean, all of us?".

Arthur nodded.

"They might have lower cultivations than the rest of you, however your strengths do not lie in yourselves alone. I've trained you all to work together. In pairs, groups or as a whole. None of you specialize in one particular thing alone, so it is up to the rest of you to fill the gaps in your partners weaknesses. You'll all understand properly when we go out to train".

They all nodded, but Nyssa just lifted her hand up slightly, not sure what she should do in this situation.

Arthur was her teacher, but right now he was their.... leader? The girl liked him, so she didn't want to upset Arthur, but she didn't quite understand what he was talking about.

At least, in relation to his position in all this.

"I understand you're our leader Arthur, but what role do you play in this? Your cultivation is the highest and your offensive power is also the best, so shouldn't we all just leave the fatal blows to you and focus on defending and support?".

Arthur just shook his head.

"No. I am here with you all right now, but the is no guarantee of such a thing in the near future. I might be forced to separate, or even draw enemies away so that you guys can retreat or fall back to a defensive position. If that happens and things go wrong, all of you need to learn how to kill something that can kill me. Understand?".

Nyssa nodded.

Arthur's eyes swept over all nine of his "teammates", bringing the shadow of a smile to his lips.

"During the time that the caravan is in Parachenko Village, I don't think I need to say this but make sure you don't offend anyone. The last thing the Village needs is the caravan skipping us in the next year and a half. We are already weakened from the beast tides, so we don't want to make anymore enemies. Also, if you do find any Fae that interest you and you don't have enough origin essence stones, just tell me and I'll sort things out for you".

The smiles and expressions of joy on all their faces was more than enough for Arthur.

Being under the command of the third born son of the Clan Leader obviously had its perks, even if they completely ignored the fact that Arthur was more than capable of defeating them all in single, or group combat.

The vast majority of them came from mortal families, with only Milena, Parvan, Iryna and Henrik (technically) coming from positions of wealth or authority within the Clan. But still, considering that most, or at least some of their families were Fae Masters, the wealth wasn't exactly.... evenly divided.

They still needed to make their own livings, now that they were all proper Fae Masters of the Clan.

And Arthur.... was a rich third-generation young master. They didn't even so much as blink.

Arthur just smiled, waving them all off, his mind being drawn to the plans he had laid out.

'The Hatred Imperfection Powder is pretty much complete, I only need to create more of it and then prepare to divide it over the entirety of the Village spirit plant supply. The Elders will need to be taken care of as well, and I'll need to prepare more killing moves in order to properly combat such opponents.... The only thing left after that is.....

Just how will I deal with this family of mine.....'.