Layman exited the dead commander's tent and strode through the camp to the impact zone. His focus was such that the world crawled by and his stroll to others would've been a barely perceptible dash. The elven soldiers that he passed were dashing in slow motion towards the impact, some managed to track him with their eyes, but most didn't even notice the slime pass by in his midnight armour.
He swerved around the side of a tent and found what his Mana Sense saw, now uninterrupted by material. Yolen was in a sorry state, his skin, a pale white before, now looked sickly and tinted green by illness. His golden eyes were bloodshot and looking about deliriously. Layman knew what this was, but had never expected the Fallen to inflict it so heavily upon himself.
Mana Sickness. That was the name of the illness that Yolen was under right now, the same thing that had made Layman so hesitant to use Annihilation. By the sickly tone of his skin and the way he was looking about deliriously, it was a serious case, the kind that usually ended in death.
Layman would've never usually gone out of his way to help someone he'd only met a day ago, but this man was a powerful tool. He needed him alive, and if he was indebted to Layman, then all the better.
Around the ten foot wide crater, there were elven soldiers holding various weapons pointing at Yolen. Layman pushed past them, sending a few of the soldiers flying off of their feet. He knelt down next to Yolen and activated another Tattooed Skill, Displacement. Within an instant, the noise and clatter of the elven soldiers was replaced by the bustle of Altheron's healing temple. From next to Layman, a woman yelped.
"My king, you surprised me," Liss, the Oni said. She moved over, clutching a panel of wood that she'd been whittling down. Then she saw Yolen, panting and dying on the ground.
"Move," She commanded. Layman knew better than to get in her way. She may have a willowy build, and look human aside from the two long horns that came from her forehead, but Layman pitied the monster who came between Liss and a patient. He moved quickly away from the man dying on the floor and let Liss get to what she did best.
He couldn't stay around to make sure that Yolen survived, if Liss couldn't save him, then he had been destined to die. Layman had business elsewhere. As the Oni began her spells, a warm green light filling the room, Layman activated Displacement again.
The healing temple was replaced by the hill where Layman had left the scouts. They flinched only slightly at his arrival, and waited for him to speak first.
"The object that landed in the middle of the camp was the Fallen who came to us before. He is badly suffering from Mana Sickness, but Liss is healing him as we speak," Layman explained to Molkoh and the five scouts. "The camp is Helios' first attempt at wiping out our nation. We must send a message that we are not to be trifled with."
Vurpil, the Gnoll Ranger, spoke up, "Parsow, my lord?"
Layman shook his helm, "Burned, I will return her Proof of Contract to her family."
A deep canine rumble escaped from Vurpil, who tried to hide it, but Layman could sense the anger in those present. Parsow was a friend, and loving mother to her daughter, she had been with them since the beginning of Altheron. They wanted revenge, and, to be frank, as did Layman.
"Lay waste to the camp."
At his command, the scouts were gone from sight and the distant and concerned chatter in the camp on the plains turned swiftly to screams of pain and terror. Only Layman and Molkoh were left on the rise.
"My liege," the minotaur said. "This will mean war between our nation and Helios."
"They wish to exterminate us," Layman told his friend. "They see us as a tribe or pack that they can wipe out, an infestation. Soon they will learn just how much of a nation we are, and how much of a nation's might we hold."
The slime turned his humanoid form towards the fires now rising from the tents and drank in the sweet sound of revenge. The catharsis from this would be brief, Molkoh was right. War was coming to Altheron and this mission that Yolen had been on was still the key to his nation winning this war and rising out more than a ruined people.
"Will my husband have to fight?" A ogre woman asked. It was a repeat of the same question, just in different words, that Layman had heard since he and the scout team returned from the camp.
"Your husband will not be forced to fight, Kulgi. Only those who wish to defend their nation and prove to the other nations that we monsters can lead a civilisation, will fight," Layman explained, for the hundredth time. It seemed to appease the worried wife, and she stood, leaving the main hall. From behind her, another monster stepped forward, just another in a long line of concerned monsters who were nervous about the war.
Layman had been here for hours now, listening to the people's concerns and questions, giving the best answers he could, while not letting them assume they could sit idly by while their nation went to war.
The large double black doors into the room swung open as Kulgi left, and right before they closed, Molkoh slipped in. The minotaur usually wore a plain shirt and farming britches, but since arriving back from the elven camp, he'd changed into his 'war clothing' as he put it. He wore a kilt and a large shoulderplate that was secured with a large strap across his chest. The pauldron looked as if it were made of an emerald crystal, but Layman knew it was as hard as mythril. An item from a dungeon completion.
There was a primary difference between the monsters found in a dungeon, and those who left. The dungeon monsters never gained any jobs and were tied, almost symbiotically to the dungeon itself. Layman had experienced it when he left the dungeon he awoke in, the feeling of loss. He'd gained his job almost immediately afterwards and had realised that to progress he would need to kill those monsters who stayed in their dungeons. Some within Altheron argued against the practice of dungeon raiding, but Layman saw no issue with it. Each and every monster here had made the conscious decision to step away from the life of a dungeon mob and forge their own path, and each one of the monsters would be targeted the same as any other adventurer if they entered a dungeon. Even the one they previously lived in, as Layman had found.
Molkoh had earned his Pauldron from a dungeon, and was almost an Ascended Barbarian. As he entered, hooves knocking against the black marble floor, the room's ambient chatter seemed to die on the spot. The minotaur moved swiftly alongside the line of questioners, and stood beside the throne. He leaned down to Layman's heaped form on the throne.
"My lord, Yolen is awake."
A wave of relief that Layman didn't expect washed over him, the Fallen would live, that was good. For Altheron. Yolen would be indebted to them now, and he was a powerful fighter, as Layman had seen when the two first met.
"Something urgent has been brought to my attention," Layman said. As a gasp rippled through the crowd, he continued, "It is unconcerned with the war."
That seemed to relax those who were present, and they fell silent again.
"Take me to him," Layman said, now speaking to Molkoh. The minotaur nodded and began making his way out of the throne room, Layman followed behind, oozing his way along the ground.
The healing temple's exterior was made from the wood of an Elder Tree that Liss and her fellow priestesses had grown over time. It covered the interior shell made from white stone as the bulk of the tree extended a few hundred feet into the air above. As the two monsters made their way into the building, they passed the stairs up to the healers' living quarters - for those who didn't have a home of their own yet - and made their way into the sick room. There were several patients unconscious in beds, from goblins to a harpy, but Layman needed a conversation with only one. The silver haired man with golden eyes sat up and trying to negotiate leaving his bed with Liss.
"I'm telling you, I feel right as rain, now let me leave the bed please." Yolen tried to push himself upwards, but Liss laid a hand on his - Layman realised - bare chest, and smiled. Anyone who looked on could see that that smile wasn't warm, it was a threat.
"Stay down, you're not fully healed yet, any use of Mana in the next day and you'll relapse," the Oni said, managing to push the Fallen back down.
"Mana Sickness," he murmured, "What kind of Arcane Lord suffers from Mana Sickness?"
Layman buzzed, "Yolen, you're up I see."
The Fallen finally noticed the King's arrival and grinned. "Layman, tell this lovely woman that I am perfectly fit and healthy, I feel like I could take on a diamond rank dungeon all by myself."
"Lie down, Liss knows what she is doing," Layman reinforced.
Yolen relented, lying down in the bed and staring up at the ceiling. "Thankyou, for bringing me here I mean," he said.
"You are a powerful asset, Altheron will need you alive," the slime said.
"Charming."
"What is the progress of your errand?"
"Down to business straight away are you?" Yolen sighed, "I have the Dwarven king and the Elven king, I was just about to get the Governor when this happened." He gestured to the bed and himself within.
"What do you mean, you have them?" Layman asked.
"They're in the Source, I can pull people into there, it's like an instant meeting thing." Then Yolen's eyes widened, "Ohh, they're still there."
A look of consternation crossed the Fallen's features.
"If I can't use MP for the next twenty-four hours," he explained, "then I've just kidnapped two Kings for a day."
This certainly wouldn't aid Altheron in the war, best case scenario was that when Yolen began to suffer from Mana Sickness, the two Kings were ejected from the Source. Worst case, they were still in there. Either way, they needed to allow Yolen access to his MP sooner.
"Yolen," the slime started, "I've a proposal for you."
The golden eyed man looked over, confused.
"My individual skill is part of what binds this nation together, form a contract with me, and you will be rewarded with an item, a Proof of Contract, that will gift you with a bonus of a kind."
"What do you gain?"
"A small increase to my abilities, what you will gain is much larger than the bonus to myself. All you need do is agree to be part of the contract," Layman explained.
Yolen paused, a look of purposeful consideration plastered on his face. Layman knew what he would say already, the look of thought was just an act.
"I agree."