"You better be careful, young prince. When the Demon Prince awakens, we will have a war again, but this time it will be for the fight for all our survival."
"That would be quite a battle."
"Yes." General Liam scratched his chin. "Though, I had to wonder, what was that power that pushed away the Fallen Angel?" This time he glanced over toward Zeraph, waiting for an answer.
"It's a one-time special ability that the stone can put out. I don't know much about it, but I suggest that we don't count on it for help." Said Zeraph. He pocketed the stone, so General Liam wouldn't ask to see it or for the others to start eyeing it.
Even Zero felt a bit mad that Zeraph had put it away, but when it disappeared, his mind became a lot clearer. Of course, he had to wonder if the lull of power from the stone was the cause of the majority of his anger, but he wasn't quite sure, nor did he want to test that theory out.
"Ah, I see. So you must've gotten the spell from a powerful wizard."
"Something like that." Zeraph waved his hand, giving him a partial answer.
Zero knew that Zeraph was lying, for a good reason too. The Eternal Stone was a powerful ancient Krustallos that protected the whole Fire Continent. If General Liam had known about this, he probably would have lost his mind or killed Zeraph on the spot for disrupting something so powerful.
Zero wondered if Zeraph had any infamy points that put him on the radar for stealing the Eternal Stone. Players could even hunt him down for it if they knew what it was. But from the looks of it, Zeraph didn't have any assassins or bounty hunters attempting on his life for the past few days.
"That would make sense." General Liam bought Zeraph's half-baked answer.
Zero couldn't help but watch in amusement with their conversation, fully knowing that wasn't the case, to begin with.
"Though, why dragons?" asked General Liam. "I have never heard about there being a Dragon Spell."
Zeraph coughed a couple of times, clearing his throat. Zero wondered what crazy excuse Zeraph would use to cover up his lie. Even Agnis was silently giggling as she watched them converse with one another. She had to cover her lips, so she wouldn't give away that Zeraph was lying.
"Well, I asked for illusion magic to be put in the stone. It was more of a scare tactic on the enemy and covering up the magic's true essence." Zeraph confidently stated. He then patted Zero's head several times as he held onto his horn. "I had this idea from my friend here. Who wouldn't cry out in fear when they see something so powerful, especially a fully grown adult."
"I see." General Liam thought it over, then he brightened at what Zeraph had said. "This is good that the magic you have brought keeps away the Fallen Angel. Without it, we probably would've been dead."
"Yea," Zeraph raised his hand as he slicked back his hair. "Something like that."
Zero lip-twitched, trying not to burst out from saying Zeraph was a horrible liar. He had to keep it all to himself and give him an earful when they were more privately alone.
"Well then, we should get moving."
"Thanks for the information, General." Zero quickly said so that General Laim wouldn't go back and ask Zeraph any more questions.
"No, thank you for such information. We'll continue moving forward for now." General pulled the reins as the horse started to move forward. "We'll need your help again to push through the territories quickly."
Zero knew they would be fine for another 150 miles; the last boss battle added new territories that allowed them to bypass Kilin's territory without too much trouble. After that, the army only needed a little of Zero's help, especially because they were all strong, making traveling much easier. Unfortunately, fighting low-level monsters gave him few experience points; he had to take on even more challenging monsters to level up.
"We'll be fine for another 150 miles," Zero replied; he started to walk towards the back. "If you need me, I'll be at the back."
General Liam nodded and didn't say anything else. Instead, he spurred his horse forward, leaving them alone.
Zero walked a bit fast towards the back, leaving behind the large army until it eventually dwindled to a handful. He kept a good distance, where he could still run up towards them when there was trouble.
Eventually, Zero stopped and slowed, following behind the army. He didn't break away too far because he knew they might need his help later on to challenge the boss, but he didn't stay too close to let others hear their voices.
"Now, explain," Zero replied; he faced the army, walking steadily. Agnis leaned on his neck as she started to wipe down her sword. Zeraph, on the other hand, was sitting on his head, staring out into the distance for any suspicious activity.
"It's simple. I was doing a quest and came upon it."
Zero ground his teeth; Zeraph had a knack for not telling essential information. "That's not very informative. Details."
"As I said, I was doing a quest. It led me underground; I believe it was under the castle. Quite a large complex of unnecessary tunnels if you ask me." Zeraph crossed his arms. "I was stuck downstairs for god knows how long, but eventually popped up in the city library or should I say Draconis Library."
"Wait, you've had the Krustallos since then?!"
"Yes. A lot longer. Moving the Krustallos from the heart of the castle was a pain. You don't know how much trouble I went through to get out of there with it."
"I bet. That's not something you should even be having in your possession." Zero growled; the thought of someone who wasn't a partner or a dragon having a Krustallos irritated him. It made him on edge just thinking about it.
"Finders keepers." Zeraph chuckled with a smug smile, wiggling his eyebrows.
Zero scowled when he heard what Zeraph had said and a deep rumble erupted out of his throat. His dragon emotion started to resurface, peeking through his words. "They're not things to collect." His words were low, close to an angry hiss.
"I never said that they were." Zeraph patted him on the head to calm him down.
"You make it sound like it is!"
"Calm down," Zeraph rolled his eyes as he crossed his hand in front of him. "I'll give it to you when this is all over with anyways." He replied, not caring that it was a potent item.
"You will?" Zero was caught off guard by what Zeraph had said. The dragon's mind was so stunned that his mind went completely blank. Most of the time, other players wouldn't fork over something so valuable, especially something so powerful. So even though there is little that Zero had found out about using Krustallos, it was still worth keeping.
"Yea, why not?"
"Well…." Zero was having difficulty now telling him how crazy he was to give up something powerful at the same time; he was contradicting his thoughts. Having his parent's Krustallos back at its rightful place was what he wanted. This feeling of protectiveness of his parent's Krustallos was strange, but at the same time familiar.