"That…that was real right? I wasn't daydreaming was I?"
"Real. I couldn't even catch his shadow, I thought he was a pure mage."
"What say you, Baron?"
"Don't look at me. It's not like I have personally seen the king before, I doubt the existence of someone daring to pose as him." Ric was currently confused at the barrier king's presence in his territory.
They took their time making their way to Hata town. There were a surprising number of monsters on their way back. They were just a few people, Ebony and Scarlet couldn't possibly cover the wide forest but the bulk of it facing Ric's town was already cleared up. The leftovers probably come from other directions, attracted by the Master warriors perhaps.
Their group found the larger group of Masters taking charge and covering as much area as possible, insects monsters weren't exactly known for their individual strength so even the average Master warrior can deal with a few at a time.
"Baron!" One of the unoccupied warriors called out. His facial expression darkened visibly at the injured group of Grandmasters.
"You don't have to worry so much, the insect queens nearby have been taken care of. We'll be making our way back, I'll have to trouble you to hold the line here." Ric stated the areas that he wanted them to take care of.
He had few men under his command and they would be spread thin to cover the huge forest. His town was young and although he had good soldiers there was a danger of them being surrounded by swarms of insects and he couldn't afford to lose them.
He gave the freelancers the riskiest area with ranged support from his archers, personally trained by him. All of his archers were quick on their feet so he wasn't too worried about them.
'Gah, I forgot I ran out.' Ric licked a dry waterskin that supposedly held his alcohol.
Ric clicked his tongue, they were only half a day away from Hata town. It was too close for comfort, he would prefer to push their defensive line further but that would only thin out his soldiers even more. He wouldn't risk putting more soldiers out front and away from town either.
He warned the freelancers and his soldiers that there may be another surge of monsters due to the missing queens and told them to fall back if they really couldn't take it.
The Grandmasters may be injured but it was hardly an issue to take down the pitiful insects to relieve the pressure on the defensive line before they continued their retreat to Hata town.
Ric did get frequent reports but he was glad to see his town unharmed when they arrived 4 hours later. A leisurely pace considering their speed.
He found Ebony and Scarlet that went ahead of them, they were intently looking at food stalls when he walked past them.
'These stall owners…didn't I tell them to get all citizens into their homes?' Ric pinched himself, trying to calm himself down without alcohol. The stress was piling up. His town wasn't in immediate danger and his people still needed to eat and work. He clicked his tongue when he realised it wasn't a food stall but one of the army's cooks that were serving his soldiers.
"Ahh!" He scratched his head as he climbed atop the wall to get a better look of Vermin Paradise.
With the immense height advantage of where his town was placed on and his sight skill, he had the complete situation of Vermin Paradise in real-time. There just wasn't anyone else capable of directing the Grandmasters or he would be better situated on the walls and commanding his men.
The Grandmasters already entered the walls and were getting treatment. He wished he didn't need them again but if he was unlucky and the other insect queens decided to come this direction, he had no choice but to rely on them. Now that he called all his scouts back, he needed to stay here to keep an eye on every direction. Although they were weeks deep into the forest, with the state of Vermin Paradise, he couldn't deny the possibility. The reason being, most of the monsters seem to be moving in their general direction.
He didn't even manage to catch his breath before he was called to hurry up the stairs by his assistant's voice. He reached the top to see the cause of the rising panic in his soldiers.
His assistant threw him a bottle of spirits, he's a darn good hire!
Ric took a nice swig as the men were shouting in fear and terror. The Grandmasters were found leaping onto his walls, skipping the stairs within entirely. Ebony and Scarlet was right behind them, he could see the masked girl hurriedly wiping the corners of her mask with her sleeves.
"It's over!" One of his archers clearly needed more training.
"The Go..gorpede can fly?" His assistant flew on his butt.
A black dot in the distance was expanding in their sights at a horrifying pace. Its shadow blots the sky from them.
"RELAX FOOLS! Look under the…ball." Ric yelled loud enough for all to hear. He had the best sight.
The black sun flying at an altitude higher than their town was large enough to crush their town and even the mountain and still leave a crater of a larger diameter.
It was a gorpede corpse. Getting carried by a single man who floated beside the corpse.
'One of Vermin Paradise's kings should've been near the centre. 10 days into Vermin Paradise even at my top speed and it's already dealt with…' Ric got a headache, he didn't even get the chance to ask his assistant about the reason for the presence of their very own Empire's king.
The closer the 'black sun' got, the more wrong he was. The gorpede wasn't a corpse!
Everyone, even the Grandmaster mages were forced onto their knees from the beastly aura of vitality that was raining down from above them.
The discomfort welled up in Ric's throat and he was sure it wasn't due to his drinking habits.
❅❅❅
[Gorpede Sovereign Lvl ???]
Ebony Identified the incoming mass of chitinous scale and crumpled mess of legs. The Barrier King appeared no different, definitely unharmed. He tried to Identify him this time but only got question marks. He thought it would be a good idea to get something that can hide his class too but Kong Jing didn't bother with them and he didn't even know what those items were called.
Apparently, no one really knew what the Barrier King's Sub-class or Profession were and Appraise or maybe even higher tier Appraise couldn't see. He was only publicly seen using barrier magic.
'Maybe I should ask Ning Xin, she looks cautious in front of the barrier king.' Ebony guessed that she knew more, her getting tense was rare.
He saw the people around him falling to their knees or even laying on the floor. The overflowing vitality was indeed affecting him too but he can tell the impossibly big centipede was dying and this was just whatever was left in the monster.
'It's on another level. Pun intended.' Ebony telling himself a joke.
He watched the man unroll the centipede, with the tail end touching the ground first. The Barrier King coiled the centipede's body around the mountain that the town was resting on. The dying centipede didn't even struggle, odd.
Ebony did not like it one bit. His mana perception was completely blinded just being in the Barrier King's presence and he still didn't know why or how.
The handsome king beckoned Ning Xin over while he stood on the head of the centipede. She didn't hesitate too long before both of them walked over. The Gorpede wouldn't have been at the height of the walls if he didn't coil it a few more rounds at the base of the mountain. He didn't see how it was possible for a creature to get so large.
"You can take as much of its blood while it's still alive, it's big enough that I can supply the royal alchemist for a long time. I'll take all the other parts though." The Barrier King offered generously.
"...Why?" Ning Xin was extremely tempted. A practically limitless supply of a king-classed monster's blood was being offered to her.
"It's too heavy to carry all the way back to Tidal, I could use your gravity magic's assistance." The handsome man looked at him.
'I can barely cover one per cent of its body within my range…I don't have to tell him that, he's probably aware. The blood will be immensely useful for Ning Xin.'
Ebony nodded, he accepted the 'request' silently.
"Is it…safe to consume?" Ning Xin asked. Ebony didn't understand why she would ask such a question.
"It's blood shouldn't be poisonous. Oh…I almost forgot you're madam Veronica's granddaughter. I wanted its parts so I didn't use that. You can drink without worry." The Barrier King had a look of understanding.
There was no chance she could consume that much blood, and her evolved mask took time to purify essence from blood. A new ability of her mask was to crystallise purified blood, she got busy after the Barrier King poked a hole into the Gorpede's body for her to draw its blood into her mask. She collected the crystalised blood for her consumption later. She was free to take as much as she wanted until the body was delivered back to Tidal but she wouldn't be able to drain it completely even if she had a month.
'What is she worried about if her mask can purify the blood?' Ebony was confused at her initial reluctance.
Ebony stood by her side to protect her as he listened in on the king's conversation with Ric. He got some good information, usefulness aside.
The Barrier King was going around the entire continent to 'upgrade' the town and city barriers personally. It was surprising to hear him invite the entire population and town to abandon Hata town and migrate to Tidal.
"What's happening inside?" Ric asked the King about the situation deeper in his forest.
Ebony couldn't hear anything anymore as the two of the nobles were covered in a barrier.
❅❅❅
"Baron…Ric was it?" Navin asked the young men who had a stench of alcohol.
The young noble didn't appear drunk and greeted him respectfully. He didn't like being called 'king' or 'your highness' so he made the young baron call him by his name. The young man was the first to really call his name comfortably which was nice.
"May I ask what brought you here?"
"Strengthening barriers across the Empire. I just so happen to be in the vicinity when I heard the reports of the troubles in Vermin Paradise."
"Thank you…you really saved us."
He waved that issue aside.
"The other reason I'm going around the continent is to extend my invitation for every citizen to migrate to Tidal. Housing, land and food will not be a problem."
"What!?"
The young man was visibly confused.
Navin realised he was not in a private location and enclosed their conversation so that he didn't spread panic.
"Is..is the situation in Vermin Paradise so bad?"
"Yes and no. Actually, it might be related." Navin frowned when he recalled information that his wife told him.
Madam Veronica visited his wife while he was away but he received the news too. He was immensely troubled by the news. He didn't even care about the Trolls' invasion anymore, that was hardly important compared to the news he got.
His wife was undertaking the massive role of housekeeping. She was in charge of getting the immense amount of empty land that he knew was going to be useful when he expanded Tidal in the past and built tall housing that could house hundreds instead of a single family. There was the importing of food from the 3 Great Farms too. He spent a lot of his time and effort to make sure the Great Farms were protected by barriers almost as strong as the Capital. The hardest and most time-consuming was the protection of the routes where the food supply goes through and the secret underground routes.
Navin expected the population to grow under their rule, hence, the 3 Great Farms and the excessively massive Capital with more than 50% of empty land. He didn't even have enough farmers in Tidal to turn the empty land into farms even though he estimated to have a population of billions, larger than at any point in time of their history. After all, as long as his wife was in the Capital no one died unless their lifespan ran out. He just didn't expect to have to ask his entire Empire to migrate to the Capital where he could protect all of them more efficiently.
"I doubt this happened in your town but are you aware that many towns and even a couple of cities have reported sewer damage?" Navin asked.
"Of course. According to the reports we get, it was 'structural faults' but that's too much of a stretch when dozens of towns have damaged sewers. That's why the news didn't spread to the public that other towns were facing the same problem." Ric's town atop a mountain didn't have the same problem at the moment.
"Officially, not a single sighting of a monster was found other than the broken walls and such. Even unofficially, the best results were a small congregation of monsters underground that was easily suppressed." Navin understood that knowledge was dangerous and there was plenty of information that he had that would do more harm than good if he were to share.
"And you brought this up because?"
"There's a small chance the same issue is plaguing Vermin Paradise and causing the forest to be in its current state. Have you checked with the outpost in Fragadal's Sea?"
"I've sent inquiries but haven't received a reply. They are far away and we're already the closest receiver."
"That's true…" Navin would make the trip himself if he didn't have to deal with the Gorpede's body.
The king-classed insect was tougher than he assumed, a surprise even though it was a higher level than him. Leaving it here would attract even more vermins and he should get going before the Gorpede dies. The immense quantity and quality of a rare king class weren't easy to obtain for most people.
Fragal's Sea only had a relatively small group of dedicated dungeon clearers that are more than a little crazy about hunting. It was no surprise they would be hard to contact. At least, they have never gotten a dungeon break problem. Even if there was, the dungeon creatures usually die out before they managed to cross Vermin Paradise which didn't have any settlements so it was never a big problem.
There's a good chance that's currently happening and Vermin Paradise's inhabitants were fleeing from the horde of dungeon creatures. Navin had to deal with the communication issue. 'Or maybe the outpost is destroyed…' he thought there was a pretty good chance of that happening too.
Navin made a private call to the Guardian Knights.
"I will inform my townsmen, if there are any that want to leave, they are free to go but I'll stay even if I'm the only person. This is my town." Ric stated.
"Good. I'll be leaving soon, make it quick."
Navin watched the young man make a speech to his town about the possible danger and how the king was here to personally fetch them to Tidal if they wanted to. He didn't say much about what kind of danger but there wasn't a need to since there was the ongoing horde or insects. No one questioned why the king couldn't stay to protect them. As for putting up a stronger barrier, that was just a stop-gap.
He couldn't help but smile when the baron gave a talk about how he founded the town and was here to stay. He took the chance to work on the town barrier but that didn't take more than a few minutes. He had to balance its strength so that the town could support the mana expenditure.
There were surprisingly few people who wanted to leave. Less than 20, mostly old couples and a grandchild or two grasping their hands with light baggage. Those leaving all apologised to the baron and gave him a hug. Navin liked what he saw.
The small group makes it easier for him to transport as well.
"Ric. A squad of the Guardian Knights are on their way. Protect this place."
He turned his back to see the blue-haired boy with a meditative class, he didn't bother making sure of his history. He can tell that the gravity mage cannot conjure gravity mana, his spells would be very limited.
Navin got the Gorpede into a round tight ball so that he could lighten as much as possible, he didn't really need help but it gave him an excuse to give out the creature's blood to madam Veronica's granddaughter as an exchange instead of a gift. The skill levels would be great for the boy too.
Since he'll need every bit of help he can get, there was no reason he shouldn't 'sponsor' these kids.
'I wonder if the Trolls will invade first or the more troublesome one.'
Navin wasn't that worried about Trolls. They understood them too well by now, they had countermeasures that worked and Elva strengthened faster than Tova did in recent years. They knew where Trolls came from. If the attack spanned through Elva from underground, there was little he could do when he could only be at one place at a time.
He could only hope whatever was beneath them was uncoordinated.
The decrease in weight was insignificant as expected but at least he was able to tell that the gravity mage's range was decent and he was doing a pretty good job. Navin didn't know much about gravity magic so he had no idea if the boy was considered good or bad.
He had to leave a hole in his barrier so that the red-haired one could extract blood to her mask. His wife told him about the little lass, she had been worried about the lass's mental state but Navin didn't see anything wrong. Then again, he didn't know much about the girl.
"Haven't quite got your names, I'm Navin."