"Aiko!" Ryota appeared more battered but somehow alive from his excursion.
"Dad!" Both hugged before Ryota looked at the scene before him.
A Rank 2 beast lay before him completely dead, and the only people around it were two children who were considered strong for mundane people.
"Who killed the wolf? Did a guard come?" Ryota asked, looking around curiously.
"No, I had to use my magic on Dante, and he killed it." Aiko said this before looking down.
"Ugh, it pains me that he knows about it, but I can't be mad it was in this situation." Ryota just patted her head before tending to Dante.
He leaned down and pulled the wolf off the sword. Shortly after picking Dante up, he realized that both arms were broken, along with a chunk of meat missing from his arm.
Ryota could only feel bad deep inside for how much pain such a young kid had to go through; he expected Dante's will to be flimsy, just like so many other kids tend to be.
"We need to get him to the outpost before some of this damage affects his future." Ryota put Dante on his shoulder and used his other arm to carry his daughter like a football.
After around 30 minutes, they finally arrived at the elven outpost before witnessing a scene of pure destruction.
The fort used to be made of marble with gold accents all over, showcasing how grand and sophisticated they're, but now all that remained was rubble everywhere.
The golden gate that sealed the forest away from everyone was blasted open in the center and seemed to come from some sort of high-temperature beam.
All around the gate and ramparts to the outpost were bodies of dead elves in their signature white and golden-accented light armor. Among the bodies of the elves were hundreds of star wolves and other native beasts in the forest, all of which showed signs of corruption.
Ryota took a deep breath before yelling in order to announce his presence.
"I am Ryota! I've come to seek asylum or escape from the forest!" He yelled.
A few seconds later, the giant golden and white gate slowly opened to reveal only two people left: one was Yuna, who was the picture of perfect health, while the other was more than likely the garrison commander.
"Dante!" Yuna ran out and immediately began casting magic to heal her son.
The commander walked forward shakily before stopping a few meters in front of Ryota. The commander hid his features under his helmet, but you could tell he had long silver hair down to his waist and had a very slim physique.
"My name is Thuridan; I assume an attack happened inside the forest as well." The commander knew nothing of what had happened inside the forest; clearly, everyone had a long list of issues.
"I was attacked by a rank four beast, and it destroyed our residence, while these two kids were attacked by a rank two beast." Ryota explained.
"How are the kids alive? Did the guardian show up?" The commander found it impossible that two mundane children managed to kill a rank-two beast.
"No, they got lucky. The boy managed to hold the sword firm enough to let the beast impale itself."
Yuna overheard, and you could just barely see a curve on her lips. Clearly, seeing her son be praised was always nice to hear.
The commander shrugged off what Ryota said as nonsense.
"Why did the guardian not intervene?" Thuridan thought to himself.
The guardian would always protect the forest when something came in and threatened it, especially when that threat could practically exterminate the entire outpost he was the commander of.
Suddenly, a roar reverberated throughout the forest that sent chills down everyone's spines. A giant, eight-headed beast showed up out of nowhere. It had black scales covering its whole body, but it was riddled with gashes all over its body. It was making a beeline straight for the gate as everyone went pale, except for Yuna.
Nobody here was strong enough to fight whatever this monstrosity was, but they didn't have to worry about it.
Suddenly, a giant eagle that was the size of a skyscraper appeared; its feathers were pure black and had a metallic shine to them.
The giant, eight-headed beast turned around and began to spew flames at the eagle, but it couldn't care less about these tiny flames. The eagle hovered hundreds of meters in the air and flicked its right wing, sending thousands of spear-like feathers that completely impaled the eight-headed beast.
"So that's the guardian; it must be at least rank eight." Ryota muttered. He never truly believed that there was one, but after seeing this domineering creature, he could help but acknowledge it.
"It must've had bigger problems to deal with." Said Thuridan.
"Come inside; I believe we shall have a visit soon, and I wish to clean up." Thuridan waved everyone inside one of the only buildings that wasn't completely destroyed.
The building had the same architectural style as the base: white stone along with golden-accented walls. This one was slightly nicer than the rest; clearly, it belonged to the commander.
"This is my personal home when I'm at the outpost; make yourselves at home and try to get cleaned up." Thuridan looked over at Dante, who was still unconscious.
"Take him upstairs to the guest bedroom; I assume you know how to handle your son." He questioned Yuna.
"Of course." Yuna gave a polite nod and took her son to rest.
As this was going on, Ryota went ahead and told Aiko to go lay down and get some rest before the visitors arrived.
Only around an hour had passed before there was a very uniform but powerful knock at the door. Thuridan answered the door and went bright-eyed.
"Your highness!" He said as he dropped down to one knee.
"Rise Thuridan, you know I tire of these things." The Regally dressed man said as he passed by Thuridan, tapping his shoulder. He had hair down to his waist, which seemed to be a common thing for most elves, with pure white hair and an almost criminally beautiful face. His build was lean but incredibly powerful, but he carried his shoulders as if he had an entirely too heavy burden.
This was the Elven King, Vaelir Blackwind.
"Tell me what has transpired and spare no detail; I fear the earlier I leave, the more nagging I'll endure from her." Vaelir rubbed his shoulders in fear.
Shortly after the commander spoke of how his outpost was attacked by hundreds of Rank Two beasts along with some Rank Three beasts, the number was so great that practically all of his troops died except the ones he sent to report what was happening.
"It seems the guardian was dealing with the big shots; I'll be back." Vaelir said that before slowly fading into the ground, he completely melded with the shadows.
Around twenty minutes passed before he appeared again in the same chair in which he had sat earlier.
"The guardian dealt with four Rank Five and a few Rank Six beasts; it seems he got the short end of the stick." Vaelir chuckled.
"Nonetheless, good job holding the gate, Thuridan. Go ahead and take your leave; I'll assign someone else, and I'll stay here for the time being."
Thuridan didn't reply for a few seconds.
"Sir, I don't quite believe it, but I was told this by the Foxkin in the other room." Thuridan began to recount the story he was told by Ryota.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Take your leave and never speak of this again." The temperature in the room dropped, and Thuridan took this signal to leave as fast as possible.
After Thuridan left, Vaelir sat in the chair for a while. Why? Only he could know; whatever it was left a scowl on his face.
He melded back into the shadows and went straight to the bedroom that Dante was sleeping in, but before he could enter it, a silver barrier blocked him.
"Tsk." Vaelir materialized and knocked on the door politely.
"Enter," Yuna said.
Vaelir entered the room and just stared at the duo.
"Did he really kill a rank two?" Vaelir questioned.
"Not alone, so not really?" Yuna said while maintaining her trance-like stare at her son.
"People could get the wrong idea if they saw this," Vaelir said.
"I don't care." Yuna said it emotionlessly.
Vaelir could only rub his temples in frustration with Yuna; since the day she arrived, she had been a problem for him.
"You said those creatures wouldn't appear until a few decades from now; what happened?"
"Who am I to know what the gods are doing?" Yuna said it mysteriously.
Slowly, she turned her head and stared at Vaelir.
"The question is, are you all preparing?"
Vaelir shivered when she locked her sight on him; he always hated dealing with this woman.
She was the kindest and most loving woman in the world when her son was around, but as soon as he wasn't in the picture, she turned into a cold-blooded monster.
"We've done what we could; I have plenty of citadels set up overseeing the boundary of Aevis." Vaelir shrugged.
He couldn't really do much else other than wait for the real invasion to start and watch his world slowly be eroded away.
Silence filled the room for multiple minutes while Yuna was thinking.
"Give me the box," she said.
"I don't have it."
Yuna set her sights on Vaelir again, and all she saw was pure hatred.
"Where is it?" If she was cold-blooded before, she was a demon now.
"Jevan has it at a citadel; he only trusted himself to look after it." Vaelir had no control over what his sentinel did.
Yuna nodded her head and closed her eyes for some unknown reason.
All of a sudden, a portal appeared next to her, and she reached her arm into it.
When she pulled her arm back out, she caused Vaelir to go bright-eyed.
In her clutches was Jevan, who couldn't do anything but flail around, still accomplishing nothing.