"Who are these people?" Soundov demanded as several dozen hooded figures ended up emerging from the portal.
"The Grey Storm, have you heard of them?" Dryden asked as he clasped his gloved hands together. "They are a team most reliable and their services are worth their price."
"I've heard of them," the mayor replied as his eye twitched. "Why did you bring a mercenary company into my town?"
"Why, they'll be my hands while we search for the cultivator," the headless horseman stated, before turning to a person dressed in a scarlet-hemmed robe, where I was pleasantly surprised to be able to see at least some color. "Grand, you and your men are free to go ahead. Ask everyone and anyone, and if you feel like information is being withheld, do not hesitate to extract it."
"Yes, my master," the figure replied as he pulled back his hood to reveal that he was a grey-skinned bald man with no teeth. "It shall be done."
He then held up a weapon that looked like a pair of pointy hedge clippers. His fellow hoods all pulled out weapons of their own, some short swords, daggers, bonesaws. Something told me that they were adept at using them too.
"T-this is preposterous!" Soundov yelled as the Grey Storm took off and began to disperse towards the houses. "Call them back, NOW! Or I'll have my soldiers impale them all."
"Then I'll execute your men for treachery," the headless mage replied flatly as he raised his gloved hands, where blue flames began to emit from his palms. "Since I hired them, the Grey Storm are my subordinates, and as I outrank any soldier in this town, my orders are absolute. You will allow me to complete my investigation. Or else."
I could already hear people screaming as the members of the mercenary group mercilessly kicked down their doors and violated their households, barging inside and blatantly asking for information regarding myself. I felt bad for Lyka's dad, as he bore an expression of severe frustration, helplessly watching as the cloaked figures ran amok in his town.
"Well, I guess I'll make myself useful and keep looking," Lysander stated as he fed his giant raven a carrot. "Are we still killing on sight, or do you still want to interrogate him?"
"If you happen to find him, keep him alive enough for me to ask him a few questions," Dryden responded. "It's been a couple of years. I'd like to know more about these other worlds before we send these cultivators to their next."
Nodding, Lysander carried his scythe over his shoulder and took off running down the street, before jumping high enough to clear a row of houses and dashing along the rooftops. Dryden, meanwhile, crossed his legs and sat down on the stone plaza, lowering his shoulders as he began to hover in place as the dark purple aura around him began to intensify. I could see that his kernel energy was building.
Soundov merely scoffed and ordered his soldiers to keep the peace, before turning and storming out of the plaza. Since Dryden wasn't doing much, I decided to trail Lysander instead, taking off from the bell tower and gliding over the buildings. The dark-haired man nimbly leapt and flipped over the houses, stopping occasionally while closing his eyes. I figured he was attempting to sense my energy, but luckily I had the intuition to dull the kernels emitting from my corn body.
A scream below caught my attention, where I steered my zombie vulture down into an alleyway. A young woman who couldn't have been any older than 16 shrunk back against the brick wall of a house while two hooded figures from the Grey Storm loomed over her.
"Now, now, don't worry, darling, we just wanna know something," one of them croaked as he held up a sickle.
"We're looking for a certain vegetable that can move on its own," the other explained. "Have you seen that, love? A corncob that can fight a hobgoblin?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," the young teen whimpered with tears in her eyes. "P-please, sirs, may I leave? I don't know what—
"Mhmm that won't do, young lady," the sickle-wielding man chuckled. "Don't tell me we're going to have to rough you up to get some more information out of you."
With that, he used his sharp weapon to slice at the teen's red gown, drawing more screams from her as the bottom sliced off above her thigh, revealing her bare leg, much to the enjoyment of the two figures. I, meanwhile, had seen enough.
Diving down from around 100 feet in the air, I aimed for those two men and rearing my zombie vulture's talons, slashed them both across the face from beneath their hoods. Yelling in pain as I climbed back into the air, the second mercenary pulled out a small dart and attempted to throw it at me. I dodged and dived back at them, now using my skeleton beak to slash them both. Yelling in panic, they attempted to swat me out of the sky, but I'd already cleared them by then. Turning my head, I was relieved to see that the young lady had taken the time to take off running. The mercenaries were about to pull after her, but I attacked them once more and forced them to take cover while I swooped down.
"The hell was that thing?!" one of them shouted angrily as they helplessly watched me fly beyond reach. "It looks like a blooming skinned turkey."
Seeing the girl return to the safety of her home, I flapped the wings of my undead bird host and prepared to return to my group to tell them what was happening. Just as I levelled up, I happened to look down just in time to see Lysander staring right at me.
Perched on top of a nearby building, he slashed his scythe, sending a crescent-shaped blast of fire flying in my direction. I dodged, but the magic shot grazed my left wing and incinerated it. Despite it not being my own body, I nonetheless felt panic as I helplessly plunged downwards and barreled into one of the rooftops, shattering the bones of the undead body and largely rendering me immobile.
"Found you!" Lysander exclaimed as he flipped onto the building I'd landed on and came to a stop right in front of me, where I stared at the vulture's crooked face in the reflection on his scythe, which began to glow red.
Well, crap.