I can finally see the walls of Turia in the distance as I get close.
I don't forget that a lot can happen in two days, so I approach the city with caution. Only when I get a peek at one of the entrances and see the guards stated there do I relax a bit. Not too much though, I am still in enemy territory as long as I am in this city, country, continent and world for that matter, so I send a quick reminder to Bruma to stay alert.
She was able to get some sleep while I kept watch, so she will be on lookout duty while I get some much needed sleep.
I try to enter the city, but I am obviously asked to show my mercenary id, and only after a thorough check from their part am I able to make my way in, not alone though. A pair of guards escort me to the guild, and looking at their demeanor, I think they are more scared of whoever is behind all this to pull an assassination attempt on me than anything.
Both guards are clad in armor from head to toe, they are definitely some of the best guards of the city, but I can still see them eyeing every single corner of the city for clues that might point to an ambush through the slits in their helmet.
I am dragged through the streets toward the guild with my disheveled appearance. Looking like what a war refuge would look like after days of starvation, beatings and unsheltered nights.
People on the road look at me with concern, probably thinking that I am some kind of criminal, but then we get to the guild, and only when I enter do I notice that I am probably the only one sent as a scout that made it back.
The gloomy atmosphere inside changes as surprise settles on the faces of every mercenary. It doesn't last for long though, only as long as it gets replaced by hopeful looks, and a lot of them get on their feet as they look at me like they would at a hero.
'And here I thought that I was going to be the last one to figure out a way to leave that trap, maybe it was a lot more complex than I thought.'
Not caring for my sorry state, they got me some water and told me to tell them everything I knew before having something to eat. I did as ordered, not really achieving anything from withholding information is such a situation.
In fact, it would be actually worse for me not to tell them, it would make me the perfect target to kill for my information. Now that I will tell them, killing me wouldn't mean anything.
Other than killing me, that's it.
Explaining everything that happened, I tell them about the monsters,about the huge surge of mana and about the trap and how that spell is probably the thing that made it impossible for every single one of the other scouts to not make it back alive.
I don't need to tell them just how hard it was to avoid getting killed by the monsters, by the lack of food or anything else, that can be seen just by my appearance alone. What I do have to explain and was waiting for is the dreaded question.
"How did you get out of the barrier then?" The vice-leader of the guild asks me as we maintain a link with telepathy to deliver my acquired information with him before he tells the others.
"I taunted one of the strongest monsters to charge at me. I let it hit me as strongly as I could on the edge of the barrier to make an escape in the nick of time with its momentum." I lie to his face, knowing that there is no way that he knows the distance that the edge of the barrier covered was a lot more than a couple meters.
A few minutes of questioning later, I finally get served some warm food and give permission to leave and rest, so I squirm my way through the curious and now more lively mercenaries to escape to my room in the inn.
I hold on till there, but once I close the door behind me… I fall on the bed in front of me face first.
'It's been a rough time.' I think as I look at Bruma, who's currently licking my face to cheer me up.
I don't even bother with my clothes or anything else, I just sleep.
About an Earth day must have passed by the time I wake up, as it is already getting dark again. I wanted to get more information with my demon persona, but it's going to be hard without causing a ruckus now that everyone's alert. The smallest move could give my identity away, and I don't want that.
'It's better if my enemies kill each other.' I hope for the mutual destruction of Turia and the mastermind behind the undead army.
I don't want to see merciless slaughter, but I wouldn't choose anyone lifes over mine or the ones of the people I love. No matter the ratio.
Taking my time, I leave the inn after saying goodbye to the woman at the entrance.
'It's your turn to sleep, Bruma.' I tell the cute little fox, but she refuses. Instead, she rubs her face against mine and jumps on my head to get a better view of the surroundings.
Not minding her decision, I go settle anything that I may need to do at the guild, and once they tell me it is alright for me to leave, I do so. They carved a small imprint on my badge before letting me go though, they used some weird spell to carve a small star on the bottom of the very left corner. Not caring too much after seeing that it isn't a tracking spell or anything, I go straight to the river, wanting to get some alone time while I clean myself.
Most of the ways to clean yourself inside town are either archaical for me or disgusting, so I instead talk the guards into letting me outside the town to bathe on the river. They tried very hard to avoid letting me out at first, but once I gathered some mana and synchronized it with the surrounding air to create a small breeze and send my smelly odor their way, it wasn't long till they let me through.
'So convenient.' I laugh at their expense after getting rid of my clothes and diving in the water head first. There is no one outside the walls, so I am only being watched by the guards patrolling the top of the wall on my back.
Everyone is too scared to leave the "safe zone", but the so-called safe place is far from it. I saw what that army of bones can do, and I am 100% sure that if they ever wanted they could raze the whole place to the ground.
Not only that, but I am thinking that there's something else going on, the leader of the undead army must be planning something. It's clear to me as there were huge waves of mana pulsing inside the forests, and I am not staying here for that.
'I need to leave this place before it all goes south.' My plan is to wait for the army of skeletons to rush here and attack the place before leaving, that way I will leave with the cover of the fight and keep my identity safe, as everyone here will die.
'I don't know what's the plan of the one controlling all those monsters, but why is he not attacking yet?'
At the same time on the outskirts of Turia
Gallard had finally slipped past all his works as a vice-leader of the mercenary guild. He had been the last face he had taken, but his position came with a lot of work, work that he had to do himself to avoid suspicion. He could not leave his post to one of his soldiers as most of them hadn't retained any intelligence at all.
The only three undead in his army that had a semblance of intelligence were his three knights, which were all sleeping at the time he stole this face.
He was now hiding just outside the visual range of the walls of Turia, waiting…
*crunch* *crunch*
Sounds of stone benign squished were heard before the ground in front of him opened up to reveal his recently awakened second knight, Liria.
A behemoth of a snake poked its head from the ground. His head was as big as a small sized house, and it was ten times as long as it was big, easily reaching more than one hundred meters long.
The snake bowed its head to his master in submission, awaiting new orders, thrilled to be awakened yet again. His master had been forced years ago to retreat from the light of day, scurrying around in the dark, choosing to lay low, but he wasn't done and Liria knew it.
'If he's regaining all his power this fast, it is because something came up. That means conquest!' Liria thought. Her thirst for war was unmatched by any soldier below his master's ranks.
'Good to see you Liria, is everything going according to the plan?' Gallard asked his second strongest knight.
The connection his master shared with every single one of his soldiers was so deep that they could communicate at will, no matter the distance or barriers in between. Their souls were bound to every undead of his army, and he just lacked the spark of life force needed to give all those souls the sentience that they yearned for.
'Everything is going smoothly, Leheron woke up a small amount of your army cause he focused on me first. He is gathering as much mana as he can to wake up Jarat next. Once all the three of us are ready we can each focus on each task you assigned us.'
'Perfect, I already knew that the child had escaped. It wasn't part of the plan and he should still be trapped in the memories of the forest, but it's okay, as long as he stays in the city the plan won't change.' Gallard assured Liria and himself as he said so. He was walking on a thin wire, one single mistake or unlucky encounter with someone dangerous right now could be devastating to his plans.
'Tell me, do we know if anyone is coming here soon from the capital?'
Liria bowed her head again, giving him the small amount of information that she had gathered in what little time she had been back from her sleep.
'I have seen a novice veteran mercenary making his way here in a carriage, he will arrive in a day, maybe two at the speed he is going.'
'Okay, that's fine, as long as it's only a novice, or in the middle stages we can deal with that for now. By the time he arrives we will be able to take even someone on the cusp of becoming one of those inhuman monsters, we need to take our time.'
Gallard had been preparing and had everything planned out for this moment, but even then, he needed a couple more days.
'Keep watching for any movement, tell me if any threats start making their way here and tell Leheron to prioritize the recovery of Jarat, we will need him if someone dangerous does show up.'
Showing him respect again, Liria dived below the ground again, careful not to make too much of a disturbance in the area.
Gallard stayed looking at the hole where his second knight disappeared for a while, thinking to himself.
'A novice veteran huh? Maybe we can use him too.'