Plamus was standing in the doorway of the storage that was located right behind his wooden table, the room was full of Delightful Deaths, which would cause his subordinates to question whether there really was a shortage.

Reyna stood right behind him, looking over his shoulder, she glanced at his unprotected back, but shook off her thoughts, “How long will they last us?”

“Several more months I’d say, at least if our arrangement continues.” Plamus turned to face her, with Hadrian’s unexpected death she had become the only other person he trusted enough to control those weaklings alongside him, not to mention that this entire suppression plan originated from her, he was just the one taking credit for it.

She nodded, “Don’t worry, it will. Even if they find out, what can they do? Neither Kassan, nor any of the other rank threes are going to interfere for as long as we keep handing them their shares. They don’t actually care about their subordinates either.”

“Good. Any news about Marv Beckett?” he asked, the blood mage was a pain, not only had he been treating the injured warriors, keeping their strength intact, but he also tried to restore Kassan Horun’s sight, which had luckily failed... if it came to a head-on collision, it was best to have as many advantages as possible.

“He survived, that’s the only thing they let slip, but Hadrian wasn’t weak, so he is likely very injured and is still prioritizing his own recovery.” Reyna hid her smirk, hearing of Hadrian’s death was a wonderful coincidence that had allowed her to further alienate Plamus and Kassan.

Plamus closed the door behind himself, there was no kind of lock, as there was no greater deterrent to any would-be thieves than his own presence, “That’s unfortunate, but not exactly a problem. What about your little prince?”

Reyna rolled her eyes, “Your lackeys are out looking for him, don’t you think they would report to you first if they found him.”

“They are dropping like flies, I doubt they could even escape if they found him.” he shook his head, it was Reyna who cared about this matter, not him, he turned his attention to the front door of his building, the place wasn’t exactly sound-proof, so he could hear that there was a commotion on the outside.

Plamus walked over, he grabbed the crude handle of the door that his workers had made while constructing their current camp, then a dark purple barrier formed around him, and blocked the wooden shreds the door had turned into as they flew at him.

At the other side was a slender and mossy tree that stood on two legs, and had two arms, that quickly closed in on him!

With no change in expression, he flicked his wrist, and a tendril appeared on his protective shield that lashed out at the creature, sending it flying with ease.

He rushed after it and out the door, his vision filled with grotesque scenes, the low-ranked humans that were supposed to be on guard duty were either engaged in battle or already slaughtered and turned into piles of flesh and blood by Treemen!

“What is happening?!” he shouted, not expecting an answer as he stormed into the direction of the breach, where the wooden pikes and walls had been destroyed, and more and more of the rank one monsters were coming in droves.

Reyna stepped out of the hut behind him, she wasn’t in as much of a hurry, the smirk she was trying to hide earlier had reappeared, as the fire that was burning all of the dried plants and wood that was housing their camp reflected in her eyes.

Creating lanterns across the settlement had been a wonderful idea on her part, even though it was rather taxing on her body to keep creating fire particles from nothing thanks to the runes that secretly covered her from head to toes.

It paid off handsomely, her investment had returned, several times over, and as long as no one stopped the fires, it would continue to ravage the dead zone and turn into her territory!

She looked at Plamus, who was cutting down one Treeman after the other through simple motions, the darkness was omnipresent in this plane, he was naturally at an advantage, but now there was no longer a need to avoid fighting him...

Her eyes narrowed, and a bundle of red particles gathered at the tip of her finger, it turned into a blazing fireball, the size of a head, then whistled through the air and towards Plamus.

Feeling the energy, he turned and met her gaze, the spell shot right at him, he stopped and stared, but it passed him and incinerated the creatures behind him.

He held her gaze another few seconds, then focused back on defending the camp; although he did not care for the lives of the people under him, he quite enjoyed the way things were running currently.

With a snap of his finger countless particles detonated, turning even darker than black, blowing holes into the armoured monsters, yet avoiding his allies; the Treemen stood no chance against the overwhelming might of a rank three mage, it was a one-sided slaughter since he joined the fight, but it did not make him happy... those things never entered the barren wasteland that was the location of their camp in all this time, and suddenly they were here? It was more than odd.

Reyna stepped next to him, the flood of Treemen had calmed, and the few that remained were being cleaned up by the low-ranking people, “Kassan said how the locals attacked the old camp, but there were far more involved than now, there are also no rank three amongst them. What a strange event, should we go and inform the other camp?”

“You should go and warn Kassan immediately, better yet, have him send some rank threes as support.” Plamus spoke while clasping his hands in front of his chest, purple particles gathered at once, he released his hands, and a dark ray shot straight into the wooden walls at the edge of their vision, causing a loud screeching noise, that reminded Reyna of their first run in inside of the tunnels...

“Are you going to face it?” she asked instead of running off to get help.

“If not me, who else?” Plamus countered, looking at Reyna like she was a lesser being.

She scoffed, “How magnanimous of you, what caused you to change? Are you that fond of controlling others?”

“Stop stalling and get going!” he couldn’t spare her another thought as the screeching ceased, his calves tightened, and the dark purple barrier reformed around him, as did large tremors as the monster had closed the distance in the blink of an eye and slammed its claws against his protective spell.

Plamus was forced back several steps, tracks were left behind in the dirt by his boots; the first time he was faced with this type of creature Marquis Gomon had intervened, the second time was while reclaiming the tunnel system, where he had Reyna and a bunch of meat-shields at his disposal, and this time he was on his own... he had been longing for a chance to prove to himself that he did not need all those weaklings to face this beast.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Reyna disappeared, off to fulfil his order, he wrapped his arms around himself, and a ring that was absorbing light surrounded the rank three monster, with its dark green skin and a purple glow all over it, along with its hunched back and claws for hands it looked as intimidating as its aura made people feel, but it growled in response to the spell.

The monster ducked, trying to evade the ring by going underneath it, but the spell moved in tandem, staying a fixed distance from it, and it slowly closed; this was the same spell Plamus had used on the giant heart, just on a much smaller scale.

As the binding closed around the creature, it shook and roared, doing its utmost to free itself, “You are fast, I will not give you the chance to leverage that advantage.” Plamus spoke out loud, thought it did not matter as the locals were unable to communicate with them or even understand their words.

Seeing that its struggle was futile the rank three monster instead charged at Plamus, the ground under its feet cracked, it knocked into his barrier again, but this time the tremors were much less impactful, and the thing collapsed to the earth, wailing and turning as the ring was seemingly absorbing its purple light, and judging from its painful shriek more than just that...

“In the end you are nothing but a mindless beast.” Plamus sneered while watching how his spell was tearing into the creature’s body.

The high-pitched screams continued blaring in his ears, growing louder, the human warriors around him covered their ears and shut their eyes, sharing some of its pain.

Plamus’ eye twitched, but other than that he was fine, he raised his hand above the creature’s body, but as particles gathered for the finishing blow his feet no longer touched the ground!

He was sailing through the air shortly, something heavy pressed against his chest as he was knocked down, Plamus pushed against the weight, but instead of getting it off, he felt sharp claws penetrate his skin and flesh, “Argh!” his face grimaced, a dark orb appeared in his outstretched hand, pulling in his assailant, then repulsed it with great force.

He forced himself onto his feet, he clutched his stomach, blood flowed down his hands, yet his focus was on the two rank three monsters that stood before him...

A new one had appeared and managed to interrupt him long enough for the first to break free from his spell, though it was greatly harmed, “Beasts indeed... prowling in packs.”

“Master Plamus!” one of the warriors shouted while running closer, taking the opportunity to prove his loyalty and stand alongside him to oppose the threat.

Others followed suit, a small wall of five human warriors and two members of the church stepped in between the young Starhelm and the two monsters.

The warriors brandished their weapons, they could feel the awful presence the locals were showing off, their hands were trembling, but they managed to calm down as a bright yellow glow enveloped them, the members of the church had cast a prayer, covering them and Plamus, a soothing feeling spread through them.

Plamus nodded contently, the bleeding from his wound was slowing down, ‘Finally something useful.’ he looked at the sacrificial pawns that had volunteered themselves, though it was a tad annoying for others to intervene yet again he accepted it, but his thoughts were interrupted by the monsters’ growling, they backed away from the source of the light as if fearful.

“Move forward!” he urged the seven as he got an idea.

The wall of people flinched; did they hear him right? Get closer to the rank three creatures?

Their expectations of easy benefits crumbled, in reality they were now stuck between a rock and a hard place, two monsters at the front, and another monster at the back.

“Don’t worry, I have a plan.” Plamus assured them with a smile, his words lifted their hopes, but either way they no longer had a say in the matter...

Full of apprehension they stepped forward in unison, and for some reason the creatures backed away again!

“Ha!” Plamus wanted to laugh since he had found their weakness, but he winced from straining his still open wound, “Surround them! Keep up the light!” his next orders followed.

The church members exchanged glances, they clasped their hands, “O great ones, grant us your grace and illuminate this dreadful darkness, shine the way for your devout followers and bless us with a sliver of your might!” one of them chanted, and the glowing intensified, yet at the same time their complexions worsened, and their faces became paler, meanwhile the five warriors split up to surround the monsters, successfully encircling them as the light was keeping them at bay.

“Keep them there!” Plamus shouted, he began gathering darkness particles in masses, but the locals weren’t intimidated by the light for long, their claws swiped at the sources, cutting off some of the warriors’ fingers, slicing apart their armours, and carving out a path along their flesh.

Their screams filled the air, as did the fresh smell of blood, but no matter how much of a loss they suffered, in Plamus’ eyes defeating two rank threes by sacrificing some worthless pieces was definitely worth it!

Black and purple dots floated around both of the creatures, the humans instinctively increased the distance, fearing getting caught up in such a spell, and for good reason, as the particles settled onto the things’ bodies, then disappeared as if absorbed... the rank three monsters stopped moving altogether, then a singular eye opened on both of their chests, the pupil was a dark and disturbing red that opened up to look around!

The screams of the humans ceased as the yellow light intensified another time, mending the wounds, discomfort was visible on the two church members, but that allowed everyone to hear the scene that played out before them more clearly...

The creatures rammed their claws into their own bodies, into that newly appeared eye, they did not shriek with pain as before, like they were attacking a separate entity, even as their own blood streamed out of their bodies to mix with the red of the humans’.

They riddled themselves with holes and wounds, until they were unable to keep standing in the end and collapsed to the ground; Plamus looked at them without any pity, he raised his hand, then lowered it, and a wave of darkness pressed down onto the two monsters until they were no more than a puddle of liquid.

With a gulp the warriors fell to their knees, they all survived!

“Huh?” one of them exclaimed as he looked down... hadn’t he left the range of the spell...?

An eye was growing on his neck, visible only to his fellow warriors, that crawled to get away from him, and another on the back of his hand.

“Wait! Wait, wait! Please! Master Plamus help me!” he begged, but without missing a beat his sword was raised, then pushed into his own throat, if the rank three monsters were unable to escape the effect, how could he possibly do so?

Silence permeated the air, the survivors were quietly chanting prayers that they may be left unaffected, and after some time without more unfortunate victims they finally noticed their own situation, they each received heavy injuries, that would affect their ability to gather fruits, thus they shared the same thoughts, ‘What will Plamus do?’

They turned to him, to where the church’s members immediately rushed to as the fight ended in order to tend to his wounds, “What a marvellous spell master Plamus!” one of them spoke while holding his glowing hands near his bleeding stomach.

“The Starhelm family produced another genius, it is natural for his powers to be so grand!” the other church member agreed, he raised his head, but when he met Plamus’ eyes he flinched and lowered it again.

“I recommend that you forget about what you saw just now, unless you want to make an enemy out of my family.” his words caused a shift in everyone's’ expressions, “Hah! Young master, I am not sure what you might be referring to...”

“Good.” Plamus nodded, wordlessly allowing the church members to continue healing his wound while the other injured sat down, waiting for them to be next, but he could not shake the feeling that he was being watched.

One of the less injured warriors cleared his throat, “Master, what about the fire?” it continued to rage, consuming the remainder of their camp to fuel itself, at this rate they would have to rebuild it from scratch, maybe even move the location.

Plamus looked beyond the fire, ignoring the man’s words, there was nothing but a pitch-black void where they had cut down dried trees and shrubs for material, yet he did not look away from a certain spot.

He lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, the open space far out from the camp twisted, “Are there more Treemen?!” one of the survivors nearby looked where the spell had detonated, but Plamus shook his head, “Nevermind.” that feeling was gone.

His eyes opened wide, “Fire?” the words registered, and he rose to his feet.

“Take it slow young master!” his healers worried that his wound might worsen, they had already sacrificed so much, losing their rank three protector now might drive them to despair.

Plamus clutched his stomach and walked to one of the burning buildings against the well-intentioned opinions of the members of the church, into the fire and the raining rubble that came falling from the ceiling, he stopped in the doorframe to a second room within... how could he have forgotten?

He touched his forehead while his mind was zoning out, “This... is a problem.” the room he was standing in front of, the storage room that was adjacent to his own, where he had been keeping an abundance of Delightful Death fruits... it was ruined.