Talwarg and Khurzag emerged from the monastery with their troops, eyeing the blasted and burned surroundings for any signs of movement. Lira and Ograch had already scouted the stables and ensured that there were no surviving spiders, at which point every archer in the building had been sent to the walls. They provided lookout and overwatch duties for their melee counterparts exploring the plaza.
Meanwhile, Liv and Ivan approached the corpse of the matriarch, looking for any signs of loot that could be added to their stockpiles. Once it was confirmed that the area was clear, Lira dispatched the butchers and harvesters to the matriarch. While none present would eat the meat of the monster, there were plenty of other resources that would prove incredibly useful for Ivan and the other crafters.
The matriarch’s carapace could be used to create numerous shields for their melee fighters while the venom could be used to produce all manner of deadly weapons. Ivan hoped that there would be items that he could use to create arrows and other items as well, but he would have to wait for the harvesting to be completed before he would know. He had never been around a butchered matriarch, so he had no idea what they would acquire aside from the obvious venom sacks and carapace.
As the day progressed, the group began to grow uneasy. “Lanek should have been back by now, don’t you think?” Liv asked, concern etched on her face.
“Yes, the only reasons I can think of for him to not be back already are all bad.” Ograch responded.
Ivan looked in the direction of the second matriarch, before making his decision. “Khurzag. I’m going to take Talwarg, Liv, Ograch, Nerek, and half of our warriors to secure the second matriarch for harvesting. Bring the harvesters and the rest of the warriors to join us once this matriarch has nothing usable left to harvest.”
“Of course. I hope you find him.” Khurzag responded, knowing full well that this was simply an excuse to look for Lanek. After all, there was no benefit in splitting the warriors to secure the second matriarch when they could all have marched together in force.
“I hope so, too. Lira, please keep our people safe.”
Lira nodded somberly, angry that she could not join the search. Damn this form. I don’t want to spend eternity watching everyone else take all the risks while I hang back.
Talwarg led the way toward the fallen matriarch and Lanek’s last know position. As they traveled, he could only marvel at the sheer destruction around him. Lanek’s explosions seemed to have caused as much damage as the fires Ivan had unleashed. However, while Ivan’s fire had left many gutted buildings in its wake, Lanek’s explosions had rent the buildings asunder, debris flung in all directions, and a multitude of craters marring the ground.
“Hordefather above, I didn’t know Lanek was capable of this much destruction!” Talwarg said quietly. “How much mana did this take?”
“More than he had.” Nerek responded, an anxious look upon his face. “We must find him soon, the only way he could have used his [Ethereal Salvo] this much would have been by repeatedly ingesting cores.”
Ivan paled at this revelation. “How can you be so sure?”
“The Hordefather has blessed me with the ability to see more details about a person’s status than a simple [Identify] can provide. This ability has only grown stronger over the past few weeks. Additionally, if the target is an ally, I can see the entirety of their status screen now unless they actively attempt to block me.” He let that sink in before continuing, ignoring the shocked look on Ivan’s face. “Lanek could only cast [Ethereal Salvo] twice before running out of mana and each use would produce 32 explosive projectiles. Look at the devastation around us and think back to the explosion we heard during the battle. That would have required dozens of castings.”
“Shit, this is bad.” Ivan muttered.
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“What? What is it?” Liv demanded.
“Since you aren’t a caster, it would make sense that you wouldn’t know. I know that you are aware that casters can replenish their mana utilizing mana cores, but there is a reason we don’t use them non-stop. When you think about it, if there wasn’t a downside of some kind, casters would simply take the cores and keep firing off spells and easily become the most dominant class. However, monster cores are incredibly toxic and in the best case scenario will leave a caster bedridden for days from ingesting more than three or four in a single day. Many mages have perished in the days following a major battle from ingesting six or more in a day. This toxic energy is not harmful when evolving a class or race, however, as all of the energy in your body is used up in the evolution process.”
Ograch swore angrily. “Did no one tell Lanek about this? We know he isn’t from this world, so he would have no way of knowing.” Seeing everyone shaking their heads, he turned on the only caster present. “What the fuck?! Nerek, he must have used a score of the fucking cores to do this!”
Nerek looked down, remorse clear on his face. “Probably more. You’re right, I should have told him. It honestly didn’t occur to me, it is such common knowledge for mana based classes that I’ve never really had to tell anyone about it before.”
They scoured the area, the vast swathe of destruction making it difficult to pinpoint Lanek’s position. Even the matriarch’s position did not help as her body had been shattered by the explosions, her gargantuan limbs torn from her and strewn across hundreds of meters. The sun was beginning to set when Khurzag and his warriors joined the search, a handful setting up around the matriarch to protect their butchers and harvesters as they set to work on her corpse.
As they searched, Letha abruptly turned her head to look to the southeast, chuffing before trotting in that direction. Yuri froze for but a moment before following his mother’s example, Reaver following shortly afterward. Liv and Ograch shared a look, before looking at Talwarg and Nerek.
“We should follow them. I don’t know what’s gotten into them, but they aren’t listening to our commands to come back. Something a lot stronger than us is calling out to them.” Liv explained.
“Yeah, Reaver is completely ignoring me. She’s never done that. She’s ignored my orders before, sure, but never refused to acknowledge me entirely.”
The group followed the animals, ordering the rest of the warriors to stay behind under Khurzag’s command to guard the workers. With night falling, the threat of gaunts became more likely. After a few minutes of walking, the party heard what had attracted their animal friends, a mournful howl echoing in the distance.
Talwarg’s head snapped toward the sound, his pace quickening. “That’s Sanguineus, I’m certain of it.”
The party ran to keep up with Talwarg, finally arriving before a patch of even ground surrounded by craters and gore, the craters making the patch of ground seem elevated. The surface of the patch of ground was blasted clean, scoured by some force. However, what caused them to pause in their tracks was something completely foreign to this city, a tree was sprouting from the center of that blasted patch.
They cautiously approached the tree before finally catching sight of both Sanguineus and Kazuma. Talwarg’s breath caught in his throat, grief in his eyes as he took in Lanek’s animal companions. Letha, Yuri, and Reaver approached the two animals, before lowering their heads, Yuri whimpering quietly. Liv looked on in confusion, her vision not quite as sharp in the growing darkness as her hobgoblin and animal companions.
“Oh. Oh, no.” She whispered, tears in her eyes as she finally saw the state of the two majestic beasts. Both Sanguineus and Kazuma seemed to waver in the air, their forms transparent and wispy. They lay on the ground next to a form reclining against the tree, their heads upon the figure’s lap. The grief from the two animals was palpable, getting even stronger as the party drew closer.
Lanek’s body rested peacefully, his armor in tatters as if blown apart from within. His face appeared almost as if he were sleeping despite the devastation surrounding this place. Resting on the ground at his sides were two darkened lumps of metal that took a moment to identify. On his right was the shattered blade of Kazuma’s Vessel, the hilt all that remained intact, although blackened by whatever had happened here. On his left was the melted remnants of a chain, the dagger portion of the whip all that remained to identify Sanguineus’ Vessel.
Sensing their approach, the two ghostly creatures looked up at the party before nodding in greeting. Liv moved toward the trio, tears freely running down her face. However, she could not reach them in time to say her goodbyes, none of them could. Sanguineus howled one last time before Lanek’s body crumbled to dust and his family faded from view.
Hours later, the group returned home to the monastery, carrying what remained of Lanek’s belongings to at least have something for their people to honor. If they had not been so consumed by the loss of their friend and leader, they might have noticed movement to the east, approaching the tree. Eight large figures carved from black stone regarded the tree stoically before taking up position around the tree, facing outward as if daring something to despoil this place.