Maxine was utterly enraged. Luna hadn't been the only abused beastkin child amongst the scouting groups of the Divine Marks clan. She had wiped out seven groups in the past two days that had either a wolfkin, foxkin or catkin child of some kind in each group. They were using those children as trackers when they weren't beating them.
She hastened her hunting speed using two of her three shadow clones. One of her shadow clones had merged with a raven and the other merged with a Shadow Wolf. Her harpy shadow clone performed ambushes by scattering Feather Bombs to be detonated remotely once enemies walked over them, and her wolfgirl shadow clone was leading the majority of her Shadow Wolves to perform ambushes from shadow while hurling crystaline essence darts.
Right now both of her shadow clones were following a particularly large scouting group that numbered at least one hundred twenty and there were two young wolfkin boys at the lead of it. Both of them were covered in scrapes and bruises from obvious abuse. She wanted to charge out and rescue them, but against that many she couldn't guarantee their safety, or her own for that matter.
Maxine pulled out her communication disk to contact Commander Brackstone. "Commander, I spotted a group of one hundred plus roughly four hundred miles to the north from our base. Please advise," Maxine said to the communication disk as soon as it connected.
"Will they pass close enough to our base to confirm our location?" Commander Brackstone asked.
"Their current course will go wide of the base by roughly fifteen miles. If they use their spiritual sense to scout around them, they will spot our base easily," Maxine answered.
"Stall them if you can. A force of five hundred is being redirected to intercept them in the next two hours," Commander Brackstone said.
"Can they get here sooner?" Maxine asked and paused for a moment before adding, "They have two injured wolfkin boys acting as their trackers. It's very hard for me to stand here and do nothing while they suffer under those Divine Marks bastards."
"Young miss," Commander Brackstone's voice said sympathetically, "I know you have a soft spot for the beastkin, especially for their children, but you must endure. We can't risk you getting captured in a foolhardy attempt to rescue those two. Your life is more important." His answer pissed her off and she didn't even bother answering him as she stowed the communication disk back into her dimensional pouch.
In an attempt to distract herself from those two boy's suffering, she focused on her male clone for a moment to see what kind of treasures came out of the dimensional pouches that she pilfered from her fallen foes. Most of the contents of the pouches had been nothing more than food stuffs or water. The rest of it had been their personal effects. There were weapons and potions mixed in, but most of them didn't even have a potion to use. The weapons that they had were subpar and were almost not worth the effort of storing. Only the leaders of each scouting force had any interesting items in their dimensional pouches. One of them had a pendant that gave a ten percent boost to cultivation speed. She wanted to give it to Emily, but didn't think she would want it after finding out how Maxine got it. So she simply sent it to her main body to wear.
Unfortunately, Maxine needed someone to appraise the rest of the items she found. That pendant had a slip of paper with it describing what it did. If it hadn't had that, she wouldn't know what it did.
After making sure everything was sorted out, she switched her focus back to her clone. It had been over an hour and the two wolfkin boys had fresh bruises declorating their faces. She nearly lost control of herself then and there when she noticed. She had to take several deep breaths in and out to calm herself. Unfortunately her efforts disappated like smoke in the wind the very next moment.
A sharp barely audible cry of pain resounded in her ears as the scouting group came into her sight. Her eyes locked onto the source of that cry and saw one of the wolfkin boys holding the top left side of his head as blood seeped through his fingers. His ear had been sliced off and was laying right next to him.
"There is someone or something wiping out my people in the area and I don't have time for your excuses. Find the Kavros Clan's base!" the leader of the scouting force roared at the wolfkin boys while holding a sword with a trace of blood on the edge of it, "Or do I have to cut off your other ear?"
Maxine's vision became tinted with red as her rage demanded for that bastard's death. Her essence armor formed nearly on pure reflex and she summoned her dragon to fuse with it. She had never fused her dragon with essence armor while in her batle form before and she didn't know what kind of boost she would get. However she didn't care. She only wanted to kill them all in the shortest time possible.
With a bloodcurtling draconic roar, she ordered both of her shadow clones to initiate their attack. Her harpy clone scattered hundreds of Feather Bombs above the group while her wolfgirl shadow clone charged into battle with over one hundred Shadow Wolves in tow.
Maxine kicked off of the cliff with all of her strength causing the cliff to explode into a cloud of rock and dust. She hurtled towards the bastard that cut off the wolfkin boy's ear with terrifying speed. The man looked up at her just in time to see what was going to hit him and as a bonus she got to see the moment when he realized that he was a dead man.
Maxine threw her draconic claw at his face with every ounce of her strength and just before her claws made contact, everything slowed down to a crawl. She watched her draconic clawed hand tore through his flesh and bite into bone in slow motion. His head distorted as his skull fractured before it exploded into a spray of blood, bone and brains.
Everything resumed back to normal speed as her claws finished passing through what was left of his skull and the next thing that she knew, she was crashing into the warriors behind that bastard. Those men were thrown back with bone breaking force the instant that she made contact with their bodies, but oddly all she felt were impacts. Her thick draconic scales were cushioning the impacts significantly. When she finally came to a stop, she was roughly in the center of their entire formation.
Maxine opened the mouth of her draconic essence armor and unleashed a gout of silver flame as she spinned in a circle. She could smell charred flesh almost instantly. In an attempt to stop her, her enemies unleashed a barrage of attacks at her, but none of them were able to get through her draconic essence armor. In fact, they were having a hard time just damaging it since all their attacks only resulted in tiny scratches on her draconic essence armor.
"It's a dragon king! Run for your lives!" one of her enemies screamed as he desperately ran away. That scream was enough for Maxine to regain her senses. Dragon King? But I only have two cores, not three. However Maxine didn't have time to figure it out since she was still in the middle of a battle.
Once her enemies had gotten out of fire breathing range, Maxine cut off her fire breath and launched herself at the closest opponent claws first. She caught up with him far faster than she thought possible and she swiped her claws at the poor man's waist. Her claws struck flesh and the man was quite literately torn in half. What?! Since when is a peak iron stage cultivator so squishy?! Again, she didn't have time to contemplate the answer when she sensed someone attacking her from behind with an axe. She flicked her tail at her attacker's head, but unfortunately it was a moment too late. The ax landed at the same time as her tail struck his head.
Maxine felt a sharp pain between her shoulder blades and fell to the ground. She expected to get hit again before she could counter attack, but instead she heard a thump behind her. She turned her head to see a very muscular headless corpse still clutching onto an ax.
She stared at the corpse as her constructs were chasing down what was left of the scouting group and looked at the others she killed not a few moments ago. What the actual fuck is going on?! I'm no where near that powerful or durable. I've heard of king class beings pulling off this kind of bullshit, but I'm lord class.
Maxine looked at her hands for a moment before it struck her. Holy shit. Don't tell me that combining with one of my constructs counts as me becoming a king class cultivator. Too bad it has severe limitations. I can't maintain that level of strength for more than a few minutes. She quicky released her draconic essence armor and sent her dragon back to the shadow world. She felt extremely drained from using it for less than three minutes. To save time, she ordered both of her shadow clones to quickly loot the bodies and disperse with the other constructs.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Maxine finally remembered the two wolfkin boys and looked around for them. However they were no where in sight. She quickly extended out her spiritual sense and found them five miles away from the battlefield running at top speed. If they kept their current pace and direction, they would encounter the reinforcements that Commander Brackstone sent, but she wasn't sure how they would treat the two boys.
She walked over to pick up the wolfkin boy's severed ear before she shadow stepped to a spot just ahead of the two boys. They both came to an abrupt stop and just barely avoided colliding into Maxine. The one with a missing ear was trembling in terror, but the other one lashed out ferociously with his claw-like nails. Maxine admired the boy's spirit as she moved to defend herself.
She caught his wrist and spun him around while maintaining her grip. She shoved his arm up his back, but not enough to actually hurt him. She leaned in close to his left ear and said gently, "I'm not here to hurt either of you. I only want to help."
"Liar! You just want to enslave and hurt us just like those other people!" the wolfkin boy roared.
"Why would I need to lie? I'm far stronger than you. If I really wanted to do those things, would I even bother to talk to you?" Maxine asked calmly, but the wolfkin boy still struggled in her grasp, "Fine, let me prove it then." Maxine released the wolfkin boy and walked over to the one with the missing ear. To avoid any issues, she used shadow tendrils to immobilize both of them.
The wolfkin boy with the missing ear trembled violently in fear as Maxine approached. She sighed as she knelt down next to him and cleaned his wounded ear with her essence. She did the same with his severed ear before very carefully lining it back into place on his head. She used white essence to slowly mend the severed ear back onto the boy's head. Reattaching severed nerves and blood vessels was a meticulous and delicate process, but she was managing to do it with some difficulty. She had plenty of practice healing her own injuries.
Once the wolfkin boy's ear was reattached, he started crying with joy. "Thank you," the now healed wolfkin boy said hoarsely with an oddly feminine voice.
"You're welcome," Maxine said as she stroked his cheek and felt that his skin felt slightly off. She couldn't place what it was though. It wasn't the dirt or scabs from previous injuries on his face that felt off. She probed his skin with her spiritual sense out of curiosity and discovered that his face was covered in a partial illusion, an extremely clever one at that. It made tiny changes to his appearance to make him appear more masculine. Why would he had this kind of illusion on him? Unless ... he is a she and she didn't want to be violated. She discreetly used her spiritual sense to confirm her suspicions.
Maxine stood back up and looked at the wolfkin boy behind her. There was no way this little girl was able to create an illusion of this caliber without a mirror or without being able to use spiritual sense to see what she was doing. This boy must have done it. But how? If he did, he would have to maintain it and I didn't see any such connection earlier. She scanned the space between the two wolfkin children with her spiritual sense and found an almost imperceptible thread of essence connecting the two of them. But it oddly enough it also was filled with spiritual sense. What the...? Wait Guan's notes mentioned something like this. It's the Gemini Effect. They share each other's power and can communicate with each other regardless of the distance. But it only occurs primarily between twins, and even then, it only appears in very rare cases.
She released both siblings and instantly the wolfkin boy quickly moved inbetween Maxine and his sister with surprising speed. She approved of his actions to protect his sister and remembered her own desire to do just that in the other timeline. Out of respect, she didn't come any closer and waited for him to calm down.
However the chances for that to happen were dashed as the wolfkin boy became even more tense and at the same time, she heard movement behind her. She belatedly remembered the reinforcements Commander Brackstone was sending.
"Easy, calm down. They won't hurt you," Maxine said soothingly as she held up her hands.
"What the hell is that thing?" she heard someone say behind her.
"Don't know. I've never seen a beastkin like that before, but she appears to be an ally. She is wearing our clan's symbol," another one said. Huh? Oh, right. I'm still in my battle form. She quickly reverted back to her normal state and looked over her shoulder.
"Hey guys. You took too long so I took care of those guys by myself," Maxine said. None of them said a word and appeared to be stunned to silence. After a moment, someone pushed his way to the front of their forces.
"Apologies, young miss. None of us were informed that you had a combat form," a young man with a badge denoting him as a battalion leader. She rememebered seeing him in Command Center before embarqing on this mission.
"It's alright. It's a mistake anyone could make. What's left of the enemy force is that way," Maxine said and pointed in the correct direction.
"What? Do you mean to tell me you took out over one hundred opponents by yourself?!" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, I am telling you that. Check it out for yourself if you don't believe me," Maxine said as she turned back to the wolfkin twins.
"You're injured!" the man said and he quickly pulled out a potion. So, it took him that long to notice.
"It's fine. It looks worse than it actually is," Maxine said offhandedly and quickly swat his hand away when she saw him reaching for her wound, "I can treat the wound myself."
"But if your wound isn't treated quickly, it will leave a scar. The Matriarch will be furious if such a mark declorates your body," the platoon leader said with worry filled tone and he finally gestured with his eyes for his troops to go on ahead of him. They left at a steady pace to the place she demolished the large scouting force.
"Don't worry about it. I have a few potions from my father to take care of it. If it will make you feel better, I will drink one of them right now," Maxine lied and drank a potion from her dimensional pouch to silence the battalion leader. Even without it, she knew she wouldn't have any scars. Her Twelve-Headed Hydra King bloodline would make certain of that.
The battalion leader looked visibly relieved and asked, "What would you like us to do with those two?"
Maxine looked at the two wolfkin children before she answered, "I want to take them home with me after this war is over with. I want to find them a good family."
"As you wish, young miss. If you will, excuse me," the battalion leader said before running off to catch up with his men.
"Do you mean it?" the wolfkin girl spoke with a disturbingly similar voice to Luna's.
"Yes, i do," Maxine said with a smile as she face the little girl and allowed her curiosity to get the better of her, "Do you know wolfkin girl by the name of Luna?" Their reaction was instant as their eyes widened.
"Luna?! Where is she?" they both asked perfectly in sync, "And where is our mother?" What? I thought that mommy business was from the wolf adopting Luna, but now that I look closer at them... They heavily resemble Luna.
Maxine avoided their gaze for a moment before she answered them, "Luna is in a safe place, but I have to confirm something. Is your mother a large grey wolf?"
"Yes," they both answer in sync yet again, "What happened to our mother?!"
"I'm so sorry. She died several days ago," Maxine said and she scooped them both up into her arms. They were both so shocked at Maxine's statement that they didn't resist at all, but it wasn't long before both of them were crying. God damn Divine Marks clan. They separate and enslave families for no more reason than they are not 'human.' Their emotions and feelings are human enough for me and they deserve to be treated as such. At least I can reunite these three siblings and I will do everything I can to keep them from being separated again.
While the two wolfkin children wept on her shoulders, she noticed a small, incredibly detailed tatoo of a magic circle inside of the wolfkin boy's ear. Warning bells went off in her head instantly, but it was too late for her to do anything. It detached from the wolfkin boy's ear and expanded to surround all three of them. She tried to jump out of it with both of the wolfkin children, but she couldn't move. It was as if the very air around her hardened into steel. She didn't know what this thing was going to do, so she transformed into her battle form to prepare for whatever comes.
A bright light blinded her for a moment and the next thing she knew, she was completely surrounded by hundreds of men wearing clothes with the Divine Marks clan's symbol. She took a quick look around and saw that everything was giving off a slight glow. It only took her a moment to realize where she was. She was somehow in the Divine Marks clan's base camp. A teleportation trap?! Those are not allowed in this war. They require a gold stage cultivator to place one.
"So the rumors were true. You do have a soft spot for beastkin children," a very familiar woman's voice stated behind her. Maxine turned her head and saw someone that shouldn't be here: Nora Marks. There is another rule broken by the Divine Marks clan. Gold stage or higher experts are not allowed to even touch down on the planet for any reason. She had to have bribed the observers to pull this off.
Maxine glared at Nora Marks, but she wasn't able to maintain it. Nora Marks vanished a split second after she started glaring at her.. SHIT! Maxine pushed the wolfkin twins away from her just before she was hit hard on her right breast. She flew and smashed into the side of a building. Her breast felt like it had been smashed to pulp and she wasn't even able to groan in pain before the wall that she smashed into collapsed onto her. Only her head and shoulders remained above the debris.
"I hope you enjoyed that little love tap. I have so much more planned for you before my rage is satisfied," Nora Marks said sadistically, "And in the unlikely event that you manage to escape from here, those two animals will suffer in your place." Maxine felt her rage boil at that statement, but she knew she needed to calm down in order to come up with an escape plan. I'm surrounded, out matched in strength, at less than fifty percent essence, and have two children to protect from these fuckers. I have a potion to restore my essence and mana back to full strength, but that won't fix the other problems. I guess I will be finding out just how powerful my draconic essence armor really is. At the very least, I should be able to create a big enough distraction to warp those two kids out, but I doubt this bitch will leave me an opportunity to warp out myself. It seems I will just have to wait for an opportunity to present itself.