Chapter 20

I woke up during the middle of the night to the sound of yelling and screaming. Confused, I got out of bed and went to ask the guards what was happening. As soon as I opened the door the guards blocked me from leaving the room.

“Sir. Please stay in your room.” One of the guards said nervously.

“What’s going on?” I asked. It sounded like the entire castle was in a panic.

“It’s a beast surge.” The guard said, looking panicked.

I couldn’t help but frown. “A beast surge? Are they attacking the castle directly?”

The guard nodded. “It’s extremely rare. Sometimes a powerful monster will lead other monsters in attacking human cities and forts though. Hopefully the elders will be able to kill it.”

Suddenly I heard a whooshing sound. The window behind me lit up like it was daylight outside. The guards and I looked at it nervously. I couldn’t help but be afraid as we walked up to the window and looked outside.

There were multiple buildings that had been lit on fire. Movement on the castle grounds below caught my eye. In shock I realized that it was members of the clan fighting various monsters and humanoid shaped creatures. None of them seemed to be afraid of death. They were willing to take what were clearly mortal blows in order to kill the clan guards.

Suddenly a larger shadow landed on one of the buildings. In the firelight I could briefly make out a huge shape with wings. Then it’s serpentine neck drew forward and it breathed out a massive blast of fire at a group of guards. The guards were incinerated like they had met a super powered flamethrower. Anything even nearby instantly lit on fire. Including quite a few other guards and monsters. I couldn’t help but think we were being attacked by a dragon.

The guards scrambled back from the window in panic. “A drake. I thought that drakes were just legends.” One of them said looking like he was about to faint.

“I’ve heard that it took an entire team of level nines to kill the last drake. We have to get out of here.” One of the other guards said. Then he turned and ran towards the door.

Surprisingly a couple of the guards managed to pull themselves together. “Go find one of the elders. Our job is to keep Adam alive. Let them know that we have retreated out of one of the emergency exits. Maybe the elders will be able to kill the drake. If not we will wait for any other survivors at the first rally point. If possible, join us at the rally point after you deliver that message.” The guard that appeared to be in charge said.

Part of me felt like they were just using me as an excuse to run. Certainly none of them protested about the order to retreat. The only one that seemed upset about the orders was the guard that had been told to find an elder. Clearly he would rather be retreating. That didn’t stop him from rushing off to do his job. Likely he figured the sooner he delivered the message the sooner he could get away.

“Let’s go.” He said to the remaining guards. Since one had run away and another was delivering the message there were only four guards left.

“Wait.” I said. The guards looked at me almost angrily.

I thought about the shape I had seen outside the window. The drake wasn’t actually that large. Perhaps twenty feet long. It’s wingspan was certainly large, I’d guess more like thirty feet. However, when those wings were tucked in, its body wasn’t all that wide.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the dragon would fit inside my universe. If it did I could save clan Ashton. Quickly I mentally pulled up the relevant statistics. I could store around four hundred cubic feet in my space. I also only needed to be within thirty five feet of my target.

That thirty five feet made me nervous. The guards that the drake had incinerated had been well beyond thirty five feet from the drake. Plus the dragon had been fast and probably had reaction times to match. Otherwise it wouldn’t be able to fight high level cultivators and mages.

“What are we waiting for?” The guard that was in charge finally said angrily.

I quickly decided to just tell him the truth. Or at least part of it. “I have an ability. If I can get within thirty five feet of the drake I think I can take care of it.” I said quickly.

The guards seemed to be stuck between confusion and anger now. “Take care of it, how?” The lead guard finally asked.

“I can transport it somewhere else. Far away. Far enough it will take weeks to get back here.” I said hoping that was enough explanation. If I told them I had a space I could put it in they probably wouldn’t believe me. Nobody had heard of a space that could store living things. Teleportation was a known ability though. Mine would just be a bit overpowered in comparison.

“You’re a teleporter?” One of the guards said.

I nodded. Now all the guards seemed stuck trying to decide what to do. None of them wanted to get near the drake. It was also clear that they thought that they had a duty to try to help the clan.

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“That may be possible but our duty is to get you to safety. Can you teleport yourself and us to a safe area?” The lead guard finally said.

“We should try to teleport the drake.” One of the other guards suddenly protested.

I interrupted before the guards started fighting. “I can’t teleport myself. Also right now I can only teleport one person or thing a day.” I lied.

The lead guard frowned but eventually nodded. “You just got the ability. So it makes sense that it would be limited. Can you even guarantee that you could teleport the drake.” He asked.

I didn’t want to lie and say that I could. If we got within thirty five feet of the drake and I couldn’t there was a chance the guards would get angry and turn on me. Reluctantly I shook my head. Just then we heard another whoosh sound and more screams outside.

The guards looked at the window in fear again as things brightened noticeably once again. “Okay. Here is the plan. We are going to evacuate as planned. While we do if we see a chance to get close to the drake then we will. Adam can try his ability. If it works great. If not, we will finish evacuating.” The lead guard said.

The other guards seemed to be in agreement with that plan. Even I was in agreement. I certainly didn’t want to take any extreme risks. Charging the drake from hundreds of feet away would be foolish.

We exited the room and headed towards the nearest stairs. We started heading down when we met something coming up. The creature looked like some sort of humanoid bear thing about the size of a person. It was covered in fur, had sharp teeth, and was carrying a wooden club.

The creature threw itself at the guard that was in front. I was actually a bit surprised when the guard reacted perfectly and drove his sword right into the creature's chest. Exactly where a human heart would be. I was even mroe surprised when the creature didn’t even flinch. In fact it drove itself onto the sword further and then took a swing at the guard with a club.

The lead guard executed an amazing move and his sword flashed forward over the other guard’s shoulder. He was far faster than a normal human. I guessed that he was probably a peak level five or early level six cultivator. The guards sword cleanly sliced through the wrist of the creature. The momentum of the club meant that it still hit the guard but there wasn’t any real force behind it. The club and hand bounced off and fell on the ground.

That still didn’t stop the creature. It just shoved further even more and reached out for the guard. This time the lead guard stabbed forward and drove his sword into the head of the creature. With that it finally stopped moving and fell back down the stairs. The guard tried to pull his sword out but the angle was bad and the falling creature took it with them.

Scrambling forward the guard went after his sword. With wide eyes I watched as two more of the creatures and what looked like a large wolf came up the stairs and attacked the guard. This time he wasn’t as lucky as they piled on top of him.

“Fall back.” The lead guard said and we all started to move back up the stairs.

“What were those?” I asked.

“Gnolls. It looks like they have gone berserk. In that state only death will stop them. Even after being mortally wounded they will continue to fight until they fall over dead.” The lead guard said. The last part was directed at the other two guards since I didn’t have any weapons.

We turned a corner and all the guards came to a stop. Down the hallway we could see what looked like a large cat mauling a guard that was on the ground. The guards started to move forward but then another gnoll and another wolf monster came around the corner and joined the cat. They noticed us but seemed to focus on the nearer guard that was on the ground.

We hurried back the way we came. We reached the stairs again just as one of the gnolls was reaching the top. With a yell the lead guard slammed his sword into the gnolls head. I was almost surprised when the gnoll simply dropped to the floor dead. Unfortunately when I glanced past the gnoll I saw that more monsters were coming up the stairs.

“Head upstairs.” The lead guard yelled at me and the other two guards.

Like many castles on Earth the staircases in the castle were round and went multiple floors up and down. Which meant we managed to get three floors higher before we couldn’t go any further. Luckily it seemed like we had lost the monsters. Most likely because they spotted or heard a target on a lower floor.

“Now what?” One of the guards asked.

Just then we heard another woosh followed by a terrifying roar. Obviously the drake was still busy fighting. “The three of us can’t fight all the undead monsters. We will try to take care of the drake. If we do that the elders should be able to handle the undead easily. Let’s get to the roof and see if we can get close enough.” The lead guard said.

Heading to the roof was a smart move. It made us a little bit more vulnerable. However, from the little I had seen the drake seemed to like landing on the roof of the various buildings of the castle. Maybe we would get lucky and it would land on the keep. Or even just one of the buildings that were close enough for me to get it into my space.

A few minutes later we reached the roof. I was disappointed when I realized the drake wasn’t already up there. It would have been really easy if it had been sitting up there already. If it was distracted dealing with the guards I could have easily gotten close enough.

Looking around I found the drake. Or I thought I did. I could only assume it was fighting the elders. Something that size moved surprisingly fast. So did the elders. It made me realize that what I had seen early was just the drake having fun with the low level guards.

I watched as one elder after another was killed by the drake. Their attacks were too weak to injure the drake. At the same time every time the drake hit an elder it would almost certainly kill them. The fight didn’t even last a minute. Then the drake stopped moving and roared in triumph.

For a moment I considered just heading back down the stairs and taking my chances with the undead monsters. At least I could see them move. Then I watched in shock as the drake took to the air and started to fly towards me and the guards.

I nearly collapsed when I realized that it had seen us. Drawing close in the air I saw it rear its head back like it was taking a deep breath. Suddenly I realized it was about to incinerate us.

Suddenly my eyes lit up. Apparently the drake had decided to have some fun with us. Instead of being a hundred feet or so away it had flown quite a bit closer. With a triumphant grin I mentally reached out and stored the drake just as it got within thirty five feet.

Unfortunately the drake had started to breath out a jet of flame at the same time. I only had a moment to realize that I had been a half second too late. Then the flames washed over me and the guards. The pain was intense for all of half a second. And then I passed out yet again.