As Richard set off to go try his new "speed baron" form as the system put it, Achil wandered off. He wasn't quite sure what his connection to the dragon was, but considering that powerful, beautiful queen seemed to be like a mother figure for the young dragon, and the white dragon had shown him such consideration, he had thought it important to show his consideration as a companion. Maybe?
Regardless, he had followed along long enough he believed, and instead sought to go back to exploring the territory the one called Alexandria ruled.
Perhaps he could find prey worthwhile to present to the great wyrm as she called herself.
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"This should be around where the priestess of Hestia saw the dragon." said Devis as he inspected his report.
They had arrived at the portion of the forest where the white dragon had been reported to be last seen, having found the left over markings from the previous battle across the road.
They hadn't exactly just walked here either, having also had the secondary purpose of clearing out the forest, and culling the monsters, lest it grow into another monster wave.
It was rare, sure, but never quite zero either, and with so few people willing to travel into the deeper sections of the mountain, paladins had to go and do a occasional cleansing of the more violent monsters, especially in a place like the ymir ranges. Galileo had been having a hard time keeping up.
He was gasping, after having difficulty even killing a quarter of the monsters that the paladins had been killing. Luckily, the paladin of Anubis had been keeping an eye on him, making sure he was fine.
His own master was up ahead, competing with Devis to see who could kill more monsters. Devis insisted it wasn't a competition, but he was clearly pushing to kill more than his competitor, Copernicus.
"I've killed 60 so far!" boasted Copernicus.
"63" said Devis, plainly trying to hide the small smirk creeping onto his face.
It was a great race, a battle between the two different kind of weapons, blades against gauntlets.
Devis was a brutal fight, quick and efficient, using his fists to strike devastating blows, in glowing bursts of red energy.
Despite using a sword, Copernicus swung crazily, cleaving all thing that stood in his path.
Scave was different from any paladin he had ever seen before, though the ones he had seen were mostly confined to the temple of Isis, and a few from the temple of Sethor, god of chaos and storms.
Most paladins he knew engaged in up close combat, using their covenant with their divine patron to increase their aura and cleave their foes down.
Peter, even as an exception to this rule, used a giant shield that was representative of his divine covenant with Isis, and was still used for combat.
The form that the covenant took with the Paladin of Anubis had always been described as "unique", but Galileo had never quite grasped that until he saw it himself.
A beast lunged from the shadows, clasping onto its prey with its jaws, before closing and twisting fiercely, tearing off entire limbs of their prey, and Scave would channel divine wrath through his ankh in hand, using his scepter if the beasts managed to survive the attack.
The beast was almost crocodilian in nature, with scales and the face appropriate on a large reptile, but the body was more akin to a wolf, or perhaps a cat.
According to Scave, the beast was a lesser child of Ammit, a descendent of sorts, and thus only had some resemblance to the great god who feasted.
He called his covenant familiar...
"Hippo."
... Scave was a weird man, but clearly adept at what he needed to do.
After arriving at the location where the fight between the bandits and the (unconfirmed) reborn Richard, they decided to set camp, much to Galileo's delight.
They hadn't camped at all in the last few weeks, and when Galileo fainted from a lack of sleep, he was plopped on top of "Hippo" to rest.
He did not feel safe this way.
It was a sight to watch the paladins as they strode forward, knowing that the group had not slept in 2 weeks, and yet had clearly shown no sign of slowing down.
Truly, the power of the Gods was terrifying.
So they settled down on that day, taking the opportunity to summarize the results up to now.
"There's a drop in difficulty of the monsters around here" noted Devis as he looked over the results he had gathered.
The paladin was like an automatic report printer, punching out all the observations he had made during the day, starkly contrasting his brutal killings, yet perfectly matching that quick and ruthless efficiency.
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Scave nodded. "With a new dragon, as well as the squirrel mentioned in the report, it makes sense that the level of monsters overall has decreased. The environment has likely been forced to sustain the two." He tossed a piece of meat into the air, which Hippo lunged out of the shadow at, grabbing it, and then flipping back into the shadow.
Copernicus shrugged. "So we're probably close right?" he asked.
Devis nodded. "Likely," he commented. "I suggest we head to the place where the lightning congregated earlier. Coincidence or not, it's important we move forward to investigate the evidence of foreign divinity, and if we find any entity tied to the foreign force, to inquire about their intentions."
"Why? Going to kill them if they don't align with what you want?" taunted Copernicus.
Devis rebuked him. "If they don't align with what Jorvus Mars wants, yes."
Copernicus scoffed. "As usual, the temple of Jorvus Mars shows their corruption. They'll stop others from influencing the empire, but have no hesitation about putting danger into the very halls of the imperial palace itself." He sneered. "Anything a foreigner does can be no worse than placing assassins around the emperor, no worse than a dog leading its master into a pack of wolves."
Devis' face hardens as he gets up, letting off thick killing intent. "What our temple does is none of your business. What we do is for the best of the empire! And if the emperor fails to intercept an assassination, then he was unfit to rule!"
"Unfit to rule indeed; the last time a ruler was unfit to rule, the empire nearly fell apart, and multiple countries splintered off to become their own countries. IF you ask ME, I think the best thing for the emperor to do is get rid of the biggest parasite and prove himself worthy of the title emperor." He gestured his thumb at the paladin.
"You."
Devis' gauntlets apparated as he stormed towards Copernicus, and Copernicus chuckled as he unsheathed his blade.
Poor Galileo was staring at the two of them, worriedly, and unsure what to do.
"Stop."
Before either of them could do anything, an overwhelming shadow was cast over the two, causing them both to freeze and stare at the object which caused the shadow.
The usually calm and careless Scave gave off a very different feeling, as his eyes were alit with divine light, as he placed his jackal mask upon his face, the shadow accentuating the light, as Hippo emerged larger, more terrifying than before, it's body seemingly having doubled in size and its body gaining in pure, dense muscle.
"If either of you fight, you will violate the terms upon which the temples and the Gods established this shared deal. We can tolerate bickering and insults, but fighting is prohibited. Do YOU UNDERSTAND!"
At this, both Devis and Copernicus had to sit.
This was why the temple of Anubis had been sent.
Anubis, the great contract overseer. All deals made under his name were high level contracts, for to break his contract is to have the paladins of Anubis, the scourges of Anubis, track you down and extract the appropriate cost.
It was known that when pursuing contract breakers, the powers of the followers of Anubis would feel the divine connection to their god, keeper of contracts strengthens, for Anubis despised rule breakers.
Galileo had heard of it, but to see it, to witness it, was something of a miracle in its own right.
Before, Galileo had seen Scave as a careless person, unable to ignore the way the man looked. Seeing they wat the atmosphere changed when he was serious was a sight to behold, terrifying even. It furthered the reminder never to break an oath or a contract, more so than he had already engraved upon his heart.
The atmosphere was tense, in need of a way to defuse the situation.
Or distract them.
Thwoom!
A giant beast flew by them, hitting the side of a giant boulder, dying upon impact.
Immediately, the atmosphere changed, with the intent no longer directed at one another, as Scave powered down, returning to his normal self, still cautious, as they quickly observed the carcass of the B-rank monster, a staguar
Thoom!
Thoom!
Thoom!
The sounds of heavy stomps could be heard as the cause of the corpse approached.
Although Galileo tensed up, the paladins showed an indifference.
Gone was the earlier hostility, as paladins knew better than to let grudges interfere with their holy work.
"Low A-rank?"
"High B-rank"
"Manageable either way."
A great black beast soon entered the clearing, its black scales glimmering in the light.
The creature was covered in heavy plating, its eyes unseen.
It walked on 4 limbs, though two more could be seen emerging from its chest.
Achil looked upon the group curiously, unsure what to do with these weird little bipedal creatures. They seemed strong, maybe even stronger than him. And were seemingly curious, more than hostile, except the last one.
Better to leave them alone was his thinking as he turned his focus onto better prey.
Copernicus joked. "It's a dragon all right; just the wrong one apparently?"
Scave shrugged. "Perhaps we could ask it if it has seen a white dragon anywhere."
Devis said coldly. "We should apprehend it for questioning." watching the monster. "dragon types are rarely known for their willingness to cooperate, especially ones who aren't dragons."
Achil was not a fool. It understood them, for they spoke the same tongue as the others, so he could easily discern their intent.
They were much stronger than him, without question, for he could sense it innately.
There was no fleeing, one of them was clearly violent and unlikely to let him leave.
All he could do was fight back and hope that the great queen and the others would sense his struggle.
Sensing the black dragon's intent rising, Copernicus sighed. "Dammit Devis! You and your big mouth." he complained as he readied his blade, and Galileo quickly followed his master's moves, with Scave readying his scepter but not his ankh.
Devis frowned. "Subject is resisting questioning. Will subdue him without any major injuries."
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Richard had been testing out the speed of his new baron form, finding it satisfying how much faster he was on land and air.
Flying had become more fun without question. The wind beating at his face had intensified, producing a pleasant cool sensation that sadly, Panda was not interested in.
"TOO DANGEROUS" is what he had said, alongside things like "splat squirrel" and "rat pancake." Richard understood, but it was a shame he couldn't share this with him or Krackle.
Richard had been just flying around, and it was because of this leisurely flight he saw an alarming sight.
Achil was in a standoff with 4 people, but the one Richard was worried about was not the humans, but the child Achil.
He could tell that Achil was losing, and urgently so, barely able to defend himself against the four people.
He wasn't even sure if he could beat them, given the heavy killing intent that emanated from them.
But Achil was his responsibility, and they might kill him if he didn't interfere.
In spite of his senses warning him about the danger, he couldn't help but dive down, planning to interfere in the fight.
Gathering lightning around him, coalescing it into a tight sphere around him, he pushed himself further and faster, till he became a blur of lightning, rushing towards the paladins.
Closer,
closer,
closer,
Close-
BOOM!
[Congratulations! You have learned the skill Thunder meteor!]
Richard came crashing into the battlefield.