With Alc’Bruk at the head, his army marched through valleys with high moral towards the place where the last of the resistance was holed up. The mercenaries serving under his command loosely divided among themselves. Those that wish to work together made arrangements prior to the day of battle and formed small platoons.

Together, the army was much smaller than Rozzosea’s trial invasion against Vivrus’ Ilum mines. The total number of armed warriors were under a few thousand, but they alsodeployed an expeditionary force ahead of time.

Kihet tugged on the reins to match the horse’s speed with everyone else and found his companions awfully quiet. Knowing he was gone for most of the night yesterday, he was aware of Lily sulking next to him.

“I came back with food, didn’t I?”

“You could’ve brought me with you.” She pouted.

“You’d attract too much attention. I didn’t know it ended up like that. What’s done is done.”

“I’ll drop it, but what about the Rozzalian?”

Standing roughly three meters tall, the Giant marched behind them. The helmet looked down and nodded when their gazes met.

“She’s also looking for the people we’re after. On the plus side, she doesn’t like the current Rozzosea as much as us and a survivor of that day.”

“And her name?”

“Don’t need to know. We’ll separate once we find the Oracle.”

[Helping Resistance?] From the back, Aten’s arm poked between the two and held his writing board. [Did tell?]

“I did mention it. She says she’s in as long as we could reach our goals.”

[She turn Titan?]

“If she uses [Wars Blood], she’d lose her armor. I didn’t ask if she can, but it’d be a last resort thing.”

“There’s a special armor that could expand with the user’s size. Nyie hear each set cost more than nine hundred thousand silvers to create.”

“So expensive!” Lily exclaimed.

“Well, there are extensive magic involved and most of the enchantments were imported from Easul. Only a handful of figures get to wear them.” Tama rubbed her eye with her paw. “Nyi’m not aware of any trades made in my lifetime. I bet they lost the art to make them.”

“Maybe.” Thinking back, Kihet never saw any sort of magical armor on anyone twelve years ago in Rozzosea. “Aten, you’re missing a stroke on that word. Everything else seems fine.”

[The sandy desert wooka like the golden sea. Modern character, difficult.] Aten showed the board that was written partially written in Pamarine. [Will practice more.]

“At this rate, Aten will learn Scylanis and Pamarine before you do, Lily.”

“I’m learning one language at a time. Give me a month and I’ll be fluent in one of those languages just like I did for Vivirian!”

“I’ll quiz you then.”

Having to motivate Lily returning to her studies, Kihet glanced up to a piece of the Azure tower. Cracks formed as he set his sight upon it and observed it crumbled seconds later. The fragments would once again decay into dust with no known explanation of why or what was happening to the Tower.

“Hey you.” Kihet called out to the back. “Has the Tower always been like this?”

“It wasn’t.” The Giant replied. “The Dragonkins said it started breaking itself about two months ago.”

“And when did you arrive?”

“I think it was week after the Oracle’s party landed and that was a month ago.”

“I see. Everything the Dragonborn told me is true.”

Six times parts of the Azure Tower between portals were destroyed, six times a new piece remerged. If this had been the pace the tower was breaking down, there shouldn’t have been anymore unless the Towers were infinite and stretched beyond the known sky. That would’ve been the only solution to why the Azure Tower still existed after witnessing so many parts crushed by some invisible force.

Xu and Vivrus’ towers were pacified, Sanctuary’s was sealed by a crystal spire, Pamalyra’s was surrounded by a powerful sandstorm. Stusis was the only place that had substantial amount of activity.

There was also Elenora’s absence. She hadn’t shown up in his dreams since their second meeting. The number of questions kept piling as he journeyed the lands. What were Sanctums? How did the Acolytes fall under the Tower’s influence? Who was the Headsman’s master? What’s happening in Stusis?

“Grumpy one. Hello? Are you awake?”

“What do you want?”

“I thought you slept with your eyes opened again.” Tama reached into her bag, putting wares on display. “Back at the port, I came across interesting things. Would you like to take a meowment to look at them? One glance wouldn’t hurt.”

And there wasn’t anything else eye catching in the area. Kihet shifted his seat over and examined unusual pieces of gear Tama pulled out of her bag. From daggers to axes to shields, Tama set down every preferred type of weapons she saw Kihet used throughout their journey.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Are any of these enchanted?”

“Those stuff are hard to come by. Nyie have a few, but they don’t seem to suit your fighting style. They’d do more harm than good for you in a battlefield.”

“I see.” Skeptical, he sourly took Tama’s word as it was her wares. “Aren’t these sabers from the pirates a while back?”

“They’re not going to be needing them.”

“Right…”

As he compared her wares with his inventory, he had more than enough spare expendable weapons. If anything, he’d prefer an upgrade to his current armor and hold onto extra shields since he tends to destroy them on almost all big encounters.

Scanning through Tama’s line of shields, he discovered one with a small rectangular face and two arcs in a shape of a bow, but the bottom one was shorter.

“This bow isn’t stringed.”

“Nyit’s a shield.”

“The next thing you’re going to tell me that there’s an axe that is a mace.”

“I know my wares. This is one in particular is a parry shield, a hook shield as implied with these hooks on each end. Nyit’s kind of like the swordbreaker that’s on your waist, but against long thrust weapons.”

“It doesn’t look like it’s made for the battlefield. A dueling weapon?”

“Yup!”

“My cloak would get in the way if I use it. Could you hold onto that until I change my mind? I will buy the war pick and this round shield you have for now.”

“As long as you pay the deposit, certainly! I shall set it aside.” Tama rubbed her paws together. “Tomoe, when you have a second, would you like to see what I got in stock for you? Aten, would you like to take a look after Tomoe’s turn?”

“It’s been a while since you have something to sell us. Aten, could you take over for a second?”

----------------------------------------

Scenes of battle bore its scars down the path from previous attempts of pushing the rest of the Scalemen tribes to a corner. Bodies from weeks ago laid both sides of the road being picked apart by wild beasts.

“And that’s all for the debriefing. Are there any questions?”

Standing at the front of mercenaries, a Dragonkin relayed the roles of action to hired arms for the assault against the resistance burrowed deep in the mountain in sight.

Rather than listening, Kihet’s attention was elsewhere. His almond sized pupils glanced around the encampment as if searching and noticed something. The only exception to not participate was Tama as she was a merchant with goods even the Dragonkins were interested in. Before they arrived, Kihet had her gather information about the locations where the Dragonkins would keep their supply of explosives and armory.

Halfway through their march, he noticed the caravan carrying most of the Dragonkin’s supply split from the trail.

“One last thing. You there, Giant!” The Debriefer pointed. “Your party will lead the charge and break the gates. Once you get close enough, use your [Wars Blood] and clear the path for the rest of us.”

“There’s no way I’m doing that.” The Rozzalian objected. “If you want to approach the gates while being peppered by arrows, you can do it. I’m not going to throw my life for nothing.”

“Keh, have it your way. I swear I’ll deduct your pay.”

As soon as the Debriefer walked off stage, mercenaries scattered to their own flocks. Regardless, the assault was going to proceed with or without the Rozzalian’s [Wars Blood].

“We still have time before the attack. Aten, call Tama back and see if she got the things I want. I will see what I can do around here.”

“What about me?”

“Hang back and guard our things with the Rozzalian. Don’t say anything unnecessary about or related to our crests. I’ll be taking the horse.”

“Oh. En.” Lily turned an awkward smile towards the Giant’s helmet. “Umm, no speak Rozzalian. Sorry Hi.”

“Hello.”

After Lily kicked wedges under the wheels and watched Kihet disappeared into the crowd, she crawled into the carriage, finding a comfortable spot to look out of the canopy facing the mountains. The Giant set her belongings in front and sat down within Lily’s view.

Lily shifted her gaze at the Giant removing parts of her armor for inspection. Overall, the Giant’s armor was decently kept but it wasn’t the cleanest. Hides of creatures were sown spots with holes and the armor had a few splotches of rust here and there.

The Giant reached around her shoulders trying to unbuckle her shoulder guard but didn’t have any luck unlocking the belt. It was caught onto the clothing underneath, but Lily carefully yanked it free and loosened the belt.

“I’ll get that.”

“Thanks. Could you get the other one too?”

“You could speak Zuxin?”

“I should’ve probably told you.”

“No! I’m glad you mentioned it. You’re quite good at it.”

“I guess. I don’t know Vivirian so I can’t really understand your words back then.”

“We weren’t talking bad about you, I promise!”

“That makes it more suspicious since you were talking about me.” The Giant softly laughed. “So, why is a pair of Devil Folk, an Insectoid and a Werecat looking for the Oracle? Aside from bringing someone back to their parents, your friend didn’t say anything else.”

“We think the Oracle is an imposter, but we also heard someone from Rozzosea got elected as a hero. We wanted to see for ourselves.”

“Why do you think the Oracle is a fake?”

“That…” Lily clasped her hands together. “Sorry, but I can’t tell you! I can only say we just wanted to verify it for ourselves! What about you?”

“I’m looking for the said hero from the Oracle’s group. They forced a slave collar on her and I’m going to free her.”

“A slave collar? That’s terrible! How could anyone do something like that?”

“That’s why when the time comes, could you convince your friends to help me? I won’t be able to reward your efforts, but I know someone else who could.”

“Hmm.” Lily crossed her arms and thought really hard. “I can’t promise anything. I’ll have to ask Kihet.”

“Kihet?” There was a gasp. “I don’t mean to be rude, but the two of you are Devil Folks, right?”

“Umm…! Totally! Kihet and I are both Devil Folks! Both of us have our horns!”

“Oh…”

After Lily’s answer, the Rozzalian’s response sounded deflated. It left Lily to wonder if Kihet and this Giant had met before.

*clunk

“Hey! That person’s stealing your stuff!” The Giant forcibly stood up and raised her axe at the Beastmen closest to their carriage. Once it was noticed, the thief made off with its loot.

Lily drew a blunt arrow from her back and quickly loosened the projectile through the canopy and into the crowd. She sniped the back of her target’s head and rendered the thief unconscious before stopping the Giant from retrieving it.

“Oh. That’s not good.”

“You don’t want it back?”

“You see…” Lily scratched her chin and instead of reclaiming it, she turned themselves around as another person snatched the fallen chest. “That box is-.”

Boobytrapped.

Chaos was ensured as a bright flash engulfed the camp and firecrackers were set off dazzling and stunning more victims than intended. People cussed each other and what little peace the encampment had had plummeted with blames being thrown around.

Once the light subsided, Lily spotted Aten dive bombed the thief. The primal insectoid’s appearance only made the situation worse. Dragonkins were then forced to intervene numerous brawls breaking out and calm everyone down.

“What was that bright flash?!”

“A little something we planned to use right when the battle starts.” Lily answered. “Pamalyrian mercenaries are the worst, don’t you think?”

“I think after I joined your group, they made you targets as well. You’re quick with your bow.”

“I’m proud of it.” With a smug grin, Lily smacked her fist on her chest and raised her bow. “It’s all because Kihet was the one who taught me.”

“He’s an archer too? I don’t see a bow on him.”

“Now that I think about it, I never seen him use one. He only showed me the basics.”

“Do you think he’s good at it?”

“I don’t know. I should let him shoot a few arrows to see, but I know he’s really good at throwing.” Even though Lily couldn’t see the expression behind the helmet, she imagined the Giant somewhat smiling. “Umm… I don’t think I’ve gotten your name. I’m Tomoe. Glad to be working with you!”