Thalion ran through the jungle. His body was still in pain from the fight earlier. He activated predatory instinct to blend with the darkness and to scout the area so he wouldn't run into any surprises.
He had fed on some plants on the way, which had almost fully healed his injuries, but now he faced a lot of problems. He couldn't go back to the fortress when the orcs had such strong fighters.
Their reaction was fast and very efficient. The orcs had reinforced the blockade and the camp instantly, making a stealth attack almost impossible.
For now, he was trying to find any survivors from the fortress. He needed more men to break through if something like that was even possible, or maybe some had good connections with one of the human bases.
If he didn't find anyone, maybe he would just travel the mountains and hunt for a good airborne form; maybe then he could do more to help Kael.
Asking Steven for help was also not an option; he feared that he had some similar skill as the orc and would instantly notice that Thalion and the umbreal predator were the same person.
Michael had already tried to use him as an excuse to bring more people under his wing. If he knew his true class, Kael could get a lot more problems.
While he was running through the jungle, his sharp senses heard the sound of a fight in the distance, and he pushed his speed to the limit.
He soon arrived in the area and spotted Evelyn, Kargul, and a young woman who was firing fireballs at their attackers.
The attackers were insects—some kind of wasps but with a red mist rising from their bodies. Especially after they died, this was some kind of blood spell, he realized perplexed. The wasps were not undead, but they didn't look alive either.
Thalion transformed into his human form and approached the clearing, where more and more wasps were entering. Kargul, now with a big mace, kept smashing every single and clearly had a lot of fun doing it. Thalion also engaged in the fight by throwing a charged fireball at a group of insects that completely destroyed at least seven of the wasps, but they just kept coming.
"Hello," Evelyn happily greeted him. "Did Kael already kill the orcs in front of the city?"
"No, the situation is looking dire," Thalion said while throwing another fireball at another group of wasps, destroying their bodies.
The red mist was rising, and it had to be blood, as he felt the desire of the sanguine thorn, but it was odd, like the blood had a mind of its own.
After a time of them destroying wasp after wasp, the attacks slowly subsided, and after a bit more, they ended completely, and the red mist hung high in the air. Evelyn had to constantly heal herself, Kargul, and the woman since for them the red mist was some kind of poison. For Thalion, it was perfect nourishment as the sanguine thorn was gobbling everything up with glee.
Since the attacks had ended, the others were running from the red mist, except Thalion; he walked right into it, with Evelyn calling him stupid for doing so.
When he stood in the middle of everything, he activated Crimson Harvest and drew all of the red mist to him. The sanguine thorn was devouring all of the blood with glee.
Thalion also ripped all the remaining blood out of the wasp corpses, leaving only empty shells.
The sanguine thorn was almost humming with delight after devouring all the blood.
"How are you not dead?" Evelyn said with surprise. "This mist should have killed you many times over after entering the clearing with Kargul and the young woman."
"It's a skill of mine that makes me immune to the mist," Thalion answered, trying not to give too much information. "So what were your plans?"
"I don't know, Evelyn sighed. And how are Kael and the others?"
"They are fine, but the orcs are slowly starving them in experience, but so far, so good," Thalion answered. "There are no plans. The situation isn't looking good."
"We should go and smash them!" Kargul said with excitement.
"That won't work; there is at least one orc at level forty and too strong for us to handle," Thalion said, shaking his head. "Do you know any of the human bases that are close? We will need an army."
"I know one," the woman mage said. "We could definitely find help there."
"You're confident to do that alone? I need to pay the mountains a visit," Thalion said after a bit of thinking. He really didn't want to do politics, and gaining a new flying form could allow him to be more useful anyway.
"Yeah, we should be fine," Evelyn said. "I think Kael will get help anyway since the gods will for sure inform their blessed that the orcs are on the move or even order them to help Kael."
"That would be perfect. Good luck! When I am finished, I will come back as fast as I can," Thalion said, and with that, he disappeared into the jungle.
This was a turbulent day, but it should be fine. If they managed to get help from a human base, breaking the blockade would be entirely possible.
Thalion used his mist form to race for the mountains, flying with incredible speed in that direction, but they were so far away and probably it would take the whole night to get there.
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After his mana was almost empty, he landed and continued his travel in the form of the umbreal predator.
The surroundings blurred while Thalion pushed his body to its limit, and he came closer and closer to his destination, wondering what great beast would live on the top of those mountains. Sometimes you could see beasts fighting far up in the sky, but that was very rare. One was the big griffins that were, from time to time, flying down to the grassland, but he hoped for some kind of bird form that was faster and more mobile in the air.
Something like the manta they met at the beginning of the tutorial or some kind of falcon or eagle
<--
Evelyn was walking with Lisa and Kargul in the direction of the next base while Lisa was talking nonstop about how cool the leader of the base, Garrick, was.
"The poor Sylas," Evelyn thought, thinking back on how Sylas spoke about Lisa, who now that they had left Kael's base, wasn't even mentioning him once.
"You probably aren't talking about how great the muscle structure of another man looks when you are already in love with a different one," Evelyn wondered, but does she know about such stuff.
"How long will it take until we arrive at Garrick's base?" Evelyn asked Lisa after a while. Maybe they should rest before arriving there to be at full strength. The day had been very exhausting.
"Not much longer. We should arrive in two hours," Lisa excitedly answered.
"You should have seen how Garrick had handled two troublemakers who didn't want to contribute to the camp. He just moved forward, grabbed their heads, and completely crushed their skulls," Lisa excitedly explained with stars in her eyes.
Evelyn was worried now; something was very wrong with this woman, and she stepped to the side to put Kargul between her and the woman. She didn't want something like that with her first party to happen ever again.
So they traveled for two hours and arrived at a small castle with probably over 300 survivors in it. This could be enough to make a difference. Evelyn thought with hope rising.
They stepped out of the jungle into the clearing the castle was built on, with their hands in the air. It was always difficult to approach human settlements with Kargul.
One of the guards used one of those magic stones that made their voice louder: "Why did you come here?"
"Hi, it's me, Lisa," Lisa shouted excitedly back. "Just ask Garrick. He should know me, and these are Evelyn and Kargul. We bring very important news."
After a short while of silence, the guard spoke again: "Please come in. Garrick is waiting for you." With that, the gate slowly opened, and they stepped in.
They walked through a narrow alley and arrived at the residence of Garrick, which looked very luxurious.
A servant or butler of some sort opened the door and invited them in: "Greetings, Lady Lisa; welcome back."
Evelyn didn't like what was happening one bit, stepping a bit closer to Kargul, and together they followed Lisa into the entrance hall where Garrick was waiting.
The man looked not nearly as good as Lisa had described him. He was definitely a heavy warrior, and he looked strong, but he was just level 36, which was not impressive at all.
"Hello, nice to see you again," Garrick said while hugging Lisa. "And you must be Evelyn and Kargul. It's very rare for an orc to travel with humans."
"Hello, nice to meet you," Evelyn said, trying not to show her unease. "We are here because Kael needs your help. They are attacked by hundreds of orcs, and we need a strong fighter like you to break free. If you don't help, the orcs might come for you next after destroying Kael's base."
"Hmm, this is a very peculiar situation," Garrick said coldly. "Is the situation really this bad, Lisa?"
"Yes, they have a blockade and will probably attack the base soon," Lisa nodded along.
"Then we will help you, but we need two days to prepare," Garrick said with confidence. "And we can fight with a maximum of a hundred men. I need to leave some for protection here."
"This will be enough," Evelyn said happily. This had gone way better than expected. Probably because she was so good in negotiations.
"Great! So if you don't mind, I and Lady Lisa have something to discuss. Albert will show you your rooms," Garrick said with a smile on his face.
With that, the servant came and guided them to their room upstairs. It was a big room with nice furniture.
"I don't trust that guy," Kargul said with a low, deep voice after the servant had left.
"Me neither," Evelyn nodded. She contemplated sneaking down and spying on the conversation, but she feared that she would be discovered by the servants.
In the end, she decided against it. The consequences could be dire.
"So what are we doing? Should I smash the guy?" Kargul offered his eyes, lighting up at the last sentence.
"No, then we lose the army he is already providing. But the two are planning something, and I don't like it one bit," Evelyn said suspiciously. "I hope the others are fine, and when it comes to Garrick and Lisa, we need to keep our guard up at all times."