But I had no time to enjoy the scenery. The earlier wave of an explosion tossed me into the air, and just now an uprooted tree, heading the same way, was about to crash into me.

As phantom beast, I was nearly four meters tall, and there was no way I could dodge it... not while still in the air. I quickly channeled mana into my phantom beast and hit the tree with a double uppercut, sending it even higher into the air while I myself landed on the ground. And yet this was only the beginning... even more trees and some debris from the village headed my way.

Running into forest might have been not the wisest idea... but then again, I had very few options at that time.

In the end, I managed to dodge most of the trees and even cleaved one in half with my claws. My phantom beast might have been capable of withstanding even a direct hit, but taking more than one in quick succession was... unwise.

All of this could have been avoided altogether if just used blink or a phantom shift, but... without phantom beast protection the adventurers I 'swallowed' earlier would have died. With their mana drained to prevent any mishap, both of them were unconscious now.

When everything was finally over I spat the pair on the ground and when my phantom beast vanished, nimbly landed on the feet. Only then I noticed that the fox was actually a slave. The collar on her neck was glowing red... which indicated that her master was dead. Probably one of those adventurers that died before I got there.

After some time Phoenix teleported next to me and I was hardly surprised. The sound of explosion must have reached even his place by now. At first, he looked at me, but when saw that I was alright shifted his gaze to the village... or rather, to the place where it was supposed to be.

"What happened there?" he asked while looking at the still growing mushroom.

The crater itself was only fifty meters wide and nearly ten meters deep, but the effect of a blast could be felt even kilometer away from the center. The village was gone, many trees at the edge of forest completely uprooted, the fields littered with rubble.  

"Tristan went a bit overboard," I replied with a wry smile.

And, speak of the devil, a large shadow shortly passed right over our heads.

"~I DID IT!~" Tristan shouted excited and when landed not far from us created a strong earthquake, "~THE ZOMBIES ARE GONE!~"

"Yes," I said with my hands on the hips, "and if I was a bit slower, the same would have happened to those two... haven't you promised to listen when I let you follow me?"

"~BUT I...~" Tristan blinked a few times, and then looked at unconscious adventurers on the ground, his eyes widened as if it was the first time he saw them, he then looked back at me, "~I AM... SORRY~"

When I saw his reaction I sighed in defeat, "What I am going to do with you..."

A phrase 'with great power comes great responsibility' surfaced in my mind and I thought that it fits the current situation much better than some bullshit motivation to play a hero.

Will need to teach him to think before acting... think before acting... hmm, now that I think about it, that's one of the things I am terrible at myself. Should I find a teacher that is a bit more responsible? Nah... he wouldn't listen to the others anyway... besides, I am not that bad.

*

*whistle*

"Remind me to never mess with your little dragon," Aurora said while looking at the crater and all destruction with admiration. No doubt she was replaying the events of what happened with her 'peek into the past'.

The others were now also there, but they looked worried instead.

"What else do you expect me to tell you?!" in the meantime the orc shouted at Zaos in rage.

When he regained consciousness he was very angry and I could sympathize a bit, after all, thanks to Tristan the bodies of his friends were now completely gone and yet he still had to answer our questions. What surprised me was that even the slave was pissed, I guess her deceased master has not treated her badly.

From what they told us we learned that some time ago another party found everyone dead in the village. When they brought the news back to the town, their party was dispatched to help them with investigation. Yet not long after they got there the dead came back to life. Aurora confirmed that it happened almost at the same time as I rejected that necromancer's offer. If we decided to check on the village right at that time... there probably would be more than a few survivors.

Still, it was obvious that the villagers have died just like those in the previous village... and it was hardly a surprise that our mysterious priest paid them a visit. As this happened before the Harbingers even asked me for a meeting, the claim of necromancer sounded a bit more plausible.

After staying there for a bit longer to see if there was anything we have missed we eventually returned to our task at tracking down the priest.

*

As we entered the town, guards detained the fox when saw her glowing collar. The orc almost got into a fight because of this but calmed down when they explained that it's according to the law. He then tried to persuade to release her. Her now dead master was his best friend and he knew for a fact that he was not married, there was neither a spouse nor a child that could 'inherit' the fox... yet he was told that even if that is the case, two months detainment is mandatory.

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For this period of time, the fox will be put to work as a temporary slave and only when the time is up - released... provided there was really no one with the right to inherit her... and she wasn't enslaved because of a serious crime.

This was the first time I realized that my escape plan at that time had some serious holes.

The orc then followed the guard that escorted the fox, assuring her that he will remain in town to keep an eye on her and wait till she is free... those were actions of a real friend.

As we separated we continued our search further and ended up in front of the temple.

"Don't tell me he is really a priest?" Lorenzo muttered as Aurora stepped inside.

After some time Aurora stopped not far from the portal.

"Great," Jade muttered, "I guess that's another dead end."

"Not necessarily," Aurora replied while approaching a priestess nearby, "we might have no way to find where he came from, but each use of a portal is recorded in a ledger."

Zaos gestured for a priestess near the portal to step aside and Aurora started flipping through the pages of a book on the pedestal.

"Einhold City." she quickly smiled.

*

The book not only told us the destination of the priest but even his name. The priestess at the portal even recognized him as her acquaintance. Mokus was really a priest, he was an orphan raised by the temple. When he grew up, he joined the Order and almost in no time became a priest as well.

From time to time he would visit the town of Sendmore, and according to the priestess, his real parents were supposed to be from one of the villages in the vicinity.

Was this his motivation for what he did? No, something doesn't add up.

While Einhold City was at least a few days on a horse from Sendmore Town, using a portal to save some time was way too careless...

After we teleported to Einhold City with the portal, we resumed our search... and surprisingly found our target just in a few minutes... within the temple. 

"Greetings, how can I help you?" greeted us a dwarf but his gaze was practically glued to Tristan.

"Is it him?" Zaos asked through the teeth.

The very fact that someone from the Order could slay so many innocents probably wasn't sitting well with him. If Kun was there, the priest probably would be already lying on the floor.

*

 "Dead?!" the priest almost choked on his words, "But that's impossible! I was there just a day ago and everyone wa..."

"We know," Zaos interrupted him, "Which is exactly why we are talking with you now. Why you did it? Was that really revenge for your parents abandoning you?"

"W... what are you talking about?" the dwarf was lost for words, "Wait, you think that I am the one who did it?!" 

"We don't think," Aurora replied in templars stead. "That is merely a fact." 

"Wait, Auro... err, I mean..." Lorenzo then was lost how to call her. While officially she was a priest Nick, it was only a disguise and as a pixie, he was unable to lie, "Maybe it's some kind of misunderstanding? He isn't lying..."

"Misunderstanding?" Aurora snorted, "It was him that poured that flask into a well and we all saw what that did to them."

"Flask?" the dwarf reacted immediately, "you mean 'Tears of Goddess'?!"

I had no idea what they were talking about but judging from the expressions, Zaos and the priest in our group did. Zaos quickly turned around and started to walk in wide strides deeper into the temple. The templars at the temple grabbed the dwarf and followed close behind.

We stopped in front of something that looked like an altar and on top of it I saw multiple flask-like bottles. Must be the so-called 'Tears of Goddess'. Zaos picked one of them and started to observe from every angle, I also walked closer and then used transmutation to take a glance what's inside in another.

"Virus..." I said when finished with the task, but then noticed that used the word from my old world, there was no such word in this world's language yet, "a source of disease."

"That was yesterday..." Zaos muttered and then faced the dwarf, "Have you used Tears of Goddess to bless any other village?"

"No..." replied the priest and his eyes widened in horror, " today was Anna's turn..."

*

"But why was then that priest not affected by the virus as well?" Jade asked as we left the city, "he should have inhaled some when opened the bottle."

"All priests and templars are immune to disease," I replied.

Now everything made sense to me, this was a very nasty plan. That priest was probably sure he was helping people... Tears of Goddess is a sort of an elixir. When consumed, even if diluted by a large margin, it can protect people from catching any disease for at least a few months... And yet a complete opposite has happened.

It was a good thing the priest from our group has cleansed the bodies of that fox and orc with his magic or we would have to worry about spreading the epidemy with our own hands. Then again, at that time we already knew that the villagers have died from some disease or poison, so it was only logical to take some actions to prevent a possible spread. 

"Please, could you two go ahead with teleportation?" Zaos suddenly asked, "this here is a real flask of tears of goddess, it should help in case..." 

"No need,"  I replied, "I already have a cure," I then looked at Tristan, "you will... " but my voice trailed off when he suddenly vanished and then reappeared high in the sky, "stay behind." I finished my words with a wry smile.

That rascal.

I appeared next to him and just a moment later Phoenix did as well.

"Even if there are zombies, please don't attack this time."

"~I KNOW~" Tristan replied a bit annoyed and we started to teleport in quick succession towards our destination.

At first, Tristan was a bit slow, he learned teleportation only recently and his blink was taking way more time to activate, but soon he got used to the process and matched our speed completely.

*

This time not a single corpse has greeted us... some people that screamed and ran for their lives yes, but no zombies. As for why they ran and screamed...

"Dragon!!" shouted yet another villager.

Yes, my 'little brother' might have something to do with it.

How strange. When we are in the city, it's hard to reach your destination with all the folk blocking your way, climbing over the heads of one another for a better view. There on another hand, everyone reacted as if the end of the world was approaching.

Checking them will be a pain in the ass now... or maybe not.

Once we landed on the ground most were already inside their homes, some even hidden in the bushes. I deeply breathed in and then shouted from the top of my lungs, even used my wind manipulation to amplify the sound.

"Now listen up everyone! If you don't want my little friend here to eat you, gather in front of me in an orderly fashion."

"~BUT I DON'T WANNA~" Tristan 'whispered' when heard what I said, "~ TIA SAID MY TUMMY WILL HURT IF I EAT PEOPLE...~"

"No, you won't eat them," I replied with a chuckle, trying to imagine why she would say something like that, "It's a game. Just stand over there and look scary."

Tristan did as asked and even started making various grimaces. The villagers got scared and increased the pace, I on another hand almost burst into a laughter when saw him.