Chaos had descended on the city of Herdurand with a vengeance.
From the time the brazen attack was discovered till the wee hours of the morning, the city saw no rest as scores of witcher knights surged into it like a flood and seized the reins that steered it.
Incensed by the daringness of the heretics and emboldened by their authority as the continent's supreme protectors directly subordinate to the king, the knights spared no decorum or effort in rooting out the culprits.
Each and every single structure that served as a home, be it a hut, a mansion, a cottage, castle or whatever was thoroughly ransacked and searched from top to bottom. No stone was left unturned.
Obviously, the peasants and regular citizens knew better than to protest the unjust treatment. They let the knights have their way and went back to pick up the pieces left behind when the former concluded their searches.
Now, if only the wealthy merchants and powerful nobles could watch their lowly brethren and learn something from how they dealt with the pompous knights, the numerous battles erupting across the already tumultuous city might not have occurred.
Unluckily for these people, the leaders of the witcher knights were beyond enraged, and this sentiment trickled down to their men with a clarity that was rarely seen.
A dragon had been attacked, and not only had it been severely injured, it had fallen into a coma, completely unresponsive to the calls of its rider and partner, the distinguished Third Grade Dragon Knight.
The merchants and nobles who assumed their wealth, status, and/or backing could rebuff these fired up knights who shared their leader's rage were in for a rude awakening.
All attempts to halt the knights' advance were met with extreme and decisive action. The nobles and merchants themselves were arrested and locked up while their servants and guards were slaughtered down to the last man, woman and child.
For the few who were wise enough to read the sudden climate shift or caught wind of their fellows' misfortune and acted accordingly, they experienced none of the extreme terminations and were left to their devices.
These devices being gathering in front of the castellan's castle, blocking the entrance, and protesting the unfair treatment to the city leadership, all to no effect.
None of the sub leaders subordinate to the Grand Duke showed their faces, much less the duke himself. As a result, when morning came, new rumors apart from those about the heretic attack began to spread.
The Third Grade Dragon Knight had put Duke Lington under house arrest and had taken charge of the city's affairs. What this rumor did to the already unstable powder keg of a city, was easily deducible.
More chaos…
☀☀☀
While Herdurand sank further and further into severe unrest, Jefferson rode his partner above the endless Greenland Forest, completely oblivious of the shitstorm brewing and waiting for him.
A normal human would have some trouble breathing comfortably at an altitude of 1000 feet in the air. The temperature at such a height when the night was darkest also went without saying.
Yet, seated above Ysondre and scanning the seemingly unending stretch of green below with his powerful eyes, knight Jefferson showed not the slightest sign of discomfort as he searched for Ninther and his 100 man troop.
He of course didn't spend much time doing so, knowing how fruitless the endeavor would be if he used his eyes only. He tapped his partner lightly and the latter understood the unspoken message, diving down and reducing the distance between them and the forest.
Reaching a sufficient distance, the dragon coiled its long neck and unleashed a roar that stretched for dozens and dozens of kilometers. If Ninther and his troops were in the forest, they would definitely hear this and respond.
Combine that with Ysondre's outstanding size, the knights below would find a way to make contact.
Sadly, after several roars and multiple loops across the length and breadth of the forest, Jefferson and Ysondre neither heard nor saw nothing, leading to the latter's frown and doubtful expression.
'Ninther didn't rush deep into the deep did he?' the knight asked himself and came to an answer right after. 'No. Ninther is smarter than that. He would have sent a message if he did. This is something else… and I'm going to find out what.'
☀☀☀
Within the confines of the forward base, all the Adepts present save for Lord Sarubo had stopped working and gathered themselves in a corner to all stare at the black dot circling the skies on the horizon.
"Sir Fügen, should we release some voodoo beasts to lure it away?" one of the spectators, who'd been cursing a few minutes earlier, suggested.
Fügen shook his head, his expression forever cold. "No. It's too dangerous. There is no one here capable of facing that dragon. If we expose ourselves and it descends here, the more powerful beings of this plane wouldn't be far behind, and the decades and resources the clan invested into this expedition would all be lost."
"But… leaving it alone also isn't a solution. The illusion barrier only extends up to 80 meters. Once the war tower is fully erected, we'll be completely exposed. When the dragon sees it…"
"Calm down. This is a Second Grade dragon. Its rider is most likely Third Grade. In what plane is a Third Grade relegated to scouting duty? If I had to guess, this knight is likely looking for the group we dealt with recently. So long as his search turns up nothing he'll… hmm?"
Under everyone's astonished but elated gaze, the stubborn dot in the sky came to a sudden stop when a loud dragon roar echoed in the far distance. With zero hesitation, it turned around sharply and flapped its wings with urgency, its speed way faster than it'd shown all this while.
'It's headed in the direction of Blue Hillock City…' Fügen thought before turning around and gesturing to one of the Adepts. "Quickly reach out to Muret for an update. I want to know of any significant events."
"Understood," the assigned Adept responded and rushed to run the errand. He returned less than two minutes later, his speed faster than when he left. "Lord Fügen! There's news!"
☀☀☀
The next day…
Morning hadn't even arrived when Greem and company returned to Mary's city.
Yet as soon as they reached its confines and made to relax in their hideouts, Lord Fügen's order which had been sitting and marinating for a day was immediately served to them. Hence their journey to Blue Hillock city turned into an extremely short pit stop.
Knowing better than to disrespect a higher grade Adept and keep him waiting, they made haste to the forward base, experiencing not rest or welcome upon arrival, but a grueling series of questions.
Second Grade Adept Fügen grilled them for every tiny detail regarding their brazen operation in Herdurand, the clan Adepts who stayed behind in the base growing more astonished as the story took shape.
Lord Fügen was no different, expressing his incredulity not through his face or demeanor like the junior Adepts but through his silence after listening and processing the whole account.
Poisoning and attacking a Second Grade dragon? Putting it in a coma and at death's door… in a city filled to the brim with an army of witcher knights no less.
These children… did they not know that it was a dragon? A Second Grade one no less? Not even Lord Fügen could do serious harm to one if he pulled out the stops and went all out.
Their air superiority was one thing. Their ability to downright resist and shrug off most magical and physical attacks on their level in addition to their own form of spellcasting made them a nightmare for any foe.
Not only did they enjoy the abilities and benefits of body refining and elementium adepts, their wings gave them shocking maneuverability and negated the weaknesses their immense sizes naturally generated.
It is why they were one of the select few creatures in existence that could do those things chinese cultivators loved to do so much; realm jumping. They could confront and fight opponents above their level of strength to a standstill and sometimes even to victory.
This is why none of the Third Grade Dragon knights had a Third Grade mount. They couldn't even beat the Second Grades they called partners.
Yet, despite all this, despite all they knew about these creatures, the four Adepts before him managed to scheme and bring one of them so low that it nearly died. Two of them hadn't even advanced for a year!
Fügen felt a strong urge to dismiss them and their story, but there was no other way to explain why the circling dragon stopped its search abruptly and left.
He chose to believe them after some contemplation, finding his mental efforts were better spent trying to anticipate what the knights would do next.
After their eradication of the hundred man force and now the dragon assault in Herdurand, the knight leaders who definitely weren't morons would come to the obvious conclusion that the invaders were somewhere nearby these locations.
For now, they had no way to know if the attack in Herdurand would buy them more time since it had taken away one of their powerhouse's mobility or rather speed things up due to its heinous nature.
What Fügen knew for a fact though was that he wasn't going to let these ambitious youths out of his sight. It had become clear that they cared little for rules and established conventions. Letting them leave the forward base was asking for another incident.
Before he let them go though, he counted them again and noticed… a lack of someone. He looked at Keoghan and asked, "Where's Anderson?"
With a somewhat helpless expression, the voodoo beastmaster looked at Greem and Mary, directing the question to them. Having already had a prior discussion about this matter, the vampire answered with a resolute but respectful tone.
"He's dead, Lord Fügen."
The Second Grade ice Adept narrowed his eyes as the temperature in Mary and Greem's vicinity dropped more than a few degrees. "You better have a good explanation."
"Yes sir. It happened when we were exterminating the 100 man group. He got injured during the battle and we saved him. But we managed to capture two of the Spellbreaker knights alive and I saw a chance to improve the strength of our force, so I used the Embrace on them, replenishing my lost essence with Anderson's blood."
His eyes narrowed, Fügen of course doubted that this is how things went down. Everyone here knew of the grudge between her and Anderson. Hell, they knew what he was doing to her and chose not to intervene.
Her killing him was justified, they understood, but that didn't matter. Useless or not, Anderson belonged to the clan, and she had no right to go against their wishes.
"Anderson was… whatever he was, but he was still a Sarubo clan member. Such infighting is not allowed and there are punishments for breaking these rules. If you survive the war, yours will be waiting for you.
Though the quality of servants you created with his blood and your performance in the upcoming weeks will determine how light or heavy your punishment will be.
I want to see these servants as soon as possible. If I don't find them not up to par… hmph.
Dismissed."
Ceasing the pressure he was placing on the couple with his Spirit, Fügen didn't wait for any responses or input and turned around, making his way to the tower in the camp's center.
Behind him, the other Adepts started Greem and Mary with looks of wonder, amazement, and pity.
Unperturbed by these ineffectual gazes nor the pointless thoughts behind them, the couple interlocked the fingers of their hand and retreated to Greem's room.
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Author's note:
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