Chapter 308: Chapter 308

The armada of airships flew through the sky, the cold breeze stinging Yiming’s skin. Their allied forces had arrived on Bramvalen, the world teetering on the edge of collapse. Several alerts and requests for help filled the Command Center, and the numerous elites of Hearthtribe’s alliance immediately set off to thwart the enemy invasion. PvP had already been disabled on this world, as the Conquest meter was just far too low.

Standing near the bow of the ship, Yiming watched the landscape move by beneath them with his wives, and his allies. The medium-sized airships could only hold under fifty human-sized passengers with their modular designs meant to fit in multiple storage bracelets and rings. Many had the smaller airships for smaller parties of ten or twenty, which a single party could carry in their bracelets.

With the six airships and around a hundred self-sufficient beastkin flying in formation, their force of around four hundred was formidable.

Longwei’s voice was more serious than Yiming had been used to. “I’d say I’m sad we missed out on a fight with the enemy guilds, but that besieged city is nearly in ruins. The natives are in need of heroes.”

Yiming turned to his blood brother to see that he had his arms folded behind him, his expression matching his tone of voice, and his long beard blowing in the breeze. He was going to reply, but before he could, Longwei’s new wives appeared, the lion beastkin, Seamus’s daughter, crashing into him and wrapping her arms around him.

“Heroes like you, huh, Wei-wei? Mmm, you look so valorous, standing there with that expression!”

His new turtle beastkin wife, Darris’s daughter, hugged him from the other side, and her tongue flicked outward twice rapidly, tasting the air. “Yes, I agree. You know, it’s pretty cold, and there’s a bit of time before we arrive…could you help warm me up?” She looked at him pleadingly, pressing her large chest against him.

Longwei blushed as he tried, and failed, to hide his proud smile as he wrapped an arm around her, his other hand wrapping around the other. Yiming chuckled–as he expected, Longwei was just trying to show off for his newer wives.

They had been together for a while now, and Yiming had been shocked at how well they had curbed the man’s brash behavior. He thought they would make Longwei even more full of himself and worse, but somehow, he became more conscious of his behavior in an odd way. He wondered how his old wives felt about how much the beastkin ones had changed him.

Leanna’s wings fluttered. “Aren’t you two jealous? Those two girls changed Longwei in weird ways, and are hogging your man!”

The battle maiden wife hesitated. “W-Well, I would be, but I think I like him a bit better this way…”

Longwei’s talismancer wife shrugged. “They keep him both busy and out of trouble, more often than not. Makes my life easier.”

Yiming’s shrine maiden wife laughed. “You got that right–mine too. But Leanna here does the opposite, dragging my Yiming into trouble instead. Maybe we need to find another wife to keep her out of trouble.”

Leanna pouted, but then Yiming couldn’t help but groan as all three of the beastkin girls’ eyes lit up and they started listing their large number of cousins that may be interested in Yiming. Thankfully, their matchmaking tirade had to come to an end as they neared the enemy army.

Yiming turned to his men and women, and shouted, “Prepare for battle! We near the enemy army. We plan to land behind the gates, but be prepared to make an emergency landing.”

The talismancers prepared their slowfall talismans, ready in case the ship was damaged and they were forced to abandon it.

As they neared the keep, arrows from talismancers were launched, barriers forming on the front and sides of the airship just as stray spells and arrows were flung right at their airship. The ballistas returned fire, sending giant bolts infused with runic magic, creating elemental explosions.

The enemy monsters besieging the city were varied, from humanoid monsters like orcs and goblins, to larger beasts and monsters capable of magic.

Oddly, Yiming saw swarms of smaller insects, and he wasn’t certain they could actually be magical in a significant way at that size. It was like a haze of them covering much of the city, causing him to frown at their presence.

There was a large hole in the wall, and the gate had been taken down. But the people within still held on, defending the hole with bodies and spells.

Longwei interrupted his thoughts. “What do you think, Brother? Should I leap down and reinforce the gate? It seems it might be best if Drysander takes the hole in the wall.”

It was another moment that Yiming was thankful for Longwei’s new wives. Before, the man wouldn’t even ask! He would just do!

Yiming ran his fingers through his goatee, and looked over the other airships and their paths as he thought. He was the designated field tactician for this operation, so he brought out his tablet. While Valtor had created orders for their forces, they didn’t have the most up-to-date information–they couldn’t, not before they placed enough of their Array Flags.

A few avian beastkin teams were already placing them, so it wouldn’t be long before their alliance received enemy movement data in real time. But for now, he could only work with what he saw, and compare them to his numbers.

Unfortunately, Seamus, Antonius, and Brenin’s people were heading to a city likely no better off than this one. But this team had some powerful beast tamers, from spriggons to Takoda, and they also had Drysander and Nadessa, along with their family of druids.

“Insightful, brother–I do think it’s best for Drysander to plug the hole in the wall first. You and Takoda–and Missy the auril beast, of course–can hold the gate together with our brothers in arms. We’ll wait until they are in position before you leap.”

“Understood.” Longwei turned to his wives. “You hear that, Babes? We get to perform an important task!” He laughed, and the beastkin girls got excited as they brought out their weapons and armor, preparing for battle.

The armada changed its formation from his selections, and several of the flying beastkin sped up, preparing to create a safer approach for their airships. While the durability had been improved by runes, he would still consider the sack of gas keeping them aloft to be less durable than their warriors.

As their ship got closer, Yiming grimaced. It was difficult to see before, but the many Nordic-style homes within the walls were already crumbling and on fire. The haze of insects had prevented him from really being able to see much.

Longwei grinned at the order, his fighting spirit ignited. Numerous talismans landed on his back from his wife, and an image of a tiger overlapped him as he roared. His body grew in size as he was covered in a red cloak of Valor, the ship noticeably tilting as he did just before he jumped down.

His beastkin wives leaped after him, and so did a few more Valor warriors, and Yiming took one last look over the battlefield. Already, some dangerous enemies were starting to react to their people’s arrival.

An image of a white stallion appeared as Yiming ignited his battle spirit, talismans being added to his back as well before he leaped off, Leanna joining him in the air. His Technique allowed him to expend some mana and Valor in order to run across the sky. He rode down on his spiritual horse with his glaive ready as the airship lowered altitude, preparing to land within the keep’s walls and join the defense.

As he rode, he noticed that the walls were crumbling in various areas, and the insects were covering nearly every inch of them. Frowning, he swung his valor-filled glaive, cleaving through an armored lizard’s neck as he reached the ground level. As he passed through the enemy’s lines, he cut through an orc archer and a drakan, the enemies no match for his sharp edge and his speed.

While Yiming landed outside of the keep and in the danger zone surrounded by monsters and enemies, he had done this intentionally. Being a Valor user who excelled in speed and precision meant that few enemies could truly corner him, so long as he had Valor remaining.

He roamed around the outside of the keep, cutting enemies down in flanking maneuvers and keeping on the move, while his crow beastkin wife followed, fighting by his side. He would gain altitude here and there, allowing both him and his wife to dive down and cut into enemies more powerfully.

Longwei was now a towering figure at the tall gate, the giant man swinging his glaive in wide arcs and cutting through enemies. The red tiger warrior had enemies on both sides of him, but now reinforcements for the enemy couldn’t enter the keep, and the Norse and Grecian-origin native warriors were already rallying from the alliance’s arrival.

And now, Takoda the capybara beastkin landed next to Longwei, then Missy the brachiosaurus auril beast appeared in motes of light. The giant beast bellowed as a thick blue auril pulse went through the creature, and its tail lashed out powerfully against a giant bear nearby, sending it flying. Takoda himself was no slouch either, the man increasing in size and cutting down several orcs and goblins that had made it inside the keep with his glaive.

Arrows rained down on the monsters from above, along with dozens of elemental and nature spells from the numerous druids in the airships. Spriggons landed nearby, riding in their beastkin’s harnesses.

To Yiming’s surprise, with a wave of their bark-covered hands, the insects surrounding the keep began to respond to them. The swarm started leaving the walls, and attacking some of the monsters instead–mostly, attacking their eyes and being a general annoyance, before the spriggons added their own magical haze to them, empowering them.

It appeared they were some form of stone and rock termites, which Yiming found strange. Usually at this level, tiny insects like that would not provide a threat to the keep of any kind without some kind of magical enhancement like what the spriggons were doing.

Magical stones and wards would typically be used, and such a creature could not have enough strength to chew through and consume them at all. Even if they could, without help, they would die of mana poisoning soon after. He would have to learn more, as this was beyond bizarre to him. Unlike the spriggons, he saw no handlers that could be doing so for the insects.

And as he rounded the corner of the keep, he saw the hole Drysander, the War Oak Paladin of Guan Yu, was defending with his brethren. His roots dug into the crumbling earth, his vines spreading outward in a defensive posture as he swung his club and blocked spells with his bark shield. His dryad and nymph wives, and Nadessa his daughter, stood up in his boughs, raining lightning down, firing ice shards, and sending out their own waves of magical insects to attack the numerous enemies arrayed in front of them.

Yiming saw Clan Brock fighting nearby, the well-coordinated Adventurer party fighting side-by-side with many other beastkin, and a few Priestesses of Arawn and their servants. While most had gone to Morvalis, the deathly world, they still kept a fair number of them in each force for their ability to capture betrayers, and manage enemy undead.

None had yet been discovered on this world, but Yiming wasn’t so sure there wasn’t some sort of foul play. Not only were there the termites, but the earth beneath the walls themselves had crumbled, like a tunnel had been dug but collapsed.

While each individual enemy wasn’t that strong, they were numerous. And there were dozens of boss monsters stomping through the enemy ranks, requiring quite a bit of effort to take down. But after the alliance members had landed inside the keep, it didn’t take long for them to clear out the enemies within, and reman the walls to focus on those outside.

The talismancers and battle maidens were deadly on the walls, sniping targets with their mana and spell-enhanced shots. Rushing over the walls and inside the keep for a brief moment, Yiming found a safe location to use his tablet as Leanna watched his back.

He zoomed out the view, and saw that many of the requests for assistance had dulled down as his allies began landing across the globe. While there were a few cities focused on by their alliance, many beastkin and smaller adventuring parties hit the ground running, to close Monster Dens and Rifts throughout the landscape.

The majority of cultivators from Love and Justice were among the most mobile since the Ravenwolf Tribe was on The Burning Steps, so they were heading to the most distant areas for rescue.

Overall, it looked like things were going well so far–they had already stemmed the tide successfully at this location–one might almost say that it was easy, thanks to their elite forces. Rifts were already being closed and Monster Dens discovered and destroyed. However, Yiming could see the difficulty for most Adventurers and guilds making a difference here.

Not only were warriors like Drysander and Brock worth their weight in gold, like Yiming and Longwei themselves, but each beastkin warrior that came along was far above the average of other guilds at this Tier. Each was well-equipped and trained, and talented with their chosen skillset–weapons, auril, or mana and auril, in the case of some of the beastkin clergy.

In a way, Hearthtribe supplied their Tier 2 and Tier 1 people with resources that matched, or in many ways, exceeded those supplied by a Tier 3 guild. Most guilds exclusively treated their lower-tier guilds as feeders or funnels of talent, taking all the best people to their higher-tier worlds where they could no longer fight for their lower-tier guilds. One of the Hearthtribe alliances most important tenets, in Yiming’s mind, was that everyone should properly contribute to their Subguild’s success before graduating to the higher guild.

It wasn’t only stupid, or greedy, that other guilds grabbed the best talent from lower tiers. Third Tier worlds did actually need warriors at lower tiers to participate in the perpetual wars and dungeon diving the world required to reach equilibrium.

However, Hearthtribe had a special population momentum thanks to their impressive fertility and warrior culture, allowing them to not only replace warriors lost in war, but greatly exceed their losses. So when Highlands reached the Third Tier, they didn’t need to siphon or funnel warriors from their Subguilds–they could rely exclusively on those born on their abundant world.

Even Yiming had two sons and a daughter with his servant back in his Refuge waiting for him, Leanna forcing–or coaxing him to have two children already, and his shrine maiden wife joining her for one of the rides.

Yiming smiled with pride as he saw how well things should work out. Most guilds arriving in this situation would likely need to spend days helping the natives rebuild their keeps, which appeared to be sabotaged. And during that time, there were so many Rifts already open, including a Greater Rift, that another wave of bosses and swarm of monsters would be on their way, ready to damage the same keep they were trying to repair. It could end up like patching a leaky ship as they threw buckets of water out of it, while enemies attacked it the entire time.

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Thankfully, Drysander was far from the only treant who arrived. The defensive specialists could take the burden of defense as they repaired the keep, allowing those focused on offense to go out and close Rifts. Yiming was thankful for Hearthtribe’s foresight in sending the right allies to the world and in having such a diverse, capable force.

And his people were stronger from being allied with them, and not just because of their… population momentum. Their magical research had improved by leaps and bounds, their crafted items benefiting in significant ways. If their average equipment quality before was Uncommon, it was somewhere above Rare or just below Epic now, and it was all thanks to Hearthtribe. Their enchantment research and magical metallurgy had fed into so many aspects of Warrior Brotherhood’s fighting strength that it had shocked Yiming.

His glaive being so sharp that he could one-shot most trash monsters in the right conditions was thanks to an item made by Ophelia Hart herself. And that their talismancer’s spells struck so hard was thanks to enchanted paper made from auril wood, able to hold even more of their mana-infused ink.

Yiming’s path set, he turned around and headed away from the battlefield, and toward the natives' center keep. No doubt, the king or lord of the city would be located there–or he could find out where he or she was.

Leanna said, “Hey, where are you going? The fighting is the other way.”

Yiming paused, and spoke over his shoulder. “I must meet with the local lord of the natives. Come, let us make haste.”

Leanna whined, “Aw, but the fighting isn’t over yet! Meeting with those guys is always so stuffy and boring. Can’t we fight a little more?”

“If you wish to stay and fight, you’re welcome to–I can meet them alone. Just stay near Longwei and try not to get him into trouble.”

Leanna sighed, and then flapped her wings to arrive in front of him. “Are you sure you don’t have at least a few minutes? I see half these houses are empty. We could… have a little fun first?” As she paused, she lifted up her tail feathers, revealing her bestial, leather-clad ass, before she pushed it against his waist.

Yiming groaned. “For the love of Guan Yu… I love you, but please, not now. I must complete this important task, and then maybe we can meet for some fun.”

Leanna pouted, her eyes glowing white. Then she shook her head. “Nope. If it’s not now, it won’t happen for three whole days! That’s way too long!“

“What is with this useless power? Can you really only foresee and plan on when you can get laid?”

“It’s not useless! Mother was super jealous when she learned I could do it! Knowing when we have some free time is super useful in war when I can be consistent; you just don’t know how to use it!”

“You told her?! And…maybe? Anyway, you’ll just have to wait. I’m going.”

She sighed, her wings fluttering in irritation. “Fine-fine. I’ll come with you.” She smirked from behind him as he continued his march toward the castle.

What Yiming didn’t know was that it would be three days. But not if she teased him at the right moment, which she just learned.

Morwen stood in the Alliance HQ’s city on Morvalis, having just arrived outside the HQ with her hundreds of Emberborn brethren, Servants of Arawn, and beastkin allies. The plaza was wide, and she found herself surrounded by bone-white carved stone, an aesthetic she didn’t mind.

Pillars and buttresses adorned the Gothic-style architecture, and she had a difficult time telling the difference between homes, temples, businesses, and governmental buildings, aside from their varying levels of grandness.

Rookard and his hunters also surveyed the plaza, looking over the surrounding landscape on the other end of it. He spoke with some of the people of Morvalis, who were a human-adjacent variant race.

They had bone ridges around their temples and foreheads, which made it look like they were wearing a crown underneath their flesh, and their skin was pale. Their statures were smaller than the average beastkin and human she had met, their muscles wiry, and few had a bulky body type. In many ways, they were similar to the Emberborn, as the effect of deathly mana on their physical bodies was prevalent.

Hearthtribe had just defeated the local Guild War enemies in the forced Battleground. The Bloodstained Arena was the same battlefield they faced during the Dungeon Raid, and Morwen was proud that conquering the enemy’s obelisks was no challenge at all for her varied teams.

Their enemies this time were not some Nords or Grecians from Radiant Glory or their ilk. Instead, they were some followers of Amaterasu, whom she imagined had been forced or extorted into this alliance of theirs–because she could see the desperation plain on their faces as they fought and lost.

They should have been a challenge. The enemy clergy, powered by the Takamagahara Divine, radiated the power of the sun and divinity, infused with the power of life–anathema to her people. However, the Emberborn were more than just undead. Carrying a frostfire flaming hearth of unlife in their chests, they had been enchanted by their King, and empowered by the faith in their own Divine.

And they had Rookard’s wolves and the nethril beastkin with them. The followers of Amaterasu were shocked when their radiant sunbeams and smite spells were not all that effective against the Emberborn. Then, Rookard and his wolves, and the nethril beastkin did not fear the sunbeams either, only the Servants of Arawn suffering excessively from the attacks.

Morwen had been satisfied with the success of her magic in the battle. Her Winter’s Embrace not only included powerful frost but also faith-empowered deathly energies. Their sun’s heat was no match for it; their light and lives were quickly extinguished. To respawn, of course. Repeatedly, as the varied Hearthtribe warriors wreaked havoc on their towers and destroyed their base.

She smiled and took a deep breath, feeling the stillness, the embrace of death filling her undead lungs and pressing down on her chest like a heavy weight when compared to normal air. The brownish-orange sky left the world in a nearly permanent dusk or dawn, with deathly mana carried in the somehow stifling, heavy breeze.

The landscape outside the city was varied, with rolling hills and mountains, lakes and rivers, and odd monoliths or obelisks–tall towers of some kind that dotted the surrounding area. But the grass, plants, and trees lacked the usual green vitality like that of Highlands.

The underbrush, even in the decorative plants, trees, and bushes in the city, included brown thorns and gnarled and twisted branches and growths; like plants and trees in fall or the dead of winter. Brown and orange leaves and growths matching the sky’s colors, along with white and black of bone and shadow, were the colors seen everywhere. It made it feel like she was viewing the city through a tinted lens that removed all other colors. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡~𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚~𝙣𝙚𝙩

“The air is welcoming, is it not, Dear?” Bedwyr, her husband’s scratchy voice through his armored helmet, brought Morwen out of her reverie of the new world, Morvalis.

“Not as welcoming as the Highland’s North, I’m afraid. But it has a special charm, I do agree. What do you think, Toran? What do you feel?” Morwen turned to their new ally, who towered over Bedwyr, even on his undead mount. Other paladins on mounts joined their forces, her husband now not the only one with an undead steed.

The mammoth nethril beastkin gazed into the distance, taking in the surroundings as he breathed, as if tasting the air. His deep voice responded slowly, reverently. “This world. The balance of life and unlife, the cycle of it, is so different from my own. Death strangles the life slowly, bringing all into its still embrace. The living seek to control and delay death, instead of becoming a part of the cycle.”

Morwen chuckled. “It is difficult for the living to embrace death on most worlds, Toran. Inexorable as it is, it is the end for most. You must understand that your lack of fear for the end is anathema to the living. Even an animal fights fiercely as the maw arrives for its throat; it is only natural to delay it, to fight against it.”

Toran frowned but nodded. On Highlands, the anthropomorphic mammoth man had originally been tainted and working with the betrayers–through no will or fault of his own. When the taint was cleansed on Highlands and his controllers defeated, he simply walked away from the battlefield, having no desire to fight.

Morwen had run into him in the North after the war was over, and helped him progress until he reached the Second Tier–and awakened. Like many other nethril beastkin, their memories returned and their personalities awakened with them once they did. But they were not only themselves, because they did not only carry their own memories from their lives in their state of undeath.

The nethril beastkin carried the memories of their ancestors, along with the will of the world itself. It was a drive to preserve the balance of it ingrained in their very beings. To preserve the balance of the world, they would slay the living or even go to war. Joining the battle against Tartarus was interesting for Morwen to watch, as the beings had differing perspectives, and a strange, supernatural wisdom.

Toran’s nostrils at the end of his trunk flared for a moment as it lifted in the air, his head swiveling left and right. “But something smells wrong. Something–”

An arrow flew at Taron, heading for his eye. But the man had seen or felt it coming, and with a flex of his spiritual power, his nethril-filled trunk lashed out, and smashed the arrow out of the air. The arrow did explode in a burst of flames, but the behemoth of a man was not just physically domineering–he had a powerful mystical weight as well.

And it was more than just one arrow that flew out, Morwen and Bedwyr, and several warriors reacted immediately to the threats. With a flex of her faith and will, Arawn’s frost formed a barrier around Morwen in a mere instant, blocking explosive arrows heading for her.

Bedwyr shouted, his deathly cold aura of protection covering the clergy and servants of Arawn alike like a blanket of black frost. His war scythe swung out, sending a wave of death and frost at incoming projectiles.

Morwen mixed her magical senses with her sight, sweeping the area and spotting numerous archers at the top of the temples but no others. She spoke her orders. “Guild War enemies. Servants, protect our clergy and counter. Clergy–prepare defenses. Form circles, and cast Seeking Skulls.”

She allowed her husband to guide the Paladins of Arawn, and Rookard to lead his wolves as she began preparing her spells, drawing upon her faith and her mana. Morwen knew that she could count on them to not do something foolish, like run straight into a trap. Instead, Rookard’s wolves went on the hunt, splitting up and climbing buildings to get a better view, their auril hearts singing the song of battle.

Buff spells were cast by the Arawn clergy, bone shields and barriers of frost much like hers being established for protection. A few had already been prepared for battle after exiting the HQ and things were declared clear, and those started establishing their casting circles immediately, while others had relied on their servants for protection, so they rectified this failure.

The deathly mana in the surrounding area was drawn in rapidly, allowing the circle-casting priestesses to finish their spells rapidly. Dozens of flying skulls flew out, the caster’s intent driving them to seek Guild War enemies rather than the nearest living targets.

The skulls rushed off into the distance like angry hornets, the semi-sentient spells capable of hunting down hiding enemies, and perfect for the situation they were currently in. There were countless places for enemies to hide among the various decorative buildings, perhaps using wards and other techniques.

Her mana prepared, she established her deathly domain. A pulse of black and blue death mana mixed with faith energy washed outward, claiming the area for and empowering her undead brethren like a disk that hovered above the ground. It passed through buildings as if they weren’t even there, granting her sight into them. She did this for several reasons–to prepare for a larger ambush, but also to be able to sense it if it was there.

Thanks to the area’s deathly mana, the domain stood strong and expanded all on its own as she focused, trying to sense everything within it. And thanks to the people’s natural resilience to the deathly energies and Arawn’s divinity, it meant that she wasn’t killing a bunch of natives by accident.

The Servants of Arawn defended the clergy, though some rushed off to counterattack, firing arrows and casting spells of their own. Those seeking penitence were both varied and numerous. The ex-betrayers had multiple Origins. Undead from the Emberborn’s original world were humanoids of various classes and roles, and betraying reptile beastkin from Highlands had joined their ranks, launching nethril-filled javelins and arrows at the enemies.

She ordered, “Expand the domain. Alternate skull casting and push outward until we find the enemy.”

Morwen was preparing for any number of Guild War foes, from a bunch of ambushers that would try to flee or hide, to an army that surrounded them. The landing was uncharacteristically too easy, but she wished she had sent more scouts out immediately.

They were only in the plaza for maybe thirty seconds to a minute before they were attacked. Truly, she doubted it would have changed much–the enemy had hidden in such a way that their first scouts had missed it, but they hadn't had enough time to do a detailed search.

Eventually, she heard a howl, coming from the East, followed by several more howls from all around them. Her priestesses immediately reacted, their staves releasing the Seeking Skulls toward the various howls.

Bedwyr said from near her, “They’ve been found. But it seems they are spread out. Their numbers pose no problem for us.” With a wave of his hand, his paladins rushed out, to join the beastkin on their hunt, but he stayed by her side, ever vigilant.

She monitored the domain as it grew, and gathered her mana as she prepared for any threat. The domain eventually expanded to encompass some additional hidden enemies, and she made her move, along with a few of her elite priestesses that shared her vision over the domain.

Frost gathered beneath their feet for a moment from the disk-like domain, before shooting upward and encompassing the men before they could react. Covered in dense frost and death energy, their life was drained from the cold, bringing them to death’s inevitable embrace.

One by one she cast the spell, her allies attacking others. One managed to dodge, but her priestess redirected the forming tomb to become more like an ice spike and change direction, stabbing the man in the chest. The next Frozen Tomb landed on him, encasing him in the deathly frost.

Another warrior realized what was happening, and leaped out of the window, before she could trap them in the frozen tomb. He had wings on his ankles, and he only sped up as he swooped down toward her with his spear pointed at her.

Bedwyr was ready. His mount leaped to meet the man’s spear with his war scythe in a wide arc–and a wave of deathly frost. The man’s spear stopped Bedwyr’s blade, but the frost washed over the man, covering him in the black frost from nearly head to toe, the ice spreading to cover him as he fell toward the ground, his momentum halted. Covering himself in gold suddenly as a bracelet on his person snapped, he flapped his ankle wings and dived toward Morwen once more.

In a feat of impressive agility, the undead mount twisted following Bedwyr’s original swing. Its hoof slammed into the side of the man’s head, sending him flying to the side before he crashed into the building, and disappeared in motes of light.

Morwen’s orbiting shield of frost had already been focused on where the man was coming from, but she smiled and thanked her husband for his protection all the same. “Sad. Thank you, Husband.”

Bedwyr smiled at her. “Of course, Dear. And you’re right, our enemies are a bit sad. The Grecians and Nordic warriors do not seem as though they strive to understand magic, focused on swinging their weapons harder only.”

Morwen sighed. “It’s just the way of it at this Tier. The bullies only seek to win with numbers and extortion. And our brethren won’t be extorted, so that leaves only numbers.”

The entombed men died during that small skirmish, and Morwen was disappointed overall by their strength and number. They had been the ones to attack for some reason, but then they tried to hide or flee, and failed.

Rookard returned to the plaza along with many others, and Morwen could tell he was disappointed too, just from his annoyed expression.

“What did your men find, Chief Rookard? It seems they didn’t find a good fight.”

He chuckled. “It seems just ambushers and opportunists, assassins trying to take out our leaders and slow us down, perhaps. Your clergy’s skulls had taken out nearly half of the enemies as they tried to run away, and the rest that tried to stay hidden behind their warded buildings were found quickly.” He tapped his nose. “No match for our ability to sniff them out.”

The giant mammoth had returned as well, so Morwen turned to him and asked, “Was that what you smelled as wrong, Toran? These foolish guild enemies?”

Toran shook his large head. “No. Those monoliths, the temples…something is not right. The air…it smells wrong.”

Morwen hummed in thought, trying to think of how best to use this unique information. “I see. We will be careful with our Array Flag placements and activations–we wouldn’t want enemies to find them, and we wouldn’t want to interfere with the monoliths. I don’t think the natives will enjoy us drawing energy away from their monoliths and temples.”

Rookard frowned. “But if it is a part of the betrayer’s plot or aiding the betrayers, we may need to go against their will. To protect life and win the war…”

Morwen chuckled. “I seem to recall the beastkin of Highlands refused to join the Framework even though it was the logical way to protect life. If we started digging up your buried bones, how would you have dealt with that, even if our reasons were logical and sound to save your people? I won’t say diverting their deathly mana is the same thing, but it is important to empathize with the natives’ desires and values, or they will never trust us.”

Rookard was thoughtful, but Bedwyr nodded and replied first, “Ignoring the natives’ will, we may drive more to the side of the betrayers instead. Worse than not trusting us, they may seek vengeance and work against us.”

Sighing, Rookard looked over to the temple. “I suppose getting permission for the flags may save us some trouble in the long run. But if Taron has a lead on the betrayers, I’d prefer justice to be swift.”

Morwen smiled. “I’m in agreement there. The good news is that we can do both. We can place the flags, but leave the formation inactive until we get permission. I’ll go meet with their leaders, and you can take Taron and hunt down the betrayers and close Rifts, as the rest of us prepare for our assault on them.”

Rookard grinned. “Perfect. C’mon, Taron. Let’s move, and we’ll follow that trunk of yours, and fix that wrongness.”

In all, the Guild War enemies did not provide a sufficient challenge on their arrival, but her people got just a little more experience in facing them near natives and civilians. It significantly limited what they could do, but they had several working strategies that allowed them to handle them effectively.

She could feel the excitement of her clergy as they brought out their airships from their storage rings. Betrayers meant finding more penitents to expand the Kingdom of Annwyn–to create more believers for their Divine. They would find the betrayers and bring them to justice, and protect both life and unlife while they did it.