The sky turned ominous as the overbearing aura of the deathly demonic dragon befallen Arsolo Stronghold. The winds picked up their pace, forming a vortex at the far end of the Siegfried Mansion.
Everyone became worried. The intensity of this new incidence tamed the bloodlust that affected the warriors under High King Garron.
The change in their behavior paves the way to the timely retreat of their enemies while leaving a difficult trail for the high king and his warriors to follow.
He snorted and ordered, "Forget about the traitors, search for any remaining civilians first!"
They had found stragglers along the way and were quite elated to know that some of their people survived the apocalyptic incident that recently happened. With such discovery, he was hoping that the other villages and strongholds had survivors as well despite the chance of it happening.
"Yes, high king!"
The warriors moved led by the allied clan heads. They were also worried about their family's safety, hoping that the traitorous Siegfried Clan holed them up somewhere as their hostages.
Amidst the chaos, Xerga approached him with a sweating expression, "Hey, Garron! Have you found Misha?!"
"What? I thought he was with the scouts a while ago. Have they not yet returned?"
"No, they haven't. The other groups didn't say anything about noticing him as well. Don't you think that…"
His unfinished question bade a worrying feeling within their hearts. Misha was their youngest and had a lot of potential. They didn't want such a young skilled warrior to die, moreover their sibling.
Dilemma fell upon the high king, wondering who should he tend to first. With clenched fists and gritted teeth, he spoke out.
"Damn it! We'll search for Misha later. We'll worry about that thing in the Siegfried Mansion first."
Xerga was taken aback after hearing his words, 'Garron… have you… forsaken them already, your other family?'
Plastered with a worried expression on his hanging face, he continued.
'Even though your wife and your younger son could have been implicated, your hate for them is something that won't vanish even if it has come into this.'
'Can't you spare them of your hatred for once? The queen is your wife, and the prospect warrior is your son.'
Despite Xerga's inner thoughts, Garron's actions hinted otherwise that he will persist with such an arrangement towards his family.
He closed his eyes and hoped that this younger brother of his would somewhat show a little more conscience to the rest of the family as well.
'Maybe it has something to do with Princess Olivia. After all, that niece of mine… is very special.'
His eyes observed the growing scarlet column that soon surpassed the skies. Opposite of it were the two dragons, Arahon and Harrtugg Naaw.
"Hey, this energy…", Arahon breathed out flames.
"It's ominous, purely demonic in nature.", Harrtugg Naaw added, "And I can feel a trace of my children's aura as well. This might just be that summoned demonic dragon.", anger hidden beneath his analytical words.
Narrowing his eyes, Arahon asked, "Should we go over and check it out?"
"No, we'll stay here as a precaution. We don't even know where that huge summoned creature is right now. But hey, don't you think this phenomenon is too familiar?"
The two shrunk into their humanoid forms.
"Familiar?", Arahon pondered, "Ah, you mean that time when some brat assimilated with my blood? I remember a bright column of light dashing to the sky that probably alerted those old fools.", he snorted before realization struck him, "Wait, don't tell me…"
A smirk formed on the frost dragon's face, confidently speaking out.
"Someone nearby has assimilated… no, maybe even imprinted that summoned demonic creature into their chivalric core."
Arahon was speechless. Has the Siegfried Clan's hunger for power returned?
"If this is the way the Siegfried Clan handles their matters, I don't think they will survive for the years to come."
Harrtugg Naaw chuckled, "You think I don't know that? But I guess I could understand their desperation. After all, we were once allied with them for some dubious cause."
"You should realize how pissed they were when our relationship with them was lost after some foreign intervention. I suppose having my mind bewitched earlier was a part of their revenge plan of some sort."
"The lure of a dragon's divine power is something that a feeble mind of an ant could barely resist. Haven't your alliance with the dwarves taught you that?"
"If they cannot get the desire of their hearts, they will find another way to do it. And in this instance, only the demonic creatures could grant them their wishes."
Arahon sighed, knowing the meaning behind Harrtugg Naaw's words.
"Fine, but regardless, that brat's going to take care of whoever imprinted themselves some demonic creature in their chivalric core."
"Oh, is your 'disciple' that special?", the frost dragon was intrigued.
Arahon grinned, "Heh, he's more than that."
…
The group of four palely watched as Erik's body was covered by a scarlet carapace full of spikes protruding outwards. They could see the demonic power flowing between the spaces that the carapace purposely didn't cover.
Erik turned his head, revealing a dragon mask with red and blue eyes. Nobody had the time to wonder about such peculiarity as he immediately grabbed his great axe and rambled once again.
"You damn ants. Feel the intensity of my demonic power!"
A powerful aura burst out, blasting the fragile wooden pieces that lay around.
Erik grinned after seeing the result, pumping excitement into his demonized body. He grabbed the great axe and pounced on Emi and Olivia, the two girls whom he hated the most.
Fear-stricken, Emi wasn't able to react on time.
"Stay away from her!", Olivia shouted while sending out large sharp ice spikes.
Erik was forced to halt his steps, smashing the incoming attack and giving Emi the time to get away.
"You can't run away!"
"Ice Stinger!", Olivia relentlessly pushed him back. Four scorpion-like stingers made of ice sprouted from the ground and attacked Erik's flanks.
"Impossible! How can you cast magic quickly?!"
Erik frantically stopped and defended. The four stingers were attacking him from all sides and he couldn't, for the best of him, able to destroy them quickly.
One of the stingers managed to scrape his carapace armor, ringing a worrying sound in Erik's ears.
'What? She managed to damage my demonic armor?!'
Worry filled his heart, prompting him to get rid of the ice stingers as soon as possible. He narrowed his eyes and released his great axe. He grabbed the right stinger in front of him and pulled it out of the earth with great strength.
To his shock, the stinger elongated instead of breaking into two.
"You can elongate, huh? How about I break you now!"
A punch destroyed the stinger and fell to the ground, inanimate.
Olivia grinned, mocking Erik's naivety.
'You think I can't control the structure of my magic? I'll show you what a wizard is capable of!'
The downed stinger exploded into several smaller ones. Caught off guard, he was struck in the abdomen and pushed far away.
Before he could recover, the stingers slithered through the ground like a snake in pursuit of their target. Seeing the danger approaching, Erik abandoned his ego and called for help.
"Guards!"
"Yes, young master!"
Voices of various people resounded within the great hall. Two figures jumped out from the shadows and destroyed the stingers in front of their young master.
"Elite guards!", Olivia alerted.
"I'm sorry, Princess Olivia, but you should surrender now, knowing that your group is of no match to us.", a tall and slender man with long black hair that covered his right face coldly advised.
"Grimmold Usvald!"
[ Name: Grimmold Usvald ]
[ Age: 44 years old ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Status: Alive, Demonized ]
[ Affiliation: Norva Assili, Siegfried Clan (Elite Guard) ]
[ Chivalric Core Grade: B ]
[ Chivalric Will Power: Higher Blade – Enlightenment Realm ]
[ Assimilated Beast: Frostal Shadow Hound ]
[ Imprinted Beast: Frostal Shadow Hound ]
[ Additional Affect: Chilly Bite ]
[ All attacks mixed with the frostal shadow hound's essence will produce a random ice effect. ]
[ Additional Effect: Shadow Bite ]
[ All attacks mixed with the frostal shadow hound's essence will generally ignore the target's defenses, magical or physical. Does not work in certain situations, such as attacking a divine or demonic defense. ]
[ Additional Effect: Demonized, Mark of Asura ]
[ This user's strength is increased considerably, promoting the effects of their assimilated and imprinted beast. ]
'This is bad. His beast imprint just has to be that.', Olivia thought with gritted teeth.
Frostal shadow hounds were elusive beasts that could ignore one's defenses using their chilly attacks. It was a rare and dangerous magical beast only found within the dark and deep taigas of the northern glacial continent.
[ Author's note: Taiga is another term for a snow forest. ]
Grimmold managed to catch one due to his status as a prospect warrior back in his younger days and soon inherited some of the frostal shadow hound's characteristics such as being a reclusive and nocturnal creature.
"Hey, hey, Grimmold. Don't discourage the young ones like that. How are we going to have fun if we just let them surrender that easily?"
A mocking voice resounded beside Grimmold. It was a woman with long arms and legs, almost four times her height in total. Her snake-like eyes glowed in scarlet, sending a glare upon Olivia and Emi, the two closest to her.
[ Name: Miriana Taya ]
[ Age: 39 years old ]
[ Race: Human ]
[ Status: Alive, Demonized ]
[ Affiliation: Norva Assili, Siegfried Clan (Elite Guard) ]
[ Chivalric Core Grade: B ]
[ Chivalric Will Power: Higher Blade – Enlightenment Realm ]
[ Assimilated Beast: Winter Rattlesnake ]
[ Imprinted Beast: Winter Rattlesnake ]
[ Additional Effect: Contagious Venom ]
[ The user's weapons are automatically coated with the winter rattlesnake's venoms. It is required for the weapon's components to be mixed with the rattlesnake's essence, either using blood or one's chivalric essence. ]
[ Additional Effect: Snake Body ]
[ Your body is similar to a snake. ]
[ Additional Effect: Demonized, Mark of Asura ]
[ This user's strength is increased considerably, promoting the effects of their assimilated and imprinted beast. ]
Olivia's expression worsened after seeing Miriana's information.
This situation was more precarious than the previous six cold-blooded brothers they met back at the entrance.
'I don't know if Jinmu and Solordo are done with their business outside, but regardless, this seems like a dead-end for us.'
There was absolutely no way they could fight off against elites who were battle-hardened after years of torturous fights and hard training.
"How annoying!", Emi cursed behind her, shocking Olivia, "I don't care if you are some elite guards or such! I will get my big sister back, even if I die trying!"
"Oh, this girl is brave. I'd like to break foolish people like you!"
Without a warning, Miriana dashed in front of Emi and wielded two short swords made of frostal ice, cutting her skin 35 times in three seconds.
Emi shouted in agony and soon realized that her entire body was numbing as if she had lost control.
The crazy woman laughed, "My short swords are coated in winter rattlesnake's venom! You won't live for another day!"
Emi became hopeless and teared up, "No, it can't be! I have to get to my big sister! You won't-! Ah!"
Miriana lodged her right short sword deep within Emi's chest, spurting out a fountain of blood unto the floor.
"You act brave, but you lack the strength to back it up!", Miriana remarked, "I would call someone like you…"
Just as she was about to deliver the killing blow, Olivia finally reacted and seized Miriana with her ice stinger.
"I won't let you harm her!"
The latter saw through it and stretched her body at an insane angle, dodging the ice stinger's grab. She 'slithered' around it and went beside Olivia, about to deliver another attack.
"Huh? Did you say something, dear Princess Olivia?!"
Just as the blade reached her neck, a tanned hand grabbed Miriana's left hand, stopping the lethal thrust.
"She's agile. What an interesting enemy.", a rough voice commented, "But can your bones endure?"
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