Adventures of the last Wild Dragon

Chapter 309: Back in the West

A soldier rushed out of the thick undergrowth, his sword raised as he tried to catch his opponent unaware. Saddly for him he was not nearly as stealthy as he might of hoped and received a concentrated jet of water to his head, his head instantly snapped backwards and he soon fell to the forest floor, dead.

He was not the first and would not be the last soldier to test their group this day.

As they had progressed closer and closer to their eventual goal they had begun to encounter more and more soldiers of the Kingdom of Eldor.

How they had managed to push this deep into the Endless Forest they did not know. Yet that would not stop they from putting them down with extreme prejudice.

They had a moment to breath, each of the group taking a moment to check over themselves and regain their composure.

Saddly their rest was not destined to be for long. Soon the sounds of rustling hurriedly approached them, the group of 5 readied themselves for combat once again.

A heavily armoured woman moved forwards, her wooden shield raised in the direction of the noise. Besides her a man stood, a sword and shield in his own hands as he joined her at the front of their formation.

On the other side of the woman stood what could be mistaken for a child, if one ignored the wings on her back or the long scaled tail sprouting from her back. Electricity crackled alpine her gauntlets as she lowered herself into a low stance, ready to burst forward at a moments notice.

Behind the front line two individuals stood. One was a surprisingly unassuming man, he wore simple leather armour and had feline like ears poking out the top of his head, he raised his crossbow in preparation.

Besides him stood the last member of the party, she wore a simple yet practical dress, it was lightly enchanted and flowed around her like rippling water. She held a wand in one hand and a dagger in the other, her golden hair at odds with the bubble of water that formed around her and her group.

The 5 waited in silence as the noise rapidly approached. Then, with a burst of movement and a shouted cry a company of almost 20 soldiers emerged from the forest before them.

Lances of ice and water shot forward almost instantly. Those soldiers unlucky enough to be hit were either killed on the spot or suffered gracious wounds.

A crossbow bolt soared through the air, sinking into the forehead of the lead man charging them. As that soldier collapsed to the floor those behind him had no protection when a massive bolt of electricity shot through them all.

Their bodies freezing up as their muscles spasmed from the residual lightning now coursing through them. Then that lightning bolt coalesced into the form of the small woman, her gauntleded fists lashing out with brutal efficiency as she disabled one man after the other. Then as their numbers threatened to overwhelm her she turned back into lightning and shot through their numbers to appear on the other side of the battlefield.

The armoured woman rushed forwards. Her tall tower shield, now covered in deadly looking thorned vines slammed into the nearest soldier with bone shattering force. The plant life around the soldiers came to life, vines snakes out to wrap around limbs, low hanging tree branches lashed out to slam into those unaware.

The very environment itself seemed to be rejecting these invaders. The residents of the environment certainly did so as well.

The tall man with leopard ears arrived then, his sword lashing out with deadly grace as he sliced his way through foes whilst spears of ice slowly formed around him, they acted almost like additional arms, blocking attacks and retaliating in turn.

All the while the golden haired woman in the back supported her team. Shields of water formed blocking attacks. Their feet were coated in water and their movements suddenly became noticeably swifter. If they were injured a soothing stream of water would wash away the very wound itself.

The fight did not last long.

Soo enough the last of the soldiers lay dead and the group once more had a moment of respite.

"Urgh, how many of these people are there!?" Rhyana complained with clear annoyance as she kicked one of the dead bodies lying nearby.

Masin let out a sigh of his own, a frown adorning his face as he worried about the state of his home.

They should be arriving at Syan within the day of his memory served, yet to find so many soldiers of the Kingdom roaming around was a truly worrying event.

Had the kingdom truly delved so deep into the forest? Had they already reached his city? Was it even still standing? These thought raced through the man’s head despite his best wishes.

Still their was not a lot that he could do at this time. He simply had to get home and speak to his father, he would be able to let him know what the current situation was.

"Too many, that’s how many." Growled Steven, he was the last remaining man of Masins original party, the scout of th group and usual prone to joking around and making sarcastic comments. Yet ever since they began to run into kingdom soldiers his mood had taken a turn for the worse.

"It doesn’t matter right now. We need to push onwards regardless, our questions will be answered once we reach Syan. So let’s take a moment of respite and then continue onwards." Came Susan’s calming voice.

She had truly come into herself over the last few weeks since being separated from Violet and Luna. She had somehow turned into the mother of the entire group, her presence seeming to always be able to nudge the others back on course whilst her magics ensured that they always stayed in tip top shape.

"How much longer until we reach t-the city?" Asked Olivia, she too had begun to come out of her shell. She still stumbled over the odd word here and there, but overall she was no longer a stuttering mess when asked a direct question. She even openly asked questions of her own showing her improvement!

Masin finally focused back in on the conversation. "We should reach the city in but a few hours. Or at least we will so long as we don’t get waylaid by more soldiers. If we do however... we’ll we shall just have to show them the hospitality of the wilds now shalnt we!" A ferocious grin appeared on his face as he finished speaking whilst the air around him dropped in temperature all of a sudden.

Masin was increasingly getting closer and closer to breaching that final gap that separated a Lord from a Sovereign, that of a domain. It was a fickle thing a domain.

Some people seemed to be able to grasp its intricacies almost instinctually, others took years to figure it out, others still never managed to take that next step on the path of progression, forever finding themselves stuck at the peak of tier 4.

Masin firmly sat in the second category. He had been at level 149 for close to a year now, but he was still making steady progress to cross that final threshold. He was simply lacking one last part to fully develop his domain.

He had hoped to have found it on his journey, and he felt like he could have if he had the chance to talk more with Luna, sadly that had not come to pass. Even still he was confident that it would not take much longer for him to step into the fifth tier of advancement.

The group progressed swiftly for the most part. Yet they never seemed to be able to advance for more than 30 minutes before being attacked by more soldiers from the kingdom.

Still due to both the soldiers low levels, lack of significant numbers and just the shear competency of their group, they were never delayed for long. Always able to keep pushing forward.

Eventually the city came into sight.

The forest had been cleared out for a full mile in all directions from the heavily reinforced walls of the city of Syan.

When Masin had left the walls stood around 50 meters tall. Now an additional 20 meters of reinforced wood and stone capped the heavily enchanted walls.

The main gates of the city stood closed, whilst numerous heavily armed companies of soldiers in the blue heraldry of Shan patrolled around the edge of the mile wide clearing. Atop the wall hundreds of figures stood with bows and crossbows at the ready.

Seeing his city still standing sent a wave of relief through Masin. He had begun fearing the worst after encountering so many soldiers of the kingdom.

It did not take long for one of the patrolling companies to stop the approaching quintet, they moved into a combat stance upon seeing them.

Mason stepped forward and held up an emblem in their direction as he spoke up.

"Commander Masin of the royal scouts has returned. Please escort us to the city so I may report into his majesty."

As so it was that Susan, Rhyana, Olivia, Masin and Steve arrived at the City of Syan as it readied itself for war.