Matthew used his superior speed to keep away from the earth dragon who tried to get him with all its might.
Now with Ffyr's aiding him with a wind shield, the dragon's earth spells kept missing their mark.
Mia tried to damage the beast with a laser beam, but it did nothing to it. The dragon even disregarded her attack, focusing only on Matthew.
"It's impossible for us to harm it." Ffyr warned Matthew with telepathy.
"I know. Not even Belial's sword cut through it." He responded.
"What do we do?" Ffyr asked him.
"I need to get a hold of it again." Matthew said, rolling on the ground to avoid a tail whip.
Mia tried to hold the dragon down with solid mana chains, but it broke free easily.
Matthew shrouded his blades in unholy fire hoping that the unnatural fire would stop the dragon. However, the dragon ignored it completely, clawing at Matthew who defended himself with the flaming blades.
Its scaly body seemed impervious to flames and didn't catch on fire with Matthew's strikes.
"Why is it attacking us?!" Mia shouted.
"It's protecting its egg!" Matthew shouted back, pointing to the eggs direction.
At this point, the dragon seemed to regurgitate something and then it spat a ball of viscous green liquid on Matthew. He managed to dodge, but only barely. The droplets that hit him burned holes in his clothes.
He didn't have time to put on his armor.
Ffyr covered the dragon with a fan of flames, trying to make it retreat, but the dragon quickly lifted a wall of stones between it and the fairy.
That's when they heard Mia shouting.
"Over here!"
The dragon turned to look and there it saw Mia holding the egg in her arms.
"Mia! Don't!" Matthew protested, but the girl just ran away, carrying the egg and luring the dragon away from camp.
The earth dragon ran after her at full speed.
Matthew meant to run after Mia as well, but Ffyr stopped him, pulling his arm.
"Let me go Ffyr!" Matthew fought against her, but the fairy held fast.
"Pay attention!" Ffyr screamed at him. "Mia is fine."
Matthew looked at her with puzzled eyes.
"I'm right here, Matt." Mia said, dispelling her invisibility spell she cast upon herself. "That was only a light simulacrum of myself." She explained.
"Really?" Matthew questioned a bit incredulously. He was still full of adrenaline from the fight.
"Yeah. Now do something against this miasma." Mia confirmed.
Matthew purified himself as he usually did whenever he used unholy mana.
"Let's retreat back to camp." Ffyr said.
"We should." Matthew agreed.
"Do you think it will work?" Mia asked, looking at the dragon running far away chasing her simulacrum.
"Let's hope so. If that beast attacked the camp, it would cause a lot of damage." Matthew pondered. "Hope it doesn't hold a grudge against us."
Back at camp, Tina admonished both Mia and Matthew sternly for their behavior. Ultimately, they were thanked for foiling Farynn's plan.
"We had to let them go." Mia said about the elves she and Ffyr captured. "Matthew needed help."
"It's alright. We know what they wanted." Faralynn said.
They were all united with the war council now.
"Orson, you said?" Farzan questioned Matthew after he explained what happened.
"Yes. He made his goblins steal the earth dragon's eggs and lure it here." Matthew repeated what he just said.
"My brother is getting desperate." Farzan commented, switching the conversation to Elven.
"What's the news on our other fronts?" Countess Azan asked.
"Still the same." Count Dalynn informed.
"Our sabotage mission was successful." Faralynn said, pointing at Pyrzan. "Fort Vifan is to fall at any moment. If it all goes according to plan."
"What about our reinforcements at sea?" Farzan asked.
"Lord Bafnozan answered, he said it will take 2 more weeks to prepare the ships." A noble responsible for that said. "We positioned the Vissof with its cannons facing the walls, but the ship can only be moved with water magic."
"Another 2 weeks?" Dalynn protested.
"There's nothing that can be done." Farzan sighed.
"Back to waiting then." Azan said.
"There is a pressing matter." Faralynn's aunt interjected.
"What is it, Lady Mayan?" Farzan asked.
"The forest spirits won't be happy about the loss of the earth dragon's eggs. Farynn's sin is grave on this matter." She explained. "We need to appease them before their anger befall on the whole of the Duchy."
"What is to be done?" Farzan asked.
"We need to send Lady Faralynn to them personally to ask for forgiveness. They won't accept no one other than the land's ruler."
"We can't divide our forces any more!" Another noble protested.
"We don't need to. We can send just a small party." Mayan interpelled. "The shield and his aides are enough to protect the Lady."
"Then let it be. I'll go posthaste." Faralynn said resolutely.
"It's dangerous, but we can't make an enemy of the spirits." Farzan agreed.
"You're trusting those earthlings to defend our Lady?" The same noble protested.
"If you have any objections, you can face the shield yourself and take his place." Azan defended Matthew. "They have proved themselves both in battle and in loyalty. I have no complaints."
The elf looked at the countess and then sat down and acquiesced.
After the council disbanded, Faralynn explained to the others what was discussed and what were they to do now.
Tina remained in the camp. She felt her skills were better used repairing and polishing the magic gems of the army.
Helen, Mia and Erin decided to follow Matthew, Ffyr and Faralynn.
It was a day's travel from where they were. A temple was erected in the middle of the woods to honor the spirits. There Faralynn was to offer her apologies about what happened to the Earth Dragon.
"Why must we?" Mia protested already on the road.
"The spirits don't care about our wars or our divisions. They look upon elves as all being the same. They will blame all of us regardless." Faralynn explained.
"There aren't such spirits on Earth." Erin commented.
"There used to be." Helen said. "At least it's what my family says."
"It seems there was mana on Earth long ago. But for some reason it went away. That might've made the spirits leave the planet." Matthew pondered with knowledge he picked in the hells.
"There is a lot of folklore about it." Helen added. "Might be true."
"And also, there are spirits living on Earth now. They just don't have the same power as the old spirits that live here." Faralynn said.
Soon the conversation took another direction. Matthew regaled them with stories about his time in hell with Ffyr adding in whenever she felt he omitted something.
Faralynn got extremely jealous when she heard about Tylith and bombarded Matthew with questions in an aggressive tone. Only relenting when Ffyr assured her Matthew was extremely loyal even when governed by the demonic mana.
Erin cried upon hearing about heaven, wondering if her deceased family were looking at her from there.
"It's all so surreal." Mia said in wonder.
"If I haven't seen it all with my own eyes, I would not believe it myself." Matthew said.
Faralynn hugged his arm hard and rested her head on his armored shoulder.
They spent the night in the open, setting camp on a clearing.
While the others slept, Matthew and Mia remained awake to guard the camp. They were behind enemy lines and could be ambushed at any time, like Pyrzan were.
"You two are so cute." She said suddenly.
"Me and Lynn?" Matthew was caught by surprise.
"Yes. I get a bit jealous." She confessed. "I mean. Lynn is one of my best friends and I'm really happy for her. But…" She added blushing.
"But?" Matthew asked her.
"Nothing. I shouldn't say anything." Mia tried to dismiss her remarks.
"I'm sorry, Mia." Matthew understood what she meant. "There was a time I was confused. I might've led you on." He explained. "But my heart belongs to Lynn."
"I know. And you didn't. It's just that…" Mia had tears in her eyes. "I just wish it was me. You know? But don't you need to worry about me. You and Lynn deserve all the happiness there is. I will… I will get over it. Don't worry."
Ffyr hugged the girl from behind who rested her head on the fairy's arm.
Matthew concentrated on the fire in front of him. He didn't know what to say. A part of him felt guilty.
On the next day they arrived at a temple made of well chiseled rocks and covered in moss. It was surrounded by trees as if the trees sprouted from the temple itself.
"We're here. This is Baif al Sif." Faralynn said to them. "The temple to the spirits." She hesitated in front of the doors.
"Should we go in?" Matthew asked her, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"No. I must enter alone." Faralynn smiled at him.
"Be careful, Lynn." Matthew said, kissing her forehead.
"I will."
