Chapter 204: Beast Spies
"Does that mean you could have prevented this if you sent back the egg?" Exildra asked.
"No. The wyrm has been in constant battle for five years now. It needed a reason to attack us fully, and we gave it one. We can only blame our luck and someone’s stupidity," Hakim answered.
"It doesn’t make sense, though. If the beast had been in battle with you for five years, that means it has been here for longer; at the very least, it should be half as old as the town. How come it’s still Tier 2?" Sel asked, causing the leaders to stare at each other.
"It lacks a core," Forta said, causing everyone to look at them in surprise. Hakim continued.
"When it reached Tier 2, it fought the third chief, my grandfather, and lost. We don’t know the details of the battle or how it happened, but my grandfather supposedly died a week later after that battle, while the wyrm went into hiding. It was very injured. For years, it grew in size, presence, and strength, but it never broke through and advanced past Tier 2. Even getting to the Circle of Favored is proving difficult for it. This is just a theory, but it’s highly possible that the egg was its method to build a new core. Sacrifice its offspring to create a new core. In a way, stealing the egg had helped prevent the rebirth of a calamity, but it has also brought a worse calamity. The wyrm wouldn’t stop until we are all extinct."
"Doesn’t that mean that there is another solar wyrm around? How could it lay an egg without reproduction?" Lily asked.
"That was initially a possibility, but after living for more than fifty years with it, we’ve learnt that wyrms can reproduce with or without a mate. In this case, the latter is highly possible. It can condense mana and go through asexual reproduction, and if it’s really to get back its core, then this makes it more true. The beast that would have hatched from the egg would have been a pure elemental beast," Risa explained.
"Have you tried investigating the survivors from the expedition? The egg might have been passed on," Gabi spoke in his meek tone.
"Or, there was no egg in the first place. You are just out of luck," Bahamut added, causing everyone to look at him again.
"Please elaborate," Hakim said to him.
"I’m not saying that your deductions are wrong. At the moment, we have two problems. It is either that there was no egg in the first place. Just raiding the tomb was enough to irk it to the max. Or, there was truly an egg, and it is missing. There could also be third and fourth deductions."
"Third and fourth?"
"Yes. What if there’s truly an egg, but it was never stolen? That could go with the first problem. It just wanted a reason to attack. As I said, it is a highly intelligent beast; it wouldn’t be very surprising if it thought like that.
The fourth is that... the town is a sacrifice. There’s the possibility that it has already ingested the egg and needs you people as a source of nutrients to complete the process. If it is this, then there’s nothing you can do to stop it."
"If what you say is right, then we have to prepare for every possibility," Forta spoke.
"And not forgetting the supposed Tier 3 beast. From how you’ve described the wyrm, it is a very prideful beast. For it to accept an alliance with another beast..." Sel added.
"There’s no time for even preparations. We have to go all out. And now, a part of the wall had been destroyed. The wyrm is very intelligent. It would take some time to fix the wall, and we don’t have that much time," Hakim said.
"That would probably be its attack point. That’s where the horde would breach from, most likely. No, it is where they would breach from," Forta added.
"Doesn’t it mean that what happened earlier was just an act?" Exildra asked, causing everyone’s eyes to widen in shock and realization.
Bahamut suddenly stood and rushed outside. The rest followed, and lo and behold, up in the sky was a flock of hawks.
The expressions turned grim as the realization hit them. They weren’t dealing with just beasts. They were dealing with veterans of war at this point, and for some reason, everyone’s suspicion was on the unknown Tier 3 beast, whatever it was.
...
"For a beast to have the idea to even send spies..." Risa contemplated. They had returned to the meeting chamber.
"It has lived with highly intelligent beings before. It is possible that the wyrm had learnt from our ways, or it is the other beast," Hakim said. A chill passed through the spines of everyone.
For Bahamut and the rest, a supposedly simple mission had become a full-blown war. It had begun when they discovered that their mission had been interfered with. To think it would come to this.
"We can make preparations to send you people..." Hakim started, but Bahamut stopped him.
"Don’t worry about that. We have ways to survive. We came to help, and that is what we will do. And I am sure none of us would want to leave when we can help."
"We really appreciate your help," Hakim bowed slightly to them.
...
After the sudden appearance of the solar wyrm, Tunik helped ensure order in the town. With the appearance of the beast, he recalled the expedition, the tomb raiding which he’d partaken in. He recalled the small stony orb his friend had given him before he died. He would have thrown it away, dismissed it as a common rock if not for the power he felt from it.
He didn’t give it to the chief or any of the leaders. He kept it with him because his friend said it could help him become stronger. In Senkeht, strength meant authority. He was planning to use it after the battle, but now he was having second thoughts. What if that was the reason why the beast was attacking the town? Wasn’t he aiding it?
