Chapter 259 Information Gathering
"What the?!"
I was surprised to see that we were dropped in the middle of a battlefield. No, I guess that wasn't intentional. The surrounding area of the space where we appeared looked like a fortress, but nothing was left of it but a small layer of the walls.
"Everyone!!!"
Before I even called for them, the girls were already on the move. Rather, not only them but a large majority of the tamers and their tamed monsters started their counterattack as soon as the situation became clear.
Barriers were raised as waves of powerful energy attacks were released. In just moments, the demons that were all around vanished into a pile of ashes and goo.
"The fortress fell?"
Threya, who was just next to us, muttered in a soft voice. She didn't participate in the first wave of cleanup, though, and was just looking at the debris around, trying to understand the situation.
"That's what it looks like. Fortunately, we came just in time, I guess."
From what I could detect, apart from the demons that were still heading in this direction, no other demons remained beyond the temporary defensive line we made. The towns nearby should still be unscathed.
As we were walking around, the corpses of tamers and their tamed monsters were scattered around. They were the soldiers who were supposed to guard the fortress but were probably overwhelmed and unable to hold on. It was a sad sight, but death is a common sight on battlefields. I just put my palms together, sending a short prayer for the souls of the ones who died.
After further scanning the surroundings, I found that there were some tamers and monsters that were still alive. I turned to Ember, and without even the need to give her an order, she quickly went to them and took out potions before passing them to the ones still able to move or forcing the ones unable to even lift a finger to drink one.
Once in a while, she would try using her Void Healing powers, but she limited it to only one try per person. If she failed, then she would pass a potion to them. As usual, only one out of three attempts was a success. Well, Ember wasn't really practicing this skill much, so it didn't improve in any way. Gaining some practical experience here is a great boost for her, I guess.
While Ember was busy going around and healing the wounded, Fang and Igni were creating mountains of corpses or charring entire areas ahead of them. With the two combined, there was no way that 6th-stage demons could raise a hand.
"We're pretty lucky the demons weren't too powerful,"
Threya, returning after going around the fortress once, muttered in a cheery voice. Turning around, I saw that she was carrying a map in her hands, and on it, the position of the fortress was marked.
Seeing where I was looking, she passed the crumpled map to me without hesitation.
"Here, I saw it already, so you can have it."
"Thanks..."
I took the map she offered and quickly scanned it. From the fortress, marked with a red dot, a long set of walls was built. The wall was apparently a kilometer away, further south from the fortress, while the town was in the other direction, about a kilometer to the north of it.
"There's only one town?"
I was somewhat expecting more, but the map only showed one town. Only forests fill the spaces between the town and the fortress, with not even a single town-level barrier set up other than the said two locations.
"... This kingdom relied too much on the protection of the Dragon King."
I sighed as I rolled the map, returning it to Threya. She shook her head, however, as if she didn't need the map anymore. I get it too, since there's basically no use for this trash after reading it once.
"Will!"
Fina, who went off to support Fang and Igni, together with Yorm and Judy, finally returned. In her hands, dozens of sixth-stage essence crystals, around the size of a Large Essence Crystal, were held in her arms.
"I picked some up, but I can't hold more than this. Can I borrow your storage ring?"
She had a storage ring before, but that was government-issued. Julie came to take it back shortly after Fina became a succubus, so now she doesn't have a storage ring.
"I don't have any on hand."
I answered truthfully. After all, I already passed both of my storage rings to Fang and Igni for use.
"Instead, I'll come with you. Let's put these away first."
Carefully, I took the essence crystals from her arms and put them inside my [Spatial Storage]. After we got all of it, we walked toward the mountain of corpses that Fang had created.
"Igni..."
On Igni's side, however, nothing but ashes remained. Even the essence crystals were burned away completely. It was a waste, but they were only 6th-stage demons anyway.
Rather, just looking at the pile before us, I quickly realized that clearing them all would take time.
"... I really hate gathering the crystals."
In fact, I haven't done that since entering the sealed space with Ember and Fang. I guess I was desensitized after that, and I don't feel the importance of the crystals anymore. Fina was doing her best, though, extracting the essence crystals from the corpses.
"I hope all demons are undead types."
I muttered before moving to help Fina. Undead types don't leave a corpse after their deaths, after all. The undead only appear at night, which makes it hard to farm them in large numbers.
All the tamers were slowly moving forward, pushing back the swarm of demons until they finally reached the tall walls protecting the Cleaver Kingdom's perimeter. There was a large hole in it, though, so Ember quickly tried her Void powers and restored it to its pristine state.
"... Ugh..."
However, she failed to control the scale of the skill and ended up restoring the ENTIRE wall. Ember fainted as she used up all her energy instantly, but I managed to catch her body before she fell to the dirty ground.
Now that the wall was restored, the repelling barriers that were placed on it started working again, powered by the energy from the sun. The demons quickly moved further away, about five hundred meters, before finally stopping. The range of the barrier was pretty limited, it seems, but that's probably by design and not Ember's fault.
"With this, the Southern end is safe for now."
Threya muttered as she sighed. I didn't see her participate in the battles, though, and only watched from the back. The other tamers moved to the Southeast and Southwest, clearing any demons that they met along the way. Right as the sun was about to set, meaning it took us more than eight hours to do so, the coast was finally clear.
As everyone gathered back to the destroyed fortress, everyone agreed to have separate groups keep watch at specific times. We were divided into three groups. The morning shift (10 a.m. to 6 p.m.), which I was in, the evening shift (6 p.m. to 2 a.m.), and the graveyard shift (2 a.m. to 10 a.m.).
I actually wanted the evening shift, but the more powerful tamers took up the spot almost instantly. Others couldn't even raise their voices and could just nod their heads reluctantly.
In the end, since it was nearing sundown, the evening shift was left rest were left with nothing to do, so we just went to town to rest.
The town was large, despite being on the edge. In fact, it was even to guard the entire southern end from Southeast to Southwest. The rest were left with nothing to do, so we just went to town to rest.
The town was large, despite being on the edge. In fact, it was even larger than the capital!
"Just how rich is the Cleaver Kingdom...?"
I wondered.
Anyway, now that we have time until our shift, it's time to gather some information. As I touched the doorknob of our room (we took a family-sized one where everyone stayed together), an angry voice resounded from behind.
"Master...?"
"Ah, I-I'll just go out to gather information. I wouldn't be going anywhere dangerous, I promise!"
I quickly explained myself; however, not only Ember but even the rest of the girls were looking at me with narrowed eyes.
"Where are WE going, then?"
Igni asked, smiling sweetly. However, why is it that I can see a scary shadow behind her smile?
I suppressed the shiver that I felt and quickly added.
"I, no, we would be heading to the tavern. Rumors should be swimming in that place, as it's basically a hub for information exchange."
"The tavern? I haven't tried alcohol yet..."
Fang muttered, her ears twitching in excitement as her tail wagged gently.
"It's not that delicious, I warn you. However, I think you'll like the feeling you get after drinking it. It's as if all your problems get washed away~!"
Fina added, probably talking from Experience.
"I haven't tried alcoholic beverages yet too. It was forbidden for those who haven't gotten a tamer yet in our village."
Igni recounted with a hint of nostalgia, painting her words with sadness.
"I haven't tried it either! Looks like the three of us can enjoy our first drink at the tavern tonight!"
Ember raised her voice, cheering for the other two. I was neither able to raise my voice nor stop them from drinking. In the end, I could only release a long sigh. I just hope this evening passes without any incidents.
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