Three more days quickly went by as Marcus and his group diminished the threats within the lower part of the Great Gome Woods.
On the first of these three days they finished off the last of the powerful beasts and monsters that were a major threat only he and his companions could handle. With Davion somehow surviving his job as bait.
After that he joined in with Andrea and her tribe going around and taking care of weaker threats.
Then on the third day when they had finished, he held a feast for the village and Andrea’s tribe.
For this he pulled out all of his best ingredients and a very healthy supply of meat which was unusual for the village folk.
In fact, a number of people cried when they ate Marcus’ cooking which was easily on par with the best chefs in the kingdom with his high-level cooking skill.
“Irene, I do not think I have ever had anything this good.” Andrea said as she tore apart a large piece of steak and began chomping down on it.
“I am glad that you like it. I worked pretty hard on this, so it makes me happy that everyone is enjoying it. Now there is plenty so feel free to eat your fill.” Marcus said as he threw more food onto a large grill he was using.
Marcus continued to receive compliments from pretty much everyone just as he had from Andrea, and they all continued to eat until they were completely full.
Soon tiredness caught up with everyone and they all returned to their homes to get some much-needed sleep. Especially Andrea and her tribe who had been fighting nonstop with only a minimum amount of rest.
However, Marcus had only accomplished part of his job and still needed to find out what exactly was causing this mess and put an end to it if he could..
‘Inten we are leaving soon. Move to the edge of the woods and I will come and pick you up there.’ Marcus telepathically said to the diamond mouse that insisted on accompanying him.
Naturally he had elected to not bring the legendary grade beast into the village as he would likely cause quite the scare, especially among Andrea’s tribe.
To that end he also had Roxene put away in his companion storage as she might have caused and even bigger uproar.
As he was leaving in the dead of night, someone was out in the middle of the village sitting on top of the tallest building and looking out towards the woods.
“Hey Dagwood, what has you up this late?” Marcus asked.
Turning his head towards him, Dagwood said, “In the merriment no one remembered to set up a watch for tonight and everyone else has gone to sleep. I know that we eliminated a number of the more dangerous beasts and monsters, but that does not mean that everything is safe, and relaxing now could prove to be our undoing. So, I am making sure nothing happens tonight.”
“I see, you certainly are diligent. Though I must thank you for looking after this village as it is special to me.” Marcus said while considering what to do next.
He had been hoping to sneak out unseen and not cause any sort of fanfare, but now Dagwood had already spotted him.
“You are leaving are you not? I do not know where you are going or what you are doing but good luck.” Dagwood said, already having guessed Marcus’ intention.
Smiling, Marcus looked up towards him and said, “Yeah I have another assignment that I need to complete further north.”
“Well good luck with whatever it is you are doing. Though with your strength I am sure it will not be difficult. It is difficult to believe that you are only four levels higher than me. Since if I had to guess off of just your strength, I would expect you to be over level seventy.” Dagwood said.
Shrugging his shoulders, Marcus said, “Some people are just stronger. I am sure if you work hard and get lucky, you can become just as strong as I am. Now I do need to get going, so see you around.”
With his conversation with Dagwood over Marcus headed to the edge of the village and jumped over the fence, before heading into the woods where he picked up Inten.
Though as he left, Dagwood mumbled under his breath, “I highly doubt that I could ever be as strong as you are.”
Once he had collected Inten and the diamond mouse had taken its place on his shoulder, Marcus shot into the air with his iron wings and began flying straight north.
For the time being he had ensured the relative safety of the settlements that bordered the Great Gome Woods, and now it was time for him to deal with the real issue.
Something was causing the beasts and monsters that normally lived further north to flee south, and he needed to deal with whatever it was.
He had already learned from Inten that it was some sort of entity that released an aura of destruction so powerful that it extended for hundreds of miles.
And as he flew over the woods and moved further north, he soon felt it himself.
‘What the hell is this!?’
Stopping in the middle of the air and shivering Marcus had never felt this level of fear.
It made him want to turn around and run as far away as he could.
Yet while it gave off a deadly feeling, he could still not gage if whatever was emitting this aura was actually powerful.
Only an unshakable fear permeated the area and below him the forest was eerily quiet.
Everything that used to live this far north had already left other than low level insects that could not process the danger in the air.
Still even as overwhelming as this presence was, Marcus knew he needed to move forward and figure out what was the cause so he could report back to the kingdom.
‘If it is something I cannot deal with, I can just pass it off to the kingdom. My main job is just to be a scout.’
Steeling himself, he continued flying forward much to Inten’s distress, as he could also feel this aura.
For Roxene though being in Marcus’ companion storage she did not notice it. But if she had, she would have told Marcus to run back to the capital, collect those he cares about, and leave the continent.
Nevertheless, she was not able to inform him of this, and he continued going further north despite the increasing sense of doom.
Eventually he made it past the tree line of the Great Gome Woods, as he entered a sprawling tundra that went on for around a hundred miles before entering the area of a huge glacier.
The thing was massive, and Marcus could see that it was very slowly crushing against the continent as the earth in front of it was cracked.
But that was not of much concern now, as it would probably take this glacier thousands of years to become any sort of real natural disaster for the kingdom.
No what was currently the main issue was the oppressive aura that permeated from within this glacier.
Whatever it was now had become almost unbearable, and Inten had actually passed out from getting this close. Showing just how strong it really was.
Even a legendary grade beast at level fifty-two could not handle being in this thing’s presence, and Marcus himself was having a difficult time himself.
His very being told him to run the other way, which was quite odd as he had only ever felt like this before in front of the blue demon.
‘I just need to see what it is quickly and then report back. Maybe it is not even an entity at all, but just some sort of magical device that is just meant to induce terror.’ Marcus thought, trying to come up with some sort of other logical explanation.
The closer he had gotten, the more and more he felt that whatever was here was beyond anything the kingdom could deal with, and he was hoping that it really was nothing.
After around an hour of working up his nerves he flew over the glacier and began scanning around.
Quickly he spotted where the epicenter of the aura was coming from which was around fifty miles away.
Speeding over there he had to really fight to get any closer, and when he finally got a view of what was the cause of all of this, he froze.
Looking down he could see that under the ice was a creature that was beyond colossal.
He had seen plenty of huge beasts and monsters in his time, but this thing dwarfed all of them many times over.
Retharin had been massive, over three hundred feet long, with Gwyneria’s full dragon form being nearly the same size.
Yet this thing he was looking down on made them look like a baby chick and a tiny gecko in comparison.
However, as Marcus looked at it, he could see that it was covered in some sort of thin white light that appeared to be breaking down in places, and he realized that his monster had been sealed here.
For how long he had no clue, but its aura had begun to begun to break through its binding and was releasing out into the world.
‘I have to contact the kingdom fast and get Aria or someone else well versed in magic out here now. Maybe it is possible that we can keep this thing sealed.’
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on fre(e)webno(v)el.𝒸𝑜𝘮