Chapter 923 923 Aezam’s Guardian
'We really did a number on this place.' Marcus thought as he scanned his surroundings.
All around him was a hellish landscape that had been razed by the battle. Parts of it was a molten wasteland from Zaila's flames, others were frozen over by Mrazivý's ice magic, but most of it was just completely shattered and looked like an earthquake of the greatest magnitude had hit.
However, there was one area within view that had managed to escape being destroyed by the battle.
The black sand hill that the Font of Death was resting within had managed to avoid being damaged for the most part. Some of the sands had shifted but that was it.
As a magical phenomenon born from the abrupt and violent death of hundreds of thousands, the Font of Death was an embodiment of destruction and would not be easily disturbed even by the most intense of battles.
'Marcus, if you have finished surveying the surroundings, I could use some healing.' Roxene said, frustration evident in her voice.
She was pretty badly wounded by Zaila's last attack, and after going all out and using Soul Burst her natural recovery was not working nearly as fast as when she was in peak condition.
Looking down, Marcus saw Roxene laying on her side and panting heavily. Her injuries were worse than he had thought, and it appeared that she was close to passing out from the pain.
"Ultimate Refresh."
Without further delay, Marcus descended from his position in the air an immediately used his Supreme Skill to not only fix Roxene's wounds, but also recovery her lowered stats that came as backlash for using Soul Burst.
Once Roxene was recovered Marcus used telepathy to contact Mrazivý and ask her how she was doing. Last, he had seen of her, she had been smacked away by one of Zaila's flaming wings.
'I'm doing fine, just some minor burns. My regeneration skill has already nearly recovered all the damage I took. Just worry about Aezam's Guardian. Who knows what kind of nasty aftereffects she is dealing with.' Mrazivý responded.
With confirmation that his wife was not heavily injured, Marcus turned his attention to Zaila who was still passed out after having the malicious magic item removed.
Marcus examined her wounds quickly and noticed that they were barely healing.
'She must have exhausted most of her mana. At this rate she might die before recovering.' Marcus thought, looking at the horrid wounds all over Zaila's body.
Normally this amount of damage would not have been able to kill a mythic grade beast, but Zaila had been forced to expend almost all of her power in her rampage.
Luckily, Marcus had some of the best healing abilities in the world and with another use of his supreme skill he fully restored Zaila. Even the damage to her soul that he had been the cause of.
The instant after Marcus had healed her, Zaila sprung back up, awake and on guard. The last thing that she remembered was being ambushed by powerful assailants.
"Whoa! We are not your enemies." Marcus said after dodging a claw swipe from Zaila.
He immediately held up his hands to show that he was not threatening her and used telepathy to tell Roxene, Blitz, and Inten to stand down. Naturally the three of them had prepared to defend Marcus the moment Aezam's Guardian had sent an attack his way.
Zaila's head moved around rapidly as she took in the situation and examined the unfamiliar individuals that were around her.
"Who are you, and what are you doing here? I do not recognize you, but that does not mean you are not with that group that attacked me." Zaila said, clearly still on edge.
And who could blame her, she had been restrained for years in a paralyzed state. Left submerged in the Font of Death to be corrupted.
"We are friends of the Sulb and Eazim Clans. Surely you have a way to contact their grand elders. Just ask them about us and they will vouch for us." Marcus said, keeping his hands raised.
After a couple more swift glances around to check her surroundings for danger, Zaila pulled out two sending stones from her item box and contacted Ghazi and Akeem.
A lengthy conversation ensued once Zaila connected with the leaders of Sulb and Eazim Clans. It had been a long time since anyone had heard from Zaila, and naturally Ghazi and Akeem were elated to learn that she was alive.
"I am grateful for all of your concern, but I must get back to the matter at hand. I will contact both of you and the other grand elders at another time." Zaila said into both of the sending stones, before putting them away.
her questions for hours.
When Zaila turned her gaze back towards Marcus the hostility had Had she let them, the two grand elders would have gone on asking her questions for hours.
When Zaila turned her gaze back towards Marcus the hostility had receded from her eyes, but she still held a degree of wariness.
"Seems that you check out. Ghazi especially held you in high regard. Apparently, you defeated him and his brother in a match." Zaila said, her eyes glancing towards where Mrazivý was waiting in the distance.
"It is true that we beat them. But that does not matter much right now. What I want to know is what happened to you. How did you end up out here and chained up in the Font of Death?"
Zaila looked pained as she recalled the last events that she could recall, but she told Marcus what occurred on the condition that he tell her everything that he knew as well.
She had noticed a disturbance in the Desolate and come to investigate, only to be ambushed by several dozens of individuals that had been waiting for her.
Among this group Marcus only recognized the description of one of them which was the crimson skeleton. The other attackers Zaila described were unfamiliar.
Of course, Zaila had put up a good fight and killed nearly eighty percent of those that attacked her before she was exhausted and wrapped up in chains that were strong enough to hold her. After that, all she could remember was pain and trying to resist the corruption of the Font of Death.
"I see, you have my sympathies. I cannot imagine how much you suffered." Marcus said.
He then explained about what he found when he and his companions reached the Font of Death and the short clash that had occurred.
"Once they had fled using space magic, the five of us did all we could to free you from the berserk state that you had been forced into." Marcus said, explaining everything about their battle.
Zaila for her part looked aghast when she heard about the rampage she had gone on and looked around at the destruction around them. They had been lucky to be in the middle of a wasteland like the Desolate Desert. Had they been anywhere near a populated area the damage would have been immense.
"Please, allow me to give you my sincerest thanks and apologize for the trouble that I caused you, Without the five of you intervening, I very well may have destroyed the nation I am meant to protect." Zaila said, bowing her head to Marcus.
For such a proud beast as a phoenix, bowing her head to anyone was a sign of great respect, and Marcus could feel the weight behind it.
A few moments later Zaila's form began to shift, and she soon took on the appearance of a young woman with crimson hair wearing a scarlet dress.
"There it should be easier for us to converse with myself in this form. I understand the broad situation, but I would be grateful if we could have a more detailed discussion."
Shrugging his shoulders, Marcus took out a table and chairs from his item box and beckoned his beast companions and Mrazivý over to join their talks.
Zaila looked on with interest as each of Marcus' beast companions took on their own humanoid forms, save for Inten who was small enough to perch on Marcus' shoulder.
"You are one of Gwyneira's ilk, aren't you." Zaila said, her eyes focused on Mrazivý and her expression not looking the least bit pleased.
"Yes, Gwyneira is my ancestor. I am Mrazivý Borealia, Thirteenth princess of Borealia." Mrazivý said proudly, not showing any fear even under the weight of Zaila's frown.
Zaila looked conflicted about having a friendly conversation with Mrazivý, likely due to some bad blood with Gwyneira in the past.
Nevertheless, Mrazivý had been a part of the team that had saved her from a fate far worse than death, so Zaila cast aside her animosity. She was smart enough to know it would get her nowhere.
"Earlier you told me that you knew some of those that were keeping watch over me when you arrived. If it would not be too much trouble, would you give me their names and appearances? If they are still planning to cause trouble in my home, I will hunt them down."
Nodding his head, Marcus told Zaila everything he knew, though finding out about a member of the Borealian royal family being involved did not help to improve Zaila's view of Mrazivý.
"It just had to be demons, didn't it." Zaila grumbled under her breath.
Among all creatures that appeared on Mirrion, there were none better at spreading chaos and death than demons. The only thing that kept them from destabilizing the entire world was the fact that they originated from another dimension and could not cross over on their own.
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