With loud heartbeats, and eyes wide open, she viewed the small wraith get its skull punctured through the back, out from the eye socket, feeling the grip on her hair loosen as the creature slowly slid off while dissipating, the freed sword falling to stab the earth between her thighs

"..."

Her breathing was ragged, eyes hardly focus as they looked far into the distance where a figure could be seen exiting the mist, its second sword still in hand

That was the last she saw before slumping onto the earth, fainted from physical and mental over exhaustion

'That was careless, what was Mia thinking leaving her alone in such a condition'

YuJu reprimanded, making up his mind to discipline the vampire at a later date, for now however it was time they left this place

Ellis was pretty much standing at the side now, with the zombies and their leader piling up over the behemoth, slowly but surely grinding away at its energy, before long the thing would be scrapped away denying her any assist in the matter, thus he called for her to come, the two, along with Ika who was done stealing kills here and there, went on their way in the middle of the ongoing battle

Mia noticed them leaving, and so did the other guild leaders, so she decided to wrap things up on her side, ending the troublesome fellow who caused her mistake and carrying Sofia away to a safe location before delving back into stealth

The raging battle didn't last long after, with the zombies making short work of the behemoth who could only helplessly explode into a dark cloud, and even that was gobbled up by them before it could return to the mist

Their leader took one last look around the battleground before whipping his undead mount into leading them away, leaving the humans to finish up any loose ends

Without surprise the guilds managed to wipe away the stragglers, only then could they breathe in relief

"Haah, did we, win?"

Someone questioned, finding no answer from their comrades, whether it was because they lay dead or were too saddened to speak

Sure, they won, but it was their own people who died this time, few as they may be in comparison to a slaughter done to common rabble, warriors could only feel saddened by the loss of close ones even in times of victory

Unlike them, the people in the settlement had no qualms about celebrating this joyous occasion, joyfully shouting and cheering as they got to live another day, and perhaps many more

Meanwhile, away from the festive mood, there were eyes lurking in the shadows of the surrounding buildings, peering at the blissfully unaware idiots shouting about

"Fools, they think this war is already over"

"Little do they know, the enemy is far stronger than anything we imagined"

"And even if war is won after much struggle, we shall be the one's reaping benefits"

Long maws opened in anticipation as the human figures reflected in their golden eyes, like slices of prime meat wiggling in invitation

...

"Did we kill a major force of theirs Master?"

Ellis asked as soon as they were on their way, serious was her face since she anticipated a disappointing answer, as was the case more often than not

"No, this was but a fraction of their forces"

Sure enough, the disheartening response poured ice over her burning hopes

"Then what shall we do next time? We are slowly losing numbers when they have yet to attack with everything they got"

"That's the thing though, they cannot attack with full force"

"? Is there something stopping them"

"Who do you think is behind the spreading mist"

"Well the wraiths of course"

"So I the wraiths were gone?"

"The mist would naturally dissipate...as well...."

"The mist, when we were fighting just now you should've noted it receded much further back by the end of the battle, its all because we took out the group supporting it"

"What does that have to do with them not being able to attack us"

He glanced at her with an annoyed gaze, where the hell did her intelligence stat go? It couldn't have been the one feeding those two mounds, could it?

"I believe the Lord is saying that the other groups cannot leave their stations so as to not make an opening in the formation, if they do then we, and every other human, would be capable of escaping through it, making any attempt at gathering forces quite useless"

Casting his eyes toward Ika he showed relief, finally someone using their brain for once

"Furthermore..."

Ika continued with a proud smile

"We won't be the same next time"

A burning gaze was present in her eyes, speaking volumes of the gains acquired through this battle alone

Ellis paused a bit, taken a hot second to get what she meant, realizing how she forgot everyone would have gained massive level ups after the big fight, it couldn't be helped that she did not notice however, with her high level it was a blessing to raise it by one or two already

With renewed hope of a bright future she followed her master back to the vampire den

"Awuwu~"

Running out to meet them was a hound dressed in a princess outfit?.....

"Blink twice if your taken hostage"

YuJu seriously spoke to the hound, only for her to tilt her head in confusion

'Hostage? Taste like a sausage?'

If food was still what filled her mind then she should be okay, thus he decided to give her lights pats before going into the throne room and taking a seat, somewhat tired from today's ordeal

With a bit of time on his hands, he took out the burial gem hidden in his breast pocket, finally getting a good look at it after harvesting all that negative energy

Unlike one might think the gem seemed to not have changed at all, just filled with a little more black than usual

"The capacity of this thing is what makes it highly desired"

Without it he wouldn't have been able to siphon as much energy as he did

"This war might prove to be the supplement I needed"

With a small smile he placed it on the counter and called for Anput through their mental connection

No sooner the hound came in with tiptoeing steps, head held up to look at the sky and tail standing upright

Finding it cute brought a giggle out of the cold heartless man, he hadn't called her to enjoy some quality time however but to have her carry the gem around and absorb its energy slowly until it was needed on the next battle, which wouldn't be anytime soon

"This is for you little one, keep it on?"

Feeling something wispy in his grasp instead of the solid texture he was expecting YuJu puzzledly turned mid sentence to look at the table where the gem burial is, or was, as the little war shadow Dreonate replaced it, mouth swallowing the precious gem

"Cough!"

In reflex YuJu's fingers instantly wrapped around the tiny neck, squeezing it with everything he had so that gem would not pass through into its stomach, alas, the thing took its effect even when it was merely inside its jaws

From a slim neck that could be wrapped around with one's fingers the little thing expanded outward into a three meter high dragon, recking the area around it and forcing him to jump out of the way

From a little Dreonate into a drake sized shadow dragon with embers running through its stomach and maw, clearly, the thing had made us if the gem to take its full form

YuJu was not happy though, only lost for words, he just placed the thing on the counter for a minute and a Dreonate ate his valuable treasure? It didn't even turn into anything astonishing either! Where did all that dark energy disappear to?!

Turning his eyes from the dragon toward the hound he gave her a blank look, one that made the little fellow instantly guilt ridden

"Awwuwuwu wuwuwu awuwuw wu!"

She tried to explain that she didn't know it would do that before turning to the dragon with angry wu's, ordering it to spit the none consumable item back out

The dragon lowered its head in a sorry manner, but the hound was having none of it

'Bad dragon! No food, spit out!'

Those were the most words he ever heard her use in a comprehensible manner, breaking him out from the stunned state as a sigh escaped his lips, it's not like he could get the gem back now so he might as well make it easier for the little one and spare her the guilty feelings

His hand moved to give her a comforting pat, but something was spat into it instead

"....."

Should he be happy that the gem was back in his hands or should he kill this big fellow for spitting in his hand? It wouldn't really die anyway…

Perhaps feeling the evil thoughts the dragon, who shrank back into a Dreonate for some unknown reason, cowered back into Anput's shadow under his merciless gaze