Chapter 56: The Planning.

"What we are facing today is the greatest crisis that our territory has ever seen from the time it was established." Father said in a solemn tone as he gets back to his seat.

It seems like the parasites inside the fog have the capability to corrupt and control any creatures that it infected with.

And that would not be a good thing for us, since our territory is situated in the middle of a forest which is thriving with life.

A lot of magic beasts and animals would definitely get infected by the parasites in this fog, based on how large it has spread.

But it's been a week now, since this phenomenon have started, and we haven't even seen any of them during our soldier's patrol inside the fog.

We didn't even find a dead body of a magic beast or animal for an entire week, except for today, as this is the first time we found something hideous inside of it.

It just looks like all the animals and magic beasts who previously lived in this big-ass land suddenly vanished out of nowhere.

We can't even find a trail or any track that might lead to them, even the insects that can commonly see everywhere are missing.

The worst part is the feeling I got every time I enter the fog. A deafening silence would immediately welcome you as I can't hear anything. Even the blows of the wind have remained stagnant this entire week.

The previous lively scene inside the forest is now gone and it is now filled with death stillness as everything is been replaced by the serene and ghostly atmosphere.

It looks like the entire place has become haunted except that the plants around us are still thriving and blooming despite the situation.

"I also need to report that this creature can immediately regenerate inside the fog, and it uses the surrounding trees as a fuel sucking out all the life from it." Callisto suddenly said as he also takes his seat along with the table.

Based on the story that Callisto has told us, this creature has a low danger risk against the transcended, as long as we covered our body with aura, since it would make all their attacks ineffective against us.

But for normal people, a creature like this is a huge danger, as it can rapidly spread the infection through them without having a fight. A single scratch is what it would take for these parasites to spread out without us, noticing it.

The parasites that an infected thing carries are far more potent and powerful compared to the ones mixed in the fog.

The potential that this parasite has, can be compared to a biological bomb on modern earth, enough to destroy an entire civilization.

Wait a minute.......

A parasite that can destroy an entire civilization? Is this thing has something to do with the destruction of the Gregorian empire?

No, that's impossible.

This thing isn't that strong to destroy that empire from inside. A simple cover of aura around our body is enough to stop it from corrupting us.

Gregorian empire is far more powerful than the three biggest empires and I'm sure that they can immediately solve something as simple as this.

"I would now raise our security to the highest level, and every one of us would stay on high alert, to make sure that none of this creatures can step inside our wall." Father sternly said while looking at the window overseeing the city.

"In order to do this, I would need the help of all of you, in guarding the wall, since we don't know in what direction they would come from." Father said as he lay down a parchment that contains the blueprint of the entire city, on the table while drawing some marks around the big circle that surrounds the city.

"I would need some of you to stand guard over this location every night, to make sure that we won't miss any of this creature sneaking inside the city." Father said as he encircle 6 different marks in the blueprint.

"Each one of you would be the leader of our soldiers, In protecting the city against this creature, as we are the only ones, who could engage them in a close combat." Solemnly said by father as he urges the three soldiers to move in front.

"Those creatures can immediately infect normal soldier with their parasites. That might cause us a lot of problems if we could not control it in time." Father said as he showed us the body of this three soldiers with an obvious marks of corruption that were spreading throughout their entire chests.

"Thanks to Callisto's special ability he managed to see them in the crowd, but this three soldiers aren't even aware that they were already infected with its corruption," Father said in a grave voice while looking at the three soldiers who are now panickly staring at their chest that's filled with throbbing black veins.

"Lord Hubert, Please help us. I swear I didn't know about this." Plead by one of the soldiers as fears creep upon his face.

"All of them belong to the group of soldiers that was attacked by that creature." Callisto said as he form a barrier around the three of them.

"Oh boy, the corruption has already spread to a large portion of this person's body. It would not be easy to remove it from him, even for me." Ethan said with a serious voice as he closely observed one of the three soldiers outside the aura barrier.

"Sir Callisto what should we do? I don't want to become like that." Fearfully ask by one of the soldiers with the most severe corruption throughout his body.

"Lord Hubert, It wasn't like this earlier. I swear with my life it's just a normal wound before." said by a puzzled soldier with the least case of corruption among the three.

"If what you said is true, then I think the parasites in the fog have gotten stronger. They now have the capability to corrupt open wounds on a person's body." I immediately said after seeing the infected wounds of that soldier.

The way the corruption spread in his wounds is different from the other two. In a form that the corruption only happens inside the flesh of the wounds but not around the edges of the wounds.

Like something has penetrated it in the center of the wounds pestering the healthy flesh to rot.

"I don't think that pouring this mana potion on your wounds wouldn't be enough to stop the parasites from spreading throughout your system. It would be much better if you could drink this instead, but the problem is that, the amount of mana this potion contains is more than the amount your body could handle." Ethan said to the soldier who has the worst case of corruption.

"You only have two choices, Whether you die from the parasite, or you die from your body exploding due to excessive mana consumption." Sternly said by Ethan.

"Don't I have other options aside from dying sir Ethan?" The soldier asks.

"You could also survive drinking this mana potion but I can't guarantee it."

"Then I will still choose to drink this rather than to become something like that." The soldier said before gulping the entire mana potion.

While the other two only needs to pour the mana potion into their wounds to kill all the parasites on them.

The parasites don't react well with mana as it causes them to die. That's why a simple potion that contains a lot of mana is enough to cure all of them.

Except for the one who has the most severe case of corruption on his body. The other two soldiers have already exited the aura barrier, as their wounds have already shown healthy flesh and the tracks of corruption are gone.

"Help me. It hurts..... please someone... help me." pleaded by the soldier as he kneeled on the floor while clasping his chest.

"You need to fight it and guide all your energy through your chest remember the cultivation technique that was taught to all of you." Ethan said as he tries to motivate the soldier kneeling in pain.

"Remember all the lessons that I taught you, soldier. All of you have experienced that before you should know how to do it." Hugo yelled as he remind the soldiers about their training.

"The cultivation technique that I taught to all of you would greatly help you to survive in this situation. You should guide all the energy inside of your body into your chest, to form your own core." Strictly said by my father as the soldier started to cultivate and guide all the surplus mana inside his body.

A huge amount of black smoke can be seen exiting on his skin as the corruption stop spreading throughout his body.

Did I mention that to become a qualified soldier in our city someone needs to be an apprentice knight first?

Basically, it would only take them one push to become a transcended and stepped into the official rank of knighthood.

Due to this reason, our forces are still considered one of the strongest in the ranks of nobility, as this qualification was set from the time when our family is still a Duke's house.

A Loud shout was suddenly heard around the room as the soldier already exhausted all his energy to expel the parasites inside his body.

A thick cloud of smoke can also be seen inside the shield which makes it harder for us to see the scene inside.

But it only takes a moment before all the smoke calms down and there we see the unconscious body of the soldier who is now free from the corruption. At first, I thought that he would finally break through into knighthood after drinking that potion, but it seems like a massive amount of mana was used in expelling all the parasites in his body.

Although he didn't manage to break through to the rank of knighthood. I can still call this as a blessing in disguise, as the mana potion has expanded all the veins in his body, making it more easier for him to cultivate in the future.

"The procedure is a success, but I think it would be much better if Callisto can personally observe all our people, to make sure that we didn't miss any of them." Ethan said as the two soldiers drag the unconscious body towards his private office.

"Although, all of them are already cleared from the parasites. I would still like to keep them under observation for a day or two, just to make sure that there's no more problem in their body." Ethan said before accompanying the soldiers and exiting the room.

"Well, that's all for today, all of you may now exit the room, except for all the knights. Please remain in your seat as we have other things to talk about." Father immediately said as he watches the other people leaving the room.

As the door of the room closed a heavy aura of the Grand knight immediately spread around the room as father release his power to keep the sounds from escaping this place.

"I know that all of you should already have an idea of what I'm about to say." Father said immediately after releasing his white aura.

"Is it true?" Ask by sir Mark as he wasn't able to come with us to the cave.

"Yes, the news you heard earlier is true, but we have a much bigger problem than that." Father gravely said as he explain the things we have found inside of it.

"My lord, You mean that before they died, the church has released something from that place and it could also be the reason for this sickening fog?" Mark said in shock.

"It is, that's why I need all of you to be ready, at any time for any possible attack, and it would be much better if you can strengthen yourself for we don't know when would they strike us." Father explained as he end the meeting.

It seems like I need to think of a new way to have a long-range attack as most of the skills I have is for closed combat.

And I already have something in mind, after seeing the technique that Callisto have used in deploying this small barrier earlier.