A breeze raced through the encampment as five figures approached it. The sentries on duty immediately raised the alarm. The figures stopped and declared they were the spirit beast tribe leaders here to seek an audience with Edward, Prince Aureus’s retainer.

Soon, the signal to allow the spirit beasts to pass were given, and the five proceeded to the center of the camp with a guide.

“We are willing to pledge allegiance to prince Aureus but we need proof that spirit beast cores can be upgraded.” Reine said without a preamble as soon as Edward stepped into earshot.

Edward nodded and said the upgrading could be performed now and requested for a candidate.

The spirit beasts were surprised at the revelation and went into a council amongst each other.

Their main concerns were about how safe this potential upgrading technology would be and how it would affect their spirit cores over the long term hence the spirit beasts were rather hesitant.

The second lady in the group, Ara stepped up and announced that she was willing to be the test subject for the core upgrading. She reasoned that her core was currently the weakest amongst the five and that if she could upgrade her core, the strength of the group as a whole would grow.

In addition she was considered a support type spirit beast, her ability of procuring the necessary demon beast cores required for the normal upgrading process were low in the place. Not to mention the normal route is a coin toss when it comes to upgrading hence she would be the best candidate.

Reine looked worried at Ara’s choice but she did not stop her. The three men mulled over what

Ara said and agreed unanimously that if Ara was willing, there would be no objections from their side.

—

As Ara entered a tent with Edward, Edward posted guards outside the tent ordering that no one approach it. He mentioned in an off-hand manner that success of the process required no interruptions while in the earshot of the spirit beasts.

It appeared that posting guards outside the tent would turn out to be a futile gesture on

Edward’s part as the spirit beasts themselves gave off an intimidating aura to anyone even approaching near the tent.

The officers laid out strict orders that anyone not on duty were to be clear of the vicinity of the tent and stragglers will be punished by military law. This led to a quick evacuation of the premises by the troops leaving only the spirit beasts and the two mages.

Tiffany shrugged and pulled Caine away citing that there was no need to probe as this was a matter that could only be beneficial to them in the long run. Caine took a moment to think through what Tiffany meant before nodding his head and following her out.

A green glow emanated from the tent for several moments before dimming out.

—

Ara was in smiles as she exited the tent. The spirit beasts immediately surrounded her and barraged her with a series of questions. Ara pulsed her spirit beast core in response.

“Grade 5 spirit beast core!” The three men were awestruck. “It worked…”

“Sister, it appears that King class is within grasp soon. Who knows, being an overlord class spirit beast is no longer just a pipe dream.” Reine said from the side.

Ara beamed, “King class is fine, my ambitions do not stretch into the realms of being an overlord.”

Edward stepped out and met the spirit beasts, “I assume there are no issues with pledging allegiances with prince Aureus now?”

The spirit beasts shook their heads indicating they were fine with pledging allegiance.

“Very well, let us plan our attack on the demon spider tribe before heading back to Everdawn.” Said Edward as he signaled his cohort of officers.

—

The council stretched the entire afternoon as the spirit beast leaders and Edward’s group planned their attack.

In a surprising move, Reine volunteered the spirit beast tribes for the more costly role of holding back reinforcements and supporting the attack on the main demon spider base.

The spirit beasts beside Reine frowned but after taking a look at Edward, they stilled their tongues and proceeded to back Reine’s move.

(These are definitely survivors) Edward thought as he watched the spirit beasts change track with admirable speed.

—

The sun has yet to rise as the spirit beast tribes and Edward’s company moved in on the demon spiders.

As the various spirit beast tribes sealed off the area of the demon spiders, Reine and the strongest of spirit beasts followed Edward’s company of three hundred.

Edward had his best scouts mixed with the most stealthy spirit beasts going ahead and silencing the sentry with the sparrows providing overwatch. As they reached the demon spiders base,

Edward was flushed. In his opinion, the game was in the bag. To close in without issues in his previous operations, usually meant game over for the opposing side.

As Edward prepared to launch the attack signal, he reminded himself that the current operation was different from his previous ones and that he should not head in with assumptions.

Edward raised his hand and shot three spheres of red light into the lightening sky.

War cries shattered the air as humans and spirit beasts surged into the valley of the demon spiders from both ends.

Edward led the charge on the southern end and crushed many demon spiders with his heavy one handed blade.

Tiffany was carrying out her words. Her lanes of fire were lancing through the demon spider ranks as if a hot knife through butter. As the flames dissipated, the troops behind would follow in to mop out the survivors. Tiffany looked like a goddess of flame as she laid waste to the battlefield.

Caine had all nine golems out and surrounded himself and Tiffany in a protective cordon. Any demon spiders that entered the golems range were pummeled or sliced relentlessly by the nine. It was to the point that even friendly allies were avoiding the cordon and just allowing the mages to work their craft in peace.

A spider cry sounded out, forcing the troops in the southern end to cover their ears. An enormous red spider scuttled into the clearing where the front of Edward’s company was followed by a smaller -but still large- black spider. The red spider shot several lances of red light from its eyes at the human troops forcing their divine barriers to activate followed by the troops teleporting out.

Edward’s hairs on his arms raised as he took in the red spider and admitted to himself that he may have underestimated King class beasts. (Cyrus and his company took down over twelve of such beasts over a short time period?)

A flash of green flitted through Edward’s vision as Reine shouted that the spirit beasts will take down the red spider. Edward and the mages made a beeline for the black spider. Caine started harrying the black spider with his golems and forcing the two apart. Reine threw a multitude of fireballs at a distinct angle further reinforcing Caine’s move. Edward slashed towards the spider’s legs only to be met with a strong counter as leg and blade connected. Orange sparks flew from the contact and the spider let out a gloating sound as it fixed its eyes on Edward.

Edward had the distinct impression he was being made fun of and his mind turned cool as he ran through his next moves. From the side, Caine positioned himself in the middle of the two groups fighting the spiders and erected a wall of steel with his golems to prevent the demon spiders from helping each other. Any attempts by the black spider were caught by Edward’s golem without a single one passing through.

Tiffany generated a large lance of flame and hurled it towards the spider’s eyes. The black spider screeched and repelled it with its legs. Spotting an opening, Edward activated lighten and zipped towards the spider’s eyes and followed up with a series of thrusts towards the spider’s eyes. One thrust struck its mark, and the spider gave a cry before focusing on Edward, this time with blazes in its remaining eyes.

(A little too late to get serious now, big bug) thought Edward as he sidestepped. Caine had four golems approach while Edward distracted the spider and the spider suddenly found itself pinned to a spot as four golems and two sets of vines bound six of its legs. A lance of flame larger than the previous one was generated and this time there was no escape. The flame lance shot straight into the middle of the spider’s head and with a crash, the spider’s head and body sunk to the ground and lay still.