“...they just kept coming out of the dark fog that covered the woods and swarmed down on us attacking the demigods and wiping them out,” said Akira finishing his explanation. He sat at a small campfire inside his wide command tent with several other people.

“What is their strength? Did you see what exactly they were?” asked Snuwball, a cold female officer of the Yuki-onna casters.

“I do not know how large their army is. As for their physical strength, it is also unknown as we did not engage in a full-on confrontation. I only saw a few demigods fight them and it didn't look good. As for appearance I didn't really look at every one of them but they seemed to all have a black stone skin,” said Akira.

“We did shoot at them with a few long-range attacks and found that their skin was like rock. They seem to be able to keep moving and fighting after taking heavy damage,” said Klyn.

“Where are they now?” asked Snuwball.

“They should be several days behind us,” said Akira.

“Should we engage the enemy in a few skirmishes to get a better understanding?” asked Breezard. He was a slim but muscular Yuki-onna officer, in command of the Yuki-onna melee warriors.

“No, we are not outfitted to fight such a strange army right now. We lack information and there is the fact that I sent a good chunk of our soldiers under the command of Varbu to escort the civilians to Jerora while we lure whatever this army is away from the main cities. We can not expect Varbu back anytime soon as they will have a long walk back as they have to take the long route to get back to the unfreezing river.”

“Then are we to return to Kodria so we can resupply and decide on what to do from there?” asked Snuwball.

Akira nodded his head, “I don't like it, but we cannot risk fighting something like this unprepared.”

“Hmph...” Grand elder Tormoid gave a snort of unhappiness at those words.

“Why are you still here? Weren't you going to leave to go to your clan?” asked Akira.

“How could I leave with you attracting and attacking every damned demigod on the continent!? And now we are being chased by some type of undead army!”

***

“Make them move faster!” commanded Tibia.

“They are going as fast as they can!” said Bonestringer for the thousandth time.

Tibia watched with an irritated look on her face as one creature after another human, monster, and even a few demon races, walked by her at what one might call a fast walk... if the person was 90 years old.

“What's wrong with them? Why are they still all the same?” asked Tibia.

“They are still in their growth phase. If you want them to grow they need to eat enough to show their true traits.”

“What? Why didn't you tell me that before? Isn't that a big deal if we are to take everything down and grow our flock?”

“Ah...something unexpected happened,” said Bonestringer, ignoring her question.

“What is it now?”

“For some reason, the dark fog cover stopped and won't go any farther south... We will be without its protection and buffs if we continue south. It has already been getting quite weak since a few days ago.”

“Make it move!”

“I can't! You know this is not some slave you can order around. The ancient scriptures are hard enough to understand let alone control. All we can do is ask the other elder heads if they have an idea of how to strengthen it or make it spread out farther,” said Bonestringer.

“We don't need to contact them. Let's just focus on growing our little cute minions.”

“Now you're calling them cute? I thought you hated them?” asked Bonestringer.

“Alright! Our mission is now to find some food for them to munch on!” said Tibia slamming her left fist into her right palm.

Bonestringer did not say anything more and just followed after Tibia while commanding the army to stop following the allied demon army and follow her.

***

Zundar ran up to Akira who was riding Grarr and inspecting the passing soldiers as they marched south.

“Bo one of the rearguard scouts said he could not find the enemy. He thinks that they have given up the chase.”

“Any reason?” asked Akira.

“He said the black fog thinned and stopped going south a few days ago. If I were them I would still keep going! But they must be cowards to not want to fight us,” said Zundar as he slammed his fists together.

Other than Akira, Zundar was the only one that was over level 100. Dolph, Vilkas, and surprisingly Klyn were all nearing level 100.

“No, this is good for us. We can reorganize and figure out what to do without the immediate threat. I just hope Varbu doesn't run into any trouble on the way back,” said Akira.

***

A while later Akira and the expedition army arrived back at Kodria with no more than normal difficulty.

Those that had been wounded and showed signs of Infection were stationed near the south fort away from civilians and the trade hub.

Akira sat on the couch in the large living room inspecting the loot he had picked up during the many fights with the demigods.

Big Red(Rank B): A potion that gives a large boost to the user's health. Last for 1 hour or until the health has been depleted from attacks. No expiration date.

Big Blue(Rank B): A potion for boosting the regeneration of Mana. Lasts for 1 hour. No expiration date.

Greater Elixir of health: A potion to restore 50% of the user's health over 10 seconds. No expiration date.

“So these are what those demigods were using every time we fought,” said Akira as he looked at the potions.

“No wonder they were becoming more of a pain to kill. If they use mana like me then this [Big blue potion] would explain how they can keep throwing so many skills.”

Akira turned to the armor and weapons that he had gathered, none of it was anything better than what he was currently using due to the dwarf runes and set effect that he had with his current equipment.

Although he would not be using them, he did not throw them away since he was a hoarder and would try to sell whatever he looted even if it would only get him a few coppers. 1 copper is not a lot, but a mountain of coppers can be converted into many gold pieces that can be used to buy other things!

Plus he needed more money to keep everything flowing well in the city of Kodria.

Fluffball yawned as he laid on the carpet in front of the roaring fire. He watched Akira as he made weird laughing sounds while he sorted through the large pile of junk.

The door to the hallway opened and Mileena, Maya, and Azura all walked in with fluffy robes and towels wrapped around their hair.

“Finished bathing?” asked Akira.

“I feel alive again! My skin was getting dry due to the winter air and not being able to properly wash,” said Mileena.

“Lucky, I had to stay here and take care of the paperwork with Maya,” said Azura.

“I don't mind the paperwork. I find it interesting,” said Maya.

“Oh! What are these!?” asked Mileena as she made a beeline straight to the armor that was piled on the ground in front of Akira.

“Is this a gift for us?” asked Mileena, picking out a mismatched set of leather and chain armor without even letting Akira say anything.

The other girls also grabbed armor and weapons from the collection without a second thought or even a glance at Akira to see if it was okay.

“This should fit you Maya,” said Mileena as she held up a light brown and white hard leather armor chest piece.

“I don't know... it looks… Odd. Where did you find this?” asked Maya. She didn't wait for an answer and just grabbed onto the armor to inspect it.

“I know it does look a bit different than what you are used to, but it's still better than your current armor,” said Mileena.

“Hmm, which one should I choose?” asked Azura as she held up two slightly different chest armor. The only main difference was the color.

“I think that color suits you better,” said Mileena, helping Azura pick between the two.

Akira sat there speechless watching the girls treat this as if they were shopping for new clothes. They were taking all of his hard-earned treasure!

“I'll also take this, this, and this for Chack,” Azura.

With great sadness, Akira looked at the last and only item that the girls did not take. It was a large belt with a skull for the belt buckle.

Out of the corner of his eyes, Akira noticed that Zundar was staring intently at the belt.

With a deep sad sigh, Akira turned to him and said, “You can...”

Zundar pounced on the belt before Akira finished the sentence and fastened it around his waist. He had a large satisfied smile on his face as he looked at the belt around his waist.

“Thanks, for the new armor Big brother,” said Azura as she gave Akira a big hug.

Mileena pried her away from Akira and gave him a kiss on the cheek, “Thanks, I was needing a new set of armor.”

The hug and kiss from the both of them did nothing to soothe his aching heart from losing all his collected treasure.

Fluffball seeing everyone hugging and kissing Akira decided to hop on Akira's lap and give him back lick across his entire face.

Akira wiped his face as he pushed Fluffball away and looked to Maya ready for whatever she was going to do. But she only looked back at him with an expression that said 'Don't expect me to hug or kiss you.'

“This belt fits me perfectly. Thanks,” said Zundar, slapping Akira on the back.

Akira was knocked off the couch by the force of the smack.

“Opps,” said Zundar as he picked Akira back up and dropped him onto the couch.

“Why are you taking armor for Chack?” Akira asked Azura.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you. I made Chack one of my bodyguards. It suits him well since he doesn't have to spend long weeks and months outside. He and stubby now always go around the city with me. Although stubby is getting a little chubby,” said Azura.

Stubby's head popped out from the fluffy robe collar that Azura was wearing. He let out a few chattering sentences denying that he had gained any weight even though his chubby cheeks fully showed that he had.

“Is he really of any help?” asked Akira as he looked at Chack who was currently laying in front of the large fireplace snoring loudly.

“When on the job he takes everything seriously. A bit too seriously, and his jokes...”

Akira put the potions (the only thing not taken) back into his bag and stood up.

“I'll have to talk with you guys later. Right about now the grand elders and other repetitiveness should be gathering for the meeting soon.”

“Geez, I rarely see you anymore! Spend some time with your sister! All you do is go to meetings and spend long months away fighting people!” said Azura with an unhappy tone.

“I'll see what I can do,” said Akira as he gave a short wave and exited the door with Fluffball and Zundar following him.

Klyn and grand elder Hegir were the first ones inside the meeting room and were in a deep discussion when Akira arrived.

“Ah Akira, my grandson was just telling me about the creatures you faced. What a bizarre thing to happen and those that were infected...” said grand elder Hegir as he gave a sad shake of the head.

Akira pulled out one of each potion he had gathered from the demigods and handed them over to grand elder Heigr.

“Do you think that you, Klyn, and the other shaman could study these and see if you could replicate them or create something similar?” asked Akira.

“Where did you find these?” asked Grandelder Hegir as he opened a bottle and gave it a sniff.

“I picked them up from the dead Demigods. From what I could find out about them, they will not expire. I think they are either a new magic guild creation or something special that only Demigods can buy, as they have effects that I have never heard or seen before. Here is the full list of details for each one,” said Akira as he handed over a piece of paper.

“No expiration? Is it even safe to drink something like that?” asked Klyn as he looked at the potions.

“We can look into it, but you should know right now our main focus is on the Holy shaman chants. Although the book you brought us seems to only have the basics with a few notes explaining a few higher-level stuff we still only have scratched the surface at completely understanding it all.”