“Spread out! Don’t let them through!”

Captain of the 2nd Sky Battalion, Melina, was issuing orders as she took the sat on a big armored steed and galloped around.

She wielded a relatively long crimson sword, which allowed her to decapitate any Gajhin orcs that she passed by.

Although the amount of orcs and other weaker monsters that grouped up was big, there were still many soldiers dispatched from the Skywall Fortress.

Melina’s entire battalion might not be present, but so far, they have not suffered any casualties.

The only troublesome monsters were the ogres, however, even they were stalled for long enough as a wide magical barrier was being set-up to protect the village.

The few mages at Melina’s disposal were instructed to remain at the back and complete the barrier. The crops and farm fields were of utmost importance, that and the fact that the village was very small, so if even a single ogre were to pass through, it wouldn’t take it long to demolish everything.

Time quickly passed and the Gajhin Orcs were suffering more and more casualties. The ogres, which numbered four, were spread out evenly. They had already gobbled up the Gajhin Orc Livers, but upon seeing so many humans, they got riled up and continued advancing.

After enough time had passed, Melina saw a semi-translucent barrier start to envelop the village and some of its surroundings.

However, right after, there were bright flashes of lights appearing from numerous locations. There was even one dozens of meters away from her.

Small stones and pebbles momentarily hovered in the air as a massive surge of energy was accumulating.

“Back away! Retreat!”

Melina pulled the reins of her steed as she waved her hand and hastily warned the soldiers. Alas, they weren’t given the time to react.

The Blood Crystals, affected by Arthur’s blood, were triggered upon direct contact with the Mana originating from the barrier. They had been planted in several key locations, and although not all exploded, more than half did.

A series of deafening explosions happened simultaneously, causing a frightening rumble and an intense tremor.

Melina felt dizzy as her vision blackened for a second and she was almost thrown off her mount. When she regained her senses, there was a gaping crater where the explosion occurred.

Literally nothing was left of those particularly close to the impact. One of the ogres was unfortunate enough to be caught in the indiscriminate destruction too. Its tough and resistant body spared it the instant death, but it was fatally injured and blown to the back.

It groaned on the ground and flailed its severely bleeding limbs. It death came seconds later.

The Captain’s face paled drastically as she witnessed the unfolding events. She suspected that dozens upon dozens of soldiers were killed by those explosions.

Furthermore, it allowed the three remaining ogres and some orcs to pierce through the Battalion’s defences and enter the farm fields.

As she was processing what had just happened and trying to quickly come up with a plan to stop the monsters, Melina heard an ear-piercing cry echo across the sky.

She, along with some of the soldiers and orcs raised their heads and saw a black and winged dot speeding in the sky.

‘An Empyrean Wyvern… here?!’

Even a normal person would be shocked to see an Empyrean Wyvern. This biome was very different from its natural habitat, so sighting one so close to the Skywall Fortress couldn’t be just happenstance.

Indeed, as many soldiers, including Melina had suspected, the Wyvern spun in the air and dove down as it spat wave after wave of flames.

The flames were directed at some of the mages or archers that reacted instinctively and tried to attack it from atop the towering walls surrounding the fortress.

The back of the Empyrean Wyvern, which was Arthur, was wide enough to fit Zenzo, the Southerner, and Chris. The three humans tightly held into the sharp black scales as violent winds threatened to throw them off.

The Wyvern had resisted the initial attacks of the Special Guards, flapped its wings and flew out of the Shadow Pit.

What welcomed it was dozens of soldiers and mages atop the walls, seemingly ready to attack any monsters that managed to get close enough.

With Chris secured, Arthur had no reason to linger longer than necessary. After using [Breath of Fire] at the hostile humans, he rose higher into the sky and flew North, towards the rocky hills.

Once the Wyvern’s shaking stabilised and its flying pace became somewhat moderate, Chris cackled loudly,

“We’re flying! Flying!”

Zenzo Jill held onto the skills, looking solemn and pale-faced. From the looks of it, he seemed to be scared of heights, but he had no choice but to keep his balance and try to not look down.

The Southerner, on the other hand, was both fascinated and relieved that they had distanced themselves from the Shadow Keep Penitentiary.

Barely three minutes later, however, something unexpected came into view.

It came from the rear and was impressively fast.

“What the fuck is that?!”

Chris pointed at the approaching red dot as he squinted his eyes. In response, the Southerner clicked his tongue and muttered,

“It’s the Castellan.”

Indeed, Castellan Julian was giving chase on top. The man wasn’t capable of flying, instead, he was mounted on a red-feathered big eagle. It was half the size of the Empyrean Wyvern and less scarier, but it was rather fast.

Within seconds, the Castellan was close enough to clearly see his face. The situation notwithstanding, he looked pretty relaxed and even had a smug smile on his face.

He unsheathed his thin sword from its sheath and stood up. Just as he was about to strike, Arthur took a dive in an attempt to lose his pursuer, but the eagle’s manoeuvrability was fast and flexible, so much so that Julian didn’t have to hold onto it to keep his balance.

When they were but a short distance away from each other, the Castellan sliced his sword diagonally, thus letting out a spiralling white light that struck the wyvern.

When he saw the creature increase its space, unaffected by his hit, Julian frowned.

“Alright, how about this?”

He used both hands to hold his sword and gathered his energy; The eagle let out an echoing cry, which resonated with the sword and enveloped it in flames.

“I’ll slow him down. Catch me afterwards.”

The Southerner kicked the back of the wyvern and roared out loud, a savage and barbaric aura bursting from his body.

He closed the distance and performed a lightning-fast that was stopped by Julian’s sword. The Castellan casually pushed back the Southerner and then tapped his foot on the eagle, which made it dive down to chase after the prisoner.

“What are you doing? Don’t let him fall!” Zenzo saw that the wyvern kept flying while ignoring the Southerner. As much as he wanted to interfere, he couldn’t keep his balance, much less offer any assistance.

“I… I think I got him! Hold on for a second!”

Christopher stretched his hand toward the falling Southerner and closed his eyes.

He wasn’t adept at using his teleportation skills, but he still tried his best.

Julian was about to catch the Southerner and strike him only for the latter to be pulled into a strange and distorting rift.

When he looked up, he saw the burly man back on the wyvern’s body. To make matters worse, Arthur had increased the pace to maximum.

As a last attempt to stop them, the Castellan, still smiling nonchalantly, raised his sword to the sky and slashed down; A frightening amount of energy was unleashed, taking the form of a wide and resplendent arc of light.

It was outrageously fast and reached the parasite almost instantly. The Empyrean Wyvern’s tail was cut-off and the scales on its lower back were destroyed. It faltered for a couple of seconds and fell down, but it quickly recovered and continued its fast retreat.

“As I thought, I can’t take down a parasite so easily.”

Julian shrugged his shoulders and commanded the eagle to return, which it did. The ogres had broken through their defences and the Shadow Keep Penitentiary was in total chaos. He couldn’t give chase and abandon his other duties.

To begin with, he had only gone after the escapees to help Bernard. As the Castellan, he had no obligation to involve himself with matters regarding the Penitentiary.

…

After flying in a straight line for ten minutes, Arthur circled around and shot toward a specific and secluded region directly South of the rocky hills.

He landed near a luxurious and golden carriage which bore the crest of the noble Donkrig family.

Zenzo immediately disembarked, leaned forward and puked two times. He looked exhausted and uncomfortable as he wiped his mouth and tried to clear his dizziness.

“Darling!”

Arthur switched to the body of Leonis Sanguis and busied himself with Chris rather than the rest.

“So you’re a shapeshifter? That’s pretty cool, dude!”

“Not quite.” Arthur glanced at the Southerner, who awkwardly tried to hide from Selene.

“We’ll talk once they’re gone.”

“Of course of course!”

Christopher gave another hug to Arthur before maintaining silence. However, he had a bright smile on his face as he kept looking around excitedly.

Meanwhile, Zenzo held back Selene from hugging her ‘lover’ and solemnly said,

“We’ve gone to great lengths to save you, Daren.”

“Shut up, Zenzo! Don’t be so rude!”

Selene pushed away her Knight and tried to leapt into Daren’s arms, but he raised his hand and stopped her.

“I cannot go with you. I must return home.”

“They will be looking for you everywhere. Your best option is to come for us.” Retorted Zenzo. He hesitated for a bi before adding, “The Master would like to meet and talk to you.”

Daren frowned and scratched his bald head. After a bit of deliberation, he nodded his head and turned to face Arthur.

“Thank you for your help. My name is Daren King and I will definitely repay this in the future.”

“King?”

As if he could read Arthur’s throats, the tall and muscular man said,

“Yes, I am part of the Royal Family ruling the Despot Collective. Again, I thank you for your help. I am grateful.”

The man seemed sincere, but apart from his surprising origin, Arthur wasn’t that intrigued in his affairs. Still, to gain the favor of Royalty was always a good thing, if it was done unwittingly.

“Maybe I’ll ask for your help in the future… and maybe we’ll never meet again.”

He deeply bowed towards the parasite and kept his head lowered for five full seconds. When he finally raised it, he had a friendly and warm smile, which contrasted his scary physique.

“The Master’s invitation extends to you too, Sir.”

“No, thank you. We must be on our way before any trouble arrives. Goodbye.”

Arthur didn’t want to prolong this meaningless farewell.

He didn’t even talk with Selene, though she didn’t look interested in talking to him either.

Daren tried to ask about Arthur’s name, but he didn’t have the time. He could only watch with a half-open mouth and a slightly guilty expression.

Thereafter, Arthur used [Mist of Decay] to envelop himself and Chris.

Zenzo, Daren, and Selene saw the green mist rise in the air and fly away, soon disappearing into the cluster of tall trees.

They didn’t linger there any longer either. They all boarded the carriage, which let out a bright and dazzling golden light before speeding forward like a bullet, leaving only a trail of rising dust in its wake.