Free Web NovelChapter 233: No Longer Safe
Moments after the cawing of the approaching Tartans reached Lucas’ ears, a whizzing sound grabbed his attention from nearby, along with a blue flare which shot up into the sky.
"It came from the training field," Christina commented.
"It must be Master," Eris followed up.
Lucas nodded, "We should head over."
Saying so, he started jogging lightly, the two girls following along.
.....
As she touched down on the large field, First Regiment Commander and Vice-General of the Raging River Legion, Allina Crest, leapt off the Tartan she was riding and saluted her commanding officer.
"It’s good that you’re here, Allina," Celestina returned the salute.
"Apologize for the delay, General. It took longer than I anticipated to organize the reinforcements you requested," Allina replied in her usual formal tone.
"One day more or less isn’t going to make any difference right now," Celestina waved her adjutant’s apology off. Of course, Allina wasn’t just trying to act humble; Celestina knew well enough that her ever competent subordinate really felt she had arrived late.
That said, Celestina hadn’t expected any reinforcements for another couple of days, so as far as she was concerned, Allina was early.
"Commander Crest, welcome back," a young voice called out.
Turning to the approaching boy Allina smiled lightly and nodded, "Good to see you again, Lucas. And..."
Here, Allina paused, her brow rising slightly as she caught sight of a familiar silver-haired young lady. To say she was surprised to see the kingdom’s youngest princess here would be an understatement, yet Allina remained calm, her expression only betraying a hint of curiosity as she eyed the girl she considered her niece.
"It’s been a while, Aunt Allina," Christina smiled warmly.
Her mother, Third Queen Cynthia Morgan, had been best friends with both Vanessa Clark and Allina Crest since childhood, so Christina had no qualms about acting familiar with the two women despite the difference in their statuses.
"Indeed it has, Your High..." Allina started, but was quickly cut off.
"Tina," Celestina declared, "Just Tina."
Glancing back and forth between the General and the princess, Allina quickly got the hint, "Indeed it has, Young Lady Tina."
With the greetings out of the way, Celestina ordered the rest of the airborne troops to tend to their mounts while she led Allina, Lucas, Eris, and Christina towards the main hall.
.....
"75 Tartans, 2 Spirit Initiate Commanders, including myself, 48 Sea Establishment and 100 Core Formation Captains," Allina Crest reported to the gathered leaders, "As for the rest of the troops, the first two Regiments set out 9 days ago from Misty City, with an addition two Regiments deploying in 2-day intervals following them. With any luck, they should begin arriving in 4 to 5 days."
If it had been 12 days ago, at the outset of the explosion crisis, hearing that such a powerful army was close by and would be arriving soon would have brought great comfort to everyone present, but after the events of the last few days, a mere 6,000 soldiers and another 5 or 6 Spirit Initiates seemed like a pitifully small force.
Allina Crest did not miss this reaction from the crowd and was honestly a bit confused. However, she was a professional in every sense of the word, so after she delivered her summary report, she stepped back and assumed an observer’s role, planning to hear out what everyone else had to say before asking any questions.
After taking a moment acknowledge her subordinate’s efforts, Celestina began going around the room to get status updates from her temporary governing council.
Arnold Baker, standing in for Count Richard Baker again, started things off, "We expect another 2,000 to 3,000 people to leave the city today. Most of them by foot, heading east, away from the Great Western Forest."
"En," Celestina nodded, "Ensure each evacuee is provided with 10 days worth of rations as usual."
"Yes, Marquess Balfour," Arnold bowed deeply. He had learned over the past few days that no amount of flattery was useful when dealing with Celestina. All the red-haired General cared about was efficiency and results.
If Arnold couldn’t execute the Marquess’ commands, he would be punished, and if he continued to fail, he would be ’removed’ and replaced. Plain and simple.
In order to not suddenly ’disappear’, Arnold worked like a man possessed, often whipping his own subordinates both privately and publicly to ensure they didn’t slack in any way. ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Of course, nothing Arnold Baker could do at this point was going to impress Celestina, but that wasn’t the sly old man’s objective.
To put it bluntly, the Baker Family’s Great Elder was simply hoping to survive. As for what happened to the family itself and his crippled nephew, Arnold could care less as long as he could keep his life.
Other people in the room then gave their reports, some about the supply situation, some about the local militia, some about ongoing public works projects, and so on and so forth.
Through all of this, Allina Crest managed to gather a decent grasp of the situation in Herald City, and she also began to understand why everyone’s reaction to the arrival of her troops was so lacklustre.
It wasn’t until Vanessa Clark’s turn, though, that Allina truly understood how desperate things had become during her absence.
"I’ve had my cavalry perform a wide search stretching from the city to the eastern border of the South-West Province, but so far, there have still been no signs of the Saberclaw Raptors. They seem to be keeping a low profile, preferring to stick to the forests and marshes," Vanessa reported with a deep frown.
Seemingly having expected this response, Celestina showed no change in expression as she nodded, "That makes sense. They may not be Spirit Beasts, but there’s no way a High-Rank Sixth Order Alpha is stupid. They must have discovered that the only way to cross the Belton was the bridge in Herald City, then waited for me to leave before attempting a breakthrough, all just to move further east."
"En," Vanessa agreed, "They’re probably concealing themselves, trying to avoid conflict with humans, afraid of drawing powerful enemies to them in this unfamiliar environment. But they won’t be able to stay hidden forever."
"Indeed," Celestina let out a sigh, "There’s also only one way to cross the Lorren."
"Excuse me, General," Allina finally couldn’t help herself and interrupted, "Are you saying that a High-Rank Sixth Order Wild Beast, accompanied by several others in the Third through Fifth Order, are heading for our home city even as we speak?"
Turning to her adjutant, Celestina nodded solemnly, "That’s right. Which is why, as soon as your advanced force is rested, I need you to coordinate with Commander Clark to expand our search for them. We need to find that Saberclaw Raptor pack first, before they attack again."
"Yes, General," Allina saluted, her mind already mapping out a new strategy to deal with this sudden and unexpected threat.
However, if Allina though that was the only problem they were facing, she was sorely mistaken.
"What about the Nightmares?" Sasha asked next.
Pursing her lips, Vanessa shook her head in frustration, "We haven’t had any luck tracking them either. They seem to have retreated to the Great Western Forest after failing to take the city in their first attack. Whether they’ve given up or are simply licking their wounds, it’s impossible to tell from aerial scouting alone."
Nightmares.
That was the name of the species of shadowy, wolf-like creatures which were behind the previous Beast Tide. They were a type of Spirit Beast which, while not physically very strong, possessed unusually powerful Souls, allowing them to influence the minds and behaviours of weaker Wild Beasts.
This species was not only incredibly cunning, they were also ruthlessly territorial and highly aggressive when it came to expanding their domain. They were also willing to do almost anything to drive out competitors from what they perceived as their territory.
Like many of the other threats that had appeared over the last 12 days, Nightmares weren’t native to this region of the Blue Sky Continent, instead mostly inhabiting denser ancient forests in the north, where winters were much colder and longer.
Obviously, this pack of Nightmares had been brought to the Rockwell Kingdom’s south-western border by another Spatial Storm.
The only good news was that their Alpha was most likely only in the High or Peak Fifth Order.
Celestina had made this conclusion after seeing how few Fourth Order beasts had been part of the Beast Tide. If the Nightmare Alpha was a Sixth Order Beast, far more Fourth Order and even Fifth Order beasts would have been part of the attack 3 days ago.
As for why this pack of Spirit Beasts hadn’t launched another attack yet, Celestina and the other leaders suspected it had something to do with the clash between the Seventh Order turtle, and Yuki’s suspected Ninth Order mother.
Beasts were far more sensitive to scents and aura fluctuations than humans were, so there was no way the Nightmare Alpha had missed the sudden appearance of two incredibly powerful entities capable of killing it and its entire pack with ease.
Until it was certain that such a threat had left, it probably wouldn’t reveal itself again.
This bought Herald City a bit of time, but not much.
If they could somehow find the Alpha and kill it, the threat from the Nightmares would essentially be eliminated, but that was no easy task and Celestina wasn’t in favour of even trying.
Her thinking on this matter was simple. Trying to hunt a powerful Spirit Beast with an almost unlimited number of subordinates in a dense forest where it had the absolute territorial advantage was a recipe for disaster.
Besides, even if the threat of the Nightmares could be removed, that wouldn’t be the end of it, as Vanessa’s next words clearly illustrated, "My scouts have also spotted at least a dozen other Fifth Order Beasts within our patrol zone, as well as what we suspect is a large pack of white wolves led by at least one Sixth Order individual."
"When and where did that happen?" Steward Warren asked, his expression filling with alarm.
By chance, Warren had witnessed the Saberclaw Raptor Alpha from up close when it led its pack through the city 4 nights ago, and to this day he still shivered in fear whenever he thought about the vicious glare it had swept over him.
Everyone else also directed their full attention towards Vanessa, as this was brand-new information for them as well.
Frowning deeply, Vanessa elaborated, "It was just reported to me this morning. Unfortunately, the Captain who spotted that wolf pack was in the Core Formation Realm and only caught a glimpse of them from a distance, so they were unable to verify the enemy’s true strength."
"So... so there might not be a Sixth Order Alpha for that pack, right?" Arnold Baker tried to suggest.
"Or there could be more than one Sixth Order wolf among them," Sasha shot him down immediately.
Needless to say, everyone’s face turned grave at what this new information implied.
The simple fact was, the entire Baker County, and perhaps a large swath South-West Province, was no longer safe for humans to inhabit.
