Realm Wars

Lucian sighed and shook his head a little. "But still. .. cutting your hair. . ." Lucian didn't know why he was the one disappointed the most.

He then flung away those thoughts and said with a serious face and voice, "By the way. Where's your servant Rosa?"

"I've sent her on a little errand. She'll be here."

Lucian nodded. "Let's go inside and discuss our mission first."

At Lucian's led, Rosa followed but not before throwing a smirk on Cecily's way.

Ferris stretched her hands and yawned while Ryu looked at Cecily, who was still holding her hair.

"Short hair. .. looks good on you. .. ," Ryu said.

Cecily was a little daze before she threw her hair on the river. She then faced Ryu and Ferris. "Let's go."

Inside their quarters in the ship, Rosa put arrays to prevent someone from hearing their discussion.

Rosa was an Elementalist and grown with the legendary Marga Ruk. Her knowledge of spells and magic was far and wide.

"Master, here is all you requested."

All attention moved at a hazy golden appearance of a young girl twirling in the air. Her form was like liquid dancing in the air while she carried an enormous backpack on her back.

It was a sprite in the lighting attribute. Sprites were weak in terms of physical attack, but their spells were destructive in terms of magical damage. Usually, they were taking in as servants by knights and fighters, but since Rosa could cast a spell as quickly as taking air, she didn't need someone to block for her while she cast spells at the back.

She specifically looked for a sprite in the lightning or ice attribute since Rosa's elemental spells were constrained by basic elements like fire, water, wind, and earth.

Rosa's smile stretched as she stored the backpack in her traveler's ring. "Fifi, you're late. You should have been here ten minutes ago."

Fifi eyes watered. "I'm sorry, master." She made a gesture of covering her head, but the beating never came.

Rosa just sat at the corner and prompted her face on her palm while Fifi stayed a meter beside her. If it wasn't for Lucian and the others, Rosa might have knocked Fifi's head for being late.

Eventually, everyone settled after a brief introduction.

Lucian then started, "Our mission, as I stated in the letter, is to secure rune stones. The Queen of Beast is dying. But I doubt that it's dying within fifty years. It's just meant that now, she is weak, and if we wanted to acquire her mana core before the other realms do, we have to move fast. But no physical or magical attack worked against her. That being said, the only way to defeat her is thru weapons made from rune stones."

"But these rune stones can only be found in the beast realm," Rosa butt in, "And these stones are found in the deeper parts in the beast realm."

Lucian nodded. "Our objective is to secure as many rune stones as possible. And we are not to, under any circumstances, engage the Queen of Beast or the beastfolks."

Ferris's eyelids were dropping though she was smirking beneath her sleepy façade. Engage the Queen of Beast? Unless they were in a suicide mission, nobody would dare think of that thought.

If Lucian actually said they'd be on a mission to kill the Queen of Beast, she'd spit on his face and run away with Ryu. She'd knock Cecily if she had to.

She would not about to die because some youth didn't know why the Queen of Beast was the most powerful being in the entire realm.

The Queen of Beast's mana core was sought after in the entire realm. It was rumored that it could bring a dying world back to life. Whoever acquired it would have the advantage in war.

"We will sneak our way into the beast realm. Mine this rune stones and get the hell out as soon as possible," Lucian continued as he lay a map on the table.

"First, we will pretend that we are a group of mercenaries participating in the scavenging hunt. Then we will stop at Imoana islet. There we will ride a boat going far to Gibombo Island. From Gibombo, we will meet with our spies, who will guide us inside the Beast Realm. A hunter is also waiting for us that will lead us to a barrier fluctuation."

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Ryu frowned. It sounded simple, but he had a gut feeling that it would not be easy, as Lucian explained it.

"And once we are inside?" Cecily questioned.

Lucian's face turned serious. "The hunter will accompany us and guide us inside. Our spies said they didn't know where the rune stones are allocated, but they had a hunch that it is near the Beast Queen's cave. That's why until now, they haven't extracted it."

"We are pressed of time. All in all, if we don't expect any delays, we'll reach the Beast Realm within thirty days, another thirty days to search for the Rune Stones."

Lucina looked at the map, a bead of sweat dropped from his forehead. "We must find the rune stones before the four moons are up and the ocean freeze. If that happens, we are stuck in the beast realm for ninety days," Lucian added.

"And if we couldn't find the rune stones?" Cecily asked.

"There are other groups like us. If we happen not to find any rune stones before the four moons are up, then we can only wish that the others find it."

Rosa skimmed her chin with the sharpness of her nails. "I think that the most important question is. .. what will happen if we get caught in the beast realm?"

"We abort the mission as soon as we can before the beastfolks could alert the Queen of Beast," Lucian said without batting an eyelid. "But if we can push through until we find the rune stones, then that would be the best outcome."

Rosa rose to her feet. "Easy then," she said with a confident tone. "We just have to kill every beastfolks that we come across."

Ryu frowned. He didn't know why he didn't like the tone of Rosa's voice. Like she was underestimating the beastmen. Maybe he thought of himself as one of them. He was still part beast.

"We'll fight those we can fight, and we avoid those we can avoid. Dead bodies are never a good mark to leave our trail."

All were surprised when Cecily spoke some words of wisdom.

The death of a loved one really changed a person.

Lucian nodded at Cecily's words. "It's best that we stay low unless we want to alert the Queen of Beast. A few killings are tolerable since they were also other races stuck in the Beast Realm and everyday fights and death weren't uncommon. But continuous slaughter is forbidden if we want this mission successful."

All were in agreement. For this group, Lucian took the lead. He brought his two trusted childhood friends, Cecily and Rosa, and their servants. Totaling, his group was made up of seven entities just enough to sneak into the beast realm without no one noticing.