Aurora Scroll

“Halt!”

The one with the sharpest senses among them said and gestured with his fist. The rest, trusting his ability, stopped advancing.

“That way, I feel someone’s presence.”

He pointed to the right, where the group could see a house seemingly made inside a tree. The chimney was billowing out smoke.

“And from the left. I see something. A creature I’ve never seen before.”

“Is it dangerous?” The leader asked.

“Haven't a clue.”

“Squad 4, investigate the house. Squad 6, probe the creature. Squad 1 will continue with the main objective. Neutralize the threat quickly, group up with squad 1 and capture the Realm Core.”

The leader decided to divide the group to tackle the three threats. There were no objections and the fifteen people smoothly broke up.

***

Squad 4.

They passed through the gardens that surrounded the house inside a tree. There were no signs of security or traps. They entered highly vigilant expecting combat, breaking the door open forcefully and weapons at the ready.

The inside of the house resembled a craftsman's workshop. A lot of books and utensils were on the shelves along with fragile containers filled with colorful herbs and potion bottles. The place couldn't be said to be orderly as things were scattered on the floor.

In the room, they saw a woman who stood in front of a big pot. She was wearing provocative attire that showed a lot of skin. A healthy shade of brown skin, deeper brown hair, and amber eyes. The woman didn't seem to acknowledge their arrival and kept looking at the cauldron while mumbling in a soft voice. Her voice was drowned by the sound of the bubbling pot.

The woman showed no hostility nor a speck of attention to them. Yet the most eye-catching thing in the room was not the pretty woman but the flame under the cauldron. They could see it was a high-tier treasure with one glance.

“You there, woman. Don't move and don't resist. It doesn't have to come to unnecessary violence.”

“...And done.”

The woman added a sprinkle of red powder into the cauldron and a puff of smoke was created as the result. The liquid solution inside had evaporated in an instant.

“I said don't mov-”

Screams.

All five people of Squad 4 began to melt, as if they had spontaneously combusted and then reached the realm where solids became a liquid. In four breaths of time, only their blackened bones remain.

“Tsk, a failure. The bones should be white and the burn much hotter! This batch of fire poison is still lacking in quality. I’m sure I got the amount right. What went wrong…?”

Clarissa put the resulting red pills inside a small glass bottle and clapped twice.

“Someone, please clean those up.”

From inside the atelier, three Pukupukus came out bringing cleaning tools. Their footsteps produced cute squeaky sounds. They began gathering the bones and sweeping the floor.

From the beginning until the end, she never turned her eyes away from the metal cauldron. Already the incident was forgotten and she was thinking about an alternative formula for the next recipe.

***

Squad 6.

The team employed the same strategy they would’ve used against a formidable monster. Approach stealthily then decisively ambush.

It was some sort of insect monster. Not exactly, but it bore a striking resemblance. It possessed no fur or skin but chitin, jet black in color. It had six limbs. Four which it used to walk. It had a horn and a long, bladed tail. With all the black markings up and down its body. The observers weren't sure if it had eyes. It was the size of a deer. Without counting the horn and tail, its height reached the chest of a regular adult man.

Creepy, was the word that came to mind seeing the beast. It was walking around in the woods, just walking. It didn't seem to notice them.

“What an ugly-”

“Focus. Simultaneous attack on, three, two,”

The count of one never came. The person who said that fell limp on the spot.

“Squad leader?”

Another person fell down. Her eyes were wide open but there was no light behind them.

“We’ve been made!” One of them screamed and was about to attack the creature. His Arte was ready but as he aimed, he saw the creature was facing them.

In an instant, he felt his mind shatter accompanied by the sound of broken glass. There was no pain, only the abyss.

All five of Squad 6 were down.

The creature walked to them in no hurry. It then gave a stab to their hearts using its bladed tail.

Then it started to eat their guts.

***

“Squad 4… Signal lost…”

Sieg saw Squad 4’s fiery end with eyes as wide as physically possible. Those were his men, he knew them, he ate breakfast with them. Now, they were dead. The fact that the divination feed was cut off was proof enough.

“Sir, something’s wrong with Squad 6!”

Before the Knight Captain could process his loss, his divination mage directed his attention to the magical scry of Squad 6. They were all down now, but the visual was still transmitted to Sieg’s HQ.

Where they watched their comrades get eaten alive.

The knights' reactions varied. Disgust, fury, shock, anguish, fear.

After the creature dragged out the intestine of someone Sieg considered a friend and it then started eating it as if it were sausages, he cut the feed and forced himself to maintain a cool head.

“Status of Squad 1?”

“Sir. Moments ago, Squad 1 successfully entered the big tree where the Realm Core signal came from, and where someone is undergoing their Ascension.”

“Tell them to pull back now. This place is not what we thought it was!” Sieg said strongly.

“A-At once. Squad 1, come in. Squad 1, respond.”

A magical screen appeared but instead of Squad 1, Sieg saw the stern face of his uncle, King Davis Yeteron and Prince Lutz Diamond Latias behind him.

“Your Majesty. Your Highness,” Sieg greeted them both.

“What is your view of the situation?” Davis asked.

“Sir. The opposition feigned weakness to draw us in,” Sieg said.

Sieg realized most likely Squad 1 had already been killed by now. He already had an inkling something was odd when the defender was only a lone dryad. No other force was hurrying to fortify their defense. When the three squads made their way to the center, they encountered several resource points with the dryad’s mutant plants on guard yet their way to the heart of the Biome was clear.

“They were ready for us, and led us in for slaughter,” Sieg replied with certainty.

“My thoughts exactly,” Davis said. “Knight Captain Sieg, what are your orders?”

“...Full retreat. The opposition has shown they are capable of defeating my Flaming Sword Knights in a short time. Further push will cause steep losses.”

Not only had they lost three squads, they also had to retreat with nothing to show for it. It was a heavy blow to the Knightly Order, a great humiliation. That went double for the captain, but Sieg refused to risk the lives of his men any further to the deceptively beautiful but dangerous Biome.

“Then bring those boys home,” Davis gave a nod. The losses of the Level 3 elites from his already small country stung, but his nephew made the best choice in this situation.

It couldn't be helped. Danger was always a factor in investigating the unknown and with time against them, they couldn't properly scout or determine the danger level of the Biome.

“Your Majesty, do you know what Squad 4 and 6 encountered?” Sieg asked after giving the retreat order to the communication Pathseeker.

“The woman was making a fire-based poison with an old branch of alchemy. Not many practiced it in these parts. The black creature is a mind beast I’ve never seen before. A dangerous specimen.”

“Alchemy… and mind affinity.”

So that’s how it is.

“Captain, we've got a situation.”

When it rains, it pours.

Bad news came one after another.

Three squads were left in the Biome. Two squads for holding back the dryad girl, and one for defending the return portal. Since the order of retreat was issued, the squads began retreating but this time, the dryad was the one holding them in place. Then they got a report that the mind beast was moving towards the battlefield.

“Captain, shall we provide support?” one of the backup teams said.

“No, I’ll go,” Sieg said.

He bore the weight of responsibility on his shoulders for letting fifteen people die under his command. The families and loved ones they left behind… Sieg felt he would never be able to make it up to them. It was an unredeemable mistake on his part. The mission was also a failure, a loss for the king and the prince’s faction.

All of these were caused by his incompetence. The least he could do was to not exacerbate it further.

Sieg stepped into the portal to aid the retreat.

“Will he be okay?” Prince Lutz asked.

“He will not lose against ordinary enemies.”

“From the indication thus far, this Biome is anything but.”

Davis Yeteron said nothing back. His eyes stayed fixed on the scrying screen.

***

A few seconds after Sieg entered the Biome, Dia was struck by a magic arrow let loose by the Level 4. Her left leg was obliterated. It was regenerating but slow, greatly reducing Dia’s mobility.

The young Knight Captain made short work of the mutant plants and aided the injured knights to the exit.

When they were meters away from the exit, a man appeared before them. He spoke no words before drawing his sword, then began slashing and dicing them like a hurricane of blades. Sieg reacted in time to weather the first four blows but not for the other fifty-six.

Sword of water in hand, the newcomer dished out a series of beatdowns on the Knight Captain without giving him any opportunity to fight back or show his skills, let alone his Domain.

It was such a smooth-flowing combo done at sonic speed. Sieg didn't know how but one slash from him was able to inflict multiple slash wounds. A series of blazing-fast attacks. Vicious, deadly, and stylish.

It was truly Smokin’ Sexy Style.

Before he knew it, Sieg had cuts all over his body. Somehow, he got thrown into the air. His blood sprayed out from his body, and all his four limbs were separating in different directions.

He took Dia’s leg.

Viers took his four limbs.

“Your face tells me you wanted to ask who I am. I shall tell you so you have something to think about in your journey to the afterlife.”

“I am the storm that is approaching.”

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrg9KxGNeJY