Chapter 1405 - Altered Beasts (Part 1)

Then, after all six elements moved freely through Lith's body like currents in the ocean, he weaved spells with his vortexes without moving. The focus that the various exercises needed brought the grief to a halt.

It wasn't much and it wouldn't last long, but at least Lith managed to put aside Mirim's death for the time being and focus on the task at hand. The thought that whoever had killed Lark had just doubled the score that Lith had to settle enraged him beyond what words could describe.

Yet he followed Scarlett's advice, leaving those feelings to simmer without bottling them up. They were there, ready for use, safely stored in a corner of his mind.

'I don't know what you think, but to me, our technique seems incomplete. As if we're missing the last piece of the puzzle.' Lith said, referring to his method to refine the vortexes into auxiliary cores.

'Agreed. It's the right method, but it lacks something.' Solus nodded. 'Even against Qisal, you failed to stabilize them. There must be something else you have to do, but I can't figure out what.'

'Same.' Lith inwardly sighed. 'Do you mind replaying everything that Faluel taught us about Domination and Spirit Magic? Also include Baba Yaga's speech.'

'The good Dominance, the incomplete Dominance, or both?'

'Both.' He replied as Solus brought to the surface of his mind all the recollections they shared of those past events.

Lith kept playing them over and over in his head, adding the memories of his fights against the Vagrash and Qisal. He studied how his body changed according to the refining of his vortexes and tried to make sense of it.

Then, Vladion returned and snapped him out of it.

"I'm glad to see you managed to take a short nap. Are you feeling better now?" He asked.

"Yes." Lith honesty replied.

"Good. While you rested, I scanned the area. The Eyes have picked up a trace, but I can't be sure until we leave Lightkeep's borders. Between powerful cored people, artifacts, and arrays, there are too many inputs even in tutorial mode." Scarlett said.

They took out their respective wings and flew out of the city without using spells, never turning off the air sealing array. Once they reached the spot where the kidnappers had blown their Warp Gates, Scarlett activated the Eyes' advanced mode.

"The tracks are still fresh and with what Baba Yaga has taught me, tracking them down will be much easier than following Balkor." She said while taking flight again, but this time using air magic to boost her speed.

The group flew at great speed, but slow enough for the Eyes to pick up an ambush and for them to react accordingly. Scarlett kept a mind link active with her allies, sharing solely what they needed to know in the case the enemy managed to split them up.

"Don't ask me how, but they noticed our arrival and have prepared a welcoming party." Scarlett stopped abruptly after half an hour of high-speed flight. "Since they are kindly coming to us, let's prepare a few gifts for them while we wait."

The Scorpicore shared with the others the latest coordinates of their destination and started to weave her best set of spells. Vladion did the same and Lith went beyond that. He had Solus assume her gloves form and took War out of its sheath.

Contrary to his usual strategy, he went all-out from the beginning of the fight.

'One use of Invigoration is worth pummelling someone to death and vent part of the rage that plagues me since I learned about Mirim's death.' He thought.

'All of the meditation techniques in the world can't keep me calm, especially if the one behind the kidnappings is the same person who murdered my people. Yet I can't face such a mastermind without a cool head. I need to take it out on one of their accomplices.'

"What the f.u.c.k?" Lith and Scarlett blurted out in surprise when the enemies entered the scope of their mystical senses, allowing the two to scan them properly.

One of them was a Lindwurm, a lesser Dragon that was supposed to have a long snake-like body with only two arms. Yet the creature had also a set of stumpy hind legs and two small atrophied wings coming out of its back.

Another was a Behemoth, a lesser Griffon. It looked like an enormous red feline with a long mane coming out of its spine along with several long jagged bone spikes. Two long horns came out from the crimson Emperor Beast's shoulders, protecting the sides of its head.

Behemoths were supposed to have taken mostly the lion part from the Griffon body and not to have any bloodline power except for Tyris's uncanny physical strength. Yet the creature had half of its body covered in feathers and silver bolts of lightning crackled around its body.

The other two creatures, a Drake and a female Sphinx, were respectively a lesser Dragon and Griffon as well. They both showed enhanced features of their Guardian ancestor and powers they weren't supposed to have.

To make matters even worse, each one of them was an Awakened.

'Be careful, they all smell of Ambrosia.' Vladion warned Lith and Scarlett via the mind link before losing himself in his fury.

Seeing the bloodline of the Guardians resurfacing to such an extent on four creatures each about 20 meters (66 feet) tall meant that hundreds of undead had been sacrificed.

Vladion knew how Arthan's Madness worked and how much energy went wasted in the process.

"How dare you filthy mongrels feed on my children? On my brethren?" He roared while charging ahead of his allies.

"Who the f.u.c.k do you think you are to judge us? Just because we do not belong directly to the Guardians' bloodline we're no mongrels! It's because of people like you that we have been forced to do this." Menia the Behemoth said in outrage.

She activated the Life Maelstrom that now coursed through her body and struck the Firstborn with a bolt of silver lightning. The simple act made her weep with joy, feeling the Griffon side fill the void she had felt her whole life.

Life Maelstrom had no destructive power by itself, it would simply overcharge someone's core, body, and enchanted items beyond the point they could be controlled, making them go haywire.

'By the Red Mother, I'm such an idiot.' He thought. 'I warned Lith about keeping his fury in check just to do the opposite myself and fall into a stupid trap like a rookie.'