561 Turns Out His Migration Was Forced

I was still carrying the unconscious Rejmar so I was still wondering if I should drop him to face this guy.

Thankfully, it seemed like I did not need to worry since Gwen had already moved herself in front of me to intercept him.

That simplified things since I just needed to support her with a quick buff of [Strength].

Jurga was using a double bladed axe as his weapon which he swung at Gwen from the side.

She took the blow with her shield and did not even flinch from the impact, which seemed to stun Jurga for a moment.

That moment was all she needed to thrust her hammer into his chest and shove the Rejmar several steps back.

"You do realise what it means to raise your weapon against us, don't you?" She asked, still maintaining her combat stance.

Jurga did not seem intimidated by her threat, in fact he got even angrier.

"I expected no less from such an evil Family! It's all because of you that we were driven out of our home and had our family name struck from the Ancestral Records!!"

Olgar and Thorn seemed to be pretty shocked by the revelation so I assume that having their family name struck from those records must be a pretty big deal.

Gwen also seemed to know how serious that was but instead of being shocked, she only glared at him.

"I know you… Do you even know what your family attempted to do?"

The Rerjmar remained silent, which kind of revealed that he actually didn't really know what happened and was just angry about the fact that his family got punished or something.

"Err… What happened to them?" I asked, feeling a bit curious.

Gwen maintained her position in front of me and answered without looking back, "When we were still establishing a training camp here, there were a few Rejmars who were against the idea, stating that our presence here was unwelcome and tried to drive us out."

"Ah… Let me guess… His family was one of those that didn't like us?" I surmised.

"Indeed. And I only heard second hand accounts from my seniors since this happened some time ago, but they tried to attack us while we were in the middle of establishing a deal with the Frostiminir Kingdom. In fact, they even killed three of us in an ambush."

I thought that only we would be angry about this but surprisingly, Ongar and Thorn also got pissed.

"What?!! Then you deserve to have your family name struck from our Ancestral Records!! How dare you?!" Olgar roared.

Thorn was just as enraged, "To think you're not only unrepentant but also trying to take revenge?! May your beard be shaved off and never grow back!!"

Their outburst was so unexpected that I was more surprised by their reactions before I could even get angry at what he had done.

"Err… Gwen?" I asked.

"Aster… The Frostiminir Kingdom has been a place of neutrality since its founding. They do not use force unless necessary and his family has basically shamed the entire Kingdom by doing that. It was later found out that they were motivated by external factions to try and disrupt our relationship with the Frostiminir Kingdom. Madam almost declared war on them and had us form up outside one of their outposts up in arms."

Oh wow… Ok… I guess that explains Balin's reaction when he saw us armed to the teeth like that.

"Which factions were they?"

"There were several, one of them was the extremist faction who wanted to change the Kingdom's stance on being neutral. That was already enough to incriminate them and have the heads of the family executed without a burial."

Jurga pointed a finger at Gwen, "Do you not see?! We're welcoming outsiders into our ancestral home!! If anyone is to be condemned, it should be you traitors!! I knew it! All of you are beyond saving!! And here I thought that I might find some Rejmars who at least remember the old stones in our bones!!"

Olgar pointed his mace at him, "Shut up! You're the traitor here!! You spit on our ancestors' graves with your actions!"

Jurga scowled, "Bunch of spineless cowards! Do you not see how we are heading down a path of self destruction?! We have allowed outsiders to stake a claim on our own mountain! The next thing they will ask is to claim seats in our council and we would no longer be run by our own people anymore! You're giving up our Kingdom to outsiders!!"

Thorn had no sympathy for him, "And you thought the best way to prevent that is to turn to terrorism? You're not convincing us by doing that, I assure you."

"Oh yeah, sure! I'm supposed to appeal to the council and the people through public debate like a good little Rejmar since that has been the way all the time, right?! Well I can't do that now since my family was struck from the records! And guess what?! I have nothing more to lose!!"

He pulled out something from his pouch and threw it into his mouth.

The Rejmar then let out a roar of pain as his body started to contort and twist, as though his bones were being moulded from the inside.

His body then started to change into a pitch black colour and his limbs started to elongate, making him grow in size.

Hold up… Is he transforming into a Shadow Devourer?! He is, isn't he?! Are all those Shadow Devourers we killed also Rejmars who have transformed?!

Wait, now isn't the time to think about that.

His head was in the midst of being engulfed by shadow before I went forward and punched him in the face, sending him spinning away to crash into the altar.

Huh… That's odd, I was expecting his head to be separated from his body with that punch… Either the transformation protected him or…

Oh wait, he looks a little different from the other Shadow Devourers.

While he still had those long limbs, his chest, arms and legs look to be thicker than the others and he was not as tall either.

I used my [Screened] on him.

[Name: Renegade Shadow Devourer

Race: False Monster

Stats:

300 Strength

250 Dexterity

400 Endurance

200 Magic

Magic Skills:

Umbramancy (Tier 2)]

Ok… This is a different type that sacrificed a bit of its dexterity for increased endurance and strength I see…

I can still defeat it at leas--

I didn't finish my thought before the monster leapt towards me, its claws reaching out for my head.

Gwen smashed into the monster's side with her shield, throwing it off course mid-leap and causing it to tumble onto the ground away from me.

It climbed up onto all fours before its body started to shift again, this time causing a blob to rise up from its shadow before it transformed into another copy of itself.

Damn, they can also use [Shadow Summon] too.

"Gwen, Olgar, Thorn! Take care of one! I will take the other one!" I instructed, right as the two monsters charged at us.

The three of them obeyed without question and rushed towards the summon, letting me take on the original on my own.

It raised its hands and transformed it into an Axe, swinging it down at me from above.

Really? It can even do that?! Pretty sure that's Somatomancy, not Umbramancy!!

I leapt out of the way to avoid being cleaved before pulling out my Light Sword and pouring my mana into it to activate its enchantment.

The monster turned to try and strike at me again but I was ready and slashed my sword at its arm while it was still mid swing, cutting the limb off entirely.

The Renegade did not seem too bothered by its loss of limb and simply raised its other arm to try and claw at me.

I ducked underneath the swipe and brought my sword in for another swing at its midsection.

Unfortunately, it managed to leap back at the last moment so instead of cutting it in half, I only managed to score a gash on its side.

Ironically, it was a similar wound the Rejmar he had rescued suffered.

The monster had no facial features but even I could tell without it that it was pissed.

I chanced a glance at the others and it seems like they are able to hold their ground pretty well, though it was obvious that they would probably not be able to beat it on their own.

I turned my attention back to the monster in front of me and… Eh? It seems to be curling itself up into a ball?

Before I could wonder if I should just attack it to stop whatever it was doing, a thick black smoke was expelled from it, hiding it from view.

My first reaction was to shoot a [Static Bolt] into the mist, hoping to be able to paralyse it.

But judging by how I did not hear any sounds of an impact, it seemed like it managed to avoid it.

I then used[Breeze] to blow away the black smoke to reveal an empty space in front of me.

Not only was the Renegade Shadow Devourer missing, I realised it had also taken away the two corpses on the ground as well.

Great… Now where did it go?