A New Dawn 17 Separation in the New World

"You have two choices now. Either you stay with Malakov, help him build a secure base but stay hidden. Or you left this place and do whatever you want, except that you won't be discovered. If you are and try to return here while being followed, you will be killed. So what do you want?"

Funnily enough, it was Kardel that instantly answered that question. While he was staring at the sky above them, he already decided what he wanted to do.

"Empress, I will go to the Synnada Empire. From what we know, it is just a giant desert. So whoever will cross my path will just become my food. That way, I can safely hunt as for the potential monster in it hehehe."

He opened wide his destroyed mouth, breaking the blood path covering his left cheek.

"Anyway, if I stumble on something useful, I will bring it back."

No matter what happened, it was true that if a duvodiad wanted to hide, he will be able. No one expected him to stay here, doing nothing. The training that he suffered turned him into a vicious predator and only strength could force him to restrain his instincts. After he finished what he had to say, he sat down.

While Kardel was impulsive, the rest pondered for a long time and Meridiana was in a pickle. She needed intelligent being to survive and the more the better. So for that, entering a human nation was a perfect choice. However, she was still visibly injured, reducing her charm. And without it, she needed to rely on her physical strength to steal the life of her victims. She noticed a rock that was quite big, at least 3 meters tall. Everyone looked at her while she tried to lift it. At first, it was easy, but when she tried to lift it above her head, her right arm suddenly flinched, breaking her balance. She managed to avoid getting wounded, but the pain inside her right limb didn't fade.

Seeing this, the impassive Davion looked toward the face of Leilade and saw her dark complexion. He walked between the two, blocking the line of sight of the small girl.

"I will accompany Meridiana to the Republic of Avenio. There, we will become mercenaries, adventurers or whatever name they want to be. That way, she will interact with powerful humans, steal a little of their lives each time they meet while we hunt monsters. But for that, we need a few things. Clothes, weapons. Not everyone can turn into a beast and doesn't have to travel naked."

Hearing those words, Ymir and Kardel snickered, since none of them really cared about that. But it was true that for the rest, they won't stay like that. Even if their bodies were strong enough to not care about temperature or wind, that was not comfy. Leilade really missed her clothes and her favorite slippers that were destroyed. Pondering for a bit, she looked at Malakov, expecting him to solve this problem. The undead, on the other hand, was taken by surprise. He used more than half of his mana just to create the numerous workers. And right now, he had to create clothes.

"Ok, I can create some low-quality robes and shoes. Just don't expect it to last more than a month. As for weapons and armors, unless we found something in the tunnels, don't be optimistic."

He approached the succubus and the orodil and turned around them. After mentally calculating their height, he began to create what they asked. He did the same for Leilade, but since she was his mistress, he knew how small she was. Of course, he will never say that to her. After a minute, three sets of clothes were levitating toward them. For Leilade and Meridiana, it was just a robe with two slippers. They didn't need to hide the fact that her skin color was different. For Davion however, not a single part of the skin was visible. It was completely covering him, with a cloak, gloves, shoes, sockets, everything.

"That's enough, thank you Malakov."

The muffled voice of the tall blue man reverberated in the silent night. Testing his new equipment, he jumped, dashed and try to throw a few punches. After hitting the rock that the succubus tried to lift and reduced it to small stones, the gloves broke. Staring at the undead, a new set of those, clearly more durable, was created. Malakov felt aggrieved when no thanks were pronounced. In the end, only the red demon stayed silent, not really knowing what to do. He was not capable of hiding like the succubus, far too tall to even pass as a human and couldn't turn into a monster himself. But he was hungry, and he didn't know how long he could stay like that.

"Empress, will you try to attract some foolish humans here?"

The grave voice of the Akûl was not threatening at all. But his question was important and everyone listened to what she will say.

"Yes. That's why I created those garbage skeletons. I want some weaklings to come and die here. Then, we will be able to easily get their equipment and compare it with our knowledge. As for gathering the armors and weapons from the battlefield between the soldiers and the cult, forget it. Everyone saw a huge pillar of light when we were transported here, so the huge powers will scan that area. That's why we are that far."

Everyone nodded at her words. They went that far just to hide, who would be stupid enough to descend the mountain and walk through the burned forest? No one could know if they already were capable of using magic to observe a location from far away. It was apparently possible, but only in legends. And that returned to the main problem of their information, everything was subjective.

"Since it is that way, I will stay here with Malakov. That way, our base will hardly be able to be destroyed. And if we die, at least you will all know that something is capable of overwhelming two commandants of the Demonic Army."

Leilade was expecting this. Even if they were called a demon, they were not stupid or brainless. Otherwise, how could Drugrat be her right-hand? Their only problem was the fact that they were not capable of controlling their hunger. She hoped that Malakov will be able to quickly find some preys to fed Ymir. Otherwise, their base will be destroyed by the berserk giant. But she still needed to inform them of her plans, otherwise, they will ruin it without knowing.

"Everyone knows my peculiar mana and the darkness surrounding me. So let's be clear if you find someone with that specific energy on them, do not touch, do not kill, just let it go. That princess has it on her, she may or may not be useful. And if you need to contact me, just ask Malakov. Also, do not go deep inside this kingdom or even approach the Academy of Magic. I don't want to scare them now."

Following those words, she extracted a soul from her and threw it to her undead servant.

"Take care of master Agnil, he will be useful in the future. As for the rest, they are all asleep for now. Otherwise, everyone could have enjoyed a meal made by Chief Lucio. Such a pity."

The last sentence was barely audible but was present in the mind of everyone, even the floating lich. But no one had time for regrets or dreams. Malakov and Ymir approached the entrance of the tunnel created by the undead moles and began to discuss how to arrange the underground base. It needed to have a decoy front for the treasure hunters and greedy humans to be attracted. And at the same time, to be able to be turned into a true fortress, with a high amount of traps and fortifications.

The duvodiad began to turn into a smaller bird, looking like a white swallow. The sounds of the bones rearranging were extremely loud, mainly because it was retracting them and not expanding them. Unlike the fast transformation in a panther, this one took several minutes to be done. But the moment it was over, that small bird flew at a speed that even some airships were not capable of reaching.

A tall giant and a small woman left toward the West, climbing the mountain. But right after that, the giant took the frail succubus on his back and sped up. Even if she was ashamed by that, Meridiana didn't say anything, like Davion. It was really the best way to cover a lot of distance and in the end, she could only let herself be carried.

Leilade watched everyone dispersed in all the directions. She turned her sight toward the slope leading to her destination and saw the final batches of trees burning on the horizon. With that, all the traces of their passage will be destroyed, unless they could sense that a path was dead before the rest. Even her would hardly be able to feel it if she didn't know it beforehand. Checking one last time how much mana she had, she realized that she wouldn't be able to levitate. She knew that the annual examination will be over soon, so she began to run at her maximum speed. She won't need to rest or even be tired, but she was so small that even running like that was not that fast. To comfort herself, she imagined the situation of the princess. That allowed her to find this travel quite enjoyable.

Chapter end