98 Peace is a Luxury (1/2)

Aggrieved, as the 33,000 fehls surrounded and bombarded them with Fourth Circle Spells, the 27,000 surviving fehl suras never felt more aggrieved. Full of momentum, they marshaled an army of 150,000 against a tiny tribe of 400. Even for them, this was overkill. If not for their lack of intel on the abilities of the suras' new backer, they would never deploy such troops.

Yet they did, and now faced an unacceptable result. In less than five minutes, 82% of their forces were ground to dust. One top-level Archon, 3,000 mid-level Archons, 120,000 High Emissaries, collapsed like a castle of sand. But when the five Fehl Lords and their troops closed on the 27,000, they realized they didn't have the time to mourn their losses.

”Quick, we must contact her majesty to ask for reinforcements! Exarchs, we need Ex—” a mesmerizing melody cut the fehl sura's mental orders. Like the song of a siren, the melody captured the suras' soul, taking away their will to fight or resist. Seeking their muse, they all turned from their assailants and cast their eyes toward the clouds. There, Ailith awaited them, playing a lullaby with a long wooden flute.

Five seconds in, the fehl suras snapped out of the lullaby's hold—five seconds too late. The Fehl Lords and their legions' spell barrage hit the 27,000 point-blank, disarming and blasting them toward the ground. Incapacitated, they couldn't stop the tens of thousands of tentacles from binding them—this time without teeth.

Returning to Kilian's side, the legions hurled the comatose captives at his feet, still keeping them pinned down. Although his first confrontation with fehl suras brought him heaps of information, Kilian needed more.

The exact composition of the army, how many Exarchs and Fehl Legions, the Queen's exact plans. Kilian couldn't assert any of this with his broken bits of experience. Moreover, he needed more souls.

”Grasp of Avarice: Grand Larceny,” Kilian whispered and made a grasping gesture toward the 123,000 fallen's remains. Simultaneously, his Philosopher's Stone kicked in, devouring the fallen's souls.

Drawn by the irresistible grip of his Mark of Greed, the suras' remains soared toward Kilian. A large green coffer appeared before him, storing them all. He then swept his 27,000 captives and handpicked ten for the Hellforge—brain-wiping them with the usual process. Their complete life experiences flooded Kilian's brain, giving him most of the information he sought.

”An army of 1,000,000—well, 850,000 now. 680,000 High Emissaries, 169,700 Archons, 300 Exarchs—300,” Kilian inwardly repeated the critical part. Although those 300 were low-level Exarchs, Exarchs they still were. With a power-level reaching the demigod tier, if they so wished, Exarchs could wipe out millions with a casual spell. Fortunately, high-level magi controlled the scope of their spells. Otherwise, as experienced by Arcadia 3,000 years ago, a war between Exarchs could lay a continent to waste. But even Arcadia never had 300 Exarchs on its soil. Perhaps if not for the threat posed by the likes of Niklas and Marcel, the fehl suras would have already invaded Arcadia.

Although his Philosopher's Stone's Dra Reserves now reached the hundreds of millions, Kilian's own magical abilities were limited. He couldn't just summon ten top-level Fehl Lords to handle the situation, they'd overpower and devour him instead. There were only two solutions: the Hellforge or the Sura Queen's aim.

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[Name: Kilian]

[Race: Half Fehl]

[Age: 19]

[Magus Rank: low-level Archon]

[Battle Prowess: low-level Fehl Lord]

[Dra Reserves: 650,280]

[Knowledge Points: 295,072‬]