14 The Vault of the Souls (2/2)
The moment the lively undead dwarf saw her, and especially her smile, he quickly shut up and bowed. For him, it was fine to complain because he felt that he lost half of his soul, but when the big boss was not here. All around him, fragments of his residence were laying on the ground, broken. Without this building sheltering him, the deadline before he began to leak his energy and he ceased to exist will appear, unless the Empress solved that issue. But her spiritual avatar reflected the state of her physical body, and that didn't appease the grandmaster.
”Agnil, let's be clear, I won't be able to fix this for a period of time. The duration is unknown, could be two days like a month. Others are even more hurt than you and not even reacting to the Viscount. So please, conserve your strength and try to find a more … intact house.”
Without even waiting for an answer she was gone, letting the ghost ponder about what she said. The only thing he knew was the fact that they suffered a terrible assault and only a few of the souls survived. Looking at the empty and calm citadel, the broken and disfigured fortress, the very old dwarf sighted.
Leilade was less and less happy as she checked on every resident. The only light of hope was the fact that Lucio, the grand chief, creator of countless dishes more delicious than anything else, was not in a terrible state. His dishes were also better for recovery than devouring raw human as they did previously. But like the rest, he was in a deep coma, and only a large amount of energy could wake him up.
During all that time, the two poor creatures that were subjected to an intense pain finally managed to stand up. They joined their comrades that were observing the face of the little girl in front of her. Not even the difference in height and the dim light provided by the two moons prevented them from doing this. And their expression darkened after seeing the smile on the face of Leilade fading. The group waited for a few minutes before they saw the girl shaking her body.
”We will go in this direction, Kardel, scout for anything out of the ordinary and try to find a mountain. Normal formation.”
”Yes, Empress.”
The four held their reserves and diligently followed the instruction of Leilade. What they should know will be revealed in due time. Instead of a panther, it was a huge black bird with four wings that left the ground. The duvodiad had recovered enough of his strength to morph in something less like a human. Otherwise, the change of morphology would have irremediably destroyed his blood vessels and nerves.
Without any sounds, the rest followed the flying creature toward the location that Leilade pointed at. Right now, they were in a forest, but apparently, thanks to the memory of both the cultists and the soldiers, they will encounter a small mountain in a few days. There, the next part of the plan will begin and they will start their operations in the local region. Before they could have neglected the forces in the kingdom and be arrogant but not anymore.
It was true that individually, they should all be stronger than any being on that planet. But this was at their peak, not at the present condition. And they were all too familiar with the principle of cannon fodder thrown at a strong enemy. Countless experts and monsters were also hidden, that could cause grave injuries if not dealt swiftly. Just the kingdom of that princess, the same where they currently were, could probably kill them if their army were assembled right now.
For the moment, their only way of surviving was keeping a low-profile, hide in the masses and survive. A huge massacre could probably heal everything at the surface of their bodies, but not the internal problems and even less allow them to recover their full strength. And the drawback would be an instant retaliation, a never ending hunt. Since it was a subjective vision coming from someone else, they were unable to tell what was a belief, and what was a fact.
As for Leilade, her biggest worry was the fact that she still couldn't touch the flow of magic around her. Right after the incident, she still could understand that, but after nearly an hour, it was weird. She tried to cast a simple flame, but no matter how hard she tried, she always had to use her own reserves coming from the darkness inside her to successfully cast it. She hoped that the few insects and seeds will rapidly act and give her back her powers. Otherwise, she would have to sustain herself through the lifeforce of the living.