Chapter 3161.1: Monster Hunt (Part 1)
3161 Monster Hunt (Part 1)
"That place is nowhere near Vidun's hiding spot. Lith must have traveled for thousands of kilometers aimlessly. Also, the report says he kept his Abomination form the whole time and doesn't even remember his own name.
"Lith butchered a group of criminals in front of three innocent people and according to the witnesses, he wanted to kill them as well." Kamila's voice dropped to a whisper at the last part and her face went pale.
The family gathered to read the report but, much to the children's dismay, they were sent to their rooms and forbidden to come out until called.
"By the Great Mother, this is bad." Valtak said. "I would love to help, but I'm still recovering. Without my bright violet core, facing an Abomination like Lith is too dangerous."
"Even if you had made a full recovery already, I wouldn't have let you go." Kamila shook her head. "First, we must capture Lith. Then, if nothing else works, we need you to treat his life force with your Immortal Flames again.
"You need to save your strength and focus on healing. You are our best shot at bringing Lith back. Can you send a few Fire Dragons?"
"To help someone they don't know or care about?" The Father of Fire replied. "That's a bad idea, Kamila. They would kick Lith's ass mercilessly and if one of my children gets hurt, the others would show him no mercy."
"What about your Phoenixes, Grandma?" Elina asked Salaark who was taking care of the newborns.
"I won't order them to intervene but I won't stop them either." The Overlord replied. "The Blood Desert has no reason to get involved in the Kingdom's business but any of my children is free to help you in their free time."
"Thank you, Grandma." Kamila knew that with the Guardians' no-intervention policy, Salaark was doing the best she could. "I'll call Sinmara, then. Maybe she can call Surtr and they can help us."
***
Archduchy of Essagor, capital city of Verlam, Vastor Household at the same time.
"Thanks for coming here so quickly." Zogar Vastor had assembled his hybrids and the most powerful Eldritches of his Organization. "All of you should know that Lith Verhen is more than a student to me.
"He's a brother to Xenagrosh, a friend to Bytra, and also an Abomination hybrid, just like you. Even if he doesn't know it, he's part of our Organization. He's your sibling and my responsibility.
"Until he's found and brought back, all of our business will be on hold. I'll keep a skeleton crew of Abominations and Eldritches to supervise the active operations but everything else can wait.
"The hunt to the Undead Courts is now of low priority and so is restoring more mines on Jiera." He walked back and forth in front of the lined-up Eldrictches.
"In case some of you were distracted, let me be clear. I want Lith Verhen taken alive and well. Killing is out of the question. You are allowed to hurt him, but only in order to restrain him.
"If you don't feel up to the task, call for help. There's no shame in it. Also, if you end up killing him, consider yourself expelled from the Organization. With all that it implies."
Which was a polite way to say sentenced to death.
The Eldritches couldn't risk a former associate to divulge their secrets or position. On top of that, escaping Xenagrosh's fury without the protection of the Master would have been hard back when she was just a hybrid.
Now that the Shadow Dragon had partly recovered her mana core, it was nigh impossible.
Just like escaping the bounty that Bytra would put on the killer's head. She just had to promise to put the Davross equipment of the winner on top of her list to unleash most of the Organization against whoever she wanted.
"Have I made myself clear, Orulm?" The Master stopped in front of the Breaker, staring him in the eyes.
"Crystal." He nodded.
"Good. Abthot, go with him and make sure Orulm doesn't mess anything up."
"I understand you still don't trust me much, Master, but this is going overboard." The Breaker clenched his hands so hard they turned white. "I don't need a babysitter. Abthot should move alone to cover more ground."
"It's not a matter of trust." Vastor replied. "And I'm not just worried about Lith. I'm also worried about you."
"Me?" Orulm felt insulted, but he kept his cool so he noticed that no one was laughing at him or so much as smiling.
"In a way, your powers are very similar to Lith's." The Master nodded. "You two excel at killing and destroying. I'm afraid that if you two meet, only one of you is going to walk away on his feet. Abthot's regenerative powers will ensure that you both make it."
He handed her two vials containing highly compressed life force. A single injection was supposed to restore an Abomination from the brink of death but Vastor gave Abthot two in case the fight ended up in a draw.
"I'm sorry, but is Verhen this powerful?" Orulm asked, his voice now calm and respectful. "He's still a runt whereas we all have the knowledge of millennia."
"Yes, he is." Vastor kept his voice level. "Lith destroyed cursed cities and killed Thrud's minions while protecting his life. If what the report says is true, he's gone full Abomination.
"It means hurting him is hard and that he wields powers that could kill any of you. His body is now made of Chaos whereas you guys are now of flesh and blood. It made you more powerful but it also means that now you can die.
"If you add that you fight to capture Lith and he to kill you, I wouldn't overestimate my odds if I were you."
***
Somewhere on the Garlen continent, Fringe of the World Tree, the following day.
Solus had spent almost three days without seeing anyone or being allowed to conjure the tower. Under normal circumstances, without nourishment from Lith and the tower, her life force and mana would have started to bleed out slowly.
As long as she remained in her ring form, however, the abundant world energy of the Fringe stopped her mana loss while the stolen life force stored in the Bleed healed her wounds.
Not only those she had suffered upon her capture but also the cracks in her life force and mana core. Without the tower, Solus couldn't rest or fall asleep so she had spent her time assessing her situation.
She had calculated how long she had before the Bleed's tanks would empty and how much energy she could consume every day to experiment on her new powers without compromising her energy reserves.
Also, she had managed to notice the taint left by the Predator Protocol in the world energy.
Ever since that moment, Solus had used her willpower and the tower to foil every attempt of the World Tree to erase the foreign imprint that threatened their dominion over the Fringe.
Solus countered the Yggdrasill's every move and when she failed to stop them, she sacrificed part of the corrupted energy to stall the Tree and spread the infection to healthy areas, resetting the board.