Return of the Fallen Volume 8 Chapter 8
“Those heroes are the summoned ones.”
After this soldier said this, most of the new recruits were left in awe. Only one person thought about the familiar wording the soldier had mentioned.
“Sir, you mentioned they were the summoned ones.”
The soldier gave a nod.
“Yes, what of it?”
“Well, you only mentioned four heroes but wasn’t there supposedly more that were summoned to our world? A while back I heard there was a large stink about how one of the three great kingdoms, how Treia secretly summoned all of the heroes without the other two great kingdoms’ knowledge, and because of that all three great kingdoms nearly went to war. What happened to the other heroes?”
Everyone eyed this new recruit before looking at the soldier in curiosity.
“Hmm, there was something like that. I myself don’t come from any of the big kingdoms but I know of which you speak. King Garn before he was king was the person responsible for bringing the heroes to this world. He along with several other mages brought…I think it was 23 or maybe 24 heroes, I can’t remember completely the number but somewhere around that. From what I learned, the other two kingdoms found out about this and so to prevent a nasty and unnecessary war, the heroes were divided up amongst the three kingdoms. The heroes you know of now were the ones who received permission from King Garn to explore the world. The other heroes, on the other hand, those that went to the other two kingdoms, that died.”
All of the recruits looked at each other in confusion. These heroes were supposed to be miraculous and strong. They should have the greatest protection from whatever country that hosts them, yet all of them except the four mentioned were dead. Before any of these recruits could ask the obvious question the soldier shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t get it either. How or when they passed on but everyone I’ve asked about it is just as suspicious as you all are. Every summoned one that went to a different country, all died and a few were mysterious. Some died on the journey to other kingdoms. A random magical beasts attack, bandits, poison. Some were caught in a tragic fire and some simply disappeared before even reaching one of the other kingdoms. Some think it was assassins, others believe it was a plot by devious nobles but even after investigating, nothing was uncovered and nothing new was discovered. To not find a single trace of who did such a thing or why only someone very powerful could pull something like that off. The question though still remains, why? Why go through all of that to summon heroes from another world just for them to be put to death. None of it makes sense to me.”
The soldier and the recruits all grew quiet and a few gulps could be heard. These recruits felt like they had just heard something they shouldn’t have but the soldier looked as if he didn’t really care. As far as he knew, the death and disappearance of the other summoned heroes was an open secret. No one seemed to know anything, so openly talking about it brought no consequences. In the end, there was not a single piece of evidence pointing in any particular direction so nothing came of it. All it did was give one an eerie feeling and leave an interesting story for those in and out of the know.
With an awkward silence spreading between these noobs, a woman’s shout rang out behind them.
“NEXT! NAME AND STRENGTH!”
The noobs quickly formed a line in front of the woman and the discussion faded from their minds. Now was not the time for mysteries but rather war instead.
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A frozen breeze spread out over the cold open ocean. As the breeze came and went, several streaks of light stretched across the sky and many figures appeared.
A large man among these figures looked all around, scanning the ocean with his aura. At the same time, a tall burly woman flew up next to him and asked.
“There’s still so much energy around the Asadiah ocean. I thought the battle was a few weeks ago, how can there be this much power in the air?”
The large man extended his aura deep within the ocean below. Scooping up several tons of water with his power, he and the others could see small scrapes of flesh, tattered bodies, and chipped bones. Millions of tiny aquatic insect-like creatures ate away at this dead flesh and bone.
“These little things are called Vestras. They eat whatever dies in the ocean. They may only be the size of a hair but after eating and copulating with their own, they birth dozens more in only a few hours. For there to be this many, it means that a great deal of things have died in this place in a fairly short amount of time. Not only that, but these things also die within 24 hours of being born, yet there are millions of them. This means a battle was recent. A battle happened here a few days ago I suspect.”
The burly woman’s eyes lit up.
“A battle. For a battle to take place here and leave so much ocean life dead, does this mean that Dreunz and his weak fools arrived before us. Did they fight with the last of the northern bastards?”
The large man nodded.
“There was a fight, yes but something is off.”
The burly woman didn’t understand.
“Something’s off you say. Besides the dead fish, It seems normal to me.”
“That’s the problem. For a battle to have taken place so recently and for no one to be here, it means a few things. Either one side completely killed the other. I doubt the northern beasts were that strong. Besides Motozu and Shaila, the north is pretty weak comparatively. We would have taken it long ago but Motozu had friends among us and among a few in the East as well. Motozu kept the balance in the north in check so the south and east left the north alone for the most part. I’m not a fan of that old bastard Dreunz but he is almost as strong as me and he’s quite fast too. He would not lose to Shaila or to someone on Motozu’s level, yet then why is he not here.”
The burly woman was starting to understand.
“You think someone was actually capable of defeating that old horse. Even though you’re stronger, it would be hard for you to catch him and defeat him. Besides master and the eastern lord, what Ancient beast could defeat him.”
Several of the figures began to discuss among themselves and a name came out.
“Etora could do it and if not him, his sworn brother Glacious the dragon slayer.”
As soon as they heard mention of Glacious, a few felt chills run down their spine.
The large man though shook his head.
“No, those two shouldn’t be involved. Apparently, the two are fighting for the humans.”
The burly woman smirked.
“What fools. Why fight for the sake of weak humans? What godly treasure did they offer those two for them to step in?”
The large man thought for a moment before correcting the burly woman.
“It must be because the Azirian’s and this Fera woman are pushing things too far. The Azirians stuck to the west for the longest time and because of that, the balance of the continent had stayed the same for quite a while. After that damn Miasma began to move even faster and spread more and more east, the Azirian’s are taking over the living and dead and spreading even quicker. Etora and Glacious are fighting a few of Fera’s fake bodies but Glacious is also taking on the Miasma. He is spread too thinly and it is only a matter of time before he falls.”
The burly woman got excited as she thought about Glacious and Etora fighting but then she grew annoyed.
“That damn Fera, how dare a 7th stage interfere with our continent. The rude bitch shows no respect. Just when is master going to do something about her?”
“In time. Master is waiting for Glaucous to fall to either the Miasma or to Fera first. Once that happens, he will make his move. At the same time, I suspect the lord who rules over the eastern beast will be making his move as well. We will be having plenty of fights then.”
“I don’t get it, why didn’t Master take down Glacious when he was weak from that soul mark? He was just barely stronger than us then but now he’s completely recovered all of his strength.”
The large man shook his head.
“That cowardly lizard was hiding in his tiny world for the longest time and when he came out, he was only out for minutes at a time, otherwise Master would have sleighed that arrogant fairy long ago. He has been fighting constantly for many months straight, he cannot last forever, and once he’s done, Master will help send him to the land of the dead. After that, Master will most likely settle the mess with the Miasma before turning his sights on Fera. She has stepped on our toes long enough.”
“If that’s the case, then what about Dreunz, what happened here?”
“Since we haven’t received word from home or the east, Dreunz is most likely not dead yet. This means that there was an enemy that was capable of making that old horse retreat but not strong enough to take his life. This is a huge slap in not only Dreunz’s face but in all of the Eastern Ancient beasts. Whoever did it most likely didn’t get away in one piece as well. We will talk with the eastern dogs and fight out who did this and then we’ll hunt that person down first and collect their head. The east will hold this humiliation for a long while.”
After this man said this, everyone started to laugh before they all turned and headed toward the east.
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