Ignite the Sun

Twenty minutes later everyone was gathered in front of temple listening to Tharion explain the plan.

"I'm near certain that Arthur and his henchmen will be waiting for us in the central plaza – I will take him on myself, while he's technically the weakest in terms of combat power, he has the biggest destructive potential because of that sword. I want to try to limit the damage to the castle as much as possible."

"So the plan is the same as before, you battle Arthur, the three of us take two enemies each and we leave the last one to the youngsters." Nickolas nodded.

"Speaking of being young..." Calen looked at Alfred. "I think you should put the mask on."

"What? Why?" Alfred frowned. "Now that Matthew is also aligned with master it doesn't really matter, does it?"

"It does matter, because Matthew is just a recruit – a talented one, but a mischievous, inexperienced recruit nonetheless. The enemy will underestimate you in that form."

"He has a point." Nickolas agreed. "They will be expecting a greenhorn who just recently learned to wield a sword, not a knighted swordsman who can partially use aura."

Alfred sighed.

"You're right, it's just that I was looking forward to confrontating them as myself..."

Morgan patted him on the shoulder.

"It's not that bad, now you can dramatically tear off your mask once the enemy realises something isn't adding up – you'll get not only a surprise element and confrontation, but also shock because of the reveal, isn't that cool?"

"I guess..." Alfred tried to sound unconvinced, but there was already a grin forming on his face.

'They've known each other for less than a week and she already knows exactly what to say to him.' Calen thought. 'Either Alfred is an open book or Morgan is exceptional at reading people.'

"We should leave as soon as possible, please check if you haven't forgotten anything." Thsrion stated.

After a quick double check they finally left the safety of the temple and began the short journey back to the Fortress of Giants.

The road was unnaturally peaceful – they haven't seen a single corrupted beast, if it wasn't for the crimson sun and the general desolation around them it would be almost like a regular trek before the invasion.

"It's Tharion." Nickolas informed the rest of the group. "The wild beasts avoid beings which are too strong for them even under the influence of Blight, and this far from the capital there aren't many things which could confidently take on a Guardian – at least during the day."

"Well, it's not like our hunting grounds are that dangerous to begin with." Damien pointed out. "Most of the big things moved to easier hunting spots after we killed that spectral serpent."

Calen raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't big things move in after the top predator is dispatched? You know the whole unoccupied niche, and all that."

"That's how this works normally, true – but for corrupted creatures when dangerous monster dies, it's a signal something even more deadly moved in. If their chances weren't too good with the previous top dog, they'll book it as soon as the hierarchy changes."

"Are there any other relatively safe zones like this? Outside of the forest surrounding Greenheart of course."

"The Sage's Summit supposedly has a large low risk area around it due to some sort of sigils or something like that, but I can't attest if it's true – the Summit is on the other side of the Kingdom, we always used Riders as an intermediary when we contacted them."

"What about the Fallen Tower? I know for a fact that the high council would've never allowed anything they perceive as impure to approach them, but maybe the apocalypse changed their standards."

"Their main keep is the Starbreaker – although it doesn't float anymore, it did retain its mindbogglingly large barrier." Nickolas explained.

"Ah, hence the fallen tower moniker – clever."

Starbreaker was one of the many flying islands in the possession of the high council, but it was by far the biggest one hosting a truly massive tower containing its famous library and living quarters of most high council members.

Most notably it also had a powerful barrier large enough to contain a medium sized city – apparently after the invasion they grounded the enormous tower and used its protection to establish a larger stronghold.

"And then there are the Riders." Damien laughed. "Those madmen bring the safe zone wherever they go, it's like the monsters are more scared of them than the other way around."

"Sounds like quite a formidable group."

"You have no idea – if the Serakhiin don't attack us because they deemed it pointless, then they actively avoid those guys. I don't know how they managed to achieve that, but I have a hunch it has something to do with their leader."

"Are they like, super powerful or something?" Isara questioned.

"That's the thing – no one knows, because no outsider ever met them. They denied meeting even with Lady Sylara, can you believe that?"

"How did they manage to become so prominent if that's the case? I imagine cooperation is incredibly important in times like this."

"The Riders are perfectly fine with cooperating, trade and even military alliances – they just don't want anyone to meet their leader for some reason. Since they've been extremely helpful outside of that one quirk, everyone sort of just rolled with it."

Their chatter was cut short by Tharion:

"Please focus on the task at hand, we're nearing the castle."

He was right – the imposing silhouette of the fortress was already clearly visible.

Along with hundreds of knights standing on the walls, waiting for their arrival. A war horn would sound any second now, signaling to that they were here to those in charge.

"Remember to follow Tharion's example and try to minimise the damage of the fight – any significant destruction will necessitate a visit from a mage specialising in construction, and frankly we don't have resources to pay for their services." Nickolas stated.

It seemed like it was going to be a battle of bulls in a china shop.