At the outskirts of the castle, right in front of the small bridge that linked the castle region to the abandoned town, two groups stood opposite each other.
The sky was getting dim and both moons carved out a crescent shape, arching against each other.
This filled the entire region with an almost celestial glow.
Shards of grey light illuminated the decrepit roofs of several edifices. The visage for this moment was almost iconic.
Perhaps it was because even the elements of the environment themselves reckoned the beginning of the reign of a mighty being.
In front of one group was a tall, slender boy with black wavy hair and emotionless eyes.
He was standing opposite a brawny, brown-skinned guy with blue hair—who was grinning at him.
He, on the other hand, seemed to be lost in the moment. He seemed to be more in his head than present at this gathering.
The brown-skinned guy folded his arms, causing his muscles to roll like cords.
Arlem craned his neck a bit to behold the face of the guy standing in front of him—Ryan—then he opened his mouth.
"Of course, I'd have preferred a better arrangement. But we must put aside our differences and work for the betterment of the stronghold. Isn't that right, Ryan?"
The guy's eyes did not change; in fact, they seemed out of focus, and Arlem was left with no response.
Which caused some rigid veins to be seen on his forehead.
A chubby guy with closed eyes then stepped forward from behind Ryan.
"I'm very sorry, my amiable leader Arlem. You know the kind of person Ryan is. Why not allow me to take the lead in whatever arrangements have to do with conversations."
Arlem's eyes drew gray on him for a couple of seconds, then a sharp exhale was heard, and Arlem responded:
"Fine. Percy, is it?"
"Yes, Percival Beaumont," the chubby guy responded with a slight head bow.
Arlem shook his head at Ryan, who was still looking blankly at him.
"It must be a lot to be stuck with a leader ."
Percival laughed sheepishly.
"Not exactly... he just communicates differently. But of course, you, the amiable Arlem, are interesting in many unfathomable ways."
"Ah! You guys should learn a thing or two from this guy." He gestured to his party members.
"Well, then Percy, let's proceed to the location for today's hunt. I don't know if this dimwit briefed you already. Did he tell you why we are having joint operations?"
Percival bowed a little bit.
"Yes. Due to the matters about the strange monster, the party leaders decided to pair up during hunts, at least until the issue is resolved."
Arlem nodded his head, subscribing to what Percival had just said.
"Well, that's the basic info. And this is for a while. Since we are joining two parties and four groups together, it's expected that we are able to hunt down more monsters. Our party has three scouts. How many does yours have?"
Percival scratched his head sheepishly as he gave a response.
"One, sir. And I suppose that's me."
Arlem gave him a disapproving look for a brief moment.
In that brief moment, one of Percival's slanted and small eyes slightly opened, revealing his slanted eyeball.
Then he closed it back.
However, for that brief moment, all of Ryan's party members standing behind Percival shivered.
Luckily, Arlem's gaze changed.
He wasn't the kind of dude that looked down on people because of their specialty.
If anything, he knew and understood Ryan's power, even though he couldn't relate to the person or his character.
If Ryan had chosen someone to be his assistant, Arlem wanted to believe he had a good reason to.
Ryan was the third strongest party leader after all.
'Besides... something looks scary about this guy. I can't quite put my finger on it.'
"Okay, I guess this makes things very easy for us. Why don't you share how you guys usually do your thing, and we can find a way to build our strategy around that."
Percival bowed his head slightly and responded:
"Yes, amiable Arlem. That'd be great. Why don't we move to the planning room then?"
Arlem's brow drifted upward.
"You have a planning room?"
"Ah, it's just a place Ryan cleared for us... we use it for planning."
"Percival." The voice that called out the name was cold and almost lifeless, sounding like that of a lost soul in a hollow darkness.
But every single person behind him turned their attention to him. Even Arlem looked at him.
"Summon Kido. Now." His tone was sharp and definite.
Percival didn't ask any questions and instead just did as he was told.
He quickly crouched and placed his hand on the ground. Multiple marks formed a circle on the ground, and two massive canines appeared out of a burst of cloud.
One was black, the other was white.
Both of them had a voracious glare on their faces with jagged teeth protruding from their mouths.
Arlem stared with awe for a moment, but was more interested in what was going on.
What could have warranted such an abrupt and hastened reaction from both of them—Ryan and Percival.
"Nice of you to finally—"
Ryan made a sharp turn, facing toward the city and commanded:
"Black to the west, white to the north."
Immediately, the white-colored canine ran straight, disappearing into the distance in front of him, while the other dashed left, passing Arlem and his party members in a blur.
Arlem was stunned with shock at the amazing speed of both creatures. For a fact, he had been shocked since he saw them appear from nothing.
He didn't think a talent like that ever existed.
And it just made him more curious about Percival.
'I guess I was right. He's a really dope guy!' Arlem smiled inwardly.
But he had to swallow all those thoughts and face the matter at hand.
He furrowed his brows at Ryan.
"Will you tell me what is going on?"
"A horde of monsters to the west, their number is... unusual. There's another horde to the north... same thing."
Percival made a small pause and continued carefully, a small sweat rolling down his cheek region.
"It's as though something is causing a disaster among them..."
Ryan looked toward the northern side where the white canine had dashed.
"There is something... something very powerful... in that area."
Thanks guys for the support!
The golden tickets, the power stones, I'm really grateful.
I hope the change of POV does not bore you guys out.
Please, I humbly request that you continue to support me.