Calen was only mildly surprised to find out that the invisibility cloaks stopped being entirely invisible to him - Elira mentioned that it might happen after all.
They had only four cloaks, but thankfully Alfred had his own with a similar functionality. His cloak wasn’t connected with theirs so he wasn’t able to see them, but it wasn’t a problem as he was the one who knew the location of the next temple.
Since Calen could see Alfred and his companions could see him, they formed a natural chain - Alfred in the front, then Calen, then everyone else.
According to Sylara the temple wasn’t very far, and they should be able to easily reach it reach it before dusk.
One of the upsides of the Serakhiin attack was the fact that they moved all the Garbors somewhere else, leaving a clear path for them. Additionally since the army was coming from the north and they were going to the west, there was no chance of running into them.
All in all the road was journey was relatively quick and pleasant - at least by apocalyptic standards, they still had to stop a few times to avoid running into a massive monster or move around a particular big herd of corrupted creatures.
Four hours later they finally saw it; the temple looked very similar to the first one in terms of style, but the shape was completely different.
This one looked like a monastery built into the mountain - the multi-leveled pagodas and few layers of protective wall chiselled into the mountainface would look very impressive if it wasn’t for the significant damage visible from afar.
Compared to the pristine state of the first temple, this one was a shit hole. Whatever made its best inside clearly wasn’t particularly picky about its home.
Once they crossed the first layer of walls - which now could be barely classified as a fence - Alfred stopped and put a piece of paper with a few large runes on the entrance.
"You can deactivate the cloaks, nothing from the outside will notice us now." Alfred announced as he took of his hood and turned visible.
"Are the things inside so insignificant that we don’t have to hide from them?" Calen also took off the cloak, and his companions did the same.
"No, but we’ll have to fight them anyway, and it’s easier to do that when we can see each other."
"Speaking of the monsters, do you know what we can expect here?" Cassian studied the destroyed buildings.
"Not exactly, but I know some things because the Order scouted this place as a potential hideout once."
"It’s not particularly encouraging that a group of battle-hardened knights decided it’s not worth it to clean this place up." Isara snorted.
"If it makes you feel better it wasn’t because of the monsters but structural issues - without a barrier we wouldn’t be able to rebuild it, and we wouldn’t be able to set up a barrier without rebuilding it." Alfred smiled. "I don’t know the exact type of montsters that made their nest inside, but I believe they’re reptile-adjacent, small and numerous."
"I know what you’re talking about." Calen nodded.
"Oh, did you saw something like that in a bestiary or something?"
"No, one is standing right there." He pointed at the opening in the second layer of wall.
Crouched in a hole was a monkey-like creature covered in scales - its head was similar to that of a lizard, but the proportions were more in line with those of primate.
The creature was relatively small, reaching only their knees at its full height, but considering it’s long claws and long, whip-like tail they shouldn’t be underestimated.
When the monster realised it was being watched it scampered off, likely to warn its brethren about the intruders.
"Krakee." Alfred exhaled sharply. "Could be worse, but it’s not great."
"I assume you know about them then?"
"They’re an invasive species that can be found in former human settlements. Their main weapon are claws, tail and fangs - be careful of that last one as they’re venomous. Unfortunately they are also quite smart and can communicate with each other, which is very helpful to them since a colony can have anywhere from twenty to a thousand of them."
"Any guess how big this one is?"
"Could be two hundred, could be fifty."
"Let’s hope it’s fifty."
"Let’s not - if it’s only fifty in a space this big it means they started eating each other, and if they did it could mean some of them evolved."
"Is the evolution as bad as it is between a Stalker and a Prowler?"
"Worse actually, the Krakee not only get stronger and bigger when they evolve, but also smarter." Alfred looked at the place where the monster disappeared. "This one was quite small though, so I’m fairly sure there won’t be more than one evolved individual."
"Should we keep an eye out for other ones?"
"They won’t attack outside, this one here was as much of a lookout as bait - they lure bigger creatures inside and ambush them in groups - and we can use that to our advantage..."
Alfred started explaining his plan; Calen would be at the forefront, acting as a bait of their own. Once he gets jumped by the Krakee he would surround himself with a ball of flames, taking out a good chunk of them at the very beginning.
After that’s done the rest of them would jump into action, and methodically make their way upstairs until they reach the altar. Once they’ve secured it and Calen activated it the battle would be over.
"Ready?" Alfred asked.
"Wait, I have an idea - hold out your weapons."
Cassian and Alfred presented their blades, while Elira pointed one end of her quarterstaff towards him.
He touched each of the weapons, and they started emitting a golden glow.
"Since when you can enchance more than one thing?" Isara raised an eyebrow.
"Since I purified Kaerith." He shrugged. "I can’t do many things where I have to actively control the process, but it’s not a problem with a static boost ."
"Alright, now that we have the power of the Sun on our side, let’s exterminate those vermin." Alfred grinned.