"What do you mean? Strange how?" Kuo asked with a frown.
Maddy, Jin Wang, the four newbies, and Qin Wei moved closer to get in on the conversation. Hash looked at them and then shook his head helplessly.
"The initial shout that started all this, was that one of you by any chance?" he looked at Kuo and Maddy. They both shook their head in response.
"Well, I guess it doesn't matter much now anyway..."
"Just spit it out, what are you talking about? Why do we have to leave?" Jin Wang couldn't take it anymore and said casually, making Hashirama frown.
"About south-south-east, a high-level demonic beast has appeared. One that I have never seen before," he finally said with a sigh.
"Demonic beast? What's so special about it? It's not like we haven't gone against them before," Maddy cut in just as Kuo opened his mouth.
"It's a Lich," Hashirama replied somberly. The atmosphere turned serious in an instant. Jin Wang, Maddy, and Kuo's expression turned grave whereas the others were confused.
"Psst, hey, what's a Lich?" Mason poked Jin Wang's back.
"Don't touch me," was the only response he got, making everyone speechless.
"An undead. A lich is an undead creature. Technically its neither a beast nor human. We don't know how it's born or where, only that it appears before or soon after a bloodshed.
It feeds on the remains of powerful creatures, that's why it's arrival is synonymous with disaster. It can basically 'predict' calamities," explained Kuo while looking at the cloudy sky.
"The Jia and now this? Is it already too late?" he mumbled but Hash and Maddy still heard him. They looked at Jin Wang who nodded back reluctantly.
"Is that it?" Mason probed since he felt like there was more to it.
"Hm? Oh, um no, although Lich's are a bad omen, they themselves are extremely powerful as well. A lich is made up of several different other dead creatures and since they are already dead, how can they be stopped? It's really complicated to explain, once we go back read up on it more," Maddy explained further.
The universe is endless. Who knows what is hidden in the darkness. What we call 'death' is considered only to be a beginning by some. And what people call a lich is basically this deathly energy that has gained sentience. It fuses the bodies of nearby creatures to make a suitable 'suit' for itself and come back to 'life'.
Throughout its life, the only goal it seems to have is to seek out more Death Energy which it uses for cultivation. But because it is already 'dead', it cannot be stopped by normal means. Either it has to be wiped out of existence all at once or cultivators which specialize in using life energies have to fight it since any normal injuries are insignificant.
"We have to go back," Kuo interrupted everyone's thoughts. "This is too big. We have to tell the generals!"
"But what about the captain? And Sgt. Cav?" asked Aria worryingly.
"One day. We will look for them for a day and then leave. We can come back with reinforcements later but this is too important," he stood up and replied.
"Let's go," there were 69 people in the party now. Once they met up with Cav it would be the full 100.
Everyone packed up, took care of their wounds, and left towards Hao Xuan's location.
The distance between them wasn't that much but due to the terrain and the detours taken to avoid beast hordes, it took more than an hour until they reached the location.
*Gasp*
"Wha-"
"The hell happened here?!" the ground was filled with corpses. Hundreds upon hundreds of body parts could be seen on the ground. It was a literal bloodbath.
"Who was it?" the soldiers were at a loss for words.
"Look at this," Jin Wang bent down and cleared away some of the body parts from the ground. There were long black burnt marks everywhere. "Remind you of anyone?" he asked Kuo with a grin. Kuo looked at the marks and for a few seconds was confused until he remembered something and his eyes lit up. He turned towards Maddy and said, "Can you find him?"
"There's no need," as soon as he finished Jin Wang butt in once again and pointed west. Without saying anything Kuo started walking, followed by Jin Wang. The rest looked at each other with blank faces and followed after them.
"Don't make a sound, I wanna see this first hand," Kuo ordered in a stern voice without even looking back and everyone tensed up. They followed the trail of bodies for 5 more minutes until some loud noises came from the front.
*BOOOOM*
"Quick!" Kuo and Jin Wang jumped into the tree's and recalled the Qi to hide their presence. The rest did the same.
*CRACKLE*
Lightning crackled and the view in front of them became clear. An ape of more than 8 meters in height and six arms came into view. It had bloody gashes all over and was huffing in exhaustion. Further to the right was a gigantic green serpent with one good eye and a bloody socket where the other one should have been.
To the left was a horse-like creature and was even taller than the ape. It seemed to be in the best condition.
In the middle of them was a grey hound of about 5 meters in size and two heads, shaking violently.
"Hmm?" The four newbies were already pretty amazed looking at the extremely powerful demonic beasts. Mia squinted her eyes looking at the hound, "Is it....?"
*RIIIIIP*
With a bang, the hound's body cleanly separated in two and fell apart, showing a silhouette standing behind it.
"Is that it?!?" came an angered voice from it.
"If you're not coming, I will!"