“I’d like to have a moment of your time, please.”

  It was shortly after noon when Charles asked everyone to gather at the foot of the boulder. The man stood on the boulder and watched as everyone slowly approached with concerned expressions.

  Alaric folded his arms as his gaze lingered on Charles. The man’s tight jaw and scrunched up forehead made his mood abundantly clear. He’s still angry. He let out a sigh and continued to wait.

  A short time later, everyone except for the still unconscious Reuban had gathered at the foot of the boulder.

  Charles took a deep breath. “Thank you. I will keep it short.” He glanced at Alaric with a cold, calculating gaze. “As you all know, several of our people have been risking life and limb to go out there and complete the objectives the system is giving us. They even returned this morning with survivors from somewhere else.” He paused, almost as if expecting the small crowd to react. A few seconds passed in awkward silence before he quickly continued.

  “These people have risked a lot. And it has been brought to my attention that they are exhausted. As such, I’d like to form a second team to go on these expeditions and keep everyone safe, to give our first team a chance to rest and recover. If there are any volunteers, please come see me later today.”

  This time, his words caused a wave of murmurs to spread amongst the crowd.

  “What’s that about?” Martin leaned in to ask. “He’s talking about you, right?”

  Alaric folded his arms. “Yeah.” He scowled and looked around.

  Everyone capable of fighting is already doing so. He won’t get any volunteers. None who’d survive what we’ve faced without help from us. Charles must have been aware of this too. So why was he doing this? Was this Charles’ attempt to address Alaric’s exhaustion?

  “Who is this guy anyways?”

  “He’s been helping organise people’s work.” Victoria piped up.

  “My brother.” If looks could kill, Ava would have murdered Charles ten times over by now. Her dark gaze turned to Alaric. “Sorry.”

  Alaric smiled and shook his head. She wasn’t responsible of her brother’s actions after all.

  “So… a manager?” Martin asked a moment later.

  “Politician.” Carl’s voice startled them. He and Edward had snuck up on them without notice. “There won’t be anyone.”

  “I’m well aware.” Alaric let out a sigh.

  Charles ended his speech after reassuring the survivors that they were welcome and apologising for not being able to help them sooner. As the crowd began to scatter, Victoria rolled her eyes. “That was a waste of our time. But putting that aside, what comes next? It’s been half a day and…” she shrugged.

  “I’d have expected a new objective by now, yeah.” Edward pursed his lips. “It’s making me uneasy.”

  “Like the calm before a storm.” Ava clenched her fist. “Damn it… I wish Clara had more mana.” She tapped her arm that was still in a sling. “I’ll be useless if something happens.”

  “She’ll get to you soon. Once Reuban wakes up.” Alaric then scowled. The young man still hadn’t woken up. Clara had healed his knee somewhat but then discovered a wound on the back of his head. “It’s been over a day.”

  “He’s stable, at least.” Victoria breathed out. “She’ll make sure he wakes up soon.”

  Alaric nodded, then folded his arms. “Ava, do you mind having the guys, Charles and Robert come here? We still haven’t filled them in on what happened yesterday. Aside from the Profaned Legion.”

  Victoria raised her eyebrows. “More happened?”

  “Can I listen in?” Martin hesitantly asked.

  “Of course.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Ava and Victoria summoned everyone to the foot of the boulder. Jason, supported by Avery and Lochlan, sat down pretty much immediately, wincing whenever he had to take a step. Elizabeth and Victoria sat with their grandmother, while Charles stood a few steps away from everyone. Robert remained on the top of the boulder, though he sat close enough to hear everything.

  Martin and Laura were the only two of the survivors who joined the small meeting.

  “We’ve discovered a few important things the day before.” Alaric started speaking. “In the spire, we found murals, with descriptions below that we couldn’t read. In the same language of the Witch’s book, and the altar below her castle.

  “Written in Enochian.” He took a deep breath and continued telling everything.

  ***

  The small campfire and the two torches were the only sources of light in the dark night. Huddled around the flames at the church entrance, the people ate in silence.

  Alaric sat a few steps away from them, absentmindedly petting Luna. His back sat against the church wall, and his gaze lingered on the starless sky. Storm clouds had gathered just before dusk, and the smell of rain lingered in the air.

  Retelling everything that happened when they went to destroy the fourth mana core had taken several hours, and by the end of it, no one had spoken for a while. At least Charles didn’t throw another fit. He felt a little bad for thinking that.

  He closed his eyes. He still felt exhausted, but having this one single day to rest had helped more than he could ever hope to explain to Charles. “We needed it, right girl?” He whispered as he scratched beneath Luna’s ears. Her tail wagged lazily.

  THE PROFANED LEGION HAS CALLED A HUNT

  The blue box appeared in front of him. Audible gasps echoed each other. Everyone had gotten the same system message. “Oh god, no!” Laura’s frightened cry broke the charged silence.

  “We can’t stay here!” Someone else shouted. “They’re coming! We’ll all die.”

  Bloody hell… He pushed himself up on his feet, then stopped as he noticed the thick fog rolling in from the south. Dark tendrils of fog crept up to the border of the Hallowed Ground, stopping where the tall grass ended.

  “Calm down, we’re in the Hallowed Ground!” Charles’ voice rose above the others. “We’re safe here, remember? Stay put and calm down-“

  “We’re not safe!” someone cried. It was a woman Alaric had never spoken to—one of those who gathered fruit and fetched water. He didn’t even know her name.

  “They took people before! Remember? They took Victoria, they took you! We’re not safe here!” Her voice shook, and she staggered back from the church.

  “We have to run! We need to go north!” She turned sharply, caught herself on the boulder, and bolted away in an uneven sprint.

  Alaric clicked his tongue. “Luna, don’t let her leave!”

  The wolf dashed, leaping over the cowering people, and caught up to the woman within seconds. Her soft, large paws slammed against the woman’s back, knocking her down. “No! Let me go! I don’t want to die here!” She kicked the air and tried to punch Luna. The wolf, seemingly unbothered by the woman’s struggles, promptly sat on her legs and lower back. Despite her relaxed appearance, her ears were pricked, and her sharp eyes were fixed on something in the distance.

  “The Bloodrose Witch sent those bats after us.” Alaric raised his voice as people started screaming in fear. “They broke through the Hallowed Ground because she gave them the power to do so. This,” he pointed at the creeping fog. “This is not the same. The Profaned Legion cannot cross this boundary.” He unsheathed his blade. “But anywhere else… they will find you.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Someone shouted.

  “Then I will fight.” Alaric stabbed the sword into the ground and placed both hands on its pommel. “Now, listen to Charles. Stay calm, stay put. You are safe here.”

  While his words seemed calm some people down, it took a while, and a lot of calm conversation from Charles for everyone to settle down. Once he had the woman convinced, Luna got off her, though the wolf seemed alert against any other escapees after that.

  “I’d hate to doubt you,” Victoria approached him with Clara and Elizabeth in tow. “But you’re certain they can’t come here, right?”

  “Yeah. The one we killed was quite offended we dared leave the Hallowed Ground at night.”

  “Wait, he was?” Clara scowled. “You can understand them?”

  Oh. He awkwardly smiled. “I suppose that was Enochian, now that I think about it.” I didn’t even realise at the time.

  “Good.” Clara pursed her lips. “I need to get back, help Harriet with Reuban. He woke up briefly today.” She looked away. “He couldn’t see. I need to figure out how to heal that.” There was bitterness and regret in her voice. She left quickly.

  Alaric tightened his grasp on the pommel of the blade.

  The otherworldly fog reached the border of the Hallowed Ground and started to coil around it. It pushed west and east, then swept north. In the darkness beyond, wolf silhouettes shifted .Howls and low growls filled the air. Heavy footsteps rarely sounded, accompanied by the sound of metal brushing against metal.

  Knights. He felt his chest tighten. Were there multiple of them?

  “… this is worse than I expected.” Victoria wrapped her cloak tightly around herself. “It’s quite oppressive isn’t it? The fog, I mean.” She was trying to sound brave, but fear still seeped into her voice.

  “Yeah. Doesn’t help that we’re pretty much out in the open.” He grimaced. The Hallowed Ground was pretty defenceless, all things considered. Had there been a wall – anything but an invisible force – between them, he would feel much better.

  THE PROFANED LEGION’S INFLUENCE WEAKENS THE HALLOWED GROUND

  THE BLESSING OF THE GODS WILL COME TO AN END IN 3 DAYS

  71:59:59