Landing down in the center of the village. Marcus could see that unlike Norr it was not devoid of life.
However, this was actually quite disconcerting, as it seemed that they had not started evacuating at all.
‘They should have received a messenger by now. I heard that they sent out high level people on fast moving beasts to inform all of the villages to prepare to leave in the wake of a dangerous monster.’
Though as he looked around, he quickly realized why the people of this village had not begun to get out of here.
With Andrea and her tribe in charge, they probably sent the messenger packing and did not believe what he had to say.
‘Well looks like I caught their attention.’ Marcus thought as he saw the members of Andrea’s tribe surrounding him.
Currently he was in the form of the now deceased great knight named Ludwik whose soul he had devoured. Though it was also this soul that nearly pushed him over the edge and destroyed his sense of self.
Still, it was the perfect disposable appearance he could use here along with turning into a caladrius in order to transport everyone away from here.
They were definitely in the danger zone, as the Doomsday Worm could easily absorb everything within a hundred miles of it, and the people here would be an effortless snack for it to claim.
Being surrounded by ten beast people who were all primed and ready for a fight, Marcus could tell that diplomacy was not going to be an option this time.
As Irene he had plenty of clout he could use, and the people of the village trusted him.
Right now, he was just a stranger who had come to force them out of their homes, even if he just wanted them to survive.
“I need all of you to go to sleep for a bit.”.
Activating his phantom pressure Marcus knocked out of the beast people within a second.
With the first obstacle taken care of swiftly, he ran over to where Andrea was, using his life sense skill to pinpoint the strongest life force.
When he found her she was jamming some jerky into her mouth while having a conversation with Amos.
“I am telling you that messenger was sprouting nonsense. We already cleared out the woods of the most dangerous monsters and beasts. I bet it was just some ploy to get us to leave since the kingdom does not like that we do not bow to their authority.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtAndrea then took another bite of the meat in her hand, the frustration obvious on her face.
From her perspective she had just worked really hard to clean up a mess the kingdom should have, and the thanks she was getting was deception.
Of course, that could not be further from the truth, but that was how she saw it.
Nevertheless, Marcus was here to set things straight and brazenly walked in.
Immediately Andrea got up, brandished her weapon, and said, “Who are you? And how did you get in here?”
But Marcus was not here to chat or make nice. He was here to accomplish a goal and do it quickly.
So, he simply exerted his phantom pressure again to show his dominance and get his point across swiftly.
As soon as the weight of his soul hit her, Andrea felt her body begin to shake and nearly caved in.
Yet she somehow managed to stay up and began rushing towards Marcus at her full speed.
Or at least that is what it felt like to her, but for Marcus she kind of looked like she was moving in slow motion with how difficult each step was for her.
‘I guess she can take full power.’
Turning up the juice on his specter power to max, he dropped Andrea in an instant.
She collapsed right onto the floor. Her body unable to take the full weight of Marcus’ soul on her own.
At the very least she did remain conscious, but she could do little more than grind her teeth in frustration as he was nearly fully immobilized.
Walking up to her Marcus squatted down really low and put his face right up next to hers, before saying, “Now I do not have time to deal with any of your grandstanding or conspiracy theories. There is a very real danger coming, and everyone here is going to die if they do not leave as soon as possible. I want you to gather up your tribe and prepare to leave. If not, I do not mind hauling everyone out of here unconscious.”
Marcus then stood up and looked at Amos who was stunned by his sudden appearance and effortless take down of Andrea.
“You are the village chief, right? I want you to gather up your people as well and prepare to evacuate. Gather them all into the center of town. You both have thirty minutes to do this before I just start knocking people out and dragging them away.
After saying this Marcus released his phantom pressure on Andrea so that she could get to work.
Though he did give her a good glare so that she knew he meant business and to show that he was far stronger than her.
Growling at him, she really wanted to tear this man who she did not know was Marcus apart.
Yet it was obvious after what had just happened, she would stand no chance against him.
“What are you waiting for? Get a move on. Your time has already started, and I really will do as I said and make everyone here unconscious if that is what it takes.” Marcus yelled.
With a fire lit under them. Amos and Andrea went to do as Marcus had said. Bowing to his overwhelming strength that they could not fight against.
Quickly they gathered up everyone in the village and met in the center where Marcus was waiting.
When he was certain everyone was accounted for, he jumped down from the roof he had been sitting on, and said, “Okay I am going to fly everyone of you out of here. In order to do this, I am going to take another form. Try to stay calm and do not panic. I have no intention of hurting anyone.”
Once he had finished giving a basic explanation of what was going on, he transformed into the form of a caladrius.
Naturally this caused quite a few villagers and members of Andrea’s tribe to be surprised, with a few falling over onto their assess.
‘Get over your shock quickly. Time is limited and I need to get all of you to safety as soon as possible. Pack as many as you can on my back, and I will fly you to River Landing. Then I will be back and repeat the process until everyone is out of here.’ Marcus said over his telepathy.
Tentatively a group of villagers were the first to cram onto his back, and when he had thirty-six people on him, he took off.
Most of the villagers screamed as he flew high into the air as the fear of the situation got to them.
At the very least after around ten minutes everyone had calmed down a bit, with some even being mesmerized by the view.
Not a single one of them had flown before, and once the initial scare was over, it was quite the awe-inspiring experience.
Soon he made it to the outskirts of River Landing which had taken quite the turn since last time he was there.
Currently there were no guards at the gate and the streets were pretty much empty.
However, there was one area that was quite lively, and that was the most central park.
Groups of the remaining people in the town were gathered there and getting onto makeshift vehicles that Gwyneira and Retharin were lifting up to transport people.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThis was certainly the fastest way to get people away from the area that was in the very near future going to be the sight of a battle of earthshaking proportions.
They had all seen what kind of destruction was caused in a fight against the Dread Burrower, and most people within two hundred miles of it were certain to lose their life.
Flying over to this park Marcus landed and shocked the already astonished people.
None of them had ever seen such powerful beasts, but suddenly so many had shown up and had begun working with the kingdom’s army.
Luckily this lessened the panic, as General Erastalven had commanded his troops to keep the people calm and inform them that the dragon and massive gryphon were here to help.
Once Marcus had dropped off the first group of villagers, he flew right back at full speed and grabbed the next batch.
He did this nine times throughout the day and brought everyone who had been in the village over to River Landing. Where Gwyneira and Retharin transported them even further away.
Though there were two beings still there that he needed to talk to.
‘Roxene I am here. Bring Inten over so that we can talk.’ Marcus said to his companion.
Within just a few seconds Roxene and Inten arrived in front of him the apprehension clear on their faces.
“Okay things are only going to get worse form here on out, so I want the two of you to run away.”
But one of them spoke up against this plan and said, ‘No I wish to stay and fight with you this time. I promised to repay you.’
Sighing Marcus shook his head at Inten and said, “You would only slow me down. The only thing that even allows me to help out in this battle is my ability to turn ethereal. With you around I would have difficulty doing so. You would only die if you fought.”
Lowering his head and frowning Inten hated that he was so useless after he had resolved himself to help out.
Roxene on the other hand, was more than happy to get away.
For her living was the most important thing, and she valued her live above all else.
‘I will take this stupid mouse with me and hide out in a place that is safe. Even that thing will not be able to get into the special dungeon deep below the ground. You can take my word for it.’ She said with confidence.
“Okay that sounds like a good idea. When everything is done, I will come get you.”
Yet Roxene had not yet given up on Marcus coming with her and said, ‘You should come with us. We can grab the rest of the gang and just wait out our time getting strong in that dungeon. Then in a few years we can come out and see how things have progressed’
Giving Roxene a smile, Marcus said, “Yeah that might be the smart move, but there are ways that I can contribute here. In just this recent fight without my help both Gwyneira and Retharin would have died. I may not be able to do much, but I can offer my support where it is needed.”