Chapter 4244: The Bitterest Poison (Part 1)

The Awakened in Zekell’s home glared at Gorko in envy, hoping that their respective marks were half as good. Unfortunately for Aran, the only thing his blow had achieved was to bruise the burly man.

Gorko wore a good enchanted armor, and his mana core and body refinement were far superior to Aran’s. The hard-light mace had struck him like a good punch, but a punch nonetheless.

"And he even knows Light Mastery." Gorko laughed like a plumber called on the fourth of July. "This couldn’t go any better. Too bad you didn’t go for a sword, kid. That might have actually hurt."

Aran was just an eight-year-old boy, not a killer. He wanted to protect his father, but hurting another human being was unthinkable to him. He watched Perna raise her hand at Raaz again and let Gorko grab him, cursing his own stupidity.

Onyx was also eight years old now, but she was an Emperor Beast. Killing anyone who threatened her family was second nature to her. The moment the Awakened forgot about her to focus on the Verhens, she struck.

"Stupid pet. What do you think-" The Shyf that had tackled Gorko from the back grew in size until she was taller than him.

Two new forelegs appeared from her torso and wrapped around him as long claws coated in Adamant pierced through his armor. The original two forelegs closed around Gorko’s throat, cutting it halfway through the neck and allowing Onyx to bite it off with ease.

"That’s not a magical beast!" The cloaking items Lith had crafted for the children’s companions had hidden their real nature, and the weapons he had entrusted to the Utgard did the rest.

"Hey, ugly, eyes on me!" Leria said, drawing Perna’s attention and giving Senton the opening he needed to use the power of the potions tattoo to bring Raaz out of the line of fire.

The Awakened was about to complete her spell and kill Raaz when the young girl enveloped in a green aura jumped in front of her with her arms extended and her palms out.

Leria’s hands were coated with a thick layer of ice that focused and amplified the tier three Light Mastery spell, Sunbeam. A heat ray imbued with the full power of Leria’s green core hit Perna’s face from almost point-blank range, burning her face off.

Her enchanted armor and earth fusion saved her life at the last moment, but they could do nothing against Abominus’ metal maw. The Pyrmir pushed the wobbling Awakened to the ground with his massive paws and ripped her head off with a single twist of his maw.

"Run! They ambushed us!" Lirta’s words made little sense, yet they were true nonetheless.

The Awakened had started the attack, but the unknown Emperor Beasts had taken the Awakened by surprise, breaking their formation and culling their numbers.

Crash and Slash had shapeshifted into their true forms and attacked the intruders as well, but they had no support and were weaker than Onyx and Abominus.

The Fastarrows’ steeds had only recently become Emperor Beasts and had not yet reached the Verhens’ level of training, but killing a stronger enemy who turned their back on the Emperor Beasts and paid them no attention wasn’t that hard.

Slash and Crash killed two more Awakened before the light from Leria’s spells faded.

The surviving Awakened crashed through the walls, each running in a different direction. The silence that followed their escape was the loudest thing the Verhens had ever heard.

"My babies!" Rena’s cry shattered the quiet, snapping the children out of their daze as they stared at the dead bodies at their feet. "They’ve taken my babies."

Aran had rushed to his father’s side to heal Raaz and recover his own mana with Invigoration. Only then did he notice that there was no trace of Falco, Teryon, and Lenart.

"Surin!" Raaz jumped to his feet even though his body could barely stand. "Where’s Surin?"

"She’s-" Elina lowered her gaze and found her arms empty. "Gone! I lost her. I let them take her from me!"

"Don’t worry, Grandma." With each breath Leria took, her strength returned. "I will-"

"You’ll do nothing!" Abominus growled. "You’ll stay here with the others, where I can protect you."

"I can let those people take my siblings!" Leria screamed in frustration. "You can protect me as we go!"

"And who will protect the others?" Abominus nodded at the adults. "If two or more of those guys come back, do you think Aran and Onyx can defend so many people?"

Leria looked at the grandfather she had almost lost seconds ago and the mother who had remained frozen during the crisis.

"We’ll wait here and hope that Slash and Crash can do it." The Verhens looked around the room, noticing that the Fastarrows were gone as well.

"We can’t leave them alone! They are weak!" Leria’s words struck everyone like a punch to the gut.

She was referring to Lilia and Leran, but there wasn’t one person in the room who didn’t feel as if Leria was talking about them. They were the parents. They were supposed to protect their children.

Yet they had been helpless the whole time. Raaz had at least tried to resist the Awakened, but he didn’t feel any better. His failure had a different flavor than the others’, but it was too bitter to swallow nonetheless.

’Once again, I can’t do anything without my sons.’ He silently gritted his teeth. ’Lith’s potions and armor saved my life no less than Aran’s bravery. How can I, their father, be so useless?’

Most of the adults in the room asked themselves the same question. The phrasing was different, but the answer coated their tongues like the bitterest poison.

***

Near Lith’s house, at the beginning of the attack.

The three squads of the Queen’s Corps assigned to the protection of Lith’s family had reacted immediately to the threat. Two of them were already in Lutia and had charged towards the unknown assailants before they started the attack on the Proudhammer house.

They would protect the Verhens, or at least bring them back to the safety of their home, while the squad left at the Verhen House worked on unlocking the Warp Gate.

Or rather, that was their intention.

Unknown people shrouded in bright violet auras blocked their path with unsettling ease, neutralizing every spell the Corps members cast with a mere wave of the Awakened’s hands.

"I have nothing against you, and this isn’t my real face. Run away, and I’ll let you live. It’s better to be dishonorably discharged for relinquishing your duty than dying an honorable and pointless death." Rayko said.

The violet-cored members of the Awakened group hadn’t taken part in the raid on Zekell’s house because they had a much more important duty to uphold.

During the long months of planning, the scouts had noticed the fifteen elite soldiers of the Corps protecting the Verhens and couldn’t let them interfere with their plan.

There weren’t enough blue-cored Awakened to defend the elemental sealing arrays from so many soldiers, and if even one of the three Warp Gates near Lutia was reconnected to the Gate Network, the kidnapping of the Verhens would fail.

"Ignore the bastard and bring down the Hammer!" Captain Xarko of the Queen’s Corps yelled.

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