The afternoon turns into evening as the people of Dragon - Phoenix start the long march back, the burnt-out remains of the village are smoldering in the background and many of the villagers are unhappy. The first external military operation could be a success as the soldiers are more in tune with one another, many of them no longer see each other as ‘Dragon Race’ or ‘Bunny Race’ but people of Dragon - Phoenix Village, they also feel more confident in Jack having seen his performance against the player.

 

“The report is ready”

 

A bunny assassin hands off a report to Jack, they have recovered 211 people and 60 guards which is a decent amount for a village on these ‘unlivable’ plains yet highlights another problem, where did everyone go?

 

A pile of gold coins were recovered, many documents and armours were recovered from the burnt-out remains of the two large mansions yet Jack doesn’t feel satisfied because none of the players were cooperative so most of the information is still unknown, they tried to interrogate them but nearly all of them logged off hence their execution as even taking their ‘logged off body’ is a security risk.

 

Bane will be back tomorrow so he will be left in charge of interrogation of the guards and that arrogant young master who surprisingly is still alive after all of that, as far as Jack can tell; the young man and woman are visiting from a system city after being invited  by 'Ausgezeichnet' but they haven’t even learnt their names yet.

 

“Are we ready to set out?”

 

Jack asks while riding up to Drakon, the eerie moon is high in the sky causing a red haze in the distance casting a visible uneasiness across everyone.

 

“As ready as we’ll ever be, I won't be surprised if half of them run away before we arrive though”

 

“They’d be stupid to do so, something feels off tonight”, Jack peers up at the moon.

 

“I know it’s never this quiet during the night”

 

Jack is watching the moon, it seems like a giant beast eyeing their next meal “You lead the convoy, I’ll bring up the rear”

 

The group sets out; they load the villagers and soldiers into the carts; they were prepared for 900 villagers yet are coming back with far less freeing up space within the wagons. The convoy makes their way down the road towards Dragon - Phoenix village, it took around 3 hrs travel time in the afternoon so they should reach the village before midnight.

 

Fenrir and Sleipner are on edge as Jack trails behind the convoy, not even wind can be heard as the silent convoy proceed into the night.

 

*BOING*

 

A gigantic slime bounces toward the convoy, each time it lands the landscape hisses and is left blackened. It’s slowly coming toward the convoy but not chasing it, no slime has shown any sort of consciousness yet, so no one is worried but Jack is able to notice something strange.

 

It’s not with the slime itself; it’s where it lands, previous slimes left a trail of white smoke, this one is leaving a trail of black smoke that blends into the night.

 

The visibility is poor so giving Sleipner a nudge, the trio trot the scant distance, the convoy continues on while Jack inspects the ground.

 

A low guttural growl is heard from Fenrir as they make their way towards the ground, a smell of death and decay hits Jacks nose as they edge closer to the black ground.

 

The black ground is finally lit up by the red-moon casting a weird glow over the ground revealing something; a perfect circle in the short grass.

 

The black ground subtly wiggles lit up under the red moonlight but it’s not enough, calling out a fireball it lights up the surrounding area in a bright flame when Jack can finally see what it is, a pile of wriggling bones half buried in the ground. The bones are black as if they’ve just recently been through a fire; they wiggle and smoke.

 

The bones smoke causing the black smoke to gather forming into a strange mask-like face made of smoke and looks at Jack.

 

Jack’s vision turns dull as if he’s plunged into a cold pit, the face shifts as red dots appear where the eyeholes are when Jack's eyes become bloodshot red but deep within him a golden light suppresses this feeling causing the face to scream.

 

Fenrir releases a HellFire Flare, Sleipner’s horn shines while clouds gather while Jack takes out the spear, qi freely circulates around his body clearing out whatever that face was doing.

 

The black-red fireball from Fenrir flies forward but passes through it, lighting up the distance giving a wider view of what’s hidden under the cloak of darkness. Countless black circles are lit up by the fire but there are also countless slimes bouncing around, Jack’s back has a cold sweat upon seeing what’s going on; ‘What the hell is this? How the hell are we walking so close to something like this?’ are the only thoughts that enter his mind.

 

It’s like some deathmatch going on in the darkness between whatever the black circles are and slimes.

 

Kicking a random rock onto the black circle that seems to sit above the grass, it sizzles before melting quickly.

 

Jack makes a split decision and quickly throws a fireball at the black circle which blows a small pit in the blackness revealing dirt underneath, using ‘Bunny Dash’ he changes position and does it again releasing countless fireballs, the circle is about 200m in diameter so 4 jumps is plenty to cover the entire area before appearing at the same spot again, he’s panting as this was a quick movement releasing lots of qi but the face is shrieking in the centre of the circle.

 

The face becomes smaller, growing some arms like a monkey and becoming less like smoke, Sleipner releases the lightning. It comes crashing down from the heavens, lighting up the area in blinding white and silver. 

 

*CRACK BOOM*

 

Thunder sounds from above as lightning lands on the face while Jack is lightly zapped the bright light clears and the face has disappeared but Fenrir is still growling softly, shifting into his two headed form, shaking off the light zap the young man’s attention is entirely on centre of the black circle.

 

A figure flutters which Jack has a hard time seeing, it’s almost goblin size and human shaped but it lacks any features other than being entirely black. ‘A small faceless person?’ Jack inwardly asks.

 

He pushes the qi into the spear charging up a large explosion, Jack’s eyes don’t leave this thing as he readies the first motion of spear attacks, the creature permeates an aura of evil and corruption.

 

The faceless creature shifts as if noticing Jack’s spear, a mouth full of sharp teeth opens up as it rushes at him.

 

It almost becomes non-corporal as it races towards Jack but once it leaves the remains of the blown up black circle it slows down, Jack makes a split decision and aims for its body as the creature crosses several metres with each step it takes.

 

“HAAA”

 

Jack pushes the spear forward as it bends in ways it shouldn’t, the spearhead is shivering from the pure dragon qi being pushed into it; the creature stops a single step away but the spearhead contacts the creature.

 

*KABOOM*

 

The actions happen within the blink of an eye while the creature shoots backward, Jack is panting while sweat comes down his forehead as he cradles his stomach, a sizeable hole within the fabric exposes his belly but luckily nothing else happened.

 

The creature’s body lands on the ground deformed, tumbling a few times before abnormally standing up as if it’s formless and weightless, glowing red eyes appear on the head as if staring into Jack's soul.

 

Jack looks through the storage ring, replacing the fire spear and pulls out a scroll.

 

A pure white spear with a yellow crystal instead of a blade appears, intricate flower designs run along the spear shaft giving it a feminine look while he breaks the scroll in half, a pure white barrier of energy sinks into his skin. Items that previously gained from White Flower Church that are coming in useful for the first time as these creatures meet the definition of low level demonic beings.

 

‘Wonder how well this stuff works?’

 

The creature eerily strides towards Jack who has prepared the same move but this time the creature almost instantly explodes into mist upon contact with the shining yellow crystal. The crystal lit up by itself with no qi from Jack while his body was protected from a sudden slashing by the white barrier located just above his skin.

The creature exploded into mist and the black circle is melting back into the ground but the qi of the creature is floating around, a miniscule amount of energy from something from the heavens enters his body while he collects the demonic qi in his forehead which integrates easily with the existing demonic qi.

 

Jack doesn’t have time to consider what the energy entering his body is as Sleipner and Fenrir come running up slightly more relaxed but still agitated, “We need to inform everyone about this, good thing we’ve prepared, let’s go!”

 

Jack takes a last look at the eerie field, they’re still deathly silent but Jack knows in the distance a battle between slimes and demonic creatures is going on for some reason.

 

The trio rejoins the convoy without incident, it’s perfectly safe with only a few more sightings of larger slimes. Jack quietly relays his experiences to Drakon at the front of the convoy.

 

“Lord, I believe those are demonic qi pockets, those small ones are called ‘faceless’ and they’ll take the form of any little shit they like but usually with lots of teeth, usually shitty worlds would have this kind of demon but considering the invasion event I’m not looking forward to the next ‘wave’ as Sovereign Leah put it”

 

“Shall we inform everyone? So far the slimes and the qi pockets are avoiding us and we can’t rely on good luck all the time”

 

“Lord, we wont have anyone left in these wagons if it’s announced, I’ll run it down the chain quietly plus I believe judging from our route, the scouts are avoiding these pockets of qi already”

 

“Hmm, I wonder why it wasn’t included in any report… How long until we’re back?”

 

“We should be able to see the village within an hour”

 

Jack and Drakon quietly talk more about his experiences with demons, Drakon has an extensive knowledge of creatures because of the various worlds he has conquered in his past life but it rarely comes into play. The demon worlds where demonic qi ran rampant were among the most annoying, you need either gear or skill to guard against the corrupting influence and the general soldiers rarely have the skill so having the right knowledge on what gear to use against which creature where is important.

It sounds outlandish and marks the first time Drakon has willingly shared information about his past, talking about the various worlds and how the old White Dragon Empire implemented their rule slightly inspires Jack but for now they’re stuck in this tiny region surrounded by the Heavens Barrier.

 

So after sharing all he knows on the ‘faceless’ demon Jack parts from Drakon who quietly gets about business, it was as simple as he explained the first time. ‘Insignificant creatures with lots of teeth and no face’, they corrupt the mind then control the body to cause havoc, almost pure demonic qi that forms an intent but usually chaotic and corruptive.

 

Purifying the intent with holy or light energy is the best method, but just using lots of qi is good enough.

 

Jack quietly sneaks off to test out the theories. The scroll will wear off after a few hours so it’s better to not waste it.

 

Coming across a 20m diameter circle, a faceless monkey pounces at Jack but he slashes it with sword unwilling to waste a spear. The monkey is cleanly bisected, it’s claws slash at Jack but cannot penetrate the white barrier over his skin, an energy enters his body and he absorbs the demonic qi before moving on and repeating, each time returning to the convoy and finding a new target.

 

This carries on for a while, Jack enjoys killing the demons as they’re not threatening outside the circle but each of these demonic creatures are much slower and weaker than then the first one made of smoke that could keep some speed.

 

The lights of the village come into view, the gate is manned with soldiers as Tyson comes out to help the convoy in, they quickly greet but upon quietly mentioning the demon encounters outside Tyson agrees to head back to the village for now where they relay the experiences to Hilda and Tyson, Maurice is busy working on the pendant still.

 

The patrols are increased, the recent arrivals are settled down into temporary accommodation separated from everyone else while many of the guards enjoy the luxuries of interrogation, they’ll come to like it even more tomorrow especially the arrogant young master.

 

Jack heads off to the tent, his qi has been depleted returning to normal levels after this morning, he’s physically exhausted and mentally something strange is going on, each time he read the system info, the information would be blurred or have strange characters after them that has only gotten worse after being lightly zapped by the lightning from Sleipner.

 

The garden is empty but there is talking within the tent, walking through the flap he’s greeted with the sight of Jessica and Amber sitting by the table talking softly as though they’re old friends, Mai is on the floor with various lengths of needles coating many of them with a strange substance.

 

Jessica and Amber stop talking and watch Jack enter the tent, a silent stand off develops as the two groups silently stare at each other, Jessica’s expression is cold while Amber doesn’t make eye contact with him.

 

“Were you all waiting for me to return?”

 

“Nooo, they wanted to stay up and gossip” Mai answers for the group.

 

“Ah well I will train, what are you all doing?”

 

“I’m waiting for you, you owe me 2 cups of blood!”

 

“Oh that uhh, can it wait until tomorrow?”

 

Amber quietly asks Jessica, “She drinks his blood, is Mai some sort of vampire?” Jessica shakes her head, unwilling to speak up.

 

“It’s 20 cups if you make me wait until tomorrow”

 

“That makes little sense and I don’t have that much blood”

 

“You promised so you have to deliver!” Mai stands up, some vines travel along the ground from her legs toward Jack.

 

“Another time, I promise 2 cups extra...” Jack uses ‘Bunny Dash’ to escape out of the tent.

 

“20 cups!” Mai yells out before pouting, Amber laughs at this interaction but Jessica has a neutral expression.

 

“Are you ok? Did he do something to you?” Amber asks Jessica who looks dazed and staring off into nothing as her face is slightly flushed.

 

“No, no it’s not that... I just feel strange when I see... him”

 

“What kind of strange?”

 

“My body gets hot but it’s weird... like some sort of thread linking us is trying to pull me toward him and my body can’t help it…”

 

Amber slides closer to Jessica, “Does it feel hot here, here or... here” touching Jessica on the forehead, the chest and the lower stomach.

 

Slapping away Amber’s hand, “All of them but it’s not like that…” Jessica stops her sentence before looking at Mai.

 

“Elder sister said that she feels hot down there when it’s mating time, is your body telling you to mate with big brother?” Mai speaks up from the floor.

 

Amber giggles loudly while Jessica’s face goes crimson, “I can’t... Don’t talk about that stuff…” she hides her face while Amber continues to tease her and Mai continues to talk about Leah’s experiences during mating time.

 

Jack has snuck off to the training grounds, his ministers are handling all the duties after today while he feels that he needs to practise the first motion of Heavens Piercing Thrust.

 

“HAA”

 

Jack stabs forward with a training spear but it’s weak, not enough to leave more than a slight dent in the wooden dummy.

 

‘How can this be called ‘Heavens Piercing’ Thrust when it doesn’t have any innate piercing qualities?’ Jack is left mulling over this problem.

 

Consulting with the visions of Heavens Piercing Thrust, he arrives at the same problem as faced with the third motion; he doesn’t have the same qi as the woman in the visions. Focusing his mind, he tries to absorb the essence of the first stage but this technique is far above him, it’s like he has exact knowledge of the pathways used for each motion using that qi type and visions of when to use each section but no actual understanding of the technique.

 

Jack is left frustrated as he practises through the night trying to work out how he can use his existing qi types to produce a piercing quality getting no result, by 3am he retires to bed, Jessica upon getting moved by Jack entering the bed mutters; “Mum where are you... mum please... tell me how.. help..” as her eyes tear up slightly, Jack softly strokes her cheek causing her to nestle into his shoulder and cling onto his clothing.

 

‘Wish I knew how to help...’ Jack quietly mutters as he drifts off to sleep while Mai is left kicking him randomly through the night, much more aggressively than usual.