Seeing ten of the currently 48 present knights push the gate open from the inside made her immediately aware how strong they could be considered as individuals and it did not give a good impression. Granted she expected her strength to exceed a normal human by a decent amount. But Claire getting a higher strength grade had made her assume her own was far more common.

The other 38 knights were spread out around her, the girl from earlier and Claire in something of an octagon. The next layer was a hexagon. There were 5 of these hexagons, each surrounding the last with those using heavy weapons further on the outside.

Surrounding her meanwhile were likely magic users and archers given the bows tied to some of their backs and the lack of any weapon beyond a dagger among the others. Both the furthest layer and innermost layer had a pair of shielders. Lilith could not imagine them being particularly helpful against monsters with their flimsy sheets of metal but this was not her formation just yet so she remained silent on the matter.

They each wore an armour similar to the captain. Made of that naturally reflective material that seemed to be bent into shape with pure brute force alongside swords sporting fangs and claws hanging from their waists. they were more akin to a primitive tribe than proud knights.

Nevertheless they held their heads high and weapons at the ready as the gate opened in front of them. The Vice-Captain was one of those at the edge. His own blade was still sheathed and while the man’s smirk made Lilith suspect this to be a symptom of overconfidence at first this was not the case. Because his blade was a katana.

He intended to put on a show for her but she merely thought his confidence and dash of pride childish. In her eyes these monsters were not a threat. She had walked through a field of predators to get to this city and she was one herself. Even if her spawn was stronger than her.

She never much cared for the perception of others or perhaps even the perception of herself before now but that appeared to have changed. She could feel the anger seeping into her mind. The perceived strength difference between herself and Claire would not have bothered her so during her time in the castle. Plenty of the soldiers were stronger than her.

She turned to the girl next to her as they walked out of the gate. “Care to introduce yourself?” She asked. The girl had not spoken a word to her since criticizing her speech and thus she had not even acquired the girl’s name.

“I’m Angie.” She said and did not add anything to that comment. It was simply her name and nothing more as she observed the knights surrounding them. She listened to their conversations, attempted to copy their movements and learn their jargon. This behaviour was intriguing. Lilith asked others to teach her their skills but she was attempting to merely learn by watching.

Upon stepping through the gate they were not immediately attacked as one might expect of hyper-aggressive creatures. Instead they walked over torn up grass and around the signs of battle. Arrows stuck from the ground or simply laying upon it were ignored as were the small crators and puddles.

Upon exiting the entrance there were flat plains as far subjective north and west as the eye could see while a short jog to the east would land one in the waves. She had once heard such environments described as ‘Desecrated havens of nature’. Worms, ants, birds, snakes and small canines were almost always present. Occasionally the rare feline, or the scurrying scavengers that knew how to hide from the biggest threats.

This did have some of those features. Lilith admired the ants crawling around on the floor that she had never been able to study in person. While the journey here had allowed a glimpse, she now saw the true visual detail of the insect world.

She was far more interested in the drastic changes to the animal population during their trek so when she saw that the insects major habits had not changed they were marked for later study. Now she saw them while her thoughts were less pre-occupied.

They all fed into a single area of grass that seemed to almost grow outwards wildly. The grass elsewhere was not consistent. Despite this it maintained at least a certain height that it did not grow past but it was as if this specific patch had decided to ignore that restriction. It grew out uncontrolled and wild as though the others had a set of weights this group had ignored.

Entering this triumph of nature was a truly uncountable number of dark brown ants. A particularly common species with the ability to settle essentially anywhere. The formica pallidefulva are rather common in the empire easily found within rotted logs, clumps of grass and even pits of rock.

They live nearly everywhere in the empire and from what little Lilith knew of the other nations on this continent they seemed to be prevalent there as well. Despite that they did not have a common name. Even the name from the old language they currently had was merely a bi-product of some tomes from the church of the old ones.

Regardless Lilith was fairly certain, despite the lacking knowledge on the subject, that they were not previously capable of clinging to the edges of grass as though they weighed nothing and using said blades of grass as elevators.

Most would go through the tangled mess of grass and return to the hill like usual but others would stand still for several moments away from the assembly line. Then several moments later a blade of grass would bend down. It almost appeared as though they were bowing to the ants as one stepped off and the other immediately took it’s place.

The reason for this behaviour soon became apparent as the stalk of grass would bend before suddenly springing in the opposite direction and sending the ant it carried flying. Said ant would land on a larger piece of grass or another animal.

This allowed significantly more efficient hunting as the ant that had been essentially shot like a slingshot always landed on a blade of grass that was high above the ground. It seemed to float down gracefully as well. When it landed the creature went and took down all of the nearby prey such as caterpillars and the like before starting to drag it all back to the nest.

While ants may be able to carry more than their own bodyweight that does not mean they are capable of carrying a handful of various creatures all the way down a blade of grass and to the nest on their own.

The sight was fascinating and it’s unusual nature was not unique. She saw a large nightcrawler worm burrow underneath the soil supernaturally quickly as though the ground moved out of the way. She saw an owl struggle to life one of the ants. Yet the moment it noticed the problem there seemed to be a sudden gust of wind and it took flight with ease.

She would have seen more but the guards had started walking and as they did so it blocked the view. Even the mundane creatures had been evolving with magic. Lilith had already determined that monsters were simply highly evolved animals but now she had another avenue to investigate.

Walking just outside the city walls still caused some of the guards to tense, particularly she noticed the increased heart rates of those on the furthest circle. This also gave her time to notice that it would likely rain. There was a damp almost oppressive feeling to the air around them and especially above them which often heralded the beginnings of rainfall.

Lilith was not particularly bothered but she imagined Angie and perhaps even Claire might be. So she told them in hushed tones. Claire immediately proceeded to notice as well and mildly panic while Angie scowled.

Their trek may as well have been a stroll for all that happened during it. The knights would always investigate every stray noise. One would nod and walk off while the others stared and counted to make sure that they would come back. It was rather pointless for Lilith though. She could see them even after they left.

The most annoying for her was actually the dirt and grime she was getting on her shoes and the fact that she still had to hike her skirt. The forest where she always took the twins was rocky. That meant there was very little grime capable of sticking to their shoes when they visited.

Here however they had not yet become unable to see the walls and she could already feel the ground sink slightly under her feet. Next time she would not join the expeditions herself. She had been in the military before, she had walked the forest for years so she thought this would be similar. At least her new body would make certain she did not collapse immediately afterwards this time.

She was not however having the worst time of the group as that honour went to the child she brought along. Granted on second inspection that was to be expected. Angie’s shoulders were slumped, her feet dragged forwards in an unsteady line while her breaths came ragged and short.

Her eyes were unfocussed and she was gritting her teeth only a few hundred metres into their excursion. It was more than Lilith had intended to put the girl through. She knew that those who did not receive proper nutrition were significantly disadvantaged. She did not expect this level of difference however. Even before her transformation she could have easily survived this.

Lilith was the first to notice the situation but the second to notice attempted to remedy it. “Would you like me to carry you?” Claire asked gently. She looked at the girl with pity in her eyes and Lilith instantly knew that was a mistake.

Lilac flames roared to life at the unintended provocation and the girl spat with each breath “I… can…. Handle… it” As the sound of her teeth grinding together became apparent for even those who were not vampires. She swayed with each step but took them all the same. Claire still looked at her with concern and the girl glared back showing no sign of weakness.

Lilith contained her mental sigh as she watched the scene. Not showing weakness was an efficient means of becoming a leader as she understood it but the girl was already incapable of hiding it. The best course of action now would be to show tenacity then reluctant acceptance.

Regardless her primitive mind respected the show of determination for all of several seconds before disregarding the matter. It gave her several hints as to Angie’s personality but that was all. Now she focussed on tracking the noises she could hear from some distance as she was certain their origin was not human.

Several such sounds were present but she filtered them into immediately relevant and otherwise. The closest of which was coming from underground. Not underneath their group yet but some distance away she could hear a single heartbeat slightly below ground level.

The heartbeat moved through the ground as one might move above it and seemed not to yet be heading in their direction. If it was only one then she expected the knights could handle it themselves. It would be best to learn how to operate without her input before she adds her own advice lest she interrupt their current operations too much and give advice they already knew.

So she said nothing as they approached the source. Claire however was not so keen on allowing the knights to head towards danger without knowing and attempted to speak up. Lilith tapped her on the shoulder and shook her head.

Claire hesitated for a moment. She opened her mouth to ask, refute or perhaps many other things but closed it once more afterwards. This was not the place. She knew that her choices were absolutes and as much as she wanted to help the knights letting her loose without Lilith would do more damage. Such was how she convinced herself.

It was not long before they spotted the scarce tree in the distance and the knights immediately looked around at each other and nodded with determined faces. “This is what we like to call Zone A” One of the knights around them told the three guests.

“It’s where you’ll see the valour of the knights.” Another boasted proudly his spine straightening and raising his bow slightly while knocking an arrow. Like all of their equipment it seemed to be made from monster parts. The arrow’s shaft and the bow itself were the only wooden parts of the weapon.

The string seemed to be made from a flesh-like elastic material that Lilith guessed was a tendon but could not be quite certain. As for the arrowhead that was pointed and reminded her somewhat of an insect stinger. Not least because it was covered in a clear liquid.

Lilith moved forward to investigate the substance and perhaps the equipment if she could get a chance but was stopped. “That ain’t something to touch ok?” The man said as he pulled the bow away from her and put a firm hand on her head. She did not think they would talk of the secret they used to build this equipment but given the rebuke was only for trying to touch poison perhaps she could ask.

“I shall refrain if you tell me about where all of this equipment comes from. It seems as though it is common knowledge. Despite that I am certain empire standard issue bows come in the form of horse apple wood with 12 strands. The armour is also strange. I am certain we use imitation stainless steel” She asked.

“Wow you imperial lot sure know a lot about our equipment.” The knight said sounding impressed. “Yeah, though you should stay away anyway, I don’t mind giving you a rundown. The armour is made from some new insect monster that we found to be real sturdy and we practically hunted them to extinction in the surrounding area. As for my beauty.” He paused to stroke the bow lovingly as some were wont to do with their weapons.

“This is made from a new type of tree that seemed to stay pretty much the same through spring and now into summer. It looks like a chestnut tree but with the weather we’ve got and the soil here that’d be impossible so we honestly don’t know what to call it.” He explained.

A knight at the end of the line suddenly jumped and said “I think I spotted something.” The moment he did so all the others became tense including the one Lilith was talking with. Putting a finger to his mouth he kept a close eye near the man who had warned them. She knew they had finally arrived at the creature of course but did not say so.