-- POV General --
As ordered by Freya, the femalemanders of the Empire searched the area under their responsibility more and more every day. The day after the adventurers left Yarlford, eachmander''s mission had begun and the ninemanders were mostly outside the Elysiumpound. Freya did not participate, she was too busy managing the construction of a prison, a coliseum and the school on top of everything else. Gaya was still in charge of managing the section chiefs other than the army and had a lot of things to do as well.
During these three days of research, many half-humans and other races had been found in the forest. All of them, without exception, had agreed to be citizens and subordinates of Empress Freya, who was now known as the "Empress of Ice", as she was in her other life. More and more people were arriving in the Empire every day, dozens and even hundreds. Themanders on the field were going deeper and deeper into the forest to help and warn its inhabitants that things were changing. During the month of construction, each of them had reached level 20 because they had never neglected their training, unlike Freya who was far too busy.
Luna was responsible for the southwest side of the forest and after a few days of searching, her area was almostpletely checked. She didn''t have many soldiers because they were all specialized in stealth, camouge or speed. There were only 14 soldiers in her ranks, half of them were mages and half were not. There were two half-dragons, four half-cats, four half-leopards and four elves. They were all between level 8 and 10 because leveling up at the beginning was always faster than at higher levels.
While yna and the elves were in trouble, the half-human panther with the blue and gold eyes stood facing her soldiers a few miles away. She was dressed in ck just like her subordinates and still wore her fabric mask covering her mouth and nose.
"So ! Today we finish inspecting our area. Like yesterday, I want those with wings to fly over the area to warn me of anything. Then the search can begin"
"At your orders Commander !"
The spy and assassin soldiers with armbands depicting a lightning bolt dispersed to act as Luna had ordered. Eachmander had appointed a second inmand and for the army leader it was a half-leopard man. His name was Ash and with daily training for more than a month and thanks to the system, he had reached level 10. The half-human had no skills but was rather tall and thin, besides being very fast, he could hide at will in any environment thanks to his great understanding of his space. Ash was fighting with poison needles that Caipy had provided for some of Luna''s soldiers.
"Commander, if we run into humans, what do we do ?"
Ash had approached Luna to ask the question that was bothering him. All of her soldiers were asking themselves this question because they were all still terrified of humans. After going through so much, a fear doesn''t just get cured under the guise of bing stronger. Themander looked at her second inmand in silence before answering. In the presence of her soldiers, she was nowhere near as personable as she was with her femalemanders friends, and Luna was careful to emte Freya to be such a remarkable and powerful leader.
"The Empress''s orders are absolute, if there are people in danger we try to help them first and if it goes wrong we will have to contact her Highness. We will not engage inbat if it''s possible, even if the urge takes us."
"Hai !"
As Ash nodded, the only two soldiers capable of flying hurriedly returned.
"Commander ! There''s a group of elves that seem to be fleeing in our direction. Six are wearing capes and two are not which allowed me to see their race. There are 8 of them in all, including two wounded. There is a child unable to walk and a ratherrge warrior wearing a cloak with several arrows in his arm. At the rate they''re going, they''ll be here within 30 minutes, maybe 35."
Luna straightened up at these words and wanted to know all the details.
"What are they running from ? Are there any humans ?"
"I...I don''t know. They were running away from something desperately but I didn''t see any humans. I didn''t go in the direction they wereing from because as soon as I spotted them I rushed back because the situation seemed urgent."
As the half-dragon soldier replied, the young half-panther woman nodded her head before whistling to gather her entire team. Just after, the 14 soldiers stood before her, straight and serious, listening intently to their leader''s directions.
"Alright, we found a few people to help ! ording to the scouts, they are 8 elves running away from something or someone. The priority is to get them out of danger and into the Empire. As we don''t have any more details we will go through the trees, make sure you don''t show up until you find the runaways. Before we leave, let me remind you that her Highness has forbidden us to fight unnecessarily, the Empress sent us to the southwest because she believed in our ability to escape without problems. We are part of the Elysium army...we are the intelligence section and we act in the shadows so I expect you to behave in an exemry manner ! Don''t disappoint me and especially don''t disappoint her Highness !"
"Hai !"
"Good. Now that everything has been said, we are leaving immediately !"
____
Thirty minutes before, on the side of the road.
Vig stood facing the adventurers and brandished his sword and shield while the Princess disappeared awkwardly into the forest following the elves.
"Move aside !"
Sarah was red with anger but didn''t want to fight if possible. The leader didn''t want any of the adventurers to get hurt until they got to the ruins. With nine it was possible to kill Vig but not without ending up injured or even dead.
"Vig, get out of the way !"
Therge warrior still didn''t move as his eye watched the people in front of him one by one. Sarah was beginning to lose her patience and as she pointed her sword at him, Vig finally spoke up and said only one word.
"Leave !"
That was the word too much for the twins who began to incant to attack him. At that moment, Vig who knew he would not be followed, turned on his heels to follow yna.
"You won''t get away with this !!!"
One of Sarah''s men who was level 28, was raising his bow to fire his arrows as the others took off after him. Just as they were about to reach the forest, the leader began to shout.
"Stop ! The mission is not to kill those dirty traitors ! We have another mission to aplish !"
Sarah hated to admit it, but chasing two runaways was not in her ns. The most important thing for her was to reach the ruins to investigate her brother and keep the mission''s employer in the loop. There was no time for them to go after them and waste their time and energy.
As the adventurers stopped in their tracks, the fireballs from the twins and arrows from Sarah''spanion had already gone off in the direction of Vig. He was running to rejoin the group, when three arrows stuck in his arm after being hit in the back by one fireball out of the two intended for him.
"Aaarg !"
Continuing to run despite his injuries, he had reached yna''s group who were rather slowpared to him. They had all stopped when they saw the gianting towards them staggering slightly.
"Sir !"
The Princess had pounced on him as she noticed his condition. Vig''s back was all burned and he was losing a lot of blood from his right arm impaled by three arrows. Despite the severity of the wound, he was still carrying his heavy sword which only aggravated his injuries. yna was terrified and as her hands shook, the elf father walked over to Vig to give him his wife''s cape.
"Human, th...thank you for your help. Allow me to...to give you this cape. In this forest, if you are seen you could get into trouble. Now l...let''s hurry and find a safe ce to heal you and my little boy !"
The elves bowed to Luna and Vig before looking around in fear. The Princess was about to remove the arrows from the warrior''s arm but before she could do anything, the man was shaking his head as he spoke.
"Luna no. Not removed, otherwise blood flow a lot"
Vig didn''t speak very well and used very few words, just those necessary to make himself understood. The young woman nodded as he stood up to put on the hood and the cape that thankfully had no sleeves.
"Let''s hurry !"
As the father repeated these words, his family nodded before heading into the forest with the two humans. Among the elves, there was the father, the mother, the uncle, the aunt, the older sister and the younger brother. They were a nomadic family, always running away from the humans without ever being able to settle anywhere. This time they came from the south to make their home in the forest where the mother hade from before they met Sarah.
All of the family members had never been as scared as when they met the adventurers and were sincerely grateful to Vig and yna for their help. Even though they were human, it was not in their nature to treat them badly when their lives had been saved by them. Unlike those who imed to be superior, this family knew how to look beyond race, because the most important thing was the heart behind the origins.
"Let''s keep going ! Hold on a little longer young Luna !"
The father, still with a distraught look on his face, encouraged the Princess as best he could, who was not used to running for so long in this kind of environment. The elf had heard Vig call yna "Luna" and deduced that it was her name. She was already exhausted, but the elf''s words gave her courage. As the eight of them went deeper and deeper towards their fates, they did not see the two half-dragons hovering over their heads. The real Luna was about to learn of their existence.
____
-- POV yna --
As we ran through the trees, my heart was pounding and I couldn''t breathe. My vision was blurred, my hands mmy, my breath ragged, and my steps less and less precise. The man who had been staring at me during the trip hade to my rescue and had even injured himself so that I could join this family. They had thanked us for helping them, but honestly I had done absolutely nothing. I wasn''t the one who received those arrows or that fireball to protect them and I was even the most exhausted.
*A little courage, you can do it ! Keep going ! Run !"
I was doing everything to keep myself conscious as I could feel my mind slipping away from me little by little. For the first time in my life I hade face to face with death and the fear that must havee over every person at the moment of death. My heart had almost stopped, my mind was no longer in working order and my body was exhausted.
*I have no right toin ! I''ll make it no matter what !*
I was stumbling, my feet hurt, my chest burned, but I kept running, following the seven figures in front of me. As we approached arge rock, suddenly two half-human men came down from the sky andnded in front of us.
"We are not here to hurt you ! We are here to help you !"
While one of them had just said this sentence, other people appeared from nowhere around us. They were all half-humans of different races, all dressed in ck and armed. Who were they ? Why did they look like perfectly trained assassins ? The wounded adventurer was on guard, but the elves moved toward them without fear.
"We...we may be chased by humans ! We don''t know if...wait..who are you ?"<novelnext></novelnext>
The dragon-winged man did not answer as another half-human with leopard ears and tail stepped forward to speak.
"Don''t worry, no one is following you and to answer your question, we are the intelligence section of the Elysium Empire. We are few in number but all led by one of her highness'' ten chaosmanders."
"Commander ? You...you are themander sir ?"
The father of the family had asked a question that also intrigued me. I couldn''t understand anything he was saying. An Empire here ? An intelligence section ? I had many questions, but my body and mind could not take it anymore.
As I copsed exhausted, I could suddenly feel two arms gently catching me, protecting me from the fall as next to me a voice spoke up.
"It''s me. Chaosmander Luna."
*Lu...Luna ?*
Raising my head towards the voice that came from the Commander who had grabbed me, thest thing I could see before I passed out was two beautiful eyes, one blue and one gold staring back at me.
*Those...eyes...*
____
FULL STATUS
Name : Freya
Age : 0 years old / Mentally : 25 years old
Sex : Female
Course : Ice Demon Wolf of chaos - Adult
Race : Major Demon
Titles : Blessed by Titania, Goddess of endless Chaos and eternal frozen Hell.
Dragon tamer
Ruthless yer
Level : 33/70
Exp required for next level: 100 / 34 000
HP : 90 000 / 90 000 MP : 45 000 / 45 000
Strength : 425
Defense : 421
Agility : 435
Stamina : 428
Speed : 427
Intelligence : 425
Charisma : 410 (imperial she-wolf)
Attribute points to allocate : 0
Married to: Gaya
Daughter : Shiro
Empire (menu)
Subordinates : 387
Humans killed : 148
Elements: Ice / Chaos
Skills (all):
Attack - Demon ws (Lvl 5)
- Bite of hell (Lvl 5)
- Infernal ice spikes (Lvl 6)
- Fighting techniques (lvl max)
- Mastery of the katana (lvl max)
- Demonic aura of the empress (lvl 5)
Defense - Ice demon wall (lvl 6)
- Demonic cloak (lvl 5)
Pain Resistance (lvl 3)
Attack/Defense - Domain of the Ice Empress "frozen wrath" (lvl 1) - (under condition)
Others - Humanoid form
- Ice creation (Lvl 5)
- Storage of chaos (Lvl 4)
- Devouring chaos (Lvl 5)
- Analysis
- Second soul (Lvl max) - unique
- Telepathy
Mana detection (lvl 1)
Passives - Commander (lvl max)
- Natural Aura of the Ice Empress ]