The Planet’s blueish-red sun rose to its highest point, bringing an increased temperature rise. Because of this, the bog changed from a wet, muddy, and cold biome to a damp, semi-muddy, and smelly biome.
The smells of rotting corpses, animal waste, stagnant waters, and diverse plant life blanketed the air, making the bog quite unbearable to deal with. Added on top of that was the heat which made the two Humans sweat heavily.
Ace and Skyler, being the only ones with highly porous flesh, found themselves losing their stamina to the heat. They were losing a lot of water very fast, unlike their Granian and Cyclitharan counterparts who walked with their nostrils flared up.
To cool off, Grim raised his tail over his head and swayed it from side to side while Cion breathed in and out heavily. Surprisingly, the Cyclitharan whose physique was similar to the Humans didn’t sweat at all. In fact, it didn’t look like the heat affected him at all.
"How long are these Ethisians going to walk?" Skyler asked while she and her group followed the Ethisians from a safe distance. "This heat’s insane and I can’t believe we’re really this far from the Bastion."
"It doesn’t make sense," Ace mumbled. "Those rockets came at us very quickly but with the way we’ve been walking for hours now, it doesn’t make sense how we haven’t arrived at where they came from."
"We could be walking for hours until we get there," Grim answered, "or we could be walking to where the weapons were fired from. I suspect it didn’t come from the Bastion itself but rather a small command post."
"Quite the coincidence." Cion muttered as he pointed forward with his sword. Ahead of them was, in fact, a small command post with two large rocket dispenser-like mechanisms constantly rotating.
Next to the rockets were small transportation ships, about eight in total, all docked next to a castle-like structure. The structure had a square shape with four towers at each corner. It had one large glass pane at the front and two large gates at the front surrounded by a somewhat thick wall.
All around it were Ethisian soldiers in the Upper Legendary and Legendary classes all going through rigorous training. Some battled beasts, while others intentionally ordered their colleagues to shoot at them in hopes of making their bodies more resilient.
Of course, spearheading all of this was a High-Grade Ethisian, a female who was interestingly smaller and leaner than the rest of her kind. Unlike the rest of her kind, she didn’t have a wide frame, a bulky build, or a tall body.
The only thing she had that showed she was a High Grade was her scale color, distinct Ethisian facial features, and a massive pool of Eneraflux emitting from her body.
Immediately, Grim took a few steps back with his tail wrapped around Skyler’s arm, bringing her along with him. At first, Cion and Ace were marveled but that changed once Grim explained himself.
"That’s one of the many strongest Ethisian High Grades," he declared, "and a growing master of Eneraflux. If Skyler remained where she was, even for just one more second, the Ethisian would have sensed her leaking energy."
’Grim worried about an Ethisian?’ Acer thought to himself and then looked at the Ethisian with anticipation, ’just how strong is she?’
"What shall we do then?" Cion asked. "If you’re so worried, I can go and take care of her while this self-declared strongest Human handles the others. It will be..."
"That won’t work," Grim sucked his teeth frustratedly as he glared at Cion, "they’ll notify those at the Bastion and either send reinforcements or discover our fleet. What we need is a plan. We should..."
"Follow that ship?" Skyler pointed at two ships currently hovering above the command post. One arrived with more Ethisian soldiers and another left with the Granians they had captured earlier. "That High-Grade Ethisian’s in the ship that’s leaving. I suspect they’re heading to the Bastion since she’s tagging along with them."
After a brief moment of silence, Grim and the others agreed with Skyler’s plan and schemed a way of following the other ships. Obviously, they couldn’t go on foot so they chose another option; one to make the Ethisians take them there.
"Blood Essence, manifest."
[Enoris Lv51 has been summoned]
From thin air, drops of blood appeared and increased in number. Gradually, they coagulated and assembled into a being right before the Cyclitharan’s eye formed an Ethisian, a High Grade to be precise.
This High Grade was tall, muscular, and stood proud with a powerful amount of power escaping its body. It yielded in its hand a long, silver blade made from the blood of an Emberwyrm, and from the looks of it, the High Grade knew how to handle it very well.
"How?" Cion questioned while aiming his sword at the Enoris. As soon he did so, Enoris responded the same by pointing her sword at Cion. "You summoned an Ethisian High Grade and it’s red. How did you do that?" Check latest chapters at 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭⚑𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮⚑𝕟𝕖𝕥
"Crimson Lord, shall I deal with him?" Enoris questioned, her body waiting for Ace’s command before she could spring into action.
"He’s an ally of ours," Ace answered and Enoris stood upright once more. "Enoris, we need a ship. You and I are going to infiltrate that Bastion and steal one. With your physique, I’m sure you can trick those Ethisians to an extent."
Grim, Skyler, and Cion looked at Ace, each wondering how he was able to be so certain that the blood-red Ethisian would be able to trick the others.
Surprisingly, almost as if he read their minds, Ace placed his hand on Enoris’ and began changing the color of her blood. From red to ashen brownish-gray, the Ethisian’s body started to look like a real Ethisian. The only unfortunate difference was she still had a shiny luster.
"I’ll guide you on what you say, so hurry." Ace gave the command and the Blood Warrior immediately acted on it. With confidence, Enoris began acting like a wounded soldier which, surprisingly, fooled those who saw her coming.
Choosing her words wisely, Ace orchestrated a lie so believable that even he was convinced. The Blood Warrior’s acting did the job and just like that, she managed to get an Ethisian pilot to fly her to the Bastion.
Just before they left, Skyler, Grim, Cion, and Ace jumped into the back of the ship when no one was looking. Thanks to the Blood Bishop’s efforts and the Blood Warrior’s acting, the four of them were closer to raiding the Bastion.
"We’re being followed. Alert the Bastion and all eight command posts. Send word to all the soldiers. Tell them to rendezvous at the Bastion. Grim’s here and if I’m correct, a Blood Mutant must be with him."