Affinity: Chaos

Chapter 2183: Liberating The Pyre Region

Grey and Reynolds stayed in Emberlyn City for a few more days. They joined the ongoing festivities, and under Void’s constant nagging they searched out the better inns and tasted nearly every local delicacy the city had to offer. The food was decent, though it lacked the standout quality of the dishes they had enjoyed in Cinderloch. After the first round of meals Void lost interest entirely. According to him, nothing in Emberlyn carried the same ”wow” factor.

Keith was clearly delighted to spend time with Grey again. He knew the visit would be short. With the local Gnomes already dealt with, other regions still needed help, and Grey was not the type to remain in one place once his work was finished. Making full use of the remaining days, Keith gave Grey a broad overview of the situation across the Aurora Continent. Most of it matched what Grey and Reynolds had already pieced together during their travels. Not every region suffered the same intensity of attacks. Only a handful of areas were under the same heavy pressure that Cinderloch and Emberlyn had faced.

When the time finally came to leave, Keith insisted on accompanying them all the way to the border of the Emberlyn region. He flew in silence for much of the journey, glancing over at Grey more than once. The two of them had known each other for years, and the gap in strength that now existed between them was something Keith had quietly accepted. At the same time he felt a deep, quiet pride. The same young man who had once entered the Pyrmond Faction with him had become someone entire regions now relied upon.

At the border Keith slowed to a stop and watched as Grey and Reynolds continued onward after bidding their farewells. Their figures shrank rapidly, becoming small dark specks against the sky before finally disappearing from view. Only after they had completely vanished did he let out a long breath.

Elder Varis and the Mayor appeared beside him a moment later.

The Mayor sighed quietly. ”The Pyrmond Faction truly acquired a gem.”

Elder Varis nodded in agreement. ”Indeed. When I first saw him he was only an Overlord Plane Elementalist, though he had already awakened his domain even at that stage. That alone was enough to catch the attention of the top figures in the Faction. I always believed he would become a top expert. I simply did not expect it to happen this quickly.”

Only a few years had passed. In that short time an Overlord Plane Elementalist had reached the Ninth stage of the Sovereign Plane and, in actual combat strength, could already be regarded as equal to many Peak Sovereigns. In the current war against the Gnomes, with the exception of the rare Half-God Plane experts, Grey had become one of the most valuable individuals on the human side.

”Do you think it is wise to let him continue traveling on his own?” the Mayor asked, unable to hide a trace of worry. He had witnessed Grey’s impact firsthand. The young man represented something the human forces had been lacking for a long time: a real chance at turning the tide in a war that had often felt hopeless.

”The Gnomes have been honoring the treaty so far,” Keith replied with steady confidence. ”Unless a Half-God Plane expert makes a move and breaks it, I do not believe they can kill him. And do not forget he is also a Space Elementalist.”

”The space element,” the Mayor’s eyes flickered as he murmured. ”A truly frightening ability.” He still remembered the panic that had spread through the Gnome ranks the moment Grey’s identity was revealed, and the way the young man had moved across the battlefield as if the enemy’s numbers meant nothing.

”He also has that strange black cat and the bunny with an entire army,” Elder Varis added. ”If any Gnomes are foolish enough to block his path, they are unlikely to live long enough to regret it.”

The three of them turned back toward the city. Along the way they observed a region that already looked more peaceful than it had in over a year. With the main Gnome camp destroyed, the Mayor had sent groups of experts across the surrounding territories to clear out any remaining stragglers. At the same time those teams escorted refugees back to their towns and villages and began the slow work of helping rebuild what the war had damaged.

....

Grey and Reynolds spent a full additional month moving through the rest of the Pyre region, traveling from city to city and dealing with every major Gnome presence they encountered.

In that single month, on top of the victories at Cinderloch and Emberlyn, they helped liberate four more cities.

In the first of those cities the local forces had been reduced to defending only the main walls, with most of the outer towns already lost. Grey’s arrival, followed by the same method of striking the Peak Sovereigns at the opening of the battle, broke the stalemate within a night. In the second city the Gnomes had grown bold enough to launch regular raids against the refugee camps outside the walls. Those raids ended permanently once the local camp was wiped out. The third and fourth cities followed similar patterns: entrenched Gnome forces that had held the advantage for months collapsed within hours once Grey and Reynolds joined the attack and the bunny army was released at the critical moment.

Although Grey tried to keep his involvement as low-profile as possible, news of his presence in the Pyre region still spread with remarkable speed. The rate at which Gnome camps were disappearing could not be ignored. There had originally been six major Gnome camps stationed across the region. Only the one near Emberlyn had been led by a single Peak Sovereign. The others each had at least two. Yet every time those camps were attacked, the result was the same. All Sovereign-level Gnomes were killed without exception. Grey even made a point of targeting the Venerable-level experts as well. Only the weakest soldiers, or those who happened to be away from camp at the time of the assault, occasionally managed to escape.

By the end of the month the entire Pyre region, which had spent a long period largely under Gnome domination, had been reclaimed by the human side. The change was so complete that the remaining scattered Gnomes no longer dared to gather in large numbers.

Faction Leader Bertram received continuous reports from the Faction representatives stationed in each city. Every time Grey appeared and another camp fell, the messages reached him quickly. The pride he felt was difficult to put into words. Grey was a member of the Pyrmond Faction, and the results he produced in only a few weeks had altered the strategic situation of an entire region. Bertram was especially grateful that Lucas Dawson had never interfered with his son’s decision to join the Faction, and that even after the earlier conflict with Grand Elder Archibald, Lucas had not forced Grey to leave. Few top families would have shown the same restraint when their child possessed such talent.

While the Pyre region settled into a state of relative peace, Grey and Reynolds finally turned their path toward the Upoya Region. Before Grey had left Red City, his father had asked him to deliver a message to his grandfather. With the immediate matters in the Pyrmond Faction’s territory now settled, it was time to fulfill that request.