The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 894: Head In The Game

A tree fort sounded great to everyone. They were comfortable to sleep in, and being near the lines would help keep them in the right frame of mind.

Being here in the Capital at night removed the sense of danger and urgency, allowing them to talk about picking targets at random, instead of defending areas of land.

Fighting was fighting, in a way, but the determination to protect could make all the difference when it came down to morale and combat results. If they knew nothing about the area and its inhabitants, they were unlikely to fight as hard as they could.

That sort of casual approach to defence would make the locals fight that much harder when something unexpected happened, and there were too few forces nearby.

As much as they might like to think that they were giving it their all in battle, if they were only showing up to fight and then leaving, they were never going to have that sense of commitment that would drive them to the greatest feats.

It wasnʼt proven that those were what helped you advance the fastest, but there was strong evidence that harder fights were more likely to help break a bottleneck if you were at one.

Logically, the two should be related.

One last night in the Guild House, catching up on work while they were away, and quietly listening to the buzz of the city, then they would leave at dawn.

Many of the people were talking about the fights at the Bomgon border, as so many of the troops had been mobilized to help deal with it, but the reason for the attacks wasnʼt clear.

The Undead raided, pillaged and were a general blight to the world. But they were rarely organized across more than a single group. Now, there were multiple groups attacking at the same time, and no obvious reason for it.

That alone was enough to be concerning.

They had just suffered an attack by the pirate fleet, but now they were facing intense attacks from the undead horde that lived inland? Did something happen to change the undead? Or did something happen in Drodh that was drawing them to the Demon Nation?

That was the great concern of many. The pirate attacks had been increasing for most of a year before the invasion attempt, affecting shipment lanes and travel times, when the goods did finally make it to their destinations.

So, it wasnʼt as if the extra activity came out of nowhere, just that it now had a focus, and they couldnʼt see a reason that they had been picked.

First thing in the morning, Karl put on the leather over silk armoured pants and jacket that Rae had made for him.

Not that he really needed the extra armour.

Karl suspected that she had made him a new set so that he wasnʼt always wearing a skill instead of smelling like her silk.

When he was in battle, the armour skill would be in place, so most of the time the fact there was armour under it wouldnʼt change much. But it made Rae happy to have everyone in her armour, and wielding Karlʼs weapons.

Except Karl himself, who was still using the Blade of Champions and the Haint Claw.

Both of the items were Artifact Grade weapons, and both were perfectly suited to his skills, so there was no real reason for him to change to something that he had made himself.

However, he did have a number of elemental gems in his armour set for skill power, mana storage and physical enhancement. Those were too good to miss out on, and he couldnʼt always rely on [Rampage] to increase his damage enough to put him above his opponents in direct output without exhausting himself.

”Nachtia, will you be airborne again today, or will you be on the ground with the other clerics?” Karl asked as the group prepared to leave.

”Unless I am needed on the ground, I will be in the air with Hawk. Itʼs safer to have two flying targets so that the enemy canʼt focus on one of us without being vulnerable to the other. We donʼt know if there will be a full legion there today, so there may or may not be air support.”

The black dragonʼs reasoning was solid. The safety in numbers mattered, and she didnʼt have any abilities that needed her to remain within a short range of the target, other than her attack abilities, which would be much more useful in dragon form.

”Did anyone else have a request for changes in the deployment? If not, I will open the separate space, and we can travel to the battlefield.”

Nobody raised any concerns, so Karl opened the way to the [Tiny World] and let them all in. Then he opened a portal to their last battle location, which was a short flight from where they were expecting to find the group of Lich Lords this morning.

At least for Hawk, it was.

[I see the defenders in the distance. Should we go greet them and let them know that we will be here? Our group is a little odd.] Hawk suggested.

[That would be for the best. Who knows how they might react when we show up? We donʼt want them thinking that there are enraged beasts defending their territory here. Those would be a threat to both sides, and the reaction might be unexpected.] Karl agreed.

Far below, the Commander of the 19th Border Legion watched the Ghostfire Thunderbird descending with a cat demon on his back. That was one of the most insane combinations that he had seen in his life, but the man was waving at him, and the bird wasnʼt attacking, so he was willing to take it as a good sign.

”Commander, I have brought a team to assist in the battle with the Lich Lords. I am a Beast Master, so donʼt mind the species diversity, but I also have dragon clerics and a black dragon with my team, as well as a mage and a Werebear Berserker.” Karl declared the moment that he landed.

”What is your team specialty? Or are you a new group for the border war?” The Legion Commander asked.

”Myself plus one other anti-magic specialist, then two flying artillery. The Thunderbird and the Dragon. The others are a short range combat unit, with a Green Dragon Cleric specializing in area healing. I recommend putting them near the centre of the line, where troops can be brought to the healing tree for recovery.”

The Commander smiled. ”Glad to have you, then. Might I ask, where are these others you speak of?”