"Commander Geccha, you should make a trip to the capital as soon as possible." Yihan urged him, "I'm currently on a mission. So, I don't have time to waste here. If another army were to attack during my absence, you're doomed."
"Then…" Geccha hesitated for a moment before wising up as he bowed in response, "Please help me, my Lord. I request your service."
"Take this." The crow interjected, spitting out a rod that grew in size.
ραпdα-nᴏνɐ|-сom Curious, Geccha grabbed hold of it, startled to see one end of the rod emitting thrust like a rocket, creating enough force to lift him up easily, causing him to shout in a fluster, "My Lord, this is?"
"It will bring you to the capital the fastest." The crow said, "Do you have any means to prove your identity?"
"Yes, I have it with me." Geccha said, taking out a medal, "Having this medal is enough proof."
"Alright, be on your way now. You'll die if you let go of it though, so hold onto it for life." The crow said as the rocket took off into the sky, blazing towards the capital.
There wouldn't be any problems since the higher-ups in the capital could recognise her powers. So, they wouldn't make things difficult for Geccha and turn him into a Horned Human quickly.
"Heal the rest." The crow spat out a healing rod as Yihan picked it up and patted himself, relaxing as his injuries began to heal now. It took almost ten minutes before he was fully healed as the crow muttered, "You were indeed pretty battered. If you didn't have the power of the West Guardian, you would be a corpse by now."
"True," Yihan nodded before approaching the injured soldiers and villagers, healing them one after another.
Xuna wasn't bothered with the Nacre expenditure, gaining enough thanks to her five Nacre Generation Nails stabbed in the mountain next to the West Guardian Village.
Once they were healed, the villagers began reconstruction, repairing the fort walls before tending to the burned fields. As for the surviving prisoners, they were healed enough to not die before being thrown into the dungeon for now.
They were waiting for Geccha to return before planning on using the war prisoners. Thankfully for them, they didn't need to wait for long as on the morning of the next day, followed by a piercing scream, Geccha landed on the fort walls, having become a Horned Human.
If it wasn't for the fact that the rocket expended way too much Nacre in a short time, he would have been faster. It had taken a day because he had stopped once every few minutes for Xuna to build up enough Nacre before resuming the journey.
"Thank you, My Lord." Geccha prostrated on the ground, "I'll never forget this favour for as long as I'm alive."
"Be a great Lord for your people." Yihan said, transforming into the West Guardian to take flight, heading north before landing in a nearby forest, staring at the figure of Xuna seated on a branch, "Did you wait for long?"
"It's alright," Xuna said before pointing further north, "You should see this. It's too bizarre, so I was waiting until you arrived."
Yihan carried Xuna in his arms and took flight as his flight was more energy efficient compared to her rocket. The moment he flew high up, Yihan muttered in shock, "What the heck is that?"
"Strange, right?" Xuna said, staring in all seriousness.
The forest stretched for around a few kilometres. It wasn't a dense rainforest due to the nature of the soil present in the region, one that prevented thick vegetation from growing.
But the strangeness was beyond the forest as there was a desert, one that spanned tens of kilometres.
Yihan flew across the desert, feeling hot winds brush past his face as he felt strange, "Was there a desert here before?"
The ground was parched, having faced a drought, sporting wide cracks as if it hadn't seen a single drop of water for years.
But, this was strange, for the desert was right next to the sea. And considering the nature of the soil here, there was bound to be some form of vegetation and not a desert.
"If my memory serves right, this was a meadow. It wasn't all green, but definitely no way close to a desert." Xuna said, having been to the place once during her spy years.
After all, further north was a small frontier kingdom that was a puppet to the Fornol Empire. So, she had arrived at the place to gather information before, especially since the frontier kingdom was famous for its precious mineral resource.
The duo continued to fly straight for around thirty minutes before Yihan stared in shock, "T-This is what you meant by bizarre?"
"Fuck!" He lost his cool, afraid to go near as he stared at a massive plant with a pot-shaped flower silently turning his way. The thing to worry about was the fact that this pot-shaped flower spanned twenty metres in height.
And as for the plant that bore it, Yihan couldn't even describe it in words, for it surpassed a hundred metres in height. If it was just one plant, then they could at least label it an anomaly and research it.
But…
"Screw this, I'm out!" Yihan turned around, intending to fly away. After all, hundreds of thousands of such plants stretched beyond the desert landscape, covering a vast area like a dense forest. And, the plants along the boundary turned their flowers to stare at them, alarming all his senses.
"Wait!" Xuna said in a hurry, stopping Yihan from escaping as she urged him, "We need to check this place out."
"Have you finally lost your remaining two brain cells, idiot?" Yihan shouted in anger, pointing at the forest, "My West Guardian is warning me of the danger present there. I'll be a damned idiot to ignore that and foolishly set foot into a death zone..."
"Ugh!" He hurriedly covered his nose, watching Xuna do the same as they retreated in a hurry. The scent was mildly pungent at first but the longer they inhaled it, the sweeter it felt, almost akin to nectar.
The pot-shaped flower opened its lid, revealing its insides as a mysterious liquid was present at the bottom, the cause for this sweet scent.
It was no different to a Pitcher Plant, the only difference being its insane size. And the most shocking of all was the fact that Yihan was able to sense Nacre from it.
'No, that's not accurate.' He thought, focusing as he retreated to observe that some of the plants emitted Nacre while the others emitted corruption.
There were plants of both the variety there, never interfering with one another.
Yihan raised his altitude, almost reaching a kilometre in height as he was able to finally observe the vast forest that stretched before him, full of such plants, one that spanned more than a hundred kilometres.
And at the centre of it was a lake, spanning a length of thirty kilometres and a breadth of twelve kilometres, with the depth unknown. It was the heart of this forest region, supplying the necessary water to all the plants growing there.
Following the first plant, the rest of the Pitcher Plants too opened their lid, producing a scent that spread out throughout the desert and stretched beyond.
Kiek!
Kieeek!
Kieee!
Chirpy sounds resounded from all around them as the duo were alarmed, noticing long trail lines form on the desert as some form of underground creature seemed to be moving through it, turning the soil loose.
"Look there!" Xuna pointed at the shore, gasping for breath as she observed mysterious creatures that seemed to be a fusion between a crab and a scorpion exit the sea and burrow into the desert, making a beeline towards the forest underground.
It wasn't just one or two but millions of the same that were doing this. Their actions stirred up the food cycle of the region as bird cries resounded in the sky as soon after, thousands of birds flew past, forming their respective flocks, resembling a raven at first glance, but also sporting the traits of a peacock and a woodpecker.
Their beaks were long, spanning a metre in length as one of them pierced through the ground before taking off, holding the creature—that was a mix between a crab and a scorpion—in its beak, that it had skewered through.
A couple more birds accompanied it, tearing the shelled creature's hard-shelled body into pieces before devouring it in the air itself. All the birds emanated Nacre which was only reinforced the more they ate.
In contrast, the shelled creatures brimmed with corruption. Strangely, both species seemed to have been integrated into the region as while the birds preyed upon the shelled creatures, they moved closer and closer to the Pitcher Plant Forest.
Some of the birds fell into a daze, lured in by the scent unleashed by the Pitcher Plants emitting Nacre, diving into its pitcher as if they had lost control. Droves of birds flew into them before gradually, the Pitcher Plant's lid closed.
The shelled creatures rushed into the Pitcher Plant that emitted corruption, consuming the nectar produced within. But, while they were consuming the nectar, just as with the birds, the lids here too closed.
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