Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 704 Power of words

Seara left the castle in a hurry and soon found Branden and Esmeralda outside giving some orders to the soldiers around that didn't suffer much damage. Terra was focused on healing those who had Critical wounds, so they had to take that role.

"How is he?" Branden asked.

"He seems fine, but burning up thanks to the exhaustion," Seara said. "That shield is definitely cursed. Maybe it was worshiped by the sea dragons thanks to that or something."

"A cursed item…" Branden rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Those are extremely rare to find, and most of them are impractical to use."

From what he knew about cursed items, Branden tried to recall a few things. Cursed items were objects imbued with negative magical effects or supernatural consequences. These effects often bring misfortune, harm, or unwanted consequences to the person who possesses or uses the cursed item.

Curses can vary widely in their nature and severity, ranging from mild inconveniences to life-threatening afflictions.

"We should get as much hide and escales from the dragons bodies and use them to reinforce shields and even the walls of the city," Esmeralda said. "We don't have time to process them properly, so that will make things smell a bit, but that should help our defenses and decrease the number of losses."

"Yes… I usually wouldn't do something like that in order not to enrage the dragons, but they already want to eliminate us anyway," Branden said while looking around. "I will call those who have some physical strength to help with that. Let's focus on reinforcing the shields first. More warriors will arrive tomorrow, so we will need some extra."

The whole city began to work on that project at night. Thanks to the darkness of the night, they couldn't see much of the battlefield, and the silhouette of the dragons were hard to identify. Still, things changed when morning came.

As morning dawned and the sun cast its light upon the battlefield, the full scale of the devastation became painfully apparent to the population. The once serene landscape around the capital was transformed into a haunting scene, marred by the lifeless bodies of more than one hundred giant dragons.

The sheer magnitude of the spectacle struck a chord of shock and horror in the hearts of those who beheld it.

For many citizens who had not witnessed the actual battle, the sight of the dragon corpses was both awe-inspiring and terrifying. The enormous creatures, now motionless and with their majestic scales stained in blood, created an otherworldly sight of destruction that would linger in the collective memory of the onlookers.

The unfortunate warriors, soldiers, and mages who had been on the front lines faced the grim reality of their struggle against the dragons. The dragons' lifeless forms served as silent testaments to the ferocity and power they had unleashed upon the area.

Despite the victory, the emotional toll on the population was profound. The magnitude of the threat they had faced and the sacrifices made to repel it were etched into the minds of those who surveyed the aftermath. It was a scene that would haunt many, a stark reminder of the fragility of their world in the face of such formidable adversaries.

Although they won one heck of a battle, the warriors and soldiers didn't feel like celebrating. It was normal to feel excited when surviving against such odds, but the situation wasn't that exciting for them… a single mistake, and they would be killed and eventually, the capital and the whole human kingdom would be taken by dragons. The pressure was too much. Find exclusive stories on My Virtual Library Empire

When Terra and Seara finally had some time to breath, they returned to the castle and found the kids having their breakfast alongside Branden and Esmeralda. They didn't sleep that night either, so they weren't enjoying the food that much thanks to the exhaustion.

"He is still sleeping…" Branden said and then yawned. "His fever decreased a bit, but considering what you told us, it doesn't seem that sleeping did much for his exhaustion."

"The seals are useful, but they put a lot of strain on his body since he uses power beyond his limits," Terra said. "Rain is alo the type that doesn't like to show weakness of exhaustion, so perhaps he truly reached the limits of his stamina."

"All of his wounds vanished, though," Branden said. "It seems that the technique to recover faster is really that useful since we could barely find scars or even scratches."

"... My healing helped him a bit, but the fight against the krakens messed up with his legs," Terra held her chin while considering a few things. "He didn't get in contact with the dragon's blood that much, so those techniques didn't improve… the shield couldn't have done that to him since we put it in another place. So…"

"It must be the unknown paths related to those techniques… he also mentioned about unknown skills leveling up and those should be passive skills that help him recover faster," Seara said and then sighed. "This stupidity system sure likes to keep us in the dark."

"This is worrisome, but Rain will complain if we don't do something about the whole situation… Did we hear anything from the others?" Terra asked.

"Asche, Liss, Roan and his daughters are holding back the dragons well," Esmeralda said while nodding. "They said that the dragons will probably arrive tomorrow in the late afternoon. Killing a bunch of them was possible, but they suffered some losses. So, they decided to focus on slowing them down to give the towns and the villages the time to evacuate."

Even if they had the chance to do so, things will be difficult since they won't be able to reach the capital in time, they could only move to other areas while the dragons march to the capital… surviving was difficult, but things afterward won't get much easier since they will have a lot to rebuild. Fortunately, they didn't have enough time to think about that…