[TWS] Chapter 283 – A Missed Objective

“Yes. I did drink from this pond,” Althea said, answering the unasked question. “To be exact, right from that little stream.”

Miria gasped lightly. “Is that how you got poisoned?”

Asterios nodded, stroking his chin. “Most likely. This water is completely polluted by a chaotic mix of poisons. My eyes can distinguish a bunch of colors. From what I’ve seen, each poison coming from different hideouts tends to revolve around a single shade, more or less. Slight deviations included.”

“What does that mean?” Tina asked, studying the completely ordinary water in the pond.

“That it’s either a completely new attempt, perhaps at merging all the previous versions into their final, ultimate goal…” Grea started.

“Or they were dumped here all together without any care in the world,” Asterios finished.

“If it’s the former, then we are extremely lucky that it isn’t fully successful,” Bryn said, glancing at the Dragon lady. “Otherwise, you might not have been able to fight against it for this long, considering that their goal is to create something that can eradicate all life.”

“Either way, why would they drop it into this pond? It feels… kind of pointless?” Grea scratched her head. “I mean, what use is there for testing it on a handful of weak-ass fish when they are doing the same on people already?”

“This place might not have been the target,” Tina suggested. “Water flows down here from that stream up there, as we have already established.”

Everyone nodded along as she crouched right at the edge of the grassy beach and pulled two glass vials out of her jacket. Uncorking them, she held them close to the surface and they all watched as two swirling tendrils of water rose up. The tendrils poured themselves into the vials in a completely safe manner until the glass containers were almost full. Tina sealed them and stood up, turning to her squad.

“Omar, Kassian, you will return to the capital and deliver these to the queen. Let her know that it’s possibly the poison affecting our friend. Hand it over to her directly, unless it will be completely impossible. Then, find Fievedem, Imadil, or Cynthia instead. We are all part of the delegation so anyone should help guide you if you ask.” She handed a vial to two of her men. “I’ll have you transported with Ast’s familiar since this is important. You are going to appear next to the town.”

The two members glanced at each other briefly before straightening up and saluting with their fists on their chests. Tina nodded at them and looked up at Asterios. He understood her query and nodded back. Right after that, shadows enveloped the men and their respective mounts.

“Thank you,” Tina said with a light smile.

“Don’t mention it.” Asterios winked at her. “What’s next, Captain?”

She sported a faint blush but turned to the rest of her squad with a firm expression. “I need three people following up that stream. Everyone else, same as the last time. Focus on any additional water sources and reservoirs. Regroup in fifteen minutes.”

With another round of saluting, the aerial troops jumped on their winged tigers and took off in various directions. Tina turned around with her hands on her hips.

“Now, this should give us some time alone to speak more comfortably.” She chuckled softly.

“I must say, watching you act the part… is quite a turn-on, shortie.” Grea licked her lips with an impish grin.

Tina’s eyes widened briefly and her cheeks grew even more heated, evoking a snicker from the playful demon woman.

“Alright. Let’s save this for the bedroom. The clock is ticking.” Asterios flicked Grea’s single horn, eliciting a sultry moan of both pleasure and pain from her. “What do we think of this?”

“The source of this disaster is definitely located upstream,” Selene replied first. “Could it have been the merchants?”

“I can’t be sure, but I didn’t see them go near this place as I followed them. There were no traces of any passage either. My senses were still sharp back then, even if I might have not been scrutinizing every single detail of the environment with explicit focus,” Althea answered.

“I’m sure we will be able to track the source of this contamination back with your and Ast’s abilities,” Silvia added. “Nevertheless, leaving this pond like this poses quite a lot of potential danger. It might be better to evaporate the water if we can’t cleanse it.”

“I agree. The longer it remains like this, the more animals will be infected. They will then die deeper in the forest and fall prey to other beasts, spreading the poison even further. A lot of time has already passed but perhaps we should look around for any corpses and dispose of them,” the Dragon lady offered.

“Leave it to me and Selene!” Miria raised her furry hand. “We can quickly run around and gather anything we find into a neat pile to be burned later! That is if Master allows us?”

“Sure. The rest of us can investigate the stream in the meanwhile. Tina’s squad can support you from above if she doesn’t mind.” He glanced at his blue-haired partner.

“Not in the slightest.” She shook her head. “It will keep them busy.”

The flying tigers soon returned and received new orders from their captain. Miria and Selene got to work too while Asterios and the others wandered up the flowing stream. The trio that had been tasked with checking it out earlier didn’t report anything out of the ordinary, besides a trail of dead river fauna.

After about half an hour, they reached another rocky cliff, a much taller one this time. It ran far to the sides and the small river curved left in front of it, continuing in that direction right along the stone wall. Instead of continuing after the stream, though, everyone stopped at the turn.

A massive crack ran vertically through the cliff in front of it. The breach extended even into the ground and the long tear could be seen through the water as it went down the riverbank. While Asterios could spot only diluted traces of poison in the river as they had walked, a steady cloud of a rainbowy color leaked out of the damaged earth halfway to the stream’s bottom.

“What do you think this is?” Bryn asked after he filled the others in.

“Umbra?” Asterios called as his familiar was already back.

A thick shadow seeped into the opening and they all heard a voice in their heads a moment later.

~It’s a mess. A collapsed complex. Completely razed, destroyed, ruined. The crumbling ceiling smashed tens of what looked like crates holding various containers, including glass and ceramic ones. There were also bigger, metal units that got damaged. All of this somehow avoided the fire and keeps leaking into the breach. It’s clearly been storage or a warehouse right on the other side of this wall,~ Umbra reported.

“Another raid?” Asterios raised a brow at Althea.

“I don’t recall anyone being sent to this location. I don’t think we even were aware of its existence.” She shook her head. “Since it was on my path, it would have been quite natural for me to take care of it along the way.”

“Which means that this one has somehow gone unnoticed,” Grea pointed out. “But how?”

~This looks like someone was trying to get rid of as much as possible while making a hasty escape rather than a raid. It’s clear that whoever operated here had no time to be thorough. They were in a hurry,~ Umbra added.

“So, they knew,” Silvia stated what was on everyone’s minds. “Someone must have warned them.”

“I assume this entire operation wasn’t exactly as big of a secret as to include only the queen and the elders in the know, right?” Tina turned to the Dragon lady, who looked to be in deep thought.

“That’s correct…” Althea nodded. “An operation on this scale had to be supervised by a group of people, but Civienne managed to position all the elite troops next to all the targets before presenting the situation in the war room. It was a smart move to reduce the opposition that could delay everything unnecessarily. Each squad was assigned its navigator right before everyone struck together to coordinate their efforts. So, nobody really knew anything until it was time to start. Therefore…”

“You might have had a rat present in the war room at that moment who might have sent a warning to this hideout right after the order to strike was given,” Tina finished for her. “Even if you weren’t aware of this place, they must have wanted to be sure that no one stumbled on it since it’s not far from the other one. It should be relatively easy to compile a complete list of people who were there, so…”

“We should be able to use all this information to identify them,” Althea then finished for her in turn. “We need to deliver this news to Civienne as soon as possible. The earlier we find out who the mole is, the earlier we can start to monitor them and learn even more from their movements and behavior. Perhaps I should fly back.”

“As much as I would like to see that, I don’t think it’s necessary,” Asterios interrupted them. “Umbra can transfer you, which is much safer than that. Right after we finish exploring this laboratory and picking up everything we can.”

She agreed with his assessment and they sent both Umbra and Aura to roam around the collapsed complex with Silvia’s and Ast’s spatial rings to sweep anything they could find amongst the damaged evidence and samples. Considering the fact that this place had stored multiple versions of the evil poison, and hadn’t been on the hit list of the elves, it seemed somewhat more important than the rest.

If this facility truly had been warned the moment Althea had begun her raid on the neighboring hideout, the researchers in this one could have had enough time to pack most things up and flee before being noticed. The Dragon lady cursed herself for not checking the caravan thoroughly as there was a high chance that it had been a disguised convoy heading right out of the secret base. The girls tried to reassure her that it definitely wasn’t her fault for not figuring that out.

After Umbra and Aura finished their exploration, Asterios decided to cleanse the contamination once and for all. Unfortunately, their only option to achieve that was the use of fire. While Silvia used her magic to melt and seal the entire breach, he turned into a True Dragon and released his flaming wrath on the flowing river as he flew low by the ground.

Tina held up the stream for the time being, allowing him to purge the riverbed without any inconvenience from the flowing water. Althea seemed to stare at his departing figure in slight awe, and perhaps a bit of anxiety. Seeing her mortal enemy appear right in front of her after centuries might have been something else.

Reaching the pond, Asterios released enough of his aura to make it clear to any nearby winged tigers that a serious predator was in the area and thus kept them away from the little lake for a good while. He evaporated its entirety and let Tina know to release the stream. The water soon traveled down the channel with a loud hiss as it came in touch with the still-melting trench, creating a new, reinforced shape along the way. Miria and Selene had gathered a big pile of deceased animals and he hastily turned it into ashes too.

When everyone regrouped at the grassy beach a few minutes later, Tina’s men were confused why the pond was suddenly steaming, but everyone played oblivious to the change. As for the reaction of their beasts, it was explained as Asterios releasing his mana into the air while trying to get into a hidden, underground complex and accidentally spooking them. It wasn’t that far off from the truth.

Then, Umbra proceeded to transport Althea back to her lair while Asterios and the others began their journey by normal means. They opted to follow her path on their own just in case they stumbled on more irregularities, consulting the route with the memories she had shared with them.

A few hours later, they were back in the capital and Tina escorted her squad to the barracks while Asterios moved to the underground vault. He found their new friend alongside the queen, both sitting inside Althea’s cottage. The girls joined him as he made his entrance.

“I already listened to everything you found out,” Civienne stood up and began. “I know we were bound to find traitors, but I didn’t think they would be placed so high. Your abrupt expedition was very successful.”

“Here are all the things we collected from the site.” Asterios extended his hand and transferred everything ring-to-ring as they took a hold of each other’s palms. “Here’s hoping that it will be useful in preparing a cure for Althea. Though, considering that she might have been poisoned by an unintended amalgamation of them, it might be extremely hard to achieve with so many possible complications coming from the chaotic mix.”

“We can only try,” Althea said. “Or find a different solution if this one fails.”

“For now, all we can do is wait. On both fronts,” the queen continued. “We will need time to put the additional investigation into action and start the analysis of the samples you have provided us. You might be forced to wander around taking care of minor tasks until we make any progress. I hope you won’t find it unbearably boring.”

Asterios and the girls shared a look and they all smiled at her.

“This is perfect, then,” he replied. “We do have a little matter of our own that needs investigating and it could help keep us busy. If you don’t mind, Your Majesty, we shall move into Miria’s and Selene’s realm for the time being, remaining open to being contacted whenever needed. It should be of no issue to come back and show ourselves now and then so as not to look like we have suddenly disappeared.”

“What is it that you need to do?” Civienne asked with a hint of curiosity in her slightly arched brow.

“A bit of resource gathering for our Spellsong friends.” Asterios smiled at her.

The queen’s eyes widened ever so slightly. “They are going to craft their masterpieces once more? How did you manage to convince them?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure about that. They were the ones to offer us their services. I take it, it's a big deal?”

“Due to certain… history… they have abandoned their true craft a long time ago. I did not think they would ever return to it by their own will. But, I guess their arrival here should have been enough of a sign that things must have changed. It looks like the world will witness some outrageous things once again,” she mused, and they couldn’t miss the shadow of a reminiscing smile on Althea’s lips.

“This might turn out to be very interesting.” Grea grinned devilishly, clearly already getting ideas about her own toy.

“Nevertheless, you are free to pursue your own matters, of course.” Civienne nodded at Asterios. “How will we reach you through the worlds?”

“I’ll keep Umbra by your side most of the time. He might be of great use to the investigation too. He will be able to contact us immediately,” Asterios explained.

“Very well. I wish you luck, then.”

“And you too.”

With that, Asterios and the girls left the two women to their own machinations and moved out of the secret lair. Emerging together next to the palace right under the late evening sky, they found a bench to sit down on for a moment.

“What now, Master?” Miria asked a moment later. “Are we going there right away? If so, where exactly?”

“I think the first logical step would be your village, Miria,” Selene replied. “After we ask around about what they know about the meteor, and what your parents might know about your blades, we could move to my place and consult Lerisse.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tina agreed.

“Before that, we could jump back to the king’s castle and let Silvia’s father know where things stand, updating him on our current direction and goals,” Asterios added. “He might have some wisdom for us regarding the whole internal mess we have found ourselves in since he is already brought in by the queen anyway.”

“Nothing stops us from taking a peek at Glimmervale while we are at it,” Silvia suggested with a soft smile. “We did leave kind of abruptly.”

“That’s right! We didn’t even get to show you off to your mom, Master! And Suanori! They must be waiting impatiently!” Miria jumped to her feet and shook her fists at him in an eager manner.

Asterios chuckled lightly. “We certainly did. No one expected the letter to be an invitation from the queen, nor for our trip here to evolve into a who knows how long secret operation. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to spare a day or a half for some entertainment.”

Miria cheered joyfully while the other girls laughed softly. She was always the most excited to brag about his draconic aspects, especially now that they reached pretty much peak levels.

They decided to pay Welrond a visit in the morning and retreated to their sleeping quarters for the night. Sharing a brief meal before hitting the bed together, they all piled up on each other and dozed off as they chatted quietly about the upcoming adventures. There was just so much happening that they didn’t know what to focus on.

In the morning, Umbra transferred them to Welrond’s castle and easily located the king. He welcomed them into his study with a knowing smirk.

“You just can’t catch a break, can you?” the man laughed quietly. “You have barely returned from another world and are already going after most likely the most complex and secretive evil cult existing in our realm.”

“Maybe it’s a True Dragon thing? The universe just doesn’t want me to rest peacefully.” Asterios chuckled back. “Now that I think of it, there’s always been some obstacle to overcome or inconvenience to push through in my life. It really might be something caused by my quite unique situation.”

“You certainly know where to look to find trouble. But, I should be grateful that it has brought you to us alongside that path of yours.” Welrond smiled at Silvia, who responded with the same. “So, what can I help you with? I already offered my full cooperation to the Elf Queen. I have to say, I’ve never seen her so placating and cooperative. Have you already started melting that frozen heart of hers?”

Before Grea could let out a single word, Asterios clamped her mouth shut with his hand. The demon lady whined at his actions but otherwise did nothing to neither stop it nor resolve its results.

“It’s just a very important matter for her. You can say that the queen is desperate. It’s the time of a great crisis, which somehow managed to grow even larger than expected when we arrived there to help. I’m not sure how much I can share without divulging too much of the current internal affairs,” he said.

“That’s alright. We are going to be in regular contact with the queen regarding this matter. I can always ask personally for the details. In any way, what brings you here while you are so busy out there?” The king raised a brow at them.

“A small business on the other side,” Asterios replied. “We are just making a few small stops on the way.”

“For the time being, my squad will remain in the elven capital and assist the queen in any way possible,” Tina added from next to him. “I hope that’s not a problem.”

“Of course not. I’m glad they are working on improving our relations with the Elf Nation. They are under your leadership during this operation, Tina, and you may use your men however you see fit to achieve your goal, which is to assume the responsibilities of a diplomatic delegation and offer your aid,” Welrond reassured her. “Are they doing well?”

For a little while, they talked with the king about their recent experiences that involved Tina’s squad and discussed a few matters related to the queen’s issue. The king was happy that Tina was properly finding herself in the position of the leader, complimenting her a lot and repeating that he had been certain that she would fit, turning the quiet Summoner girl quite timid.

Soon after, they stopped disrupting Welrond’s schedule and moved to Glimmervale. Miria’s excitement hit its peak and they couldn’t do anything else before they fulfilled their promise to show Ast’s progress so he chose one of the more spacious chambers in their castle for the stage and let the panthergirl gather everyone there.

In just a moment, the hall was crowded by Kindra, Tina’s parents, Suanori, Ellie, Truvi, Radir, Yumi, Camille, and the Committee members. The panthergirl had clearly invited quite an audience, but Asterios could tell that she hadn’t picked all those people without any thought. Some of them, they trusted completely, while the others could benefit from learning just how big of a deal Asterios really was, and a few might keep themselves in check after the upcoming reveal.