Two Evils
Alanor was a country set on the far eastern side of the Cian empire and to the south of the kingdom of Drull, where the supposed vampires lived. It was an extremely isolated place that hardly ever saw any visitors and it was here that a certain clan was rumored to reside.The elegant warriors by the name of Kinshura, who were at this point only considered to be a myth.They were said to have either ashen gray or flowing white hair along with golden eyes.
They supposedly displayed a level of elegance that was simply out of this world……or so the rumors went anyway. It seems this world was rampant with rumors of supposed clans and creatures, despite the myriad of them that already existed far beyond the realm of humans. It was here at the coast of this mythic island that a large battleship calmly drifted, getting ready to lay its anchor.
The name of this vessel was the Leviathan MK II.
An 18th century style battleship decked in gold and silver, boasting an array of cannons on each side, as more of an accessory than anything else.It was around 200 meters long and 40 meters wide.There was also a flag with 3 golden coins in its center, and the rest of the flag was filled out by black and white stripes. This vessel had sailed here on the pretense of a mission to confirm the existence of this so-called group of isolated warriors.
“Alright everyone on deck!” spoke the giant of a man standing proud on the ship’s deck.
He was around 190 cm tall, with a muscular frame to match his height and emerald, green eyes. Right now, he was wearing only a set of bracers on each arm, along with a red armor set reminiscent of a knight, but without the clunky overbearingness they usually carried. The man had deliberately neglected to equip all its components as he believed in his own strength above everything else. With body reinforcement via mana being so common nowadays, he hardly saw any need to burden himself with the extra weight. This was Winson Crucible, a chevalier and one of the strongest fighters ever to grace the kingdom of Satelica, the land of snow. He had brought Satelica’s 35th combat unit, also known as Stratem to confirm the rumors about this island.
Despite being a warrior through and through, he somehow also carried the air of a refined gentleman that had mastered their craft. Soon after he spoke the chorus like sounds of footsteps, grew louder and louder, perfectly in sync until all 145 combat capable members of the crew were on deck. They were all dressed similarly to their captain, being lightly equipped and silently sorting any weapons or tools they might need.
This unit in particular was quite peculiar as all manner of races were gathered here. From dark elves to lizardmen, this unit had practically seen it all.
“Captain we’re out of booze!”
Shouted one crew member, seeming hardly sober as he spoke.
The others slowly started an uproar over the fact, as if it was their lifeline.
“Hey, can we stop by Livia after this? I haven’t been to a brothel in weeks”.
Commented a green scaled lizardmen, waiting for his captain’s answer with childlike anticipation.
“No brothels ever gonna change your luck with women!”
A reply came from the back of the assembly as uproarious laughter erupted on the ships deck.
“Everybody shut up.”
Winson spoke as his spiky blond hair rustled in a sudden updraft. Despite this though, none of the crew members knew if this was supposed to be an intimidating order or not. Because Winson always spoke in such a manner where you couldn’t tell if he was ever really angry. This, along with the fact that he’d been the captain of this unit for a little under five years, it meant that they’d gotten used to each other quite a bit. Seeing as they survived the Titanfall, and “Vive la Morte” he even allowed them to carry on in his presence like this.
“As you all know, we’re here to confirm the rumors about this so called Kinshura clan, so you can think of this as a subjugation. “
He continued.
“If we find them, our priority is making them submit to the will of the empire, but if that doesn’t work, we have orders to cull everybody that opposes us, even if that means the whole island.”
Satelica was a major part of the 5-state empire of Cian, with each state being big enough to easily rival a large island. The empire had been gathering its military might for well over eighty years now and has already established itself as a major world power. One that’s been assimilating every country on its northern end for the past three decades.
“Winson, is there really some mythical tribe out here?’’ Asked Tiana, who had been relatively quiet until now.
Her figure was that of a short woman with curly blonde hair done in a twin tail style, now donning a green blouse resembling a crop top, which exposed her supple skin and belly button to the gentle rays of sunlight. Her green shorts also emphasized her curvy nature despite her small size. The fact that she could address the captain of the unit so casually was a hint towards their relationship.
“The Kinshura are supposedly a clan of ferocious warriors who could easily annihilate a country if they so desired. Tensions with the Levitas alliance have been building up as of late, and the empire would like to reap the benefits of having such powerful fighting force at their disposal”. Winson added, seemingly researching all the rumors before coming here.
“Hmmm……..I just hope this isn’t some wild goose chase.” Tiana mused in a disinterested tone.
“Huh? Are you afraid Tiana? I guess you are huh, druids are weak after all” Erick the archer of the unit sarcastically remarked.
“Shut up! you broke both arms the last time we fought kaiju and had to beg me to heal you.”
The laughter began once again before being interrupted by Winson.
“Even if there’s nothing out here, we still have our orders to claim this territory, and besides a lotta funding went into this expedition, that’s why you all have arcane stage weapons right now”
“Yea that alone makes this totally worth it!” Said Tiana as she gleefully hugged her arcane stage wand, the emerald gem at its center reflecting her supple cleavage.
Arcane was the second stage of the 4-class weapon ranking system in this world, and the effectiveness of these weapons varied depending on the user. On average they were the equivalent of AP rounds. Leviathan had deployed its anchor, after coming to a slow halt at the island’s coast.
“Alright everyone, I’m going to lead combat unit 4 and head in for reconnaissance, units 2 and 3 set up a post 100 meters from here, while unit 1 should remain on deck, so everybody gear up!”
As he finished giving out orders Winson entered the lower deck of the ship with the large chorus of “Yes Sir” acting as his send off.
The members of Stratem were all high-level warriors on their own, and with the addition of their new weapons, they were easily legend class warriors you would hear about in fairy tales.
The lightly armored combat group embarked into unfamiliar territory, weapons and all. At first glance it looked like they were walking with no order whatsoever, but this wasn’t true. Tiana, the group’s healer was clutching her wand and gleefully smiling in the center of the formation, as if she’d gotten used to the art of combat formations long ago. Erick was behind her, at the very back of the group with two mages a slight distance in front of him.This group had 10 people in total, and the rest were arranged in similar formations, with either more or less people. So, it was essentially a large group that could easily branch off into smaller functioning groups at any time.
Winson was leading at the front with his sickle, dismantle, at his side. It was about two meters long, with three blades attached instead of the typical two, with each blade being 20cm longer than the last. Ideally, they wanted to give utmost protection to their captain, but he refused.He wasn’t the sort of man to rely on his subordinates like that, and besides, if the captain wasn’t leading the charge, the group’s morale would plummet. Only sixty people comprised this expedition group that ventured into uncharted territory. Since the general layout of this island was mostly unknown, they only had rumors to go off and, in that case, dividing their forces was necessary. They trudged through a forest-like path in complete silence, only the chirping of bird like mana beasts and the squealing of the other fantasy-esque creatures could be heard, until……
An explosion erupted; the earth shook violently as some kind of creature tore through it, carving through the ground and leaving only debris in its wake.
“’Hold formation!!” yelled Winson, still trying to withstand the shaking. Through the thick dust cloud came a charging serpent like beast, it was a creature known as a boa. A snake that could easily reach up to 150 meters long and this one seemed to have surpassed even that benchmark.
Carving through the Earth the creature flung its gargantuan body along an arc and came around charging at Winson who was at the head of the formation. It’s jaws jaws flung open, ready to devour its prey whole.
‘Archers!” Yelled Winson as a torrent of arrows and magic came from behind him and assaulted the creature.
“Kyeeeeeh!!!” was the shriek that came from it as the large reptile continued its charge.
Winson took a stance, as he held the arcane level scythe, dismantle in his hands, with blue mana being emitted from his entire body, he spoke only one word:
“Rend”
As he swung the large scythe along a diagonal arc, splitting the creature in two from the corners of its scorched jaws. The massive reptilian body flew through the air, perfectly bisected, before its rapidly descending body was assaulted by an endless torrent of blue slashes that tore it apart in the blink of an eye.
Its flesh, sturdy enough to withstand being pierced by steel, was shredded to pieces in midair.
The technique Winson had used was a physically enhanced strike using his mana coated weapon. After the initial attack was delivered, the mana residuals left behind would continue to hack at its target until it was completely shredded. A rain of blood and chunks of flesh came raining down, dying the path they walked in the color of the creature’s innards.
A sigh came from Erick after the bloody torrent.
“~Coward~” Tiana mockingly commented as she wore a smug expression on her face, Erick, unable to counter could only look away in embarrassment.
“Was it because of these weapons?” Winson voiced his thoughts aloud as he examined the blue scythe in his hands -There wasn’t a drop of blood to be seen on the rending blade.
Mana beasts fed on magic, and because such a large quantity of it was stored in these weapons, there’s no wonder it’d send them into a frenzy.
But no, that wasn’t it.
“Captain there’s something off about this place!”
Winson looked over his shoulder and saw the origin of the voice. It came from Niveria. A female mage with fair skin and blue hair, and a few silver scales under her azure, split pupil eyes. She was a bit timid but nonetheless he knew her talent with magic was that of a prodigy.
“What is it Niveria?”
Immediately after he’d replied to her, the entire group drew closer in a sort of semi-circle.
“W-Well umm, it’s the mana concentration here, it feels too abundant.”
There was a confused look on Ericks face as she continued.
“All the mana beasts, trees and animals here should be using mana regularly, but still, the concentration of mana here is just way too much. Something’s off about this place.”
“So it didn’t attack us for the mana in our weapons then?” Winson mused aloud, though he didn’t seem surprised by the sudden revelation at all.
Compared to the abundant mana currently in the atmosphere, the tempered mana their weapons possessed was almost insignificant.
“Yea I’d noticed it earlier, but I was certain of the fact when I faced that mana beast just now. Arcane stage weapons aside, that much force isn’t usually behind my attacks unless my back is against the wall”.
Apparently, a legend class monster wasn’t enough to threaten Winson’s life, as he simply brushed it off.
“The captain’s a monster.” Erick carelessly spat.
“In any case, this should make our job way easier, either this supposed clan doesn’t exist, or they don’t know how to use mana, but either way this subjugation shouldn’t take too long.”
With the current abundance in mana, the attacks of Stratem would be boosted to at least twice their usual efficiency, and because of this their group was experiencing something of a new power peak. It was akin to starting a boss fight after boosting all your stats.
Despite the dangers of this island, it was quite a fantastical setting filled with both old and new tropes. The Sakura trees were flourishing in various spots along the forest path, their petals being gently swept away by the wind. There were also a variety of unfamiliar plants and animals here. That included creatures resembling frogs that could spit acid, rabbits with six eyes and black fur that could easily chomp through trees and the typical wyverns, although those were mostly circling overhead. This combat unit, however, had failed to notice something.
The path they walked, while not being too overgrown, was easily accessible enough that even a regular person could navigate it, that is if you didn’t include the dangers it posed. Perhaps because of the consistent onslaught of danger or because of the fact that they were currently experiencing a power boost, they had failed to properly take note of their surroundings. Whatever it be though, the fact remained that their senses had dulled.
