Dragon's Wrath: The Cursed Returnee

Emily was pretty good at analyzing things. She noticed something that not even Ethan noticed. The conversation that he had with his family affected him on a level he didn't expect. Ethan always imagined that such a conversation would happen, so he prepared himself for it in order not to make his family sad. Still, even though he prepared himself to a certain point… it still affected him.

ραпdα nᴏνa| сom "I guess I was… angry with myself," Ethan frowned. "Well, I am a little better now. Try not to analyze me too much in the future, though. Anyway, for someone who said that doesn't want to get involved with the problems of others, you are a good at observing them."

"I am a mage who fights at the backline firing magic beams," Emily shrugged. "I need to have a certain level of understanding of my allies in order to imagine what they are about to do and to not hit them."

That seemed like a good explanation, even more so since Emily soon after fired some Ice Arrows and hit some treants that were in the blind spot of the survivors. Regardless, since Ian wasn't with them, they had to collect the magic stones themselves, and Ethan was the only one who could do that at the same speed as Ian.

"You two sure talk a lot when my brother isn't around," Anna said, visibly displeased. "Is he getting on the way or something?"

"What are you implying, missy?" Ethan asked. "Aren't you missing him? I am pretty sure everything is a lot noisier when he is around."

As much as she wanted to deny it, Ethan was right, so Anna just looked away and stayed quiet. She was a smart kid, and like most intelligent kids, Anna didn't like to be surrounded by strangers. Ethan didn't treat her better or worse than the others. Meanwhile, Emily was too friendly. As for the Clannian people, they were just temporary allies… that was the downside of being too smart. One overthinks about every single thing.

After walking for a few hours, Anna finally found a decent place to create a watchtower. It was right above a certain massive tree. After Emily created the tower and Ethan covered the sides with some plants and leaves, it was almost perfectly invisible. Monsters were dumb, so they wouldn't attack a weird tree. In any case, at the top of the tower, Ethan had a good vision of the surroundings, even of the mountain which they were using as a base twenty kilometers away from there. Still, Ethan was looking in the opposite direction because he saw a perfect line of dead earth and destruction there.

"That is…" Emily frowned when she saw the marks of destruction that apparently had been caused by a massive army.

"That was what the devourers did after they destroyed one the last cities of this world," Maerys explained. "They chased the survivors like mad dogs burning and destroying everything on their path. However, since they found the trail of that guy, they headed straight toward the temple. Still, before they could find him, that bastard destroyed the temple and entire mountain before returning to your planet."

By that guy, Maerys was probably referring to the fake hero. That guy really went as far as destroying the temple that summoned him in order not to let the survivors follow him. Although he was an asshole, he was a powerful asshole. After all, not many people have the power to destroy an entire mountain.

"After the devourers lost the scent of him, they began to hunt down the survivors for quite a while," Maerys added. "They only stopped when they discovered that they still could invade your planet just by standing at the center of that crater."

"What about you guys?" Ethan asked.

"We couldn't test it," Maerys explained. "The devourers used the distortion for quite a while, and when they stopped, the people of your planet came, and some of us were captured."

"I wish that apologies would be enough for you to forgive the actions of the people from my world, but I don't think that is the case," Emily said and then sighed.

"It is okay," Maerys forced a smile. "We know that there are many types of people in your world, and it was the same with us in the past. So, we really can't blame you."

While Emily and Maerys were talking, Ethan was trying to understand how exactly the devourers created such a path of destruction. After following that with his eyes, he found that the signs of destruction continued for three kilometers in the direction of their base. Still… it was weird. Just an army of monsters wouldn't be able to create such a linear path… something led the devourers to that region, and that was the thing that caused that destruction.

"Say… can you describe the devourers?" Ethan asked.

"I think it would be better if you see them by yourself to feel the real terror they might cause, but I feel like you are the type who doesn't let anything faze you," Maerys said. "They are quadrupled beasts that are born hunters. They can hunt everything without being noticed… until a few decades ago, they were only a legend. Although I never saw any of them doing that, it was said in the past that they could mix with the shadows and pull down their prey to the darkness and eat them right there without leaving a single thing behind. Their carapace is completely dark but more durable than anything we saw on our planet, and it also protects all their vitals."

That was a bit weird. Usually, these types of monsters were supposed to have a weak defense since carapaces in order things that worked like armor would only slow them down. Regardless, now Ethan could understand why they weren't exterminated when they became a threat to that planet.

"They don't have eyes, but they don't need them since their sense of smell, and hearing is so sharp that they can find their prey much earlier than anyone can even imagine that a devourer is nearby," Maerys added. "Their claws and fangs are so sharp that they can even cut off a pretty large tree with a single strike… their grunts… I don't want to even think about their grunts."

Ethan frowned when he saw Maerys trembling from head to toe. He just wanted to hear a few things in order to confirm others, but the woman only ended up scaring herself. At the same time, Emily was pale like a ghost.

"Have you heard of a devourer that was different from the others?" Ethan asked.

"Do you want to hear more?" Emily asked.