Chapter 579 The Villages Of The Scourge (I)
Picking up the map that I created that maps out the area around here that is the main focus of the Expedition quest, I have to track down the villages of the scourge, the villages that have the same fate as the first village. It was called Village of the Scourge due to how it turned into an area where only the scourge thrives and the monsters that like living there.
I don\'t know if there are changes that are added or removed but there are at least 6 more villages left to destroy before the scourge and the monsters will invade the whole Luminous continent. Because the monsters are quick to spawn, if they are left to their own devices, the villages will get overwhelmed by monsters and the monsters will soon spread the scourge and envelope the whole land with it.
If I was following the quest line, I would be supposed to inform the situation to higher-ups so that the expedition members will get to respond and fight against the enemies that will appear. However, because I am on the rogue side mode, I can just do whatever the hell I want or even ignore the story completely. I won\'t be issued goals and what to complete to progress. I can either jump ahead to the quest line and mess up with it or completely ignore it.
However, nothing will progress if I don\'t set the wheel in motion so all I did is put it in place and just ride on it. I wanted to complete the f*cking event storyline already and move to the second part of the game which is going to be where the minds of players will be divided. Since this is just the prelude to all of the sh*ts that will be happening later on.
And since I don\'t see any movement from the other players just yet and the Tactician seems to have yet to even notice what is happening, I should be doing my best to track the villages and be the first person to track and find all of the little f*ckers that are going to corrupt this place.
I scanned the map and locate the villages that are potentially and most likely to be hit by the scourge. I can\'t be too sure about the villages that turned into another portal of hell but I am quite sure there are six villages left.
"Master, are you sure about the villages that you crossed out? Based on the lights from earlier, some of the villages you crossed out here are not the villages you would be looking for."
"I didn\'t see which areas the light from earlier landed that is why I am just speculating which places would be the ones we needed to visit first. Every single one of them would be a potential place for those monsters to spawn so it\'s better to check them one by one than to be sorry."
With the first village gone and burned to the crisp, there are no more monsters left. The whole village is gone and reduced to ashes and nothing can salvage it anymore. Even the scourge that is hard to get rid of is also burned to crisp. I know the Expedition Players here will be baffled about who did this but that\'s a story that will be told for another day.
Once the double checking is done and I am now entirely sure that this village is already done, I summoned Leona, let the others return to the Summon\'s Area, and fly away, in search of the next scourge that might already be occurring to the other villages.
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Back to the first place where Kogure arrived, Sky City.
Alynna just finished training all of the Pioneers that needed to learn the ability of flight. And although most of them are not that capable of learning stuff that fasts, they still managed to understand the principles of the Flight and slowly learned it like it was nothing, reducing her workload and time of spending it teaching them.
Still, Alynna was happy that she didn\'t meet the same kind of monstrous ability as the first guy who learned flight from her new human trainees, or else, she would lose her mind. After all, how come humans knew flight more than actual angels? That doesn\'t make much sense at all. Since most of them have average comprehension of the flight and their mastery over it took a little bit of time, she is glad that no one did the same as the first guy.
While resting, Alynna wondered why she didn\'t see the first guy. She remembered that his name was Bladeheart. She heard that the guy entered the Tactician\'s house after the training to get to know about the situation. If things were handled correctly, she would have met up with the guy again so that she can give out some of the orders and help he needed to gather intel on the trouble as that is still one of their trouble in finding one due to the angels who worship the servants of darkness are so secretive that they have not tracked any areas that would make them appear.
But to her surprise, the guy who should be already inquiring her about the trouble did not appear and the day had already ended and yet she saw no sign of him ever coming back. Did the Tactician never tell the guy to go back to her so that she can provide additional info?
The other Pioneers are tasked to rest for the rest of the day after almost a whole day trying to practice flying compared to Bladeheart who immediately went to meet the Tactician. Alynna had an idea what happened but did the little f*cker of a Tactician really had the gall to do that especially since they needed to get all the help they needed? She still doesn\'t understand why the higher-ups seem to be currying favor to the Tactician despite the latter showing no signs of being a helpful angel at all.
While she is resting in her office, the Head Guards of the Sky City entered her office.
"Excuse my intrusion, Miss Alynna. I know you are resting but we needed to give out this report as soon as possible."
"That\'s fine. I just started resting. What is going on and why are you in a rush to deliver the report to me?"
"I know that we are still looking for the information of the cult that is recruiting angels to join their side but now, we have definite info on them and what we might be facing."
"Go on," Alynna sits properly on her chair after she heard that this info is the one she wanted to learn as soon as possible.
"We received a report of the dark lights appearing from the distant village and some of them landed on some unidentified villages that are still being investigated."
"Dark Lights? Are you referring to the demon lights that appeared before?"
"Affirmative, General. The soldiers are already deployed to check the first place the light appeared so that we can immediately gather information whether we needed to be careful already or we have to take action immediately."
"What is the tactician doing right now? Shouldn\'t he be doing something already?"
"Uh...about him, he is passed out drunk from partying all day. He cannot be properly talked to right now due to how intoxicated he was right now."
Alynna\'s fist is forming after hearing that. The tactician that was believed to be the one who will lead everyone to salvation and will save them from trouble has been the main trouble, to begin with. She is already close to getting her temper overflowing just because of a f*cker who prefers to go drunk in broad daylight rather than looking for a way to find the main source of the scourge that is slowly spreading in the lands of Luminous. If she had the slight power to say and do something about this, she would have already beaten up the tactician and banished him out of the Sky City for being a big disgrace and for being a bad influence on the angels.
As she was holding herself from exploding in anger, another soldier appeared and this time, it seems this guy is carrying a piece of crucial information for her.
"General! Reporting in! We have already received some information where signs of the scourge have occurred. However, it seems someone had already been ahead of us."
"Excuse me? Someone is already ahead of us? What do you mean by that?" Alynna is confused.
The soldier continued the report, "The scouts have already located the exact location of the first village that released the dark light and have confirmed that it was indeed the village. However, when we arrived there, the whole place is scorched. The buildings are burned to crisp, and the signs of Scourge that are spotted are already burned to ashes and are no longer capable of sustaining the scourge from spreading. Not only that but we found some skeletal remains there but have been deformed and we suspected these were the people who transformed into monsters."
"Don\'t tell me all of them are dead already?"
"Yes. They died. And all of their bodies, just like the buildings are scorched to ashes, and the only ones left behind are the bones that did not burn along them."
"Then how come you guys are saying that these might not be natural occurrences and someone did this?"
"Because the monsters found in the scene are all shown in pieces like they were torn apart. And although they are bones already, someone used a scan and simulated that there was someone else who have destroyed the monsters and torn them to pieces as they should be. Their limbs have been thrown around and are scattered like they were detached from them in the first place before it was burned. Not only that but most of the dead bodies are concentrated in the center area where most of the battles have occurred there. Flames can\'t do this kind of stuff so it was already clear that the person who discovered the site is the one who is doing this."