Chapter 497: Pale Skin  

After reading the message to everyone a bit more, Ray had clarified what Slyvia had said. All they knew so far, was that one of the fortresses located in the shadow continent, had been destroyed.

By who, it was anyone's guess, but there weren't many that had the power to even go up against the shadow in the first place, so she assumed the most likely suspect to be the empire.

"It looks like Slyvia wants us to leave quite soon to investigate," Ray said. "If the fortress has already been taken over, then there will be no need to take a large force."

"Not necessarily, " Lenny replied. "Unlike our attack, they knew we were coming, my guess is the shadow content had no clue this would happen and was probably why they were able to succeed or part of the reason. If that's the case, then they will send one of their own to investigate."

"Someone like Monk?" Martha added. "His group were the closest and he seems to have taken over Gary's role being in charge of the human side of things. There won't be many that work for the shadow that would be able to investigate."

It was a decision they would have to make, unlike Gary, they actually had no clue what power Monk held, although they could tell he had been influenced and possessed by the aura of the gauntlet.

"Did the empire finally stop focusing on us and decided to fight the shadow then?" Van asked.

He was interested in these matters, things concerning the empire. It affected all of the kingdoms, including the Alure kingdom which had allied themselves with the Redwings.

Martha stood there with her finger on her lip.

"If I remember correctly, it was rumoured that the kingdom were having their own problems with the shadow. Perhaps after dealing with that, something had inspired them to attack the shadow."

"I thought they had been overrun by the shadow," Harry added.

"We don't know if that's true or not," Martha replied. 'If it was, I doubt they are the ones behind this."

"Then for now, it would be best if we just treat them as another group," Ray said. "They are nether with us, nor against us until we find out some more details."

Thinking about it, Ray was trying to figure out how they were able to defeat one of the fortresses. Each of the fortresses would usefully contain a shadow guard member, Both Morfran and Gary were part of the shadow Guard and Ray knew their strength. He had even gone against the grand mage Wiz. One of the most powerful mages' to ever live.

Although, he himself didn't have great power but it was his ability which gave him great strength. Still, it just showed what strength the Shadow had. In Ray's mind there were only two ways they could have taken over a fortress, either the grand weapon that Roki spoke off was found and somehow they were able to activate it without the key. Or it had something to do with Sera. Roki said he shined the most when leading an army.

A couple days had passed and the army were making preparations to move out. A large force wouldn't be taken, but Sylvia also wouldn't allow for Ray to head off with just a few of them. No matter what, she was sure they would be confronting an army. Whether that was led by the empire, Monk or some unknown force she did not know.

At the moment, inside one of the rooms, four young knights were busy talking and these were knights that belonged to the beast squad. There was Flynn, a former Black sash squire, Wendy, an archer. Both of these had gone through the beasting process and were taken out from their sash groups. The two additional people in the room had become quite close with both of them, during their time here.

Although these two had no need to go through the beasting process, because they were already part beast. One of them was a girl named Claire who was close with Jack, Both of them had left the town of Zrey together.

She found it harder then she realised to speak to others when arriving at the Redwings, but for some reason with Wendy, she found it quite easy. Maybe because she was part beast, she felt she could connect and the two of them were a similar age. As for the other werewolf, he was named Dale, a quiet one, but one who would show his caring side at times.

During the war, he had always stuck by Claire's side, although it would make her think of Zinc, a werewolf that had chosen to go with Steven. Jack's brother. The two of them with a group of the saved werewolves had gone in search of the other Werewolves, who apparently had a dislike for humans. She was just glad that they hadn't run into them on their journey so far.

"It looks like we might be going into another war," Flynn said, his hand shaking a little. "I saw all the knights, I think we will be moving out today."

'It's not confirmed yet." Wendy replied. "Remember they said another group has already dealt with them, this is just a simple investigation."

After the last battle, they were no longer Squires and were full fledged knights now. They had joined the main force and wouldn't be babysitted by Harry or Jack.

At that moment, Kyle had barged into the room to check on the others, as he was in charge of these little groups of young knights.

They all respectively bowed to him as he entered.

"Alright, it's time for you guys to grab your things, it looks like we will be heading off in an hour or two," Kyle said.

Watching the kids pack, Kyle noticed that Claire was moving only slow compared to how she usually would, as if she had something on her mind.

"Sir," Claire suddenly said. "Is it true what Jack said, he said that it's possible that Harry has been possessed by the shadow, and to keep a lookout for ourselves."

"Jack told you that?" Kyle thought, surprised. Him and Lenny had suspicions, and Lenny did say he would warn a few people, but for it to even reach the words of these kids. He was unsure if that was wise or not. If there was a current chain of command, then right after Ray, Harry would be next.

If it got out to the soldiers and they were having doubts about their leader, it wouldn't be good.

"Whether it's true or not, you guys have nothing to worry about with me by your side." Kyle said drawing out the Raven sword, he swung it in the air a few times, cutting the air.

"You saw my skills against Gary, the best swordsman Avrion has ever seen, Even if Harry has been infected by the shadow, I will be there to protect you," Kyle smiled.

He wanted to squash any worries these kids had, they only just became knights, and even during the last battle had minimal involvement, but with a smaller group being selected to head to this fortress, they could very well be relied upon.

"Who did you say you could beat in a sword match?" Harry said, entering the room from behind. "It seems after that single win against Gary, you have become extremely arrogant. Oh, sorry it wasn't even a win, Ray had to save you, isn't that right?"

When the others looked at Harry, he didn't look like his normal self, his skin was paler than it usually was and his tone sounded almost aggressive when speaking to Kyle.

"I was just joking about, you know me Harry," Kyle laughed. "But Harry, are you alright, your skin, it's so pale."

Lifting his hand, Harry looked at it for a few seconds.

"Ah this, it happened when I was getting rid of the dragon bones. I don't know how, but I feel fine."

"Are you sure, maybe you should go speak to Lenny, see if something happened, those bones even affected Ray after all. Are you sure you really got rid of the bones?"

When Kyle asked this question. Harry's face? turned upside down, he looked at Kyle with a death stare glare. He was certain of it, those Bones had affected him in some way, just like they had done Ray. The same way Gary was affected by the Dragon hammer.

"Are you questioning me?" Harry said, stepping forward.

Kyle stepped back and looked at the young knights, each of them looked nervous, unsure of what to do. After all, technically Harry and Kyle were their superiors; they weren't allowed to go against them.

Even if they had a suspicion Harry was under the influence of the shadow, he showed no signs apart from more aggression than usual.

"You said you could beat me in a duel right, then why don't we have a go?" Harry said, pulling out both his blades.

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