Chapter 4224: Grave Mistake (Part 1)

"You better be saying the truth." The other Hordes bellowed in an angry chorus. "Losing Phaso was terrible, but we won’t hesitate to kill you if you turn out to be as rotten as Phaso was."

"Are you alright, Solus?" Loma extended a tendril of spores to heal her with Invigoration, but she jumped back as if it were a live wire.

"Yes, thank you. I’m peachy." She bowed deeply, hoping the orange Horde wouldn’t mind her apparently rude reaction.

’I’m sorry, I can’t risk you noticing my mana core is cracked or the fact that my energy signature is identical to Lith’s.’ She actually thought.

"Are you sure?" Loma asked. "You look... rough."

"Nothing that a warm bath and a few breaths of Invigoration can’t fix." Solus smiled nervously.

Even though she had the help of the Sage Staff and the stone ring on her finger, there was a limit to how quickly Solus could recover by herself. Magic cleaned her clothes and healed her body, but her mana core was barely half full even after using Invigoration.

’Thanks to the Staff, I saved myself a lot of mana, but I’ve suffered too many deep wounds and used too many powerful spells.’ She thought. ’I need a mana geyser if I want to recover my mana, but I’d better go back to Lith to ensure my life force doesn’t suffer long-lasting damage.’

All Solus could do was lean on the Sage Staff and use the constant flow of mana it provided to her to slowly recover her strength.

"You have our eternal gratitude, Lady Kalla." Ygri shapeshifted into a silvery version of the Wight, quickly followed by the rest of the Hordes. "Thanks to you, we have rescued our youngest before the Isharas made the fungus folk disappear forever."

"And it took us less than a day, just like you wanted." Loma said. "You must be happy to be able to resume your research so quickly."

"About that..." Kalla plopped to her side, her breathing ragged and shallow.

"Are you alright, Mom? Do you need-" Nyka was about to check the Wight again with her breathing technique when a loud gurgle almost deafened her.

"Food?" Kalla asked. "Yeah, I’m starving. I’m not an undead, sweetie. I can’t rebuild my body from the bloody mess it had become and get over it with a stiff drink like you."

Nyka took enough food out of her dimensional amulet to put the old Fluffy to shame, and the Wight gobbled it in a frenzy.

"Much better." Kalla burped, but she still wheezed and panted. "As I was saying, I went far beyond my limits today. My body is a wreck, and I need time to rest. This mission will still cost me days of precious research."

"I’m sorry about that." Loma replied. "Let’s exchange our contact runes, then. You can call me as soon as you recover your strength, and I’ll uphold my end of our bargain. Meanwhile, I’m sorry for being rude, but we are in a rush.

"There are still hundreds of powerful creatures looking for the fungus folk, and the longer the Horde race stays in Verendi, the longer we are blind and deaf to the events taking place in the rest of Mogar."

"Wait." Kalla raised her paw weakly. "Don’t forget about the magical compass the Isharas used to find the fungus folk. Imosi stored it before the battle started, and we didn’t ask him to hand it over.

"No matter where you go, the Isharas can find you again, and this time they might come prepared to wipe out, if not even capture the entire Horde race."

"Dammit, I knew I was forgetting something!" Ygri cursed like a sailor.

"What bargain? What compass?" Shen asked.

"It’s-" The red light in Kalla’s eyes went out, and her head fell limp to the side.

Nyka would have been terrified if not for the shadows of her mother’s body being as vigorous as ever and a loud snoring escaping from Kalla’s maw at rhythmical intervals.

The Hordes performed a partial merging of their spores to share everything that had happened since Loma had gone to Garlen to ask for Lith’s help.

"A Life Seeker." Zarta mumbled. "That kind of artifact is hard to craft, but it should have been impossible to use it on our spores. Once they die, their connection to our hive mind disappears."

"The Isharas overcome the issue by using Life Maelstrom to empower both the artifact and their healing spells." Shen replied. "It’s a nice trick, but unless they have access to fresh spores, those they have collected won’t last more than a couple of days.

"Even with the best healing spells, our spores rot fast, and the Life Maelstrom puts a huge strain on tissues that can’t feed anymore. I’m surprised the dead spores of the fungus folk haven’t cannibalized themselves already."

"Then we need to stay together and travel nonstop for at least three days." Ygri nodded. "I’m not going to take unnecessary risks. Those Divine Beasts are dangerous."

After exchanging contact runes with Nyka since Kalla was asleep and a nightmare to deal with, the Hordes left through a series of Warp Steps.

"Thank the gods they are finally gone!" Solus’ knees buckled, and she started to pant like a bellows. "I need a mana geyser, Nyka, and I need it fast."

"I’m not familiar with this place." The vampire shrugged. "How am I supposed to find one?"

"Take Kalla’s Eyes and help me perform a full scan of the area." Nyka did as bidden, and after the Eyes came up with nothing, she Warped everyone in a random direction before repeating the process.

"Damn if I’m envious of you." Solus could see with the Eyes that Nyka had no trace of exhaustion, and her blood core was already full. "Whose blood do you keep inside Bite Mark?"

"Lith’s Indech blood." Nyka replied. "It tastes incredible, and it’s so full of power that I’m certain that if my body weren’t as dead as a doornail, Lith’s blood would push me to evolve. I’m a human too, after all."

It took them a while to find a mana geyser, but after that, going back to Lutia was a matter of a single call.

"We are still at the Mansion, Solus." Lith yawned. "Just remember that it’s the middle of the night here."

The moment Solus stepped into the tower, she felt fatigue leave her body, but when she Tower Warped to the Mansion, she felt as if a thick, damp blanket had been taken off her face, and she could breathe easily again.

"Did anything happen while I was away?" Solus hadn’t been gone for long, but she needed to see the babies before she could allow herself to relax.

"I’ve agreed on your idea for Ral’s godfather." Kamila sighed. "Aside from that, nothing. Gods, once again, all my candidates have been rejected."

"No offense, Kami, but Ral will need someone special if anything ever happens to us." Lith said. "Zor will look after Elysia, but there are things not even she can teach Ral, and too many things she doesn’t know about us."

"I know, that’s why I agreed with you." She sighed. "Still, I would have preferred Orion as Ral’s godfather.

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