Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

It took three days for Rain and his friends to hear about what had happened… monsters started to attack all the villages close to the sea.

"Monsters?" Roan frowned when Rain finished reading a report in the form of a letter. "Even in the mountains, it is hard to find them nowadays."

Rain nodded… aside from a few occasions, like when he was in the sea chasing a crew that worked for Joanis, he found monsters only a couple of times. Most of them had been eliminated from the lands that he had visited. Even the beast people didn't have many of them since they followed the law of the jungle.

"We will have to send some squads to those villages and assess the situation," Rain said while studying the map of that side of the country. "Their numbers shouldn't be that high, and this will be a good practice for the warriors. Aside from that…"

"Wait, I can sense someone coming from the underground tunnel," Seara said.

Since she sensed it, everyone understood that it was someone from the sea folk. Everyone was surprised to see Seadir himself showing up… he should be guarding the east side of the country with the squads in Teria.

"It seems that you have been informed of the situation already, but the monsters are also attacking that side of your country," Seadir said when he saw the marked map.

Everyone frowned when they heard that… they assumed that only the western side was being attacked by an infestation of monsters. Such a thing already happened before, but it wasn't something that usually would affect one whole side of the kingdom.

"Hmm… it seems that they are throwing some weird curve balls at us," Rain thought. "We will use half of our troops to protect those villages. Alert the squads and tell them that they need to use at least one of their members to return here and report to us daily."

"What do we know about the monsters?" Roan asked. Enjoy more content from empire

"Until now, they only showed to be white wolves. They are pretty big, too, and can use ice magic," Seadir explained. "They are supposed to be creatures from frigid lands, so I can't imagine them multiplying in your territory."

"The southern ocean is a bit cold most of the year, but the snow there doesn't last for long," Roan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Do you think that they came from beyond those waters?"

"I swam there before I freed Branden, Orcis, and Lorene, and while icebergs there aren't hard to find, they can't be that big… unless the monsters are smart enough to cross the ocean for apparent no reason, definitely someone helped them cross it with magic, and we won't find vestiges of that."

"The trip from the closest island would take two days, right? Maybe if they are some sea monsters… but even so, feeding them with those creatures still would be hard to keep them under control," Terra said.

"Either way… we need to keep a tight guard on both sides of the country while we deal with those creatures," Rain said while squinting his eyes. "We can't show any big moves yet. The enemies will respond to them."

Rain couldn't help but feel a tinge of annoyance at himself. The desire to explore the mysteries of the southern ocean had always been there, but in recent times, the demands of building and training his army and the precious moments spent with his family took all of his time.

He knew that sealing a strong relationship with Seara in the shape of a child was essential, and he didn't regret the choices he had made. However, the current situation made it clear that his enemies would continue to pose a threat as long as they remained hidden in the shadows. He couldn't keep walking in the dark forever…

One day after the departure of half of the troops, Rain received some reports… the wolves were quite strong, and some people had died by their hands already, but the warriors were able to push them away from the villages. The only problem was their magic…

"It seems that they keep using ice attacks, and some of the warriors are already showing signs of frostbites," Rain said while everyone was listening. "They can use healing magic to fight that, but it seems that they are understanding that things will escalate."

"Elemental magic can be really a problem at such times, only magic and relics can actually decrease their effectiveness," Roan said. "The magic academy still works. Perhaps we should ask Branden and Esmeralda to send some mages as support."

"That won't be a good idea since we took down a lot of rich people that had ties with them; even if we force them to help, their support will be half-assed at best," Terra explained.

"We are good at attacking and defending with magic, but using buffs that will decrease the effects of that kind of magic isn't our forge," Seara said.

"For now, let's keep waiting and see what happens," Rain said while squinting his eyes. "We need to pass the order for the warriors as well to keep pushing the monsters to the coast… it will be troublesome if more of them keep coming."

Rain was a bit surprised… he took it as natural thing that monsters wouldn't be Numerous in that world. It was a real world, not a game, after all. Over the ages, people would hunt them down for food and for safety as well.

Still, that was a good chance for them to get some materials… the fur of the giant white wolves would also help the warriors fight the cold and the ice attacks, so Rain wanted to send the materials to someone who could craft them as soon as possible…

Still, before that could happen… Seadir and Seara were informed by a messenger that the sea dragons were starting to get violent as well.