Epic Of The Demonic Sage

"Guess who just earned their right to the wolf meat? Who was it?" Albus nearly danced around the camp in front of his teammates.

"Shut up." Finch massaged her forehead as she looked over at the map that she was filling out for Lord Asher.

"Was it you, Barty?" Albus asked.

"Nono, he nearly fell into one of those holes." Ariana said with a chuckle.

"Well, there's no more wolf meat." Barty dryly said. "Besides, I have Wind Vortex to keep myself afloat."

"Doesn't matter. Guess who's not so useless now? Who just proved themselves as a capable member of the team, right now? Hey, Gellor, I did a great job, right?"

"Sure you did." Gellor chuckled and shook his head. "But please help out Finch with the map, we have to give it to Lord Asher."

"Of course, right away. I just wanted to rub it in a little for Miss Finch here." Albus said as he settled down beside Finch.

Meanwhile, Kiana went to check on Asher. She had given him her reports on the Plow Worms and he was checking and comparing notes from the others as well.

"Gellor's team is quite a handful." Kiana said to Asher as she sat down with him and waited for more instructions.

"But the truth is that Albus did indeed turn out to be invaluable for this particular task." Lucius acknowledged as he checked his own map.

It was clear to everyone that with Albus' Crane Legs gift, he had an easier time maneuvering the area and could react fast whenever he stepped on an unstable area.

Albus quickly jumped back and avoided the trouble, whereas Finch and Barty stumbled a little while they navigated the land.

"I guess you're right. Gellor wouldn't just put anyone in his team if they didn't have skills." Kiana said. "Do we have enough information now, Asher? We're just waiting for the reports from Gellor's team, but we also observed how they dealt with the vicinity ourselves, and I believe it'll be more or less the same."

"Yes, suffice to say, we've finally charted a safe route and I will be making for the Plow Worm tonight." Lucius nodded. "Since the Plow Worms only sleep for around four to five hours every night, I will need to be quick."

"You're going for that… big one, right?" Kiana asked nervously.

"Yes. I think that's one been named as Orm, but yes, I will be going for the largest one. Based on how we've seen it for the past days, it's around fifty meters long and is actually the nearest one for me to approach."

"Please be safe, Asher… are you sure that you don't want anyone around? Albus might be able to pluck you out of danger in case anything happened or for Barty to use his Wind Vortex?"

"No. I will not be dealing with them. I prefer to do it by myself, Kiana." Lucius said.

While Lucius had placed the Mark of Obedience on them, it did not mean that he would allow them the opportunity to see how his 'gift' worked on transforming creatures into one of the Lost.

The fewer people that knew, the better it was for him in the long run.

***

When evening finally came, Gellor and his mercenary group found themselves at a loss for words when Lord Asher announced his intention to head for the Plow Worm.

"By… by yourself, Lord Asher?" Gellor asked. "Will you be bringing your Wind Scar sword? Not that… would you like to take Albus or Barty?"

"I have faith that the safety route charted by us and the observations on the Plow Worms for the past two days will be substantial enough for my success." Lucius assured him and everyone else before he went down.

"Watching is hard." Ariana grimaced as she looked down. "Are you sure that it's a good… ah, forgive me for speaking."

Kiana narrowed her eyes on the mercenary before she followed and trained herself on Asher's movements. If anything were to happen, she was prepared to go down in a single notice.

Gellor, Albus and everyone else were also ready, but luckily, there was no need for it.

Lucius did not waste his time and easily navigated to the terrible sleeping rune beast and then stopped right in front of it. He took one last glance at the gigantic worm before he carefully placed his hand on its head.

A moment passed and nothing happened.

"…unresponsive." Lucius quietly said.

The skin of the Plow Worm was thick enough that it didn't feel Lucius at all, which was a relieving thing to discover.

Lucius quickly gathered the Hell Energy within him and started to inject it into the Plow Worm, feeding it with as much Hell Energy as possible.

After a couple of moments, Lucius started to feel a huge drain on himself and he clicked his tongue, slowing down for a moment to catch himself.

'I've prepared myself to accumulate a lot of Hell Energy before coming here and yet it still isn't enough for this Plow Worm…. I'm in need of more Hell Energy than what I have now to match its great size.' Lucius thought.

After this realization, Lucius resumed injecting his Hell Energy into the Plow Worm beast until he was fully drained of the energy.

"This will be it for tonight."

Lucius stepped back and quickly made his retreat back up to the camp where he was welcomed back by his people.

"How did it go, Asher?" Kiana asked.

"Are you alright, Lord Asher?"

"I'm fine, thank you." Lucius reassured them before he thought about Kiana's question.

Gellor and his team looked at the Plow Worm in confusion, not understanding what happened, but was mostly relieved to see that Lord Asher was safe and sound.

From the safe distance, Lucius observed that the Hell Energy was present within the Plow Worm, but it still acted normally unlike any other specimens that had been injected by the same amount of energy.

"… It went well. But I will need to come revisit it, tomorrow night." Lucius said.