The group was able to find some ruins where they decided to spend the night. They found some artifacts from the old world, all of which Darian recognized as useless things. They found a small place to sleep, and everyone rested peacefully.
Eyrunik and Garwhole had returned to the black planet, and other Krukins were waiting for them there. "Did you two fight?" asked a strange Krukin with the shape of a lizard that stood on two feet.
"We were killing them, but someone else joined! I don't know how, but it turned into a Batgyus (Krukwyve in their language), the one I command!" said Garwhole, furious that someone had transformed into one of his brethren.
"Weren't you able to tell?" asked the same Krukin that the Veilguard had already fought in the water cave.
"It was too late... but we promise we will kill them faster," said Garwhole, still angry. He got down from Eyrunik's shoulder and walked away.
"Don't worry, guys... we are preparing a new, big attack. They won't be able to resist," said a voice. Everyone turned around, surprised to see him there. He was a human-like figure with long white hair and a long purple dress.
The group walked normally while killing some Krukins, almost reaching the desert. "So, guys... how many of them do you think can actually speak our language?" said Liro, scared of how many of them might know their language.
"We just met three of them... but..." said Kael, wondering where that girl, Bianca, was.
"That girl from yesterday probably met more of them. We have to go there and ask," said Kael. Everyone looked at him as if to say, "Hello? Have you forgotten that these cities haven't spoken with each other for about 100 years?"
"I understand, but we need allies. I should try to ask Alerya about this," said Kael, walking faster, annoyed that everyone was looking at him that way.
They were able to return to the desert safely and went back to their base. As always, they found Rusty there, who was working. "Oh, welcome back, guys! How did things go?" said Rusty, coming near them to greet them.
"We don't know... we discovered a lot, but it's all so hard to think about," said Darian, entering the house. Everyone followed him inside.
They all sat down, just as they always did. Rusty followed them. The group explained everything to Rusty so it could keep up with their discoveries.
"Hmm, it's so weird. I wonder why these Krukins know our language," said Rusty, deep in thought.
"It's hard to say... but there are probably more and more Krukins who can speak our language," said Kael, drinking some water.
"Yeah... but it looks like the ones who can speak are somewhat unique, like there aren't any other Krukins like them. Have you noticed?" said Liro, thinking about all the Krukins they had met.
"Yeah... but have you noticed that the Krukwyve were similar to that one... what was it called..." said Darian, a finger on his forehead.
"Garwhole," Allocen said before falling silent again.
"Yeah, that! He was also surprised when he saw Bianca turn into a Krukwyve," said Darian, trying to figure out why he was so surprised.
"Maybe it ruled over them?" Liro said, getting up from his chair to speak again.
"Maybe they were some generals? Could it be that the place we walked into was their territory? Maybe because they are the only ones able to speak, these Krukins are somewhat more important?" said Liro, wandering around the house.
"Hmm, so now we've met three of them... and they were called Eyrunik, Garwhole, and?" Darian tried to remember the name of the one they fought in the water caves.
"He never told us his name," said Liro, getting closer to Darian to see what he was writing.
Darian had written the word GENERALS on a blank page. He then wrote the names and some descriptions below:
Eyrunik: Extremely big and resistant. Very slow, it can easily resist Kael's gravity and fight against Allocen's golem. It had some runes on its body, but we don't know what they were for.
Garwhole: Really small, it looked very fragile, but it was fast. It could move its wings extremely fast. The wind it created with them was far stronger than the one made by the Krukwyve. He probably rules over them(?).
The one fought in the water caves: This one was strong. It had two sharp nails on each hand that could pierce a polar bear's body. It was extremely fast but not very resistant. It could make its rib cage come out from its back.
"Now... should we head back to Therya? They are probably waiting for us; we shouldn't make them worry," said Kael after he saw that Darian had stopped writing.
"Yeah... we don't know when their next attack will be; we have to get ready," said Liro, returning to his seat.
"We will rest for some days, then, we will return home," said Allocen. Everyone agreed with him.
Late that night, Darian returned to Rusty. "Master... I really don't know what to tell you about this feather. The DNA doesn't match anything I've ever seen before," said Rusty, creating a 3D sequence of the DNA.
"Hmm, yeah... it surely looks weird," said Darian, seeing the sequences.
"It doesn't have any similarities to anything. I don't know what I should compare it to," said Rusty, worried that it wasn't doing enough.
"Don't worry, Rusty, you have a lot of time, and I might also research something. Don't worry," said Darian, reassuring it that Rusty was already doing a good job.
Darian took back the feather.
The group rested for about two days at Darian's base, then they returned to Therya once again.
Different days passed as they walked, and they made theories about the enemies. But they all felt too surreal, so they didn't think much about them.
Once they arrived, they entered through the main entrance. At first, they didn't notice it because the city is underground, but once they entered the cave, they saw a total mess. The city was under attack; there were tons of monsters. Darian saw Krukspy and Kruksnil. Blood was everywhere. The guards were fighting, but the numbers were too overwhelming.
"What is happening!" said Kael, starting to run into the city. He killed some Krukins while running.
"We have to go, guys, fast!" said Darian, trying to take the lead, but it was useless. Lara and Liro were too scared to move. Allocen was the only one following him.
"We have to go, Darian, and fast!" As Allocen said this, the portal in the city became bigger.
Kael had just reached Vane. He got attacked by some Krukins, but Vane turned into an owl and killed some of them with his claws. He turned back to his normal form and was back-to-back with Kael.
"It took you some time, guys," said Vane while turning into a buffalo. Kael started to ride it, and they both rushed against some enemies.
"How did this happen?" said Kael, worried about what was happening in the city. He killed many enemies on the way, and Vane rushed toward them.
"Recently, more portals started to appear... this is the biggest attack ever," said Vane, killing some Krukspy while rushing toward them.
They both started to kill all the Krukins in their way.
On the other hand, Darian and Allocen were working together. Allocen used his golem to protect people, and Darian started a fight with a Bladekruk. Darian created an ice shard against the Bladekruk, but it simply destroyed it and rushed at Darian. He was able to dodge its attack but got hit on the back by another Bladekruk.
"Darian, create a wall for yourself!" said Allocen. After Darian built the wall, the enemy started to hit it. Allocen had created the black spikes that were draining the life from the creatures. Darian jumped down and hit one of the Bladekruks, killing it. The other one was buried underground by Allocen.
Allocen couldn't use his golem because he was using it to protect the people.
Liro and Lara were scared. Lara tried to move to heal some injured people, but she got attacked by some Krukins. Luckily, some guards were able to defend her, even though they were gravely injured.
"Lara, focus on healing the people; we will defend you," said the guards after using their magic to attack the Krukins.
"But you are gravely injured too..." said Lara, her legs shaking uncontrollably.
Liro decided to go in another direction. He couldn't fight by himself, but he was able to distract some Krukins with his illusions. He then heard something coming from the underground. A huge Krukin worm appeared in front of him. Liro was scared; the enemy was about to attack him. He simply closed his eyes, accepting his death. Before he was about to get hit, Kael immediately grabbed his arm. He was able to bring him away at the last moment.
"GUYS!" said Liro, happy that he was grabbed by Kael while he was riding Vane. Liro then immediately created another illusion of a human to distract the enemy. The Krukin was distracted by the illusion, and Vane started to attack it.
Darian and Allocen were still killing different Krukins until they saw a Krukmongbee, which they had to fight.
While all of this happened, Alerya was fighting two enemies at once who could speak. "Oh, Leobruns, this woman surely is strong, eh?" said a strange Krukin. It was like a rhino, but it was standing on two legs and had two huge horns on its head. He had a hammer and slammed it against the ground.
Alerya barely lost her balance and was attacked by the other one. "Yeah, Rhihamr... she moves so fast, like a workum (the Krukin with the shape of a worm)," said Leorbuns. This Krukin had the shape of a lion but was more huge. It had strong armor that protected its entire body. Its fur was very big, and it had a huge katana.
Alerya was using black roses to attack. She hadn't lost enough blood yet to use her final form. She didn't know how strong Leobruns's blade was, so she chose to dodge all of his attacks and simply attack with the black roses.
"Tch, the humans aren't bad, Rhyhamr, eh?" said Leobruns while jumping behind to get closer to Rhyhamr. The other Krukin jumped for an attack towards Alerya, slamming its huge hammer against the ground. A huge fissure appeared on the ground. Alerya could barely save herself from falling before the other Krukin attacked her once again. She was hit really hard, and a hole opened in her stomach.
She had already used too much soul. If she was going to use her final form, it could mean that she would reach the final stage soon... but that didn't matter now.
"Oh, Leobruns, it feels like she is about to do something dangerous, pay attention!" said Rhyhamr to his friend, who jumped behind, scared of what was happening.
The teams were formed: Liro, Kael, and Vane were fighting against a huge worm; Darian and Allocen were against a Krukmongbee; and Alerya was against two huge monsters. Lara was wandering around the town to save and help injured people.
The city was a total mess. Around 40% of the population had died, and the others were all hiding. More Krukins kept appearing in the town. The guards could barely resist. What was going to happen now in Therya? Was the city going to be destroyed, or was Alerya going to save everyone?