When the Evil Wolf dark cloud descended in front of the Fairy Tail Guild, Gajeel was grinding his fangs on a steel bar.
The villa looked very cozy, but there were many patches on the walls, which made Gajeel look at it twice.
"Welcome to Fairy Tail." Ezreal smiled and pushed open the door.
"Friendly reminder, consuming architectural structures is prohibited inside the Guild."
Gajeel rolled his eyes at him, too lazy to reply.
In the Guild hall, the usual noise was absent.
This was already the fifth day of the invasion war in Newborn City.
Most of the Fairy Tail Guild members, except for a few with weaker combat abilities, had been fighting on the battlefield for several days.
If the Mages from the regular Guilds hadn't held off the first wave of invasion, and the Magic Council had been effective in timely sealing some enemy portals, everyone might have struggled even with rest and rotation.
However, even with rotations, several days of high-intensity combat inevitably led to fatigue.
There weren't many people in the Guild at this moment.
Gray, who was on a rest rotation, was applying an ice pack to Elfman's bruised shoulder.
Cana sat chatting with Mira.
Although they were talking, Mira still looked at her brother's shoulder injury with worry and self-reproach.
Elfman was striking a pose with his uninjured hand, shouting about being a man to comfort his sister.
Cana looked at the worried Mira, somewhat helplessly pressing a hand to her forehead, "It's really just a sprain, Mira."
"Elfman! I told you not to move!"
Gray released a faint, icy blue chill from his hands, glaring at Elfman in annoyance, then suddenly noticed the Guild door open, "EZ? And who's this next to you?"
Ezreal led Gajeel over, smiled and greeted them, then introduced Gajeel, "Long time no see. This is a new guy, Gajeel Redfox."
"The Iron Dragon Slayer Mage."
The others were slightly surprised. Gray looked Gajeel up and down, "Another Dragon Slayer Mage. Where did you pick him up from?"
Ezreal was speechless, "Why is it always 'picked up'? Well, it doesn't matter. His background is a long story, but this guy was also raised by a dragon."
"Oh!" Cana looked at Gajeel in surprise, "Isn't that just like Natsu?"
Ezreal nodded. He glanced at Elfman's shoulder injury; it was indeed a sprain from overuse, and an ice pack would fix it, so he didn't pay it much mind.
Although he had teamed up with Gray and the others, after he dealt with the portal in Ultrac City, Gray and the others were assigned by the Guild Master to help other teams.
Gajeel's sideways glance swept across the Guild hall, "Hey, where's the Fire Dragon?"
Ezreal stretched, "Still on the battlefield, I guess. If you want to fight, I suggest saving some energy to help kill more Orcs. You two can compete on that, it'll make things easier for everyone else."
"I'll take him to see the Guild Master first. Talk later."
Ezreal waved goodbye to the others and headed straight for the Guild Master's office on the third floor with Gajeel.
When Ezreal pushed open the door to the Guild Master's office, Makarov was frowning at a stack of documents on his desk.
Ezreal, with his sharp eyes, noticed that they were almost all battle reports from various regions, as well as the actual situation of the Guild members in their respective war zones.
"You're back, EZ." Makarov smiled, picked up his tea, and walked to the sofa to sit down, inviting the two to sit with him.
Ezreal and Gajeel obediently sat on the sofa, facing the old man.
Although Gajeel had a bit of a fiery temper, he hadn't joined Phantom Lord and been influenced yet, so his character was still quite upright.
He was very polite towards this old man who seemed to possess both authority and kindness.
The three chatted briefly, and Gajeel also generally introduced his background and personal information.
Except when he heard that Gajeel's foster father was also a dragon, and like Natsu's father, suddenly disappeared in the year 777.
Makarov was slightly surprised, but then said nothing, readily called Mira to come up and put the Guild mark on Gajeel, and then simply arranged a place for him to stay.
"The male dormitory is still full. Jellal's small courtyard is still empty; you can take Gajeel there. The rent hasn't changed either." Makarov took out a house rental contract and a key from a drawer.
"No problem." Ezreal nodded.
Gajeel politely thanked him and took them.
Makarov looked at Ezreal, "Since you brought him, the task of guiding the new recruit falls to you."
Ezreal sprawled on the tea table and raised his hand in protest, "No way! I just came back from the battlefield and haven't rested for two days! This is exploitation!"
"When did you ever get your hands dirty? Didn't your Summoned Beasts do all the fighting for you? You're the only one free right now, if not you, then who?" Makarov looked at him irritably.
"I'm a Summoner, isn't it perfectly reasonable for my Summoned Beasts to fight for me? I even sent Yuumi out, and she's just a little cat less than a year old." Ezreal exaggeratedly held up a finger and wiggled it.
Makarov ignored him, casually throwing a report at him, "I'll give you one day off. The day after tomorrow, take your Summoned Beasts and Gajeel and quickly head west to help. Ikaruga's side still needs people. Cana and their support aren't enough, and that battlefield is full of our people."
Ezreal took the report, glanced at it, then frowned slightly and sat up straight.
The report was from the Magic Council, with bold, red text at the top reading, "Enemy has begun to show a large number of high-level Orcs."
Ezreal frowned, carefully reading the report, "Are there already other types of Orcs appearing?"
Makarov took a sip of tea, "It just started this noon. Besides that one portal near you that wasn't closed, the Magic Council has closed 13 portals."
"The remaining ten portals suddenly started spawning a large number of Orcs with extremely powerful individual strength."
"From the images in the photos, most of them are Dark Guild members. After fusing with demon beast bloodlines, their strength has greatly increased. Ordinary Mages are no match; most are at B-Rank Mage level, and some are even stronger."
"We are responsible for the western and southwestern battlefields. Mystogan and Laxus are leading people to defend the southwestern battlefield, and Erza and Ikaruga are defending the western battlefield."
"With only Erza as an S-Class, it's not stable enough. She'll be back tomorrow afternoon. You two can rotate shifts with each other, and everyone's pressure will be a bit less."
This time, Ezreal didn't decline, nodding, "No problem."
However, after a moment, Ezreal asked again, "Has the Council's talk about rewriting the portals still not been settled?"
Makarov shook his head, "Not yet. The original plan was to start this afternoon, but the new combat power the enemy has deployed makes it very difficult for us to approach the portals."
Ezreal frowned slightly, looking at the report in his hand without saying anything. He stood up, said goodbye, and left the office with Gajeel.
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