Rowan called for Maeve, she and Captain Titus were behind him, and the Guardsmen were at the rear, eyes peeled for any dangers, "Thank you for your efforts earlier. I would not have made it here without you."
"It was my honor, My Lord. Without the strength of your arms, any contribution I make would be useless" Maeve replied.
Rowan also gestured to the captain, who came closer to him," Captain. Nowhere in your contracts as Guardsmen of my family was it stipulated you had to fight against Abomination. I salute your bravery and of your men. The tales I heard of the Guardsmen bravery do not do you justice."
Captain Titus bowed formally to him," We are your shield and spear, My Prince. Our lives are given worth by service to the Throne of Kuranes."
Service. Rowan mused internally. For men like this, that word carried a heavy weight. Rowan nodded at the captain, "I want you to know this captain. That I would do all in my power to make sure the fallen are given all the honor they deserve."
Rowan dismissed him. The Captain bowed once more and stepped back.
Rowan turned to Maeve, "We are going to call a general meeting to deliberate on the current situation, but I would like your opinion on our next action"
Maeve thought for a while," My Lord, Abominations are a regional disaster. If the infestation is not kept in check, then theoretically they could expand forever, creating stronger battle forms until they would overrun the entire continent.
"I have sent missives to the Family Palace and the Army barracks at Wurhold, which is the closest to Calcutta. We could hold out for a while inside the manor. I am sure reinforcement would soon arrive."
Maeve sighed, "At first I thought the safest alternative was to leave this region and flee to Aroth the Capital, your family home lies there. We could easily bring enough firepower to scour out this infestation. frёeωebɳovel.com
"The presence of saboteurs in the manor and the quantity of Abominations we are encountering means that if we leave, we won't be able to defend ourselves adequately, for we lack any credible intelligence on our foes.
"I cannot be sure which level of battle form they might have achieved. And if there is a possibility that they have a champion, then we are doomed.
"As you know, we have two main routes of passage: Through the forest or the lake, we have seen the Abominations retreating into the lake, so that's a death trap in the making, and I have no doubt there would be more Abominations inside the forest, we are effectively surrounded with no path of escape.
"We could decide to flee with the Guardsmen and try to push through the obstacles that we would encounter, but I would leave that as our last option.
"Staying and creating a defense in the manor would be the lesser of two evils. We would wait for reinforcement, and we can mount an effective defense, with the Defensive Sigils on the manor, we might be able to survive."
"How could this happen?" Rowan said, "How could such a sizable amount of Abomination surround this town without any indication?"
Maeve frowned, "Logically it should be impossible, for the amounts of Abomination we have encountered, they would have needed to have killed tens of thousands to grow to this level, There had been no reports of towns around here falling to their infestation. The only adequate explanation would be Dominators… Powerful ones or a Dominator with a niche ability."
Maeve struggled to hold her laughter and Rowan turned his blank face to hers, and she said, "Master, with the ability you have shown. I know of no Dominator your age that could best you, and you became this powerful in a matter of days. Forgive me, master, for what I am about to say next… I hate your father, for numerous reasons, but he gave you the chance to grow powerful, and by the gods I believe you have surpassed all expectations."
At what cost. Rowan sighed inside, could the infestation of these abominations be a way to test the ability of the Singularity? Well, he would get the answers soon or not, he was helpless in his approach to tackling this conundrum.
Rowan spoke in a soft voice, "I believe the core of the Abomination is here. Within Sylvan lakes."
He was silent for a while as he adjusted the Axe and shifted it to his shoulders, "Did you see the direction the Abomination fled to?"
"I believe it was towards the lake." She said, "Though I saw a few proceeding to the west of the town towards the woods."
Rowan paused for a while before he said, "Did you see a gigantic head of a woman, with the eyes of a goat?"
"I did not, Master, and with the chaos, I might have missed it, but that would be quite difficult for me to overlook such a sight. I do think, however, you might have seen what you saw because of your perception. Whatever methods you use to see, had shown you a world that is blind to me."
My sight! Had he not been searching for a way to see the truth, to understand his situation? This could be the key to start unraveling the darkness he found himself. He could glimpse a world outside the sight of most, then he would see truths that were denied him.
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