Heaven's Greatest Professor

Warden and Agnes used their respective abilities to fly above the canopies of the towering trees, searching for moonspawns.

If the forsakens were indeed looking to hunt even one of them, the battle wouldn't go unnoticed, considering how calamitous a moonspawn was. Besides, Agnes had been in the inheritance ground before; she knew the general locations of the moonspawns.

The ambient aura of the place shifted to a shadier vibe as they moved. The murky thickness of the suppression grew as well, which only implied they were heading in the right direction.

After moving about thirty miles eastward, they finally came across wreckage that spanned over a couple of square miles. Trees were uprooted and scattered around, the natural aura twisted into something murkier. There were footprints of different sizes and shapes. They both came down to check and deemed there were signs of humans, orcs, goblins, trolls, and an enraged moonspawn.

However, from the look of things, it appeared the battle had ended a few hours ago. Finding no signs of dead forsaken, they could only assume the forsaken came out victorious and withdrew, taking all their dead and the loot from the moonspawn with them.

"With everything the battle took from them, they shouldn't be able to move fast," Agnes commented. "Not to mention they would have to carry the huge body of the moonspawn."

Warden narrowed his eyes as she met his gaze. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"Depends on what you are thinking," she snorted. "But if it's anything related to finding the forsaken and beating them in their weakened state to rob them of their loot... I'd say you're a very screwed person."

"No, not at all," Warden returned. "I was thinking of taking a bath. Didn't you see the river down the cliff when we were flying?"

"If you like to bathe in chilly, heavy water with high darkness concentration that will impair your energy base, then be my guest. Go ahead and jump off the cliff; I won't stop you."

"Come on, it didn't feel that bad," Warden said, narrowing his eyes. He really needed a bath, what with all the blood smeared on his body.

"It's every bit as self-contained, but that's the nature of darkness essence," she said, as her wings of darkness unfurled behind her again. "I'd say you'll survive with your tough skin and high regeneration power, but most iron rankers wouldn't. If they were unable to come out within a quarter of an hour, it is safe to assume they are dead."

"You seem very knowledgeable about the stream..."

"That's because I dived into it before," she took flight. "It was a very exhilarating feeling, if you ask me. Whatever created the stream, it is likely related to the moonspawn and the traitor god."

Warden followed. "Sounds very interesting..."

"Let's take care of the forsaken first, then you can court death as much as you wish."

They followed the trail the forsaken left behind. Though they might have staggering numbers and forsaken power to defeat a moonspawn together, one thing was certain: they weren't any bit good at keeping their tracks hidden. From the look of it, they didn't seem to care about keeping themselves hidden at all.

Well, Warden wasn't complaining. After all, this played in their favor.

Agnes was right in assuming the forsakens wouldn't be able to move very far. Even with all the head start, within half an hour, they found them moving on the rugged path. Surprisingly, they had kept the moonspawn alive. It was chained all over its huge jagged form, put to rest as dozens of trolls carried it on a similarly huge makeshift trolley.

"Why would they keep it alive?" Warden wondered aloud.

"The same reason most traitor god cultists try to catch moonspawn alive," Agnes answered as they descended. She enhanced their concealment as they slowly followed the forsakens. "A corpse of a moonspawn is a big fortune... but a living one represents boundless wealth."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know the specifics, but with resources from a dead moonspawn, one could only strengthen oneself to a certain limit. However, with the living ones, it's different. They are likely planning to use it in some kind of sacrificial offering. Let's stop them before they have the chance."

"What's the plan?" Warden asked, sizing up their opponents. There were easily hundreds of them, mostly orcs and goblins. Among them were several chief-ranked forsakens, but the most formidable were the sixteen trolls.

"Kill the forsaken, then flee with their loot," she said straightforwardly.

"Hmm, perhaps I can do better than that," he said, taking out the bow and arrow she had given him.

They stood on a higher cliff, within range of their target. Considering the huge form of the monstrous creature, Warden was unlikely to miss his shot.

Warden drew his light-attributed energy and imbued it into the arrow, aiming at the unconscious moonspawn.

"You won't be able to kill it with one shot," Agnes remarked with a frown.

"That's the point, captain," Warden smiled, his eyes fixed on the creature. "I did not intend to kill it, only awaken it."

He shot, the arrow released in a streak of golden light. It flashed through the space and stuck into the lock of the chain that held the creature captive. The Arrow pierced through the lock and bit into the moonspwan's skin, waking it up.

The trolls halted in their movement, and then the creature unleashed it most horrifying uproar.

With one lurched it moved away from the trolley, almost managing to chains. Unfortunately, there were three more locks in the chain. It needed to break through one more to even stand a chance of gaining its freedom.

Warden wasn't going to help anymore.

Some of the orcs looked around in search to look for the culprit that shot the arrow. Unfortunately, they didn't have men to spare as the moon spawn tumbled into its wreckage dance once more.

"You know, this is kinda evil right?"