Bro, I'm not an Undead!

Chapter 1293: Recruitment Squad

The group descended down the dips in the ever-snowy lands. The Sacred Forest nurtured a lot of creatures that had an affinity for the cold. All year round, everything remained lathered in snow and ice; the mana here which carried a queer bit of persistent frost that commonfolk wouldn\'t be able to live through, was likely the cause.

Yuyui felt an odd sense of intimacy with this place even though she shouldn\'t have. She had only been through this place twice and both times, she remembered being scared for her life. The last time she crossed the frozen forest was after Skullius had rescued her from the Temple of Unlusted Tears. They had been passing through on their way to Genhuis City when Skullius had suddenly lost his Hybrid Luman form, turning into the Penetrator for the first time before her.

Yuyui had been mortified.

She smiled as she thought about that. It seemed like so long ago now.

"Something funny?" Grim asked her with a brow raised.

"Just a memory," she said to him with a broad smile.

The two were walking alongside two guardian beasts and a Herald.

Azila looked as majestic as ever, his large frame making the great collection of cold structures around him look smaller and less impressive when compared to him. It was only natural, especially when you considered that the Great Mane Mountain Ape had a halo of light above his head.

A smaller but more powerful beast moved by his side. It had black and white fur, long arms like Azila\'s and a face no different to that of a bat; it was pink and raw, with beady black eyes moulded over it. Karima too held a beam of light above his head. He strutted on with an air of superiority.

His appearance fascinated Yuyui quite a bit. She had met the beast during her master\'s battle with his alter and since then, she had been very curious about him.

This unseemly crew had been made possible by the Herald among them, Erlton the Reader. He was the one to convince Karima to travel to other Sacred Forests and broker alliances with other powerful beasts. He had shared this arrangement of his with Skullius after his battle, and this was what had sparked the Hybrid Warmoth to send Yuyui and Grim to help.

Upon leaving the Empyrean Bosom, the two had used a special artefact Skullius had given them to attract Erlton\'s attention. It released a very familiar signature of genuine Divine energy that drew the Herald to them at once. Erlton had then collected the two for this journey and explained to Azila and Karima their affiliation.

So far, Karima, Azila and Erlton had managed to rally two guardian beasts to their cause. One had refused to join them; Erlton\'s presence had not been a persuading factor at all.

"She was weak anyway," Karima had grunted as they left that Sacred Forest. "Besides, she doesn\'t look like the type that is able to rally together all the beasts in that forest. If I didn\'t have honour, I\'d usurp her authority."

Typically, Sacred Forests had the potential to have multiple guardian beasts. It depended on their size and the richness of the mana that was expelled from their centres.

Many beasts in the Urja Forest fled from the group as they passed. Even the most brazen ones picked up on the hint that these five were not to be messed with. If Grim and Yuyui had chosen to bring the twenty and some Stark Troops under their charge instead of having them on standby outside the Forest, the reaction would have been much worse.

"Could I ask a question?" Yuyui suddenly said to Karima with an innocent smile. "I always had this nagging curiosity when I met you before. What\'s the purpose of that ring of light over your head?"

Karima was normally irascible and unfriendly towards humans but he couldn\'t have dismissed Yuyui.

The fact that she was allied with the monstrous, four-armed being that fought the man with the dark robes was certainly something that would have made him more accommodating to her, but even more stalwart of a reason, was that Yuyui had dragged Karima, Azila and Dellan to safety before Skullius\' final gambit, the world-destroying ray had completely obliterated the Tremur Forest!

Her reaction had been even faster than Erlton\'s. The Herald had settled for saving only Soidon splits of a moment later. The sudden loss of the Tremur, as Erlton judged, was likely why Karima agreed to help him in the end.

"The \'rings\' are called Crowns. They qualify us as guardian beasts. Every beast born in the forest has to submit to a genuine guardian beast. No exceptions," Karima explained. "Though, for others with great potential, the Crowns hint at the chance for Ascension."

Grim tilted his head.

"Ascension?" he asked.

Karima looked irritated by the question.

"Beasts born in Clusters are usually more powerful than we, born in Sacred Forests. They are nurtured by their Clusters with overwhelming abilities. We on the other hand, have purer blood and greater privilege. Once we reach a certain stage, we Ascend and acquire the authority to create Permanent Havens."

Sensing that both Yuyui and Grim were about to ask what Permanent Havens were, Karima hurriedly explained.

"It\'s the closest a beast can reach to Divinity, the next step of a Majestic Territory for beasts. I know of only one guardian beast who managed to create a Permanent Haven - Asthon," Karima spat. "He abandoned it for the sake of a deal he made with a human thousands of

years ago."

It was no mystery that Karima disapproved of Ashton\'s decision. Even the bird\'s reasoning was laughable to him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Ah, we\'re here," Erlton said.

Before them, the flaky white snow feeding into a strange marsh that slowly swallowed a few dozen dead trees, smoothly changed to a sky-blue hue.

There was a Dormant Territory up ahead.

The waves of power from it, so neatly hidden that only the strong could sense them, told of the presence of a beast on the level of Karima and Azila or perhaps even stronger.

"Shall we?" Erlton said, gesturing with a hand for Karima and Azila to go first. The two beasts

obliged.

Grim and Yuyui followed.

But then the latter stopped. Her head suddenly whipped behind her, a pale, fearful look on her

face.

The Eye of Dispersal immediately spawned on her forehead.

"Hey. What\'s wrong?" Grim asked, frowning.

Erlton too looked at Yuyui in surprise.

The lime-haired girl didn\'t know how she could have explained what she had sensed. It was

an odd sense of... resonance. She had felt something deep within her resonate with something

out there, somewhere in Pelian.

She looked at Grim.

"I...I\'m not sure," she said, but then her eyes flickered.

A notification from the guidance field had appeared in her vision and what it told... made her blood turn cold.