"Apologies don’t erase the insult, nor do they restore trust," Lohan said coldly. "Astralis Requiem is a professional organization, not a charity for rude neighbors. If you want us to intervene against these ’metal monsters,’ you need to hire us."
Peoni raised her head hesitantly, wiping the tears of light streaming down her tiny face. "Hire? But... Petal Village is poor... we only have seeds and colors..."
"Something of value equivalent to the services of two Level 12s and a Level 10 Elite General must be paid for our services," Lohan insisted, glancing at Lisa, who nodded with a gleam of approval in her golden eyes.
If their relationship with Pip and Elle had been good, Lohan would have charged only a token fee for their help, but considering the disrespectful attitude they had shown, the price had now risen significantly.
Considering that Elle had paid something very valuable for them to save Pip, Lohan doubted they didn’t have something even more valuable stored away in Petal Village.Pecan and Peoni exchanged glances, a silent and desperate conversation taking place between them. They thought of their sap reserves, the silk petals, but nothing seemed enough to pay for such a display of power.
Suddenly, a series of distant explosions echoed through the forest, louder and more violent than the previous one, with the smell of gunpowder and ozone reaching them here.
The fairies shuddered. They knew time had run out.
"Peoni... Peoni promises!" The fairy cried out, in a final act of desperation. "If the Great Lords save Petal Village, the Elder will hand over the Tear of Flowers to Astralis Requiem!"
The silence that followed was broken only by the whistling sound of Pip and Elle’s wings, which froze abruptly. Elle, who had been flying silently beside her brother, brought her hands to her mouth in shock.
"The Tear of Flowers?!" Pip exclaimed, his voice faltering. "Peoni is crazy?! That’s the Fairy Elder’s greatest treasure! He’d never agree to that!"
"The Elder would rather hand over the Tear than see our roots burned by those monsters!" Pecan retorted, desperate.
Lohan didn’t know exactly what the "Tear of Flowers" was, but he sensed the shock and reverence in Pip and Elle. If that was capable of leaving his subordinate "General" in that state, it was exactly what the guild needed for its next upgrade.
"We accept the terms," Lohan declared, his blue mass pulsing with an authoritative glow. "Peoni and Pecan, you’ve just bought the salvation of what remains of Petal Village. Pip, Elle, lead the way. Lisa, let’s show these metal monsters what happens when they try to destroy our garden."
Lisa growled in approval, her paws already glowing with the white light of Spiritual Fire.
Even if this reward held no direct value for Lisa, she didn’t care one bit.
From everything she’d experienced with Halon, she knew that if he absorbed this so-called "Tear of Flowers," his power would likely grow tremendously, and consequently, the Guild would become even more powerful, securing even more resources and wealth in the future.
This would be like an investment for her; although it wouldn’t bring an immediate return, the power gained from it would surely come with hefty and generous interest.
Before leaving, Lohan executed a fluid movement through Partial Division and expelled a generous mass of his neon-blue gelatin.
The clone quickly assumed Halon’s perfect spherical form and positioned itself at the center of the entrance arch of the fossilized tree.
’Keep the base protected.’ Lohan mentally ordered the clone, even though they shared control over that body, without needing to issue direct or verbal commands, simply because he was curious as to why people did that with clones in the anime and movies he watched.
The clone vibrated in confirmation, but Lohan was only disappointed.
’What a huge waste of time, why should I tell myself what to do if my clone was already created based on my intentions and thoughts?’ Lohan rolled his eyes, at least still satisfied that he hadn’t said that out loud.
With Pip and Elle shooting ahead like trails of light, Peoni and Pecan straining to keep up with the two, and Lisa becoming a reddish-white blur carrying Lohan on her back, the group plunged into the dense forest.
As they advanced, Lohan activated his Thermal Perception and every perception skill he possessed, mapping the approaching battlefield and taking this opportunity to better understand the surroundings of their Guild’s base.
With that, he could already sense the intense heat signatures and the irregular signatures of the invaders.
As the Astralis Requiem duo approached Petal Village, the atmosphere changed drastically.
The purified air of the Mythlorien Forest was being replaced by dense smoke heavy with the intense smell of sulfur.
Lohan was constantly mapping the battlefield even before they crossed the last barrier of oak trees, and what he saw was a scene of strangely orchestrated chaos.
Hundreds of crawling creatures infested the village.
Metal Lizards, with scales that reflected fire like armored mirrors, and Fire Lizards, which spewed bursts of magmatic flames at the houses suspended on the giant flowers.
What caught Lohan’s attention most was not the number, but the coordination of these lizards.
Lohan and Lisa had already faced and killed dozens, perhaps hundreds, of lizards of different elements, and what they all had in common was that, despite being very intelligent in individual combat, these creatures’ IQ was deficient in every other way.
They didn’t even know how to coordinate with each other to carry out joint attacks, often getting in each other’s way. Even more so with lizards of different elements gathered in one place, they didn’t even understand that each other’s elements nullified one another’s attacks.
But through his telescopic vision, Lohan spotted a group observing this battle from a distance in a very suspicious manner.
An imposing Lizardman, holding a bone staff that pulsed with an unhealthy green glow, surrounded by two humans who watched the slaughter with disdain.