The sun began to rise in the sky and noon was about to begin. Going by his own world's standards, Hedin felt that it should currently be about 10 pm.
They were nearing Arlam Village and were just about at the edge of the forest that surrounded the Mathers' Domain. Looking up, Hedin saw the image of multiple ravens flying overhead.
Their plan of action was quite simple, but difficult to accomplish. To avoid alarming the cultists and have them lash out at the villagers, Hedin was to make a wide scale illusion using the miracle, veiling the main road in a thick shade of concealment. Naturally, anything that came towards the main road, or any cultists stationed near it needed to be eliminated.
The concealment was just that. Concealment. It could not attack by itself. If Hedin expended more of his cradled power, it could be accomplished, but there was no need for that. In the first place, anyone that ventured close enough to observe them would also be similarly concealed by his power. And since they too were concealed, no one would hear their screams and they naturally didn't need to take care of the bodies.
Hedin could burn them without too much trouble.
The spirits that had been following behind Hedin all this time were also especially useful.
They could be used for scouting, attacking, defence, and a plethora of other uses. No to mention their combat effectiveness was quite shocking.
If Hedin had been aware of his own prowess with spirits beforehand, he might not have approached Crusch at all and would have decided to take care of it all by his own hands.
Regardless, he would not fret over his actions. He had only gained more help through this method.
Their retinue made their way on the road that tore through the wall of trees, heading right for the Village.
Hedin closed his eyes, concentrating. A phantom pressure seemed to seep out from around himself and the sun seemed as if it had gained a new life, shining down with renewed intensity.
All around the road, a ripple began to appear, spreading out in concentratic waves. The soldiers that followed along suddenly felt a shiver go down their spine and looked into the woods that were still mostly covered in darkness despite the overhead sun.
"All done." Hedin said to Wilhelm.
The old butler nodded and signalled to the soldiers to make further haste.
That took a lot of power. Hedin thought solemnly. He again threw a look at the ravens flying overhead. Sensing his meaning, they began to level out towards the ground, pressing closer to the road and heading inwards to scout for lingering cultists in their way.
"I have to say, Sir Hedin." Wilhelm's voice cut through the heavy sound of their march.
"The way you and your feathered companion do things... it's certainly nothing like I've ever seen before."
There was a trace of jealousy in his tone, but more than that, there was amazement.
Hearing the compliment, Hedin let out a light chuckle. This was the first time he had heard someone compliment a hunter on how they and their raven worked together.
Provided, Hunters didn't get many compliments in the first place back in his world, but the fact of that matter was - Every Hunter had a raven.
All of them had largely the same relation with their ravens, some better than others.
Rarely was it that someone was a hazard to both themselves and their raven.
And so, hearing someone compliment him about it was... well, it certainly contained a humour that only Hedin could understand.
Just as they were travelling, the ravens picked up a group of people rapidly approaching the road ahead of them. Hedin alerted Wilhelm and the other leaders of their convoy. Not long after, something broke through the tree line!
Rustle! Whoosh!
Daggers flew towards them from the left, their edges glinting with reflected light. Wilhelm moved like a phantom. He jumped off the ground dragon and in one single motion, deflected every single dagger thrown!
"Burn them." Hedin muttered under his breath. His eyes which had miniature suns burning inside them saw the hundreds of fire spirits converging towards the trees.
And then-
Shaaaa!
A rush of heat escaped from the tree line, and although the heat was scalding and the forest pressed close on all sides, it failed to burn any of the wood or the leaves.
Wilhelm wasted no time and dashed toward the source of the sound. Dashing into the forest, he quickly found what he was looking for. There on the ground lay the charred bodies of 5 people. On their sides were curved daggers; the same kind that had been thrown towards them.
Wilhelm could not help but smile awkwardly upon seeing their bodies.
Hedin really has all the help he can get. I hardly believe he really needs us. Just with his spirits, he has more than enough power to take care of the witch cult. Wilhelm shook his head of these thoughts and made his way back. Having confirmed the kill, they were again on their way.
Similar things happened on the way about 3 times. Cultists would rush towards the road, only to be killed by Hedin's spirits or cut down by Wilhelm himself. Hedin took the opportunity to try out different methods of using his spirits.
The cultists were burned, frozen, buried, ripped to shreds, melted to the bone, and even had so much healing cast on them simultaneously by hundreds of water spirits that their cells divided so rapidly it caused them to die due to nutrient loss.
Hedin had some degree of idea about the nature of healing magic and how it functioned. He was also aware of why healing magic, as powerful as it was, could not be used as a substitute for immortality; the reason was cancer. After cells divide for too long, something causes them to eventually mutate into cancerous cells; siphoning off nutrients and essentially becoming leeches. If persisted, that leads to complete organ failure due to lack of nutrients.
The same could be applied to normal healing, where if cells divide too fast without giving the person sufficient rest or the needed energy, their organs would simply give up.
As they got closer to the village, Rem suddenly looked a bit alarmed.
She didn't look back and instead, tugged at Hedin's arm that was wrapped around her waist.
"Hedin, my sister is close." Her soft voice echoed in Hedin's ears.
Hedin narrowed his eyes and looked up at the sky where the ravens were circling. His eyes clouded over for a moment and indeed, one of the ravens hovered above a figure clad in grey robes travelling along the road. A hint of pink lingered below the grey hood, telling of the person's identity.
"I see her." Hedin told her. He nodded and alerted the others of the approaching oni maid.
It was not long before they crossed paths. Onis were powerful physical fighters, and moving quickly on foot wasn't too difficult for them. In fact, the two sisters' physical strength could almost certainly eclipse most Lugunican knights' even without their horns.
"Sister!"
"Rem!" Rem jumped off Patrasche and ran into Ram's embrace. The two sisters quietly held each other for a few heartbeats before separating. Ram turned her emotionless gaze to Hedin.
"You've grown quite bold Hedin. Marching an army into Lord Roswaal's domain like this."
"You know what this is about. Don't make me repeat it." Hedin chuckled at her humor. Ram was always like this, her stoic humor all the more prevalent in a tense situation.
She nodded grimly.
"Lord Roswaal has moved the majority of the villagers into the sanctuary. The ones left are among the male adults and some women who preferred to stay behind and evacuate to Hanumas to make more room for the others in the sanctuary." She explained.
"More room?"
"The transport." She said without missing a beat. "The carriages were only so many. Although Lord Roswaal has arranged for more by now, none too many could be prepared for such a short time. And there was always the chance of an attack if they caught every villager evacuating."
Hedin nodded, feeling that Roswaal had made the right call for the situation. But there was one thing that bugged him.
If the cult knew that the village was preparing an evacuation, why had they not attacked until now?
He had, at first, prepared to tell Roswaal to hold off the evacuation until they got there; from where they could more easily take care of everyone in case of surprise attacks. But then, thinking that they might be too late, he had not done so and Roswaal had went ahead with the evacuation, which contained equal, if not greater risk.
But the cult had stayed quiet.
...
Why?