King Of Limbo

The Crown Rigar leader Yugar laid on the decimated ground with disbelief still presently written all over his face. The creature so many of his men died fighting had fled just like that.

"No... Argh!" Yugar tried to stand and found he couldn't even do such a simple task due to the injuries that plagued him both externally and internally.

Broken ribs, fractured bones, internal bleeding and mental exhaustion. He sat back down on the ground and held his chest with his right hand as his left one looked rather limp.

'Why, just why...'

....

Meanwhile back on the Sovereign the two people responsible for causing the serpent to change course were currently standing on the deck.

Lady Rose was guiding her scouter through the murky waters with finesse while Aron continued to observe the situation.

"I didn't take you as the type to spare people." Lady Rose pointed out because Aron had only given her the signal when Yugar was the only one left.

"We need him, firstly to delay those who will arrive with explanations about the situation even if only for a moment and secondly a leader who has tasted defeat and losses is more likely to make mistakes."

Once again Aron had made another plan using the current statistics to his advantage. This tenacity to try and try again even when previous plans failed is what allowed him to reap benefits even when he didn't get what he wanted.

But a plan based on only certain aspects was bound to have things change a few times at the very least.

In theory the serpent was supposed to go attack the remaining settlements given that the fighting forces were sent away but in actuality only their leaders and a few members of their clan left.

Every clan would put their needs before others so despite Yugar's declaration it would be stupid to organize their strongest and very best when they had not suffered any losses at all.

This itself wasn't a problem as Aron only needed to cause a little bit of chaos and instill fear within the Komi to the point where some would be open to accepting external help, this would be the most welcomed outcome but just in case Aron needed to make a backup plan.

...

Not surprisingly the serpent had managed to destroy the remaining settlements but the majority had evacuated their people to the inland settlements leaving only a number of capable fighters who also managed to flee with minimal injuries.

Since their numbers had greatly reduced, it made it hard for the serpent to narrow in on them alone. The smaller the heat the more blurry they looked to the serpent, almost invisible even.

Jagu's main settlement wasn't spared either as suspicion would build if it were, at the moment Jagu was clueless about this fact and assumed the serpent was still being hunted but even if he knew it could simply be blamed on the serpent moving freely.

As morning came Lady Rose lured the serpent out towards the sea to make it impossible to find. This meant she had been continuously controlling her scouter without rest although she didn't display any signs of exhaustion to this and remained stoic as usual.

While Lady Rose kept the serpent busy Aron had called for a meeting with the other members where he would discuss the next step forward after spending some time thinking things through.

They had all gathered in the dining area and waited silently for Aron to start speaking. "Damn, what is with this atmosphere, everyone is making me nervous." A tipsy Jin was the first to speak up and point out the awkward silence.

"It's called seriousness." Claudia sighed and bluntly remarked while Jin just shrugged innocently.

The atmosphere was a result of Aron which was quite obvious. Despite his age and apparently being a commoner the rest of the members just couldn't see him as one even after all this time.

They found it hard to approach him and the few times they would run into him on board they would stand around rather awkwardly which was the same for Lady Rose and Jagu.

Evanora was considered odd but wasn't at all intimidating while Claudia, Jin and Xavier were much easier to talk to.

It's not like Aron was unaware of this but he just saw no point in exerting extra effort and expending more time interacting with people he largely considered temporal. It really was as simple as that.

"Whatever it is, let's move on to the reason why I asked you all to gather here." Aron finally spoke, causing everyone to turn towards him and listen attentively as he continued.

"I spent much of the night observing the situation with the creature but it's only gotten worse. Contrary to what Lady Rose and I predicted, the force attacking it yesterday failed to keep it at bay and it escaped."

Upon hearing this Jagu showed a rather complex look on his face and interjected. "What do you mean?! So it's just attacking randomly?" Jagu asked hurriedly and looked ready to rush out of the room.

Aron gave him a calm glance before continuing. "At the moment no, but it resurfaced several times throughout the early morning so it's safe to assume more settlements were destroyed. As for where it's lurking now we're not sure, Lady Rose is currently trying to find it with her scouter." Aron fully explained the situation or rather scenario they conceived.

Jagu had no reason to doubt them since he knew they stopped guiding it at the Crown Rigar settlement. It was very possible for the serpent to defeat the Crown Rigar leader after seeing what it did to the Bull chief so he didn't suspect a thing and instead worried about whether his settlement was struck or not.

"I have to-"

"No you don't." Before Jagu could speak Aron cut him off sternly and narrowed his eyes. "Yes it's possible your settlement was struck but what will rushing there now achieve? Even if you somehow find the creature, how will you defeat it? You've seen for yourself what it's capable of."

Jin came by Jagu's side and gave him a pat on the shoulder and Jagu calmed down slightly. He was one to easily get influenced by emotions no matter the case such as earlier when guiding the attacks of the creature.

"But you have a plan to find and defeat it right?" Claudia interjected and added showing she had confidence and trust in Aron... at least in the eyes of the other members.

Whatever her true reason Aron nodded at her words. "I do, this plan has two parts hence it shall need two teams. One that will handle finding the creature and another that will handle defeating it."

So far everything Aron had been saying were lies mixed just well enough with some truths to make them solid.

The actual reason in forming two teams was mostly for appearances sake. To fool both Komi and their own members as to what their real plan was.

Lady Rose had suggested the team for searching and had even pointed out locations that Aron should send them to.

These locations were in the territories of many different tribes so she even provided small runed orbs that could be attached to individuals belts or waist and provide a protective barrier.

The attack team was suggested by Aron to provide the illusion of them actually wanting to assist. It required more patience but it was less troublesome than directly having to fight off both Komi and the creature.

Aron continued to go into such immense details of the plan that the members present had no doubt that this was genuine, even Claudia who made it a habit to never fully believe Aron's plans couldn't find much fault with it. The few faults she did find were quickly explained by him.

The most jarring being would the Komi allow outsiders to help them in the first place. Aron had answered that if that were indeed the case then they'd have no choice but to be on standby and observe.

The other interjection came after members were assigned to teams. The attack team consisted of some of the most capable combatants such as Aron, Jin, Jagu and Xavier while the search team was made up of some of the least capable.

A good number of members remained unassigned and it was said they would be on standby on the airship alongside Lady Rose and Evanora who were also on neither team.

....

After everything was explained Aron handed out the runed orbs to the search team members and left to return to Lady Rose. However as he was walking into the hall Claudia hurriedly followed behind him.

"Wait." She called out causing Aron to stop and look back at her. Her expression looked rather unhappy at the moment and as someone who never liked to mince words she quickly got to the point. "Why was I assigned to no team? I understand that I am lacking in combat prowess but surely I can handle searching."

Aron was rather perplexed by her reason in following him. It had become common for her to be subtracted from tasks that involved combat.

"You can but now it too late. If you want to be in the field then next time I'll be sure to incorporate you. Is that all?" Aron's reply took Claudia aback and seemed to only make her feel worse.

If she couldn't even search then was all she was good for talking?

"I don't mind not taking part in certain tasks but when it becomes too common it feels like I'm back home where everyone just assumes all I'm good for is one thing. I understand the danger, but if I want to gain respect and grow as a person then I need to experience it, don't you agree? So why not assign me to the team?" Claudia argued with her immense vigor causing Aron to walk over to her and close the distance between them.

"Because you're too important to me to risk losing so plainly."

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