The military convoy left the church grounds at 3 pm, almost two and a half hours after they had received the emergency request. The naga matriarch had been healed and would be leading them to her village, but the journey would take 6 hours. More if they had to fight off swamp beasts along the way but the matriarch assured them that she could keep the beasts away.
It took nearly an hour to reach the nearest village. The sight that greeted them was pure destruction, houses were knocked over and trampled on, there were multiple holes in the village walls, and many places were on fire.
The strangest part was that they couldn't find any corpses, neither the beasts nor the lizardfolk that were supposed to live here.
"Most of them would have escaped into the swamp when the wall was breached. They should be at the next village." The naga matriarch informed them. But she had a concerned look on her face.
"Good, then we shouldn't waste any time here. Clerics cast a life detection spell, if there is no response we will leave immediately." Commander Stan said.
After casting the spell, the clerics got a strange look on their faces, "Commander there are no life signs anywhere in this area. Including outside the village."
"Did the dark beasts take all of them?" Commander Stan mused to himself. "Continue the march. We are making for the next village."
As they travelled through the swamp others began to notice that Dracon Fen was too quiet. In the past they would have heard birdsong, fish splashing, or animals hunting, but today there was no noise anywhere.
Subconsciously they increased their pace while becoming more vigilant of their surroundings.
"Scouts take some men with you and investigate the surroundings. Travel in groups of three. I don't want any surprises." Vice-commander Adam ordered.
"Yes, sir."
A scout called out to Gregory and Chronos while passing by.
"The two of you will come with me. I'm Oliver, I look forward to working with you."
"Alright."
"Hold on. Everyone come receive a blessing and some support magic." Sariah called out.
Nearly 50 men gathered around the carriage she was in. It only took a minute to cast a weak blessing and a support magic that cancelled scent.
Like this everyone would be able to avoid enemies better or deal with them when they showed up.
Chronos' group went southeast to search in front of the army once again. However, the more they searched the less they found. It looked like anything that wasn't hiding had just disappeared and not many animals were hiding.
"Do you think that the dark beasts are smart enough to clean up the corpses?" Oliver asked.
"Maybe, the last time we were attacked something intelligent was clearly guiding them. It might be hiding any signs of combat so we can't tell how many of them there are. Although if this matches the story of the hero and the thorns it could be much worse." Chronos said.
"Ugh, I know that story, I hope it's not true. But I haven't seen any of the thorns from the story, do you think they are hiding from us?" Oliver commented
"It would make sense; they were beaten in the past. For now, let's try to reach the next village as soon as possible or find survivors hidden in the swamp." Gregory said
Continuing on for nearly 3 hours they found several villages both on the army's path and a little further away but all of them were empty or destroyed. Two of them looked like whoever had lived there had run away before the dark beasts found them.
The matriarch insisted that this was normal, that when large parts of the swamp were threatened the smaller villages would gather together with the larger villages. The only reason they were finding so many signs of destruction was due to this attack being so sudden.
The army stopped for a short dinner to keep up strength and Chronos decided to speak with the commanders about a suspicion he had.
After he ate, he went to the commanders' tent only to be stopped at the door.
"No entry is permitted for mere mercenaries." Stated the guards as they smirked at him.
He recognized the markings on their armor as those of the second order.
"Heeh, I'm surprised that a group of losers were allowed to come on this expedition. The church must be really desperate right now, or maybe your parents are the desperate ones. It's been how long now? And they still can't get access to the inner swamp?" Chronos said with a bright smile on his face.
All nobles knew that those who bordered the Dracon Fen swamp really wanted access to the naga tribes' alchemy methods, as they were among the best in the world, but the naga were very protective of this information as it had come from a naga that had accompanied a dragon.
Like all serpent type beastfolk they revered dragons and wouldn't give away any information about them easily.
The naga could also sense the greed from the nobles and had refused to share any of their secrets. This had become a sore spot for many noble families over the years.
"You..."
"Enough. I will not have you idiots causing problems here. Anyone who does will be left in the swamp on their own. Come inside Chronos." Commander Stan said as he opened the tent flaps.
Walking inside Chronos could see vice-commander Adam as well as another two vice-commanders he didn't recognize on one side of the tent, on the other side was the commander of the second order with a vice-commander and two knights that looked like they came from nearby noble families.
The second orders commander had blonde hair and blue eyes as well as a toned body; he looked like the typical noble in the Leighla kingdom. At least his body looked like he trained but Chronos could smell the distinct scent of pills and potions on him, most likely he had used them to boost his strength to the fourth rank of lord, which was a requirement to being a commander or high rank noble in the Leighla kingdom.
The men around him were all in the knight rank but the vice-commander felt weaker than he should be. On the other hand, the two knight captains had several exposed scars showing clearly that they were experienced and had been on multiple campaigns.
The second commander sneered as he saw Chronos, judging him to just be another mercenary.
"What did you want to say, Chronos?" Commander Stan asked.
Seeing the second commander look down on him Chronos decided to show off some. He exposed his wolf ears and tail before speaking.
"I believe the reason we can't find corpses is because nobody has died yet, or very few have. The dark beasts are probably kidnapping them and taking them back to their camp."
When the second commander had seen his tail, he got a complicated look on his face but still chose to interrupt.
"Hmph, what nonsense. These creatures are mere beasts, yet you speak like they possess intelligence. We should throw you out for such foolishness." the second commander said.
"We already know that some greater intelligence is guiding them based off of previous attacks, only a true fool would willingly ignore such proof." Chronos smirked as the second commander's face darkened.
"I believe so as well. What I don't understand is why? Any guesses?" Commander Stan questioned, not clarifying if he believed the second commander was a fool or if he thought people were being kidnapped.
"That depends what legends you believe in." Chronos looked frustrated as he spoke.
"Believing in fairytales is ridiculous." The second commander said before shrinking under the glare of Commander Stan.
"Go on. I will judge fairly based on what we have seen."
Chronos proceeded to tell them about the legends he and Gregory had looked into during their free time.
"...After consulting these legends, I believe that the enemy needs to capture people alive in order to create shadow copies of them. Using these shadows, they would be able to attack anyone in their path." Chronos finished speaking.
"That is nothing but conjecture. The amount of power and the spells involved in creating an entire army out of shadows would be impossible for anybody to accomplish." The second commander scolded him for what he saw as ridiculous fantasies.
"I agree, for a single individual it would be impossible. They would need to be an immortal at least. However, there is proof that dark beasts have appeared in the past, discounting these stories just because you aren't capable of it is stupid." Chronos countered.
The second commander glared at Chronos, "You dare insult me!"
"Do you admit to being incapable?" Chronos glared at him ready for a fight.
The second commander couldn't say anything to that, backing down he thought about how to get revenge later.
Watching them settle down Commander Stan spoke up, "So far we have only seen monsters or beasts made of darkness, we have also never seen these thorns in the legend. Right now, this is just your suspicions, without proof I won't act on it as it would put my men in danger."
Before Chronos could say anything, Commander Stan raised his hand to stop him. "I will remember what you said, if you are right then there is a chance to bring back most of those who were lost in the battles with the dark beasts. Adam, instruct the scouts to search for any shadowy thorns on their searches."