"Packs of magical beasts are incapable of handling a horde and there aren't enough Emperor Beasts to keep the situation in check.

"That's why we are systematically scouting the region and exterminating any monster we find. Missing even one means having an army of those bastards grow right under our noses." The Nue snarled.

"I've dealt with plenty of monsters in Garlen and they never amounted to much. How can you have so many problems with them despite the Council's help?" Lith asked.

"Son, Awakened are a minority whereas all monsters have powers and they spawn faster than you can sneeze. What you faced in the past were nothing but small tribes constantly kept on the run. Here we are talking about hundreds, if not thousands of them.

"With leaders, strategies, and when they found them, even weapons. Don't forget that not all monsters are brainless creatures. Balors and Orcs are the main threat because they can tame other Fallen like Goblins or Trolls.

"To make matters worse, Abominations are on their side. They protect the monsters from us Emperor Beasts and in exchange their leaders feed them with the dregs of their society." Xoth said.

"Is there any cleansing operation I can take part in?" Lith asked.

"Son, the only reason why Reghia isn't swarming with Emperor Beasts is that we're conducting cleansing operations non-stop just to keep this region safe. You're spoilt for choice."

Xoth pressed a small crystal placed in the middle of the floor that generated a hologram of the area surrounding Reghia. Several red blinking dots of different sizes covered the blue light of the hologram, each marked with a threat level and a rough estimate of the enemy's numbers.

"These are just today's threats that have yet to be dealt with. Teams have been dispatched on site already to recon before planning their attack. Take your pick."

"I'll take this one." Lith pointed at an invading army strong of a thousand units, with even cavalry and an Abomination. His choice made Solus shiver and Xoth scoff.

"Do you realize that they are trained, well equipped, and that a single Chaos spell can kill even one of us?" The Nue asked.

"Yes, that's why I wasn't planning on going alone so much as on joining the team taking care of the issue." Lith replied.

"Thank the gods. For a moment I feared the Council had sent us another brainless idiot." Xoth exchanged communication runes with Lith and then informed the leader of the assault team of his coming.

The crystals on the office's floor lit up in sequence, forming a Warping array leading Lith to his destination.

"Wait, what? Are we going to attack already?" Lith stuttered in surprise.

"No time like the present. Olua will debrief you in person. She was just missing one person for the assault. That old fart will be glad to skip all the finesse guerrilla warfare requires and fight the enemy head on." The Nue said.

"She will also kick Xoth's ass for calling her an old fart and yours as well, rookie, if you keep me waiting." A huge talon came through the dimensional tunnel along with the voice, dragging Lith to the other side, where his companions were waiting for him.

Olua was a Roc, a lesser Phoenix over 20 meters (66') tall that resembled a giant eagle covered in golden feathers streaked black all over. With each one of her breaths, world energy amassed inside her body, causing electrical sparks between her feathers.

'Bright blue core, just like you. She's physically much stronger and she's somehow accumulating world energy as I do in my tower form. How and why she does that are beyond me.' Solus said.

"A lesser Dragon? Too bad you're not a lesser Griffon, Bodya, otherwise we might have played Garlen's Guardians." She said to a huge snake over 22 meters (72 feet long). The entirety of his body was covered in bright blue scales streaked orange and blue all over.

Bone spikes came out of his spine and sides, making him resemble a living chain saw.

"You'd rather be thankful that we Nidhoggs have nothing in common with our forefather, or I'll waste the whole day bickering with the shortie about semantics." Bodya belonged to Fenagar the Leviathan's offspring, yet he had nothing against Dragons.

Lith was over 2 meters (7') tall in his hybrid form, yet he felt insignificant compared with the two Emperor Beasts.

'Deep violet core and with more strength in one of his coils than you have in your whole body.' Solus said. 'Dammit, I got used to your perfect body refinement to give you an edge over the competition, but I guess that only applies to humans.'

"Don't look so glum, kid. I was just joking. At least you're still a Wyrmling and have room to develop whereas adult Wyverns are bite sized." The lesser Leviathan's smile was one of the creepiest things Lith had ever seen his whole life.

It revealed a perfect row of fangs, each one bigger than War, from which dripped a dense brown liquid that Lith assumed it had to be saliva. At least until a drop as big as a potion flask fell to the ground, opening a hole the size of a bowling ball.

"Thanks, I guess. Where is the rest of the group?" Lith's question made them laugh.

"It's just the three of us, rookie." Olua said.

"First, my name is Scourge. Second, Xoth told me that your squad missed one member to be complete. What the heck of a difference does just one person make?" Lith asked.

"It's very simple. This is the enemy army." Olua drew a circle in the soil with one of her talons.

"While this is Bodya and I." She drew two smaller circles, one in front and one behind the enemy. "With just the two of us, the monsters can run to the sides and then spread, making it impossible for us to kill them all."

"With one more member, however…" A wave of her wing moved one of the two smaller circles to the sides and made appear a third, forming a triangle formation.

"… all we have to do is surround them and kill them faster than they can escape."

"That's it? That's your big plan?" Lith didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "What about the Abomination? Does your elaborate scheme take that into account as well?"

"Gods, Olua, the kid is right. We never discussed who's going to face that poor excuse of an Awakened." Bodya said.

"We can't just draw lots like the last time. When the Abomination ran away, the mission almost failed because I had to abandon my position. I'd say to make the Abomination decide." The Roc said and the Nidhogg approved.

"Meaning?" Lith regretted not having picked a simpler mission that he could handle on his own. Yet for the Scalewalker armor test run, he needed more than just a few dumb creatures that he could shot down from a distance.

"The stronger an Abomination is, the less they like taking risks. The moment they understand their little army is going to lose, the Abomination will sound the retreat and cut their losses by having their main army take head-on the one they deem to be the weakest of our group." Olua said.