Chapter 447 - Tamers War - Tasty Calculations

Ren and the girls felt part of the energy too, but couldn’t completely understand the ominous nature that Mooshito could perceive.

"Did you feel that?" Liora asked, rubbing her arms as if she had felt a chill.

Her Will o’ Wisp flickered nervously, its pale blue flame responding to energies that its mistress could barely feel.

"Like something very big is... watching," Luna nodded, her wolf moved like a restless shadow at her side.

The Dark Wolf’s supernatural senses were clearly detecting something that made it uncomfortable, its form wavering between materialization and dissolution as if it couldn’t decide whether to fight or flee.

Larissa looked toward Ren with concern. "What’s happening?"

But Mooshito had completely lost his previous tranquility.

The little creature that had been so relaxed and confident just moments before now radiated anxiety that was almost scary to witness. Its usual composure had been replaced by panic.

"What’s wrong?" Ren asked immediately, noticing how his small companion seemed genuinely alarmed for the first time since he’d known him. "What is that energy?"

Mooshito remained silent for a moment, as if processing information.

The silence stretched uncomfortably, filled with tension.

"It’s something I didn’t think I’d encounter being so small," he finally murmured, his voice carrying enormous worry that contrasted completely with his diminutive size. "From what I can sense, it’s grown to levels I didn’t expect so soon... Is someone really...?"

"What has grown?" Larissa insisted, her royal training demanding clear answers to direct questions. "What are you talking about?"

"They’re beating me... by a lot," Mooshito continued, but seemed to be talking more to himself than to them.

The small mushroom started vibrating on Ren’s head, clearly processing some type of complex calculation.

"He-e-y!" Ren tried to get his attention. "E-xplain to us what’s happen-ing!"

"Is there something we can do?" Liora asked, seeing the creature’s obvious anxiety.

"Is it dangerous for you?" Luna added without taking her gaze off the "perfect jelly body" of the small mana being.

But Mooshito seemed unable to hear their questions, completely absorbed in whatever analysis he was performing.

The girls exchanged worried glances while Ren tried to obtain more information from his silent companion.

The air around them seemed to have become heavier, as if the strange energy they had felt continued growing in intensity. On the battlefield below, even the soldiers who had been constantly bombarding remained motionless.

"I need the absorbed energy from all those infected soldiers more than ever!" he declared with urgency that made the four children startled. "If I don’t get it, I’ll lose the race!"

"What race?" Ren asked, completely confused. "What are you talking about?"

"We don’t understand anything," Larissa declared with frustration that reflected all their feelings. "Can you explain what’s happening?"

Suddenly, Mooshito jumped from Ren’s head, clearly prepared to launch himself toward the battlefield.

His movement was so quick and determined that it caught the girls off guard.

But this time Ren was alert to his antics and managed to catch him mid-jump...

"Don’t be foolish!" he exclaimed, firmly holding his companion. "The soldiers are constantly bombarding! And there are still many enemies standing! They’ll tear you to pieces and you’ll take a long time to regenerate!"

Mooshito looked at him with an expression that Ren interpreted as exasperation.

The frustration radiating from the small creature was huge, like a caged animal that could see freedom just beyond its reach.

"There’s no time!" the mushroom responded, struggling to free himself from Ren’s grip. "If we wait then...!"

His voice cut off abruptly...

"Then what?" Larissa asked, her patience finally reaching its limit. "Finish the sentence!"

"What happens if we wait?" Liora insisted, her own anxiety rising in response to Mooshito’s obvious distress.

Luna moved closer. "Whatever it is, we can help you. But you have to tell us what’s happening."

Mooshito looked at each of them, as if evaluating how much he could reveal.

♢♢♢♢

The understanding hit Leonel like a physical blow...

This wasn’t random. It wasn’t coincidence that ten Gold-level tamers from Yino appeared exactly now, exactly when most of the main defenses had been drawn away toward the main conflict.

Someone had been planning this.

Someone had been waiting for exactly this moment of vulnerability, when the castle’s defenses would be at their weakest and response options would be most limited.

And judging by Kassian’s laughter, that someone had connections that Leonel had significantly underestimated.

"Guards!" Leonel shouted, immediately shifting toward combat readiness. "Defensive formation! Incoming hostiles, ten Gold-level units!"

But even while giving orders, Leonel realized that four guards, however powerful they were, against ten Gold tamers including a double, in enemy territory, with potential prisoner allies inside...

The odds weren’t exactly in his favor.

And for the first time since he had taken control of Goldcrest castle, Leonel began to wonder if he had been a bit too confident about his ability to hold territory that technically wasn’t his yet, against enemies who clearly had been planning this since way before the moment he had arrived.

Kassian’s laughter continued, growing more confident with each passing second, as if he could taste the approaching freedom... and revenge.

♢♢♢♢

Leonel’s four high-level guards fought with everything they had, but from the first exchange it became clear they were doomed.

They weren’t just facing ten enemies of similar rank, but among them was a powerful double with Gold ranks who stood out like a storm among breezes. And his main beast... that three-legged crow was nothing to underestimate.

Leonel tried to use ice like his mother, channeling his power through techniques he had learned during years of intensive training. Ice crystals sprouted from the ground, creating barriers and spears that should have given his group a defensive advantage.

But his level was much lower than Selphira’s.

Where his mother would have created impenetrable walls, Leonel barely managed to form shields that crumbled under the first serious attack from Gold Ranks. His ice spears also disintegrated against their defenses like toothpicks against armor.

"It’s not enough!" he murmured with frustration, watching how his best techniques proved useless.

He achieved nothing important. He hadn’t even had time to take Kassian out of the crystal prison to take him hostage, a tactic he had considered.

The battle ended faster than he had expected.

♢♢♢♢

The sound of crystal breaking resonated through the castle as one of Yino’s Gold ranks destroyed the prison door.

"Lord Kassian!" the rescue soldier called. "We’re here to get you out!"

Kassian emerged from the prison with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, followed by his relatives who seemed more relieved than surprised by the rescue.

The family’s reaction suggested they had been expecting this outcome, as if the rescue had been anticipated rather than hoped for.

"Perfect timing," Kassian murmured, but Leonel noticed something strange.

Kassian’s hands moved subtly, as if he were manipulating something invisible in the air.

The gestures were too specific to be nervous habits, too purposeful to be unconscious.

"What are you...?" Leonel began to ask, but Kassian ignored him completely.

"Ravenspire," Kassian addressed the rescue group’s leader, "take my relatives to the other side on the largest beasts. This territory is... for now dangerous for them."

His tone was casual, as if he were discussing the weather instead of coordinating an evacuation during an active war.

"Of course," Ravenspire nodded, but there was something calculating in his expression.

The deference was professional but carried undertones that suggested complex political relationships.

"And me," Kassian continued, "take me to my little brother’s school before leaving. I’m going to take him too, I think he still serves us... And finally..."

Leonel felt a stab of terror seeing that Kassian was turning toward him slowly.

The movement was deliberate and predatory, like a cat that had finished playing with its prey and was ready to deliver the killing blow.

"And what about Selphira’s idiot son?" he asked rhetorically, directing his gaze toward Leonel for the first time since he had emerged from prison.

He made a cutting gesture across his neck with his finger.

The gesture was simple, unmistakable, and carried the weight of absolute authority.

Leonel immediately panicked.

"Wait!" he shouted, instinctively backing away. "We can negotiate! I can do anything! My family has resources, territory, power...!"

The desperation in his voice was raw and undisguised, the kind of fear that stripped away all pretense and revealed the fundamental terror of impending death.

Kassian and Ravenspire looked at each other and laughed.

It wasn’t the laughter of dramatic villains or the cruel laughter of torturers. It was the shared laughter of two people who had just heard something useful.

"Anything? Oh, Leonel... but you really have to want it," Kassian shook his head, as if scolding a child for a minor mischief. "If you truly desire it ’with your heart’, we have something for you... Since Klein has failed so much, it’s convenient for us to have a plan C."

He turned to Ravenspire.

"Did you bring that unpleasant beast?"

Ravenspire nodded with a smile that promised pain.

Leonel swallowed hard, his mind racing through all the terrible possibilities.