My Fusion System: Fusing Weak Soldiers with Direwolves at the Start-Chapter 56: Increasing Military Strength

Opening her eyes, everything looked blurry, as though a veil of smoke lay between her and the world. Shapes shifted in the haze, walls, furniture and someone moved from left to right, a silhouette gliding gently across the room.

As she blinked, her vision slowly cleared. The fading sunlight flickered across rough stone walls and wooden beams, and a faint scent of herbs hung in the air.

She could now see clearly, Mildred, robed in flowing midnight blue was standing by a low wooden table. She picked up a carved cup and whispered softly into it, her lips barely moving. As the words left her mouth, the liquid within the cup began to bubble gently. A thin stream of green mist curled upward, dancing in the air like smoke from a sacred censer.

"You’re finally awake," Mildred said without turning, her sharp ears twitching ever so slightly. As she turned, a soft smile spread across her enchanting face, calm and comforting like the first breeze of spring.

Her black eyes shimmered with subtle relief. With graceful, unhurried steps, she walked toward Vi, who lay on a bed of tightly stuffed straw, covered with a thick fur quilt stitched from bear hide and deer pelts. She extended the cup with both hands.

"Take this," she said gently. "It will help your body recover faster. Lord Kaelor demands my presence. I won’t be long."

As Mildred moved toward the wooden door, her boots hardly making a sound on the floorboards, Vi stirred. Her lips were dry, but she managed to speak, her voice hoarse from the smoke and battle. "Where is he?"

Mildred paused at the door, hand resting lightly on the handle. "In the town square," she said, glancing back with a knowing look, then slipped out, closing the door behind her with a quiet thud.

While walking out of the yard, Mildred glanced once more at the crack that ran jaggedly down the side of the Focus Crystal. Her pupils trembled. That kind of damage... it shouldn’t have been possible.

In all her years of study, only her master, an Acranist of terrifying skill, had ever been capable of such a feat. A Focus Crystal was a conduit of will and magic, and to crack it meant its core was forced beyond its limit, drained to the dregs, yet still compelled to act by sheer, overwhelming will. That kind of strain... that kind of force... it left her unsettled. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

But whatever had swirled through her mind scattered like windblown mist as she arrived at the town square.

She moved through the crowd, eyes lowered beneath her hood. The townspeople were packed tightly, murmuring, confused, curious. Her boots thudded softly on the timber planks of the raised platform as she climbed up beside Kaelor, who stood like an immovable statue.

Kaelor stood tall on a wooden podium, framed by the setting sun behind him. He leaned slightly on Ignis, the longsword’s silver blade grounded before him, both his hands gripping the pommel like the hilt of a judge’s gavel. His brown eyes scanned the crowd with a quiet, unreadable focus, watchful, unwavering.

Below the podium, the Guardsmen stood in disciplined formation. Two flanked the front of the platform, two more stood on each side, and a final pair at the rear blocked the townspeople’s view of what lay behind: a bloodied heap of massive, broken bodies. Dead bats, grotesque and nightmarish, limp and heavy as they sprawled over one another. Each the size of a full-grown bull with wings spread out. A stench of burnt fur and blood lingered in the air.

Gasps and hushed fear rippled through the crowd. Many had never seen a bat so large. Others looked away, sickened by the sheer size and horror of it.

But all that fear pivoted the moment Mildred stepped up beside Kaelor, throwing her hood back. Eyes widened.

"West of our town," Kaelor’s voice rang across the square, deep and clear, "resides the Ivory Hills, home to these monsters!"

A murmur rolled through the people, then...

"They’re devil spawns! They’ll kill our children!" cried a woman’s voice from somewhere near the front. Her tone cracked with terror.

Kaelor’s eyes flashed, and he pointed to Mildred without turning his head.

"And it made her like this. You all knew her before... but can you recognize her now?"

A stunned silence fell.

Some in the crowd had found it odd, how the beautiful black-haired stranger had walked unchallenged through the gates and straight into the lord’s residence. How even Damien, who rarely trusted anyone, had spoken with her and returned without alarm. Now the reason revealed itself like a cloak being pulled away.

Mildred tilted her head up, eyes distant as the last rays of sunlight touched her skin. A subtle tremble passed through her shoulders, and then, enormous black wings burst from her back. Leathery, elegant, and immense. They spread out slowly, casting a wide shadow across the podium.

A hush fell over the crowd.

With a single graceful flap, she ascended, feet rising until they hovered above Kaelor’s head. There she stood, aloft, suspended in golden light, a haunting silhouette with the poise of an enchantress, yet marked by darkness.

The people stared, some mouths parted in awe, others in dread. A mix of disbelief and reverence painted their expressions. They saw not just Mildred, but a reflection of Kaelor’s mysterious power, his reach, his will.

Kaelor’s voice thundered once more, cutting through the silence.

"Baron Fenlan has threatened the safety of our town, your freedom. Everything you enjoy here could vanish once he marches his men through our gates. So I, your lord, have made a choice. I will enter the Devil Wilderness... to find strength, to seize opportunity."

A wind brushed across the square, fluttering cloaks and skirts. Kaelor paused, letting the words settle like seeds.

"For that," he continued, "I need warriors. Men and women willing to take an oath. To fight, not just for survival, but for the good of Redwood.

He took a breath.

"A hundred. A hundred is all I need. With two hundred, we might stand a chance against the Baron’s trained legions. With two hundred, we can claim a part of the Devil Wilderness."

He hadn’t even finished speaking when movement surged through the crowd. A tide of motion.

Men stepped forward, first cautiously, then with bold steps. Most were former slaves, now citizens. They had tasted freedom, and they would not return to chains. Over ninety men came forth. The rest were women, hard-eyed, strong-willed, each with their own fire.

Some others tried to join, but were halted by the Guardsmen at the front, Kaelor’s line had been drawn. A hundred was the limit. No more.

It was enough.

Together with the thirty-nine Dreadclaw Guardsmen and forty-one human ones already under his command, Kaelor would have two hundred blades at his call.

As the crowd parted, Kaelor’s gaze caught the first man who had stepped forward. The man stood tall, muscles carved like stone. A wide frame, likely a former mason or someone who had learned to disguise like one. A long horizontal scar stretched across his nose, and his eyes... they didn’t flinch. Cold, like forged steel.

Kaelor’s stare locked on his.

In his mind, he gave the command. "System, fuse them with two Giant Devil Bats each."

A moment later, a whisper echoed in his ears.

[200 FP deducted!]