Chapter 278   - Tower master

Standing on top of Roland city walls were a few guards stationed. There weren't many for Roland relied on the orbs to fend off any strong creatures that may be approaching.

Still, guards were needed in case there ever was an attack from another kingdom or the shadow plague. Although this was never a main concern for the city, Roland was stationed in the centre of the kingdom, so if the Alure kingdom was attacked the borders should be notified first.

But as the guard looked out into the distance, he could see a strange sight up ahead.

It looked like a small black cloud was moving at great speed coming towards them, it might have been nothing but just in case the guard decided to check it out. On the wall were a few large looking telescopes stationed across the wall. The telescopes were powered by a beast crystal and a magic circle and allowed them to see a great distance.

Once the telescope was activated, above it, a large display would show what was out in the distance. The guard then activated the telescope and moved it to where the black cloud was. That's when the images above could be seen, it wasn't a cloud but an army of Harpies all bunched up together, in total there was around two hundred of them and they were heading straight for the city.

The guard turned to his superior who was relaxing nearby.

"Inform the General immediately, there is an army of winged beast heading in our direction. It's best to get a tower master to deal with this."

Although the city had the orbs to defend from ariel attacks, it was never designed for something like this. It was designed for single powerful beasts or a strong ariel attack. The beast number was too many and would only damage the orb eventually allowing the Harpies into the city.

A few moments later after sending the message a few guards had climbed up the tower with a female by their side. She had long purple hair and had bold lipstick to match it. Instead of the white robe that many mages at Roland wore, the woman wore a black one. And in her hand was a large staff with a beast crystal at the end.

"We welcome you tower master Mia." The guard said as he bowed down.

"This better be as bad as you say it is, I have important research to attend," Mia complained.

The guard said no more words but simply showed Mia what was being displayed above the telescope.

"I guess this is worth my time."

******

As soon as Rick exited the forest and saw the others were still alive, he immediately ran over to them, not to ask for help but because this was his tactic. If the crowned Harpy was to sweep down and kill them one by one, then the more people he had around him the more chance he had of surviving.

As he moved and joined up with Lenny and the others, so did the two Harpy groups in the sky. Now around two hundred harpies followed them up in the air along with the two crowned harpies.

"What do we do, theirs two of them now!" Martha shouted.

Lenny's forehead was heavily wrinkled as he was in deep thought. There were many spells he knew and if it was just himself in this situation, he would be able to get out of it but not with everyone else.

Then one of the crowned Harpies from above, shrieked once again, signalling that it was ready for another attack. It looked down on the group of people and decided which one would be its target.

"What's that!" Rick shouted as he looked ahead of him.

Just before the crowned Harpies was about to dive down, a large line or purple energy was coming towards them. The two Crowned harpies went up higher into the air, but the same couldn't be said for the other harpies.

The attack came out too fast for them, and they were already flying at their highest point, no longer able to climb. The purple energy came out and hit every single one of them. The energy passed through their bodies and at first, it seemed like nothing had happened.

But then slowly, the Harpies wings started to crumble away into dust and eventually was blown away into the wind like a pile of ashes.

"That came from the city, we're saved!" Rick shouted.

But Martha thought differently, from the concerned look on Lenny's face she knew it wasn't over. As she looked above the two Crowned harpies were completely fine and still following them.

That's when Jack had had enough. Jack who had been at the back of the group for the longest time sprinted up to the front. With Roy still held in his hands.

While running just behind Lenny he placed Roy over his shoulder. Then made sure to hand the bag over to Lenny as well.

"Look after them," Jack said.

"No, wait! What are you planning to do?"

Then Jack suddenly stopped and turned and started running towards the other direction, he went from his two legs onto all fours, and his body started to change and finally, he had completed his transformation.

Using the power in his leg's he jumped up a great distance and managed to grab one of the Crowned harpies. This surprised the beast and caused it to panic. The weight was slowly bringing the beast down and it started to fly frantically in all different directions.

Then finally the Crowned Harpy was taken out of the air and they crashed back into the forest.

"Will he be okay?" Martha asked.

"I'm not sure, the foolish boy, he acted too fast, now that the other harpies have been destroyed, I should be able to protect us just long enough to reach the city."

Rick had witnessed the whole thing, as Jack ran back towards the beast, he had seen him transform into some sort of creature.

"You guys have been harbouring a monster," Rick said.

"Don't you dare call him a monster!" Martha snapped back.