The Innkeeper

The battalion did not rest long, but it was better than nothing. As soon as the mech was dissolved, and the 1000 soldiers appeared, they immediately got to work. They knew their duties well.

About 300 of them deployed tents from their personal spatial tools and entered before going straight to sleep. The tent, simple and compact though they may seem, were actually fitted with a sound insulation formation, as well as an alarm function in case of combat nearby, so they were well suited for such situations.

The remaining few either stood guard, or began to cook large, nutritious meals. The meals were not elaborate. In fact, it was a fixed meal called Everything Stew, in which they boiled whatever rations they had directly within Botlam Dew.

The Botlam Dew was technically no longer useful in healing now that they were within the Foundation realm, but that did not mean it had no effect at all. It was great in relieving accumulated physical stress, not to mention that it tasted great and served as an excellent base for soups and stews.

That, when mixed with the highly nutritious vegetables, herbs and spirit treasures that they either collected from various planets or bought from the alliance, resulted in a meal that was both delicious, and extremely potent in reenergizing them!

Cooking the stew, even on high heat, cultivation powered flames took an hour, since all the vegetables needed time to cook and soften up. Once prepared, the guards and those on cooking duty ate, after which the first 300 were finally woken up.

They had in no way had enough sleep, but such things were already luxuries they could no longer afford. The other 700 then took out similar tents and went to sleep while the first 300 then ate and stood guard.

This was a routine they had perfected during their many deployments, and had used on many occasions. Such an occasion gave them the perfect opportunity to accumulate stories which they would later regale the future generations with, starting with the phrase "back in my day". But secretly, they enjoyed it.

A total of four hours later, once both groups had roughly 2 hours of sleep each, as well as good food, their rest time was over. During this time the Marzu had used their magical powers to scout the planet for more monuments, while Alfonso from the Inn had delved into the minds of some of the dead demons.

Although they were already dead, using the newest powers he had acquired, he could read some of their memories. It did not give the best results, as their brains were already deteriorating, or crushed, or burnt or suffering from some other kind of malady. But the few corpses he managed to find which were in relatively decent condition were able to provide him with some basic information.

Just based on the information the Marzu and the battalion uncovered in these few hours, they discovered three more such monuments, all being built at a similar scale and rate. Although they had expected as much, actually discovering how many monuments were being built was harrowing, especially when taking into consideration how many monuments they did not even know of.

The construction of these monuments had to be stopped, lest the planet itself is teleported away before the rescuers arrive.

They set their sights on the nearest monument, and the battalion reformed the mech. No matter how formidable they were alone, they were at their peak in their mech form. After all, each and every move of it was being powered by 1000 soldiers in complete, perfect unison.

Moreover, once they were in their mech form, a few of the Marzu cast a few spells on it, augmenting its speed, power and energy recovery.

Then… the leader, Feyore, cast a spell on the mech. With a flash of blinding light, wings of feathers similar to the Marzu appeared to grow from the mech's back! The mighty wings spread, larger in span than the entire mech's body, and connected seamlessly to Z's mind. Moreover, Z could tell that the energy used to form the wings was not being drained from the mech, but was being powered externally.

"Let's hurry!" Feyore said, failing to suppress a growl.

Besides their massive and strong bodies as well as an abnormal affinity for magic, there was one more key characteristic of all Marzu. They were extremely aggressive once they identified their prey. After all, once, the Marzu had wiped the entire Kraven race from the entire Origin realm, preventing them from even spawning again in the entire realm. Although it was unknown how they had achieved such a feat, everyone agreed that the act was a display of extremely vindictive behavior.

The mech spread its wings and jumped high into the air, before flapping its wings and taking flight. For some reason, flying was extremely intuitive, as if the information for flight and navigation came alongside the wings.

Without flying themselves, the Marzu were able to keep pace with the mech as they sprinted in a straight line towards the next monument. With a speed that it had never reached before, the mech reached the next monument in just over an hour and, surprisingly, discovered another army waiting for them.

But from a distance, the army seemed even bigger than the one they had faced before.

"Can you prevent my attacks from causing space tears as well?" Z asked Feyore.

"Yes. We're already doing it, no need for concern."

It was not just Z that smiled upon hearing that, but the mech itself as well. For too long, they had been holding back. Finally, they could let loose now.

Purple flames enveloped the flying mech. Like a shooting star, it streaked across the sky, and like a meteor, it crashed directly into the enemy's defensive formations.

Though no tears opened, as the Marzu had promised, the ripples in space seemed to travel across the entire planet at that moment. Yet the fight was just beginning.