The Master of the House array allowed Ghirslak to use Invigoration on anyone and anything within the premises of the Golden Crown Mountain. Its only limitation was that it required physical contact with both its targets and master. It was the reason Ghirslak had noticed Orpal’s presence only after landing. The so-called "Dragon Nose" bloodline ability was a lie he had come up with to hide the existence of Master of the House. "I can smell many things. The presence of a prism instead of a crystal inside your chest, Meln Narchat. The residue of what’s left of the life force of the Dryad you inhabit after the idiot ingested your blood. Most of all, I can smell that whatever you are, you are not a Dragon!" Ghirslak roared. "You are an abomination. Worse than any lesser Divine Dragon. You have stepped out of the path of our forefather and defiled your body and honor in exchange for the power of a cursed object! "Wyverns have many flaws but we are still proud children of Leegaain. I would never become a thing like this…" "Upyr." Orpal filled the blank for him. "Upyr." Ghirslak nodded. "My bloodline has fallen low but I’ll never follow a bastard such as yourself. I wouldn’t even bother wasting my breath talking with you if I didn’t need a way to keep you distracted." The Wyvern patriarch had called the Council under the cover of Orpal’s aura, exploiting his pompous speech to activate the amulet unseen and trigger an emergency call. "Then you shouldn’t have warned me about it!" The Upyr wearing Orpal’s face conjured Doom Tide to suck the world energy away and depower the arrays restricting his body and powers. Unfortunately for him, multiple sets of the Spirit Spell Griffon Fetters chained him to the ground. "As I said, you are the idiot, not me." Ghirslak laughed. "Telling you about my deception was another deception. My allies are already here." "And we are pissed." Feela the Behemoth cast her Spirit Spell, Life Spring, on the Upyr. "I can’t wait to face the real you, Incontinent King." Seven-man squads of Awakened kept both Silverwing’s Annihilation and Bastion at the ready while specialized teams unleashed Spirit Arrays against which Doom Tide was useless. Life Spring enveloped the Upyr from head to toe and revealed his connection to Orpal by making the energy flowing from Night’s crystal to the prism visible to the naked eye. The crystal-destruction spell Baba Yaga had shared with the Council didn’t work on Night anymore but Feela had derived the means to find Orpal’s real body from it. "You can’t be too far from your puppet, or it would be too weak to be taken seriously." Feela bolted after the emerald string with her subordinates protecting her flanks and back. "Shit!" Even with Moonlight by his side, Orpal had no confidence in taking so many Awakened head-on. Feela and her apprentices had their best spells ready whereas he had nothing but his equipment. A snap of his fingers triggered the Upyr’s prism self-destruction and painted the Golden Crown Mountain black. Continue your journey on freewebnovel The darkness element stored in the prism went haywire, releasing a massive blast that would have flattened the mountain if not for the multiple barriers trapping the Upyr. Not a noise or tremor escaped the boundary. As for Orpal, he opened a Warp Steps and ran away. "I thought you had insulated the space!" Feela snarled. "The space surrounding the Upyr!" Ghirslak retorted. "I can’t cut the connection between the crystal and the prims. Even if I could, then what? We would have a mindless flesh puppet and your spell would have never located Narchat." "You’re right. I’m sorry." Feela stomped her foot in frustration, leaving a deep mark on the ground. "It was brave of you to buy time for us, Ghirslak." "Please, I’m on my mountain and Narchat is at the deep violet." The Wyvern shook his head. "Even if Poopie used Doom Tide, I could have kicked his ass on my own. I needed your help because his real body was outside the range of my arrays, and without them, facing a mage with his tower is suicidal." "Still, good job." Feela nodded. "Now we know what he’s after and who he can get it from. Alert all Hippogriffs, Wyverns, and Jǫrmungrandrs. They are the only ones who can teach him how to use Dusk’s stolen abilities." *** Meanwhile, Orpal crossed hundreds of kilometers with each Warp Steps he took, galloping north toward the Gorgone Empire’s borders. ’Why didn’t you tell me about the Dragon Nose bloodline ability?’ He asked. ’Because I’ve never heard of it.’ Night replied in confusion. ’It must be some kind of powerful skill Dragons keep secret for some reason.’ ’No shit.’ Orpal snarled. ’So much for Wyverns being the easiest mark. You guaranteed me Ghirslak would have taken the bait.’ ’I’m as surprised as you are.’ Night cut off her powers, storing Moonlight inside her pocket dimension and making Orpal plummet into the ocean with a splash. "Now stop whining. ’I have fixed the crystals, not you. I’m the one who has a mage tower and holds all the power. You have yet to achieve anything by yourself aside from keeping yourself alive. The next time you dare talk to me like I’m your servant, we are done. ’I don’t need you to ignore my mother’s orders anymore and the crystal-destruction spell no longer stops me from finding a better host. You’d better remember that.’ ’And you’d better remember that your equipment is attuned to me.’ Orpal replied. ’It will suit poorly anyone else and without mommy dearest, you can’t reforge it. On top of that, I dare you find another Divine Beast willing to bond with you. ’You’d better remember that.’ Night refused to let him win or have the final word. ’Who’s our next target?’ She asked, settling for a draw. ’Jorl. Tyris’ fallen son.’ He replied. *** Tracking a Divine Beast was almost impossible unless they wanted to be found. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞 A Divine Beast could traverse thousands of kilometers in an hour simply by flight. Their lairs had protective arrays empowered by their bloodline abilities and hundreds of years of improvements. In Jorl’s case, none of that was true. After being banished from the Kingdom he had lost everything. His lair, his treasures, and the many enchanted mines he had acquired through the centuries lay beyond the borders between the Griffon Kingdom and the Gorgon Empire. Jorl had tried many times to return home to retrieve at least the most important artifacts in his collection but the moment he entered Tyris’ turf, he was surrounded by Griffons and escorted out. The Guardian never bothered coming in person and the Griffons had their orders. Talking was useless and any attempt to resist his escorts resulted in a beating that lasted until Jorl was literally kicked out of the Kingdom, earning him the unflattering nickname of "the black and blue Griffon". Only a few hundred kilometers separated him from his life’s work but it was so unreachable to him that it might as well be on another planet. ’It’s cute of Mother sending more than one of my violet-cored siblings to deal with me.’ Jorl hiccupped in drunkenness.