Chapter 573: How do you go for a simple raid and return with the enemy King!?

THUNDER THUNDER THUNDER

As Kael hovered in the air, looking down on the world, lightning kept falling down relentlessly.

There were about sixty warriors, more than a hundred normal Stormcallers, and about a hundred and fifty beasts watching him, but...

Not a single being dared to get close to him.

It wasn’t about the winds circling around him that made reaching him next to impossible, no, most beings were much further away from those winds.

Because it wasn’t the physical aspect or the fact that they couldn’t reach him.

It was... the mental aspect.

Stormcallers and their beasts, they had all frozen. The multiple jolts of lightning falling down from the sky and burning everything in their way had... put them in a strange trance.

Kael no longer looked like a human or a threat to them—

He...

He looked like a God.

The God of Storms who was angered because of their actions.

The worst part?

’Those people’ had already disappeared. They disappeared the moment Kael arrived and the Stormcallers were attacked. That pretty much killed any motivation the Stormcallers possibly had in the battle.

Right now, all they could do was... stare.

And of course, protect themselves from falling off, while defending against the jolts of lightning that were still raining down on them.

Amidst the chaos, Kael, who never once seemed out of control, looked at Zoraa with the same expressionless face, then, he looked at his dragon and—

He nodded.

Igni understood what his father wanted and flew away. Zoraa remained on his back—what else could she even do?

Her Sanctuary was sealed, and if she moved too much and fell, she would fall right into that abyss-like fog with no way of protecting herself.

They wouldn’t even be able to find her body.

So she could only sit like a good girl and... let the dragon take her wherever he wanted.

What she did do, however, was turn back and look at her settlement, at the place she called... home.

Stormcaller Settlement was... in shambles.

Zoraa wasn’t able to see it very clearly because of the strong winds, fog, and distance, but what she did see, even through all this...

Was more than enough to make her heart squeeze.

Smoke came out from almost all the Stormcaller living sections. She could see more than five collapsed bridges—bridges that would easily take months to rebuild, hence restricting most of the Stormcallers’ movements.

Only the Stormcallers with flying beasts would move. Distributing rations and everyday supplies would now become a hassle. Stormcallers would basically be carrying dead weights all the time.

Elite warriors, warriors who were supposed to lead them through wars, would now be forced to work as porters, moving things from one section of the settlement to another.

It was easy to see that the Stormcaller efficiency would now drop by a significant amount. Gathering armies, handling emergencies—all of these would now become a headache.

Basically, this attack had pretty much cut the Stormcallers’ legs.

And that was only the surface level—the future problems Zoraa could think of right now.

But the present?

The present was even worse.

She couldn’t even begin to imagine the casualties.

The number of deaths, the injured—the number in her head was absurd. The smoke coming out clearly meant there was fire. Fire spreads and...

And it hurts.

The worst part?

With the bridges collapsed, most wouldn’t even be able to run. They could only scream and wait for the flames to consume them.

And finally—

It was their Holy Sign.

The Sign that the Stormcallers had prayed to for generations. The Sign they used to learn about storm and develop their magic.

That Sign was completely destroyed, and it could no longer be recovered.

The Stormcallers’ very identity was torn apart.

And all this—

All this happened because one man attacked them.

A grave look appeared on Zoraa’s face when she realized that. She looked at Kael, who continued to control the storm like it was the most natural thing in the world, and finally—

When all the Stormcallers had pretty much given up on chasing him—since they were busy protecting themselves or rescuing their comrades from his constant attacks—his body...

It dissolved into the air and he...

He disappeared.

Zoraa widened her eyes in shock when she saw that.

Yes, there was distance between them, yes, the fog, the wind, the rain, and the clouds lowered the visibility to an extreme extent,

But even then—

She never once imagined she would watch a man... disappear right in front of her eyes.

"No..."

She muttered in disbelief, looking around to find him. She also looked at other Stormcallers—the warriors, the chiefs, the normal people—making sure she wasn’t hallucinating but no—

It wasn’t just her. Every Stormcaller seemed confused, looking at the sky, around them, anywhere, trying to find something that had just... disappeared out of nowhere.

"Where did he—"

She said out loud, but before she could complete her question—

"Let’s go."

She heard a voice and sensed a man sitting right behind her. She turned around and her eyes widened in shock when she realized it was him.

His hair, his face, his aura—everything had returned to normal. His... godly appearance turned back into a human’s, but even then—

Zoraa stared at him, her mouth wide open, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Kael looked at her for a moment—

"Look ahead."

He ordered.

Zoraa tilted her head, confused. She had no idea what Kael just said. Kael grabbed her head and made her look ahead; she complied. Kael then grabbed her arms and tied them together with a rope.

Zoraa didn’t resist—not after what she had just seen.

Kael didn’t say anything either. After tying her up, he looked back, as if checking whether anyone was chasing them.

There was nothing—not that it changed Kael’s expression. It was almost as if being followed or not didn’t make a difference.

He was here to... give an answer to the ’message’ the Stormcallers sent them.

Hiding his identity or where he would return to after all this wasn’t his motive.

"Father."

After a while, Zoraa and Kael heard a voice. Again, Zoraa didn’t recognize the language, but this time, she felt even stranger because it wasn’t just the voice she didn’t recognize—she couldn’t even see who was speaking.

It was almost as if an otherworldly entity was trying to talk to her.

She looked around with a wary look on her face and—

"Who are you?"

She asked.

Kael looked at her, slightly confused, but then—

"Don’t materialize. Return to Sanctuary."

He ordered. Zoraa turned towards him, but he grabbed her head again and made her look ahead, just like before.

"Yes, Father."

Zoraa heard the voice again, then she felt the air around her move. The entire incident made her even more wary, but this time, she didn’t turn around. She had no intention of offending the man sitting behind her.

The rest of the ride back to Velmourn City was dead silent.

Kael didn’t say anything, neither did that new voice say any word; for Zoraa, it was no different than mental torture.

This continued for about two hours before they finally reached Velmourn City and in there—

Lavinia was waiting, desperately.

The moment she saw Igni flying through the sky, she rushed forward, unable to control herself. Beside her were Morvain, Korvath, Gruumak, and even Aurelia.

All four of them knew where Kael had gone. When Kael talked to them about it, they were surprised.

A revenge raid—

It was definitely something they were considering, especially Gruumak. But as brave as Gruumak and his men were, even he didn’t think of attacking the Stormcallers, not when their home was in that death mountain.

But with Kael taking the lead, Gruumak was prepared.

He even offered to come together. Morvain was the same—although not as aggressively as Gruumak—but she was still willing to send her best men and even come herself.

But Kael shook his head.

"You will only slow me down."

He spoke directly.

Gruumak had blinked at those words. He wanted to argue; it was his people that were hurt, they deserved revenge and he wanted to go but—

He couldn’t say anything.

Not when Kael was looking right into his eyes with that same expressionless face. The one that made him remember the day he first fought against Kael.

In the end, Gruumak could only swallow his words and stay back, like Kael told him to.

And now that Kael was here—

He was waiting.

Waiting to know what Kael had done, waiting to see the results of him holding back and listening to this man.

And when Kael landed—

The results... were clear.

Because Kael wasn’t alone; he returned with someone. Someone Gruumak recognized in an instant—

Zoraa.

One of the Stormcaller Chiefs.

For a moment, Gruumak froze. He looked at Kael with shock.

This man... he went on a revenge raid and... brought back one of the enemy leaders?

What...?

Are you sure it was a raid and not a full-blown attack!?

How do you go for a simple raid and return with the enemy King!?

How does that make any sense!?