Chapter 138 - 137: Marches and Memories
The village was quiet as usual, wrapped in the stillness of early dawn. But something had changed.
Soft amber light spilled onto the dirt paths, lamps now hung from every post and doorway, their glow banishing the gloom that once defined the village’s nights. It no longer felt like a goblin den hidden in the woods. It felt... alive. Watchful.
The walls, once crude, had been reinforced with sharpened stakes and lookout perches. Grokk’s patrols marched with discipline, their heavy footsteps a steady drumbeat through the mist. Monsters that dared approach were either crushed beneath Grokk’s axes or silently picked off from the trees above, Shade’s venomous strikes were as precise as they were brutal. With the two of them working in tandem, the village had become a fortress in the shadows.
Grokk’s body had changed too. Day by day, his frame thickened, cords of muscle layered over his back and chest as he pushed deeper into the Bruteforge Body Cultivation. His roars during training shook the training ground, echoing like distant thunder.
Lumberling had yet to refine the Bruteforge Body Cultivation method. For one, he hadn’t mastered the Ironblood Tempering Scripture himself. And for another, his time had been consumed by something more delicate, more elusive.
Magic.
The path of a mage required more than sweat and repetition. It demanded study, insight, and the unraveling of truths hidden in dusty tomes and flowing energy. Every hour spent with scrolls and meditating on mana flow had drawn him deeper into a world far removed from brute strength.
Then, one morning, the sky stirred.
A sharp cry pierced the silence. A shadow passed overhead, a golden eagle, swift and precise, swooping low over the rooftops before circling twice and landing on the wooden perch outside Grokk’s quarters.
Grokk was already moving. The eagle was one of their scouts, this one assigned to watch the winding paths near the Blackroot Forest’s edge. Usually, these eagles reported migrating beasts or roaming monsters. But this time, the signs were different. This time, it had seen soldiers, marching in formation. An army.
Grokk didn’t waste a breath. He broke into a sprint, the ground trembling under each step as he rushed to find Lumberling.
War was coming again.