Seraphina’s shout carried further than Helios expected, and for once, the Council actually seemed to have a plan waiting behind it.
Gates that Helios hadn’t noticed built into the base of the wall itself ground open on either side of the field, and Rexnest’s actual defense force poured out, not the scattered handful of archers from before but a full formation, spears and bows and something that looked disturbingly like siege equipment on wheels.
Rows of High Elf spellcasters took position behind the front line, hands already glowing with whatever spellwork they’d apparently drilled for years under his banner, training Helios had no memory of ever ordering.
Someone had clearly been planning for this long before he’d known to ask, and he still had no idea how that was possible for a kingdom he’d built from scratch three nights ago.
Kaelen fell back toward them without being told twice, dragging Helios along by one arm.
“Don’t get sentimental about the one you killed,” he said.
“Nest scouts don’t come in ones. That whole treeline is a warning, not an attack yet.”
“Warning of what?”
“That there’s more where that came from. A lot more.”
The formation didn’t charge the treeline.
It held position, a solid wall of steel and drawn bowstrings, and after a long, tense minute the pairs of red eyes among the trees began, one by one, to blink out.
Not fleeing exactly.
Withdrawing, the way something patient withdrew when a target stopped looking easy.
Helios watched the last few red glimmers vanish into the deeper shadows and found himself holding his breath until the treeline was fully dark again.
The field went quiet again.
Kaelen exhaled, some of the readiness draining out of his shoulders.
“Scouting force pulled back. That’s not good news, for the record. It means whatever’s coordinating that pack now knows this wall has teeth.”
“Better than them not knowing and finding out the hard way,” Helios said.
“Debatable. But sure.” Kaelen glanced sideways at him, some grudging respect creeping into his expression despite the sarcasm.
“You held together out there, for the record. Wasn’t sure you would.”
Seraphina reached them a moment later, already issuing orders to the formation’s officers over her shoulder without breaking stride, her earlier composure fully back in place as though the last ten minutes of open field combat had never happened at all. Read the latest chapters at g.com.
“Your Majesty. The Council recommends doubling wall patrols until we understand what we’re dealing with. In the meantime, might I suggest you take stock of what just happened to you?”
Helios blinked.
“What just happened to me?”
“You leveled,” she said, as if it were obvious.
“Bodies don’t process that kind of change quietly.”
[Physical adaptation: minor.]
He hadn’t noticed it happening, too distracted by the fight and the aftermath, but now that Seraphina had pointed it out, he could feel it.
A faint warmth under his skin that hadn’t been there an hour ago, settled deep in his chest like a second, slower heartbeat.
His own hands looked marginally less human somehow, the same shape but sharper at the edges, nails a shade closer to claws than fingernails had any right to be.
When he flexed his fingers, the motion felt different too, quicker, more deliberate, like his body had quietly recalibrated itself while he wasn’t paying attention.
Even his vision seemed a shade sharper, the tree line at the edge of the field somehow more distinct than it had been an hour ago.
“That’s new,” he said, holding his hand up to the light.
“Cosmetic, mostly, at this stage,” Seraphina said.
“Later levels change more. Later evolutions change considerably more.”
“How much more?”
“I couldn’t say from experience. None of us have gone through one yet. You’ll be the first any of us have actually witnessed.”
Kaelen leaned in to inspect Helios’s hand with open curiosity, then grinned.
“Sharper claws. Terrifying. Truly the Supreme Elven King now.”
“You’re doing the thing again.”
“What thing?”
“The thing where you make fun of me right after I almost died.”
“Statistically, that’s the safest time to make fun of you. You’re too relieved to properly retaliate.”
Seraphina’s expression, unlike Kaelen’s, hadn’t relaxed. The source of this chapter is g.com.
She was still watching the tree line, arms crossed, something calculating behind her sharp eyes.
“Your Majesty, forgive me for cutting the moment short, but I’d like your permission to send scouts of our own. If that pack is organizing, I want to know how large it actually is before it decides to test the wall again.”
Helios sobered at that, the small thrill of new claws fading fast against the reality of what she was actually asking.
“You think it’s bigger than one pack.”
“I think,” Seraphina said carefully, “that a scouting force doesn’t retreat from a single wall unless there’s something behind it worth protecting. Nests don’t send scouts for no reason, Your Majesty. They send them ahead of something.”
“Then send the scouts,” Helios said.
“Quietly, if you can manage it. I’d rather know what we’re facing before it decides to introduce itself properly.”
“As you command.” Seraphina inclined her head, already turning to relay the order, then paused.
“For what it’s worth, Your Majesty, killing your first Evo without dying in the process was not a guaranteed outcome. The Council had contingencies prepared for considerably worse.”
“Comforting,” Helios said, dryly.
“You say that word like it’s an insult every time I use it. I promise I mean it sincerely at least half the time.”
[System Notice.]
[New evolutionary branch available for review.]
Helios’s attention snapped to the new window immediately, level-up claws forgotten.
“That’s new too.”
Kaelen’s grin finally faded into something more serious.
“Guess the fun part’s over. Open it.”
Seraphina and the assembled officers went quiet around him, waiting, and for a moment Helios felt every eye on the field turn his way at once, the entire weight of Rexnest’s very first evolution decision resting squarely on whatever he chose next.
He took a slow breath, aware suddenly of just how many people were about to watch him make a choice he had absolutely no practice making.