Mutagen

Day 154 - 9:32 PM - Root Cave Prison, Tamawo Ancestral Tribe, Municipality of Badian, Province of Cebu

The confrontation outside the prison cave was nigh. If Pefile wanted to fight freely, he had to hand the care of Celine to others. As such, Berrak summoned one of his tamed creatures to do the job.

With a bright magic circle, the creature was summoned. However, what it was made the three other men surprised.

Geronimo and Padua were surprised as to how such a magnificent creature from the legends actually existed.

Pefile, a knowledgeable member of the royal family of Tamawos, however, was surprised for a different reason.

What Berrak summoned was a majestic white steed with a silver glowing mane and a pearl-like crystal horn.

It was no other than a Unicorn, the mystical symbol of freedom, hope, healing, innocence, and, of course, purity. The very same creature that stories told to be very elusive and only allowed pure maidens to touch them.

Because of that knowledge, Pefile could only stare at Berrak in askance. Just how the hell could a man like Berrak tame something like this? It also made Pefile unsure if he could entrust Celine to such an arrogant creature.

"I know what you are thinking." Berrak said, being used to that kind of eyes whenever he summoned this "Unicorn"-like creature. "Look closely before judging me. I'm a man and definitely not a maiden, alright?"

Berrak then pointed at three parts of the creature's body. That was when everyone noticed that it was not a regular Unicorn as they thought it to be.

Like what they had seen before, it had a silver mane. However, its tail was pitch black in color. On its forehead, besides its crystal horn, it had two smaller and less prominent horns that were also black. These smaller horns were kind of hard to see because of the creature's thick mane.

The last part was the creature's eyes. Its right eye that faced Pefile and the others had a pupil that was golden-colored. The other, however, had a bright red pupil.

"What the hell is this? Some kind of Tricorn?"

Padua asked.

"Can be." Berrak shrugged as he caressed the creature's fluffy mane. "But to be more specific, it's a half-breed of a Unicorn and a Bicorn. I don't really know the details of how it happened, but I found this poor girl dying after being cast out of their herd. It seems like both the herds of her mother and father did not want her."

Berrak then turned to Pefile and Celine.

"Also, you don't have to worry about her getting wild while carrying your wife. She's not picky about who she will carry. Just don't try to hurt her. It will also be beneficial since your wife is sick. Being a half-breed, she had both destructive abilities of Bicorns and healing abilities of Unicorns. She could help heal your wife while also protecting her."

"Right?"

Berrak turned to the half-breed creature, and it neighed confidently.

Those words from Berrak made Pefile relieved. Celine really needed immediate treatment. Although it was unlikely that Celine would get cured since her illness was not a disease but more of lack of body nutrients, a Unicorn's healing should still help her recover her vitality.

And besides, the creature was a female. It made Pefile less hesitant to let his wife be carried by it.

Helped by Pefile, Celine was put on the creature's back. It would already be fine if she was put face down on its back. However, it was also experienced in letting people ride on it and let Celine lean on its neck instead. Because of its clean, fluffy mane, she felt comfortable. Celine also felt warm and a bit more energized. Without a doubt, it was the work of the magical horse she was riding on.

"What is her name?"

Celine could not help but ask Berrak.

"Alineart." Berrak smiled. "It came from the crystal gemstone with black veins called Tourmaline Quartz which also had healing properties."

"Alineart, huh." Celine looked at the fluffy mane in front of her face. "I'll be in your care for now."

NEIGH!

Alineart neighed with confidence. Everyone around could tell that she meant "leave it to me."

"Then, let's go."

Pefile said, making the other three men nod.

Padua and Geronimo readied their assault rifles while Berrak began to circulate his magical energy.

As for Pefile, he was ready to fight any time.

The group reached the exit. It was not unexpected that the gates were already open.

Stepping outside the dungeon, the scene was quite intimidating.

About a hundred Tamawo Warriors surrounded the only entrance and exit of the Root Cave Dungeon. Many of them encircled the entrance with their spears while the others were scattered in different positions with their bows.

A setup like this was quite an overkill as the enemies were just four people.

But, of course, none of them cared. These warriors were following the orders of their current king. And that was to eliminate the intruders that tried to abduct their king's beloved.

And that king in question...

"Brother, brother... You finally decided to come home. How come that you didn't even greet me?"

Wearing a crown made from the core of their sacred tree, a cape adorned by colorful feathers, and holding a Spearstaff, a scepter-like spear that only the current king could wield.

It was Pefile's younger brother, the acclaimed current king of the Tamawos, Artile.

The face of the two was quite similar to each other. No one would be able to deny that they were two individuals that came from the same father and mother. However, their expressions differed greatly. Pefile appeared to be reserved and aloof. Artile, on the other hand, looked condescending and outgoing. The two were definitely siblings but also the two opposite sides of the same coin.

"Still calling me brother after everything you've done. It seems that your face grew thicker as time went by."

Pefile ridiculed.

"Everything I've done?" Artile tilted this head. "So far as I know, I've done nothing against the rules of our tribe. You abandoned your position as the next king, so it should be mine. It was those old farts that were not playing by the rules."

Artile then tapped the Spearstaff on the ground.

"If you are talking about Celine, then it's not against the rules either. We have to decide who she will belong to after one of us were defeated. You can't complain about letting others fight you first. The rule is that we fight one on one to determine Celine's ownership, but it was never said that others can't challenge you before we battle."

"Ownership... Celine is not an object." Pefile glared at Artile. "You claim to have fallen in love with her. Yet, you failed to monitor her health and harmed her. The thing you call your love is nothing but a flimsy excuse to get what is mine, you jealous bastard."

Jealousy...

That word made Artile's eyebrows twitch.

Since the start, his older brother was always better than Artile. Spearmanship, archery, magical compatibility, knowledge, and even the support of the tribesmen. It was even though Pefile was someone that rarely interacted with others and was deemed to be a weird one, many stood behind him and watched his back.

On the other hand, Artile, the younger brother, had almost nothing. It would have been alright if he had even just the love of their mother. However, their human mother became the queen not out of pure love but because of their race's [Charm Magic]. Because of that, she blindly followed the thoughts of their father, supporting Pefile and barely giving Artile any affection.

But that was all in the past. Artile was the king now and not that prince that had everything.

"Jealous? Who is jealous of someone like you?" Artile argued. "There is no point in arguing. From this day, Celine will be mine. It's not too late to fix her up when that time comes."

"You..." Pefile was extremely irked as to how Artile treated Celine like an object. "Don't think that you will win this time."

"And what can you do? Rely on humans and their weapons?" Artile smirked. "Attack!"

With that word, the warriors surrounding Pefile's group readied to charge. Before the Spearmen, however, the Bowmen made the first move.

Drawing the strings of their bows, dozens of arrows flew towards the direction of Pefile's group. Fortunately, Alineart, who carried Celine, was left inside and would be far from this kind of danger.

Still, Padua and Geronimo felt the pressure and danger. Without hesitation, the two fired at the most important person among the enemies, Artile.

Pefile never mentioned anything about leaving his brother to him. Thus, the two did the most rational thing to do.

But then, several warriors rushed in front of their king. King was unharmed but blood still splattered. Those warriors in front had just sacrificed themselves to protect their king.

"Impertinent humans." Artile glared and began chanting. "▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋▋"

The chant in Spirit Language reverberated in everyone's ears. Suddenly, roots began to entangle the bodies of the fallen Tamawos.

On the other hand, as the arrows rained towards their group, Berrak released his magic.

"Barrier!"

Berrak shouted and raised his palms upward.

An invisible magical forcefield enveloped Pefile's group, blocking all the arrows.

The sudden usage of magic surprised the warriors. They did not expect that one of the humans with Pefile was actually a user of magic.

However, Berrak was not the only one in this battle.

Artile finished his chant, and the dead bodies were now enveloped with the plant-like matter. The bodies then stood up, moving like mindless wood golems.

"Oi... Pefile... We never heard of this..."

Berrak complained as the few dead bodies turned into wood golems.

"Artile... You said that you didn't break any of the tribe's rules." Pefile glared. "You should know that tampering with the Ancestral Scepter is taboo."

"Tamper? What are you talking about?" Artile laughed. "I didn't tamper with this. This is its hidden power that was long forgotten. Don't tell me that my knowledgeable brother already forgot the historical records?"

Pefile frowned, unable to refute. In one of their ancestral records, it stated that in many of the tribe's battles in the past, dead warriors would come back to life, protected by the powers of nature. That part might have been referring to this.

However, as the newer records stopped depicting similar events, it might have been lost.

No, it was not lost. The powers of the scepter were used too much that it became unusable afterward. Then, that fact was buried. Now, it seemed that the Ancestral Scepter regained its powers.

"Using wood and dead bodies to make golems, huh." Pefile shrugged. "What a disrespectful method."

"But don't think that you're the only one with new things," Pefile added. "Do you really think that I returned here just to rely on the people in my group?"

"Wrong."

Pefile stretched his arms forward as if commanding something. That was when everyone noticed that his both hands were holding onto something like arm-sized roots.

To the Tamawo's, however, these roots were familiar.

Those roots were the very same roots of the cluster of trees that made up the Ancestral Castle and the Dungeon beneath it.

And by Pefile's commands, the branches of the gigantic trees shook violently.

BAM!

As if it were the arms of the giants smashing to the ground, the thick branches attacked the warriors.

"GAHAAA!!!"

The warriors tried their best to dodge the attacks, but some still got smashed to the ground. The unlucky ones laid lifeless on the ground with their bones crushed that most of the fragments protruded out of their bodies.

"WHAT!"

Artile was utterly shocked by what was going on. Not only him but even the shaman that was in charge of manipulating these trees into shape.

These trees that were as strong as metal was not something that could move freely like that. Yet, it was clear that Pefile was manipulating the trees to utterly impossible flexibility.

"This is impossible..."

The shaman uttered as if he had seen a ghost.

"PEFILE! YOU BASTARD!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!!!"

Finally, Artile threw away all the pretenses and called his brother by his name. The impossible thing in front of them was just too much to take. To them, this was more impossible to happen than seeing a god descend from the heavens.