The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 396: So Many Minotaurs

Wiz was looking haggard when Dominic finally made it back to the main group.

The warriors were still holding their formation, but they had retreated hundreds of metres into the forest. Nobody had fallen, but the other gunslingers had closed ranks to join the warriors instead of risking being cut off in the forest.

With them nearby, they could defend the flanks from the monsters that tried to surround them, while the mages did their best to keep everyone from being overrun.

"Let’s move around the horde and attack from the side. It will give them time to breathe." Dominic instructed.

"Got it, boss. Does this count as stress testing for a new pistol design?" Amie joked.

"If we want it to count, we should make records every thousand shots."

The two of them laughed as they fought their way forward.

The Minotaur horde had finally stopped coming, but there was no sign of where they had all been hiding. That was something that Dominic knew they would have to investigate before they set the beacons.

If they didn’t, they risked sending the army into battle while expecting a third of the monsters that they were likely to face.

"Dom, hit the back ranks and see if you can get them to turn." Bella called.

"On it."

A few Arcane Blasts and a pair of fireballs from Amie were enough to stop the advance. The Minotaurs had lost their leader at some point, and they were only following the herd into combat for vengeance at this point.

Without guidance, the attack from three sides stopped the Minotaurs in their tracks, and the bodies began to pile up in the woods, with the warriors overrunning the dead to push forward into the survivors.

Dominic did the same, collecting all the monster cores he could, with Amie getting anything he missed.

Slowly, the number of monsters dwindled, and Dominic joined the others.

"What’s our status?" He asked.

"We’ve got four down, all alive. We’re not going to be moving at full speed any time today, but we’re pretty confident that we can keep them stable on our way to a Manor House." The team’s medic explained.

"Alright, I will go check to see where the excess Minotaurs were hiding. Head off in that direction and go straight until you hit the Manor House. Then, send a radio message after you set the beacon and let the army know we’re there for the day.

We will give everyone time to recover before we decide if we need to take a portal straight home, but we might be able to get a healer to come to us instead." Dominic ordered.

The group headed for the safety of the Manor house, while Dominic and Amie went to explore the now abandoned Minotaur camp.

The camp clearly didn’t hold as many Minotaurs as they had just killed. Not even the portion that had separated from the fight to face Dominic and Amie in the woods could fit within the campsite that they could see.

And the camp was in the open, where it should be clearly visible.

"Do you sense anything?" Dominic whispered to the mage as they approached the larger tents in the centre of the camp.

"Lingering magic. I think that there was a portal or other spell active recently." She agreed.

Amie gestured to a large tent, and Dominic stalked to the entrance, then threw the flap wide. Inside was nothing more than a simple Minotaur Commander’s tent, with fur piled for a bed, and a cook fire in the middle of the floor.

But now that he was close, he could feel it too. There was magic here recently.

Dominic kicked at the dirt with his boot, trying to locate the exact position. Then, his boot hit something solid, and he went into his storage cube to grab a small shovel.

Buried just under the surface was a copper plate that looked suspiciously like the portal beacons that they had been setting.

"Amie, come check this." He called.

She ran inside, then frowned at what was in his hands. "I was right, it was a portal. They sent reinforcements when we started the attack. Someone needs to let the armies know that what we’re facing here isn’t just the monster horde that is assembled, but many times this number.

When our full force attacks, Prince Kaizon and his lackeys are going to send everything that they can muster at us."

Dominic nodded. "It will be vital to hit the command tents and find the beacons. We probably missed them in the previous fights because nobody sent reinforcements against us.

But that doesn’t mean there are no portal beacons there.

It’s most likely how they are getting the monsters from here to the battles, if there are no mages hiding in the area."

"That’s a big ’if’. I don’t sense any of them here, do you? I know your sense of scent is pretty good." She asked.

Dominic shook his head. "No, there are no signs of humans, or anything close to humans, here. All I smell is Minotaurs.

I also don’t smell any blood magic here. There is some blood, obviously, but it’s coming from the open area by the cook pots. Also, it’s not human blood, I think that they found a wild Elk or similar creature.

But that’s another question that we need answers to. How are they feeding this army? There aren’t enough animals in the area to feed them all, and I don’t see any signs of agriculture."

Amie shrugged. "Most monster species can go weeks or months without eating. It’s in their nature to be able to survive long times without food. If they couldn’t, they would have to expose themselves more often, and they would be hunted to death."

"Ah, the little details that make all the difference. So, they can’t be here more than a few more weeks, before they have to go somewhere. That means there is a major invasion coming if we don’t eliminate them." Dominic informed her.

Amie shrugged. "When you put it that way, yeah. They have to move them soon. They’ve been cycling them through, I think. Some going to fight and more being summoned or sent here by portal. But there are so many here that it’s becoming untenable."