Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires

On a rainy night, two great beings fought above the capital.

One, a white dragon that moved so fast that it appeared like a blur, hard to comprehend or to make out the silhouette. All that was known about it was that it was able to breathe out devastating green flames.

The other, a large disformed being dozens of meters tall, with two sets of white wings. It soared through the sky as it and the dragon fought.

What were these creatures? And why had they chosen to fight above the capital?

Two stories emerged—each told by the opposing empires.

One was that the Crimson Sun Empire had attacked with their troops and at the same time unleashed a very powerful demon with the hope of wreaking havoc and causing as much destruction and death as possible.

That was until a great dragon that had protected the empire for a very long time appeared and managed to deal with the problem, killing the demon and saving the capital.

This was the story that the Draconian Empire spread. They believed in and worshiped dragons, and it wasn't a stretch to say that having one as their guardian was an unthinkable thing.

The Crimson Sun Empire, however, told a different tale.

According to them, the Draconian Empire had been secretly experimenting with monstrous abominations. When Crimson Sun forces attacked, one of these creations awoke and went berserk. The dragon was not a savior but one more product of their forbidden experiments—or worse, a demon they had made a pact with.

A crime against humanity.

This was the Crimson Sun Empire's version. They wanted to spread that the Draconian Empire had made contact with demons, breaking the law.

This was what the Crimson Sun Empire spread.

No one could say which version was true. But what mattered were the consequences.

First, both the citizens of the empires began to despise each other and wanted to eliminate the other.

And second, the Draconian Empire had a dragon under their command—meaning that they either had tamed or made a deal with a beast of the Mythic tier.

If it was the latter, then it was all good. But if it was the former, and they indeed had managed to tame a Mythic beast, then things could spill out of control.

It was prohibited by global law that no man or woman should tame such a dangerous beast. No one wanted to repeat what happened with the last conflict involving the Legendary Beast master.

If a man able to tame Legendary beasts could cause such devastation, what about a man that could tame Mythic beasts?

As such, there was a chance that not only the Crimson Sun Empire but the other empire neighboring the Draconian Empire would attack.

"Never mind that! Whether we attack our enemy alone or are joined by the whole continent, our enemy will be defeated for daring to capture Solara!" one soldier of the Crimson Sun Empire shouted.

"We'll kill every last one of those Draconian pigs!" another shouted, joining in as well his roar echoing down the mountain paths.

The forces had begun advancing forward as they were coming close to an important place that must be captured.

A third of the Draconian Empire's border with the Crimson Sun Empire was bordered by towering mountains. The only way to cross was either to take a detour that stretched thousands of kilometers or to use the single, known mountain pass.

It was crucial that this place be taken, as if it failed, the forces wouldn't be able to reach a large part of the empire quickly enough, and they would lose valuable time, giving the enemy a chance to recover.

"Strange," Thorne muttered as he rode upon his horseback.

This was an important location, one that should be protected with everything they had, and yet there was nobody—not set-up traps, not archers hidden in the high mountains, or flying in balloons.

It was quiet… too quiet.

"Why did you have to send me here, Hadrik…" Thorne grumbled under his breath. He'd thought being the right-hand man to a legendary general would mean sticking close to him. Clearly, he'd been wrong.

"This place is critical to our advance," Hadrik had told him. "It's not just because I'm occupied on the other fronts. You need real experience in warfare. One day I'll be gone—and I hope you'll take my place."

These were the words Hadrik had spoken to Thorne before ordering him to capture the city here.

The city's name was Drakmire Bastion. Not much was known about it other than there wasn't a large population here. How could it? After all, few would want to live so high in the mountains, isolated from the other cities.

Not to mention most of the people were born, raised, lived, and died here as miners—not having a large choice in what to work as. Most of the time it was just mining for materials.

Most were poor—not so poor that they lived on the streets, but poor enough to be unable to leave the city. And with its not very favorable reputation, few would want to move here or even visit.

As such, it wasn't surprising if there were few people… but still, the city was an important logistical place, so Thorne expected a lot of enemy forces. Yet, there was nobody in sight.

'Something's wrong,' Thorne thought.

"HALT!" he shouted with all his might, and so the army cooled down.

"Five scouts are to be sent forward! You are to ride until you see the city. Report anything you see—how many archers are on the gates, if you see any traps, or members of their influential families!"

"Yes, sir!" Five of the faster scouts received the order and made their horses spring with full force.

"It's better to be safe than to be sorry," Thorne muttered as he waited.

They weren't that far from the city. He estimated that it was about ten more minutes on horseback, and maybe seven if the rider was skilled.

As such, he knew he shouldn't wait more than half an hour at most. If they didn't return by then, it would mean they had been ambushed and slaughtered.

Having nothing better to do, the soldiers sat on the ground as a few stationed forces checked the outskirts for an enemy attack.

Looking at how casually they chatted, Thorne couldn't help but think that it was like they were at home.

'Well, if one were to ignore the air,' he thought.

Due to the high altitude, the air was hard to breathe, as it had less oxygen than his men were used to.

"I just hope we can capture this city quickly," Thorne muttered.

After about twenty minutes, the scouts returned and reported to their current leader.

"Well?" Thorne asked as he gazed at them.

The five of them looked at each other, unsure of how to answer.

Seeing that made Thorne frown. "Speak! How many archers did you see? Do they have horses like us or any mounted ballistas on the walls?"

Finally, after a few seconds, the youngest of the scouts, a girl with pinkish hair, spoke.

"...There wasn't anybody, sir. Just a single man."

Thorne raised an eyebrow.

"Single man? Describe him," he commanded.

She began to recall the scene. "Well, to be honest, I don't know if it was a man or a woman. About a meter seventy tall. Dressed in white robes, head to toe. Their hair was white too. But what stood out most was the mask—pure white, shaped like a demon's face with two horns."

Thorne scratched his chin. "Are they playing tricks on us?" he wondered.

"Is there anything else that jumped out to you?" he asked.

"Yes, they held a white odachi in their hand, which also had crimson symbols on it, though it was too far to make out clearly, and although we didn't dare get too close, we're almost certain that from the eyeholes of the demonic mask, a faint green hue was visible—most likely the color of their pupils."

"As to why they were standing there, we could not tell. Once the person spotted us, they simply looked at us without moving a muscle—almost as if waiting for us to make the first move."

As the woman had finished, one of the soldiers that had overheard the conversation couldn't help but chuckle.

"What's so funny?!" the scout snapped.

"No, it's just that once you described him, the first thing that came to mind was a ghost. But they do not exist, so is it possible your eyesight is just bad?"

While the woman was beginning to shout at the man for daring to doubt her judgment, Thorne was busy thinking.

If this was a trap… it was a strange one. If it wasn't… then what the hell was waiting for them in Drakmire Bastion?