The rest of Protheus' body resembled that of a Dragon and was covered with white scales the size of a buckler shield.
A set of feathered wings emerged from his back while a second set of membranous wings came out of his hips and they all flapped furiously, generating a windstorm. It pushed back the smaller undead back and forced Lekha to crouch on all four to stand her ground.
Valeron was still a baby, yet the Chimeric Body bloodline ability allowed Protheus to bring out the full might of an adult Bahamut. After the failure in Ruham, Thrud had given the Doppelgangers a drop of Valeron's blood.
Even the least loyal among them had turned into a zealot due to the new bond with their creator. The Doppelgangers now shared the same emotional connection as the baby with his mother.
"My Queen sent me here because in a crystal mine the magic of you parasites is useless whereas the strength of a Bahamut reigns supreme." A single punch sent Lekha flying, knocking down all of the undead behind her like bowling pins.
Protheus' subordinates chanted their leader's name while using every single racial slur they knew about the undead. The Vampire stood up slowly as her broken bones set themselves into place with cracking sounds before healing.
"Did I touch a nerve, slime? I'll take your share of crystals after killing you and the rest of the freaks!" Lekha bared her fangs and jumped against the Doppelganger, enveloping herself with crimson energy.
"Enough!" The tall man clapped his hands, generating a force field that paralyzed both contenders. "You are all guests of the Seven-Eyed tribe and you'll respect the terms that the Sovereign agreed to with your respective leaders."
"Protheus broke the pact when he attacked first, Typhos. Our deal is no longer valid!" Lekha said.
"Wrong! You broke the pact when you insulted our guests. By violating the hospitality of the Sovereign, you offended him as well. If Protheus didn't punch you, I would have done much worse. Are we clear?"
Typhos said with fury and the deep lines on his face opened, revealing two more sets of eyes. At the same time, a set of feathered wings emerged from his back.
Each one of the eyes was a different color, based on the element inhabiting it, and so were his feathers. Just like his hair, the wings were imbued with the power of six elements and lacked only the emerald of Spirit Magic.
The eyes on the creature's forehead were red and blue, those under his eyebrows were black and white, and those on his cheekbones were brown and yellow.
'Congratulations.' Morok said to Friya and Lith. 'Your children look amazing, but damn if kids grow up fast these days.'
'Either you kill him, Lith, or I'll do it!' Friya said, tired of Morok's nonsense.
The world energy in the area flooded Typhos' wings, leaving the rest of the place dry and keeping anyone else from using elemental magic. One tier five spell took form on each of his hands without destabilizing the surrounding crystals.
The humanoid's arms shone like stars as he aimed at the Vampire, emitting a destructive power that Lith's group could perceive despite the distance.
"Crystal clear." Lekha nodded as she shied away from the energy mass that was now millimeters away from her body.
"One last thing." Typos said. "Don't you ever dare to call anyone freak. While those like you gave up on your humanity, those like us stuck to it to the bitter end, no matter our failures. You have no right to judge even the least of us."
He weaved at the people behind him and at the six-armed creatures composing the second group.
"Now choose who has to deliver your share of the crystals. The others can go back to work." The spells in his hands turned into three Warp Steps that led to as many different places outside of the mine.
One member of each group used a dimensional amulet to store the gemstones and left along with half of their members. The quarrel had happened during a shift change over the splitting of the loot.
Things between Orpal and Thrud had gotten even more tense after they had agreed to work together. After his visit to the Golden Griffon, the self-proclaimed Dead King had realized the gap in strength between his Undead Courts and the Mad Queen's followers.
Orpal knew that unless he found a way to balance the scales, his organization would be sooner or later swallowed by the rival's. Arguments like that took place on a daily basis now that the war with the Kingdom had silently begun.
'Oh, crap.' Lith and Solus thought in unison as the pieces of the puzzle finally fell into place. 'We have just solved the mystery of how they bypassed the arrays, but the situation is worse than I thought.'
'What do you mean?' Protector was puzzled since he had no innate link with Velagros and hadn't heard a word of what the creatures had said.
After sharing everything he had learned with the others, Lith explained Solus's theory.
'The last time you found the Harmonizers, they allowed crystals and metals to grow faster, but when worn by a monster, the artifact restored the creature to their unfallen state, correct?' Lith projected the image of one of the collars.
'Correct.' Morok nodded.
'In a way, the undead are fallen creatures as well since their core is defective from birth. Stable, but defective nonetheless.
'If I'm right, not only did this Sovereign find a way to make the Harmonizer work on most kinds of defective cores, but he also perfected the collar to the point that by wearing it, monsters managed to evolve into new species.' Lith conjured holograms of the various creatures.
'My bet is that the six-armed guys are trolls.' Each time Lith conjured an image of both the unfallen state of the monster and that they had reached now, highlighting the similarities.
'The wolf guys are Wargs, the six-eyed humanoids are Balors, and the undead well, you know them already. The Harmonizers make them immune to sunlight and enhance their elemental affinities to the point that energy replaces part of their bodies.'
'I'm dumb. Explain to me how they got here in the first place.' When Morok talked business, he became so serious that it was hard to recognize the usually playful and annoying Ranger.
'My bet is that Ghouls found the mines by swimming in the earth like Nalrond does. Then, they brought along a few Balors that by sucking the world energy with their wings safely cast the dimensional spells necessary to move in the others.' Lith replied.
'The Queen the Doppelganger talked about must be Thrud.' Friya had recognized the Chimeric Body bloodline ability from the way Protheus had shapeshifted. 'Yet I have no idea what a Bahamut is nor who the Dead King the undead serve is.'
'Me neither.' The others replied in turn.
'Yet it's clear that Night's organization must be faring quite badly after she lost so many powerful followers.' Lith said. 'Also, I don't like what the Vampire said about Skinwalkers serving Thrud.
'Those things are already dangerous.. If the Skinwalkers manage to evolve and become capable of mimicking the bloodline abilities they steal at will, Mogar would turn into a nightmare.'
