Elemental Cats

Toz managed to calm down Asilean and, by threatening Dyra's life, made Yill explain what she had done to Taienra. Dyra was surprisingly cooperative during the process, probably due to Yill's lies being revealed.

Apparently, Starry Sky Whales were valuable outside the Mortal Realm as well. Starry Sky Whales, who had been hunted to near extinction, weren't faring much better in the Transcendent Realm. The only reason they hadn't died out was that people were preserving their lives in order to harvest as many starlight crystals as possible.

Although Yill didn't know if the forest on Taienra's back was beneficial or not, she knew that she was a Starry Sky Whale with incredible value. So, Yill had sent a message to the empire, after which a servant came and picked Taienra up.

Yill had been rewarded handsomely for her contribution, but she didn't know what happened to Taienra after that.

Asilean trembled with rage even before Yill finished talking. Once again, shitty bastards were exploiting Taienra's natural constitution for their greed, and he was once again powerless to stop it. Toz and the other cats were also livid, but since Yill was a transcendent, there wasn't anything they could do, even if they had Dyra as a hostage.

Toz was thinking about what to do. But he felt powerless in front of the Transcendent Realm and the Obsidian Empire. The only thing he could think of was becoming a transcendent himself. But that would take time, and who knew what would happen to Taienra during that time? Not to mention if that level would be enough.

Although Yill didn't explain it clearly, and Toz didn't have any prior knowledge of the Transcendent Realm, it seemed like the Transcendent Realm was more like a border between the mortal levels and what lay beyond. And if there was only a single level beyond the mortal levels, it didn't make sense to separate the mortals and transcendents, even if transcendents were unimaginably stronger than mortals.

And if Taienra, as a Starry Sky Whale, were as valuable as Yill made her sound to be, the security around her probably wouldn't be something a simple transcendent could break through.

Toz was about to ask Yill and Dyra about the levels of power above the transcendent level, when Dyra spoke.

"U-um, I'm sorry about Taienra. I might not be able to help you save her."

She winked stealthily before continuing.

"But I can help you get to the Transcendent Realm."

Toz turned a questioning gaze toward Dyra. Considering how she had been treated as a hostage, the last thing Toz expected was for her to help them, but since it didn't seem like she was lying, he didn't flat-out refuse her.

"What did you have in mind?"

"I am supposed to stay here for up to another year, and if you make enough contributions during the war in my stead, I ought to be able to bring you with me to the Transcendent Realm when I return."

Following the orders of the ones who kidnapped and imprisoned them didn't sit right with Toz, but if it was the quickest way to find and free Taienra, he would be willing. However, it wasn't only his choice, so he turned to the cats.

"I-if it's the fastest way to get to Taienra, let's do it."

Asilean spoke what the others thought as they nodded in agreement to his words.

"Alright, but let's put it in writing since we aren't in a position to trust you."

To prove his lack of trust, Toz still didn't let go of Dyra until the notary who wrote the peace agreement between Pirate Haven and the Alliance of Kingdoms arrived, even if it didn't look like Dyra or Yill was going to cause a ruckus.

The mood was somber, and no one was keen on talking anymore after everything that had been done and revealed. And Toz and the cats were worrying about Taienra, so although they were happy about escaping prison, they couldn't find it in themselves to celebrate.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the notary to arrive. After he did, he quickly drafted an agreement that Toz and Dyra signed. While signing it, Dyra admitted that her empire had methods to get out of the agreement's binding but that she would have to go back to the Transcendent Realm for those methods. Since the agreement was going to get nullified after some time anyways, Dyra asked the notary to increase the strength in exchange for shortening its duration.

Finally acquiring a way to trust Dyra, he let her go, but she didn't immediately go to Yill's side as she stood slightly off to the side while Toz signed the agreement.

Dyra would bring Toz and the cats to the Transcendent Realm after they made enough contributions, and neither Toz nor the cats would threaten Dyra's life again. The agreement would be nullified if Toz couldn't rack up enough achievements.

Both Dyra and Toz were moderately satisfied with the agreement's terms, and they shook hands to conclude it.

Now, the only thing left was for Toz and the cats to partake in the fighting on the high level battlefield to make achievements enough for Dyra to be able to legitimately bring them to the Transcendent Realm.

Although Toz was still a medium level mage, the cats were all at the seventh level, one of the higher levels. And the high level battlefield was where it would be easiest for them to make enough contributions.

There were a bunch of bureaucratic things and official procedures to go through before Toz, and the cats, would actually be able to fight on Dyra's behalf, but Dyra would handle all that while Toz and the cats could spend their time training and prepare for battle.

Dyra led Toz and the cats away from the prison to a place where they could stay while she arranged for their presence on the battlefield. Lucy harrumphed loudly as they passed Brunswick.

Toz and the cats had fought before, but the only thing close to a large-scale battle was the time with the Scorched Earth Rat King, but back then, he didn't participate in the large-scale part of the battle. He watched the other explorers, merchants, and whoever helped prepare for the battle, but the battle itself was more of a sweeping strategy for clearing out all the Scorched Earth Rats.

There was also the encounter with the void beast swarm when they met Taienra and Asilean, but the void beasts weren't intelligent enough to be considered opponents. They only had overwhelming numbers. And that eventually devolved into a fight with only three of the beasts.

So Toz and the cats had more experience fighting in direct combat on a relatively small scale than they had with fighting large amounts of enemies together with large amounts of allies.

There was also the fact that the war was among high level combatants, which was another thing Toz and the others didn't have too much experience fighting. Toz had sparred with Wulf and fought Dristel, but the cats hadn't done that, so they were even worse off than Toz.

Toz was going to tell the cats as much as possible about what he learned when fighting Dristel, and like he promised Mindle, he was also going to tell them about his mana vision.