An Owl's Rise

It took Evelyn a few seconds for her mind to reboot after hearing that Katrina was married, but even after her thoughts had settled down, she was still at a loss for words.

\'Deep breaths. You can ask more about this later. Right now, you have something more important to deal with.\' Evelyn thought, shoving everything pertaining to Katrina and Savan\'s relationship to the back of her mind.

"If Katrina trusts you Savan, then we are happy to have you along. We are going to be fighting a battle where we will be outmatched so we will take all the help we can get." Evelyn said, completely sidestepping the revelation she had just heard.

"Of course. I am always willing to help Katrina out when she so rarely needs my assistance. Plus, I have been wanting to meet you for a while now. Katrina speaks of your talents and hard work often and thinks of you as a little sister." Savan said, wearing a bright smile.

Katrina in a rare show of being flustered hit her partner on the arm in a fit of embarrassment with enough force for it to sound like an explosion went off.

It was not long before Anneli sowed up and the eight of them began discussing their plan of attack against the humans that had entered the Verdant Warlord\'s domain.

"We may have the same numbers, but if all of the humans are at the arcanist rank then we are at quite the disadvantage. The five of you all fall short." Savan said, carefully examining Evelyn, Bylur, Rehni, Aralee, and Verrader.

Each of them was still at the awakened rank with Bylur and Rehni being at the high tier while Evelyn and her siblings were only mid-tier.

"I already clashed with one of them and if I can take the same woman on again, I should be fine. Her magic does not match up well against me." Evelyn said, before relaying the information they had learned about the three humans they had fought during their escape.

For several minutes the eight of them discussed what their options were and exactly what could be expected of each of them in a fight.

"It sounds like hitting them fast and hard in order to take them off guard is our best bet if we can manage it. We should go in fully buffed with potions and talismans and try to incapacitate and weaken as many of the humans as we can before they realize what has happened." Katrina said, giving her suggestion.

Without any better plan Evelyn agreed and began giving out more specific formations that she figured would work best.

"If our first attack fails, we need to flee into the forest and hide out until we can counterattack or flee the domain again. Unfortunately, we do not have enough tokens to get everyone out if we wanted to retreat into the real world." Evelyn said, coming up with a contingency plan.

Of course, if they could not win the battle, it would certainly put them in a precarious place, but the humans would not be much better.

It would likely take all nine of the humans to keep them in check, and it would be impossible for them to explore the domain and keep guard over the exit. If they moved in groups to try and do both, they would simply get picked off by Evelyn and her allies. Both groups would have to be looking out for the other at all times.

Having finished making their plans and making sure that their item stocks were sufficient, the eight of them set out to the Warp Hall.

When they arrived, they bought the necessary tickets to leave and return and headed over to the warp pad that would take them to the Forest of Giants.

After the usual bright flash of light, the eight of them were whisked away from the Roost and back into the real world.

\'Okay, time to rendezvous with Otis.\' Evelyn thought.

She took out her magic message pad and sent a quick message to Otis that allowed them to follow it to his location.

They found him near the entrance to the Verdant Warlord\'s domain, keeping watch just as Evelyn had asked him to.

Noticing Evelyn\'s return, Otis happily jumped from the branch he was perched in, but abruptly stopped in mid-air when he noticed the three tyrant rank owls he had never seen before.

Flying up front Evelyn, approached Otis and swiftly explained who Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were.

"Now, we can do proper introductions later. Otis, did you see anything while we were gone?"

"Not anything pertaining to the humans. They have not left the domain; of that I am certain. I did witness a couple other beasts that were curious about the entrance, but they were repulsed by the wooden knights." Otis said, giving Evelyn his report.

"Thanks for keeping watch for us. It is comforting to know that no other humans entered and that they have not left to send for reinforcements." Evelyn said.

She then turned towards Anneli, Katrina, and Savan and informed them about exactly where the entrance to the domain was.

"Before you can enter you will have to beat the two wooden knights standing guard. But I do not imagine that will be much trouble for the three of you." Evelyn said.

Wearing confident expression, Anneli, Katrina, and Savan jumped out of the tree they had landed on and flew down to engage the wooden knights.

The battle only took two minutes, and it was completely one sided. The three of them tore the two wooden knights apart without any problems at all.

"They certainly made that look easy. I am glad to have them on our side." Reni said, looking down at the three of them in awe.

Even Otis was not nearly as strong as any of them. Compared to them he had not been a tyrant rank beast nearly as long. Certainly they were all the same rank and tier, but Anneli, Katrina, and Savan were a league above him in terms of combat.

"Let\'s go. The faster we act the better." Evelyn said, descending towards the opening doors that were welcoming their return.