Kazos

Acroniya once was a place close to heaven, majestic mountains standing in their glory for ages still in their place. Surrounded by clouds, it felt like they were touching the sky itself.

Never-ending waterfalls, a network of rivers spreading life all over Acroniya. Fertile lands, beautiful forests attending to the needs of humans and animals for ages.

All living forces had some strange connection connecting them with nature, and with each other.

A strange yet powerful one, it sometimes felt like nature itself materialized into a calm energy which flowed throughout Acroniya.

The land which was once blessed was now covered in the flames of destruction and chaos.

People initially struggled, but when there was no hope, their efforts started to fade; it turned into a growing number of casualties.

But things started to change as word spread of their heroes; as long as they had hope, they would struggle.

As more and more Acroniyans heard this news, the more their struggle for survival grew; as a result, casualties further started to slow down.

The people of Acroniya had complete faith in their heroes, and they returned the same by putting their lives on the line. One such unit of the Acroniya army was on the move.

On the day of the Neothaliyan Attack:

After separating from Neil's wing, the Kazos under the leadership of Zellto moved south of the Royal Capital. After traveling for several minutes, they were about to enter the Belh 1 region.

Before they could enter the region, a strong stench of blood reached their noses. “On your guard,” Zellto ordered while carefully observing the area. He slowly moved his horse further while checking for possible danger; the Kazos followed him while keeping an eye on their surroundings.

After traveling for a while, the smell of blood intensified; massive scratch marks were all over the region. "There is no village in this area, so why did they attack here?" one of the Kazos asked.

"Most likely, survivors were trying to reach the Royal Capital, but they were not able to make it," Zellto replied.

Zellto moved his horse; the Kazos moved after him. As they started to pass by the area, they saw broken ground, claw marks all over, and there were some remains of broken carts.

A few items were stuck in the ground, possibly the contents of those carts; however, those items were barely recognizable. A few scraps of fiber and clay were all that could be understood.

After searching for a while, they found a group of Neothaliyan beasts gathered at a place.

The Kazos jumped off their horses and hid behind the debris. The beasts didn't notice them, or simply they didn't care.

"What are they still doing here?" one of the Kazos muttered. Zellto, peeping through his spyglass, counted the beasts; he checked for survivors but was barely able to spot any.

“There are around 20 Neothaliyan beasts,” he told his unit. While climbing onto his horse's back, he added, “I will get their attention while you all go and search for survivors.”

Zellto pushed his horse towards the herd of beasts. Before he could do a thing to attract the beasts, a few of them turned their heads towards him.

They looked towards him for a while, and then five of them rushed after him. “This is bad,” Zellto muttered while looking towards the remaining beasts, who lost interest in him. Zellto started running out of the region, followed by the five beasts.

“ should we attack or what?” one of the Kazos said while looking towards the herd of beasts chewing into human flesh.

“We must... get on the horses,” one of the Kazos said while reaching out to his horse.

Zellto peeked; he barely saw their movements but understood what they were after.

He turned his horse, moving towards the herd of beasts again. The beasts were able to catch him, but due to such a sudden turn, they missed him and went gliding for a few meters.

In the meantime, Zellto opened a small, transparent item resembling a finger made of smooth stone. When he was 10 to 12 meters away from those beasts, he gently moved his finger across that object.

All eyes turned towards him; the beasts started growling at him. They dropped what they were eating and started attacking him. Zellto turned his horse, barely dodging their attack; he rode his horse out of the area, followed by all those beasts.

“Now!!” one of the Kazos said. The Kazos got on their horses, rushing towards the area. After searching for a little while, they found a few survivors drenched in the blood of their own people.

A person with medical knowledge started giving first aid to the survivors; they tried to stabilize the critical people's situations. As for the just-conscious survivors, they were loaded onto the horses' backs; the corpses of the fallen were left behind.

After running for like 15 to 20 minutes, Zellto was able to get rid of those beasts; he started heading back to that area.

After ensuring everyone was safe, they started to head to the west; before they could move, the beasts returned to the area.

“These beasts are sure fast,” one of the Kazos muttered. “You stick to the plan; I will try to distract them again,” Zellto ordered while moving his horse towards them.

He opened that thing again, but the beasts completely ignored them and ran towards the survivors.

“Now!!” Hundreds or thousands of arrows flew toward the beasts. A few beasts survived the attack, but before they could run, several cavalry from the south attacked them.

Within a few minutes, all those beasts were killed.

One horse started to move towards Zellto.

Zellto identified that person. “Greetings, Commander Julicious.” Julicous nodded his head and pointed towards hundreds of beasts standing calmly beside the soldiers who arrived from the south.

He said, ”Vice Commander Zellto, use them; they are called Wind Beasts. After you are done with your task, meet me in the Royal Capital."

“Ok, Commander,” Zellto replied; he started observing those Wind Beasts.

Julicous understood his concern and started explaining, “Let me tell you about them in brief. They are called Wind Beasts; as is clear from their name, they move very fast.

On the surface, they look like they are a structure of hollow bones with barely any flesh on them, but still, they are strong enough.

Such beasts, despite their hollow bones, are powerful enough to carry 10 times their weight, and most importantly, they are actually fast.”

Zellto nodded and then turned towards his soldiers. “Get on the beasts' backs!” he ordered. The soldiers followed his order, getting on those beasts' backs.

After everyone got on a beast, he moved to the remaining one and climbed onto its back.

”Kazos, let's go!“ Zellto ordered and started heading west.

Julicous was looking towards Zellto; as he disappeared from the horizon, he turned towards the beasts' bodies which started to move. "Now, let's fight.”

The Kazos, after traveling for a while, encountered their first abnormal beast. The beast was similar to the Neothaliyan beasts, but what made him different was his blood.

His blood was so corrosive it melted through his own flesh, and then it started to drip onto the ground. The ground started to burn, creating tiny holes in the ground.

As he noticed his prey, his mouth started watering; he started running towards them. These sudden movements snapped his veins, resulting in streams of blood gushing out of his body. Since he was already in motion, all his blood fell onto his body, further burning through his tissues.

As the blood melted through his remaining tissues, it hit one of such tissues which was keeping his flesh attached to his body.

In the absence of that tissue, a large chunk of his flesh fell off, exposing his bones, remaining tissues, and internal organs, if any remained. His bones were completely turned dark, and as for his only eyeball, which was half-melted, he tried to lock onto his prey.

Zellto shouted, “Everyone careful, his blood is highly corrosive.” That beast bit his own arm off his body; still holding that in his mouth, he moved, spraying his blood all over.

Zellto pushed the Wind Beast of another Kazo; he barely dodged that blood and it fell on the Wind Beast's body, but nothing happened.

"His blood is not that strong, let's finish him!" One of the Kazos closest to that beast claimed; he jumped off the beast's back and moved towards that beast. Zellto was already on the ground preparing to fight that beast, but before he could plan, that Kazo was already in reach of that beast.

Zellto rushed towards him, trying to stop him, but it was already too late. Zellto took a deep breath and rushed in front of that Kazo; with one hand, he pulled that Kazo back, but that beast had already closed the gap.

Zellto swung his sword using his main hand, cutting that beast in half; he left his blade there and kicked that beast while using his main hand as a cover for his main organs.

He moved back as fast as possible, but still, a few drops made contact with his right arm. His arm quickly swelled, his blood vessels started to expand—it felt like they could burst at any moment—his flesh was covered in dark marks, and after a while, it started melting just like that beast's.

Enduring the pain, he looked for something in his utility bag. He grabbed a tiny flask containing a beautiful white liquid; he poured it on the affected area.

After a while, his hand started shrinking, the dark marks started fading, and his blood vessels became normal.

One of the Kazos asked him in worry, “Vice Commander, are you okay?” “Yes, I am okay,” Zellto muttered while taking heavy breaths to control the pain; after a few minutes, the pain was controllable.

Zellto moved towards that reckless Kazo and screamed at him, “What were you thinking?!” That Kazo just remained silent; when he didn't reply, Zellto just stared at him for a while and then gave up.

"Let's divide; we will divide into two groups, 30 Kazos and 70 Kazos.“ Zellto stopped; he took a deep breath and then grabbed that Kazo's shoulder. ”I know our ways of working are different, but still, orders are orders. So I am giving you an order. Andeer, go lead your unit. Die if death is the only option, and don't show any mercy to your enemy. Destroy the fear of your comrades and protect our people."

Zellto shouted, ”ANDEER, WILL YOU DO THIS?!"

”YES, SIR!!“ Andeer replied without any delay.

Zellto continued, “Okay, well then, go, Vice Captain Andeer Kinomu. Lead us to victory."

Zellto's group started dividing into smaller groups, while the battle between the Commanders is going to commence soon.