System's POV

In the northeast of the continent, there was a canyon named Vesta Canyon. It spanned three hundred miles, and surprisingly, it was completely bereft of Jinns or any kind of beasts.

Virelax, the Prism Feathered Peacock, flew above it. However, it was not alone.

Princess Aracelle sat on its back, looking down on the canyon as if looking for something.

Aside from the giant peacock, four more Rank 8 Sovereigns scouted the area, looking for the whereabouts of the Azothralls.

After circling the canyon two more times, Virelax decided that there was nothing to be found and flapped its wings to fly away.

Suddenly, ten alien-like monsters rose from the ground and headed in their direction.

Without any trace of hesitation, Virelax instantly accelerated, flying at its fastest speed, leaving behind the Rank 8 Sovereigns to fend for themselves.

However, the ten Azothralls ignored the Rank 8 Monsters and locked onto the fleeing peacock.

At the helm of the formation was none other than the Golden Azothrall, whose speed drastically increased to catch up to the fleeing peacock.

A battle took place in the sky of Vesta Canyon between the two powerhouses, whose strengths were roughly the same.

But after a few exchanges, Virelax realized that the golden Azothrall was stronger than it.

As the two of them clashed, the nine other Azothralls joined the battle, making the giant peacock screech in anger.

Then it happened.

A scream reached Virelax’s ears as the Azothralls abducted Princess Aracelle and hastily fled the scene.

“You dare!” Virelax screeched in anger as it unleashed a deadly inferno in the surroundings in an attempt to blow away the Azothralls that were trying to hold it in place.

Unfortunately, the golden Azothrall was stronger than the peacock and dealt a serious injury to its body.

Knowing that the situation was dire, Virelax fled the scene without looking back.

To its surprise, the Azothralls didn’t follow it and returned to their hiding place in the Vesta Canyon, away from the eyes of the Jinns.

Somewhere in the Cygni Continent, Thirteen’s communicator rang, informing him that the princess had been captured by the Azothralls.

“Understood,” Thirteen replied. “Commence Operation Blitzkrieg.”

——

Miles under the ground of the Vesta Canyon, the Azothralls arrived at a spacious cavern littered with glowing crystals.

When the Golden Azothrall arrived, it immediately went to see if Princess Aracelle had received any injury from the battle earlier.

To its satisfaction, aside from a few bruises, the princess was relatively unharmed.

All the Azothralls chuckled eerily, for they had succeeded in capturing a top specimen, which would allow them to recoup their losses in their latest clash with Zion Leventis.

A few hours ago, they detected several Jinns scouting the Vesta Canyon and its surrounding areas.

Originally, they didn’t plan to do anything until they sensed a powerful divine presence emanating from Princess Aracelle.

The Azothralls debated whether they should take this chance to capture the princess or not.

They could vaguely sense that this might be a trap to lure them out of their hiding place, but the temptation to capture the princess who possessed a divine bloodline made them hesitate.

If they were able to capture her and make her give birth to their race, any sacrifice was worth it.

In the end, they chose to take the gamble.

With the golden Azothrall taking the lead, they believed that this mission’s chance of succeeding was high.

Fortunately, their gamble paid off, and now, they have the princess who would make their goal a reality.

She was not the only Jinn inside the cavern.

Those who had been captured a few days ago were currently inside cocoons, where their bodies were being modified to allow them to give birth to Azothralls.

The golden Azothrall personally carried the Princess to an empty cocoon in order to begin her metamorphosis.

Silky webs moved to wrap themselves around the young lady’s body, until only her head was visible.

After making sure that the corruption process had started, the Azothrall smiled evilly before walking away to inspect the other cocoons to see their progress.

At that moment, the Azothralls sensed dozens of powerful monsters flying around Vesta Canyon.

Clearly, this was the rescue party meant to find Princess Aracelle.

However, the Azothralls weren’t worried in the slightest.

They had picked the perfect hiding place, so even if the Jinns searched high and low for their location, they would never be found.

The Azothralls weren’t aware that the ring on the Princess’ finger was glowing faintly.

Just as the alien-like monsters were relaxed, believing their hiding place was safe and secure, Rocky emerged from the ground and unleashed a battle cry, taking them by surprise.

“Now!” Thirteen ordered.

As soon as his order was given, Rocky ejected the Rank 9 and Rank 8 Sovereigns from its mobile fortress, and they all morphed into their demi-human forms.

Understanding that they had indeed fallen into a trap, the golden Azothrall screeched, ordering its subordinates to escape. It then grabbed Princess Aracelle and swallowed her whole before making its escape.

In a span of less than a minute, five Azothralls were killed by the combined might of ten Rank 9 Sovereigns, who didn’t hold back and simply went for the kill.

The eight remaining Azothralls were able to escape, but they suffered various levels of injuries.

This was a blitzkrieg operation, meant to kill as many of them as they could and save the hostages at the same time.

Rocky had already taken them inside its mobile fortress, making sure that the Azothralls wouldn’t be able to use them as hostages.

A game of cat and mouse started with the Rank 9 Sovereigns, who specialized in digging, pursuing the fleeing Azothralls.

High above the sky, the winged monsters of the Jinn Army scanned the surroundings, ready to intercept the Jinns if they fled above ground.

“Did we succeed?” asked Princess Aracelle, who looked a little pale.

“Yes,” Thirteen replied. “The golden Azothrall captured Princess Laventia’s clone, which contains your divine power. Athena is currently tracking the golden Azothrall. As soon as it emerges from the ground, Nautilus will go for the kill.”

Thirteen eyed the red blinking dot on the projection in front of him.

This blinking dot was none other than the golden Azothrall, who had greedily devoured the clone that Thirteen had used to find their location.

———-