Percy raised an eyebrow as he examined the footprints a little more closely through Micky's eyes.
'Only two sets?'
They should have sent more, shouldn't they? Hadn't they heard about the dead Blues from Femel's House?
Then again, Percy expected the people hunting them to be somewhat disjointed. There was the Divine Root which was looking to punish him for his crimes and potentially extract his secrets. Then, there were the families of the Green-borns he'd killed that had a personal vendetta against him.
Finally, there were the rest of the noble Houses.
He imagined that many of them would steer clear of the mess entirely, for all sorts of reasons. They might not have the spare manpower to send after him, or their headquarters might simply be located too far from the regions where he and Micky were active in.
But there should be plenty of families that couldn't wait to join the fun.
A few would do it out of zealous reverence to their gods, while some might do it out of a selfish interest to get their hands on the Aurora Dew as soon as possible. Most of them, however, would be after the bounties.
According to Nesha, news of his exploits had already reached every corner of the continent, and the Root had placed a rather generous prize on all of their heads. Thirty million contribution points for each of them – Percy, Nesha and Micky. Twice as much if they were brought in alive.
Percy had been surprised to hear that the Root was okay with him dying, but it hadn't taken him long to figure out why. Other than the fact that he'd pissed them off thoroughly, they were probably counting on Orin to eventually spill the recipe in Percy's stead.
Luckily, Elaine's involvement with them was still unknown. As for Nesha, she was currently keeping her head low, trying to avoid anyone recognizing her. But a hundred and twenty million contribution points for just Percy and Micky was still a colossal sum. It was worth nearly twice as much as the elixir Percy had looted from House Tantalus. It was enough to last a medium-sized House for years!
And this was without even including Percy's spoils from all his fallen enemies, which everyone likely understood had already accumulated into another sizeable stash.
'Micky… Maybe I should turn you in myself.'
'Not if I do it first!'
Percy chuckled, before focusing back on the task at hand.
In all seriousness, things had gotten quite dangerous. Hunting him and Micky down was already a profitable venture even from a purely financial standpoint. Several noble Houses would find it worth their time to freeze their other operations, delegating some of their Blues to this mission instead.
As for the two they had already killed – they had probably been outliers. Dispatched by Femel's father as soon as he'd learned of the Green-born's death, they had likely headed out even before the bounty had been put in place. On top of that, they'd had a specialized means to track them down, so it was no wonder that they'd reached them ahead of the pack. But Percy fully expected the situation to grow even more hectic over the next few weeks.
'It's not all bad though…' he thought with a shrug.
The good news was that each of these groups wanted to get to him first. After all, nobody wanted to share the spoils with others. It meant that his enemies weren't necessarily communicating with one another. Most of them would underestimate his fighting strength and pay the price.
'Micky, for now let's collect some information on them. Do you think you can locate them without being seen? I'll change spots in the meantime, to gauge their reaction.'
If his suspicions were correct, these people weren't affiliated with Femel's House. They'd probably just spotted him and Micky flying toward the mountain, and followed them here. Luckily, this was something they could easily verify.
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Taking a few deep breaths, he activated his boosting art. Next, he headed west and downward, descending from the mountain while using the snow-covered boulders as cover.
It wasn't until half an hour later that Micky caught sight of the Blues. Flying a few kilometres away, he had an easier time observing them through Soul Vision, since the blizzard didn't inhibit it. As for their targets… They didn't seem to have realized they'd been discovered.
Sure enough, there were only two of them again. But that was all the crow could discern from this distance. The good news was that they'd kept travelling in the same direction, unaware that they wouldn't find Percy there.
'Okay… It seems it was just a coincidence they were headed toward me before. We can probably avoid them entirely if we want. Votes?'
'I think we should deal with them now,' Micky said.
'I agree,' the clone added.
Percy nodded.
Even if they didn't have a bloodline to locate him, leaving these people alive would be a hidden danger. The region was bound to get quite crowded once more hunting parties arrived, so it was probably in Percy's best interest to thin the herd with every opportunity.
Of course, the previous battle had made him quite wary towards the Blues. Even with just two, he'd be a fool to underestimate them. At the same time, the fact remained that neither he nor Micky could grow without risk.
'Try to get a little closer. It's better if they don't see you, but it's not the end of the world if they do. We need to figure out what we're dealing with.'
Percy circled around the Blues, making his way toward his familiar. He wanted to be ready to help the crow if they got spotted.
Approaching by another kilometre, Micky was finally able to make a few more details out. There was a man and a woman. The latter appeared like an older Orange-born, though the man was probably younger.
This was already great news. It likely meant they were weaker than the previous team. Adding the fact that Percy and Micky had grown stronger, he felt confident about their odds.
Getting even closer, the crow caught a fleeting glimpse of their insignia. From what little Percy and Micky managed to piece together, it depicted an animal they couldn't quite recognize, doing something with two objects.
He scratched his head.
'A dog hiding behind a couple of bushes? Or a hedgehog sitting between a pair of rocks?'
Struggling to connect it to any of the families in his memory, he turned to the one person who was a hundred times more knowledgeable than him about these things.
'Hey, other me… Can you ask Nesha if she recognizes this symbol?'
Sending the mental image over, he waited for a response. Luckily, it didn't take long for his girlfriend to relay the information he needed.
'A lion sleeping on its front paws… House Ypnos.'
Percy felt the urge to slap himself for failing to recognize the insignia of a Great House. Especially since he'd seen some of their nobles from afar during the past few weeks. Either way, it made sense for them to be among the first to come after him. Many of the surrounding areas belonged to their House. They had plenty of Greens and Blues deployed in the wildlands, capturing beasts to send to the Valley.
'If we're lucky, we'll counter their bloodline too…'
Percy couldn't be certain that they both possessed their family's famous ability of lulling beasts to sleep, but he was willing to bet at least one of them did. Why else would they have been sent to this region?
He also didn't know if the bloodline worked on people, but he was confident his Insomnia trait would protect both him and his familiar from it – if it did. Its effectiveness had been limited against the demonic infestation that had devastated Amenthes, but he doubted the bloodline would be nearly as powerful.
After all, the infestation had even forced a goddess into deep slumber, and Percy had still managed to stay awake for over an hour under its influence. That should be plenty of time to finish the fight – as long as the Blues' ability didn't somehow surpass the world-ending disaster.
'That still leaves two unknown affinities and one potential bloodline to be careful of, but I feel good about it,' he said as he got closer to Micky.
The crow didn't get a chance to respond, however, since their opponents had finally noticed his gaze. Turning around, the two shot toward the bird. The woman was riding a rolling mound of dirt and stone that carved a wide path through the frozen slope. As for the man, he had formed two cyan discs beneath his feet, using them to slide down the mountain rapidly.
'Earth and pure…'
Percy couldn't help but grin. He didn't want to get ahead of himself and end up dying due to carelessness, but this was looking like an easy fight.
'Let's not split them up this time,' he said, getting a nod back.
It was tantamount to handicapping themselves, but this was a good opportunity to learn how to fight under a couple of stacked domains. They wouldn't always have the luxury of separating their opponents, and they would likely have to face groups of more than two Blues in the future, so this was the best value they could get out of this battle.
"There's the other one!" the woman yelled at some point, gesturing at Percy.
Both her eyes and those of her partner shone with greed.
The poor fools had yet to realize that they were no longer the hunters…