68 (II) Planning

68 (II)

Planning

For the second time in the span of days, Uva, Shiv, Can Hu, Valor, and Adam departed from Passage. But this time Uva’s team left with them, accompanied by a Shadow Cell, and Shiv had thirty of Can Hu’s small spider drones stored in his cape as well.

Also, rather than suffering through a slow and treacherous trek through the umbral wilderness, the Young Lord made things simple. Adam stared for a moment once they emerged from Passage and cast his senses to the horizon. As his glare burned, he drew back a shot. He took a breath, and he fired. A rupture appeared before him. The Veilpiercer arrow sailed across dimensions for three minutes before it finally tore open another rift, creating a bridge for them to traverse the world.

Adam laughed as he lowered his bow. He gestured for Shiv to enter first. “After you, cockroach.”

“Thanks for opening the door, Young Lord,” Shiv replied. Then he squinted down the way and saw a body lying there. A body missing a good chunk of its torso. “What’s that? Who did you shoot?”

“Oh, just a sentry. I suspect they were a Jump Mage too, considering how my arrow reacted with them. They had some spatial anchoring wards, but that just made them easy prey for my Veilpiercer.”

Shiv laughed. “Show-off.”

“That’s what Masters do, isn’t it?”

Shiv went in first, blasting across. He wore Can Hu as armor, and a field of small stones and metal fragments drifted around him, creating an enhanced proximity detection system for both of them. Uva followed thereafter, flying on her shield to keep pace. Her team sprinted behind her, and Ikki looked at the unstable dimension slowly creeping in.

“Adam,” Ikki said, blinking, “is this place, you know, structurally sound or something? It won’t just push us out, right?”

“It will last long enough,” Adam said. “And don’t worry, it’s the same thing as your spatial tunnels, except it’s more of an actual place. It has borders. It’s not just a pocket of space being moved around. It’s like a new patch of existence being created, albeit a very unstable, unsteady patch. But yes, we are fine. We have ample time to cross.”

Behind them, the Trapdoor Operatives followed. Shiv couldn’t tell where any of them were. Still Water had not been joking about treating this like a sneaking mission—if your allies couldn’t pinpoint you, how could your enemies have any hope?

As soon as they arrived on the other side, Shiv found himself standing on a sheer cliffside that led off into a cave. Only the edge of the cliff jutted out, and a series of large mushroom caps outside hid this place from aerial view. How Adam found this spot so quickly, and how he noticed the surveillant Jump Mage, was beyond Shiv. But that was probably why the Young Lord had a Heroic-Tier Awareness Skill.

As the other members of the group filtered in, they secured the surveillance post, and Still Water emerged. “Hm, good positioning,” noted. She looked down at the dead Jump Mage and shook her head. “Damn shame. They would have made a pretty good operative if they hadn’t had the misfortune of coming up against a Hero.”

Adam scoffed. “A Master-Tier should have more dignity: better to starve than to serve some slaver mongrels.”

As their group set up, Uva moved on to her end of the task. She directed her mana strands outward—each so fine and thin that Shiv wouldn’t have noticed if he didn’t know they were already there. He was connected to her as well and saw what she was doing, or at least vaguely felt it.

She had another skill that allowed her to process parallel thoughts at once. Currently, she could do up to five, and it was staggering—like her mind was split into layers. But more than that, it allowed her to direct these strands with even greater efficiency.

Seconds later, her web spread around Gate Theborn, threading and brushing against the minds of the various patrols and guards in a maneuver so subtle and imperceptible that none of the guards knew what was happening. A few jolted slightly as she struck them. She tested their Magical Resistance and slumped away from those that had anything at Master-Tier or above.

“Level 100 is hard to break in time,” she whispered. “Level seventy or below… I can do that,” she muttered to herself. “I can break those quickly. We just need to find one. Ah. Already an option. Oh, a foolish rider. They have forgotten to equip their mount as well.”

Shiv realized what she meant as she directed him using the strands of her mind and let him see what she was doing. Her mana strands were surging into a wyvern mind. She was so subtle compared to the Jealousy, which rammed its way into another's consciousness and eventually detonated them. Minutes passed, and the wyvern still didn’t realize she was there. That was just how careful she was. Maybe she lacked raw power compared to the Greater Demon, but her control and soft approach made her a treacherous adversary, even for another Psychomancer.

Perhaps especially for another Psychomancer.

“There are four Master-Tier Psychomancers to note outside the gate,” Uva said as she stitched more of herself over to the wyvern’s mind. “One of them is this beast’s rider. This was probably why he skimped out on a Magical Resistance bridle for the beast.” The wyvern roused slightly, but then stilled as she wove her control tight over its ego. Inside, Shiv could hear the beast screaming, struggling. Outside, it didn’t react at all. The rider didn’t notice. Not even as a Psychomancer.

“Damn good job,” Shiv whispered, impressed.

Nearby, Adam shivered and patted his armor, which now had Magical Resistance.

“Delicious, isn’t it?” Uva smiled. She felt a sublime thrill—different from his. He burned like a happy, raging fire, like a bomb that wanted to go off. She preferred defying chaos with delicate focus. Like threading a needle while trapped in a hurricane.

She didn’t assume full control of the wyvern immediately. Instead, she directed its actions with spells of suggestion. “It requires five percent of my active mana field to direct the beast’s actions. When I get more mana strands, I should be able to capture and puppeteer even more people at once. The limitation right now isn’t my Psychomancy, but my Parallel Thinking…”

She fed details to the group, and Shiv narrated things to Can Hu. Much like what the Shadow Cells reported, there were a lot more mercs in the area—a great many of them flight-capable Pathbearers who soared through the air.

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“Replacements for the Jealousy,” Adam deduced. “They won’t be able to find another Greater Demon on short notice, but they can have a mass of fast-moving, fast-responding forces.”

There were more elemental watchtowers as well, and a small army of elemental dimensionals that served as the bulk of their forces. Beings made from earth and metal stomped across the ground while humanoid shapes composed of lightning and fire traveled the skies alongside some of the riders.

“Two thousand active guards,” Uva said. “That’s my guess.”

“Probably closer to three,” Adam muttered as he squinted his eyes. “There is a cloaked group camped in the forests nearby, along the ebony path. Some cave biters incoming, but mostly carrying treasures. Not many slaves…”

“Goods don’t run away,” Shiv commented. He thought of Sarah and the other slaves he saved from the Jealousy. Something inside him soured. There were a hell of a lot more people like them.

“I have multiple targets marked out,” Uva said after nearly an hour of observation. Several mana strings shivered. “I will be starting a series of conflicts between the various patrol groups and mercenaries. There is enough bad blood between the groups I can exploit already. I could use someone’s help shooting some captains and commanders afterward. That should let the chaos last a bit longer.”

Adam materialized two more sets of arms and prepared three Veilpiercers at once. “Well. By all means, huntress. Show me the quarry.”

She did so by shaking several mana threads and drawing Adam’s attention to them. The Young Lord narrowed his eyes and created a final set of arms. “More than a few, then?”

“Soon to be fewer, thanks to you,” Uva replied.

The Young Lord chuckled. “What flattery.”

Uva started the proceedings with a flex of her intent. The wyvern she controlled twisted, threw its rider off at a brutal angle, and bit into the man’s armored skull. Its teeth chipped and broke, but Uva didn’t care—she forced it to gnaw and shake. The man cried out, armor holding just long enough, but his Toughness was lacking. As the wyvern jerked back in another sudden direction, a crack sounded, and he died.

The wyvern screamed internally. Uva made it fling the body of its beloved owner at a nearby dimensional—sending it crashing head-first into another control. Then, she retracted her threads from the wyvern and speared into the mind of a cave biter a full kilometer below. She intruded with force and violence this time. The cave biter cried out briefly as its mind was taken and then bound. As the mercenaries gathered around its feet looked up, she made it thrash and stomp down on them.

“Stop!” the mercenary captain screamed. The woman shifted up from her seat and caught the massive beast’s foot. Her strength must’ve been Master-Tier, because she halted the cave biter dead—but then a Veilpiercer arrow struck the back of her knee, and the cave biter toppled over on the mercenary anyway. The captain merely groaned beneath the weight, but most of her comrades became little more than caked smears below the massive beast.

Uva cast her mind again. A flame dimensional blasted a group of guards on the ground. Her threads jumped again. An Adept Mercenary triggered her mana bomb, leaving nothing of herself and her patrol. Uva cast again. A Pyromancer-Ballista operator fired his shot into the air with a snarled curse at the dimensionals. And she cast again. A lightning dimensional crashed into a group of riders from behind and expanded into a small storm, cooking them inside their armors.

All around the gates, sudden acts of violence turned into brutal skirmishes as patrol turned on patrol, mercenary band faced mercenary band, and summoned dimensionals fought the denizens of Integrated Earth. Some tried to assert themselves over the situation, but arrows struck them. Most died as the Veilpiercers impacted their body, the speed of the projectiles obscene after traveling for a good minute.

Yet, there were masters even among the Mercenaries, and some wore plates of considerable durability as well. One such band of obsidian-armored mercenaries stood guard at the foot of the gate, protecting a group of dimensional engineers as they conducted an examination on the structure of the arch housing the gateway. Adam’s arrows struck their commander so hard, the obsidian-clad elf was thrown back—but though his armor was cracked, he was not slain. The shockwave washing over his body threw twenty of his subordinates to the ground, but the obsidian commander snapped to attention, glaring through the dimensional rift at Adam.

“What?” he growled. He drew his warhammer, and swirling mist built around its head, but then something else

And that proved to be a mistake in many parts.

Shiv hit the elf so hard the merc’s arm shattered, but then Deepest Edge channeled his cut through the armored elf’s entire body. In the end, the mercenary commander’s armor managed to endure with a slight rent, but from inside poured out blood and viscera. The resulting shockwave from Shiv’s impact also turned most of the elf’s companions to paste, and what few remained were promptly obliterated with a flash of glowing Biomancy.

With the Rememberer in hand, Shiv felt like he was twice as fast as he was before, and thus the dimensional engineers didn’t even get to turn their heads before he tore through them as well. The Rememberer of Wounds shuddered with every hit, recalling the last strike he inflicted, and anchoring him to the target by way of Chronomancy. The Deathless did a quick round, securing the immediate area along the archway. Anything that had Low Adept Toughness simply disintegrated on approach. High Adepts to Low Masters got to die in pieces as the Rememberer graced them, and the one powerful Master was brutally surprised by Shiv’s Silhouette and then battered into paste by multiple Woundeaters crashing into her.

As the last guard collapsed dead at Shiv’s feet, he turned and regarded the battlefield. Everything was in chaos. Cave biters were being burned by the watchtowers, the beams cleaving clean through the massive monsters. Dimensionals turned the sky to flame and storm while the ground shook with rolling landslides and erupted with blades of steel. Mercenary groups cried out as they pushed against each other, all sense of order having completely broken down.

“Shiv. Someone is coming through the gateway,” Can Hu warned.

Shiv moved. A group of Vulteg appeared. Their leader took a blow to his chest, and he cried out as his armor shattered. The shockwave splattered both of his comrades against the arch. With a snarl, however, the lead Vulteg launched Shiv back with a blast of force and then transformed into a bolt of lightning, trying to flee. He got a hundred meters away before Shiv triggered his Chrono-Anchored Strike. Shiv blinked across time and delivered the same blow into the lead Vulteg’s chest. This time, his strike passed all the way through. The lightning-wreathed Vulteg crashed down to the ground, gagging on his own blood. Shiv expedited his enemy’s condition by ripping his blade out and stomping the Vulteg’s head to mush.

“Adam,” Shiv called. “Gateway is secure. I’ll keep it that way. Tell Valor to start moving the Graven Cage.”

He drew in a deep breath as he caught sight of Uva’s strands directing even more people to clash with each other while dimension-piercing arrows blew through essential commanders. “Nothing like having friends you can count on.”

“Indeed,” Can Hu said. “And there is an invisible Vulteg trying to sneak past us. I think she just—”

Shiv spun on his heel and flicked his kukri out in a wide angle. His Conduit of Dawn activated, and his beam cleaved a previously unseen target in half just under the chest.

Deepest Edge > 56

Silhouette > 53

“—passed through my proximity field,” Can Hu finished. “Good job.”

“Good job to you,” Shiv chuckled. He regarded the small stones floating around him. “Didn’t expect these rocks to be that useful.”

Can Hu beeped in acknowledgement. “The slightest variable can make all the difference. Dying cave biter, staggering toward us. I recommend splitting it open and using its corpse to shroud the archway. That should hide our operations and give the others good cover.”

“You know something, Penitent? I was just thinking about doing something like that.”

“Using a cave biter as cover?”

“No, splitting the big bastard open,” Shiv said, blasting off toward the approaching cave biter that had a hole through its upper body. “But the plan’s good too.”