Nero Walker, Book 2 Ch.62 (94) (Patreon)

Captain Angelton used a shield construct to hold up the large planks, while Peyton hammered large dowels connecting the planks to the ceiling runners. If they kept up this pace, they should have the barracks finished by morning. The captain couldn’t help but be impressed with Peyton’s agility as he saw the man lightly stepping across the posts that made up the wall.

Once they ran out of planks, Peyton jumped down from his perch and flipped the hand-axe he had been using as a hammer over and held it ready for combat once again. The man had said that if he was going to use a tool, then at least one side had to be sharp enough to kill something. The captain had thought the saying was catchy enough to include in the report he was compiling.

As they both stared at the nearly finished building, Specialist Howard walked up to them.

“Captain, The last team has left my range. If you want me to keep watch on anyone, I’ll have to be actively scrying,” he said, as though it was a question.

His face blank of expression, the captain replied, “No, that’s fine. The teams are on their own now. Even if you saw something, there isn’t anything we can do from here. From now on, you’re just on perimeter watch. I’m assuming you can do that while working on the camp?”

Nodding, Specialist Howard said, “That shouldn’t be a problem. My passive field is large enough to give us plenty of warning. And from what I can tell, the wards are working fine, nothing is poking around. If anything changes, I’ll let you know. In the meantime, I’ll head over and help Jackson with the lumber.”

“Very good. We’re almost finished here. Then we’ll get the outhouse dug out,” said the captain.

As Specialist Howard walked off, he said, “Great. I can’t wait.” Adding some anger to his steps, the man started muttering about how much he hated being in the wilds, and how he should be out killing things, not building ‘crap houses in the middle of nowhere’.

Both Peyton and Angelton heard him, and exchanged an amused glance with each other.

Peyton said, “You ready for another round?”

Captain Angelton nodded, and they walked over to collect a few more planks that were ready and waiting for installation.

-----

Nero was awoken by Rose. She gently shook his shoulder, and said, “It’s dawn, m’lord. Sergeant Wesker wants to get moving soon.”

Awkwardly pulling an arm out of his sleeping bag, Nero rubbed his eyes. It took a second for Nero to realize where he was, but he quickly shook off any feelings of drowsiness. Without bothering to fold up his bag or his pillow, he sent them into his personal space and summoned his canteen along with a ration bar.

No one seemed to care about fixing up their campsite, or clearing any signs of their presence. So, it only took 5 minutes for everyone to be ready to go.

The sergeant didn’t bother with a speech, or any kind of morning greeting, he just said, “Ward’s going down. Everyone get ready.”

They circled up, facing outward toward the forest. The sun was just bright enough that the visibility wasn’t terrible. He watched as the sergeant walked around the campsite collecting the ward stones. Nero didn’t know how they worked, but he had put it near the top of his research list for when he got back behind the safety of the walls.

But now wasn’t the time for questions, so Nero put the mystery of the ward stones out his mind and focused on the forest. He spread out his psychic field and lightly layered his presence as wide as he could. Unsurprisingly, he several large beasts waiting for them. They must have scented the team’s trail, but couldn’t figure out where they were.

Whispering, Nero said, “We’ve got 3 contacts. Two on my side, and one on Nicks. I can’t see what they are.”

Sergeant Wesker stepped up in front of Nero, and everyone repositioned. Nero summoned his large shield from his personal space. Yesterday, he had discovered the utility of having something to hide behind while casting.

It only took a few seconds for the monsters to sense the team, and they converged like a coordinated pack. When they came into view, Nero recognized them. It was the same kind of wolves that had taken his hand the day before. They were the size of mastiffs, but much thicker, and with a lot more fur.

Growling, the wolves charged toward the team. Stepping out in front, Sergeant Wesker activated an ability, extending the width of his physical shield. A golden sheen extended several feet from both sides, and he planted his feet to receive the charge.

Nero saw that one of the wolves would be out of position, and he decided to do something about it. Even though yesterday sucked, he had learned a lot from the constant combat. In fact, he had gotten very good at estimating how much center he needed to get through an essence field based on how large an area he felt it covered. As his senses couldn’t penetrate an essence field without effort, by not applying any effort, he could map how big the beasts field actually was.

He asked Nick how most people did it, and was surprised that Nick couldn’t sense what Nero was talking about. Nero had chalked it up to his overly precise mind stats along with his dense soul. Regardless, it worked well enough.

Hiding behind his shield, Nero stepped forward to provide the wolf a target. Peeking over the top, he started casting a large ‘pebble-blast’ in front of his shield. Psychically, he held himself in place, and increased the pressure on his mage-armor. With his preparations ready, he waited for the wolf to complete its charge.

Nero heard the combat start behind him, and the sound of Rose’s bow rang out like a silenced machine gun. He felt an explosion from one of Nick’s spells. Narrowing his focus, he watched the large wolf in front of him pounce. Leaning back, he hid fully behind the shield and braced for the impact.

Slamming down into the shield, the wolf’s front paws scraped against the steel, sounding like nails on a chalkboard. Nero felt the heavy beast trying to force him to the ground, but he held his footing with the help of his psychic field. Then he fired his spell point blank into the beast’s chest.

As he was already inside the beasts essence field, he felt it trying to disrupt his spell, but he had learned well, and his spell-form was steady and charged. It fired a concentrated blast of marble sized rocks directly into the beast’s chest. Nero felt the wolf reel back in pain, scrambling to back away from the surprisingly dangerous shield.

With a grin, he stood up and planted the base of the shield into the ground, while peeking around the side. He saw the wolf whimpering in pain, trying to decide if it was worth continuing the fight. Nero didn’t want to let it escape, only to have to deal with it later, so he carved another spell-form. This time, he created an ‘ice cone’, or what he lovingly referred to as a ‘cone of cold’.

With a blast, a swirling blast of hungry air shot out, flash freezing anything it touched. Technically, it wasn’t cold air, it was heat essence that was stripping the thermal potential from anything it touched. But effectively, it was a blast of cold. The wolf was hit on its left flank, and its entire front leg was rendered inoperable. It howled in pain, and collapsed.

Nero wasn’t a sadist, and immediately drew his sword while dismissing his large unwieldy shield. He carefully walked forward, wary of any last minute tricks. He needn’t have worried, as the beast was in so much pain, it wasn’t paying attention to him any longer. Without any hesitation, Nero stabbed his sword deeply into its neck, then levered it back and forth to ensure the maximum damage. He had learned that if he could kill without a spell, it was better to conserve his center. A sword covered in center was more economical by far.

Seeing the beast stop moving, Nero psychically felt its essence field collapse, confirming its death. He pulled his sword free, and turned around to help with the other two wolves, but only met the stares of his teammates. Nick looked proud, and even Sergeant Wesker looked happy with Nero for once. Cathleen wasn’t paying attention, as usual, she was looking around for any other threats. Rose was blushing for some reason, and Nero refused to speculate as to what she had found so interesting.

Quickly, and quietly, they collected the essence crystals along with the pelts. In a matter of minutes, they were back into formation and moving forward toward the destination that only Sergeant Wesker seemed to know.

Nero spread out his field to search for enemies, while keeping his eyes peeled on his assignment. For the first time since coming into the wilds, Nero was starting to feel like he was an actual adventurer. He did his best not to think about it, and concentrated on the here and now.

They continued forward at a solid pace, not too fast, but definitely faster than a normal walking speed. As time went on, Nero did his best to copy Cathleen’s walk. She seemed to step lightly, never breaking any sticks, or causing any noise. It was like she was gliding through the forest, rather than walking. She didn’t bob up and down, just kept her body steady while sliding forward. Her feet barely crossed, and she moved ‘sideways’. It was hard to copy, but Nero did his best.

He hadn’t really paid attention yesterday, but now he could see how she really belonged out here. Everything about the woman was comfortable in the wilds. In the city, she always looked stressed, or at least bothered. But here, surrounded by danger, her shoulders weren’t tense, and her demeanor was calm. Nero found it beautiful, like watching a panther stalking through the brush.

As she was the only one he could see, he could only imagine how Nick and Rose were doing. He wasn’t going to turn around to look, as he had a job to do. And today, he would do it well. He wouldn’t make mistakes, and he wouldn’t have to watch anyone die again. The memory of Rose having her throat ripped out was still bothering him, and he didn’t think he’d ever forget it. Luckily that was the only fatality they had suffered, but one was more than enough.

As they went through the forest, they fought more engagements. Nero had gotten better at identifying threats, and Nick kept complaining about how Nero shouldn’t be wasting his center. Nero didn’t have the heart to tell the man that he wasn’t really using his center. His psychic field was easy to use as long he didn’t actively DO anything with it.

Nero had a theory that it had to do with his soul intensity. He knew that was normally one of the lower stats for most people. Typically, it only grew when a psychic field was stressed. It became important when a mage got up there in levels. It took a lifetime to increase, and a star would only usually raise it by a point or two. But Nero started with a huge lead, and he didn’t plan on squandering it.

His body was made to suffer level stress, and every star would grow his stats if he was careful. Rather than wasting stars at level stresses around 5 or 10 like most people, he could afford to wait. Nero could conceivably have level stresses in the 30s… consistently. He was only now realizing how ridiculous that was. By the time he was level 50, he would be a monster.

Nero had plenty of time to think while they walked. The intermittent encounters seemed much easier today, but Nero did his best to not let down his guard. Soon enough, they would start getting close to the spawn point, and then there would be monsters aplenty.

They moved in silence, no one speaking except to call out threats. In a way, the experience served as a great bonding exercise. They got to know how each person would react. Cathleen would always take a second to allow others to engage, then destroy whatever she targeted. Rose would pepper her targets with her never-ending supply of arrows. Nick would distract and damage. Sergeant Wesker would put himself between the monster and the team, and Nero would act as a sweeper. It was surprising how often Nero ended up tanking things behind his 4ft tall tower shield. He didn’t have any trouble hiding behind it, as he was only around 5’ 4’’. Nero had named it the ‘portable wall’, and he planned on having that painted on the front of it when he got back to Dorchester.

On they went, killing everything that came near them. As time passed, Nero’s bag of essence crystals filled, and their coordination improved. Around 14:00 Sergeant Wesker called a halt for lunch.

Like a well oiled machine, they broke into their assigned tasks. Nick went to clear a fire pit, while Cathleen stood in the center along with Rose, watching the forest for threats. The sergeant walked a 10ft perimeter and placed the ward stones. Nero followed behind him, charging the stones. It was incredibly easy, and it barely took any center. All he really had to do was activate them, then they pulled in essence on their own after being ‘asked’ to start with his center.

Before long, they were sitting around a small campfire, watching Nick warm up some stew. Nero had pulled out his water barrel, so it could refill itself. No one spoke, and they just reveled in the temporary peace. Even Cathleen seemed to drop her guard a little bit.

Nero broke the quiet atmosphere by asking, “Hey Sarge, how do you know where we’re going? I know how to generally sense a direction, but you seem to know exactly where we’re going.”

Nick was about to say something, but Nero pointed at him and said, “Don’t tell me to read the damn packet. I’ll get to it tonight.” Turning back to the sergeant he said, “Well?”

Showing a rare smile, the sergeant sipped his soup from his cup, then said, “It’s not terribly difficult. There are coordinate markers on the map in your packet. Our route was scouted, more or less. There are essence markers that we can follow, along with a general sense of ‘where you are’ given to you by the world. You just need to feel for them. But it’s easier if you use one of these. They’re called direction-finders.” He then pulled out a small black orb, which looked to Nero like a magic eight-ball.

Sergeant Wesker saw Nero staring at it with some curiosity, so the sergeant tossed it over the fire. Nero deftly caught it with his psychic field, and brought it over to his hands, while setting aside his canteen and cup of soup. Holding it, Nero could feel the enchantment trying to connect with him. Opening himself up, he felt the little ball tell him which direction several things were. It was like a feeling being implanted, rather ‘felt’. He knew which direction the spawn point they were heading toward was, and approximately how far away they were from it. Then back toward where they came from, he could sense the command camp, which was quite the distance from their current position. Then he felt Dorchester, which gave him a feeling of ‘home’.

The feeling was really odd. It was like following a hidden trail with a defined end point. Like if someone told you directions, and you mentally took the route imagining what you’d see along the way. Nero disconnected from the orb and tossed it back to the sergeant who immediately placed it in a pouch hidden behind his tabard.

Nero looked off into the distance, and he could almost ‘hear’ the echo of the beacons. While he was really just staring at the trees not 5 ft from him, his mind was searching for that feeling. It was hard, but he could almost sense it. He reached out and tried to feel it…

“Nero! Stop that,” Nick hissed.

Nero’s concentration broke and he turned to Nick. “What?” he asked with some annoyance.

Nick gave Nero a stern look, and said, “You just tried to mentally scry. That takes a lot of control, and a lot of center. It’s not easy to reach out like that. You should start small if your going to practice scrying.” Nick then muttered about ‘stupid prodigies’, and the general insanity of Nero.

Sergeant Wesker asked quietly, “You’re telling me that Walker can scry? Can you?”

Nick looked affronted. He said, “Of course I know how to scry. And he had no idea what he was doing, he was spilling his center like an idiot. If I let him continue, he’d be dead in a few minutes, lost into the ether like a moron.”

Cathleen asked, “Then why haven’t you been scrying for us? We could use the intelligence on what’s in front of us.”

Nick was obviously getting angry, and said, “Because it’s a waste of center. If we were in a tower with a scrying aid, there wouldn’t be a problem. Why do you think we built the damn things. But you can’t just go around scrying everything. It’s sending your mind into the ether to ride the essence flows. Do you think that’s easy! The fact that he can do it is completely ridiculous. Forget about it.”

Nervously, Nero opened his identity to see how bad he had messed up.

Name

Nero Walker

Level

12

Race

Human

Growth

12%

Tier

1

Condition

100%

Age

14

Center

82%

Body

3

Mind

5

Soul

2

Confluence

10

Stars

0

Pillars

1 / 1

With a sigh, Nero realized that his brief excursion into the ethereal plane had taken around 10% of his center. Either he was doing it wrong, or he needed a lot of careful practice before he tried again. Instead of rejoining the conversation, Nero ate his food, and closed his eyes to center himself like Specialist Howard had taught him. It didn’t work as well outside of his soulscape, but this way he didn’t have to completely disconnect himself from reality, and it was a fast way to recover some center while he had a chance.

His senses were spread out, and he absently lifted his cup of stew as he mentally brought himself back into focus. His companions voices faded away, and Nero immersed himself in his meditation. A shout of alarm from Rose caused his eyes to snap open.

Right in front of him, he saw Cathleen tipping back with an arrow embedded in her eye. To his left he saw Nick shimmer then a large spike of dark ice appeared skewering his chest. Nero froze in confusion as Sergeant Wesker jumped to his feat and shouted, “Ambush, Get to t-” Then Nero watched as a dark figure appeared behind the sergeant. Nero couldn’t really understand what he was seeing. But when two sword points erupted from the sergeant’s chest, Nero knew the figure wasn’t an illusion. Blood spurted from the sergeant’s mouth, and his entire body was lifted up into the air, then thrown off to the side. The dark figure seemed to vanish, like he became so out-of-focus that he actually disappeared.

Rose was screaming, and Nero felt the world lurch. The illusion was everywhere, it was like an overlay was put over reality. Yet, he saw what was really happening, but he also saw his companions vanish, and nothing made sense. It had only been seconds, and almost everyone was dead. At that realization, Nero’s hesitation vanished like a candle being blown out, and in its place was only anger.

He stood up, and furrowed his brow while watching Rose run off into the forest. The arrows from the hidden archer, which had been intended for Rose, were flying past her former seat. ‘OK. Rose either knew this was coming, or her reflexes are crazy. Either way, someone’s about to get a plasma lance shoved up their ass,’ Nero thought to himself, then prepared for some serious ultra-violence.