EG Book 7 Chapter 22 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

I am well ahead on chapters, so I decided to give y’all several this week. Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR’S NOTE ***

I punched out with a squeak, my fist slamming into and through the rotting things chest. Its scream stopped, but it didn’t stop moving. With a backhand to the head, I cut it down. A dozen more warbles echoed from our surroundings, the (zombies) compatriots responding to its call. “Fire burn it,” I whispered, frustrated at myself for not noticing it quicker.

“Cut them down,” Aleks commanded, her voice muffled by the trees separating us.

I leapt into the branches of the tree in front of me, the tinies flicker of Aether enhancing the limb I landed on so it didn’t break. I still couldn’t see far, but I finally saw an undead with my Aether Sight on full. It was like there was a hole in the Aether, the trees and grasses nearby the creature losing tiny bits of their Aether as it passed. The (zombie)’s Aether was a dull gray, hard to notice among the swirls of brighter colors, which could be why I missed them earlier.

Vaya stepped forward and sliced the undead in half, and I saw its Aether spread into the ground where it fell. Even the dark brown of Earth Aether seemed to get a bit fainter, though the effect faded within seconds. Those things are damaging the world around them, I thought, and the Naga are making more. This is not good.

A choking growl was followed by a weight slamming into me from behind. Unfortunately for whatever it was, I was well braced and barely moved, while the sound of bones breaking echoed around me. I leapt up, spinning in the air to catch myself on another branch to find a zombified Jungle Panther standing back up on the ground below me. Its front legs were bent awkwardly, but the Beast didn’t care.

I dropped from the sky to crush its skull before yelling, “There are Beast zombies too. Everyone collect up so we can fight as a group.”

“There are four Naga near you,” Sia said. “I cannot sense the (zombies) at all, so I am useless at protecting you. I will return to fight by your side.”

“We are fine,” I told him, “We have twelve Core gatherers and four Core Bonds. These things are mid-Condensation at best. Sam could fight one, and so could Fluffy, so we will simply tear them apart. How strong are the Naga, though?”

“Three are at Threshold Condensation, and one Seed Core. There is something odd about their Aether, though,” Sia said. “You only have a minute before they will reach you.”

“Guide me to intercept them?” I asked. “Jon, Vaya, follow me. Four Naga incoming, we’re going to meet them.”

“Go,” Jon said as he smashed a zombie snake into a tree, pulping it. “I think they turned most of the animals in the jungle into these things.”

“They need to pay for that,” Vaya growled.

“Then let’s make sure they do,” I said, then froze for a second. “Sia, be careful, the birds up in the sky with you may be enemies as well.”

“I have seen no indications of that, but I will watch them as well,” Sia said. “There is a small clearing ten meters in front of you. You will reach the edge just before the Naga do, be ready.” I could feel his thoughts communicating with Jon and Vaya as well.

We crossed the distance in a few seconds and crouched behind a tree. I pointed at Jon and gestured to my right, then at Vaya and my left. I then indicated I would go up, over Vaya’s head, so that all three of us could attack at the same time. They nodded understanding and hefted weapons. Crashed sounded from behind us as the others obliterated the zombies in the woods. Very little Aether was being used, though, so the Naga still had no idea how strong we all were.

After a moment, I could hear the slithering of the Naga. I held up the last three fingers of my right hand, keeping a grip on my trisula with my thumb and pointer, then counted down. I leapt into the air, a small platform forming under my foot to redirect my charge. The closest Naga, a male with dark green scales on his snake body and a silvery breastplate over his human torso, reacted too slowly, his eyes growing huge as an Ice Spike from Jon took him in the chest, stabbing straight through his armor.

I focused on the rearmost Naga, who gave me a feeling of danger. My Wrath of the Lightning Herald drilled into her, but a swirling shield of Water and Death Aether formed nearly instantly. My technique broke the shield, but the tiny fraction of its power that was left shattered on the armor she wore.

Her human-like face twisted in a sneer, and she grabbed at me with her hand like a claw. A two meter wide talon of Death Aether exploded at me.

I cut it apart with Lightning before it reached me, but another followed quickly after it. I could see another technique forming behind her, only this one was targeted back the way they came. “Can’t let that finish!” I thought, then I ducked under one of the Death Claws. I formed an Air Aether Slash and yanked a chunk of Essence out of my Core. Infusing the Slash with the Essence, I cut at the Naga while maintaining a connection to the technique.

She created that same shield and sent another Claw at me from the side.

I forged the Iron Skin, Granite Bones Technique and trusted it to take the attack while I pulled sharply at the Air Aether Slash. It curved over the shield and my connection to it snapped. Thankfully, I was able to line it up on her still forming technique. When the Essence infused Slash hit the Air and Lightning Aether runes, they were cut apart. The snap of the Aether rebounding into the Naga made her stumble. Her Claw slammed into me, cutting through the first two layers of my technique before breaking apart.

She unleashed her aura, no longer caring that it would affect her companions. Not that it mattered, as only a second later Vaya cut down the third Condensation Naga. “That’s it?” I exclaimed, surprised at how weak her aura felt. Aether surged into my legs, and I exploded forward. Aether coated my trisula as I went to slash with my right and stab with my left, only for her to catch my weapons with the gauntlets she was wearing.

My strength was beyond her. I wasn't able to cut through the gauntlets but I could hear the bones in her arms snap as she blocked. My left trisula continued through, deflected down and to the right by her block, and cut through the side of her stomach. I planted my foot and spun, trying to backhand her across the face only to be smacked backward by a tail slap.

My reflexive attempt at attacking her tail cut off the tip, and she screamed again. Sound Aether tried to push me away, but instead degraded the last layer of my defensive technique. A Vine Whip ripped out of the ground next to her and wrapped around her chest, pinning her arms down. Jon arrived just after it, slashing across the Naga’s gut. Her shield sprung up again to block, her Sonic defense fading away.

I sent a Lightning Aether Blast into her unshielded snake bottom, altering the runes slightly to give it more of a shocking effect rather than damage. Her Aether Shield had been destroyed already, letting my Aether play havoc across her nerves. She spasmed, and Vaya used the distraction to push a dozen Wooden Spikes out of the ground into the snake. Jon straightened up and cut her head off with a powerful chop.

“Anyone else? Sia, anything?” I asked them.

“There are some moving in the trees, but it looks like you are undiscovered for now,” Sia said. “Princess Aleksandra asks that you join her in another clearing, forty meters away to your right and rear.”

“Thanks,” I told him.

“Lampart says that there were two other Naga in the jungle near us, but she and Zimnodlot removed them before they knew they were under attack,” Vaya told me.

“Awesome. Come on, let’s meet up with the others,” I waved. We hurried through the jungle and found the clearing Sia had directed me to. In the center, Jamila was crouching over Xiao while the others stood, nervously watching the plants around us. Hanna was the only exception, as she was sitting off to the side gathering. “What happened?”

“One of the undead bit him while he blocked an attack on Lilianna,” Jamila said, her hands glowing green in my Aether Sight. “Some kind of curse is causing his cells to necrotize. I am cleansing it now, but it is resisting. Vaya, can you assist? Hanna already exhausted herself trying.”

“Of course,” Vaya said, rushing to her side. Her Aether joined Jamila’s. “Wait, we have it isolated in his forearm right now.”

“Yes?” Jamila asked. “If I loosen my grip on it, it will spread rapidly.”

Vaya pulled out her knife, coated it in Metal Aether, and sliced a chunk out of Xiao’s arm.

Jamila flinched backwards, losing control of her Aether, and the bloody hunk of flesh rapidly rotted away. “Well, that worked,” Jamila said, bending back over Xiao and quickly healing the damage done. She frowned, and Aether poured off her. “Healing everyone is getting more difficult. With each temper and advancement it takes more Aether to fix problems and regenerate flesh.”

“That’s why they could heal us so well when we were only Aether Gatherers,” I said. “Huh.”

“Now what?” Aleks asked. “Do we wait for Knight Kaminski to find us, or do we seek her out?”

“The explosions stopped a few minutes ago,” Ming said. “So it is likely she lost her pursuers and is searching for us now.”

“Or she has been taken and needs our help,” Milenna said.

“What could we do against someone she could not beat?” Jon asked incredulously.

“Heal her with techniques and pills, then keep the weaker Naga off her so she is not overwhelmed,” she answered. “They do not have anyone stronger than Perfect Core, or we would already be destroyed.”

“She makes a good point,” I said. “Everyone, finish recovering and clean your weapons if needed. We’ll wait here for an hour or two. Sia, can you look for Knight Kaminski? Do you see where the ruins are?” I repeated what I asked Sia aloud, so everyone else could hear.

“The edge of the ruins is a kilometer away. I can see a dozen Naga inspecting a building, with a hundred or so of those (zombies) standing motionless throughout the area. No sign of Knight Kaminski. The last place she used a technique has a few undead milling around. The Beast’s around us have seemingly vanished, though the birds are still circling above me. They are not undead, but have not answered any of my calls,” Sia told me.

“We should circle around to another side of the ruins,” Aleks said, “if Knight Kaminski does not return.The Naga will be watching this area more closely, especially if they realize their patrols around here were killed.”

I frowned, “Should we even wait then? If we move carefully, we might be able to pass through their lines, but if we delay too long, they may realize that Knight Kaminski was not the only person on the Skysurfer.”

“Let us wait,” Lilianna said. “I am not sure Xiao is ready to move.”

“I am fine,” Xiao said, trying to sit up.

Vaya and Jamila both held him down. “Wait,” Jamila said. “I need to be sure that we fully cleansed you. If any of that Death Aether got into your heart or brain, I do not know what would happen.”

He stilled, not resisting as they pushed him back down. The two girls continued scanning their Aether through him for another five minutes before Jamila was willing to say, “You are clean. Run your Aether through any meridians in the healed area. Let me know if you feel any discomfort.”

“Thank you,” he said, sitting up.

Lilianna sat next to him and put her arm over his shoulder. She pulled him into a side hug and whispered something I deliberately didn’t hear.

“Did anyone else fight any Naga?” I asked.

“No,” Aleks said, coming over to stand next to me.

I smiled at her. “The Seed Core Naga I fought seemed … weak,” I said. “I’m not sure if that is good or not. If they’re all like that, Knight Kaminski should have demolished them, and that beam of Death wouldn’t have forced us down. Did we get lucky, or are their strongest fighters doing something else right now? If so, what, and do we need to stop it?”

“We do not know,” Aleks said. “We can only act on the information we have. Have you used every current of information you have?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you not get information from Light and Darkness once? Have you asked them?”

“Uh, no,” I shrugged. “I didn’t think of it, actually.”

“No harm in trying right?”

“Sure,” I said. I bowed my head, closed my eyes, and thought, Hey Darkness, Light, any hints as to what is going on here? Should we get involved quickly, wait for Knight Kaminski, just leave? I’m not certain of what is right here. I waited for a minute, then shook my head. “I don’t think they can communicate with us easily. I’ve only heard from them once.”

“When was that?” Sam asked, nervously holding a club with some paper wrapped around it.

“When they told me about you,” I said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have known you were a slave of the Illyrians.”

“I’ll have to thank them, then,” Sam said. “I’m going to kill the Illyrian slavemasters.”

“We all are,” Ming growled, angrier than I have ever heard him. “Their disgusting practices have caused too much pain for anything but death.”

“Focus on our current issues,” Aleks said. “While I agree and will be supporting the war as much as I am able to, we are currently nearby a substantial enemy force.”

Ming looked sheepish for a second, before nodding sternly.

We waited another hour, but Knight Kaminski never did show up. “Well, let us go explore,” Aleks said, and we started to circumnavigate the ruins.