EG Book 7 Chapter 23 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Latex is in everything, which is incredibly frustrating when it is the most common allergy. Joy had a mild one, but it is starting to get worse, so we've been spending this week getting rid of anything that has latex in it and trying to find replacements. 

Anyway, hoping I can get some good writing in this weekend. 

In other news, I just got Legacy and Energy Barons paperbacks in, but no Monster Island. So now I have to go put in another order and get a refund. Blarg!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

Over the next four hours, we carefully crept through the edges of the Zaboj Swamp. Every dozen meters or so, one of us would sense a zombified Beast or (zombie). Each one was avoided, making our path much longer than it would have been otherwise. While we could easily have obliterated them, we’d decided to try and actually be stealthy this time.

This was validated as a good idea when, after half an hour, Sia reported, “At least fifty zombies have just sprinted into the swamp. Ten Naga followed, surrounded by another fifty undead. I can see their paths, as they are simply cutting through the foliage. Keep moving, you are already out of their way, but we need to be ready in case they spread out.”

“Got it. Thanks for being our eye in the sky,” I said.

We continued on, with Sia giving us updates about the search party. Even the undead near us were acting more agitated, with some pacing around. We avoided those at a higher distance, barely able to feel them in our Aether Senses. My Aether Sight was less than helpful, as they were nearly invisible in it. I kept trying to enhance or change my Sight, but no matter what I did, the zombies were still just barely noticeable blobs of dark gray Aether, fading into the background of Water, Wood, Earth, and Air that was everywhere in the Zaboj Swamp. It didn’t help that there were occasional natural pockets of Death Aether, usually over a Black Lily or Shrouded Hyacinth, both of which Vaya noted the locations of.

“I really want to harvest them,” she said, pointing at a small batch of Black Water Lily floating in a small pond. “They are extremely rare and valuable, but it will take me an hour to get just one successfully. We do not have time now.”

“We’ll come back later,” I whispered back. “I’d love to see what I could make with those too.”

“Another undead snake, ten meters to the left,” Bridget whispered. “Follow me.”

We kept sneaking, until we’d reached about a third of a circle around the ruins that we knew about. A quick, quiet discussion had us head straight in from that point, until we found our first partially collapsed building. The visible architecture was interesting, as each of the still standing bricks had the smoothness of Aether built structures, but they were each only twenty centimeters tall. Why didn’t they just conjure up the entire thing? I thought as we looked at it. A Weeping Cypress Tree was growing through the center, its limbs bowing at the edges to partially shield it from sight.

Inside, there were the remains of three rooms, with one possibly a kitchen based upon the fallen apart stove on the edge. “These bricks were Inscribed,” Sam said, scooting up next to me. “Each one only with a few runes, but they added up. That’s the only reason why they survived this long, though there is no Aether left in them.”

“Is that why they are bricks instead of a solid wall?” Milenna asked, leaning in.

Sam looked to see how close she was and grew flustered for a second before answering, “I think so?”

“As much as I want to examine this further,” Vaya said, “we should barrel that until we take care of the Naga problem.”

“Good point,” I said. “Anyone sense any undead?” No one answered, so I nodded. “Okay. Let’s keep moving deeper into the ruins. If we find a lone Naga, we should try to capture them. Try to eliminate any undead we locate without being detected.”

“Spread out,” Aleks said, “stay five meters apart or so, and we should be close enough to support each other while letting us cover more ground. Aiden, ask Sia to stay nearby us. Kami can you speak with everyone here?”

“Yes,” Kami said, her voice a much higher pitch than I’d expect for a massive pangolin. “I can speak in your mind up to a hundred meters. I can speak to Bridget farther. I can speak to Lampart farther still.”

“I will explore ahead,” Lampart said. “No one under Perfect Core will be able to find me.”

“Be careful,” Vaya told her.

“Of course,” Lampart replied, then seemed to fade into the plants around us.

“I’ll anchor the line,” I said. I scanned the distance, but didn’t see any major sources of Aether within my line of sight. “Come on.” We moved slowly, picking our steps with care and keeping our Aether senses extended. A few minutes later, a massive explosion occurred in the distance. I froze as I felt Knight Kaminski and another Perfect Core’s aura, though it was faint.

“Knight Kaminski just attacked a group of Naga,” Sia told us. “And then she fled into the jungle. The Naga Perfect Core is chasing after her.”

“Thanks, Sia,” I said. “Relay to the others to speed up a bit? I’m sure the Naga are distracted now.” I felt his affirmative response, and then took off at a faster walk. We still weren’t trying to run through the swamp, too many places we’d cause excessive noise and alert our enemies.

“Aiden, follow me,” Lampart said as she appeared in front of me. “Everyone, there are undead ahead. Sneak behind them and behead them in a single strike.” With that command, she turned and bounded through the jungle.

I hurried after her, running in a crouch and pushing my (name) technique as hard as I could. We passed another dozen small ruins, and then she hopped up to the second story of a larger one. I jumped up beside her, using the tinies flare of Air Aether that I could to set down quietly.

Ahead of us, three Naga, two male and one female, were hissing at each other, one male having just arrived from inside a larger ruined building. “Did you find any hint of the vault?” The female asked in a commanding tone.

“Forgiveness, Enta, I did not,” the male, who was wearing a light leather chest plate and helm with a spear on his back, said, lowering his head and turning it to the left.

“The Enti will not be happy,” she responded. “We have been searching for days, and still cannot locate her desire. Of course, ones as lowly as us only get to search the least likely of places.”

“Enta, we will find the vault and elevate you to Ente!” The other male said boisterously.

Enta, or the Enta I’m not sure, nodded sharply then said, “Come, there is another to inspect.” She gestured at the building I was in. They were only five meters away or so, and with her gesture I saw a dozen (zombies) shuffled out from various rocky places.

The closest undead was only a meter away from the door, or three meters from where I stood. The floor under us was only partially there, but the rotted remains of a desk provided some cover to hide behind. “I have called the others over,” Lampart said. “When the second humanoid undead enters, I will attack and draw them through the rear. Be ready to remove the Naga.”

“Good plan,” I told her, and started to form the Myriad Elements Enhancement Technique I’d learned a week prior. It was a direct improvement to the General Strengthening Technique, and seemed tailor made for me. Every Elemental Affinity I had at or above Excellent, so every single one of them now, was able to be used to improve my strength, speed, flexibility, proprioception, perception, and toughness. I went from being able to lift a tonne, to ten tonnes. Measuring that had been a fun day, and I’m still amazed at how much stronger I am.

I kept the technique only barely formed, not letting too much Aether run into it to prevent it from overwhelming my stealth technique. Lampart had padded over to the other side of the second floor and was looking down the hole in the floor. The first (zombie) staggered through, made a chuffing sound, and kept moving forward, into a still intact room. The hole I’d entered through was above it. All the walls on the upper floor were gone, but the bottom floor had three different rooms still intact.

The second undead that bounded through was a rodent of unusual size, a giant rat with the body shape of a capybara but the pointier face of a sewer rat. It sniffed a few times, but didn’t detect anything before it ambled over to the doorway the humanoid undead walked through.

The third enemy to enter was a (zombie), and Lampart pounced on it. It crumpled to the ground, her claws ripping its head off as a line of Aether extended from them. With a growl, she shot across the room to slam the ROUS into the wall, both front paws digging into it to pull it in half.

The (zombie) in the back room bugled in alarm, with the other zombies joining in. Lampart growled, then went into the back room to take out the last (zombie) inside before leaping out the window. Three more undead rushed through the main doorway before getting stuck trying to all squeeze into the back room at the same time.

“Inanna’s sake,” the exurberant male said, “stop. One at a time.” At his command, the (zombies) ceased moving, and then orderly stepped through. I could sense the other six creatures heading around the building towards where Lampart had curved her path.

The Naga got close enough that I could feel their gathering level, even with my suppressed senses and their own suppressed auras. The Enta was at the high end of Complete Compression, almost ready to push for Seed Core, while the two males were only in Threshold. Individually and together, they posed no threat to me unless I really screwed up, but I wanted to make sure that no warning went out to the other Naga.

The excited male entered below me, and I could knew the other two were going around. I crept forward to one of the many holes in the floor, tiny, tiny bits of Air Aether keeping me from making the partially rotten boards creak, and looked down. The Naga was examining the first (zombie) Lampart had re-killed, a frown on its human-like face. Except for the lack of a nose, the Naga could be the upper half of a Craesti, except for the forked tongue he would occasionally flicker out to taste the air.

His back was to me. I tensed up, keeping my attention on the re-dead body, before I jumped down. My trisula slammed point first into his torso, and I ripped my hands across my body, evicerating the Naga. He died instantly, without a single Aether flicker, and the two other Naga I was tracking with my Aether Sight didn’t shift their path at all.

Whew, that worked. Now I just got to overwhelm the other male Naga and disable the female one. She’s higher ranking, so we want to take her alive for better information, I thought to myself as I carefully rushed out the door.

The area in front of the ruined building was the first place without significant ground cover. There were still patches of the road still visible. Up and down the road I could see dozens more buildings in various states of repair, with the area to my left gradually getting more complete than the building I had just left. The Naga were to my right, though, and had just turned into the alleyway between two standing walls. I ran forward, my Myriad Elements Enhancement Technique springing up to full power. The Naga started to turn, but I crossed the remaining distance in a blink.

My left hand formed a Lightning Strike, a simplified version of my Wrath of the Lightning Herald that I could produce in less than a split second, and sent it into the male Naga. He’d managed to turn halfway around, only to catch my attack in the side of his skull. He was blown into and through the wall next to us.

My right hand created a much weaker Lightning Aether Blast, again modified to be more stunning and less burning. The Enta had turned all the way around and drawn the two-handed sword she had been wearing. My Blast went into her sword, which she spasmodically dropped with a shriek. I rushed forward, and deflected away a Sound technique that was supposed to push me backwards. My fist slammed into her gut, and then I brought my knee into her face as she bent over.

Both attacks I moderated a bit, as I was fairly certain my full power blow would just kill her. After the knee, I smashed her head into the wall, breaking the leftover stone. The Aether Technique I could see her using to strengthen her body shattered, and she was left incoherent. “Sia, tell the others that I have captured a Naga,” I said.

“Good. Vaya and Aleks both report that the others have killed two dozen Beast undead. None of them were able to make any sound,” Sia told me. I felt his presence fly over me, and then he directed me to a smaller house with four intact walls. I carried the barely conscious Naga into the only room to find Vaya, Jamila, and Aleks.

“Everyone else is on watch,” Aleks said. “I am here as Princess, Vaya wanted to guard, and Jamila is going to keep the Naga alive. I need you to translate for me, Aiden.” She smiled a grim smile. “Okay. Jamila, heal her head, please, but none of her other injuries.”

“I still do not like this,” Jamila said, bending over the scrambled Naga. Lighter green Aether, Life Aether I thought, streamed into our enemy’s head.

After a few seconds, the Naga screamed. “It hurts,” she said.

“Tell us why you are in these ruins, and we will heal you,” I told her, my voice hissing.

“I am an Enta of Zababa, and will never betray my people,” she hissed at me, Aether collecting as she tried something.

With a tiny surge of Essence, I broke her technique apart. “Everyone talks, sometime,” I said.

Another Aether surge, this time internal and too quick for me to do anything about. With a snap, her heart exploded.

“Great, religious extremists,” I said, staring down at her dead body.

“That was unexpected,” Vaya said.

“It does give us good information,” Aleks commented. “We know not to bother taking prisoners.”

“At least, not prisoners who are Enta, or whatever that means,” Vaya said.

“My translation makes it something like junior priestess,” I said.

Jamila was looking at the corpse in horror. “She just, but why? We would have healed her.”

“She believed in her people and their cause enough to die rather than tell us anything,” I said. “That makes me worried.”

“Why?”

“Because if telling us about it was betrayal, that probably means it has something to do with us, or at least with Craesti,” Aleks said. “We need to stop them … whatever it is.”