EG Book 7 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

I should hopefully be done with the first draft this week. Expect a lot of chapters over the next two weeks to get y'all caught up with where I am. 

Enjoy!

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

“We should split up,” Ming said. Aleks and I had called everyone together, other than Lampart, Sia, and Zimnodlot, who were all keeping watch so that we could talk. They could all take part anyway.

“Why?” I asked.

“Each of our teams is fully capable of exploring the city. It is easier to keep out of sight when we are only four people, instead of thirteen. There are three major roads that Sia has spotted in the ruins, so we can each move down one. Sia, Lampart and Zimnodlot will need to split up, though, so that one moves with each team to allow communication,” Ming said.

“What about Kami?” Bridget asked.

“I recommend that Kami, Fluffy, and Miss Samantha stay here,” he gestured at the building behind us.

“Kami, Sam, can you turn this house into a bunker? Kami, use Earth and Metal Aether to dig out an underground area, with tunnels that lead in all directions? Sam, I’ll leave you with Inscription materials. Can you strengthen the bunker and house, and make attack Inscriptions?”

“Yes,” Kami said, waddling into the house and nosing around in it.

“Uh, sure,” Sam said. “I’ll get Kami to help charge the Inscriptions. They’ll probably only reach Complete Circulation strength, but that’s better than I can make without help.”

I reached into my ring, and discovered that I could mentally grab things from inside the Portable Home. I pulled out every bit of Alchemical and Inscription materials I could, then passed out to the others bottles of healing, gathering, and refill pills. The majority was getting them from their backpacks and other luggage, while the rest were made by Jon, Hanna, and myself.

“Okay, we’ll take the center,” I said once we were ready to split up. “Ming, your team will explore the right side, while Aleks, you four will explore the left. Hopefully, Knight Kaminski meets up with you soon. Be safe, everyone, and retreat if necessary. If one of us has to run, all three groups will regroup here, and we will fight it out. If they are too much, I’ll bring out the Skysurfer, and we’ll run.”

“Should we just send Sam to (city on tip peninsula) to get reinforcements?” Milenna asked.

“I cannot power the Skysurfer for long,” Sam said.

“Then should we all just go?”

“That might be too long,” I said. “We’re still at least four days away even flying, and the Naga might have found whatever they’re looking for by then. Imagine if they were to attack (city) with the undead and that curse was unleashed on the civilian population. What if it was trying to turn Xiao into a (zombie) and they were able to spread exponentially? We cannot let that happen. We are here, and we are strong enough to deal with the problem. So we will.”

“Well said,” Ming told me, clapping his hand on my shoulder. “We are ready, let us explore.”

With that, Jamila gave me a quick hug, then jogged off to be the rear point in the diamond formation that Ming’s team fell into. Aleks nodded at me with a smile, then turned and led Milenna, Hanna, and Lilianna to the left, moving through the jungle for a bit before they would find the road on that side.

“Be safe, Sam,” I said, then looked at Kami, who was halfway buried as dirt rippled around her, and Fluffy, who was sitting on Sam’s head and looking around. “If you are discovered, be ready to run and hide.”

“You all be safe too,” Sam said. “I’ll make a fortress for you to return to.”

“Thanks,” I grinned, then looked at Jon, Vaya, and Bridget. “Let’s go.”

Ten minutes later we were twice as deep into the ruins as I had been when I ambushed the Naga. The buildings gradually got more put together, though vines grew over a significant portion of the walls. We’d found and eliminated a couple (zombies), but no Naga so far.

A beam of Death Aether shot into the sky from a few kilometers away. The ruined city was huge, so that put it near the center. “The Perfect Core is warning me off, or trying to kill me. I will have to watch from a farther distance for a bit, or else she will determine that I am not a normal Beast,” Sia said. “There are Naga clustered around a large building two hundred meters farther in, at a cross street to the one you are currently one.”

“Thanks Sia, be careful,” I told him.

We hurried forward before stopping at the edge of the building at the corner. I could hear some hissing, but it was too far away to make out what they were saying. Bridget vanished into the building, what looked like it might have been a storefront with a home above it. I glanced in and saw that there was a large open room. Bridget leapt onto the second floor through where the stairs used to connect as I watched.

The other side of the room had an open doorway that looked out on the other street. I snuck inside and followed the wall around to the other opening, ducking under a small window that was mostly covered with detritus. “... believe this is the place,” I heard a female Naga say.

“We still need to explore the entirety of the building,” another one answered. “Male, what is taking so long?”

“There is a still intact vault in the basement,” a gruff, guttural voice said. “The Gallu are unable to damage the walls, and it will take us several turns to get in, if we are at all.”

“Incompetent,” the second female said.

“Forgiveness, Ente,” the male said, then his voice changed. “Someone is listening to us.”

I dove away from the wall just in time, as a lance of Metal Aether exploded through it. Three Core auras exploded out, two Seed and one Foundation, and I could feel their Aether senses trying to locate exactly where I was. I wrapped Air, Lightning, Ice, and Water Aether around me, dismissing myself from their senses.

“Behind the building, one Craesti,” the senior female hissed. I felt them dart around the building.

“Come get me, you stupid snakes,” Jon yelled.

I rolled to my feet, charging up a Pride of the Plasma Herald as Jon created a massive shield of Ice. Through the doorway I’d entered in, I could see the edges of it, and watched as the male Core Naga smashed an enormous maul into the Ice. It cracked, but held, until a beam of Death Aether smashed into it. The Ice seemed to fade out.

“Hey idiots,” I said, “he’s not alone.” The male turned, only to get a face full of Plasma as I poured a frankly ridiculous amount of power into it. He screamed for only a second, before his personal Aether Shield was overwhelmed, and then having an open mouth just let the Plasma burn through his interior.

“Gallu, come,” the junior female bellowed, and dozens of howls sounded around us.

“Don’t forget about me!” Jon said, then his Ice Shield exploded outward, dozens of Icicles forming from the remains.

I darted out of the door to see the two Naga. The older female had a grayish sheen to her green scales, and was wearing an ornate bronze breastplate along with a silver hauberk of chainmail over her hairless head, neck, and shoulders. Her weapon was a boar spear, with larger lugs off the tip than normal. It glowed brightly in my Aether Sight, so I knew it was heavily Inscribed.

The younger Naga had blue-green scales and a black robe on. The robe had an eight-pointed star embroidered on it, but unlike the normal Elemental compass, each point was colored gray. She held a staff that again had a gray, eight-pointed star on it. That staff was even more heavily Inscribed, and she was the one with the aura of a Foundation Core gatherer. She gave off a feeling of danger, and I knew she was the biggest threat we’d ever faced, beside Primordials.

The weaker Naga had an Icicle embed itself into her arm, while the other one created a cylindrical formation of Death and Air Aether that rapidly corroded the Ice Aether away. Ten Gallu, the (zombies) as we’d been calling them, clambered around the corner behind the Naga, only for Bridget to leap out of the second story and sweep her blades across and away from her body. A blade of Air and Metal Aether, the Wind’s Razor as Bridget called her new technique, shot out and bisected all but one of the Gallu.

A forest of Wood Spears blasted out of the ground underneath the older Naga. The majority of them skipped off her scales, but three hit just right to pierce all the way through. She screamed, and Sound Aether blasted apart all of the Spears. Blood poured from her wounds, as Vaya had learned how to add Decay Aether to her Wood attacks which prevented healing. The explosion of wood shredded the last Gallu and tossed Bridget a meter away.

She rolled to her feet then glanced to the side. “There are more of those (zombies) coming! I will delay them,” Bridget yelled, then darted away.

The stronger Naga sneered at us, then chanted something that didn’t translate. Jon and I both blasted at her with different techniques, while the older Naga fought with a set of Vine Whips that Vaya had grown around her. Both Jon’s and my attacks were dissipated by the whirling cloud around her.

“Jon, defend me and I’ll work on a stronger attack,” I shouted, jumping back a meter and starting to form runes around me. Dozens flashed in every second, just like they did around the priestess. Aether poured out of Jon, creating a swirling shield of Water, Ice, and Air in front of us. Vaya was still hiding behind the store, letting her Aether techniques attack for her.

“Inanna’s Judgement,” the Naga shouted, her staff glowing a decidedly unpleasant gray. A spinning star of Death Aether shot out at us.

“Ulinzi Dhoruba!” Jon yelled, using the incantation to focus his Aether a bit stronger. The spiraling Aether in front of him solidified into six layers of alternating Air and Water, with a film of Ice between each layer. The star reached the first layer, only for the Ice and Air to explode out at it. Each subsequent layer erupted when its Ice was broken, and each eruption reduced the momentum and strength of the attack.

I finished the runic pattern I’d been working on just as Inanna’s Judgment reached the last layer and was stopped. It detonated, spikes of Death Aether shooting in eight directions. Jon intercepted one with his shield, another pattern of runes etched into its surface. I held both hands over my head, and engaged the spiral of enhancement runes. “Electromagnetic Tribulation,” I stated, not feeling the need to shout it. “Jon, move.”

Jon dove to the side as I stepped forward and stabbed both of my trisula forward. I’m really glad King Craesti got me new weapons before the International Tournament. My old pair would have exploded with this much Aether flowing through them, I thought as the largest lightning bolt I’d ever created blasted out. It was an incredibly dark yellow, seeming to swallow all of the light around it. I’d enhanced the Lightning with more Lightning into what I was calling Electromagnetic Aether.

It skipped across the distance, both straight there and taking a staggered path in a way that made my head hurt, and shattered the Naga’s defense. My attack blew up on her armor, throwing the priestess ten meters farther down the road. She flipped and rolled another two meters before getting her tail under her to stand up. With a snarl, her staff swept at Jon and I, a dozen skulls screaming out of it.

I dropped to my right knee, panting with the effort of dropping the single largest attack I’d ever done. WIth a groan, I dove forward to roll under three of the skulls, only to see them start to turn towards me. Jon sliced apart two and then blocked another one while dodging between another two. The other four were curving through the air, already changing their movement to catch us.

I flipped my trisula around and powered out a dozen tiny Aether Blasts from the modified Four Twin Stabs Technique. It took four to blow apart a skull. “I have them, attack the Naga!” Jon yelled, ten Icicles orbiting his head as he focused on defending.

“Got it,” I said, then sprinted towards the Naga. She smirked at me, and I could see Aether infusing her body as it glowed. I did the same, pumping my strength to new heights. She smashed her staff down at me right as I got in range. Only the massive increase to my proprioception, perception, and reflexes from my new technique let me keep up with the higher tier gatherer, but with them I was the equal to her speed.

I roared as I pushed both trisula up, and caught her staff between the tines of my weapons. I spun to my left, twisting my trisula so that they jerked her arms straight ahead. Her staff spun out of her hands, and I kept the spin going to slash at her with a backhand attack. She blocked it with the bracer on her right arm, hissing at me as the metal dented in. A Sound Blast rocked my head, and my ears rang.

I snapped a front kick at her, channeling an Aether Blast through and just in front of it. The impact doubled her over, while the Blast then sent her flying into the air. An Icicle slammed into her armor as Jon attacked her. It glanced off, a small mark the only evidence.

She stopped in midair, a look of hate on her alien face. “Enough,” she growled, and a stream of Aether Bolts shot out at me. I threw four Air Shields in front of the attacks, angled so that the blasts were diverted into the buildings around us. A quick glance showed me that the other Naga had ripped Vaya’s vines out of the ground, but Jon had jumped over and was shield bashing her into the ground.

Vaya ran around the corner to send a healing technique into Jon, who had a bite taken out of his left leg. Bridget grunted audibly, and then a Gallu’s top half came soaring over the crossroad to land with a splat. It was still weakly moving, but an Air Blade removed its head shortly after landing. Everyone’s fine, I thought, focus on my enemy.

Three of my Shields had cracked apart in the split second of my distraction, as the Naga poured out her power at me. I surrounded myself in Air Aether then rocketed upwards, dodging around her attack as she twisted to point her extended hands at me. Her beam cut off as I spiraled around it, a Poisonous Metal Arrow, a combination Metal, Wood, and Decay attack from Vaya, embedded in her tail. She screamed, olive drab lines extending out from the Aether in a venous shape.

Bridget leaped over the building to my right, and targeted the Naga with her Steam Spear, a combination of Fire, Ice, and Air that exploded into a burning cloud when it stabbed someone. The Steam obscured the Naga’s vision, so she didn’t see me as I streaked towards her. My blades were charged with a technique I was calling Plasma Edge, which created a cutting line on my weapons that was eerily reminiscent of a lightsaber.

A pulse of Air blew the Steam away from the Naga, only for her to scream as I flew blades first into her chest. Her armor held for a second but I created an Air Shield behind her to shove us together. My trisula cut into and through her. I started to drag them apart.

“Fine, then we die together,” she said, her arms wrapping around my torso and pulling me into an uncomfortable hug. I felt her Aether surge as she prepared to detonate her Core.

“No,” I screamed at her, channeling more Aether and Essence into my blades to strengthen them.

Before I was able to cut her apart, a massive force ripped her off of me. Sia had her in his talons and he slammed her into the ground before leaping away. All five of us threw Aether into various shields around her prone body, all of which barely contained the detonation of her Core. Every bit of Essence I’d spent was immediately refilled, and my Core stretched uncomfortably.

“Thanks,” I said, staggering over to Vaya, who immediately started to heal the deep cuts on my arms left by the Naga’s last grasp.