Dao 3 Chapter 13 (Patreon)

Dar, Neko, and Cherry looked up towards the crashing sound, bracing themselves.

Neko was the first to make out the form. “Tami!” Neko pivoted her head, trying to understand why the deer demon was running through the woods.

But Tami didn’t seem to hear Neko as she looked over her shoulder at something that was putting a panicked expression on her face.

“Cherry.” Dar pulled her off his shoulder, but she was already catching Tami. Vines sprang from the ground ahead of the demon.

Tami ground to a halt, looking for her way around it, which Cherry had conveniently left open and leading towards their location.

Confusion crossed Tami’s face when she saw him. “Dar?” She looked him up and down, and Dar realized he must have looked a mess after his brawl with Karn. “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”

A high-pitched buzz grew in volume and Cherry wasted no time, snagging Tami with a root and pulling her over to their group. Then she wrapped the four of them in a tight weave of hearty roots from the surrounding trees.

“What—” Tami started, but Dar covered her mouth.

“Wait.”

Through thin gaps in the roots, Dar could make out mantis type devils. Some even had wings on their back. Dar realized that was the buzzing sound he heard.

They flew through the woods like a swarm of locusts. Dar kept his hand firmly over Tami’s mouth, making sure she didn’t speak up again and draw the devils’ attention.

Neko crouched low, physically displaying that she understood the need for stealth. Cherry watched with eyes narrowed in concern as she pressed herself up to Dar’s side.

The mantises zoomed through the woods with incredible speed. Dar was shocked that Tami had stayed ahead of them. Her dao definitely had come in handy.

Dar took the moment to check Tami over. The deer demon had several scratches and bruises, but otherwise, she was unharmed. It was the fear in her eyes that worried Dar the most. She needed to stay calm, and most importantly, quiet, in this situation.

As they waited for the mantises to clear out, Dar tried to puzzle through why they were in the woods. If what Karn said was true, there was a Mo sealed in the hills, but it was connected to earth dao. The trolls and gremlins made sense, but the mantis devils did not.

Dar doubted speed was some derivative of earth. Which meant those devils didn’t belong, or at least, didn’t fit with what Dar was looking for.

Tami might have the answers to the questions he had once they were in the clear, but for now, they had to wait.

The mantis devils continued searching the woods frantically. So he settled in and gave Tami a look with a raised eyebrow and a finger to his lips.

She nodded. She still looked a touch hysterical, but she’d calmed down. And she definitely seemed to understand the desire to not get caught.

Dar slowly removed his hand from Tami’s mouth and pulled Cherry close.

It was going to be awhile before the swarm settled down. Since there wasn’t much he could do while they waited, he decided to go into a trance, allowing himself to fall into his inner world.

***

Dar blinked, finding himself once again in the grand space inside of himself.

Cherry had been busy. He hadn’t really looked during his last visit, but now he took in the progress she’d made with the few seeds she’d had. They had the start of a small budding orchard.

It was definitely possible there could come a time that having the supply of food would save his life. He was glad they didn’t need it for Hearthway during this winter. He had gotten the village to a place where they were comfortable. It would be stable through the harsh season.

He walked over to the little dao tree. It stood there amid the loose loamy soil, his two maids meditating in its shade.

Dar joined the two maids, flipping through his family's book of dao until he found Blair’s dao of bright once again. He sat down, drawing on his mana, and meditated slowly on the dao character.

Unlike the ease he had with the shadow dao, this one came achingly slowly. But he wasn’t surprised. He didn’t have the tree to help boost this dao.

If Sasha heard him complain, she’d clock him upside the head. He still was able to learn dao at a speed most demons and spirits only dreamt of.

Dar focused on being grateful, pushing aside the distracting thoughts and focusing solely on the bright dao, slowly tracing the pattern in his body.

The dao of bright resisted him. He’d get the shape formed, only to have it shoot away, like it refused to be contained within him.

It was a long process of trying and failing to contain mana in the shape of the dao character. But he wasn’t discouraged. He’d done this before with other dao and was confident he could figure it out. And he’d made some progress, although quite minimal.

Dar wasn’t sure how long he meditated before an external sense brought him out of his session. Slowing his mana until it came to a halt, he gently removed himself from his cultivation.

“Yes?” He cracked an eye open, looking at his two maids now positioned before him.

Both of them were practically vibrating with energy.

One look was all it took for Dar to realize that they had not only mastered the concealment dao, but they had also mastered the dao of shadows. “Incredible, you two!”

They both beamed with his praise. “Thank you, Milord. We are honored with all the support you’ve given us.”

Dar waved away their thanks. “You two took the risk of staying with me when I left Bellhaven, and then you took the risk of trying to follow in my footsteps in cultivating dao as an immortal. I can’t take the credit for that.”

“What has happened since we came here to meditate?” Marcie asked.

Remembering that he was currently hiding in the woods surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands, of devils must have come through on his face, because both girls’ expressions turned concerned. “If…”

“It’s fine. Just some trouble. Devils attacked Bellhaven. I went and fought outside the walls, but then… Karn attacked me.” He shook his head; that was a tangled mess in itself that required an explanation. “Suffice to say, he had a bone to pick with me from my previous life, and we duked it out in the forest.”

“Are you okay?” Amber asked, crouching down to inspect him before realizing it wasn’t his physical body.

“Banged up. We parted on rough terms. I was headed back toward Bellhaven, but then Tami was being chased by a swarm of mantis devils. Now we are hiding out buried in tree roots thanks to Cherry’s quick thinking.” He paused. “I should wake back up and check on things.”

“Don’t worry about us. We’ll stay here until it is safe.” Her eyes roamed his inner world, looking for a way she could help when her eyes landed on the massive black stone fortress. “We’ll keep ourselves busy.”

Dar shook his head. “You can’t get in there. Best thing you could do is take those ettercap corpses and toss them down next to the little dao tree. Sprinkle some soil over top, and the tree will absorb them.”

“Then we’ll do that.” Amber said with a finality. “You go take care of what you need to. The last thing your maids should be is a distraction from what needs done.”

Winking back at her, Dar took the opportunity. “Unless it is a certain kind of distraction. That is always welcome.”

Amber stood back up and straightened her dress. “We take care of your needs. All of them.” The way she lifted her chin and said it with pride still boggled part of Dar’s mind.

But as he built a relationship with them, it felt more and more natural.

“Thank you both. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Dar kissed Amber and then Marcie before letting himself fade back into the world.

Soft breathing filled his ear, and as he cracked his eyes, he found himself in the dark. Daylight had faded from between the cracks in the roots.

But Dar was far from afraid of the dark. His shadow dao kicked in, and the darkness no longer impaired him.

He looked around their small space. Cherry was on his left and Tami on his right, though it looked like she had rolled closer to him in her sleep. The deer girl was actually cute when she was sleeping. She had small freckles that dusted her cheeks that he hadn’t noticed before. For once, she looked relaxed.

Neko shifted; she was still awake and alert.

Dar moved, brushing her with his leg. She started silently snapping at him in reflex before relaxing.

She leaned into him, shifting until she was curled against his chest. He took a risk putting his lips inside one of her cat ears, his nose tickled by the fluff that threatened to spill out of them.

“How is it?”

“No movement for several hours.” Neko whispered. “I’m tired.”

He squeezed Neko to his chest, stroking her back. “Sleep. I’ll keep watch.” Dar kissed the side of her head.

Neko wiggled into him for a moment before settling down. Soft snores shortly followed.

Releasing his dao of quiet in the surrounding area, he damped down any risk of that noise getting out as the three girls rested.

Dar kept his eyes and ears open, but nothing happened. The night was blissfully quiet.

When the first rays of morning started bleeding through the trees, Dar moved himself out of the sleeping pile and pressed his face to the roots, peeking between them.

There were no signs of the mantises, but their passing was clear. Trees all around bore numerous small slashes. Bushes had stray branches sheared off, and nearby a pile of still wet bones was partially sticking out of the nearby brush.

There was no other way to describe what had come through besides a swarm.

Pushing himself up had made his body ache, a reminder that he was still injured from his fight with Karn. He knew that the enchantments on his body would help him heal rapidly, but it would still take a few more days before he was fully recovered.

“Stupid bear.” He grunted under his breath, agreeing with Neko’s name for Karn.

“How is it?” Tami asked, apparently awake.

“No mantis that I can see.” He made sure his dao of quiet surrounded them before responding. “Looks like you kicked a nasty hive.”

Tami shook her head. “I need to go back to Kindrake and report this to my father.”

Dar moved so that he could get his back comfortably against the roots and the pressure off his legs. “Yeah? Care to give me the sneak peek?”

“I want to know what happened to you.” Tami demanded.

Their conversation had woken Neko. “Stupid bear.” She answered simply in response to Tami’s statement. Then she wiggled back into Dar and dozed back off.

“What she said. The stupid bear went battle crazy and demanded a fight.” Dar rolled his shoulder, poking and prodding himself to see just how bad a shape he was in.

“You fought Karn?” Tami said in disbelief.

“I beat Karn.” Dar clarified. “If you think I look bad, you should see him.”

“You didn’t beat Karn.” Tami tried again.

Cherry was the next to wake from the talking. “Oh, but he beat Karn. The two slugged it out like two stupid testosterone fueled demons.”

Tami’s head snapped to the dryad, assessing her again. “You’re Cherry.”

It would seem that Cherry was more famous than she had let on. Both Karn, and now Tami, had recognized Cherry on sight. Dar now understood why she wanted to stay hidden when they had first set off.

“Guilty.” Dar’s dryad shrugged. “And you’re Cervus’ little brat?”

Tami choked at how Cherry described her father. “You should be careful speaking so casually about my father.”

“Nah. He’s just a little upstart. I remember when he was this big.” Cherry held her hand a couple feet off the ground. “Cute kid though.”

Tami pressed a pair of fingers into the ridge of her brow. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for Mo.” Cherry tilted her head with an innocent expression.

“For Lilith?” Tami asked hopefully.

“No, sorry. For the big guy.” Cherry pointed at Dar. “You see, he can actually kill a Mo.”

Tami looked back at Dar as if she had missed something in her original assessment. “Really?”

“Yes, don’t make me repeat myself.” Cherry huffed.

“I wouldn’t believe it if it wasn’t coming from Lilith’s dao companion.” Tami said, her eyes still roving Dar. “Have you killed a Mo before?”

Dar didn’t like Cherry spilling secrets, but at least Tami had no information on how he’d killed the Mo or the benefits it had brought him. People would likely piece it together over time, anyway.

“One a few days ago. I came to Bellhaven to see if their devil problem could lead me to another. But that’s enough about me. We saved your life last night, and I think telling us what you found that led to that would be a fair repayment.”

Tami was a little dazed, clearly still processing everything that had happened. “Yeah. Sure. So, I went up into the hills looking for this sealed Mo that Karn said would be there. But, as soon as I got more than a few miles into the hills, it was absolutely full of devils. Those mantises were… eating gremlins and trolls.”

“Eating them?” Dar pushed.

“Yeah. It was almost like there was a war between the two types of devils in the hills. The mantis were clearly winning; they were working in groups and hunting down trolls and gremlins.”

Dar thought about the small group of devils that had attacked the city. “Bellhaven was attacked again yesterday. A group of maybe a few hundred gremlins and a dozen trolls. How does that fit in?”

Tami shrugged. “Starving refugees from the fight in the hills, I’d guess.” She cringed a bit. “If the devils are eating each other, I doubt there is enough wild game to go around.”

Dar nodded. It did explain why the mantises were around and why they’d pursued her so heavily. “That makes some sense. So, we have two groups of devils in the hills. But we do not know what they’re fighting over. And meanwhile, Bellhaven is seeing groups of trolls and gremlins flee looking for other sources of food.”

Dar couldn’t help but be curious about what the devils were fighting over. “Did you go any deeper?” He felt like she was holding information back.

Dar knew she had the dao of speed and concealment. There was little doubt in his mind that she had at least tried to press further into the devil’s territory.

Tami hesitated a moment before letting out in a sigh. “I guess if you have Cherry here, I don’t have to worry too much about you. There, deep in the hills, was a massive nest. It had a big lumpy bitch that was spitting out eggs. The whole area was locked down tight. Winged mantises patrolled the sky while larger ones guarded what I’m assuming is some sort of queen.”

Dar pressed his knuckles into his lips in thought. If the queen devil was producing so many, it needed fuel. While the mantises might be hunting the trolls and gremlins, Dar had a sudden sickening sense.

“Did you get eyes on the Mo that was supposed to be in the hills?” He asked.

“No. I know where Karn said it would be, but I couldn’t get that close.”

“Was it about where the queen was?” Dar was disgusted at where his thoughts were leading.

“Yes.” She looked at him, trying to figure out where he was going.

He grimaced. “The only thing that would make sense is if our Mo problem is someone else's meal ticket. Unless I kill it, they are just going to keep regenerating.”

Tami’s face was disgusted.

Neko hadn’t followed their discussion. “What’s happening to the Mo?”

“It is being continually eaten.” Cherry filled in for the cat girl. “It might even be allowed to spawn more gremlins and trolls just to feed the hive of mantis devils that have infested the hills.”

Dar turned to Cherry, wondering what she thought about all of it. She had the most experience out of all of them. “Cherry, what complications is this going to cause? Obviously we are going to have a very large insect devil problem here eventually, but is this thing continuing to eat the Mo going to keep it contained?”

“It isn’t like I have an example of this in the past.” Cherry huffed. “But that sort of feeding will make this devil and its spawn stronger over time. The stronger this thing gets, the more powerful of devils it is going to produce.”

Pressing his head back into the roots, he tried to think of a next step. His first thought was trying to start another giant fire, but past the forest, the growth on the hills was minimal. And some of them could simply fly out of it. He didn’t think it would be anywhere near as effective as it had been with the ettercaps.

“What do we know about these mantis devils? Any weakness?” He asked.

“I honestly would have expected them to go to ground by this time of year.” Tami tapped her lips. “Like most insects, they don’t do well in the cold. But they are still very active.”

“Half the reason creatures go inactive in the winter is food scarcity. These guys don’t have that. They might be literally eating their way through the winter to keep themselves warm and active.” Dar pointed out.

The rest of the group winced.

Another thought started forming in Dar’s mind. There was a way they might be able to attack the problem indirectly. But shoring up the plan would have to wait until after he rested. And they could best do that in Bellhaven.

“Cherry, I think it’s time we see if we can’t get out of here. Neko, stay on high alert. I’m relying on your ears to warn us if anything is coming. Cherry, stay ready to hide us again. Tami… just don’t run off.” Dar wasn’t sure if she’d use her speed to take off towards Bellhaven at the first chance.

“Don’t worry. I’ll stay with you in case there’s more trouble.” Tami rolled her eyes as Cherry peeled back the roots and allowed them to exit.

Dar stumbled out; his battered body was sore and stiff with his first few steps.

Neko was there in an instant, supporting him with a smile.

He wanted to argue, but her joyful face at being able to help was too much. He couldn’t bring himself to argue with her, and if he was honest with himself, he could use the help. So arm in arm, they headed towards Bellhaven.