Chapter 216: Howls in the Jungle (Patreon)

Coop used the entire palm of his hand to rub Felix’s massive head, right between the ears, to the absolute satisfaction of the black jaguar. No matter how hard he scratched, the cat just pressed his head harder into Coop’s hand. The big cat’s coat was far thicker than a regular house cat. His pelt was made of multiple overlapping layers that provided defense, camouflage, and waterproofing, but all that protection just made his fur so much softer to the touch. Felix responded to the petting with a steady purr that rumbled into the immediately surrounding forest like a truck engine in need of maintenance.

Every other nearby animal was driven to silence as they respected the domineering presence of an apex predator. The denizens of the jungle froze in an effort to go unnoticed. It didn’t matter that Felix was completely distracted; other animals chose not to risk drawing his attention even for a moment. They knew on an instinctual level that if they weren’t careful, disturbing the cat might be the last thing they ever did. Coop was the only creature in the jungle willing to risk his life just to get some good scratches on the nearest feline.

Coop sat on a large flat stone adjacent to a shallow creek and waited for his break time to be over. Despite how things had calmed ever since they entered the Yucatan settlement’s territory, his nerves were constantly on edge. He was listening with dread-filled anticipation, only partially distracted by the cat. The night was comfortable, with the day’s humid heat dissipating as time went by, but the sounds of the jungle had Coop intently watching the darkness while his fingers worked through Felix’s fur.

In the distance, a horde of cicadas, hidden throughout the thick vegetation, established a complex soundscape with their loud, pulsating chirping. Crickets provided a high-pitched background, in complete contrast to Felix’s deep rumbling purr. The crickets echoed from all directions with hundreds of overlapping, and distinct, rhythms. Croaks, whistles, and trills joined into a chorus, overlayed on top of the layered background, added by diminutive tree frogs and other amphibians. They had what Coop envisioned were conversations about his presence near the trickling rivulet. The haunting feeling Coop already had about this particular region of jungle wasn’t alleviated when he imagined the constant surveillance from the critters hidden among the drooping fern leaves and moss covered wood.

The jungle was always busy. Coop wasn’t sure if his senses played tricks on him, but the nights seemed more lively than the days. Frankly, Coop was amazed that the Primal Constructs had managed to control any part of the wilds in Central America. There was so much competition, they couldn’t gain an inch of territory without a fight. The reason the alien invaders had any success could only be due to the fact that they were the only ones making a concerted effort to accomplish a larger goal. The Constructs' entire purpose was conquest. The animals, on the other hand, just wanted to live their lives. If that meant maintaining a small pocket of forest, then that’s what they endeavored to do.

However, it wasn’t the steady cadence of nocturnal jungle sounds that made Coop uncomfortable, it was when all the sounds stopped with an abruptness that left his head spinning that made him question what was really out there. He shivered when the cause of his discomfort occurred yet again, silencing the forest and leading him to involuntarily react on a primal level. His reflex drew Felix’s attention. If the cat could raise an eyebrow, that’s the expression he would be giving Coop when the petting stopped and the Champion grabbed his ethereal spear with a white-knuckled grip instead.

Horrific screams echoed across the jungle, sweeping through the canopy and piercing straight into Coop’s chest. Tortured inhuman wails had Coop sure that something terrible was about to happen. It was a truly awful sound.

“Gah!” Coop cried out as he tried to shake it off.

A silhouette appeared from the darkness. He practically jumped out of his skin when Juliana entered the clearing from between thick trees a moment after another set of howls finally settled back down and the cicadas resumed their rhythms to begin another rainforest concert.

Juliana was amused by his reaction, taking a moment to relish in his discomfort, confident it wasn’t really her appearance that caused him to jump. “If only I could make the Cultists react that way with my mere presence.” She complained before moving to the other side of Felix.

“Still not used to the howler monkeys?” She guessed.

“No way that’s a monkey.” Coop argued, shaking his head firmly. “That’s a monster.” he declared. Even if he did see an actual monkey make those noises, he wasn’t sure if his mind would accept that the traumatic sounds weren’t supernatural.

“Well, they’re more than three miles away. Just letting us know where their territory begins so that there won’t be any mistakes.” She explained calmly.

She and Felix were unperturbed despite what Coop believed were the sounds of souls burning in hell cutting straight through the jungle until they resonated in his bones. She took over the job of petting Felix while he waited for the tension in his body to settle.

“You know, jaguars have a bite so powerful they can pierce turtle shells.” Juliana explained, unprompted.

Coop glanced at the cat. Felix was paralyzed with delight, with his tongue lolling out and his eyes half closed, causing Coop to smirk at his contentment. Coop glanced at Juliana who was staring at Coop, judging his reaction to the factoid.

“If you’re not afraid of Felix, why are you afraid of the monkeys?” She continued. “You don’t even flinch when he roars or growls. He’s far more dangerous.”

Coop shrugged. He didn’t have a good answer. Maybe Jett had desensitized him toward felines or maybe it was his unfamiliarity with primates. Whatever it was, cats just begged to be petted.

Juliana snorted at Coop’s inability to explain. “It’s a bit too easy to imagine you making friends and hanging out with the howler monkeys.” She added to his consternation while Felix continued his purring.

The two sat quietly, bathed by the jungle soundscape until Juliana took a deep breath and grew serious. “Should only be another day or so.” Juliana stated, referring to the rest of the surprisingly smooth campaign of the Jaguar Sun. “Whether or not we find Chakyum, Tzultacaj will aim to take the civilization shard. We need the settlement if we want to survive and it has become a key base for the Cult.”

Coop understood. There was a stark difference between settlement territory and the rest. He hadn’t come to Central America with the intent to conquer and expand his empire. If he claimed the settlement himself, he would willingly transfer it to Tzultacaj. The only caveat was that they would need to know about the Eradication Protocol. He figured once he explained it to them, they wouldn’t have a problem joining his faction and cementing themselves as close allies. But that was all ancillary to his actual mission. Securing Ghost Reef was his goal, and for that purpose he only intended to root out the Cult.

Coop had already been traveling with the Jaguar Sun’s larger army for nearly ten days. It had been surprisingly easy to find them once Amanda used her Outrider abilities to put him on their trail. The Jaguar Sun’s forces had swelled far beyond 100,000 after leaving Corozal. By the time he sought to join them, they had a crowd that was easily spotted from the air.

He had taken over what should have been Sierra’s role as one of the unofficial leaders. Juliana and Sierra were meant to be in charge of a large war host, marching through the jungles from priest stronghold to priest stronghold, freeing allies, and gathering volunteers until they essentially circled the top half of the Yucatan settlement’s territory. Coop should have been catching the enemies that lingered outside of their net, but their experience had altered the plan.

From the start, the plan had been spoiled. Rather than finding Priests, the war host found abandoned hovels, caves, and forts where the Cult’s rituals and experiments had been conducted. Instead of rescuing hostages and freeing villages while bolstering their numbers, they barely found anyone. The only time the war host’s numbers were bolstered was when individual volunteers caught up on their own. Rather than inspiring new people to enter the conflict over the soul of the region, the Jaguar Sun was completely reliant on its previous reputation.

It seemed like what Coop had learned from the previous High Priestess had been accurate. The Cult of Chakyum had been recalled to the Yucatan settlement by Chakyum himself. Coop had been going through a range of thoughts regarding the Cult’s behavior.

On the one hand it boosted his ego and made him feel quite good that he was being taken so seriously by the mysterious Cult leader. As far as he could remember, it was the first time any of his clear enemies had respected him in such a way. Most of the time, they started arrogant, then once he bruised their confidence by proving that he wouldn’t roll over, they grew defiant and angry. The sense of power had gone to their heads long before he challenged them and they looked at him like a fly that needed to be swatted away.

On the other hand, the Cult’s prudence toward Coop’s existence had inadvertently foiled the Jaguar Sun’s plan. They wanted to injure the Cult of Chakyum, reducing their forces, before confronting them in what they hoped was their ultimate stronghold. The Jaguar Sun hadn’t even been capable of standing toe to toe with the Cult when it first formed, and since then, the Cult had nearly three months to continue its expansion. Meanwhile, the Jaguar Sun had lost its momentum during the same time period. Because of Coop, they were being forced into challenging the Cult with all of its power centralized in one place rather than picking the Cult apart at its fringes as the Jaguar Sun slowly rose.

The High Priests' destruction had obviously shaken the Cult and Chakyum wasn’t an idle leader. He was clearly issuing orders to the Cult, diverting troops and moving resources in an active manner. Chakyum had been decisive in recalling his Cult members, drawing them back in the aftermath of Coop’s battle with the Avatar of Huracan. While Coop was dealing with the Icon of Mana, then recuperating on Ghost Reef, the Cult was regrouping as they anticipated a clash with a powerful rival. At least, that’s what he imagined from the information he had gathered.

The Jaguar Sun hadn’t been on the warpath that they expected as they progressed into the Yucatan settlement’s territory. Instead, the long trip had been almost entirely one of simple travel. The logistics of moving the massive group of people was a sufficient challenge in its own rite. Add to that the unforgiving terrain with the harrying forces of Primal Constructs, and it was easy to see why a greater than 300 mile trip would take nearly two weeks on foot, regardless of the bolstering effect of mana and their familiarity with the environment.

Coop had missed the first third of the trip, meeting them as they approached the Gulf of Mexico in the mid-western portion of Campeche. From above, the army was like a flood as they crossed tree-dotted farmland in an uneven march. They were simply a large cluster of people, lacking the orderly columns and structured platoons demonstrated by other forces like the Sapphire Armada. Even the Endless Empire’s poorly organized troops had managed to stay in lines, but the entire Jaguar Sun was composed of individuals used to fighting alone or in small groups. They were a mob, an uprising, and they could scatter as easily as they formed. Coop better understood the context of the Jaguar Sun and the desperate way they sought momentum to keep themselves together once he witnessed the way the army coalesced.

Honestly, the structure, or lack thereof, suited Coop just fine. All signs pointed to the Cult being huge. If the resistance lined up and tried to fight the Cult’s greatly superior force directly, they would be doing themselves a disservice. They needed the flexibility to adjust in what would have to be a chaotic fight where they leveraged their individual self-reliance if they stood any chance at all. It wasn’t completely unlike Ghost Reef’s early defensive strategies, though his companions back home had the benefit of superior fortifications to utilize in their tactics. In a way, the jungle would have to function in the same way as Ghost Reef’s fort.

After Coop first caught up, he updated Juliana on what he had learned of the Cult’s mobilization. Once she better understood what had caused the oddities of their hunt, with its lack of Priests to prey on, she ultimately decided to continue with the plan. Tzultacaj’s forces would anticipate their arrival in a specific window of time, so to alter the plan would be to abandon them without proper warning. Later, after they were able to pass messages back and forth between the two war hosts, Tzultacaj’s side confirmed that they would be continuing with their strategy as well, regardless of the settlement’s developments.

Juliana, the other leaders of the Jaguars, and even each individual volunteer fighter recognized that this was the last chance for them to prevent the Cult of Chakyum from obtaining a total victory. If they didn’t act now, the next settlement event would surely prevent the Jaguar Sun from dawning ever again. They were on their last leg as it was, and as time went on their circumstances only continued to deteriorate.

Coop followed as they angled their journey southwest from Campeche, across the eastern portions of the Mexican state of Tabasco until they were in Chiapas. Then, they hooked southeast toward the location of the Yucatan settlement. Tzultacaj would be following a similar route, but flipped as he circled the southern portion of the settlement’s territory in Guatemala. They were like a pair of hurricane bands engulfing the Yucatan settlement in its eye.

Coop felt bad that the planned and executed strategy to trap the Cult in the settlement had been foiled by his earlier actions, but at least they were able to eliminate the Priests that hadn’t heeded the call home soon enough. Instead of creating a net that roped their enemy into a single place, they had established a perimeter as Priests that would have been able to escape the net struggled to return. The recall of Chakyum’s forces had done them that small favor.

Coop hadn’t had any difficulties defeating dozens of different Priests while Juliana and Felix took care of the many Acolytes that joined them. Compared to the High Priests, the regular Priests and other Cult members were simply weak. Admittedly, the Priests were able to boost themselves up to a hundred levels from where they started, but that only pushed them vaguely into a tier below Coop’s class level and didn’t come close to what was necessary to reach the level of his stats. Coop also had the practical experience of so many previous battles compared to the petty violence the Cult members utilized to gather their own strength. They were no match for Coop, and Juliana and Felix were easily able to take care of them as well.

The four Jaguar Elites were as close to the High Priests as anyone else could hope to be, and besides Tzultacaj, Juliana was evidently the strongest. Coop had seen Sierra in action, and frankly, she was amazing. Watching her fight was like witnessing a real life arcade fighter, but she needed to be able to choose her battles, and being trapped inside of the domain of a High Priest had put her at a massive disadvantage. Under the right circumstances, Coop believed Sierra could defeat a High Priest on her own, but she would need the flexibility to call her shots, and she was supposedly the weakest of the four elites.

Coop accepted partial responsibility for putting her into a disadvantageous position as well, but he’d already made up for it by making sure she survived the encounter. Sierra was probably relaxing on Ghost Reef’s beaches, sipping a cocktail, after being fully healed by Madison while Coop trudged through the jungle and made sure her responsibilities were fulfilled. She got a pretty decent deal in the end.

Juliana’s portion of the Jaguar Sun was currently regrouping in the Lacandon Jungle in the eastern portion of Chiapas. They were well within actual settlement territory, and the Primal Constructs were far more in control compared to the wild jungles elsewhere. The civilization shards didn’t completely stifle the growth of Primal Constructs with their settlement territory, but they did slow them down to the point where they were much easier to manage. In the case of Central America, the invaders were managed by the wild animals.

Clearly, the Cult of Chakyum had no consideration for the settlement. There weren’t any Priests roaming the countryside, eliminating monsters, but there were thousands of different animals doing that job for them, more or less. 

While Coop accepted the Cult’s explanation that they were operating beyond the confines of settlements, he still expected them to be more active in controlling their own territory. But now he and Juliana were approaching their chosen destination and they still hadn’t disturbed the Cult’s nest. They were mere miles from the edge of the settlement proper, deep within the shard’s territory, but they hadn’t run into any sort of organized resistance from the Cult of Chakyum. Whatever they were doing within the settlement was evidently more important than countering the armies that were already within their borders.

Coop couldn’t imagine what could be more important than a fight for their very survival, and he was a bit nervous to find out. He shuddered as another howler monkey’s scream wailed across the jungle, declaring its territory as firmly as ever.