Chương 402: Limitless Path Chapter Four Hundred Twenty-Six

Baelvyr did just what he suggested, calling Jaq and Tazeen, who didn't come over immediately, but showed up a few hours later. Beth, Sera, and Blood had retired to one of the handful of suites in the annex to get a bit of sleep and rest before rejoining Baelvyr and Mortaine in the meeting room. Mortaine was working on some kind of magic or… something, Beth couldn't really tell what. Baelvyr, true to form, was drinking, heavily, and watching something on the wallscreen while he did so.

Jaq and Tazeen were there a couple hours after the girls were awake again, walking in together, likely having taken the teleporters together when they knew they'd be coming out here. Everyone greeted each other, Tazeen his usual stoic self while Jaq bore his usual persnickety old-man angst, funny considering he was the youngest of the four powerhouses in the room. The two took seats at the table, just about filling the small table and room to capacity.

It was lucky they didn't have a very large group for this, or that Beth didn't have a larger number of their friends with them right now, as it would be quite cramped, especially if both Baelvyr and Bjorn were trying to sit in such a small room together.

"Mortaine," Tazeen said with a nod as he sat at the opposite end of the table from Baelvyr.

"Tazeen," Mortaine replied respectfully.

"You two know each other?" Beth asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Unless I am mistaken, and I do not want to speak out of turn, Tazeen is older than I am," Mortaine explained.

"I keep track of the promising powerhouses, and those who are true powerhouses, in the galaxy. How I know of young Jaq Rezzar here as well. Hit Ascended in a little over two hundred years, is it not?"

"Good to meet you, Lord of Traversal, and yes, I hit twenty rebirths at two hundred twenty years of age," Jaq replied with what passed for a friendly smile for him.

"Fuckin' old," Beth muttered, though everyone in the room could easily hear it. She was elbowed in both side, one on the left by Sera and on the right by Jaq himself, which was much harder.

"Fuckin' ouch!"

"Behave," Sera reprimanded, even after seeing Jaq's jab.

"Anyway, ignore the kids," Baelvyr grumbled, getting them focused.

"I brought ya two here for a mission. I know ya need some contributions and some churn missions for yer scores. Let's get this handled." He brought up a map on the screen behind himself, heaving his bulk up and out of the way so the others could see it. It laid out a map of the territory they had already scouted, combined with a little more information that was from the local annex and some fixers, all of that marked as questionable.

There was a panel detailing numbers, troop strengths, rebirths, and much more on the right side of the display, one that Baelvyr pointed to as he started his spiel.

"Ya can see it for yerself, ya don't need me hammerin' on," Baelvyr said.

"We got rogue forces of about six thousand, maybe closer to seven. They're massin' for an attack on Ambaline, the capital of this whole continent and the only really worthwhile city in the place. If they take that, they take the whole world. Anyway, we're gonna head over there, post up on the wall around the city, and wait for 'em. Shouldn't be too long now, maybe even within the hour, and they'll be there.

When they approach, I'll give 'em the ol' 'lay down yer arms' speech, they'll laugh and ignore it, then we take 'em out. Jaq, I expect to use ya to track the rest of 'em down once we punch through 'em. Girlies, once we get started, ya can join in if ya want, I'll give ya mission credit if ya do. If ya can't stomach it on this one, that's fine, ya'll have to do it eventually. Questions?"

"You're gonna kill all of them?" Beth asked, frowning just slightly, but her voice was firm.

"All of 'em. They know what they're doin'. If they don't surrender, that's the only chance I'll give 'em. It'll all be logged under my authority," Baelvyr replied.

"Understood," said Sera, prompting Beth to do the same. Blood didn't care one way or the other, just grunting assent.

"Right, let's go," Baelvyr said after giving Jaq and Tazeen time to familiarize themselves with the briefing. Neither of the other Senior Enforcers had questions, and Mortaine didn't contribute anything, so they moved out, following Baelvyr as he led them out and started for the city.

"Allow me," Mortaine said when he saw the plan was just to run and use short-range teleports to get there quickly. The others nodded and Mortaine held up a hand, snapping a finger quickly, creating a sound like a wet soap bubble popping and causing a bright green light to flash. After just a moment, Beth could see again and found that they were standing on top of a city wall.

Several guards nearby had reacted, running towards them, but a single flex of power from Jaq, without even using his Presence, caused them to stumble to a stop, one falling flat on his face.

"CRA," said Baelvyr to a guard in fancier armor, walking over to him and showing him his emblem.

"S-sir," the guard captain stammered.

"Ya know when the attack is set to start?" Baelvyr asked, looking out over the territory surrounding the city. Unlike some cities Beth and the others had been in, there was nothing outside the walls, as the areas around the city weren't pacified enough for people to safely live outside. People would get most of their food, somewhat ironically, from hunting and gathering, as mana made resources extremely abundant.

It also allowed some crazy things, especially in combination with technology, in terms of growing food inside buildings or underground. All told, a city like this probably ate better than many pre-Path cities did even without any farmland or ranches outside the city limits providing food. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"They're gathering now, sir," the captain said, throwing Baelvyr a bit of a shaky salute, stopping after a moment with a slightly confused look on his face.

"That'll do, kiddo. We'll handle it from here," Baelvyr said. He turned to look out over the terrain again, waving the guards back. Jaq had disappeared at some point, likely going to somewhere he had overwatch, or even taking care of tracking down those not directly participating in this attack. Baelvyr moved up to a tower and shouted at the gathered bandits and scum, his voice booming over the open field in front of the city gate and echoing into the distance.

"Ya surrender now, we'll give ya fair terms and ya can work for the Association for ten years to pay off the debts. Persist, and we will kill ya to a man," Baelvyr bellowed. Beth didn't hear the exact response to his shout, but she could faintly hear some laughter, even at the distance the bandits still were from the city wall. The leader, a tall man in heavy armor with an ostentatious fur cape, stood forward at the front of the pack of rabble and yelled back.

Beth only caught some of what he said, but seeing all the others shaking their heads, she knew he hadn't accepted. Sighing, she just gave her head a quick shake, seeing the enemies starting to form up before moving toward them. She examined that... formation would be generous, as swarm was more appropriate, noting there were a hell of a lot of them. She stood with Sera just beside her and Blood a few steps down leaning against the parapet.

Mortaine was on Beth's other side, arms crossed behind his back and watching with a cold, foreboding expression. The massive group of thieves and murderers was gathered in a loose throng a few hundred yards from the city gates, and Tazeen stepped out of those very gates alone.

"This will be bloody work," Mortaine said coldly. Tazeen walked forward very slowly and calmly in the armored clothing he wore, his plain, unadorned sword at his waist. The bandits sent a party forward with over a hundred members to confront him. When they got close, the leader of the group stepped forward even further, still a few dozen paces from Tazeen, and sneered at the elf before spitting on the ground.

"Fuckin' CRA pricks. Go back ta yer rich bastard owners. We handle our own 'ere, you lousy cocksuckers," the man snarled, sneering at Tazeen. Mortaine's expression became far colder, the air around him seeming to chill. Staring down at the mass of thieves and murderers, he spat out a single word with incredible venom, "Fools." Tazeen didn't respond in the slightest, nor did he stop, continuing to walk with a slow, measured pace.

The bandits sent to confront him were a little discomfited by this at first, but anger quickly took hold, weapons being drawn and powers readied. When Tazeen didn't stop or even react in the slightest bit, they charged him as a group, biting off harsh curses and readying themselves for a kill. Tazeen ignored it all, continuing to slowly walk while focusing on the forces further out even as they closed within ten paces. Six paces. Five paces. Four paces. Three. Two. One.

Even as the leading man was within slashing distance, Tazeen didn't seem to react, and Beth grew a bit worried, though she was more puzzled than anything else. Just as Beth was about to open her mouth and say something to Mortaine, Tazeen grabbed the hilt of his sword and his wrist twitched. Nothing seemed to happen for just a fraction of a second when suddenly all one hundred people charging Tazeen exploded into little more than a pink mist.

It wasn't like was shown in some movies or even comics where the opponents had little lines appear on them and then were slashed or fell apart. No, this was far more forceful, as every single person confronting him was just... well, gone. Wiped from the face of existence with a single swing of his sword so fast Beth had not been able to detect it in any way through any sense she had.

"Watch now and understand. Understand why even the heavens fear a Hero," Mortaine said, voice still frigid as arctic ice. Tazeen hadn't stopped or even slowed down to slash with his swing, continuing his calm, steady walk as everyone trying to do him harm was erased. He continued that pace into the main group of the gang, all of whom were looking decidedly less sure now. Beth was still kind of curious if he was going to handle the whole situation himself, but that seemed to be the plan.

As she was thinking about that, the wall shook slightly as Baelvyr walked up in his full armor, his height over ten feet and his weight in the tons, a mountain of metal and death.

"If ya wanna be Senior Enforcers, if ya wanna go into Platinum and beyond at the CRA, open yer damn eyes and take a look," he rumbled.

"As much as we help people, much as we provide aid, this is the business of the CRA. Blood and death." Tazeen continued his march, and only death followed in his wake. His sword was so fast Beth couldn't even tell when it was swung, and the enemies were never cut apart so much as they were destroyed. The one thing she was sure of, based on her perceptions and her own skills, was that he wasn't using any skills or even mana. Everything he did only relied on a single skill: Swords.

"People forget," Baelvyr rumbled, standing behind the four of them like a colossus.

"The CRA helps people, but a hundred million years ago we were founded by a group of battle maniacs that filled a thousand oceans with blood. Each." He stepped forward, continuing, "People view us as warriors. Defenders. Guardians. Protectors. But, at the end of the day, we're just a buncha bastards who can never really get the stench of blood out of our noses."

After giving his little speech, he took a step and disappeared, reappearing in the area off to the side of Tazeen, where a group had been trying to flank the elf, likely to run to the city. Whether it was to attack the city or seek shelter, it didn't really matter, as they ran headlong into the man known as the Adamantine Colossus.

Baelvyr didn't flinch as they swarmed him, waiting calmly until the whole group was close to him before lifting his hammer with one hand and swinging the massive block of metal down with a snap. The ground ahead of him for more than a thousand feet shattered, with the men and women caught in the area exploding into bloody mist and small chunks of flesh.

Baelvyr moved again, simply appearing thousands of feet from where he had been, Beth unable to see any sign in the mana around him that he had manipulated space, meaning he had just taken a simple step and traveled that far. He performed much the same on that side as he had on the other, using a single swing to vaporize the enemies over there. Beth had honestly thought of trying to jump in and help, but that thought was proving to be more than a little ridiculous.

She watched as the two Seniors cleaned up the entire field in less than five minutes, shaking her head at the unbelievable carnage they had caused. She hadn't seen Jaq at all since the start, and she still didn't as Tazeen and Baelvyr finished off the stragglers and returned to the city. Tazeen hopped up onto the wall next to them easily, not even a single drop of blood marring his armored clothing.

Baelvyr, rather wisely, didn't attempt to leap onto the wall, but walked in through the gate, which the guards had operated both for Tazeen going out and Baelvyr coming in. He joined them on the wall a moment later, having his helmet peal back to reveal his slightly scowling face.

"Time to cleanup and get the details taken care of," he grunted, signaling them to follow him.

"What about Jaq?" Beth asked.

"He'll take care of the rest. He ain't Mort here, but he can move damn fast when he really wants to. He'll track down all the rest and make sure they ain't a problem anymore," Baelvyr said.

"And we had to kill all of them?" Beth asked, not really upset, but frowning just a touch.

"They were doin' some bad shit, girlie," Baelvyr said.

"They were fakin' official contracts. That's steppin' on our toes; the CRA are the only ones that can handle Pledges of the Path. We take that shit seriously. Beyond that, they were slavin', which is the other time we will usually step in, especially if people are fakin' Pledges to do it."

"I see," Beth said.

"Let's get it wrapped up," Baelvyr said, leading them to the center of the city, where he met with the people in charge. After a few minutes of discussion, which was basically Baelvyr explaining what had happened and what he expected them to do, they were ready to move on. Mortaine had said he would pop back in at some time during their next job to check if they could handle his business and disappeared with a faint pink light and strange guitar riff.