Chương 70: Chapter 62

Dawn was not far off. You could see it in how the moonlight was slowly growing less intrusive, the glorious glow of the northern light-ish belt dimming. It was a reverse portent of what was about to happen. Steve was leading our way into what used to be the U-Nerd camp. Things had settled down some at night, compared to the chaotic mess of the Kadren settlement during the day. According to Cuilcis, the Kadren were mostly diurnal, but both Skreelings and Glimmerscales had excellent night vision.

Hence, right now, with the sun about to go up, and most of the Kadren asleep was likely to be the best chance we'd get to our goal unchallenged. Unfortunately, 'unchallenged' didn't mean easy. What used to be a messy tent camp with little oversight and no logical pathing had only deteriorated. Now, ratty pieces of cloth and fur were flapping in the wind, left to rot with no maintenance. Some Kadren still slept inside the tents, while others didn't seem to care, curling up wherever the hell they felt like it.

I felt a twinge of cuteness overload, as I learned that Riverkin slept all tangled up in a bundle of furs and snouts. I pushed the sensation way down, and stayed on task. The camp was not dead. Not by a stretch. The only thing that ensured we weren't dead yet was Steve's invisibility talent – and he'd confirmed that anything with a high enough Perception should be able to pierce it. So, we didn't dally. Yet, the outer layers of the Kadren settlement had been decently subdued, allowing for swift entry.

As we traversed the old U-Nerds camp, I remembered Major Pain. It seemed like ages ago that he'd introduced me to the others. He hadn't been one for organization. However, he had, at least, provided a modicum of system to their camps, ensuring that there was a pathing system of sorts, allowing us to move fast and straight toward the walls. Right now, we edged around the centre of the path, where a short, stout Level 4 Skreeling was squatting, and defecating.

We hurried past, Nix almost stumbling with her horrified gaze glued to the beast. Then, we were on the home stretch, looking straight at the tall wall rising before us a few hundred meters away. With a glance to see that there were no beasts nearby, Haddock frowned.

"My turn." He took a deep breath.

"Ready?" I exhaled slowly. This was it. Once he started, there was no going back. The others chimed in, and I joined them.

"Ready." The wall surrounding the Ever Steady was made for humans. There was no discussing that. The walkways on the battlements were slender, and the stairs leading up there were steep. Even for humans, they weren't exactly wheelchair accessible. As such, the Glimmerscales couldn't comfortably stand up there, with their larger bulk, and the Skreelings and Soil Scourers, clumsy bastards that they were, weren't getting up there in the first place.

This meant that the only beasts keeping a watch from up there were Riverkin, who were decidedly not Perception-based as a rule. And they weren't exactly thick on the wall. The stretch we aimed for was currently abandoned. There was no telling how long that'd last, or whether there were any Kadren on the inside looking up at where we were going. But it didn't matter anymore. We were committed. They emerged before the wall at a speed that defied explanation.

Two long, narrow bridges, pulled from Haddock's Temporary Storage and deposited as fast as he could manage. Halfways, at the midpoint between the two bridges, a tall rectangular block emerged, letting the bridges meet safely. It looked ridiculous, like an Angry Birds creation, made specifically for the purpose of getting destroyed. Yet, in effect, it made for a quickly placed ascent, and I raced before the others and made it onto the walls less than ten seconds after I stepped onto the first bridge.

Haddock followed right in my footsteps, fast enough that I had to throw out an arm to stop him from crashing over the narrow walkway. I pulled him with me, allowing the others access. The big man didn't waver. Simultaneously, new bridges appeared on the inside of the walls, even as he cancelled out the ones on the outside, removing any sign we'd ever been there. Invisibility didn't cover geography. It also didn't cover his creations. We'd made damn sure to check what was actually feasible beforehand.

So, anybody watching our section of wall right now would probably be pretty confused by a couple of spindly bridges emerging from thin air and disappearing thirty seconds later, like some sort of fata morgana. Haddock moved a dozen meters over, locating a spot on the inside that wasn't crowded. Then, before I knew it, I was running down the inner side and toward our goal. It was only as I took the first step that I even saw what we were getting ourselves into. When I'd arrived, the Ever Steady was packed.

Except for the edges, there was activity, sound and movement everywhere. The different areas were clearly designated, and – except for the occasional bumbling fresh arrival who'd somehow gotten lost, the directions were one-way. Starting at the portal, continuing to the salesmen pitching the advantages of the different groupings, and onward into the camps outside the walls. Then, onward to risk our lives and face up against the dangers of the Torn Divide. Now, any such mass movement had halted.

In fact, at this early hour, there was little movement at all. That didn't mean that the inside was deserted. Far from it. But things had changed. The formerly straight lines and well-trodden paths had been replaced. Now, new camps had arrived, it seemed. Or packs. Far in the distance, on the eastern side, I spotted a shape I'd seen before. One big-ass lizard, a blend between a Komodo dragon and a chameleon, who looked so cover in glitter, you'd think it had aspirations of becoming an extra in Euphoria.

The Higher Glimmerscale rested, secure in its supremacy, surrounded by Kadren of all shapes and sizes Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Higher Glimmerscale. Level 36 Health: 420/420 Path: Mental Power Thank God for my improved Identify. It showed me that this was one dangerous beast to look out for. Also, that the bastard thing had leveled twice since attacking us. All around the fortress, that was the gist of things.

The Kadren, were divided into packs, affiliations, or maybe just friends. Didn't know, didn't care. Yet, they were grouped up, never more than a couple dozen. And there were many. I had no way to count, but there had to be at least a few hundred. Every single one of them between Level 15 and 24. The cream of the crop, of all Kadren who hadn't yet ascended and become leaders among their kind. Here and there, I saw humans, too.

Down-trodden, plodding about, heavily laden with burdens, it was clear they were working hard, even at this early hour. At the edges of the walls… cocoons. I was shocked by the sheer number of them. Cuilcis had told us that the pregnant Kadren gave up some of their lifeforce when they birthed the cocoons. Well, there had to be some seriously weakened Kadren around, because there were hundreds of the damn things, glistening with magic. I put it to the back of my mind. It changed nothing. We needed to win this.

My feet hit the ground. I moved to the side. Haddock arrived right behind me, followed by the two others. The bridges faded away into nothingness behind us. Haddock grasped my shoulder. He looked beyond me, at my target. Then he shuddered.

"Good luck, man. Seriously. Just. Don't hesitate. Just do it, and come to us." I nodded, without looking back. There could be no hesitating. No dawdling. If I took too long, I'd be sure to wake up every single beast in this place, and die. Before I knew it, I was walking, feeling the tingling sensation as I left the invisibility behind. I filled my arms with items from my inventory to make it look like I, too, was slaving my day away. In front of me lay my target. Higher Soil Scourer.

Level 31 Health: 1370/1370 Path: Fortitude I'd told Jaggor to his face I'd be able to take it down. I hoped I would. But honestly, I was feeling a serious change of heart, and pants. We'd debated for the longest time going as a group in order to make sure the invisibility held. Yet, it just wasn't feasible. The big-ass beast was slumbering at least two hundred meters from the tower. Meaning, once I attacked and the invisibility broke, we'd never make it to the tower without being swarmed.

Damn Nix and her lack of a Running skill. I walked past sleeping packs of beast. Walked, didn't run. Didn't stride either, kept my eyes down. My shield remained in my Personal Universe.

"You thought you'd get away with it, didn't you?" The thought rummaged inside my mind, and I could feel the resentment burning higher, adding fuel to my inner bonfire. My expression on the outside was likely sullen and resentful. But on the inside, I was all rage.

"You figured you had humanity defeated?" The ruse worked. Somehow, it worked. However the minds of the Kadren worked, they clearly associated humans walking sedately inside their defenses with slaves. Meaning, any single human waltzing around in here was surely a slave, and under control. The Higher Soil Scourer grew larger before me. This type of Kadren was something special. It wasn't just their size or sheer latent power. No, the Soil Scourers had something else to set them apart from the rest.

Every single race, monster or sentient species I'd seen in Ademia had one thing in common. They looked and felt like actual races. Sure, some, like the Ethereal Marmots were more supernatural than others, moving with supernatural grace and treating the element of earth like it was water. Yet, they all looked real, for lack of a better word. The Higher Soil Scourer looked like an unholy blend of magic and animal. Even at rest, there was something unnatural about it.

The body itself looked like an armadillo, if the armadillo was spiked and weighed several tons. Its four-legged body with massive, clawed legs, was ringed by scales, except for the stomach, and the face was wide, with a narrow nose and mouth, not unlike a rat. Even asleep, it towered above me, at least three meters high. Yet, what looked so unreal was the magic. In between each scale, a constant stream of something travelled. Something ephemeral, nearly unseen, like stray gusts of a sandstorm.

It looked like the damn thing somehow had streams of sand traveling around its body like that was a perfectly normal goddamn thing to have. I didn't care about the magic. I cared about the size. The bulk. I'd killed the Higher Skreeling. Pretty much by accident when it was already badly wounded, sure, but I'd killed it. And now this oversized monstrosity looked like it was the only thing likely to be large enough to actually topple the tower and ruin our plans. So, we had to strike first. I kept walking.

Tip-toed my way between two Skreelings sleeping head to toe in an almost Yin and Yang shape. Then I was there. At the feet of the giant. No time for hesitation. I could feel movement at my back, and a yawned growl from some beast that was only now waking up. Ignoring the streams of literal magic racing past in front of me, I knelt at the Soil Scourer's tummy and slowly lowered my clinking burden, one by one pushing them below the Kadren's less-armored stomach, as far as they could go. One breath.

One deep, shuddering breath. That was all I allowed myself. We'd debated this part. I needed to wake up the damn thing, and hopefully do a lot of damage at the same time. Yet, as we all knew, I couldn't even kick it in the goolies. The clinking bottles at my feet was our answer. Twenty-two bottles of liquid fire. Sold in bulk by Cuilcis, he'd even given us a discount because he wanted us to live longer, permitting his bodyguards to level more. His words. I nodded to myself.

Then I took a dozen steps back, equipped my shield and buckler, and tossed the last bottle at the glinting layer of bottles. Then I knelt and ducked behind my shield, clenching my eyes shut. The bottle cracked and broke. The world washed over in flame. In a roar to shatter my ear drums, every part of my body overheated at once as fire attempted to consume me. The fire vanished as fast as it appeared. Only a subtle heat gaze around my surroundings remained to show the local increase in temperature.

Notifications vied for attention at the corner of my eye. I was… sort of distracted. Just a tiny bit. With a squeal that removed every last bit of hearing I might have retained, the Higher Soil Scourer awoke. Its bulk rose higher and higher above me, as it reared, scorched face searching blearily for its attacker. I gritted my teeth, and, ignoring the twinges of pain and the burning sensation from where I'd lost my eyebrows, stood up. And then I challenged the fucker." All right, you furry wanker!

You wanted to take on humanity? Well, I'm right fucking here!" The gauntlet had been thrown. Right now, on the outskirts of the settlement, the people of Last Chance would be charging in, slaughtering surprised Kadren by the dozens. Meanwhile, I'd go toe to toe with the biggest, meanest of them. Hopefully, I'd even survive.