Chương 219: Glimpses of a search

"Are we done yet, acolyte? We should have been on the move yesterday already, had it not been for your ineptitude. Our undertaking cannot be completed if we are discovered and bogged down here."

"O-of course, priestess! Terribly sorry, priestess!" the man, sounding young beneath the mask and hooded robes he wore. The priestess, similarly garbed but showing a lot more confident poise due to her silver rank, only shot the acolyte a disdainful glare from within her mask before turning to the others.

"Make sure that everything is properly cleansed. Gather what minions we managed to harvest here. Leave no trace of our passing. We will - AAaaaaaaaahhhhh!" The gaggle of acolytes - bronze- and iron-rankers all - froze in confusion as their proud, domineering leader was reduced to a thrashing mass of shrieking robes mid-sentence.

It was only a moment later that they felt the other, unknown aura which had clamped onto the priestess like a vice before it had started pressing into the woman's spirit like a blade pushed into flesh with agonizing slowness.

"Alert! They're here! Scatter!" came the cries as the gathered acolytes properly realized the danger they were in when the new aura's silver rank became apparent. But even as they all started moving in a disorganized mass, it proved too late.

"Another wasted effort," a woman snarled as she descended from the rafters above in the previously abandoned barn, trailing hair pale enough to almost be translucent while chains shot from her in every direction in a surge of unleashed mana.

The priestess, still reeling from whatever spiritual attack she had been subjected to, had the misfortune of being right beneath the armored heels of the falling woman and was driven into the dirty plank floor in a shower of splinters while more chains wrapped themselves around her. The iron ranked acolytes were ensnared and choked to lifelessness within moments, but the bronzes did make their best - if panicked - effort at assisting their struggling leader with spells and conjured weapons.

The pale-haired woman did not even look up from the prone priestess at their efforts though, and simply continued to rain claw-like finger strikes down at her quarry at a distinct staccato rhythm while moving around her target with precision and grace.

One of the bronzes managed to teleport closer just before she was caught by loops of hunting chains and swung a huge bone hammer toward the back of the woman, who just pivoted slightly without breaking stride and let a backhand counter punctuate the unheard rhythm of her motions with the sound of a loud crack. The counter sent the oversized bludgeon and its wielder flying back several meters into another tangle of chains that eagerly awaited them.

Her fellow silver on the floor kept making a few more concerted efforts at escape, but some movement power seemed to keep failing her even as her flesh kept sloshing off places and regrowing in bursts of toxic fumes. A minute of concerted effort later though, the masked priestess fell limp though, overwhelmed by the spiritual assault and utterly drained of stamina.

Had any of the acolytes still been alive or conscious, they would have seen the chains of their assailant lifting the still-living priestess closer in order to gaze into blankly staring eyes.

"You might have made a fine thrall, had I possessed the means and time. But I have an agreement to keep to. Even if you proved just a waste of time." Kite stood overlooking the carnage currently being waged inside a pen that had probably once held some kind of grazing animal. Now they contained only a gaggle of fleshy, undead monstrosities of various ranks cobbled together of monster parts and one furiously burning Dragonfly who was busy dismantling them a few odd limbs at a time.

"It seems like our so-called ally has finished her work inside the barn," Will remarked from his side as he gestured towards the building in the distance, distaste clear in his voice.

"I can see the logic in having her assist us, but I will not stand her presence. Come, my Lady. Let us join Dragonfly and leave Kite to be the diplomatic one." Given that one of their last encounters had been River defeating the iron-ranked Will with her usual agonizing methods and added to the fact that the adherent of Pain represented something shunned by most parts of society, Kite did not begrudge Will taking his leave and joining in the more pure and simple slaying of undead.

Part of him would much have liked to join the spearman, but given that it was River's expertise and perception in the less polite layers of society which had netted them around half of the leads in the two months that had passed, he had to admit that she had definitely proven her worth. Even if, judging by her looks, this endeavor had also proven a false lead.

"Just worthless rabble. Undeath cultists. Only a single actual priestess among them, and she could barely withstand my spiritual attacks for more than a moment," Dancer on the Broken River muttered in her flat voice as she heaved the half-dozen chains trailing behind her to have the gaggle of restrained cultists land before Kite.

"I still maintain that we should just kill them and move on."

"And I maintain that the local authorities and Adventure Society might learn more about them in time, and that there is a value in handing them in even if execution is most likely their due anyway," Kite replied as he began collaring the trapped essence-users, some of them occasionally spasming from the contacts with the pain-inducing chains.

"The people who ran this farm had hopefully left long before these ones moved in though."

"It matters little to me," River said flatly, retracting her chains one at a time as Kite did his work.

"Well it should. Even your deity's purview doesn't mean much without people."

"Pain is still present in each living being. People aren't its only source," River muttered in response, even though Kite got the feeling that she acknowledged his point.

"Still, I will make my way back and see what other information I can dig up."

"We could use your help in keeping them restrained while we take them back to the city."

"That you could, but I have already extended the necessary effort of our agreement. Continuing the hunt is more worthwhile." With that, River turned and headed off back towards Gateway, the middling-sized city in western Hua-Xi which the group was currently operating out of in their search for leads. Kite watched her go with a sigh, but still couldn't help but feel a bit of gratitude towards the heavens for the scarred woman's presence.

Who knew how much trouble this little remote and isolated enclave of Undeath could have become, had it been left to fester and grow?

"But I do share her disappointment in that we have yet to find traces of this supposed excursion to the north," he thought while he started to let his three vortices drain the mana of the incapacitated captives in order to more easily keep them subdued as they ferried them back towards the city.

"I suppose we have to keep taking heart in the good we do along the way." As he shifted from the bough of one tree and emerged up among the branches of another, Brave Walker of Paths couldn't help but revel in the freedom he felt. Even after all these years, being in his domain was soothing and exhilarating at the same time. Here he knew where to step and where to focus his perception. Where to find safety and - as was their purpose today - to find trouble.

"Ah, there we have some. Plant elementals. Should be good for the second group," he said to himself before shunting back through the foliage to find the group of iron-rankers who were making their own way through the forests north of Convergence.

"Ho there, young ones," he called as he emerged, finding a bit of enjoyment in how the group started at his sudden appearance. Still, these were some of Soul's 'not-apprentices' and he was also pleased at their measured response, forming up and preparing spells, a spear and - in one case - a massive hook.

"I have some quarry for you." Walker gave the now much more relaxed group some directions, and their group leader bowed deeply to him as they made to depart.

"Thank you, guildmaster, for your guidance. We will not forget your kindness even should our paths take us to the very heavens."

"Oh, think nothing of it. This old man is just happy to help while waiting around for Spring to take on her own challenge."

"Please give the hallmaster our regards, then. May Warrior bless her hunt and the tempering it shall bring," the iron-ranker finished before hefting his massive hook over one shoulder as he followed the rest of his guildmates.

"You forgot to pray for my safety too," Walker thought as he waved them off. While you never knew for certain with these things, both he and Spring were quite sure that this was the one. And Walker had to admit that he was slightly anxious too. Fighting a silver-ranked monster at bronze, even well-prepared, wasn't something to underestimate. But he complied with her wishes and did not extend his perception towards the formation of lower cliffs in the distance.

Spring had wanted to really push herself on her own this time, shedding all safety nets much like Walker himself had done some six years ago. Instead, he wove himself a hammock of vines high up in a tree and followed the progress of the young irons instead, sending his perception out through the plants around him like a spider in a vast web.

"Hmm, they're not doing bad. Chose their battleground and initiated at range. That hornet-lass is quick too. Kite chose well there." He felt himself relaxing further when he felt the group get a good handle on the situation. Finding monsters like this out in the wilderness wasn't lucrative in the way they would be if they waited for a contract to be posted. But for hungry irons looking to temper themselves now rather than wait around, it was a good pastime; one that should save lives in the long run.

But just as Walker nodded in satisfaction as the last of the elementals fell, something else broke into his perception like a lit beacon in a dark night. It was a silver-ranked aura, new and raw yet very familiar. It gave a sense of a soothing wind carrying the scent of flowers to you wherever you were, now much more potent and vibrant like before. And so, Walker knew it was time.

"May the heavens keep this stubborn old fool. And Fortune bless me for a while yet," he murmured to himself. The vines of his hammock dissolved as Walker fell downward, but disappeared as soon as he hit the brushes beneath and reappeared close to Second Spring, ascended and reborn.

The slender woman sat meditating, still radiating a pure silver light that illuminated the cliffs around and the remnants of the slain Stinger Duchess; the great scorpion curled up in a pile near one of the stone slabs which was scoured by numerous wind blades from the no doubt fierce battle that had taken place not long before.

Walker just stood there and took it in, and let the look of Spring etch itself further into his memory before he produced a bottle of crystal wash and let a screen of bamboo grow up around her. The rank-up to silver had been a lot more gentle than those before in terms of shedding excess waste, but it still wasn't a very dignified affair.

So as he felt the shudder in Spring's aura, Walker withdrew all of his senses from within the little haven he had created and let Spring handle it in with what modicum of privacy and respect he could provide. A few minutes afterwards, he felt her aura touch upon his, and so rose to meet the newly ascended woman as she emerged from among the bamboo.

But any further words died in his throat when he realized that Spring was still stark naked, even though she had that pristine level of cleanliness which only generous amounts of crystal wash could accomplish.

"S-spring? Perhaps you forgot something?" Walker managed to stammer, for a moment feeling like a flustered teenager again as he tried to avert his eyes out of instinctive politeness even though said eyes really enjoyed what they saw. Spring, in turn, said nothing even though the look in her eyes gave answer enough; she was wearing exactly what she deemed necessary.

So Walker could only remain rooted to the spot, hypnotized by emotions long held in check that were now starting to work their way free of the tangle of propriety in which he had ensnared them. Spring, in turn, took her time to reach him as she calmly walked across the moss, grass and stones to reach him. And when she reached him, she rose up on her tippy toes and kissed him with an intoxicating ferocity that had been belied by her previous calm.

Walker did not know how long it had been before she eventually leaned just a hair's breadth away and murmured a soft, yet fierce: "Mine." The single word and her closeness ripped through the last of any restraints in Walker's mind, and he responded in kind when she set upon him again. As she pulled him with her to the ground, Walker thought that the moss beneath them had never felt softer or more inviting.

"Kite, what's the matter? You seem distracted."

"Hmm? Oh, my apologies, Amica. It's just certain matters at home we're investigating. Regarding that matter."

"Oh? Oh!" Amica Steiner said, eyes widening in surprise where she was crouching beside Kite next to a sandstone wall where some tarp-covered barrels - along with a small set of Kite's barriers - shielded them somewhat from the raging sandstorm which caused visibility to drop next to nothing a meter out.

"I guess that working with Gauntlet does become inconvenient at certain times when you've got business at home. But you still accepted the contract?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

"The process of shaking up some leads is more a marathon than a sprint in this case. I have full faith in my companions to handle matters without me. In this particular undertaking, we are more akin to the hunting dogs than the actual hunters, too; rustling about and seeing what our actual investigators can catch from what comes flying out of the underbrush."

The strawberry-blonde telekineticist nodded thoughtfully at his side, apparently appreciating the analogy before glancing down at a crystal hanging from her wrist which flashed briefly.

"Well, now that the hunting dog is here and all, mind changing roles to wrecking ball for a moment? The others are in position."

"It should serve as a good distraction," Kite agreed, rising to his feet as he started channeling mana through his metallic tattoos. The arms of his mantle appeared, one carrying his chitinous shield held out before him. Then, at an aura signal from Amica, he leapt and relaxed his own spirit and allowed hers to clamp down upon his like a friendly vice as her telekinesis caused him to shoot towards the stone wall like a point-blank thunderbolt." Ward!"

Implacable Motion easily allowed Kite to plow through the simple stone wall, and as they had done so many times during their initiation into the task group, Amica took control over most of the debris and launched it inward like a vanguard of shrapnel heralding Kite's arrival.

Even though his entry was over in an instant, Kite still managed to appreciate how Amica caused some of the stone chunks to swerve and avoid the would-be sacrifices individually kept in standing, sarcophagus-shaped cages against the walls of the ritual chamber which he had just entered. The ritualists didn't fare as well though, and six of the dozen bronze-rankers dropped beneath the barrage; alive, but stunned and injured to different degrees.

Kite followed up with an opening barrage of strikes towards one of the two silvers who weren't reeling quite so badly; a brawny leonid covered in magical chitin and a much shorter human man who had managed to conjure an icy barrier just in time to deflect the brunt of the shrapnel. His target - the leonid - did look quite surprised when Kite's projected strikes started shredding part of his conjured armor and draining quite a bit of mana in the process before his roar shattered two more incoming attacks.

The pair of silvers did manage to start some semblance of counterattack before Ripple of Cancellation snuffed that out as well. Amica chose this time to enter in Kite's wake, and just as the bronzes were starting to shake out of their stupor they were taken out of the fight as the telekineticist's unseen force manipulation retrieved a full stack of over a dozen bronze suppression collars which started orbiting the room and hunting down the necks of all the lower-ranker's present.

"I for one found it a nice happenstance to be paired up with you for a contract again," she called conversationally while effectively mowing down the silvers' support like a swarm of angry hornets rampaging through a full taproom.

"We always make the most amazing entrances together. The leonid!" Kite reacted instantly to her call according to the feint that it was. The leonid had, of course, heard Amica's shout and instantly activated a defensive amber cocoon around him.

But one of the many tactics Kite and Amica had worked out together during their time with Gauntlet was a series of simple aura nudges which would accompany a statement, indicating other factors; Force of the intended attack, if the call was a warning or - as in this case - if the actual target was the other part of a duo. As such, the human man wasn't ready for the combined auras which spiked his own quite thoroughly, with Amica's soul-scarred one doing a lot of the heavy lifting.

He didn't even have the time to wobble before her telekinesis clamped down upon him, and Kite easily dispelled the icy barrier before using the few seconds of control such a spike would net them to land another directed barrage of mana-draining attacks.

"Fortune be praised for the happy coincidence," Kite agreed as he turned to fend off the now outraged leonid who burst from his cocoon as he realized the ruse.

"How have you been? Last I heard, you were returning home?"

"Aw, you remembered? That's sweet of you," Amica retorted while using the final moments of telekinetic control to throw the human man across the room and into a wall most forcefully.

"Well, it was good to spend some time with the family. It's pretty amazing how good things - and people you care about - can be to you if you actually let them. But you'd laugh yourself silly if you saw what my sister - You know, the tailor? - made me try. If I hadn't seen the honest enthusiasm in her aura, I'd have thought she was getting back at me for not visiting more often-""Destruction will claim this world, as he does all things!"

Amica was interrupted as the human man had managed to stumble to his feet, his insides flaring to life with an all-too familiar roiling energy that started consuming his flesh.

"If you please?" she asked Kite, taking over bludgeoning the leonid with scattered debris to buy Kite a moment where he made a single empowered leap to land in front of the glowing man about to self-destruct in the spectacular manner known to most of Destruction's clergy.

However, the unseen attack he had projected mid-flight using The Veiled One's Decree impacted the zealot a moment before Kite landed, leaving the man staring dumbfounded as his gathering, roiling power winked out just as six of Matra's descendant's stabbed into him like shimmering lines of mana-hungry blue." Wall!" With a word, Kite conjured walls of force spread out all across the room in different configurations.

Some sprung up to shield the still trapped people in their cages while others enclosed as many collared bronze-rankers as possible to make it quite a lot more challenging for them to just make a run for it in the battle. But he also created a small, enclosed space around himself and the zealot; thin enough to hamper swings and make pushing past Kite all but impossible barring the use of the right essence powers.

It was in this way that the human man found himself shoved against the back wall while all of Kite's arms kept stabbing in a brutal blur. Each attack, along with the forced contact of the wall behind, ripped away some of the man's mana while Chakra Implosion was used as soon as it became available. Kite kept channeling the kernel of relentless offense which Frost Among Morning Dew had once instilled in him, tempered and adapted through his years of training.

It cut through barriers and sundered counterattacks, and the three vortices of Spirit Singularity made sure that the zealot could not just slip away through dimensional means.

"Well, it does sound like quite the worthwhile trip then," Kite called over his shoulder as he had found a steady rhythm in his draining beatdown. Amica's response was a bit delayed as he could feel her focus her aura into another smothering, crushing spiritual embrace which surrounded the leonid who had begun to deliver savage claw strikes which she intercepted with pieces of debris.

As soon as his aura buckled and crumbled, the telekineticist made a ripping gesture while she thrust out one palm in a surge of mana which in turn sent the leonid - minus one arm - flying across the room.

"It was. I spent quite some time visiting the mind healer too, but she has now deemed me no longer needing her services. It feels… odd, in a way. But good!" Amica eventually called back while she sent the leonid's chitin-covered arm to keep bludgeoning him against the far wall.

"Now there's just the question what I should do with myself. You know, in the long run. But Gauntlet sure has kept me busy enough, so I can't complain. What about you then? Besides that thing."

"Well, life has overall been kind. Very kind in most ways. Yet we will need Fortune's kindness even more in the days to come if the guild is to really lay a solid foundation that will last," Kite replied, snapping suppression collar on the now woozy and almost completely limp zealot in front of him before turning and helping Amica finish up the leonid.

"The family is well though, and Dragonfly and I are actually courting now. Well, honestly we probably have for a few years. It is… a bit odd to think back on that actually. Why didn't we just get to it sooner?"

"Well, I'm not exactly one with the best experience in how relationships are supposed to go -," Amica remarked as she held the leonid steady, keeping control for far longer than usual when Kite assisted in suppressing the struggling man's aura while delivering the same mana-draining treatment as his colleague.

"- but from what you told me, it sounded like it was mostly fear of loss that initially caused you to keep it casual, no? And if there's something I know, it's that fear can make you act in ways that will seem very odd in hindsight. But I'm glad for you, Kite! Hopefully, there is a Dragonfly for me out there too. But - you know - taller. And male. Well, some celestines do make a woman question herself though… But male should be the safest bet."

"I will keep diligent watch then. The pink hair does tend to stand out, so it shouldn't be too hard," Kite retorted, smiling both at the ease of the conversation and the absurdity of the setting it was held in. But it was proof that Amica Steiner's unseen wounds had definitely healed well.

"Good. Because I'm honestly getting a bit impatient," she grumbled, using her powers to bunch up the prisoners in one big and probably very uncomfortable pile.

"Come on, let's help the others mop up. From the feel of it, they're still at it. Because you're probably pretty impatient to get back home too."

"-and as always, thank you for choosing Riz's dimensional conveyance as your means of travel. Your continued patronage will make sure that my many, many siblings can continue their comfortable, spoiled life while their big sister brings home the spirit coins," the colorful elf portal courier said with her usual enthusiasm as they emerged in Heavenward's modest portal platform up at the Adventure Society campus.

"But I was a bit surprised when you didn't have me drop you off at home."

"Well, honored courier, I will actually be reconvening with my group who should still be taking contracts closer to the capital than the north," Kite replied, giving her his own customary bow.

"As they would send word to the branch here if they continued onward to another city. I hope you won't mind if I run an errand as well now that I'm here?"

"No bother, no bother. The great Riz always knows the best bars to make the time pass. Meet back here in three hours?"

"That would be most excellent. Thank you," Kite replied, giving her another bow. The elf set off towards her destination at a good clip while Kite retrieved his wide hat and donned it along with the veils that would hide his identity. He had even supplied Peony with the materials to have the hat upgraded to silver rank, something which his friend and business partner was capable of thanks to her odd set of crafting powers.

It wasn't the most efficient option though, often significantly more expensive than just commissioning a new piece or paying the cost of ascending a growth item. But given that the hat had been a gift from Uncle Walker, the sentimental value had made it an easy expense. The veils were new though, made by Braid at the start of their current investigations, and they flowed like a thin sheen of mist around him as Kite joined the other pedestrians on Heavenward's streets.

"This only drives home how blessed I am that Glint is still willing to carry me," he thought, idly sending his mind along the familiar bond to where the carp-turned-dragon had remained with the others to keep ferrying them between locations more quickly.

"But her presence might have caused quite a stir, I suppose. Pining young masters, and all that." He made his way to his destination in good order though, and was discreetly let into one of the appointed side-entrances of the Silent Horizon sect compound after presenting the proper token. A polite exchange and one initiate-run message later, Kite found himself facing Ardent Horizon Seeker in his grand office.

"Student," the somber, dark haired gold-ranker greeted from where he sat floating above his solid disc of nothingness."

"Teacher," Kite greeted in return. The silence which followed - with two sets of similar features regarding one another - was a bit awkward, but Ardent did break it sooner than he would have in the past.

"It is good to see that you are well," the older man said, gesturing for Kite to sit opposite him.

"Are you keeping up with your practice?"

"As best as I am able. The techniques you have taught me are not easy to grasp," Kite replied, floating up in a meditative pose of his own.

"Show me then." For around half an hour, Kite spent some time practicing some of the more esoteric spiritual techniques beneath Ardent's intense presence, getting quite a few pointers in the man's normal, measured tone. But there was no hiding his other reason for coming here from the gold ranker.

"Perhaps it is time to discuss what other matters brought you here," Ardent eventually commented once Kite had gotten a better grasp of one particularly abstract mindset pertaining to the void and nothingness. Decidedly tentative, but better.

"Your restlessness shows even without any deep prodding."

"Well, in that you are correct," Kite said, reaching into a dimensional pouch at his side.

"I did recently find myself in Vitesse."

"Quite the journey."

"Indeed. Remarkable place. And there I saw something remarkable too, which I have brought for you. A gift to one's teacher is only proper, no?" As he finished, Kite retrieved the second void dahlia, with the first having gone into the arrangement he had made for Dragonfly.

"This is one of a pair which a botanist had managed to produce. Given your affinities, it felt like a curiosity you might appreciate." At first, Ardent didn't seem to know what to do with himself in that moment as his intense blue eyes regarded Kite more than the flower itself, but soon enough he touched down and walked over to receive it.

"Remarkable," he mused, looking at the single nothing-flower in the stark white pot which Kite had bought for the occasion to match the sect's colors.

"It is nothing, yet it is also life. Fascinating."

"Auntie Dove - my adopted mother - also attached a set of recommendations on how to care for it," Kite added, handing the gold-ranker a slip of paper.

"Fortune be praised, it is surprisingly easy."

"In some ways, the void always is. And still it finds ways to surprise me," Ardent remarked, looking back to Kite with a grateful - if somewhat complicated - expression.

"Thank you student. Truly it is a wonderful gift. And the other?"

"Remains with me, as part of something important," Kite replied. The pair regarded one another in silence for a while longer, before Kite eventually gave a polite bow.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I will need to get back to the society campus before I head north. Fortune be willing, there might even be good news waiting for me there."

"Oh? What kind?"

"Me and my companions are hunting a rather elusive quarry. A hunt where patience remains a virtue," Kite replied. Ardent apparently sensed his unwillingness to share more, but seemed to accept the fact as he gave Kite a shallow bow of his own.

"Walk with Fortune then, student. And let the stillness of the void bring you the clarity and patience needed to prevail." They Who Wander were quite happy to be lounging in the sun of spring, feeling the rustle of the breeze in her fur and the scent of budding flowers in the air. Well, at least parts of her were lounging.

Quite a few others were busy scuttling, climbing, eating, playing with a curious toddler and myriad other little things that a rat swarm might do while investigating possible traces of followers of a most sneaky dark god. Still, Wander took pride in how much of herself she could dedicate to some really active lounging, and was just about to perhaps get even more into it when a pair of her bodies close to the Orchard Adventure Society campus halted as they sensed the familiar presence of Braid drawn near.

"Ah, there you are," the cloth-masked man said, hurrying over as he started addressing the pair of rats without a care for the odd looks that passersby shot him.

"A message just arrived from Jarvan via Walker. Apparently we have a new lead, one good enough for us to relocate."

"Oh? Where? Where? Show me~!" Wander called excitedly, reaching down with one set of paws while the other body was busy clapping in excitement. As she read the content of the - to her - oversized missive, the whiskers on all of her bodies spread out over the city suddenly stood on end.

"Why those sneaky scuttlers~!" she eventually exclaimed, throwing the missive back to Braid while she started gathering her bodies back close enough to reform into her humanoid form and therefore causing the locals witnessing the small rat flood to experience a most distressing day.

"Well, what are you waiting for! Send word to Kite and the others, and then we're off~! Thought you could jump past us, now could you? Boundary isn't even close to big enough for you to hide in, little priests. Not even close."