Chương 313: I’m great at getting into places I shouldn’t~!

Face the defiant phalanx!"

"Kyyyyaaaaaaah!"

"Wall!" One moment, the sewers of Heavenward had been quiet except for the soft conversation between Kite, Dragonfly and Will. The next, the tight and enclosed tunnels were suddenly lit up by cascades of fire, spears glowing with frost and shifting barriers of force while creatures wrought from bone, magic and sinew erupted from side passages as they tore themself from some kind of aura concealing hidden compartments.

There was a great variety of them, from the shambling and bizarre creations like the one Kite had pulled from the sewer grate to more recognizably humanoid soldiers of calcified bones with the flowing dark mass filling up their insides that was all too familiar to the three adventurers from the north. Most of the creatures were bronze and silver rank, flowing in towards them from four sides where two major tunnels intersected.

It wasn't the first time during their trip into the foul smelling tunnels that Kite had found himself missing Glint's presence, but he also knew that the task she was off to perform was something that only she could do. Probably the only one in the whole kingdom who had a chance. As such, he had to settle for layering a few of his force walls to cover one direction to ease the sudden pressure somewhat, especially as Will and Dragonfly would be forced to take on most of what was charging towards them at the moment.

Because Kite would soon probably have his hands full." Ward!" Not even Kite's natural gold-ranked speed let him bodily intervene in time as a blur of skeletal limbs suddenly flowed in from one of the corridors to strike at Dragonfly's side, but the thing was not faster than a word and a thought. Another two steps let Kite pass his wife and slam the thing back a few meters into the corridor where it righted itself with eerie speed.

That was not even the most unnerving thing about the creature though, looking like a human torso - complete with screaming face and grotesquely distended jaws - from which over two dozen thin skeletal limbs sprouted, turning it into a horrific facsimile of a centipede.

It was the gold-ranked creature Kite had sensed, and it was apparently created with speed in mind as it turned and charged towards him in a blur amidst the chaotic fight that seemed to have slowed down to a crawl to Kite's senses as he had to tap into the full potential of his gold-ranked body and mind.

Legs clattering upon the sewer ceiling as well as the backs of its companions, the thing closed the distance quickly while delivering a furious barrage of strikes towards Kite that put his own multi-limbed assault to shame.

As the now-glowing spikes at the end of each leg left crackling afterimages upon the barrier which Kite had shifted to ward it off, even the ascended heaven-and-void warding found itself under great duress, but Kite was hesitant to use his staff to detonate the shield in such close confines as his gold-ranked resonating force damage would probably spell the end of the structural integrity of the sewers as well as the houses above.

Instead, he made for a more direct approach, one further assisted by his enemy's attempts at tearing through his defenses. WWJS: Congratulations! Your power [Spiritual Reprisal] has reached Gold 0. [Spiritual Reprisal] has gained additional effects. - Spiritual Reprisal - Special ability. Cost: None. Cooldown: None. Current rank: Gold 0 Effect - Iron: Any creature striking you or one of your barriers will suffer one instance of [Unstable flow].

Effect - Bronze: You may choose to consume all available stacks of [Unstable flow] at once, increasing the effect of the attack further the more stacks that are consumed. Stacks above a certain amount start giving diminishing returns. Effect - Silver: Each stack of [Unstable Flow] on a creature causes it to deal less damage to magical barriers, with diminishing returns after a certain limit.

Effect - Gold: Whenever a stack of [Unstable Flow] is consumed or cleansed from an enemy, it will also consume additional mana before disappearing.

[Unstable flow] (affliction, magic, stacking): Increases the effect of one of your special attacks, consuming one instance of this affliction The rapid-fire attacks of the horrid creature had swiftly built up an impressive charge, one that seemed to shake the ambient mana around it when Kite jabbed the spear gifted to him by his father out through the barrier to strike the thing with a thrust like lightning that would have made Will proud, had he the time to actually note it while wading through his own share of the undead, spears bursting from every surface around him as he danced along the angled shafts and even pushing off a tip here and there as if he weighed no more than a feather.

The piercing tip of Kite's spear punched into the bony body of his foe, the stacked afflictions detonating violently as it was thrown back, the combined forces of Void-Sunders-Firmament and Chakra Implosion elevated to new heights as both special effects harmed the creature's body while Chakra Implosion and Spiritual Reprisal ripped an impressive amount of mana from its leaking form.

The undead remained true to its nature though, heedless of the damage to its own form it twisted upon itself in a quick skitter of legs, the head now rolling upside down as a dark purple glow sprung to life in its now even further distended mouth before washing out in a silent scream of necrotic energies.

Too close for Kite to manage a dispelling wave of his own with the longer spell chant, a surge of mana shifted a few of his barriers to at least close off the tunnel into which Kite had waded from the intersection where his companions fought. The shield and spear of his War-Seeds appeared as he raised them to protect himself and have Pattern-Shattering Counter take the edge of the still most unpleasant wave that washed over Kite in an icy torrent that ate into his life-force.

It lingered for a moment before swiftly retracting and suffusing throughout the undead's whole form as a dark glow that seemed to empower it even further. Until it suddenly didn't.

"Oh no you don't–" As soon as it had appeared, the dark glow was shattered as Kite made another thrust with his spear, projecting the attack carrying Disrupting Strike to shatter the unholy gains of his foe in a detonation of disrupting force. But, as of late, also something more.

WWJS: [Item] Unhindered Reach of the Unified Path Spear Gold rank - (Growth) Epic Soulbound Paths intertwined to help each other soar unhindered [Effect] The wielder of this weapon may freely strike through barriers created by themself or by the wielder of Flameward of the Unified Path, adding additional low disruptive force damage to the attack.

[Effect] The wielder of this weapon gains vastly increased resistance to any fire damage dealt by the essence powers of either wielder as well as any [Burning] affliction this would apply. This includes any lingering flames as a result of said power. The effects of essence powers against enemies suffering from the [Burning] affliction is slightly increased. [Effect - Gold] Using this weapon to dispel a magical effect from an enemy will inflict all nearby enemies with the [Burning] affliction.

The shattered mana turned into motes of glowing flames that sought out all of the nearby undead that still kept pressing in, setting them ablaze. Kite's own powers interacted little with the flames themselves, but a 'whoop' of excitement from his wife confirmed that she definitely approved of her enemies coming pre-ignited as he lowered the barriers to let the lesser undead flow into the intersection rather than risk interfering with his own conflict through the sheer press of their bodies.

Fortunately, it seemed like the lesser undead also possessed enough sentience and self-preservation to leave Kite to their gold-ranked companion while charging past towards the marginally softer targets. The confines of the sewers meant that neither of the gold-ranked beings could really flex their speed and move around, which left the ensuing clashes even more intense and brutal as their blows shook the air and echoed like thunder throughout the tunnels.

However, Kite was quite at home in the closer quarters - even creating similar environments with his own powers at times - and numerous similar cleanses of underground environments where one had to take care to not raze the environment let him fall back on a very reliable tactic. With the three barriers of Heaven-and-Void Warding raised before him, Kite stepped and thrust, projecting attacks with his spear through the barriers when the undead drew back and stabbing with its physical form when things grew closer.

The many limbed horror could rip through his barriers in time, but with three of them appearing and his ability to shift them around to let them recover a bit here and there, it still let him start grinding down the opposition and gradually assume control. Thrust. Step. Interrupt the necrotic breath. Thrust. Lunge to keep distance. Back up slightly at a measured pace. Lunge once more.

The dance was as basic as they came, without any embellished motions or tricks except the occasional projected attacks through small gaps in the barriers made by projected arms. But the speed of the exchanges was enough for the other clashes - clearly visible to Kite through his expanded vision - to seem slow and mundane in comparison, Kite and the undead pushing back and forth along the corridors with incredible force and speed.

One unexpected but certainly welcome aspect of Kite's gold-ranked powers was that he was also doing more direct damage than before, even if that was still far outclassed by his mana-draining capabilities. He still was no horde-slayer, but given how even the more simple gold-ranked monsters like this undead had a small array of magical powers for him to interact with and thus relied more on their mana, he found that things were looking up ever so slightly in the monster-slaying department.

Even when the undead horror unleashed an impressive flurry of leg-strikes glowing with transcendent damage Kite managed to hold on, all six of his spectral arms hard at work as the war-seeds of his gift from Gleam were brought out in all of their glowing splendor to combat what had carved his barrier asunder with ease.

Sensing that he had built up plenty of stored momentum, Kite suddenly stomped down and stepped forward into a few attacks that screeched off his armor just as he let Unyielding release it all as retributive force that knocked the creature further down the corridor, only to smash into a conjured wall of force and get impaled by Kite's follow up lunge.

The combination of the gold-ranked Chakra Implosion and Void-Sunders-Firmament unfurling inside finally seemed like too much for the impressive undead to bear, as the bony form finally fell to unliving pieces that clattered into the muck below as its aura vanished. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Kite did not rest on his laurels however, turning back towards the now rather crowded intersection where conflict still rose, his spectral arms already having started to send projected attacks to harry the back ranks of the undead that were piling into the open space.

However, it wasn't as simple for the monsters as things seemed given that they had to contend with a small fortification of spears angled outwards as Will had used his conjurations to form defenses that hindered the incoming tide enough for him and Dragonfly to cut them down at a steady pace, especially as he could send one of the spears of said barricade shooting outwards with a thought before detonating in an explosion of frost and light.

Kite crashing into the back ranks of the undead quickened the process considerably, however, every swing of his staff in the slightly more open confines sending one or two of the creatures flying off to crash against the walls or more of Will's spears. Currently the lone gold on a field of his lessers, he was the fox in the metaphorical chicken coop as he used his superior capabilities to help make short work of the remaining creatures of death.

"If you are done with your fun, then let's move! I've found more traces and Braid's detection thingies are reacting like crazy down here. Oh crap, more of the dead guys too. Fewer though. Seems meaner~."

"Lead the way, and tell Director Temren that we will be pushing for whatever this is," Kite replied while simultaneously making sure that his wife and friend were in good condition. Dragonfly had suffered plenty of injuries, of course, but none that seemed beyond what his wife was usually willing to accept to power her abilities, the glow surrounding her already bright and steady as she gladly followed Kite as he charged into the darkness at Wander's directions.

"Oh, and Laevyeth," Wander squeaked from around them as she skittered along the tunnels.

"Don't you even dare use your looting power before we are out of here. If you think that I want to feel that rainbow puke-smoke in a confined space with a hundred keen noses, think again. I'd… Wait… Something's going on at the Adventure Society. Oh. Oh dang. Oooooooh daaaaaaang. You tell her, girl~!"

"Good, keep me posted," Anasta Temren murmured to Wander as she entered the ground of the Heavenward Adventure Society campus, on foot given the limitations on teleportation currently in place. At least for the moment things seemed under control, given who they already had working on that particular nuisance. Anasta did her best to look as unbothered as possible by all the plans they had already set in motion, trying to project an outward air of everything being as it should be.

But as she turned a corner into the open plaza before the administration building, she realised that she had either missed something or there were other forces at play more intent on making a mess of things. Probably the latter. Anasta did not break stride as she saw the line of sect students blocking off the building before her, dressed in the robes of the Heavenly Shadow Sect.

A dozen silver-rankers would not have bothered her no matter their allegiance, but the two gold-rankers in front clearly waiting for her were another matter entirely. Given what she could sense of their auras through the interference of conflict blooming all around the city, Anasta also knew one thing with certainty: they weren't here for a friendly chat.

"Sect Leader. Grand Elder," Anasta greeted as she drew closer.

"Seeing as your memberships in the Adventure Society have been suspended for some time now, I find myself surprised to see you here. I am sure you know which functionaries to speak to, should you wish for an appointment." The words were posturing, of course; an opening barb in what would no doubt be an unpleasant conversation given the history Anasta had with the sect.

But where she had expected a mere frown or huff of indignation, her little sarcastic bout of feigned ignorance seemed to strike home far better than expected.

"Be quiet, foreigner scum!" Echo of Unassailable Secrets snarled in return, the elven sect leader clearly bristling at the jibe as she took a step forward, and Anasta took note that her dark blue hair was fashioned into a tight bun and that the woman wore combat robes rather than garments of office. Not a friendly chat, indeed.

"It is finally time for a reckoning–""Indeed, your sect owes the Adventure Society quite a lot in outstanding balance for contracts," Anasta interrupted.

"If you are here to pay in full, that can be arranged–""Behind you~." The small squeaked whisper from Wander was enough of a warning for Anasta to detect it herself, flickering to the side in a quick teleportation that was well within the range allowed by the city arrays just as a faint rustling sound of paper was followed by the sound of the air being split by a fine blade where Anasta had just stood.

Three more dimensional jumps followed, each to avoid the same fate before Anasta made the last in the reverse direction to appear just a bit behind her current location and lashing out to split the glowing, animated paper sword in two with a gesture of her hand before it could fold in upon itself and disappear.

"What are you doing? Have–" Anasta shouted while readying a few more spells in her mind, only to be interrupted by her aggressor.

"Spare me your excuses, foreigner. I know what you are planning for this kingdom. Have known for a long time. There is nothing more to say. Only for you to die here, alone," the Heavenly Shadow sect leader called out as more creations of enchanted paper started folding themselves into existence around the plaza while what few onlookers had been nearby all started running for the relative safety of the buildings to avoid the gold-ranked conflict suddenly erupting where they stood.

Anasta had no idea what the sect leader was speaking of, as it did not seem to pertain to her current plans of combating Discord's influence, but it was not that far a leap in logic to assume that someone else had set this up. So Anasta did not bother to reply to the accusations as both the sect leader and grand elder started making themselves ready for a proper fight, the latter probably withdrawn from the conflict outside the city at a significant cost for their efforts in the 'tournament'.

But there was a retort that she just couldn't pass up on as her aura picked up a familiar wisp of spirit nearby.

"Alone, you say?" Anasta asked as a droning hum started echoing among the buildings of the adventure society campus.

"It seems you are not just misled, but a fool, Sect Leader. If you mean to wage battle against a branch director of the Adventure Society, you must always remember to account for another; their deputy." A heartbeat later, the hum rose to a roar as Maximillian Brackenstar rounded a corner while born aloft upon flaming insectoid wings while a swarm of wasps each the size of a hand flew around him in a glowing formation.

Each of the insects seemed to be wrought from some kind of orange crystal and burned with intense flames that flickered green at the edges, and a gesture along with a murmured chant sent several small groups of them streaking towards the two sect warriors, forcing the grand elder - named Slate of Absolute Intent, if Anasta remembered correctly, which, as a gold-ranker, she did - to raise several stone slabs from the ground to defend them only for the wasps to pierce deep into the barriers and explode, bathing the pair in burning shrapnel.

Sect Leader Echo did not stay surprised for more than a moment though, twelve paper simulacra appearing around her before glowing runes upon them had them change to look identical to her, aura and all.

As a prominent warrior of the kingdom, her essences of paper, sword, visage and simulacra were public knowledge, therefore making it unsurprising when each of her forms drew a white, paper-thin sword even as the grand elder counterattacked against Maximillian and the silver-rankers started spreading out around the area, presumably to keep other reinforcements away as they did not move to engage either of the directors.

"A move to occupy me then? If so, it will probably work quite well," Anasta thought to herself as she conjured her scissors that emanated devastation and death as a tapestry started weaving itself into existence behind her that would start spelling her enemy's demise. It was some time since she had really fought in earnest, but the first years of her career spent in constant scraps for survival in the tunnels beneath her wretched home of Deep Site 3 had left in her quite the foundation for violence.

The scissor essence had been her first, with thread following afterwards. Common ones that might have left her a seamstress of some sort, had she been a more peaceful person back then. But with the omen essence as her third - looted from the stash of a local crime lord during a particularly daring escapade that, in a way, started it all - and the doom confluence, peace had never been an option.

She would have to find an opportunity to disengage if possible to keep coordinating the search for Discord, but that was an opening that would need to be forced rather than simply waited for. And at her core, Anasta never shirked from taking her success into her own hands even as she was forced to leave the rest in the hands of the others for a while. Grain almost staggered as he exited his own portal alongside Scythe and Fawn.

He had thought himself a decent hand at using his aura to ward off other powerful presences and keep his mind clear, but as he emerged into a maddening battleground of gold, silver and bronze auras forming a spiritual mesh of conflict, it was proven that he still had quite some way to go.

"Come, we cannot linger here," Scythe called to him, waving towards a small fort of ice visible in the distance between them and the capital.

"The others should already have gone ahead and we need to enter the city promptly!" The secondary portal position had been chosen in the hills a few kilometers out from the city itself, and as the trio of silvers set off towards the city they soon found out why as Grain could keenly feel the oppressive sensation of arrays locking down space for long-range travel.

It was only through Fortune's favor that their chosen site had happened to be just a few hundred meters outside the zone, enabling the guild members to make the final trek towards the Fated Severance Sect camp at a sprint. While the camp itself wasn't under direct siege as most of the fighting was still centered around the outer nodes the sects were supposed to keep from falling into enemy hands, the pall of conflict still hung heavily in the air.

Silver-ranked speed let them reach their destination quickly enough, arriving just at the heels of the slower bronze-ranked groups ushered into a gate at the camp's icy walls to where guild members and sect students lingered while Guildmaster Walker spoke with Sect Leader Dew. The air was tense, but at least it wasn't due to contention with one another.

Grain had lent out his services to the Fated Severance Sect plenty of times during the years since his portal power reached silver rank and got the range for it, and knew many of the disciples and inner disciples by name.

"Any news?" he asked Scattering Ash as the trio drew up to her, the runic woman only glancing at him before turning back to the two leaders discussing.

"None yet," she replied.

"At least beyond me staying here as a point of retreat to ferry our members home if things devolve into oblivion. Not all of us are as keen to risk our lives and the potential of our portals as you." The last comment was made in response to Grain failing to keep his frown in check at the woman's words. Scattering Ash was the other successful attempt of the guild to create a portal user, succeeding by Fortune's grace through the cloud essence combined with an awakening stone of the archway.

Given her less expensive essences, the runic wasn't at the same length of contract as Grain, and given her attitude he suspected that she would not linger after her agreed upon time serving the guild was up. Before Grain could retort to her apparent contentment at remaining behind, his brother slapped a hand on his shoulder while Fawn had already slid up beside him and taken his hand, both acting before he could run his mouth.

"Good luck then," Scythe said in the silence that followed, giving Ash a stoic nod.

"We'll indeed be counting on you if things devolve too far."

"You can count on me," Ash agreed much more readily at his brother's comment, and Grain could only stifle a roll of his eyes at the obvious crush the runic had on Scythe. An unrequited one fortunately, and Grain could at least not blame his brother for lacking taste in his companions. Not that he had shown that much preference at all so far, but still. Soon after, the gentle touch of a gold-ranked aura silenced all of them, Frost Among Morning Dew acting to leave space for Guildmaster Walker to speak.

"We're all finally here, and things are a bit more troublesome than expected," Walker said with a grim tone.

"Space around the city is closed except for shorter teleportations, hence our destination. What's worse, entrance through the city gates is heavily regulated and limited with the tournament as an excuse. Perhaps that is the truth of it, but our sources on the inside are indicating that to be doubtful. As storming a gate and punching through is as unlikely to work as it is to risk retribution from powers beyond us, we are currently working on a more peaceful - if swift - solution. It is needed too.

Kite and the others have confirmed the presence of several ritual sites hidden throughout the city, and those will be our targets. Undeath is already confirmed to have forces present to guard one of them, which means that there will be more. There always is with those people. Stay ready everyone. We might be required to head out at any moment."

"Who is working on it?" came a question from one of the other silvers, a question that caused Walker to smirk.

"Guess." But before the man could, a rat made a leap - including several flips and spins - before it landed on Walker's head in the proud stance of a champion of some important cause.

"Do not fear! Wander is here and currently working on many, many things!" it squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

"One among them is getting you into the city before you can say whiskers! Because I'm great at getting into places I shouldn't~!" With the appearance of the senior guild member and most famous - or infamous - silver-ranker, the response was immediate as shoulders relaxed and auras calmed down somewhat. Because if it was one thing that all of the members knew to be true, it was that while Wander liked to exaggerate in many things, this particular statement couldn't be more true.