Before the Wujin could move, a star sparkled in the sky and I pulled a spear out of the inventory of weapons I had 'borrowed' from the Keep during our escape.
Its frill opened and was about to send a pulse of magnetic wave meant for communication, however, the spear lodged into the frill-like membrane before it could do so.
A few more twinkled and more and more weapons rained down on it. A sword and an axe managed to lodge themselves into the eyes on its shoulders and all movements were immediately extinguished. In tandem with its breath.
"WHAT'S HAPPENING UP THERE!????" Michael was the first to talk.
This is bad.
They have been circling around the mountain. And seeing the marks on this Wujin's skull, it had the same tattoo as the one in Korea. Which means, this as well, was a scout.
I looked down before pulling the lodged weapons out from the Wujin and jumped down.
My landing was evened out as I let out a burst of Arcanum and a small wave of dust filled the platform. As I faced towards Michael, the weapons I had pulled from Wujin returned back into the sky.
"We are getting sandwiched."
**********************************
**A FEW HOURS LATER**
The first whispers of dawn crept through the quiet, frigid night as the moon began to surrender to the encroaching light of the lens shaped – vesica piscis – sun.
The crawling sunlight sliced through the lingering darkness and cold of the night alike, painting the monochromatic horizon with molten gold and smouldering amber. The occasional gusts of cold air reduced and turned balmy. It felt soothing against my fever-stricken body.
After telling Michael and Astrid about the incoming threat we immediately split up.
Astrid followed me while Michael went on his own in an opposite direction. The goal was to spot the huge herd of Wujins. If we know which direction they are coming from, we can at least know which place is safer. And if the worst scenario happens where we can't hold them at bay, we can run back into the forest behind the layer of mountains.
It was a gamble.
After an hour we met again but none of us had spotted even a single Wujin.
Once it was clear that the full-blown attack was upon us in a few hours, we made some preparations.
Astrid's idea about creating a chokepoint was not bad. However, it had a few problems. There was a small congregation of trees right underneath the platform we were on which could give the notion of working.
However, there are a few problems.
First, these are the worst kind of chokepoint.
Chokepoints are usually created using a passageway between mountains where enemies are trapped and are then extinguished in a pincer attack. However, the trees were right beneath the flat, vertical surface of the mountains. There was no passageway to trap them into.
Second, an artificial chokepoint could be made.
But there was a problem with this as well. I can't use lightning to repeatedly strike a single place, again and again, to carve a huge path which will later be used as a trap.
It would give out our exact location. Given the scout Wujin had not already done it.
My physical ability was not enough to carve it. And on top of that, I had not fully recovered from Ed's decaying slash. If worse comes to worse, I have to open Phase 2.
Now regarding this second point, there is good and bad news.
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Good news is that Michael can carve a path into the mountain and turn it into a trap using his Arcane Art.
Bad news is that he can't use it for some reason.
He didn't mention the specifics, but if I had to guess, it's most likely like a Divine Covenant.
A Divine Covenant is a Contractual Vow with a God. Generally speaking.
It is quite rare since a Contract with a higher being is bound to be in loss. It's a simple give and take restriction-based concept. No one can increase their primary nodes' size to accommodate more Arcanum. We were able to do so because we already had room for more, but couldn't do it due to the ambient balance on Earth.
Back to the main topic of Divine Covenant. If someone wants to increase their Arcanum amounts via a contract with a God, they'd have to sacrifice something as well. The law of Equivalent Exchange applies here.
In a way. But not "exactly."
The way this works is that if I want to increase my Arcanum amounts for five minutes by 200%, correspondingly my physical abilities will nosedive by 200% as well. Not only that, but I might be able to not use my Arcane Art as well.
It's like a 40% profit – 60% loss deal.
This imbalance underscores a fundamental truth: a lesser being cannot stand on equal footing with a greater one, much less negotiate favourable terms. A necessary, unavoidable cost for breaking the natural course of events.
I might be overthinking… but I guess Michael's unusually strong body is a result of this Divine Covenant. His Arcane Art might be the sacrifice. Since I can't imagine a human having as much Arcanum as Michael with a Divine Covenant in action.
*BOOM BOOM BOOM *
My thoughts broke away from this line of thought as the platform I was standing on shuddered. Astrid stumbled to my side and barely held on as the suddenness of the tremor took her off guard.
While I am against this plan, there is no fighting Michael at this point.
I was thinking earlier about how the place beyond the wall of mountains and this are separated. I mean, it is Eden, so there are bound to be differences. This area of our old world was much more peculiar than the one we got. However, it was not possible for these two places to just be segregated by this wall and have no means of travelling from that side, to this side.
Turns out I was right. There was a small, gravelly path. While it can't be called a road or even a proper path, it was still carved out in a way that it would help in providing 'not-so perilous' travel. And right now, Michael was punching holes into the path to create a huge passageway between two mountains by collapsing half of it.
"I don't think this is a good idea." Astrid mumbled while maintaining her balance. "This is such a brutish approach."
I kept my eyes on the horizon, ignoring the increasing tremors that quaked underneath my boots. "In this situation there is no good idea." I paused as the first signs of green scales shimmered in the distance once again. However, this time they weren't moving in a single arrowhead formation.
They had spread out, unevenly. Like the head of a trident. The middle group had the least amount of Wujins with thousands upon thousands of them congregating on the left and right side.
"Only bad or worse." I finished.
Astrid gasped, placing her hand on her mouth. "Oh my…Arthur, they…"
Begrudgingly, I had to admit. "Yeah. They are quite more than last time."
The sky rumbled as the mountain to our side gave away, slowly falling into a steep rockslide. Huge debris fell, chunks of mountain falling down hundreds of feet before collapsing against the trees – that slightly cushioned their fall – and then broke against the jagged spikes that lined the whole place in regular intervals.
His form blurred as he jumped upwards and stood by my side. Wiping the sweat from his face using his sleeve, he looked over the incoming horde.
There was no need to talk.
The Wujin – the biggest one of them – in the centre took a few steps forward. Unlike the others, it was different. Really different. It did not have a crazed look on its face.
About twice as big as the normal scout, it mostly had a stark resemblance with a lizard of some sort.
Elongated, squat body, overlapping plates on its back, a long whip-like tail. It lacked the signature look of Wujins as it had its eyes located on the face.
The head was rounded with a bulging forehead, and its lips curved upwards giving it a permanent snarling expression.
But what got my attention the most was the two-pronged sail on its head which was constantly vibrating as the troops moved around, taking what looked like pre-determined positions.
"That one there for some reason has a very punchable face." Michael spoke.
Taking hold of the weapons, I lodged a few of them into the open ravine that had formed right beside us. However, I made sure that their blades were pointing outwards and only their hilts were lodged into the ravine.
I let out a weary breath.
Taking out a dagger from my pocket, I turned around.
"Just in case." I stole a glance at Astrid, holding the knife out. She was still shivering, now that she had seen them up close. And in such large numbers.
She looked up at my face and then down at the small knife. After a few moments, she took it away.
Her fingers were ice cold against my skin.
A natural biological reaction.
In adrenaline fuelled situations, or particularly in a situation where a person is in a fight-or-flight mode, blood flow is often directed to organs required for survival and not much into the fingers and toes.
That is why in such situations fingers and toes are generally the coldest parts in a human body.
Once the weapons' hilts had lodged themselves into the thin ravine, I turned my head towards the army of Wujins.
The one in the middle took another few steps before stopping.
The pronged sail on its head vibrated and I felt a few, weak magnetic waves pulse in the air. The pulse was followed by the soldiers falling into a frenzy as they readied themselves.
It was only then when it clocked.
"That's the queen."