The High Peak of Brenn [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.08]
Zeph sucked the air through his teeth. Makani’s hand was yellowish-white and slightly charred on the palm side. The man was still kneeling, keeping his face down. His turban-like hood made it impossible to glance at his face. With his second hand, he was fiddling with the contents of his backpack, now lying before him.
Those are definitely third-degree burns… “Are you good?” he asked with worry through the communication construct.
Zeph should have considered this outcome sooner. His own armor was still cooling down, leaving a trail of vapor behind as he moved around. The Phleya living inside and his undersuit were the only reasons he wasn’t getting burnt. The flare of light was just that powerful. And even if he was sure most of its power was concentrated on him, it left visible marks on the surroundings.
And people like Makani weren’t exactly a resilient lot.
“I will live, it doesn’t even hurt…” came a calm answer.
That’s because your nerves are fried… Zeph commented in his mind nervously.
“…Just give me a moment. You should focus on the more pressing matter.”
“Monitor your body temperature and pulse, call me immediately if they are getting out of hand. And start drinking water. Add a pinch of salt to it,” Zeph instructed, turning in the direction that Makani pointed out earlier.
His eyesight was good enough at this point to clearly recognize colors, so he felt much safer. Their enemy was still alive, though.
He readied his spear and pistol and speed-walked in the direction of the tree. As he got closer, he deformed his Veil to scan the area a few meters ahead while keeping an eye on the surroundings. The Mana tendrils were dissipating fast, but he didn’t have time for efficiency.
When he was five meters away from the trunk of the tree, one of his tendrils made contact with a bubble of Mana-X. Just as he registered that contact had been made, he heard a grunt and the air shimmered, revealing the beaten-up body of a half-naked man.
Zeph immediately aimed his gun, but didn’t shoot. What he saw made him pause.
The man’s left leg was mangled badly and his whole right arm was absent – the stump terminating near the shoulder and angrily violet in color, but not bleeding. His facial hair, nose, and ears were missing – the wounds leaking a slow trickle of blood that painted long lines on his swollen, blueish skin. Surprisingly, his eyes were undamaged. The hair on his head was only partially missing, probably thanks to his headgear – the piece was lying on the ground nearby, although only metal components of what was, most likely, a reinforced hood seemed to be undamaged.
The remnants of his white-and-gray attire only covered parts of his chest, waist, and tights. The leather was cracked and barely holding on, though. The uncovered skin was dotted with big frostbite marks.
How in hell is he still alive? Zeph thought in awe and pity, dropping his arm slightly.
The man smirked weakly seeing that, a corner of his mouth cracking slightly bloodily.
“Not going… to finish the job?” he asked in a raspy, nasal voice full of pain and anger. The man had to inhale some of the coolant, but it wasn’t that efficient in tight spaces encompassed by warm tissue, so his vocal cords and lungs were still intact.
Zeph took a long look at the man’s eyes. He could clearly see resentment and defiance in them. That actually impressed him a bit.
This man… Doesn’t seem to be a simple mercenary. “Did we meet before?” he asked, raising his gun again.
His only answer was a glare.
Gra! came a sudden message from Gru. The man’s eyes squinted. Grauu!
Zeph’s own eyes opened wide in surprise. “You are the one who attacked me back in the docks!”
“What was that just now?” the man asked instead.
He can hear Gru? Did he actually manage to form some kind of Soul-bond with one of us?! That thought sent chills down his spine. If that was true and the man held a strong resentment, there was a risk that upon his death they would receive a ‘negative Soul wound’ fragment from him.
Gru should be able to deal with it, but they had never received a negative one and, from what Zeph knew, System was actually making sure that they were delivered to the recipient. Not to mention, Zeph’s Soul fragmentation wasn’t getting any better.
He frowned. Instead of acknowledging the man’s question, he decided to fish for more information. “What did they pay you to be so persistent, anyway? You are a mercenary, aren’t you?”
The man grimaced impalpably, a mix of anger and resignation flashing through his face. After thinking for a moment, he looked at Zeph with a slight curiosity in his eyes. “You wouldn’t be able to upper their offer even when I was contracted – we had a deal.”
Zeph’s frown deepened. “And what exactly did I do to earn myself an assassin-turned-stalker? Hmm?”
The man’s eyes narrowed. “And what was… that voice a moment ago?”
They glared at each other in silence, reluctant to give any more information. One broken man on the other end of an aimed gun, and his would-be victim standing above.
The stretching silence was interrupted by the calm and quiet voice of Makani.
“What is taking you so long?”
Zeph glanced behind, keeping the wounded man in his peripheral vision. Makani was hurriedly walking in their direction. His whole head was wrapped in bandages, eyes included. Zeph couldn’t even see an opening for his mouth. Despite that, he didn’t seem to have much problems navigating the forest floor. He was also wearing big gloves on his hands. The front of his green-and-gold robes was fried quite badly, but the material was holding up admirably.
“What is the situation?” Zeph asked.
“I’m stable, but blind. And I really shouldn’t use my hands. We have something between 10 to 15 minutes. His group,” he said with derision in his sourceless voice, nodding at the broken enemy lying before them, “I think they lost our position. They slowed down, dispersed, and started meandering.”
“My… group?... Ha… haha…” The man started laughing in an almost painfully hoarse manner, leaning on the tree and looking up with an unreadable expression on his face.
Makani tilted his head. “What’s up with him?”
Zeph sighed. “According to what he said, he isn’t contracted.”
“Dritt! They were tracking him?!” Makani quickly connected the dots. “Are you sure he was telling the truth?”
Zeph looked down at the man’s destroyed equipment and shrugged. “And waiting until he made contact with us… His and that group’s behavior seems to support that notion. But if he just failed to send a position-marking signal in time and is just playing stupid…”
“They want me silenced…” the man murmured feebly, exhausted by his earlier stunt. “I should have seen that coming… A double job… waiting until I make my move…”
They looked at him in silence for a while, listening to the almost-mad mumbling, but after a while, Makani got bored.
“Did you try to check if he was lying?” he asked, ignoring the muttering man.
“No use on him. He is good at Soul Arts. It’s the same person that almost killed me at the ports.”
Makani’s head tilted forward as he started patting the vicinity of his chin with his stiff, gloved hand. The silence, broken only by the man’s half-coherent whispers and the distant voices of animals, stretched for long seconds as he was contemplating.
“Are you considering what I think you are considering?” he asked finally.
“Yeah…” Zeph admitted tentatively.
“No hard feelings on your part?”
“Irrelevant. He harbors some grudge, though. It would be safer for me to leave this situation in a status quo… for now. And you?”
Makani nodded in understanding. “He wasn’t trying to kill me. I was going to pay him back for the damage, but… after seeing the state of his body, I am more than satisfied already.”
Zeph raised his brow. “You have a spare pair of eyes or something?” he asked mirthfully, fully aware of the hypocrisy of his words. Gru replaced his burned-up eyes with the spare ones already, assisting Zeph in monitoring the situation.
He could almost see the Manacaster’s eyes rolling under the bandages. “My Veil and Spells are enough to recognize what is happening around. Do the honors,” he said, shooing him with a hand.
Zeph looked back at the man who, by this point, was half-audibly deliberating quite dangerous ideas. Zeph knew, because anything that started with ‘If I am going to die anyway…’ was a bad idea by definition.
And speaking of Veils… “Before you do something idiotic…” he started, activating Mana Rupture. His Ambient Mana Channeling was active for the last few minutes, so all he had to do was to redirect the vortex and supplement it with Will-Mana and Will for better effect.
With the force of a jackhammer, a wild stream of his and Ambient Mana slammed into what little Vail the man managed to generate, blowing it all away. Not that there was any physical manifestation of the action, besides a small breeze. The wall of bark behind the man’s back simplified the process even more, as Zeph just kept the eye of the vortex directed at the center of the man’s torso.
“…we need to talk first. I may have a deal for you.” The fact that the man was still at full Mana Capacity was concerning, but the state of his body should prevent him from doing anything physically, and most of the external Skills’ effects required intact Veil. At least, according to Zeph’s knowledge.
Making use of the opportunity, he also started to inspect the remnants of the man’s gear with his Mana – just to make sure no enchantment survived.
“What deal?” the man asked dubiously.
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“We want to live, and you want to live. And there is a group of hounds on our heels. That sort of deal.”
The man snorted, unamused. “I am to believe your word?”
“Do I need to remind you that you are the one who played us around until recently?” Zeph asked skeptically. “I will show you what you were asking about… if you answer my two questions first. We can decide after that.” Zeph already had an idea about the reason for the man’s involvement. He and Gru saw each other as much face-to-face as it was possible for his tentacle companion.
No working enchantments, good, Zeph thought, releasing his Mana Rupture vortex.
The man stayed undecided for a second, but it seemed curiosity had won over. “Ask,” he rasped.
“What is your level?”
“Just before specialization,” he answered easily. “Yes, the people hunting me are… for sure above level-100 threshold,” he added, showing that he knew well why Zeph had asked about that.
“Why were you hunting me?”
“…show me what you have to show.” The man didn’t answer directly, but they both knew. The reason was inside Zeph.
Gru, can you check him for Soul marks?
Gra! it answered immediately.
“Then, brace yourself…”
Gru started his inspection. For a few moments, it seemed as if nothing was happening, until suddenly the man’s pupils constricted.
“No… NO! Take that away from me!” he screamed, writhing as much as his body allowed without causing immense pain. “Take it away—”
“Relax,” Zeph tried to interject and calm him down. “It’s just checking you for Soul marks.”
But the panicked screams didn’t stop.
“MAKE IT STOP! Arghhhh…”
Shit… I hope Makani is muffing the sounds. I should’ve gagged him first! Gru?
Garr…
Gru sent the meaning of ‘almost done’, so Zeph just clenched his jaw and waited for the procedure to end, ignoring the screams. Not two seconds later, it was over. No marks were found.
The man was breathing heavily. Still slightly panicked.
“Happy?” Zeph asked.
“You fool! What have you done to me?!”
“As the System and—probably—you can see – nothing.”
“Don’t play with me! I can recognize an alien parasite when I see one!”
“He’s my parasite, alright? And I refuse to share him with anyone else,” Zeph stated seriously, glaring at the would-be assassin.
The man paled slightly. It was visible even through his damaged skin. “Are you mad? What have you brought to this world?”
“Something that was not only suggested and implemented by the System Onji, but is currently under scrutiny of at least two Onjis. What were you thinking ‘it’ was?”
“…The Nether, obviously…”
“So why are you panicking now? You aren’t suggesting that this ‘parasite’ can imperceptibly modify Souls, I hope. Or are you?” he asked a loaded question.
That seemed to make the man stop and think.
He could have had his own theories about how the Onjis were operating or about their motivations, but accusing them directly of bringing a lifeform on the scale of Netherlings into the world wasn’t something any sane person would have done easily. And he should now know, Gru was no Netherling, nor any of their kind. The direct contact between their Souls should be enough to see that.
Wait a moment… Ummmm… Zeph paused as a disturbing thought bloomed in his mind. He was just touched by some strange tentacles… all over his Soul… without his consent… He shivered. That… doesn’t count as a rape, right?... RIGHT?
After another moment, the man glanced at Makani, but it was hard to read from a face if there wasn’t one to be seen. Either way, it was clear that Makani knew all about this, not reacting to their discussion at all.
Shaking his head slightly, he finally spoke.
“I… agree to cooperate until we lose them,” he started hesitantly. “As long as you keep that thing away from me. But don’t you dare to try tying me up!” he preemptively declared, ruining Zeph’s plans. “And I swear, if you backstab me, I will make sure to bring you down with me,” he seethed.
“Says the guy who started stalking others for free,” Zeph returned the jab.
“You are the reason I am in this situation in the first place!”
“Instead of blaming others for your poor life choices, you should think about changing your line of work!”
“Shut up, both of you!” Makani interjected. “We have 5 minutes, at best.”
“Sure! Great!” Zeph exclaimed angrily, throwing his arms up. He was slightly regretting his own life choices right now. “Makani, give me your backpack and piggyback him.”
“What? Are you serious?” he asked in shock. “I am wounded!”
“Oh, but there is no helping it,” Zeph said, shrugging and slowly calming himself down. “Both of us share a common averse to being close to each other. Or are you suggesting I should show my back to my own, personal, would-be assassin-turned-stalker? Not to mention, he never tried to kill you~”
A grunt was the only thing that came out of the Manacaster.
“What is your plan?” the man in question interjected grumpily. “It won’t be easy to leave the forest, even with my Skills.”
Zeph tried to massage his temples with the base of his palms. His helmet appreciated the efforts. “…I could throw a comment or two about your intelligence, but it’s ungraceful to kick the man when he’s already down and dying,” he remarked before taking a deeper breath. “Makani can mitigate the sounds and our smell while monitoring the distance of the pursuers. You take care of the visuals and anything else you are good at when at the move. I will keep Mana Masking around us and check for the presence of foreign Mana and enchantments in the vicinity. I can also cover our tracks.”
He looked at both of them, then declared boldly.
“We are, basically, a complete and movable invisibility Spell… The question is, where are we moving to?”
“North,” the man on the ground answered immediately.
“I agree,” Makani added. “We may be a bit late, but it’s a nice hub of caravan activity. At least one of the pursuers will be checking our old route… If we manage to escape.”
Zeph nodded then looked down at the broken body on the ground. “Name?”
“Thompson,” the so-called Thompson spat out.
“Yes, Thompson,” he said with a suppressed derision. Aisha was right – even his own Soul perception, quite unimpressive in the grand scheme of things, was able to catch the swirling in the man’s Soul when he introduced himself incorrectly. “Get your Skills ready. As much as I hate to say it, if your pulse or respiration starts to slow down, immediately say so. Now, I need to get rid of some evidence we left behind, so excuse me.”
His animosity might or might not have exaggerated the reaction of his Soul, he thought, turning around. At least he isn’t the insidious type…
~~~
Gathering the leftover beads and scattering up the remains of Thompson’s gear was quick work. When he returned to the group, the composite invisibility was already set up. Makani and Thompson had to fight a little over the space for their Veils, but quickly figured out the balance.
Zeph, of course, made sure that their tracks leading up to the tree were disrupted and inconspicuous. He had enough knowledge as a scout to do a good job on that part. He also left a few corpses at the resting spot of Thompson, counting on the animals to make an absolute mess of the scene. Especially because some animals already returned to the area, greedily ravaging the corpses.
They didn’t waste any time patching up Thompson. He was a physical fighter of a high level and had enough physical PE to survive the travel if he wasn’t already dying. He was given a warm blanket that was tied around Makani’s shoulders and waist to help the Manacaster with the burden, though. Besides that, Makani’s Spells were also responsible for keeping the temperature at acceptable levels.
Zeph was skeptical at the beginning but allowed it after Makani reassured him that the warm air wouldn’t escape from his Air Sphere and Thompson admitted that he could cover their infrared radiation, too.
At that point, Zeph was getting quite worried. Preparations were important, but they were on the clock. The more distance they would be able to make, the safer they would become. There was just no way they could survive a fight against six post-100 enemies. Even Aisha struggled with only three.
They moved slowly—courtesy of Makani’s low physical PE as he was carrying their new ‘luggage’—so he had ample time to continue his work. Instead of trying to make their tracks unnoticeable—which was impossible, either way, as because of the distance between them and the pursuers any machinations would seem fresh—he was concealing them as a lone Felidae’s tracks.
He was, of course, using Makani footprints when walking to be able to do that.
Because the cats had a lot bigger feet, all he had to do was to disrupt the ground slightly with the Anchoring enchantment in his boots, then use his telekinetic shields to leave tracks closely resembling that of the animal by stepping on the properly-shaped construct. His Power milestone was helping slightly in that regard, making sure the force was uniformly distributed over the whole construct while keeping him stable.
He would still prefer to use some kind of a shaped sole.
Anyway, as soon as it was possible, he forced Makani to step only on hard roots that weren’t covered in fungi, moss, or dead needles. That slowed them down slightly, but also made sure no trail would lead directly to their current position while allowing him to start putting up the Mana Masking around their small bubble of doubtful comfort.
Using a short respite, he also quickly opened his Interface. He didn’t have to confirm the previous level-up from the fight—the thirty, or so, animals he killed were enough to push his Class to the next level—but he wanted to start investing his unspent points for survivability sake.
Right now, they weren’t looking for a fight. And if one happened early, they were as good as dead. But to not compromise his fighting style completely, he invested only 9 points in his Flexibility, so a total of 11 with his total Willforce Morphon bonus.
[Interface - table version:]
Name: Zeph Einar Perk: Precise Soul and Mana perception t. a. Race: Human (type 6671: 'Earthling') Passive Enhancements: Power 60 Intuition 228 Flexibility 40 Memory 68 Regeneration 50 Greater Willpower 76 Basic properties: Resource: Total: Available: Reserved: Matrix Space: 233 72 161 Mana Capacity: 1_344 1_332 12 Mana Generation [/s]: 207 166 41 Class: Level: Unallocated points: Matrix space taken: Force Generalist [Seeded] 14 7 141 Profession: Level: Unallocated points: Matrix space taken: Shaman 35 2 9 Soul contamination: Details: Space (type: B5001) 5.22%, slightly increases [Matrix space] Will (type: H1) 8.73%, enhances interaction between Will and Mana Iron Isotope Alloy (type: ZW1) [Soul] imbalance detected! Natural [Soul contamination] balance not achieved!
[Synhronization] detected! [Soul contamination] instable!
2.96%, stabilizes I.I.A. ZW1 in Mana environments Planaria Ferrium Fullerene (type: CON8795-XA65) [Soul] imbalance detected! Natural [Soul contamination] balance not achieved!
[Synhronization] detected! [Soul contamination] instable!
0.06%, [Unknown] effects.
[https://i.imgur.com/sTpymdu.jpg]
Major upgrades:
Force Generalist [+1]
==> Intuition [+2*2], Greater Willpower [+1], [Unallocated] [+2]
==> Flexibility [+9] [+11]
==> Matrix space [+4], Mana capacity [+268], Mana generation [+17]
More Mana Capacity meant more Matrix Spells he could use. More Flexibility meant that his body could withstand stronger impacts, even if it would seriously impact how his muscles were behaving under stress.
Done with the quick catch-up, he focused back on the way ahead. He quickly plotted the next path through the fungi growing from the roots near the tree trunk, and started instructing Makani who still had a few meters before finishing the final stretch of the last one.
Optimally, they should climb a tree and move through the canopy, but it was simply impossible with Makani’s burden. Zeph just hoped that their pursuers would have the same idea and would waste their time looking for them above the ground.
His anxiety was only accumulating as he started to realize how limited their possible moves were right now. He started feeling that they were vastly unprepared for this sick game of hide-and-seek.
And his companions, including the temporary one, seemed to have even more doubts as the time was passing.
They weren’t even 300 meters away when Makani reported that the first of the pursuers finally found the battleground…