Alone once more, but for Ghost resting in her Cloak, I removed an item from my backpack. It was a twelve hour journey to the stygian nest in the north, and I was not about to waste that much time simply walking.

There were better ways to reach my destination—as Safyre had just demonstrated.

Feeding mana into the portal scroll in my hand, I created a ley line to a spot about an hour away from the nest. The chances were minimal that any stygians were nearby. Even so, my mission was not entirely a stealth one, and it would not unduly trouble me if I was discovered.

The portal snapped open, and I wasted no time in dashing through.

Transfer through portal commencing…

…

…

Passage completed!

I rolled to a stop at the other end. My mindsight was active but no entities—hostile or otherwise—impinged on my awareness. Staying crouched, I turned about in a slow circle.

My natural sight confirmed my mindsight’s findings. The area was empty.

Unbending, I rose to my feet. The river—the same river I encountered time and again in the sector—was to my left. It was close enough, in fact, for its waters to lap at my feet. Striding forward, I began my march north. A series of rolling hills lay ahead and, beyond them, was the nest itself.

Won’t be long now, I thought.

✵ ✵ ✵

Only dead trees and large boulders inhabited the hills.

There was no path to navigate by and the best route was rarely straight ahead, and if not for my nethersight, traversing the area would’ve been a nightmare. As it was, I managed the journey without mishap and was soon cresting the tallest hill. Dropping down to all fours, I crept forward and peeked down.

Below me, the stygian nest spread out in all its glory.

Little had changed since my last visit. The two overlords accompanying—protecting?—the void tree remained ground-bound and puffing out plumes of nether. The void tree itself was as tall and imposing as ever. And the rift… the rift’s black depths still fouled the landscape.

Then, too, there were the lesser stygians.

Their numbers had grown to twelve thousand. And they were not all exactly ‘lesser’ stygians either. Some familiar serpentine shapes were wrapped around the base of the tree.

Nagas. One hundred of them.

I sighed, the forlorn hope I’d been clinging to that our work in the sector had made things easier dying. If anything, the void tree’s defenses had improved.

“But we are stronger,” Ghost said.

That was true. I’d advanced significantly, and the others were improving too. And then again, we were only on day two of my timetable—which left us six more days to thin the stygians’ numbers.

But how best to do that?

Dragging my gaze away from the center of the nest, I took in the rest of the surroundings.

The void’s minions had established themselves in a horseshoe-shaped valley bordered by the river on three sides. It was an interesting choice, especially given the stygians’ seeming-apathy for water.

Could I use that to my advantage?

Maybe, I thought, biting my lip.

The fourth approach was from the east, and through the very hills I’d just traversed. And while the march itself would prove difficult for a non-player army, any half-decent group of players could teleport directly onto its heights. And once gathered on the hilltops, an attacker would have the advantage of elevation over the stygians in the valley below.

My initial assessment was wrong, I realized. The terrain did not make the nest unassailable. Quite the opposite. Given the stygians’ peculiarities when it came to water, the terrain actually favored us.

Which begged the question: why had the stygians chosen the location they had?

The nether itself was not mindless, even though many of its minions were. All the stygian Powers I’d run into—void tree, harbinger, and overlords—seemed possessed of a malevolent cunning. They would not have willingly chosen such a patently unfavorable position for the nest.

Unless they were forced to.

Thinking back on the void sapling I’d encountered in Draven’s Reach, I realized its position had also left much to be desired. So, what had driven the nether’s choice there? Proximity to the guardian and… the safe zone.

Hmm. Could that be the answer?

Was the sector’s safe zone—former safe zone, rather—located in the valley below?

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

It wouldn’t surprise me if it was. And while that fact did nothing to help my cause, the realization did provide me with a small measure of comfort. The nether had chosen to locate its nest in the valley for no other reason than it had to. Which meant there was nothing to fear from the terrain. In fact, it behooved us to exploit it as much as we could.

We can attack from the hills or from across the river.

With either approach, the terrain would help safeguard our forces. Venturing into the valley itself would be a death sentence for most of my allies, though. And it was not just because of the twelve-thousand odd stygians there.

The entire region was saturated in concentrated nether, and the plumes the overlords were emitting ensured it stayed that way. I scanned the valley from end to end again, searching for a break in the thick fogbank.

But there was none.

The thick plumes of mist stretched from the shores of the river to the very foot of the hills I was perched upon. I sighed, realizing my allies’ sights would be even more impaired than usual in the coming battle. So much so, I doubted our forces would be able to target the tree from across the river—or from atop the hills, for that matter. All anyone but me would see was a wall of yellow smog.

That’s problem number two then.

And as if two nearly insurmountable problems were not enough, there was the rift to consider too.

Like on my previous visit, the void of oblivion was still active. A near-continuous stream of stygians were passing through it in both directions. But sadly, I could not see what lay beyond. The rift’s inky darkness was opaque to my sight, and for all I knew, there were another twelve thousand stygians waiting on the other side.

Sighing again, I tagged the rift as obstacle number three.

Nest. Smog. Rift.

Three problems I had to find solutions to over the next few days.

I had the bare bones of a plan, of course. I wouldn’t have come this far without one. But there were still a lot of details to flesh out. And seeing what awaited us made depressingly clear how hard that was going to be.

Would my plan work?

I hoped so. Otherwise, we were…

I shook my head. There was no need to go down that route yet. One step at a time, Michael.

Slipping down the slope, I advanced on the nest. It was time to test the strength of the stygians' defenses.

✵ ✵ ✵

Multiple hostile entities have failed to detect you.

I reached the bottom of the hill without incident. Standing tall, I surveyed the area. The outer edge of the fogbank was less than two yards away, and nothing else living was close by. I was clear to proceed.

Steeling myself for the mist’s unclean touch, I resumed my advance.

The nether toxicity has increased to tier 30, boosting your health, psi, stamina, and mana regeneration rates to 7.75% per minute.

“Damn,” I whispered to Ghost. “It’s even worse than I thought.”

“The fog can’t hurt you though,” she said comfortingly.

It couldn’t. But it wasn’t me that I was worried about. Dropping into a half- crouch, I pushed forward. The closest visible stygian was more than three hundred yards away. But it wasn’t the ones that I could see that worried me. It was the ones I couldn’t.

And only three yards later I found the first.

An unknown entity has detected you! You are no longer hidden.

You have failed to detect an unknown entity.

My lips tightened unhappily. Just as I had suspected, the void tree had seeded the rim of the nest with its spores. It was what I would have done. But what about beyond the perimeter? I wondered. Were there spores there too?

It bore investigating, but not immediately. There was something else I had to deal with first—namely, the stirring stygians.

Drawing psi, I reversed course. More than a thousand lesser stygians had turned my way, intent on pursuit. But they did not concern me overly much. If the nether creatures dared to follow, I would lead them on a merry chase across the foothills where neither the tree, the nagas, nor the overlords would likely venture.

Step one, though, was slowing my pursuers down.

Directing my will at the nearest clump of stygians, I unleashed the spell I’d prepared.

You have cast mass puppet.

Rushing across the intervening space, my psi delved into the minds of my chosen targets and assaulted their defenses.

You have failed to charm 20 of 20 targets.

Your targets are shielded from mental manipulation by the protective aura of a level 340 young void tree.

I grimaced at the spell’s abysmal failure.

A protective aura. I’d not expected that.

Unsheathing my blades, I kept up my steady retreat. How far did the stygian Power’s touch extend? At least to the end of the thickened fog bank, I bet.

Attempted mental intrusion detected!

My gaze darted to the void tree in the distance. I’d no doubt it was the source of the attempted mental intrusion. Shoring up my defenses, I braced myself for what was sure to follow. “Ghost, if I—”

“Don’t worry, Prime,” she interjected bleakly. “I know what to do.”

On the heels of her words, another Game message arrived.

A young void tree has failed to enthrall you!

Impregnable mind has fended off your foe’s assault.

My breath exploded out of me in a rush of palpable relief.

Testing the strength of my mental fortifications against the void tree was always going to be necessary, and I’d done what I could to prepare—upgrading impregnable mind and investing in Mind—but there had been no way to actually know if my defenses would hold up.

Not, without exposing myself to the stygian Power.

It failed!” Ghost exclaimed from the safety of her spirit vessel. “

“You don’t have to sound so surprised about it,” I replied drily, but only a moment later, I turned serious again. “Anyway, now we know for sure my psi defenses are sufficient. That’s one less thing for us to worry about during the assault.” It meant, amongst other things, that I could approach the void tree without fear of being bespelled.

Test one was over, and while the results were mixed, I was nevertheless pleased by the outcome. Now, though, it was time to leave.

Scanning the nest again, I checked to see if there were any more surprises heading my way. But except for the thousand odd serpents and hydras closing in, none of the other nether creatures had bestirred themselves.

Turning about, I jogged towards the foothills. “Ghost, once I’m out of the spores’ sight, I want you to—”

An etheric lash has struck you.

An etheric lash has failed to damage you. The attack has been blocked by your impregnable mind, consuming 3% of your psi in the process.