Chapter 249 - Spring Cleaning

Nate looked across the City of Pinoreth as he made his plans. Reciprocity was silent as he contemplated dealing with the beasts assaulting the walls and he instantly recognised why. Those beasts were here for him. The Divine Energy they had sensed was like blood in the water to them. The Calikex and their city were merely obstacles. With the beasts coming for him, they had initiated the attack and he was free to respond.

Paint swirled out of his robe as he began forming runes with the flowing liquid in the air. The difference was immediately apparent. Normally Nate would craft his runes out of mana, then apply more mana to them to activate the desired effects. While that method had worked, even if it was expensive, it added nothing in the process. There was also a limitation in just how much mana he could feasibly use. For every extra bit of mana he wanted to put into the rune, he needed to add twice that or more to reinforce the runic structure.

He had Skills that let him somewhat make up for that shortcoming, like aspecting the mana to the appropriate Concept, but it was still an imperfect method. His Divine Paint had no such limitations. It drank of his mana so quickly and easily that he instantly knew he would need to raise his Channelling Speed to actually make use of the material’s capabilities.

The rune he formed was a simple one. A callback to his earlier days. Earth Control let him spend half of his mana reserve in a single action. Far away, beyond the walls of Pinoreth, the earth opened, moving like an ocean as it spread in waves, grabbing beasts of the jungle and pulling them beneath its surface before solidifying as Nate changed the Subconcepts of Earth from Flow to Pressure. A burst of processed mana was released into the air and while most of it made its way towards Nate, he sensed some go towards the Calikex Disciples.

Kiri appeared next to him and he gave his sister a chagrined smile.

“Sorry it took so long.”

Kiri snorted, “That’s your concern. I knew you were going to do something crazy, but that was a lot of Divine Energy!”

Nate was about to apologise when Kiri shook her head.

“Don’t worry about that. Help me deal with the buzzards?”

Nate glanced at the sky, where another two Kiri’s were teleporting around to attack two birds that looked like overgrown cranes, with long, pointed beaks. One of the pair had a metallic sheen to its feathers, while the other shimmered in colours before vanishing. He began tracking the now invisible bird with his farsight sphere of awareness, but even that was difficult as the bird occasionally vanished. Nate got a sense of Light every time it did so and guessed it was some sort of movement ability that mimicked teleportation.

He tilted his head as he watched them for a few seconds.

“They’re trying to escape?”

“Obviously,” Kiri agreed. “But they started this. They were happy to take the fight when it was stacked in their favour. The least they can do is repay us with their Divine Energy.”

Nate nodded his agreement. Kiri was right. They’d come to kill him and now that they were the ones in danger, they wanted to flee. Well, they should’ve done that a minute ago when he was still busy.

“I’ll bring them down. You finish them.”

Kiri grinned viciously and nodded.

The paint in front of him had barely been affected by the mana he had used so far, but he doubted that would hold true for what he did next. Combining a new rune into one that contained the Divine Sigil for Space and his Grandmaster-tier Gravity Sigil he added Control and focused on the metallic bird. His own mana was running low, but then, he didn’t need to use too much of his own, after all he had just stored copious amounts of processed mana.

The Lesser Divine bird instantly started falling out of the sky, its own weight working against it. Of course, it had no intention of going down without a fight and he sensed Divine Energy leaking into its feathers along with the Concept of Durability. It would survive the fall. Not that Nate cared, his focus shifting.

A second swirl of blue and green paint ripped away from his robe and formed a secondary rune. His barrier was already up, but into it he added the Concept of Light, one of the Concepts that had been absorbed by his Regalia. To the rune he added a single point of Divine Energy. The beam of light that struck the barrier had contained Divine Energy as well, but Nate’s defence contained a Divine Sigil, within a Divine material, empowered with processed mana and Divine Energy. To say that the beam of light washed over him doing nothing was an understatement. Though it did destroy a small amount of his paint so he supposed it hadn’t been for nothing.

The metallic bird crashed into the cliff nearby, creating a small crater that launched dust and rocks into the air. Not even a second had passed before three Kiri’s were crawling over it, stabbing viciously into any gap they could find as the Lesser Divine beast tried and failed to get up.

Nate searched the sky for the other bird as the light-wielding Lesser Divine had vanished again, hiding behind an illusion. He suspected it would go for Kiri and based on that he started creating a third rune. Illusion, Light and Drain were paired together and then shaped to create a web of mana around Kiri and the fallen metallic-bird.

A single screech of pain as Kiri got into one of the metallic-bird’s joints was all it took for the light-bird to react, crashing through his web of anti-illusion. The bird held steady, on a collision course with one of the Kiri’s. As it appeared, Nate drew forth a small amount of Divine paint no bigger than his fist and shaped it into a spear as he added runes for Shape, Durability, Obfuscation, Life and Drain. Then he launched it, spending the last of the spare processed mana he had gathered.

The bolt of swirling paint hardened into a spear and blurred across the space between them. The light-bird sensed it at the last instant and Nate expected it to teleport again, but instead it emitted a burst of light, clearly trying to melt the paint. However, there was not a drip of Divine Energy present and Nate realised it may have run out of the precious resource. The bird's attack, while powerful, could do little to affect the Divine material and the spear of paint punched into its belly. The runes within went to work and Nate could see how the bird was fighting against the Life Drain rune. With its focus so split, it didn’t see Kiri appear above it. Less than thirty seconds later, Kiri had finished eviscerating both birds.

Divine Energy flowed into both of them and Nate’s eyebrows climbed slightly. It was both more and less than he had expected. Thirty-one Divine Energy was nothing to sneeze at, but when he looked at his own capabilities, he had assumed the creatures would have far more Divine Energy contained within them. Between Skills, Levels and their own Divine Repositories, there should have been more, though he supposed it had appeared as if both birds had expended all their Divine Energy from their pools by the end of the battle. Within their dead carcasses Nate sensed Orbs form and with a nod to Kiri, he moved both through a Spatial Anchor into his spatial realm. They could dissect them later.

The processed mana flowed into them and Nate stored enough for what he suspected was a few more levels. But he could handle that after the battle. A battle which it seemed was about to end. The forces assaulting Frick had begun to flee and all that was left was the remains of hundreds of dead. Most of those hundreds were blue goblins, though there was a smattering of beasts among them. 

Cracked bodies of ants the size of large dogs lay alongside green, scaled snakes that had to be at least three metres long for the shortest of them. Even a Dark Ligan lay dead, with one of the many Fricks nearby brandishing a very recognisable Mythic dagger in his hand. Green, furred dogs were the second most common carcass after the ants. The dogs looked like they would blend into the jungle foliage exceptionally well. A trait that had done them a disservice on the rocky cliff.

The largest Frick, armoured in mismatched pieces of raw metal likely pulled from the cliff itself was screaming as most of the remaining beasts fled. The ants however seemed to be growing in number rather than lessening.

“The Undefeated Horde! The Undefeated Horde!”

Nate smiled tiredly and glanced at Kiri.

“Clean up and apologies?”

Kiri glanced over at the city of Pinoreth and shrugged, “They seem fine. I even kind of helped Elder Jin’Kahn by accident. Maybe she’ll thank you?”

His sister winked salaciously and Nate rolled his eyes, “Even if it was possible, I am truly not interested.”

“If? You already know. That spatial sense of yours leaves nothing to the imagination. Lucky you’ve got such a good one anyway. So, is it possible?”

Nate grinned, “Why? See someone you liked? I didn’t see many petite Calikex beauties but then, I didn’t go wandering about town. Which one caught your fancy?”

His teasing earned him a punch on his barrier which just made him start laughing, blatantly ignoring the slowly increasing number of ants coming their way. That was when the biggest Frick, henceforth known as Chieftain Frick, came barreling up to them.

“Boss,” huffed the blue goblin that came up to Nate’s chin. “I am starting to lose! These damned ants aren’t giving me anything to work with! They’re like machines, and not the good kind that have a tendency to explode!”

Nate let himself become focused again, the moment of frivolity stored for later. Watching as the ants died in droves, he could see the problem. They were simplistic beasts with little emotion involved, and it seemed emotions helped to fuel Frick’s Skills. It also revealed a flaw in Frick’s skillset against emotionless summons or things like Nate’s own Conceptual Constructs.

Nate sighed and prepared to deal with what might be an entire ants nest when a resounding roar echoed across the cliffs. Everything froze, Nate included, as a sense of impending death washed over the world around them. The Concept was so thick in the air that Nate felt that if he moved he would cease to exist. A second later the moment passed, the ants turning as one and fleeing back into the jungle.

“Death’s Shadow,” Kiri commented, her voice quieter in the face of the power that had been contained within that single trumpet from the ancient dragon.

“Wonder if it was just scaring the ants off, or if it was for something else,” Nate wondered out loud, shivering for a moment as he tried to shake off the feeling of an axe hanging over the back of his head.

Kiri shrugged, either unsure or unwilling to speak of it so soon after being affected by the dragon's roar. Nate felt as Frick slowly faded from the Physical Realm, his bodies, the living and the dead, becoming disgusting piles of flesh that would quickly begin to rot. The little spirit remained and Nate glanced down at the small blue goblin.

“How long before you can do that again?”

“Two weeks,” Frick commented. “Skill cooldown isn’t affected by its level. I went for power over frequency!”

Nate nodded since that choice was on-brand for Frick. The results spoke for themselves. Even if Frick had still been borrowing mana and some Skills from Nate, he’d also held off a small army of level one-hundred-and-eighty or higher beasts. Though it seemed that Frick’s build was mostly designed for swarm tactics and worked better with lots of weaker enemies than a couple of strong enemies.

Nate’s eyes drifted back towards Pinoreth. He could sense as the Elders of the three Temples had begun to gather below, clearly waiting to see if he and Kiri would make themselves known. A glance at Kiri told him she was ready.

“Frick, mind cleaning up all this mess? The cliff structure included.”

“Yeah, yeah, I got it, Boss.”

With a nod Nate and Kiri teleported down to face the group of Elders. At the front were the three they had already spoken with. Elder Jin’Kahn stood with only two Senior Disciples of the Depths Walkers Temple at her back, though the look on her face was one of triumph rather than anger. Next to her stood Ra’Paki. For the first time Nate could remember the older Calikex looked unkempt, his long hair in disarray and some blood stains and rips decorated his normally immaculate robes. Behind him were two others that looked like Elders of the Sky Guardians Temple. 

Finally, a thunderous Elder Rok’Nohn stood with seven Elders of the Jungle Stalkers at his back. Where Ra’Paki was only slightly dishevelled, the Elders of the Jungle Stalkers looked like they had been in the trenches, with dirt, mud and blood covering them. Some of that blood was their own, though none looked like they were flirting with death.

Rok’Nohn looked ready to burst a blood vessel, but before he could open his mouth, Elder Jin’Kahn dropped to her knees and bowed before Nate and Kiri with her head pressed into the wooden planks of the floating city.

“I thank the Ascendants for what they have done. Their insights and assistance have paved the way for the Depths Walkers Temple to achieve a dream held for generations. If you return, we would offer whatever you desire for more of your time and knowledge.”

Nate was taken aback for a second, not having expected the response, but a quick whisper with Kiri revealed what he had missed. He had given Jin’Kahn insight into how she could break through the barrier and become an Ascendant. However, he had left out one option. An option that was, in his eyes, insanity. Killing a Lesser Divine could potentially yield an Orb that might break through that barrier for her. That was why when he had begun attracting Lesser Divines like flies, the Depths Walkers Temple had mobilised. And though it had cost them much, losing two Elders and over half their Senior Disciples, with a little help from Kiri they had triumphed. Jin’Kahn’s Path to Lesser Divine had been confirmed.

There was a small piece of information that he seized onto though.

“If we return?” he asked.

“Death’s Shadow has called you. You must answer. You must ascend the mountain and present yourselves before him,” answered Ra’Paki, sounding only slightly ruffled.

“And good riddance! I hope he eats you both!” roared Rok’Nohn, clearly no longer able to restrain his burning anger. “You brought destruction to our doorstep! A curse on both of you and on all foreign Ascendants who come to our lands and do nothing but take!”

The words bothered Nate, but they were just that, words. Not only would it be a violation of Reciprocity to do something to Rok’Nohn for his rudeness, it also just wasn’t worth any of Nate’s attention or time. Instead, Nate looked to the cliffs above, remembering the towering mountains that lay beyond them. The home of an Ancient Dragon who predated the System. A Divine being who had called them to come before him and who Nate dared not defy.

“When should we leave?” he asked Kiri.

“Now,” she responded in Etruan. “The hot and cold reaction from Pinoreth is something I could do without. If Death’s Shadow wanted us dead, he could’ve done it already. Let’s go see what he wants. We can consolidate our gains on the way.”

Nate nodded his agreement as he brought forth his flying ship. Frick moved to the helm as Nate and Kiri teleported on board, sitting down to go over their notifications. The eyes of the Elders followed them as they rose slowly into the sky and began their flight towards the dragon’s den.