V2Ch47-Mixed Signals

James stared at the wolf pack through the eyes of his Skin Balloon, faintly puzzled.

He finally opened his human eyes and met the gazes of the people all around him.

Well, don’t look at me as if I have all the answers, he thought. But he also enjoyed it. The way they were all ready to move on his word, to advance or retreat according to his say so. The power was intoxicating.

He cleared his throat. First, he focused on Amalia. “I saw the wolf pack. They really are just sitting there. It does feel a lot like an ambush.” His eyes shifted to Cliff and Harry. “At the same time, though, I couldn’t see any sign of other forces positioned anywhere nearby. There is a lot of mist covering some of the ground, but I had my balloon monster push through that. Still, I’ve seen no sign of any reserve forces or backups.” He turned his eyes toward Mitzi now. “I don’t know if we have some way of shifting some of the liquid in the swamp to see if there are creatures hiding underwater, but that’s the only concealment I can think of that would have worked against me.”

Mitzi frowned and shook her head. “I’ve tried using magic on the swamp before. It seems to have some Mana infused into the soil and water. It resists any attempt to alter its condition or destroy it.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed the same thing,” James said. That was why he hadn’t tried to drown the wolves that had besieged the Rodriguezes in swamp water before.

“So, what do we do, chief?” Cliff asked.

James smiled grimly. “We press forward. Once we get there, I’ll hit them with the same one-two punch that took them out of the Rodriguez camp fight. While we move, we remain alert and prepared for attack by the Ghouls. We keep a tight formation in case they start to pop up from underwater. If something starts trying to pull us under, everyone around the victim should raise the alarm.” He looked from one person to the other as he said the next words. “Pass that down to everyone, please. If a Ghoul is attacking someone as we move, we can almost certainly save that person from getting drowned, but only if the reaction is quick.”

He said that with confidence, and the Ring of Lies felt warm against his fingers as he spoke. Internally, he wasn’t so certain. He might be leading his people into a massacre if the Ghouls had some Skills he hadn’t anticipated.

Kind of wishing I brought Sierra here, actually. I don’t know if the undead condition spreads through infection or some kind of magic. Either way, if the Ghouls start popping out and trying to use some ability to make my people into undead, it would be good to have someone with a Skill that removes foreign influences.

Then again, if the Ghouls could transform people into their kind with a bite or a touch, he would have seen them do it at the Rodriguez camp before, right?

As James spoke, he saw the people all around him nodding. He’d infected them all with his faux conviction. He hoped he wasn’t leading them astray. But the monsters of this swamp had to be purged, and he didn’t know of anyone besides himself who could lead the effort.

Besides, it’s not as though you’d trust anyone else to do this, commented his dark inner voice. Just accept that the role of power, glory, and leadership is yours, and be happy about it. These people will follow you even if you lead them into a massacre.

James forcefully pulled his thoughts away from this self-aggrandizement. He shifted to a practical question he’d been contemplating. He’d gained two Skills from Pillaging a pair of Ghouls he’d killed while defending the Rodriguez camp. Unfortunately, he couldn’t Pillage more Ghouls, because he wanted to let his allies Loot them, and he wasn’t going out of his way to tell anyone that he was using a different Skill.

But there had been few enough Ghouls killed at the Rodriguez camp anyway. The main course of Pillaging would come later.

The two Skills were Minor Body Modification and Autonomic Nervous System Override.

The question: should he combine the two Skills?

Minor Body Modification allowed the Ghouls to do things like dislocate their shoulders to punch further and unhinge their jaws to viciously bite into prey.

Autonomic Nervous System Override allowed the user to do things like control their own heartbeats and manipulate their digestion speed. Even though the Ghouls were quasi-undead monsters, they still ate flesh to rebuild Stamina.

James would be able to use those Skills to great effect, too, but if he combined them, he thought he might transcend the already expanded limits of his body.

The risk he envisioned was that with this hypothetical Skill, plus Berserk Mode, he might become an unstoppable, mindless monster, capable of annihilated everything in his path. Possibly at the cost of his own body being destroyed. He’d read a story like that once.

The protagonist acquired a set of enchanted armor that allowed him to fight on until he’d shed every drop of blood and broken every bone in his body. But without someone to magically pull him out of his berserk trance, the character would keep going until he died.

No, that won’t happen to you, James told himself. You have the perfect mental Skills to control that. Self-Control and Mind of the Predator should more than counter it.

He resolved to try the Skill Fusion on a temporary basis. He set the combination to last for five hours.

Minor Body Modification and Autonomic Nervous System Override combined to form Full Body Control. A bland name, but he appreciated the description.

[Full Body Control: Consciously manipulate and direct any part of your body to alter its position, behavior, or composition according to your desire. Subject to limitations based on your Fortitude and basic physiology. Consumes Stamina.]

James could feel himself able to deliberately control muscles he’d never tried to maneuver before. The excitement of something so new made him a little giddy, and he played with it for a few minutes while the group spread the word about the plan. He inflated one lung with as much air as he could, just to try it. He adjusted the flow of blood to his extremities. He almost dropped to his knees when he accidentally stopped his own heart for a few seconds, but he managed to restart it before the world went black.

Okay, enough of that for now!

As he finished messing with the Skill, Jeremiah Rotter approached him.

“I believe everyone’s been informed of your orders, sir. We’re all ready to leave.”

Weird that he’s the one coming to tell me, James thought. Or was it? Rotter seemed very interested in ingratiating himself with James. Maybe he’d volunteered.

“Let’s move out, then,” James replied with a small smile. More loudly, he called out, “Move out!”

And people began to move. They formed a tight formation, just as James had ordered. It ended up being a triangular shape, with James, Amalia, and Harry leading the way to the wolf pack.

For several minutes, they trudged through the swamp water toward the enemy position.

Then James could see the wolf pack with his own eyes. They were still hidden from everyone else by the mist, so he raised a fist to indicate to his squad that they should stop behind him.

There was a slight jostling as people froze, and some bumped into others, but James mostly ignored it.

He turned around and quietly requested a head count, just to make sure no one had been carried off by Ghouls from his rearguard.

And he began Silent Spellcasting, preparing his Illusion Magic.

“What are you doing, sir?” Harry asked behind him in a hushed tone.

James allowed a little part of his mind to deviate from the Mana charging task to answer Harry.

“I’m preparing an illusion to catch the wolves in,” he said. “I’m planning to hit them with Illusion Magic, then a gravity bomb, same as the last time. Should turn them into sitting ducks for the group.”

“Ah, right. Of course. Um, very clever planning.” There was a note of resigned envy in Harry’s voice.

James made a mental note to acquire some new Skill that he wouldn’t mind sharing with the scout, just so he would feel a little better about his own set of abilities. Maybe he could outfit everyone who followed him with more Skills than they currently had. That would certainly give him a kind of added legitimacy as a leader.

There was the hazard that people he bribed with power would only follow him until they had a better offer, but James was confident that he was one of the strongest people alive right now. And those who stuck with him and showed loyalty could get an ever-escalating set of powers.

This might become the foundation for an empire, now that he thought of it.

After several minutes of charging, James launched his Illusion Magic attack at the wolves. The aura of Mana around him dissipated entirely for a moment, until he started charging gravity Mana.

He kept his eyes on the wolf pack as he charged his second attack. They were moving now, rising from their resting positions and attacking each other. Or at least most of them were.

Above them, in the most elevated position on the uneven patch of grassy soil, sat a three-headed beast that Identify labeled as the Alpha Forest Wolf King, level 30. That creature looked down at everything happening below it with a contemptuous curl of its lips.

James heard it bark out an order. “Cease this foolishness at once, children! Everyone return to your seated positions.”

And the other wolves obeyed. It was as if the leader had broken the spell with his voice. Those that had started to fight each other backed off and returned to their starting points as best they could.

Interesting. James could tell by how clumsily the wolves moved that they were still caught to some degree in his illusion. They didn’t know quite where things were. They expected obstacles where there were none. They were getting mixed signals from their senses and their leader.

But they’re obeying the leader instead of their lying eyes. Did not see that coming. Is it a Skill? Maybe Alpha Presence? Has to be, I’d think. Whatever he’s doing, it’s more powerful than I would’ve guessed. Will it counteract some of the effects of gravity magic?

But there was only one way to find out. He kept charging his attack.

“Human!” the Wolf King barked loudly. “I know you’re out there. I can smell you and your friends. They smell like fear! Come out and fight me, human. Face to face. Like a man! Unless you’re afraid too.”

James smirked. Such blatant taunting. Who would that work on?

“Well, what are we going to do about that?” Cliff spoke up from a little bit behind James.

Oh.

“I’m going to finish charging my attack, then we rush in!” James called back. He wasn’t worried about the wolves overhearing him, since he figured they couldn’t do anything with the illusion still effective. Even if the leader had avoided the effects himself somehow, he wouldn’t be crazy enough to charge at James’s group by himself. And if he was, James welcomed that stupidity.

That was how he thought. Then there was a sound from in front of him that made all the little hairs on his arms and legs stand on end. It resembled a hundred footsteps in unison.

He turned and saw the wolf pack rise, as a whole, to their feet. They began marching forward, directly moving toward James and his group where they stood hidden in the mist.

Goddammit, Cliff! A sharp intake of breath. No, this is my fault. I shouldn’t have said anything back to him. I was just a little ways away from charging as much power as I needed. Alright. Need to launch it at the group before they scatter.

James released the Mana and observed the impact. The whole pack of wolves slowed down slightly. But it wouldn’t be enough to make this easy. The wolves would be upon them in a minute or less.

James’s body tensed, and he drew the Ego Antler Spear from his magic satchel. Then he noticed that no one else was moving. It dawned on him that the others in his group still couldn’t see the wolf pack. The mist was too dense, and their Perception was too far below his.

“Brace for contact!” James called. “They’re coming to us!”