Chapter 13-351: The Work of a Legion (1/2)

As always, touching the slumbering Presence of the local landscape was a new and magnificent experience, making them feel quite small. Owing to the massive amount of mountains, this Land definitely felt masculine. Lands with predominating plains, forests, and rivers were always Motherlands, while the mountains and hills were Fatherlands.

Like normally, the awareness of the Land was quite passive, suppressed by the Shroud. Still, the standard Pact energized, and the combined camouflage of earth and sky stole past them, effectively making them part of the background.

They watched the invisible lich’s dive turn into a swooping glide at speed, while they were sweeping between the pine trees in the area without rippling them. When the lich abruptly plunged through the trees, they fixed the location in place, reaching out to touch a tree, link to the Land, and zero in on it that way.

Without hesitation, they also dropped out of the sky, letting their wings dissipate as they hit the ground running and surged smoothly ahead.

The Land withdrew stray brush and branches from their path as they dashed forwards, flowing over the rough terrain and spaced trees with 5g agility and perfect coordination, reflexes, and the Waveskating Step sending them forward.

Their Land awareness was not a Commune, but a map and awareness of the local terrain was totally possible for five Tiers, so charting a path was easy enough, and the speed they were moving at was definitely superhuman, not even possible without accelerated reflexes.

They still had the horns, hooves, and the tail, the former helping with spatial awareness and the latter with additional balance, while the hooves were actually better than feet on most terrain. Telekinesis ranged out ahead to further clear the way, and also pushed and helped with balance, everyone working together to get where they needed to go faster and more smoothly.

They felt the subtle magic upon the area as they approached, and nodded in recognition.

A Stillflight Field, meant to intercept fliers at a distance, and a secondary Ward to sense active Pact use, both of them turned on very recently. If they were up all the time, that would have been like a big bright light shining, waiting to be investigated by the curious.

That was totally fine. An Amazon Pact was considered totally passive, after all. The magical-detection aspect of the Ward was overridden by the Astral Ward from the Amulet they were wearing, upgraded from a mere Div Ward II some time ago and empowered. The VI-Valence sensory attempt would have trumped a IV Valence or less Div Ward, and given the cost, the majority of such things were definitely at III or less...

The wonders of an unlimited budget were not lost on them.

All active magic ceased, but the bodywide Buffs of a lilitu and erinyes didn’t stop, either, although they had to be careful not to supercharge their tail. Lightfoot and ki wasn’t affected, either, so their hooves still didn’t really touch the ground as they moved. It took less than a minute for them to make their way over a mile of rough terrain and through woodlands to the right area, and doing so unseen and in total silence, without using their Pacts.

They were naturally very proud of being able to do this. Idiot was in Kill the Dead Mode, passively sensing for undead while in Dagger form in their hand. It nudged them west, which matched the subtle odor of alchemically-masked undeath they were smelling as they ghosted through the trees, everyone concentrating on passive skills, tracking, and observation, ripples of awareness flickering back and forth as they noticed and moved to avoid, without appreciably slowing down.

-We could do without the bust,- /groused Fang Fang, who was their insertion specialist, Shadow ki rippling about them and blending them into the background, tamping down noises, sliding past obstructions.

She was promptly overruled by everyone else, and Daisy almost laughed to herself. The reason she’d been picked by that Damned bastard was because of her curves, and for whatever reason, the combination of lilitu, Amazon, and herself meant they definitely had a larger bust than any Amazon did, while still not needing support, and naturally they were strong enough that there were absolutely no problems with their back.

Sure, it made them look like a sex goddess... but they could get away with it, and so they did. Master Fred’s opinion was basically whatever was comfortable for them, and when you were able to defy 5g’s, what was normal gravity?

There was a popping from just ahead of them, and they surged forwards, recognizing it instantly. The faintest wave of displaced air rippled by as they skated into the shadow of a random boulder dropped into the forest, ringed by old growths and fallen trunks here and there, only barely visible from the sky.

Making out where he’d been standing wasn’t hard; they’d triangulated the sound and pressure wave as they came in, and came to a stop next to the rock, dropping down into splits so they could look up to the underhang there.

Yes, there was a symbol etched into the rock, totally out of sight unless you actually got down low and looked up from almost flat on your face. Having 270 degrees of vision and being able to look out the side of their face helped immensely.

They reached up to touch it, finding direction and distance. Teleporting had to pass over the land, so Landbound could determine that with little effort, and distance was a matter of experience. ‘Porting around with powerful spellcasters was that experience...

Their head turned in consternation at the direction, and the range of the displacement. Wasn’t that too far? Wouldn’t he be out in the ocean?...

It was only the slightest of will, but they bounced back to their feet, orienting precisely along that line as the Visual File drew it out, and the distance, and overlaid the map of the globe on it as it extended out.

-The North Pole?- most of them /blurted out, and the view really zoomed in at the angle and inclination.

It wasn’t going over the ice, which was actually possible for getting a connection there. It was all a massive floating icefield, after all...

But this was a destination along a true Lived-Line, under the ice, down on the ocean floor at least four kliks down!

-He walked the ocean floor to get there?- Daisy /asked for all of them, shocked until she remembered it was a lich they were talking about. It would have been no more than an inconvenience to something undead, as nothing down there was going to eat them, except maybe a wandering Carrion Linnorm, if there were any active that far north.

They all tensed as they felt a stronger bout of attention slide across them, and despite themselves, sighed at her mental touch.