Chapter 18-471: Lands Down Under, Part Three (1/2)
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I really appreciated the Hollow World after some of the travel restrictions up top. Being able to Linejump from one side to the other of the world, even if you’d never been there, did indeed make traveling easier.
On the other hand, I had already made a Lived-Line to my destination, so I could follow it down the North Pole and just Teleport there directly regardless.
I still did a LOT of Teleporting for supply runs. The jobs would be taken over by other Tens when I was gone, but right now those people were Leveling frantically while they could, and had a lot of Lived-Lines to draw across the face of the world.
Still, Azaia would be able to handle the resupply down here, as I’d made sure she got in some miles on Sleipner during my downtime, going all around the world and down here. She usually brought at least our sister along, and sometimes Sama or Briggs would tag along, as Tremble and Endure could now Teleport, and they had to get their Lived-Lines into place to make full use of the fact.
Sleipner, unicorn motorcycle, Tour Guide to the Whole Damn World. Maybe minus the Felldeep for now...
It had taken Professor Shellington and his group of followers from Waterdown six months to wipe the desert Shroudzone down here, fighting over the sands, burning Karma, Naming Weapons, and gaining Levels.
Some overly curious locals and Corsars had joined them in these expeditions, their skepticism about the undead staying dead burned away with the bones consumed by vivus.
Naturally enough there’d been local monsters and opportunistic tribes to deal with, but those had rapidly learned not to mess with the Waterdowners, or they too were Fed to the Land, and ceased to bother the Purgers.
When those locals saw the Shroudzone shrinking and pulling back under the assault of the Waterdowners, new tales were told, word spread, and somewhat more heroic and committed souls had arrived to help, maybe share in the glory, or try to sell them things.
Shuttling them a third of the way across the world wasn’t all that hard. I already had the Lived-Line, just needed to put a Seal Focus at the far end to lock onto, and make a Teleporting Formation everyone could fill with power to move everyone at one time. When the Pharoah of the Sands lit off en vivus, and the laenwork Axes, Spears, and Swords were lifted from its remains on the stones blasted white by the deaths of Congregants and former Dark Clergy, it was time to loot what was there and move on.
Move on they did, to the cold and cairn-filled highlands and moors where the Headless Black Duke, a Wraith King, gathered the undead to him and waited patiently for the day when he could march out and lay waste to all the living, claiming the whole of the Hollow World for himself.
That day wasn’t EVER going to come...
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Professor Shellington shook my hand as the two Tapestries blossomed into six-meter cubes on the ground, and the people whooped and got to disassembling them with gusto. A lot of the crates were food, the crates themselves made to be disassembled and used to build things with, but there were naturally more weapons fit to be Named, ammunition, and crafting supplies in general.
Cases holding a ton of gold ready to be Burned off to make things were also there, and the Patterns and things to be Infused were already waiting for them. It would all be gone within twenty days, making the greedy cry into their beards.
Amulets of Death Ward were very popular down here, too, and a reward for the elites who had proven their skill and valor. Not having to fear a soul-sucking touch or necromantic attack truly helped the prowess and morale of those who received them.
The Professor and his haror wife Osellyi had both been recipients of Stat-raises via Wishes from me. The Professor had also taken the step of upgrading all of his Expert levels to Scout, as Expert was the prime Feeder Class for that. It meant he could never gain Expert Levels in the future, but the increase to his combat prowess, while keeping his foundation of skills intact, made it worth it to him, and he was making up the new Skill Points required to do the job required and feed his Warlock Levels with Vizard and Noble Levels, among other things.
There were a lot more monstrous undead here, made from dinosaurs and magical beasts, than we had to deal with up top.
The Professor looked good, the extra Levels reducing his age slightly, and the physical exertion and combat trimming him up. He’d inherited at least some of the Draconic demeanor of his Pact, and the amethyst dragons were the wise kings of the gem dragons, if nothing else. He had to engage in constant self-analysis to fend off the aloof isolationism of the breed, but that was what having a Mark helped with.
He and his wife always made it a point to meet me when I dropped stuff off, too.
“Anything significant?” I asked them, looking over their camp with approval. I hadn’t had to set up most of the walls or buildings for this one, as the improved Casters had done most of the work themselves. It was laid out nicely, defensible and easy to traverse, and naturally had seen raids by opportunistic native tribes and hungry creatures, but few things wanted to get up onto the high moors where the Wraith King here dwelled.
They reported in all the time, of course, and if anything important happened, they knew they could count on me to come if there was a real emergency. They took steps to make sure those emergencies did not happen, of course.
The two of them glanced at one another, and I lifted my eyebrow, waiting as I watched agile anthros clambering over the crates, tossing them down to one another, making steps up the stacks and bringing them all down with the eagerness of kids receiving presents.
They really liked the upper-world’s wool blankets here in the chilly air.
“It was hinted that Legion had found and was going to wipe out a settlement of the dark elves,” Matron Osellyi finally spoke up, half statement, half question.