Chapter 314: Sneaking Inside (1/2)

Zac and Ogras were currently hidden within some foliage up a tree, and they had made ample preparations to obscure their presence even further. Both wore treasures that hid one’s life force, just like the amulet Zac used to trick the Zombies during the beast waves. Ogras was even continuously operating a shadow skill to hide them even further.

The two even used a portable arrays disk to hide from the mindless sentry, though they could only use it while they were stationary. The only way for them to be any better hidden was if they brought Janos as well who covered them in another layer of illusions, but he was occupied with the battle with the Zombies.

It might have been overkill, but Zac didn’t want to take any chances with this excursion. The fact that Salvation got away still irked him, and he didn’t want a repeat of that situation. Especially when he saw the man’s rapid leveling speed. Salvation had long passed level 60, and likely received another round of powerups from his class quest.

But the worst thing was that Zac knew his levels likely came from killing humans rather than fighting off beasts or the invaders. Every day that lunatic remained alive even more suffering would descend on Earth.

“How intriguing,” Ogras said as his eyes were trained on the puppet.

It was one of the guard sentries they had heard about. It simply stood on a small hill with good vantage in a certain direction, its head unceasingly moving back and forth like a moving camera. Other than that it was completely immobile.

“It slowly absorbs cosmic energy, but it is not cultivating. I would guess it possesses a gathering array to keep it going. That explains a lot,” the demon continued.

“What do you mean?” Zac asked with some confusion.

“It likely means that these things and the way Salvation fights are not purely a result of a unique class,” Ogras explained. “It is more likely a combination of an extremely intricate mother array that control these things, and a class that focuses on puppetry. Rather than a mystical class that does everything.”

Zac slowly nodded in understanding. The prospect that Salvation was using tools to gain his current power was a relief since it would be pretty unsettling otherwise. He was lower level than Zac and not even on the Dao Ladder, yet he had almost fought evenly with Zac who had Thea for support.

“Does that help us in any way?” Zac asked.

“Well, breaking the connection between a mother array and its children is much easier than breaking the connection of a skill,” Ogras said. “And it means we can substantially weaken Salvation if we find the mother array and destroy it.”

“Don’t you think it’s on his person?” Zac ventured.

“Perhaps not,” Ogras said with a shake of his head. “The more complicated the array the larger it needs to be to house the inscriptions. There are array plates as large as planets out in the multiverse from what I’ve heard. More skilled inscribers can inscribe smaller fractals, but I don’t believe The Great Redeemer is skilled enough to cram an array like this into something that Salvation can carry on his body.”

“It’s not necessarily his own creation though,” Zac countered.

“That’s fair,” Ogras nodded. “It might be something found in a Mystic Realm or on some dead powerhouse. That is a problem in itself. All the underlings of this Redeemer you’ve met are different class archetypes, making it hard to guess the situation with the boss.”

“And it seems Calrin won’t be able to dig up anything useful either,” Zac added with some wistfulness.

There were no news from his side even after two weeks of asking around, trying to buy a report on the mysterious Redeemer. The man was either very discreet or Calrin’s connections weren’t good enough to get his hand on the information.

Zac was about to move on from the invader, but another thought suddenly struck him.

“Wait, will we even be able to kill the guy?” Zac blurted out. “He might have one or many of the Dominators guarding him.”

“I thought about that as well, but I doubt it,” Ogras said. “If our speculations are correct I don’t think anyone would be happier than them if Salvation got himself killed. The Dominators should already be in a bad spot compared to those humans of the other world in the hunt, and if they have to contend with a direct disciple? Forget about it, they will probably throw you a banquet if you kill him.”

Zac knew that what Ogras said was based on a lot of speculation on their side, but at the same time, he felt it made some sense. There had been no cooperation between the two forces during the hunt at all, and Salvation had been left alone even if he was weakened since he couldn't bring his puppet army. If the Dominators truly were concerned about his well-being they would have sent protection just like the Medhin with their guards.

“Fair enough. But if we see any non-puppet Zhix in the area we will need to rethink our plan,” Zac decided. “Perhaps only cutting down the tree and then make a run for it.”

“Fine, but I doubt there will be any living beings in this place if your description of that man is accurate,” Ogras shrugged. “It sounds like something has broken his mind. Either the stress of the integration or the Inheritance the Great Redeemer left behind. In either case, it doesn’t sound like he is in any position to make logical choices like keeping friendlies alive.”

The puppets at the perimeter seemed to be in a passive state where they only performed a simple loop over and over, and Zac and Ogras had no problems proceeding further into the Cradle unobstructed. There were a few hidden sentries though that they only spotted thanks to Ogras’ superior observation skills.

One was dug into the ground with only its head sticking out, and another one was crammed into a tree. It proved that the former humans were truly only seen as tools and that Salvation had them in abundance if he could use them frivolously like this. They had spotted over a dozen sentries the past hour, and they had only traversed in an extremely small part of the Cradle of God.

The total number of sentries must count in the thousands, and Zac could understand why there was so little information about what was going on inside. Very few would be able to enter this place unnoticed, and fewer still were willing to take the risk. But to Ogras all these traps were like a child’s game, and he unhurriedly guided the duo through the outer perimeter.

“So where are these trees of yours?” Ogras asked, prompting Zac to take out a tablet and open up a map.

“According to the guesses of the Marshall clan they should be roughly another five hours' travel due northeast,” Zac said with some hesitation. “But if they are five hundred meters tall we should be able to see them much earlier.”