Chapter 550: Swamp (1/2)

“Ten days?” Zac frowned. “Why don’t we just keep going?”

The New World Government’s deadline for entering the Mystic Realm was inching closer, and he definitely couldn’t get caught outside when the hidden world closed its doors. Besides, wanted to be over with this bloody matter as quickly as possible.

“Our scouts returned a few hours ago. The hives are emptied, except one that is utterly destroyed. Only the weak have been left behind, just like during a migration. The number of remaining Zhix is still in the millions, but we cannot locate them. A letter of challenge was issued just an hour ago though. For the future of the Zhix,” Ibtep explained.

Zac asked a bit more and he learned that the challenge was something that occasionally happened before their integration. It was essentially an all-out war between two forces that competed for resources. The survivor would claim the hive and its land, and the losers would either be killed or assimilated.

This time there would be no assimilation if the council won though, only death awaited those who chose to follow the Dominators.

“So it’s one all-out war. Do you think the Dominators will be there?” Zac asked.

“It is hard to say,” Nonet said with a shake of its enormous head. “No Zhix would stay behind when the challenge is issued. However, the Dominators are Zhix, yet they are not. They might not care about the precepts and enter this hidden world you have mentioned. They might even try something before then.”

Zac nodded with a frown. Retaliation from the Dominators was something he had been worrying about since slaying Harbinger. He knew all-too-well just how crazy Inevitability was, and he wouldn't put it past her to go slaughter everyone in his outpost. He had been half-expecting a notification in his communication crystal while cultivating, but he had thankfully been uninterrupted the whole time.

He didn't know why, but it looked like his people were safe for now though. Void's Disciple seemed quite capable to move about across Pangea freely, and he should have attacked one of his towns by now if he had decided to act. He still decided to pull back more of his forces to the island and his private continent just in case.

The two Zhix left a few minutes later, leaving Zac to ponder his next move. The break was honestly a relief to Zac, as he was not completely ready to meet another one of the Dominators. Fighting both of them simultaneously felt extremely risky as well, especially while Ogras was still in seclusion. The pause would give him some time to prepare his next move.

There was no way for him to prepare another Annihilation Sphere even if the battle was delayed another ten days though. The Splinter simply didn't produce enough energy for that. He would have to use some other means to deal with them instead.

The delay also threw about his plans a bit, as he needed to prepare himself for the Mystic Realm as well. He wanted to enter the Mystic Realm within two weeks if possible, as that would still give him some time to maneuver even if his sister proved unable to force open the broken pathway.

Zac hadn’t heard any updates from his sister for a while, and he couldn't sit around any longer. He walked over to his own array and teleported over to Mystic Island. He needed to see how things were going.

It was quite some time since Zac was here last, but not much had changed. The base camp was a bit desolate though, as most of the normal staff was stuck on the other side of the spatial tunnel. Now it was mostly demons and Valkyries staying here to protect Kenzie and a few scientists. A large number of the Sentry Golems were probably off wandering the island as well, making sure no one tried sneaking up on the camp.

“Oh, you’re here?” Kenzie said with surprise as Zac entered her workshop. “Is the war over?”

“It's on hold for ten days,” Zac smiled as he looked around. ”How're things going here?”

“It’s slow,” Kenzie sighed. “The tunnel is still a mess, that bomb the zealots set up really did a number on space itself. The turbulence got better a lot faster in the beginning, but it has been slowing down lately. I’m not sure it will clear up before the deadline you set.”

The deadline Zac set was ten days before the government. Part of it was simply a precaution, but there was another important reason for the haste.

The other forces were frantically searching the Mystic Realm at this very moment and he was already pretty far behind. He couldn’t just enter the last minute and expect everything to go his way. He definitely had a hidden ace with his familiar connection to the Mystic Realm along with his sister and Jeeves, but he wouldn’t take anything for granted.

In a perfect world, he would already have started to explore the mysterious research base, but he wasn't ready to risk it all by trying to sneak into the New World Government's entrance. Seizing it was even riskier as there were probably spies from both the cultists and the Dominators ready to blow up the spatial tunnel at moment's notice.

“Can you crack it open early?” Zac asked.

“We can give it a try, but if we fail it will make things a lot worse,” Kenzie said. “If we wait another week or two our chances will be better.”

Zac slowly thought it over, before he nodded in agreement.

“I want to try it in twelve days, after the battle is dealt with.” Zac eventually decided. ”If things fall apart I'll just have to try my luck by sneaking inside some other way.”

“You know you can just talk with the government officials, right?” Kenzie said.

“If they were ready to work together they would have contacted us long ago,” Zac said with a shake of his head. “They’ve had ample chances to extend an olive branch since I closed the last Incursion. Even before then.”