Chapter 558: Showdown (1/2)

Zac had been dreading a response from Void's Disciple since killing Harbinger, and this might be his opening move. He felt doubly thankful that he had already sent most people back to Port Atwood in case of attack, minimizing loss of life. However, there were still Skeleton Crews stationed at every spot to keep operations going and there had probably been losses.

“Did anyone manage to return from those places?” Zac asked with a sigh.

“Unfortunately, no,” the answer came. “There were roughly 20 people stationed in each of those locations to maintain basic operations.”

Zac and the others kept asking things through the Crystal, but Sarah didn't know much. They didn't dare to roll out the army as all leaders of Port Atwood were currently away, so they could only look on with dismay as one settlement after another had disappeared from the screen. They had tried to send out a few squads to random settlements to look around, but they had all came back empty-handed.

Various thoughts swirled through Zac's head, but he eventually made his decision. He needed to get going, even if he had to pay the price to erect another teleportation array with his [Spatial Transfer Array]. But there was no point in rushing. He wasn’t able to reach the three lost settlements in short order anyway, and immediately heading there might allow even more of his towns to be attacked behind his back.

The problem was that he didn’t know where this mystery attacker would strike next.

“Anyone who can figure out why these three places were targeted?” Zac asked with a frown.

The Valkyries shook their heads, and Ogras didn’t speak up either.

“Metals,” Ilvere suddenly said, drawing the gazes of the others.

“What?” Zac asked.

“You know, I’ve been in charge of taking stock of the bases you’ve conquered. All three of those places you mentioned have Spiritual Metal deposits of pretty high quality. That’s the only thing I can think of,” the general said.

“Metals,” Zac repeated thoughtfully. “But there shouldn’t have been too much extracted, and it either left with the invaders or has been transferred to Port Atwood. I had already sent everyone back as well. It’s not like they can extract the whole place in minutes or even hours.”

“Either they want to stop you from extracting things as well, perhaps preventing us from properly preparing for the Mystic Realm,” Ogras slowly said. “The mines might be ruined. Or they are looking for an exotic piece of metal that might be found somewhere in their depths.”

Zac nodded with a frown. Just like Nexus Crystal mines sometimes could produce Attuned Crystals or higher-grade ones, so could metal deposit contains small amounts of extremely valuable materials. It was on his radar to scan all his reserves for such items, but he sorely lacked the manpower for such a task.

He hadn’t even fully mapped out his own Crystal Mine as its tunnels stretched kilometer after kilometer below ground, seemingly neverending pathways that kept turning and branching. He still only had an inkling of what all his conquered towns could provide.

The problem was how quickly things had transpired. It should take a few hours to reach those places from any other settlement even if you had some good movement method, and from there you would have to enter the depths to extract that precious ore. Zac would have needed almost a whole day to travel to those three locations, even if he only gave himself an hour per mine and used the Flying Treasure.

“Do we have other places that fit the description?” he asked.

“There’s just the one,” Ilvere slowly said. “Site 16.”

Zac immediately remembered the place he was referring to. It was the incursion with the birdmen, that one placed on top of a mountain.

“Good. If the last town was lost just a few minutes ago, then we have a few hours if things will progress as before,” Zac muttered. “Traveling to that place will take time even if it’s Void’s Disciple. Stay here, I need to speak to the Zhix.”

The other nodded and Zac descended the mountain, walking straight toward the battlefield a hundred meters per step. The war was over, but a subdued silence stretched across the whole basin. Groups of warriors walked across the fields to retrieve the fallen, but most simply sat down, many with tears streaming down their cheeks.

Those worst off were actually the Anointed, all of them sitting in prayer, tear-streaked blood covering their faces. Even the three great Anointed hadn’t walked out of the war unscathed, and Vanexis had even lost a hand. It went to show how massive groups of weaker cultivators could take out much stronger opponents if they were willing to sacrifice enough lives.

He found Rhubat sitting at the center of the army, and he was relieved to see a bloodied but living Nonet not far away. He had lost track of Nonet during his epiphany, but it appeared that Hive Kundevi thankfully was not one of the Hives targeted by the elite executioner squads.

“Congratulations on your victory,” Zac said as he turned back to Rhubat. “I’m sorry to interrupt, something urgent has come up.”

“This is not a victory, Warmaster,” Rhubat sighed, its enormous face a mask of pain and sorrow. “There are no victors today. We’ve lost half our children this day, yet the war is not over.”

“That is why I’ve come. I won’t be able to stay with you on the way back. Someone has attacked three of my settlements while you fought, it seems the person can move extremely quickly,” Zac said. “I need to go before more of my towns are destroyed.“

“Do you suspect the Dominators?” Rhubat said, and the other Anointed in the vicinity perked up from their desolate states.

“I do,” Zac said. “Void seems to have some method to move about somewhat freely.”

“What are you planning?”

“If it’s really Void I’m thinking we should launch an ambush. We need to hit hard and quick because he’s so slippery,” Zac said. “We have located the next place we believe he’ll target, I’m heading there now.”

“Good, agreed. Vanexis and Raja will oversee the rites,” Rhubat said as the giant got to its feet. “Six councilors will come with me. Any more will likely just be a hindrance this time. Our old methods will not work in this scenario.”

A few of the largest Zhix roused themselves and got to their feet with solemn expressions, joining Zac as they returned up the mountain. Zac wasted no time before he found a hidden cave large enough to house his group plus the Anointed. He erected an illusion array at the door before a pile of materials emerged from his cosmos sack.

His hands turned to a blur next as a crude but functional teleportation array was erected in minutes.

“How is this possible?” Thea muttered with incomprehension as she looked down at the newly created array. “There’s no town for hours. Can you actually create arrays like this?”

“No. At least not that I know of. I was given this ability as a reward when the final incursion was closed,” Zac shrugged. “Perhaps the System knew I would be running around all over. There are some limitations though. Only I can activate it and it is only usable once.”