Chapter 636: Shortage (1/2)

The soldiers were still exhausted after the mad dash over the last hours and subsequent battle, but no one complained when Zac gave the order to set out. Some had already got their hands on a seal through the battle, but it was mostly the Anointed, demons, and Tal-Eladar who were safe by this point thanks to their higher killing efficiency.

Everyone understood the situation; if they didn’t start hunting for Spatial Seals they’d be dead in a few days.

“Did you get your seals from the mountain or killing?” Zac asked Thea as they walked at the front of the army, keeping a brisk pace.

“We found them somewhat quickly some ways up the mountain,” Thea answered. “I don’t think they spawn at the foot. The cultists took a long route between the bridges, and they even sent squads of a few hundred up the mountain for two hours at a time while the others worked on destroying the islands.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised that the further up the mountain you go, the more seals will appear,” Ogras added from the side. ”Especially since the lunatics almost picked the lower layers clean.”

“Alright,” Zac said as he changed course, leading the army up the mountain as they walked around it.

The goal was to essentially travel to the opposite side of the mountain in search of the traitor Zhix, but there was no point to stay at the foot. Not only would it mean missing out on extracting seals, but it would also increase the time it would take to reach the area controlled by the gemlings. In fact, with how big the mountain was, it would take way too much time that way. The foot was extremely wide, and only by taking the shortest route would they get there in time to deal with the traitor before the realm collapsed.

“Did you find anything else?” Zac asked as they made their way up the mountain.

The Memorysteel mountain had a lot of normal-looking features, like cliffs, ravines, and steep mountain walls. But it also had a distinctly spiraled form, and they made their way up one of the major spirals.

“We only spent half an hour exploring before those lunatics started blowing up islands. We rushed toward them the moment we realized what they were up to,” Ogras slowly said. “But we did learn some things. These seals only last for a short while. If no one snatches them within a minute or so they would disappear, and it wouldn't reappear even after we waited for a few more minutes. Things might get chaotic.”

“Shit,” Zac sighed and Thea nodded in agreement.

Both of them had clearly come to the same conclusion; it would be impossible to impose any sort of order on who got the seals. Zac and the other leaders had already discussed setting up an order by lottery for the general population, and Kenzie had even prepared everything in her tablets. But how would it be possible to enforce something like that when the seals appeared and disappeared at random?

They were strapped for time as is, so they couldn't wait around god knows how long for every Spatial Seal. It would go to whoever was closest, and if multiple people found themselves equidistant to a Seal, problems were bound to occur. After all, those seals were the difference between life and death, and who knew how people would act when pushed to the limits.

“There,” Ogras suddenly pointed toward a crack in the Memorysteel a few hundred meters away. “We both found our seals in a cave that looked a lot like that. I think they migh-”

Zac grabbed his sister who walked just behind them with her head in her tablet and flashed away before the demon had a chance to even finish his sentence. Of course, he was heading straight for the cave mouth.

“Hey!” Kenzie exclaimed as she glared at him with annoyance, but Zac didn’t stop moving.

People might be thinking he was playing favorites, and he definitely was. But Zac didn’t care. They all would be dead already if not for his sister, and he wouldn’t be able to completely focus on the task at hand until her safety was secured. A few steps with [Loamwalker] later he reached the entrance, but they only reached a few meters inside before they stopped from surprise.

The cave didn’t exactly look like he had expected.

It was actually a small plot of land, with around a hundred trees sitting on a patch of soil. Of course, the trees were definitely not in their natural habitat. The crowns of the larger trees were broken or pressed right into the roof of the cave, and over a dozen trees had simply fallen over. Their root systems were ripped apart, and it seemed like only a small part of the soil had been moved to this place. The rest might have remained on one of the islands or stuck somewhere else on the mountain.

“It looks like a piece of a biodome that has been preserved,” Kenzie said with interest as she looked around.

Zac was a bit surprised that whole sections had survived getting pulled into the mountain like this. But for now, he was more interested in finding a Spatial Seal for his sister. And it didn’t take long before he could spot a slight fluctuation with [Cosmic Gaze].

“Come,” Zac said and flashed forward, arriving in front of a normal-looking rock in the middle of the transplanted forest.

The fluctuations were slowly getting stronger, and suddenly there was a small shimmering brand on it, identical to the one on Zac’s hand.

“Why did it appear on this specific stone?” Kenzie muttered as she hunched down next to Zac. “It seems to be a completely normal rock, there were millions just like this in the Lunar Forest.”

“Try taking it for now,” Zac urged with some anxiety. “Every Seal we miss means one person dying.”

Kenzie nodded and gingerly touched the rock, but both were surprised when nothing happened.

“You need to crush it,” Ogras said from behind as he suddenly appeared, and Kenzie quickly followed his instructions as the seal was already flickering like it was about to dissipate.

The stone turned to gravel after Kenzie exerted some pressure on it, and the seal immediately jumped onto her hand. Zac felt a wave of relief as he stood up again, only now having the peace of mind to analyze the situation.

“Did you encounter more places like this? With proper patches of land from the base?” Zac asked.