Chapter 439 (2/2)

Which was a bullshit way for a dungeon to function, but was largely a moot point, in this case.

Randidly shook his head, frowning, even as the Grey Death Cultist remained kneeling in front of him. This was.. Not right. It didn’t feel like the Creature at all. Better to shift backward, and reset his outlook, he was missing something.

The Creature’s goal was to hide from the System, and secondarily to strike blows against it. Earth and Randidly were both just tools to it, which it had found convenient, but were becoming increasingly less convenient the more Randidly succeeded in growing in strength and foiling the Creature’s plans. So it made sense if this plan wasn’t about them.

But it was somehow using Randidly, because he was a convenient tool, the Initiating Action, as Lyra had said. Randidly narrowed his eyes. And it seemed the Creature wanted to push him towards using this Key, which meant it didn’t care about the Death Energies. So did that mean the Creature wasn’t alive, or-

Randidly’s eyes widened. Or… or did it have Aether constructs that would prevent the energy from affecting certain areas? Like there were around the different villages. Annie had mentioned there were larger formations there. So if the Creature could protect a Village-

Then it needed them for a way to use the fact that a certain area would be unaffected to its advantage, in a way that subverts the System. The tools at its disposal-

The Item!

Laughing aloud, Randidly slapped his leg. In that instant, it occurred to Randidly what the item could be, that it would both given the Creature an unexpected benefit, and also… also, convince the people in the villages to assist it. That still left out several large whys, but…

The fire was eating up through the ground into the chapel, but even as he was burned, the Death Cultist remained differentially at Randidly’s feet. Death Cultist, huh, did that mean that all this time, this race of monster knew what was in store for it?

“Get up, we are leaving,” Randidly grunted, his eyes sparkling. “Let’s gather the rest of your people… and then let’s go see what the Creature is up to.”

****

Ace was surrounded by 6 Death Cultists, and they screamed at him in their harsh tongue. Outwardly, he grimaced, sporting a small wound on his side that would hamper his mobility, but inwardly, he was rubbing his hands together. Scheming was difficult against monsters without intelligence, so Ace was delighted to find that although these weren’t particularly bright, they did generally respond to feints and baits.

It seems whatever fighting they did was a direct thing, that relied more directly on brawn that any level of cunning. Which was a pity, because the villain was a player who knew that every battle was one determined by wits.

When they came at him, it was all at once, their arms slashing towards him. After leaning left and right to avoid the most accurate attacks, Ace leaped up, doing a backflip to avoid the charge from the Death Cultist behind him. At the apex of his jump, he brought his legs down around the neck of the hapless charger, and then twisted, torquing the Death Cultist’s neck with enough force to bend steel.

Unfortunately, it didn’t snap, the beast simply gagged, and was flung sideways by his leg through, arcing beautifully into the air. Ace sighed, pleased with the display. The other Death CUltists looked at him warily.

Alana arrived on the scene, rapidly dispatching two as she cut her way into the dance, uninvited. She gave him a look. “Stop playing with your food.”

Earlier, Ace had elected to leave Dauntless out of this so Alana saw when he winked at her. She had no response to that and adopted a workmanlike efficiency as she began killing the others. Shaking his head, Ace joined her. It was for this reason that, for all her power, Alana would always be a henchmen. She just had no vision.

A notification flitted across Ace’s vision.

Randidly Ghosthound: Disengage and regroup. Also, keep a close eye on Aratta.

Ace felt a tug at the edges of his soul.