Chapter 988 (1/2)

One thing that had become abundantly clear in the following days was that the increased Aether density in the Dungeon was finally having an effect. A profound effect.

Although Randidly’s Riders had initially had no problem wiping out the hordes of monsters in the surrounding area, that had recently radically changed. Suddenly, the Riders were plagued by the unified resistance from varying species of locals. The groups had entered into some sort of alliance to resist the Riders. During their patrols, they now habitually encountered traps that were tailor-made for each variety of Rider.

Amongst the monsters of the Dungeon, it seemed a ‘King’ had been born. Instantly, everything had changed.

Randidly hadn’t taken the threat seriously at first. He had given the order for the Legion of the Marching Cadence to investigate what was going on, but that was the only proactive step that he had taken. Randidly had simply assumed that his Riders would eventually find and eliminate the root of the problem. Besides, Randidly’s main focus was on his training.

Riders having more difficulty meant that his Skill Level would grow faster. Besides, they would quickly learn more advanced teamwork of their own if they were harried by a determined, intelligent opponent. Randidly wouldn’t baby his Riders just because they had hit a small snag in their rather childish architecture competition.

However, it only took a week for seven of his Riders to die. Five happened in a large surprise raid where a single patrol had been targeted in the jungle. That made Randidly focus on the problem with a razor sharp focus and the heavy weight of a debt of blood owed.

Because it wasn’t just that several of his Riders had died. One of the lieutenants of the Legion of the Unbreakable Bulwark had been ambushed as he was returning to the base of operations for this Legion. And he hadn’t been ambushed in the field. The monster resistance had planned an assassination on the threshold of Randidly’s Riders and gotten away with it.

The tall bird warriors and the gleefully howling monkeys dashed toward the jungle, avoiding pursuit and escaping with their lives.

Not for the first time, Randidly wondered if it wasn’t something other than his Aether that had inspired the change. Perhaps the creator of those arrows in the dome had finally made a proactive move.

Right when Randidly was considering how to approach this problem, the Legion of the Marching Cadence had returned to make the rather shocking report that they had successfully tracked the monsters back to their base.

Blinking, Randidly looked at the tall mount the Rider was on top of. Certainly, this variant of the Riders possessed an extremely high Endurance value and could pursue an opponent for miles. Based on what Randidly had seen, they were certainly extremely patient. However… the long legs and wide feet of the mount was a bit…

Randidly coughed into his hand. “Ah, how did you managed to avoid detection?”

The Rider looked at him with something that felt shockingly like pity to Randidly. Then, with exaggerated motions, the Rider got down off of his mount. He gestured to himself and mimed walking on foot. Then he got back onto his long-legged mount and gave Randidly a very long look.

“...I suppose that makes quite a bit of sense.” Randidly finally said. Then he speechlessly shook his head and gestured for the Rider to lead him. With a nod, the Rider wheeled around and brought Randidly across the jungle.

About three hours later, the Rider slowed down and hopped down off of his camel-bug. Then he carefully began to creep forward. With the ominous silence of the Grim Chimera shrouding his body like a cloak, Randidly followed after him. Twilight was around them, seeming to urge them forward with the soft whispers of approaching night.

They crested over a low hill and saw a wide and fat river lazily chugging along to their North. Along the river, there were several elephant-like monsters with multiple tusks gathering around a series of pools that bordered closely on the river. Some of the elephant creatures were bathing, while others seemed to be asleep. Randidly looked in askance at his Rider, but the Rider shook his head and gestured for Randidly to continue following.

As night fell around them, they quickly closed in on the large monsters. It was only when they were quite a bit closer that Randidly realized there was a narrow crack in the hill below them that fed into the pools, and then into the fat river. And standing outside of the crack… where two tall bird creatures carrying spears.

Pausing, Randidly watched the two of them closely. He had received the description of the myriad monsters that were resisting the expansion of his Riders, and these tall bird monsters were some of the most elite troops that the resistance had. Although monsters that were basically mutated frog and monkey were the most prevalent, the birds were the backbone of the resistance. It seemed to Randidly that they were likely related to the appearance of the King.

Randidly narrowed his eyes as he looked at the crack. There are two probable options. The first is that this force is receiving assistance from an outside source to fight against me… either the maker of the arrows, or the Creature, or some other element of the Nexus. After talking to Octavius… it's hard to know who all is out to get me. On the other hand… they could also have finally experienced a mutation based on the prevalent Aether and developed very rapidly over the past few weeks.

If it is the powerful supporter theory… this might be a trap to draw me out. Then it might be better to gather all of my Riders for this battle. But if it was just a trap, why have a base out here, not on the plateau? Just so I let down my guard? Or was this the location where the outside force might have arrived.

Randidly clicked his teeth together. Then he reached out with Aether Detection and scanned the area. When that turned up nothing, Randidly changed his methods. Instead of just scanning, he sent out drills of Aether shooting outward. Even if they couldn’t pierce through any sort of Aether defenses, they would still experience feedback if there was any sort of barrier in the surrounding area blocking Randidly’s senses.

But as far as he could tell, there was nothing.

Plus… their actions so far haven’t demonstrated that they are aware that I’m present. Honestly, the defenses around my dome… are practically nonexistent. If the resistance here wanted to strike at me-