Chapter 183: Something Wicked (2/2)

To survive and thrive in anything.

I argued her belief with my actions here, and that felt good. There were no two ways about it. I still wanted to give her points some merit, however. Balancing my life some would do me some good. Besides, I could focus on leveling some speech skills for once. The only way that would happen was if I actually took some time talking to people. Go figure.

Of course, keeping my combat sharp was a necessity as well. With that in mind, I kept on edge as I fought. I molded my armor and tore strips of it off. I melted them, holding a pool of glowing metal above me with a gravity well. It rippled waves on its surface, the glowing mass like an ocean of white fire. I acted as a dim light, illuminating our way through the darkness.

I splashed this amorphous blob over the silvers that attacked me. If they resisted heat, I cooled the material over it, galvanizing the creature. They suffocated in steel. Otherwise, I melted them, their bodies bubbling and frothing under the glowing mass. If they survived the heat, I sliced them apart. No matter how they died, I absorbed the corpses for their mana, using the resources spread out in front of me.

I never lost sight of my goal, however. After several hours of searching, I found my first clue to the Skyburner's location. Along the edge of a spire, large claw marks etched out onto the pillar. The gashes matched the wounds of large talons, mimicking the wounds on espens. This kind of damage on metal required a Skyburner's strength.

Before I went any farther forward, I flew up high into the sky. I pushed my senses, straining my eyes to spot any other marks in the pillars. After several minutes, a pounding headache formed in my skull. Several beads of cold sweat poured down my forehead after a while longer of exerting myself. I found what I was looking for, however.

Far in front of me, I found another set of claw marks on a spire. Towards my right, I spotted another marred column. They were scouting marks, places the gialgathens used for rest. I plotted these points in my head, seeing them make a slight curve.

If I were right, their surveillance zone would be like a big circle since they flew over every obstacle. Once the gialgathens went out a certain distance, or for a certain time, they'd head back. I used this knowledge, making use of my mini-map.

My map only showed a trail we covered on our route here, along with large landmarks like the river of tears. Interacting with the software, I created the curve I found with the marred pillars. I extended this arch until it formed a massive circle.

I made a marker on my map at the center of that circle, hoping for some sense of direction. With that in mind, I floated back down into the wasteland, crashing through a flesh whale as I did. With a rain of blood pouring down, I consumed the creature before sending Althea my idea.

As I turned around to her, she gave me a jittery thumbs up. She looked terrified by not only the silvers but a little bit by me. I rolled my eyes at her, letting her know she was ridiculous. The gore was getting to her.

After getting some sense of direction, we trecked off through the forest of silver towers. Hours later, we neared the circle's center. As we did, the ground rumbled in a chaotic rhythm. It was like earthquakes of random intensity were going off. As we got even closer, far off echoes ebbed around us, growing in intensity as we got within eyesight of the camp.

With the same towering walls, the camp appeared simple enough. As I observed the bulwark, strange signs sent off alarm bells in my head, however. Several scorch marks showed on the fortress, some spots glowing white hot. Dents littered the entire wall, some places even showing cracks. None of this was too concerning.

What threw me off was that the dents bulged out. This meant they came from the inside, not the outside. The battle happened from within. With this in mind, I rendezvoused with Althea. With less than an hour left before sunrise, I whispered,

”Listen. There's something off about this Skyburner camp.”

She nodded, ”Did the earthquakes tip you off or the massive booms?”

I scoffed, ”Both, actually.” I pointed at the walls, ”The dents are from the inside. There might have been some sort of mutiny from the inside if we're lucky.”

Althea frowned, ”Eh, I doubt it.”

I nodded, ”Same here, but we can hope. You ready to check it out?”

She gave me the ok before dematerializing. We already discussed that she'd be the surveyor here. She risked far less than I did with how hard she was to spot. After a minute of waiting, Althea appeared in front of me. Her eyes wide, her pupils dilated, she stammered,

”Daniel...There's something bad in there. Something really bad.”

I creased my brow, ”What is it?”

Her hands shook a bit, something testing her nerves. She wrestled out her words,

”There's, uh, something eating the Skyburners.”

My eyes widened, ”Wait...what?”