Chapter 514: Ryun and Naha
Infiltration
The Space in front of Ryun twisted, and the five were gone. He couldn’t sense their travel, as he had pulled back his perception to just a dozen meters. He had poured as much of his density as he could into his puppet vessel, leaving his Authority Aura expanding only at a meter around him. He didn’t know yet if it could be detected in some way, and he didn’t want to risk it spreading himself as wide as he could.
Being so dense made him feel constricted, almost claustrophobic, though it also meant that his vessel could utilize all of his stats. His Soul he had infused fully with his Oblivion Aspect. It was the one he was most comfortable with, and the one that allowed him to move prevent others from detecting him. He didn’t have Scorn create a shell around him, and instead kept the instrument hidden deep within himself, ready to draw Qi from its core if he needed it. He was just a human shaped hole in the world now.
“Shit,” Maleatus cursed. “They noticed me.”
Ryun didn’t have eyes to look at him, but through his perception he perceived the strain on the man’s body. His muscles trembled, blood vessels in his eyes and nostrils burst, he was shaking.
Maleatus turned to look at Ryun and Naha, waiting behind him.
“I need to send you now,” he said. It wasn’t the plan, they had intended on waiting for at least a few minutes to allow the others the chance to draw their enemy’s attention. “I barely managed to get through, if they reinforce the barrier I’m not going to be able to do it again.”
There wasn’t much that they could say to that. Plans changed, and they adapted. Naha nodded and stepped forward, Ryun followed.
“Good luck,” Maleatus spread his arms and Qi flowed through his body, multiple perks and abilities activated as well, and then Space around Ryun and Nahamassa folded sending them away.
“I hear them,” Nahamassa spoke. “They’ve started fighting on the other side of the mountain.”
“Good,” Ryun said by forcing his will on the Air Essence around his head, creating sound. Then he expanded his perception, counting on the fact that them fighting would make them less likely to notice anything.
Once his sense reached the fortress on top of the Mountain, he stopped expanding it. He could even feel the edge of the town on the other side of it. The fire being sent toward a point in the air was significant. Maleatus had said that they had defenses, but this was more than he suggested. They had added more since he had last been here.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Go,” Ryun said, and Nahamassa dropped into her own Shadow, heading to her target. Ryun took a moment to pass his perception over the fort above him. There were several places that were warded against his perception. He didn’t push on any of them, he didn’t want to trigger any alarms, not yet at least.
He focused his will and Gravity stopped impacting him, then he jumped and let his momentum carry him to the sky at a high speed. The moment he reached the fort, he stopped his momentum, letting himself float in the air. His Authority flexed around him, keeping light from hitting him, bending it around his being to prevent anyone from being able to see the hole in reality that his being was. He erased all Sound that came near him or that was created by his passage, and took great care to not disturb the flow of Air.
He walked forward, letting his Authority prevent the air from moving beneath his feet by destroying any Kinetic Essence created by his steps, effectively freezing it in place.
He reached the wall and slipped into the fort. There were hundreds of people all around, running to the other side. Weapons were being discharged, turrets loaded and fired, people were yelling.
His perception washed over them all and then paused as he felt Space rippling. Immediately, he knew whom he had found, and rapidly pulled back his perception as the minotaur tilted his head.
There were few people that could detect Ryun’s skill, but it had started out as a skill that detected vibrations in Space. There was an element of that remaining. Someone who was a master of Space would be able to tell.
He narrowed his perception to just his immediate surroundings, a sphere barely a few meters in diameter. He didn’t dare expand it more than that. He didn’t need to perceive everything, he remembered where the protected areas were.
He picked the closest one and headed in that direction.
Naha flowed through the Shadows at the base of the mountain, her skill |I Walked Through All Shadows| allowed her to move swiftly, stepping through any shadow near her. She reached the town in nearly a blink of an eye.
Through the Shadows she could feel the people running around in a panicked manner. It was to be expected. The sky above them had turned into a battlefield. Lights were flashing and bolts of energy were being thrown around, explosions rocked the air and shook the ground. People were hurrying to hide in their homes.
The town was large enough to house tens of thousands, perhaps more. Her Image: The Shadows and Fears, danced in the back of her mind. She kept it close, not allowing it to expand. Its effects were… unmistakable.
She focused and used her Skill Perk Shadow Hearing, and every Shadow in the entire Territory became a window through which she could hear. She focused only on the Shadows in the Town around her, focusing on more than that would be too much, it would overwhelm her. There were screams, people fearing for their lives. There were orders being yelled out, a guard assembling and preparing for battle. She heard their plans, their countermeasures, they were preparing to activate something called the Burning Wrath. She ignored it, that wasn’t her job and she trusted the others to deal with it. Instead, she searched for any mentions of a prisoner. It didn’t take her long to hear something that caught her attention.
“Quickly, move it, they can’t find it here.” They didn’t mention Tali, but it was the only thing she had to go on. She turned and headed toward a large blocky building, surrounded by troops and with weapons mounted on top of its towers.
She made sure that her passage was unnoticed, her movements kept to the shadows. She moved, keeping her attention on everything the Shadow touched.