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Chapter 83 - Wrong Foot
🕑 Added 2024-07-18 20:00:06 +0000 UTCChris
After running into the fortified camp, my thoughts raced to come up with an idea of what to do.
I had no idea who these people were and jumping to conclusions was the wrong thing to do. I needed to take my time and consider what I wanted to do.
All I was told was I would find answers to the South. That didn't mean I would find them here, there was still further south I could travel. Something told me that it was here though. A slight nudge of my instincts told me I had reached where I was supposed to.
Fighting them was not something that I wanted to do and I needed to get my head straight. I couldn't just barge in and demand answers. One, that was rude. Rudeness wasn't something I normally considered after the world effectively ended but when a fortified wall was levied against me, rudeness became a consideration.
Two, demanding anything wouldn't necessarily get me what I wanted and if it did, I doubted it would be quick.
There was no evidence that pointed to them being behind the attack on my camp and assuming that was stupid. Just because Austin's skill pointed me here and said I would find answers didn't mean they were the ones responsible.
I couldn't demand answers or fight them, but I also couldn't just walk away. They had the answers I needed and they seemed unlikely to just give them to me.
Why else would they be so defensive?
With my mind fully cleared, I moved the plan of fighting them to the last resort. It wasn't something I would initiate but if it came to that, I wouldn't hold back.
A few other options came to mind. Asking them could work but they might not answer. Threatening them was in the same boat as fighting them and was a step too far. I had nothing to offer them for the information other than what I was wearing and I didn't want to give up my armor.
I could offer them points but I didn't want to do that either. I was saving up for a bloodline and paying them off would set me back.
Coming off as openly hostile wasn't my intent. These people could have nothing to do with it for all I know and making an enemy, one with considerable strength, wasn't what I needed right now.
I did kind of barge into their territory without so much as a hello.
If someone did that to my camp I would be less than pleased.
Without a better idea to get the answers I sought, I went with the most straightforward way.
Asking them.
Turning around for the second time, I walked out of the jungle and stood at the edge of the tree line. The wall was still rife with activity and weapons were still pointed at me but I ignored them.
I wasn't sure if I would survive getting shot with everything there but I had ways to mitigate that. With how far away I was there was enough time to use [Ice Fortress] a few times and my boost from [Avalanche] would last a few more minutes, should the worst happen.
[Reinforced Body] would help mitigate the damage and I could use [Ice Manipulation] on the walls of [Ice Fortress] to deflect the damage as much as possible. Everything boosted by my Law should see me through with only moderate injuries if everything went right.
It would certainly hurt, but I trusted in my skills to be able to defend against one volley. After that, I would have to book it to safety as there was no way I would survive the sustained firepower of everything on the wall.
I wasn't even sure I would survive the first volley.
Since they hadn't attacked me immediately, I had to assume they wouldn't just open fire on me now.
It was a hefty assumption, but one I believed they wouldn't break. If they wanted to, they probably could have attacked me well before I exited the jungle and found their camp.
After making myself visible, I took my hammer and planted it in the ground next to me, burying it deeper than I would have liked but the message was still sent.
I sometimes forgot how strong I was with a full-powered [Avalanche].
I wasn't sure they would understand my message but I hoped they would. I was trying to signify putting down my weapon and asking to speak.
The hammer was within reach, it would be stupid to get rid of it, but I wasn't holding it in a threatening manner anymore.
With deft use of [Permafrost], I subtly worked to chill the ground around me.
On the off chance this went badly I needed to prepare to defend myself.
~~
Tracy
Why did he have to come here!
After learning the man was coming in her direction, she readied her camp just in case he attacked. She had seen the power he wielded and was justifiably afraid of what he might do.
She was treating him like she would a boss monster from a wave. She had the weapons manned and people ready to defend in case of attack and she was using the time until he got here to figure out why he was coming.
They hadn't done anything to the man or his camp so his abrupt turn and his subsequent journey here was a mystery.
She had Kathy keep track of his progress while she got ready to receive him. She needed to be ready just in case this turned ugly. The man's power was nothing to scoff at and even behind her walls, she was still uneasy.
Picturing the ease the man bulldozed through trees and his giant leaping gait still played through her head. She wondered how many points in strength were needed to do that.
With plenty of time to spare, she and her forces were ready for the encounter. The man had slowed as his journey stretched on and he stopped knocking over trees which made it take longer.
It still only took a few hours from the time he started traveling south for him to arrive which was faster than she would have liked. He tore through her traps like they were paper before busting out of the tree line.
Kathy knew where he was going to come out and Tracy made sure everyone on the wall was ready and pointed in that direction.
The man took one look at the wall, saw everything she had arrayed against him, then turned around and went back into the forest.
It made her want to laugh and she might have if she wasn't dealing with a walking disaster.
She stood there on the wall momentarily stunned before the man came back out.
He stopped just inside of the tree line and slammed his hammer into the dirt. After putting the weapon down, he crossed his arms and stood there menacingly.
Tracy wasn't sure what the man was after and made sure that no one attacked prematurely. The man's camp defeated the Mindbreaker and getting them as an ally would help tremendously against the threat he posed.
She trusted in her defenses but the man already showed great strength and that was without revealing any skills. All she knew was he used ice and had herculean strength. He could have extremely strong skills for all she knew that could let him get over the wall.
They stood facing each other, one standing alone, the other behind a stone wall and on top of fortifications, and just stared at one another.
"Ma'am, what should we do?" One of the wall leaders said.
He was a heavy-set man who came from a faction Tracy didn't even remember anymore. He was one of the four appointed wall leaders and was in charge of the northern wall, where they were. The four wall leaders were the strongest in camp outside of her and Kathy.
The generals she had holding her other pylons were stronger but they weren't here right now. The man was normally in charge of the wall they were standing on during the waves and was second in command to only Tracy.
Kathy, her usual second, coordinated between the different Wall leaders during the waves so she didn't count. Her job was to keep everyone apprised of the situation so nothing took them by surprise which was outside the direct chain of command Tracy had established.
After he asked the question, everyone in earshot turned to her for directions on what to do.
She wasn't sure what the man standing below was after but he didn't seem likely to attack.
It looked like he wanted to talk. He went about it in an odd way but she couldn't really fault him for that. It didn't seem like he had an elaborate plan based on the desperate chase Tracy witnessed.
Tracy knew he was trying to find the person responsible but that only confused her more. The Mindbreaker wasn't here and she wasn't sure what led the man here.
Without anything else to do, she had everyone remain on alert while she went to speak with the man.
She wouldn't go personally, that would be stupid, but use a mage to create a two-way scrying pool. She would stay safe behind the walls and figure one what the man wanted.
~~
Chris
I stood, waiting, for a few minutes while nothing happened.
Just when I was beginning to think that nothing would, I felt mana being moved around me.
I wasn't as good as Rachel at sensing and manipulating mana but I was good enough. It helped that my ice mana saturated the area and it made it easier to detect when others intruded.
Anything that wasn't ice stood out and was easier to notice.
[Permafrost] was hidden from view concealed by the ground under me and my mana diffused in the area from the drain of the skill.
The foreign mana stopped a few paces away from me and became visible to the naked eye through a spell. I wasn't sure what spell was being used but it didn't feel like an attack so I left it alone.
After some sputtering, what looked like a circular portal in space opened up. Inside looked completely different than the surrounding area and a woman was standing on the other side of the portal.
It was an odd way to speak with someone but it accomplished it all the same. I knew portals weren't something we could create yet so I wasn't worried about any attacks coming through, it seemed like it was only for light and sound.
The other side looked like the inside of a stone room and was dreadfully plain. The only thing I could see except for the stone that made up the room was the woman standing front and center.
She was on the shorter side and looked young. Well, I was also young but it didn't feel like it when what felt like a decade had passed in the past month.
The woman was in her twenties and I couldn't get an accurate judge of height through the portal but she couldn't be over 5'6".
Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and the tail only came down to her neck. If it was down I doubted it would go very far past her shoulders. Her face was a mask of stoicism with a hint of what looked like confusion.
I wasn't the best at reading facial expressions but having better visual sight made it easier to see tells. It wasn't anything overt but a slight scrunch of the eyebrows and a smidge of curiosity as she looked me over as I did the same to her made me think that.
I was no salesman trained in concealing facial expressions and it seemed like she wasn't either. She most likely gained the same amount of insight from me as I had from her. A small part of me wondered what she saw.
Her gear was unsubstantial at first glance. Without the slight flaws or artistic touch that crafters produced it was clearly store-bought. Without knowing exactly what she bought I had no way to tell how good it was. Plus, I wasn't even seeing it in person to get a good look at it.
Store-bought items were hard to appraise as they were so far above what I could make and were made through means I had no knowledge of.
Based on what I saw of the wall, I doubted it would be weak. The amount of points being spent here had to be substantial and the gear of the woman facing me wouldn't be weak.
After we both finished assessing each other, she opened the dialog.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Her tone was curt and slightly clipped.
It made me cringe a little thinking about how she probably saw things. A random person runs up to your camp and just waits, demanding an audience. It wasn't the most polite way to begin a relationship.
"My name is Christopher and I came from a camp up north," since I was the intruder it was only right to give my name first, "We were recently attacked and I was searching for who was responsible."
I had entertained the thought of lying to them but didn't go through with it. They most likely had no idea who I was and even though they probably wouldn't find out, lying felt wrong.
I blamed my Dad for infecting me with this notion of honor. Plus, being straightforward and truthful was the fastest way to get what I wanted.
"A skill someone in my camp has led me here and said I would find the answers I was looking for," I stated.
Mentioning that the only thing I was given was a direction would remain a happy little secret. They didn't need to know that. Plus, it wasn't lying.
The omission of facts was different than lying. My Dad wouldn't agree but he wasn't here now was he?
The woman chewed on what I said, thinking for a moment.
I wasn't sure how she would respond but what she said shocked me.
"So you aren't here to attack us?"
That was a question I hadn't expected. Sure, I busted out of the tree line and was wielding a weapon at the time, but I didn't do anything overtly threatening. I wasn't sure where she got the idea I was going to attack her.
It would seem we got off on the wrong foot.
Comments
HADES
Lmao I meant slow as in mentality challenged
Demonlord
He has over 600 stats in strength so he's definitely not slow but he needed a few skills to get through the traps. That's definitely slowing him down a little bit
HADES
Is he being slow or all the traps he busted environmental hazards to him?lol
