The next day, Daniel and the rest of Wingcraft gathered between the three houses in preparation for their next hunt. It was early evening, and raining lightly. The weather was odd in that it gave Khiat no cover from the sun. The clouds producing the rain were actually below the island, the precipitation falling through the ground limit and back down towards them. This phenomenon only occurred in the first half hour or so of a storm as the moisture from it would eventually reform the clouds above. An infinite waterfall would never form from this like it had in Aurus because there was mortal magic in that, but it was a similar principle.
As far as he was concerned, it just meant the first leg of the journey would be slightly more miserable. The changing of seasons made the skies of Threst more chilly, making him glad most of the team’s armor was fur-based. Khare wasn’t exactly able to bundle up, but they also didn’t seem too bothered by the temperature thus far.
Along with the five prepared to depart, Janice and Spinner were there to see them off. The housing in Aurus hadn’t been suitable to let the spider creature out but there was space here. She’d spread a loose network of webs that provided excellent home security, even catching an intruder who he suspected was Shuni last night. Whoever it was had run off when Spinner sent a shock to their position and woke up Tlara. The draconic roar alerted everyone else.
Leaving the monster active and behind would have been a bad idea given Tlara’s limits on her pouches, but they’d discovered that the spider didn’t count towards that total. Willow wasn’t sure why exactly, but Daniel knew it had to be due to their bond as the enspirited monster had been part of Tlara’s roster back in the Thormundz.
As far as the powers Willow got from Spirit Master, there wasn’t anything to explain it either. She’d first awakened Spirit Vault, which allowed her to store spirits and gain additional powers from them. They were essentially her Focus, granting her functions based on the spirit. The one she had now was aligned with the light, shield, and seeking archetypes according to Cloak, which she was currently using to make a projected shield.
It was an interesting combination of both intrinsic and non-intrinsic Foci mechanics with a serious drawback: Willow had to have at least one spirit for her powers to work. They hadn’t come across another on their hunts so far, and Daniel regretted that she hadn’t had a chance to inspect the fused whitesprings in case they had collectively had one. He’d also been unable to scan it due to flipping into Beast Mode halfway through the battle.
Today, they were trying to seek out another ‘undefined’ monster to claim a spirit, and Daniel was looking forward to testing out a power. Not one of the two he’d just re-discovered from the lost week, but one of the very first he’d ever acquired. They’d have to get some distance from Pinion’s Point first, and had decided to go up to the sky limit to do so. They’d checked out the ground limit already near Diver’s Rest but hadn’t crossed over, so it was a good excuse to visit the higher altitudes.
“You’re sure Tlara’s good?” he asked as a last minute check to Willow. They’d yet to find someone with Telepathy and while the Beastmaster hadn’t done anything too concerning, it was worth remembering she was the strongest on the team. Gaining control of a monster that could lock down powers only made her more dangerous. The iridescent whitespring was currently coiled around the neck of her wyvern, which did enough to label her as nonhostile to mortals if they didn’t already notice that the skyshock wyvern wasn’t native to Threst.
“Her soul is fine. You can just talk to her yourself.” Willow looked up and asked, “Tlara, you’re good to hunt today?”
“And you’re not going to try to eat anyone?” Daniel added. The wyvern turned an eye to glare at him and then nodded, the whitespring around her neck sticking close to her. He didn’t understand the full mechanics involved with her or her powers since she’d refused to share them with him in detail back when she could talk. It did appear she could swap monsters so long as they were in physical contact, so wearing it like a scarf effectively gave Tlara a readily accessible extra life.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to seeing that,” Janice commented dryly. “And Spinner… We’ll keep this place secure while you’re away. It’d make my life easier if you didn’t invite Rogues to break in, though.”
“I didn’t think she’d try and sneak in while I was sleeping! It was supposed to be a fun cat and mouse kind of thing.”
“Sure,” she dragged out the word. “Will you be back by tomorrow?”
“That’s the plan. Two days out at most if we see something good a little bit away, we’ll let you know.” Daniel nodded at the sending stone on Janice’s hip. It had been an expensive purchase. He had needed to outright buy it given he’d failed to make one despite his improvements. Getting one by itself was 20 viridian. That, in addition to a run on what potions were available had taken a sizable chunk out of the money he wasn’t keeping for his lost friends. It’d almost not been worth it until Daniel realized Flash Craft would allow them to get by with just one as he could create one that was ‘tuned’ Janice’s. He had it active by default, just in case.
“And don’t worry, we’ve got enough food,” Khiat added, though she’d be the one most concerned about packing light.
“I see. Well, good hunting. I’d say I envied you, but not in this storm.” Janice waved them off as, one by one, they took to the sky.
…
The skies of Threst were frequently broken up by small land masses, though the average of these were no bigger than the courtyard of the compound. Stretches of floating land like what Pinion’s Point was built on were rarer, not counting the land bridges that connected Aurus to the other regions. What land-bound monsters did spawn in this region didn’t appear here, though that didn’t make them safe. Flying monsters didn’t fly all of the time, and these small floating islets made for a perfect rest stop for them.
Wingcraft was adopting that strategy while Daniel prepared his ability. It took an hour to charge and he needed to be motionless while he doing so. While he’d improved enough in his seventh sense through enchanting to use the power, he was also inconsistent with it and had gone through the trouble of hovering a bag of holding over his head with a fur funnel to channel water into it. It looked ridiculous, but it kept the rain off of him.
What Daniel was attempting was to use one of his oft-neglected Totem Warrior powers: Attune to Nature. Daniel could feel the mana welling inside of him as he continued to prepare it. The process required some amount of control, not as much as enchanting but if you couldn’t feel the mana inside of you, you’d never be able to pull off the ability. He’d kept himself human for this part since he knew from Hunter using it that if you didn’t mark what you sensed, you’d have to rely on memory. With an entire extra dimension to work with, he’d need the help.
Tlara was flying around the island in a fit of boredom when he’d finished the preparations. Unlike when he’d rode along with Hunter’s attempt at this, Daniel didn’t get overwhelmed enough to be knocked unconscious by sensory overload. He did feel his consciousness expand in one of the most mentally altering experiences he’d had in this world, counting what Beast Mode and the oath bond did to him.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.
He was entirely vulnerable during the process as his body stayed in one place while his mind expanded out in every direction. It was like he was watching the results of a sonar sweep while also being the pulse, the outgoing tide of his senses registering creatures en masse that he did his best to tag with Identify Creature. Pinion’s Point wasn’t in the area of the effect this high up, and as uninhabited islands didn’t count, the only thing that broke the pulse was running into the sky limit. Daniel wasn’t sure how far he’d gone exactly, but it was far enough to see something extremely concerning.
“That’s… not good,” he reported after returning to himself and taking stock of all the auras. There were thousands, including all the base animals who the ability caught, but a fair number of monsters as well. The closest to them was a group of five level 1s half a kilometer away, though these were land-based and occupying an island under them. They weren’t the issue.
He counted twelve undefined auras of various sizes, usually accompanied by other monsters. That was still scarce all things considered, though there was one he was particularly concerned about. Without explaining anything to his team first, Daniel withdrew the sending stone he’d temporarily crafted. “Janice?”
There was a brief pause as the spearwoman had to withdraw the stone. They worked like walkie-talkies otherwise, up to and including the possibility of interference if too many people used the same signal. “Daniel. Is there a problem?”
“I’m seeing a large undefined monster aura two kilometers north of Pinion’s Point, all the way up next to the sky limit, with about a hundred level 1s around it. They’re a mix of known monsters.” He marked the aura for Khare’s sake in case the gestalt got the wrong idea from the tone of his voice. They weren’t in any immediate danger, although- “I can’t be sure, but it looks like it’s moving towards the city while maintaining altitude. Town, whatever.”
“Are they attacking the town?” Khiat asked in a worried tone, no doubt thinking of when her own home had been attacked.
Daniel muted the stone. “I’m not sure, but don’t worry. We’re not going to fight that many alone. Best case they can throw a level 3 team at that horde to trash it.”
“Acknowledged, hold on. I’m heading for the command post. Five minutes.” After hearing that, Daniel put the stone in a pocket and carefully fastened it rather than put it in one of his bags, since it couldn’t be heard from there.
“Willow, how many hunting teams are in Pinion’s Point?”
The Spirit Master looked briefly put on the spot by the question. “If I had to guess, a dozen? There’s more Blessed than that but not all of them can fly. I’ve talked to a few people but not everyone.”
“Gossip.” Willow gave Khare a slightly hurt look at that, but Daniel was smiling.
“Yeah, I miss Thomas too.” Daniel observed the rest of the auras he’d marked, but only the large cluster he’d reported was making consistent movement toward the town. The swarm around it had at least a dozen different monster variants, from young ludegrunds and whitesprings to those he hadn’t encountered yet. More were being actively produced, emerging from the larger undefined monster, which was an ominous sign. “It’s like a bombing run. Whatever that is is staying at high altitude. I wonder if it’ll just dump that swarm and move on until it makes a new one.”
“Monsters don’t normally mix like that,” Khiat commented worriedly.
“They did chasing Tlara.” Willow scratched at her head as she thought. “But that could have just been because they sensed her in Spinner and ignored each other. Are we saying that larger monster is controlling them?”
“It kind of makes sense if they’re coming from it.” Daniel sucked in a breath as a terrible thought occurred to him. Seeing the auras in detail this far out was hard, so he had to concentrate. When he did, he saw a pattern emerge. Not every monster around the undefined one was moving directly toward Pinion’s Point. On occasion, one would swoop towards an animal not smart or fast enough to get out of the way. The aura from that poor creature wouldn’t fade until it got close to the undefined monster, and soon after a new labeled monster would appear from it. “Oh fuck. Janice!”
Someone else responded. “This is Captain Esket Marrow of Raven’s Call, acting representative of the Hunter’s Guild in Pinion’s Point. You have a monster sighting to report?”
“Monster horde. There is a… an extremely dangerous monster variant heading for the town. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it’s controlling hundreds of level 1 monsters and using them to drag anything living close to it so it can make more monsters.”
“…say again?”
“It’s going to grab people to turn into monsters!” Daniel shouted, alarming his team as well as whoever was on the other side of the stone. He couldn’t explain everything quickly, but the fact that the undefined monster was sticking to the sky limit besides theoretically being unable to make use of it told him what its general plan was.
The Captain sighed, the inflection making it through the transmission. “We’ve been careful, the monster population isn’t high enough to endanger the town even if there are that many. I’m contacting Aurus to get a Fate on this, in the meantime do not engage the horde. The last thing we need is greenwings leading it back.”
“It’s actively heading toward you, we need to-“
“Daniel, he gave me back the stone,” Janice cut over him. “The captain just said they’re following protocol before leaving.”
“Those protocols were put in place before the Collapse! Janice, it’s going to unleash the monster horde, have it snatch up people, and then make them dive for the ground limit while hovering above the town. We don’t have the people to rescue everyone if it does that with everything it’s got!” He didn’t know this for sure, but it was about the worst thing that could happen and Murphy’s Law wasn’t something you ignored with these stakes. “I’m putting it at about twenty minutes from town, thirty at best if it doesn’t unleash the horde until it’s right over. How long do you think it’s going to take to get a Fate to confirm what I just said?”
“Considering he didn’t ask you where it was?” Janice asked rhetorically. “I’ll alert who I can find. At least the town’s ballista are always on stand-by. Give me notice if you see the attack start. What are you going to do?”
“We’ll head back. It’s the best we can do without backup.”
“I could try hitting it from far away,” Khiat offered. “It would be something!”
“It’s too risky for just us. These new monsters have powers we haven’t seen before and I can’t tell how strong the main one is. Plus, if we have to run from the horde we’d just be bringing it to the town prematurely. That’s why the captain wants us to hold back.” Daniel replaced the stone in its pouch and carefully pulled out a scroll. “I didn’t want to have to use this so soon.”
“That captain’s not going to like you going over his head,” Willow warned, though she didn’t sound discouraging. “You’re sure about this?”
“Yeah. It’s not moving away and that’s an insane number of monsters.” He unfurled the paper, watching as the rain that still fell beaded off of it without ruining the page. The markings on it made his eyes hurt, but he could just make out the patterns underneath and understand what he needed to do. It was technically too high level of a scroll for him to use as the limit was equal to half his intelligence, but the Commander’s various auxiliary powers did more than just improve the number of charges the scroll had.
The process for activating the item went quickly, and as he grew closer he could feel the mana moving within him. This was a one-way only spell, though that hopefully wouldn’t matter. As he spoke, magic suffused his voice like an incantation. “Monster horde inbound to Pinion’s Point, 2 kilometers north and high. Suspect leading monster can trigger monster spawning near it.” The magic of the spell was beginning to wear out and he knew he only had a few words left. “Captain following protocol, will be too late, damn it!” He considered another charge but had to trust Zolyra could figure that out. Unfortunately, she couldn’t contact him back, though Silora could with Farspeak as long as they acted fast enough.
Khare prodded him with a vine, having floated while still in their upside down flight dome. “Move?”
“Yeah, we should have been already.” Daniel kicked off the ground, taking in the surroundings as he did. There didn’t seem to be any other monsters joining the assault. In fact, a few groups were moving away from the horde’s advance. Monsters not part of a set group would fight each other, but there was no good way to abuse that since the presence of mortals would aggro… “Oh no.”
“What?” Willow asked.
Within his mind, a pressure started to nudge him. “I just had an idea.”