"Then we will proceed to mount an offensive on this fortress city? Knowing their defenses and gods will certainly be helpful but I doubt we will stand a chance with our current forces. Unless you just want to solo capture the city."
"If only it were that easy. Taking over a city with excessive force will only inspire terror in the populace. We'll take it slow for now. With Rose's little tantrum they are going to suffer and if we then take over and restore the oasis we will surely earn the favor of the populace."
Red's idea was sound. Rose could easily reverse the effects by eliminating the target of her anger. In this case, her anger had been directed towards the oasis that was controlled by those gods. Taking over the oasis should fulfill the criteria of elimination.
"For that plan to work to its optimum we should spread a rumor. Let's say that the desert pantheon is ruled by evil gods and nature has chosen to punish them. That way we can smooth our take over as well as diminish the amount of faith they can reap."
Red agreed with me and Rose showed a little smile when I mentioned that we would call our opponents evil gods. Something about being the good guy felt so empowering. Politics truly were a drug to make one party feel better about itself by ostracizing the other.
"There is just one thing that concerns me. As you said, Red, they will have trouble when nature turns against them. What if the gods decide to launch an all-out attack?"
"About that. Did you pick up any names during your scouting and elimination?"
"The fire god was named Scorch. There were also Solon and Fa the leaders of the light and wind god factions."
"That's better than expected but as I feared. Of the five major gods, you only took out two. Pire, the leader of the fire gods, Rocha, the leader of the sand gods, and worst of all Qwas, the sole known water god are still alive. The possibility of them rushing over exists but since we killed two of them they shouldn't act rashly. We'll play the waiting game and grow our forces."
"Then I take it I won't be needed here anymore?"
"Not here specifically but there is something I'd like you to look into. Carlson told me some worrying things concerning the solar empire. Apparently, they control most of their realm except for some barbaric tribes at their borders. They have set their sights on other realms and have already found multiple gates. If possible I'd like for you to find whatever path Carlson used to get here and stall the advances of the solar empire."
"Time really seems to be an issue for us. We need too much time to expand our forces. I'll go and see what I can do."
"That would be great!"
Now, how would I find the path Carlson had taken into this realm. I could go ask him but since Red hadn't mentioned anything about it I would just be wasting my time. The bun I had asked had stated that he claims to have come here through a sand storm.
Assuming that was true, there would have to be some kind of spatial distortion inside the same storm. The luck needed for a weak human to pass through unharmed would be tremendous but I no one knew how many had died inside.
Finding a spatial distortion fitting the criteria of being big enough let a human pass through shouldn't be too difficult. The fluctuations created by a distortion of that size would definitely be noticeable if I tried to look for them.
Indeed, as I felt around for any ripples in the space of the realm I could feel multiple anomalies. There were three epicenters that I could roughly sense the location of. I chose the strongest one and flew over.
To keep myself from having any distracting encounters I flew high above the clouds. There was no atmosphere here in the typical sense of the word. Different from a planet these lower realms were bubbles of space. How did gravity work then? The core of the realm had the highest density and the spatial bubble hindered any outside interference.
How could there be a sun? Gods and magic.
I arrived in the air space above the largest spatial distortion and descended through the clouds. Below me was indeed a sandstorm. Now that I was closer I could see the fabric of the realm be torn apart by golden winds.
I briefly wondered if there was a similar phenomenon happening where the other two distortions were located but now was not the time to investigate that. Such a phenomenon could hardly be called a gate. The odds for ordinary folks to pass through would be close to zero, maybe one in a million would be lucky enough to make it.
There were some other things that threatened to catch my interest so I quickly dove into the heart of the distortion. As I approached the rift that likely leads to another realm the golden winds danced around me trying to cut my body apart.
In response, a dark wind began to spiral around me. The golden wind was effortlessly repelled by the dark one as they clashed numerous times. Finally, I had reached the rift and was about to pass through. Just then, the rift shifted slightly to the side. My left leg hit the edge of the rift and the spatial edge managed to cut my skin.
"Son of a...!"
I moved an absurd amount of magic into my leg and directly stomped down on the spatial edge. Space shattered under my magic-driven stomp and with a popping sound the sandstorm was blown away on this side.
Not that it concerned me since I had passed through the now slightly bigger rift and arrived on the other side.
I should have known! That damn sandstorm moves around along with the rift.
I was on the other side now but still within a sandstorm. My temper didn't appreciate the sandstorm and the dark winds around me grew violent.
"Typhoon!"