The humming of the drop ship's arrays echoed through the troop compartment, the only sound in an otherwise quiet ship. Everyone had a lot to think about after she shared her experiences in the spatial vortex. The plan was undecided, but the consensus was that they needed to get most of the squad to D grade before they went to investigate the area the oversized fish had told her about. In the meantime, everyone was catching some rest, and recovering after their harrowing escape from the lava fields.
Sitting in a chair on her left, Bastion leaned his head on her shoulder, having drifted off a while back. She could sense energy being dragged in from the world river, before being purified inside of his body. He snored softly, a feat that was impressive considering he wasn't actually sleeping, but cultivating. It seemed like a small distinction, but it was an important one. For cultivators, sleep was a huge waste of time, considering cultivating not only recovered your energy reserves but also had a similar effect to sleep.
Her family's cultivation technique, which she had taught to pretty much every member of her team allowed them to advance their cultivation instead of sleep. This essentially doubled their cultivation speed, turning a time waster like sleep into something beneficial to grow their power.
Her family's cultivation technique wasn't the best out there, but it certainly had its advantages. There were doubtless those from A-grade clans with methods that made hers look like garbage, but still.
There was always a bigger mountain, always someone who had things easier simply due to birth. Even knowing that Zee didn't feel like she would be a lizard on the chopping block if she ran into someone around her age from one of those lofty clans.
It wasn't the average cultivators she would have to worry about, no, it was the direct descendants who would one day rule their clan. Those kinds of people would be a tough fight, and even if she won, the reprisal for killing one would be disastrous for the Lorocan empire.
Despite knowing that, Zee wouldn't just sit by and let others take a key to the eternal throne right out from under her nose. Though terrifying, meeting that oversized fish was a blessing in disguise. Now she knew right where to look for a key, and all she needed to do was find a way to acquire it without getting herself and her friends killed.
Considering that the signal was deeper inside the endless storm, they would likely need to get everyone in the group to rank up before they went to get it. That was fine though. The big fish hadn't said she needed to investigate the anomaly right now.
Zee was more than happy to take her time and get stronger before they went in search of a key. After all, they still had two and a half years before they would return to The Fist. The small dot that was the lava fields disappeared behind them, leaving the range of their sensory arrays after a few days.
That planet was doubtless about to go through another terraforming in the deeper regions of the endless storm, before being spat back out, or thrown into the cosmic river itself. In either case, they would likely never see it again, much to the relief of most.
The lava fields had been all danger and very little reward, with Allison being the only one to gain any real benefit. The next destination on the agenda hopefully had more treasures to make it worth their while. The blood gorger who sold them the crystal called the place Saltarus. Supposedly, it was a region of the endless storm stuck in perpetual darkness, heavy with the shadow attunement. To make the place more interesting, it was also frequented by incredibly potent sand storms.
Saltarus was a well-known static region of this area of the endless storm and had been around for over a decade. The static region was in constant flux, but it stayed in the same general vicinity of the endless storm. Given the attunements of Saltarus, it seemed like a no-brainer to go there, as two of the party members could benefit. To make it even more tempting, it would only take two weeks for the drop ship to go there, not long in terms of space travel.
Being stuck inside a small capsule for weeks on end was not the most exciting thing. They cultivated for most of the time in shifts, using the downtime to work on breaking open their last inner gates. After two weeks of staring at the walls, Zee was more than a little excited for some action when the ship's sensory arrays picked up on a huge surge of energy. After a few minutes of scanning, a roiling image came up on the troop compartments illusory display.
Saltarus was like an ominous black storm cloud in the distance, drowning out a vast region of the endless storm. Saltarus wasn't just one planet, but a collection of smaller moons drifting along with the turbulent energies. On the display, Zee could see occasional flashes of light, as the dark clouds crackled with sand and lightning.
"Are we really heading into that?" Bastion asked, with reasonable concern.
Malden placed his paw on the haft of his war hammer over one shoulder. "Of course we are lover boy! Aren't you excited to see what kind of treasures are waiting to be found within?" Malden asked excitedly.
Bastion grunted. "You are forgetting about the monsters that will be hoarding said treasures. Have you already forgotten about the lava fields?" Bastion asked.
Malden's ears twitched dismissively. "Don't remind me of that awful place. There is finally a place where I can find something to help me take that next step. You better not slack off, I want to find a supreme natural treasure attuned to sand," Malden grinned.
Bastion scoffed. "You will have to wait your turn fuzzy feet, I'm helping Greg find a treasure first,"
"Of course you, a two-bit salesman would prioritize one friend over another," Malden scowled.
"Says the oversized fluff ball who is only thinking of himself," Bastion retorted, giving Malden a rude gesture.
"That's enough bickering you two," Allison stepped between them, the troop compartment suddenly quiet at her stern tone. "Yukna, would you please activate the main defensive arrays? I want everyone on guard, we are heading into an extremely hostile area and don't have the luxury to bicker like children," Allison ordered.
"Sure thing love. Our shielding is at full power, we will reach the outer edges of the cloud in twenty minutes," Yukna replied, her voice echoing through the crystals embedded into their environmental collars.
With that, Allison glared at the Bastion and Malden, who at least had the decency to look chastised. For her part, Zee hadn't even really been paying attention to the bickering, as a small leather book bobbed in front of her.
It was open to the stasis ritual, which she was already forming. Two weeks of downtime had given her plenty of time to figure out most of the kinks when combining and storing rituals inside her body. The notes inside said it was possible to store multiple separate stasis rituals inside your body, but Zee was a long way from being able to do that.
For now, she could only handle one stasis ritual, which contained the overly complex amplify ritual inside. It was an incredibly potent ritual, and once released, could enhance one of her skills to a terrifying degree.
Once complete, Zee compressed the combined rituals. It looked like a small ball of spiderwebs, where a drugged-out spider had spun it madly without rhyme or reason.
With shaky hands, she pulled the ritual diagrams inside her chest, making sure not to lose focus on them for a moment. This was a very nerve-wracking experience, as the rituals combined contained enough energy to blow her torso to pieces if she lost control. Thankfully, it went smoother than she expected, with the rituals stabilizing once they were both inside her body.
It was something she had read would happen, but she hadn't been certain until she tested it. She didn't have much time to inspect the stored rituals before something lit up the display.
A bright flash lit up the dark clouds, and Zee's eyes honed in on a silhouette. At first, one then a few more, their long tentacles and bulbous bodies very distinct. It was only a few moments, but she was able to see five distinctive outlines.
"Did you guys see that? Looks like monsters," Bastion said.
Zee grinned, "Not just any monsters. Those are storm wardens," Zee said.
Allison pursed her lips, eying the display for only a few seconds before making up her mind. "Storm wardens are at the top of our hunting list. I hear they are extremely rare to run into, we can't miss this chance. Yukna, I have lit up a section on the display, five storm wardens, go after them," Allison said, speaking into the crystal at her neck.
"On it," Yukna said, a hint of excitement in her voice.
The boredom from two weeks of inaction was forgotten as the ship's propulsion arrays were pushed to full power and it shot forward.
Zee had never seen one aside from information crystals and books but it was pretty hard to mistake them for something else. Storm wardens came in many varieties, and strengths, able to thrive in nearly any environment.
One thing was true across all of the variations. They were monsters with incredibly high affinities, with some having cores extremely useful for all sorts of things from arrays to creating armor and weapons. Zee was more than a bit excited, as she needed five storm warden hearts for Oknarog. Zee clung tightly to the overhead bars, the ship jostling as it plowed into the turbulent black clouds of Saltarus.
The storm wardens must have noticed their rapid approach, as all five surged with power. A gigantic vortex formed in clouds, and they all surged inside.
"Follow them Yukna," Zee called, her heart racing as the ship shot toward the vortex. Her excitement grew, the thrill of the hunt urging her onward.
Like an arrow loosed from a ballista, they breached the vortex. Expecting to see the backs of the storm wardens on the other side, Zee's stomach lurched as they burst from the other side. Strangely, they were high in a vast empty sky, hovering above a vast plateau that hung in the clouds below.
More urgently, the storm wardens were in a half circle just on the other side, their bodies radiating immense power as they gathered energy for an all-out attack. The storm wardens weren't running, no, it was an ambush.
"Defend!" Allison shouted.
Several things happened at once. A beam of annihilation shot out from the ship's cannon striking one of the giant jellyfish, just before sand formed a cacoon around the ship. The heart of fire beat in Zee's chest, her perception slowing as her body turned to mist. She phased up through the roof of the ship, passing right through both Taylors' sanguine blood barrier and Malden's dense sand.
Zee pushed right through them without interference. It was at times like this that she was reminded just how good her wayward walk skill was. Things like walls, and most forms of barriers might as well not exist as she passed right through them.
In heartbeats she appeared well above the ship, eyeing their opponents.
One had a huge bleeding hole in its crown from the ship's cannon, but the other four were undeterred their power surging to terrifying heights. A column of darkness formed above them, roiling with power as they combined their power for one all-out attack.
Chills ran up her spine, her palms suddenly slick with sweat as she gripped her sword tighter. Zee swallowed hard, uncertainty filling her. Her mind raced as she frantically tried to come up with a plan to block that terrifying attack.
Her instincts screamed of danger, urging her to flee instead of trying to block. She gripped the hilt of her sword tighter. With her friends in the crossfire, fleeing was not an option. Only one thing to do now. The floodgates in her mind opened, unleashing the power of her inner world. The sound of crashing waves filled the air, as her inner world was interposed on reality.
Above the lake of azure flames, a pitch-black orb of darkness hung, creating an extremely oppressive domain. Zee hadn't expected this, but she wasn't near as surprised as the five beast kings who faltered for a moment under the pressure. The hesitation only lasted a second, but it was enough for Zee to release her stored amplify ritual. The five beast kings didn't delay, unleashing their combined attack, changing targets to the obvious threat instead of the ship.
Despite the danger, Zee was relieved. With her pathways being pushed far beyond their limits, she felt like she could crush mountains. Her pathways screamed in pain as she channeled far more power than a peak E-grade cultivator should.
All that power flowed into the unfolding amplify ritual, being pushed to even greater heights. It only took a second before her skill was released, and not a moment too late.
A guillotine of force shot out at insane speed, colliding with the pillar of absolute darkness halfway between them. With a thunderous implosion, both attacks clashed with terrifying force. Zee was thrown hundreds of meters away as a gash in reality split space in two. Pain wracked her body, the wind howling in her ears as she tumbled head over heels away.
Her head spun, her body lurching as something slowed her momentum. Vision swimming she hung mid-air, suspended by an unseen force. Her eyes flicked back to the drop ship, and the four figures standing atop it. Using the ship as a platform, the others except for Yukna and Greg had all climbed out on top.
A grin tugged at her lips as she locked eyes with Bastion, who had his hands hands stretched in her direction. He had robbed her momentum and was currently keeping her from falling a very long way to the plateau below.
The others were already unleashing attacks at the off-balance storm wardens, with Malden and Allison drowning then in a quagmire of flames and sand.
"Hey love, don't mean to startle you, but I can't hold you much longer," Bastion said, sounding like he was gritting his teeth with effort.
Zee activated her movement skill twice in succession, appearing right next to him.
"Thanks for the assist bas, I owe you one," Zee said.
Bastion's relieved sigh echoed through the crystal embedded in her collar. "Any time. Another attack like the one you just launched will turn them to mince meat. Can you do it again to clean these monsters up?" Bastion asked excitedly.
Zee shook her head, having already restricted the flow of energy from her inner world. Her energy channels felt like they were on fire, and she had only used one skill.
"Are you two going to stand around all day or are you going to help?" Malden called, his voice echoing from their collars.
They shared an amused glance that spoke volumes before rushing to join the fray.
Malden had a point, there was still some work to do. That first all-out strike had stopped the storm wardens' ambush, and thrown them in disarray, but that didn't mean the giant jellyfish were beaten.
Infact, judging by their murderous bloodlust,
her stopping their attack and the shockwave that ensued had enraged them. One of the multi-tentacled jellyfish shot forward, its crown shrouded in crackling darkness.
It was shooting right for them, surging with enough power to rip the drop ship's shields to pieces.
An explosion of blinding white hot fire lit up the skies as Allison shot forward like a bolt released from a ballista. The world river shuddered as she unleashed the full power of her D-grade aura. Radiant white flames filled the skies, forming a halo with a monstrous presence.
It was Allison's newly acquired skill gained upon reaching D grade called Infernal Wrath. Zee was excited to see what Allison's new domain skill could do, and the first clash didn't disappoint.
The two clashed mid-air with a clap of thunder, flames, and darkness warring for supremacy.
Flames won, the ungodly heat turning its tentacles and most of its fleshy cap to a crisp.
Zee whistled, her face stinging from the heat, despite being two hundred meters away.
"Now that's firepower," Zee said.
Bastion nodded.
"No kidding, the D grade is a whole other level," Bastion replied.
Malden gave her a sidelong glance.
"Not for Zee apparently. Have you been lying to us about a breakthrough this whole time? Stopping that attack shouldn't be possible for one person at peak E grade," Malden said.
Zee smiled.
"Do I sense a hint of jealousy?" Zee asked.
Malden scoffed.
"I bet your pathways feel like they are on fire right now, you are like a fragile baby bird who fell from their nest," Malden said.
Zee gave him a rude gesture. "This baby bird is still going to kill more of the storm wardens than you," Zee said, her body turning to mist as she activated her movement skill.
With Allison unleashing a blazing inferno on the storm wardens, most of them were already scorched and heavily injured.
Allison was flying through the air unhindered, using her flames to propel herself. One of the perks of the D grade. There was no grace to her flight, as she was thrown in lurching arches side to side. They say that practice makes perfect and it appeared Allison needed a lot of practice. Thankfully, her jerking unpredictable motions seemed to make it extremely difficult for the storm wardens to hit her.
Without channeling her inner world, Zee couldn't fly yet, but she wasn't helpless in the lack of gravity either. It was a huge energy drain to continuously use her movement skill, but it sort of mimicked flight. She switched between her mist form, and short-range teleport while her mist form was recharging.
Expanding her spatial ripple skill to the limits she hit the storm wards hard and fast. Appearing in their mist, she let her sword break into dozens of razor shards that whipped around her at blinding speed. Wrapped in spirit echo, the shards of metal ripped deep bleeding gashes that burned with spiritual flames into the fleshy monsters.
Fighting in this way had her courting death, as not only was she evading a hail of attacks from the enemy, but also friendly attacks. Brilliant beams of annihilation whizzed past from the drop ship's turret, with a cloud of sand, and small hunter-killer bombs flying in to join the fight. All the while, a sheen of sanguine blood wrapped her skin, protecting her from the worst of the blazing inferno of Allison's domain.
As you might expect from peak and middle and peak-stage beast kings, the storm wardens took a beating before they went down. It would have been a much more dangerous battle if not for Zee going all out and stopping their ambush. Allison's recent ascend to D grade also played a large factor. Her white hot flames ate right through the jellyfish's shadowy protection singing flesh and burning bone to ash.
The most effective was when Malden and Allison combined their attacks, showing incredible coordination to time them perfectly to hit at the same time.
Bastion on the other hand was the least effective in terms of offence. The lack of gravity, combined with the lack of obstacles to push off made it difficult for the pugilist to reach his opponents.
Still, that didn't make him useless. He played a crucial role in the battle, stealing speed from the enemy so they couldn't dodge, or in some cases, using his momentum anomaly to deflect powerful energy bursts from the beast kings from hitting the ship.
He was surprisingly effective as a stalwart guardian, working in tandem with Taylor to keep the rest of them alive. More than once Zee might have been seriously injured if not for a perfectly timed blood barrier, or a tough angled attack being slowed so she could get her sword ready in time.
Greg and Yukna were just as effective, the ship's cannon punching large holes in the monsters with pinpoint accuracy. The ship juked and jived, in constant movement to avoid being a sitting duck. Zee was more than a little impressed at Greg's aim with that cannon so well. Zee couldn't hit the broadside of a planet with that thing, and yet Greg was hitting fast-moving targets, from a moving ship while avoiding friendly fire.
Dern didn't even bother to make an appearance, citing shitty terrain, but Zul was more than willing. The intangible ghost hid at the edges of the chaos, unleashing his incredibly deadly curses at unsuspecting enemies.
It was one such curse punched right through the cap of the last storm warden, turning its skin a sickly shade. Its mottled flesh was scorched, and its tentacles cut to ribbons as it finally went still. It drifted aimlessly through the air, with the plateau like an island in a lake of dark clouds far below.
Ignoring her aching energy channels, Zee pried into the flesh cap, thanking her lucky stars her collar protected her from the stench of cooked flesh. Her elation grew as her hand grasped onto something crystalline, right at the heart of the monster.
She wiped the gore-covered monster's heart with a cloth, eying it thoughtfully. It was the black of midnight, and strangely, uniform in shape. It was a dodecahedron about the size of a fist, with smooth sides.
It was one of the strangest beast shards she had ever seen, aside from the ones she took from the ashary she killed.
"What do you think that slimy oversized lizard
wants with these things?" Dern asked.
Zee bit her lip thoughtfully. "I have no idea. I suspect he sent us after them as a cover to give us some of his scales to piss off the emperor. Or Oknarog may have some sort of use for them, I hear they are quite useful for all sorts of things," Zee said.
"Pissing off the emperor is a noble cause if I have ever heard one," Dern said.
Zee laughed.
"We have never been in more agreement. Now, let's just hope the other corpses have hearts for us to harvest," Zee said.
The dropship had already flown over, and the others were floating about, prying into the caps of the dead monsters. It took a few minutes, but they harvested three of the storm warden's hearts. It was a good harvest, even if somewhat disappointing.
Completing half of Oknarogs demands in one go would have been really nice, but it wasn't meant to be. They still needed to harvest the nexus of a spatial anomaly, with two and a half years to find one. Given that they were exploring a wide array of different areas in search of supreme or peak-quality natural treasures to rank up, Zee wasn't too worried.
They were bound to run into more storm wardens, if not sooner, than later when they followed at constant insistent nagging telling her to go deeper into the storm.