Godfather's System

As much as I wanted to stop and be surprised at the notification I received about the heart of a flying castle, the events had developed too far for me to slow down. I ignored the risk of integrating with the core. Instead, I wrapped the core up with some of my mana, hoping that it would be enough to keep it hidden. Afterwards, I ran out, my Concealment still in full force.

Even with my Concealment, running to the edge would have been a challenge if the top floors were occupied like they were supposed to be. Luckily, most of the forces were on the way to attack the prisoners, and the others were still distracted by the birds and other small flying critters, still crowding the place because no one remembered to use their Charisma to keep them away.

I didn't care much about the reason for their incompetence as I threw myself out from the edge. "I wish I had my glider with me," I said as I fell like a rock, far faster than the castle that was still struggling. On the way back, I expanded my mana senses, trying to feel the spells that were part of the castle.

I was familiar with Flying and other enhancements that were part of the outer layer of the flying castle, as they were also used for the flying carts and other devices. However, no matter how much we worked, we failed to replicate that effect when we tried to get one of our own flying.

Still, there was one advantage. By stealing a connection, I had just alerted a god — or a demigod — that there was someone capable of breaking that connection around. And, since it was a Somaton castle, expecting them to contact Somaton forces about the occasion was a reasonable conclusion. In any other circumstances, I would have hated that, but for the current circumstances, an additional circumstance worked perfectly in my favor.

I wasn't planning to stick around.

The others shared my decision. Many soldiers started to jump down, and soon, I saw the prisoners following them, still in rags but carrying magical weapons. More importantly, they were all alive, and currently in a tight formation of Charisma.

The cursed man I saved was no ordinary man.

I hoped that he was someone I could let alone to operate. Still, a warning was necessary. I scribbled a warning. 'You can think of this as a favor, or a chance to prove yourself. But, hurt the innocents or commoners, and I will take the gift back.'

Then, the moment I landed, I wrapped that into a rock, and threw it at him, in a deliberately slow, arcing path to make sure he didn't mistake it with an attack and destroyed it. That little communication was all I was willing to extend until I could get a better idea about his performance.

Assuming, of course, he survived.

As much as I wanted to stick around and observe the area for a day or two, I couldn't afford to stay. I couldn't even afford to give him the modified morse code I used to communicate with the others, not wanting my enemies to realize we had an undetectable method of conversing. While that method was obvious to me, it didn't mean that it was being used by the others.

It wouldn't be the first creative solution they missed due to their obsession with tradition. And, even if they were using it, I preferred to keep it hidden for as long as possible. Trump cards only worked when the enemy was unaware of them.

I ran as fast as I could manage, using my Perception to make sure I avoided the reinforcements … of which there were many. The destruction of a flying castle right in the middle of their territory was not something they could dismiss.

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As I moved, I contacted Zolast, asking him to share the real-time status of the breach. A few minutes later, the confirmation I was looking for came. The Marquis was nowhere to be seen, and seven of the ten castles that had been defending the breach were already moving.

I asked him to give half a day to start attacking, but keep it to probing attacks until I could return. My plan was not to take over more cores from the castles, or, System Beacons as the System named it. While it was tempting to have more, the process of stealing them alarmed the divine entity on the other side of the connection.

Stealing more from within our territory would link us to the border conflict I had just engineered. Not something we could afford right now.

[-1 Mana]

I frowned as I received another notification. Keeping the blocking ward around the System Beacon was more challenging than I had expected. However, I didn't want to remove it until I reached the sea, where the evidence of my movement would be concealed even further.

"It was a fun journey," I muttered as I threw myself into the water, dived deep, and swam until the land was nothing but a memory, even with my Perception. I pushed to the surface once more. "Now, let's see if it'll bring the attention of the monsters." I weakened the mana shell around the orb.

The fish charged at me like they were being starved for months. A subtle charisma blast was enough to make sure the weakest critters stayed away from me, while the larger ones still attacked.

It wasn't an incredible gain, but still, it was enough to give me something to do. Things started to get more fun when the Lord Beasts started to attack, their strong Vitality not enough to save them from my deadly blows anymore. Taking down one barely took fifteen seconds, and each kill netted me another Ability Stone.

The only annoying thing was that I lacked the equipment to gather those valuable carcasses. They would have been useful. Still, at least, I could repeat this on our own shores and —

My thoughts were interrupted by the most intense sensation of fear I had ever felt since I had faced the avatar of Set, when I was much weaker. I trusted my instincts and dodged, only for a tentacle to skewer the point I would have occupied if it wasn't for my sudden change of position.

It came from the depths, from the darkness. And, considering the sudden cloud of dust filling the water to reduce the visibility, the beast responsible for it was either underground, or somewhere near it.

I shivered. It was too close. I immediately reinforced the defenses around the orb. Technically, I had no evidence to link the sudden attack to the orb, but I didn't grow up to this age by believing in coincidences.

[-15 Mana]

The tentacle attacked again, but this time, I dodged easier. Not because I predicted it, but because it was considerably slower. It looked like, without the orb's constant attraction, it lost some of its energy.

I had the distinct feeling that the beast was feeling sleepy rather than anything else. Why and how, I didn't know … and currently, I didn't care either. Instead, I stretched my Perception to the limit, trying to avoid the attacks.

Sleepy or not, the mysterious beast insisted on chasing me for half a day. Luckily, whether due to its biology, or the magical reasons that were keeping it in slumber — not for a second, I believed it to be an ordinary reaction, the System interacted with the beasts too much for it to be a coincidence — but the beast never pushed its main body out of the darkness of the sea, allowing me to escape smoothly.

I could have probably escaped by flying in case of an emergency, but even with Concealment, a flying figure was too attention catching.

What followed that was half a day of chase, which, unfortunately, was far more boring than the idea of desperate undersea chase between a supernatural man and a mysterious magical beast. It stayed under darkness, its attacks getting weaker and weaker as its supernatural sleep got too strong. Meanwhile, I swam away, dodging its one-dimensional attacks with no risk, careful not to move toward my destination directly just in case someone could follow the beast.

I didn't dare to attack its tentacles. Even with my abilities, I wasn't willing to try to take it down, and since a casual attack had the risk of dissipating its slumber, I didn't consider it a risk worth taking.

Ultimately, the detour would cost me a day. Not exactly cheap considering a war was going on, but wholly acceptable considering the scale of the danger.

Especially since I had received rather welcome news. Apparently, Somaton forces had been weakened even more than we expected, and the moment the younglings started having their probing attacks, they were able to make incredible progress in short order.

I wondered whether they could finish the battle before I returned.