Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

“Assess our damage!” Hana ordered her strategist. 

“Roger! We’ve lost 24 Heavy Ent Warriors, 2 Potato Mother Ent, and almost a thousand Vulture Honey Bees. We have no human loss, but 4 of our members are heavily wounded…” she reported.

When the three party of 10-orks approached them, the three main army groups shared a tacit understanding of non-interference. This wasn't because they didn't want to share contributions, but because each group wanted to test the effectiveness of their methods against an ork raiding party.   

In a sense, the raiding party is similar to the party of hunters. They are used as a method to gauge their combat prowess.

Hana took a glimpse at the other battlefield. Amongst the hunters, perhaps her team was the one who suffered the most. Other teams have better combat ability against small teams of elites, while hers are relatively weaker. The ents that died in the battle solely died to the group of Orks… which proves how hard killing a group of them are.

Of course, it doesn’t automatically make her team the weakest because she experienced a loss. There’s simply an issue of compatibility. Hana’s ent army is the one that killed the most low-tier greenskins but lacked killing power against the orks. That’s simply it.

“How about the other team?” Hana asked as she messaged her temple. Enslavement-path battle tactics consume a large amount of telepathic resources, she’s now experiencing the backlash of overdrafting her sea of consciousness.  

“Most of Radiant Desolation are heavily wounded, while Frozen Heart are lightly wounded with no one receiving heavy wounds. As for Twin Helix…” her words trailed off. She doesn’t want to make her captain’s mental wound worse.

“Tell me.” Hana sternly demanded. 

“Well… With the exception of a kobold who tripped and hurt himself and Kenji who’s using an Ork to practice, Twin Helix is absolutely unharmed.”

“WHAT?” Hana’s bloodshot eyes gazed at the distant two groups. 

Twin Helix have split themselves into two small groups, each covering the flank. According to her calculation, at the very least, Sumire’s kobold would lose a third of their numbers and her tank, Kurogane, would be heavily wounded.

“It’s like this… Ayame is constantly assassinating the orks engaging with Sumire, allowing her group to dispatch the ones that came for her…” 

“Then, what about the ones that approached Shion? That group has two Shamans…” Hana asked.

“I am not sure, captain. Shion used a white chemical smoke that conceals heat signature and vision. And, you know how she’s immune to most passive detection other than sight. Even with my wood-path investigative killer move, I am unable to determine how she’d killed the orks easily…”

“It must be her Soul Armament… Tsk.” Hana pondered for a moment before revealing a smile. “I get it. Her songs are far more dangerous than we thought. I need you to find me a sound-path countermeasures as soon as possible. I sense her retaliation would be far more dangerous than we’ve predicted. We need to capture Fort Esela and get the inheritance within at all cost.” She whispered.

“Understood!”

 

…

 

The hunters have regathered after half a day of recuperating. Most of the wounds from the battle with the orks have been healed due to the effectiveness of faith-path healing methods, but there are some that not even blessings could heal, such as the backlash of self-mutilating methods similar to [Power Overwhelming].

“How are we going to attack Fort Esela?” Shion asked. “We need to quickly start our assault. Necrophagous beasts are already feasting on the corpses that we could not make use of.” 

“The greenskins rely on the one and only Troll that has hidden itself in the deepest part of the ruined fort. We cannot kill the troll without sufficient preparation.” Hana replied.

Anastasia was sharp enough to hear the wavering tone that she used. “Preparation… What kind?” She takes a deep look at Hana, “Do you have an intel that you want to share with us?”

Hana glanced at the other captains. Then, with a reluctant expression, she fetched a scroll from her strategist.

“This…” she said, as she spread the scroll open wide on the table.

Everyone frowned.

It was a picture of an Ork fitting an armor for a Troll whose skin shone in radiant radioactive glow. The background showcased the irradiated environment and the green-grey skies of the Ruined Wood Palace. With a certain level of intellect, ones that saw a glimpse of the picture would be able to put the clues together to determine that the location is exactly the Fort Esela in front of them.

What made everyone furrow their brows is the fact that the Troll, probably having a 4-meter body height, is wearing magic machinery armor. At least three fourths of its body is covered with metal.

“Is that glowing Troll… wearing magic machinery armor?” Klauss, a techpriest of Machine God Oppenheimer, reacted the quickest. With a glance, he instantly understood the worth of the armor. Despite looking like scraps being mashed together to form a primitive armor, the greenskin-magic runes engraved on its vital parts and the clockwork gears mechanisms indicate that it was a true magic machinery armor.

Anastasia read the notes on the pictures. “The son of the Troll Warlord himself… Not only is this rank 1 troll a 4-meter class, he is also supported by an elite Ork Tekboyz…”

Li Xiao Bai took a cold breath. “A bastardized version of an exosuit? Or is it power armor?” He was quite knowledgeable regarding strategic resources such as power armors. But, he isn’t an expert on it. He was unable to determine it with a shallow analysis.

“It should be an exosuit that drains the energy from the user. A power armor should have an internal reactor system, it’s too complex for a rank 0 Ork Tekboyz to comprehend. Though, I am truly curious where the fuck did the Ork Tekboyz get a magic machinery armor blueprint…” Shion sighed, expressing frustration. 

Nobody knew her frustration came from the fact that fate is making things hard for her. ‘Not only I have to fight against [Dragon’s Shadow], the world's passive retaliation also empowers the troll to have magic machinery armor. What terrible luck.’ 

Thinking it once more, she felt it was a great thing that this predicament was caused by an Ork Tekboyz instead of her personal minor inheritance. If the Troll wore a complete magic machinery armor refined by human hands, or worse, if it was her personal creation, it would be a complete disaster with no short term solution.

“Can we stop paying attention on the fucking armor and pay attention to that… whatever that triple-barreled thing on it’s left hand?” Sumire asked, annoyed and frustrated. “Isn’t that a gun similar to your gunlance?” she raised her eyebrows at Shion. 

“It’s called an autocannon, a gun that fires large caliber rounds rapidly, usually loaded with explosive or armor-piercing rounds.” Ayame took the opportunity to share her wisdom. “Though, according to my understanding of greenskin craftsmanship, even if an Ork Tekboyz refined it for them, their accuracy should be low and the quality of the ammunition are inconsistent. Still, there’s a question of where Tekboyz got the blueprint to make a complex system like the autoloader connected to the ammunition box behind him.”    

Everyone has their gaze returned to Hana. Under the pressure of everyone, she relented as she shared her sources. “I did not hold back the intel on purpose. The night before the main army left the hunter base in Azaria Forest, I received an intel from my clan regarding the situation on the primary battlefield.” She massaged her temple slowly. “The Troll Warlord managed to get his hands on an ancient weapon cache that originated from the 4th Calamity… Yes, it contains the blueprint of magic machinery artifacts but mostly are rank 0 gunpowder weapons.” 

“Coincidence?” Sumire raised an inquiry at Li Xiao Bai.

It’s common sense that neighbors have conflicts with each other. The only country large enough to threaten the Hartina Kingdom who borders Galatreon is obviously the Qin Empire. Not only did the Qin Empire have the economic and military might to pose a threat, they also had the motives.

In that instant, the atmosphere became tense. Although nobody made excessive moves, each captain had already started their method activation sequence secretly. 

“I… have nothing to do with this. I’ve left my family on my own volition. Besides, I have to travel across the whole Kingdom to return to my empire. Why would I sabotage the kingdom given that I won’t be able to return if the kingdom declares martial law?” Li Xiao Bai answered with indignation. 

“Well, I am not accusing you of anything… but…” Sumire glanced at the other Radiant Desolation members. 

They are all non-native of the Kingdom. Each of them is a potential spy for another country. 

“Watch where you pointed your fingers. We are under an alliance contract…” Li Xiao Bai coldly replied to Sumire’s accusation.

“Yes, for now.” Anastasia took a step back. Her body language expressed she does not want to enter an internal battle as it would be counterproductive for their objective in coming into the Ruined Wood Palace.

“It’s not the Qin Empire’s scheme.” Hana backed Li Xiao Bai. “All of you must be aware of the recent happenings in the Southeast Hunter Academy, especially regarding… Shion.” She put the whole attention back towards Shion.

“The Land of Eternal Spring’s elves, is it?” Shion inquired.

Reports regarding the ‘High Elf’ Nyx have been entering the higher ups of Hartina Kingdom recently. The Land of Eternal Spring or simply the North Continent is a place where the human population is the lowest. Over 80% intelligent race in the Land of Eternal Spring is either elven or their subordinate races. 

“Yes. I believe none of you are idiots. You must be aware of their ‘political balancing’ games.” Hana said with a tone of anger. Those elves truly made life difficult for non-elves, and unironically, for themselves by causing conflict in all five regions of Morgen World. “As of now, this is classified intel, but I can share some information to ease your doubt. Hartina Kingdom’s Legendary Grey Steel Sword Saint, Lord Kubikiri Hagane, is leading a special unit to destroy a hidden elven stronghold in Azaria Forest.” she said while emphasizing her gaze at Shirogane and Kurogane.

“I am not too clear on that matter as it is related to the kingdom’s military, but I can confirm that the Grey Steel Sword Saint is currently in Azaia Forest.” Nodded Shirogane. “He is my biological father.” She added.

“I see.” Sumire could not deny Shirogane’s claim. Doing so would mean showing distrust towards Shirogane. She was also curious of Shirogane’s change of attitude even before Twin Helix’s departure towards the Ruined Wood Palace. Now that she reveals that it was related to her father, it all made sense.

“So those fucking elves have a hand in this.” Li Xiao Bai glanced at the petite elf in Sumire’s team. “Not you of course. Petite elves are always accepted in the Land of Autumn Rain.” His gaze returned to everyone else. “Is there anyone who doubts my stance?” Li Xiao Bai asked, irritation laced in his tone.

“No.” Anastasia replied coldly. She rolled her eyes at the southern continent natives. In her motherland, their unity is so strong that there’s simply no internal conflict. Even under the influence of the elves’ ‘political balancing game’, the Seas of Eternal Winter’s unity is unshakable. 

Although the tense atmosphere is defusing, nobody has a solution for the troll laced in magic machinery equipment.

“Do you have further information regarding the troll? Names, habits, cultivation, or anything that might help us deduce his weakness?” Shion asked Hana.

“Kel-Zulkis, his arcane cultivation base is at 3 red stars in blood-path and poison-path. No, I am not joking. According to my deduction, the reason why he sent out his slaves is because he’s too lazy to fight against rank 0s like us. Even when his Ork guards are slaughtered, he should be cultivating by bathing in radioactive material, not caring about our meager strength.” Hana simply said.

“Lieber gott. A rank 1 blood-path and poison-path troll magic caster covered in magic machinery armor… Wie sollen wir diesen Wichser töten?”

“What the fuck are talking about?” Li Xiao Bai lashed out after hearing Klauss using an unfamiliar tongue. He was obviously tired with Klauss’s shit.

“Oops, sorry.”

There was absolute silence in the room as everyone tried to think of a method to kill the troll. 

After foughtly 10 minutes, Shion woke up from her pondering. “Ayame, what do you think about the magical runes engraved on the magic machinery armor?” she asked.

“According to my analysis… it should be a defensive rune array. The runes provide a magical force shield while augmenting the performance of the armor. Beyond its crude greenskin craftsmanship and outdated design, it bears strong similarity with runes engraved on an early generation of [Personal Shield] carried by Galatreon’s military. From the glowing green colors, it should be a poison-path magical shield that runs under the principle of radiation.” 

“So we have to break the armor’s poison-path magical force shield before we can crack open the troll’s blood-path one.” Shion bit her thumb. “Do any of you have a trump card powerful enough to affect a rank 1?” She took a brief look at every captain.

Non-captains are too weak to have that kind of firepower.

“I do.” Anastasia answered. 

“Elaborate briefly.” Shion demanded. 

Anastasia was smart enough to understand what Shion was trying to do. Asking for one’s trump card is taboo amongst hunters, but the situation demands it. “Area of effect, containing the aspect of wisdom-path, emotion.”

Shion nodded. “Anything else?” She glanced at Li Xiao Bai and Kobayashi Hana. The two did not say anything even after two minutes, disappointing her.

“Then, give me three… no, two days to find a killing strategy. I don’t give a fuck how, the task of delaying Kel-Zulkis guards and dismantling at least one of his magical force shields is given to all of you. Twin Helix, let’s leave.” She led her team away.  

Anastasia glanced at the two captains in disappointment. “I will try to prepare my team to break one of the Troll’s layered defenses.” She also led her team away from the encampment.

Radiant Desolation and Thousand Flower members did not say anything regarding their captains. They are soon excused by Hana’s strategist. 

After everyone but Hana and Li Xiao Bai left, Hana’s despondent expression was replaced by a faint smile of satisfaction. 

“Is this wise?” Li Xiao Bai asked, worried.

“Forcing them to showcase their trump cards in exchange of my reputation is worth it.” Hana replied. “In any case, we truly lacked the firepower to destroy the troll’s defenses. I’m going to slowly grind the greenskins to lower their numbers, do you want to join me?”

Li Xiao Bai sighed. “Fine. I’ll tag along.”

 

…

 

Later that day.

“With this level of radiation in the rainwater, it’s amazing how the greenskins could survive and adapt.” Sumire commented as she enjoyed looking at the heavy downpour outside of the lead-shielded tent. 

“About my proposal.” Shion said, ignoring her comment.

“I accept.” Sumire smiled. “I can use them to groom the kobold’s bloodline.” 

Shion passed a pouch containing blood red crystals. This was her portion of contribution for slaughtering a large amount of greenskins in the previous battle. Needless to say, the blood crystals are harvested by Thousand Flower’s members who excelled at logistics. This was her first portion. Further contributions rewards will be delivered as Thousand Flower harvest more raw resources from the battlefield.

Each of these blood crystals weighed 100-grams, they are greenskin blood concentrated, purified and then refined into crystals the size of a coin.

Although widespread blood-path development is suppressed by the churches of the Twelve Main Divines, blood-path resources related to bloodline are actually circulated in the market. This was because bloodline-related methods are extremely precious to the point that the churches are unable to forbid everyone to not use it.

After all, they too, use them on a large scale. As long as blood-path methods are not used publicly or for combat, it isn’t a problem to use them.

That being said, blood crystals could be used in certain rituals to purify or strengthen one’s bloodlines. Of course, the stronger the bloodline, the more purified blood crystals required. For the kobolds, one precious blood crystal might allow them to evolve or experience atavism. Receiving their bloodline inheritance from their ancestor allows them to have greater strength and easier cultivation progression. 

Thus, it was extremely precious for Sumire who wanted to build an intelligent kobold army.

“With this, I have repaid my debt. From now on, I will keep my share of souls and you’ll keep yours.” Shion added.

“I’m sure you’re not inviting me here alone just to annul our personal contract.” Sumire said.

“No, I want to propose closer cooperation. What do you think of modifying your group’s trump card, [Violet Sword Blaze], a step further?” Shion asked. “Your method is the key to kill Kel-Zulkis.”