276 Infiltrators
Almost half an hour passed before there was any movement in the ruined city.
Dozens of aberrations climbed out of the sea and walked along the beach, looking in horror at the destroyed city and countless demihuman corpses. They were part of the second wave of demihumans, but they didn’t mix with the other demihumans.
Aberrations were unlike all other demihumans and were excluded even among their allies. They had avoided actively engaging in the battle against the humans and remained in the ocean even after the battle was over, avoiding engaging with others.
The Aberrations had been ordered by the patriarch of the species to gather information from the human territory, so they would leave in a few hours after recovering from the tiring journey.
It was also the only reason they were able to survive Kian’s massacre, as Kian’s senses didn’t reach the bottom of the sea.
The aberrations had noticed the battle thanks to the sensory sharing they had with the demihumans, but had not become involved in the battle. Quite the contrary, they went even deeper into the ocean and stayed away from the beaches to avoid detection.
Unlike the demihumans who were sent out as soldiers, the aberrations were spies.
As they were the only species capable of manipulating minds, they were the only ones who could do that job and should prioritize their mission, even at the expense of their fellows.
‘It’s even more impressive up close.’ One of the aberrations shared his thoughts with his companions. ‘I knew there were some really strong humans, but I didn’t expect there to be so many.’
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‘I understand what you mean.’ A companion responded with a nod. ‘This strange human was not among those who participated in the battle last time, so we have no information about him, but just by the performance he showed, he should be on the same level as our patriarchs.’
‘I believe he is above even the patriarchs.’ Another aberration spoke, his words shocking his companions. ‘I mean, I’ve never seen someone with so much physical power, even the orc patriarch wasn’t that powerful.’
‘Silence, everyone.’ The platoon leader silenced the telepathic conversation. ‘Regardless of who it is, it is certain that it is a dangerous enemy that we didn’t know about until now.’
‘Before we proceed, we need to inform our leaders about the new enemy. Get in formation now.’ He ordered and the other freaks nodded, before surrounding the leader in a circular formation.
The aberration in the center began to concentrate, sending out a telepathic signal that only other aberrations could detect. Those around did the same, mixing their own signal with the main one and amplifying it.
The amplified signal was the only way to contact the aberrations left behind on the Doravon continent. Even for aberrations with their great mental ability, it was impossible to send a message capable of crossing an ocean and reaching the aberration on the other side.
It was the same method the aberration patriarch and his assistants had used to successfully visualize the demihumans during the first wave of invaders.
After a few minutes of waiting for the signal to travel, they finally felt someone connecting to them. There were outposts on the coast of the Doravon continent created by the aberrations, to pick up the telepathic signal sent by the spies as quickly as possible.
‘This is the leader of spy platoon #22, I’m reporting back after getting some important information. Who am I talking with?’ The platoon leader said with a respectful salute.
‘I am Wula, responsible for contacting the units and transmitting their information to the army.’ Wula spoke a few minutes later, trying to be as concise as possible.
Even if the communication was telepathic, it still took time for thoughts to travel long distances like that. The story would be different if they were powerful demihumans who would have strengthened bodies and minds, but the platoon was composed of aberrations that had just broken through the first barrier of progression. freeweb(n)ovel.co(m)
The leader wasted no time talking and uploaded all the footage they could get of Kian slaughtering the camp. An aberration’s mind functioned like a library and they could store and share information like files.
He tried to be as accurate as possible and avoided revealing his own impressions as much as possible, to let wula draw his own conclusions.
‘Is there another mighty warrior among humans? This needs to be reported to superiors. Thanks for the info. Get in touch if they discover any more important information.’ Wula spoke and disconnected from the mind link.
The aberrations stopped sending the signal and began to move, leaving the destroyed camp and half-human corpses behind.
Using telekinesis, the aberrations could fly easily and by increasing the amount of mana, they could accelerate and fly at high speeds.
‘For now, there are no living creatures for miles around, but we need to be careful not to be seen, so stay tuned.’ The platoon leader spoke to the other freaks, carefully scanning their surroundings.
Everyone was on the lookout for any form of life, stopping whenever they encountered any monster or animal. They brainwashed every animal they passed to try to get any information and tag them for future sensory sharing use.
Monsters were simple creatures and barely knew anything outside their respective territories, so they didn’t have any useful information and ended up as food for aberrations.
Birds, on the other hand, were much more helpful and had information about human cities and towns.
The aberrations changed course and headed towards the nearest human village.
The trip took almost 2 days for the aberrations to fly, but the trip would take twice as long over land. Aberrations barely needed sleep, so they traveled almost non-stop and only stopped when they needed to eat or ran out of mana.
‘We are approaching human settlements, so we need to be even more careful from now on. Use photokinesis to not be seen and avoid mages as much as possible.’ The platoon leader spoke as they flew over a forest.
‘I see no need to avoid the wizards, sir.’ one of the freaks replied. ‘Manipulating a mage’s mind might take longer than usual, but it should still be a simple process if we all work together on it.’
‘Let’s avoid mages and focus on those with less resistant minds, at least initially. I want to get general information first and settle down, before slowly getting more important information’ The platoon leader explained and activated photokinesis.
Photokinesis was one of aberrations’ multiple psychic abilities and allowed them to manipulate light, but the ability was different from magic. It was impossible to harden light to form weapons or use light to heal.
Their ability was limited and allowed them to focus light to generate heat rays or manipulate it to generate flash. One of the applications of this ability was to allow natural light to pass through the body without reflecting it, becoming invisible to the naked eye. The other aberrations followed suit and finally emerged from the forest’s edge, a human settlement becoming visible in the distance. It was a small city without any special features, with stone walls of approximately 6 meters.
City guards were busy patrolling the walls, but they were watching the inside more than the outside. Inside the city, people moved restlessly, nearly trampling each other.
The information that the coastal cities were destroyed had reached the baron who ruled the city, as well as the order to evacuate. All the citizens were hastily gathering all their belongings before fleeing through the opposite gate, fleeing in the direction of the nearest large city. ‘There doesn’t seem to be any magical defense in the city, but don’t let your guard down.
There may be mages and warriors capable of using mana among the fleeing humans, so avoid entering the mana vision range of any powerful humans.’ The platoon leader informed his companions.
They split up shortly thereafter and flew over the city, gathering information from several different locations. Even without brainwashing their victims, the aberrations could learn a lot just by reading people’s surface thoughts through telepathy.
Memories would take a little more effort and consume mana to infiltrate people’s minds, but they didn’t want to risk mages detecting the mana and being exposed.
Language barriers did not exist for the aberration, who could learn all of a victim’s information within minutes, including the language they spoke.
By reading people’s thoughts, the aberrations figured out where people were evacuating to and the location of cities with adequate defenses, but getting more information from people evacuating in a hurry would be difficult.
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