Chapter 62
We ran all day and most of the night. Maxwells endurance eventually gave out, Ravens as well. In fact, for the last four hours, shed been riding on my shoulders. In her lynxs form, she was still far bigger than a house cat, but my incredible strength as a Lich made her feel the size of a kitten.
When we stopped to rest, Raven woke up, her tail flicking at us, indicating she was going to go hunting, and disappeared into the forest. That was the first time I noticed the discrepancy between her big bushy tail in human form and the length of the one in her cat form. From what I understood, I believed they have a limited control over what they look like in their human form. I think she believes it makes her look cute.
***
Ouch! Ezekiel glared down at Raven, who just poked him with a sharp nail.
It does make me look cute, and you know it. Raven stalked away, leaving Marissa and Ezekiel sitting on a bench looking out over a deep valley.
Stupid cat, Ezekiel grumbled.
I think youre lucky she didnt maul you for your comments about the clothes, Marissa chuckled. Anyways, you were setting up camp for the night?
Essentially
***
Theres no way theyll find us in here, I said, looking around the narrow crevasse we stood in. Raven had returned. Once shifted back into her human form, shed told us about this place.
The entrance was only accessible from one spot, and that spot was hidden inside a grove of thickly packed lodgepole pine. We had been careful making our way into the crevasse so as not to leave signs of our passing.
Im going to go back out and make sure the tracks are hidden, Raven said.
If you havent caught anything yet, make sure you kill something just inside the grove, the smell will distract any hounds they have tracking us, I told her.
Raven bobbed her head in acknowledgment as she transformed back into her lynx form, then slipped out of the crevasse. I examined the stony walls. The top of the crevasse was only open for a few meters near the entrance, before it was closed off by dirt and roots. Even where we entered there was only a small spot large enough to allow a single person to pass.
Maxwell reapplied his night vision buff while I explored deeper into the crevasse. It didnt take long before it opened into a small cave systemone larger cave with smaller tunnels that branched out. I didnt sense any creatures nearby, though no doubt this had been used as a refuge more than once.
You sure they wont detect us in here? Maxwell asked.
Yes. I gestured up. Things like that grove above us are large sources of life magic, it should, along with my armor, fully mask what I am.
I see. Maxwell sat down and produced his guitar. I gave him a skeptical look. Dont worry, I can cast a concealment effect. They are very hard to do, but you shouldnt even hear the sounds that Im making. The tune will be in a frequency that is inaudible.
Then how do you know what youre playing? I asked.
Thats what makes it hard. Maxwell began strumming after adjusting a few knobs on his guitar. No sound was produced. It was almost like watching a video on mute.
I sat down cross-legged next to Maxwell and settled into a technique Damien had told me about. I focused on feeling the energy emitted by my body and controlling it. Instead of stepping into the Mindscape, I stayed in the physical world and used the focused meditation to control my aura.
Struggling to follow Damiens instructions, I sought to feel my power and how it affected the world around me. I dont know how much time passed before I finally had an inkling of what I was attempting, but the moment I focused on that feeling it slipped away. Eventually, I managed to at least sense the aura I was giving off.
Its hard to describe what that feels like, though its something you will learn one day. But suffice it to say my aura of death was like a cloud. There wasnt much of it, I could tell the armor did a decent job at suppressing it on its own. However, since it was my own aura, I could sense it far easier and better than someone else could.
When I tried to follow the next step in the process of using my will to retract the aura, the meditation was broken, and I once again lost sight of it. I ground my teeth in frustration, but before I could begin again Raven rushed into the crevasse.
Somethings not right, Raven said as she shifted into human form. I did as you said, but when I was venturing out into the trees, I sensed and then saw a group of acolytes heading straight in this direction.
Did they have hounds or anything that would be guiding them? I asked, getting to my feet. I was surprised to see that daylight was glimmering in from the entrance. I didnt realize how much time had passed.
Not that I saw or smelled, Raven shook her head. I followed them long enough to be certain theyre heading for this growth.
How far out are they? Maxwell asked.
Not very. By the time I realized they were heading here it was almost too late to warn you. Raven glanced back the way shed come nervously, her ears twitching. In fact, I hear them coming now.
Fuck Hopefully theyre merely heading to a general location, and not following a trail. I doubt they could easily find the entrance.
We cant just stay down here though, Maxwell said. They will eventually find this place.
I know, I said. We need to get out of here before they call for reinforcements. Whatever theyre using to track is only a localized effect, else the entire contingent of priesthood would be after us. You didnt see Rhea, did you? I asked Raven.
I did not, but we must move soon. Nervousness filled her eyes, along with a small amount of eagerness.
I caught the sound of breaking branches. No, we wait. This grove is large enough that if theyre going to search it, they will need to spread out. If they were smart, they would just wait, but hopefully theyre not.
I will sneak out to see what they do, Raven said.
Even if they see you, Maxwell said, they might just assume youre a regular wild animal. Lynxes are common in this area.
Just make sure you act like a regular animal, I warned her. She flicked her tail in irritation right after she transformed and headed back up the crevasse.
Maxwell and I stood ready, listening to the sounds coming from above. Voices grew and waned amidst the breaking branches as the group spread out. There was a shout of alarm, and a few moments later, Raven scurried back down. We need to go. I think they saw me disappear to this crevasse.
I nodded, and without another word, we rushed to the entrance. There was a steep climb we had to make, and if we were caught climbing, it would become a difficult position to scale.
I was just making it to the top when I heard another shout from nearby. A man dressed in pure white robes streaked with mud from travel, pointed at me. Mercy flew from my hands, its tip shaped into a broad headed spear. My massive strength propelled the weapon like a bolt from a ballista. The man gasped and cried out when it slammed into his chest, biting deep as it knocked him backward. I pulled Maxwell up even as I summoned Mercy back to me.
My illusion spell had faded, and my mana pool was refilling. As Maxwell began to strum a fast-paced beat, we broke into a run. I bulled through a few of the lodgepole pines until we broke free of the grove.
Several more cultists were clustered together, and one wore much more elaborate robes than the others and was holding something I couldnt quite make out, I instantly was curious. His eyes met mine, and he let out a scream. To my annoyance, he turned and ran. Unfortunately, he ran in the opposite direction I needed to go. We circled around the grove at a dead sprint. A few of the acolytes clustered up to try and stop us.
I reshaped Mercy from a broad headed spear into a heavy curved blade. The blade staff twirled in my hands as I charged the acolytes. A moment too late I saw that one of them held a staff with the holy symbol of Olattee, a four-pointed star, mounted at the top. The staff was made of simple wood, but the symbol was emblazoned with gold.
Holy light swirled around the staff and a bolt of magic hammered into me right before I reached the first acolyte. The attack rocked me back and the acolyte was able to skate free of my strike. My armor burned, and I was thankful for the Order of Equinox in that moment. If you remember, one of the benefits from being an order member was a resistance to holy magic. Being undead, this was a useful boon. I wasnt nearly as weak against holy magic as I would have been otherwise.
My teeth chattered as a bolt of sonic force hammered one of the priests, fired from Maxwell. Raven transformed into her lynx form and tackled another acolyte to the ground.
The staff-wielding priest gathered another attack as I lunged forward, calling froth a barrier of golden magic to stop my downward swipe of Mercy. A smile spread on the mans face a moment before the barrier cracked and Mercy tore through. I cleaved the man in half, or at least tried to. Mercy bit deep into his shoulder but stopped before it could bite deep enough to be lethal. The festering wound took hold, but when I tried to pull Mercy free it was stuck in bone. I had the strength to free it, but an acolyte produced a dagger and lunged, forcing me to let go.
I gathered death magic in my hand and blasted the acolyte in the stomach. Another wave of sonic force finished the man off, blood pouring from his ears. I refocused and punched the priest in the face, stunning him and preventing him from healing himself. With a few seconds to spare, I raised the recently deceased acolyte, pouring death energy from my core into the spell, and the zombie rose at level 50.
I twirled and grabbed Mercys shaft. It was stuck far better than I realized, knocking the priest to the side as momentum carried me around. I channeled death energy from the armor into the blade and it poured into the man. Necrotic energies tore apart his flesh in rapid succession. Innately, I twisted the power and it solidified into a core at the center of the man right as he died. With a firm heave, I yanked the blade free just as a new zombie, a greater zombie to be precise, stood before me.
The death core meant they could grow in power on their own, and I could also do interesting things with it. I gave it a mental command to fight.
With the assistance of my new pair of zombies, we dispatched the remaining five acolytes. I retrieved their death cores rather than turn them into zombies, then ripped the death core out of my greater zombie. It collapsed back to just being a corpse just as the other zombie Id created expired.
The unfortunate fact of our situation was that the presence of more undead with us would only hamper our ability to hide.
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