Chapter 423 423: Power Plays V
Honestly returning to The Boreas was not as stress inducing and Cole expected it would be. Cole had expected that he would be facing multiple assassination attempts before he gets to the city, but no one had come for him, and by this point he was feeling particularly annoyed by the whole thing. It bruised his ego a bit, even though the rest of his unit were grateful for such a situation.
If they had to deal with an assassin sent to deal with Cole, then probably some of them would lose their lives in the process. Because whoever was strong enough to take that contract would not be coming at Cole with the flair of an Assassin…..said person will be coming with enough power to set half the city of Te Boreas on fire…..Cole was a diamond ranked individual…..a real flesh and blood Boss character.
But never the less Cole did not let his guard down. By this point they already had the great city in their sights, but Cole was being extra careful. He was about to be thrown into a nest of snakes and he had to make sure he was more than ready for the shit storm he had just stepped his foot into.
So far his rumors had taken hold of the city like some sort of plague. From there it was not too hard for Cole to manipulate events that gave the rumors more traction. The Raens have been very good at work, and one thing Raens were good at was causing Chaos unseen. Cole's seeming love for stealth like equipment or skills, was reflected across the entire race. It was enough for him to realize that he was a template for the skills and advancements of every other Raen coming after him.
In a manner of speaking, many skills amongst the Raens were similar or the exact same, especially in the case of skills like [Sin Eater] and [Demonic Constitution]. Every Raen had those two skills, and along with that was some variation of a stealth skill or a disguise skill.
So when the rumors were growing to the point it became the only thing the City of Te Boreas could talk about. Cole had the Raens usher in a era of scandals more crazier than the last around the adventurers and Craftsman guild. All across the city situations were being created where the Adventurer's and Craftsmen guild was painted in a bad light, even the good guys amongst the factions were not spared.
And thankfully enough, all efforts made to discover or root out the Raens responsible for all this chaos was extremely hard. But then again that was pretty much because the Militia were playing an almost imperceptible role of covering the tracks of the Raens. Not that they needed the help, the Raens were rapidly turning out to be one of the most powerful new races of the 26th universe. This perhaps was what they were made for, the ability to cause Chaos and disappear the very next moment.
Either way, the closer they got to Te Boreas the more Cole wasn't so sure about what he was about to get into. But such worries could only be had deep within his heart. Cole was not bothered he was second guessing himself, it made him hyper aware of every step he takes in order to check for and catch any mistakes before he makes them. And even then this was a lesson experience for him, perhaps it has become much more than just wanting a giant mechanical animal humanoid robot.
There was a tingle at the edge of his awareness, Cole sighed to himself. Finally, he had been getting really impatient and hurt, he at least thought he was that much of a threat that needed to line up an entire army to stop him from entering the city….. and that was exactly what they did. The moment they saw his unit, an army of close to a hundred adventures and 5 Animech pilots opened fire.
[Gravity]
A dome of chaotic gravity field rose up around Cole's unit, swallowing up the attacks sent their way. Cole looked on at the army in front of him. The Adventurers guild focused on the singular to power the collective, which meant that their strengths and training were not uniform and so too their gears. It looked like a hundred different individuals had banded together to kill him and not an army.
Cole did not think that he should be worried about any sort of tactic s from the Adventurers guild. But he would not be assuming anything about his enemies capabilities until they were already six feet in the ground. Either way the moment the attacks had come for them, Cole had sent a quick message to Eze.
"Spread the rumor quickly, the Adventurer's Guild and Craftsman Guild are trying to slay the soldiers of the King's new Elite army, created to serve the needs of the people. Tell themis at the gates, fighting for freedom and justice. Make it good."
The best way to deal with this, or rather what was truly important was the narrative Cole was trying to spin. It might seem like the kingdom was getting all the advantages, but the craftsman and Adventurer's guild were still stronger individually than the kingdom, if they band together fully in order to survive, they might really put some pressure on Cole and the kingdom.
And this was why Cole did not just go for a head on strike, there's no need to trade punches with people who can and would most definitely hit harder. So it was best to mess with their heads, rather than a physical solution to the problem. Cole was going after the very thing that built the foundation of any force, it's credibility to exist. And since this was a government body in a manner of speaking, loosing credibility in front of the people you're supposed to serve is just not a good sight.
Either way this close to the city, Cole was not willing to accrue any for of casualty. This almost 100 soldiers of his were being specially trained, and so far even on the journey back here with the addition of Pasco and expedition unit. Cole had been focused on turning each and every single one of them into a cohesive unit.
A force that directly answered to him, and were the most deadly on the battlefield. He liked the idea of what the company of the wolf was becoming. And not that he would be with them all the time, in fact many of them would not be able to move across floors with him and would be relegated to the 3rd floor…..the denizens at least. But still with such a force…..Cole became a lot more dangerous than most would ever expect.
[Shadow Dance]
Rippled out of his form as the shocked screams of his soldiers vanished, leaving him the only occupant within the dome he had created. When the dome dropped the army on the other side did not stop throwing attacks, they did not even stop to check if their attacks were really hitting, it was just a blind rain of attacks which made it impossible for them to realize that almost a 100 men have just upped and vanished into thin air.
Cole urged the horse he was riding forwards, the best responded well, it's powerful muscles eating up the distance as Cole summoned [Methuselah]. He held the spear out to the side like some ancient Chinese warlord, flames and destruction rippling all around him, but not being enough to slow down his charge. But then again if this was a movie, that would have been the case, but there were too many smart people attacking him, not to mention the animechs with long range capabilities.
*BOOM!*
A cannon filled through the front legs of the horse, causing it's momentum to stall as it tipped forward and smashed the under of the head on the ground. Cole could feel the horse's neck break before was thrown forwards, he didn't crash to the ground though as he made a front flip in the air with his own momentum and landed on the ground running, spear in hand.
It was not as if the attacking adventurer's would sit still while Cole closed the distance between them, so they kept up with their attacks, hoping to shoot Cole down before he get's to them. But a single [Spectral Rover] put an end to that discussion as Cole crossed the distance in seemingly an instance and appeared in front of the army.
He held the spear at the bottom with both hands then spun, using his still borrowed momentum to smash it into the chest of the first two people in front of him. He made sure to coat enough to the spear in negative energy as massive crash was heard and close to two dozen people were blasted backwards into the air.
Cole rolled to the side, dodging the hail of gunfire that was coming his way from one of the animechs…..well it wasn't gunfire per say seeing as it was a hail of energy based projectiles instead. The Koala looking Animech had two massive barrels for arms with dozens of nozzles currently rotating and spitting energy bullets.
But Cole was extremely fast, his entire form a rapid blur as he turned and ran well ahead of the energy bullets into the chest of an adventurer. Pulling back he flicked the still skewered body towards the massive head of the Koala Animech. Not checking to see how the body splattered across it's visor.
Cole leaped into the air and flung his spear into the middle of a particular group of adventurers, using [Root Cascade] to release an explosion of root that slammed into the second Animech, a garish pink thing with the head of a cat and rather lithe body. There was a loud bang as the mechanical marvel of war landed hard, just in time fore the third Animech; A goat rush Cole and smash his still airborne form with a massive hammer.
*Boom!*
Cole had not moved, his entire form was still in the air as he absorbed the energy from the strike into his body, giving him an epiphany as he discovered a new way for the utilization of one of his skills. All of the force from the attack danced across his body in visible waves as he pushed back against the massive hammer then pulled back much to the shock and awe of the people watching. Then Cole used a single finger to poke out at the hammer.
[Shockwave]
The Animech was blasted back, caught in a cone of successive hits, each one more powerful than the last for a total of five waves. By the time the fifth was done and it was thrown to the ground, the entire Animech had become one crumbled and ruin mess of metal and blood, debris filled the battlefield as the gates and walls of the city in the distance was filled with onlookers watching one man dismantle whole animechs like some avenging god.
"I take it we're done here?" Cole asked, as the shadows on the battlefield seemed to lengthen and stretch ominously, and from within them the remaining members of . All of them decked in black combat uniforms and black hooded overcoats with red trims but white fur around the neck and wrists and on the back the howling figure of a wolf emblazoned in Gold and red.
"Or should we finish what you started?"
Pasco asked the adventurers as he came to stand behind Cole, a wolf mask over his lower face, very reminiscent of Cole's bounty hunter armor set. Needless to say…..the fight was over, and their march into the city went uncontested by anyone, because invariably they had proven that was deadly enough that one man could go up against 3 animechs and a hundred men…..imagine what a 100 of them could do...it would be Chaos.
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