140 (II)

Predators [I]

“But back to the matter at hand,” Adam said. “The expeditionary force might be the simplest problem to solve, but we’ll need to hit them soon, or they’ll be in the vicinity of Gate Arrow.”

“Gate what?” Shiv said.

“Yes,” Uva said, staring at Adam. “Gate what?”

“Gate Arrow,” Adam replied, squaring his shoulders.

“Since when, asshole?” Shiv asked sweetly. “Uva, did you agree that the gate should be called Gate Arrow?”

“No,” Uva replied, staring at Adam without ever blinking. “There has been no discussion pertaining to the name of the gate. Of this, I am sure.”

Adam shuffled awkwardly. “Well, I’m using it as a placeholder for now.”

“In place of what?” Shiv asked. “Because I just called it the gate. And that worked fine for me.”

“Well, if we take another gate, for instance—” Adam began.

“What other gate? Do you think I can just go out and take another gate? We want to save Blackedge, not go on a conquest. And why aren’t we calling this Gate Shiv?”

“Are you the Gate Lord?” Adam asked. “Did you kill the Recollector?”

“No, I just did most of the fighting, suffering, and struggling,” Shiv replied, his eyelid twitching. “It was what one would call a ‘group effort,’ Adam. But I see your point. You are the Gate Lord. Uva. We can call the gate Gate Arrow. So long as Adam calls me grandma.”

Adam’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“I gave birth to your mom, dumbshit.”

Uva closed her eyes and pressed her lips together tightly.

Adam shoved a finger in Shiv’s face. “I’m not calling you grandma. The very idea is… is… repulsive and wrong. And you didn’t give birth to my mother! Stop claiming that. It’s disgusting!”

“Well, I’m not calling it Gate Arrow. How about Gate Asshole?”

“How about we focus and deal with—” Uva frowned as Shiv and Adam continued arguing. A sigh escaped her. “Perhaps we are no better than the orcs. Maybe even worse.”

“What do you call the tower, then?” Shiv asked, shoving a finger at Adam in turn. “You got a name for it yet? Maybe Adam’s Actual Penis?”

“Oh, I thought of that, Shiv, but I realized that I should reserve that title for a structure far grander and more imposing,” Adam sneered.

“It would also be inside you,” Uva commented. Both Shiv and Adam paused to look at her. “If he named the tower based on his genitals. Because it would be inside the gate named after himself, you see.”

Adam cringed in disgust. Shiv placed his hands on his knees and laughed. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s do that. I can accept that. Gate Arrow it is. So long as—”

“No,” Adam said aloud. “We can discuss the name of the gate later. Just let it go.”

“I’m never forgetting this shit,” Shiv sneered at Adam. There was almost lust in his breath from how much he relished the awkwardness of this moment. “Never.”

“You best forget it,” Adam shot back, jabbing at Shiv again. “Or I’ll name it Gate Shiv after all. And guess who Adam’s Actual Penis—”

Adam choked before he could finish the threat. Shiv considered it for a moment and frowned.

Uva, however, looked between them, and her face developed into a faint smile. “That’s not exactly the dynamic I’ve imagined, but I can accept that.”

“What?”

“What?”

Uva didn’t elaborate. “Regardless. Now that we’ve had our moment of levity, we should figure out our most essential matters. First: how we are to move the orcs through the gate without them running into any of the people. Second, how they will be used.”

“I think the First Blood is simple,” Shiv said. “We just let as many orcs out of the Abyssal Gate as we want. Let them do whatever they want on First Blood territory. They can maraud and keep ruining the vampires’ lives. Easy for us.”

“And can we be sure that the orcs will only raid the vampires?” Uva asked Shiv as she fixed him with a piercing stare. “Ur-Abathur is the city closest to the Abyssal Gateway, but what will be stopping them from just going somewhere else?”

The Deathless considered that for a beat. “Uh…”

“Because I can see the orcs ‘happening’ upon villages like those of your little vampire friend in the wilderness. I can see them overindulging. They will be destructive no matter what. But I want them channeled and focused. And I will not have any of my Sisters or Mothers go missing mysteriously while on patrol.”

“Right. So. Supervision.” Adam nodded. “We need someone to supervise and make sure they come back from specific missions in time and don’t wander. Maybe do rotations?”

Uva frowned. “Maybe just someone to make sure they don’t cross over into our territory. Or anywhere near Weave for that matter.”

“I can try to threaten them some more,” Shiv said.

“You can’t punish millions of orcs, Shiv,” Uva replied. “Direct threats are not going to be so useful either. Tyranny just makes one hide their actions. We need to offer incentives to guide their behavior.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think we’re going to be better than them at that.” Shiv shook his head. “They read us more easily than we read them. I don’t think that’s a struggle that’s good for us. It’s why I’ve been trying to keep them focused on me.”

“We’re likely going to need to think about the Abyssal Theater more,” Adam said. “But the surface should be more straightforward. We need the Necrotechs to be strained. Overwhelmed. I need their forces sapped and Sullain to be distracted as well. Getting through their fortifications will take more than a few orcs, and even the gray-skins expect it to take upward of a million casualties if they wish to open a path to Blackedge and hold Sullain’s focus.”

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“You’re not worried about them spreading across the surface?” Uva asked.

“No,” Shiv answered. “There really isn’t much nearby but the Necrotechs. I guess they can try running across the Republic to throw themselves at the Lords of random towns or cities, or pick a fight with the giant monsters that live in the Pacific, but Sullain’s right there. And they want to be in my graces. They want to be favored.”

“So this should have minimal risk,” Adam said. “What I don’t want to do is this suggestion.” Adam flipped the pages of the orc’s battle proposals to a graph depicting a camp being built outside the Surface Gateway.

“Why not?” Shiv asked with narrowed eyes. “Looks good to me. It lets them move around easier up top—lets them guard our Surface Gateway on the outside too.”

“It also lets them conduct a potential pincer on the gate if anything happens.” Adam closed the document for emphasis. “They can squeeze us from two directions if they manage to amass enough forces. No. We will have the gateways manned by the Arachnae Order or even dimensionals. Never orcs.”

“Alright. But how are we going to move them from place to place?” Shiv asked. “I know we got a bunker built over the Tutorial Gateway. We can’t just have them moved in small groups. It’ll take days for them to get anywhere.”

“Teleportation anchors,” Adam answered. “We build massive teleportation anchors over all the gateways. It’s… not efficient. Not for movement or mana. But we will be able to teleport the orcs across the insides of the gate between these anchors. Maybe a few hundred at a time.”

Shiv remembered how hard Bonk hit him. “You know that’s not going to be enough to hold a good number of them if they don’t feel like it, right?”

“Right. So we need to supervise the Heroes personally.”

“I do,” Shiv corrected. He tried to imagine leaving Uva and Adam alone with the orc Heroes. He didn’t want to. “I’ll be there when the orc Heroes need to move.”

“Wise,” Uva said.

“We will test this strategy out soon,” Adam said. “We’ll move you, Uva, the orc Stealth and interception forces over to the Surface Gate. Then, we move on Sijik and his elite Inquisitors while the orcs break the rest of the expeditionary force. After that…” Adam pressed his lips together. “After that, we go in two directions. I want skirmishers to go after the rest of the Inquisition—and Stormhalt. I want the City Lord alive for questioning. But the bulk of the orcs will be dedicated to pushing the Necrotechs back and keeping Sullain at bay. Between them and my father, we should get an opening to start relieving Blackedge.”

“Alright. I’ll go wrangle the orcs first,” Shiv said. “See if I can add a few more incentives before we leave.”

“Ah,” Adam said, his eyes widening. “On that note, Can Hu says its functions seem to be improving after your treatment. It managed to gain a Toughness level from falling.”

“Really?” Shiv grinned. “That’s pretty good, no? Does that mean it’s going to be fixed with some more levels?”

“Valor is uncertain,” Adam continued. “Can Hu still retains severe soul damage, but it isn’t nearly as broken as it was before. On that note, the two are currently in the upper levels of the gateway containment bunker.”

“Yeah, about that, can we name the bunker something like Adam’s—”

“Don’t start with me again,” Adam cut him off. “Can Hu wants to start up a factory inside your cape. And it will be able to now since you have a Category One dimension there. I’m thinking that Valor, Uva, and some of the orcs can probably use that as a transportation point as well. The first project we should prioritize is building a teleportation anchor inside your cape as well.”

And that gave Shiv ideas. “Wait. Can you teleport outside of a gate?”

“You can. It just takes a great deal of mana, which… the core might be able to provide? I’m not sure. I haven’t had enough time to discover its limits.”

“So, if it can, why don’t I just go around dropping orcs off across combat zones?”

Adam’s mouth opened, but then he closed it shortly thereafter. “Huh. That… We’re dealing with multiple layers of Dimensionality, but it is possible. Theoretically. That might even be efficient. Though it could put the dimension at risk. We can discuss this with Can Hu and Valor soon. I’m sure they’ll have more insights. And maybe they’ll be done with my rapier soon too.”

Shiv remembered Adam still had equipment that needed reforging. “Hells. I forgot about that. Let’s take a look. I wanna see just what kind of weapon gets made from my kukri, your rapier, and Confriga’s sword.”

***

Equipment Obtained: [Rapier of the Myriad Selves]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Stellarite; Bone Adamantine; Arcanite

Enchantments > User-Duplication; Pyromancy 70; Self-Sharpening; Self-Mending; Self-Shaping; Master Speed Amplification; Master Temporal Warding; Spatial Warding; Conduit of Dawn; Chrono-Clone Anchoring; Master Magic Amplification

Adam held his new rapier high and grinned at his reflection. It was a length of adamantine, edged with prismatic arcanite that itself was finally edged with golden mana. Shiv could sense a dense infusion of Chronomancy within the blade, and he felt a slight twinge of envy at how good the weapon was.

Nearby, Can Hu looked better than ever before. The Penitent’s joints still squeaked when it moved, but not nearly as loudly as before. The cracks on its chassis were fading as well.

“This reforging went smoother than anticipated,” Can Hu said, gesturing at the blade. “Both broken weapons shared many similar enchantments, and the mana melded easily. The same case stands true for the material as well. Stellarite called to stellarite, with only the arcanite and bone adamantine hilt proving a challenge to shape.”

“Remarkable,” Adam breathed. He swung his blade through the air, and it left a trail of Chronomancy in its wake. He flourished. The blade flashed. A dozen more Adams appeared around him, each sharing his expression. However, rather than just being like the old clones, Adam’s new clones were infused with a hint of Chronomancy. And it wasn’t just Shiv that noticed. Adam was eyeing his clones as well, and before they vanished, he waved his blade—and he blinked into a clone’s place, removing them entirely.

Shiv narrowed his eyes as he watched the Chronomancy mana within the clone shatter outright from the Chrono-Clone Anchoring transition. It was a bit like Shiv’s Chrono-Anchored Strike, but more fragile-feeling. Fainter. Discover more novels at ⓝovelFire.net

“Huh,” Adam said, looking at himself. His blade’s golden glow grew brighter and brighter. “This seems—” He blinked back to where he was before. “—useful.” Adam looked around and frowned. “I… shifted back to where I was.”

“You did,” Shiv said. “Seems to be a bit different from my anchored strike. Temporary. There’s Chronomancy in all your clones, but you remove them by jumping to them, and the blade resets you back to your original position after a while anyway.”

Adam regarded the rapier again, but then nodded. “Not bad. Might even be better for me.”

“I am glad it pleases you,” Can Hu said. “Now. I have expended the remainder of the former Gate Lord’s arcanite toward the forging of the crystalline armor. Its merging has proven effective as well.”

The Penitent staggered over to a nearby stand and pulled off its cover. Underneath was a set of prismatic armor that resembled glass in terms of texture. Most importantly, Shiv had a slightly hard time focusing on the armor. As if it was pushing away his senses somehow.

Uva, meanwhile, had little issue walking right up and examining it.

Equipment Obtained: [Veil of the Silent Caster]

Tier: Heroic

Condition: Perfect

Composition: Arcanite; Focus Crystal

Enchantments > Heroic Magic Amplification; Temporal Warding; Spatial Warding; Invisibility; Awareness Warding; Lagged Spells; Illusory Mana Field; Spell Priming; Self-Repairing

“I suspect the original wearer of this armor might have been more Shadow than Mage,” Uva commented.

Shiv and Adam stared at the armor beside her. Sweat beaded on Adam’s brow as he forced himself to look at the armor. “Shit,” Shiv breathed. “I don’t know what half of these enchantments do, but it’s kind of hard to focus on the armor.”

“What the hells is Awareness Warding?” Adam groaned. “Trying to look at this thing makes me feel ill.”

“I am not certain,” Uva said. She pressed her hand against the armor and then slipped one of her mana strands into it thereafter. “But I intend to find out very soon.”

“Alright, then,” Shiv said. “I think it’s time for us to get ready for a field test.”

“Pathbearer Shiv,” Can Hu said. “I have a request—”

“Get in the cape,” Shiv said, not wasting time. “You too, Valor. I wanna see how our new toys work in a high-stress situation.”

“Our?” Adam asked.

Shiv converted his own bone armor into a spellpattern rendering with a flash of crimson mana. Adam’s eyes widened as Shiv grinned at him. “Yeah. Our. I got some biomass to assimilate.” Then, he reached into his cape and pulled out a dead basilisk’s venom gland—a gland he fed to one of his mana hydras before fusing that with his armor’s spell pattern. “Maybe more than some.”

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