Chapter 145: Muddled Waters

“Get down, and don’t touch the snakes!” The sun clan boss ordered.

The command cut through the cave’s noise like a whip. Kael dropped without thinking, boots scraping on damp stone as the air around them trembled with the Basilisk’s weight and the constant hiss of bodies packed too close for comfort.

The snakes were there in clusters along the slope, coiled and watchful like living rope, their presence a reminder that the “contract” was a thin sheet of paper held over a pit. One wrong move and it would tear.

The group understood the meaning immediately. It was their time in the grinder, but they couldn’t simply trust the snakes. They had to pay attention in case the contract became void.

They were switching roles, not because they wanted to, but because the situation demanded it. The snakes had made it clear they would fight their share, but only within the boundaries of whatever agreement they had forced into place.

The two groups smoothly changed position.

Kael watched the shuffle with the kind of focus you used in a crowded market where pickpockets lived.

Petrov’s men moved with the confidence of people who thought they had already won, stepping back just enough to make room while keeping their weapons ready, their spacing too neat to be casual.

The Sun Clan stepped forward like men who had done this before, slipping into their lanes around the Basilisk, forming a loose ring with the walls and slope in mind so nobody got pushed into the wrong place.

Kael hurried, first jumping into the fray, and as soon as the Basilisk spotted him, all aggro was switched off.

The creature’s eyes locked on him immediately. There was no hesitation in that gaze, no confusion, just recognition, like Kael was a flame in a dark room.

The Basilisk’s head shifted, neck muscles flexing, and the pressure in the air changed as the thing’s attention snapped away from everyone else.

Kael felt it in the way the monster’s movement aligned with his own, like the entire fight had been re-centered around him.

This made Petrov’s widening smile dwindle down to a thin lip of confusion and worry.

Petrov had been enjoying himself earlier, too pleased with the way the fight had been paced, too pleased with the “order” of it all. Watching the smile shrink was satisfying, but it also made Kael’s instincts itch. People like Petrov didn’t get worried unless they were losing something.

Kale noticed it, the Sun Clan boss noticed it, and even Peter noticed it.

It wasn’t just Petrov’s mouth. It was the slight change in his posture, the way he stopped leaning forward like a spectator and started holding himself like a man about to act.

Kael slipped along the Basilisk’s flank where the scales were cracked and bleeding, the wound still wet and raw from earlier exchanges. He drove his fist in hard, feeling the impact travel up his arm and into his shoulder.

The Basilisk shuddered and swung its head, trying to find him, while the boss moved in behind Kael’s angle, dagger raised, ready to capitalize on the opening without stealing aggro the wrong way.

“Lessen the aggro on you for a bit, I think they’re planning something.” The boss said.

“On it,” Kael said as he stepped back avoiding a chomp that could split a man in two, and activated [Presence]

The Basilisk’s jaws snapped shut where his head had been a moment earlier. The air popped with the force of it, and Kael felt the gust brush his cheek as he slid away and let the world forget him.

[Presence] wrapped him in that familiar sense of being ignored, like he had become a gap in reality rather than a person. The Basilisk’s eyes twitched, searching for the target that had just vanished from its understanding.

“Alright, amp up the DPS!” The boss said when the basilisk was still confused.

The Sun Clan surged in with renewed aggression. Steel flashed. Feet shifted. The boss pushed forward, drawing attention and pressure, turning the Basilisk’s momentary uncertainty into damage.

Kael stayed back just enough to see the entire shape of the fight, his own presence muted, his mind moving faster than his body wanted to.

Kael didn’t fully understand what was going on. If Petrov wanted to act, he would have done so. He was feeling far too satisfied earlier with his progress. And looking at the Basilisk’s current state, it shouldn’t be because he would think that once their turn comes, they’ll eliminate it. No, something was wrong.

Petrov didn’t strike Kael as the type to wait for the perfect heroic moment. He was the type to strike when it benefited him, and the Basilisk was already hurting badly enough for him not to act. Yet Petrov was holding back, watching, measuring, like he was waiting for a different kind of opportunity.

That meant the Basilisk wasn’t the target. The Sun Clan was.

Kael continued moving back until he was near the slope where the Snakes were gathered. With [Presence] active, he would be difficult to spot. And everyone would be too focused on the massive creature to pay attention to someone whom the world ignored.

The slope was a mess of loose gravel, mud, and slick stone, and the snakes were piled there in quiet tension, coils shifting, tongues flicking occasionally. Kael stayed just outside their immediate space. Contracts or not, he didn’t trust creatures that could decide to interpret a gesture as an insult. From here, he could see both the Basilisk’s fight and Petrov’s group without standing in the obvious lines of sight.

“Boss, when are we acting?”

“Gotta be patient. Wait for Iori to exhaust himself a bit more… that new kid they have is a pain though,” Petrov said.

Kael’s eyes narrowed. Heori, Iori, whichever name Petrov said, it was still the same intent. He meant the Sun Clan Boss.

Petrov wanted the Sun Clan exhausted. He wanted their stamina bled out, their reactions slowed, their cohesion frayed. And their leader was confused.

Kael couldn’t fully understand what they were planning, but he realized that they were going to act during these five minutes when the Sun Clan was fighting.

But he couldn’t see what. All he had was a hunch that they were about to sabotage them soon.

He scanned Petrov’s formation like he was reading a map.

Melee clustered near the edge of the action, ready to “help” if needed.

Archers positioned with clear lines. A couple of men standing too still, hands near their belts like they were waiting to pull something out rather than loose arrows.

That was the key. You didn’t hold your hands like that unless you were about to use an item.

Suddenly, he spotted one of the archers pulling something out.

An item he saw and almost bought in from Baltak.

A smoke grenade.

That changes things. A smoke grenade isn’t something lethal or offensive. Isn’t even something that could do damage. So, it’s not harmful to the contract if used.

But if they throw it in the midst of the Sun Clan, they’ll be blinded.

The boss would become unchained.

No one would know who was an ally and who was an enemy.

And all hell would break loose.

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