The sounds of battle continued as Alva sprinted her way through the forest. These enemy archers had so decent range, though personally Alva felt they should have been either further away or closer to their lee counterparts. Being isolated as they were only worked at extre ranges. Though they hadnt anticipated anything able to flank them.
Twigs cracked underneath her feet as her legs carried her forwards. There were still several archers to deal with, but their threat was slightly diminished. Alva should have been focusing on those within the defensive formation, though those opponents might not last long. And her feet carried her automatically. She kept alert for incoming arrows or more enemies, hidden sohow. She wouldnt put it past the Harmonious Citadel to have assassins among them.
Then a ball of fire leapt out from behind the trees. Alva was tackled to the ground, the weight of the figure pinning her down. The scent of blood was strong. Wow, Fuzz, youre covered in blood, Alva said. I hope most of it isnt yours.
As she was speaking, the canine tongue was licking her face in excitent. But their reunion couldnt last long as they were. Fuzz stepped back, letting Alva up. She grabbed a handful of fur and vaulted onto his back, just in ti for him to leap forward away from incoming arrows. With his speed taking care of defenses, Alva was able to focus on taking down the remaining archers. Two of the stronger ones were still up, as well as so weaker ones. Though at the current mont they were being harried by another wolf? Alva wasnt going to question that. Unless proven otherwise, it was on their side.
The man who had been causing the most trouble continued to fire a series of arrows at Alva. Now that they were in combat he did so fancier moves like curving his arrows, but Alva still recalled how they only went for direct shots in their initial barrage. As if anyone could fail to handle sothing so simple. Vari blocked the entire volley! Sure, she was now being flailed around holding onto soones spear, but that effectively took a stronger opponent out of the combat so how it looked didnt matter.
Fuzz didnt slow down as arrows continued to fly at him. Alva shot half of them out of the sky, while the others Fuzz dealt with himself by avoiding or just ignoring. So werent strong enough to hurt him.
Alva could see the eyes of the leader now. The distance rapidly closed between them. Several hundred ters beca a hundred, then fifty, then ten. Alva took a mont to pull together a stronger shot, which shot into the man from an arms length as she passed by- at the sa ti Fuzz pounced on the other Integration cultivator.
For so reason the man hadnt been prepared to be shot at that distance. Alva had kind of expected him to dodge it, preparing to twirl it around behind him, but it just went into his left lung. None of the opponents seed funcional in close range, but turning to flee only gained one of them three seconds while Fuzz chomped into the other. Then he had to turn and build up speed. Alvas arrows sunk into the weaker cultivators, just to give her the ability to focus- but it didnt matter since the last one barely even managed to turn as Fuzz ran them down.
Alva glanced back at the battle in the formation. Too many trees were in the way to see, but it was habit. Her senses told her that things were almost done there. Vari had managed to wrestle away the spear from her opponent, then flung it aside. He was currently in a headlock with Catarina stabbing towards him. And then he was dead.
Fuzz didnt stop moving. His target was the other wolf. Was Alva supposed to shoot it? She hadnt quite made up her mind when Fuzz leapt onto the other wolf in the sa friendly manner as greeting Alva herself. Just in case, Alva disengaged herself from the whole rolling around. There was a lot of growling and biting, but no blood was being drawn. Yeah, they were friends. Apparently.
-----
Good job Vari, Catarina said. Im quite impressed.
Varis head was snapping around, looking for more enemies.
I do believe weve defeated them all, Catarina said. Both here, and there.
Varis eyes eventually settled back on Catarina.
... you cant hear can you.
Vari tilted her head, then pointed to her ears. They were bleeding.
Catarina put her face in her palms. I said to stifle her hearing. Not destroy it.
... She can recover from that, right? Timothy asked worriedly.
It should be fine, Catarina sighed. Maybe a few months.
I cant hear you right now, Vari said. I destroyed my hearing like you suggested. Good idea.
They were going to need to get out writing materials.
-----
This is Spikes, Fuzz said to the group, via writing his ssage on the ground. Shes part of the pack now.
Oh? Alva said with a raised eyebrow. Is she your girlfriend?
We are not mated yet, Fuzz wrote, seemingly without any form of embarrassnt. Though perhaps that sort of thing was more human. Spikes made so noises, which Fuzz interpreted. She humbly requests to join the pack. It seems she found the other stone wolves lacking in greatness.
It kind of sounded like you already decided, Alva shrugged. I have no objection. As long as Spikes can behave around people.
Spikes looked unsure of her surroundings, but controlled enough. Fuzz confird that she should be able to get along if she wanted to.
The group was already working on treating their respective injuries. Even beyond Varis self inflicted ones, so were reasonably serious. The enemy had been stronger than anticipated, and Fuzz arrival had been a great release of pressure. The formation would likely have allowed them to co out on top regardless, but nothing was guaranteed. If one of them had gone down, the battle might have spiraled in the other direction.
Vari took out the communication stone she had and crushed it in her fist. I hate this. I never want to interact with the Citadel again. The serious nature of her tone surprised Alva, who less than a few years earlier had only heard positivity about the Harmonious Citadel co out of her mouth.
Well find a way to prevent that, Alva wrote. But how did they find you the first ti? This is far from their territory.
Maybe it was a coincidence, Vari lied poorly. If youll excuse , I need to relieve myself.
Alva grabbed the back of Varis shirt, yanking her to a stop. She wasnt going to let Vari just wander off to be hunted down individually- or to die before she could get more orders. Theyd figure out a way to help her.
-----
At least we have lots of copies of the Glorious Harmony Technique to search through, Catarina comnted. It will make it easier to discern which ways it is different from the others.
Alva nodded. The bows were all the wrong size to use on wolfback, but they still got a respectable amount of wealth from their slain foes. The cultivation techniques were intended to disintegrate themselves upon viewing by those not approved, but after failing with the first one Catarina properly disard the enchantnts on the others. There were also different supporting techniques available compared to what they found on the sword-wielders. Forms and stances and the like, not necessarily useful but able to be sold to the right people for a tidy profit.
And they had Fuzz. Alva had almost given up hope that any of the rumors would find him, but after more than a year of searching theyd done it. It had definitely involved a bit of luck, since Catarinas attempts to track him down from beyond planetary distance had never panned out but they did it. He was stronger than ever, though of course that was the case. They hadnt seen him since he ascended after all, the troublemaker.
... I dont think I will survive restarting my cultivation now, Vari shook her head sadly. I fear the Glorious Harmony Technique might have the sa flaws, or the hooks buried in might be too deep. Is it really possible?
Anything is possible in cultivation, Alva assured her. Catarinas the best Ive t at things like this, besides maybe grandpa. Hoyt and Timothy too.
What about Everheart? Hoyt questioned.
Have I t him though? Alva shook her head. Besides he doesnt count since hes an asshole who wouldnt help.
Hoyt shrugged, Im just saying, hes amazing at breaking techniques apart and making new ones.
Varis face scrunched up. Are you guys saying sothing about Everheart? It hurts to hear, but I guess hes really from your world, huh.
It was reasonable that she found it difficult to believe, given that he had taken over an entire planet and made a region wide phenonon with it. It was strangely natural to them, though. Everywhere always had sothing left behind by him, with dangers associated with it.
Its about ti to head back, actually, Catarina comnted. Im ready for the next step in figuring out the thing. The formation plate was still half-secret from Vari, not because they didnt trust her now but because it was safer for her not to know. Well have at least a few weeks, potentially months if we have to take a more circuitous route back. We can stop sowhere to sell so of our recent gains. Ill need so materials, and we could all use so upgrades of at least part of our equipnt.
Everyone agreed with that plan. Catarina and Timothy could return to the Silver Sea Coalition for so ti of safety, but nobody was a dominant force around Everhearts Tomb anyway. Hoyt was also reporting what they had learned back to the Dark Ring, and though they couldnt count on backup from them they would be glad to hear of a victory over the Harmonious Citadel, even if only on the scale of individuals.
-----
Energy gathered in Antons hands, forming a special arrow in his bow. This one needed to go much further than any before and faster as well. This particular Spirit Arrow was ford of light, and if Anton wasnt fooling himself he might be able to make it go nearly that actual speed. There were so thods that made things faster- or travel between systems would be impossible- but without active control that was all Anton could hope for.
He needed this arrow to be as stable as possible, disconnected from himself but still able to provide feedback. And he even had to twist so anti-ascension techniques into everything else. The skies lit up as his arrow arced into the sky, vanishing into a point of light that would never be seen by human eyes again as it left the atmosphere behind it. Anton waited, watched, and felt. Hed tried similar things frequently, but he had high hopes for this attempt.
The feedback was minimal- the tiny fragnts of energy in empty space only hindering the flight of the arrow by the sheer quantity of them and the speed at which it ca into contact with them. Anton focused on maintaining the link, but it was a boring half of a day before he got any relevant feedback. Distances in the void of space were strange where pure energy was involved. The ascension energy threatening Anton felt as if it were oppressively close, but it was beyond the furthest planet by a significant margin.
Anton almost missed the impact, where his arrow ca into contact with ascension energy. It happened over a fraction of a second, but he smiled. Good. So the techniques worked to so extent on free upper energy as well. He wasnt quite sure how that would be useful, since he would not be going to such a place, and he only need concern himself about those coming to Ceretos, but it was sothing to learn nonetheless.
Inside of himself, Anton felt his connection to the sun strengthening. He was almost at the hundred and first star. Via communication with the others, so of them were at that point as well- though it was clear the actual functional details of their cultivation had diverged. He wished he could speak to them in person to discuss the finer details instead of sending vague overviews, sadly limited in information. Maybe they could co visit. He wasnt certain if they could, until the tides of the world changed. That information was apparently not easy to find, even in the upper realms. But even if he could not see them again, he could at least be content that they were prospering in their new environnt. anwhile, Ceretos itself was on another upswing. He intended to make sure it lasted as long as reasonable.
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