It didnt take nearly as long to reach the tower-nest where most of the disciples waited than it had to go the other direction; this ti, I knew where I was going.
Also, my newest Coreless walked much faster than I could slither.
That may have been the biggest difference.
Whatever the reason, my crowd of Coreless soon ca upon the rickety tower-nest; I heard their mutterings as we approached and, even if I didnt know what they were saying, I could make a guess at what they were trying to say.
It was going to be hard to fit all of them in there - especially my giant. Even after it moved aside, getting through the moving-walls opening would require the giant undead to contort his body into unnatural shapes and sizes.
It was a good thing that any damage that caused his body would be easily fixed, I supposed. Unlike with so of the other reanimated, I was more than willing to waste essence on keeping my giant from his final death.
He would be useful. For appearances, if nothing else. The giant Coreless was intimidating. Id bet more than a few bad-things would prefer to run rather than face him.
And now he was mine.
We were quickly greeted by the Coreless of the tower-nest as we approached, the-female-who-was-not-Needle at their head. I caught more than a few notes of [relief] from their [Little Guardians Totem]s at my return; more than I would have expected, given how recently they had found the Great Cores light. Unlike the Coreless of the other two many-nests that I had visited, these new Coreless hadnt seen much of what I could do.
Of what serving the Great Core could bring. Now that I knew about the dangers they faced, it was ti that I started to change that. But first, I needed to figure out what to do with the Great Cores newest Coreless.
There really wasnt enough room for them.
I think that not-Needle realized that; as her eyes scanned over the followers that trailed behind , [alarm] invaded the [relief] of her [Little Guardians Totem]s, the two mixing together. [alarm] eventually won and turned into outright [panic]. She pointed at the new Coreless.
Skies, what happened? Are - are those people dead? What happened?
Does this snake belong to you, then? He the Coreless who had carried during most of my recent adventures started replying, letting out a long series of jabbers that I had no hope of following.
So I didnt.
Instead, I took a mont to relax, slithering towards the-female-who-was-not-Needle and finding my customary place on her shoulder. My coils wrapped tight around her, and I looked inwards.
The life force that I had gathered from the blasphemous Coreless was like a fire fighting the bitter cold of my flesh; I could feel the way that it tried to beat back the chill of undeath. I could feel the way that it was beginning to succeed.
It wouldnt take all that much more life force before [Life Hunter] pulled back from my reanimated state - which, while good, ant that I really would need to get rid of most of my undead at so point. Not only were they too much of a drain of my stores of mana - and, consequently, death essence - but they also were an easy source of the levels that I needed. It would be my best chance for fulfilling one of the main goals of getting [Life Hunter] in the first place.
[Death Boost]. I thought back to when it had first been offered to , calling up a mory of what the thought-light had shown .
Death Boost: You are born of death, and may temporarily imbue yourself with a small portion of the strength of those you usher into its arms, growing more powerful from the fallen. (Provided by: Undead)
It wasnt sothing that would always be useful, but I had a feeling that [Death Boost] was sothing that I would find myself needing.
Even with all of the distractions of the many-nests and other Lesser Cores, I hadnt forgotten about the threat that was Tiamat and her hordes of bad-things.
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I couldnt, even. She was a constant presence at the edges of my mind-nest, held back only by my bitter refusal to give any ground. Sothing that I figured she had realized; I didnt hear her thought-hisses in my mind as often as I used to.
But that didnt an that she wasnt planning sothing. I rembered the anger that she had felt when I used [Spore Puppeteer] to convert the bad-things that she had created, and the far more powerful rage when I had defeated the Golem that she had sent to face .
No, there would be more - and I doubted that the Golem was the strongest of bad-things that she had to throw at . Without the advantage of the plant-flesh-covered many-nest that had let use [Verdure Parasite] so effectively and defeat the Golem, I might find myself struggling against another Ascended.
As much as I hated to admit it, it was true. I just died too easily. My most recent fights had proven that point. Only my newest ability to bring myself back to life had stopped from needing the Great Core to bring back to the start of the Cycle, and sothing like the Golem wouldnt have had a very difficult ti just killing my reanimated self again.
I needed sothing more.
Hopefully, with Tiamats proven strategy of sending large hordes of bad-things to attack her enemies, [Death Boost] would be a part of that more. And if I was lucky, it would be a large part.
It was a gamble. I didnt really know how much a small portion of a bad-things strength was, and I didnt know what temporarily actually ant, either. But, above all, I had faith that the Great Core was with .
It would all work out eventually.
I settled down, luxuriating in the sensation of relaxed coils and limp scale-flesh, as the Coreless continued to make noises back and forth. It seed to have gotten a little heated; the-female-who-was-not-Needles voice had raised itself more than once, and I had sensed a whirlwind of emotions whipping through the connection to her [Little Guardians Totem]. But, overall, I ignored it.
I had finished my job for now; the blasphemous Coreless had been defeated, the followers of the Great Core rescued, and the next few slithers of my journey were beginning to beco planned out. Soon, I would need to create more [Little Guardians Totem]s, a [Little Guardians Focus], and raise a forest of plant-flesh to defend the Great Cores Coreless against any possible blasphers in their midst, but that was sothing for later.
For a little while, it would be nice to relax.
Valera was in shock; she knew that. There was just so much happening all at once. The bulk of the emotions that she was supposed to be feeling would probably catch up to her later, and shed have her chance to freak out over everything happening. Because this - this was more than a little overwhelming.
Valera had thought that, whatever the Little Guardian got up to when he slithered away, it wouldnt be sothing that a Guardian Statue or two couldnt fix.
Apparently, that hadnt been quite right.
She side-eyed the Little Guardian where he sat on her shoulder, trying to calm herself as her heart beat a little more frantically. It was hard not to. If he had only been a little bigger, the Little Guardian would look exactly like the vision of himself that he had once shown Valera, black smoke and clearly-dead flesh and all.
The vision of himself where he killed Valera.
She pushed back a shudder, reminding herself that this was different. The danger that ti had co from the Death Cores potential to defeat and take over the Little Guardian, that much was clear. The various undead creatures that they had faced along the way, not to ntion the horrible amalgamation of flesh that had stood guard in the Death Cores Sanctum, were proof of that. That wasnt the case anymore; the Death Core was gone.
But still, it wasnt easy to co so close to sothing that had once been revealed to be the death of her. Especially with the uncomfortable chill that radiated from his scales - one that was sohow more spiritual than physical, pushing past the barrier of her armor and skin far more easily than it should have. If it werent for the light touch of life that infused that chill, like a drop of warmth on a frigid day, not nearly enough to overco the cold but comforting all the sa, Valera wasnt sure that she would be able to stand it.
That little bit of life, of warmth, made all the difference though. Or, at least enough of one that Valera held out hope that things would be okay. That they really were different this ti. And that the tiny snake wasnt quite as dead as he seed.
He would have seen this happening and avoided it if it was a problem, right?
Valera hoped so.
Despite that, even with that tiny bit of warmth kept within the deathly chill, Valera would have worried about the wisps of black coming off of the Little Guardians scales having an adverse effect on her health if it werent for the knowledge that any Guardian Statue set up near her would heal Valera right up.
Speaking of Guardian Statues
The partys hopes of negotiating with more of Erandurs people than they initially had access to in order to wring out more benefits for Orken were all but ruined. Even if there wasnt the issue of Virtuns likely involvent with at least one of the wealthier factions of the hodgepodge-city, sothing that Valera had only recently learned when Doran and Erik returned, there was still the problem ofthem.
The other undead things that the Little Guardian had brought with him. Things without even a hint of the warmth and life that the tiny snake was giving off; just bitter cold and dead, moving flesh.
People. Guardsn. Who had, according to David - the self-appointed representative of the massive group of people that the Little Guardian had conjured from nowhere - killed the Little Guardian. So, at least he had been provoked.
But, still.
This is going to be a problem.
Valera sighed for what felt like the thousandth ti in recent minutes. Apparently, she wouldnt be able to relax for a good, long while.
Theyd need to co up with a new plan to deal with all this - because Valeras earlier worries, even if they had been wrong in scope, had been right on one thing.
This had the potential to be a diplomatic disaster.
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