Chapter 133: Chapter 121: Assessing the enemy

Sagel eyed the wall-encased city ahead of him, knowing that Asaren was inside of that wall and likely doing all she could to prevent being captured by the dark gnomes, the strongest users of earth magic in this cursed world rejected by the gods.

He carefully weighed what he was about to do. He had the capabilities to fight even a divine authority of earth if it came down to it, but to use the power needed to do so would mean going against the lowered station of the changeling people. As the rejected children of the highest among the creators, the changelings have survived in this world by lowering themselves to be under the shadow of the queen of the fey.

But Asaren is a person of great value to the fey. It would be a dark mark on him if he were to allow her to fall into the hands of the demons because he did not use all the options available to him.

Sagel felt a pain in the gut as he weighed the values of what he would have to do to serve the queen against the blasphemy of using the old blood of the changelings to the fullest and going against the low station they were currently held at. To hope to rise above the fey they served was almost a blasphemy, and the peril it could bring to the entire changeling race if the gods saw him was also something worth considering.

He gave a shake of the head as he finally came to a decision. The gods should not grow irate so long as he did not use any divine tier magic. Something the level of a ducal rank dragon noble should be enough.

He allowed the power he had as one of the first generations among the changelings to course through him, changing the bloodline power he held to match that of a dragon, even while still holding the form of a great fairy. He felt the power at the peak of the mortal realm course through him, allowing him to command the winds as he willed it.

He moved toward the city with a power exceeding the speed of even a great fairy, passing the speed of wind itself as the currents began to take on a behavior more similar to that of water as the wind struggled to move away as he went faster than it could, finally exploding in a thunderous sound as he passed by.

However, as he neared the city, he felt this power of wind sharply drop off, and soon he was not even able to remain aloft.

He had expected to struggle against the bindings of the earth as he came closer, but to even restrain the power of ducal dragons spoke volumes to the power this enemy held. He knew of only one thing that could do this, and he was cursing internally as the worst case he could envision was proving true.

Sagel had a clinched jaw and a sharp look as he plummeted to the ground, trying to muster all the power he could to keep from hitting the ground too hard. However, even in this near free-fall, he couldn’t help but notice the plant-matter growing atop the wall, and was stunned. So stunned it almost disrupted the attempts he was making to keep steady, causing him to crash and skid as he hit the ground, dirtying the robe he was wearing. Not that he really cared about that at this moment.

The mere fact even the height of mortal strength could not fight this earth magic meant only one thing. These gnomes had reached into the divine realm to create this wall.

Indeed, this was not the strength of the gnomes alone. Those gnomes were created through a dark ritual that should have cut them off from the authority of the Agarath. They must have used an artifact of some sort. And, judging by the red color, it was an artifact created by their evil blood-crazed god Iuutel.

This was distressing, but not outside of the realm of things Sagel could expect. The thing that truly shocked and surprised him was the lush growth of grass atop the wall and the thin wall of trees and bushes around the base.

It was clear these plants were somehow contesting the authority of earth. Plants fed on earth. This was natural. However, the divine authority of a blood god should not permit anything to forcibly take from it as these plants were doing.

This could mean one and only one thing. The divine authority of this evil god was being contested, and a divine authority can only be contested by someone with another divine authority.

Perhaps Asaren may not be relegated to simply hiding inside there after all. At the same time, though… even if reinforcements come, they will not be able to interfere so long as this tainted earth authority remains.

Unless the queen herself could be enticed to make a move, the only hope of defeating this enemy would be for Asaren, or whatever the source of this other divinity may be, to win and overwhelm the hold that Iuutel has gained on this area through whatever cursed artifact was used by the gnomes.

***

Rolwen lead Tia and Levin through the back streets. Levin was amazed by how he was able to remember all these streets. He had been right next to him the entire time they were doing their exploration of the city when they had first arrived, but it seemed like Rolwen was the only one who had bothered to make any sort of mental map of the area as they were exploring around.

It was really frustrating. Just when he’d thought he was beginning to close the gap between him and Rolwen, he goes and demonstrates another area where he is just so much more capable.

Well, given the current situation, it’s probably best to just follow his lead anyway. It would be a mistake to let jealousy influence his actions on the battlefield. A potentially deadly mistake. For now, he should just be glad Rolwen seems as capable as he is and just benefit from his skills to help them stay alive. After this is over though…

“There are humans in some of these houses.” Tia said in a low voice.

There are?! Of course, being an elf, Tia would be more sensitive to that sort of thing. He’d thought his own fire-meditation fueled spirit sense was strong enough to detect that sort of thing by now, but he’d completely missed it.

This was a problem though. If there are people around here, it means they could get caught up in whatever happens during their fight.

“There’s nothing we can do about that. The best we can do for them is find a hiding place far from any occupied houses. Tia, can you find someplace like that?” Rolwen asked.

Tia looked around for a moment, and then nodded and ran off in a direction, trusting them to follow without even looking back.

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She made a turn, and then slipped into a house half-way down one of the main streets. Levin debated the strategic value of hiding in a place like this. On the one hand, the gnomes are different from the city officials. It’s not like they would favorably patrol main streets. There shouldn’t be any one place more dangerous than any other.

On the other, a wide open area like this should allow for more enemies to crowd them and it will make for fewer places to hide. It was not a great location when they were outnumbered like this.

He could tell Rolwen was not exactly happy about the choice either, but he entered the house anyway without complaint. Well, if Rolwen wasn’t complaining, he wouldn’t either.

It probably made sense for main streets to be the less populated ones in the current situation. The citizens here would be the ones able to evacuate to the city center the fastest. That might be what went through Rolwen’s mind. He’d chosen to prioritize fighting away from innocent bystanders, and so he couldn’t complain about a weak strategic position since he’d made that decision.

“Alright, strategy meeting.” Rolwen said as soon as they hunkered down in a corner of the somewhat larger house they’d slid their way into.

“We got the last one pretty easy, but they’re not going to let us just sneak up on them like that again. They’re going to be on their guard from now on.” Rolwen said. “If they’re smart, they should be moving in groups now. Worst case scenario, all six of the remaining gnomes could come at us at the same time.”

“Yeah, that’s a problem.” Levin says. “Even if all Tia has to do is grab one of them and throw them at Asa’s tree in order to take them out, she can probably only do that with two at a time at most. All they have to do is have one of the other four grab one of us while she’s in the air and that’s our loose condition.”

Rolwen nodded.

“Exactly.” He said. “Our win condition is that we have to somehow take out all six of them. Our loose condition is them grabbing and capturing or killing just one of us. Levin and I are soft targets here, and we are also in the extremely bad position where Tia’s got to both protect us and attack at the same time in order for us to be able to do anything against this enemy.”

“Hmm…” Levin thought. “Wait! Tia. Didn’t you take some of Terlu’s blood earlier? You said something about getting an earth bloodline. Does that mean you have the same kind of tough body those guys do now? Can you use that to just… like… punch them into Asa’s tree or something?”

Tia thinks for a second, and then shakes her head. “No, I can’t.” She says. “I have managed to incorporate the bloodline, but I haven’t figured out how to make my body tougher like they do yet. Well, actually, I think I might understand it. If I’m right though, it’s going to take a long time. It’s not something that can be done with just a simple spell. It’s a permanent body alteration.”

Rolwen’s ears seemed to somehow perk up when he heard that.

“Really? You’ve figured it out? Well then, how exactly are they so tough? What are they doing to themselves to make them like that?”

“Well… I don’t know if this is right or not, but I think maybe they might be strengthening their bodies by combining it permanently with earth mana. I know bones have a stronger affinity for earth mana, but these ones we are fighting probably have it in their skin too. That Terlu kid only had it in his bones, that’s why I was able to bite through his arm like that. I don’t think I could have done the same with the others.” Tia said.

Rolwen thought for a second.

“Well, that might be a problem. It could have actually been easy for me and Levin to kill them if it was just their bones… well, easier anyway. But, maybe it might still be something we can do. I mean, these living weapons are freaking strong as well, and a sharp point serves as a force multiplier. Maybe we can still get through their eyes.” Rolwen mused.

“Wait! That would mean we have to get in to grappling range with them! Those guys are probably pretty strong too!” Levin objected.

“We’re just working with options here.” Rolwen said. “It’s better to consider our options so we can do something if it comes down to it rather than be stuck sitting their helpless if they capture us.”

That was a good point. Once again, Levin felt stupid. He’d been trying everything he could to find some way to contribute and keep up, but as soon as Rolwen suggested something to make it so both of them actually could do something, here he is objecting to it.

He knew exactly what he was doing. He’d already decided they were helpless. In his mind, he’d already lost against these gnomes in a fight that hadn’t even happened yet. And if he’d lost in his mind, that would turn into an almost assured loss in real life. And yet, here’s Rolwen trying to win that impossible fight and he was only holding him back.

Levin shook off the betraying thoughts in his mind and resolved himself again to do better. He couldn’t afford to fall behind right now in this situation. It’s do or die time.

“Alright, sure. So, how are we supposed to get close enough to make this sort of thing work?” Levin asked.

If he really stopped to think about it, this was exactly like training. In training, they practiced all sorts of theoretical grappling scenarios as they practiced moving against each other. They theorized out all the different ways they could make use of a weapon, or all the different ways they could attack one point on a person’s body.

Now, they had a weapon. The living wood weapon. They also had a target, the eyes. They just had to work up a few theories around those concepts, assuming an opponent with a lot more physical strength, and assuming they will need the leverage to really drive in their weapon.

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