Chapter 570: 572. Cult Attack

“What do you mean he wants the skills I have?” Dallion asked.

Before he could receive an answer, the dream came to an abrupt end and Dallion felt a deep sensation of malice coming from all directions. Fractions of a second later, he sensed something as well—the cold sensation of void.

“Gleam!” Dallion jumped to his feet.

Barely had he done so when the house he had been given to sleep in was split in two. A thread of destruction sliced through the wooden walls, chopping everything in its path. Thanks to his reaction speed, Dallion was able to leap to the ground, avoiding a lethal blow. It was only after that the whip blade flew out of its sheath, extending to create a defensive perimeter around its owner.

Screams filled the air, followed by yells.

“Ruby, fly up and be careful!” Dallion ordered. “Gleam, go with him!”

What about you? the familiar asked. They won’t stop at a single line attack.

“I’ll be fine.” Dallion rolled to the rest of his gear. He was still in his underwear, but getting dressed wasn’t the priority now. There was only one type of creature that released the emotions Dallion was sensing—chainlings.

Several more line attacks made their way from the forest, going through the city. They were significantly weaker than what Dallion had seen in the awakening realms, but still capable of leveling an entire settlement. Leaping in the air, Dallion spun and twisted to avoid the attacks, then used his harpsisword to let out two line attacks of his own. Thanks to his perception and scholar skills, it was simple to determine the source of the previous attacks. Dallion’s only hope was that the enemies weren’t as fast as he was.

Trees fell down like straw. As they did, a specifically non-human scream filled the air. One of the enemies had fallen. Sadly, there was no telling how many more remained.

Dallion made a note to apologize to the trees later. The good thing about plants was that they were a lot more durable than items and animals. With some quick help from Lux, most of the trees would be just as healthy as before. The structures and people, on the other hand, weren’t going to be so fortunate.

Bursting into instances, Dallion looked through the rest of the village. Almost all the acolytes were dead, likely killed by the line attacks. A dozen of war clerics were still in shape fighting what appeared to be a dozen cultists. There was nothing in their clothes or appearance that suggested that they were followers of the Star. For one with musk skills, the chill of void was a clear giveaway.

Why would they be attacking a settlement of the Order? Dallion wondered as he charged at the weakest enemy he could find. One thing he had learned as a hunter was that it always paid off to take out the weakest prey first, especially in a large battle such as this.

It all depends on why the Order is expanding in this direction, Nil replied. In the grand scheme of things, there is more than one battlefield and thousands of goals.

The answer didn’t amount to anything.

Once Dallion reached the chaingling, one of his instances struck the creature from behind using a spark attack. The tip of the harpsisword pierced through cloth and flesh, sending a shock throughout its body. The sensation of void shattered, replaced by uncertainty. Not wanting to take any chances, Dallion continued with a multi attack, drilling the chainling’s back full of holes, then split into instances again. Before the target could collapse onto the ground, he was already on his way to the next target.

The war cleric was clearly a veteran, for he instantly followed Dallion’s lead, also bursting into a dozen instances. In less than a minute, the chaos of the initial surprise attack was overcome. One by one, chainlings fell, pierced full of holes by Dallion with the assistance of the war clerics. None of them made a break for it. At this point, it wouldn’t have mattered. The war clerics had gained momentum and used instances to close off all potential paths of escape. Soon, it was all over.

“Stay here,” Dallion said. “I’ll check for more.”

Splitting into fifty instances, he dashed into the forest in all directions. There didn’t seem to be any trace of any other chainlings. That was the good part. Unfortunately, there were no indications of how they had come here, either. For the next ten minutes Dallion kept splitting, searching everything tree and every patch of each in the surrounding area. The result was always the same—nothing, almost as if the chainlings had appeared out of nowhere.

Gleam, anything on your end? He asked.

Just another missed opportunity to gain some experience, the whip blade replied. Ruby’s fine, by the way.

Nothing hidden?

I can recognize an illusion if I see one.

All but one of Dallion’s instances faded away. He had found all that he could. The only thing left was to get back and see what was left of the settlement.

The first thing Dallion did was to get dressed. Apart from the obvious, that allowed him to take a few moments to have the adrenalin high to pass. A hunter needed clarity to assess every situation. Statistically, the most dangerous time for a hunter was just after a win, when the adrenalin made the person overconfident and the euphoria reckless.

Dallion took a deep breath, recited the names of all the Moons, then joined the remaining survivors. A total of eleven people remained alive in various states of injury. Thanks to Lux, Dallion managed to heal most of their wounds. Unfortunately, even the firebird wasn’t able to fix severed limbs.

“I know you,” one of the war clerics said. “You’re the Hero of Nerosal.”

“I haven’t been called that in a while.” Dallion smiled. “Any reason why you should be attacked by cultists?”

“Does the Crippled need a reason?” The cleric avoided the answer. He was a massive middle-aged man with no hair and a short beard that had likely seen a lot in his days. The skin of his hands and face was rough as sandpaper, suggesting it had been exposed to the elements for decades. “Every temple we build diminishes his power. He probably didn’t want us to expand north.”

Dallion could have asked why they were expanding north. Instead, he decided to ask someone who’d give him a straight answer.

ITEM AWAKENING

Reality changed to an endless plain filled with gray and beige bushes.

You are in the land of CLOAK

Defeat the guardian to change the land’s destiny

Smart move, dear boy, Nil said.

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The cultists might have made a deal with the Star to be consumed by the void for powers. However, they hadn’t done the same for their clothes. Hopefully, they hadn’t changed those too much.

“I challenge you,” Dallion said, using one of the abilities of his empathy attribute.

Guardian of the CLOAK has been challenged.

A blue rectangle emerged, joined shortly after by the guardian. The creature, to Dallion's surprise, turned out to be a low level porcuthread. The moment the guardian saw him, blobs of fear emerged within it like bubbles. Both sides knew who would win in a direct fight. Then again, fighting wasn’t Dallion’s goal.

“Why are you here?” Dallion asked.

The porcuthread took a step back. Having an awakened summon a guardian was exceptionally rare. Having him also address the guardian was rarer still.

“I mean, why did your owner come here?” Dallion clarified.

“To kill you and everyone in the village.” The guardian’s voice was unusually deep. “Those were the orders he was given.”

“Orders?”

“My owner always wears me when he receives his orders. It’s what makes me special. Other than the dagger, I’m the only one who’s present on all important occasions.”

That made sense. If there was a ceremony, it would be normal for all the participants to be wearing some sort of official attire. Apparently, in this case, that happened to be a cloak.

“Then when that was done, my owner and the rest were to remove any trace that there was a settlement here.”

“But why?”

“To kill you.”

“I got that.”

“No. My owner was told to specifically kill you—the empath. All of the members were.”

This Dallion didn’t expect. All this time he had been going on and on how the Star was out to get him. As it turned out, he was half right. It was the cultists who wanted him dead. The scariest part was that they were far better organized than one might think. He had left Nerosal quite recently, not to mention that he had initially gone south. Tracking him down in that amount of time and getting a squad ready to attack was outright terrifying.

“Why?” Dallion asked.

“Because you’re hunting the aether bird. Many of our groups are doing this as well. Now that several new feathers have emerged, the hunt has resumed.”

“So, it’s been going on before?”

“The hunt has been going on for decades before I was created. My owner was part of a group hunting it in the west ages ago. This time—”

Suddenly, Nil appeared several steps away. Without warning, his hands moved through the air, drawing a circle of symbols. Before Dallion could react, a bolt of purple light flew out of the circle, destroying the guardian.

GUARDIAN ANNIHILATED

A red rectangle emerged. Next thing Dallion knew, he was back in the real world. Looking done, the cloak the cultist corpse was wearing turned into dust.

Nil?! What the heck?!

You can’t trust anything he said, dear boy. By its own admission, the guardian had been part of several cultist meetings.

I was using music on him, Nil! I could have learned so much!

You would have learned precisely what the Star wanted you to learn. Wouldn’t you agree that it was remarkably easy to get information from the guardian? Not to mention the remarkable coincidence that the very first guardian you stumbled upon seemed to have this information so readily. As rare as the emathy trait is, the Star isn’t a complete idiot. He’d have protected against such an eventuality.

The logic made sense, although that didn’t make Dallion feel any better. At the very least, he should have been the one to make that decision. Now he couldn’t be sure whether anything the cloak had said was a lie or not. There was always the option to check with other guardians that belonged to the killed cultists. However, there was no guarantee that he wouldn’t stumble upon another trap. Or maybe there was no trap to begin with?

“What’s the matter?” the war cleric asked, seeing what Dallion had done.

“Just a precaution,” Dallion said. “I’ll need everything belonging to the cultists. There might be some clues why they did this and what their greater plans are.”

“As you say, initiate.” The war cleric clearly wasn’t happy with the priorities Dallion had. “We’ll leave that to you. While we bury our brethren. By the Seven.”

“By the Seven,” Dallion replied. He could feel the sudden hostility emanating from the cleric, but that wasn’t his immediate concern, nor was it Nil’s unexpected behavior. The guardian had said that the Star was aware of Dallion’s mission. If true, it meant that he had changed tactics and decided to eliminate Dallion early. This was no longer just a race.

I really dislike competitive hunts, Dallion said to himself. He’d only taken part in a few so far, all for minor trophies. Even then, things had been messy, going so far as to break friendships. With a prize of such significance that high-level nobles, the Academy, the Order, and even the cult of the Crippled Star were involved. With such competitors, every participant was a target. 

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