Chapter 303: Chase

Sage waited there patiently for a few minutes. If that escaping presence was still moving quickly, it was likely they’d be close by already. Sage kept the Twin Soul with him as a backup, but a Warp Worm was moving through the earth and checking for more secret passageways. Just then, the Warp Worm found one, and Sage scooped up the Formation Machine, and left the individual Formation Plates in the interest of saving time. He’d already hidden them carefully, so collecting them wouldn’t be a quick process. Instead, he released his Spiritual Sense, throwing it out to spread it rapidly like one might a picnic blanket. The hasty release left gaps, but it was the fastest way to get a quick scan of the surroundings.

He hoped to find a trace of the escaping presence before it got too far away. Using the Timeless Eyes’ ability of Hindsight, he was confident at not losing his target’s trail. On the other hand, there was no telling how long they could run for and how many tricks they might have to lose him. It was imperative to catch them as soon as possible! Luckily, his sweep felt the pressure of a sliver of aura. The bit of aura almost instantly faded away, but he immediately took off towards it.

That certainly confirms the flaming tar person as more than a simple puppet. After seeing my method, it must have copied me. It also seems I’m not the only one with a method to avoid Spiritual Sense.

He leapt off the edge once again, plummeting into the crevice and using what he lazily named a ‘Web Bracer’ to once again launch a tiny claw on a wire. The claw itself was a tiny magic weapon, with enhancements to make the claws penetrate, the palm to ‘attach’, and pieces in the joints to ‘shrink’ so the claws could grasp. It contained a storage space with spools of braided Steelsilk cables as well as a steam engine to retract the cable. The device was something he initially developed before he first lost his mind and turned into rampaging beast. He’d performed a few upgrades to it over time, mainly on the claw and including backup wires/claws in case the first needed to be severed. There was also a few simple spike launchers that fired from the top of the bracer, as opposed to the wire that fired from his wrists.

Back then, he realized he hadn’t put enough focus on an actual weapon. Even on earth it was obvious that using a weapon was superior to no weapon. At least until a person could not find a weapon that was more powerful than their own body. For example, a normal person wielding a paper sword. The paper wouldn’t be able to hold up against the force of being swung around and the shock of contact. If a cultivator was powerful enough, normal materials would become similar to paper to a normal person. Hence, the development of magic weapons and the pursuit of the extraordinary materials used to craft them.

During his time training as a Tamer he gained some experience wielding whips and chains, so he was inspired by a certain wall crawler and his own ability to produce silk thread. It was of course nowhere near as effective, but he focused more on the manipulation of the wire than he did on laying down large quantities of it. Especially when it was combined with his use of the Timeless Eyes, it was a very effective weapon. That said, it was a weapon of trickery and deceit. Most of the fights against powerful foes forced him into using other options to compete against beings out of his league. Just like now, it had become more of an auxiliary tool in comparison to the Heavenly Materials he controlled.

Just then, he was inspired and he thought about throwing out a Spirit Torch. A Spirit Torch was little more than a low level Spirit Stone that had a light array carved onto it. It was a consumable and created an area of light, like a torch. When he thought that far, he saw the lit area with his Foresight a few seconds into the future. He didn’t actually throw out the torch, so no light was actually created. Instead he only saw a glimpse of light for a few seconds.

The light doesn’t quite reach far enough for me to get a good view.

Unfortunately, the Timeless Eyes only showed him a vision of the immediate future, and many of them at the same time. He couldn’t use his Spiritual Sense with his eyes, so there was no way to perform a similar undetectable cheat with his Spirit Sense. So, instead, he launched a wire from a Web Bracer and used it to swing over to the other side of the crevice. He slowed his fall with Cosmic Traction and pulled out the Plate Cannon, loading it with a light generating Formation Plate. He performed the trick again, preparing to fire it and getting a very brief glimpse of the plate flying through the air and lighting up the cavern.

He stopped before actually firing the cannon and aimed it at a different place before performing the same ‘phantom’ firing. Seeing possible futures by aiming at different spots and looking for signs of his target. After trying a dozen times at different directions, he changed his position, swinging over to another place and landing on the path. He took aim again, searching the path a few hundred feet away. The distance was quite great and the plate had a few second travel time to cross the gorge, so he only had about two seconds to quickly scan the lit area before he had to release the trigger on the Plate Cannon.

After changing his position three times and searching for a dozen minutes he finally found his target. In his vision, he saw a figure in a large black cloak, just like that flaming tar person had been wearing. When the surroundings were lit up, the person in the cloak immediately darted behind a large rock. Sage wasn’t sure it was his target, but it was the only person he’d seen down here, so the odds were high. He didn’t follow through with launching the Plate Cannon and instead swung out to move towards the place he’d seen them. He used Cosmic Traction to control his passage, making a very controlled glide without having to use the Web Bracer to do any swinging. He’d used it earlier to conserve his energy, but now that he was closer he didn’t want the small hiss of firing the claw from a steam cannon, nor the clink of it catching the rock, to give him away.

He angled the Plate Cannon in mid-air, repeating his earlier trick to get a better look at the target as he closed in. The cloaked person continued to move down the path, and each time the Formation Plate flew over and illuminated the area, the cloaked person almost immediately dove behind the nearest cover. Sage started to time the firing of the plate to when the cloaked person has less cover nearby and it gave him a better view of them as they scrambled to hide. Eventually, he got close enough the Plate lit up his target for nearly the full five seconds and at that point he saw a slight reflective glimmer in the darkness. The same shine that would come from a puddle of the tar he’d seen earlier.

Sage made his decision quickly and swapped the Formation Plates in the cannon as well as in the Formation Machine. Then he rapidly fired a trio of Formation Plates down the path in the direction that his target was heading. They sprung to life and a neon blue mist sprung up to block the way. At the same time, the other two arrays created a tranquilizing gas and a mess of entangling vines. Personally, such things would only slow him down for a minute or so if he wanted to burst through them. What he didn’t know was how much stronger the target was than himself. All they needed to do was act as an obstacle, slowing the robed figure down so Sage could engage them in battle.

While the three Formation Plates were flying through the air, he put the Plate Cannon away and pulled out his Formation Machine, dropping it on the edge of the path where it formed into a multi-layered wall. The cloaked figure acted as they usually did, immediately seeking cover. The blockage in the front and to the side sprung up and Sage swooped towards the cloaked person from the back. Using Cosmic Traction it was like he was an experienced skydiver, one that could even control his speed of descent at will. He didn’t even need a parachute, and when his feet touched the ground, he transferred his falling momentum perfectly into forward momentum.

Even in the darkness, his eyes were good enough to notice the glimmer of a pool of tar spreading from the figure’s feet.

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