"What did that gesture mean back at the village, Soloman?" Sophia asked as the group hiked up the finger of the mountain. They walked leisurely, with no real objective, leaving only a residue of effort in today's competition.
"It means 'be quiet' or 'don't say'. What do you use when you need someone to be quiet?"
"Our fist or sword," she answered in a flat tone.
"…A bit violent, ain't it?"
"This is a pugilist world. Words are for poetry; actions dictate actions," Andre interjected as he passed a canteen over to Sophia.
"No wonder the development of this world seems so stagnant. Illia, can you tell me why we are actually participating in this farce? We could have just gone back to that village, eaten some decent food while I tinker away at some projects." Soloman groaned, having hiked up three fingers of the mountain range for non-existent drakes.
"If we want an explanation for how we got those cores, we have to put on a show of effort to avoid suspicion." Illia quibbled as she brought up the rear, writing a strongly worded letter to Sect Master Aria.
"And that letter is for?"
"Preparations… along with an incident report." Illia said in a biting tone, giving a playful glare that sent shivers up everyone's spine, with Soloman's heart sinking.
{Not to interrupt the nightmare you're imagining, but look behind you.} Priscilla was enjoying the view of nature on their hike, sipping recreated beverages from Soloman's memories with a content look on her face as she playfully kicked her legs under the table.
[How can you see what's behind me?] He was perplexed by her capabilities as he turned around to see what was behind him.
"Everyone, stop. Look." He pointed to the sky where three red flares were shining with a long smoke trail following behind.
"…There are no drakes, so that means… One of the teams is in trouble! They are about an hour away." Ouro gave the command, and soon the five of them sprinted. With four of them at the core formation stage and Soloman's body equivalent to a gold pill cultivator, they could easily run at forty-eight kilometers an hour without stopping.
As they ran through the forest, four of them prepped their defense artifacts and circulated their qi to maximum output, creating a tidal wave of colors that bombarded the trees and rocks away. As the path became smoother from the clearing, their speed accelerated, almost creating a sonic boom, until a golden flare launched into the air, stopping them dead in their tracks.
"A Golden Flare! How is that possible?!" Andre was shocked at the sight of the flare illuminating the sky, his eyes trembling.
"Only an elder would use such a thing! They are calling for assistance from sects all across the continent!" Sophia was shocked that the prideful Iron Tortoise sect would commit such a shameful act and was more afraid of what they were running towards that would cause the sect to falter to such a degree.
"Are we about to fight something that even a Sect Elder can't handle? Illia, what's your decision?" Ouro looked towards his sister with a steadfast gaze.
"…I think we should go…" Illia mulled over what actions to take as she looked back at her team. "Where's Soloman?"
...
A blur of trees and rocks filled Soloman's vision as he ran at a speed he had never felt before. The sight of the gold flare did nothing to stop him from helping people, let alone hold any meaning to an outworlder like him.
All the books he had read at this point were on cultivation, alchemy, and smithing; there were not many books of history in the library. The meaning of a gold sect emblem in the sky, whose bloody history meant the death, annihilation, and dissemination of hundreds of sects and millions of cultivators, was completely lost to him.
{Haven't seen that in a long while.}
[That flare? What does it mean?]
{Hmmm~ nothing to worry about. I'm sure you can handle it.}
[How can you be so sure? There are monsters in this world that I have never seen before, whose power makes even you cultivators shrivel.]
{If such a beast of that caliber were around, the terrain here would not be what it currently is. Any beasts that could do any damage to your body would have been sensed by hidden elders in the Iron Tortoise sect long before any team here could happen upon them.}
[Thanks? What does the terrain have to do with it?]
{The power of spirit beasts and mythical creatures are naturally attuned to the world. They unconsciously alter the environment around them to best suit their species' preferences. Have you heard about 'Stagnate Tree Desert' or 'Pearlescent Gray Sea'?}
[No.]
{They are examples.}
[Oi.] Soloman wanted to scold her for being flippant with her responses but was cut short when he found a trail of shattered trees and rocks that gave a perfect view of Olivia's team fighting dragon-like worms billowing out from the ground.
The carapace of the worms was thick, red-toned pangolin scales with a body as thick as an anaconda, and six forearm-length mandibles protruding from their mouths. The ferocity of the worms attacking her team left many openings in their defense, allowing the worms to successfully land attacks. Each clash of the worms against their weapons sounded like a buzz saw against metal, with twenty such creatures encircling her team.
{Wow, I thought they went extinct nine thousand years ago. Mantle worms are ferocious spirit beasts that are apex predators of cultivators, causing millions of them to perish. Many sects came together to kill them off.} She commented apathetically.
[Do they have a weakness we can exploit?]
{Yeah, for you.}
[Well?!]
{Be stronger than them and pierce through their carapace.}
[Not helpful! What's up with you?]
{They are apex predators for a reason, but like I said before, you have sufficient strength to achieve it and have no cultivation, so you're invisible to their senses. But that's the least of your problems.}
[What more issue could there be?! They can kill cultivators that have superpowers!] Soloman was stressed about how to find an efficient way to deal with the beasts attacking the wounded team as he sprinted.
{They proliferate at an unmanageable rate. They ruin ecosystems by consuming all living matter once they reach a certain level. 'Stagnate Tree Desert' was their doing, actually.} She answered as she was rummaging through the fridge for another exotic drink from Soloman's world.
[How are you so calm about this?! You'll be in trouble too, being in my head won't save you since I'm running straight towards them.] Soloman was taken aback by how the usually sweet and energetic girl seemed so detached and cold.
{…You can punch through stone, earth-grade treasure stone at that. Fighting them is gonna be like watching students practicing the same move over and over again back at home. Monotonous.} She yawned as she proceeded to walk to her bed.
{I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me up when you're finished, I hate reruns.} She pulled the covers over and zonked out.
[Oi! Hey! Priscilla!] Soloman tried reaching out only to be met with 'Zzz' as a response. He clicked his tongue as he broke through the tree line.
"I can't last any longer! What should we do?!" Hermila ax-kicked a worm into the ground only to have two more lunging at her exposed sides.
"We have to make a stand here. Just keep pushing on! Reinforcements are on the way… I'm sure of it." Olivia lied as she diverted a strike with her now warped fan. Her feet dug into the ground from the sheer force of the worm's attacks.
"Marcel! Can your bugs infect them from the inside?" Olivia briefly looked over at the other rock face to check their situation.
"No, my qi can't penetrate their skin for any signal to reach. I tried already. That gold flare may have been more detrimental than helpful." Marcel's voice trembled with frustration as black haze disks made from his insects followed his arms. Another batch protected Ceren and Ibrahim's body. The black aura surrounding them quickly thinned with each passing strike, the insects dwindling faster than he could manage.
"It was a gamble to be sure, but Olivia was right to use the flare when she did. The representatives from the other sect will realize its importance and bring suitable assistance." Ceren used a dagger provided by her father to deflect attacks. Blood dripped from her mouth from the sheer force of the worm's body weight, more than a mere dagger could withstand.
"That's the point! They understand that an elder needed help. Why would they bother?" The brace on Hermila's forearm shattered, leaving a deep seed of despair in her mind. She embraced the futility of outside help coming.
Olivia watched as the situation deteriorated faster than she imagined. Their weapons shattered, artifacts rendered inert, use of qi restricted, and they were outnumbered. The sounds of rumbling earth, unholy screeches, heavy gasps of breath, and the smell of blood filled the air, weighing heavily on Olivia's mind. The sight of her once arrogant and prideful team, hallmarked as the golden era of the sect, now crippled, exhausted, and nearing death's cold embrace, brought her to a mortifying conclusion.
She took a deep breath, feeling the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders. Her heart pounding in her chest, each thump a painful reminder of their dire situation. She glanced around, seeing the fear and desperation etched on the faces of her team. They had fought so hard, given everything they had, and yet it seemed it was all for naught.
"...We lost the gamble." She fell to her knees, tears falling as she stared at the sky, exposing her neck, hoping for a painless quick death.
The deep, endless blue sky, pocked with small golden clouds, was a view she had seen for decades. It was nothing special but looked exceptionally beautiful in her final breath. She kept looking at that mundane sky, tattooing it to her brain. The sounds of battle became muffled like white noise, the calls from her team inaudible.
Serenity and acceptance swelled in her mind. Memories of her past flashed before her eyes—moments of triumph, regret, and love. She felt the ground beneath her, cool and solid, grounding her in her final moments.
"I'm sorry," she whimpered, her voice barely a whisper, lost in the cacophony of chaos around her. She closed her eyes, letting the tears flow freely, each drop a testament to her sorrow and regret. The weight of it all was crushing, suffocating, and yet, in that moment, she found a strange sense of peace.
...
A man in a white coat landed right in the middle of the swarm, creating a large dust plume. "Olivia! Wake up! Don't give up!"
The team was shocked and overjoyed at the sight of help landing in front of them, their faces plastered with elation at winning the gamble.
"Sitrep!" Soloman shouted for information as one of the worms lunged at him. The team reached out to help, only to look in shock.
screech
"Aggressive little shit!" He dodged the attack and snatched it midair. The worm's scales were rough and jagged, cutting into his palms as he gripped it.
Chanting to himself, he flexed his arms. "I can punch through stone. I can punch through stone. I can punch through—Aaagh~!" The muscles in his arms bulged, veins popping as he exerted all his strength.
"Shit, these scales can cut! Almost there!" He started wringing the worm in his arms. It whipped its body against the ground, sending up clouds of dust and debris. The force of its thrashing sent shockwaves through Soloman's body, but he held on, gritting his teeth against the pain.
"Just…die…already~!" Straining his arms, he twisted the head off, creating a blood fountain. The worm's blood was thick and dark, splattering across Soloman's face and clothes. The metallic smell of blood filled the air, mingling with the earthy scent of the forest, triggering distant harsh memories.
He paused for a moment, the memories of past battles and genocide flashing through his mind, adding to the weight of the current struggle.
"Tell me the situation! What do you need?" Soloman wiped the blood off his face as he reached in his bag. He steadied his hands pushing though the regretful pain he inflicted during that distant life, and would use any tool necessary to return home.
"We need help!" Ceren's voice was shaky, her eyes wide with a mix of relief and confusion. The sudden appearance of Soloman had thrown her off balance, and the chaos of the battle made it hard to focus. Her body trembling from the swash of emotions pouring out.
"I see that. Enemy count, casualty count, resources, egress points. That's what I need to help you." Soloman pulled out his twin daggers and started randomly slashing at the intertwining mass that became exposed from his arrival. Each slash sent scales flying, the sound of metal against scale like nails on a chalkboard.
"We have no weapons. No medicine. Ibrahim is unconscious. There's a large one somewhere." Olivia gave what information she could muster in the chaotic situation. Her voice strained fighting through the tears trying to relay what she could, after being whipped out of her fugue state.
"We can't use our qi! More of them will come if we do." Marcel added to the assessment, feeling hopeful looking at the limp body and large gashes forming on the mass of worms.
"Got it! Here!" Soloman threw his bag over to Marcel, who was closer.
Plop
The bag almost missed the rocky surface sending a chill down Marcel's spine.
"Pull out the gloves inside. They minimize your energy exposure. Medicine too." He instructed what to look for as he continued to slash with his knife. The blade cut through the worms' scales, each strike sending a spray of blood and ichor into the air. The sight and smell of the blood were overwhelming, as visions of angels and traitors flashing before him, with each droplet of blood on his face.
"Understood." Marcel pulled out the gloves and tossed them to his teammates. The four donned the gloves but were left confused about what to do next.
"Now what, Scientist Soloman?" Olivia broke her stupor and waited for further instructions.
"Attack the mass with everything you've got. I'll take care of the exposed attackers. My team is closing in… They have heaven-grade weapons." He hesitated to mention the weapons but found it better to motivate them to push on.
"Got it!" The four acknowledged in unison and proceeded to launch continuous attacks on the bundle of worms that was still exposed.
"Are the other teams coming?" Ceren pushed her artifacts to the limit, causing hairline fractures to surface.
"…Illia's team is on the way. You mentioned attracting, are there more in the forest?"
"Yeah, a huge amount!" Hermila reinforced her body as she kicked the mass, creating shrapnel from their shells. The team understood the nuance of Soloman's response; others weren't coming.
"Damn it." Soloman contemplated an effective solution to kill all the worms at once across the valley.
"We have to kill them all. A single one escaping would be catastrophic to the environment. Tell me your specialties, now!" Soloman's eyes turned bloodshot as his dagger tore away the flesh of the worms. The smell of muck and blood brought flashes of horrifically bloody memories of corpses stacked in mounds on the streets in his world.
"Asking us to reveal that is asking for us to die." Marcel snapped at Soloman's question.
"Why do you need to know? So you can run off to your sect with it?" Hermila refused to answer such a personal question to a person outside the sect, savior or not.
"…" Olivia clenched her jaws as she kept watch over Ibrahim's body.
"Wind! Wind and airflow. I use the 'Air Wing Heaven Step' cultivation technique." She answered, hoping her team would follow suit. "We are close to death. What can he do to us? He gave everyone in the pagoda heaven's knowledge. Trust him, please."
"…Tsk… Damn it. Fire and lightning. I use the 'Chaos Flame Bone' cultivation technique," Hermila begrudgingly admitted, her voice tinged with frustration.
"Water and mist. I use the 'Celestial Moon River' cultivation technique. Only to the third chapter, though," Ceren responded, her expression darkened with concern.
"By My Lady's will. I was born with the 'Mist Acceptance' physique. Anything my hands touch turns to mist that I can freely control," Marcel added, glancing at his skin-colored gloves. The team flinched at his revelation, except for Ceren.
"Got it, give me a minute!" Soloman ignored the team's reaction to Marcel and began running thousands of calculations in his head while still following the flow of battle.
He analyzed the length, depth, and angle of the mountain pass's surface, the surrounding trees, rocks, and the size of the clouds hovering above. Observing the condition of the area, millions of scenarios ran concurrently in his mind, predicting possibilities and the effectiveness of each. The matrix in his brain worked furiously, causing Soloman to bleed from his nose.
{So loud~.} Priscilla murmured, putting a pillow over her head.
...
"Here's the plan!" Soloman's face lit up with a cunning look as a eureka moment struck him.
"What is it?" Olivia asked, looking at Soloman's bleeding face with apprehension.
"We are gonna use what we learned. The lightning formula I gave, do you remember its contents?" He looked around at the team for confirmation.
"How can we forget that spectacle?" Hermila glared at Soloman contemptuously.
"This isn't the time to brag!" Ceren reprimanded his behavior.
"How is cultivating now going to help when we are about to DIE?" Marcel scorned Soloman.
"NOT THAT!" He shouted, frustrated that the team thought so lowly of him.
"Do you remember how lightning is formed, the steps for it?" The team was confused for a moment until the idea sank in and realization dawned.
"Make your…"
"Bring down…"
"Re-create…"
"Bring forth…"
"The largest lightning strike seen across the world!" A look of madness adorned his face.