Divine Beast Ascension

Oli replied, “That’s exactly what I did. I’ve searched the entirety of the wooded hills. I’ve traversed most of the rocky hills. And I crossed all the grasslands surrounding the rocky hills. But I only found two camps. One on the cliff. And one underground.”

A smile spread across Hurdo’s face when he heard that last part. “Underground? How’d you find that one? And how can I destroy it?”

“I was stalled because, after a long night of exploring the grasslands, I was in a hurry to reach the wooded hills before sunrise. So I crossed the other half of the rocky hills to make sure I got as much data as possible,” Oli explained. “That’s when I ran into a Prodson scout on their trip back to camp. When they weren’t heading anywhere near the cliffside camp, I decided to risk following them.

“I ended up hiding in a shadow for half a day before finally getting an opening to retreat under the noon-day suns. That’s why I had to eliminate these two instead of sneaking past them.

“And you won’t be able to destroy the camp so easily, Hurdo. They have an earth perennial regularly checking the surroundings, scanning all the boulders and ground for something,” Oli added. “That’s how I almost got caught. The boulder cluster that had cast my shadow hiding place was destroyed by that very perennial. If I hadn’t been careful and patient, I’d be dead and they would have changed strategies.”

“Hmmm…” pouting with a grunt, Hurdo crossed his arms. “I see. Then how do you know it’s underground?”

“Because I watched half a dozen people coming in and out of a replaceable boulder, including that earth perennial, who was either an early or low-perennial by the way,” Oli stated. “There’s a secret knock to get it, which I now know from watching multiple people enter that underground passage under the hill.

“I don’t know how large that camp is or how many soldiers of perennials there are inside. But I know how we can get in and I know the general location. So we can at least plan accordingly to not get caught in their trap.”

.....

“Hmm… I’d love to have Master Rathe here right now,” Hurdo sighed and rubbed the hair all over his head in minor frustration. “I guess Hurman will be here soon, so that will do.”

Lambier, Sarpo, and Hurdo all took a moment to reassess and ponder what their troops could do in counter to Prodson’s strange, unusual setup.

After stuffing his face some more, the drake swallowed and chugged another mug of wine. “... I have an idea. I wouldn’t say it’s fully flushed out, but perhaps sharing it will help get us on the right track.”

“Sure! Coming from the expert scout and assassin who saw everything firsthand, I’ll hear you out, Vero,” Hurdo praised the drake. He even slapped the drake’s back, stopping the drake from refilling his mug. “What are you thinking?”

Oli nodded and stepped away from the command table. Approaching the corpses, Oli picked up the partially folded uniform and tossed it to Lambier.

Lambier didn’t know what to expect, but he caught the clothing and started deducing what the drake might propose.

“Do you think Marsel will fit in that?” Oli asked.

Lambier nodded. “Yeah. This should fit him.”

“Good. Then, we’ll make the slight alterations to the other one so it fits you,” Oli remarked, tapping the clothed corpse. “I may not be able to casually hop into shadows just yet. But I’m confident I can hide in them undetected so long as we don’t run into a suspicious perennial with darkness. However, if there was such a perennial among the enemy, I would’ve probably been caught last night.”

Squinting in thought, Lambier said, “Well, you haven’t been inside the underground camp. So there might be one there.”

“Who said I was going to the underground camp?” Chuckling, the drake smiled wide. His face was naturally menacing, though it only came across as confidence to the ally perennials in the tent. “I think you and Marsel will do better in the underground camp. I need you to get me inside the cliffside camp and help me hide in the shadows. After that, I’ll be fine on my own while waiting for the signal.”

“What signal?” Hurdo asked, brandishing an eager smile to match the drake’s enthusiasm.

*********

After sharing the report and a strategy for the invasion, Oli rested for a few hours. And, since there was no one calling on him until the arrival of the troops later that, Oli spent that time in his soul jade.

A thin miasma had formed around the drake’s body during that training. It was black and misty. But it would sometimes grow murky instead.

Inside the soul jade, Oli was pondering on the key differences between death and dark essence.

*... They’re really not so different,* Oli thought to himself inside the abyss of the soul jade. *Zelsh always said they were one and the same, but… I guess I didn’t give those words as much weight as they deserve.

*Dark essence can be stealthy. Yet, while keeping those stealthy qualities, its nature can also radiate enormous bloodlust…*

That realization was from looking over Vloz’s cultivation technique. Now that Oli had multiple dark-based techniques to compare, he used those as guides to better understand dark essence as a whole. It was through comparing techniques that Oli realized how much he had taken Vloz’s abilities for granted.

The Phantom Assassin technique. It was as if Vloz had named it after himself. And it was different from everything.

Oli took a moment to exit the soul jade. Then, Oli retrieved every dark-based cultivation technique he had. Thanks to the new scrolls Oli had received from Vloz, there were five in total. But Oli ended up only glancing and briefly studying two of them.

The three techniques holding Oli’s attention were all different. Yet, Oli was busy looking for similarities.

There was Oli’s long-time dark-based technique, Dark Abyss. That was the technique given to him by Trada since the moment Oli formed a mortal core. Though Vloz had offered his technique from the start, Oli easily decided to go with the technique of the Toxic-shadow Clan from the higher grade alone. After all, the Dark Abyss technique was a low-king grade.

Oli also kept looking back to the alternate version of the same technique, which Zelsh had given him. It was called the Death Abyss technique. They were nearly identical in ability and nature, even sharing the same grading.

But the Dark Abyss technique created invasive dark essence that would help break down threatening essence, used for defense or offense. The Death Abyss technique did the same thing, except with murky, misty death essence that could seep into a cultivator to weaken them over time, or more quickly by adding more death essence. All in all, those two techniques were truly similar despite the change to death essence.

Then, there was the Phantom Assassin technique…

On the surface, the Phantom Assassin technique was the weakest among all five of the techniques in front of Oli. Its grading was only mid-perennial.

Yet Oli knew just how devastating that technique was in capable hands. And now that Oli had more experience as a cultivator, and had also seen Netra in action using that same technique, Oli forced himself to reevaluate the technique. And Oli was glad he did while he was still an elder.

*It’s almost… as if it has two natures. Pure bloodlust. And complete nonexistence. I thought such a technique shouldn’t be powerful since it has such a stark contrast in abilities. Maybe that’s why it’s only mid-perennial grade,* Oli pondered, scouring his thoughts and deductions for all possible reasoning.

*Thanks to Netra, I’ve seen a mortal pull off what Vloz has always been doing. And I now see just how terrifying those abilities can be… But why aren’t more people using a technique like this? Because they can’t easily become kings with it? Maybe. Perhaps if the technique was peak-perennial grade it would have more traction among cultivators.

*Then again, not many people would accept a technique that would focus solely on something like assassination and stealth…*

Returning briefly to one of the less attractive scrolls, Oli opened it and laid it beside the Phantom Assassin technique.

*This belonged to a perennial leading an assassin organization. Yet he didn’t choose an assassination-focused technique. He used this one. Sure it’s peak-perennial grade, but it just focuses on speed. It can’t compare to the king grade techniques… But I don’t feel like it can compare to Vloz’s technique either, the more I think about it.*

Oli tossed that scroll aside once more. He rearranged the techniques to have the Dark Abyss and Death Abyss techniques on opposite sides of the Phantom Assassin technique.

Determined to find some kind of epiphany, Oli hurriedly scanned over the Phantom Assassin technique once more. And he decided to directly compare it to the Death Abyss technique this time.