Elder Cultivator

The Scarlet Alliance quickly carved through the intermediate systems preventing them from their goal. They weren’t planning to try to wipe out the entire Heartcursing Hail sect, and while their battle lines could still be harassed with the current setup it was better to quickly reach proper Fearsome Menagerie territory- before they could recruit more allies to come to their aid.

It was simple for the Menagerie to predict where their target was. Their goal was to kill or at least seriously injure Yann, and they knew where his anchor was. Assuming it hadn’t been moved, which was… questionable. It might not even be possible to move that one in particular. They had plans to verify it before they committed fully to their attack.

Until then, however, Ratna was leading the charge. She wasn’t always visible, but she was always present and ready to take down the most troublesome cultivators that the Fearsome Menagerie was willing to throw into their path.

And their allies, of course. That included the Heartcursing Hail as well as one more relatively potent neighbor- the Concussive Wall. Along with various minor sects they coerced into joining, of course. However, the Fearsome Menagerie was the only group with a Domination cultivator, and thus the other sects were only interested in deploying within their midst. The exception being the Heartcursing Hail within their own territory, as they obviously didn’t want it to go undefended. Not that it had done them much good.

“Yann!” Ratna yelled as they approached. She could already see him, wrapped around the planet- Bya. His anchor, however, had been buried under the mountain again. She presumed. It would have likely all collapsed should he remove the giant snake skeleton, but it could have been an impressive fake out to keep the majority intact while ‘repairing’ the other part. And then filling in all of the empty mass the skeleton left behind.

It wasn’t the craziest thing a cultivator would have ever done to protect themself.

“Ratna. You have guts to come here alone.”

“Hmph. Unlike you, I do count the battle power of my subordinates. Besides, you ran away last time.”

“I had to retreat to defend against your backstabbing-”

“I’m quite confident in defeating you in pitched combat, especially with our defenses here.” The massive dragon uncoiled from around the planet. “Prepare to perish!”

Before he even finished the last sentence, Ratna disappeared… along with a handful of her best disciples. Augmentation cultivators. But nobody was foolish enough to presume they were running. This was just how they fought. As for the rest of the Scarlet Alliance forces, they would have plenty to do alongside the majority of the Guardians of the Veiled Brilliance. There were limits to how many people could hide together. At some point, people could swing randomly and hit people with low defenses.

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Yuval was pretty sure they had to have another Domination cultivator with them. That was because he didn’t know where all of them were. For the most part, because of his current cultivation level he was less aware of classified information than his older brother- for his own protection. However, he still had a better idea than any random Integration cultivator.

He figured it was probably Zazil. She’d already been here, after all. Being familiar with the terrain probably helped, and she was sneaky. The third stealthiest of the Domination cultivators, after Velvet. Actually, after Velvet and Ratna- he couldn’t guarantee Velvet wasn’t better. As far as he knew, they hadn’t compared. But would he know? Would anyone?

It was all speculation. But Ratna was established, so it would probably be her for a while.

Yuval was aboard the S.A.S. Starstriker, along with about a thousand other non-crew warriors. Captain Ylvali wasn’t focused on combat as her primary aspect, but she and her crew had power that the Alliance couldn’t afford to ignore. She’d also been helpful when passing through the border systems she frequented regularly, calming the local Trigold Cluster cultivators. It was just a bunch of minor sects, but the point was to keep them friendly into the future more than it was out of concern for them becoming hostile.

The Starstriker was part of a special assault fleet that would be hitting Bya directly. It wasn’t their capital world, but it was one of the core worlds. And maybe it was secretly the capital because of Yann’s anchor. It was well guarded no matter what, and they had clearly brought in quite a large portion of their forces.

Yuval just watched as the surrounding fleet punched through enemy ships. He couldn’t contribute to the energy flow of the Starstriker, not without messing up the perfect sync they had. Besides, he was supposed to save his energy for when they got to the planetary barrier and began their final assault.

Rather than just ships, the Fearsome Menagerie relied on cultivators transforming into towering and powerful forms. They could easily take out most ships.

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Most ships weren’t part of the Scarlet Alliance. Even if they were Augmentation cultivators, they couldn't necessarily stand up against an Augmentation-class battleship. Especially not with Confluence-style cultivators manning the vessel. The battleship was where they were strongest- they weren’t waiting to get off like Yuval was.

Yuval thought that they could have killed or at least injured a few more powerful enemies if they took their time. However, they just busted through and left them to following fleets to engage. He didn’t personally think it would have been an unacceptable amount of time or energy, but he wasn’t the commander. Nor was he fully briefed on every detail.

They reached the planetary barrier quickly. He was prepared to jump out and help if given the order, but the fleet cut out a small hole and slipped through. A few locals were on their tail.

Shortly after that, orders came for Yuval. Fighting and chaos ensued.

He hit the ground like a meteor… though he couldn’t quite compete with Hoyt’s proficiency. Yuval didn’t believe Prospero tended to be a meteor very often, so he might be the best one… except that pretty much any fire element Augmentation cultivator could probably beat him.

Yuval flattened a building- and a few surrounding it. They were poorly enchanted. He cleared out incoming cultivators as his company landed at a more modest speed. They’d been training together for a few years, but the last weeks had been a greater increase in their teamwork than the much longer drills. Practical experience and all that.noveldrama

Charging at the head of the group, keeping a pace he knew the others would match, Yuval threw aside cultivators lining the streets until they came to their proper target. A huge scar on the land.

It seemed that they’d been spending a lot more effort repairing the mountain than they had the random surrounding countryside, so Zazil’s attacks had left their mark. Yuval could barely believe that two stages made so much difference. Sure, he could probably cause a rift as wide as the one they were following but Zazil hadn’t even intentionally targeted the ground. Not based on the recordings.

The scar on the ground would of course lead them to the mountain. Their target would be obvious, but Yuval’s company wasn’t the only one making the assault. There were several others just from the Starstriker alone, and in total there were many thousands of Alliance cultivators throughout the city. Some were probably focused on formation destruction to weaken the planetary barrier, but Yuval didn’t know that. It would just make receiving backup and their extraction easier, so it seemed sensible.

This time, he wasn’t able to choose his objective. Just how to go about it. Cultivators funneled together at the bottom of the gouge, but that was precisely what Yuval wanted. He wasn’t a proper Confluence cultivator but he could still rely on his company supporting him as he charged forward. A single fist threw out solar flames, focused on the cramped enemies. Any who survived were taken down by Yuval’s companions.

So far, there had been a handful of Integration cultivators, but Yuval was at the peak of Integration, which was a good bit stronger. Plus, he had reliable companions. Alva was covering the battlefield as a whole, and so far she hadn’t shot a single arrow his way.

Yuval presumed that meant they were doing well. It wouldn’t take them more than a few minutes total to get from the city to the mountain. At their pace, only enemies who were already waiting along their path could do much. Or they could exhaust themselves to get in the way, which Yuval wouldn’t mind.

They passed a mine entrance in the foothills. Well, the collapsed remains of one. Yuval threw out a device from his storage bag. No, a drone. It quickly activated, so clearly the operators were on top of things. It should find its way deeper.

Yuval slowed as they got closer to the mountain. There were more than a few defenders, including an Augmentation cultivator on their particular path. An elephant… vaguely. There were extra tusks and even a second trunk.

The Fearsome Menagerie sure liked to be big. The elephant trumpeted, shaking the surrounding mountain and sending a few boulders tumbling from the semi-loose rock making up the repairs.

“Looks like we’ll be clashing,” Yuval said. “You all know what to do.”

Yuval really wanted supporting fire now. Early Augmentation was one thing. Mid to late…? Well, at least this fellow was acting alone.

The elephant charged. Yuval responded in kind.

Tusks carved out the ground around him. Surrounding cultivators scattered, but Yuval launched an uppercut into the jaw of his foe. The elephant’s head snapped back, but Yuval wasn’t even sure if he got through their defenses.

A massive foot stomped down towards him. Yuval gathered energy on his fist… then sprang forward. Obviously he wasn’t going to match his giant opponent on the basis of raw power. The difference in cultivation was too much. Instead, he relied on what he hoped was a speed advantage as he launched himself up into the belly of his foe.

As it turned out, elephant hides were extremely durable, and Augmentation cultivators were strong. He thought he managed to knock the elephant two or three centimeters into the air before one of the trunks reached under to grab him.

Five cultivators slashed it at the same time. Another ten launched attacks on each leg. A few had leapt up onto the elephant’s back. The good thing about such a large foe was that the company had a lot of places they could attack. Not all of them at once, but that would let them cycle out so it was fine.

Yuval punched his fists together, pumping himself up. Alone, he would lose. But he wasn’t alone. He took a few more strikes at the underbelly, dancing around as trunks and stomping feet tried to focus on him. It seemed his foe had foregone creating certain weaknesses he might have expected underneath a real elephant, but that was expected. He would have to break through any defensive energy to beat the Fearsome Menagerie cultivator anyway.

Whether or not he could was another question. Yuval threw strikes at knees. He breathed a cone of fire at an incoming trunk, hoping that the diffuse heat would at least cause a moment of hesitation. He shoved one of his allies out of the way of an incoming stomp, using the counterforce to reposition himself.

Ratna and Yann clashed. The planetary barrier cracked, and they weren’t even directly over the area. Yuval needed to get him some of that.

“Come on!” Yuval called out. “We’ll take this one down and then get to our target!”

Communication was important, as well as confidence. Yuval didn’t know if they could win… but if he was sure they would lose he’d retreat. That was the right call.