“Far worse,” Vason echoed with a chuckle. “As Tia said, it’ll come in time. There’s no need to rush it. We have the benefit of sharing a martial style, after all. Your arts are quite different, so it’ll take some time to integrate. Might even give you a reason to stay on with us, eh?” he said with a wink.
“That said, it’d be best if you remained closer to me when we fight,” Haymi said. “It’s harder for me to use my magic the farther away you are.”
So that was why they were all bunched up, Vir realized. Neither Vason nor Tia ever stepped more than a few paces away from their mejai. Though they probably did that to protect her as well.
“Wouldn’t it be best to disguise Haymi? Either as a warrior, or have her hide nearby?”
Haymi nodded. “Right. Militaries disguise their mejai as soldiers, but mercs usually fight beasts. They’re not intelligent enough to target me specifically. Not unless I start hurling offensive magic. At that point, a disguise would be useless, anyway. Besides… armor gets itchy.”
Vir suspected Haymi’s dislike of armor was the real reason, but he kept his thoughts to himself.
Vason cleared his throat. “But, y’know, it’s fine to operate on your own and all. If you do see one of us struggling, we sure wouldn’t mind if you lent us a hand!”
“Of course,” Vir replied. “That’s the least I could do.”
“W-well, great!” Vason said, smiling awkwardly, clearly not having expected such an earnest response.
“So, uh, do we get any reward for killing off the Broodlings?” Vir asked. They’d collected the scouts’ pincers, but none of them knew whether they were worth anything.
“Unfortunately not. The Brotherhood considers the Lord of the Forest as a singular beast. Either we kill the Matron, or we get nothing.”
“In that case…” Vir said, taking a deep breath. “Let me handle this.”
“Uh, what?” Tia asked.
“I think he said he wants to take on the entire brood alone.”
Vir frowned at Vason. “Of course not. But it’s a fact that I have the best scouting skills in this party.”
“You may be skilled, but you’re not invincible. That’s out of the question,” Tia said firmly.
“Actually… I kinda am. I—look, will you trust me when I say that I can spy on enemies from a position of absolute safety?”
Tia glanced at Haymi and Vason. “Apramor, there isn’t a Talent in the world that makes you invulnerable.”
As much as Vir wanted to withhold information on Dance of the Shadow Demon, if it meant lowering their chances of success—or worse—someone’s death, he’d never forgive himself.
“This is hard to prove, but you know how I sink into the shadows? Well, I can stay there for some time. I can’t stay in there forever, but when I’m inside, nothing can touch me.”
“Apramor, I’ll be honest. I’ve never heard of a Talent like that. Shadow Blend allows you to blend with the shadows, sure, and Shadow Movement can camouflage you amongst the shadows, but you can’t sink into shadows as you do. Let alone stay there! Shadow Blend is an Uncommon Tier Talent, and Shadow Movement’s Rare. Yours sounds even stronger.”
Vir scratched his neck. “Now you know why I haven’t said anything about this before.”
Wonder what she’d say if she learned it can manipulate time… He didn’t plan on divulging that secret anytime soon.
“You’re serious?”
Vir nodded. “It’s not just that. I have other skills that help me scout. I can make it to the Brood Matron’s lair and back without being detected.”
Tia sighed. “I suppose you’ll just sneak out of bed in the middle of the night if we refuse.”
“Sorry,” Vir replied, grinning.
“Very un-party-like behavior, Apramor,” Vason scolded, also grinning. “But I like your guts.”
“Fine. You have two hours. If you’re not back, we’re gonna come searching for you. And take a Flare utility orb with you. If you’re in distress, fire it and we’ll know where you are.”
Vir obediently accepted the orb. He’d already revealed some details of Dance of the Shadow Demon. He didn’t really feel like divulging he was prana scorned as well. The utility orb might’ve been useless to him, but it made Tia feel better, so he pocketed it.
“Well then, I’ll be off.”
“Do not engage the enemy. Retreat at the first sign of trouble, even if you end up leading them back here. We’ll deal with it. And…” Tia said, hugging Vir and smiling wryly. “Good hunting.”
“T-thanks.”
26RECONNAISSANCE OF THE SHADOW DEMON
Vir flew through Aranya Forest. Not on the floor, but up on its many branches. Not only were the treetops far easier to navigate, but taking the high road saved him invocations of Dance of the Shadow Demon when skirting around enemies.
While Ash prana was relatively abundant in this area, it was always a scarce resource, and Vir didn’t see that changing anytime soon. Not unless he went to the Ashen Realm itself.
After his harrowing experience of infiltrating Daha’s castle, Vir swore never to prematurely deplete Ash prana ever again. His escapades that night had only been so harrowing because he couldn’t use Dance, having already depleted the Ash prana in that area.
Prana Vision and his elevation kept him safe, but it was nonetheless a stressful experience. The Brood Matron’s scouts had an uncanny ability to sense even the slightest motion, and only by straining Prana Vision to its maximum was Vir able to avoid the groups of scouts.
At least initially. As he penetrated deeper into the forest, enemy units became more and more dense. The only reason he could proceed was because there were fewer scouts and more workers and hunter-gatherers.
While Haymi’s healing orb still protected his armor, it was only good for a onetime activation. The orb in his weapon was similar. Without Haymi nearby to power them, they’d spend themselves after a single use.
Vir paused on a branch to analyze a group of a dozen workers as they went about their business. Resembling oversized ants, they had none of the gelatinous features of their scout brethren. In fact, if Tia hadn’t told him about the Brood Matron variants, he’d never have guessed they were related.
The workers lacked pincers or sharp limbs of any kind and looked heavily specialized for transport. Even their senses were lacking—Vir had no trouble approaching to within ten paces without them noticing.
He didn’t risk going any farther, but he didn’t need to. After sizing them up, he determined they weren’t a threat. In fact, he doubted whether they had a Balar Rank at all. Their prana signature was a hodgepodge of various affinities, and they didn’t even have armored hides.
It made sense. Workers were built for labor, not battle. That was left to their far more impressive brethren, the hunter-gatherers.
Vir soon came across a group of six, and this time, he hid with Dance. Knowing they specialized in combat, he couldn’t risk being detected.
The hunter-gatherers walked on six, bladed legs, had thick plates of natural armor, and a segmented tail that ended in a point suited for penetrating objects.
Vir’s ten counts of time ran out, ejecting him back into the world. He quickly reactivated the ability but this time, he moved slightly farther away and left his legs out of the shadow realm.
Time passed at a third of its normal speed, allowing him to observe their behavior in detail.
It was only after watching these beasts for several minutes that Vir realized the true danger of their tails. Occasionally, a drop of green liquid oozing with Life, Earth, and Shadow prana would fall to the ground, sizzling when it touched the foliage below.