Chapter 1718 – Swept Clean

Green Mountain is both more, and less impressive than I thought it might be. I mean, it’s hard for these places to not be impressive, given the way they’re built on the slopes of mountains so large they literally hold up the roof of the stratum.

Combine that with the ambient mana of the fourth, being filled with life, light and water, looking at just about anything creates a jaw-dropping view.

Having said all that, the city on this particular mountain is clearly old and well-developed, with high walls, a bustling port and thousands upon thousands of dwellings climbing up the slope towards the upper reaches in the clouds. Is it the Silver City? Not by a long shot, but it’s clearly prosperous.

If not a little bit militant.

Where the Silver City was designed to be an inhabitable work of art, Green Mountain looks like it was built to frown at the world. Despite the name, the buildings are quite grey and austere. If I look closely, it seems as though many of the structures have been built to form internal walls and defensive positions in the event the city is ever invaded.

Not quite a fortress, but clearly a place that has a rather defensive mindset. Makes sense, considering one of the major industries here is core harvesting. Close enough to the Mother Tree that they can see her in the distance, the people here have cultivated a reputation for holding negative views of all things monster. Unlucky for them that the Colony happened to pop up and seize the mountain next door.

Oh, it looks like they’ve spotted me.

It took a couple of days to hunt through a bunch of tunnels and make my way right up to the boundary of Green Mountain itself. Not wanting to run into their walls and outposts down in the Dungeon, I decided to tunnel up to the surface, creating a stone pathway as I went, to breach the surface of the lake and take a look at the city for myself.

I can faintly hear alarm bells ringing from the walls and see figures scurrying about, pointing and shouting. They seem energetic. I suppose it must get boring wandering around on the walls all the time.

I mean, if an attack is going to come, it’s going to come through the tunnels, not over the water. Still, I wave an antenna at them in greeting. Hopefully they’re able to see.

Oh, looks like they can, they’re launching fireballs at me.

Big fireballs. They must have some sort of siege equipment set up on the walls, to be producing so many of these things in such a short period of time. Rather than stick around and engage in a mana war with an entire city’s worth of mages, I let myself fall back down the tunnel I made, dropping down hundreds of metres before catching myself with a gravity well before I hit the ground.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Handy trick, that. The more I manipulate myself using gravity wells, the more useful I find it. Fall damage? Hah! Not for me.

Once I drop down to the ground, I find several of the nameless are waiting for me, concealed in the shadows.

I don’t remember being able to see them this well in the past. I think they’re getting sloppy.

“Eldest, we have caught all the stragglers that we can,” one of them says, stepping out of the darkness.

“Thanks for your help. I didn’t want to take you away from your regular duties for so long. Hopefully there aren’t too many who have started skipping their rest.”