The Path of Ascension Chapter 447

Chapter 447

 

They arrived at their base a few short minutes later, where they checked in with Liz before picking up one of her clones. She would be tagging along as far as she could, but given the more limited spiritual ranges they had to deal with she might not be able to make it all the way.

Still, there was a possibility it might work.

Liz hadn’t been idling away her time while on semi-permanent guard duty, instead she had been testing the strange realm’s spiritual perception limiting fog, trying to increase her spiritual perception range. She had already made small but noticeable progress, and Matt was already theorizing how they could set up a similar environment back home. Ultimately, she was still bound to a singular spiritual perception spread between all instances of herself, and even making more copies to bolster the connection as they traveled, Liz still had to stop a few dozen miles short of their expected destination of the Republic Clipper crew’s tower.

Seeing that, Liz was decisive. “Go on ahead. I’ll keep this body here but weaken it so it’s harder to detect. The other copies of myself will go underground and do the same. If you need help, I’ll transfer over if it turns out there is a coordinated ambush or something.”

Matt didn’t linger, but leaving his wife behind annoyed him more than it should have.

Sadly, the fog was just as restrictive to most sounds as it was to spiritual sense, and all they could feel was the occasional gusts of air shoved around by someone else’s clash.

Pushing forward, Matt and Susanne took the lead with Susanne slightly off to the side, ready to back step if anyone rushed Zack or to flank if they attacked Matt.

It wasn’t much, but it was the best they could do at the moment.

When they breached the larger than normal barrier of fog around a base, Matt witnessed the Federation team leading an attack on the Clandestine Clippers.

If that had been all, Matt wouldn’t be all that surprised, but the Federation team was led by a blood soaked and tattered Marve, who looked beyond simple emotions like anger. The ten remaining people from his team had similar levels of rage or fury. It was strange to see such relatable emotions on a man he was so predisposed to dislike.

The Clandestine Clippers looked smug inside their defences and that made him lend a tad more credence to the idea of them being the true culprits of the incident. That, or just gleeful at the loss of a competitor, which wasn’t a glowing endorsement of their character.

Matt still had no idea what was going on, and was about to reach out to one of the other people who were lingering on the edge of the fogless area. Thankfully, one of them was willing to share and reached out preemptively.

On the far side of the fog free zone, a single Corporation man stood in the air like a lone sentinel watching two groups of children play.

The spiritual fluctuations were as abrupt as the man’s posture and demeanor. “Marve’s group was attacked by a massive roaming boss. It just so happened to counter their fire mage, being a water monster, which led to casualties. Marve insists the Clippers set it up, as there were several other targeted elemental monsters attacking them that were the opposite of their party members.”

Matt’s eyes went into his eyebrow at the information sent over about the roaming boss. They had speculated the pocket areas would start to change as the overall danger of the monsters was improving, and the bosses leaving had been on their list of speculation, if they weren’t killed before the reset.

What they hadn’t expected was that the pocket space collapsed on the boss, enlarging it and turning parts of its body into Natural Treasures, which had been absorbed into their gems once it died, leaving the corpse in a miserable state.

Matt shared a look with Zack and Susanne before asking questions, “Did they scout the area this monster came from? Did this destroy the pocket space? Will a new boss spawn from it every day?”

The Corporation man shook his head, replying, “They came over here wanting retribution instead of scouting, saying they had seen evidence of a Clipper being near their bases. I suspect we’ll all find out about the boss the same way in a day or so.”

Matt agreed with his speculation and could only hope the pocket space wasn’t gone, but instead changed. It might offer the opportunity to aim for some truly rare, unusual, or never before seen Natural Treasures.

He could see the same question in the others and knew they’d have to do their own tests in the coming days to see.

Amusingly, if Matt’s initial conjecture about the boss simply leaving a pocket space that wasn’t cleared properly was correct, any such attempt to set up a rogue pocket space near them would prove futile.

Matt might even thank someone who found another pocket space near them. They had combed every mile of their territory looking for more pocket spaces to convert before the monsters started growing too strong. While they had mostly paused their expansion efforts not wanting to overextend, they had pushed deep into the endlessly revealing territories.

As far as they had managed to discover, there was no end to the strange realm. Allie had teleported for over an hour in a single direction, but never found an outer edge to the strange realm.

Those tests however, would depend on what happened with the two teams.

Below them, they watched as the Federation team led by Marve continued to attack the Clippers’ fortified base.

The base wasn’t exactly what Matt would call well designed, but it was well built. Simplistic, but sturdy in nature, it allowed the more numerous Clippers to defend themselves without taking any injuries.

Matt did notice they were deliberately not retaliating with lethal force, which he found slightly weird until he realized the Clippers were probably worried about one of the watchers swooping in once they started attacking, as they would need to leave their defensive layers to truly finish off the Federation team.

Seeing that, Matt turned to go, knowing that nothing major would come of this incident at this time. If Marve was smart, he’d disregard his own tower in the evening and rush to set up as many hostile pocket spaces he could nearby the Clippers’ base before a monster broke through defences and destroyed their crystal.

It was either that, or be cut down when either the Clippers attacked as soon as everyone else returned to their own bases, or one of those other teams returned to finish them off whilst weakened. Even if the Clippers hadn’t set up the initial ambush, they had been attacked first, giving them enough reason to lash out in return.

If the Clippers had set the situation up…

Matt considered that possibility and considered if it would be better to wipe them out here and now. Ultimately, he wasn’t a savior righting injustices, nor did he know if they had actually committed the crime in the first place.

The second reason he disregarded it was that he wasn’t particularly worried if they tried it on them.

They would have to set up any such boss up so far away, even with the spiritual perception reducing fog they would have ample time to respond.

He was, however, worried the Clippers might try something against the other Empire team. After mentioning that thought to Zack and Susanne, they rerouted to the other base to warn them.

The Clare’s team didn’t take the news that someone was playing games any better than they did, but appreciated the warning, thanking the three of them profusely.

On the way back, the three of them started considering how they should best test the boss creation. It was probably just as easy as leaving a pocket space undelved, but they didn’t actually know if that was true, it was simply the most likely answer.

After talking with the others, they sacrificed two of the more common elemental type pocket spaces they had, Fire and Air, for the first two tests. The Fire pocket space they left entirely untouched, while the Air pocket space was cleared of everything except the boss.

So far, they had fully cleared the spaces, wanting both the Tier 30 Natural Treasures as well as the boss essence, but they were all nearing Tier 29 and would gladly trade the essence lost for not killing the multitude of monsters leading up to the boss for a chance at even more energy rich Natural Treasures.

Their intentions proved only mildly useful, as Allie managed to find not the Federation team’s pocket space that had created the boss, but rather the bodies of bosses in the Clippers’ territory. Not just any bodies, but copies of the same body.

That told them both the Clippers probably were guilty of tampering with the Federation team’s pocket spaces, and that the pocket spaces seemed to continue to create boss monsters after the first.

Zack poured water on their excitement. “You all realize this news combined with the increase in power the monsters experience every time they come back to life means we might not last as long as our initial predictions.”

Aster punched her hand into her fist. “The solution is easy. We just need to get you all to catch up- I mean Tier up to Tier 29! Then these puny Tier 30 monsters won’t be as difficult to beat for you guys. Soon you too can defeat them with the ease that I do as a Tier 29.”

Her bragging aside, Aster had a point, so they all roamed back out, rushing to push that last little bit before evening fell and their test bosses spawned.

They nearly made it before night fell. They hadn’t minded the darkness and would have continued clearing pocket spaces, but they once more felt air movements indicating a fight in the overworld.

Matt rushed forward this time with Allie and Aster, the three of them having been working together for the crew’s Natural Treasures. They had been considering whether they should also let the Body type pocket space cycle for the full day when they felt the wave and rushed over.

Carried along by Allie, they crossed the distance in short rapid teleports, the world flickering before arriving over Marve’s base mid assault.

Scanning everything over, Matt pieced together some of what happened. The Clippers had, as he expected, attacked in the evening, but Marve’s people had expected that and littered the area with a mine formation, causing serious damage to the attackers.

The two sides were in a fierce and vicious fight in the ruins; both sides seemed driven on by rage and vengeance instead of logic.

That all at least, made some amount of sense.

What he couldn’t piece together was why the Monster Collective team was being attacked by a familiar corporation man along with two others by his side, pressuring the other team into a steady retreat.

He fought in his civilian clothes, but where Matt could only identify there was an illusion of some kind covering him, Aster easily penetrated the illusion and shared with him the real appearance of the man with a glance.

It looked like a Paladin, one of the Corporation’s Minkalla created elites, but lacked all identifiers usually associated with the group, such as color or rank insignia.

That didn’t mean it wasn’t a Paladin in disguise, but it could just as easily be an imitation. That, however, didn’t mean the man would be weak.

There were factions in the Corporation that mirrored their central government and used Minkalla to also create growth armor items. It would, in fact, be more likely to run into one of them than the real thing.

Matt was interested in discovering which this was. He really hoped they had found a real Paladin group. Even a few friendly spars could be good fun, and a serious fight could prove enlightening.

The man, having felt Aster subvert his illusion, turned his anger onto them in a palpable manner, but he didn’t stop his assault on the Monster Collective team either.

Matt wasn’t going to involve himself and felt Aster agreeing with him, but fate took the option out of their hands as another four Corporation Paladins arrived and started attacking both the Federation and Republic teams.

They completely ignored the three of them, moving to ruthlessly eliminate the survivors of the attack.

The matter was further complicated by one of the Monster Collective cultivators pulling out a small harp and strumming it, sending out a subtle but powerful spiritual attack with each now audible note.

Rage tried to flood into Matt, but he easily deflected the outside influence now that he had felt it with no subtlety. The ‘sound’ had been playing silently under a layer of obfuscation in their last meeting, seeming to penetrate the fog.

The three of them were in the minority, as most were driven mad. Both the remaining Federation fighters and Republic Clippers descended into maddened states, their blades turning on everyone unaffected, indicating a measure of control and threatening to shift the tide in favor of the Monster Collective.

Matt deflected a blade, out of habit more than need. The rage made the wielder sloppier than otherwise, and their blows were easy to ignore with his armor, but he didn’t need Luna sitting on his shoulder to avoid taking an unnecessary hit, given where they were.

His caution turned out to be unnecessary as the blow had no hidden mechanisms or spells.

Matt drove an arm into the gem on the woman who rushed him, ignoring the half of her body that was charred from an earlier attack.

Despite now heavily suspecting that the Monster Collective’s songstress was the reason for the initial conflict, Matt had no real way to solve the situation beyond removing those attacking him with as little extra damage as possible.

Matt almost felt bad about being so excited with each burst of Natural Treasures that flowed into his gem when he destroyed his opponents’, but he hadn’t started it.

He wasn’t going to help save them, and neither could he defeat them, in a way that they wouldn’t transfer their collected items to him, making him just another opportunist—

Matt froze mid punch and figured he could at least help the Federation team slightly. They had played fairly and been schemed upon.

Turning his sight onto their still mostly functional fortress, he launched himself forward, to the surprise of everyone else.

One of the paladins shouted at him, “What do you think you’re doing?!”

Matt felt it was very obvious what he was doing and so didn’t respond, but Allie was never one to let such an opportunity pass. She immediately replied in a taunting manner, even as she engaged the third wave of Corporation cultivators.

Instead, he landed on one of the inner walls and punched out.

Enchantments flared to life along the wall’s length, but the wall didn’t crumble, so he hit it two more times in rapid succession.

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A hole large enough for him to enter formed, and with his intentions clear, two of the nearest Paladins turned their focus on Matt instead of attacking the still rage-addled cultivators.

One was the woman from before, but the other’s outward appearance was of a ‘simple looking’ male who would pass by in any crowd.

The man’s armor was the physically largest of the Corporation team that he’d seen so far. Though the armor was unusually small and thin for their standards.

The official Paladins made countless variations of power armor every cycle of Minkalla, ranging from thin sets like the ones before him to ten foot tall humanoids that could expand even farther; their typical profile was more like the one Matt had fought with in the army.

Suits that, while still human sized, were a tad more bulky than all but the heaviest traditional armor.

That discrepancy, combined with the sheer number of power armor wielders, gave him a hint at what this group might be.

Despite that apparent armor frailty, they were strong enough Matt felt a small level of danger as the woman punched out at him.

Matt prepared to take the blow regardless, and just before it landed, he felt the battlefield freeze over. Aster’s initial spell failed as all of the Paladins’ armors glowed an orange light, dispelling their various illusions and leaving them free from the suppressive effects that maligned everyone else, who could now hardly move faster than a typical Tier 28.

Another five paladins arrived, keeping Allie and Aster from immediately reinforcing Matt.

Matt took the blow with a raised eyebrow.

The blow was a good, strong attack that shattered most of his internals, but it had basically confirmed she and her group were just a privately raised mercenary company for a Corporation powerful enough to make decent growth power armor.

He further suspected they were someone’s attempt to imitate the Pearlescent Paladin, Eli Taien, and create combat capable stealth-based power armor squads.

It also raised his expectations of the upcoming fight.

As he turned and deflected the next attack from the woman, she shouted, “If you don’t want to collect some rewards, don’t try and prevent us from doing so. If you—.”

Matt didn’t wait for her to finish her threat.

Instead, he raised his left pointer finger and cast [Mana Beam].

The arm-thick bar of mana was ink black as Matt activated his Intent, concentrating his mana.

The massive gem the Federation wanted to protect from onslaughts of monsters was layered in defensive wards. Layers of walls and as many enchantments as they could carve all shattered upon being struck by the empowered [Mana Beam]. The moment the gem broke, it ejected the few surviving Federation team members with their collected Natural Treasures, minus whatever the strange realm took.

There wasn’t anything Matt could do, or particularly wanted to do, for the Clippers, but his move had still infuriated the Corporation team.

One of them tried to say something, but the woman launched herself at Matt with a guttural scream that was amplified into a spiritual attack that tried to bypass Matt’s armor and hit his more vulnerable spirit.

Already on the spiritual defensive alert, it did nothing to him, but it signaled the true start of the fight. Seeing that Allie and Aster fully engaged with the possible mercenaries above, leaving Matt the two below.

Not that Matt minded one last romp as a Tier 28.

The man’s armor was only slightly bulkier, but it packed at least twice as much punch as it should have, showing just why he had so much extra suit to hide. Instead of dodging, Matt used the flat of his blade to deflect most of the physical force, letting the wash of poison mist settle harmlessly on [Cracked Phantom Armor].

The woman, in perfect sync, teleported next to Matt, her blow aimed at his heart, but Matt was already twisting low, dodging.

He used his position to bring his blade up and around, slamming into the Tier 30’s armor with his best triple layered attack.

The woman’s armor protected her, but she was sent flying through the remains of the Federation team’s base. She wasn’t dead, despite the smoking and dented armor, but she was seriously wounded.

The man used the opportunity to reach out, his fingers spread and glowing, aiming for Matt’s head.