"Get ready!" Vahnu roared at everyone. Enemies were coming fast, and all they could do now was fight.
Niara got to her feet, breathing more steadily next to her partner.
'Did the arrow come from the third line?' Darian asked. She was the only one who might've sensed it coming.
'No.' The answer was dry. 'I feel like it came from way farther... maybe the first line.'
She said something strange, without any explanation — just pure instinct.
Her back had been to the fourth line at that moment. No one was there, but the attack had hit her from behind. And yet, she felt like the enemy had come from the front? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Darian thought.
'Fuck… the traitors have some defensive mechanisms and can hit us with magic.' He turned toward the two who had been taken over. They looked totally fine — and still under control.
'I know where the mark is on them, but those two are so useless the traitors didn't even bother to blow them up.' he concluded coldly. 'We need to move forward and find other traitors with actual info. I can locate the mark, but we'll have to deal with it later. And also, if we're surrounded by strong Spiritual Guardians, that sniper won't dare to shoot again.'
She nodded. Truth was, she was too weak to pinpoint the origin of the attack, but advanced fighters might notice. And Vahnu was well known to all — the sniper probably knew her powers wouldn't help him identify anything.
But in the middle of a bunch of other strong fighters, there might be someone else with perception like Niara's. Shooting into that crowd would be suicide.
"High Elder," Darian turned to the woman who was staring him down. "We're heading out... I think we can find something useful... I can't explain now. Can you handle things here and watch the rookies?"
Vahnu took a deep breath, locking eyes with the slug. That look between them made it clear: they were on the same side.
Time was against them. And these two... she'd seen for herself what they could do. But they were still way too weak. How can they be so damn confident?
"I'll clean everything up here. If you're not back after that, I'll come find you," she said after a long sigh.
Niara and Darian nodded. They glanced at the thirty rookies they'd brought along — they could manage on their own now.
Her scales returned, and the Dragoness's wings flapped with full force. Luckily, there wasn't a second sniper shot. But the danger hadn't gone anywhere — in fact, it was only growing.
After all, the Risen up ahead were already strong enough that Niara couldn't handle them easily. These were Risen with power equivalent to two rings.
She flew around the massive advancing army. Vahnu, with three rings, could easily lead the one-ringed fighters and win without heavy losses.
After a few minutes, they reached the forward area of the third line...
Everything was empty, with body parts and the stench of blood everywhere.
"They were all wiped out..." Niara growled, the confirmation bitter in her mouth.
They kept going. All the Risen from that area had gone on the offensive, so it was now clear.
They reached the area between the second and third lines.
"Darian, I..."
'I know. We go on foot. Flying will draw too much attention.' He cut her off, and she nodded in agreement.
The slug's body twisted, and the spatial ring was already there, ready.
She landed, getting into position to run. Darian came out through the torn hole in her chest where the arrow had hit. He pulled out a pill from the ring, and the two of them got ready.
Now, they couldn't afford arrogance, or even a real fight. Anything ahead of them could kill them easily. Still, they were pushing forward... and they still wanted to catch a traitor.
They reached the second line... and right there, they saw many Risen... no... these were the powerful Risen Chiefs.
Darian focused completely, trying to sense them from afar using karma. Their sizes were similar to regular Risen, but their strength was on a whole different level — like heaven and earth.
They were still far away... but Darian could feel battles happening. After a few minutes, his eyes lit up as he confirmed something.
Niara reached a hand to where he was, on her chest, and took a pill from him. It was the pill they'd bought in the city, after getting resources from that fight with the two morons. (Chapter 20)
Darian gave the command: 'There!'
*Woosh!*
She threw the pill several meters ahead, into an area with no enemies. As soon as it activated, the pill started absorbing the miasma in a thirty-meter radius.
Right after that, Niara dashed forward. She ran on the ground but used her wings to move faster.
Luckily, the battlefield was vast, with lots of space between the Risen Chiefs and the ongoing fights. Sure, the enemies could sense people through the miasma, but Darian had a way stronger sense — one based on their karma.
So, if they were fast enough, and with a bit of luck, they could trace a safe path and rush through everything.
To improve the odds, the pill cleared the miasma in an area, and the Risen Chiefs instinctively backed off — after all, that weakened their power too.
Then, Darian pointed toward another area up ahead, one he picked carefully because it was away from everything and had a safe path for Niara to run through.
And yeah, even though the Risen Chiefs were way more powerful than regular Risen, Darian could tell from sensing the fights that they weren't necessarily smarter. The odds of finding a smart one were just a bit higher, maybe.
Ten seconds later, she reached the spot. Darian gave the signal, and she kicked the ground, launching the pill into the air.
'Go back to your daddy!'
Darian used a bit of white karma — just a little — to create a purifying layer around the pill and seal it.
The whole idea and method came from what he read in the library about the three healing Blessings. They were much slower and weaker than his own power, but their creators had used them for a long time and wrote down a bunch of ways to apply them. With effort, he could copy parts of those techniques.
He stored the pill.
Then, Niara reached into her chest again and grabbed another one from him. Darian quickly pointed to a new location, and she tossed the pill and kept running.
She'd throw the pills and run to the marked spot, while he would store the ones that got corrupted. That's how they kept moving forward safely, step by step.
In just a few minutes, they made it to the front of the second line. This time, Darian could feel Niara's heart pounding like a war drum.
The Risen Chiefs ahead… were oozing raw power, and she felt smaller than a speck of dust before them. They radiated corruption like an aura, covering their bodies in a dark mist — the only thing visible were their glowing red, sinister eyes.
If anything went wrong, she wouldn't stand a chance — not even to escape.
By some stroke of luck — or fate — the sniper didn't strike again.
They'd made it this far safely. Niara and Darian could barely believe the pill plan had worked so well.
But if even the tiniest shockwave from a nearby fight hit them, they'd be dead on the spot. They were like ants in a herd of elephants.
Niara moved with extreme caution, fully alert, trying to stay away from any threat. The bright side was that the danger around was so overwhelming, it felt like a giant beacon. In that situation, her instincts let her feel every bit of danger around her… in other words, absolutely everything.
'Five pills left from the fifty we had,' he counted, already thinking about how they were going to survive this.
But...
Just running and staying alive wouldn't solve anything. The traitors would make a move soon...
'Well, fuck it! We gotta get close to someone and pray it's the right one! There's one! GO! GO!'
Darian pointed ahead, and Niara suddenly stopped, frozen.
A second later... she smiled, genuinely happy. She already considered herself a bit crazy, but this partner of hers still managed to surprise her.