The Oracle Paths

Approaching another flank of the hill, Ceythie, who was supposed to divert Corvac's attention from Jake and his group with her cavalry charge, suddenly yanked the reins of her horse to bring it to a halt. The pillar of light that had struck down Crunch and Lord Phenix had momentarily blinded them all, sending their mounts into panic.

Despite their vast experience, several seasoned soldiers were thrown off by their spooked horses, some of which reared so violently that they collapsed heavily onto their backs, crushing their riders with their full weight. If these barbarians weren't unnaturally robust, they would have been crushed to death.

"Whoa, easy there." Ceythie whispered softly, reassuringly patting the neck of her startled steed after it tried to buck her off. Even as a war-trained mount accustomed to the chaos of battle, its herbivorous instincts were in overdrive after becoming blind.

Like all the other generals and elite barbarians at her side struggling to calm their horses in vain, she quickly realized that a few seconds wouldn't be enough to regain control. On the battlefield, several seconds of standing still like sitting ducks could mean the difference between life and death.

And indeed, what she feared materialized immediately after, like a prophetic vision. The loose ground beneath their hooves cracked with a violent shudder, throwing several more barbarians off their mounts, then it collapsed entirely, plunging them into an abyss with their horses.

"ABANDON THE HORSES!" Ceythie yelled angrily, decisively removing her boots from the stirrups and leaping explosively to the uncollapsed surface.

Enraged, she glanced below at her massive steed disappearing into the void, not overly concerned about its fate. It was a Great General's mount. Even in panic, there weren't many creatures that could harm it.

Or so she thought.

SHRRRRRRIIII!

Piercing shrieks erupted from the bowels of the earth a few seconds later, followed by a chorus of terrified neighing that sent shivers down her spine.

"What in hell was that?"

Her trusted guards, having surfaced alongside her, were just as solemn, but it was only upon hearing the heart-wrenching screams of agony and terror from the troops who hadn't made it up that their complexions turned ashen.

"That didn't sound like a mutant creature bred by the Lustra Plains." Her second-in-command declared grimly, gripping the hilt of his war sword tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Ceythie was also burning with the desire to abandon their objective and dive in to rescue her horse and satisfy her curiosity, but she was too disciplined and responsible to be so pathetically sidetracked.

"We ignore it and continue on foot." She ordered grimly, trembling before adding coldly as if to reassure herself. "This kind of underground ambush is typical of the Dreadnought Nematodes. Wouldn't surprise me if Corvac raised a colony of them. It's just his style."

The Dreadnought Nematode Titan was a colossal calamity, a massive threat to the environment due to its voracious appetite. Fortunately, the leaves and nourishing sap of Anthace usually sufficed to satisfy its stomach.

However, this abomination was infamously known on Twyluxia for two things: its growth/regeneration capability, and its ability to self-fertilize. The number of eggs this monster could lay after a single meal could easily disrupt an ecosystem if left unchecked.

Nature, being well-designed, had the Featherfall Titan and its offspring relishing feeding on these insatiable giant worms, naturally regulating their population. The Celestial had forbidden breeding and mutating these Dreadnought Nematodes outside

of Lustris to prevent eggs from being laid in areas outside their jurisdiction.

Corvac had some serious guts to defy an official decree from Valandar like that!

Yet, Ceythie still felt uneasy even after identifying the underground threat. It was the skeptical murmur from another warrior that made her realize the source of her bad feeling:

"That shrieking... It doesn't sound like the noise those worms make."

The Great General narrowed her eyes gravely, peering into the darkness of the abyss one last time, which had fallen silent again. Without proof, she suddenly felt the intimate sensation that she wouldn't see her favorite steed anytime soon...

"Maybe it's a new mutated breed concocted by those heretic Lifemancers." She brushed it off with a statement she herself didn't believe, then resentfully turned her attention towards the hill's summit, sprinting towards it with superhuman speed.

Corvac's head awaited her there!

*****

"Do you want to scout ahead first again, like earlier?" Jake taunted sarcastically to his cat and the bird after they had fully regenerated with his help.

That pillar of light was no simple matter. If it had been just a laser, Lord Phenix should have quickly returned to his normal form after being reborn from his ashes, but even after several dozen seconds, he still resembled a chick.

If Jake, Hephais, and the others hadn't reinforced him with their own vitality after purging the foreign Lumyst from his body, the bird might have remained in that state for a long time. And that was only because the turkey had some pretty good stats. A weaker phoenix would have remained ashes permanently.

Upon receiving his 'generous' offer, Crunch immediately rubbed against his leg, purring and giving him pitiful kitten eyes.

"Cough, master, I've realized it's not right to steal the glory from one's master." He meowed coyly before shamelessly hiding behind him so Jake wouldn't be tempted to tell him to stay in front.

His turkey buddy wasn't stupid either when it came down to it, and without a word, he waddled hurriedly over to Nuwa and her two otters, who had chosen to stay at the foot of the hill. Jake stood there for a moment, unsure whether to laugh or cry at their limitless shamelessness.

"All that for this..." Hephais chuckled wryly, shaking his head.

Jake smiled in return, but inwardly he was more circumspect. Lord Phenix had suffered more than he let on. If he turned to ashes again, it wasn't certain he would resurrect. No wonder he had so expressly decided to withdraw from the fight.

"We continue." He finally announced with a resolute tone.

*****

Corvac, standing stoically at the top of the hill, waited, sweating profusely, for the report of the attack. That blinding laser beam should have wiped them all out, right?

To activate this trump card, he had to mobilize a whole platoon of powerful Radiant Mages, as well as tap into his reserves of Light Lumyst accumulated over a long period, notably sacrificing an Anthace seed, a natural reservoir with its own Lumyst Core. He only had three of those.

As for the hundreds of thousands of collateral victims, mostly his own troops, it pained him, but his life was his priority. He would do it again without hesitation if that was the price for surviving this battle.

Unfortunately, when he saw the somber expression of the messenger reporting the result, his own expression fell apart. A failure.

"Tell me at least that the target who triggered the trap was annihilated..." the army general hoped gloomily.

"I'm afraid... that's not the case." The messenger replied hoarsely. "Of the two targets, one took the hit without flinching, the other resurrected and then withdrew from the hill..."

Corvac remained silent for a short moment, digesting this new information, then inquired,

"What about the bombardment of Grenadier Bugs I ordered on the Mumaks who betrayed us?"

"Barely stopped by three Soulmancers. Two perished, the third is at death's door. They'd fall at the next volley."

"Better than I hoped." The old general sneered with satisfaction, before becoming uneasy again.

The foreigners storming the hill had started moving again. They were still far, but he had seen their leader climb half the hill in a single stride. One more step, and he'd be right in front of him. Of course, that was assuming he could avoid all the traps and obstacles in his path...

Yet, his feeling of insecurity only grew. His instincts, having saved him from many situations, made him take his anxiety very seriously. Determined, he commanded resolutely,

"Order all Lifemancers and Radiant Mages spread across the battlefield to converge on this hill to reinforce my personal guard of Radiant Mages and Lifemancers. Abandon the other troops to their fate."

The messenger and even the two imposing Radiant Lords at his side blanched upon hearing his command. After this order, there would be no turning back.

The giant in golden and silver plate armor briefly thought of opposing it, but remembering that he had just lost the signal from the Dreadnought Nematodes sent after Ceythie, he decided to remain silent. Without those monsters to stop the Great General, they would need all the help they could get on this hill.

The question remained: who was more dangerous, Ceythie or these foreigners? Clearly, Corvac had made his choice... by ignoring Ceythie. His general's instincts were not to be underestimated.