Elder Cultivator-Chapter 1262

Choosing a method of entrance to the deep space outpost was the most important choice the crew of the Starless Sailor had to make. Ultimately, they went with a proper airlock. Cutting open a large hole in the side would be easily noticed, and was more likely to be picked up by passing cultivators than tampering with formations. They did have some training to that end- they had expected to face other humans after all. They would also be relying on formation bypassing pieces of mixed tech. As long as it wasn’t too complex, they could handle it.

Stealth was important. They weren’t looking forward to fighting the entire station with all of its inhabitants. Though that was counting the stronger cultivators- if they could be taken out by Departs Home and her companions, the rest might be handled in the confines of tight corridors. They wouldn’t easily be able to sustain their energy usage, however. The upper energy in the area was not optimal for them.

They weren’t going to split up. The void ants had already accomplished the main reason for that. At most, they might temporarily part where two nearby rooms had objectives. They had several rooms they wanted to hit along the way to the center, as well as ideas how they were sealed- or partially sealed.

Yeter easily dismantled the mechanisms on the outer airlock as Departs Home helped hold onto strands of the sensing formations. The facility didn’t seem built to resist intrusion to any great degree- which made sense if nobody even knew it existed.

Void ants scouted ahead, as the construction of the station made it somewhat difficult to feel energy. Even with their stealth training, if they came too close to others the crew would be noticed. Fortunately, whoever had constructed it had been excessive in its construction, and it was relatively sparsely populated. Alternatively, individual cultivators died. It was a risk to kill them, but when it was get caught later or get caught immediately the choice was obvious.

Ivan used his energy to clean up the blood as they stuffed a body into a freeze. He was used to manipulating the water replenishment systems, so even if he didn’t do a perfect job it was far better than people walking down a hall and seeing blood all over the walls. They couldn’t take more than a few moments, though. Remaining idle would be worse than any other risks.

Activating the enchantments on some storage bags, they began to gather documents- the facility didn’t use computers, so the traditional cultivator thing was to use writing. There were other options cultivators had tried at various points, but mental impressions wore down over time and were difficult to copy. Writing simply endured, and it could be secure enough in its own ways. If they expected intruders, some of it might be encoded. Actually, that might be the case regardless- perhaps not all of those aboard were trusted the same amount.

Sects could have internal disagreements, after all. Someone might want to claim an important discovery for themselves. Especially for a long term station like this, people could squabble for local power. They had little proof of such things as they didn’t have time to read people’s journals, but they could assume.

They ended up crossing a long corridor at exactly the wrong moment. Avram sensed enemies about the time they saw the group. Three quick shots took down the group, but his energy was probably noticed.

“Let’s move!” Avram said. “Void ants, hop on!”

While the void ants could move quite quickly in some particular patterns, human cultivators could be far faster. They kept their energy as controlled as possible as they moved from room to room, trying to avoid unnecessary interactions. Sensory energy moved around the whole station, but there were many floors and they weren’t immediately locked on by the searching Augmentation cultivator- but it was clear they had been noticed. Now the plan was to leave with what they had. Surviving and confirming what they’d found was more important than discovering the deepest secrets. They only hoped their ship could avoid detection for long enough.

Then the Augmentation cultivator locked onto them. Through kilometers of winding corridors she ran, not able to accelerate to as high of speeds as she would when free, but opening doors ahead of her with her energy. Other enemies began to chase them down, having been made aware of their location.

“Valentin,” Departs Home signed after she grabbed his attention. “Carry me that way. We will sever any sensory energy.”

The full details of the plan weren’t exactly clear, but they only had ten or twenty seconds before the woman arrived. Fortunately, she was the only one. Valentin stood next to a door, hoping he had been unnoticed. The Augmentation cultivator rushed into the corridor, an energy beam from Avram targeting her before she even rounded the final corner.

Yeter carried a projectile weapon- a shotgun. It wasn’t a traditional weapon for cultivators, but it had a specific purpose for the mission. Each piece of buckshot was made from void ore taken from the upper realms, carefully contained. Most of it missed the woman. Most of the rest shattered on her body- it was exceedingly weak material. But a few pieces hit her skin directly instead of flexible cloth armor, sinking in through her defenses.

Ivan had nothing to attack with at range. He could have carried a Ruteran energy weapon, but it would have been one more piece of gear that was inefficient, at least in his hands. He opted instead for a few more vials of different sorts of poison he could put on his dagger. Ivan hoped that the Augmentation cultivator didn’t get close enough for him to attack. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Valentin, rather than launching an attack, had tried to toss Departs Home with precision. He couldn’t be certain if he succeeded.

The Augmentation cultivator’s aura expanded as they all came into her range, forming into deadly projections of a vicious distortion beast. Claws and spikes appeared from nowhere. Teeth chomped at them. And much smaller mandibles chomped at her.

Departs Home was not a long lived queen like Fearsome Mandibles or Crossed Antennae, nor did she have the combat insights of their royal guard. But her jaws were sharp, and she knew the safest place to attack from.

The biggest danger a cultivator posed to void ants was squashing them. A powerful one could slightly affect void ants with their energy, but a simple slap was far superior. So all she had to do was go somewhere they couldn’t reach. There were a few good places- the middle of the back, or anywhere on the lower legs that would cause them to have to bend down or twist their steps.

But there was another location Departs Home had never heard of void ants attacking… at least, not any queens individually. It had barely even been discussed.

The location? Inside a cultivator. She fit easily enough through a nostril. Then she dug up towards the brain. It probably helped that she was somewhat smaller. The Augmentation cultivator was still throwing energy all around her, but now it was split with her inside. So regardless of whether Departs Home could actually cause lethal damage… she was restricting the woman.

In fact, she was tearing holes in the station itself. Nothing had reached the outer edge yet, but her wild attacks were a threat to everyone from the crew. Even a little bit to Departs Home, who got a mandible bent when the woman accidentally squeezed a shard of bone against her.

Avram took advantage of the woman’s split energy, targeting her hands, face, and anything vulnerable. She made quick movements to avoid his attacks as Yeter shot another shell- each cost as much as a small city. But they weren’t paying for them.

Valentin came from behind, striking with a kick. He trusted his companions to not hit him with too much collateral damage, and the woman herself was cover enough. He couldn’t just sit out the fight. At the same time as he attacked, Ivan slashed at the woman, forcing the poison on his blade past her energy as much as he could. A little bit of western creeper muted the effects of energy on it, though he probably got less than half a drop on her- and not in an optimal location. Preferably it would be in her eyes or in a cut. Still, it would seep through her pores.

The wild attacks of the woman kept away other cultivators, so they were able to focus on survival. Then the remaining void ants suddenly found purchase, the woman not realizing they had been on her for several moments. Her energy suddenly shut down, torn in all directions by hundreds of tiny ants. And a good portion from the inside of her body.

Avram blasted her torso when her energy dropped. Then again, as her enchanted armor partially resisted his shot. He stopped when he could see the floor.

“Where’s Departs Home?” Yeter asked Valentin.

“Hopefully on her face somewhere,” he said. “Void ants, can you find-”

A group of them yanked her out at that very moment, covered in blood. It didn’t actually take a lot to cover her, but it was still a pretty gruesome image.

“I don’t think I can hold out against the remaining… 900 something foes,” Avram warned. “We need to go.” With that, he began shooting at seemingly random locations- but he was targeting to the best of his ability any energy storage locations.

The crew pushed their way through some of the nice rifts in the structure of the space station that the Augmentation cultivator had torn towards the exit… just in time. There wasn’t a massive explosion, but there was a surge of Domination energy. It didn’t appear to be perfectly controlled, but it still rushed after them.

Void ants blocked the way with their best effort, creating a sort of wall. It partially worked… at the cost of many lives. They would be honored later.

The humans grabbed all of the void ants that could hold onto a formation as Yeter tore apart the outer material- fusing metal together to repair it and pulling it apart were practically the same thing from her perspective. If she didn’t care about how it looked, the latter was easier.

Obviously they weren’t being subtle anymore, so she didn’t hold back.

“You guys sense that?” Ivan said, gesturing to three specific points.

The distortion beast nests. “The formations are weakening,” Yeter grimaced.

“Let’s get out of here before the distortion beasts think we’re food,” Valentin suggested.

They were all quite glad that the station had very few external defenses. They couldn’t precisely hide their flight to their ship. Avram shot the few turrets he could spot, which mostly weren’t manned yet- cultivators were rushing towards them directly.

Their ship took a few hits as it flew towards them, its airlock open to scoop them up. Automated systems like that were almost an afterthought, but Valentin reached out to direct it from a distance.

The ship rapidly accelerated, and without powerful inertial dampeners all of those aboard had to spend their own energy to not be crushed. Fortunately for the void ants, they had exoskeletons that mostly held together.

Their ship was no longer at a hundred percent power, probably less than eighty and in need of repairs, but when they bypassed the former distance that the hiding formations were at they could still vaguely sense the station. Things were breaking down, but they couldn’t stay to see if it stabilized or if the distortion beasts tore it apart.

They sent a single report that they couldn’t be completely certain would reach the destination. Just text, because they hadn’t compiled information from their looted documents and they had little energy to spare.

No ships chased them into the void. Aside from void ants, they weren’t even dead.

Though they were going to need to use most of the stash of medical supplies they had available, and perhaps some energy. Augmentation cultivators were no joke, especially when they had an energy advantage.

Departs Home would be receiving very tiny medical treatment for her own wounds.