Chapter 295 - Ambush
Before the enemies got any closer, Kai cast a layer of ice over the pier and condensed the mist into an opaque sheet. Five glowing presences charged toward them—all early Yellow—while the fisherman who gave them away stayed back.
No words were exchanged. The burly shieldbearer running at the front slipped on the ice, bringing two others down with him and sending one splashing into the lake.
Who are they?
Kai’s relief was short-lived.
They were on their feet again, closing their formation and advancing with caution.
Kai hesitated to cast lethal spells. Were they cultists, a team of corrupt guards, or just a mob? If he got embroiled in a fight, would there be reinforcements coming? Too many unknowns and no time to find out.
We can’t face them here.
At his back, Mari and Rain had boarded the rowboat; Flynn bustled about with the oars and cut the mooring line.
“We can take them.” Caeli drew her rapier as if intending to fight.
“To the boat. Now!” Kai ordered, not in the mood for negotiations. Hands busy with his sea serpent sword, he used the lake's water to crush the pier poles linking them to shore. The old wooden construction creaked and shifted under his feet, threatening to collapse entirely.
Whether it was his words, the unsteady ground or Kea dragging her, Caeli got into the vessel with a growl.
“Mat! You get in too!” Flynn shouted, trying to row away from the berth with Mari.
“I’m coming—” Kai halfway turned when a sharp whisper made him raise his guard. A black fletched arrow hit his sword with a sharp clink at eye level. The blowback pushed the blade against his temple, nicking his eyebrow. A warm line of blood trickled down his face, triggering a rush of energy from Kahali’s Retribution.
Can they see through the mist? Well... I’m not the only one with Mana Sense.
Cloaked by the fog, the archer drew back his bow for another shot, channeling bright sparks of mana into his arrow. Ahead of him, the three standing attackers advanced between the solid parts of the pier and the shallow lake.
Not wishing to test their skills, Kai cast a hail of ice needles to slow them. Alarmed shouts rose from the dock. Kai leaped into the boat without looking back. The vessel dangerously tilted where he landed, dousing him in freezing droplets before the water buoyancy rebalanced the scales.
There wasn’t much space to move with six of them aboard. Mari frantically rowed alongside Flynn while Kea paddled with a broken bucket. Their uncoordinated effort pushed the boat on a wobbly path away from the shore.
We’re too slow.
Despite using their full Strength, the old log struggled to pick up speed. The assailants were getting closer, advancing in formation behind the shield-wielding brute. The guy who initially fell into the lake had climbed on shore and aimed a crossbow at them.
Why do I always get persistent bastards?
Hidden by the shieldbearer, a tall man threw a javelin. The shot crossed the distance in a blink, cracking the ice shield Kai was conjuring. Before he could fix the spell, a crossbow bolt slipped past and buried itself in Mari's shoulder. She fell back with a scream, letting the oar go far into the lake. ꭆåꞐổbĘꞨ
Dammit!
He split his attention to check on her—the arrow hadn't hit any vitals, but it compromised their already wiggly motion. They were too exposed and too slow. Another arrow disrupted his ice shield before he could solidify it.
I can’t let this continue.
Discarding any qualms, Kai spread his mana wide to cast ice bullets from opposite angles. The projectiles traveled less than half the distance when they curved toward the shieldbearer and harmlessly shattered against his defenses.
What skill is that? They’re too coordinated to be random people but haven’t used Darkness mana. Are they corrupt guards? Or mercenaries?
An answer wouldn’t change their predicament. Kai flung a wave of icicles, hoping the heavier projectiles would be harder to divert. He was partially right. The spells veered toward the iron tower shield, but three flew too fast and went past, hitting the burly man who slumped on one knee with a groan.
The wound only slowed their advance. Behind the iron bulwark, the remaining foes fetched a shabby boat from another berth to give chase.
We need to get away.
Oh, shit...
Kai spread his senses; the flat waters of the lake extended in every direction beyond the edge of his skills. The fog swallowed them with swirls of dense mana that blurred his view.
A look around the boat confirmed it. Even Rain lightly shook his head—they were lost in a high-mana zone.
“Well...” Flynn chuckled weakly. “If we don’t know where we are, neither can those assholes. So there is that...”
“Bloody Moons!” Caeli stood up to peer at the mist, tilting the boat. Her eyes shifted across the placid lake with sudden concern. “We must stay away from the center of the lake. There could be yellow beasts. Or worse—”
“Start by lowering your voice,” Kea pulled her down. “The boat arrays won’t help if you keep shouting. We should still be far from the center.”
Mari looked over the rim of the boat and sat with her back against the broken bucket. “I can’t say how far we moved. But we’ve been drifting. We should start rowing, it’ll take a while to reach shore with one oar.”
“And which direction do we pick?” Caeli pulled back from the water for what the boat allowed. “Everything looks the same to me.”
“Let me check the map...” Flynn tried to play peacemaker, rummaging through a bag.
“How will that help if we can’t see where we—”
Kai tuned them out. He had expected their plan wouldn’t go smoothly, but not that it would crumble before even getting on the boat.
Mortals scheme and gods laugh. At least we should be on the right track.
From the records Valela recovered, there was a cult known to use cryptic jagged runes that matched the ones he copied. The only issue was that the Church of the Seven Moons had eradicated the Stygian Circle eight hundred years ago; every detail of their deeds and practices had been erased from history.
Damnatio memoriae was common practice for heretical organizations. Deities drew power from belief, and if no one knew they even existed, they would weaken and fade. It also made getting any information about them irritatingly difficult. He could have scoured every library in a hundred miles and found no clue without Valela.
Whether it was the same cult or some copycat, the links were too strong to ignore. The Stygian Circle was known for its use of Darkness and powerful concealments, they only made exceptions for two other elements: Shadow and Water.
Perhaps it wasn't by chance that they’d run into them on the Intrepid. Among the files Valela showed him, there were many recent accidents along the coastline or near large bodies of water.
Beyond dusty records, Kai had another clue he trusted. Since he stepped into the boat, Hallowed Intuition had started humming a reluctant agreement—he was on the right track to find the missing people.
The only issue was where to go.
It would take a day to cross the Lake of Myst if they sailed in a straight line across dangerous areas. The presence of swarms of yellow beasts was why Kai hadn’t initially considered the cult would hide here. Only madmen would settle in infested water where you couldn’t see over a few palms from your nose.
It was stupid to assume they had common sense. How do I pick the right direction?
Kea and Caeli were still arguing over the waxed paper filled with scribbles of the lake. They had to pay several fishermen to piece together that map from memory. Thinking back, it probably wasn't a chance they found no paper maps.
They could only confirm the accuracy of the fishing area close to shore. There were more than a hundred islets scattered around the lake. Kai could toss a pebble across the length of most, though some were large enough to host small woods.
“Hmm, guys.” Flynn woke him from his musings, squinting at the fog. “I think I see an island.”
“Are you sure...” Kai stretched Mana Observer, blinking. He channeled Body Augmentation into his sight to check his senses weren’t tricking him.
There was indeed an island, perhaps two dozen meters across. The mana in the mist made everything look the same till he specifically focused on that area. It was like when the cloud fairies obscured his senses, though he couldn’t perceive any hostile intention.
Is it some strange natural occurrence? As if this place wasn’t annoying enough...
He had to admit an impenetrable fog wasn’t the worst thing that could happen if they needed to sneak around a den of crazy cultists.
Rain didn’t look surprised. Noticing the attention on him, he leaned in to whisper. “I just noticed too. And we were already drifting in that direction.”
“Let’s go.” Kea took possession of the oar. “We can find our location when we get on land.”
With a common goal in mind, they swiftly sailed the boat. The shadow of an island came into view through the fog. A willow tree grew on the mossy shore, its long silver branches dipping into the lake, and more greenery beyond.