Elder Cultivator
Chapter 1282

Adsila looked contemplative- more than normal for the old woman. Ylvali could see something was bothering her. “You didn’t have to join the war, you know.”

The old woman turned to her. “Of course I did. I’m part of the crew now, aren’t I?” She was. “But that’s not the issue at hand. You might recall that I apprenticed with Aconite. It was… an interesting experience.”

“She’s good, right?”

“I hadn’t expected to train under a wolf,” Adsila admitted.

“Oh yeah,” Ylvali chuckled. “That’s not normal where you come from.”

“It would certainly be quite unexpected. No doubt many people might have hunted and killed all these people. But that’s not the issue at hand. Aconite’s perspective allows her to consider the particular weaknesses of different species. Humans are the Alliance’s main enemy, but she still has to consider how she might affect herself or allies. She proofs herself against her own poisons, of course.”

“If you’re suggesting something more for the crew, it’s a bit late.”

“Indeed,” Adsila agreed. “I would not wish to spread anything throughout the ship regardless. It would make receiving guests more complicated. I was just considering the effort she had gone to and how I might contribute. I think I have some ideas. And… I hope that we might support Aconite in her upcoming endeavor, whatever it is.”

“Absolutely,” Ylvali said. “Unless we’re ordered to be elsewhere. But I think a request to join her should be sufficient.”

Temine had been prepared for more- much more. What they ended up against was several million cultivators of the Swirling Swarm, but their individual lack of strength made them somewhat less threatening compared to a properly fortified system. If they made it to the surface of one of the rings, the locals could tear them apart. They didn’t blot out the sight of the locals. It was just a few million.

Gerhard could even see some of their ships properly through the mess. Usually, they went for security through obfuscation, hiding everything. But he could see clear scars on the side of the vessel- one of those that had made it through to them.

Briefly, Gerhard wondered if that had been Anton. However, recalling the man’s energy, he knew he was wrong. The qualities were quite similar, but Gerhard’s understanding was that Anton’s sect was quite populous throughout their alliance. Temine had mostly interacted with the far eastern portions of the Alliance. The sect head of the branch there was a swordsman named Varghese who was similarly imbued with the power of stars. The reason Gerhard was certain that Anton hadn’t been involved with that particular ship was that it still remained intact. He’d felt some portion of Anton’s power, seen it when he moved.

That brief flash of motion had let him know there was nothing they could do against the man- except perhaps if they had purposefully set void ants upon him. His offensive power hadn’t been measured properly, but Gerhard didn’t believe it to be any lesser.

Gerhard stood outside the outer ring. One layer of defenses covered the outside, to prevent people from even getting close to the inner ring. Unnecessary functions were shut down as the full power of the local stars went into barriers and weaponry.

He had with him many legions of void ants. Normally, the majority of void ants remained on the inner ring- because the energy there was thickest and tastiest. Their development was important to Temine. Hiding them from outsiders hadn’t really been the intention, and technically it had failed to do so in one hundred percent of visits when Anton ran into a group on the second ring.

Gerhard held his curved blade at the ready. His attack range went far beyond the reach of his blade, but he wasn’t the first line of defense. Great cannons fired upon the incoming group, ripping apart countless foes with each attack.

Normally, according to their understanding, the Swirling Swarm would instantly fill in those gaps. Here, it was clear that they simply didn’t have the numbers to maintain the breadth they wished to cover with any great density.

There wasn’t even much of an agreement with the Lower Realms Alliance that would have led them to strike against incoming foes. Formal treaties took a long time to draft when the parties were over a hundred lightyears distant. But the foes had been weakened regardless.

Gerhard watched as they drew closer. For some reason, he couldn’t shake a feeling of trepidation. Why were they here? To ravage and conquer, obviously. But why were they still coming? He understood that they had little self preservation, but their numbers were far too thin to matter.

Their tactics didn’t speak much. They charged directly towards the outer ring, not even trying to circumvent it. There were contingencies- obviously a ring couldn’t cover the majority of the area- but apparently they weren’t necessary.

Gerhard steeled himself. There were still quite a large number of enemies incoming, practically ignoring the emplacements and fleets tearing them apart. He stood ready with his surrounding companions, humans and void ants alike.

Weight. Something heavy. Power on a level he hadn’t been exposed to. It tried to hold him down. He considered running out of the area… but instead he stepped closer to the epicenter. A great number of people lived on the other side of the ring, and while it was not especially fragile, it had to be defended.

He swung his blade, chopping through a few dozen Swirling Swarm cultivators. Their weapons didn’t even get close. Their bodies were tossed aside. The weight seemed to lift… but only because it changed targets.

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Gerhard witnessed a strike crushing the head of one of his battle brothers, cracking the structure beneath in a significant radius. An echo of power that shouldn’t be here. But it was.

“Domination!” someone yelled in despair.

“Domination.” Nearby void ants stated that without fear. Curiosity, perhaps. “Aid us.”

Gerhard spotted the very same commander that had taken responsibility for the incident with Anton. She had been back for some time- teaching their methods of communication. Besides, the Alliance would not have kept her from defending her home in a crisis. They cared for their people, including void ants.

His leg approached the legion she commanded. They latched onto him as he sought out their foe. His blade continued to chop through the mess of bodies. Closer up, he didn’t think the density of foes was so diminished after all. And he couldn’t keep track of that Domination cultivator.

The commander apparently could, tugging him in a certain direction. Gerhard had no choice but to believe in her, cutting his way not quite directly towards his target. His goal was to look like he was simply tearing apart the attackers- many of which were battering the ring instead of assaulting cultivators. Fortunately, the formations were holding. As long as they were concentrated in one area, energy could be transferred.

His target constantly moved, but he stayed near enough to hopefully become a target. Though he was concerned, since he’d been passed over before. Was he too alert? Should he… stop looking?

It was difficult to say in the middle of battle. All he could do was cut down his foes and take a gamble.

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Aconite rode atop the Starstriker as they sought out incoming Swirling Swarm cultivators- far beyond the territory of the Veiled Brilliance. Normally cultivators went inside ships, but there were more than a few reasons they would want to be outside. It wasn’t a unique situation.

Adsila was glad they had chosen to support her specifically. She had intended to go off nearly alone. A huge risk, if her plan didn’t work perfectly. The chances that it wouldn’t work at all were inconsequential, but Aconite could have found herself just a bit less effective than she intended. Then she would have had to flee, wasting energy after tipping them off to her intentions.

Ylvali didn’t know precisely what the plan was, except to get into and out of the Swirling Swarm’s mass. A risky proposition, but with a powerful cultivator like Aconite less concerning. Assuming, of course, there were no Domination cultivators involved. That was a pretty big assumption, given that they were expected to have at least two or three- and this assault in particular might carry them all.

Other ships flew in tight formation around the Starstriker. Spreading out was no good when they could all be overwhelmed by masses of foes. Instead, concentrating their fire on a particular area could provide them a corridor of dead foes to fly through. It wasn’t great for ships, but a dead cultivator was only a minor impediment. Even a few hundred wasn’t as bad as running into a few who were still capable of using their energy defenses.

The Starstriker blasted a hole in them. Aconite wanted to get close, but the Swirling Swarm would doubtless move in. It was best to consider her own plan separately. The exact details were apparently secret, but the fact that they were prepared to immediately retreat- even if it was successful- indicated it was going to be big.

Ylvali’s ship wasn’t meant for war, but they could fight. And unlike the undersea incident, the whole power of the vessel was directly accessible. Plus, they’d grown stronger with time and the addition of Adsila to their ranks.

She felt it, a pulse. Adsila reacted most strongly, surrounding the ship with some sort of energy. Rather than a lack of trust in Aconite, the defensive measure should allow the poisoner to focus more on her offensive capabilities. The pulse spread… then faded.

The signal. They were to pull out. An instant directional reversal… was not outside the bounds of the Starstriker’s capabilities. Ylvali lent her own power to the ship and the engines as they began their maneuver. The smaller fighters and midsized battleships flipped around, leaving them behind momentarily. Until the Starstriker just reversed velocity.

Shipwide cultivation techniques were something that took a lot of time and practice from the crew… but they were worth it. Just like normal cultivators, movement techniques were especially useful. A perfect reversal of momentum was actually easier than a right angle turn, once they got it down properly.

Aconite’s energy couldn’t be felt among the Swirling Swarm. So it had failed. What a shame. That was what Ylvali thought until they were a few kilometers out of the Swarm- practically a single step.

Another ripple. Then, suddenly, cultivators began to fall dead- until about halfway through their ranks when it simply… stopped. Not because it lacked momentum, but because a great power overrode it.

Ah. There was the Domination cultivator.

It would have been nice to have Zazil with them- or any of the others, but she was best positioned. Unfortunately, the Alliance had many foes to deal with at the moment.

The Swirling Swarm stopped for only an instant before charging forth. Aconite’s energy stretched into the ship. “Follow my lead! Adsila will guide you!”

Aconite leapt away, though she wasn’t moving directly away. Instead, her movements involved zagging back and forth, as well as spirals. She moved throughout the fleet, back and forth.

“We need to open fire to draw them in,” Adsila commented.

Ylvali gave the order. Then she handed over her comms. She would help with the flow of energy, but the orders could come from Adsila. She was the one who should be able to understand something about the patterns of poison Aconite had to be leaving. Ylvali didn’t think that leaving behind poisonous gasses in space would do much good, and could Aconite get enough powder to cover such a large area? The sensors weren’t even picking anything up, though they weren’t really tuned to find small particulate matter in empty space.

The Swirling Swarm advanced without fear into the area, even having seen how she spread something through them. The details were classified enough that Ylvali didn’t know much more than it was a spreading poison.

Ylvali expected the Swirling Swarm to drop like flies… but they didn’t. Aconite briefly moved to the rear of the withdrawing fleets clashing with something. Perhaps she found a way to reveal the Domination cultivator- but she was blown away.

Should they have brought more forces? Would that even help? Ylvali shook her head. Negative thoughts would lower their efficiency. Until Aconite said they should be worried, she would have to trust it. Besides, as far as Domination cultivators the Swirling Swarm were as weak as they got… hopefully.

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