Chapter 291
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Chapter 291
The conclusion of the battle left everyone in various states of living, but they werent exactly safe. Even if the Twin Soul Sect didnt come back, Foulmarsh had its own dangers. It had not been a significant threat to them when they were all in good health- and while they had Swordmaster Rahayu present- but Chikere was completely catatonic and Rahayu was gone. Ascended.
Looking at the bodies littered around them, it had to be said they had been lucky. Even if their own abilities were significant, Rahayus extreme confidence had proven to be correct- but it could just as easily resulted in him being cut down along with the rest of them. At least, it felt like that.
Velvet was the one least injured of all of them, as she had been concealed except for the moment she was striking. Stray blows that had managed to impact her and a few well-timed counterattacks had left her energy drained but her body relatively intact. After helping stitch Chikeres neck back together she moved on to looting the bodies of the dead. All of the undamaged weapons and armor had significant value, though the way some of them were tied to the Twin Soul Sect was a bit unfortunate. Even the severed pieces of the oversized sword would be usable as materials for another weapon.
Anton got half of a bow, as the string hed severed wasnt repairable. Whether he would get a replacement string or sell the bowshaft to find a whole piece was not yet decided. Either way, they had quite a few things to go through.
The most valuable prize was clutched against Chikeres chest, the bare sword of Swordmaster Vianne having been covered by Velvet carefully sliding the sheath onto it as much as she could. None of them were quite certain if she could even move, and whether or not she was a danger to them with a subconscious attack to protect her swords her body likely couldnt handle it.
Hoyt was patching himself together, using large quantities of pilfered medicines. Only legendarily rare medicines were useful in the midst of combat, but his wounds were at least held closed and blood replenishing pills swallowed to begin their work. He had been the vanguard against the majority of the Essence Collection cultivators, and had taken the brunt of the damage. If Timothy had been around things likely would have been different, but Hoyt didnt specialize in defense, even if he was quite tough.
Cant believe we survived that, Hoyt commented. And I thought well, I expected an ascension to have more flare to it. There was a huge ceremony with sacrifices in Black Soul Valley, and they almost didnt succeed until they killed the peak Life Transformation leader of the Flying Blood Cult. I heard it was quite something.
Thats not that different from what happened here, Velvet pointed out. The deaths here werent intentional sacrifices, but the death of Swordmaster Vianne coincided with Rahayus ascension. It might be a coincidence. But it might not.
Nothing I learned from Everheart indicated that the death of another cultivator was required to ascend, Anton pointed out. But that doesnt mean it wouldnt make things easier. A great release of power Though he hadnt been looking directly at the sword strike to remember it, he had felt the wave of ascension energy. It was only there for a moment, before quickly fading from the world. It seemed that it was unable to be sustained for long without a source. But as the only time hed experienced such energy except through usage of Fleeting Youth, Anton thought his understanding improved. Hed have to wait to see, however. First they had to get out of Foulmarsh.
The role of carrying Chikere fell to Hoyt, since Anton would be needed to fend off foes from a distance and Velvet couldnt conceal herself while carrying someone else, which would weaken her ability to get the first- and often only- strike in combat.
I noticed as well, Velvet said. Theyre moving in.
Its a bit late to stop now, Anton shrugged, which stretched some of his wounds unpleasantly. They already have the scent of it. Well have to fend them off.
The things to which they were referring were approaching bands of snakes and alligators, along with a number of mammals apparently attracted to the smell of turtle soup. Racoons werent predatory animals, normally, but at their size and with cultivations that matched Spirit Building they could be whatever they wanted. The long skinny minks were known to be more aggressive but generally kept their hunting to smaller prey. But when a few of them could rise up on their hind legs to be as tall as a human, perhaps everything seemed small to them.
Anton started with a few warning shots, but barely deterred any of the approaching beasts. Even when he began to get serious, he couldnt always kill his target in a single shot, given he was trying to conserve himself for tens or hundreds of enemies. And his aim was a little off.
Hoyt stepped up, and while he could only cover a portion of the directions approaching the camp, he widened his area of influence by creating walls of fire that funneled anything that wanted to approach towards him- or a long way around. An alligator tried to sneak under the wall of fire by dipping into the water, but it quickly found its durable hide didnt withstand boiling water nearly as well as it did the normal nearly boiling alternative.
Antons target soon became approaching avians, as there were birds large enough to potentially lift the massive pot of food he had cooking. He wouldnt mind sharing whatever was leftover, but the local beasts were clearly hungry. Though some of them were more cautious, staying back from the fight as it gathered momentum. Anton saw some of them pick off injured animals, and was glad that at least they werent the only targets. Just the newest and least familiar. He did have to admit they werent as intimidating as normal in their still-exhausted states.
The infighting among the various creatures only added to the chaos, but at least Velvet seemed quite comfortable moving among them, picking off some weakened beasts while also wounding others. Nearly even battles with a stronger but injured combatant tied them up longer, and when something died others inevitably began to fight over it or begin to drag it away.
The battles continued at various levels of intensity over the course of several hours, and Anton was wondering if it was worth the effort. But when the soup was finished and he tasted it, he decided it was worth it. While most of the ingredients were improvised by scavenging various root vegetables and random dried things in their rations, it was made excellent by the main ingredient. He carefully ate some himself before feeding it to Chikere, giving her only very small chunks of meat and carefully coaxing it down her throat so she didnt actually try to swallow and tear at her stitched neck.
Then he took over a majority of the fighting and deterring so Hoyt and Velvet could eat. By the time they were done, all of the beasts were either dead or busy consuming others. It was unlikely such wild behavior was common, but the presence of humans might have thrown things off. Foulmarsh was still teeming with life regardless, including a number of flying insects that seemed to want nothing more than to eat or drink the humans alive. Perhaps their current sickness had come from one of them, but much effort was spent on them regardless.
As he digested the meal, Anton wondered if the expenditure of energy actually outweighed their gains, but he decided it had. Even if his vision was still blurring and his wounds aching, Chikere at least was looking a bit better. But the rest of the trip it might be best to make do with rations.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.
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Chapter 291
The conclusion of the battle left everyone in various states of living, but they werent exactly safe. Even if the Twin Soul Sect didnt come back, Foulmarsh had its own dangers. It had not been a significant threat to them when they were all in good health- and while they had Swordmaster Rahayu present- but Chikere was completely catatonic and Rahayu was gone. Ascended.
Looking at the bodies littered around them, it had to be said they had been lucky. Even if their own abilities were significant, Rahayus extreme confidence had proven to be correct- but it could just as easily resulted in him being cut down along with the rest of them. At least, it felt like that.
Velvet was the one least injured of all of them, as she had been concealed except for the moment she was striking. Stray blows that had managed to impact her and a few well-timed counterattacks had left her energy drained but her body relatively intact. After helping stitch Chikeres neck back together she moved on to looting the bodies of the dead. All of the undamaged weapons and armor had significant value, though the way some of them were tied to the Twin Soul Sect was a bit unfortunate. Even the severed pieces of the oversized sword would be usable as materials for another weapon.
Anton got half of a bow, as the string hed severed wasnt repairable. Whether he would get a replacement string or sell the bowshaft to find a whole piece was not yet decided. Either way, they had quite a few things to go through.
The most valuable prize was clutched against Chikeres chest, the bare sword of Swordmaster Vianne having been covered by Velvet carefully sliding the sheath onto it as much as she could. None of them were quite certain if she could even move, and whether or not she was a danger to them with a subconscious attack to protect her swords her body likely couldnt handle it.
Hoyt was patching himself together, using large quantities of pilfered medicines. Only legendarily rare medicines were useful in the midst of combat, but his wounds were at least held closed and blood replenishing pills swallowed to begin their work. He had been the vanguard against the majority of the Essence Collection cultivators, and had taken the brunt of the damage. If Timothy had been around things likely would have been different, but Hoyt didnt specialize in defense, even if he was quite tough.
Cant believe we survived that, Hoyt commented. And I thought well, I expected an ascension to have more flare to it. There was a huge ceremony with sacrifices in Black Soul Valley, and they almost didnt succeed until they killed the peak Life Transformation leader of the Flying Blood Cult. I heard it was quite something.
Thats not that different from what happened here, Velvet pointed out. The deaths here werent intentional sacrifices, but the death of Swordmaster Vianne coincided with Rahayus ascension. It might be a coincidence. But it might not.
Nothing I learned from Everheart indicated that the death of another cultivator was required to ascend, Anton pointed out. But that doesnt mean it wouldnt make things easier. A great release of power Though he hadnt been looking directly at the sword strike to remember it, he had felt the wave of ascension energy. It was only there for a moment, before quickly fading from the world. It seemed that it was unable to be sustained for long without a source. But as the only time hed experienced such energy except through usage of Fleeting Youth, Anton thought his understanding improved. Hed have to wait to see, however. First they had to get out of Foulmarsh.
The role of carrying Chikere fell to Hoyt, since Anton would be needed to fend off foes from a distance and Velvet couldnt conceal herself while carrying someone else, which would weaken her ability to get the first- and often only- strike in combat.
I noticed as well, Velvet said. Theyre moving in.
Its a bit late to stop now, Anton shrugged, which stretched some of his wounds unpleasantly. They already have the scent of it. Well have to fend them off.
The things to which they were referring were approaching bands of snakes and alligators, along with a number of mammals apparently attracted to the smell of turtle soup. Racoons werent predatory animals, normally, but at their size and with cultivations that matched Spirit Building they could be whatever they wanted. The long skinny minks were known to be more aggressive but generally kept their hunting to smaller prey. But when a few of them could rise up on their hind legs to be as tall as a human, perhaps everything seemed small to them.
Anton started with a few warning shots, but barely deterred any of the approaching beasts. Even when he began to get serious, he couldnt always kill his target in a single shot, given he was trying to conserve himself for tens or hundreds of enemies. And his aim was a little off.
Hoyt stepped up, and while he could only cover a portion of the directions approaching the camp, he widened his area of influence by creating walls of fire that funneled anything that wanted to approach towards him- or a long way around. An alligator tried to sneak under the wall of fire by dipping into the water, but it quickly found its durable hide didnt withstand boiling water nearly as well as it did the normal nearly boiling alternative.
Antons target soon became approaching avians, as there were birds large enough to potentially lift the massive pot of food he had cooking. He wouldnt mind sharing whatever was leftover, but the local beasts were clearly hungry. Though some of them were more cautious, staying back from the fight as it gathered momentum. Anton saw some of them pick off injured animals, and was glad that at least they werent the only targets. Just the newest and least familiar. He did have to admit they werent as intimidating as normal in their still-exhausted states.
The infighting among the various creatures only added to the chaos, but at least Velvet seemed quite comfortable moving among them, picking off some weakened beasts while also wounding others. Nearly even battles with a stronger but injured combatant tied them up longer, and when something died others inevitably began to fight over it or begin to drag it away.
The battles continued at various levels of intensity over the course of several hours, and Anton was wondering if it was worth the effort. But when the soup was finished and he tasted it, he decided it was worth it. While most of the ingredients were improvised by scavenging various root vegetables and random dried things in their rations, it was made excellent by the main ingredient. He carefully ate some himself before feeding it to Chikere, giving her only very small chunks of meat and carefully coaxing it down her throat so she didnt actually try to swallow and tear at her stitched neck.
Then he took over a majority of the fighting and deterring so Hoyt and Velvet could eat. By the time they were done, all of the beasts were either dead or busy consuming others. It was unlikely such wild behavior was common, but the presence of humans might have thrown things off. Foulmarsh was still teeming with life regardless, including a number of flying insects that seemed to want nothing more than to eat or drink the humans alive. Perhaps their current sickness had come from one of them, but much effort was spent on them regardless.
As he digested the meal, Anton wondered if the expenditure of energy actually outweighed their gains, but he decided it had. Even if his vision was still blurring and his wounds aching, Chikere at least was looking a bit better. But the rest of the trip it might be best to make do with rations.Ñøv€lRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Ñôv€lß¡n.
Chapter 291The conclusion of the battle left everyone in various states of living, but they werent exactly safe. Even if the Twin Soul Sect didnt come back, Foulmarsh had its own dangers. It had not been a significant threat to them when they were all in good health- and while they had Swordmaster Rahayu present- but Chikere was completely catatonic and Rahayu was gone. Ascended.Looking at the bodies littered around them, it had to be said they had been lucky. Even if their own abilities were significant, Rahayus extreme confidence had proven to be correct- but it could just as easily resulted in him being cut down along with the rest of them. At least, it felt like that.Velvet was the one least injured of all of them, as she had been concealed except for the moment she was striking. Stray blows that had managed to impact her and a few well-timed counterattacks had left her energy drained but her body relatively intact. After helping stitch Chikeres neck back together she moved on to looting the bodies of the dead. All of the undamaged weapons and armor had significant value, though the way some of them were tied to the Twin Soul Sect was a bit unfortunate. Even the severed pieces of the oversized sword would be usable as materials for another weapon.Anton got half of a bow, as the string hed severed wasnt repairable. Whether he would get a replacement string or sell the bowshaft to find a whole piece was not yet decided. Either way, they had quite a few things to go through.The most valuable prize was clutched against Chikeres chest, the bare sword of Swordmaster Vianne having been covered by Velvet carefully sliding the sheath onto it as much as she could. None of them were quite certain if she could even move, and whether or not she was a danger to them with a subconscious attack to protect her swords her body likely couldnt handle it. Hoyt was patching himself together, using large quantities of pilfered medicines. Only legendarily rare medicines were useful in the midst of combat, but his wounds were at least held closed and blood replenishing pills swallowed to begin their work. He had been the vanguard against the majority of the Essence Collection cultivators, and had taken the brunt of the damage. If Timothy had been around things likely would have been different, but Hoyt didnt specialize in defense, even if he was quite tough.Cant believe we survived that, Hoyt commented. And I thought well, I expected an ascension to have more flare to it. There was a huge ceremony with sacrifices in Black Soul Valley, and they almost didnt succeed until they killed the peak Life Transformation leader of the Flying Blood Cult. I heard it was quite something.Thats not that different from what happened here, Velvet pointed out. The deaths here werent intentional sacrifices, but the death of Swordmaster Vianne coincided with Rahayus ascension. It might be a coincidence. But it might not.Nothing I learned from Everheart indicated that the death of another cultivator was required to ascend, Anton pointed out. But that doesnt mean it wouldnt make things easier. A great release of power Though he hadnt been looking directly at the sword strike to remember it, he had felt the wave of ascension energy. It was only there for a moment, before quickly fading from the world. It seemed that it was unable to be sustained for long without a source. But as the only time hed experienced such energy except through usage of Fleeting Youth, Anton thought his understanding improved. Hed have to wait to see, however. First they had to get out of Foulmarsh.The role of carrying Chikere fell to Hoyt, since Anton would be needed to fend off foes from a distance and Velvet couldnt conceal herself while carrying someone else, which would weaken her ability to get the first- and often only- strike in combat.I noticed as well, Velvet said. Theyre moving in.Its a bit late to stop now, Anton shrugged, which stretched some of his wounds unpleasantly. They already have the scent of it. Well have to fend them off.The things to which they were referring were approaching bands of snakes and alligators, along with a number of mammals apparently attracted to the smell of turtle soup. Racoons werent predatory animals, normally, but at their size and with cultivations that matched Spirit Building they could be whatever they wanted. The long skinny minks were known to be more aggressive but generally kept their hunting to smaller prey. But when a few of them could rise up on their hind legs to be as tall as a human, perhaps everything seemed small to them.Anton started with a few warning shots, but barely deterred any of the approaching beasts. Even when he began to get serious, he couldnt always kill his target in a single shot, given he was trying to conserve himself for tens or hundreds of enemies. And his aim was a little off.Hoyt stepped up, and while he could only cover a portion of the directions approaching the camp, he widened his area of influence by creating walls of fire that funneled anything that wanted to approach towards him- or a long way around. An alligator tried to sneak under the wall of fire by dipping into the water, but it quickly found its durable hide didnt withstand boiling water nearly as well as it did the normal nearly boiling alternative. Antons target soon became approaching avians, as there were birds large enough to potentially lift the massive pot of food he had cooking. He wouldnt mind sharing whatever was leftover, but the local beasts were clearly hungry. Though some of them were more cautious, staying back from the fight as it gathered momentum. Anton saw some of them pick off injured animals, and was glad that at least they werent the only targets. Just the newest and least familiar. He did have to admit they werent as intimidating as normal in their still-exhausted states.The infighting among the various creatures only added to the chaos, but at least Velvet seemed quite comfortable moving among them, picking off some weakened beasts while also wounding others. Nearly even battles with a stronger but injured combatant tied them up longer, and when something died others inevitably began to fight over it or begin to drag it away.The battles continued at various levels of intensity over the course of several hours, and Anton was wondering if it was worth the effort. But when the soup was finished and he tasted it, he decided it was worth it. While most of the ingredients were improvised by scavenging various root vegetables and random dried things in their rations, it was made excellent by the main ingredient. He carefully ate some himself before feeding it to Chikere, giving her only very small chunks of meat and carefully coaxing it down her throat so she didnt actually try to swallow and tear at her stitched neck. Then he took over a majority of the fighting and deterring so Hoyt and Velvet could eat. By the time they were done, all of the beasts were either dead or busy consuming others. It was unlikely such wild behavior was common, but the presence of humans might have thrown things off. Foulmarsh was still teeming with life regardless, including a number of flying insects that seemed to want nothing more than to eat or drink the humans alive. Perhaps their current sickness had come from one of them, but much effort was spent on them regardless.As he digested the meal, Anton wondered if the expenditure of energy actually outweighed their gains, but he decided it had. Even if his vision was still blurring and his wounds aching, Chikere at least was looking a bit better. But the rest of the trip it might be best to make do with rations.NvlRapture marked the initial hosting of this chapter on Novln.
