On Astral Tides: From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor

Twenty-Six

The entrance to our local Tokyo metro station was a dark void, oppressive and murky. As we approached I could feel a chill hanging in the air, not unlike the feeling of the great tree in the graveyard, the Raven Knight’s Territory.

You have entered a Territory possessed by another. The Territory level is low so it has only a weak effect on you, but your Aether will be slowly drained…

Familiar words scrolled across my vision. It was like the Territory of the zombies before. It wasn’t a properly anchored Territory like mine, nor a strong Territory that only lacked an Anchor like Grulgor’s or the Raven Knight’s. Even so, it would still be disadvantageous fighting there.

“You need-need to stay alert.” The Kamaitachi warned. “The enemies are numerous and surprisingly powerful.”

As soon as he had finished speaking a small host of foes came scuttling out of the darkness. It was a mixture of beasts. There were some spiders the size of large sheep, though instead of spider heads they had faces that seemed a grotesque cross between spider and human, with arachnid fangs in a human mouth and a pair of human eyes under the cluster of compound eyes, glaring balefully. These spider hybrids also had wickedly sharp scythes of chitin on their front legs, held up like mantises. In addition to these there were the equally disturbing scorpion-beasts, larger and the size of ponies, with eyeless human heads in place of where their scorpion heads should have been, mouths stretched wide and drooling spittle incessantly.

“Wow.” I said, unconsciously imitating my sister. “More insects, but these… ugh, my stomach hurts.” Swallowing down vomit at their disgusting appearance I readied my spear.

“Be very-very careful.” The sickle-weasel advised me, taking a defensive stance. “They are far-far more dangerous than they appear.”

“They appear plenty dangerous to me…” I muttered, eyeing huge scorpion claws and stingers, and the venom dripping from the spiders’ mouths. Several of the spiders advanced, and suddenly they were blasting out gouts of fire from their maws, the flames tinged with acrid vapour that stung on contact.

“See-see?” the Kamaitachi said, using his wind to deflect some of the flames to either side of us, where they burst in scalding explosions, spreading the toxic gases outwards. His attacks slashed towards them, glowing green, but more flames struck the wind, devouring it.

“All-all elements have weaknesses…” Shaeula said as she raised a vortex of wind to ward off the flames. “Fire consumes wind, leaving us at a rather-rather severe disadvantage.”

“I guess that makes sense.” I said as I leapt forwards through the maelstrom of flame and wind. “No fire without oxygen after all.” My spear stroke was true, piercing into the face of one of the spiders as it made ready to breathe poisonous flames again, ripping through and destroying it. As that one fell I leapt back as one of the scorpions came howling forwards, claws reaching for me, tail hammering down into the ground where I was standing, pincer piercing an impressive hole in the solid stone below.

“Oxygen…?” Shaeula asked, but I had no time to respond. Ducking under the writhing pincers, I cut with my spear, another move I’d studied online, and the stinger on the end of the scorpion’s tail was severed, black blood gouting. Leaping up I thrust down, piercing chitin and flesh. The scorpion fell, scattering into ether. Beside me the combined wind attacks of Shaeula and her sickle-weasel had managed to overcome the flames and shred a couple of spiders, but more were coming all the time.

“Time to run…” I muttered, as we were in danger of being surrounded. With one last frenzied barrage of stabs and slashes I managed to behead another scorpion as we retreated. Checking the messages about ether gain I was pleased to see we had accumulated a decent amount. Each of the monsters must have been an Elite-class enemy.

“I will cover-cover the retreat…” the Kamaitachi said, jade air swirling around him. Blades of wind lashed out, and another scorpion fell, bisected. Flames roared in response and he was driven back. The spiders were flanking us, and I stepped in front of Shaeula as flames cascaded towards her. Channelling aether I slashed my spear through the fires, scattering them, taking only minor damage. With a bold yell I charged, and the spider fell, impaled through the abdomen. I wrenched the spear in a circle as I tore it free to make the wound fatal, turning to see Shaeula beleaguered by another spider and scorpion. Her wind barrier was scattering the flames but it was fading, devoured by the toxic blaze.

“Aim for the scorpion, it doesn’t use fire so your wind will work!” I shouted, dashing at the spider.

“I know-know that!” Shaeula responded grumpily, but as she did several of her weasel-snakes of wind formed and raced towards the scorpion. There was a heavy impact, painful gusts slashing in all directions, and then the weasels bored through the scorpion, tearing open huge holes in it, stinking guts spilling before it dissipated. As that happened I overpowered the other spider, cutting off several legs and then striking a fatal blow to its head.

“Keep-keep running…” The Kamaitachi ordered, coming up behind us, using wind to fend off our pursuers. It was in a sorry state, fur burnt and blackened, but it didn’t seem to be greatly injured.

“You don’t have to tell us twice.” I said, dropping back to help him fend off another spider. As it collapsed, we reached our own Territory. The enemy forces slowed down as they felt themselves be affected by the suppression, which allowed us to counterattack. With help from Shaeula another spider and a scorpion were dispatched, torn apart by savage winds. The rest of the foes turned and retreated, scuttling back to their own Territory deep in the metro.

“That went well.” I said with a grin, as the euphoria of battle slowly drained away. I was covered in minor burns and scrapes, but had avoided any serious injury. Shaeula was unharmed, and the Kamaitachi would recover. Overall, a good result.

“Are you sure-sure?” Shaeula said coldly. “We were lucky that we were not-not fully surrounded. I sensed a baleful presence deep-deep within the depths of that place. In time, perhaps it will become a threat as big as Grulgor or-or the Raven Knight.”

“That would be a problem.” I allowed. “We already have two fronts, if a third opened our forces would be stretched thin. All the more reason we need to gather ether.”

Checking how much we had gained I was pleased. After killing a dozen or so of them we had accumulated a thousand ether. So if we do this nine more times we could upgrade the Territory…

As I was about to open my mouth I swallowed nervously. Shaeula was glaring at me, as though she could tell what I was thinking.

“Well, maybe we should take a break from this for a while, they might expect us to return. Now if anyone has any other good ideas to make ether…” suddenly I trailed off, struck by a brainwave. Man I can be stupid at times.

“Has anyone seen any Etherite ores about?” I asked.

“Ores? I am not-not one of your kobolds, grubbing about in the earth.” Shaeula said, sounding insulted.

“Oh I wouldn’t expect a fine lady such as yourself to do simple labour.” I flattered her shamelessly. “Etherite ores are coloured crystals that are found in areas of high ether concentration. They are usually red or orange, though yellow and other colours can be found too.”

“I see-see.” The Kamaitachi said with a grin. “I think-think I saw some in our Territory, as well as in some of the buildings that we cleared. I can go retrieve them.”

“Please do.” I returned its grin. “The more the better. I want to enlarge our Territory to relieve pressure on your forces.”

“In that case, we should-should continue your training.” Shaeula said to me, and I nodded. There was no point getting greedy and trying to attack the metro again, not until we had gained more power…

********

“I think-think this is the last one. We will search more but do not expect any-any.” The Kamaitachi said as he placed down a red Etherite ore. I absorbed it, as I had done the fourteen other ores he had brought. Of those two were orange, and there had even been a yellow one found deep within the domain Shaeula had claimed as her own. Combining this with the ether my Territory had generated over time, as well as the bounty we made from killing the monsters at the metro, and we had just under five thousand ether.

Not enough to upgrade the Territory yet, but we can make a start…

“Pay-pay attention to your training!” Shaeula commanded, seeing me getting distracted. I flashed her a smile and queued in a building, passing her the command permissions to use it when it was completed.

Barracks Rank 1 – This Building can recruit up to ten Basic-class troops based on those who serve your Territory. These troops will gain experience and have a maximum Level of 2. You can currently recruit kobolds and weaselkin. Cost 2500.

When I queued it in it would take two Astral days to complete, so it would be ready by the next time I was in the Boundary. Shaeula looked at me, eyes wide. “With this I can begin-begin to restore my kin!”

“Yes.” I reached over and rustled her furry head, causing her to squirm and bat my hands away with her own. “And if we can upgrade it further you should be able to call upon stronger ones, even sickle-weasels.”

“Do not-not manhandle me, fool-fool.” She snapped, but she didn’t look that unhappy. “Still, I admit you are making progress on one-one of the Oaths we agreed. But enough of that. Your Chakras are starting to show signs of exhaustion, so it is time-time for you to return to the Material and rest.” She showed me some concern, but also praise, as she continued. “Still-still, your progress is very fast. Your Chakras are enlarging and stabilising at a very-very rapid rate. Only the lunar Chakra is out of balance. Soon-soon you will be ready to attempt to harness wind energy. However, that takes much study and training, so do not-not expect sudden progress!”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I had been at my training for over a day of Astral time, so I was pretty tired. Still, feeling the tangible results was pushing me forwards. Drawing in aether was now almost as easy as breathing. I still felt pain and discomfort around my lunar Chakra at times, but as I worked this became less and less frequent and intense.

“While I’m gone, as soon as we reach enough ether to upgrade the Territory Anchor you can start spending the rest on recruiting weaselkin to bring back your kin. With the extra numbers we should be able to deal with more threats and earn more ether. It’s a virtuous cycle!”

“Bah.” Shaeula snorted at my words. “Virtuous is not-not the way I might refer to you. Still, this humble servant will follow your-your orders.”

Humble? Hardly. “Great. Together we are stronger.” With that I let myself return to the Material plane, with lingering thoughts of how quickly I would be able to return to the Boundary and continue building my Territory…

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