Chapter 601: A Gray Trap Closes

(More new patrons than average, presumably coming from the audiobook. Welcome! Though if they are coming from the audiobook, they're probably reading through the past backlog, so I don't know when they'll see this.

Anyway, with that said, you have a tense week ahead of you. The rest of this book is mostly escalation.)

For no comprehensible reason, Kyridnyiam's mind was seized by the presentiment of death.

It made absolutely no sense: the group spotted on the ocean proved to be a group of refugees, miserable men who had been adrift on the ocean. They were absurdly grateful to finally land, filthy and bedraggled, and had welcomed the Water Union's hospitality. The incident shouldn't have been worth his time, compared to the incursion, yet he didn't leave.

Even if they were hostile, there were only fifty of them at most. None of them seemed to have any particular abilities. They were awfully equipped, with rough clothing and swords that had been poorly cared-for. He should have left to focus on the remnants of the incursion, like so many others had.

There were a few details that didn't make sense. The whole group had a wild energy that just put him on edge, for one. Even though they didn't look like any people he recognized from Deadwaste or Cloudspire, they understood everyone perfectly - the locals heard them in the local language, but Kyridnyiam heard his native dryad tongue.

And there was the ultimate evidence: when Kyridnyiam looked at the sailors with his spiritual sight, what he saw didn't make any sense:

<

Name: ???

Total Power: 830

Human Essence: 500

Brute Physique: E-4 (216)

Soul Level: 4 (64)

Iron Sword (+50)

>

The man he was looking at, just an average sailor, had an insane 830 Power. Yet the composition of it was also bizarre - his Physique and Soul Levels were wrong, his rusty sword was apparently worth 50 Power, and the majority came from something called "Human Essence" that Kyridnyiam had never seen before.

Of course he was familiar with Dryad Essence, but humans shouldn't have the same thing, especially not in combination with Physique. Furthermore, the majority of the men had around 500 of it, which would be a dryad of extraordinary strength.

This incomprehensible puzzle made Kyridnyiam stick around to watch, even as the sailors were assisted. After they were given baths and clothes that weren't filthy, they were going to be given a good meal. All of that seemed dull, yet Kyridnyiam kept watching them.

There was something else wrong with them: their behavior was strangely aggressive and hierarchical with one another. By watching and listening closely, he realized that five men had a clear dominant position, even though they didn't claim to have any rank on the ship. The others used their names nervously: Yangix, Jonijix, Fodajix, Quorthix, and Budajix.

All five of them had confused souls that couldn't possibly be as powerful as they felt to his gut. Two of them stuck out in particular: Jonijix looked similar to a Waterborn and seemed interested in all the water works around him, while Yangix dressed and behaved like a cultivator.

It was that last part that made Kyridnyiam stay on edge. He had seen what cultivators could do, leading even to the attempted genocide of his entire village. This was just one man, who had none of the grace or wealth of the cultivators he knew, yet there was something about him...

"Disgusting!" It was the elf-like one named Quorthix, who took a sip of the wine he was offered before hurling it down. "What is this piss?"

"You don't like it?" One of the Water Union hosts apologetically pulled back the carafe of wine and offered pitchers of water and juice instead. "Here, maybe these will agree with your stomach more."

But the men didn't look happy, and it was more than Quorthix. As they ate and drank, they behaved as though they were being served filth. Kyridnyiam took a glance at the table and saw that they were being served the Water Union's finest - one of the things he loved about the place was how generous they could be to guests. Yet the sailors looked truly repulsed, almost horrified, some choking down the food while others refusing.

As they grew more surly, Kyridnyiam moved toward their ship that had run aground against the coast. Most of the others had ignored it, because it was an oversized wooden tub, looking embarrassingly simple compared to all the elegant Water Union craft. Yet there was something about it...

When Kyridnyiam placed his hand against the wood, it felt strangely solid. His eyes told him that it was weather-damaged and half-rotted, yet his soul felt like he was touching some great vault door. On an impulse, Kyridnyiam slammed a fist against the side.

And drew it back, shaking his hand in pain. He was strong now, with over 300 Power, and a simple physical blow from him should destroy most materials. Yet the wood from the ship didn't show so much as a single crack... with a growing ominous bafflement, Kyridnyiam looked deeper through the abandoned ship.

Clearly the vessel was in rough shape, having taken structural damage during their journey. He discovered a door that had rusted off its hinges and picked it up - it even felt heavier than he expected, requiring him to use some real strength from his advanced Physique. Kyridnyiam frowned and tried to bend it over his knee, but it might as well have been a bar of Irunian steel.

"What is this, bitch?" One of the sailors was shouting, complaining about something, and he pushed against the Water Union woman attempting to help him.

Her body was flung across the beach and cracked against a rock with a sickening sound.

"Stop right there!" The guards, already on edge due to the visitors' behavior, leapt into action. "You can't do things like that here!"

They generated a rising puddle of water, a simple binding technique and gripped around the legs of a person to harmlessly bind them in place. But as Kyridnyiam watched in horror, the sailors shouted and burst through, drawing their rusty weapons.

And in a flash, faster than Kyridnyiam can follow, they'd cut down the guards. It seemed like a planned ambush, yet the sailors look surprised, one even horrified at the bodies that have been spread cross the sand. The Water Union staff screamed and fled, and some of the sailors looked mortified... and then one of them laughed.

"You see?" It was Budajix the muscle-bound one. "They're just like those cultivators. Everyone here is made of paper. Bloody paper."

Kyridnyiam instinctively moved to the side of the ship, mindlessly carrying the door with him. He could only watch as the horrifying show continued: a Water Prince arrived, summoning a great wave technique. The man had over 500 Power and substantial skill, enough that Kyridnyiam idolized him, yet he knew what was going to happen before it did.

Jonijix raised his hand and shot out a jet of water. It was simplistic, almost primitive, but the raw power pierced through the waves and the Prince's body, and he dropped to the ground.

More were attacking, not understanding how outclassed they were. Even as he crept away, Kyridnyiam stared at Jonijix as he truly saw his soul for the first time.

<

Name: Jonijix

Total Power: 2489

Waterborn: Muddy Blood (1412)

Human Essence: 300

Brute Water Physique: D-2 (314)

Soul Level: 6 (216)

Stormblade (+150)

>

A total of almost 2500 Power... that shouldn't be possible. That was far more than anyone Kyridnyiam has ever heard of, even for the strongest Sky Souls. And yet, based on what he had seen, he had to assumed that it was actually true. When the Water Union guards attacked, their techniques splattered against even the weaker sailors like so much mist, and the counterattacks were absolutely deadly.

Within the attack, Kyridnyiam finally spotted someone who might be able to do something: Kandajil was one of the Waterborn elites, a truly strong and noble man. He hid among the others as they approached the attacking sailors, then suddenly slid into action.

It all took place faster than Kyridnyiam could possibly follow, in that blurring movement that only the elites could reach. Yet somehow the invaders could as well, and when Kyridnyiam could see anything again... Kandajil was slumping to the ground, staring at the enormous hole torn in his stomach.

Beside him, two of the foreign sailors lay dead. That made things much worse: the invaders had been utterly arrogant before, but now they flew into a rage. Yangix the cultivator waved a hand and parts of the beach begin to explode, even as the others screamed as if they intended to destroy the entire Water Union, hurling projectiles that were uniformly lethal, piercing water and stone and other defenses.

There was so little he could do... but Kyridnyiam rushed into action. He ran toward Kandajil, carrying the door as a shield. When the projectiles flew at him, they actually bounced off the wood. Kyridnyiam had barely considered his strategy, he just knew this was his only chance at survival. Somehow he scooped up Kandajil and carried him away, shielding their path with the door, desperate to escape.

Kyridnyiam managed to escape the rampage, but when he reached safety, Kandajil was dead. The door, so very heavy, clattered to the ground.