Chương 343: Epilogue 17. A single, faulty assumption

Hidden beneath one of her companions' cloaking screens, Litoria Kel - bearer of the Builder's star seed and leader of this mission - approached the compound in the distance. Its wooden buildings nestled among the cliffs and woodlands felt so primitive and simple compared to the wonders she had witnessed in the brief visions of communion with her patron, yet her augmented eyes showed that there were enough defensive arrays in place to actually make her group work for it.

"Riktis," she thought, sending the command directly into the mind of one of her two gold-ranked subordinates. Riktis didn't hesitate, scuttling forward upon four sharpened metal legs while his metal arms split apart into hundreds of separate wires. It struck the array in various places, causing the shield that appeared to start shuddering as the tampering made itself known. Litoria could feel the few silver-rankers within grow alarmed, but they mattered little.

They weren't here for the compound, but the prize it guarded.

"What is taking so long?" Golgoth - the third gold-ranker along with Litoria and Riktis - growled, the gears of his hulking form grinding out the words directly as his insides flared with heat.

"The arrays are decent. Estimated time until completion: Thirteen point five seconds after I finish this sentence," Riktis replied with cold detachment, and as usual his estimates were right on point. An opening was forced as the cables seemed to pull the barriers apart enough to let their group through, and they spared no time for the compound as a whole.

Their intelligence had been precise, and as they rushed through sprawling gardens they soon came upon another set of doors barring their entrance into the mountain and the tunnel that awaited there. Golgoth made short work of that, charging through with a roar of buzzing blades and heavy treads, and the enchanted wood didn't stand a chance. Then they saw it: the aperture.

Once close enough, Litoria felt what their intelligence had already confirmed: that the space beyond was much more rich in magic than these mana-sparse lands where one of her cells had once disappeared during a failed collaboration with Discord's zealots. She hadn't made the mistake of trusting the followers of the little godlings of this world again ever since, and had only returned as it was the command of her superiors. This world was already under siege by its own imbalanced nature, after all.

Apparently it was one of the most intense so-called monster surges in recent memory, and it would mean that most defenders of the lands were focused elsewhere. A perfect moment for the Builder's people to move in on otherwise hard to claim astral spaces to extract them for their master's glorious undertaking. The aperture was even open, and soon Litoria's group passed through, the tunnels of the stone walls giving way to something much more impressive.

A pocket of space virtually covered in plant life spread out before them, purple soil housing trees and bushes of every kind while its center was dominated by a gargantuan tree with azure leaves. It was splendid, and would surely be a much appreciated addition to what their master desired, and Litoria spared little time in directing her lesser subordinates to seal the aperture. The foolish locals outside could carry on doing whatever they wanted until the Builder's work inside was done.

What happened to them afterwards was of little matter.

"The aperture is sealed, honored Litoria Kel. First level. We shall keep adding seals at your discretion."

"Do it," Litoria instructed the hooded man as her serpentine lower body coiled to lift her humanoid torso of scaled metal higher in order to survey her surroundings. The tip of the twined cables that made up her lower body seemingly vanished into a small portal which moved with Litoria, leading to her true body that was much vaster but therefore much harder to move around.

"The locals outside shouldn't have enough knowledge to break through even this first seal anytime soon, but at least three more should–" Then she felt a lone gold-ranked aura suddenly unveil itself, turning with a speed that cracked the air like a whip to lock onto the lone figure who had emerged from the azure foliage of the grand tree in the middle.

It was a lone human man who walked towards them upon panes of force in the air that left a glittering trail as his gold-ranked speed let him close half the distance in moments.

"While we do accept most seeking shelter during the surge, I do not believe you will be needing it," a voice called out across the distance, words pleasant even though they soon started carrying a bit of an edge.

"I do not remember inviting you into my domain. State your business here." This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. As far as Litoria knew, there shouldn't have been any gold-rankers present, but given that he was but one person, her confidence was undeterred.

Rising further upon her serpentine body, Litoria let more and more of her uncoil from within the separate dimensional fold that carried her true form as she rose to stand eye to eye with the man.

"I am Litoria Kel, and this astral space has now been claimed in the glorious name of the Builder. However, you shall be allowed to leave should you wish. We have no need of interlopers remaining in our territory!" Unfortunately, the man didn't seem to be much impressed with her proclamation, only raising a single eyebrow in response.

"The Builder. I see. It has been long since I clashed with one of your ilk. Over thirty years I believe," he said, more musing than intimidated.

"One of my friends told me that your people had grown more active as of late, and given how many pies in which she has her myriad noses, I tend to trust her word. For what purpose would you even want a space like this?"

"It is of none of your concern, local," Litoria shot back.

"If you have faced us before, then you should know what power our patron has gifted us. Leave. Now. We shall unseal the aperture briefly."

"You do assume that your fellows whom my companion and I fought survived," the man shot back, his heretical words causing a wave of annoyance to shudder out from Litoria's star seed.

"But given that there are golds among your numbers, I must ask: what did you do to the compound outside?"

"Nothing. It was irrelevant."

"Ah, good. That is a relief. This means that I am somewhat honorbound to offer you the chance to withdraw yourself instead. You have caused no other damages than material ones, and that I can overlook. But you have come to claim my domain, and that will not stand." As he spoke, Litoria could feel the man's aura harden into something impressive and indomitable even as a flash of gray caused him to be enveloped in armor made from…

"Endurinite," she noted, eyes thinning. It was a material ranked highly by the Builder's followers given how its properties of stabilizing space, channeling mana and absorbing kinetic force made it so useful for the core skeletons of many constructs. The metal appeared across many worlds, yet it felt like such a waste to see it used for mere equipment, a notion further driven home when Litoria noticed that the man's tattoos were wrought from the same material.

"You are but a lone gold-ranker," Litoria replied as more and more of her true body started emerging from the dimensional fold, with more tendrils of cable and mesh the first to emerge.

"Dispute our claim and forfeit your life." She had begun to really hope that he would, given how much use she would have for the metal in his armor, and it seemed like both Riktis and Golgoth felt the same as they started powering up their bodies in anticipation of combat as well. Golgoth was - as always - especially eager, his gears speeding up as heat started radiating from within the girders that made up his outer form.

In response, the man's tattoos lit up as three pairs of spectral arms manifested as he fell into a combat stance in the air, voice still calm as he replied.

"Then let it be known that I, Kite Flown in on Winds of Fortune, does indeed dispute your claim, slaves of the Builder. And before we commence testing our paths against one another, I also want to point out a single faulty assumption of yours." Given that his claims weren't worthy of a proper response, Litoria was about to unleash her first attack when she suddenly felt it: a ripple of spirit. It didn't come from the man though, but from the trees beneath.

It began with the gargantuan tree in the middle but rapidly spread throughout the entire astral space as leaves started rustling. Upon every bough, branch and leaf, untold numbers of eyes opened to lock in upon Litoria and her companions even as the ground started shuddering. Because the gold-ranked aura kept growing, hinting at something vast. And that it was indeed Litoria and her fellows that were the intruders here.

"I have never seen you nor any other dryad truly let loose inside their domain, Verdant Evergreen," the man named Kite said aloud even as he started forward, gradually gaining speed as weapons of white jade trailing golden outlines started appearing in his spectral hands.

"Thus, know that it shall be an honor to bear witness and fight at your side."

"AS BY THE TERMS OF OUR ACCORDS, LET IT BE SO!" a voice responded, seeming to resonate from every fiber of plant life within the astral space, and as the azure leaves of the gargantuan tree in the middle started glowing and floating up into the air to form organic and natural looking arrays that radiated tremendous pressure even as giant roots burst from the ground towards her people, the small part of Litoria Kel's mind that was still her own and not her star seed's did indeed start to suspect…

That coming here - orders or not - might have been a mistake.