Published at 29th of July 2022 9:00 am

Chapter 535 - Exposed Weakness

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Back in the marshlands, nearing the mushroom cavern, the tension in the air was thick enough to be visible to the naked eye. This was all because there was one question echoing repeatedly in the minds of the lizardmen.

Who would they side with? Would it be their own tribes or the one that claimed to be in a communion with a god?

When put that way it sounded rather clear-cut but the problem was that no one could say how the person beside them would choose. What if they chose something else? Wouldn’t they be killing their own family and friends?

Maybe this reason was the main factor why even as a divine blood warrior pointed a spear at one of the leaders no one moved a muscle. No one was certain of who would have the advantage and take victory.

That said, it would seem that Var Agus’ team was the most likely victor. His people were undoubtedly more powerful despite the fact that some divine blood warriors on his side originated from different tribes.

After all, the basis under which this farce was mounted was the non-existence of a mushroom god or just the weakness of said god. The divine blood warriors would never side with that.

“Sigh… This is pointless” Var Agus said as he motioned Kouzzo to put down his weapon.

“Let’s just go, reinforcements are waiting in the cavern. We will then use those reinforcements to investigate” Var Agus continued. They had wasted more than enough time having a childish stand-off.

The other tribe leaders appeared slightly dissatisfied but oddly enough, they didn’t express it.

“That sounds like a good plan” They instead agreed.

“Yes, we can also verify your validity at the cavern” The divine path to the mushroom God was there anyway so what better place to put the matter to rest? Plus as long as Var Agus delivered on his previous promise there was no need to spill any blood..ᴄᴏᴍ

Var Agus harrumphed seeing this attitude. He instantly understood that the tribe leaders were testing both him and their people.

The reason for testing Var Agus could be good or bad. They could be testing how much they could push him and take advantage of him or they could be testing if he was worth following.

The test for the people was to see towards what side public opinion lay. The answer seemed to be that public opinion leaned towards Var Agus. The tribe leaders could only go along with Var Agus and plan to whittle away him later.

With Var Agus calming the situation and regaining power, the rest of the march was supposed to be smooth sailing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t at all the case.

“Enemy!” “Monster!” Cries rang out from within the few ships that were escorting them.

“Damn it!” Var Agus cursed before trying to hurry towards one of the ships, the swampy terrain made it a bit difficult. Var Agus wanted to climb aboard and assess the situation immediately however.

“Kouzzo, throw me aboard!” Var Agus instructed. The divine blood warrior definitely had enough strength to do this and the ships themselves weren’t imposingly tall. Kouzzo didn’t hesitate to follow this instruction and soon enough Var Agus was cast into the air.

“Woah!” One of the lizardmen on the ship exclaimed after Var Agus landed beside them.

Var Agus paid this man no mind and instead looked towards the direction from where the group came. There Var Agus saw a sea of red slowly growing nearer.

“This…!” Var Agus didn’t know how to even begin to describe his feelings towards the oncoming beast. All of a sudden, he wasn’t so confident that the cavern alone would be enough to save them from the red tide.

“How in the world can we…” Var Agus was really at a loss but as the leader he couldn’t continue with this shameful display.

“Get as many people on board and sail quickly!” Var Agus shook a mesmerized lizardman and commanded. Right now the sea of red was far in the horizon but it was visibly growing nearer. It wouldn’t be long before the people not aboard ships could see it too.

“Ro- Roger!” The lizardman stuttered out before dashing to another end of the ship.

As the lizardman did this, Var Agus could only look forward and grimace. The sea of red did not just look imposing and provide a sense of foreboding, it was a clear sign of imminent death.

For the red represented the blood of the creatures of the swamp as well as the blood of their comrades.

***

Elsewhere, not at all too far away, A and the others were struggling to move forward.

“These mounts aren’t helping anymore!” One of the orc elites screamed noting that his skeleton mount had become buried beneath the swampy water.

“Shel… Put down the boar…” A told Shel who was carrying the boar on her shoulder to prevent it from drowning.

“Everyone, we will leave the mounts, the water level has risen and the waves are becoming too strong” Thanks to what felt like a sudden rise in the water level and potent waves, the mounts could not be used to traverse the mostly muddy ground and water filled terrain. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​

This posed a problem for A however, unlike Ed he didn’t have the system space and therefore couldn’t summon a ship out of literal nowhere.

‘Hm? I know!’ That was when A came up with a plan.

‘Ed, make boats! Lots of boats! No, just anything that can help in the marshlands! Then use the link skill and try to have Var Agus summon them out!’ A transmitted to Ed following his flash of insight. If they couldn’t get to Var quickly why not help Var reach them quickly?

Upon receiving this message, Ed who was preoccupied in the crypt became rather surprised.

‘Right, it should be possible to do that’ The ethereal spark that was the system’s forge flame was a system upgrade. The remote materialization skill that allowed Ed to summon items from his storeroom without entering it himself was also an upgrade. Hell, it even had remote in the name!

‘Great idea, I’ll have to check in on Var Agus’ The situation for Var Agus and the lizardmen was potentially dangerous but not in imminent danger. For as long as Ed was in the crypt creating ships out of wood was a bit impossible. Giving Var something else was not impossible, however.

‘Var Agus’ Ed transmitted to the lizardman.

‘Huh? Your divinity!’ Var Agus cried out excitedly. This was the lifeline he needed at this moment!

Noting the excitement in Var’s tone Ed couldn’t help but worry.

‘How is the situation? Did you all encounter the beast or did the delayed group appear?’ Ed rapidly probed.

‘They never came and never will! The beast! It’s on the horizon!’ Var Agus cried out desperately from his mind. The full extent of his emotions was being transmitted to Ed, enough so for him to visualize the scene that was bringing Var Agus this great desperation.

Immediately, Ed was stunned. How was it possible for the gauntlet beast to become that large?!

‘This isn’t right’ Based on his understanding of how consciousness worked it was impossible for any creature to control a body that enormous without taking a vast hit to its intelligence and mobility.

‘Is it devouring the consciousnesses of its victims and not just their blood?’ This was a frightening speculation but no matter the direction from which Ed looked at it, he couldn’t make sense of it.

The most likely response was instead that all that blood was in fact not its body.

‘Var Agus, don’t panic, it’s most likely a trick’ Since that couldn’t be its body, that could only mean that the gauntlet beast was manipulating the blood element and lugging it around as if it were part of its body.

‘The gauntlet is the main body, you need to find the gauntlet and remove it from the beast’ Ed transmitted to Var Agus who widened his eyes.

‘Find the gauntlet!?!’ Wasn’t it impossible to find the gauntlet within that mass of blood?! Not to mention how easy it would be the for the beast to simply move the gauntlet elsewhere!

‘Don’t worry, I have a way’ Ed immediately realized that if his theory was true, then the sixth sense skill would reveal all the answers.

‘Pay close attention Var Agus!’ Ed demanded before activating the link skill.

‘Huh?’ Var Agus was thereafter immediately stunned. The world around him seemed to have remained mostly the same but that was only at first glance. A quick look at anything living, including himself, would reveal to Var Agus a series of light orange glows.

‘Var, can you see it?’ Ed asked the distracted Var Agus who instantly snapped out of his reverie.

Var Agus looked towards the sea of red. He squinted his eyes and with much strain spotted what seemed to be a small blue mass.

“I- I think I see it!” Var Agus exclaimed out loud. The lizardmen that surrounded him were stunned. What was up with Var? Was he communicating with God? The more believing ones immediately became hopeful. If it was true they might survive this!

By now even the lizardmen at the swamp floor could see the distant wriggling red. They were all on edge as they boarded the ships.

‘I mean, I see it’ Var Agus said and transmitted to Ed this time.

‘Excellent, that’s your target!’ Ed said happily. This meant that his theory was correct. As long as the gauntlet was separated from the sea of blood there was a chance to destroy it.

‘But your divinity… how exactly am I going to attack that?’ Var Agus then asked.

‘Huh?’ Ed said back, he had no idea how.

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