novelraw Chapter 1003 - 1002 - Tiger Disguised as a Pig
Chapter 1003 - 1002 - Tiger Disguised as a Pig
The night was not even in the ruins of Kun City. The new masters had their enclaves of fire and life but the shadows were theirs.
They always ruled the shadows.
A few tasty prey had been nearby and fed the pride but they were always careful. Time was not on their side. The great death was coming behind them soon!
They had fled from the fringes of the forests that protected them but the humans were fools.
They were their prey for the moment and they struck as many as they could!
They would have to move on soon as their senses detected the danger coming soon!
They took what they could but began to move to the south as death was all that awaited them if they stayed in the ruins of the human city.
As they moved south, they saw a new target.
A human with emerald hair drew their attention in the ruins.
He smelled wonderful to them! They stalked him as he carefully hid from the majority of the humans that ruled the ruins. No one would miss him!
They flew between shadows on the ground and in the broken buildings as the man snuck around the camps laid out in the ruins.
They did not care why that human hid from the others. They were always killing each other which made good food for them!
The Noche Muerte were difficult to see but to each other they were as bright as day. The shadows were brighter to them in their senses. Creatures trying to hide from the light were in their sunlight.
Thus the current prey was pretty much standing in an open field listlessly to them! Easy food!
The beasts circled the human as he seemed to be looking at the painful fires of the others. His dull senses would lead to his death!
Their tails shot out like lightning to pierce the flesh of their prey. They could already taste the blood!
It was with shock then that their stingers shattered like glass! The aura of the human changed to that of a dragon in an instant!
"Took you long enough." Emerald eyes glowed with fierce power as scales gleamed in the moonlight!
Wires suddenly appeared and ensnared each and every member of the attack without a sound!
It was only then the beasts noticed the complete lack of sound!
No wind, stone, or their own bodies made any sound at all!
Space then shifted and they found themselves in cages! They tried to fly or use their main bodies to escape but it came to nothing when an aura washed over them that made their bloodline freeze.
[You are part snake so I know you understand what I am. You also should recognize this.] A voice thrummed with power in their heads. What followed, however, was a different wave of power.
The instant they felt it, they knew they must obey! The owner of that power was acknowledged by Heaven and Earth itself!
The highest cultivation realm in their number was only Sky Realm but it was enough for a glimmering of thought beyond their instincts.
They bowed inside the cages and the new leader of their nest nodded in acceptance to them.
[Good, now, you will be doing something very important for me. Some may die, but survival is preferred. First and foremost, you will tell me what you have run from. After that, I have a job to the north and west for you.] Fear made their hearts tremble but they flicked their tongues in acquiesence.
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Lind's plan was simple, he needed more information the best place to get it was from the scavengers themselves. If he let his natural aura leak out, they would never come near him, but he started out as human.
All he had to do was compress his current self back to his old one. A beast transformed into a human was still the beast it always was, but he was a bit unique. He was transformed from a human base and it was easy for him to shift back to that state.
At least so far as external senses were concerned he could do that. The moment he let his concentration slip, his natural aura would roar back out.
Once he looked like a fat pig to the slaughter to the scavengers, he had to ensnare them without alerting the weavers and their traps.
Thankfully, he had learned a lot of tricks from combating both Fiends and Soulmancers. The tactics were not the same but there were times he had to sneak his way past complex and powerful defenses or traps back then.
Compared to those, it was amateur hour in the ruins of Kun City.
They were used to cultivators that attacked in ways they grasped and understood. The elemental theories were also inferior to his own. These advantages allowed him to operate in a limited capacity with his Forged tools.
He created tendrils he could manipulate into nets to capture as many Noche Muerte as he could and then slip away through the smallest tear he would dare to make.
Even if they felt something, they would not be able to locate it.
His plan worked better than he had hoped. Because they were part snake, his dragon bloodline was superior to them directly. Further, his True Lord authority was also directly tied to them by the same connection.
Compared to other races, anything in the vein of dragon blood, no matter how remote, would have to obey him if he put that authority into it.
What he learned was not good.
The Noche Muerte had indeed run from a beast tide but they were not the only beasts running. There were many beast clans that had been decimated but lived in relative peace that now stormed out.
The survivors were like Teegan and the Elder. Immortals that were still alive and doing all they could to endure. Now they were all coming to Kun City!
They were running from a feeling on the winds and rumbling in the ground. Their race memories warn them what those omens meant!
The Noche Muerte had planned to gather food in the human city ruins and then run onward to the south! They also informed him they only had days at best before the next wave!
The Eternal Flame Sect likely had some inkling of it by then if that was the case!
Time was even less on their side than he had thought.
The other reason he had captured so many was his idea about getting out the prisoners of the Eternal Flame Sect. The idea came from the beasts' method of moving itself. Shadows were not something Min admitted they had thought to protect against.
Demons were the race with shadow element movement techniques but beasts usually only hid in them with darkness. He checked and the beasts were of the darkness element but also stunned to find they had light!
The duality was not equal which was interesting in itself but he pushed it aside to see if he could use them as he intended. They would not be simple decoys or the main attack force, but more like espionage agents.
It was all they could really do for him at their current strength.
It would have to be enough. He kept them in cages as he was not stupid enough to believe they could resist their natural instincts to strike other beings on sight if he was not there.
He then left them with food and moved on to the next part of his planning. He shifted out of the sealed room and found Tsunade waiting for him.
"Your excursion was noticed." He nodded at her words.
"Did they find any of the Noche Muerte still out there?" She shook her head.
"They are looking for humans, not beasts like them. Also, they assume you left already so they are trying to trace your tear in space more than anything." He rolled his eyes at that. Even if they could trace it, it would not do them any good.
Honestly, the only thing to lock out an Immortal was to stabilize the spatial perimeter. It was easily done with a Law Binding but more economical to do it with a formation or weaving.
All it really took was to prevent space being manipulated easily to be effective. The disruption could be felt and responded to if it could be slowed down but the current world did not allow it.
Lind was essentially unstoppable aside from Law Bindings.
He was still only 1 man and if the beasts coming were as numerous with Immortals as he feared, even he could do only a little. They might respond to his authority but he had no leg to stand on if they were only coming back for their ancestral grounds.
The humans had fought among themselves and left the lands open once more.
He felt guilty about causing it all, but he could not change reality.
All he could do was save who he could with what he had. He and Tsunade had been working to create a space to hold all the resources not currently stored in treasures. It would free up a lot but that was not the only thing. The previously spread out suites now had structures soaring into the sky.
Once the Golden Vermillion Inn returned to its place, the buildings would remain but the strain on the formation was now great. What could once hold indefinitely was now only going to last a year at best.
It would have to be enough.
"When will you go?" Her silver eyes looked worried but he smiled at her.
"Tonight. We have no time left. If I am right the beast tide will come in the next few days. There is no time to wait." He then walked out with her to talk to the rest. Time truly was running out for them all.