Chapter 529: Valley
Even though the fog banks seemed less intelligent than before, I still had a headache when I started to use my soul sight to examine the valley. We hadn’t really killed very many of the fog banks during the last two encounters, and while their birth rate had slowed down and they had lost some of the concept of ‘fog’ that animated them, their numbers were still wildly disproportionate to our numbers. We had fifty fog sprites that were here to work as distractions, and under twenty real combatants, all of whom were using swords that had a limited amount of essence before they ran out, which would prevent them from working. Just like last time we had been in the valley, the fog banks were still patrolling the valley - which indicated that they still had some level of organization and structure underpinning their movements. Which meant that while they were dumber than before, they probably weren’t quite dumb enough to just let us stroll into the valley and rip away the other half of the cyclone.
“Felix? Do you think that they’ll fall for your distraction bell tactic again?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” said Felix, as he scanned the valley. “I’m really hoping they will, but there are a few things worth remembering. Last time, there were only fifty fog banks here, not five hundred. Furthermore, last time, when you guys intruded on the valley, even though most of them chased after you, a full fifty of them remained behind to deal with anyone who tried to sneak in and ruin their life. Which means that, at least before the fog palace absorbed some of the concept of ‘fog’ in this island, they were capable of organizing multiple lines of defense. It’s also worth remembering that while they seem less agile and less intelligent than before, they are still capable of ripping us to pieces if we get surrounded by them.”
I nodded.
“How many do you think will get distracted by the bell in the first place?” asked Veritum. “If you can get four hundred and fifty of them chasing their tails, just like we did yesterday, that would still be sufficient for our purposes. I think the fog sprites can each distract one pretty easily, and then we can move in and finish our job?”
“I don’t know. Probably more than fifty, since I was able to distract fifty of them yesterday, and they’re not as smart as before. But on the other hand, I expect they’ll still have some level of organization, so I wouldn’t count on more than two hundred at absolute most. And that’s if we’re lucky,” said Felix. “Of course, I did make multiple bells, and if it totally disrupts their communication network, maybe I can get all of them - but I doubt we’ll be that lucky.”
“All right. Activate them,” said Veritum.
Felix pulled out a few new metal bells from his pockets, and sent a wave of essence into them. The moment afterwards, they started to soar into the valley and glide through the air like hummingbirds.
I felt waves of essence start to emanate from the bells as they sailed through the air. Just as we had expected, several of the nearby fog banks started wobbling and shifting as the bells jerked through the air. I felt a moment of hope as the fog banks reacted like dogs that could smell fresh meat.
I quickly realized that the bells were a lot more limited than I had expected - once a bell was surrounded by more than seventy or eighty fog banks, the bells just didn’t have the space to maneuver anymore - the fog banks could actively surround them and start to box them in. The fog banks themselves might not have had a way to mess with the bells - but their summons certainly could. Some of the rabbit-esque fog minions had unusual jumping abilities, which allowed them to propel themselves into the sky, even as the bells tried to remain out of reach. The bells also couldn’t move too far into the air, or the fog banks seemed to stop noticing them. Clearly, there was a range limit for the bells before they stopped being useful.
The other thing I quickly noticed was that the fog banks were a lot less willing to just go all-out on killing the bells than I had hoped for. About a hundred of the fog banks started enclosing one of the bells in a wall of summons, and I suspected they would destroy it within a few minutes. Four other groups of thirty fog banks peeled away from their usual patrol routes, and began chasing after the bells flying through the air like dogs chasing their own tails.
The other half of the fog bank horde totally ignored the bells. They still quivered and shivered in time with the pulses of essence, like someone who was flinching while their neighbors played music so loud they could hear it reverberating through their bones. However, they didn’t change from their patrol routes or move away from the column.
In other words, Felix’s distraction had dealt with about half of the fog banks, but it was not capable of dealing with the entire horde.
“I think that’s as good as we’re gonna get from the bells,” said Felix. “Also, we’re working on a time limit here - the fog banks look like they might catch my first bell in a few minutes, and I have no idea what they’ll do after they destroy the first one.”
Veritum glanced at the fog sprites. “Your turn,” he said.
The fog sprites nodded, and then zipped into the valley. They started to twirl through the mist, attracting a few of the nearby fog banks to start chasing after them. I winced, as I saw one of the fog banks nearly catch one of the fog sprites. Fog started to sizzle, almost as if the fog sprite had jumped into a cloud of acid instead of a cloud of weaponized mist - and then parts of its body started to disappear. The fog sprite made a high pitched chirping sound, almost like a bird, and then blasted away from the fog bank. The other forty nine did a much better job of dodging, as they twirled and danced through the mist.
I stared at the fog sprite that had been injured, and rubbed my forehead. Clearly, the fog banks could actually hurt the fog sprites, even though they couldn’t directly hurt us. More than that, it felt as if something more important was being drained from the fog sprites. I had a sneaking suspicion that somehow, the fog banks had stolen a part of the concept of fog, which was somehow deeply tied to the existence of the fog column, fog banks, and the fog sprites of this island.
I had no way to heal them on a conceptual level, because I had never even thought about healing an entity that was more conceptual than physical. Perhaps that was a future evolution of my healing ability that I could hope fore? But for now, there wasn’t much I could do for the one that got injured, besides hope that it did a better job of dodging and that time would heal its wounds.
As the fog sprites started to dance and distract the fog banks, more of them started to break off in pursuit of them. Thankfully, the fog sprites proved to be almost as good of a distraction as the bells themselves had been. Of the two hundred and fifty or so remaining fog banks, there were now only twenty standing in our way. Clearly, the prospect of a tasty meal was more capable of getting the fog banks to move away from their posts.
I looked at the twenty remaining fog banks. Were we capable of dealing with them?
I inspected their life force, and then inspected my own essence reserve. It would be tight. We couldn’t just outright kill twenty of them. We could kill maybe half that.
Then, I realized that we didn’t need to kill all of them. We needed to keep them away from Felix.
“I’m going ahead!” I yelled. I dashed forward, and then blasted three of the fog banks with an extinguish.
I heard a System notification chime in my head, notifying me that I had hit the next reward for killing fog banks - but I ignored it. Instead, after killing three of them, another ten hunkered closer to the ground and began preparing for my charge.
<Anise, give me a quick boost!> I said, before I leapt into the air.
Anise used a spell, and a moment later, it felt as if I was standing on solid ground again, even though I was in midair. I leapt again, and managed to jump right over the fog banks blocking my way. I landed behind them, blasted one more of them with extinguish for good measure, and then started running for my life.
I didn’t see how many fog banks started chasing me with my own eyes, but I felt a pulse of affirmation from my communication bracelet.
<Only five left! We should be able to handle them! Run back towards us if they start to catch up to you!> said Sallia.
I grinned. My plan had worked. I led the fog banks in a chase in circles for the next few minutes - I needed to constantly avoid groups of fog banks that were occupied with other distractions, and there were a few near-misses where a group of minions almost caught me. Thankfully, with all the chaos in the valley, the fog banks were having quite a hard time coordinating with each other, as well. None of the minions managed to catch me - and the fog banks themselves couldn’t do anything to me.
On the downside, I started to feel a strange desire to fight, to kill, to stand my ground overtaking my mind as I ran around. Since I needed to keep an eye on my surroundings, I couldn’t blind and deafen myself to the fog banks - which meant that their mental attack was seeping into my thoughts like poison.
<Felix, how much longer?> I asked.
<I’m trying to bottle up what I can - get me five more minutes!> He said.
I thought about my predicament for a moment, before I decided to lean into the concept of hope. I tried to utilize the concept of hope to keep my own mind clear. After all, the survival of our entire settlement rested on this moment, and after three weeks, people knew what we were about to do. They knew that their hopes rested in our group… and I had specifically prepared for that, to maximize the concept of ‘hope’ in a moment of need.
I felt the madness that had been slipping into my thoughts start to break down a moment later. The essence cost was huge, but I could manage a few minutes, at least.
Five minutes later, my essence was starting to run out - but I still hadn’t been caught. Finally, a piece of good news echoed through my communication bracelet.
<I got it. Let’s go!>
We had finally dealt with the major threat on the island.