Chapter 140: Alliance
On the way up the mountain, Evan spotted stone steps for the first time — the first man-made structure he'd seen anywhere in the half-plane. Nothing but bare ground before this. When they reached the summit, they found three parties already facing off, the temple's great doors sealed shut. One of these parties turned out to be beastmen — not the dark-skinned humans they'd met before, but true beastmen, unmistakably. A broad plaza covered the summit, paved in bluestone, with an altar of the same stone standing at its center. Five stone pillars rose around it, each fitted with a hole near the top threaded with iron chain, dark bloodstains marking the stone below.
Animal skulls lay scattered before the pillars — and among them, human skulls as well. This had to be a site for blood sacrifice, several obsidian knives set out nearby.
On the plaza, the beastman king and his loyal followers had arranged themselves in some intricate formation, not yet activated but glowing faintly blue, casting an eerie blue tint over everyone present. Three of the beastmen carried only a dim trace of that light. Their kind came in several forms — some horned, some single-eyed giants standing fully twice the height of an ordinary person, others closer to normal aside from a pair of wings sprouting from their backs. Their king stood apart from all of them, bearing two heads on a frame nearly as large as the one-eyed giants', though otherwise close enough to human.
Of the other two parties, one belonged to Viscount Modi's group from the night before. The other was unfamiliar — but the moment Professor Damire saw them, fury flared in his eyes. "That's them," he said to Evan. "They're the ones who ambushed us."
Evan studied this new party — twenty-two strong, four mages, all sixth tier. Among the rest, six carried bows — mage-archers, likely — six more wore black form-fitting suits with short blades, thieves by every indication, and six carried curved swords and leather armor, some manner of knight. A genuinely balanced force, capable of both ranged strikes and close-quarters defense.
Evan studied them, and they studied him in turn. He said coldly, "Who are you, and why did you attack our people?"
The man leading the group let out a barking laugh. "Who we are is none of your damn business."
Evan's expression darkened. He flicked a hand, and a jade-green arrow flickered into being, trailing black smoke and phosphorescent fire. The man raised his curved sword, white light flaring around him, and swung to deflect it — a crack rang out as the arrow burst apart. He laughed again. "What can you possibly do to me?"
Mid-laugh, his body swayed sharply, and the laughter cut off. He coughed up a mouthful of blood, sickly green in color, and the instant it left his mouth it flared into green fire. His face went bone white, his voice hoarse with sudden fear. "You — you laced that Spirit Arrow with a curse."
An exceptionally difficult technique — two casting methods folded into one, the visible attack serving only as a shell for something far more dangerous underneath, invisible and colorless, striking from within. Only his strength as a knight, and his considerable force of will, let him drive the curse back out of his body.
The beastman king's eyes flickered with interest. Clever as he was, his knowledge of the outside world only stretched so far, and he found himself genuinely puzzled to see two human parties come to blows the moment they met. Still, whatever discord divided them worked in his favor. He'd already recognized Evan as the one behind last night's rescue — the one who'd cost him his sacrifice today, forcing him to substitute animals instead, with no way to know whether the gods would forgive the change. If these humans wanted to tear each other apart now, so much the better — he could only hope for mutual destruction between them.
His hope went unrealized. Viscount Modi spoke up to smooth things over. "Honored powers, whatever grievance lies between you can surely wait. We humans would do better to unite for now and deal with these strange creatures first. Within this half-plane, let no one bring up old grudges — settle them however you like once we're clear of it."
"I don't trust them, but a temporary alliance suits the moment. Let's finish off the beastmen first," Evan said flatly, understanding well enough that this was the wisest course given the circumstances.
Modi's face soured a little at the first half of that sentence, then eased at the second. He turned with a smile to the leader of the third party. "Honored strength, what do you say?"
The leader gave a grunt and spat out a handful of words. "Agreed." Corey shot him a subtle look, which the man returned in kind — the two groups had already crossed paths before this, and had arranged beforehand to feign mutual ignorance, letting them coordinate quietly whenever the chance arose to catch their enemies off guard.
Evan never caught that exchange of looks, but he was hardly a man to be caught unprepared regardless. Whatever the situation, he always considered the worst position he might find himself in, never hesitating to assume the darkest possible motive behind anyone's actions. He'd already worked through the possibility that these two groups might be allied, and even the possibility that they might join forces with the beastmen against him. Every worst-case scenario had already flashed through his mind, and though his face gave nothing away, he'd already begun quietly arranging his own countermeasures.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
He murmured something to Xiaoshuang, who understood at once and slipped away unnoticed into the air. A glance from the others found nothing more than a fairy, hardly worth their attention. She climbed higher, drifting up past notice entirely, until she was far too high to make out clearly — then, with a flick of her wings, she darted toward the temple like a dragonfly.
At the same time, since Evan's group had arrived last, no one paid much attention as he quietly drew his people back — positioning them, without anyone noticing, to cut off every other party's line of retreat. He reached the three teachers through the minor telepathic link: If we're fighting together, hold back to half speed and half strength. Keep the rest hidden.
"Well then, honored powers, shall the three of our parties work out how to handle these beastmen?" Modi said, speaking in the human tongue — the beastmen wouldn't understand a word of it, and no one here had bothered casting comprehension magic on them, nor felt any obligation to. Evan had cast the spell on himself, but he had no intention of telling anyone else — not unless he chose to speak with the beastmen directly.
The beastmen had no idea what was being said, though they understood well enough that their fate was under discussion. The beastman king let out a roar, and green light rippled outward from him like water, washing over the whole gathering in an instant. Evan's face shifted — understanding at once. Some divine art, an upgraded version of comprehension magic. From that moment on, nothing discussed among the humans stayed hidden from the beastmen at all.
"Attack!" Evan shouted, raising a hand. A sharp whistle cut through the air as a storm of wind blades tore toward the beastmen. The instant he moved, everyone behind him surged forward as well — spells of every color flaring to life at once, fireballs, wind blades, ice lances screaming through the air, and though barely half their true strength, the combined assault still blanketed the plaza in an instant.
Viscount Modi froze at the sudden strike, along with everyone else — though the shock passed quickly enough, and facing a common enemy, his mages and archers joined in without further hesitation. Once they'd committed, the whole scene spun out of anyone's control. A handful of thieves flickered and vanished first, and the knights surged forward in a wave.
Evan allowed himself a small smile. This was exactly what he'd wanted. Modi had drawn the three parties together into something resembling a single front, and once everyone present had internalized the idea that they were, for the moment, one unified body — especially with the beastman king's use of the comprehension divine art plain for every mage present to recognize — Evan had seized the opening to strike first, catching everyone off guard in a way that still made perfect sense on the surface. His own group, after all, were pure spellcasters, meant to provide ranged support from behind knightly cover. The other side's knights, without a second thought, charged straight into melee with the beastmen. In an instant, the plaza erupted into flashing light, crossing blades, and screams tearing through the air without pause.
By the time Modi and Corey caught up to what had happened, it was already too late to call a halt. The leader of the third party understood as much too, though he had no way to voice it in time.
This was exactly the outcome Evan had engineered. Their side had knights and thieves — let them do the fighting. His own side was pure mages — let them provide the ranged support instead.
Three thieves had already died, though the beastmen had left five bodies of their own on the field. Four knights had fallen, and nine beastmen with them. Between the arrows and the spellfire, the beastmen had already taken losses past half their number. Only thirty-seven had come to this fight, and in the span of moments, half of them were gone — a blow they'd never anticipated.
The beastman king let out a roar, and blood-red vines burst up across the plaza, shielding the surviving beastmen. The knights hacked at the vines with blades trailing sword-force, but the vines regrew as fast as they were cut. It was then that Modi and the other leader shouted at once, "Fall back — full retreat!"
The knights abandoned the engagement at once, pulling back at speed. Modi and the rival leader shot Evan a venomous look, which he pretended not to notice, instead directing the students through another volley of spells, light and detonations filling the air to hold the enemy at bay.
Modi and the other leader could only swallow their fury in silence. Modi's side had lost three — two knights and one thief, though in truth only the two knights had actually mattered to him; the thief belonged to the Gonuo Society. The rival party had lost four, and its leader felt the loss keenly — his numbers had already been thin, and now he had only eighteen men left. Damire and his students, meanwhile, felt nothing but grim satisfaction.
"Honored Mr. Wang, why didn't you wait for me to finish speaking?" Modi said, clearly still stewing over it, his tone considerably less friendly now.
"Honored Viscount, you saw the situation yourself. The beastmen had just used their comprehension divine art — hesitating any longer would have cost us the opening entirely, so I struck first. In any proper battle formation, the mages provide the ranged support regardless. Your knights fought bravely, doing full honor to the name. May the souls of those who fell rise to heaven, standing beside the Creator himself — a fate worthy of the knightly title," Evan replied.
The words left Modi with nowhere to vent his frustration, forced instead to match Evan's grave expression with one of his own.
Just then, the beastmen's blood-red vines began to withdraw, the green light gathering once more, brighter now than before, and a figure stepped out from within it.