Chapter 284
Song cycles through a half dozen portals, opening them all in the same spot before stopping and leaving one open. "That should lead you just outside the city gates, tell them that High Priestess Katrina sent you to see Lala about moving in. They’ll understand."
The Bunnies all happily pass through, the city guards giving them a friendly welcome once they see it’s Bunnies coming through and Lelou waving at them from the other side. When Song said right in front of the gate, he meant it. Ten meters away, on the shoulder of the road, facing the gates. If he’d gotten it any closer he might have given the guards a heart attack.
Once they’re all through, he closes the portal and cycles through them a dozen more times, leaving random ones open for a while. It must be the best way to confuse the Divine Transfer’s attempts to determine where the portal led.
"I’ve got a communication token from a dead Guard. Half his body was eaten, so if anyone comes looking, they’ll think it was destroyed, but we’ll still be able to listen in on any group messages they send." Lelou says, holding up a round wooden disc with the symbol of the Divine Transfer on it.
"Which target is next? Or do we wait a bit for the chaos to spread?" I ask, looking at Karl.
"Next up is a small city called Xanax. It should be a calm place." Oh no, not the puns, anything but that.
"It’s home to a Divine Transfer allied Sect that the last batch of refugees said was notorious for killing nonhumans. So we’ll go there and deal with them while they’re busy with the monster influx." Now that’s a notion I can get behind.
We set out carefully, not wanting to attract too much attention from the monsters we set loose, who have all but won the fight for this area. A few battles can still be heard, but most of the Guards are either dead or gone already, not even bothering to try reinforcing their position. Not exactly a shining example of loyalty to the cause.
Circling the location where the Beasts arrived, we avoid confrontation with them for now and make our way to a small village, unnamed on the map but supposedly human, so it should still be occupied. Xanax is a full day’s journey, so we will stop here overnight and cultivate. Karl is right on the cusp of a breakthrough. I can feel his Domain trying to activate fully, it just can’t quite finish yet.
A village is an interesting place, not as primitive as I had expected. The streets are cobblestone, they’ve got a water tower, and sewage flows to a holding pond outside town. Much better than the dirty and smelly normal state of Mortal Realm cities that gives them such a nasty reputation in the Higher Planes.
"Is that Dutch? It’s Dutch, isn’t it?" I whisper to Karl, indicating a business sign.