Chapter 287: Gate Crashers
I slithered forward, following in the wake of the Great Core’s faithful as they advanced on the nest of the blasphemers.
The faithful moved with a practiced efficiency, their steps sure and unwavering. If only they could slither, then nothing could stop them. But, even so, it was a display worthy of the Great Core. The air thrummed with the weight of their [conviction], the thump thump of their travels shaking the stone below us.
At the edges of the faithful were Coreless with a different task than their kin; they dropped seed after seed as they walked, taking turns at driving cracks into the ground through which they could plant themselves. It made our advance slower than it otherwise would have been, but it was a necessary delay.
[Verdure Parasite] caused the new lines of plant-flesh to bloom, outlining the path that my faithful traveled. There wasn’t enough time for a true plant-flesh forest to form; I was forced to settle for plant-flesh only tall enough to encumber or restrict. Even so, I knew that it would help keep the blasphemers from escaping, and that was all that mattered.
This den of blasphemy needed to be purged, so that all who opposed the Great Core could see what came of their defiance.
I hissed, the sound only briefly interrupted when not-Needle appeared to pluck me from the ground.
“There you are,” she said. “Almost lost you behind all of these feet!”
The world blurred and, before I could guess at where we were going, we were beside the rest of the disciples again. Not-Needle was getting faster by the day, far faster than she had once been. Like the rest of the Great Core’s Coreless, her faith was resulting in rewards. The mana that coursed through the [Little Guardian’s Totem] around her neck, connected to all three nearby [Little Guardian’s Focus]es, had a notable impact on her mana-enhancement’s growth as time went on.
I almost wondered if some of the other faithful, those newest to the Great Core’s light and who possessed no real power before joining with the true faith, would eventually begin to manifest their own enhancements.