Chapter XIII: Beast Lures IV

Shizukana Gake

Heian Kingdom

The Great Plateau

Month of the Pangolin 4, 172 ,328 DE

After only three meters, the hallway ends, and a set of stairs heads down on the right. The stairs descend about four meters and switch back on themselves to descend four more meters. At the bottom, another three meter long hallway ends at a closed metal door.

The scents of many humans linger in the air, and beyond the door, I sense the presence of more than twenty humans. From the Yuan Qi hanging heavy in the air, the machinery, which could be the Beast lures, should be beyond the door, as well. A wheel like those used in airship hatches, sits in the middle of the door, and the door's metal frame extends an unknown distance beyond the edges of the hall. I have the feeling that even in my true form, I would not have an easy time forcing that door open.

Vorn runs his hands along the edge of the door's frame, where the stone walls meet it. *This looks more like the entry to a bunker than anything. If I was a treacherous schemer, I would say that it was built to hide out from a Beast Wave.*

*You're a smug cat. What's the difference?*

*I don't yap like knife-wielding, mangy dog.*

*Stop meowing. There are more than twenty humans in there, and human are shit at using their Minds. I'm going to see what I can learn from them.*

For just a moment, Vorn frowns, a montage of thought flitters across the surface of his mind too quickly to lock any of them down. From his scent, something irritated him, but I do not know exactly what it might be.

*I'll be meditating. Let me know when you're done.* Sitting down cross-legged, Vorn starts practicing the Scripture of Mind. Maybe he took my comment about humans not using their Mind for shit as an insult.

Not letting myself smirk, I form another thread of Telepathy and reach through the wall. On the other side, the humans are lined up shoulder to shoulder in two rows. Their poorly controlled Power blurs the edges of their patterns. Compared with the Cultivators of Shizukana Gake, they seem to have much larger reserves of Yuan Qi, Mind Force, and Soul Force for their Cultivation levels, but at the same time their control over their Power feels like it is inversely proportional to the volume of Power. The Marital Warrior stands off to the side of the lines.

In places, the humans' patterns have odd geometric patterns laid over them. There is nothing to give any insight into the purpose of the geometric patterns, but they give the impression of containing knowledge and purpose. Each Cultivator's has multiple geometric patterns. While most of the patterns vary slightly from Cultivator to Cultivator, one pattern appears to be exactly the same on all of them. The others look to have identical purposes, and the slight differences make it look like the variances in the same letter or character being written multiple times. They are the same pattern, but the are not absolutely perfect mirrors of one another. The difference seems to designed to connect more smoothly to each individual's pattern. The only question is what are the purposes of that patterns and why is one of them not customized for each person.

Behind the two lines of humans, five pieces of machinery leak clouds of Yuan Qi. The thickness of the corrupted Power does not just affect the Soma; it impinges on the Eidos and Pneuma. With all the interference from loose Power and the overlaid patterns, I have trouble analyzing the base patterns of the humans, let alone reading the thoughts in their Minds. The uncontrolled Power even makes it difficult to tether my Telepathy to a single Mind; it keeps being buffeted and blows around. My skill in manipulating the thread is lacking.

Even operating with the speed of an uninhibited Mind, I spend long seconds improving my control over the Telepathy thread. It would be nice if I could spend a few days practicing like this, but unfortunately, I need to learn what I can from these humans and kill them.

With more control over my Telepathy thread, I connect it to the Mind of a human, but I do not transmit any thoughts through the thread. Keeping the thread's connection as light as possible, I observe the images in the Mind and listen in on the thoughts.

Damn barbarians. Why aren't they coming already?

Captain should just let us go after them. They won't stand a chance against real men armed with battle rifles. 12mm solid core rounds will make short work of their Martial techniques.

The Captain is apparently the Martial Warrior. The thought of a 'battle rifle' is attached to an image of an oddly designed fire-powder rifle, but I do not understand what is special about it. As the humans thought drift into finishing the mission and getting drunk, I move the Telepathy thread to another human. After going through five more humans, I find some interesting thoughts in one of their Minds.

* * * * *

A man in strange clothing sat behind a desk. A triangular stone bar about thirty centimeters in length had letters etched into it. The letters read, "Colonel Trapper", which was the man's name and military rank. As Colonel Trapper finished flipping through the papers in a folder, he looked up into the eyes of the human.

"Once you finish this mission, you'll have enough loyalty merits to be allowed to marry and start a family. Have your parents arranged for a mate form the breeding pool?"

"Yes, sir."

Colonel Trapper nodded. "Do a good job in that backwater slant town. When you get back, I'll put you in for the month of matrimonial leave. The Providence Republic needs more children from Soldier families. The time of the Truth Crusade is getting near. We need to build up our forces."

"Yes, sir."

* * * * *

The memory makes little sense, but the fact that these Cultivators come the Providence Republic strikes me as strange. The Great Tree said that someone in the Middle Empires, not the Providence Republic, was working on the Beast lure. These Beast lures could be an independent development from the Middle Empires' Beast lure. They could be stolen. One or more of the Middle Empires could be in league with the Providence Republic. Or there could always be another, which I have not thought of. For now, it does not matter. If I want to save the families of the few humans that matter to me, I have to shut down the Beast lures.

*They are from the Providence Republic and have fire-powder guns they call battle rifles.*

Vorn opens his eyes. *I've seen their battle rifles before. They're large calibre and fire five or more rounds per second. You don't want to stand in front of them.*

*There are twenty-five Cultivators calling themselves soldiers and a captain, the Martial Warrior. They're all lined up in two lines. The frame of the door is wide enough we hide behind it after we open the door.*

I withdraw my sword form my Core Realm. Tia. Tama. You're going to be doing the killing. Target the Core Formation Cultivators.

They will all die. Tia's normally cold thought carry a hint of eagerness.

Moving to the opposite side of the door, Vorn draws his oversized revolver. *Ready when you are.*

Testing the door, I find it sealed, but the wheel turns easily.

Get ready! They're opening the door. I hear the words through my Telepathy thread, which is still attached to a Cultivator, but the words are not the his own. They came through one the strange attached patterns that all the Cultivators have laying on top of their own patterns, the one that is absolutely identical on all the Cultivators . Those patterns grant a form of Mind-based communication, but it is not like my Telepathy . It seemed more like a Mind-based far talker.

*They can communicate Mind to Mind. They are ready to fire.* As I warn Vorn, I continue turning the wheel, and as soon as it unlocks, I throw the door open.

BRRAAAAP! BRRAAAAP! BRRAAAAP! BRRAAAAP!

As bullets fly through the door and ricochet around in the stairwell behind us, Tia and Tama streak through the open door.

"Aiee!"

"Argh!"

Cold steel! Fight them blade to blade. I hear the Martial Warrior's command through my Telepathy thread. The way the command resonates in the soldier's Mind makes it seem like he heard it with his ears. The far talker pattern functions more like a far talker device than a Mind to Mind connection.

Damn Cultivators! The soldier's curse dominates his Mind, but he does not give voice to it.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The gunfire stops, and I peek around the corner. Two of the Cultivators lie on the floor in pools of their own blood. Having dropped their guns on the floor, the rest of the Cultivators have short swords and short-hafted axes in their hands. As my swords make diving attacks, the Cultivators deflect them with spastic-looking blocks. Each time a Cultivator makes block, one of their overlaid patters flare with Yuan Qi.

From the side, the Martial Warrior glares at the scene. Unlike the other Cultivators, he only has a single pattern overlaid on his own pattern, the communication pattern. Drawing a pistol, which has an odd boxy design that Old Man Jones calls an automatic, he points it at my swords.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Despite the pistol being a fire-powder gun, with each shot, the Martial Warrior feeds Yuan Qi into the pistol and sigils along its barrel glow. The bullets arc through the air in an attempt to intercept my swords, but all three shots miss.

All the soldier Cultivators are burly men, with hard faces and cold eyes. Despite being Yuan Qi Cultivators, their Cultivation appears to be focused on physical development. They have the have size and agility that would normally be found only in a Body Cultivator. The Yuan Qi, flowing through their Bodies, makes their muscles swell and bulge with even more power. They show no signs of using their Yuan Qi to fuel Power-based attacks, but with their relatively poor control over their Yuan Qi, they are probably better off as they are.

The Martial Warrior is different form the soldier Cultivators. He has a leaner build and more Yuan Qi. His control over his Yuan Qi is orders of magnitude greater than that of the soldier Cultivators, but despite his upper stage Martial Warrior realm of Cultivation, the mid to high Core Formation soldiers should have close to his physical abilities. He is a more normal Cultivator.

Vorn looks at me, with an expression of mild confusion. *Why are we waiting?*

*Look at those Cultivators. The way Yuan Qi flows through their Bodies and the way they use are almost completely identical.*

Vorn shrugs. *If they are soldiers, the were probably trained using uniform Cultivation and Martial techniques. Why wouldn't they use Yuan Qi in the same way?*

I shake my head. *No two Cultivators use Yuan Qi in the exact same manner. Old Man Jones captured and experimented on hundreds of Cultivators. Even two Cultivators from the same school, using the same techniques, use them differently.*

As their Yuan Qi surges, more of the attached patterns on the soldier Cultivators light up. Their bodies appear to grow denser and heavier, but their movement speed jumps up by an order of magnitude. Now, when their weapons intercept my swords, my swords get knocked back, instead of simply being deflected.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Martial Warrior fires off move arcing bullets, but my swords twist and turn. Once more, the bullets completely miss. A snarl twist the Marital Warrior's lips, and his head snaps around toward the door. He aims his handgun at me.

Boom! Boom! Boom!