Chapter 1029: The Ones who Scout
*Bing-Bong*
We interrupt this chapter to inform the reader that we’ll be switching back to the Stampeding Bison for this chapter, due to it being boring as all hell to read nothing but diplomatic dialogue.
Don’t worry, we’ll switch back when they’re done.
We now return to your regularly scheduled chapter.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
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As the Zhen Clan of Roaring Tide proceeded to make diplomatic talks with the Undertow Council, the Zhen Clan of Stampeding Bison were still preparing themselves for the beast tide…more or less.
At this point in time, all the defensive structures had been prepared as well as a few choice defensive arrays. On top of that, many of the volunteer soldiers and mercenaries had gotten their defensive tactics down to a repeatable science.
On top of all that, they also managed to collect and condense any and all pertinent information from the refugees as they came rolling in.
War was often won on information, even if the enemy were just aether beasts.
All they had to do now was to get ready for the inevitable.
(Un)fortunately, the inevitable was trying to be clever.
Lining Stone Claw City’s newly built walls, several dozen or so warriors were manning the lookout turrets that periodically appeared along the top. For the most part, these soldiers reported not seeing much other than the occasional refugee from the front or merchants from the back. However, on this particular day, something unusual occurred.
At one of the lookout points, a soldier noticed something approaching from the horizon. Something that warranted informing his supervisor about, no less.
“Captain! We have incoming aether beasts coming from the East!”
“What kind?”
“The encyclopedia we got from the Zhen Clan says they’re called Scarlet Condors.”
“Scarlet Condors?”
Scarlet Condors were a species of avian aether beasts that were known to reach the 2nd tier at most…under normal circumstances. The funny thing about Scarlet Condors though is that they’re rarely ever given natural circumstances thanks to a a particular behavior of theirs: their ability to immediately swear fealty to those stronger than themselves.
Like mundane condors, Scarlet Condors were scavengers, meaning they ate corpses more often than actively hunt for their meals.
Unlike mundane condors though, Scarlet Condors were smart enough to realize that the best way to get corpses, especially corpses of deliciously powerful prey, was to work alongside significantly more deadly predators.
As such, Scarlet Condors learned how to fly high, fly fast and act as a pair of eyes in the sky for those they consider their master.
This particular trait allowed Scarlet Condors to not only find niches amongst powerful Aether Beast Kings, but also among powerful mortal factions that hunted for a living.
In return for helping their masters hunt down powerful opponents, they in turn, got a delicious meal that was chock-full of aether.
As such, Scarlet Condors can reach heights much higher than the second tier as long as they found the right master.
…
“It’s just as the refugees said. I managed to count at least five Scarlet Condors flying our way, but I can’t determine their tier. Which is why I called for you, captain.”
“Smart move. Give me one second…,” the captain said as he began to activate a technique that enhanced his eyes.
The aforementioned captain just so happened to be a member of the Zhen Clan, meaning that he was intimately familiar with the various techniques used to identify aether beasts.
That said, knowledge was a double edged sword.
“Well…good news is that three out of five of them are only at the second tier, meaning we can take them down now…”
“Oh, good.”
“Bad news is that the other two are at least fourth tier.”
“Shit!”
“Watch your language.”
It is considered folk wisdom that if you ever want to measure up the worth or power of a faction or beast, look for the Scarlet Condors.
Depending on how well fed or evolved beyond the second tier these beasts were, the more powerful their masters.
Being able to have one Scarlet Condors pass the second tier when as already impressive by most frontier organization standards, but being able to field more than that was enough to get even elites worried.
In other words, the sight of two Scarlet Condors at fourth tier and above was enough to cause the soldiers at the wall to get unnerved.
Thankfully, their leaders had cooler heads.
“Captain, what do we do? Do we try to intercept? Take them down?”
“That’s not a terrible idea but not a good one either…”
If they managed to take down all the scouts now, they could delay any information being sent back to the Dust Devil King. However, this could also prompt the sending of even more scouts, or possibly a shock team of beasts that could rattle their defenses.
Alternatively, they could do nothing and perhaps try to hide their defensive measures under cloaking techniques. However, the lack of defenses might prompt the beasts to attack immediately. Many of the refugees mentioned that villages and towns that had shown little to no reaction to the Scarlet Condors got attacked almost the next day.
The worst case scenario, by the captains estimation at least, was to only partially take down the incoming scouting party.
Depending on which survivors managed to escape their defensive measures, then it was very possible that the incoming beast tide may change.
If the weakest of the bunch managed to survive, then the Dust Devil King may rally a larger horde in response since it’s strongest scouts got taken down.
Inversely, if the strongest of the bunch survives then the Dust Devil King…would still probably rally a more powerful horde to try and kill them all.
There were hundreds of different ways this could all play out and if the captain made the wrong call then everything could go to hell, and it would all be his fault…unless he went up there and ripped those birds apart himself….
‘Wait a minute…why am I thinking so hard about this?’
“Oh, I see we have guests.”
“Looks like it, yes.”
“Whoa!”
“Miss Aranea!”
“Miss Lucille!”
While the soldiers were standing around and waiting for orders, Aranea(Archanidame) and Lucille(Lacerage) had snuck up on the lot of them and had appeared immediately next to the captain in order to take charge.
It was their duty to safeguard Stone Claw, after all.
“I’m counting one, two, three…five nosey little chickens poking their heads where they don’t belong, Miss Aranea,” Lucille said with all the bored condescension of a noble. “Although, they’re not the type to make a good meal.”
“On the contrary, Miss Lucille. I heard their bones are quite good for porcine and canine aether beasts” Aranea politely disagreed. “Shall we handle this or should we let the children have their fun?”
“Why not both?”
“Good point. Rianna?”
As soon as her name was said, Rianna jumped up from out of nowhere and on to the roof of a nearby lookout tower, steadying herself on it as drew her bow and arrow.
The sound of groaning wood and a taut string could be heard across the wall as Rianna aimed an aether enhanced arrow the size of a spear at the flock of Scarlet Condors.
“One shot to cause them to scatter or one shot to try and take down one of the stragglers…why not both?”
Rianna infused a touch of [Chaos] into the arrow, causing it to develop a slightly more…energetic appearance, moments before she let it fly.
“Oh shit!”
“Cover your ears!”
A sonic boom occurred as Rianna fired her arrow at the lead Scarlet Condors, the aformentioned arrow flying faster than anything the soldiers could possibly comprehend.
“Skree?”
“Skraww!”
The Scarlet Condors though were able to react in time to the incoming arrow…or so they thought.
None of the Scarlet Condors though to try and block the incoming arrow with their bodies, as they could immediately sense that the arrow would’ve smashed through their hollow bones like a boulder through a forest of dead trees.
However, absolutely none of them expected the arrow to suddenly explode into a mess of sticky webs that got caught in their feathers.
“Skraww!”
“Skree?!”
Normally, such webs would’ve been trivial to break and cut through for the likes of them, but the threads were infused with this weird energy that sapped not only their innate defensive abilities but their power as well.
Try as they might to break free, the webs somehow seemed to grow thicker and stickier the more they used their aether.
Eventually, the Scarlet Condors all began to plummet downward as their wings soon became unable to keep the birds aloft.
“Got them in one! Hell yeah!”
Rianna let out a shout of victory and pumped her fist in the air as she based on her successful hunt. As for the soldiers, themselves…they were a bit shocked.
Which made sense, since none of them had ever seen someone take down a flock of aether beasts so effortlessly before.
“How…how did she do that?”
“I don’t know…but I’m starting to think the Zhen Clan is just heaven blessed.”
