The Infinite Bk. 05 Ch. 06

One pursuer landed before them, brandishing gloves with steel blades extending like claws. He had the head of a mountain lion and a tail to match, and his legs had transformed to let him run on all fours. He snarled, flashing his teeth, and lunged towards Valia. She fended him off with a slash, and Shannon shot him with an arrow. These weren't fiends, so the poison had no effect, but he staggered back in pain, and Valia finished him off.

More attackers were coming from all angles, climbing down and leaping off the cliffs. They all had mountain lion traits and could keep up with the galloping horses, regardless of the terrain. Valia rode in the lead, cutting down any beastmen that tried to stand in her way.

Behind her was Noah, wielding not a bow or sword, but another illusory gun. Any time one of the beastmen jumped into the air, he'd strike them with mana bullets, and though they couldn't cause harm, they broke the attackers' focus and made them stumble in the air, turning graceful leaps into bone-breaking landings.

Shannon was in the back, picking off the beastmen running behind them. Like all members of the centaur tribe, she had learned at an early age how to gallop and shoot at the same time. She could run at full speed while twisting her upper body around and nailing enemies behind her.

They were racing on winding paths along the edges of cliffs under stone arches, with every step a risk. Their fortune turned when they were flanked from above while circling a hill at the edge of a ravine. The beastmen sprinting down the crumbling slope set off a small landslide, and though Valia and Shannon managed to avoid it, Noah's horse got swept up in the falling rocks, and he was sent tumbling down into the ravine.

"My Lord!" Shannon cried out.

"Shannon, take my horse and find a way down to us!" Valia shouted before leaping from the saddle. "Zodiac: Sandulam!"

She slid down the hill perfectly balanced, like riding an escalator, and reached Noah, half-buried under gravel and pinned by his dead horse. She pulled him out, though, from how he hissed and gasped in pain, his leg was clearly broken. The beastmen had them surrounded, circling their wounded prey.

"Leave them to me," Valia said coolly.

"I'll join you in a moment," Noah replied as he drank a healing potion.

The beastmen snarled and closed in, brandishing claws of both steel and bone. They attacked as a group and were knocked back in pieces. Valia's sword swerved through the air so fast it was almost invisible, deflecting the marauders' blades and slicing through their flesh in the same stroke. Despite the attacks coming from all angles, she stood her ground and rotated like a turret, able to intercept anyone who came close.

That said, these beastmen were fast, powerful, and driven. They pounced like real mountain lions and could attack and defend with cat-like reflexes. Valia was using her magic to keep up with them, but their blades scraped and sparked against her steel skin more than once. While she had her back turned, one of the beastmen activated a spell and conjured a pair of jaws that appeared in the air around his head. Made of mana, the apparition resembled a massive bear trap, and he leaped towards Valia, ready to close it around her throat.

Before he could reach her, a mana bullet struck him in the throat and interrupted the spell, and Valia beheaded the incoming warrior. Noah was back on his feet, brandishing his sword and gun. The two fought back to back, carving down any beastman that got close. They fought with unparalleled skill and perfect coordination, severing heads and limbs with remarkable grace. Before they could even think to turn around and run, the last few beastmen were riddled with arrows, courtesy of Shannon galloping over with Valia's horse.

"Are you two all right?" she asked.

"A little dusty, but that's about it," said Noah, patting himself off.

"It's a shame your horse can't say the same," Valia said, petting the slain creature and murmuring an elvish hymn. As a member of the horse tribe, Shannon joined her, her hands clasped as she prayed to the spirits.

"It is unfortunate. We're going to have to rethink things if we're going to maintain a good pace. Valia, you and I can share your horse, while Shannon, would you mind carrying our gear?"

"I'd be happy to, Lord Noah," she said with a bow.

Thus, they rearranged their possessions, loading everything Noah and Valia's horses carried onto Shannon's back. Her people were used to traveling this way, so it was no issue for her. The problem came when Noah tried to get up on Valia's horse with her. It began throwing a fit, refusing to let him on despite their best efforts to calm it.

"What's going on?" Noah asked.

"He doesn't want you to ride him," said Shannon. "He knows what happened to your last mount, and is afraid of the same thing happening to him. He can smell your dead companion on you."

"I had no idea horses were so superstitious," said Valia.

"I'm not walking the rest of the way," Noah sighed.

Neither of them was aware that Valia's horse was following Shannon's instructions, and now that she had the opportunity she'd been wishing for, she spoke up. "My Lord, you can ride on my back." Her voice trembled as she spoke, and she averted her eyes in embarrassment. The intent in her words was not lost on Noah and Valia, who exchanged a glance.

"Isn't it forbidden in the horse clan to let outsiders ride on your back?" Valia countered.

Shannon clutched her hands bashfully. "I've already pledged my loyalty to you both, so this is fine. You need a steed, and I am of the horse tribe, so it's natural for me to offer my talents. I am bound by oath and honor to serve you with my body however I can." She then blushed as she realized what she had just said. "Oh, uh, I didn't mean it like that! I meant, uh... I just meant that I want to be helpful!"

Noah and Valia exchanged another glance, conversing with nothing but their eyes.

'She's fallen for you, hasn't she?'

'I told you this would happen.'

'Have you been flirting with her?'

'The opposite. I was hoping that all the scary stuff in my lab would keep her from developing feelings for me, but I was wrong.'

'Great job with that.'

'You're the one who picked her up.'

'Not so she could become a part of your harem.'

'Are you sure she's not part of yours?'

'I don't like where this is going.'

'And I don't like the idea of spending the rest of this journey on foot, but your horse hates me and she's offering.'

'Fine, but I'd better not catch you feeling her up. I don't care if you fall off another cliff, I won't tolerate any "accidental" boob grabs.'

'Yes, dear.' Noah turned back to Shannon. "Thank you. Your support is most welcome." They moved all their belongings around, and Noah put his saddle on Shannon's back. "You ready?" he asked, putting one foot in the stirrup.

"Y-yes, My Lord," she replied, trying to contain her excitement.

Noah climbed up and sat in the saddle, and Shannon inadvertently bit her lip and sighed. She was used to carrying all kinds of cargo on her back, but the weight of a man was unique, almost overpowering, and having him so close, every breath was filled with his scent.

Valia's sharp elf eyes did not miss that reaction. "Let's get moving, before the smell of blood draws anything."

They set off at a gallop, wanting to escape the battle scene. Valia also didn't want to give Shannon time to enjoy her new position, but unfortunately, their pace had the opposite effect. Noah was rising and falling as she ran, and every time his weight dropped, it reminded Shannon of all the times she had watched him fuck Valia from behind, when he'd drive his cock deep inside her with all his strength, like a battering ram smashing against a castle gate.

The pace he'd use, the rhythm of his movements, they were almost exactly the same. Every time she felt him drop, she imagined his manhood driving into her, and every time he rose up, she could picture him pulling out, only to force it back in. She lamented wearing a saddle, preventing her from truly feeling him pressed against her.

Despite the inconvenience of Noah losing his horse, the trio managed to escape the canyon and return to the plains. When night fell, they stopped to make camp. Shannon was blushing and gasping for air, but it wasn't from fatigue.

"Are you all right?" Noah asked, pretending not to know why she was all worked up.

"Oh, yes, thank you, I'm fine. I'm... uh... I going back to that creek was passed by to get water for tea. I'll be right back."

Noah and Valia said nothing, even when she forgot to bring a bucket or canteen. Rather than visit the creek, she needed to satiate the maelstrom within her.

Over the following days, they continued their journey, and Noah and Valia were careful how they acted around Shannon. It was too late to give her the cold shoulder, and it was hard to create distance when Noah spent all day on top of her, but they did what they could to avoid encouraging her feelings. That said, the damage had already been done. Whether it was as Noah's assistant or Valia's squire, she had adopted the servant role whole-heartedly and now tried to protect them from every minor chore or task, refusing to let either of them lift a finger, all while amorous feelings bubbled in her eyes. When Noah lived in Clive, he remembered Tin clinging to him with the same eagerness to please.

However, they had more important things to focus on. As they traveled, they crossed through numerous villages and settlements, many razed to the ground. Were this done by marauders, they would have left their names behind to grow their infamy and develop a reputation, and unlike villages raided by Uther troops, there were no flags left standing atop a pile of bodies. What few corpses were left behind all showed claw and teeth marks and had been drained of blood. This was done by the Profane, seizing prisoners just as they had with Shannon's tribe. The light which had so briefly glimmered in her eyes dimmed with each scene of destruction.

The only silver lining to the death and destruction was that it signaled they were getting closer to their destination, and at last, they found it. According to the Pack elite, the Profane had rebuilt and repurposed a city constructed when the dwarves once ruled Handent, but no such city was found when the trio arrived. Breaking free of the woods in the early morning, they looked out across the dark countryside and expected to see towers of hewn stone. Instead, they discovered a massive gray dome, like an artificial mountain.

The surrounding landscape had been stripped bare of trees and stomped flat by marching slaves and fiends. One such army of oppressed, ushered forth by their mutated captors, was herded towards a great wall surrounding the structure, with the massive doors providing the only visible entrance and exit.

"I've never seen a building like that," Valia gasped.

"It's like some kind of sports arena," said Noah. "It's strange, though, I can see mana flowing through the entire structure, and even the surrounding area."

"How do we get in?"

"I have a means to conceal us, but I've never used it on three people before. Still, it should keep us from being seen and heard."

Shannon bit her lip and averted her gaze.

"Don't be afraid, we'll get through this," said Valia, noticing her reaction.

"It's not that. The magic you use for concealment, it's not... it's not perfect."

Noah and Valia exchanged a glance. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

Shannon couldn't meet their gaze, and her ears twitched in embarrassment. "At night, when the two of you are together... you aren't hidden very well."

"So you've been watching us? Oh God," Valia groaned with her hand over her face. When they first arrived in Sylphtoria, she didn't mind everyone hearing her and Noah going at it, but that was out of spite for how the elves treated him for being human. This was different. Now, Shannon's behavior throughout the trip made sense.

"Please forgive me, I didn't mean to spy."

"It's not your fault," said Noah. "Like you said, we weren't hidden very well. Besides, the whole point was to test my magic to see how well it worked under different conditions, and now I know, so the experiment was a success. Regardless, let's focus on the mission at hand. I can conceal one other person well enough for us to go unnoticed. However, I think the best approach would be if I go in alone, scout around, and come back. Then we can formulate a plan."

"What if you get captured? There is probably another Profane like Tysinger in there," Valia asked.

"If I'm not back by dusk, you'll just have to come save me. Don't worry; this is far from my first infiltration. You two wait here, and I'll return as soon as I can." Noah covered his eye, rendering himself invisible and causing Shannon to jerk in surprise. "Oh, that's right, this is your first time seeing my true concealment. Can I trust you to keep my secret?"

Hearing his disembodied voice did little to ease her shock, but she still bowed her head. "Of course, My Lord."

Noah set off towards the structure, crossing the barren ground. He was careful walking, trying to leave as few footprints as possible. His mana would stick to whatever he touched, concealing any marks he left behind, but it wore off the farther he moved, the same with hiding his scent.

As he approached, he noticed lines of mana crisscrossing the ground, and upon closer examination, he realized they were silken threads, almost invisible to the naked eye. He wouldn't have known they were there without his magic enhancing his spiritual sense. They were likely a means of surveillance to detect anyone trying to sneak in or out. Noah continued with planned steps to avoid testing his invisibility against the system. As he approached the structure, he realized that the dome was made of silk threads stretched over the city like a colossal circus tent.

Guards patrolled atop a wall surrounding the structure, unaware of Noah's approach. He reached the main gate just as a group of fiends emerged and slipped inside. Not enough to be concealed by the dome, the dwarven city was caked in webbing, as if growing on the brick houses like moss, and every thread had mana flowing through it.

The moment he entered the premises, something felt wrong. A chill crawled up his spine and ate away at him. He could feel his strength fading and aches moving through his body, and his mana was being used up faster than normal. It was like the whole place was radioactive. He realized it was due to the webbing and the mana flowing through each thread. This place was evil.

The original buildings had been refortified and repurposed into holding cells for countless beastmen, the supposed "allies" that the leader of the Pack had been gathering. Where the old buildings failed to meet the Profane's needs, new buildings had been built, including great towers that held up the silken canopy. Men, women, and children gazed through barred windows with sunken eyes, eyes that had not seen sunlight in some time. They were packed like sardines, wallowing in filth and forced to fight for food and space. Guards moved through the city by the light of torches, all bearing parasites and indifferent to the suffering of innocents. However, the fiends were not the only enforcers in this prison.

Noah heard the scuttling of their long legs and saw them move through the webbing; giant spiders, each with an abdomen the size of a human head. Upon closer examination, Noah realized that they were actually severed heads from humans and beastmen, with eight legs growing out of the stumps of the necks. They scurried along, the faces twitching with each step as though through electrical stimulation, and the mouths voicing silent words while the milky dead eyes stared into the distance. Noah wasn't sure whether the spiders were using the heads like hermit crabs wearing shells or if the heads had actually transformed into spiders, but he was careful not to get closer than he needed to. Fortunately, despite standing on their threads, they seemed unable to detect him.

The more Noah looked around, the more daunting the challenge of freeing everyone became. This wasn't a matter of simply slitting some throats and unlocking a few doors while invisible. Between the high security and the poisoned atmosphere draining the strength of those without parasites, it would take something drastic to bring this place down. He continued deeper into the city, towards the palace built into the side of the mountain. The once great dwarven masonry was unrecognizable beneath the layers of webbing, and the statues of former lords now stood cocooned, their stone faces gaunt and hopeless. Once a dignified architectural wonder, the palace itself was now just a tunnel leading ever deeper into this dark hell.

As he progressed through the palace, Noah noticed that significant renovations had been done, accommodating pipes and cables like he had seen used in Pack labs. Here, the webbing was thinner to not obstruct the magical tech and infrastructure. Noah entered a cavernous chamber filled with colossal tanks, each the size of a house and filled with an opaque liquid. A series of catwalks stretched across the room above the tanks, where, from above, Noah could see the swarms of parasites swimming around. Technicians were busy testing the liquid and examining the parasites to ensure everything was as it should be.

Before Noah could advance, an alarm rang out, and he feared he had been discovered. However, none of the technicians seemed worried, and Noah noticed several large pipes lowering from the ceiling over the tanks. A great rumbling was heard, and a deluge of blood, broken bones, and ground meat poured out of the pipes and into the tanks, as if chumming the water to draw in sharks. The surface frothed as the parasites went into a feeding frenzy, leaving no bit of viscera uneaten. This chamber was a nursery for the parasites.

A dark aura, powerful and oppressive, filled the room, similar to what Noah felt when he fought Tysinger. He looked down over the catwalk's edge, seeing a pair of double doors open and two figures enter. One was a male ghoul in a lab coat, while the other was a fiend with a centaur-like body, but instead of a horse, she was a spider. Like a black widow, there was a large red mark on her arachnid abdomen in the form of a rune that Noah recognized from his research. It was the rune of Corruption, the essence of the Profane's power.

When the demon Zyrga first appeared, he used his dark powers to poison the soil, water, air, and all magic and life. Much like the radiation left behind by an atomic blast, the land scorched by his evil was regarded as cursed earth. All living beings caught within its influence either died or were corrupted. When Somerset came to power, he and the Profane used their tainted magic to do the same and built their empire upon cursed earth. That was the power of the Profane, the nature of the rune, to both create and destroy through defilement. The whole facility, tainted by the webbing and the dark mana, was turned to cursed earth.

"Has the equipment been properly calibrated?" she asked as they walked among the tanks.

"Yes, Mistress Carthace, I made the final adjustments as per Master Curcio's instructions, and everything is functioning as it should."

"It's good you arrived with this new breed of parasites when you did. We were stalled in production, though my children and I were enjoying the surplus of food."

"Yes, they are more resilient and enduring, and don't require as much maintenance upon reaching maturity. With the prince interrupting our supply lines, we need pawns that can do more with less. Master Curcio is more dedicated than ever to perfecting the parasites. Soon, they'll be far smaller, and able to live in harsh environments outside of the lab while lying in wait."