-Callen-

  Without Lexia and Freema helping Callia screen for monsters, we thought that travelling would be even more burdensome than it had been on the previous leg of our travels. What we encountered was clear roads and safe passage. Either the patrols had sufficiently cleared out the surrounding environment, or something was going on. Therefore, it wasn’t a big surprise when Callia quietly reached out to me from up ahead, sharing an unfortunate discovery.

  She encountered hastily covered tracks moving up to the road from the northern side. It was a strange mix of various animals that had been obscured poorly by smaller feet that Callia identified as Earthkin. Judging from the story the maid had shared with us, it seemed likely that we had somehow ended up targets for what had been thought to be an abolished group. I signaled the others, calling for a water break, to buy Callia some time to investigate what we were walking into.

  -Callia-

  Callen and the others settled into defensive positions while taking turns hydrating. It was one of the tactics we had developed to give time for recovery before when the onslaught of monsters threatened exhaustion without careful pacing. I moved up into the trees and began to carefully follow the tracks until I found a natural-appearing tunnel leading to a hidden door carved into the tree.

  I circled around the tree for more clues and found more than plenty to understand how the ambush was planned. The tree was hollowed out into a multistory bunker. Small holes had been strategically drilled into the base of the tree just high enough for earthkin to look out from while seated. Above the holes was a carefully designed door mechanism that would open multiple compartments for both archers and fighters to jump down and ambush from. More notably, I noticed the sound of animals mixed with what sounded like deformed humans panting and groaning in pain. A faint stench of blood was barely noticeable from just outside the tree's door mechanism.

  It wasn’t hard to imagine what the plan was. The holes are used to spy on passing travelers. If someone meets the target criteria, the ambushers have two ways to go about the ambush. First, they could open the upper compartments that didn’t contain any beast hybrids and likely threaten the travellers into obedience with ranged weaponry. If the first plan didn’t work or the target was deemed too hard, then the lower compartments could be opened, letting out the beast hybrids to act as a vanguard to distract defenders. All in all I would consider it a clever setup but nothing significant compared to Nixie’s artistry. With such a good chance to interfere with the setup, I almost regret leaving Nixie behind.

  Well, in Nixie’s spirit, I’ll take this chance to leave a couple presents behind and consult with the others on how we want to proceed. I carefully and quietly seal the lower doors, trapping the beast hybrids inside. Then I rig a trip wire on the upper doors to give the archers a quick bath in magic napalm. Finally I moved over to the ‘main entrance’ that I found by tracking the earthkin and beast hybrids. I set up several capture nets and stun mines. It would be best to make sure I'm not too thorough in the killing so that we would get a chance to interrogate.

  With that work done, I passed on what I had gleaned back to Callen for him to alert the others. In the meantime I climbed into the branches of the neighboring tree in an ideal spot to provide overwatch. From my perch I watched the others finish their break and shift back into travel formation. I could see traces of faint tension among some of the guards as they braced for an imminent ambush.

  -Callen-

  I felt a faint sense of pride for Callia deciding to not rush ahead. From the faint irritation and embarrassment I got in return, I knew she understood what I was thinking even without sharing anything more than emotion. To be honest, the level of professionalism and effort in preparing this ambush was unlike anything I had gone into before. Yet while professional and well designed, it also showed weakness. If someone was confident in their strength and level, they wouldn’t take what must’ve been months carving out the interior of a tree to set up an elaborate ambush site.

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  The whole design felt very Earthkin to me. Which meant the most dangerous mechanism in this whole fight would likely be the creations, not the creators. Callia’s plan of blocking the gates and setting traps was a solid start. Still, we didn’t know what kind of equipment and firepower was hidden inside. Smoking them out might be a worthwhile idea.

  I moved the group up to just before the bend, where the holes would let the men inside see us. I reached out ahead with a mana string, using my sense of mana to guide me through the hole of the tree. The tree itself managed to block most of my mana sense, but I had access inside the tree. I could just drop a bunch of smoke bombs and hope the resulting smoke would force everyone inside to escape, but I had several years' worth of shit sitting in a distant corner of my space. Years of using the void as an infinite trash disposal system.

  It was like an angel and devil on my shoulders whispering ‘dump the shit’ and countering ‘that's gross and unnecessary.’ If I smoked the whole thing, the reactions of the desperate human hybrids trying to escape might make trouble. Eventually I settled on a slice of unsanctioned revenge for the humans who had been abducted and experimented on. I stretched out a second mana string into the upper doors and took a deep breath.

  “It might get a bit messy; just call out if you encounter someone dangerous. Callia’s nearby, keeping an eye on the whole situation.” With one last breath of hesitation, I shifted the shit. The stock in the void rapidly depleted, and for a moment there was no response from the tree. Then the upper gate of the tree burst open. Callia’s firebomb triggered, and a small tide of flaming shit accompanied several screaming earthkin. Two guards and I rushed forward to confront the earthkin while Philip and Hew stayed back. Before reaching the tree, I heard the tension of a strong line snapping, and a massive net shot out into the clearing.

  The Earthkin who had fled were immediately caught and violently shocked as an electric net pinned them inside the pile of flaming shit. Looking inside the upper compartment, I saw much the same as outside except for one Earthkin who seemed to be digging into the shit, likely trying to access a hatch that had been buried. A low-powered electricity rune was more than enough to knock the earthkin out.

  Up above I heard the sound of Sis firing her bow, but her amused confidence assured me she had the exit under control. With all visible hostiles contained, I flared out my mana zone and shifted all the filth away. On our side of the tree we caught three earthkin, two suffering notable burns, and on Callia’s side she managed to get two caught in a net and let the third run with a leg injury. Just enough to not severely inhibit him but enough to leave a trail any tracker can easily follow.

  We moved the Earthkin captives a notable distance from the tree and opened the hybrid compartment before the flames threatened the occupants. Six people inside panicked but were not immediately hostile. Judging from the collars around their necks, it was likely they were being compelled to attack. One even managed to thank us. I shifted the collars into the void as everyone came back together to decide what next.

  Gramit the Chimeraist

  Gramit had grown up among the earthkin clans. Most earthkin spent years researching language and runes, but Gramit knew better. What if he could master the use of the skill concept link to tap into the power of the unconscious mind of all beings? In theory anything could be possible, but the clans lacked interest in supporting his venture. The Council claimed that anything he accomplished would be unreplicable. Still, they gave him a recommendation to learn the art of healing from humans with the promise of sharing his discoveries among their people.

  A hundred years passed with little success in bending the powers of the unconscious mind, and dozens of different skills filled with various concept link (creature) led to despair. Then the great purge for healers came. All his years learning how to mold flesh between different appearances and animals marked him as one of the prime targets of vengeful nobility. His escape was, in truth, a stroke of luck and a sprinkle of skill; having mastered flesh changing, he had changed himself into a hybrid between earthkin and bird.

  Ever since Gramit finally saw the path to relevance and honor among his people. He shared his discovery on how to change a physique trait, and the earthkin sent several prospective apprentices to join him in his isolated research. However, now his research demanded test subjects. He based himself outside an isolated human city and used his vast wealth to acquire materials and subjects for his research.

  Everything was progressing well. He had even created various stable hybrids, but the human lord became aware of his work and slaughtered nearly all his researchers. He was lucky to be out speaking with the human inspector, who had cooperated regularly, when the raid happened. It was another setback, undoing years of effort and leaving him alone to carry on in the name of knowledge. Recently his companion informed him of an interesting potential subject; he eagerly awaited its retrieval in his lab. The sounds of wailing humans and animals didn’t disturb him in the slightest as he changed a boy's limbs into squid tentacles.