The Oracle Paths

"Don't you think something's wrong?" Ruby remarked suddenly after rescuing their third company of Lodunvalese soldiers from Gascon's.

For the past six minutes, they had been following Officer Gascon's lead, cross-referencing his directions with the footprints, hoofprints, and cart trails to make sure they weren't going down the wrong track.

Jake could easily reach 800 m/s while flying and his Myrtharian Vision could see clearly for several hundred kilometers in the absence of obstacles. At Norton's request, it didn't take him long to confirm the position of seven companies.

The second battle had ended even more dramatically than the first. Jeanie had used a support spell to boost their mental faculties as soon as they engaged. The Khinchods had been turned into ice blocks, drained of their blood or shot in the eye with surgical accuracy. Their commander had, for no apparent reason, ordered his men to drop their weapons before attacking its second in command for no reason at all.

The assault was so clean that neither Bhammod, Norton, nor Jake needed to intervene.

With their superior's previous ruthless criticism, they had not committed any blunders this time and their cooperation could be described as exemplary. It wasn't flawless, but it would have been hard to blame them.

Unless you were a gruff, grizzled mutant by the name of Norton.

"Jake why are you sitting on your hands?" The mutant warrior scolded him snappishly. "If you had assisted Ruby, the battle could have ended 17 seconds earlier. Carmin, I said earlier that you didn't have to drain all their blood to kill them. That wasn't meant to be taken literally. If you can kill them faster by another method, that's obviously the way to go... Elduin, always so precise, but it would be nice if you could target the ones who are already attacking the humans first. Lily... Good job this time. Ordering them to lay down their weapons was brilliant. Jeanie, that wasn't bad either. At least none of us will eat you tonight. Trash... Sigh..."

Spurred on by these new admonitions, the third battle was even more of a blitz than the second. Not wanting to get another earful from Norton, Jake caused five hundred aneurysm ruptures with a snap of his hand and all Wengols below level 30 collapsed at once with a crashing thud. Ruby froze the rest.

Gascon, another officer of equal rank and 5 other soldiers who had chosen to accompany them sucked a deep mouthful of air as they witnessed this amazing feat. It was nothing less than a decimation.

But this time, the commander of this Khinchod army was not like the last ones. When Lily tried to hypnotize him, he shook off her influence and warded off Ruby's cold, oozing oily goo from his octopus skin.

The alien was almost five meters tall and had the superhuman strength of 100 men. Yet, to Jake and the others, this Khinchod was no different than any other. Bhammod, who had not participated in the previous battle, faced him in a duel and the cataclysmic bout ended a couple of seconds later when the alien's enormous mushroom head rolled to the ground.

Norton's criticism was more concise and less scathing after this third battle, proving that he was finally satisfied with their performance. Another knight, a Rank-B adventurer and three more veteran soldiers joined their ranks and they were off again.

This naturally led to a fourth battle, which they won handily. So why this unexpected comment from Ruby?

"I also think something is wrong." Bhammod also confessed in a gloomy tone as he inspected a Khinchod corpse.

"I think so too." Elduin testified cautiously. "The level of this Khinchod army is too low for a regular army, but that's not surprising. What is more confusing is that there are too few officers. A lieutenant like Gascon is the equivalent of a Rank-B adventurer. Even though Wengols are tough, at too low a level they cannot resist the Transcendental Skills of humans. They are also woefully vulnerable to mind-affecting spells. Without a Spirit Mage or a powerful warrior to protect them, they really only have the advantage of numbers."

What the elf called Transcendental Skills were actually Soul Class Skills or ordinary techniques that had gone beyond the realm of normalcy to take on a metaphysical dimension. Such as the spiritual hammer blows of the Warhammer Champion Simgut that Jake had defeated that morning.

"Anything else to add?" Norton questioned as he stared at the other members of the squad. It was clear that he had noticed the issue as well from his scowling expression.

"Jeanie thinks that given the size of the Khinchod army, it's not surprising." The fairy shrugged cutely.

"It's a valid argument." The mutant agreed with a small, dismal laugh. "Jake?"

When asked directly for his opinion, Jake looked him in the eye and said,

"There are some officers missing, but more importantly, there are some dead bodies missing. The grass is still crushed and bloody in many places and the depressions corresponding to the Wengol corpses' locations are recognizable. Best of all, we haven't encountered any Wurchings in the last four battles, but several footprints match the hooves of these large reptilian equines."

An approving gleam lit Norton's eyes, but showing nothing he let Lily speak, who seemed to be eager to mention something.

"The Wengols I hypnotized earlier gave me very little resistance. It was as if their minds had already been broken by someone else and I was merely supplanting their former master by replacing its mark."

Their superior's face became grave upon receiving this additional information.

"What did that mark look like?"

Carmin's sister picked up a twig, then roughly scribbled a pattern in the sand with it. It was an intricate symbol, as if dozens of clovers with different orientations had been superimposed on top of each other, the whole thing forming a kind of hypnotic eye.

"The Thozuch Clan! Demons!" Norton spat out hatefully as he recognized the symbol. Even without being infused with any energy, the rune seemed to capture their attention, inviting them to sink into a mesmerizing trance.

What were the demons doing here? And what were they trying to accomplish with all those bodies? Norton wasn't a mind reader, but it didn't bode well.

For half a beat, the Mutant's eyes flickered with dilemma, then taking a deep breath he regained his icy pragmatism and declared,

"We have to hurry. If it's what I think it is, Aisling is in danger."

"What about the rescue mission?" Carmin inquired nonchalantly as she chewed gum, the dizzying gully of her cleavage clearly in evidence.

Jake and Ruby were equally casual, literally treating this Ordeal Mission as a way to score points for a better rating. As a result, they naturally found it hard to share their superior's concern.

"We're proceeding with the mission as planned, but we're running out of time." Norton growled grimly. "We need to reach the convoy in five minutes at most. I know you're hiding your abilities, but if you don't want to have done all this for nothing, I suggest you stop holding back."

At that very moment, the grizzled mutant abruptly swelled from an athletic man to a gigantic abomination of over 12 meters standing on all fours in the blink of an eye.

His forelegs were now 1.5 times longer than his hind legs and his muscles had grown so much that it was almost bulky. His gray mane had spread to his entire body, tearing through his armor and clothing, while a long tail had sprouted from his hindquarters.

As for his previous stern, but unremarkable face, the slight pronation of his jaw and brow bones had become very prominent, while his eyeballs had sunk deeply into their sockets. His nose had flattened and darkened, and his nostrils enlarged.

When Norton snorted, revealing canines the length of an elephant's tusk, Jake and the others at last recognized the creature towering before them.

A Gorilla? A Mastiff? Or perhaps a titanic macaque daemon.

Ignoring their shock, Norton ordered them to climb on his back in a voice so deep it rattled their bones. Several of the soldiers who had chosen to accompany them backed off abruptly, claiming to be exhausted, but Gascon and the other three officers climbed on the beast's back without flinching.

"Jake, lead the way, I'll follow you." The gigantic mutant gorilla growled in a commanding tone.

"Sure."

Jake took off like a missile, leaving a trail of flames behind him and a shock wave. The huge beast immediately launched itself after him, managing effortlessly to maintain the distance despite its impressive size.

The other Players and natives on Norton's back finally got a chance to see the maximum speed (pre-Bloodline Ignition) that Jake could achieve and they were almost as shaken by his speed as the mutant's transformation.

The landscape flashed before their eyes at a dizzying pace and it took Ruby to erect a telekinetic barrier to prevent one of them from being blown off course by the violent winds. Unfortunately, he smashed into the psychic barrier, splattering blood all over the squad members present.

"Ruby, second warning." Jake's voice echoed in her mind. "In addition to a billion Aether, I'll also take 10kg of liquid alloy per additional accidental death. Let me see if your Digestor side continues to play dirty when I compromise its growth."

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