Chapter 182

“It’s not a demon,” Nick said quickly, earning a sigh of relief, “but the temple is occupied. By what looks like bandits, but there’s a strange distortion around it, so I’m thinking they’re not regular ones.”Elia stiffened at that, eyes going flinty. “Are you saying that a group of lowlives has taken over one of my people’s temples and is using it as a base?”

“Eeeeh,” Nick edged, trying to gather as much information as possible. “They really are quite organized. I can see at least half a dozen people; some are humans, with one bearkin and another two who look like dwarves. It's kind of hard to tell the difference with a short man from this distance, but I think they might be the source of the disturbance.”

That didn’t seem to do much to calm Elia down, but before she could act rashly, Rhea interjected, “Given that the dark dwarves are fighting the army in the mountains, it’s unlikely this is another group of soldiers. Unless all of a sudden they decided to join hands together and leave the battlefield, but I doubt that.”

Nick nodded, “Yeah, they are armed, but they don’t seem to be wearing uniforms. It could be just regular adventurers, since I can’t sense anyone being held against their will, but something weird is definitely going on.”

Eventually, he shrugged. “Well, it doesn’t really matter who they are. We need to check the temple for demonic taint anyway, and they are in the way. How do you want to play this?” He asked, turning to Elia, who had gone dangerously silent.

After a moment, she bared her teeth. “We’ll go in. If they know what’s good for them, they will let us do what we need to do and pack up. Even if it’s not bandits, they can’t use the temple as a base.”

Ultimately, it didn’t really matter. Their demon hunting took priority, and if these people resisted, he’d teach them a lesson until they learned their place.

“Should we just get going, then?” He asked, earning two eager nods.

At his curious glance, Rhea replied, “They might know more about what’s going on in the north. The deserters had pretty dated information, but even that was useful.”

Nick suspected that her interest went beyond just the skirmishes. She probably wanted to ask about Toneburg to better understand her family’s adversaries.

With the ritual he’d performed to protect them from scrying, they should be good to go, but Nick couldn’t shake the feeling that something larger than localized unrest was happening.

Despite that, he had no real objections, so they set off. It took them a while to reach the temple, and throughout the journey, Nick continued to add more observations as his vision became clearer.

“There are about eight people in total, with bedding for four more. The temple is in pretty bad shape, but not as destroyed as the Messenger. The main chamber is caved in, and the eastern wing is gone, but the western one still stands, and that’s where they set up.”

It was a fairly defensible location, considering that a jagged hill rose to the north, shielding them from view and preventing anyone without flight from attacking them from that direction.

In fact, it was such a great location that it didn’t take long for someone to notice them.

“Oy! We got company!” One of the younger men shouted when they got within half a mile. It was a fairly wide range, especially since the grass here was tall enough to conceal their approach, although they hadn't taken any measures to avoid being seen.

“Enemies?!” Someone shouted back, and the clanging of weapons being drawn and armor being put on echoed.

“Three people, short! Could be more dwarves!” The first one replied.

The fact that they were being so open about their observations made Nick think they were very confident about their chances.

“No, wait. One of ’em has tails!”

“Beastmen? Rollo, was there a village we missed?” the second voice asked again, and a much deeper timbre rumbled back.

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“None that I know of.”

By the time the trio reached the temple, everyone had already emerged, including the shorter people Nick had noticed.

“It’s kids.” That was the first man who had spoken, the one who’d spotted them. He was spindly, with short-cropped hair and a dark green vest. The way he held himself reminded Nick of Morris, the old scout with whom he’d struck up a conversation during the dungeon raid. He kept glancing back at the shorter dwarf, who didn’t seem to notice, as his eyes were fixed on Nick.

If it came down to a fight, Nick would target him first.

Overall, he would have ranked this group as slightly stronger than the Gnolls, which said a lot.

People at that level could easily make a living as adventurers, so their choice to settle here, in the middle of nowhere, and to go to the lengths of hunting down any monsters in their surroundings meant something.

“Don’t be fooled. Foxes can weave all kinds of illusions.” The bearkin rumbled, and everyone assumed a much firmer stance. It was clear they were preparing for a fight, and judging by the way the two dwarves eyed them, Nick had a feeling they wouldn’t be inclined to simply leave the temple.

“You are occupying sacred ground!” Elia finally had enough. Her three tails fanned out behind her, adding to her gravitas, and her eyes blazed with barely contained power. “Leave now. This place is not for you.”

Nick noted that she seemed particularly incensed by the presence of a beastman. However, if he remembered correctly, bearkin were the last sub-race to join the locals, having done so many years after Berea had secured its hold on the grassland and purged it of the local religions.

A moment of silence passed before the laughter erupted. Some men merely chuckled, while others howled with amusement, seemingly finding her self-righteousness hilarious.

“My friend is not lying. The temple is not for you to do as you want,” Rhea tried.

“And who will send us away, little girl? We have staked our claim to this land, fought and bled for it. If you want it, come take it.” One of the humans growled, pointing his sword at her.

“For the record, I’d like to say that we didn’t start the hostilities. Diplomacy was attempted first,” Nick replied casually, silencing the men.

No more banter came, and he realized these people might not be as quick to underestimate them as others often did. It was a pity, since Nick really enjoyed being able to sweep his enemies in one go, but he could do with a real battle.

was ruled out for now. It would definitely be the quickest route to victory, but he was not willing to let so many test subjects go to waste, and it would probably take some time for him to master it as reliably as most other magics.

Still, he could deconstruct the principle that had led to its creation, similar to how had emerged from his combination of and .

His first target would be the more dangerous dwarf. It was the only one he was truly worried about, given that he didn’t have much experience combating mental magic, and the damage it could inflict on an unshielded mind was extensive.

While most forms of magic could be affected by heightened emotions, spiritual magic appeared to stem entirely from them. Considering the unique requirement to solely channel emotion, it was understandable that he hadn’t been able to develop an affinity until now.

For his first attempt, Nick used what was already available. He felt annoyed, wary, and excited all at once. Annoyance was a rather weak emotion, but it could act as a cover for what the spell would do. Wariness, in contrast, was much more primal and would serve well as the foundation. Excitement tied it all together, providing the energy needed for the magic to coalesce into something tangible.

Nick raised his hand, shaping the formless, and all hell broke loose.

Elia roared, unleashing a wild spray of flames meant to scatter the enemy. Rhea positioned herself behind Nick, confident that he would shield her and allow her to target anyone with her vials.

Meanwhile, the enemy ranks didn’t stay still. The oncoming wall of fire triggered the anticipated reaction, causing them to advance, yet they did not disperse.

Instead, they all moved in the same direction, maintaining equal distances from one another. Shield spells flickered into existence, deflecting Elia’s fires, while offensive skills sprang to life.

It spoke to a level of coordination that Nick wouldn’t have expected from such a ragtag group, but perhaps that had been his failing.

The two dwarves hadn’t attempted to invade his mind yet, but that didn’t mean they hadn’t done anything.

Still, his spell remained unaffected by all of this. A buzzing sphere of shimmering colors took shape and, at his command, shot toward his target.

A second shield appeared in its path, so quickly that Nick could do nothing to alter the trajectory. To his surprise—and that of everyone else—the spell passed through it without issue, forcing the dwarf to jump away at the very last moment, demonstrating a level of nimbleness Nick wouldn’t have expected.

A roar of pain revealed that even that hadn’t been enough to evade his attack entirely, though it wasn’t sufficient to incapacitate the enemy.

Setting aside the System notification for now, Nick quickly formed another , as it was called. This time, it emerged faster, but he could immediately sense it was weaker, since the base emotions were less intense.

Something very fast suddenly charged toward him, and he had to shift part of his attention to strengthening his two layers of defense, which he’d summoned instinctively as the battle began.

The bearkin slammed into his with enough force to crack it, roaring loudly enough to shake the ground.

Before Nick could take advantage of his closeness, he sensed a ripple in the air and unleashed an unfocused blast of spiritual mana, disrupting whatever spell had been aimed at Rhea.

A quick glance revealed it had come from the other dwarf, the one he’d dismissed as a lesser threat.

He appeared to be leveraging his lack of attention effectively, as several additional blasts came his way. One even attempted to pin down Elia, but she was far too quick, having closed the distance and thrown herself into a duel with three men. She seemed to be holding her own, her flames granting her the space she needed to trap some in illusions while using her exceptional dexterity to evade any attacks that came too close.

With her sorted, Nick was nearly tempted to allow the mental attacks to hit. He was confident would see him through, but unfortunately, he couldn’t take that risk. Rhea didn’t have the same protections he did, and if even one slipped past him, she would be defenseless against the mind magic.

“They are trying to pin us down!” He shouted, reinforcing his while sniping down the attempted mind-fucks.

The bearkin slammed hard against his shield once more, baring his fangs and reminding him not to take his eyes off him.

“Give me a minute!” Rhea shouted back, surprisingly not taking out any of her vials.

It took Nick a moment to realize what she was attempting to do, but when he did, he couldn’t help but grin.