Chapter 426: Becoming a Monstrous Predator

After the long journey south they had finally reached their destination: slaves, answers, and potentially even immortality were all within reach. The only problem now was that such things were never undefended, and even outside of the great barriers, each of the camps had a strong guard of cultivators. Cragrila had taken them close to the outer perimeter and showed them the different locations, which was where they planned now.

"The work camps only produce raw materials," Cragrila told them, "which are brought into the barrier, or into the Verdant River sect's headquarters. That's all I know."

"The raw materials probably aren't worth much," Omilaena said. "They have reasonably strong groups of guards, but the rest is security by obscurity. I'm not sure it's worth pursuing them directly."

Zae Zin Nim nodded. "I agree. Based on the qi I sense, it seems likely that they're developing materials for their immortality elixirs, but we don't have a chance of recreating the formulas on our own."

"Which means that there isn't much to gain by attacking the outer camps."

Both of them turned to look at Kai, who sighed and raised his hands. "Look, I know we're too close to the sect headquarters. Even if we freed them all, they'd just be killed immediately. But you're overlooking another advantage: information. Unless one of you has a way to break through those barriers, we need insider knowledge."

That made them fall silent for a while, exchanging glances that conveyed far more information than he could read. Eventually Cragrila spoke up. "Not to pile on, but there's another problem. The guards have special... necklaces, I guess you could call them?"

"Command medallions," Zae Zin Nim said.

"Right. Whatever they are, they have the ability to speak over distances. They can use those to call alarms - I saw some local cultivators try to break out and the guards were able to summon reinforcements immediately."

"That does increase the difficulty. Headquarters will likely check in with the sect from time to time as well. Based on the shipments, it might be only once every few days, but even that means that if we take any action, we're starting a timer until we face retaliation."

Kai glanced around the group, swallowing his frustration. He accepted that the ideal option wasn't always available to them, and he wasn't going to blindly follow the ethical path if it would lead to disaster. But here, where he was far from an expert, he could easily imagine them ending up going down a selfish path that trampled over innocents. Much as he loved his wives, he knew that Zae Zin Nim and especially Omilaena didn't have the same altruistic drive he did.

"You know..." Omilaena had been sitting back, quietly smoking her pipe, but now she spoke up with smoke escaping her lips. "We could use this as misdirection. Don't make it a direct attack on the Verdant River sect, just a problem that draws their attention."

"How would that work?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"First, Cragrila, were the camps ever attacked by monsters or sacred beasts?"

"Sometimes." The other woman stared back at her and her gaze shifted between them. "But this isn't like Deadwaste and the monsters aren't that strong. The cultivators always took care of them."

"But it's at least a possibility. We've been having Kai hide his monstrous side as much as possible... why not lean into it?" Omilaena turned to him with a venomous smile. "If you think you're capable of it, you could go down to one of the outer camps. Take out the guards before they can send a warning and leave their bodies to be found later, savaged by beasts. Don't let the prisoners see you, just kidnap the ones with useful information and let the others flee. Sound plausible?"

"I suppose it could work." Zae Zin Nim looked somewhat disgruntled, but nodded reluctantly. "A powerful monster coming out of the jungle would be shocking, but not unprecedented. So long as Kai can actually pull it off..."

"I'll try." He closed his eyes and began shifting his essence within him. "I still have Mutefang's Stealth, and I've been working on less explosive attacks. Pick the ideal target for me and I'll try it."

While the others debated the best choice of attack site, Kai sat down and focused on his monstrous side. Except that soon felt wrong... instead he crouched, posture more bestial than human. It felt a bit silly at first, then his body began to change with the Savage Heart. Claws and wings emerged first, and by the time black armored skin covered his body, he barely looked human.

Cragrila stared at him, visibly suppressing discomfort. Unlike many members of the revolution, she hadn't been terrified by his monstrous form, but growing up on Deadwaste with the constant threat of incursions, she definitely wasn't comfortable with it. It seemed insane that he'd come this far, now that he thought about it.

Fully indulging in this side of himself was a surprising relief, like he'd relaxed a muscle he didn't know he'd been clenching. Given how he'd lost control back in Yulthens, and again with Omilaena, he couldn't forget the lesson of letting his hunger out more often. Because the Savage Heart tapped into all his basest impulses, though, his mind was burning. He wanted to slaughter enemies, consume animals whole, grab his wives and take them back to the bedroom...

None of those would help him now. While he transformed, they had chosen their target, so it was time.

Kai moved to the edge of the ship on all fours and peered over the edge at the prison camp. He saw a cultivator in fine robes beating an old man who wasn't working fast enough. Another body in rags lay dead and one of the other guards dragged it away, presumably to be transported along with the others.

Anger wouldn't help him either. Kai focused on the monstrous instincts and felt his mind cool to an engine of calculating hunger. When Omilaena walked beside him and put a hand on his shoulder, he didn't feel any warmth.

"Yeah, we think this one is the best possible distraction." She nodded to the camp, then turned back to him. "This could work out for us, but if you can't pull this off, it will backfire. Be careful."

He growled out a response that may or may not have included a word, then jumped off the side of the ship.

When he hit the water, normally he would have been disgusted by the swampy murk, but in his current state it seemed to slide off him. He could even see fairly well when he opened his eyes, thanks to Sahagin's Soul. Kai swam upriver, reaching the point where the work camp was beside the river, and examined it carefully.

There was a small dock at one side, then walls extending into the jungle to enclose an area that seemed to be a farm for sacred herbs. Something to do with alchemy, more his wives' domain than his. What mattered was that he identified all of the guards on flying swords above the walls, then an outpost outside - separate from the working area, so they didn't fear being attacked in their sleep.

All told he counted twenty guards, including eight at Nascent Foundation stage and two at Earth Soul stage. Half along the walls, some at the dock, one inside beating the slaves, and the rest in the guardhouse. The Verdant River sect was definitely a formidable one, able to send out Earth Souls solely to guard resources like this.

But it really wasn't going to matter.

Two guards by the dock: Kai burst out of the water and caught one with each claw, then dragged them back into the river before they could even scream. If anyone glanced toward the splash, it was already too late. Underwater, he simply crushed them to death, denying his monstrous impulses a little longer.

Next he eliminated the biggest variable: the cultivators biding time in the guardhouse, who might wander or emerge at any moment. Kai opened the door silently and took a deep breath, drawing on Manticore's Quill. As they started to turn toward him, the venomous spikes burst from his body, impaling guard after guard.

The last started to raise his medallion in panic, but Kai was already on top of him, consuming the medallion and his arm in the same bite. After so long not using Isulfr's Bite, he was surprised by how intense the rush of blood was. He tore apart the rest of the bodies with tooth and claw, turning the inside of the guardhouse into a spectacle that no one would imagine had been caused by a person. None of them even had time to cough blood except dying gurgles, and many still had the dark quills embedded in their bodies.

Now he needed to take out the guards atop the walls, which was the most difficult task. They were spaced evenly around the work camp, presumably covering all angles and ready to sound a warning. Most likely they would first summon one another before sending an alarm to the main sect, or there would be too many false alarms, but he couldn't guarantee that, so best to eliminate them all.

Kai slipped into the forest and circled around the side, then climbed the wall. His claws easily sunk into the stone, taking him to the top just beneath where a cultivator floated. He watched the guard look left and right, waited until he was looking away, then leapt.

One claw went around his mouth, the other went through his chest, then they both dropped back into the woods without a sound. The floating sword hovered a little longer on residual qi, then fell into the trees as well.

Soon the others would notice their missing comrade, but Kai was already racing around the wall of the camp to the opposite side. He pushed Thunderbird's Wings as hard as he could with mana alone, traveling completely silently, then leapt onto the wall. The cultivators were just now starting to look away from him toward the missing guard, more surprised and irritated than afraid.

That was all he needed: Kai raced along one wall of the camp, tearing guards apart on his side while he launched Manticore Quills toward those on the opposite side. Every single guard fell dead except one he intentionally knocked out and separated from his medallion. The last was an Earth Soul, who Kai had left for last because he knew the man would take a moment to draw up his qi and prepare to fight instead of calling for help like a coward.

It turned out that an Earth Soul's qi tasted good.

Only one guard remained, the last Earth Soul down in the camp beating the prisoners. The old man lay limp, but in his current state Kai felt no sadness or guilt, only hunger. Focused on his cruelty, the last cultivator only then started to realize what had happened.

Kai charged directly through the camp wall, shattering the stone on all fours before he reared up in front of the man on his hind legs and tore the medallion off the cultivator's chest. The man let out a cry of fear and launched qi attacks at point blank range, but he was no elite cultivator with any powerful techniques or tricks. Attacking with simply 500 Power was no longer much threat to Kai, and he stepped through the flames and grabbed the last guard around the head. A simple step carried him across the camp to smash him against the opposite wall.

The prisoners, always fearful of punishment, were completely alert to what had just happened. Just in case that wasn't enough, Kai unleashed a weak version of Banchlain's aura. They all began to run from him in terror... conveniently, toward the hole he'd smashed in the wall.

Of course the speed he'd used previously would have killed all of them, but Kai stalked behind them slowly to drive them into the forest. He ignored the locals and focused on the Krysali - he'd hoped for someone else he knew, but they were just random people with crystal cultivation. When he grabbed them he'd planned to knock them out, but they did him a favor by fainting in shock.

Just when Kai started to think that he'd taken those he needed, he noticed a woman who remained in the area. Not out of bravery, instead she clung to a tree planted in one side of the camp. A moment later he blinked as he realized that his monstrous vision was rendering everyone as targets: the more important fact was that her skin was bright green.

Could she be some sort of dryad? Kai hadn't thought about dryads in years, since they didn't usually get into the north of Goralia, but he'd met one during his Hunter Trials. The essential issue was that they didn't have dryads on Cloudspire as far as he knew, only humans.

Much as he'd wanted to rescue an old ally, this could be more important. After checking that all the other prisoners had fled, Kai walked toward her and tried to return to himself. As he did, he let his monstrous traits slough off into pure energy.

The dryad was obviously still fearful for justifiable reasons, but she stared at him in a different sort of shock. "You're... Goralian?"

"That's right." That seemed to confirm his suspicions, which was almost as much of a shock to him. "What are you doing here?"

"You... you killed the guards, but you didn't actually kill any prisoners." She ignored his question, her eyes flickering anxiously around the camp. "Is... is that a Class?"

"Something like that." Kai did his best to look non-threatening, which probably wasn't very good given what he'd just done and the bloody chaos behind him. He gestured toward the tree behind her. "I want to get you safely out of here before any others come, but are you tied to that tree?"

"This one is just temporary, but I'll suffer without a home tree."

"Will it hurt you to move it?"

She shivered and placed a hand against the tree trunk. "They already severed roots so many times transplanting me. Please, I can endure a little discomfort, just get me out of here. Who... who are you?"

The ship descended behind him to hover in the center of the completely devastated camp and his allies jumped out to grab the rescued prisoners and the remaining unconscious cultivator. That meant a cultivator, a poisoner from Rosemount, and a crystallier, so the dryad's eyes bulged further as she stared at them.

Kai used claw-like hands to scratch the back of his neck. "That's kind of hard to explain."