SB: Chapter 248 – The Beastkin Continent, Round 2 (Patreon)

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It had been two months since we had descended in the Eldarin continent. Now we were at the beastkin continent looking at the passage to the surface. Boris had been incredible, not complaining or making a fuss besides constantly working out during our rest periods. His dedication to physical training was both inspiring and daunting.

It was only now that I realized I had screwed up. I hadn’t thought about where we would emerge on the beastkin continent. I just assumed we would return where I had entered the dungeon before, in that ruined city, but that wasn’t the case. The passage to the surface was different and showed clear signs of recent use.

There was a strong chance we were under a beastkin controlled entrance passage, which was a huge headache. Thankfully I had prepared for the beastkin. Not them specifically, but general stealth options while at the College. I wasn’t about to spend a 1,000 platinum reward on the sword case without getting some supporting equipment.

I had Ozy begin creating a nook in the wall and then concealing it. I also pulled out a scent concealing potion and poured it on the ground. The Mana of the potion dispersed into the air, neutralizing any scents for the next several hours. I didn’t want anything leaking up and out of the entrance passage.

I then got out two scent concealing cloaks. I passed the larger one to Boris and he put it on. I put mine on as well. “You will hide in the nook Ozy is making and concealing. I am going to check up above,” I said.

“Very well,” he replied with a short head nod. Truly the man was a beacon of stoic composure. I pulled out another potion and swallowed it, my scent was concealed and adjusted. My soul felt itchy, which was weird, but thankfully this was only temporary. I also pulled out an illusion mask and put it on.

It wouldn’t hold up to being touched and wouldn’t move like that soul face mask Whiteclaw had let me use, but a quick glance under my hood wouldn’t reveal me as a human. I then put on specifically made gloves that went up my arms, making my hands look like paws. I didn’t have anything for a tail, but most beastkin didn’t look at other beastkins’ tails.

Judy’s father, Nyx had helped me come up with the disguise. He told me it would work on casual inspection and certain cultural things I needed to do. But I shouldn’t count on it if I was closely scrutinized. Getting something that would hold up under close inspection would have been far too costly.

I hid away my spatial pouch and made sure to pull out a couple of regular pouches of Mana cores. With everything done, it was time to see if I could somehow get Boris out through this exit with the sword case.

Ascending the exit staircase, I kept my breathing steady and adjusted my gait. At the top of the entrance, there was just a single low level wolfkin, around level 40. I guess I had desired to get as close to the sword as possible, which was why I had shown up at this passage with Compass Of Desire. I began to understand why a lot of people were frustrated with divination skills.

“Wolfkin,” I said with a heavy sigh as I shook my head under the hood of my cloak.

“Who are you? All teams are at the walls, defending the settlement,” the wolfkin said.

“Red Sword from the Cat Clan. How annoying,” I said.

“Um, I need to stay guard here, but the Alpha needs to know,” the wolfkin said nervously.

“First tell me about this siege?” I asked.

“Five demons, with hordes of monsters have surrounded the settlement. Everyone is focused on defending the walls. We sent a call for help, but haven’t heard anything. But a strong adventurer like you would help tilt things in our favor,” the wolfkin explained nervously.

“Sleep.”

The wolfkin collapsed to the ground in the small fortified room he had been standing guard in over the dungeon entrance. I used the Compass Of Desire to find a route to another passage to the surface. The skill just kept spinning around and around. After five minutes, despair gripped me.

Of course, the demons wouldn’t want the beastkin to escape. Once I showed up here, I was trapped just like the Wolf Clan. The best option was to break through quickly. Thankfully the dark season wouldn’t be for another couple of months. It was near sunset. We needed to leave the dungeon, find a place to hide, while I scouted the situation to find a breakthrough point.

The fight with Ozy had distracted me during my ascent and I hadn’t even thought such a thing was possible. There might be something recorded at the College, but there was so much knowledge, even condensed by research studies one could spend a lifetime reading through everything.

 I quickly descended back down and pulled out another scent concealing potion and a metal mask. The mask wasn’t as good as mine, but that was fine. It just had to stop the beastkin from immediately recognizing Boris as a human.

“Drink this to hide your scent and put this mask on. Stay behind me, keep your hood up, and your head down. We need to break out of this settlement and past the battle lines,” I told Boris. It was risky, but our only option at the moment.

Whatever the demons had done would ensure there was no escape back the way I had come. Or if there was a way through the dungeon, Compass Of Desire wasn’t a high enough level. Ozy flew over and went under my cloak as we ascended back up.

“Sleep.”

I wanted the wolfkin to sleep as long as possible. We were in a metal building, with no light source. Thankfully my Darkness Vision was more than enough to see. I pushed open the only door to this large room.

Thankfully it wasn’t locked or barricaded. There was a corridor on the other side with more doors. “Follow me closely and close the door behind you,” I told Boris who nodded. I left the passage room and Boris closed the door.

I didn’t run, but I didn’t walk slowly either. Thankfully the layout was similar to the fortresses used at dungeon entrances on the Eldarin continent. The hallway turned left after a bit with arrow and spell slits to fire down the corridor in case there was a dungeon breach.

There were no other guards. The Wolf Clan had to be completely strapped of people to only leave a single guard at a dungeon entrance. The main door to the outside was barricaded shut, which made sense. If there was an attack from the dungeon, the one guard was meant to sound the alarm and hopefully the building would hold until reinforcements returned.

It made sense that the beastkin wouldn’t want to rest here since they were being attacked by demons and monsters. There should be a side entrance over here if the layout was the same. There was another smaller exit door. I tested it, but it was locked as well from the other side.

I pulled out my sword and cut around the handle of the metal door. Cold air rushed into the building where I had cut. Ah, the lovely cold of the beastkin continent. I had cut away the lock and was able to push open the side door. It opened out into the main plaza. There were no beastkin around, but I heard sounds of fighting in the distance.

We exited from the dungeon fortress and Boris closed the door behind us. It would be obvious it had been cut open, but once the guard woke up, the wolfkin would know regardless. I had considered killing the guard, but there was no need to stir up more trouble than was needed.

By leaving the guard alive, it showed I wasn’t an enemy, but also wasn’t a friend, at least that was my hope. With beastkin culture, it wasn’t always a clear thing even after the studying and preparation I had done for my return.

I could see two large canyon walls on either side of the settlement, with various structures built up onto the walls. The other settlement was built like the letter ‘V’ inside of a canyon, with a couple of bridges spanning across the settlement. This settlement was a lot more vertical than the bowl shaped Fox Clan settlement. I noted that the structures near the top of the canyon were all destroyed and there appeared to be spikes pointing upwards that had dried and frozen blood covering them.

The fighting sounds were coming from both ends of the canyon. Our best option was going up and over the side, but the sun was already setting. I had no doubt that demons had monsters up top. Better to wait and rest for a night before trying to break out of the siege.

While tempting to have Ozy fly up, he wouldn’t be able to communicate the situation to me mentally. Another downside of what I had done, but it was too late for regrets now. Also he was sure to be targeted.

This settlement probably had around five legends if they were managing to hold off five demons. Most likely more, but less than ten. As we moved through the settlement, we passed a couple of beastkin that glanced our way, but they hurried on to whatever they were doing.

Looking around, there were no beastkin nearby. I pushed open a door to a house and there was a small layer of dust over everything, not that there was much inside for dust to rest on. Boris entered behind me and shut the door.

There were a couple of metal shelves, a dented metal cup in the corner, and a couple dirty rags. That was it. No bed and no furniture. “We need to wait quietly and then leave tomorrow morning. No working out or doing anything,” I said and Boris nodded before moving over to a corner of the room and sitting down quietly. I looked at him for a moment and shook my head. He was handling everything really well.

I took my seat facing the door with my sword on my lap. I had Ozy wait up above the ceiling above the doorway. If anyone entered he would swoop down and kill them. I could continue to hear sounds of fighting, but I wasn’t about to check. Even looking at such a battle was liable to draw attention from a legend.

While the legends of the beastkin were weaker than those on the Eldarin continent due to the lack of legacies and skills, I wasn’t about to underestimate one. The sheer stat difference would be absolutely crushing.

I wasn’t going to make the mistake I did last time of undercounting stats. I still felt stupid about that. Even an elite beastkin would have around 1,600 stats to my 613 at last count. They were probably a bit higher now since I last checked, but the difference was massive. If I used my free stat points and went up to level 40, I would have around 1,000 stat points, which would make fighting with elites doable, but I would still have half the stats of a proper legend.

My equipment and skills had helped make up the difference last time against weaker demons. I had no doubt that these ones were stronger since they were capable of laying siege to this settlement for a while.

They might have even been sieging this place after taking out the Fox Clan settlement I had been in. The blue skin demon was another concern, since it had used monsters when attacking me and knew some of my skills.

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