Chapter 164: Sublime

    November 6, 623

    I was in the war room with Colonel Henrik. The man and I had gotten proficient at working with each other over time. He too had made a deal like mine with Polly, so we were in the same boat. Even better, in my eyes, was that he too was a summoner, and that made our conversations interesting.

    My mind worked pretty fast now. Normally I’d forget things just as fast, but my power wouldn’t let that happen. With these two things combined, I was often multiple steps ahead of the people I spoke with. The first few times I had unconsciously interrupted someone, I had gotten quite the dirty look. After a while, I learned to curb it, but it only made conversations that much more boring. Thankfully I wasn’t interacting much with my Platoon, otherwise the problem would be exacerbated.

    Almost all of my time recently was spent somewhere in headquarters, and I started seeing my name less and less on patrols. I had a feeling it was by Polly’s order, but I didn’t mind. Patrols were mind-numbingly boring.

    In exchange, I crunched data with the Colonels. I had gone through hundreds of papers in the past several weeks, with dozens from Polly herself, filling what little time I had left with old reports in storage. It was all deskwork stuff, but I was actually having some fun. My powerful mind made it interesting. If I were still an ordinary man, I would’ve been bored to death twice over.

    This also meant, however, that my conversations with the Colonels were rather peculiar. We spoke quickly, never repeated ourselves, and packed our conversations with contractions, acronyms, and information that required a hundred pages of background information to properly understand. Something as simple as pointing out an adjustment in a Scourge encampment could take months of context to understand and utilize for further predictions. I was playing catch-up a lot of the time because of that.

    But I was also a summoner, and to be frank, my mind was much more powerful than Colonel Henrik’s. He was a smart man who had been doing this stuff for years, but my sheer power was pushing me closer to his level at a rapid pace.

    As for Polly, she was actually a very powerful summoner. Apparently she had two Sparks, making her mind a step more powerful than my own. Given another advancement, I would probably close the gap, but with her sheer experience and intelligence, the actual difference between us was pretty vast. Her predictive abilities had humbled me quite a few times already.

    Well, I was certainly learning a lot. My studies were coming along nicely and I was making tons of progress across all areas. However, I still found myself longing for a good mission. Having gotten used to fighting, with all the irony, at the Magisterium, not doing anything felt weird.

    I had a lot of “time off” working in headquarters. And this mission we proposed to the Marshal was my next big gig.

    She spent a whole two days thinking it over, occasionally calling Polly back to consult, but ultimately, the decision for something of this scale remained with the Marshal. This wasn’t recon or a sensor check. This was an infiltration deep behind enemy lines.

    And finally, the decision came back.

    As I lounged about in the war room, skimming yet another stack of old reports, Polly suddenly entered with a few papers, a slight smile on her face. I turned to her and returned it with more enthusiasm.

    “So?”

    “The mission was accepted. We’re green to go.”

    “Hell yeah.”

    “There was a change to the candidates though.”

    She looked me in the eye, and my smile vanished.

    “John, you’re not going.”

    “...”

    “She said you’re not suited for something so dangerous, and that there are much better soldiers who can handle the mission requirements in a shorter period of time. It would take 8 to 12 weeks with you there, but half the time with someone else.”

    “It’s not about the time, it’s about the quality of the data collection. And did you tell her about my recent recon mission?”

    “I agree, and yes I did. But you have to understand that, technically, we can get by with a report from one of our Snow Doves. They know what to look for too. There’s a reason they’re a Snow Dove.”

    “... I want to talk to her.”

    I stood. Polly moved to put herself in front of me before I could even start toward the door, evidently having predicted my action before I even considered it.

    “Stand down, John. There’s no good way your conversation with a Marshal can end.”

    “I’m supposed to be on that mission. There’s no good reason why I shouldn’t be. The time difference is negligible compared to the information I can bring back. We could have a grasp of their entire operation beyond Hare’s Pass in two months! She wants to trade that just so she can have three soldiers back a handful of weeks earlier instead?!”

    “No, John. The issue is that you have an alarmingly high chance of dying with every single day that passes over there.”

    “I would argue the oppo-.”

    “Shut up and let me speak!”

    Her voice rose as she stepped up to my chest. I was taller but she did her best to get eye to eye.

    When was the last time I’d been yelled at like this? I could smell her dark blue hair with how close she was, and given her stature, she was reminding me a lot of my own mother. Maybe that’s why my mouth snapped shut.

    Her voice fell again.

    “You’ve been here for two months John. I admit you’re taking to all of this amazingly well, but you’re letting your position in this war room get to your head. Don’t forget that not only are you only a Captain, but you’re an Authority Five summoner. No base within the Kingdom has ever had to deal with someone like you, so, with the information on hand, you can’t blame a Marshal for rejecting the idea of you going on a sensitive and high-risk mission. We’ve gotten by without you so far. We won’t collapse just because you can’t get out there and use those fancy eyes of yours. So stand down, and don’t make any stupid decisions unbefitting of your rank. Do I make myself clear?”

    “...Yes ma’am.”

    “Then go and take the rest of the day to cool off. We will reconvene tomorrow.”

    I stared at her for a second before saluting, receiving one in return before walking out.

    ...

    Polly sighed when John walked out, straightening her blouse.

    “Feels like I just scolded my son.”

    “... How old is he? I never looked at his profile,” Colonel Henrik carefully probed.

    Polly set down the sheaf of papers.

    “Only 23. He’s basically still a child.”

    “A very smart child. Kid is absorbing knowledge faster than I can give it to him.”

    “Which is great, until he gets in over his head.”

    “You knew the Marshal would reject him?”

    Henrik turned to Polly, scratching his scraggly beard. He was approaching 60 but still looked middle-aged. The only hint of aging was the slightest thinning of hair, and the occasional gray wisp more likely attributed to stress than any sign of aging.

    Polly sat down and closed her eyes.

    “Of course. He never had a chance.”

    “Never?”

    “John’s got some big names watching him. The Marshal would never risk his life like that, regardless of whether he could handle it or not. But even besides that, my reasons from before still apply. He’s young, inexperienced, and much too comfortable throwing himself into danger. I need to reign him in. I just thought hearing it from the Marshal would be better. I didn’t think he’d actually go try to talk to her.”

    “Heh, he’s got balls.”

    “Which is more than I could say for most of the soldiers and intelligence agents I’ve met. But they’ll get him killed if he’s not careful. He just needs someone to help keep him in check, keep him safe.”

    “Hm.”

    Hanrik hummed, smiling a bit as Polly started to run through some more papers.

    She looked tired and angry, but that was normal; with what some would call a resting bitch face, she never looked happy, and her off-putting bluntness certainly didn’t help matters.

    But what wasn’t normal was explaining herself like she did to John. She had outright shut down people much stronger and more dangerous than John, and for much less. But she had taken the time to rationalize things, which spoke volumes.

    Of course, John didn’t recognize that. But he hadn’t been here long. Either way, it seemed Polly wanted to take care of the kid. Even Henrik felt a bit proud of him.

    Summoners had to stick together, and letting others into their circles was very rare. But when a summoner came around who was extraordinary in just about all aspects, they just couldn’t help but latch on.

    John was a genius, even though he acted far from one. He could go toe to toe with the most talented knights and warlocks at his level, something impossible for other summoners. And more importantly, he wasn’t afraid to use his gifts. It wasn’t enough to be capable of fighting knights and warlocks, or even the Scourge. For a summoner, one had to muster the courage to even face them. A summoner was fragile, could be killed on a whim. John was no different, and yet he faced all of it unhesitantly. He had the scars to prove it.

    This meant that some, like Polly, wanted to nurture him. Making sure he didn’t throw himself behind enemy lines and get killed was the first step toward doing that, even though it robbed him of valuable combat experience.

    ......

    ...

    Umara looked over Tana’s shoulder as they cleared the valley, seeing that entity emerge from the treeline.

    It had arms so long its elbows could almost drag on the floor, skinny and vascular and ultimately disgusting. On the other hand, its legs were thick and muscled.

    The creepy part was probably its neck, at least 2 feet long, from which an emaciated human face sprouted, thin wisps of hair hanging from its scalp. It gave Umara chills whenever she looked into its pitch black eyes.

    A Corrupted, once human, now... not.

    The struggle someone put up during the corruption process could be visualized by how mutated they were. The more they struggled, the more they mutated, until they eventually broke and gave in. In this case, it seemed whatever unfortunate soul once within that body had put up a good fight.

    Umara remembered the girl from John’s homeland, Aki. She told of entire armies of Corrupted returning to their once homes to decimate their cities. She couldn''t imagine an army of these monstrosities. She could barely stomach one.

    And she’d try to put that soul out of its misery if it weren’t so damn strong. Thankfully Tana was fast and had seemingly endless stamina.

    The two continued bounding across the terrain until they saw a huge cliff appear. About 400 meters across was another cliffside, which led to the rest of the land that would bring them back to the base. If they didn’t jump the clif, they’d have to go the long way around, easily doubling the travel distance.

    Umara didn’t think they had it in them to last that long, not unless they used her one-off knife attack. She wanted to do what she could to avoid that though. That was her last resort.

    “Hold on tight.”

    Tana spoke, picking up speed before launching herself off the cliff.

    Right as she did, Umara formed a spell, pressurized air exploding behind them and launching them even further. After that, the winds formed and carried them, splitting out of their way before looping around and propelling them.

    Umara remembered one of John’s lessons on aerodynamics. If she had wings like a bird, she’d definitely be able to fly. Unfortunately, the two girls were about as aerodynamic as a brick, so there would be no flying yet.

    For a second, Umara remembered that she needed to start dabbling in spatial magic soon. It fell under the air element, but knowledge of it was top secret, almost on par with Aura in how restricted it was. Fortunately, Umara was getting so good at forming new spells that it might not matter whether she had something to teach her or not.

    First though, they needed to get back to base. Alive.

    The propulsion was enough to get them across. Tana slammed into the ground, jolting Umara’s body and making her cringe in pain. After taking a quick breath, Tana kept running.

    The Corrupted continued sprinting after them, jumping off the cliff as well. It soared much farther than Tana did, but didn’t make it all the way across, slamming into the cliff face.

    Then, it started climbing, it’s long arms and fingers stabbing into the rock and throwing itself up with uncanny strength.

    Tana and Umara could hear it coming, but it wasn’t as fast as them. Now, the distance between them had widened massively. They were a half mile away by the time the Corrupted finally made it to the top.

    When it got over, it looked off into the distance and saw the two running. It stood there, watching as they eventually disappeared over a mountain.

    Then, it clawed the ground with its arms, launching itself dozens of meters, moving even faster than before.

    Umara clicked her tongue.

    “It’s gaining.”

    “Unless we want to fight it, we’re going to have to keep it away for the next several minutes.”

    “Give me a number.”

    “... six minutes.”

    “Six minutes of brain-liquifying spellcasting... Let’s do it. All in.”

    “Then here we go.”

    Tana lowered her body, her muscles flexing like steel cords before shooting them forward.

    A mile a minute was a pretty big ask, especially since she was carrying Umara. But Tana knew that it was either that, or they’d have to fight this impossible enemy. Like Umara, she didn’t feel like rolling those dice.

    So she used her spatial storage to strip off her armor and weapon before putting her all into running.

    The area they ran into was hilly, so Tana was forced to fight gravity as they gained and lost elevation. She was moving fast, but that Corrupted was moving a bit faster.

    As she ran, Umara maintained air spells to help Tana move while slinging others to stifle the Corrupted. She cut down trees and threw them in the Corrupted’s way, blew sharp gusts of wind that slowed its speed, and used some explosive fire magic to throw it off.

    More blood went down her eyes and nose, a vein or two popping from her forehead.

    It felt much longer for Tana, but two minutes passed quickly. At that mark, she started breathing heavily. Still, she kept her speed.

    When the four minute mark came, her legs started twitching, her heaving lungs unable to adequately supply oxygen. That’s when she actually sped up though as more vigor poured through her body.

    Then, after another minute or so, they crested a hilltop and came in view of the base.

    Unfortunately by that time, the Corrupted was also on top of them.

    Both of their heads swung around when that monstrosity launched a blade of energy from its long fingers. They gouged the floor ahead of Tana, forcing her to sidestep to avoid a nasty trip and fall, but it worked just as well in killing some of her speed.

    She kicked up right as she was safe though, the ground sinking under her foot as she shot off once more.

    The muscles across her legs spasmed, but she continued anyway. At the same time, Umara cast some final spells, a brilliant display of red exploding in the sky as a standard-issue warlock signal flare.

    She’d gotten their attention, one way or another. But their battle wasn’t over yet.

    Tana dodged once more as another set of blades flew her way. That allowed the Corrupted to get in range, a tree-length spear materializing in its hands.

    Umara’s eyes bulged.

    “God, what the hell kind of spear is that?! This guy is all about reach, huh?!”

    “I can’t fight that with my sword!”

    Tana shouted, dodging a spear strike and continuing to run just as Umara launched some explosive spells. They were powerful, not something the Corrupted could ignore.

    That gave them room, Tana using the last of her strength to sprint toward the base.

    She covered another half mile in a dozen seconds, but then, she felt her neck tingle in danger.

    Umara shouted.

    “Keep running!”

    Tana ignored the danger and rushed forward, wholeheartedly trusting in Umara.

    Gritting her teeth in concentration, ignoring the now substantial amount of blood flowing from her eyes, Umara materialized spell circle after spell circle.

    The series of tiny compressed fireballs detonated on the spear, the force of their explosions just enough to carry it off its trajectory and force it to slam into the ground mere inches from Tana’s heel.

    It created a rift when it hit the ground, but they were completely safe. Umara’s ear-to-ear grin was sufficient testament.

    The precision, sublime. The timing, divine. That was her most impressive feat this month.

    Then, the calvary arrived.

    Several knights came charging through the gates, two of them Authority 9. It seemed like they didn’t want to miss a good target, so they were enthusiastic.

    They shot past Tana, but the Corrupted had turned on a dime and ran right after its failed strike.

    The three shot into the distance. Umara was in too much pain to give a damn about whether or not they killed that thing.

    Finally, they made it to the gates. Tana immediately fell to her knees in absolute exhaustion, her body shaking and her limbs burning pink. Umara jumped from her arms to relieve the load.

    She bent down and brushed the blonde hair out of Tana’s face. However, this day wasn’t over.

    Umara lifted her gaze and scanned the surrounding people with a nightmarish face. She was pissed, and someone was about to take the heat.