Aenon ran north of the city at his max speed; the land blurred even to his advanced perception. Due to Pinespire's location on a plateau, several avenues of attack were blocked by natural barriers. The cliff facing to the north, river to the west, and the beach to the south made defense slightly easier. But it didn't cut off the city completely. There was a narrow ramp to the east that allowed passage onto the raised ground, and a bridge at the other end which could be used to cross the river. And once at the city gates, there was ample ground in all directions to set up a prolonged siege.

Aenon halted and pulled up his map to see advancing war fronts based on the latest intel from scouts. He couldn't see beyond the map, but the routes the armies were marching on was concerning—they were coming from three separate directions. Barring the south, which had Misty Swells, it seemed the Alliance had them completely surrounded and boxed in. The two roads from Reality's Edge that went into the unknown had several lines converging in from beyond the mountains. Not to mention the lines coming in from west and south. The only places they avoided were Reality's Edge, the Treant dungeon, and Neverhelm.

Even the caves that Aenon had sent Bane to scout out—Crystal Vein, and Silver Falls—had hidden monster nodes that the Alliance fighters were passing through. Their strategy was simple yet effective. A stealthy advanced party would infiltrate the areas surrounding a city the Alliance had their eyes on. This group would then set up hidden areas where the monsters were held in stasis. That is till the true elites from the Alliance would march down a pre-planned route, collecting all the beasts into a veritable army.

As to why the elites came last, Aenon had a theory. Till the tutorial ended, they couldn't really join the fight within the cities. But killing the left-over monsters after the city fell, or eliminating anyone trying to escape was something they would definitely do. Aenon was sure the Alliance didn't really mind being branded with a red marker. In cities controlled by them, the local government held little to no power to enforce penalties.

But the main issue was the severe lack of fighters in Pinespire. They had decent defense capabilities, but the number of attackers was staggering. Which was why Aenon's party had decided to intercept and whittle down their ranks before they reached the city. The plan was to use guerilla tactics to kill as many of the monsters as possible before retreating to Pinespire for the final confrontation. Thalindra and Bane had gone west towards Neverhelm, while the others had headed east.

As for Aenon, he was going to intercept the northern front. Facing off against several thousand monsters, and several dozens of Alliance fighters was an uphill task even for Aenon. But this wasn't an elimination quest. Instead it was a way to sow discord and unease into the enemy's hearts before leaving undetected; something he was quite confident in.

More importantly though, he was finally back to his solo shenanigans—something he was desperately waiting for. As he headed towards the canyon wall to the north, he checked his Spell list once more. He needed to find more Spells to master; preferably a healing one this time. With all that was going on in the last couple of months, he had completely lost track of that goal.

Order Category Spells

Emergence – None

Light – Light Manipulation (Intermediate) | Cost: 200 + 150 /min

Life – None

Water – Water Manipulation (Major) | Cost: 300 + 200/min

Earth – Earth Manipulation (Intermediate) | Cost: 300 + 200/min

Chaos Category Spells

Void – None

Dark – None

Death – None

Fire – Fire Manipulation (Intermediate) | Cost: 300 + 200/min

Air – Air Manipulation (Major) | Cost: 300 + 200/min

Neutral Category Spells

Space – Physical Barrier (Intermediate) | Cost: 400 + 200/min

Time – None

Gravity – Gravity Well (Minor) | Cost: 200 + 400/min, Feather Foot (Intermediate) | Cost: 400 + 500/min

Energy – Heat Manipulation (Minor) | Cost 400 + 200/min

Arcane – Magical Barrier (Basic) | Cost: 400 + 200/min

Hybrid Spells

Blooming Earth (EM Proficiency + 1) | Overcharge + Earth Manipulation | Cost: 1500/min

Ice Manipulation (Lesser of AM and WM) | Air Manipulation + Water Manipulation | Cost: 600 + 400/min

Gravity Bomb (GW Proficiency +1) | Overcharge + Gravity Well | Cost: 1400/min

Steam Manipulation (Lesser of FM and WM) | Fire Manipulation + Water Manipulation | Cost 600 +400/min

Of all the categories he lacked a Spell in, void was by far the most annoying. Despite him having it as an innate affinity, the System—or the Admin—refused to let him have a void Spell. As for emergence-based Spells, he had completely given up on it. He had discussed it with Thalindra, and as per her explanation having Spells that were counter to your outer soul space was impossible, especially for an Awakened. Not to mention, emergent mana was rare to begin with and could only be found in handful of places in the galaxy.

That left life, death, dark, and time. Aenon had put off death attuned Spells on hold for now since it would require him to travel to places with death mana. Time Spells on the other hand he was very eager to learn. But apparently it was the hardest category to master since time mana was the most elusive of all. Therefore, he had to settle for dark and life Spells for now.

Aenon used Shadow Meld as he ran across the open terrain to study dark mana. The mana variant was more easily found at night, but his gear produced significant quantities of it. After what felt like forever, he managed to isolate it for a closer look. It was so similar to void mana that it was hard to separate the two. He could feel that he was at the cusp of figuring out Shadow Meld. If he was getting this right, it involved using shadow, void, and even space mana for it to activate. Quite a challenge since he had not attempted mixing three mana types before.

He was snapped out of his thoughts by faint soul signatures in the distance. His advanced soul sense—Sovereign's Aura— had grown to an insane eight-kilometer range. It ensured that nothing could sneak up on him that easily, while he could track his prey from miles away. Aenon changed course and headed towards the metaphorical scent he picked up. Each step confirmed his suspicion that he was on the right track.

Aenon stopped when he was five kilometers away from his target, which happened to be a cliff edge. From his vantage point, he could see a cloud of dust in the distance. His boosted perception also allowed him to observe the stampede hurtling down the canyon.

"Found the northern front," Aenon spoke in a more advanced version of a communication crystal. It had a much wider range than the regular ones.

"We are close to the ruins," Ignar's voice replied. "We should be in position to intercept the eastern front."

There was a pregnant pause as everyone waited for Thalindra to respond. Just when the silence was getting uncomfortable, her voice came through.

"Already engaged the western front," a raspy voice informed them before cutting off. The sounds of battle had also bled through the crystal; ones filled with screams of torment and pain.

Aenon smiled as he imagined the mayhem his wolves and Thalindra must have unleashed.

"Alright," he finally said. "You know what to do."

With that he cut off comms and analyzed the land below. The canyon was almost 20 kilometers wide. Trying to find a choke point was pointless. Instead, he was looking for a good ambush point that would let him retreat after his assault. He had two goals for this mission: thin the herd and leave them wondering what hit them.

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The city needed every advantage they could get, and a psychological upper hand would be crucial. A haggard, sleep deprived army would be easier to break. According to his estimates, it would take this group thirty-six hours to reach their destination. And he had no intention of letting them get a wink of sleep, or rest. He wanted the army to fear their own shadows by the time they reached Pinespire.

Aenon's lip curled as he imagined their haunted expressions. With a rough plan done, he dove off the ledge. Before he even hit the bottom, he had dissolved into the shadows again. Only a strange blur gliding across the land gave an indication of his presence. Within twenty minutes, he reached his clueless prey.

The rumble of hoof stomps, and clashing bodies was deafening. There were so many different species of monsters, several of which Aenon had never even heard of, that it was difficult to focus on one variant. They just marched on like mindless zombies, completely oblivious of their surroundings. The entire procession was in a roughly circular formation, with the puppeteers placed at regular intervals along the perimeter.

Aenon made a beeline for the ones in the rear, finding a group of three humans riding what looked like a cross between a horse and bison. His Identify gave him the general power levels of the group, which wasn't a lot to be honest. They were yet to notice the random shadow following them since there were hundreds of them roiling about.

Human | Mage | Level 94

Human | Mage | Level 96

Human | Warrior | Level 99

Grimhorn | Level 84

Grimhorn – A species of docile quadrupeds with curved horns that are harder than stone. These creatures have incredible stamina that allows them to gallop for days on end. This makes them prized mounts, for both travel and war.

The mana cost for his Shadow Meld was minimal since he was staying close to the horde. But the tactical stealth advantage was massive, since he could hear every single word, they were saying.

"Is it really necessary for us to mobilize so many nodes?" a slim woman with a staff said timidly.

Her voice was so low, that if not for Aenon's high perception he wouldn't have heard it. He decided to call her squeaky based on the tone of her voice.

"Mistress Lightbringer's orders," the apparent leader of the party, a behemoth of a man with impressive scar running down his face, said authoritatively.

"Yes, but we hardly activated five monster nodes while taking down the largest city to the north of the mountains," squeaky objected. "From our reports, this city is not even a quarter of the size. And most of its fighters have already retreated into the fold. Do we really need twenty nodes for it?"

"Nineteen," scar-face corrected his subordinate. "One of the nodes was eliminated before our forces reached it."

"Which is good for us," squeaky continued to argue. "It means they have already exhausted a significant portion of their forces. That node wasn't the largest, but still significantly sized. They must have taken quite the casualties to take it down."

Aenon quietly enjoyed the unease in scar-face's soul, as the man considered something. Aenon was fairly confident that their exploits were not shared amongst the common rank and file to avoid losing morale. Something their silent last member—broody—confirmed.

"They used some hidden weapon to destroy the pit," broody said quietly. "Not even a stone was left when our scouts reached it."

"They managed to build bombs?" squeaky asked incredulously.

"No," broody continued. "Explosions, via weapons or Spells, would have left traces. This time…there was nothing. No signs of a fight or even bodies. All the scouts found was a two-hundred-meter-wide spherical hole in the ground. It was like…someone hit delete on the world."

Aenon could feel the gears turning in squeaky's head. She asked hesitantly, "Was it the ice mage?"

"This was no ice Spell," scar-face rejoined the conversation. "Don't look too deep into it since the higher ups are trying to cover this up. We managed to uncover this information from one of the scouts who was there. Whatever this is, our leaders want to preemptively destroy it. And they are not taking any chances."

"But it will be difficult to rebuild the city," squeaky retorted, although Aenon sensed the hesitation in her voice. "I thought the goal was to take over one of the two settlements close to Arrowdeep."

"Yes," scar-face replied with an exhausted look. "But so far, we haven't managed to even get close to that cursed village. None of our high-ranking scouting parties have managed to pierce that mist. And if not for this hidden weapon of theirs, the Alliance would have benefited greatly by taking over Pinespire. These two towns are like chokepoints towards the port city. But we don't have a choice. The risk of the unknown threat is too big."

Aenon finally understood why the Alliance was so interested in the area. Geographically, Pinespire, and Reality's Edge were on the path towards the port city of Arrowdeep. And even though he wasn't great with economics or business, the benefits of controlling a port were obvious. He couldn't wait to get his hands on a larger map to see how important his two settlements were. Based on the interest the Alliance showed them, it seems they were sitting on a gold mine.

He quietly slunk away from the trio, surveying the perimeter of the horde. There was a group of two to three humans every dozen meter or so, with every party having at least one mage with a similar looking staff to squeaky's. Aenon sensed dense mana from them, but he didn't want to risk casting Identify of them yet.

Aenon had learned his lesson of not interacting with unknown objects after the bone-ward scandal within the Goblin cave. Better to prepare first.

He took two full rounds of the slow marching army, making sure to keep his distance in order to avoid any detection Spells. So far, he hadn't come across anything that bypassed his Shadow Meld. But he didn't want to risk his stealth for what he had planned next.

With careful precision, he approached the left flank, the side facing the mountain. There were just two sentries present, which made Aenon's plan easier to implement. The two men were casually discussing their harassment of one of the women at some local bar. Their comments made Aenon's skin crawl, but he kept his emotions in check and walked up behind them.

The reason he had picked these two was their carelessness; they were walking too close to the lines of mind-controlled monsters. Aenon used Earth Manipulation to raise a tiny rock in the staff wielding man's path. And in their boisterous state, the guy didn't even notice as he tripped and fell. Right under the foot of the enormous elephant like creature whose shadow they were using to stay away from the scorching sun.

Crunch.

Before his partner even realized what was happening, his friend's head was crushed to a bloody pulp beneath the zoned-out monster.

"What the…," the surviving vermin screamed in horror.

Aenon quickly made himself scarce, observing from a save distance. With the death of the staff wielder, some of the monsters started marching out of sync. The perfect lines were now starting to skew to the left.

Someone must have noticed the anomaly and reported it back, since scarf-face rode in on his mount and started observing the mess. The entire procession screeched to a halt, while they started tightening their formation to pick up the slack. The staff too had been pulverized in the stampede. Or so they thought.

"You had one job," scar-face erupted in fury. "Guard the mage and the staff."

"But sir, I did," the man pleaded on his knees. "He…he just tripped and fell."

Aenon observed with a smile as the moron was chewed out by his superior. But that only gave Aenon more time to set up his next ambush. It took them twenty minutes to reform the web of control using the remaining staves. And the reason was obvious based on the quick Identify that Aenon managed before snapping the weapon.

Control Rod 54E1 | Staff | Uncommon | A control device that allows the user to command tamed beasts. Mana cost is proportional to the number of monsters being commanded, and the distance to them.

It made sense why the group was spread out this way. Each mage was directly controlling a portion of the horde. And with the fall of one, it would be harder on the others to maintain the constant mana expense.

A vicious smile formed on Aenon's face as his plan evolved with this information. If sowing discord and mayhem was their goal, then he had found just the perfect nerve to strike. He continued to stalk his prey, witnessing with glee as "accidents" continued to occur every hour or so. He deliberately chose not to destroy the control staves every time, since it forced the other mages to take up the control duties.

Scar-face was at this wit's end, trying to understand why his seemingly well-oiled machine was suddenly having performance issues. From the look of things, they had practiced this maneuver extensively. But it was hard to find a pattern to the "accidents" when all the excuses pointed to human error.

While some stumbled on the uneven terrain, others had seemingly marched out of sync from tiredness. Aenon chuckled internally as the man tried to figure out why his trained warriors were tiring this easily. A five percent increase in gravity was hard to detect after all.

The group had to stop again after five hours, since the control mages were starting to run low on mana. With so many accidental casualties, their mana channels were starting to feel the pressure. The reason they had so many mages was to switch out regularly. But now that they were starting to rely on mana potions—whose efficacy reduced with frequent use over a short period of time—it was starting to weigh on them heavily.

Even though it was still midday, scar-face had to call for a temporary reprieve. Aenon saw the frustrated man take out another artifact, a wand of some kind, that put the monsters to sleep. From the feelings of worry in the man's soul, Aenon theorized that either the item had limited charges to use, or the cost was quite high to use it.

Several men fell to the ground from mana exhaustion, including squeaky. Aenon though didn't attack, weaving through their ranks like a ghost as he picked up any intel he could. And the information was enlightening to say the least.

Apparently, most of the group came from two cities beyond the mountains up north. But the web of control spread wider than that. From what he gathered, there were two cities to the north, one in the west, and three towards the east. The societal structure after the Alliance took over had quickly devolved into a feudal system. There were lords and ladies at the top, followed by their retainers and servants, and finally the common folk. It was quite like the autocratic systems in some of the Asian empires of old.

From what little history Aenon had studied before he abandoned society, such a system was very efficient for just one thing: war. It allowed decentralized control of the masses by the appointed warlords, while allowing quick mobilization of troops. It removed the headache of governance from the central authority, an emperor in most cases, while allowing those at the top to deploy well trained armies with a simple call.

As to why the commoners, or peasants as they were normally referred to as, would follow such a thing? For the simple promise of safety by their hegemon. All they would need to do is pay their taxes and tributes, while the ruling class did all the fighting.

Aenon could see why the people from Earth would like such an arrangement. A violent life was foreign to most of the population, having been used to the safety that modern technology had brought them. And with the fall in existential dangers, so had the need to rely on dictators. Why would a middle-class office worker stand oppression when there was no fear of being mauled to death in the streets by an animal or bandit. Societal laws existed for a reason.

But in this new reality, all those protections were stripped. People were yet again forced to face their mortality. Something most people were not ready to do. And it was something the Alliance exploited well.

Aenon clenched his fists in anger as a group laughed at how a bar owner was incentivized to hand over the ownership of the establishment in exchange for protection in an upcoming caravan. It made several bad memories resurface, but he pushed those down.

His eyes narrowed as he marked his targets. The oblivious fools had forgotten one key problem in their plan.

Yes, they could exploit the weak since personal power was everything here. Yes, they could force their will on the weak in this lawless world.

Blinded with greed, they forgot one glaring issue.

There was always a bigger fish around. And by accepting the law of the jungle, they had chosen to step into Aenon's world.

And in a jungle, a predator reigned supreme.

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