Depthless Hunger

They'd made plans to wake him at the appropriate time, but Kai woke in the darkness, strangely alert. It wasn't yet time for their attack, so he had a moment to reflect.

Ideally he would have wanted another week to practice with his stealth skill, or a whole month to find better monster essence. Hell, while he was at it he wanted a decade to become strong enough to fight everyone in his path. All he had was his current strength, so he made sure Mutefang's Stealth was ready, swapped Tyrant's Claw for Void Gaze, and then finally rose.

Monstrous Hunger - XI (lambda)

Behemoth's Heart - VII (eta)

Direboar's Strength - XI (lambda)

Isulfr's Bite - VII (eta)

Void Gaze - VI (zeta)

Mutefang's Stealth - V (epsilon)

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They were awake, of course, and waiting for him. But at this point there wasn't much to say.

"We'll be around north," Omilaena told him. "If you get there by any means, we'll extract you."

"Good luck," Zae Zin Nim said.

He nodded to them both and then walked into the shadows of the forest.

All trees had been cleared around the obelisk facility, but he'd take any cover he could get. At least now when he moved through the forest he did so perfectly silently, half due to experience and half due to his new stealth. By the time he reached the edge of the forest and looked out toward the wall, he was fairly sure he couldn't have been detected.

Now the challenge they couldn't test or train for: Kai took a deep breath and then sprinted out of cover. He kept low to the ground and tried to wrap himself in monstrous essence, but there was nothing else he could do.

When he reached the wall he still hadn't heard any alarms or shouts of intruders. There were guards atop several towers, the lights of their lanterns obvious and their spiritual senses clumsy by his standards. Next he needed to get over the wall, without touching it... when Kai saw enough attention turn away, he took the wall in a single leap.

He landed lightly on the other side, not as agile as he would have been with an aerial skill but competently. All his time practicing that must have paid off. More importantly, he had passed through all the defensive fields without a flicker. His human soul was buried deep within himself, revealing only a nearly-invisible monster. If anyone looked at him that moment, they would see nothing but a threat.

There was nothing important just inside the wall, but there were so many different buildings and stacks of supplies that the next step was easy. First Kai needed to enter the warehouse where they suspected the obelisks themselves were carried, so the only difficulty was the door. When he found it unlocked he was so suspicious he almost backtracked, but eventually he edged inside.

Despite the deep blackness of the warehouse, he had surprisingly little trouble seeing, especially given the power contained within. It had been suppressed from the outside, but now he could feel dozens of anti-glamour obelisks. They didn't harm him, so he just counted the entire inventory carefully as he passed through. Over two dozen obelisks like they'd destroyed, but also at least forty smaller blocks of stone that felt similar. The elves would definitely want to know all this was coming their way.

Just in case he'd appeared at the edge of any guard's vision, Kai slipped out the other side of the warehouse instead of retracing his steps. His instinct was still to steal or destroy the obelisks, but intelligence was more important than power here.

One target down, but he wasn't sure how many more remained. At minimum he needed to get inside the blocky building beside the warehouse, which was presumably where the obelisks were created. There were also a few smaller buildings, if he didn't find anything important enough there.

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Crouched outside the door, Kai searched inside... and found people. Lots of people. He froze, for a moment expecting an ambush, then he realized that it couldn't be. None of the presences he sensed felt like warriors, and in his cautious spiritual senses they all had less than 100 Power. These were just workers, and their mere existence might be useful information.

He slipped inside and hesitated as he realized that the workers weren't lined up in beds - they were all chained to work desks. Thick manacles bound each one into their position and they all wore collars filled with some kind of dangerous chakra. Even if he couldn't sense their ill health and hear some whimpering in their sleep, it was obvious that they were slaves.

Kai remained just inside the door, counting the slaves to force his anger back down.

Of course it was no surprise to think that demons would enslave people, but they hadn't built this location. The growths and erosion on the walls suggested that the structure was reasonably old, and though Kai couldn't judge metal as easily, he didn't think the hooks that the chains attached to were a new addition. Better not to think about that for now.

He crept around the edges, looking for any offices that might have paperwork or special materials. Almost everything was the way Omilaena had guessed it was, so all he was doing was confirming. She definitely knew more than she let on, but the tension strangled all thought.

Still undetected, but he'd only gained general information. Nothing critical in the warehouse or main facility. Kai crept to the door and waited until he didn't feel any presences close. He thought he was getting away with his movements, but every time he passed through a door he must be increasing the risk. One more building. They must keep the records in one of the offices beside the slaves.

When Kai stepped outside, he felt a dark presence overhead. He immediately pulled back into the shadows, even before he saw the demon atop the roof. She was invisible except for her purple gaze, which flowed over the facility.

Had she noticed him? No, he'd be captured already. But she might have noted that something was wrong. After several deep breaths, her gaze moved on, so Kai decided to stick to the plan.

Inside the next building, Kai finally found the office he'd wanted. No one was awake at the moment, but they had ledgers and messages scattered across their desks. Kai crept between them, using his night vision to read the contents and memorize what he could.

It was there, in an empty office, that he made his worst mistake. All of his training had been in the forest, so it was all too easy to accidentally brush against a quill sticking away from one desk. He turned back and saw it tip over, the ink pot tumbling toward the floor outside his reach...

And froze in place as he activated Void Gaze.

Kai didn't dare breathe. He refused to allow himself to blink as he stepped back and took the frozen ink pot and quill out of the air. There was no way of knowing exactly what angle it had been sitting at, but he put it back as best he could and moved on more cautiously.

Finally he found what they needed: information about shipments. It sounded like the obelisks were all being taken to two different locations. Some to the northern border, which made sense, but others to a city called Traeton - right, the Commonwealth capital. As far as he knew there weren't a meaningful number of elves in Traeton, so the action seemed senseless unless it was paranoia.

Part of him was tempted to just take as much as possible and shove it all in his spatial ring, since others might be able to learn more. Kai reminded himself that would only invalidate so much of the intelligence he'd gained and finally crept out. Time to leave.

When he stepped out the door, Kai felt a presence overhead.

He froze again, realizing that the demon was standing on the roof of the office. For several long seconds he didn't breathe, tried not to exist at all, and eventually she leapt away to the roof of the main facility. That would give her a good vantage point of all the spaces between other buildings, so Kai dove for cover. Once on the other side of some supplies, he crept between them and the wall, toward the northern side.

They must not know he was there for sure, because the guards were still following their usual patterns. But the demon was prowling strangely, more alert than before. He needed to get out now, because discovery was becoming inevitable.

Just as he was waiting for his moment, chakra pulsed from the demon. He could see the purple ripple flowing over all the buildings, across the ground, toward him...

Kai leapt over the wall. He passed in darkness, and for a moment he thought he'd made it, then he felt one of his feet grow very cold.

When Kai landed he stared in horror: the foot he'd leapt off with was coated in purple chakra.

"Intruders!" The demon's voice thundered through the night. "Spread out!"

Kai sprinted to the nearest trees, so close to the point he needed to escape and yet so far. Worse, the chakra was still attached to his foot, growing heavier and colder. When he tried to brush it off, it was ineffective, and when he threw off his boot the chakra was bound to his skin as well.

The demon had marked him. If she didn't already know where he was, she probably would soon.

Kai bent down and tried to use his hunger to consume the chakra somehow, but it was a technique and not so easily destroyed. He could feel it throbbing now, and the chakra was spreading, and there was an answering throbbing... as he stared at his foot, Kai realized that he had one choice left and opened his jaws wide.

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