NOVPUB
Chapter 171: The Way Of The Cult
"We’ll perform a search around there since we don’t know the exact location of the base, surely Yua can help out."
"Any idea which Finger is there?" Bran asked.
Tobias shook his head. "Not confirmed. Could be one of the lower-ranked ones. Or it could be worse."
Zayn tapped the map. "These hills here — natural bottlenecks. If they’re using them for ambushes, we could be in trouble. Especially if we go in with a carriage."
"That’s why we’re walking," Tobias said. "Carriages are loud, slow, and vulnerable. On foot, we can track better and avoid routes they might expect."
Kara leaned over the table, pointing to a small grove near the trail’s edge. "We could rest here overnight on the second day if we pace ourselves. It’ll give Elisse time to recover mana."
"I’ll take the front," Seren added. "I can scout ahead with the shadows."
Zayn looked at her and nodded. "We’ll need that. If it’s a trap, I want to know before we’re knee-deep in cursed mud."
Yua, who had been quiet until then, finally spoke. "I’ll make sure we have high ground options along the way. I can mold terrain if things go south."
Tobias glanced around the room, meeting everyone’s eyes one by one.
"This is going to be rough," he said. "We’re stepping into enemy territory. No reinforcements, no backup. If we run into one of the Fingers... we either win or we die. Simple as that."
The weight of his words settled heavily over them.
No one flinched, no one backed down. They knew what was at stake. And more than that, they trusted each other now.
Zayn rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. "Guess it’s time we made our mark. I’m tired of running into cultists by accident. Let’s give them a reason to start fearing us."
Bran smirked. "Hell yeah. Let’s turn the swamp into a graveyard."
...
The sun had barely breached the horizon when they departed Elmond’s Rest.
Dew clung to blades of grass as Tobias led the group along a winding trail that veered eastward, the morning air still heavy with the chill of night.
Birds called in the distance, their songs a temporary reprieve from the battle-scarred silence they had grown used to.
It was early, too early for trouble, and that made Zayn wary.
"The marshes aren’t far," Kara noted, glancing at the map Tobias had given them. "Less than an hour’s walk. We should reach the outer edge by sunrise."
Bran slung his double-headed axe across his shoulders. "Let’s hope it’s as quiet as it looks on this thing."
Yua gave a soft snort. "In a place like this? If it looks peaceful, it’s lying."
They all knew she was right.
The path gave way to a shallow slope, and soon the dry ground faded into something else entirely — a world of green and glassy water.
The Eastern Marshes stretched out like a living painting.
Pools of crystal-clear water reflected the early morning sun, and patches of green grass floated like tiny islands across the surface.
Reeds swayed lazily in the gentle breeze, and dragonflies skimmed across the water, wings shimmering with iridescent light.
"It’s... beautiful," Seren whispered, wide-eyed.
Elisse nodded, though she kept her stave close. "Too beautiful."
They stepped forward, boots splashing gently as they waded into ankle-deep water.
The marsh was cool, almost pleasant.
Even the humidity was bearable this early in the day. They moved cautiously but without true alarm. No resistance. No monsters. Not even the buzz of a mosquito.
It should’ve been a red flag.
"We’ll sweep east," Zayn said, voice low. "We’re looking for any signs of the cult — campsites, offerings, magical residue, anything."
They spread out, maintaining a wide formation as they pressed deeper.
Kara channeled soft pulses of detection magic, her fingers lightly glowing.
Elisse conjured small, rotating healing orbs just in case.
Bran tapped the edge of his axe against his palm, eyes darting across the horizon.
Seren knelt occasionally, dipping her fingers into the water to check for toxins. Yua moved like a silent scout, crouching low and brushing aside tall reeds.
Then the stillness shattered.
A shrill whistle sliced through the air — then another.
Zayn’s instincts screamed a moment before reality caught up.
"Down!" he shouted.
Too late.
The sky above them seemed to darken as arrows rained from the hills — magical bolts glowing blue, red, and green with elemental charge.
The party scattered, water exploding around them as the arrows struck. One bolt exploded mid-air in a burst of fire, narrowly missing Kara.
Another sizzled with electricity and struck the marsh, shocking a wide radius that sent Elisse stumbling back, gasping in pain.
"They’re above us!" Bran growled, pointing up.
On the distant hills surrounding the marsh, dark figures stood tall and motionless — dozens of them.
Cultists in long black and crimson robes, faces masked by bone-like helmets.
Those with magical bows were already loading another volley, their eyes glowing unnaturally.
Behind them, others began to move, weapons gleaming as they surged forward in a wild charge down the hill.
"They’re charging too," Zayn hissed. "It’s a goddamn ambush!"
Tobias’s eyes narrowed. "Hold formation! Don’t let them break us!"
Another volley of arrows came, faster this time.
Zayn surged forward, his blade flashing in a blur.
A bolt of dark energy hurtled toward Elisse — he intercepted it mid-air, slashing it apart with a crackling streak of soul energy.
Kara lifted her staff and shouted, "Stone Guard!"
Rocks erupted from beneath the shallow water, forming a jagged wall that intercepted several incoming arrows.
Bran roared and slammed his axe into the ground.
"Axefall!"
A shockwave burst from the impact point, cracking the ground in a five-meter radius.
The force of it threw water and mud into the air, disrupting the charge of several incoming cultists.
"Elisse, center! Heal Kara, now!" Zayn ordered.
Elisse bit back the pain in her arm and obeyed, summoning a Lumen orb from the staff Tobias had gifted her.
It pulsed with radiant light and floated toward Kara, sinking into her skin like mist.
Yua dashed toward the approaching cultists, her hands glowing brown with earth magic.
With a sharp motion, she raised a portion of the marsh water around her, hardening it into spiked mud pillars that impaled two of the attackers.
"Seren, with me!" Zayn called.
They darted toward the left flank where the enemy was pushing harder.
Seren unleashed a wave of venomous mist from her hands, the green fog curling like a living snake through the reeds.
Cultists shrieked and clutched their throats, falling as their bodies convulsed.
One cultist broke through the mist and lunged at Zayn with a wicked scythe. The blade shimmered with cursed magic.
Zayn parried it, sparks flying, then drove his knee into the cultist’s chest.
Before the enemy could fall, Zayn’s hand lashed out taking hold of the cultist’s throat and crushing it with soul energy.
