NOVPUB
Chapter 292: 292
Keles leaned back in her seat, her eyes gleaming with a mix of amusement and caution. "So what now? If they’re expecting us, that complicates things."
Ikenga shook his head. "It only complicates things if we were planning on confronting them. We’re just here to observe their society and see if they have something we can exploit. Besides, our divinity makes us perfect for infiltration."
As he spoke, the floor beneath Ikenga’s feet merged with his leg as he used his divinity to blend with the surrounding nature. Vaegur heard Ikenga’s voice whisper in his ear, "Let it guide you."
Vaegur hesitated briefly before releasing the reins, allowing the creature to move slowly. Occasionally, it would stop as the light from the watchtower washed over it, yet after a moment, the light would pass, and the creature would continue moving.
An ogre in the watchtower frowned, feeling as though it was forgetting or overlooking something. It increased the frequency of the light flashes, but still, it saw nothing.
The curse Ikenga had placed on the carriage was taking effect now. Soon, the carriage arrived beneath the city wall, yet it didn’t stop moving, even with the wall directly in front of it.
Vaegur, who had been in a constant state of panic, raised his hand to blast open the wall but was ordered to stop. The creature continued toward the wall, walking through it as though it wasn’t there.
This was Keles’s doing. Ikenga had originally planned to use his earth manipulation to pass through the stone wall, but he had noticed it was reinforced with magic. Keles had blessed the carriage, just as she had done with Wardenwild.
She had bestowed upon it an ability innate to souls, allowing it to pass through solid objects unnoticed.
Once inside the city, the atmosphere shifted immediately. The city was alive with activity even at night, but there was an underlying tension that clung to the air like a thick mist. People moved about the streets with hurried steps, their eyes flickering warily toward the towering walls and watchtowers. It was clear that the city was not only vigilant—it was afraid.
"They’re on edge. This fear is useful," Ikenga said to Keles.
The carriage continued its journey through the city, with the residents ignoring its presence. Suddenly, the carriage stopped. Ikenga, Keles, and Vaegur all focused on a resident who looked out of place compared to everyone else.
"A wererat," Ikenga and Vaegur thought simultaneously, each recognizing the creature due to their experiences. Keles, who had no prior knowledge of the creature, looked at her brother in surprise.
"It seems this world has other residents apart from goblins and ogres," she said.
Ikenga nodded, his eyes narrowing as he studied the wererat. "Indeed, sister. But a closer look shows why their existence wasn’t known to us."
Keles examined the scene more closely and began to notice a pattern. There wasn’t just one wererat; there were many. Each wore a collar adorned with runes and followed behind goblins and ogres of higher status like servants or slaves.
Keles’s eyes widened slightly as the realization sank in. "So they’ve been enslaved, bound by magic. That explains their low profile. They aren’t a recognized power in this world—they’re controlled and subjugated."
Ikenga’s expression remained neutral as he studied the collars more closely, noting the intricate runes inscribed on them. "Runes of suppression."
Turning to his sister with a smile, Ikenga said, "I believe we have found our flaw, sister." 𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙥𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
Keles understood what Ikenga was thinking and nodded in agreement. Meanwhile, back in the Abyss, Zarvok was seated on his throne with his eyes closed, observing through Vaegur’s eyes.
The sight of the ratmen made him open his eyes. "Interesting," he murmured to himself as he disappeared, only to reappear with a thick book in his hand.
Ikenga, focusing on a target, grew a small pebble in his hand while placing a curse on it. In a swift motion, the pebble shot out of the carriage, hitting a wererat leading a massive crocodile-like mount with a carriage on its back.
The moment the pebble left the carriage to strike the wererat happened in the blink of an eye. Meanwhile, in the sky above the city, a massive eye appeared, scanning the area vigilantly.
The appearance of the enormous eye caused a disturbance in the city. People began to panic as the massive eye cast its watchful presence over the city. Guards rushed to their posts, shouting commands, while citizens scattered in confusion, unsure of the cause of the sudden commotion.
Ikenga observed the situation with a composed expression. "They’re more organized than we anticipated," he murmured to Keles, his tone cold but calculating. "This response isn’t merely panic. They’ve anticipated something like this."
Keles leaned back slightly, eyeing the massive eye that scanned the city below. "Perhaps, but their response only shows how afraid they are. Fear often leads to mistakes." She glanced at Ikenga, a knowing look passing between them. "Did you mark the wererat before or after the eye appeared?"
Ikenga smiled faintly, still watching the chaos unfold. "Before. The curse should be deep enough to track its movements without arousing suspicion. The eye is likely a defensive mechanism—an automatic response to any perceived threat."
As the eye in the sky searched for the source of the disturbance, it passed over their carriage multiple times without hesitation, a testament to Ikenga’s concealment spell. The guards continued their frantic movements, but the wererat struck by the cursed pebble remained oblivious, still leading the giant crocodile-like mount through the streets.
In the Abyss, Zarvok flipped through the thick book he had retrieved, scanning ancient knowledge for anything about the creatures he had seen through Vaegur’s eyes. "Ratmen, collars, runes of suppression," he muttered, a smirk forming on his lips. "I see. They are bound by the magic of the land, but their nature is older." He continued to read.
Back in the city, Ikenga’s voice was low but confident as he addressed his sister. "We’ve set things in motion. The eye may be searching, but it won’t find us. Once it passes, we’ll follow our cursed wererat and see where it leads. There’s more to uncover here."
Ikenga suddenly frowned, looking up at the massive eye. Tapping the carriage, he ordered, "We leave this city now!" Vaegur responded quickly, sensing the increasing threat.
The air around them shifted as the massive eye above the city began to stir with ominous energy. What was once a passive watcher, scanning the streets without purpose, now seemed to focus, its gaze sharpening as if it had become aware of something deeper. The lifeless presence was no longer just a defensive mechanism; it was waking up.
The creature pulling the carriage reacted immediately, turning with fluid precision as it began to retreat from the heart of the city. The eerie quiet that had accompanied their arrival was replaced by a building tension, like the calm before a storm.
Keles, her expression sharp and focused, glanced at Ikenga. "What changed? Did the eye sense the curse?"
Ikenga shook his head, his eyes still trained on the sky as the colossal eye continued to transform, its pupil slowly forming, giving it an almost sentient appearance. "No, it still can’t sense or see through the curse."
Whenever Ikenga placed a curse, it passively consumed no energy from his divine reserves, but when activated, the curse tended to sap divine energy to maintain its function. Ikenga used the amount of energy sapped to gauge the level of threat.
Before the eye began to gain sentience, Ikenga had noticed an increase in the amount of divine energy being drained. Though the amount could be ignored at first, it kept growing, and Ikenga knew it was only a matter of time before the curse’s resistance to the eye would begin to affect the physical world, exposing their position.
That wasn’t the only problem. Ikenga thought of the mages and wizards—curses shouldn’t be new to them. "If there’s even a slight chance of that, the changes in the eye might expose us," he muttered. "Something—or someone—is interfering. That eye... it’s being controlled now."
As the carriage made its swift exit, the streets around them seemed to pulse with energy. The citizens, still oblivious to the carriage’s presence, began to move with more urgency, their eyes darting toward the sky as if they, too, sensed the change. Guards shouted orders, and the organized patrols became chaotic.
The massive eye in the sky shifted its gaze, locking onto the path where the carriage had been moments before. A beam of light shot down from it, sweeping the area in search of the intruders, but thanks to Ikenga’s earlier concealment, the carriage remained unseen.
"Faster, Vaegur," Ikenga commanded, his voice calm but firm. The creature seemed to understand the urgency as its form began shifting, morphing into something faster.
As the creature pulling the carriage elongated its legs, muscles rippling beneath its skin, the carriage surged forward with newfound speed. The ground beneath them blurred, and the once-calm streets of the city faded into a haze as they raced away from the looming threat.
