Chapter 401 Strain

Chapter 401 Strain

When Liam left his tent, a few strange looks were shot his way.

They'd never seen Liam experience something like that.

Heck, they didn't even see him express a groan of pain most of the time.

And now he puked out his stomach and shivered like a cat in the rain?

And if that happened to Liam and the Zeniths of all people... what about them?

"Are you fine, my liege?" Jargon appeared beside Liam.

Dark circles were under his hardened eyes. Staying in these lands was a strain on the mind and soul. It wore people down.

Verium, Ryu, Jax and the likes were there too.

"Fine," Liam responded tersely. "Must've been something I ate."

Jargon laughed at the joke.

Liam's head creaked to look at the needle again... but he stopped himself.

A moment later, a command spread throughout the thousands of acolytes.

'Don't look up.' n)-o./v--E-.l/)b-/1-.n

With how sinister and eerie the order was, and how their strongest shook uncontrollably, they simply decided to obey.

'Now...'

'How do I get these people past the Mega Colony?'

'There's not even a way to curve around it.'

'We're basically on the edges of it.'

'This place is huge... and the colonies surrounding it aren't weak.'

'Even if we choose to attack them, there's no way we won't be caught, since there aren't any barriers to hide us.'

Liam's dark gaze surveyed the horizon.

'Not to mention...'

'There's thousands and thousands of Abominations.'

'Everywhere.'

Somewhere in the distance, Liam spotted a colossal, muscular flesh giant casually climbing one of the obelisks.

Then, it just sat there, hugging its knees, looking down at the city, keeping watch... with no visible eyes on its figure.

Rank 5.

The sky wasn't safe either.

Each of the structures had some kind of monster that stood watch.

One looked like a half-breed between a dog and a cat.

A dog... and a cat!

Mixed!

Oh, and it also had the wings of a dragonfly.

Another Rank 5.

Some things were better off not being seen.

But Liam could see how it sniffed the air, and how its ears twitched when the faintest sounds entered it.

It even swatted away some Abominations from the air, and Liam didn't know the reason.

These were just the few among the countless others creatures that were clearly specialized in control.

Liam rubbed his face with a groan.

Quite frankly, it wasn't like he wasn't worn down by the cycle of killing.

It was tiring, and if Liam's body wasn't automatically reinvigorating itself, heavy traces of it would show.

'I'm stumped...'

Liam looked at Kitsu...

Then, he looked at the Zeniths...

Then, he looked at the acolytes...

Then, he looked back at the Mega Colony...

Liam hummed to himself.

'The best solutions are the simplest.'

For a few more days, the Temple got as close as they could to the Mega Colony, but avoided even the Rank 4 Abominations.

They were still an insane distance away.

But one could never be too safe.

Especially with that Dog Cat... thing.

And finally, the group stopped their travels.

They were in between two black mountains.

Ryu looked at Liam with a confused gaze.

"Why'd we stop here?" Ryu asked.

The other Elders listened and nodded.

"You'll see," Liam said.

A moment later, Liam went to Kitsu.

After giving her a massive bucket of krill, he told her what he had planned.

Kitsu went wide-eyed.

"That would never work," Kitsu said with a slightly annoyed, slightly angry tone. "We'll get caught."

"You never know," Liam responded tersely. "Just do it."

Silence.

Kitsu grumbled loudly.

"Fine. Bad enough that I have to wear this stupid thing."

A moment later, Liam commanded all the acolytes to mount the Kitsune!

From afar, it looked like the Kitsune was being consumed by a pack of ants.

But... weren't there 18,000 acolytes?

What about the rest?

Well, they would hang off its legs.

And since the Kitsune couldn't fly, the Zeniths were going to hold it up from its underside.

All the while, Kitsu would disguise herself as an Abomination.

Soon enough, all the preparations were complete.

The Kitsune looked incredibly pissed off at the humans riding on top of it.

Meanwhile, the acolytes were actually excited!

After hearing about Liam's plan, they reckoned it was about time they got a break.

And Liam did this on purpose.

Having demoralized soldiers was not a good thing.

Sun Tzu said so.

...Probably.

The Zeniths positioned themselves under the Kitsune, their palms connected to its belly.

A few moments later, the Human Ranked acolytes of the Temple were hanging off the Kitsune like vines.

They clung to each other like human ropes.

Liam looked at Kitsu.

He was sitting right above her jaw.

"You can start now," Liam said. "Make it as ugly as possible."

Kitsu grumbled.

A wave of powerful mental energy rippled across the fox's figure.

Instantly, Kitsu's features changed.

From shimmering, golden fur, it went to filthy, tentacle-like protrusions.

From four lustrous tails, it went to having eighteen.

From two golden eyes, it went to twelve.

As soon as the changes took place, Liam commanded for lift off.

The Zeniths below Kitsu slowly flew upwards, lifting it above ground!

They went higher...

...and higher...

...and higher, until they were just a few meters away from the dark clouds.

Liam had to choose between going through the Dog Cat's path, or the Blind Giant's.

'I'd rather choose the giant,' Liam thought. 'At least it doesn't have wings.'

Then, the Kitsune spun its tails like a rotor!

But in reality, the hidden Zeniths below its belly were the ones pushing it forward.

The 'human ropes' at the Kitsune's bottom were also transformed into Abominations.

Like so, they hovered through the air.

They were going to fly over the Mega Colony!

Other Abominations shared the sky with them.

But the Kitsune in particular looked quite powerful.

If one looked at it with a measuring gaze, they'd think it was a peak Rank 5 creature.

Thus, the Abominations created a sort of path for the Kitsune to pass through.

And soon enough, the Kitsune was flying over the Mega Colony.

Liam didn't have time to admire the city below.

As they continued forward...

The giant raised his head.

It had no eyes.

Just a nose, human-like mouth, and ears.

It tracked the Kitsune through the air.

Seconds felt like eternity.

Liam's heartbeat was going to ramp up.

The giant just continued looking at them!

Suddenly, it lowered its head to the streets again.

Liam heaved a long, long sigh of relief.

They were through!