Chapter 917

Chapter 917

With every planet the Scarlet Alliance had to give up, they lost lives and access to resources. The latter they could presume would mostly return once the Exalted Quadrant withdrew but whether or not the Scarlet Alliance itself would be standing at the end of things was another question. Perhaps the biggest loss beyond lives was the disruption to development and growth of those planets, which would most likely take decades to get back on track even if the war were over in the next year or two.

Their new tactics proved fruitful, and they were causing more damage to the enemy fleets than they were sustaining themselves. Even so, they were still outnumbered and had yet to destroy enough troop carriers to actually slow their enemys progress to any significant extent on its own.

The enemys invasion had started widespread, but it could be seen that their focus was narrowing. That was good for the Scarlet Alliance, as they had fewer locations they needed to defend but ultimately it was clear that the flow of the war was still in the hands of the Exalted Quadrant. They could at any point choose to target any of dozens of planets, diverting from their expected course.

But until then, they seemed focused on approaching Lonkeon. And why wouldnt they be? It was no secret that they were using it as their forward base of operations. Their commanders not on the frontlines and most of their reinforcements were present on Lonkeon. If the planet was taken out, they would have to retreat all the way to Xankeshan. In fact, the conditions under which they would retreat were important, as they didnt want to get cut off and foolishly die away from their fortified capital.

While they were certainly on the back foot, experiencing a significant portion of the Exalted Quadrants might for the first time, their tactics werent entirely shattered. They were learning how to best deal with their enemies, and they thought they were adapting more quickly. Only time would tell, of course.

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Hoyt and Prospero found themselves dealing with the Disciples of the Beyond more often than not. The reason for that was quite simple- they were more capable of combat in open space than many others. And as it turned out, distortion beasts were quite problematic for most fleets. Even fake ones.

At first, a sect centered around summoning distortion beasts had seemed like a rather limited field. After all, distortion beasts couldnt be everywhere, could they? Hoyt had certainly thought that. Now, he wasnt so sure.

Oh, it was obvious that they made use of projections more often than not, but some information the Alliance had learned indicated that was more for their own safety- or for time efficiency. Regardless of how many there actually were, the number actively interested in a particular area of space was quite limited.

Still, Hoyt found their regular tactics quite effective. The Disciples of the Beyond could display strange abilities when acting individually, their attacks often traveling through subspace, but it was their combined techniques that really put them in the spotlight.

A few thousand Disciples of the Beyond together could make a moon sized projection of a distortion beast, complete with all of the difficulties that came with fighting such things like figuring out what could even be attacked to begin with. And the Disciples of the Beyond didnt leave themselves vulnerable either, instead folding space around themselves and almost molding their own bodies into the projections. Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

There was something about the chaos of being assaulted like a creature that was only mouths or tentacles that was unsettling, as distortion beasts eschewed all concepts of how creatures should function normally. Though as a projection, Hoyt actually thought it wasnt as bad. It was just a construct of energy that attacked in odd ways. No need to think about how it digested things without a stomach, or how its body parts seemed to overlap with each other.

If she found a good opening, she might assassinate some key figures as well. If she could take out an Augmentation cultivator away from the battlefield- with a high assurance of her success and ability to escape- that could help shift the war. Even the Exalted Quadrant would grow hesitant if they lost a few Augmentation cultivators.

Currently, Velvet was following a trail of information to one of their border planets. Occupied by the Exalted Quadrant, certainly, but still part of the Scarlet Alliance. Espionage on planet was much easier than spying on a fleet- finding her way onto the wrong capital ship could be a deathtrap. Velvet could move through space on her own, but the formations of a ship could potentially be tuned to keep everyone inside if she was spotted, and her freedom of movement was the most important feature she had to keep herself safe. She was capable in direct combat, but it was always safer to avoid it, especially alone.

So far the string she was following had proven useless. So many things turned out that way, and Velvet would not let it get her down. But she had found a few mentions of someone important staying with a particular rear fleet, and there had been a number of small shipments that didnt seem to be carrying anything important. Just random luxuries.

And if Velvet knew powerful cultivators, they loved their luxuries. Especially the worst ones. Sadly not worst in terms of power, but attitude. Sadly, selfish cultivation styles tended to be similarly effective to altruistic ones, or perhaps even more effective as far as a single cultivator went. It wasnt crazy, of course, but if the only methods to cultivate were purely cooperative the world most likely would have turned out far better.

Velvet walked down the streets towards her destination. The best part about infiltrating conquered planets was that the enemy had to either accept whatever defensive formations remained or put up their own temporary and thus exploitable ones. Slipping into the city had been easy, and she was already inspecting the flow of energy on her target building. It had a serious gap right where there was an open window. An easy trap but shed inspect it properly up close.

Velvet kept her cultivation tightly drawn in as she passed many individuals who didnt have any inkling she was there. Most were those occupying the planet, but this was a city where people lived and worked. While they wouldnt want to be out on the streets, sometimes they had to. Avoiding them was equally important as avoiding everyone else, as an odd reaction from random civilians could set people looking about.

The window was safe. Velvet determined that properly, but she felt an odd flow of energy inside the building, past the formations. It was difficult to describe it, but that seemed like just the sort of thing she should investigate. Cautiously. Before she entered, she took a look around the outsides for entrances and exits.

She climbed through the window and into the building. Doors were annoying but something she could deal with, projecting a sense of them remaining still while she opened them and slipped through a small crack.

Velvet kept in mind the various windows of the building, should she need to run into a room and leap out one to escape. That knowledge also gave her a good picture of the internal structure.

As she was walking down the hallway towards the source of the disturbance, a cracked door opened directly towards her. Eyes landed on her, piercing into her soul. Even with his energy restrained, the man practically glowed.

Velvets immediate reaction was to do nothing, which was much harder than it seemed. No sudden intake of breath. No change in her heartbeat, as much as she was able to control it. Her energy remained tightly under her control as the man looked at and through her.

She wanted to run, but that would only be worse. If she hadnt been spotted it would likely reveal her, and if not it was already too late. She stood in awe for a few moments as the man turned away. Up close his energy was not as well concealed as from a distance and she could feel the power of a Domination cultivator. And unless the Citadel of Exalted Light had two of them, it should be Zaur Beridze himself.

What an unfortunate piece of information to confirm as truth. But all the more important that she report it as soon as possible. Sometime when she was away from the man himself, obviously. And probably the planet. She would be taking the long way back, it seemed.