Elder Cultivator

Chapter 1065

Chapter 1065

On their final approach to the planet Gniteria, which was the home of the main sect for the Silver Fang, the assault group had just finished wrapping up their final plans.

Tauno had a stern look on his face. “These people are terrible.”

“I agree,” Koralo nodded sagely. “They seem as if their purpose has been to cause the most damage to our people, not to gain the most benefit for themselves.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. That’s not great either. But mostly I meant that their style sucks. Seriously, they’re totally lacking in cohesion. Seriously, hunters of wolves? It’s like their founder saw a wolf once and got scared, then decided they were the apex predator throughout all worlds.”

“I see,” Koralo responded. “I suppose I should have expected that angle from you. But simply because their essence is focused, it does not mean they’re weak.”

Tauno held up a spear made from some sort of spine. “If they made practical use of their fallen foes it would be one thing. But the fur is an aesthetic and little more.”

Prasad gave his own comments. “That is quite a judgment for you never having engaged them in combat.”

“That’s not quite true,” Tauno replied. “I fought some of them before the Scarlet Alliance was formed, just to see. I wasn’t impressed. They don’t seem to have done much but breed since then.”

“At least one of their Augmentation cultivators advanced recently,” Koralo explained. “At least on the scale of the Scarlet Alliance’s lifespan. I wouldn’t call that nothing.”

“We’ll see when I fight them. I hope they remembered to leave some people defending their homeworld, or this is going to be boring. You can handle the barrier?”

“As long as the scouts didn’t miss anything, I hardly need to. Our information indicates it is rather poorly maintained. But I will be prepared to adapt should that prove not to be the case.”

A planet much like any other appeared before them. It had more apparent wilderness than most highly populated worlds, but that was to be expected from those who fancied themselves great hunters. They needed sufficient space to continue with their traditions.

That did lead to cities brimming with greater populations, skyscrapers held up more by enchantments than precision engineering allowing more people to be packed into a smaller space. Within the core sect of the Silver Fang there stood one much greater, a curved tower closely resembling a wolven canine standing nearly double the height of any others.

Their target would be the most well defended area, but also the most valuable place to strike. They could only hope that their plan was not more reckless than it seemed.

Velvet kept her attention on the stealth systems as they approached the planet itself. The lack of orbital platforms seemed odd to her, but that was not terribly odd for cultivators. They often gave little care to planetary defense aside from a large barrier.

“Everyone remember where the ship is going to idle?” Velvet asked. “We can’t just leave it near the shockwaves of battle.”

“Nope,” Durff replied smoothly. “So you guys have to survive so I can make it back.”

Everyone else gave an affirmative answer, of course.

“Good,” Velvet said, standing up. “I can keep us stealthed at least until we break through the barrier. Beyond that...”

Koralo had no visible presence, but Velvet knew he was wandering around disrupting formations that were supposed to give a homeground advantage to the sect. Perhaps in a few minutes they would be the ones bolstered by the formations instead.

Durff’s feet carried him over many kilometers, though still within the central sect. He brushed past all of those trying to stop him as he looked for one thing in particular. “There you are,” he said as he approached a mountain. “Mine number one.”

Frankly, Durff thought it would be a pain to try to fight their way all across the planet, collapsing every mine they came across. However, he knew something that they didn’t know. Mines wanted to collapse. Big holes in the ground weren’t stable at all. He pulled out from his storage bag the pick Grandmaster Sadiq had so kindly made him, feeling its weight. If he did it right, all he’d need was one good swing.

His pick swung into the ground. With its length, one would expect that he could collapse no more than a meter of stone- but of course, that was only considering its standard length. And Durff wasn’t restricted in his energy usage here. Having good basics really helped with everything. He also had a strong body that could withstand the counterforce of his efforts without him having to supplement with too much upper energy, letting him focus that effect.

The ground trembled, once, twice... then a wide pit opened up around where he swung as everything compressed inward. Durff looked at it and shook his head. “That wasn’t the right feeling.”

He hefted his pick again and swung it down, and when he did there was no immediate feedback as his pick extended and sank a kilometer deep into the collapsed mine. He pulled his weapon out, wiped his forehead, had his armor pull back so he could actually touch his forehead, then nodded.

“That should be good enough. Alright guys, we can leave now!” he shouted.

Even if they didn’t hear him clearly, they’d figure it out as he leapt towards the sky. The planetary formation was a bit shaky above them, considering a large portion of the main sect’s infrastructure had collapsed. Durff wondered if more of it could cave in with the mines. Well, that wasn’t his business.

Lelka looked over at him as he flew up next to her. She continued blasting people as she raised an eyebrow. “Done already? I thought we were here to cause maximum damage.”

“Yeah, but I’m done with my tasks now. So we can go.”

“You collapsed one mine,” Lelka pointed out. “It’s not going to be operational anytime soon, I agree. But what about the rest of them.”

“What about the rest of them? They shouldn’t be much better.”

A faint rumbling sound reached Lelka’s ears, and she saw buildings below swaying back and forth. Some held together while others collapsed. But given her vantage point, she could see for hundreds of kilometers and the same was happening elsewhere. And if she extended her energy and extrapolated... “Is the entire planet shaking?”

Durff crossed his arms over his chest. “The mines wanted to collapse. I think some of them were pretty deep.”

“I- actually, I saw you hit the Citadel of Exalted Light off the planet. So this might actually be more sensible.” Lelka frowned. “The whole planet isn’t going to collapse, is it?”

“Don’t be silly. Innocent wolves live here.”

Lelka didn’t know whether or not that meant he could have done it. But she had the feeling that maybe he could have. Then again, he was the right sort of cultivator for such a result.

The others began to appear around them, starting with Koralo. Tauno was last, looking somewhat disappointed. “Next time, we need to make sure they’re better defended.”