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Chapter 1290 - Anthony On Tour pt 31
🕑 Added 2024-01-21 23:25:17 +0000 UTCAh, the sea. Lake. Sea-Lake. I hate it. Once again I find myself aboard a large tub, surrounded by ships, basically trapped and unable to shift myself, lest the boat tip over. Itâs unpleasant, obviously, and it feels a bit vulnerable. Well, it felt a bit vulnerable, before I had a fleet of anti-monster soldiers bearing down on me at all times.
Now itâs downright unnerving.
The Legion remain close by, relatively speaking. Their fleet maintains a reasonable distance from our own, given that fleets of ships take up a fair amount of space and need room to manoeuvre and all that. Abyssal Legion ships, as bulky and intimidating as the troops, keep pace, a couple of kilometres away from the brathian fleet.
[Thereâs no need to worry,] Marzban tries to assure me, despite looking extremely worried. [If they were to make a move against this fleet, it would be construed as an act of war by the Island Conglomerate and the Folk. Possibly by the Mother Tree as well. They wouldnât dare go that far.]
[Donât they hate all of you guys anyway?]
He hesitates.
[Thatâs⊠somewhat true. Even so, I donât think the Legion is interested in stirring up that kind of trouble right now. With the repeated waves, theyâre stretched thin and have much bigger fish to fry than some ants on a trade mission.]
He certainly hopes so.
[Where are we heading to this time?] I extend the bridge over to Eran, who is leaning against the railing, glaring at the distant ships. [Because I doubt we can expect a friendly welcome in any of the places left on our list.]
She turns to me with a sigh.
[Perhaps, perhaps not. We intend to travel to Desert Basin, the most prominent mountain occupied by the Sand Empire, followed by Greystone, then the Wandering Isle, and finally the Silver City. All of these are major trading hubs, but you are correct, they are all, at least to some degree, hostile to outsiders, and especially to monsters. The Old races tend to be more⊠set in their thinking.]
[I canât say I really blame them. If an Ancient arriving can turn every single ant in the Colony into a wild killing machine, then itâs going to cause a few problems, donât you think?]
Iâm a little curious as to why the brathian seem so unconcerned with that possibility. Even the Mother Tree seems to have discounted it, letting us move in right next door to her, or perhaps she has some other plan? Come to think of it, how is she going to avoid turning on her own children?
The thought of being turned into some mindless soldier of a bigger, badder monster isnât sitting very well with me, I have to say. As time passes and I think about it more, the greater my irritation becomes. If Arconidem thinks he can just show up at Anthome and have the whole Colony fall in line, heâs got another think coming!
⊠I hope.
Eran appears thoughtful as she considers me. Eventually, she shrugs.
[There are many things that need to happen which we donât even know are possible before that will become a problem. We are experiencing unusual wave activity, that is definite, but will there be a second Rending? Itâs impossible to say with certainty. If mana levels return to what they were during that Cataclysm, is that even enough to support the Ancients in their current forms? Perhaps, perhaps not. If mana levels rise that high, and if the Ancients are able to climb, will the Colony be susceptible to their influence? This is another unknown.]
[Well⊠why wouldnât we be? We arenât like the bruanâchii, we are genuine monsters, cores and all.]
From what I was told, a large enough gap in power should make it possible for the Colony to be dominated. Which sucks.
[There are some monsters who are much less vulnerable to the influence of other monsters. Demons are almost totally immune, for example, untameable. Otherwise the various empires would have raised powerful monsters to help subdue the third stratum and impose some level of order on that wild place. Similarly, the Krath are known to be extremely resistant to monster domination. We donât know why, but it is true nonetheless. Perhaps your Colony will prove to be similar?]
Thereâs something about the way she says it which sends a shiver running over my carapace. They already know. Somehow, someway, the brathian are confident the Colony will be able to resist, at least to some extent, the influence of other monsters.
When did they test us? How did they test us?
But those thoughts arenât what chills me. The demons are resistant because they are, each and every one of them, connected to Arconidem already. The Demon God can dominate them whenever he wants, can drive them to act against their instincts even while locked in the depths of the Dungeon. The Krath may be similar.
Which would meanâŠ
I sense the influx of Will from the ants around me, a constant and steady flow of impressions and desires.
Am I doing the same to them? Or am I capable of it? The thought sends a wave of revulsion running through me. I would much rather be a servant of this family than the master of it. I desperately hope my choices havenât put me on a path that gives me a control I donât want to possess.
If the Vestibule and the other attached organs can keep them safe, can keep them free, then thatâs great. I just hope it stops there.
It takes a few days of extremely quick sailing, but mountain after mountains slides past, and floating islands that rain endless streams of water pass overhead, until we come to a place that doesnât look anything like what weâve seen before. In the fourth, a place of endless and vibrant mana of life and light, pretty much everywhere you look is a verdant paradise, except this mountain.
Itâs a rocky desert. Absolutely dry as a bone.
Home of the kaâarmodo.
Comments
Riley, Glutton of All the Foods
Edit suggestions: "mountain after mountains slides past," 1. Remove the s from mountains. This is what I believe is most likely what you intended as they are solitary mountains. "mountain after mountain slides past" 2. Move the s from slides to mountain. "mountains after mountains slide past" Thank you for the chapter!
Khajar
The brathian probably used their siren, to stealthily probe the ants for "aura-influence", and failed because the Colony is already under the influence of a demigod (Anthony).
Chris C
Will the main kaâarmodo civilization accept the colony or Will the secret sect that wants Anthony to be an ancient step in?
Roombot
The fuggin sand lizards. I hate those guys. Maybe there will be one or two cool ones though
Roombot
Wait, does he actually collect their souls? Like, the ones that die? ... that would actually be super dope.
Forrest Ogden
I feel like it's been a while since we've seen Anthony do some deep and serious reflecting. I love his goofiness but that's always refreshing. It is a little annoying that it tends to bring the peanut gallery out of the comment section but we all are owed our voice. Thanks for the chapter though I love how this next arch is starting to wind up!
Anthony Romanov
Anthony collects souls of the Colony and I guess guards are the ones providing protection for inner chamber!
Crazy Abe
âThere are some monsters who are much less vulnerable to the influence of other monsters. Demons are almost totally immune, for exampleâ Thatâs just a terrible miss understanding, the demons arenât less vulnerable- theyâre just forced under a specific ancient already.
Grey Knight Lord
That is the thing. Acronindom and Anthony are a similar path to power, how they use it is another matter. Please donât make Anthony weaken himself. It has worked so far and it will keep working.
Buck
Whoop! Whoop! Bring on the Red Truth!!
