Chapter 41 - Infiltration
In the Rando Woods, in the territory of Rhodnius, stood five people. Three of them were clearly human, but the other two had different characteristics. One of them had an elongated face, with abundant copper-coloured hair all over his body, long and strong arms, and a strong tail tied around his waist. The other was quite tall, nearly eight feet tall, quite stocky, with muscles that looked like they were chiselled out of granite, greyish skin, small eyes and a horn on his forehead. These two were Beastmen of the Rhodnius Prairie and the power emanating from their bodies made it apparent that they were very strong Qi Praetorians. They were a Monkey Beastman and a Rhino Beastman respectively, their names Ren and Malo.
The leader of the group of five was a middle-aged, tanned-skinned man with short dark hair and brown eyes. His dress was that of just another mercenary, yet the disguise did little to hide his proud facies. These were precisely Roland Du Sacar and his group.
"We can't wait any longer. I have already alerted the Tribe, and I trust they will make the necessary arrangements. With me there is one of the Ancestral Brands, so if someone from my Tribe comes, they will be able to sense where we are and will come to support us, if needed. However, if they come, the amount of resources we will get will be minimal. It is better that we conclude our deal with Sagat as soon as possible. The fool, to actually have a Fruit of the Mountain God and not even know what kind of treasure he's holding in his hands hehehehehehe" said Roland.
"Besides, the poor guy really thinks he's safe in his lair and no one knows where it is. The truth is that we discovered it a while ago, one of the entrances in Rhodnius. I know he must have some traps prepared, but he won't be able to defend himself for long. Among his ranks are two Qi Praetorians, though we can't rule out another one among his gang. He himself is a Qi General, but only just at the lower levels. With me, being a Qi Monarch, and you, my best soldiers, I think we can quickly take care of this whole mercenary group... Sagat, Sagat. You have been very useful as a spy, but that you failed to tell me that Armand Dai Mikaeli was near the Frontier at the time, is something I have yet to call you to account for.
The plan is as follows. We will wait for Sagat at the rendezvous point. You two, Ren and Malo, will infiltrate the lair once Sagat and his leaders have left to meet us. You must be careful, and take out everyone you encounter while searching for the fruits. We will try to hold Sagat as long as we can. Then together we will corner Sagat and kill him. No one can be left alive. I was originally thinking of bringing them to Rhodnius with us, but if they spill the beans and anyone finds out that we have the Fruit of the Mountain God, we will be hunted all over the Prairie. So I fear they will have to be a sacrifice for our return to Rhodnius elite army. We will more than reclaim what was taken from us in the past," said Roland with an almost manic face.
...
Ailan tried to stay calm, but the truth was that he barely slept through the night. The anxiety of not knowing if his sister was well was eating away at him, and he was close to bolting in the direction of the Violent Tigers' lair. However, the presence of Nerun, Silvester and the others brought him to his senses and he had no choice but to wait for news from Roxanne.
While the rest of the party, too, had some nervousness, they were generally calm and tried to maintain their best form in order to be able to perform at any time they were required to. Silvester had received treatment for the cuts on his arm from Elijah and Maikal, and they were little more than small scars, which Silvester was already treating as "badges of honour".
Trying to calm down and pass the time, Ailan asked one of the questions that had kept him pondering during the night, "Elder Brother Elijah, I have seen several fights between Qi Masters, and I also know of the great strength that the Qi Grandmasters and Praetorians have. Jackal for example was also a Praetorian but you took them out quite quickly, almost as if they had no ability to react or even any way to defend themselves. Why was that?" Ailan had changed the way he referred to Elijah and began to call him as Nerun and Silvester did.
"Well, your question may be a bit complex to answer, as there are several reasons why we were superior to the mercenaries, even though Silvester is only a level 11 Qi Master, I am a level 31 Qi Praetorian and Nerun is not even a Qi Master yet. However, if I had to give you a reason why, it would be 3 broadly speaking. First, we were able to surprise attack them, which gave us a huge advantage over them. Secondly, there was a big mentality problem on the part of the mercenaries, they underestimated both Nerun and Silvester, because they saw them as children and didn't respect that despite their young age, they have been trained to face many situations and to really fight without ever underestimating their enemy. Jackal was the opposite, Jackal put himself in a great position of inferiority from the beginning, and instead of fighting me head on, he decided to avoid the fight, so he exposed himself to the fact that I could attack him with all my power.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the use of Qi by the mercenaries, Jackal included, is supremely fragmented, they have not adequately fed every part of their bodies by Qi, they have not opened their auxiliary meridians, but have devoted themselves only to increasing the amount of Qi in their bodies. This means that the Qi they can accumulate is lower in quality and purity than the Qi we use. Nerun has a much higher quantity and purity of Qi than some of the Qi Masters we have fought against. This comes from our training, and the way we make sure that every step we take on the Warrior's Path is total and absolute, ensuring that we can efficiently use every little ounce of power we have. To give you an example, if one of the mercenaries had a power of 100, they only use 70 or 80. If we can only use 80, we actually use that 80 or can even overexert and squeeze our potential."
"Wow" Ailan looked at Elijah in amazement, while Nerun and Silvester smiled somewhat proudly at hearing their Eldest Brother's words. Though then they couldn't help but blush, when they heard Maikal coughing, "Cough, Braggarts .... Cough.
"If I had to give you another reason, it is that all of us besides training to use our Qi to its full capacity, we each also use Warrior Skills or Martial Skills that are also compatible with our own characteristics, such as the technique I used to defeat Jackal," Elijah continued.
With these words, Ailan was left with a stunned look on his face. He had already suspected that Nerun and the others had used Martial Skills, but when Elijah confirmed it, he couldn't help but wonder what their true origin might be. The real reason for Ailan's astonishment was that if Martial Models for training and accumulating Qi were rare, Martial Skills were even rarer, and only the great families and academies or the military had access to various Martial Skills. This is why the vast majority of Warriors do not use Skills, or the ones they do use are the simplest and most generic. And yet, even these "simple" Skills are extremely difficult to obtain, and very expensive to purchase. Even so, the simplest of Skills can increase a Warrior's power by 10 - 15%.
What is a Martial Skill? Martial Skills are formulas that teach how to circulate Qi in a special way in a Warrior's body, so that the Qi and body create a perfect balance. This balance allows the body to exert itself beyond its capabilities, and can even allow a person's Qi to take different forms, such as the claws Elijah used, the energy wave Captain Roger used, or Nerun's Qi Revolution. The power of a martial skill can range from increasing a person's power by 10, 15 or more percent. Furthermore, there are Skills that can increase power by double or more, however, these skills require quite exhaustive control and finesse and demand more of the Qi purity and developed body of the user. Otherwise, a Martial Skill can cause a backlash and even kill its own user.
In addition to this, Martial Skills had another important requirement. The use of a Martial Skill requires the use of Auxiliary Meridians to make the special circulation of Qi. There are even some techniques that require specific Central and Auxiliary Meridians and the connections between them. That is to say that a Qi Master with 4 open Auxiliary Meridians can use a maximum of 4 Martial Skills, and this number will increase with the subsequent ranks. It is also possible that the same skill learned by two different people will have completely different results according to the potential, meridians and characteristics of each Warrior.
For that and other reasons, Ailan was more than dumbfounded. But how was Ailan to know, that Maikal was a former Dragon General, and himself a repository of Martial Techniques. When his Family fell, Maikal was only able to take with him a small part of his Family's library, however, the ones he took were the most powerful and rare among them. It does not necessarily mean that the most powerful skills are the best, the best skills are those that can complement their user and strengthen the characteristics and path of each Warrior. That is why all the skills he taught his "children" are skills of great power and utility, but of great difficulty. But Maikal's children have been trained since they were infants to reach their full potential, even the most complex techniques, they have been able to learn with constant and persevering training and effort.
Ailan was about to continue speaking, when suddenly Maikal made a hand signal for silence as he opened his other hand. A Qi symbol was drawn on it and suddenly faded away in a small silent burst. "It's time," said Maikal looking seriously at the others. Everyone became a little tense and nervous, but immediately got down to work.
Maikal and Elijah would be the spearhead, going after the sentries in the Forest. Once the sentries were incapacitated, they would do the same with the guards and infiltrate the cave. Using the tentative map Roxanne gave them, the three boys would go to her location and between the four of them they would rescue Eliana, then escape without looking back. Elijah and Maikal would explore the cave trying to find the Fruit of the Mountain God and watching for the possible return of Sagat, as well as the arrival of the Rhodnians trying to buy the children as much time as possible.
Without further ado, they continued to advance through the branches and treetops with great stealth and skill, when Maikal and Elijah suddenly descended at great speed upon two sentries in the area. Before they could react, Maikal and Elijah had silently snapped their necks. Both agreed that on this occasion, with Eliana's life and theirs in danger, they could not afford to be merciful.
Nerun, Ailan and Silvester trembled slightly at the actions of Maikal and Elijah, and each had different thoughts in their heads about how they would deal with such decisions in the future.
Elijah and Maikal again ascended the trees with the same agility and before long they found the last area with sentries, in this case with the presence of three. Two of them were in relatively close proximity, so Elijah descended again and landed directly on one of them fracturing his skull with a blow, while leaning on a nearby tree with his legs and using
Finally they approached the entrance to the lair of the Violent Tigers. The entrance had several rocks around its periphery, which acted as camouflage and prevented the entrance from being easily seen. Nerun appeared walking near the cave as if he was somewhat lost and frightened and then said aloud. "That looks like a cave. Perhaps there I can take refuge from the Magical Beasts while my companions find me" and he walked towards the cave with some fear and care.
The two guards who were inside the cave guarding the entrance came out at that moment and shouted at Nerun: "Stop, you brat. Where did you come from? Damn it, what are the sentries doing, how come they let a child come here?"
Nerun looked at them in fright and tried to run, but was quickly cornered by the two guards while one of them sneered, "Easy boy. Didn't you want to hide inside the cave? Well, here's your chance, hehehe. You will enter the cave, the only thing is that I can't guarantee that you will be able to get out later".
Nerun at that moment changed his look of "fear" to one that seemed to say "ridiculous". The guard looked at Nerun strangely as he changed his face and immediately wanted to shout "TRAP", but the voice was caught in his throat as two people appeared like ghosts behind him and his companion and that was the last thing they saw in their lives.
Then the five of them hurried into the Cave. Between Roxanne's warning and the infiltration it took them less than five minutes.