42.

  “I thought this was going to be that other dude’s job?” Delilah whispered next to him. The rest of her team was scattered about with Hana on his other side. The five of them had moved quickly, following the terrain of the rolling hills until they were in position to watch as the leading edges of Mercy’s following came pouring out of the mountains.

  “It is. But we don’t trust him. I need to know the true numbers,” Santi said as he looked down at Interstate-80. The abandoned cars had been shoved to the side, rusting ruins broken apart and placed against the guardrails.

  “What’s the point of being allied with someone you can’t trust?” Delilah asked. The three of them were lined up in a row as they stared down at the interstate from a small hill.

  Delilah had a pair of skills, [Enhanced View] and [Projection], that allowed her to spy on far distances and project them as a hologram looking thing for others to view. Seeing a few blood spackled figures beginning to enter her range.

  Santi had seen many things, his improving memory helping nearly a decade of war become clearer and clearer, but there was something off with these people. Something he didn’t remember seeing before.

  The leading edges of the horde were running, crazed looks in their eyes, arms pumping and legs churning. Their eyes were bloodshot and bugging free of their skulls as they pushed further down the interstate. Their clothes were rags, cut apart and held together by the barest strings.

  A feeling of frenzy was about them, an aura around them as they ran without thought or words. Even through the projection Santi could see a haze, red tinged air that circulated about them.

  “Can you [Identify] them through this?” Santi asked.

  “No. I can’t use any skills through it,” Delilah said. Santi grunted in annoyance.

  “Everyone, have their own counts, we’ll double check and see where we’re at when they finish passing by,” Santi ordered. Then he sat down and began to count. And count. And count.

  They didn’t travel in an orderly formation. Quite the opposite. They were a drifting lines of people, hundreds of people just moving in a general direction, unified only by their poor dress and dirty weapons. Blood stained weapons and gory trophies hanging from belts and off of shoulders. Monster heads, poorly cured animal skins being used as clothes, and a few system granted weapons showing here or there.

  Their movement was heralded by a red cloud that twisted above their heads, pulsing randomly as they jogged further. Santi could tell who the new recruits were. The recently implanted curse holders. Their clothes were in better condition, they still had shoes, and they weren’t quite as lost in the chaos of the crowd.

  Then the numbers kept growing and growing and growing. It was past the point where Santi had thought they’d be. Hundreds were growing to nearly a thousand as they passed by the small area the scout team was posted at.

  “Just me, or are there a lot of them?” Delilah asked. Hana grunted in confirmation while Santi just had to start wondering if his plan was going to work. There was of course an advantage to being the defender, but this was way beyond what he was thinking.

  “I think that’s the main core,” Delilah said and Santi had to agree with her. Instead of streams or small clumps of people it was a solid wall of marching people. They were in the same levels of clothing distress as the rest of the groups, but the aura of red floating around their heads was much thicker than the outriders had been. It was a physical cloud that practically crackled with energy.

  Santi started counting quickly and felt his heart fall even further. There were well over one hundred of them. He had thought they had thinned the herd a bit, but it looked like they had fully replenished themselves with their raid on Reno. Once they were past the people kept coming, the stragglers who trailed after.

  Dozens of wounded, their wounds bandaged tight and a fear darkening their eyes as they raced after the main horde. Santi stared at them and figured they’d have to be low level people. There were probably several hundred of them spaced out across the highway, limping behind on the dregs of the bloodlust aura.

  “Did anyone see Mercy?” Santi asked.

  “No idea what she looks like,” Hana said. Delilah grunted in acknowledgement.

  “That is a good point. Anyone stand out to you in the main group?” Santi asked.

  “A few big fellows. One woman was wearing a fur coat. That was still wet.” Hana said and Santi remembered her. A big woman with dark brown hair and a mountain lion pelt across her back.

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “These numbers are way too much. We’re going to have to thin them down a bit,” Santi said to the group.

  “Start raiding?” Delilah asked, a hint of eagerness in her voice.

  “Yeah. Clear out the backlines first. Hana, how many of your rangers are about?”

  “Twenty or so. They don’t know that the Pillar allows us to know they’re there,” Hana said with a dark chuckle.

  “Race back. Get all of them and Daniel. Start clearing out the backlines. Take Maya and Frank with you, they can use the levels.”

  “What are you going to do?” Delilah asked.

  “You’re all taking out the backlines, I’m going to start dragging the front lines out. Don’t think we can do much about that main block of fighters, but I can definitely thin the herd a bit.” Santi was thinking about how much damage he could do before an idea hit his mind and he smiled a bit.

  “Did that guy Keegan finish his evolution?” Santi asked, turning toward Hana.

  “No, but he’s not far from it. Think it will be soon, why?” Hana said.

  “Think I have a good idea to take care of some of them, just need a bit of help. Guess Yessenia will have to take the trip with me.” The group slowly backed away from the hill they had perched on even as the last stragglers walked down the interstate. As they came down the backside, Santi felt a shudder down his spine and spun around to see Duncan striding towards him.

  The shadows parted off of him like they were liquid, sliding around to the objects that he had pulled them from. The entire group stopped and stared at the one armed man as he walked toward them in the shelter of the backside of the hill.

  “Interesting,” Duncan said, eyes dancing around the small group. His eyes lingered on the scouts around Santi. His dark eyes analyzed them and dismissed them in a moment.

  “Can’t trust me. Fair.” He shrugged his one arm and looked back through the hill to where the horde had just passed by.

  “Lot more of them than I thought there would be. Reno had a bigger population than I figured,” Duncan said, with no more emotion in his voice than if he was talking about the weather.

  “Yeah. Need to trim the fat if the plan is to work. Feel like helping?” Santi asked, ignoring the statement.

  “I can do a bit of fat trimming. What were you thinking?”

  “That town I claimed that Pillar in,” Santi said.

  “Ahhhh…I think I see where this is going. You need me and mine to lead them to it?” Duncan asked.

  “Can you keep it from gathering too many of them? Think maybe thirty to fifty depending on the levels. Low Acolyte at the highest,” Santi said.

  “Yeah, I can do that. Think only fifty? You can’t handle a hundred?”

  “Fifty will be the max. Keep it clean and easy,” Santi said. Duncan just smiled quietly, mirth in his eyes.

  “I can peel a few squads off and tear away some of the vanguard. You’re people will clean up the stragglers?”

  “Yeah,” Santi said. Everyone was tense around him, a feeling of being on a tightrope filling the air around them. Delilah was nearly vibrating, her hand on the pommel of her long knife.

  “We can’t let any of them escape. Mercy is the curse holder, but with enough time and energy collected, they could possibly consolidate and become an anchor themselves. This curse must be purged.” Duncan spoke with absolute conviction. There was a seriousness to him that broke away from the apathetic persona he presented.

  “The curse will be exorcised from this planet. Don’t worry about that,” Santi said. He wished he could grab those words back, tendrils of his plan leaking in front of the assassin.

  “Interesting,” Duncan said again. He clicked his tongue and then turned to look over towards where the horde had just passed by.

  “How long do you need before we pull them?”

  “Tomorrow around dawn. I can get everything set up by then. After that, it’s started. It’s going to be a marathon battle, ranging across multiple fronts and it won’t end until one side is dead and buried. Everyone is going to need to be ready. Once it starts there will be no turning back,” Santi said. Duncan nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world and the assassin turned and started to fade away, even in the afternoon sun.

  “That dudes creepy,” Delilah said, her voice quiet as she looked at where Duncan had just disappeared from.

  “Yeah he’s a prick,” Santi said.

  “Hana, we’re going to need to move fast. There won’t be much time now that Duncan knows. We’re going to run back real quick to the area and grab Yessenia. We’ll set up the first ambush there, Hana and the rangers will clear out the rear guard. Is there anyone else around here we can bring in to man the walls?” Santi asked.

  “No. Well…maybe Chad and Tristan? They were out hunting when we came back and missed the muster. Maybe them and some of the higher level hunters will be at Homebase if we can send a runner,” Hana said.

  “Rayleigh and some of her people maybe? Damn, there’s just too many spinning plates. Can’t wait till we can figure up some type of way to communicate long distances,” Santi muttered half to himself. The two pillars he had seen being carried in the core block of the cursed warriors would be a good starting place.

  “Let’s get going then. Delilah, I want your team to keep an eye on the stragglers. Once I bring back the rest of the rangers, I want a plan of attack, can you handle that?” Hana asked the other girl.

  Delilah thought for a moment then nodded slowly. Her and the rest of her scout team turned and followed along at the base of the hill, keeping out of view of the interstate. Santi and Hana took off together, heading towards the temporary camp.