Path to Transcendence

Chapter 428: Mountain Base

They met with the chief, and Julius told the man as much as he could. The chief took it all in and immediately began forming a plan.

The plan was quite simple. They would organize a group to go out and scout the area. Since Julius was the only person who could sense the beacon, he was tasked with pinpointing the exact location for the rest of them.

The group they managed to gather wasn’t that large. Just over a couple of dozen people, including the adventurers and himself, which meant that just over half of the participants were from the village itself. While the number wasnʼt that large, they were the best the village had to offer.

The good news was that Emil had joined them. People were hesitant because Emil was the only person preventing the Frost Bear Clan from attacking Kastila directly, but the chief eventually decided that it was worth the risk. They wouldn’t get such an opportunity again. However, they ensured that their mission remained as discreet as possible.

They set out right away.

Julius, along with Rasmus, was stalking through the mountainous terrain together. They had decided that it would be smart if Rasmus came along with Julius since the man had a skill that would map out the most optimal path for the rest of the people.

It wasn’t the easiest trek either. They came across multiple traps that the bandit group likely laid. Most of them weren’t that dangerous; they were simple traps with alarm enchantments attached to them.

However, alerting the enemy was essentially shooting themselves in the foot, so they made sure to avoid activating any of the traps. Rasmus dealt with those; the man used a similar technique to the disruption skill he had used against Julius to deactivate the traps.

Julius could sense that they were getting closer. The beacon he left on the Tier 4 was still active and was gently pinging from the inside of the mountain they were climbing up. Julius assumed that there was some kind of hidden entrance that led toward the center of the mountain, but it was hard to figure out where that was.

Fortunately for them, the traps were a fairly accurate indicator that showed they were getting closer. The traps continued to become more complicated and numerous. Some of them were actually dangerous now and would kill or injure whoever activated them.

Eventually, they were presented with a problem. There were too many traps to go around them like they had been, and these traps were more advanced, which meant that Rasmus didn’t feel one hundred percent confident that he would be able to deactivate them without triggering some sort of alarm.

Julius wanted to use [Void Step] to get across, but he also knew that Rasmus wouldn’t be allowed to accompany him. His spatial movement had the unfortunate downside of being extremely dangerous to anyone who didn’t have some form of protection from the chaotic space.

Rasmus was Tier 4, so the odds that he could protect himself with a bubble of Authority were relatively high, but Julius didn’t want to take that chance. He also didn’t trust himself extending his own natural protection to someone as strong as a Tier 4. He could have likely done that with a Tier 3 or lower, but teleporting someone that strong meant there were some limitations and risks.

“You should head back and let the others know what we found,” Julius said to Rasmus, turning around.

“What about you?” Rasmus asked with a confused frown.

Julius motioned at the mountain. “I am going to take a closer look.”

“How? Do you have a way to get through the traps without tripping them?” The man questioned.

“Yeah, but I won’t be able to bring you along,” Julius said with an apologetic shrug.

“And you are sure that it won’t activate them?”

Julius scrunched his nose. “Eh, like ninety percent sure,” he said honestly. “I have gotten past better enchantments before, so I don’t think it should be a problem.”

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“What about—”

“Don’t worry, I will be careful,” Julius cut the man off, already knowing what he was going to say. “I am just going to take a closer look and see if I can find the actual entrance, that way we can move in right away. Plus, you know firsthand how hard it is to sense me when I keep myself hidden,” Julius said with a knowing grin.

Rasmus rolled his eyes but sighed in acceptance. “Okay, but please try to keep hidden. We don’t need them to get a warning about our attack. I would rather we don’t lose anyone on this mission.”

“Don’t worry, I will be very cautious,” Julius promised Rasmus.

The man looked at Julius for a few brief moments before nodding at Julius and turning back to where they had come from and where the others were waiting.

Once the man was out of sight, Julius used a [Void Step] to get past the traps. For some reason, he had a strange feeling about this and wanted to gather as much information as possible before they made a decision.

He carefully made his way up the mountain, and while he didn’t have any fancy traps deactivating skills like Rasmus, Julius was still able to sense them with relative ease. This meant he could easily teleport past their activation distance.

He had to backtrack a few times, but he used the beacon as a point of reference. Eventually, he felt a ping from his perception skill that wasn’t from the mark. He stopped what he was doing and made sure that his aura was shrouded entirely, and looked closer at what he had sensed.

There was a group of men on the other side of the ledge who were talking amongst each other. It looked like they were guards of some kind, but they weren’t taking their jobs very seriously. Julius wanted to examine them further, but his mana and aura senses were blocked by some type of barrier that was erected in front of the guards.

The barrier was very subtle, and if not for his not being able to extend his senses like he normally was, he didn’t think he would have noticed. It was a barrier that was very different from the one that had been around the camp he attacked. It was much more advanced.

He slowly crept around the mountain and finally laid his eyes on what he had been looking for. Just like he expected, there was an entrance that led deeper into the mountain. The beacon that was on the Tier 4 was still pinging from that direction as well. As much as he wanted to, he didn’t bother testing his luck any further and started to make his way back. He had gotten what he came for.

It didn’t take him very long to get back to the rest of the group. Upon his arrival, he explained everything he had noticed as well as the locations and purposes of the traps and barriers. They all listened intently to his information. Surprisingly, none of them seemed to question him or have any doubts about the accuracy of the information.

If he didn’t know better, there was a hint of uneasiness when they looked at him. He wondered if Jakob or one of his team members had told them about what he had done to the bandits. Otherwise, he would have expected to hear a lot more complaints about him coming along and participating as much as he had.

Nobody had said a word or voiced a complaint about him the entire time. Which, in his experience, was a bit weird. If it wasn’t his tier, people often had problems with his age. Or find something else to grieve about. However, they accepted his presence and even his assessment of the situation. They only asked him some clarifying questions.

He didn’t know how he felt about that. Usually, people looked at him with pity or derision. Thus, being treated with trepidation and respect was a new experience.

However, that was a concern for later, after the mission was over. They had some things to discuss, and he needed to pay attention.

Once he was finished explaining what he saw, Emil took the lead and began organizing them into teams and tasks. The man, despite being a chief in a small village, seemed oddly professional. It was as if he were issuing orders as a military commander, not a simple village chief.

Julius considered the possibility that the man was a former team leader or had experience directing people. Emil was far too good at it otherwise.

The plan itself was quite simple for each group. Nothing too complicated in case things got dicey, but everyone knew what their roles were and understood what they should do if things didn’t go according to plan.

Julius’s role was very simple. He was the person who would lead the others to where he had found the entrance. He had some questions about how the others would bypass the traps he had avoided with [Void Step], and Emil assured him that he had some ways to get by them without activating the alarm.

From what the man had explained, he possessed a skill that would allow them to pierce the barriers and traps without alerting the bandits. However, he also would need to see it in person to know for sure.

They didn’t waste any time. The moment they understood their roles, they all rushed away to prepare. Once they were ready, they all set out. There were mainly men there, with only a few women accompanying them.

But he saw that the women seemed concerningly vengeful for some reason. More so than the men. There was an anger in their eyes that made Julius a little nervous. One petite woman had a massive battleaxe slung across her shoulder. The axe itself was worn and a little beat up, yet he could see the telltale signs of the edge being recently sharpened and polished.

He didn’t envy these bandits one bit and had a feeling that they would be experiencing quite a crisis in the near future. Thankfully, he had a feeling that he would get a front row seat.