"We bit off more than we could chew..." Despite sprinting at maximum speed the assassin of the group spoke at a relatively unhurried pace. He was able to remain calm in most situations and, despite fleeing from an army of spiny mice, his expression was relatively unperturbed. There was a white tide drifting across the dessert behind him but as far as he was concerned he would either live or die today and nothing he did made any difference so it was out of his hands. He was easily the most stoic person in the group right now but that wasn't really saying much...
"YOU THINK?!" Bess screeched as she began hurling her armor away to increase her speed and keep up with everyone. She usually wore the most gear of everyone as a frontline fighter so this was necessary but it pained her heart to throw away valuable money like this... She was probably more annoyed about having to discard her gear than the current predicament but both were weighing on her quite a bit. She directed most of her vitriol and agitation towards Marcus as he was somewhat 'responsible' for this whole situation.
"I don't why you're looking at me like that! I simply told you what that liquid is and what it was worth! I don't recall forcing any of you to go hunting for it! I also vividly remember explicitly stating these mice were problematic but nooooooo. You just had to go for it anyway, didn't you!? Real easy to pin the blame on me but it was your greed that got us here!" Marcus fired back through ragged breaths. Running at this speed and verbally sparring was a difficult task but he refused to be slandered one sidedly like this! He identified an extremely rare resource being safeguarded within the strongest of all eastern settlements and relayed that information to the group but he himself had no interest in throwin his life away for it. The group, to their credit, weren't aware of just how menacing the mouse militia relay were but the risk they took was a bit overboard considering how obvious it was this was a large settlement they were trying to sneakily raid. They didn't pick a frontal fight, they attempted to distract the mice near the perimeter so that the assassin could infiltrate and swipe the giant cauldron of liquid, but mice have good hearing and that plan was objectively doomed from the start. This should have been obvious but the assassin was fairly confident in his ability to mask the sound of footsteps and yet it hadn't worked in the end. He made decent enough progress but the king of this settlement was not fooled by his efforts, resulting in this fleeing frenzy.
The army behind the group was a dreadful sight as it looked as though a snowy avalanche had manifested in the middle of a desert and was ready and willing to run them over like a tide. These mice were dangerous too as a single one could gnaw off the leg of a careless cultivator... If there were this many, these four wouldn't even leave a corpse behind by the time the little monsters were done eating. They were ferocious mice and any sayings regarding the animal's usual timidity were definitely misplaced and not applicable. Then again any animal could become scary when they cultivated, especially bears for whatever reason as they were particularly lethal. Ares had once found a constantly available mission back in the sect hall to hunt different varieties of bears and turn them in for rewards and he distinctly remembered being shocked at how many types there were... Though that wasn't relevant right now Xasca didn't exactly have a bear problem. It's not that none existed, though, but there was only one in the west of the desert and it was a polar bear that migrated there from Isaz for whatever reason. Despite the environment heavily not favouring it, and maybe even weakening it, the polar bear was still a pretty dominant animal that controlled its own large area uncontested. It wasn't strong enough to give Ares pause, or warrant more care than any other monster, but it was definitely strong compared to the average western monster despite being an otherwise completely normal bear that Sevorus hadn't touched. Point being, animals were spooky if they cultivated. They could also gain the ability to transform into a humanoid form if they reached a specific level but that wasn't really possible just yet and Rox was the exception due to his mimic race. Though that was a monster race and not an animal.
The mice tide was catching up to the squad of four, unpromisingly, but they soon realised the mice had stopped chasing them for some reason. The stampeding cacophony had turned into deathly stillness and silence so all four of the group turned around to see what happened and what had saved their hides. There, in the air, laying sideways, was Ares as golden meteorites rained from the sky above him and a domineering flag swept through the mice, cleaving hundreds with every lazy flick of Ares' wrist. His Auriferous Subjugation shot through the clouds and began fragmenting, scattering bundles of Shock Beads as far as the eye could see. Though letting the faux meteorites crash as they were inflicted more damage, doing so affected a smaller range overall so Ares was going for as much wide spread carnage here as possible. It made sense, the mice were plentiful and it was in his best interest to hedge his bets by going wide and slaughtering them en masse.
The mice that had grinded to a halt in the sand, upon witnessing Ares hover above them, began scarpering every which way in a bid to escape but Ares combined Genuflection Mandate with Quietus Edict to lock them all down and deny them a chance of holding onto their lives. Not a single peep or squeak could be heard amongst the thousands of small creatures and even the sound of golden annihilation bombardments was non-existent thanks to Ares' Quietus so it was quite the odd sight. The chaos was oddly peaceful as mice brains and innards were splattered all over the desert and countless creatures were blown to smithereens without a single noise to harmonise with the gruesome visuals. The serenity persisted even when the energy from the explosions kicked up grainy winds that tore through the carnage and killed even more mice. Somebody could shut their eyes and easily pretend nothing was happening here, thanks to the lack of sound, opening them five minutes later to find all traces of the monsters long gone. If the group of four didn't know any better they would think this was all just a strange, lucid dream. It was very real, however, and just went to show the sort of terror a fundamental champion could bring forth with barely any effort.
Ares was till laying about in the air without a single care in the world and yet he'd caused the utter annihilation of an army multiple thousands strong. Even some of the stronger looking mice, who were probably akin to generals or lieutenants had not been spared and couldn't survive the onslaught. The only mouse left 'standing' was the king but it looked worse for wear and was missing at least half its body. It didn't live long as the flag promptly reaped its life in merciless fashion and declared this territory officially conquered by planting itself inside the king's corpse. The flag was an excellent tool for clean up on the battlefield and, now that there was nothing left for it to murder, Ares put the flag away and landed next to the group of four while removing the Quietus so everyone could speak freely.
"I'm reminded once more of your unreasonable strength... Though that giant red solider in the city a while ago was already enough of a reminder to last a life time..." Marcus chuckled wryly. "Thank you for your timely aid, we would have been in a spot of trouble were it nor for you... You're probably wondering how this all came to be, right?"
"Marcus!" Bess wasn't happy about Marcus informing Ares of the purple liquid they were after because she wanted to keep it all to herself. She had no real right to it, especially after Ares basically did all the work here, but she believed they could have gotten away with laying sole claim to it if nobody mentioned it. This was a faulty assumption, as Ares would have checked the settlement anyway because he was ona tour de force right now, but she figured it was worth a shot. Marcus and Lilly had a conscience, however, and would have offered Ares a piece of the pie or even just given it to him outright. Lilly because she was friendly and Marcus because he was smart and knew better than to offend the borderline Godly being that could singlehandedly terrorise this entire domain by himself. Bess' greed had blinded her so Marcus didn't even bother responding to her and spoke to Ares instead.
"The mouse settlement houses 'survival violet', a fairly rare resource that can extend lifespans when drunk in sufficient quantities. The more you drink, the longer you'll live supposedly. It can also heal wounds on the spot so if you need saving, in whatever way, this stuff is handy to have in your back pocket. We were after it to either sell or drink, each of us had different plans in that regard, but seeing as you helped us out it's only right you get involved in sharing the goods... Or, well, if you want all of it it's not like any of us can stop you..."
Part of the reason this settlement was the strongest around was because the mice had all been drinking form the survival violet and extended their lifespan, allowing them to cultivate longer than other settlements and have a more experienced, battle hardened, and expansive force comparatively. Any of the stronger mice who were on death's door after hard won battles could be resurrected from that state too with the survival violet so this one resource alone catapulted them to the top of the regional hierarchy. For someone like Ares the survival violet wasn't a big deal but for those who suffered from that little thing called 'mortality' it was worth chasing down regardless of whether they were human, animal, monster, or anything else in-between.
"Interesting. I'm a revenant so lifespan is irrelevant to me. Even if I die of old age I'll just be reborn anyway. Plus my lifespan ought to be fine as I'm cultivating respectably fast given the fact I'm cultivating an unknown pillar with no guidance. As for healing wounds..." Ares gently brushed his finger across the hole in his chest and the empty patch of cheek he was missing. These were the lingering wounds from his fight against the stepper and they hadn't faded quite yet. They still stung a bit but, other than that, they were pretty easy to forget about as they weren't serious. Of course the people who saw Ares were quite off-put by his grim visage but the injuries would heal on their own soon enough thanks to his revenant regeneration. "I really don't need the survival violet. I also am in no need of stardust..." Compared to any other cultivator Ares was disgustingly rich with over five thousand Stardust still in his wallet. It was only when pitted against international tier businessmen and Federation freaks that his wealth seemed insignificant and came up short. "... So you can take the survival violet... Kinda. I'm going to punish Bess for trying to withhold this information from me and so I'll take half of it. This isn't strictly petty, as I do know someone who needs it..." Ares was thinking about the previous sect master of Heaven's Path. "... But I could definitely have taken far less. Let this be a lesson not to short change people who mean you no harm. I've saved your life multiple times now and this was how you attempt to repay me? It's disappointing, honestly. If I were any more ruthless I would have killed you for this sort of attitude you know? Luckily for you I'm in a good enough mood and generally not the type to go that far over something minor like this." Bess seemed somewhat repentant and was staring at the floor so Ares just let her be and ignored her. He wasn't planning on seeing this group again so there was no need for anything more than a reprimand nor was there any point in dillydallying here any longer and entertaining the group in conversation. He thanked Marcus, bid him, the assassin, and Lilly goodbye, and took off.
Ares activated Voidwalk and went on ahead to the settlement. He scanned the entire place with Omniscience and pressure but the only thing worth his time here really was the survival violet. He poured a bunch of the stuff into his Primordial Blade, letting it float around in space for now as he had nowhere else to put it, and then left before the group arrived. They could do as they pleased with the rest of it, Ares had enough to extend the sect master's life span by at least a couple hundred years. If the sect master still couldn't breakthrough to the transition realm even after Ares bullied the deadline back then he was truly useless. Ares would still spare the effort to keep helping him but he would be pretty untalented if it the violet was still not enough time for him. Ares would have preferred a resource that could just push the old guy over the line to the next realm but this would have to do for now as it was the best he could find. It was incredibly convenient, though, and meant Ares had now ticked off two of his three goals. The only thing left was to fix Sandy's meridians but that was the least problematic issue so Ares was fine to just let fate do its thing and he figured he would find a solution naturally. Compared to the other problems the number of potential solutions was way higher and, honesty, if Sandy stayed with the fellahin long enough they might have even manged to find a solution themselves. It was a nasty poison that harmed her, Ares had seen it with his Omniscience after Sandy slept on him that night she got drunk, but it wasn't unfixable. If it were truly that deadly it would have done way more than just ravage her interior. Really, the only reason she hadn't been healed yet was because Xasca didn't seem to posses many capable alchemists. There were some, definitely, but the overall level of them was quite low it seemed. Xasca did have alot of fortune tellers though! None were as good as Yulo but he was in a class of his own so that didn't really count and was an unfair comparison. The ones here were all pretty respectable as far as prophesiers went and that was the service Xasca cultivators were known for internationally.
After returning to the Elliot, Ares continued his cultivation and pushed towards the eighth stage of sensory enhancement. He wouldn't get there for a while but he really had no need to other than his desire to close in on Garmr. Aejaz fiddled around in the background with the Prowler while Rox was probably having the time of his life with the succubus inside the Blade again... Hopefully not with Ares' aesthetic... Either way, after finally arriving back at the city, Ares sent the Legion sisters the letter he wrote earlier through Transmit and walked towards the sect. On the way he noticed a procession and used his divine sense to get better look without delving into the crowd as he wasn't particularly interested. He snorted and lightly shook his head side to side with a small smile as it turned out the 'procession' was for three hung and lifeless individuals Ares recognised. Ronnie Bonnie and Donnie were officially dead now so they could go frolic freely in the afterlife.
The rest of Ares' journey to the sect was relatively peaceful however he was recognised by a few people who were reverent towards him due to the stepper altercation that become public knowledge. Ares cleaning up a major threat was very welcome and people were grateful. Not everyone recognised him by sight alone but those that did appreciated his bravery and a few even asked for autographs. Ares wasn't in any rush so he took some times to oblige their harmless requests here and there before finally making his way through the gates of the sect. Everyone here knew who he was, though, so the recognition problem only got worse and not better. He made it clear he wasn't doing anymore autographs for now, though, so people kept their distance and let him past without too much hassle.
Before returning to the palace, Ares quickly checked up on Massai and the quarry but things were peaceful there and nothing needed doing. Back when Diggers invaded there was a small kerfuffle but nothing Massai, the fake monk, couldn't handle! He was also doing a good job of slowly but surely purifying the quarry and no weasels had shown up to reset his progress so all was looking well. Once the basically-dead weasels were finally slain for good this issue ought to never plague Xasca again... Hopefully. Technically speaking someone else could figure out the trick Brainiac used and try again but Drai ought to be more aware of this possibility and work towards preventing it in the future. Setting up more defences around the perimeter of the quarry, and everything inside it, would do the trick if he spent a couple years on building the appropriate measures. He was considering hiring an expert runemancer too so that should suffice. Ares could do the runes if he wanted to but it was a timely endeavour, even with his Omniscience due to his relative inexperience and slow rune writing, so he just couldn't be bothered. He'd more than done his part already and Drai could finish the rest, Ares wasn't a charity.
After that short stop Ares and Aejaz went back to the palace and enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere now that Diggers wasn't around and spitting at people who walked through the gates. It was good to have him gone finally and even his eye sore of a golden house had been bulldozed and scrapped. He was no longer a disciple here and never would be ever again so this palace was even further out of reach to him than ever before. The same was not true of Brainiac, however, as he'd been posted up here for some time now and had been indirectly living the high life... So long as the whole torture thing was ignored. He'd been put through the ringer while resting in heaven. Today was finally the day he would be put out of his misery, though, so hopefully he enjoyed the warm lighting and comfortable beds last night to the fullest extent possible!... Although he probably didn't get to lie on a bed as he was almost definitely still tied to a chair... Oh well, he had nobody to blame for this mess except himself for going along with the Torchbearer plot! Ares made his way into the room Brainiac was being held in and left shortly after with a brain also now floating around in his Blade... There was seriously a lot of strange crap in there nowadays but that was just what it meant to be a cultivator. Hoarding seemingly random but useful stuff was 101!
The night came and went and, at dawn, Ares set off for the Riddlemyd again as he wanted to make a lot of progress today before Sandy returned form the fellahin base. Ares' goal was to fight phase two of three of the Anubis duo, according to Tom Tom, And be in prime position to finish the Riddlemyd the next time he entered it. Anubis today, scavengers' base tomorrow, stepper brood mother that same night, and finish the Riddlemyd afterwards with however many days that took. That was the plan, loosely, and the killing of the western monsters could be slotted in sometime after that but before Ares left for Isaz. It was more of a long task than a difficult one but if he dedicated his time to eradicating the western monsters, now with the war aura flag, it would only take a handful of days at most. Everything was on track and soon to be wrapped up nice and neatly.
Ares arrived at the Riddlemyd, dragged Aejaz with him and sped to the entrance with Voidwalk, skipped through the hub room without paying it much mind, and arrived on a new floor he hadn't yet stepped foot on. This was the one that everybody got stuck on, apparently, and even now there was likely a large group hanging around in one of the rooms trying to work their way through the riddle perplexing them. Aejaz was particularly excited to butt heads and do battle with such a worthy riddle but Ares was despairing this ordeal because his bother brother might actually get some people killed if Ares wasn't paying attention! It would be utterly embarrassing and humiliating if Aejaz strolled into the room and got the riddle wrong in front of multiple people, condemning them all to punishment... Ares needed to make sure he threw his palm across his brother's foul moth if he dared to even try utter a single word upon entering the room!
That being said, Ares was also looking forward to this riddle as it sounded incredibly daunting. The Riddlemyd had been here a fair few years and yet, despite everyone's combined efforts, nobody had ever gotten this riddle right? If Ares cared enough to find out, he could have searched for information about this riddle in Xasca city, as people talked about it regularly enough and it was no secret, but he didn't bother because he had more important things to be doing for the most part. It was just a riddle at the end of the day, how hard could it really be? Ares only failed one riddle so far, and this one supposedly didn't even have a timer if the fact that people sat around in the room all day was any indicator, so he was feeling somewhat arrogant. This riddle would not stop him, the second phase of the Anubis would get rolled by his war aura flag, the hub room secret boss would get obliterated, and the corridor creeper would taste defeat and not flesh! Hell Ares was already blazing through the floor without much issue and it took him barely even five minutes to reach the riddle room.
Ares stood outside the riddle room with Tom Tom smirking at him and offering to open up the portal to enter. It seemed the sphinx was feeling confident in his creation! That would just make topping it that much sweeter, Ares reckoned! He and his brother jumped into the portal and instantly noticed the shape of the room was different compared to normal. Before Ares could discern all the changes he felt the gaze of about twenty people all staring at him so he glanced over and saw a circle of seated cultivators pondering with crossed legs. They must have been having a discussion prior to his arrival about the correct answer to the riddle so Ares just ignored them for now and paid attention to the room again.... It was oddly long and spacious. No other room in the Riddlemyd had been like this and Ares felt like it was pretty obviously hinting that this change was relevant in some way to the riddle. Interesting... Ares and Aejaz walked over to the Tom Tom head and nodded at him so he could unveil his greatest riddle. "Lay it on me!"