Much as I did intend to Sacrifice another bug, as soon as I found the right piece of one, I needed to check in with the cult. The break was real. Actually real. All over Zairgon too.

  I saw no sign of any monsters advancing towards us. Even the little ones that had been harassing us from the get-go were now gone. It almost felt like the Blight Swarm had pulled back every single weapon in its arsenal to prepare for its next assault. Whatever and whenever it was, we’d be ready for it.

  Better yet, we were going to stop it. If my little plan with Sacrifice confirmed my suspicions.

  First the cult, though.

  Our tactics had worked well enough to reduce casualties and make sure as many people as possible survived. But plans didn’t survive contact with the enemy, which in this case meant our preparations couldn’t be foolproof. We still had to deal with the dead and the injured.

  “How many did you find?” I asked.

  “Alive?” Sigrouen shook his head. That meant zero people still living in the areas he had searched. “Seventeen dead that we’ve been able to recover and identify.”

  And a lot more that the insects had eviscerated beyond recognition.

  I got similar reports from the others. Different areas of Ring Four that we had some influence over all had a lot of corpses and scant few people who had hidden away and were still alive. Save for those who had managed to evacuate to Ring Three and those who remained in specific, fortified and well-defended residences. Well-hidden too, mostly.

  At least the wounded we had managed to recover were healing well. The hospital had brought in the medics, and though the few people who possessed healing Aspects were clearly overworked, they forged on admirably.

  It was a little sad I couldn’t do more to help in this instance, but everyone had their own parts to play. I had done my bit, and would continue to do other bits too.

  “We managed to keep the occupied residences secure,” Thyrethena said. The old Anymphea woman wasn’t even wounded, though the same couldn’t be said for the rest of her people. They had suffered some casualties too. “Your people are safe.”

  I bowed, fist to chest like I had learned to do. Though, it made me wonder if the Anymphea had their own formal greeting. “All thanks to you and the rest of the Anymphea’s efforts.”

  When I had agreed to host the Anymphea who couldn’t find space on Ring Two, I hadn’t realized I would basically be inviting in a powerful fighting force. Of course, I hadn’t believed they’d be a burden. But I also didn’t think I was adding people who would significantly contribute towards repelling the Blight Swarm. No surprise, though. They were hardened by the lives they led outside city walls.

  I moved around a bit, talking quietly with people here and there, offering words of encouragement to the wounded and just ensured I was there for the ones who had suffered losses. The grief of those who had lost loved ones hung like a funeral shroud over the rest of the temple grounds.

  “Any further signs of them?” I asked when I met Hamsik later on top of the temple.

  He shook his head. “It’s dried up. Not just here, but elsewhere too. You were probably a little too busy with all your insanity—”

  “Insanity?”

  Hamsik ignored my interruption. “—but the Councillors weren’t exactly slacking either. If you think you turned too much of Ring Four into rubble, wait till you see the madness on Ring Three.”

  Hmm, I supposed the fact we hadn’t received too much assistance from the other Rings had its own tiny silver linings. It also wasn’t surprising at all that the Councillors had repelled the Blight Swarm just as we had. In fact, if I had been the one controlling the Blight Swarm, I’d have expected to be beaten in the effort to take Ring Three.

  It was Ring Four—my Ring—that had proven the real shock. I was sure of it.

  “But it’s still not done,” I said.

  Hamsik nodded with reluctant agreement. “The real question is when it’s going to resume, and at what intensity. Because we’re being worn down, Ross. We might survive one more extended battle. Maybe two. But then…”

  Exactly the concern Se-Vigilance had shared. It really was imperative we figured out a way to stop the Blight Swarm for good, instead of just fighting back every single invasion.

  Their next assault would no doubt be more perilous. Even in the battle we had just experienced, the Swarm had escalated its aggression, sending in squadrons of more powerful monsters in more varied ways as the battle had progressed. The pit with the ants I had managed to deal with was just one of the surprisingly devious methods the Swarm had employed.

  I had learned about even more surprising methods from other people. Large bugs dying and leaving their killers wounded and tired, only for smaller insects to burst out of their larger carrier’s carcass to launch a surprise assault. Certain bugs that didn’t even attack, just retrieved the monstrous corpses that would be repurposed for a new assault. Others that had exploded into being out of infected victims.

  The gruesome list went on. I would need to take some time to learn about them all, because a lot of those hadn’t been mentioned in any of the information I had gone over.

  “Listen, Ross.” Hamsik looked at me with deadly seriousness. “I want to keep fighting, and I will, regardless of what we go through.”

  “But?” I prompted.

  “But I can’t keep doing it in perpetuity.”

  “None of us can.” I sighed. “The Ritual’s effects are going to go away, and I’m afraid the loss of those buffs are going to be a bad blow to morale. We can still redo it, of course, but it would still require us to win at least one big battle before the Ritual succeeds.”

  Hamsik shook his head a little. “I understand, but that’s not what I meant. It’s just that… I’ve got priorities I can’t just keep ignoring.”

  All this time I had known Hamsik, I had never actually asked what his deal was. I hadn’t enquired where he stayed since the temple clearly wasn’t his home and he had more or less disavowed House Kalnislaw entirely. Not once had I asked where he spent his time, what he did whenever he wasn’t at the temple, what were his likes, dislikes, hobbies.

  But enough was enough.

  “Why?” I asked.

  Hamsik chewed on his answer for a few moments. “Because I have things to protect besides the temple.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  It was my turn to consider. Push, or not to push? There was clearly a reason he was trying to keep mum.

  “Fine,” I said.

  “I’m not apologizing,” Hamsik said.

  “And I’m not disapproving. It’s unrealistic to expect everyone’s entire life would revolve around the cult and the temple. That you’ve got other things to prioritize is actually good.”

  Hamsik grunted and I wasn’t exactly sure what that was supposed to mean. We had to cut our conversation short, though. The guards were coming.

  “Are you alright?” I asked Revayne as she marched up to the temple with a few subordinates in tow.

  She had a wound on her shoulder that had left her whole arm bandaged and in a sling. I was surprised she hadn’t gotten it fully healed yet.

  “I’ll manage,” she said, not even wincing. “I’d ask you the same, but I saw your… meteoric display so I figured you’d be alright.” Her smile was a little strained, but genuine all the same. “I’m glad I’m right.”

  I smiled. Seeing her condition, I was a lot less inclined to blame them for not helping Ring Four. If anything, she looked like she’d have much preferred Ring Four to help her as well as the rest of Ring Three.

  “I hope you realize how astonishing it is that you’ve managed to survive with such few casualties,” she said quietly. Her eyes roamed over the wounded and the dead gathered at the temple.

  I held back a wince. If this counted as few casualties, then what in the world had she been expecting? It ticked me off a little. They were able to sit back and defend the aerial threats they had received higher up while Ring Four got both the monsters dive-bombing from the sky and the ones rushing across the ground.

  But no, that wasn’t fully true either. Our defence plans included leaving large swathes of Ring Four abandoned, creating corridors that the bugs would use to get to Ring Three and higher. It was necessary for our survival.

  And going by Revayne’s state, they definitely hadn’t had an easy time of it up there either, so I couldn’t be annoyed without being unreasonable.

  “Any news on the Swarm’s next plan?” Hamsik asked. “From your scouts and such?”

  I had learned those weren’t actual living scouts. Rather, powers using certain Aspects had been sent out to spy on the Blight Swarm to the best of their abilities.

  “We anticipate another assault before the end of next evening,” Revayne said. Her eyes were once again on her book, pages flipping as she scanned through them in quick succession. “It’s difficult to predict. The Blight Swarm has powerful obscuring abilities, not least of which are the annoying gnats. Even less physical means of spying fail because the mana there is too… dark.”

  We could all attest to that. Those black threads, the spark of dark energy that accompanied so many of the monsters, the way the corpses had been tied together to form one, enormous, living monstrosity…

  Netherthreads. Nether Vein. Yes, Se-Vigilance was right. The two had to be inextricably linked somehow.

  “I’m not surprised,” I said. “It’s the Work of an Ascendant. Don’t suppose you have one of those in your back pocket.”

  Revayne looked up briefly with a wry smile. “If we did, a Blight Swarm would be the least of our worries.”

  Fair enough.

  “What if we don’t have to fight it off again?” I said.

  Revayne glanced up from her book again as Hamsik and Thyrethena both frowned.

  “Please don’t tell me you’ve had the same crackpot idea that Councillor Hashiste is entertaining,” Revayne said.

  It was my turn to frown. “I don’t even know which Councillor that is.”

  “Never mind. You were saying?”

  “I might be able to gain a little bit more insight from one of the dead bugs. Provided I can find the right one, that is.”

  I brought up how I had Sacrificed a bit of Glonek to peer into his soul with the Sacrifice Affix that didn’t fit within the Aspect. It had granted me a glimpse into the vampire’s life. I had learned just what sort of experiences had led him to go on and cause all that devastation and suffering via the Scarthralls, converting them either willingly or forcefully to his cause.

  And now, if I Sacrificed the right bug, I should be able to glean a similar sort of understanding about these monsters as well.

  So far, I had learned that the Swarm followed a pattern of scouring across the continent of Falsient, attacking settlements and people wherever they had gathered. Even wandering caravans and tribes like the Anymphea weren’t safe from the Swarm. They attacked, ravaged areas entirely until it was devoid of life, and only then moved on.

  Terrible though they were, they weren’t unstoppable. Several historical accounts detailed how they had been repelled before. Zairgon had beaten back the Blight Swarm twice as well, and Claderov had successfully defended themselves five times. They really weren’t unbeatable.

  The Swarm just tended to take an enormous toll.

  A former city called Lonzythe had been abandoned entirely after a devastating Swarm assault had, if not killed too many of its residents, still devastated the economy and made rebuilding impossible afterwards. Sinthesar had famously rebuilt two-thirds of its whole city after a Blight Swarm invasion had famously coincided with an actual war with a few surrounding tribes and smaller city-states.

  No doubt, the Zairgon administration had backup plans to prevent an economic collapse even if the people survived. I probably didn’t need to worry about that.

  My main concern was whether Ring Four would survive the whole ordeal.

  To that end, even if the Councillors themselves had plans to save Zairgon, I had little reason to trust those plans included saving Ring Four too. I would need to ensure my home withstood the monstrous assault without a shadow of a doubt.

  “So… we just need to find the right monster?” Sreketh asked after I conferred with the others.

  Aurier rubbed the back of his head. “I’d help but—”

  “It’s fine,” I said. “You and Gutran are already helping a lot with all the weapons and armour. Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered.”

  We did. Finding the specific monster I needed to Sacrifice wasn’t easy by any means, but we had enough manpower and determination on our side. Especially after I explained how finding the right one could possibly help stop the Blight Swarm for good.

  I went up in the air with Siphon to direct people all over the area in the search. Sorting through the corpses piled over here, digging through the rubble over there, trying not to get too demoralized when we discovered a human body we had missed during our first search. It wasn’t a fun time.

  Eventually though, with the help of Lujean and all the others, we dragged in a good number of corpses. I had changed my idea from using one bug to using a bunch of them for Sacrifice. Of course, we had sorted away some that we could potentially harvest for meat.

  But the important part was that I had killed all these monsters. There wasn’t a shadow of a doubt that these corpses belonged to me.

  “I need this,” I murmured. “I need to find a way to stop the Blight Swarm. For good.”

  I stood in front of the bodies that faintly swirled with black energy, picking out a singular piece. All previous instances of Soul Sight had me Sacrificing a small chunk of my subject.

  Hopefully, the end of a limb I had torn off would act as a similar offering.

  Also hoping that the darkness wasn’t going to interfere with Sacrifice, I drove the white threads into the piece of the dead monster’s chitin while focusing intently and entirely on my Soul Sight Affix.

  Just like with Glonek, with the bit of the Scalekin Roaring Claw, and with the academy professor’s treasured trinket more recently, hot pain assaulted my senses.

  My mind rebelled as my sight shifted, space itself appearing to distort and twist around me, turning convoluted and inside-out somehow. At the same time, chunks of my body felt like they were both liquifying and immediately boiling too.

  The sensations were even stronger than the last few times. I was right in thinking that increasing Sacrifice’s rank kept increasing the toll certain offerings took on me.

  [ Sacrifice

  You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Gold-ranked Swarmlord. Windfall bonus activated.

  Reward: Soul Sight activated ]

  Thankfully, the pain relinquished its torturous hold as the new world instated itself fully. I blinked when I saw what I stood before.

  A gate. A huge gate. Shining, metallic, easily tall enough to crane my neck badly if I wanted to see its top while standing at its base, and slowly yawning open. But not before I caught the same strange symbol of a figure eight just with the top quarter replaced with a star.

  The groan of the gate’s opening was deafening. A powerful drag tore through me, ripped apart the world around me, dragged in anything and everything it could touch. It came with a now-familiar storm of black threads, lashing out at the world, each tendril thicker than suspension bridge cables. I was dragged in as well.

  But even as an enormous leash of darkness hauled me into the yawning maw of the gate, I saw enough. I knew what was going on. The threads were reaching past me, flying beyond the gate, towards a distant sky. Towards a distant monstrous body rushing through the air

  A body very much like the one I was currently inhabiting, all spines and claws and hard, chitinous plates.

  That pretty much confirmed it.

  The Blight Swarm wasn’t here for Zairgon. No, they wanted the Nether Vein.

  Moments later, dreaded words popped up even in the middle of this fantastical, Sacrifice-fuelled vision.

  [ Path Interaction ]