Gleam [Karma Cultivator Isekai] - Chapter 118: Bait

“Just kill them,” said one of the new cultivators, a man with an interwoven black beard and cold brown eyes. “Their explanations don’t matter. If Gleam had sent forces, then they would have sent much more than an assortment of Rank 3s.”

Arlen nodded, but one of the other man raised a hand. His red hair floated around his head as if it were underwater. Chance couldn’t place what it was, but there was something off about him.

The man beside him felt similarly wrong. His blonde hair hung in a low ponytail behind his head and his face almost looked peaceful despite the anger coming off all the other cultivators. There was an aura of danger that surrounded both of them that was so intense that Chance could feel it.

“The girl used an artifact that was made in Gleam,” the red haired man said, studying them through half-lidded eyes. Chance almost got the feeling that the man would actually collapse and fall asleep if he weren’t actively talking. “It lends credence to their argument.

“Be that as it may, Vernan, they still cannot be allowed to live,” Rial said. “They made a mockery of our sect. We should kill them and wipe the evidence of their passing from this land. Even if they are Shikari, Gleam would care little for their loss. They are only Rank 3s.”

Chance wished he could speak with Ocie, but he had no idea where the artifact was. There was always a chance Ocie had just up and left to save herself, but Chance didn’t even take that into consideration. Ocie wouldn’t fail them. He just had to buy more time.

“Gleam will care if you kill us,” Chance said, raising his voice to be heard. “They’ll care quite a bit. There’s a pretty big search out for three of us. If we die, they’re going to come looking to see what happened.”

Vernan tilted his head to the side, then glanced at the blonde man at his side. The man remained quiet, either in deep contemplation or completely bored out of his mind. Chance couldn’t tell which.

“I vote we kill them,” Arlen said, his fingers tightening around the shaft of his bow. “This is both pointless and a waste of time. Gleam doesn’t care about worthless cultivators like this. Their deaths will not be noticed.”

“I believe further investigation is warranted,” Rial said. “We should capture them. If their words are false, kill them after.”

“I vote to kill,” Vernan said. They all spoke as if Chance and the others weren’t even there. Chance supposed that was reasonable enough. Now that they didn’t have the city to hide behind, there really was absolutely nothing they could do against the cultivators before them.

They were quite literally bugs at their feet. Even a single thought from one of the Rank Six cultivators would likely be enough to kill all of them in a fell swoop.

The last cultivator that arrived, a woman with dark brown hair and rounded features that had still yet to speak, shook her head. “If we bring Gleam down upon ourselves, we will not be able to survive their onslaught. Gleam cares little, but if even a sliver of the boy’s words is true, then the risk is far too great.”

“Two and two,” Vernan observed. He looked to the blond man. “As usual, then. What is your verdict, Lord Naveed?”

Naveed didn’t respond for several moments. His eyes bore into Chance’s like twin drills, but Chance didn’t give his ground in the slightest. Every second he bought mattered. As soon as Naveed spoke, everything would be over.

If he really did have Gleam’s backing, then he would have nothing to fear. Chance did his best to pass that feeling across in his stance. Naveed’s gaze lifted away from Chance, a small frown playing across his features.

And, in that moment, Chance knew that his bluff had been called.

Naveed opened his mouth. Then he paused. His brow furrowed and he tilted his head to the side, a flicker of confusion passing over his features.

“Naveed?” Vernan asked.

A wall of brown scales replaced the sky as the head of an enormous dragon burst from beneath the ground. If its head was to scale, then it must have been nearly a quarter the size of the entire Brackern sect’s city.

Chance didn’t properly register its arrival. One second, the sky had been empty. The second, the enormous toothy maw had snapped shut around Vernan, Naveed, and the cultivator that Chance could only assume to be Timone.

An earthshaking crash filled the air and Bella rushed in front of Chance, slamming her hands to the ground and forming a thick wall of translucent crystal around them. The shockwave from the dragon’s arrival slammed into her Essence with such force that it cracked instantly, only barely managing to keep its form.

Wind screamed past all of them and the walls of the Brackern sect groaned. Large chunks of stone ripped away and crumbled down as an enormous earthquake shook everything around them.

Chance stared up at the dragon in awe. Each scale was the size of a small mansion, and its maw of massive, glistening teeth was like a forest of bone. The dragon’s tongue flitted out from its mouth and its throat bellowed.

Bella snapped her fingers and crystal raced around all of their heads, tightly binding around their ears. Chance reflexively squeezed his eyes shut as the dragon let out a deafening scream.

More crystal continued to pour out from Bella’s hands, encasing their ears, but even that wasn’t enough. It shattered, along with every single window in the Brackern sect – and probably a good bit more. The roar was so loud that the ground beneath them trembled.

The dragon’s head whipped around, then plunged back into the ground. Another rumble shook the earth, and all of them stood in forced silence, blood trickling from their ruptured eardrums as they stared at the huge hole where the front of the Brackern sect had once been.

There was absolutely no trace of any of the Brackern sect’s head cultivators. It hardly even seemed real. Every single one of them had vanished – devoured in a single instant. There had been no glorious battle. No incredible, close fight.

They’d been snuffed out like moths flying into a bonfire.

Rubble from the city’s walls pitched forward, falling soundlessly into the huge hole. Chance’s chest constricted.

Did everybody get out? The chances of that are almost zero. I probably just killed some innocent people – and even if they survived the monster’s arrival, that roar almost certainly seriously injured someone at best.

Bella mouthed something, but Chance couldn’t hear her. He dug into his case, pulling out his vial of healing pills and flicking one to Bella, Quinn, and Jade before taking one himself. It dissolved on his tongue and Chance’s hearing snapped back.

“What was that?” Jade breathed, her face as pale as a sheet of paper. “Monsters that large exist? Why did it attack? I don’t understand. You aren’t a Rank 3 at all, are you? There’s no way you could control something that powerful.”

“It wasn’t me,” Chance said, swallowing heavily and pushing the thoughts of what he’d just aided in doing to the back of his mind.

A pile of stones on the ground before them trembled. They pulled themselves together, molding into a rocky form. It stumbled as it rose, its features smoothing. The rock stopped halfway up, leaving a large section of the golem’s arm and upper left chest unformed.

“You,” Ocie said, thrusting a finger into Chance’s chest, “are a terrible influence.”

“Ocie?” Bella asked, staring in confusion. “What happened? Why are you missing an arm?”

“Because I was baiting a Rank 6 dragon,” Ocie replied dryly. “Do you think you just ask a monster like that to show up and it does?”

Everyone other than Chance stared at her, uncomprehending. Ocie glanced at Chance, then shook her head.

“He didn’t tell you. I guess that makes sense. Too easy to counter such a moronic plan if someone overheard it. Chance remembered how much I liked artifacts, so he gave me one he got from the Ancient Realm in hopes that I could use it to lure a monster powerful enough to kill the Brackern sect cultivators.”

“There’s no way a monster that powerful went for just a single artifact,” Jade said, watching Ocie through squinted eyes. “Unless Chance sacrificed a really, really powerful artifact.”

“Of course not,” Ocie agreed.

Chance blinked in surprise. “What?”

“You’re so well meaning,” Ocie said with a soft laugh that sounded strange coming from a being made of stone. “But you can be so stupid, Chance. If you want to bait a monster powerful enough to kill Rank Six cultivators, even relatively weak ones, then you need a prize much better than just a single measly artifact.”

Chance’s brow furrowed. “But… that’s all I had. What did you give it? Bella’s artifact?”

“No,” Bella said with a shake of her head. “I still have mine.”

“And those wouldn’t have been enough either,” Ocie said. “Have you forgotten what I am, Chance?”

Chance’s eyes widened. “You gave it yourself?”

“A small portion. More than what I gained from absorbing the artifacts in the Ancient Realm, but not by much,” Ocie said. A piece of rubble cracked and rolled away from her damaged shoulder. “As I said. Chance is a terrible influence. What sort of artifact gives away part of themselves for some worthless humans?”

Chance’s mouth worked, but he couldn’t find words. “I – I didn’t realize–”

“I know,” Ocie said with a smirk. “Your talent has never been thinking. I’ve learned that much. You just believe so strongly that you’re fighting for the right cause and things will go well that they do. And, this time, they did.”

“Thank you,” Bella said, inclining her head. She looked to be at a similar loss for words, and had just settled for the simple two that could never properly encapsulate what they actually meant. “You saved a lot of people today, Ocie.”

Ocie grunted. “People that will die in a few measly years anyway. But don’t think I’ve completely lost my mind. Don’t you dare expect this again. This is an investment – you hear? I expect payment for this, Chance. Not today. Not even this year. But I expect you to grow strong enough to actually enforce those impossible ideals of yours.”

“Why are you talking like you’re about to die?” Chance asked nervously. “Are you–”

Ocie let out a bark of laughter. “I’m not that idiotic yet. I wouldn’t kill myself for a city of worthless mortals. I might be asleep for some time, though.”

Chance’s hands clenched at his sides. “Thank you, Ocie. If I’d known – well, I guess I probably still would have asked you to do it. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” Ocie said, giving him a rocky grin. “It’s your nature. Just don’t corrupt mine too much. And don’t forget to get that payment for me when I wake up. I charge interest.”

Ocie’s body rippled, then crumbled apart. They all stared at the pile of rubble in silence.

“You’re insane,” Jade muttered. “I can’t believe that actually worked. You put all of our lives on the bet that an intelligent artifact would willingly sacrifice itself?”

“That wasn’t the plan,” Chance replied, pressing his lips together. “I owe Ocie now, but it sounds like I’ve got some time to make it up to her. Until then, we’ve got a much more important thing to do.”

“What?” Jade asked. “Keep that massive dragon from eating us too?”

“If it wanted to eat us, it already would have,” Bella said.

Chance nodded in the direction of the crumbling Brackern sect. “People are definitely hurt in there because of what I just kicked off. I won’t make anyone come with me, but I’m going in to get healing to everyone I can.”

“You don’t even have to ask,” Bella said with a shake of her head.

“I’ll come too,” Quinn said, speaking up for the first time in a while. She locked eyes with Chance for a moment, then bowed her head. “Thank you. All of you.”

“Thank us after we keep more people from dying,” Jade said. “Let’s go.”

The others all nodded, and they set off toward the city at a run, working their way around the massive hole that now took up its front. Every second that passed could mean someone’s life. There would be time to rest once the damage to the people of the city was handled as best as they could.