RAIDBOSS
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Chapter 46
🕑 Added 2024-05-26 23:13:37 +0000 UTCThunderfist Yu lit the shoddily hand rolled joint in his hand and puffed. He took in the harsh smell of resin and charcoal.
The rage of the storm outside was a noise he had learned to tune out over time, but he could never learn to ignore the smell of charcoal making. Storm’s Edge largest building had been turned into the headquarters of the party of bandits that took it over.
Still, Yu considered the smell to be worth putting up with if it meant he could be warm and dry.
It was a stone building dozens of feet across. Even now, laborers — pettier criminals than him, mostly — processed wet wood in, drying it. The steam that came off the fresh piles made the inside of the factory so humid that water clung to the walls and dripped from the ceiling.
Yu’s eyes drilled into the laborer’s backs, sitting at a comfortable imported chair and table in the corner of the room. Fresh blood was always trickling into the city of Storm’s Edge, replacing the losses. They were all pressed into service if they wanted to live and eat here. There were never enough to do all that needed to be done.
Most of the bandits that had conquered this city with him were dead now.
Plenty of the freshblood ran away. The Rainshadow Clan didn’t stop them. Yu let out half a laugh thinking about the drowned rats they pulled back from the forest only a month ago; a party of four found shivering under a tree. Two of them had even lived. They hadn’t tried to run away again since.
Thunderfist Yu was one of the only surviving members of their military squad from ten years ago. Rather than die in a meaningless battle started over the wants of spoiled nobles, the Captain — Rainshadow Long — had defected. And they had lived well.
Just over a decade ago, they had overthrown the less disciplined gangs in the city. Time in the military had given them the training and power to slaughter and absorb the rest of the gangs that ruled over Storm’s Edge with ease.
The Stormwall was rife with opportunities for those cultivators who had left the world behind. And Yu had been promoted up the ranks by virtue of being the last man standing.
Yu looked down at the accounting books below him and puffed out.
The books accounted for the goods taken from caravans that they had managed to rob along the road between Feng.
“Stop recording the bodies…” Yu said. He scribbled out the count of dead adults and children from the raiding with a piece of charcoal. Then he paused. He scribbled out the lost name from his own side too. Rank and file with no title in the Rainshadow Clan didn’t need a ceremony.
He put the charcoal down when he heard the outside door burst open. Then the second door opened. Mist poured from outside, water splattering over the floor.
Yu glared across the room to the guard. He recognized the man. He was one of the lowest rank Privates assigned to the gates. One Finger. They had changed the names of the ranks they used. They werent in the military anymore.
“I need to report to — ”
“Shut the damn door.” Yu boomed. The man spun around and slammed the outer doors shut, then stepped inside and shut the inner doors. Water dripped off of him like he had ran straight here without following the path of the canopies through the town.
“Apologies!” The gate guard said, offering a clasped fist. “Reporting to Thunderfist Yu. Another Scion has passed through the gate.”
“Good.” Yu said, pushing the table back. It screeched as it ground on the floor. “And how much did we tax him for?”
“Reporting to Thunderfist Yu… the Scion killed Thunderfist Kai at the gate!”
Yu stopped half way to standing up. He was preparing to head over and collect his earnings.
“That upstart Thunderfist Kai?”
Yu had long since thought that Kai was too young and stupid to earn the rank of Thunderfist, but he was practically a prodigy in cultivation. While he lacked dedication in training to actually fight, he broke through to the lower Second Realm within only a few years, even after shattering his foundation to learn the path of Thunder’s Inheritor.
Kai was in the Lower Second Realm, only a minor stage below Yu; Yu’s Dantian was fully reinforced. If him and Kai clashed, Kai would lose every time; Yu could simply exert more strength.
“Is the Scion injured?”
“N — no.” The guard reported.
Yu’s face darkened. This was a terrible time. Rainshadow Long, the clan head, had recently left the city to plunder the ruins once more. After his clash with Feng Jin, the Captain had bordered the edge of advancing a minor stage in the Third Realm. That left only Yu here to kill the Scion.
Of course, he could just let him go…
But Rainshadow Long might just kill Yu instead when he found out.
Yu stared at the guard, trying to estimate how many of his own men he would have to kill to keep Long from finding out. He decided it wasn’t worth it.
“We will pull everything he owns from his corpse. Where is he now?”
“Reporting… the Scion, Feng Sai, has gone to the Dripping Dragon.”
“Post guards around it. We will drag him out in a few hours while he sleeps.”
Yu needed time to prepare the other solid fighters of the Rainshadow Clan.
***
I brushed hair; it was still wet from the bath. My travel pack supported my back from where it rested against the wall of our room in the Dripping Dragon. I faced the door. My sword was in my lap.
Wen stood at the window, hands behind his back as he stared out. He made a noise of disapproval.
“Are they moving now?” I asked.
“No. It looks like they’re posting guards.” Wen sighed.
“How many hours of sleep do you think we could get?”
“A few. They’ll probably strike when they think you’re asleep.” Wen paused. “Probably a full night if you were willing to kill them all.”
“If the clan in power is ripped away entirely, it is likely to end poorly for the people of Storm’s Edge, yes?”
My hair was mostly dry. I started the long process of tying it, pulling the bands from my lap. The floor here was dirty in places. Mud was constantly tracked into the Dripping Dragon.
“To be so merciful to a city full of criminals…” Wen said. He shook his head. “You’re likely the only Scion passing through here who would think that.”
“A few of my good friends were criminals.” I said, thinking of Fang and Anna.
Wen let out a stifled laugh.
“What do you think Feng Jin did passing through here? I don’t see any signs of damage. Beside poor maintenance. Was Kai just blustering?”
“That boy?” Wen asked. Then he turned to me, staring down from where he stood. “He probably walked into the hall of the Patriarch of this gang and cut his arm off.”
I laughed, resting my head back against the pack and sliding down. I felt the mirth on my face slide away.
“Hope he’s alright.”
After two days of nearly sleepless travel, I was exhausted, even with the enhancement to my physique that came from my cultivation and raised attributes. I slid into a dreamless sleep effortlessly.
And I awoke to a commotion. It must have been hours. Wen was still awake, running his finger over the rings on his hand. He looked over at me.
I heard shouting outside. A moment later, there was pounding at our door.
“I told you not to stay here!” The Tavernkeep said.
I stood with a stretch and the groan of a good night of rest, unlocking the door and pulling it open.
“We’ll be heading out now. Don’t worry.” I said.
I had to turn sideways to fit the backpack with me through the doorway, then through the cramped hall and down to the first floor.
The doors were open. Rain gushed into the inn, accumulating in a slowly spreading puddle across the floor. A cultivator leaned against the door frame with his arms folded.
“Not climbing out of a window after-all.” She said, peeling out of the door way and walking out to a waiting circle of cultivators. Lanterns around them glowed orange in the rain.
I freed my sword from its sheathe and stepped out into a waiting circle of fighters. One by one, I swept my eyes and senses over them. Only one of them even glowed to my qi senses. [Identify] revealed all but one of them to be in the First Realm. Some of them had all 12 Meridians opened, but no cores.
[Thunderfist Yu, Upper Second Realm Path of Thunder’s Inheritor Cultivator]
The man was heaving in the rain. He was a giant, taller than me by an entire head. He looked like he had nonhuman ancestry in his blood, judging by the sharp curve of his ears and the blueish tone of his skin.
“Is this about the tax?” I asked.
Comments
Raid Boss
they are but frogs in a well having seen a tiny corner of the sky and believing they have perceived the breadth of heaven
Gopard
Thanks for that chapter! Lol someone is severely overestimating their abilities there... Or to say it in cultivator speak: It would seem these people never even learned to see the difference between heaven and earth. 😂😂
