Reaction post! 'Let the bodies (gently, quietly) hit the floor'
In full this time, because this chapter deserves it
The Tall Lord had long ago walked her and his other summons through the anatomy of the Tall Ones and she knew they had a whole bunch of important blood vessels here. Squeeze tight and the Tall One in question would go limp.
Huh. On the one hand, making denizens of the summon realm better at killing all humans has worrying implications. On the other hand, it's smart, and...
Granted, it wasn't that important because her venom was halfway done with turning his organs into soup, but a girl had her standards.
... Usually isn't going to matter too too much anyway
Eh, whatever. Two pounds of berries per month for the next year? Plus a pound of honey, twenty pounds of the inner bark from one of those yummy oak trees that the humans had, and the summoner would come by to pick the parasites off him and his wife and oil their quills? All of that for a few hours of work. Bargain.
The water that the Tall Lord had demanded she swim through was cold and her blood felt like the treacle he had promised her as a treat. She had insisted on the bargain in addition to their normal arrangement, although once she had heard that she was going to be competing against not just the Pangolin and Porcupine but also that raging bitch Hebikizu...well, there hadn't been much choice but to accept, now had there? Someone needed to stand for the honor of the South Hills Den.
Those exchange rates seem pretty reasonable. I doubt all of them were that good, but I'm glad relative scarcity and demand differences go a long way.
Plus he got to show the other Clans what losers they were compared to the power of Porcupine.
Also this. The chunin exams kind of don't work ideally for proxy war, but it makes do. But imagine how great a summon realm proxy war via the human path would be! All the advantages of fighting, with none of the risk of death. Bonus, if things foom to that point, the ability for multiple bosses to speak without a massive amount of logistics having to happen. This is a post Dragon war thing, but I definitely think it has potential.
You're welcome. Hariolate sends his apologies; he managed to kill one of them but not before it got a warning off. At least one, probably two more arrived before he could retreat into hiding and he was killed by three stone spikes coming up out of the ground." She grinned. "He's very embarrassed
Also, this is huge. Having summons near each other, summoning in a row, such that the enemy physically can't keep you from getting Intel on their actions? THIS, as much as the overwhelming power, reflects a paradigm shift
No," said the tall, pale human to one side. Haricot struggled not to shrink away; he smelled wrong. Barely human at all.
Huh. Orochimaru is so creepy that even otherworldly entities notice it. That's great, just great.
Kill the ninja if you must, but then proceed inland. Since your brother allowed them to raise the alarm it is now time to launch the assault on the main fortress instead of nibbling around the edges."
A different human, also pale and with pure white eyes, did something with its face that Haricot's eyes, sharp as they were, could not quite resolve. One of the dark bits at the top left rose, maybe? She wasn't completely clear on human facial expressions and body language yet, but it might have indicated doubt. Or maybe approval. It was so hard to tell! They didn't have quills! How were you supposed to tell what someone was feeling if you couldn't see their quills move?!
"I assume that's all right with you, captain?" the barely-human human asked of the white-eyed human. It was clearly not a question.
"Of course."
That was pretty much what we all expected, I think. Orochimaru is not in charge, but only on a technicality. The fact that the leader isn't a summoner really doesn't help either, since there's just a couple things he won't intuitively get. Oh well. No sheen off our scales.
Finding them and convincing them to travel hundreds of miles to the Pangolin Territory had been one of the most difficult parts of the preparations for the assault.
"Go fish," Noburi said.
"Hah!" Hariman did a little dance, his quills rattling back and forth, and then pushed his token across the board to the space marked 'Fishing Arena'. Dice shook and rolled.
This is adorable and I appreciate it so much. Noburi being here was such a good twist, who better to social it up?
More importantly, he wasn't equipped with horrifically poison fangs, massive claws, or a cloak of living senbon needles that could be fired with pinpoint accuracy across medium distances.
Though clearly Noburi doesn't agree with the aesthetic, sensibilities, or priorities of the hivemind.
Gōketsu."
"Hyūga. How's the assault going?"
"Well enough."
"Do you need a bandage?"
"What? Why would I need a bandage?"
"You know...from when the assault team was attacked and you suffered the head wound that caused you to have so much trouble speaking. Or maybe you're just on a word diet? Did Hinata give you a limit on how many words you can use per day?"
Ah, good old banter. I missed this.
Children's games, Gōketsu?" he said, gesturing to the board. "Adorable." He vanished in a cloud of mango smoke.
"What did he mean about children's games, Noburi?" Hebissa asked.
"Nothing. Harriman, you got eight fish tokens. Hebissa, your turn. You can either roll and hope to reach the ladder or you can pay three tokens to shortcut across Sugarplum Swamp."
That was a low blow. And also makes this 58% cuter, based on my estimates. Plus or minus a kilokawaii.
Absolutely. There's a problem, though. Pankēki said that the fortress gates have been closed and the walls have been reinforced somehow. She couldn't dig through the stone and when Hebino tried a jutsu on it the effect bounced back and fried her. People are scouting for an alternate way in but we aren't sure how to make progress from here."
"I shall handle it," Orochimaru said. "I suggest you start your swim. The gates will be down shortly."
It would be really cool if we could learn how to make structures with that same reflective impermeability.
This also reads as "cool thing is about to happen". Let's goooo.
You are required to stay with us," Motokazu reminded the Snake Sannin. "How do you intend to break the gates from here."
"Like this. Summoning Technique: Manda!"
Oh yeah! Boss summoning, and one a canon one at that! Big scary snake is big and scary.
How dare you, Orochimaru! We have discussed this!" The voice tore at her ears, bone-rattlingly deep yet somehow also whiny. "You summoned me where there wasn't enough room! My tail is in the water, you thoughtless egg-stealer! It's cold!"
"Your pardon, Lord Manda," the Snake Sannin said. "Clearly, your magnificence is so large that I could not retain it in my puny human mind." The words were obsequious but the tone was flat, mockery barely hidden. "I fear I had no choice. The other Clans are unable to perform simple tasks yet they were putting on airs and claiming themselves superior to the Serpents. I felt you would want the opportunity to disabuse them of these notions."
Manda reared back, his wedge-shaped head cocked in surprise. "How dare they?"
"Indeed. Shocking.
Manda is surprisingly easy to manipulate. I guess Oro has had a long enough working relationship to know the buttons, and enough confidence to risk his sarcasm being discovered. I much rather Hazou and his doggedly earnest approach personally, though I feel like Cannai just has more socials in general. Guess being building size AND self-aware asks for too much.
Kei very carefully said nothing. Not only was there nothing to say but she was having trouble breathing. She shouldn't—the snake's coils were at least twenty feet away in any direction—yet the way they encircled her meant that she still felt the looming sense of contact, the image of scaly horror brushing across her skin, perhaps a tongue the size of a tree wrapping around her.
She fell forward, barely catching herself on her hands, and puked onto the sand. Orochimaru ignored it but the other summoners all stepped back, instinctively reaching for weapons.
Is it a specific Keiko thing, or does Manda just constantly have small amount of aura going, or would it be like that for any summon boss? Not something we'll likely get to experiment with, sadly.
Motokazu nodded, chewing his lip in thought. "Twelve hours," he said. "I would prefer longer but we'll make do. I'll need all of you to spread out and map the corridors so that I can plan an efficient route. Search the rooms as you go through—look for anything out of place. Rock typically hardens their walls against tunneling jutsu, but they like to leave sections untouched so they can have hidden rooms that are only available to people who can tunnel. Those areas need to be marked in some subtle way so that people know where to go. Look for walls that are a different style or materials, artwork that looks conspicuous, that kind of thing. The Arachnid Scroll must be in there somewhere."
I still don't like the guy, but he's competent and good at his job, and I respect that.
o-o-o-o
"I found the commander's office," Neji said. "Scooped a lot of documents that the intelligence department will have a field day with. How goes the Scroll search?"
Yes! Intel is excellent, and a thing we're in short supply of. Bonus, that plus the dead ninja means the assault may have been worth it even before factoring in the summoning scroll.
Though I do wonder how many escaped.
Nothing," he said. "There's an empty space through the wall that way but it wasn't an official room. Looks like a small nook that a couple made for themselves so they could have secret trysts."
"How can you tell?"
"The surfeit of pillows, body oil, and candles were a hint. The sex toys were the clincher."
"Ah, yes."
Yup, that would do it. Honestly this couple (or more) really made themselves a great little spot! It does seem like a long deployment.
Come with me," he said. "Aika found something interesting in one of the storerooms and this will be a good chance for you to learn something about efficient searches."
And he's willing to teach Neji without compromising the mission? We do appreciate on the job training over not having it. More points to this fellow.
"The Scroll?" Orochimaru demanded.
"Yes. The real one this time."
"Panashe will be glad," Kei said. "She was getting tired of digging up all the fakes."
"I told you they weren't real," Motokazu said, irritated.
"Not the first one," Aika said, smiling slyly. "You thought that was the real deal."
"It had actual seals on it! It was emitting chakra, it had the right appearance. Each of your scrolls has different seals so how was I to know that that one was a fake?"
Hmm, interesting. The lack of composure is good to know. Aika being able to get a rise out of him specifically. And the ability to fool a Hyuga, even if it isn't perfect.
It was a good thing that the summons had been sent to retrieve the fake; when the thing exploded and flung acid everywhere it did no harm to anyone whose actual body could be harmed.
Oh, also want to learn that one! So many cool concept ideas here.
Regardless, this one is real. They worked chakra into the stone around it to make it hard to detect." He nodded in grudging respect. "It's good work. Sensory techniques would have been guided around it so gently most people wouldn't even notice the blind spot. I suspect even tunneling jutsu might have been slightly diverted if they weren't aimed very precisely to that spot."
And this! That would certainly be useful. Like, with a Hyuga, a team of assistants, a FP reroll, and 12 hours, we BARELY found it. This is what I want around the FOOM training facility.
GM had fun" XP: 5 Fun to write punching again, but not as fun as it would have been if there was an actual risk to one of the characters we care about.
I am sorry Bird Duke. It is hard to be both rational, and take unnecessary risks when we see a better option. The dice we also very kind to us early on.
- Do nothing and keep the Arachnid Scroll.
- Pass it from Kagome to Akane once Kagome gets exiled?
- Offer to return the Scroll once the Dragonwar is over, allowing Asuma to frame it as a loan.
- Offer to return the Scroll once Kagome dies, allowing Asuma to frame it as a loan.
- Offer to return the Scroll, then if and when we find another Scroll we offer that one to Asuma instead, allowing us to keep the Arachnids.
On the note of the last one, I'd rather Akane get the bear scroll, than Kagome keep arachnid. We can get a ton of the early arachnid value and trade and techniques early on, and I feel like Akane being a summoner will benefit her more. But honestly I just think Akane with the bears will be entertaining and wholesome to read, and I want that for her and for us. Plus, I want Akane's bear hugs to go next level.
