The Oracle Paths

They had no idea how they had managed to break out of the Transportation Tower, but they had. It had been an arduous and bloody battle to make it back, but they had done so without casualties.

At least in their party...

Earlier, when the Yellow Cube had been claimed, then rendered inoperable by the horde of Digestors crawling on its surface, many had lost all hope for a short time. After hacking their way to the top through the sea of monsters, the grand conclusion had crushed the spirits of most of the survivors.

Yet, even without motivation and filled with deep pessimism, it was not enough to threaten the well-being of Jake and his companions. Regardless of Mufasa and Shere Khan providing protection, even Will was able to defend himself for some time against Digestors of this level.

By mutual agreement, the survivors had all decided to evacuate from the skyscraper, making their way back to the edge of the city. This would not allow them to escape completely, but at least the sheer density and level of Digestors around them would be greatly reduced.

With many more casualties, the various groups of survivors managed to get out of the danger zone, finally getting the breathing room they needed.

Among these survivors was Shaktilar's group of several dozen Evolvers of the same pachydermic species as himself, as well as as as many minions and slaves of various species, though with very few humans.

Another prominent group was obviously the one of Bhuzkoc and Maeve, whose close guard of powerful Evolvers deterred anyone from approaching them. The number of Third and Fourth-Ordeal Players was not small, and from the glare the barbarian was giving him and Kyle, if not for the urgency of the situation, he would have certainly ordered them to rip them apart.

A third group of comparable magnitude was Melkree's faction. Will and Svara had recognized several of her agents among them, and although the overall strength of this group was slightly less than the previous two, they were no less formidable.

Surprisingly, although this group was mostly composed of bipedal or quadrupedal aliens with bestial features, Melkree, their leader, had an overall human appearance. She was a young woman of small size with yellow eyes, long floppy ears and long wavy light green hair.

She was rather cute with her well-endowed curves and flawless skin, at least what they could see of it with all the grime, but her style of dress and personal hygiene clearly left something to be desired. Besides exposing her yellow teeth every time she smiled, testifying to her questionable dental hygiene, her pale skin was covered with mud or dried clay, while she wore only a long shapeless dress woven from some vegetable fiber. The whole thing was rough and unsightly and reeked of poverty and savagery. It was hard to believe that she was the leader of the third largest faction in an Oracle Shelter.

Fortunately, in addition to these three influential groups there were also many other influential Evolvers in the area. Each Oracle City in the Oracle Playground was connected to multiple Shelters through its Orange Cubes and this automatically meant that Bhuzkoc, Shaktilar and Melkree were only able to monopolize a very small portion of the city estates. There were still Evolvers before whom they had to show their respect.

"What do we do now?" Will inquired with a sullen look while darting his eyes all around them. He was keeping his cool, but he was still concerned.

In the meantime, they had finally reached the edge of the city and one of the transfer squares usually covered with Orange Cubes was in their sights. Noticing, that there weren't that many Digestors there and that the Cubes were still glowing, an idea dawned on him and he proposed, while pointing,,

"Let's go over there. We'll have a better chance of escaping than by sticking out here."

If Jake could come to this conclusion, so could the other groups. To reach and conquer this Oracle City, these Digestors had to have invaded the place from somewhere. Therefore, it was perfectly normal that these Orange Cubes were ignored, since they had probably used them to get here.

As for the Yellow Cube in the center of the city, it wasn't necessarily the Digestors that had disabled it, but perhaps a security measure foreseen by the Oracle System to prevent their proliferation.

The only consolation was that following this logic, Bhuzkoc's Oracle Shelter from which they came might not have been doomed yet. These Digestors could very well have come here through the Orange Cubes of another Shelter.

As Kyle watched them make their way to the plaza, he thought very hard, "What about my sister..." but he finally shut up as he saw that Bhuzkoc and his gang were following them.

According to their respective Shelter locations, the various factions began to split up to try to find their squares and after a few polite goodbyes, only Bhuzkoc, Shaktilar and Melkree's groups and a few independent Evolvers were left.

As the three leaders pressured him to go first, Jake ignored them and placed his hand over one of the Orange Cubes. His figure and that of his comrades disappeared immediately, reappearing the next second in the familiar hall of the Oracle Playground.

Jake immediately frowned as he surveyed the place. The place was as clean and well-lit as ever, but there was something in the air that felt different. Testing his Shadow Guide again, he noticed that here too it was dysfunctional. So he opted for a wide scan, and the result was very unpleasant.

"Prepare to fight." He murmured grimly as he quickly forged a new sword by scraping the steel covering the walls. Given the malleability and strength of this alloy, this second weapon promised to be superior to his first creation.

Meanwhile, the three factions of Bhuzkoc, Shaktilar and Melkree soon followed them here and the hall was soon crowded. Jake was pleased when he recognized Grash among them. He must have joined them while Jake and his group were scouting here.

"No enemies? They probably fled when they heard I was back." Bhuzkoc snorted dismissively as he scanned the hall with his eyes.

His men, but especially the female slaves still alive, were quick to compliment him and praise his wisdom. Maeve was no exception. It was interesting to note that Bhuzkoc valued his sexual fulfillment more than money or power.

Of the 94 Evolvers still alive in his group, 16 were his sex slaves. With his propensity to devour them whenever he was hurt or in a bad mood, this was by no means a small number.

Jake and his companions rolled their eyes without hiding their contempt while listening to his comment. Who was the guy earlier who forced them to come here first out of cowardice? It was a typical example of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

In comparison, Shaktilar and Melkree were more tactful, but they were no less hateful. Shaktilar in particular had the pompous arrogance of upper class aristocracy, combined with a deep racism and sense of superiority towards species other than his own. Although he had no desire for these female slaves, he had no qualms about enslaving them and prostituting them for his own personal gain. Only Melkree could barely be considered okay morally speaking.

Luckily, not everyone was as haughty as Bhuzkoc and several Evolvers took note of the vigilant attitude of Jake's group. They drew their weapons without hesitation. Faced with this change in atmosphere, those who had been a little too relaxed dropped their cocky smiles and got into fighting position.

Without paying them any attention, Jake had already telepathically transmitted his instructions and he and his companions began their advance toward the entrance of the building. Their proactive attitude earned them the favorable opinion of many Evolvers, especially those who lacked confidence.

Of course, this was all for show. With his scan, he knew exactly where the Digestors were, and his attitude was only meant to relax Bhuzkoc's vigilance. If he found an opportunity to kill him, he would not hesitate.

Mufasa and Shere Khan had already offered to deal with him several times, but he had firmly refused. With their current predicament, it was best to preserve their strength for the time being.

As anticipated by his scan, when they left the building Jake and his group found the Inner Shelter as quiet as when they left. Behind the force field separating them from the Outer Shelter, a tide of refugees and tents were packed in, still waiting for a chance to leave this cursed place. The moans of pleasure and pain from the Red District still reached their ears while the hubbub of merchants, refugees and other Evolvers trading and chatting had not abated.

However, Jake was not fooled by this peaceful environment. He soared to the top of the Transportation Tower in the center of the Shelter, which was much smaller than the previous one, and confirmed what he had been dreading: the Yellow Cube there had already been deactivated and the inhabitants were not yet aware of it.

Peering through the deformed and translucent walls of the Black Cube supposed to protect them, Jake saw only a grey and dull world outside the Shelter, but with his Myrtharian Sight he also detected some worrying shadows.

Reanalyzing the results of the previous scan, he was able to validate his previous observations.

Since their departure, the Digestors had infiltrated the place and the Oracle had already abandoned them.