Making their way north, there were a few skirmishes with Muted Crags cultivators. They always attempted stealth, but John’s connection to darkness continued to deny them the critical moments of ambush at the beginning of a battle.

Conversely, the mixed elemental nature of John’s disciples, their inexperience, and their relative weakness meant that they were never able to secure a proper ambush of their own. Thus, each conflict tended to be a short exchange with the enemy quickly disengaging once they realized they were outmatched.

John never let his disciples chase them far- though he also wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to thin the enemy’s forces somewhat. If their forces were overwhelming it wouldn’t matter if they were led into a further ambush, but there was no way to know what the enemy had prepared, especially as they drew closer to the Muted Crags themselves.

Because their earlier travel had been efficient, John lowered their pace. The others sweeping through the Rolling Dunes were on a particular schedule, and he didn’t want to enter actual enemy territory far ahead of the rest of the army.

Thus, they proceeded with caution, John doing his best to allow people to experience scouting for their enemies. He couldn’t delay long after noticing the enemy or he might allow them to be on the back foot, but he knew he had some leeway where one of their others cultivators might also have a chance to spot the enemy. Taurai was one of those who was capable in that regard, with her own darkness cultivation.

When they actually began to enter the proper Muted Crags, the terrain rapidly shifted. Dunes rapidly gave way to a stone forest, though the actual stone itself wasn’t as important as its arrangement and shape.

Every step they took faded rapidly, rather than echoing between the rocks. The darkness element in the region did not function merely as a lack of light- indeed, the region was at worst a hazy twilight rather than truly dark- but instead dulled every sense. The rough vertical stones scattered and dampened sound rather than reflecting it, to the point that John mostly heard his own breathing and his heart within his chest. Boots on solid ground were more like slippers on carpet. Scents seemed to be dulled as well, though it was never something that had been precise for most humans.

Despite the lack of regular patterns in the structures around them, John still constantly felt like they were passing back through the same points. It would be easy to get disoriented, should his attention wane for too long. Among all that, picking out hiding cultivators seemed like it would be almost impossible.

They would certainly have some difficulty picking out details among the advancing group as well, but the natives would no doubt have a significant advantage. John couldn’t be certain if they were being watched even now, since while he couldn’t pick anyone out he also couldn’t say for certain they were alone.

There were occasional pockets of respite, where there were wider areas between the rock faces, diminishing the dulling effects somewhat. These were also encouraging as it would place any ambushers further away. While ranged combatants did exists among cultivators, a significant distance could allow the defenders an opportunity to rally together and resist attacks. But so far, they hadn’t run into any enemies within the Muted Crags themselves.

Part of that was that they had been avoiding the main roads- those would provide a much clearer path, but would also make their approach more obvious. The main forces of the Firepine Palace would be utilizing the main roads because their approach would be obvious regardless, so an easier path would be best for them. But for a relatively smaller group like John’s, he had deemed this to be better. And since they had no trouble so far, he had to say it was going fairly well.

“We need to find somewhere to rest for the night,” John said, mainly to Helen and Presley who were leading the Firepine Palace and Golden Tomb Guardians attached to the Six Elements Crossroads.

“Should we look for a town?” Helen asked.

“It would be too likely for them to be under the thumb of the Black Peaks,” John shook his head.

“Caves, then?” Presley asked. “We might rest atop some of these crags, but we would hardly be concealed.”

“Caves might do well for us,” John said. “Or an appropriate nook where we can limit the areas of approach. Of course, there are troubles with being too focused on limiting them, since we also need to use them to retreat. A nice, disused alley of sorts might be best.”

Ultimately they found an area with three or four approaches, depending on how they wanted to count one that split a dozen meters from the edge of the camp.

John set some of their number to fortifying the area while he and some others climbed for better vantage points, hoping to pick out any immediate threats. But they still saw no cultivators, and local wildlife had been sparse as well. Not that the area was without some life, but clearly their chosen route was about as empty as things could get.

-----

Daylight had been rather dull, but nighttime in the Muted Crags was like peering through a dense fog. And that was for John, who was attuned to darkness. Others might not be able to see their hands in front of their faces. At least they didn’t have to worry too much about someone stumbling across their camp accidentally.

It didn’t make John less nervous about possible attacks, of course. However, the only things he found approaching their camp were slithering things that wouldn’t find anything of an edible size… except perhaps the rodents that seemed interested in their supplies. Such things could hardly be called an attack, of course. Being careless with their supplies and running out of food in enemy territory would be problematic, but there didn’t seem to be anything of direct danger to their squads.

Thus, John assigned a few disciples to drive the rodents away, letting them get snatched up by waiting serpents. The rodents weren’t mere animals, instead imbued with some amount of darkness element, but they were only strong enough to be trouble for individuals without cultivation of their own. A common pest, as far as the world was concerned.

John took an extra shift on guard, because he wouldn’t have been able to sleep regardless. They should meet up with allied forces soon, assuming all went well for the others, but they were still several days out from their true destination.

-----

An unnatural pulse within the local darkness element informed John of the presence of enemy cultivators. Such darkness was pervasive, and normally such subtle shifts wouldn’t be of note. But compared to what he was sensing normally, it stood out like a sore thumb.

John focused on the single grain of light element stored within himself. Fire and air wrapped around it to insulate it from its surroundings, and he kept that structure in place as he drew forth the small amount of power. A burst of spiritual energy sent it forward into the area ahead. It exploded like a firework, leaving a momentary impression of silhouettes. Except, instead of being lingering images on John’s retina, they were silhouettes of spiritual energy.

Words weren’t strictly necessary after such an opening, but John still called out orders. “Combat formations! Take care, enemy numbers still unknown!”

He’d only directly sensed a few, but since they hadn’t immediately run upon being discovered that meant there should be a decent quantity of enemies.

Helen immediately led the Firepine Palace in their opening move, entrapping two of the possible approaches with explosively condensed fire element. In the shape of a Firepine cone, the spiritual energy would detonate when sufficiently disturbed. That didn’t meant that intentionally setting them off was a viable strategy, however, as one group immediately learned.

A simple dart of energy destabilized one of the explosive elements, but before it detonated it propelled itself in the direction of the attack. Rocks crashed to the ground and cultivators cried out in pain as it rocked the surroundings.

From a surrounding cliffside came a hail of arrows. Even with the watchful eyes of the Golden Tomb Guardians, Muted Crags forces had managed to take over one of the surrounding high points. Six Element Crossroads cultivators surrounded themselves in various barriers, coming together to resist the assault.

John made his way through the body of cultivators. “Lend me control!” His disciples were used to allowing him to direct the flow of their energy. The first thing he did was create a single vortex of air above them, deflecting the second volley of arrows. It wouldn’t last forever, but long enough for him to reach his proper destination. The base of where the archers stood. Earth flowed through and around him, empowered by dozens of disciples.

John kicked forward, striking the base of the cliff. Perhaps Renato or Johannes could crumble such a cliff in a single blow, but even with the spiritual energy of other cultivators John wasn’t in a state to perform such an action at the moment. However, as his energy struck the cliff it sunk into it with no immediate visual effect. Until the top of the crag began to sway, first wobbling back then snapping forward. About half of the cultivators were either flung off or had to desperately grab onto a companion or otherwise anchor themselves.

Many of the Golden Tomb Guardians had a vantage point on another crag, and began to take out what enemies they could find. Some had slipped past the second fiery explosive without triggering it, while others were climbing over the rubble from the first. So far no enemies came from the far end of their formation, but they had people watching their rear just in case.

Even aware of the presence of the enemy, it was hard to pick out individual enemies as they approached. Their attacks were swift as they darted forward and back, never engaging the front lines. But wherever more than a few gathered, they were caught up in a crossfire of elements- and attacks were directed by those with the best senses.

John himself cut down over a dozen opponents within the next minute of the battle, while directing needed spiritual energies to the weakest parts of their defense. He only controlled a portion of everyone’s energy- he couldn’t actually keep the entire battlefield in mind all by himself. Not currently, at least. Besides, it was rarely beneficial for a single individual to control everything regardless. Rather than being efficient, it would most probably result in huge wastes of energy whether attacks landed or missed.

Smaller groups of disciples fought side by side, earth cultivators taking hits while air cultivators counterattacked swiftly. Water cultivators slowed the enemy, and fire cultivators focused on wide area tracks. Light cultivators created disruptive bursts, stunning enemy cultivators momentarily as well as revealing their locations in better detail.

The enemy had misjudged their strength- perhaps they hadn’t come for anyone in particular. John’s personal power was greater than it appeared, of course, and very few cultivators were used to fighting against all of the elements together at once- conversely, they had been victorious against Muted Crags cultivators several times already, so they had experience with these tactics.

It might have even been easy if it weren’t for the terrain advantage they had, allowing the ambush to happen at all and for them to maintain some level of concealment during the battle. Darkness cultivators moved around, slicing and stabbing, only half seen. But their momentum was waning. This was a battle they couldn’t win- and John wasn’t leading the only group coming for their territory. No doubt other battles had happened or would happen soon, as they marched on the city known as the Black Peaks.

John cut down the few closest enemies as they began to retreat, but he made certain his people didn’t go too far. They had to take care of their wounded and finish what rest they could manage within enemy territory.

Hopefully they could force their enemies into a straightforward fight when they reached the city. Or better, force a surrender of some sort without battle. However unlikely that was, it was still the best option.