Truthful Transmigration

The first port along the coast in the Gloom Desolation took several more days to reach. It had only just been spotted off in the distance when the attacks began. Tirto almost didn’t notice the first assault, barely reacting the instant before it struck the ship. With his energy supporting the ship’s defensive enchantments, the ship rocked back and forth but sustained no real damage.

The same could not be said of the other vessels in the fleet, as nearly invisible attacks slammed into mast and hull. The ships were not so flimsy as to instantly crumble, but the initial bombardment set people on the back foot.

Subsequent attacks were already on the way, but with the cultivators on alert they were able to pick out the concentrated darkness energy in the long range attacks. The fact that they had missed them before was simply a consequence of the type of energy involved. At such a distance, however, the incoming attacks weren’t particularly complex.

Verusha’s energy flared, but Tirto put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t.”

“I can totally hit them from here though!” she complained. “I’ll burn down their stupid port!”

Tirto sighed. “If we need that, you’ll be the first I call.” Then he raised his voice, using his spiritual energy to project his command to the other ships. “Turn about! We’re withdrawing to a safe distance!”

“I swear we can beat them!” Verusha urged.

“I wouldn’t be certain about that. Nor is that necessarily what we want.” The ship was already turning about at his command. More attacks continued to rain down on them steadily, but the crew’s combined energy held strong. Launching a combined attack over several kilometers was certainly weakening the energy of those on shore, even with special techniques or weaponry. But if they drew any closer, the ships would be at significant risk.

“Why are we retreating? It’s pretty clear they’re at fault!”

“... How many lightning cultivators do you sense in that city?” Tirto asked.

Verusha frowned. “They’re concealing them. Obviously.”

“They might be,” Tirto agreed. “But there are better ways to discover that aside from a frontal assault. It might seem odd as primarily water cultivators, but it may be safer to attack from land. That way, we can avoid these long range attacks.”

Regardless of it being a technique or some sort of defensive emplacement, they would at least be able to dodge such long range attacks. The ships, however, weren’t so maneuverable- so they couldn’t avoid taking hits. But if they completely avoided attacks, that placed the enemy at a disadvantage.

“More than that,” Tirto continued. “They’re an entire city, against just a few hundred of us. Even if we can determine that we have a cultivation advantage individually, it’s a bit reckless.”

Verusha grunted in acknowledgement. “Fine, I guess that makes sense. But-”

She never got to finish whatever she was going to say, as a sudden surge of water approaching the port drew their attention. One they had not sensed… or that they had dismissed as being part of the sea itself.

A half dozen fins rose out of the water at odd angles, revealing a form that didn’t look like anything more than various sea creatures stitched together. As it rose up out of the water, the sea around it surged, rising ever higher until a wave a hundred meters tall crashed upon the port.

The first person to react was Nitza. “Carl, no!” She leapt over the edge of the ship into the sea in an instant.

Tirto sighed. “We should never have let our daughter name a leviathan.” Then he dove into the sea after her. Normally, he would have tried to stop his daughter from approaching a massive monster. However, the situation was such that the effort involved in wrestling her away would be too problematic. Instead, it was more important to deal with the whole situation.

Carl was a young leviathan, but at three decades old now he was not insignificant in size or strength. Whether or not he could take on a whole city was another question… and it wasn’t clear that this particular city was their enemy. Either way, the situation was clear enough. Somehow the leviathan had been following along with them, unnoticed. Now that he thought about it, Tirto had sensed something odd. He should have taken the time to look into it.

Because they were attacked, the leviathan was coming to their defense- without understanding that they didn’t need him just now. Nitza was rapidly approaching the beast, and Tirto was just a few moments behind her.

Attacks from the city rained down on Carl. He withstood a great many of them, but Tirto could sense several wounds already. Compared to his mother, the young leviathan was orders of magnitude more vulnerable.

Nitza grabbed onto one of Carl’s pectoral fins, specifically one resembling a manta ray, and pulled. “We’re not fighting them right now, Carl!”

Concentrated bursts of darkness exploded, more powerful due to the closer proximity. Some reached underwater, and Tirto barely reached Nitza in time to cover her when one happened to explode nearby. “I’ll deal with this. You need to get to safety.”

“But-”

“If he sees you going, he might follow!” Tirto said. “Now get going!”

Nitza nodded reluctantly, pushing off of the leviathan and jetting through the water. Meanwhile, Tirto climbed up to survey the damage. The good news was that the wave, while quite tall, had not carried much water behind it. Some of the docks were damaged, and cultivators had been swept into the water. Buildings further on land had taken some damage, but only those without any defensive enchantments.

And for all of the leviathan’s power, he didn’t seem to have focused on anyone or anything. There were likely a few casualties still, but it shouldn't have been anyone important. While that was a callous way to look at things, at this point it was more or less fair retaliation for the attack on them. If it happened that the Gloom Desolation was harboring the pirates, Tirto would have a very different view on things but for the moment he didn’t want conflict.

“Come on then, you don’t need to do this!” Tirto used his water element energy to try to nudge the leviathan away. He didn’t seem to be listening, though Tirto knew he at least somewhat understood human speech. “You need to stop this… Carl!”

He knew he probably sounded foolish shouting at the leviathan, especially with such a common name- though one that had sounded exotic enough to Nitza when she was young. But the beast showed a reaction to his name.

“Come, Carl. Everyone on the ships are safe. We’re done here.”

With that, he gave one final nudged with his energy. He couldn’t forcibly move the leviathan on his own, not anymore. He might be able to defeat Carl, as the leviathan was still on the verge of strength that could match the Ascending Soul Phase- but moving such massive bulk was nearly impossible. And he certainly did not want to cause harm to the creature, so he could only indicate what he wanted.

To Tirto’s great relief, the leviathan began a wide turning motion. He was still being attacked from the shore, but once he dove under water the attacks became nearly negligible. Tirto was a fast swimmer, but he was not a mighty sea beast- so while his maneuverability was much higher, once Carl was turned about he quickly caught up. Tirto grabbed onto the beast as he continued back towards their ships. Nitza had already made it back to the ship.

When they were once more out of range of the harbor, Tirto took a good look at the leviathan. He was large enough that he barely fit in the shallower waters closer to the harbor. That was probably for the best, or he might have tried to get even closer- increasing both his own destruction on the city, and the damage to himself from the defenders.

What was he going to say to the beast? Perhaps he could chastise him for coming along secretly, but Carl was not a pet that could be ordered around. He was a creature of independent thought. Some day, perhaps, he would be a great guardian beast- but for the moment, he was still young and inexperienced.

Tirto did his best to explain to the inhuman creature. “You should not hide yourself from us. Even if you were worried about our safety, it would be best if we knew you were around.” As he spoke, he soothed the leviathan’s wounds. Spiritual energy didn’t have any easy tricks for healing something so massive, but he could help stop bleeding with water element. The leviathan quickly caught on and began to focus its own energy on the same task.

Even with a huge, durable body, the quantity and magnitude of enemy attacks had caused significant damage.

-----

When he finally boarded their flagship once more, he saw his wife standing next to a timid daughter. Verusha caught him with her eyes. “Our daughter has something she wishes to confess to you.”

Tirto had a pretty good idea he knew what it was. “Very well. What is it?” he asked.

“Well. You see… I actually noticed Carl a while ago.”

Tirto nodded slowly. “I see. And you didn’t see fit to tell us this… why?”

“You might have made me take him back home,” Nitza explained.

“An excellent idea,” Tirto said. “It would be a fitting punishment for failing to inform us of something so important.”

“But- we’re so far now!”

“So?” Tirto raised an eyebrow. “It is not as if you will have to worry about being attacked by wild beasts.”

“But there’s um… pirates? Probably.”

“We already patrolled the area,” Tirto said. “There shouldn’t be any along that route. And if you’re worried, you can have Carl travel through the deeper ocean.” Nitza grimaced. “But,” he said. “I will finalize my decision on what to do about that later. For now, we need to settle things with this nearby city. Your mother and I are going to approach on foot, with a squadron of our best combatants. We need to determine if they are associated with these attacks.”

“What else would it be?” Nitza asked.

“Tell me,” Tirto said. “If your people had been attacked by pirates… might you not respond aggressively to strange ships appearing on the horizon?” He looked at Verusha as he did so.

“I guess, yeah,” Nitza admitted. “So you think they’re innocent?”

“I think we don’t know,” Tirto pointed out. “This is our best opportunity. I would not wish to cause unnecessary trouble with the Gloom Desolation, if we wish to ever fully unite the continent. Bringing only a certain portion of our people to the city wall should hopefully help assure them our intentions are peaceful.”

Verusha frowned. “And if they don’t see things that way?”

“Then I’ll have someone who can set them on fire. Or we can jump into the sea. Either way, water cultivators traveling on land should be less concerning for them.”

“Can I-” Nitza cut herself off when Tirto glared at her.

“You will stay here to help care for Carl. We will not need you on land at this time.”

-----

For the first time on the journey, Tirto wished they had brought along Yonit. He was the first of the Brandle clan to reach the Ascending Soul Phase. However, there were good reasons to have him remain to keep clan affairs secure. He was trusted and powerful. But at the moment, Tirto could have used his strength.

Then again, they would look quite aggressive strolling up with so much strength on a city that seemed to have no Ascending Soul Phase cultivators of their own. Intimidation was valuable up to a point, but sometimes it ended up provoking people unnecessarily.

Tirto wasn’t quite certain whether or not the incident with the leviathan would have angered the city further or cowed them slightly, but he supposed he would find out soon enough. Swimming to shore had been simple, and the city hadn’t sent anyone out to defend their coastal roads. Now, they were approaching the city along one of said roads. So far, they were in sight of the walls and had not been attacked yet.

Though Tirto was constantly on the lookout for ambushes. They were darkness element cultivators, after all. They could be hiding behind every rock and tree. Though if they were that close, he was certain he’d pick them out- unless they were somehow better than Melanthina at concealing themselves.