26- 'Cact'ice makes perfection

The bombing has gone better than expected.

The waves and poisonous steam caused by it will slow down their entry.

That means I can afford to focus on the other rivers.

The east while dangerous is far enough that I'll realize when a ships starts heading here and the north is safe.

That leaves only the south and the northeast are directly endangering me at the moment.

I know that the northeast is preparing something dangerous so I should probably end it before it can even start.

That means, using my level 3 'advance skill' to empower one of my attack and destroy it.

At level 3 I can temporarily upgrade all of my skills by 6 whole levels.

The problem is... It has a hell of a coldown. The stronger my attack is the longer it takes to recharge.

If by any chance that fortress actually manages to do what it was designed to do... Defend.

I'll not only lose my strongest skill but also warn my enemies that I possess long-range AOE attacks.

If I attack the south I'd be able to destroy the variable that is the southern warriors.. But Its not cost effective.

While more powerful on average, they are still not worth my "nuke" so to say.

I could attack the east... But I run the risk of the guy Ashtar was talking about not being there.

Without him.... That village is just full of innocents.

I've been thinking about my evolution path lately.... What is offensive?

Is it killing? Pillaging?

Then what about the army... It's also 'offensive' yet it doesn't necessarily need to do any of those.... Even if it might.

I've conquered territory and killed monsters... So I can say I'm both a ' monster-slayer' and a 'conqueror'.

But what about if I kill every single person that I ever fight against? Even the innocent. Even if I didn't have anything to gain from it.

My 'Monster-slayer' would become just... 'slayer' and what kind of conqueror just kills everyone? That's not an 'conqueror' that's an 'lunatic'.

That's not what I want to become... I want to be free from any worries, I want to have fun.... I want to be powerfull and have the sanity to enjoy said power.

A disciplined kind of power, something more rigorous.

I want to be the king of my own fate and that of the fate of others.

It might be a little delusional for someone named 'spiky' to want to achieve something like this... But thats just who I am.

An delusioned and arrogant asshole with a little bit to much curiosity and that gets easily annoyed when ignored.... Im a prick.

It's because of that, that I don't want to drop so low as to kill non-combatants... At least not now, while I'm not desperate enough.

If I ever get in a situation where killing them is necessary or extremely cost effective I might... But I just don't want to do this now.

For the path I want to evolve towards I need to start setting rules early.

If a man kills an person during a war he's not a murder... He's an soldier.

That is understandable, it's their job to do what they are told to... Even if they don't like to.

Sometimes those wars have a reason that the soldier are willing to both kill and die for... Revolutions, independence among other things.

But what if said soldier killed an innocent?

He's no longer soldier... He's just a murdered. All of his victims before might been under orders... But how can I tell?

What if he enjoyed it? How can I know?

While I don't particularly care about the morality of this... I don't know if my evolution rout does.

As such I'll act as if it does... Just in case.

So... South or northeast.?

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Activate skill advance.

First locate the target with my earth dust-ection magic.

Pump as much gaseous poison into one of my sturdiest spikes.

Afterwards I move said spike so that it is facing the island, any other spike would shatter from the pressure.

Create a wind and sand tube around it and cut it off from my body.

While it is suspended in mid-air, inside my tube, I move it far away from me so that I don't get it by the recoil from the explosion.

Create an air bubble between the bottom of the tube and the spike with the as much air pressure as possible.

Create a dust line connecting my target and my tube using the before mentioned dust-tetion.

Prepare to trail the dust Strom with my spike by using my wind magic.

Create a vacuum between my target and me.

Ready spike missile skill.

.... And shoot.

*pomfh*

*Phwwwwwhht*

Just as practiced.

.

.

.

*BOOOOMMMM! *

Ah! Look at the poison spreading!

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

I ended up exploding an poisonous missile on top of the northeastern island.

I might still apreencive that the mages might be able to stop my attack so I decided to change my plan.

If it manages to destroy it then great! But even if it doesn't ill still not be too sad.

I decided to use this attack more as a distraction.

No matter how strong the fortress defenses may be, I assume that my attack will at least damage them.

While they are trying to prevent my poison from entering ill use my dust-tetion magic to explore and locate whatever they are coming up with.

Hopefully I'll be able to use my sand magic at this distance to destroy it before advance runs out.