Depthless Hunger

Chapter 199: The Workers Rise Up

No matter how many times Zae Zin Nim told herself that life was strange, she came back to that thought. The person she had been a few years ago could never have imagined being here.

Traveling across Krysal had given her plenty of time to think about exactly what all this meant. Technically she was cultivating, but she couldn't prevent her mind from considering that she was now leading a peasant uprising. What had seemed absurd when it was just one of Kai's plans was now a concrete reality that would soon be etched in blood.

After the grim news, she had expected Yulthens to be going to war, but the population seemed to be pretending that everything was normal. Perhaps an uprising or two really were normal, given how little anyone had been concerned about them before.

She did notice a few differences on her way in. All five of the great crystals floating above the city wall were fully charged with qi, as if in preparation for a battle. There were guards atop the walls as well, keeping things as secure as they had been in the wake of the auction theft. It had been wise to go on her own, as Kai or Omilaena might not have been able to sneak inside now that security was being taken seriously.

Within the city in theory she needed to listen and find out what the nobles and merchants were saying, but Zae Zin Nim had no patience for such things. Instead she went directly to the old estate and found Orillia, who seemed unconcerned.

"You've been gone too long, dear," she said between sips of her wine. "These days Suortril and Riuklina are at each other's throats over everything. If they hear about any uprisings, they'll just wonder how it will harm their rival."

"Then what's being done about the mines and pits?"

"Oh, I understand they've sent some men out there to check, but will they find anything?" Orillia frowned at her. "You did relocate Yurwa and her lovely boy somewhere safe, didn't you? Were there others there you intended to take out?"

If armies had apparently been dispatched so recently, Zae Zin Nim had no more time for chatting and mulled wine. She rose to her feet, gave a perfunctory bow, and headed out the door. Just at the exit, she stopped and turned back.

"Orillia, these uprisings are not likely to end soon." She looked directly into the old woman's eyes. "Do you want to stay here? We could take you somewhere more safe."

"Please! I've lived in Yulthens all my life and the Crystallier Cooperative needs me, I'm not about to stop now." Orillia punched the air twice and grinned. "If they think they can bother me about a little charity, I'll just pop them a good one. There's fire in this old woman yet, ha!"

"Very well. We may not see one another again for some time, so fare well."

With nothing else to say, Zae Zin Nim returned to the crystal ship at top speed. Visiting Yulthens first might have been a mistake, given that the merchants were moving on all locations simultaneously. Now she faced a decision about whether she would go to support the crystal mines or the acid pits. All would have little to no warning from Krainuun's messengers, and she was the only backup in range.

As soon as she left the city, she turned hard for the acid pits. It wasn't a strategic decision: the fact was that Gundle and Yurwa were still there, and she cared more about them than anyone at the crystal mines. Given how much progress they had made in their cultivation, it would be deeply unfair for them to be cut down in some little revolution.

Fortunately, she was able to catch up to the army before it arrived at the acid pits. They had sent a relatively small group of soldiers as well as two crystalliers, neither of them even Ruby ranked. It seemed that Yulthens didn't yet realize just how serious the situation was, and was just checking on the city's assets.

While the army marched closer, Zae Zin Nim considered her options. She could have flown down and killed them, likely without too much risk to herself. But would that help any of their other objectives? The workers needed real combat experience, and this might be their only chance to experience a relatively limited battle. Besides, it was always possible that the crystalliers would check in lazily and then go home, buying them even more time.

With so many more soldiers, Zae Zin Nim didn't see any way to sneak inside and speak with the others. All she could do was meditate and confirm that she could sense the familiar qi of those she knew. Meanwhile, the crystalliers set up at one of the fences and began demanding to see the workers one by one.

Apparently they were going to be thorough this time. Zae Zin Nim watched carefully, expecting them to discover one of those who had developed acid cultivation. Instead, after dismissing several of the most sickly workers, they chose an attractive young woman to pull aside.

She screamed as she was pulled away, and something bubbled over within the acid pits. An old woman raised her hands first and the acid underneath her rose into the air. It flew in a glistening arc, almost beautiful until it struck the soldiers in the face and they began to scream as well.

All at once everyone in the pits was crying out, throwing their own acid into the fray. The initial assault was absolutely devastating to the soldiers, who were lax and generally not wearing much of their glass armor. Even those who did couldn't stand for long against the improved acid cultivation. If they had only intended to break out, it would have been over then.

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But the two crystalliers rose to their feet and drew their crystal weapons.

The first was a thin man who easily leapt over the front lines, using a crystal to redirect himself in midair. Many of the acid cultivators tried to target him, but he was much too agile. Their arcing sprays of acid often ended up falling on the soldiers in back, not that he cared. He was just moving toward the acid cultivators, raising two crystal swords, ready to cut through them...

If allowed to attack, he would cut through them like a scythe. Zae Zin Nim stood up, prepared to intercept him, when suddenly a brown streak leapt from one of the upper caverns.

Nirka met the crystallier with her spear in hand, stabbing through his shoulder. He tried to strike back, faster than her, but she could just barely keep up and she was much tougher. When he lost a sword and summoned a knife instead, it failed to cut deep. Zae Zin Nim begrudgingly acknowledged that Nirka was playing her role well.

Things were going much worse on the other side of the battle. The other crystallier moved slower, surrounding himself with a full suit of crystal armor. With his qi coursing through it, none of the acid could truly harm him.

Yurwa appeared behind the others, who were shooting acid wildly, and focused on a sphere between her hands. It flitted out and struck the crystallier in the chest, knocking him back a step and eating into his chest armor. Given time, it might have killed him, but he patiently summoned more crystal, repairing the damage and moving forward.

It was too early. Zae Zin Nim thought that Yurwa's technique was far superior to the blunt crystal armor, she simply hadn't had the time to refine it. And now she faced her death with grim acceptance, keeping her son behind her as he tried to use his limited cultivation.

Somehow Zae Zin Nim's palm struck the crystallier's chest.

She hadn't consciously decided to move. It was almost like watching someone else as she stared at her hand and saw the crystals exploding in all directions. It created a beautiful cascade as the crystallier fell backward, stunned by her blow. He tried to get to his feet, but now all the acid cultivators had turned on him, and he no longer had his armor to protect him.

Meanwhile, Nirka was struggling against the other crystallier. She had strength, but her opponent had been dueling for years and she was still all rough edges. Zae Zin Nim hesitated - it would be so easy to be a little slow, allow an accident to happen. Then she would never need to think about Nirka again. But in the end she made her way back across the battlefield, because the barbarian woman's death would make Kai sad, and she wouldn't do that to him.

Thoroughly locked with Nirka, the crystallier had no hope when Zae Zin Nim's palm struck his back.

"Thanks." Nirka swayed on her feet before wiping at one of her shallow cuts. "I'll... I'll do better next time."

"See that you do," Zae Zin Nim said. "But for now, track the soldiers. None can escape to warn the others."

With her help intercepting runners, the acid workers finished off all of the soldiers. They didn't need to be told to take all the usable equipment and dissolve the bodies in the acid, which Zae Zin Nim quite approved of. She let them celebrate a little, since they had come closer to winning the battle on their own than they had expected, but Yurwa and many of the others knew that they had no time for joy.

Soon they had stripped the camp entirely: the next group to arrive from Yulthens would find no soldiers, no workers, nothing except an empty acid pit. Hopefully that would baffle them for a while longer and prolong the timeline. If they wanted refined crystals, they could do the work themselves.

"Are the mines okay?" Yurwa asked as she struggled into the crystal ship. "We could never have survived without their help, but..."

"I wasn't able to go there," Zae Zin Nim said, "but we're going now. Prepare yourself for the worst."

The main body of acid cultivators headed out on foot away from the acid pits, traveling to hide themselves at an agreed-upon location. After confirming that they weren't followed or leaving an obvious trail, Zae Zin Nim left them behind to go investigate the crystal mines. She took Yurwa and Gundle along, to keep them safe, and Nirka because the woman insisted.

As it happened, her pessimism was unwarranted. The mine workers were all celebrating in the rocks outside the mine, drinking and eating through the soldiers' rations. They panicked and scrambled when they saw the crystal ship, but when Zae Zin Nim emerged she was greeted with a chorus of cheers.

"You're late to the party," Maggle told her in a long drawl. "We took care of them crystalliers on our own."

"You didn't have trouble with them?" Zae Zin Nim asked.

"Naw, not at all. We spent so long fighting Kai, we was a bit worried, but these guys were chumps compared to him. Ain't that right?" Maggle waved his beer mug to the workers around them and they cheered again. When he stepped closer to her, however, his smile went stiff. "The truth is that we lost several. I said I was worth three o' them, but the truth is I'm barely worth one. But they had no idea what they were getting into, and we could mob them with people at about their strength."

It was a nightmare scenario for many cultivators: peasants strong enough that they couldn't be killed instantly, overwhelming with their sheer numbers. In this case, it had apparently worked to their advantage. She would still have made the decision if things had turned out differently, but Zae Zin Nim felt that she had chosen rightly by assisting the acid pits.

"The celebration has gone on long enough," she told Maggle. "Even assuming you didn't let anyone escape, Yulthens will send more. The other two mines will be under attack soon and we'll have to hurry to reach them. Things are even worse in the east."

"We did okay this time," he protested, "and we got some experience. Next time we'll do better."

"Next time, they will send a Diamond Crystallier."

She let that threat stand, and after a short pause Maggle went around to begin convincing the workers that they needed to move on. Zae Zin Nim wanted nothing to do with that, so she retreated and considered their next plans.

Though she used the Diamond Crystalliers as a threat, and they were her primary focus, she didn't think it would end with them. The real threat, she realized, was the merchants who had made those warriors. None of this was a game to them, and as soon as they realized how much was at stake, they would respond with a brutal efficiency that put crystalliers to shame.

Once the mine workers got their act together, she directed them to meet up with the other groups. Combined with the other mines and pits, they were a formidable force, and now that they had been bloodied, they would only fight more ferociously. Even if individually they ranged from insignificant to average, as a unit they represented more power than anyone in the cities would anticipate.

And so Zae Zin Nim led an army of peasants into the countryside. Life was strange.