S Ranked Reincarnation: My Infinite Leveling System-Chapter 37: Bait For The Beast

Grandmaster Li sat at the head of the table, his ancient eyes closed in contemplation. Across from him, Tao was a stark contrast, all sharp angles and polished black and gold armor, his gaze sweeping over the assembled leaders with an unnerving confidence.

Anya, the Guild’s strategist, broke the quiet. The rustle of her papers was like a crack of thunder.

"The reports from the outer territories are... escalating," she began, her voice tight. "Monster activity has spiked seventeen percent in the last forty-eight hours alone. We’re not just seeing more of them. They’re bigger. They’re faster. And they’re hitting settlements we’ve considered safe for decades."

Goran, the head of the Monster Slayer division, slammed a gnarled fist on the table. The wood groaned under the impact.

"Seventeen percent?" he scoffed, his face a mask of grim fury. "That’s a number on a page, Anya. Let me give you the reality. We lost the entire Seventh and Ninth elite squads. Wiped out. Not in a glorious battle, but ambushed on the road to Silver Creek. They were targeting our supply lines, our patrols. They knew where to hit us. It’s like they’re thinking. Strategizing." He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a gravelly whisper. "Something is fundamentally wrong."

Grandmaster Li’s eyes finally opened, clouded with a profound sorrow.

"The energy signatures confirm it," he said, his voice a low rumble. "Nothing we have on record matches what our mages are reading. This is a new breed of darkness."

Anya turned her sharp gaze towards the silent figure in gleaming armor.

"Tao. You’ve faced more of these new abominations than anyone. You’ve been quiet this entire time. What are your thoughts?"

A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Tao’s lips. It didn’t reach his eyes.

"My thoughts?" he said, his voice smooth and cold as polished steel. "I think we are behaving like scared children hiding from the dark. We are reacting. We are defending. We are losing."

He let the words hang.

"If the monsters are evolving, it’s because they have been given the time and space to do so. We’ve been pruning the branches while the root grows deeper. Soon, it will shatter the very foundations of this Guild."

An uneasy murmur rolled through the room.

"Then what do you propose?" Grandmaster Li asked, his voice steady but laced with caution.

Tao leaned back, the motion slow and deliberate, the picture of control. He steepled his fingers, the gold gauntlets glinting in the low light.

"A final, decisive stroke. We recall every hunter. Every slayer. Every battle-mage. We pull them all back from the frontiers and consolidate our forces at the capital."

Goran stared at him, aghast.

"Recall them? The frontiers will be overrun in a day!"

"Let them be," Tao said dismissively. "They are a lost cause for now. We gather our might here, at the heart of our power. We then use the capital itself as bait. We create a lure so irresistible, so potent, that every monster within a thousand leagues will be drawn to it. We create a killing field of our own making, and when they are all gathered, we unleash a storm of steel and fire that will eradicate this threat for a generation."

The chamber erupted.

"Madness!" Goran roared, rising so fast his chair screeched against the stone floor. "You want to invite the horde to our doorstep? The capital is our sanctuary! It’s the last bastion of hope for the people! We cannot, we will not gamble with its survival! It is a symbol!"

"Symbols are meaningless if there is no one left to look at them," Tao retorted, his voice cutting through the old man’s fury.

Anya’s expression was one of deep skepticism.

"Your plan is predicated on a dozen assumptions, Tao. What if this lure you speak of brings more than we can handle? What if this isn’t just a random surge of monster activity, but an organized invasion orchestrated by something far more intelligent than we comprehend? Your trap could become our tomb."

"Every great victory in history was born from a great risk," Tao answered, his smile never wavering. "We stand at a precipice. We can cower here and wait for the fall, or we can take a leap of faith and learn to fly on the way down. We are running out of time. Can’t you feel it?"

"Faith is not a strategy, Tao," Grandmaster Li interjected, his voice carrying the finality of a judge. "And this plan of yours is not just a risk; it is reckless abandon. The strange energy signatures... the coordinated attacks... we are missing a critical piece of the puzzle. To rush into a conflict of this magnitude without understanding the nature of our enemy is to invite annihilation." He stared directly at Tao, his gaze like iron. "You would risk everything on a gamble. On an impulse."

Tao’s smile shifted, the corner of his mouth twitching into something more predatory.

"Sometimes, Grandmaster, a decisive impulse is worth more than a lifetime of cautious deliberation. The monsters are coming for us. They will not wait for you to finish your research."

The other leaders, swayed by the Grandmaster’s gravity, began to voice their dissent more forcefully.

Arguments about logistics, civilian casualties, and the moral cost of sacrificing the outer territories filled the room. But Tao was an island of chilling calm in the storm of their panic. He listened, unmoved, his eyes burning with an intensity that bordered on zealotry.

Finally, he held up a hand. A hush fell.

"I am not asking for a vote," he said, his voice low and dangerous. "I am not seeking your approval. I am telling you the only course of action that will ensure our survival."

Grandmaster Li’s voice, though quiet, boomed with authority.

"And I am telling you that your plan is rejected, Tao. The Guild will not sacrifice its heart on the altar of your ambition. We need more intelligence. We need a clearer picture of what we are facing before we commit to any offensive." He looked around the table. "This meeting is adjourned."

The tension in the room snapped. Tao’s smile finally vanished, replaced by a fleeting shadow of contempt so profound it was almost shocking. He rose slowly from his seat, his armored frame dominating the chamber. The other leaders watched him, a mix of fear and defiance on their faces.

"Very well, Grandmaster," he said, his tone deceptively mild. "Have your deliberations. Wait for your signs and portents."

He turned and began to walk towards the massive doors. As his hand touched the handle, he paused without looking back.

"But when the walls begin to crumble and the screams of the dying echo in this very hall, remember that you were given a chance to prevent it." His voice dropped, a venomous whisper aimed at the heart of the Guild. "I will take matters into my own hands if I must."

The doors boomed shut behind him, leaving a stunned silence in his wake.

The light in Tao’s private quarters was dim, emanating from a single, terrifying source. In the center of the chamber, a massive, shimmering containment field pulsed with an ominous, violet hum. Suspended within it, locked in an invisible cage of pure energy, was Ning Que.

He was a statue sculpted from rage and disbelief. His body was frozen mid-struggle, muscles strained, teeth gritted. Only his eyes moved, flickering wildly, burning with a helpless fury that screamed what his silenced mouth could not. He was utterly, completely powerless.

The heavy footsteps of armored boots echoed on the stone as Tao entered. He came to a stop before the containment field, a look of detached amusement on his face as he surveyed his prisoner.

"Ah, Ning Que," Tao said softly, the sound oozing with false sympathy. "So full of fight. So much righteous fire. Tell me, how does it feel? To have all that power, all that will, and be able to do nothing but watch?"

He stepped closer, close enough that Ning Que could see the cruel glint in his eyes. Tao raised a gauntleted hand, hovering it just inches from the energy field, causing it to ripple and whine. Ning Que’s eyes widened further in agony and defiance.

"I have been watching you for quite some time," Tao continued, his voice a conspiratorial whisper. "You and your little band of heroes. You were... impressive. A worthy adversary, I’ll admit. But you were always destined to fail. You were playing a game, and you never even knew who your opponent was."

The energy field hummed, the sound resonating with the growing darkness in Tao’s voice.

"You see, Ning, there is a fundamental truth you have missed. A secret I have kept for a very long time." His smile returned, but this time it was a grotesque, cruel curve of his lips. It was the smile of a predator revealing its fangs for the first time.

"I am not who you think I am. I have never been who you think I am." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a near-inaudible hiss, for Ning Que’s ears alone. "The man you knew as Tao? The celebrated hero of the Guild? He was brave. He was strong. He was also a fool."

Tao savored the moment, watching the dawning horror finally eclipse the rage in Ning Que’s eyes.

"I killed the real Tao years ago. I took his face. I took his name." His smile widened into a triumphant, monstrous grin. "And then... I absorbed his power..."