Chapter 844 - Grind It Out
When I eventually wake it's to find that the rest of the group has already completed their mutations and that Crinis has extended herself into a wall between me and everyone else. Preserving my modesty in my most vulnerable moments. What a good companion she is!
[Thanks Crinis.]
I mean that sincerely, with all of my soul.
[You are welcome, Master.]
I slowly pick myself up and this time it's a little more disorienting than usual. I stagger to one side before I manage to gather my balance and freeze for a moment. It takes a few seconds for me to work out what is giving me such trouble, but once I do it starts to make a little more sense. The antennae. When I upgraded to Twilight Filament, I did so because the description spoke of how sensitive they were, and I'd hoped that sensitivity would translate to the future sense, since it's essentially changing the antennae to 'detect' more sensory information. I've done the same again, but this time made them able to detect gravitational waves and they are doing a damn good job of it from what I can tell.
It's like... I'm not even sure I can describe it. I can feel the pull of gravity not just through my body but to an incredibly fine extent through my antennae. And not just the gravity that is affecting me personally, my physical body, but in an area around me. Naturally that pull is downward, toward the centre of the planet, but there are vibrations and fluctuations that perhaps someone with greater understanding over how these things work could explain. On top of that, the two mutations are functioning together, so not only am I detecting the gravitational waves as they are, but also as they will be a few moments in the future! Gah! As I twitch my antennae, its startling to realise that I can actually sense the very tiny fields being emanated by my companions. Tiny's stronger than the others, but even Invidia's is large enough for me to detect. Perhaps I'm also sensing the mass he has stuffed away in his pocket dimension?
It's bizarre and a little nauseating, but I'm hoping that's a temporary side effect, otherwise I've just mutated my way into trouble once again. No worries, I'll get used to it. Other than that, there are other differences as well. It's easy to forget sometimes, that upgrading an organ does produce a small overall performance increase. In this case, taking my Vestibule and Nave from +15 to +30 at once, apart from the changes brought on by mutation, has produced a noticeable and startling effect. The amount of energy pouring in through the Vestibule has increased significantly, the range at which the organ is working has increased along with the amount of energy collected. The Nave is flooded with that Will and is condensing and purifying it to the point that it feels like liquid gold as it eventually floods into my system. The feeling is incredible, to be honest. I feel refreshed, energised and uplifted as the Will of thousands upon thousands of my siblings flows into me.
With a start I jerk my mind away from that path. I know from experience that sinking down into the thoughts and desires of my siblings that flow through me is a trap that it's hard to get away from. I've been disciplined about it lately but it'll take some time to adjust to this new level of intrusion. Still, it's nice to see that the improvements have been worth the rather massive investment that I made.
My mandibles and carapace have also benefited from the process of course, the pure diamond coating that encases me has grown that little bit thicker, adding to my lustre and shine. My jaws are a little larger, a little more dense and even more responsive to my mana than they were before. I'm going to have to test them with every type of mana that I have at my disposal to really see what they can do, something I've been far too lazy and avoided doing. I mean, what happens when I bite something with mind mana infused into my mandibles? Goodness knows!
[Alright then, squad. It's time to get back out on the road. We need to keep grinding Skills, levels and Biomass. I've got a long way to go to maxing out for tier six and I'm sure that all of you are the same!]
My pets each acknowledge my words in their own way, for they are true for all of us, even Invidia.
"Brilliant, are you able to move around much yet?"
"I-I think so..."
She doesn't sound all that sure but looking at her I can already tell that a lot of the raw Biomass has been digested.
"Tiny can carry you if we need him to. I hope you're ready to reach tier four, because we aren't stopping until you get there!"
"Tier four?! Already?!"
"Yes, already. The Colony doesn't have time to wait around, you need to get cracking and you can't exactly do much as you are..."
"I can too!"
"Sure, sure. Come on then, let's get going."
It takes concentration but as we roam through the tunnels with Brilliant loaded into Tiny's arms like an ant-missile, I find that my sensitivity to gravitational waves is even more extreme than I thought. I can actually sense monsters through it so long as they are within a certain range, which is just ridiculous. The amount of gravitational force a monster gives off might be many times larger than a human would, but it's still pathetically weak! The fact I can find them, through walls even in some instances, just blows my mind. This is nuts!
At least it makes for extremely efficient hunting! As soon as we find a monster, we knock it down and pummel it to the brink of extinction before Tiny rams Brilliant into it and she manages to chomp it to the point of giving her a notification. Then we hoover up the Biomass and move on to the next target. We only slow down when it becomes clear we are roaming deeper and deeper only to find fewer and fewer prey.
[I believe if we were to go much deeper we would break through to the next layer,] Al observes after a while.
I raise my head, letting my antennae swirl through the air as I attempt to detect anything that would indicate he was correct. The heat has only risen as we descend, the open pools of lava becoming more frequent as they drip down from above. If I were to crack an egg on a rock it would be charcoal in a minute, that's how hot it feels.
[By any chance does it get a little cooler as we get lower?]
The giant eye of literal flame looks at me steadily for a long moment.
[I'll take that as a no,] I sigh.
"How far off evolving are you?" I ask Brilliant.
"I'm level nineteen!" she informs me from her position as a harpoon in Tiny's grip.
One more monster and we can retreat back to the city.
-x-X-x-
Chapter 845 - 845 - Too Many New Toys
It's a good thing I have so many minds now, since I have so many new things to play with. Barrier magic is another defensive tool in the box and I'm quite keen to prioritise it. With my reaction speed and increasing magical prowess, I bet I can throw down shields in the blink of an eye, putting them where and when I need them before my opponents can even react. I don't think it would be much of a stretch to say that I'm attached to my life in this world, a heck of a lot more than I was to the one before, so I'm invested in being not dead. The more methods I can deploy to ensure I remain in a living state, the better in my opinion.
But then, I also need to pick which of the four new magics I'm going to grind up in order to get access to the next level of magic. I'm quite tempted by metal and wood both, but I think I'm going to have to go with force. It sounds way too useful to turn down. I mean, kinetic energy, on tap? The only limiting factor is mana and my ability to wield it!
Selection made, I put half of my mind constructs to work practicing the necessary construct to produce the required form of mana. As is tradition, the construct is a pain within a pain wrapped in an ache and garnished with a kick to the noggin. None of these damn things are easy, but then again I suppose converting mystical energy from one form into another isn't exactly an easy task. Despite the complexity, compared to the omni-elemental construct it's basically a walk in the park. I have every confidence I'll be able to put it together in a few hours and then I can start playing about with it.
As we make our way back to the city of Roklu, having completed our immediate tasks, I take some time to experiment with something else I've not investigated as deeply as I should. My mandibles are specifically mutated to accept mana and produce effects based on the type that I use. I had a lot of fun infusing them with gravity mana back in the day, but more often than not my opponents these days have too much mass for me to properly yank them. I think I phrased that correctly...
Basically, using the gravity mandibles is a lot more situational than it was before, since they don't have the desired effect on things that are too massive. If I had more gravity mana to pour in, then perhaps I could get it to work as it did before, but I'm limited since I only have what is available in my organ and can't make more for myself. However, since I mastered the basic elements and learned omni-elemental magic, I now have ready access to every type of basic elemental mana, including the fusions!
Which means a whole host of different types of mana I can infuse into my mandibles that I haven't really tried yet! I'm not expecting anything world shattering, but it'll be nice to see what kind of effects I can produce. As we march back to the city, following the winding tunnels as they twist and turn back to the larvae flooded plains, I use my omni-elemental construct to flood my mandibles with every type of mana I can create and chomp on various things, rocks, the odd demon, to see what happens each time.
The mandibles respond incredibly well to the mana as I pour it in, drinking it up like some sort of mega-sponge. Continuing to mutate them down this line has clearly increased the strength of the effect that is produced but also increased the ability of the mandibles to take and hold the energy that I give it. I have to throw in a ridiculous amount of mana before they start to feel 'full' and the abilities that they grant are quite startling when fully charged.
For starters, water mana. To my surprise, the feeling I get from infusing this energy into my mandibles is one of cutting, and when I chomp down on a rock the mana floods out in a rush as tiny, concentrated blasts of water emerge from the spiked tips of my mandibles. When I withdraw my jaws and inspect the rock I find the pressurised water has drilled holes deep into the stone. Nasty! This might help me crack tough defences in a pinch! I'm impressed.
Fire mana I've tested before, essentially super heating my mandibles, though I don't really feel it, thank goodness, and sizzling whatever I bite. I'm a fan. Not much use in the third stratum, but I still think it's a strong effect.
Air mana is a bit of a weird one, similar to gravity in a way. Once fully charged, when I open my mandibles wide the air in front of me is sucked away, dragging whatever happens to be in front of me forward as the air rushes towards me to fill the void. The range is much less than the pull gravitational mana gives me, but this effect is targeted on an individual in the same way. Anything in front of me will be dragged forward, unless they are strong enough or properly prepared to resist the sudden drag.
I wasn't sure what to expect with earth mana. I mean, it was always going to be an unusual effect, but what I got was surprising and pleasing. The sense of peace and fulfilment that washed over me was immense and when I turned to the tunnel wall and began to dig, the earth just melted away beneath my mandibles. Bliss. True peace.
Ice mana was much as expected, when I bit a stone the mana flooded into it and even in these boiling temperatures the damn thing started to freeze, rapidly cooling to the point that frost started to form on the surface. Of course, mixing temperatures like this isn't particularly healthy for a rock and the damn thing cracked right in my face.
Blue fire was much the same as normal fire, except hotter.
Gas magic was subtly different from air magic. Whereas air magic created a vacuum in front of my jaws which dragged things in front of me forward, gas magic created a rush of air inward towards where I was biting, effectively locking in place the target of my ire, unless of course they were strong enough to resist the inrushing atmosphere.
Stone took the previous levels of ease of digging to all new heights, earth and stone positively crumbling away whenever my mandibles got even close to them, the mana leaching out and into the rock, dissolving it from within. This could be useful for the carvers...
-x-X-x-
When we returned to Roklu and made our way up the plate on which the city was built, the changes that had taken place were clear to see. Not ones to mess around, the Colony had clearly gotten to work to an extent that left the remaining local residents' heads spinning. Around the central pillar, the carvers had clearly decided 'forget this' and just gone ahead and built an ant hill circling the base. What had once been Grokus' compound was now an elegant tower of stone and dirt, already displaying elaborate carvings and intricate arrangements on the outside as the more artistic workers set to their business.
The rest of the city was rebuilt, sturdier and neater than before. No longer quite as tangled a mess as it had been, the Colony had imposed some degree of order on the demons without going all the way and tearing down their warrens completely. Thousands and thousands of ants are still in residence, watching in all directions, building, scouting, shifting resources from above and bringing them down into the city. The elevator they constructed is rather impressive, no doubt about that. The ingenuity of the Colony knows no bounds.
Of course, once we are settled it's time for Brilliant to evolve.
"Hop to it!" I tell her. "Make sure you think carefully about your choices, don't make any dumb decisions. You really can't afford to waste your evolutionary energy."
"I know that," she grumbles. "It's just that I'm so tempted to choose everything I see."
"That curiosity is likely to get you killed one of these days," I scold her. "Obviously you can't pick everything. Be sensible about it."
"Fine."
I carefully watch her until I'm convinced she's deep into the menus and thus too distracted by the System and the process of evolving to worry about what is happening in the real world.
[Chuck her in the mouth, Invidia, she can evolve in there while we go about our business. Mind you, if she gets too large for you to hold make sure you let me know and spit her out.]
[Very weellll.]
A few moments later the little ant is gone, vanished into a pocket dimension whilst the rest of us continue our tour of the city. It isn't long before we bump into some old friends.
[Sarah! I didn't expect to see you down here!]
We spot the big bear helping a few carvers by shifting some heavy stone blocks with not inconsiderable strength.
[Oh, Anthony! Welcome back! I thought I couldn't keep being lazy and should come down here and help. I might have thought twice if I'd realised how hot it would be.]
[I can see that Smithant got a hold of you too,] I flip an antenna toward the rings of metal that adorn her limbs.
She pulls a face.
[This is nothing. You should see the full armour set. No, these pieces are just for helping keep me cool. It's not great having fur down here!]
I bet. I walk over to her and give her a pat on the back with one leg.
[Just be careful with yourself alright? You'll be a big help in the fighting against the tier seven and six opponents we have to deal with here, but if it gets too much for you, make sure you back out before it becomes overwhelming.]
There are flashes of pain in her eyes as she recalls the near disaster she experienced the last time the Colony was under siege.
[Don't worry,] she assures me, [I'll be careful.]
We chat for a little while before she remembers to tell me that Granin and crew had come down looking for me so I bid her farewell and let her get back to building, which in turn got the carvers to stop accusing us of being lazy, and went looking for the golgari. I eventually find them resting just outside the anthill in a small compound that appeared to have been constructed for them to reside in. The Colony is nothing if not accommodating!
[Granin you old fogey!] I greet him jovially. [Torrina, looking wonderful as always. Corun, wonderful to see you!]
[Very funny,] the old shaper grunts. [It's great to see your big insect mug as well.]
[Is that any way to talk to a future Ancient?] I chortle.
He peers at me.
[Becoming an Ancient is no laughing matter,] he says, [you're talking about becoming one of the most powerful entities on the entire planet. Or are you telling me you've actually decided to do this old rock a favour and make it your goal.]
[Hell no. I'm just trying to support my family and make it to my next evolution in one piece.]
He rolls his eyes and glances at Torrina and Corun who are both radiating a noticeable level of 'I told you so' energy. It's interesting to me that the three golgari give off much stronger gravitational waves than one would expect given their size. I suppose the ore they cover themselves in isn't just for show after all, but even taking that into account, I feel like their bodies underneath that rock and metal are more dense than I might have expected. The golgari are rumoured to be naturally very strong, I suppose that's no joke.
[Oh, by the by, I've been playing around with a few new things. Check this out!]
I infuse stone mana into my mandibles and wave them threateningly in the shaper's direction and to my surprise, he reacts, leaping back from me with a scowl on his face.
[What the hell is that!? My danger senses are going crazy!]
[You have danger senses?]
[Never mind that!]
I can't help but give him an odd look.
[I infused my mandibles with stone mana. I tested it on the way over, helps me cut through rock like it's not even there,] I explain.
He shivers.
[No wonder. Made me feel like my skin was about to peel off. The golgari fought monsters with a similar power a long time ago. Stone Mantis. Except they infused the blades on their arms rather than their mandibles. We ended up driving them to extinction because of how threatening they were to our people.]
[Didn't mean to stress you out,] I apologise, [I just thought it would be funny.]
[Don't worry about it Anthony,] Corun laughs, [It was plenty funny for us!]
Granin shoots them a dirty look.
[Enough of this. How is progress toward your next evolution?]
[Give me a break! I only just evolved! You think experience rains down from the sky?]
[No,] he frowns, [but it's still risky for you to be down here as a tier six. Tier seven demons are no joke, as I think you've found.]
[I don't know,] I shrug, [we managed to handle Grokus alright.]
[This is what I was worried about,] the big shaper harrumphs and even Torrina looks a little disappointed.
[We heard about that fight,] she says, [and from what we understand you were almost eaten from the inside out despite having your opponent surrounded and outnumbered. If it weren't for your strange gravity spell, you would have lost for sure.]
I mean, they aren't wrong.
[And that big moron was Excess Demon. Not exactly the most feared combatant you can encounter down here,] Granin says.
[What is?] I ask, curious.
[There are a few tier six demons who are straight up designed for killing. Slaughter demons are among the worst, but they aren't alone. Wrath demons are a pain to deal with, blade demons, let's not forget torture demons, those are a literal pain to deal with.]
It's almost humorous how quickly the shaper can fall into a lecturing tone. The guy was born to be a teacher.
[None of those sounds pleasant. We had a tier seven war demon down here as well.]
[Those are massively dangerous. Don't forget that the one you ran into was only recently evolved, they can get far more deadly than that. At the tier seven level? Pride demons can evolve into Vain demons or Emperor demons, both of which are far more threatening than the tier six variant. Slaughter demons usually evolve into Massacre demons, which are as bad as they sound. Blade demons can become Slasher demons or sometimes Violence demons, those are particularly nasty. At tier six you can find blood demons which can evolve into bone demons. If you see one of those, I want you to get the hell away from it.]
That is unusually serious.
[What, why? What do they do?]
He tells me.
[Understood. I shall never go near them!] I vow within my mind and simultaneously within my soul.
That's just nasty!
[Keep pushing for your next evolution,] Granin advises me seriously. [Tier seven monsters are the real threats on this stratum and as a first stratum monster you are far below them. Your next evolution will give you two or more resets that can not only level the playing field, but push you past them with good choices.. I won't feel confident for you down here until you reach that point.]
-x-X-x-
Enid looked down at her tea with a slight smile on her face. Not only had the ants secured a source of truly delightful tea leaves, they had also managed to procure sugar, goodness knows from where. In the same manner in which they tackled every issue, namely head on, they had begun cultivation and experimentation of the substance the moment they had the free resources to do so. One would have assumed that the ants would care little for such frivolous items, instead concentrating their efforts in other directions, yet she had visited the tea plantations herself, seen the vast amount of energy they put into the care of their leaves.
The Colony truly didn't believe in outsourcing labour. The idea of having someone else grow the leaves and then purchasing them seemed almost alien to their insect minds. To be fair, labour wasn't exactly something they were short of, but she could only imagine how frustrating she would have found to deal with these monsters as a merchant. The second you found something they wanted to buy, you also created a competitor, because no sooner did they purchase it than they started trying to make or grow it! Two weeks later they would turn around and start selling your own merchandise back to you, and probably at a higher quality than you yourself had been able to obtain!
Infuriating.
The tea fields couldn't be described as vast, but they were certainly extensive, and now with the sugar plantation added alongside them, they almost extended over an entire expanse, with further expansion planned. Not only had her own people in Renewal become addicted to the pleasant flavour and delightful sweetness, but so had Rylleh and an increasing number of the ants themselves, most particularly the Queens. And if the Queens wanted something, they were going to get it.
"Mayor, are you ready?" the calm voice of her secretary reached her through the door.
"Yes, Terrence. I'll be there in a moment."
With a groan she forced her old bones to move and forced herself up out of her chair. She'd been feeling her age more keenly than ever over the last few weeks, ever since the siege had ended, but she had long gotten used to forcing the niggles and aches that plagued the elderly to the back of her mind. She gathered her things and regretfully left the plush and comfortable lodgings the Colony had provided for her in the nest behind. They'd even installed heating sigils that kept the room at a comfortable temperature at all times! Such an extravagant use of valuable cores was something only the royalty and noble class would dare contemplate in Liria before the wave, and now she was able to enjoy it.
Once she opened the door she was greeted by the warm and cheerful face of Terrence, her latest secretary. He'd been a scribe in the capital before the destruction, a skill he was now able to put to good use in the service of the survivors.
"How are you today, Ms Mayor?" he asked politely.
"I'm fine," she groused, "stop harassing me. You're worse than a grandchild."
The middle aged man just smiled as he fell into step beside her.
"There are a few things that demand your attention today," he said, "but I presume we are heading to the hospital first?"
"Of course."
"Right you are then, mayor. Good thing I scheduled your appointment with the Rylleh merchants for the afternoon."
Enid groaned.
"What do those crusty old bats want this time?"
"They have approached the Colony about the possibility of imposing copyright law. I understand there are quite a few enterprising merchants who are already prepared to lodge claims."
"And the Colony, having no idea what on Pangera they were on about, asked for me to sort it out," she grunted.
"That is most likely the case."
"I assume they want to claim the copyright on basically everything under the sun, since the Colony's legal system, such as it is, is detached from everyone else's, thus nothing is currently protected intellectual property."
"There has already been a claim laid on the wheel, Ms Mayor."
"Damn vultures," she muttered as she rolled her eyes, "I suppose this is how they're hoping to stop the ants from competing with them, by having the Colony agree that it would be illegal to do so."
Terrence didn't say anything in response, but they both knew she was right. Competing with the Colony was an exercise in futility, since they had an essentially limitless workforce that wasn't paid for. This was hardly the first time that Enid had been tasked with hammering out the details of trade between the Colony and the societies that lived around them and likely wouldn't be the last. So far, the wily old trader had proven to be more than a match for the greedy merchants who'd seen her as an easy mark. Though having an army of thousands upon thousands of monsters backing her up didn't hurt any.
When they arrived at the hospital that had been set aside for the non-insect members of the nest Enid wasted no time in stepping forward to comfort the injured and sick. A kind word here, a held hand there, she lifted the spirits of her people with her mere presence and seeing the gratitude on the faces Terrence couldn't help but feel his deep gratitude to this old woman strengthen. She worked so hard for them when by all rights she should be retired and resting in a comfortable chair.
"There are quite a few with mana sickness..." she fretted after she finished chatting with a soldier who lay infirm in his comfortable bed.
He nodded.
"The assault on the third stratum hit quite a few harder than was anticipated. We think the mana levels were still elevated since the end of the last wave and the conditioning program wasn't enough to make up the difference. Every non-monster has been evacuated from that stratum for the time being until the Colony is confident that those who wish to join them have sufficiently adapted."
"They are pushing too hard."
Terrence raised a brow.
"The Colony?"
"No," Enid snapped, "our people! I have no doubt the council didn't even ask if people would participate in the assault. They would have just incorporated the ones that showed up! It takes time to adjust to the mana levels in the deeper layers. In some cases, a long time. Rushing is only going to get good people killed."
"I feel some of our people want to follow the Colony wherever they go," Terrence observed softly, "like a child toddling after a parent. They don't want to be left behind."
"They don't have to be left behind, but they have to be patient. The ants are monsters, they don't suffer from mana-sickness, but we do! How many of our people have already become too adapted to the Dungeon? How many can no longer walk on the surface without pain?"
"Hundreds at least."
It was something her husband had struggled through many times, the pain that came with delving deep and then rising back up. If not for her, he would have lived deeper in the Dungeon and thus spared himself a great deal of suffering reacclimating to the low mana conditions of the surface whenever he finished a job. It was taxing, and could have long term effects. If he hadn't been as tough as mountain bones then he likely would never have been able to do it.
"Perhaps I should talk with the Colony about establishing a program to help people acclimate to differing mana levels. Make it easier for those who want to return to the surface..."
"I actually had word through a contact that they've already started work on that. They've created a few mana deprivation chambers close to the nest. They've peeled back the Dungeon veins and opened the rooms for our use. I meant to tell you yesterday."
Enid could only shake her head.
"Damn ants," she muttered, "they spoil us too much."
-x-X-x-
While the hatchling is sleeping through her tier four evolution, the rest of us take a break to strategize a little with Granin and co before we rest. Sometimes it's easy to forget that the others need a break a lot sooner than I do, at least, whenever I'm within range of the Colony. There's just something about never getting tired that seeps into your subconscious, before too long you start thinking of fatigue as abnormal. While everyone else is getting some shut eye, I keep my minds spinning, working hard on practicing new constructs and weaving spells. The grind train is on and it don't stop for nobody!
If the demons think I'm going to rest on my laurels they've got another thing coming.
Still, talking to Granin and the others provides a much more sober evaluation of where we sit in the power scales. Despite having risen so far, there is so long to go.
[That's the way of it in the Dungeon,] the old Shaper shrugs, [until you get all the way to the middle, there's always going to be something stronger than you are. The only time you can really feel safe is when you're the highest tier in a particular stratum and there isn't a wave going on.]
[The way things have been lately, there'll be another wave before too long,] I grump.
He nods.
[That's true. There haven't been two waves this close together in recorded history, and the ambient mana level is still elevated. Some of the more anxious members of the cult feared that this might indicate the cataclysm would come again. I wasn't inclined to believe them then, but now I'm not so certain.]
[The cataclysm? You mean the Rending?]
[Right. You'd probably describe it as 'not a good time'. Which sums it up. If we are indeed trending on that path, then the mana level will continue to rise higher and higher, with wave after wave until the energy becomes so fierce that the Ancients will rise from the centre of the world and consume the surface once again.]
[That... sounds bad. Aren't you supposed to worship these guys or something? Yet you think they're going to come up here and eat all of us!? What the heck is the point of that?!]
Wouldn't it make more sense to be actively working against the ancients rather than with them? Granin just shrugs whilst Torrina and Corun stand to the side, equally unfussed.
[First of all, we don't really worship the great worm. The ancients are close to gods in a lot of ways, beings capable of ripping the world apart if they so choose, but they are monsters. Our cult and the others around the world understand that the ancients follow their nature. They seek growth, as all creatures in this world do. It's not like we can be mad at them for taking experience and Biomass when they get the chance. If any delver had the chance to stab an ancient through the brain while they slept, you think they wouldn't take it?]
[I guess not...]
Seems a little unsporting though... Mind you, I would definitely do it if I had the chance. I'm a monster, so manners aren't expected. I'd likely get enough experience to go straight to tier eight or something. Not to mention the Biomass... or the core!
[Hang on a minute. If that actually happens, and they rise again, then won't all of us be killed? Like, the entire Colony?]
[Maybe. Unless you can hide from them or fight them off, then yes, they would likely eat you. Or the flood of absurdly powerful monsters from the deeper strata would do the job.]
I slump.
[The only answer is to keep getting stronger, right?]
[Right,] Granin grins.
[This isn't news to you, Anthony,] Torrina tells me gently, [if you wanted the Colony to thrive, you were always going to have to keep growing.]
[I get that, but I didn't realised there was an ancient level threat on the horizon!]
[I wouldn't stress too much in the short term,] Corun encourages me, [it's a big 'if' that what Granin is suggesting will even happen. The Cataclysm has only happened once, and nobody was alive in the Dungeon at that point, so nobody has any idea what the conditions that led to the Rending even were.]
[Weren't the Sophos down here at that time?]
The younger mage pulls a face.
[Getting the Sophos to say anything is hard, let alone spill their secrets.]
[They've been more than welcoming to me...]
[Maybe because you're a monster,] he shrugs, [they might sympathise with a sentient reborn as a monster. If you find them again, maybe you can ask.]
After chatting and discussing my magic progression with them, the shapers retire to get some rest and I check in with the Colony leadership to make sure the plan is progressing as it should. Despite everything falling into place, I can't help but feel a little disturbed. The ancients might rise? Demons I can deal with, if only barely. The Legion I was able to deal with, if only barely. Gigantic mega-monsters rising from the depths? I'm not confident.
I have to take everything Granin says with a slight pinch of salt. He's a cultist himself after all and he's readily admitted that he wants me to rise to that level, become the twentieth ancient... for whatever reason. Come to think of it, why is it so important that there be twenty humungo monsters lurking in the centre of this world? Is it supposed to achieve something? Do the civilisations on Pangera just hate odd numbers? I've never actually managed to get the triad to admit what they actually get out of making me reach the peak of monsterhood...
Practicing spinning barriers while I wait for the evolution to complete, I'm finding it more difficult to handle than I expected. My low Skill level is obviously an issue, but more than that I think I'd underestimated how difficult it is to form these things due to how easy Invidia makes it look. Grabbing hold of mana in the air, pressing it down, weaving and shaping it into a physical barrier takes time and a considerable amount of mental effort, especially since I'm working with mana that is external to my body. At the moment, dedicating three mind constructs to the process, they can form a barrier in around five seconds. That's clearly way too slow, but the Skill is still only rank two. I've been told over and over again that Skills below rank five aren't really worth mentioning. More practice required!
My experiments with force magic have continued apace and I'm happy with how they're going. The bulk of my mind constructs are dedicated to this branch of magic and I'm trying to rise through the levels as quickly as possible. I've raised it to the second rank already, but I'll need proper combat practice to accelerate its growth faster. At the moment the pushes, pulls and other forces I can control aren't nearly strong enough to be useful. I mean, sending out a force bolt is like whacking someone in the face with an invisible rock, except I have a spell that throws a rock, and it's cheaper in energy, easier to cast and is more effective! I may as well just throw a rock!
More levels are needed for this magic to reveal its true potential.
-x-X-x-
It didn't take much longer for the hatchling to complete her evolution. The jump from tier three to four isn't nearly as large as that of four to five. I imagine that my next evolution is going to put me out of commission for days, perhaps as long as a week! That does make me wonder about the further evolutions. Will going from tier nine to ten take a year? What about the ancients? If they evolve from where they are now, will they end up sleeping for a thousand years or something? Absurd!
When Invidia notices that Brilliant has begun to stir in her System-induced slumber he immediately lets me know and spits the little ant out onto the surface. Her size hasn't increased that much, which means she's continued to invest in almost purely mental stats, pretty much as I expected her to. In fact, she's probably still smaller than carvers, mages and core shapers at this tier, making her the smallest tier four ant in the Colony. I don't know what she spent her evolutionary energy on, but it sure as hell wasn't to beef up her physical form! When I'd initially created the different castes, I'd been sure to give at least a little boost to their Might and Toughness to make them a bit more durable. Dying is not the desired outcome for any of us!
It appears as though the hatchling hasn't put as much thought into that. She looks so flimsy I could probably break her carapace with one leg! If she's going to remain at this size then she's going to be easy pickings for the kinds of opponents that we face here in the third stratum. Surely she came up with a few alternative methods to protect her own life? Actually, considering the attitudes within the Colony, that's far from a guarantee.
After ten minutes of gradual movement, Brilliant eventually springs up to standing and greets us..
"Ah! Hello senior! I hope you weren't waiting long."
"I can already tell that you'd hoped I wouldn't be waiting when you woke up so you could sneak away and explore on your own."
"How?!"
"You're as clear as glass to me hatchling! How'd the evolution go? Manage to pick up something useful?"
"Definitely! I'm getting closer to being able to peel back all of the secrets of this world! Soon enough, nothing will be able to hide from me!"
"Really? What did you end up going with?"
"Muahahaha! Take a look and see!"
"Wait a second, did you just evil laugh? I'm the only one who is allowed to evil laugh!"
"It's not an evil laugh! It's an ominous chuckle! Not even remotely the same."
"Fair enough..."
Activating core shaping with one antenna pressed lightly against the hatchling's head I take a peek at her status.
Name: Brilliant
Level: 1 (Special) IV
Might: 40
Toughness: 40
Cunning: 80
Will: 65
HP: 80/80
MP: 0/110
Skills:
Advanced Digging (II) Level 8; Acid Shot (II) Level 2; Expert Grip (III) Level 7; Crushing Bite (II) Level 5; Rapid Dash (III) Level 7; Exo-Skeleton Defence (I) Level 2; Advanced Stamina (II) Level 7; Mana Moulding (IV) Level 12; Finer External Mana Manipulation (IV) Level 2;
Mutations:
Energy Reactive Exoskeleton +15; Vampiric Mandibles +15; Potent Gripping Legs +15; Mana Weave Eyes +15; Mana Sensitive Antennae +15; Melting Acid Gland +15; Diverse Pheromone Language Gland +15; Heightened Mana Core Lattice +15; Penetrating Dungeon Oracle +15; Dimensional Eye; Energy Stone;
Species: Omni - Seer (Formica)
Skill points: 21
Biomass: 24
The heck is this?!
"Did you spend all of your energy on sensory organs? The dimensional eye and energy stone?"
"I did! I also increased my mental stats. The things I can see right now are incredible! My sensitivity to mana is unbelievable!"
For an ant that always wanted to see everything for herself, I shouldn't be too surprised that she decided to go in this direction. She'll never be content until she's ferreted out every piece of information, every hidden secret for herself. Not satisfied with her current level of sensory information, despite having access to some level of information from the Dungeon itself, she had broadened her options. The dimensional eye in particular is a rather potent organ and likely the main benefit of her current species. Combined with the energy stone, she was now able to detect fluctuations of energy across dimensional boundaries! Nothing could remain hidden from her sight!
"In fact, I can sense energy flowing toward you, senior. And it's coming from me!"
What?!
"Don't worry about that!" I cut her off. "As long as you are happy with your choices, I'm satisfied. I can see you've been diligently practicing the foundational Skills of magic as well. Great work!"
Despite only having the one brain, Brilliant has shown incredible growth with her handling of internal and external mana. This further confirms my suspicion that she has a powerful natural predilection for these Skills.
"You'll need to start working on an elemental Skill before too long in order to work your way up the tiers," I instruct her. "Try a few different choices and see which ones you like. I wouldn't stress too much about which ones you pick, play with all if you want, but be wary of how you spend your Skill points."
I take a few minutes to instruct her on the upgrades and fusions available at the entry level of magic before bringing everyone else into the conversation.
[Alright then, with Brilliant finished with her evolution, it's time to move to the next phase. Are you ready to go on the offensive?]
Tiny nods and flexes eagerly.
[Good! Time to head over to Orpule and see what the next addition to the Colony's territory is going to look like!]
I'm no good sitting around here on my backside! The Colony is more than capable of fortifying and defending the city without me. Vibrant should already be out there causing chaos, time for me to make my approach as well! Our main strategy has never been to sit back and wait for the enemy to come to us. Since the 'rules' of demon combat allow us to attack during this timing window, we shall! Of course, we can't assault the city itself until the set date, but we can do a lot of other things. When they see what we have planned, the demons of Orpule won't dare put a toe out of their homes.
After declaring as much to my pets and the hatchling, we zoom off! The Colony has already been kind enough to establish a lift from the city to the ground, mainly to shift materials in and out of the city without having to climb the pillar holding them in a pair of mandibles, but it serves equally well in order to send a group of heavy monsters down. And I do mean heavy, since Sarah is joining us on this outing. With myself, the massive bear and Tiny standing on the platform, we are surely putting the thing through its paces. It does creak rather worryingly, but we make it to the bottom just fine in the end.
[Let's go everyone! Time to cause some ruckus.]
I love it when I get permission for this.
-x-X-x-
The shadow falls like clouds, like rain;
Creeping dread begins to stain;
Shudder the heart, freeze the brain;
Ring out the laughter, again and again;
Call of you lover, daughter, son;
Sinks into your ears, your will undone;
Forward you step, your soul is wrung;
Cannot resist, Gon has come;
Who can defy that fateful call?
Who can escape the shadows pall?
Forward you go, heedless to stall;
Into the depths to meet the fall;
Lament the brave and pity the meek;
None can flee the song of the freak;
· Rinnidan children's rhyme..
There was a time that Titus had thought his daughter would never return to the Legion, that the untimely death of his son had robbed him of both his children. Now that he'd been reunited with Morrelia and she had integrated into the Legionem Abyssi a part of him that had long been dead was once again full of life. Not that anyone could tell looking at his face, of course, to the world at large he appeared as stone faced and duty bound as ever. Ever since Morrelia had been selected for accelerated development his pride had almost been ready to burst out of his chest. It would seem odd to most people, but watching her earnestly work herself to the bone in order to achieve her ambitions had filled him with powerful emotions. He had dearly wished his son had survived his initiation, so he could have seen both of his children rise to the challenge presented to them.
With a slow release of breath he pushed out the grief that rose within him as his thoughts dwelt on what had been lost. It had grown easier to bear over the years, but only a little. His acute awareness of how fleeting joy could be only made his current appreciation for his daughter all the more potent.
With a wrench of will Titus dragged his mind away from Morrelia and back to the numerous papers scattered across his desk. Administrative work was the backbone of the Legion, and though he would rather charge into a horde of demons without armour on, the commander would do his duty and defeat the enemy that rested on the flat surface before him. Once more focused on his task, Titus took hold of his pen, dipped it in the waiting ink and returned to battle.
Resupplying his new Legion after the members had been recalled from their postings during the wave was a monumental task. Thousands of soldiers and thousands more auxiliaries needed to be accounted for, equipped, fed, billeted and kept happy. Promotions, training, Skill development, Class upgrades, managing morale, all of it demanded the careful attention of the commander in charge and Titus knew just how important each of these were to the successful running of a military force. This was the sort of discipline that the Legion drummed into their officers! It was also something Morrelia would need to learn...
"Damn it!" Titus crashed his fist down on the table as his thoughts strayed once more.
"Something wrong, commander?" Aurillia burst through the door, his old comrade looked around the room as if expecting to see a lurking monster!
The commander didn't lose his temper. He just didn't! For him to yell like that, something must be seriously wrong! As she glanced back to the face of her old friend and superior, she froze when she saw the hard lines of his expression. Though he always looked carved from granite, right now the commander appeared as if he was forged from Abyssal Iron! Knowing him for as long as she had, Aurillia could tell he was furious!
"What's wrong, Titus?" she demanded, using his name in a breach of protocol. "Is something bothering you?"
Unlike most officers of his Legion, she was prepared to face his wrath if the moment demanded it. After a long moment where he took hold of his temper, Titus breathed out his tension once more, his expression softening imperceptibly as he did so.
"Nothing is the matter. I'm just irritated and finding it difficult to concentrate," he admitted as he waved a hand towards the piles of forms and applications in front of him.
"Thinking about your daughter out working hard in the Dungeon?" she grinned. "I know how proud you must be."
Titus frowned.
"Of course I'm proud, but that doesn't mean I want to hear gossiping amongst the ranks."
"Gossiping? About little Morrelia who we trained when she was a young lass? Why would we?" the old tribune innocently spread her hands.
"Hmph," Titus snorted.
"I have to admit to you Titus, a few of us are concerned about the pace she is setting. Overwork is a real issue and she is clearly pushing up against the boundary," Aurillia grew serious as she laid out her concerns. "We've seen her stumbling into camp once every few days, covered in ichor and half dead on her feet. She spends so much time in the field they are rotating three squads to accompany her. She's doing three times the work of a normal legionary! You can't be alright with this."
Titus didn't blink.
"What did she say?" he said.
"That it was her decision and the rest of us should leave off," the tribune grunted.
"There it is."
"You can't be serious, Titus! This is your daughter we're talking about, don't tell me that you aren't concerned!"
He was concerned, but that didn't mean he got to overrule Morrelia's choices. Or the Legion's.
"You never went through the advanced officer's training Aurillia," he told her, looking her straight in the eye, "you don't know what it takes to succeed at that level. If she worked any less, she wouldn't have a chance of making it through."
"This much is insane! She could die!"
"It's her decision," Titus stated, his tone hard as steel. "I will support her choices. She understands the risks and is willing to shoulder them. I will hear no more of this matter!"
The tone of his voice brooked no discussion and his loyal tribune knew when she could push no further. Aurillia was far from happy with how hard Morrelia was being pushed, but she swallowed her objections for now. Seeing his officer no longer intended to question him on this matter, he moved the conversation to other topics.
"Has the scouting report on the progress of the ant colony come back?"
"Yes," she forced her mind to move on to the business at hand. "Our sources in the third stratum have made contact with the Church. Apparently a demon city fell to an invasion of ants from above only recently."
"Which city?"
"Roklu."
Titus frowned.
"I'm not aware of that one."
"It's a relatively minor city directly beneath where we fought the ants."
"So they dropped straight down into the vacuum. Is the territory around there contested?"
"It is, there are various powers at work in the area, including the Kaarmodo. We expect to hear more feedback in the coming weeks as the ants seek to expand their influence."
The commander leaned back in his chair and pondered for a moment.
"We spooked them," he said.
"That is what our strategists believe also," Aurillia confirmed, "the ants are seeking to aggressively expand in order to stave off further extermination forces. The intervention of other actors has also complicated the scene."
The tree and the folk. Neither of them friends of the Legion.
"We may have to wait until the ants manage to pull another enemy down on themselves" Titus grunted. "The Legion doesn't have the manpower right now to stamp out these insects now that they've spread. There are fires all over the place that need putting down, especially down below."
"I'll keep you informed sir."
-x-X-x-
When Morrelia awoke her entire body was screaming in pain. This extent of muscle soreness wasn't something she'd experienced many times in her life, even in the worst of her training sessions as a trainee legionary. She grit her teeth and forced herself to rise, forcing her protesting limbs to yield to her will, the pain she shoved down deep into her chest and fed it to the fire that constantly burned there. She'd known that hell awaited her if she chose this direction and she wasn't going to shy away from it now that she felt the sting of her decisions.
A splash of cold water followed by a vigorous scrubbing to ensure no grime, blood or ichor remained on her skin before she launched into an hour long session of stretches and exercises designed to prepare her for the next excursion into the third stratum. It was agonising and she whimpered in pain more than once, but she grit her teeth and followed through to the end. Another splash of cold water to wipe away the sweat and then into her leather armour. Breakfast had been delivered to her tent and she scoffed it down quickly, her body desperate for energy and sustenance. The baptism the Legion had put her through meant she didn't need to eat as much as a regular person, the mana that burned in her veins made sure of that, but the brutal regime she was putting herself through meant that her muscles craved calories and proteins.
When Morrelia finally emerged from her tent, she already radiated the intense focus one would expect from a warrior in the field. She managed only a few strides before a familiar face settled in beside her.
"Myrrin," she greeted her friend without breaking stride.. "Haven't seen you for a little while. How've you been?"
"Busy!" the younger woman laughed as she lengthened her stride to match that of the berserker. "Since reforming your father has had the entire legion put through its paces! The drills are endless!"
"Nothing wrong with sharpening the blade before battle."
"I just got back from battling the wave! I'm plenty sharp!"
"Where were you stationed?" Morrelia finally turned her head to take in her friend, curious to see what had changed.
Though she'd completed her initiation before Morrelia had, Myrrin was younger by several years. Being introduced to full membership had forced her to rapidly grow up however. There had been a hardening in the carefree young girl that she could remember signing up to be a trainee back in Liria. It was the same transformation that hit all of them in time, the soft edges buffed out to be replaced by sterner stuff. Battling the Dungeon wasn't an occupation for the meek, only the strongest could survive.
"I was in the second stratum, close to Yerryn," Myrrin pulled a face, "I've seen enough of shadow beasts to last several lifetimes."
"I hear that," Morrelia chuckled.
The two of them continued to stride through the camp at a brisk pace, saluting any superiors they came across but not bothering to stop. Their relentless pace puzzled the ranger until she was forced to ask.
"What's the rush, Morr? I hear they have you on some rough schedule, but you only got back yesterday!"
"And it's time to get back at it," she said, her face hard.
Myrrin's mouth dropped.
"You can't be serious! I've been told thousands of times how dangerous it is to overexpose to the Dungeon! You need to take a break."
There hadn't been any breaks for weeks. Morrelia didn't pause in her stride.
"This is my decision. I need to push if I'm going to succeed in my goals and that means killing monsters and polishing my Skills. I don't have the luxury of holding back, I need to make up for lost time."
The other elites within the Legion didn't walk away from service like she had, they'd been battling ever since they'd passed their initiation alongside their brothers and sisters. If she wanted to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, if she wanted to rise above them, then Morrelia had no choice but to run herself ragged, despite the risks.
"I don't understand what's going on here, Morr," Myrrin grabbed hold of her friend's arm and dug in her heels, finally succeeding in stopping the other woman. "Talk to me."
A flash of irritation flickered through the berserker's mind before she suppressed it. She sighed and gestured for the two of them to sit down in a quiet area of the camp.
"I'm not trying to brush you off, but I really do have a patrol I need to meet up with soon, so I'm going to be quick," she explained. "I've been pushed forward to participate in a training program for officers and deep Dungeon Legionem Abyssi. During the wave I was basically part of an accelerated development program where they had me fighting pretty much around the clock."
"And you still are," Myrrin pointed out.
"I still am," she confirmed. "That's largely because of the path I chose to pursue. During my last Class promotion my father laid out several different ways I could progress. Heavy armour, berserker or try to develop leadership skills to complement what I already have."
"And what did you pick?"
"All of them," Morrelia grinned.
Her friend stared back at her for a long moment before she started laughing and shook her head.
"That's just like you Morr. Your appetite is bigger than your stomach!"
"Can you blame me? If you had a chance at wearing praetorian armour you wouldn't take it?"
"So why not just choose to follow the heavy armour route?"
She shrugged.
"I didn't want to leave my Berserker Class in the dust, it's been with me my whole life. It's part of who I am."
"Alright then, so why bother trying to incorporate leadership Skills?" Myrrin said, exasperated. "Aren't you just making things difficult for the heck of it?"
Morrelia rolled her eyes.
"I'm not exactly enjoying this schedule. I'm in pain constantly, tired constantly, on edge constantly. It's rough. But I decided it wasn't enough to just be a killer for the Legion. I wanted to be a leader for the Legion. I want to have a say in when and where I fight. I want to know that I'm picking the right battles."
With so many opponents to face, she didn't want to see the Legion wasting lives throwing themselves against the Colony any more. It would be a long time before she was qualified to make decisions like that, but she didn't want to accept that she would never have that authority. Their enemies were too great for them to be wasting energy any further.
"So from what you're saying, you've basically picked the most difficult path you could possibly have picked?"
"That's right," Morrelia sighed as she pushed herself up from her seated position. "Obviously not the smartest decision I could have made, but it was the only one I felt I could be happy with. The reason I'm going on so many patrols is to quickly level through my leadership Class and polish the accompanying Skills as fast as possible. This way I'll be ready to transition to something that can combine all of my strengths. At the very least, I'll be qualified to learn all that they have to teach me."
She reached down and helped pull the younger legionary to her feet before they once more resumed their march to the armoury. Morrelia needed to get her Abyssal armour on before she could head back out into the Dungeon and she had intended to use the little time she'd had left to give it a thorough inspection. If Myrrin helped, they could look over the suit and she'd only be a few minutes late. Going out into the field without making sure of your equipment was a cardinal sin within the Legion.
However, as the two young woman made their way to the imposing and well defended building in the heart of the camp they found a small delegation waiting for them. Without any discussion, a uniformed centurion stepped forward and addressed them.
"Is one of you Legionary Morrelia Faronicus?"
"That's me," she saluted, her fist crashing into her heart.
The officer nodded.
"Your deployment has changed. Pack your gear and meet us here in an hour."
"Yes, sir!" Morrelia saluted again before she turned on her heel and ran back toward her tent as fast as she could.
Myrrin watched it happen with a dazed expression before she turned back to the centurion.
"Where is she going? If you don't mind me asking, sir."
The armoured man flicked a glance at her and she couldn't help but feel as if her entire service record had been summed up by this person in that moment.
"She's going deeper. That's all you need to know, Legionary."
-x-X-x-
"Have you seriously been running this entire time?"
"Yep-Yep! I don't feel right unless my legs are moving. You feel the same, yeah? You have to move! Standing still is like dying, I can't stand it! Being still is just - "
"Enough! No matter how fast you talk, I don't have enough time to sit around and get chattered to death!"
I shake my head slowly. Vibrant has been evolving into more and more of a speed demon to the point where it's getting hard to interact with her in a normal way. When every inch of her has been mutated with speed in mind, including her brain, it's only to be expected I suppose. It just goes to show how extreme a monster can get if they allow one aspect or concept to completely take over their evolutionary path. I have no idea how fast she'll get before she's done, but I imagine it's going to be pretty damn fast. If she keeps going like this all the way to tier eight or something, I doubt most monsters would even be able to see her. Especially since her Dash Skill reached rank six.
"So, you've done your job then? No reinforcements have reached the city, none have left?"
"That's right! I've been sure to check that no demons have been able to climb up the pillar and none have climbed down! No prob!"
"What about those flying disc things? Have any of those left, any of them arrived?" .
"Oh sure-sure! Heaps! But there's nothing I can do about those, right?"
"No, there isn't. You were supposed to keep track of where they went and where they came from though…"
"Whoops! Haha! I forgot about that!"
"Vibrant!"
"If you don't mind me breaking in, Eldest, I have kept track of the information that you are asking about," a nearby general spoke up.
"Yay! Thanks Emilia. I know I could count on you to keep track of this stuff. I don't have the patience, or the time. Hah! Isn't that hilarious, you'd think I'd have more time than anyone due to being so fast but I'm always thinking about going fast or running which means that I guess I'm always going fast either in my brain or with my legs or both! I suppose I'm just not thinking about anything that's all that important. Ha! Hey Crin-Crin!"
The dazzling rush of machine gun pheromones from Vibrant finally subsides when Crinis extends a few tentacles to start tickling and poking the big soldier and the two are rapidly caught up in a game of tag with Vibrant vanishing from my sight as she dashes from place to place as Crinis pops tentacles up through shadows created by the ever-present demon larvae.
"So you've been tracking the comings and goings?"
"That's right, Eldest. I have all of our observations recorded on a scent tablet as well."
"Good work general," I approve, "any particular point of interest? Any one location where more discs have gone than others?"
"I think so," she wavers her antennae a little to show uncertainty. "The traffic seems rather spread and we aren't sure if Orpule is dispersing forces that will converge on our city closer to the date or if they're gathering allies."
"They could just be hunting," I suggest, "squeezing out some extra levels before the conflict."
"This is also true."
"Alright then, show me what you have recorded, and I'll have a quick think."
She gestures to a nearby soldier who is carrying packs slung over her back, one of which contains the tablet. After drawing it out, I flick my antennae across the surface rapidly. There's been quite a bit of movement from the city, looks like they aren't willing to sit back and wait for us, which is fine. The more forces they send out of the city, the more we can hunt them down before the time runs out. Battling in the field is perfectly acceptable according to their traditions, so there's no foul. Gweheheheh.
They've sent groups out on discs in pretty much every direction, but slightly more to the west. It's possible they have a staging ground of some kind out that way, or perhaps the best hunting grounds are found over there.
"Okay then, we have a destination. I'm going to head west. Keep up the good work general!"
[Come on Crinis, time to go.]
[Yes, Master…]
[I'll make sure you get time to play with Vibrant after this assault on Orpule is done. I know you two haven't gotten to see each other much.]
[Thank you Master!]
The two of them are friends from way back. I can still remember mini-Crinis and hatchling Vibrant getting up to hijinks. It's a shame that they don't get to hang out more. In fact, this is one of the few times that Crinis has shown a willingness to do something other than what I've told her to do, which I definitely need to encourage! Tiny is a bit more likely to act independent, but when he does it's only to fight, eat or sleep… which I don't feel like I need to encourage at all.
[Time to hit the road gang.]
[There are no roads here,] Al points out.
[It's an expression. I just mean, it's time for us to run.]
[I will not be running. I have no legs.]
[I know that! Let's just get going!]
Getting our legs moving, or wings, or however the heck Al moves, we rush onwards in our chosen direction, leaving Orpule behind us in the distance. The vast Plains of Leng open up, with the endless carpet of demons rolling out before us.
[You have any idea what they might be looking for out this way, Al?] I ask the flaming eye.
[I cannot be sure. My knowledge of the area around Orpule is… lacking.]
And it's bugging him, I can tell.
[Well, maybe you'll learn something on this trip.]
As we run, we make sure we annihilate any tier four or above demon we come across, falling upon the hapless monsters with ruthless aggression, absorbing the experience and consuming the Biomass. Despite being lower tier than me, it's clear that demons provide more Biomass than prey from the second stratum did. With the stomach mutations that I have, I get a reasonable income from just picking on tier fours. Quite the side benefit.
As we travel the remarkable terrain of the third stratum continues to roll by. It's not as if the plains are completely flat, don't let me give that impression, there are huge pillars and mounds of stone the thrust upwards a mighty way without ever coming close to touching the roof. These too are covered in demons, the constantly shifting surface almost makes them seem alive.
After a solid hour of travel, we find ourselves poised in front of another cleft in the ground, one that emits heat like a boiling cauldron.
[Not another demon crack!? I bet they've gotten down there again, haven't they? Creeping around in the tunnels filled with powerful demons and ghosts. Gah!]
[You've been down one of theses before?] Sarah asks as she eyes the opening in the ground with a wary eye. [And did you say ghosts?]
[They are not 'ghosts',] Al huffs, [they are ghasts. The lingering obsession of demons that has fused with ambient mana.]
[So that's a ghost,] Sarah and I say at the same time.
I sigh.
[Well Sarah, we're going to be putting your enchanted cooling system to the test. Things get a little spicy down there. And by spicy, I mean boiling hot.]
The giant bear droops.
[Probably beats all this running,] she says. [I'm not built for endurance. Let's just get to it.]
-x-X-x-
"GRRRRRRRRRR. GARRRRR!"
With another stone shattering roar, Sarah brings the full weight of her body behind a vicious slash of her right forepaw, rending the sorry ghast that had risen in front of her to pieces. Far from her valiant and intimidating voice, her thoughts are rather less impressive.
[AHHHHH! I hate these damn things!]
I can totally sympathise.
[It's the way they float right? Sends shivers down my spine.]
[And the look in their eyes! It's so freaky!]
She's not wrong. The ghasts are beyond even regular demons when it comes to their obsession. Normally the obsessions drive the behaviour of the denizens of the third stratum, but for the ghasts, there is literally nothing else. They are a maddened ball of living energy that contains a single thought, which makes them a little… manic..
[Good experience though,] I note. [Even if they don't leave behind any Biomass.]
It's an interesting dichotomy, the relatively rich reward in xp as opposed to the total lack of food they leave behind. Since their bodies consist entirely of mana, it's not like there is anything that could be eaten anyway.
Which leads me down an interesting line of thought. I mean, isn't my body made of mana? And every other monster for that matter? Born from the Dungeon, it's not like we were created from anything else. You could make an argument that I came from the Queen who had to sacrifice Biomass to create my egg, but then I could just turn around and say, where did the Queen come from then? She came from mana. I suppose the Dungeon must create the Biomass that makes up our bodies out of mana, meaning they are two distinct substances. I wonder if it's possible to learn that. Is it possible to learn a mana speciality that will transform the pure energy of the Dungeon directly into Biomass?
That would be pretty nuts if you could do it… You'd be able to create monsters at will. Maybe the reverse is also possible, turning Biomass into mana. If it's possible at all, I'm sure it's some high tier nonsense, nothing that I could touch at my current level. I need to keep my mind occupied with the types of magic that I do have access too. Namely, force magic. As we make our way through the tunnels, I rely on this branch of spell exclusively, which limits my input to the fighting but sure as heck contributes to levelling it faster. I've already managed to raise it to rank three which is helping to unleash a tiny portion of the mana type's potential.
Force bolt!
This basic spell snaps out of ball of pure kinetic energy. When it hits something, they react much the same as if they've been punched. The more mana I pack into it, the harder they get punched. Against the stronger demons, it's basically just a tickle at this point, they shrug it off, but that certainly isn't all the tricks that I've developed with this mana type. The force spear is an interesting one, the pure lance of kinetic energy acts much like a regular spear would, except its totally invisible of formed entirely out of energy. Not sharp enough to cut through a demon… yet the spell is still useful for slipping damage through narrow windows. Anyone not carefully watching the mana around them could find themselves stabbed awfully fast.
The force domain isn't too amazing, it acts similarly to the wind domain in a way, but whereas the wind domain rather predictably creates a rotating sphere of wind, the force domain is invisible and exerts a 'push', forcing opponents away from me. Useful to keep distance between me and other monsters, but at the level of its current strength, it'll only really be able to force out much weaker monsters. Something like Grokus would barely notice it at all.
Applying force mana to my mandibles is another thing entirely. The mana has no obvious or flashy effect, but it does allow my jaws to close with even greater force that before, the added kinetic energy really slamming my mandibles together with an amazing CLACK. Anything caught in between is going to be in for a bad day, especially if I activate doom chomp at the same time. Gweheheheh.
As I continue to grind my Skills at play with different abilities the group descends further into the tunnels, trying to sniff out traces of the demons who left Orpule. Despite our best efforts, it's actually the hatchling who manages to get a sniff of their trail first.
"I think I have something!" she announces to me after we finished off a quick fight against some tier four demons.
"Oh? What have you picked up?"
"My Dungeon Oracle is picking up some strange whispers. Give me a minute."
"How does that thing even work? Does Gandalf talk to you or something?"
"Stop stinking the place up! I'm trying to think."
How rude…
"Some tier six demons came through this place. They were headed… that way!"
"How many?"
"I… I can't be sure. More than five."
"Hmmm."
We need to be careful. If we assume that in our previous encounters with demons, they were taking us lightly, as Al suggested, then we can't act as if every fight against a group of tier sixes is going to end up as an easy stomp. If they take us seriously, then things should be much more difficult than before. Tier sixes are capable of all sorts of shenanigans after all, I should know! This is why we brought Sarah along, also so she get some experience fighting against third stratum opponents.
"So, how does the Dungeon Oracle work anyway?"
Brilliant hesitates.
"It's… a little hard to explain. It's kind of like a whisper, straight into my mind. I 'hear' little snippets of information, or I sense things that might have happened in the past. Usually all of pertaining to monsters who were spawned or move through the area, or about the flow and movement of mana."
"Strange," I muse. "So, you get a little window into the past? But only in the realm of information that the Dungeon itself can provide?"
"In a way. I don't fully understand it yet myself."
"Aright. We'll proceed as if your information is correct. Keep your… ear… to the ground but don't get too far forward. You're still eminently squishable to monsters around here, so don't do anything stupid."
We advance carefully, following the directions of Brilliant and on the way, I try to word Sarah up on what we're in for.
[So, just to be aware, demons are freaking crazy.]
[Anthony, I've been alive in the Dungeon longer than you have. A lot longer. I'm sure it's going to be fine.]
[I know! I know. You're the senior in terms of experience in this world…]
Even if she spent a lot of her life in captivity.
[… but just be aware that the demons are a little more… out there that the shadow beasts. Tier six demons are sentient remember? It's a different sort of battle.]
The big bear stumbles for a moment before she recovers her footing.
[I almost forgot about that,] she says. [They are intelligent, aren't they?]
[I mean… I'm not sure I'd say intelligent… but they can think for themselves…]
-x-X-x-
As we move through the narrow and boiling hot tunnels we start to see evidence of the demons' passage in the form of littered Biomass and visible signs of damage on the walls. Claw marks, deep gouges in the stone and even scorches along the floor, not an easy feat in this lava filled place. Whoever we're tracking must be packing some heat, in the literal sense.
[Tiny! Try to keep it down!]
"Harrr?!"
[Shhh you damn ape! We're trying to be sneaky right now!]
"Ooooorrrr."
Despite having the stealth abilities of a mack truck that's been loaded on a train, Tiny does seem to understand my point and stops randomly punching the walls whenever he gets bored. Having inspected his core, I know he followed the directions I gave him pre-evolution and ensured that he remained at the level of Cunning that I insisted he not fall below, but I swear to Gandalf he acts even dumber than that when he can get away with it.
It's as if he would rather be stupid so he just shuts of enough brain to achieve the desired level of dumb. Next evolution I'm going to insist he set his Cunning to fifty! He can discuss philosophy instead of punching walls all the time! Hah!
"Down this branch.. I don't think we're that far behind them," Brilliant tells us.
"Great work. Keep your head down for the next bit, I don't want you getting caught up in the fighting."
[Brilliant says we aren't far behind them now, so we should be ready to fight at any moment. Anyone in particular want to go in first?]
Tiny's hand shoots up.
[Anyone else?]
Despite wearing armour, I still don't want Tiny to throw himself in the line of fire. He's not a tank and he never will be. The only real candidates for going in first are me or…
[I don't mind,] Sarah says. [I-I guess there's no better way to get used to fighting demons than to throw myself into it, right?]
[Well said, Sarah! Not to worry, we'll all be here to back you up. You aren't going in alone.]
[Thanks.]
[Tiny and I will make up the second wave, with Invidia and Crinis running support. Al, you hang back and keep an eye on the hatchling, we'll reserve you for our trump card in case the fight goes bad.]
[I will watch the little one.]
I have a thought.
[When I say watch the hatchling, I also want you to make sure she doesn't get hurt. It's more than just looking at her.]
[I see.]
After some more creeping, we finally get a bead on the targets. The first sense to trip is actually my antennae. The monsters don't necessarily emit that much gravity, but even those tiny fields are enough to set my senses a tingling.
[I can feel them. Two hundred metres, maybe less. Keep an eye out Crinis.]
[I will!]
A few minutes later.
[I see them! Seven demons! Some of them are quite strong…]
[Alright, we should be able to handle that many. Invidia and Al, help me suppress our mana signatures. We should be able to sneak up on them, at least a little closer.]
Dampening mana and preventing it from being seen at a distance is a highly technical and difficult process. My own Skill sin this department aren't great, and Invidia's are only a little better despite his greater brain power. Al on the other hand, is a freaking expert. The guy spends most of his life floating about completely undetectable to everyone around him. If I hadn't repeatedly stressed how unnerving and creepy it is having him pop out of thin air all the time, he'd probably be invisible right now.
With the three of us working together, we manage to dim the glow of our combined cores to a significant degree, allowing us to sneak even closer to the group of Orpule demons. After we poke our noses around a tight bend, we manage to lay eyes on them for the first time.
[Al!] I mentally hiss. [Take a peak and tell what sort of demons you see. I want to know if there are any exceptionally dangerous types.]
The floating eyeball flickers and vanishes before (I assume) he wanders to the edge of the tunnel and has a look around the corner.
[There is a pride demon who I assume is the leader of this group…]
[Why always pride demons?]
They seem utterly incompetent to me. Overconfidence and arrogance are quite literally their defining features!
[They are one of the few types of demon who cares about leadership. Most others cannot be bothered with it.]
[That… makes a lot of sense.]
[There are two slaughter demons in the group, along with a blood demon. There is also an envy demon and a grudge demon.]
[A grudge demon? I don't think I've seen one of those before.]
[They are not very common, but they are immensely difficult to kill. I do not believe we will be able to manage it.]
[Are you kidding?! Aren't you tier seven?!]
[In this instance I must draw the line between defeating a demon and killing it. The grudge demon will not be hard to defeat, but we will not kill it. It will escape, and grow stronger as we feed its nature.]
[You mean, it'll have a grudge against us?]
[Yes.]
[Well that's just great. And wait, did you say an envy demon?]
I turn to Invidia.
[Looks like we found one your people! How do you feel about that?]
[I will takesssss everything from them!]
[Yeah… Yeah I suppose that's about right.]
It's wrong to think that demons of the same variety feel any kind of kinship with each other. They aren't 'clans' or 'siblings' in any way. To be honest, having multiple entities who are chasing the same obsession is probably a inconvenience to a demon. If you've got two slaughter demons working together, that's literally halving the amount of slaughter that they get to enjoy!
Maybe enjoy is not the right word…
[There's one more, right? What else we got.]
[The last is an excess demon.]
[Isn't that what Grokus evolved from?]
[Correct.]