"... Hmm."
"You keep repeating that sound."
"Do I?... Hmm."
Sitting with both of her rabbit-like ears moving around like she was listening to things all around her as her expression repeatedly changed, Tia was in deep consideration as she replied half hartidly to Hanna sitting next to her.
Business was booming, and for the first time that had become Tia's problem, something she couldn't solve with sales tactics, product demonstrations or free trials. Having absorbed most of the market in the Victoria dukedom, Red import consortium's imitation coal meant that their competitors owning coal mines, mostly nobles and trading firms, had lost most of their business. Due to the risk of spontaneous ignition and problems with the dust it left everywhere, normal coal trade was built up on proximity, meaning it would be hard for Tia's competitors to find other customers to trade with, so instead of trying, they complained. While schoolyard tactics like these would've normally not elicited a response, the mine owners and trade firms made the very real argument that a slow down in their business meant a major loss in tax revenue.
While dirty, the coal mining and distribution business operating inside the Victoria dukedom represented significant tax contributions, contributions the dukedom wasn't getting from Red's sales.
"Hmm…"
Tia was staring down a ban on the only product she currently sold, and after getting past panic and other irrational fears she had started working on the problem. Although it had taken a few late nights, Tia figured she had a pretty good solution, a way that the mine owners, traders, Red and the dukedom could all benefit. The only problem with that solution is that it was radical, it would require using more than just Lynx transports to pull off, and Tia wasn't sure she had the authentication to enact it.
Normally she would've brought this up to Mac, but as he was currently unreachable there was only one other 'person' she could contact.
"Nothing to it, I guess."
Looking at the necklace she would normally use to contact Mac, Tia breathed a deep sigh as she watched how the featureless piece of metal reflected the morning light.
"... R3D, are you there?"
Waiting for a second while wondering if the communication had gone through, Tia eventually heard the characteristic clicking sounds come from her necklace.
[What is it? You wouldn't contact me unless it was important.]
Eventually R3D's unnerving voice came through, and Tia took a second to collect herself before responding.
"I need some assistance in regards to upcoming sales strategy, the Victoria dukedom has contacted me in regards to-"
[That doesn't seem like anything you would need my input on.]
"... Explain."
While she didn't feel appreciated getting cut off, Tia nevertheless needed more instructions to do her job properly.
[You're still stuck in the wrong mindset, this 'business' you're operating has no cost associated with it, even if your salary was multiplied by a few hundred it wouldn't be enough to impact my daily operations. Mac founded the Red import consortium to spread influence, thus its only criteria for continued operation is a small and steady slush fund of coins he can use when a pallet of gold isn't appropriate. Everything you want to do that doesn't completely empty out the slush fund is already preapproved, you're within your full authority to change up major operations, increase or decrease the price of our products or services and introduce new ones to the market. Mac trusts you to do well, so have some confidence.]
Absorbing R3D's words Tia figured she had indeed gone about things with the wrong mindset. Although it was slightly terrifying to undertake what she was planning without preapproval Mac believed in her.
"... Understood, I'll send over a report later."
[Good, that's the spirit.]
As the communication ended Tia felt a bit more confident in herself, while she still doubted herself the faith Mac placed in her helped a lot.
"Hanna, we're heading out."
"Finally."
-
"Okay… So what the fuck was that back there?"
Having set up camp for the night, Liz finally felt like it was time to discuss what had happened earlier.
"... I would rather not."
uncharacteristically silent for some reason, Liz could still feel the heat radiating away from Mac as he maintained his distance, emotionally and physically.
"Well, it isn't magic, I can tell that much."
Undeterred by Mac's reluctance to answer, Elizabeth started working her way through the problem.
"Then if it wasn't magic it must've been some kind of technology… Is it the same thing you used against Carl when you first visited our base?"
Thinking back to their first meeting, Liz remembered how Mac had immobilised her brother and Jack through some unseen force very similar to how he had handled at least the first wolf monster.
"In that case I'm even more confused, why not just say that?"
Seeing Mac had used the same kind of power before he even knew if he could trust them Liz was even more confused at Mac's reluctance to say anything, it was like he was reluctant to admit or explain something.
"Just spit it out already, we can't keep working together if we don't trust each other. Either spill it or we split up here."
Cutting in with an ultimatum, Carl stared at Mac's unchanging face for a few seconds, but Mac cracked before he got up and started packing.
"Fine, but I would prefer if this stayed private."
"Okay."
"I mean it, if this leaks I'll come looking, and not in a nice or civil way."
"You can trust us Mac."
Getting Elizabeth's and Carl's promise, Mac silently glanced at the other members of the Red claw, getting a nod from each in return. Breathing a sigh, Mac reached out with his left arm as it split open to reveal what hid inside.
"This is a gravity engine. Using it I can make things around me lighter or heavier, or simply crush them with the force of a star. The downside is that it generates a metric shitton of waste heat."
Even a few hours after its last use, Mac's gravity engine was giving off an immense amount of heat.
"Then why didn't you start overheating the first time?"
Thinking back to the first time he saw it in action, Carl remembered that he hadn't heated up nearly as much the first time.
"Because I can't piggyback off and make use of my ships. Outside the dungeon I can simply mark a target and let it be crushed by the gravity engine aboard that ship."
"... I don't see why you're so apprehensive about all this."
Seeing the adventurers weren't seeing Mac's conundrum he was taken aback, while it would be in his best interest to shut up he decided against it and started talking.
"It is because this engine is part of my final defense. While I realise you don't understand what it is like to leave your planet and travel to meet other people entirely different from yourself it is important for me to be able to defend myself while not appearing like a threat. This is why I look like I still have the flesh and blood I was born with, this is why I use firearms even though they're comparably inefficient to what I can otherwise field, but most importantly it is why it is important for me to have hidden weapons, so I can escape from the population of an entire planet who suddenly decided try and capture me…. I have been captured before and subsequently experimented on."
Closing his eyes, Mac could sometimes remember the marks for incisions marked all over his body, that trauma had created a solemn vow in the very core of his being.
"That will never happen again, hence the need to keep this quiet."
Stuck in an impossible scenario of not appearing too threatening and being safe, Mac decided on the idea of appearing non-threatening while hiding weapons that could save him if need be, the moment these weapons and their limitations were revealed the illusion of his immortality and protection would be broken.
"I see."
Remembering that Mac was not of this world, Elizabeth saw something else in his eyes flash for a few seconds, it wasn't anger or happiness, but a profound sense of loneliness.
-
"Is that all of them!?"
Swinging his sword in the empty air to flick away some of the blood, Adam started a roll call as the monsters had finally been driven back.
"We're alive boss!"
'Boss', how Adam had come to hate that word over the last few days, sure, thanks to that little deal he had made behind his party leader's back would grant him wealth beyond his wildest dreams once he got out of this dungeon. But as long as Adam remained inside this dungeon he was the leader, the boss and all responsibility fell to him and not even a week in he was already sick of it. There was also the issue of Adam's leadership abilities adding to his stress, although he started out with 30 co-conspirators, a constant lack of cohesion and Adam's poor leadership had brought that down to just 15 in just a few days. If there had been any lucky break over the past few days it would've been running into Red claw and their very strange new leader which had helped heal him and his party members.
"Hey! Something strange is happening!"
Sure this wasn't the result of sleep deprivation, Adam stepped away from the monster's corpse as it continued to vibrate as the mana of the entire floor turned strange and eerie. Not getting a response from the rest of his party, Adam turned around to find that all of the monster's corpses were vibrating.
"... This might be bad."
As if waiting for those words, red lightning started flowing out of the slain monsters, spreading out like tendrils and connecting the remains and clattering around as the sounds of flesh being forcefully reshaped as bones broke and mended at a rapid phase and seemingly magnetized the corpses as they soon clumped together with wet sounds of flesh getting forcefully reshaped into a single, pulsing mass.
"Time to leave! Return to the last floor!"
Seeing enough to know things would end badly, Adam started running, not really caring if anyone was following him. While the adventurers fled the pile of flesh grew, pulsed with red lightning as it morphed into a vaguely humanoid figure about 5 meters tall. Without a face or even eyes, the body made out of pure gore seemed to track the fleeing adventurers with its head. Raising a hand which was still morphing away from its corpse origin, the pulsing mass finished transforming into a hand as the creature closed its hand and created a wall of compacted rock that blocked off the exit to the dungeon floor, trapping its prey with it.
To complete its translocation it opened its tightly clenched hand again, then the creature placed its palm on the top of its head, slowly moving it out as it materialised a pair of long horns with the force of red lightning.
[Vessel gestation complete; connection steady.]
Obtaining a link to its temporary host, the newly born creature surveyed its surroundings, specifically the unwelcome guests it had not trapped in the floor where it generated.
[Prey is trapped, preparing to light mana engine.]
Finding time was no longer a factor, the new being took some time to fully power up. Holding out both hands above its head, the creature focused an intense surge of mana near its horns as red lightning started erupting, eventually coalescing into a single red halo. Now with a fraction of its full power returned to it, the newborn creature blinked out of existence before reappearing right in front of the group of adventurers. With a flick of its hand, the newborn turned the closest targets into free matter which it transformed into projectiles, cutting down the fleeing targets with ruthless efficiency.
[Hmm.]
Standing in the middle of a sea of gore, the newborn creature looked after its target and didn't find it, so it restored the portals going out of the current floor. Disappearing from sight again the newborn appeared right in front of a portal leading out of the floor and tried to cross it, but as it was made out of monsters from the floor a thin film appeared to block it from leaving.
While it could press through this barrier to leave, the newborn decided it would be easier to just abandon its body and reform elsewhere, and so it did.