Weapons of Mass Destruction

(Why are the monsters not trying to cause a cave in? So deep underground we would be screwed,) Dennis wonders as we find our path blocked by yet another cave-in.

(They are. There are monsters trying to weaken the rock around us right now, but the Witch is preventing them from succeeding by solidifying it,) I reply, as I look back at another molten river we just passed over. It moves just as quickly as the first one, and I think I may have noticed something suspicious about its shape.

(Huh, but wouldn’t that be too much effort?)

(Not really. I don’t think she’s even touched the mana in her crown yet, and trust me, she has a shitload of mana stored in it.)

(More than you have in your crown?)

(Ten to thirty times more than is currently in my crown.)

Are you serious? You aren’t joking, right? You aren't making fun of me?)

(I'm not.)

(Isn’t that too OP? With that much mana...)

As I say this Aaron decides to chip in, (So she has a big bottle of water and can only take small sips of it?)

I shake my head, (It’s more like she has a flamethrower. You can use it in short bursts and you might get your hair burned, but you’ll be fine. But if you let it overheat, you’ll set yourself on fire.)

(So you need to make your body powerful enough to endure the flames… or mana?)

(And your mind.)

(Your metaphor sucks, Nat. A flamethrower wouldn’t burn your mind.)

(So what? Come up with a better one if you want. But overall, I’d say there’s a reason they only come this deep once every 10 years and always bring her. Her crown and the way she handles the stone is a perfect combination for the dangers down here.)

(Is she stronger than you?)

The question makes me think for a moment. (I don’t think so? At least not with what we’ve seen from her so far. My skills seem to be more geared towards combat, and she’s the kind of person who relies on her mana and crown. People like that are kind of screwed against me.)

(And Lily? Do you think she could take her?) Aaron asks as well.

(I think Lily would have a good chance against her on the surface, but she would need to be very quick and go all out from the start. Here underground, she would have to be very, very quick, otherwise, the Witch would just bury her.)

(Tsk,) our healer grumbles.

(No worries, Lily! You’re still our favorite terminator!) Dennis quips, smirking as he turns to me once again. (What about me and Aaron?)

(I think you two would be screwed.)

Aaron sighs. (Well, that’s it. Hard difficulty, here we come.)

For a moment, that seems to scare Dennis, who examines my expression for a moment before quickly turning to Aaron and punching him in the shoulder, followed by a quick private exchange of messages between them.

Aaron catches my eyes and smirks at me.

(I’ve noticed it before, Nat, but you seem to take more of a passive stance during expeditions like this.) While the brothers fight, Lily comments, taking a step closer to me.

(What exactly have you noticed?)

(A lot!) She quips, fixing the giant axe on her back, the weight not seeming to bother her much. (Most of the time, you let people around you do their thing. You even tend to let them push you around, and sometimes even screw up, and you wait until things go completely off the rails before you jump in.)

(Is that a bad thing?) I ask curiously.

(I wouldn’t say it was bad per se? But it might be better if you shared your knowledge right from the start and helped more, don’t you think? The expedition would probably go much smoother as well.)

(That would be annoying.) I say, stopping her before she can continue, (Before you call me an asshole for thinking that way. It would be different if it was another member of group 4 or, let’s say, someone from Earth’s tutorial.)

(You didn’t say anything back in the Mana Desert, but that was a favor you were doing for Tess, right?)

(Yes. Can you wait a bit?) I ask, tapping Biscuit on the back, his chin still resting on my shoulder, as he looks at something behind me. (You’re sniffing a lot. What have you noticed?)

(Food!)

(Translation, please.) Dennis asks, apparently done arguing with his brother, joins.

(I think we’re probably right, somewhere deep below the ground here is another Containment cell. And if Biscuit is right, the prisoner is of… the edible kind.)

Stolen story; please report.

(Food! Food!) The corgi shouts in all of our minds, his tone full of excitement.

We find ourselves under attack by exactly the kind of monsters one would expect in the environment we’re traveling through.

They’re slim, with only two front limbs, each ending in a sharp set of claws, and their bodies continue on behind them ending in long tails. They tend to be covered in spikes and use toxic attacks, they try to cause cave-ins or break through the walls to grab unsuspecting people.

[Caveprowler - lvl 222]

[Caveprowler - lvl 241]

[Caveprowler - lvl 221]

And as we head deeper, their levels only get higher until we encounter one of the most dangerous creatures we’ve seen so far.

[Rotling - lvl 302]

[Rotling - lvl ???]

[Rotling - lvl 310]

These ones generally don’t get much bigger than a fist, much less as long as a forearm. They’re usually tiny insect monsters with dozens of long legs and antennae, and their mouths though small are full of tiny, sharp teeth.

I watch as one jumps at the man next to me, and without the slightest hint of resistance, it starts chewing through his sword, which is coated in mana. Long, sharp legs flickering around the weapon, trying to pierce the man.

I take a short, quick step, and release a blast of kinetic energy just a moment before actually touching the monster. It flies off the man, crashing into the wall without showing any sign of damage.

Someone else tries to smash it with a big hammer, but the Rotling quickly avoids it, its long sharp legs clicking against the rock, leaving a line of grooves in its wake as it rushes to attack someone else.

Another one pierces through the wall behind me, jumping for my head, but its movement slows, and the monster starts floating in the air, each of its attempts at further motion filling me with kinetic energy.

It’s surprising how much strength that tiny body packs.

I quickly create and compress a spear, stabbing it at the monster. It resists even that and starts grabbing at it, its mouth extending to gnaw away at my mana.

Pulling the spear back, I strengthen it more, resonating the blade, and stab again.

[You have defeated Rotling - lvl 303]

Boosting my movement with kinetic energy, I reach another man, grabbing the insect from his back and throwing it to the floor. My heartbeat changes, slipping into the rhythm of Breaker Style, and I stomp the monster, releasing some of my collected kinetic energy in a localized fashion. The monster bursts open, without leaving so much as a crack in the rock below.

[You have defeated Rotling - lvl 304]

Another quick movement, and I move my head out of the way, just as another one passes by me. Twisting my waist, my left foot buries itself in the ground, and my hand extends, as I release energy through my palm.

[You have defeated Rotling - lvl 301]

At that point I spot one as it leaps from the ceiling, diving toward a woman who’s apparently dumb enough to start casting a fire spell.

A burst of my mana disrupts her skill, shock, and horror taking over her face as it deactivates, and she watches the monster fall toward her. The monster and the woman stop mid-motion. The beast’s thin, long legs reaching for her fear-stricken face.

I create a javelin, which bursts violently forth, piercing the monster and pinning it to the wall, where it twitches until it finally stops moving.

[You have defeated Rotling - lvl 310]

[Lvl 291 > Lvl 292]

With that, the fight slowly comes to a stop, no more monsters are coming in, and the ones that initiated the attack are dealt with.

(Can I heal the wounded?) Lily asks through our connection.

(Do whatever you want.)

She seems surprised at my answer but smiles and rushes off to help the most heavily injured with a nod, closing mortal wounds with ease, without using much mana or resorting to [Sacrifice].

There are a few weaker healers, each with half a dozen guards, but none can compare to what Lily does, and I can see the shock etched on their faces.

“Hey, do you think this is a good idea?” Aaron asks, coming to a stop by my side and whispers so only I can hear.

“There are only three people in this expedition you should be worried about. The Witch, Babyface, and Mais. As long as you don’t get jumped or stabbed in the back, the others shouldn’t bother you at all, even if they attack in large groups. So, you look after Lily, and I’ll keep an eye on the other three.”

Both of us look toward The Witch far ahead. As usual, she says nothing, standing off to the side, her people dealing with the small annoyances around her.

She’s just a bit shorter than me, with the typical light blue skin of a thylarin. Unlike most of her kin though, she has six arms instead of four, slim and tucked away under her robe. Her short brown hair frames the pale yellow eyes that are quietly observing everything around her. Her crown floats lazily above her head, spinning slowly. Its design, much the same as my own, though hers has three distinct colors.

“And be very careful of that woman,” I add quietly. “She’s much more dangerous than I thought.”

“What happened?”

“She used mana from her crown to blast one of the monsters attacking her.”

“Sorry, Nat, but I don’t get…”

I interrupt him and explain, “In our previous conversation I mentioned that the crown has a weakness if you want to call it that. To expand on the metaphor, imagine the crown as a full water tank instead of a flamethrower, and you can expand that tank at will. It can be as small as a water bottle or as big as the reservoir behind a dam.”

“That doesn’t seem that bad. So what’s the problem?”

“The hole you use to access that water doesn’t change. If your container is small and you want to let out some water, you don’t have a problem. The problem starts when the container gets really big. Every time you twist that valve to get water, there’s an immense amount of pressure from all the stored water trying to get out. The size of that valve, at least for [Mana Crown], doesn’t change.”

“I think I’m starting to get it… and did you say her crown holds 10 to 30 times more than yours?”

“Yup, and she opened that valve and was able to take a tiny amount of mana just to blast a small monster away from her. I would have understood if she had channeled it for a while to power some powerful skill or release enough to make everyone here vomit their organs out. But no, she held all that mana at bay and, through that tiny valve, took just the tiniest wisp to deal with a nuisance.”

“Is it me, or do you seem happy about that, Nat?”

I wave him off, my mind thinking it over. What I just described is a definite weakness of my crown and something I don’t think that’s unique to me. It means the more mana you store in your crown, the more difficult it is to use.

If you open the valve too little, less mana will flow out, but the pressure will be higher and more intense, making it harder to control the flow of mana without getting hurt.

If you open the valve fully, vast amounts of mana wash over you at once, emptying the crown much faster, as you risk drowning in the sheer amount of mana assuming you don’t end up wasting it.

That’s just how scary what she did is.

Finally, she notices me staring and turns her face toward me. Her yellow eyes radiate calm confidence, the kind that says she can handle anything—with an obvious hint of disdain.

What she did earlier was a warning, a deliberate display of skill, likely meant for me—no doubt a response to something Mais told her about me, and after sensing me observing her.

To me it's a single, unmistakable message: know your place.