ã€ŠMistworldã€‹


 Chapter One

    For as long as humans have existed, people have disappeared without explanation. Some attribute these cases to aliens. Others say they have been spirited away by wrathful gods. The Finns blame gnomes for hiding folks in the woods. For the Celts, the culprits are assumed to be Fey. Perhaps in some cases, those explanations even ring true.

    But for most, they are taken by the mist.

    None of this meant anything to the woman hammering a nail into a fence in one backyard, but it soon would. The morning was humid but cool, the sun just peaking over the horizon. Visibility was good, but a slight haze hung in the air, a morning mist that no one would question at this time of year.

    Thud.

    As the claw hammer in her hand rose into the air, the woman focused on her task to the exclusion of all else. She didn¡¯t notice as the air became thick and visibility declined, as she was preoccupied with work that required only a few feet of visibility to begin with. Even if she had noticed, it would have seemed normal; just the rising sun catching vapor in the air and illuminating what was already there.

    Thud.

    For an outside observer, however, something would clearly be wrong. Across the neighborhood, the mist was thin and clear, hardly affecting one¡¯s vision at all. In just one backyard, though, it was increasingly opaque. At first it was hardly noticeable, but as seconds passed, the woman¡¯s figure would have been obscured more by the second.

    Thud.

    As the nail she was on became flush with the plank, she placed the next, lifting her hammer once more. This time, though, it would never make contact with steel nor wood. As the hammer descended, the mist thickened, until one might almost call it fog were its extent not a few feet around. For a brief moment, the outside world was entirely cut off, and she could not see out any more than another person might see in.

    Whoosh.

    The wind blew, scattering the mist to reveal an empty yard. Nothing remained but a scattering of wooden blank, abandoned in the grass, and a half finished fence.

    <hr>

    In another world, a hammer fell, striking nothing but air. Startled, Sera nearly dropped it as her other hand fell away from where it had been grasping wood just moments ago. Her head whipped around as she registered her surroundings, finding herself in a forest she had never seen before. Although, she thought, it¡¯s not like she would recognize it if she had.

    The air felt charged somehow as her breathing intensified. This wasn¡¯t, or shouldn¡¯t, be possible. Was it a gap in her memory? Some sort of psychotic break? Her attention dropped to the hammer in her hand, confirming no time had passed without her knowing. Her clothes were the same, as well. Unless she had somehow lost only a few minutes while wandering god-knew-how-far into the nearest forest, her new circumstances were as sudden as they appeared.

    Her first instinct was to panic, admittedly, but she was adult enough to push that down. Still, no matter where she looked, all she saw was trees and bushes. Something seemed slightly off about them, but it was hard to pinpoint what- the shape of the leaves, or perhaps colors? Sera set that aside and looked into the distance, insomuch as she could past the foliage, but could find nothing but more plants.

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    Traditional advice said not to move too much when lost in the wilderness, to make it easier for rescuers to find oneself, but that assumed anyone knew to look for you in the first place, so Sera picked a direction and walked in it instead. She tried to reframe her situation as a mere walk in the woods, but the sounds of unfamiliar insects and animals made that difficult. One group of calls in particular had a strange monotone to them, as if they were trying to communicate in Morse code, and she found it unbearably unsettling.

    As minutes passed, Sera¡¯s grip on her hammer tightened. She picked her way around brambly bushes and through gnarled surface roots while watching her surroundings closely, expecting every shake of the brush to reveal a bobcat or worse. She was nonetheless thankful to have begun the day wearing jeans, which protected her legs whenever she stepped too closely to a hostile shrub and was raked by thorns.

    One might reasonably conclude she was not accustomed to traipsing through the woods.

    The passage of time was impossible to measure with her phone left behind at her worksite, but Sera knew a fair amount of time had passed when she began to grow thirsty, and it was at this moment her fears finally came true. A blur shot from the underbrush with nary a sound and collided with her flank, sending them both to the ground in a tangle of limbs. Adrenaline surged through her veins as she flailed wildly, and she felt the claw side of her hammer catch something fleshy moments before the weight pressing down on her tumbled away.

    Rolling to her feet, Sera caught sight of her assailant for the first time. It was built like a bulldog: short, squat, and muscular, with a flat and bony face that was distinctly not doglike. Its head was built like a shield, ringed with bony protrusions and mounted directly onto the torso with no neck to speak of. Some small, analytical part of her brain noted it was probably built for ramming, while the larger, terrified part instead took note of its razor sharp teeth, just waiting for meat to shred.

    The beast came up only to her knees, but as a threatening warble bubbled forth from its throat, Sera found herself backing up until a tree blocked her retreat. Fight and flight warred inside her for just a moment before fight won out, flight no longer feeling like an option, and when her would-be predator leapt at her again, she swung her hammer reflexively. This time the hammer head connected, a loud cracking sound ringing out as a chunk of frilly bone broke free.

    Sera was pretty sure she yelped as loudly as the creature despite being uninjured.

    It came at her again, undeterred, and was met with a steel-toed boot to the face. Instead of bouncing away, though, it clamped down on her foot, its stubby teeth sinking through leather easily but halting when they met steel toe guard.

    ¡°Off, off, off!¡± Sera shouted, speaking for the first time since this whole affair began as she tried to shake her foot loose from its maw. The beast shook back, its thick muscles more than capable of taking her along for the ride despite weighing all of fifty pounds. She lost her balance almost immediately and fell forward, inadvertently putting the entirety of her weight on her stuck foot, which descended right to the ground along with the head it was gripped by.

    A brief moment of embarrassment flashed by hardly noticed when her weight proved enough to both shove the hell beast¡¯s head to forest floor and shatter its bottom teeth at the same time, but she was too busy following up with the hammer to think about it. She swung, and swung, and swung, sending first shards of bone and then blood and gore into the air with each swing, until her arm tired long after the creature had ceased moving entirely.

    The smell of blood hung heavily in the air as the strength lost Sera¡¯s body, and she slumped against the tree at her back, panting in exhaustion. She was too tired to remove her foot from its mouth, even, so she just tried not to look at the corpse as she caught her breath.

    So tired was she that she didn¡¯t notice another figure approaching until it spoke.

    ¡°I came as soon as I heard you yell, but it seems you had things well enough in hand. I¡¯m impressed, actually- mistwalkers are usually much more helpless when they first arrive from what I¡¯ve heard.¡±

    Sera replied to that by losing her lunch.

 Chapter Two

    Several minutes had passed since the mystery woman appeared, but few words had passed between them in that time. Sera remained hunched over, with the woman patting her back. She had been handed a canteen after the woman moved the corpse away, and was using it to wash her mouth out after a few more episodes of retching. Moving the body had helped, but there was still a fair amount of blood around, and the stench was enough to move her stomach until it was entirely empty.

    Finally, after swishing some water around and spitting it out and then swallowing a few swigs, she spoke.

    ¡°What was that thing?¡± she asked, deciding it was the best question to start with. She had her suspicions amount the remaining ones she had, and wasn¡¯t quite ready to hear the answers to them yet.

    After all, the woman was an elf. A beautiful, blonde haired, green eyed elf, dressed in gambeson that blended into the forest, supplemented with metal vambraces and greaves. And that told her a lot on its own.

    ¡°No idea. This is uncharted territory; I think you might even have been the first person to see one. Since you were also the first to kill it, you get to name it!¡±

    ¡°Gobshite.¡±

    ¡°Pardon?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s its name now. Gobshite.¡±

    ¡°Well, good job killing that gobshite, then. All the mistwalkers I¡¯ve heard of, at least the modern ones, just run away from things when they first get here.¡±

    ¡°You keep using that word¡­what does it mean?¡±

    ¡°Mistwalker? Means you got swallowed up by the mist and ended up here. That¡¯s how everything gets here- land, oceans, people.¡±

    ¡°And where is¡­here?¡± she asked hesitantly.

    ¡°You¡¯re in Omichl¨®dis now. I¡¯m sure this is all very confusing to you, but we should head back to base before we get to any other questions you¡¯ve got. It¡¯s not far.¡±

    The woman helped Sera to her feet. She still felt a bit shaky from her ordeal, and her legs were unsteady, but she managed to walk well enough. The other woman set off like she knew precisely where she was in the forest, despite professing to be new to the area, and Sera followed her as if on autopilot.

    The elf seemed to know exactly how to step and where to place her feet. She flowed through the forest, stepping sometimes with her whole foot and other times with only the balls of her feet, not losing her balance or slowing down no matter how rough the ground was. That said, Sera suspected she was actually moving slower than she was capable of out of consideration for herself, and she was silently thankful for it.

    Though she was ostensibly safe now, Sera maintained a death grip on her trusty hammer, now baptized in blood. It was a tool no longer; it had become a weapon, her only means of self-defense in this new world. Her elven rescuer might be capable of protecting her, but it seemed unwise to trust the first person she met unconditionally, particularly when she didn¡¯t even know her name.

    Having company made the forest feel less dangerous, though, she had to admit. No longer did she startle at every alien animal¡¯s calls or every rustle in the underbrush. Part of that may simply have been that she was coming down off an adrenaline high, however, and far to rattled to pay much attention as a result.

    As much as she was spacing out, Sera lacked any real awareness of how long the journey back to the elf¡¯s base took. One moment she was standing up and the next she was stepping into a clearing, within which stood a good half-dozen buildings that looked as if they had been plucked directly from the earth like adobe. The roofs were slanted wood, creating an odd architectural mishmash like she was looking at a mud hut capped with the roof of a log cabin.

    Stories always compared the architecture in other worlds to a cultural equivalent on Earth, but there was no comparing this. The hardened mud walls were as precise as if they¡¯d been formed from bricks along a wood frame, and yet they looked like they were formed as a single structure instead of assembled. Windows and doors broke up the walls with laser precision; Sera could probably compare the windows with a laser level and find them to be aligned to the millimeter and perfectly parallel to the ground and roofline.

    To top it all off, the buildings looked as if they were made for giants, with even the doors being several feet above her head.

    The elf led her into the largest building, which seemed like something of a great hall where everyone would come to meet and dine together. Although Sera expected to see a vaulted ceiling, the building actually seemed to have a second floor, and she spied a staircase leading up in the corner.

    Her guide gestured for her to take a seat at one of the long tables and then disappeared into a door at the back of the room, reappearing shortly with some bread and cheese. After she set it down before Sera, she retrieved her empty canteen, unsealed it, and gestured, causing Sera to stare in amazement as water simply appeared from the air and flowed inside until it was full. She shouldn¡¯t have been surprised, since her arrival here was itself clearly the result of magic, but here she was, watching an elf magic water into a bottle.

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    She accepted the water gratefully and popped a bit of cheese into her mouth, feeling her stomach settle now that it was no longer quite so empty. Then she ate a bit of bread and chased it down with water before deciding to get on with it.

    ¡°I¡¯m Seraphina, but please call me Sera,¡± she said, the implied question obvious.

    ¡°Nice to meet you, Sera. My name is Tiriana.¡± Having introduced herself, the woman fell silent, waiting for Sera to move the conversation along at her own pace.

    ¡°How did you know I was a¡­mistwalker, was it?¡±

    ¡°Because you¡¯re atlantean, but you lack mana. Any atlantean your age would have a solid foundation as a mage or warrior that anyone could detect at a glance. It¡¯s impossible to guess how strong someone is just from that, but it¡¯s easy to identify the absence of any at all.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an atlantean, I¡¯m a human. In my world Atlantis is just a myth.¡± Tiriana smiled like she knew something Sera didn¡¯t, although Sera supposed Tiriana did in fact know a great many things she didn¡¯t.

    ¡°Omichl¨®dis was created when two continents were drawn here by the mist: Atlantis, from your world, and Hy-Brasil, from ours. Since the atlanteans were the first of your species to come here, you¡¯ll just have to get used to being called an atlantean, or you¡¯ll never finish correcting everyone.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m going to have to stop being surprised by every reveal too, at this rate,¡± Sera shot back bitterly. ¡°How did I get here?¡±

    ¡°The mist brought you¡­or, well, that¡¯s the simplified version, anyway. The long version is that mana is used in magic to warp reality, and when enough mana sits in one spot for too long, reality starts to break down. The boundaries between worlds collapse, and eventually something falls through, scattering the ambient mana and closing the pathway. You fell into one of those holes.¡±

    That last sentence was said gently, as if to convey sympathy for her situation. Sera didn¡¯t feel very comforted.

    ¡°You sure know a lot about this,¡± she said, unable to hide her suspicion. It seemed odd that the first person she met here would know so much. But Tiriana shook her head, unfazed at the accusation.

    ¡°It¡¯s common knowledge. Anyone that grew up in the inner ring would know that much; it¡¯s taught in school when we learn about the origins of Omichl¨®dis. In your case, the hole was big enough for one person, but for thousands of years, Omichl¨®dis has been expanding when entire villages, countries, and even continents fall through. I told you earlier that this area is unexplored. That¡¯s because it¡¯s only been here for a few decades- and there was nothing here worth exploring until a new region popped up adjacent to it with signs of civilization.¡±

    ¡°How does new land just appear on a planet? Does the planet just get bigger to make space, or is it mostly empty?¡±

    ¡°Ah, I see the problem. One moment.¡± Tiriana stood and darted upstairs, returning quickly with a rolled up piece of paper. She spread it out on the table, revealing a series of concentric circles with land masses outlined inside them.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a projection map. It¡¯s literal. Omichl¨®dis is a flat plane, and new landmasses form around the rim piece-by-piece, appearing out of the mist like they were there all along. The outer rim is an impenetrable wall of solid mist. We call this section the outer ring,¡± she explained, pointing first towards the edge of the map, which looked jagged where Sera assumed the newest extensions were. Tiriana pointed towards the next circle.

    ¡°Next is the middle ring. It¡¯s separated from the outer ring by a continuous arctic landmass, like the ice caps on a normal planet. Then there¡¯s a series of continents between that wall and the inner ring, where another wall of ice separates the two. And there, we¡¯ve got the inner continents, including Atlantis and Hy-Brasil, which have been here the longest.¡±

    Sera was absolutely dumbfounded now, realizing she was looking at a fucking flat earth map. She¡¯d seen a million flat earth debunks on YouTube and dismissed it as a fantasy, out of touch with reality, only to find out they were right all along, they were just right about the wrong world. Her consternation momentarily overrode her distress at being displaced.

    ¡°But that makes no sense. Why are the ice walls cold? How do seasons work? How does the sun work? Are there more hours in a day towards the edge than in the center, because the circle is bigger? Does each ring have its own sun? What is the land sitting on, and what keeps the atmosphere in?¡±

    Tiriana¡¯s face lit up at Sera¡¯s apparent understanding, and she whipped a finger in her direction with a grin on her face.

    ¡°Exactly! None of it should work! Out best alchemists have been trying to figure it out for thousands of years, and they have no idea! Everything behaves like it¡¯s on an ideal globe. Days are exactly 36 hours long, divided into sixty minutes of sixty seconds each. The years are exactly 360 days. Seasons pass in precisely 90 days, and flip at the equator of each ring, like they¡¯re on a globe. Even the appearance of the sun is subjective!¡±

    She indicated two points on the map in the middle and inner rings.

    ¡°On a flat plane, these two places should be able to see the sun at the same time, but mapped to two separate globes, they obviously wouldn¡¯t. And they don¡¯t. Even the gods have said they have no clue why it works!¡±

    ¡°¡­the what?¡±

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: Gobshite

    The unfortunately named gobshite is an ambush predator discovered in a frontier region by a recently arrived mistwalker. Subsequent encounters, as well as investigations by scientists in the following years, have found them to be a curious creature with unique adaptations even among the varied biomes of Omichl¨®dis.

    Gobshites are the size of a midweight dog and bear a resemblance to certain breeds, but with far stronger hindlimbs and a facial shield exclusively used for ramming. Their hunting strategy is to circle around their prey and hide in the underbrush along their path, often taking advantage of natural pathways to funnel their target in the right direction. While young, unpaired gobshites hunt alone, mated gobshites hunt in pairs, with one hiding in wait and the other driving the prey towards its mate.

    When the unsuspecting prey animal comes close, the gobshite launches itself from cover with its powerful legs and shatters their legs with its hardened skull, incapacitating it without a fight. Gobshites are also known to exhibit this behavior when startled, and due to an unfamiliarity with bipeds, seem to perceive a standing person as a single giant leg, aiming for center mass instead of their actual legs. While this does lower the threat level gobshites pose towards people, a well placed headbutt can still cause significant damage, so caution is advised when traveling through their territory.

 Chapter Three

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯ve seen magic, so I¡¯m not surprised there are gods. What I¡¯m wondering is why there would be gods at all if this world is a mishmash of other worlds,¡± Sera clarified quickly.

    ¡°Oh, they came here from those other worlds too. It¡¯s rare, because every world seems to have its own rules for how gods work, but the process of a continent being consumed by the mist is long, and sometimes they get curious. Our gods are tribal, more like immortal elders, so plenty of them came through with the tribes of Hy-Brasil.¡± Tiriana seemed to be in her element explaining these things, as if it was something she loved to talk about but never got the chance to¡­probably because it was common knowledge as she said earlier, but Sera assumed there was more to it.

    ¡°Earth didn¡¯t have any gods, as far as I know,¡± Sera countered, wondering if those ¡®rules¡¯ might include a world simply not having any.

    ¡°The atlantean gods are¡­particularly curious, just like their people. Only one of them was left behind, and he was apparently just trying to get a look at the anomaly from the outside when it finished drawing Atlantis in.¡± Tiriana shrugged. ¡°I think he was a god of crafting? I¡¯m not as familiar with the human gods; you¡¯d have to ask a cleric.¡±

    ¡°May as well have been the god of hide-and-seek, for all the presence he had on Earth,¡± Sera countered wryly. Tiriana had indirectly confirmed the answer to a question Sera was too afraid to ask, though, and so she knew what the elf would say before she posed it. ¡°So, if the gods have stayed here for all this time¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­there¡¯s no way back, no,¡± Tiriana replied seriously, clearly having been waiting for the question. ¡°Not that anyone has found. Omichl¨®dis pulls all kinds of things in, but never lets them go. It¡¯s not a terrible fate, all things considered, because the Armistice Alliance has a very high standard of living, but¡­¡±

    Tiriana gestured to the general area around them.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯re nowhere near the Alliance¡¯s core territories. I¡¯d love to send you back there, at the very least, but we¡¯re on the edge of the world out here. We¡¯d have to charter an airship to pick you up, and that¡¯s expensive.¡±

    Sera spent a few moments in silence, contemplating that answer. It felt like the bottom had dropped out of her stomach and her spine was falling into oblivion. Just hours ago- at least, she thought it was a few hours- she¡¯d been on Earth, putting up a fence for a stranger. She¡¯d had her whole day planned out. A few handywoman gigs, lunch with her sister, some chores at home, and a night in watching a movie.

    Now she was a missing persons case that would never be solved. Her family would never know what happened to her. They probably knew she was gone by know. Lily would have realized something was wrong when she was late to lunch. The police would be involved once enough time had passed. They might find her phone and some of her belongings at her job site, but the trail would end there.

    Still, Sera was nothing if not practical. She could cry about that later. First came figuring out what she would have to do to survive here. One shuddering breath later, she returned to the conversation with her elven host.

    ¡°Are you saying you¡¯re stranded out here too? Why come out here with no way back?¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t say I have no way back. I said chartering an airship to pick you up would be expensive. Everyone here is an adventurer, and we all made arrangements together to purchase a two way trip. If we all decide there¡¯s no point staying, a ship will be sent to pick up the lot of us in one go. That would mean the whole expedition is a loss, though.¡±

    Well, even in her current circumstances, Sera didn¡¯t think she warranted so much consideration as to have complete strangers go to those lengths for her, so it seemed that was a dead end.

    ¡°And you said you¡¯re, what, exploring the frontier? Why?¡±

    ¡°For the adventure!¡± Tiriana did a dramatic flourish. ¡°Being an adventurer back home is just a job. Sign up with a company, train, make regular trips into the wilderness for monster slaying and such. It¡¯s a bit dangerous, but not really any worse than any other job, these days. If you want to find something new, you¡¯ve gotta go to the frontier.¡±

    ¡°But what do you get for doing that? If it¡¯s a job, how are you getting paid? How do you get in supplies?¡± Sera felt a bit mystified at the idea, though it may have been something similar to how people felt during the Age of Exploration on Earth.

    ¡°Almost anything we need, we can find out here. With a group this size the land will support foraging. And if we find nothing, we have a way back any time we want. But if we do find something- and that¡¯s not always a guarantee- we can make serious money by selling the rights to archaeologists. The Alliance places a lot of value on cultural records from lost civilizations, especially.¡±

    ¡°So the basic progression is explore, find ruins, call archaeologists, profit?¡±

    ¡°More or less. And if we find enough, this camp might eventually become a town in its own right, dedicated to investigating and processing the finds in this frontier region. The natural resources alone wouldn¡¯t be enough reason to build here, since we haven¡¯t exactly exhausted what we have near the inner ring, but they¡¯d allow the town to become self-sustaining once people are actually here!¡±

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    Sera couldn¡¯t help but be drawn in by Tiriana¡¯s enthusiasm about the idea. She supposed there was certainly something romantic about uncovering lost secrets and building something new. And more than anything, she was a part of this whether she liked it or not, now. If she wanted to eat, she knew she¡¯d have to pull her own weight.

    Assuming they would have her.

    ¡°It seems I¡¯m stuck here, so¡­is there anything I can do to help?¡±

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t be much help except as an assistant around camp unless you learn magic, but I would love to have company on my next expedition. Most of the other explorers are loners.¡± Tiriana seemed to pause to think, though Sera guessed it was more for dramatic effect than anything. ¡°And while we¡¯re out there, I can teach you how to use magic.¡±

    ¡°I thought you said I didn¡¯t have much mana. I can still learn?¡±

    ¡°Of course. No one starts with any but for the mana they breathe in. You¡¯ll have to decide if you want to be a mage or a warrior, though.¡±

    ¡°Both mages and warriors use magic? What¡¯s the difference, then?¡±

    Sera felt like she¡¯d fallen into a trap when Tiriana grinned. The woman was quite the exposition fairy, and may have had a calling for teaching.

    ¡°Let¡¯s start with warriors. They circulate mana throughout their body to strengthen themselves physically. The name makes it sound like being a warrior is all about fighting, but that¡¯s just because the term has been in use for so long. Anyone that isn¡¯t a mage learns how to circulate, because it¡¯s just that useful.

    ¡°Being a warrior means being stronger, faster, and tougher. You need less sleep, and you don¡¯t need to exercise to stay fit. It also closes the physical gap between men and women- for atlanteans, anyway. Elves don¡¯t have dimorphism. Circulating mana alters the body over time, and the end result is the same: denser muscles and bones with more strength and stamina. It¡¯s great for physical laborers, soldiers, and adventurers alike, but even house spouses benefit.¡±

    Here, Tiriana paused, holding up a finger and staring Sera in the eyes as it lit on fire, cycling through every color of the rainbow.

    ¡°Or you could be a mage. Mages concentrate their mana in their core, forming a mana crystal like monsters do. Over time we purify that crystal to increase our capacity, allowing us to cast spells that are larger in scale or duration. Anyone can use basic magic, even warriors, but advanced spells with permanent effects require a mana crystal. It does require a higher level of education, though, because you need to understand what you want your magic to do before you can do it. Making water is relatively easy, but I still need to know what a hydrogen atom is and how it¡¯s arranged before I can make one. Questions?¡±

    Tiriana saw Sera¡¯s hand raised, stopping her explanation before she could really get going. Sera didn¡¯t necessarily mind, because it was interesting, but she wanted to clarify something first.

    ¡°What happens if you do both? And what is basic magic?¡± That got her a head shake.

    ¡°People do it, but it¡¯s a lot harder. It can take years to form a crystal while also circulating, and it slows down your progression quite a bit. Battlemages are a force on the battlefield, but it takes at least an extra decade to get there. I don¡¯t recommend it; it would take too long for you to learn it out here.

    ¡°As for basic magic, it¡¯s the art of moving mana. Advanced magic creates matter or directly affects the world. Basic magic creates the illusion of that. If you make water, it can physically effect the world around you, but it will vanish the moment you lose focus. It has its uses, because you can indirectly light a fire by using basic magic as a temporary heat source. Translation magic is a form of basic magic, by the way- permanently altering the brain is a very bad idea.¡±

    ¡°I was actually kind of worried about that, not going to lie¡­it¡¯s good to know that I can learn that no matter what, though. I¡¯d almost forgotten we¡¯re speaking different languages.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯ll be the first thing I teach you. It¡¯s rude to use magic like that on someone else, and it¡¯s difficult to do once you start manipulating mana and have some magic resistance anyway.¡±

    Sera tried, unsuccessfully, to fight off a yawn. It wasn¡¯t that Tiriana¡¯s lecture was boring, but she was increasingly aware of how exhausting her day had been. Tiriana couldn¡¯t hide a look of disappointment, but anything else she said would likely go in one ear and out the other anyway.

    ¡°Sorry, I didn¡¯t consider you might be tired by now. I¡¯ll show you to an empty room and we can talk more tomorrow.¡±

    Nodding, Sera followed Tiriana to a room on the second floor. She barely processed Tiriana shutting the door behind her as she sat heavily on the simple bed and, at long last, allowed herself to break into tears as everything hit her all at once. She was still crying when she fell asleep.

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: The Armistice Alliance

    Currently the oldest government on the plane, the Armistice Alliance is a union formed between the elves and the atlanteans some decades after the event that created Omichl¨®dis. At the time, fear, distrust, and confusion had led to an ongoing conflict between the two species that neither the high elves nor the gods were able to mediate. The situation was exacerbated by the fact that the atlantean warrior and noble classes had left the continent en-masse prior it being fully absorbed by the mist, which had been gradually thickening over the course of weeks and was seen as an ill omen.

    Ultimately what caused an end to the war was the emergence of a mutual threat. Ambient mana levels had finally reached the point where dangerous monsters began to emerge and ravage both populations. An armistice was called between them, but when both elves and atlanteans realized the problem wasn''t temporary, they formed a more permanent alliance that eventually led to the formation of a joint government. What began as a tongue-in-cheek colloquialism was adopted as the official name of this new nation.

    Three millennia later, the Alliance has advanced significantly in both magical technology and culture. Extremely dense, vertical cities have  risen along the coasts of Hy-Brasil and Atlantis, composed of shining crystal spires adorned with plentiful plant life. Although the continents are on the whole extremely dangerous to live in, this concentrating of the populace into cities with a small horizontal foot print makes the population centers themselves very safe and easy to defend.

 Chapter Four

    Sera awoke staring at an unfamiliar wall.

    It took some time for to remember where she was and how she¡¯d gotten there. Once she did, it was hard to stop herself from falling into the despair hole again, but her growling stomach distracted her from the dark thoughts. She was suddenly reminded that she¡¯d eaten almost none of what she was given the night before, her appetite suppressed due to the day she¡¯d had.

    So Sera dragged herself out of bed and stretched before heading downstairs. Finding the room empty, she made for the kitchen, but stopped halfway when she noticed the plate from last night wrapped in cheesecloth. Figuring it wouldn¡¯t be rude to eat food she had already been offered, she sat in the same place and unwrapped the food.

    She was about halfway through the cheese and bread when the door opened and Tiriana stepped in. The elf paused for a moment and Sera felt a faint sensation before the other woman began to speak.

    ¡°Good morning. Did you sleep well?¡±

    ¡°I guess so. I kind of blacked out until morning.¡±

    ¡°I imagine you¡¯d like a bath at this point. We have showers, but I¡¯ll need to show you how to circulate mana before you can use them. Do you mind if we start with that?¡±

    ¡°I thought circulation was for warriors. Don¡¯t I still need to make a decision on that?¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I must have been unclear. You¡¯ll begin with circulation because it is the easiest method of manipulating mana. Once you are capable of that, you¡¯ll also be able to compress it, or use it to activate tools.¡±

    Tiriana approached the table and motioned for permission to touch Sera, to which she just nodded.

    ¡°Normally this is a skill one would learn as a child from their parents. Remember to never let anyone use magic on you unless it is someone you trust, such as a doctor. Once you can control mana you will also be able to resist what I am about to do. It may be a bit uncomfortable to have someone else move mana through your body, but try to remember the sensation, as it makes it significantly easier to replicate for yourself.¡±

    With all of that said, Tiriana began. Sera felt a heat in her shoulder, where Tiriana had rested her hand, and then she felt as if her blood was flowing backwards. Her heart still beat as normal, her pulse did not change, but it was hard to ignore the feeling, and she grit her teeth in discomfort. After several seconds the sensation passed, and she gulped for air, having forgotten to breathe.

    ¡°It won¡¯t feel like that when you do it for yourself. The mana in your body doesn¡¯t want to be controlled by another person and fights back to some extent, even with your minimal resistance. Try it for yourself now; I¡¯ll monitor your progress and tell you when you¡¯ve managed it.¡± Tiriana smiled and patted Sera¡¯s shoulder, seeing her nervousness. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s so easy a child can do it. Shouldn¡¯t take more than a few minutes.¡±

    Sera nodded and took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and focused. Mana passing through the body was like a second, parallel circulatory system, independent of the blood stream. That¡¯s what she grasped from Tiriana¡¯s example. It had to pass through every inch of her body, and the flow was constant, more like a river than the intermittent flow of blood pumped by her heart.

    First she felt for the small of mana in her body, brought in by air and food. It reacted readily to her thoughts, making her realize that mana was somehow psychically reactive. But while it was easy to move, it was harder to control. She prodded at it for a minute or two before she found an image that seemed to work.

    A pan appeared in her mind¡¯s eye, filled with water. As she moved it gently in a circle, the water moved with it, circling the pan, guided by its curves. The mana in her body reacted accordingly, and she realized she didn¡¯t need to manually send it through her limbs; it simply did that naturally, once guided into motion.

    Sera opened her eyes and looked up at Tiriana, who smiled down at her.

    ¡°Good job. Come, I¡¯ll show you to the showers.¡±

    The lodging building they were in seemed to have all the amenities of a modern bed and breakfast. Sera followed Tiriana back upstairs and to the end of the hall, where they entered a dorm style bathroom with several shower stalls on one side and toilet stalls on the other. The far wall had a few sinks. She was glad to find that the doors stretched from the ceiling to the floor, as opposed to the usual American style stall doors with a large gap to reduce expenses.

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    ¡°All of it works the same way, so I¡¯ll show you how to work the sinks, and you can transfer that experience to the showers.¡± Tiriana led her to the sinks. Sera found that they had a faucet like the sinks she was used to, but no knobs. Instead there was a small panel above the faucet with a pair of bars on it that she would have assumed were electronic lights if she didn¡¯t know any better. ¡°Just press a finger to each of the bars on this panel and circulate your mana, then direct some of it into the panel. Left side is temperature control, right side is pressure. It doesn¡¯t take much to activate the tool, so be careful, or you might scald yourself.¡±

    Tiriana demonstrated by injecting a small amount of mana into the panel, slowly raising the throughput until it peaked.

    ¡°Just cut off the flow when you have it where you want it, and it will keep going until you feed it mana again.¡± She removed her fingers, then touched the panel and sent a pulse into it that immediately cut off the flow. ¡°Easy. Give it a shot.¡±

    ¡°Sounds easy enough. I think.¡±

    Sera copied Tiriana, touching the panel with two fingers. She found her mana had stagnated when she stopped focusing on it, and she needed a moment to get it going again. This time she imagined some of the water spilling out of the pan, a little at a time, and the bars rose in fits and starts. It wasn¡¯t smooth in any way, unlike Tiriana¡¯s example, but it got the job done.

    ¡°Looks like you got it! You¡¯ll get better at providing a gradual flow over time. I¡¯ll be downstairs when you¡¯re done. I¡¯ll leave a change of clothes for you; just put what you¡¯re wearing in the basket and I¡¯ll show you the laundry room later.¡±

    With that, Tiriana departed, leaving Sera to figure out the showers for herself. She entered a stall and found that it had two sections, one a small dressing room and the next the actual shower, separated by a curtain. As she took her clothes off, she realized how disgusting they had gotten, stained with blood, sweat, and mud in equal measures.

    She couldn¡¯t smell much, but that probably just meant she¡¯d been desensitized to the stink over time. No wonder Tiriana had been so quick to get her into the shower this morning; she¡¯d probably said that bit about how Sera must be wanting a shower to politely sidestep telling her she smelled awful.

    Sera stepped into the shower and carefully turned the temperature and pressure up. Rising in bursts as it was, she accidentally made it too hot the first time, and increased the pressure until it was a bit painful the second. She finally managed to get it right by doing them one at a time, instead of trying to cut off the flow to just one when she got it where she wanted it.

    The warm water was blissful and seemed to wash away her worries along with the grime. A scentless bar of soap ¨C homemade? ¨C and a bottle of what she hoped was shampoo sat in a holder above the controls, and she made liberal use of both as she cleansed herself. It felt cathartic and comforting, a luxury she wouldn¡¯t have expected from this world.

    It was easy to extrapolate from the showers and easy access to water in even a small camp on the edge of the world that the technological level of this world had to be quite high. Tiriana had told her the standard of living in the central ring was high. Sera hadn¡¯t thought much of it at the time, but now she realized that the distant civilization at the center of the world was likely equal, if not superior, to Earth¡¯s current level of advancement, only using mana as a power source instead of electricity.

    How mana provided energy she didn¡¯t really understand. If she decided to be a mage, perhaps Tiriana would explain that at some point, given the important of comprehension when casting spells. Tiriana seemed to hope she would choose that path given the level of detail she tried to go into the night before; maybe she was hoping for an apprentice.

    It was hard to see what else Tiriana had to gain from helping her. It seemed a bit too much to hope she was simply doing it out of the kindness of her heart. Almost no one was that altruistic. As it stood, Tiriana came across as almost flawless, and the cynic in Sera told her to watch out for whatever it was that lay beneath the surface.

    Sera was also concerned about the fact she¡¯d met none of the supposed others in this camp. Were they out, or were they staying away because they didn¡¯t approve of helping some random stranger that came stumbling out of the woods? Surely the news of her arrival had gotten out by now. Tiriana did say the other explorers were loners, but that didn¡¯t explain the absence of the support members.

    Or maybe she was being overly paranoid, and she had simply gotten up late and missed them as a result.

    After a shower long enough that she was turning into a prune, Sera finally stopped the water. Peaking out of the stall door, she saw the clothes she had been promised in a basket along with a towel, which she used to dry off. She was surprised to find the clothes were adjustable, and was able to make them fit her quite well; she slipped on the surprisingly modern underwear, a red tunic, and pants, then the provided sandals ¨C her boots being just as filthy as the rest of her outfit.

    Refreshed, Sera headed back downstairs to find Tiriana snacking on a type of fruit she¡¯d never seen before; silver, with white flesh and a wide, almost flat shape. Spotting Sera, Tiriana hurried to finish it, polishing it off in a few more bites before Sera reached her table and discarding the core into a wastebasket with a throw Sera thought was almost certainly magic-assisted.

    ¡°Now that you¡¯re all cleaned up, we should probably get your first lesson out of the way. Well, second, I suppose. You¡¯ll probably want to learn Sylvan and Atlantean eventually, but it will be quicker to start by teaching you to cast Translate on yourself.¡±

    Sera had to admit: getting to learn magic was something of a silver lining. She sat down, prepared to learn.

 Chapter Five

    ¡°To start, I¡¯m going to have you try to use basic magic with a more visual effect, so that you can tell that it¡¯s working. Like this,¡± Tiriana began, and then a ball of water formed between them and splashed down onto the table. Sera flinched as some of it splashed her way, getting onto her clothes, but Tiriana wasn¡¯t finished.

    ¡°Basic magic is essentially mana that has been shaped to look and act a certain way based on your understanding. I know that water is wet, typically clear when clean, and tends to splash when it falls to a surface. I also know that it freezes when cold, and boils when hot. But what would happen if I¡¯d never heard of ice?¡± she continued, giving Sera the floor. She seemed to be the type to ask frequent questions to make sure her audience was following along.

    ¡°It wouldn¡¯t freeze, no matter how cold it got,¡± Sera posited, thinking it rather obvious.

    ¡°Correct. The deeper your understanding of the object or phenomenon, the closer basic magic will get to materializing it. But if I were to lose focus, exceed my range, or lose control to someone else¡­¡± Tiriana trailed off and gestured towards the table. It was bone dry again, as were Sera¡¯s clothes. ¡°Then the mana returns to its normal form.¡±

    ¡°If it dissipates so easily, how do you maintain the translation magic for so long?¡± Sera asked, having spotted the contradiction.

    ¡°Practice, my dear. I became a mage over a decade ago, and I¡¯ve studied magic at the Caer Pedryvan College of Magic.¡± Tiriana shrugged. ¡°Anything you do for over a decade just becomes second nature at some point. Now, let¡¯s have you try to cast something.¡±

    Sera waited for a moment, expecting further instruction, but none came. Humming, she decided to just give it a try. She focused on the feeling of moving mana she¡¯d now experienced several times, but tried to make it external, going for the image of a simple flame.

    It was difficult. At first, Sera felt like she was trying to stir water with her mind, but she knew from her limited experience that the mana wanted to do what she told it to, and she just needed enough concentration to maintain a solid image. After several long minutes of halted attempts where she lost control and the mana sputtered away, a spark lit in front of her face.

    The flame disappeared almost instantly, her surprise at its appearance causing her to lose control. Tiriana smiled encouragingly and motioned for her to try again. After a few more tries, Sera managed to manifest a flame again, although it was really more like a flame emoji. It was sort of shaped like the small jet produced by a lighter, but an entirely opaque orange, and completely static, rather than flowing.

    ¡°A good first attempt. Congratulations, you¡¯ve cast your first spell,¡± Tiriana said with a clap. Sera felt somewhat embarrassed from the congratulations on such a poor attempt, feeling almost like she was being talked down to, but she quashed the feeling, fearful of upsetting her only associate in this strange place. Tiriana had given no indication she would be so petty, but Sera had never been one to trust so easily.

    ¡°At least it¡¯s hot,¡± Sera said lamely, after bringing a finger close to the ¡®flame.¡¯ ¡°Shouldn¡¯t it match my understanding of fire, though? I¡¯m pretty sure I know more about them than this.¡±

    ¡°Your ability to control the mana is likely insufficient to match your actual level of comprehension. I would have to delve into college-level theory to really explain, but suffice it to say that your subconscious handles a lot of the interpretation, and it¡¯ll settle for the closest image you can actually maintain.¡±

    ¡°So, in other words, I need to get good. Should I just¡­keep trying until I get it right?¡± Sera frowned, allowing the flame to vanish into the air.

    Tiriana shook her head. ¡°No, it¡¯s not important that you be able to form a perfect flame. The purpose of that exercise was to have you learn to manipulate mana outside your body, for what comes next. You¡¯re free to continue trying later, though; the added practice certainly won¡¯t hurt.¡±

    ¡°So, now that I¡¯ve managed that step, we¡¯re going straight to Translate?¡±

    ¡°Right. Now, normally basic spells don¡¯t require a whole lot in the way of understanding. You just need to know how you want the spell to look. Translate is a bit more abstract, so it will require a bit of explanation. First, are you multilingual?¡±

    Sera shook her head. ¡°No, I only know English.¡±

    ¡°Well, research has shown that multilingual people think about meaning rather than words. The takeaway from that is that we don¡¯t need words to think. We¡¯re thinking of a meaning and some part of our mind converts it into the closest word, but since multilingual people have two or more dictionaries, they default to the meaning of the word itself.¡±

    ¡°¡­and, if I¡¯m understanding correctly, that has something to do with Translate?¡± Sera asked when Tiriana paused. The elf nodded, satisfied with the question.

    ¡°Correct. Translate is about forming a psychic connection with anyone you want to communicate with and sending them the meaning of the words you say. Their mind takes the conveyed meaning and converts it to words they understand,¡± Tiriana explained, pointing from her own head to Sera¡¯s.

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    ¡°That doesn¡¯t sound very basic,¡± Sera commented with a frown.

    ¡°Think of it like this: permanently modifying the brain is a very bad idea, so any spell you cast on your mind must be temporary for safety reasons.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t this spell basically just telepathy?

    Now it was Tiriana¡¯s turn to shake her head. ¡°No, telepathy would be reading and broadcasting all thoughts. For Translate you want to broadcast only things you intend to say, to the people you intend to hear it.¡±

    ¡°Sounds kind of like using a phone.¡± Sera was reminded again that hers was a world away. Not that it would help much right now.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know that word, but if it helps with your image of the spell, then sure. The difficulty here is that there is no physical representation of Translate. It¡¯s entirely conceptual.¡± Tiriana frowned. ¡°I can¡¯t dictate that part to you, which makes Translate one of the harder spells to learn.¡±

    ¡°Why start with it then, if you can just cast it on me?¡± Sera asked, perplexed.

    ¡°Two reasons. The first is that the more you use magic, the higher your resistance to spells cast directly on you will be. The second is that I can¡¯t control your mana, so if I cast it, you¡¯ll only be able to talk to whoever I designate.¡±

    ¡°Is that why I haven¡¯t seen anyone else?¡±

    ¡°Partially. The other explorers are out right now, but yes, the support staff are waiting to say hello until you can understand them saying it. Other than our cleric; she just refuses to use a miracle on something as petty as casual conversation,¡± Tiriana replied wryly. ¡°That said, I don¡¯t expect you¡¯ll be able to use it right away. It will probably take you a few days to master, since it¡¯s so abstract.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it be easier to figure it out if I work on other magic first?¡± Sera had heard that once you could play a musical instrument, learning to play others came easier. She wondered if this was the same concept.

    ¡°Not especially. Magic is all about your ability to grasp concepts. Knowing how to create an image of fire isn¡¯t applicable to psychic magic.¡± Tiriana stopped to consider for a moment. ¡°Although I suppose it would help you learn how to maintain the spell. You¡¯ll need to be able to transmit your meaning while speaking, and potentially to several people at once.¡±

    ¡°That does sound difficult; I can see why you suggested I just learn the languages in the long term,¡± Sera commented, recalling what Tiriana had said at the start. ¡°How long do you think it will take me to learn to do it, though?¡±

    ¡°It depends. You suggested you had an idea in mind of how to visualize the spell. I¡¯d advise you to focus on that, as it would give you head start in conceptualizing the idea. I could introduce you to a tool I suspect is comparable to the phone you mentioned, but it would be much easier if it¡¯s something you¡¯re already familiar with.¡± Once again Tiriana shrugged, knowing at this point it was mostly up to Sera. ¡°It probably won¡¯t take you anywhere near as long to cast the spell as it will to learn how to keep it going all day, or speak to multiple people. I¡¯ll start by dispelling it from you, and then you¡¯ll try to use the spell to talk to me.¡±

    Sera felt nothing, but the next time Tiriana spoke, it was a mishmash of sounds she failed to comprehend. Apparently she¡¯d be learning this one the same way some learned to swim: by being tossed right into the deep end.

    The next several hours were an exercise in frustration. It took the entire first hour simply to get a word through to Tiriana. As the spell was two way, neither woman could understand the other unless it was actively used by both, so Tiriana could neither understand Sera nor give her additional assistance.

    Sera understood conceptually that this was, in many way, like speaking on a phone or radio. She tried to use that image, but her knowledge on the subject actually worked against her at first. Several times she tried to form an invisible connection, only to bring into being a phantom cell tower or an image of a wave form.

    Tiriana, on other hand, pulled out a device Sera thought similar to a kindle. ¡®Flat slab that displays text¡¯ was kind of a universal concept, so the resemblance made sense in that regard. Even ancient Sumerians, predating even Atlantis, knew how to carve letters into rocks, so convergent development in reading devices was inevitable.

    A tangent on that subject took up a good ten minutes before Sera decided to stop stalling and return to the task at hand. She quickly lost count of the number of times she said ¡®testing¡¯, feeling as though she were speaking to a wall. It was hard not to feel elation the first time Tiriana acknowledged she had understood the word, but it quickly became apparent that she understood nothing that followed it, and Sera had no idea what the elf had said in response.

    Eventually Tiriana got up and motioned for Sera to follow her into the kitchen, where she began preparing a meal for two while Sera¡¯s attempts at communication continued to go nowhere. Even when Tiriana finished cooking an unidentifiable meat, retrieved from an icebox, flavored with herbs and served with bread, Sera had made no progress.

    She ate in sullen silence. The food was good. She had no way to tell her host that.

    The sun began to set, and Tiriana snapped her fingers, somehow activating the lights in the room remotely. Sera glared out the window, annoyed at time for having passed.

    It wasn¡¯t until night had fallen in full that Sera managed to cast and maintain the spell. In the end, it had taken a slight change in perspective. Rather than thinking of it as two devices communicating, it turned out to be easier for her to picture it as a network connection, like an Ethernet cable. She realized that the issue she¡¯d had was the continued connection. Her previous attempts were more akin to email, where once side sent a message and the other sent one back, but that wasn¡¯t the form Tiriana¡¯s own spell operated on, so she had effectively been communicating on the wrong frequency.

    Had Sera been born a decade earlier, she would have been familiar with landline phones, but alas, her first experience with such things was a flip phone. She knew they existed, of course, but she¡¯d never used one, so it was far from the first image to come to mind. Regardless, she finally succeeded when thinking of it as a two-way open communication where both parties could send and receive simultaneously.

    ¡°Testing¡­testing¡­testing¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah, I heard that in my own language all three times! It seems you¡¯ve figured it out,¡± Tiriana responded, and Sera almost wept in relief when she, in turn, had understood Tiriana.

 Chapter Six

    Now that she was no longer solely dependent on Tiriana for communication, Sera was forced to admit that she had a problem that needed to be confronted, even at the risk of angering her host. Or worse, she knew, considering the prevailing opinion on the topic in many places on Earth.

    She hadn¡¯t had her medications in days now, and she wasn¡¯t sure how much longer she had before she began to detransition.

    Going through transitioning the first time had been hard enough. That awkward early period where it was obvious and she couldn¡¯t pass had been hard on Sera¡¯s mental health, and going through the same process backwards had the potential to break her. Under normal circumstances she would never admit to being trans so openly, preferring to pass under the radar and live her life the way she looked, but given enough time it was going to become obvious anyway, and hopefully this advanced magical society had a solution to the issue.

    So it was that the following morning, after breakfast, she decided to broach the subject carefully.

    ¡°Can I ask some questions about the culture here?¡± she began after they had dealt with the dishes. Tiriana cocked her head curiously, but nodded. ¡°Well, to start off, how tolerant are the people here?¡±

    ¡°Tolerant of what?¡± the elf asked, seeming confused. Apparently her effort to be vague had leaned a bit too vague.

    ¡°Well, differences, I suppose. Like¡­race, religion, gender, sexuality, opinions, anything like that,¡± she expanded, burying the lede a bit in the middle. Tiriana hummed in understanding.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure it varies with some of the other species, but elven and atlantean society- they¡¯re very integrated these days- is pretty accepting. Elf men and women aren¡¯t very dimorphic, so we never developed strict categories one could deviate from, and the atlantean pantheon has always taught that acceptance promotes unity,¡± she explained, now understanding the question but not quite seeing where it was coming from. ¡°I suppose there¡¯s not much diversity of religion, but it¡¯s hard to have much deviation when one¡¯s gods are demonstrably real and any cleric or priest can ask for clarification on doctrine.¡±

    ¡°So there are no taboos regarding sexuality or gender nonconformity?¡± Sera ventured, slightly more confident in a positive reception now but still not willing to come right out with it just yet.

    ¡°Mm, I wouldn¡¯t say that,¡± Tiriana admitted, momentarily disheartening Sera. ¡°Incest and relationships between children and adults are an exception due to the harm they cause.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s reasonable,¡± Sera said, stalling. ¡°The reason I ask is¡­well, I¡¯m trans.¡±

    ¡°I know.¡± The elf smiled apologetically.

    ¡°What? How? When?¡± Sera felt a bit frantic, fearing she¡¯d done something to get clocked.

    ¡°Ah, it was when I circulated your mana. I could feel where the mana flowed at that time. I didn¡¯t think to warn you because¡­well, I had no idea it might be important. And since you hadn¡¯t told me yourself, I erred on the side of caution and assumed you would say something if you felt I should know.¡±

    Sera felt her face redden in a mix of humiliation and violation. She shot up from her chair and backed away from the table.

    ¡°You should have told me! Oh my god, I must look like a joke to you right now.¡±

    In a calmer mood she might have realized that last part was surely not true, given the culture Tiriana had described, but Sera was lost in a mire of emotions she didn¡¯t know how to untangle. Her breathing quickened as a panic attack came on and she collapsed to the floor, shoving aside a bench on the way down and narrowly avoiding striking her head on the table behind her.

    ¡°Oh- high elves, I¡¯m so sorry, I completely misread the situation,¡± Tiriana apologized as she rushed to Sera¡¯s side as the Earth woman began to cry while struggling to breathe. ¡°Hey, shh, shh, it¡¯ll be all right, just breathe, you have nothing to worry about, I promise.¡± The elf knelt down beside Sera and asked permission to touch her; although Sera smacked her hand away at first, she nodded her assent a moment later and dropped her hands.

    For several long moments they sat there on the floor, Tiriana holding Sera and patting her on the back, making calming motions with her other hand. Slowly, Sera¡¯s sobbing slowed, and her breathing came back under her control. A part of her realized that the panic attack had been unwarranted, but emotions didn¡¯t work on logic. Realizing Tiriana knew, when she preferred no one know if possible, had simply toppled the fragile jenga tower supporting her emotional state after so long worrying about how the conversation would go.

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    ¡°Are you okay?¡± Tiriana asked and Sera nodded repeatedly. ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s talk then. I apologize for not taking your feelings into account, but I do have good news for you, okay?¡±

    After one last shuddering breath, Sera stood, wiping her face clean on her sleeve. Her eyes were surely red now, but there was little she good do about that or the flush on her skin.

    ¡°Go ahead,¡± she prompted once they had both taken their seats again.

    ¡°Gender dysphoria is well studied here, and the human pantheon has always provided their clerics with miracles for treating it, as with any other illness. There should be measures our cleric can take to assist you, though they won¡¯t be nearly as comprehensive as an Archcleric of Gender would have access to.¡±

    ¡°Of¡­Gender? There¡¯s a god with gender for a domain?¡± Sera asked, incredulity thick in her tone.

    ¡°Right, I suppose I never explained much about the pantheon. Well, it would be a digression and Vivi could explain better than I, but for now, suffice it to say that the human pantheon¡¯s domains are based around human culture.¡±

    ¡°And¡­what would an Archcleric of Gender be able to do for me?¡±

    ¡°Change your biological sex entirely,¡± Tiriana replied, and Sera felt her stomach drop out from under her. That was something she¡¯d never even considered as a possibility, although it was certainly something present in some level in many fantasy settings. But that was fiction, and the magic she had witnessed so far had never been quite so impressive.

    ¡°They can just¡­do that? With magic?¡±

    ¡°Miracles,¡± Tiriana corrected. ¡°Something like that requires divine intervention. Strictly speaking, the cleric merely acts as a conduit for their patron. Which is why it has to be an Archcleric; a miracle of that size is too much for an ordinary cleric to channel.¡±

    ¡°But we¡¯re all the way at the edge of the world¡­right? So I don¡¯t¡­actually have any way of meeting one. If I could even pay for it,¡± Sera pointed out, deflated. Tiriana, for her part, remained positive.

    ¡°Clerics provide their services freely, as their patrons will it. But yes, it would be difficult as a result of location. But if we make enough discoveries out here, you may be able to purchase transport to a city with a temple, or even grow the community here large enough to attract one,¡± the elf said reassuringly. It sounded like a major undertaking, but it was nice to know it was at least possible, Sera supposed.

    ¡°What about the cleric here?¡± she asked, concluding that the other line of conversation wasn¡¯t going anywhere right now.

    ¡°Vivi is a cleric of Adventure. That¡¯s why she joined the expedition; anywhere you find a group of adventurers, a cleric of Adventure is likely to show up. Most of her miracles are more suited for exploration and survival, but I believe she should be able to provide palliative care.¡± Sera latched onto that possibility in her mind, hoping to find an answer to that question as soon as possible.

    ¡°Can we see her now?¡±

    ¡°Yes, I think she¡¯ll be willing to speak to you now, since it¡¯s a matter requiring her abilities, rather than just small talk. I¡¯ll take you to her shrine.¡± Tiriana stood and headed for the door, Sera close behind. It was the first time Sera had stepped outside since her arrival, but the camp was still as quiet as before. Tiriana had said the other explorers were in the field, but she wondered what the support staff were up to. Acquiring food came to mind, and the cleric Vivi might be on standby in case of emergency, but she wasn¡¯t sure what else there was to do.

    In front of her, Tiriana made a sound of surprise, and she turned to see what had caught her attention. Emerging from the tree line, nearly opposite of where she¡¯d arrived from, was a mountain of a man, although it was hard to be certain of his gender, given that he was man-shaped lizard.

    Tiriana was a tall, blond elf, but other than her ears, she could pass for human. This new native was anything but. The doors and ceilings here were surely made with him in mind; he towered over both women at at least nine feet tall, and he was built like a brick house. As he came closer, Sera saw he had wings folded behind his back, giving him a resemblance to a dragon.

    The most eye catching feature was, of course, his scales, which were a dark royal purple, interrupted by an off-white from his chin down through his torso- obvious because of the open vest he wore. His waist was covered by an orange and green kilt that complimented his scales, with a button up front Sera assumed was intended to allow it to be worn without pulling it past the wicked claws on his feet, or perhaps his digitigrade knees.

    He waved to Tiriana with his free hand, the other being occupied by a long, fully metal spear resting on his shoulder. Tiriana detoured to the man, and Sera had to admit to being a bit curious herself. The first words he spoke were rough and like no human tongue she¡¯d ever heard of, and she realized now what Tiriana had meant regarding communicating with people other than her- Sera had to make an active effort to ¡®connect¡¯ to this man before she could make out his words.

    ¡°Yes, this is her,¡± Tiriana confirmed, indirectly telling Sera that the man had asked about her. ¡°Aisinct, this is Sera, our resident mistwalker. Sera, this is Aisinct, one of my colleagues on the explorer team.¡±

    ¡°Nice to meet you,¡± Sera said, craning her neck to meet his eyes.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like much,¡± Aisinct said shortly, directing the words to Tiriana, who rolled her eyes.

    ¡°Does anyone, next to you? Anyway, how was it out there? Find anything?¡±

    ¡°No. Something was watching, though. Smart. Stayed hidden.¡±

    ¡°You thinking people, or predators?¡±

    ¡°Not sure. Be careful.¡± With that, Aisinct appeared to have decided the conversation was done, as he walked past them towards a different structure from the one Sera had been in.

    ¡°Yeah, he¡¯s not much for conversations, if you couldn¡¯t tell. Can¡¯t expect much more than that from the others, either. See why I was so happy to meet you?¡± Tiriana looked Sera¡¯s way with a raised eyebrow. Sera was more concerned with what little he did say, though.

    ¡°Should we be worried?¡±

    ¡°We knew there were signs of civilization going in, so it¡¯s not a revelation, just reason to be cautious. We can worry about that after we speak to Vivi.¡±

    With that, Tiriana covered the remaining distance to the shrine- which looked just like every other building from the outside- and Sera followed her in.

 Chapter Seven

    Tiriana and Sera entered the shrine to find it mostly empty, save for a series of small statues upon an altar along the back wall and a woman in a chair in the corner. The woman was slumped over, eyes wide open but seeing nothing, and her mouth hanging open and groaning. She was olive-skinned and raven haired, and rather than robes or a habit, she was garbed in leather trousers, boots, and a comfortable looking green shirt.

    ¡°Uh¡­is she okay?¡± Sera asked, immediately concerned for the woman¡¯s welfare. Tiriana didn¡¯t look worried, though, which calmed her somewhat.

    ¡°Yep, that¡¯s just Vivi on an average day,¡± she said, bemused. The elf walked up and snapped her fingers in Vivi¡¯s face a few times, and suddenly her eyes came into focus, followed shortly by her jumping to her feet. The first words out of her mouth were unintelligible, but Tiriana apparently understood, as she replied. ¡°No, we¡¯re not here for introductions, she needs your help.¡±

    Vivi didn¡¯t reply, instead closing her eyes and clasping her hands in prayer. The cleric spoke aloud in words Sera didn¡¯t understand, and a faint white glow started in her hands and spread to the rest of her body. When she finished, the glow vanished, and she met Sera¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Welcome to my humble shrine. I am Cleric Vivi, follower of Adventure. What can I do to assist you?¡±

    Sera glanced at Tiriana before replying. ¡°It¡¯s fine to tell her?¡± she asked, to which Tiriana nodded.

    ¡°Go ahead. I¡¯ll patrol for a bit; this should be between you and her.¡± The elf matched her words and left the shrine with that, closing the door behind her and leaving Sera with the cleric she¡¯d known for less than five minutes. That left Sera a bit uncomfortable, but she supposed it was like having a friend accompany you to a doctor¡¯s visit.

    ¡°Uh, so, in short, I¡¯m trans, and I don¡¯t have access to the medications I was taking to hormonally transition back on Earth. Tiriana thought you might have a way to help?¡± she asked, a bit hesitant.

    ¡°I see. It is most unfortunate for you to have arrived here, but I believe I should be able to provide a temporary solution.¡± Viva approached and laid her hands on Sera shoulders, then closed her eyes, which Sera judged to mean she was about to pray again. ¡°Pehtayuson, Patron of Adventure, grant me the power to aid this wayward child in the absence of one more worthy. Transmute Blood.¡±

    As she spoke, her hands again began to glow white, but this time, the glow transferred to Sera¡¯s body instead. When it faded, though, she found that she felt no different than before, despite her momentary worry that her blood had just been turned into wine or something. Viva took her hands from Sera¡¯s shoulders and stepped back, leaving a bit of personal space between the two.

    ¡°Sadly, as a Cleric of Adventure, my miracles are more suited for survival and exploration, but one of the applications of the universal miracle I performed is to convert a targeted substance in the body into another. Typically it is used to treat blood imbalances such as heightened sugar levels, but in this instance, I have channeled the divine power of my patron to convert male hormones to female hormones for as long as the miracle lasts.

    ¡°A Cleric of Healthcare or of Gender may have been able to apply the same affect for several months. As it is outside of my domain, however, this miracle will last you only a week, at which point it will need to be reapplied. I suggest you return in eight days for another session,¡± Viva explained at length, giving Sera no time to respond until she finished the entire explanation. Speaking as someone from a world without magic it was difficult to just trust someone claiming they had laid hands on her and cured her, which would have been solely performed by fraudulent televangelists and the like on Earth, but she supposed if it were a lie, the effects would be evident soon enough.

    Besides- that type of con-artist didn¡¯t usually have glowing hands.

    ¡°That was¡­faster than I expected. Should I go find Tiriana?¡± she asked, unsure what to do with herself now. Viva smiled faintly and returned to her seat, gesturing to another a couple feet away.

    ¡°I suspect Tiriana meant to give us time to speak. I¡¯m sure you have many questions she was unable to fully answer, and knew that I was, well¡­rather bored. Sit, and we¡¯ll talk for a bit.¡± Sera went ahead and followed Vivi¡¯s direction, sitting in the blocky wooden chair she was offered. Despite looking like it was crafted on-site and shaped with an axe rather than a saw, it was mercifully free of splinters, much to her relief.

    ¡°Well, I was wondering what was up with the domains I keep hearing about. On Earth gods were all like¡­responsible for life, death, the sun, or other natural stuff. To explain all the things people didn¡¯t understand way back in the stupid ages.¡± Vivi nodded thoughtfully, her answer already prepared.

    ¡°Mm, I can see why Tiriana would have difficulty explaining that, given her own gods, the high elves, are based upon an entirely different premise. Let me ask you this: if a god held dominion over life and death, would that be a god of humans, or a god of all existence?¡±

    ¡°All of existence, I suppose. Or at least all living things,¡± Sera replied, perplexed.

    ¡°Precisely. Those are things that must exist before humans did. But gods are formed from the collective unconscious of their people, incubating while we ourselves are in our infancy as a species and only waking when our civilizations begin to form.¡±

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    ¡°So¡­we made the gods?¡±

    ¡°In a way. The currently accepted doctrine is that gods are a defense mechanism, meant to prevent the extinction of sapient species before they can fend for themselves. No one really knows why they exist at all, but their purpose is fairly clear from the examples we have.¡±

    ¡°What other examples are there?¡± Tiriana had mentioned only the high elves, so she had assumed Omichl¨®dis was home to no other deities but them and the human pantheon.

    ¡°The kobolds have their true dragons, of which one is here. The dwarven capital is beneath one of their earth mothers, living mountains that protected the first dwarven cities. And¡­¡± Vivi hesitated, as if unsure whether she should get into the last example, but ultimately decided to continue. ¡°There were the Purgation, a group of hostile gods we encountered during an incursion event. Their people were hostile to all other intelligent life, and when we gained the upper hand in our war against them, the Purgation attempted to intervene in their defense.¡±

    ¡°Incursion event? And what happened to them?¡± Sera asked, drawn in by the story.

    ¡°An incursion event is what happens when, instead of nothing, or a civilization that has been or is about to be destroyed, a frontier contains those that would have destroyed it. Invaders. In this case, they were defeated by the Atlantean pantheon and wiped out. To our great shame, even to the end, we were never able to make peace with their people, who preferred to die rather than face defeat,¡± Vivi told her gravely, following her words with a sigh.

    ¡°How often do those happen?¡± After hearing that, Sera was immediately concerned about the frontier she knew was within walking distance of her current location.

    ¡°In three thousand years, there have been nine. Nowadays the Armistice Alliance maintains expeditionary fleets around the inner ring to intercept them, but the first few wars were devastating. We¡¯ve strayed off topic, however. To return to the point, our gods represent things that set you apart from beasts. Sex is something all creatures have, but gender is a uniquely sapient phenomenon, and the human pantheon, as representatives of the human species, have a deity that presides over it.

    ¡°These domains can evolve over time, to match the current state of society- my patron began as a god of Migration, and was later a god of Exploration, before finally becoming god of Adventure.¡±

    Sera took a few moments to absorb that information. It still felt odd, but she could at least understand the logic there. There were a few questions remaining, but not ones she thought Vivi would be able to answer, as they pertained to the gods of other species.

    ¡°Thank you for answering my questions. I wasn¡¯t expecting you to be so willing to talk, from what Tiriana said.¡± Belatedly, Sera realized she maybe shouldn¡¯t have said that last part. Vivi had a dangerous look in her eyes.

    ¡°Oh? And do tell, what did she say?¡±

    Sera considered whether to answer, but the face Vivi was making said an answer was mandatory, one way or another.

    ¡°Just that you didn¡¯t want to burn a miracle for small talk¡­?¡± she said in a small voice. Vivi sighed before responding.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s true. It¡¯s rude to call upon my patron for something like that, but I already used it for a legitimate reason, so there¡¯s no harm in it now. Besides, I have nothing better to do,¡± she told Sera, a distant look appearing on her face at that last part. When she didn¡¯t move, Sera determined that Vivi wanted her to ask about it.

    ¡°¡­and why is that?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m a Cleric of Adventure. My duty is to help adventurers. Tell me, how do you think I can best serve a group of lone wolves?¡± Vivi asked in return, deflated. Sera immediately saw the problem. There was no way to be in every place at once, so if the adventurers refused to work together¡­

    ¡°¡­you would have to stay where they all know where to find you if they need healing,¡± she concluded. Vivi was the only cleric, the only healer, in their group. If she went haring off on an adventure with one person, another could die in her absence. There was no winning. Vivi sank further into her seat, reminiscent of her appearance when Sera first arrived.

    ¡°If they would just form a party I could join them too¡­but instead I have to just watch the shrine¡­and all my patron¡¯s miracles are for stuff like mapping, or locating shelter, or creating hand-holds in a rock face." At this point the cleric looked entirely cooked, and Sera couldn¡¯t help but pity her. No wonder she looked dead inside. She must have finished counting every spot on the walls, floor, and ceiling by now.

    ¡°So¡­why come here in the first place? Did you not meet them beforehand?¡±

    ¡°My divinations have told me there¡¯s something big here¡­and that the best way I could follow my calling was to join this expedition,¡± Vivi said in a flat tone. ¡°I just have to hope that someone makes a discovery soon and it draws some adventurers that can actually work together.¡±

    ¡°Ahaha¡­my condolences. Really.¡±

    Sera had asked before if there was anything she could do to earn her keep here, and perhaps this was the best place to start. Maybe if she joined Tiriana on her next outing, she could do something for the poor soul that had ostensibly fixed her own problem, if temporarily.

    Granted, she knew nothing about exploring. Or wilderness survival. Or camping. All she had was a hammer and an elven mentor, and maybe that would be enough.

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: Gods

    All sapient species are believed to have gods, but the form and function varies wildly depending on their people. The elven gods are immortal elders, there to guide and teach, but not to lead. They are individually far less powerful than the human gods, but much more numerous. The sole known kobold god is a tyrant that demands worship and tribute, but in return, defends the kobolds much more proactively than other known deities. Dwarven earth mothers possess no mind, but provide a safe haven for their people and have been known to move in response to danger.

    Even the gods do not know how they came to exist, nor why a mechanism for their existence is in place. All known gods have methods of protecting their people from extinction due to events outside their control, however. Both the elven and human gods have related tales of erasing apocalyptic meteors, and the kobold god has many such tales that vary in their believability. The human gods in particular have claimed an inability to wield their power against mortals directly.

    Gods are able to grant power, however, and typically advise in a manner that promotes unity and kindness. Clerics have the ability to heal specifically because it prevents deaths due to circumstances such as disease, particularly in children, and the gods have been known to intervene to save isolated children due to their inability to protect themselves. Even the kobold true dragon promotes tolerance within the kobold species, as intraspecies strife brings no long term survival benefit.

 Chapter Eight

    While Sera would have liked to say that the next few days were a blur, just like in a training montage, that hadn¡¯t really been the case. They had been boring as sin, though. As it turns out, the early stages of magic training were intensely boring, little more than sitting there and thinking really hard about how much one wanted the mana inside oneself to move. She¡¯d actually fallen asleep a few times trying to compress mana into a core, and she didn¡¯t feel that she¡¯d made much progress.

    Weren¡¯t people supposed to gain special powers instantly in these situations?

    As one might guess, she had decided to take the mage path rather than the warrior path. The odds were low that Sera might be able to devise a way back to Earth when no one else had in three thousand years, but she wasn¡¯t quite ready to take someone else at their word when she was told it was impossible. Even if she did figure it out, there was a possibility that she wouldn¡¯t even want to go back by then, having built a life here in the meantime, but that was a decision future Sera could make if it came down to it.

    At any rate, Sera had spent a whole lot of time doing absolutely nothing but meditate while Tiriana went about her duties. Apparently the elf wasn¡¯t as idle as she might have appeared at first glance; as one of two adventurers on duty in camp, she was tasted with patrolling and hunting, and she had only been able to trade those duties off to someone else for so long. In exchange, she had given up her place in the schedule, allowing the other person on duty to leave when Aisinct returned instead of her.

    The dragon man had quickly made himself scarce upon returning, and Sera had only caught glimpses of him on the way in and out of camp since then. It remained a mystery to her what he did in his time off, although it certainly wasn¡¯t socializing.

    Days later, though, another adventurer returned to camp, causing Tiriana to announce that she was going out for her turn to explore the new frontier region. With no one else to talk to and nothing better to do, Sera had, of course, requested to tag along. Desperately.

    ¡°Are you still sure you want to come? I really don¡¯t know what we¡¯re going to find out there, and I can¡¯t guarantee your safety,¡± Tiriana asked for the umpteenth time as Sera walked in the door, back from having Vivi refresh the miracle placed upon her. Sera sighed heavily, wishing Tiriana would stop worrying about it.

    ¡°What would I even do here while you¡¯re gone? Come on, Tiriana, I¡¯m an adult and I can make my own decisions about my safety.¡± Sera took a seat nearby as Tiriana triple checked her pack to make sure she had everything she might need. Most of it wouldn¡¯t have been out of place on Earth. A tent, sleeping bags, raincoats, flint and tinder, and some ration bars she tentatively identified as similar to pemmican. There were a handful of magic tools as well, not all of which she could guess the function of, but she was certain one was a flashlight.

    ¡°Even so, your death would be on my conscience,¡± Tiriana asserted in response, making sure to have eye contact when she spoke. ¡°But, fine. If you insist on risking your life, I can¡¯t stop you.¡±

    The other woman was clearly a bit annoyed by Sera¡¯ stubbornness on the matter, but the feeling was mutual as far as Sera was concerned. She felt as if Tiriana had backtracked on her eagerness for a partner days earlier, although it may have been that she expected to have more time to prepare Sera for it first. But learning in the field was the best way to gain experience in Sera¡¯s book, and it¡¯s not as if they were walking face first into a monster den.

    Given that this region was all frontier, the local monsters weren¡¯t even supposed to be all that dangerous. Whatever mana was, it didn¡¯t spread like air or water, instead building up in concentration over the course of centuries and millennia. Area closest to the center of Omichl¨®dis had the highest concentration, and it dropped the closer one got to the rim. Since higher concentrations of stagnant mana drew in more dangerous creatures, the most dangerous place to be was also the most civilized.

    Presumably the people of Omichl¨®dis had developed ways of dealing with that, but Sera hadn¡¯t really asked about it given how irrelevant the information was to her current situation.

    Tiriana huffed a bit, but handed Sera a pack to carry and led her to another building that turned out to be a stable of sorts. She touched a spot on the wall and the lights came on, illuminating a series of stalls a bit wider than would be used for a horse- an important distinction, because what Sera found within weren¡¯t horses. The feathers gave that away.

    ¡°Have you ever ridden before?¡± Tiriana asked, skipping over what the two feathered quadrupeds were entirely.

    ¡°Horses, yes. I don¡¯t even know what those are.¡±

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    ¡°Oh, these are flokkas,¡± was the response, as if that explained everything on its own. Tiriana set her pack down and set about putting a saddle on one of them while Sera watched, getting a closer look in the process. The beast looked like a mammalian dinosaur, if she had to sum it up in as few words as possible. ¡°Watch closely, so you can put a saddle on yourself if you need to.¡±

    It had a triangular head with a narrow snout that wouldn¡¯t look out of place on a bird, had it had a beak, which it did not. Instead it was blessed with a padded nose and lips- the type that wrap around the snout like a dogs, not the entirely front facing lips of a human. Feathers flared up bit behind the eyes, making its head look just a big larger. Its frame was thin like a horse¡¯s, but its hind legs were further apart than its forelimbs and its pelvis seemed to sit higher, causing its back to slope upwards a bit to the reach of its front shoulders. Its legs terminated into thin, flexible-looking things somewhere halfway between a hand and a paw. From head to toe the flokka was covered in feathers in a leafy green up top and transitioning to an earthy brown towards the feet.

    The tail seemed sort of like a peacock¡¯s, if shorter, and Sera wondered briefly if it could fan out in the same manner.

    Sera noticed that the saddles Tiriana was putting on them had subtle differences from those used for horses; they were narrower at the front and were angled such that the rider could set level with the ground even on a flokka¡¯s sloped back.

    ¡°So¡­no horses, then,¡± Sera commented, finding the flokkas just a bit intimidating. The flokka she was watching, for its part, tilted its head to look at her with one big eye and made a sound that sounded like ¡®wark¡¯.

    ¡°No horses. Flokkas are better in forests and other uneven terrain. See the flexible feet? They kind of shift to maintain stability. They¡¯ve also got no fear of people and don¡¯t need to be trained like horses to have a rider,¡± Tiriana told her, tightening the straps on the first flokka¡¯s saddle and tugging at it a bit to make sure it was secure.

    ¡°Wark!¡± the flokka interjected, bobbing its head as if in agreement.

    Sera narrowed her eyes. ¡°¡­does it know what you¡¯re saying?¡± she asked, staring into its one visible eye. Tiriana paused to look at it, then shrugged.

    ¡°Honestly, no idea. They¡¯re pretty smart though. They will run from danger, by the way, so make sure to always keep a hold of yours and tie the reins to something when you dismount.¡±

    Tiriana, finished with the first horse-bird-dinosaur mix, began to work on the second, going through the same steps. Sera tore her gaze from the first to continue watching Tiriana, doing her best to learn the process. This flokka seemed a bit less energetic, regarding her sleepily. A thought occurred to her, casting her mind back to when she first saw Aisinct.

    ¡°Does Aisinct just walk everywhere, since he¡¯s too big to ride a flokka?¡± Sera didn¡¯t even entertain the idea something so big could fly on wings smaller than a football field.

    ¡°I think he usually uses basic magic and strengthening to fly or something. I don¡¯t¡­think he can use advanced magic, anyway. Either would probably do the trick though.¡± She stood. ¡°Alright, you¡¯ll be on that one,¡± Tiriana said, pointing to the first flokka, ¡°and I¡¯ll take sleepy over here.¡±

    ¡°Do they have names?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but they¡¯re in Sylvan.¡± As Tiriana said the last word, Sera felt her connection to the woman break, and she said the next words without translating them. ¡°Verinilla, Soswa.¡± The connection came back. ¡°Sorry, they won¡¯t respond unless you address them with the actual Sylvan. They¡¯ll take commands by rein though, so you should be fine otherwise.¡±

    Sera returned to Verinilla and reached out a hand tentatively. The flokka nuzzled up to her hand without even sniffing it first, letting out a long ¡®waaaaaark¡¯ as it did. Behind her, Tiriana was already leading Soswa out of its pen, so Sera hurried to grab Verinilla¡¯s reins and do the same, fumbling a bit as she unlatched the door. Once they were both outside, Tiriana hopped up and glanced Sera¡¯ way, waiting for her to do the same.

    She found herself with a bit of trepidation at the idea, but planted on foot in a stirrup and tried to hoist herself up the way Tiriana did. It was difficult with a backpack weighing her down, and she got an unimpressed look from Verinilla while she mounted up, but she managed it after a couple of tries. Now seated, she noticed the rear of the saddle had a sort of shelf shaped to the backpack she was wearing that allowed it to take the weight without her having to remove the bag first.

    ¡°Tell me if your butt starts to hurt. Riding can be rough on a beginner, so you¡¯ll probably need to take frequent breaks until you get used to it,¡± Tiriana told her as she tugged the rains of her flokka lightly, setting it into motion.

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: Flokkas

    The flokka was discovered on an isolated island in the middle ring. This island is believed to have been cut off from the outside world for thousands of years, and likely far more, even before appearing in Omichl¨®dis due to the nature of the animals local to it. Every single animal on the island larger than an insect has feathers, which has been attributed to a genetic bottleneck resulting in one single family of animals diversifying to fill most ecological niches.

    Flokkas were the largest animals on their island and filled a niche similar to deer. They eat primarily plants, but have been known to eat insects if given the opportunity as well. Flokkas have a gentle temperament that makes them well-suited to domestication and a build suitable for riding, which, in combination with their adaptations for forest life, led to them being adopted as an alternative for the horse. This temperament makes them poor battle mounts, but the use of animals in warfare waned in the decades prior to their discovery anyway, so it was not seen as a demerit.

    Flokkas have no particular family structure due to a lack of predators making grouping up for protection unnecessary, but they are a social species nonetheless because overpopulation forced them to tolerate the company of each other. Although they have no natural sense of danger, they are very intelligent, and can identify threats by observation rather than instinct. Flokkas possess no means of self defense and will flee instead of fighting.

 Chapter Nine

    Riding a flokka was a very different experience to riding a horse. Sera had only done so once, but that was enough. It wasn¡¯t anything like riding an elephant either, which she¡¯d tried as a child at a Renaissance Faire. There was a certain fluidity to their movement, and they maintained a steady pace no matter what kind of ground they trod upon. On a horse, the rider moves with every step their mount takes, jostled about by the shifting of the bone and muscle beneath.

    A flokka didn¡¯t bounce the rider unevenly as on a horse. The entire torso seemed to move up and down evenly as part of a cycle of movements the animal went through as it walked. It was hard for Sera to put into words, never having really watched a flokka in motion from the side, but she knew from media that horse riding was supposed to involve moving with the horse, not just passively sitting on its back. That wasn¡¯t possible on a flokka, because of the total lack of side to side movement.

    Verinilla and Soswa were also very confident in the woods. Their strange feet didn¡¯t so much pick their way through what footholds there were as they did conform themselves to stand on surfaces too narrow or rugged to support a foot or hoof. Sera would liken it to the way human hands could adjust to grip a variety of objects, just applied in a very different manner. It was hard to imagine how the flokka were able to support their weight properly like that.

    It was also apparent to Sera that neither animal was fearful of what might be lurking in the forest. Combined with what Tiriana had said about them lacking a fear of people and being found on an isolated island, it was easy to conclude that these creatures simply had no natural predators to be wary of.

    As a result of all of those factors, she and Tiriana were maintaining a pace well above walking even when passing through the forest. Or at least, the pace they would be walking at in a forest; it was likely no faster than a human could walk on flat ground. Which was good, because it allowed them to get quite a bit further than they would have otherwise before Sera was forced to ask for a stop as a result of having a saddle jammed into her butt repeatedly for a good two hours.

    Even after they had pulled into a small clearing, it took Sera a few moments to alight from the saddle, and when she did, it was with gingerly movements. Every movement of her legs sent spikes of pain through her rear end, but she had to move about just to get the blood flowing properly again, so she had no choice but to put up with it as she tied Verinilla¡¯s reins to a tree.

    ¡°Saddle sores?¡± Tiriana asked, bemused, as she fished around in her pack. Sera just grunted an affirmation as she rubbed the tender spots gently, wishing the pain would stop. After a few moments, Tiriana handed her a small tin of something with a knowing smile. ¡°It¡¯s a cream for alleviating sores. Just go behind a tree or something and apply a bit.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. I¡¯m surprised the solution is so¡­mundane and non-magical, though, I have to admit,¡± Sera commented as she took the tin and shuffled towards cover.

    ¡°Well, magic is hard to use on other people, and miracles are usually saved for things that aren¡¯t just mild discomfort,¡± came the reply from the other side of the tree.

    ¡°My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined,¡± Sera retorted in a monotone. She was careful to put some space between her sores and pants while she pulled them down, not wishing to find out how it would feel to drag fabric over the tender skin.

    After a short break they remounted their flokkas and continued on, with Tiriana assuring her that it wasn¡¯t much further until they reached the frontier. Sera wasn¡¯t sure that would really make a difference since they¡¯d presumably still be riding once they entered it, though she¡¯d be damned if she complained about it after insisting on tagging along.

    Even Sera could tell once they got close. Through the greenery she picked out flashes of white, along with the occasional sparkle of something reflective. When they finally stepped through the boundary between old land and new, Sera found herself in another world- again.

    The first thing she noticed was the trees, which were bizarre in every way. The most common type stood straight from the ground like spikes, with branches that protruded from the trunk at various angle but never once bent. Their bark was smooth and white, eye-searingly so, and their leaves were broad, flat, and red. Others were like a child¡¯s interpretation of a pine tree, featuring rings of branches that extended further from the tree the closer they were to the ground and bristled with thin, spiky red leaves.

    Next she noticed the rocks on the ground- something typically beneath notice but here quite noteworthy. There were stones of every color, and they looked for all the world like gaudy trinkets coated in cheap metallic paint. As she examined them, one seemed to move, and just as she was attempting to discern whether it was merely her imagination, a blur shot out of a nearby tree and snatched it up. Now that she knew to look for it, she spotted an animal of some kind clinging to the trunk, its white hide blending in almost perfectly.

    ¡°Are the rocks alive, or do the animals eat rocks¡­?¡± she asked, not really expecting an answer.

    ¡°I think some of the rocks are just animals that disguise themselves as rocks,¡± Tiriana answered tentatively. ¡°I¡¯ve tried to find one of the moving ones, but I have no idea how to tell them apart.¡±

    ¡°The trees are pretty weird too¡­never seen nature produce lines that straight,¡± Sera observed as she tried to shield her eyes from the intense glare produced by the landscape.

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    ¡°One of my colleagues cut one down and said they have a bit of metal in them. I guess it helps them maintain their shape.¡±

    ¡°How is there even enough metal in the soil for all these trees¡­?¡±

    ¡°That is a question we¡¯d probably need a biologist for. Or maybe a geologist. A metallurgist? I¡¯m not sure,¡± the elf admitted.

    ¡°Are a lot of frontiers this¡­weird?¡±

    ¡°No, they¡¯re rare. Though, I wrote a paper on one from a few centuries ago in school,¡± Tiriana said, furrowing her brows as she tried to remember. ¡°There were islands that floated in the sky. But one day they just fell, all at once. The consensus was that sometimes frontiers come from places with different rules, but once they¡¯re here, the ambient mana slowly overwrites them until they follow the rules of Omichl¨®dis.¡±

    ¡°Right, because you said mana warps reality. Are you saying you think this frontier might be similar? With different laws of physics?¡±

    ¡°Maybe. We probably won¡¯t know unless it all falls apart, or we find something that should be impossible.¡±

    ¡°That would be kind of¡­sad,¡± Sera said with a frown. As unnatural as this environment looked, it was also beautiful in its own way. It was an odd blend of order and disorder, full of trees that looked like they were made from a template but also home to the chaotic panoply of metallic rocks that littered the forest floor. And this was just the edge of a much larger region. Who knew what kind of bizarre sights awaited them further in?

    ¡°Well, if it makes you feel any better, everything here probably still exists somewhere. It¡¯s not like that entire world is here, and if it were just a unique island, it would have still been one,¡± said Tiriana as she unrolled a map. Sera urged Verinilla closer so that she could take a peak, and Tiriana tilted it so she could see.

    There wasn¡¯t actually much to see, though. It mostly defined the shape of the border between this forest and the more normal one they¡¯d left behind, with a shaded area indicating how far they¡¯d confirmed the forest went on for.

    ¡°Everyone is responsible for mapping in a different direction,¡± Tiriana explained unprompted before tracing one calloused finger across the map to the right of the center. ¡°We¡¯re around here. This time I¡¯m planning on just going straight ahead instead of covering a wide area, since we¡¯ve checked the forest itself pretty thoroughly for ruins. If we¡¯re in luck we might found out how far the forest extends for.¡±

    ¡°Is that a large area? I don¡¯t see any measurements,¡± Sera said while examining the blobs that currently passed for a map. Tiriana shook her head in response.

    ¡°This is all a rough estimation. Any surveys we did right now would be meaningless since we only have arbitrary points inside the forest to go by. We still wouldn¡¯t really be able to tell how far anything is while we¡¯re inside it,¡± she elaborated, which also gave Sera some insight on why she wanted to see where the forest ends. Then they would be able to definitively state that the forest ends ¡®x¡¯ distance from the border.

    After that, they continued on in silence for some time, exchanging words mostly just to discuss breaks. As they rode on, so too did the luminary in the sky continue its own trek, shifting the light and shadows in the forest like they were the inside of a kaleidoscope. Sera spent some time wondering what a time lapse of the forest might look like, and wishing she had the equipment to take one. Every rock was shaped differently, and reflected the light differently, and caught the light on different facets depending on the time of day.

    It was mesmerizing, and probably the biggest reason so few words passed between the women as they travelled.

    Eventually twilight began to fall, and they had to stop and make camp. Tiriana showed Sera how to hang their tent using the conveniently straight branches jutting from every tree. Sera tried to start a fire using the equipment in her pack, only for Tiriana to just light it with magic when she took too long. Verinilla found a rock bug and ate it before Tiriana could get a closer look.

    She was a bit despondent after that.

    Finally night fell, and after a meal made from conjured water and concentrated soup mix, Tiriana and Sera settled into their tent for the night. As they spread out their bed rolls they were serenaded by the odd scraping and clicking sounds of the wildlife.

    ¡°What¡¯s stopping wild animals from attacking us at night?¡± Sera spoke into the relative silence, pausing as she was climbing into her bed roll. Normally she would have expected someone to keep watch, although the thought had only occurred to her just now.

    ¡°I set up some wards while you were failing to start a fire,¡± Tiriana quipped. ¡°We¡¯ll hear it if anything enters the field, trust me.¡±

    ¡°How are you maintaining them along with the translation spell, much less while sleeping?¡±

    ¡°Well, mages don¡¯t graduate without being able to maintain at least two passive spells while casting an active one, but in this case, I¡¯m not. I just charged a connected set of reusable wards and placed them around the camp.¡± Tiriana pulled her sleeping bag shut and zipped it up as she spoke. ¡°Anyway¡­good night.¡±

    With that, Tiriana put a finger to her head and went limp, and Sera realized she¡¯d put herself to sleep instantly with a spell.

    ¡°Wha¡­? No fair!¡± she exclaimed. ¡°At least teach me how to do it too¡­¡±

    Unlike Tiriana, Sera would have to lay in bed for a while before she got any sleep.

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: Frontiers

    ''Frontiers'' are new regions that appear on the edges of Omichl¨®dis. Prior to their transference mist appears on their native planet, and over a period of time determined by the size of the frontier, it builds into a thick fog before abruptly vanishing. To the occupants of the frontier it seems like a fog merely appears and then disappears, and only when they find the edge of their lands has changed due to they realize something has happened.

    The formation of frontiers has a number of known rules that are followed. First, they always represent a complete unit. A frontier may be an village, a city, or even a country, but it will never be half a village or half a country. Uninhabited frontiers represent a complete biome, and adjacent frontiers always have biomes that would logically abut. A beach will always border water, and a tropical forest will never appear alongside a tundra. In addition, frontiers always match the environment that would be present at the equivalent latitude on a globe, starting at 90 degrees north and moving towards 90 degrees south as one progresses towards the outer rim.

    Anecdotal evidence suggests frontiers are places that would have been destroyed if they were not transferred. Mistwalkers from Earth have related that Atlantis sank beneath the sea, while those from Tir na Nog have myths about Hy Brasil being destroyed by a volcano. It is impossible to verify this with uninhabited frontiers, but some would suggest the same may hold true for mistwalkers, and that the imminent cessation of existence is what allows Omichl¨®dis to take hold and absorb chunks of other worlds in the first place.

 Chapter Ten

    From the second day onward, the majesty of the forest had begun to wane. Sera and Tiriana spotted little of note beyond more trees, more rocks, and the very occasional animal, well-camouflaged for the environment. Humans on Earth can typically identify animals in the wild because their camouflage is designed to hide from dichromatic and monochromatic eyes, but doesn¡¯t blend in quite so well when viewed by the trichromatic eyes of humans.

    By contrast, the animals of this strange new place were evolved for the latter. Both women had trouble locating them even in motion, as their bodies blended into the multi-colored stones on the ground and the red leaves in the trees. This mean that although they could hear animals at all times, they only rarely spotted any. This did get a bit unnerving, particularly when silence passed between them, so Tiriana began teaching Sera the Sylvan language to pass the time.

    Sera hated every single minute of it.

    Sylvan was by far the most confusing language she had ever heard of. On Earth, she knew that languages might have different sentence structures and grammar, but one commonality was that each and every one she¡¯d ever heard of had verbs. Sylvan did not. Sylvan had participles. It had a lot of participles. It had approximately as many participles as most languages had verbs, in fact.

    The concept was simple in theory. Each action was represented by a participle, affixed directly to a noun to signify action. It was a prefix if it was past tense, a suffix if it was future, and both at the same time for present tense. In Sylvan, saying ¡®Tiriana spoke¡¯ would be ¡®Futiriana.¡¯ Saying Tiriana will speak would be ¡®Tirianafu.¡¯

    On paper- literally, on paper, as in, reading- that was easy to understand. In practice, language is spoken so quickly that the gap between words is hard to discern without an understanding of the lexicon. So if two nouns both had participles and appeared side by side in a spoken sentence, the listener had to somehow determine which word those participles belonged to. That was easy when a prefixed word followed a suffixed word; not so much when a prefixed word was followed by a word bearing both prefix and suffix, meaning either could be present tense.

    Sera¡¯s brain was fried by the end of the first hour, but she had nothing better to do except bang her head against this particular wall, so that¡¯s what she did. The most progress she made was extracting a promise from Tiriana to find her something, anything, to take notes on.

    So it was that on the third day, when they emerged from the forest around noon, Sera cheered out loud in sheer joy, garnering looks of confusion from Tiriana that were ignored. Now they were on an open plain, covered in inch-high red-leafed grass. It was almost desolate, really, if not for the continued calls of insects hiding beneath the surface. Tiriana took a moment to plant a magical tool- apparently one that determined the distance between it and its partner on the other side of the forest- and then they continued into the empty plains.

    Fortunately, though, they soon came upon something else worthy of note.

    ¡°Strange,¡± Tiriana said slowly, abruptly ending her lecture. She was staring off into the distance, but her eyes seemed to be better than Sera¡¯s, who saw nothing but grass.

    ¡°What is?¡±

    ¡°There are divots in the ground. Craters, even. I¡¯ve never seen so many in such a small area.¡±

    It took a couple minutes more for them to draw close enough for Sera to lay eyes on the craters as well, but when she finally had, it was no mystery what she was looking at. A scattering of craters as far as the eye could see, irregularly placed and partially overgrown with grass, and lacking meteors to account for them?

    ¡°Those are artillery craters,¡± she said, comparing the sight to images of World War-era battlefields. There were no bodies, and no sign of any leftover materiel, so these craters were a mere memory of a war long ended and a battlefield already cleaned up. Still, she stopped short of the closest craters and motioned for Tiriana to do so as well. A battlefield could never be truly called clean.

    ¡°Maybe¡­but what were they firing at? I don¡¯t see the remains of a road or any buildings. Just a creek,¡± Tiriana replied, looking at something still too distant to see.

    ¡°That could be a trench. These might could have been left by shells that overshot the target.¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯m still not sure I understand. Why would anyone bomb a trench any more than they would a creek?¡±

    ¡°On Earth, there¡¯s a type of fighting called ¡®trench warfare¡¯. It¡¯s where one or both sides dig lines of trenches for cover from guns and artillery, because only shells that land inside or directly above the trench are likely to do any damage,¡± Sera explained. ¡°Do you not¡­do that here?¡±

    ¡°No, that wouldn¡¯t provide much protection against certain types of magic. It would even be exploitable. We employ barriers projected by mages instead.¡±

    Sera understood what she meant- if the enemy can remotely shift the earth itself, digging trenches was akin to digging your own grave. It might be possible to flood them, as well, or lift the floor of the trench back up to ground level along with anyone inside it.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised you¡¯ve never encountered a frontier where it was used given that they¡¯re so common,¡± Sera remarked. ¡°Especially since you¡¯re familiar with artillery.¡±

    ¡°It could be that there hasn¡¯t been one, or that we merely haven¡¯t found it. We might even have found a civilization that used them, but not records of it, or if we did find records, they may have been overlooked in favor of those of cultural history. There¡¯s little sense fixating on a military tactic we can¡¯t use.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense. We need to be careful though. If we¡¯re seeing signs of artillery and trenches, there could also be landmines left over. Or shells that didn¡¯t detonate,¡± Sera pointed out. That was the main reason she¡¯d stopped Tiriana; she had heard of people stepping on landmines even decades after a conflict, and this battle looked much more recent.

    ¡°Good point. One moment.¡± With that, Tiriana closed her eyes and held out a hand. After a few moments she clenched her fist, and all the grass in a wide area stretching out to dozens of meters ahead of them was abruptly flattened by an unseen force. ¡°If there was anything there, I think it would have exploded. We should be safe if we keep to the path. I¡¯ll just have to keep doing that until we¡¯re through.¡±

    With that accounted for, they resumed their march. Sera still wasn¡¯t certain what the battle lines had been drawn here for, though, considering the lack of any other signs of civilization. Perhaps the trenches they were passing through had been dug to protect whatever was on the other side of the forest, originally?

    For a few miles they found nothing but craters and trenches. A landmine did go off just once, which justified Sera¡¯s caution, but the indicator of the native civilization¡¯s technological level was all they found. Sera did notice that some of the craters were noticeably larger than the others, by a wide margin, and she had a hard time imagining the shell that made those.

    Just as suddenly as the battlefield had appeared, though, it finally ended, still with no indication of what it had been fought over. It could have simply been a convenient defensive position between the enemy and their target, but they would have to search for their answers elsewhere.

    ¡°So, what now?¡± Sera asked. ¡°We definitely have proof there were people here, but we don¡¯t really have any leads on what direction to look in.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯ll continue in this direction, I think,¡± Tiriana replied with a shrug. Given the orientation of those trenches I would think there must be something this way, since we didn¡¯t find anything but trees on the other side. We still have a couple of days before we need to turn back.¡±

    ¡°Why operate out of a basecamp instead of just exploring the area as an expedition, anyway? Seems kind of limiting,¡± Sera observed. It was like if Lewis and Clark had based themselves on the border of the Louisiana Purchase and scouted a few miles over the border at a time, rather than traveling through it.

    ¡°It¡¯s because there¡¯s nothing to eat, and we couldn¡¯t bring enough supplies to explore the whole area,¡± the elf explained. ¡°We are building up a supply of preserved food from our excess in the hopes of a more long term mission, but as you might imagine, no one is all that keen to sit tight and work on it instead of making at least some progress¡­¡±

    More problems with lone wolves, then. Sera wouldn¡¯t say it in front of Tiriana, but this whole operation seemed like a massive boondoggle. Lack of cooperation, no real direction, insufficient supplies¡­rather than the Lewis and Clark Expedition, these adventurers resembled some of the less than successful ones, and Sera only hoped it would at least be closer to Columbus¡¯s success via serendipity rather than Terra Nova¡¯s unfortunate ending.

    That wasn¡¯t necessarily a hit against Tiriana, but it did raise questions about her choice of partners. And Sera couldn¡¯t help but notice that Tiriana was out here exploring, not working on gathering food, despite her implied disapproval of the others doing the same. A part of her wondered why these were the only people out here, but then, Omichl¨®dis was significantly vaster than Earth. There were likely dozens if not hundreds of individual expeditions all around the rim; a few of them were bound to be worse than others.

    It was likely just the luck of the draw that Sera had been dropped into the laps of a group that was underfunded and disorganized at best.

    Sera didn¡¯t really see herself as the charismatic sort, though, so attempting to take charge was out of the question. Why should anyone listen to her, after all? She could hardly claim to have more experience, and her observations had likely been brought up before only to be dismissed. Hopefully they would be able to find something interesting enough to draw in people that¡­well, actually knew what they were doing, for one.

    And if she was really lucky, that something had just come into sight. Because on the horizon was something very, very big, unidentifiable at their current distance but reminiscent of a single mountain peak jutting out from the plains. Given there was no such thing as a mountain bereft of a mountain range, it was almost certainly manmade.

 Chapter Eleven

    It was strange, approaching a tall object on an entirely flat plane instead of on a globe. This was the first time Sera was able to really appreciate the strange shape of Omichl¨®dis after hearing about it. On Earth, an object would become visible from the top down as one moved along the curvature of the planet, but as she got closer, she eventually realized it was only perspective that made the distance object look small.

    Once she got close enough to make out details, it became possible for her to discern that she could actually see the base of the mountainous outcropping from the start, as the base became clearer but did not seem to rise up. She had only been partially correct when she assumed it was manmade, however. It seemed to be an enormous stone mass like Ayer¡¯s Rock in Australia, a natural formation on its own, but atop its flat peak was a fortress, with towers jutting out in several spots.

    Although the fortress looked big, it was hard to tell exactly how large it was next to the sheer bulk of the rock it sat upon. The inselberg was hundreds of meters tall and several kilometers across on the side Sera could see. Even assuming this was the long side, the fort must have had an impressive capacity. If this were the short side¡­well, then forget calling it a fortress. At that point it would probably be a city.

    From her perspective, there was also a spire of rock to the left, directly up against the inselberg, and an additional rock shelf to the right at least half the height of the main formation. She wondered for a moment if there might even be people still living there, but if there were, surely the initial scouting mission would have detected them.

    Sera had plenty of time to think about these things because it took her and Tiriana hours to approach the site from the time they first laid eyes on it. The flokkas which had gotten them through the forest at a rapid pace were a slight bit slower than horses on the plains, so by the time they finally got there, it was late in the afternoon already. Based on the previous days of the trip, Sera thought they may have another two or three hours of daylight left.

    What they found there was both expected and not. Around the base of the rock laid the remnants of a battlefield. Unlike the previous one they had passed through, this one was fresh; months old at most. Nature had yet to reclaim the blasted landscape, stalks of grass just barely starting to peek up from the dirt, and it was hard to tell if that was new growth or simply remnants that weren¡¯t fully buried by the upheaval.

    Craters dotted the landscape, and this time, they were occupied. The battlefront was kilometers across, and it was decorated with the husks of armored vehicles that had long ago stopped burning. When they drew close enough to determine their size, Sera realized they would have been classified as super-heavy tanks on Earth, a classification that never actually saw service.

    ¡°High elves guide me,¡± Tiriana muttered, gazing at the first tank they reached. It had been flattened from above, crumpled like a tin can beneath a boot. Tiriana looked to Sera. ¡°Have you ever heard of a weapon that could do something like this?¡±

    ¡°Not outside of fiction,¡± Sera answered, recalling a cannon whose shell created a gravity field that could crush anything inside it. ¡°But look at the crater. It¡¯s the same size as the largest ones from the battlefield we passed a few hours ago.¡±

    ¡°Odd how the tank is facing that battlefield, rather than the fortress ahead. Perhaps they spotted a sign of the weapon that killed them being deployed and attempted to flee?¡±

    ¡°Could be¡­¡± Sera agreed, dismounting carefully. She shuffled awkwardly towards the wreckage, her hindquarters still sore from riding all day. Even after dropping into the crater she still had to cover quite a bit of distance. The tank had been larger than she¡¯d thought, as if designed to fit people that made humans look like children.

    When she drew close, though, she smelled little more than fuel, grease, and a lingering bit of sulfur that may have been from the vehicle¡¯s ammunition. All things she would expect to detect from a ruined vehicle, yes, but where was the blood? Of that, she saw nor smelt a thing.

    ¡°Tiriana, do you have any spells that can search for biomatter?¡± she called over her shoulder.

    ¡°No, I¡¯m more of a combat mage than a utility mage. Why?¡±

    ¡°Because I¡¯m not seeing any sign this tank was manned.¡±

    ¡°That can¡¯t be right,¡± the elf refuted, hopping down from Soswa to join Sera. ¡°Even if it¡¯s crushed, there¡¯s clearly hatches for personnel.¡± Tiriana didn¡¯t seem to have any difficulty identifying a tank despite her confusion regarding the concept of trench warfare, Sera noticed. It was true that on Earth the early development of tanks was intimately connected to trench warfare, but that probably influenced the design of the product more than the conception of the idea.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°See for yourself,¡± Sera said, gesturing vaguely towards the heap of scrap metal. Tiriana approached and sniffed the air around the vehicle, then got closer and peered into it for any sign of remains.

    ¡°Nothing¡­but, look. Parts of it look like they were pried open at some point. Maybe something or someone retrieved the bodies and the tank collapsed again when it was no longer being supported,¡± Tiriana suggested. She still looked confused, though. ¡°There¡¯s something else that¡¯s wrong here, but I can¡¯t quite put my finger on it¡­¡±

    ¡°Any idea what did this?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d hoped you had something, as I can¡¯t think of anything other than magic. But that can¡¯t- wait, no, that¡¯s it!¡± Tiriana abruptly spun around and pointed a finger at Sera. ¡°Mana! There¡¯s mana in the metal!¡± Sera furrowed her brow. It hadn¡¯t been long since she got here, and what gave her away was¡­

    ¡°You knew I wasn¡¯t from here because I didn¡¯t have much mana,¡± she pointed out.

    ¡°Exactly! The plants are one thing; they can absorb mana from the air and water, and they don¡¯t have much capacity to begin with. But metal shouldn¡¯t have any at all,¡± Tiriana explained excitedly.

    ¡°Mana warps things, right? So why can¡¯t it get into metal?¡±

    ¡°It can, but it takes centuries of exposure even for the least dense metals. Normally mana gets into metal when it¡¯s processed, because it¡¯s impossible to prevent it from being mixed in when the material is separated from the ore it¡¯s found in and forged into something. Which means there was mana present when this tank was built!¡± Tiriana was so hyped up by now she was hardly remembering to breathe.

    ¡°So, this frontier came from a world with its own mana. But this entire world was a frontier at some point in time. Are you telling me you¡¯ve never encountered another one with mana?¡±

    ¡°Never! Not even once! Until now it was only a hypothesis. We knew monsters had to be coming from somewhere, but we had no proof they weren¡¯t just being transformed from animals when they came through to Omichl¨®dis. This discovery changes our understanding of mana itself. I could write a research article on this subject alone and get into one of the major journals, even!¡±

    ¡°What does that change for us?¡± Sera asked, thinking of the here and now. Was it enough to bring outside attention? By the change in Tiriana¡¯s demeanor, though, it was not.

    ¡°Well¡­not much. No one is actually going to believe a claim like this until I can submit the research and evidence. But that¡¯s alright, because that,¡± she gestured towards the fortress above, ¡°is a very different matter. We just need to¡­confirm it¡¯s not empty, first.¡±

    Sera gave Tiriana a look. Something wasn¡¯t right about that last part. Ruins were ruins; the architecture itself would be of interest to the people that studied that sort of thing. And while the ruined tanks could be transported elsewhere, anyone that wanted to study the ruined buildings had to come here.

    ¡°You just wanted to be the first one to explore it, don¡¯t you?¡± Sera accused, prompting Tiriana to click her tongue and look away, caught. Sera shook her head slowly at the behavior, but didn¡¯t comment on it. ¡°Sure, whatever. We¡¯re already here, so we may as well find a way up, right?¡±

    ¡°Right! Let¡¯s split up, we¡¯ve only got so much daylight. Meet me on the other side?¡± Tiriana asked, but she was already running back to her flokka as she spoke. Sera returned to Verinilla at a more sedate pace, mostly because she could not physically run.

    ¡°Yep, just come running if you hear frenzied screaming, please!¡± Sera shouted after the elf, who was already veering left. Once Sera was mounted again, she pulled the reins to the right to get her flokka moving. She examined the battlefield some more as she rounded the inselberg. She wasn¡¯t much more than a layman, but she tried to gather whatever information she could.

    One, there were no trenches this time. In fact, she didn¡¯t see anything that would have indicated the presence of infantry on the battleground. Every vehicle she passed was another tank. And every tank was facing away from the fortress, as if that wasn¡¯t what they were fighting. She didn¡¯t see any damage to this side of the fortress either, but that could be chalked up to magical barriers.

    Two, only the tanks in the center were flattened. The one on the flanks bore the marks of several different types of weapons, but they had clearly been burned through, blown up, or sliced apart- just not flattened. She didn¡¯t get the sense there had been any landmines here either, for some reason. None of the craters were the same size as the one she¡¯d seen explode earlier that day, and none of the tanks she saw appeared to have been destroyed from below.

    It wasn¡¯t adding up. If the tanks were the attackers, the fort should have had some kind of static defenses around it, like dragon¡¯s teeth or a minefield. Razor wire, maybe. And if they were defending, the logical thing would be to place them hull down, behind berms or in ditches, to present a smaller target. Not to mention supporting them with infantry. Sera had followed the news on Earth at least well enough to understand what happens to tanks with no infantry support.

    All of it pointed to one conclusion, but she didn¡¯t have enough evidence for it just yet.

    Getting to the other side of the inselberg took at least an hour by Sera¡¯s reckoning. It had to have been a few kilometers longer than it was wide, pointing towards there being a good-sized settlement up top. Castles weren¡¯t that big, generally. It seemed closer to a fortified city, the more she thought about it.

    Along the way Sera observed the rock face and the walls hundreds of meters above her. It was hard to make out details at this point in the day, but the sun was shining through gaps in the walls, illustrating that this side, at least, had taken fire. She couldn¡¯t make out much lower down except vines clinging to the rocks, transitioning from relatively thin cover towards the top to a thick and tangled mass near the ground.

    After walking in silence for a while Sera finally found the other side of the rock formation and rounded the curve, passing another spire on the way. Now, seeing this side of it, she knew this was indisputably the ¡®front¡¯.

    ¡°That is a turtle,¡± she said in disbelief when she finally met up with Tiriana in the middle.

    ¡°That is indeed a turtle,¡± Tiriana agreed as they both gazed up at the fortress¡¯s huge, roughly-hewn head.

 Chapter Twelve

    ¡°I kind of expected it after seeing the crushed tanks, but it¡¯s hard to believe, even seeing it with my own eyes. How would it even support itself without just falling to pieces¡­?¡± Sera wondered as she gazed up at the hundred-meter-tall head. Even dozens of meters ahead it towered above, its crystalline eyes barely visible from her current angle.

    ¡°A stunning number of structural reinforcement enchantments would just be the start, I¡¯d guess,¡± Tiriana answered. ¡°Their magical engineering capabilities must have been incredible.¡±

    ¡°Wasn¡¯t enough for them to win, though,¡± Sera pointed out, glancing at the battlefield around them. Dozens of tanks had been destroyed by the fortress, but it had fallen in the end.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think it was the tanks that took it down, judging by the external damage I¡¯ve seen so far. They might have been a distraction, or maybe a delaying tactic, while the fortress was boarded.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s strange that they don¡¯t seem to have prepared fixed defenses. The footprints at the first battlefield suggest it came through there, but they were pretty old.¡±

    ¡°And it marched right through those,¡± Tiriana observed, glancing at Sera. ¡°They might have decided they weren¡¯t effective.¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­I wonder why that battlefield was so much older, though. It had to have been a few months before this one. Think they had some kind of truce and fought here when it fell through?¡± Sera speculated in turn, getting drawn increasingly into the mystery.

    ¡°Possible, yes. Then whoever owned the tanks chose a different strategy after the trenches failed to stop it. Or maybe they didn¡¯t set up defenses because it would have been seen as a provocation. Anyway, did you happen to see a way in?¡± Tiriana asked at last after deciding they wouldn¡¯t find any answer through guesswork.

    ¡°Nothing. You?¡± Sera shook her head and returned the question back to Tiriana.

    ¡°No. Now that we know they definitely were using magic, though, a trail isn¡¯t the only possibility. An elevator, or flying ships, or a hidden passage- they might have had any number of ways of getting in,¡± she said thoughtfully, holding her chin in one hand as she looked up at the fortress. ¡°Unfortunately, the way in could have been blocked when it collapsed, too.¡±

    ¡°Can¡¯t you make some handholds or something?¡±

    ¡°Combat mage, remember? I could do it, but they wouldn¡¯t be very safe to use. I would essentially be blowing small holes into the rock face, rather than carving them,¡± Tiriana explained with a shrug. They both looked up at the fort for a few moments before coming to the same conclusion.

    ¡°¡±Vivi.¡±¡±

    ¡°Think this would be enough to convince her to come out here?¡± Sera asked, recalling what Vivi had said about her reasons for staying in camp. She probably had some way of assisting them with one of her miracles, but that wasn¡¯t very helpful if they couldn¡¯t bring her here to begin with.

    ¡°It¡¯s something concrete that we do need her for, rather than having her along as a precaution. If that¡¯s not enough, I can probably convince some of the others to join us long enough to take a look around. Jonas, maybe, or Ixtris. Although¡­¡± Tiriana trailed off as she looked in the direction the fort had been moving in. ¡°Would you mind if we extended things by a day or so? I¡¯m curious about where they were going.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t know it was within a day¡¯s travel from here. Do we even have enough food?¡±

    ¡°You haven¡¯t eaten nearly as much as I packed for, so we should be fine. I kind of forgot to account for you not being a magic user, yet. It¡¯s usually only relevant for children, and they eat less to begin with,¡± Tiriana assured Sera.

    ¡°I think I should be fine if I¡¯m a day or two late for my next treatment from Vivi¡­and I guess I¡¯m curious what they were protecting, too,¡± Sera said, staring off into the distance. It would be a waste of time if they couldn¡¯t reach the fortress¡¯s destination in the next day, but it would be nice to sate some of her curiosity.

    ¡°Great. Let¡¯s set up camp for tonight and we¡¯ll continue tomorrow, then,¡± Tiriana said as she dismounted Soswa, shucking her pack to retrieve the tent. Sera hopped down as well and moved to assist her.

    Fortunately, it seemed the defenders had really been the very last line of defense, as it took only two more hours- as Sera measured them, not Tiriana- for them to find a base in the mobile fortress¡¯s direction of travel. In spite of the defenders¡¯ supposed victory, the base was entirely abandoned from what they could tell, though it was so pristine Sera would believe the personnel had walked off just that morning.

    What they saw wasn¡¯t all that alien for Sera. Chain-link fences, tarmac, a small hangar, and a number of plain concrete buildings sized for beings larger than humans. The motor pool she was only able to identify by guessing; all the vehicles stored there had presumably been deployed against the fortress.

    It was eerie how silent the place was. Sera could hear nothing but wind here. No animals, no footsteps, no commanding officers barking orders at subordinates. She and Tiriana walked right in the front entrance unopposed, their flokka mounts neatly hopping over the barriers that were in place. The guard posts were abandoned, but there was no sign of a fight here at all.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Where did they all go¡­? Even if they deployed everyone that was combat-capable, the support staff should still be here.¡± Tiriana muttered, disturbed by the silence. She seemed to be casting spells of some kind, but by the look on her face, they weren¡¯t giving her any answers.

    ¡°There must have been something important here if the fortress was targeting it¡­although it may have simply been more convenient to destroy it on the way through, so they wouldn¡¯t be attacked from behind later,¡± Sera whispered back, acutely aware of how loud her words sounded in between passing breezes. ¡°If it was the target, maybe they evacuated?¡±

    ¡°I won¡¯t rule it out, but I¡¯m detecting some aircraft in that hangar. I don¡¯t see why they would just leave them behind.¡±

    ¡°If they didn¡¯t use them to attack the fortress, maybe they had some reason to stick to the ground.¡±

    ¡°I suppose it¡¯s possible the fortress¡¯s air defenses kept them grounded.¡± As they spoke, Sera and Tiriana continued deeper into the base, briefly examining each building to see which ones were worth investigating. They left the garages, storage buildings, and barracks behind, more interested in finding some kind of administration center. According to Tiriana, if they could bring some records back, Vivi would be able to translate them using a miracle.

    The women might have jumped at every sound, given how unsettled they felt, but there simply were no sounds to startle them. Once they passed between the buildings, even the wind faded away, replaced by the sounds of Verinilla and Soswa¡¯s footsteps and the shifting of their packs. Having seen at least half the base now, they must have been close to the admin building, but Sera called for a stop when she sighted something else.

    ¡°Hey, hold up for second,¡± she called out, making Tiriana jump in her sadly. Smirking, Sera pointed at an unassuming building they had just passed. ¡°I think that¡¯s a high security facility.¡±

    ¡°It looks like every other building, to me,¡± Tiriana replied, looking the building over.

    ¡°No windows. Even the storage buildings had windows. And there¡¯s a lot of cameras on the neighboring buildings, all with overlapping views of this one building,¡± Sera told Tiriana as she gestured at each of the cameras.

    ¡°Is that what those are?¡± Tiriana asked, squinting at the cameras in question. In her defense, the cameras were little more than black half-spheres, and they were each obscured from the angles they weren¡¯t looking in. ¡°I assumed they were lights. Our surveillance devices are typically better camouflaged.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s pretty much what they look like back home, or at least, some types do. Think you can get the door open? It¡¯s probably heavier than it looks,¡± Sera asked, looking at what seemed to be another double door, spotting a keycard reader and number pad near the middle. It looked just like every other door around them, but the builders would be fools if it were the same thickness.

    Tiriana hopped down instead of replying immediately, walking up to place her hand on the door. After a moment she turned back to Sera.

    ¡°You¡¯re right, this is a blast door. It looks like it would swing open the way the others do, but it¡¯s actually on rails.¡± She cracked her knuckles. ¡°Not enough to stop me, though.¡±

    Tiriana stepped back and focused on the door, her eyes so intense Sera thought they might burn a hole in the door. She placed her hands together, than a few second later she wrenched them apart, and the doors slammed open as if repelling each other.

    ¡°Magnetic lock,¡± Tiriana explained. ¡°I reversed the charge on one of the doors so that they repelled each other with as much force as they were being held together.¡±

    She seemed a bit smug at her solution, and Sera wondered for a moment how that was the solution a self-professed combat mage would come to, but she decided to let it pass and dismounted. Just as Tiriana¡¯s statement had implied, the building had power, and the lights inside were on, revealing another empty room. The entryway had metal detectors installed, and glass windows on both sides that were almost certainly bulletproof.

    Neither guard station was manned, a fact which was of no surprise to Sera by now. She hesitated to walk in, though, as she wasn¡¯t sure there was no security, including the automated variety. Tiriana showed no such hesitation. She walked in fearlessly, crushing the metal detectors into scrap without even questioning what they were first. Then she waved a hand vertically, and the inner door¡¯s lock was severed right down the middle, allowing her to push it open with ease.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you worried about automatic security¡­?¡± Sera questioned as she tied up the flokkas using a nearby light pole.

    ¡°Nope! I¡¯ve already gotten a good look at their tanks, and I¡¯m confident my barriers can stop a shell from one of them, much less anything they¡¯d use indoors,¡± she stated proudly. Sera refrained from replying to that, certain that any comment she made on the topic would come true if she did.

    ¡°Cool. Keep your barriers between me and the shooty things, then,¡± she said instead, following Tiriana in but remaining behind her. Sera was significantly less confident in her own bullet stopping abilities, so the expert could lead the way. They walked down the hall, glancing into rooms as they passed, but it seemed that the rooms closer to the entrance were break rooms and the like, not offices or labs.

    The two women passed an intersection and, seeing that both turns were dead ends, continued towards another security checkpoint ahead. Tiriana held up her hand and stopped, then whirled around and swung her hand to the side. Sera felt the air beside her expand, and then she was flung bodily down a side hall moments before the sound of gunfire erupted around the corner.

    As she jumped to her feet, Sera caught the flash of tracers going past for a brief second, but although the gunfire continued to echo off the tight corridors, the bullets weren¡¯t making it down the hall anymore. She hurried back to the corner and peered around cautiously, finding that Tiriana¡¯s confidence hadn¡¯t been unfounded.

    A pair of guns had descended from the ceiling and opened fire, but half a meter in front of Tiriana their bullets struck an invisible walls and bounced back, forming a pile in front of an unseen boundary line. Maintaining the barrier might have been slowing Tiriana¡¯s casting, Sera guessed based on previous displays, but it wasn¡¯t long before the guns¡¯ barrels abruptly bent, and at the same moment they misfired, destroying both turrets.

    ¡°You okay back there?¡± Tiriana asked, glancing over her shoulder but still holding one hand out to maintain her barrier. Sera stepped around the corner and nodded.

    ¡°Thanks for the save.¡±

    ¡°Sorry about the rough treatment. I can keep my own barrier up indefinitely, but a bigger one like that takes a moment to prepare.¡±

    ¡°Why not just wreck the turrets, if your own barrier was enough?¡±

    ¡°I was worried a ricochet might catch you before I could destroy them. Doesn¡¯t look like anything else is coming, so let¡¯s see what they wanted protected so badly,¡± Tiriana said as she tore down the security door behind the turrets.

 Chapter Thirteen

    The thick stench of death wafted out of the next section the moment the door was out the way. Sera retched, but Tiriana only grimaced as she walked in.

    ¡°Did we finally find the staff?¡± Sera choked out, unable to check for herself just yet. She could see Tiriana staring through a window, though, so she must have found something.

    ¡°No¡­but if anyone died it was definitely here,¡± the elf responded somberly. Then she looked back at Sera where she had fallen to a knee before the door. ¡°You can wait outside if you need to.¡±

    ¡°My curiosity is stronger than my disgust,¡± Sera asserted as she forced herself to stand, hands pushing on her knees. Although she continued to gag, she was able to at least walk slowly. She staggered forward until she caught up with Tiriana and looked at her findings, but found herself choking down another urge to vomit when she laid eyes on the room.

    It was an operating room, with a tall table the height of her chin in the center. Sera wasn¡¯t a small woman, so this spoke to the size of the beings that lived here. Tall doors and vaulted ceilings were used even by humans, but a table that size could only belong to something twice her height. That wasn¡¯t the source of her disgust, however. In fact, the table was the most pristine surface in the entire room.

    Surgical tools littered the floor, and a few were even embedded in the walls. The lights on a mount above the table were smashed. And every single surface in the room excepting the table was spattered in blood, with the floor so drenched it looked like a scarlet floor spattered with white paint. Some of it was dry, but some spots had pooled so thickly it had begun to rot instead, producing an atrocious stench.

    ¡°What the fuck¡­?¡± was all Sera could manage.

    ¡°Looks like whoever they were operating on turned the tables. Maybe if we go further we¡¯ll figure out what happened to their bodies,¡± Tiriana said in a flat tone, her usual excitement for discovery muted by the macabre scene in front of them. Tearing her eyes away from the bloody mess, Sera followed after Tiriana at her best pace.

    But the scene repeated itself several times over, like every patient had gone mad and slaughtered their surgeons all at the same time. The only constant sounds were their own footsteps and breathing, along with a faint dripping sound Sera couldn¡¯t quite pinpoint. Occasionally there was a creaking sound from the vents, indicating a failure somewhere in the system.

    Soon they came to an intersection, but since they couldn¡¯t read the signs, Tiriana just picked left on a whim. The hallway took them to another abandoned guard station, but unlike the operating rooms, the station showed no signs of a struggle. Past it was a door that already lay open, taking them into a corridor lined with holding cells.

    ¡°Were they operating on prisoners, here?¡± Sera muttered mostly to herself. Clearly they weren¡¯t using volunteers, or rooms they¡¯d passed wouldn¡¯t be covered in blood. Tiriana jogged down the row of cells and glanced into each one, but when she returned, she shook her head.

    ¡°All empty. No bodies or blood, just empty cells.¡±

    They tried the right side this time. Here they found abandoned testing chambers- the first was a firing range with a number of weapons on a rack off to the side, and at the far end, several suits of armor. The smell weakened once they entered the room and closed the door behind them, which Sera was grateful for.

    ¡°I wonder if they were testing the weapons, or the armor,¡± Tiriana said as she picked up one of the guns on display. It was unloaded, but there were several magazines on the rack with it. The rifle was sized for someone much bigger than either of them, but Sera thought it was probably doable if she used the counters at the firing line to support it. Sera walked over and held her hand out for the weapon, and when Tiriana gave it to her, she loaded it and stepped up to the firing line, where several sets of headphones had been left out.

    ¡°Cover your ears with these,¡± she told Tiriana, watching to make sure she put one on and doing so herself. Then she aimed at fired. As little training as she had, it took her most of the magazine to do it, but she finally struck a suit of armor with a bullet, which merely flattened against it and bounced off. ¡°¡­either they weren¡¯t having much success or they were testing the armor, I¡¯d say.¡±

    ¡°Since their enemies were a magic-based civilization I¡¯d wager the latter,¡± Tiriana agreed. She yanked a suit towards them with magic, laying it on the floor on their side of the firing line so they could examine it more easily. ¡°This isn¡¯t magic engineering. Look at the mechanisms.¡±Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.

    The suit had hydraulic actuators built into the limbs and camera lenses in place of eyes. The technology was in general foreign to Sera, but she thought she saw a battery pack on it, as well as something that looked like powerful servo motors partially hidden by plating. Tiriana popped the helmet off after a bit of experimenting and showed Sera the inside- strangely, although there was an apparatus for breathing, she saw no screen or visor for the wearer to see through.

    ¡°Why give the suit cameras but no way for the wearer to see?¡± Tiriana wondered as she looked for the release mechanisms for each limb. Judging by the mechanical components it was probably power armor, and the fact that Tiriana was able to remove an arm with a bit more effort suggested it was a modular design.

    ¡°That¡¯s not the only oddity. I see some needles in there. Recessed, but they probably extend to jab the wearer.¡± Sera copied Tiriana¡¯s movements to remove the arm on her side, and peered down inside it. After a moment of observation she saw something strange and searched for a way to remove the forearm, and showed Tiriana the interior of it. ¡°Look at this. The hand is fully mechanized but there¡¯s no way for the wearer to operate it.¡±

    ¡°Could have been a mock-up. Maybe it was only for use in endurance testing?¡±

    ¡°Maybe the prisoners got their hands on the finished product. Doesn¡¯t explain where all the bodies are, though.¡±

    Even while they were busy looking over the suit, Tiriana kept herself angled so that she could see the door. Abruptly, she shot to her feet and spun to face the door, but when Sera followed her line of sight, there was nothing there. The elf cautiously approached it, peering through the glass into the empty white hallway, but came away frustrated.

    ¡°Did you hear that?¡± she asked Sera, but she had heard nothing at all. At least, nothing from outside the room.

    ¡°Do you think it was the vents creaking?¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t sound like it.¡± Tiriana opened the door and looked around, then stepped into the hall. ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving, we¡¯re not going to learn anything else from that suit.¡±

    Sera had to agree; neither of them knew the first thing about this technology, and Sera could do little more than make assumptions based on Earth¡¯s technology. Finding documentation for Vivi would be more productive. Unfortunately, this wing seemed to be largely dedicated to testing. There was an obstacle course, several laboratories, and an abundance of password locked computers, but no hard copies.

    No matter where they went, though, there was that dripping sound. Drip, drip, drip. Always the same volume, as if it was on the edge of hearing, never growing further away or getting closer. Every drip seemed to deplete Sera¡¯s metaphorical sanity gauge, making her feel more and more restless, like she had to escape the source.

    ¡°You hear the dripping too, right¡­?¡± she whispered to Tiriana as they turned back to check the final hallway. Tiriana nodded several times, an indicator that it was getting to her as well.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s coming from the vents, like the creaking,¡± she replied softly. ¡°But I don¡¯t know how non-magical ventilation works so I¡¯m not sure how to find the source.¡±

    The acoustics in the vents must have been amazing if they were hearing that dripping from all over the building. Sera tried to remember what she¡¯d learned about HVAC systems in school before dropping out, but in the end, there wasn¡¯t much point in speculating about it when the system wasn¡¯t even built by human hands.

    She looked at the vents high above as she thought, coming to a sudden realization. They would have been too small for the builders to navigate, but they were also built to accommodate enough airflow for much larger beings. A human could surely fit inside, and if the fans were offline, it might be safe to explore them.

    Sure as fuck wasn¡¯t going to be her that did it, though.

    ¡°We don¡¯t need to find the source, the vents are small enough for us to follow them from the inside,¡± she pointed out. Tiriana stopped midstride to look up and determine the validity of the statement, and nodded to herself a moment later.

    ¡°True. And it¡¯s not too high to reach, either. Wait here for a moment.¡± As soon as she finished speaking, Tiriana wrenched one of the vent covers out of place and made an inhumanly high jump, catching the lip of the vent at the apex of her leap. She pulled herself up and in, vanishing into the depths of the vents.

    A soft, intermittent tapping joined the dripping sound as Tiriana progressed through the vents, broadcast to the entire wing of the building by the vents themselves. Sera waited nervously, hand on her hammer, for Tiriana to return. The minutes stretched on as she sat silently, hoping the building was as abandoned as it looked.

    Into the silence came a loud thud, followed by rapid tapping above. Sera jerked upwards so fast she slammed the back of her head into the wall she had been sitting against, calming herself with the knowledge that it was probably just Tiriana making her way back. Sure enough, she emerged from the vents feet first and dropped to the ground, but the look on her face was not reassuring.

    ¡°I found a body, one of the scientists, I think. They must have tried to hide in the vent shafts, I think there was a bigger opening near the fan. Wasn¡¯t¡­wasn¡¯t much else I could determine. The fan mangled their body as badly as they mangled the fan,¡± Tiriana explained. Sera put two and two together and realized the dripping sound was blood draining from that scientist¡¯s corpse. Even Tiriana looked shaken, and she had been far less bothered by gore up to now, so Sera preferred not to imagine what state the body must have been in.

    ¡°Whatever happened here made them risk that instead of sticking around for it,¡± Sera concluded. It was odd that the body had been left behind, though. Had the body snatchers not been able to squeeze into the vents?

    ¡°Let¡¯s get the documents and get out of here,¡± Tiriana said, hurrying towards the final section, which Sera could only hope included records or administration for the secure area of the facility.

    If it didn¡¯t, she was happy to make it someone else¡¯s problem.

 Chapter Fourteen

    Sera watched as Tiriana carved a spell into the floor of the building¡¯s lobby with laser precision, trying to piece together what little they had learned here. Unfortunately, this society had largely moved onto digital storage, so there wasn¡¯t much they could bring back with them. Sera has examined one of the computers they¡¯d found in the admin section, but much of the architecture it was built on was foreign to her.

    She was fairly certain she had identified the hard drive, but it wasn¡¯t like they had the means to access it back at base. Beyond that, all the computers were predictably password locked, so it was probably going to take specialists to access them. According to Tiriana, clerics of Secrets, Language, and Research could grant an entire group the ability to read unknown languages, and an archaeological expedition would almost certainly contain at least one of them, so they would just have to see if their discoveries here garnered any interest back in civilization.

    Of course, Sera had asked why Vivi couldn¡¯t help here, knowing about her translation miracle, but as Tiriana had explained it, clerics of Adventure were equipped to aid in exploring and clearing out ruins, not investigating them. Having one person able to translate text was enough for that job.

    ¡°I feel like you keep busting out magic that doesn¡¯t fit under the combat mage umbrella,¡± Sera said as Tiriana finished up, a strange sensation passing through her as whatever spell Tiriana had set up activated.

    ¡°Barriers are combat magic. All I did was set up an extremely inefficient barrier to use up any mana that gets close to this building and keep it from becoming a dungeon,¡± Tiriana explained as she double checked her work.

    ¡°I know what I would call a dungeon, but what is your definition, for reference?¡±

    ¡°A dungeon is a closed off space with so much mana in it that monsters starts popping up. Outside, when that happens, the mana that caused it just gets scattered the moment something comes through the tear in reality, but inside, there¡¯s nowhere for it to go, so it keeps happening.¡±

    ¡°They literally just spawn infinite monsters from thin air?¡± It sounded to Sera like video game mechanics, really. It struck her as one of the more contrived things she¡¯d heard of thus far.

    ¡°Monsters, like mages, use mana for their abilities and to strengthen their cores, so it¡¯s really only until their mana consumption exceeds the amount of mana entering the dungeon.¡± Tiriana gestured at the still-glowing runes she¡¯d burned into the tile and concrete, producing a pungent smell that was still preferable to the things Sera had experienced deeper in the building. ¡°This works on the same principle. With how sealed up this building is it should be able to eat up all the mana that leaks through gaps in the front door.¡±

    ¡°Do the monsters not eat each other or try to leave?¡± Sera asked, still stuck on the idea.

    ¡°Of course they do. What else do they have to eat?¡± Fair point. ¡°Point is, dungeons generate monsters faster than anywhere else, so we try to level abandoned buildings or seal them like this. The base as a whole has too much archaeological value to level and is too big for me to seal it all without a few days to work, so I¡¯m just going to make sure the most important building is safe for the time being.¡±

    Sera decided she could accept that explanation for the moment, but she couldn¡¯t help but think that Tiriana accepted these things as normal too easily. Although it was probably similar to questioning where atoms come from and why the laws of physics exist. There was always a limit to the number of questions science had answers to.

    ¡°I think this is as good as it¡¯s going to get¡­we should start heading home. Ready for some more Sylvan lessons?¡±

    ¡°Is staying in the creepy lab an option?¡±

    <hr>

    ¡°So, we found a fort-¡°

    ¡°You did!? Great! When are we leaving? I can leave right now if you want. I¡¯m all packed and ready to go. Let me just make a sign telling people where I went!¡±

    When they returned to camp, Tiriana had gone to put the flokkas back in their stable and store their camping equipment while Sera visited Vivi for an overdue treatment. While she was there, she thought it might be a good idea to gauge her interest, but she¡¯d barely been able to get a few words out before Vivi transformed into an entirely different person and rocketed right into manic action.

    Which just made Sera all the more worried how the poor cleric would react when her bubble was burst.

    ¡°Uh¡­Vivi? We¡¯re not going anywhere yet. Tiriana wants to recruit a couple of the others first,¡± Sera told her hesitantly. Vivi froze for a few seconds and then collapsed into her chair, all traces of her previous energy gone. Sera could swear she saw the woman¡¯s soul leaving her body.

    ¡°Oh¡­that makes sense¡­she probably wants to send a report back home too¡­¡± she drawled, head lolling to the side like the muscles in her neck had stopped working. She had never seen someone capable of shifting moods as quickly as Vivi did. It¡­probably wasn¡¯t healthy, but if there was a miracle for this Vivi surely would have used it, and it wasn¡¯t like there was a therapist on hand out here.

    ¡°Honestly, we weren¡¯t even sure you would be able to join if it¡¯s just the two of us,¡± she commented, trying to shift the topic a bit and get Vivi distracted with explaining something.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    ¡°The minimum number that can technically be recognized as a party is three¡­I didn¡¯t think I could justify it for mapping¡­but if you actually need me to help it should be fine¡­¡±

    ¡°Tiriana said you can probably make handholds for a several hundred meter climb,¡± Sera informed her, finally getting to the meat of the issue they¡¯d faced. Though¡­hopefully she had some kind of solution for if someone fell off.

    ¡°I could,¡± Vivi answered, her mind starting to function again. ¡°But if it¡¯s a fort there¡¯s probably a better way. I should be able to divine any hidden paths.¡±

    ¡°We think it was a collapsed mobile fortress, so we¡¯re not actually sure there¡¯s a way in from below.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s unlikely. I¡¯ll have to perform a miracle on-site to be certain, but no one would strand themselves hundreds of meters above the ground with no way down. Even if the entrance was covered by its collapse it would be easier for me to unearth it than it would be for you to free climb the whole way up.¡±

    Well, it was hard to argue when a literal miracle worker tells you she has a better way. Sera certainly hadn¡¯t been looking forward to such a climb. She had the arm and leg strength, but she had mostly just been hoping Tiriana had a way to prevent death by falling, and if she didn¡¯t¡­well, hopefully Vivi was right, at any rate.

    ¡°Anyway, just so you know, we found something pretty weird out there. We found a base belonging to whoever the fort was fighting, but even though the fort was immobilized and seemed to be abandoned¡­the base was too. We only found a single mangled body and a few rooms coated in blood,¡± Sera told the cleric, figuring she should know about the potential danger. ¡°It¡¯s pretty unnerving that we didn¡¯t encounter anyone out there. Is it possible for a frontier to appear but leave all the people behind?¡±

    ¡°Not as far as I know,¡± the cleric said, her eyes regaining focus as her curiosity was piqued. ¡°You found no one at all? How strange. I assume you¡¯re telling me because you think there¡¯s a chance we run into one side or the other within the fortress?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. I¡¯m not sure where else they could have gone, and that fortress is the size of a city. I don¡¯t think words can do justice to how absolutely colossal it is.¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­I should speak to Tiriana when she is available. Perhaps I can speed up her preparations somehow. This is sounding more and more interesting by the minute. The other adventurers won¡¯t listen to me, but I can at least handle the reports to the fleet and the academic community, if you¡¯d be willing to tell me what you learned,¡± Vivi said, finally looking somewhat energized again.

    ¡°You mentioned the fleet the first time we spoke, but I was a bit distracted at the time. What are the reports to the fleet for?¡± Sera asked, figuring now was as good a time as any. She shifted in her seat.

    ¡°Usually explorers have a line to the closest expeditionary fleet in case we discover something they need to know about, like a major threat to the nearest settlements,¡± Vivi explained.

    ¡°If they¡¯re so worried about that, why not do the searching themselves to be sure?¡±

    ¡°The Alliance maintains too many expeditionary fleets to keep them all activated at all times. Usually they¡¯re kept partially mothballed and only perform cursory recon, since a major threat will make itself known if scouts are spotted,¡± Vivi elaborated as she slipped into lecture mode again.

    ¡°What would be big enough for them to intervene?¡±

    ¡°I think they take a lot of things into account, but since there are no settlements on this continent¡­they probably won¡¯t act unless there¡¯s a threat with the ability to cross the sea. Not really much point in deploying ships and troops for an enemy that can be defeated by a travel advisory.¡±

    Sera frowned at that. It wasn¡¯t very comforting to know that their closest backup was content to sit back and watch what happened. The only thing she knew right now was that their potential foe had the capability to defeat a walking fortress that crushed tanks simply by walking, but that was more than enough to worry about.

    ¡°I feel like no one is taking what we¡¯re up against seriously,¡± Sera admitted to the cleric, dissatisfied at the lack of caution she and Tiriana showed. ¡°What happens if this outpost is attacked in force?¡±

    ¡°We would immediately abandon the base,¡± Vivi said with a shrug. ¡°That¡¯s part of the reason we set it up here and not in the frontier region. We know the terrain around here better, so we can fade into the woods and make for a rendezvous point determined in advance.¡±

    ¡°And what would we do if we¡¯ve got researchers out here by the time it happens?¡± Sera pressed, unconvinced. Vivi¡¯s answer was well and good if it were just adventurers following the plan, but having academics to protect would make the plan untenable.

    ¡°As cold as it sounds, it wouldn¡¯t be our responsibility. Everyone knows how dangerous it can be out here, so they should be bringing their own security, if any do join us.¡± Vivi shook her head. ¡°We should have a better idea of the threat level by then, anyway. Even if a group were to start preparations at this very moment, they likely wouldn¡¯t arrive until we¡¯ve returned from investigating the fortress. And if all goes well, we may even be able to move our home base to it.¡±

    Admittedly, that sounded like a good prospect.

    <hr>

    Codex Entry: Expeditionary Fleets

    The Armistice Alliance''s Expeditionary Fleets are a direct response to the threat of incursions, formed centuries ago when it became clear that these world-ending threats were a pattern, not a discrepancy. The deployment of the first expeditionary fleet was a massive undertaking complicated by the fact that it was done in response to a threat in the middle ring, which was at the time the outer ring. To counter the threat of a self-proclaimed demon lord''s monster horde, the Alliance hauled ships overland through the ice ring separating the inner and outer oceans.

    After a grueling war, the demon lord''s territory became the site of the first expeditionary fleet base and a large scale shipyard. In the centuries since, fleets have been stationed around the middle ring. In times of peace these fleets are largely left mothballed. The outposts they are stationed at are settlements in their own right, occupied by reservists that can be called to reactivate their local fleet in times of need. The fleets were composed of sailing ships at the time of their foundation, but those vessels have since been phased out in favor of airships.

    Only the most severe of threats warrants the deployment of all fleets. Minor threats requiring the use of at least one occur every few years; frequently enough to warrant the fleets'' continued existence. Usually these deployments are made against small-scale threats only large enough to be a danger to the less well established civilizations in the outer and middle rings, which have yet to develop the capability to defend themselves.

    Expeditionary fleets are forbidden from interfering with local conflicts, as doing so would undermine their defense mandate. Local civilizations permit their presence because they do not get involved politically, and the Alliance is unwilling to force the issue if denied, so strict neutrality is important the the maintenance of the defensive net formed by the fleets.

 Chapter Fifteen

    A few days later, Sera found herself in the dining hall with Tiriana and a pair of other adventurers. Tiriana looked dissatisfied, so she was assuming they weren¡¯t the ones she had hoped to recruit. Neither had said a word since entering the room, not to each other and not to Sera. They hadn¡¯t even greeted Tiriana when she entered a moment ago.

    One was easily greater than six feet in height, but was wearing a full suit of plate mail armor, so Sera couldn¡¯t determine much else about them. The armor was shiny and well maintained, though, not the beaten and battered equipment associated with a veteran knight in fiction. Sera knew enough about metals to understand that meant this figure was the more competent one, however.

    The other barely reached the first person¡¯s hip. Were she to go on fantasy tropes, Sera would assume the woman to be a gnome or halfling- something of that nature. She seemed to have a permanent scowl on her face, which was framed with what Sera initially thought to be green hair but was actually more like leaves or grass after a closer look. Rather than armor, she wore hunting leathers, and had a bow slung over one shoulder. While she would normally think a bow a poor match for someone too small to draw one with much power, the existence of mana suggested the bow was more dangerous than it looked.

    ¡°Thanks for coming, Layla, Rinnie,¡± Tiriana said after taking a seat beside Sera, nodding to the armored one and the short one in turn. ¡°I take it this means you¡¯re at least considering cooperating with us?¡±

    ¡°That depends on what you wish to propose,¡± Layla said, her voice low, deep, and muffled, but still identifiable as a woman¡¯s. ¡°At the moment I only know you found something.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not exactly helping your case by asking me to work with this brute,¡± Rinnie added, side eying Layla openly. ¡°I mean, really, she can¡¯t even be bothered to take her armor off for a meeting.¡±

    ¡°Neither have you,¡± Layla countered with a scoff. Rinnie rolled her eyes.

    ¡°This isn¡¯t my armor, it¡¯s what I wear to not get cut by pointy plants. And I¡¯ll have you know it¡¯s damned comfy.¡±

    ¡°Hmph.¡±

    ¡°Yes, well, my first choices were Jonas and Ixtris, but unfortunately for all of us, those two decided to hook up and now they¡¯re on some sort of weird couple¡¯s honeymoon. Because apparently they find weird-ass trees romantic,¡± Tiriana informed them acerbically, covering her eyes with one hand for a moment. ¡°Look, we found a fort- a city, really- and three people aren¡¯t enough to explore it safely. Five isn¡¯t much better but I¡¯m only getting so many people to agree to work together.¡±

    ¡°Five?¡± asked Layla, and Sera imagined she was narrowing her eyes right now by the tone in her voice. ¡°I see three adventurers here, and presume you mean to add Vivi. You mean to bring the mistwalker as well?¡±

    ¡°And this is why you weren¡¯t my first choice.¡±

    ¡°Do not make me the unreasonable one. I¡¯m not the one intending to bring a noncombatant into danger.¡± Layla¡¯s head turned, placing her eyes upon Sera. Or so she assumed. Her faceplate was a blank oval with five circular cutouts and two were probably for eyes. ¡°If you insist on placing yourself in harm¡¯s way I can¡¯t stop you, but I won¡¯t be protecting you either.¡±

    ¡°After the warm welcome you¡¯ve given me I wouldn¡¯t trust you to do that even if I paid you,¡± Sera shot back, her mouth moving faster than her brain at that moment. Layla apparently took offense to that, but before she could reply, Tiriana cut her off.

    ¡°Enough. I¡¯m more than capable of defending one person myself, Layla. And please don¡¯t provoke her, Sera. Can we get to the actual details now?¡± she asked in exasperation. Layla huffed, by she nodded. ¡°Great. This is going to sound ridiculous, so let¡¯s get it out of the way first. We found a stone turtle carrying a city on its back, probably a couple dozen square kilometers in size. There was no sign it was still occupied but there was a battle there recently, so I¡¯d rather not risk going in without extra muscle.¡±

    ¡°That wouldn¡¯t have stopped you from going in the moment you saw it. What did?¡± Rinnie asked, eyes narrowed.

    ¡°It¡¯s a several hundred meter climb with no other way up. We¡¯ll need Vivi¡¯s help with that. And while we haven¡¯t run into anyone out there yet, someone took all the bodies from both the battlefield and the base we found. I think we might be reaching the point where acting alone isn¡¯t tenable.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re aware I¡¯m a wilderness specialist, right? You¡¯re asking me to scout a city.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m asking you to scout. But are you really going to pass up being part of the first team into a mobile city bigger than anything you¡¯ve ever heard of before?¡±

    Rinnie clicked her tongue in annoyance, but the hungry look on her face said everything. She wouldn¡¯t have been out here if she wasn¡¯t interested in that sort of thing.

    ¡°At any rate, the best case scenario is that Vivi finds us an alternative to climbing the whole way. Worst case is going right up the side with nothing but handholds. If it comes down to that, can you do it in full armor, Layla?¡±

    ¡°I can,¡± she answered in confidence. Once again Sera had to remind herself the woman was probably inhumanly strong. A couple dozen kilos of metal were probably nothing to her. ¡°Can she?¡±

    Layla hadn¡¯t looked at her this time, but it was obvious who she was talking about. Sera didn¡¯t have armor, but she knew what the other woman meant without needing clarification. It was a valid question, admittedly. While Sera was in excellent shape, she lacked the magical conditioning Layla and Rinnie most likely had, as well as the magic Tiriana could cast. Granted, she wasn¡¯t sure what Tiriana had that might help her climb a rock face, but Layla wasn¡¯t questioning Tiriana about it, so there must have been something she could do.

    ¡°If I run out of steam and fall then that¡¯s my own problem,¡± Sera answered, unable to say with perfect confidence that she could climb that far. Especially without a rope and harness. But she didn¡¯t think it would come to that, regardless. Vivi¡¯s theory about there being another way in had been solid, and they were talking about the worst case scenario here.

    ¡°Hm. Fine. I¡¯ll accompany you. However, you are not my leader, Tiriana, and I will not take orders. Is that understood?¡±

    ¡°Psh. Everyone knows why you¡¯re out here instead of working for a company, paperweight,¡± Rinnie scoffed in response to Layna¡¯s declaration. Layla turned towards her fully, crossing her arms over her chest.

    ¡°Do not pretend you are better than me, shrub, lest I accidentally trample you,¡± Lalya ground out as she stared the smaller woman down, but Rinnie wasn¡¯t intimidated.

    ¡°You¡¯re so slow I¡¯d have a pitfall dug by the time your foot came down, tin can,¡± she countered, uncowed. ¡°Or would you prefer an arrow through your eye slits?¡±

    As the two adventurers began to bicker, Tiriana held her head in her hands, having lost control of the meeting again. Sera patted her on the back in solidarity.

    ¡°I feel your pain.¡±

    ¡°This is why I wanted Jonas and Ixtris. They¡¯re the only two that actually get along. It just turns out they get along a bit too well¡­¡± Tiriana said under her breath, only just loud enough for Sera to hear her. It probably wasn¡¯t necessary; the other two weren¡¯t going to be hearing much over the sound of their argument.

    ¡°Aisinct seemed reasonable enough. Was he not an option?¡± Sera asked.

    ¡°Layla tries to physically fight him every time they¡¯re together for more than five minutes and he¡¯s still angry about the time Rinnie mistook him for a dragon and shot him.¡±

    ¡°¡­there are dragons around here?¡±

    ¡°No, there are not.¡± Tiriana took a deep breath to calm down and looked up at the quarrelling duo. ¡°Rinnie, I still don¡¯t have your answer,¡± she cut in.

    ¡°Ugh. I¡¯ll meet you there. I want to check out that base you mentioned before we look at the fortress, and I¡¯d rather not travel with the big lug,¡± she answered, ducking around Layla and darting out the door before Layla could retort. For her part, the armored woman growled and stomped out as well, either because she was done talking or to chase Rinnie.

    ¡°Be careful not to disturb the barrier I placed!¡± Tiriana yelled after Rinnie.

    ¡°You carved that into the ground with a laser.¡± Sera gave Tiriana an incredulous look, wondering how Rinnie could possibly disturb it on accident.

    ¡°Listen, I¡¯m not putting anything past this bunch of fractious weirdos.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m definitely starting to understand what you¡¯re talking about, but I¡¯m still not sure why you joined them if that¡¯s how you feel.¡± Sera rested her head on one hand, her elbow propped on the tabletop.

    ¡°Did I ever mention I knew Vivi before coming here?¡±

    Ah. Sera saw where this was going.

    ¡°You heard about Vivi¡¯s divination. Is that it?¡± Tiriana reacted with mild surprise, but not quite shock, at that.

    ¡°She told you about that? Yeah, I heard from her that this was likely to be something big. I signed on with Vivi, but the only other people that wanted in were types that weren¡¯t suited to working back in the inner ring and thought even the middle ring was too civilized,¡± Tiriana explained with a voice tinged in frustration, speaking to efforts spent in vain trying to find other adventurers.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t expeditions to new frontiers a regular thing?¡±

    ¡°A little too regular. Percentage wise, the rate of new frontiers appearing hasn¡¯t changed, but if you look at it in terms of absolute land area, it¡¯s accelerating.¡±

    That¡­stood to reason. There were three ways the expansion could be happening. Randomly, at a constant rate, or at a constant percentage increase. As far as Sera knew there was no particular reason for it to be any of those over the others, but her understanding of why Omichl¨®dis was expanding in the first place was poor at best.

    ¡°So because every ring is bigger than the last, more land has to appear to maintain the same rate of expansion?¡±

    ¡°Exactly. A more professional group would have gotten to this region eventually, but all the veteran groups are already committed to other frontiers, and there¡¯s only so many of those,¡± the elf said with a sigh, letting her forehead rest against the table.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why you couldn¡¯t have joined one of those groups or waited for one, instead of hitching your wagon to this one.¡± If Tiriana understood how poorly organized this group was then she had to have known it wasn¡¯t going to go well once it got on the road. The elf¡¯s next words were spoken directly into the table, rather than towards Sera.

    ¡°Because I trusted Vivi when she told me if we weren¡¯t both here, something very, very bad was going to happen.¡±

 Chapter Sixteen

    In the aftermath of the small adventurers¡¯ meeting, Sera found herself with little to do. Tiriana was handling logistics and scheduling, neither of which Sera had enough familiarity with to provide help. For such a small team there weren¡¯t really any other menial tasks she could do in preparation, so she was spinning her wheels.

    Learning magic was still on hold until Sera¡¯s core formed. She hadn¡¯t stopped working on focusing mana into a core since she¡¯d decided to start, barring time she spent sleeping and some of the more nerve wracking moments she¡¯d experienced at the frontier military base. Although Sera could work on her basic magic, her limiting factor there was control, not lack of practice. As control was inherently something she was improving by forming a core, practice was redundant.

    That left learning Sylvan vocabulary, which she wasn¡¯t very keen on. Worse yet, it turned out that Atlantean wasn¡¯t much better after three thousand years of influence from the Sylvan language. Even if she¡¯d known how to speak Greek, it wouldn¡¯t have been very helpful here.

    So she decided to go around and meet the support staff instead.

    Despite having been around for a good couple of weeks now, nearly three weeks in Earth time, Sera hadn¡¯t seen much of the base personnel besides Vivi. She knew there was a hunter providing both fresh and dried meat, a gatherer collecting fruits, herbs and such, an armorer maintaining the adventurers¡¯ gear, a cleaner, and a very underworked stable master that spent more time procuring food than caring for the flokkas, which were almost always in the field with the adventurers.

    That didn¡¯t actually strike her as enough people gathering food to feed the number of people living here, but Sera reminded herself once again that the people here weren¡¯t subject to normal human limitations. She wasn¡¯t quite clear on the exact capabilities of a warrior type, but if she assumed enhanced speed, stamina, and strength, it wouldn¡¯t be out of the question for a single man to chase down and bag something the size of a deer with his bare hands and lug more than one back to camp.

    Adventurers that had rotated back to base might be helping as well, but if they were, that inherently meant they were working in the vicinity of the base but not inside it. Tiriana was the only one that she ever saw on guard, patrolling the base itself, but the others had to be somewhere, after all.

    At any rate, Sera managed to catch the hunter on a break, whittling something from wood outside the smokehouse. Figuring it wouldn¡¯t hurt to strike up a conversation and introduce herself, she gave the man a wave and approached.

    ¡°Figured I should get around to introducing myself to everyone. I¡¯m Sera, nice to meet you,¡± she said as an introduction, stopping a polite distance away. The man looked up and gave a small smile. He was atlantean like Vivi; olive skin and dark hair, with features Sera would place at around thirty years old. His face was clean-shaven, and he was dressed in leathers not unlike those worn by Rinnie.

    ¡°Isidro. A pleasure. You settling in alright? Can¡¯t imagine you¡¯ve had much conversation aside from Tiriana,¡± the man said, his voice deeper than would have matched his appearance. He set aside his knife and inspected the block in his hand; it seemed to be an animal, but Sera wasn¡¯t familiar with it.

    ¡°I¡¯ve spoken a bit with Vivi, but no, not really. I¡¯m actually surprised how little I¡¯ve seen of anyone, especially those working on the base like you.¡±

    ¡°Eh, well, myself and Sacae hardly spend any time here, and Wistris- she¡¯s the cleaner- is a brownie, so she does most of her work at night and turns invisible if she¡¯s gotta do something during daytime. Broviss, our armorer, is agoraphobic, so he doesn¡¯t leave his underground workshop¡­ever, actually,¡± Isidro explained, ending with a shrug.

    ¡°Wait, why¡¯d he come all the way out here if he¡¯s afraid of being outside?¡±

    ¡°It was that or prison. Something about public exposure, a jar of pickles, and the magistrate¡¯s mother.¡± Isidro looked Sera in the eye. ¡°The magistrate¡¯s mom picked jail, if you were wondering.¡±

    Sera wasn¡¯t, but at least it was good to know she was a participant and not a victim?

    ¡°What kind of punishment is that?¡±

    ¡°Technically he was exiled, we just needed an armorer and Tiriana promised him an underground workshop.¡± Well, that certainly did explain why she¡¯d seen neither hide nor hair of the staff all this time, at any rate. It seemed they were just as much of a mixed bag as the adventurers around here.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Sera was about to ask about the stable master when something stepped around the corner of the smoke house. Recognizing it immediately her hand snapped to her hammer, but Isidro just glanced at it and tossed a scrap of meat its way, which it snapped out of the air before laying down at his feet.

    ¡°¡­is that thing yours?¡± she asked, perplexed. The last one she¡¯d seen had attacked her on sight and hadn¡¯t let go of her foot until it was dead, so she hadn¡¯t expected to see one so docile.

    ¡°Oh, right, you¡¯re the one that named them, aren¡¯t you? Yeah, I think this little guy was abandoned.¡± Sera looked at it more closely and realized it was smaller, and its flat head didn¡¯t look as rigid. It must have been a young one. ¡°What were they called? Gobshites?¡±

    Right. She had in fact named them gobshites. At the time she¡¯d been beyond exhausted and wasn¡¯t really thinking too hard about the name, but now she was regretting it a bit, knowing she¡¯d actually have to call them that.

    ¡°Uh, question. Am I allowed to rename them?¡± she asked, looking down at the gobshite pup.

    ¡°Bit too late for that. Usually the first name sticks,¡± the hunter said with a chuckle, patting the pup on the head. Sera frowned.

    ¡°What happens if it gets more aggressive when it¡¯s older?¡± she asked; although her knowledge of domestication was limited, Sera did know wolves hadn¡¯t been tamed simply by adopting wolf pups right off the bad.

    ¡°Heh, it can try. Animals ain¡¯t too good at using mana; it¡¯s mostly instinct, and it takes generations of selection. This far out? Fella could clamp down on my finger and its teeth would lose. It¡¯ll learn who¡¯s boss.¡± Isidro grinned widely at that, as confident as it gets. Sera figured he probably knew what he was talking about, but she was still going to stay on guard around the gobshite, pet or not.

    ¡°Well, I¡¯ll take your word for it, then. Anyway, I wanted to talk to everyone, but are you the only one around right now?¡±

    ¡°Around and awake, maybe. You might be able to catch Broviss, though, assuming he didn¡¯t pull another all-nighter.¡± He pointed at one of the other buildings, on the other side of the base- which wasn¡¯t all that long of a walk given its size. ¡°Head on around that building and look for the cellar door; that¡¯s his workshop.¡±

    Sera thanked the man and went on her way, heading for Broviss¡¯s workshop next. The door was one of those angled metal doors used for exterior basement entrances, but it was new and well maintained, so it slid open with nary a sound. She immediately heard the sound of metal on metal coming from below, so she went down the stairs. There was one more door at the bottom, probably in deference to the smith¡¯s phobia. She knocked, and heard a rough ¡®enter¡¯, so she went in.

    Broviss was short; a dwarf by fantasy standards, but also¡­not. He was hairy, yes, and had a well-kempt beard, but he also had longer whiskers, like a cat- or maybe a mole? There were some coming from his brows, but most came from the area around his mouth. His musculature was different from a human¡¯s, with arms built for digging motions using the thick claws on his fingertips, rather than throwing.

    Sera found it interesting how his equipment differed from that of a human smith, as well. His anvil was lower, barely above the floor, and his ¡®hammer¡¯ was similar to a set of brass knuckles with a singular striking surface extending downward from his palm. Other items around the workshop had similar alterations to match their user¡¯s physiology, like cutting tools that had similar grips to the hammer¡¯s and clamps designed to be held by two hands palm down.

    ¡°Close the door behind you, if you would,¡± Broviss instructed, turning back to a small bit of metal he was shaping. Sera closed the door as she was asked and moved closer, identifying the metal bit as an arrowhead upon closer inspection. The smith never turned to look at her, but the whiskers on his face twitched a bit, and his tiny eyes were shut, so he must have been observing his environment with other senses than sight.

    ¡°Broviss, right? I¡¯m Sera. Just wanted to introduce myself.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s me.¡± More clanging as he hammered the arrowhead, his whiskers twitching between each blow. ¡°Sorry for not greeting you. I don¡¯t get out much.¡±

    ¡°Isidro mentioned that, but I¡¯m just as much at fault for not making the rounds until now,¡± Sera assured him, though the apology was likely obligatory. ¡°I don¡¯t imagine I¡¯ll have to ask for your services much, but I hope you¡¯ll take care of me if I do.¡±

    ¡°That a hammer on your belt?¡± Broviss asked instead of replying to what she¡¯d said. Sera noticed he hadn¡¯t looked her way before asking.

    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s a claw hammer. For hammering in nails.¡±

    ¡°You a craftsperson yourself?¡±

    ¡°Not quite. I¡¯m mostly a handywoman, building fences and the like, installing appliances, that sort of thing. There isn¡¯t really much use for my skills around here since it¡¯s all done with magic, so I guess I¡¯m now an explorer,¡± Sera explained, patting the hammer. She hadn¡¯t used it since fighting her first gobshite, so it was mostly a comfort item at this point.

    ¡°Mm. If you¡¯re spoiling for things to do, visit me from time to time.¡± He picked up the shaped arrowhead and placed it in a pile near a whetstone, then took another from the other side of it that had already been sharpened. ¡°Rinnie normally does this but she¡¯s rubbish at it. My arms aren¡¯t so good for fletching, so it¡¯d be nice to have an extra set of hands to attach the heads and feathers.¡±

    ¡°I¡­think I¡¯d like that, actually,¡± she said, enjoying the idea of working with her hands again. She didn¡¯t know how often Rinnie used her bow, but there was probably a good chance Isidro had one too, so a constant supply of arrows was likely important.

    It was difficult for Broviss to perform the motions, but he could at least mime them well enough to give Sera a demonstration of what she had to do, and she had always been skilled with her hands. She needed a few tries to get the fletching portion right, but Broviss was a surprisingly patient teacher, and he assured her that even her first and worst attempts were an improvement on Rinnie¡¯s.

    Sera hadn¡¯t succeeded in her goal of meeting everyone today, but for the first time in a while, she was content, losing herself in the act of making arrows.

 Chapter Seventeen

    Time passed until the second expedition finally arrived. Vivi renewed Sera¡¯s weekly miracle and they left as a group of four; Tiriana, Vivi, Sera, and Layla were traveling together, while Rinnie had gone ahead some time ago. Vivi could hardly sit still in her seat behind Tiriana, and the elf had admonish her for being a distraction several times. Layla, on the other hand, kept her distance, staying barely within shouting distance of the others even when camping at night.

    It was easy to forget the heavily-armored adventurer was even there, especially once they reached the frontier and Vivi caught sight of all the strange scenery. The cleric ¡®oohed¡¯ and ¡®ahed¡¯ at every new sight, babbling almost incoherently as she speculated about the unnaturally straight trees, the red foliage, and the colorful stones on the ground. Along the way she even spotted a few animals Tiriana and Sera had missed or never encountered, like a bird with saw teeth working a hole into the trunk of a tree far above.

    When they reached the plains, though, even Vivi grew silent. The ravaged ground seemed ill-suited for such enthusiasm, and Tiriana had to focus on checking for any landmines that may have refused to detonate. Eventually the group found their way through and the fortress appeared in the distance, gradually growing larger as they approached. Sera watched with amusement as the cleric¡¯s face went from excited to awed by the scale of it over the hours.

    ¡°Are we going to wait for Rinnie?¡± Sera asked when they reached the base of the rock face.

    ¡°No need.¡± Sera jumped in surprise as the words came from somewhere to her right, when the others were to her left. Everyone turned as a figure stood up within a nearby crater. At some point Rinnie had assembled a ghillie suit of sorts, wrapping herself in scarlet plant fibers until she blended in to the grass. Sera thought she saw vines from the base of the moving fortress and grass from the plains worked into it.

    As the small scout shrugged the suit off, Sera saw that she was dressed in darkened armor now, rather than the hunting leathers she¡¯d worn last. It was closer to that of a cuirassier than the fully articulated plate Layla wore; Rinnie¡¯s forearms, knees, and thighs were protected, and she wore a full cuirass and a cap, but her joints were covered only with cloth and there were gaps between the plates to prevent them hitting each other.

    ¡°Find anything?¡± Tiriana asked, apparently unsurprised by the sudden appearance. Vivi dismounted the flokka and walked a short while off; she seemed to be praying.

    ¡°I checked out the buildings you passed over. Got a sense of what weapons they used, but didn¡¯t find much of interest to anyone but the schollies.¡± The scout shrugged, brushing stray grass off her body. ¡°I looked for tracks, tried to see where everyone went, but¡­in the end I came to the conclusion they were airlifted. The fuel tanks at the airfield were drained, even though the hangars were full.¡±

    ¡°Good catch, even if it¡¯s bad news. No way we can trace where they went if they flew,¡± Tiriana said.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised there¡¯s not a spell for that,¡± Sera commented.

    ¡°There is, but it¡¯s been too long by now. Any traces of fuel or combustion would have been carried away on the wind by now,¡± Rinnie answered, surprising Sera with how genial the answer had been. She¡¯d half expected to have her head bitten off for asking.

    ¡°I found something!¡± Vivi yelled in excitement, jogging back towards the group. ¡°Most of the passages are buried or collapsed, and a few can only be used to escape, but there¡¯s one we can use to get in!¡±

    ¡°Good fine,¡± Tiriana praised. ¡°Where is it?¡±

    ¡°Thataway.¡± Vivi pointed towards the group¡¯s right. ¡°About halfway down the long side. I¡¯ll tell you when we¡¯re close.¡±

    Vivi hopped up behind Tiriana again and Rinnie whistled, prompting a red-feathered flokka to pop up and startle Sera again. Had she picked that one for its coloration, or did she dye its feathers red?

    It took another hour to get to the site of the hidden passage. Everyone dismounted this time and gathered around the place Vivi indicated. The cleric had Tiriana clear out some of the vines and then began examining the rocks.

    ¡°Can we not just break our way in?¡± Layla asked in annoyance, having finally deigned to join the group.

    ¡°We just need to¡­Tiriana, can you place your hand here and give it some mana?¡± Vivi said, indicating a spot that looked no different to Sera. When Tiriana followed Vivi¡¯s instructions, though, a section of the wall flickered and vanished.

    ¡°An illusion?¡± Rinnie asked, approaching the new passage.

    ¡°No, it was solid. Some kind of¡­reverse conjuring. The rock dissipated into mana,¡± Tiriana explained, examining something carefully. ¡°A very advanced enchantment. It¡¯s even two way.¡±

    ¡°Not important. Let¡¯s just go in,¡± Layla insisted impatiently.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°I should check it out first,¡± Rinnie said, rejecting Layla¡¯s demand.

    ¡°Last time I checked you can¡¯t see in the dark.¡± Layla gestured towards the opening, which was shrouded in darkness shortly past the edge. ¡°We all go together, so Vivi can light the way.¡±

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we wait until morning?¡± Tiriana interjected, pointing out the fading light. But Layla was quick with a counterargument.

    ¡°Only if we needed the sun to see. Since Vivi can create a light, we can enter immediately.¡±

    The bickering continued for a few minutes, but in the end, the group acquiesced to Layla¡¯s suggestion. If nothing else, everyone agreed that they weren¡¯t tired yet, and making camp inside was just as good as outside. Vivi created a light that hovered above them, intense but soft. It provided quite a wide area of illumination, but Sera could stare straight at it without any pain.

    Layla led the way into the tunnel, with Rinnie in the rear and everyone else between them. For a cave, it was very smooth, clearly shaped by sapient hands. From almost the moment they entered they could already see the end of the tunnel, so straight was it, but it took longer than expected to reach. By Sera¡¯s estimation they were fairly close to being directly under the center of the city above when they got there.

    A second magic-activated door awaited them there, which Tiriana opened once she located the activator. The chamber beyond was so vast that even Vivi¡¯s luminary couldn¡¯t light up the far side. Sera faintly saw some pillars at the edge of the light, and a couple of meters below the door they stood within was water.

    ¡°Tiriana, could you give us a directional light please?¡± Vivi asked, stepping out of the way for the elf.

    ¡°On it,¡± Tiriana replied, holding out a hand towards the cavern. A moment later a blinding light shot out as if her hand were a flash light, the beam cutting through the darkness and illuminating a wall at least a kilometer away. The ceiling was high above, and as Tiriana panned the light from side to side, more and more pillars came into sight. From their current angle the ends of the room were hidden by the walls and pillars, but even what they could see made it look quite long.

    ¡°What is this¡­?¡± Layla wondered, glancing around. ¡°Why build a hall so large all the way down here? And how did it flood?¡±

    ¡°It didn¡¯t flood, it¡¯s a cistern,¡± Sera told her, recalling images she¡¯d seen of the Basilica Cistern on Earth. ¡°Makes sense that a moving fortress would need a water supply between stops.¡±

    ¡°We haven¡¯t used cisterns in¡­centuries,¡± Tiriana commented, apparently the only other one among them that had even heard of them. ¡°I don¡¯t understand why they wouldn¡¯t simply conjure water, surely they had the magic for it at their level of advancement.¡±

    ¡°The technology I¡¯ve seen so far points towards their adversaries being unusually advanced in some areas compared to others. Maybe these people were the same?¡± Rinnie speculated as she tossed something into the water below. Tiriana caught on quickly and shifted her light, allowing them to see how long it took for the rock to hit the bottom. The water level was quite low.

    ¡°They must have used up a lot of their water while they were under siege,¡± Vivi commented. ¡°They may have been getting desperate by the end.¡±

    ¡°Guessing will get us nowhere,¡± Layla commented in. ¡°We are here to clear the area, not speculate.¡±

    ¡°Sure, sure. Just give me a moment to waterproof your gear.¡± Vivi once again proved her usefulness by bestowing another miracle, this time apparently for something so petty as keeping everyone¡¯s feet dry- not that Sera would complain. The moment she was done, Layla and Rinnie both stepped off the ledge and dropped into the water.

    For Layla it didn¡¯t reach the brim of her boots. Rinnie, on the other hand, sank hip-deep.

    ¡°Which way?¡± Rinnie asked Vivi once they were all down. Vivi, apparently prepared for this, waved her orb of light forward.

    ¡°Just follow the light, there¡¯s only one person-sized way out of this room.¡± The party waited for Layla to start forward and fell in behind her, assuming the same order as they had in the passage. It was rough going, having to wade through water with every step. The only sounds were splashing accompanied by the clanking of Layla¡¯s armor, and they echoed off the walls endlessly.

    Following the light, the group first walked to the center of the cistern before turning towards the rear of the fortress, walking right down the middle with a forest of pillars all around them. The size of the chamber meant a great many pillars were needed to support it, even with the arches in the ceiling that held off the crushing weight of rock above.

    It wasn¡¯t long, though, before Layla halted abruptly, raising a hand to indicate a stop. Someone, either Tiriana or Vivi, Sera couldn¡¯t tell, started to ask a question, but Rinnie, having caught whatever alarmed Layla, shushed them immediately. Everyone stood stock still and strained their ears listening for anything out of place, but the only thing Sera heard was disturbed water lapping against pillars and legs.

    ¡°Just some loose stone, maybe?¡± Tiriana whispered eventually, only barely audible, but Layla was quick to admonish her.

    ¡°Lower your guard for even a second and someone may die!¡± she spat, voice similarly subdued despite the venom in it. ¡°Assume we are not alone at all times.¡±

    Having said that, however, Layla started walking again, no threat having manifested. She was tense now, though, and held a poleaxe longer than Sera was tall ready in one hand- though, to Sera¡¯s surprise, the weapon¡¯s head was not oversized, having a thick bodied axe head with a short blade edge to better concentrate its chopping force, along with a practical spike on the opposite side rather than a second axe.

    Similarly, Rinnie had unslung her bow and knocked an arrow, while Tiriana seemed to be preparing a spell. Sera gripped her hammer tightly but stuck near Vivi at the center of the pack, aware of her own limitations.

    Every few minutes they stopped, and after a couple more pauses Sera thought she had begun to hear something as well. It was hard to tell with how much every sound was amplified by the cistern¡¯s acoustics, but the sounds seemed to be drawing closer. Each noise made the group tense up just that much more, and all speech had stopped long ago, everyone too occupied with listening to speak.

    Faster than the human eye could track, something flew out of the darkness, but even so, Layla reacted, interposing herself between the rest of the party and the threat. Metal rang as her poleaxe absorbed a blow, but the strike carried so much force that even the enormous armored adventurer was forced to take a knee, water erupting around her as she sank and hiding her assailant from sight.

    By the time anyone could see again, the party was once more alone.

 Chapter Eighteen

    ¡°¡­thanks for the save,¡± Rinnie said begrudgingly, having been directly in the path of whatever hit Layla had the larger woman not moved.

    ¡°An unfortunate result of reflex, I assure you,¡± the armored figure ground out, head turning to scan the darkness. Rinnie bristled at that and failed to resist the urge to snipe back.

    ¡°Last time I ever show you any gra- woah!¡± Midsentence Rinnie cut off as she was forced to dodge, just barely keeping her head as a blur whipped through the space her head had just occupied. Had it been any lower she may not have avoided the attack, impeded by what was to her waist deep water.

    Instead the attack sailed toward Vivi, only for Tiriana to slide-step into position in the same instant Rinnie dodged, throwing up a quickly-constructed barrier that shattered in an instant but slowed their attacker enough for her personal barrier to save her. Instead of throwing the elf back, the force of the blow was redirected upwards in a thunderclap of compressed air.

    The group only had a fraction of a second to register a giant shrouded in dark metal before it vanished into the darkness again.

    ¡°We need to slow it down somehow,¡± Tiriana said as she repaired her barriers.

    Before anyone could respond the being rocketed out of the shadows once again, only to go sailing off in a different direction accompanied by an epic ringing sound when Layla swung her mana-charged poleax into its path. The recoil was such that it spun even her considerable mass around, throwing up an arcing wave as her feet cut through the water.

    ¡°Did that get it?¡± Vivi asked as they all looked outwards again. Layla shook her hands loose, reeling from the impact herself as she answered.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t its skin break.¡±

    ¡°What is that, a golem?¡± Rinnie wondered. Another attack came her way, but she caught it in the corner of her eye and flicked her bow in its direction, loosing an arrow shining with mana in less time than it took Sera to blink. Her target seemed to flail in midair, changing its trajectory, but when it landed it held Rinnie¡¯s arrow in its gauntleted fist for the briefest of moments before the arrow was sent back at its owner.

    The tiny woman escaped by diving into the water, and the figure fled once again.

    ¡°It¡¯s a giant in the armor we saw in the labs!¡± Sera called out.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter what it is! We have to limit its movement!¡± came Layla¡¯s response as she blocked an attack for the third time, managing to stay on her feet in the face of a direct blow now that she was more prepared.

    ¡°Almost ready! Just need a ward so I can see it coming,¡± Tiriana told her shortly before a pulse of mana radiated outwards from her, its edge so thick that Sera could see it pass just by virtue of the way it affected the air. When their foe came towards them next, Tiriana was already facing it, readying another spell.

    A wall of water rose up in an instant, several meters thick, and the giant plowed right into it, slowing down as surely as a bullet in a lake. Rinnie and Layla both reacted at the same time, and Tiriana partially released her hold on the cistern¡¯s water, freeing the hostile entity down to its waist so as not to impede her allies¡¯ attacks. Even restrained, though, its movements remained lightning fast.

    When Layla¡¯s poleaxe fell towards its head like a meteor, the giant caught it with one hand and yanked on it, pulling Layla off balance. Rinnie¡¯s arrow it caught in its other hand, but instead of launching it at her, it targeted Tiriana, forcing her to drop her restraining spell to defend herself from the projectile, still empowered by its shooter as it was.

    ¡°That¡¯s not going to work again,¡± Tiriana muttered as she looked down at the shattered pieces of arrow shaft in front of her.

    ¡°It didn¡¯t work the first time,¡± Layla told her. ¡°Any other bright ideas?¡±

    ¡°I might have one, but you¡¯ll all need to hold it still for several seconds so I can use a miracle,¡± Vivi answered, a look of determination on her face.

    ¡°Layla, do you think you could grapple it?¡± Tiriana asked, the gears spinning in her head.

    ¡°¡­if I can get a grip on it, then yes.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. I¡¯ll set a trip behind you. It should halt its movements the moment you throw it into the water,¡± the elf said confidently, already beginning to prepare a spell.

    ¡°It¡¯s too intelligent to just let me grab it,¡± Layla muttered, thinking aloud. ¡°I¡¯ll need to make it think it has disarmed me.¡±

    But the next attack came for Rinnie, and the one after that, for Vivi. Their assailant was spreading out its attacks over the entire group, never attacking the same person twice in a row. Sera was spared only by virtue of being in the center and, presumably, not appearing to be much of a threat.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

    There wasn¡¯t much of an argument she could make against that assessment. She didn¡¯t have access to advanced magic yet, and she would fold like a towel from a single hit if she wasn¡¯t torn straight in half first. But maybe she could use that appearance of weakness to her advantage?

    Sera checked her distance from each of her party members and found that Layla was furthest away. That was actually perfect, assuming she could cast a spell as large as she intended to. Her control was still poor, and this would be a large working, but if she cast the spell intending for it to be imperfect, it could even enhance the effect she wanted.

    While she was thinking, the giant struck out at Layla again. The armored woman appeared to react late, taking the attack at a bad angle and losing her grip on her poleaxe, which went spinning out of reach. Now the only thing left to do was make sure the giant attacked Layla head on to maximize her chances of grappling it.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to try something, Tiriana, can you make a barrier over everyone but Layla?¡± she asked, knowing her spell was likely to impair her own team¡¯s abilities. Tiriana just nodded, probably having to sacrifice at least one of her other active spells for this, likely the translation one.

    With that taken care of, Sera concentrated on the image she wanted. With basic magic she couldn¡¯t directly alter light, but she could conjure an illusion made of mana. Anything she cast was going to come out like she was stretching a 480p video onto a 1080p screen. And in probably the only instance that fact would ever be useful, Sera needed to obscure most of the team¡¯s locations but didn¡¯t have the control to do it on purpose.

    She focused on creating a particular image: an obscuring, impenetrable shroud with figures in it offset from where they actually were. What she got was closer to a fog with the people inside blurred, making it impossible to determine precisely where they were. But while the area of her spell perfectly included Vivi, Tiriana, Rinnie, and Sera herself, it only just barely touched Layla¡¯s shoulders.

    An intelligent opponent would rightly conclude that diving into the fog was a bad idea. It couldn¡¯t be sure where its targets were and whether it was being baited, and if she¡¯d deliberately left Layla entirely outside the cloak, Sera may have tipped her hand by making it obvious that they wanted Layla to be targeted. However, for all intents and purposes, Sera looked like an incompetent mage.

    She had little to no mana, had done nothing so far during the battle, and her first spell only partially included the furthest member of the team, giving the impression that she¡¯d misjudged the distance by a foot or two. Layla had also done a good job of making her disarmament look like their opponent¡¯s own achievement, which would likely increase its confidence. Sera was counting on their opponent being smart enough to spot a trap, to have evaluated herself as a non-threat, and to judge that Layla being exposed was a mistake, not a trap, as a result.

    It did.

    The giant launched itself at Layla, coming directly from the front, as it couldn¡¯t judge her positioning properly otherwise. But when its fists came in to hammer the adventurer, she ducked and tackled it, lifting its massive form clear off the ground with unbelievable ease. With one gauntlet clasping the thing¡¯s wrist and her shoulder pressing into its waist, she hoisted it over her and slammed it into the water directly behind her.

    Immediately, Tiriana¡¯s spell triggered. She had reduced the temperature of the water to a state where it should have frozen, but forcefully prevented it from changing states until it was suddenly disrupted by the giant¡¯s body. Instantly the water froze, and Tiriana pulled more water in to wrap its limbs in ice before it could recover, binding it in place within a supernaturally hardened prison.

    Vivi stepped forward, a prayer on her lips.

    ¡°Pehtayuson, Patron of Adventure, please grant this poor soul a reprieve from deadly falls! Anti-Gravity!¡± the cleric cried out, the giant glowing for a moment even as it broke itself free of the ice. In a flash of movement it was on its feet, and before anyone even had time to react it launched itself from the ground.

    Something had changed, though. Vivi¡¯s miracle had no effect when its feet were firmly upon the ground, so it hadn¡¯t noticed anything wrong, but the moment it jumped, its mass dropped precipitously. Its kinetic energy, however, hadn¡¯t changed. The result was that its velocity increased, turning its controlled landing on a distant pillar into an explosive collision.

    The pillar was pulverized in the impact, and the giant kept going right into the ceiling behind, ricocheting off of it with enough kinetic energy remaining that it embedded itself in the far wall for just a moment. Shattered rock collapsed around it before the ear-shattering echoes of demolished stonework ceased echoing, falling to the ground in a pile along with the giant.

    ¡°¡­hey Layla, go make sure it¡¯s dead,¡± Rinnie said into the ensuing silence.

    ¡°Of the two of us, you contributed to the fight least. I believe you should make up for that by confirming its death,¡± Layla replied with a scoff.

    Tiriana cast a beam of light in the giant¡¯s direction and highlighted the place it had fallen just as the rocks began to shift. The figure that emerged was too distant for any details to be clear, but its posture betrayed crippling injuries. Rather than resuming its attack, though, the giant turned and fled, its speed reduced but still too fast for them to follow.

    As Tiriana tracked it, they witnessed as it retreated down the hallway that was their destination, one of its legs clearly broken, even if the pain wasn¡¯t enough to stop it. When it exited through the distant doorway, an opening atop a flight of stairs that would place it above the water level when the cistern was full, everyone but Layla breathed a sigh of relief.

    ¡°We should avoid engaging such creatures in the open in the future,¡± Layla observed as she stomped through the water to retrieve her poleaxe. ¡°Its strength I can counter, but it is difficult to stop once in motion.¡±

    Rinnie patted Sera on the back and Tiriana flashed her a smile.

    ¡°That was a clever spell. I wouldn¡¯t have thought of applying it that way,¡± Tiriana praised, having pieced together what Sera had done thanks to her own knowledge of magic.

    ¡°Thanks. Are you sure moving on is a good idea, though?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s wounded. We should hunt it down and slay it before it has time to recover,¡± Layla insisted.

    ¡°And if there¡¯s more of them?¡± Rinnie questioned.

    ¡°Then we pick our battlefield wisely. When next we engage it, we must ensure it is on our terms, not theirs.¡±

 Chapter Nineteen

    Sera was panting with exhaustion by the time the group reached the top of the stairs, which were sized for much larger beings than her. Layla and Rinnie effortlessly hopped up the steps using nothing but leg strength, but Tiriana and Vivi were in the same state as Sera. At the top they found a door, apparently closed by the giant on its way through.

    Layla was already in the process of forcing it open with sheer brute strength. The doors were sturdy, designed to hold back water in the event the cistern was overfilled, but they yielded with an extended screech as metal ground against metal. Beyond was a brick-walled hallway with an arched ceiling. Crystals the size of lightbulbs were embedded in the ceiling at regular intervals, reflecting the light from Vivi¡¯s luminary but otherwise dead.

    Initially Layla led the way just as she did before, but just a few steps in, she stepped on the wrong brick- a slight grinding sound came from below her foot and spears shot out of the walls, scraping impotently against her armor as they failed to penetrate. The armored woman glanced from side to side at the trap before lifting her foot, which caused the deadly points to withdraw.

    If anyone else had tripped it, with the possible exception of Tiriana, they would be dead.

    ¡°My turn. I¡¯ll highlight any traps I find,¡± Rinnie announced as she took the lead, drawing what looked like a nozzle with a handle but no canister. A magic tool, Sera surmised when Rinnie stopped to spray a circle around a brick a few meters down the hall. The red outline glowed with an inner light, impossible to miss even in the darkness.

    ¡°How does she even know¡­?¡± Sera asked Tiriana as they caught their breath.

    ¡°I have no idea,¡± the elf admitted, looking between the identical bricks that made up the floor. ¡°The one she circled might be a bit raised¡­?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t just stand there and talk!¡± Rinnie berated from down the hall. ¡°You¡¯re the only one that can identify the magical ones!¡±

    ¡°If I saw one I would tell you,¡± Tiriana argued back, rolling her eyes. She did seem to scrutinize the walls as they walked after their scout, though. ¡°The spellwork here is fascinating. It¡¯s as if the entire foundation is enchanted to make it more solid.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s powering it, though?¡± Sera asked, gesturing at the unlit crystals above as she carefully sidestepped a trapped brick.

    ¡°Different type of enchantment. The structure of the rock was permanently altered to remove fracture points and create stronger bonds. It¡¯s probably as strong as steel,¡± Tiriana explained as she traced her hands over the walls, seeming to look right through them as she examined the evidence of magic only she could see.

    ¡°But the giant went through that pillar and even put a hole in the wall,¡± Vivi pointed out from behind them.

    ¡°I think the brickwork is decorative. They probably didn¡¯t want to feel like they were living in a cave.¡±

    ¡°Huh. Do you think you could build something like this?¡± Sera still wasn¡¯t quite sure how this society stacked up with Tiriana¡¯s, not that she had a very solid idea of how Tiriana¡¯s compared to Earth¡¯s, either.

    ¡°Truthfully, it¡¯s hard to say. I doubt anyone has ever tried. There¡¯s much better materials available that would require far less work to prepare, and why would we ever need a moving city?¡±

    ¡°If we can figure out why they did I bet it would answer a lot of questions!¡± Vivi proposed with excitement. ¡°Maybe it was because of the biome they were used to living in, or to stay away from their enemies without having to uproot their homes?¡±

    ¡°Found another door. Layla?¡± Rinnie was waiting at the end of the hall, which branched out to the left and right on either side of a door even larger than the last one.

    ¡°Do not act as if I am your personal door opener, shrub,¡± Layla grumbled. ¡°I will open it only because I want to know what it protects.¡±

    ¡°Tsundere,¡± Sera muttered, loud enough only for Tiriana and Vivi to hear her.

    Layla approached the door and looked it over. Sera and the others caught up as she examined it, and Sera saw that it was the type that receded upwards when it opened. Layla knelt and gripped a ridge near the bottom, then heaved upwards. The door gave way with little resistance, but only a void lay beyond it.

    Tiriana stepped up as Layla held it open and projected a light inside. Finding only a blank wall opposite the entryway she cast her light up and down, finding nothing but an empty shaft.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    ¡°Lift shaft, maybe. It¡¯s not going to work without power though,¡± she observed, backing away so Layla could let the door fall. The armored woman stepped back and it fell to the ground with such force that the metal vibrated for a moment, echoing into the distance.

    ¡°The long way it is. Which way?¡± Rinnie asked Vivi.

    ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. They both connect to the surface,¡± the cleric affirmed, and Rinnie shrugged, choosing the right hand path after a moment. More doors lined the left side of the hallway, but these were ordinary doors, not even locked. They were widely spaced and seemed to be little more than storage, heavily depleted just like the cistern had been. Some held food that had gone rotten when cold storage lost power, and others were just parts, mostly used up.

    Rinnie continued to mark traps as the traversed the hall, which seemed to be skirting around the perimeter of the cistern. Without the elevator they seemed to be doomed to taking the long way up, and the group oscillated between being tense due to the feeling that they could be jumped again at any moment and becoming lax from the lack of encounters.

    Eventually they reached a corner and turned, finding that it led them directly into a room, its doors wide open. Rinnie entered with her bow drawn and an arrow ready, scanning the darkness for an ambush that never came. Layla entered as well and the two fanned out, clearing the room while Tiriana stayed back with Sera and Vivi.

    ¡°Looks like some kind of security checkpoint,¡± Tiriana commented. There was a booth along one wall with a counter, along with barricades to the side of each door to provide cover for guards. Tiriana seemed to be looking at otherwise blank spots on the floor and walls, so Sera assumed there would be additional magical defenses if they power were on.

    ¡°Clear,¡± Rinnie said from the far door, drawing agreement from Layla over by the guard booth. ¡°Weird amount of security for what we¡¯ve seen down here, though.¡±

    ¡°Guess they didn¡¯t want anyone in their food and water supplies.¡±

    ¡°That, or there¡¯s something important up ahead and they wanted this between the elevator and it¡­hold on a moment.¡± Something seemed to catch Rinnie¡¯s attention as she peered out the far door, but before anyone could ask, she had drawn her bow and fired. There was a clatter from the edge of the darkness, a round object falling to the ground. The party approached cautiously to find a bulbous metal contraption with four spindly legs, its body featureless save for two lenses, one of which had been pierced through by Rinnie¡¯s arrow.

    ¡°Is that¡­blood? Was it alive?¡± Vivi questioned as they drew closer. No one answered because no one knew, but Layla picked up the machine to examine it. She yanked out Rinnie¡¯s arrow and tossed it aside. Rinnie grumbled while she retrieved the arrow and started to clean it. As everyone watched, Layla punched her thumb through the intact lens and placed her other thumb in the shattered one. She secured her grip.

    ¡°One way to find out. Rrrrrrrrrrrah!¡± Layla roared as she flexed her muscles and pulled her arms apart, the exertion evidently greater than opening either of the doors they passed through before. Metal shrieked as it was torn asunder, welds snapping apart while screws and rivets sheared apart. It was like watching someone split apart a melon with their bare hands- complete with red flesh coming free and dropping to the ground.

    A round object hung between the two halves of the machine¡¯s shell, suspended by wires and strips of flesh. Blood dripped from the torn pieces. Though it was stripped of skin, with no nose, ears, lower jaw, or even teeth, everyone knew a humanoid head when they saw it. Vivi retched slightly but held herself back, while Sera took a step back. The others were unphased, but Tiriana had a harsh look on her face.

    ¡°Just as I suspected,¡± she said into the resounding silence, stepping forward to take one of the metal scraps from Layla. She gripped it carefully from the outer shell and legs, keeping the dripping blood well away from herself.

    ¡°Disgusting,¡± was all Layla said, casting the remaining part aside, her curiosity already satisfied. The head, still attached to it, hit the ground with a wet thud as well, tearing free from the half of the machine shell in Tiriana¡¯s hands. While the others looked over the macabre machine, Layla stepped forward to keep watch.

    ¡°You knew and didn¡¯t tell us?¡± Rinnie asked in an accusatory tone, turning on Tiriana.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know for sure yet, and it wouldn¡¯t have made a difference if I had said anything,¡± the elven mage replied, unperturbed. She wicked away the blood and flesh blocking her view with a spell and hummed in thought as she looked the shell over.

    ¡°Some kind of cyborg¡­¡± Sera muttered as she looked it over at Tiriana¡¯s side, reminded of similar things she¡¯d seen in fiction before.

    ¡°Why would anyone put a head in something like that?¡± Vivi asked, mystified. Sera already had a guess, though.

    ¡°There¡¯s only one reason anyone would do that,¡± Sera asserted, all eyes shifting to her. ¡°They didn¡¯t know how to make a machine think, so they used something that already could.¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s right.¡± Tiriana examined the machine part in her hands as she voiced her agreement. ¡°I recognize some of the enchantments in here. They¡¯re similar to the ones used in illusionary reality games to connect with the player¡¯s senses. But there are other parts I don¡¯t recognize.¡±

    ¡°Wait, the tech side was using magic?¡± That was a first from what Sera recalled. Tiriana had never mentioned magic while examining any of the technology they¡¯d seen so far, and this fortress had no signs of using advanced technology inside of it. If this was a fusion, it was something new.

    ¡°The construction is similar to that suit we saw in the labs. This must be related to whatever they were developing there,¡± Tiriana said as she set the remains aside. ¡°We can only guess at how they developed it, though. Rinnie, good job spotting it, it was probably keeping an eye on us from just out of sight.¡±

    ¡°Didn¡¯t do it for your approval,¡± the tiny scout scoffed, leaving the group behind to resume her search for traps. As she walked away, Tiriana turned to Sera and gave her a wry smile accompanied by a shrug.

    With nothing else to be learned from the abomination of technology and magic, the party continued on.

 Chapter Twenty

    The party travelled down a long hallway for some time, examining rooms as they passed. They seemed to have left the storage section now and were into the inner workings of the fortress; there were entire chambers carved out for the sole purpose of housing large magic circles, few of which Tiriana could identify, especially without taking time to stop and investigate them.

    While there was little benefit to doing so right now, there was always the possibility that these powerful enchantments could be used to their own advantage- especially important given how difficult their first fight had been.

    ¡°I recognize this one,¡± the elf told the group as she briefly examined the latest room. ¡°This was probably a node in their defensive array. I should be able to activate it and give us a safe place to sleep for the night.¡±

    ¡°Even though it¡¯s meant to protect the entire fortress?¡± Sera asked, keen to pick up what she could about magic.

    ¡°With direct access to the source like this, yes. I¡¯ll have to power it myself but it should be doable if I limit it to the doorway.¡± Tiriana looked over her shoulder at the others, who were loitering near the entrance to the room, keeping lookout. ¡°Go ahead and relax, we¡¯re safe here for the night.¡±

    Vivi slumped to the ground where she stood, spent. Layla, on the other hand, merely stomped her way off to a corner and began unpacking her tent. Sera thought it was odd to do inside, but she wasn¡¯t about to broach the subject to her directly.

    ¡°Does she ever take the armor off in public?¡± she asked as she laid out her bedroll. Like the others, she wasn¡¯t bothering setting up a tent.

    ¡°Even I¡¯ve never seen her face,¡± Vivi told her as she munched on her jerky.

    ¡°Probably because she¡¯s uglier than sin.¡± Rinnie said it with such confidence that Sera nearly believed her, but then she remembered how little the two liked each other.

    ¡°Wait, really?¡±

    ¡°Vivi, I¡¯d like you to think back to every word those two have ever said to each other and consider that question again,¡± Tiriana said wryly, sitting down to join them. Hearing that, Vivi had a look of realization on her face.

    ¡°Oh, right¡­¡±

    ¡°Hey, Tiriana. Should we really be going further in? What happens if we run into more than one of those giants?¡± Sera asked.

    ¡°I would have said no if I thought it was likely. If there were a lot of them here we wouldn¡¯t have run into just one, or at the very least reinforcements would have come for us by now. So either their communications or terrible or there aren¡¯t that many here,¡± Tiriana explained. ¡°Layla would probably have argued but I think Vivi would have sided with me, and even Layla wouldn¡¯t have continued without the both of us.¡±

    ¡°I trust you the most, so yes,¡± Vivi affirmed. ¡°But if you think it¡¯s safe then I¡¯ll follow your lead.¡±

    ¡°Safe is more than I can guarantee, but as long as we don¡¯t fight in a room that large again, we¡¯ll at least have an advantage. Those¡­leapers don¡¯t seem to have any ranged attacks, and Layla can overpower them head to head.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that assuming there are no other types, though?¡± Sera inquired further.

    ¡°We can¡¯t make decisions based on information we don¡¯t have,¡± Tiriana said with a shrug. ¡°We¡¯ll turn back if it gets dangerous, though, don¡¯t worry.¡±

    With that said, they chatted a bit about less important topics before going to bed. Tomorrow was sure to be eventful.

    When the party encountered a second checkpoint, security even more solid than the first, they knew they were close to something critical. There were two ways they could go from there, but the decision to take the one with the most security on it was unanimous. Unlike the previous passages, the traps in this one were linked to scanners that would have disarmed them if presented with some form of identification¡­assuming they were powered, that is.

    ¡°I¡¯ve never seen a setup like this before,¡± Rinnie admitted as she examined the first obstacle they encountered. Previous triggers had been unpredictable and hard to spot; this one was obvious, but also unavoidable. Tiriana had identified triggers for magical traps that were currently unpowered, but even with those out of the way, the group was still faced with a stretch of pressure plates with no gaps between them.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t this be your specialty?¡± Layla spat, unamused by the wait as Rinnie tried to disable the trap. The construction seemed to be too solid to be bypassed, though, and she hadn¡¯t even managed to pry any of the bricks loose to get at the mechanisms below.

    ¡°Don¡¯t be rude,¡± Tiriana admonished with a sigh. ¡°This sort of security is usually reserved for vaults and command centers. It¡¯s meant to prevent anyone from entering unauthorized while still ensuring people that should be there can get in without someone letting them in from the inside. The traps we¡¯ve seen before now are probably remotely activated instead.¡±Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    ¡°I don¡¯t care what it¡¯s for, I care about getting past it.¡±

    ¡°A water-walking miracle should get us through, I think. It¡¯s an unconventional application but the effect is essentially to reduce surface pressure,¡± Vivi contributed. Tiriana looked to Rinnie first, but she just shrugged, so the elf gave Vivi a nod. ¡°Alright, give me some time to prepare it. Blessing five people at once will take a longer prayer.¡±

    Most of Vivi¡¯s miracles had been performed with just a couple of verses in Sera¡¯s experience, but this time she began to recite what seemed like an entire poem. The rest of the group sat around awkwardly waiting for Vivi to finish with nothing else to do. Eventually she finished, but a few more moments passed as they looked at each other, none of them quite willing to be the first to test it.

    ¡°You go first. Scouting is your role, is it not?¡± Layla said to Rinnie after a few seconds of silence.

    ¡°And you survived the last trap you walked into without a scratch. How about you do it?¡± the little archer retorted, pointing at Layla¡¯s sturdy armor.

    ¡°You¡¯re both ridiculous. Here, happy?¡± Tiriana said with a sigh, stepping onto the pressure plates with an air of calm. Sera wasn¡¯t exactly surprised when nothing bad happened, but she was glad she hadn¡¯t needed to test it, all the same. With a bit of grumbling the others started to move as well.

    Soon the group came to a point in the hall where it cut sharply to the left. It wasn¡¯t a complete ninety-degree turn; if she were forced to estimate, Sera would guess it was somewhere around forty-five to sixty degrees. If the layout of the fortress was mirrored, the hall on the other side would be doing the same, so they likely terminated in a room rather than connecting directly to form a loop.

    ¡°Wait here. I heard something,¡± Rinnie whispered after a few more minutes of walking. She disappeared into the darkness, one hand on the wall to guide her. Sera and the others waited in silence until she returned, a serious look on her face.

    ¡°Enemies ahead?¡± Layla asked bluntly when Rinnie was close enough to pick up her whisper. Rinnie nodded gravely.

    ¡°Three. There¡¯s a chamber at the end of the hall with a trio of those giants sorting scrap in it. Metal, and some kind of glowing crystal fragments,¡± Rinnie reported. ¡°I don¡¯t think they noticed me. The door was only open a crack.¡±

    ¡°How big is the room?¡± Tiriana asked next.

    ¡°Pretty big, but nothing compared to that cistern. We can probably lure them into the hall safely, though, since the traps stop a bit before the door.¡±

    ¡°Assuming they¡¯re dumb enough to follow us out, anyway. Hmm¡­I think I should go in first. I can hit them with something powerful, but I¡¯ll need to take precautions or I¡¯ll blow out all of our eardrums.¡± Tiriana seemed to be preparing her spells already when she finished speaking, confident no one would object. She wasn¡¯t wrong, although it was likely not because the others simply had that much confidence in her abilities.

    ¡°Feel free,¡± Layla huffed. ¡°It is not as if their capabilities will improve if you fail.¡±

    ¡°Make sure to pull back and let the big lug take the hits if you botch it,¡± Rinnie responded in turn.

    ¡°Thanks for the vote of confidence, you two,¡± the elven mage shot back sarcastically before going ahead. The other followed behind at a short distance and waited for Tiriana to launch her surprise attack. She stopped before the door, and paused, and then all sound from her direction cut off entirely and the light from Vivi¡¯s luminary seemed to dim starting a few feet from the elf.

    When she was ready, Tiriana threw open the door and cast one arm forward- at which point Zeus himself seemed to descend upon the room ahead. No one had any doubt exactly why she had needed them to stay back. Even through her veil of shadow, Tiriana¡¯s lightning blast was nearly blinding, and although the sound was heavily muted, it was still audible. Such a massive burst of power didn¡¯t come without a toll, however, as the elf was left panting by the exertion.

    Sera and the others came up behind her fully expecting that attack to have annihilated their opponents, but Tiriana never took her eyes off of the room ahead, waiting for the smoke to clear. She no longer had the energy to clear it out magically without it being wasteful, so it was several long moments before the air was clear enough to see.

    ¡°Impossible,¡± was the first word from her mouth. One of the giants in the room beyond, similar in appearance to the one they fought the day before, lay smoking on the ground, immobile. The other two, thicker and more heavily armored, though, were not only intact but utterly undamaged. Rinnie loosed an arrow the instant they came into sight, and although her target failed to catch the arrow, it simply bounced off its armor instead.

    ¡°That arrow had so much mana in it that it could have put a hole in Aisinct,¡± she commented bitterly.

    ¡°The fact you won¡¯t stop bringing that up is exactly why he hates you,¡± Tiriana told the scout before bringing both her hands up at the same time as their two enemies, projecting a barrier just before a hail of bullets came their way. They bounced harmlessly off Tiriana¡¯s wall of force, but she looked strained, unlike the last time Sera saw her fend off bullets. ¡°I think those two are interfering with mana somehow. Their bullets are draining my barrier.¡±

    ¡°So you mean to say you are useless in this fight,¡± Layla accused as she stepped forward, observing the bullets coming their way from the edge of Tiriana¡¯s defensive screen.

    ¡°Of course not! They can only disrupt spells held together with mana, so if I throw a physical object at them it¡¯ll hurt the same! But it would be nice if you¡¯d stop looking and help so I can cast something else!¡±

    With a harrumph, the armored woman stepped out of cover, and to Sera¡¯s amazement, her armor survived the incoming hail of projectiles none the worse for wear. She merely stood there while bullets challenged her plate mail and lost. After a moment of that, she unslung her poleax and started to march forward as the giants shifted their aim to her. Their aim was remarkably accurate, with few if any of the rounds missing their target, granting Tiriana a reprieve.

    A flash from behind heralded the complete of a miracle by Vivi, who stepped up and patted Tiriana on the back.

    ¡°I temporarily consecrated the doorway as a temple door. We should be safe for the moment, so don¡¯t worry about us and do your thing.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. Hope they enjoyed that freebie because it¡¯s the only one they¡¯re getting.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Two

    Sera and the rest of the party backtracked to the previous security station after locating the control station for the fortress¡¯s core and shutting down the traps in the hallway. Fortunately the physical traps had a physical off-switch to match, easily identifiable because it was the only physical control there. It was designed to require a key, but Rinnie had been able to pick the lock.

    After passing through the once-dangerous hallway and transiting through the security station, the group took the other door they had previously ignored, finding a staircase leading up not far away. Sera looked at the steps with apprehension, remembering how much of a trial the last set had been. A tug on her sleeve drew her attention elsewhere.

    ¡°Carry me,¡± Vivi said to her, a pleasing expression on her face. Layla and Rinnie were already on their way up, undaunted.

    ¡°I can barely get myself up them¡­¡± Sera told the cleric, who sighed in disappointment. ¡°Let¡¯s just get it over with. Come on.¡± Side by side, they started up the stairs. It was like ascending a staircase while only using every third step, but with triple the stair count in turn. Sera mused to herself that a setup like this could be great for athletes on Earth to exercise on.

    ¡°Why don¡¯t you¡­just use a spell or something for this¡­¡± she asked Tiriana, who was a bit ahead of she and Vivi, panting just as hard when they neared the top.

    ¡°I¡¯m good at flinging things¡­not moving them slowly¡­¡± the mage answered miserably. Sera thought back to those projectiles she¡¯d launched in the last fight and got the point. Only Layla had a chance of surviving assistance like that.

    Layla and Rinnie had already begun looking around by the time they reached the top, and the latter was on her way back to let them know what she had found.

    ¡°We¡¯re close to the surface. This floor has a lot of workshops and some of them look like they were basements, but the buildings above collapsed and blocked the stairs. We can probably unblock them, and by we, I mean you,¡± the scout told Tiriana, who was still catching her breath. The elf gave Rinnie an annoyed look, as if wondering why she couldn¡¯t have waited.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not¡­I don¡¯t know¡­how much damage it would cause,¡± Tiriana replied through heavy breathing. Rinnie shrugged as if it didn¡¯t concern her.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no traps that I¡¯ve seen, probably because it¡¯s a civilian area, so I¡¯m going to just scout ahead and look for more of those giants.¡± With that, she headed off down the hall. Unlike the lower levels, this one seemed to be dimly lit thanks to light seeping in through the open doors of various workshops- gaps in the rubble blocking the stairs that Rinnie had mentioned, in all likelihood. Although the lighting was probably too poor to make out any detail, or even color, it would be enough to get a general sense of things even away from Vivi¡¯s luminary.

    Once the three non-warriors had finally recovered, they looked into the first workshop. It was packed full of magical apparatuses unidentifiable to Sera, all sized for beings much larger. Were she to take a seat in one of the chairs, she would look like a toddler with how her legs would hang above the ground, and her head barely rose above the tables and countertops.

    ¡°Judging by the setup, they were in the early stages of industrialization,¡± Tiriana commented as she walked around the room, examining various devices. ¡°Look at how they¡¯re set up so that each magic tool feeds into the next. They had the assembly line down, they were just doing it on a workshop scale.¡±

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that a bit backwards? I remember on Earth that we started by massing workers in one place on lots of separate machines before we transitioned to assembly lines,¡± Sera replied, puzzled by the odd setup. She didn¡¯t really understand what any of the tools here did, but they seemed to comprise a single complete assembly line in a small room, as opposed to many parallel lines in one huge building.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s no reason they had to come up with the two ideas in the same order. If they started with specialized craftsmen sharing a workshop, each doing their own part of the process¡­¡±

    ¡°Then their first move when they figured out machines would be to do the same thing with added automation,¡± Sera finished. ¡°So they skipped the step of replacing the craftsmen with a identical machines for making interchangeable parts and instead started making unique parts using automation.¡±

    It was strange to think about. Doing it this way, assuming the magic tools weren¡¯t designed to the same specifications in every workshop, would increase productivity massively, but every product could only be repaired by the manufacturer without access to identical replacement parts- even the tools themselves. Every workshop would have different standards, training, and rules, as well. As a side effect, it probably prevented wealth from accumulating in a handful of large factory owners, since each workshop had lower individual productivity and a separate owner.

    Presumably, the next step would have been to consolidate and standardize, but they hadn¡¯t gotten that far before being wiped out. Sera wondered whether the tech side had advanced along the same lines or if they had already hit upon the same mass production methods used on modern Earth.

    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°I wonder if this entire level is workshops,¡± Vivi added. There was nothing else to be learned here, so they went to find out. Sure enough, they found workshop after workshop- but more significantly, they found their first signs of resistance. After encountering at least a dozen workshops, the group finally came upon a crude barricade, riddled with bullet holes and smashed. The area in front of it bore signs of offensive magic being cast, leaving burns and other scars in the brickwork.

    ¡°Odd that the checkpoints were unscathed, but they made a stand on the workshop level,¡± Sera remarked. Clanking signaled the return of Layla from ahead, though Rinnie was still nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Perhaps they concentrated their forces at a more defensible position on the lower levels and had no one left to defend them,¡± she speculated, having already examined the battlefield. ¡°Those that fought here were likely the craftsmen, making a last stand. Their spells do not appear to have been particularly potent.¡±

    ¡°They might have been caught by surprise down below wiped out before they could resist, too,¡± Tiriana pointed out. ¡°Everything I¡¯ve seen so far indicates these people were advanced in engineering and defensive magic, but it¡¯s possible they weren¡¯t particularly good at fighting.¡±

    Layla grunted in affirmation. ¡°Either way, I suspect the buildings above the workshops were demolished deliberately to slow down their foes. Otherwise it make no sense to defend this position, where they could easily be flanked from the workshops behind them.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d be curious to know if this was before or after the core was destroyed, but there¡¯s no way to tell. They certainly would have noticed they had been infiltrated when the fortress collapsed, though.¡±

    ¡°Technically we don¡¯t even know the attacked destroyed the core,¡± Sera pointed out. ¡°Maybe they wrecked it to keep the fortress from falling into enemy hands?¡±

    ¡°Either way it does not affect us. I am more concerned with the tactics used to take the fortress, as it may gift us insight into our foes.¡±

    With that they moved on, looking for an unobstructed staircase with which they could reach the surface. It soon became clear that they would not find on within a workshop. Each one had been thoroughly blocked, and subsequent barricades told of why- a desperate battle had occurred here, with the defenders falling back to additional lines of defense over its course.

    Their findings painted a grim picture of the city¡¯s final moments. But even here, they found no bodies. Further evidence the attackers had been taking people prisoner to encase them in those suits. They didn¡¯t know enough about either society to be certain the armored beings weren¡¯t volunteers, but there was little enough evidence of the tech side using magic to make one wonder where they would have found mages willing to undergo such an operation elsewise.

    The devastation grew as they continued, the defenders having grown more ferocious every time a barricade fell. At first the destruction they caused was limited, which Layla had attributed to civilian mages, but they may have been concerned about damaging the halls with more powerful spells, and that worry may have dropped in importance the further they were pushed, judging by the escalating collateral damage. Wider scorch marks, craters carved in the brickwork, magical ice that had yet to fully melt, and spikes formed of the walls themselves all greeted the party.

    Finally they came across a room at the end of the hallway that was home to a wide staircase, covered only by a gazebo that wouldn¡¯t have been sufficient to block it if collapsed and perforated with tiny holes, better for keeping out the sun than the elements. The floor was slightly sloped towards grates on the sides of the rooms, as if the room doubled as a rain collection system for the cistern far below. That might have been why so many workshops had their own stairs to the surface.

    Rinnie was waiting at the top of the stairs, grassy hair swaying in the breeze as she looked out over the fortress¡¯s surface. She heard the others approach and waved them up, indicating the area was safe. Tiriana, Vivi, and Sera glanced at each other before scaling this final staircase, all three hoping to avoid stairs in the near future.

    When they crested the top, they beheld a vision of opposites: on one side there were farms and fields, with a forest in the distance, all of them in pristine condition, and on the other, to the center of the great turtle¡¯s back, a city lying in ruins. The city largely blocked their view of the far side of the fortress¡¯s back, but the layout they could see suggested that the residential section was in the center, with a double line of workshops on the outer edge and fields furthest out. Even from here they could see that the forest didn¡¯t form a full ring around the city, though, so it didn¡¯t seem that the area was full symmetrical.

    ¡°Why destroy the entire city¡­?¡± Vivi whispered as she took in the sights.

    ¡°I doubt the defenders could have put up enough of a fight to warrant it, but it is possible they destroyed it to spite their foes,¡± Layla responded grimly. Sera didn¡¯t think that was likely though- she had seen pictures of warzones on Earth and this wasn¡¯t the same.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think this was deliberate,¡± she told them as she scanned the ruins. ¡°I¡¯ve seen pictures of cities destroyed in wars¡­I¡¯m no expert, but the buildings didn¡¯t completely collapse like this. This looks more like an earthquake hit a city that wasn¡¯t built with them in mind.¡±

    Most of the buildings were little more than piles of debris; only the sturdiest structures like the central keep had survived. Sera had assumed the damage to the outer walls was caused by the army of tanks, but now it seemed clear that they had partially collapsed from the quake.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure what an earthquake is, but I can guess what you mean- you think the buildings fell to pieces when the fortress collapsed?¡± Tiriana asked, and Sera nodded to confirm. Omichl¨®dis likely didn¡¯t have tectonic activity, so it wasn¡¯t as obvious a conclusion for its natives. ¡°I see why they didn¡¯t leave behind many troops. There was nothing left to occupy.¡±

    A moment of silence passed as they looked out at the remains of a city whose people had once built one of the greatest marvels of magical engineering ever created. Nothing remained but dust and wind of their once proud civilization. The silence was suddenly broken when Rinnie turned to Tiriana and posed a question that left her speechless.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t you just conjure dirt to make the stairs into ramps?¡±

 Chapter Twenty Three

    Finally having reached the surface, the party trudged through the ruins of a once prosperous town in silence. Mostly because of the magnitude of what had happened here, but at least a little bit because Tiriana was still sullen about Rinnie realizing she could have built ramps at any time before she herself ever did. There were no sounds but the crunching of boots on gravel that had once been brick, the ruins having long had time to settle past the point of collapsing on their own.

    While it was quiet, that didn¡¯t mean there were no signs of anyone disturbing the rubble. In places it had clearly been shifted unnaturally, exposing spaces where the falling buildings had formed small bubbles of safety. Survivors may have thought themselves safe there¡­before they learned that their rescuers were in fact their captors. The rest of the ruins were in such a state that any intrusion was impossible to tell apart from any other pile of rubble.

    ¡°I wonder if they even need people alive to suit them up,¡± Sera remarked when the silence had begun to grow uncomfortable. ¡°They definitely seem to have a bit too much interest in the dead to be taking them for no reason.¡±

    ¡°We really need a better name for these guys than ¡®they¡¯ and ¡®them,¡¯¡± Rinnie muttered.

    ¡°Revenants, maybe. Or nachzehrer¡­if they¡¯re even using the dead to make more of themselves that¡¯s more fitting, but maybe that¡¯s just gratuitous German.¡±

    ¡°I only care how to kill them,¡± Layla said in annoyance; even Sera rolled her eyes this time.

    ¡°No one asked. Go find a can opener for that metal head of yours,¡± Rinnie sniped back, noticeably distancing herself from Layla.

    ¡°Repeat that to my face, you ambulatory salad.¡±

    As the two rivals began arguing again, Vivi sidled up to Sera.

    ¡°I like nachzehrer. I don¡¯t know what it means, but we¡¯ve already got something called a revenant,¡± the cleric told her. ¡°That¡¯s what we call the bodies of warriors that fell in dungeons and reanimated.¡±

    ¡°A nachzehrer is a dead person that emerged from the grave to drag the living back with them. Undead body snatchers, essentially,¡± Sera explained. ¡°For all I know they¡¯re doing something else with the bodies, though. I hope they are, even. Ignoring how grotesque that would be, there¡¯s no telling how many of them there could be.¡±

    ¡°Not enough to leave a rearguard here¡­but maybe that¡¯s precisely why they didn¡¯t,¡± Tiriana interjected ominously. ¡°If these¡­nachzehrer¡­can make more of themselves using corpses, they might have prioritized grabbing every body they could find over everything else.¡±

    ¡°That seems like it¡¯s assuming a lot about their intelligence, but I guess it could be instinct.¡± Sera almost tripped over a small mound of rubble when she looked at Tiriana to reply, but caught herself at the last second, continuing on like it didn¡¯t happen in spite of reddening cheeks.

    ¡°I know Layla said they weren¡¯t very smart, but they were clever enough to take the fort in the first place. We should probably assume that even if the rank and file don¡¯t have much going for them, something or someone is directing them.¡±

    With that unsettling thought now in everyone¡¯s minds, the group approached the central keep, which seemed to be the only structure left standing. It had doubtlessly seen better days, though. As they trekked around its outer perimeter in search of a way in, Sera observed numerous pits in the stone where bullets had struck and the occasional twisted remains of something identifiable only as having once been a metal object. She assumed they were weapons judging by their placement on the walls above, but she couldn¡¯t tell from here for certain.

    Even the closest ruins surrounding the fort within a fort had been devastated by whatever battle took place. Like the hall the group passed through below, residue from spells was apparent in the way the rubble had been scorched, blasted apart, and frozen in equal measures. In some places it looked like the stone had been outright melted into a blackened material like obsidian.

    When the doors eventually came into view, on the side of the keep facing the head of the turtle it sat upon, Sera wasn¡¯t sure if ¡®door¡¯ was even a word that could be applied to them anymore. They were rendered into so many charred splinters she was making assumptions just by concluding she was looking at the remains of a door at all. Were it not for the empty hinges still attached to the stone doorway, she might have thought she was looking at a barricade that had been blasted apart.

    Within was a narrow space separating the outer wall from the inner tower. The entire keep wasn¡¯t all that large, with the walls being perhaps twenty meters on each side and the tower only half of that. If there was grass in the courtyard once it had been reduced to ashes now. Two defensive emplacements flanked the door to the tower within, both barely recognizable in their current state.

    ¡°They certainly fought hard to keep the nachzehrer out of this place,¡± Rinnie said with a whistle, examining the devastated entryway.

    Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    ¡°How did the keep survive a quake that toppled the rest of the city?¡± Vivi wondered aloud upon seeing it up close.

    ¡°It was enchanted the same way as the fortress¡¯s foundations,¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°But not the rest of the town?¡±

    ¡°This structure was meant to be permanent. The rest were transitory, to be replaced when needed,¡± Layla said. ¡°It must have contained something important.¡±

    ¡°No sense speculating when we can go in and find out.¡± Having said that Rinnie walked into the tower, followed by everyone else. The ground floor was nothing but a burned out husk of a room, a trend that continued for the next several floors. The tower had been of such importance to its owners that they fought tooth and nail to keep any intruders from reaching the fifth floor, any discernable purpose to the bottom four lost to the flames of war.

    Although Sera recognized none of what she saw on that final level, she and everyone else were certain it must have been the control center of the entire turtle fortress. As they walked amongst the numerous strange devices they found that the layout at the very least was recognizable: a dais with its own set of apparatuses in the back and several tiers of control stations in front of it, all easily within view of the person at the back.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see any labels,¡± Vivi pointed out in frustration, having been denied a chance to translate anything for the party.

    ¡°The residents probably didn¡¯t need them. Some of these look incomplete, though¡­there are some blank surfaces here and there that are too big to be left for no reason. Magical interfaces that shut down along with the core, I¡¯d wager,¡± Tiriana responded while she examined a control station more closely.

    ¡°Why put so much effort into defending this room if the power was out anyway?¡± Sera wondered.

    ¡°It was the most defensible location left to them. They had nowhere else to run,¡± was Layla¡¯s depressing answer to that question.

    ¡°And they took them all in the end¡­¡± Sera muttered, looking around the empty room. A thought occurred to her as she remembered a conversation with Vivi days back. ¡°Hey, I heard Vivi mention potentially moving in here as a new base, but the, ah, nachzehrer, were sorting the core components for a reason, right? What will we do if they return for them?¡±

    ¡°We can probably reactivate some of the defenses¡­and we already know that they don¡¯t deal well with mixed groups of mages and warriors, so we can fend them off better than the inhabitants here. We just need to return with a full research team, and with a find like this, we¡¯ll definitely be able to catch some attention back home,¡± Tiriana said. Glancing at Layla, she continued. ¡°Oh, don¡¯t state at me like that. All our names will be in the report.¡±

    ¡°¡­who do you even send these reports to, anyway?¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s a few different news agencies that compile investigation reports from adventurers on the rim and publish them. We give them a summary of what we¡¯ve found and information on what they can expect to run into out here and they distribute it to the sorts of investors that fund research expeditions so they can have their name on the next big discovery.¡±

    ¡°And they just¡­believe everything you say? What if you exaggerate?¡±

    ¡°The first thing they¡¯ll do is send their own people to check out our claims, of course. Sending a couple people out here for a couple days on a courier ship doesn¡¯t take very long.¡±

    ¡°Huh. I would ask about the ethics of building a base inside the research site, but¡­¡± Sera walked over to one of the windows, a narrow arrow slit that gave the people inside the tower a good view but made it hard to see in form the outside. ¡°I suppose there¡¯s not much left to preserve here, anyway.¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re not exactly looking at an ancient burial site, either. This is an abandoned construct that¡¯s been unoccupied by its builders for weeks at best that we took from a hostile occupying force, not an archaeological dig site,¡± Rinnie chipped in from her spot at another window scanning the surroundings out of habit.

    ¡°So¡­we¡¯re done here, right? I don¡¯t see anything I can translate or bring back,¡± Vivi asked, a bit dissatisfied at that. If Sera had to guess, she probably wasn¡¯t happy that her main contribution had been ¡®living flashlight.¡¯

    ¡°As done as we¡¯re going to get. I¡¯d prefer to take some measures to keep a dungeon from forming, but the underground sections are too big for a quick spell to help much¡­¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°How do you think they were doing it originally? Did all the spells around the fortress handle it?¡± Sera asked.

    ¡°It may not have even been an issue for them. Just because mana works that way here doesn¡¯t mean it was the same in their world. But yes, we would probably need to reactivate a lot of the spell formations down there to stop it from happening. The only question is where we can get the power. There¡¯s no way we could get a new core into that chamber below even if we could get one out here at all.¡±

    ¡°If we can¡¯t do it, how did they get the core there?¡± Vivi questioned.

    ¡°Teleportation, probably. It¡¯s dangerous here because it¡¯s essentially playing with the same forces that bring monsters to Omichl¨®dis, but if they didn¡¯t have that problem, it would be easy.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯d think people that advanced would have at least had a backup power supply,¡± Rinnie snarked. Tiriana froze.

    ¡°Say that again.¡±

    ¡°What? That they should have had a backup?¡± Rinnie asked in confusion.

    ¡°That. That¡¯s it. There¡¯s no way they wouldn¡¯t have a secondary core, even if it¡¯s weaker than the original. The nachzehrer might have even been maintaining a presence here because they planned to reactivate it,¡± Tiriana explained in excitement.

    ¡°Why didn¡¯t the people that lived here use it, then? Wouldn¡¯t it just activate automatically when the primary core failed?¡± Sera asked her next.

    ¡°Not if the nachzehrer knew about it and disconnected it first. They couldn¡¯t shut down the primary core without a way to bypass security or disconnect it safely while it was active, but if the backup was still offline, they could have physically severed its connections to the power grid. That might just be what they wanted the primary core¡¯s fragments for. Those are just the materials they would need to reconnect the secondary core!¡±

    Tiriana paced back and forth across the room as she spoke, as much to herself as to anyone else in the room. Excitement was plain on her face: the look of someone scheming to play with a toy they never thought they¡¯d have.

    ¡°So we need to find that secondary thing first?¡± Vivi asked, looking a bit lost.

    ¡°No¡­we¡¯ll need more personnel for that. We¡¯ve barely even scratched the surface of the tunnels running through this fortress. We skipped some doors that might have been hallways, never checked out the areas the lift can access, and there¡¯s probably all kinds of hidden passages. But when we come back¡­that¡¯s going to be our first priority.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Four

    A few days after returning to camp, Sera found herself called to a room she¡¯d never entered before by Tiriana. When she arrived, she found both Tiriana and Vivi present, standing in front of a round pedestal of some sort, with a lens set into its flattened top. It was the only piece of furniture in the small room, which would only have fit one or two more people inside.

    ¡°Oh, hi,¡± she said lamely, surprised by Vivi¡¯s presence. ¡°What¡¯d you need me for?¡±

    ¡°We¡¯re about to talk to a liaison with the Seventh Fleet. Since you were there when we encountered the nachzehrer too, I wanted you present in case they have anything they want clarified,¡± Tiriana explained.

    ¡°I thought you were submitting some kind of report?¡± Sera asked, having expected that to be a written report. ¡°Also, what about Layla and Rinnie?¡±

    ¡°We did; this is a follow up that they requested. I tried to get the other two in here, but Rinnie already vanished and Layla was a hard no,¡± the mage replied with a roll of her eyes.

    ¡°I tried to guilt her by looking pathetic but she¡¯s immune,¡± Vivi added.

    ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s not really a surprise. How am I going to understand them if they¡¯re not here, though?¡± Sera asked.

    ¡°You¡¯ll be connecting to the beacon here as if it¡¯s a person. It¡¯s designed for compatibility with translation spells since they¡¯re so commonly used,¡± Tiriana answered. ¡°Ready? They¡¯ll probably be calling any moment now, so this is the last chance to ask any questions.¡±

    ¡°Well-¡± Sera began, but she was cut off by the beacon¡¯s lens lighting up. Tiriana leaned over to tap the lens in response and an image appeared above it of a man in a green uniform. He was an elf that looked to be fairly young, sporting a neatly trimmed beard. The image was so vivid that he could have been in the room personally if not for the fact his feet were missing, cut off to put him on a level with the three women in the room.

    ¡°Good afternoon. Tiriana and I have spoken before, but for the others, I am Lieutenant Meriocu.¡± He paused for a moment to glance around, apparently able to see the three of them on his side. ¡°Were there not five people present for this event?¡±

    ¡°It was an impromptu party and the remaining two refused to cooperate¡­or rather, the one I was even able to locate did. I was only able to bring our cleric, Vivi, and the mistwalker, Sera,¡± Tiriana replied, nodding at each woman as she introduced them.

    ¡°Unfortunate, but such is the way of adventurers, I suppose,¡± the officer sighed. ¡°I requisitioned an official scouting team, but there is little chance of the request being approved, so I would like to gather as much information as possible on these¡­nachzehrer.¡±

    ¡°Of course. Everything I know was in the report, though, so what did you want to ask?¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll have to forgive me if some of this seems a bit¡­fantastical. You¡¯re not only reporting a pre-existing magic-using society in the frontier zone, but a technological one opposing it? That defies our current understanding of many subjects.¡± Tiriana looked like she wanted to object, but he held up a hand to stop her. ¡°We¡¯ll move past that, as there¡¯s no point arguing about it until we¡¯ve acquired some of the samples you¡¯ve mentioned and sent them to independent workshops for verification. For now, let¡¯s assume those claims are true.¡±

    ¡°What I find most concerning are a pair of points, one of which I suspect we will not be able to address to my satisfaction without your scout present. Your report indicates that the technological society has access to air travel. It does not specify whether or not that access extends to the nachzehrer. Could you shine any light on that matter?¡±

    ¡°Unfortunately, no. While we have reason to believe the nachzehrer may have participated in an attack on the magical society using ground vehicles, it remains unclear whether they were working with their creators at the time or independently. The military base we found might have been abandoned using aircraft, but we don¡¯t know who was in control of it at the time,¡± Tiriana answered. Meriocu looked frustrated by the ambiguity, but pressed on.

    ¡°I can¡¯t offer any official requests, much less a reward at this time, but please make investigating that a priority if you could. That information may greatly affect our response to the situation. Our initial survey indicates the frontier is unusually vast, so the force deployment required for a full investigation is more than we can get authorization for without evidence,¡± he told them.

    ¡°Uh, if you don¡¯t mind me asking, how did the survey team miss all of this? From what we can tell the fighting was pretty recent- it might have even been active at the time,¡± Sera interjected, raising her hand hesitantly.

    ¡°I¡¯ve looked into that, and it appears the scouting teams never reported a fortress on the scale you encountered. Our best guess is that it possesses some sort of cloaking enchantment that was taken offline when the primary core was destroyed. I can¡¯t see how else it could have been missed.

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    ¡°We knew about the other civilization present but¡­there were no signs of life in any of the settlements we found. Communications were sent out in case there was anyone in hiding, but there were no responses. The official verdict was that the region was occupied, but had been evacuated prior to being fully taken by the mist,¡± the lieutenant explained in response to Sera¡¯s question.

    ¡°That¡¯s plausible if the frontier is as big as he says. They would have had plenty of time to react,¡± Vivi contributed.

    ¡°Precisely. Now, my other concern is your theory about the nachzehrer taking bodies. Are you certain about that?¡±

    ¡°The only thing we¡¯re certain about is the lack of corpses. Between the fortress and military base I¡¯ve found exactly one, and it was both in poor condition and very difficult to reach. They may not have even realized it was there before leaving that base,¡± Tiriana responded.

    ¡°I was the one that proposed the idea, but it was just a theory. For all we know they¡¯re using the bodies for food, or experimentation, or resources- the trees apparently have metal in them, so who knows what¡¯s in the people?¡± Sera added. She hadn¡¯t expected her offhand comment to garner this level of scrutiny and wanted to emphasize that it was little more than a passing thought.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hope that there¡¯s nothing to it. If the worst case scenario comes to pass and they can not only replicate themselves with the dead but have done so with the entire frontier¡¯s population, then it was probably too late to stop them from the start. A war on that scale¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­would potentially be the next great incursion,¡± Tiriana finished. ¡°But even knowing that¡¯s a possibility, the fleet still won¡¯t muster?¡±

    ¡°An incursion is a possibility every time there¡¯s a frontier. Even if we could manage it logistically so far from home, we don¡¯t have enough ships in the entire fleet. And the number of frontiers is only going to increase,¡± Meriocu regretfully stated.

    Sera frowned. ¡°What happens if a full-on incursion happens but there¡¯s no adventurers around to catch it?¡± she asked, feeling as if the system didn¡¯t quite make sense.

    ¡°We¡¯re not actually relying on the reports we get from adventurers so much as we¡¯re using them as an additional source of information where available. Our scrying network will pick up anything passing over the second ice ring and a battleship group is always ready to deploy while the rest of the fleet is reactivated.¡± It was the officer¡¯s turn to frown. ¡°At any rate, it seems the most important questions will have to go unanswered for now. Do you have any other observations you¡¯d like to share?¡±

    ¡°Anything we could think of was in the report, but we¡¯ll be sure to let you know as soon as we learn anything else. I¡¯m sure some of the others are ranging further out by now as well, so I¡¯ll have to see if I can get anything from them,¡± Tiriana replied. ¡°I¡¯d like to lead an expedition to one of the settlements you mentioned, but we don¡¯t have the resources for it at the moment.¡±

    ¡°Ah, well, on that front I may have good news for you. I heard that an investigator¡¯s travel permit was approved yesterday. If all goes well you may be seeing more company out there soon enough, though I can¡¯t guarantee they¡¯ll be willing to cooperate with you,¡± Meriocu told them with a wry smile.

    ¡°An investigator¡­for a private investor, I assume? That is good news, and faster than I expected. Someone must have already had their eye on the area to have made a request that quickly. I¡¯ll make sure to stay at our base to meet with them, since no one else around here is liable to anyway.¡±

    Lieutenant Meriocu said his goodbyes and ended the call, leaving Tiriana, Sera, and Vivi alone in the little communications room.

    ¡°I was expecting more questions,¡± Sera admitted once the call had ended. ¡°Why bother to call us just to ask about those two things?¡±

    ¡°He thought those two questions were important enough to warrant a call,¡± Tiriana disagreed.

    ¡°The Lieutenant is worried. He thinks the situation will escalate and is hoping to gather enough information to make the politicians back home react sooner,¡± Vivi observed.

    ¡°Do politicians ever react quickly? Back home they usually didn¡¯t do anything until it was a few decades too late,¡± Sera said, but Vivi shook her head.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a little different here. Your world had no gods, right? Here, we started making our leaders give oaths to the god of Law thousands of years ago. They must act in the public¡¯s best interest, or a paladin will be sent to judge them as an oathbreaker.¡± Vivi looked unusually serious as she spoke. ¡°The issue here is that their own perception determines if they have broken their oath, which generally prevents them from hiding things. But if they genuinely believe they are acting in the public¡¯s best interests, they¡¯re not doing anything wrong.¡±

    ¡°How is ignoring threats in the public¡¯s best interest?¡± Sera asked in disbelief.

    ¡°Meriocu said it himself: there¡¯s not enough ships to investigate every frontier. The people up top are probably getting plenty of false alarms from the rim every day. They have to decide whether each one warrants a closer look and which are a needless drain on resources that could be better spent elsewhere,¡± Tiriana answered, giving a helpless shrug.

    ¡°Sounds like everything is going to rest on whether we can convince that investigator that coming out here is worth it, then.¡± Sera couldn¡¯t help letting her worry show on her face. It felt like they were in a precarious situation, where they suspected they might be in grave danger but lacked a shred of evidence to convince anyone of it- and their continued survival depended on making someone believe them anyway.

    Retreat was technically an option, but Sera had met enough of the other adventurers now to understand how stubbornly they would fight that decision. Between Broviss¡¯s exile status and Layla¡¯s low opinion of the enemy¡¯s intelligence, acquiring a consensus would be an uphill battle.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think we¡¯ll have any trouble with that. That turtle fortress is an archeological goldmine, and that¡¯s forgetting about the implications of mana in other worlds. The bigger question is whether we can convince the research team we end up with to look at anything else, but even basing ourselves out there would give us an advantage when it comes to exploration,¡± Tiriana assured her, placing a hand on Sera¡¯s shoulder.

    ¡°I just hope a few of them are more talkative than the current crew, personally¡­¡± Vivi noted with exasperation.

 Chapter Twenty Five

    Just as Meriocu promised, it was not even a week before the field camp received a visit from the first outside Sera had seen since arriving there. A strange shape approached from the east, neither ship nor plane but soaring through the sky as if it were the latter. It had no wings like a plane would, and its shape wasn¡¯t hydrodynamic, so it wasn¡¯t like the classic flying boat common in fantasy settings. Instead, the airship reminded Sera more of a bullet casing with the top and bottom flattened, the former to accommodate a deck on the top and the latter for landing.

    There was no visible way for the ship to move itself, but at this point, Sera wasn¡¯t expecting magic to be entirely logical. It probably moved entirely via magic of some sort. The airship came in for a landing a short distance from the camp smoothly and silently, with stubby landing gear extending from the bottom just before it touched the ground. Now that it had landed, Sera was able to get a sense of its scale. It was larger than a truck. At a guess, it had to be at least thirty feet long and tall enough to stand inside.

    A door opened up on the side and a woman stepped out, at least six feet tall and with ash-gray skin. She had slanted eyes with yellow irises and hair that was a vivid yellow, more saturated than would be natural on Earth. Her clothes were loose and blowing, with strange, pale-green designs on them, and on her back was a sheath with eight rods sticking from it.

    ¡°Welcome to our little camp. I¡¯m Tiriana, and this is Sera, my¡­apprentice, I suppose,¡± Tiriana said to the newcomer, though her own description came as a surprise even to Sera.

    ¡°A pleasure. I am Cadenza, an adventurer with the Aegis Company. I¡¯m here at the behest of Sophonike Hippodamides. I believe your name was among those included in the report on this region?¡± the woman said, an elegant lilt to her voice that sounded almost as if she was singing. Tiriana seemed to react to the name of Cadenza¡¯s sponsor, but didn¡¯t comment on it.

    ¡°That¡¯s right. I¡¯m kind of the group¡¯s representative, mostly because no one else can be bothered to talk to other people. Let¡¯s head to the common room to talk,¡± the elf said, leading the way. Cadenza left the door to her ship open, either confident it wouldn¡¯t be stolen or simply forgetful.

    The trio entered the largest building in camp and Tiriana picked a table and sat down, with Sera sitting beside her and Cadenza taking a seat opposite.

    ¡°Would you like anything to eat or drink before we talk?¡± Tiriana asked.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine, thank you. I¡¯d like to wrap this up quickly so we can move onto the sites you found themselves. First, have you found any potential locations for a field camp closer to our places of interest? Specifically, the military base and the¡­fortified turtle,¡± Cadenza asked, saying the last bit as if she didn¡¯t quite believe the words were coming out of her mouth.

    ¡°The region around both sites is mostly plains, so anywhere would probably work, but I¡¯d recommend setting up atop the fortress itself. There¡¯s plenty of space up there and it would be much easier to defend than a camp on the ground,¡± Tiriana replied, shifting to business immediately.

    ¡°And yet, according to your reports, the most likely to be hostile group in the area also happens to have brought down the fortress when it was still working. Wouldn¡¯t they be able to attack us the same way?¡± Cadenza asked.

    ¡°Currently we think they got in through a lower entrance that was blocked when the fortress fell to the ground. There are secret entrances, but according to our cleric, Vivi, most of them aren¡¯t usable, so there¡¯s not many ways in right now, and we can guard the ones that are passable. It would be hard for anyone to climb up the rock faces, too, since they¡¯re mostly smooth and the stone was reinforced heavily, so it would be difficult to create handholds,¡± Tiriana explained, apparently ready for the question.

    ¡°Seems like you thought of everything,¡± Cadenza replied with a smile. ¡°How far is the fortress from the military base?¡±

    ¡°Not far. A few hours by flokka.¡±

    At that point they started going over the minutiae of logistics, base setup, cooperation between the existing group and newcomers, and other topics Sera tuned out. She was really only present because she had nothing better to do, so Tiriana had dragged her along. Instead of listening she put extra focus into her ongoing attempt to condense a core inside herself. She was working on it at essentially all times, but she felt like she made more progress when giving it all of her attention.

    ¡°-Sera?¡± The mistwalker¡¯s head snapped up when she heard her name, finding the other two standing up.

    ¡°Sorry, I was just working on my core. What up?¡±

    ¡°Cadenza wants to check out the sites from the air. Are you coming?¡± Tiriana asked. Sera hurriedly stood, eager to find out what the inside of an airship was like.

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    ¡°Yeah, sounds good.¡±

    The trio walked back to the airship and stepped inside. Its interior was slightly more cramped than Sera had expected with a good portion of it to the rear of the door inaccessible, but the cabin portion was open enough to stand, just as she expected. At the front there was a seat for operator, which Cadenza settled into after leaving her weapons in the rear. Sera and Tiriana took one of the several other seats behind it, arranged similarly to those in a car with a lane through the middle.

    It seemed that the startup process wasn¡¯t instant, so they had a few moments to talk.

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t something like this be really useful for exploring?¡± Sera asked Tiriana when they were both seated.

    ¡°They¡¯re hard to use this far out. In the inner ring, the ambient mana is enough to run on, but further out they need condensed mana crystals. The mana is too thin here to even make crystals, let alone run something like an airship, so it we¡¯d have to pay a mint having them shipped out here just to use it,¡± Tiriana explained. That certainly explained why everything was so low tech- they could only use magic tools that could be powered by a person.

    ¡°I guess fossil fuels probably aren¡¯t an option, either¡­¡± Sera mused, to which Tiriana gave her a questioning look. ¡°It¡¯s what we used to power vehicles on Earth. A kind of power source made out of plants and animals that are buried for millions of years.¡±

    ¡°Buried? We¡¯ve certainly never found anything like that in Omichl¨®dis,¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°Probably some weird effect of how land ends up here. Nuclear probably wouldn¡¯t work for something this small, either¡­I never really thought about how hard it would be to make easily used vehicles without fossil fuels. I think you can make something similar by processing certain plants, but I don¡¯t know how, and I don¡¯t think it was all that good for the environment.¡±

    Before Tiriana could say anything more, the airship lifted off the ground and accelerated rapidly towards the west. A journey that had taken them days on foot took only minutes by airship, so they were soon looking at the fortress from the air, from which it looked like a mere plateau. If she hadn¡¯t seen it from the ground herself, Sera never would have realized it was mobile. Cadenza put the airship into a slow loop around the fortress and then stood, apparently leaving it on autopilot.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go up top for a better view,¡± she said before leading them to a ladder with a hatch at the top. She and Tiriana went up first, with Sera in the rear. There was an odd lack of wind on the deck despite how high up they were, and Sera was disturbed to realize the deck had no railings to prevent anyone falling off.

    ¡°There¡¯s a barrier,¡± Tiriana said after noticing her distress. She pushed her hand against the air and it stopped near the edge as if touching glass.

    ¡°That¡¯ll take some getting used to¡­¡±

    ¡°It looks like there¡¯s even less left of the town than I expected,¡± Cadenza noted, looking down at the fortress. ¡°Was there anything significant in that keep? I can¡¯t imagine there¡¯s much to find anywhere else.¡±

    ¡°Only the controls for the whole turtle, which are useless without power. But there¡¯s an extensive tunnel network under the surface with quite a few workshops that are fully intact. We¡¯ve only seen a couple levels, and we didn¡¯t have time to fully map them out or check every room and hallway,¡± Tiriana explained.

    ¡°There was an elevator we couldn¡¯t use without power, too. If we could find some way to activate it or at least make use of the shaft we¡¯d probably be able to access a lot more,¡± Sera added, keeping one hand on the barrier for reassurance.

    ¡°Mm, I remember you mentioning the tunnels in the report, but I didn¡¯t realize they were so large. We¡¯ll have to bring extra adventurers just to explore them¡­which certainly won¡¯t hurt given the security considerations, anyway. Do you know how the elevator was powered?¡± Cadenza paced the deck as she spoke, seeming to be speaking mostly to herself.

    ¡°A large core. It was utterly destroyed, unfortunately, and my best estimation is that it would have been equivalent to a battleship¡¯s core, so it would be¡­difficult to replace, to say the least,¡± answered Tiriana.

    ¡°I think even Master Hippodamides would find it difficult to procure one of those, but would it be feasible to hook in a smaller core to get other functions working?¡±

    At this point Sera was only keeping up by assuming cores were somewhat similar to nuclear reactors, but she had absolutely no idea how they functioned. Did they produce mana somehow?

    ¡°Sorry to interrupt, but how are cores different from crystals?¡± she asked, hoping the segue wouldn¡¯t be too disruptive.

    ¡°A core is an artificial copy of the crystals that form inside of mages and monsters. They draw in mana from the environment and condense it for use- they can be used both to make power crystals and to provide power. It takes a pretty big one to function in mana this thin, though,¡± Tiriana told her.

    In other words, they weren¡¯t like reactors at all. They were more like¡­solar panels, or lightning rods, gathering energy passively. At least that was one question answered.

    ¡°Where were we? Oh, right. Their power grid works on close enough principles that I think it would be doable. I can only guess at how many functions we¡¯d be able to get working with a smaller core, though,¡± Tiriana continued. ¡°If nothing else it should prevent the underground area from turning into a dungeon, or allow us to clear it out if it already has.¡±

    ¡°Would that not have been obvious when you entered before?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s been over a week since then and the fort was disabled weeks ago. By the time a new core arrives, the tunnels will have been accumulating mana for over a month, and they¡¯re too large for me to ward alone.¡± Tiriana shook her head gravely, aware that this was a potential deal-breaker. No one wanted to sleep on top of a dungeon, where monsters could attack at any moment.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s a risk my client will be willing to take. Since the area already has a high danger rating he already knew he would need to hire out multiple parties for Aegis Company, so that doesn¡¯t change much. If it comes down to it we¡¯ll just set up the core and then clear out whatever monsters are leftover,¡± Cadenza replied, to which Tiriana looked a bit relieved. ¡°Let¡¯s give that base a look and then head back. I think the fortress alone will be enough to get a full-scale research expedition approved, though.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Six

    Cadenza had only been gone for a few days when word came back that an expedition had already been approved. Sera was just returning from fletching arrows when she ran into Tiriana in the common area and heard the news that it would only be a week before the research team departed from Atlantis.

    ¡°Something about this doesn¡¯t feel right to me,¡± Sera told Tiriana when she heard the news. ¡°This whole thing has been progressing unnaturally fast, like sending Cadenza out here was a formality and the expedition was pre-approved. Why would this Hippodamides guy be that interested in what little we¡¯ve learned so far?¡±

    Sera wouldn¡¯t speak it aloud, but she actually suspected one of the adventurers already here was already employed by him. A spy. She couldn¡¯t figure out what the point of it would be, though. There was no way he could have known anything about what could be found here ahead of time, and if he didn¡¯t, why arrange to send a spy to this particular frontier? Deploying spies to every new frontier was also possible, but needlessly extravagant, so Sera ruled that out pretty quickly.

    ¡°Who knows?¡± Tiriana shrugged, unconcerned. ¡°I¡¯ve been involved a couple expeditions before and the sponsors are always a bit¡­quirky. Maybe he just makes his decisions quickly.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s fast and there¡¯s being prepared already. Arranging something like this should take time, right? It feels like he must have already been putting the expedition together before you sent a report back,¡± Sera replied, frustrated at Tiriana¡¯s lack of caution.

    ¡°It¡¯s possible the team is being redirected from another, less significant job. Or they may have been on retainer so they could be deployed quickly,¡± Tiriana suggested.

    ¡°¡­and if it¡¯s related to that prophecy of Vivi¡¯s?¡± Sera asked. That got a response form Tiriana. A dangerous look arose in her eyes that scared even Sera a bit.

    ¡°Then I¡¯m in the perfect place to interfere,¡± the elf stated with finality. Sera took noticed of the verbiage there: Tiriana had said ¡®I.¡¯ Not ¡®we,¡¯ not ¡®Vivi and I.¡¯ While Sera had seen the power Tiriana had at her beck and call, she couldn¡¯t shake the feeling her friend was being overconfident.

    ¡°I hope you¡¯re not intending to fight them some rich guy¡¯s entire forces by yourself,¡± Sera responded.

    ¡°If there¡¯s no other choice, then maybe. I don¡¯t know what he¡¯s after, so it would depend. But more than that, being here before his people means I don¡¯t have to infiltrate them. I¡¯ll be a known quantity and I can make myself a trusted guide from the beginning,¡± Tiriana explained, calming Sera¡¯s fears somewhat. It seemed she wasn¡¯t as unprepared as Sera had thought, and had at least thought things through.

    ¡°Okay. I¡¯ll trust you on that,¡± Sera sighed. ¡°So, what now? Do we need to prepare for their arrival?¡±

    ¡°Vivi and I will probably be joining them at the fortress, and I¡¯m assuming you¡¯ll be coming too, but we¡¯ll be leaving the base largely as-is. The new team will have all the magical tools we¡¯ll need at the new location and some of our anti-social types will likely stay behind,¡± Tiriana told her, rolling her eyes at the end. ¡°It¡¯s not like we have a whole lot of luggage, aside from Broviss¡¯s equipment. Just give him a hand if he asks for it.¡±

    They left it at that and busied themselves with other work in the meantime. Sera continued her efforts at learning Sylvan and Atlantean, mostly, but progress was slow. She could now ask Vivi to pass the salt and other simple phrases like that, but conversation remained beyond her. Once the expedition arrived even that rudimentary level of conversational skills would be important, though, because not everyone learned translation magic.

    Sylvan and Atlantean had had thousands of years to mingle and someone that grew up learning one only needed to expand their vocabulary to learn the other. Most of the population resided in the inner ring, as well, and they didn¡¯t have the need to communicate with people in the middle ring where other languages were more common. And while Sera had only needed a day to learn it, that was with the benefit of an applicable mental image from Earth, which relied on different methods of communication.

    Odds were good that the leadership and adventurers would know the spell, but that the bulk of the staff wouldn¡¯t, because everyone in the group already spoke one or both of the common tongues.

    A week passed as Sera redoubled her attempts at learning at becoming multilingual, and soon it was the day of the research expedition¡¯s arrival. Sera stood with Vivi and Tiriana at the head of a herd of flokkas. Layla and Rinnie were present as well, but they were on opposite sides of the cluster of avian mounts, mostly to avoid talking with each other. A few other adventurers were out of camp and would meet them at the fortress, and the support staff were around somewhere, as they weren¡¯t remaining here either.

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    To Sera¡¯s left was a large crate with air holes. Broviss¡¯s dislike of the outdoors was so great that, although he¡¯d decided to accompany them, he¡¯d also sealed himself in a box and refused to emerge until it was inside one of the underground workshops they¡¯d found.

    Sera looked up at the descending airship. This one was much larger than Cadenza¡¯s courier ship, meant for transporting hundreds of people and a significant amount of cargo on top of that. It was much wider, like a manta ray in appearance, complete with an ovular structure at the front that Sera couldn¡¯t identify. Like the smaller ship she¡¯d seen before, it was flat on top to accommodate a deck, and although this one had wings, they didn¡¯t seem to be for aerodynamics. Judging by the windows she saw, they were likely meant to provide more space for passengers.

    On final approach, the ship spun around, facing its rear to the field camp. Landing struts emerged when the passenger ship neared the ground, and when it landed, a massive cargo door descended at the rear. Only one person came down from the ramp, a scaled being with a stride and posture not dissimilar to a chimp¡¯s, suggesting an arboreal lifestyle by nature. Their face was lizard like, but the snout curved down like a bird¡¯s beak despite clearly being a scaly mouth and nose. They were clothed rather neatly in an outfit tailored for their form, with stretchy and tight fitting pants that accommodated their odd way of walking and a nice looking shirt, its sleeves long enough for the wearer¡¯s very long arms.

    When they reached Sera and Tiriana, they settled into a squat, unable to stand straight up, and moved their hands in what Sera assumed was a greeting. Fortunately, when she reached out to connect to them, she found that they also had a translation spell active- which wasn¡¯t surprising, really, as it was unlikely either Sylvan or Atlantean was their first language.

    ¡°Greetings, greetings. I am Doctor Dividy Kahnton, the leader of this expedition. Would one of you happen to be the leader of the advance party here?¡± the scholar said in a pleasant baritone, which Sera hoped meant he was male, as assuming such incorrectly would be rather awkward.

    ¡°I am Adept Tiriana Henia,¡± Tiriana replied. Now that she thought about it, this was Tiriana¡¯s first time using her full name and in Sera¡¯s presence. ¡°I¡¯m just the most¡­personable one available, I¡¯m afraid, but I can at least speak for most of those present.¡±

    ¡°Ah, very well. I was told we would be picking up a number of people here who would be accompanying us to our destination. Will this be everyone?¡± he asked, glancing around at those present. Though he couldn¡¯t actually see everyone from his current height.

    ¡°Yes, there are a few others, but they¡¯ll be meeting us there after doing some more scouting.¡± Tiriana paused for a moment, clearly hesitating to say something. ¡°Pardon me if this is rude, but would you mind sharing your species? This is my first time meeting anyone like you and I don¡¯t know how to refer to you.¡±

    ¡°Not to worry, very few of my people have had the opportunity to study in Atlantis as of yet. I am heesu, hailing from a small nation in the middle ring that is quite far behind in development by the standards of the Armistice Alliance,¡± the man replied amiably, bobbing his head. ¡°But we can speak more on the ship. Come, come.¡±

    With that he turned and hobbled back the way he came, waving awkwardly for the adventurers to follow. Tiriana turned towards the others first to relay his words.

    ¡°We¡¯re good to board, everyone! Layla, would you please handle Broviss¡¯s crate? He told me to tell you to be careful with it, or else he¡¯ll misalign all the joints in your armor so they screech, and it will be so loud it will, and I quote, ¡®wake your furthest ancestors in the world your kind came from¡¯ the next time you need maintenance,¡± Tiriana yelled loudly enough for everyone to hear the first part, quieting down to speak to Layla specifically.

    ¡°That mole should watch his words, lest I forget where he is and trample him,¡± the armored woman snorted.

    ¡°You used that one on Rinnie already,¡± Tiriana pointed out as Layla stomped past, drawing an irritated ¡®harrumph¡¯ from her. Sera noticed, however, that Layla was quite gentle when she lifted the crate.

    Sera had no luggage of her own, and Tiriana¡¯s was already stowed in a large backpack, so with that handled and everyone moving, they were free to follow the doctor aboard his ship. They found him waiting at the top of the ramp, which led into a large cargo bay with most of its contents stacked tightly at the opposite end to clear space for luggage, equipment, and flokkas. A door to the side led to a staircase up to the passenger level, which seemed to be laid out more like a cruise ship or passenger train than a plane. The wings were home to rooms for the passengers to sleep in, Sera gathered from a sign.

    She couldn¡¯t actually read it, but it did have a bed and arrow on it.

    This airship seemed to be equipped for long voyages, which made sense considering the trip here was a distance greater than the circumference of Earth. The central section had a dining room and a handful of lounges, from what little of it Sera saw on the way in. It was either bigger on the inside or she had misjudged its size when viewing it from the outside. She weighed the two possibilities as equally likely at this point.

    Sera and Tiriana were led to a parlor room where Doctor Kahnton climbed atop a perch designed for his physiology, clinging to a bar with his prehensile toes and resting his rear on a padded seat above and behind the bar. The other chairs were designed for humanoid bodies, fortunately.

    ¡°Have a seat, please. We¡¯ll be taking off as soon as everyone is aboard. The remaining journey will be short, but still long enough for a chat, so shall we have some tea and discuss arrangements for our field camp?¡± the doctor offered, waving a crew member in with a tray of snack cakes and tea. Sera wasn¡¯t really a fan of tea, if she were honest, but trying not to be rude, she accepted a cup.

    ¡°What arrangements?¡± she asked after taking a sip.

    ¡°Since you¡¯ve already been there, I was hoping to get your opinions on where it would be best to set up camp and how to prepare the defenses.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Seven

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t a representative of your adventurers be present for this?¡± Tiriana asked with a frown. As she spoke, the attendant that had just entered laid out ceramic plates. She didn¡¯t stop at three, however, adding a fourth before an empty seat the two women had assumed was only there because the table was sized for four.

    ¡°Yes, yes, but she seems to be running a bit late I¡¯m afraid- ah, here she comes now,¡± Doctor Kanhton replied, noticing someone approaching from his vantage point facing the door.

    ¡°My apologies, I was finalizing our plan for securing the perimeter at the fortress,¡± the fourth person answered, entering the room. Sera and Tiriana turned in their chairs to find Cadenza entering the room, minus her weapons.

    ¡°Not to worry, we were just about to get started,¡± Kahnton told her mildly as she took her seat. The attendant poured Cadenza a fresh cup of tea, having been waiting for her arrival before doing so.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t realize you¡¯d be part of the expedition,¡± Sera said, surprised by her arrival, ¡°much less the leader of the other adventurers.¡± Typically someone in command would send a scout or liaison for such things, not go in person, especially not without an escort.

    ¡°Did I not mention?¡± Cadenza asked, taking a cake from the platter in the center of the table. ¡°I¡¯m the head party leader for the Aegis Company contingent here, but I¡¯m still an adventurer. Most in my position would want to see things for themselves.¡±

    ¡°Most of the leadership in adventurer companies rises from the ranks. Old habits die hard,¡± Tiriana provided, seeming unphased by the reveal. Her eyes were on the cakes, though, so it was hard to tell. ¡°I¡¯m not sure what you need from us, though. I¡¯d think most of what you need to know you saw from the air last time you were here.¡±

    ¡°If that were the only concern, you¡¯d be right. But just because I¡¯m in charge of my adventurers doesn¡¯t mean I¡¯m in charge of yours, so I thought it would be best to coordinate with you as an equal. If the other can¡¯t be bothered to make an appearance, well, I suppose they¡¯ll just have to accept whatever you agree to,¡± Cadenza replied cheekily, already having accounted for the non-existent command structure of Tiriana¡¯s group. Sera wasn¡¯t so sure it would be that easy, but Cadenza was probably right that a lot of them would sooner just accept their new accommodations than actually hold a conversation with anyone.

    ¡°In that case, some single person rooms on the edge of camp will probably be good enough for most. Vivi will need space for a shrine, somewhere near the center so everyone can see her if they need a cleric. And¡­our support staff is small, but they¡¯ll probably be willing to work things out with yours, minus our smith, who would be happy with an underground workshop,¡± Tiriana listed out, looking up at the ceiling as she thought.

    ¡°That all sounds perfectly reasonable. Will you be assisting with security?¡±

    ¡°Most of the group understands the necessity so they¡¯ll take shifts if asked, but I wouldn¡¯t count on them coordinating very well,¡± Tiriana said dryly.

    ¡°If anything goes wrong and someone fails to speak up, we¡¯ll just follow the sounds of things breaking,¡± Cadenza replied with the same energy. She probably knew the type well.

    ¡°How were you planning to set up the camp?¡± Sera asked. ¡°I¡¯ve heard a few things about making this a permanent settlement, so are you planning for that, or just building a large field camp?¡±

    ¡°Typically in a situation like this we would do the latter, yes, yes,¡± the doctor said, rejoining the conversation.

    ¡°If possible, would you mind if I laid out a plan for that? I have some education in city planning. I was studying to be an architect- I didn¡¯t graduate, admittedly, but city planning was part of my coursework,¡± Sera said, hoping to do something more than just sit around for once.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not. What did you have in mind?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll draw up a plan after we land, but we should probably set up by the elevator initially. It¡¯s connected to the warehouses underground, so we can put an airfield nearby, and we can use the initial camp we set up for inns and other temporary housing once the rubble in the city center is cleared out. That would be the first place anyone sees when they enter whether it¡¯s through the elevator- if we ever get the place standing again- or via the airfield, so we can plan for it ahead of time,¡± Sera explained, calling up the layout of the area in her mind. That would put the camp near the rear of the turtle, with the airfield and accommodations replacing some of the farmland.

    ¡°That would probably be best for security as well,¡± Cadenza confirmed a moment later, swallowing a mouthful of cake before speaking. ¡°The elevator shaft would be the hardest entrance to the underground to seal up, so it would be best if we locked it down and kept a close watch on it. The other two known entrances aren¡¯t far from it, either.¡±

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    ¡°I¡¯d suggest laying the streets out on a grid too, so we don¡¯t end up with a confusing tangle of roads due to unplanned expansion. Once we start clearing the rubble in the center we can start zoning out sections based on what we want to put there, as well. And¡­I think we should either just seal up the workshop entrances for the most part and build any production we need on the surface or seal up most of them and combine the workshops into one big factory floor. The way they¡¯re built right now is a needless security risk and it isn¡¯t even very convenient from a zoning perspective,¡± Sera continued, finishing by taking a sip of tea to wet her throat. Then fighting not to grimace at the taste.

    ¡°That will likely be quite a ways down the road due to the need to sift through the ruins for cultural artifacts, but having a plan wouldn¡¯t hurt,¡± the doctor said approvingly. ¡°I believe that before we begin making plans to stay permanently, though, we should discuss what to do if the locals ask for the fortress back.¡±

    Sera looked at Tiriana, expecting her to take over for this part, but found the elf chewing quickly, trying to get through a very large amount of snack cake she¡¯d stuffed into her mouth. Glancing at her plate, Sera found a lot of crumbs, and glancing at the platter, she noticed a lot of snack cakes missing from Tiriana¡¯s side specifically. She gave the woman a judging look, having put together that she¡¯d spent the whole time the others were talking eating as much cake as possible.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t had anything this good in months. Don¡¯t judge,¡± Tiriana defended once her mouth was empty, looking away. ¡°Moving on, I¡¯m not sure what you mean, Doctor Kanhton. All of our encounters with the nachzehrer have been hostile, and we haven¡¯t found a trace of any other survivors.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes, that does complicate things diplomatically, but you have not ruled out that they are capable of communicating just yet. Your encounters so far have been few, and you may have caught them by surprise. Despite their hostility, they are the rightful inhabitants of this frontier, and we cannot simply colonize their lands to sate our curiosity,¡± the doctor explained disapprovingly. ¡°I should tell you now that our instructions are to withdraw if asked directly. You aren¡¯t obligated to do so as well, of course, but what would you do in such an event?¡±

    ¡°It would depend on the exact circumstances,¡± Tiriana said slowly, looking at Sera uncomfortably. Something about this didn¡¯t sit right with Sera, either, but she wasn¡¯t sure what exactly. He hadn¡¯t said anything wrong, per se, but¡­ ¡°We would likely withdraw to our previous camp rather than stay there without support, at the very least.¡±

    ¡°Of course, of course. And I have no intention of dictating a policy of pacifism if we come under attack, I assure you. I simply wish to establish that we are researchers, not invaders, and our mission is predicated on the assumption that the region has been depopulated.¡± With that said, the doctor took a cake and took a wedge-shaped bite out of it, holding it in his mouth for a seconds to savor it before swallowing the bite whole.

    ¡°The tricky part is that we have no way of talking to them unless they already know a translation spell,¡± Tiriana pointed out, slowly claiming another cake as if hoping no one would notice. ¡°Since their world had mana to begin with we can¡¯t just cast one on a native. But everything we¡¯ve seen so far suggests any magic users in the area when it was taken by the mist were captured by nachzehrer, and they don¡¯t seem very talkative.¡±

    ¡°Is it possible people could be hiding deep within the underground of the mobile fortress?¡± Cadenza asked, setting her empty teacup aside. The same attendant from before stepped up to refill it.

    ¡°Possible, but unlikely. I¡¯m sure you know as well as I do that the deepest sections are almost certainly filling with monsters by now. A mage could take precautions to prevent it, but only if they know they need to do so, and if they did, they could have likely stopped the frontier from forming in the first place,¡± Tiriana explained while she nibbled at another cake.

    ¡°Now that I you mention it¡­what if that¡¯s the reason you¡¯ve never seen a frontier with its own mana before?¡± The explanation had given Sera an epiphany and she couldn¡¯t help but raise the point even though it was somewhat off topic.

    ¡°That¡¯s¡­huh.¡± Dumbfounded, Tiriana froze for a moment. ¡°Actually, that¡¯s entirely possible. We¡¯d never notice if it¡¯s an uninhabited region and any mage could interrupt the process if present- even accidentally.¡±

    ¡°But this frontier was in an active state of war where the mages were being suppressed,¡± Cadenza continued, pieces falling into place. ¡°With a frontier this size the fortress¡¯s power core could have drawn enough mana in to slow the process down and eventually halt it entirely, but it was destroyed first.¡±

    ¡°And then the shift happened. We thought the battles took place after the shift, but they were actually the trigger,¡± Tiriana finished. ¡°That¡¯s why it seemed like the fortress had stopped moving for a while and the military base had been cleared out without a fight. They were blinded by the mist and didn¡¯t start moving until they came under attack. Assuming it works the way our models predict, anyway. We¡¯ve never been able to gather data from the other side.¡±

    The room was silent for a few moments as everyone processed the new information. For now it was just speculation, but Tiriana seemed to think it held up under scrutiny, and she was the resident expert.

    ¡°Pardon my asking, but does this change anything?¡± Doctor Kahnton interjected, a bit lost.

    ¡°Maybe, maybe not. It allows us to make some predictions about what survivors we might find if any,¡± answered Tiriana with a shrug.

    ¡°Well, I believe that is everything I wished to cover. Thank you for your time; feel free to relax here until we land. Someone will be along to inform you of our arrival,¡± the doctor said, dropping down from his perch and shuffling out of the room.

    ¡°We didn¡¯t actually finish the conversation about how we¡¯d talk to the natives¡­¡± Sera pointed out after he left.

    ¡°He¡¯ll figure out the problem the first time he encounters the nachzehrer,¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, we¡¯ll be sure to keep our guard up so nothing unfortunate happens. In the meantime, I¡¯ve been wanting to have a chat with you!¡± Cadenza said, abruptly turning to Sera rather than Tiriana.

    ¡°Me?¡± Sera squawked, pointing at herself in surprise.

    ¡°Yes! This is the first time I¡¯ve met a fellow mistwalker, after all.¡±

 Chapter Twenty Eight

    For a moment, Sera didn¡¯t know what to say.

    ¡°¡­Tiriana said she¡¯d never met a mistwalker before, so I assumed we were rarer than that,¡± she admitted after a moment, glancing at Tiriana for confirmation.

    ¡°Yes, but I¡¯d never met a heesu before either, and they actually have a population here,¡± the elf corrected, shaking her head. ¡°And I only knew you were one because you¡¯d just arrived. A mistwalker that¡¯s lived here for a while would look the same as anyone else, and there¡¯s too many species for me to assume I¡¯ve heard of all of them.¡±

    ¡°I arrived over a decade ago, so I¡¯ve had more than enough time to become a mage by now. I was taken in by the Aegis Company at the time. I believe the reports said you arrived out here?¡± Cadenza asked.

    ¡°One moment I was fixing a fence and the next I was in the woods. I walked for hours before I ran into Tiriana, and it wasn¡¯t until after I got attacked by a wild animal,¡± Sera reflected, thinking back. It was hard to believe she¡¯d been here for nearing on two months now.

    ¡°She actually killed it on her own! What are they called now? Gobshites?¡± Tiriana added.

    ¡°Don¡¯t remind me¡­I picked the name thinking I¡¯d never have to look at one again,¡± groaned Sera, burying her head in her hands.

    ¡°It was much less dramatic when I got here. I popped up in a closet someone forgot to ward properly.¡± Cadenza paused for a moment, an introspective look on her face. ¡°You know, I don¡¯t actually remember what I was doing before it happened anymore.¡±

    ¡°¡­what was your home like?¡± Tiriana asked gently.

    ¡°Bright. The light was so intense during the day that Omichl¨®dis seemed eternally overcast by comparison. My people were less advanced than the Armistice Alliance, but electricity was becoming widely available at the time. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but it was home.¡± The other mistwalker smiled sadly at Sera. ¡°I became a mage hoping to find a way home, but¡­it hasn¡¯t worked out that way. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve had the same thought- that if you try it yourself, maybe you¡¯ll be able to make it work. I won¡¯t discourage you from trying, but¡­don¡¯t plan your future based on it.¡±

    Sera looked down at the table. It wasn¡¯t as if Cadenza had just ruined her dreams, as Sera had already considered the possibility, but it did hurt to hear from someone in the same situation. Still, the same logic applied- Sera had no reason to blindly trust Cadenza on the subject. She had to try for herself.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry for bringing the mood down,¡± apologized Cadenza. ¡°Why don¡¯t you tell us about your home next? It¡­helps to remember, if you talk about it occasionally.¡±

    So she did. Sera spent the rest of the time it took to reach the fortress telling the two about Earth- the little corner of the United States she had lived in, the beautiful sights she¡¯d seen, and the great cities. Her family. She didn¡¯t have time to go into much detail, but she had to admit it was cathartic to share some of what she remembered.

    ¡°We¡¯re about to land,¡± the attendant who¡¯d served them their tea and snacks announced as she returned to clear the plates. Tiriana snatched one last cake and stuffed it into her mouth before the platter was taken, staring Sera in the face as if to dare her to say something. Sera just gave her a bemused look, not sure why Tiriana thought she¡¯d care.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to take some time to get everything unloaded. I¡¯ll get you some mapping materials so you can draw up some plans for the first camp, and we¡¯ll go over them before our mages start pulling the buildings up,¡± Cadenza told Sera as she rose from her seat. ¡°Just wait by the ramp and I¡¯ll have someone deliver them.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I¡¯ll try to be quick. Tiriana, do you have anything you need to do or can I consult with you about magic tools?¡± Sera asked, knowing she didn¡¯t have the slightest idea how they would handle sewage with magic but assuming they weren¡¯t using a mundane solution.

    ¡°Most of our people don¡¯t listen to me anyway and I think Broviss can bully Layla into finding him a workshop all on his own. Ask away,¡± Tiriana answered as they headed back towards the cargo bay.

    ¡°Well, there¡¯s a few things I need to know, but I¡¯ll start with the most important: do I need to plan for sewers or septic tanks, or is there a tool that handles waste?¡± Sera followed up, wanting to get that out of the way first. Of all the potential issues this one would change her plans the most- even with magic it would probably be a pain to put in sewers after the fact, so the need for them or lack thereof would form the foundation of her plans.

    ¡°Not a tool, really¡­but the expedition probably brought a supply of slimes for waste disposal. They¡¯ll be placed in all of the septic tanks. I wouldn¡¯t worry about it too much because the tanks aren¡¯t all that big,¡± Tiriana explained.

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    ¡°Slimes? Are those animals or monsters here?¡± Slimes had been depicted in all manner of ways in fiction on Earth from harmless to menacing. Some would die to a light poke, while others were disasters in their own right.

    ¡°Technically they¡¯re monsters, but they¡¯re pretty harmless. You¡¯d practically have to put one on your own face and let it smother you for them to be dangerous,¡± Tiriana replied while checking signs in the corridors to make sure they were heading in the right direction.

    ¡°If they¡¯re that harmless, how do they even survive?¡± Sera wondered. It was a question that had occurred to her in the past when reading about the more helpless varieties of slime.

    ¡°Well, they¡¯re pretty much undetectable in water. They¡¯re essentially single-celled organisms holding themselves together with mana, so since they don¡¯t have any real way of detecting their surroundings, they just sit still and let food be carried to them by the current. They¡¯ll eat anything organic,¡± elaborated Tiriana. From that, Sera could extrapolate that slimes probably divided themselves to reproduce, so all anyone needed to do was open the tanks on occasion and remove the new slimes so they could be put to use in new tanks. A self-replicating waste disposal system, in other words.

    And since their natural feeding method involved just sitting still and filter feeding, they stayed put in the tanks. Slimes seemed much more convenient than the sewer systems she was used to, not to mention more hygienic since waste never came into contact with any water supply. There was little need to recycle water when it could be generated by tools on the spot. Sera had to imagine the slimes produced their own waste, but Tiriana didn¡¯t mention anything about that, so it was likely accounted for somehow already.

    ¡°So I just need to plan out the streets. What about vehicles? Do the streets need to be wide enough to let vehicles through?¡± she queried next.

    ¡°A wide main street leading towards the keep should be enough. We can run public transportation along the main roads and people can walk the rest- honestly, most people wouldn¡¯t even both riding for these distances.¡± The two women reached the ramp leading from the cargo bay and headed down amid a flurry of activity as people prepared to offload cargo. Layla had already retrieved Broviss¡¯s box and gotten quite a bit of a head start, her figure receding into the distance.

    Sera almost asked how people with disabilities would get around, but she realized it was a moot point. Anyone with such a condition would need only to see a cleric from the right temple and receive literal divine intervention. And even if someone couldn¡¯t- or didn¡¯t want to- receive that type of care, there were likely magic tools far more convenient than wheelchairs. Translations spells literally involved projecting one¡¯s thoughts; surely that could be applied to mobility devices.

    ¡°I¡¯ll plan around walking room only for the backstreets then¡­maybe a little wider in case someone needs to squeeze a cart or something in. Would be nice to have some actual measurements, but I can probably use the elevator itself as a landmark and scale everything relative to it,¡± she said to herself while they waited for the promised mapping tools. An image was starting to form in her head when a young adventurer, an atlantean, rushed down the ramp with a box and some paper.

    The man, barely more than a boy by the looks of him, looked around frantically before his eyes fell upon Sera and Tiriana who were, it had to be said, standing in plain sight to begin with. He rushed over as soon as he spotted them and thrust the box out towards no one in particular, the paper on top shuffling in the wind and almost blowing away.

    ¡°Mapping supplies, courtesy of Party Captain Cadenza!¡± he declared, using what Sera assumed was the woman¡¯s official title. ¡°Please confirm everything is there!¡±

    Thanking him, Sera took the box and handed the paper to Tiriana so she could check the contents. Inside were pens, pencils, and tools like a protractor, a compass, and a ruler which, Sera noted, used units that were completely foreign to her. It definitely wasn¡¯t a foot long, either, though it wasn¡¯t like feet as a unit of measurement were universal even on Earth.

    ¡°I think that¡¯s everything I need,¡± she confirmed, and the adventurer was gone in a flash, off to do whatever other tasks were assigned to him. Was his workload that heavy, or was he simply overeager? Moving on, she turned back to Tiriana and accepted the sheets of paper back. ¡°Let¡¯s head over to the elevator and get a better sense of the size. It¡¯ll help me draw the rest.¡±

    ¡°We never did look at it too closely last time we were here. Not that there would have been much point with it unpowered,¡± Tiriana noted as they headed off. The airship had been landed a fair distance away, likely so that it wouldn¡¯t need to be moved when they started putting buildings up. It took several minutes to reach their destination, which was similar in appearance to the gazebos above the stairs to the workshop level.

    The elevator was better protected from the elements than those staircases had been, but its shelter had the same shape: a pyramidal roof like a gazebo, although with walls this time instead of isolated pillars at each corner. It looked to have at least a dozen sides, but they would probably need to do a full circle of the structure to get an accurate count. Sera didn¡¯t recognize the material the walls were made out of, a gray and bumpy surface that was somehow glossy at the same time. For it to have survived, it must have been built with the same intentions as the central keep, a permanent installation the inhabitants never intended to replace.

    Sera and Tiriana took a glance inside, but the interior was too dark to make out much detail at the moment, so they would need to return later with flashlights or Vivi, the resident living multitool. Instead they walked around the exterior a bit so that Sera could get a sense of its size.

    ¡°Do you think we should leave the elevator isolated, or construct buildings to the side of it?¡± Sera asked while they walked. Tiriana took a moment to think it over, checking the surroundings thoughtfully.

    ¡°Let¡¯s leave it alone and build everything in front of it. That would make it easier to secure, since it would be harder for anyone or anything to slip around the sides if they¡¯re exposed and well lit,¡± she decided in the end.

    ¡°In that case, all I need to do is start drawing- oh, but I¡¯ll need you to help me figure out what buildings go where,¡± Sera said as they headed back towards the front.

 Chapter Twenty Nine

    ¡°Hm¡­why include so much storage? The fortress has its own underground warehouses, does it not?¡± asked Doctor Kahnton as he looked over Sera¡¯s plans. She¡¯d designed the initial base zone with a number of warehouses at the corner closest to both the designated airfield and the elevator, where any incoming cargo could be easily moved from either point of entrance.

    ¡°It does, but even if we manage to restore power to the elevator, it would be more convenient to have at least some of our storage on the surface. We can reach the warehouses by stairs, but getting anything back up would take a lot of effort,¡± Sera explained.

    ¡°I see you designated a few spots for businesses on the main road but marked them as temporary barracks. What were you planning on doing with them?¡± Cadenza asked as she traced a finger over the area in question.

    ¡°Well, we¡¯ll probably be using a lot of the buildings on that road as inns once we have more housing built, but we aren¡¯t going to need an entire street of them. I thought we should include a few buildings with a layout that would work for pubs, restaurants, and other businesses someone staying here temporarily might need.¡± Sera knew that the buildings could just be torn down and replaced once their purpose was served, but it couldn¡¯t hurt to save some effort by future proofing, in her opinion.

    ¡°I¡¯ll defer to your expertise on that matter¡­I never would have thought to include a city planner in our roster,¡± Kahnton said, giving up on inspecting the map and giving a very human shrug. Although Sera¡¯s first instinct was to insist she wasn¡¯t an expert, she stopped herself, realizing that self-deprecation at this point would only hold up the process. Her plans probably weren¡¯t perfect, or even good, but they would still be better than haphazardly placing enough buildings to accommodate two hundred or so people wherever there was enough space.

    ¡°The backstreets are mostly apartments and small houses, but I left a few spaces here and there for green spaces so we don¡¯t end up with nothing but urban sprawl,¡± Sera explained as she pointed out a few empty lots. It was debatable whether those spots would get enough sun to sustain much plant life, but trees could probably survive as long as their branches made it above the surrounding buildings if nothing else. ¡°I also allocated enough space for around a dozen airships the same size as yours to land comfortably. We can always consider expanding that field later, but I thought we may as well take advantage of the farmland for now, assuming it can grow any crops we¡¯re able to eat.¡±

    ¡°Even if they can¡¯t, the earth mages we brought should be able to alter the soil to make it arable,¡± Cadenza offered, pointing out a cluster of men and women listening in a short distance away. They were waiting on Doctor Kahnton¡¯s permission to begin working on construction. No one felt much urgency since the airship they¡¯d arrived on wasn¡¯t going anywhere and could act as shelter if needed, though it was uncomfortably cramped.

    ¡°We will also be in need of facilities dedicated to research and administration,¡± Doctor Kanhton pointed out, moving on.

    ¡°I wanted to get your opinion on that,¡± Sera acknowledged, indicating she hadn¡¯t just overlooked it. ¡°We¡¯re building close to the elevator for a reason, but eventually you¡¯ll be doing a lot of work closer to the original town. Did you want a spot close to the elevator for easy access now or one closer to the ruins for later?¡±

    ¡°Mmmm¡­closer to the town, I think. We should begin sifting through the ruins immediately before the elements being to take their toll,¡± the doctor decided, correcting Sera¡¯s misconception. She¡¯d assumed they would want to examine any artifacts exhumed from below first since exploration was beginning immediately, but in hindsight this did make more sense. It wouldn¡¯t be that great an effort to carry things from the elevator to the other side of the settlement anyway.

    ¡°Alright, then we¡¯ll designate these buildings for that until we can start constructing closer to the keep. Was there anything else?¡± Sera leaned over and wrote labels on a pair of buildings on the edge of town closest to the ruins.

    ¡°I believe that should be good for now. It shouldn¡¯t take long to revise the layout later if we discover inefficiencies,¡± Doctor Kanhton said. He turned to the earth mages and handed over the plans. ¡°We can leave the individual buildings plans to these fine people.¡±

    Sera wanted to question the doctor¡¯s claim about how easy it revisions would be, but she was distracted by the mages beginning their work. They each looked at the map briefly before spreading out, with one man immediately beginning work on the main street. The path from the elevator to town was already paved, but it wasn¡¯t very wide and mostly just consisted of roughly smoothed stones. Sera watched as one mage held out his hands and every stone in fifty meters in front of him shattered at once, then dirt began to coalesce into gravel. In moments he had a wide stretch of what resembled dry concrete, which began to sink into fluid emerging from below.

    Once all the gravel had vanished, the fluid evened out, rapidly becoming a flat surface several meters wide and fifty long. As Sera watched, the transmuted concrete solidified, as if she was witnessing a time lapse of poured cement curing. One man had just performed a day¡¯s work of an entire construction crew in moments. Maybe the doctor wasn¡¯t so wrong after all.

    The earth mage stepped forward onto his concrete road and walked to the other side, repeating the process to extend it further. Sera looked around to find the other mages laying out the streets she¡¯d mapped in the same fashion. Plants were ejected from the ground like they¡¯d been released at the bottom of a lake and flowed to the edges of the work area in a wave. Rocks were pulled to the surface in some places while in others the dirt itself transformed, and before Sera knew it she was looking at neatly laid out streets where a field had been.

    ¡°That was¡­faster than I expected,¡± she muttered in awe, looking around dumbly. Tiriana laughed and patted Sera on the shoulder, making her jump. The elf had been so quiet during the meeting that Sera forgot she was there.

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    ¡°Keep watching, it¡¯s a good demonstration. I wouldn¡¯t have been able to give you an example of earth magic this good myself,¡± Tiriana replied, smiling wryly.

    ¡°I thought everyone was taking it easy because they could just sleep on the ship if we took so long, but¡­now I see they only ever needed a few minutes,¡± Sera commented as the mages gathered to raise the first building. She had noticed when she first arrived that the buildings in the first base camp looked like they¡¯d been pulled from the ground wholesale, and she was proven right when the group of earth mages seemed to reach into the ground and lift four walls up fully formed.

    She watched with Tiriana as the mages approached the walls and laid their hands on various spots, which turned out to be a precursor to doors and windows melting into existence, the dirt that was once there flowing down and returning to the earth, leaving perfectly formed portals in the walls. Then the walls contracted, expelling all moisture and transforming into the material she¡¯d likened to adobe. When she had felt it before, it had been solid but slightly squishy, probably so that it could absorb shocks without shattering.

    ¡°I was expecting them to install the magic tools and other fixtures while they were putting the building together,¡± Sera commented as the mages entered the building empty handed. She could see them forming the floor and interior walls through the empty windows.

    ¡°Even when the earth is fully hardened a good earth mage can easily manipulate it like putty. It¡¯s easier for them to build the structure first, then just sink the fixtures into their positions later,¡± Tiriana explained.

    ¡°Well, they seem to have things well in hand,¡± Doctor Kahnton said, nodding approvingly. ¡°I believe I will begin organizing some teams to sift through the ruins before the youngsters start getting bored. Good day to you all.¡±

    ¡°I should probably start dividing up my parties and deciding who will do the first delves, but I wanted to talk to you two first,¡± Cadenza said, turning to Tiriana and Sera as the doctor walked away. ¡°Would you allow me to join you on your own delve?¡±

    ¡°Why us?¡± Tiriana questioned. ¡°Surely you have your own party.¡±

    ¡°I did, once.¡± Cadenza gave a melancholy smile, reminiscing, but then snapped back to reality and hurried to clarify. ¡°Oh, they¡¯re not dead or anything. It¡¯s just that I¡¯m not the only one that moved up the ranks. My old team have scattered to lead their own parties now. They¡¯re all here, but they need to get used to giving their own orders, and if I go with them they¡¯ll defer to me instinctively.¡±

    ¡°¡­and so would the other party leaders, just because you¡¯re their boss,¡± Tiriana concluded. ¡°I don¡¯t mind, but we¡¯ll need a few others to round the team out. Vivi is a given, but I think I might be able to convince Jonas and Ixtris if they haven¡¯t wandered in by themselves yet.¡±

    ¡°You have two others with experience in this dungeon, don¡¯t you? Rinnie and Layla, I believe.¡± Cadenza looked like she was scheming to Sera¡¯s eyes.

    ¡°Well, yes, but they¡¯re not exactly cooperative,¡± Tiriana hedged, displeasure on her face.

    ¡°Layla doesn¡¯t really like being told what to do,¡± Sera added.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t get my position only by virtue of my leadership,¡± Cadenza told them confidently. The adventurer looked away and Sera followed her line of sight to find Layla stomping in their direction. ¡°Ah! Right on time.¡±

    ¡°What is the meaning of this?¡± Layla growled, throwing a crumpled piece of paper to the ground at Cadenza¡¯s feet.

    ¡°Ah, I had assumed you were literate. I apologize if I was mistaken. Would you like me to read it for you?¡± Cadenza mocked. Sera and Tiriana stared at the woman wide-eyed while Layla seemed to combust inside her armor.

    ¡°I know what it says. What I wish to know is why you believe you can give me orders,¡± the armored woman ground out, hand already drifting towards her axe.

    ¡°You¡¯re currently a free agent, are you not? And I do believe you¡¯re the type to respect strength. It stands to reason that you follow the strongest adventurer present,¡± Cadenza told her calmly, talking down to Layla despite being several inches shorter. It was probably only her imagination, but Sera thought she could hear Layla grinding her teeth in rage.

    ¡°I assume you are ready to prove it,¡± she declared as she whipped her poleax from her back and backed up several steps.

    ¡°Naturally. Come at me whenever you¡¯re ready.¡± Cadenza glanced at Tiriana and Sera. ¡°Oh, you can stay put. This will be over before she even reaches me.¡± Sera looked at Tiriana uncertainly and found the elf returning the look. In unison they nodded and then started backing up.

    ¡°How much do you intend to insult me!? Do you not even intend to draw your weapons?¡± Layla barked. Cadenza seemed to think about it for a moment.

    ¡°If you insist. I believe¡­one should suffice.¡± With a flick of her finger, one of the swords on Cadenza¡¯s back lifted from its sheath, revealing its form to everyone for the first time. It was plain and unadorned, little more than a naked blade bereft of hilt and crossguard. Even the tang was likely there only so that the weapon could be moved; however Cadenza fought, it clearly didn¡¯t include carrying a sword in her hands.

    Layla¡¯s fury reached a boiling point at last and she began to step forward. The blade had been a misdirection, though. Cadenza pointed at the ground with her other hand and said one word: ¡°Fall.¡± In an instant Layla crashed to the ground, caught in a moment of unbalance as she tried to advance. She didn¡¯t simply collapse, she seemed to accelerate towards the ground as if throwing herself at it. Cadenza flicked a finger forward, the same one she¡¯d drawn her weapon with, and a moment later the sword was at Layla¡¯s neck.

    ¡°Do you yield?¡±

    There was no answer for several seconds. Layla fought to rise, grunting with exertion, but her limbs may as well have been glued to the ground. After a short and fruitless struggle the woman went limp.

    ¡°I yield.¡± Immediately whatever was holding her down abated and Layla rose to her feet slowly. Her eyes locked onto Cadenza, who said nothing, simply waiting for Layla to speak. ¡°I will¡­follow your command,¡± she said at last, resignation in her voice.

    ¡°You will meet us at the elevator tomorrow morning at eight. Dismissed,¡± Cadenza ordered. Layla, after one last glare, turned and left. No one spoke until Layla was out of sight, but that time gave Sera a chance to get a good look at Cadenza, and she realized the woman was sweating profusely. Once Layla was out of earshot, Cadenza slumped, lurching forward until she could rest against the wall of the building they¡¯d watched the creation of just minutes ago.

    ¡°Anyone else think she¡¯s going to get revenge at the first opportunity?¡± Sera asked in concern. Cadenza shook her head, though.

    ¡°She won¡¯t. She respects the strong, and as far as she knows I just crushed her effortlessly. It¡¯s a good thing she yielded when she did, though, because I couldn¡¯t have held her much longer. That woman is monstrously strong,¡± Cadenza panted with exhaustion.

    ¡°How did you even do that? Her mana should have prevented you from manipulating her armor," Tiriana asked while retrieving Cadenza¡¯s sword. The woman hadn¡¯t even had the strength left to return it to its sheath.

    ¡°Let me catch my breath and I¡¯ll explain.¡±

 Chapter Thirty

    A few minutes later, Cadenza accepted her sword from Tiriana and straightened up.

    ¡°So, you asked how I took Layla down? I didn¡¯t target her armor. I created a powerful magnetic field under her and the iron in her armor reacted. The pull was stronger than she could resist so she went down like a tonne of bricks,¡± Cadenza explained before giving a sigh of relief. ¡°I¡¯m just glad she was wearing steel in the first place. Fortunately my information on her was correct.¡±

    ¡°What information?¡± Sera asked, confused as to how Cadenza knew anything about Layla in the first place.

    ¡°Layla El-Amin. Former Amazon chieftainess. One of my party leaders is an Amazon and Layla is apparently someone any Amazon would know about,¡± Cadenza began, establishing the context first. ¡°Arrogant. Headstrong. Exiled from every sisterhood simultaneously, which almost never happens. Apparently she believes in power and nothing else, so when she got a number of her sisters killed because of her poor leadership, she refused to step down unless she was defeated and killed or maimed many more.¡±

    Sera wasn¡¯t actually surprised to hear there were Amazons here, knowing the connections between ancient Greece and Atlantis. She¡¯d be willing to bet that the legends originated in the Atlantean continent as well. She also wasn¡¯t surprised to hear that Layla was cast out of society, having, well, met the woman.

    ¡°I didn¡¯t know someone even could be exiled from the entire Amazonian Confederation of Sisterhoods,¡± Tiriana said in surprise.

    ¡°Normally she¡¯d only have been exiled from her own, and then she could have petitioned another sisterhood for entry if she could prove she¡¯d changed her ways. But she caused so much damage to her own that other chieftainesses were forced to step in and remove her, and she still wouldn¡¯t accept it because it wasn¡¯t a one-on-one fight. That¡¯s why I knew the only way to make her submit was an overwhelming victory in a duel.¡± Cadenza sighed, looking annoyed. ¡°Of course, she¡¯s an exceptional combatant. I doubt anyone here could defeat her on their own. But I was wagering that after losing her expensive equipment during her exile she wouldn¡¯t have been able to afford anything better than steel as an independent adventurer, and I was right.¡±

    ¡°You could have also just worked with someone else.¡± Sera gave the woman a look of exasperation as she spoke. ¡°Why risk fighting her at all?¡±

    ¡°I had no choice. She¡¯s not the only Amazon here now, and knowing her history, I knew she would likely try to establish a new sisterhood by forcibly conscripting the Amazons under my command. The only way to prevent that was to make her accept me as her leader first, as there would be no point in doing so if it just left her relaying my orders to them and not issuing her own,¡± Cadenza finished, rolling her eyes.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think that¡¯s how it works. Wouldn¡¯t she need approval from the other sisterhoods to be recognized as a new group?¡± Tiriana asked. She narrowed her eyes as she tried to remember what she knew about the Amazons, but it wasn¡¯t much.

    ¡°Normally, yes, but there¡¯s not exactly anyone else out here to tell her no, is there? The chieftainesses that expelled her to begin with might have the motivation to come all the way out here to put her in her place again, but then again, they also might not.¡± Cadenza shrugged and Tiriana gave a hum of acknowledgement, accepting the point.

    ¡°And at the same time, you gained the loyalty of a very strong warrior¡­assuming she doesn¡¯t come back and challenge you again later, anyway,¡± Sera added.

    ¡°That¡¯s why I put on that show and riled her up. I wanted her too mad to think straight, and I needed her to think the fight was so completely one-sided that a bit of training wouldn¡¯t make up the difference. So I acted like she would have in my position. That way she filters the way I behaved through her own lens and comes to the conclusion that she can¡¯t defeat me all on her own,¡± the veteran adventurer concluded.

    ¡°You used her own arrogance and mindset against her to trap her in a prison of her own mind. Clever, assuming it works,¡± Tiriana responded, probably still wary of how Layla would react if she ever realized the truth.

    It was probably the best solution to the problem, though, short of murdering Layla outright. Sera wasn¡¯t sure that had even occurred to either woman as an option, but that probably said more about Sera than it did about them.

    ¡°How are you going to handle Rinnie, though?¡± Sera asked, fairly certain the same strategy wouldn¡¯t work on the scout.

    ¡°She put Layla in her place. Rinnie isn¡¯t going to fall in line just because of a show of strength, but she dislikes Layla enough that she¡¯ll probably give Cadenza the benefit of the doubt now,¡± Tiriana answered before Cadenza. She did know the first-wave adventurers better.

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    ¡°Unfortunately not everyone has an easy method that can be used to convince them. She¡¯s a scout, though- I¡¯m not as concerned about how well she follows orders because she¡¯ll have to act independently much of the time anyway. I¡¯ll talk to her when I can find her and see if I can at least convince her to come with us,¡± Cadenza explained in turn.

    ¡°Oh, no need to worry about that. Tiriana wasn¡¯t wrong. Seeing that tin-plated bitch get humiliated was a nice enough down-payment that I¡¯ll give you a chance to prove you can lead. If I¡¯m not satisfied, though, I won¡¯t be coming along next time,¡± Rinnie¡¯s voice cut in from around the corner of the building they were next to. Footsteps could be heard from the same direction the moment she stopped speaking.

    ¡°¡­is she stepping harder just so we can tell she¡¯s leaving?¡± Sera wondered dryly, keeping her voice to a whisper that there was a good chance Rinnie could hear anyway. It was hard not to comment on the over-dramatic performance, though.

    ¡°Let¡¯s not borrow trouble with questions we don¡¯t need the answer to,¡± Tiriana sighed. Then she looked over to Cadenza. ¡°Anyway, I don¡¯t think we¡¯ve actually talked about the goal of this first exploration. Isn¡¯t it a bit soon to be heading down there since the base isn¡¯t even built yet?¡±

    ¡°Your report mentioned that you suspected there might be a secondary power core in the unexplored section. Since we could use it to activate the defenses in an emergency and we don¡¯t know when the nachzehrer might return, I consider finding that a high priority.¡± Cadenza pointed past the building they had watched the construction of and Sera noticed the mages had already begun work on the next one while she was looking the other way. ¡°This won¡¯t take long anyway, and I have a tool that will allow me to talk to my second if anything changes.¡±

    ¡°We don¡¯t actually know there¡¯s one down there,¡± Sera pointed out with a frown. ¡°If we¡¯re searching for something that doesn¡¯t exist we could be down there for a while.¡±

    ¡°True, but we¡¯re not operating several days away from our base this time. All we have to do is backtrack to the elevator and we can return to the surface whenever we want. I¡¯m not sure how we¡¯re going to activate it, though,¡± Tiriana admitted. She covered her mouth with one hand as she thought. ¡°We might be able to hook something up, but I¡¯m not sure I like the idea of potentially stranding ourselves at the bottom if something goes wrong up here.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t worry about that. I checked while you were writing up your plans and the underground has already become a dungeon.¡± Tiriana looked up sharply at the reveal, but Sera didn¡¯t know enough on the subject to be surprised.

    ¡°What does that have to do with the elevator?¡± she asked, glancing between the other two women. Although Tiriana had told her a bit about dungeons, that had mostly been regarding monsters and how to prevent their formation.

    ¡°Dungeons are caused by mana buildup and most magic technology is powered by mana,¡± the elf explained absentmindedly, sinking back into thought. ¡°If the mana density is high it begins to seep into anything that will absorb it, and our tools are designed to do that, so they¡¯re quick to activate in a dungeon setting. But those tools would also be siphoning mana from the atmosphere, making it harder to form a dungeon in the first place. If there¡¯s enough down there to not only bring the elevator online but also to spawn monsters¡­¡±

    ¡°¡­then there¡¯s most likely a leak from a large source of mana like a power core, yes,¡± Cadenza finished for Tiriana. ¡°I believe the theory you proposed was that the secondary core would have had to have been disconnected before the primary was destroyed? I suspect that a force lacking the knowledge to find a way to shut down the main core likely also didn¡¯t know how to properly disconnect the secondary.¡±

    ¡°So the secondary core activated after all, but it didn¡¯t have anywhere to send the mana. Instead it was just released through the damaged conduits into the interior.¡± Tiriana ruffled a hand through her hair, letting out an inarticulate growl of frustration. ¡°The damage to the system is probably worse than I thought. I may not be able to repair it myself.¡±

    ¡°Which is part of the reason the airship is remaining on-site. Doctor Kahnton¡¯s team didn¡¯t have a magical engineering expert, obviously, but he knew we¡¯d be dealing with that kind of technology and convinced Master Hippodamides to lend us the ship and, more importantly, its crew,¡± Cadenza revealed with a sly smile.

    ¡°Because a ship that size would have an entire team of technicians aboard to maintain it,¡± Sera realized, looking at the ship in the distance. It was hard to tell because the shape was so different, but that ship really was closer to a large boat than a passenger plane in scale. It also moved much more slowly. Given the amount of time it would be in the air on any given trip, of course it would need more crew than just pilots and attendants.

    ¡°Our job is to locate and secure the core. Then I can call in other teams to establish a safe route to it and bring the technicians down to get it repaired. Once that¡¯s completed we¡¯ll be able to reduce the ambient mana until monsters stop appearing.¡± Cadenza laid out the objectives and looked at both Sera and Tiriana to see if they had any questions.

    ¡°Are you providing supplies?¡± Sera asked, remembering what Tiriana said about the food situation previously. They still hadn¡¯t managed to restore their stock of preserved rations when Doctor Kahnton¡¯s group arrived.

    ¡°Yes, we brought more than enough to last us until we can start producing locally,¡± Cadenza answered.

    ¡°I can¡¯t think of anything else. I¡¯ll talk to Vivi and make sure she¡¯s there. She¡¯s going to be ecstatic, trust me,¡± Tiriana promised.

    ¡°Good. I have to finish organizing my teams, so I¡¯ll see you both tomorrow morning.¡±

    Cadenza headed off towards the airship where numerous adventurers were milling about still. They were likely the teams picked for exploration and backup, as others were patrolling the perimeter of the rapidly forming settlement. Support personnel had progressed from unloading the ship to moving cargo closer to the construction area, and some were unloading magic tools and other fixtures and transporting them to the few buildings that had already been completed.

    It was a slightly random thought, but Sera wondered what this future town would be called.

 Chapter Thirty One

    By the end of the first day, enough buildings were completed that everyone had a place to sleep while only being slightly cramped. Most even had all of their fixtures installed already- lights, toilets, sinks, and even full kitchens for the ones designated as future inns or restaurants. The strange part, from Sera¡¯s perspective anyway, was that none of them had roofs yet. From where she stood near the elevator terminal, the finished structures could pass for the sort of flat-roofed clay or packed earth buildings common in regions with little precipitation, but from the inside of the one she¡¯d slept in, she¡¯d been able to look straight up and see the stars.

    Instead of wasting time gathering materials for the sloped roofs they would need to make, mages in Doctor Kahnton¡¯s expedition had just teamed up to make a waterproof barrier above the entire nascent settlement. Nearly every scholar present was a mage, which was quite common for university graduates apparently, and that gave them a wide degree of flexibility in terms of utility magic. During the day the barrier would be maintained only if there were signs of rain, but it would be erected nightly until the roofs were finished.

    ¡°You don¡¯t think that¡¯s odd at all?¡± Sera asked Tiriana after hearing her explanation. She¡¯d known about the barrier last night but hadn¡¯t had time to ask about it before bed.

    ¡°No? It seems efficient to me. That way everyone has a dry place to sleep and we don¡¯t need to spend time harvesting and preparing the wood for each roof along the way.¡± When she said it like that, it almost made sense. Sera couldn¡¯t argue against the idea that it would be more efficient to make the roofing materials in bulk, but they were wasting extra energy deflecting precipitation in return. She felt like it still wasn¡¯t quite right but was unable to articulate why.

    ¡°I¡¯m surprised they didn¡¯t even bring premade panels, though. What if the wood here isn¡¯t any good for roofing?¡± Vivi chimed in, tilting her head cutely.

    ¡°Did your group do that?¡± Sera asked, recalling that the roofs in their previous camp were made of wood but never having gotten a close enough look at them to see how refined the material was.

    ¡°Well, no, but we also had trees with less metal in them than wood,¡± the cleric replied while gesturing to the forest in the distance. From here it just looked like a collection of birch and pine trees with red leaves, but up close Sera knew they would be ramrod straight and lacking the gnarled bark typical of a tree.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they have that much metal in them, but if they do, maybe we could just weld them together,¡± Sera suggested. She noticed Cadenza approaching right about then, which spelled the end of that conversation. Today she had donned armor in place of her usual robes. Her armor stood just below Layla¡¯s in coverage: it was nearly a full suit of plate, but her shoulders were curiously exposed as if even the flexibility of articulated plate didn¡¯t provide enough range of motion. Her hair was tied up and she had an open-faced helmet under one arm.

    ¡°Good, everyone is here,¡± the adventurer captain noted. As she said, Layla and Rinnie was also nearby, but they were standing well apart from Sera and her friends being their usual antisocial selves. ¡°I¡¯d like to have short meeting to discuss strategy and objectives and then we can head in.¡±

    Rinnie drifted closer in response, but Layla stayed put. Cadenza just stared at the woman in expectation until she begrudgingly took the hint and came closer so Cadenza wouldn¡¯t need to shout. It seemed the stubborn warrior would follow directions, but she was still planning to be a pain about it.

    ¡°First of all, we¡¯re heading into a dungeon, not just underground tunnels. Anything powered with mana is probably active. That includes the lights, so we shouldn¡¯t need them, but there¡¯s a flashlight in all of your bags. Don¡¯t hesitate to use them, the dungeon will power them too. Vivi, since you don¡¯t need to use your active miracle on lighting the way, would you be able to handle the mapping instead?¡± Cadenza began.

    ¡°Sure! As long as I have some paper I can channel a cartography miracle to make it extra accurate,¡± Viva said eagerly, happy as always to put her abilities to their intended use.

    ¡°There¡¯s some mapping paper in your bag. We¡¯ve all got enough rations for a week and sleeping bags, as well. Tiriana, our canteens are already filled, but I¡¯d like you to top them up whenever we take a break.¡± Tiriana nodded, so Cadenza moved on. ¡°Now, formation. Rinnie will be taking the lead to check for traps, obviously, but Tiriana, I¡¯d like you to accompany her and keep a barrier on her at all times.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need a mage babysitting me. I didn¡¯t miss any traps last time and I¡¯m not going to this time either,¡± the scout scoffed.

    ¡°I¡¯m not insulting your skills. All those magic-based traps you didn¡¯t have to deal with are going to be active this time, so Tiriana is there to detect them. The barrier is because we don¡¯t know if the original inhabitants of this place knew how to mask their magical traps, but it¡¯s best to assume they did and that at least some of them might be undetectable.¡± Her complaint addressed, Rinnie backed down with a satisfied hum. ¡°Layla, you¡¯re our vanguard. Swap places with them if we run into any monsters or nachzehrer. Since I¡¯m the only remaining close-quarters fight I¡¯ll be taking the rearguard. Sera and Vivi will be in the center.¡±

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    ¡°Why bring the mistwalker at all? She cannot even defend herself, let alone contribute,¡± Layla growled. Though her eyes weren¡¯t visible, Sera could feel her glaring.

    ¡°I-¡±

    ¡°Technically I don¡¯t owe you an explanation, adventurer, but in the interests of party harmony I¡¯ll provide one,¡± Cadenza interrupted before Sera could say anything. ¡°In the first encounter with a nachzehrer she demonstrated quick thinking, a sense of tactics, and talent with illusions. She¡¯s also the resident expert on science-based technology by virtue of her origins. Beyond that, it¡¯s the job of adventurer companies to nurture future talents. Aegis Company¡¯s standard practices include embedding a newcomer in a team of veterans to learn the ropes before placing them in their own teams. Satisfied?¡±

    Layla could communicate a remarkable amount of information with only a grunt. Her response somehow projected both dissatisfaction with Sera¡¯s presence and acknowledgement of Cadenza¡¯s reasoning at the same time. A sort of statement that she didn¡¯t think Sera should be there but wasn¡¯t going to argue the point further. Truly, she was a master of communication.

    It was hard for Sera to stifle a laugh after those thoughts ran through her head, but trying to do so was a good distraction from the praise heaped on her by Cadenza. It didn¡¯t feel earned. The older woman hadn¡¯t even been there and a single instance could just as well be a fluke, not a sign.

    ¡°And¡­one last thing. The five of you know each other¡¯s capabilities, as do I. None of you are familiar with my own skills, however, so I¡¯ll provide a summary. I am what you might call a pseudo-battlemage. I am a mage that fights in close-quarters using magnetism to control my swords or a cloud of iron sand, but cannot physically enhance myself the way a warrior does. Ah, before you get any ideas,¡± Cadenza said, shifting her gaze to Layla, ¡°even were I not capable of other forms of magic, there is iron in your blood. Do try to remember that.¡±

    The clicking of Layla¡¯s tongue was audible. Even Sera wasn¡¯t sure that it was possible to actually manipulate the iron inside a person¡¯s body, but if she didn¡¯t know, Layla definitely didn¡¯t. The warrior had no reason to question the claim either, really. Cadenza had said it with such confidence that Sera had nearly believed her even knowing that a magnet as powerful as those used in MRIs couldn¡¯t achieve such a thing.

    ¡°With all of that out of the way, our goal today is to find the fortress¡¯s secondary power core. We¡¯re not the only team going in, but we are the one checking out the section most likely to contain it, about halfway down and directly opposite the primary core,¡± Cadenza announced.

    ¡°Isn¡¯t that an abuse of power?¡± Rinnie accused.

    ¡°We drew lots,¡± Cadenza explained while rolling her eyes. ¡°I even went last. If there¡¯s no other questions, let¡¯s get moving.¡±

    After grabbing the packs Aegis Company had provided for this mission, the party filed into the elevator chamber. Unlike last night, it was now lit up with lights brought in by the expedition. As this room was above the surface the original lighting wasn¡¯t being powered by the dungeon, but fortunately the elevator mechanisms were operational. Everyone filed onto the platform.

    ¡°How does this work, anyway?¡± Sera asked as she looked up, realizing the platform wasn¡¯t suspended from a pulley system like elevators on Earth were. It was easy to tell considering the elevator had no walls or roof.

    ¡°If I had to guess?¡± Tiriana asked rhetorically, looking around the space as Cadenza selected the floor. ¡°The platform is probably spatially locked in relation to the shaft. Rather than physically moving it up and down something is probably altering the z-coordinate to match the selected floor.¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t it just fall if it lost power, then?¡±

    ¡°Locked is locked. It takes power to change it, so it¡¯s not going anywhere without it. The real problem is actually what happens if someone gets stuck between floors when the power goes out. There¡¯s a lot of interesting solutions-¡±

    ¡°Tiriana, I think this is the wrong place for a lesson on elevator construction¡­¡± Vivi gently interjected before the elf could get any further. If Sera was reading the panel correctly they were already nearly there. The platform was falling pretty fast, but it was so smooth it was almost unnoticeable.

    ¡°Ahem. Sorry, I¡¯ll start casting Rinnie¡¯s barrier,¡± Tiriana replied, slightly embarrassed. Vivi likewise began to pray for a miracle of cartography, which seemed a petty task to channel through a literal deity, but maybe the god of adventure enjoyed being included in this sort of thing.

    The elevator came to a stop and Rinnie hopped off first, scanning the room it emptied into. This chamber was actually opposite the side they¡¯d entered the elevator from; it seemed the lack of walls allowed for stops on any side of the shaft. As Cadenza had told them, the room was well-lit. It seemed to be a junction room, as there were five different doors leading out of it; one directly ahead and two each on the side walls. The stonework here was clean and polished and the floor looked like the sort of marble one might see on modern day Earth in the lobby of a corporate office.

    ¡°This room looks clean, but which hallway are we trying first?¡± Rinnie asked after doing a lap of the room.

    ¡°If no one has any suggestions, we¡¯ll just take it clockwise starting from the left,¡± Cadenza answered, indirectly asking for opinions.

    ¡°Vivi, do you have some way of divining the route?¡± Sera asked.

    ¡°No, it¡¯s not a question with a clear enough prompt. Just finding a way in or a route ¡®up¡¯ is a lot easier than determining the way to a place I don¡¯t know the location of,¡± the cleric replied.

    ¡°Well, if nothing else, people tend to like symmetry. There¡¯s a good chance they either placed smaller cores to each side or a single larger one straight ahead,¡± Sera suggested instead.

    ¡°A single core is more likely. To make a dungeon form this quickly the nachzehrer would have needed to botch the disconnection of every core in the same way if there were more than one,¡± Tiriana added.

    ¡°In that case, we¡¯ll start with the door at the end of the room and proceed the same way if we don¡¯t find anything. Rinnie, Tiriana, after you.¡±

 Chapter Thirty Two

    The party had barely entered the next hallway before they encountered their first monsters- but they were all dead. Grotesque and warped creatures were strewn about the hall, maimed in unique and horrifying ways. Rinnie and Tiriana didn¡¯t even comment on it as they headed in, poking around the corpses in search of traps.

    ¡°¡­I wasn¡¯t expecting the traps to kill the monsters too, honestly,¡± Sera admitted to Vivi, keeping her voice low so as to not attract unwanted attention.

    ¡°Yeah¡­I kind of assumed they¡¯d just be ignored automatically or something,¡± the cleric replied.

    ¡°It¡¯s not something you see often. The first generation tends to clear out all the physical traps they¡¯re capable of triggering, and the survivors figure out how to avoid the magical ones. Once an ecosystem forms the newcomers get hunted and eaten before they have much chance to die to traps, and eventually you end up with monsters that are just too tough to die to them,¡± Cadenza explained in her usual sing-song voice, as casually as if she were speaking to students on a field trip.

    Which, Sera supposed, she kind of was.

    ¡°Do they always look so¡­ugly?¡± Sera asked, examining one of the bodies Rinnie and Tiriana had moved past. It looked vaguely mammalian. Four legs, a bit of a snout, and fur. But it had been mutated almost past the point of recognition, with extra joints, places where its fur had fused into scales or quills, cancerous lumps, and protruding bone. Looking at it, Sera thought it was a wonder it could move at all- although maybe it couldn¡¯t, and that¡¯s why it was dead.

    ¡°Not always, no. They¡¯re mist-warped. It¡¯s what happens when an animal goes from an environment with no mana to dungeon levels of concentration. They can¡¯t regulate it and their bodies mutate.¡± Cadenza seemed just as unfazed as the others, so it seemed like a common enough occurrence for adventurers to be inured to it.

    ¡°Why aren¡¯t all the animals in the inner ring monsters?¡± Vivi surprised Sera by asking. Given that the cleric was a native she was expecting her to know that much, even if she¡¯d been surprised by the traps.

    ¡°The mana levels increased there over thousands of years. Animals had time to adapt. I¡¯m sure in the beginning some were warped, but the survivors were either resistant or able to circulate mana properly. By now they all just do it instinctively or they form a mana crystal and become monsters the controlled way.¡± Even as she spoke, Cadenza was keeping a careful eye on her surroundings. She always kept herself partially turned so she would see anything coming up behind them, occasionally glancing forward to maintain her awareness of the situation ahead as well.

    As for what she¡¯d said¡­that actually answered a question Sera hadn¡¯t realized she¡¯d had. Something had always seemed odd about the existence of monsters and it occurred to her now that it was the fact animals existed at all- like the flokkas and gobshite. Monsters simply didn¡¯t have an inherent advantage, as animals were essentially warriors while monsters were mages, to use the terms she¡¯d heard from Tiriana. Or¡­maybe the latter were closer to battlemages. No one had said anything indicating they were physically frail.

    ¡°Other than the crystals, what makes monsters different from animals?¡± she asked after working the question over in her mind and realizing it was best to just ask.

    ¡°Aggression, for one. No one is really sure why, but the prevailing theory is that monsters can¡¯t circulate their mana properly because they¡¯re focused on concentrating it, so their brains are corrupted somehow. They can use a bit of magic, but usually not more than one type each. Some kind of natural inclination. And they¡¯re a bit weaker, physically, but still stronger than the average person,¡± Cadenza answered, confirming Sera¡¯s last theory as the correct one. Being stronger than ¡®the average person¡¯ meant something different here, too: warriors being more common than mages, that meant monsters were stronger than people that might be considered literally superhuman on Earth.

    It was at times like these that Sera wondered whether she should be accompanying the group, but only Layla seemed to object and Cadenza had claimed it to be normal. On the other hand, Vivi wasn¡¯t much use in a fight either, so maybe it just wasn¡¯t that much bigger of a burden to defend two noncombatants than one so long as they remained close together.

    Not to mention that everyone knew Sera would eventually be a mage herself. She could feel herself getting close to solidifying a core of her own, but that didn¡¯t mean much when she¡¯d never been given a real timeframe. The question of how long it took to do so begat frustratingly vague answers; it varied quite a bit per person, and the amount of effort put in could change the timeline. Some people just weren¡¯t suited to it, either, and for them even monumental dedication wouldn¡¯t make the process faster than the average.

    With no more questions left to ask for the moment, Sera looked to see what the others were up to.

    Ahead, Rinnie crouched to pry a brick up from the floor and shoved a wedge into the mechanism below before replacing the brick, preventing the pressure plate from activating. When she was done she examined a nearby monster corpse that looked like it was burned and then turned to Tiriana.

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    ¡°Any magical traps?¡± she asked more civilly than usual. Was she feeling less threatened by Tiriana now that she wasn¡¯t in a quasi-leadership position?

    ¡°Flamethrower spell. I¡¯m blocking it so it can¡¯t detect us, but you might want to mark the spot for the way back,¡± Tiriana replied from a few steps behind Rinnie, pointing to where she¡¯d identified the spell. Sera couldn¡¯t see anything there, and Rinnie probably couldn¡¯t either, but Tiriana was the magic expert.

    ¡°You can¡¯t disable it entirely?¡± Rinnie followed up while retrieving something from her pocket. It turned out to be some kind of marker with glowing ink- impossible to miss even in the dark. She used it to draw out a flame in the spot Tiriana indicated.

    ¡°It would be difficult. I¡¯d need to be touching it and any tampering with the spell itself will activate it. It¡¯s a lot easier to just cast an illusion over its detection range to make it think it¡¯s seeing an empty hallway, because I don¡¯t have to interfere with it directly,¡± the elf explained.

    ¡°That won¡¯t affect our ability to see?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not using sight to detect us.¡±

    Satisfied, Rinnie stood and moved on. A lot of the physical traps had already been triggered on hapless monsters, resulting in bodies skewered with spears or riddled with arrows. One had been crushed when the ceiling descended, and unlike the others, that trap reset itself and had needed to be disarmed. Tiriana just baffled the senses of each magical trap, all of which could activate over and over so long as the dungeon was powering them, and Rinnie marked each one with a symbol indicating what it would do and where its spell circle was hidden.

    ¡°Who does this to a place they have to live in?¡± Vivi wondered aloud as the two leading the way disarmed yet another trap. Everyone was starting to truly understand how heavily trapped the underground sections of the fortress were for the first time now that both varieties were in working order.

    ¡°They probably had some way of deactivating the traps or ensuring they recognized people who were supposed to be here,¡± Cadenza said with a shrug. ¡°Pretty typical sort of precaution in a mage¡¯s workshop- and those tend to have a higher chance of becoming dungeons, so in dungeons as well.¡±

    ¡°I think there was something like that in the main core chamber, but it must not have controlled this section,¡± Sera noted. ¡°Maybe there¡¯s a way to turn these off in the secondary core chamber.¡± Which wasn¡¯t terribly useful right now, but might at least make their egress simpler.

    ¡°Found a room,¡± Rinnie announced. ¡°Don¡¯t see a lock or any traps.¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s clear it before we move on. No sense leaving our way out littered with monsters,¡± Cadenza decided. Nodding, Tiriana moved up to the door.

    ¡°I¡¯ll put up a one way barrier so they can¡¯t detect us, but I can¡¯t hide the door opening,¡± she told Rinnie. When she was finished Rinnie cracked the door open a crack and looked inside, then carefully shut it.

    ¡°Whole group of them in there. Probably a pack since they haven¡¯t turned on each other. Can¡¯t tell what the room was for though because they kind of trashed it. Wanna make yourself useful, paperweight?¡± Rinnie relayed before taking a snipe at Layla. The warrior bristled and took a step forward, but Cadenza¡¯s voice cut in before she could do anything more.

    ¡°Not the place for this,¡± she scolded without raising her voice. Somehow everyone heard it loud and clear anyway. ¡°Layla, go ahead and clear them out.¡±

    Wordlessly, the armored woman stepped up to the door and cast it open, poleaxe in hand. She stepped through before the monsters could react, giving herself space to use her long weapon. Although Sera couldn¡¯t see inside from her position, she could hear the sounds of broken shells and bones along with the yelps of injured and dying monsters. Rinnie and Tiriana just stood and watched, so Layla seemed to have it well in hand.

    ¡°Is it normal to just send one party member to clear a room?¡± Sera inquired, seeing everyone standing around.

    ¡°Normally the rearguard would stand lookout and everyone else would go in,¡± Vivi explained quietly. ¡°But Layla isn¡¯t normal.¡±

    That put a lot of things into perspective. So far Sera had only seen Layla fight the nachzehrer, which had been nearly even. But if Layla was that strong, it upped the threat level of the nachzehrer in her mind. Then again, if their armor was ferrous¡­Cadenza was sort of a hard-counter to them. At least in theory.

    It wasn¡¯t long before Layla emerged, armor spattered with blood. She waved a hand and the blood dropped away, leaving her armor spotless again. As the group continued forward, Sera eventually reached the door with Vivi and they peered inside. Although she¡¯d half expected the monsters to be small- like goblins or something- they were actually at least the size of jaguars. They didn¡¯t just out-mass Rinnie; the shelled quadrupeds had been larger than Vivi.

    ¡°I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯m sad I missed that or relieved,¡± Vivi muttered while looking at the broken bodies. They¡¯d been mangled too badly to make much out, but what little was left seemed remarkably consistent compared to the dead creatures littering the hallway.

    ¡°I can see why she was so confident about exploring solo,¡± Sera commented. ¡°Should we¡­gather their magic crystals or something?¡±

    Looking over the carnage herself, Cadenza shook her head. ¡°I doubt she left much for us to collect. They probably weren¡¯t very pure in a dungeon this young anyway. I don¡¯t think these ones were mist-warped, but it didn¡¯t seem like they used much magic against Layla, so they probably only formed their crystals recently.¡±

    With that, the trio caught up to Layla and continued on. It was still slow going with Rinnie needing to find the trigger for every trap that had killed a monster and ensure it wasn¡¯t still working, but they made progress bit by bit. Considering how long it was taking one might think the hallway they were in to be particularly long, but it really wasn¡¯t- it was just very dangerous.

    When they were nearing the end, Rinnie froze and drew her bow. In a mirror of a similar event weeks ago, she nocked an arrow and fired, striking something hiding in the shadow of a broken light. It tumbled to the ground and this time everyone knew what it was: another nachzehrer skull spider.

 Chapter Thirty Three

    Rinnie retrieved her arrow but otherwise ignored the skull spider and headed for the door to the next room while the rest of the group gathered around it. Most of them had already seen one before, but Cadenza crouched to take a closer look. Without touching it, she used magic to turn it over and about, examining every inch of the little cyborg.

    ¡°Hopefully they just left this behind as a sentry. I¡¯d rather not fight another group of them,¡± Tiriana said with a scowl on her face.

    ¡°I find these things curious. What is their purpose? Scouting? Yet, how would they communicate? There is much we still need to learn about them. Tiriana, did you notice any communication enchantments when you inspected the last one?¡± Cadenza asked, letting the spider drop to the floor.

    ¡°No¡­but if it used technology instead of magic for that, I wouldn¡¯t know what to look for,¡± Tiriana answered. She turned to Sera. ¡°Do you see anything you¡¯d recognize?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not an electronics expert, but¡­typically there¡¯d need to be an antenna for its transmissions to get anywhere. It would probably look like a long rod or wire that¡¯s only connected to anything on one end. There¡¯s nothing like that on the exterior but they might have been advanced enough to put it inside,¡± Sera speculated, basing her guesses mostly off of modern day smartphones. While they had no exterior antenna, they were obviously still able to function, so maybe this thing worked the same.

    ¡°That¡¯s assuming they can even talk to each other. The last one we found didn¡¯t seem to have alerted the armored nachzehrer about us,¡± Vivi pointed out.

    ¡°We already know they have at least three specialized types in use. It¡¯s possible only specific nachzehrer are equipped to receive from these¡­or maybe they have to record the information and physically return with it to report,¡± Cadenza suggested after considering their input. ¡°For now, let¡¯s assume there are nachzehrer present and that they know we¡¯re here. Better to be overly cautious than to be caught by surprise.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re done back there, we¡¯ve got trouble up ahead,¡± Rinnie said over her shoulder. The rest of the party moved up to meet her.

    ¡°Nachzehrer?¡± Layla asked immediately, but Rinnie shook her head.

    ¡°One big monster and dozens of little ones. Big one is the size of an elephant. One eye where the trunk would be, bladed tusks, clawed paws. Telekinetic. The small ones were dragging monsters to it and it was lifting them to its mouth without moving,¡± Rinnie rattled off succinctly. Cadenza stepped forward and opened the door a crack to get a look for herself, then closed it and turned back.

    ¡°If it has telekinesis it can likely also project its own barrier¡­and the minions suggest it¡¯s got some kind of leadership ability,¡± Tiriana concluded after hearing Rinnie¡¯s description.

    ¡°That, or they¡¯re its young. Hard to say, but the strategy remains the same. Layla, you will engage it directly while the rest of us clear out the smaller monsters. Tiriana, provide fire support but be ready to project a barrier to defend our backline. Rinnie, pick off the smaller creatures but keep an eye on that big- we¡¯ll call it a cyclophant. I want you to blind it the moment its barrier is out of the way.

    ¡°Sera, I¡¯d like you to blur Layla¡¯s image to make her a more difficult target. Since the cyclophant has only one eye it most likely has no depth perception- work that into your illusion. And Vivi, I probably don¡¯t need to tell you this, but stay ready to heal anyone if they get injured.¡± Cadenza needed hardly a moment¡¯s thought to decide the party members¡¯ roles in the fight ahead. Her instructions were clear and confident, enough so that Sera missed her chance to point out she¡¯d only cast an illusion in combat once before. ¡°If everyone¡¯s ready, let¡¯s go.¡±

    When no one spoke up, Layla threw open the door to the next room and charged the cyclophant before Sera could even begin to prepare her illusion, forcing her to scramble to catch up. She managed to blur Layla¡¯s outline by the time she was halfway across the room and continued refining the illusion while the warrior covered the remaining distance until she was immersed in a cloud of vague armored figures, her own body blurred enough to blend in. The cyclophant sent a telekinetic blast Layla¡¯s way but only brushed her shoulder, pushing it back for a brief moment.

    It was immediately clear why she hadn¡¯t bothered to wait when Layla reached the cyclophant. It stood to its full height and swung its tusks at the tiny Amazon in front of it and Layla showed the degree of agility enabled by fully articulated plate by neatly side stepping the attack and replying with the spiked end of her poleaxe. It slowed to a stop inches from the cyclophant¡¯s hide and Layla withdrew the weapon before the monster could take advantage.

    Sera got a good look at the beast while trying to maintain her spell. It was as big as Rinnie had suggested, with one massive eye and tusks shaped like scimitars. The cyclophant¡¯s brown hide was tough and thick, with sharp barb-like hairs that easily could be weaponized loosely spread across it. The smaller creatures surrounding it had similar hides and barbs, but they were bipedal and hunchbacked instead of quadrupedal.

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    Before those smaller monsters had a chance to react to Layla¡¯s assault, Rinnie and Tiriana joined the fight. Rinnie drew her bow so quickly it was hard to even track her movement, then a shaft sprouted from the head of a monster deep inside the room. Spears of ice formed around Tiriana before shooting towards their targets to mixed results- there seemed to be some variance in their hides or magic resistance, as some of the icicles pierced through to lethal effect while other merely shattered.

    The monsters were quick to respond, shifting the attention from Layla to the women actively attacking them. They turned as one and surged towards the group of adventurers at the door- which is right when Cadenza entered the fray. She stepped forward with a baton in one hand and waved it like a conductor, then stabbed it forward as if calling for a staccato note. Simultaneously an amorphous cloud of gray shot from the canister on her hip and smacked a leaping monster right out of the air. With her other hand Cadenza formed a knife, calling three of her swords from their sheath arranging them into a fan shape. Wherever her arm swung, the floating swords followed as if physically tied to it.

    Rather than relying on her armor, Cadenza danced across the battlefield avoiding the mindless beasts hellbent on killing her with nimble footwork alone. Her iron sand she manipulated like a shield, interposing it between her and any creature that grew too close while her swords cut down monsters meters away, growing further away and then receding at her will. At the same time, Rinnie and Tiriana continued firing into the crowd of hostile monsters. Tiriana was forced to pause occasionally to block any monster that bypassed Cadenza, but Rinnie was always quick to notice and shoot them so that Tiriana could return her attention to the hoard.

    Deep inside the chamber, Layla kept the cyclophant well occupied with swift strikes and expertly timed parries. Its lack of depth perception and difficulty identifying the real Layla amongst a crowd of doubles reduced the threat greatly, but Layla remained careful, avoiding some strikes and redirecting others with the haft of her poleaxe. Although the cyclophant was mixing in telekinetic jabs and waves of force, it found itself unable to land a solid hit even then. It quickly realized wide area attacks had the best chance of hitting, but Layla was an unmovable object, shrugging off these dispersed attacks and chipping away at its barrier.

    Abruptly, the cyclophant changed tack. It backed away from Layla and yanked a monster corpse towards her telekinetically. Layla ducked under a monstrous horned camel the size of a bull and then rolled backwards to avoid the follow-up slash of the cyclophant¡¯s tusks. Sera clicked her tongue as she tried to match Layla¡¯s quick movements- her crude illusions lagged behind, causing the horned camel to sail through them, and when Layla rolled, they fell far enough out of sync that it took Sera several seconds to adjust and recover.

    She realized after a moment that she should have been operating them on a delay on purpose from the start. The cyclophant¡¯s lack of depth perception meant that when Layla rolled backwards it couldn¡¯t tell and it struck out against the illusions, not realizing that Layla was well behind the rest of the figures. If Sera waited a second or so before adjusting her illusion, Layla could strike the cyclophant and fade before it retaliated. It didn¡¯t matter if it realized the trick- knowing it was hitting nothing wasn¡¯t going to help the monster locate Layla.

    After Sera had that epiphany the cyclophant, already outmatched by Layla, was put further onto the defensive. The Amazon warrior struck with impunity and stepped away right as her mirror images mimicked her, confusing the monster into striking thin air. Blow after blow landed against its barrier and it became more and more panicked with the depletion of its best form of defense. Now fearing for its life, the monster let out a warbling yell that drew the attention of its minions, but Cadenza, Rinnie, and Tiriana had been systematically reducing their numbers the entire time.

    There were few enough monsters attacking her now that Rinnie was easily picking off the ones that got through alone, allowing Cadenza go on the attack. Within an ever-thinning crowd of hunchbacked cyclopes, Cadenza recalled her iron sand and put her baton away, signaling a shift from a balanced fighting style to total offense. Her now-freed hand took control of the remaining three swords in her sheath and the veteran adventurer turned into a whirling buzzsaw slicing through several cyclopes with each graceful swing.

    No help was coming for the cyclophant. It waved its tusks wildly to ward off Layla, who advanced implacably towards it while easily avoiding the creature¡¯s poorly-aimed swings. Finally, it barrier failed and Layla¡¯s poleaxe stabbed into its lower leg, prompting an enraged scream. The cyclophant readied itself to charge, but Rinnie was faster. From tens of meters away she loosed an arrow that sailed above where Cadenza was fighting and towards the towering monster on the far side of the room, catching it in the eye as if drawn to it just as it swung its head into position.

    Blinded, the cyclophant stumbled, trying to rear back right as it had been about to kick off with its back legs. Layla darted in as it lost its footing, bracing her poleaxe against the ground beneath its jaw. The cyclophant didn¡¯t even see its death coming. The blade at the end of the weapon, aided by gravity and mass, speared directly through the monster¡¯s brain, emerging from the top of its skull.

    The few cyclopes remaining fell into confusion with their leader¡¯s death. As they turned to run, Tiriana and Cadenza both launched a final attack at their backs. Spears of ice and razor-sharp swords pierced their backs as they fled, rapidly reducing the number of survivors to zero.

    Sera dropped her illusion, breathing heavily. She saw Layla in the distance lifting the cyclophant¡¯s head and tearing her weapon free. Rinnie began retrieving her arrows from the many corpses they inhabited, and Cadenza pulled her swords back with a curved finger, whipping them to the side to cast off the blood of their victims. Tiriana, having fought only with conjured weapons, just strolled forward casually to take a closer look at the monsters they¡¯d killed.

    ¡°So¡­does anyone need any healing?¡± Vivi asked rhetorically.

 Chapter Thirty Four

    After retrieving the mana crystal inside the cyclophant- its purity was low, but it was the size of Sera¡¯s fist and apparently that meant it had some value- the party left the battlefield behind and continued on. Since the cyclophant¡¯s minions had cleared all the mist-warped animals nearby out they were able to proceed for some time with no more fights. As always, the dungeon¡¯s traps slowed their progress, but only Rinnie and Tiriana were involved in clearing them, so despite the life-or-death circumstances Sera found herself growing bored.

    ¡°I was expecting this to be a bit more¡­perilous,¡± she admitted to Vivi as they walked along in the center of the group. Layla stood ahead of them like a statue, staring straight down the hall, while Cadenza was still keeping watch to the rear.

    ¡°That¡¯s how it goes. Long periods of nothing happening and the occasional fight for your life,¡± Vivi replied as she shook her legs to wake them up. ¡°Even in a dungeon the monsters aren¡¯t totally endless. A room has to be empty for a bit before the mana settles back down.¡±

    ¡°It feels like we¡¯ve been down here for days but we¡¯ve only cleared what, two rooms and one and a half hallways? I guess I shouldn¡¯t complain though, since I¡¯m not doing a whole lot right now,¡± Sera said with a shrug.

    ¡°No, I understand how you feel. I spend most of my time channeling one or two miracles and that¡¯s not really something I have to do consciously, so¡­it can get pretty boring. I¡¯m happy to be useful, though!¡± Vivi grinned, flashing the map she was ever-so-slowly filling out. It seemed to depict anything the cleric had seen with her own eyes, which wasn¡¯t much so far.

    A pained shriek came from down the hall and both women looked over in concern, but it was just a mist-warped that had fallen into a trap. Actually, fallen was the wrong word. It looked like Tiriana, knowing where the magic traps were, had made a wall of ice to funnel the monster into a trap where it died with minimal fuss.

    ¡°Huh. Guess that¡¯s one way to deal with them,¡± Sera said to Vivi. Time passed as their forward party members cleared the hall, and eventually they came upon an antechamber with a sturdy looked double door on the other side. Across the ceiling was a series of inscriptions running between the two entrances to the room, but a meter or so of the formation was scratched out just short of the other door. From the far side of the damaged portion a fine mist seemed to be leaking from the inscriptions, dispersing into nothingness quickly.

    ¡°Is that¡­?¡± Sera asked, looking at the mist.

    ¡°Mana. It¡¯s so concentrated that it¡¯s visible to the naked eye,¡± Vivi answered, eye wide with surprise.

    ¡°Looks like we found the damaged conduit. This shouldn¡¯t even be visible, it¡¯s only appearing so that the fault is identifiable,¡± Tiriana said as she examined the inscriptions.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like we can fix it right now. We¡¯ll need to stop the flow of mana from the secondary core first.¡± Cadenza crossed the short chamber and examined the door. ¡°This is enchanted, and it¡¯s receiving mana from the core directly. We¡¯re not getting through it by force.¡±

    ¡°Why would the secondary core have better defenses than the primary one¡­?¡± Rinnie wondered, rapping her knuckles against the sealed security door.

    ¡°I think this would just be a normal door without power. They were relying so heavily on enchanted defenses that without them we were able to just¡­walk on through,¡± Tiriana explained. ¡°Tracing the connections¡­it looks like this door will only open on its own if we meet the programmed criteria, but there are two other locations connected to it. They might be emergency overrides for if there¡¯s ever no one that can open the door the proper way.¡±

    ¡°We passed quite a few doors on the way here. Can you tell which ones lead to the overrides?¡± Cadenza asked the elf, leaning against the door.

    ¡°Not from here. The remote connections are running along the walls, though. I¡¯d assumed they were for the traps, there¡¯s no reason for them to terminate at this door if that¡¯s the case. It¡¯s only a guess, but I think we can follow them to the overrides.¡± Tiriana tapped a finger against her lips as she spoke, scrutinizing things invisible to the non-mages in the group. Cadenza seemed to be following something with her eyes as well, but given that she was asking, she must not have had the same level of understanding.

    ¡°Guess the nachzehrer thought that was more trouble than it was worth,¡± Rinnie commented as she looked up at the scratched out section.

    ¡°That, or they wanted to maintain the element of surprise. If they took the time to secure both overrides there would be a higher chance of being noticed. This section wouldn¡¯t have activated until the main core was offline so the locals may not have realized it was damaged until it was too late. So¡­they likely damaged this conduit and then rushed the security stations for the main core, then used the overrides or a captive to enter the core chamber,¡± Cadenza speculated in answer to Rinnie¡¯s words. ¡°Let¡¯s backtrack. Tiriana, let us know when we¡¯re near the right hall.¡±

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    With no other choice, the party returned to the room in which they¡¯d fought the cyclophant. Most of the bodies were still there, but a few appeared to have been dragged off somewhere and a few were other monsters had shown up to snack on the carrion in the party¡¯s absence. None were in any way comparable to the cyclophant, though, and they were wiped out in short order by Rinnie alone from afar.

    Once the room was clear, Tiriana followed along the walls, eyes focused. There were six doors on the sides of this room that had gone ignored on the first trek through. Tiriana passed the first door she came across, eyes tracking above and over the doorway. When she reached the middle door she stopped.

    ¡°It¡¯s this one. Give me a moment to check the other side,¡± she said, jogging past the cyclophant¡¯s corpse. Sure enough, she soon confirmed the door mirroring the first was the one they needed.

    ¡°Let¡¯s take¡­this one first,¡± Cadenza decided, picking the one on the right seemingly at random. As usual, Rinnie and Tiriana took the lead, but it quickly became clear it wasn¡¯t necessary.

    ¡°Strange. This floor has so many traps, but this hallway is clear?¡± Rinnie said a few steps in. ¡°I wonder if all the side passages are clear. Maybe it¡¯s only the direct path to the core that¡¯s trapped?¡±

    ¡°Maybe¡­it looks like these rooms are offices and labs, so they might have wanted to keep the security measures minimal. It¡¯s strange that they¡¯d leave the emergency overrides vulnerable, though,¡± Tiriana replied as she peeked through the side doorways in the hall. The doors was smashed open from the inside, presumably by monsters that had spawned inside. While the contents of the rooms were in disarray, the desks and papers in the offices were identifiable and the labs had spell circles on the floor and walls.

    ¡°Don¡¯t let your guard down. If they skimped on the hallway that just means they concentrated their defenses in the security stations themselves,¡± Cadenza pointed out, getting nods from Rinnie and Tiriana, who sharpened their gazes and resumed the search for traps.

    At the end of the hall the party found another door that had already been smashed open, and visible from the door was a vaguely humanoid figure that had been twisted and bent out of shape. The two women in the lead took a look into the room but quickly turned and gave the all-clear.

    ¡°Looks like the monsters got to this room first,¡± Rinnie reported as the others caught up. Several golems were scattered around the room in pieces along with a few dead monsters- hideous mist-warped animals that might have begun life as hippopotami. There were shattered crystals on the floor and in emplacements on the ceiling and multiple damaged magic circles on the walls and floor, while any furniture in the room was smashed to pieces.

    Beyond the destruction was a metal door that looked like it had fought a battering ram and lost, leading into an empty guard post.

    ¡°¡­we should take a close look at the defenses here before we head to the other side. It¡¯s possible the other station¡¯s defenses are still intact, so we may be able to learn something useful,¡± Cadenza told the group before they headed into the guard post to find the override they were looking for. Tiriana took a few moments to look around at the various controls, searching for the one they needed.

    ¡°It¡¯s hard to tell with so little to go by, but I think a lot of this was for surveillance. These resemble outdated scrying tools that went out of use¡­centuries ago, at least,¡± she said as she looked over a bank of crystalline hemispheres mounted on a grid against one wall. Nearly the entire wall was dominated by them save for some inscrutable controls that would have been waist-high for the giants living here. Tiriana moved on from those and examined the other stations, but even to her the intended usage of most of them was lost. Fortunately, she only needed to trace the connection from the outside that they had followed her to pinpoint the override they were looking for.

    ¡°If I¡¯m correct, it should be this one,¡± she said, indicating a panel with a thick metal cover over it. The cover was locked, and surprisingly it was a physical lock and not a magical one.

    ¡°Move over, I¡¯ve got this,¡± Rinnie told Tiriana, pushing her to the side lightly. The scout took out a set of tools and got to work on the lock. Given her height it was slightly above the level of her head, so she was forced to work while craning her neck, but it was nonetheless open in seconds. Underneath it, however, was a series of complex inscriptions and a crystal. Peering over Rinnie¡¯s shoulder- not terribly difficult with her short stature- Tiriana evaluated the actual override.

    ¡°Looks like it¡¯s a scanner. Judging by the height and size¡­it was probably meant for scanning something small, rather than a person¡¯s identity,¡± Tiriana said after a moment. ¡°I think we¡¯ll need to find some kind of token to activate it.¡±

    ¡°¡­nah, I got this,¡± Rinnie said after a moment while sighing heavily. She got several confused looks- everyone knew she wasn¡¯t a mage.

    ¡°You know how to bypass a magic security system?¡± Sera voiced before anyone else spoke up.

    ¡°Are you saying you can do it with only basic magic¡­?¡± Cadenza asked skeptically from near the door. Sera noted that even now she had one eye on the room outside.

    ¡°I may or may not have a certain set of skills. Ones that I definitely acquired legally. Older systems like this only have a single layer of authentication because the designers never anticipated the key being spoofed. But basic magic is all about making mana look like what you want it to, right?¡± Rinnie explained cagily. Tiriana and Cadenza both looked at her as if she were insane.

    ¡°Yes¡­but how could you possibly know what the key is?¡± Tiriana asked. ¡°As far as I know, the newer systems are intended to spot unauthorized copies.¡±

    ¡°They are. It¡¯s just that, those copies don¡¯t have to be physical. Because they never expected that anyone could do this,¡± Rinnie said as she placed her hand on the crystal, demonstrating rather than explaining. Tiriana¡¯s eyes narrowed.

    ¡°What? What did she do?¡± Vivi asked in confusion.

    ¡°She sent a pulse of raw mana into the device,¡± Tiriana replied. ¡°You couldn¡¯t have¡­¡±

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t have what? Scanned the device and read the feedback to figure out what it¡¯s looking for?¡± Rinnie asked conjuring a metallic disc in her hand. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I did.¡±

 Chapter Thirty Five

    ¡°That should be impossible. How could you even interpret it?¡± Tiriana asserted even as Rinnie waved her conjured token in front of the scanner. The crystal at the center changed from white to red. Sera would have assumed that was a bad thing were it a human-designed system, but the plants here were red instead of green. Assuming the native giants chose their colors the same way then that probably meant the token had been accepted.

    ¡°Lots of practice,¡± Rinnie replied smugly as the token vanished into thin air. Layla snorted.

    ¡°So you are not just a thief, but an experienced thief,¡± the warrior accused in disgust.

    ¡°Well, now you¡¯re just making assumptions. But you know what isn¡¯t one? The fact you¡¯re so unpleasant and incompetent that you got blacklisted by every Amazonian sisterhood in Omichl¨®dis,¡± Rinnie shot back venomously. Sera respected her bravery. She made a mental note to honor the little scout¡¯s memory.

    ¡°How¡­?¡± Layla muttered, struck momentarily speechless. ¡°You dare!?¡±

    ¡°Must I again remind the both of you that we are in a dungeon?¡± Cadenza barked, her swords swinging into place between Layla and Rinnie just as the former reached for her weapon. ¡°Layla, keep your mouth shut if all you have to utter is insults and accusations. Rinnie, cease provoking her or prepare your last will. I¡¯m not stepping in if this happens again.¡±

    ¡°Hmph,¡± Layla grunted before turning and leaving the room, stomping off to wait in the hallway. She kicked aside a broken golem on the way through.

    ¡°God I wish those two would just bone already and get it out of their systems,¡± Sera whispered to Vivi, who chortled before she could stop herself. Rinnie shot her a glare, clearly having heard what she said, but all she did in reply was throw a presumably rude gesture Sera¡¯s way.

    ¡°Back to the topic at hand, how can we be sure that worked?¡± Cadenza asked as she indicated the red crystal. ¡°That looks like ominous.¡±

    ¡°It worked. I¡¯ve tested this technique on hundreds of security systems. It¡¯s been a very long time since I misread the results,¡± Rinnie stated confidently, arms crossed.

    ¡°But that would be like¡­reverse engineering a jig-saw puzzle when the pieces are still in the box and all you can see is the negative space between them,¡± Tiriana replied, still unable to fathom what Rinnie had done.

    ¡°Is it that much different from what you do with the trap spells?¡± Vivi asked.

    ¡°Completely. I don¡¯t have to do anything, I can just see them. Mana isn¡¯t like language, an active spell formation is universal. It might be too complex to fully grasp or deconstruct, but as long as it¡¯s not masked somehow, I can at least determine the basic function. The closest comparison I can think of would be seeing a spell in action and deciphering it without ever laying eyes on the spell circle that cast it,¡± Tiriana explained to Vivi. Sera didn¡¯t yet know enough about magic to understand that directly, but maybe it was something like looking at a computer¡¯s user interface and divining how it was programmed from the visual alone?

    ¡°It¡¯s that first part that¡¯s the important bit. Mana is universal. If you know how one system stores the key you know them all¡­at least, before the eggheads figured out how to encrypt it, but that¡¯s outside my wheelhouse,¡± Rinnie said with a shrug. ¡°Now, are we going to sit here and yap about how amazing I am all day, or are we going to go check out the other station?¡±

    ¡°We should examine the defenses first. Come,¡± Cadenza said as she walked back out of the guard room. Sera followed along with the others to find her kneeling over one of the golems- they were the size of nachzehrer but far more heavily armored. Even so, the mist-warped that attacked them had bent their metal limbs and crumpled their plating such that they could no longer move.

    ¡°Looking more closely, I think these are still active,¡± Tiriana observed as she joined Cadenza. ¡°They¡¯re just too damaged to move.¡±

    ¡°Yes¡­their cores are likely heavily protected. Mere mist-warped¡­no, even monsters would have to be fairly powerful to reach them. Ironic, then, that their least vital parts proved to be their greatest weakness,¡± Cadenza said as she ran her hand over the chest plate of one golem. ¡°They are quite heavily charged with mana as well. I believe I could immobilize them for some time, but they would resist intrusion.¡±

    ¡°There¡¯s no way we can break them the same way the monsters did. Unless¡­Layla can manage it, anyway,¡± Rinnie contributed, clearly struggling just to make herself use Layla¡¯s actual name instead of an insult. Maybe the idea of being left to at Layla¡¯s mercy while deep inside a dungeon at finally scared her into behaving.

    ¡°¡­you wish for me to bend pure metal with my bare hands?¡± the warrior asked grumpily from her position at the door.

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    ¡°Are you saying you can¡¯t?¡± Rinnie asked in a much more even tone that was usual.

    ¡°I did not say that,¡± Layla disagreed. Given that she¡¯d pried open a heavy elevator door the other week, Sera was unsurprised by the assertion.

    ¡°Looks like there were about half a dozen here. I think between Layla and I we should be able to destroy them, but we may need you to do some crowd control, Tiriana,¡± Cadenza said slowly. ¡°That just leaves those¡­¡±

    ¡°The crystal things?¡± Rinnie asked, following Cadenza¡¯s gaze towards the ceiling. ¡°I¡¯ll take care of them.¡±

    ¡°The soles of their feet are smooth metal,¡± Tiriana observed. ¡°I could coat the ground in ice. They probably weren¡¯t designed to be used outside in winter.¡±

    ¡°Oh! Then I could bestow a water-walking miracle, or maybe an anti-slip miracle, for Layla and Cadenza!¡± Vivi volunteered excitedly.

    ¡°And Sera, you¡¯ll be doing the same thing as last time,¡± Cadenza added at the end. ¡°I¡¯m going to need some range to do what I have in mind, so we¡¯ll need you to confuse them. Make it so they can¡¯t be sure where Layla is.¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Sera agreed with a firm nod, feeling much more confident now having done it once before.

    ¡°Let¡¯s go find out if there¡¯s going to be a fight at all, then,¡± Cadenza said as she walked out of the room. Since the party already knew the hallway wasn¡¯t going to be trapped, they were able to march through the one outside and right down the one opposite it without much fanfare. Just like in the last hall, the doors here were busted open and the contents of the rooms they guarded trashed. But unlike the last time, this hallway terminated in a closed door. As always, Rinnie was first to the door, carefully opening it just a bit to check the other side.

    ¡°Six golems. One looks busted. Five lined up along the walls,¡± she reported after closing the door.

    ¡°Better than it could have been,¡± Cadenza said. ¡°Layla, wait for Sera¡¯s illusion before entering. Everyone else, you know what to do.¡±

    That said, no one actually moved yet. Sera began creating an image in her mind, again focusing on making it realistic as possible knowing that whatever she actually produced would be much less detailed than her mental image. Vivi began praying to the god of adventure, while Tiriana began readying a spell.

    ¡°Ready?¡± Tiriana asked when she finished preparing. Five nods answered and she cast open the door, throwing both hands forward and towards the ground. The floor of the room iced over in a flash, going from smooth stone to even smoother ice in seconds. The defensive emplacements on the ceiling reacted first by casting bolts of energy in her direction, but the elven mage hadn¡¯t skimped on her barriers, which deflected the projectiles in to the walls.

    Tiriana stepped to the side and Layla took the lead, cloaked in a shroud of indeterminate figures several feet in every direction. Even she herself was blurred. The first golem to step towards her slipped and fell onto the ice, sending spider webs of cracks in every direction. Another fell on the opposite side of the room, but in the process the two fallen golems had disturbed the slick surface enough for the rest to proceed- albeit slowly. Three golems stomped towards Layla, who even in her armor looked like a child before them.

    Before the vanguard warrior even reached her opponents Rinnie darted in, arrow already nocked and ready. She flicked her bow upwards and loosed an arrow towards one of the crystals in the ceiling and a rain of shards followed soon after. One after another she sniped the fragile magic turrets, which were too preoccupied firing at Layla to notice. Some actually struck the warrior, but the damage, if any, was too little to halt her advance.

    The lead golem plodded into range and launched a punch at Layla that would have flattened Rinnie like a bug, but it misjudged her location and struck only the ground. As its fist landed, Layla shot up from within the illusionary mass Sera had produced to strike it on the head with her poleaxe, leaving a sizeable dent in its forehead. A second golem approached and Layla redirected its strike away from her body, causing it to bump into the first before she faded into her covering illusion.

    As Layla engaged the golems, Cadenza stepped into the room. She waved one hand upwards, drawing five swords, then dropped her hand forward and swept it to the side. The weapons under her control fanned out parallel to the ground with one pointing straight forward. To Sera¡¯s eyes it looked remarkably like some kind of rotary loading mechanism- because it was. Cadenza¡¯s hands settled to both sides of the sword in front of her and the air began to hum.

    Meanwhile, Layla used Sera¡¯s spell to great effect, nimbly striking out from within the cluster of her doubles and fading back in before her enemies could retaliate, lingering only long enough to deflect a blow or two and keep their attention on herself. Metal rang like a chorus of bells as her poleaxe landed hit after hit upon the armor of the golems in much the same way she had defeated the nachzehrer gunner. The damage seemed minor, but Layla was experienced. Every strike landed close to a joint, pinching the metal plating nearby and restricting the movement of her foes.

    ¡°Dodge left!¡± Cadenza barked, her magic reaching a crescendo and making the very air vibrate. Layla danced out of the way and a moment later there was a flash of light as Cadenza¡¯s sword broke the sound barrier with a deafening crack. Sera could only assume she¡¯d taken precautions to reduce the volume, otherwise that description may have been literal. Regardless, the magnetically accelerated sword punched its way through the chest plate of its target, transferring so much additional force that the massive figure skidded back several feet before falling to the ground, its core pierced.

    A second pulse of ice flowed out over the room from Tiriana¡¯s position, sending the golems slipping and sliding again as Layla moved back in to reengage. She concentrated her efforts on a single golem this time- it had already been beginning to slow, and her efforts exacerbated its mobility problems until it was moving in fits and starts comparable to a very rusty machine. When Cadenza was ready to fire her next shot, she didn¡¯t even bother targeting that one, as it was clearly already as good as out of the fight.

    Sera noticed Rinnie had pulled back to where she and Vivi were standing and was now watching the fight with a bored expression. That, in particular, drove home that this battle was as good as over. Now all they needed to do was wait.

 Chapter Thirty Six

    After defeating the golems and taking a short break, the party returned to the sealed door they¡¯d encountered earlier. The return trip was quiet but tense, the lack of encounters serving to ratchet up everyone¡¯s anxiety rather than alleviate it. Distant sounds could be heard from sections they hadn¡¯t explored, but there was no use worrying about that- clearing them out would take far too long and there was just as much chance of being ambushed from behind while doing so as there would be if they simply went ahead. Dungeon monsters weren¡¯t restricted to one spot and by the time they were working on the last wing of this floor the first would likely be filling back up with monsters anyway.

    Tiriana and Rinnie took the lead as usual, but most of the physical traps had been dealt with or marked already so the work was mostly just Tiriana blocking the magical traps from activating. They made good time as a result, and soon they were approaching the vault-like door that had stopped their progress before. It wasn¡¯t even in view yet before the smell of blood started to thicken. With all the dead monsters littering the halls, the dungeon had stunk of blood to begin with and Sera¡¯s nose had long grown numb to it, but now the stench grew so strong that it had asserted itself once more.

    When the door was finally in sight Sera saw that it was already open. The lights on the other side were out, casting the room beyond in blackness that seemingly began right at the door- until Sera realized the periphery was moving. It wasn¡¯t that the floor was hidden in shadow; it was simply carpeted so thickly with fresh blood that it appeared black. Only the slow advance of that vital liquid into the antechamber betrayed its presence.

    ¡°¡­anyone else have a sudden desire to come back later?¡± Rinnie asked, stopping in her tracks. ¡°Or never.¡±

    ¡°If we can¡¯t handle whatever¡¯s back there with this team I doubt we can handle it at all. Layla is hands down the best warrior available and as far as I¡¯m aware I¡¯m the strongest mage,¡± Cadenza replied, one hand raised as if preparing to draw her swords.

    ¡°Having two of the strongest people around is nice and all, but what about synergy?¡± Rinnie countered with exasperation, waving between herself and Layla.

    ¡°At least she¡¯s self-aware,¡± Sera muttered. ¡°She has a point, though. Wouldn¡¯t a team that¡¯s more used to working together be better if whatever is in there is dangerous? And I know I¡¯m a liability here.¡±

    ¡°A party doesn¡¯t need to like each other to work together well, and from what I¡¯ve seen, this group does,¡± Cadenza asserted. ¡°Besides, we¡¯ve yet to even confirm what¡¯s in there. We¡¯d all feel like idiots if we retreated now and it turned out to be a bunch of monsters that ripped each other apart.¡±

    ¡°Well, I can¡¯t think of any way we can check without letting it know we¡¯re here. Not with the lights out,¡± Tiriana said with a shrug.

    ¡°Oh, uh, I can help with that!¡± Vivi declared, perking up. ¡°I can bless one person with dark vision.¡±

    ¡°In that case¡­go ahead and use it on Rinnie, her eyesight is probably the best,¡± Cadenza instructed. Vivi nodded rapidly and began to pray.

    ¡°Even I can¡¯t see anything from this far away,¡± Rinnie admitted, squinting down the hall at the darkened doorway ahead.

    ¡°I can do something about that,¡± Tiriana volunteered as she began to put together a spell. Even from her own position Sera could see a spot in front of Rinnie begin to warp, though it was just a blur for her. ¡°Just look through that spot there, it¡¯ll work like a telescope.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. As soon as I can¡­ah, there we go,¡± Rinnie said, Vivi¡¯s blessing activating midsentence. Rinnie peered through the disc of bent light into the darkness. ¡°Looks like¡­yikes, that¡¯s a lot of bodies. Okay, the only thing still standing is some kind of knight. It¡¯s armored up but it looks a lot closer to Layla than a nachzehrer. It¡¯s got a kite shield and a sword- I¡¯d call it a greatsword, but it looks more like a longsword next to that thing.¡±

    ¡°Just the one? Nothing else?¡± Cadenza asked, seeking clarification.

    ¡°I can¡¯t see the whole room from here, but I¡¯ve never seen a vault with only one guard. Gotta be some more of those crystals at the very least,¡± Rinnie replied.

    ¡°¡­and how many vaults have you seen?¡± Sera asked dryly.

    ¡°Plenty! For reasons that are entirely legal. Promise,¡± Rinnie answered with a grin. Cadenza ignored the byplay and mulled the information over.

    ¡°One guard implies that whomever placed it there expected it to suffice on its own- that, or anything else they threw in would only get in its way. It must be a masterpiece. There¡¯s little point in delaying, though- the only way to learn of its capabilities is to engage it. Any objections?¡± she said, looking to the others for confirmation. Truthfully, Sera would have prepared to leave this to someone more experienced, but that was essentially what she¡¯d be doing either way. She and Vivi weren¡¯t really the ones being asked, here.

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    ¡°I¡¯m for it, but let¡¯s get the first hit in,¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°Let us dispense with the talking and fight,¡± Layla answered next.

    ¡°May as well. It¡¯s a risk, but someone has to fight it eventually,¡± Rinnie shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s directly ahead. Just shoot straight down the middle.¡±

    ¡°Then let¡¯s get started. Tiriana, pick a spell and fire on my command,¡± Cadenza ordered, drawing a sword from her sheath at the same time. Miraculously none were damaged against the previous crop of golems- they had surely been designed for such abuse. Tiriana began to cast while Cadenza prepared her railgun spell. ¡°Ready¡­fire.¡±

    There was a flash of light and a crack of thunder as Cadenza released her spell, propelling the sword in front of her down the hall faster than the eyes could track. A fraction of a second later the sword was followed by a bolt of lightning, artificially darkened by a secondary spell. Layla immediately stepped out in front of the spellcasters once they¡¯d finished.

    ¡°Tch. It deflected the sword with its shield- and it used its own sword as a lightning rod. That¡¯s insane- how fast can that thing move?¡± Rinnie reported an instant later. ¡°It¡¯s coming!¡±

    ¡°We assumed it couldn¡¯t see us, but it must have been able to the entire time. It¡¯s the only possible explanation- it must have started moving before we fired,¡± Cadenza analyzed as she drew her other swords. The golem knight burst from the darkness, leaving bloody footprints in its wake as it charged down the hall. Rinnie launched an arrow towards its knee, but it hardly penetrated before stopping. The golem ignored the superficial damage and continued on, but Layla was ready to meet it.

    Like the nachzehrer, the golem was a giant, clearly modeled after the people that built it. Even Layla was dwarfed by its stature, but she met its charge fearlessly, thrusting her poleaxe out before her to meet its shield bash. Her weapon¡¯s shaft met the kite shield and held, but Layla was forced backwards by the impact. She had braced well, though, and soon the golem knight¡¯s momentum was exhausted.

    The instant it stopped moving, Tiriana cast a spell to coat the ground beneath its feet with ice. In response, the golem raised one foot, revealing the spiked soles of its boots, and stomped down on the ice, securing its footing. Without missing a beat the construct swung its sword down at Layla, who easily deflected it to the side. Layla began to transition into an attack before the golem forced her to block its follow-up swing, having recovered its balance faster than a mortal could have hoped to.

    Using its shield as much to attack as to defend, the golem knight advanced, forcing Layla onto the defensive. Tiriana attempted to aid the party vanguard by freezing the golem¡¯s limbs, but like the first nachzehrer they¡¯d fought, it was too strong to be restrained that easily. As the warrior was forced back so too was the rest of the party, backpedaling as a group down the hall. It was difficult to focus while on the move, but Sera began weaving illusions to give Layla a reprieve, forming a squad of mirror images around her.

    Unfortunately, the golem knight wasn¡¯t fooled. It was too quick, more than anything- able to react and strike before Layla was able to fade into the background. With a click of her tongue, Sera dropped the ineffective illusion and wracked her brain for a new tactic. She needed some way of distracting the golem- something it wouldn¡¯t have a choice but to react to.

    Cadenza stepped in to harass the golem with slashes at its joints, but its body was at least as tough as her weapons and it began to ignore her attempts after the first few strikes failed to do any damage. For her part, Rinnie fired arrows every time the golem struck at Layla, catching its joints in the moments when it was mid-movement and couldn¡¯t react. Her mana-charged projectiles did minimal damage against its incredibly tough armor, but that wasn¡¯t to say they did nothing at all. Each arrow penetrated just deeply enough for the arrowheads to stick fast even when the shafts were broken off by the golem¡¯s movements, impeding its movements slightly.

    Still, that wasn¡¯t enough to completely even the odds. Between Rinnie and Tiriana the golem knight lost only the tiniest, barely perceptible fraction of a second with each attack, too little for Layla to capitalize on. After many exchanges the golem managed to hook Layla¡¯s poleaxe on the bottom of its kite shield and pulled her towards it, right into a downward swing from its sword. Layla caught her balance by planting one foot forward, but she had only enough time to raise her weapon and brace herself before the blow hit home.

    An instant later the golem knight¡¯s sword completed its arc- having cleaved straight through Layla¡¯s weapon right in the middle of the shaft. Layla hopped backwards, adjusting both halves of her weapon and assuming a dual-wielding stance, using the upper half as an axe and the bottom half as a short spear. Her reach was badly reduced, however, and without the ability to put all her strength into each block, she quickly began to struggle just to take the giant construct¡¯s blows.

    Ever the consummate warrior, Layla adapted quickly, avoiding the shield bashes entirely and crossing the halves of her weapon to counter the golem¡¯s sword. Her defense was far from perfect now, though, and hits began to slip through, ringing against her armor and driving grunts from her lips. In response, Cadenza split her swords between her hands and crossed the blades, slipping them into position around the golem¡¯s forearms to restrain it. While Layla recovered her stance, the golem spun and threw a kick at the mage behind it, striking a glancing blow against her shoulder that produced a sickening snap and sent her spinning.

    Sera watched with alarm as Vivi darted towards their leader, skirting around the spot where Layla was still trading blows against the golem knight. Fortunately it must have judged her to be a non-threat, as it ignored her on her way past, and soon she was crouching behind the gray-skinned mage and praying. Not sure what else to do, Sera followed the cleric, which at least put her outside the golem¡¯s line of sight.

    ¡°Shit, that thing is strong. We need a change of strategy,¡± Cadenza stated as Vivi got to work on her shoulder. If she was bothered by the pain of her shattered shoulder it didn¡¯t show.

    That¡¯s when it hit Sera. She knew what to do with her illusions.

    ¡°I have an idea.¡±

 Chapter Thirty Seven

    ¡°Let¡¯s hear it,¡± Cadenza said to Sera while she waited for her shoulder to be healed. In the background Layla continued trading blows with the golem knight to little effect while Rinnie continued to snipe at its joints.

    ¡°That thing only reacts to things it thinks can hurt or slow it down it. It blocked your first attack and has been focusing on Layla, but it never paid any attention to Rinnie or your slashes. That means your railgun attack could have hurt it, and it thinks Layla is strong enough to do the same,¡± Sera explained, having been watching the entire fight from the rear and thus having the luxury of analyzing it.

    ¡°It knew exactly where I was when it went to kick me, though. Knowing I can damage it isn¡¯t much help if it¡¯ll just deflect the attack again,¡± Cadenza pointed out. But Sera wasn¡¯t done.

    ¡°I¡¯m counting on that. If it thinks the same attack is coming it¡¯ll dodge or block it- but what if it doesn¡¯t do any damage? It¡¯s a golem, not a person. I¡¯ll launch illusionary swords and lightning at it until it starts ignoring them- then you launch the actual attack from behind me,¡± Sera continued. She¡¯d been using her illusions a lot down here and on a fairly large scale, so she thought it might be doable. They didn¡¯t need to be perfect- at the speeds they¡¯d be moving, they¡¯d be little more than a blur anyway.

    ¡°¡­it could work, but only once. The instant it takes a hit it¡¯ll probably realize the fakes have real projectiles mixed in and adapt,¡± Cadenza responded gravely, eyes distant as she thought the plan over. ¡°I¡¯ll have to hit it with all my remaining shots at once just to be sure. I¡¯ll need time to prepare that, though. Rinnie?¡±

    ¡°Yeah?¡± the scout replied, backing off from the golem. Cadenza hadn¡¯t bothered speaking up; Rinnie¡¯s hearing was somehow better than Sera had thought, and she already had a high opinion of it.

    ¡°We¡¯ve got a plan, but Layla¡¯s flagging. I need you to take some of the heat off of her,¡± Cadenza told the smaller woman. Rinnie scowled in response and shook her head.

    ¡°Don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve noticed but it¡¯s not exactly concerned about my arrows,¡± she replied.

    ¡°I did- but that¡¯s not you¡¯re only weapon, is it?¡± Cadenza asked. ¡°You¡¯re a warrior. I bet that bow isn¡¯t strong enough to take your full strength, but your dagger is another story.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s suicide! One hit and it¡¯ll turn me to paste!¡± Rinnie responded, not denying the implication that she could damage the golem if she tried.

    ¡°Then don¡¯t get hit. I know you have the skill to pull it off. If you don¡¯t relieve Layla soon we all die, you included,¡± Cadenza riposted mercilessly. Rinnie was silent for a moment.

    ¡°I could use the distraction to escape instead,¡± she said weakly. Far from being angry at the idea, Cadenza merely smiled.

    ¡°You wouldn¡¯t, though.¡±

    ¡°¡­no. I wouldn¡¯t. Fine. Just be quick about it,¡± Rinnie agreed after clicking her tongue. ¡°I don¡¯t plan on dying today but I can only buy you so much time.¡±

    ¡°Done!¡± Vivi announced, backing away from Cadenza. Sera didn¡¯t have a baseline, having never seen Vivi use her powers for actual healing before, but she looked like it had taken a lot out of her, so the injury must have been pretty severe.

    ¡°Let¡¯s get started. Tiriana, prepare a lightning bolt as well, please,¡± Cadenza requested as she took her position behind Sera. The mage called up her swords and positioned them in front of Sera- all she would have to do is obscure them after each ¡®attack¡¯ and generate a false projectile.

    ¡°I¡¯m on it, but it won¡¯t be as strong as the first,¡± Tiriana confirmed.

    ¡°You can do this,¡± Sera said to herself as she started gathering mana. Having the swords right in front of her was a big help- she didn¡¯t need nearly as much effort to hold the image steady in her mind. Her plan was going to take several steps: form the fake swords around the real ones, launch them, obscure the originals at the same time, and produce a sound to simulate a real launch. Since Cadenza was holding all her swords out as she charged them, Sera would alternate the starting point as well.

    As the mages prepared, Rinnie charged at the golem knight, drawing her misericord. The golem delivered a mighty swing to Layla that the warrior ducked beneath. Then Rinnie was in close, spinning for momentum. She stabbed her dagger into the side of the golem¡¯s knee joint, planting her feet at the last moment to avoid simply pushing herself backwards. The golem was so much larger than her that she was essentially at knee height already, so Rinnie was able to apply her full strength to the thrust from an ideal stance.

    The tip of her weapon connected and pierced right into the golem knight¡¯s metal knee, a feat unimaginable had she possessed even the strength of Earth¡¯s strongest man. Even then, she was unable to penetrate all the way through the thick metal, managing only to sink her dagger deep enough for it to stick fast. Instantly the golem reacted by swinging at the tiny woman, but Rinnie was already rolling towards its other side.

    ¡°Layla, drive it in!¡± Rinnie called out as she easily dodged another swing, then a shield bash. With the pressure off of her, Layla, armor battered and dented, stepped in close to the golem knight and dropped the bottom half of her weapon, settling into a wide stance, low stance and twisting her body back, one fist clenched and positioned for a punch.

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    ¡°Hrrrrmph!¡± Layla grunted as she threw her fist forward with the entirety of her weight and strength behind it. Her target was below her waist, but Rinnie had factored that in, driving her misericord in at an upward angle. Layla¡¯s descending fist, protected by solid, mana-infused metal, collided with the pommel of the dagger and drove it in like industrial machinery punches holes in sheet metal. The tip emerged from the other side of the golem¡¯s knee and it staggered, no longer able to properly control its leg.

    That didn¡¯t make it less dangerous, though. It quickly swung around and whipped its sword back at Layla, aiming to strike her with the pommel. Midway through, though, it broke off its attack and spun, interposing its shield between itself and Sera as she fired off the first of her fake projectiles. The golem knight nearly lost its balance when the expected impact never came. With the time that bought them, Rinnie and Layla were able to recover their balance and back off, bringing the fight back to a more advantageous distance for themselves.

    ¡°Twenty percent,¡± Cadenza informed Sera as the melee resumed, giving her a rough idea about how long they needed to hold out for. In terms of seconds it hadn¡¯t been all that long since she began to prepare, but in a fight a few seconds could be akin to an eternity. To stay consistent, Sera waited about as long as Cadenza took to charge up a shot herself before firing off the next false sword, leaving Rinnie and Layla to deal with the golem in the meantime.

    Now having determined Rinnie was a greater threat than expected, the golem was no longer going to allow her to get close. She didn¡¯t have another weapon she could use in the same way, but the golem didn¡¯t know that, making her an excellent distraction. Still, the golem knight fought like a veteran warrior, expertly wielding both its sword and its shield to prevent either of its opponents from closing the distance. Layla was no longer being overwhelmed, but with her weapon damaged and her reach reduced by half, she was still on the defensive.

    Last time Sera had seen Rinnie in action, she¡¯d been waist-deep in water. Now the little scout was entirely unencumbered and able to display the full extent of her agility as she dodged and weaved around swings so powerful they produced bursts of air. She ducked under a slash and then rolled backwards to avoid the follow-up, regaining her feet while Layla parried the next attack and sidestepped a shield bash. Taking an unsteady step forward, the golem brought its weapon down towards Rinnie¡¯s head, forcing her to hop out of the way, then redirected its sword into a diagonal slash in Layla¡¯s direction.

    Exchange after exchange took place at a pace Sera could barely even follow, inertia and momentum hardly even a factor in the movements of these enhanced beings. She wasn¡¯t sure how many attacks the two warriors had avoided by the time she launched the next illusionary sword, prompting another attempted deflection from the golem, but it seemed to have anticipated the possibility of a feint this time and avoided losing its balance. Instead it spun back around and delivered a horizontal slash that warded off Layla and Rinnie before they could get close.

    ¡°Forty!¡± Cadenza shouted, sounding slightly more tense than before.

    Sera was feeling the strain herself. She wasn¡¯t just making the swords, after all; to produce the sound effect she had to compress air with a cage of concentrated mana, and she was obscuring the position of the sword she¡¯d just ¡®fired¡¯ each time with mist. It was complicated and required somewhat precise timing, but so had the illusions she¡¯d been using to cloak Layla up to now. She had the practice. Now she was just putting it to use in another fashion.

    Layla and Rinnie worked their way around to opposite sides of the golem, making it more difficult for it to alternate its attacks. It adapted rapidly by adjusting the way it wielded its shield, utilizing the edges for slashing attacks instead of the bashes that would have required a forward motion. Even with only one good leg the golem retained excellent dexterity, and it could hobble forward fast enough to keep up with Layla in the moments she tried to open the distance, so she and Rinnie pulled away in opposite directions, forcing it to choose.

    ¡°Sixty!¡± Cadenza called out as Sera fired another shot off. This time the golem ducked, letting the ¡®sword¡¯ pass over its head while it charged after Layla, deeming her the greater threat. The instant it caught up, though, Rinnie threw herself just barely into range and the golem knight thrust its sword behind it to force her to force her to back off. As she did so, Layla caught the edge of the golem¡¯s shield in both hands and heaved, discovering that the armament was in fact part of the golem¡¯s arm but managing to make it stumble nonetheless.

    The armored warrior took a punch to the chest in response that forced the air from her lungs, but she managed to catch herself before she could topple over. Sera took the opportunity to launch her next feint while the golem was leaning forward and this time found her distraction ignored, a mixed blessing under the circumstances.

    ¡°Eighty percent!¡± followed shortly after, Cadenza now sounding strained. But now Sera was freed from her responsibility- the next attack would be the real one. Instead she faked a clap of lightning and a flash of light that momentarily made the golem knight believe Tiriana had launched another magical attack its way, which gave Layla enough time to recover again.

    Rinnie and Layla entered the final stretch by initiating a deadly game of cat and mouse, entering into and retreating from the golem¡¯s reach in succession, keeping it from focusing fully on either. It worked for several long moments and Sera had almost begun to think the fight was over when the golem changed tack abruptly by kicking off the ground, launching itself in Rinnie¡¯s direction backwards. Suddenly the scout found herself close to her opponent than expected, forced to decide which direction to dodge in when the golem twisted at the waist, swiftly caught itself on its good leg, and delivered closely timed attacks with both arms.

    She¡¯d just barely avoided the golem¡¯s shield when its sword came flying in and sliced straight through her left arm. The severed limb dropped to the ground as Rinnie shakily backpedaled away, stump dripping a clear fluid instead of blood. Layla, for all her faults, charged in to take the heat off her least liked party member, but she needn¡¯t have bothered this time.

    ¡°Ready!¡± Cadenza screamed an instant before the world exploded. Five swords streaked through the air in a fraction of a fraction of a second, impacting the golem¡¯s limbs and back with a force Sera couldn¡¯t begin to calculate. Made of pure metal, it managed to not fly apart, but its limbs were badly warped and one sword was buried in its back.

    Which provided a path directly through its armor and enchantments for the lightning bolt Tiriana followed up with, reducing whatever it had for a core to slag.

 Chapter Thirty Eight

    ¡°¡­thanks,¡± Rinnie muttered sullenly in Layla¡¯s direction. ¡°Y¡¯know, for not waiting until after it hit me to jump in.¡±

    ¡°I was certain it already had,¡± Layla replied stiffly.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah.¡±

    ¡°How¡¯s it looking?¡± Cadenza asked Vivi further down the hallway. Vivi was holding Rinnie¡¯s severed limb and trying to determine if it could be reattached.

    ¡°Strange. Her arm seems to be sustaining itself. It¡¯s still alive, almost like¡­¡±

    ¡°Like a cutting from a plant?¡± Rinnie chimed in, returning from speaking to Layla. ¡°That¡¯s because it is. I¡¯m a dryad- a type of mimic.¡±

    ¡°A mimic? I thought those were weird tentacle monsters that live in treasure chests,¡± Sera couldn¡¯t help but comment.

    ¡°That¡¯s what most people remember, but the majority of mimics are actually treants- it¡¯s pretty rare for a baby mimic to choose anything other than a tree to copy, and they almost always pick something made of wood instinctively. Very rarely one will choose a person instead, and that¡¯s how you get a dryad like me,¡± Rinnie explained, seemingly unbothered by her missing appendage. It had already stopped dripping fluid, Sera noticed.

    ¡°I¡­didn¡¯t know treants were intelligent. Or mimics, for that matter,¡± Tiriana said, surprise on her face.

    ¡°Oh, they¡¯re not. At least, not in a way you¡¯d understand. Only treants are smart enough for dryads to talk to, and without one of us around to tell them not to, they¡¯ll ambush just about anything that gets too close. Usually we watch over a grove of treants and keep them from pissing off anyone that might want to chop them down,¡± Rinnie elaborated with a single-shoulder shrug.

    ¡°Does that not¡­hurt?¡± Vivi asked, staring at Rinnie¡¯s stump arm.

    ¡°Not really. Sure messes with my sense of balance, though,¡± the scout replied nonchalantly.

    ¡°Well¡­I think I can reattach it, fortunately. I¡¯m not strong enough to reattach a limb normally, but since this one is alive independently of your body, channeling a flesh-mending miracle should work. It¡¯ll take a while though. Normally those are used for cuts,¡± Vivi said as she carefully examined both the severed arm and Rinnie¡¯s stump, comparing the ends of each.

    ¡°That¡¯d be great. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m getting that dagger back, and I can¡¯t really draw my bow with one hand.¡± Rinnie¡¯s gaze wandered over to the fallen golem-knight. One of its legs was twisted around her misericord and the pommel and grip were deformed from Layla¡¯s punch.

    ¡°If it doesn¡¯t hurt, then let¡¯s hold off on that until we¡¯re in the core room. That way we only have one direction to keep watch in and a door to defend,¡± Cadenza decided. ¡°Rinnie, is that injury going to keep you from disarming traps?¡±

    ¡°Probably, but I can still spot them just fine, and we can always trigger them from a safe distance,¡± Rinnie confirmed.

    ¡°In that case, I apologize, but we¡¯ll need you to take the lead for just a bit longer. Tiriana, you know what to do.¡±

    With that, the party continued onward into the depths of the dungeon. Sera wondered what it would have been like had they tackled this place the proper way- by actually clearing the entire thing out instead of making a beeline for the core. By her understanding normal dungeons didn¡¯t have a device pumping more mana into them constantly, so it might have been possible to do that without simply having more monsters appear behind them. It would probably have to be done anyway once the core was shut off- they needed access to this section and having it full of monsters all the time would be the opposite of helpful.

    The final hallway leading into the core section was as riddled with traps as the one that had led to the primary core, except this time all the magical traps were added in. Every stone for most of its length was a pressure plate and magical traps were set up to catch anyone that somehow avoided those. Unlike in the movies, it wasn¡¯t a network of trip lasers someone could jump through; the coverage was total.

    As a test, Tiriana tossed a loose stone produced when Cadenza¡¯s first sword strike was deflected previously. It crumbled to dust the instant it crossed into detection range.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s going to be a problem,¡± the elven mage groaned. ¡°There¡¯s no gaps here, just dozens of triggers all lined up. I can¡¯t block this many at once.¡±

    ¡°And this section is still properly hooked up to the core, so they¡¯ll just activate continuously,¡± Cadenza added. ¡°But we have to get past them one way or another. Options?¡±

    ¡°Dig around?¡± Sera proposed. She hadn¡¯t forgotten that the stone was reinforced, but digging through it would at least be less dangerous than this.

    ¡°Too time consuming. We could bring more mages down here and brute force blocking the triggers, maybe,¡± Tiriana followed up.

    ¡°If we have to do that every time we pass through here it would be untenable. We need something that gets us through consistently, not just once,¡± Cadenza clarified.

    Don¡¯t suppose you have a trap deactivating miracle?¡± Rinnie asked, turning to Vivi, who waved her hands in denial. Rather, she waved one of her hands, and with the other she waved Rinnie¡¯s.

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    ¡°Nothing that would work on that scale! Well, not quickly anyway¡­I¡¯m not sure how many there are but it would probably take days or even weeks,¡± the cleric denied.

    ¡°Wait, the spells are embedded in the walls, right?¡± Sera asked after a few moments of silence.

    ¡°Yes. They¡¯re in the stonework,¡± Tiriana confirmed, not sure where Sera was going.

    ¡°But not the rock. So, what if you just¡­break the walls,¡± she suggested. Tiriana slapped a hand to her forehead.

    ¡°Of course. Normally that would bring the whole place down on us, but the walls are just a fa?ade, so ripping them out wouldn¡¯t destabilize anything!¡± the eleven mage exclaimed, gesturing wildly. ¡°If we just launch something into the space the traps cover it¡¯ll only trigger them, but if we tear down the walls ahead of where the traps start and go in from the side¡­¡±

    ¡°Then there¡¯s nothing to stop us, because a contingency like that would have activated on the bricks themselves. And most of the mana runs through the ceiling anyway, so we¡¯ll only be cutting off power to other traps.¡± Cadenza finished. ¡°Neither of us is an earth mage, though, and I¡¯m not sure how many railguns I have left in me right now.¡±

    ¡°The bricks are probably shielded from anything direct anyway. But I can inject water into the space between the bricks and the rock and then freeze it. Back up, this will probably trigger all the traps one last time,¡± Tiriana said, placing her hand on one of the walls and reinforcing her barriers.

    Sera backed up to a safe distance along with the others and waited. First Tiriana conjured a large ball of water, then she used a pressurize stream to cut a line into the wall from floor to ceiling. Once she had that done, she started conjuring more and more water into the space behind, not allowing it to seep back out. The gap was narrow, but there was plenty of space to fill between the irregular surface of the bare rock and the bumpy texture of the brickwork.

    When the area behind the wall was saturated, Tiriana backed up, concentrated for a moment, and clenched her fist. She started by sealing the gap with solid ice, reinforcing it with her magic, then flash-froze every last drop remaining. One moment the hallway way empty, and the next Sera bore witness to possibly the greatest pyrotechnic display she¡¯d ever seen as dozens of spells went off at once amidst a flurry of falling bricks. The enchanted blocks shrugged off the spells but were launched in every which direction by the impacts, with some even bouncing off Tiriana¡¯s barrier.

    Several seconds passed as the aftermath of the chaos died down. An entire wall was now bare, bricks strewn across the hall in tiny pieces. Whatever protected them from magic hadn¡¯t done anything to save them from physics. Damaged by the flying brickwork, some parts of the opposite wall fell away as well, though most of it stayed in place. Even many of the physical traps on the floor had gone off, judging by the twisted and broken spears, spikes, and assorted other contraptions littering the ground.

    ¡°I have never been so glad to have that elf around,¡± Rinnie whispered. At some point she¡¯d hidden behind Sera, using her as a shield. ¡°If we didn¡¯t have a mage with us¡­¡± Although Rinnie trailed off, Sera didn¡¯t need her to finish the sentence to understand the sentiment. Just activating one column of those spells would have been instantly lethal.

    ¡°Can someone check to make sure my shoes are dry? I¡¯m too scared to look,¡± Vivi said, eyes wide.

    ¡°You¡¯re fine,¡± Cadenza assured her, patting the cleric on the back.

    ¡°Huh, that was pretty cool. Time to do it again!¡± Tiriana declared with entirely too much enthusiasm.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re witnessing first hand what happens when a water mage learns how fun explosions are,¡± Sera commented as Tiriana started filling up the other wall with water. The gaps made it harder, but her control over the liquid was precise.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t she use explosions to launch things at the nachzehrer?¡± Vivi asked while Tiriana gleefully went about her task.

    ¡°Those were a lot smaller,¡± Sera responded.

    The second demolition was less spectacular than the first after the damage that one had caused, but it was spectacular all the same. By the time it had died down, so many pressure plates were disabled that the group was able to just walk right to the other side without having to bother disarming any of them. Finally they were able to enter the secondary core room.

    In the center was the magic core as expected, a gargantuan crystal on the scale of a house shaped into a perfect sphere and housed within a cage of metal. It thrummed with barely-contained power and a slight mist hovered over its surface, but its energy was kept in check by the device that enclosed it. Physical conduits connected to the walls, where presumably they made contact with the magical pathways burned into the stone. Several spots on the ceiling were shrouded in mist, but nothing was coming out of it, fortunately.

    ¡°Can you deactivate it, or will we need to bring some specialists from the airship down?¡± Cadenza asked Tiriana as they headed for the controls. Sized for larger beings as they were, Tiriana was forced to hop up on a chair to look them over. Sera could barely see them from her level, but there were a lot of new displays and indicators than the previous ones had had, many of which were projected by magic.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see why not, but¡­I can¡¯t predict how long I¡¯ll need. The displays should help, since Vivi¡¯s translation miracle would allow me to get a lot more information than the controls can give a lone, but they¡¯re no substitute for a manual,¡± Tiriana answered as she examined a small section of the control surfaces. They were designed to be operated by a team, not one person, and there seemed to be a few other consoles scattered around the room near additional devices.

    ¡°I think you¡¯ll be waiting a while on that,¡± Rinnie said. She was sitting on the ground now with Vivi holding her arm in place and praying, unable to join in on the conversation.

    ¡°In the meantime, I might be able to learn some things by just examining this core. Like those spots on the ceiling- see them?¡± Tiriana asked as she hopped down, pointing out the mist for Cadenza.

    ¡°Hm¡­I see, so that¡¯s how they¡¯re getting mana to the core. It¡¯s flowing in through those vents and the core is absorbing it,¡± Cadenza observed, pinching her chin between her index finger and thumb.

    ¡°I don¡¯t think they¡¯re just ducts- they¡¯ve somehow made stable portals to somewhere outside and bypassed the stone entirely. I was wondering how the primary core would have gotten any mana where it was, but there wasn¡¯t much left to investigate,¡± Tiriana corrected the other mage.

    ¡°Portals? Every experiment with teleportation or portals I¡¯ve heard of ended with monsters,¡± Cadenza replied skeptically.

    ¡°Maybe it didn¡¯t work that way in their world. Although¡­the flow of mana looks very consistent. The constant throughput could be the answer, but I don¡¯t know how they¡¯d achieve it¡­¡±

    ¡°Hold that thought,¡± Cadenza said as her pocket started to vibrate. Reaching in, she retrieved a small device. When she activated it, a male elf¡¯s head appeared in midair, projected by the object. ¡°Dalian?¡±

    ¡°Cadenza, I¡¯m sorry to interrupt your delve, but we have a situation. There¡¯s a nachzehrer here¡­and it¡¯s asking to speak to you.¡±

 Chapter Thirty Nine

    ¡°¡­me?¡± Cadenza asked after a moment of shock. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t Dr. Kahnton be handling the diplomacy?¡±

    ¡°Ah, well, the doctor declared it a security matter,¡± the elf called Dalian answered, looking uncomfortable. ¡°I told him you were unavailable, but our ¡®guest¡¯ said it would wait.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s good because they¡¯re going to have to. I have an injured party member undergoing treatment and we can¡¯t move until our cleric is finished. In the meantime, go ahead and send a couple of parties down here with some engineers and at least one cleric that can use a translation miracle. We¡¯ve located the core and I don¡¯t want to leave it unattended,¡± Cadenza instructed after a frustrated sigh.

    ¡°I¡¯m on it. How will they find you?¡±

    ¡°Straight ahead from the elevator. All the physical traps are disabled and the magical ones are marked.¡±

    ¡°Alright, they¡¯ll be down there soon.¡±

    With that, the communicator shut off and Cadenza returned it to her pocket.

    ¡°How are they already here? It hasn¡¯t even been two days since we arrived,¡± Sera wondered. It had been inevitable, really, but she¡¯d thought an attack would come long before any communication after the difficulties of establishing a dialogue had been discussed.

    ¡°It must¡¯ve been the skull spider I killed on the way in. I think we just answered the question of whether they can relay information remotely,¡± Rinnie responded with a one-shouldered shrug. Vivi smacked her in the back of the head for moving.

    ¡°And if there¡¯s one trying to talk to us, it has to be a mage- one with its mind intact enough to cast at least basic spells,¡± Tiriana added. ¡°There¡¯s no way it knew one of our languages, so it must have translation magic.¡±

    ¡°I doubt I need to tell you all this, but stay alert once we get up there. There¡¯s decent odds this is just the prelude to an attack,¡± Cadenza warned.

    Tiriana and Cadenza killed the rest of their time doing a lap of the room and examining the core. Their conversation quickly went over Sera¡¯s head, though, so she found a place to sit and leaned against the wall for a quick nap. Soon enough Vivi was finished healing Rinnie and the additional parties had arrived, so after a quick handover their group headed back to the surface.

    When the elevator reached the top, they emerged to find a very relieved junior adventurer ready to take them to the meeting site. Cadenza offered to let them go their separate ways at that point, but everyone present was too invested by now to not at least see what was going on.

    They found the nachzehrer envoy close to one of the staircases leading down into the depths of the fortress, hinting at how it had gotten in. They¡¯d yet to have time to seal those off or catalogue all the entrances down there, so it wasn¡¯t surprising for an enemy to have infiltrated that way. Personally, Sera was just glad it hadn¡¯t gotten any further than the stairs- that meant the adventurers on guard duty must have spotted it immediately.

    ¡°You wanted to speak to me?¡± Cadenza asked warily as they approached. Sera and the others held back several paces behind her so as not to alarm the envoy.

    ¡°You are the leader?¡± it asked mechanically, voice androgynous. This nachzehrer resembled the leaper they¡¯d first encountered; black armor with a near-featureless face broken up only by camera lenses and sloped plates covering its body and covering the mechanisms that reinforced its joints. Unlike the conventional plate armor worn by warriors like Layla, it didn¡¯t look metallic- Sera guessed it was actually some kind of modern composite material, crafted with a mold and without the need for rivets.

    ¡°I¡¯m in charge of security. Who are you?¡± Cadenza replied, leaving out her actual name.

    ¡°An officer of the Muspelland Advanced Infantry Corps. We would know your purpose in occupying this place, a stronghold of our foes,¡± the being answered. It didn¡¯t give a name either, but Sera got the sense it wasn¡¯t for the same reason Cadenza had- that royal ¡®we¡¯ it had used set off warning bells.

    ¡°¡­we are a peaceful research team here to learn about the culture and technology of a lost civilization,¡± Cadenza said carefully. ¡°Who were these foes of yours, and what was the nature of your conflict with them?¡±

    ¡°This was the last of the thirty-seven mobile alchemist workshops after twenty-three were captured in the initial assault and a further thirteen that had emerged victorious were subsequently hunted down. We do not know why we fight. We obey. Our orders were to annihilate the alchemists and seize their workshops. This mission has been accomplished,¡± the nachzehrer explained flatly.

    ¡°In that case, could you arrange a meeting with your civilian leaders? Maybe we could reach an agreement regarding our presence here,¡± Cadenza offered. There was a brief moment of hope that a fight might be averted, but it was shattered with the officer¡¯s next words.

    ¡°That is not possible. All civilians in this region have been conscripted into the Advanced Infantry Corps under total war protocols. Furthermore, contact with the capital has been lost.¡±

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    ¡°¡­they made the oldest mistake in the book when it comes to machine armies. They forgot to add a failsafe against them turning against their creators,¡± Sera muttered while the others absorbed that information.

    ¡°Everyone?¡± Cadenza asked in horror. ¡°Children? Local government?¡±

    ¡°Yes. Significant losses were sustained at the start of the conflict. Ongoing operations necessitated a constant flow of new recruits. Once low-value demographics were exhausted, high-value demographics were tapped,¡± the nachzehrer elaborated as if discussing the weather. Looks were exchanged between the adventurers present.

    ¡°¡­may I speak to your commanding officer, then? Whoever is above your¡­Advanced Infantry Corps?¡± Cadenza asked next. Sera thought she already knew the answer, though.

    ¡°That is also not possible. General Grendelson was conscripted prior to the assault on this workshop,¡± the strange being answered coldly.

    They¡¯d depopulated the entire region that had become this frontier. Everyone had suspected it, but now it was confirmed. And now there was no one holding the leash.

    ¡°Who are you taking orders from now, then?¡± asked the veteran adventurer warily.

    ¡°We are currently following our most recent standing order: halt the progression of the final workshop at all costs. All alchemists have been conscripted. This workshop should be abandoned. A contradiction has been logged: presence of unknown group detected in final workshop. Similarity to alchemists is high. We have reached a conclusion. Successors to alchemists residing in the workshop qualify as alchemists under current rules of engagement,¡± announced the macabre cyborg to no one¡¯s surprise.

    ¡°¡­that¡¯s why you gave up so much information. None of it exposed any details about your capabilities or current numbers, but you were able to gauge our reactions to information we would have already known if we were your allies,¡± Cadenza concluded as she stepped away, clicking her tongue.

    ¡°Correct.¡± The nachzehrer was silent for a moment, but it panned its camera-eyes over the budding town past the cluster of adventurers. ¡°You do not meet the requirements for conscription. Nevertheless, your brains will suffice for auxiliary units. Analysis concluded.¡±

    With that, the self-proclaimed officer leapt away, making several long bounding jumps to the edge of the fortress before hopping the wall and plummeting out of sight. It would have looked comical if not for the final words the nachzehrer had left them with. Everyone present now knew once and for all that the nachzehrer did could not be negotiated with, as they saw them as nothing but parts.

    ¡°Huh. That was weird. Guess it doesn¡¯t change much, though, right? After all, anyone with sense already knew they were baddies,¡± Rinnie said casually, hands clasped behind her neck. Some of the tension faded; she wasn¡¯t wrong.

    ¡°We would have been keeping an eye out for them either way, but at least we know they¡¯re definitely coming now,¡± Sera stated with a sigh. ¡°Should we evacuate¡­?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s going to depend on what kind of forces they return with and how Dr. Kahnton wants to handle the situation. At the very least I¡¯d prefer to get all the civilians loaded on the airship, just in case¡­though we may need to retain a team at the secondary core,¡± Cadenza replied.

    ¡°I¡¯d like to head back down there as soon as possible, in that case. We might be able to find useful documents in the offices on that level,¡± Tiriana declared.

    ¡°I¡¯ll send more parties to that floor to check, but we need you here,¡± Cadenza told her. ¡°Less than half a dozen people have fought the nachzehrer- and you¡¯re the only mage with direct experience against their anti-magic capabilities.¡±

    Tiriana looked disappointed, but she didn¡¯t argue. Technically speaking Cadenza couldn¡¯t make her do anything, but Tiriana had agreed to follow her lead and she didn¡¯t disagree with the reasoning she¡¯d presented.

    ¡°Miss Cadenza, how did the meeting go?¡± asked Dr. Kahnton from behind Sera. She hadn¡¯t heard him approaching.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t a meeting, that was the nachzehrer making a threat assessment,¡± Cadenza corrected with a scowl. ¡°I¡¯m calling a meeting of all senior party leaders. I¡¯d like to request your presence as well as that of anyone you think needs to be there.¡±

    ¡°May I¡­ask how I should decide that?¡± the diminutive doctor asked, taken aback.

    ¡°Choose whoever might be relevant to defending this location against a nachzehrer assault.¡± There was a grim tone to Cadenza¡¯s voice as she spoke. Dr. Kahnton noticed it and nodded rapidly- had he been human Sera thought she¡¯d have seen sweat rolling down his face as he hurried off. Layla spoke up next, much to everyone¡¯s surprise.

    ¡°I will seek out Broviss,¡± was all she said before turning and walking away without further elaboration. Not that it was needed; her armor was battered and her weapon was now more of an axe than a poleaxe.

    ¡°I¡¯ll¡­rest up, I think. I need to be ready to tend to the wounded,¡± Vivi chimed in, waiting for the others to nod her way before leaving. Sera realized then that Rinnie had simply vanished at some point, leaving her alone with Cadenza and Tiriana.

    ¡°I¡­guess I¡¯ll go work on my core? I feel like I¡¯m getting close and it might be helpful,¡± Sera suggested, though Tiriana was quick to nix that idea.

    ¡°Actually, I think you¡¯re going to be as important as me during the meeting,¡± the elf said as she placed a hand on Sera¡¯s shoulder. ¡°We haven¡¯t discussed it in detail before now, but¡­I think it¡¯s time we hear everything you can tell us about their armor.¡±

    ¡°Have you held something back?¡± Cadenza asked sharply. Sera was quick to wave her hands in denial as she shook her head.

    ¡°No, no, nothing definite. I would have shared anything I knew for sure. Power armor wasn¡¯t really practical yet on Earth, so I can only speculate,¡± she said firmly, uncomfortable with the sudden scrutiny.

    ¡°Be that as it may, you at least know what type of armor it is. I think there¡¯s a good chance you can tell us more than you realize,¡± Tiriana told her encouragingly.

    ¡°Ugh¡­¡± Sera groaned, running her hands through her hair in agitation. ¡°If you think it¡¯ll help, then sure. Just don¡¯t take anything I say as gospel.¡±

    ¡°It might help if we had something to work from. We should retrieve the bodies of the nachzehrer we killed in the primary core room,¡± Tiriana suggested, satisfied with Sera¡¯s answer.

    ¡°That should have occurred to me sooner,¡± Cadenza admitted with a heavy sigh. ¡°I suppose it got lost in all the chaos, not that it¡¯s a valid excuse.¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t beat yourself up over it,¡± Tiriana told her with a shake of her head. ¡°Setting up security and getting the defenses powered were more important at the time. Besides, we don¡¯t know if they¡¯re even still there.¡±

    ¡°You have a point. At any rate, I¡¯ll go ahead and contact my party leaders- we need to make sure everyone¡¯s on the same page as soon as possible.¡±

 Chapter Forty

    ¡°Now that everyone is up to date, we¡¯ll be going over our foes¡¯ capabilities before moving on to planning. Sera, you have the floor,¡± Cadenza announced, stepping away from the head of the table. A pair of warriors entered the room hauling corpses- the remains of two of the three nachzehrer which had been slain weeks ago, retrieved prior to the meeting. They placed the bodies atop the meeting room table carefully, wary of having their weight collapse it, although Sera thought it probably wasn¡¯t necessary given that the thing was essentially a slab of solid stone, shaped and perched upon four thick pillars of rock.

    ¡°Uh, right. Hi. So, before I start, I want to get one thing out of the way: power armor was fictional in my world. I know what it¡¯s meant to do and a bit about how it could work, but I¡¯m mostly going to be guessing here, so don¡¯t be surprised if they have abilities I didn¡¯t see coming. Okay? Good. So, first, let¡¯s take a look at these,¡± Sera began, tapping a finger on the camera lenses both nachzehrer had in place of eyes.

    ¡°Those are cameras. These suits are completely sealed, which means they can¡¯t be drowned or gassed, but it also means they¡¯re blind if their cameras are damaged. Next¡­¡± Sera indicated the servos and hydraulics hidden by armor plating. One suit had fully intact joints, while the other, which had been struck by Tiriana¡¯s lightning, had many of its smaller components slagged and welded together. ¡°These are why we call it ¡®power armor.¡¯ There¡¯s a combination of motors and hydraulics here that enhance the wearer¡¯s strength and speed.¡±

    ¡°How is that any different from enchanted armor?¡± asked one of the party members in the crowd. Sera looked up, flushing a bit. She had no real choice but to admit she had no idea, since she knew nothing about enchanted armor whatsoever.

    ¡°I¡­don¡¯t know. I think you¡¯ll just have to listen to my description and¡­make your conclusions based on that?¡± she replied, tapping a finger against the suit nervously.

    ¡°Sera is a mistwalker and hasn¡¯t been here long enough to learn things like that,¡± Cadenza explaining, stepping in. ¡°Please restrict your questions to the suit itself- we can make comparisons once she¡¯s finished.¡±

    ¡°Thanks. So, I don¡¯t know much about how these work, just what they¡¯re called, but they¡¯re hidden under armor for a reason: if you damage them, it directly weakens the wearer. You don¡¯t need to get through their armor to make them less of a threat, just nail them in one of these spots that aren¡¯t fully covered,¡± Sera went on, showing the watching crowd where the most vulnerable spots were. The elbows and knees wouldn¡¯t be easy targets and were shielded from the front, but damage to them would be crippling. ¡°Oh, can someone flip one of these over for me?¡±

    ¡°Ah, sure. Just a moment,¡± replied an atlantean warrior, who stepped up to the table and rolled the nachzehrer gunner suit over.

    ¡°Perfect. So, this is their other weakness right here. I¡¯m pretty sure it¡¯s a battery pack,¡± Sera continued, tapping a conspicuous backpack-like protrusion on the suit¡¯s upper back. ¡°I could be wrong but that¡¯s pretty much the best place to put one. If this is damage or just runs out of power, the whole suit will shut down. It looks pretty heavily armored though, and I don¡¯t know how long they can go for.¡±

    ¡°¡­but that means that any fight they engage in has a built-in time limit,¡± concluded the elf Sera recognized as Dalian. ¡°That¡¯s the same reason we don¡¯t use most of our more potent tools so close to the rim; ignoring the expense, they¡¯re just too unreliable.¡±

    ¡°Which begs the question of how their guns work. Even back home those are expensive to use. Enchanted bullets or magic crystal rounds aren¡¯t cheap or easy to make, so how are they supplying their weapons?¡± someone asked. Here, Tiriana stepped up.

    ¡°It would help if we had some to look at, so¡­¡± she said, using a spell to cut open the gunner¡¯s arm-mounted submachinegun. She retrieved a bullet and held it up. ¡°That¡¯s¡­strange. It seems to be ordinary metal.¡±

    ¡°You said the bullets that struck you drained your shields, correct?¡± Cadenza asked, furrowing her brow.

    ¡°Right¡­but that shouldn¡¯t be possible unless they contain an empty crystal,¡± Tiriana answered as she turned the bullet over in her hand, examining it.

    ¡°We should be on the lookout for other types of firearms, then. Sera, did you have anything else?¡± Cadenza said, turning back to Sera. She shook her head.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s all I¡¯ve got,¡± she replied, stepping back.

    ¡°In that case, hearing that, Dr. Kahnton, what¡¯s your verdict? Do we stay and fight or surrender the fortress?¡± Cadenza asked, turning towards the civilian leader, who appeared to be deep in thought.

    ¡°¡­I believe we should stay. If these nachzehrer are unable to make their own decisions and merely act upon their master¡¯s final order, they are essentially golems, which have no claim over territory. Assuming you believe you can defeat them,¡± the doctor decided after heavy thought.

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    ¡°What a convenient loophole,¡± Sera muttered. The warriors in the room likely heard her, as a few gave her amused looks, but her words were quiet enough that the mages didn¡¯t pick up on them.

    ¡°In the first engagement? Our victory is pretty much a certainty. After that they¡¯ll realize they can¡¯t fight us with the same tactics they used against the alchemists,¡± Cadenza told Kahnton confidently. ¡°If we can get the secondary core working, though, then the fortress¡¯s barrier should give us an advantage.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s the plan, boss?¡± Dalian asked.

    ¡°We don¡¯t have enough people to man the walls, so we won¡¯t. We¡¯ll have the civilians board the airship and hide out in the sky, then meet the nachzehrer on the ground. With a handful of mages high up on the walls to bombard them we should be able to soften them up before we engage them in combat,¡± Cadenza explained.

    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we take advantage of the close quarters inside the tunnels? That would minimize any numbers advantage they have and allow us to engage by party,¡± Dalian countered.

    ¡°That would be unwise. Walls are merely launch pads for their leapers. It would enhance they mobility, not restrict it,¡± Layla told the party leader, who nodded in understanding.

    ¡°Exactly. And we know we haven¡¯t seen all their models yet. The golems several of our parties fought in the tunnels would be difficult opponents for the leapers or gunners, so I suspect they likely have a frontline model meant to engage golems and distract them while the leapers deal with any mages. Which is why I plan to flip the script on them: we¡¯ll put our mages in the vanguard, while our warriors wait in the rear. When they close in, we annihilate their warrior models with magic while our own warriors deal with the leapers.¡± As she spoke, Cadenza wove an image in midair as if writing on a whiteboard, illustrating the battle plan.

    ¡°Surely the alchemists attempted that at some point,¡± one of the party leaders asserted nervously.

    ¡°The alchemists likely relied on their mobile fortresses. Fighting from the walls or streets and tunnels, they wouldn¡¯t have had the mobility for a strategy like this,¡± Cadenza responded.

    ¡°That¡¯s an awful risky assumption. And what if they see our mages in the front and change strategies?¡± asked the same person. Sera realized then what Cadenza had in mind.

    ¡°They won¡¯t, because you¡¯re planning on using illusions to make them think our mages are warriors,¡± she said, the words coming unbidden from her lips. Cadenza smiled and waved in her direction.

    ¡°As our budding illusionist said, we¡¯ll be disguising ourselves. We¡¯ll hold off on attacking until they¡¯re about to engage, absorb their first attack with barriers, and counter attack only after their leapers have assaulted our back line,¡± the party captain replied. ¡°Mind you, that¡¯s why this will only work once. They¡¯ll be more wary of us next time.¡±

    ¡°That plan falls apart if we¡¯re outnumbered too greatly to wipe them out in the first attack, though,¡± another party leader in the crowd pointed out. ¡°And what if they bring vehicles or air forces?¡±

    ¡°If it¡¯s a small number, I destroy them personally from atop the walls. If not, we retreat. Remember, folks: the stakes are not high, here. This isn¡¯t a battle we have to win at all costs. Your priority is to survive. If there¡¯s too many of them or they outgun us, we¡¯ll know long before they get close thanks to our height advantage,¡± Cadenza advised the gathered party leaders. Dr Kahnton cleared his throat.

    ¡°You said the first victory was a certainty. Then, what of the next battle? Surely they will not simply leave us alone,¡± said the scaly scholar.

    ¡°During our first trip through the tunnels, we encountered magic circles that project a barrier around the fortress when fully powered,¡± Tiriana answered in place of Cadenza. ¡°That barrier was formidable enough that the nachzehrer had to bypass it. If we buy enough time for the engineering team investigating the secondary core to reactivate it, then we can hold this place against anything they throw at it.¡±

    ¡°If they got through it once, they could do it again,¡± Kahnton said in response. ¡°Do we even know how they entered in the first place?¡±

    No one responded for a moment and Sera realized that however it was done, it must have been a method no one from this world would consider. If it were magic, someone would at least have had a guess. Sheer brute force wouldn¡¯t have done it; the defenders would have known they were under attack in that case. If they couldn¡¯t go through, they must have gone over¡­or under.

    ¡°Sappers,¡± Sera said with surety. ¡°Tiriana, does the barrier extend underground?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no,¡± Tiriana replied, looking confused. ¡°Barriers can¡¯t intersect with physical matter. But that shouldn¡¯t matter because any attempt to dig a tunnel would have resulted in the defenders collapsing them on the diggers¡¯ heads.¡±

    ¡°Right. But only if they thought to look in the first place. We have every indication that the alchemists were amazing engineers but not much else. If they¡¯d never fought a war before, then it might not have occurred to them that their enemy might dig under their defenses at all,¡± Sera elaborated.

    ¡°Dr. Kahnton, have your earth mages check for signs of tunneling below the fortress and in the surrounding area. If they find any, we have our answer,¡± Cadenza ordered. Amusingly, Dr. Kahnton nodded rapidly without stopping to question why he was the one being bossed around.

    ¡°Even if that doesn¡¯t pan out, our barrier magic is far more advanced than that of the alchemists. We should be able to upgrade the barriers to be closer fitting, sturdier, and less power-hungry. That should block off any secret entrances,¡± Tiriana assured the doctor, who seemed a bit mollified.

    ¡°Alright, you all know the plan. Fill your parties in, make sure your gear is all in order, and decide which of your mages are going to be on offense, who¡¯s handling barriers, and who¡¯s joining me as artillery. Dalian, you¡¯re our field commander. I¡¯ll relay orders through you if needed, but I think you¡¯re ready to handle it yourself. I¡¯ll be asking some of the nocturnal members of the research team to keep watch on the walls and sending what nocturnal adventurers we have further out, but maintain the watch schedule as usual otherwise.¡±

    Cadenza took a moment to look each of the party leaders in the room in the eyes, then nodded in satisfaction at whatever she saw.

    ¡°Dismissed!¡±

 Chapter Forty One

    After Cadenza called an end to the meeting, Sera lingered, unsure what she should be doing next. Given that she¡¯d only been present to provide her own insight into the nachzehrer, most of what was said didn¡¯t apply to her. In addition to that, she didn¡¯t even have an official party and Cadenza hadn¡¯t said anything to her.

    ¡°So¡­what do we do?¡± Sera asked Tiriana, who was similarly idle.

    ¡°I think we¡¯re sitting this one out,¡± the elf said with a shrug. ¡°We aren¡¯t part of Aegis and half of our fighters are out of commission anyway.¡±

    Sera tilted her head to the side. ¡°Half? I know Layla¡¯s weapon was damaged, but you, Rinnie, and Cadenza are fine, right?¡±

    ¡°We couldn¡¯t retrieve Rinnie¡¯s dagger and she¡¯s out of arrows on top of that. And Layla doesn¡¯t just need a new weapon, she also needs to have her armor repaired,¡± Tiriana explained.

    ¡°Being an archer sounds really inconvenient sometimes¡­¡± Sera said with a sigh. ¡°Guess I should go help Broviss fletch more arrows.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I forgot you¡¯d been doing that. It¡¯s not a bad idea, but stay put if anyone calls an alarm. We can¡¯t be sure the nachzehrer won¡¯t launch a sneak attack while the bulk of our adventurers are occupied,¡± Tiriana advised.

    ¡°What should I do if the alarm goes up after I leave?¡± asked Sera.

    ¡°Mm, I¡¯ll head over to find you if you¡¯re not back yet and the alarm goes out. As long as you don¡¯t take any detours it shouldn¡¯t be hard to find you,¡± Tiriana replied.

    ¡°Alright, I¡¯ll be careful then. What¡¯ll you be doing?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll probably just take it easy and recover my mana. That delve took a lot out of me.¡±

    The two of them headed outside and waved goodbye before parting ways. Sera made her way through the settlement towards the stairs that would take her to Broviss¡¯s new workshop. Despite the circumstances, the town was surprisingly quiet. The researchers didn¡¯t appear to have begun evacuating just yet, so the word was probably still going out to them, and the adventurers would likely be limiting their activities to avoid being exhausted when the time came to fight.

    No one had had the time yet to clear the rubble blocking most of the entrances to the lower level, so Sera had to make her way to the main staircase that led to the lower hallway instead. Granted, there was a pretty good chance Broviss¡¯s workshop would never be directly accessible from the surface. He probably liked it better this way.

    While Sera didn¡¯t actually know where Broviss¡¯s new workshop was, it wasn¡¯t hard to guess. She¡¯d seen the direction Layla had gone off in when they landed and once she had descended the staircase it was easy to follow the sounds of hammering. Every other room was dead silent, so the smith¡¯s hammer blows announced his location as surely as a neon sign. She didn¡¯t bother knocking when she arrived; the smith wouldn¡¯t have heard her anyway.

    Broviss had already gotten all of his equipment set up- that, or forced Layla to do the work for him, using the fact she relied on him for maintenance as leverage. In fact, he was working on her armor at that very moment. Damaged pieces were lying in a pile waiting for attention, while a small number that had already been hammered back into shape were more carefully laid out upon a table. Notably, Layla¡¯s helmet was missing. Sera didn¡¯t recall it having taken any damage, but its absence made her wonder if the woman had dropped off the rest of her suit and worn that single piece home just to keep her face hidden.

    As she walked past him, Sera waved at Broviss to let him know she was there and took a seat at a table where he¡¯d left a the materials used to make arrows. The shafts and arrowheads were relatively easy for the dwarf to make even with his build, so she had a barrel and a crate of them respectively to draw from. Her part of the process was taking the feathers and sinew supplied by Isidro and combining them with the pieces Broviss crafted to make the final arrows.

    It was a multi-step process that Sera was getting fairly efficient at. Broviss usually handled the first step of preparing the sinew, which was simply pounding and soaking it, so Sera needed only to peel the threads apart, split the feathers into fletches, and then tie both those and the arrowheads to the shafts using sinew threads. A bit of glue to hold down the fletches and firmly affix the arrowheads finished the process up.

    Since Sera had begun handling this, she¡¯d noticed Rinnie had been a bit less acerbic towards her in particular, though it was hard to gauge given how little they spoke to each other in the first place. Maybe that would change over time, though it¡¯d be on Rinnie to make the effort- once the tiny scout chose to disappear there certainly wasn¡¯t any way Sera was going to find her.

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    A few hours passed while Sera mindlessly crafted arrow after arrow, dropping them into a separate barrel once they were finished. Her concentration broke when she felt something bump against her thigh, drawing her attention away to see what it was. She turned to find herself face-to-face with a gobshite again. A beat passed as she processed that, and then an undignified sound she would never admit to making escaped her lips as she jerked away, falling out of the chair.

    Isidro¡¯s laugh brought Sera to her senses, reminding her that there was literally no way a gobshite could have gotten here without help. She delivered him an unamused stare while she went about retrieving scattered components of the arrow she¡¯d been working on. No longer distracted, Sera realized the sound of Broviss¡¯s hammering had ceased. He seemed to doing something to an armor plate, but she couldn¡¯t tell what.

    ¡°Those little bumps are how he shows affection!¡± the hunter declared in his usual baritone. ¡°Funny, isn¡¯t it? They communicate sentiment the same way they hunt.¡±

    ¡°By that logic I¡¯d be forgiven for clubbing you over the head with my hammer right now,¡± Sera grumbled, shaking her makeshift weapon threateningly. Far from intimidated, Isidro merely snickered in amusement.

    ¡°From an apprentice mage, your greatest blow would be little more than a love tap, I¡¯m afraid. You¡¯d only be proving me right,¡± he said lightly, stepping over to pull his pet away and grab an arrow from the barrel. ¡°Hm, so you¡¯re the one responsible for the improvement in arrow quality lately? An unexpected skill, but not unappreciated.¡±

    ¡°Thanks, I think. These ones are too fresh to use, though. The glue needs more time to dry,¡± Sera replied as she took her seat back and resumed her work.

    ¡°A shame. I¡¯d wanted to restock before the battle,¡± Isidro lamented as he returned the arrow to the barrel.

    ¡°You¡¯re participating?¡± Sera asked without looking up.

    ¡°No, no, scouts won¡¯t have much of a role in a fight like that, and we¡¯re not needed ahead of the battle thanks to the height of this place. I¡¯ll be keeping an eye on the settlement while everyone is gone, though, so I¡¯d feel a lot better with a full quiver.¡± Isidro¡¯s gobshite, sensing that no one was paying it any attention anymore, plopped down on its master¡¯s feet.

    ¡°Rinnie¡¯s tried firing arrows at them, but they tend to catch them¡­¡± Sera informed him before he went and got an arrow thrown back at him the way the dryad had.

    ¡°Ah, well, don¡¯t mention I said this, but her bow can¡¯t really be compared to mine. I¡¯d wager she¡¯s my equal in an arm-wrestle, but she¡¯s too small to wield a suitable bow, and there¡¯s only so much draw-strength you can get out of a smaller one,¡± Isidro explained as if sharing a secret. Sera did know larger bows tended to be stronger than smaller ones of the same make, of course, but she also was aware that there were ways of making small bows with a higher draw-strength.

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t she use a composite bow, though?¡± Sera asked, curious.

    ¡°Sure, but so do I. And mine is twice as long,¡± countered the hunter with a shrug. Sera recalled that Rinnie had embedded arrowheads in a golem made of solid metal; from the sounds of things, Isidro¡¯s bow could probably penetrate nachzehrer armor even without the benefit of a mana-charged arrowhead.

    ¡°Sounds to me like there¡¯d be plenty you could do in a pitched battle. Actually, with a bow that strong, why even use wood-shafted arrows? Couldn¡¯t you use some kind of bolt?¡± Sera wondered, scrutinizing the arrow taking shape in her hands. Well, a metal arrow would probably still be an arrow after further consideration, but the point remained.

    ¡°Only the arrowhead is really important, and it¡¯s easier to source wood for arrows than metal. A faster projectile will always hit harder than a heavier one fired with the same amount of energy, so making the shaft from metal is only helpful if you expect gravity to be doing some of the work- but at the draw-strengths we¡¯re using, most of our shots aren¡¯t going to have much of an arc to begin with unless we¡¯re far enough away that aiming becomes a problem,¡± Isidro explained at length. Sera had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a comment regarding how surprised she was at his in-depth understanding of the physics involved; it was rude to assume he was ignorant on the matter in the first place.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s fair enough, but what about the other thing?¡± she asked instead, referring to her comment about the upcoming battle.

    ¡°Mostly it¡¯s a question of numbers- not enough archers to form an effective unit. I hear the battle plans call for a closer engagement than we¡¯d be helpful in, anyway, and we¡¯d barely make a dent in their gunners before the warriors get in close with the number we do have,¡± Isidro answered. ¡°If this were the middle ring we¡¯d be more effective since we¡¯d be able to use guns, but¡­out here that would be too much of a logistical nightmare.¡±

    ¡°So I hear. It¡¯s crazy to me that you have the technology to make guns but bows are still more practical. On Earth bows haven¡¯t been used in war for hundreds of years,¡± Sera replied. ¡°Though we could just make bullets from lead.¡±

    ¡°A bullet made from pure lead would flatten itself trying to pierce my skin. Without enough high-quality mana crystals to give them some oomph, they¡¯re as good as useless.¡± Isidro looked down. Sera followed his gaze to find the gobshite staring up at him, pawing at his leg. ¡°Ah, guess it¡¯s feeding time, huh? Well, I¡¯ll come back in the morning to restock. Stay safe out there.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, you too,¡± Sera replied as Isidro left with his pet, which she was happy to forget the species name of until the next time she was forced to see it. Maybe when she completed her mana core, she could start by figuring out time magic instead of space magic. Then she could go back in time and tell herself to give those animals a better name so she wouldn¡¯t have to hear it while she researched a way home.

    Especially if it turned out there really wasn¡¯t one, or that Sera simply didn¡¯t have the knowledge and intelligence to find it. But that was getting ahead of herself- first she was going to have to survive the nachzehrer. And her paranoia told her that this wasn¡¯t a fight that would be concluded solely on the battlefield.

    She wondered if it would be better for the fighting to arrive sooner, sparing her nerves, or later, giving them more time to prepare. Whichever she decided, it would probably end up being the opposite.

 Chapter Forty Two

    Sera awoke the next morning to Tiriana shaking her shoulder. She jolted up out of bed and looked around in confusion, too groggy to process what was going on.

    ¡°The nachzehrer have been spotted. Do you want to evac on the airship or stick around? I¡¯m planning to head to the wall and get a better view,¡± Tiriana told Sera while handing her a change of clothes. Sera obediently pulled a shirt on over her undershirt as she processed what the elf had said.

    ¡°¡­I guess I¡¯ll follow you to the wall?¡± she decided after thinking it over. ¡°It¡¯s not like they aren¡¯t planning to pick up their adventurers if the fight goes south, and the wall is far from the fighting.¡±

    Plus, not to put too fine a point on it, but Sera didn¡¯t fully trust anyone that was going to be on that ship. Dr. Kahnton seemed more loyal to the mysterious Hippodamedes than his people and Sera hadn¡¯t spoken to any of the researchers. Better to stick with Tiriana, whom she was fairly confident would protect her.

    ¡°Great. We¡¯ll get going as soon as you put on some pants.¡±

    When Sera emerged from the building she was staying in, trailing Tiriana, the settlement was abuzz with activity. Civilian members of the expedition were streaming in the direction of the airship to the east in varying degrees of panic, though the crowd seemed orderly on the whole. The nachzehrer were, of course, approaching from the south, the direction that the head of the turtle they stood upon was pointing in, so the pair of adventurers were forced to fight their way through the evacuees to get anywhere.

    The fortress being as large as it was, Sera and Tiriana stopped by the barn to grab Verinilla and Soswa on the way. What time was lost saddling the flokkas was easily made up during the run to the other end of the fort, a distance that neither woman could have managed at a dead run. They hopped off the flokkas when they arrived and hurried up onto the walls to find Cadenza and ten or so mages staring off towards the southeast.

    ¡°I don¡¯t see anything,¡± Sera said to Tiriana as they joined the group. As far as she could tell there was nothing in the distance except scarlet grass.

    ¡°Here, look through this,¡± Cadenza said, passing Sera a pair of lenses with a fold-out handle. ¡°The more mana you run through it, the further it will zoom in.¡±

    Following Cadenza¡¯s instructions, Sera scanned the distant plains for movement. Omichl¨®dis might have been flat, but there was still a limit to how far one could see based on perspective and the thickness of the atmosphere, so without the binoculars everything eventually faded into a blue-white haze where objects were too small to see.

    After zooming in, Sera found what everyone was looking at, though it took a bit of trial and error. It appeared the nachzehrer had arrived in huge, boxy personnel carriers and dismounted when they could just barely see the fortress in the distance. Now they had left those behind and were advancing in a loose, spread out formation with agile leapers scouting ahead and to their flanks, bulkier vanguards wielding blunt weapons making up the next echelon, and gunners filling out the core of the formation. Some of the latter, Sera noticed, were wielding their weapons with both hands rather than using guns built into their gauntlets.

    There had to have been at least three hundred infantry out there, and to make matters worse, they were escorting a handful of armored vehicles. They might have been artillery or they might have been tanks- Sera wasn¡¯t informed enough to tell the difference.

    ¡°Have your adventurers not gotten into position yet?¡± Sera asked, realizing she hadn¡¯t spotted them.

    ¡°Until the nachzehrer get close they¡¯ll be making themselves invisible. Hopefully when the illusion drops, the nachzehrer will to realize it was only the first layer,¡± Cadenza answered.

    ¡°I see¡­so, you aren¡¯t going to call for a retreat? It looks like we¡¯re outnumbered pretty badly,¡± Sera pointed out. Cadenza still looked confident, however.

    ¡°Three to one odds are manageable. Most of their vanguards should go down early, and we¡¯ll thin out the leapers during the approach. Speaking of which- go ahead and start picking them off,¡± Cadenza said, signaling to the mages around her at the end.

    Although the nachzehrer were still too far away for Sera too see without aid, the mages with Cadenza were capable of magnifying their vision themselves, allowing them to aim at targets much too far away to target with the naked eye. It was quickly clear why these specific mages were chosen. The first spell cast was essentially a laser beam that cut across the distance in an instant, burning a hole through a leaper. Lightning fell from an empty sky next to strike another, and soon a smoothly rounded rock, spinning to create stability, blasted off into the distance, caving in the skull of an unfortunate leaper just as it landed, helmet and all.

    ¡°This is most likely why they chose that formation. They were expecting us to start casting from extreme range and knew to keep some distance between each other to prevent blast damage from killing several of them at a time,¡± Cadenza explained to Sera as the mages continued to pick off leapers. Despite the spectacle of it, though, there were only ten mages here and each spell took time to prepare. On top of that, not every shot was a kill, or even a hit for that matter.

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    ¡°Why are they just taking it instead of returning fire?¡± Sera wondered as the advance continued.

    ¡°Elevation. We can hit them from here, but no matter how much they incline their guns, they¡¯re not close enough to return fire. That¡¯s one of the disadvantages of firearms- we¡¯d be able to hit them just fine if the positions were reversed,¡± Cadenza replied. She drew her swords just as she had against the golems, but this time her off hand held an irregularly shaped white crystal. ¡°And once they do enter range, it¡¯ll be my cue to launch my own attack.¡±

    The nachzehrer marched implacably, unphased by the losses they were incurring already. Sera began to notice a pattern in the mages¡¯ targets over time; they were exclusively targeting the leapers scouting directly ahead of the formation. They weren¡¯t trying to kill as many as possible- just to prevent any of them from stumbling upon the cloaked adventurers ahead.

    Sera felt the air begin to shake and vibrate as Cadenza prepared her attack. There were five armored vehicles in the nachzehrer force and five swords arrayed before the mage. This spell was far more potent than any she had used before, even against the golem knight. Static electricity began to build in the air, causing Sera¡¯s hair to stand on end, and when she looked around she saw she wasn¡¯t alone. The crystal in Cadenza¡¯s hand shrank as crystallized mana was converted back into raw mana and poured into the spell.

    ¡°Cease fire! Everyone, get ready to fire your widest-ranged spells at their vanguards the instant I let go,¡± Cadenza instructed the adventurer mages around her once the nachzehrer drew close enough. That seemed risky to Sera, but it did look like the nachzehrer had pulled their leapers back after losing a number of them.

    There was an enormous bang and a simultaneous burst of air as Cadenza released her swords. In a fraction of a second they¡¯d already covered the entire distance to the enemy armored vehicles. Above the nachzehrer, the air itself seemed to break into pieces and scatter as a barrier was shattered- but it was barely even perceptible because the event was followed so closely by five concurrent impacts that obliterated armor and incinerated flesh.

    A small crater was left where each vehicle had been, but as impressive as the attack had looked to Sera, the damage was otherwise minimal. Still, it was followed shortly by even more spells that touched down amid the vulnerable nachzehrer formation, its barriers eliminated by Cadenza¡¯s first strike. Arcing electricity, an artificial meteor strike, a telekinetic palm, and more reached out and blew holes in the nachzehrer ranks. As each spell landed, a mage slumped over in exhaustion, completely spent. Even Cadenza was now leaning on the crenellations, panting heavily.

    Even so, the nachzehrer had chosen their formation well, minimizing the losses from those devastating strikes as a result of being too spread out for any one attack to kill more than a few of them. Over half still remained, and when the adventurers on the ground uncloaked, those remnants rapidly reacted by closing the distance and bringing the fight to a range where artillery risked friendly fire.

    Just as planned, the vanguards assaulted Cadenza¡¯s disguised mages while the leapers darted around and attacked the rearguard, utilizing tactics the nachzehrer considered tried and true for facing alchemists. Sera watched with bated breath as the groups closed in. The moment contact was made, reality seemed to shift, and then the mages were now in front and the warriors in the rear, locking down the leapers.

    Spells less suited to long-ranged attacks shot off now from the front ranks. Plumes of fire, pressurized water, and pillars of stone were easily identifiable even from Sera¡¯s vantage point, with other varieties of magic surely mixed in. Nachzehrer vanguards fell one after another, but despite that, Cadenza cursed.

    ¡°Shit. They have anti-mages mixed in among the vanguards- we won¡¯t be able to wipe them out with magic,¡± she commented as the opening attack finished to reveal a good three-fifths of the vanguards still standing. Some were damaged, but still capable. Rather than pressing the attack, however, their ranks split in the middle. As a reaction to the revelation of mages in the adventurers¡¯ frontline, they stepped aside, giving the gunners behind them a clear line of fire.

    ¡°They do say that no plan survives contact with the enemy,¡± Sera mused.

    ¡°Having officers present makes a huge difference. They¡¯re adjusting to us,¡± Tiriana observed as the gunners opened fire. It was impossible to tell how badly that opening volley depleted the mages¡¯ barriers, but it several came away clutching wounds before some among them pulled dirt from the ground ahead, forming ramparts of earth than bullets couldn¡¯t pierce.

    ¡°Good, Dalian reacted quickly. Or maybe it was Mira?¡± Cadenza praised. She glanced at Sera and Tiriana, speaking between deep breaths. ¡°Ah, Mira was the other mage in my party. She¡¯s the most senior mage here after myself.¡±

    ¡°Doesn¡¯t look like the nachzehrer are done yet, though,¡± Sera replied as the beings in question, rather than firing uselessly at dirt, began to circle around. Some remained in place to prevent the mages from noticing.

    ¡°Dalian, the gunners are trying to flank to your left. The ones still firing on that wall are a distraction,¡± Cadenza said into her communicator. By now the warriors had dispatched many of the leapers, bereft of favorable launch points as they were. That allowed them to disengage and reposition. The mages circled up in the center and hunkered down, apparently focusing on defense, while the warriors abruptly charged the nachzehrer gunners.

    On Earth, firearms were the king of the battlefield. In the right hands, and against the right opponents, guns were potent on Omichl¨®dis as well. Neither of those criteria were met here as armored adventurers assaulted the nachzehrer lines, rushing down forces designed to defeat mages. Leapers and vanguards broke off from attacking the adventurer mages in response, but they would have needed to react ahead of time to have been fast enough.

    In an effort to save their gunners, the nachzehrers¡¯ greatest weapon against mages, they committed a cardinal sin: never turn your back on the enemy. Seeing what was happening, the mages launched attacks into the rear of the nachzehrer moving to relieve their gunner unit, then turned their focus entirely to the survivors on their other flank. Moments later the warriors crashed into the gunners and began to smash them to pieces. The fight was as good as over, though it would still take quite some time given how sturdy nachzehrer anti-mages were.

    ¡°Alright, as soon as the mopping up is done, we¡¯ll recall our field unit and-¡± Cadenza began just to be cut off as someone came through on her communicator.

    ¡°More nachzehrer sighted to the southwest!¡±

 Chapter Forty Three

    Immediately after hearing the alert, Sera shifted her magic binoculars towards the southwest. The nachzehrer reinforcements were still extremely far away, but they had already dismounted their transports and formed up. While this second army was the same size as the first, it had chosen to organize itself differently.

    ¡°Dalian, there¡¯s a second army incoming from the southwest,¡± Cadenza informed her second through the communicator. ¡°Composition is the same, but they¡¯ve interspersed their gunners among the vanguards and pushed their leapers further afield.¡±

    ¡°Why split themselves and let us defeat them in detail like that?¡± Dalian replied, asking the question Sera had on her mind as well.

    ¡°Best guess? They hoped we¡¯d either hold back on our artillery in case more nachzehrer showed up or that we¡¯d go all in and waste all our energy on the first group, allowing them to learn how we fight while depleting our strength,¡± Cadenza theorized while working her jaw. She¡¯d been outplayed and she knew it.

    ¡°Well, if that was the goal, they succeeded on the second point. The same strategy won¡¯t work twice. Do we pull out?¡± asked Cadenza¡¯s lieutenant with surprising nonchalance. A low hum came from Cadenza as she tossed the question over in her mind.

    ¡°First I need to know how bad our casualties are,¡± she prompted Dalian in the end. His image seemed to look around, probably taking stock before answering.

    ¡°No deaths, thank the high elves, but at least a quarter of my mages are injured and everyone is exhausted,¡± the elf reported.

    ¡°Not as bad as it could be¡­Dalian, pull back to the fortress for now, and assign a scout to retrieve my swords. I think we still have a high chance of winning, but we need to rest and have the clerics that stayed behind heal the wounded,¡± Cadenza ordered resolutely.

    ¡°You said yourself survival is most important, boss. What¡¯s got you so confident?¡± Dalian questioned with suspicion. For her part, Sera was getting worried that Cadenza was more committed to this fight than warranted- and more than she had let on.

    ¡°There¡¯s only so many ways to the top. We¡¯ll split our forces and wait for them at the top of the stairs- that traps them in a choke point while denying their leapers the advantage at the same time,¡± Cadenza replied, but Dalian only narrowed his eyes.

    ¡°That leaves the elevator and assumes they don¡¯t just climb the sides instead of using hidden entrances. Which isn¡¯t even mentioning their artillery,¡± Dalian argued. Behind Cadenza, Tiriana and Sera traded a concerned look, but neither chose to interrupt.

    ¡°Only so many of them can fit on the elevator at a time- a much smaller force can hold it. If they climb, we retreat into the tunnels ourselves. As for the artillery, it will be some time before they enter range of that side of the fortress, so I¡¯ll be holding my position and preparing another round of railguns to eliminate it,¡± Cadenza listed off point-by-point.

    ¡°Leapers are stronger in tight spaces. How do you propose we deal with that?¡± Dalian interrogated relentlessly. But while Cadenza didn¡¯t have an answer to that, Tiriana did, so she decided now was the moment to speak up.

    ¡°Have the clerics bestow a water-walking miracle and then have your mages coat the tunnels in ice. In a narrow space like a hallway, there¡¯s less surface area to worry about, so you should be able to cover a long stretch of tunnel easily,¡± she proposed, stepping up beside Cadenza.

    ¡°Hm¡­that should work, yes. Even if their soles were spiked, that would result in the ice cracking under their feet and shattering, which would just as surely destroy their footing.¡± Dalian took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. ¡°Alright, boss, I¡¯ll give the order. But I want you to promise me that if further reinforcements arrive before the barrier is up, you¡¯ll call the retreat.¡±

    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t commit to a fight I don¡¯t think we can win. I promise,¡± Cadenza assured the elven adventurer. Mollified, he ended the transmission. As she placed her communicator back in her pocket, Cadenza turned to Tiriana and Sera.

    ¡°Could you-¡± she began, but she stopped midsentence when a piercing whistle rose up from the direction of the settlement. ¡°What was that¡­?¡±

    Although Cadenza and her mages looked confused, Sera¡¯s mind flashed back to a conversation she¡¯d had the previous day.

    ¡°That must be Isidro. He told me he was going to keep an eye out for surprise attacks,¡± she informed the others, who immediately looked alarmed.

    ¡°If they seize the settlement before we can reposition, we¡¯re going to have to retreat.¡± Cadenza¡¯s had swiveled away from the direction of the settlement and back towards Tiriana and Sera. ¡°You two are the only ones that came mounted. Can I ask you to head back first and send up another signal to let us know the situation?¡±

    ¡°Sure, but what should the signals be?¡± Tiriana answered, posing a question of her own.

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    ¡°Let¡¯s keep it simple. A red flare if it¡¯s time to run and blue if you think we can retake it,¡± Cadenza instructed.

    ¡°Fire isn¡¯t my strong suit, but¡­I think I can manage some flares. Sera, it might be safer for you to wait here,¡± Tiriana replied as she looked to Sera.

    ¡°If you ask me, the safest place for me right now is inside your barriers. Besides, maybe I can help you with illusions,¡± Sera decided without a second thought. Tiriana just nodded and strode towards the stairs, Sera following along behind her.

    Verinilla and Soswa rose from where they were laying when they saw the two women descending the stairs. Neither looked terribly perturbed by all the noise. Having had time to rest from the run there, both flokkas were more than ready to make the return trip. Tiriana and Sera mounted up and dashed back towards the settlement, the trip passing mostly in tense silence.

    At least, silence prevailed between the two of them. As they drew closer, a sound like cannon fire began to reach their ears, growing in volume the nearer they grew. It was highly intermittent, but provided a direction for the two women to head in. When they were approaching the center of the small settlement, a figure burst from a nearby alleyway before spinning in their direction, drawing an enormous compound longbow as he took aim at something above them.

    Air split as Isidro released his hold, launching an arrow that sailed forth at a speed it had no business reaching. Sera whipped her head around to find out what the hunter was shooting at and witnessed a leaper as it landed on the top of a nearby building, balancing precariously on the walls for lack of a roof. In its arm was an arrow Sera recognized as one she had assembled herself.

    ¡°Tch. Bugger guarded its face at the last moment,¡± Isidro spat as he drew another arrow from his quiver. Before he could nock it, however, the leaper vanished.

    ¡°How many are we dealing with?¡± Tiriana asked, straight to business. Remaining alert, Isidro answered while glancing around for his next target.

    ¡°Hard to say. They¡¯re fast. That one was the first I¡¯ve hit, so if we see one with an uninjured right arm we know there¡¯s at least two. I¡¯m learning how they move, though- won¡¯t be long before I land a killing shot,¡± Isidro informed the elven mage.

    ¡°I¡¯ll start laying down ice- I can¡¯t cover the entire settlement with it, but that should narrow down where they can land,¡± Tiriana replied as she began to cast.

    ¡°Don¡¯t,¡± Isidro interrupted. ¡°I¡¯m fairly certain this is a distraction. I saw some of them head towards the elevator- at least half a dozen.¡±

    ¡°They can¡¯t possibly know we¡¯re trying to restart the core, can they?¡± Sera asked Tiriana, absentmindedly stroking Verinilla¡¯s neck out of nervousness.

    ¡°Probably not¡­they must be planning to scrap it or use it for something themselves,¡± Tiriana replied after considering the question. ¡°Isidro, where are Layla and Rinnie?¡±

    ¡°Last time I saw them they were headed for Broviss¡¯s forge. Probably looking to rearm,¡± the man answered as he began to draw his bow. An instant later he shifted his aim and loosed an arrow, sending a gust of air through the road. Sera couldn¡¯t see what he¡¯d fired at from her position, but she heard the arrow hit something. ¡°Hm. That leg won¡¯t be doing it much good anymore. Wasn¡¯t hurt, though- seems there¡¯s at least two.¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re not even trying to get closer,¡± Tiriana observed. ¡°I think you¡¯re right- they just want to keep our attention on them, not the core. Isidro, I¡¯m going to send up a blue flare to let Cadenza know the settlement hasn¡¯t been captured- if you hold out for a while longer you¡¯ll have all the reinforcements you could want.¡±

    ¡°Reinforcements? Bah, this is barely a hunt as it is. Odds are I¡¯m done by the time they get here,¡± Isidro boasted with a cool confidence. ¡°Send your flare off and get to the elevator. They might actually need you at the core.¡±

    Tiriana launched a spell directly up, a dark blue fireball that stood out even against the blue sky above. It exploded with more sound than substance, probably a result of Tiriana compressing air to make up for her lack of skill with fire, but the wisps of flame that trailed away likely got the point across.

    ¡°Should we find Layla and Rinnie first?¡± Sera asked Tiriana once she¡¯d finished.

    ¡°No, that¡¯s just wasting time. We¡¯d have to cover the same stretch twice to go there and back¡­better to just let them make their way here on their own and have Isidro point them our way,¡± she replied as she spurred Soswa forward. Verinilla followed on his own without Sera having to prompt him.

    ¡°How many adventurers did Cadenza end up leaving down there, anyway?¡± Sera inquired as she let Verinilla do his thing.

    ¡°Two parties, I think, but at least some of their mages were assigned to the wall with her. Vivi was asked to join them to make up the numbers with her healing miracles,¡± Tiriana responded with a note of worry.

    It took less than a minute to arrive at the structure built around the elevator. Entering on flokka-back, Tiriana illuminated the interior with a short lived spell before dismounting once she was satisfied the room was empty. Sera followed suit and they moved to the elevator, finding the door closed, a sure sign someone had recently gone down. Rushing to the call button, Tiriana pushed it and tapped her foot impatiently while they waited.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure she¡¯s fine,¡± Sera whispered comfortingly.

    ¡°Yeah. If all else fails she can consecrate the door to the core room.¡±

    The door opened and the two women stepped onto the platform, which began to descend as soon as Tiriana chose the floor. When it reached its destination they both started forward at a light jog, Sera taking care to remain close to Tiriana where the elf¡¯s barriers could protect her as well.

    ¡°Look: the lights are dimmer,¡± Sera pointed out as they moved rapidly down the first hallway, dodging traps Tiriana had marked on their last trip through.

    ¡°That¡¯s a good sign. It means our people have probably figured out how to turn off the core. All that¡¯s left is to repair the connections,¡± Tiriana said between breaths. As they advanced, Sera realized there were no sounds of combat ahead- either a very good sign or a very bad one.

    Fortunately it turned out to be the former, at least arguably. They emerged into the room where they had fought the cyclophant just the other day to find five dead nachzehrer- but they hadn¡¯t gone down easily, judging by the wounds decorating the eight adventurers one the opposite end of the room.

    ¡°Thank Adventure you¡¯re here!¡± Vivi exclaimed when she sighted them. She stood from where she had been healing a man in broken armor who was clutching at his ribs. ¡°There¡¯s at least two more nachzehrer down here with us- they went towards the security switches during the fighting!¡±

 Chapter Forty Four

    ¡°Can any of your patients fight? Protecting them while fighting two nachzehrer isn¡¯t tenable,¡± Tiriana asked tensely, already beginning to prepare a barrier across the width of the room.

    ¡°Tiriana, half of these adventurers would be dead if I wasn¡¯t here. I¡¯ve barely managed to stabilize them, and they¡¯re probably going to need further treatment if they¡¯re going to live until tomorrow,¡± Vivi explained in annoyance.

    ¡°Sorry, ma¡¯am,¡± the man Vivi was treating apologized to her before groaning in pain. ¡°Nngh. Caught us by surprise. They were across the room before we even saw them.¡±

    ¡°I know. I was there,¡± Vivi pointed out. ¡°I guess I can add a concussion to the list of injuries¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m just impressed they killed five of them after a surprise attack without losing anyone¡­¡± Sera said to Tiriana, eyeing the hallways leading out of the room warily.

    ¡°Looks like they¡¯re all warriors. Probably had one person engage a leaper each while the last three killed them one at time, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re in any condition to tell us¡± Tiriana observed. She looked to Vivi. ¡°Do we at least have enough walking wounded to help the rest retreat? It would be a lot easier to defend a hallway than an open room like this where they have more room to maneuver.¡±

    ¡°I-I don¡¯t know. Maybe? I need more time, if we move them right now we might lose someone,¡± Vivi responded while tying a makeshift tourniquet. Evidently she was so pressed right now that she couldn¡¯t rely on miracles for everything.

    Before Tiriana could say anything more, a loud thud drew everyone¡¯s attention to her barrier. It shook and shimmered as if it were a physical membrane, with ripples spreading out from the point of impact where a leaper¡¯s fist had struck it.

    ¡°We¡¯re already out of time, Vivi! If you don¡¯t move them now they¡¯re all going to die; I can¡¯t maintain a barrier this size forever!¡± Tiriana barked as she strained herself to keep the nachzehrer out. She hadn¡¯t even finished speaking when a second leaper joined the first in pounding at her barrier.

    ¡°It¡¯s alright ma¡¯am, I¡¯ve survived worse,¡± the lead adventurer boasted as he forced himself onto his feet, wobbling noticeably. ¡°Come one, folks! Clear the way!¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re not in charge of me!¡± snarled an elven man who appeared to be so concussed he couldn¡¯t see straight. It was doubtful if he even knew what was going on.

    ¡°If you can talk, you can walk,¡± chided a woman that might have been the man¡¯s party leader, yanking him to his feet by the arm and half-carrying him towards the hallway. Other adventurers followed suit with those capable of walking on their own supporting the others. Vivi and another woman worked together to assist a mountain of a man in making his way out.

    Meanwhile, Tiriana was giving ground to the nachzehrer step by step, inching her way towards the hall behind her. Her barrier moved with her, Sera back stepping awkwardly by her side.

    ¡°Should I go with them¡­?¡± she asked nervously as she watched the nachzehrer beating away at the barrier. With them standing still like this it was more apparent than ever how greatly they towered over Sera and out-bulked her; she knew without a doubt that a single blow from either of them could reduce her to paste.

    ¡°No, stay!¡± Tiriana commanded, her voice strained. ¡°I need you here to distract and disorient them. Every second you buy me is one where I can prepare a counterattack.¡±

    Sera nodded obediently, though Tiriana couldn¡¯t see it. Her mind was racing, trying to think of ideas she could use to throw the nachzehrer off. The biggest problem, in her view, was that they knew exactly where to strike right now. She couldn¡¯t do anything about that. Fake attacks might work, but only until the leapers noticed she wasn¡¯t damaging the environment or a direct ¡®hit¡¯ alerted them to the ruse.

    But that was thinking too narrowly. Illusions could, in theory, make anything she wanted appear. She could blind them with pure blackness or a flash of light, though the latter might backfire. Would a kaleidoscopic effect be disorienting enough to slow them down? Maybe, but that relied on holding it in front of their eyes. Or¡­

    While Sera didn¡¯t know how effective it would be, the idea was better than nothing. A kaleidoscope worked by facing mirrors against each other at angles, so she needed to mimic that effect, building a facsimile of a kaleidoscope to make it look like she, Tiriana, and everything behind them were being endlessly reflected. It was hard to picture, but magic was affected by intent, and the subconscious, as Tiriana had said, did a lot of the heavy lifting.

    The effect was one way, so Sera couldn¡¯t see precisely what she had created, but it worked well enough- the nachzehrer stopped in their tracks, looking around in confusion. Although they most likely knew it was a trick, if they weren¡¯t familiar with the concept, everything in front of them suddenly being endlessly reflected as if they were staring down the tube of a kaleidoscope was probably so bizarre that they needed time to process it. On top of that, Tiriana was able to retreat more quickly once she was no longer fending off their attacks, causing their next strikes to hit empty air.

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    ¡°Good work! Hold it just a little longer,¡± Tiriana instructed as they entered the hallway, allowing Tiriana to reduce the surface area of her barrier greatly. Still, these halls were designed to fit the giants that had once lived here; it was still quite a bit of space to cover. The only saving grace was that the nachzehrer themselves were actually hampered by their own size here, as they would have a hard time jumping around in a hallway.

    Sera found herself struggling as well; she had to constantly pull the illusion she was manipulating back towards them as the nachzehrer advanced, gaining confidence with each step. They were beginning to understand that the flashy image they were seeing was insubstantial, and soon they were against Tiriana¡¯s barrier again. By now, however, they were halfway down the hall.

    ¡°This barrier is still too big. I need to reduce it to a size just large enough to fit us both so I can focus on preparing an attack spell. Do whatever you can to keep them off of us,¡± Tiriana announced once they were far away from the nearest rooms. Before altering the shape of her barrier she glanced over her shoulder; Sera checked to see what she was looking at and realized she was making sure the door to the core was shut. It was, meaning that the nachzehrer couldn¡¯t simply go around them. Even if they went back to flip the emergency overrides again, they still needed to get through Sera and Tiriana to advance.

    Tiriana¡¯s barrier shrank until it was little more than a bullet-shaped dome over the two women. Finally confident that Sera¡¯s illusion was no danger to them, the nachzehrer sprang forward and through it, spotting she and Tiriana immediately. Both leapt off the ground, using their momentum to strike the barrier with more force, but at this size it was far more solid and Tiriana hardly flinched. The leapers sailed past and Sera turned to follow them with her eyes; it was much easier when they had only one vector to move along.

    Before the armored giants could attack again, Sera conjured an illusory fireball and lobbed it their way, causing them to dodge to the sides. Next she tried to blind them with light, but that failed to deter them; they must have had some kind of countermeasure built into their suits because they were still perfectly able to perform another leaping strike.

    That was two ideas used- three, on second thought. Anything too fast, like lightning, was out. Fake ice might slow them down, but only for a moment, and then the trick would be unusable. Physical obstacles would encounter the same problem.

    ¡°Tiriana, can you cast while being carried?¡± she asked after realizing her best option was to rely on the same old standby.

    ¡°Yes, wh-¡± The elf¡¯s mouth snapped shut when Sera scooped her off her feet and immediately projected a thick mist into the hall. Everything went white, and Sera side-stepped away from her previous position so the nachzehrer wouldn¡¯t be able to strike from memory. They immediately tried to, as well; one simple zipped past, hitting only air, while the other rammed straight into Tiriana¡¯s barrier¡­at the waist, sending it tumbling, judging by the sounds that followed.

    Although the leapers recovered quickly, Sera had already pressed herself up against the wall- clutching Tiriana closely- by the time they attacked next, and this time both missed entirely. Twice more she was able to dance around their attacks like a matador before a bull before they decided their strategy wasn¡¯t working and began searching the mist more cautiously. But that bought Tiriana time to prepare her next spell, and just as a fist smashed into her barrier once again, she called out to Sera.

    ¡°Drop the mist so I can aim, please!¡± the elven mage requested. It was like relaxing a muscle; the moment Sera stopped focusing on her illusion it vanished, leaving two very surprised nachzehrer leapers exposed, standing still. Before Tiriana could aim and fire, both of them reacted by creating distance, sensing something was about to happen, but the hallway meant they could really only dodge in two directions, and Tiriana¡¯s spell was too fast to avoid once it was cast.

    The leapers went in opposite directions, so Tiriana was only going to be able to kill one. She locked her eyes onto the one that had just punched her barrier and threw one hand out. An enormous boom shook the air accompanied by a blinding flash of light, both of which Tiriana had taken the time to protect them against, but neither of those was what killed the nachzehrer. Lightning, a much more deadly force, jumped from Tiriana¡¯s palm directly into the leaper, instantaneously melting its armor, burning its skin, and blowing apart bones and organs.

    For a brief time the leaper remained standing, joints locked in place. Then it began to tilt before toppling over, dead.

    That still left one to go, however, and it had already learned how to deal with most of Sera¡¯s tricks. Her ice idea would stop it once only, and the mist she¡¯d used before would only slow it down for a few moments as it searched for them.

    ¡°Do I need to buy you the same amount of time for the second one?¡± Sera asked the elf in her arms. Tiriana, too focused on the situation to find her current predicament embarrassing, replied seriously.

    ¡°With only one left, less¡­but not by much,¡± she told Sera while she started to prepare. ¡°Can you do it?¡±

    ¡°¡­I guess I don¡¯t have a choice,¡± Sera muttered as she used up her last viable idea, fooling the nachzehrer leaper into skidding to a halt to avoid slipping. The next instant it stepped cautiously onto the ice, realizing it was fake. Then the leaper was up against the barrier, battering away. ¡°Shit. Think, think, think¡­there has to be something else I can do.¡±

    But the only thing Sera could think of was beyond her current abilities and she was sure of it. With no other plans, though, she had no choice but to try it. Sera focused hard, drawing in all the mana she could possibly control at once and forming an image in her mind¡¯s eye. It kept slipping away, though; what she needed to form was simply too complicated.

    Thinking she would just have to try to brute force it, Sera began to pull in more and more mana- and then she felt something pop inside her chest.

 Chapter Forty Five

    There was a flash of pain behind Sera¡¯s sternum for a moment; a feeling almost akin to having something stuck in her esophagus as peristalsis tried to force it down. A pressure settled over her heart and lungs as if they were being shoved aside before rapidly fading- no, that wasn¡¯t quite right. The pressure remained, but it was as if her body had suddenly remembered that was actually how she was meant to feel, allowing it to fade into the background.

    Pushing the odd sensations from her mind, Sera attempted to return to what she was doing, but now, when she pulled at the mana around her it flowed into place with a fluidity she could barely control. Something inside her thrummed with power that she felt not physically but within her mind. The closest thing Sera could think of to compare it to was the trembling of muscles strained to their limits, except for her ability to control mana instead.

    Suddenly, that spell she¡¯d been attempting to conjure didn¡¯t seem so impossible after all. Sera cast her thoughts back to a time when she was a student, plumbing the depths of her memories for the equations that described light and reflections, leaving those details to her subconscious while her conscious mind began to assemble an image to work off of.

    And then, the next time Sera tried to dodge the nachzehrer leaper, nothing happened. At least, not visibly. But when the leaper brought its fist down for another punch, it nearly lost its balance as it passed straight through where Sera had been, her image fading away. Unseen, Sera backpedaled further away while the nachzehrer searched for its foe.

    The instant it caught sight of her, the leaper kicked off the ground and vanished, reappearing a moment later when it bounced off a wall. What it had thought was Sera and Tiriana was another illusion that disappeared when touched, replaced by another meters away that was no more real than its predecessors. This was what Sera had been working towards all along, every single time she surrounded Layla with blurry doppelgangers: mirror images that were a perfect copy of the originals. On top of that, with she and Tiriana rendered invisible, the nachzehrer leaper had no way of finding them.

    Even if it knew the images were all fakes, it had no way of narrowing down their actual location¡­so long as Sera could maintain it. This was her first advanced magic spell ever, and the strain was already incredible. After less than a minute, Sera felt like she¡¯d been performing strenuous mental exercises for hours. But every second she held out was one more second of uninterrupted preparation Tiriana had.

    As she grew more exhausted, Sera found her steps slowing. Her range diminished gradually, forcing her to craft mirror images closer to her real location. Soon she was barely able to keep them from fading before the leaper reached them, and finally, after an amount of time she couldn¡¯t put a number to, the cloak of invisibility hiding she and Tiriana began to flicker. Noticing the discrepancy, the nachzehrer stopped itself just before it could conduct its next leap. Sera¡¯s simulacrum became less and less distinct until it faded entirely, and the nachzehrer tilted its head, on the verge of realizing what it was looking at.

    Unfortunately for the leaper, its perception proved to be its undoing. As it bents its knees, preparing to jump, Tiriana¡¯s spell reached completion. A bolt of raw electricity jumped from Tiriana to the leaper before it could move, never having seen that Tiriana was about to slay it.

    After the last nachzehrer fell to the ground, the only sound filling the hallway was that of heavy breathing. Sera felt her shirt clinging to her skin, which was slick with sweat. Tiriana seemed just as tired, lacking even the presence of mind to draw her eyes away from the enemy she¡¯d just killed.

    ¡°You can¡­put me down now,¡± the elf told Sera once she¡¯d recovered the ability to speak.

    ¡°Oh, um, right,¡± Sera muttered, immediately moving to do as she was asked. When she tried let Tiriana down, though, the strength fled from her body, and she only barely managed to set the elf down instead of dumping her to the ground.

    ¡°That wasn¡¯t basic magic,¡± Tiriana noted curiously. ¡°How long¡­?¡±

    ¡°Have I had a core? Since a couple of seconds before I cast that last illusion,¡± Sera admitted frankly, letting herself tip over backwards so that her back was pressed against the cool stone floor.

    ¡°Huh,¡± Tiriana grunted absently, staring off into space. ¡°It usually takes a few more months than that. I wonder if it was because adults have better focus or because of the life-or-death situation¡­¡±

    Behind them, the door ground open. Tiriana turned to look, but Sera was too drained to bother. She didn¡¯t need to wait long to find out who it was, though.

    ¡°Is Sera alright!?¡± Vivi shouted as she ran towards them. Somehow, Sera managed to find enough energy inside her to raise one arm, giving a thumbs up.

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    ¡°I could use a nap, but I¡¯m alive,¡± Sera groaned as Vivi skidded to a stop.

    ¡°Oh, thank Adventure. When I saw her on the ground, I¡­¡± the cleric babbled before snapping her mouth shut. ¡°Well, anyway, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re both okay.¡±

    ¡°How did you know it was safe to come out?¡± Tiriana asked slowly.

    ¡°There¡¯s a terminal in there that¡¯s supposed to have a view of the hallway¡­with the conduit cut it¡¯s not working, but some of the detectors still are. There were only two living things out here, and if they were the nachzehrer, I figured they¡¯d be moving,¡± Vivi explained.

    ¡°That was incredibly irresponsible! What if you were wrong?¡± scolded Tiriana, causing Vivi to hop back a bit in shock.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry! I just thought you might be injured!¡± Vivi said in her own defense, waving her hands frantically.

    ¡°Is now really the time?¡± Sera sighed, covering her eyes with an arm to reduce the throbbing in her head.

    ¡°Just be more careful next time,¡± Tiriana acceded. ¡°Vivi, do you know how the repairs are progressing?¡±

    ¡°The engineers had to pause while we were under attack, but they said they¡¯ll be finished in more than a minute and less than an hour,¡± Vivi related, sounding abashed. She had no reason to be, so Sera assumed she knew how ridiculous that sounded.

    ¡°That¡¯s incredibly vague,¡± Sera pointed out even though she knew it was unnecessary.

    ¡°Apparently it depends on how compatible their patch will be with the existing conduit¡­they might need to alter it until it works. Or¡­something like that,¡± Vivi replied. Although Sera couldn¡¯t see her with her own eyes covered, she could imagine the cleric shrugging as she said that.

    ¡°Then we might need to buy some more time¡­¡± Tiriana concluded, sounding resigned. ¡°I probably won¡¯t be able to last long, but I can buy at least a few minutes. I¡¯ll make my stand in the hallway closest to the elevator- that way the engineers don¡¯t get caught in the crossfire.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll come with you!¡± declared Vivi in response. Sera heard Tiriana stand up and uncovered her eyes, deciding to follow suit. It was a struggle.

    ¡°No¡­you said yourself that the injured adventurers are still in danger. You should stay here and focus on keeping them alive,¡± Tiriana denied.

    ¡°Don¡¯t even think of leaving me behind,¡± Sera cut in irritably.

    ¡°Can you even use magic right now¡­?¡± questioned the elf suspiciously as she eyes Sera up and down. Although she tried to hide it, Sera knew Tiriana could tell she was barely standing.

    ¡°You¡¯re the closest thing to a friend I¡¯ve got here. At the very least I can buy you a few seconds.¡± Judging by the look Tiriana gave her, Sera wasn¡¯t going to get away with dodging the question so easily.

    ¡°I thought we were friends¡­¡± Vivi pouted with a hurt look on her face. Both Tiriana and Sera looked at the cleric with exasperation.

    ¡°Well, I guess I stand corrected,¡± Sera admitted with a huff, much to Vivi¡¯s delight. ¡°Just didn¡¯t want to presume. Anyway, I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll be able to pull off something by the time another fight comes along.¡±

    ¡°Tch.¡± Clicking her tongue, Tiriana turned away. ¡°Fine. If you can walk there yourself, you can come along. But Vivi, you¡¯ll regret it if you follow us and one of your patients die. Go back.¡±

    ¡°¡­come back safely,¡± Vivi said sadly, unable to argue. Having said her piece, Tiriana started walking away at a brisk pace, leaving Sera behind. Far too stubborn to stay put, Sera willed herself to take a step forward, then another. Soon she was trotting along behind Tiriana. They exited the hall into the large room beyond, but Tiriana stopped after entering the next hallway and turned to the wall.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± inquired Sera as Tiriana started erasing something.

    ¡°After we came through the first time, the next team- or maybe the engineers- put up wards to block the trap spells. Like what I was doing, but more permanent. I¡¯m going to remove them and force the nachzehrer to deal with the traps,¡± Tiriana explained. ¡°Stay ahead of me and look for the physical traps Rinnie disarmed- the ones where she just shoved something in to jam the pressure plates. May as well rearm those as well.¡±

    On the way in, they¡¯d been in such a hurry that Sera hadn¡¯t thought about it, but it had been strange that none of those traps had triggered on them. Given that Tiriana had needed to spot and interfere with each of them on their first visit before passing those traps, it shouldn¡¯t have been possible to simply run through. Leaving Tiriana to that, Sera scanned the floor for the bricks Rinnie had left out of place and started removing the stones beneath.

    ¡°Hold on,¡± Tiriana called out when they were about halfway through. Sera turned to find her floating a brick from the floor up to the ceiling. ¡°Do you think you can still make this brick invisible?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s relatively small¡­¡± Sera assessed, taking a good look at the piece of stonework. ¡°I think I can, as long as you hold it still. I¡¯ve recovered a bit since the last fight, but I doubt I¡¯ll be able to do anything else. Are you sure?¡±

    ¡°Yeah. Keep it hidden no matter what. Even if you get thrown across the room, if you¡¯re still conscious, keep that brick invisible,¡± Tiriana instructed with the utmost severity. Nodding, Sera did as she asked and then returned to her task, not asking any questions. She could guess what was going on, and Tiriana probably wasn¡¯t explaining further because of the risk there was a nachzehrer scout listening.

    Neither rearming the magic traps or the physical ones was particularly time consuming, so the two of them were able to finish in just a few more minutes. There was no sign of the power returning, so they could only assume the engineers were still working on the repairs when they reached the elevator room.

    They were unnerved to discover that the elevator platform was gone. It might have signaled the arrival of allies, but neither Sera nor Tiriana thought that was the more likely option. Although they probably could have checked by getting closer and looking into the shaft, that would be risky for very little benefit. Best to just assume enemies were on the way.

    ¡°Are you ready?¡± Tiriana asked as she stared at the empty elevator shaft from across the room.

    ¡°I think it¡¯s a little too late to worry about that,¡± Sera shot back wryly.

 Chapter Forty Six

    With how fast they both knew the elevator to be, it was little surprise when it soon arrived. On it were five nachzehrer; two gunners, two vanguards, and one smaller model they might have assumed was a leaper if it were not positioned in the center of the others, partially shielded by the vanguards. If Sera had to guess, the lack of leapers in this group could mean one of two things; either the nachzehrer had determined leapers were ineffective against Tiriana and held them back or they had gambled by sending their entire leaper contingent ahead to secure the secondary core.

    Tiriana was already focusing on a spell when the nachzehrer in the center stepped forward and began to speak, confirming its status as an officer.

    ¡°We have witnessed your defeat of our comrades. For an alchemist you are exceptionally powerful. Surrender. We assure you that one of your caliber will be made an officer, retaining the majority of your sense of self,¡± the armored giant said without preamble.

    ¡°Not very reassuring from someone that can¡¯t even refer to themselves with the word ¡®I¡¯,¡± Sera snarked. From the start, it was obvious this conversation was going nowhere, but Sera wasn¡¯t going to complain if the enemy was willing to waste time talking.

    ¡°Only an alchemist would have the arrogance to refer to themselves as an individual,¡± the officer replied in a monotone.

    ¡°If you¡¯re an officer, doesn¡¯t that mean you used to be an alchemist?¡± Sera pointed out, trying to draw this out as long as she could. Tiriana¡¯s silence told Sera she was probably focused on preparing something, so the more time she could buy the better.

    ¡°We have been reformed. We now understand that are merely a part of a greater whole, a member of the great army of Muspelland. That does not mean we are any less ourself- merely that we understand proper decorum,¡± the officer insisted with no more inflection that before.

    ¡°What¡­?¡± Sera furrowed her brow in confusion. She wasn¡¯t quite sure whether to take that at face value. Was she speaking to a single avatar representing a greater machine intelligence, or merely a brainwashed foot soldier? In the end, of course, it wasn¡¯t that important. Neither was preferable to the other. ¡°Kind of sounds like your personality was altered to me.¡±

    ¡°We prefer the term¡­enlightened,¡± the officer replied.

    ¡°If you¡¯re looking to convince us you¡¯ll have to give us a better explanation that that. What exactly did they do to you?¡± Sera asked skeptically. There was a moment of silence, the nachzehrer officer tilting its head to the side in thought. Sweat dripped down Sera¡¯s neck.

    ¡°¡­you are stalling,¡± the officer determined, wordlessly ordering the gunners forward. ¡°If you wish to know more, we will show you firsthand.¡±

    ¡°Tuck your head in,¡± Tiriana ordered abruptly. Before Sera could ask why, she felt an invisible hand grasp her and pull, yanking her at an incredible speed back through the hallway she¡¯d just crossed. Every single magical trap in the hallway triggered as she passed by, but she was moving so quickly that she was well clear before she was in danger. On the other end, a powerful burst of wind impacted her back, slowing her landing from lethal to ¡®merely¡¯ rough.

    She only remembered to protect her head the instant before she hit the ground.

    Still in a daze, Sera felt Tiriana drag her from where she landed, finding herself around the corner from the hallway by the time she came to her senses. Miraculously, she found that she¡¯d somehow managed to maintain the invisibility spell on that brick, albeit nearly at the cost of smashing her head open.

    ¡°Why!?¡± she screamed at Tiriana. ¡°Couldn¡¯t we have just rearmed everything starting from the other side to here and saved ourselves the trouble? What if you hadn¡¯t readied your spell in time?¡±

    ¡°I had that ready from the start. If they¡¯d brought leapers I would have cast it immediately, but I was hoping we could at least make them waste a few seconds approaching cautiously,¡± Tiriana explained in a whisper. ¡°I have a plan, but it relies on them being focused on those magical traps.¡±

    Glancing around the corner from a crouch, Sera saw that the gunners had taken the lead instead of the vanguards. A few steps into the hall, they each turned and fired their weapons into the walls, repeating the process each time advanced, the vanguards lumbering along behind them. One of the gunners stepped on a pressure plate, triggering a spear trap that glanced off its armor harmlessly.

    ¡°I hope that wasn¡¯t your plan, because it doesn¡¯t look like it worked any better than on Layla,¡± Sera commented, glancing up at Tiriana who was leaning around the corner above her.

    ¡°Well¡­not quite, but I did think it would have some effect,¡± the elf admitted with a click of her tongue.

    ¡°Why?¡± It stood out to Sera that Tiriana had said she thought it would have an effect, not that she¡¯d hoped it would, so either the elf was getting delusional or she knew something Sera didn¡¯t.

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    ¡°Desperation.¡± That boded well.

    ¡°Now what?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m hoping that now they¡¯ll assume the physical traps aren¡¯t a threat. They would have assumed this formation once their vanguards trigger the first set of magical traps either way, but if they¡¯d had vanguards, they would have tried to copy me and outrun the traps,¡± Tiriana revealed, speaking barely loud enough for Sera to hear. If nothing else, it was comforting to know this plan had multiple layers to it.

    Which was fortunate, because there wasn¡¯t much for Sera to do right now except watch and wait. The nachzehrer were slowed by having to disarm the magical traps in order to open the way for the vanguards behind them, but once they cleared this hallway, there was nothing else to hold them back.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say if you tried to disarm those entirely they¡¯d trigger?¡± Sera wondered as she watched the nachzehrer gunners plow through the traps without any issues.

    ¡°It¡¯s probably their bullets. With the power out the traps have finite mana- they don¡¯t need to destroy the spells, just drain them until they can¡¯t activate while they¡¯re within the gunners¡¯ anti-magic fields,¡± theorized Tiriana, less perturbed than Sera would have expected. Apparently this wasn¡¯t enough to foul up her plans.

    Foot by foot, the nachzehrer drew closer. Occasionally one of the five stepped on a pressure plate, but the spears, arrows, jets of fire, and other contraptions universally failed to damage or penetrate their armor. Their implacable advance left Sera wondering what in the world Tiriana thought was going to be any more effective against them, but she¡¯d find out soon enough.

    Whatever it was, though, it needed to kill all of them, or else they were both dead. Sera wouldn¡¯t be able to conjure another illusion and Tiriana wouldn¡¯t be relying on a trick like this if she had anything left to spare. That was what Sera had signed up for, though. She just hoped it would make a difference.

    Knowing her death was likely approaching, Sera just felt fear, not peace. Would the nachzehrer even kill her? Or would she be doomed to become one of them? That seemed the worse fate. A tiny part of her was considering ways to ensure she was killed and not captured. Whatever she did, she would have to do it before one of them got ahold of her, because dwarfed as she was by the armored giants there was no way she could escape their grasp.

    ¡°So¡­your plan has another part to it, right?¡± Sera asked nervously as the nachzehrer got closer to that floating brick, trying to distract herself with conversation. She was answered only with silence and looked up to find Tiriana biting her lip. ¡°¡­please tell me your plan doesn¡¯t end with ¡®step four: die.¡¯¡±

    ¡°Of course not!¡± Tiriana denied strenuously.

    ¡°Oh, good,¡± Sera said with a sigh of relief. It was premature.

    ¡°That¡¯s step five.¡±

    An inarticulate sound of frustration escaped Sera¡¯s lips as she looked around the corner again, deciding to place her hopes on the mysterious brick. The nachzehrer were close. They stopped one more time to drain a pair of traps, then stepped forward. Without her influence, the brick she¡¯d been keeping hidden popped into view at the same time as it began to fall, landing directly on a pressure plate before any of the nachzehrer could realize what was happening.

    The effect was instantaneous, deafening, and brutal. A stretch of the ceiling dropped with the force of a hydraulic press and the speed of a jackhammer. A horrid crunching sound came from beneath it before it receded into the ceiling as quickly as it had dropped, leaving both gunners flattened. For all the good it had done them, their armor may as well have been made of tin.

    ¡°Why use the other types of trap at all!?¡± Sera practically screeched in disbelief. That singular trap had done more damage than the rest combined. Although, considering they¡¯d done absolutely nothing, that wasn¡¯t a high bar.

    ¡°If you realized the first dozen traps were harmless, how hard do you think you¡¯d look for the next one?¡± Tiriana asked pointedly, grinning a bit.

    ¡°You say that like making intruders think there aren¡¯t any wouldn¡¯t be just as effective. Besides, how¡¯d you even know what that one did?¡± Sera shot back.

    ¡°Look, if you find a sane ¡®alchemists¡¯ you can feel free to ask them.¡± A beat passed before Tiriana replied to Sera¡¯s question. ¡°Also, Rinnie talks to herself while she disarms traps. We¡¯re lucky she¡¯s so diligent.¡±

    ¡°This changes nothing,¡± the nachzehrer officer shouted down the hall as it strode forward, unworried. When Sera looked back, she realized it had blocked the pressure plate Tiriana had triggered with ice and the next set of magical traps failed to activate either. ¡°You merely delay the inevitable. Surrender. We do not wish to diminish your future capabilities by damaging your bodies.¡±

    ¡°Ah,¡± Tiriana intoned, that single syllable laced with understanding. ¡°The gunners weren¡¯t just blocking the traps. They were blocking the officer¡¯s own magic as well.¡±

    ¡°That seems like a major design flaw.¡±

    ¡°It must have hurt their enemies more than it hurt them,¡± the elf replied serenely, as if death wasn¡¯t currently marching towards them. Every instinct in Sera¡¯s body told her to run, but she was too exhausted to make it far even if that nachzehrer officer wasn¡¯t wearing a similar suit to those of leapers. Stepping into the hallway and triggering the closest trap was starting to seem like a good idea.

    Noticing something, Sera looked to Tiriana. ¡°Is that-¡±

    ¡°Shh!¡± Tiriana hissed, thumping Sera on the head lightly in admonishment. Chastened, she watched in silence as the officer grew ever closer, its vanguard minions at its back, armed with shields and hammers Sera probably couldn¡¯t even lift. Once they cleared the last of the traps there was no hope of stopping them. None of the adventurers originally assigned to defend the secondary core were in good enough shape to take more than a single blow from those brutes, and even if the power was restored it wasn¡¯t like there was anything left down here that could be used against the nachzehrer.

    At this point, their only hope was for reinforcements to arrive.

    Sera¡¯s heart pounded in her chest as she prayed to gods whose names she didn¡¯t know that help might arrive in time. The approaching nachzehrer now eclipsed her view of the elevator room behind them, so she had know way of knowing if anyone was coming at all.

    ¡°Have you ceased your struggles? Excellent. Remain where you are and do not resist. You will be unharmed,¡± the officer assured them, taking their silence and lack of movement as a sign of surrender. Sera felt herself starting to shake, but she couldn¡¯t bring herself to take the easy way out. She wasn¡¯t sure it was even an option, depending on how strong of a mage that officer was.

    But then a small figure darted out from behind the nachzehrer vanguards, bow drawn, and loosed an arrow into the officer¡¯s hip servo at point-blank range.

 Chapter Forty Seven

    Events unfolded so quickly that Sera could barely even process what was happening. Rinnie¡¯s arrow sank into the nachzehrer officer¡¯s hip and didn¡¯t just destroy the servo but locked it in place. When the officer tried to move its hip didn¡¯t respond, but it attempted to twist on one leg nonetheless in order to react to Rinnie. But the little dryad was already spinning around the officer in the opposite direction, drawing her new dagger with one hand.

    A blade slid forth from the officer¡¯s wrist and it slashed at where Rinnie had just been, probably unable to cast a spell quickly enough, but the swing encountered only empty air. Rinnie was already completing her maneuver, driving her misericord into the officer¡¯s undamaged leg at the knee in a backhanded spin. Once again she expertly targeted the servo motor there, and the thin armor under it failed to stop the dagger from punching all the way through and out the other side, disabling the knee entirely.

    By now the vanguards were reacting, one bringing its hammer down on a spot Rinnie had already vacated and the other aiming for her current location. They may as well have been swinging at a gnat, though, for all the good it did. Before the second vanguard had even finished raising its weapon Rinnie extracted her dagger from the officer and dove towards her assailant, rolling between its legs to escape.

    The entire affair had happened in a matter of two or three seconds.

    A flash illuminated the hall from behind the nachzehrer. It wasn¡¯t until Sera heard steel slamming against stone that she understood a trap had gone off- then another, and another. With no regard for the traps lining the hall someone charged down its length, unable to be slowed down by such feeble attacks, and there was only one person Sera could think of whom it could be.

    As if in slow motion, the nachzehrer vanguards turned to face this new threat while the officer toppled to the side, catching itself against the wall. Its knee had given out, but its hip, unable to move, had prevented it from simply sinking to the ground. Meanwhile, Sera caught sight of Rinnie as she sped around the legs of the heavily-armored vanguards, delivering blows that weren¡¯t quite as effective but nonetheless left increasing amounts of damage.

    Then Layla arrived and struck the vanguards like a runaway freight train. Visible only through the gap between the two nachzehrer, the warrior braced her feet and twisted her entire body to deliver a mighty blow that sent one vanguard off of its feet entirely. It struck the ground heavily with a ringing crash, activating a trap that failed to damage it but flipped the vanguard over and out of the protective range of its officer.

    Multiple magical traps had triggered on Layla already, leaving her armor scorched in some places and coated in rime in others, but she had emerged with no actual injuries thanks to her prodigious magical resistance. Sera was forced to avert her eyes as white-hot flames engulfed the nachzehrer vanguard, and when she looked back, she found it hadn¡¯t weathered the trap nearly so well as Layla. Its armor had begun to visibly sag in places and was glowing with heat as it struggled to stand, its very survival beggaring belief.

    With its partner barely able to move, Layla was able to focus her attention solely on the remaining vanguard. Towering above even Layla, the nachzehrer took its hammer in both hands and brought it down on the former Amazon¡¯s head, encountering her own weapon, braced at an angle, on the way down. The hammer slid to the side and impacted the ground hard enough to displace multiple bricks. Sensing danger, the vanguard pulled back its shield-arm and secured its hold on the grip just in time to intercept a return swing from Layla.

    Previously Layla had been armed with a poleaxe, but as her weapon was deflected, Sera saw she¡¯d adapted to their heavily armored foes by replacing it with a Lucerne hammer, its four-pronged head more appropriate to the task of defeating armor than an axe. And in Layla¡¯s hands, the difference was devastating; the brief glimpse Sera caught of the vanguard¡¯s shield showed four neatly-aligned holes punched in its surface.

    A warrior like Layla wasn¡¯t restricted to using the head of her weapon, though; using the momentum from her hammer being deflected, Layla brought the butt around and slapped the nachzehrer vanguard¡¯s hammer arm at the elbow before it could pull its weapon back. Then the pronged head swept back around to ring the vanguard¡¯s bell with a blow to the temple, followed by a reverse strike that caught the inner edge of its shield, flinging it back out of the way before it could be brought back into position.

    In spite of the size disparity, the nachzehrer vanguard found itself entirely at Layla¡¯s mercy as the smaller woman pummeled it into submission. When last she¡¯d taken on a nachzehrer in single-combat, it had been a gunner which although outmatched had needed only to align the barrels of its guns with her to strike back. That one difference had made the fight look far more even than it had been. Against an opponent reliant whose stance could be disrupted to disable it, who needed positioning to strike back effectively, Layla¡¯s skill gave her an enormous advantage.

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    With utter impunity the warrior rained blows on her foe, sweeping aside its limbs every time it tried to rally and delivering punishing strikes to its head and joints while it reeled. Unseen to her, the officer used its arms to turn itself around, no doubt intending to turn the tide with its magic, but Rinnie was watching and chose that moment to reenter the fray. She stepped out from behind Layla to fire an arrow at the officer, but aware to the threat, it had raised a barrier that repelled the projectile easily.

    Killing the officer wasn¡¯t the priority though; if Rinnie could merely keep it distracted, that was enough. Knowing that, she approached the nachzehrer mage with her dagger drawn and stabbed at its barrier, bearing down on it when the invisible wall of force tried to push her away. The officer turned its attention to her, but all it could do was puts its entire focus on keeping its barrier intact. Even Tiriana had struggled to prepare a second spell while actively defending against a single spell, and by all accounts the alchemists weren¡¯t nearly as adept at combat magic as mages trained in the Armistice Alliance.

    After much effort the burned vanguard returned to its feet, its armaments either firmly in its grasp or welded to its hands. If it felt any pain, it wasn¡¯t evident as it plodded towards Layla and the other vanguard, shield raised and hammer at the ready. Halfway to its target it stopped suddenly, its head craning over to wear Rinnie was pinning its leader down, and it shifted its target to the vulnerable scout.

    That instant of thought determined the course of the fight and was the beginning of the end.

    In the moment that the burned nachzehrer began to raise its arm to strike, Layla reacted with the speed of lightning. Her opponent failed to notice the shift in her attention, too busy trying to brace itself to receive the next strike, so it hardly even reacted when she instead stepped around it and charged, wielding her hammer as a spear. Just as the burned vanguard¡¯s hammer reached the apex of its swing, Layla thrust. The long blade that tipped her polearm lanced out and tore through the vanguard¡¯s half-melted gorget, ripping apart the giant¡¯s throat.

    Even as the vanguard fell back, clutching its throat and drowning on its own blood, its battered counterpart tried to take advantage of the situation to strike Layla down from behind. Unfortunately for it, Layla hadn¡¯t left herself as vulnerable as it thought. Anticipating that the nachzehrer would see an opportunity to counterattack, Layla twisted out of the way of the blow when she heard it step forward, withdrawing her polearm as she moved.

    Two hammers descended at once. The nachzehrer vanguard¡¯s weapon struck only air where Layla¡¯s head once was. Hers, however, hooked the legs of her opponent and swept them out from under it. Carried to the ground by its own weight, the vanguard fell heavily onto its back. Layla, both hands firmly on her hammer, brought the weapon around and up, spinning the large spike opposite the pronged hammerhead around to face forward, then delivered the coup de grace, introducing a spike several inches long directly to one of the two lenses on the vanguard¡¯s face.

    Glass cracked and shattered- as did metal and then bone. Giant though it might have been, the nachzehrer could not survive a spike directly driven into its brain. It never moved again. That left the officer as the only survivor of its contingent, an oversight that would be remedied shortly. Seeing its last escort dead, the officer spoke.

    ¡°We believed two-to-one odds sufficient to eliminate you based upon past experiences. Now we understand that to have been a decision made in error,¡± the officer said analytically. It didn¡¯t seem particularly concerned about its imminent death. ¡°You do not fight like alchemists. Once we have adjusted our tactics, however, we will return. Your destruction has merely been postponed.¡±

    ¡°Your threats mean little coming from one who can no longer even stand. They are the words of a vanquished foe too prideful to admit defeat and no more,¡± Layla growled as she raised her weapon. Without waiting for a reply, she dropped her hammer on the officer¡¯s barrier. It bounced off once, then twice, and even thrice, but the fourth blow proved too much for the nachzehrer¡¯s defenses to withstand. The barrier collapsed with that final blow, and the officer unsheathed a blade built into its wrist, but the gesture was meaningless.

    Swinging her hammer like a baseball bat, Layla crushed the officer¡¯s skull along with its helmet between the hammer¡¯s head and the wall. A sound that combined the squelching of ruptured bone and flesh with the tortured crumpling of metal accompanied a splash of blood from the giant¡¯s ruined head, marking the end of the battle.

    ¡°Your timing could not have been better,¡± Sera sighed as she climbed to her feet, stepping out from behind the corner but remaining careful not to step into the hallway. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡±

    ¡°Oh, I know. It wasn¡¯t an accident,¡± Rinnie replied smugly.

    ¡°¡­wait, how long were you there for?¡± Tiriana asked as she joined Sera.

    ¡°¡¯Why use the other types of trap at all!?¡¯¡± Rinnie quoted dramatically. Sera felt her eye begin to twitch.

    ¡°Then why¡¯d you wait so long!?¡± she demanded indignantly. She¡¯d been disturbingly close to trying to end herself before Rinnie showed up.

    ¡°Eh, had to wait for that one to get into position,¡± Rinnie shifted the blame with a shrug, gesturing at Layla with her thumb. ¡°She¡¯s not really made for stealth so it took her some time to catch up.¡±

    ¡°Huh, so that¡¯s how you got so close without setting off any traps,¡± Tiriana noted nonchalantly. ¡°You were right behind them from the moment the officer took over disabling the traps.¡±

    ¡°I presume this was the last of them?¡± Layla interjected. ¡°Then perhaps you could disable the traps yourself so that we may move.¡±

    ¡°Oh, right, I guess the officer isn¡¯t exactly doing that anymore¡­hold on, I¡¯m not sure if I can pull it off, but I¡¯ll try,¡± Tiriana replied as she stepped forward.

    ¡°It¡¯s fine, we turned the traps off when you killed the officer,¡± Vivi¡¯s voice interrupted from nowhere. ¡°The engineers got the power back a bit before the end of the fight. There¡¯s some bad new though- we can¡¯t activate the barriers from here.¡±

 Chapter Forty Eight

    Instead of explaining over the intercom, Vivi sprinted down the hall to meet up with the rest of the party. When she reached them she was so exhausted she could barely breathe and it took her a few moments to catch her breath.

    ¡°You know you didn¡¯t have to come all the way here for this, right?¡± Sera asked as she held Vivi up by the shoulder.

    ¡°I sort of did, though¡­since I¡¯m the only one that knows how to activate the barrier,¡± the cleric revealed while straightening up.

    ¡°Couldn¡¯t you have just told us how?¡± Tiriana pointed out. Vivi shook her head.

    ¡°You can¡¯t read the displays and I can¡¯t channel a translation miracle from so far away,¡± she replied.

    ¡°What about the engineers? Aren¡¯t they the ones that figured it out?¡± Rinnie inquired while attempting to extract her arrow from the nachzehrer officer¡¯s hip.

    ¡°They told me how, but they¡¯re too scared to leave the core. I had a hard enough time convincing them to resume the repairs after the first attack. Is it really the time for this? We need to get going!¡± Vivi insisted, ruffling her hair in exasperation.

    ¡°Okay, okay,¡± Tiriana accepted with a sigh. ¡°Rinnie, Layla, was there any fighting on the surface when you passed through?¡±

    ¡°Just Isidro. He¡¯d picked off a couple leapers but was still hunting one or two, I think. The Aegis Company adventurers were just starting to file in through the tunnels and the nachzehrer should still be marching towards us,¡± Rinnie explained. ¡°If we¡¯re heading out we should go now, before things get crazy.¡±

    ¡°Hold on, what about the secondary core? Just because it¡¯s active doesn¡¯t mean we can leave it unguarded,¡± Sera objected. Currently they only had two people in fighting condition; leaving with them both would be irresponsible.

    ¡°I will remain,¡± Layla volunteered, taking up a position at the end of the hallway that would force any attackers to first make it through all the traps before fighting her. She planted her pronged hammer upright in the floor using the spiked butt, then crossed her arms. ¡°Should more foes come, they will find only destruction and despair awaiting them.

    ¡°Sometimes she says things that make me wonder if she¡¯s the big bad¡­¡± Sera whispered to herself.

    ¡°What?¡± Tiriana asked, having barely heard Sera speak.

    ¡°Nothing!¡± Sera squeaked. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we be going?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t know when the big lady became the noble, self-sacrificing type, but I think we can leave this to her. Let¡¯s get moving,¡± Rinnie agreed, beckoning the others to follow as she left.

    ¡°It is only a sacrifice if I believe my enemies have the power to overcome me,¡± Layla asserted confidently to Rinnie¡¯s back. The dryad scout just waved over her shoulder to acknowledge she¡¯d heard. Glancing at Tiriana and Vivi, Sera started walking for the elevator too.

    ¡°Should we even be coming along?¡± Sera asked Tiriana as they stepped onto the elevator. ¡°We¡¯re both pretty spent.¡±

    ¡°If nothing else, we¡¯re two more bodies for the nachzehrer to target instead of Vivi,¡± the eleven mage answered grimly.

    ¡°I¡¯d really prefer if it didn¡¯t come to that¡­¡± Vivi muttered sullenly.

    When the elevator reached the surface the four of them rushed out, with Tiriana and Sera mounting up on their usual flokkas. Vivi hopped on Soswa behind Tiriana, but when Sera looked at Rinnie, the scout shook her head.

    ¡°Better if I keep both hands on my bow,¡± she explained as they headed for the settlement, Rinnie easily keeping pace with the flokkas.

    ¡°Should we go straight through or loop around?¡± Tiriana asked Rinnie as they neared the edge of town.

    ¡°Straight is faster. I think any surviving leapers are a little too busy being hunted by Isidro to bother us,¡± Rinnie suggested, watching their surroundings intently. Tiriana spurred Soswa onward, accepting Rinnie¡¯s judgement. The main street wasn¡¯t especially long, even at the slower speed flokkas moved at when compared to horses, so they would only be in danger for a short time anyway.

    While passing through Sera only saw a living leaper once, and it had barely landed before it was forced to dodge an arrow fired from somewhere out of sight. Halfway down the street another leaper lay dead, one of its hands pinned to its face by an arrow. Having seen a leaper catch one of Rinnie¡¯s arrows and throw it back, it was almost surreal to see another killed with the same weapon, but that was the difference between Rinnie¡¯s short bow and Isidro¡¯s longbow.

    In less than a minute the party passed through the expedition¡¯s settlement and into the open fields. Panning her gaze, Sera saw adventurers rushing about near the entrances to the underground making their preparations to fend off the attacking nachzehrer. She wondered momentarily if Broviss was safe, but there was nothing she could do for the agoraphobic smith right now but assume Rinnie and Layla had seen to it that he wasn¡¯t in danger.

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    Multiple cracks like thunder shook the air when Sera¡¯s group was halfway to the ruined town at the center of the fortress. If she¡¯d been inclined to forget the battle was only in a lull, not over, that would have been a sufficient reminder. No doubt Cadenza had just done something about the second nachzehrer company¡¯s artillery support; hopefully she would manage to retreat before the nachzehrer retaliated.

    Advancing through the rubble of the collapsed town was surprisingly peaceful, which Sera chalked up to the fact that there really wasn¡¯t anywhere to stage an ambush. Even if the nachzehrer had been inclined to post troops near the control room to keep anyone from accessing it, just in case, the even distribution of the ruins meant there were no place to hide. No alleys, no corners, and no semi-intact walls- just a sea of collapsed masonry. There were occasional gaps where survivors or bodies had presumably been excavated, but none were situated conveniently along the road.

    Finally they arrived at the central keep and dismounted. Rinnie entered the narrow courtyard first, quickly checking both sides after passing through the gate before waving the others in. Halfway to the door, though, Sera heard a crunch. Instinctively she dove for Vivi, tackling the smaller woman to the ground.

    If she¡¯d thought it through logically she would have realized the nachzehrer had no reason to target the cleric first, not knowing she was essential to the group¡¯s success. Indeed, it was actually Rinnie that fell under attack, but the noise had been enough to alert her and she easily evaded. Drawn into melee she was forced to discard her bow and grab her misericord.

    Sera reached for her hammer and urged Vivi onward as Rinnie lured the leaper she was fighting out of the way. Less than half the height of a nachzehrer as the dryad was, her opponent seemed to be having trouble targeting her as she danced in and out of its range, striking at its weak points. But it wasn¡¯t the only threat, as Sera found out a moment later.

    ¡°Look out!¡± Tiriana shouted. Possibly having picked up on how quickly Sera moved to defend the cleric, a second leaper chose to attack Vivi instead of the others, barely missing when Tiriana yanked her out of the way. Sera lunged forward several steps to catch up with the two of them, looking around for the leaper.

    Even she didn¡¯t know how she did it, but by the time she realized the leaper was making another attempt, Sera had already raised her hammer to block the strike. It was small, thin. Just your everyday claw hammer used for driving nails. But it was also a single piece of heat-treated steel, solid all the way through. The nachzehrer leaper that swung its wrist blade at Sera as she stood protectively in front of Vivi was nearly ten feet tall with strength to match, all of which it threw into cutting Sera apart.

    A claw hammer wasn¡¯t going to stop that slash, but it could slow it down. In the time it took the leaper¡¯s sword to cleave apart the hammer from head to handle, it lost enough force to grievously wound Sera instead of outright slaying her on the spot. She didn¡¯t even feel the injury when it happened, she only saw her own blood scattering. Stumbling backwards, she looked down to find her hands in ruins and a crimson line stretching across her chest from her collarbone through her right breast.

    Someone grabbed her from behind and dragged her away as endorphins flooded Sera¡¯s system and left her more high than pained. Rinnie jumped between the door to the keep and the nachzehrer as Sera was pulled through, initiating a blinding series of slashes that kept both leapers at bay.

    ¡°Go! I¡¯ll hold them here!¡± Rinnie yelled as she seemed to accelerate even more, her attacks becoming practically invisible with her fully on the offensive.

    ¡°You can¡¯t kill two leapers at once!¡± Tiriana argued from somewhere close to Sera¡¯s ear.

    ¡°Maybe not. But I can stalemate them. Get the barrier activated! If these guys could use the controls they¡¯d have done it!¡± Rinnie insisted. Sera¡¯s view spun as Tiriana turned and ran deeper into the keep after Vivi, who was already running up the stairs. Sera had no idea how Tiriana managed to ascend the steps while carrying her- adrenaline, maybe- but she could barely even process the passage of time right now, so it was as if she blinked and then found herself in the control room.

    Maybe she had. She¡¯d lost a lot of blood.

    Out of the corner of her eye Sera saw Vivi check several consoles before settling on one and beginning to interact with it. Unlike the last time she¡¯d been here the control stations were all lit up, with holographic interfaces floating above them in spaces that had seemed curiously blank before. She looked back to Tiriana after feeling several slaps on her cheek.

    ¡°Still with me? I promise it looks worse than it is,¡± the elf assured her as she did something to Sera¡¯s wrists. Slowly she managed to tilt her head down to see what was happening. There was blood all over Tiriana, none of which was hers, as she tied strips of Sera¡¯s ruined tunic around her wrists tightly in the closest approximation of a tourniquet she could manage.

    ¡°I think I need a new tit,¡± Sera giggled deliriously, as if it were the funniest thing she¡¯d ever said.

    ¡°Well, at least your sense of humor hasn¡¯t gotten any worse,¡± Tiriana noted while rolling her eyes. ¡°Just stay alive a little longer and Vivi will get you stabilized, okay?¡±

    ¡°Got it!¡± Vivi cheered as the entire room lit up, light spilling in through the narrow, arrowslit-esque windows. When everything was almost dyed white, the light receded back to its normal levels. ¡°Pretty sure it wasn¡¯t supposed to do that, but the barrier is stable.¡±

    ¡°Are you done? I could use some help,¡± Tiriana asked, struggling to keep her voice even. Vivi rushed over and quickly checked Sera¡¯s wounds before beginning to pray. The cut on her chest glowed for a few seconds, then Vivi hopped back to her feet.

    ¡°That slowed the bleeding. It should buy me a few minutes,¡± Vivi informed Tiriana while she went back to the consoles, searching through them again.

    ¡°I thought the barrier was already up!¡± Tiriana exclaimed, voice full of worry.

    ¡°It is, but I noticed some movement on the lower floors- I think some nachzehrer got in already. I saw how the engineers disabled the traps near the secondary core, though, so if I can just find the right screen¡­¡± Vivi explained as she looked from screen to screen. ¡°There!¡± she exclaimed suddenly, noticing something a couple rows down and making a beeline to a particular terminal.

    Sera passed out before Vivi was finished.

 Chapter Forty Nine

    Sera woke up in the same bed she¡¯d slept in the night before, which although not familiar quite yet was at least recognizable. Before she even opened her eyes an aching pain rose up from her stomach, accompanied by weakness that assaulted her muscles and sapped her will to move. Hesitantly, she forced her lethargic arms to move and reached for her chest, expecting to find bandages or a torn shirt crusted with dried blood, but all she found was soft cloth. It took her a moment to realize she¡¯d just tested the site of her wound with hands that should have been just as badly damaged.

    Finally understanding that her wounds were already fully healed, she wondered briefly how long she had to have been in a coma for that to be possible- then her brain finished rebooting and she remembered that wasn¡¯t how things worked here. In Omichl¨®dis. A place where literal divine miracles could heal the sick and mend the wounded. From what she understood it wasn¡¯t easy to treat injuries as bad as hers had been, but it wasn¡¯t impossible.

    With that knowledge Sera managed to identify the pain she was feeling. It was just hunger. She was positively ravenous, to the point that it felt like her stomach was going to start digesting her from the inside out. Deciding to do something about that, Sera opened her eyes and realized she wasn¡¯t alone. Tiriana was passed out in a chair she¡¯d found somewhere and Vivi was laying on the cold, hard floor, pressing her cheek into the magically formed stone.

    As soon as Sera lifted her head, Tiriana jerked awake, instantly alert and searching for danger. She¡¯d probably used an alarm spell to notify herself when Sera woke up, not considering what she typically cast them for. Sera noticed that the elf looked exhausted; there were bags under her eyes and her skin seemed a bit off-color.

    ¡°Oh, it¡¯s just you,¡± Tiriana said with a sigh of relief. ¡°How are you feeling?¡±

    ¡°Hungry,¡± Sera grunted. Tiriana laughed before standing and hurrying to the door. She opened it a bit and stuck her head out.

    ¡°She¡¯s awake!¡± she shouted into the hall, closing the door afterwards to return to her seat. ¡°Sorry about that, someone will bring you something to eat in a minute. We kind of expected you¡¯d need something to eat right away- Vivi was so spent she had to cut some corners and help your body heal itself, rather than substituting divine energy.¡±

    ¡°So I guess we¡¯re alive then,¡± Sera observed. At some point during all the fighting she¡¯d stopped expecting to survive, which probably explained her lack of hesitation at the end.

    ¡°Most of us,¡± Tiriana corrected somberly. ¡°There were a lot of injuries and not enough clerics to go around. Some of the Aegis Company adventurers didn¡¯t make it through.¡±

    ¡°What about Rinnie?¡± Sera asked, surprising herself with how worried she felt about the acerbic dryad.

    ¡°Alive¡­somehow,¡± Tiriana answered with exasperation. ¡°At some point those leapers managed to pry her armor off. I¡¯ve never seen someone survive so many stab wounds.¡±

    ¡°Another weird dryad thing?¡± Sera guessed.

    ¡°When I asked how she lived through that, she replied with a question: ¡®When was the last time you stabbed a tree to death?¡¯¡± Tiriana relayed to Sera, frowning. ¡°I pointed out that trees have a vascular system too, but she just questioned why I wanted to know how to kill her. I¡­didn¡¯t really have a response to that.¡±

    It suddenly dawned on Sera why Tiriana had had issues with the other adventurers that formed the original expedition with her. The question had been knocking around somewhere in the back of her head ever since meeting Layla and Rinnie; with Rinnie becoming a bit more agreeable lately it had bothered her even more. Put simply, the mage lost all tact when her intellectual curiosity was piqued.

    ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s a fair reaction,¡± Sera noted with a sigh. ¡°Should we¡­check on Vivi, by the way?¡± She looked pointedly at the unconscious cleric.

    ¡°Eh, I¡¯ve seen her sleep in worse places,¡± Tiriana denied with a shrug. A knock on the door interrupted the conversation as a woman Sera didn¡¯t know entered with a tray of bread and some kind of broth, leaving immediately after handing it over with instructions to eat slowly.

    ¡°So what else happened after I passed out?¡± Sera asked as she tore a piece of bread off and dipped it in the broth for flavor.

    ¡°Not a whole lot. Mostly cleanup and treating the injured. We¡¯ve got a lot of samples of intact nachzehrer armor to take apart now, so we might be able to find more weaknesses. Other than that¡­there was a bit of trouble getting the airship back down without lowering the barrier, but once the engineering team was convinced to leave the secondary core room they managed to figure it out,¡± Tiriana summed up as Sera ate. Nodding along, Sera just worked on her meal, letting the conversation die for a while as she finished. Before long there was another knock on the door and Cadenza entered.

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    ¡°Good to see you feeling better,¡± the gray-skinned adventurer said as she entered. She noticed Vivi conked out on the floor a moment later and gave Tiriana a concerned look. ¡°Is she-¡±

    ¡°She¡¯s a cleric of Adventure, it¡¯s not the worst position she¡¯s slept in,¡± the elf dismissed before Cadenza could finish.

    ¡°If you say so. Anyway, I just wanted to stop by and thank you for your contributions. I¡¯ve already commended Tiriana, but you performed well defending the core. Beside that, your insight might just have won us the battle,¡± Cadenza told Sera, leaving the matter of Vivi¡¯s sleeping habits aside. Sera gave the adventurer leader an odd look, not sure what she was referring to.

    ¡°The nachzehrer weak points?¡± she asked, giving it her best guess. ¡°It seemed like the bait-and-switch strategy had a lot more impact than that.¡±

    ¡°Actually, I meant your remarks about the tunneling. Dr. Kahnton¡¯s earth mages had time to check before going up on the airship. They spotted and collapsed several surprisingly large tunnels leading into the bowels of the fortress,¡± Cadenza clarified, folding her arms and leaning back against the door.

    ¡°You think the nachzehrer were planning to use them again?¡± Sera questioned next. ¡°Isn¡¯t that just speculation?¡±

    ¡°It turns out they were able to reopen a small passage in time for the battle- we think it¡¯s how that officer and its entourage got in. It was so narrow they would have had to crawl through it, so they couldn¡¯t get many troops through, but it was enough to make a move for the core,¡± Tiriana chimed in.

    ¡°They may have succeeded in the end, too, if Vivi hadn¡¯t reactivated the traps on the lower levels. She caught the next wave off-guard when they were already inside the blast radius of various traps,¡± Cadenza added. ¡°For that matter¡­when we investigated the other side of the tunnel, we found they¡¯d been trying to widen the hole until the end. There¡¯s evidence there was a much larger force waiting on the other end, but they must have retreated when they realized they wouldn¡¯t be able to catch us by surprise anymore. And that was just one tunnel. If they were planning to use all of them¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Sera mouthed as everything clicked together in her head. ¡°That¡¯s what you meant. You think the tunnels were the real attack. I did think what you said on the wall was strange- that it was both wasteful and reckless for them to waste troops just to play mind games with our artillery.¡±

    ¡°Exactly. The second wave was meant to convince us they¡¯d played their hand when in reality it was only another distraction. But they must not have checked the tunnels first, so they entire plan fell apart and they had to make a play for the core instead,¡± Cadenza confirmed.

    ¡°So their entire plan was one big shell game, but they botched it because they were complacent,¡± Sera observed, setting her empty tray aside.

    ¡°The nachzehrer were so convinced we were just more alchemists that they assumed the same tactics would work on us. And if the alchemists never figured out to check for tunnelers¡­¡± Tiriana continued, trailing off as she had a realization.

    ¡°Then neither would we. And they were right, just for the wrong reasons. We assumed they would avoid strategies that magic made obsolete, failing to consider that the civilization that created the nachzehrer would have fought their wars without magic, against foes that didn¡¯t have it either- and when they finally had an enemy that did use it, they were so inexperienced at war that they couldn¡¯t predict the simplest of strategies,¡± Cadenza summed up, clenching her jaw in frustration.

    ¡°Before Layla killed that officer, they said something about how we don¡¯t fight like alchemists and they knew to plan differently next time,¡± Sera recalled.

    ¡°I heard,¡± Cadenza confirmed. ¡°The barrier is a powerful defense and we¡¯ll be watching for tunnels going forward, but we¡¯re going to have to break out the history books to have any chance of predicting what they might use next. We can¡¯t assume they¡¯ll avoid trying something just because there¡¯s a magical counter available.¡±

    ¡°¡­I can think of a few possibilities off the top of my head,¡± Sera volunteered. Earthworks might protect against even Cadenza¡¯s fearsome railgun spell- long ranged artillery batteries behind earthworks might be able to attack the barrier with impunity. Missiles were another alarming threat modern magical civilization might not expect. Had they developed supersonic flight, or countermeasures to it?

    For all that the people of Omichl¨®dis were incredibly advanced, it came with the caveat that their magical technology had progressed along entirely different lines. Magic had provided other solutions to problems.

    ¡°Good. We¡¯ll need that insight if we¡¯re going to stay here,¡± Cadenza replied.

    ¡°Didn¡¯t you say you were a mistwalker as well? Your world didn¡¯t have magic either, did it?¡± Tiriana asked Cadenza, who nodded slowly.

    ¡°I am¡­but I¡¯ve been here for decades. At least as long as I lived on Twire. I wasn¡¯t exactly knowledgeable about this sort of topic in the first place- I was a dancer before I arrived in Omichl¨®dis,¡± she shared. Subject aside, it explained her fighting style- she must have learned to integrate fighting into the way she already knew how to move her body, rather than developing her skills to the point of flowing gracefully across the battlefield.

    ¡°I¡¯m not an expert either, but I¡¯ll do what I can,¡± Sera promised. ¡°Just keep in mind I can really only share things that were common knowledge.¡±

    ¡°What¡¯s common knowledge for you won¡¯t always be common knowledge for us, or vice versa. Anything we can get improves the odds a bit more,¡± Cadenza asserted before pushing away from the door. ¡°Anyway, that¡¯s all I had to say. There¡¯s going to be a party later, so get as much rest as you can. We¡¯ll be celebrating the victory as well as honoring the dead.¡±

    With that said, Cadenza left the room, leaving Sera and Tiriana alone. Mostly. After the door closed, Vivi stirred at last, slowly rising to a sitting position and twisting her neck back and forth, producing audible popping sounds. She looked back and forth between the other two women groggily for a few moments before speaking.

    ¡°I think you need a rug.¡±

 Chapter Fifty

    Given that the settlement had only been constructed two days ago- three, actually, since Sera had been unconscious for most of the second day- the promised party was a rather modest affair that consisted mostly of gathering all the adventurers in one place and breaking out the alcohol. Some of the more woodsy adventurers had made the trek back to the forest near the original camp to bag mystery animals that could be roasted, giving the celebration the feel of a feast without dipping into long term supplies too much.

    What was strange was how boisterous the atmosphere was considering it doubled as a funeral, or perhaps a wake. While she¡¯d heard many people say they would prefer their loved ones celebrate their life instead of mourning their death, Sera had never actually seen anyone go through with it once the deceased was gone. After all, a funeral was for the living; it provided closure for the people that attended. The person actually being mourned was not, after all, around to object.

    Not this time, though. If Sera hadn¡¯t been told ahead of time this was meant to be a way of honoring the dead, she would have thought the Aegis Company had won a bloodless victory for their own side. Frontline fighters, scouts, mages, and clerics all mingled together, gathering around roasting spits and kegs of spirits made from the leaves of an elven tree. It was incredibly noisy from the dozens of adventurers carousing and telling their own side of the story of yesterday¡¯s battles.

    And at the center of it all were several funerary pyres upon which rested the people that hadn¡¯t made it. They were as of yet unlit, and apparently would remain so until the end of the party.

    Eleven adventurers had fallen fighting the nachzehrer, most of them from the battle in the field. A couple of Vivi¡¯s patients hadn¡¯t made it, primarily because she¡¯d been forced to personally activate the barrier instead of providing life support until more clerics could relieve her. Although Sera had been worried their party members would hold it against Vivi, that didn¡¯t seem to be the case; if anything, they respected her bravery and scorned the engineers that had been too afraid to go themselves. That in itself might be a problem, of course, but that was a problem for Dr. Kahnton and Cadenza to sort out.

    At the far fringes of the gathering, just barely within the area lit up by the light spells cast by some of the mages present, Sera sipped on her drink and nibbled on a chunk of mystery meat. Despite sounding more like a tea than an alcoholic beverage, she found the drink to be tangy, and while it went down very smoothly, Sera suspected it was rather strong judging by how liberated some people had already become. She took it slowly, using the drink to wash down her food.

    The term ¡®mystery meat¡¯ usually had a bit of a derogatory undertone to it, but in this case, it was simply that no one had a name yet for whatever the animal had been. Isidro might have known, but several of the kills were butchered by the time he got back, so he hadn¡¯t had a chance to identify them if he could. According to the stereotype Sera had expected the meat to taste like chicken. It was closer to beef, though, with a slight hint of salmon of all things.

    ¡°Is this normal for adventurer funerals?¡± Sera asked of Tiriana and Vivi, who, knowing few of the people present, had opted to stick together.

    ¡°Somewhat. It¡¯s more of a recommendation than a tenant, but the god of Adventure advocates for remembering the dead the way they lived, and for adventurers, that means excitement and revelry. Normally there¡¯d be mock battles too, but everyone is a little too banged up for that,¡± Vivi explained with Tiriana doing the translating. Sera had asked her question in crude elven, but she wasn¡¯t fluent enough to understand the response yet.

    ¡°¡­I haven¡¯t been one for long, but isn¡¯t there a lot more travel and boredom than excitement?¡± Sera asked, remembering spending an entire week riding all the way out to the fortress and army base just for less than an hour of poking around the latter. That sentence had been a bit longer than she was comfortable with, but she seemed to have gotten the point across.

    ¡°Sure, but that¡¯s not what defines being an adventurer. We do it for the thrills- the discoveries, the victories, and celebrating a job well-done,¡± Tiriana answered personally. ¡°A soldier spends most of their time travelling or sitting around too, but you wouldn¡¯t say anything but a professional fighter.¡±

    ¡°That makes sense, I suppose,¡± Sera accepted, taking a sip of her drink. The others did the same. She was forced to switch back to English to get her next thought across. ¡°Maybe I just don¡¯t have enough experience to understand it yet. I didn¡¯t know any of the people who died, but I still can¡¯t bring myself to party while standing around their corpses.¡±

    ¡°Most people can¡¯t at first. You have to learn how to work yourself up to it, more or less,¡± Tiriana replied between sips. ¡°In my experience, once you do that, it takes some of the sting out of the loss. Makes it easier to remember the person fondly.¡±

    ¡°Have you¡­lost a lot?¡± Sera asked carefully. It took her a moment figure out the right way to say it in elven.

    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    ¡°A few¡­friends, I guess, back when I worked for a company. I wasn¡¯t there long and didn¡¯t know them extremely well, but it still hurt,¡± Tiriana answered somberly. ¡°That company wasn¡¯t run very well and their deaths could have been avoided with better leadership, which is part of why I left.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t even know what you just said but I¡¯m sure it was depressing,¡± Vivi commented. Sera only understood about half of it, but Tiriana repeated it for her benefit with a smirk. ¡°This is supposed to be a party, can we talk about something more positive?¡±

    ¡°We could gossip about whether there¡¯s even a face under that one¡¯s helmet,¡± Rinnie suggested from between Tiriana and Sera, who was so startled by the dryad¡¯s sudden appearance that she jumped at least a foot into the air and flung both her drink and her food into the closest fire. ¡°Huh. Perfect score for that one- how far was that, twenty feet? Could have landed almost anywhere else but you somehow got it right in there.¡±

    ¡°Where did you come from!?¡± Sera demanded of the tiny scout, who snickered in her face.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been standing there since ¡®is this normal¡¯ and you just didn¡¯t notice,¡± Rinnie mocked.

    ¡°I did,¡± Tiriana said as she calmly raised a hand.

    ¡°So did I,¡± Vivi piled on.

    ¡°Really gotta work on that situational awareness and peripheral vision if you¡¯re gonna be an adventurer,¡± Rinnie advised, nodding sagely.

    ¡°You could have just said something!¡± Sera insisted, unable to hide how flustered she was.

    ¡°Now, now,¡± Tiriana consoled while patting Sera¡¯s back. ¡°It¡¯s almost a rite of passage to get caught off guard by the party scout. Vivi and I had to learn somewhere.¡±

    ¡°Urgh¡­¡± grumbled Sera, unable to think up a response to that. Instead she looked towards Layla, who was standing alone with a large mug of spirits almost on the other side of the gathering. She was drinking through a straw, inserted through one of the holes in her helmet. ¡°I¡¯m curious, but it¡¯s rude to speculate.¡±

    ¡°Suit yourself,¡± Rinnie said with a shrug. ¡°Not much else to do right now though. All these pansies are still too busy nursing their wounds to do anything fun.¡±

    ¡°I really want to scold you for that one but it¡¯s hard to argue after seeing you get stabbed three dozen times and walk away on your own two feet¡­¡± Vivi commented dryly.

    ¡°Sure kept those leapers busy though, didn¡¯t it?¡± Rinnie laughed heartily. ¡°Didn¡¯t have the brains to know when to quit!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m certain they just thought you¡¯d leap at them the moment they turned their backs,¡± Tiriana gripped her forehead while speaking. The question of Rinnie¡¯s seeming immortality had been giving the elf a headache since she heard about it, Sera knew. Herself, Sera was pretty certain the dryad was just highly resistant to stabbing because of her plant-like properties. While Rinnie was an ally and Sera saw no reason to devise ways to murder her, she could think of three ways off the top of her head that would likely do it.

    Morbid thoughts aside, it was funnier to watch Tiriana grapple with the question than tell her any of that. Even if she did, it wasn¡¯t like there was a way to test it, and Rinnie surely wouldn¡¯t confirm or deny anything. Tiriana was intelligent enough that those possibilities had likely occurred to her anyway; it was probably the lack of confirmation that was torturing her.

    Either way, the conversation died when Cadenza snapped her fingers from near the funerary pyres- clearly enhancing the action with some form of magic judging by the way it was audible even over the din of the partygoers. Her Aegis Company adventurers quieted themselves almost instantly, with the few independents catching on a moment later. People began assembling themselves in front of the Party Captain without her having to order it.

    ¡°Good evening everyone! Have you given the dead their due?¡± she spoke to the crowd, somehow making herself heard as if she were right next to everyone in the crowd. Her words were followed by cheers and affirmations from the adventurers. ¡°Excellent! I know the offerings were limited due to our limited supplies, but I see it hasn¡¯t dimmed your fervor.

    ¡°You all know why we¡¯re here. We fought, we won, and some died as they lived: struggling with all their might against the dangers we know live outside of civilization¡¯s light. Though they are gone, they will not be forgotten. We will tell the tales of their heroism, their might, and their wit. We will immortalize their memory through story and commit their records to the keeping of Pehtayuson and his clergy forever more.¡±

    Sera glanced at Vivi at the mention of her god¡¯s true name to find her merely nodding along. Normally that name only ever received mention when the cleric bestowed blessings, but it seemed like a funeral for adventurers was a proper time to bring it up. Supposedly that would draw his attention here- to claim the dead, perhaps, or merely to join his followers in commemorating them.

    ¡°The battle we fought here meant nothing today. We repelled the nachzehrer in the defense of land that is not ours, for our own purposes and not in the defense of the weak. But it is not today that we fight for, it is tomorrow. In the future this may be remembered as the beginning of something great, and it is up to us to make it so!

    ¡°We stand upon the greatest mobile fortress ever imagined by mortal minds, a construct so vast it can hold a city on its back. Today it stands in ruins, but its foundation remains, and that foundation is what we will build from. This land has been consecrated by the blood of our comrades, who we will now send off with the fires they were so willing to step into.¡±

    As Cadenza set the pyres ablaze, Sera considered her words. Just the other day she¡¯d told her people that their lives were their priority; that defeating the nachzehrer wasn¡¯t important. Was it the loss of those lives that had changed her perspective? Or was she simply working the crowd, making those deaths mean something in their minds regardless of how she herself felt?

    She hoped it was the latter, because if it were the former, Cadenza was intending to take adventurers numbering in the hundreds to war against the entire nachzehrer army, and that wasn¡¯t a fight they could win. For her own sake, and that of Tiriana and Vivi, Sera would be watching the adventurer leader closely in the coming days to determine where her motives truly laid.