Sacrifice Mage

Of course, I couldn’t spend all day theorizing and thinking about all my powers. Even then, as the blue screens faded, I needed to shutter my euphoria and get on with the business at hand.

Despite not having fought in the battle, the rest of the expeditioners had been pelted with far too much crap. They were evading the ashen remains raining down on them, while even I had to avoid more corpses falling from far above where the rest of my comrades had destroyed the little army.

“Another easy win,” Ugnash muttered when I came down and rejoined them.

I could hear the concern in his voice. He had a point. The expedition had been a good deal more difficult the last time. Sure, we could chalk up the current level of ease to the Councillors’ plan and the fact that we were more or less taking it easier this time rather than agitating the Nether Vein with a powerful, relentless thrust into its midst.

But still. Shouldn’t we have faced significantly stronger opposition by now? I had grown since the last trip, but not by an overwhelming amount. Not yet.

The only conclusion I could land on was that—

“It’s preparing something big,” Cerea said. “I can practically feel it.”

I sighed. She was right. The only question was whether we’d be ready for it when the time came. The last one had been… harrowing. While I appreciated being pushed to the point where I had finally been able to manifest my second mana core, I was not willing to go through the same kind of losses, the same desperate fray that had killed so many fellow expeditioners.

It was why the Councillors had come up with a better plan after studying the Nether Vein. It was why we had so much more and stronger manpower. It was why, despite our consistent victories and progress, we were still on high alert.

Yet again, we waited for the engineers to finish the rail line setup before we decided to get moving.

I made my way to the front of the group to try and talk with the Councillors. It was a little heady to realize that nobody tried to stop me. Nobody said what in the world did I think I was doing, trying to get the most powerful in Zairgon to pay attention to me?

Because I was up there now too. Not one of the strongest, obviously, but someone well-known to be quickly getting up there.

And that meant I wasn’t just some random Ring Four cultist anymore to these people.

“I know you’ve been planning this trip for a while,” I said to Se-Vigilance. “But have you accounted for when the Nether Vein inevitably ups the ante?”

The Councillor didn’t look at me, choosing to focus on the path ahead. Her eyes had changed their cast to a considering one, however. “You wish to avoid another Bonestrider situation, yes?”

“Yes, definitely.”

“I am afraid preventing something of that nature entirely will be difficult. But fear not—we have learned our lesson from the last instance and intend to make sure that threats of that nature are addressed properly.”

If that was the end of my problems, then I’d have been satisfied and left. But it wasn’t. “The last time, we only made it a small way in and faced a Bonestrider, and even that was way too strong for any of us except for you, Councillor.”

“I assure you, I don’t intend to remain incapacitated in any way this time.”

I smiled but then shook my head. “Not my point, but the reassurance is appreciated. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that the Nether Vein sent us a Bonestrider after we got, what, ten leagues? Fifteen or twenty at most? But how far have we come now? Fifty? Seventy? What if the Nether Vein coughs up something way worse than a Bonestrider?”

Se-Vigilance had an answer to that too. “What did you do when faced against the overwhelming, unconquerable threat sent by the Nether Vein, Champion Moreland?”

Champion, was it? “I dug deep, worked with everyone who was available, and found a way to win.”

“There you have your answer.”

I snorted. It was as good a reply as any. Also, it made me feel a bit foolish. Sure, I might have been sharing my concerns about the things we were likely to face, but a part of me was clearly fishing for answers, for reassurance that the Councillors had a plan for everything.

Which was impossible.

“Thanks for the reality check, Councillor,” I said.

“You are welcome. But you aren’t wrong. We must remain wary of the Nether Vein every step of the way. You more than most.”

I grunted. The throbs and aches from my second mana core hadn’t abated, though I had gotten more used to it now, so I could push it to one side whenever it flared up. I just hoped that the annoying headache I was dealing with was the worst it would get.

After I returned to my original position, I spent some time trying to work on the new Affix for Illumination I had targeted now that it was in Gold too.

“What are you concentrating on?” Cerea asked.

“That’s right,” Khagnio said. “Tell us, mageling, before your head bursts.”

I glared at him, then answered. “I’ve already got a couple of things that can absorb ambient energy. Now I need an Affix that can redirect that energy into a more useful direction.”

“So you came up with a shorthand way of creating beams.” Cerea looked impressed. “Pretty smart.”

Khagnio made a face. “Eugh, mage talk. Oi, brute. Let’s go and try to see if any of the military are all that they’re cracked up to be.”

Ugnash grunted, but then sighed and followed, muttering something about beating boredom.

“What in the world are they going to do?” I asked. I was especially nonplussed because we had already seen plenty of proof that the military was the real deal.

Cerea tutted. “Don’t get mixed up with those idiots, Ross. Where do you think Ugnash goes all the time?”

“… gambling?”

Cerea’s part-amused, part-disapproving look was all the answer I needed. Apparently, the military folks spent their time playing with wagers in various games to pass the time, so they were known throughout Zairgon as some of the most expert gamblers in existence. Wild.

At least the free time meant I had plenty of freedom to redo the Rituals we needed. The expedition was a little too big for me to cover everybody, but I did my best.

I didn’t get to practice with my potential new Affix as much as I’d have liked. While I had both Flare’s Absorption and Entropy’s Intake active, I was still having trouble controlling and redirecting the energy as I needed it to go. There was something about mana needing to connect to the energy before it could remould it, though I couldn’t get that to work properly.

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And then my practice was interrupted by the first true threat of our current expedition.

“You hear that?” Cerea asked.

I had been focusing a little too much on my new Affix training, so I had heard nothing at all, save for the other expeditioners. “What was it?”

“Listen…”

My brows furrowed as I did as she suggested. All it took was a little bit of focus before the noise became evident. Or maybe we had just walked close enough for me to make it out.

Loud gonging and hammering was coming at us from a distance. It quickly became clear that Cerea and I weren’t the only ones who could hear the noise. Several other expeditioners had tensed, most of them trying to discern the source of the noise from the gloom around us. Even the Councillors had gathered together to discuss, though the expedition hadn’t paused yet.

The noise made my hackles rise. Everything in the Nether Vein was metallic. What I heard sounded like someone or something battering on the metal, trying to ram a way through. Something huge.

We journeyed on with the banging noise accompanying us for over an hour, growing louder and stronger the farther we went. Everyone looked a little cowed, and way too worried. I felt the same way too, a bit. If the noise alone could cause this sort of reaction in us, then what was the source of the noise actually capable of?

Then the crashes occurred. Everything shook, and I wasn’t sure if anyone among us was screaming too because the sheer level of audible pandemonium we were hammered with drowned out everything else.

“I got this,” I shouted before my teammates tried to act.

Channelling Gravity had me calling on the services of Field Manipulation and Siphon, creating a repulsive force that would stop anything from crushing us. It worked. Especially since I had also weighed myself and the armour of the rest of my squadron down to keep us grounded.

I stared straight up. An avalanche of metal that would have crushed us upon immediate contact was now floating overhead, their weight reversed so that they were slowly starting to go upwards. Though not by much.

The devastating rain of metal hadn’t been able to hurt anyone else in the expedition either. We were once again separate and a little spread out as we made our way towards our destination, so I wasn’t able to reach everyone with my defence. But it wasn’t needed anyway. They had their own means of protection.

The foremost of which was the huge coppery shield I recalled seeing on my first expedition. A lot of the raining metal had fallen harmlessly next to it.

There was too much dust and debris floating everywhere for me to make out the condition of every single team. I would just need to trust that they were alright. After all, I had to focus on my own enemies.

“Time for battle!” Tavarth yelled. “Arms and Aspects at the ready!”

The call was echoed through the whole expedition, but again, no time to pay attention to anyone else. My team was prepared. I was raring to go.

That was—had to be—enough as the monsters appeared.

I was a little awestruck at seeing how they arose in the first place. All the metal that had fallen on us moments ago was now melting. Moments later, the runny, glowing metal began to reform, filling up invisible casts to turn into huge, hulking bestial shapes.

“You got any names for those things?” I asked.

Cerea slowly shook her head. “I’ve never even heard of creatures like that.”

The first monster reached us with a loping gait. With Tavarth rushing forward, a few of the soldiers falling behind him to lend their support, I took a few seconds just to observe.

All I could settle on was that the monster was demonic. It moved on four limbs yet was able to rear up on two and attack with its forelimbs swinging around like an ape. Where its head should have been was a gout of molten metal with the facsimile of a face in there—burning eyes, yawning mouth, molten teeth. Then there were the wings of fire emerging from its metal spine.

Its physical characteristics were nowhere near as important as its actual blows, though. The thing hit hard.

I still didn’t know what Tavarth’s Aspect was, but I had seen enough to judge that he was at least mid-Gold ranked. Around my level of strength. On paper.

In practice, the spear he had tried to use to block just shattered entirely. He didn’t even get to cry out before he was swatted off his feet. A couple of the soldiers immediately rushed to where he had fallen, crumpled and unmoving, but the rest professionally stood their ground. They were brave. I had to give them that.

“Well, that answers that it’s not something we can mess with,” Cerea said.

“We won’t mess with it,” Ugnash said. “We’ll destroy it.”

Cerea looked like he had gone a little mad, but honestly, I felt it too. The presence of a real challenge. This was a monster that might just be Opal-ranked. If so, then it was going to be kind of a pain to beat. But pain was what I could use to push myself.

I took point. Sure, we had a dedicated tank, but I wanted to manoeuvre to a better position before Ugnash distracted our enemy.

The monster’s roar hit me like a wall of force all on its own. Its head flared with insane amounts of heat, the air warping around it like a mirage. And then it chucked out both sound and heat in a compressed fury in my direction. Thankfully, Reflexive Mana kicked in. First for the roaring blast, then for the actual swipe of its claw that would have torn my torso to shreds.

I didn’t need to worry about it hitting me after that little exchange. Ugnash was already in position, already drawing aggro with that crimson aura of his.

So, I focused on beating that monster. With so much heat active, I had Flare drawing in greater and greater energy with Concentration all around my target. I also used Manifestation to call up tiny Gravity Orbs stuffed with mana.

I couldn’t focus on my Aspects for long. The monster was chaos incarnate. Not only was it able to break through Ugnash’s guard to send him flying backwards, Khagnio’s slicing blow barely even scratched its leg before he was forced to retreat away from its counter. With Cerea hanging back, I was naturally the very next target.

This time, I did my best to hold my ground. I needed to keep it locked in place for just a few seconds more.

So, when its blows rained down, I used Empowered Deflection to fend them off. The heavy clangs of every strike from the monster smashed my mace and left my arms juddering with stress that I couldn’t fully defend myself against. This thing was insanely strong.

And then its clawed metallic fists caught fire before slamming into me. Even though I blocked, even though Absorption safeguarded me against a heavy chunk of the flames and Reverence Everlife created its golden armour, my arms still burned as I flew off my feet too.

I rolled, trying to ignore the pain. No. I didn’t need to do so. A quick bite on my tongue and the subsequent Sacrifice with Experientiality had me attaining Pain Sense Control.

The monster screeched. It tried to rush me down before I was even fully upright, but then it jerked to a halt and slammed to the ground. The tail. My adrenaline-fuelled state almost had me laughing at seeing Ugnash just hold the monster in place with its tail. The rest of me marvelled at the fact that he had enough strength to do that.

With a ferocious shriek, it forced itself back up to continue attacking us. But it couldn’t do a thing to free itself. Not when Khagnio and I were both rushing it down at the same time.

It raised its arm to swipe at me, but I was wary now. The arm never fell. I never even got close enough for it to be a danger, halting my forward momentum jerkily.

The monster was taken aback. Enough to ignore how Khagnio had become a twister of red, razor-edged mana. He slammed into the monster as a bladed whirlwind, and though the huge beast tried to counter by turning its whole body molten hot, Khagnio aimed for a specific location.

Its head.

The decapitated fount of molten metal with eyes and a mouth shaped into it thudded to the ground.

I didn’t know if that was going to kill the monster. But I didn’t wait to find out. Instead, I stepped forward and finally unleashed all the Flare I had gathered up. So much heat had been compacted by Concentration into a single point that the rocket-exhaust sized blast I let loose tore through the monster with just the sheer force behind it.

And if that wasn’t enough, I sent in the Gravity Orbs as the final nail in its coffin. The warping attraction of the dark spheres ripped through the rest of the creature’s huge, metallic frame. When two of them collided, the direct contact set off another furious explosion that was intense enough to crater the metallic ground around us.

Once I was able to look up properly after the dust had cleared and I had finished stumbling backwards, the monster had been reduced to chunks of broken, half-molten metal.

“It’s dead, right?” Cerea asked from farther back.

There was an alarming level of concern in her voice.

An alarm that was justified a second later when the monster started reforming. We all gawked as the broken metal turned molten and runny once more, quickly swimming and sizzling their way back together to start reforming the creature.

“There’s more!” Tavarth warned from behind us.

He was right. We would have responded immediately by re-destroying the monster before it could fully recreate itself, but that wasn’t on the cards. Not when more of them were rising up all around us, just as Tavarth had said. All the broken metal that had fallen from the Nether Vein’s walls and ceiling were melting and reforging into more of the creatures, a storm of shrieking power ripping through the air.

I hurried over to the tail that Ugnash was still gripping, clutching it tight. “I’m taking this.”

He looked at me, confusion mixing with concern. “What? Why?”

“To destroy them for good.”