Beneath Wazir River,
04:51 a.m. 15th Banem, 1092.
Beneath the Wazir river lay a series of interconnected, maze-like tunnels. Unlike most dwarven creations, these tunnels lacked any inkling of beautiful craftsmanship. The walls and ground were crude, rough, and bumpy. The space between the walls was tight and small, inducing a sense of claustrophobia within any who walked within them. Even worse, the vents seemed to have malfunctioned over time, leading to a severe drop in clean, breathable air.
*cough* *cough*
"Are you alright, dwarf?" Ragnaf asked as he observed the coughing Rudega. This was what, the fourth, fifth time that the dwarf had fallen into a coughing fit? It seemed the air was getting even thinner, so much so that a member of race used to living underground was beginning to feel its effects.
"I'm fine," assured Rudega as he cleared his throat. "We're at the lowest point, so the air's a bit thin is all. It'll improve in an hour or two."
"Uh-huh," Ragnaf acknowledged with a short grunt. He looked at the walls around them and marveled at the dwarfs' abilities. "How did you guys manage to do this?"
Rudega flashed a proud smile. "What, you mean the tunnel? Most dwarfs are born with an innate ability to control and manipulate earth." He held out his right hand, and a section of the ground rose in front of him. "It makes it much easier to dig through the earth." Rudega manipulated the earth to return to normal and then said, "Of course, that's not all there is to it. We also draw from several millennia worth of mining and excavation knowledge. It's one thing to push earth out of the way. It's another to know where you can push and where you can't. To this day, there is probably no other race that can claim to know the earth as well as we dwarfs do."
Ragnaf snorted. "No one's competing with you. What good is building tunnels except for hiding?"
"Try not to be so close-minded," Rudega chastised with a smile. "Imagine the consequences of a tunnel built from one town to another in secret? You could completely bypass their walls and invade the town."
"I've never heard of anything like that," Ragnaf retorted. "Someone would have done it if were possible."
"Oh, it has been done in the past," Rudega asserted. "But it was quickly countered by mages that scanned the earth for large spaces. Still, it is an effective tactic for smaller towns."
Ragnaf shook his head. "We're strong enough to take down small towns on our own. Why would we need to build a tunnel? That'll take too long."
"There's the conundrum, really," Rudega confirmed with a light shrug. "It's not effective in large cities, but too costly for small towns. This is why we only use it within our cities, and to provide escape routes."
"Hmm... It's still impressive, though," Ragnaf remarked. Just as he spoke, they reached a section of the tunnel that opened up to a bridge, underneath which a thick, dark-blue, liquid flowed. The orc was drawn to the immense, suffocating power emanating from the river below. "What's that?"
"Liquid mana, but my people call it Amrita," Rudega replied, his eyes growing solemn as he observed the river.
"Liquid mana?" Ragnaf murmured. "What's that?"
"You know that mana exists in all living creatures, right?"
Ragnaf nodded.
"Well, some halben researchers once found out that our bones and flesh accumulate mana over our lifetime," Rudega explained. "This mana remains even after death, which is why some creatures' bones are innately enchanted when processed into weapons. The researchers theorized that over time, some of these bones break down into liquid mana or amrita. However, I'm not sure if that's true or not."
Ragnaf raised a brow. "You guys didn't test it?"
"Too volatile," Rudega lamented. "We did try to run some tests, but it always ended up exploding. After three deaths and numerous injuries, we shut down the tests."
"That so?" Ragnaf murmured as he adjusted Durst on his left shoulder.
"Yeah," Rudega confirmed. He looked at the sea of mana and shook his head. "What a waste."
"Well, if it's useless, let's move on," Ragnaf said and then began to make his way across the bridge.
"I suppose so." Rudega cast one last regretful look at the sea, then followed Ragnaf.
When the duo was about one-third of the way across the bridge, the ground suddenly shook with a terrible rumble. Rudega and Ragnaf instantly paled as they struggled to maintain their balance.
Craack!
"Fuck!" Ragnaf cursed as cracks began to form along a section of the bridge. "Run!" bellowed the orc as he and Rudega started to sprint down the path.
"Wait!"
Ragnaf froze in his tracks when he realized he had left the dwarf far behind. The orc cursed his ancestors and then doubled back to Rudega's side. He picked up the dwarf and resumed his sprint, even as sections of the bridge began to break and fall off.
A piece of stone fell into the amrita river, and it must have upset something, as moments later, a portion of the stream erupted upwards with the force of a geyser.
Ragnaf's eyes grew solemn as the geyser's force shattered large portions of the bridge. He looked over his shoulder and then back to his front, his expression growing dark when he realized that the bridge had begun to crumble on both sides. The orc only pondered for a tenth of a second before charging forward with impudence. He would not risk staying behind!
"Faster!" Rudega shouted as the cracks along the bridge grew more substantial.
Unfortunately, life did not seem to be on their side. The bridge wholly crumbled when Ragnaf still had over 10 meters to go.
Ragnaf gritted his teeth and then pushed off from the ground with all the strength he could summon before the ground beneath his feet crumbled to dust. When he reached the apex of his jump, he flung Rudega and Durst onto the opposite landing.
Bam!
Rudega coughed and groaned as he slammed against the earth with the force of a truck. However, the dwarf bit down on his pain and rushed to the edge of the cliff. He saw the resignation in Ragnaf's eyes as the orc's trajectory began to taper off. At this rate, he would not make the landing. "Hang on!" Rudega shouted as he placed his hands on the ground. A mandala appeared beneath his hands, and a large slab of rock shot out of the cliff's edge to just beneath Ragnaf's flight path.
The slab was thin and very brittle as Rudega did not have the time to reinforce it. He could only hope Ragnaf knew how to control his strength. If he hit the slab with too much force, it would crumble beneath his weight, and he would then fall to his death.
Luckily, Ragnaf was champion of the orcs for a reason. The orc's feet barely touched the slab before he pushed off once again. He blasted over the crumbling piece and then crashed into the landing.
Ragnaf instantly rose to his feet and walked over to Rudega. He grasped the stunned dwarf's hand and solemnly declared, "You save my life. I now owe you a life debt."
Rudega shook his head and attempted to refute the suggestion. "You saved me first. Consider us even."
"I only saved you because I need you to leave this place," Ragnaf honestly replied. "You saved me, however, despite the fact you do not need me. In fact, with everything I know, you would have felt more secure letting the elements take care of me. At the very least, you would be able to wash the sin off your conscience. But you did not. For this, I owe you my life. This is not something you can refuse."
Rudega opened his mouth but then closed it after changing his mind on what to say. Moments later, after careful deliberation, he said, "I understand."
Ragnaf nodded and then went over to examine Durst. After he confirmed the lack of any new injuries, he once again hoisted the orc on his left shoulder. He turned to look at Rudega and questioned, "What was that, an earthquake?"
Rudega shook his head. "Too quick and brief to be an earthquake. Felt more like the aftershocks of something heavy striking the ground."
Ragnaf's eyes twitched as he recalled a scene the entire continent had witnessed months ago. "Could it be an [Apparition of the Gods]?"
"I-Impossible." Rudega shuddered at the thought. "Gods are not cabbages that grow alongside the road. Witnessing one [Apparition] in our lifetime is already breaking the rules."
Ragnaf hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "You're right. Must be something else then."
"Of course," Rudega reiterated. Only Aerith knew if he was trying to convince himself or Ragnaf. "We've wasted enough time," stated the dwarf as he dusted himself off and made his way into the tunnel. "Let's keep going. Since we've seen the amrita, we must be close."
"Oh?" Ragnaf murmured as he followed the dwarf. "Why's that?"
"Serisis is the only place in all of Destia that has amrita," Rudega explained as their forms disappeared into the cave. "Well, at least as far as I know."
Lymar.
Few Minutes Earlier...
"Hold!" Gelarios roared in a bid to galvanize the warriors. The ground troops may have lost their aerial cover, but the proud centaur was not about to roll over and let the monster army win.
Gelarios gritted his teeth as he cut down a beast and then cast his gaze over the monster army. The general's gaze grew solemn as he saw the hundreds of beasts eagerly waiting their turn to tear him and his people to shreds. He examined his soldiers and winced as he saw the fatigue and stress on their faces. Luckily, the Longma tribe took turns to charge into and disrupt the monster army, buying the soldiers precious time to regroup and recover.
Still, this was not sustainable. Now and then, the centaurs were forced back, even if only by an inch. All it would take was one tired soldier to break the line, and the entire army would crumble.
RUMBLE!
A massive earthquake suddenly shook the earth, and Gelarios paled as a torrent of thick, malevolent aura blew past him. The proud general felt a chill that ran down to his bone marrows. In his entire life, he had never known fear like he did at that moment. He felt like death itself had burrowed under his skin and was crawling up his nerves and flesh.
It was cold, dark, and evil.
ROOAR!
A thundering roar that nearly burst Gelarios' eardrum shook the centaur general out of his head. Gelarios looked up at the beast army from which the cry originated and blanched.
Fear and disbelief seized the general's heart as he gazed upon the monsters which had undergone a massive transformation. Every beast infected by the blight nearly doubled in size and strength like they had been infused with something.
It did not take long for Gelarios to understand that the transformation had something to do with the earlier phenomenon. The general's eyes shone as he activated [Mana Sense]. Gelarios cringed when he saw the massive mana circulating within the monsters. Worse yet, he could see thin mana threads leading out of the monsters to a gigantic 'bonfire' of mana in the far distance.
The mana bonfire towered as high as the heavens. Gelarios' heartbeat sharply rose, and he quickly tore his eyes away from the sight. The centaur general paled as he processed what he just saw. Th-that was the aura of a god! What the hell!? Was a god responsible for this!?
'Why!? Why do the gods want us dead!?'
Boom!
Once again, Gelarios was forcefully pulled out of his thoughts by the monster army. This time, however, it was as a result of a massive breach in the defensive line. Apparently, the centaurs had yet to adapt to the monsters' sudden strength boost. As a result, the beasts successfully punctured a hole through the line.
The monster poured in through the breach and then launched a savage attack on the centaurs. The breach rapidly widened as the monsters attacked the sides of the centaurs still on the line.
Dozens of centaurs perished in the brief seconds that followed before Gelarios quickly collected himself and roared, "Retreat! Retreat to point B! Dora tribe, hold watch out back."
The centaurs immediately obeyed the centaur's orders and began to pull back. Meanwhile, the Dora tribe launched a relentless salvo of spears into the chasing monster army to buy their comrades time to retreat.
Unfortunately, despite their best efforts, dozens of centaurs were still lost in the brief retreat.
Gelarios gritted his teeth till they drew blood as the centaurs quickly reformed their line some ways up the hill. The general's eyes burned with rage as he cast a glance at the mana bonfire. Who knew where the general acquired the courage, but he raised his voice and bellowed, "God or not, take them down, Kashi-dono!"
Chaos Order Outpost.
Boom!
Kashi winced and crossed his arms across his chest as massive torrents of aura smashed into him with the force of a crazed rhino. To prevent himself from being flung off the ground, the daeben gritted his teeth, dug his feet into the ground, and leaned into the billowing aura.
Luckily, after a few seconds of turbulence, the thick, dark aura slowly calmed down, finally allowing Kashi to take a good look at the demon.
The first thing that caught Kashi's eyes was the fist-sized black crystal embedded in the centaur's chest. Dense, bulging web-like veins stretched across the centaur's chest. Dark energy pumped through the veins into the body. The process appeared to be excruciatingly painful, judging by the demon's red eyes and raging snarls.
The demon futilely clawed at the crystal, but upon countless failures, cast its maddened gaze at the daeben.
Kashi grimaced as he was enveloped by heavy, oppressive killing intent. Although he was not 100% certain, the daeben could tell that the centaur blamed him for the gem in its chest.
Boom!
Kashi's eyes narrowed as the centaur demon burst across the pit in the blink of an eye and appeared in front of him. The beast raised its front hooves and struck down with the rage of a titan!
Crack!
Kashi barely jumped out of the way in time. The daeben haphazardly tumbled across the earth and then turned around. The daeben's gaze turned solemn when he saw the heavy crack left behind by the beast. Whoosh!
However, Kashi did not have any time to recover from his initial shock as the demon immediately turned and charged at him with startling agility. The centaur's crazed gaze narrowed as he issued a bellowing roar and then blasted the daeben with a powerful burst of ki from its right arm.
Bam!
"Hng!" Kashi pushed off the ground in swift retreat as the ground erupted from the impact. However, he was then forced to dodge once more as another ki blast slammed into the ground. The centaur hounded Kashi with extreme prejudice, intent on eliminating the daeben in one blow.
Kashi cursed as he repeatedly weaved his way through the ki bombardment, the demon sticking to him like a leech. The daeben's mind rapidly considered and rejected several possible scenarios to break out of the stalemate. The monster was too damn fast! Kashi had always been proud of his Agility, but before this monster, it was like the fastest human boasting before a cheetah.
"Damn it then!" Kashi swore as he jumped and crossed his arms before his chest. He grimaced as he allowed a ki blast to strike him dead-on. BAM! Kashi instantly coughed up blood as he was sent hurtling through the air.
It felt like he'd been hit by a truck!
The daeben's inner organs were a jumbled mess, aching in protest from the horrendous impact.
The demon snarled when he noticed Kashi had been sent flying out of its range. He roared and chased after the daeben, eager to destroy him once and for all.
Kashi, however, had other ideas. The daeben had sacrificed so much just to extricate himself from the deadlock. Like hell, he would return to such a passive position!
Kashi ignored the pain as he pulled out Ferulic's Practice Bow, nocked an arrow, charged it with ki, and then shot the incoming devil.
Everything, from Kashi being sent flying to the shot, occurred in less than a second. From the demon's perspective, he had just begun chasing the daeben when he was suddenly met with a giant arrow.
Unluckily, it seemed the monster retained his warrior instincts despite his madness. The centaur easily dodged the shot with nimble footwork that did not in any way slow its momentum.
Kashi's eyes narrowed, and his fingers instantly faded into a blur as he shot several dozen arrows. In response, the demon roared as it glared at the dense arrow net that descended upon it.
ROAR!
BOOM!
Kashi paled as a gigantic 20-ft tall ki projection of the demon centaur burst out of the demon's body and blasted the arrows out of his path. The ki projection glared in disgust at the airborne daeben for a microsecond, then punched at him.
Kashi did not dare imagine his outcome if that blasted thing struck him.
Kashi, however, kept his cool and rotated mid-air, so his face faced the ground. He reached out and touched the ground with his right hand just as the ki projection's fist crashed down.
Boom!
Dust and smoke scattered around from the resulting impact. Whoosh! But a thin slab of earth shot out from the smoke at that moment with Kashi hand-standing upon it. The ki projection, enraged by the daeben's slippery nature, unleashed another blow at the slippery hume.
Kashi grinned as he pushed off the slab and kicked the rockface. A mandala appeared beneath his feet, and another instance of [Wall] emerged, which sent him flying away before the fist struck down.
Kashi righted himself and glared at the ki projection as he slid across the ground. The daeben hung FPB (Ferulic's Practice Bow) across his shoulder and then stretched out his left hand toward the monster.
Bam!
A bow from Kashi's Hunter series appeared in his hand, which he stomped into the ground. The bow dug into the earth and stopped the daeben's flight. The giant bow, which was as tall as the daeben and extremely heavy, gleamed imposingly in the dark pit. The appearance of this massive monster-slaying weapon showcased the daeben's resolve.
He did not take this monster lightly.
A giant bolt appeared in Kashi's hand as he pulled the bowstring taut. Dark black aura burst out of the mithril bolt as the daeben infused it with his ki. Kashi gritted his teeth and released the arrow.
BOOM!
The bow exploded forth, accompanied by a sonic boom that blasted away the fog around it. Kashi grasped onto the bow and forcibly held his ground against the violent shockwave.
Meanwhile, the bolt smashed against the incoming fist with the force of a missile. The bolt exploded as it struck the ki projector's fist. Unfortunately, aside from a momentary pause, the fist continued its deadly approach.
Despite the seemingly desperate situation, Kashi's gaze was resolute and calm. That moment had been all he needed. At their level, a moment was enough to decide the outcome of a battle.
Kashi's hands turned to a blur as he rapidly nocked and then shot the massive bolts. Like most of Kashi's weapons, the bolts were placed in his inner world, allowing him to summon them with a single thought.
The ki projection slowed down as he glared at the dozen or so bolts that blasted at him from different directions. Kashi had smartly shot the arrows at differing angles, utilizing [Homing Arrow] to ensure they curved back to the demon. Better yet, the ki projection's massive size proved to be a refreshingly large target compared to the smaller demon. Hence, it could not rely on nimble movements to dodge the vast spread of bolts.
However, it seemed the ki projection had no intention of dodging, to begin with.
The projection's eyes blazed with fury as its fist flew out to meet the incoming arrows. Boom! Boom! Boom! Thunderous explosions rang out as the ki projection relentlessly smashed the bolts to pieces. However, the ki projection did not come out unscathed. Small cracks could be seen on its knuckles where its fists met the bolts. Even though the cracks almost instantaneously healed, it was clear that it was not completely invincible.
The demon's ki projection bellowed as it destroyed the final bolt and then looked at Kashi. Only to see over a hundred of those bolts blotting out its view of the daeben. The demon roared in rage as it realized it had been tricked. It turned out the damned hume had only had sent the first set to probe its ability to counter the bolts. Now that Kashi knew the ki projection could be weakened, he unleashed his true attack with a mixture of [Rapid Shot] and [Multi-Shot].
The demon's ki projection roared bloody murder as it punched out dozens of ki blasts at the incoming bombardment. However, the force behind the bolts proved too much for the hastily shot ki blasts. The bolts smashed their way through the ki blasts with near impunity, the impact only serving to slow down a few minutely.
The ki projection's glare turned steely as it began to punch the projectiles to eliminate as many as possible. Unfortunately, Kashi had expertly staggered the bolts, making it impossible to tell the exact moment each bolt would arrive at a specific location. Furthermore, the weird, obtuse angles from which the bolts approached ensured the projection would never be able to get them all.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As expected, several dozen arrows successfully broke through the ki projection's defense and exploded against its body. With each strike, the projection trembled and roared as cracks began to appear across its body.
Kashi, watching on, winced as he watched the bolts explode. These mithril bolts. How expensive were they? It was common knowledge that only a few metals could thoroughly conduct mana. Of these, mithril was one of the most sought after. The metal was rare and in very high demand. As a result, Mythril bolts were prohibitively expensive.
Even with the dwarfs' generous discount, each bolt still cost about 30,000 Syros each. Considering the average cost for a Lv. 150 Rare sword was about 40,000 to 50,000 Syros, what Kashi was currently doing was extravagance beyond compare.
Even though The Hopeful Maggots Guild (and in essence, its leader Kashi) was filthy rich, he found it extremely painful watching these bolts shatter to pieces after a single-use. They were initially designed to pin down large creatures, which gave them reusability value and hence justified their exorbitant price, but now thanks to this absolute monster, that plan had gone up in smoke.
Literally.
Kashi gritted his teeth and glared at the ki projection. Alright then. Since it had forced him to waste all this money anyway, he might as burn it all. At most, he would have to beg Miote for some Syros later. Surely, the chesch would give him some face as guildmaster and not cause too much of a fuss?
The demon's ki projection shattered the final bolt in its path, but before it could even look at the daeben, nearly two hundred arrows blasted toward it. This was every last mithril bolt in Kashi's possession. The daeben did not dare calculate just how much he had shot out as he feared he might suffer a heart attack.
Surprisingly, the ki projection, upon seeing the arrows, suddenly shrunk in size, so it wrapped around the demon's body. The dark aura condensed around the monster, encasing him in a hard, unbreakable shell.
Kashi suddenly felt a chill rush down a down. He decisively abandoned the Hunter bow and rapidly retreated.
Boom!
Kashi's expression turned grim as he stared at the demon that had just shattered his bow to pieces. He had no idea how the beast crossed the distance in one fell swoop. It had been so fast that even the daeben with his superior reflexes found it hard to follow. If the beast could keep fighting with that speed, even Kashi would find it difficult to survive.
Luckily, the beast only chased Kashi at speeds he found reasonable afterward. It appeared that was a momentary burst of speed and not a continuous thing. Of course, if any Maggot were down in that pit with him, they would yell out how unreasonable Kashi's comparison was. What Kashi called reasonable, 99% of the Summoned would call Overpowered!
Kashi's momentary joy suddenly collapsed when once again he felt that prickling sense of danger. The daeben readied himself and then quickly slid to the left. Just in time, too, as the demon suddenly appeared at his previous spot.
However, the demon displayed dazzling footwork as he spun in place and launched a solid blow at the daeben. A massive ki blast shot out of his arm and rushed at the daeben with the indomitable force of a stampeding herd.
Kashi, however, had already drawn FPB and shot several arrows in retaliation. The concentrated ki exploded, but at that moment, Kashi's back suddenly dropped below freezing as he felt an unprecedented crisis.
Kashi tightly held FPB and prepared himself for the demon's next attack. Surprisingly, however, it only hopped to the side.
WHOOM!
Kashi's eyes went wide with equal parts disbelief, fear, and shock as a mithril bolt blasted past the centaur. Having missed its target, the mithril bolt zipped straight at the daeben with no regard for its shooter's safety.
"FUCK!"