BOOOOOOOOOM!

Paolo’s dominant image finally crushed the resistance of the main Corrupted Invader, shattering the crystalline walls of the surrounding cavern in the process. Such was the potent impact of the strike that as Randidly and Mrs. Hamilton walked into the room, glimmering fragments of crystal drifted around them like snow. Waves of chaotic images also radiated outward toward them, but Mrs. Hamilton waved her hand and the reverberations immediately faded to nothing.

That got Randidly’s attention. Wow, her ability to neutralize power with images is far beyond the strength of her image… but I suppose manipulation was always Mrs. Hamilton’s strong suit…

As the cracked crystal and dust slowly settled, the interior of the cave revealed itself to their eyes. Most of Donnyton’s soldiers were taking long drinks from their waterskins by the entrance, covered in scorched armor and blood from the invaders. As they saw the new arrivals, they stiffened and bowed, hastily putting their weapons away.

Ahead of the in the center of the large cavern, Kayle was practically a blur, ripping the fleeing remnants of the Corrupted Invaders to pieces. They screamed in pain with a weird series of clicks, their spasming bodies collapsing in pools of their own blood.

It was a butcher’s work, but Randidly felt rather grimly pleased to see it happening. Despite the fact that he knew these Corrupted Invaders were also in a rather pathetic situation, that didn’t manage to extinguish the frigid flame of wrath that was born in Randidly’s chest when the Invaders arrived. They were a threat to Earth. Obviously he wouldn’t condone torturing them, but he certainly wasn’t going to soften his heart to their plight until the threat of bearing their Aether burden was neutralized.

This System makes monsters out of us all one day… literally or figuratively.

Cracking his knuckle and smacking his lips, Paolo crunched across the cave floor covered in broken crystals. There was a screeching groan as the wall by where Paolo had fought the Corrupted Invader Leader. It collapsed and sent a way of dust and flecks of crystal in a billowing gust. Gradually, Paolo’s fuzzy form became sharp as he cleared most of the debris. “Zone 11’s forces are mopping up the remnants in the side caves… but we’ve basically completely cleaned all the buggers out. Now, what remains is to declare our victory to the world~. Ah, it feels good to be champions.”

Another portion of the cavern behind him collapsed, sending another wave of dust forward. This time, Mrs. Hamilton grimaced and cut sharply with her hand, splitting the approaching wave of dust before it could engulf them again.

“As much as I am loath to admit it…” Kayle wiped the blood from the Corrupted Invaders from his long knives and carefully slid them back into their sheaths. Then he waved his hand toward the strange building at the center of the cave. Standing amongst the settling dust, it seemed strangely surreal. “Announcing that declaration is actually something we need to do. There is an array in the middle of the house that can be activated.”

“Then by all means,” Mrs. Hamilton showed a wide smile and stepped forward. “Let’s inform the Nexus of our success.”

Almost instinctively, Randidly was wary as he peered at the building. It appeared to be made of a light blue plastic that Randidly had never seen before, clearly an alien element in an especially alien locale. Crystal fragments slid off the roof and clattered onto the ground. Randidly hesitated. Yet it was clear from the Aether construct that something did need to be done.

Paolo bowed to Mrs. Hamilton. “If you would do the honors…?”

Shaking her head in amusement, Mrs. Hamilton waggled a finger at Paolo. “Of course we won’t be doing it immediately. Let’s wait until our allies return. They deserve to be part of this as well.”

Which meant that Randidly had the opportunity to take a long look at the Aether construct in front of him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Aether Detection has grown to Level 204!

For the ten minutes it took for Zone 11 to mop up the remnants of the enemy forces, Randidly scrutinized every inch of the building. Even as he dragged Neveah’s consciousness away from her near-constant study of Yystrix’s Engravings, all she was able to deduce was that the Aether formed some sort of inert transmitter. Activating would release a signal of some kind.

Which seemed to confirm that this was what they wanted, but Randidly still was vigilant.

Finally, Warlord arrived. His eyes twitched slightly when he saw Randidly, but after nodding to him, he turned to Mrs. Hamilton with a serious expression. “You waited for us? You shouldn’t have. This is a time-sensitive matter. The sooner we finish this the better.”

Randidly was surprised at the rebuke in his tone, but Mrs. Hamilton took it in stride. She sighed and said. “In an ideal world, you are right. We should trigger this as soon as possible, then head to reinforce other task forces to reveal the Epic Danger Zone sooner. But do you really think anyone would be willing to ask for our assistance at this point…?”

Warlord sighed in a strange mirroring of Mrs. Hamilton. “...perhaps you are right. Then thank you. But still, I must insist that it is you be the one to activate this... thing. Your forces formed the vanguard today.”

Mrs. Hamilton chuckled. “Be honest: you are offering that dubious honor just because none of us know what this strange blue house does.” Then she turned to Randidly. “Any input?”

“There’s an array in the center of the building. You should just be able to walk into it.” Randidly replied with a frown. He flexed his right hand, releasing a chill breeze through the gathered figures. With the added clarity from the Frostscale Glove, he gave the Aether array one last piercing examination. He found nothing he hadn’t seen before. “If nothing happens after you walk into it, I’ll try and examine it in more detail.”

Mrs. Hamilton nodded and walked forward toward the threshold of the blue house. Randidly followed a few meters behind, with Paolo, Kayle, and Warlord following just behind him. But it turned out that all their worries and suspicion were for naught because as soon as Mrs. Hamilton went into the building, the Aether snapped into place. A pulse of energy shot upward, screaming across the sky back toward the portal to Earth. A nova of Aether blasted outward around the building, spreading through all the surrounding people as the message departed.

Even with the help of the Frostscale Glove, the Aether moved too quickly for his Grim Intuition to follow. Luckily Neveah’s more nuanced Aether Perception locked onto it once it crossed back over to Earth. After a few more seconds, Randidly received a message from Neveah.

I can only pinpoint the general area, but the Aether dispersed around Lake Apollo in Zone 1. I would suspect that is where the Epic Raid Dungeon is located.

Useful knowledge, but it likely wouldn’t change much of the preparations they were making. Humming to himself, Randidly was just about to turn away and return to his training when he sensed a strange tingling in his Soulspace. His eyes narrowed.

It was also at that exact moment that there was a ripping sound in the air behind him and Randidly spun around. A familiar energy leaked outward to fill the gloomy underground cavern.

Kaan Swacc grinned at Randidly with his toothless mouth and clapped his hands to produce a queer clanging sound. “Congratulations on clearing the first infestation of Corrupted Invaders. I must say, my superiors were right to have a Special Investigator present for this test of Earth. At this rate, you will finish clearing the Danger Zones before the final Zone clears its Raid Dungeon. A most… unusual achievement.”

Instantly, Randidly tensed. His hands curled into fists. If at all possible, he wanted to avoid a fight with the Special Investigator for a little while longer. Especially because a fight here would likely involve all of Donnyton and Zone 11’s elite. Perhaps they would hamper Kaan enough to make it a fair fight, but Randidly knew they would pay a large cost for that assistance. “Thank you for stopping by. But if that’s all… perhaps you should go. We have other matters to attend to.”

The tingling in Randidly’s Soulspace was growing more intense. Kaan’s warped expression stretched itself even wider. “No, but, all I’m saying is that it is certainly very suspicious that the Earth is doing so well. Not just with this Danger Zone, but all of them. It’s almost as if someone has been giving this planet a small push forward… so I did some investigating.

“And you wouldn’t believe what I discovered! There is foreign Aether present on Earth! Aether not purified and pacified by the Nexus! In significant amounts. Now, this might just be a natural phenomenon, but just in case, I used my authority to bring out a very old weapon of the Nexus back into circulation.”

Randidly didn’t even have time to examine his own circumstances when he heard a low groan from behind him. As he glanced over his shoulder, he saw that Mrs. Hamilton had collapsed against the blue plastic wall of the building and was slowly sliding to the ground. Her face was contorted into a horrible grimace.

That Aether Nova when the signal was released...

Now that he knew what was looking for, he could feel slight tremors coming through the Aether connection to Mrs. Hamilton that was entirely independent of the tingling that was spreading through Randidly’s Soulspace. Seeing that Mrs. Hamilton’s situation was so much worse than his, Randidly sent his focus through their connection to Mrs. Hamilton’s body and found that running through her Soulspace were several strange nodes of Aether. For lack of a better term, they released a ‘shock’ every time they encountered non-System Aether. Considering the density of those nodes inside of Mrs. Hamilton’s body, it was no wonder that the experience was agonizing enough to subdue her.

Now that Randidly knew what to look for, his Grim Intuition spread outward. What he found caused a chill to run down Randidly’s back. Even more disturbing than these nodes' abilities to shock was the way they seemed magnetized toward foreign Aether. At the moment, he would see hundreds making a beeline toward either Randidly or Mrs. Hamilton.

“You see,” Kaan Swacc’s eyes curved up at the corners as he continued to speak. “During the Second and Third Cohorts, various factions were struggling to control the Nexus. Oftentimes they would provide direct support to various planets so that when those planets passed the Calamities, they would support its sponsor’s political ideas as citizens of the Nexus. But this completely undermined the point of the System: to create powerful images to war against Nether. So the greatest minds the Nexus government possessed designed these Aether Mines and released them secretly.

“The greatest secret of these mines was their ability to follow an Aether connection to the source. Within a month of the Aether Mines being released, all those who poor cretins who received the support of the traitorous organizations died a slow and painful death. It took a little longer for the sources to receive their just desserts, but the presence of the Aether Mines in their bodies left them permanently crippled. After that, the organizations learned their lesson and allowed the System to do its job.”

There was one bit of silver lining that Randidly could find as he listened to Kaan Swacc talk. It gave him a clue to addressing the more immediate problem of Mrs. Hamilton’s pain. It was clear that the Aether mines were much more attracted to his body than Mrs. Hamilton’s, likely due to the increased density of foreign Aether in him. So he could use his Aether to gradually pull the mines that were present in Mrs. Hamilton’s body out of her and into himself.

So he did so. The sensation wasn’t quite painful yet; it simply felt like his skin was constantly buzzing. With a little bit of luring, the Aether Mines flowed out of Mrs. Hamilton’s body and into Randidly’s Soulspace. Despite the danger, Randidly couldn’t help but feel a bit of relief as the expression on Mrs. Hamilton’s face eased.

“Ah, I forgot to mention one thing; you might be able to handle this amount of mines, but each Danger Zone is rigged to release more when it is clear.” Kaan chuckled. “As for a way to deal with them… there’s actually a quite simple method. Nether unravels them almost instantly. But of course, I’ve tied added a sensor to the mine that would detect that… I wonder what decision you will make, Mr. Ghosthound…?”