Whether through ill luck, or simply the nature of the universe, I can barely take a stroll through the woods without coming across something that wants to see me dead. I’ve wondered a while now how it is that the beasts haven’t managed to wipe themselves out of existence with this sort of aggressive approach to life.

Nature may be violent, but everything that I’ve faced so far is reckless beyond even that. I suppose some of them may breed rapidly enough to make up for the loss of life, but that can’t be the only explanation.

Perhaps I just look particularly edible and enticing to the beasts around me?

“Shen. Happy?” I ask trying to convey as simple a meaning as possible. One of these days, I’ll have to see if there’s some magical way to wizard-of-oz this bug a bigger brain.

“Happy. Together!” Shen cries, running up Eshya’s shoulder and standing tall as if taking her prized place.

“Not today.” Eshya says, lifting the heroic bug and placing her back on the ground. “Today, go be together with someone else.”

“Together?” Shen asks, tilting her body to the side in apparent confusion.

“She’s so cute!” Vii says, landing beside the insect and leaning down to get a closer look at her.

“Cute!” Shen cries victoriously, slowly swinging her unnaturally long tail about while running circles around Vii, who spins around on the spot to keep pace with the bug.

“Sure, it is.” I say, shaking my head in amusement as Nel smiles warmly beside me.

“This is the new friend you made?” She asks, watching the beast run around playfully.

“She’s not the smartest, but she is quite brave. She saved Eshya, and nearly died doing it.”

Nel nods slowly as she watches the insect at play.

“Insect species are usually either strictly solitary, or they have strong dedication to family. It’s incredibly rare for it to be anything in between.”

“Is that so?” I ask, looking at the chitin on her skin. Perhaps some of her own desire for family comes from her blood and culture.

“A generalisation, but it’s largely accurate.” She says.

Others around us are starting to organise into their own little groups as Red watches over them with interest, not yet stepping in. This whole operation was her idea, but she did confer with me before setting it up. The fact that I was essentially asked for permission did make me feel rather warm and fuzzy inside, even if she phrased it differently to that.

It was a good thing too, as I heard a good suggestion from Nel when discussing the idea. Her thought was to invite some of the local slayers to work with us. They’re being paid through taking a reasonable cut from the corpses we recover after this operation, which is affordable for us, and let’s them get more from their kills than they usually would.

The ones that accepted the offer all seem to be getting along quite nicely with everyone else, and there’s a good chance that they’ve already visited our colony while I was away. So long as all the relations have been kindly, then it’s not much my business who comes and who goes.

Nel’s justification for hiring them comes from more than just the extra power and safety that they’ll provide us. The fact is that we’re not prepared to be assaulting the gremlin city, not even nearly. We’ll want their help when the time comes, and for an operation that large, we want people that we can trust, and who trust us in return.

This operation is essentially our way of establishing a good rapport with them ahead of time, while also getting their assistance with our pest problem.

“Round up.” Red calls out, and everyone here turns to face her, those too far away gather closer.

“We’re going to be cleaning out the beasts from around our base. Stay cautious and move in groups. Use your messages to stay in contact with those around you, and to call for help if things are beyond your ability to deal with.

“Everyone here should be capable of dealing with the beasts we’re likely to find here, but there is always chance of a surprise. We’re not here for glory, run and ask for help if it’s needed. This is especially true for those of you still in training.”

“Is she looking at us?” I ask Eshya, who grunts in affirmation. “Thought so.”

“Our formation will be a standard line sweep. Keep fifty paces between you and the groups beside you. Advance fifty paces when ordered, then poke around a bit until you’re ordered to advance again.

“Are there any questions? No? Good. Stand in a line and I’ll separate you into fighting groups and give you your position in formation.” Red says.

I’ve yet to get my armour back, so I’ll be fighting in my new exercise clothes, which provide next to no defensive protection. That aside, I won’t be bothered if they get damaged, as they’re easily replaceable.

“You two are a group.” Red says, as she comes upon me and Eshya, “And you two another. Keep the bug with you as well.” Red says as she gestures towards Shen, Vii, and Nel.

Shen, after being repeatedly rejected by Eshya, has taken a spot on Vii’s shoulder instead. I suppose the pair could make for an interesting combat group, if they get used to fighting together, but I don’t particularly like the fact that Eshya is acting so cold to the critter that saved her life.

“You’ll all be in the centre of the formation.” Red says to us, “Pay attention to your surroundings and be ready to help those around you. When you get a kill, message our meat handling squads.

“You can put that expression away, too.” She says, looking me in the eyes. “You’ll be in charge of pulling mana from the waste when we’re done gutting and cleaning the corpses out. So, you’ll get your pound of mana, don’t worry about that.”

“Why do I feel like I’m not the leader here?” I ask, shuffling around.

“Because you’ve entrusted me to lead the scouting efforts.” Red replies. “You’re here as a soldier in training, unless you have something to say as a commander?”

“No, I’ll stick to being a good little soldier.” I say, with a resigned sigh. I don’t know enough about these sorts of things, and I’m sure Red is capable of leading this little outing.

It is strange, however, that I don’t feel nearly so conflicted about her command right now compared to before. I guess, since I was the one to put her in charge, in a twisted sort of way, I’m ordering her to boss me around. Which makes it better, maybe?

Red tells us everything else we need to know and sends us off to our starting point. We’re able to stay in roughly the right position using our tagging Skills which allow us to see how close we are to other groups.

The teams surrounding us are made up of veterans, and I’m sure they’ve got special orders to keep an eye on us in particular. I won’t complain about the special treatment though, as with our luck, I’m sure we’re going to find the sort of trouble that we can’t resolve for ourselves.

Eshya steps into the jungle with a little extra energy in her step as her eyes wonder through the forestry and thick roots. Her apathy has faded, exchanged instead for excitement as she thinks of the battles ahead. At least, that’s how I imagine she’s feeling right now.

The sounds of the forest change as we pass. Some of the creatures around us cry louder, a particular species of bird in fact makes quite the noise as we pass it by, but it doesn’t seem too aggressive, so we leave it be for now.

Other creatures quieten down and go into hiding. While this is a hunt, we’re not exactly going to be rooting around in every dark hole to pull out stray bugs and varmint. Though, Eshya does slice up those that are too slow to escape us.

“Are you enjoying yourself?” I ask her as we wait for the other groups to catch up to us.

“Not really.” She replies, looking down at the dead bug that’s not even worth sending on for its resources. She throws it to me to drain it dry. “We need a real fight if we’re going to get anything from it.”

“Actually, most of our development doesn’t come from the fighting.” I point out. “We’ll be just as well off if we miss all the big fights, so long as we get the mana at the end. It’s the mana that let’s me train my mana form as I have been. Live combat also isn’t the best place to be trying out new tricks to develop our Skills.”

Ehsya glares at me, shaking her head as she turns away.

“Alright then.” She replies, “What if I instead say that I just want to kill something? Something that will fight back and make me work for it.”

“Then I’m sure we can find something for you to unleash your urges on.” I say.

“Don’t phrase it like that.” She replies, pausing as she takes a few deep breaths. “Thank you.”

“Thank me after we’ve found you a victim.” I point out, just as a familiar sound fills my eardrums. “Damn it! Found some.”

Hearing the locust’s cry, and feeling my brain start vibrating in my head, I quickly shifting my mana form around and add some density to my brain in the hopes that it’ll help me resist the dizzying effect of their magic sound.

Thankfully, as the mana vortex floods my brain my senses return to me, only slightly dulled by the attack. I spare the rest of my mana into my defensive abilities, getting ready to use reactive mana skin alongside my mana shields. A technique that Red tried to teach me that’ll reduce wasted mana.

I lift my pistol up, ready to shoot, but I’m not confident in landing any shots while they’re still so high above us. I don’t want to be caught unaware while reloading because I wasted my shot.

Eshya stands by my side, swaying slightly as she eagerly looks upon the prey that has come to us. It’s just as she asked for, and she’s eagerly waiting for them to make their move.

Which is to say, she’s smiling like a maniac and shouting at the beasts, calling them cowards and other such things.

One locust, either smart enough to understand the insult, or confident enough to fight us both, leaps down at us.

Anticipating where it’ll land, I step aside and ready my pistol. Before I can even fire, the beast is skewered by Eshya’s glowing sword, I follow up by shooting it a moment later. It’s side bursts open from the blast of my shot, as Eshya continues her own assault, finishing the beast before it has a chance to fight back.

The yellow guts spill over the ground around us, and I catch a small glimpse of Eshya on the other side of the fallen beast.

Her eyes shine bright with a joy that’s been absent from her most of the morning. She smiles at me, her partner in this killing, and as if infected by her mania, I feel a spark of satisfaction filling me as the green blood finally reaches my toes.

Another insect comes at us while I’m reloading, and Eshya leaps up at it with superhuman strength. She swings her sword in mid-air, aiming to take the beast down in one go.

Unlike the last time she did this, this time she’s a little low, missing the head on collision by a foot and a half. A distance easily bridged by her sword.

She cuts through the side and wing of the locust, the friction of the attack pulling her up into the body of the beast. She rolls into the movement, before kicking the insect away while pulling her sword out in the same motion.

Without enough time or space to prepare, her landing has none of her usual grace. She tumbles over the uneven roots, before pulling herself back onto her feet again. She grunts, retaining her smile for a few moments until she sees that the rest of the locusts above us have chosen to turn and flee.

I quickly send a message to the teams on either side of us, warning them of the potential threat.

Vii flutters through the trees to our right, engaging with the purple pests in the air. Through thick forest it’s impossible to keep track of the fight from this far, but I think I see Shen still hanging off of her as she flies.

“Do you need help?” I send the message to them, but Nel is fast to reply.

“We’re fine. Focus on your own battles.”

“Well, that was exciting for a moment at least.” I say as I message the meat crew to come by.

Eshya nods quietly, as she cleans her sword, returning quite quickly to dull disinterest now that the battle is over. It’s probably best not to bother her for the moment.

I take the liberty of melting the mana out of the scattered guts while we wait. Much of the blood and guts have mixed with the earth at my feet and I doubt that anyone else is going to find a use for it.

It’s a shame that I’m so thoroughly dependant on wasting and regaining large sums of mana. It’s both my strength, as it allows me to hit above my weight, and my weakness, as it means I become vulnerable if I can’t restock my mana from somewhere.

I compress the new mana into my core, following Persephone’s advice, but even with the temporary liquid vortex at the core of me, I’m not feeling particularly different. I tried doing some extra reading on the topic, but I quickly got bogged down in the theory.

Apparently, the mana that I control and that flows through me, is only one possible reality of the mana? Or a reflection of the mana that’s spread out through my body? Or some other weird nonsense like that. Essentially the liquid mana inside me right now, isn’t actually technically real liquid mana, though everyone talks like it is. And it still acts like it’s real liquid mana, even though it isn’t.

The depths of mana theory is weird.

With a sigh, I step away from the corpse of the locust, and over to Eshya, hoping that I can find some way to help distract her while we’re still waiting. The ground, soggy beneath my feet, has more give to it than I expected and my next step seems to sink into the earth itself.

My panic sets in a few moments too late, as the roots in the ground beneath me start to shift around, grabbing my feet and pulling me under. The ground unfolds beneath me, the roots shifting in waves to draw me in.

I shout, and Eshya leaps at me, grabbing me tight under the shoulders as she tries to haul me out. Grunting with effort, she pulls hard enough that it hurts, but instead of lifting me up, her own feet sink alongside mine.

The wooden roots act as if limbs to some great beast as they weave around me, pulling me under. With my lingering investment in mana senses, I can even see the magic spells running through the wood. Unfortunately, seeing what’s happening isn’t the same as stoping it from happening.

It doesn’t take a moment more before we’re both submerged, sinking into the earth away from the air above. Our every attempt to push away the tree roots is rendered useless as the thousand limbs pull us down.

I send messages to the others, calling for help and warning them of what’s happening, but I’m not sure we have anyone around that can dig this far this quick. Whatever beast is pulling us down is sure to kill us before help arrives to save us.

I twist as I sink, trying to locate the enemy that’s attacking. My mana flows in tight and fast vortexes, ready to be cast the moment I see my foe. Some mana burns away through my reactive mana skin, so I quickly pull my mana away the Skill. It hasn’t saved me from the grasp of this beasts magic, and there’s no reason to let my mana go to waste.

Falling out of the dirt and into a pocket of air, I see a face and I punch it. The grey-skinned gremlin laughs off my pitifully weak attack, so I punch it again using my fire burst Skill and a good packet of mana. The attack is powerful enough that the backblast takes another twenty mana from me as I reactivate my defensive Skill.

The gremlins laughter stops as its jaw melts off, and its head explodes backwards. The magic controlling the roots around me slowly fades away as the mage controlling it dies, though, now I’m simply tied up in mana thick roots that no longer move.

Twisting about as much I can while in the grasp of the roots, I look about the battlefield. The tunnels around me are made of roots, like a poor imitation of my own dungeon base, with countless gaps in the walls for smaller creatures to crawl through.

A few other gremlins stand around me, their eyes wide with confusion as they look at their dead mage. Some are even painted in the mages blood or chunks of his burnt flesh.

It takes them a moment to start screeching, Chip takes a moment to inform me that the sounds are nothing more than a panicked cry for help, which is less than useful at the moment.

Eshya, hanging upside down from the ceiling while tangled in roots, has managed to free her sword and is cutting down the one gremlin that was too slow to run.

I push forwards with my fire punches, killing another gremlin by popping his guts open.

Eshya stretches out, reaching for another, which dances a few steps back and away from her.

“Shit.” I swear, as the last of the screeching foes runs down through the underground tunnels, escaping us before I can gather my mana together to throw a spell at its back. “Certainly didn’t see this coming. Eshya, you alright up there?”

“Could you help me get down?” She asks, while cutting at the roots holding her up. She looks rather cute up there, but I don’t really have the time to be gawking at my cute lover, as she’s tied up to the ceiling.

“Just hang in there.” I say, burning off my own roots with a few targeted hits of fire magic. I look at the net of roots holding Eshya captive, considering the problem, while I pick up a dead gremlin to feed off of.

“Hurry it up.” Eshya insists. “The one that ran will probably be coming back with more.”

“There’s going to be traps down here.” I say, popping the roots one at a time using bursts of invasive fire magic. It’s costly, but still cheaper than using my annihilation magic.

Eshya just grunts in frustration, twisting herself around until she finally pulls herself free.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, looking her over. She’s covered in scrapes, but I can’t see anything that would be particularly dangerous.

“I’m fine. You?”

“A little bruised.” I reply, feeling out my ribs which got hit pretty bad on the way down. Otherwise, I’m covered in scratches just the same as Eshya. I check and find that we’ve still got our potions with us, but these wounds don’t seem bad enough to be worth wasting potions on them.

“Should we find a way back up, or wait for them to dig down to us?” I ask, looking down the hallway the gremlin took to escape.

“I’d like to find them and kill them.” Eshya replies, growling as she continues. “But I’m not sure if it’d be sensible.”

“We’re in gremlin tunnels below the surface.” I send to Red, assuming she’ll be in control of things on the surface, “One of the gremlins escaped and is likely bringing others. Should we stay, or try to find a way out?”

“Just a second.” Red replies.

“Can you see any traps?” I ask Eshya.

She shrugs, lifting up one of the goblin bodies before throwing it down the root covered hall. The body hits the ground, before a wooden spear thrusts upwards with terrifying force, impaling the corpse.

“Ouch.” I say, wondering how much mana it would cost to repel that attack with my reactive mana skin.

“Be careful of traps.” Red replies. “Move quickly in the opposite direction from the gremlin that escaped. It’ll bring more of its kind and it won’t take long before you’re swarming in them. If they don’t find you quickly there’s a chance that they’ll lose interest.

“We have a group together working on getting you out of there, just stay alive until we get to you.” She sends back.

“Why do you think our luck is so shitty?” I ask Eshya shaking my head as I reactivate my most powerful defensive ability.

“You did offend Frey, did you not?” Eshya replies. “She could be behind it.”

The ground shakes slightly in what feels more like offense than agreement.

“Be careful there, Eshya. You might offend her too, then we’re really in trouble.”

The ground quakes a second time and I can’t help but laugh.

“Just keep watching and enjoying yourself then, pervert.” I say. “Let’s see what sort of tunnels these grey-skinned freaks have made near to my home.”

I take a step, and a spear comes rushing at me from the wall, slamming into my side and shattering, taking a hefty chunk of my mana with it.

“Well, shit.”

“Kyra?” Eshya calls to me, holding out a gremlin corpse. “Here, use this.”

“Ah, yes, that would be sensible.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skills & Stats

~Mana Form:

Current mana density: 442 units

~Mana distribution:

Catagory Current Max. Defence 32% 32% Offense 0% 57% Mana Sense 50% 72% Recovery 0% 30% Gluttony 0% 26% Misc. 0% 30% Efficiency 82% 82%

~Favourited Skills:

-Chip Shredder

-Multi-mind

-Tag

-Mana surge movement

-Mana surge punch

-Reactive mana skin

-Infused delayed Casting

-Fire burst punch

-Annihilation magic

-Mana form flow fixer