Part Forty-Two

“So what happened next? What was actually inside those tunnels?”

“Well, I think Cameron should tell this part. He was more involved with it than I was.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not confident in my storytelling, but I’ll try my best.”

***

For the mercenaries, few things were as dangerous as the unknown. When encountering a monster for the first time, there was a significantly higher possibility of being caught off-guard and injured. It was this possibility that caused hesitation among them. No one had ever encountered a Mivian before, so their abilities were completely unknown.

But it wasn’t like they couldn’t fight them either. No one had attempted to shirk the assignments for fear of the punishments involved. And rumors had gone around about the rewards those who’d survived the first mission had received. Greed was a powerful motivator indeed.

“We’re heading in. Stay ready. They could attack us at any moment.”

Since most of the mercenaries used melee weapons, they’d decided to go with a simple formation. Everyone would cover the others in such a way that ideally, each monster would be covered by two or three mercenaries. Only Alicia, and the one other archer, would be protected from attacks.

This is well constructed. They have proper supports in place and the floor has been smoothed out. This doesn’t feel like it was made by monsters.

Most of the Monster nests they’d cleared had either been repurposed buildings or natural caves and the like. But this tunnel had been expertly created. They hadn’t gotten past the stairs yet, but it was evident a great deal of time and energy had gone into its construction. They had already gone pretty far underground, maybe twenty feet or so, and there was no sign of the bottom yet.

Though that was also due to how dark it was. Unlike other Dungeons, this one wasn’t filled with the gentle glow usually found within them. The fort may have been lit up at all times, but not the outside. This wasn’t a problem however, as one group had brought a number of headlamps and lanterns for just such an emergency. This may have been the reason they chose to do this mission.

“Fuck, this place is dark as shit. What kinda monster would want to live in complete darkness?”

“Maybe these Mivians are some kind of bat-like creatures? It would explain those robes they wear.”

“What? Why would a bat need a robe? They’re not albino, are they?”

“Hey, shut the fuck up. I don’t need to hear your mindless chatter.”

“”S-Sorry!””

Sampson had quickly become someone that no one wanted to irritate. Anyone who’d witnessed him crushing a monster with a single blow of his greathammer knew he wasn’t all talk. He could easily break someone if they pissed him off the wrong way.

“Hmph, just keep moving. I don’t want to get ambushed down here.”

“Hey Boss, we’ve reached the bottom of the steps!”

“I can see that. Get ready. They’re close.”

Cameron couldn’t see anything, but there were indeed several mana sources further up the tunnel.

Well, let’s see what we’ve got. This could go very well, or very poorly.

“””“Uwwwwwwwoooo!!””””

“Tch, Golems! They won’t die until their cores are destroyed!”

As they proceeded down the tunnel, the dirt peeled away in several spots on the floor and walls, and began to form humanoid figures. One of the unnamed mercenaries recognized the creatures and warned the others about their primary characteristic.

“It had to be Golems! Ugh, they’re such a pain in the ass!”

Ordinary Golems were actually classified as a Magical Entity rather than as a monster. This was due to the fact that a Golem was born when mana converged within inorganic material, such as dirt, and formed a core. This core gave the Golem unlimited mana and allowed it to manipulate lesser magics. Such as hardening its body.

*Clang clang…crack!*

“Fucking hell! These guys are so fucking hard! Switch to blunt weapons! They’ll work much better here!”

The metallic shell of the Golems repelled blades, though Cameron was able to continue using his axe due to Crushing Aura. Each blow he delivered caused large chunks of the Golems to go flying, until he eventually uncovered the core and crushed it.

“Hrgh, you’re gonna have to do better than this!”

Sampson had already crushed two Golems on his own. His great-hammer was extremely suited for fighting Golems and other inorganic monsters. He fought like a complete berserker, attacking anything unfortunate enough to get too close.

Cameron, on the other hand, fought a lot more prudently. He waited until a Golem showed an opening and then struck a deadly blow, heavily damaging one each time he attacked. His axemanship wasn’t elegant or graceful, but it was efficient and had little wasted movement.

“Uwooooooooooooooooooooo!”

More Golems rose from the dirt, creating their metallic shells before shambling towards the mercenaries.

More enemies? Why didn’t they appear with the others? It’s like they’re intended to be reinforcements. But they’re the only thing nearby….unless, there’s something hiding where we can’t see it?

“Nyaaaa!”

A sudden scream broke him out of his thoughts, as a small portion of the wall broke away, revealing a small figure clutching at an arrow jutting from its shoulder.

“Haa! Bet you thought you could hide from me, well I showed you! How does that feel, huh!?”

Did her personality change when I wasn’t looking? She’s acting more and more like Michael, but only when he’s not around. Does she realize she doing it?

The figure turned out to be a Mivian. Its hood had fallen when it recoiled from the arrow, revealing its face. It was definitely not bat-like, but was similar in appearance to a human. Well, if a human was shorter than four foot, was completely hairless, had light pink skin, possessed a pair of dark pink eyes, had slits for nostrils, and had a mouth filled with tiny sharp teeth.

Mivian Groundstalker

Rank: D

Description: A Mivian specializing in Earth Magic and Stealth. It uses Stealth to hide its presence, while using Earth Magic to move through dirt. However, they’re usually quite weak in direct combat due to the low combat potential of Earth Magic.

“Toktok codra kenshak!”

Just before anyone could finish the damn thing off, it shouted in pure gibberish, before conjuring a cloud of dust and running away. However, it didn’t get very far before another arrow struck it in the back, sending it sprawling onto the dirt, where it dissolved into light.

“Finish those damn Golems off! Stop gawking at whatever she just did and kill the damn monsters!”

The sudden sequence of events had caused a few of the others to be left flabbergasted, but Sampson quickly whipped them back into action. With the apparent source of the Golems killed, the mercenaries guarding the injured entered the fray.

All right, let’s finish this. Cameron twirled his axe, cutting two Golems in half. Their shells were just that, shells. They were only an eighth of an inch thick. Any blow with sufficient force would cut clean through it. And under it, they were still plain old dirt.

“Raaaaaa!!!”

Sampson unleashed a wide swing, finishing off the last three Golems. The blow sent metallic fragments and dirt flying everywhere, pelting the others. However, no one really minded, as Sampson had killed a fourth of the Golems on his own.

Michael was right, he is strong enough to back up the way he acts. He even said that he didn’t know who would win a fight between the two, mostly because there’s no telling what Skills he might have or what effects his equipment has.

“Hey, uh? What’s your name again?”

“Alicia. And what do you want?”

“How the heck did ya find that monster? It was hiding in the wall and stuff.”

One of the other mercenaries had approached Alicia while he’d been preoccupied. It was hard to tell if he was just curious or was trying to hit on her, but Alicia appeared uncomfortable either way. But before he could try to help her, Sampson had already intervened.

“Hey, unless you want your balls crushed, leave the girl alone.”

“Ah! Um, o-okay. Sorry about that, I was just curious.”

He hurriedly backed away from them. Sampson’s natural menace had worked spectacularly to repel him. However, Sampson didn’t say anything to Alicia before walking away. The whole episode was rather odd.

“You okay lass?”

“Yeah. I’m just not used to being hit on like this. It just keeps happening now, especially since Michael’s not around. I never had to deal with this kind of stuff before.”

Her face fell after saying that, as if reminded of something she’d tried to forget. While she hadn’t explicitly told him, he knew that she was Bill Burrows’ granddaughter. There had been very few people living in Cavisburgh who didn’t know that, which probably led to the guys her age being hesitant to ask her out. Even in retirement, he had carried an immense level of influence.

“So, how did you find it?”

“Oh, that’s easy. I just felt the mana of its spells. Guess those lessons with Kalia are paying off. Then all I did was use Imbuement to create a piercing arrow and shot it. I didn’t expect to actually hit it though. Hehe, just got lucky this time.”

The unapologetic smile she shot him was stunning. Whatever demons had surfaced in her mind had been swiftly ejected, returning her to her normal disposition. She was showing clear growth, both physically and emotionally. Perhaps it was because she was trying to keep up with a certain battle junkie, but it showed that her efforts weren’t for naught.

“…”

And yet, the realization of that caused him more harm than good.

***

“Wuoooooooooo!”

“Tch, behind us? Keep them back! Where’s the damn bastards responsible for this!?”

Multiple waves of Golems had attacked them repeatedly from the walls and floor. There was also the occasional Mivian popping out of the walls to take potshots at them with different spells. Small bolts of fire, arrows of ice, and blades of wind crashed against the mercenaries’ shields and armor. While all of the spells were fairly weak, they made up for that with quantity.

Even worse was the Mivian Golem-Meister leading the entire group. Every Golem that was created fell under its control, boosting its abilities. Their shells doubled in thickness and increased in durability. Add in their increased cooperation and things were looking hopeless.

“Gyeeee….”

“Gotcha.”

Alicia was the only one who could find the Mivians hiding in the walls. Everyone was busy guarding her from the Golems so she could pick of the Mivians. This was a slow process however, as she had to imbue every arrow she used to kill the mages. The only upside was that each arrow was lethal, mostly due to the fact that the Mivians kept very little space between them and the corridor.

This is getting tiring. I’m starting to slow down from all the fighting. And my axe is starting to chip from the Golem's shells. So long as their leader is still here, there’s little chance of us surviving this. It’s been keeping a line of Golems in front of it to block Alicia’s line-of-sight, so if we can just do something about them, she could deal with it. Hm, I’ll need help though.

This battle had devolved into a full-on brawl. It was so chaotic that no one was in the same spot they’d started in. And as Cameron fought against the Golems, he’d found himself back-to-back with Sampson. The literal berserker seemed to be in his element, completely at ease even in such dire circumstances.

“Hahahahah! We’ve certainly gotten ourselves into a fucking situation. But all they’ve got is numbers. It’s nowhere near enough to deal with real power.”

“So you have a plan?”

“Only if you’re ready to completely let go.”

Cameron looked back at Alicia, who caught his eye and smiled at him. Almost like she knew what he was thinking. And knowing that, he was able to agree to Sampson’s plan with no hesitation.

“Heheheh, all right then. Let’s go wild.”

At his words, Cameron felt something take hold of his mind. A red haze seemed to fill his vision and he felt an immense urge to fight growing within him. This must be what possessed the others earlier. So that was Sampson’s doing.

“Hahahahhahahahahahhaha!”

After a maniacal laugh, Sampson charged straight at the Golems guarding the Golem-Meister. Whatever he’d done had affected him as well and seemed to increase his power by a remarkable amount, as his first blow utterly smashed the Golem he struck.

Ergh, can’t hold it back anymore. I hope this isn’t permanent.

He stopped holding the homicidal urges back and used Charge to rush straight at the Golems. If they’d been flesh and blood enemies, the resulting fight would’ve been a bloodbath. The two of them utterly thrashed the Golems, becoming whirlwinds of destruction as they closed in on the Golem-Meister. It didn’t stay still though and tried to cast a spell at them, but it never had the chance to finish.

*Thunk*

“Gergaah!”

Alicia must not have had a clear shot, as the arrow only struck it in the arm. It certainly wasn’t lethal, but it did cause it stop casting whatever spell it was preparing. And that also caused a lapse in the spell strengthening the Golems. Now, even the regular mercenaries were tearing through them, not to mention Cameron and Sampson.

“Getcha nata-!”

It tried to scream something just before its body was cleaved in two, but only managed to get one full word out before dying. And with its death, the strengthening spell completely unraveled, causing some of the Golems to come undone from the blowback.

“Geta kadie! Shvra neckra!”

“”””””Destaaaaack!””””””

The Golem-meister’s death unnerved the other Mivians so much, that they all screamed in unison. Then, they popped out of the walls and used the same dust cloud spell to cover their escape. Several mercenaries made to chase them, but Sampson was quick to stop them.

“Tch, stop! Don’t pursue them!”

Whatever effect Sampson had used had already ended, returning the two men back to normal. He’d quickly directed everyone to fight the remaining Golems instead of pursuing the Mivians. Which was probably the most prudent decision he could’ve made. Pushing too far could result in a party wipe.