Edward headed deeper into the ruins, passing by Marc Vega’s corpse. His bones were spread in the dome room where Edward had found the daggers. Bloodmaws had reduced Marc’s skeleton to broken pieces. Edward couldn’t help glancing at the fresco on the ceiling. The Damkinans were depicted as rushing into war against a wave of tidal darkness.

All this time he had wondered what it could represent, but now it made him think about the monster surge and the rising mana in the whole world. He repressed a shudder. I hope we are not in the same situation, and that the wave of darkness is only symbolic. But how exactly are you supposed to represent a general and sudden increase in mana, empowering monsters everywhere?

He couldn’t shake the thought. Until now no one knows why this phenomenon is happening, nor for how long and how bad it will get. I hope it has nothing to do with the Damkinan’s fall, they seemed like a powerful and advanced race. At least, far much advance that the civilization I have encountered in this world so far.

The further he advanced, the more Bloodmaws he encountered. Of course, at this point, it wasn’t a threat to him anymore. He didn’t have to run away, it was easier and faster to just kill them as they came to him, one move was enough to kill one monster. Edward absorbed the blood essence and the mana of the first few that he killed. However, he soon realized that it wasn’t worth his time. Once they had felt like an important container of blood essence, and a decent one for mana, but now it wasn’t enough to make him progress forward even marginally.

As he reached the bridge separating the ruins in two parts, the density of monsters increased, they were now charging at him in groups. It only managed to slow down Edward slightly. He only had to increase the size of his blades and his aura output to deal with them. They were so easy to kill that it made Edward reevaluate their threat level.

Why did the Damkinan build an army that is so weak? I mean, sure those monsters are tough for anybody at the awaken level, but anyone at the predator stage can kill them easily. Such an army would only be able to tie down a few persons at the predator stage without even killing them. Damkinans rely more on spells than aura and martial prowess but surely, they must have wide-range spells able to destroy such monsters in droves.

Moreover, even I can stop them from escaping with simple block and drains runes. Bloodmaws are dangerous in this era because they can destroy villages or even cities if they don’t have a predator to protect them. But in the Damkinan era, every city would have had access to runes able to stop such monsters.

Then why goes to the trouble to produce such an army? Is this only an early-stage experiment or a failed one?

While turning the Bloodmaws into mincemeat, Edward continued to advance. Now on the bridge, he was able to see below it all the broken pods that had held the Bloodmaws in stasis. In the vast opened space numerous Bloodmaws were roaming around in groups. Seeing him they roared in anger and heaped up under his position on the bridge, Edward was unimpressed.

They are still as dumb as before. Though, I swear there are more of them than before. What is going on? Even if there was another exit it wouldn’t explain why there are so many of them. Something is off. I need to investigate.

“Rèng khwāmrĕw” Edward muttered, using his acceleration power before jumping down from the bridge at the pile of Bloodmaws under him.

There was a flash of blue radiance, Edward’s aura piercing through the mass of monsters, and they literally exploded in gore before they had the time to react. In a few seconds, Edward had exterminated two dozen Bloodmaws in an impressive display. After dealing with this group, he deactivated his acceleration.

From now I should be more parsimonious with my aura, I’m starting to feel the strain. Those beasts just keep coming, they are so annoying.

Edward formed aura alongside his daggers, elongating them until they reached a meter and a half in length. He kept his aura on the daggers, keeping his aura on them and not sending them as aura blades was a lot more conservative in energy.

He let the Bloodmaws, still rushing at him, come close until they were under his reach. Then he dealt with them one after the other. Bloodmaws were brutes with great strength and vitality but they weren’t especially agile, Edward had no problem dealing with them even at close range. By now he was actually faster than them. Once there weren’t any more monsters coming at him, Edward let go of his aura and approached the broken pods, examining them from a closer look.

They looked like pods that Edward could have expected in science fiction stories, but now that he was closer, he saw that this technology was also relying on runes. Admittedly, said runes were so complex that Edward wasn’t able to understand which concepts they represented and how the heck they were working. However, he could still recognize something equivalent to cables coming from the pods. Although broken, the pods were still emitting a red light.

Even if they are not working, they are still receiving energy. Are they relying on ambient mana to gather energy? If so with the increase in mana, it’s no wonder they didn’t run dry.

Let’s follow those cables. Wherever they are leading, it must be an important part of this facility.

Edward walked slowly in midst of the broken pods flashing with red lights. Most of the pods had been toppled over by Bloodmaws when they escaped their confinement and lay broken on the ground. Those pods had kept the Bloodmaws alive floating in a nutrient liquid of some kind, but the fluid had all but dried out in the months that had passed after the Bloodmaws’ escape.

Even with all the Bloodmaws that he had killed until now, more of them regularly attack him. Edward killed them as easily as he would swap a fly away, it didn’t even slow his advance. How many did I kill since I entered the ruins today? Fifty? Sixty? I feel like I have killed more of those monsters today than during the whole time when I was trying to save Agripin. Where are they coming from? All the pods containing them have already been broken.

As he was walking forward, the cables started to converge, they were all heading in the same direction, leading to a large door before disappearing into the walls. The door itself was covered by a large number of patterns in the usual glowing lines that Damkinans liked to use. The door was the only source of light besides the broken pods and was permeating the surroundings in a green glow.

The lines are still green and not red. This meant it is still working normally. I should avoid messing with the door. Damkinans like to hide runes inside seemingly innocuous patterns. And all this mess began when Marc decided to simply cut through powerlines feeding a shield to obtain what he wanted, obviously activating the defense system which released the Bloodmaws on us. It’s better if I simply teleport after the door.

Edward did just that, sealed doors and walls were completely useless in front of his teleportation. On the other side of the door, the corridor was devoid of any ornaments and decorations, only green lines and symbols on the wall were providing light, and the rest of the corridor was empty. The contrast was vivid compared to the mess of broken pods outside.

The corridor was in a straight line and quite short, immediately leading to another door that Edward teleported behind without attempting to open it. This time Edward found himself on a catwalk above an expanse of fluid as large as five swimming pools gathered together. He stopped in surprise, watching as the liquid under him was disturbed by regular lines of bubbles.

Due to the consistency of the liquid, Edward wasn’t able to see through it, but he projected his aura inside instead to perceive what was happening. The vast body of liquid contained rows upon rows of not yet developed Bloodmaws. As he was surveying his surroundings, one articulated arm dropped from the ceiling, plucked a Bloodmaw from the fluid expanse, and dropped it on a conveyor belt. Once the Bloodmaw was dropped on it the conveyor belt activated and let the Bloodmaw further inside the complex.

They are making more of them! That is why there are so many of them. There is no secondary exit, this facility is simply growing them like cabbages.

Did we reactivate the facility when we tried to enter it with Marc’s expedition? Or is there another factor for its activation, like the increase in mana? It is hard to say, there is no conclusive evidence. But in any case, this ruin isn’t the only Damkinan outpost. How many hidden facilities are kept dormant ready to activate once someone stumbles on it or when the mana increase to a suitable level?

Marc’s expedition to discover this outpost may have been a blessing rather than a curse. If this facility had never been found and had started to produce Bloodmaws without stopping, they would have broken out at one point or the other. By the time we notice them, they would already have spread everywhere and we would have no idea where they would be coming from. It was already hard enough to seal the entry when I knew where to look, but it would have been a nightmare to scour the lands while more and more monsters are spreading. I have to destroy this facility. I can’t let Bloodmaws grow unchecked.

With his decision taken, Edward went to work. He sent an aura blade on the conveyor belt and on the articulated arm, destroying both and stopping the Bloodmaw supply chain. With his attacks, the light turned from green to red, and the facility reacted to his aggression.

Edward moved on, determined to destroy everything that looked relatively important. At the end of the catwalk was another door that Edward teleported behind. He found himself in another empty corridor, with several doors on the side leading to other rooms. The space was lit with red light. The light intensified as soon as Edward appeared, and he sensed a sharp increase in temperature. The walls erupted into flames for the whole length of the corridor.

Edward had barely the time to generate an aura armor around him to protect himself from the flames. His aura did protect him from the flame but it wasn’t completely impervious to the temperature and he began to sweat profusely.