Nathan

Year 2849 | Month 10 | Day 23

As it turns out, its barrier can in fact deal with an Arcadian metal sword to the face. I learn this the moment my sword makes contact with the barrier, making the entire barrier outside of the point of contact vanishes before the point of contact suddenly flares with bright red flames and explodes, sending me flying back onto the ledge I had just jumped over. By the time I land back on the ground again though, all of the burns caused by the explosion have already healed and I pick myself back up with a grunt.

Meanwhile the large monster’s hand can be seen reaching over the top of the ledge, so I sprint over to it and stab my sword straight into the center of its hand with ease now that its barrier is gone. The monster lets out a loud roar and loses its grip on the ledge, making my sword drill straight through its palm as it falls to land down below on the next lower level of the spiral.

I pull my sword back out of the ground before moving back to grab my rifle and going back to the ledge to aim as it’s still trying to get back up. Then I charge it with my remaining mana, making several sparks of flames flicker around the barrel of my rifle before pulling the trigger, sending the bullet straight through the monster’s head and silencing it for good.

But just in case, I keep my rifle held up and aimed at it to make sure it’s not dead. I don’t fire a second bullet to match the first though, just because I have to save on bullets. The skeleton and the doctor both packed me up with a huge number of bullets, but it won’t last forever. So it’s better to be sparse in my usage.

Once I’m sure it’s dead, I put my rifle back around my shoulder before jumping down and landing next to the creature.

Let’s see if it has a magician’s mark on it…

I search around its body for several minutes before eventually finding it on the center of its back, after rolling it over. The magician’s mark – which is a mark that magicians use to mark their creations, which in this case is the monster – has a skull and cross bones on it, with little pale green flakes of light floating around it.

I purse my lips in thought for a few seconds before getting up.

Never seen that mark before, so it’s not a historical magician. Or an important one taught by the academy.

It’s too bad I can’t save an image of that mark on my terminal, but at least the mark itself isn’t a very difficult one to remember. And the owner is probably a poison magician. That or a death magician.

The skull and crossbones and the pale green lights attest to one of those two options.

Either one would work, since either one, along with blood specialized magicians, are the best at creating monsters. In fact, I guess one could say that I’m a testament to the death magician’s skill in doing so. Much to my distaste.

I turn my head to look down at the center of the spiral before glancing at the monster one last time and leaving it here to climb down in a more relaxed manner.

Let’s see if there’s anything interesting down here.

Along the way to the bottom, I run into a few more of the viny plant monsters and deal with them just as quickly as I dealt with the first one. And once I do reach the bottom, I surprisingly find a pale green barrier coating the entrance to the cavern opening that the monster left out of. One that is bubbling with some rather disgusting looking liquid.

I look around for a second before finding a rock and tossing it into the barrier, only for it to pass through without any issues. So I then go back to one of the vine monsters and rip off a vine from its body before repeating the process with the vine and finding it quickly rotting while passing through.

Just the sight of it makes my eyes water, much less the smell that has me wanting to rip my own nose off. But the idea that there might be something of use to me on the other side of it – along with the fact that it looks like it only hurts organic matter, leaving my gear safe to pass through – has me sprinting through the barrier as fast as possible. Only to scream my throat hoarse along the way.

By the time I reach the other side, my rotting flesh is already halfway mended despite my place lying face first on the ground gasping for breath.

After a few more seconds of pain pass by, I let out a sigh of relief and climb back to my feet while muttering a curse for whoever made that barrier. Even though I was the one who chose to pass through it.

Next time I’m going to dig around it. I don’t care how. Even if I have to blast a hole in the wall to do so.

If I could’ve only blasted away the barrier itself, but it’s clear that there’s way too much poison mana there for my measly amount of mana to do anything. Especially considering that I’m running on empty right now.

After doing a quick check of my equipment to make sure it’s alright, I begin moving down the tunnel I find myself in, only to eventually end up at a door. One with the same mark as was on the monster back there.

A workshop? Or a lab of some kind?

I narrow my eyes at the thought that the magician might still be inside before calming down as I realize that I don’t smell anyone. Which is an odd thought to have, even if it’s true.

Let’s see what this bastard has inside here.