Triple Orb Academy V1 – Ch 7, The Catacombs, and a Giant Arthropod Colony

  When Sing set her eyes onto Tenebris Vacuum for the first time, Cadeus expected words of criticism. However, the first thing that came out of Sing’s mouth, was something entirely unexpected. “Wow…” Cadeus paused. He turned. “Wow?” “Yes, wow.” “You are impressed?” “Yes. In a good way.” “Seriously?” “What can I say, your colour sector is all I expected it to be.” “How so?” Sing gave a gesture towards everything. “A barren land with few signs of life, in a distance an old tropical forest, and to the side a dark suspicious Academia building. Dark and authentic, obviously I would come to be attracted to it.” “You make Beato Caeli sound like something entirely different.” “Nah, there’s nothing special. True, we had skylines and floating landscapes, but that is just about it.” “Skylines and floating landscapes? What is this? A fairy tale?” “Well… it can be. Some egoistic Educators of my colour sector insisted that White Magic is a pure art of expression. They said that Beato Caeli was a manifested example made to broadcast that attribute. But as far as I could tell, it was just biased ego talking.” “Guys, less talking more working.” Nadav interrupted. “Oh! The clown is getting serious.” Sing said. “Shut up! I just want to be done with this Enforcer thing asap.” “Why the sudden rush Nadav?” Sing asked. “First off, I hate this place. Second, getting marked by the Enforcers for whatever reason is sure not a good resume for hitting chicks! Cadeus! How long are you just going to stand there?” Cadeus took out the Caller. “Well, she did never tell us where we should meet her specifically. It did not take long before Miss Allis’s face turned up. “Miss Allis, we just reached Tenebris Vacuum.” “Oh good! Quick! Meet me at the catacomb entrance. The others are already there,” “Wait… did you just said the catacomb entrance?” Without even a reply, Miss Allis ended the call. “What’s this? She seems to be in a hurry.” Nadav said. “…” “Is there something wrong Cadeus? You seemed taken back when she mentioned the catacomb entrance.” Sing asked. “With good reason…” Cadeus sighed. “The catacomb is an extremely dangerous place. I do not know the details, but students are forbidden to enter for safety issues.” “Hold on a second, this definitely sounds shady, but why the heck does your colour sector have a frigging catacomb? Is it some sort of burial ground?” Nadav exclaimed. “… Maybe?” “So what should we expect? Zombies?” “You idiot. This is not a random drama on some zombie apocalypse. If there were actual zombies in this reality, we would long have an epidemic on our hands.” “Anything else we should expect?” “How would I know? I had never been there before.” “Any shady rumours?” “… You actually turn to rumours for your source of information?” “An absurd rumour may in nearly every instance be traced to an actual occurance.” “And do you know that in all cases these rumours get deformed the more they spread?” “But we can still know something right?” “… Even if I were to say it, it won’t really make a difference.” “Just tell us already!” “Sigh… people have been saying that the catacomb was a housing pet house for the Academy’s most viscious Chimeras.” “… Viscious Chimeras? Like the one we face that other evening?” “Worse, which is why the Educators won’t let them out in the forest. From the impression we all get, accidental encounters would be quite common in there. That’s probably the main reason why students are denied entry.” “WAIT! WAIT! WAIT! WAIT A MINUTE! You seem to be saying that these beasts are allowed to roam freely.” “They usually are. What about it?” “Aren’t they keeping those beasts in pens?” “They usually don’t. The Dark Mutators usually allow the Chimeras to roam freely so that they can collate accurate habitual data.” “Have they gone bonkers?! What is Miss Allis thinking calling us to such a place?” “How would I know?” “… In the event where we really have to enter the Catacombs, won’t your Educators say anything?” Nadav added. “Miss Allis is an Enforcer under the employment of the High Council. I doubt our Educators can have a say in our involvement even if they wanted to. Besides, we are her important witnesses.” “Argh…” “Relax Nadav. We may be going there, but that does not mean that we are definitely going into the Catacombs. Maybe Miss Allis is there for other business. Since she is here, maybe she wants to wrap up our case as well.” “… If that’s the case, I’ll hold on to your word.” “I’ll just say this first, no promises.” “Tch! This pessimistic asshole! I can’t believe I followed him back here again!” “…You came here on your own accord. Are you at the very least aware of that?” “Objection! You both forced me to come down here.” “Is that so? I don’t recall Sing and I ever forcing you to come down here.” “But you two know that I won’t leave you guys while you both go on facing some serious shit. Do you honestly think that I could face myself tomorrow if something really bad were to happen to you?” “That’s kind generosity on your part Nadav, one that we are really grateful for. We are not asking much from you actually. In the first place, we aren’t expecting you to follow us since we both know you are extremely uncomfortable coming to Tenebris Vacuum.” Sing added. Nadav stared at her blankly for a few seconds. “This is strange. I feel that you are trying to encourage me, but I also feel that you are trying to degrade me.” “That’s just your imagination. Cadeus and I both fully acknowledge your bravery coming back here for us.” For some reason that seemed to have an effect, because Nadav soon started scratching the back of his hair. “Well… if Sing puts it that way…” The clown soon ceased ranting and started moving his feet. As he did so, Cadeus went to Sing’s side and whispered in her ear to initiate another private conversation. “Wow… I seriously did not expect you to persuade him. You have no idea what a challenge it is for me to convince him to stay with me the other time.” “Perhaps you ought to try using sweeter words.” “Nah… I’m not good with that kind of stuff. Besides, if I over do it with the sweetness, it kinda makes me feel creepy.” Nadav soon broke the private conversation with a new conversational topic. “Cadeus, do me a favour. Please remind me to report to the infirmary once we are done.” “For what?” “Just remind me once we are done damn it.” “Sure I will, but the infirmary? Whatever for?” “I need to do a body check to see if I am missing a limb, an organ, or a face.” “For the last time Nadav, you can’t loose your face with Dark Magic just like that.” “Aha! But you do admit that there’s a chance that I can loose a limb or an organ throughout the duration of my stay!” “Well… I don't deny the possibility.” “You see?! You see what I mean Sing? That’s it! You know what, I’m going to stay here. When you are done, come look for me.” The sweet words Sing used earlier all went down the drain. “Come on Nadav, this is not the right time for this sort of joke.” Sing said. “Ha! As if I am going to step into that hazard of death sentences.” “Sigh… Never mind Sing. Leave him.” “Eh? Are you sure?” “He’ll come around. Besides, if he chooses to stay here, all he has to do is to watch out for the Aru Centipedes.” At the very mention of the unusual animal, Nadav’s face turned slightly pale. “Did I just hear you say Aru Centipedes?” “You didn't know? Oh right. You did not see them the last time you were here.” “Quit beating around the bush Cadeus, just what are Aru Centipedes?” “As the name suggests, Aru Centipedes are chimera centipedes that are extremely comfortable with barren type landscapes to be their habitat. If you haven't noticed, this platform and the area around it are all barren. Seeing an Aru Centipede or two wandering at this region is something pretty common. You’ll probably have to fight, but be careful, they are huge.” “Ah ha ha… this is a joke. You are just saying that to frighten me.” “Oh no really, it is entirely up for you to believe. Well then, Sing and I will be going. We will be back here in about…” Cadeus checked his pocket watch. “Three hours, so until then.” Cadeus turned and led Sing the way, but before he could take an additional step, Nadav gave a sharp cry. “Wait a frigging damn minute! Three hours?! Are you guys going to be gone that long?” The pair of white and black turned to look at their grey friend. “Well… we are probably going to undergo a lengthy questioning session with the Enforcers, so I think it should be that long.” “And you are telling me to sit here for three hours straight? Do you think I can last three hours alone in this hell hole?” “… I’m not the one asking you to stay here.” “Ah forget it! I’ll just come with you.” “Oh… he recovered instantly.” Sing said. “Perhaps too instantly…” Cadeus followed. TOA The Catacomb entrance was situated at the Academia Building’s left with a distance of five kilometers. It could be found in the middle of two barren ridges at the base of an overstretched cliff. Finding it was never a problem for it stood out rather obviously. The entrance was made with three huge rectangular stone blocks along with a depressive flight of stairs. Before the entrance, there’s a depressive a ring of disfigured and collapsed obelisks that often served as a common landmark. When it came into sight, Cadeus soon noticed that something was out of place. “That’s strange…” “What’s strange?” Sing asked. Cadeus walked until he reached a certain point. “Usually there would be a translucent magical barrier here to ward off entry. There is no such barrier now…” “Could the Enforcers have dispelled it as they went in?” Cadeus shook his head. “If that’s the case, they would have reenacted the barrier once they got in consideration for student safety.” At the ring of collapsed obelisks, it looks like there were some people there. There were three of them, and they were Dark Mage students. What were they doing there? Even if it’s curiosity, they should well know that coming to the catacomb entrance was extremely dangerous and suicidal. But when he got closer to see who they were, Cadeus suddenly stopped at his tracks. “What’s wrong?” Sing asked. “Not good…” When he got to have a closer look, Cadeus saw that the three students wore crimson red armbands high on their left blazer sleeves. With that crimson red fire edged at the very centre, these three students belong to the Red Flame, a gang or cliché that belonged to a certain infamous noble. If they were here, it could only mean… “You… Why are you here?” Turning to the direction of that voice, Cadeus immediately saw a very tall student with vibrant red hair with intimidating cold dark eyes. Flanked by two more students wearing that red armband, the tall youth was wearing black customized uniformed robes heavily decorated with carmine red, crimson red and heavy gold edges. With a robe slash bearing the symbol of a sizzling flame, his identity was easily distinguishable. “Acriscius…” Acriscius Incendium ve Ustrina, the noble who was highly likely to be behind the previous attacks to make him drop his Board quest. A second was all it took, and they immediately regard each other in total distaste. To the person in question, Cadeus would be the most insulting existence ever to walk into his life. As for Cadeus, this student would be the most annoying person he would ever come across. “It’s forbidden for students to approach the catacomb entrance. What are you here for?” “I am the one asking the questions imposter, not you.” Noticing that their boss had showed up, the three other students from the obelisk ring soon came over. When they also saw Cadeus and his friends, they too immediately expressed hostility. Looking at their faces, Cadeus saw that it’s the usual five who were always seen around Acriscius; Vanderburg, Douglas, Glavand, Trion and Valryan. Realizing that Cadeus had company, Acriscius turn his attention to his friends. It took just one glance for Acriscius to dismiss Nadav as the stereotypical dimwitted clown. But when his eyes turned to Sing, the expression on his face changed for the worst. “You brought in a White?” As he spat out the word, the other students soon turned their attention to Sing. Realizing that she became the center of attention, she could only look back at them with an indifferent smile on her face. Cadeus on the other hand, gave Acriscius a defiant look in his eyes. “Who I work with is no concern of yours Acriscius.” His mood turning for the worst, the air started flicking with the volatile nature of Dark Magic. As usual, his patience is forever thin… Cadeus thought. Before things could get any worse, Vanderburg stepped forward and opened his mouth. “Don't get ahead of yourself imposter. My master always had endured your presence no matter how much he dislikes you. Besides, there are five of us and there are only three of you. I highly suggest you don't get smart.” With that tattoo on his cheek, Vanderburg may appear to be intimidating, but he’s certainly one of the few people within Acriscius’s gang/cliché who disliked pointless fighting. Through experience, Cadeus knew that cooperating with Vanderburg was the safest route to avoiding Acriscius. “… Understood. I’ll be careful with what I say in the future.” Vanderburg nodded and turned to Acriscius. “Sir, the imposter recognizes his position. There is no need to direct your precious energy on the likes of him.” “That’s not enough Vanderburg. I want this imposter to have a piece of my mind.” And that was the cue that a fight was inevitable for the other students begun cracking their knuckles. Before he knew it, Cadeus placed himself in front of Sing. Sensing the bad atmosphere, Nadav quickly covered from behind and mentally prepared himself to cast [Rock Fist] at any second. But just before anyone could fire any spells, something intruded amongst them. Three bright purple flashes soon intercepted. Orienting around them, the three bright purple made sure that none of either party could instigate a fight. When Cadeus noticed that the bright flashes were actually crystal birds, it did not take him long to realize who was the mastermind. “Damn it… now she’s going to make me owe her another one.” It would appear that Acriscius too realized the identity of the perpetrator, for when the three crystal birds returned to their owner, he could not help but click his tongue in annoyance. “Claire…” Dressed in her usual customized black robes with tyrian purple, blue and gold, Claire Rrogust ve Chroma was soon found sitting at a distance on one of the collapsed obelisks. What is she doing here? Or more importantly, why were these two Greater Nobles here? Cadeus thought. Cadeus really did not like the idea that these two Greater Nobles were together. Claire crystal birds soon rested their small feet on her lap and shoulders. Even though they may seem harmless, those crystal birds had already proven their lethal capacity. To dare challenge Claire at this stage would indeed be suicidal. “Can you lot please stop thrashing at each other for once? Aren't we all here for a job?” Acriscius, irritated and unhappy, folded his arms and directed his attention towards his peer. “Claire Rrogust ve Chroma, what’s the meaning of this?” Carassing the crystal bird that was resting on her lap, Claire turned her attention to Acriscius. “It’s just as I had said. Could you guys do something other than thrashing each other to pieces? It’s honestly nothing new to the point of absolute boredom.” “That’s not my main question. Why did you help that imposter.” “Cadeus is my asset of the day. If you want to scotch him, please do so another day.” “Your asset?” “He owes me.” “Tch!” Although Acriscius had the option to ignore Claire and allowed his subordinates to continue, he eventually decided that he’d rather not going up against Claire. Besides, like Cadeus, Acriscius also had owed Claire his fair share of favours. Going up against her would definitely bold ill effects in the long run. “What are you doing here? Please don't tell me that the Enforcers called you too?” “I’m guessing that they called you too. Oh dear, oh dear, it would seem that they called such troublesome characters. So? Are you all going to start killing each other even before we get to know what the Enforcers want with us?” Acriscius looked like he wanted to open his mouth. But after much thought, he ended the conversation with a ‘hmph’ and moved to sit on one of the collapsed obelisks far from Claire. His subordinates soon followed, and they soon minded their own business. With the dispute resolved, Cadeus focused his attention to a particular piece of information. Miss Allis called them? Now this was news to Cadeus. If they needed to call these two Greater Nobles, it would seem that… Feeling that someone was tapping his left shoulder, Cadeus glanced to the side to see Sing right next to him. “Who’s that noble? He’s scary.” “Ah right… I never told you about him didn’t I? He’s Acriscius Incendium ve Ustrina. He’s a Greater Noble.” “It sounds like you two have quite the bad history for me to hear such vibes between the two of you.” “Hm… I won't deny that. Acriscius was the very reason why I am labeled as an imposter.” “So he is one that started the whole imposter thing?” “Not really. Claire was among the first to discover my coincidental family name. Although she was initially quiet about it, my class ended up making a mess out of it when I did introductions on day 1. That was how the whole imposter thing started. Acriscius got wind of it after hearing the story from Claire and since then he was the most outspoken towards my case. Given his obvious influence as a Greater Noble, the nickname soon circulated quickly throughout the student body like wild fire and everyone knows that he hates me. Long story short, he’s highly responsible for the troublesome days I had to experience in Tenebris Vacuum.” “But you did tell him that it's pure coincidence?” “I did. But Acriscius still refused to acknowledge my existence. I don’t know how his brain functions, but he’s entirely convinced I’m an asshole who abuses a historic name.” “Wow, he sure sounds like a nutcase.” Nadav added. “I… wouldn’t go that far yet, but yes his character is the brash and violent type.” “Wow again, it definitely makes him someone hard to forget. Since he’s a Greater Noble, what’s his specialty?” “I have not seen his Blood Gift up close, but I heard that it had something to do with the element fire. In fact, everyone in Tenebris Vacuum knows that Acriscius is a reputed user of the element fire.” “So in case there’s a heads up, we utilize the element water.” Nadav concluded instantly. “My thoughts exactly.” “Have you ever fought him in person?” “No. Thankfully no.” “What about that other person? The one with the tattoo on his cheek?” “He’s called Vanderburg. Oh, in case you are wondering, he’s not a noble.” “Not a noble? Then what’s his relationship to Acriscius.” “He’s the son of the family butler… or something like that.” “So that tattoo guy is his butler?” “Don’t worry, despite his tattoo, he’s not that bad of a character.” “Not bad of a character? He just said ‘five of us’, not counting Acriscius. It seems that this Vanderburg fellow believed that it was unnecessary for Acriscius to get his hands dirty eh?” Nadav added. “It may seem so on the surface, but he’s just trying to make me shut up nicely so that there won’t be a fight.” “Oh… so that’s why you suddenly cooperated.” “That’s the gist of it.” “I see… ok putting the dudes aside, is that hot purple blonde the one who cut your cheek previously?” “……………….” “Oya! What’s with the silence? Did I just detect something suspicious?” “Keep your volume down before she slices you up with her crystal birds. Yes, she the one who sliced my cheek the other time.” “She butted in just in time to save your neck. My, my, there’s definitely something going on between the two of you. My investigator switch is flipping itself on.” “Just how on earth did you arrive to that sort of conclusion?” “I think the evidence speaks for itself, Mr. ‘My asset of the day’. Oh dear, so personal.” “That’s it. I’m going to hit you.” Nadav swung his arms open straight to the side as if daring Cadeus to do it. “Try me!” Tired of hearing his nonsense, Cadues swung a hit that sent the idiot face flat to the ground. That’s one problem solved, but little did Cadeus knew, another problem was brewing right next to him. “Cadeus, I seem to misunderstand what kind of relationship do you exactly have with her. Please explain further.” “Um… Sing? Why do you sound angry?” “Maybe she’s concerned for you.” Nadav jokingly theorized. Cadeus threw Nadav a ‘she’s definitely not’ face. “She said you are her asset of the day. This is not something that’s based on past favours. Something definitely happened between you and her recently. What is it?” “Sing, are you aware that there’s a hint of spitefulness in your voice?” “Just answer the question.” “Nothing… I just owe her one.” “I already knew that. Did you owe her another one?” “Um… yes?” “How did that happen? When did that happen?” Woah… since when did she get this scary? “W-Well…” Finding himself in a bind, Cadeus suddenly found difficulty gathering his thoughts together. Before this conversation could get anywhere else, Miss Allis’s voice soon resonated throughout the scene. “Ok! It looks like everybody is here!” Everyone soon turned to see Miss Allis coming from the direction of the Academia building. Unlike the last time Cadeus saw her, this time she came alone. With her rather bizarre appearance, everyone turned their attention to her. With Sing and Nadav turning to this new development, Cadeus was safe for the moment. Whew… dodged that one big bullet… Cadeus thought. “HI everyone! Thank you so much for coming down here~!” “““““““………………………………”””””””” “Oh come on, don’t give this big sister that look. You are going to make her cry! Can’t you guys at least say hi?” For some strange reason, no one seems that particularly interested in the presence of the Enforcer. Acriscius just sat there staring as if he’d rather go for a gym session, while Claire could only read her book with an extreme lack of interest to her surroundings. As for the other students… let’s just say that there were at least one or two who bothered themselves to be interested in what might come later. Given the lack of response coming from the youths, Cadeus suddenly got a sense of déjà vu. “For some reason, this feels like a boring class session…” Sing uttered. “I totally agree.” With the continuous silence stirring between the young students, Acriscius eventually chose to open his mouth first. “So, what is it that you Enforcers need this time?” This time? Cadeus raised an eyebrow. Did Acriscius and Claire had past experience working with Enforcers before? “Oh come on Mr. Incendium, don’t give me that jaded look. It’s not like we have never worked together before.” “It’s Lord Incendium, and the only reason why this is a drag to me is because you Enforcers always demand this and that. Whenever something happens you all come running to us and drag us into all sorts of nonsense. Why is it that your higher ups always demand our involvement? Can’t they just come down and settle everything themselves?” “My dear friend. Need I remind you that our higher ups are not so conveniently available to be directly on scene? We don’t have a lot of Dark Mages within the force, so we are always spread thin. Besides, as a Greater Noble, you are entitled to help the Enforcers should the need arise. Am I right~?” Acriscius responded by clicking his tongue in disgust. Miss Allis flashed him a smile. When Cadeus gave further thought to this, he soon realized that it should be a normal occurrence for members of the Greater Noble Houses to have constant dealings with employees associated with the High Council, particularly the Enforcers. If he were to apply that logic, Cadeus guessed that this was one of the many routine cases Acriscius had to deal with the Enforcers. From the looks of things, his past experiences dealing with Enforcers were not as pleasant as one would normally expect. With enough chattering, Miss Allis gave one last smile before putting up a serious face. “We need your support to help us track down a dangerous criminal.” “Wow… Fremin was immediately upgraded from a suspect to a dangerous criminal overnight, yippee…” Sing said. When they heard the word dangerous criminal, both Claire and Acriscius stared at her with frowns on their eyebrows. “Please explain.” Acriscius continued. “The target name is Fremin Augesqwer. He’s a Master Alchemist. As of the latest update we got, he and a group of subordinates have planted a class 5 ritual underneath the catacombs of Tenebris Vacuum.” “Class 5 ritual?” Sing uttered. Cadeus turned to Sing and initialted a private conversation. “Hey Sing, what is a Class 5 ritual?” “A ritual enacted that will trigger a radius effect of at least 20 kilometers.” “… I take it that it is not good.” “It depends on the type of ritual. Class 5 rituals exist because there are beneficial effects that mages want to be applicable on a large scale. For an example, there’s Schinover’s Bio-Abau, a Class 5 ritual that enhances the fertility and growth rate of any land regardless of climate and habitat. There’s also Bohdigur’s Mind, a similar Class 5 ritual that plays with matter materialization based on the famous Schrodinger’s cat theory.” “Any bad rituals you know of?” “Not a chance. Do you think the the High Council would want to include bad formulae in our textbooks?” “Ah… true. Now that I think of it, it would seem that the situation had progressed even further than what most would expect.” “What do you mean Cadeus?” “If the Enforcers needed to call in those two Greater Nobles… it means that they require support from members of the Greater Noble houses to act. If that’s really the case, it means that the actions they will take requires a degree of political approval.” “I see… since the Enforcers are employed by the High Council, their movements are restricted to some extent. Having support from members of the Greater Noble Houses signifies that the actions that they take can be justified. Well, it is not out of the ordinary. As a legal government working force, the Enforcers need something to fall back in case something did not work out.” Claire raised a hand. “I got a question. What kind of a Class 5 are we looking at?” “A Class 5 corruption ritual using 6000 grams of Procona as a catalyst medium.” When they all heard that, only Claire, Acriscius, Cadeus and Sing held serious faces. The rest were just clueless as to what corruption ritual really is. “Does this Fremin guy want to blow up the Academy?” Acriscius said. “If he succeeds, that would be the estimated damage.” “We have never been into the Catacombs before. How deep are they?” “Well, the Catacombs are several layers of labyrinths, but it is roughly up to twelve levels deep. The upper levels are usually in the clear, and we Enforcers had already cleared the path to the fifth basement. The problem comes after that. Criminal activity has been located from the eighth to tenth, which would be the inner sanctum. The eleventh and twelfth levels have been sealed off for unknown reasons, but I doubt they would do anything funny there.” “How many unfriendlies are we expecting?” Acriscius asked. “About four Apprentices, three Mages and a couple dozen Untouched. The Mages have a variety of skills involving conjuration and illusion. The apprentices well… either they will assist the Mages or fight off on hteir own. But since you have blood gifts, they should not pose a problem.” “Any other accomplices?” Claire asked. “Well… we did mark some Specialists who are close aquitances of Fremin. If they do show up, the Enforcers will deal with them. You good kids just focus on Fremin’s underlings.” “What about other threats?” “Viciously mutated chimeras that the Educators here do not release into the forests.” “Oh… f***. This sounds like a huge drag.” Nadav indirectly added. Cadeus raised his hand. “I got a question. How long until the ritual takes effect.” “The familiar we just sent into the Catacomb managed to inform us that Fremin just started marking the ritual circle. It should take him around fifty minutes to finish setting up his fireworks.” “Fifty minutes… that’s quite some time.” Cadeus uttered. “It’s a Class 5 ritual after all. Proper and flawless preparation is needed.” Sing followed. “Is there anything magical we ought to expect on our way down?” Acriscius said. “Two of my colleagues just went in to clear the upper levels. You guys just follow me until we need to split up. Any other questions? Cause we are running out of time.” Everyone shook their heads. Happy with the response, Miss Allis threw a fist into the air. “Then let’s start operation Kick Fremin’s butt!” “For some reason… this feels like some comedian pre-operation briefing.” Nadav added. Cadeus could not agree more. TOA The first two levels were clear. There was nothing that suggested danger. But as they went deeper, the threat of danger became more apparent. There was something ominous the air. The deeper they went, the stronger it felt. It may sound superstitious, but in Zeffernon, superstitious means that the immaterial is seriously at work. Cadeus paused for a moment and focused his senses to confirm it once more. He was right. The presence of Dark Magic here was stronger than it was compared to the swamps. This highly condensed energy in the air could easily make any mage uncomfortable, but to Cadeus, it was the kind that felt like an addictive drug. It was the kind of corruptive energy that will easily make him feel exhilarated. Whatever it was, Cadeus knew he was uniquely sensitive to it. Was it because he was a Pure Blood? Or was it because of some other reason? “Don't go falling into a trance.” A voice interrupted him from behind. Once he regained his senses, Cadeus realized that he was already behind the others. Turning around, Cadeus was surprised to see Claire. “… Why are you staring at me like you think you are hallucinating?” she said. “I thought you were up front with Acriscius.” “Then clearly you weren’t paying attention.” “How long have you been behind us?” “Since the start?” “Shouldn’t you be up front?” “How rude. I can take care of myself you know?” “Then why do you choose to be behind me?” “Because it is fun watching you cower in fear.” “Claire, no matter how much I hated it, you and I have been working together for quite some time now. You should know that it’ll take more than spooky places to scare me.” “True, which is why it would be a real blast to see you scared. Oh dear, oh dear, the imposter is leaking his pants. Will he be the first to break for it?” Cadeus chose to ignore her. By the time they reached the third level below, there were renments of clashes between opposing magical forces. The heat of the magical conflict was in the air, and the terran was scorched with traces of spell casts. As it turns out, there was more than one team of Enforcers on site. Once they reached a huge chamber, Cadeus soon saw numerous Enforcers. Some were salvaging evidence at the current crime scene, others were working on extracting runes and enchantments, and a small number were acting as sentries guarding at the edge of descending pathways to the lower levels. Moving up to the center, Miss Allis came behind Enforcer Kutsurov who was taking notes regarding a disrupted rune seal on the ground. “HI~! Anything new?” “Miss Allis? Oh, you brought the kids.” “Hi Kutsurov, how’s your familiar?” “Do you mean how is its present condition? Or what new news did it provide?” “The latter.” “Well I got bad news. Fremin ‘let the cat out of the bag’.” When he said that, Miss Allis sighed and pressed her hand onto her forehead. “Why is it that the villains always love to make things difficult for the heros?” “Why are they called villains otherwise?” “True… wait. Is that the White student from Fremin’s mansion?” When Kutsurov said that, the nearby Enfocers who happened to heard him turned to look at Sing. On a side note, these Enforcers were mostly compromised of Dark Mages with a few additional Grey Mages. None of them were White Mages. Since Sing was the only White Mage present, she really stood out amongst all of them. “Come on Kutsurov, what’s with that amazed look? It’s not like we don’t see a lot of White Mages paying old Tenebris Vacuum a visit.” “It’s not about her being a White I’m concerned with. Are you aware of the fact that she’s a Student?! Since when were White students allowed to come into Tenebris Vacuum? As far as I can remember, White Mages need to be at least finish their initial trials in order to be allowed access into Tenebris Vacuum. What are you thinking letting her come in here?” “Relax Kutsurov. She’s already our important witness. That’s already quite the exception.” “… I’m not going to argue, nor am I going to be blamed for this if something happens to her.” Ignoring Kutsurov’s last comment, Miss Allis turned around to face the students to give them the update. “Bad news my little kittens.” “Is she treating us like her cute animals now?” Cadeus uttered. “Fremin unleashed all the chimera under strict confinement. They are roaming on the loose, so there’s a high chance that we may have to face some hardliner beasts.” The only ones keeping a straight face when they heard that were only Cadeus, Acriscius and Claire. While Sing was somewhat able to register the severity of this new development, the other students soon broke into small private conversations of disbelief. As for Nadav… well… let’s just say that he sank to his knees and started tearing his hair the moment he heard the bad news. “That’s it, that’s bloody it! That’s the damn cue that my life is about to end! AAAHHH!!!! Why did I bother coming down here in the first place? I always knew that coming here is a bad idea so why did I ignore my conscious?!” “I think I am getting sick and tired of hearing his rants. Can I beat him up?” Cadeus asked. “Don’t bother. Hitting him will only make matters worse. If you end up hitting his head, he might end up being less intelligent than usual.” Sing replied. Miss Allis clapped her hands to get back everybody’s full attention. “All right, all right. I know this is not a good development, so obviously we are going to improvise.” “Improvise? Why do I get the feeling that the word is going to mean more trouble?” Nadav sobbed while saying so. Miss Allis continued since she knew that the main players were still listening. “We need to flush out those Chimera. That’s our only option. If we choose to go after Fremin now, the various chimeras will no doubt cause us more problems later. That is why, I need you to split into three groups and scour out the next few lower levels.” When Acriscius’s subordinates heard that, they moaned. From the sound of it, it was clear that the Enforcers would not help them. They would be left on their own to scour out unknown territory. “Don’t worry, the chimeras you will face would not be that dangerous. The more dangerous ones are situated on the deeper levels. Of course, we Enforcers will definitely handle those. Now then, I need you all to take these.” Reaching for a nearby box with the Enforcer’s emblem, Miss Allis took out two Callers similar to the one she gave Cadeus previously. She gave one to Acriscius and the other to Claire. “I’m definitely sure you nobles know how to handle this. Or is a crash course needed?” “Irrelevant.” Acriscius said. He and Claire soon pocketed the Callers. Miss Allis clapped her hands together again. “All right! Now we are all set to go, keep your movements to the lower two levels. Proceed deeper only when we give the clear go. Beware of enchanted runes and traps. They are very common safety measures against possible chimera breakouts.” “… I totally could not feel serious at all. Just what on earth is this? A school camp?” Cadeus uttered. Miss Allis must have heard him, for she gave him a wink. Without waiting, Acriscius and his five subordinates soon left for one of the pathways leading down to the level below. Looking at the direction they went, Cadeus turned to his friends and made a suggestion. “Well, Acriscius is heading that way, let’s not stick to his turf.” “Where do we go?” Sing asked. “The opposite direction, that way.” Cadeus pointed. “Aww… do we really have to?” “Sigh… what’s the problem now Nadav? You need the loo?” “Ha, ha. Very funny.” “Then quit complaining.” “You can’t blame me! I’m getting very bad vibes about the lower levels! Do you have any idea how much I would love to bail out right now? This place is even worse than that disgusting swamp!” “Sing would find this place more uncomfortable than you would. She’s far more sensitive than you here being a White and she’s not complaining. What do you have to say about yourself?” “I…” Stealing a glance towards Sing, Nadav soon lost the will to continue his rants. “Sigh… If it helps you Nadav, let’s just wrap things up as fast as we can. I doubt the Enforcers would allow us to deal with Fremin directly since we are important case witnesses. I think they just need us here mainly for the post operation debrief.” “You see, that is the problem. If that was the case, why the heck are the Enforcers making us do their job?” The nearby Enforcers successfully managed to shut the clown’s mouth by turning gazes towards him. Sighing at the idiot’s lack of sensitivity to his surroundings, Cadeus turned to Sing. “Anything you want to add Sing?” Sing shook her head. “All right. Let’s move out.” “Hold on a minute.” “What’s wrong Sing?” Sing pointed towards Claire. It appears that she was talking with some of the Enforcers. She’s most likely getting further information that Miss Allis failed to provide. “What about her? Are you saying that we ought to ask for more information before we go?” “Well there’s that. But more importantly, don't you want to ask her to join us?” What the f…? Cadeus was this close to dropping his own jaw. “Are you seriously asking me this question? You want Claire to join us?” “I’m just asking since you know her better than I do.” “Ok Sing, I think I understand why you have that line of thought, but believe me. You don't want that noble in our group.” “Is she weak?” “No? Claire is insanely strong.” “Oh good, that's one new party member.” Grab. Before she could walk off to talk to Claire, Cadeus quickly grabbed Sing by her arm. “Stop, stop. Just wait a minute before you seriously go asking her.” “What’s the problem?” “Claire is the problem. She dislikes groups and only prefers to work with one person at a time.” “Are you telling me this because you don't like her?” “I’m telling you this because I know her well enough. Claire is somewhat of a lone wolf. She sees herself differently and she refuses to lower herself to work with the whims and minds of commoners. Do not forget, she’s a Greater Noble. Even I had difficulties working with her when I had to clear the favours I owe her.” “But she’s comfortable working with you.” “No clearly she isn't. She’s just exploiting the fact that I owe her and that I am available when she needs someone to do her work.” “What happens when you are not available?” “If I had company she will usually leave me alone. If I am alone, she will demand it in such a way that I can spend time with her.” “Wow… that sounds like a typical high born noble.” “That is why I said that she sees herself differently.” “So she will never joins us?” “No. Well… unless she wants to.” “That is good, because she’s approaching us right now.” “What?” Turning to Sing’s indication, Cadeus saw Claire approaching them. Why is she coming here? Please don’t tell me that she really intents to join us? Cadeus thought. If that was seriously the case, Cadeus felt that he would soon develop a serious headache. Claire stopped when she was an arms length from the two of them. The first thing she did was obviously not to say hi, but instead, Claire’s eyes went to Sing. “Heh… so it’s true when they say you hang out with a White. At first I did not believe it, but when I see her now…” Cadeus did not like the fact that Claire was studying Sing like a Dark Mutator studying a specimen. “What do you want Claire?” “Where are your manners Imposter? Let’s see… I save you from Acriscius earlier, shouldn’t a certain someone be more grateful?” Tch! There it is again. Cadeus thought. Cadeus placed an arm behind him, bowed, and redid his opening statement. “Good day my lady, on what occasion did you grace us with your presence?” “Pff…” The acting was so funny that Sing had to press her own mouth to contain her laughter. “I see that you still fail to capture the elegancy of the nobility. But since you are a low born I’ll be forgiving and let you off the hook.” “Oh wonderful. I have been blessed with your great generosity, how befitting for a member of the Greater Noble Houses.” “There’s a limit to your nonsense imposter, you better not push it.” Claire sighed knowing fully well that Cadeus was attempting to make fun of her. Ignoring the imposter that she was very much used to, Claire returned her attention to the two new faces she had often heard of but never got the chance to see. When her sights went to Nadav, Nadav immediately threw his arms around, opened his mouth with a concentrated ‘Hou’ and started acting like a kung fu master taking a threatening defensive stance. “… Is he always like this?” “Please ignore him. He’s an idiot.” “I see… he’s your source of examples not to follow.” Claire turned to Sing again. “So, you are the model student from Beato Caeli.” Sirena gave a bow. “Nice to meet you, my name is Sirena Delnarius.” “Hm… Lacking in elegance and grace. But then again, she’s using the commoner’s bow. It’ll suffice.” Claire responded with a proper noble’s bow. “It’s nice to meet you. My name is Claire Rrogust ve Chroma.” Ok… everything seems normal so far… Cadeus thought. “So, what exactly is your relationship with this imposter?” “We are childhood friends.” “Childhood friends? Heh…” Claire turned and gave Cadeus a look full of suspicious motives. “What?” “Nothing.” “Then why do I get the feeling that you suddenly see me in some new light?” “Just what is with that Enforcer? She said to split into three groups. Does she know that forming three groups is definitely impossible with the current people that we have?” “Now you are just ignoring me for your own convenience.” “As a person who works frequently for the High Council, she must have some idea that we nobles don’t always get along with each other.” In seeing that Claire totally changed the subject, Cadeus could only sigh and follow the current conversational flow. “Please be honest with me Claire, why are you here?” Claire stared at Cadeus with disapproving eyes. Perhaps she was expecting him to entertain her further with his defiance. But since time was initially not on their side, she soon got to the point. “That muscle brain Acriscius and his dimwitted lackeys all left straight away without gathering sufficient information. But knowing Acriscius, he’ll just burn his way through without even thinking about what he is fighting against.” “I’m assuming that you got some handy information.” Cadeus said. “Well, the level directly below us is a working center that supervises the observation pens three levels further below. It had not been in use for quite some time. According to the records, the last usage was about a month ago.” “That’s strange, I thought the Dark Mutators do constant check ups and reviews over the chimeras that they mutated.” “That’s true, they do. But apparently the chimeras within those three levels had finished their purpose. Whoever they were, the Dark Mutators in charge of those chimera left to die.” “To die?” Sing said. Cadeus stole a glance towards her. One of the things Sing hated would be the issue of animal abuse. Not good… I better say something before things get out of hand. Cadeus thought. “To die eh… That sounds rather irresponsible.” Cadeus said. “It depends on the point of view, but the logic was for efficiency.” “Efficiency?” “Most chimeras have shorter life spans compared to the original species. Rather than spending effort to kill them one by one, it is better to let them die off naturally. This catacomb is not environmentally supportive for life to begin with. Give an estimation of two to three months, the bulk of the sample intake would have died off without proper attention.” Wow… it sounds cold, but it definitely does sound efficient. Cadeus thought but dare not say out loud. “Hm… if Miss Allis needs us to clear those levels, I take it that those chimeras are still alive.” “They are. Although we don't know the exact number.” “What are we looking at?” “Mutated canids and insects. But since the more dangerous chimeras stationed in the deeper levels had been let loose, we might have a bigger party on the way.” “If that was the case, we could just wait for them to kill each other off.” “I asked the other Enforcers about that same possibility myself, but we do not have the time to wait.” “I see… and I am guessing that you are telling me all this because I still owe you and you don’t want me to die before I finish paying you back all my favours etc, etc.” “You don’t sound grateful.” “Oh! Thank you for your kind attention my lady. Oh! How blessed am I! I should yell to the whole world! (Poorly exaggerated happiness)” “Mfffff!!” Sing was desperately trying her best to control her laughter. Nadav on the other hand could only gape at Cadeus as if he just saw something he could not believe. After ceasing his poorly intended acting, Cadeus soon brought up another issue. “Acriscius took all his lackeys with him. Are you going to be fine? Not that I doubt your capabilities, but aren’t the catacombs ten times more dangerous compared to the forests?” “In the first place, those dimwits would never listen to me. Do you think that they are capable of following someone other than Acriscius?” “Not exactly. You’ll be wasting your breath trying to recruit them.” “Exactly. Besides, I already noticed something was off the moment that easy going Enforcer mentioned the catacomb entrance. I brought extra gadgets that I have been saving for big events.” By extra gadgets she probably meant more crystal stuff. It looks like there was no need to worry for her after all. “Hm… just so to let you know, there is no way in hell am I going to let you join us.” Sing instantly shot him with questioning eyes but Cadeus ignored her. “Don’t worry. Even if you begged, I still would not bring myself to clean up your mess.” “Oh? Aren’t you going to say something like ‘You… are the worst, gentlemen, ever. Do you really have the conscious to let a girl like me walk alone in this dark catacomb’? For a second there I thought you might expect something like that out of me.” “It marvels me to no end how could you come up with something like that.” Cadeus crossed his arms and Claire soon crossed hers. “Well knowing you, you always grab someone to help you when you are always alone. Whilst doing so you will definitely exploit any opportunity to make that person cough up more favours to owe you. If said person refuse to work with you, you’ll definitely say something like ‘You… are one incredibly frustrating piece of work, despicable’ etc, etc, making it seem that said person is the usual terrible gentleman of your expectations. Facing no other choice, said person is forced to allow you to tag along and when trouble comes, you’ll definitely stick behind said person and use him as a meat shield.” “Your brain must be a grizzled shit waste of brain juice for you to think that I am someone that low.” “You may be a Greater Noble, but the moment people start working with you they’ll always end up being in debt.” “It’s called owing me a favour!” “Which you continuously stack up to use people whenever you feel like it!” Before they both knew it, Cadeus and Claire ended up staring daggers at each other with their faces just a few inches away from each other. While looking at this extremely unusual exchange, Sing and Nadav initiated a private conversation. “Wow… Cadeus really must be very confident to talk back to a Greater Noble like that.” Nadav whispered. “I don’t know… from the sound of it, they are used to working with each other.” “Strange… I thought he hated her.” “Maybe he was forced to work for her. I mean he has the favours and all that.” “Ah true, true. But still, what is with this messed up relationship? I mean Cadeus could get his assed kicked severely just by talking back to a Greater Noble.” “Well… if you are someone labeled as an imposter by a noble and ended up being hated by almost every other noble, then I am sure that you will definitely show a lack of respect to the very people who wrongly judge you.” “If that is the case, this makes this conversation even weirder. They actually seem rather close don’t you think?” ““AS IF!!”” The two Pure Blooded Dark Mages shot Nadav a threatening look. “Woah… that’s a lot of ice…” The two Pure Blooded Dark Mages ignored the idiot and resumed glaring at each other. In an attempt to break up the argument, Nadav chose the wrong moment to open his mouth. “Well… the catacombs are dangerous so… safety in numbers! Don’t worry, we are very open to new people. You are a beautiful badass noble, I don't think it will be a problem if a badass chick like yourself were to tag along.” Claire raised an eyebrow to Nadav’s strange terminology usage. “… Cadeus, is this vulgar friend of yours trying to hit on me?” “Just ignore him. He’s an idiot.” “Um… Nadav, I think you are missing the point. The problem is not whether if Claire is uncomfortable with us or not…” Sing said. “Eh? Is it not?” Cadeus shot Nadav a warning glare. “Nadav, I swear that if we bring Claire along because of you, I’ll turn two blind eyes away when she uses you as a meat shield.” “Hey! That meat shield death joke is something that only Dark chicks can say! You have no right to say it! Sing! Talk some sense into this guy!” “… I don’t think I am up for a debate regarding meat shields.” “Not that! Convince this idiot to allow the noble chick to tag along!” Sensing further trouble coming out of his mouth, Cadeus sent Sing a silent glare. When Sing saw his gaze, she nodded and knew what she had to do. Grabbing Nadav by the arm, Sing led him to the other side. “Come on Nadav, let’s go.” “Eh? Eh?” “Cadeus will catch up later. Let’s go.” Once Nadav and Sing were out of sight, Claire took a long deep breath before folding her arms in extreme annoyance. “… His lack of proper manners greatly irritates me. Can I sue him for sexual harassment?” “Don't bother wasting your time. No matter how much bad stuff happens to him, he’s the type that will still walk away smiling like nobody’s business.” “So he’s a clown?” “Yes. A clown, as well as my source of examples not to follow.” “Heh…” “Now that I think of it, since you and Acriscius are both here, where’s Davian? Didn’t the Enforcers call him too?” “Hmph! Do you honestly think that workaholic has time for something like this? He’s probably buried himself with complain forms and damage reports to the point of being useless when he’s really needed.” “But does he know what is going on here right now?” “Given the urgency of the situation? Probably not.” “But Davian is from the Student Council is he not?” “What does that got to do with anything? Do you think that the Student Council could afford to get themselves involved in something as discrete as this?” “Not exactly… but won't they be in the know once this case is all settled? I doubt they would stay quiet if they are left out of the loop.” “Let them complain all they want. It’s not like they can do anything to me since I am a Greater Noble.” “The Student Council President is a Progenitor. I doubt she'll let you off.” “A Progenitor of the wrong colour. We do not answer to a Grey.” “Then does that mean you’ll answer to Davian?” “Do you think that fellow has any authority over me?” “… You nobles are so complicated.” Claire ignored him. “So, who’s usually in charge?” “In charge? In charge of what?” “Amongst the three of you, who is the leader?” “No one is exactly in charge. Nadav is just there to lighten up the mood, Sing helps us think of plans, and I’m just here to make sure everyone stays safe.” “Sing?” “Hm? Oh… Sing is Sirena’s nickname.” “Heh… so you even gave that White a nickname…” “What about it?” “You two sound so intimate.” “Well, we’re childhood friends after all.” “Not that kind of intimate. Are you seeing her out?” “………………Huh?” What’s with this unexpected question? “Where the heck did you get that impression?” “Well, compared to that idiotic Grey, you two always seem to be on the same page.” “How does that lead to the assumption that I’m seeing her out?” “You two appear to understand each other with minimum effort. All it takes is a few silent glances and you know what the other person wants. That kind of intimate understanding can only exist within extremely close couples. If you two managed to achieve this not by dating, then what could possibly explain this?” Wow… she’s spot on. I’ll give her that. Now then, how am I going to turn this misunderstanding around? He thought. “Hm… true, I won't deny that sometimes we instantly know what the other person wants. But you are mistaken. The reason why we can do so is not because we are dating, but we just got to know each other too well after all that we have been through.” “All you had been through?” “Yes. Hm… perhaps I can use an example to help you understand this. Did you read the news?” “Occasionally.” “Then there should be an article last month about a dubious mirror that causes distortions in dimensions.” “The one on Gordan’s Mirror? Don’t tell me…” “Yup, me and my two friends were at the very center of it. We were separated from the moment we stepped into the mirror’s field of influence and we were forcefully transferred from dimension to dimension. Since Nadav is totally unreliable, Sing and I had to find a way to establish some sort of contact. We had to find a way for us to know what the other is thinking, how the other would think that way, and how to reply to the other’s thoughts.” “That’s… quite a challenge.” “It was. Well thankfully, the mirror recycles the dimensions it uses, so all it took was finding a way to leave a message at the right place. Once contact was established, we had to figure out a way to counter the forced teleportation so that not all of us would be forcefully teleported at the same time. Then once the three of us are together again, the next step would be how to break out of the cycle.” “Sounds like there was a lot of guess work involved.” “There was. But it was not much of a problem since I can roughly gauge Sing’s thought processes.” “You make it sound so simple.” Cadeus could only shrug his shoulders and rest his hands behind his head. “Well, I knew Sing ever since I was little. If you knew someone that long, it ought to be easier trying to figure out what they are thinking without the need to put in a lot of words.” “Hm… I supposed there’s some element of truth to that, and you are saying that that was one of many episodes where you get to understand that White just based on familiarity?” “Yes.” “Heh… no wonder you two seem to be that close. In fact, dangerously close. People might automatically assume that you two are dating. If you two aren’t dating, you better not make it that obvious.” “… Did we seem that obvious?” Claire chose not to answer him. Feeling that she has wasted enough time, Claire gently swapped her hair to the side with the back of her left hand. “Be careful. The reason why the Catacombs are, as you said, ten times more dangerous compared to the forests is not only because of the chimeras. The enchantments and traps scripted here had the capacity to hold these dangerous chimeras in place. The harm they can inflict to the animals can be applied to us. Make sure you do not let your guard down.” “… Don’t we know it all already?” Without answering him, Claire made an about turn and left for one of the other pathways to the lower level. It would actually be a lot nicer if Claire added a little more emotion to those last words… Cadeus indirectly thought. TOA Cadeus approached his friends who were at one of the pathways leading down to the lower level. “Are we ready to descend?” “Hey Cadeus. What happened to that noble chick?” “She’s not joining.” “Ehhhhhhhh…” Putting the clown aside, Cadeus soon realized that that Sing had been giggling to herself. “What’s so funny Sing?” “Your conversation with Claire.” Her face full of laughter, Sing turned her gaze to Cadeus. “Did you really greet her like that every time you have Colours?” “If I have to greet her like that every time I’d sooner request a transfer to Acriscius’s class.” “Is that so? But you still work with her from time to time. Can you say that you are someone who greatly despises her?” “That was me trying to clear off my favours with her. But for some reason there will always be messy turnouts here and there, and I ended up in owing her more than what she deserves.” “I supposed this is called biting more than you can chew. To owe favours to such a woman… you masochist.” “Huh?” Now that was unexpected. “Why are you saying that?” “Sigh…” Nadav briefly intruded upon this conversation. “What is it now Nadav?” “Why is it that you always hang out with such dangerous chicks?” “Do I look I want to hang out with someone as haughty as Claire?” “Who knows? That noble chick might be the type that satisfies your fetishes.” “Say that again and I promise your face will hit the dirt.” If they could joke comfortably like this it means that they were all set to go. Cadeus brought them all back to focus by bringing up the important questions. “So, who’s going to take point this time?” Nadav instantly raised his hands. “I’m taking the back.” Both Sing and Cadeus stared at him with the hint of warning in their eyes. “You better not go running off when the situation gets hot.” “Oi! Have I ever done that before?” “There is always a first time for everything.” Cadeus sighed. “If that’s the case, I’ll take point. Sing, I have a feeling that it’s going to be dark down there. We’re going to need a light source.” “Got it. Give me a moment.” Sing brought her palm up and made its center the focus point. “[Ender’s Light].” A glowing round sphere of dim white light soon hovered over her palm. Nodding his head, Cadeus soon led them down the pathway. As they walked, the area around them glowed. It should be relatively easy to navigate their way around. TOA “Master, those guys have arrived.” An apprentice reported. “Huh? Which ones?” “I don’t know. But they said that they are the ‘ones with the cart’.” “Ah… those guys. Very well, lead me to them.” At the tenth basement level of the Catacomb, there was nothing but a huge ruined platform linking the ninth basement to the eleventh. There was huge activity at work here, and Fremin was at the thick of it. “Are the paths linking the eighth and ninth level sealed?” “Yes Master. The chimeras should not give us any trouble.” “Good. The teleport circle?” “Done and ready for use.” “How are the runic lights for the backup escape pathways?” “Marked and made invisible except for those who had the runic crest you issued.” “Any news on the Enforcers?” “They are stuck on the fifth level. The chimeras we unleashed should stall us all the time we need.” “Hm… we may need more time though…” The Apprentice led Fremin to a group of suspiscious characters wearing white masks. From the black robes they were wearing they all were Dark Mages. Sitting high on one of the collapsed structures was a shorthaired man in his late twenties. Unlike the others he had no hood and he wore no mask. “Viper. It has been a while.” “Fremin the esteemed Alchemist. I see you are getting busy.” Fremin folded his arms together. “I did my side of the bargain Viper, time for you to do the same.” “Relax. What’s the rush? We are a credible organization.” “Then prove your credibility by showing us our ‘cart’.” Viper snapped his left fingers and the other masked characters soon drew a separate teleportation circle. All it took was a few different runic alignments, an application of magic, and soon a bright light flashed. What appeared on the end circle were stacks of crates, sacks and glass bottles containing numerous Alchemical ingredients. Viper made a gesture to the stack of ingredients. “Here you go, every item that is on the banned list instituted by the High Council. Of course, we also included the additional ingredients in the latest banned list.” Fremin slowly walked towards the stack, the greed very obvious in his eyes. When he verified some of the more potent ingredients, he only made one comment on the ‘cart’. “We need some time to verify everything.” “Of course, I understand. Take all the time you need.” Nodding to Viper, Fremin signaled two of his Apprentices to verify the bulk of the ‘cart’. Viper jumped off the collapsed structure he was sitting on and started walking beside Fremin. “How’s the project coming along?” “We still can’t find the door to the eleventh level. Are your superiors still sure that there is a eleventh level?” “Definitely. The door is shut by complex magic, and the seal prevents it from being visible. Whatever the ancient mages did, the door was concealed well. That is why we need to commit a large corruption ritual to destabilize the seal. Since you are the expert, I trust that you have all the necessary needs to accomplish this.” “Easier said then done. Figuring how to break this seal is going to take a lot more Corruption Magic that we estimated.” “But it should not be a problem right? I mean, you recently got yourself one of the purest conduits for this ritual.” Fremin paused. “… What do you mean?” “I hear that you kidnapped a Pure Blooded Dark Mage.” “Where did you hear such a thing?” “Oh don’t worry, your subordinates all have tight lips. My organization has other means to find that information.” This might be a problem. Fremin had intended for the kidnapping to be a kept a secret since in normal circumstances, attaining a Pure Blood was only possible through apprenticeship. Stacking banned products was a serious offense by High Council Law. But kidnapping an extremely rare Pure Blooded Dark Mage was far worse as you could be instantly punishable by death. Once news got out that he had kidnapped that Pure Blood, the High Council would never let him off. “… What would it take for me to silence your organization?” “Hm…” Viper recollected his thoughts. “Hushing Information is never free, and since we are talking about an extremely valuable Pure Blood, my boss will be charging you specifically.” “How much?” “Well… I’m all for the big digits, but money is of no interest to my boss. My boss wants something else, something you can give that we do not have.” “Then what? An Alchemical ingredient?” “Haven’t I provided you with almost everything you cannot gain on a legal basis?” “ *Exasperated Sigh* Then what does your boss want?” “Hm… what was it again?” Viper brought his hand to his chin in deep thought. “Ah! I got it! If I quote my boss heavily, ‘I want Blood vials, specifically blood from that Pure Blood Fremin captured’.” “… Out of the question.” Fremin could give Viper anything, but the blood of a Pure Blood was one of the purest mediums of magic that had attained legendary status. It was a valuable ingredient that can cost up to millions. Fremin was not going to hand over such a precious item easily. In response, Viper acted familiarity by wrapping his left arm around Fremin’s shoulder. “Now now, you are currently being a little unreasonable. You can extract all the blood you want since you have a source. All my boss wants is just several Blood vials from that Pure Blood for silence. I’m sure you have at least several vials with you at the moment.” “…” Fremin hesitated. Viper was right. He currently had a few vials of blood with him, and there was some element of logic in what he said. What are a few vials compared to a source? Even though Fremin estimated that he might not have that Pure Blood for long, he still would have plenty of time after this incident to extract all the blood he needs. “All right. I have three vials on me at the moment. You’ll only get two vials.” “There’s a good man!” Fremin called for one of the Untouched who brought over a small wooden box. After removing a few enchanted effects, Fremin opened the box revealing three blood vials. Taking one blood vial, Fremin presented the box to Viper. “This box has preservative properties. It’ll make sure that the other two vials are kept in peak condition.” Taking one blood out of the box, Viper brought it close up to his eye. “Wow… amazing. No wonder the boss wants something like this. It’s only in such a small quantity and I can already feel such an intensive concentration of magic…” “Are you done? You can always review it later.” Viper placed the vial back and motion for one of the masked characters to take the box. “Now then… where were we?” “Where’s the door?” “You mean where’s the seal.” “Right… since your organization was the one who wanted to do this, your boss should know where’s the seal.” “Hm… true. Well, you are standing on it.” Fremin looked at his feet to confirm again. There was nothing. There were no traces of any magic. “You’re joking.” “Not true. What I just said came directly from my boss’s mouth, so technically my boss is joking, not me.” “Oi… I thought we are being serious here.” “Now, now. Don't get so uptight. The seal is below us that’s for sure. So what we ought to do now, is to start that Corruption Ritual.” “…Are you sure the safe plan is applicable?” “Hm… well, the safest places amongst all rituals within the circumference and at the center. All we got to do is to apply a White Magic based protective enchantment circle around the ritual casters. Don’t worry, I got White Mages with me. We’ll handle that part for you.” “I still have doubts Viper.” “Don’t worry! I already said it before haven’t I? We all share a risk doing this. Obviously I do not want some unfortunate accident to happen since my boss would have my head if something were to happen to a potential business partner.” “Well… if you put it that way.” “Good! Now that we have this out of the way, let’s start preparing the ritual.” TOA With the light in Sing’s hand, the trio came across a huge section after finishing their flight if stairs. With the thick stonewalls, the section can be easily identified as a tomb chamber. However, there were broken glass panels, old office desks and collapsed cabinet shelves. With the scattered notes and books on the floor, this place had a stronger feel of an office-situated environment. “Is this some sort of abandoned library?” Sing asked. “A library in a catacomb? I doubt it.” Nadav said. Cadeus moved to a nearby desk and took one of the scattered papers. Long days of neglect had left it in a much sorry state. Glancing at a few sentences, the purpose of this room soon became relatively obvious. “This must be a work place the Dark Mutators used.” Cadeus said. “Come again?” Nadav asked. Cadeus passed the paper to Sing. “These are research notes regarding cross breeding two arthropod breeds and enlarging them to harvest a unique magical pheromone.” Both Sing and Nadav soon turned their attention to the paper. “Arthropod… what’s an Arthopod?” “It’s rather obvious you weren’t listening during science classes when we are on Earth. Arthropod is a scientific name used to classify insects, spiders and centipedes.” “If it’s insects then why can’t they just say insects?” Cadeus and Sing both chose to ignore him. When Sing finished glancing through the paper, she asked an important question. “Does that mean that the Arthropods written here are nearby?” “Well… I won’t deny that there’s a high chance. This level might be one of the observation platforms Miss Allis mentioned. It would not be strange that the breeding grounds would be in the next room or chamber.” “Not good… the primary Arthropods arranged for Dark Mutation are Araneae and Formicidae.” “…………Shit.” Perhaps the only one still clueless, Nadav had to open his mouth to clarify the situation. “Huh? What are you two talking about?” “To put it in simple English, the Dark Mutators here were cross breeding spiders and ants, and they are also enlarging them in the process. Meaning to say, there’s a possibility that the Dark Mutators here were creating a colony of huge spiders with an even bigger spider queen.” “WHAT?! AND YOU ARE SAYING THAT THEY COULD BE RIGHT IN THIS CORRIDOR?!” The least intelligent member of the group finally realized the possible danger of the road ahead. Realizing what this could mean, Cadeus instantly shot a warning glance at Sing. When Sing caught his gaze, she instantly knew what to expect. A few seconds later, it happened. Nadav tail turned and bailed out. “SREW THIS SHIT! I'M NOT GOING TO BECOME SPIDER FOOD!!!” “[Blessed Glaze].” “[Electric Pulse].” Splash! (The sound of something big and wet slapping itself onto Nadav’s back) “Oof!” (The sound of a hard landing confirming that there was a slip of the foot due to a sudden slippery floor) BBBBBzzzzzz!!! (The sound of an unfortunate victim experiencing an uncomfortable electric shock.) “Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhnnnnn??!!!!!” Nadav’s body soon jiggled like a jelly on steroids for around three seconds before he stopped moving. To summarize what had happened, Cadeus and Sing had utilized an elemental combination to stop their cowardly friend. While Sing provided the water to ensure that Nadav would make a slip, Cadeus provided the electricity to give Nadav what people would normally call a full body short circuit. Although it was non lethal, this full body short circuit Nadav just experienced should never be compared to the soothing sensations of electrotherapy. “Ha…. Ha… Ha…” “Still feel like running you idiot?” “Cadeus… Ha… Damn you… Ha… and your… Ha… quick thinking… Ha… Do you… Ha… seriously… Ha… want to kill me?” “Sigh… I thought we have been through this already. If I seriously wanted to kill you Nadav I should have let you run off. Given the hugeness of this place you are bound to get lost. When that happens, there’s a high chance some horrendous chimera will find you and tear you apart. Just like what could happen in the forest.” “You… Ha… evil shit.” “Sorry Nadav, but I’m with Cadeus on this one. If we let you off running, it might be the last time we see you.” “Ha… Ha…” Nadav slowly got up. “If there’s trouble and I can’t run because of this, I’m definitely going to haunt you two if I ended up in the afterlife!” “Don’t worry. I’m absolutely confident that you should be able to run after the next fifteen minutes.” The electric shock Cadeus applied in his [Electric Pulse] had minimum voltage. Its effects should wear off moments after It Nadav was back on his feet. For now he should still be able to walk, but regaining the ability to run would still have to wait. Returning his attention to the matter at hand, this chamber only had two exits not including the one they came from. If they were going to proceed further, they need to know which path was the right one. “Sing, could you use your clairvoyance to scour out again?” “I’ll try. What am I supposed to look at?” “Hm…” Cadeus had to be specific, as there were various kinds of Clairvoyance spells out there each with different features. “Then, could you help us create a map of the surrounding area this time?” “All right.” With a flick of a finger, the glowing [Ender’s Light] hopped off Sing’s palm and hovered itself in mid air. Moving to one of the unused desks, Sing swapped off the dust and took out a blank piece of paper from her sling bag. Leaning forward, she placed the paper on the table. With a pencil in hand, she soon placed both hands at the table edge and began concentrating. “[Carving Sight]” After she casted her White clairvoyance spell, Sing’s pupils turned again from her usual brown to a glittering dawn blue. As she focused on the spell, the hand that held the pencil began sketching with absolute precision. Although she was looking ahead, her hand moved with superb speed and accuracy. A few seconds was all it took and Sing jotted down all the neighbouring sectors and chambers. “Ok, here we go.” Sing said. Cadeus and Nadav moved in closer to look. What Sing managed to cover was enough to accommodate for a level within a school block. From their present location, the path to the left led to a dead end whereas the other path will lead them further in. Overall there was only one long stretch of a corridor that serves to connect several dozen chambers at once. The end of the map appeared ambiguous, as Sing did not finish drawing what could be the end of the pathway. “Sing… you did not finish drawing the map.” “Well… let’s just say that currently there’s a limit as to how far I can extend [Carving Sight].” “I see… so you just left the map as it was to indicate that there was something further.” Sing gave Cadeus a wink. “Heh… then it’s obvious which path we should take next… Hey Sing, did you managed to see if there’s anything when you scanned the nearby areas?” Nadav said. “If you are referring to living things and other magical presences, then my answer is a no. [Carving Sight] only allows me to see environmental structures.” “Shit. Then that means we are still going in blind.” “Nadav, how can we be blind if we know where we are going?” “Not that Sing! What I’m talking about is that we don't know what sort of chimera we’ll come across.” “Then you better start praying that we don't come across any.” Sing searched for within her sling bag. “Well boys, if we are going to proceed further, we are going to need something stronger to let us see in the dark. I’ll keep sustaining [Ender’s Light], but that won't be enough in the long run.” When the two boys heard that, they instantly knew what’s going to happen next. “Wait… Sing, don’t tell me… are you going to make us drink that again?” Cadeus asked. Smiling to them, Sing took out three enclosed test tubes each with a purple liquid solution. When he saw that, Nadav gave a cry. “There it is! That suspicious concoction with an extremely weird taste!” Sing passed two of the test tubes out to them with her left hand. “Come on boys. Fremin is not going to wait for us to spring up his favourite drama.” ““…………….”” Slowly but reluctantly, Cadeus was the first to reach out to her fingers and pry the test tube off. Knowing that he could not go up against the two of them, Nadav followed suit and took his own test tube. As the three of them opened the test tube cock, the perturbed odor soon filled the air. “Damn it… why does this has to taste so weird?” Nadav complained. Bringing the test tube to his lips, Cadeus raised the test tube and slowly ingested the contents within. There was the unusual combined taste of blueberry jam and beetroot that was disturbing to the tongue. After swallowing, a burning sensation soon entered his throat. Feeling the magic take effect, Cadeus soon felt his eyeballs squeezing inwards. Once he started feeling more comfortable, Cadeus opened his eyes to see the illuminated changes. Parts of his visage that previously saw black became dawn blue, and the edges of his field of vision became blurred with a whitish circumference. Whatever the case, his sight was improved to match the dark catacombs. With that, the trio followed Sing’s newly made map and continued moving further deeper into the catacomb. TOA Although Sing’s map was pretty well detailed, the trio knew that it only covered one of many sections of the entire level. If every basement floor were part of a huge labyrinth, it would take more than what Sing identified to cover the entire level. If there were one good thing of late, it would be that there were still no encounters with any dangerous chimeras. Soon, the trio approached the end of Sing’s map, the ambiguous unfinished section that failed to discern that goes beyond. Looking up ahead and down at the map he was holding, Cadeus could only voice his discomfort. “That’s strange… Sing’s map dictates that the path should continue, so why are we looking at another dead end?” he said. A wall of collapsed rubble stood in their way. It probably collapsed from a section above. From the looks of it, it was there for quite some time. “Well… it does not matter. All we got to do is to clear the rubble.” Sing replied. Nadav soon jumped and shot a fist into the air. “All right! It’s time for my depute!” ““Ah… there he goes again.”” Cadeus and Sing could only give each other the ‘we might as well let him have his way’ look and watch as Nadav stepped forward. “Time for the Great Nadav to shine in this perfect screen time! Look and behold! The Great Nadav now will instantly clear this obstacle with one single spell! Geh heh~ heh~ I think I already know how to do this.” While they both looked at their clownish friend, Cadeus tilted his head towards Sing and uttered his conscious. “As usual, I get the feeling that things won’t go as he had planned.” “Well… even if things did not work, nothing worse could happen.” “Ah… true.” Nadav got himself ready in a stance shot his right hand out in a punching fist and shouted. “[Boulder Shift]!” All three pair of eyes instantly glued themselves to the rubble before them. Nothing happened. “…” “…” “…” “Wow… it didn't work.” Cadeus voiced the obvious. “HOLD ON A MINUTE! How can this be?! I thought I nailed the spell just as I always did! Did the negative environmental energies of Dark Magic suck out all my magic powers? NNNOOOO!!!!” Nadav soon dropped to his knees and started tearing his hair. “Hey Sing… is this [Boulder Shift] a legit spell?” “Yes… it is. As the name suggests, it's a very simple [Distance Spell] that allows any Grey Mage to move boulders of rocks effortlessly. It really makes me wonder how Nadav would fail to do something extremely easy.” “Now just hold on for a minute! There could be a legit reason why this spell did not work!” “There’s nothing but earth rubbles there Nadav. I just don’t see how you could fail to manipulate the Element you should be so comfortable with.” Sing said. “Just wait a minute. Just wait a freaking minute! There is nothing wrong with the spell!” Blocking out all the noise from his ears, Cadeus moved forward and stared at the rubble. Staring at the map that Sing drew earlier, there were two main things that felt off. First, Nadav may be an idiot, but Cadeus had the confidence that there was nothing wrong with [Boulder Shift]. Second, given Sing’s precision in her clairvoyance, the rubble should have been labeled distinctively on her map. “Hm… if Sing’s clairvoyance failed to identify this rubble, we might be looking at an illusion.” “Yes! That’s it! The reason why my spell failed to work is because there’s no rubble there to begin with! An illusion that’s one of the defensive mechanisms of this Catacomb! Yes, yes, it makes sense!” Cadeus moved up and pressed his hand against the rubble. “That’s strange. If this is an illusion, I would not have felt anything.” “Not true. More powerful illusions can alter all five senses. Since this place was made to contain dangerous chimera, it should not be surprising that powerful illusions are installed to ward off the chimera that were let loose.” Sing added. “Hm… it does seem real and legit. But something still feels off.” “What feels off?” Nadav asked. “I don’t know… Nadav, you are the expert. Come over here and help me find out.” “Eh?” “Just come here and help me out.” “Oh… right.” Nadav moved up and pressed his hand against the wall. “Hm… you are right, there is something funny about this rubble. Now that I really took some time to look at this, I’m seeing a huge stack of rubble before me, but it does not feel as if there is a solid wall in front of me.” “Correct. If this is a powerful illusion, this rubble should have the feel of a true hard wall. But instead…” Cadeus applied pressure on his fingers and they sank into the rubble. “This rubble is brittle.” “Rather than an illusion, Could this be some artificial construct? [Boulder Shift] only works when there are heavy chunks of rocks. If this wall is nothing but a thin layer of dirt, the spell can’t perform properly.” Nadav added. “Hm…” As Cadeus further applied pressure on his fingers, it was not long before he noticed another strange thing. There are white cobwebs in-between the rubble gaps. Pulling a few strands out, it felt extremely sticky. What could this mean? “Cadeus? Is there something wrong?” Sing asked. “Yes… take a look at this.” Cadeus brought the strange cobweb around, and presented it to Sing. “The more I move it, the more my fingers get tangled. Sounds familiar?” “It does… Cadeus, don’t you suppose…” “Yeah…” Cadeus looked at the rubble. “This is not a rubble. It’s a concealed wall made up of dirt and cobweb. It’s probably used by the Arthropods to establish the edge of the colony’s territory.” “You are telling me that the big spiders are at the other side? Right! Let’s not go there and just go somewhere else.” Ignoring the clown who could not contribute anything to the current conversation, Sing and Cadeus thought of the implications. Looking down at the map, Cadeus saw that the straight path was only provided until the chambers beyond this rubble. Any further and they would be out of the map’s jurisdiction. “Should we still go through this way?” Cadeus said. “I don’t know… the colony could be big.” Sing said. “I don’t think so. If you remember what Claire said, the Dark Mutators left this place unattended for a month. Without a stable food source I doubt they have much numbers.” “But the danger is still there. Let’s see if there are any other pathways we could follow.” “Um… why are you two ignoring me?” “Nadav, please keep your mouth shut for a couple of minutes, we can think better if you stop ranting your mouth.” Sing mercilessly mentioned. Being ignored thoroughly, Nadav could only curl up in his knees and sulk silently at a corner. Sing and Cadeus looked at the map again. Other than the straight path provided, there was no alternate path for them to follow. “Could you cast [Carving Sight] again to check?” “The Cast Limit of [Carving Sight] is equivalent to three [Point Spells]. If I am going to keep using it for the next few lower levels, I will hit my Cast Limit faster than I expected. Are you sure you want me to be incapable of casting spells when the situation gets hot?” “Ah… true.” Sketching the entire level was currently out of the question. “Then I guess there is only one way. Forward.” “You want to go through a colony full of giant spiders? Nice, count me out.” Nadav grumbled. “What if there’s nothing in there? For all we know, the spiders could be out here instead.” “… You are joking.” “Would you like to try me?” “…” “Well, since [Boulder Shift] did not work, would you like to try something else?” Cadeus added. “Like what?” To answer his question, Cadeus took Nadav’s palm and wrote the Chinese character ‘Huo’ (Fire) on it with his finger. “Huh? A [Fire ball]?” “It should be easy for you.” “Sigh…” Nadav soon stood up and casted a fireball. The blast was more than enough to clear the false rubble, revealing a much more hideous pathway ahead of them. Webs could be seen at every surface area. It became rather obvious that the following areas had been customarily made to suit the Arthropod colony. “Hey… Do we still have to go through this?” Nadav whispered. Cadeus answered the question by proceeding to walk forward. “Sing?” Sing proceeded to follow Cadeus, leaving Nadav alone behind. Finding the thought of being alone in this catacomb unbearable, Nadav quickly followed them with haste. TOA So far, the webs were only visible at the corners of the pathway. The floor was still quite clean, which probably meant that the Arthropods probably preferred moving on the ceiling and walls. The trio passed by chambers finding absolutely nothing. After walking for more than ten minutes, Sing voiced out her concerns. “Cadeus, we just barely scratched the edge of the colony. Don’t you think it’s strange that we still have not come across a single Arthropod?” “True, it’s strange. But the fact that we still have not met one of the supposed Arthropods probably meant that their numbers were either very low. It’s either that or they were all just somewhere else.” “Um… we are not walking into a trap are we? I had a hard time sleeping after watching that hobbit getting stung unexpectedly from that giant spider in that third movie.” Nadav timidly added. “If you are talking about them sneaking and attacking us from behind, it’s possible, but it’s not likely to happen.” “Why do you think so?” “We are talking about a colony, which probably meant that the Arthropods are sociable. Sneaking and trapping is something more suited to loners on the hunt for their own prey. If we think about it this way, colony members will confront their victims with numbers directly.” “Wow, someone is an expert.” Sing said. “I’m not an expert. I just got this knowledge from watching documentaries.” “Do you think that the Arthropods had probably left to deal with some other threat?” She asked. “Perhaps. I would not be surprised if they are currently dealing with Acriscius. That guy loves explosive spells. I bet the whole colony can hear him from a mile away the moment he starts fighting the scouts.” Cadeus soon stopped in his tracks. The reason was due to the fact that the path before them soon divulged into two. “… Shit. Now where do we go?” Nadav was just behind them when he suddenly saw an overturned gigantic dead spider in one of the chambers. On a closer look, it seems to be dead. “Hey guys… look at this.” Putting the matter of direction aside for now, Cadeus and Sing looked back at him. When they saw Nadav moving to one of the chambers, they could only look at each other and follow suit. When they saw the carcass, the first thing they did was to take note of the size. “Hm… the Arthropod should be just at the height of our waists.” Sing estimated. “Yeah…” Cadeus agreed. “Is it dead?” Nadav asked. “Hm…” Cadeus moved up with a [Fire Ball] in hand and touched the carcass. “Rather than the actual thing, this looks like molted skin.” “Skin?” Cadeus allowed the [Fire Ball] to disintegrate. “Some spiders molt their skin a couple of times before they die. The spider specimen the Dark Mutators used for mutation must have that sort of trait.” Cadeus bent his knees and peeled the heavy hard skin upwards to take a good look at this chimera’s exoskeleton. Like all Arthropods, its body was divided into three primary segments – the head, the thorax and the abdomen. Looking at the head, it appears that this chimera had inherited a set of mandibles and jackknife chelicerae. It had no Antennas, but the eight empty eyes sockets revealed that the chimera probably relied more on its sight. Compared to the other parts of the body, the head seemed to be the most heavily armoured for the bulk of the head above the eyes had a thick protruding shield. From the various documentaries Cadeus had watched back when he was back on Earth, Cadeus knew that Arthropods generally do not have large brains. Instead, the large head contain muscles enabling the Arthropods to utilize their mandibles/chelicerae to deal maximum damage to foes, or lift extremely heavy objects. The thorax appeared to be the smallest section, but it was where all the eight legs were connected. On a closer look, the legs are tightly crowded together, and with the thick armour it probably meant that they were slow moving creatures. Moving fast can only happen for a short period of time. Each of the eight legs had protruding lines of fine hair while their footing had two sharp tips and a hooked claw meant for web spinning. While the legs were an obvious target, hitting the thorax directly would seem to be a challenge for it was well protected by the head’s protruding shield. The abdomen was by far the longest section, but it’s the least protected part of the exoskeleton. The multi-segmented abdomen was light and frail, and the only thing worth noting was an extensive pair of spinnerets. Overall, this Arthropod chimera had inherited a lot from its Araneae parent. “It’s hard on the outside, and it looks like there are multiple layers. Dealing damage is going to be hard. Keeping a distance away from its head would be a wise course of action. Other than that, another possible danger to consider would be poison.” “… That’s not good news.” Nadav said. According to the research notes, the Dark Mutators had started a colony. If this thing was just one of the many workers, then how big would their queen be? Thinking about this, Cadeus dropped the skin and stood up. “We are going to need enchantments. Sing, I think this is where you come in.” “Got it.” Sing knelt down with her legs below her tights and placed her bag in front of her. Reaching within her sling bag, she began an all too familiar procedure. She took out a syringe pack, her blood vial and three rectangular pieces of paste paper scripted with the Zeffernon rune ‘Nilth’. Using the syringe, she made a blood withdrawal and deposited it onto the three papers. Passing Nadav and Cadeus their own slip of paste papers, the three of them soon folded up their sleeves and placed the wet paste paper on their arms. Once the paper had dried, they peeled it off. A glowing blood red mark of the rune ‘Nilth’ could now be seen on their skins. After confirming the mark on all their elbows, Sing took out a book full of various incantations and laid it down before her. With two fingers on her own mark, she used her free hand to flip through the pages until she came across the enchantments she needed. “Let’s see… all right. [Aura Shift], [Glyph of Precision] and [Heroic Might].” As Sing uttered the enchantments and applied White Magic onto the two fingers above her mark, the blood rune ‘Nilth’ soon extended itself downwards and formed three other symbols. These three symbols soon began glowing in the different colours of blue, yellow and green. Looking at their own arms, Cadeus and Nadav confirmed the magic and felt similar effects happening on their own bodies. Now, it looks like there were glowing tattoos on all their arms all brimming with magical energies. “All right boys. With this, my Cast Limit now only has an estimate of fourteen [Point Spells] left. If I am going to last to the end, I am going to have to play passive for a while.” “Sure thing! With Sing’s enchantments we are invincible! Wha ha ha! Leave the offense to us!” While it’s true that Sing’s enchantments provided lots of benefits, Cadeus was not entirely sure if ‘invincible’ was a suitable word. Enchantments work fundamentally different from the more simple [Point Spells] and [Distance Spells]. Like runes, their life shelves were long and once casted they were gradually sustainable for long periods of time. In order for an enchantment to work, you first need a base rune to amplify primary effects, followed by secondary incantations to add improvements. Sing’s enchantment was one of many meant for sharing benefits with multiple party members. ‘Nilth’ was a base runes that had the specific function of linking groups of people together. Since Sing was providing the enchantment effects, she would act as the primary conduit to link the three of them together allowing Cadeus and Nadav to receive similar effects. This was further enhanced since Sing used her own blood as a catalyst. [Aura Shift] enchants the whole body with a layer of magical aura that acts as a repellent to any hostile attacks, which gradually wears itself out by the number of damaged inflicted. [Glyph of Precision] enhances biological movements and spell-casting effects, increasing spell power and accuracy for a fixed duration. [Heroic Might] increases adrenaline rush by a small margin whilst reducing fatigue, enhancing body movements and making spell casting much easier. On the surface, these three enchantments did make them seem invincible, but Cadeus knew that the effects would wear off in time. Since Sing only had around fourteen [Point Spells] before she hits her Cast Limit, Cadeus did not want her to waste more energy on the enchantments. Looking again at the skin left behind, Cadeus realized that the molted skin looked really authentic to be easily passable as the real thing. When he thought of that, another thing came into mind. “Wait… if the skin is still remarkably whole, it must have been molted recently. If that’s the case, then where is the actual thing?” His answer appeared a few seconds later. Nadav was looking behind Sing when he saw something big gliding down. “Oh… shit.” Before the two could figure what he just said, Nadav quickly reached for the earth and equipped himself with his favourite [Rock Fist]. Sing barely had time to react when Nadav’s [Flying Rock Fist] flew past her face. It only took a loud unnatural screech for Cadeus and Sing to get what was going on. Turning around, Cadeus and Sing saw a giant spider struggling to get up. Wasting no time, Cadeus and Nadav quickly placed themselves in front of Sing getting ready to cast their own set of spells. The Arthropod soon got up, and Cadeus saw that it was exactly the same as the empty exoskeleton behind them. But rather than engaging them, the chimera started acting in a curious behaviour; it stood itself upright and started rattling its abdomen. With the numerous segments of its abdomen rattling together, the Arthropod soon generated some sort of noise on a consistent frequency. “What the… what is it doing?” Nadav asked. It took Cadeus a couple of seconds to come up with a theory. “Ants rarely work alone, and when their colony is at risk, they always address the threat using their strength of numbers. If this chimera had that trait mark, it must be using that sound to summon it’s companions.” “Shit! Isn’t that bad for us?” Nadav cried. “Nadav, we must kill it now. The longer that thing makes that sound, the higher the colony will perceive the threat, and more of its kind will come.” “Then what do you suggest we do?” “Keep a distance from its jaws and mandibles. Oh, and watch out for it’s abdomen. Some Ants have the ability to spray poisonous gas or acid to paralyze its victim, and some spiders can shoot out webs from a distance. It’s possible that this chimera had either ability, or both.” “Geh! If we can’t approach its head or even its butt then what can we do?” Cadeus racked his brain for an idea. In the midst if everything, Sing uttered a spell. “Guys, close your eyes now! [Shattering sight]!” Following her instructions, the two instantly shut their eyelids. At first there was darkness, but then a bright orange light flashed. Opening their eyes, the two boys saw the chimera struggling to keep itself upright. Sing must have stunned its eyes with a light elemental spell. “[Lightning Caste]!” Seizing this opportunity, Cadeus casted [Lightning Caste]. The scent of burning flesh filled the air. The chimera staggered, but it was not stunned. Seeing his own chance, Nadav spearheaded the chimera with his remaining [Rock Fist] in hand. “[Drilling Fist]!” Nadav’s other [Rock Fist] soon molded itself into a spinning drill of solidified earth. Stepping deep into the earth in just an inch away from the chimera, Nadav pulled his elbow back and rammed the spinning drill into the chimera’s head. The sound of something smashing and splattering soon resonated in the air. Thick fluids and chunks of translucent flesh flew in all directions. The chimera only had a few seconds to shake before dropping itself dead. In seeing that the Arthropod was dead, Nadav remolded his [Rock Fist] and punched it at the very centre of its disturbing eyes. “You are one ugly son of a – ” Before he could finish, Nadav caught a glance of three more spiders coming his way. All thee were moving quickly towards him on the ceiling and on the walls. “…………………………….Uh oh.” Cadeus and Nadav instinctively moved back a few paces. The mere sight of three enlarged mutated spiders moving towards you could deal a decent amount of psychological fear and damage. Thirty meters became twenty meters, twenty meters became fifteen meters. “Er… Er… Er… What to do? What to do?” “Nadav, use your [Board Quake] to knock them off.” Sing commanded. “Right… Um… [Board Quake]!” With a stomp of the feet, the Arthropod chimeras were knocked off from their respective surfaces. Sing reaches for within her sling bag and took out what looks like a white ball. After exchanging eye contacts with Sing, Cadeus knew what that white ball is and what he should do next. What Sing had in hand was a self made bomb with a flammable smoke composition. Sing twisted her body to the side and threw that ball towards the chimeras. Once that ball exploded, a huge chunk of white powder was dispersed into the air. Cadeus wasted no time opening his palm to gather a fireball in his hands. “[Fire Ball]!” Cadeus threw that fireball into the gaseous complex, and soon an explosion ignited. Nadav instantly raised a wall of earth to provide some cover. After the fire cleared out, he dissolved the wall of earth to reveal three overturned chimeras, all scorched and unmoving. Fearing that more of them might pop out anytime soon, Cadeus quickly account for the most important thing needed for their survival. “Cast Limit check?” “I have roughly thirteen [Point Spells] left.” Sing said. “I’m at eighteen.” Nadav added. “I’m at sixteen.” Cadeus followed. Everything was good so far… Although hitting the Cast Limit was something they had to avoid at all cost, it was not something to be uptight about. With the recovery of energy and stamina overtime, the Cast Limit will gradually go down giving them room to cast more spells. One just had to be careful not to waste spells and make every spell cast count. After reviewing everyone’s casting capacities, Cadeus soon returned his attention to their surroundings. As of now, there were no other chimeras in sight. “… Why are the others not coming?” Nadav asked. “…” “If this was an ant colony, we would have been swarmed by countless army ants by now…” “Maybe they do not have the right numbers to make a full fledge colony. Even if they are busy somewhere else, there should be more than enough chimeras to protect the colony. If the numbers do not match up to our expectations, then it must be a small colony.” Sing suggested. “Well… they were abandoned for about a month to die off on their own. I won’t be surprised if the queen had reduced laying eggs due to the shortage of food sources. If there was anything else, cannibalism might be involved to keep the entire colony alive. Some spiders are known to eat their young after all.” “Ah… right… well let’s not hang around here anymore!” Nadav was just about to make an about turn when Cadeus grabbed him. “We are at the end of Sing’s map. If you go back, you’ll just end up going back to the Enforcers. If Miss Allis is still there, I doubt she will take kindly that you returned alone empty handed. She would either send you back down here, or she’ll force you to go explore some other section alone. Would you want that?” “… No?” “Then stop whining like a baby and help us see this through.” TOA Before long, the trio stumbled upon a huge chamber that was the largest they had come across. Given the activity within the chamber, it seemed to be an important part of the colony. There were numerous web sacks of captured prey all hanging on the chamber walls and ceiling, and about a dozen Arthropod chimeras could be seen busying themselves by sorting out the captured prey. When they saw this scene, the trio quickly sort cover at one of the collapsed rubble. “What the heck is with this place?” Nadav whispered. “I think this might be one of the Arthropod colony’s feeding chambers.” Sing followed. “Does that mean that the Queen’s nearby?” “Not necessary. Ant queens usually have their own chambers. I suspect that the chimera Queen would most likely be somewhere else.” Looking around, Cadeus saw that aside from the corridor they came from, there were two other entrances at the extreme corners. It’s possible that either or both would lead to the Arthropod Queen. Glancing to the side, Cadeus noticed a few more sacks of captured prey. They were dangling in mid air, but reaching out to them would take little effort. On a closer look, there were swords dangling at the edges of the web sacks, and the shape of the sacks resembled round mummified wrappings. It did not take long for Cadeus to realize that these sacks were actually human remains bound in spider silk. Focusing his gaze onto those swords, there was only one thing Cadeus could think of. “Untouched?” he uttered. “Huh? Untouched? Here? Where?” Nadav whispered. Cadeus quietly moved towards the nearest sack and made an attempt to bring it down. Pressing his hands on the stranded cobweb, his hands immediately felt the stickiness of the web. Pulling it down took some effort. After a few strong pulls, the thick strand holding the sack came loose and the sack fell with a ‘thud’. Checking his surroundings, Cadeus saw that the chimeras above were too busy to be interested in what’s going on below. Returning his attention to the sack, Cadeus moved to the head’s area and began prying the silky web open. A man’s face was soon revealed. “Wow… I never expect to find an unlucky guy in here. Is he dead?” Nadav asked. “His skin was pale, but he’s still breathing. This must be a recent catch. If I had to guess, I’d say that he must have been one of Fremin’s Untouched subordinates. He must have been caught when Fremin was making his way below.” “He should count himself lucky. He’s stuck in here for a while and yet the giant spiders still did not eat him. Boy I can imagine them chewing the shit out of him.” “Nadav, technically spiders do not constantly chew to eat their prey. They don’t have the necessary teeth for that. Food is first externally digested by vomiting digestive fluids, with a bit of chewing with their chelicerae, the spiders eventually suck back liquefied meat and vital fluids.” “… That’s disgusting.” “Then make sure you don’t get caught. From what I know, spiders take their time to consume captured prey and they often fail to finish eating everything. Usually what’s left would be a discarded ball of residue.” “… That’s even more disgusting.” “If those ball of residues were not properly disposed off, they are potent causes for the growth of mold and fungi.” “Ok! Stop it! Say anymore of your documentary stuff and you’ll get a punch from me!” Sing quickly shut Nadav’s mouth due to his increasing volume, but the damage had been done. Several of the Arthropod chimeras detected the change in the atmospheric vibrations and they soon directed their attention to the surface below. With the identification of foreign infiltrators, three chimeras soon rattled their abdomen in the same fashion as the previous chimera while the others raced to the bottom. “Eh? AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!! More of them are coming!” The idiot Nadav could only scream. Grabbing the hilt, Cadeus sliced the sword free from the silky web. “Nadav! Sword!” Tossing the hilt to Nadav, Cadeus reached up for another blade. Looking at the blade in his right hand, Nadav suddenly got a renewed sense of confidence. “All right!!! Time for the Great Nadav to shine again! A filthy Lvl 5 giant spider is no match for the Lvl 15 Warrior Mage Class Nadav!” Sing could only give herself a face palm. “… Again he’s getting gaming inspirations out of nowhere.” Slapping his left fingers onto the sword’s rain-guard, Nadav generated a coating layer of red fire. One of the spiders soon came within striking distance. Swinging the blade to the side, Nadav lashed forward. From the moment the blade came into direct contact with the chimera, there was a mini explosion, and the chimera soon found itself being incinerated by fire. In seeing the chimera getting overwhelmed by the flames, Nadav gave himself a broad smile and he threw his left fist into the air. “First strike, and instant kill!” Three more chimeras soon followed suit. The sight of their burning comrade only served to agitate their movements. As he closed the distance, the chimeras began lashing out their deadly mandibles with a painful resonance of clucks. With the enchantment [Heroic Might] glowing consistently in effect, Nadav charged forward with a sudden surge of adrenaline rush. Landing the ball of his right foot deep into the cemented surface, Nadav leaped forward and swung his blade from the left, grazing the first chimera’s mandibles and severing one of its legs. Checking his footsteps, Nadav spun his body in a clockwise direction and redirected his blade to the head of the second chimera. His blade may fail to penetrate deep into the hard exoskeleton, but a large scratch was all he needed. With the third chimera bearing down onto him, Nadav brought his blade low and gave a clean slice upwards, severing the third chimera’s chelicerae and slicing two eyes out in the process. With speed on his side, Nadav had nothing to worry about. All he needed was to sink the blade into the exoskeleton for the fire coating to incinerate the entire body. Once the blade came into contact with the chimera’s exoskeleton, a small explosion soon occurred and the chimera’s body began to burn in fire. All three chimeras soon succumbed to their respective burns and they soon ceased to move. Without turning around, Nadav moved forward and continued to face the following chimeras. Slicing to his heart’s content, a huge grin appeared on the clown’s face. With that kind of smile on his face, it was rather evident that a certain gaming addict was enjoying himself. “Gya ha ha ha ha ha!!!!! One hit! One kill! That’ll be 34xp for each dead giant spider! YAHOO!!!” Growing increasingly concern for their clownish friend, Sing turn her head to Cadeus who was still trying to free the second sword from the sticky webs. “Are you sure we should be leaving him alone out there?” Sing asked. “No need. This is better than him running at the first opportunity to desert.” Pulling the second sword free, Cadeus quickly turned to see a chimera moving towards Sing. With an increasing sense of alarm, Cadeus quickly moved up and coated the blade with a layer of electricity. Swinging a stroke, sword came into contact with exoskeleton. However, something felt off. Although the blade did dealt some damage with a ‘clang’, and the electricity failed to deal any form of damage to the chimera. “Please don’t tell me… lightning does not work on this thing?” The chimera soon raised two of its legs and jabbed their sharp tips forward. One of the legs landed a hit on Cadeus’s left flank, but [Aura Shift] took the damage in his stead and the arthropod’s leg was deflected with a flash of gold. Whilst keeping his distance from the chimera, Cadeus felt an itch on his arm. Stealing a glance at the enchantment mark, Cadeus could see that the glowing symbol for [Aura Shift] underneath his sleeve started flickering on and off. “Shit.” The chimera merely leaned backwards before lashing out with its mandibles. Cadeus barely had time to jump backwards before the mandibles chew into his former position. With the chimera’s eyes before him, Cadeus raised the sword vertically and stabbed into two of the chimera’s eyes. With [Glyph of Precision], his blade never missed. A shriek was all that was needed for Cadeus to confirm that he dealt some damage. Pulling the blade out, Cadeus backed away and shot another [Fire Ball] in the middle of the chimera’s wound site. The blast was satisfactory, but for some reason, it was not as effective compared to Nadav’s fire spells. “What the heck?” The chimera just shook its head and continued lashing out with it’s mandibles. Chewing into [Aura Shift], the mandibles were soon deflected with another flash of gold, but the blast of the impact forced Cadeus to fall on his butt. That was the second hit. With the continuous flickering of the symbol on his arm, Cadeus knew that it was a matter of time before the enchantment would wear itself off completely. Before he could think of any alternatives, Sing rushed forward and placed herself in front. Clenching her right fist, she brought two of her left fingers to the tip of her knuckles. “[Ray’s Light].” Pulling her two fingers to the side, Sing had generated a blade of light from her knuckles. With the chimera bearing down onto her, Sing merely utilized the passive effects of [Heroic Might] using the chimera’s head as a jumping platform. In mid air, she gracefully twisted her body like a ballerina and gave a downward slice. The blade of light sliced through the chimera’s shielded head clean and splattered all sorts of translucent fluids. But that was not all. Even with the chimera dead, Sing did not stop moving. Before her were three more chimeras moving up to defend their colony. With the blade of light still protruding from her knuckles, Sing moved forward with the balls of her feet. With [Heroic Might] consistently glowing in effect, Sing also experienced a surge of adrenaline rush. Aided by magic, her movements increased by three fold. She instantly closed the distance and swung her blade of light against the chimera’s head. Her strikes were not repelled, nor were there any difficulty in dealing damage. The blade of light cleanly sliced through the tough exoskeleton like knife cutting butter. Once she finished swinging that arc, Cadeus saw that the blade of light managed to slice through the head and thorax. As the blade left the exoskeleton, translucent fluids and tissues flew in all sorts of directions. Without pausing, Sing continued increasing her speed. She sliced the second chimera from the side splitting the exoskeleton into two, and finished the third chimera with a stab to the eyes before slicing the blade out. After slicing the third chimera, Sing rotated her body anti clockwise by skidding on the floor to prepare for any possible counter attacks. The damage dealt was far more devastating than she had expected. With such critical damage, the chimeras could no longer function as a capable organism. Returning the attention to himself, Cadeus thought that something needs to be done about the growing number of chimeras. Looking at the broad picture, Cadeus saw that more chimeras were drawn to Nadav more than to the two of them. With Nadav burning the bulk of the chimera rushing to defend the colony, the chimeras had prioritized defeating him. Turning his attention to the chamber entrances, Cadeus saw that the bulk of the chimeras were coming out of the left corner entrance. From his knowledge Cadeus knew that there would be no retreat for these chimeras. Typical of ant behaviour, these chimeras would do all they could to defeat the invaders when their colony was threatened. If they could somehow cut off that entrance, they would not be in such a difficult position trying to fend off the growing numbers whilst keeping the Cast Limit in mind. In seeing that he had a plan in mind, Sing returned to his side. “A Duches for your thoughts?” Cadeus pointed. “We need to cut off that entrance, or we’ll face an endless wave of chimeras.” “The stones are solid thick. We are going to need Nadav.” “Yes… speaking of which, how’s Nadav doing?” Turning to the clown’s direction, the duo soon heard a distant idiotic cry. “Gya ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I'm INCINVIBLEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!” Other than the burning sword in his hand, Nadav was casting multiple elemental spells against the raging chimeras. As he fought, it was clear that Nadav’s [Aura Shift] had faced the worst damage for he was not paying attention to his enchantments during engagement. “He’s just spamming spells without thinking about his enchantments and Cast Limit.” Sing sighed. “He totally lost it. When it comes to fighting that idiot always treat this world like some sort of game. It’s a marvel how he could still be standing there alive.” Cadeus followed. The more Sing watched their clownish friend, the more she could not take it. “Let’s just stop him… at this rate he’s going to bite off more than he could chew.” “If you want to stop him, we best do so after we destroy that entrance. Besides, he seems to be pretty drawn in. Are you sure you want to stop him when he is having his fun?” “What happens if he gets too carried away and wander to a place that’s more dangerous?” “If that happens he will wake up and run back here.” “Cadeus, I appreciate the thought, but quit messing around and help me wake this idiot before something terrible happens.” Knowing that he just trended upon her level of patience, Cadeus quickly brought his hands up in the gesture of surrender. “All right, all right. Don’t get mad.” Sing forgave him with a smirk. “So, chamber entrance. How do you want to do this? As far as what I can see, the polished stone around it are quite thick.” “Hm… what are the chances of that entrance caving in?” “I wouldn’t recommend it. If we set off an explosion within the chamber there’s a chance that the ceiling might collapse onto us. This place seems old enough for such things to happen. “The ceiling might collapse…” Cadeus soon had a brain wave. “That’s it. We don’t have to destroy the entrance. We can just cave in the corridor beyond the entrance.” Sing merely blinked her eyes in response. “What? Is it no good?” “No. It was a good plan, but how exactly do we do that while there were still chimeras coming out of the corridor?” That’s right. Even if they had the plan, there’s still the crucial matter of the continuous wave of chimeras pouring out of the entrance. But Cadeus already had an idea to address that issue. “Well that should be simple. We could your white bombs.” When Sing heard that, she had her doubts. “Eh? You want to use those? That can be risky you know? There’s a chance that the powder could spread into this chamber. If we ignite the powder under that circumstance, the impact might affect the architecture of this chamber.” “Don’t worry. If we utilize the Element Wind, we can prevent that risk from happening.” This idea might not be the best, but there’s no other alternative. The plan had its risks, but Sing still decided to trust him anyway. “How many bombs do you need? I only got five more on me.” “Two should be fine. We just need to concentrate the powder in one location. But first.” “Hm?” Cadeus pointed to the ceiling. “We need to take out those three chimeras sounding the alarm.” TOA Even though they could cut off the rest of the colony by caving in the entrance, their efforts would be meaningless if there were still chimeras rattling their abdomens. The rattling vibrations would still draw other chimeras to their position though other corridor passages. Once the nearby chimeras detect the rattling, it would respond to the defensive mechanism by spraying a leading pheromone. As more chimeras poured from the main entrance, the pheromones leaking from their abdomens would only serve to draw others to help their cause. That in turn would cause the others to leak more pheromones. The stronger the pheromone trail, the more the chimeras would follow. In order to resolve the current situation, Cadeus and Sing must take out the source for the call of reinforcements. The colony would only stop sending in defenders once the rattling stops. Since Sing currently had a low count of spells she could cast, Cadeus offered to do the honours again. Even if he knew that his elemental spells somehow did not have a lot of effect on the chimeras, the priority was to dislodge the three chimeras from the ceiling. If he managed to kill them, it would be a good bonus. Since these chimeras proved to be more resistant to electricity, Cadeus opted for the Element Fire. Gathering the magic first into his palms, Cadeus molded that energy in his head and casted the spell. “[Bolt Barrage].” Throwing his fingertips into the air, five bolts of fire exited from his palm and surged up towards the ceiling. The fire blasts were not enough to kill off the three chimeras, but it was more than enough to dislodge them from their webs to make them fall from the ceiling. Once they fell to the ground, they ended up getting mopped by Nadav’s delusional gaming impersonation. With that out of the way, Sing passed Cadeus two white bombs, and Cadeus gathered himself. Nodding to Sing, he twisted his body and threw with all his might. When he did, a spiraling surge of wind flew straight past above his head. It intercepted the two bombs in the air and guided them straight to the corridor past the chamber entrance. All Cadeus need was to hear an explosion and see the white mist, and he immediately threw a [Fire Ball] in the right direction. A huge explosion followed and the corridor collapsed, rock and rubble squashing chimeras and cutting off the entrance. TOA With three more smacks with [Rock Fist], Nadav finished the last chimera currently at his attention. He was just about to see if there were any more when Cadeus grabbed his arm tightly. “Huh?” “Stop… just stop.” “Oh… sorry.” Coming back to his senses, the Adrenaline rush receded and Nadav could think straight again. “Sing, please see if you can do something about his enchantments?” Cadeus asked. “I’ll try.” Sing merely just placed the same two fingers at the tip of the blade of light and shelved it by pushing the tip back to her knuckles. “Nadav, show me your mark.” Pulling up his sleeve, the enchantment marks appeared to be scorched badly. The glowing symbols were dim and weak to the point where it looked like they could be extinguished any minute. “Sigh… why is it that you always do not think about the enchantments that I give you?” Sing complained. “It’s all right Sing, your enchantments are always too passive for me to take note of. Besides, this is not the first time for this to happen.” Nadav cheerfully replied. “Don’t you see that that’s precisely the problem?” “Why is it a problem?” “… I give up.” Placing two fingers on the ‘Nilth’ mark, Sing rejuvenated the enchantments by applying more White Magic. On the other hand, Nadav made a gesture towards the numerous dead chimeras and started blabbering his mouth like a kid showing off his scoreboard. “Did you both see that? I killed all those chimeras!” “Yes Nadav, we can see that.” Cadeus reluctantly replied. “I got a killing streak, so that means that the score’s going to be doubled. So in total that’s… 2744xp!!! Wait… that does not make any sense… how did that online MMO calculate killing streaks again?” “Oh dear, the adrenaline rush is gone and this clown is still thinking about games?” Sing sounded like her disbelief was developing into despair. In an attempt to wake up his friend, Cadeus opened his mouth and rebuked his friend. “You idiot. Have you spared a thought about your Cast Limit? How many more spells can you cast when we have to face the queen?” “……………………………………………Oh.” Realizing that he had forgotten to save his spells for the not-yet-final boss fight, Nadav immediately sat down in a meditation stance. “Hey! What are you doing? I am not finished with your enchantments!” “Shit! Ok guys, wait here, I’m going to meditate to recover my mana!” “Have you gone delusional to the point where you even forget your classes? There’s no such thing as mana you idiot.” “EEEHHHHH? No mana? Then how do we cast spells again?” Tired of hearing his friend’s nonsense, Cadeus clenched a fist and punched it into Nadav’s face. As of the Triumphal Verdict of 1289, the definition of the word ‘mana’ as a source of supernatural powers was officially scrapped from the magic encyclopedia. This was the result of an accumulative set of conclusions drawn from studying the relationship between ‘mana’ and magic. The cause for such an occurrence was due to the varying definitions of ‘mana’ that led to much confusion in regards to its possible relationship to magic. Throughout history, ‘mana’ had been portrayed in numerous cultures. Many of which had the similarity of accepting ‘mana’ as a spiritual energy, or more specifically a paranormal force that can exist in places, objects and organisms. In an attempt to understand this strange similarity to magic, many mages had attempted to study the subject. Studies had often linked ‘mana’ closely to magic, resulting several hypotheses. Some assumed that ‘mana’ is a form of magic, others assumed that ‘mana’ provides magic, and a selected few even termed ‘mana’ as the lighthearted magic. Hence, the Intellectuals embarked on a long quest of research to prove the accuracy of the existence of ‘mana’ and it’s possible relationships with magic. However, as more research was directed into the origins of ‘mana’, the Intellectuals were soon convinced that ‘mana’ had nothing to do with magic. The first breakthrough in research that brought about the conviction was this; even if ‘mana’ were to exist as a paranormal force, it was not something a mage could use as a source for magical powers. Firstly, for ‘mana’ to be a source of magical phenomenon, it had to be drawn from a specific part of the body to be molded and used in accordance to the mage’s imagination. Countless research had been made into trying to discover which part of the body produces ‘mana’. Even if certain biological sites within the body could be said to produce ‘mana’, it was not an energy that could be easily manipulated as compared to the magic within the blood. In fact, the Intellectuals found it difficult to determine if the Mage was indeed using ‘mana’ or the magic directly from his own blood. Since the standard procedures of casting spells were all from the result of using magic within the blood, it was impossible to develop a casting procedure that could replace blood with ‘mana’. As a result, the Intellectuals could only conclude that ‘mana’ could be seen as a life force, but it was not a supernatural power usable by mages to create a magical phenomenon. This soon led to a second breakthrough, which primarily raised the fact that ‘mana’ was never the cause of any physical manifestations. One important property of magic was that there would always be physical manifestations of the immaterial. Since a Mage could not even use ‘mana’, there was no sample case of a phenomenon that could be caused by ‘mana’. Even though there were accounts of people using this life force to better circulate and condition the body, it all counted as advanced physical therapy, not magic. As such, the Intellectuals soon concluded that ‘mana’ could be seen as a form of energy, but there was nothing to support any conjecture that ‘mana’ was directly involved in the creation of a phenomena. ‘Mana’ was not a magical source, hence it was not related to magic. This could only force the Intellectuals to acknowledge ‘mana’ culturally as a spiritual energy, but not an energy that could be used to create a magical phenomenon. This further separates ‘mana’ from magic, and the continuous failure to link the two would only serve to prove that the definition of ‘mana’ as a source of supernatural powers was nothing but fallacious. In the light of more research, the Intellectuals discovered a paradoxical attribute of ‘mana’. According to the various cultures, ‘mana’ was suggested to be an energy that should be universal. This meant that it was an energy that could be utilized by anybody. If one went by this definition, ‘mana’ could be seen as a constant universal source of power that could not be divided nor classified. This soon brought up the troubling concern that ‘mana’ did not fall into either one of the three colours of magic. The three colours of magic were vital to determine a mage’s strengths and limits. If ‘mana’ could not be categorized in accordance to the Absolute Rules of Magic, it could not be judged as a source of supernatural powers. With such conclusive evidence that ‘mana’ had no connection to magic, the Intellectuals collated all their research and made a valid statement that the definition of ‘mana’ as a source of supernatural powers was ultimately wrong. Hence, ‘mana’ was officially removed from the magic encyclopedia ever since the Triumphal Verdict of 1289. Lying down on the floor, Nadav was just about to rise up to protest when a small tremor shook within the chamber. “What the… an earthquake?” Nadav exclaimed. Sing shot a worrisome gaze towards Cadeus. “No Sing, this is definitely not from us collapsing that corridor. If our actions were the cause of it, we would have been buried long ago.” The tremors were continuous. But as Nadav paid more attention, he noticed that there was something odd. “Guys… the tremors were inconsistent.” “Inconsistent? What do you mean?” “If we are talking about some earthquake that will cause cave ins, the tremors will resonate consistently from a single source. But I am sensing tremors coming from multiple sources.” “Meaning to say that there are small explosions here and there that caused the tremors right?” “Yes, and…” Nadav pointed. “The tremors are coming from over there.” What Nadav ended up pointing at was the corridor from the other corner entrance. From the weak tremors, the explosions must have occurred somewhere deep within the other side. “Magic is thick in the air. Someone is casting spells.” Sing uttered. “Probably someone engaging the chimeras. Well whoever it is, they either belong to Fremin or they belong to us. We might as well find out who they are and which side they are on.” Cadeus followed. Cadeus dropped his sword. He won’t be needing it against other mages. Nadav followed likewise. “What happens if they belong to Fremin?” Nadav asked. “Then we can either roast them, fry them or knock them out before handling them over to the Enforcers.” TOA When they arrived at the scene that caused the tremors, the trio saw a surprising sight. Like the previous chamber, this one also had three entrances linking three different pathways. But that was not all. The Arthropod chimeras were turning on each other. Wait… scratch that. The Arthropod chimeras were fight against what appeared to be crystallized versions of themselves. A huge group of living, biological chimeras were fighting against seven crystallized chimeras. Crystallized chimeras made entirely out of translucent energy crystals were engaging the living defenders, and it was obvious which side was winning. As the biological chimeras chewed into their crystal counterparts, the crystals that came into contact with the mandibles soon exploded. Facing a direct blast into the face, the biological chimeras were quick to loose their heads. By the time every living chimera was dead, the seven crystallized chimeras soon replaced broken limbs by fusing with each other, such that by the end of everything, there were five crystallized chimeras. Cadeus assumed that they would be targeted next, but when the crystallized chimeras registered their presence they just stood still, as if they were programmed to do so. “What the… what just happened?” Nadav asked. Looking closely at the crystallized beings, Cadeus knew who exactly might be the mastermind behind all of this. “Tch. It’s her again.” “Who?” Cadeus turned around. “Never mind. Let’s just turn around and forget that we ever saw this.” Just as when he was about to walk away, a purple crystal bird landed on his head before jumping onto his shoulder. Looking at the bird, it did not take long for him to hear approaching footsteps belonging to a certain haughty noble. “Oh my, oh my. Given the circular architect of the catacombs, I thought that I would bump into Acriscius by now. Who would have thought that I would first meet up with you of all people?” Looking back to the voice’s source, the first thing Cadeus saw was three hovering [Fire Balls], and there stood Claire Rrogust ve Chroma with another crystal bird on her right shoulder. When she stopped at a distance, she folded her arms and stared at Cadeus with an indifferent look in her eyes. As she appeared, the five remaining crystallized chimera returned to their master’s side. When Nadav saw her, he pointed at her and gave a large cry. “Ah!!! It’s that noble chick Cadeus utterly failed to persuade into joining us!” Cadeus and Sing instantly shot him a warning glare, but the damage had been done. “… I am definitely going to sue him once this is all over.” Claire uttered. Sighing for his friend’s stupidity, Cadeus walked up to her. The crystal bird on his shoulder reminding him how much Claire would love to see him under her mercy. The first thing he did, as usual, was not to greet her. Instead, his gaze went to her crystallized chimeras. “First crystal birds, now an enlarged Arthropod chimera. Do you want to start some sort of collection?” “More or less. I wouldn’t mind adding you to my collection if you still don’t watch your manners.” “Oh wow. If that happens will I expect to see a crystallized version of myself?” “If that happens, the crystal will replace you and I will be liberated of your rudeness.” “… Ouch.” “That’s right. So consider yourself blessed for still being alive under my presence. Aren’t you fortunate you are dealing with a very tolerant noble?” And there she goes again with her usual self-centered thoughts. Cadeus had to shake his head to ward off the words that could not be processed. “So where did you come from?” he asked again. “Where else? From behind.” Claire pointed with her thumb. “How far have you ventured?” “About enough to cover for a section of Carmith’s Street.” If that were the case, the sections Claire came from would have already been cleared. “What about you?” “Well, we came from one long stretch of a corridor only to hit a huge chamber that turned out to be one of the chimera’s feeding grounds.” “And you managed to get out alive? Oh wow, it looks like you are tougher than I thought.” “You already know it. You’re just exaggerating for no good reason.” Claire chose to ignore him. “All right, you seem to know something about these chimeras.” “What makes you think that?” “Just earlier, you mentioned ‘enlarged Arthropod chimera’ when you could have easily said that it’s a giant spider. No matter how one looks at it, that is a research term people use only when they had prior knowledge to research notes. You definitely must have come across one of the research rooms that uses this level as an observational platform.” Cadeus cursed his own carelessness. Now she’s going to demand information. Knowing that he could not keep any thing of relevance from her, Cadeus could only shrug his shoulders and explain. “The Dark Mutators here were cross breeding spiders and ants to harvest some sort of pheromone. In order to get a bountiful harvest they enlarged the chimeras in the process.” When Claire heard that, she gave a bored look that told Cadeus that this was nothing new. “I see… well this is something of the ordinary.” “So, if the paths we both came from were cleared, that would leave…” The two Pure Blooded Dark Mages turned their eyes to a path that they had yet to venture. When Nadav and Sing deduced what they were thinking, Nadav let out a sigh. “This place is a damn maze. How can we ever get to the end of this?” “It’s called a catacomb and a labyrinth to begin with Nadav.” “That’s the whole problem. If the Enforcers knew that this place would have been a damn maze, then why the heck did they not prepare any map to begin with! In the first place, there should have been some form of blueprint or structural layout to this place when they made it! Shouldn’t the Enforcers provide us with a map so that it’ll save us the trouble of exploring? Aren’t we in a freaking precarious situation where time is precious?” This sudden burst of logical knowledge coming out of the clown’s mouth generated shock amongst the three who were there to witness it. “… Cadeus, could it be that your perverted friend here is a hidden genius?” “Oh no. Don’t say it like you really mean it. Now that idiot is going to take your word for it and start thinking that he’s really a genius.” True to his word, Nadav soon stood up straight and assumed a self-advertising pose. “That’s right! As that hot noble chick stated, I am a genius! I am the brain that kept this entire group going. So come! Claire Pocusk de Roma! Join us and – Bluehhhhhh?!” Before he could say anything more stupid, Claire snapped her fingers and the five crystallized chimeras soon charged and mowed down the idiot. “… I can't believe he even got my name wrong.” “That’s his own fault. I already warned him to remember your name.” Sing went to help Nadav up, and while she was at it she rejuvenated his enchantments. While that was all happening Cadeus decided to get some information. Putting the idiot aside, Cadeus brought up another matter. The matter about how his elemental spells did not have much of an effect against these chimeras. “Claire, did you find that there’s something wrong about these chimeras?” “Don’t state the obvious imposter, it makes you look stupid. Be more specific.” “These chimeras are more resistant to elemental [Point Spells] casted by Dark Mages. Don’t you feel there’s something like this along the lines?” “Well… I don’t deny that possibility. After all, this place had a large density of Dark Magic. I won't be surprised if these Arthropods are indeed resistant to our magic. But it does not matter. It’s not like they are immune to Blood Gifts.” “You mean your crystals.” “Yes.” In order to demonstrate her point, Claire walked up to one of the living chimera carcass. Raising her hand, she stopped short of a few inches and positioned her palm directly above the carcass. And then, Cadeus witnessed it. A dark purple mist gathered around her hand, and she unleashed it upon the carcass. Claire’s purple mist spread itself out and enveloped the carcass totally. While he watched, the exoskeleton surface that came into contact with the purple mist soon started crystallizing. By the end of the procedure, the purple mist dissolved revealing a functional crystallized chimera. “Claire… what did you just do?” Claire turned to look at him with an indifferent gaze. “You still can’t tell? That was my Blood Gift. My Blood Gift generates a purple mist that corrupts living flesh and crystallizes them into crystallized beings. They possess some level of intelligence to act as sentries, but they still need instructions from their masters to act properly.” It took a long while for Cadeus to process this. What Claire just used was strongly similar to the black mist he possessed. If her purple mist is her Blood Gift, would that imply that the black mist count as a Blood Gift? Shaking his head, Cadeus turned to the unexplored path and returned his thoughts to the current issue at hand. “Given the fact that we are still in the exterior of the chimera colony, I have a feeling that we might soon encounter the Arthropod Queen.” “Well, the Enforcers told us to clear this level anyway. Encountering the queen is something that’s unavoidable.” Claire agreed. “Is there a way for you to use your crystallized familiars to scout the areas ahead?” To answer his question, Claire snapped her fingers and the crystal bird on Cadeus’s shoulder flapped its wings before taking into the air. When it flew into the unexplored corridor, Claire reached for her pocket and took out a palm-sized crystal. Peering into the crystal, Cadeus saw what Claire saw, a bird’s eye view of the neighbouring passages. As the bird continuously revealed the following chambers, Cadeus thought about writing all of these details down on another paper. With the thoughts of making another map, Cadeus turned to Claire. “Hey wait… don’t we need to write all these passages down on a paper?” “There’s no need. This crystal has a storage capacity that saves all structural layouts revealed by my familiars. All I need to do is this, and…” After twisting the crystal to the side, the crystal soon projected a mystical 3D image showcasing all the known pathways within this level. As her crystal bird continued to scour ahead, the mystical image slowly extended. “Oh, since you came from the other side, why don’t you tell me where does your corridor lead?” “Sure. Ok this entrance leads to a feeding chamber that had three entrances to three coridors. One corridor collapsed… the other leads to many other small chambers over here… then we have the research lab at the end… and then the stairs to the upper level where we came from.” As he directed the layout, the mystical image slowly shaped itself to his description. When he finished updating the crystal, Claire suddenly gave a small cry. “Ah!” “What?” “I think I found the queen.” “…Eh?” Cadeus edged closer and stared into the crystal. And there it was, a large Arthropod chimera four to five times the size of the usual chimeras they had faced. It’s currently laying eggs in a transparent bubble sac. From its size, it’s going to take a lot of effort if they really need to bring this down. “Shit… it’s big. Where is this?” “It should be about here.” Claire pointed at a large distinctive chamber isolated from the rest of the labyrinth. There were four corner stairways leading down to this chamber. Other than that, there were no other leading pathways to it. “Hm… that’s not that far off from here. It looks like Acriscius is totally on the other side.” “Did I just sense that you wished Acriscius would be there to help us? I thought you hate Acriscius to the bone.” “I won’t deny that I hate him. But I won’t deny that we could really use his help either. Even if it meant keeping our distance from each other in the process.” “Heh… so you are not so uptight as I thought.” “What do you mean by that?” Done with their own business, Sing and Nadav moved back to the two Pure Bloods. “So what’s going on?” Nadav opened his mouth. “Have you gotten back your senses?” Cadeus said. “Oi! That’s mean!” Cadeus sighed. “So what’s going on?” Sing asked this time. “We found the spider queen.” “EEEHHHH!!!! Where?! Where?!” “She’s not here you idiot. Claire’s crystal bird found her in a different chamber.” After a few more seconds, Sing had Claire’s crystal in her hand, and the two childhood friends were gluing their eyes into the crystal. “Wow… she’s big. Is she laying her eggs? Oh dear… they all look so cute~! The chimeras all look so small in there. This really feels like I’m watching an ant documentary.” Sing uttered. “… If she’s like four times bigger than the others… how do we beat her? Her HP must be very high… at least 156300 points…” Leaving the two to their own thoughts, Cadeus returned his attention to Claire. “Could you send another bird to look for Acriscius?” “I already did that. So far that bird has been hitting dead ends and it had to restart at numerous checkpoints. Wherever Acriscius is at this point, it’s clearly somewhere unreachable at the moment.” “Have you tried using the Caller?” “The Caller only connects us to Miss Allis.” “… How disappointing. They could have linked us all together.” “They should have. It’s called professionalism. The more I think about this, the more I suspect that it’s probably that female Enforcer’s way of pulling our legs.” “Miss Allis?” “She seems the type to do this sort of things.” “Ah… true.” Poor Miss Allis, her frivolous attitude had led to many unfavourable opinions amongst the nobility. “If it is just going to be the four of us, we need a thorough plan to take out the queen.” “Excuse me? Since when did you assume that I would be joining you?” “Then what? Are you going to tank the queen all by yourself? I thought you are a smarter person than that Claire.” “Who says I’m going to take the queen? “Then do you honestly think the three of us could handle it? We just barely survived out of the consideration of preserving our Cast Limit in case things with Fremin got hot.” “And who said that Fremin is someone for you to handle? The Enforcers want Fremin, not you. Why do you even have to spare a thought about saving your Cast Limit for the likes of him?” “… Let’s just say I owe him a punch to the face.” Claire blinked her eyes three times when she heard that. “For what?” “For our attempted kidnapping yesterday.” “You were kidnapped? By Fremin?” “… Yes. We only got out because we got that Caller from Miss Allis.” “I see…” Claire spent a few moments in deep thought before she made a decision. “Well good for you, I changed my mind.” Cadeus blinked his eyes. At first he wondered why she would just change her mind like that, but he soon remembered that Claire had this tendency to switch her decisions whenever she felt like it. But still, he felt slightly uncomfortable. “... Why the sudden change?” “Would you rather I not help you?” “Well…” Putting all possible ulterior motives aside, Cadeus could not afford to let her walk away right now. “All right. I gratefully accept your help.” “An excellent reply.” “Do I still have to owe you?” “Of course?” “…” Claire took out a notebook and flipped to a page that had his name on it. “That makes five favours in total.” “You even recorded it in a handbook?” Sing and Nadav went to Claire to return her the crystal. “So what’s the game plan?” Nadav asked. “Claire is going to join us to take down the queen.” Cadeus replied. When they both heard that, the look on their faces soon developed into serious shock. “Cadeus finally convinced the noble chick to join us?! Why the sudden success? Did Cadeus finally capture the heart of – wwww mmmm vvvv wwwww? ” Before things could get seriously out of hand, Cadeus and Sing quickly pressed their hands onto his mouth. Stealing a glance at her, Cadeus saw Claire was just able to maintain her indifferent look with a few twitches to the eyebrow. “… Please ignore what he just said.” “I will, but I’m only doing it for my own sanity.” “Thank you.” “But I’m still going to sue him once all of this is over.” TOA HHIIIIIEEEE!!!! (Arthropod Shriek) BOOOOMMMM!!!! SNARL!!!! (Sounds of chimeras fighting) … There was no need to fight at all. Ever since Claire joined the team, her crystallized chimeras were doing all the work. Even if the crystallized chimeras would get damaged, Claire would either use her Blood Gift to repair them, or she could just create more crystallized chimeras. Since Claire had her crystal familiars, she offered to take the lead. Although it may seem highly contradictory to her usual haughty character, she did it for the sake of avoiding Nadav’s incomprehensible ranting. Even if she could still hear his nonsense, Claire decided that she would feel better if she did not have to face such a clown. Thanks to that, the situation was developed in such a way that the trio could just sit back and relax. Realizing that there was nothing he could do, Cadeus could only take a deep breath and welcome the change. Feeling that someone was tapping his shoulder, Cadeus turned around to see Sing. “Yes?” “You sure look relaxed. Don’t you feel out of place?” Sing said. “Even if I would feel out of place, there is nothing I could really do. Besides, with this, our Cast Limit can cool down automatically.” “Ah true…” Even when she brought up a conversation like this, Cadeus could tell that Sing had something else in mind. “All right, hit me.” “Eh?” “You wanted to ask me something else.” “Oh dear… it seems we got an esper amongst us.” Sing giggled before placing her hands behind her. “Satisfy my curiosity.” “All right, what are you curious about?” “Two things. First. Initially, you are strongly against Claire joining us. But now you invited her?” “Can you come up with a better idea as compared to just the three of us against the queen?” “I thought so… all right. Now secondly, even if you had the change of heart to bring Claire along, how did you managed to convince her to help us? As far as what I can understand, this is definitely not a case of noblesse oblige.” “Well… to be honest I did not know what happened myself. Claire just changed her mind on a whim.” “What did you say?” “I told her of our apparent kidnapping, and then for some reason, Claire changed her mind.” “Just like that?” “Just like that. Well… of course I have to owe her another one so…” Cadeus immediately shut his mouth when the look on Sing’s face turned into a disapproving glare. “You really do not mind owing her favours do you?” “You think? Do I look like I enjoy owing her faovurs?” “If you hated it then why do you keep owing her favours?” “It’s… it’s complicated.” “…………” Feeling the pressure from her gaze, Cadeus directed his sight away only to see Nadav giving him an awful sneer. When he realized that the clown was not going to offer any assistance, Cadeus could only gesture his hands up in surrender. “I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful in future.” “That’s what I wanted to hear.” With Sing giving him a forgiving smile, Cadeus turn around. Looking at how Claire could use her blood gift so easily and effectively, Cadeus raised a question. “Hey Sing, Blood Gifts do not normally take a lot of Cast Limit to cast. Do you know why?” “Well, for as far as I know, Blood Gifts are an atypical form of magic that takes distinctive roots within a person’s blood. They are a separate category as compared to the usual spells we use. Normally people who share the same colour of magic could use the same spells. However, the common spells we use are all created from raw untempered magic. Hence, it takes a considerable portion of one’s Cast Limit to cast a spell due to the molding process prior to casting. Blood Gifts on the other hand were already deep rooted inside the blood, so it is already processed magic the instant one wishes to use it. As such, Blood Gifts are said to be entirely personal, and only a very small number of people can share the same Blood gift.” “Heh… not only is she good looking, she has the brains too. No wonder the Educators called you a role model student.” The two looked to see Claire listening into their conversation. Since her attention was not entirely on her chimeras, she must have left them into their automated mode long ago. Feeling bored, she must have joined their conversation conveniently to relieve some boredom. “The White’s correct. Since Blood Gift is magic already processed, there is no need to spend any additional effort to mold it since the magic is already ready for use. Thus, it does not require a considerable portion of Cast Limit to mold Blood Gifts into reality.” “Heh… no wonder it seems extremely natural for Blood Gifts to be used effortlessly.” Cadeus commented. Claire continued her explanation without stopping. “However, such convenience comes at a price. Blood Gifts are easily subservient to change due to their genetical affiliations. You need to be born with a specific set of DNA in order to possess the ability to manipulate a specific Blood Gift. That is why Bloodlines are extremely important in our society.” From the very instant she touched the word ‘bloodlines’, she shot a stabbing gaze towards Cadeus. Cadeus deduced that that must have been a retaliztive comeback against his lack of interest to take the idea of lineage seriously, but he chose to ignore it. With all these information in mind, Cadeus brought up a related question. “So long story short, a Blood Gift is processed magic within our blood. Does that mean that anyone can possess a Blood Gift?” “You clearly did not listen to what I said earlier you imposter. You need to have a specific set of DNA to manipulate a specific Blood Gift.” “I heard what you said clearly, but does that mean that ordinary mages can have Blood Gifts?” “No. Normally they can’t.” “Why?” “That’s because ordinary mages had too much variety of genetical makeup regardless of lineage, especially when they are all Mixed Bloods.” “What does being a Mixed Blood got to do with it?” “Everything. Imposter, what is the third Absolute Rule of Magic?” “What colour of magic you gain is dependent on your blood.” “And what does that mean?” “What colour of magic you receive is entirely dependable on your parents. This is to say that parents determine the colour of magic in the offspring’s blood, and the potency of the offspring’s colour concentrations.” “That’s right. If we look further into this Absolute Rule, one variable interpretation of it is that what kind of magic you gain is dependable on your parents. This interpretation explains and determines your chances to inherit the Blood Gift. Coming back to the issue of Mixed Bloods, Mixed Bloods had a greater pool of genetic makeup that deeply affects their ability to cast magic, especially since each parent had two different colours of magic in their blood. When two different sets of genes are crossed together where each set shared two different colours of magic, it only creates a larger pool of genes that could possibly be inherited, and not every gene can be inherited from the parent. Hence, there is a huge ambiguity in terms to the possible traits an offspring could inherit.” “What about the cases of Mixed Bloods that do develop Blood Gifts?” “True, I admit. There are cases of Mixed Bloods attaining Blood Gifts that are unique even to us Pure Bloods, but it’s not an ability that could be inherited consistently over the generations. With such an inconsistency of inheritable traits, it is hard to determine if some Blood Gifts are tied to a dominant trait, or a recessive one. As such, the chances of inheriting a legit Blood Gift are extremely slim for Mixed Blooded commoners.” “And you believe that Pure Bloods do not have this problem?” “I do not just believe. It’s a proven fact. As compared to Mixed Bloods, Pure Bloods had a smaller pool of genetic make up due to the fact that we only have one colour of magic in our blood. Since the colour purity is not tampered, the number of genetic traits we can inherit are rather small. A smaller pool of genetic traits just means that there’s a higher chance of inheriting the desired Blood Gift, and since there is a large practice of selective breeding amongst Pure Bloods, our genetic pool is generally recycled from time to time. Of course, I’m not saying that our chances are absolute. Some offspring may not inherit a desired Blood Gift, but they will still inherit a Blood Gift. Even though we may not inherit the father’s Blood Gift, we can still inherit the mother’s. Regardless of whatever Blood Gift we inherit, we will still retain the singular colour of magic and serve as carriers for the other traits recessive traits.” With all this talk comparing Pure Bloods and Mixed Bloods, Cadeus had the feeling that Sing and Nadav might feel slightly offended since they’re both Mixed Bloods. When he stole a few glances in their general directions, Sing was nodding in agreement with Claire’s words as if they were doing study revision. Nadav on the other hand, was clearly not paying attention since he’s just staring absentmindedly into the air as if he was trying to find a way to relieve his boredom. From this exchange, Cadeus could tell that Claire words were already established facts accepted by magi society regardless of how discriminative it may sound. Oh well… as long as they are not angry… Cadeus thought. Cadeus soon let out an absentminded thought. “So it all comes down to selective breeding huh…” Claire gave Cadeus a disapproving frown. “Why are you speaking on the pretext that this does not involve you? You are a Pure Blood as well Cadeus. You will also be subjected to this selective breeding program.” When Cadeus heard that, he folded his arms in disagreement. “No way, count me out. I’m not even a noble.” “You may not be a noble, but you are still a Pure Blood. You are already entitled to take part in the selective breeding program. No matter how much you dislike it, the High Council would never let you off.” “So what? The High Council is going to hook me up with a girl I do not even know? I don’t even have a Blood Gift.” “Do you?” “…” Cadeus could not retaliate that with absolute confidence. A Pure Blood without a Blood Gift was by far, unheard off. Claire definitely must have her own suspicions that Cadeus was in possession of a Blood Gift. Regardless of her supposed suspicions, Claire chose to let the current issue slide since they had more important things to do. “Anyways…” Claire redirected her attention to the crystal in her hand. “We are approaching the queen’s chamber.” TOA Once the crystallized chimeras finished clearing the way, the four of them soon approached the designated flight of stairs that would lead them down into the queen’s chamber. As the four of them moved closer, Nadav saw something extremely unusual. “Hey guys… look at this.” Nadav pointed at a few dead living chimeras. Nothing was out of the norm except for the black-charcoaled carcasses. These chimeras suffered under heavy burns that were obviously dealt by some serious spells. The trail of black-charcoaled blocks were somehow arranged to make a trail starting from an opposite corridor to the flight of stairs. Whoever did this was not from among them. Just as Cadeus was about to wonder what might have caused this, Claire moved up to one of the carcass and squatted to take a closer look. “Just like I thought.” “What is it Claire?” Claire stood up and answered Cadeus. “It’s Acriscius, he’s here. Isn’t that good for you Cadeus? With him and his lackeys, taking down the queen would be much easier.” Whilst staring at the charcoaled carcasses, Cadeus came to a realization. “Wait… are you saying that Acriscius could be fighting the queen at this very moment?” “It sure looks like it.” “How the heck did he get here before us?” “My crystal bird must have missed him. Perhaps he was not so far off after all.” With that in mind, Claire gave a mental signal to the crystal bird in question, which in no doubt would turn tail and return to it’s master. While checking to see that there were no more living chimeras around, Claire soon snapped her fingers and all the crystallized chimeras all shrunk into solidified crystal figurines. With a wave of magic, the small crystal soon floated up into her grasp before she pocketed them into her sling bag. Looking down at the descending stairway, Cadeus could hear some distinctive sounds of spell clashes and explosions. “It sounds pretty rowdy down there.” “Of course it does. That idiot Acriscius only knows how to flex his muscles. He’s all fists and no brains.” “We better start moving.” “Why the hurry? Even if it’s Acriscius, he should be able to stand on his own.” “Aren’t you at the very least concerned that he could be in big trouble?” “Well he ought to be. It serves him right for being such a blockhead who can't even pause to think. In fact, he should just die.” Ouch… That was harsh… very harsh… Cadeus always knew that Claire was one demanding girl. But even so, she condemned Acriscius just like that without even a hint of hesitation. What exactly could have happened between these two Greater Nobles? Cadeus decided from then on that he did not want to know. “Well… we can’t just sit here and do nothing.” “Excuse me, if Acriscius made it out alive, isn’t that all the more worse for you? Just imagine this, if you had to face him again after all this is over, he will definitely still try to pick on you.” “… I won’t deny that, but…” Aren’t you the one who has been going on about how there are so few Pure Blooded Dark Mages? Cadeus thought. Unsure of Claire’s current approach, Cadeus turned to his two childhood friends. “What do you guys think?” “Oh, finally! I thought this asshole here completely forgot about us.” Nadav grumbled. “Nadav, just because I have not been asking for you as of late, it does not mean that I had completely forgotten about you.” “Tch! This high and mighty asshole had a noble chick all to himself, and he still thinks that he’s so self righteous.” “If you want to trade places with me you are free to be my guest.” “Sweet!!!! Wait… why are you giving up your position so easily?” “Sigh… “ It looks like this idiot is still not going to contribute anything useful.” When he realized that, Cadeus turned a set of pleading eyes towards Sing. “I don’t know… if you want my honest opinion having more mages around would definitely help.” “So you think we ought to help him, my current thoughts exactly.” Cadeus returned his attention to Claire. “We go in and help Acriscius.” “Then you are the idiot.” “Don’t worry, once the idiot saves that Greater Noble, that Greater Noble must acknowledge the fact that he received help from the idiot.” “Acriscius will never accept your help.” “But he knows fully well that at this rate, he’ll loose his lackeys. Which is better? To loose your lackeys? Or to have the idiot charge in and help them instead?” Claire was trying to process his words when she came into a realization. “You are trying to make Acriscius owe you. Not bad, not bad.” “… Although I do not have such an ulterior motive, it’s not a bad idea either.” “So when Acriscius owes you, what are you going to make him do? Stop harassing you?” “The more I hear you talk the more I am having mixed feelings about this. As much as I hate Acriscius, it’ll be a real shame for him to perish when we have yet to confront Fremin. His Blood Gift could be of use to us.” “Oh my, so you intend to make full use of his ability to kick Fremin in the butt?” “… I don’t know if you are being serious or if you are just pulling my leg.” “All right then, let’s make a bet. If Acriscius falls, I’ll strike off three favours.” “I hope Acriscius falls.” And with that, the course of action was determined. Besides… kick Fremin in the butt? Cadeus did not expect to hear such language coming from a highborn noble like Claire, especially Claire. TOA To Cadeus’s extreme disappointment, Acriscius did not fall. When they entered the queen’s chambers, what they saw was quite the opposite. Acriscius was at the very thick of a massive brawl between himself and a swarming number of chimeras. As the numerous chimeras came bearing down upon him, Acriscius surrounded himself with some sort of orange translucent sphere that easily dealt burning damage to the chimeras that came too close. With that as his defense, it was more than enough to provide Acriscius with the confidence to go full fledge on the offensive. With his fists burning with flames, Acriscius started smacking his fists without any consideration to the scenario around him. Truly, he was just like what Claire mercilessly described, all fists but no brains. While he was at the very center of things, the five subordinates behind were behind supporting each other from getting chewed. Out of the five subordinates, Douglas and Glavand were wounded. Cadeus could see that they were lying at the side of some collapsed debris holding their wounds while the other three provided cover. He could not see where exactly they were injured at this distance, but it sure looks a little critical. But they sure had it easier since Acriscius had the full attention of the bulk of the chimera defenders. There were not a lot of chimeras going after them. Vanderburg seemed to be looking after things at the moment. He, Trion and Valryan were currently sitting on the floor crossed legged in a meditation stance. By pressing their hands together, the three of them were maintaining a basic non-elemental barrier called [Repulsive Act], which was by far successful at repelling some of the chimera’s consistent advances. After getting the rough idea of the situation, Cadeus first moved up to the two wounded students who apparently still had enough energy to be busy chatting away, despite their wounds. “Damn it… the one moment where we want Educator Cecilia to be around…” “Yeah… tell me about it – Geh! The imposter! What are you doing here?” “We’re here to save your asses of course.” Cadeus replied. “Hah! As if we would accept help from the likes of you!” “Yeah Imposter! Go away! We don’t want you here!” “Wow… talk about being jerks.” Nadav said. Ignoring all the salt and iron in their words, Cadeus turned to Sing. “Sing, can you attend to the wounded?” “Wow, you are surprisingly compassionate. For a second there I thought you would just leave them alone.” “Oi… don’t make me sound like a monster. Can you help them?” “You don’t have to tell me.” Sing then moved to Douglas. “What the… the White? What are you – ” “Relax. I’m can cast healing magic. Show me your wound.” “Wait! Who said that I need you help?” Ignoring the voice of the wounded, Sing reviewed the wounded sites. Once she’s done, Sing hovered her hands over his wounds and casted her healing restoration spells. Soon the sensations of pain on Douglas’s face faded, replaced by the feelings of comfort and ecstasy. “Oh dear… she’s an angel… I’m in heaven.” Glavand stared at his friend in disbelief. “What? Are you freaking serious? She’s a damn White!” Sing finished healing the first student and went on to the second who still stubbornly refused her help. “Wait! Stop! I refuse to let you – Oh… yeah… that felt good… very good…” “… For some reason, that all sounds so wrong.” Nadav added. While ignoring the nonsense behind them, Cadeus and Claire moved up to Vanderburg. “Hi Vanderburg, how are things?” “Eh? Imposter? What are you doing here?” Cadeus quickly pointed to Claire with his thumb. “Um… You are forgetting someone very important here.” Vanderburg could not see Claire because of the angle of his head, but only took a turn to the other side for Cadeus to see Shock suddenly develop in his eyes. “I-I’m sorry Ma’am. I didn’t realize you are here.” “Mm.” Fortunately for Vanderburg, Claire was more interested in observing Acriscius’s current movements. “Vanderburg.” “Yes Ma’am?” “How long has that muscle brain been going at it?” “You mean master Acriscius? Um… if you are asking how long since we entered this chamber it should be around… ten minutes?” “And he’s still going on like that without sparing a thought about his Cast Limit? Knowing Acriscius he would have long started throwing his spells ever since we all came down from the upper level. How long do you think it’ll take before he hits his Cast Limit?” “Well… the master does keep his Cast Limit in check frequently so…” “How pathetic. As his personal butler you ought to criticize your master when things get dangerous. If Acriscius accidentally dies here, how would you face the true master of his house?” “T-True… your words are graciously educational. I’ll commit them to heart.” Wow… In stout contrast to his behaviour in front of his master, Vanderburg sure appeared ineffective when it comes to dealing with another Greater Noble. “Ok… putting aside the scolding, where’s the chimera queen?” With his hands still together to maintain the barrier, Vanderburg made a gesture with his head to direct their eyes upwards. Looking up, the two Pure Bloods saw the queen at the back of the chamber hovering on the webs. Her egg sack was left detached below her, so she must have moved up some time ago to keep away from all fighting. “That’s strange, she’s just sitting there. Why is she not engaging?” Claire asked. “Ant colony queens generally do not take part in any fights because their priority is to stay alive and breed more larvae. Once the queen dies, so does the colony. That’s why the queen always avoids being part of the front lines. All she needs is just to sit back and let all of her brood take care of the invaders since she could just breed more eggs to replace lost numbers. Since this chimera is a cross of Ants, it must possess such behaviour as well.” Cadeus replied. Claire stared at him silently for the next couple of seconds. “What? Did that not make any sense?” “Where did you learn this?” “When I was back on Earth. Do you seriously do not know about ants?” “I’m not inclined to study animals that are not part of the magic encyclopedia.” “… Right.” “So, what do you recommend we do next?” “The queen won’t fight unless we force her to. Even if we were to kill all of her workers she would just escape using either one of the chamber entrances.” “So let’s seal the entrances. That muscle brain can take care of the underlings for us.” “We need to seal off all three entrances at once. If we attempt to destroy them one at a time, the queen will figure out what’s going on and attempt to flee before we could finish.” “That will be simple. You and I will take one, your White and Grey friend will take out the other, Vanderburg and his two friends here will take the third.” Vanderburg gave Claire a look of shock. “Um… Ma’am, if we move from this spot, the barrier will fall. The chimeras could end up killing our two friends back there.” “I don’t think that would be a problem.” Cadeus made a gesture. Turning back, Vanderburg saw his two injured friends standing up as if they were never wounded to begin with. “What the…” “You forget. One of my Friend’s a White.” “She can cast healing spells?!” Soon, everyone had gathered around Claire expecting her to provide them with the next set of instructions. Feeling that explaining things was beneath her, Claire chose to rub it off on Cadeus. “I’m not going to go through the troublesome procedure of explaining. The imposter will talk in my stead.” Acriscius’s lackeys soon made moans of disgusts, but with one warning glare from Claire, they all soon shrunk and nodded in obedience. “Wait. Why am I even the one doing the explaining?” “You are the one with the plan. You explain.” “If they listen to you more than they would for me then shouldn’t you be the one to explain?” Cadeus instantly shut his mouth when Claire gave him the warning look. “Right… ‘ahem’. So the current game plan to deal with the queen is to seal off all the exits other than the one behind us. With Acriscius distracting the chimeras, we will be given some free reign to act accordingly. Claire and I will handle the entrance below the queen, Sing and Nadav will handle the one on the right, Vanderburg and friends can handle the last one. Oh… we also need three of you guys to maintain this barrier so that we still have a proper exit.” All four of Acriscius’s subordinates turned their gaze to Vanderburg, who in turn could only shrug. “I’ll take full responsibility. We’ll follow what the Imposter said.” TOA Glavand, Trion and Valryan soon became the new barrier holders. Once the three subordinates created a gap within the barrier, Claire sent her crystallized chimeras out first to clear the way. With the living chimeras occupied with their crystallized counterparts, the three groups moved out quickly to take down the entrances. With the bulk of the chimeras distracted, Sing, Nadav, Vanderburg and Douglas should not have any difficulty. Looking in front of him, Cadeus saw a bizarre scene of moving flames. Acriscius’s movements were largely inconsistent for he’s just smashing his flaming fists without a thought for his Cast Limit. His attacks may seem highly effective, however the chimeras present all had a natural resistance to Dark Magic. There were some charcoaled carcasses, but the burnt damage was only done to a limited surface area. Cadeus could only deduce that it took Acriscius some time before he could get rid of one chimera. With such wild movements, one could never predict when he would throw a fireball Going around the muscle head was definitely not an option. While moving forward with that in mind, Cadeus turned his attention to Claire. “Acriscius is in the way.” “I know.” “He’s like, hugely, in the way.” “I know.” “You know we can’t go around him.” “I know.” “Then I’m assuming you know what we should do next.” “We go in, stop his brainless momentum, and make him do some proper work for us.” “…Right.” Claire was stating that they could use Acriscius’s destructive powers to help them take down the corridor entrance. It’s a good idea, but the only thing keeping Cadeus from rating it to brilliant was the fact that Acriscius was part of the equation. Claire took out two palm-sized crystals where there was one in each hand. “I’ll deal with the surrounding chimeras, you will set up a barrier to contain Acriscius. Can you cast [Repulsive Act] around us?” “Sure…” Crossing her arms together, she threw the crystals out and snapped her fingers. The two crystals spun in mid air before bursting into smaller shards. At first there bright lights, and then these bright lights flew in all directions around Acriscius. Wherever the bright lights landed, there was a huge explosion, and all the chimeras that got caught within the blast had their limbs blown off. This resulted in creating a gap between Acriscius an the chimeras. Moving quickly, Cadeus stopped short behind Acriscius and erected the barrier. Claire just managed to be right behind him when Cadeus surrounded them with a hemispheric barrier. Realizing that he was stuck, Acriscius came to his senses. “What the…” “Hi Acriscius.” “Geh! Imposter?!” “Hi muscle head.” “Claire too?!!” When Acriscius registered the two before him, he soon stopped his rampaging and stared hard at the two of them. “What are you two doing here? Especially you!” “I’m not going to answer you. Ask Claire for the details.” “Claire?” “I’m not going to answer you. Ask the Imposter for the details.” “Not happening. I got the barrier on my hands.” “Are you two kidding me?!” Not wanting to waste anymore time, Claire pointed towards the entrance underneath the queen. “If you want to take down the queen, we need to take that down first.” While staring at the entrance, Acriscius failed to register how destroying the entrances would help them. “What? The entrance?” “Just do it you muscle blockhead!” “Shit! You two have a lot of explaining to do! Especially you Claire!” “Are you forgetting that you owe me Acriscius?” Once Cadeus dropped the barrier, Acriscius ran for the entrance while Claire moved to cover his back. “Imposter, duck to your knees.” Following her instructions, Cadeus immediately ducked with his hands behind his head. Claire soon filled her hands with her purple mist before unleashing it in all directions. The chimeras that came charging towards them were all crystallized, and they soon turned around to defend their new master. Typical of his character, Acriscius was quick to send three strong waves of [Bolt Barrages] to destroy the entrance structure. Once Acriscius followed proper strategy, everything went smoothly. Turning to see the situation around them, Cadeus saw that Nadav was able to use [Boulder Shift] to pull down the huge blocks of stone to collapse his entrance, while Vanderburg made do with his entrance by using two rounds of [Lightning Caste]. With the three entrances out of the way, it was rather easy to guess what might happen next. Cadeus looked up, and he saw something big falling. “Claire!” “Yes?” When Claire involuntarily turned around, Cadeus grabbed her by her waist and quickly jumped back towards their point of entry. The Chimera Queen had descended. TOA The queen did not just simply descend by slowly moving her legs. She jumped. She leaped from the webbings above and landed with a huge ‘boom’. If Cadeus had not grabbed Claire by her waist and jumped, they would both be squashed by the weight of the giant Arthropod queen. Luckily, Claire was not that heavy. Jumping away with her in his hands was not a difficult thing to do. The queen’s landing impact sent them forward a few meters more. As he jumped, Cadeus made sure to twist his body so that he would land with his back first in order to protect Claire who would then be above him. Now the good news was that Cadeus managed to avoid the queen’s slam. The bad news was that Claire would definitely not be happy. Given how fast things went, Claire was first at a loss at what just happened. But when she pressed her hands against the ground to lift herself up, she came to realize what had happened when she saw Cadeus right below her. Firstly, she was grabbed. Secondly, when they landed, it was very easy to interpret their current position to be a lover’s hug. And what happens when you hug a Greater Noble who happens to not like you very much? “You… YOUUUUU!!!!!!” “Wait, wait, wait! I did it to save you!” Without sparring a thought to listen to reason, Claire quickly got up and stomped the heel of her boot onto his face. Please do not interpret this as some sort of sexual fetish. When a girl stomps the heel of her boot on your face, it’s not funny, and it bloody hurts. That was why Cadeus refused to let her stomp his face by crossing his arms before him. His arms felt the blunt of her stomp, but it was enough to protect his face. “Claire! The queen! The queen!” Three stomps followed until Claire finally stopped and when she did so, Cadeus separated his arms only to see her blushing heavily. She got off him and turned around, refusing to let this strange development linger further. When Cadeus finally got back on his feet, he saw Sing and Nadav staring at him blankly at a distance. “No… wait, this is not what you guys think!” Both of his childhood friends turned and gave him the ‘I don’t know you’ attitude. TOA The Arthropod queen was at least four to five times the size of the usual chimeras they had faced so far. It had all the same features albeit a smaller head, a larger abdomen and a much thicker armour crust on her exoskeleton. The first thing Nadav said when viewing such a beast up close was this. “What kind of a boss fight is this? Dark Mutation should be banned.” “Say that in Carmith’s street and every Dark Mage aspiring to be a Dark Mutator will have your head.” “Shut up. I don’t want to hear that from you who groped a noble chick.” “I didn’t grope her you idiot. I simply grabbed her and moved her out of harm’s way.” “You have the cheek to say that as if you are some sort of knight in shining armour! That pisses me off!” “Shut up Nadav. If I didn’t do that, we’ll both be squashed by that huge Arthropod queen.” “Will the both of you shut it?” Claire snapped. She stared daggers at Cadeus in the process. It really appears that she did not want to remember what had just happened. Needless to say, the fight had already started. The number of the chimera workers had dwindled due to Claire’s crystallized chimeras. It was only a matter of time before they were all wiped out. Since the surrounding entrances had been cut off, the queen only had one escape route left. After dropping from above, she abandoned her smaller workers and rushed to the last entrance. Currently, the only thing standing in her way would be the barrier that Glavand, Trion and Valryan were still holding up. In order to prevent her from escaping, Vanderburg and Douglas locked the queen down with another [Repulsive Act]. The queen soon found herself trapped in another hemispherical barrier with Acriscius inside with her. At first things seemed to be going as fine as it is. However, there was a new development. The Arthropod Queen spread her mandibles and chelicerae, and gave a huge sound shriek that generated a huge sonic boom strong enough to throw Acriscius back and break the barrier shield around her. The sonic boom was so piercing to the ears that even Cadeus and the others had to press their ears for protection. Once the queen stopped her sound shriek, Cadeus saw that Glavand, Trion and Valryan had ceased maintaining their barriers. In seeing this opportunity, the queen rushed to the remaining entrance. “Shit… Nadav!” “You don’t have to tell me!” Reaching for the earth, Nadav equipped himself with another set of [Rock Fist], and sent them both flying towards the queen. The two [Flying Rock Fist] landed solidly on the queen’s abdomen. It can’t deal considerable damage, but it was more than enough to stagger the queen just by a little bit so that Glavand, Trion and Valryan could set up another solid barrier. The last entrance was once again sealed, but the three of them were still vulnerable to another sonic boom. Realizing this weakness, Sing clasped her hand onto Cadeus’s shoulder. “Cadeus, I’m going to do something to help those three maintaining the barrier. Cover me.” “Got it. But once you’re done get back here. I need you here in case the queen tries something funny again.” “Understood.” “Claire, could you help…” Cadeus was about to ask her for more help when Claire threw him another threatening gaze. “Hmph!” Claire turned her head away in disgust. She soon proceeded to move according to her own pace. “… I guess she’s still mad at me.” Cadues ignored her. This was not the right time for this. “[Electric Pulse]!” Slamming his hands onto the surface floor, Cadeus sent a wave of high voltage electricity across the floor towards the queen. Right now, the priority was to contain the queen within this chamber. Everything else comes later. Staggering her, getting her attention, anything helps, and that was what Cadeus intent for everyone to do. Meanwhile, Sing ran to the three still holding the barrier. When they first saw her coming towards them, they were unsure of what to do. “Open up. Quickly.” The three of them could only comply. “What’s going on?” “Nothing. Just keep focusing on the barrier.” The three boys looked at each other and raised their shoulders in confusion, but they soon refocused their attention onto the barrier. Sing took out her book of incantations until she flipped to the page that she needed. She then took out three more pieces of paste papers written with the rune ‘Nilth’. “All right boys. You remember that sonic boom that chimera queen did?” “““Yes?””” “I’m going to cast a White Enchantment onto you so that your ears will not perceive those sonic booms.” “Eh? You can do that?” “How are you going to do that?” “I’m going to stick a paper on the back of your necks. Don’t move.” “Ehhhh… a girl is going to stick a paper at the back of my neck?” Ignoring the comments, Sing pressed the paste papers behind their necks and soon applied the enchantment needed. TOA Feeling a strange itch on his arm, Cadeus folded up his sleeve to see a new glowing incantation. Looking back, he saw Sing leaving the barrier, and she’s now running towards him. “What did you do?” “I casted a new enchantment called [Lobe Shutter]. Now, our ears are resistant to sonic booms.” “You did that to those three maintaining the barrier?” “Yes.” “Sweet! Now that our ears are resistant, we can get back to kicking the beast’s ass!” Nadav cried. With her new enchantment, Sing, Cadeus, Nadav and the three friends maintaining [Repulsive Act] were now immune to sonic booms. It’ll take a lot more now from the queen to destroy the barrier. But that did not mean that the others were safe from it. When Acrisicus and his subordinates made another attempt to contain her within a barrier, she let out another sonic boom that threw everyone off. Needless to say, getting rid of that sonic boom became everyone’s new priority. “Hm… now that we are immune, how the heck do we get rid of that shriek?” Nadav asked. “We need to take out its vocal cords… or something like that.” “How? Do we flip it upside down and slice her throat?” “That actually is not a bad idea. Can you over turn her?” “With [Bed Rock]? It’s possible, but it all comes down to that spider queen’s weight.” “I see. All right. On my mark, cast [Bed Rock].” Cadeus then proceeded to call the weaker players back. “Vanderburg, Douglas, fall back!” “Like hell am I going to listen to you now Imposter!” “Yeah! We only listen to the boss!” “… It looks like I have to take these two out of the equation.” Sighing to himself, Cadues tapped Nadav’s shoulder to give him the cue to cast [Bed Rock]. Nadav stomped his feet until they were about a shoulder width apart before bending his back to press his hands against the ground. Once he gathered himself, he did a lifting motion with effort, and ripped off the earth that was directly under the Arthropod queen. The plan was to capsize the chunk of earth so that the queen could be overturned. If all goes well Nadav would be able to drop the chunk of rock on the queen to immobilize her, and then Cadeus could move in to sever the throat. But before the intended damage could be dealt, the queen quickly bent her legs and leaped away onto another section of the chamber. For her large size, this queen was quite agile. “What the heck? Can she do that?!” Nadav exclaimed. The queen quickly avoided Acriscius’s wild punches and made an attempt to chew Vanderburg who happened to be behind. Realizing that he was still holding that huge chunk of earth, Nadav made an attempt to throw that huge block against the Queen, but she unexpectedly jumped away again. “Damn it, she got away again!” She was fast to get away from attacks that seemed dangerous and she was quick to strike against those who seemed to be less of a threat. In short, this was one cunning beast. Just what breed of ants and spiders did those Dark Mutators used? Cadeus thought. This is becoming a huge headache. Cadeus racked his head for a plan. So far, the queen only used that sonic boom when she felt extremely threatened. This only happened when Vanderburg and Douglas tried to contain her with [Repulsive Act]. If Cadeus could somehow place the queen under the same situation… No… Cadeus shook his head. It was not possible. Even if he could get underneath the queen, there’s no telling how tough her exoskeleton would be. Plus, even though he could succeed in severing the queen’s throat, there’s no guarantee that the queen would die. Besides, in considering their remaining Cast Limit, it would be much more convenient to kill the queen entirely instead of spending all the effort just to silence her sonic boom. So what should they do? Before Cadeus could come up with a concrete plan, there was a new development. The Arthropod queen leaped up into her webbings above and she soon did something that the worker chimeras could not. Raising its abdomen, the queen shot out multiple balls of sticky webs from the tip of her abdomen like a scorpion sting. Acriscius was the first to be hit. His spherical orange aura drew the queen’s attention and it made him an obvious choice of target. As usual, Acriscius did not care about the changes for he automatically assumed that his orange aura would be able to disintegrate the web shots. He was wrong. The orange aura did burn the web shots. However, it only succeeded in burning the outer most layers. The bulk of the web shots landed on his robe and the weight of the impact sent Acriscius to the ground. As he attempted to get up, Acriscius soon found himself ensnared by the webbing that spread all over him like fish in a trapping net upon impact. With Acriscius currently immobilized, the Arthropod queen directed her attention elsewhere. “Shit… everyone get some cover!” Soon, there was a continuous barrage of silky web shots fired all across the chamber room. “[Bed Rock]!!” Nadav raised another block of Earth from the ground and used it as a shield against the Arthropod Queen’s web shots whilst moving for more cover. “Damn it! I thought ant queens are all immobile and incapable of fighting! Why the heck does this queen has so much capacity to kick ass?!” Nadav yelled. As he shouted that, Cadeus quickly grabbed Sing’s hand and went behind one of the collapsed debris for cover. Even though the three of them had [Aura Shift], the continuous barrage would eventually wear it down. Seeking cover was the best course of action. While waiting for the barrage to end, Cadeus moved out slightly only to see that Acriscius managed to free himself with the flames on his hands, but just when he was about to resume charging towards the queen, the queen soon sent Acriscius back to the ground with another hit from the web shots. Vanderburg and Douglas soon ran out of cover to give him a hand, but they were soon overrun by the same web shots. Even thought the three could free themselves, it was only a matter of time before they got hit again. Those three won’t be able to do anything useful. Not when they are stuck and ensnared by the webs. If they keep this up, they would soon hit their Cast Limit. “Sigh… at this rate, this drawn out fight might result in our loss.” “What makes you say that?” Sing asked. Cadeus made a gesture to everything. “Does the fight look like it’s going our way?” “The reason why this fight is not going smoothly is because everyone is not working together.” “If we can work together it’s already a miracle. We got a hotheaded Greater Noble who hates me to the core, his underlings refuse to listen to me, Claire does not want anything to do with me because of… well you know.” “Whose fault is that? Who ask you to hug her in the middle of the battle?” “First of all, I did not hug her in that manner. Second, I did that to save her. You should know that better by now.” “True, but she may not perceive it that way. Think of it in her position. She’s a Greater Noble with a high standard of morality. Won’t she feel extremely uncomfortable with what had happened?” “… True.” “Then why don’t you apologize.” “What?” “Apologize to Claire, and clear up this misunderstanding. I’m sure she could be of great help to us if we really want to take this queen down.” “ *Exasperated sigh* This is not going to work.” “No it will work. You are just worried about what she’ll do to you in return.” “She’ll probably do more than just make me owe her another one…” “Did you just say something?” “Nothing…” Scanning around for Claire, Cadeus saw that her crystallized chimeras were stationary. The web shots were hitting them, but it did not have much of an effect on them. As Cadeus searched further, he soon saw her standing calmly behind a bunch of her crystallized chimeras, who apparently stacked on top of each other to create a wall to protect their master. With no other plan, Cadeus and Sing made a run towards her. Several web shots managed to hit them, but they were repelled since [Aura Shift] was still in effect. When they finally reached her, Cadeus awkwardly opened up a conversation. “Um… Hi?” “…” Claire gave him a doubtful set of eyes. “Look. I know you are angry at me for – ” “I’m not.” “…Eh?” “I’m not angry at you. If you hadn’t done what you did, we would have been squashed. I came to this realization once my head cooled down a little.” “Ah…” Turning around, Cadeus saw Sing giving him the thumbs up. Does this mean that I don't have to apologize? Cadeus thought. “So, what do you want?” “Well… I’m in the midst of trying to come up with a plan to deal with the queen and…” “And what?” “I hit a wall.” “And?” “… Can you help me?” Claire spent the next few seconds considering it. “Sigh… fine. I’m getting bored with this situation anyway. What do you have in mind?” “Well… in regards to the sonic boom, we tried overturning her to immobilize her so that we could cut her throat. It did not work.” “I know. I saw.” “The more I think about the sonic boom, the more I felt that it’ll be better to just find a way to kill the queen in one go rather than having to spend all the effort to silence that sonic boom.” “You are correct.” “But here’s the thing. Whenever we try to do something the queen either use her sonic bloom, or she’ll just jump away from reach. It’s getting a real pain.” “Well. If you want my opinion, the main problem stems from the queen’s mobility. So the answer is simple. Cut off her legs.” “Sigh… easier said than done. She’s too fast. Besides, we need to stop her from shooting out her web shots.” “And there’s the sonic boom.” “That’s no longer a problem. Sing can cast an Enchantment that can make your ears resistant to the sonic boom.” “An enchantment?” To further illustrate his point, Cadeus rolled up his sleeve to show Claire the glowing incantations on his arm. “Ah… White Enchantments.” Claire spent a few seconds to study the glowing incantations on Cadeus’s arm. “[Heroic Might], [Aura Shift], [Glyph of Precision], and oh… [Lobe Shutter].” Sing opened her mouth. “Would you like a set as well Lady Rrogust ve Chroma?” “No need. I’ll manage.” Claire turned her attention to the Arthropod queen who apparently was still shooting out those web shots from her abdomen. “I could use my crystallized chimeras to hold her legs down, but we’ll need to stop her from jumping around. Chasing her all around would definitely take some time, so I’d prefer it if we could trap her with some rune to prevent her from moving.” “Agreed.” Sing brought her left hand up. “In other words, all we had to do is just to suppress the queen so she can stop moving. Even if it’s for a moment?” “That’s the current plan.” Sing pondered a little bit longer, and then she came into a conscious. “I got it. I’ll suppress the queen’s movements.” Cadeus could not help but ask despite knowing that she had some plan in mind. “What are you going to do?” “I’m going to use the suppressive rune [Yyavark] with the double joint sequence to pin her exoskeleton down. When that happens, Lady Rrogust ve Chroma can use her crystallized chimeras to pin her legs down.” “That’s not a bad idea.” Claire said. “…” Cadeus was not familiar with the term ‘double joint sequence’. But as long as Claire agrees with it, there was no need to be against it. “Well, putting the technical terms aside, the only question I have is this. How are you going to get up close and pin the queen with your rune? Is this something that needs to be triggered as long as the queen moves over it?” Cadeus asked. Sing shook her head with a smile and pointed upwards. Knowing what pointing upwards means, Cadeus frowned. “Hey… this may be a huge chamber, but you do not have the necessary space for maneuvering.” “That hurts, are you saying that you doubt my skills?” “You know that I am referring to something else.” “Don’t worry. The web shots won’t hit me. My [Aura Shift] is still in effect.” “What’s your Cast Limit?” “I have not been casting a lot of spells lately so… maybe around seventeen [Point Spells]?” “Are you sure you are going to be ok?” “Don’t worry Cadeus. Since my enchantments are still in effect I should use no more than around five [Point Spells].” “Five eh…” Well, she had the better plan, and it was a plan worth trying. Knowing that she had won, Sing took a moment to prepare herself. “[Zenth’s Weight].” She uttered. Snapping her fingers, Sing soon covered herself with a thin layer of White Magic. “[Ray’s Light].” And she drew another blade of light from her right knuckles. In the midst of the ongoing barrage of web shots, Sing kicked herself against the ground and took up into the air. She then started maneuvering herself freely, gliding in the air like a swift sparrow. “… She’s flying?” Claire opened her eyes in surprise. She turned her face to Cadeus. “She can use flight magic unaided at her current level?” Cadeus could only shrug his shoulder. “That’s an honour student for you.” With [Heroic Might], the adrenaline rush gave Sing the necessary stamina she needed to maintain [Zenth’s Weight]. Whenever a web shot would hit her, Sing could either utilize [Glyph of Precision] to sever the web shot into two with [Ray’s Light], or they would just be automatically repelled with [Aura Shift]. With such free maneuvering, defending herself against the ongoing barrage of web shots became as easy as a breeze. It appeared that the Arthropod queen had caught onto this new threat for she soon directed most of her web shots towards her. However, Sing was not going to engage the Arthropod queen directly. Even if she could, it would be just another drawn out battle since the Arthropod queen would just use her legs to jump to another area. Instead, Sing flew up until she was just above the queen. The higher she flew, the less she got hit because the angle became too steep for the Arthropod queen’s abdomen to be accurate. The queen still had Sing in her sights. That was going to be a problem. In order to counter this, Cadeus signaled to Nadav to come to his position. Realizing that there was a plan, Nadav was quick to move up with his [Bed Rock] to provide cover. “What’s the plan?” Cadeus pointed. “Sing is going to cast something big and the queen has noticed it. We are going to distract her by freeing the guys who are stuck.” “So we are going to charge straight up to her. Nice!” Cadeus turned his attention to Claire. “Are you fine just waiting here?” “Go ahead. My role only comes when the queen stops moving.” Cadeus and Nadav soon moved out using [Bed Rock] as a shield as they advanced forward to help Acriscius and his lackeys. This caught the queen’s attention, and she soon directed her web shot towards them. [Bed Rock] was a perfect spell for cover. Even though the queen saw them moving towards her, her web shots proved to be ineffective, as they could not hit them. Since Vanderburg and Douglas were closer, Cadeus and Nadav freed them first. “This does not mean that I owe you Imposter.” Douglas said. “Yes, yes. I know. Listen. My White friend is going to cast something to immobilize the queen. I need you guys to help us draw the queen’s attention while – ” “Not happening Imposter. We only listen to what the boss says.” “I see… Vanderburg?”’ “Sorry Imposter, not now either.” “I see… well, truth to be told I don’t care what you guys think. I just need you and Acriscius to do your usual stuff.” “Oi! What do you mean by that!” Douglas retorted. While this was all happening below, Sing was getting herself busy. Once she’s at the right height, she dispelled her blade of light and directed her attention to her left fingers. By focusing her White Magic, a bright ball of light flashed at the tips of her left index and middle fingers. Using that, Sing then began drawing the character lines for [Yyavark]. When she’s finished, Sing left the glowing rune to hover in midair. With a small gesture of the hand, the same rune was reflected on the ground enlarged and inscribed just below the queen. When she felt that the timing was right, Sing raised her hand and did a downward slam. The rune that was hovering in midair descended quickly like a lift that lost its wire strings. There was no real impact. However, from the moment the rune landed on the queen, an immense pressure was suddenly built up between the two runes. That huge pressure prevented her from moving, and that was the window of opportunity. Claire had been observing Sing’s movements ever since Cadeus left her side. When she saw the rune landing, she immediately sent a mental command sending all her crystallized chimeras to hold the queen’s legs in place with their strong mandibles. In response to this sudden entrapment, the queen spread out her mandibles and used her sonic boom again. The sonic blast tore through the entire chamber forcing Claire, Acriscius, Vanderburg and Douglas to press their ears. This time, Cadeus and Nadav were immune thanks to Sing’s enchantment. But that does not mean that they could hear each other clearly “Nadav! Can you use the Element Water to help me slide under the queen’s head?” “What?!” “I said! Can you use the Element Water to help me slide under the queen?!” “You want a water slide?! You got it!” Nadav took a step back behind Cadeus and casted [Blessed Glaze]. A small flood of water soon exploded from his hands and pushed Cadeus forward. Using the wave’s momentum to his advantage, Cadeus slid down and grab one of the queen’s chelicerae at the very last minute. While hanging on, Cadeus filled his right hand with a layer of electricity before bringing it up to stab the queen deep into her throat. The queen’s sonic boom became shrieks of actual pain. She struggled to move her head to shake Cadeus off. However, the building pressure between the two runes restrained her movements, and she could only wail in pain as Cadeus slowly carved a fine line across her throat. By the time Cadeus was finished, translucent fluids and tissues were falling onto his face. Realizing that he had done enough, Cadeus tried pulling himself up to get away from the chimera queen only to find out that Sing’s [Yyavark] rune was affecting him as well. “Oh… you’ve got to be kidding me!” TOA Sing landed gracefully on hard ground before noticing that Cadeus was not present. “Nadav, where’s Cadeus?” “He’s right there below the queen’s head. For some reason, I think he’s experiencing some sort of difficulty. Why?” “……………………Opps, I forgot to warn him about that.” Claire moved up to them. “He’s stuck. Well, my crystallized chimeras are holding the queen down now. How long until the rune looses the effect?” “Well… a few minutes?” “Do you think he can survive when he’s that close to the queen’s mandibles?” “Well… he still has [Aura Shit], so…” “Can you say with absolute confidence that he’ll survive once the rune wears off?” “Well…” “Hm… I thought so.” “Why do you care?” “Because he owes me. I want him to at least finish repaying his debt before he dies off.” “Ouch…” Nadav whispered. Meanwhile, a certain hotheaded Greater Noble finally lost his temper. “THAT BEAST!!!!” The trio turned their head to see Acriscius burning with rage. “What’s with him?” Sing asked. “He’s probably fed up with the continuous failure to land a solid hit onto the queen. Just ignore him.” Claire replied. With the accumulating anger, Acriscius started building up a dangerous concentration of Dark Magic within his arms. Before long, a dark red mist began to form around his hands. When they saw that, both Vanderburg and Douglas began backing off. “That idiot is activating his Blood Gift now?” Claire exclaimed. “YOU BLOODY BEAST!!!” Acriscius charged with the red mist sizzling in his hands. “Not good. If Acriscius hits the queen with that, there’s a high chance that Imposter will be caught into it.” Claire said. “Wait what? What’s going to happen?” Nadav asked. Without replying, Claire started running. She snapped her fingers quickly and her crystal birds instantly flew at a fast speed. While struggling to get off, Cadeus heard the cries and saw Acriscius coming in fast. “Wait… is he seriously going to charge in while I’m still underneath here?” Realizing the new danger he was in, Cadeus desperately struggled to get out but to no avail. Just when Acriscius was about to deliver the punch from the side, Claire’s crystal birds grabbed his ankle by their claws and his punch soon became disorientated. Instead of punching directly into the queen’s jaws, Acriscius accidentally slipped and his hands went to the ground for support. When his hands came into contact with the earth, the red mist sizzled and seared through the hard floor creating a huge depression. With the floor’s structure corroded severely, the ground gave in and collapsed. Before they all knew it, Cadeus, Claire and Acriscius soon fell down deep into the lower level, the Arthropod queen accompanying them.