Chapter 16: Mass Grave
1309 Words
Wanda did not make his move right away during the first expedition. In fact, he had first completed three more expeditions over the course of a week before concluding that he’d gathered enough for his own expedition.
“It’s much deeper and complex than we thought.” Magnum remarked after outlining their own map.
The said deeper regions where the expedition mining was being conducted was actually just the mid-level of the mine’s entirety. On the other hand, the sole passageway leading to the actual deepest regions is hidden and meticulously sealed, though their inspections implies that it had been unlocked and opened recently.
They assumed it could be Gwyn’s trace though exploration of these deepest regions must still be done to confirm, in which they are just about to conduct.
Nighttime then came and silently, they entered the now closed mine, reached the mid-level, and onto the passageway which is a cavity underneath a huge boulder.
It is narrow, barely enough to fit an average sized human and the sealing enchantment was also on the ground and not on the boulder above it so passers will be instant to dismiss it. In fact, without any advance detection technique it would have been impossible to trace especially with the thick presence of death-dyed Mana around.
Tense, they got ready. They have no clue what yet to expect but they, the Wanderers, aren’t exactly synonymous to safe dealings. Thus, they’re already expecting the worst.
‘So far, nothing,’ he inwardly remarked after half an hour of advancing through the passageway without any incident.
However, it all changed once they’ve reached the wider field beyond the passageway.
They’ve crossed a sealing charm upon entering it, a technique which stops what’s inside from going out and the next instance, *Clack! Clack! Clack!* they’ve identified what it, or at least one of it, is.
Against his feet, he could feel small, multi-legged things crawling and his Mana Sense allows him to visually register them as a wave of tiny white balls that are quickly passing through.
“Magnum, is this one of those times where I’m completely allowed to say ‘I’m glad I’m blind’?”
Magnum, who can see them, replied. “Yep.”
“Ew!”
He breathed a disgusted groan and immediately instructed Magnum to clad his default size and blast these bugs with his Fire Breath, burning them, *Roar!* only for the one that birthed them, a giant scarab, to arrive and spew green smoke fumes to them. Expectedly, it’s poison and when it mixed with the surrounding Mana, it turned purple and its potency intensifies.
“Shield!” Magnum erected defence right away, shielding himself from the corrosion of the scarab’s smoke fumes.
At the same time, Wanda fired the Reviver.
[CRUSHER CYAN]
*Boom!
The scarab disintegrated to dusts and behind his Shield, Magnum resumed spraying his Fire Breath, burning not only the bugs but the fumes as well. Afterwards, Wanda asked him to describe the scarab and he immediately identified it as a Maverbane. A highly venomous beetle-like demonic beast assumed to have been extinct more than a hundred years ago.
Apparently, they are not.
Additionally, the fact that a living Maverbane is here could also indicate that, “There’s a Fenrir corpse here.”
The Maverbanes’ extinction is due to diet. They exclusively feed on Fenrir corpses but when the Fenrirs began to reach the height of cultivation and therefore enhancing their strength, intelligence, survivability, and lifespan, the Maverbanes were starved and gradually brought their apparent extinction.
“Probably more than one,” Magnum agreed along with an assumption. “A mass grave perhaps.”
Wanda agreed. A miasma of death-dyed Mana, a Maverbane that matured to that size, and their massive count evidenced by the presence of identical creatures approaching their way, things are finally shaping up to make sense.
“You handle them,” he instructed to Magnum next as the approaching Maverbanes reveals themselves. “I’ll head straight to the root of this. Lure out as many as you can.”
“Okie-dokie!” Magnum confirmed and Wanda blended into the darkness, gone from the detection of the quickly approaching Maverbanes as he passes through them. “Bring it on!”
He then heard Magnum’s cry of provocation, luring them to head his way.
◆◆◆◆◆◆
Magnum was effective but he can only do much and a substantial number will still be unmoved from the nest.
*Boom!
Pulling the trigger, the blast crushed the Maverbane’s carapace first before disintegrating its entire frame, leaving nothing but dusts behind. On the other hand, he was poisoned. The potency of the death-dyed Mana here is at its peak and thus, the fumes are harder to evade especially when against dozens.
Fortunately, his Phoenix Soul displays its perks and burns the venom upon entering his system. A repeated occurrence through each confrontation.
Finally, he entered the heart of the nest where the assumption of a Fenrir mass grave was confirmed. At the same time, the largest of the Maverbanes, the Queen Maverbane, emerged from underneath the pile and stood before him.
He was then accorded by a cordial reception of their signature fumes and after several of similar encounters, he would have just clashed it but this time, he jumped back under a gut feeling.
*PSST!
The area where he once stood collapsed into a huge crater, rotted by the fumes.
‘Whoa!’ Wanda’s heart skipped a beat. If that had hit him, he would have been regressed into a five year old again.
[EXCEED CHARGE!]
Creating a wider gap, he fired a Crusher Cyan – Exceed Charge but soon recognizes the demerit, offense-wise. The thickness of the death-dyed Mana serves as a dampener for regular Mana-powered attacks and moreso with range types. Pair that with the fumes expelled from the Queen Maverbane’s mouth and the Exceed Charge was nullified.
Doing a quick math, not unless he uses a much more powerful – and with higher Mana consumption – capsules, he surmised that even a combo will procure the same result. Also, even if it does pierces through, the residual power won’t still be sufficient to end the Queen Maverbane due to the final barrier which is its much tougher carapace.
Thus, to resolve this while staying within his personal limit, he must erase some of the distance which will increase the likelihood of the fumes hitting him.
“Nope, I will not take that chance.” Exposing the capsule chambers, he unexpectedly picked the costlier option. “I love conserving Mana but I love staying as an adult more.”
He does not want to gamble it. Without the option of having Magnum either as his eyes or his muscles, it shall be considered that the death-dyed Mana does more than just weaken his attacks. It also dulls his senses. Hence, he is not confident that he can timely dance with the Queen Maverbane. One misstep and he turns into a kid again.
He just got out from that inconvenient form and has no desire to return anytime soon.
[SOAR! COILING SERPENT!]
*HISSSS!!!
When the golden serpent rose from the Reviver, its brilliance temporarily erased the darkness and burned the surrounding death-dyed Mana in the process before it drove down and snapped its fangs against the Queen Maverbane’s body.
*PRITTTT!!!!* The Queen Maverbane struggled but the serpent was just too powerful for her.
Swiftly, her frame and her life signature gradually vanished, leaving only her crisp ashes behind.
- Writer
