— Rey's mecha suit —
[Weight: 300kg]
[Height: 2.2 meters]
[Left arm: harpoon gun] A single-shot bolt powered by a steam core. Strong enough to pierce the hull of a steam tank.
[Right arm: Drill] A heavy drill used by well-funded miners. It functions as both a melee weapon and a way to dig himself out of cave-ins.
[Back: mortar] A steam-pressured mortar mounted on his back. Fires an assortment of bombs: acid, shrapnel, smoke, high explosive. As many as the compartment below it can carry.
[Legs] Walks slightly faster than a foot soldier and can jump over 10 meters at maximum thrust.
Back to the fray.
Hikari picks up her shield.
The salamander skin readjusts to the weight.
It concentrates around her back, sharing the strain.
She places the shield before the cave-in.
Pulse.
She still couldn't sense past the cave-in to tell what lay in the next cave.
But she's getting better.
The range grows ever slightly each time she pulses.
KaBoom! The charges went off.
The debris pelts her shield.
Skittering sounds.
An eerie mana presence.
Hikari gathers mana in her hand.
She lit up the cavern, blanketing the cavern opening with RazenHeir flame.
The spiders skitter through the flames.
Her flames burned through their carapace to their flesh just as they crawled around Hikari's shield.
They flipped upside down as they died.
Behind her, the men drew their weapons.
They fanned out behind Hikari, forming a firing line in the cavern.
A few slipped through the flames.
The men opened fire.
Grape shot.
Effective against small targets.
"Shrapnel!"
Rey orders.
The men readied their mortars.
"Hikari, duck!"
Hikari lowers her head below the shield.
The bombs exploded.
The shrapnel pelts her shield.
She could hear the remaining spiders skitter away.
She marches into the next cavern.
The men held their weapons aimed and loaded.
Hikari stopped and lowered her shield.
Her ability to see in pitch dark lets her relax.
But the men sweeping the cavern had to move more cautiously.
She pulsed just for good measure.
The spiders were gone.
They are deeper underground now.
Hikari struggles to balance as the ground slopes downward beneath her.
The glow of the mana crystals had gotten noticeably stronger.
The men could see more clearly without the lanterns.
The fauna got denser.
Round, whitish fungi grew out of the walls.
The air was surprisingly breathable this deep into the tunnel.
The tiny tunnels the cave's natural inhabitants dug improved the airflow.
"Alright, men! Looks like we got a spider lair on our hands. Time to test if that springing mechanism works."
The men knocked the side of their helmets.
A pair of arms flung outwards from their helmet.
"Remember, you have to be quick about it. Those critters love jumping onto your face. Fling them away immediately before they sink their front claws into your face."
The men did their drills.
Arming and triggering the improvised mechanism.
If a spider the size of their head did indeed grab on, it would be a fifty-fifty shot at death.
"Form up!"
Nevertheless, they press on.
Follow the mine cart tracks.
It occasionally branches off when an ore vein is available.
But the wide main tunnel was not difficult to follow.
Pulse.
Hikari stops.
She senses something.
The marching troop behind her.
Pulse again.
She shuffles forward.
The troops behind her stay put, unwilling to move forward if their vanguard wouldn't.
Pulse.
There's something on the wall.
She gathers her flames.
Incinerate.
The screeching of a giant spider.
The web that it wove burns.
It skitters out of its nest and runs away.
The troops watched the burning spider, the size of a man, skitter away, lighting up the tunnel ahead.
It flips some distance ahead as the RazenHeir flames eventually kill it.
"Herda's tits. Ambush spiders. Move slower, Hikari; try to get them all. As for the rest of you, if it grabs your friend, bash it away using your shield. Don't shoot it with grape shot; it doesn't pierce."
They pressed forward.
Incinerate.
Hikari kills another ambusher.
Incinerate.
She was getting good at detecting them.
An oddly smooth area in the stone is a dead giveaway.
The men behind her marched more easily with each kill.
They reached the next room.
The cave-in was light.
Hikari just had to break apart a big boulder with her pickaxe.
The glow of mana crystals.
Pulse.
Hikari puts down her shield and strides towards the ambush spider's hiding spot.
Incinerate.
The spider skitters out of its burning hideout.
Crunch. Hikari crushes it.
She strides along the cavern wall, checking closely for more ambush spiders.
"Clear."
She completes one round around the cavern.
The men reluctantly marched into the cavern.
Their shields at the ready.
Conk. Conk.
Rey's robot strides in.
The humming of their supply tank's steam core.
"Good work, ladies and gentlemen! No casualties so far. Looks like the next cave-in is pretty thick. While the demolition crew figures something out, the rest of you can take a break," the megaphone sounded.
Hikari sits down.
She stretches her shoulders.
A burdened march.
She hadn't had to do one in a long while.
The salamander skin seemed to have made it easy.
Her muscles were still in good condition even after carrying a heavy shield all the way from the mine entrance.
She looked around for rocks to practice.
There's plenty.
She telekinetically grabbed several and stacked them in a pile.
Shatter.
Shatter.
Shatter.
Repeated practice.
She tried to reconstruct a stone after scattering it with partial success.
She needs more practice.
Pulse.
Pulse.
She keeps training her earth senses.
Her range now covers the cavern.
She tries to project it into the cave where the demolishers are working.
She uses more mana as she still has plenty left.
Her pulse reaches deeper and deeper into the cave.
Just a little more mana.
She pushes her aura deeper.
She senses something.
"There's something ahead."
She blurts out.
Conk. Conk.
Rey's robot turns to face her.
"Yeah, I would think so too. The walls were stuck together with saliva. A single blast wouldn't break through."
Hikari strided towards the breaching point.
Shatter.
She chipped away at the cave in.
Shatter.
Shatter.
"What's ahead?"
"You must be getting good with your earth sense, but you probably can't see exactly what's ahead."
"Nope."
"Are there lots of tunnels leading to the cavern ahead?"
"No."
Rey thinks for a bit.
Hikari continues to shatter the stone.
Grunting sounds.
Hikari touches something slimy.
"Let me see that."
Rey climbs out of his steam tank.
Hikari pushes the debris aside to examine the wall.
"A stalgamite beast. Just our luck."
"Stalgamite beast?"
"An extremely territorial beast. I doubt it'll let us pass. Its carapace is thicker than a fortress's iron gates. I doubt we have the firepower to bring it down."
Rey climbs back into his robot.
"But we don't have to. We need to chase it away. It really hates acid; I think we're going to have to use our entire stock for this."
"Plan?"
"I need you to face it. Don't charge it. Your flames won't burn through its carapace, but it will discourage it from attacking you. Just hold your ground. You can match it in strength. It won't charge you."
"Got it."
"Form up."
The breachers primed the charges and nervously ran behind Hikari.
Boom! The wall was blown.
A deafening roar came from beyond.
Hikari holds her shield close.
The dust from the blast had not yet cleared.
But she could sense the beast ahead waking from its slumber.
A hail of spikes emerged from the dust cloud.
Hikari raised a telekinetic barrier.
The crystal spikes pierce the first sheet of her shield.
She holds on.
Strengthening her telekinetic barrier.
She advanced.
Another barrage.
She advanced.
Another barrage.
She advanced into the stalagmite beast's lair and stood face to face with the beast.
It was twice the mass of a steam tank.
Its back was a mass of deep blue crystal.
A horn made of diamond.
Her shield wouldn't save her from a direct charge.
The beast pulls its massive arm out of the ground as it unburrows.
It growls at her.
Thud. Thud.
Slow, heavy movements.
It got closer to Hikari.
The giantess knight holds her ground.
Her sword in her hand.
She channeled.
The RazenHeir flames flared.
The beast paused at the display.
Suddenly, it shot its mouth out, letting out a loud sound as its jaws closed on empty air.
Hikari stood her ground, un-intimidated.
The creature's mouth snapped forward again.
It snapped again.
But Hikari didn't flinch.
And the beast didn't dare approach any further.
The sound of motors firing.
Pellets fly towards the beast.
Splatters of acid.
The beast growled with annoyance.
Thud!
Hikari takes a step forward.
The beast backs off.
Another volley of acid pellets.
The beast growls.
Hikari sees the spikes on its back recede.
She hides behind her shield.
The beast releases a volley of crystal spikes.
A telekinetic blast from Hikari.
It knocks the spikes off their trajectory.
The blunt side of the spikes bounces off her shield.
The stalagmite beast lunges, biting.
Hikari reckons that its jaw strength would bite her sword in two.
But she does not back off.
Her sword flared with RazenHeir flame.
She takes a step forward.
It growled in frustration.
But it keeps stepping back.
Hikari pushes forward, staying out of the range of its bite.
She draws a flaming dagger from her belt.
It aims at the beast's head.
The daggers bounce off its skin.
The RazenHeir flame burns.
It didn't do damage.
But it at least seemed to annoy the beast.
Another volley of acid pellets.
The beast was waving its head in frustration.
Its spikes recede.
A telekinetic blast breaks the volley.
It immediately springs up another volley.
Hikari chains the telekinetic blast.
Hikari points her sword at the blast.
Incinerate.
A wave of RazenHeir flame.
It sets the beast's head alight.
It roars and grows at her in frustration.
Another volley of pellets.
It begins backing off quickly.
Hikari presses, maintaining her distance.
Its hind legs begin digging.
It backs into a tunnel that leads deeper underground.
It climbs down.
Hikari watches as it leaves.
She doesn't stop clutching her shield until the beast is out of sight.
A tense pause.
Hikari lowers her shield.
The rest of the breaching team cautiously enters the cavern.
"Well! I can't believe you just beat a stalagmite beast in a staring contest. I expected it to charge you the moment you step into its cave. Ha. Looks like Herda smiles on us today."
She stretches her shield arm.
It was stiff after holding the heavy chunk of steel.
"That's why I hate shields"
Rey began scanning around the cavern.
Conk. Conk.
His armored suit clanked against the rocky ground as he moved.
"Hikari. Could you look around to see if there is a giant ball of sorts lying around?"
"It's over there."
"Perfect! Crack it open. Get ready to burn it once you do."
Hikari raised an eyebrow.
Rey's voice was suddenly excited.
She walked over to the boulder, placed her hand on it, and channeled mana into it.
Shatter.
As the boulder cracked open, a pungent odor seeped out.
The breachers put on their gas masks.
"Quick! Burn it!"
Incinerate.
"Burn it again!"
Incinerate.
The mushy brown mass was burnt to a crisp.
But the pungent odor persisted.
"Crack it open."
Hikari grabbed the ball with both hands.
She pries it open.
The brittle burnt mass crumbles.
Glittering stones of a myriad of colors and textures.
"Praise Herda! This alone settles our expenses and much more. Look forward to a feast too. Especially you, Hikari."
Hikari's eyes lit up.
"Feast?"
"Yep. I can't believe our luck. The stalagmite beast's trove. Its body is known to produce the hardest and most exotic minerals randomly. But it's rare and difficult to slay. It'll sell almost instantly at the Herdial exchange. I'd say it's Herdial bird for everyone once we get back."
The men cheered.
Hikari's mouth watered.