— Raid expedition casualty report —
[Breaching team: 6 dead, 10 injured/sick] The team was nearly wiped out by the spider swarm
[Mining accidents: 5 deaths, 25 injured, 60 sick] Cave-ins, rock slides, the cold
[Riflemen: 70 deaths, 40 injuries] All from fighting the sandworm titan. Serious injuries still occur from baby sandworm ambushes. A single bite is enough to incapacitate a man.
Hikari crushes the queen spider's carapace with her fist.
She grinds it between her palm and sprinkles it over the salamander's skin.
The shedding sinks into the viscous black moss.
The vicious black moss eagerly absorbs it.
She sprinkles more.
Like her muscles, the salamander skin can grow by absorbing nutrients.
She holds up a bright blue shard.
It was as thick as her fingers.
The crystal shards of the statue beast.
Hard enough to pierce a steam tank's armor through her telekinetic barrier.
She squeezes it.
It wouldn't budge.
She tries the hearthstone form.
Shatter.
Shatter.
She repeats the mana movements.
The shard refuses to crack.
Confused, she picks up a stone.
Shatter.
It shatters into tiny pieces.
She picks up the crystal shard again.
Shatter.
Shatter.
It still didn't budge.
She tries to dip it into the salamander skin.
It displaces some mass.
But otherwise nothing happens.
"Oh well."
She puts it away.
The stalagmite crystal is too tough for her to bend right now.
It'll probably sell.
Her supplies had arrived.
Fresh wyvern skin sheets.
She had bulked again.
Not nearly as much as from the titan core, but she had to readjust her armor again.
It felt tight; her boot soles and sock bottoms barely fit, but they fit nonetheless.
Her armaments.
A fresh stock of throwing daggers.
Steel balls for her handcannon that she unloaded on the queen spider.
Her swords were still in good condition.
Slicing through spider carapace doesn't wear them down much.
She wolfed down a ration pack and downed a tank of fresh water.
She was ready.
…
With a thrust of both legs, she leaped up the mine shaft.
The dreamy landscapes of the wyvern peaks filled her view again.
The full moon through the thick clouds.
The colossal round tower.
It was a breathtaking view.
A painter would have sold a kidney for it.
As the fog moved, she could see the tower clearly.
Even she was intimidated by its sheer size.
A massive iron gate at the bottom.
Its elaborate carvings had eroded into unintelligible shapes.
"Does anyone live there?"
She stood still above the mine shaft, looking out for any signs of the queen wyvern everyone had been talking about.
Nothing.
"Odd. A queen wyvern should have a presence."
She surveys the area.
From her vantage point, she faintly saw the lights of the trading town where the RazenHeir camps were set up.
More and more camps were being set up around the train station.
A convoy of steam tanks was rolling back into town.
"Hope Ria's doing well."
She looked further into the distance.
The flat plains of Herdial led up to a massive stone structure.
The fortress of Escher.
She'd heard its name countless times from the merchants she escorted up and down Wyvern Pass.
"Where's the mana vein?"
She saw a flock of wyverns in the distance.
They dove down into the ground in unison.
"The mana vein I just cleared."
She marched in the direction Rey pointed.
Diagonally left from the ancient tower.
It wasn't far from the mine shaft.
The titanic hole bored into the mountain was very hard to miss.
Hikari peered into the darkness.
Deeper than the previous vein.
Far less climbing equipment remained.
The second vein was a much tougher climb than the first.
Enough to dissuade all but the most hardened adventurers.
Before she forgot, she checked the surroundings for a hiding spot.
The uneven mountainous terrain offers plenty.
She dumps the expensive gear cache and kicks a stone over it.
No one would bother searching here with the wyverns overhead.
She draws her pickaxe and begins her descent.
The hole was so massive it made even her feel small.
Large protrusions of stone.
It was like dropping down a sandworm's mouth, using its teeth as landing spots.
Carefully, she dropped onto one of those large protrusions.
It was wide enough to fit both her boots.
It showed no signs of creaking.
Hikari leaves a flame mark.
The next tooth wasn't far.
She drops.
Thud.
The wave of dust pushed outwards as the giantess landed.
But the massive rock formation could hold the force of her fall.
She leaves a flame mark.
Drop. Drop.
Dozens of meters at a time.
A distance she could cover with a full jump back on the way up.
The blue glow brightens as she nears the bottom.
She lands in the snow.
The freezing wind combs through her hair.
The snow was deep enough to cover her feet.
She looks around.
It was a garden from a painter's dream.
Fruits in a rainbow of brilliant colors hung from the thick vines, glistening against the icy background.
Even more vibrant than the ones she found in the first mana vein.
She drew her sword and advanced across the cavern toward the mana vein.
She had learned to expect something waiting.
"No wyverns. Wonder what lies ahead."
Her boot shuffled through the snow and hit something.
She unearthed a wyvern head.
"The neck is sliced clean."
The wyvern's body was not far.
It lay on its side.
A deep cut ran the full length of its side.
"Even my claymore can't do that."
Her telekinesis clears away the snow.
More bodies.
One is charred.
It was bloated.
"Mana poisoning?"
More bodies.
Or parts of it.
Arms and legs still in their armor.
The runes were still visible.
Their mana had long dissipated.
"Grrr….."
An eerie mana rose from the cavern's center.
The sound of metal scratching the stone below.
A grotesque Humanoid creature emerged from below the snow.
Ivory vines crept up his body, surrounding him, suffocating his face before melding into his flesh.
Hikari takes a stance.
The humanoid creature matches her stature.
More vines envelop its sword.
The vines harden.
Extending its sword's reach.
Hikari senses a sudden surge of mana.
She raises her guard.
Rooaaarrr!
The monster releases a wave of aether flame that fills the entire cavern.
She feels the flames eat away at her barrier.
The area around her flares with aether fire.
The monstrosity lifts its massive claymore.
It charges at her, stomping through the snow and dragging its massive sword behind it.
Thud! It stops. It drags its massive sword over its head and slams it into the ground.
Hikari dodged to the side.
The sword pierced into the snow and got stuck.
As it tried to pull its sword out, Hikari stepped on the tip.
The monstrosity staggered.
Hikari dashed up its own sword.
Her sword flared with RazenHeir flame.
She swung with both hands.
She felt her sword's edge slide against armor as it sank into its flesh.
The monstrosity was engulfed in RazenHeir flame.
Gahhh!!! It roared in pain.
Hikari turns.
The monstrosity shriveled in pain.
Its vines were morphing.
It pulled out its claymore and swung in a wide arc at her.
Startled, Hikari dodged backward.
Despite being engulfed in flames, the monstrosity chased Hikari, swinging its massive blade wildly.
Hikari dodged.
Beneath its tortured flesh, Hikari sensed a skilled warrior.
Its swing was so fast that Hikari could barely find a window to parry.
She could only strike while it recovered between swings.
The window was too small to risk charging right into its swing.
She kept dodging patiently.
Her guard up all the time.
Gradually, the vines smothered the RazenHeir's flames.
A careless swing drove its sword into the ground.
Now was her chance.
A thrust from her flaming sword.
A splatter of vicious dark red liquid as she stabbed through its flesh.
She drags the sword forcefully.
A burst of RazenHeir flame illuminates the cavern, overshadowing the mana vein's glow.
Hikari leaps back.
Aether scatters in all directions.
She backed off as far as she could.
Back against the cavern wall where the aether flame dissipates the most.
The monster stopped bleeding fire.
Flesh grew from its neck, reforming its faceless head.
Its head bloomed into a bright pink flower.
The flowers hurled balls of aether flame towards Hikari.
She ran along the cavern wall to dodge them.
The pink flower expanded its petals.
It fired more aether flames, chasing its prey.
Hikari drew her handcannon and aimed as she ran.
A piercing steel ball struck the flower, shredding through several petals.
The flower closed.
The monstrosity staggers.
It shrieks and waves its head.
Hikari stopped, aimed her handcannon at its head, and stayed silent.
She stood absolutely still to maximize the power of her shot.
The creature recovered and re-opened its petals for a barrage of aether fire.
Hikari stood her ground.
A steel ball leaves the barrel faster than the speed of sound.
In a sudden but silent explosion, the petals splatter.
The barrel melts.
She keeps her hand cannon.
The volley of Aether flame hits Hikari directly.
Her salamander skin reacts as the aether fire burns its mana.
The string of her mana burns.
She brushes it off and charges the burning monstrosity.
It was still alive despite having its head blown off.
Its claymore pulls up a blanket of snow as it rips from the ground.
Hikari's sword pierces into its flesh and hits something hard underneath.
Incinerate.
The monstrosity's body flared up in RazenHeir flames.
But it did not stop the monster.
It swings its claymore.
Hikari drags her sword through its flesh to meet it.
A deafening crash.
Hikari feels the outer crust of her sword shatter, exposing the Runium core below.
Her wrists felt the sudden force of the swing.
But she blocked it before it could gain full momentum.
The monster staggers.
Hikari swings.
Her shorter sword could manage more swings before her foe could recover its stance.
The vines could not keep up.
Hikari strips away the layer of contorted flesh.
The tip of her sword scratches the hard layer of armor beneath.
She could feel its strength weaken.
Its swings got easier to parry.
A glowing crystal in its chest.
Hikari parried its sword, knocking it off balance, and plunged hers into its center.
Incinerate.
Incinerate.
The RazenHeir flames burned brighter and brighter.
Incinerate.
Incinerate.
She could feel the burn of her own flames.
A sudden surge of mana came from within the monstrosity.
She lets go of the sword and backs away with a thrust of both legs.
Her back hits the frozen cavern wall.
She braces.
A blast of aether flame.
It incinerates the surroundings.
But Hikari blocked it.
She lowers her guard.
Scorch marks all over her wyvern skin.
The sword of the previous RazenHeir had shattered into three pieces as it got caught in the epicenter of the blast.
The monstrosity shed some of its outer mass.
It regenerated its limbs.
The pieces of its armor reassembled themselves on its body.
"A knight?"
Her foe had taken on a knight's appearance.
It had gotten smaller in mass.
A full suit of hollow armor.
She stared into its helmet.
No one was alive behind it.
She could not see the white of a living person's eye behind the slits.
The air around it swirled.
A sword crystallized in its hand.
It was of pure ice.
Hikari draws her second sword.
It was a good one that served her for a long time.
Forged in steel with runes etched into its blade.
She reinforces it with mana.
The cheap steel sword might not hold up against a stronger foe.
She takes a stance.
One foot forward. Hand behind her back.
They circle each other.
The dead knight gradually closes the distance.
Hikari stops her breath.
She had stepped into its range.
The dead knight steps forward and swings.
It hits her sword.
Its swing was meant to test her blade.
Hikari held.
Her sword chills as it hits the pure ice.
She feels the biting cold.
Hikari counters.
The dead knight steps back and blocks.
Hikari pulls back.
Pressing will leave her open to a counter.
The dead knight stares at her silently.
It points its sword tip at her and lunges.
Hikari lunges to match.
In that short exchange, she found that her reach was longer.
The dead knight feints as it realizes the same.
It steps aside to avoid the tip of Hikari's sword, which would hit it first if it tried to exchange lunges.
It gets into a thrusting position to pierce Hikari's chest from an angle.
Hikari steps forward and swings.
The feint had cost it a tempo.
It has to back off.
Hikari presses.
Thrusting her sword forward in a step.
The dead knight parries.
It staggers briefly under its larger opponent's weight.
Hikari backs off, avoiding a counter.
The window wasn't large enough to press.
The dead knight steps forward to test her sword again.
Their swords clashed.
The dead knight backs off and returns to its stance.
They stared each other down.
A surge of mana from the dead knight.
Hikari raises her barrier.
Bzzzz…! Sparks.
A mana explosion.
The knight's armor collapses into pieces.
Hikari holds her guard until the mana fully dissipates.
The knight was no more than a pile of scraps.