(One Week Later)
We have now been in the Iron Tombs for about a week now, besides going further into the dungeon nothing else has happened. I've been bonding with my team, and just getting used to being with them.
So far, no one from the Floating Castle has shown up, which I think means they still don't know where I am. I have to imagine if I speed up the process here, they won't take me out of the field.
Today, the whole scouting team is going into the dungeon together, because one of the teams found something. Surprisingly, we have only lost one person, there was another injury, but they were treated and are back to full strength. This meant that there were nineteen of us heading into whatever the one team found, which only the team captains had been told.
"Everyone, I want the augmenters in the front, conjurers behind, we form a wall, and take out the beasts as they approach." Commander Xander was shouting, as everyone stood in front of a teleportation gate. "Stay with your teams, but if someone in the front line falls, try to take their place."
Callias looked at me. "What do you think they found?" If it's something that the entire scouting team has to go and look at, it can't be nothing.
"I don't know." I had my guesses, it wasn't Alacryans, but I believe they are responsible for what was going to be on the other side.
"The portal is set up fifty yards away from where they located the Flukets, so when we get there, everyone fall in line, and prepare for battle." He raised his hand. "However, I want to make sure that everyone is prepared for what we are running in too." Everyone started to chatter with one another. "These Flukets have extra armor on their bodies, and some even have hand crafted weapons." This made everyone start to talk louder out of concern, but this was what I predicted they would find.
This meant that there could be Alacryans somewhere, or they travelled through a tunnel nearby before. I mean weapons or no weapons, I'll still kill all the beasts. The thing I didn't understand is why the scout team was going to be fighting against this force. I can't sense if people are holding weapons, but I have located groups of Flukets in the hundreds.
"Oh my." Samantha said from behind me.
"How did they get weapons?" Callias asked. "That should be impossible."
I spoke up, so only the two of them could hear. "How do you think?"
"You guys ready?" Victoria asked as she got into position, Callias and Samantha gave me a confused look, and then seemed to get it.
"Let's move out people, stay together, this force is large, but nothing we can't handle together." Commander Xander ran through the portal, and we all started to follow him. "Battle formations!" He shouted as we ran through a tunnel and into a cavern.
"Holy ----." Callias said as we all got into formations and stared into the caver, inside was a shit ton of Flukets, you couldn't even see them all. I activated "Blood Oath" and "Water Helix" surrounding myself with my own personal barrier of water. "Haven't seen that spell before."
Callias's sword lit up with crimson fire, and I summoned my sword and reinforced it with mana, then infused the blade with fire, causing a blue flame to appear on it. "Never had to use it." I told him as the Flukets started growling and running towards us.
The five teams created a wall, there were ten augmenters in the front, and ten conjurers behind us launching spells. I was the third person from the outside, Callias was to my left, and Samantha behind me.
Before the beasts could reach any of us yet, spells were launched, and I decided to help out the conjurers by conjuring ice swords pointed at the approaching army's front line at an angle. I shot the swords, killing over twenty as they slid into the heads and bodies of the Flukets. People who weren't on my team shot me a look of what the hell are you doing, but I just ignored them, and did it again, and again.
I eventually stopped as the beasts piled up, and I didn't want to use up all my mana by performing that one spell. The Flukets had to climb over all the corpses I created with the help of the conjurers behind me, and that limited the amount that came at us at a time. They couldn't go around the pile because the cavern wall prohibited it.
"Augmenters, prepare yourselves!" Commander Xander shouted as he was shooting wind blades at the Flukets on top of the pile. "We can do this!" No shit, I felt the Serpent's hunger for blood grow in me, and I started to bob my head, as the Flukets came towards me. "Engage!"
I shot the water around me at one killing it instantly, and cutting it down too little shards, then ripped the blood out of the one behind it. Callias blocked an attack from an ax wielding Fluket, and then an earthen spear went straight into its head from Victoria.
I pulled the water I had control of back to me, and then shot it at another, then ripped the blood out of another, and another. They weren't even making it within ten yards of me, I was cutting them down with ease. It didn't matter if they had extra armor, or additional weapons, my control over blood made me a god to them. I felt a smile creep up under my mask, and I shook my head and snapped out of it, I can't be thinking like that, jeez.
A Fluket got close to me, and I dodged a sword heading straight down for my body, and shot my water helix into its face, completely beheading it. I pulled the water back to me, and then ripped the blood out of a Fluket attacking Callias. Spells were being sent over our heads one after another, lighting up the sky of the cavern. I was entranced by it, that was until I felt something coming from below, not just one, but multiple beasts.
"Below!" I shouted at Victoria as I brought up multiple ice swords around me, killing multiple beasts, and then at the same time started to feel for the blood in each Earth Worm approaching us, starting with the one under me.
"Earth Worms below us!" Victoria shouted as I concentrated, I ripped the blood out of one, two, three, while they swam in the earth.
"Move up!" Commander Xander shouted, what a dumbass, I moved up anyways as I located more of them, I killed another one, and then another, but the ceiling above us opened. Four Earth Worms rain down on us. "Shit! They're coming from above!" There were five more coming from below now as well, and the Flukets from in front of us. "Retreat!"
As the order to retreat was given, and the worms started to fall down on us, our exit was blocked by an additional five worms. "Oh no!" Victoria said out loud. "Boom! Boom!" The worms from above fell down and collided with the floor. "Stay together!"
We had Worms on one side, and worms and Flukets on the other. I dismissed "Water Helix" and coalesced blue flames around my entire body. The people on the other side started to scream. "Ahhhh!" I only felt fifteen breathing humans, which meant four people died right there. "Help!" A Worm had a girl I didn't know in its mouth, and I ripped the blood right out of it, freeing the girl, she shot me a look of gratitude and stood up. I saw that she was bleeding pretty badly though and started to heal her.
As I healed her, I ripped the blood out of another worm, then brought my sword up into a Fluket's throat, lighting its body on fire.
"Conjurers deal with the worms behind us!" Commander Xander shouted. "Augmenters deal with everything in front of us!" I thought this dude was smart, but this is just stupid. I turned to face the worms the conjurers were responsible for and felt for the blood in each of the Earth Worms. I then proceeded to rip all of it out, causing blood to be flung everywhere, over everyone, then swung around dodged an attack from a sword, and brought my blue flaming blade into its skull. "There's an opening, go, go!"
The conjurers moved first, and then the augmenters, Callias and I were the last ones, we protected the retreating party. "Go." Callias told me as I turned back to the horde of beasts still approaching, this was a suicide mission for a scouting team. I stepped into the tunnel and felt a speeding bullet coming for us from below again.
It shot out of the ground, separating Callias and I, and caused the entrance of the tunnel to collapse so I couldn't get to him. "No!" Samantha shouted, and I made the worm explode from the other side of the boulders. "We have to get him!"
"W-we can't." Victoria told her, as I made another Fluket explode, and another, and another, helping Callias without actually seeing what was going on. I could sense everything, so I knew he was alive. There were about fifty Flukets left, and three Earth Worms that were moving towards him slowly.
"Veer?" Samantha placed a hand on my shoulder, as I killed an Earth Worm, and then the other. My heart started to race, my mana was running low again, I started to feel lightheaded, shit! "Veer?" She repeated.
"Victoria clear a path for me." I asked, as I killed the last worm. "I'm protecting him from here, but I don't know how long I can keep it up."
"What do you mean you are protecting him from here?" Commander Xander asked, as I grew ice swords out of the ground where I sensed the living ones to be, stopping a few in their tracks. "Answer me!" The elf ordered, as I got rid of my flames, and placed my sword into its mana ring.
"Victoria, now please." I told her. "I'll explain after." I told the Commander. "It only has to be the size for me to fit through, I'll handle it from there." I felt the two Flukets around Callias die from his fire blade.
"Fine." A path opened, a little whole that I had to crawl through. "Go, I'll hold it open until you two get back."
"He is dead by now." Commander Xander said as I started to crawl through the rocks, I couldn't hear him when I got to the other side.
I ripped the blood out of the closest Fluket, and then Callias made eye contact with me from my right. "Thanks." He said as he killed another one. "Your powers are a real lifesaver." The twenty that were left came running at us, we stood side by side, waiting.
"You are welcome." I told him as I stepped up. "But screw this." My head started to cloud up, but I ripped the blood out of the beasts in front, then shot water scythes through the others, and finally launched a ball of fire at the ones in the back, killing them all.
Callias fell to his but. "A bit much don't you think." He laughed.
"Don't sit down, get to the group." I told him as I picked up a mana core from a beast, I killed using blood magic.
"What about you? You claiming the spoils of battle?" I shook my head, even though I killed most of them, I was going to go through and collect each beast core. "Okay, then you follow me this time." I put the core into my mana ring, and grabbed two more as I made my way out.
"You're okay!" Samantha said as she hugged Callias, I got through the little hole, and stood up.
"Good work, Veer." Victoria nodded to me, and then the stones fell back down to normal, blocking the path again.
Samantha finished hugging Callias, and then hugged me, I was a little caught off guard. "Thank you, Veer." I released "Blood Oath" and felt fatigue start to settle over me, as I fell more into Samantha's arms. "A-are you okay?"
I pushed myself away from here and gave her a thumbs up. I was going to need a nice long nap.
"How did you save him?" Commander Xander asked as we made our way to the teleportation gate. "You were the one who caused the Flukets to pile up as well, forming a wall of corpses."
I looked around, there was only thirteen of us left, which meant six of us died, because it was someone's bright plan to come down here. If I was alone, I would have been fine cause I could have launched myself all around the cavern, but I played the soldier, and stuck with my team.
"He has very good sensory skills." Victoria told him, answering for me. "Which allowed him to kill the beast using ice magic from in here, isn't that right, Veer?" I nodded, as we all stepped through the portal.
"I see." The eight other mages left and made there way back inside the base, my team and the Commander stayed put. "I'll remember that name, that's a really impressive skill."
"Thanks, commander." I told him.
"Why do you wear that mask?" He asked as we all started to walk to the base. "You are the only face I haven't seen here."
"Don't ask." Callias placed an arm around me. "He won't show anyone."
"I see, well." The Commander paused for a second. "I have to report back, we may need additional support here."
"Girls get to wash up first today." Samantha told us, as she grabbed Victoria and went to the bathing area.
"Shit!" Callias said. "Maybe if you didn't cause the beast to explode all over us, we wouldn't be as disgusting as we are."
"Grow up." I told him jokingly, as I turned to the tent.
"Me, grow up?" Callias ran up to me.
We did discover something here today, there is a high chance a mutated mana beast is at the lowest floor of the dungeon, which also means there could be Alacryans somewhere inside.