There wasn’t anything else on their way forward. The Metal floor seemed to have realized there was a new predator on the floor.
“The beasts are gathering together. It looks like they want to build up their forces again before making another attack,” Egbert warned. With his spells, he was able to see over the dungeon with his vantage point in the sky.
“How are we looking on the mountain?” Erik asked.
“The mana density there is much higher, so it is hard to see through and the creatures there have been there for a long time, so they blend into it,” Egbert said regretfully.
“We can only continue with our plan,” Erik said.
They got to the base of the mountain. The path leading upward wound through trees and plants that were heavily Metal attribute, thriving in this Metal floor.
Domonos organized the platoon, quickly pulling out different parts of a fort and placing them down. The mages used spells to fuse them to the ground, erecting a fort in just minutes.
The ground started to shake as Rugrat, who had found a ledge on the mountain, looked up at the metal dust that rose as a group of beasts charged down.
His eyes turned solemn as he pulled out his grenade launcher once again. Level thirty-sevens.
The creatures were blown back by the blast. The defense around the camp was like an iron wall; the defenders didn’t let anything through, handling the charging beasts with professional ease.
The Alva Army might be stronger on average, but even higher levels didn’t mean that they were invincible and most of them were dismounted, making the base.
“I can deal with them but it will take mana,” Egbert said.
Rugrat was trying to find a good angle, but rocks jut out all over the place, making it hard to get a good line of sight on the charging beasts.
“Go for it,” Erik said.
Egbert cracked his fingers and his robes fluttered in the wind. His robes and bones glowed with a deep-blue light that had flickers of purple embers.
Spell formations appeared above the beasts as ice blocks hit the ground, covering it in ice. The beasts lost their footing and started to scramble, trying to recover.
Egbert landed on the ground and spell circles appeared on either side of him. Blue spears of mana shot out, tearing through the leading beasts, and exploded. The beasts charged forward, but under the destruction of Egbert’s attacks, their front line was pushed backward. His attacks tore through their lines.
Rugrat, for the first time, was able to see the power that Egbert commanded. If there was even more power in the dungeon, then wouldn’t he have power close to that of a demigod?
Currents of power revolved around Egbert, making him look as though he were a well of mana itself.
More spells were cast in the sky, hitting the charging beasts from above and in front.
Dust obscured the battlefield as mana explosions of blue and the occasional attacks from the beasts colored the mountain.
Suddenly, it ended. Egbert and the rest surveyed the mountain to look for any more threats.
“Captain, hold the camp. Be ready to head to the formation if needed!”
“Yes, sir,” Glosil yelled back over the roars of the beasts coming from across the Metal floor and charging the mountain.
A roar answered them from the top of the mountain. The entire mountain shook as lightning rained down randomly, striking the mountain and breaking off massive metal chunks that fell below.
“Special teams on me!” Erik called out.
The formation masters would be left at the camp as Special Team One led the way, Rugrat and Erik in the center, with Special Team Two in the rear.
Their panthers let out roars as they charged forward. Roska and Lucinda buffed them with spells.
They wove up the mountain’s trails and Egbert floated with them.
They reached an open area. Egbert looked for new routes forward as they slowed their pace.
“Watch out!” he yelled.
From three of the mountain paths, massive elks made of silver charged out, with racks of polished and sharpened metal on their heads lowered as they charged.
One of the elks was killed by the repeaters, explosives, and spells. Another slammed into Special Team One, tearing through the group as they tossed their head, sending them flying, their condition unknown.
Erik mentally kicked himself. They had been all grouped together as they moved and it made the perfect target for the elks’ charge.
Rugrat jumped off George, who rushed forward. The elk turned and lifted its head proudly, only to see the firewolf appear with red eyes and flames dancing around him.
It didn’t have time to lower its head as George leapt forward. His claws dug into the massive elk and his jaw closed on the elk’s neck.
It might be made of metal but George was one of their strongest members and he was made from fire. His body showed blue flames as the ground underneath him melted and the elk cried out, stumbling and trying to fight back. Its attempts to survive became weaker and weaker.
Erik looked over to the last elk. It had missed its target for some reason. Storbon’s spear turned into several copies, each of them striking the elk’s leg, making it stagger. Tian Cui threw darts, and Niemm’s rifle cracked, hitting the elk in the eye, causing a tombstone to appear.
Erik switched back to George. He shook his head as the blue sparks across his body faded. Erik could tell he was much weaker now, but the elk showed a tombstone above its neck now.
Erik looked over to Gong Jin, who was organizing the wounded. Simms, Xi, and Imani had all been hit.
As soon as the elk was killed, Gong Jin had people go over to collect the different wounded and had Lucinda work with their mounts to heal them or settle their nerves.
Gilga knew his thoughts and in two jumps, Erik was next to Simms. He was coughing badly.
Eric pulled out a needle and jabbed it into Simms’s side. He injected all of the healing concoction into his side and his breathing became easier.
“All right, Simms, how you feeling?” Erik dropped to the ground, checking on him.
“Hit some rocks with my side, head’s all fucked.” Simms blinked and tried to clear his mind. He let out a pained hiss as the healing concoction went to work.
Erik checked him over. “Good work on the self-aid. You’ve got a couple of cracked ribs and a collapsed lung, not the best situation,” Erik said. “This will hurt.”
He forced Simms’s ribs together as he cried out and then used Heal Bone spell, fusing them together. The healing concoction would do the rest and his lung would be okay.
Erik scanned Simms’s head at the same time.
“Okay, looks like we need to work on the helmets a bit more. The extra weight fucked your neck up, but don’t worry—I can deal with that.” Erik didn’t mention how it also looked as though he had a concussion. With the power of Focused Heal, he could repair that damage as if it never existed.
He looked up over to the other wounded. Deni had Imani and Yang Zan was working with Xi. A bloody spiked metal tree had been hacked down as he dealt with the several puncture wounds.
With the healing spells and concoctions, now it was as easy to diagnose what the condition of a person was as it was to render critical healing and leave the rest to concoctions.
“Yang Zan, Deni, you good?” Erik yelled.
“Good!” they yelled back, not turning from their patients.
Rugrat had formed everyone up, ready to move. Rugrat jogged over as Gilga surveyed the area.
“Leave a half section with Yang Zan to watch them and take them to the camp,” Erik said.
“I can fight,” Simms said.
“You need time to heal those ribs.” Erik put more force into his words.
Simms looked as if he wanted to argue but he lowered his head. Erik was his commanding officer and the one who had trained him. He might be annoyed but he wouldn’t go against his orders. “Sir,” he said in a curt voice.
�
��I’ll see to it,” Rugrat said.
Erik got Simms stabilized and dealt with the head trauma so that there wouldn’t be any problems later on. “Go and report to Gong Jin.”
“Sir.” Simms headed off at a jog and Erik mounted back up.
Deni had Imani up and limping. She had taken the elk’s antlers to the leg and her mount had been directly killed.
She was put into Yang Zan’s care and Gong Jin remained with them. The five of them would head back to camp as soon as Xi was good to move.
Roska moved to Erik. “Ready to move,” she reported.
“Egbert, lead on. Everyone, make sure to keep your spacing, three panthers in between you and the person in front of you!” Erik yelled.
Storbon led the way, with Egbert guiding them from above. He had scouted ahead as they were stabilizing the wounded.
They broke their mounted defense and headed up the mountain once again.
Erik got a message from Glosil. “Report,” Erik said.
“We are under contact. Beasts are testing our strengths and weaknesses. Looks like they’ll attack in force soon enough—” He was interrupted from a roar on top of the mountain.
“Shit, it looks like that stirred them up. We’ve got more coming in. Get those mortars firing!” Glosil yelled.
“Can you hold?” Erik asked.
“We should be good. On a one-to-one basis, we’re stronger but they have got numbers on their side,” Glosil said in a low voice.
“Do what you can, but we don’t need a final stand. We’re sending down a half section to you. Three wounded but mobile, with a medic and Gong Jin in command.”
Erik wasn’t concerned. Although they were pressured, it wasn’t as if they didn’t have an avenue to retreat. They still had untapped strength; if they went all-out, they could force their way back to the teleportation array.
“Understood,” Glosil said.
Erik heard the mortars firing at the base of the mountain. “Report in if anything changes.”
“Yes, sir.” Glosil closed the sound transmission.
Egbert and Storbon, with the leading forces of Special Team One, cut down any resistance and creatures that appeared on the mountain, springing out of the Metal grasses and forests.
They didn’t have drawn-out engagements as they passed quickly and reached the summit not long after.
The mountain wasn’t pointed; instead, it had a bowl-like shape. The basin was filled with what looked like brilliant blue water, but one couldn’t see the bottom and it gave off light. In its depths, one could see white sparks. Lightning fell from the heavens, striking the water, but instead of it exploding like normal water would, the water only glowed brighter.
“The water is condensed lightning,” Roska said. With her words, a chill passed through the group.
“Look there—is that a dam?” Niemm asked.
Everyone looked into the center of the pool. There was a large dam that had to be fifty meters in diameter in the middle of the lightning waters.
The waters seethed as a massive beaver over ten meters long appeared. He let out a low squeaking noise as he slapped the water with his long tail. The lightning water was disturbed, throwing bolts of lightning around, and the wave that headed toward the group discharged lightning.
“Find cover!” Erik yelled. They ran to the sides, and the lightning wave rushed forward.
They moved to the side as the water made it over the basin. Lightning arced between the trees, the vegetation, and the ground.
Gilga gave out a screech and chittered. The beaver’s head snapped over and looked at her before snapping off a few more squeaks.
Three heads appeared in the water and the largest squeaked. The large beaver out of the water squeaked back at them in a panic and backed up, eyeing all of the Alva Army.
“It’s defending its home,” Erik muttered. Through his connection, he could feel that Gilga wasn’t preparing to fight; instead, she was relaxing and he was able to get a basic understanding of what she meant.
“They don’t want to fight? Do they mean us harm?” Erik asked.
She shook her head in the negative twice.
“You can understand one another?” Erik asked.
She nodded in the positive.
The beavers in the water were together. The larger one had given up arguing with the second largest. The two others looked at the special teams in curiosity.
“Get him to stop the fighting in the floor. We don’t want to fight if we don’t have to. Just want to take command of the floor,” Erik said.
Gilga talked back at the beaver. It took some time before the second largest beaver spoke up. The largest one looked as if he were pouting but didn’t do anything to interrupt.
Erik got a transmission from Glosil.
“The animals are backing off here,” Glosil said.
“Looks like this has turned into a negotiation,” Erik said. “I’ll keep you updated.”
Erik cut the transmission while Gilga and the other beaver talked.
Egbert landed next to him. “When we built this floor, the lightning was supposed to go through a formation, set up like a river through the entire floor. It looks like the beaver made dams across the floor. The dams, made from the trees and plants of the floor, spread the power more and improved the floor. They lived in the center of the lightning water and created that lodge.” Egbert pointed to what Erik had called a dam.
“They’re a keystone species, you know. With them, a lot of disasters are averted or decrease in lethality. They just consume plants—they’re not meat eaters. With their lodges, it’s hard to kill them. Here in waters made of lightning, their strength increased passively. Look at the plants in and around the water.”
Erik looked at the plants. He had been focused on the beaver before but now that he changed his focus, he could see that these plants were much stronger than the plants in the lower parts of the mountain.
“Even though the floor has been cut off for decades, it has flourished,” Egbert said as Erik looked around. The metal-looking plants were strange. It was hard to pick them out against the broken rocks and the metals of the floor, but as he looked around, he could see that there were forests of the plants. There were other pools of dimmer-looking lightning water here and there. It was easy to look over it all and think it barren because the Metal-attribute items were just so foreign to Erik. Seeing the blacks, silvers, blues, and golds of the floor, he thought of it like some shiny but desolate land.
“I was looking at it as if it were Earth, with forests of green and browns,” Erik muttered.
It took another hour or two. Gilga lay down and talked to the beaver. The older beaver still looked alert, and the other two were fixing up different dams that they had created.
Gilga broke away from talking to the beaver on the bank, and walked to Erik.
“So?” Erik asked.
Erik felt emotions and images through his body, piecing things together.
“And for the rest of us?” Rugrat asked.
“Beavers been here for a while. Got closed off, stayed on the mountain, populated. They were the strongest; they control the floor. With their dams, they hid in the lightning, grew stronger with that and the materials they ate. Got stirred up by us and the fighting. They hid in their dams and let the others fight us.
“They’re the leaders of this place. Remember short people—uh, guess that is the gnomes. They liked having them ruling. They want to go to a place of water. There are more like them?” Erik was confused; he looked at Gilga, who agreed with his words.
“They must be beavers from the Water floor. They must have used the pathways from below and ended up here for some reason,” Egbert said.
“So what do you think about all of this?” Rugrat asked.
“I think it would be a great idea to keep them around. Dams are pretty useful! Though we’ll need them to move their lodge so that we can access the formations that are underneath it.”
Erik rel
ayed this to Gilga, who went back to the beaver, communicating with tail slaps, yowls, and chitters between the two of them. Gilga looked back over her shoulder.
“Seems we have an agreement,” Erik said.
A few more heads popped out of the water, looking at the humans with interest and then looking back to one another—a big beaver family reunion.
“Most of the creatures on the other floor were actually allowed to roam freely. They weren’t a problem to the floors—the problems were with the species that were aggressive,” Egbert said.
“So if we can get control over the aggressive species or get the beavers to control them until we can tame them, then what?” Erik asked.
“Once we have the main command formation, then all of the beasts in its range will come under our control. It was made with their ancestral blood. Be real hard for them to break that bond. If we treat them okay, then they won’t have a reason to try to break it, either. They make it much easier to regulate the floors and advance quicker. Look at how developed this place has become in the time that they have been stuck in here. The Metal-attribute mana wasn’t even ten percent as strong as this,” Egbert said.
“We’re going to have to clean out these impurities. We can last around two months on these floors now, but at our lower levels, our mana systems would have been filled with impurities and we would be in serious trouble after a few hours,” Rugrat said.
“If we can increase people’s Body Cultivation, they can come down to these floors without problems,” Erik said.
“Have to remember, it’s not always our duty to help them increase their strength. If they want it, they should work toward it.”
“Yeah, that’s true.” Erik turned his gaze to the dam and then up at the ceiling. “Long-term gains—we’ll get a burst of energy at first and then power slowly over time. We’ve got more than enough power right now. With this floor being under our control, we’re gaining much more than we’re losing,” Erik said aloud, looking out over the massive floor.
The living floor where the academy was and where everyone from Alva lived was the smallest floor.
The Fifth Realm Page 5
