Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3)

by Brian Wilkerson

  A mana storm close to the Summit…. one would think Tasio planned it.

  Without farmers to keep them at bay, monsters roamed closer to the town walls and a mana storm provided plenty of monsters. While local governments, such as Nolien’s family, were ultimately responsible for dealing with them, mercenaries like himself would be called upon to keep the area safe for civilians.

  The Chaos Zone itself extended about forty square yards, give or take a couple at varying points. The official boundary was the end of the mutations, but the Fog would drift farther. The swirl of highly concentrated and agitated mana transformed everything in its vicinity. The monsters it spawned would range even further. The monsters of this field appeared as mutant bears, snow golems, large rodents, and other things.

  An official from the Royal Department of Trickster Management and Maintenance was already present and slaying monsters with an axe in each hand. An associate of his was recording the type, breed and number of the monsters on a scry. When he spotted Basilard, they exchanged greetings and a handshake. Then Basilard showed the two officials the mission bill and copy of the claim from Ax. The officials gave him a stamp and returned to work. It amused Eric that this second bureaucrat defended herself with the pen she used to take notes.

  “Mercenaries, it’s time to earn our pay,” Basilard said. “Zettai, stay here with Lawful S—I mean the Royal Sentinel.”

  Eric spotted a bear-like monster; an Ulizt. It was bi-pedal and splotched with festering bumps resembling acne. It had white fur with ice crystals sticking out. His eyes slitted and he licked his lips. He ran across the chaotic zone, away from his teammates, in pursuit of prey.

  Eyes glowing with lingering mana storm power, it swiped at him. He dodged, but the power of the blow buffeted him. He stuck his staff into its chest and it roared. It swiped at him with the other claw and, again, Eric dodged.

  “Now you see me.” He willed darkness around himself and became invisible. While the Ulizt looked about in confusion, Eric circled behind it. He waited for the right moment and stabbed the back of its neck. “Now you don’t.”

  Inhumanly quick, it spun and knocked Eric to the ground. It held him there with a claw while the other raised high. Instead of trying to escape, Eric sneered. When the beast struck for his throat, he caught the paw in one of his own.

  The Ulizt pushed on his chest and heard a satisfying crunch as it caved in. It lowered its head to enjoy its meal, but the prey took a bite out of him instead. The Seed of Chaos was already mending the damage. A brief confusion was all Eric needed to get his legs under the Ulizt and push it off.

  “Wind that warps and gusts that gale, become my army and fire at my command. Stratos Lance!"

  A pole arm made of air impaled the beast from the left. In the next second, two more appeared from the right. Then four, then eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two, then finally, sixty-four. When it finally collapsed, it was bleeding from over a hundred wounds.

  “Huh, I thought that spell would take more out of me.”

  Grey Dengel appeared at his side. That is the Seed of Chaos. Your cells are charged with chaotic energy and so your soul has easy access to additional fuel.

  “That makes sense. Darkness, magecraft, monster form, Seed of Chaos…I just realized what a weird medley of powers I have.”

  Tasio wishes you to become a second “Immortal Victorious in Battle.”

  Eric bull-rushed a second Ulizt and, rather than a prolonged fight, stuck his spear into its chest and blew it apart with a compressed mana bolt.

  “I was thinking the same thing.”

  His eyes slitted involuntarily and he feasted on the slain monsters.

  Tiza jumped into a batch of smaller monsters. These were a Frankenstein mixture of several vermin that were twenty times bigger than any one kind. They came up to her waist. She assumed them to have been sleeping underground when the mana storm hit. There were five of them, which she figured was unfair; she’d kill them all before Dimwit finished eating.

  “I don’t have all those funky powers, but I can kill all the same.”

  She struck first by impaling one through the back and blasting another further into the chaos zone. When the other three attacked, she weaved around them and kicked them around with bladed boots. Then she finished them with her sword. By now, the first one was dead from the poison on her blade. The toxins she used in combat had to work quickly if they were to be effective. She spent hours every day studying them before Sathel allowed her to even practice with them. The incident at the castle finally convinced her, although she was still scolded for sneaking out the poisoned sword.

  The second returned from her punting, but it was too far away to finish off with her metal sword. Her mana sword, on the other hand, had just the right reach. Holding her metal one straight up with both hands, she focused mana into it. It flowed liked wax into a mold. Leveling her sword like a bow, she fired a mana bolt in the shape of a sword. It entered the franken-vermin’s mouth and came out its rear, leaving two halves of a monster in its wake.

  Another swarm approached her blindside. Unfortunately for them, this particular sapient had no blind side. Again molding mana into her sword, she pulled her hands apart to create a new sword. Now dual wielding, she spun around and killed monsters left and right.

  One leapt past her guard and bit her left thigh. She cried out and then stabbed it. She fought the remaining ones with it stuck to her leg. There were four more, so she estimated four strikes to finish the battle. With four steps, she killed them all.

  Once they were all dead, she pummeled the one on her leg with a mana beam to make sure it was dead. Then she began the delicate process of removing its teeth. It was easier than she thought. It didn’t pierce her skin because a pulsating blue-grey aura blocked its jaws.

  “Endurance….”

  She didn’t recall Nolien casting that spell on her. It could have bitten clear to her bone and become a disabling injury, taking her out of the mission. Then she smiled. It was comforting to think he was watching out for her even outside of battle.

  Nolien squared off with four golems. They ranged from three to eight feet tall and were composed of snow, ice, gravel, and other nearby elements. He’d rather support Tiza, but these things sprang up in his way. He pointed his staff and chanted, "Before I yawn, I demand you be gone! DISPEL!"

  Mana leaked from the golems like steam from a cup and they shrank by the second. It was unorthodox but faux-life-granted-by-a-mana-storm could count as a spell if considered so by a creative mind. Dispel would unravel it like any other.

  They attacked him en masse with ice balls and chilly wind. He thwarted them with ducks, dodges, and his barrier. All the while, he maintained the Dispel.

  “Syrup, molasses, and all things sticky, freeze their place; I’m not picky! SLOTH!”

  He bashed the ground with the butt of his staff and a wave of magical power arrested their movement. Gestures that formerly took three seconds now took six. Nolien strolled through them and bashed the weakest into oblivion. The other two required more effort and he smashed them apart with combos he learned from Raki. However, the last and the biggest one of all stood defiant.

  “To protect this life of mine, make that monster blind! Darkness smog!”

  A glob of black smoke shot from Nolien’s staff and engulfed the golem’s head. It flailed about blindly and in slow motion while Nolien examined the condition of his teammates. He sent a curative spell in Eric’s direction and a healing one along with a buff in Tiza’s. By the time the golem reached him, it was little more than a snow child. The healer knocked its head off with ease.

  Basilard by far had the least trouble with the monsters. Between all his power and experience, it was simple to obliterate them be they Ulizt, franken-vermin, or golem. A far different creature challenged him in the chaos zone.

  “Zettai, do you understand how I used that Ancestral Beam?”

  “Yes, you’ve only showed me 500 times since yesterday.” B
asilard vaporized three franken-vermin. “Make that 501.”

  “Then show me.”

  Zettai inclined her head towards the city. “I thought you wanted me to stay behind. You should make up your mind.”

  Basilard tossed BloodDrinker into an Ulizt. The bear whined as the blade sucked him dry.

  “I’m in no mood for sass. You deliberately disobeyed me today.”

  “I was protecting myself! One of the servants tried to choke me this morning.”

  Basilard retrieved BloodDrinker and tossed the corpse into a pile.

  “She was taking your measurements! You need a ceremonial gown for Blood Adoption and it has to be custom made.”

  Zettai's arms crossed. “Custom-made accident, more like.”

  Basilard snapped his fingers. A snow golem melted under a precise heat spell.

  “If you treat your family like enemies, then they will never become your family.”

  “We’re not family. You just gave me a blood transfusion. I didn’t know it was going to mutate me like this storm.”

  At this, Basilard stopped fighting the monsters and simply projected a barrier against them. No longer distracted, he marched to the biological daughter that he never sired.

  “Listen carefully because this is very important: never ever repeat those words around another Bladi. In the past, we were hunted like monsters because of our differences. If they heard you saying something like that, it'd stir old wounds.”

  Zettai clapped her hands to cheeks. “Oohh! Scary! Anything else I should know like ‘don’t feed the vampire’?”

  Basilard groaned. “Ancestor, give me strength.”

  He dropped the barrier and finished off the remaining monsters in his section.

  Between the efforts of the four mercenaries and the royal clerks, the area was temporarily clear of monsters. Thus, it was momentarily safe for their work. Nolien pulled out his bag for collecting materials and he was jerked backward by something pulling his collar.

  “Tiza, what is—” He trailed off because she pecked his check.

  “That was for the Endurance spell.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Then she smacked him on the head. “How long have you been casting spells on me without telling me? It's creepy!”

  “Uh...since...Returning from Ceiha..."

  "Urg! I knew it! If I wear a dress, it makes you think I'm a damsel in distress."

  Nolien smacked her in return. "It's my job to keep you in good health and prevention works better than cure. You needed it this time and the last time. If I didn’t cast Ward on you before the Summit, Dosh’s spell would have knocked you straight out. Then you would be very much in distress."

  Eric bumped Zettai’s shoulder. “Watch this.” To the couple, he said, “We have work to do. Now’s not the time for a lover’s quarrel.”

  Both of them stiffened, blushed, and shouted, “Who’s having a lover’s quarrel?” and marched in opposite directions. Zettai giggled.

  Eric pulled out his own bag and donned the special gloves given to Team Four specifically for this mission. As he went about collecting the materials Ax requested, he spoke the details aloud for Zettai to listen. As in Ceiha, she paid close attention.

  Ax requested Elemental Stone for use in his weapon-producing business. These precious rocks grew in chaos zones or other places touched by intense mana like Fog such as the Yacian Caverns. As products of a chaos zone, they were too dangerous to touch with one’s bare hands. Beyond simple pain, they could cause magical aliments. For this reason, it was required by law for collectors to wear special gloves. After they were taken far enough away from their source, they would stabilize and become as workable as any other material. It was another layer of the Elemental Mana Factor hypothesis in Mana Mutation.

  Mana Storms mutated whatever they touched and the surrounding environment played a role in that transformation. This storm produced three kinds of Elemental Stone: Frost-stone from the winter season, Flame-stone from Ataidar’s divine fire atmosphere and Earth-stone from the soil. In Mithra, a land belonging to Forol, Eric explained that he’d find Forest-stone and Latrot would likely have order-stone if it had mana storms. His own transformation into a grendel followed this theory: Ceiha was a barren land and so he transformed into a non-elemental beast whose appearance was vague.

  Basilard himself reached down to gather them but at a slower pace. His primary focus was to watch out for more monsters. It would only be a matter of time before more of them spawned. They would appear from the Fog as if from nowhere and attack the nearest sapients. Seeing him do this, Zettai strolled away from Eric and towards him.

  “Is this what I have to look forward to?” she asked. “Teaching combat arts and performing blue collar labor?”

  Basilard composed himself. “No. My function as Bladi Chief is more prestigious than that. I’ve only returned to this work because I’m needed for something bigger than my clan.”

  “Eric, the Trickster’s Choice.”

  “Yes.” He closed his bag and stepped close enough to Zettai to feel the heat from her breath. “Zettai, because you’re my daughter, I’m going to trust you with a precious secret.”

  She tilted her head. “Really?”

  “Yes.” In whispers, he continued, “Eric is more important than ‘Trickster’s Choice.’ He is the choice of Lady Chaos herself. He is a knight selected to be her champion. My job is to keep him safe while he matures into that role and I will need your help if I am to succeed.”

  Zettai was too stunned to speak. Then, in a hushed tone, she said, “I don’t believe it. You’re making that up to manipulate me to work hard for you, just like my real father.”

  Basilard clenched BloodDrinker’s hilt. “Eric has been dragged from another world, mutated into a monster, granted a Seed of Chaos, and blessed with divine water magic. If Tasio did that for kicks, then no one would be making a fuss about it now.”

  “Good point.”

  “Order has tried to kill him six times since he came back. I’m sure you’ve learned enough about Order to understand why that is unusual.”

  “Also a good point.”

  “Do you think anyone less important could force me out of retirement from teaching?”

  Zettai threw up her hands and cried, “Alright, fine, Eric is this chosen one of Lady Chaos, but I still don’t believe you need me. Like the Bladi Bastards tell me every day, I’m ‘too weak, too frail, and too stupid to be the heir.’”

  Basilard hugged her, but she pushed him away.

  “A hug isn’t going to change that!”

  “Then what will?!”

  “Uh…umm…” Zettai stared at the snow and twiddled her fingers. “Gather all your relatives together and….and say... tell them that ‘Zettai is my daughter and I love her for who she is. Be nice to her.’”

  He smiled warmly. “Is that all?”

  “Y-you’d really do that?”

  “I’ll do it as soon as I go home after this mission.”

  Zettai pawed the ground with one foot. “Well…in that case, I suppose I should demonstrate it.”

  She pointed across the field where a snow and stone golem was pulling itself out of the mutated earth. Biting her finger, she spoke the words necessary for the basic form of the Ancestral Beam. She had to restart once, but the power built up and she fired it just as it fully emerged. The beam knocked its head clear off. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her chest out.

  “Make sure you tell them about that too!”

  “I certainly will.”

  He pulled her into another hug, and this time, she didn’t push him away.

  Suddenly, a flash of light drew their attention and a wave of heat washed over all of them. At the center of the zone, not ten yards away, flames of many colors were coalescing into one form. It fashioned a torso, limbs, and a head. It stood thirteen feet tall, ten in length, and eleven in width. The ambient energy of the chaos zone had become a fire spirit, and it took the for
m of Ataidar’s symbol, the Crowned Tiger.

  “Team Four, huddle up.” The three novices gathered and Basilard continued, “I want you to fight that elemental.”

  “You do!?” Three voices coursed with inflections ranging from shock to excitement.

  “This was a comparatively weak storm, so the elemental will be weaker than some others. There’s still no way you’ll defeat it, but I want to see your teamwork.”

  “As you command, Daylra,” Corporal Nolien said. “Eric, Tiza, we’ll use the Three Orbit Layers strategy." Nolien pointed his staff at Tiza and intoned, "Indomitable Will: Endurance! Iron Spirit: Ward!”

  A suit of white armor flashed over her body and vanished, followed by a purple shell. In addition to her physical armor and its runes, these two spells would increase her defense against physical and magical attacks.

  Eric pointed his staff. “May the Sea grant you its blessing and aid in your threshing,” he intoned. “Water Blade!” and Tiza’s sword gleamed with sea blue light. “Why’s mine longer than yours?”

  Nolien shrugged. “I guess Dengel thought defensive spells needed a quicker chant than elemental empowerment.”

  “Thanks, guys. Now let’s do this! DRAGOOOOOOOOON’S LAAAAAIIIIIIRRRR!”

  She ran across the chaos zone screaming her head off and waving her sword above her head. Eric followed at a measured pace behind her and Nolien followed in a similar pace behind him. In addition to vertical distance, they separated horizontally to avoid an area of effect attack. This was the foundation of the Triple Orbit Layers strategy.

  The elemental took notice of them all but only targeted Tiza because she was closest, loudest, and bore a water weapon. It breathed a steam of fire upon her hot enough to melt the snow. She side-jumped and ran around to avoid the continuous stream while Eric chanted an attack spell. She ran up to the right paw and plunged her water-powered sword into it. The Fire Tiger screeched and squashed her with the other paw. She dodged again and it struck with the right, knocking her away and of her feet. It hurt, but with the best armor in the group and Nolien’s buffs, she was ready for another pass.