Chapter 437 - On the sand (Patreon)

A burst of mana surges from me and crashes against the barrier. For a moment, they collide like a tidal wave crashing against a solid surface. My mana constantly shifts its frequency, and in the end, it overwhelms the barrier.

 Like a bubble, the barrier bursts open, with tiny particles of blue mana falling all around

Sensing the broken barrier, the fight stops for a brief moment, and all eyes turn to me.

Blood drips from my body due to the wounds and damage caused by the interrupted teleportation and white sand, while golden flames flicker over my body, fueling my passive and healing me.

Even the monster, from which I can't sense any mana at all, stops, its piercing eyes turning away from Maya to me. Some sort of mental attack crashes against me but with a burst of mana I shake it off.

[Sandwraith Marauder - lvl ???]

The monster even seems as if it repels mana. Not with the help of a skill or trait, but just because of the composition of its body.

The Marauder is humanoid but very thin, white plates on its body looking like armor with spikes. It currently faces Maya, with the twins nearby who help. Sophie is helping them too and I can sense she defends the group against some weird attack. Tess is fighting against two thylarin with two question marks, and Lily faces the rest of the people with the help of the rest of Group 4

“You should be dead,” one of the thylarin calls with a surprise.

"We made sure of that," the other one adds.

“If you think you can help the remaining two guides control the ship, deal with these two guides, maybe leave one for Sophie. We will take care of the rest,” Tess says calmly, interrupting them. Then instead of using her javelins, she surrounds her body with white and red lightning.

She crashes against the thylarin, and the fight starts anew.

I dodge a few attacks thrown my way and blow off the head of one random guy jumping into my way.

The monster tries to charge me, but Maya grabs its arm and pulls it back, followed by a use of [Boost] that strengthens her armor against the monster´s attack.

There is also some weird mental attack the monster tries to use, but Sophie counters it, protecting the group.

Blue flames burn all around, causing damage only to the enemies, while group 4 can’t even feel the heat.

It looks enjoyable, and I want to join the fight, but it seems like Tess did something to force these people to come out. Would it be fair for me to interrupt their fun just like that? I know how annoying it is when someone does that to me.

Well, just this time, I'll let them be.

My mana activates around me and deflects multiple attacks thrown at me, some of them really nasty. A burst of flames infused with disrupting mana burns through the body barrier of some melee chump, and I boost my body towards the guides.

Seeing that I ignore the monster and am about to reach them, the two guides quickly reconsider the situation and disappear, their figures passing through the wall as if it wasn’t there.

The remaining people panic, and the two thylarin with question marks start searching for an escape route. The monster, now out of the guides' control, either due to Sophie’s actions or because the guides let it go, begins attacking anyone in its path.

I let the others deal with it and sending my senses like a wave through the ship, I place a few anchors and teleport a few times until I catch up to the guides.

The defenses of the ship that are mostly gone seem to work in the part where I find myself, and vibrations start shaking my still wounded body as if they are about to tear me apart.

I strengthen my body and shake off the somehow awkward disrupting attempts thrown at me. Teleporting the last time I reach them.

The guide, who sensed my anchor behind him, waits for me to appear and stabs towards me, but with a short burst of kinetic energy, I just move to the side.

Swinging my arm coated in oscillating mana, I pierce through his defenses, and his head flies away, and a notification rings.

The second guide tries to pass through the wall again, but I disrupt his mana, and instead of passing through, he crashes against the wall.

“No, no, no, listen, if you kill me here…” I burrow my knee into his nether region and then smash the side of his head.

Then I do it again, put some mana threads around him, and kick his crotch again.

Sending his location to Sophie, I then cut off his legs just in case and burn the wound so he doesn't bleed off.

At that moment, the Deathtrap shakes, and I can feel it dropping in height. An explosion sounds somewhere nearby, and a burst of powerful mana washes over the ship. An immense amount is released at once, even creating a hole in the side of the ship from what I can sense.

Teleporting a few times, I reach the place soon, joined by the two remaining guides who pass through the wall. All three of us staring at the giant hole and the Mana Desert outside. There are also tiny particles of the white sand crashing against the field that covers the hole, the same as on the deck.

The guides are wearing white masks, so I can’t see their expressions, but I would say they are scared.

“Backup source won't be able to handle it for longer than a few hours…”

“...wall, we need to move the plates to defend it…”

“...Just two of us…”

“Should we run? But how?”

“...don’t know what happened.”

There is a conversation going on quickly between them, their movements having a feel of panic.

“The two guides I just took care of were the ones killing the other guides. They even got a monster onto the ship and cooperated with some of the passengers. Why?”

That makes them stop, and they turn to me.

“And what makes you think I would know it?! Him and I are the rookies! The two you just killed were among the longest-serving guides so why the fuck would they care about us!.. But if you stop interrupting us, we will decide what to do so we all won’t die. We need to…”

“I will help, just tell me where the backup core is. I will give it some mana,” I gesture at my crown.

“[Mana Crown]?”

“Yes.”

“Do you even realize how much mana you would need to…”

“That’s my problem. Plus, we saw a storm coming towards us; it’s still far away and this way,” I point my finger.

That seems to scare them even more than the broken core.

“Go with him to the backup core; I will check the sensors for the storm to confirm.”

“We will need to change the direction as quickly as possible. If it’s the big one, it will…”

“I fucking know! Now go.” Saying that, the guide enters the wall and disappears.

This time I observe the process, and it seems like he is using some minuscule inscriptions left in it, together with some skill or item to do it.

I gesture to the second guide to wait a moment and teleport, going through the pockets of the guides I neutralized to take a few items and mana stones. Nothing too interesting. After that, I follow the man into the room that is well isolated and hidden. Given a bit of effort, I would probably find it myself.

“You can go,” I gesture to him, and he leaves.

I enter the small room that just has a single pillar in the corner and a control panel directly on the crystal.

Following the amazing design of the ship, this also looks old, damaged, and even the goddamned crystal looks rusty for some reason.

It also seems to be only 20% full, and it’s depleting.

I spend a few minutes observing how much mana gets pulled away, and when the ship starts shaking and lifting higher into the air, the depletion quickens. It speeds up even more as I sense the field around the ship change.

There is a control system to join in, and it takes me a few minutes to realize that the hole in the side of the ship takes a lot of mana to block the white sand. Without metal plates, it’s much hungrier.

I think around 2 days remain before we reach the central region. At this point, it’s a very rough estimate. Who knows what they did.

The crystal seems to be able to last for a day at most, probably even less.

Well, time to get into this.

I activate my skills, my traits, and start modifying the crystal.

***

Lily and Biscuit find me ten minutes later.

I get healed against my will and almost fall down as my mana feet get replaced by new ones. As the wounds close, only then do I realize how much damage it actually was and that there is a small pool of blood under my feet.

“So?” I ask to take my mind away from it.

“A few got hurt, but nothing I couldn’t fix,” Lily says. “We killed the monster, but it deleted the web, so Sophie is setting it anew and needs to meet you to add you in. I already let them know you are fine.”

“Sounds good.”

“A few more groups joined, and we had to kill them, but it was doable. Tess also caught these two 4-armed men. Sophie is trying to get into their minds, but it’s difficult. She only learned that there seems to be something very special where we were heading.”

(Food!)

“I’m sure that’s not it, Biscuit. Lily, the guide is coming, so don’t be surprised and don’t kill him.”

“I wouldn’t…”

The guide appears with a nice message right away, “We are fucked.”

Just like me, he quickly examines how much mana remains in it. His shoulders immediately drop, as if he has lost all hope.

“Mind to explain?”

“We are way off course; they must have messed with the navigation. It will take at least a week to reach the central region. But that doesn’t matter because we can’t change our direction - they’ve locked it. The storm is one of the biggest I’ve seen, and we’re heading straight into it. We have enough mana for one more day, but not enough to outlast it.”

He sits on the ground, his back sliding against the wall, and takes down his mask, throwing it away and revealing an unshaved, tired face of a normal-looking man.

Looking at my preparations and the pillar I painted with mana conductive paint and inscriptions I made on the surface, he sighs, “It could work, but even if you have enough mana, we are screwed.”

“Can you pass it along to the others? Sophie might be able to get some information.”

Lily nods energetically, “I’m doing it already.”

“How long until the storm hits us?” I turn to the guide.

“Two to six hours; it’s hard to estimate with how unpredictable they are.”

“It’s so dangerous because it will overwhelm the field and defenses in metal plates?” I ask.

“Yes, plus the wind there is very powerful, it will…”

“Nat, the two blue men escaped. They... they are out in the desert?!” Lily has her eyes wide open as she listens to the information she is getting.

“Deck?” I ask.

“Yes,” she nods, and I put my arm on her shoulder and on Biscuit, teleporting us both to the top.

This time there are no interruptions to my teleport, and here I find the rest of group 4. All of them are looking down at the two thylarin that walk through the white sand.

There is no damage caused to their blue bodies.

“They had some weird teleportation skill that let them to get onto the dock from where they jumped down,” Sophie notes.

“Why are you not killing them?” I ask her.

“We need them,” Tess answers instead. “The guide you kept, Sophie couldn’t get any info from. Even as she pierced through his defenses, something the people from the central region put on him killed him.”

“So, you want me to get them? That’s so cruel of you; I might die, you know?” I say as I observe the two thylarin.

They aren’t using any skills or mana, and just with the power of their bodies, they try running away. Right towards the storm, in the same direction the ship goes.

It would be very simple to kill them, and they seem to realize it, but just that small chance of escaping is probably better than staying here on the ship.

“Yes, I’m asking you to do that. Can you do it?” Tess says without hesitation.

“I can get them,” I nod.

Then I hand to Maya all my weapons and equipment, which she dumbfoundedly takes.

After that, I unbutton my shirt and pull it over my head before handing it to her.

“Yooo,” Maya mumbles, and there are reactions from other members of the group as well.

Some shamelessly stare; some seem to be at a bit embarrassed.

This is something I was getting ready for in the past few days. My constructs, my unique passive, and other passives are all turned off for a while. All of my mana is also stored in the crown.

Currently, there is almost no mana in my body at all. I went through a lot of effort, testing, and checks together with Sophie to make sure of it.

Just thermal and kinetic energy are inside my body and tiny bits of mana.

I then untie my pants, pull them down, and glance at Group 4. I turn around and remove the rest of my clothes.

The only problem is my clothes and gear. I just found myself unable to get rid of all the mana in them. There was always some remaining. And just that little bit would be enough to doom me.

As I have learned, the white sand becomes dangerous only when it absorbs or detects mana or whatever it does. Then it grinds you into nothing, no matter your defenses.

That’s why the monsters in this desert have no mana at all. That’s why just splashing an orb with a bit of mana against a monster lets white sand finish it without much effort.

“What do you think, Sophie?” I ask her without turning back to group 4. My back is still facing them.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT DO I THINK!? WHAT DO I THINK OF WHAT!?… oh… your mana.” She quickly shuts up. “I can’t feel any mana from you, none at all, just in the crown.”

Even though my natural barrier is weaker because of no mana, it seems to be still working. Something I will have to examine in the future. Still, I lowered it so Sophie can scan me.

“Good.”

After that, I give the last order to the crown to float there. It consumes quite a bit of mana as it goes against its usual behavior, but it needs to be done.

I expunge mana from my body one more time and then jump over the railing. Right into the white sand that is down below the ship.

***

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