[Melas] Chapter 105: Mines (Patreon)

I stared into the abyss and saw the abyss staring back into me; the vast void spread out like the emptiness of space. It was a cosmic web of magic— mana was woven together into a fine fabric, interlaced with a complex embroidery— and this process was repeated again and again a thousand times over.

Rubbing at my eyes, I pulled away from the Dimensional Storage Box. It almost drew me into it. The magic— the intricate design that went into creating it— was almost enchanting. I did not know what drove Bertrand into giving me such a gift, however I could see why he thought I would be interested in it.

Because it made me feel so small. And I found that calming.

With a clack, I shut the box and stood up. There were always things happening around me; the fact that I could sit back and think that I was nothing more than a speck of dust in the universe soothed me. I mean, it was something that was true. The reason why I had died in the first place was because that false god thought my life was worthless.

However, after meeting Elara last month, I was no longer so certain. Regardless of the implications of that meeting, there was only one thing for me to do now. And that was to deal with both Didar and Lilith.

My gaze swept around my room, searching for anything I could possibly use to help me deal with my problems. Some kind of stone that would kill both birds at once. Or perhaps a holy grail.

I found none.

I was not in the warehouse; I decided to bring the Dimensional Storage Box to my bunker where it would be safer. My room as it currently was was rather sparse. No decorations hung from the stone walls, and only a few furnitures were spread throughout the room— the most notable being the mattress I sat on.

Everything here was reinforced. A few mana crystals shone, their scintillating light illuminating the room alongside the weak light spells I anchored to a few objects. Those enchantments protected my bunker alongside my own magicks which made this location very difficult to assail.

I exited my room and walked out into a spacious hall. This was where I would practice my spellcasting. A few targets were set up, however they were not torn apart like the ones that had been practiced on back when I was with the Dark Crusaders. Because these were not for testing my destructive abilities.

I knew my own capabilities, and as I was right now, I would crush them all with a single spell. No— these were for practicing my Space Magic. I had learned a lot from studying the books acquired by Lisa. Not enough to cast any kind of teleportation spell, but after spending a whole week looking into the Dimensional Storage Box, I knew enough to cast basic spells.

I raised a hand and pointed at one of the targets. A spell circle formed, intricately patterned with a lattice of diamonds ever increasing as it spread out from the center. The world around one of the objects contorted— it was almost like its image was being spun into a single point. And from that point, what appeared to be shards glass bloomed out, creating a fractal flower.

Relaxing as I let the spell maintain its form, the magic circle disappeared and another one came to take its place. I hurled a Magic Bolt towards the target and it swerved. It was almost like it was flying through an illusion. The spell struck off to the side, missing its mark entirely.

“Fracture Side,” I said and let out a heavy sigh. “A difficult spell, but in the vein of Space Magic that leads to what I want.”

“Don’t talk to yerself, lassie. It’s weird!” a voice called out from behind me. I spun around and held up a hand warily. Gennady stood there, shaking his head. “Also, you’re too paranoid, aren’t ya? It’s just me.”

“When did you get here?” I asked, relaxing as I raised a brow.

“Just now.” The Dwarf had a few sheets of paper under his arms. He plopped them down onto a nearby table as he settled onto a seat. “Got this from the Hunters Guild. Thought you’d be interested in a few of these jobs.”

I looked over them, blinking. “Kobold extermination near Ela’taw, investigation into Abomination sighting in the Kalzat Mine, guard duty for the Lisko family— these are rather mundane jobs, don’t you think?”

“But look at the rewards,” Gennady said, smiling.

“Wait… one hundred gold coins?” I sputtered and took a step back. I leafed through the stack quickly; the rewards offered were exorbitantly high. “Four hundred gold coins just to look into the Abominations?”

“That’s right. Ain’t that a steal?”

“I…” I bit my lower lips. That would have paid for about two months worth of tomes. I could focus entirely on dealing with Didar if I did just one of these jobs. And they were close by too. However…

I don’t want to deal with the Abominations. After my encounter with Elara and knowing that the Abominations are related to the false god, I would be pretty much throwing myself to him if I went after them; sure, it was not like they would attack me. And it would help a lot of people. And—

I sighed. “I’ll do it,” I finally said, having convinced myself to do the ‘right’ thing. Again.

“There’s no need to worry about Lilith this time, too.” He leaned back against the chair, shooting me a grin. “The House of Or’taq is making her chase after a few underground spellcasting groups in the outer city. Especially after the whole affair with Didar— a few of his men were found out to be heretics. So, that's a perfect excuse. Plus, Lisa’s keeping track of her. We’ll be fine if we just leave Jahar’taw for a little bit.”

“Right.” I nodded and looked at the job details. “And it’s not like they’re asking us to deal with all the Abominations. Just to look into it.”

It was decided. I would take this job. Even if there was a bit of risk to it; I could not just sit around forever.

“Wait, where is Kalzat Mine anyway?”

“This is Kalzat Mine?” I stared at the small cave entrance held up by wooden arches.

We had gone up to the inner city of Jahar’taw before going to the eastern side of the city. There were a lot of shops selling mana crystals and other such mana tech tools. However, at the very edge of the caldera were several tunnels which led down into a steep decline.

Gennady led me through one of the large tunnels before it split into a few different passages. The passage we had gone through was barred off and protected by guards; however, after showing them our Hunters Guild identification, they let us in and we were now at another entranceway.

A few torches lit up the side walls as a steep decline brought us further down into some underground cavern. I saw glinting pieces of stone occasionally marking the walls, however they were not mana crystals. I had no use for trinkets.

Well, I would have liked to have some jewelry. But if I just took these myself, I would have had to refine them and turn them into pendants to wear myself. And that was not something I knew how to do. Even if the gems here looked pretty.

“This mine used to be where Jahar’taw sourced most of its crystals,” Gennady explained as we stalked through the dark corridor. The only thing illuminating our path was the torch he carried, any sconces from before disappearing behind us. “Whether it be amethyst, diamond, sapphire, ruby… almost all of its gems came from this deep mine.”

“And since the Abominations showed up, you guys just abandoned it?” I asked, frowning. “I didn’t know it was that recent.”

“Nope.” He shook his head. “The Abominations have only been spotted a week ago. And its reward is so high because they are regarded as a priority threat by the king and the House of Or’taq. However, the reason why this mine was emptied out is simple.”

I cocked a brow, but before Gennady could answer, I got a response from the world around me.

The ground shook. A light tremor ran through the cavern. It was not terrible— definitely not a kind of earthquake which would topple houses. Or even be felt by most people aboveground. In fact, it barely even ran through the cave.

And yet—

“Watch out!” I called out and rolled back. A large chunk of rock broke off from the ceiling and collapsed onto the ground where we had been standing. Gennady ducked out of the way just in time and wiped at his brows.

“Yeah… that.”

“Cave-ins?” I asked, blinking. “Collapses?”

“That’s right,” he said and adjusted the helmet he was wearing. “The rock formation in the area makes it prone to collapsing. We’ve lost too many miners down here that we eventually banned mining from this area.”

“Isn’t this dangerous for us?”

“Ye have some Geomancy, don’t ya?” he answered my question with another question.

“I guess?” I shrugged and continued forward. I pointed at the ground and the collapsed part of the ceiling flew back up and reattached itself before growing harder. “But I can’t guarantee we can get out of any situation we might find ourselves in.”

“You don’t need to tell me that twice.” Snorting, Gennady stalked ahead, his pack smaller than usual, carrying with him only what was necessary to flee.

I wanted to lead the way considering that Abominations did not attack me. But there was not much I could say to Gennady to convince him, with any possibility, why they acted that way.

So, I remained silent. We continued crawling through the cave, some occasional tremors causing a few collapses. One time, I bumped into a wall which caused a few stalactites to drop near me.

There was not much to see; it was dark and it was damp and filled with only our footfalls. “Are tremors really that frequent down here in the mines?” I asked Gennady after another shaking ran through the passage.

“We’ve had an increase in earthquakes here in Jahar’taw recently,” he replied with a furrowed brow. “More than when I was last here. Which… I have opinions on. But no, this is unusual. I don’t think it’s a tremor causing this.”

“Then what is?”

A dark shadow cast itself over his face. The realization sunk into me. If just both of our bumbling movements were enough to cause some stalactites to fall, then something else could have been causing it. Especially if this something else numbered in the dozens, hundreds, or even thousands.

I felt a shudder run through my body. The ground shook once again, cracking a hole on the side wall. A soft noise drew my attention. A familiar noise.

It was something I had recognized— something I had not heard in a while. A chirping, one that was almost ominous in its inflection. A high pitched, piercing noise which chittered out and marked the fall of a city of millions.

This was it. This was what we came here for. The Abominations were here, somewhere in this cavern. I took a few steps back as Gennady went to investigate the crack.

Sound was leaking from the hole. He lightly pressed his hand against the wall and narrowed his eyes. “If we just go a little bit further down, we’ll be on the other side of this wall,” he said. “We just have to get some proof of the presence of Abominations and we can leave.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?” I asked worriedly. “Wouldn’t they pursue us?” I did not want to get into contact with any Abomination, even if it was not too dangerous for me. “And what happens to them once we leave?”

“Maybe it’s dangerous for us, but that’s our job as Hunters,” Gennady scoffed and began producing a few of his mana tech tools. He paused as he eyed what looked to be a zapper. “And once we leave, we’ll report it to the Hunters Guild, which will in turn report it to the House of Or’taq. Then…”

He paused and took a deep breath. I cocked my head as he took a moment to respond.

“Bertrand will take care of them.”

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading! 

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