[Kara] Chapter 18: Manacore (Patreon)

Kara, Angel, and Arjin left the innsmith as soon as dawn broke to meet up with Caius. Unfortunately, Dammir was likely still asleep as he hadn’t left his room yet, so Arjin hadn’t been able to apologize to him before they had to leave.

“You can talk to him when we’re back,” Kara said reassuringly. “I left a note, so he won’t worry too much.”

“Right…” Arjin wore an apprehensive look on her, but agreed nevertheless.

Well, to be perfectly honest, Kara’s note hadn’t explained much about what they were doing. All it essentially said was that they were heading out to do something together, and they might return late at night, but it did not describe exactly what they were going to be doing.

For good reason. Because Dammir would have likely objected to Arjin going down to the lower tunnels. And if he knew about it, he would have been stressed out of his mind. He might have quite literally ripped his head out in worry.

So Kara kept her plans on the down low of giving Arjin exposure through experience for now. Whether or not it would work remained to be seen. But Kara would certainly keep Arjin safe, no matter what.

“We’re here,” Kara said as she came to a halt before the city gates. Angel and Arjin stopped right behind her, and she scanned the large crowd passing through the main street leading into the city. “Caius should be here somewhere…”

It was hard to find the elf, even though he looked nothing like most of the people in Alyona, because of all the refugees that were pouring in through the city gates. When Kara had first arrived here, she had thought there was already a long line of people hoping to enter. But now, there was practically a flood of people waiting to enter.

When she stood on her toes to look over the crowd and out of the gate, she could see hundreds of tents pitched outside of the Sanctuary City. It was a haphazardly built refugee camp, and it wasn’t even settled around a single spot. It looked like it was separated into two sections— one for the orcs, and another for the dark elves and the trolls.

Kara didn’t see too many minotaurs, now. However, she was pretty sure she spotted a handful of dwarves arriving at the dark elf section of the refugee camp. They looked like they were miners of sorts, many of them covered in bandages or scars.

“Things are starting to look really bad out there, huh?” someone said behind Kara.

And she spun around with a frown. Angel and Arjin turned around too, startled by the sudden voice. The three of them stared at the teenage elf standing behind them with his arms crossed.

“There you are, Caius.” Kara placed her hands on her hips. “We were looking for you.”

“Sorry I took so long to get here. I had a late night yesterday. Was busy reading up on the monsters of the lower tunnels to prepare for our little expedition.”

Caius scratched the back of his head, before pausing. He eyed Angel with a frown, then noticed Arjin standing there too.

“So, what happened to the utlas bear? And why’s the prostitute here?” the elf asked with a cocked brow.

“They have names, you know,” Kara said flatly. “Angel and Arjin.”

Angel nodded emphatically next to her with both his heads, and Caius brought a hand up apologetically.

“Sorry, my mistake.”

Kara explained, “Anyways, Angel underwent an evolution, and Arjin is going to be following us. She’ll only be a spectator, so don’t worry. She won’t get in our way.”

“I’m not worried about it with you around.” Caius grinned back at her, before drawing back. “Come on, let’s go find Koros.”

“Y-you mean the Dark Lord of Alyona?” Arjin squeaked.

The elf shook his head. “No, I mean another Koros. He lives down the street. Great guy.”

Kara gave him a half-glare. “Arjin is not stupid, Caius. Don’t be rude.”

“I was joking. Come on, I’m sure Arjin has a sense of humor, right?” Caius said as he looked towards the dark elf woman.

“I-I guess it was a little bit funny,” she said, lowering her head.

“See? Now let’s go find Koros. He should be this way—”

Caius led the way. Kara, Angel, and Arjin followed him up the city walls and into the main tower where the vault was located. The passing guards ignored the elf, although they paused when they saw the human, the bear, and the former prostitute trailing after him.

“M-maybe I should wait out here,” Arjin said as they reached the tower. She covered her ragged clothing that was far too liberal in what it revealed. “I’m not dressed appropriately enough to meet with Dark Lord Koros.”

“It’s fine. He’s a chill dude.” Kara waved a hand dismissively and ushered her into the main tower. Angel and Caius had already entered.

Inside, the four of them found themselves at a rather large training arena where a group of dark elf guards were gathered. They were watching something. Kara’s ears perked up as she heard the clashing of metal. The sounds of a battle.

“What’s going on?” she asked as Caius made his way to the front of the crowd.

“Just watch,” he said, squeezing past a group of cheering soldiers.

Unfortunately, Kara wasn’t as small as he was, and she wasn’t nearly as bold. So she wasn’t going to rudely shove her way past some strangers she had never met before. Instead, she climbed onto Angel’s shoulder, and he stood up so she could see what was happening.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw four figures moving in the middle of the arena. Well, it was actually five figures, but one of them was a draken. And it was being ridden by one of the four figures there.

She recognized two of them at once.

“That’s… Koros? And Hayder?”

Kara narrowed her eyes and looked towards the other two figures. One was a dark elf woman who looked to be around Hayder’s age, while the other was a troll that carried a massive club. Together with Hayder who sat on top of the draken, the three of them surrounded Koros in the center of the arena.

“Those are Captain Hayder, Captain Tashia, and Captain Bushra!” Arjin exclaimed as she barely managed to poke her head over the crowd. “They’re the captains of the First Company, the Second Company, and the Twentieth Company! What are they doing?”

“Looks like a three-on-one to me,” Kara replied simply.

Arjin blinked, then looked towards the human. “Do you think they stand a chance against the Dark Lord?”

Kara’s eyes flickered at that. And then she shook her head. “Absolutely not.”

And the troll lunged forward, swinging his massive club at the Dark Lord. But Koros easily danced around the attack as he bellowed.

“Too slow, Bushra!”

Hayder moved next, charging forward with his draken as he swung his sword. Koros easily ducked under the attack, but the dark elf woman immediately appeared to his flank. She yelled as she stabbed forward with a blurring blade.

“Twentieth Core—”

And Koros tripped her as he sidestepped her attack. “That was a close one. But you hesitated, Tashia!”

Bushra let out an angry roar as he rushed the Dark Lord from behind again. However, Koros suddenly appeared behind him, lightly kicking him forward into Tashia.

“And you need to improve your teamwork, Bushra!”

The troll crashed into the dark elf woman as now only Hayder remained. He circled around Koros with his draken, before he yanked at his reins. The giant lizard-like monster unhinged its jaw and spat out a ball of flames.

Koros hopped to the side, dodging the attack. But as the blast struck the ground and sent chunks of rubble flying, Hayder threw himself off his draken to intercept the Dark Lord mid-air.

“Eighteenth Core: Storm Of Blades!” the Captain of the First Company screamed.

His body flashed with light, and his sword began to flicker like it was unleashing a dozen slashes around him at once. He nearly reached the Dark Lord with his ceaseless onslaught of attacks.

But Koros simply flickered in the air. He vanished as Hayder crashed into the ground, his attack tearing the brickstone apart. The captain steadied himself as he gritted his teeth.

And he spun around and shouted as he raised his shield.“Twenty-Second Core—”

“You did well, Hayder,” Koros said, poking a finger at the captain’s head. “But you’re too reckless.”

Hayder blinked, suddenly falling backwards. He collapsed to the ground from a single touch as his sword and shield went clattering on the arena floor. He lay there as the Dark Lord loomed over him.

“You gave up your biggest strength to try to land a hit on me. A risky ploy that opened you up to too many counterattacks if you failed.” Koros dusted his hands off as he drew back. “You need to reassess your risk-tolerance. Otherwise, you will get yourself killed one day.”

The audience of guards watching the fight paused for a moment. Then they stared at the three defeated captains lying on the ground. They exchanged apprehensive glances, before erupting into a cacophonous cheer.

Even Arjin was amazed by what she saw. Her gaze remained glued at the arena. “Dark Lord Koros is amazing… even with three captains attacking him all at once, he hasn’t broken a sweat!”

Kara pursed her lips. She remembered how the Dark Lord had appeared next to her before she even realized it. She recalled how he snuffed out her flames without even burning himself. And she nodded.

“He is quite something, alright.”

Koros calmed the crowd as Hayder picked himself up off the ground.

“I am too weak,” the Captain of the First Company said, clenching his fists. “I need to grow stronger.”

But the Dark Lord shook his head. “No, you are not weak. You have improved greatly since we last sparred.”

Hayder, Tashia, and Bushra all looked up at him. He smiled as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“Stand proud, the three of you,” Koros said approvingly. “You are strong.”

The crowd eventually dispersed as he continued to go over where the three captains went wrong. Kara, Angel, and Arjin found Caius standing right before the arena. For some reason, the elf wore a serious look on his face as he stared at the Dark Lord.

“You alright, Caius?” Kara called out to him as she approached him from behind.

He blinked, before looking back at her. “Me? I’m doing great!” He gestured at her to follow him and strode forward. “I was just wondering where you guys had gone. That’s all.”

Kara eyed him suspiciously at that. “Right.”

Caius came to a halt right before the Dark Lord and the three captains. Koros raised his head, before he cleared his throat.

“Apologies, I have to handle this.” He excused himself.

The three captains looked up at that. Hayder narrowed his eyes at Kara, but said nothing more. Instead, he turned to the dark elf woman.

“Let’s go, Captain Tashia.”

She blinked, but then shrugged and followed after him. Meanwhile, Bushra, the troll, remained with his arms folded across his chest. He was grumbling to himself as he lightly kicked his club that was lying at his feet.

Caius came to a halt before the Dark Lord. “Hey, Koros. I’ve managed Kara to tag along with me to the lower tunnels. So… can I get a permit to finally go down there now?”

“And how did Caius convince you to do this, Kara?” Koros asked, turning to the young woman from Earth.

She showed him her empty coin pouch. “I’m broke. And he said I can make some money from this.”

There was also an ulterior motive she didn’t state— that she had been reminded of the blood-rush of battle during her fight with Levi. While she didn’t think of herself as someone who enjoyed going around and killing monsters, she couldn’t help but feel that things had been a little bit mundane as of lately, at least compared to surviving in the Xor-In Mountains.

And while she far preferred staying in Alyona compared to being constantly hunted down and chased by monsters while in a near-starvation state, she had also gotten used to fighting. So she sought a little bit of excitement.

Not to mention how my dragonsoul has barely grown since I got here…

Kara forced herself out of her thoughts as she met the Dark Lord’s gaze. “There is going to be payment for killing the monsters in the lower tunnels, right?”

“Of course,” Koros said reassuringly. But he continued to rub his chin in thought. “However, I am trying to figure out the logistics behind it. After all, you are not a soldier of Alyona. So we cannot be paying you an ordinary wage.”

“Why not pay me per monster killed?” Kara suggested off-handedly.

Koros tapped a finger on his chin. “It would be difficult to quantify the worth of each monster slain as we do not know what kind of a threat they pose to the city. In fact, your job is simply to eliminate any nests that have formed too close to the upper tunnels.”

“Oh, I see.” Kara thought that seemed simple enough. She had been under the impression that this was going to be more difficult than that.

“I would offer you a day’s worth of wage to a city guard patrolling down the lower tunnels,” Koros continued as he looked down at her. “But your contributions alone would be as valuable as a hundred men— maybe more.”

Kara’s eyes glinted at that. She clapped her hands together with a grin. “So how about paying me a hundred times what you pay a soldier patrolling the lower tunnels?”

She had expected him to bargain the payment down. But he immediately agreed.

“Deal,” he said as he nodded at her.

Kara blinked. She realized her mistake— that she could have started at a higher price before letting him haggle it down.

“Wait, didn’t you say that it was over a hundred men?” she quickly countered. “What about two hundred then?”

“Too late.” The Dark Lord smirked back at her.

“Darn,” she cursed, before chuckling. “Well, I’m sure it’s good pay anyways. We’re in.”

“I shall draft up the permit needed for you to enter the lower tunnels. And then Captain Bushra shall lead you to the main entrance leading down.” Koros drew back and gestured at the troll.

But before he left, he spotted Arjin standing there too.

“Who is this woman?” he asked curiously.

And Arjin shrank back at once. “H-hello— I mean, it is a pleasure to meet you, Dark Lord.” She quickly bowed her head.

“This is Arjin,” Kara said, patting the former prostitute on the shoulder. “And she’ll be accompanying us to the lower tunnels too.”

“I see.” Koros eyed her with a frown.

For a moment, Kara thought that he was going to object to Arjin’s presence. But the Dark Lord simply nodded and started down a nearby hallway.

“Then I shall have four permits prepared.”

And he was gone.

—--

Koros didn’t return, but a guard eventually came with four permits— one for Kara, Angel, Arjin, and Caius. After that, Bushra finally stopped sulking and gestured at them to follow him.

He led them back into the upper tunnels as Caius strode by his side.

“You’ve grown stronger since I last saw you, Bushra,” the elf said as he picked his hands. “What tier is your manacore at now?”

“Hmph, you flatter me too much. But if you really must know, I have advanced to a Tier 24 manacore recently.” Bushra placed a hand on his chest proudly.

Caius looked impressed. “Tier 24? That’s amazing— especially for your age.”

“While I may be young compared to an elf, I am a full-fledged adult for my species,” the troll huffed.

“And how old are you again?” the elf asked curiously.

“I am fifteen years old...”

Kara blinked as she overheard the conversation. She turned to Arjin with a frown.

“Wait, how long is a troll’s lifespan?”

The former prostitute tilted her head back at that. “I believe it’s about fifty years? Although they fully mature at around twelve years old.”

“Seriously?” Kara narrowed her eyes as she had a thought. “I wonder how old is Issa? She seems like she’s older than even Bushra…”

Although, Kara knew better than to ask another woman their age. Maybe she could eventually slip in the question when talking about birthdays.

“But people in this world even celebrate birthdays?” she murmured under her breath.

“Did you say something?” Arjin asked, peering at her.

Kara immediately caught herself. “Oh, yes— can you, uh, explain how manacores work?”

Arjin looked taken aback. “You don’t know how manacores work, Ms Kara?”

“Please just call me Kara.”

“I guess that makes sense since Ms Kara is a human who uses the System,” Arjin continued, ignoring the human pleading.

And while Kara most definitely didn’t use this System, she wasn’t going to say anything outright. She had revealed her dragonsoul only to two individuals. Considering that someone— the Soulmaster— was already after her, she wanted to keep her dragonsoul as discreet as possible.

So she brushed past the subject as quickly as possible. “I know the basics of how manacores have to advance in tiers by expanding their capacity. But the full extent of how it works eludes me. Like what happens when you advance in a tier?”

“I am also not the most knowledgeable on the subject either,” Arjin said as she scratched her cheek sheepishly. “But essentially, each time you advance in a tier, you’re able to enhance either your mastery of magic or your physical abilities. Not only that, you will receive a Manacore Ability.”

“A Manacore Ability?” Kara raised a brow at that. “You mean like those— ‘Thirteenth Core!’— things people will shout in battle?”

“Yes, but not all Manacore Abilities are like that,” Arjin explained as she placed a hand on her chest. “For example, I have a Tier 2 manacore, and both my Manacore Abilities are useless in a fight.”

Kara tried to give the dark elf woman a reassuring nod. “I’m sure they aren’t that bad. What are they?”

“They’re…” Arjin hesitated, before saying it. “The First Core of Soothing Voice and Second Core of Lithe Frame. So I can speak louder and I can’t really get fat.”

“Oh. Nevermind.” Kara immediately ate her words. She still tried to be uplifting regardless. “Well, we’ll get you better Manacore Abilities while we’re down in the lower tunnels… if we ever arrive. Seriously, how much further until we get there?”

Kara looked towards Caius and Bushra. They were deep into the upper tunnels now— where she had never been before. While normally, the walls of the upper tunnels were incredibly spacious, at over a mile wide near the main city, it was much narrower here.

The area was also more sparsely populated. Kara spotted a handful of trolls and minotaurs— some dark elves and even a dwarven couple. But it was nowhere near as densely packed as the sections of the upper tunnel she had visited thus far.

Her eyes narrowed when she spotted a section that was cordoned off up ahead by a stone barrier. There were guards standing watch there, and further beyond, it looked like there was an entrance to a pair of tunnels that split off and led even deeper into the mountain.

“Is that it?” Kara called out.

But Bushra and Caius continued walking on. The elf only glanced back briefly at her as he pointed down another path.

“It’s further this way.”

Kara narrowed her eyes as she pointed at the tunnels she saw. “Wait, then what’s that whole thing?”

Caius waved a hand off at her. “That’s Koros’s secret project. He won’t tell me what it is either.”

That made her pause. She looked at Angel as if he would have any idea what it was, and he shrugged back in response.

The group continued until they reached a section of the upper tunnels that was completely barren. There was no one living here now. Not even a single shack. However, there was evidence of houses that once stood here. Scattered all around were debris and rubble that lay collapsed and covered in moss or dust.

“What happened here…?” Arjin asked as she eyed a fallen structure. And she almost fell into a small pit.

Kara’s eyes flickered. “Watch out!”

She grabbed the dark elf woman and yanked her out of the way. Arjin gaped at the dark hole that was hidden behind some rubble.

“Oh, right,” Caius said, scratching the back of his head apologetically. “You need to watch out for those.”

“Why didn’t you say that sooner?” Kara raised a fist at him.

Angel peered his two heads curiously through one of the pits, and Kara pursed her lips. She swept her gaze over the ruins all around them, before she looked towards Caius.

“What is this place?” she asked.

The elf craned his neck back and explained, “I told you, didn’t I? A long time ago, when Alyona had only just become a Sanctuary City, their leader at the time, Dark Lord Zor, tried to expand the city further downwards. But… things didn’t go so well. This is a result of that.”

“What about these pits?” Kara furrowed her brows.

“The monsters in the lower tunnels are capable of digging through even stone. In fact, they’re the reason the lower tunnels even exist. That intricate network of caverns that make up the lower tunnels? Those monsters carved it all out themselves. And they simply dug their way here too.”

“Why don’t these monsters just dig up into the main city?”

It was a question Kara had directed at the elf. But it was Bushra who answered.

“Hmph. Because it’s not easy to dig through stone,” the troll said simply, still leading the way forward. “Even if these monsters can do it, they’d rather go through an already-existing tunnel. Which is why the city has never sealed this section of the lower tunnels.”

Kara nodded understandingly. “So you can create a chokepoint for them, I see.”

She paused and peeked through one of the holes in the side walls of the cavern.

“And that’s how Levi escaped from the lower tunnels— by climbing out of these pits.”

Bushra harrumphed. “Ordinarily, we’d have patrols scouring this section of the upper tunnels every ten minutes so that no monster can pass through. However, we were forced to lend some of our troops to help with the refugees at the city gates, so we were undermanned that day.”

He spoke defensively— like someone had blamed him for what happened with Levi and the riots. Kara scratched the back of her head as she followed him. And they approached a large chamber at the end of the tunnel.

A massive pit opened up at the center, surrounded by a small fort full of guards. They saluted at the troll as he passed them. Kara was surprised to see not just dark elves in armor, but a handful of orcs and minotaurs too. That was a rare sight.

Bushra came to a halt right before the massive pit and stood at parade rest. He looked down into the void of black that descended straight below. “This is the main entrance to the lower tunnels.”

Caius added on the side, “And this is also where Dark Lord Zor faced down the mother giant centipede and felled her in battle. But not at the cost of his own life.”

“I see.” Kara eyed a piece of shimmering rope that was tied to a rock. “And I take it that’s our way down?”

“Don’t worry,” Caius said as he grabbed it, before tossing it down the pit. “It’s enchanted. So it can even hold the weight of a thousand men.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “I’m not really worried about that. I’m more concerned about the fact that we’d be vulnerable while climbing down.”

“Hmph, if you prefer, you can climb down the side of the pit.” Bushra crossed his arms across his chest. “But that is far more dangerous than taking the rope down.”

“Right…” Kara glanced back at Angel who didn’t seem to mind, before looking towards Arjin.

The former prostitute was backing up nervously. Her apprehension was evident on her face. In fact, she looked like she was about to make an excuse to back out.

But Kara proffered a hand. “Come on, Arjin. Let’s face your fears, shall we?”

“I-I…” Arjin stammered.

And Kara pressed her even more, “Do you want to do this, Arjin? Or do you want to prove your family right?”

Now that broke Arjin out of her stupor. Her eyes widened, and she looked down at herself. She clutched the silver dagger at her waist— the weapon that had been given to her by Dammir. And finally, she nodded.

“Right. Let’s do this,” she said, accepting Kara’s hand.

And with that, the group of four prepared to descend down the massive pit. Bushra handed them each a torch as he nodded their way.

“Good luck down there,” he said as he bade them farewell.

“Don’t worry,” Kara responded with a grin, handing him back his torch. And her body burst into flames. “We’re not going to need luck.”

With that, they finally entered the lower tunnels.

Author's Notes:

What thonk? 4.2k words.

Read next chapter here