Serum: C181 (Patreon)

*Tink!*

After swinging down his pickaxe, Dirk suddenly hit something hard.

This was odd since rock would normally just crumble under his strength. But this didn’t, meaning it was a deposit of Geode.

But Dirk could also sense the atrocious amount of Earth mana in the surroundings. Even rock was beginning to get as strong as steel.

His original pickaxe had long been destroyed. He had reforged it with some Geode that he excavated himself, processing it into a worthy tool.

But now, he found himself halted in his tracks.

Dirk started to dig around, finding that he struck a large object composed of pure Geode.

He continued to encircle this object, digging out all the rock and dirt around it.

Finally after almost an hour, he finished revealing the entire object.

It was a massive cubical deposit about 4 feet long, wide, and tall.

Geode, in its rawest form, would appear similar to Bismuth with its geometrical shapes. And this cubical deposit had dozens of ridges and outcrops that radiated ultra dense earth and metal mana. It was also black, similar to obsidian.

This seemed to be the core of this mountain’s mineral vein. In fact, Dirk was pretty sure this mountain had been created by this very deposit, the Earth mana conjuring it through sheer elemental affliction over hundreds of years.

Dirk circled it, feeling like his mana vision was filled with nothing but this dense core.

A glimpse at its surface alone revealed a Tier 6 aura. But Dirk could feel something deeper within.

Raising his hand, Obsidius bounced and covered it, blazing to life with its living flame.

He then pressed two fingers against the surface and started pushing.

The core started to shift as if melting, but it was so dense that Dirk couldn’t push more than a few inches in before he started breaking a sweat.

Frowning, he activated his Aura, his fingers flashing with anima as it added sharpness to his pressure.

With these two things together, he was able to melt and slice through the metal. He cut a foot into the core.

His body started to heat up as he continued further, close to the entirety of his strength bearing down on the core.

And then, he pierced through.

*Tink!*

His hand slipped as a hollow area was discovered. His two fingers collided with the true core of this deposit.

The power of a Tier 7 burst forth, making Dirk feel heavy as the very gravity of the surroundings was affected.

And his sharp fingers didn’t leave the slightest mark on the core. If anything, he felt his fingers go a bit numb from the impact.

Unfortunately, Dirk had only created a hole big enough for his hand. If he wanted to get the core out of its shell, he would have to split the shell.

So he started working, his fingers acting like a blade that cut the shell in half.

But because it took a significant portion of his energy to make a hole, to do the rest took more than he could give.

He spent 3 hours on it and only cut a quarter of the way. Then, he rested for an hour before cutting again.

Another 3 hours later and he had cut another quarter. But it ended with even greater exhaustion, forcing him to sleep for a night.

It was only the next day that he was able to finally cut the rest of it open, fully exposing the core.

The core was being cradled by its shell, so Dirk went to scoop it out. But when he pulled, he found that the core was ridiculously heavy.

It was a spherical core only 1 foot in diameter, but it had to weigh several hundred pounds. More than that, it almost felt like it was trying to stick to its cradle like a magnet.

Such atrocious weight in such a small area made it almost impossible for even Dirk to move it.

Plus, it didn’t feel like he could damage it at all either. When he placed the living fire against it, it didn’t even warm it. And neither his elemental manipulation nor his Aura could pierce the surface.

He pondered for a moment before tossing Obsidius on top of it.

“Can you store this?”

“..!”

Obsidius bounced before exploding with material, attempting to envelop both the shell and core.

But his body was pulled toward the core, not being allowed to envelop the shell around it. He also couldn’t slip underneath the core and surround it.

And the effects this core had on space didn’t allow Dirk to shift its position either.

“Damn. It feels like brute forcing it with strength would work, but I’m not strong enough to pick it up without a proper handle on it.”

[There might be a way around that. Just use leverage.]

“...Maybe. If we can slip something under it…”

Dirk moved around it, looking at the cradle from several angles while melting the parts he could to provide some advantages.

And then, he took out some raw Geode, melting it down and crafting an object.

It was a massive flathead pry bar about 8 feet long. Not only that, but he made some chains, a foundation post, and a large hammer.

After driving the post into the ground and slipping the pry bar into a small opening underneath the core, he hooked the chain to the end of the pry bar, slipped it through the foundation post, and pulled.

*Clang!*

The chain pulled tight as the pry bar was pulled toward the foundation post underneath it.

Due to the thickness of the pry bar, it hardly warped with half of Dirk’s strength. So he activated everything he had, his muscles bulging as lightning ran through them.

*CLANG*

The chains seemed like they were going to snap under the pressure. Even the ground underneath Dirk’s feet cracked, but with some earth mana, it was hardened around his foot.

Link by link was pulled through the foundation post, and the pry bar began to warp.

The core was also lifted just a bit, tilting into the channel he carved behind it.

That’s when Dirk shifted, holding the chain in one hand while taking out the large hammer in the other.

THen, he slammed the back of the pry bar.

*DING*

Sparks flew as the bar was slammed deeper underneath the core. That allowed him to pull the chains just a bit more before repeating the process.

Over the course of an hour, Dirk constantly pushed the pry bar deeper underneath the core as it was lifted, gaining more and more leverage.

The entire time, his muscles were contracting with so much force that even his bones began to fracture and bend. And in order to provide strong footing, the entire cave that he was in had been hardened after he dumped in copious amounts of earth mana. Even then, the almost metallic floor was still cracked and warping under his feet.

“Come on, difficult piece of metal!”

Dirk felt he was close, so he dumped even more strength into the chain that was pulled so tight it started to creak.

He lifted his hammer, and slammed down one more time.

*DING*

More sparks flew on the flattened end of the pry bar, driving it even deeper into the cradle.

That’s when Dirk saw something.

The bottom of the core, and the magic that connected it to its cradle.

He suddenly smiled, calling on Spyte.

“Railgun!”

[Roger.]

She answered instantly, appeared in his free hand. He rested the barrel inside the shell, its tip inches from the exposed cradle.

And he dumped in earth, metal, and dark mana.

The railgun flashed. There was no spell involved. He simply dumped all the mana into an ejection of these elements.

And then, it fired.

*BOOM*

The elements collided, exploding underneath the core and disrupting the binding force between it and the cradle.

And that was all he needed. The instant that happened, all the force underneath the warping pry bar exploded, launching the core into the ceiling of the cave.

Dirk flew back as he lost his footing, the entire mountain shaking as he landed against the wall.

Fissures ran up the cave walls while chunks of rock began to fall.

Dirk quickly realized what was going on as the tunnel he built collapsed.

“It’s coming down!”

Moving as fast as he flew back, Dirk dashed toward the core and two shell halves. Storing the halves, he grabbed the core before slipping between debris.

Because he had hardened both the cave and the tunnel, neither of them immediately collapsed. But Dirk’s path was already cut off in several areas, forcing him to break through with force.

Obsidius wrapped around his body and spawned the armor as he flew through the open areas of the tunnel. Although he was hindered by the several hundred pound core, since it no longer had the attractive force pulling it down, it became a bit lighter and far more manageable.

And he used it to his advantage, throwing around its weight in order to break past any collapsed tunnel sections.

And when that no longer worked, he used his earth magic to create tunnels on the fly.

When he was halfway to the end though, the entire mountain collapsed in on itself.

……

“What the hell is that?”

Gianna woke from her slumber as the ground started to shake. Many others did as well, all of them standing to find out what was causing an earthquake.

From nearby, it almost sounded like there was thunder and lightning striking down. But when they looked toward the source, they saw the mountain beside their camp come crumbling down.

It wasn’t a landslide or anything of the sort. The mountain simply started caving in on itself. Some people started running, but Gianna had a thought and went toward it.

Her chains had long been discarded, so she could use magic without inhibition. And with a flash of light, she utilized her light magic to zip across the camp toward the mines.

“Eight!”

She called out as the mine entrance became nothing more than a pile of rubble. She couldn’t even sense Dirk, meaning he was either long gone or still inside the mines.

She knew he was almost always down there. He mined out the quotas for a few dozen people every day without fail, even if she didn’t see him.

And he never came back to their lodging, so she assumed he was always inside the mountain, searching for something.

So she panicked when she saw an entire mountain fall like an abandoned building.

Like that, half an hour passed. The mountain turned into nothing more than a regular hill, its colossal stature disappearing entirely.

Right as it all finished though, becoming eerily silent, there was a sound.

*Bang!*

A pile of boulders shattered, and a figure came walking out.

Gianna’s eyes widened as Dirk approached her, a black sphere in his hands.

And when he dropped it, any rocks underneath were crushed into dust as it left an indent in the ground, causing a small tremor.

“...Are you okay?”

Looking up from the sphere, Gianna asked the bloody and beaten Dirk.

He only responded by shaking his head and taking a seat.

Every second, his body was repairing itself from the damage caused not by his escape or being crushed under rocks, but from extracting the Geode core.

During those final moments, several of his tendons and muscles had torn while his bones warped and broke.

It was nothing that couldn’t be healed. He had dealt with worse during his battle with Eleanor. But having to escape a collapsing mountain while his body was held together by nanites was rather excruciating.

So he took a second to himself, letting his nanites work under Spyte’s guidance.

After several minutes though, footsteps could be heard heading in their direction. They were accompanied by the sounds of metal, indicating armor which meant the guards were coming.

Gianna turned around, seeing several elven guards run over. But when she looked back toward Dirk, she found him gone, including the sphere.

“Prepare everyone to leave the camp. Tomorrow night, I’m taking everyone away.”

Gianna heard those words in her ear. Then, the guards arrived.

She sighed as she walked over to deal with them.

And so the night ended in chaos, the culprit nowhere to be found.

……

…

“Princess.”

“Speak.”

Pandora waved to the Captain who had come back with a report.

“We now know everything about which you’ve asked us. The entire city receives their water from a nearby lake that acts as a reservoir. However, this is not a natural lake but one created after the elves repurposed the empty land from a pit mining operation. In order to restore the local environment, they created the lake and filled it with water. It has been over a decade since then, and the lake now acts as a vital water source that collects rainwater from a nearby mountain stream.”

“...Very good.”

Pandora slowly smiled.

“It’s like they’re begging me to destroy them. Very well. Give me schematics of the mine and the lake, as well as the canals.”

“Right here.”

The Captain was prepared, handing several diagrams to her.

She scanned them all, her smile widening even further as she giggled.

“Oh, yes. This is too perfect.”

“We’ve also infiltrated their mining operations at several levels. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough time to insert an administrator.”

“I know. I’m going to draw up a schematic for my operation plans. You are to carry them out step by step until completion before awaiting my orders. The final phase of the plan will then be carried out by me. Come back to me tomorrow. Oh, and send a doctor here.”

“Understood.”

The Captain saluted and left.

After a few minutes, the doctor Pandora wanted also arrived. And with them, she headed to Exos’ workshop.

When she arrived, she found him standing by the cage that contained the reptile she fed her special concoction.

She and the doctor walked over, seeing the reptile laying down. It looked sick, but not horribly so.

“Doctor.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“I want you to surgically analyze the reproductive organs of this reptile and tell me what you find. I don’t care if you kill it.”

“Understood. I will need an hour.”

The doctor spoke before heading inside the cage and grabbing the reptile.

He left with it, and Pandora headed over to her own workshop.

She approached a table with a sealed glass container containing the special clear liquid she made. It amounted to a mere gallon, but she smiled brightly when she saw it.

While she waited, she made some final preparations. So the hour flew by, and soon, the doctor arrived.

“I have completed my analysis.”

“And?”

She waited, expectant and excited for the answer.

And his answer made her laugh.

“The reptile has been completely sterilized. Its vitality has also diminished significantly by a propagating bacteria that feeds off the food the reptile eats and other bacteria within its system. It’s similar to a mold, and the reptile’s stomach has in fact been completely lined with such mold.”

“Hahaha! Good!”

She clapped with a maniacal smile.

“It’s finally time to let these tree huggers know what a proper environmental disaster looks like!”