Mana 5 Chapter 20 (Patreon)

The tunnel was made of hard, packed dirt. It had clearly sat idle for some time. The tunnel burrowed straight under a massive tree at the center of the jungle, and there were indicators that the ants had burrowed up the tree as well as it was filled with hollow channels.

Multiple cultivators that practiced fire lit their hands ablaze and held them aloft to shed light in the tunnel and create torches out of branches.

After a few yards, the tunnel wall started dotting with little clear egg sacs filled with red liquid and a little white ant. Soon, the entire walls and then the ceiling were covered in them.

Ming stopped and looked around. “Take eggs if you want them. Ants are difficult to train, but maybe your families would like them.”

Wenxi grabbed a few and looked at me. “We can place these in the hills outside Murdock. There, they will hopefully grow into a modest hive in a few years that we can harvest.”

I nodded, grabbing a few of my own. She was right. These ants could become a modest resource for the Alliance if they could cultivate it correctly; I knew they were burning through the mana beasts around Murdock at an unsustainable pace.

These ants, if given enough time, might be able to sustain the burgeoning cultivators as they breached into their fifth rings.

“What’s down there?” Ming asked Mu.

“We wouldn’t explore ahead into the next room without you knowing first.”

In the center of the egg chamber was a stone slab. The corner was damaged, and it was clear there was an open passage beneath it.

“Then let’s continue. I’m eager to get to the end.” Ming threw the slab to the side and dropped a torch down.

We all waited for her to say something, but there was a small plunk of water after twenty seconds.

Ming strapped her spear to her back and jumped down without another thought.

Mu Biji shook his head and followed her lead, jumping into the hole.

I peered over the edge; It was pitch black all the way down. But I could hear them splashing around below.

Jumping down, I could hear others above, gaining the nerves to join so the second I hit water, I swam clear of where others would be falling.

From above, it had appeared dark, but it was just this pool that was dark. I swam to the edge. A large passage spread out below us, dotted with glowing fungus and rolling hills of moss.

Pulling myself from the water, I dispersed it in fine droplets with a shake of my body. “Looks like that’s the way forward.” I commented, wondering why both Mu and Ming had stopped at the edge.

“Shh.” Ming held a finger to her lips. “It’s too quiet.”

After the ants had come out of the woodwork in the previous level, I understood her caution and waited for the rest of our group.

Everyone splashed in and swam over as we had. Looking out, I noticed that the rolling hills of moss were slowly filling with fog.

When I looked at the closest moss, I could see that the fog was actually rising out of from the green plant life.

“I knew it.” Mu said, bending down and pinching a piece of the green plant life, rolling it in his finger before examining it. “Grave Moss.”

Ming made a face, as did a number of the experts.

“Care to explain what that is?” I asked.

“The moss mists a potent poison, one that has a psychotic property.” Mu said, backing away from the rolling hills as the fog crept up to everyone’s feet. Everybody slowly stepped back, except for Celina, who jumped a step forward, her head tilted as she examined it.

The chamber was rapidly filling with what I knew was poisonous mist for most of us.

“Got a solution?”

“It’s called grave moss because you lose yourself; many people will waste away in the moss.” Ming stared over the space, eyeing Celina warily.

Most of us wouldn’t blink about staring down a dangerous beast, but a room full of deadly poison? That was another question.

Celina bent down, sticking her head in the mist and taking a deep breath before coming up and blowing rings with the poisonous mist.

“Can’t we just burn it all?” Someone suggested.

“And smoke ourselves out? No thank you; I like breathing.” Michelle countered.

Celina looked back at us, tilting her head side to side, trying to figure out if the poison was going to affect her. “If it’s just a poison, then it is no problem for me. If I get people through the mist, can we cleanse it on the other side?”

“Yes.” Mu said excitedly, “While it might be potent, it needs continual doses to take effect.”

Celina looked back at me. “You want to help speed it up?”

“Might as well.” My Yin Harmony Bloodline flared to life, and I jumped off the ledge and into the mist. I took a deep breath, making sure I was unaffected.

I smiled as my body ignored the poison. “We’re good. Start jumping down one at a time, and the two of us will carry you across.”

To my surprise, Mu Biji jumped off first. “Since you trusted us so much on the way here, don’t let me down.”

I laughed, picking him up and putting him over my shoulder.

After only a moment of exposure, he started twitching, his face moved erratically, and he lost the ability to respond.

The mist was terrifying.

“I’m here.” Celina said through the mist. “Though it is hard to see.”

Reaching out, I grabbed one of her hands and saw Kat over her shoulder.

Ming called out from above. “We’ll burn three joss sticks. If you aren’t back by then, we’ll find our own way across.”

“Got it. We’d better hurry. I’ll send up a burst of mana if we encounter trouble.” I called back through the fog, squinting. I might have still seen the ledge they all stood on, but with the dark and the fog, I couldn’t be sure.

“Let’s go.” Celina squeezed my hand, and we hurried forward. I felt the flow of the rolling hills beneath us as we ran through the passage.

From above, it didn’t look that long, but the dark could play tricks.

It took a whole ten minutes for us to hit a hill. The hill seemed to keep going up, and the soft moss disappeared underfoot. I finally rose above the fog on the other side. And in front of us was a large stone door and two rooms, one to each side. I set down Mu and Celina set down Kat.

The fog licked at the edge of the hill, but it seemed it was at its limit.

Taking a general antidote from my spatial ring, I crushed it and fed it to Kat in hopes that it would help.

Within seconds, she blinked and dragged her finger across my chin, licking her lips with a blurry look still in her eyes. “That was amazing.”

I laughed, clearly understanding what Kat was having delusions about.

I kissed her forehead. “Kat, we are on the other side of the mist, but I need you to get it together so I can go get the others.”

There was a look of pure determination in her eyes as she tried to force them to focus with her willpower alone.

Her eyes steeled with intelligence once more. “I’m fine. Maybe take some of that moss so we can play with it at home. It was actually kind of fun.”

“That’s the danger of it.” Mu groaned, trying to take his own pill, but missed his mouth on the first try. “Most people lay in a euphoric state until they die. It also only grows in areas that haven’t been tread by humanity in thousands of years. I’ve never heard of someone cultivating it in their homes; the Biji Family has tried.”

Kat pouted and dismissed the idea. “Go back and bring us the rest of the group. Try not to lose any, but it would be okay if you lost one or two.”

Mu looked between us. “I hope you don’t mean any of my people.”

“No.” I sighed. “Not everyone gets along, though.”

Mu nodded in understanding and sat cross-legged at the top of the hill to meditate and try to cleanse the rest of the poison from his system.

I paused. I wanted to make sure they could fully defend themselves, but I knew Ming would be getting impatient, and we were already risking the fifteen-minute timer.

“Go.” Kat noticed my hesitation. “We’ll be fine. Even if something comes, we can hold our own until you get back.”

Nodding, I grabbed Celina’s hand, and we darted back into the mists. This time, with the knowledge that we didn’t suddenly fall to our doom amid the mist, we were able to make better time.

But we bumped into something as we went back.

“What’s this?” Celina stopped, putting her hand on the oddly shaped hill.

I punched forward, hard enough to disperse the mist for just a moment before it collapsed back in. A massive red ant lay shriveled up with moss starting to climb up its legs. “Well, we know what happened to the queen ant.” I pulled the dead mana beast into my spatial ring as another treasure.

“Let’s keep moving.” She said as we both hurried back.

Just as we arrived back at the end, I could hear others above.

“It’s been long enough. Let us see if we can’t make it across this fog on our own.”

“Give them another few minutes. We’ve sensed no surges of mana to suggest they’ve been in a fight.”

I decided there was no point in letting them argue further, so I jumped high out of the mists and landed on the ledge. “It’s about a ten-minute trip to the other side, and it takes some time for the passengers to recover. But I think it’s safe down there. We can start taking two each.”

Ming nodded at me, a smile on her lips. She seemed pleased that I’d come back. “Good. I’ll go last, making sure everyone makes it across safely first.”

I had a feeling she was trying to make sure that she still had Hendrick’s power with her on the other side. I had to admit, I wouldn’t have minded losing him in the fog.

“Deal. Who’s next?”

***

I dropped Ming off at the door amid the rest of the group. Her eyes were glazed over with a distant look, and when I tried to put her down, she clung to me such that I couldn’t easily shake her.

“Looks like she’s holding onto you pretty tightly.” Michelle quirked an eyebrow, waiting for us to finish our last trip through the mist.

Everyone else was looking through the two rooms and examining the large door for clues.

There was a puzzle here that needed to be solved.

Ming grunted on my shoulder. “Hold me tight, Isaac. Don’t let go.”

I looked over my shoulder; she was still buzzed by the moss’s poison.

Michelle and Celina were both grinning ear to ear, watching us.

“Cut it out, both of you.” I grumbled.

“Cut what out?” Ming blinked away the haze. Her eyes had cleared most of the way.

“Nothing. Just being teased by my wives. It’s a burden I gladly bear.” Joking, I set Ming down. This time, she released me.

“What’s this?” She frowned at the sight before her.

I’d seen it every time on my trips through the mist, but this time it had become the next problem to solve.

Before us was a massive stone door, sealed shut. Flanking it at the top of the hill were two rooms. It felt like the end of the chamber; the ceiling was only twenty feet above us.

The rest of the group was picking through the two rooms, but Mu and Kat had been there first. I hoped they’d saved me some choice loot.

“If this symbol is twenty, this one thirty, then the answer is six eighty two. Try that.” Mu held up a book and looked at a stone relief before noticing Ming and I. “We are making good progress on the puzzle rooms. The door has two key slots and two adjacent rooms. We think we’ll get a key from each room.”

“Who’s working on the other one?” Ming asked, rubbing her brows. I had a feeling she was still feeling some of the effects of the poison.

“Rei is leading the other room. We’ve already solved several layers of this puzzle.” Mu turned back when his helper turned the dials appropriately. Stone ground as a small chamber lifted, revealing a strangely shaped piece.

Mu grabbed it excitedly and ran it to another puzzle in the room, where another from the Biji family was weighing items on a scale.

“I’m going to check on the other side. Mu, without Isaac and his wife, we might have had to resort to drastic measures to get past the grave moss. Whatever you find here, take your cut and give him the rest.”

Her words sparked a moment of jealousy from others within earshot. But she addressed them too.

“If we come across a challenge that anyone else here is uniquely suited to address, you can expect the same. Be grateful he solved this issue for us.” Ming tossed her hair with a grunt and strode to the other room to check on their progress.

“It’s really standard courtesy.” Mu explained to the room after she left. “Keep working. How is the weight puzzle going?” He pushed a particularly grumpy looking member of his group back to work.

“Almost done.” He placed another ball on the scale and scribbled down the number before coming over to Mu. “Two, five, four.”

Mu put those numbers into the stone dials, and another chamber opened up with a large brass key. “That’s it. We’ve solved this room.”

“Great job.” I added to the excitement as everyone moved out of the room. Mu slotted the key into the right side of the large door and turned it with a satisfying clink.

Rei came out of the other room not long after with a similar key, though she gave Mu a frown, seeing that he’d beaten her. Walking over, she inserted her own key into the other slot.

Ming held up a hand before she could turn it. “Wait. I want to check in with everyone. Are we good to continue? Otherwise, this is a rather safe place to rest up.”

More than a few people looked back at the mist licking at the hill before shaking their heads. As a group, we decided to move forward.

Ming gave Rei a sharp nod. With a click, the large doors opened wide, exposing the next room.

It was similar to the first entrance to the tomb. Thirteen passages were laid out before us, each of them with its own door.

“The second one again?” I asked Mu.

“I just gave a reason for the second. Number two is my lucky number.” Mu laughed while holding his stomach.

Stepping into the room, I realized the floor was covered in enough ash that it was like walking in sand. “What’s all this about?” I asked no one in particular as I made my way across the ash.

“Keep alert. Every room will have its own challenges.” Ming warned everyone. “Mu, can you scout ahead and let us know what’s in each of the tunnels?”

“We can do that.” Mu tilted his head for his family to advance. He went first, blurring away as the door opened, showing an abundance of caution.

Mu of course, picked the second door. Rei, however, went for the middle of the thirteenth. As she opened it, she dodged to the side before even seeing what was on the other side. And it likely saved her life. Beyond the door was a sharp ramp and a rough stone rolled out.

She successfully dodged it, and it rolled past. But as it came into the light in the center of the room, my gut dropped.

It was a rough red stone, not unlike the cores of the ash beasts we’d seen outside. Only this one was four feet around. It was massive compared to the ones outside.

Glancing down at the ash under our feet, I had a sudden, terrible feeling. “Get back! Get to the wall.” I yelled, jumping back as the ash slid to the center of the room where the core had finally stopped moving.

My wives listened on instinct and reacted to my shout instantly. They had just cleared themselves as the ash beast drew itself up.

Unfortunately, not everybody listened to my warning immediately.

Three immortals, including Malcolm Kong, were drawn to the center with the ash, and as the beast formed, it tore them in half with a quick rip of its massive claws.

Standing over twenty feet tall, the ash beast looked like something made for raw destruction. Horns curled in a spiked crown atop its wolf-like head, and it hunched over like it could move on two or four legs just as easily. Ash dusted off its side, making it almost seem as if it had fur.

It pulsed with mana, and I could feel its strength with dread. It was in the middle of the sixth rank. None of us had ascended to the sixth rank yet. That would require an infusion of mana and plenty of time.

There was a chance we could take it with the group we had, but the ash beasts fought differently, and this one was no exception as it lunged at Wenxi.

Michelle’s bloodline flared to life as she got between it and Wenxi. Michelle bought Wenxi enough time to dodge out of the way, but even with Michelle’s defensive bloodline, she got knocked to the side.

This was no time to hold back as the beast targeted all of us. Everyone’s bloodlines activated. I noticed how faint some marks on their foreheads were, and we attacked the ash beast as one.

Lightning, fire, wind, and my own massive kunpeng claw slammed into the ash beast, knocking some of the ash loose. But as the ash cloud cleared, it seemed relatively unharmed. It seemed to draw back into itself as it worked to recover and heal.

One of the attacks that caught my attention was Breeze’s. He had no bloodline. Instead, he stood there like a sharp blade, giving off incredible danger. His sword attack hadn’t been lesser than any of the rest of ours.

Something about the way he’d moved scratched a memory in the back of my head. I made a mental note of how it had appeared; I’d have to figure out why it was familiar later.

The ash beast whipped around its long arms recklessly, battering at cultivators even as we attacked. And its ash kept recovering after every hit.

I grit my teeth, hating what I was about to suggest.

“Ming. I think we need to run. It can’t fit through the passages. But you need to make the call.”

Her eyes narrowed at me over her spear as she readied to lunge at the beast again.

The image of the phoenix hovered over her shoulder as she screamed, thrusting forward like an explosive firework into the ash beast’s side.

Ash filled the air for only a moment, exposing its core, before in the next blink the beast recovered its ash and whirled on Ming.

She was panting, bent over her spear after that explosive attack, and wide open.

I jumped in between her and the beast, activating my black tortoise bloodline in conjunction with my gold dragon bloodline.

Together, I was a defensive juggernaut. But even then, I barely diverted the ash beast’s attack meant for Ming.

“Everyone, into a door. Hurry.” Ming shouted.

“Isaac this way.” Michelle shouted, but I had the beast's full attention at the moment. Sparing the moment to turn my head could mean my death. “Go. I’ll catch up.”

Switching the black tortoise bloodline for the heavenly dragon, I leapt into the beast, hoping to stall it for everyone else.

My fist collided with the ash beast’s claws in an explosive exchange, blowing part of its fist away and sending me flying backwards.

I slammed into the chamber wall, bouncing off and feeling blood well up into my mouth. But I didn’t have time to pause. I had to dodge as another massive hand slammed into the space where I’d just been in.

Coughing, blood spilled down my chin. And I felt warm liquid trickle down the sides of my face. I was bleeding from my ears as well.

This wasn’t a battle I could win on my own. The beast’s reckless attacks and self healing were too much of a challenge to fight at my current rank.

I darted around the edge and found the ash beast positioned between me and the thirteen doors. Everyone had fled through their door.

It was time for me to escape as well.

Gathering my mana in my legs, I waited for the ash beast to attack.

It surged at me, and my legs hammered the ground as hard as I could, shooting me right between its legs.

I hurled myself straight for the nearest door, sliding on my side as I made it through and skidded along the floor.

The ash beast’s arm shot through the door, pawing at me, but someone grabbed my shoulder and hauled me deeper in and out of reach.

I looked up to see who had helped, only to find Ming and Rachel ahold of an arm each.

“Thank you.” I breathed, relieved to be alive. I released my bloodlines as I sagged, letting them bear my weight.