Chapter 334: Blockage
For around 3 hours, the group talked. Shane apologized for how she acted in front of the door, but her words did little to convince the others. What she said were more excuses and attempts to justify her actions than an actual apology. Blue said that she was fine, but Hera could tell that she wasn't being honest. If Shane was someone from the party or someone that Blue already knew for a while, things could be different, but she wasn't going to bother trying to get along with Shane after that.
Bonnie, on the other hand, seemed more hurt than anyone else. She really felt like she was getting close to Shane, but being accused of wanting to steal things has like a punch to the stomach. There were a lot of snarky remarks and backhanded comments coming from the researcher, and in the end, it left a sour taste in everyone's mouth. Still, they all agreed that they could still work together to come back to the outpost. Unlike how it was before the discussion, there was no lingering feeling that someone would hold back on helping someone else during a tense moment in a fight.
Hera didn't say much during the entire thing. She understood why the group was upset, but at the same time, she couldn't bring herself to be upset with Shane. If she was in her shoes, Hera would be just as paranoid, maybe even more. Silah and Alex also expressed how what Shane did upset them. They expected more from someone with who they were traveling for a while.
Mylo didn't say a thing, but he seemed to be sad about the situation. Despite him working as a bouncer on the legacy door, no one got angry with him. He never accused anyone and just did what Shane asked. Hera found that unfair. Just because you were taking orders from someone didn't mean that you weren't also to blame. Even so, she didn't say anything. The last thing she wanted to do was to make things worse.
When they finished their discussion, Bonnie, Blue, and the others decided to head back. Shane tried to protest and ask to look around the temple, but that idea was quickly shut down. Everyone knew they were being petty, but they didn't care. If Shane was that interested in the Naga people, she could just look around the other tombs.
After all that, the group got up and headed out of the temple. When they left the building, nothing happened, but after they got farther away from the structure, the ground shifted and swallowed the entire thing, leaving only the statue of the naga hero with both their hands on the spell circle.
"I guess it can tell when people leave. Does that has anything to do with the legacy, Shane?" Hera asked.
"Yes and no. The legacy made this place, but they set up an underground garden to work to fuel the spell," Shane stopped talking while looking to the side, the same way Blue did when Stormcloud was talking to her, "Oh, that's cool. The entire building is a giant spell circle and the garden that's underground works kind of like the mana crystal to fuel everything. Apparently, this was supposed to last a few years only then someone had to come and make a new garden, but something happened, and the place became self-sustainable."
"Because of the legacy?" Hera asked.
"Nope. It just happened. We can't explain how."
"We? So you already met the herald? Can they tell us more about the naga?" Hera looked back towards the explorer.
"I met him, yeah. But he can't say anything about the naga. He only knows things about the legacy and some of the things that happened around the trial. Since it's been so long that someone came here, everything is a bit fuzzy for him. His name is Willow," the way Shane spoke was a bit odd. She took long pauses, almost as if she was being cautious with whatever she was going to say.
Seeing the annoyed expressions of the rest of the team, Hera stopped asking Shane questions and just focused on the path ahead. It was an uncomfortable journey, but they soon arrived at the narrow path that led them into this area. There was no signal of monsters around, and it had been over a day since they passed through here. Even if there still was a large pile of bodies behind them, everything seemed peaceful. They set the corpses on fire not to create a biological hazard for anyone who would come here in the future and went inside the path one by one. After a few minutes, they found a massive silver boulder blocking the way.
"Don't get too close! That's the Silver Giant," Alex ad Hera were the only ones that had seen the monster stuck there.
"Is it still alive?" Silah asked.
"I don't know. Large monsters tend to need more food to survive, but it's a 50/50, or they need absurd amounts of food, or they can spend weeks without eating anything," Helena replied.
Hera sent a dancing light closer to the creature, and the two massive feelers popped out as well as the black beady eyes. Following that, she used a pulse spell to reach out and see what was beyond the monster. Unlike the last time, Hera tried to make the spell move around the creature so she could see what was behind it. For a while now, she was toying more with changing the shape of the pulse, and thanks to the [Shaper of Mana] skill, it was much easier to do something like that. The idea worked like a charm. She could feel the mana moving around the monster and then spreading it behind it, leaving this massive blank spot where the Silver Giant should be.
Behind the monster, that massive horde of creatures was gone. There were still some stragglers around, but Hera sensed something odd. It seemed like they were hostile to the giant and not to whatever was behind it. Maybe the ones who stayed behind were hoping to eat the silver monster when it died after being stuck for too long.
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Spell acquired
Sensory Net
Rank: Intermediate
Send a net made out of mana that gives the user information about everything in its area of effect. You are able to shape that net to fit the desired form. Some superficial thoughts or intentions from other bings can be perceived by the net. The stronger the target, the lower the chance of perceiving that information. The shape of the spell will influence the cost of the spell.
Base radius: 10 meters
Base mana cost: 340 mana
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"Oh wow," Hera gasped when she saw the notification.
"Are we in trouble?" Bonnie asked.
"Not really. I got a new spell. It's an upgrade to my pulse. Anyway, it seems like that massive army of monsters is gone. There are some around, but they don't seem to be worried about us. I think they are waiting for the big guy to die," Hera explained.
"How can you tell?" Alex asked.
"The new spell also see surface thoughts. I'm guessing that they are being super obvious about it," Hera looked back to the silver giant.
"Ok then, how do we get past this guy?" Blue asked.
"Give me a minute," Mylo walked forward. The feelers tried to grab him, but he quickly dodged the appendages and grabbed them with both hands. With a shout, he pulled it back and ripped the feeler from the monster's body. The creature roared and slammed its head on the ground. Now the only part of the monster that was exposed was his silver shell.
Mylo pulled his staff and, with a charge, slammed it on the monster, but there wasn't even a dent on the creature's shell. The man frowned and started off with a flurry of attacks, trying to do some damage, but nothing worked. He huffed and stepped back, away from the creature. During the next few minutes, everyone tried to figure out a way to either damage the monster or push it away. However, spells aimed at the shell would vanish before hitting it. Helena was the only one who managed to make a magic attack land, but even that shadow spear with three-quarters of her massive mana pool on it wasn't even able to make a scratch on the silver shell.
"I think we should just go up then. Silah and I can make a walkway from back there, then we go over it," Hera said to the group.
"Yeah, I was thinking that too. It's just complicated because we'll be fighting with little footing and in a bad position. That's why I didn't say anything about it, but I don't see another option," Bonnie sighed.
"Hang on. Do you mind if I try something first?" Shane asked.
Bonnie and Blue stared at her for a moment before walking to the side of the passage to let her pass without saying a thing.
"Thanks. I'm not sure if this is going to work, but Mylo, get ready. Prepare the strongest attack you have," Shane asked.
Mylo just nodded, and the group watched as Shane got close to the creature. She placed her right hand, the one with the gauntlet, on the silver shell and closed her eyes. Nothing happened for a moment, but then, the silver seemed to become brighter and brighter. At first, Hera thought it was just a change of shade, but then she noticed that the shape was starting to change. Trying to test her spell, Hera used the sensory net to see if there was any extra information about what was going on. Since she had just used it on the creature, it was easy to notice the difference. The spell was able to pass through the monster's shell, and the silver seemed more malleable.
A few more moments passed, and Shane was already sweating when she yelled, "Now!"
Mylo charged with his staff, aiming at where the monster's head should be. His weapon broke through the layer of armor and slammed against the Silver Giant's skull. Not just that, but the impact was enough to push it away. The silver creature started slowly walking backward, causing the other monsters to perk up and start looking at it. Hera used the sensory net to see what was going on behind the giant. The spiders and scarabs that were around all seemed confused and hungry. Unless there was a good reason to believe the massive roly-poly was free food, it was obvious they would attack the group. To get ready, Hera tossed her dancing lights around, so everyone would see them coming.
Mylo's staff had some odd yellowish goo dripping from the place where he crushed the silver shell. The monster was still moving, but it was clearly injured.
"Aim at the hole!" Helena yelled.
A barrage of spells targeting the exposed wound flew through the air. Even Blue sent out a small cloud that grew bigger inside the monster's shell, frying it with lightning. Mylo wasn't going to jump in the middle of the crossfire, but he started attacking the stragglers that were starting to charge at the group. Shane, however, had to step to the back of the group. Whatever she did really drained her to a point she wasn't expecting.
The attacks didn't stop, and the Silver Giant started to spin around, but the creature was slow to do so. While rotating around the monster, the group continued their attacks, and before it even made a 90º degree turn, the attacks killed it. Mylo was also able to kill all the stragglers, leaving the area clear of monsters for now.
"Shane, are you ok?" Mylo asked.
"Yeah, just really tired. I didn't expect this to be so draining," Shane's breath was short, and the sweat was still pouring from her forehead," Is it like that for you too, Blue?"
Blue shrugged and replied while walking away, "It's kind of a new muscle. You have to train it before you can do crazy shit."
Since Shane was tired and had spent a good amount of time awake already, the group agreed to find a place to rest. However, they were all worried about finding that large horde of creatures again and decided against staying in the bunker that Hera and Silah could make or in one of the unexplored crypts. The best place to rest would be the hidden tomb in the spiral passage. It would still take a few hours for them to get there, but it was better than sleeping in a dangerous place.
Before leaving the Silver Giant behind, Silah took a chance to pick up a few chunks of the creature's shell. There was something different about it, something that the blacksmith wanted to figure out. Everyone else also took a piece, and to their surprise, it was hot. What Shane did wasn't make the shell softer but heat it up enough to make it more malleable. It was highly likely that when the head dissipated, the shell could return to its natural state.
The group kept going, killed a few monsters, and hid from large groups. A few hours later, they arrived at the makeshift entrance of the hidden tomb and the stone barrier that Hera and Silah had created in the spiral passage. As they all went inside the hidden crypt. Hera checked if any monsters were waiting behind the barrier they had created. The area wasn't completely empty, but there weren't any creatures directly on the wall. Silah stayed behind while everyone got inside, and Hera got ready to close the passage to the hidden tomb. If they left that spiral blocked, there would be too many monsters around when they exited it.
With a quick act, Silah took down the entire wall and ran inside, with Hera closing it off right behind her. Everyone spread around the small corridors to rest, but Shane pulled Hera aside before they all bed down for the night.
"Do you have a minute? We have to talk."
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