“We can check both,” Farren said.

Viv said nothing. She moved forward and called upon a ball of uncolored mana. The others silently stepped aside to give her room.

She added a few key glyphs including sound and pull. Soon, a shimmering disc appeared before her. She angled it towards the path on her left. There was nothing to hear.

The spell gave them a skittering sound like chitin on rock from the path on the right.

“It’s that way, let’s go,” Lorn said. They resumed their course, feet splashing through the dark liquid. They were getting closer, Viv thought.

The tunnel branched again and finished at the opening of a square, clearly man-made cavern. The ceiling was high and the walls had many of those fluorescent mushrooms growing in sickly patches. A disgusting organic net clogged every surface, and the stench grew by an order of magnitude.

“Here!” someone yelled. She could see a pile on the far left of the room. There was a glint of metal on the surface.

“Wait!” Lorn ordered. They did, though many of the guards were foaming at the mouth.

“It’s above us…”

Viv could not see as she was still mostly in the tunnel with the core of the formation.

“I’ll get its attention, you follow closely behind and give it everything you got. Alright?”

“Boss, wait!”

Lorn dashed in and turned on himself just as a monstrous body smashed like a locomotive into the ground close to where he was. The rest of the group charged in screaming. Axes and swords and spears stabbed into armored flesh and the keratin of its many feet with little result. The few people with elemental damage, including Viv, had more success. The depth worm emitted a deep grumble and turned on itself. Lorn jumped over a trail of goop and rejoined the formation.

“Triple rank shield wall.”

The soldiers arranged themselves three by three with Koro and Lorn in the second rank. Viv stayed at the back. The creature glared at them. Viv aimed as it lay unmoving. Her spear of black mana landed squarely on a cluster of red eyes, leaving behind a ragged wound bleeding pale humors. The pain caused the worm to writhe and it finally charged them.

“By Neriad, HOLD!”

The shields at the front of the wall shone gold and when hit, they released a sound like a gong struck with great force. Instead of being sent flying, the three men at the front were kept in position by the hands and support of those behind. The worm clearly did not expect such resistance and it lay stunned for a second. The battle-hardened humans were not going to let that opportunity go to waste. Half a dozen weapons scored deep marks in its flesh. It retracted its head and opened its abominable lamprey mouth.

“Werfer.”

A stream of deleterious mana erupted from Viv’s hand, thin and focused. It melted the creature’s ‘face’.

The monster retreated, bleeding its strange ichor but still lively. It glared balefully, well, everywhere since it had a bloody collection of eyeballs, and crawled back on the ceiling. It scurried vertically and stopped far above them. Its throat produced disgusting gulping noise.

“It’s gonna spit! Spread out!”

The group rushed out except Viv and Marruk. The witch was standing there with a black sphere by her side.

The monster threw up a shower of vile liquid.

“Arty!”

The mighty spell hurled through the air in silence and entered the beast’s maw in a devastating attack. Marruk grabbed Viv by the waist and legged it.

“Nope!”

Fragments of acidic and half-digested things disappeared on the half-sphere of darkness, then they were out of range. Viv and Marruk turned to see more disgusting liquid cascade over the sodden ground, followed by what was obviously viscera. A moment later, the worm’s gutted corpse smashed into the ground with a ghastly, mushy sound. More liquid spread across the room, lapping at Viv’s newish and so far untainted boots.

“Ew.”

It smelled like a dead fucking skunk.

Marruk frowned.

“You always bring me to the nicest places, Viviane.”

“Squee.”

Arthur plodded from the tunnel and sniffed at some unidentified innards. She glared at Viv, deeply offended by the nature of their prey this time. Viv had no time to handle the dragonette’s injured pride, however, as the guards rushed to the larder to untangle their fallen comrade. Viv had a quick look. It didn’t look good.

The man was missing an arm and, though the wound was no longer bleeding, he had other deep gashes across his arms. His chainmail had managed to prevent the worm from gutting him entirely, but part of the skin on his face looked melted under the influence of a sticky fluid that covered him from head to toe. The expedition had healing potions but honestly, Viv didn’t think that it would be enough. By all rights he should be dead already. Only his high stats were keeping him alive.

No one spoke as Farren kneeled by the hurt man’s side. Loric’s breath came harsh and fast, and his eyes were closed. He was in a lot of pain.

“May Neriad’s mercy be with you.”

A golden glow emerged from the young man’s hands and enveloped Loric. His breath steadied. He relaxed. His chest rose another dozen times, then stopped.

The golden god’s promise of peace in death was upheld again.

There was some hesitation, then the rest of the guard started a prayer which lasted for a while. Viv and Marruk didn’t join. After that, the group split up, with most guards untangling the body of their comrade while Viv moved back towards the entrance of the tunnel. Arthur stared at the witch as she was resting against a wall.

“What’s wrong, little Arthur?”

The dragonling raised a claw, upon which a single droplet of blood had come to rest. Viv looked at her shoulder and found a gash in her armor, the weave frayed and dyed with the tiniest hint of red. Her own gaze alternated between the dead man behind her, the claw, and Viv.

“I’m not going anytime soon. Don’t worry.”

“Squee.”

Fragile, is what she meant. Probably.

The dragonling didn’t say anything more, but her tail went to coil around Viv’s leg until Farren and Lorn returned. The rest of the guard passed them by with the body clad in an improvised shroud made from tent material. They were somber, but resolute. Lorn spoke as they left.

“Normally, temple guards are buried where they fall. The guards will dig a grave in a secondary passage. I would not want my last resting place to stink so much.”

Viv nodded. Farren was very pale and he shook his head.

“I made a terrible mistake, people died,” Lorn aped in the educated tone of Farren. The Branch Head looked shocked, but Lorn just smiled bitterly.

“You were right and I was wrong,” the captain admitted, “I thought this was a fool’s errand and it was not. Truly, the line between genius and insanity is measured by success and success only.”

“What do you mean? Loric died.”

“Loric died exploring the greatest natural resource ever found since the Baelen diamond mine a century ago. This is an expansive, already dug and fully regenerated iron mine, Farren. Baran would go to war over this. Enoria would go to war as well. It’s a strategic fucking asset. And your inquisitive mind delivered it into our hands. The temple hierarchy will piss themselves when we lay claim to it. Emeric bless my ass but the Mornyr high council might even blow us if we ask politely.”

“Now we just have to find a passage through the mountain.”

“Or make one ourselves. Get a team of miners here and we can trade ingots with Kazar, make our own tools. It will only take a week of effort to make this place profitable.”

“There are still monsters to clear.”

“And we will. We will. This place will make us all famous. But for now, we have a burial to attend.”

***

The burial was a humble affair and didn’t take long. Everyone said something they remembered about the departed, and then they all wished him a pleasant stay in the afterlife. Viv felt… inadequate. The guards had stood between the danger and herself, just like Marruk usually did. Someone had died because they were at the edge of the formation and she was not. More importantly, she had simply never known Loric, never made the effort to get to know him better. She had been distant. She had always been distant. She was the very same ‘ice queen’ that her fellow cadets had begrudgingly respected. Nothing had changed in her mind. The only difference was that, here, people expected it. She was upper caste by virtue of her power, and upper caste did not mingle with the plebeians.

Was it right, or not?

The more time she spent thinking about it, and the more she believed that the other cadets had been wrong. It was not that she was haughty and unattainable. She just didn’t open her heart to everyone. Her gathering of companions here proved that she could and would open up and create bonds of friendship when she clicked with them. Her training in the army had come at a very difficult moment of her life, when she had finally cut ties with her father to follow her own path. She had been defensive as anyone who was freshly uprooted would be, and it justified a more guarded behavior. Was this wrong?

More importantly, did she owe others to be friendly and social?

She no longer believed it.

Her dad was a social animal, able to be amiable with many and genuinely care about them to some extent, but she was built differently and that was fine. The only thing she owed others was respect.

Was it maturity? Had the wound in her soul changed her? Or had her power gone to her head a bit, allowing her to justify any behavior as quirks because, essentially, no one had authority over her?

The worst thing was that she didn’t care. Not really. She stood there listening to others and just felt alienated from the whole process, and yet, it did not affect her beyond that vague feeling of inadequacy.

The ceremony ended with not one person looking at her. There were a few glares sent Farren’s way, but Lorn quickly quelled any discontent with a few whispered words. The group turned back to where the worm had fallen despite the smell at the insistence of Koro.

“I saw something. There,” she said.

They passed by the foul-smelling carcass and beyond the monster’s larder. There was a passage there, one that had not been dug by human hands but by the worm. The end of the circular tunnel was covered in a slim sheet of red. It was, Viv realized, a shield. Her budding mana perception recognized it as soon as she was close enough.

“Fire mana. It’s a membrane. Look at the shimmering edge. This is a pretty standard shield,” she explained, pointing at the surface. The others were speechless for a moment.

“A shield? Here? Placed by whom?” Farren asked. Viv had no answer.

“Can you pierce it?” Lorn asked.

“Yes, easily, but this is a construct so the shield will just close back again.”

The tunnel beyond was another one that was made by people, though it was narrower and rougher than the rest of the mine. There were no signs of any sort of activity.

“If we want to go through…” Viv began.

“We do,” Lorn said, “if there are folks out there, I want to know who.”

“If we do then I can attack the shield until the supply is depleted, but I have another faster way to go through. I can simply shield myself in a black mana and pass it without burning.”

“Alright. Do it, but be careful,” Lorn said. Marruk looked distinctively ill-at-ease.

“Fine.”

Viv started to cast, then hesitated.

“Is something the matter?” Farren asked.

“No… no, it’s just that... Ahem.”

The other stared at her with various airs of misunderstanding. Viv sighed.

“Fine! Fine… Easy peasy sneaky cloaky.”

Black mana pooled from her robe and covered her in a suit of armor. Interestingly, it looked like a mix between her current robe and the FELIN ballistic armor she had worn during combat operations back on earth. Her current appearance dispelled the only traces of amusement her weird incantation had generated. The rest of the group showed clear signs of worry. Perhaps the deep black color and unusual cut bothered them? She was about to leave, when a boisterous voice interrupted her.

“Nice gear, sister. If my brothers could see you, they would definitely ask you to carry their kids!” Koro congratulated her. The southerner nodded to her with her bright smile, her missing incisor giving it a slightly dorky edge.

“Er, thanks.“

Viv passed the shield without issue. The red mana proved completely incapable of even slowing her down. She just felt a sort of pressure on her mind but that was it. The drain on her reserves was minimal. Just as she expected, she found a small construct stuck to the wall on her side of the shield. Interestingly, it was encased in a rectangular metal box and had a lever on its surface. She pulled on it and the shield powered down.

“Well well well.”

She inspected the box as the others joined her. It was fuelled by a tiny monster core shining red with stored mana. It was nailed to the wall with a long spike. The material looked a bit rough, but there was no denying its efficacy.

“Do you recognize this make?” Viv asked Farren as he joined her side.

“No. This does not resemble anything I have ever seen, and the casing is surprisingly crude considering how elaborate the shield construct is. Make no mistake, it remains rudimentary according to Param standards, but whoever cobbled this together knew what they were doing.”

“Hmmm.”

“We should take it with us, just in case. It could prove useful.”

“Fine, but I’m not carrying it.”

Farren rolled his eyes and handed the thing to the stockiest guard.

“What now?” someone asked.

“We follow the tracks,” Koro answered.

“Tracks?”

The tall woman pointed at the ground, where, as far as Viv could see, there was absolutely fuckall.

“Oh, yeah,” Lorn said appreciatively. “Two of them. Humanoid. Let’s see what we are dealing with.”

The group gathered once more, this time in rows of two with Viv once again in the middle. They walked for a while in vigilant silence. The corridor was smaller and clearly made in a rush, with light only provided by spells. Half an hour after setting out, both Koro and Viv called for a stop.

“The tracks disappear here,” the tall woman said with consternation.

“There is something strange with the wall to our right,” Viv added, “I can feel earth mana coming from it.”

She placed her hand against the wall.

“As if…”

The wall collapsed.

Well, a large segment of it in any case, and beyond was a smaller, more natural cavern with two curious humanoids. One of them yelped and swiveled abruptly, swinging towards Viv the nose of a nasty crossbow.

“Wait! Don—”

Danger sense: Apprentice 3