Magic Breaker Ch 40-42

Chapter 40: Help Us.

Slowly, bit by bit, the world comes back into focus. I breathe, stand up, and frown. “My pants are ruined,” I say. 

Thatch pulls me into a hug. “You did good,” he says. “You did amazing. Thank you, Snow.”

I blink. Slowly, just once, I pat his back. “Sure,” I say. “Yeah.”

[Level up! 15 > 17]

[Job up! Enchanter 4 > 5]

[Class up! Deconstructor 6 > 8]

Essence pours into me from my job packet, but I ignore it for the moment. My mana is almost out, but the points in vessel help. I’ve gained another point naturally, too, I note. I place all six stats from the level up in vessel again. Slowly, I let my gaze sweep over my party. The only ones missing are Bay, Dar, and my shadow friend. For a moment, as everyone fusses over Sylves, I look at the other groups.

I’m weak. Will any of them try to murder us? I stand tall on my feet, facing anyone in the cave with a challenging glare. A few meet my eyes, but none are hungry. They are… surprised? In awe? I blink.

Right. No attacks. Letting myself relax just slightly, I open up my status. 

Name: Snow Okiyama - Ion

Floor: 1

Class: <Deconstructor> - 8

Job: <Enchanter> - 5

Lv. 17

Heart: 14

Power: 5

Vessel: 56

Skills:

• [Suppression lv. 8]

• [Selection lv. 6]

• [Solidification lv. 5]

• [Deconstruction lv. 5]

• [Inscription lv. 3]

• [Flesh Restoration lv. 1]

My power has increased a bit more, naturally, which is nice. And I quite enjoy the look of my skills. Six of them. Two granted from the start, one granted by my class, the other earned but almost entirely granted by the essence from my job, and two I created myself. 

[Flesh Restoration] once again fits into the little pattern. It’s almost funny. But I’m the most proud of it. It’s not a skill I came up with myself - it’s one I stole. Right from under the system’s nose, by pushing myself, by borrowing Inu’s and Thatch’s strengths. By practicing over and over, until it worked.

Even now, the version I use is a botched, malformed imitation of what the system can do. I barely managed to seal a wound shut, not to mention healing it. But it is good enough to be recognized as a skill, and that makes me happy. 

Slowly, I lower myself to the floor, avoiding the large puddle of blood around Sylves. Opal is trying to make her drink a little bit of water, with moderate success. But she’s alive. Without a doubt, she’s alive.

Time slowly starts creeping forward again. We put Amelie’s bandage on the wound, helping to keep it closed, and not as exposed to the dust in the air. A cave probably isn’t the most sanitary area, really. Slowly, more people trickle through the glowing portal to the previous floor. 

Dar makes it through, and though the wolf sports a few cuts, he laughs boisterously as he makes it out. “Fahahaha! What a wonderful challenge.” Then, his eyes land on us. “And most of you made it, too. Good.”

Opal gives him a look, and places a finger on their lips. Dar shuts his mouth, and walks over, as he notices Sylves. “Ah,” he says. Nothing else.

More time passes. Thatch starts to fidget. Then, someone else comes through the glowing arch, a man I don’t know. He has fiery, red hair, and his body is covered in a half dozen cuts. He, like Sylves, is bleeding out.

The shirtless, buff guy, takes note of him and frowns. Then his eyes land on me. Very slowly, I shake my head. I have the mana, but I want to save it in case Bay needs it. His frown deepens, and he raises his eyebrows, as if negotiating. I hold up three fingers. Slowly, he nods. 

“A mana potion,” I say, first. 

Instantly, the man speaks. “I would like to use my minor request on a potion that restores as much mana as possible without any negative side effects.”

A rock spawns in his hand, and he doesn’t hesitate, giving it to me. Smart man. I absorb some of the mana inside of it, and instantly, a torrent of power floods back into my vessel. Except, my vessel is huge for my level. It’s noticeable, by now, with the way mana works. I can tell that no one here has as much of it as I do.

Still, the core does a good job at refilling some of it. I kneel next to the man, casting my new skill again, and his wounds knit closed. One by one, they stop bleeding, though the flesh still looks ragged. Then, I stand up. 

The muscled man looks at me with a slight frown. “You could do more,” he notes.

I nod. “Yes.”

“But you won’t,” he notes.

Again, I nod. “Yes.”

“Why?” he asks.

Slowly, I sweep my eyes over the people in the cave. Him. The girl that used a clone before. The scrawny mage and their grimoire. A small smile spreads on my face. “I need enough power to feel safe.”

His frown deepens. “I’ll protect you,” he says.

At that, I actually laugh. It’s a derisive one, a snort, huffing out in amusement. “Yeah fucking right. And then what? Hold it over my head? Make me your personal healer? Nah.”

I see his eyebrows knot, as he thinks. “You’re paranoid. Humans should stick together.”

My patience runs out, right then, right there. “This talk is done,” I say. “You owe me two minor requests. Ask for more, and I’ll kill you.”

At that, the chatter in the cavern goes quiet. You could have heard a pin drop. The man seems stunned for a moment, then raises an eyebrow. “Really now?” he asks.

“Gem,” I say, using their anonymous name. We exchanged them during the walk to the ascendancy well. 

Before the man can blink, our echo knight stands behind him, sword pointed at the nape of his neck. “Yepyep, that’d be me,” they say, smiling, with that same melodic cadence they usually talk in. There is that playful hint of amusement in their voice, even as they threaten to murder a man. 

Mister muscular draws in a long, deep breath. He smiles, placatingly, and raises his hands. “Alright, alright,” he says. “Peace, peace. At ease.” His party settles down. “How about one more favour since you didn’t heal him properly?”

“Two more,” I say.

“One,” he offers.

“Three,” I raise the price.

“Two,” he replies with a grimace. “Fine, fine. Two more. What do you want?” 

A small smile spreads on my face. My party probably earned some, too, so we can take care of immediate survival needs. What do we need in here? We have water. We can figure out light; in fact, I might be able to use my mana as a lamp. I still have the core. What else do I want?

I toss him my mana maze. “Ask for this to be improved into a better training tool for mana.”

He raises his eyebrows, then rolls his eyes a little. “Fine. I would like to use a minor request to upgrade this into a better training tool for mana,” he says.

Hah. He did have two minor requests from his challenge. I thought so, when he readily agreed to spend three on me. The cube glows a little, and grows, just a bit. It feels more magical, too. “Do it again,” I smile.

Slowly, he nods, then hands the cube to one of his party members. “You heard the healer,” he says. “Upgrade it.”

His party member, a young woman, eyes me with furrowed eyebrows. “Fine,” she spits, but still faithfully fulfills the request. The cube glows again, growing slightly. Before, it easily fit into my palm. Now, it’s about the size of a fist. I take it from here, and nod.

“We’re even,” I say, smiling.

“What’s your name?” the man asks me. 

“Ion,” I reply, readily.

“I’m Maximillian. This is Rose,” he points at the woman. “And the guy you saved is called Pyro.”

Richard’s eyes light up at that last declaration. She lets out a small, excited chitter, but doesn’t otherwise move. I just nod at the man, then turn around. I have a new toy to play with.

Chapter 41: Regrouped

After healing Pyro, Maximillian leans him against the cavern wall. Things are a bit crowded, but it’s still manageable. Slowly, I put on my headphones, checking my phone’s battery. Twenty percent. I frown, but still click play on the music, feeling the way the world tunes out.

I close my eyes, just for a little while, enjoying the blissful nothingness. Time passes, slowly but steadily ticking forward. By now, Sylves’ blood has dried out a little, going from crimson liquid to a sticky goop on the floor. It smells like iron. 

Most likely, it’ll attract monsters pretty soon, but I don’t mention that to anyone. None of my business, after all. Instead, I focus on the mana inside my vessel. It feels large. Crossing the fifty point mark feels significant, in the way that humans enjoy their little milestones. 

The mana core that Maximillian gave me still has some more mana inside it. I draw it out, leaving the core empty. I try to push mana in again, and it feels a little like making water go through a filter. It works, but it takes a while. Some of it also seems to dissipate. 

I hum to myself, experimenting a little more with the little blue rock I've been given. Why do I feel like calling it a mana core? Couldn’t it just as well be a mana crystal or a mana stone? Curious, how curious.

A bit more of my mana drops into it. My vessel feels lighter when it’s not full. Isn’t that strange? If I’m full on mana, my body almost feels charged. Under pressure. It’s a bizarre sensation, but hopefully I won’t feel it too often. I should just keep using my mana if it’s full, after all. 

More time passes. A few more people come through with injuries, but none are life-threatening. Some people don’t come through at all, it seems, given the expressions of the parties. Bay still isn’t here. Thatch grows more nervous, but Inu pats his shoulder.

Someone crawls through the arch, but bleeds out before his party can even ask me for help. 

Finally, after all the waiting, Bay comes out from the portal. She is entirely unharmed, in fact, she looks stronger than ever. Her exoskeleton has gone up from her arm, wrapping around her shoulder, the side of her neck, and placing a lens in front of one of her eyes. She looks terrifying.

Thatch wraps her in a hug. She pats his back with the hand that’s not wrapped in metal and wiring, squeezing him back. “I’m okay,” she assures him. “My challenge gave me twenty-four hours to disassemble a bit of tech. I grafted some bits onto me. The only danger was it blowing up in my face. It was just time consuming.”

My friend breathes a few sighs of relief. Slowly, he lets his mom go again, smiling ear to ear. “I’m glad you’re okay.” 

She nods. “Yeah.” Her eyes sweep over our group. “Looks like I’m the last to make it,” she notes. 

I nod. Another person comes through the arch. He’s blonde, tall, and wears a bloodstained shirt. There’s a gun and a sword at his hip. I recognize him. He’s the guy that asked us to join his group. Where’s that group, now?

His eyes lock with mine, and he smiles wider. He takes a step towards me. I ignore him. Another step towards me. I can smell him. Machine oil and iron. I ignore him some more. Then he stands right in front of me.

“Hey there doll, I know you,” he says. “Dang, your face! What happened?”

I don’t look up from my phone. I’m wearing my headphones. Surely he won’t be ignorant enough to-

He reaches out to pull my headphones off. 

Some fucking people. 

I kick out at his shin, and he hops back. “Oh! So you can see me,” he says with a laugh. “How’re you? You look hurt! Glad to see you made it here.”

Can’t he go away?

Despite my clear disinterest, the fact that I’m wearing headphones, and am pointedly not looking at him, he chatters on. I turn up my music, making it loud enough to the point where he’d hear it. Hopefully that communicates things.

Again, he reaches for my headphones. This time, though, Inu steps between us. She speaks, and I don’t hear it through the noise cancelling, but that’s okay. I can imagine it’s something like “Snow doesn’t wanna talk to you, stupid motherfucker. Disgustingly handsome bitch. Piss off you social whore. Close your dumbass mouth.”

Yep. That sounds just like her.

The man smiles lazily in reply, crossing his arms behind his head. He says something to Inu, and they talk back and forth a bit. I just wait. Well, not just. I also slowly scoot away from the guy, trying to get to the point where I don’t smell the iron and oil. But it seems pointless. Ugh.

Soon enough, though, the arch glows again. No one exits it, though. Except, something does. My shadow friend, quickly slithering across the dark floor, before settling into the darkness beneath me, then slowly starts nibbling at the blood Sylves already spilled.

Recycling, right? I eye it a little warily, whispering. “Buddy, you’re gonna have to promise me not to actually eat any part of my friend that’s attached to her.”

The blob hesitates for a moment, then I feel a slight twinge of affirmation, and it continues the grim work. I need to name it, really. For another long moment, I watch it eat up the dried blood. “Kuro,” I whisper.

My little companion shivers for a moment, turning to me. There’s another thin pulse of affirmation. Kuro. 

[The Creeping Darkness watches.]

Weirdo. 

Then I look at blondie. The handsome prick is still talking to Inu. I hope he dies in a fire. 

Suddenly, both of them stop talking. They turn to look into the same direction. The cave is still dark. I sigh, slowly, then stand up. It was only a matter of time, really. Blood was spilled. Of course, there are things in the cave that smelled it. 

Chapter 42: Creepy Crawlies

A battle with so many people would be chaotic. There is no real way around it. Things were never going to be simple with everyone clustered around the arch. Some people are still exhausted from difficult challenges. Our group has spent half their wishes on different magical items. I take a drink from my refilling phial. 

It refills slowly, and there’s not quite enough for me, but that’s okay. I don’t need it to be. 

As the creatures crawl closer, I turn off my headphones,and switch my phone off to conserve battery. It’s at fifteen percent now. How depressing. I need to learn how to charge it, or have Bay learn. Gently, I sigh, placing the headphones in my backpack.

“Oh, look who’s up!” Blondie teases, smiling brightly. 

“We’re not close enough for you to try and tease me,” I say.

“Come on, don’t be like that,” he says, giving me his best puppy eyes. It makes my fucking skin crawl.

I look at the people around the arch. Maximillian is cracking his knuckles. Clone girl has two copies of herself present, and grimoire guy is chanting spells. I look at the dark tunnels, then turn to my group. “Do we have a flashlight?”

Blondie talks, trying to get me to pay attention, but Bay waves a flashlight, and I nod. “Cool. We’re leaving.”

And with that, I walk off. Blondie keeps talking, looking after me. He even tries to walk after our group, but very gently and very firmly, Opal pushes him to the side. “Stay here,” they say. “It’s gonna be safer.”

The man blinks at them, then laughs. “I don’t need safety, I just wanna-”

Opal looks at them, and this time, they place a hand on his shoulder. “Stay,” they say. 

Again, he tries to protest. But Opal holds down his shoulder, very firmly. I brush my senses against him. 

[Fighter, lv. 14]

Yeah right. Fuck that. 

“C’mon, at least tell me your name,” he asks.

“I’m Gem,” Opal says. “And you?”

He smiles, wide. “Vincent. I told you last time, actually.” Then, finally, he takes a step back. “Hope to see you again.”

Opal teleports to catch up with us, and I’m glad he finally backed up. I was going to stab him soon, otherwise. Even now, I still feel that discomfort clawing at me, and I have to [Suppress] the sensation. 

Slowly, step by step, the noise of the gathering gets drowned out as we walk deeper into the cave. Instead, the chittering of insectoid legs gets louder. I pull out a knife, wishing I had a bigger weapon to swing around. Actually…

Mana gathers at the tip of the weapon, solidifying, extending outward. It turns it from a knife into a proper dagger, giving me another couple inches of range. The mana is thin, drawing from my regeneration, but if I break it off inside something, it might mess up their skills. A thin smile crawls onto my face. Magic is so awesome.

[Solidification 5 > 6]

Opal blinks again, then falls in lockstep with me, eyeing my enhanced dagger. It glows a little in the darkness, though Bay’s flashlight is way, way brighter. “Whoowee!” they hum. “Lovely piece of work there, Snow! In a few hundred levels, you might be able to make a sword like mine.”

I smile. “Yeah, yeah,” I say.

“Enemies incoming,” Thatch warns us, his eyes glowing, and almost immediately, Opal’s playful attitude vanishes. The smile on their face is replaced with a serious nod, and they point their sword forward, quickly heading to the front of the group. Inu takes her spot next to them.

And then, all at once, I see them. Bay’s cone of light sweeps across the cave, and there’s dozens. Spiders hang from the ceiling, centipedes skitter across the ground. There are massive beetles clinging to the walls of the cave, too.

“Do insects even smell things?” Thatch asks.

These are each as big as dogs. “Probably,” I say. “These do at least.”

“Ants generally smell with their antennas,” Amelie enlightens us.

“There are no ants among these,” Thatch notes.

“And you should be grateful for that. A colony can have millions of members. We would die, almost certainly,” the girl confirms. Her puppets walk to the front, too, one a metal vine, slithering across the floor, and another one a headless armor from the Dreadburg.

I stand behind our vanguard, smiling just a little. The insects charge, a rolling tide of chitin and legs. We won’t kill them all, but that’s fine. We’ll farm some of the experience while the others behind us regroup, wait for party members, or seek out different tunnels. 

My mana moves again. It twists and roils, and a thin tether of [Selection] sneaks forward. But there are dozens of insects, so I don’t select any one of them. Instead, I apply it to an area. If I could reduce my world down to a tiny point, then surely I can widen my selection, too.

[Selection 7 > 8]

It’s hard, but I press on through the barrier, braving the strain on my head. The insects chitter ever closer, towards the light, towards the morsel we represent. And then, my [Suppression] comes down.

The entire area I have selected suddenly becomes heavier. Spiders drop from the ceiling, smacking into the centipedes on the floor. Beetles lose their hold on the walls. Bloody tears pool from my good eye as I strain to maintain the skill, mana tearing through my infantile channels. 

I’m not far enough into my build to do this, but I don’t care. Limits? Those are for nerds.  

[Suppression 8 > 9]

My skill levels as I mess with the mana pattern, and yet more insects fall. Rather than a charge, it turns into a train wreck. Centipedes crawl over spiders, legs thrashing against each other. Tough beetles squish the others beneath them. The insects descend on the dead immediately. It turns into a messy pile of havoc.

[You have killed a lv. 5 Cavern Centipede]

[You have killed an lv. 8 Ironhide Beetle]

[You have killed a lv. 3 Webweaver]

[You have killed a…]

Gravity does much of my job, and I cause havoc. My party does not need to see it twice. They descend on the mob like harpies, carving through it. Kuro snakes out from my shadow, devouring a bit of chitin, and sometimes striking up at the undersides of insects when they get a chance. 

Blocks of fire and ice descend onto the small horde, as Richard and Jess begin their barrage. Jess sends electricity pulsing through them. Opal and Inu keep any away from the squishier members of our group, and occasionally, a barrier snaps out from Norman. Thatch is tearing the things apart with his bare hands alongside Dar…

Strangely, It feels wonderful. I channel more and more mana into the suppression, supporting the pile up. I smile. It’s bloody and disgusting. The noise and squelching is terrible. I wish Sylves were awake to see it, but we stride on. Slowly but surely, the charge breaks around us. 

Some of the insects make it through, of course, and I cut a centipede in half with my dagger, stabbing downwards around my legs. A beetle tries to nibble on my ankle, and Kuro absolutely shreds the thing, spilling ichor all over my shoes. It’s sticky, and my socks squelch. The texture makes me wanna tear off my feet, but I [Suppress] the disgust.

Quite frankly? The blood flowing from my eyes is more pleasant than needing to deal with the sensory nightmare going on in my shoes right now.

Instead, I just focus on walking forward. Slowly, people’s eyes trail to me, and there are nods. “We move,” I say, and that’s exactly what we do.

The tide of insects breaks around us. My area of crushing [Suppression] moves forward with each step I take. Amelie creates more puppets from the intact corpses, using them to weave a barrier around our sides, and letting the insects pool past. They devour some of their own remains, and even more scuttle past us into the cavern… and yet more break against us.

[Level up! 17 > 18]

More mana, again. My reserves refill, my control sharpens as the moments go by, and we walk. And walk, and walk, and walk.