Immovable Mage

– Era of the Wastes, Cycle 215, Season of the Rising Sun, Day 99 –

*Hong* A deep bell-like sound echoed through the dungeon room and then the entire floor quaked abruptly. *WRRRROOOMM!*

For a moment, there was utter silence.

“Did anyone else’s sphincter just clench itself?” asked Miguel. “Or is that just me? What was that sound? Is the dungeon supposed to shake and make that sound? I don’t remember that part from the introduction.”

Tiana readied her equipment.

“Definitely not just you,” muttered Siling. She directed her soul spirit to move towards the ceiling.

Gellath stepped closer to Miguel. “Maybe dungeons are like cats. It’s purring because it’s happy.”

“I like that,” replied Miguel. “Positive thinking. Happy dungeon. Happy, happy dungeon.”

Jorg and Elena stepped next to Terry and Lori.

“Your scroll?” asked Jorg anxiously.

Lori was still in a daze.

“Spell failure,” said Terry.

Elena’s eyes showed determination. She crumbled her own Recall scroll in her fist and then exchanged it with her dueling shield.

Terry caught the reaction and sighed inwardly. His earlier impression of Elena during the bounty hunt had settled somewhere between bad and worse. Nevertheless, Elena’s companionship with Lori was undeniable. Over time, Terry’s opinion of Elena had improved. However, that shift in opinion was limited to Elena’s non-addled state – when her mind was not affected by her bursts. Unfortunately, the blood-aspected woman continued bursting her mana all the time.

“What do we do now?” asked Gellath.

“We can’t escape with the scrolls or we would leave Whaka Lori behind,” stated Terry. He summoned his barrier spear. “I, for one, choose the scenic route.”

“Yes, I believe I missed a few sights on the way down.” Jorg nodded to Terry and patted Lori on the shoulder.

“Yeah, there was this really cute poison slime,” quipped Miguel. “I miss the little fella.”

Gellath prepared his mace and shield.

“Th-thank you,” mumbled Lori.

“Don’t worry.” Elena kissed Lori on the top of her head.

“Sis, we could attempt to use our tremendous charm to get through the dungeon creepers, but maybe our weapons would work better?” teased Jorg. His cheeky grin finally jolted his sister out of her daze.

Lori summoned her barrier spear and checked her daggers.

“Maybe we’re lucky, and this dungeon does not have any reserve forces,” remarked Jorg.

Terry blew up his cheeks and shook his head slightly.

“Hate to play the Debbie Downer,” said Siling. “But this dungeon absolutely does.”

“It’s already late,” said Tiana. “We should probably take a rest before venturing forth.”

“If we don’t, the attacus sleepmoth may become our downfall,” warned Siling.

Terry frowned. “Would it make sense to send one out and let them get help?”

“Is that really necessary?” questioned Jorg. “We already know what awaits us on the way up, don’t we?”

“Not sure if it is even a good idea,” interjected Tiana. “We don’t know what caused the spell failure. If it was just a faulty scroll, it is one thing. However, if it is related to the room – like a spatial seal or dimensional travel limit – then we would waste emergency escape paths.”

“Pity that the signal cards don’t work with dungeon interference,” muttered Gellath. “Would have been really useful now.”

“Nothing we can do about it.” Terry sighed. He made eye contact with Jorg. “Dungeon work is different.”

“Should we stay here or move to a different room to get some rest?” asked Siling.

“This room was the last we cleared,” said Jorg. “Probably the last to receive reinforcements, right?”

“On the other hand, the creatures here were a lot more annoying than the previous floors,” said Miguel.

“We can fortify our position and barricade ourselves in for the break,” said Tiana. “Use the time before new creatures arrive to block the entrances, set up some earthen walls and so forth.”

***

“Alright, I’ll be Debbie now,” said Miguel. “At the risk of stating the obvious, this room has changed since we passed here before.”

The group was looking at the pathway leading out of the room and up to the next floor.

“When we came down, we entered this room from the left,” said Tiana. She walked to the general area. “I remember looking around to get my bearings.”

Terry stepped next to her and focused on his mana sight. Eventually, he frowned and shook his head. “If it’s moving walls again, then the construct cores are well hidden and cloaked in some way.”

Jorg sharply exhaled. “Wastes, I don’t like the idea of the dungeon choosing our path.”

“Can’t we smash the walls again?” suggested Gellath.

Tiana summoned her war hammer. “Worth a shot.” She tested the wall. When it did not budge, she tried again a few feet to the left.

Eventually, there was a crack at one spot. However, when they cleared the rubble, all that greeted them was yet another wall.

Tiana clicked her tongue. “Can’t tell. Even if this is the right spot…”

“It would take a long time to break through this way,” continued Lori.

“Long time for the dungeon to change things further,” added Terry.

Jorg’s eyes widened. “You believe that—” He gulped.

Terry shrugged. “If the dungeon can change the rooms like this, then it can also redirect its minions wherever we are headed.”

“Can dungeons get angry?” Siling grimaced and shifted her gaze from side to side. “Even dungeons as lovely as this one?”

“If the dungeon can easily redirect its creatures, then why the need to redirect us, though?” questioned Miguel.

“I know as much – or little – as you do,” replied Terry. “I don’t speak dungeon either. Maybe it has something specific planned for us? Creatures can be redirected, but rooms are more stationary.”

Jorg’s expression turned dark.

“To sum it up,” started Tiana. “We can either follow the way laid out for us and face the dungeon’s challenge or we try to break through here and risk facing the dungeon’s wrath.”

Lori bit her lip. “Or you all could––”

“““No!”””

“And if you suggest that one more time, I’ll get mad,” stressed Elena.

“Yeah, if you keep on looking all guilty, we’ll have you suffer punishment,” said Miguel. “Gellath, the next time Lori does that, you tell her a ‘joke.’” He made air quotes.

Gellath nodded before he fully understood the command. After his brain had caught up with the words of his friend, he squinted at Miguel and puckered his lips. “What did the archer say when he lost his bow?”

“I said next time, Gellath. Also to Lori. L-o-r-i.” Miguel pointed. “Lady with the sideburns. The only face at our height that has no beard.”

Gellath crossed his arms and continued squinting at Miguel.

Miguel sighed in resignation. “Okay, what did the archer say when he lost his bow?”

Gellath nodded, uncrossed his arms, and replied with a deadpan expression. “Where’s my bow?!”

Miguel stood in silence and smacked his lips.

“Sounds reasonable,” remarked Siling, and kept her expression blank as well.

Miguel looked from one to the other. “Maybe if we keep this up, the dungeon will throw us out of its own accord?” He turned his gaze to the others. “Anyway, where were we? Picking our poison?”

“If the dungeon really isn’t our enemy, I would prefer to not turn it into one,” muttered Terry.

“What do you mean?” His statement perplexed Tiana. “The dungeon seems hostile to me already.”

“Reference to our dungeon work introduction class,” explained Jorg. “Dungeons are more likely to see us as sparring partners.”

Tiana furrowed her brow. “I don’t remember that from my introduction class.”

“Our class was different,” interjected Terry. “Our uncle acted as a guest lecturer. He went above and beyond the practical knowledge for delving.”

Tiana nodded. “Maybe you can elaborate on the lecture during our way up. In any case, I agree with the choice. The pathways normally offer respite. If we have to exhaust ourselves completely just to arrive in a room, then we would incur yet another disadvantage. Other opinions?”

***

“Trap.” “Trap.” “A trap if I ever saw one.”

The group was looking at the moat in front of them. The water was muddy and they could not see how deep it was. On the other side of the moat, the earth was elevated and prevented one from easily leaving the water.

“Close, but I call ambush,” declared Siling. “Life signatures from behind the earth barricade. None from inside the water.”

“Second that,” said Terry. “Some smaller cores in the water – constructs, presumably. Mana signatures from over there are water and ice aspected. Two ice-aspected signatures are more intense than the others. Either stronger slimes or dungeon assimilated would be my guess.”

“In any case, the water is off limits,” said Jorg. “Not looking forward to meeting an ice-aspected spell after having taken a swim.”

“Assuming you even get the chance to step out of the water,” said Elena.

“They may also freeze the whole moat,” said Gellath.

“Or have the constructs drown you outright,” said Terry.

“Cheery bunch, aren’t we?” quipped Miguel.

“I could try to raise the earth,” suggested Lori. “Viability depends on how deep the moat is.”

“Pricklybum could prepare some wire thread to help us cross over,” offered Siling.

Then, both Lori and Siling looked at Terry.

“Assuming the creatures let me get to the ceiling…” Terry pondered out loud. “I could prepare rope swings for all of you or horizontal ropes for climbing. Alternatively, we could cross using the tertium slabs.”

“That would still have us jumping into the thick of it,” said Jorg.

“I’m wondering if we can use the moat to our advantage,” said Tiana. “We can’t cross it easily, but the same applies to the other side.”

“Rely on purely long-range attacks?” proposed Miguel. “Pity that the pest beetle has already left and took his fireballs with him. Coldfire won’t work that well if Terry’s intel is correct. However, if they’re really slimes, then I could easily aim for their cores. That would mean no intact cores to collect, though.”

Tiana nodded. “I could use my prepped crossbows.”

“Pricklybum and I can support, too,” stated Siling. “I could use Rock Spear from a distance and have Pricklybum do guerilla tactics with Resummon Spirit. If I see a good opportunity, I can clear the way with a Kinetic Push and the rest can get over.”

Tiana nodded. “If I use the crossbows from the ceiling, then I could also leap down as the first vanguard. Lightning-aspected weapons should work well and I can hold out with a shield.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t have enough mana to freeze the moat myself,” said Gellath. “However, Cone of Cold would work well against the water-aspected beings.”

“Better to secure the position first,” interjected Lori. “I should move over as fast as possible so that I can raise some earthen walls.”

Lori looked at Siling. “If we liquify and tear down the earthen walls on the other side, then Miguel will have a free view from here.”

***

“Is anyone else seeing the forest?” asked Gellath. “Or is some kind of corrupted insect playing tricks on me again?”

“Remind me to bash Alrik over the head with his measuring devices,” grumbled Jorg.

“That’s a forest alright,” said Siling. “One crawling with life.”

“And mana cores,” added Terry.

“Most of the life signatures are tiny.” Siling squinted at the unnatural forest. “However, there are some worrying signatures up in the trees.”

“Where exactly?” asked Miguel.

“From the tree with the missing bark, two to the left.” Siling pointed.

Miguel narrowed his eyes. “Can’t see anything, even though the distance should be within my range.” He walked a few steps forward and to the sides. He shook his head. “Nope.”

“Check it out from above?” suggested Terry. “There is definitely a mana core there.”

Miguel nodded. “Much obliged.”

“Do you want to climb yourself, or should I give you a piggyback ride?” asked Terry.

“Oh, so Miguel can get a piggyback ride?!” Siling put her fists on her hips and puffed her cheeks exaggeratedly.

Terry blinked. “The trees are not as high this time, and I have the Gravitational Attraction glove now.”

“Don’t forget to mention that I weigh less,” added Miguel with a cheeky grin.

“I am going to pretend I never heard that,” said Siling while narrowing her eyes at the cheeky dwarf. “Alright, enough nonsense. I want to know what is lurking in the trees.”

Terry threw an imprinted octavum needle. He used his glove to pull himself to the transfixed needle with Miguel on his back. Up in the air, Terry summoned an imprinted tertium slab and activated the Immovable Object spell. With their footing prepared, they both stepped on the slab and observed the trees.

“Still nothing,” mumbled Miguel. “Can you point the core out for me again?” Afterwards, he yelled down. “Siling, can you point at the creature and keep pointing?”

Siling and Terry did as requested. Miguel asked Terry a few more questions. He nocked an aspected arrow and aimed at the spot pointed out by Siling and Terry.

Miguel loosened his arrow.

A bright light appeared, and something fell from the tree. The creature was roughly a size between a dwarf and a human. It rolled on the floor in order to extinguish the coldfire dancing over its back. Its screeches were mixed with deep growls.

Miguel fired two other arrows to kill the dungeon-assimilated being. Afterwards, Terry and Miguel moved down again.

“The creature had some kind of invisibility ability,” said Terry.

“Yeah, that was a shining dropbear,” stated Siling. “They’re light-aspected mana corrupted with a mana ability similar to the Camouflage spell.”

“Bear?” blurted Jorg. “That sounded more like a donkey.”

“Or an excited pig,” murmured Gellath.

“They’re corrupted descendants of koalas,” explained Siling. “Koalas are marsupials, not bears. However, they were sometimes inaccurately named koala bears. Apparently, the misnomer followed the creatures through their corruption. The ‘drop’ half of the name is accurate though. They hide in the trees and let themselves drop onto the heads of their victims.”

Miguel grimaced. He moved his gaze between Terry and Siling. “Have I told you yet how much I appreciate your group tagging along? If you had abstained from the dungeon dive, I may cuddle a carnivorous donkey-bear right about now.”

Jorg winced and lowered his gaze.

“Let’s focus on getting out first,” said Terry.

Siling looked at Miguel and corrected him. “Marsupial.”

“Bless you,” retorted Miguel. “Let’s hunt some donkey-bears.”

They stepped into the forest. Siling and Terry continued to act as spotters for Miguel.

“Larger mana core ahead,” announced Terry.

“No life signature,” added Siling.

“I’ll have a look from the treetops.” Terry used his imprinted items to lift himself up into the air again.

“Something feels different about this location,” muttered Miguel. “It’s making my nose itchy.” He looked around. While trying to avoid or eliminate the shining dropbears, their group had reached and then followed a clearing. Now, they were standing at an intersection between several clearings.

Unfortunately, Miguel could not determine the source of his uneasy feeling. Therefore, he put the thought out of his mind and aimed towards the direction of the spotted mana core.

“Many small life signatures are approaching,” warned Siling.

“Huh?”

Vast hordes of mice ran at them from every clearing.

“Protect your eyes!” warned Siling. “Those are seed mice. Their seed projectiles are not very dangerous, but don’t let them hit you in the eye!”

Not long after Siling had uttered her warning, the rodent army fired countless seeds at them. To everyone’s annoyance, the corrupted creatures were so small that they could easily pass below shields or barriers. The corrupted rodents attacked from every direction and the group had to keep their arms close to their heads in order to protect their eyes.

“Annoying pests!” exclaimed Miguel. He crushed two seed mice with his foot.

“What is even the point of these things?” Jorg stomped as well.

They spent several seconds trying to eradicate the seed mice when a quiet whistling sound could be heard.

Tiana was the first to react, but Elena was not far behind. They both used shields and protected their flanks from the clearing – Tiana to the left and Elena to the right.

Two small and quick rocks collided with their shields. The impact was powerful enough to even dent Elena’s thick dueling shield.

Realization dawned on Miguel. “Ah Wastes, we walked into a perfect spot for a crossfire ambush.”

Further rumbling and a large earth warrior construct came into view from the front.

Elena increased her mana flow and reflexively prepared to rush the construct.

“Elena, no!” yelled Tiana. “We got this! Don’t worry.”

Elena stopped and glanced back. Lori raised several earthen walls to protect their flanks. Without pause, the dwarven woman applied Harden Earth.

“Could be vacuum cannon constructs,” surmised Jorg. “They’re slow to reload. Gather earth, compress earth, harden earth, expel air – all steps take time.”

Miguel whistled and waved to the trees. A moment later, he was lifted up and flew towards the treetops through Gravitational Attraction.

Siling shuffled her way towards the front of their group. She cast Kinetic Push, and hordes of seed mice flew through the air before colliding with the earth warrior.

Aspected arrows began raining down on the construct.

Terry leaped from the trees and slowed his fall with his gymnastic rings connected by elastic rope.

“Express delivery.” Terry summoned two imprinted tertium slabs with attached handles from his storage bracelet. “In case the earthen walls are not sufficient. Just make sure to channel enough mana into it.”

Terry blocked several seed projectiles. “What are these things?”

“Annoying is what they are,” grumbled Siling. “They’re called seed mice.”

Gellath finished his own spell ignition and a Cone of Cold eradicated a large part of the rodent horde.

“If you hold out here, then Miguel and I can take care of the ranged constructs,” said Terry. “Anyone else want a lift?”

Siling contemplated the offer. “Better view would be good for my spells.”

“I would prefer to keep you here,” said Tiana. “Your Kinetic Push is the best way to keep the earth warrior at a distance, particularly when it’s ignited with coldfire. The spell also helps with our pest problem. Aside from that, you and Terry are our best sensors. I want to keep at least one of you around.”

Siling nodded. “You heard the lady. All piggyback rides are postponed until further notice.”

Tiana looked at Jorg. “Vacuum cannon constructs are not that mobile, correct?”

“Correct. Not when they have already started firing. They can’t even adjust their aim without preparation.”

“Great, then we should get this sorted out easily enough.” Terry stepped up into the air to go construct hunting.

Tiana walked to Elena and praised loudly. “Good reaction. If you had not blocked the second rock projectile, things would have gotten ugly.”

Elena smiled. “Still a moment behind you though.”

Tiana leaned closer and lowered her voice so that only Elena could hear. “Your reaction to that earth warrior construct, however? Please don’t.” She stared firmly into Elena’s eyes. “Please do not try to do everything on your own. There is no need for this. We all work better together.”

***

The group followed a narrow corridor leading up to the next room. They stopped in front of the entrance.

“There are quite a lot of life signatures,” stated Siling. “However, I can’t tell which of the life signatures actually belong to the next room. Seems as if some of them are clinging to the walls.”

“Flash geckos?” guessed Gellath.

Siling shook her head. “Too big for those.”

Tiana frowned. “We have to assume yet another unfamiliar enemy.” She sighed. “Siling, please inform us immediately in case you recognize the creature. Terry?”

Terry focused unusually long on his mana sense. Eventually, he had to accept that the result would not change or go away. He gulped. “Many mana cores – over fifty. Perhaps a hundred.”

“Like the seed mice?” asked Miguel.

“Sadly, no.” Terry shook his head. “The cores are way bigger than those. The ones on the walls are air aspected. A few on the floor seem earth aspected. Some light-aspected and shadow-aspected cores appear at higher locations. The rest appear to be constructs with core sizes all over the place. Most of them are in the smaller range – like the fake goblins. However, there are about a dozen cores big enough for earth warrior constructs.”

Silence fell over the group.

“That was not the most worrying part,” continued Terry with a sigh. “I can’t be certain, but I believe there is something cloaked in there. Something big.”

“Cloaked?” exclaimed Lori. “What did you notice?”

“The mana is distorted in one place, but I can’t sense a core or any other mana absorbent there. The only theory I can come up with is cloaking.”

“Explanation for those not versed in mana crafting?” prompted Jorg.

“Mana – like other forms of energy – can be positive or negative,” explained Terry. “If you want to hide positive mana, you can wrap it in matching negative mana structures. From the outside, the mana signatures add up to nothing. Aunt Brynn showed it once by completely hiding a spell imprint from our mana sight.”

“Even Terry could not pick the mana signature up,” added Lori with a frown. “Auntie told us that a proper cloaking can only be detected through the surrounding mana distortions – if it can be detected at all.”

“Any cores close to the entrance?” asked Tiana.

“No,” replied Terry.

“Then I’ll take a look,” declared Tiana.

“Me too,” said Miguel.

The two peeked through the entrance and into the room.

“Isn’t that the weird room from before?” whispered Miguel.

The room had a high ceiling and an easily recognizable layout. About a quarter into the room, there was a large earth barricade with an opening on the left. Further behind, there was another barricade with an opening on the right. Together, these two obstacles formed a passage to follow.

A similar barricade hung from the ceiling into the gap between the barricades on the floor. The view towards the back of the room remained completely obstructed. There were many crevices and craters inside the room’s walls.

“I can’t make out any dungeon beings,” said Tiana. “You?”

Miguel shook his head. “The elevated earth is in the way.”

The two walked back to the group.

“Good news is that we are back on our familiar route,” said Miguel. “Remember the big room with nothing in it? That’s where we are headed.”

“Bad news is that it has gained some occupants,” said Tiana. “And we need to get through them.”

***