Chương 94: The Job Was Too Cheap

The group waited several minutes after killing the fleeing bats, but nothing emerged from the darkness ahead. The heavy sounds eventually stopped as well, leaving behind a silence that felt even more threatening than the earlier shrieks. Mellia allowed everyone to recover before ordering them forward. Whatever had frightened the bats remained somewhere beneath them, but retreating without identifying it would leave the mission unfinished and expose Bellhaven to another possible threat.

Sieghart continued creating Mana Swords as they descended. He adjusted their lengths according to each person's fighting style, giving Kart a broader blade while providing Lucia with something shorter and easier to control. Hernan received a thin sword designed for thrusting, although he accepted it with the expression of someone swallowing a personal insult. Mellia's weapon remained balanced between cutting and piercing, allowing her to fight while controlling her barriers.

The summoned weapons disappeared after approximately one minute, but Sieghart replaced them before their structures became unstable. The others quickly learned to recognize the faint flickering that warned them whenever a blade was close to vanishing. Another group of bats attacked from a crack in the ceiling, only to encounter a formation that had already learned how to eliminate them efficiently. Mellia trapped them between barriers while Kart's guardians dragged them within sword range.

Lucia disrupted their navigation with her flying scouts, while Hernan used his metal rings to prevent the monsters from escaping through the narrow gaps. The Mana Swords handled everything that entered the formation. After the third battle, Mellia glanced at the latest collection of weapons hovering beside Sieghart. He had created enough Mana Swords to equip a small squad, yet his breathing remained perfectly steady.

"Wouldn't it be better for you to fire those swords directly?"

"I can launch them, but I can't control them afterward." Mellia looked toward the swords floating around him.

"You seem to be controlling them now."

"Only while they remain close and move slowly. Once I fire one with enough speed to hurt something, I lose control. Letting you use them is more efficient." Mellia considered the explanation before nodding. A sword wielded by an experienced fighter could change direction repeatedly, while a launched construct would become nothing more than a single-use projectile traveling along a predictable path. Sieghart's answer was entirely truthful, although it conveniently avoided mentioning the most important reason.

Summoning Magic only gained experience whenever other people killed enemies using the constructs he created. He could fire Mana Swords himself, but doing that would probably count as a direct magical attack and reward would be nothing. The system cared about the role fulfilled by his power, not merely the spell involved. That discovery made him wonder about Seraphina again.

If she had possessed a system resembling his own, perhaps founding Lunar Arc had been more than an attempt to protect the remaining traditions of magic. Seraphina might have required companions to develop some of her powers, just as Sieghart needed others to advance White Magic and Summoning Magic. Creating a guild would have provided her with countless opportunities to strengthen allies through her spells. The idea sounded almost too practical.

History portrayed Seraphina as a compassionate mage who wanted peaceful cooperation, but noble intentions and personal benefits weren't mutually exclusive. She could have helped others while also developing her own abilities. Sieghart wondered whether the limitations were meant to prevent someone with tremendous mana from isolating themselves completely. A mage who needed companions to progress would have fewer reasons to treat everyone else as disposable.

If that was the purpose behind the system, then it had underestimated Sieghart's stubbornness. He could cooperate with people when necessary, but he reserved the right to complain internally during every second of it. The group continued through several chambers connected by narrow passages. Some contained abandoned carts and rusted rails, while others had been transformed into nesting grounds covered in bones, droppings, and torn pieces of merchant clothing.

More bats attacked whenever Lucia's floating light disturbed them. Most battles ended within minutes, but their sheer numbers gradually increased the strain on everyone except Sieghart, whose greatest concern remained maintaining enough concentration to replace the swords. Kart began placing his guardians beneath the monsters before they fell, preventing their bodies from damaging the group. Lucia marked targets with light, Hernan restricted their movements, and Mellia controlled the available space using barriers.

Sieghart watched them grow more efficient with every battle. They were still young and inexperienced outside controlled missions, but they adapted quickly once they understood how their abilities supported one another. His Summoning Magic continued receiving experience whenever the Mana Swords contributed to a kill. The progress wasn't fast enough to produce an immediate level, but it was considerably better than the nothing he had earned during years of solitary training.

Eventually, Hernan raised one hand and told everyone to stop. He leaned against the cavern wall while breathing heavily, although his gaze remained focused on the passage rather than his own exhaustion. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

"We've advanced too far." Mellia checked the incomplete map.

"We're still following the main tunnel."

"That isn't what I meant. We've killed far more monsters than the report mentioned." The group exchanged troubled looks. Lucia had been recording their encounters and the total number of giant bats had already surpassed the estimate provided by Bellhaven several times. Hernan wiped monster blood from his temporary sword before it vanished. His annoyance had shifted away from Sieghart and toward the people who had hired them under suspiciously inaccurate circumstances.

"Considering how much the town paid, they either underestimated this nest or knew exactly how dangerous it was and deliberately paid us less than they should have." Nobody immediately disagreed with him. Mellia continued studying the map, but her tightened expression showed that she had reached a similar conclusion long before Hernan voiced his suspicion. Sieghart looked at the others.

"Is that a common experience for guild members?"

"This is our first assignment this far from Seraphina," Mellia admitted.

"We've completed jobs around the city, but those were usually inspected by senior members before we accepted them." Lucia recalled her scouts and inspected their remaining mana.

"We thought an independent assignment would help us prove ourselves. Perhaps the guild master expected us to discover whether the information was reliable instead of simply trusting it."

"That sounds like something she would do," Sieghart said. Mira enjoyed giving people enough information to survive while withholding enough to force them to think independently. Sieghart could easily imagine her reading the inaccurate report and deciding that correcting it would be a valuable experience. That possibility didn't excuse Bellhaven if the authorities had deliberately concealed the danger. Young mages deserved fair payment even if Aura users considered exterminating giant bats beneath their dignity.

Kart crouched beside one of the larger corpses and began cutting through its chest. His guardian held the monster still until he extracted a cloudy blue core slightly larger than a walnut.

"At least we can sell these." The smallest bats possessed nothing valuable, but several mature creatures contained mana cores. By the time they resumed walking, the group had collected eleven cores and stored them inside insulated leather pouches. Mellia believed selling those cores would compensate for the inadequate payment. Ordinary mages could use them for enchanting, construct frames, magical tools, or replenishing weapons that relied upon stored mana.

Mira had explained the secret use to Sieghart, although that knowledge remained one of Lunar Arc's guarded secrets. Certain people could absorb the mana inside monster cores and transform it into personal growth. Those connected to Seraphina through blood possessed a natural compatibility with the process. A small number of senior guild members also learned a refinement technique after demonstrating more than a decade of loyalty.

Everyone else could absorb only a fraction of the stored mana, making the process inefficient compared to selling the core. Improper absorption could also damage a mage's channels or expose them to traces of corruption. Sieghart represented another exception. He had absorbed cores without suffering any consequences and converted their stored power into experience, allowing him to increase his actual level instead of merely improving individual spells.

The guild concealed that possibility because influential Aura users would panic if they discovered that mages could become stronger by harvesting monsters. Many would immediately compare the practice to the forbidden methods used by corrupted societies. Others would recognize its military potential and attempt to control Lunar Arc. Either outcome could lead to restrictions, arrests, or another conflict between mages and the families that currently dominated the human lands.

Sieghart glanced toward the pouch holding the cores. He wanted them for himself, but absorbing one in front of the group would confirm that he possessed another connection to Seraphina. The monsters had been defeated through everyone's efforts, so claiming every core would also be unreasonable. He could purchase his share after the mission if the others remained determined to sell them. For now, he kept his thoughts private and followed Mellia deeper.

The passage continued descending until the old wooden supports disappeared, marking the point where the original mining operation had apparently ended. Everything beyond that location looked considerably newer. Fresh fractures covered the walls, pale dust remained unsettled across the ground, and several broken stalactites still possessed clean surfaces untouched by moisture or age.

"This isn't part of the old mine," Mellia said. Lucia moved her floating light farther ahead. Its glow revealed several piles of collapsed stone, each containing fragments large enough to block the passage if they shifted again. Some cave-ins looked natural, but others appeared to have been cleared recently. Broken rocks had been pushed toward the old mine, suggesting that something had forced its way through from the opposite direction. Sieghart crouched and examined several grooves carved into the floor.

They were too uneven to have come from mining equipment, yet their spacing looked strangely deliberate rather than random.

"Something dug into the mine." Kart looked toward the path ahead.

"Could the bats have done it?"

"Their claws aren't shaped like this," Lucia answered. The farther her magical light traveled, the weaker it became. Darkness seemed to gather around the next bend, swallowing the illumination before it could reveal more than a few meters of the passage. Sieghart narrowed his eyes and created a small Flame above his palm. The light remained stable near him, but its glow failed to penetrate the darkness ahead as effectively as it should have. That wasn't an ordinary absence of light.

Something inside the recent tunnel was absorbing magical energy, preventing their illumination spells from spreading across the surrounding surfaces. Lucia's scouts began moving sluggishly whenever they approached the bend. Mellia's nearest barrier flickered as well, forcing her to recall it before its mana dispersed completely.

"Everyone, step back," Mellia ordered. They retreated several meters while keeping their weapons ready. Sieghart created another set of Mana Swords, but even those constructs grew slightly dimmer when their tips pointed toward the unexplored passage. He compensated by feeding additional mana into them. The blades stabilized immediately, although the effortless adjustment would have been impossible for anyone possessing an ordinary reserve. Sieghart felt something pulling at his mana from beyond the bend.

The force remained weak, but it was steady, patient, and disturbingly similar to the sensation he experienced while charging magical weapons. A faint scraping sound emerged from the darkness. It continued for several seconds before stopping, leaving everyone staring toward the place where their light refused to travel. The group had assumed that some powerful monster frightened the bats from the lower mine. Looking at the newly opened passage, Sieghart began to suspect that the truth was considerably worse.

Whatever had driven those creatures away hadn't been living the mine. It had recently dug its way outside...