Mana Mutation Menace (Journey to Chaos Book 3) (42 page)

“I was thinking the same thing.”

His eyes slitted involuntarily and he feasted on the slain
monsters.

Tiza jumped into a batch of smaller monsters. These were a
Frankenstein mixture of several vermin that were twenty times bigger than any
one kind. They came up to her waist. She assumed them to have been sleeping
underground when the mana storm hit. There were five of them, which she figured
was unfair; she’d kill them all before Dimwit finished eating.

“I don’t have all those funky powers, but I can kill all
the same.”

She struck first by impaling one through the back and blasting
another further into the chaos zone. When the other three attacked, she weaved
around them and kicked them around with bladed boots. Then she finished them
with her sword. By now, the first one was dead from the poison on her blade.
The toxins she used in combat had to work quickly if they were to be effective.
She spent hours every day studying them before Sathel allowed her to even
practice with them. The incident at the castle finally convinced her, although
she was still scolded for sneaking out the poisoned sword.

The second returned from her punting, but it was too far
away to finish off with her metal sword. Her mana sword, on the other hand, had
just the right reach. Holding her metal one straight up with both hands, she
focused mana into it. It flowed liked wax into a mold. Leveling her sword like
a bow, she fired a mana bolt in the shape of a sword. It entered the franken-vermin’s
mouth and came out its rear, leaving two halves of a monster in its wake.

Another swarm approached her blindside. Unfortunately for
them, this particular sapient had no blind side. Again molding mana into her
sword, she pulled her hands apart to create a new sword. Now dual wielding, she
spun around and killed monsters left and right.

One leapt past her guard and bit her left thigh. She cried
out and then stabbed it. She fought the remaining ones with it stuck to her
leg. There were four more, so she estimated four strikes to finish the battle.
With four steps, she killed them all.

Once they were all dead, she pummeled the one on her leg
with a mana beam to make sure it was dead. Then she began the delicate process
of removing its teeth. It was easier than she thought. It didn’t pierce her
skin because a pulsating blue-grey aura blocked its jaws.

“Endurance….”

She didn’t recall Nolien casting that spell on her. It could
have bitten clear to her bone and become a disabling injury, taking her out of
the mission. Then she smiled. It was comforting to think he was watching out
for her even outside of battle.

Nolien squared off with four golems. They ranged from
three to eight feet tall and were composed of snow, ice, gravel, and other
nearby elements. He’d rather support Tiza, but these things sprang up in his
way. He pointed his staff and chanted, "Before I yawn, I demand you be
gone! DISPEL!"

Mana leaked from the golems like steam from a cup and they
shrank by the second. It was unorthodox but faux-life-granted-by-a-mana-storm
could count as a spell if considered so by a creative mind. Dispel would
unravel it like any other.

They attacked him
en masse
with ice balls and
chilly wind. He thwarted them with ducks, dodges, and his barrier. All the
while, he maintained the Dispel.

“Syrup, molasses, and all things sticky, freeze their
place; I’m not picky! SLOTH!”

He bashed the ground with the butt of his staff and a wave
of magical power arrested their movement. Gestures that formerly took three
seconds now took six. Nolien strolled through them and bashed the weakest into
oblivion. The other two required more effort and he smashed them apart with
combos he learned from Raki. However, the last and the biggest one of all stood
defiant.

“To protect this life of mine, make that monster blind!
Darkness smog!”

A glob of black smoke shot from Nolien’s staff and
engulfed the golem’s head. It flailed about blindly and in slow motion while
Nolien examined the condition of his teammates. He sent a curative spell in
Eric’s direction and a healing one along with a buff in Tiza’s. By the time the
golem reached him, it was little more than a snow child. The healer knocked its
head off with ease.

Basilard by far had the least trouble with the monsters.
Between all his power and experience, it was simple to obliterate them be they Ulizt,
franken-vermin, or golem. A far different creature challenged him in the chaos
zone.

“Zettai, do you understand how I used that Ancestral Beam?”

“Yes, you’ve only showed me 500 times since yesterday.”
Basilard vaporized three franken-vermin. “Make that 501.”

“Then show me.”

 Zettai inclined her head towards the city. “I thought you
wanted me to stay behind. You should make up your mind.”

Basilard tossed BloodDrinker into an Ulizt. The bear whined
as the blade sucked him dry.

“I’m in no mood for sass. You deliberately disobeyed me
today.”

“I was protecting myself! One of the servants tried to
choke me this morning.”

Basilard retrieved BloodDrinker and tossed the corpse into
a pile.

“She was taking your measurements! You need a ceremonial gown
for Blood Adoption and it has to be custom made.”

Zettai's arms crossed. “Custom-made accident, more like.”

Basilard snapped his fingers. A snow golem melted under a
precise heat spell.

“If you treat your family like enemies, then they will
never become your family.”

“We’re
not
family. You just gave me a blood transfusion.
I didn’t know it was going to
mutate
me like this storm.”

At this, Basilard stopped fighting the monsters and simply
projected a barrier against them. No longer distracted, he marched to the
biological daughter that he never sired.

“Listen carefully because this is very important: never
ever repeat those words around another Bladi. In the past, we were hunted like
monsters because of our differences. If they heard you saying something like
that, it'd stir old wounds.”

Zettai clapped her hands to cheeks. “Oohh! Scary! Anything
else I should know like ‘don’t feed the vampire’?”

Basilard groaned. “Ancestor, give me strength.”

He dropped the barrier and finished off the remaining
monsters in his section.

Between the efforts of the four mercenaries and the royal
clerks, the area was temporarily clear of monsters. Thus, it was momentarily
safe for their work. Nolien pulled out his bag for collecting materials and he was
jerked backward by something pulling his collar.

“Tiza, what is—” He trailed off because she pecked his
check.

“That was for the Endurance spell.”

“You’re welcome.”

Then she smacked him on the head. “How long have you been
casting spells on me without telling me? It's creepy!”

 “Uh...since...Returning from Ceiha..."

 "Urg! I knew it! If I wear a dress, it makes you
think I'm a damsel in distress."

 Nolien smacked her in return. "It's my
job
to
keep you in good health and prevention works better than cure. You needed it
this time
and
the last time. If I didn’t cast Ward on you before the
Summit, Dosh’s spell would have knocked you straight out. Then you would be
very much in distress."

Eric bumped Zettai’s shoulder. “Watch this.” To the couple,
he said, “We have work to do. Now’s not the time for a lover’s quarrel.”

Both of them stiffened, blushed, and shouted, “Who’s having
a lover’s quarrel?” and marched in opposite directions. Zettai giggled.

Eric pulled out his own bag and donned the special gloves
given to Team Four specifically for this mission. As he went about collecting
the materials Ax requested, he spoke the details aloud for Zettai to listen. As
in Ceiha, she paid close attention.

Ax requested Elemental Stone for use in his weapon-producing
business. These precious rocks grew in chaos zones or other places touched by
intense mana like Fog such as the Yacian Caverns. As products of a chaos zone,
they were too dangerous to touch with one’s bare hands. Beyond simple pain,
they could cause magical aliments. For this reason, it was required by law for
collectors to wear special gloves. After they were taken far enough away from
their source, they would stabilize and become as workable as any other
material. It was another layer of the Elemental Mana Factor hypothesis in Mana
Mutation.

Mana Storms mutated whatever they touched and the
surrounding environment played a role in that transformation. This storm
produced three kinds of Elemental Stone: Frost-stone from the winter season,
Flame-stone from Ataidar’s divine fire atmosphere and Earth-stone from the
soil. In Mithra, a land belonging to Forol, Eric explained that he’d find
Forest-stone and Latrot would likely have order-stone
if
it had mana
storms. His own transformation into a grendel followed this theory: Ceiha was a
barren land and so he transformed into a non-elemental beast whose appearance
was vague.

Basilard himself reached down to gather them but at a
slower pace. His primary focus was to watch out for more monsters. It would
only be a matter of time before more of them spawned. They would appear from
the Fog as if from nowhere and attack the nearest sapients. Seeing him do this,
Zettai strolled away from Eric and towards him.

“Is this what I have to look forward to?” she asked.
“Teaching combat arts and performing blue collar labor?”

Basilard composed himself. “No. My function as Bladi Chief
is more prestigious than that. I’ve only returned to this work because I’m
needed for something bigger than my clan.”

“Eric, the Trickster’s Choice.”

“Yes.” He closed his bag and stepped close enough to
Zettai to feel the heat from her breath. “Zettai, because you’re my daughter,
I’m going to trust you with a precious secret.”

She tilted her head. “Really?”

“Yes.” In whispers, he continued, “Eric is more important
than ‘Trickster’s Choice.’ He is the choice of Lady Chaos herself. He is a
knight selected to be her champion. My job is to keep him safe while he matures
into that role and I will need your help if I am to succeed.”

Zettai was too stunned to speak. Then, in a hushed tone,
she said, “I don’t believe it. You’re making that up to manipulate me to work
hard for you, just like my real father.”

Basilard clenched BloodDrinker’s hilt. “Eric has been
dragged from another world, mutated into a monster, granted a Seed of Chaos,
and blessed with divine water magic. If Tasio did that for kicks, then no one
would be making a fuss about it now.”

“Good point.”

“Order has tried to kill him six times since he came back.
I’m sure you’ve learned enough about Order to understand why that is unusual.”

“Also a good point.”

“Do you think anyone less important could force me out of retirement
from teaching?”

Zettai threw up her hands and cried, “Alright, fine, Eric
is this chosen one of Lady Chaos, but I still don’t believe you need me. Like
the Bladi Bastards tell me every day, I’m ‘too weak, too frail, and too stupid
to be the heir.’”

Basilard hugged her, but she pushed him away.

“A hug isn’t going to change that!”

“Then what will?!”

“Uh…umm…” Zettai stared at the snow and twiddled her
fingers. “Gather all your relatives together and….and say... tell them that ‘Zettai
is my daughter and I love her for who she is. Be nice to her.’”

He smiled warmly. “Is that all?”

“Y-you’d really do that?”

“I’ll do it as soon as I go home after this mission.”

Zettai pawed the ground with one foot. “Well…in that case,
I suppose I should demonstrate it.”

She pointed across the field where a snow and stone golem
was pulling itself out of the mutated earth. Biting her finger, she spoke the
words necessary for the basic form of the Ancestral Beam. She had to restart
once, but the power built up and she fired it just as it fully emerged. The
beam knocked its head clear off. She put her hands on her hips and thrust her
chest out.

“Make sure you tell them about that too!”

“I certainly will.”

He pulled her into another hug, and this time, she didn’t
push him away.

Suddenly, a flash of light drew their attention and a wave
of heat washed over all of them. At the center of the zone, not ten yards away,
flames of many colors were coalescing into one form. It fashioned a torso, limbs,
and a head. It stood thirteen feet tall, ten in length, and eleven in width. The
ambient energy of the chaos zone had become a fire spirit, and it took the form
of Ataidar’s symbol, the Crowned Tiger.

“Team Four, huddle up.” The three novices gathered and Basilard
continued, “I want you to fight that elemental.”

“You do!?” Three voices coursed with inflections ranging
from shock to excitement.

“This was a comparatively weak storm, so the elemental will
be weaker than some others. There’s still no way you’ll defeat it, but I want
to see your teamwork.”

“As you command, Daylra,” Corporal Nolien said. “Eric,
Tiza, we’ll use the Three Orbit Layers strategy." Nolien pointed his staff
at Tiza and intoned, "Indomitable Will: Endurance! Iron Spirit: Ward!”

A suit of white armor flashed over her body and vanished,
followed by a purple shell. In addition to her physical armor and its runes,
these two spells would increase her defense against physical and magical
attacks.

Eric pointed his staff. “May the Sea grant you its
blessing and aid in your threshing,” he intoned. “Water Blade!” and Tiza’s
sword gleamed with sea blue light. “Why’s mine longer than yours?”

Nolien shrugged. “I guess Dengel thought defensive spells
needed a quicker chant than elemental empowerment.”

“Thanks, guys. Now let’s do this! DRAGOOOOOOOOON’S
LAAAAAIIIIIIRRRR!”