NOVEL NEXT B2 – Lesson 32: “There’s No Obstacle That Can’t Be Solved With Explosions.” (+ Poll)
“Are you sure this is a good idea?! I don’t like this plan!” Maggy squeaked as she pressed the melon-sized blue-furred hamster creature closer to her chest.
“It will be fine,” retorted Garrelt. “Besides, a summoned creature can’t really ‘die’ anyway.”
“That’s beside the point!” Maggy yelled, pointing at their scout. “It’s the trauma, I tell you!”
Robert, who had been standing some ways back, turned to the larger Bert and whispered,
“I thought summons were mana constructs? Can they even have trauma?”
Bert only shrugged.
As the four made up the ‘core’ of their little expedition force, it had fallen to them to solve their little roadblock problem. The rest of the team comprised a mix of researchers, scouts, and experts in various fields, as well as the combat-focused Adventurers serving as their guards. More specialized teams would likely follow in their wake in the weeks or months to come, but as the vanguard, it was their duty to explore and catalog as much as possible.
That also meant being the first to tackle any of the dangers or obstacles that might block them.
Not that Garrelt had told them what was blocking their path yet. He said he wanted it to be a ‘surprise.’
Maggy didn’t like surprises…
“Come on, Maggy, all you’ve got to do is send your summons down the tunnel. Easy as pie,” Garrelt assured with his slightly gravelly voice carrying the hint of a friendly smile.
Maggy wasn’t buying it. She narrowed her eyes and glared at the man. “And then what?…”
Garrelt’s grin stretched from ear to ear, though he said nothing. Maggy’s eyes narrowed further, and she clutched her summons closer.
Robert sighed and stepped forward, placing a gauntleted hand on the young woman’s shoulder. “Maggy, I see your concern, but I have to agree with Garrelt’s assessment on this one. Better to send a replaceable summons into a dangerous, unknown situation than risk one of our own. Please understand.” He then flashed her a bright smile, as if to reassure her.
Maggy frowned, then stretched out her arms and stared at the blue hamster-like summoned creature. It stared back at her with large, round, black eyes and tilted its head at the pouting woman. Maggy’s teacher had always warned her about getting close to the creatures. Given their typical usage and general ethereal nature. Magical scholars weren’t even in agreement whether summons were ‘real’ creatures or just mana given shape by the caster’s imagination, let alone if the being summoned was even the same individual each time.
But how could she not get attached?! It was so darn cute! The summons continued to stare back at her, its nose twitching.
Yet, after a moment, Maggy squeezed her eyes shut and, with a sniffle, lowered the creature to the ground. The summons squeaked once, then turned and scampered off deeper into the tunnel.
As the blue summons scurried around the tunnel, the four humans watched with bated breath. It moved from rock pile to rock pile, stopping only to rummage around every so often. Sometimes, it would lift a small bone or a particularly shiny rock from its hiding spot, looking for all the world like a curious hamster searching for food… if said hamster was sky blue and melon-sized.
As a few moments passed with nothing of note happening, Bert spoke up, his rumbling voice slightly in the tight tunnel. “So… is… something supposed to… happen? Or what?”
Garrelt just waved the man’s concern away, though his eyes never left the summons. “Just give it a moment… Maggy, direct it toward that rock pile there… Ya, that one, good…”
Maggy groaned slightly as her summons stopped by the aforementioned rock pile and started to shift rocks around.
Her stress had been building over the last couple of minutes as they waited for… whatever Garrelt expected to happen. Something bad was going to happen. She just knew it. She could feel it in her gut, and as her mother always told her, trust your gu—,
“AAAAAAAaaaaaaHHHHHHH!!”
Maggy screamed as something long, thick as her waist, and with far too many legs, shot out from a hole in the tunnel roof and wrapped itself around her summons. In the blink of an eye, the thing pulled the blue hamster into the air, and both vanished back into the hole before the echo of the summon’s final squeak! had faded from the tunnel.
“ROBBY! NOOOOOOOO!” Maggy fell to her knee, tears streaming down her face. Her sobs only paused when she noticed the three men staring at her, eyebrows raised. Garrelt grinned and folded his arms. “Robby, huh?”
Maggy’s face went bright red, and she turned away from them.
Robert coughed into his hand. “Well! That was… enlightening. I assume you all saw what I did?”
Bert nodded. “The bloody thing was too fast to get a good look, but given its general shape and method of attack, it narrows things down by quite a bit. I would guess Lindworms, maybe Rockbiters, but that’s a stretch.”
Garrelt nodded. “That’s a good guess, though I think—”
“I DON’T CARE WHA’ THAT THING WAS! IT’S GONNA PAY!” Maggy yelled, cutting him off, some of her accent slipping through in her anger. She stood and wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her robe. Maggy glared at the hole in the roof, her face red for a different reason this time.
She slowly raised her hand toward the hole… and snapped her fingers.
BOOOOOM!
A muffled explosion rocked the tunnel, causing it to shake violently as stone and rubble fell around them. A moment later, a stream of viscera and gore poured from the hole the creature and her summon had vanished into. Maggy watched the scene with a wide smile, both hands on her hips. The three men behind her grimaced and turned away as the foul stench filled the tunnel.
Maggy humphed, and a magic circle formed in front of her. In less than a second, a melon-sized, blue hamster creature had materialized in its center. As soon as the circle vanished, the creature lept into Maggy’s outstretched hands, and she held it close, rubbing her cheek against its soft fur.
Garrelt gestured toward the bloody pile of hard shell and meaty bits, then flicked a finger. As if pulled by an invisible string, one bit of the former creature flew into the air, crossed the tunnel, and landed in his outstretched hand. The other three gathered around and stared down at the relatively undamaged insectoid head with large, grasping mandibles and a large rock glued to its head.
“Huh…” Bert raised an eyebrow at the sight. “A Rockcap? Now, ain’t that strange… What’s one of them doing this far up? Nasty buggers, them, but I’d not have expected to see them in tunnels like this until at least the Second Strata.”
His eyes turned toward the tunnel, and the large man frowned. Despite tremors having abated, several dozen large rocks hanging from the tunnel roof still quivered slightly. “That’s quite the infestation too… This complicates things a bit.”
Robert clapped his hand to draw their attention, then smiled. “Strange indeed, but nothing we can’t handle! Rockcaps can be dangerous if they catch you off guard, but once you know they’re there, they’re easy enough to deal with.”
Bert raised a brow at that. He’d hardly call several dozen late-stage [Bronze Spirit] level spirit beasts ‘easy to deal with.’ Even a [Golden Spirit] Cultivator could easily be overwhelmed with that kind of number, even if the creature’s paralytic venom wouldn’t be as effective. Bert shook his head. Sometimes, he was amazed at how unflappable the younger man could be when presented with such obstacles. But then again, maybe that was why the Guild put Robert in charge of things like this in the first place. The Heavens knew the younger man’s charisma and impeccable luck were one of the reasons Bert often joined along.
It helped the pay was great.
Garrelt turned and looked down the tunnel as well. “Now, the question is, how do we get through? A colony this big will not be easy to eliminate with our current setup. How about it, Mags? Is… Robby?… good for another round?”
Maggy’s eyes went wide, and she clutched her summons closer.
Before she could speak, however, Robert patted her shoulder. “Let’s… not do that again, shall we? While I’m sure Maggy is more than capable of clearing this colony out using her summons, I’d rather not bring the tunnel down on us in the process. No, I think —” Robert placed his hand on the shiny sword at his side and drew it, “—we should do this the old-fashioned way. What do you all say?”
Maggy sighed while Garrelt and Bert looked at each other and grinned.