Infinite Mana - Chapter 192: The Rumor Beneath the War (Thank you for your support, Zach Moss!) (Patreon)

The group stopped again before entering the chamber where the first guardian supposedly waited. Aldren raised one hand near the final descending passage and ordered everyone to rest while they still had space to do so safely. Nobody complained this time. The soldiers lowered their hammers almost immediately, several sitting against the walls while others removed helmets and reached for water with noticeably less ceremony than during the previous break.

Aldren remained standing long enough to inspect the passage ahead before finally returning to the resting group. His eyes moved over the soldiers once, checking posture and breathing, then settled upon Sieghart.

“Do you find the number of golems strange?”

Sieghart looked toward the path behind them, where several destroyed mineral constructs still lay scattered across the previous chambers before shrinking into smaller piles of recoverable ore.

“The people outside said the numbers were high, so this is normal for me.”

Aldren nodded slowly, as though he had expected that answer. Sieghart had no older experience with this dungeon to compare against, which made the current population his only useful baseline.

“How much experience do you have with other dungeons?”

“Not much.”

Sieghart thought about Bellhaven, the earthworm dungeon, and the limited information he had collected through Lunar Arc missions. None gave him enough variety to recognize long-term patterns confidently.

“I’ve heard a lot of people complain about monsters becoming more aggressive, though.”

The captain sat across from him on a broken section of stone and rested both forearms across his knees. His hammer remained nearby, close enough to grab if the guardian decided to interrupt their conversation.

“That complaint is becoming common.”

Sieghart looked toward him.

“Common where?”

“Everywhere we have reliable records.”

That answer made Sieghart’s attention sharpen considerably more than another warning about stronger golems would have. A single dungeon changing was unusual; several regions changing across decades suggested something broader. Aldren explained that old expedition journals, mining records, and military reports all showed the same gradual trend. Dungeons were becoming less predictable, with monster populations rising and formerly passive creatures reacting more aggressively to human activity.

The increase was not dramatic enough for ordinary travelers to notice from one year to another. It became obvious only when comparing reports separated by decades, especially in dungeons that had remained actively explored for generations.

“More monsters, faster reconstruction, larger territories being contested,” Aldren said. “People notice each problem separately, but some researchers think they’re connected.”

Sieghart glanced toward the surrounding walls, remembering the golems appearing faster than miners could clear them. The connection sounded plausible, although plausible ideas were often where people started becoming dangerous.

“Connected to what?”

“The Fallen.”

Sieghart stared at him briefly before translating that title into the much less flattering description he had built from everything he had heard about groups beyond the borders.

“You mean the crazy people who’ll do anything for power?”

One nearby soldier coughed into his hand, possibly covering a laugh. Aldren merely gave Sieghart the same patient expression he had worn throughout most of their conversations.

“That’s one description. Not many call them people nowadays.”

“And the Lost Lands are where they live.”

“Mostly. The name covers more than that, but yes.”

Sieghart leaned back against the wall and considered the idea. The Lost Lands had once belonged to humans before some of them went crazy and treated their bodies like science experiments.

Some regions had been occupied by Chimerians, others by hostile tribes, altered humans, monsters, or factions whose original relationship with humanity had become almost meaningless after generations of separation. Aldren explained that one increasingly popular theory connected the expansion of those territories with rising dungeon instability. The details remained uncertain, but the timing across several regions apparently matched well enough that scholars had stopped dismissing it outright.

The idea was simple enough to sound suspicious. As more land fell outside human control and more Fallen groups expanded into old territories, nearby dungeons began producing greater numbers of monsters and increasingly violent Guardians. Nobody knew whether the Fallen caused the changes directly. They could be performing rituals, modifying mana flows, exploiting dungeon structures improperly, or simply occupying regions where something else was already changing.

Another possibility was that both problems shared a deeper cause. The same environmental pressure that increased dungeon activity might also make foreign territories more dangerous, producing stronger monsters and encouraging increasingly extreme methods of survival. Sieghart disliked that explanation less than the first because it admitted ignorance instead of immediately assigning blame. Unfortunately, governments usually preferred theories that pointed toward something they could stab.

“So people think taking those lands back might calm the dungeons?”

“Some do.”

“And others think you should take the lands back because they want whatever is there.”

Aldren did not answer immediately. That silence was informative enough. Sieghart almost smiled.

“At least you’re consistent.”

The captain eventually crossed his arms and looked toward the sleeping soldiers rather than pretending politics had somehow vanished from military planning.

“There are always people interested in resources. That doesn’t automatically make every concern false.”

“No. It just makes convenient concerns convenient.”

Aldren looked back toward him.

“I guess it is fair.”

That answer bothered Sieghart slightly because he had expected resistance. The captain had an irritating habit of making suspicious conversations more difficult by acknowledging obvious problems instead of defending everything automatically. Aldren continued after a moment, explaining that public opinion around human-initiated campaigns had slowly begun changing as the dungeon theory spread beyond scholars and military circles.

For decades, most civilians had opposed offensive campaigns whenever the borders were relatively quiet. They already paid for defensive wars constantly and saw little reason to finance another conflict simply because nobles wanted territory restored.

That attitude remained widespread, but reports of increasingly violent dungeons had started changing the calculation. If shrinking human territory genuinely contributed to worsening monster activity, then refusing to recover land might eventually become more dangerous than campaigning for it.

“People don’t like wars we start,” Aldren said. “They like the idea of every nearby dungeon becoming worse even less.”

Sieghart understood immediately how effective that argument could become. Nobody needed to love expansion if leaders framed it as preventing future disasters rather than reclaiming land for prestige. It was also almost impossible for ordinary citizens to verify personally. Most farmers, craftsmen, and merchants had no access to century-long dungeon records, military archives, or whatever research supported the theory.

“So recovering land is supposed to test whether it’s true.”

“That’s part of the reasoning.”

Sieghart frowned at him.

“You say that very easily.”

“Because pretending otherwise wouldn’t make it less true.”

That was annoying. Sieghart looked away and stared toward the descending passage where the guardian waited. Part of him wanted to dismiss the entire explanation as justification manufactured by people already determined to invade.

Another part remembered the abnormal golem numbers and the earthworm dungeon’s strange behavior. Dungeons did seem capable of changing, and nobody he had met actually understood what governed those changes.

If restoring territory altered nearby dungeon activity measurably, that would become powerful evidence that something connected the two. If nothing changed, at least one popular theory would lose support.

That still did not explain why Aldren was telling him any of this. Sieghart looked toward the captain again. The man had volunteered information about the campaign, the new dungeon, the Fallen, and now a politically useful theory Sieghart had never encountered inside Lunar Arc.

That was the part bothering him most. Mira had access to extensive magical knowledge. Ronan possessed intelligence networks. Neither had mentioned anything about lost territory influencing dungeon behavior. Maybe they simply considered the theory unproven. Maybe it was military information. Or perhaps Aldren was deliberately giving Sieghart a particular version of events because he wanted the young healer to become interested enough to join the border operation.

Sieghart’s suspicion returned immediately. The captain had already offered him future work. Now he was explaining why the invasion might protect humanity rather than merely secure resources. That could be manipulation. Polite manipulation was still manipulation.

Sieghart kept his expression neutral. He had no evidence yet. Aldren might simply be answering questions honestly because the dungeon provided several hours of shared travel and very little entertainment. Still, Sieghart decided every future statement deserved examination rather than trust merely because the captain lacked obvious arrogance.

He had already made that mistake often enough with people who spoke reasonably while wanting something from him.

Sieghart glanced toward the resting soldiers instead. Most appeared completely uninterested in the conversation, concentrating upon water, food, equipment maintenance, or the increasingly difficult task of remaining awake.

That did not rule anything out. If manipulation existed, they might not even know about it.

Aldren stood before Sieghart could pursue the thought further. The movement immediately caught the attention of several soldiers who had clearly been waiting for the end of the break without looking eager about what came afterward.

“Time.”

Helmets returned to heads. Hammer straps tightened. Water containers disappeared into packs while the soldiers pushed themselves upright, several groaning quietly as muscles protested after being allowed to cool.

Aldren moved down the line and checked each fighter briefly. The man whose ribs Sieghart had healed stretched carefully, while another rotated a repaired wrist before tightening both hands around his hammer. Sieghart stood as well and adjusted his own coat. Mana Barrier remained ready beneath his concentration, First Aid could be activated immediately, and Magic Vision already showed disturbed currents somewhere beyond the final corridor.

The entire dungeon seemed heavier here.

Ambient mana gathered thickly through the walls and floor, moving in slow currents toward something beyond the chamber ahead instead of dispersing naturally through the surrounding passages.

Sieghart felt his curiosity pushing political suspicions aside almost immediately. Whatever the Fallen were doing at distant borders could wait. There was a Guardian nearby. That was a much simpler problem. Either the soldiers would defeat it and provide Sieghart with useful information, or they would fail and provide even more useful information before Sieghart decided how much intervention became necessary.

Aldren moved toward the front of the formation and drew his hammer completely for the first time since their previous encounters. That caught Sieghart’s attention. Until now, the captain had relied upon shorter interventions while leaving the majority of fighting to his men. Apparently, the Guardian did not count as ordinary training.

“Formation tight from here,” Aldren ordered. “Nobody chases anything. Nobody breaks line because you think you see an opening.”

The soldiers acknowledged together. Aldren looked back toward Sieghart.

“You stay behind me unless somebody goes down.”

Sieghart nodded. That arrangement suited him perfectly. Standing behind the strongest known Aura user in the group while observing the Guardian sounded considerably more intelligent than testing Mana Barrier with his face positioned behind it. The final passage descended sharply before ending beneath a wide stone arch covered with old cracks. Beyond it waited darkness and a broad chamber large enough that Sieghart could not see the opposite wall from their position.

The floor trembled once.

Then again. Something heavy moved beyond the arch. Sieghart activated Magic Vision fully. Mana surged through the chamber ahead. The second break was over. It was finally time to meet the Guardian.