Infinite Mana - Chapter 195: Too Many to Heal (Thank you for your support, David J.!) (Patreon)

The Guardian’s corrupted core continued pulsing beneath its metallic chest, sending dark-red mana through the chamber while smaller golems clawed their way from cracks in the floor and walls. Every new construct made the soldiers’ formation tighter and Sieghart’s job considerably worse.

He abandoned any thought of using Mana Barrier. The spell could buy a moment against one attack, but maintaining barriers would consume attention he already needed for healing, reinforcement, Magic Vision, and controlling the growing number of enemies around them. Water Magic was simpler.

Sieghart raised one hand and fired a barrage of compressed Water Balls into the nearest cluster of smaller golems. The projectiles struck chests, knees, and shoulders, knocking several constructs backward while the soaked floor became increasingly difficult for their heavy bodies to cross.

“Left side!”

Three soldiers reacted immediately. Hammers descended onto the staggered constructs before their unstable mana pathways recovered, breaking limbs and cores while the rest of the formation prevented another group from circling around them. The method worked, but only because Sieghart kept finding targets faster than they could attack. The moment his attention shifted elsewhere, another smaller golem slipped through and drove both fists into a soldier’s lower back.

Armor dented beneath the impact. The man flew forward and struck the ground hard enough to lose his hammer, then failed to stand when his legs refused to support him.

“Sieg!”

“I see him.”

Sieghart rushed over and crouched beside the fallen soldier while Magic Vision revealed damaged ribs, bruised tissue, and something far more concerning around the lower spine. First Aid immediately flowed from one hand while the rest of his attention remained fixed upon the battle.

Across the chamber, Aldren intercepted the Guardian’s next charge by striking its forearm from the side rather than receiving the fist directly. The angled blow redirected the enormous limb, but the corrupted construct recovered quickly and raised its opposite hand for another attack. Sieghart formed Water Jet with his free hand.

The narrow stream crossed the chamber and cut into the damaged knee the soldiers had already weakened. The Guardian’s next step landed badly, giving Aldren enough time to move inside its reach and hammer the same joint from another angle.

Metal shrieked beneath the combined attacks. The Guardian dropped partially to one side. Sieghart barely noticed because the soldier beneath him still could not feel one leg properly. He concentrated upon repairing the damaged area while refusing to rush a spell that could leave the man permanently crippled if handled carelessly.

Then the Guardian slammed one fist into the floor. Dark-red mana surged outward. Fresh cracks appeared throughout the chamber. Sieghart’s expression tightened.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Another wave of smaller golems emerged around them. Some climbed from broken mineral deposits while others assembled directly from loose fragments scattered across the floor, their crude red-lit bodies immediately turning toward the soldiers.

The formation was already exhausted. Sieghart could repair broken bones and torn muscles, but First Aid could not replace the stamina consumed every time Aura forced a human body to perform far beyond its normal limits. The defensive pair met the next wave, but too many constructs approached from different angles. One soldier blocked two attacks successfully before a third struck beneath his ribs and threw him into a mineral formation hard enough to crack the wall behind him.

Another fighter took a blow across the forearms. One arm snapped beneath the impact, and the scream that followed made Sieghart glance toward him while still healing someone else.

Four wounded now. Too many. Sieghart could heal quickly, but not instantly, and serious injuries required enough precision that careless casting was not acceptable. The Guardian was creating casualties faster than Sieghart could return soldiers to the formation.

“Close ranks!” Aldren shouted.

The remaining fighters retreated toward the center, dragging injured companions behind them while keeping their hammers facing outward. The tighter formation shortened the distance Sieghart needed to move between patients, but it also allowed the smaller golems to surround them more easily.

Sieghart finished stabilizing the first soldier’s spine and immediately moved toward the man with the broken arm. Another golem approached before he reached him, forcing Sieghart to fire three Water Balls while running.

The first struck the construct’s chest, the second smashed into one knee, and the final projectile exploded across the floor beneath it. The golem lost balance long enough for a nearby soldier to crush its core with one downward hammer strike. Sieghart dropped beside the wounded man.

First Aid entered the broken forearm while another metallic crash echoed through the chamber. Sieghart glanced up just in time to see the Guardian drive Aldren backward with an enormous swinging blow. Protection surrounding the captain absorbed part of the impact, and Muscle Reinforcement quietly strengthened the body underneath his Aura. Aldren still slid several meters before recovering, but he remained upright.

Sieghart kept both support spells active. If Aldren fell, the entire formation would probably collapse. If the formation collapsed, Sieghart would have to stop pretending he was merely an unusually versatile healer and start showing far more of what he could actually do. That outcome sounded inconvenient enough to justify helping the captain secretly. The Guardian advanced again.

Sieghart fired Water Jet across the chamber and carved into its elbow just as the creature raised one arm. Aldren immediately recognized the opening, stepped inside, and drove his hammer beneath the damaged joint. The metallic forearm dropped several centimeters before corrupted mana began pulling the fractured material together again.

“That’s getting old.”

A smaller golem entered Sieghart’s range while he was distracted. He twisted aside and hit it with a point-blank Water Ball, launching the construct into another enemy before returning immediately to the broken arm beneath his hand. The healing finished enough for movement.

He grabbed his hammer awkwardly with one usable hand and shifted toward the wounded line while Sieghart moved to the man who had been thrown against the wall. Several ribs were broken, one shoulder was badly damaged, and his breathing had become dangerously shallow. Sieghart placed one hand against his chest and started another First Aid cast.

Meanwhile, the battle deteriorated. The Guardian pushed Aldren across the chamber while smaller golems pressed the formation from every side. Every time the soldiers destroyed one cluster, more red-lit bodies emerged from the stone nearby.

Sieghart could no longer keep stunning everything with Water Balls. He needed something more precise. Water Jet formed again from his free hand. Maintaining healing and the cutting stream simultaneously stretched his concentration painfully thin, but Sieghart forced himself to divide Focus instead of abandoning either task.

Aldren avoided another fist. Sieghart cut the Guardian’s supporting ankle. The creature’s foot slipped across the soaked floor, and Aldren immediately circled behind it before smashing his hammer into the already damaged knee.

The Guardian dropped forward. Aldren jumped onto its back. Aura surged through his legs as he ran along the metallic spine toward the shoulders. One massive hand reached backward, but Sieghart changed Water Jet’s angle and struck the wrist before the fingers could close.

The slight disruption was enough. Aldren ducked beneath the hand, reached the base of the Guardian’s neck, and raised his hammer with both hands. Sieghart could almost see the captain’s Aura through the disturbance it caused around nearby mana. His entire body aligned behind the strike, transforming feet, legs, hips, shoulders, arms, and weapon into one continuous chain.

The hammer descended. It struck the back of the Guardian’s neck hard enough to shake the chamber. Metal collapsed inward. The Guardian’s head snapped forward, but the construct immediately rolled its enormous body sideways and forced Aldren to jump away before several tons of corrupted metal crushed him. The wounded soldier beneath Sieghart coughed.

He finished stabilizing the ribs and shifted the healing toward the shoulder, only for another crash behind him to reveal two smaller golems breaking through the defensive line. Sieghart stopped Water Jet and fired another spread of Water Balls instead.

One construct was thrown backward. The second kept advancing. A soldier with one functioning arm swung his hammer and struck its shoulder, but the blow lacked enough force to finish the creature.

Sieghart hit the golem directly in the face with another Water Ball. The impact staggered it. The wounded soldier swung again and shattered the damaged upper body.

“Try not to die before I finish with the others.”

“I’ll schedule it.”

Despite himself, Sieghart almost laughed. He returned to Water Jet immediately.

Aldren had reached the Guardian again, but the corrupted construct was protecting its damaged neck more intelligently now. One huge forearm repeatedly blocked the captain’s hammer before it reached the weakened area.

Sieghart cut into the defending elbow. Aldren changed targets without hesitation and struck the same point. The joint cracked. The arm dropped. For the first time, Sieghart recognized something resembling coordination between them that required almost no words. Aldren attacked whatever opening became available, while Sieghart created those openings from outside the Guardian’s reach.

That was when Sieghart finally understood why support magic could become terrifying without ever landing the finishing blow. He did not need to overpower the Guardian himself. He only needed to make Aldren stronger, the Guardian weaker, and every exchange slightly more favorable than it should have been.

The captain attacked the damaged knee. Sieghart cut the opposite ankle. The Guardian shifted its weight. A Water Ball struck the planted foot and made the wet stone slide underneath it. Aldren ducked beneath the resulting swing and buried his hammer into the creature’s ribs.

Metal folded inward.

Dark-red light escaped through the crack. Sieghart’s attention sharpened. The corrupted core.

“Aldren! Chest!”

The captain glanced once and immediately abandoned the knee. The Guardian seemed to understand the danger too. Both enormous arms crossed over the damaged torso, protecting the red glow behind layers of reinforced metal.

Sieghart fired Water Jet directly into the chest seam, but one forearm moved across the stream and absorbed the attack. Aldren rushed forward. The Guardian punched. The captain blocked with his hammer and slid backward several meters beneath the impact. Protection flashed faintly around his armor.

Sieghart renewed the spell, then strengthened Muscle Reinforcement further. 

Aldren simply charged again. Behind them, more smaller golems emerged. Sieghart finally stopped trying to handle each one individually. He increased Water Jet’s output and swept it low across the chamber floor. The concentrated stream carved through knees, ankles, and unstable leg joints while water spread beneath every approaching construct. Several collapsed almost simultaneously.

The surviving soldiers immediately understood. They stopped chasing moving targets and focused entirely upon the disabled ones Sieghart left behind. Hammer strikes became fewer but far more effective.

Water cut.

Golems fell. Hammers finished them. That bought Aldren room. The captain struck the Guardian’s chest again. Another plate bent inward. The creature retaliated violently and caught Aldren around the torso with one enormous hand.

Metal fingers tightened.

Armor groaned. Aldren hammered the wrist once, then again, but the grip continued closing. Sieghart abandoned the smaller golems immediately. Water Jet struck the Guardian’s fingers. One joint split. Then another. Aldren twisted free and dropped to the floor just as the Guardian raised one enormous foot above him.

There was no time for him to stand. Sieghart fired a Water Ball directly at the captain. Aldren’s eyes widened before the projectile struck his side.

Protection absorbed enough force that he was thrown several meters away rather than injured badly. The Guardian’s foot crashed down where he had been lying.

The Guardian’s red-lit head turned toward Sieghart. That was less amusing. Its enormous body leaned forward as if preparing to charge the irritating support mage responsible for ruining nearly every successful attack.

Aldren intercepted first. His hammer struck the Guardian’s ankle from the side and ruined the initial step. Sieghart responded instantly by driving Water Jet into the damaged chest seam. Metal peeled away. Red light flooded outward.

The core became visible beneath the opening.

Dark red.

Large.

Pulsing.

The remaining soldiers saw it too. Without another order, two moved to contain the smaller golems while another attacked the Guardian’s leg simply to prevent it from turning freely.

Aldren advanced.

The Guardian swung both arms. He ducked beneath the first, but the second collided with his hammer and nearly tore the weapon from his hands.

Sieghart reinforced him again. The captain recovered. The Guardian raised its arm across the exposed core. Sieghart changed Water Jet’s target and cut into the elbow. Aldren struck the same point.

The joint failed. The arm dropped. The corrupted core was completely exposed. Aldren stepped forward. Sieghart stopped Water Jet immediately. For a fraction of a second, every disturbance surrounding the captain’s Aura seemed to collapse inward toward the hammer.

Then Aldren swung. The weapon struck the core. The sound resembled breaking crystal mixed with distant thunder. A crack spread through the dark-red surface. The Guardian froze. Every smaller golem in the chamber stopped at exactly the same moment. Then the core exploded.

Aldren jumped backward as the Guardian’s chest ruptured. A violent pulse of corrupted mana tore through the chamber, throwing mineral fragments and broken metal in every direction before the enormous construct finally collapsed.

The smaller golems fell with it.

Some shattered when they struck the floor, while others simply became motionless piles of mineral material once the energy connecting them disappeared.

Silence returned so suddenly that Sieghart could hear water dripping from the damaged walls. Aldren remained standing. Barely. Several of his soldiers did not. Sieghart looked across the wounded bodies scattered throughout the chamber and immediately gathered White Mana before anyone needed to call his name.

The Guardian was dead. His work was not.