SB: Chapter 265 – Go Big Or Go Home (Patreon)

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Smoke was pouring out of the smokestacks that were at the center of the Soul Forge. Even in other areas, I could see smoke rising up into the air. Mana bleed off from the Mana being diverted from the primary motivator. The ground shook again. A portion of the cliff next to the ocean about three kilometers off to the side collapsed into the water from the constant shaking.

“Ozy, build a tunnel,” I ordered and Ozy got to work, making a tunnel into the stone. Mana spiked again and I was beginning to worry we weren’t far enough. Five kilometers was considered the gold standard in terms of safe distance from effects and skills that weren’t specifically long range skills.

The shaking was too much as the rock under the Grand Entry Hall broke away. The massive structure crumbled down onto the switchback road leading up to it. I saw other buildings collapsing as well and multiple explosions.

“That will require a long time to properly repair,” the golem said.

That was when the Mana surged to new heights. How thick could it get?!

The entire portion of the mountain that was the Soul Forge bulged upwards as a massive jet of flame shot up through the flames. “Look away and open your mouth!” I shouted, while following my own advice and shutting down all my sensory skills.

A massive explosion occurred, everything turned black and white for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever. I knew about large explosions from reading historical accounts.

Color snapped back into the world. I quickly grabbed Boris and pulled him into the tunnel entrance that had been made. Thankfully he didn’t resist me. I mentally commanded Ozy to reinforce this section as much as possible.

“Ward x10!”

I poured out my Mana into the spell skills at the entrance of the tunnel. The physical and Mana shockwave hit a second later. My spell skills broke apart but blunted the worst of the shockwave. The tunnel, or pit as it currently was since it was only a meter deep, held together.

That was when a wave seemed to pass through the ground, making it feel like the Great Ocean. I felt my heart leap up into my throat as we all lifted up into the air and fell back down.

That was when it began to rain massive boulders. Thankfully we were far enough away and none of them directly hit us, but a few came close.

Looking out of our hole, there was a massive ash cloud filled with Mana and lightning. “Ozy the roof!” I quickly pulled out a blank stone plate and then I realized I didn’t have my sword, that I would normally use to cut into stone.

I pulled out a sealed jar of Alchemical ink and a brush. I quickly got to work and then put a Mana core on the center of the runic circle. A magical shield snapped into place above us, below the stone roof Ozy was forming.

I pulled out more stone plates and kept working. At least we would be able to breathe. The temperature began to rise and I had to create a cooling plate, something I never thought I would have to do on the beastkin continent.

After reinforcing the roof, Ozy began expanding our chamber by pushing the stone up and out of the ground. No need to hide where we were. Anything else would be running from such a massive Mana explosion.

“What was that?” Boris asked. A very rare question, but I could understand anyone would be curious and worried.

“A Mana explosion near a volcano, which only made things worse. Too much Mana in one location with conflicting Mana types, will agitate the Mana. Normally the Mana would spread out, dissipate, or just burn itself out. But if there is too much and it can’t go anywhere, it will explode. That explosion triggered the volcano the Soul Forge was built on top of. There are historical records of such weapons being used in the past,” I explained and Boris nodded slowly at this.

“Clean. Clean. Clean.”

At least I didn’t have to worry about anything sensing my Mana with how much was in the air. It was a shame that I hadn’t managed to save the golem. But Boris was far more important, since he was carrying the sword case which could be salvaged for 500 platinum. No way was I going to let that be lost if I could help it.

“Let’s rest for a day. Hopefully things will settle down outside,” I said.

We settled in and I began making stew for us to eat. One thing we were used to was cave living. It wasn’t great, but at least I was able to make it bearable. During the wait I asked a key question of my Compass Of Desire, the nearest demon.

The demon’s angle changed by about a single degree over the day. It was approaching us but was still probably a couple of days out. We were offset from the giant explosion of Mana, but still fairly close. If the demon was headed directly to the explosion, its angle in relation to me would change over time by a slight amount. That was how I knew the demon was headed in this direction.

The following day, I had Ozy make a small hole leading to the surface to check on the surface conditions. A layer of ash covered everything, the air was incredibly warm, and ash hung in the air. But the conditions were bearable.

I switched my question with the Compass Of Desire from the nearest demon, which it picked automatically, to my sword. For a moment the skill spun about uselessly and then locked on in the direction the explosion had occurred. My blade had survived.

While it might seem greedy, it was a weapon my mother had commissioned for me herself and was initially made of the first natural treasure I found in the dungeon by myself. I had also made some preparations to get the blade in case I was able to detect it. I had Ozy expand the opening and I left.

There was a pillar of smoke and ash where the Soul Forge used to exist, which was where my skill was pointing. I took a moment to get out some cloth I would normally use for repairs and made a mask. While it wouldn’t keep out the toxic gases, it would keep out the ash and smoke particles.

I brought Ozy with me after sealing the cave back up. Boris would be fine for at least three days with the supplies I had left him. I then set off at a quick jog. My armor was still packed away. I had considered putting it back on, but everything recently had required speed and stealth.

There was a flash of red and I glanced up. The smoke clouds that had merged with the regular clouds had red lightning moving through them occasionally. There was another burst of red from the massive column of smoke and ash in front of me.

I moved around the boulders that had fallen. The entire landscape had been ripped apart and had become an obstacle course. I reached the road and it soon led me to the smoking crater in the side of the volcano. The heat had grown enough to be uncomfortable.

The sword was down in that smoking pit. “Ozy, land on me, and get settled. Put your head next to mine and keep the air breathable,” I ordered my enslaved pet. Ozy obeyed and I spent a minute making sure he was secured around my body and was using the smallest Alchemic Bounded Field possible to allow us both to breathe.

I pulled out the two runic stone plates I had prepared over the last day and activated them. A strong weather ward surrounded me. I leapt into the smoke. The heat struck me like a physical blow, even through the weather ward. They didn’t try to stop everything, just blunting the heat and ash so they didn’t get overwhelmed.

I could feel the stone plates heating up in my hand despite all the precautions I had taken. Thankfully I had two more pairs as back up. I leapt down, from rock to rock, my adventurer boots smoking, despite their durability.

My healing points began to dip as well. I couldn’t see more than a meter in front of me, but thanks to my divination skill, I was locked onto my blade’s location. The Mana in the air made it near impossible to sense anything either, while my Danger Sense surged up and then back down, making it near useless as well.

There was soon molten lava moving about in streams, out towards the cliff using the previous waste channels of the Soul Forge complex. I just had to be more careful with my foot placement.

My Danger Sense spiked as well as my Spatial Sense. I could see a swirl of ash in front of me, like a crack through the air. The spatial crack was highly deadly, but I could tell it was breaking down and would disappear in a couple of days as the Mana that made it up dispersed.

The explosion had hit the dungeon entrance under the complex and created a unique effect. I only spent two seconds looking at it and confirming the edges of the spatial crack before moving on. If I stayed any longer my feet would have burst into flames.

Ozy was down about a third for Mana points and the weather wards began to melt. I quickly swapped them out even as I kept moving. The amount of lava increased as I leapt from boulder to boulder, but if I could get my sword back I would.

There was a burst of Mana and a jet of lava shot up off to one side, forcing me to dodge around it. The lava began to stir in the area even as I kept moving.

Burning skeletal hands burst out of the lava. Elemental monsters, skeletons by the looks of them. I ran past them, but I still wasn’t willing to give up. The monsters weren’t strong enough to worry me. I just had to keep moving and secure my blade.

I reached a large portion of rock and the heat from all the lava receded a bit along with the smoke and ash. I could see some metal and other structural work. This was the bottom of the Crucible Spire and the Magma Atrium, or at least part of it.

Based on the direction I was heading, the Heartforge Bastion was just ahead. I raced across the stone, more confident, even as flaming skeletons continued to emerge from the surrounding lava and turn towards me. They were just too slow and didn’t have enough stats to be a real threat as far as I could tell.

The Heartforge Bastion was blown open, with only the central portion remaining, with molten lava around the other three sides. The Soul Array Hall and Forge Works had been partially covered by lava with barely anything recognizable in those directions.

Resting on the altar, was my blade. But instead of a basic sword, it had a dark black appearance with touches of red along the sharp edges of the blade that bled into the black. The hilt was an off white and looked like bone.

I didn’t grab the hilt with my bare hands, that would have been idiotic. I was wearing gloves. I reached out to pick up the blade.

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