It was evening.
The town was completely deserted except for Hikari.
She finished another cauldron.
It was her third meal since returning from the wyvern peaks, and she isn't even stuffed.
There was a sudden abundance of food due to the tragic deaths of the expedition force.
The hasty evacuation left her with plenty to fill more cauldrons.
Mana courses through her as she meditates.
She'll see if she can finally eat enough to absorb the mana she absorbed from the mana veins.
For now, she continues her practice.
The sword in front of her responds as she channels mana from the wyvern peaks.
She feels the air around her cool.
After some practice, she could channel the new mana form more easily.
It's just that beyond chilling the air around her, she hadn't seen any practical benefit from the mana form.
Time to eat again.
She had been feeling hungry for days since she first returned from the wyvern peaks after the second mana vein.
Another crate of food was emptied into the cauldron.
She still had more crates than she could carry back to Escher.
Thankfully, the slayers didn't smash the water tank, which she now has to herself.
She really should be getting back to Ria, but she also hated wasting all this food.
Perhaps she'll camp out in the deserted town until tomorrow morning.
With her barrier and mana sense, camping alone poses little danger.
If she wants to finish most of the food, she'll have to feast into the night.
There's also the ration packs she'd hate to waste.
While the cauldron bubbles, it's time for some visualization training.
She remembers the resistance as she thrust her sword into the slayer's plating.
It takes more energy than she liked, but it was the most damage she could do with her blunt blade.
Then there were the tricky weapons she hadn't faced in a while.
The billhook. Even though the slayer was in a berserk state, it still tried to thrust it past her leg to drag her off balance by sinking the blade into her calf.
The cannonballs from the giant monstrosity guarding the mine shaft.
Her sword was too heavy to parry properly in midair.
She still felt a slight soreness where the cannonballs hit her.
But it was better to take the shots and jump straight to the top of the ravine, where she had the advantage.
Then there was the problem with her blunt sword.
It couldn't easily channel her RazenHeir flame or telekinesis.
Fighting a monster like that would be challenging if her daggers couldn't take it down.
Her blunt sword would struggle to cleave through flesh.
Perhaps she could drive it into its flesh to keep it off balance, then incinerate it at close range with her RazenHeir flame.
It was getting dark.
The monster's core glow grew more visible.
Hikari held it in her hand.
Its mana felt familiar.
It was similar to the titan core she absorbed.
Should she absorb it?
Why not? She had plenty of food to bulk with.
The core glowed as its mana flowed into her body.
The pain was brief.
After absorbing a much larger titan core, she handled its mana much more easily.
Still, she hasn't found a way to use it beyond raw mana.
Meditation.
She'll start the cauldron again in about half an hour.
The wall of the abandoned RazenHeir camp was smashed, allowing her to see the wyvern peaks from afar.
The clouds were thick.
But she could briefly see parts of a tower reaching far into the sky.
She remembered seeing it more up close as she climbed the mine shaft toward the second mana vein.
"Loot?"
She wondered what treasures were inside that tower.
Perhaps, as her lady said, the only treasure left is the Wyvern Peaks' resources, ripe for mining once she secured it.
She finished another cauldron.
She had eaten enough to have the energy for another fight.
Bedtime was near, but the thought of finding loot made her blood pump.
It was dark, and she was most comfortable here.
Her ultra vision lets her see perfectly in the dark where most foes could not.
She assembled her armor and hoisted her sword.
The last train carried a shipment of throwing daggers that more than replaced the ones she'd thrown at the monstrosity.
She dashed off into the wyvern peaks.
…
The mouth of the ravine.
The camp was as quiet as it had been when she left.
Wrecked steam tanks.
Dead slayers.
She dashed forward through the ravine.
The charred remains of the monstrosity she had slain earlier.
Behind it, the mine entrance.
The expedition force had set up an extensive forward camp here as it was safe from the wyverns.
They dug more caves into the walls to house the dormant slayers meant to slay the wyvern queen.
She leaped up into the air, anchoring her boot on the uneven stone of the lookout post atop the mine entrance.
It was the first thing she set up when she first reached the mine entrance.
The howling wind brushed her hair.
Bang! Musket shots struck her wyvern-skin armor.
"Survivors?"
Hikari stood still.
A brief silence followed.
"Who's there?"
A soldier's coarse voice came from behind the stone.
"Hikari of RazenHeir"
The old soldier shone a lantern onto Hikari.
"Ah! The silver-haired knight. Herda's tits are we glad to see you? Are the slayers gone?"
"Yes."
"Good! It's too dark for us to get back to the town right now. Guess we'll camp out here until tomorrow morning."
The rest of the soldiers manning the lookout post came out of their hiding spots.
"Sh*t. Finally, we can go home. The raid sure gone sideways with all those slayers going berserk."
"Yeah, we tried firing down and supporting them, but our rifle can't do tits to their armor."
"Figure that if we hide up here, they'll tire out eventually. Or until someone like you comes along and gives them a good whooping."
"Oh, by the way, there's something strange going on up ahead."
"Strange?"
"Yeah. We ain't some fancy knights in shiny armor, but we know when something is all glowy, we run."
Hikari looked into the distance.
The tower in the wyvern peaks.
That was where the miners were trying to drill a tunnel through.
Is that where the wyvern queen was supposed to be?
She sensed something.
The miners were right; something was going on up ahead.
The oddly familiar mana from the monstrosity whose corpse lay below, and the mindless slayers she had fought.
It was so strong that she could sense it from miles away.
"I see."
She continued towards the tower.
The uneven mountainous terrain was no obstacle for her.
She had crossed it twice to reach the mana veins.
As she got closer, the mana got stronger.
The glow of aether fire that she remembered from the Carla campaign.
She jumped past the mine shaft.
The stash of weapons she scavenged from the mana veins was still there.
She had almost forgotten to retrieve them.
But for now, she pressed on towards the tower.
She sensed it.
Something more important than the stash of weapons that would buy her a feast.
Something dangerous.
An unnatural fog enshrouded the area.
Hikari stopped and hid behind the rocky formations.
The glow of aether crystals mounted atop thin stalagmites protruding tens of meters above the ground.
Around the stalagmites, the remaining slayers wandered like zombies.
Drawn to the light like moths.
"Bad."
She sensed mana behind the fog.
More mana than when she absorbed the titan core.
This was not supposed to be here.
She was supposed to clear the way to the mine shaft, let the miners drill a tunnel through to the tower, and have the slayers kill the wyvern queen.
Where is the wyvern queen?
The slayers meant to slay it had run amok.
What's with this strange spell?
It certainly wasn't here when she first emerged from the mine shaft to loot the second mana vein.
She should retreat and return to Escher.
Her lady might already be worried about her when the scouts show up without her.
But something doesn't sit right with her.
She checks her gear.
Her sword was still in good condition.
It had proven to be durable as heck.
She has a resupply of throwing daggers.
Her wyvern skin was charred and scratched in places.
It's going to take a lot more to damage it seriously.
Her salamander armor stuck to her skin so well that she barely noticed it as she dashed back and forth through the sandworm pass.
It had gotten noticeably thicker as she fed it more black spider carapace and wyvern bone.
Her gear was in good condition.
"Ivory berries."
She cursed as she jumped off the ledge.