Vans was excited, he had never seen a mana crystal like that. The largest mana crystal Vans had ever seen was the one in the Tower dungeon, but it was much smaller than this one, which was the size of a house.
"How can we destroy this crystal?"
"I have no idea. Destruction usually happens in two ways. The first involves removing the crystal from its place of creation. This process can cause the crystal to break and become unusable, but even then some fragments still retain energy, and some people use those fragments instead of a full crystal. The second way involves using some kind of weapon and breaking it, but that is dangerous, since the crystal can explode depending on the concentration of mana. The problem is that it is difficult to be certain whether it will explode or not."
"So what will we do?"
"Eris can absorb all the energy, but she would need to use magic to expend the absorbed mana."
"Isn't that dangerous?"
"No. I have a limit to how much I can absorb, I cannot go beyond that, so it is relatively safe, at least in theory. I have never absorbed a mana crystal before."
She approached the crystal, touched it, and began to absorb the energy, but after a few seconds she pulled her hand away from it.
"The crystal's energy is different. I do not know if all crystals are like this, but it feels limitless and extremely dense. It would take me several days to consume all the energy, even if I kept spending it with magic."
Vans grew thoughtful. He did not know what to do. As the court alchemist, it was his duty to have all these answers.
"There is another way, but it is slow, and I do not know if it will work. I can connect some alchemical equipment to the crystal, they will consume energy. I have a project for a barrier device. We can use the crystal's energy to create a barrier in the forest and then attack. That will drain the crystal's energy, and Eris should be able to absorb more mana from it. It is the only solution I can think of. The crystal is truly massive, and I do not know how to deal with it."
Victor agreed.
Eris began to discharge the mana she had absorbed. She spent the energy by casting healing magic into the air. She could use other spells, but only weakly, so healing magic was the way she could expend the most energy.
Niko was no longer in the forest. She felt very unwell in the presence of the crystal.
"As for the hobgoblin's body, I want absolute secrecy about it," Victor said to Vans.
Victor was reviewing all the reports written by the golems. At no point did they mention a giant crystal in the forest, nor any anomaly of mana in the environment. That could only mean two things. Either the golems were defective, or the crystal had appeared later. That was assuming the golems had not been compromised.
Niko was supervising the golems. She was their creator. Each golem had two crystals, one that supplied energy for their operation and another that served as an antenna to detect danger signals and even measure the mana in the environment. The energy crystal was a common monster crystal. The creation magic for golems consumed those crystals.
Nothing was out of order. The golems were functioning perfectly.
Eris looked nauseous. She had never reached her absorption limit several times in a row. This was new. She liked the sensation, but after the fourth time she started to feel sick. The crystal's energy was different, and that made her want a break. Victor understood perfectly.
A red-haired man, dressed like a butler, entered the room. He approached Victor and knelt.
"I am at your disposal."
Lysandra entered the room and stopped at the doorway.
"I did not quite understand your report. What did you mean by anomaly?"
"I felt something when I did a patrol last week. I was on the seventh floor, but Mirel said it was nothing, just the strangeness of returning to the Tower."
"Did you describe everything you felt to Mirel?"
"Yes. I have a strong sense of danger."
"I see. Then why did you not go into more detail in the report?"
"I did not think it was necessary, since Mirel assured me it was normal. I just wanted to record my perception in a simpler way."
"Which other generals were on the dungeon expedition?" Lysandra asked.
"Pallas and Eris were there for only two days. I was there for the first four days and then from the seventh to the ninth. But we were unnecessary. Mirel did almost all the work. Only at a few moments did she ask for our help. The soldiers only went in to collect the bodies and take them to the kitchen."
"That is all I wanted to know. Thank you very much for your cooperation. I only ask that you keep this conversation secret."
He bowed and then left the room.
"Do you think it was her?"
"I will be honest. I never liked her. I always considered her incompetent and despicable, but I still believed she would not do something like this. Even so, the evidence says otherwise. What did she do before becoming one of the generals?"
"She was an alchemy apprentice. Her master was the former alchemist of the Dead King."
"She has the knowledge to create monsters and might even know how to create mana crystals, since the Dead King was investing in something like that."
"What do you mean?"
"There are only rumors that he was creating dungeons, but they might be true. What will we do?"
"Wait. We will continue destroying that crystal and then find out how it was created. After that, we will kill Mirel."
Lysandra looked worried at the idea. Killing a general was a serious matter, not only because of their strength, but because of the blow to morale it would cause. Another problem was the potential losses afterward.
"Will we have a replacement?"
"Yes, but I do not yet know who would be capable of replacing her. It is better not to think about that for now."
Victor inspected the forest every day. Lotus, Mirel, and the soldiers were not authorized to enter the forest, which was protected by a magical barrier created by Vans. Each attack on the barrier reduced the crystal's energy a little. In addition to the barrier, Vans connected several magical devices. One of them caught Victor's attention.
"I am cloning sheep, cows, and pigs, so we will have more food in a few days."
"Pallas was worried about the milk, so I took the liberty of asking Vans to do this. If you are going to punish someone, let it be me," Lysandra said when she noticed Victor's attention on the massive cylinder.
"Do not worry about it. I had not even thought that we could do this."
"We really could not. The energy from the crystal that sustains the Tower would be insufficient. That crystal transfers a great amount of energy to this floor. If I turned this machine on, we would have serious problems."
"I understand. You acted correctly, but now I have a question. If we destroy this crystal, will all this work be destroyed as well?"
"Do not worry about that. We will have more than enough time to replenish all the animals, and it might even be possible to have a much larger quantity. That will be good, since we will need to increase our numbers."
Victor liked Vans's attitude, but he also realized that Vans had always wanted to do that, he just had not had the opportunity.
Mirel was outside the barrier. She struck it with her sword, and the barrier remained standing. She tried a few more times, but soon gave up and left. Victor watched everything. Vans had placed magical transmission artifacts in several locations. They recorded and allowed the images to be viewed later.
"Do you think she will report this?" Lysandra asked.
"If she does not report it, it will be more evidence against her. It is still too early for us to act," Victor said with disappointment.
She was not supposed to be there. She was only supposed to access the dungeon and leave the forest to Pallas, so his work would not be interfered with.
Each floor had a general. The first floor was guarded by Mirel, the second by Vans, the third by Eris, the fourth by Lotus, the fifth by Niko, the sixth by Lysandra, the seventh by Pallas, and the eighth by Vesta. Each one took care of something that existed on their floor, like Pallas, who took care of the animals on the seventh floor, and Vesta, who took care of the vault on the top floor.
"Pallas, if she asks about the barrier, say you do not know and that you will check."
"Do you think she will ask about it?"
"If she is innocent, she will file a report."