Chapter 17 — From Effort to Validation (2).
In that squad of secondhand embarrassment, Rian dictated the pace of the walk with large and pompous strides, pointing to the horizon and babbling "tactical instructions" that looked more like the rules of a glorified children's game, making Elara and I stay a few meters behind them so as not to give up on the mission right then and there.
The walk under the sun lasted about ten minutes, so short that I couldn't even accurately predict how long it took us, until we caught sight of the local hunters' camp. It was an excavated area on the edge of a low wood, where some men in thick clothes were sharpening spears and checking pulleys. The mission consisted of helping to dig containment pits, drive stakes into the hard ground, and stretch trip ropes through the trees to guide the herd straight into the safe kill zone of the truly professional hunters.
One of the older hunters, sporting a thick scar on his arm, guided us to a narrow ravine a few meters from the camp. He quickly explained that a herd of Rosues (a type of large, furious, red-colored ox, with two pairs of horns, and teeth resembling a boar's) was grazing on the nearby plain and would be lured here. The job was to set up a trip line and drive containment stakes into the bottleneck of the ravine to slow down the beasts before the hunters took over the slaughter.
I was already preparing my brain to witness a complete disaster, expecting them to tie their own legs together, but, to my surprise and slight disappointment, the "squad" was not a bunch of incompetents. As soon as the hunter gave the order, Rian dropped the fake general pose and actually started working. He divided the tasks quickly and clearly. Kael grabbed a heavy sledgehammer and started driving the wooden stakes into the hard ground with force, while Mila braided and tied the containment nets to the trees with an agility that made it obvious she had tied hundreds of those knots before.
Even the arrogant Gael had his practical use. Instead of spewing useless theory, he used a crooked twig and incredible spatial awareness with some simple calculations to measure and mark the exact height the trip ropes needed to be to catch the Rosues' front legs, ensuring they weren't too high for the beast to pass under, nor too low for them to step over. They worked in genuine synchrony, sweating under the sun, covered in dirt, and doing exactly what an excellent Rank F team should do.
It didn't take long for me to understand where all that inflated ego came from: They really were very efficient at what they did... But I usually don't do this kind of work. Even so, I managed to tie a few ropes they had asked me to.
After finishing all that, everyone was very sweaty, except me, who was used to much worse training with Alistair.
— Aren't you getting tired? — asked the leader of the little group.
— Me getting tired from this would be what's weird, wouldn't it? —
He looked at me with a weird face, but still didn't want to nitpick anymore. Squeezing my pocket, I noticed there was a very familiar bulge in it. I took out what was there, and discovered that I had brought my magic ink and quills with me.
— Perfect timing. — I commented mentally, waving to the leader of the hunters' camp.
— Hey! There's a part here that doesn't have any traps, can I place one? —
He took a closer look at the area, which was past the ropes and a clear area for the slaughter, and replied — That area itself doesn't do anything so you can even place it. But what exactly are you going to do? —
— Secret. —
So I took everything I had and began to dig the same hole they had dug before, breaking a bit of a sweat in the process. After that, I made an incomplete reverse circle with the ink. Next, I placed a pebble painted with it, which consumed a good part of it, to serve as a switch, and hung a rope after that.
— When the animals hit this rope, it will break, right, it's weak, and it will make the little stone fall... It's impossible for it not to complete the circuit, I painted almost all of it... Anyway, after that the circuit will start pulling mana until it explodes, but it will take too long... I know! — I injected a lot of mana into the 10 squares of the circle, they were glowing intensely, but not to the point of exploding.
When I finished everything I heard a rhythmic, heavy, and deafening tremor that grew louder as time passed.
— IT'S COMING, EVERYONE IN POSITION! — Shouted the chief of the hunters.
Quickly, everyone, including myself, hid, because we didn't want to be turned into paste by the Rosues. Moments later, the vanguard of the Rosue herd burst through the ravine with a deafening violence.
The walls and iron-latticed wooden fences compressed the herd, forcing the monstrous beasts to abandon their dispersion and align in a compact formation, channeling all the weight and momentum of their charge straight into the prepared corridor.
The first Rosues of the vanguard plunged abruptly into the containment trenches. Although the colossal weight of the creatures made some wooden stakes snap loudly, the trenches fulfilled the role of breaking the initial speed of the charge, causing the animals to stumble on their bellies and destabilize their companions behind.
Even so, after that, the Rosues quickly adapted, jumping over the trenches as soon as they saw them. That was when Gael's precise calculation worked perfectly: the ropes positioned after the trenches stretched and gave way just the right amount, bringing down three colossal beasts in a spectacular domino effect that partially blocked the path, giving the hunters and Elara space to finish the animals off. It was at this moment that I stepped in. I drew my mana cut circle and fired 4 times, launching four strikes that pierced deep into the Rosues' skin. On a specific one, I hit right on the neck, decapitating it. After that, I stepped back, because I was already tired since I had spent a lot of mana.
After a few minutes of combat, everything calmed down. There were twenty Rosues and I managed to eliminate four of them, each requiring only one strike.
I went up to one of the Rosues that I had just finished off, looking at the scar that I myself made. Then, I leaned to the side, seeing several slaughtered Rosues, this time with scars from spears or blows to the head.
— That's a lot of meat... You can do a lot of things with this. —
However, when I turned back to the camp, everyone was paralyzed.
The leader of the hunters, the man with the scar on his arm, walked slowly to the carcass of the Rosue I had decapitated. He lightly kicked the monster's head, examining the beast's neck. Next, he drove the shaft of his heavy spear into the ground and turned to me, his eyes wide with pure disbelief.
— Three men — the hunter's hoarse voice echoed, breaking the silence. He pointed at the carcass. — Normally, I need three rookie spearmen just to kill one adult Rosue. And you... a brat who isn't even tall enough to look me in the eyes, sliced four of them using a piece of leather? —
He crossed his arms, alternating his gaze between me and my bag.
— Brats your age shouldn't even be allowed to draw a weapon, let alone dismember monsters. Who the hell are you? —
— I am Rank C — I answered, trying to control my breathing so as not to look as exhausted as I really was.
The hunter let out a long whistle, shaking his head. — The Guild must be going crazy... or you are a calamity in human shape. Either way, you saved us a lot of work today. Thank you. —
On the other hand, one of the boys from the secondhand embarrassment squad, who was holding a stick, almost broke it in his hand in a mix of anger and fear.
— That... that's impossible! — his voice squeaked, his wide eyes bordering on despair. — That circuit doesn't even have dissipators! The energy buildup should have bottlenecked in the straight lines and exploded in your hand, not decapitated a monster! It makes no sense! It's impossible! —
— What are you grumbling about? And what the hell is a "dissipator"? I just need to have good material — I quickly grabbed the magic ink flask that was in my pocket — like this one here, and make lines thick enough to withstand the mana flow. —
Gael looked at the small ink flask in my hand as if I were holding a cursed artifact. His mouth opened and closed twice before he managed to formulate a sentence, fighting against everything he had studied in his life.
— Thick... lines? — Gael's voice came out thin, in a whisper of pure academic indignation. — Are you treating the mana flow as if it were water, in a pipe?! Chapter Four of the Basic Compendium explicitly says that increasing the line thickness without a containment vector causes Frequency Deviation! You tore up the spell's Harmonic Stability! The mana was supposed to have collapsed and exploded! —
I blinked, staring at the boy. For a second, I even felt pity.
— Who was the idiot who wrote that compendium of yours? — I asked, sighing from pure mental exhaustion. — Frequency deviation from the thickness of the line? Arcane frequency is what defines the elemental type of the magic, Gael. What alters the frequency is the insertion of elemental nodes into the circuit, not the size of the stroke. —
I took a step forward, pointing at my piece of leather that he was still staring at in terror.
— The line being thicker doesn't change the stability of anything. It only serves to decrease the physical resistance of the material. It's simple: a wider line can handle a larger volume of mana passing through at the same time without burning the ink. You are confusing energy flow with elemental alteration. If my calligraphy is firm and the material is good, I don't need any dissipator. —
Gael tried to open his mouth to retort. He raised his finger, ready to quote Chapter Five, but his eyes inevitably slipped behind me, to the colossal head of the Rosue thrown on the dry earth.
That was when the main leader of this little group came to defend his little friend, also horrified by what happened — H-He cheated! That wasn't the leather! Y-You must have used a hidden artifact up your sleeve! B-Bourgeois from the capital always buy expensive magic items to pretend they are strong! Nobody does this kind of damage with ink! —
I just put my hand on my head and sighed in indignation — Are they really this idiotic? Good thing I put it on leather. Imagine if I did like before and wrote on papyrus scrolls? — I thought, and, the more I thought, the angrier I got, until it reached a point I simply took this anger out on them — I wish I had expensive artifacts for this. I literally roasted a bunch of half-meter spiders a few days ago and you still tell me "Y-You must have used a hidden artifact up your sleeve!" by the gods! —
After pouring out all my anger, I reflected a bit — This ends up proving nothing... But whatever, they really are idiots. —
Rian took an instinctive step back, almost tripping over his own boots, and raised his hands to chest height, as if trying to defend himself from my explosion of anger.
— H-Half-meter spiders?! — Rian's voice faltered, failing miserably. Genuine fear finally replaced the arrogance — Y-You are crazy... No mage does that! Y-You must be a sorcerer! That's it! A sorcerer who was born with aptitude and is holding that useless leather just to pose as an intellectual rich kid! —
Right after, a rhythmic, heavy, and deafening tremor began to grow — Could it be... —
— ANOTHER HERD IS APPROACHING! EVERYONE IN POSITIONS! — shouted the chief of the hunters, while we all hid. However, seeing that I was going to the Kill Area along with Elara and my slightly tired posture, the leader stopped me — You must be tired now. I can't allow you to die here! Hide with the kids! —
— But what? — even so, Elara also helped him and pushed me along with the children.
— Huh, aren't you the terrible mage who blows up half-meter spiders? What are you doing here? — commented Rian.
— I swear if he says one more thing I'll demonstrate on his arm what my magic is. — I said to myself, even though I probably wasn't going to do it, I didn't want any more trouble, especially after what I did to the princess.
— At least the view is privileged here. — I noted. You could clearly see the adults fighting and the traps working from here.
The second herd of Rosues burst through the ravine with even greater fury, but they seemed to have learned from the previous massacre. The containment trench, which the big boy had dug with so much sweat, served absolutely no purpose this time: the vanguard monsters simply leapt over the hole with a terrifying agility for the weight they had.
Luckily, the trip ropes remained invisible mid-jump. When the beasts landed, the tension of the knots the children had tied caught all the creatures that jumped the trench, bringing them down in a new domino effect. It was the exact window of time the veteran hunters and Elara needed to advance, piercing the carapaces in perfect synchrony.
The problem with slaughtering so many colossal beasts in a stone funnel, along with the bodies from the previous slaughter, is that the bodies form a wall. Quickly, the final corridor of the kill area turned into an impassable bottleneck of carcasses, hindering the hunters' mobility. The absurd pressure of the herd coming right behind crushed the front line, forcing the blockade to give way on the sides. In the middle of this confusion of dust and dull thuds, five enraged Rosues managed to break away from the tumult. With bloodshot eyes and lowered horns, the beasts ignored the spearmen and charged blindly forward. To the terror of Rian and his squad, who started screaming in panic, the beasts were coming directly towards the camp, but to my amusement, they were running in a straight line, right into the area where my trap was.
The five stray Rosues advanced with everything in our direction, making the ground shake. Initially, the beasts saw another trench similar to the one the big boy created, and then jumped over it out of instinct. Except they didn't realize they had bumped into and cut my stretched string, that is, triggered my trap.
With the circuit closed, the ground began to emanate an intense blue glow through the cracks in the earth and, a few moments later, detonated in a huge blue explosion.
The bang was deafening. The creatures that passed directly overhead were completely obliterated by the magic, while the next ones died instantly due to the brutal shockwave. Pieces of earth and carapace rained down around us. We only didn't suffer the same fate as them because we were covered and hidden far enough from the explosion.
When the dust settled and I lifted my head to check the damage, I saw that fortunately no one seemed to have gotten hurt.
The silence that fell over the hiding place was absolute, until it was broken by a dull thud. It was the big boy's wooden sledgehammer, slipping from his hands.
— I... — he began, his hoarse voice failing as he looked from the smoking crater to my face. He looked like he had seen a ghost. — I spent almost an hour digging hard dirt and hammering stakes until my hands hurt. And you killed five of them at once using... a little stone and a string? —
Before I could explain, the girl who had tied the knots grabbed the collar of Rian's shirt. She shook him with an almost hysterical despair.
— You are crazy, Rian! — she squeaked with eyes full of panic tears, pointing at the blue smoke outside. — You called him a fraud! You wanted to steal his bag and his boots! Imagine if we really pissed him off?! He wouldn't even have to sweat, he'd turn us into paste with an explosion like that! —
The entire group was completely disoriented, yelling at each other, crying in dread and despair, it was total chaos.
— Now how am I going to deal with this? — I thought as I sat on the ground indignant. Fortunately, the supervisor of this group, who until now seemed to be sleeping, came over to us.
— I wanted you guys to stop for a moment and simply play like every child should do... — he began, scratching his head — But no, you have to offend someone who knows much more than you, has done more things than you, and has much more power than you. —
To continue his scolding, the supervisor called Gael — And you... You made me get called a fool for nothing! How can you forget the basics?! — — Man, kids are really just trouble! I wish I had someone like him who understands exactly what I'm saying. —
As soon as he finished speaking, Elara interrupted, as if this hurt her — You're not the only one who suffers, you know! A few days ago this little boy here tried to solve things with brute force and luckily didn't blow up the carriage. —
— Oh, really? At least we have things in common. — answered the supervisor, laughing at the end of the sentence — By the way, I'm Lens... When I was younger I had the stupidity of adopting some children to take care of them, out of pity... Now I'm trying to make them independent, but it's hard. —
Elara started talking to him, steering him away from us. With that, only I was left, and the group with their shattered egos. None of them dared to look me in the eyes. Rian seemed suddenly fascinated by the stitching on his own boots, while Gael stared at nothing, in a state of pure catatonic denial.
Before I needed to think of something to break that unbearable mood, the sound of boots dragging on the dirt caught my attention.
The leader of the hunters, the same scarred man who minutes ago had praised me for the precision of my magic blade, walked with heavy steps toward the area. He didn't come to me right away; first, he stopped at the edge of the smoking crater I had opened in the field.
His heavy spear hung forgotten beside his body as he stared at the damage. There was still a faint blue glow of residual mana crackling in the cracks of the scorched earth. Of the five half-ton colossal beasts, there wasn't enough meat, hide, or bone left to fill a bucket. The impact had been so brutal that the prey literally turned into ashes and an unrecognizable paste.
The veteran scratched the scar on his arm nervously. He swallowed hard and spun on his heels, walking to where I was sitting. The posture of a fearless and pragmatic hunter had given way to genuine perplexity bordering on dread.
— Boy... — he began, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, exactly in the direction of the obliterated hole. He alternated his gaze between me, who was just panting, and the paralyzed children beside me. — I said the terrain was clear and gave you permission to set a trap, not to invoke the fury of the gods. What the hell was that blue explosion that just disintegrated my prey? —
I answered with the greatest naturalness in the world, inert to any emotion from him — It was a trap, as you said. I did something like you did with the ropes, but as soon as it breaks, a painted pebble completes the reverse magic circle, and it starts pulling mana until it explodes... Of course, I charged it otherwise it would take too long. —
The veteran stared at me in silence for long seconds. His mouth opened slightly under his thin beard as he tried to process the words "reverse magic circle", "pulling mana" and "explode" spoken with the same tranquility of someone explaining a soup recipe.
He glanced again at the smoking hole. The disintegrated carcasses represented a good amount in meat and hide that had just gone up in smoke, but considering that those five beasts would have trampled the entire camp if they had gotten through, he had no moral high ground to complain.
The hunter let out a deep sigh, rubbing his calloused face with one hand, as if he suddenly felt ten years older.
— A little stone... and a reverse circle. Right. Okay — he murmured, seemingly officially giving up on applying normal world logic to my existence. — Look, kid... next time you're going to set one of those "little stones", let us know in advance, okay? That way I can at least tell my men to pray before the boom. And try not to vaporize the entire prey, we get paid for the meat, not the ashes. —
Without waiting for an answer, he turned his back and started walking back to the ravine, shaking his head and grumbling to himself something about how the Guild was letting demons disguised as children roam free.
— Next time I'll use my lightning... No, wait, charred meat doesn't count as meat... — I thought.
With the hunter's departure, the crushing silence reigned again between me and the Iron Fangs squad.
Gael, who had heard my technical explanation perfectly, even opened his mouth. I saw his eyes twitch; the almost sickly desire to discuss the theoretical viability of a "reverse magic circle" was clearly waging an internal war against his own survival instinct. Luckily for the boy, the fear of the smoking crater beat out academic dogmatism. He swallowed hard and stayed quiet.
Rian, still hugging his own body, looked like he wanted the ground to open up and swallow him.
After a few minutes of this atmosphere of pure dread, Elara returned, saying — Well, Lycon, I know you're depressed there, but look on the bright side, he gave us our Aureate-Silver coin. — she opened her hand, and then continued — Here —
— At least that was worth it. — I commented — Shall we go back? —
— Yes. —
While we were trying to go back, Rian interrupted us — Hey, aren't you going to want to receive the payment for the mission? —
— No, the ones who need this money are you guys. — I replied, trying to maintain generosity in a forced way — And you Gael, next time buy an ink from the shop near the guild! It's expensive but seems to be much better than yours. —
