Weapons of Mass Destruction

Chapter 200: The Old Capital

Chapter 200: The Old Capital

“We came to bring you to join the expedition,” one of the men says as all of us meet in our garden.

There are five guild members from Serpent's Eyes, all a bit under 150. Even though it's considered rude, they send their mana to check out our strength.

I use my Mantle and Mana Cycling to hide most of my mana, as before, so they just glance over it in a similar way as their guild master did. Just like him, they think I'm at a similar level to the rest of group 4 and am just trying to hide my mana.

Taking our stuff, we follow them out of our house. Everyone is quiet.

As we pass by one of the restaurants, I notice Myrra sitting on a balcony, eating something and looking down at us. The weirdo lynthari smiles at us, and when she meets my gaze, her smile broadens and she mouths something that I don't even bother trying to decipher.

It doesn't take long before we leave the city, closely following the five men. A bit further, we meet the main group which is separated into two smaller groups. One of them is Serpent's Eye with their guild master Elydor and around twenty of his guild members, all of them clearly top of his guild. A smaller, but elite force.

Storm Brigade also has around twenty people with them, standing to the side. Unlike Serpent's Eye, they all wear clothes of a similar shade of blue and each has a brooch pinned on their chest. A simple silver piece of metal shaped like lightning.

Then there's another small guild, Blackrock, the guys who kept annoying our group members. They, along with us, will mostly provide support, and probably act as cannon fodder, even though no one says it out loud.

Curious to gauge the reaction of another of the five big guilds of Virilia, I watch Storm Brigade, but they barely show any interest in us. All of them have somewhat stern expressions. Their guild master is called Obelia, a sharp-looking woman with pale brown hair, and her eyes are silver with circuits covering the surface. Most likely a trait.

Elydor approaches us. This time, he's not as provocative, which confirms my suspicion that he just wanted to provoke us into attacking him so he could deal with us before the expedition. Since it didn't work, he chose a different approach.

“Just listen and don't do anything on your own,” he advises shortly. The implications of not doing so are clear but it sounds somewhat empty, knowing what his intentions with us are. He then turns to leave, joining Obelia and discussing something while we wait.

(Food?) I hear.

“You just ate,” I respond. My answer doesn't seem to please the gluttonous beast, so I throw him a piece of deer jerky.

“What do you think?” I ask Tess, who stops next to me.

“Other than the two guild masters and a few others, I think most are quite manageable,” she replies.

I can't help but agree. Tess is already close to level 120, so dealing with some level 150 goons doesn't seem unreasonable. Sure, there are many of them, but I'm confident an opportunity will arise.

“I will try to focus mostly on defending and helping others, so the rest will be up to you,” she tells me.

“Yes, just do as we discussed, and it should be fine,” I respond.

While waiting, I watch a group of ten men working carefully. They clear a big patch of the ground to reveal a large circle made of some metal buried there. After pulling some Mana stones from the special box, they place them into a few slots that I make sure to remember, as well as noting which mana stones they use.

In the end, the number of stones they put into the metal circle equates to the value of multiple houses. All of the stones are glowing, filled to the brim with mana.

When they're done, they approach Obelia. After exchanging a few sentences, the woman steps toward the circle. Her silver eyes, intertwined with circuits, scan everything, and she even sends her mana into one of the stones, causing it to glow brighter.

“We are ready,” she informs Elydor.

“You heard the lady!” the guild master of Serpent's Eye shouts. “Everyone, get your asses into the circle.”

Knowing what to do, his men move in, as do the Storm Brigade. Hesitantly, Blackrock and the Angry Kittens follow.

The circle is spacious enough to accommodate all of us with room to spare.

After a final check, Obelia retrieves an item from her pocket, placing a mana stone inside it—a mana stone I hadn't seen until now, probably worth even more than the others. The moment she activates the item, the circle starts drawing power from the stones her men placed, illuminating it, entirely covered in circuits that twist, bend, and interweave.

A few more seconds later, it finally happens. All the mana gets redirected, filling the ground beneath us. What follows is the sensation of falling, immediately followed by the feeling of being pulled upwards. When it stops, a second later, I find myself in a different location.

The surrounding landscape is familiar, a vast rocky plain devoid of vegetation, with a city ahead. But this city is different from Virelia.

The old capital, is much larger, with fewer towers, albeit most are in ruins. The walls of the buildings have a faint glow, remnants of their past splendor. But the most eye-catching part of the city is the Tree.

A tree much larger than those in Virelia. This one reaches towards the sky, its branches seeming to touch the clouds and cast shadows over the entire city. The tree is leafless and appears sickly, as if dying, yet the amount of mana it radiates is astonishing, even from this distance. Its power seems close to the three-question mark hydra Lissandra once tore apart.

Tess confirms my observation: “Three question marks, the Sunseeker Tree.”

“So likely between level 300 to 450,” Hadwin chimes in, with all of us grouped together. “But it appears...sick?”

I can't help but agree; the tree seems ancient, withered, and barren. Could this Calamity be an easy one? Thats unlikely. The system wouldn't allow such a twist.

The tree will undoubtedly awaken and reveal itself as the most powerful mage ever. Even the archmages from the zoo might face competition from the plant kingdom. Perhaps the future Earth's Absolute will be a random plant. A were-weed? Cinderweed?

“It doesn't feel as strong as the Paragons of the Empire I met,” Sophie notes. “Even when they restricted their mana, they felt much more threatening.”

“Champions, Paragons should be over 450, and Absolute is even beyond that. The tree here seems to be around 300? Maybe slightly weaker because it's sick?” I share, after observing it and comparing my impressions with what I felt on the second floor.

This observation leads to more questions.

On the first floor, the power scaling seemed relatively standard. On the third as well with most enemies were 50-100 levels higher than us, with the higher end representing the “bosses” of the floors.

The fourth floor follows a similar pattern. Slightly more challenging than the third, as there are humans and lynthari over 200, with some of us below 100, and even more stronger boss monsters in exchange for allowing us to use the city and its sources to take down Calamity.

But what about the second floor? All of us were under level 50, yet we met Champions and Paragons and even Lissandra who was well over them. How does that make sense? Is the second floor meant to be somewhat special?

I feel a presence moving towards our group, so I stop thinking and continue to track the mana signature. It's not like I'm examining it closely; at best, I can say it's like looking with my mana sense, which seems to be acceptable as long as the touch isn't too intrusive.

The one approaching us is Obelia, guild master of the Storm Brigade. She stops in front of us; her silver eyes interwoven with mana circuits study me. Her face remains mostly expressionless.

“I felt you examining the array,” she says. “Next time, don't do that, please. They are sensitive, and you could end up interrupting the process.” After that, the woman departs, heading back to her guild.

“I have goosebumps from the way she moves,” Lily murmurs and I can't help but agree.

“Okay, fellow colleagues! Time to get ready,” Elydor announces, clapping his hands together.

For tens, even hundreds of years, people have actively avoided the old capital after numerous expeditions full of powerful individuals perished. Yet, this one will be different, that's what the guild master of Serpent's Eye claims. The man had been preparing for the expedition for a long time, driven by his greed for the items he could acquire. He was even greedy and confident enough to have us join, so he could have a healer for himself in addition to the items.

His greed and confidence are almost admirable.

“First, I would like to thank Obelia and her Storm Brigade for bringing us here, saving us weeks of monotonous travel and substantial expenses,” Elydor smiles.

He lifts up his hand, displaying a peculiar star-like mana stone, “This is the reason we are here: a record created by a man who served the Champion that once resided in the old capital. The record was made before his death and passed on to his family in hopes it would aid them in the future. The most remarkable part is that the man managed to flee when the old capital fell, surviving the onslaught of the Living Tree,” Elydor points at the colossal leafless tree standing in the distance, overshadowing the city's remnants.

“After I, with a lot of luck got this record, it took years to decode. A challenging task, revealing much about the immense skills of a man who served under a Champion.” He reaches into his pocket and tosses another stone towards Obelia, who swiftly catches it. “A copy for our esteemed colleagues, as promised.”

Obelia stares at the stone for a moment and then hands it to the woman next to her who takes out some items and starts examining it.

“Original,” Obelia says shortly to Elydor.

Annoyance flashes through the man's face, but it disappears as if it never existed, and he smiles. “Sure, dear Obelia,” he then hands the original to one of his men who takes it and moves towards the Storm Brigade, holding it while they observe it

[Mana Harbinger - lvl ??]

As I look at the text over Elydor´s head, I think about how strong he could be. Surely as strong as one of the three warriors from the 3rd floor, but stronger than the last king?

When I look at Obelia, I also check the text over her head.

[Stormshaper - lvl ??]

These two will be the biggest problem and around five more that are close to 170.

Seeing that most of the expedition just sits down with a few keeping watch, I do the same, looking at the city in the distance and the giant tree that towers over it.

“It's creepy, isn't it?” Lily plops down next to me and then moves even a bit closer, our shoulders almost touching.

Damn, even here she keeps trying that? It's silly but I gotta admire the grind.

“Lily.” I hesitate for a moment. Should I say it out loud now? It could mess with her a bit and having a freshly rejected healer could get dangerous.

“Yup, I know, you don't like me, not the way I like you,” She interrupts me. “But Nat, that doesn't change anything for me. I will keep trying and will keep trying to sneak to you while staying patient.” Her smile is warm.

“What are you, a stalker?” I ask.

That surprises her and her eyes shake. She opens her mouth and closes it a few times.

It seems that I have caused critical damage, “Don't plant death flags and just focus on the expedition, okay?”

“So how do you even defeat something so giant?” she changes theme, gesturing at the tree. “I don't think my skill could hurt it much. It's just too big.”

“That's what she said,” one of the twins hears that as he passes by and doesn't miss the chance. That starts another round of bickering.

Yet even as they do that, I notice the way they carefully watch the people near us, and as they continue to monitor the area, everyone in their own way. Their bodies, even though relaxed, are ready to move, and their eyes are smiling as they joke, but they still feel dangerous, and wild.

And it's not just the twins and Lily, everyone from the group is like that. Tense, wild, and ready to attack.

Ten of us and Biscuit against forty elite members of two of the five big guilds plus their guild masters and another ten members of Blackrock, a small guild. And one giant tree in the distance. A tree that used to be powerful enough to deal with a Champion but for some reason lost a big part of its strength, judging by its current state.

Oh, and there are plenty of items. These items were owned by a man bearing the title of Champion. Someone like that won't have low-quality ones, right?

Anyway, I will be taking them.