The moles came closer to the surface. Elyss’s magic became less effective. The sinking slowed and then stopped. Even the ripples across the surface smoothed over and the earth turned solid again.

The mole king may have successfully stopped Elyss’s magic, but Elyss won in the end. Her goal was never to beat the king in a contest of magic, but had been to drag the earth silencers up to the surface, and she succeeded. 

The earth erupted and the mole king surfaced, followed by its troops. Three dozen moles armored with pieces of stone that shone with a metallic lust gathered around the king.

Aside from the soldiers, there were a few larger moles that weren’t armored at all. Compared to the soldiers’ muscles that were clearly defined under their shiny coats, these larger moles were much fatter with duller fur. They weren’t armored either, and neither did they seem very strong. However, they gave off a unique feel that marked them as something special. Something essential to the functioning of this mole nest.

“Those are the queens, I guess. Kagriss, can you take care of them? Even if we kill nothing else, the queens and the king have to die to prevent the nest from coming back after we’re gone.”

“Mhm, no problem. They look well protected though.”

“We’ll handle the others. Let’s begin; stick with the plan.”

“Got it.”

The plan was simple in theory: Eliminate a third or so of the mole soldiers before turning on the king. By eliminating the guard first while eliminating the king, it gave the king less pawns to hide behind.

Second, the damage won’t be as widespread if the soldiers do go berserk with the death of their king.

Execution differed from person to person, but at its most basic, the plan was just for Camilla and Lucienne to kill four moles on average while Elyss kept the king busy. Of course, the number of monsters they had to fight was way more than just eight, but things should get easier as more and more moles die off.

This time, Camilla put an enchantment on her blade right off the bat. A blood red aura drifted off her sword. Whenever she swung it, it left a scarlet afterimage of trailing red mist.

“Make sure you don’t get surrounded!”

Lucienne nodded and joined her in the charge. Elyss simply jumped over them, pouncing straight at the mole king, and soon, all three of them were embroiled in combat. In a battle of this scale, Ariel and Sariel had much less of an impact, but still they did their best to distract the moles with bright rays of light that blinded their eyes and the occasional scorching ray.

The moment Camilla clashed with the first mole that stood in her way, she knew that her theory was right. The strength of the mole now was on a whole other level compared to the moles she faced before. While fighting one wasn’t difficult, that changed when there were two dozen of them all around.

With two dozen mana beasts, even inferior ones like these soldier moles, there was not a speck of uncontrolled mana in the air. Camilla couldn’t even absorb mana from the air to replenish her reserves. All she had was the mana already in her body. 

She couldn’t just burn through everything with a couple of powerful spells. While powerful enough to cut through these beasts like a blade parting water, spells such as the Light Beyond the Horizon were just too inefficient.

“That’s why it's so irritating to fight mana beasts that gather in groups. I have to ration out my mana.”

For now, she should figure out what’s the minimum necessary to pierce through these beasts’ new defenses, and then add on a bit more mana for margin of error. That much, but no more.

Just as she had charged toward the moles, the moles rushed up to face her, brandishing their claws. Their claws were as thick and robust as any other burrowers, but the surface of it glinted past the dirt sticking to it in the noon sun. It was almost as if the claws were coated in metal.

When Camilla slashed at them, the mole reared up and knocked her sword down. 

“Woah!” The impact from the clash reverberated up the length of her sword, almost jolting the weapon from her hand.  Wincing at the close call, Camilla tightened her grip on her sword. She hadn’t been holding her weapon tight enough to maintain flexibility. Even though she expected the moles to be stronger, she still ended up underestimating them. 

When those thick claws struck her weapon, it was like someone whacked it with a mace. The moles were only as big as a wild boar, so where did all that strength come from when it had no leverage?

Their eyes met for a moment, tiny and black to large and gold, before Camilla backed up just in time to avoid the slashes of two flanking moles. She saw intelligence in those eyes.

Not just strength, but intelligence as well?

Unlike the pair she faced earlier that practically tripped over each other in an attempt to get at her, these worked together. Faster movements, greater strength, sharper minds, all from being in proximity with each other and their king.

It was the first time that Camilla had encountered such strange beasts, but given how varied mana beasts were, she couldn’t afford to be too surprised. 

She set her jaw in concentration, weaving this way and that in order to avoid being surrounded by the moles. There were a dozen or so moles chasing after her. The others were fighting Lucienne or trying to protect their king and queens from Elyss and Kagriss.

Even Camilla was having a bit of trouble with that number. She was kept so busy dodging that she barely found the time to launch her own attacks. Spikes of metal continuously sprouted from the ground at her and, more annoyingly, around her, blocking off the places she could dodge.

Although she slashed through them with her sword, they reappeared endlessly.

“No wonder this is considered beyond our capabilities,” she muttered. “But I’m actually surprised that Lavitte’s party is deemed able to handle this? Both are C-ranked after all. Then again, they have a full six members.”

As rude as it may seem, Ariel and Sariel were useless here. In fact, they made things worse because they had to make sure the moles don’t split off a force to attack them.

Fortunately, Kagriss managed to find the time to get them to stop before they attracted the moles’ attention.

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, the moles managed to surround her with a combination of their sheer numbers and those blasted spikes that kept cutting off her retreat path.

“If Victoria was here in my place, she could probably interfere with their magic…”

A mole suddenly leapt at her just as she swung her sword to fend off another. A spike shot up next to her sword, locking it in place. Cursing, Camilla let go, cutting off mana from her sword enchantment and redirected it to her fists. Was she cursed to have to fight hand to hand?

At this moment, the blood mana in her body began circulating faster than before, boosting her physical power with enhancements. At the last second before the mole cut her open with its claws, she moved just enough to those lethal claws. She shot forward, grabbing and pushing off the mole’s head, leaping high up in the sky. Her wings unfurled, keeping her afloat.

Immediately, several spikes grew from the ground, reaching toward her, but she had plenty of time to weave around them. By breaking off the tip of one of them, she got herself a make-shift javelin that she launched toward the moles lumbering below. One of the moles swatted it out of the sky.

Camilla spat in disgust. “I’m not playing your game anymore.” She wasn’t used to fighting in the air, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t at all. When Ismelda took on the army of the Church, she managed to avoid getting outnumbered by flying as well. At this point, anything was better than tussling in that claustrophobic environment with moles crushing in on all sides.

Breaking off the tip of another spear and weaving past a few more, Camilla dove toward the moles that stared up at her, intent on piercing through their eyes. No matter how armored the rest of their body was, she doubted that their eyes received the same protection.

At the last moment, she drove death magic through the makeshift javelin and reinforced it. She stabbed forward, and her strike was true. With a spurt of blood, the tip of her spear sank into the mole’s eye. The mana that wreathed the spike went wild, scattering in the mole’s head in a pulse. 

Before the mole could fall, before the others could retaliate, Camilla pulled up and rose into the sky once more. Surprisingly, the moles began to cry out, squealing as they gathered around the dead beast.

“…are they grieving?” Guilt needled at her chest and she quickly shook her head, forcibly shifting her thoughts elsewhere. “No, probably not. Hmm…it doesn’t seem like they’re getting weaker. So when the king is present, how many are around doesn’t matter? So the king must definitely fall then.” 

She reached out and snapped another spike off and repaired for another run toward the moles. She needed to cull some more so they could start phase two of taking down the king.

Speaking of the king, how were the others doing? Dealing with so many moles really strained her attention.

 

Kagriss bit her lips in frustration. A living creature in her position might have already been drenched with sweat, but thankfully, she managed to keep herself calm.

She waved her hand, directing the black mist on the ground to surge behind Lucienne, forcing the moles sneaking up behind the vampire away, but even with her help, Lucienne was still having a hard time fighting back the moles.

Her other hand was already occupied, busy channeling mana into a spell already in place. Attached to her hand was a black chain wrapped around two moles. It was a constant drain on her power but she wasn’t getting anything out of it aside from taking a bit of the pressure off of Lucienne. 

“Please just kill it!”

“I can’t!” Lucienne shouted as she stumbled back away from the moles’ assault. With every step that she took toward the two moles rendered helpless by Kagriss’s chains, she was forced back two by the moles pressing their numbers advantage.

It wasn’t like Kagriss didn’t know that, but she hadn’t expected Lucienne to be quite so weak as to not even be able to kill two enemies that were unable to move. Openings appeared but for a moment in battle, yet when the chance appeared, Lucienne couldn’t seize it.

In the end, she expected too much from Lucienne. Even though Lucienne and Camilla were both templars, Camilla had been more powerful and more experienced. The gulf between them was immense. Kagriss believed that had she been supporting Camilla, the battle would already be over. But Lucienne might be dead by then, so Kagriss had no choice but to dedicate most of her attention to Lucienne’s battle.

No matter how many times she considered just abandoning the former templar and helping Camilla instead, she ultimately thought better of it… it was just so tempting though.

Even the spell that she had prepared in order to help Elyss take down the king and queens was relegated to keeping moles off Lucienne’s back before she got overwhelmed.

Kagriss sighed and raised her right arm, freeing the moles that she had trapped with her chains. 

“Lucienne, are you ready?” she asked. “I’m going for another try.”

“Go for it,” came the reply.

She cast out her chains again, aiming for the moles right in front of Lucienne, looking to lock them down. This time, however, the moles were watching out for it and they dodged aside.

While not ideal, that outcome was fine too. It gave Lucienne a chance to take a breath without worrying that she might be torn apart by murderous claws. 

With a sweep of her left arm, the black mist that formed a zone of death behind Lucienne surged out, forcing back the moles. Being in the mist didn’t mean instant death, but staying inside meant having their life and strength sapped. Combined with black spears that Kagriss sometimes paired with the mist, it made for a lethal tool for protecting Lucienne, especially since Kagriss managed to catch one of the moles off guard and kill it.

The edge of the zone closest to Lucienne retreated and she backed up with it, keeping her guard up as she panted and tried to recover some strength.

“Tsk…”

No progress at all. It was during times like this that Kagriss wished she studied more offensive magic rather than supportive ones. She just found it easier to learn enchantments. Unfortunately, her enchantments didn’t work on living creatures like Lucienne.

If only Lucienne was undead as well, then she could empower that vampire to the point where she could kill these beasts as easily as Camilla did.

If only, if only…

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Camilla take down another mole, her third one. The more Camilla killed, the better she got at it. She even got the sword she lost earlier back and was executing a strategy of flyby attacks and brief skirmishes. Kagriss wished she could help, but again, Lucienne might die if she did.

And speaking of Lucienne, the vampire was getting pushed back again, being overwhelmed by the swiping claws and stabbing spears. “Kagriss!”

Holding back another sigh of irritation, Kagriss strained her concentration and produced several black spears above her head.

“Get ready!” she said.

“Make sure you hit!”

As if Lucienne needed to say that. It was hard to cast without using her hand as a focus but she managed it anyway. The black spears shot down toward the moles, but only one hit.

At the same time, she swung her chains, trying to catch another beast. 

But even as she managed to wrap the chains around one of them and tied up its legs, the other nearby moles managed to force their way between the captured mole and Lucienne before the latter could execute the former.

Again, Lucienne missed an opportunity. 

“Tsk…”

That was all Kagriss could say. Any more and she might actually curse. That was why she didn’t use some of her other spells. Spells that slowed, spells that weakened. No matter what she used, the moles were smart enough to pull back their affected members and replace them with healthy ones. Lucienne lacked the ability to exploit the openings she created.

Things were going nowhere. The only thing she could do was keep Lucienne alive and wait for Camilla’s help. 

As for the other battle, the one between Elyss and the mole king, all she could do was hope that Elyss could hold out against the combined power of the king and his soldiers. Although Elyss was clearly the strongest one individually, she too was helpless against the advantage that numbers provided.

Kagriss had tried to help earlier, only to find that it was pointless unless she could dedicate her full attention.

For some reason, the few magics that she directed toward that battle all disappeared before they could take effect. They simply vanished into thin air, as if unraveled. The last time that Kagriss remembered when someone nullified her magic like that was when she challenged Victoria, but this was something different.

Instead of skillfully stealing control of the mana she was using like Victoria had, the spells she fired this time were torn apart by brute force when they passed over a certain point.

It was like there was a force field of some sort in the air and she could vaguely sense a pandemonium of mana in the direction of Elyss and the king’s battle.

Although Kagriss was a bit concerned, she didn’t have the attention to spare for investigation. That was one mystery that had to wait, unless of course, she was willing to sacrifice Lucienne. She wasn’t, yet.

 

The flow of mana continued to twist and turn, preventing all but the most robustly crafted spells from remaining active. As Elyss struggled to put the raw mana around her under her control, the mole king did the same. 

Their wills clashed and as a result of their conflict, the mana around them was pushed and pulled this way and that until neither of them could use magic. The ground remained as featureless as before, a stark comparison to the two other battles that Camilla, Lucienne, and Kagriss. There, stone spears grew closer together than the densest of forests.

Not a single spike could be conjured without the other’s permission, but that didn’t stop Elyss from trying.

As she dodged and played keep-away with the slow moles that chased and tried to corner her, Elyss narrowed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Her lips pulled back in an unconscious snarl in concentration.

Slowly, the mana in the air calmed down, going from the roaring chaos of a huge river to a less turbulent, bubbling stream. Although it was still hard to control, she could at least shape it into magic.

Taking a break from running, Elyss skidded to a stop and whacked the ground with a paw. The earth bulged as her magic activated, only to sink back down as the magic collapsed.

“Ahhh. Damn it!” Elyss cursed. As angry and frustrated as she was, she couldn’t afford to dawdle or the moles would catch up. Hitting the ground a few more times to vent her anger, she broke into a run again.

It wasn’t the first time that happened.

Again and again, Elyss won the clash against the king, earning the right to cast her magic. She’d calm the mana down and start a spell, but every time a third party would cut in and force her back, dismantling her magic by returning chaos to the mana around her. 

If it wasn’t for that, she would have won a long time ago. In a one versus one against the king, she was clearly the stronger of the two. But because of that third party, she was foiled again and again.

She glared at that group of queen moles huddled together in a protective metallic shell, all of them staring at her through the gaps in the lattice. They must be laughing at her. They were the little rats that kept interfering!

For low level mana beasts, they had great control over mana.

“Weaklings like you all should just give up and accept your deaths,” she growled as she smashed with her paw flat a mole that tried to intercept her. But before she could finish it off with a bite to the neck, the oversized mole king bound over to her, followed by the rest of its soldiers. 

Even a pack of rats can take down a cat and since she had no wish to test that theory, Elyss settled to settle on putting her whole weight on the mole beneath her as she jumped away. 

It’d be nice if that crushed it, but unfortunately she sensed that it got up afterwards with only a limp.

Another one got away. Snarling in frustration, Elyss decided to make another run toward the queens. If only she could kill them, then she could overpower the mole king’s magic, and then it’ll be over. 

She leapt over the mole king and charged the metal shell, ramming it with her shoulder, but all she managed was denting the metal. She tried to weaken the structure, but between the moles’ interference and the metal’s durability, she barely made any progress.

“Those damn rats! I swear I’ll kill you all!”

Elyss got one more ram off before the moles caught up. She could only watch as once as the metal slowly bent itself back into shape. While one of them slowly repaired the barrier, the others interfered with Elyss’s magic, taking advantage of their numbers. It wasn’t fair.

They were at a stalemate. Although Elyss didn’t want to admit it, she couldn’t break the stalemate by herself. The best way moving forward was to wait for Camilla to finish over on her end.

But just as Elyss resigned herself to running around and distracting the mole king by making passes at the queens, she suddenly had a stroke of inspiration.

Why not just go help Camilla? It’s not like anything is stopping her. And if the mole king follows her, she can just run back to the queens’ barrier since she’s so much faster. The king has to stay and protect the queen.

Her tail lashed in delight just thinking about her idea.