“What’s that?” whispered Lianshi, dropping to a crouch and staring down a side street in awe.
Scorio stepped back, looked down the street, and saw a medium-sized nautilus floating a few feet above the pavement, its black shell raggedly striped with crimson, its tentacles floating out behind it, drinking in the mana.
“Amazing, right?” Scorio grinned at them. “I’ve never gotten close enough to see if they’re dangerous, but they’re pretty rare. You’re lucky to see one on your first outing.”
“It’s flying,” said Leonis.
“Kind of.” Scorio watched the graceful and alien creature slowly approach. “I don’t think it has too much control over where it goes. They tend to just drift with the mana.”
“It’s so large,” said Lianshi. “So beautiful. I’d no idea something like this was out here.”
“Medium-sized,” corrected Scorio. “I once saw one that was easily seven or so yards in diameter. Drained the entire street of mana as it went.”
Leonis just shook his head in wonder.
They continued deeper into the ruins, Scorio guiding them around the worst threats and avoiding the dangerous zones until at last First Rust gave away to the brighter, brassier First Bronze, and he slowed, dropping into a crouch behind a rooftop’s jagged retaining wall.
The other two did the same and peered at the final stretch of ruined blocks that lay before the Portal wall.
“There’s the old academy, see?” Scorio nodded ahead, not needing to point; the vast building was obvious, as was the stretch of hellish urban landscape between them.
“Strange,” said Leonis. “It looks like a nightmare version of our own.”
Lianshi curled her fingers around her ear reflexively, as if tucking away a strand, though none had escaped her thick braid. “Amazing. To think that was once vibrant and filled with life. It looks like a mausoleum.”
“The trick will be getting there.” Scorio shifted his weight and pointed. “See that broad bridge that flies straight like an arrow toward the Academy? That mass of rocks at its far end on the right is where the black toad lives. Now, west over that way, see that series of shattered gray fields? That’s actually a covered market of some kind, I think. The white worm monster lives inside it. And to the east, that way? Those towering buildings, all pressed tightly together? That’s where I’ve seen that strange shadow-jumping fiend.”
“We’ve spoken endlessly about it,” said Leonis. “We want to tackle the toad.”
Lianshi nodded firmly, though her face had grown pale. “The shadow beast sounds the worst—its ability to appear and disappear will be extremely hard to counter. The white worm sounds both disgusting and benefits to a degree from the same ability to surprise us.”
“But the toad,” said Leonis, shifting his weight. “You described it as oozing tar-like Coal mana, right?”
“Right,” said Scorio. “What of it?”
“I spoke with Feng, one of our trainers. He’s an expert on fiends.” Leonis turned to sit, putting his back to the retaining wall. “When a fiend’s oozing mana like that, it means they’re an engorger; they’ll find a truly deep well of their mana type and just float in it, like a fish in water, till their very substance becomes infused. You’ve heard how we can cannibalize our own Hearts in time of great need for power?”
“And how we shouldn’t,” said Scorio.
“Right. Engorgers can do the same. They can fuel their powers with their own, hyper-infused substance. They basically don’t run out of power.”
Scorio nodded slowly. “And this helps us how?”
Leonis grinned. “They’re walking reservoirs of mana. Which means a hungry Great Soul can draw on them as if they were an ambient cloud. It’s harder, but theoretically, we could drain him dry from a distance.”
“At the very least weaken him,” said Lianshi. “I doubt the three of us combined have the capacity to destroy him.”
“Wait.” Scorio licked his lower lip, thoughts tumbling. “Have you ever done this before?”
“Nope,” said Leonis, clearly excited.
“It can’t be as easy as harvesting ambient mana. And that’s something I—well.” Scorio bit back his pride. “I’m working on it.”
Leonis smiled, eyes disappearing as laugh lines radiated out broadly from their corners. “Don’t worry. We’ve got some practice between us, Lianshi and I. Here’s the plan. You’ll walk down the bridge. Draw it out. We’ll climb along the underside, out of sight. When it appears, we’ll drain it, you finish it off.”
“It’s a terrible plan,” apologized Lianshi.
“It does sound… risky.” Scorio sat back on his heels. “Its tongue paralyzes its prey.”
“We’ll disrupt the effect with our draining,” said Leonis.
“I’ve a less glamorous but safer idea,” said Lianshi. “We wait for some natural prey to stumble along, and when the toad attacks, so do we. Drain from a distance, and then close and kill it.”
“A worthy plan,” said Leonis in a dismissive tone, “but Scorio, tell us if you wilclass="underline" how often does prey come across this area?”
“Not often,” said Scorio. “I’ve seen it strike twice over the course of several days.”
Leonis gave Lianshi a fake smile. “Alas.”
“This is what I’m thinking,” said Scorio. He’d been mulling this plan over in his mind over the course of the past Eighthday, examining it from every angle as he trained. “You two cross over the narrow part of the chasm to the west over there with my bridge.” And here he took it out from within his robes and balanced it on his palm. “That promontory is far enough away that it shouldn’t attract the toad, but you’d best move quick not to draw the shadow beast. You’ll then make your way back being careful to not be seen. Meanwhile, I’ll cross the bridge—”
Leonis nodded approvingly.
“—and I’ll have my chalk handy.” He drew it out next. It was down to a quarter of its original length, and the thought of losing it gave Scorio a pang of mild panic. “When the toad emerges, I’ll draw a line before me to block its tongue attack. That’s got to use up some of its mana reserves. Once the attack is foiled, I’ll slip around the invisible wall and wait for its second attack, and block that. I’ll keep blocking till it gives up, by which point it will hopefully be partially drained already. Originally, I’d thought you both could attack it from behind, but perhaps that’s when you can launch your drain attack.”
Both were nodding slowly.
“I like it,” said Lianshi. “We weaken it, drain it further, and then when we’re ready we all close in for the kill.”
“Feng said engorged fiends are very advanced, and can be quite intelligent,” warned Leonis. “So don’t underestimate it.”
“Then maybe we’ll drive it off,” said Lianshi. “That would be even better. If it’s smart enough to know it’s been outwitted, it might just flee.”
“Feng also said that engorged fiends have incredibly rich heartstones. So if we do kill it, we’ll profit greatly.”
“Heartstone?” asked Scorio.
“The focal point of their powers,” said Leonis in a business-like tone. “The more powerful the beast, the more potent the heartstone, and the more mana or derivatives that can be extracted from it via alchemy. Heartstones form the basis of most elixir and pill creation, as well as being the foundation of mana traps.”
“Got it,” thought Scorio, thinking the kitursk heartstone he had back in his chamber. “Interesting. Are they valuable?”
“Can be,” said Leonis. “Depends on the Heartstone. But sure. I mean, the Academy has to get its pills and treasures from somewhere, right? And those folks have to have the resources to make them.”
“Right,” said Scorio, rubbing pensively at his jaw. “Right.”
“So,” said Lianshi, rubbing her palms nervously on her thighs. “Is that the plan? We cross with your bridge, you wait for us to signal you, then you cross in turn?”