Underworld - Book 7 - Chapter 44

The only real distraction I had revolved around the timing of being given the Light mana-tablet. Knowing the Whitfield’s, their primary motivation was likely what they said. That they saw my friends and home in danger and wanted to give me a chance to defend it. I wasn’t completely ignorant of political maneuvering, however.

Even if I didn’t succeed, they’d given me a real chance, and if I did? It would be impossible not to feel like I owed them. Shamash had praised the value of the information contained already. This wouldn’t just benefit us. It would benefit them. Would it benefit their standing in Sanctuary more than the Illuminated Cathedral, I wondered. In growing closer to us, it may give them more room to negotiate in the future, but would that necessarily improve their standing with the cathedral? Either was possible. This might have been their goal. Was I indebted to them, the Illuminated Cathedral, or both?

The difficulty in casting Scorching Sun wasn’t just in igniting the nuclear fusion reaction. Doing that for an instant wasn’t difficult. Past Chancellors had achieved as much. When I’d used the focal lens, I’d thrown all my mana into it over several seconds. So it required holding the reaction for longer than a few microseconds.

How much did Time Crawl slow down my perception of time? It was hard to say exactly, and that wasn’t my aim, but it wasn’t like extreme slow motion in film. It was to a much higher level than that. Only the fastest things were discernably moving.

In the end, I didn’t find any hidden secrets that unlocked Scorching Sun for me. It was like Calamity or Destruction Magic. It was a natural phenomenon that could only be mastered through skill. On one hand, it made me appreciate high-level magic even more. That didn’t make what I had to do any easier.

The best news out of everything I read was that I wouldn’t have to flood the spell with all my mana at once. I could limit my channeling enough to give me the room to try things. Not indefinitely, but I wasn’t limited to a single try at casting the spell.

Shamash interrupted me with mind-speak when it was time. I had to admit it was nice just sitting there and raking in the experience while I’d been reading. The beast tide had slowed significantly. When we flew up while exiting the tower, I looked over to the altar and saw the Phantom Lynx had been removed and the mana image was gone. Almost all of our defenses had retreated into the necropolis castle walls. The exception was Mel’s minions and Olivia’s tentacle vine monstrosity. They continued fighting off monsters in the north and east.

We touched down to join the group that would be approaching the Colossal. Everyone that had said they were coming was there. It was a gathering of the leaders of the different factions allied to Aeris’s and my harem. I’m not sure I’d ever get used to the term, but it was our reality. We had officially joined the succubi.

There was little conversation. The only surprise addition was Mel. He answered my concern as soon as I looked at him. “I have a transformation that’s good for running away.”

I didn’t object. “Then are we ready?”

“Should we inform the Primordial?” Debra asked.

We all turned in Xaphan’s direction half a mile away and he responded by pushing himself into a seated position.

“Brother,” Mistress Nava said. “How confident are you?”

In casting it without a focal lens, I wasn’t. But I felt I had an advantage because I had something the last couple chancellors did not. I had my Solar Form. “Fairly confident,” I replied.

“Good enough. If you fail spectacularly, at least we’ll get to see what this abomination looks like.”

“There is that,” Travis snorted. He realized who it was he was responding to only after he’d replied, which left us with an uncomfortable silence.

Nava didn’t have a reaction.

“Let’s go,” Shamash announced. And so we were off. A lich, a heavy metal Werewolf that lacked the matching mullet, a goth redheaded necromancer that wasn’t depressed enough to make the look work, a Wind Wisp, a Solar man, a gloved Victorian lady and her shirtless peasant husband, two purple auraed goblins that were too handsome to look real, a pair of Dire Wolves that towered over us, and a shoeless succubus in platemail with well-manicured toes all took a stroll down yonder to see what they could see.

What we didn’t know was that from a greater distance than thirty miles away we could already see it. We’d probably been able to see it all the way back when Shamash had first sensed it. We just hadn’t realized it. The closer we got, the clearer it became. The reason for our confusion was twofold. First, it had stretched itself vertically so that it could feed off anything that was hiding on the Cavern Level’s ceiling as well as the ground. Because of this, it looked like a part of the cavern. Secondly, it was also several miles wide.

How was it possible to defeat such a thing? Then I remembered the city of Persepolis. It was indeed smaller than this abomination, but it had also been built inside an alcove. Rock had been surrounding it on all but one side. This region was open and would allow for far more expansion from Scorching Sun.

 That didn’t alleviate my doubts. How was this thing even moving? I tried Creature Observation, and even though there was a delay, I got the information I needed.

Wererat Colossal

(Abomination)

Level: 83,041

Health Points: 413.7 million

Mana Points: 161.9 billion

Attributes

Strength: 147

Dexterity: 131

Constitution: 413,757

Intelligence: 120

Wisdom: 1,630

Looking at its stats, my eye twitched. “What in the Underworld…” On paper, it was the most ridiculous thing I’d ever seen. A giant pile of meat indeed. The only thing impressive at all was its health and that insane mana pool. I didn’t realize I had slowed. Everyone else did with me.

“What?” Aeris asked.

I showed her.

“It’s a Wererat? Aren’t those one of the weakest creatures on the Dungeon Level?”

“Seriously?” Travis asked.

“It’s possible,” Jeremiah confirmed. “Anything can become a Colossal. May I?”

I then took a moment to show everyone the pop up.

“161 billion…” Mistress Nane said. “If it lost control of that much mana, I’m not sure any of us would survive even from this distance.”

“It’s not too late for anyone that wants to retreat to do so,” Debra reassured them. “There’s no shame when facing such a monster.”

“Brother Khaba,” Liulfr rumbled using his Sonic Magic. “The lady is right. Brynhild and I haven’t come to fight. If you feel you must go, then go.”

Seeing the goblin staring up at the giant wolf that could gobble him up in one bite with heartfelt gratitude wasn’t quite the oddest thing I’d ever seen, but it was up there. “Thank you, Brother Liulfr. I look forward to our next opportunity to hunt.”

There was a deep growl of acknowledgement that came from the Dire Wolf. Brynhild stepped forward and lowered her nose so that Nane could pet it.

We all took the time to say farewell to the couple. Even Nava wished them well.

Master Khaba addressed me as they readied to leave. “My boy, it seems we decided too late to be of much help to you.”

I grinned. “You helped the others learn to use aura, and I didn’t miss how well the Goblins and Dire Wolves hunted together. I just hope we can save Sanctuary, so we have a place to host you.”

“Even if you fail, our tribe has gotten a taste of what its like to step out of the shadows and to participate in a winning battle. We’ve grown more in the last two days than in the last century. This has only solidified our relationship with the people of Sanctuary. We will see you again.”

Nane waved as she followed her husband back the way we had come. With their purple forms and auras surrounding them, they were fast. Maybe just not fast enough to run from this mountain of meat…

Turning back toward our destination, no one said anything before we continued on. It wasn’t long before Shamash called out. “This should be enough.”

We were about ten miles from Sanctuary. Aeris, Shamash, and I kept going. Flying up, we stopped two miles away from our friends who were there to witness it and possibly get some experience if I was successful. We were halfway between the ground and the ceiling. It should give me all the room I’d need to work with. We still had some time.

Removing the focal lens, I examined its smoky crystal. Jeremiah had said it only had forty to fifty percent durability left. In other words, there was no guarantee it would be able to cast another Scorching Sun. It could also create a violent explosion if it failed.

Taking a deep breath, I put it away. I sorted through all the things I had learned. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what I wanted to try, or that I couldn’t theorize on what might work. That was the easy part. There were so many variables though. This wasn’t exactly a controlled experiment.

“Fail or succeed, I’m here, El,” Aeris said.

I chuckled “Not going to hype me up, or give me a speech about the importance of confidence?”

She flashed into her Sprite Form and was hanging onto my neck and looking up at me in the next moment. “My husband has never lacked confidence. You’ve always been that way. There may have even been a time I was a tad jealous. You’re the only one of us that would’ve undoubtedly survived here. We’re here because of you.

“It’s never been a question of whether you can, El. It’s a question of whether you should. When you accidently killed all those people—wiped out that vampire city—where were they standing?”

My eyes narrowed. “What do you—”

“They were directly in front of you. Where is our city now? Where is Sanctuary?”

When I glanced back, she grinned. “It’s behind you. You’re not defending yourself this time. You’re defending our home. We all founded it together. The guys. the girls. We lived there, worked hard, built it up, defended it... Even when the girls were taken and you were banished, how many months did the guys continue to work to improve it before our return? So let me ask you, El. Should you?”

“Okay. That was a pretty good speech.”

She giggled, but her gaze didn’t soften. “Should you, El?”

“Should I ask Shamash to make us a privacy chamber so that I can do husbandly things to my wife while we wait?”

She gave me a deadpanned expression. “Are you confident Xaphan won’t be able to see through the barrier?”

I glanced to the side to see Xaphan standing quite a distance away. “I’m not,” I admitted with a shrug.

“So tempting,” she scoffed. “You better stay focused, mister. You have more important things to think about.”

“Yeah. Just promise me you’ll fly back when Scorching Sun becomes self-sustaining. I’m pretty sure I could survive a little exposure with my Astral Body, but I don’t want this to be a test as to whether you can as well. Got it?”

“Yes, Sun Daddy. Your Wind Wifey will obey.”

I cringed. Then she kissed me.

Checking my inventory, I confirmed I had a few thousand Master Solar Orbs ready for absorption if necessary. I’d been making more during my studies.

Once Aeris had switched back into her Wisp Form and flown off to the side, Shamash addressed me. “Now we wait. Remember, Colossals are attracted to mana. It’s not the kind of creature that will be scared off by what you’re going to try. Instead, it will only speed up to get here faster. I recommend casting it from a far enough distance to give you room to retreat. Depending on its pace, you might even get a few opportunities. Make them count.”

As we waited, I tried to judge its speed. It was impressive that it was moving so fast considering its size, but how was it managing it? Its Strength and Dexterity were almost nonexistent. Even its Intelligence and Wisdom were at the lowest possible level for it to have some decent mana manipulation. But that was all. Had the city sized pillar that was creeping in our direction really just started by swallowing monsters and not allowing their mana to exit its body? Then once the snack was dead and not even fully digested, its mana became his?

It was like a blob, or a meat slime. One with an itty bitty Wererat head rolling around somewhere.

Once it was only ten miles out, it was like looking upon a new part of the cavern. It wasn’t clear enough to appear as an organism. I wanted to get started then, but beginning too soon would be a waste of mana. It might not be scared away under my casting but if my magic started to injure it then I could lose the opportunity.

As I hovered there, I didn’t hold back. I let loose the brilliance of my Astral Body and became a shiny little snack in the creature’s path.

When it had halved the distance between us in a few minutes, I confirmed it had sped up. Some of its organic characteristics were now visible. For one, the entire grey flesh sack that was its body rippled like a waterbed mattress. There were also enlarged hairs jotting out at random that were many meters in length. It was disgusting to look at. Almost like there was a giant slug or leech that would soon be attempting to swallow me whole. The very thought of the creature repulsed me.

“Be ready,” the lich announced.

I’d fought large monsters before. I considered Xaphan my first. He’d been rather frightening, but that hadn’t stopped me from trying to steal Blue Magic from him. That was how foolish I was at the time. There was the giant chicken, the bison, the rhino, and even the Leviathan. I had to admit that a literal sea serpent had given me pause. But fear? After what I’d been through, I thought I was past fear, but as that wriggling mass that bulged several miles in every direction drew near, I was reminded of my place in this world of magic that I’d been forced into little more than a year ago.

Transforming my mind back to Solar Being, I cast Time Crawl to restore my focus. How was it possible that a shiny speck of dust could obliterate one of the largest creatures in existence? How did any new settlement get started in a world with monsters that could swallow them whole?

When it squirmed close enough that I saw the big open wounds covering its enormous form, I knew it was time. What was left of partially digested corpses were oozing out of its wounds. Despite that, it didn’t lose a drop of what it was carrying. Whatever entered its body was smothered to death if it couldn’t get out. The Colossal repurposed such bodies to plug its wounds until they eventually healed over.

Shamash gave me the signal and I’d already reverted to my Astral Body. With only a few miles between us, I began to cast. I chose precision over excess. The biggest Artificial Sun I could summon would most certainly injure it, but what was 6 billion MP to 160? Giving it an epic sunburn wasn’t my aim.

Mana flew into the space between us. Too far away and my mana would lose potency and control. Too close, and who knew if I could survive my own spell?

An Artificial Sun billowed from nothing. It didn’t take much for its most basic casting, but I aimed to create the perfect environment. The globe of light intensified as I fed it mana. Even just using my 600,000 mana per second, it expanded to a size and intensity that would’ve left many in the vampire realm dead or fleeing depending on how far they were away from it.

It would’ve been enough to clear the Vampire Gate and most of the outposts I’d wiped out before I’d learned of their true natures. And as for Persepolis, I was keeping the sphere far too compact to fill that alcove’s space, but even if most of the city would be spared, they would’ve died by the thousands.

Light Vision allowed me to see what no eye could see. I could look upon the sun and enjoy watching its storms and currents. Not that I’d got to test it this far under the earth. Artificial Sun was no exception. I saw into the eye of the spell and examined its core. Solar Mana was energized. Even when compressed to a significant degree there was no sign of the Scorching Sun reaction.

Compressing Solar Mana further wouldn’t activate the reaction I was looking for. It would instead create the conditions for making a Solar Orb. And this was the crux of the matter. Scorching Sun was not a reaction of magic. It was a reaction of light whether mana was present or not.

The mana-tablet the Whitfield’s had given me contained volumes debating the validity of this reality. Because they had access to the surface, Chancellor Mather had spent a lot of time learning about light amplification, electron excitation, light wavelengths, and nuclear fusion. However, from my limited understanding of what I remembered from high school, it was obvious that he wasn’t going off of the most recent information.

As soon as my Artificial Sun took shape, the Colossal sludged into action. I knew I wouldn’t have much time from the beginning, and any question as to whether it could move faster was then answered. Detaching itself from the ceiling, it started to fall. A several mile high wave of meat-slime was collapsing in my direction.

The best description of a past Grandmaster Light Mage casting Scorching Sun explained it as the caster condensing the Solar Mana at the core of Artificial Sun into a pre-orb state, then creating the right natural conditions by striking it with Laser.

Whether it was a natural or magic reaction, it didn’t matter. If I could create the right environment, then it would take care of itself.

The Artificial Sun I was casting could’ve easily grown to the size of a small skyscraper but was only currently the size of a house. Compressing it further wasn’t difficult. Just before it reached the stage of Core Creation, I raised my other hand. The center of my spell was the densest. Now I just needed a Laser to transfer enough power.

A Laser with the energy of a billion mana cut through space. The core of my Artificial Sun reacted instantly. Even from a quarter of a mile away, I felt the change in pressure. I dreaded the life devouring Colossal, but I feared this feeling far more.

The meat-slime wave crashed into the ground. It was already nearing my spell.

Like a pillar of light from the sun that had finally broken through the clouds of a storm, Artificial Sun underwent a categoric change and the world brightened. It was like the heavens rung out in warning, except the bells sounded only in my head. They sang with the wails of those I had scorched, but I hadn’t forgotten what Aeris had said. She was right.

An ocean of flesh rushed forward. As it neared my spell, I continued focusing Laser, but something was wrong.

The flesh that approached turned into a mass of smoke and char as it dissolved against the heat. Then as if the Colossal did a giant belly flop, what had crashed down rebounded upward and outward until another wave of meat surrounded my spell.

I continued feeding the reaction. I knew I had failed. I’d reached the level of nuclear fusion, but it wasn’t self-sustaining.

And then, before my eyes, the mass of corpses swallowed the infant star I’d created. The stream of mana supplying it had been cut off. Damage was being done on a catastrophic level, but it didn’t matter to the freakish being before us.

I had a Master Orb in either hand before I turned to flee. Aeris was as shocked as I was, but she also recognized we were far too close to stay in one place.

A quarter of a mile was nothing to the creature that could move like liquid flesh with the power of a literal sea.

The bloated skin reached out from the tumultuous wave. We felt it as much as saw it, for we were facing the way we fled. A great swelling of mana pooled behind us. Then the Colossal proved it didn’t only have its size it could attack with. Flesh and mana erupted behind us. It blew up a part of itself to send a geyser of gore spraying after us in hope of knocking us from the sky.

We’d already sensed it before it came. Aeris and I no longer held back. The wind tore and the sun flared. We shot into the distance toward our already fleeing friends.