Each one is about the size of a pig and they are currently eating away at the rock walls widening the cave. So far they are completely ignoring my presence, but I don't want to just walk past them and leave them behind me. That is just asking to be swarmed from all sides, so I take a swing at the closest one with Blitz.
Instead of severing the head Blitz stops about halfway through the neck, enough to kill it but not what I was expecting. These things are a lot tougher than I thought, and with the death of the first one all the others stop eating the rock and turn to look at me. Looking at the next nearest one I throw out a pair of wind blades aiming both at its neck.
The first one only cracks the carapace but the second one hitting the same spot manages to cut through the neck. At the death of the second beetle all the others in sight suddenly turn and flee down the tunnel. This is not what I was expecting to say the least, I was ready for them to swarm me.
What makes me curious is the tunnel is already bigger than most of the ones I have seen, so why were they still working to enlarge it? As I walk down the tunnel I soon reach a point where I can sense a barrier, but this is a new tunnel so how is there even a barrier? It isn't visible but that is probably because it has been damaged to that point.
Maybe I have been thinking about this all wrong, instead of there being a seperate barrier for each entrance maybe it is just one big barrier. To see if I am right I slowly extend my senses and try to merge them into the barrier. It takes me several minutes to figure out how to do it but once I do I learn a lot about the barrier.
Originally it was a protective shield for the city, it is now working in reverse to keep things inside. It is a huge bubble centered around the big pillar in the middle of the city, and the guardian is meant to be the power source. While I am connected to the barrier I am able to sense where Kechara is, she is currently repairing another breach.
From what I can tell the energy she is feeding to the barrier is something separate from her core energy. It must be what makes her the guardian, but she has to be within a few feet of the barrier for it to transfer. There are many weak points I can see in the barrier, energy from other areas is moved to try to repair breaches, but this weakens the entire thing.
Just to see if I can I feed a little sacred power into the barrier, it has worked before with other things that have mana. To my delight it works and the barrier where I am in the new tunnel is suddenly visible. As I feed it more energy the black wall repairs itself meaning the driders can't get through.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Then I notice something strange happening, the sacred power I put in is moving throughout the entire barrier. I thought I was just repairing the section in front of me but somehow the power is moving further than that. As I watch and trace where my power goes I can see that it is slowly moving to the center of the barrier.
For some reason even though my power increased the amount of mana in the barrier it is doing something else as well. As I watch all the sacred power eventually ends up going into the pillar in the center of the city and vanishes. Now looking at the barrier a lot of the weak spots have disappeared and the entire thing looks stronger.
As I am examining the barrier I notice that Kechara's cave is right up against it, meaning she has been feeding it power whenever she is in the cave. I guess that makes sense, after all providing the energy doesn't seem to weaken the guardian. If the barrier has enough energy then there would be no need to constantly fly around to all the various caves to repair the barrier.
The entire thing is a very efficient and elegant design, and it is a spell on a magnitude I doubt the humans have ever attempted. Two things make me curious though, one what is in the pillar at the center of the city, and two if it was a shield for the city how did it get breached. I am still hoping the history book will provide me with more information, but so far none of this has been mentioned.
In fact, according to what I have read so far the shield wasn't part of the original city. Since there is only a couple of hours of light left I decide I may as well camp here. Before setting up camp I head outside and build a small fire, that way Kechara can find me fairly easily.
Then I go to take a look at the two dead beetles, cutting them open I am surprised to find that like the driders they don't have a core. I eat their hearts but to my disappointment devour does not trigger and what's worse is they taste nasty. The only thing useful about them seems to be how tough their shell is, especially the part on their backs.
After a few tests I find that not only can Blitz not cut it but even punching it with my full strength doesn't damage it. After scraping out the rest of the bug and getting rid of it I put the two shells into my pouch. While they may not be useful to me they would make really good shields for a human.
After I have been sitting and reading the history book for an hour, Kechara finds me and lands nearby after dropping off Bones. Smothering the small fire we all move into the cave and settle down near the barrier. As I build another fire and start cooking dinner I tell Kechara what I figured out about the barrier.
Since I don't know why my power went to the center I am not sure if it is a good idea to give it more power or not. I should probably try to find out more information before I do any more experimenting. With that in mind as soon as I am done eating I go back to reading the history book.
So far I have read through about the first thousand years of the city's history. While it has been really boring so far I am hopeful that somewhere it will have useful information. Since Kechara is still eating and can't read along, I read the book out loud for her.