The first thing I noticed, were the tremors coming up from below. Faint impulses of familiar magic that found their way into both the beans and my own body at roughly the same time. It carried whispers of distant impressions. Rage and indignation in equal measure. Emotions that were far too similar to what normal humans might have felt, if their homes were being encroached upon.
Appropriately, their reactions were very human too. Fueled by the kind of blinding fury that people would feel if their homes were suddenly invaded. Hundreds of bean-men standing at attention within half a heartbeat and forming firing squads before I had a chance to warn the others.
The excitement, the battle lust, burned its way through my mind. Racing down my spine and towards all of my limbs.
I could feel everything they felt and everything they meant to do in slow motion. I could see down the makeshift sights in their gun-arms. I could sense the formation of hardened seeds within the organs that passed for chambers.
My eyes twitching as I endured the tensing of their muscles and the intake of air as pressure mounted inside the tubes. It was as if I, or hundreds of different versions of myself, were about to open fire.
And fire they did.
The sounds came in hard and fast from all kinds of directions. Disorienting me and all my friends and teammates as the echoes bounced off the walls and the stony floor at the same time. The wet, pulping sounds of sliced flesh and broken bone coming in just behind the gunshots.
Whatever else might be said of Marco or Sean, no one could deny the fact that they were durable. I mean, anyone else might have been turned into bloody ribbons as hundreds of biological machine guns and shotguns opened fire on them. But Marco and Sean....
Well. At least they survived the first volley.
As for the others, Yuann managed to shield them by erecting a barrier around himself. His magic slowing down the few errant projectiles that slipped past the two giants. So that the seeds-turned-bullets began gently floating through the area affected by his [Time] core.
Even then, it was hard not to panic. Despite knowing full well that none of the attacks had been aimed at me. After all, if Marco and Sean were in such a sorry state after one volley, it was easy to imagine what would happen to the rest of my team if they were hit. Something they all realized too, given their reactions to the second volley.
"Run!" Ramji shouted. Already taking his own advice and making for the staircase.
"Wait!" I called after him. "At least use your magic on them!"
"I already did! Why do you think the snipers aren't hitting their marks!?"
That took me by surprise.
"What snipers!?"
A boulder exploded next to Emma's head. Leading her to tuck and roll before unleashing a torrent of fire in the opposite direction.
"Oh." I said absentmindedly. Squinting my eyes until I could barely make out a few green vines sticking out from the cracks in the ceiling.
'How? I didn't even feel them there.'
The surprise also came with a sobering realization. Not only was I not in control here, but I couldn't even accurately predict where all the mutated green beans were.
"Dude! Start running!" Drew yelped. Her own magic flowing on the humid air to take hold of the firing squads.
The effect was immediate, as the next few volleys went everywhere and nowhere. Bio-rounds embedding themselves in the walls and floor around us as her magic elicited a supernatural drunkenness in all the opponents.
Elsie added her magic to the fray as well. Sending shockwaves of psionic energy out from her core and leading many bean-men to fall prone as they writhed in agony. Their primitive nervous systems struggling to deal with the equivalent of an induced seizure or three hitting at the same time. The effect seemed to be compounded further on those already under the influence of Ramji and Drew's respective spells, which did much and more to stem the flow of bullets flying our way.
Julian and Fernanda took the chance to grab the fallen and made a hasty retreat with Marco and Sean in tow.
I was running too. Taking note of how the spots that had been struck were writhing and breaking apart. The rounds growing and expanding after finding their final resting place.
For a brief second, I imagined what a living target would be feeling if they happened to be hit. Then, I began hoping that I never had to find out.
Emma and I were the last to dash into the archway and up the stairs. Her blonde hair swirling as she threw a compressed orb of magic. The sphere flying out like a rocket, lighting up the darkened chamber as it sliced its way through the air. Until it found one of the tendrils sticking out of the pit.
After that, there was a rush of steaming air that blasted me a few meters forward. My eyes closing on reflex to shield themselves from the resplendent flare of thermal energy.
'I guess I know what the [Sun] core does now.' I considered. My mind trying to wrestle with the day's events even as my feet kept climbing the wet, slippery staircase.
Once we had ascended, my eyes found coach Russell. His body resting against the left wall as he sat with his feet up.
"Well, someone's here early." He chuckled. "I guess that didn't go your way?"
Sean let out a sound that might have been a groan, but otherwise said nothing. Marco didn't seem to be in the mood to talk either.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Instead, Elsie rose up to the challenge. Her blue eyes now shining like sapphires as they reflected what little light there was up here.
"Coach Russell. I am making a final decision as the highest levelled person among my peers. I have judged that the environment on the fourth floor is not conductive to learning right now and that delving down there again will yield no significant results. I have come to this conclusion for three reasons. First, the monsters Cecil made are far more dangerous than the regular monsters of the fourth. In fact, I would even go so far as to claim they are the equal of monsters beyond the tenth floor, given how well they can coordinate and how entrenched they have become in the little time they've been alive. Second, the very ground and the ceiling are dotted with booby-traps. While they can serve as an adequate learning tool on occasion, running up against them while being shot at won't lead us to learning or to improving. It'll only make us get hurt over and over again. Inflicting needless harm for not enough gains. Thirdly, the setting of the fourth floor right now stands in violation of the rules of war, as the green beans are firing Dum Dum rounds. Furthermore, I suspect they're also adapting other means of fighting, such as barbed wire and chemical weapons. As such, they are not conductive to a proper training environment as they cause unnecessary harm, while not being representative of monsters we will be facing when the floodgates of magic finally burst and monsters spawn in the world at large."
That, was a lot to take in at once. But a few points still stuck out to me above all the others.
"What do you mean they're violating the rules of war?" I asked softly. Knowing full well that I wouldn't like the answer.
Elsie turned to me. Her usual jovial expression nowhere to be seen.
"I mean exactly what I said. Your monsters are currently committing war crimes. As in, more than one. Dum Dum rounds, or any kind of bullet or ammunition that expands after making contact with their targets, are forbidden in modern wars. It is considered inhumane to use them, as they inflict disproportionate harm whilst not really aiding in any strategic objectives."
She paused, and I could almost see the gears turning in her head as she struggled to find the right words.
"When they were first developed, Dum Dum rounds were meant to help colonial powers suppress native uprisings. Since normal ammo tended to penetrate the body one way and exit the other. It just didn't have the necessary stopping power to kill a charging man armed with a spear or a machete or what have you. Not on the spot, anyway. The rebelling forces would still die, but not before crippling or killing the colonial infantry they were charging at. Dum Dum rounds were fundamentally different, in that they were designed to remain in the body after the original shot penetrated. Expanding rapidly to lodge themselves in bones or other organs. As such, they created much larger wounds and internal injuries on the target, while also having much more stopping power. They were banned for that very reason. Because things got very ugly when colonial powers started using them against each other. Doctors and military personnel advocated against their use. Calling them barbaric. Given the time period in which this all happened, that says a lot."
She hesitated once more. Turning her head to glance down at the archway that marked the entrance to the fourth floor and the killing floor it had become.
"Since your beans are firing living ammunition that starts growing and turning into landmines once they hit a target, I'm counting that as a war crime. As for the barbed wire... well. I don't know what to tell you. The path to the fifth was blocked by a wall of thorns. With another two firing lines dug in beyond them and snipers on the ceiling. I think the beans are spreading and they aren't looking for interlopers to come wandering in. Lastly, some of those mines Sean triggered didn't explode. Instead, I saw them hissing, as some kind of invisible gas left them. I think it could be some kind of neurotoxin. Which is, again, a war crime."
She paused then. Turning to face Marco and Sean as they lay on the steps. Their bodies shrinking little by little as they struggle to remain conscious.
"Speaking of which, you might want to start healing them. Those wounds look really, really bad."
I didn't need to be told twice. My fingers soon finding purchase on their bodies as my magic began to flow into them.
Sure enough, Elsie was right on all counts.
The wounds they had suffered were indeed wriggling. Flesh parting as hardened seeds broke open inside of them. Small vines turning into roots after attaching themselves to their bones and other important organs.
Both wailed as I healed them, though, in a welcome surprise, the plants stopped their assaults after they noticed my magic at work. Disentangling themselves from the places where they had found purchase and leaping out onto the stony steps below. Julian and Fernanda wasted no time in crushing them, as Ramji and Yuann went over to the side to throw up.
Coach Russell had been silent for some time now. His eyes tracking me as I healed all the injuries my team members had.
"Cecil." He began after another minute.
"Yes, coach Russell?"
"Did any of the bean soldiers attack you?"
"No, coach Russell. They only attacked the others. They started when Sean stepped on one of the dead bodies. I... It all happened too fast and I lost track of my connection to them as soon as the fighting broke out."
Coach Russell nodded. His face devoid of its usual joviality.
"I see." He spoke after a few more seconds. "In that case, I will leave this to your discretion."
He brought up a hand.
"Two choices lay before us now. Option one. I go down there and destroy whatever creatures are still entrenched and I don't stop until after I've run out of monsters to kill. You guys then get to practice regular monster slaying on the deeper floors under my direct supervision."
He paused once more. His eyes softening somewhat.
"This is the safe and responsible option. I honestly wouldn't blame you one bit for taking it. After all, you've already made enough progress for one day and you haven't even had your core for a week at this point. Taking things easy and slowly would be completely understandable. There's no need to rush, now that we've got the main basis for the food project under wraps with the watermelons and... to a lesser extent, the apples and mangoes."
He began moving towards me then. Descending a few steps as I finished healing Marco and Sean.
"Meanwhile, option two involves pushing yourself further, now that you have some momentum. In essence, it involves you and I going down there by ourselves while Elsie and my kids watch over the rest of the group. They shouldn't have any trouble, since she is level 3 and they are both at the peak of level 2. After we go back to the fourth, you will do your best to communicate with the beans, while I stand guard. If anything looks like its going wrong, I will pull you out faster than you could blink and then, I'll go back by myself to destroy all the beans I can find. I promise that, under no circumstances, will I let any real harm come to you, should you fail to control them."
He took a deep, steadying breath. For that single, solitary moment, coach Russell stopped looking like a deranged serial killer. Instead, looking like someone who truly, genuinely cared.
"I'm not going to lie to you Cecil. A lot of people wouldn't pick the second option. Indeed, a lot of people wouldn't even consider it and they would be rather upset at me for bringing it up in the first place. However, I wouldn't be discussing this with you if I didn't think there was something to be gained. Each core has its strengths and weaknesses and the sad reality is that we're working with limited information here. Especially since a lot of the info Carlyle had is now unreliable as people train properly and get stronger cores. This scenario, where a single blast of magic at level 1 overturns several floors... well. It isn't unheard of, but the few cores that could pull it off are not cores we tolerate around these parts. We could use the info. And the added strength this kind of magic brings. You could do a lot of good if you got this power under control and you could progress much faster if you got it under control now, rather than later."
He heaved a sigh. In a manner that left me wondering is this wasn't some impostor that was pretending to be coach Russell.
"But I can't force you to go down there in good conscience. Not when you've already done so much. So, as I said. The decision is yours to make."