SS1 2.5 – Shutting Down The Nest
In Argus, mana was strategic resource with fixed amount. Monster absorbed and used it to strengthen their might through two means. First, by sleeping inside the nest that would gather and refine mana so they could absorb it directly through their breathing. Second, by devour magic user from other races and digested their mana.
And so, when you kill a monster its mana would be release back into nature and could be absorbed by magic user from other race, while shutting down a nest would reduce their direct access to mana. This was one of the reasons why hunting monster and shutting down their nest became vital for humanity survival.
The job itself was being divided into two categories. Knight from Patrician Household and S-rank hunter from House of Hunter would eliminate high-level monster and high-level nest, while A-rank hunter and below would taking care of mid-level and low-level monster and their nest. That’s what Mike told me as we departed from Karmen.
And now, I and Mike were already lying flat on the cliff edge we used to set up machine gun look out yesterday. A few meters on our left, Tim and McKay stood guard behind a tree. Their job was to anticipate in case goblin sentries from the steep slope decided to take a stroll and entered our perimeter.
Meanwhile, Matt and Sanchez went to eliminate goblin sentries on the smooth slope 200 hundreds meter on our right. Then, they radioed us.
[Gunner Two to Lead One, do you copy?]
Without delay Matt pressed PTT button. “This is Lead One, loud and clear Gunner Two.”
[We have eliminated the sentry, and the package is ready on the starting line.]
“Copy. Be ready and wait for my signal.”
[Roger, Gunner Two over and out.]
After taking a deep breath Mike then pressed PTT button one more time. “Gunner one, how is our left flank?”
[Coast is clear, all calm and quiet here.]
“Copy, and stay vigilant.”
[Roger.]
Mike then turned his gaze to me. “Set the relay antenna.”
“Roger.”
Without delay I deployed the mini relay antenna. Once the package entered the nest, the signal reception would decreased or even fully gone. To prevent it, we extended the signal reception using relay antenna and it had to be positioned in straight line to the deepest part of the nest.
“Fortunately, the tunnel to nest center is in straight line,” I said after checking the signal was strong and solid. “We are ready.”
“Roger.”
Mike then cocked up his suppressed MCX DMR and put one round in the chamber. After that he took aim at goblin sentries in front of nest entrance. Then, his breath gradually became as gentle as breeze.
Beeb!!
Beeb!!
Two suppressed precession shooting beautifully hit the goblin sentries in the head. Their lifeless body then slumped to the ground like a rag. That was magnificent display of marksmanship, but Mike’s expression stayed casual as if it was nothing.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Once he was sure the goblin sentries didn’t get up anymore, he put the selection-lever back to safety and pressed PTT button.
“Gunner Two, package is a go, I say again package is a go.”
[Roger, sending the package.]
A moment later, I saw the Hilux approached the nest entrance at 15 km/h. Matt deliberately limit its speed below 15 km/h to maintain the element of surprise. Then, it smoothly entered the nest and gone from our sight, and before long we heard a series of rapid explosion.
It seemed the goblin sentries on the steep slope also heard the explosions. They ran back to the nest as fast as they could, but McKay and Tim annihilated them all using their suppressed rifle. Pretty much like goblin sentries in the nest entrance, this flock also lifelessly fell to the ground right after well-placed shooting hit their vital. I bet they also died without knowing what killed them.
Then, Mike took out his tablet while saying, “No angry roar or commotion. I hope it’s a good sign.”
“I hope so,” I calmly replied.
A moment later, Mike received a silence notification and after checking it a smile bloomed in his lips.
“It’s a good sign,” Mike said as he showed the notification to me.
[11 Minotaur kills, +110.000 mollar]
[16 Orc kills, +3.200 mollar]
[23 Minotaur kills, +1150 mollar]
“It’s indeed a good sign,” I happily expressed my agreement.
---
After waiting for 20 minutes to let the temperature in the nest center dropped into a level where we could enter it safely, I and Mike went to perform the final touch to shut down the nest. In the nest entrance, I found the dead goblins had turned into sand piles.
“After mana fully left their body, monster remains will be disintegrating into sand,” Mike casually explained. “For a goblin, it will take about 12 minutes. For a bigger one, it will take a few hours.
If they left mana crystal, we can take it and put it on sale through our tablet.”
“What about magic user?” I curiously asked. “Will they also turn into sand after they die and mana leaves their body?”
“No, you have to cremate their body to speed up the mana release. You also definitely can’t let monster to have them because they can digest and absorb mana within the flesh and blood of magic user.”
“Is that the reason why we hunt monster while monster prey on magic user?”
“Well, monster is native of Argus.” After a short pause Mike added, “Initially, the high-monster summon weakling from other race to be used as their livestock.
But fifty years ago the rebellion against monster broke out place, and here we are trying to hold our ground against monster which number is 25 times bigger than the combination of other races.”
“I see.”
“Other question?”
“Nope.”
“Let’s get the job done then.”
“Roger.”
Wasting no time we entered the nest, walked down the tunnel, until we arrived in the nest center. I found the nest center’s layout was pretty much like the one that Sanchez drew for me. It had dozens of sleeping box with different height.
Meanwhile, white smoke raise from Hilux remains in the middle of nest center. I also found pile of charcoal in each sleeping box, while strong smell of burn pricked my nose. However, other than that I didn’t find burning mark on the floor, ceiling, or wall, or any trace that the room had just experienced extreme temperature.
‘What a sturdy infrastructure and magnificent material.’ I muttered as a desire to study the nest filled my mind to the brim. “Mike, can we study this nest before shutting it down?”
“Nope,” Mike firmly replied. “Let’s stick to the plan. Shut it down and then leave on the double.”
“Okay.”
I was very disappointed, but I realized I had to follow the plan. Wasting no time, we then walked over to a glowing red orb as big as volley ball. It was being planted on the floor in the middle of nest center. This red orb was mana refiner orb. It would gather and refine mana directly from the air, and also the nest life support.
All we had to do was putting in a piece of golden coin called dissolver. It would dissolve mana refiner. After that the nest would revert back into ordinary cave and crumbled on its own.
“Here is the moment of truth,” Mike said as he pressed the dissolver into mana refiner using his index finger.
With ease the dissolver coin sank into refiner orb. Then, its glow became dimmer and dimmer until it fully died and the orb crumbled into fine sand. At the same time, the glowing stone on the cave wall also dimmed down and disappeared. Then, Mike received silence notification through his tablet and showed it to me.
[Shutting down a low-level nest, +1.000.000 mollar.]
“That’s one of a hell bonus,” I happily said.
“Yeah,” Mike casually said. “The manual say this place will totally crumble one hour after we dissolve the mana refiner. Let’s leave before that.”
“Copy that,” I firmly replied.
Let alone studied the nest structure, I didn’t even have time to study the car bomb post-detonation to find reference for future improvement. However, I didn’t want to be too greedy. We had just become the first D-rank team that shutting down a nest after all. That’s already a great achievement.
Now, returning alive was more important than anything. We would celebrate and prepare ourselves for the nest hunt.
*****