~~~Lee~~~

Lee felt a little better about things when he saw the massive forms shooting upward through the ground beneath them. It made things make sense again. This whole lair was weird and far too peaceful. Now he knew why, and everything made sense.

"Underground!" He screamed his warning even as Bradley dumped mana into the ground under their feet. Lee was ready for it when the dirt beneath the grass turned to stone, and he slammed his hand into it the instant it solidified. A charged rune left his storage and turned the slab into something unbreakable.

Unfortunately, unbreakable didn't mean immovable.

Lee was on the edge of the formation, and the first attack came straight for him. As usual.

The monster slammed into the underside of an indestructible stone slab and very nearly flipped the entire thing on end.

It had the result of launching Lee straight up into the air, along with Mar and the two anubi who'd insisted on standing next to him. Saira and Angelo, at the center, moved the least, while Alejandro, Bradley, and Jason plummeted down toward the next incoming monster.

Mana surged from Bradley, and the slab twisted back under their feet an instant before the next monster reached them. It tilted wildly, but Bradley kept them upright, and they only slid sideways.

Lee tumbled through the air, Mana Mind showing him everything, and waited for his feet to line up beneath him. Then he activated the runes in his shoes and stood up in thin air.

He caught an anubi in each hand and could feel the runes draining at a breakneck pace as he threw them toward Bradley. "Catch!"

Then he tried to jump after them. He was pumping mana into the runes as fast as he could channel it from his feet, but it wasn't enough, and they crumbled away right as he jumped.

Lee tumbled towards the ground even while more monsters burst from the dirt like it was the ocean, and they were hungry sharks seeking to snatch him from the air. Shit...

Mar became visible when she crashed into him; her hands latched onto his arms.

They spun once in the air, and then her feet planted against his chest, and she kicked out. Hard.

Lee fell towards the group, and Mar fell in the opposite direction, down towards the horde of monsters, flickering out of sight.

"Mar!" Bradley screamed.

She flipped over in the air, and Lee saw Mana burst from her feet as she activated her own shoes. Then he watched the runes fade as the charge ran out. No...

"Mar!" more voices screamed as someone caught Lee and put him on his feet.

Grunts, yells, snarls, and the clang of metal echoed around him, but Lee remained focused on Mar. She was still within his range, and he saw her somehow twist in the air and land blades first on the back of one of the smaller scaly creatures.

Mana Mind abruptly saw inside the monster and saw the core forming in the creature. She killed it! Then she jumped from its back and landed on another one closer to Lee and the rest of the group.

This time she landed feet first, and the thing twisted, throwing her off and onto the ground. Mar tucked into a roll, but as soon as she touched the ground, every single monster nearby turned to her and charged, even though she was still invisible. She only rolled once before getting her feet under her and bounding into the air again.

The monsters immediately turned back towards the rest of the group. They can't see her, so long as she doesn't touch the ground.

"Mar!" Multiple voices screamed her name, but Saira's voice stood out as the loudest.

"She's okay!" Lee yelled, watching as she landed on another monster.

She had learned from the previous mistake and landed blades first again. This one didn't die instantly, but she stayed atop it as it squirmed and then died.

Lee's hands clenched tight around the plate that formed in his hands, desperately trying to think of a way to help the girl. Meanwhile, the monsters swarmed Bradley's little platform from all sides.

The good news was that they couldn't break through from below, but that didn't stop them from trying. It turned what should have been a slaughter into a stumbling mess of chaos as everyone tried to fight on top of the bouncing platform.

Bradley's mana surged past Lee, and a wall of earth rose in front of the charging monsters. They went through it like it wasn't there.

"I can't block them with earth!" Bradley yelled.

Mar was forced to jump away when another of the creatures tried to crawl over the corpse she was perched on.

"Back in formation!" Alejandro yelled. "Let them climb on, Bradley. They're not very strong!"

"Where is Mar!?" Saira yelled.

"She is still out there," Lee said. "They can't see her!" He watched Mar kill another one closer to the group, and, almost immediately, she had to jump away. The closer she came to them, the more thick and frenzied the horde became. Lee pointed towards her. "That way!"

Swords and a giant axe flashed all around him as the group fought in a circle, with Saira in the middle. The anubi stubbornly stood at Lee's side.

Meanwhile, Bradley outfought everyone, spending mana in huge bursts as he forced the platform through the monsters and toward Mar's position. His staff moved almost too fast to follow, while his body seemed to lurch around in sudden bursts of movement.

Whatever he was doing, it worked. Brown scales shattered under his blows, and his staff blasted through the flesh beneath. He was cutting them to pieces, and he didn't even have a sharp weapon.

The monsters died even easier to the swords, many with only one blow, but more filled the gaps a heartbeat later. Lee's Mana Mind saw only more in every direction.

"Let's move towards the exit!" Alejandro called. He bashed a monster and then decapitated it before pushing it aside. Another monster took its place, and Alejandro killed that one too, but he couldn't push it out of the way before another crawled over it and leapt at him.

"There are too many of them!" someone else yelled. "Just hold the..."

"Below us!" Lee yelled as more of the creatures came surging up through the ground.

"I see it!" Bradley dumped Mana into the ground, and the slab only rocked under the blow.

Lee split a monster's head in half while blocking a second with his shield. Trak met the third with his runed knife stabbing into the thing's head. "My lord, you are bleeding!"

"Save the potions for the others!" Lee ordered. He didn't know how much Saira could do since the formerly green field was nothing but churned and bloody dirt now.

"Where's Mar?" Bradley called, his weapon never slowing as he single-handedly carved a swath through the horde.

"She's okay." Lee dropped a bomb rune onto the plate and threw it in the opposite direction of the aforementioned girl. Unfortunately, these monsters weren't like the flies. They weren't after the mana. They were also a lot tougher.

The explosion only killed one and wounded a few around it. Better than nothing.

"This is fine!" Alejandro said. "We can hold for now. Just conserve your mana."

They did. People panted for breath and grunted with exertion but kept killing the endless horde. Saira used her mana sparingly, alternately growing the vines wrapped around her, then draining them to heal. Mostly, she was anxiously staring out at the horde and looking for Mar.

Monsters kept trying to come through underneath them, but the 'floor' prevented them from doing so. Unfortunately, their attempts had another effect.

"Bradley!" Lee called. "The…"

"I see it!" Bradley called back. "Everyone brace! I'm moving the ground again!" The floor shifted and slid under their feet as Bradley moved them away from the increasingly hollow underground space that they were about to sink into.

"Where is Mar?" Saira sounded frantic.

Lee was still watching her jump around, avoiding the ground, as she killed one after another of the monsters. "She is still..."

Something new entered his perception. It arrived before he could even call out a warning. A monster at least three times bigger than the rest burst from the ground and launched through the air straight for them.

Alejandro saw it coming. A glowing yellow light surged through his shield as he met the charge and stopped it cold.

The floor shook underneath them and tilted slightly as the monster crashed into Alejandro's immovable shield. Then he swung his blade down and parted the thing's skull before it could recover from the charge.

Then another of the giant monsters charged into Lee's perception, repeating the previous tactic of jumping into the air to get above Bradley's slab.

"I can't stop that one yet!" Alejandro yelled.

Bradley screamed as the ground they stood on slid aside, mostly out of the monster's path.

The man with the huge, two-handed axe met the monster as it passed. His blade bit deep, carving a bloody trench through its side as it went by. The creature screeched as blood and viscera sprayed over the man and everyone near him.

Lee ignored the gore as he watched the runes in the large axe dim noticeably after the blow. It didn't do that before… Are these monsters too strong?

The dying monster rolled over and smashed a few of its smaller allies. Which was nice. Especially when Mar took advantage of the huge corpse and finally leapt back into the group.

Her invisibility vanished on the way down, and Lee could see blood all over her, then Saira grasped onto her and wrapped her in a hug. Mar held the hug briefly before pulling away and joining the fighters defending their small patch of runed earth. "I'm fine, Mom!"

Lee pumped more mana into the slab after another impact dimmed them. He watched the runes dim as more monsters died around him. Finally, he had to act. "Alejandro! I need to recharge your sword!"

He waited until Alejandro killed one and before the next could take its place. Alejandro swung his sword hand back, and Lee touched it, channeling mana into the sword. The runes flared back to full brightness, and Lee repeated the process with each of the fighters.

More of the big ones appeared, and Alejandro stopped one while the others fought against another. Bradley moved the ground to avoid the third, and they killed the giants one by one. Each blow or block against the larger monsters steadily drained the runes in their gear. The smaller ones took some energy as well, but it was negligible in comparison.

Bradley kept sliding the platform towards the entrance, but it felt like the monsters were actively trying to block the path and keep them from escaping.

Everyone around him was breathing hard as they fought, except Alejandro, with his E-grade strength. Lee could see the mana in the air, now thicker than inside Three, what with all the dying monsters dumping mana into the environment. He used the excess to supplement his own dwindling supply.

There was a lot more earth mana in here than anything else, and Lee could see Bradley drawing in even more mana than he was, all of it flowing through his feet.

"Can you get us out of here?" Lee yelled over the noise.

"I'm trying!" Bradley said. "Something is fighting me!"

Lee pulled in more of the ambient mana as Bradley moved them towards the exit again, and he saw it. Mana surged ahead of them, and the ground flowed like water to drag the whole platform off to the side and back towards the center. Shit.

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"Can you put up walls?" Alejandro asked.

Bradley was still moving the platform as the ground kept trying to erode beneath them. "More weight, and I might not be able to move it fast enough!"

Then we get dragged under, Lee thought. What can I do about monsters hiding underground? Mana Blast might do some damage, but they were swimming deep, deeper than his Mana Mind could reach.

He created another plate and wasted a few attempts on tweaking a rune he hadn't used before. Then Lee tossed it out and into a hole that they had just moved off of. Then he did it again and again, over and over.

Until his mana ran too low.

Lee kept pulling in all the mana he could, but even with all of it in the air, it just wasn't much when it condensed into liquid mana in his core. It was barely enough to keep their platform rune from failing...

The screaming noises of the monsters shifted tone while he was hacking at them. Lee smiled.

Ominous red glows were shining up wherever he had dropped the discs.

"What did you do?" Bradley said.

"Liquid hot magma!" Lee shouted gleefully. A deafening screech drowned out his shout as a truly massive monster surged out of the ground between them and the exit. Oh, shit.

The monster, which looked like all the rest only bigger, was a cross between an armadillo and a naked mole rat, with none of the cuteness of either, and towered over twenty feet into the air above them.

It charged with blinding speed across the ground.

Lee thought he could see a few burnt patches on the queen's hide. It had to be a queen at that size, or maybe a queen's guard?

The behemoth struck like a meteor, and Alejandro stopped its charge cold. The runes of his shield and armor blinked out instantly at the impact, but he stopped it.

Then it attacked again, and Alejandro used his own shield skill to block its teeth and claws while Bradley kept the platform sliding away to avoid it trampling over them.

Lee watched the fight and considered if this was the moment to test his Mana Blast on an E-grade.

Mar appeared with her long knives already sunk into the boss's eye, then kicked off its face and vanished before it could do more than scream at her. Alejandro took advantage of the monster's distraction and took off most of one clawed foot.

Lee felt heat behind them, and then they were sliding over the glowing red earth. The enraged monster didn't realize the danger until it charged into it. Before it could retreat, the others attacked. The burning ground had driven away the smaller enemies, and now everyone could focus on the boss, who had chased them a bit too far.

Bradley circled them around the boss, keeping it from backing up while blades carved bloody lines and pieces out of it. It was gruesome and slow as the weapon runes steadily lost power from cutting through the beast's thick armored hide.

Alejandro's shielding skill finally failed under the assault, and the metal crumpled in the jaws of the monster. That kinetic rune on his armor might have cost more than it was worth...

Then it started dragging Alejandro away by the shield crumpled around his arm. Bradley had to stop the retreat and push forward to save him.

Lee rushed forward, hand outstretched, ready to unleash what little mana he had. He just needed to get past Alejandro...

Trak got there first. The idiot literally dove into the monster's eye, a small, runed knife held out before him. The anubi vanished in a burst of eye juice, and then the monster thrashed wildly, dragging Alejandro into the air.

Bradley fell to his hands and knees as the ground lurched after the monster, desperately trying to keep up with Alejandro and keep him from falling into the now cooling but still hot ground.

He made it underneath right as the monster finally stopped moving, hung poised in the air, then toppled down to land with a crash.

The queen has surrendered. Lair defeated.

Just like that, it was over. The few remaining monsters all retreated underground, at least where the ground wasn't melting, and a small form crawled out of the boss's ruined eye.

Trak raised a bloody knife high and howled. The other anubi howled along with him.

Lee sighed along with the other humans.

They had lost a few blades, along with Alejandro's shield, when the runes depleted. Bradley still had his staff, still covered in runes, though the battery was mostly empty. It was recharging slowly, but Bradley drained it all immediately while moving their patch of ground towards the exit.

Everyone clambered off of the now alarmingly warm patch of runed and bloody earth when they reached the trees, but Alejandro stopped them before they left the Lair. "Let's take a rest before we go out there. Just in case."

"Are all E-grades like this?" Angelo asked while collapsing into the grass. "The deer didn't even attack us!"

"I think they weren't the real lair monsters," Bradley said. "I should have detected them!" He stood barefoot in the grass with his eyes closed and breathed heavily while leaning on his staff. "I should have seen it sooner!"

"It's not your fault," Alejandro said tiredly.

The gore drenched Trak stepped in front of Lee and held up a glowing core. "Your spoils, my lord!"

Lee took it.

Skill Shard [E-grade]

Dirty Movement (Rare)

The earth is mine to tread.

User may expend mana to increase movement speed while in direct contact with earth or soil.

Skill Level Effects (Novice)

+1% Effective Intelligence

+1% Movement Speed

Requires:

Mana Core/Channels[N/A][Adaptable]

Earth Affinity [N/A][Adaptable]

Race(Stakshiak) [N/A][Adaptable]

"I think you're right about the monsters," Lee said, and then tossed the core to Bradley.

"Cool," Bradley muttered.

Trak barked at the other anubi, and it immediately dropped to all fours and sprinted back deeper into the Lair.

"What are..." Alejandro asked.

"We will harvest the spoils, my lord," Trak said to Lee, then bowed to Alejandro. "By your leave."

"Is it safe?" Alejandro asked. "We know there are still some in there."

"Do not worry," Trak said. "We have all spent time in lairs before for this very task. I will assist to hasten the process." He, too, dropped to all fours and ran after the other one.

"They might steal some cores," Angelo said softly once they'd moved off.

"Hah." Alejandro chuckled. "I think Trak might have earned it for that ridiculous stunt he pulled."

Lee didn't bother to tell the man it was impossible for them to steal from him, mostly because he saw Alejandro pull a burrito from his pack. The smell confirmed it. "You got breakfast burritos too?"

"Of course," Alejandro grinned. "You were coming with me." Then he handed it to Lee.

It was only a little smashed, and Lee didn't care as he practically inhaled it. Status.

Status

Name: Lee Cascade

Race: [Mana Conduit](F-Grade Human)

Titles: [F-grade Source] [First Time?]

Traits: [Adaptable](69%) [Source Nexus] [Conduit] [Ley Line Attuned] [Runic Resonance] [Runic Augmentation] [Source Burned]

Class: Runic (Legendary) - Level 34 (Intermediate)

Class Skills: Artistic Rune Shaping (Epic) - Level 49 (Intermediate) | Rune Soul Storage (Epic) - Level 23

Attributes:

Strength: 87(+161%)227

Vitality: 91(+162%)238

Dexterity: 88(+160%)228

Wisdom: 90(+856%)860

Intelligence: 95(+856%)908

Willpower: 89(+856%)850

Twin-Soul ???(+???%)???

Non-Class Skills(3/3):

Liquid Mana Blast (Rare) - Level 9 (Novice) | Liquid Mana Inferno (Rare) - Level 1 (Novice) | Mana Mind (Epic) - Level 45 (Intermediate) | Create Plate (Rare) - Level 23 (Basic)

Buffs:

Debuffs: [Frail] [Feeble] [Hungry]

It took him a minute of looking at his status before he noticed what was bugging him. No Three.

"So who gets this?" Bradley held up the core that was once again in his hands.

"I figured you would... if you wanted it." Lee glanced around. No one objected. "Think it will be useful?"

"Yes... but I think it could be useful for anyone."

"You're the one most likely to be 'on or in' dirt." Alejandro said.

"What about the stats?" Bradley asked. "It gives a lot."

"We're going to find lots of E-grade cores," Alejandro said. "That skill looks useful, so I say take it."

Lee nodded his agreement with his mouth full, and the core dissolved into Bradley's hand. They all watched as he walked around following the skill absorption, but the effect wasn't readily apparent. Bradley's smile was a good sign, though.

Debuff Removed: [Hungry]

Lee ate the last bite of his burrito with regret that it was over. The others finished eating, and Alejandro woke up Jason, who was sleeping in the grass...

The Anubi came back, giant packs towering over their small forms and a pouch full of glittering cores.

"So who wants to hit E-grade?" Lee asked when the pouch landed in his hand. "Bradley, I'd say you and Saira are the priority right now."

Bradley froze, eyes wide. "Are... are you sure? Don't you want... to..."

Lee shook his head. "I was practically useless in here. I should have just stayed in my..."

"Woah, woah!" Alejandro held up his hands. "Are you kidding!?"

Bradley nodded enthusiastically. "They would have eaten us right off if you hadn't enchanted my platform!"

He had a point, but... "I bet I could make something for you to stick in the ground and do the same thing. I should really have made that already... Remind me when we get back."

"I assume no one will object to our wonderful healer and gardener being on the short list?" Alejandro asked, and no one objected. "Good. Take what cores you need, Saira, and we can discuss the rest on our way home."

A few monsters attacked them on the way, but nothing could stand against them for more than a second, even with fewer weapons. Soon enough, they walked back through the walls.

Buff Gained: [Greenfield Fort]

Lee looked up at Three fondly. It was good to be back.

"Good luck on your evolutions," Alejandro said. "I need to make my rounds, but I look forward to seeing what you get."

"Whatever," Mar said, leaving. "I need a shower." She'd turned out to be rather lacking in attributes... Not only was she not hunting much, but she still wasn't going to Martin's training.

Bradley looked nervous, his eyes darting Mar's way repeatedly, but he still smiled. "I hope it's good."

He headed away, and Lee saw Mar change direction to intercept him right as they left his Mana Mind... They'd been hanging out a lot lately. Heh. Sneaky romance is always better.

Or maybe it wasn't so sneaky.... A pulse of mana flashed from Saira, and Lee saw her smile slightly after the departing duo before she sighed. "I will be in the garden after the evolution, if you need me."

"Thank you, Saira." Alejandro looked like he wanted to throw an arm around her, but he stopped himself and held out his hand instead. "You are a lifesaver. As always."

Lee started for Three and his own workshop. "Good luck." Maybe a nap wouldn't hurt before he got back to work?

"You two take the rest of the day off," Alejandro said to Angelo and Jason, then fell in beside Lee a few moments later. "So how was it? Feel more refreshed?"

Lee muttered some disparaging remarks under his breath and then sighed. "I'm glad I went, but we really need more E-grades. That was a mess."

Alejandro patted him on the shoulder. "We will, Lee. We will."

"I can wait until we have a glut of cores," Lee said. "I just have to..." He stopped. Why was Mar back and following him?

That is not Mar!

"Inside!" Lee took off running for the door, Alejandro only a heartbeat behind.

They wouldn't make it before the two invisible monsters caught up... Ten foot tall monsters with too many limbs and a shell around them very much like Mar's.

Lee considered summoning a plate to dump mana, but there wasn't time. Because two turned into four, then ten. All of them were charging straight for him in giant ground eating strides. It sure was great to have a legendary class...

The door inside loomed before him, and he knew he couldn’t pull it open fast enough... So he lashed out at the nearest ones, using Mana Mind to break their invisibility. Simultaneously, he slid to a stop as he spun to face the threat, meeting Alejandro's gaze briefly and seeing the man's eyes go wide as he also saw what was attacking them.

You have discovered a Hidden Invasion! Contributions Earned. Defeat the Invaders to Receive your Rewards.

The notification appeared the moment he laid eyes on the monsters... and Lee unleashed a Mana Blast directly into one of too many arms reaching for him.

Mana blasted out of his hand in a wave of searing pain and illuminated a nightmarish looking thing for an instant. Then blinding blue light swallowed it up.

Debuff Gained: [Mana Burn]

Lee was already turning, despite the burn, dragging his hand sideways, hoping to remove more of the monsters before his blast ended.

He was off balance from the running sprint and reached his free hand out to catch himself on the side of Three.

It was a mistake to touch the building. A big mistake.

Debuff…

Three had refilled his mana many times before, and Lee had never realized how much the building was holding back when it moved mana from the Well. Three didn't hold back this time.

Mana raged out of his hand with all the unleashed power of his Liquid Mana Blast, and Three refilled it just as fast from the other hand.

Lee didn't get to see what happened next. Not with his eyes. Even his Mana Mind went blind. There was nothing but a mind-searing, eye-searing beam of power burning through his body and extending out the other side.

Debuff…

Debuff…

Lee couldn't think, couldn't scream, couldn't do anything. He barely noticed when, a split second later, Three cut his mana supply.

He came back to himself just enough to wish he would black out or die. He didn't.

Lee was aware of nothing but pain until his ears suddenly popped and he could hear unintelligible noises all around. He thought he should be screaming, but then realized he wasn't breathing. His body wouldn't obey him enough to draw in a breath. He couldn't see. Everything was too bright!

Something foul trickled between his clenched teeth, and Lee couldn't even struggle.

Then something grabbed onto his mind and dragged him down into blessed darkness and silence.