Chapter 97 - The Motherload (2)
Chapter 97 – The Motherload (2)
-A few minutes earlier-
*Jijijijijijijijijijijijijiji*
Fredrick’s hands moved faster than a jack hammer as he broke out the mana stones from the walls they were lodged into.
Simultaneously, the blocks of stones were pulled into his space ring, not even being allowed to touch the ground.
While doing this, his mana sense ability remained active as it constantly fed him information about the boys and scanned for Cabrera.
The spell’s normal range could not go very far, it was the mana crystals located all over the place that allowed his mana to stretch further with incredible ease.
At some point, Cabrera had somehow disappeared from within his spell’s absurd range.
‘Should I look for him?’ he thought, before shaking his head.
‘He’s an Advanced-rank, he should be able to handle himself, and if he dies…well, I’ll just have to find another person to do the job’
Fredrick didn’t know where Cabrera went, so looking for him could take a good deal of time he could use to milk this cow of a mountain dry of all its worth.
These were mana stones, Cabrera would have to take care of himself, and after all, that was the whole reason for their training.
So with that aside, Fredrick increased his speed to the extreme once more, cause he knew that sooner or later, the battle ongoing outside would end, and all those snake lover potions should have ended already, or would do so anytime now.
With greed guiding both his visions and thoughts, he continued with renewed vigor.
Mind you, as he dug, he was not standing still, no, he was constantly moving across the caverns, because his senses were telling him that there was something else about this place.
The large hole which the snake had dug through the mountain, Fredrick was almost certain that going down that hole would yield other great gains, so he was determined to mine even faster.
While he was digging like crazy, the loud slashing sound resounded from outside the mountain, and after, the snakes hisses and screeches were nowhere to be heard.
Fredrick couldn’t help but stop for a moment with a creased forehead as he thought…
‘Don’t tell me the Admiral was able to kill it? Sir Ezra said the snake couldn’t be defeated by anyone lower than Master-rank…so, is it someone else? Has another Master-rank arrived?’
So many questions and no answers.
Fredrick wasn’t sure because, even if his spell covered most of the mountain, which was already absurd, trying to cover even more distance would mostly fail.
Or worse. It could even backfire if the other Master sensed it, using it to track Fredrick’s location in a heartbeat.
But if anything, Ezra had told them…
“Do not fall prey to the allure of assumptions, because that will be the beginning of the plan failing. It has brought about the downfall of too many. Do not join them”
Fredrick’s pounding heart calmed down as the statement came to his mind.
So, he would have to work with what he knew.
‘Ezra said the snake was a mutant beast of B-rank, with hard scales only Masters could get through…but he also told me that some of the information could be faulty because the future is constantly changing. So, should I go out and kill the person using the element of surprise, or should I continue mining and wait for the person to find me?’
The answer was surprisingly easy.
‘It’s better to just mine faster’
Given that…
‘We didn’t come here to fight in the first place’
And…
‘Ezra said to leave as little traces as possible’
Plus…
‘I don’t know who I’ll be facing or what spells and weapons he uses, so there’s a high chance the surprise attack might end up failing’
And if that happens…
‘I’ll have to leave the mountain and run for at least five minutes, or worse, it becomes a battle of attrition…and if that happens, the plan becomes a total failure!’
Also…
‘Since I have earth sense working every minute, I’ll be able to locate whichever b*stard it is and take him down while holding the element of surprise’
With such thoughts, the solution was clear.
He began mining far faster than his already fast speed while sending an instruction to the boys to relieve their anxiety and yell at them to move faster, which was carried by the echoes after amplifying his throat with mana.
Because the Master-rank personage could arrive in the mountain at any moment, the mission had now become time sensitive.
After exerting his muscles to the point of exhaustion minutes later, he had finished taking all the mana stones in sight.
Fredrick then returned to the first cavern, his target being the large square object seemingly made of something resembling glass, lodged in the center of the cavern with a blue light in its center and blue particles falling from the blue light.
It was an object that gave Fredrick an inexplicable feeling, and Fredrick thought he’d save the best for last.
Mostly because, he didn’t know if he would be able to remove this one as easily as the others.
What do you know, his prediction was spot on.
Not only was the object unmoving, the part of the wall it was lodged in was far, far harder than the other parts.
Nevertheless, Fredrick wasn’t one to give up. Especially on what could very well be a priceless treasure.
Then again, it could be glittering trash.
But Fredrick had all the time in the world to find out once he took it along with him.
So he began to work on how to do so.
The answer was surprisingly easy.
‘Hit it till it breaks’
Well, it wasn’t like there was much else he could do at the moment.
So he turned his palm into a fist and punched.
I must say though…
“AH!”
It hurt like crazy.
Still, persistence and perseverance culminated into effort, and effort breeds success.
Lo and behold, it held true even here as Fredrick stood straight and began rapidly punching a single point with both fists, and after a minute of doing so – in which the skin on his knuckles was completely scraped off and with both hands now shedding blood – a crack emerged.
Fredrick jubilated for a few seconds before retaking his stance and punching it once more, and with a crack already there, it was easier to break further.
Three minutes later, the hard rock supporting the cuboid from below had broken apart.
While the part wasn’t that big, it was enough for Fredrick to put his hands below and pull!
A task which he found to be just as tough, if not tougher than breaking the rocks.
His veins bulged as the object moved excruciatingly slowly – that was with Fredrick using all the force he could muster – with the sides grating with a terrible sound.
Slowly but surely though, it was coming out.
After three minutes of over-exerting his muscles, the object was finally dislodged.
Only, another problem cropped up soon after as Fredrick found the object to be heavy, not extremely heavy, but heavy enough to get his joints sore within five minutes if he didn’t put it down.
At that exact moment…
*Bam*
Something, which Fredrick hadn’t been able to pay attention to, smashed against the wall.
It wasn’t really a problem.
Only…
*Craaaccck!*
The floor he was standing on, which was supporting both his weight and the square object, suddenly had cracks spreading all over it.
Fredrick, with the heavy object still in his hands, was already really tired, so he couldn’t move away in time before the floor gave in.
And then…
“Shit!”
Fredrick panicked as he began to fall, refusing to let the object get away from him once more, so he held onto it tightly.
Only then did he notice the ring on his finger.
For a few seconds, he stared dumbly at it.
He knew that, if not for the object in his hands, he would no doubt facepalm as his own stupidity.
Speaking of stupidity, he still hadn’t put the box in the space ring!
“Whew”
Thankfully, he quickly did so in the next moment, and he found his body feeling much better with the weight gone and the breeze caressing his body.
Wait a minute, breeze?
Only then did his senses come back and he noticed that he was still failing.
Well, not for long, because a big, thick and tall tree appeared in his sight.
Without hesitation, he hastily grabbed onto one of the tree branches, only to look down and see a small body of water and think ‘no thanks’, before climbing the tree branch where he laid on his back trying to calm his ragged breath.
But then…
*Kang*
The sound of metal rang out and Fredrick quickly moved into a sitting position, only to peek his face out and say…
“Huh?”