Chương 475: (468) 7.6. This Fragment Sucks

"You ever thought about gluing a small chair on your shoulder? Sure, it might take away from that 'big and bad' dark knight look you're going for, but it would really make these trips more comfortable." Vin chose to ignore Scule's comments to Alka as they stepped out of the dungeon leading to the dwarves' hilly fragment.

The last time he'd been here he'd spoken to the mana and convinced it to create a fragment-wide barrier to stop the trogum tide from rushing through and killing everyone, and he figured it would be a good first stop on their journey. While he'd already explored this fragment and had it on his map, he wanted to make sure the dwarves were okay. Not to mention there was a certain person of interest who lived here." Hello again, Vin," the Whisperer spoke in his ear the moment he set foot on the fragment."

I see you have an even larger group of colorful companions with you than the last time you visited. They are quite entertaining to watch."

"They have their moments," Vin agreed, ignoring Alka's counter suggestion that Scule try nailing a cushion to his butt.

"How are things going with the trogums? I'd love to swing by the Burrow and see for ourselves, but we're eager to dip into a new fragment and start exploring. Did they end up setting up shop on an adjacent fragment?"" Indeed. Directly north-east of us. We have aided them in creating a start to their own tunnel system, and we have been doing what we can to help the focused."

"The focused… I'm assuming that's the term you came up with for trogums who pick one thing to devote themselves to?"

"Are you talking to the Whisperer?" Lumel appropriately whispered to him, causing Vin to blink as he realized yet again he was holding a one-sided conversation that none of his friends could hear.

"Yeah, sorry about that. She said the trogums are in the next fragment. Despite heading right up to the fragment in order to create the barrier, I never actually poked my head in there. Probably as good a place as any to start our giant expedition."" Some of our people are over there even now,"the Whisperer added." Before you go, I want to say once again that we are in your debt, Vin. If you had not risked your own safety to create that massive wall of mana, my people would have been slaughtered."

"Again, I appreciate the kind words, but I'm not going to let innocent people die if I can do anything to help," Vin said, still feeling awkward about this debt the Whisperer kept bringing up. She's already taught him entirely new mana-techniques that had proven immensely useful. If anything, he felt like he was the one who should be owing her.

"If I need help with something, I'll let you know." With that, the team turned and began carefully jogging over to the next fragment. The hilly, twisted terrain of the dwarves' fragment made movement more difficult than normal. As did the monsters.

"Well, isn't that an ugly one," Scule snorted, pointing his blowgun at a long, giant centipede scurrying across the hills toward them.

"Anyone want to take this? What do we do, flip a coin?"

"You let the Slayer handle it," Alka said. Surprisingly, she chose to wait a moment to allow Scule to shrug and hop from her shoulder over to Shia's before unsheathing her sword and walking forward. At this point, every member of their team was either roughly half-way through their second prestige class, or the soul of a fighting prodigy bound to an unkillable golem.

The simple, regular monsters that one encountered all over Edregon were barely even of note any more, seeing as they posed almost zero threat to any one of them. On their own, Vin was confident that any of them other than Lumel could easily take down an elite monster without breaking a sweat. When they were all together? He honestly just felt a little sad for the giant centipede. Alka walked at a leisurely pace toward the monster, ignoring the way it screeched upon noticing her.

Raising the front third of its body up off the ground, it rushed forward, its many pointed legs slashing and clicking against one another as it moved in for the kill. The centipede attempted to crush her under a swarm of jagged arms… And fell away in roughly five separate pieces as Alka's sword flashed through the air, cleaving the monster apart as easily as if she were hacking at a training dummy. As the chunks of centipede crashed to the ground, she nodded, sheathing her sword and turning back to them.

"Simple enough."

"If it was that simple, the least you could do is try to dodge all the blood and guts it spilled all over you," Vin sighed, casting Create Water and using Runic Recalibration to make the stream more pressurized and hose her down. Doing so was incredibly mana-inefficient, and he made a mental note to tack a more improved water spell onto his list of spells he should work on next.

"I doubt Epli wants any of that slipping into the cracks in your helmet." Epli was the sentient schlime living within the thin space between Alka's head and her helmet. Feeding off the extra mana that was given off by the gem powering her golem body, the schlime didn't really do much. That wasn't all that surprising, though, as its people were nocturnal.

Even if he hadn't had too many conversations with it, Vin knew it helped keep Alka company during the nights now that she didn't need to sleep, and he'd be ever grateful for that. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Trust me, Epli doesn't care about a little blood," Alka snorted.

"Let's keep moving. Maybe the next fragment will have a monster actually worth thinking about." The team fought their way through a few other giant insects, but none of them came close to causing any real damage. Shia utilized Grass Spikes to skewer them from afar. Scule sniped some with his poison-filled blowdarts. And Vin blasted others with Fireball or Stone Shot.

He didn't really see a need to utilize his newest Meteor spell for such weak monsters, and he felt like leaving giant craters in the dwarves' fragment would be a bit of a rude thing to do. It wasn't long before they reached the edge of the fragment, and the sight of Vin's grand magical marvel.

"So this is where you made that huge barrier you told us about?" Scule asked, peering up at the faint barrier separating the two fragments.

"…I'm kinda sad I missed it."

"You were a little busy at the time," Shia chuckled. While Vin, Shia, and Alka had been dealing with the invading trogums, Scule and Reginald had been hiding out within an animal's corpse, letting the trogums bring them back to the Rebel Queen so that the team even knew where to attack. The Soul Mark Vin had temporarily placed on Scule in order to track him had long since been removed, as the Rogue had very strong feelings about anyone being able to pinpoint his precise location.

"No kidding. I hope I never have to do that again," Scule shuddered, turning his focus onto the next fragment instead.

"Well, easier to traverse than whatever maniac designed these hills at least." The fragment that the trogums were now apparently living in was flat and dry, with small cracks running along the ground where the earth split. Vin immediately realized why they chose this fragment to make their new home in, as it reminded him quite a lot of the original fragment the trogums had been found in, minus the deep, natural ravines.

"Ugh," Shia said, frowning as she stepped into the fragment.

"It's hot. Like the desert." Sure enough, Vin stepped in after her, noting the drastic increase in temperature. In fact, it was hot enough that the very air seemed to shimmer the farther out he tried to look, making it almost impossible to make out anything in the distance. Third ring fragment discovered! 1, 500 exp gained.

"Wow," Lumel muttered, squinting as she looked up at the large sun overhead.

"That is pretty hot."

"Is your artifact enough to handle it?" Vin asked, throwing her a worried look. He knew Lumel's amulet she wore was strong, but pulmons and hot, dry air were not a good combination.

"I certainly wouldn't say no to a wandering Explorer casting Protection from Heat on me," Lumel said, giving him a small smile.

"Do I have to bat my eyelashes in order to get the same treatment?" Scule asked, already sweating as he hopped over to Vin's shoulder.

"Because I will. This fragment sucks."

"As entertaining as I think that would be, you're good," Vin chuckled, poking Scule in the chest as he cast the spell. Going around the team, Vin did the same for everyone, other than Alka who, naturally, didn't feel things like hot or cold. Once they were all capable of breathing again without feeling like their lungs were drying out with each breath, they began heading toward the center of the fragment.

There wasn't too much life to be found on this dry, arid fragment, but that didn't mean it was entirely nonexistent. Tiny mice scurried in and out of some of the cracks, clearly having turned them into burrows as they nibbled on what looked like dried-out moss growing in clumps all over the ground. A lizard darted by at one point, its tongue flicking out to taste the air similar to how Shia tasted magic.

There were rough little mounds of dirt here and there that Vin could only assume held ants or something similar, and he made sure to avoid stepping in them as they jogged through the fragment. He wasn't worried about anything managing to gnaw its way through his enchanted boots, but there was no need to tempt fate.

"This is a pretty calm fragment, all things considered," Lumel muttered in his ear, the pulmon holding onto his back as they ran. While Shia had mentioned she had an idea that might help with their current traveling situation, until it managed to bear fruit, Lumel's only real option if she wanted to maintain pace with everyone was for Vin to carry her. Blossom was designed to seat one, and Scule certainly wasn't about to volunteer to carry her.

Vin didn't mind, however, as his strength and ridiculously high endurance made it a nonissue.

"Knowing that the trogums swept through here, I was expecting to find a lot more carnage."

"Depends on what was here to begin with," Vin admitted, frowning as he recalled the blood-stained village they had discovered directly above the Rebel Queen's hideout. Lumel had been recuperating from her dream journey at the time, which he was thankful for. The shy yet easily excitable pulmon who wanted nothing more than to learn about all the cultures scattered across Edregon didn't need to see that.

"Everyone freeze!" Scule shouted out of nowhere, nearly causing Vin to stumble forward and faceplant into the dry ground as he did his best to follow the command. Blossom and Alka came to a stop much more gracefully, and Shia turned to frown at him even as Alka's head began swiveling in all directions.

"Broken branches, Scule, don't do that! I nearly went flying!"

"Quiet!" Scule hissed, his eyes narrowed as he stared down at the ground beneath their feet.

"Something's wrong. My Trap Sense passive is lighting up like crazy."

"Seriously?" Vin asked, not seeing anything more than anthills and mice scurrying around as far as the eye could see.

"What kind of trap?"

"I don't know, that's sort of the downside to the passive," Scule admitted.

"Even if I see the trap, I might not realize what it is I've seen. That and I have to get right up next to it before it goes off. Perhaps if we simply back away slowly —" Just as Vin was preparing to check their surroundings with Sense Magic, the universe decided to give him his answer ahead of schedule.

Long, thick tentacles the color of the dry earth exploded out of a good two dozen of the piles of dirt around them, writhing in the air as they stretched up nearly two stories in height, before crashing down directly into them.