Master Of None

Chapter 2298: 2298. Bigger Problem

”Reporting in!” The shout was right before Su could even look at the appraisal that her group had just managed to achieve.

”What happened?” She didn’t think that anything else major might have just happened, yet here they were, two different groups had sent back soldiers to report to her at roughly the same time.

”These monsters can eat traps. They were able to eat right through the metals used for the traps when it comes to the iron, brass, and steel alloy traps. The runes had no deterrents either for them. They also moved too fast for them to be captured by magical means. We have an appraisal.”

”We achieved an appraisal as well, there was a rune trap made to cause a cage of stone from the earth when activated. The monsters chewed through it and also used their mana to manipulate the earth while doing so. The appraisal is less useful than other appraisals we have achieved.”

Both reports were invaluable right this moment. The traps not being useful were important to know. Not many monsters would be able to just chew through the metal forged by blacksmiths and made by trap masters’ yet here they were.

Breaking the rune traps was even more out of the ordinary since that required breaking the flow of whatever manas were utilized by the runes. It could be hard for many people to do, and could be showcasing the higher dangers of these monsters if the situation went poorly.

Beyond that, the appraisals were going to vary. Not because of the user’s for the scrolls. But simply because the appraisals were the all around appraisals scrolls. The information was not specific or exactly the same every time. It was why Walker would often appraise something multiple times.

”Then I will condense the appraisals right now. You can call back the traps and begin preparing for other means if need be. I am sure there are already minds working on it.” The two soldiers left, but she could see that she had thought right. Their eyes flashed when she mentioned she knew that they had begun new planning to handle the monsters who could escape traps.

Having the information in front of her, Su read it all and gathered what she could in to one finalized appraisal. She knew that others may come back soon with more information, however, she wanted an answer now. As long as she could begin her plans and the in depth research in to this area, then it would be fine.

’False rat

This monster is not at all what many people would believe it to be. It was an ancient pest known to cause a large changes in the land due to the way that they live, breed, and change form over their lifespans.

They will at most live for a year but will change and become much more dangerous when they manage to live to their full potential. This is due to them using the earth mana that they control and gather during the night within their nests to nurture a radical change once they have consumed enough prey.

They live in large nests which they create under the ground, often creating hills. Due to their obsessive nature, these hills are often exactly the same in whatever areas they are expanding their population. Their eggs are also immensely durable in just about any situation. Some are even able to survive being immersed in magma for years on end.

Using their earth affinity when they are mimicking rats, these false rats are able to manipulate the earth and create their nests. They can also move the earth to trap prey within their nests along with covering the nests in the grass which normally grows in open areas where they prefer to live. It is easy to spot their nests in the early stages because they will eat the young roots of natural grasses causing them to grow shorter.

As the false rats grow, they will begin to undergo a large change.

This change takes the earth mana within their body and forcefully condenses it at extremely dangerous levels within its heart. As it does so, the fur it grew over its body will become a cocoon for it to grow. As such, it will also begin to cause the younger false rats to become more aggressive.

Once dense enough, the main body will perish and be shed as a shell for the true form of the false rat to be born. The dense earth mana will be used to encounter wind mana and perform an intense trade off of mana changing the affinity from earth to wind facilitating the dramatic change.

When taking this form, it is known as a blade fly from this point onward. An extremely dangerous wind type monster with wind mana wings able to cut through some of the toughest ores and metals from the earth. Even dragon scales will be unable to avoid them when they swarm around their nests hunting for any form of meat they can consume to help them develop the eggs they will birth within the last three months of their lifecycle.

They are extremely dangerous and known as a plague during ancient times. Even some ancient monsters would not deal with them due to their annoyance and high numbers. Some ancient monsters would purposefully seek them out to kill them.

Their bodies in earth form are useless but for their hearts which are extremely precious alchemical materials. In their wind form, blade fly, their eyes are able to be used to create incredible lenses which ancient races used for seeing vast distances.’

This made Su’s face go pale.

They had all believed this was just an area where the mana had begun to flow properly. Where the world had returned to the size and shape it had been when it was within ancient times.

Yet, they were all wrong. That theory was entirely wrong.

This was the same as what had happened underground. These weren’t parasites that ate metal and earth though. Instead, they were monsters which had managed to survive whatever happened to them as the mana of the world had degraded. They had waited and been awakened as the proper mana flow returned causing this situation.

And the worst part was, this area was massive.

There were so many hills, which proved these monsters had been breeding without enemies since mana flow returned to the world properly. They had been able to eat any monster that came near. They had been able to grow. They had been becoming a worse and worse problem right under the noses of everyone within the world right now.

”Get everyone immediately and bring me a communication crystal. This is a warzone now. We must exterminate every single one of these monsters or else we will lose everything.” Su’s order was harsh and abrupt. It shocked everyone waiting to hear what she had to say.

They understood though. She would not react like this if nothing was happening. To call this a warzone meant that the danger was so high it could threaten all of Genesis and every kingdom nearby. Let alone even more than that. They all understood her orders from now on were not just exploration efforts. They were not research efforts. They were a battle of life and death. ”Leave? What do you mean we have to leave?” a distance away from Su, Mordant was questioning Walker as he stood there with a serious expression and mana reacting to him. It had even awoken the shadow eating octopus who had been resting to absorb the dark mana it had gained after being somewhat starved for so long.

”Su contacted me saying an ancient swarming monster is in the mirrored hills. That it’s not a place like this at all. It’s an area where monster eggs hatched and they are taking over. They will be extremely dangerous since there are no longer natural predators. The ancient monsters were the only ones who could easily handle them. Even dragons had trouble with

them.”

The communication crystals were invaluable for moments like this. Since Walker and Mordant had been hard at work going through the ancient monster bones and the writings around the cave that the shadow eating octopus called home, they had not contacted anyone. They had no way otherwise of knowing what might be happening.

”She already contacted Genesis and everyone is being prepared. The strongest mages with the ability to use fire magic to eradicate these monsters have been called on too. We are going to thoroughly destroy the area if possible before using natural mana based magic to recover it. That’s the kind of threat that we face right now.” Mordant lost any thoughts of remaining

here.

”I will ask our new friend to guard this area while resting. We can return here afterwards.” With that, they prepared to leave immediately.

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