Chapter 331: Earthy Matters

"Alright, this is the final boss room. According to the records provided by previous delvers, these stairs should lead to an open observation platform built on the highest peak of the tallest tower in the citadel." Morris was explaining as he climbed up a circular staircase ascending towards the top of the dungeon.

"The boss is a large bird-type monster that uses Ice Magic, right?" Sera asked from slightly behind him.

"Yes. Supposedly, it's called a Glacial Dovekie, and it will descend from the skies as soon as we reach the center of the platform. It is believed to be a mid-Tier 3 monster in terms of raw power and abilities, but it has a few fatal weaknesses that lower strength parties can take advantage of. The big one is that it's vulnerable to flame. As an elementally charged creature, it naturally cannot tolerate an opposing element. Unfortunately, we can't really take advantage of this trait unless I get really lucky with my Summoning Magic."

"Then, let's not depend too much on it. What was the other one?"

Morris glanced back at her with a wry grin. "Despite its reliance on Ice Magic as its primary means of offense, it's known to have a comparatively limited mana supply that can be quickly exhausted in the midst of heavy combat. There have been a few recorded instances of parties of delvers simply hunkering down and weathering the assault until it was out of mana, and then killing it when it descended to fight with talon and beak."

"I hope you aren't thinking about trying that method. Neither of us have any powerful defensive skills, and I doubt we could simply dodge everything."

"While I did consider that strategy, I think our best bet is to try something else." He stopped in front of a large door that likely led out on the rooftop boss room. "In truth, when I was researching the enemies of this dungeon initially, I'd concluded that we would not be able to handle this fight without Mike's assistance."

Sera frowned at him, but waited for him to continue.

"A fast, flying enemy capable of raining down a barrage of lethal magic is pretty much my natural enemy. I would be completely unable to contribute until it saw fit to descend. Even if I factored in your foresight enhanced archery, I couldn't see us killing it without a great deal of difficulty, and we certainly couldn't survive long enough to deplete its reserves. We would need some powerful ranged attacks to force it into a corner, figuratively speaking." He explained while looking back at Mike, who was trailing behind the pair.

"I take it something has changed, then?" The Oracle asked.

"Yes." He replied, a little hesitantly. "For better or worse, my combat options have expanded dramatically with the acquisition of magic skills, and now I can see a path forward."

Sera watched him for a few seconds before nodding. "Alright, what's the plan?"

"I've been experimenting a bit with Summoning Magic over the last couple fights, and I believe I can summon a few monsters capable of taking the fight to the boss. Between your arrows and my creatures, I think we can force it down onto the platform, at which point I have a Bard skill that should hopefully give you an opening for the kill shot."

"You think we can take it down with one good hit?"

"Despite its dangerous elements, the Glacial Dovekie is also fairly weak when it comes to defense. So long as you hit in a vital area, it will either kill the boss outright, or cripple it enough that we can finish it off in other ways."

"Sounds like a plan. You ready?"

Morris grinned, feeling strangely exuberant. "Let's do this."

With that he opened the door and began advancing out onto the rooftop.

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Sera lagged behind for a few seconds, just long enough to shoot Mike a look. "Do you think he's realized that he took over the party leader role yet?"

"He's got a problem with tunnel vision when focused on a task, so probably not. If it makes you feel any better, he probably didn't intend on taking charge, but just fell into it naturally."

She shrugged. "I don't really mind. He's better suited for it anyway. I don't have the patience for strategizing. After training with you, I've learned that I do best when I just focus on playing to my strengths."

"Personally, I think you have what it takes to be a decent party leader, but you would need to mellow out a bit to really be successful."

One of her elbows found his ribs in what would have been a painful manner if she had the strength to really injure him at this point. Without another word, she followed after Morris, leaving Mike to scratch the back of his head amusedly before doing the same.

They stepped out into the light of a mid-day sun, which once again brought home the fact that they were inside the strange dungeon realm, since it should already be late in the evening outside. With the exception of the sheltered entrance to the staircase, the rest of the rooftop was a bare expanse of white stone.

Roughly on level with their eyeline was the golden ring, which was slowly spinning around the tower. This close to the strange structure, Mike noticed that there were intricate markings covering its surface. Curious, he infused a little mana into his eyes to enhance his perception.

It quickly became obvious to him that they were arcane runes of some kind, similar in form and function to the ones coating the control pillar of his demi-realm. However, the complexity and sheer volume of the runes was on another level entirely. It almost felt as if he were looking at the contents of an entire library condensed into a single object.

He tried to make sense of the writing, but it was beyond him in a way that he'd never experienced before. With some effort, he could use his Communication Magic to make out bits and pieces of the underlying logic, but they were largely nonsensical to him, and he could only vaguely conclude that they were involved in something related to Space and Time.

[Could this be the means by which dungeons are formed and maintained?]

He was about to fly over and take a closer look when Sera's shout alerted him to the beginning of the boss fight.

"It's coming! Get ready!" She yelled before firing a pair of arrows in rapid succession.

Mike followed the path of the projectiles and was just in time to see them fly harmlessly by the boss as it gracefully leaned to the side to avoid them, the tip of its left wing passing close enough to brush one of the arrow's mana-generated fletching.

The Glacial Dovekie looked like a small seabird that had grown to monstrous proportions. It's wingspan was at least twenty meters, and it's oval shaped head had a beak that would have put many swords to shame in terms of length alone. It was primarily coated in greyish-white plumage that resembled hardened ice, although this transitioned into the soft white of newly fallen snow in the area covering its belly.

As it swept past the party, barely bothering to glance in the direction of the archer who'd been lobbing shots in its direction, a hail of ice shards rained down on the rooftop, forcing Morris and Sera to evade to the best of their ability.

[Seems like they might have a bit of trouble with this one.] Mike thought casually while summoning an air shield to deflect the few icy projectiles that strayed close to him. [I should probably wait until after it's dealt with to check out the ring.]

Summoning another chair with Earth Magic, he settled down to watch the fight, but was slightly distracted by how uncomfortable the seat was. In the past, he'd merely dealt with the discomfort without much concern, but now he was starting to feel a bit annoyed by it.

[I should really work on creating something softer. Maybe with Minor Creation?]

He began to experiment with a few materials, quickly finding that the ideal foam padding was difficult to reproduce. Something he suspected was due to the artificial and composite nature of its components. However, he had more luck with cotton, and was able to create a decent sized cushion that could be affixed to his chair without too much difficulty.

[It seems like natural products are easier, but I'm not really sure why. With Conjuration Magic I can recreate things from my old world, albeit with a massive mana requirement, but that means the methodology to make something like synthetic polymers should be available to the System in some manner. Does this mean that two separate components of the System draw upon different sources of information in some manner? Or is it due to my Earth Magic not being advanced enough yet?]

While experimenting a bit more with the two variations of bringing materials into existence, he absently took note of the yells of his party members who were still fighting the Glacial Dovekie. A small part of his mind was tracking that Morris had managed to summon a small cloud of papers folded into vaguely bird-like shapes, and was directing them to harass the boss. For reasons that weren't immediately apparent, these origami creatures had a tendency to explode when they came in contact with the monster.

Meanwhile, Sera was carefully picking her shots, obviously aiming for the creature's most vulnerable areas, and repeatedly forcing the boss to use its Ice Magic to create defensive barriers.

Even distracted as he was, Mike could tell that they had the fight well in hand, and only a major upset would prevent their eventual victory. With that in mind, he concentrated more fully on the task at hand.

[Alright, I can create something similar to stainless steel with both methods, but the Earth Magic version requires less than a tenth of the mana. Therefore, I can reasonably assume that Minor Creation allows me to convert mana directly into the substance I have in mind so long as it is reasonably simple in construction. Meanwhile, Calling will allow me to create just about anything I can imagine, but a lot of power is lost in the process.]

He wondered if one of the other varieties of magic had some similar method of spontaneously creating matter. It seemed probable that they would.

Satisfied that this phase of investigation had reached a decent conclusion, he moved on to the next logical step, and began experimenting with just how far he could push his Earth Magic when it came to creating complex and artificial substances.

[Let's see. I think electronics are probably still a bit too advanced, but I bet I could make a relatively primitive mechanical item. Something like…]

He concentrated his mana, willing it to take the required shape, only to feel a resistance, as if his efforts were straining against some kind of in-built limitation. It was a sensation reminiscent of the time he broke through to Tier 4. He was certain this meant he was on the right track.

While he focused his will on pushing through the immaterial barrier, this did not mean he was not at least partially aware of what was going on around him, and a small part of his mind noticed that the boss was intentionally avoiding involving him in the fight. Apparently, the boss had enough intelligence and perception to realize that provoking him would end badly for it.

[Really makes me curious on how these artificially created lifeforms function.] He had time to think before an element of his spell forced him to direct his full attention at the item he was creating.

In spite of the sheer volume of mana he'd poured into the effort, the barrier was holding firm and the energy involved was threatening to go out of control. While he'd been distractedly pushing his way through, the creation spell had morphed into something unstable. A glowing ball of coruscating energy had formed in the air in front of him, and judging from the way it was crackling and vibrating, he guessed that it might explode at any moment.

[It seems raw mana isn't the solution in this case. Perhaps it needs to be channeled in some manner?]

Suspecting the problem might be related to the way he was trying to cast the spell, he tried rerouting the frustrated energy through his Earth Magic, hoping that would stabilize it.

Suddenly, he found himself buried in immoveable dirt and rock that pressed in on him from all sides. The experience should have been terrifying, but it was strangely soothing, as if he were connected with the earth around him, and by extension the world itself. For a brief moment, he thought he could sense the full extent of the planet, but then he was back in his body again, eyes full of his handiwork.

The ball of energy had transformed, taking on the shape he'd intended. While it didn't quite look the way he'd imagined, it should serve his purposes nicely.

"Alright! I did it!." He cheered, rising to his feet for the first time since the boss fight began.

Evidently, this was taken as a hostile action by the Dovekie, who released a panicked-sounding squawk in response. The large bird monster had already descended onto the rooftop, and had been fighting with Morris and his summoned creatures in a deadly exchange of close range attacks. However, Mike's cry had shaken it, causing it to hop back reflexively.

This in turn was apparently the moment Sera was waiting for, since no sooner had the Dovekie focused it's gaze on Mike than an arrow appeared in it's right eye. It reeled back on its taloned feet, jerking and squeaking in an agonized fashion, before collapsing onto the rooftop and lying still.