Cultivating Talents [LitRPG Mana-cultivation]

Chapter 112: Is art an explosion?



"Are you sure about this?" Emela asked. The blonde-haired girl gripped a talisman in one hand and held a stone in the other. "What if it doesn't do as much damage as you expect it to?"

Reaching down, Hector grabbed another stone and wrapped a talisman around it. The paper, faint blue lines pulsing across it, stuck to the rock with ease. He placed the makeshift grenade down beside him and grabbed another set of materials, his eyes moving to meet Emela's.

"With the amount that we've made so far, it's likely we'll do significant damage." Hector's eyes drifted to the piles of grenades that were forming at the feet of each of his friends. "If anything, with this amount, I am worried we might actually destroy the cave."

He brought a hand up, rubbing at his nose. The stink of the Earthen Mole's cave drifted down the tunnel. The entrance to the cave was a little way up, but even from here, the density of the mana in the air practically weighed on Hector. Intense.

If the mana density is this strong all the way down here, it has to be at least double that in the cave itself. With this, I could double my cultivation speed, though that might be an overstatement.

"I'm almost done with mine," Jodie said. She placed a talisman grenade onto the floor with a soft clink. The misshapen rock rolled into the pile next to her.

Hector nodded, but as he went to speak, a shriek cut down the tunnel, shaking his chest. Pausing, he turned; no Earthen Moles came barreling down the tunnel. Not that he expected any; the shrieks had been going on for a while now. Instead, a growing sense of unease took hold of him.

If they were going to do this, they had to do it fast.

"If the Earthen Mole is going to advance, shouldn't it take a few days at least?" Hector turned to Lincoln and raised a questioning brow.

The scraping of claws echoed down the tunnel. Lincoln jumped, his eyes shifting between Hector and the direction of the sound. "Normally, I'd say yes, but the Earthen Moles have been active for a few days now. Maybe that was them keeping guard, and since their leader has entered a critical moment, it's called them back."

"Which means it's vulnerable," Hector said. He did a quick scan of the piles of impromptu grenades. They'd have to use all of them if they wanted to have a big impact. With all of them cramped in that one room, the explosions should eliminate most of them, leaving only a few stragglers to clean up. The ones that remained would be easy pickings.

Hector placed the final one of his talisman grenades into the pile next to his feet and stood. "I think I should be the one to throw the grenades in. I'm the fastest one here when I use my Talent, and that way, if anything goes wrong and they all rush out, we have some time to prepare."

The group nodded, grabbing their talisman grenades and merging the piles. They wouldn't activate unless someone willed mana into them. Even someone in the Gravity Forging realm could do that, though it was limited.

Hector reached into the back of his mind, pulling on the thread that connected him to the [Volt Runner] Talent. Static crackled to life, snaking down his legs and leaping through the fabric of his trousers. A surge of energy flooded his body, zipping along his cells.

Bending down, Hector scooped up a pile in his arms and turned to his friends. "Alright, there's no going back now. I'll see you in a sec."

Jodie's lips parted, but Hector didn't wait. He zipped down the tunnel, the air whipping by his ears. In a rush of wind, he stopped, peeking around the corner into the Earthen Mole's chamber. The moles rushed about inside like a colony of ants with a fire set underneath them.

Hector dropped to one knee, resting the pile of talisman grenades next to him. Would they be enough? If they weren't, the horde would surely chase them. It would be a tough fight if that happened. Getting back on his feet, Hector turned and zipped down the hallway again.

"How does it look?" Lincoln asked, placing a talisman grenade onto the pile Hector was gathering. His eyes shifted to Jodie, an unreadable look passing between them before he turned back to Hector. Had she said something?

"There are a lot of them," Hector replied. He got back on his feet, giving Lincoln a firm nod. "It should be fine. They're all gathered in that tight space. If anything, it might be a bit more effective than we planned."

Hector zipped back down the tunnel, dropping into a crouch next to the pile he had placed earlier. His knees scuffed against the stone as he clattered the pile of talisman grenades onto the first.

A tinge of concern shot through his chest.

Perhaps I should have had one of my friends come along with me; that way, they could pass me the grenades and I could just focus on throwing them.

His eyes drifted from the pile as he peeked around the corner. The decision had already been made. No point fretting about it now.

Earthen Moles scuttled past the entrance of the cave, farther in. Claws scratched against stone, teeth chattering with an unsteady rhythm. Piles of discarded bones lay scattered at their feet, knocked aside by the shifting of their hulking forms. Along their spiked backs, earth mana rose and fell in steady pulses.

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Hector bit his bottom lip, anxiety bubbling in his gut. It was time. He scooped up a grenade and willed his mana into it. The lines running across the paper thrummed as the grenade began sizzling. Whipping his hand back, he launched the grenade forward, his hands reaching for another, even as the first sailed through the air.

In an instant, talisman grenade after talisman grenade sang through the air. They arced and dropped, slipping between the bodies of Earthen Moles before exploding in deafening waves. Chunks of meat and bone shrapnel shredded through bodies, puncturing flesh and slapping against stone.

A cringe slipped onto Hector's features, but he didn't stop throwing; he couldn't stop. The explosions rattled the cave, stone crumbling from the ceiling in a fine dust. Moles ran about, unsure of where the explosions were coming from, and tore into their brethren to avoid death. The massacre ravaged through them in a deadly, explosive dance.

Eventually, Hector reached for another talisman grenade, only to grip the air. His gaze shot to the spot. Empty. He'd run out of talismans, grenades. His eyes shifted from the spot and back down to the cave. Hector's chest tightened. Had he killed them all?

Smoke and dust clouded the interior of the cave, his vision unable to pierce the thick wall that had formed. The scratching had fallen silent; the bodies no longer shifted. They had to be dead.

Right. Now we just have to rush in and finish the remaining ones. If the leader is still alive, it should be barely hanging on.

Getting to his feet, Hector zipped back down the hallway. Static crackled down his legs as he stopped in front of his friends.

"I take it the explosives worked well?" Lincoln asked, his shadow shifting against the light of the mana stone tied to his hip.

A light haze of charred flesh slithered into Hector's nose, and he nodded. "I think so. There could still be some alive in there, but I think most of them are dead." Fanning away the smoke, Hector turned to Jodie and Emela. "Are you two ready to test out your new upgrades?"

Feet shuffling against the stone, a smile peeled onto Jodie's lips. "More than ready," she said. Her eyes shifted—the surrounding flesh squirming—moving from their human shape to that of an Earthen Mole. Claws, long and sturdy, grew from her fingertips as Jodie chuckled.

The new [Beast Integration] Talent had made it so that Jodie could have three aspects of a creature active simultaneously, and they were fifty percent stronger than the original. The creepiness of her Talent had gone up to eleven.

Emela cringed at the sight, stepping away from Jodie and shaking her head. "While not as eager as her, we have a job to do, and we've already started it." She brushed a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, the gloom of the tunnel playing against her skin.

Behind them, low groans and squeaks crawled out of the cave entrance. Hector turned, raising his hand and signalling for his friends to follow. As they moved down the tunnel, smoke continued to pool from the room, gathering on the ceiling. While not thick, perhaps it would have been good to consider their air supply.

Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, Hector stepped past the entrance. His friends followed close behind, their footsteps echoing off the walls, drumming against Hector's ears and mingling with the sound of the crackling flesh of Earthen Moles.

"By the great lake! It smells like something died in here," Jodie said, her eyes wide as she scanned the room. Wisps of smoke lazed up from the bodies upon bodies that covered the interior, pooling on the ceiling as the group came to a stop.

"Something did," Lincoln said, slamming his foot down and crunching the head of an Earthen Mole into chunks of flesh and shards of bone. "Those talismans worked a bit too well. How much did—"

Roaring, an Earthen Mole leapt from behind a shattered corpse, aiming for Lincoln's throat. But before it could get close, cracking ice sang through the air, and a rod pierced right through its skull. The body slumped to the ground and skidded to a stop before Lincoln's feet.

Staggering back, Lincoln shuffled closer to Hector. As he did, more Earthen Moles, most weak and limping, climbed over the bodies of their friends. There was a sizable number, though easily handled, given their current state.

Though a shaking, followed by a heavy thud, shattered that thought a moment later. Ahead, as the smoke cleared, the door they'd done all this for came into view. But from behind it, a sight that caused Hector's chest to tighten stepped out. An Earthen Mole at least twice the size of the one that had almost killed Hector lumbered forward.

Fear slithered down Hector's spine. The thing was huge. Its teeth were pulsing with earth mana as the air practically thickened. The one saving grace was the blood that wept from its right shoulder, where a sizeable chunk of flesh had been blown out, viscera sagging from the hole.

Alright, it's a little injured. A few hits in the right place... work on that wound... This should be easy. We can work with this. System, scan it.

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///: The target has been analysed. Target strength has been deemed to be early Rank 3. Though it is seriously injured, caution is advised.

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"No throwing yourself at it this time," Emela said. She shifted to a fighting stance, raising her hands toward the creature.

Around them, Earthen Moles closed in, teeth chattering, claws scraping the stone. "Should I put up a wall now?" Lincoln asked. His eyes shifted from one mole to the next, a shake running through his body.

"Save it for if we need to make a run for it." Hector pulled on the static field, unleashing a wave of energy around him. He made sure not to have it affect his friends as he pushed it to the limit, extending it out as far as it could reach.

Jodie chuckled, raising her forearms as static danced across them. "Is it me, or do you feel a little faster?" She hopped up and down, practically dancing on the balls of her feet. "Yeah, definitely a lot faster."

"Alright, guys, we expected this," Hector said, purple static crawling to life across his palms, forming a knife. "Emela, you're with me. We'll keep this thing distracted as long as we can. That should give Jodie and Lincoln enough time to finish those stragglers and help us out."

The Earthen Mole leader roared as if taking offence at what Hector had just said. The walls shook, thin films of dust falling from the ceiling as small pebbles clattered down. In a swift motion, the smaller Earthen Moles rushed towards them. Hector shot forward, Emela at his side.

One bit at him, its shimmering brown teeth reaching for his flesh, but as the static field washed over it, Hector leapt up and cracked his foot into its skull, bones shattering under his weight. Kicking it to the side, he bolted forward as its body slumped against the stone, and Emela leapt over it.

"I'd appreciate it if you tried not to knock me out with one of those," she yelled, ducking under the claws of another mole. A moment later, a shard of ice lanced through its face, ripping bone shards and flesh free and dropping the creature to the ground.

Hector didn't respond; his attention was focused on the beast looming in front of them. They had to survive this fight.


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