The group of four slowly crept towards a guard tower built atop the wall. It had a tile roof with a United States flag atop it. The howling wind blew against the flag and covered the sound of their footsteps.
"Two guards." Terra whispered. "There's a staircase leading down as well."
Ed nodded and glanced at Gunther while pointing two fingers towards the tower. Gunther pulled a short sword from his sheath and nodded back. The two rushed inside the tower while wielding their blades.
Blood gushed out as Ed felt his blade sink into the enemy's flesh. The weight of the dead body fell towards him and he hurried to shift it away. Suddenly, a whistling sound rang out. He turned to look towards Gunther and the other solider.
A bullet had grazed Gunther's shoulder. Gunther immediately tackled the soldier and stabbed down with his sword. The two men rolled several times before stopping. The dead soldier laid beneath Gunther's large body. Blood slid down his armor from the fight. Fortunately, his shoulder was fine. The bullet failed to penetrate the exo suit.
The other two members entered the tower. Bolin frowned, "This is why non-espers are a liability. He was way too slow. We're lucky the winds outside blocked the sound of the bullet from traveling."
"That's why we're here." Ed responded. "The manullium is key to increasing the strength of my ordinary soldiers. Espers will fear them almost as much as me by the time I'm through with them."
"Let's just hurry." Bolin sighed in response while heading down the stairs. The others quickly followed behind him. They walked down several winding flights of stairs before reaching the ground floor. No guards were in sight.
"Looks like they're rather lax on internal security?" Bolin commented.
"As they should be." Ed nodded. "They likely consider it a waste of manpower since espers can't get in using their powers. It's more effective to utilize all their men as lookouts on the walls, or at least it would be if they hadn't sent so many soldiers outside the base."
They crouched down and slowly made their way towards the mine shaft elevator. "There!" Bolin pointed towards a man standing next to the elevator. "He controls the elevator. Someone will need to stay behind to let us back up."
"They don't have identical controls within the shaft?" Gunther questioned.
"No." He sighed. "It's an extra security measure. So, who's going to stay behind?"
"You are." Ed replied.
"Me?!" Bolin questioned in shock.
"Right." He nodded. "Your powers are practically worthless here. You can't create portals and I'll be damned if I let you try to setup an unstable gravitational field within the mineshafts. You'd get us all killed."
"Surely I'm more useful than him!" Bolin protested while pointing towards Gunther.
"Wrong." Ed frowned. "Gunther has close-combat experience. He may be weaker than you, but his experience will make up for it."
"Nonsense!" He complained again while presenting his cane. He slowly pulled the handle back, revealing a shiny black sword hidden within. "I am a trained swordsman! I had trained in it before the apocalypse even started! I could whip that brat's ass to Hong Kong and back!"
"Good." Ed smiled. "All the more reason for you to hold the fort while we're gone. After all, your powers are suited for delaying tactics. Hopefully they work a bit up here." He gestured towards the other two and rushed towards the elevator, refusing to give Bolin a chance to protest further.
The man sitting at the controls noticed the group heading towards him. He was just about to yell, when he suddenly felt something sink into his throat. His clothes felt wet as he glanced down in shock. A black blade was sticking in his throat. Blood drenched his clothes and stained the snow as he collapsed towards the floor.
Ed grinned. "Sinless sure knows how to balance a knife. I didn't think that would actually work." He shoved the body aside and controlled his mana to cover the body with snow. It took him a couple tries before succeeding. 'With the way manullium interferes with mana, I wonder if it can be used to train mana control?'
"Hurry up!" Bolin grabbed ahold of the controls and interrupted Ed's wandering thoughts. "You've got 15 minutes. Any more than that and I abandon you. I'd rather live for a year than die here for no reason."
"Got it." Ed nodded as he and the other two gathered on the platform. Bolin pulled a lever and the sound of a steam engine started up. The platform released high-pitched squeaks as it slowly lowered into the ground.
They traveled nearly 50 meters before the platform grinded to a halt. Oil lamps dimly lit the dark cavern. Several winding tunnels led downwards in different directions.
"That way." Terra pointed towards the left-most tunnel. "My mana is blocked the most in that direction.
"Mm." Ed walked ahead of them. "Let's go."
Gunther grabbed a lamp off the wall and followed behind him. Terra hid behind his large frame as they walked, seemingly afraid of whatever was lying in wait for them. She whispered, "Something's there."
Suddenly, a large spike struck towards Ed. Fortunately, he had heard Terra's warning in time and was able to react. He hurriedly lifted his arms up to block as he was slammed backwards into the two behind him.
"Who are you?!" A voice yelled. Gunther lifted his lamp towards the voice, revealing a 3-meter-tall mech holding a large pickaxe. The light reflected brightly against the copper mech, lighting up the darkness around them. The voice had come from two horn-like objects situated near the top of the mech.
"It's alone." Ed said while standing up. He wiped a small trace of blood from the minor wound on his arms. A weak attack like that could hardly break through the defense of his mutant flesh limbs.
He aimed an arm towards the mech and a spark of flame appeared in his hand, but it quickly vanished. He tried several times, but it continued to fail. It was like trying to light a wet match against a matchbox. "What a pain." He sighed while grabbing the steam rifle from his back. He took aim and fired.
A black projectile blasted through the air. It shattered against the mech and black smoke swirled around it. The metal sizzled as the dark energy corroded it. The mech began to back away in panic.
"Good." Ed smiled. "Looks like mana-ammunition still works. In fact, I'd say it's a bit more potent than usual. Looks like the presence of manullium is causing the mana-powder to react stronger."
He and Gunther fired several more shots. Finally, a wind bullet pierced through the mech hull. They walked forward and smelt the heavy scent of blood. The wind mana-powder from the bullet had torn the man within the mech to pieces. It was a mess of bloody gore.
Terra grabbed ahold of Ed's arm while shivering in fear. He glanced back at her and sighed, 'Seems she's not much of a fighter. Maybe I shouldn't have brought her with me.'
They headed deeper into the tunnels. Two more mech miners were eliminated along the way.
"Forge." Gunther whispered as they walked.
"Mm?" Ed replied.
"Why doesn't the fire you shoot from your arms work when our bullets do? It doesn't make sense to me."
"Simple." He smiled. "Mana-ammunition uses mana-powder directly. It's a rather wasteful method, but It continues to work since the manullium triggers the powder. However, my limbs are different. I go through mana-powder very slowly because I'm not directly using it. I'm funneling out power through a type of battery. The manullium is negating the controlled flames I create, as opposed to the powder itself."
"I don't really get it." Gunther sighed while scratching his head.
"Well, it's not really important. If I were you, I would just focus-"
"We're here!" Terra interrupted.
The duo faced forward. An opening appeared in front of them, revealing a humongous cavern. It was so large that neither the distant walls or ceiling were visible. Isolated splotches of purple covered the gray stony floor. Twenty mech miners whittled away at the purple areas.
"My God..." Gunther whispered in shock.
"It's... not quite what I expected." Ed nodded in agreement.
Above the mech miners were giant floating stones that looked like purple meteors. The purple stones glowed brightly while radiating a strange energy. They seemed to push everything away, disallowing even the air and ground from coming near them.
"Why don't they mine the floating stones instead?" Terra questioned. "The manullium seems purer in those stones."
"I don't think they can." Ed replied. "It would require equipment to get near them. Also, I don't think the stones themselves would allow it..." He felt a strange pressure when looking at the stone. It was as if he was underwater, struggling to breathe. The closer he got to the stones, the stronger the force became.
They headed towards the nearest mech. None of the miners had noticed them yet. They'd hardly be wary of intruders at the depths of such a strongly defended base. They struggled to mine the purplish ore from the ground. Only small chunks, less than the size of a fist, were mined away. They piled the stones into minecarts, which they then pushed down a tunnel farther away.
"Looks like they're processing the ore here." Ed whispered. "Let's follow. I'm not sure how to process the ore, so this is a good opportunity. Besides, I'd rather steal the finished product than the raw ore."
They carefully followed a mech as it traveled down the rails. It pushed a minecart in front of it. However, the mech was much faster than them and they soon fell behind.
"Copy me." Ed said as he stepped onto the railroad. He placed one foot in front of the other atop one of the rails. Steam blasted from his boots, pushing him forward. The miniature steam engine piston within his boots rapidly spun the wheels on his boots as he quickly gained speed. The other two followed behind him.
They arrived at the end of the line, and their skates screeched to a halt. It gathered no attention since it was an ordinary sound to be heard within a mine. An orange glow radiated from the cavern in front of them. They glanced inside.
To the left was an old man with a white beard. He was hunched over a sturdy iron desk. Blueprints were scattered all around him. Behind him was a large furnace. The miner mech threw the fist-sized pieces of manullium ore into it. The flames quickly died down as he did so, prompting the mech to throw in large batches of fire mana-powder. A brief moment later, the mech pulled a small purple ingot from the furnace. It stacked the ingot atop a pile of identical ingots in the corner.
"Looks like I've got everything I needed." Ed smiled. "You two deal with the mech. I'll take the old man."
"Mm." They nodded in agreement.
The trio charged forward. Ed slammed his blade into the old man in the chair. He felt the weight of the knife sinking into the man's flesh. Ed frowned. 'Something isn't right.' He quickly jumped backwards.
The old man turned around with the blade still embedded in his back. "How rude." He grimaced as he pulled the knife out and threw it to the floor. A green gel oozed from his back as it quickly healed.
"An esper?" Ed questioned.
"Mm." The old man nodded. "Can't say I ever expected somebody to break this deep into the mine. It's unfortunate, but you'll have to die here."
"I'll pass." Ed replied as he pulled the steam rifle from his back. He glanced at Gunther and Terra. They were already on the verge of defeating the mech. He focused on the esper in front of him and aimed the rifle. Steam billowed out as a dark bullet slammed into the esper's chest.
The old man stood calmly with his arms folded behind his back. "I'm afraid it won't be that easy." A large hole had appeared in his chest as a result of the corrosive bullet. However, the same green gel as before quickly healed the man.
'Damn!' Ed frowned. 'He's similar to Mordy. The manullium isn't interfering much with his powers. Is it because it's an internal power? I probably need to destroy the mana-core to win.' He took aim and fired five more rounds, completely emptying the revolver rifle he had obtained from the Sinless soldiers.
Fire, lightning, earth, light, and water bullets slammed into the esper. Each one tore a large hole into the esper's body, but the green gel quickly healed it all. "I've got quite a lot of work to do." He sighed while shaking his head. "Let's get this over with." He walked forward as his arm transformed into a greenish colored whip. The whip tore through the air as it lashed across the distance towards Ed.
"How?!" Ed gasped in surprise as he dodged to the side. "Your powers shouldn't work to that extent when we're surrounded by all this manullium!"
"I have good control." The man calmly replied as he lashed out with the whip again. "Practicing around manullium long enough will do that for an esper."
"Ed!" Gunther and Terra's voices rang out. They had already defeated the mech. Both of them unloaded their ammunition on the strange esper. This time, the man's body was blasted to shreds. Limbs and pieces of flesh spread in all directions.
"We have to destroy the mana-core!" Ed yelled as he charged forward.
Unfortunately, it was too late. Each piece of the esper's body turned to green gel and slithered forward, quickly reforming his body. His expression remained calm and indifferent, as if none of this was a concern to him.
"What do we do?!" Gunther questioned.
"Take cover!" Ed replied while tossing several glass vials towards the esper. Black powder spread into the air as the glass shattered against the ground. He aimed his rifle towards the powder-covered esper.
"ARE YOU MAD?!" The esper yelled in panic.
Gunther and Terra dived into cover behind the defeated mech.
"HAHA, DIE!" Ed laughed loudly as he squeezed the trigger.
"BASTARD!" The old man's body turned green as he charged forward. His arms stretched out and wrapped around Ed's body. But it was too late. The bullet fired from the muzzle of the rifle, slamming into the powder-covered ground.
Then, nothing happened. "What?" The old man glanced back in confusion.
Ed grinned. "Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to bring glass vials of mana-powder in here? I don't have a death wish."
He flexed his arms and easily pushed the esper's arms away. Then he shoved his fist forward. The green gel that made up the esper's body provided little to no resistance as he pushed his fist into the esper's head, grabbing ahold of the mana-core. A slight squeeze, and the mana-core cracked apart. The green gel of the old man's body collapsed to the ground.
Gunther peeked his head over the fallen mech. "What was that?!" He questioned. "I thought you were going to blow us all up!"
"A small trick." He smirked. "That esper was purposefully keeping his distance from me. He obviously feared close combat. My fist went through his body as if it was butter." He shook some green slime from his hands as he eyed the pile of manullium ingots greedily. "Use the mech to carry as many as you can. We won't be getting a 2nd opportunity to do this again."