Chapter 120: Chapter 116: (Never) Split the Party

The tunnel had never felt so long. Partly that was because Regina’s group had to move slowly, prepared for sudden attacks. The subterranean monsters were clearly agitated, and more than a few of them took it out on the intruders. Regina saw a few types she had never chanced upon before, though none was as dangerous as the Tunnel Terror, or even at the third Tier. However, groups of them could still be quite annoying.

She tried to conserve her mana, and since she had quite a few drones with her as well as the Delvers, there wasn’t much need for her to fight. They mostly left dealing with the monsters to the warriors, with some support from the mages. Regina had to heal Max and Tim once, after a fight against a particularly large group of Tunnelers. The Delvers had their own healer, so when Owin was injured as well, she didn’t need to offer her help. She didn’t think their guy was quite as good as she, honestly, but his magic was enough to deal with the relatively light injuries.

Despite the occasional fights, they did make reasonable time getting deeper into the bowels of the underground complex. The mana still had that odd quality, but she didn’t notice anything else that might point to what the problem was. There hadn’t been another earthquake, fortunately.

Things changed as soon as they reached the part of the tunnel by the large doors, where she’d first seen a Tunnel Terror and where Leian had taken her to the Mirrored Halls. The door stood open — only a crack, but that was enough for Regina to realize that it had to be the source of the disturbance.

The space behind it was illuminated brightly. So much so, in fact, that the light made it difficult to tell what was behind it.

“In all our records, this door has never been opened,” Gwen muttered.

Regina narrowed her eyes. Be careful, she told the hive members with her. I don’t like the feeling of the mana here.

It could be worse, Janis said. But you’re right, it’s still sending a shiver down my spine.

They approached carefully, and Regina focused on parsing the noises coming from behind the tunnel. Most of them sounded distorted, probably echoing from further away. There was also a rumble and a hum that felt familiar. Then, as they came closer, she heard a sputtering noise and hissing sounds.

“Cover!” Regina shouted.

She ducked and threw herself to the floor, rolling to the side. She only caught a faint hint of something escaping into the air, before Janis muttered something. Regina dove into her head for a moment, just long enough to realize that Janis was using her new Air Manipulation to deal with whatever gas that was.

Then a new sound eclipsed it, and Regina cursed and tried to duck further. She probably hadn’t heard it often, but the rat-tat-tat sound of some sort of quick-firing guns was still unmistakable. A moment later, Max dove on top of her, holding his shield over their heads.

Owin shouted something, then actually took a step forward. He raised his shield, and a glowing barrier extended from it, covering most of the diameter of the tunnel.

Regina let out a breath, listening to the sound of bullets clinking off his shield. She nudged Max and stood up. If they had any kind of targeting capability, lying still would just make her an easy target without any cover to hide behind.

“How long can you keep that up?” she asked, raising her voice to be heard over the din.

“Less than four minutes!” Owin answered, still looking ahead with a clenched jaw.

Regina glanced at the entrance again, trying to work out the best thing to do and fast.

“I’m not sure we can get far enough away in time,” Tim said quickly. “Can we close the door?”

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He might be right; their opponents might be able to chase them and might have some seriously heavy-duty weapons. Even if they could get away, though, they’d have a much harder time approaching again. And they were here specifically to stop whatever was happening in time. It didn’t look like whatever they were dealing with could get out, for now, at least.

“Can you move forward and get me closer?” she shouted to Owin again.

“Yes. Hurry!”

Regina got moving, keeping just behind the knight. He didn’t show any hesitation, she had to give him that, but simply advanced to provide cover for her.

“Get to the door!” Max suggested to the others. “We can take cover beside it, in the dead angle.”

She tuned them out, though, focusing on her own goal. Her mana regenerated faster since some eggs had hatched after she set out, and it was rising more quickly down here. She had just over six thousand points now, and had to hope that would be enough.

Regina raised her hands, holding them out to help her focus. Then she formed her mana in the pattern of Basic Conjuration, while concentrating hard on what she wanted. She felt the Spell draw heavily on her mana, perhaps more than anything she had Conjured before.

Metal clinked against metal as what she envisioned took form. A large sheet of steel now covered the gap in front of them. Luckily, she didn’t have to conjure something in the space directly in front of her, at least not so close that she actually touched it, and Owin’s shield didn’t interfere with the process.

“Push against it,” Regina commanded, taking a deep breath.

The others quickly did as she said, before she gathered her focus again.

This time, a drop of sweat rolled down her face as she finished, but she couldn’t spare the attention to wipe it off. A second barrier, this one made of titanium, now stood layered behind the first one. Regina had Conjured it directly into place, with no gap between them.

Regina took a moment to rest and gather her power, listening to the clink of bullets off the new blockade. Owin’s shield was dimming noticeably.

Then she focused once more and cast the Spell again. She got more ambitious this time. She still made just one element, carbon, but now the atoms were arranged in a very particular way, creating a material that should, in theory, be even tougher and more resistant.

“My Queen?” Max asked, sounding concerned.

“One more,” Regina panted.

She closed her eyes for a moment, then drew on her mana. This time, she could tell that she was really scraping her mana pool dry, and didn’t get nearly as much as she might have wished. But it was still enough for one more piece of sheet metal.

Once it was done, Regina stumbled backward. Max caught her and led her to sit down against the wall of the tunnel. Regina put her head on her knees and closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to force back the nausea.

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