Steel and Mana

Chapter 394 – Searching

Spring had arrived in full force, warming up the land and air around Markoth's last city. The ice that once dominated the city’s streets had finally melted, leaving behind rushing water that felt like it was there to wash the whole region clean. Green had begun appearing everywhere outside, and for the first time, when the people of Markoth looked at it, it indeed looked green. Colorful and vivid. They even noticed how the trees were budding along the city's perimeter and how flowers were beginning to bloom and create more colors around the land. Around them.

The city and Markoth's land itself were healing. Slowly. But it was doing it. And, as the people of Markoth understood it, it was because of Avalon. What they didn't realize was that the newcomers were not only here to defend them, but they were here to hunt.

General Oleg had returned to Avalon with the Knight’s Errant and King Edric, from whom they hadn't heard so far, but they weren't worried. Not even for a moment. What they were concerned about was that one day, when the Stormbringer and two of the new mechs, the Rook and the Seeker, departed the city, leaving only the Lion behind to protect it, along with the armored soldiers.

When asked where they were going... they only got a simple answer: Scouting.

Aboard the command bridge of the Stormbringer, Pion stood before the panoramic display of the Imaginary, his arms crossed, eyes focusing as he monitored the terrain stretching from the northern ridgelines to the southern broken plains. What the ship was doing at the moment, its captain following his commodore's orders, was scanning for unnatural distortions, heat signatures, and signs of magical activity. Yes, the land was mainly desolate and ruined, but, as the Markothians said, beasts made their nests around their country's split-open surface. He was here to find and eliminate them.

“Still no confirmed surge in mana waves,” Captain Voss reported, glancing at Pion. “But there was a faint echo in Grid Theta-Five. It could be a small variant hiding in the ravines, but it also could be an undiscovered CC making a reaction under the earth.”

"From what we know, these bastards are drawn to it. If there is CC there, they are also there consuming it." Pion gave a slight nod. “Send out the Seeker. Let Nathel confirm what it was.”

"Yes, sir!" The Captain saluted, issuing his orders at once.

On the ground, Nathel's mech stood at the edge of a ruined village just east of the current location of the Stormbringer, visible in the sky as a small dot. He couldn't help but sigh as he looked over a shattered collection of stone huts and collapsed barns swallowed halfway by weeds, as nature had almost completely gobbled it up already.

"Poor bastards..." He thought when his radio buzzed, and Polo's voice came into his ears.

“This is the fourth such place we've seen. I don't think any more people are hiding away in this ruined land.” Polo's voice said in a grim tone, followed by the telltale sound of approaching mechanical steps.

The Rook was prepared to work in tandem with Nathel's Seeker. Polo's machine prompted two long-range cannons on his shoulders while his arms contained another set of two different weapons, from which one could punch through even magical shields. On its left was a flamethrower, powered by magic... but on his left? It was something new. Something rare.

Nathel learned about it when it was first introduced and installed on their airplanes. It was a weapon spewing small metal bullets at incredible speeds, designed to penetrate almost anything. As for how they were made, he didn't know, as it was under such heavy locks and red tapes that even the mechanics working on it only knew parts of the design—never to fully replicate it, only to understand how to fix those segments that could be damaged by heavy use.

Still, it looked awe-inspiring. The massive six barrels attached to the Rook's right arm, their noise when spinning up, and the distinct sound that he could only describe as 'brrrt' made him shiver whenever he heard it. It's too bad that it could only fire it a few times before running out of ammunition. The biggest drawback of such weaponry, he thought.

"I'm afraid there is nothing else to save here," Nathel sighed loudly, turning towards the Rook.

Where the Rook or the Leviathan had been hulking powerhouses of armor and strength, his Seeker was more akin to the Shadow. Sleek lines ran along its dark silver frame, its elongated limbs built for agility rather than brute force. Instead of bulky shoulders to mount cannons on it, its upper frame bore two paired formations that shimmered faintly when activated, allowing him to see and sense farther and further than anything else in Avalon's current military. As for weaponry, a long, spear-like rifle rested against its back. Unlike the Thunder's anti-magic gun, his was the opposite. It could release a piercing beam of light, making it reach its target at, well, light speed. What made it actually deadly was that his sensors had a secondary option... Analyzing and disabling enemy formations. He was what his Sovereign called their anti-magic specialist.

"Yeah," Polo sighed, agreeing. It was then that Captain Voss's voice reached them with their new orders, coming through an open channel.

“Understood," Nathel replied at once, activating his sensors and making his mech glow. "I’ve set up a wide-range sweep. The spell disruption grid is active. If anything is hiding in the ravine, it won’t be for long.”

"Getting ready for bombardment." Polo clicked his comm, and the weapon platforms on his shoulders snapped to attention, ready to receive their target coordinates.

“There is a resonance,” Nathel continued after a minute of silence. “A slippery one. It isn't big, but it is certainly there. We got them...”

It wasn't the first time the two had worked together like this. It was evident since the first time they were paired together that they were a proper combo unit. While the Seeker could work together with any other mech, being a great spotter for the Thunder, the latter was a single-focused unit. The Rook? It was capable of bombarding a whole area, a region that the Seeker could scan and mark for him, blasting dozens, if not hundreds, of targets at once. In addition, linking his marks to the howitzers back home... and the enemy had nowhere to hide.

“Scanning now, narrowing the mark,” Nathel murmured.

"Receiving." Polo acknowledged, his mind's eye seeing what Nathel was looking at.

Then, the Seeker shifted. The crests atop its shoulders unfolded like petals, revealing two embedded CC crystals. Formations were already rotating around them, sending invisible waves through the terrain and rapidly siphoning the monster-blood tattoo that Nathel was wearing on his arms. The only drawback of his machine's power was that the Seeker could only do it as long as Nathel's tattoo was being consumed. Still, so far, it was always enough as he began overlaying distortions across the ground.

“Got the bastard,” Nathel exhaled. “It is a buried heat signature, two kilometers to the east—subterranean. It stopped moving... Could be feeling my Seeker locking onto it...”

“Could be a burrow-type one?” Polo asked, already preparing to fire.

“Could be... or it's in its nest. We know little about how they act on our land.” A pause. “Wait... There’s another pulse—smaller, fifteen meters south of the main. There could be even more; I can't see them until they start. stirring”

"I will make them... Commencing bombardment." Polo grinned. “It is better to shell them all.”

There was no more warning, and there was no time for the hidden beasts to escape. The Rook's cannons began roaring like an angry dragon, forcing the mech to brace itself or be pushed a few steps backward. It was loud, making the ruins around them collapse even further, but it was a glorious noise to Nathel's ears. The arching, fiery spells hurled through the air to then split just above the surface, dividing into a dozen different columns of fire, exploding right after penetrating the ground.

The secondary explosion threw the earth into the air, sending massive chunks the size of a house flying in all directions, accompanied by the wails of monsters.

“Contact!” Polo yelled, noticing that, indeed, there weren't just two. By now, about a dozen elephant-sized creatures began emerging from the nearby soil, their bodies being a mix between spiders and centipedes. Something he had already faced once inside the Pass, making his flamethrower-hand twitch.

Of course, there was no escape, and those burning monsters could only shriek while Polo continued bombarding them.

"There's a new signal," Nathel said quickly, marking it for the Rook. A few hundred meters from the initial bombardment, a similar creature climbed out of the ground, its nest being consumed by fire.

There was no time for it to begin its charge. There was just a flicker of light, a droning buzz, and a single beam that lanced across the field like a divine judgment from the Seeker's own weapon. The somewhat larger beast reared up, shrieking, most of its face already missing. Then... It collapsed a second later, still twitching, oozing green blood.

But it wasn't the last that tried to burrow free from the underground hell and the spreading, magical fire. The second beast, more akin to a centipede, rose like a cobra would and opened its jaws to send a spell toward the two machines in the distance. But, whatever it wanted to do... was futile. Its body trembled as its magic flickered out mid-cast. It didn't even realize why or what happened when Polo's third volley of fire exploded above it, burning it to a crisp.

From the Stormbringer above, Pion had been watching the engagement unfold on the Imaginary. The ship was ready and tracking, and its cannons were primed to fire the moment more appeared around the battlefield.

“Kills are being confirmed,” Captain Voss stated, logging the Knight's achievements. “By the scans we are running, there is an old mine in this region; this looks like the previous entrance or maybe a part of it.”

“Then we’re not done yet.” Pion’s voice was level while giving his orders. “Mark them for cleanup and schedule another sweep. If we can't flood them out, we will need to send soldiers in to map it. The fact that these beasts nested here suggests that there is a CC mine hiding somewhere here.”

"Or they went into hibernation," Voss added, making Pion nod.

"Whichever the case may be, they must be eliminated. We will let Lord Kalash decide."

...

....

......

Later that evening, back in the city, as dusk spread across the landscape, Nathel was sitting on the city's repaired walls, eating a simple sandwich, watching the sunset. Polo sat beside him, sipping on tea, his legs dangling over the edge, humming nonchalantly.

“I wonder how many are still hiding out there,” Polo said finally, breaking their silence.

“Probably a lot,” Nathel replied, wiping his mouth and swallowing before continuing. “Their Pass had been blasted open for far too long. Just how many winters had passed, there had to be a lot of hordes that came through.”

"We have our work cut out for us, eh?" Polo chuckled, gazing towards the mountains in the distance, "I wonder if they also have the Gods' formation inside this passage."

"I would bet my Seeker on it."

"Same." Polo agreed, sighing. "We may have to stay here permanently until we can plug it."

"If that is our duty, I don't see an issue with it. If the Sovereign says so, I will do so."

"I didn't say I wouldn't," Polo added, pursing his lips. "I just don't want to miss the big day!"

"Huh?" Nathel hummed, tilting his head and finishing his sandwich, "What big day?"

"I heard some talks..."

"Oh?" Nathel leaned closer, his eyes sparkling because everyone knew that Polo was close to Commodore Pion. It wasn't the first time he would receive some juicy news before anyone else.

"I think the Sovereign is planning on establishing a forward base back home. Behind the Gods' Formation. If I am going to be stationed somewhere... I want it to be there!"

"Damn..." Nathel whistled, looking around. "If it happens... Then I think there won't be a Knight who wouldn't want to be there."