The next few hours dragged on with the same monotonous rhythm. Clear a tunnel, kill goblins, harvest crystals, repeat.
I'd managed to maintain a thin layer of reinforcement across my entire body for nearly an hour now. The sensation had changed from strange to oddly comforting—a constant hum of energy just above my skin.
"Getting bored back there?" Diana called over her shoulder, flashing me a smile as she cleaned goblin blood from one of her knives.
"Just focused," I replied, watching her through my enhanced vision. The blue-white energy of her mana flickered inconsistently through her body.
We reached another chamber, this one larger than the previous ones. The ceiling stretched about twenty feet high, with stalactites hanging like stone teeth above us. The air felt different here—damper, with a sharper tang to the goblin musk.
"Breeding chamber ahead," Shikamaru announced without looking up from the shadow he was manipulating between his fingers like a cat's cradle. "Troublesome."
Tenten nodded, her hands already reaching for a set of throwing knives. "Standard protocol. Tanks lead, full suppression pattern."
As the team prepared, I continued pushing mana through my pathways, testing the limits of how much I could circulate without making it obvious. Suddenly, something shifted. The energy flow stuttered, then surged along new channels I hadn't noticed before.
A translucent blue notification appeared in my field of vision:
[New Ability Unlocked: Mana Reinforcement]
ACTIVE SKILL: Channel mana throughout your body to dramatically enhance physical capabilities beyond normal limits. Reinforces muscle fibers, accelerates neural responses, and strengthens skeletal structure.
Effects:
Strength: +15%
Agility: +25%
Dexterity: +20%
I almost stumbled in surprise. 'Arcan, what just happened? I thought I could only get new abilities through missions.'
『Abilities can be acquired through multiple methods,』 Arcan replied. 『Continuous practice of a technique until mastery is one of the most common paths. Your systematic circulation of mana created new pathways, effectively teaching your body a formal technique.』
'What's the mana cost on this?'
『Cost would be approximately 450 mana per minute for someone with your current stats. However, your Six Eyes significantly improve efficiency, reducing the cost to roughly 45 mana per minute.』
I nodded slightly, processing this information as we moved forward. This changed things. If I could develop abilities through practice alone, that opened up entirely new possibilities for training.
Miguel fell into step beside me, his voice low. "Damn, X-ray. I didn't know you were that strong."
I turned to him, careful to keep my expression neutral. "What are you talking about?"
"Back there, with that goblin. You crushed its skull with one punch." He glanced around to make sure no one was listening. "Why are we even doing this porter gig? With strength like that, we could be hunting."
"Keep your voice down," I muttered. "It was just adrenaline."
Miguel shook his head. "That wasn't adrenaline. I've seen adrenaline strength. That was something else."
Before I could answer, Javier raised his fist, signaling for silence. The team froze. I heard it then—the skittering of many legs against stone, coming from multiple directions.
"Ambush," Shikamaru said, his lazy demeanor vanishing as he straightened up. "Three entry points. Goblins from the left and right tunnels. Something larger from the rear."
Tenten immediately took command. "Javier, Kendra—split and cover the side tunnels. Marcus, Diana—ranged support. Lee, Sasha—barrier ready. Shikamaru—"
"Already on it." His hands formed a seal, and his shadow stretched across the floor, splitting into three tendrils that raced toward each tunnel entrance.
The first wave hit seconds later. Goblins poured from the side tunnels—at least fifteen from each side, more than we'd seen in the entire nest so far. These were larger than the others, with crude armor made from scavenged metal and bone.
Javier and Kendra met them head-on, shields creating a wall while Marcus fired arrows in rapid succession over their shoulders. Diana flanked, her enhanced knives slicing through goblin armor easily.
The healers chanted in unison, a pale blue barrier shimmering into existence around our group. I noticed they positioned it to leave the porters outside the protection—standard procedure to prioritize combat personnel.
"Stay back," Tenten ordered us as she drew what looked like a collapsible bo staff from a compartment in her outfit. With a flick of her wrist, it extended to full length.
Then she moved.
I'd thought her knife work was impressive, but this was something else entirely. She spun the staff with blinding speed, each movement flowing into the next without pause. Three goblins fell in as many seconds, their skulls crushed or throats collapsed. She hadn't been showing her full capabilities earlier.
A shadow tendril lashed out, wrapping around a goblin that had broken through Javier's defense. The creature froze mid-attack, its body paralyzed.
"Shadow Imitation complete," Shikamaru announced, his hands still forming that strange seal. "Tenten."
She nodded once, sending a knife flying directly into the immobilized goblin's eye. The creature collapsed, and Shikamaru's shadow immediately released it to seek another target.
Their coordination was flawless—clearly, they'd worked together before. The others were holding their own, but the two of them carried the team's effectiveness.
Then came the skittering sound again, louder this time. Something massive emerged from the rear tunnel—a creature that resembled a centipede the size of a small car. Its segmented body glistened with slime, and multiple eyes dotted its armored head. Rows of legs ended in hooked claws that clicked against the stone floor.
"Carrion crawler!" Lee shouted, reinforcing the barrier as the creature charged.
The crawler slammed into the magical barrier, its mandibles scraping against the energy field. The healers strained to maintain the protection, their chanting growing more urgent.
"Javier, we need you!" Sasha called, sweat beading on her forehead.
The male tank disengaged from the goblins, sprinting back to confront the crawler. He raised his shield just as the barrier flickered and failed, catching the creature's mandibles on its reinforced surface.
"Hit it!" he grunted, muscles straining against the crawler's tremendous strength.
Marcus loosed three arrows in rapid succession, each striking the crawler's body but barely penetrating its armored segments. Diana circled around, looking for a vulnerable spot.
Fuck, I want to fight.
The realization struck me suddenly—I wanted to test myself against these creatures, to feel the rush of combat, to grow stronger.
When had that happened? When had this hunger awakened in me? After that ossuary gate? Or had it always been there, dormant until I gained the power to satisfy it?
It would be so easy to activate Mana Reinforcement, to leap into the fray and end this quickly. To show them what real power looked like.
But I couldn't. Not yet.
If word got out that someone could increase their strength indefinitely—breaking the fixed rank system that governed the entire hunter world—I'd become the most valuable research subject on the planet. They'd dissect me, literally or figuratively, to understand how I worked. I'd never have freedom again.
No. I needed to wait until I was so strong, so indispensable, that no one would dare try to control me.
"We need to move," I told Miguel, pulling him toward a relatively safe corner of the chamber. "Porter protocol says we stay out of combat."
He nodded numbly, eyes fixed on the battle. "Sure, yeah. Protocol."
The carrion crawler thrashed against Javier's shield, nearly knocking the tank off his feet. Its segmented body whipped around, sending Diana flying into a wall with a sickening crack. She slumped to the ground, dazed.
"Diana!" Kendra shouted, momentarily distracted. A goblin seized the opportunity, driving a crude spear toward her exposed side.
A shadow tendril intercepted it, yanking the weapon away. Another tendril formed a spike that impaled the goblin through its chest.
"Pay attention," Shikamaru muttered, his forehead beading with sweat from the extended shadow manipulation. "How troublesome."
Tenten had cleared most of the goblins on her side. She spun toward the crawler, her eyes narrowing as she assessed its weaknesses.
"The underside," she called to Marcus. "Third segment from the head. There's a gap in the armor."
The archer nodded, taking aim. His arrow struck true, burying itself in the soft flesh beneath the crawler's armor. The creature shrieked, its body contorting in pain.
Tenten seized the moment, leaping onto Javier's shield as he braced himself. Using it as a springboard, she launched herself into the air, her staff separating into twin fighting sticks as she soared above the crawler.
She descended like a falcon, driving both sticks into the wound Marcus had created. The crawler convulsed violently, its legs scraping frantically against the stone floor. Tenten twisted the weapons deeper, her face set in grim determination.
With a final shudder, the creature collapsed, its multiple legs twitching in death throes.
The remaining goblins, seeing their strongest ally fall, broke ranks and fled back into the tunnels. Shikamaru's shadows lashed out, catching two before they escaped. The others disappeared into the darkness.
"Let them go," Tenten ordered, retrieving her weapons from the crawler's corpse. "They'll lead us to the nest's heart."
The team regrouped quickly. Lee moved to Diana's side, his hands glowing with healing energy as he assessed her injuries. Sasha tended to Kendra, who'd sustained a shallow cut along her arm.
"Everyone still breathing?" Tenten asked, cleaning ichor from her weapons.
A chorus of affirmations followed. Even Diana managed a weak thumbs-up as Lee's magic mended her cracked ribs.
"Porters, front and center," Tenten called. "Big harvest here."
Miguel and I approached the crawler's massive corpse. I extended my extraction tools, locating the glowing essence stone embedded deep in the creature's thorax. This one was significantly larger than the goblin stones—about the size of a golf ball, with a pulsing yellow-orange energy that indicated higher quality.
As we worked, I noticed Shikamaru watching us from his position against the wall. His eyes were half-lidded as usual, but I could sense his attention focused squarely on me. Had he noticed something during the fight? Or was his tactical mind simply cataloging information about everyone present?
Once the crawler's essence stone was safely stored, we moved on to the fallen goblins. The team had killed at least twenty during the ambush, which meant a significant haul of low-grade stones.
"Not bad," Tenten commented as she inventoried our collection. "Crawler stone alone covers the contract fee. The goblin stones are pure profit."
"How much deeper do we go?" Marcus asked, checking his remaining arrows.
Tenten glanced at Shikamaru, who sighed and pushed himself off the wall.
"Based on nest distribution patterns and air circulation, the boss should be two levels down." He pointed to a downward-sloping tunnel partially hidden behind a stone formation. "That path will lead us there most efficiently."
"Then that's where we're headed," Tenten decided. "Same formation, but tighter spacing. Diana, can you move?"
The woman nodded, wincing slightly as she straightened. "Lee patched me up. I'm good to go."
"Then let's finish this." Tenten's eyes swept over the group, lingering briefly on Miguel and me. "And porters—stay closer to the center this time. We don't need you getting picked off when no one's looking."
As we formed up and moved toward the tunnel, Miguel leaned close to whisper, "She suspects something."
"She's just being cautious," I replied, though I'd noticed her increased attention as well. "Focus on the job."