Mage Tank

Chapter 273: The Truth Revealed!

Before I could respond to the Littan mage, Cezil voiced the question I saw reflected in the expressions of the rest of her team.

“The fuck are you talking about, Baltae?” the red-eyed twin asked. There was a touch of exasperation to her tone, like she was hearing a bad joke one too many times. Even so, her posture had subtly changed in response to her ally’s tension, putting her more on balance.

She wasn’t the only one delicately reacting, either. Madel still appeared to be sitting in her armchair, but the martial twin had begun to float a fraction of an inch from its surface. Guar looked like he genuinely didn’t know what the sudden stress was about, but had taken a couple of casual steps away from the golems to give himself some space to work. His golden eyes scanned between the rest of my party.

Captain Pio shot Tavio a quick glance, but otherwise remained as she was, not that she’d ever fully let her guard down the entire time I’d been around her. Curious, I looked over at Tavio as well, but the muscular Littan was leaning back against the bartop, watching Baltae and me with a hint of amusement.

For our part, no one in Fortune’s Folly gave any sign that they noticed the Littan team’s maneuvering. Varrin leaned against the bar near Tavio, close enough for a handshake. Nuralie’s head peeked out from the heated pool, though I had no idea when she’d dived in. Etja was busy mixing several cocktails at once with her hands and gravity manipulation, and Xim was peering around Baltae’s shoulder, trying to peek at whatever was inside his floating book.

The mage had said a lot to his party, either through the psychic connection I knew their team could create with one another, or through his tone and body language alone. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been too serious a warning, just enough to make the Littans cautious.

As far as the Delve was concerned, I’d considered a variety of avenues on how to broach this subject with the Littans. I’d known Baltae was likely to be the one to figure it out first, although his speed still surprised me, and I hadn’t expected him to be quite so forward about it. I didn’t really owe them an explanation, but I also wouldn’t be able to get away with being dishonest, not that I had any desire to do so.

I’d already decided that my days of hiding the inconvenient truths surrounding my existence were over; inspired partially by the fact that I’d already revealed my extradimensional origins to the entirety of Hiwardian noble society. It hadn’t seemed like many of them believed my claims were true, but the ones who mattered did. The sky hadn’t fallen after that bombshell, which, alongside the rapidly dwindling number of individuals who could reasonably threaten our lives, made hiding my strengths from people I wanted as allies feel pointless. Not to mention, it was exhausting.

I gave a thoughtful “Hmm,” as I rubbed my beard. “I would normally classify that as a trade secret,” I said. “But how about this? Fill me in on why you believe I ‘own a Delve’, and I’ll satisfy your curiosity.”

Baltae paused for a moment, likely processing that my words were as good as an outright admission that he was correct. Still, he proceeded without much of a delay.

“The conclusion is drawn from several observations, not all of which are my own,” he said. “Two years ago, Major Tavio entered your dimensional space as part of your surprise sparring match. He described the conditions as being designed either as a harsh training location or a defensive area intended to hinder potential aggressors. Additionally, he noted the presence of a large pack of mana monsters. Specifically, Aberrant Hounds.

“Upon further investigation, you have not been documented to have any particular abilities related to animal handling, aside from your Bonded Familiar passive and Dimensional Summon skill. Neither of those would traditionally explain your control over a pack of Aberrant Hounds, unless you were bonded to or summoned one of their Alphas, which is not the case. Various theories were presented, none of which were satisfying.”

“Uh, how many people are scrutinizing my build?” I asked.

“After the major’s report, a team was assigned,” said Baltae. “After your party continued to defy expectations, the team expanded. Four analysts are assigned to you, but only one works full time. An additional team of four was assigned to each member of your party. Then there is the oversight committee and whatever individuals, necessary for their expertise, that are brought in from time to time.”

“Well, damn.”

“I also compile in-depth notes on any Delve that my team undertakes,” Baltae continued, gesturing at his floating tome. “The Inheritance of the Void King was notable not just for its unusual plot, but also for its seemingly inexhaustible supply of dimensional mana. Most Delves have significant fluctuations in mana concentration between different zones, which are often explained by the methods integrated Delve Cores use in gathering such mana. The Inheritance, however, had an incredibly stable volume and density of mana throughout.”

“Hold on,” said Guar, taking another step away from the golems. “Are you saying that Xor’Drel owns The Inheritance, specifically? The Delve we ran through a few months back?”

“I am saying that you are in the presence of the ‘legendary’ Void King himself,” Baltae replied.

Guar looked me up and down, scratching his head. Then he looked at Xim, and finally Varrin. His eyebrows crawled up his head as he came to some dubious conclusion in his mind. Cezil started to add something, but Pio signalled her to stay silent.

“Curiously, the dimensional mana in this room is of a similar density,” Baltae said, ignoring his party’s tank. “To my senses, the signature of this mana is similar, if not identical. Further, the first creatures we faced within The Inheritance were Abyssal Hounds. These are not the same creatures as the Aberrant Hounds that Major Tavio encountered within your Closet, but Aberrant Hounds can transition to one of many different subtypes depending on the conditions of their environment. Given the robust dimensional mana present, an Aberrant Hound becoming an Abyssal Hound would not be surprising.

“The atmospheric composition within The Inheritance was also notable,” Baltae continued. “The quality of the air was incredible, including an ideal mix of oxygen, nitrogen, argon, and trace amounts of other gases such as carbon dioxide. However, there was a notable lack of common particulates found in Arzia, which led me to believe that the Delve itself was in an exceptionally isolated location. Given that it was a dimensional Delve, I believed that it was contained within its own pocket realm. Since the atmosphere in this very room shares those peculiarities, I feel my conclusion on that matter was accurate.

“Aside from the hounds, the nature of the dimensional mana, and the air, I realize now that the tale of the Void King has striking similarities to your known exploits. The events are highly dramatized and exaggerated, but there are few Littan soldiers who do not know the events of your Creation Delve, as the death of Sir Sayil Starion of Nohrrin was a widely discussed scandal. Specifically, your encounter with the atrocidile stands out, which led to your being ‘healed’ by the caress of Crimson Dread.”

Baltae gave Xim a meaningful look. She shrugged and returned his look with a grin.

“To be clear, my dick was never injured in that fight,” I said. “There was no caressing.”

“We were also really gross that whole Delve,” Xim added. “I really didn’t need any more toxic sludge in my… places.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Ouch,” said Cezil. “I didn’t realize Arlo had those kinds of issues down there.”

“She’s talking about the river,” I said. “Not my–” I stopped before committing that thought to words. “Never mind, please continue, Sergeant Baltea.”

“You also told me during the first half of our flight that you owned a Dominion Ivy Plant of the Endless,” he said. “The Dominion Ivy is known, albeit not as any sort of mana monster or fiend. The ‘Endless’ variation had never been catalogued prior to our Delve, which would make your possession of one highly unlikely. Given that I was able to sense that you were being truthful, it became an exceptional coincidence. Of course, it was not a coincidence at all, because they are the same plant. ṞàNȱᛒÈṧ

“Finally, The Inheritance issued a unique skill upon its completion, which is a variation of one of your signature skills, the Shortcut spell. The spell also came with unusual flavor text, and it makes much more sense now that I realize where it originated.”

Baltae shared the skill with us, and I quickly read through it.

Royal Shortcut

Dimensional

Cost: 5 + variable mana

Requirements: CHA 20, Dimensional Magic 20

Issue a decree that asserts your command over the planes surrounding you, allowing you to teleport any entity that can hear you or otherwise perceive your words. Allies may resist this teleportation at will. A non-ally may prevent themselves from being teleported by making a successful WIS contest opposed by your CHA.

Affected targets can be teleported up to a number of feet equal to 40 plus twice your Dimensional Magic skill level in any direction. All targets, regardless of whether or not they were affected, immediately become aware of the source of this spell.

This spell can target any number of entities, and costs an additional 5 mana for each entity targeted.

Having a high Charisma score is the best way to hold an enemy’s attention, but wearing stupid clothes and shouting at them also kind of works.

“The System gave me these clothes,” I muttered, running my hand along my vest and boa.

I’d been curious about the skill the System was going to give out to the Littans when they’d first entered our Delve, but had sort of forgotten about it after the whole thing went off the rails. After reading through the text, I thought the skill was kind of a weird one.

Dimensional spells were rarely governed by Charisma, and casters usually didn’t want everyone on the battlefield to know that they were the ones firing off high-impact spells. The spell also didn’t do anything with the attention it garnered, such as applying Distract or Mesmerize. It just let everyone know you’d fucked with their positioning, which was certainly one way to piss some people off, I supposed.

Still, I could see the symmetry to the way I chanted while channeling Explosion!, and feel the System’s judgment for how I insisted on taunting the enemy while also treating CHA as my dump stat. In my defense, Guar didn’t use CHA either. He just had a passive that let him flex his way into people’s hearts and minds using Strength instead.

“Well, that’s definitely a pile of evidence,” I said.

Guar shifted his weight and looked at Captain Pio. She shook her head, and he relaxed a touch.

After giving Guar his silent order, she turned to me and asked, “So you admit to controlling The Inheritance of the Void King?”

“The real name is Delve 1156-B: The Pocket Delve, but yes. Sort of.”

“Sort of?”

“I’m the co-arbiter,” I said. “I’m not a Delve Core after all.”

“Why did you invite us to run it?”

“That was Grotto’s idea,” I said.

“Your bonded familiar?”

“Correct,” I said.

“Aha!” said Baltae, startling me. The man was standing very close. “Your familiar is the Delve Core from your first Delve. This explains how you control the Delve, and also why you had command over those mana monsters. But how did that happen? Wait, no…”

The pages in Baltae’s book flipped rapidly, though he didn’t look at it. “The reports we have state you were forced to bond with a young c’thon after both of you were injured by the higher-grade c’thon in your Creation Delve,” he said. “No one questioned that, since c’thons are notorious for consuming their own kind and will sometimes work in groups to kill a superior foe. They usually turn on one another immediately after, but that would have been prevented by the familiar bond, not that the latter is relevant at the moment.”

He looked up at me, his eyes filled with an intense energy. He took another step closer, and he kept going. “I assume that story is more or less accurate. We can simply replace the fledgling c’thon with the core itself. The Delve was destroyed afterwards, which would normally result in the loss of the core, but it survived by attaching itself to you!”

I reached out and placed a hand on Baltae’s shoulder, then gently guided him back a step. “Pretty much,” I said.

Pio cleared her throat, and Baltae straightened. “Apologies for the interruption, Captain,” he said smoothly, his prior frenetic attitude evaporating.

“Why did your familiar invite us to the Delve?” asked Pio.

“He is a Delve Core, so challenging Delvers is one of his primary motivations. For your team in particular, he also wanted to do some recon on your skills and abilities. Your party was acting as the face of the empire when giving us the invite to meet and greet, and he wanted to know your capabilities before we got any more involved.”

“Threat analysis,” said Madel. I was surprised to hear the quiet woman speak up.

“I won’t deny it, but that’s not all it was,” I said. “If it was a trap, better safe than sorry. It was also a touch of talent scouting and a bit of general curiosity about Littan Delving methods.”

Cezil crossed her arms and frowned. “I feel like I should be upset about this, but I’m not. We spied on him first.” She looked at Pio and sloppily stood at attention. “Captain, will we be fighting Fortune’s Folly now?”

“No, Cezil, we will not,” said Pio. Guar finally relaxed at that. “Unless Major Tavio orders us to do so,” she added, glancing at the man. Guar tensed up again.

Tavio pushed off from the bar top and shrugged. “The empire is aware that Master Xor’Drel controls a Delve, and has decided that it is not of our concern for the moment.”

“Eh?” I said. “You already knew?”

“While the information on the interior of your Closet was sparse at first, we have since gathered many eyewitness accounts,” said Tavio. “Your meeting with the Hiwardian nobility delivered a treasure trove of data for us to review, for example. Taken in conjunction with Team Pio’s reports, it was not a difficult conclusion to reach. If Sergeant Baltae had access to half of what we now know, he would have realized it much sooner, but he is more focused on investigating Delves than people, so he did not need to know.”

“Then the empire takes no issue with Grotto luring– I mean, inviting Team Pio inside the Delve?”

“Why would we?” asked Tavio. “If Delve Cores did not do as much, we would have no Delvers. From my perspective, you did us a favor by advancing Captain Pio’s team to platinum.”

The rest of the Littans exchanged looks as they considered that, and the last of their unspoken combat prep dissolved.

What followed was a deluge of questions about Grotto, the Delve, the limits of the Closet, and a slew of complaints about Abyssal Gekkog ambushes.

Captain Pio soon realized that my earlier reference to speaking with Yara dealt with Baltae’s use of the celestial language inside the Delve. When I told her that Yara had negotiated with me over whether to answer Baltae’s prayers, it sent her into another brief spiral. She recovered quicker than the last couple of times, as I suspected she was beginning to develop a resistance to our outlandish claims being proven true.

That lasted until Baltae and Tavio began grilling me over whether I was actually from another planet and dimension. That one was still a step too far into the strange for the poor captain.

Overall, the Littans seemed more curious than upset. Madel appeared the most put off by the fact that I’d enticed her team into my Delve to observe them, but it was only a slight deviation from her default demeanor.

After a couple of hours, we were interrupted when Tavio excused himself to speak with the birdplane pilot. He returned only a few moments later to give us an update.

“We have a minor problem,” he said to me before turning to Pio. “Captain, we will need your flyers to be combat-ready in, say, thirty seconds?”