The drill spun once around itself with a screeching cry like a few monsters he’d heard, then clanked against the rocky walls of the cavern. Ash swore softly in a low tone, something he must have picked up from one of the human soldiers, and jumped down to right it. Tim resisted the urge to go after him and pull him back out. This was fine. They wouldn’t turn it right now.

  The drill was a cobbled-together thing, barely more than some metal bent roughly into the right shape and propelled more by the arm strength of some people with high Str stats combined with the help of a few Spells or Skills than its engineering. It would have worked perfectly fine against normal earth and dirt, Tim was sure, but the rock of the cave the base had been built into gave it some problems.

  Still, at least they’d already made some progress.

  “How long is this going to take?” he asked, sighing.

  Anuis, beside him, shrugged calmly. “As long as it takes,” she said. “We have no immediate cause for worry regarding the timing, our position is secure for the immediate future.”

  No one does patience like an elf, I guess, Tim mused, but didn’t say anything about that. He wouldn’t like being reduced to his racial characteristics either.

  Which, at the moment, didn’t even feel very relevant. He really wanted to feel the psychic embrace of his Hive again, to use poetic phrasing, but it didn’t seem to be happening in the next few days. Presumably, the sooner they made some progress with this particular discovery, the sooner he could actually go home. Of course, he’d rather not rush things and mess something up because of it.

  “Don’t worry, Sir,” Geoff called from the other side of the contraption. “We’re getting the hang of this. The next few meters should go much more smoothly.”

  As if to give the lie to his words, the drill clanked again when they started turning it, but then they seemed to manage to stabilize it. Some of the mages added a bit of pressure, which he couldn’t feel, but was obvious in the way the shape bent, and it resumed its work with the same racket it had made before. Tim was glad he’d been careful enough to get some ear protection. The humans went without for the most part, but Anuis and the other drones all used some, too.

  The Delver turned out to be right, and it did proceed much more smoothly from there. Tim resisted the urge to pace and instead just watched. A few more people had Skills useful for this kind of endeavor, and they combined them with the mechanical work of the drill to dig a straight — but more importantly, thin — little tunnel right down into the earth. It might have been something like a ventilation shaft if there had been another level of the base below. Or rather, a regular one; he supposed there was another level, which they were trying to reach.

  They were trying to be careful. The drill was secured with several ropes, no one got any closer than its tip minus quite a bit of safety distance factored in, and Zephyr was pacing around and supposedly focusing on the ambient mana.

  Tim eventually gave in and resumed pacing, though he kept his steps short and slow. There were other things he could do, tasks he could see to. The base was still being reclaimed, in more than the technical sense, and they had to prepare for the possibility of further attacks. But instead, he stayed here, watching their progress. It was the most important task anyway. Depending on what they found, they might even decide to give this place up entirely. Not a thought he liked, after everything it had taken to seize it. But if Regina decided it was not worth the trouble and potential conflict to hold on to a place this far south, he’d follow her wishes.

  This site was simply too far removed from the Empire proper; they would never be able to completely secure it, not entirely. If their arrangement with a nearby city or cities fell through, it would be vulnerable again. When Tim wasn’t focused on other concerns, that worry occupied his mind.

  Finally, the sound the drill made changed slightly and his thoughts were interrupted. He stopped pacing, turning to face the hole in the ground. The others had started digging a shallower trench around it, to more easily guide the drill and get access to the new shaft. They would probably have to start adding another layer of it soon, or deepening it much further on its own.

  “There’s a change in the composition of the ground,” Ash noted. “I’m not a geologist, but I don’t think it’s entirely typical of the area.”

  “What can you tell?” he asked.

  Ash shrugged. “Some harder rock, it looks like. Granite, if I had to guess. It might be artificially induced, maybe with magic. Or maybe they just used what was already here.”

  “We definitely haven’t reached it yet, though,” Nucme added. “They built deep.”

  “That’s fine,” Zephyr said. “Just keep on it.”

  Tim agreed, but didn’t say anything, and let them continue. Instead, he leaned over and squinted at the paper the older mage was scribbling things on. It was a little hard to make sense of. He clearly wasn’t making an effort with his handwriting, and probably using a private shorthand. “Charting the ambient mana?” Tim hazarded a guess.

  Zephyr looked up and actually graced him with a brief smile. “A little, yes,” he said. “I have also been working on a few theories, and brushing up on my earth magic. Practical experience does help at getting past issues, sometimes.”

  Tim nodded slowly. “And you could, say, help us get closer to this underground space?”

  “I thought we agreed to avoid using magic for this endeavor,” he frowned.

  We could’ve at least used your earth magic for the first few meters, right? Tim thought, but he didn’t say that. He should have suggested it earlier if he wanted to. “Right,” he said instead, suppressing a sigh and turning around.

  “I think there was another change,” Ash said after a while of silent waiting. This time, even Tim could tell it was different; the sound of the drill had definitely changed. “There’s metal in the way,” he added.

  “A sheet around the actual chamber, most likely,” Zephyr said. “Check there is no undue mana or signs of enchantment, and be very careful drilling through it.”

  “Will do,” Ash muttered, focusing on it again.

  Luckily, Nucme was able to confirm there was slightly less than the normal amount of ambient mana, and no runes or anything else, so they pulled the drill out to sharpen the tip and add more weight before lowering it again to start trying to drill through the metal. Tim winced at the screeching sounds. At least it seemed to work.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Suddenly, there was another shriek, somewhat different from the tortured noise of their implement trying to dig through the metal. Tim flinched and staggered a step back on instinct, raising his blade-arms defensively. There was a crash accompanied by a flash of light, and he blinked against it. It took a moment to realize what was happening.

  The drill had been propelled out of the hole, whose edges were suddenly looking more ragged. It must have crashed against the ceiling or wall and was now lying in a heap beside the new tunnel, as a smoking, damaged mess.

  “Is everyone alright?” Tim asked, squinting against the dust and the bright spots in his eyes. He took off his earplugs for now.

  “I think I broke my arm,” Ash muttered after a moment, staggering away from the hole.

  “Let me see,” Zephyr said brusquely, stepping forward and grabbing his shoulder. Ash hissed softly but didn’t react otherwise, patiently waiting as the Thaumaturge used his magic.

  “Okay, is anyone else hurt?” Tim asked, glancing at the others. They shook their heads. He saw a few scratches, they probably had bumps and bruises, but it looked like no one suffered serious injuries. He was willing to let it lie at that.

  “I take it we encountered some defenses,” Anuis said, her calm presence reassuring some of their restless tension.

  “You could say that,” Zephyr said. He let go of Ash and stepped up to the newly-dug shaft, peering down it critically. His body language was still defensive and wary.

  “How far down is that now?” Anuis asked.

  “Ten meters at a guess,” Ash responded, patting down his clothes and then joining them. “I think the actual chamber below is still at least a meter further down.”

  “That seems likely,” Zephyr agreed. “The magical defenses are clearly not directly in contact with it, or with what we are expecting to find here; they wouldn’t be able to sustain themselves otherwise.”

  “How did they do it?” Tim wondered. “Without any of you sensing them?”

  Zephyr scowled, and only responded after a short pause. “There must be enchantments inside the metal casing. It was built in several layers, most likely. The outer and lower layers would isolate it from the environment, also helping it to stay active — or at least able to be activated — for this long. The middle layer, or layers, carried the mana that caused the reaction.”

  “I would guess it’s a more passive measure,” Nucme added. “Something that would not need to be directed or controlled by any external component, simply automatically active when the shell was breached.”

  “Like some chemical substances that react violently when exposed to air or pressure changes,” Tim mused quietly. “Interesting.”

  “Yes, that’s a good comparison,” Zephyr agreed with a brief smile. “However, even if it was still enough to react, I doubt there is still as much mana contained within as when it was first made. Some of it must have dissipated over the centuries, it is impossible to completely isolate enchantments from the mana flow of the outside world.”

  Tim crossed his arms, examining it for a moment. “So, we could probably force our way through if we expended all that mana? It sounds like a risky course of action, Zephyr. How much would it even take?”

  “Impossible to know for sure, although I can do some estimates,” he responded, unperturbed.

  “Do we have other options?” Anuis asked.

  There was a minute of silence, as they clearly all thought hard. Tim started pacing again, trying to come up with a plan of action. Unfortunately, if magic — at least direct magic — was out, he really didn’t see any way but to brute-force it. Or, of course, they could rely on that contact Galatea had mentioned.

  “Continue with this, but be careful,” Tim decided. “I assume it will take a while. I may look into what Galatea suggested.”

  It would probably be useful if and when they broke through and found whatever there was to find down there, too, anyway.

  “We’ll need to build new drills,” Ash finally decided.

  “You do that,” he said. “I’ll look for Dan. And write a letter.”

  He’d initially planned to wait until he heard back from Galatea, from their Hive Queen. But it shouldn’t hurt to make initial contact, and he didn’t need to pursue it if he didn’t want to. But he also needed someone he could trust to take care of it.

  “You want to saddle me with yet another diplomatic mission?” Dan asked, crossing his blade-arms stiffly behind his body and tilting his head.

  “I’m not sure I would call this a diplomatic mission,” Tim prevaricated, glancing up briefly and then deliberately gluing his eyes to the pen and paper in his hands.

  “You’re sending me to talk to someone instead of fighting, that counts in my book,” Dan pointed out. “You could have just sent me to check on your golems.”

  Tim hummed. They were in a side room of the base, but there was no door, so he kept his voice low. He was using a stone shelf built into the wall as a desk, but it wasn’t very comfortable. “You can check on them on the way back, if you like,” he offered distractedly.

  Dan snorted. “I’d need to know the details of where you sent them first,” he muttered.

  “The first golem has probably been picked up by Iliyan by now,” Tim said, pausing and looking up. “That was always the plan, anyway. We just needed to send it around to cause chaos and distrust, give the impression that a certain group was attacking. The others are still held in reserve, I just put them into different locations for security. It’s not really important now that we actually have their creator available.”

  Dan uncrossed his arms and visibly slumped a bit as he stepped forward. “I’ll do this, of course,” he said. “But please keep in mind it’s under protest and assign me to a nice, clean fighting mission next time, okay?”

  “No promises, brother,” Tim grinned. He checked his letter one last time, then rolled it up. Pity I don’t have a signet ring or something. Then again, might be best if it’s not super official. Instead, he just closed it with some twine and then handed it to Dan.

  “Take one of Owin’s men and either Tirias or Alvol,” he instructed him. “On the way back, make sure the campsite we first used is clear. Direct her to the closest village if she agrees to come — that should be the one twenty kilometers east of here.”

  “I know,” Dan grumbled, but took the letter and nodded. “We’ll be back soon. Try not to blow up the base in the meantime, O glorious prince.”

  Tim tried to swat at him, but Dan dodged nimbly, before he walked off, now grinning. Tim shook his head, cleaned up his writing utensils, and then meandered back to the lowest level. There was probably a lot of waiting in his future.

  He stood quietly for a while, before he gave in and took another tour of the base, to check on his soldiers. As a result, he missed the next explosion. By the time he came back, they’d already almost finished the next drill, although this one was rather different. At least some of the men had learned how to put their applicable Class Skills to good use.

  Finally, after several hours he’d deliberately refused to count, Zephyr jerked upright from where he might have been sleeping standing up and took a step forward. “We’re through,” he said. “It’s …”

  “That’s right,” Ash said. He pulled on a rope they’d put up with a rough wooden scaffold, and the others started heaving the current drill out of the hole.

  “At least there seem to be no more defenses,” Nucme added, smiling.

  “What is it?” Tim asked, peering curiously at the tunnel even if he knew he wouldn’t see anything.

  Zephyr was silent for a moment. “Well, I think it is apparent the important thing was not whatever might have been hidden here,” he said. “This truly is a void in the ambient mana. I can sense it a little better now, but I would not like to come too close. Few of us should. Whatever this chamber is made of is like nothing I have ever seen or heard of. It’s not simply stopping all ambient mana from touching it; it’s almost like it is actively expelling it. Devouring it, even.”

  Tim pulled a face. That sounds delightful. “We will need to investigate,” he said after a moment.

  “Well, I suggest you do not send a mage down there.” Zephyr looked like he wanted to add something, then hesitated.

  “And perhaps not a demihuman,” Anuis murmured.

  Owin shifted audibly. He’d shown up a while ago but said little. “Perhaps a human as close to a ‘baseline’ as possible?” he suggested quietly.

  “Yes, that would be advisable,” Zephyr agreed.

  Tim nodded, understanding what they meant. He knew Earth used to have little mana, while Haven, the original home world of the other races except the Hivekind, did. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility that they had evolved — if there was even such a thing as natural evolution at play — with a dependence on ambient mana, or something like that. It should be less of a risk for a human, then.

  That probably meant Hivekind shouldn’t go down first thing, too. It was a bit of a shame, he was curious to see it. Still, he supposed it was still a good opportunity.