The Oresnatchers

Elizabeth and I have resumed our adventuring activities. I had been hoping to devote all our time to working on the celestial magic, but after several weeks of hard work, it became clear to the Vol and I that we had farther to go than I had initially thought.

So why adventuring?

Unfortunately, we're running out of the mana stones that we use to create the AM-stores, which have been breaking with every failed attempt. We don't have nearly the resources that we did at the magic academy. Even if we went back, supply lines are still down, so there'd be little point.

The way to solve this little conundrum is adventuring. Some monsters - but not all - contain a mana stone within them. They're mostly found in inorganic creatures, such as golems.

Heading into the forest, Elizabeth and I pass by the lake where we tested the manacaster. The area is kind of a mess now. Any wildlife in there has most certainly been disintegrated by our lightning tests. We walk deeper into the forest.

The boundaries of the forest, nearest Tayde, don't have any inorganics, so we need to go farther. We see some of the usual creatures; goblins and slimes, primarily. Finally, we reach an old mineshaft. Word is, it was built by dwarves a long time ago, but it was abandoned after it was picked clean.

This is a very good spawning ground for golems and oresnatchers.

Golems can be theoretically anything. Rock, sand, gravel. The only requirement is that enough mana has concentrated in one location to form a mana stone. It's a bit like a black hole in that way.

Oresnatchers are more interesting to me, personally. I haven't hard of them before. I had initially believed that it was just a weird name for a golem, since they're also known to form from things like iron ore, but when Elizabeth gave me a description, it was clear that it was something else.

Entering the mineshaft, Elizabeth turns on an oil lamp, which she has hung from her waist. The reason why we're not using magic to light our way is simple; we need it for the manacaster.

We've only used the manacaster in tests, so this is its first live trial against monsters.

The darkness thickens around us as we head further down into the mine. I notice that the mana levels seem to increase slightly, the further down we get. I fantasize about the core of the planet being a gigantic mana stone for a few minutes, and how that would impact the planet, when a noise pull me back to reality.

It's a scratching noise, like something is dragging a ton of gravel over the rocky floor.

"Turn up the lamp," I whisper to Elizabeth.

She does so, and the light of the lamp bounces off the walls, luminating the cave.

There, standing stock still, just a few meters ahead of us, is a monster. I recognize it from Elizabeth's description.

"An oresnatcher?" I ask her to confirm.

"Mmm," she nods.

The creature is extremely tall, though it's hard to say exactly how tall. The roof of the mineshaft is easily a meter above me, but the oresnatcher is taller, and has to bend at an odd angle to fit. It doesn't seem uncomfortable, though. It's just standing there.

Its skin, if you can call it that, is stretched across its body, almost too tightly. It also seems to be glittering slightly in the light.

The weirdest part about this creature is that, despite it being mostly humanoid, it has no head. The body just stops, and then there's nothing. It's uncanny.

It reminds me a bit of the greater monster that attacked Rosewood. This one is slightly creepier, though. We've been standing here for several seconds, a bright light on it, but it still hasn't noticed us. We haven't exactly been quiet, either.

I wonder if it uses mana to see, like the greater monster?

I can't sense any mana waves, like the ones the greater monster radiated, though.

"It might be blind," Elizabeth whispers.

"Maybe. Let me try," I whisper back.

What I'm about to do could be very stupid, but let's go for it anyway. I take a deep breath.

"HEY!!!"

My yell reverberates around the mineshaft. The oresnatcher spins around. Its skin really does glitter.

Okay, so it has ears. Somewhere. Good to know.

Or maybe it just sensed the vibrations?

I'd like to experiment some more with this creature, but then I realize just how cramped it is in the small cave. Might as well kill it. We're just here for the mana stone, after all.

"Stand back," I tell Elizabeth, who moves behind me, hand on her sword.

Holding the manacaster in front of me, I switch the gear to the fire symbol. I then promptly change my mind, when I remember the level of heat the fireball gave off last time.

Lightning is out, since it comes from the sky. The tidal spell is out, since we would drown.

Agility isn't much use in here, either. I can't move around the creature at all.

None of them work in this close proximity. It's starting to dawn on me that we might need to add another spell once we get back.

Well, that only leaves one spell, doesn't it? The barrier spell. I look at the monster, its back bent to the breaking point.

I switch the manacaster to the symbol of a shield.

"Equeralliex."

The barrier appears, not in front of me, but below the monster's feet. The oresnatcher just stands there. It doesn't even seem to notice when the ground beneath its feet starts to move.

The barrier moves upwards. It's slow, and the oresnatcher could easily escape, but it just stands there, slowly getting pressed together.

This might be a bit uncomfortable.

Like a hydraulic press, the tall creature is slowly squished together until-

*Crrrack*

*Crrick*

*Snap*