Birds and Warmth

The sounds of wings flapping, screeching, and eventually the glitter of metal caused all combatants who previously struggled for their lives to disengage and look towards the source of the commotion.

When the source was revealed in the form of dozens, maybe even hundreds of birds, all flying through the tunnel and swarming into the chamber, every living being did what their instincts told them to do, be they man or beast.

They threw themselves to the ground, clinging to it to be as low as possible, all in order to avoid certain doom.

And their decision proved correct, their instincts did not lie, as when these birds kept on flying, they flew past the branches and trees up above, their wings sliced through branches and left gashes on the trunks they flew past, shredding vegetation into chunks.

The birds surged further towards the tunnel downwards, soon leaving the boss room behind.

What was left of the room, however, was a scene of devastation, almost the entire upper part of the room's trees was gone, the middle parts of the trunk were covered in gashes, and branches were shredded. The lowest part of the room where the wolves and humans were didn't suffer as much, but it didn't go intact either.

Only a few birds flew through there, but they did, leaving bushes that were cut apart, and inflicting deep injuries on the wolves' upper bodies, as the beasts were simply too big to be missed entirely.

Humans went mostly unharmed except for Leopold having a long cut across his back, a result of a rather unlucky occurrence of a bird flying by.

As the clamor died down, the ones who fought a dozen seconds ago slowly got back up. Among the humans only Anna was more or less capable of fighting, still stubbornly hanging onto her dirt-covered crossbow. Leopold and Marilyn instead had blood streaming down their bodies and standing rather unsteadily.

On the other side Tag and Nacht were both heavily cut by the swarm, with the top of their bodies being covered in cuts, the white wolf even missing an ear. But both of the beasts were alive and capable of killing.

Both parties looked each other in the eyes, unmoving, but tense still, uncertain of what to do next.

The golden-eyed wolf, feeling his own pain, seeing his partner being the same, and seeing the opponents who were still capable of battle, made his decision and howled out briefly.

All eyes went to him, which included his black-furred partner. She stood still for a moment, before backing away cautiously, still observing the two humans, who shared the same cautious look.

Upon walking far enough away, she slipped into shadows, disappearing out of the human's sight.

The golden-eyed wolf looked at the bleeding woman who stood in a hunched position, breathing heavily, yet still meeting his gaze. A near-unnoticeable glint of respect flashed in his eyes before the light began bending around him as he walked backward, slowly making him disappear. A form of shimmering light could then be seen limping away, drops of blood occasionally seemingly falling out of nowhere.

The two beasts were soon gone and out of vision, but the humans remained on guard, not understanding the situation.

As a minute passed with nothing happening, however, the trio relaxed a little. A sigh of relief could be heard as Anna lowered her crossbow.

"... I should just stop being surprised with this place. First intelligent wolves, and now merciful too? What do you think is going to come next, Marilyn? Elves and dwarves?"

She chuckled, but her sarcastic comment got no response.

"Marilyn? Marilyn!"

Despite the woman standing, she did not respond to her calls. Leopold who remained silent thus far, walked to her slowly, limping slightly from pain. When he arrived near her, however, he merely chuckled, before holding her and gently laying her down, much to Anna's confusion.

"What the heck are you doing?"

"She fainted standing." He pointed to Marilyn's face, which showed her closed eyes. "Let her rest a little."

He then heavily sat down on the ground himself, removing the mask covering his lower face, revealing the face of a man in his twenties, possessing a cleanly shaved face.

He then sighed heavily. "I think I may need a little too. Look after us, will you?"

Anna was standing confused, as this was the first time she had seen his face, when the rogue fell on his back, fainting as well.

"Damn it... You two morons." Anna then smirked while looking up at the crystal shining with light above her. "At least you are still alive."

Holstering her crossbow, she came up to the two before muttering. "Now how am I supposed to look after you?.."

----------------------------------------------------

While the three members of the group who were left behind rested after their hard-fought battles, Lan the Core was dealing with a problem that appeared out of nowhere. In the form of a swarm of bloodthirsty birds.

'What the heck?! Couldn't you see that they had a dramatic moment going? And I didn't invite you!'

Despite his protests, however, the birds which amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty total, appeared out of nowhere on the edge of his perception during said battle, before just beginning to swarm downward into his domain, past the first floor and into the boss room. All while shredding everything they flew past.

Whether it be beast or plant, their razor-sharp wings cleaved all apart, only the walls of the 'dungeon' resisting their cutting force. Despite all that, they flew down and down, after the boss room they streamed into the second floor, before flying above the forest, trimming the tops of it better than a gardener would.

The swarm then began circling the central pillar, seemingly attracted towards the crystal of mana within the central pillar. The problem was, that their circling chipped away at the pillar itself, and if they didn't stop, it would soon collapse.

'These bloody birds... They must have come for mana, obviously. And why didn't I reinforce that pillar too... Still! I can't let my work be undone. If it's mana you want, I'll show you mana.'

He concentrated mana near his Core, before blasting it outward, the wave of mana sweeping out from the third floor and into the second.

The birds sensed this thanks to their mana sensitivity which was pretty high apparently, with the crystal distracting them from the flow previously. But now, like sharks smelling blood, they immediately surged downwards toward the tunnel leading there, much to the dismay of all living in the forest below.

In particular, the four Path Guardians were shredded into pieces before bursting into mana and leaving behind their Heart Cores as the birds flew by.

In the boss room, the herd of deer was already away from their path of flight thanks to Lan's command. As such, the murderbirds surged past the room, down the tunnel, and into the third floor.

Once they arrived in the new environment, the mana which was even denser all over the place sent the swarm into a frenzy. The birds flew around chaotically, at the same time reveling in mana and having lost their direction. This was within Lan's plan, as he deliberately improved the mana density temporarily in order for the birds not to seek his Core.

All that was left was to connect to the newfound arrivals, making them a part of the 'dungeon dwellers'.

Although Lan was not planning for their arrival at all, their deadliness was proved many times over during their descent, their swarm being comparable to a natural disaster.

But when Lan began stretching the mental thread towards one of the birds, he was surprised by the difficulty of the connection.

The birds didn't seem very intelligent, not displaying any signs of complex thought, the only peculiarity being their sharp wings and swarming behavior.

According to this, the establishment of a connection should have been easy, but Lan was met with resistance, surprising him.

Unperturbed, Lan tried the same thing on a different bird but was met with the same result. Trying it over and over on the members of the swarm, he still failed, as if there was more than just that mind resisting him.

'Minds... Many... Could it be?'

As an unexpected thought appeared in Lan's head, he changed his approach. Instead of weaving individual threads of mental mana, he instead strung many at the same time, forming a massive invisible net, before launching it towards the birds, connecting to each and every one of them.

This time no such resistance was met, the minds of the avians laid bare before him, and what he felt through that connection confirmed his conjecture.

'So that was it!'

The minds of the birds, their souls, were linked with each other, their instincts and desires being shared and intertwined, forming a network. Or maybe one could call it...

'A hive mind?'

With this, Lan understood the reason for his previous failures with the connection. The amount of mental mana he sent out always corresponded to the mind of an animal, just the right amount to connect, as any more would overwhelm the beast, leaving it as a shell without a soul.

Lan had tested this on a few insects and rodents before, and as this was far from the desired result, he didn't cross this limit.

However, these birds shared mental mana through their connection, as such their defense surpassed the individual capability. But when Lan sent out a connection to every mind simultaneously, this defense was overwhelmed, forming the mental connection.

And by themselves, the minds of the birds were rather simple, Lan not needing to bargain or negotiate with them like he did with The Huntress. The most peculiar instinct within was their search for mana.

These birds possessed an exceptional sense of mana, allowing them to sense the concentrations of it from far away. Their usual behavior was to swarm mana-dense places, shredding them and absorbing the ambient mana released from them.

Lan shuddered, as the implications of what they would have done upon reaching his Core were obvious.

'Haa... Good thing I connected to them already. Now they'll just be a murderbird that doesn't want to murder me.'

With that thought, he gave the command to stay on the third floor, at the same time sending out a simple feeling of safety, satiety, and dense mana.

And that's all it took for the birds to calm down from their frenzy, once again gathering together, and flying over the jungle that was the third floor.

Eventually, they settled down on some trees near the lake which Lan previously dug out. Surprisingly enough, the trees remained intact. The birds didn't like resting on the ground apparently.

Now that they were still, Lan was able to examine them more closely. These harbingers of death weren't that big actually, compared to the usual sizes of wildlife that is, only thirty centimeters in length. They possessed mostly black feathers which grew silvery closer to the edges.

But these very same birds were terrifying thanks to the sheer sharpness and durability of that silvery part, which could be compared to a diamond. One could imagine the value of these feathers if one could get them without being shredded into pieces.

'You cute and murderous birdies, I name the Razorwings, due to your obvious trait.'

Although the name was a little on the nose, Lan was satisfied with the new addition to the third floor. Upon looking around said floor, he noticed an old acquaintance, The Huntress, in her boss's room, seemingly asleep with mana gathering around her. Swirls of blue and black particles, signifying Water and Shadow, got absorbed into her body. Her evolution was close.

'It seems that already strong and smart beasts require more mana for some reason. Still, my gut is telling me that they will evolve into an even stronger version of themselves!'

Being happy at the thought, Lan didn't disturb the queen of the jungle from her rest, instead turning his attention to the overall situation.

The circulation of water was as planned, with various ferns and plants absorbing the excess, growing ever greener, and the water continued to condense before flowing through the river and into the lake. Herbivores munched on various vegetation and carnivores hunted said grass-eaters. All was well, but something was missing.

'What is it... Of course. Jungle is supposed to be rather hot, or warm at least.'

Lan then stared at the crystal which illuminated it all, but provided no heat, unlike the actual sun.

'What exactly can I do about it? I got fire mana recently, could that work?'

Lan didn't risk experimenting with that crystal directly, instead picking an empty patch of land on the third floor, before making a Mana Crystal there. But he encountered a problem when trying to gather fire mana.

'...There is no fire mana.'

The last time he encountered fire mana was when a forest fire raged above, and with no fire down here, there was no fire mana. With no success being met this way, Lan was forced to alter his thinking.

'But fire is supposed to be one of the main elements, is it not? It must be present in nature somehow?'

Examining the entire third floor for particles of fire mana, he found nothing. Lan then examined the second and first floors, still finding nothing as well.

Only when he arrived on the surface did he find what he sought, but not in the form he expected.

On the surface the Tree on the hill stood tall, its leaves which were previously red were gradually regaining their vibrant green colour.

Lan was observing this, kind of confused as to why they were red in the first place. Upon looking at mana though, the answer was revealed.

Fire mana was contained within, probably absorbed during the forest fire, with traces of it being mixed in. But fire mana was unnatural to the tree, and it was gradually being expelled and being replaced by Life Mana.

But it didn't just disappear into nothingness, no, the whole clearing, even though it was currently night, was very hot, as if it was under a midday sun.

Lan found the answer upon looking at this phenomenon. It wasn't Fire Mana but it was Heat Mana.

'Of course! Now it all makes sense! There is no such heat underground for this mana to be present, on the contrary, it is somewhat chilly down there. So, to have heat mana I must get heat itself!'

Looking once more at the crystal on the third floor, Lan was forced to disperse it as it was now filled with life mana. Upon creating a new crystal, Lan began to think about how to get heat mana.

'So, do I need to make a fire? But how? I don't have hands to use flint or twirl a stick.'

Once again, the answer was obvious.

'I am a magic Core, I need to use magic.'

Lan tried out various means soon after. He tried somehow rubbing particles of mana together, but with them being Earth and Life particles, it didn't amount to anything.

Lan then tried out neutral mana, but it stayed true to its name and did nothing.

With no new ideas, Lan remembered when he first tried to grow his Core.

'Maybe mental mana is the answer? It is the most mysterious type of mana to me and I don't know its full capabilities.'

Upon remembering about it and the usual method of summoning it, Lan began to call upon it with ideas and thoughts concentrated in that place. And with the amount of mental mana being enormous thanks to all the linked creatures and the constant battles, when he thought about the concepts of heat mana, the air near that crystal began to quickly dry out and heat up.

Lan soon felt a mild amount of exhaustion that he hadn't felt in a while, but the empty space within the crystal was soon filled up, and it began to glow in an orange light as if a fire was burning within.

Seeing his success, Lan continued to 'summon' more heat mana, and when the surroundings of the crystals were on the verge of combustion, Lan gathered the generated particles and pulled them into the crystal, the light growing brighter, heat beginning to emanate from the crystal itself.

It was growing stronger and stronger, to the point that grass around it began to catch on fire and dry out, but the light was not that bright in comparison.

By the time the small vessel reached its capacity, the grass had caught on fire, making Lan hastily extinguish it by gathering water mana. Observing the result, a very hot but not that bright crystal, Lan was slightly disappointed.

'It may serve as a source of heat for sure, but not as a source of illumination. It's lacking light.'

As he pondered upon the issue, a thought clicked in his Core.

'Light? Maybe I need Light mana!'

But after the idea arrived, it was cooled down by reality.

'I don't have light mana...'

Lan could be said to audibly groan as a ripple of mental mana tinged with annoyance rose from his Core.

'At this rate, I'm going to comprehend the Dao and go against the Heavens...'