Heaven’s Trial Part II

Athena's first reaction to Leona's voice was to jump back as far as she could without looking up, but the gelatinous monster dropped on her left thigh, covering part of the coat and trouser she was wearing.

"Argh!"

She stumbled and fell on her butt, however Leona knew just how dangerous slimes were which made her take split second decisions to avoid letting her friend be hurt by one.

"Northern winds hearken to me, pierce through my foe, Ice Spear!"

A thin spear-like ice stake formed in front of her extended right palm before being shot out at an incredible speed, fortunately for Athena, Leona was deadly accurate with the spell and nailed the slime dead center which left almost no time for it to dissolve the inventor's clothing.

"Ah!" Athena looked shocked at the frozen solid carcass laying immobile on the ground, part of the monster was blown out not unlike when grapeshot rips death angels appart. She then looked at the tactician with both eyes widened. "Thanks Leo…"

"Are you alright?"

Leona went to her and extended her right hand.

"Yeah thanks to you." She grabbed her hand and stood up. "I wasn't expecting a slime on the ceiling. Do you think it reacted to my movement or sound?"

"Probably movement, I encountered many of these back in Arcadia. They eat-"

She just realized what kind of diet they have which made cold sweat beads form on her forehead.

"You were saying?"

"Athena, this mine is mainly to dig out frostburnt silver right?"

"Yeah, primarily, it used to be an iron mine until they discovered the frostburnt silver vein below it." She patted some of the snow on the back of her coat. "Most of the iron mining operations were halted and they switched to primarily extract the silver or at least that is what Lawrence told me."

"Then we should hurry, slimes can digest frostburnt silver and where there is one there's probably more." She picked up the sledgehammer from the ground and offered it to Athena. "Keep an eye out on places where those things can get to your face, Phoebe was unlucky to have one of those fall on her face."

The moment she mentioned it the inventor simply shook her entire body from the chill that went down her spine.

"That certainly doesn't sound good."

"Thankfully we had a healer back then so she was mostly fine after we removed the wretched thing off her but since neither me or you brought potions it is best to avoid getting hurt entirely."

The inventor got the other pickaxe and headed deeper into the mine, steps ahead there were some rusted metal cabinets slightly tilted. She reached for the first one and opened it.

"Ah, there we go." She pulled out a handheld oil lamp from inside. "I knew they left something here."

"Is the oil still good?"

Athena shook her head, but despite the negative response she had a smirk on her face when looking at the tactician.

"Probably not, but we can just thaw it and by we I mean you."

"Huh? How am I going to do that?"

"Thankfully the underside of this thing is made of metal so just make a small concentrated flame while I hold it above it. Though I must emphasize, do not make it too intense or else you'll burn my hand." She held the metallic lamp from the handle while Leona flickered the smallest blue flame she could on her palm underneath it. At first she thought it wasn't doing anything until the noise of cracking metal came from it, startling her. "Keep it steady. The metal is simply expanding, there's nothing to be worried about."

Despite what the inventor said, it didn't change much the fact that Leona was fearing that thing would explode in her face without any warning. Each second that passed her face was further and further away while looking through the corner of her left eye before Athena took the lamp out of the fire spell.

"There we go, it should be thawed now." She took the silver lighter out of her pocket and lit up the base of the lamp and a few seconds later she had a light source that was more than enough for the both of them. "Now…"

She left the lamp on the ground and went back to rummage through the metal cabinet.

"Not here…"

Her ramblings went on as she opened the other cabinets adjacent to it which prompted Leona to ask her.

"What are you looking for?"

"One sec I need to find this thing… here… ah, found it." She pulled out what could only be described as a pair of crude eyewear. It had round glasses to allow sight, but it was so dusty it was nearly impossible to see anything through it. "Give it a rub to clean it before using and put a piece of cloth over your mouth and nose so you don't inhale the silver dust. That infamous powder is what causes silver decay."

Leona's eyes widened.

"Oh, okay…"

"Yeah, keep yourself safe." Athena took a piece of cloth from her satchel and tied tightly to cover her nose and mouth. "I'll be in the front, you can deal with whatever comes with magic right?"

"I can, but don't count too much on it." Luckily to Leona, she had a piece of rag inside her fur coat, though it was best if she didn't think where it came from. "My mana reserves aren't that big to begin with."

Athena nodded and arranged both sledgehammer and pickaxe against her left shoulder in order to carry them while holding the base of the tools as well as the lamp in her left hand. Her right was holding the single shot derringer with her index finger just slightly above the trigger in case she needed to shoot.

"Alright, let's get going. We got some silver to gather."

Leona put the pickaxe shaft against her left shoulder and carried it much like how the inventor did. However unlike her friend, the tactician left a small ice stake already pre-cast and floating above her right palm. There was a sense of lingering dread hanging in the air not unlike the stillness of death, it was unsettling for her to be walking down that stone hall without knowing what could be waiting up ahead in the darkness.

Nevertheless, there was no other option if not keep moving forward, if there was a threat it was up to her to defend the both of them. She had read from a book that more important than knowing what you're fighting, it is even more so to know her own limits and how much she could push beyond those without putting their lives at risk.

'About eight low mana consuming spells, or three big ones…' She juggled the small icicle between her fingers as she measured her own capabilities. 'For a while now I've been able to increase the quantity of magic I can spend, however that hasn't impacted how many big spells I can use…'

It was a matter of quality instead of quantity, she knew how destructive some of her incantations were but no matter how much she improved her mana pool, it was just not possible to cast more than three at her present state.

They kept moving either way, Athena used the lamp to find her bearings within the mine as she led the tactician through the myriad of narrow tunnels and large corridors until they found a broad ramp that went down the mine, center of the rocky floor was outfitted with minecart rails to make transportation easier. The air was considerably colder there as if the source of the cold was inside the mine.

"Oh here we are." She stopped at the cusp of the ramp before looking back at Leona. "From this point onwards, there'll be frostburnt silver in the walls and ceiling of the shaft so take care to not let anything get through the goggles or the cloth protecting your nose and mouth. Last thing you'd want is getting silver decay after coming this far."

The tactician nodded with confidence, though most of it was to hide the fact that she was stricken with fear down to her very bones. Deep in her mind she knew fear would only hinder her ability to react accordingly.

'Focus Leona…' She took a deep breath. 'Nothing good will come from letting fear take a hold of you.'

She briefly closed her eyes and remembered everything that had happened in her travels, her maid's death, her friend's sacrifice, her father's demise, every piece of memory that brought her anger and despair just made her resolve even stronger in the face of uncertainty. Upon opening her eyes she glanced at the inventor who was looking at her.

"Alright, lead the way Athena."

"I see you made up your mind. Let's move, better not to tarry in a place like this."

The lieutenant used her free right hand to support her weight against the wall on her right side as she carefully made her way down the ramp, although it wasn't particularly steep, she was making sure she wouldn't end up falling face first on the rocky floor. Leona followed her closely while keeping an eye out in their flank as well as above on the ceiling.

The freezing cold air felt more and more humid the further down the ramp they went, it was a rather long way until they reached the flat ground. Moisture gathered on the floor's surface which seemed unusual at first, but the further down they went Leona began to notice not only it was becoming damp with slow dripping water from the ceiling, but also brighter with an eerie low light blue glow seemingly growing around as they walked.

"We should be near." Athena was looking at the rotten and rusted rail tracks. "We only need a good chunk of silver then we can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps."

Some old wooden supports that kept the tunnel open were rotten, it was a surprise that the mine hadn't collapsed from the lack of maintenance.

"Agreed. While I didn't see anything up until now, I would rather not stay here longer than I have to."

"Yeah, after witnessing that slime trying to eat my thigh I really want to get out as fast as possible." She holstered her derringer for a brief moment to put the lamp on the floor while also both tools in each hand. "I'll leave the lamp here since it's easier to see the silver in low light."

"Alright, I'll follow behind you."

They headed deeper in the hall and despite being dark, Leona's eyes were becoming accustomed to the low light environment which further made the eerie light even creepier. However despite the horrible chills going down her spine, she kept moving on behind the inventor, it was her responsibility to keep her safe after all.

"I'm sorry Leo, in hindsight I should've probably only rented one pickaxe after all."

"Meaning?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting to have you work as a bodyguard."

"Would you prefer if I mined?"

"I thought you'd never experience it so I thought-" Suddenly a noise of metal echoed from the depths of the stone hall, which prompted both Athena to draw her derringer and Leona to charge the icicle spell. "That is definitely not just the wind."

"I know it's easier to spot the glint of frostburnt silver in the low light, but can I light up a fire spell and lob it down that way?" The tactician pointed with her left hand. "I've got a bad feeling about getting too close without knowing what I'm dealing with."

"We don't lose anything if you do that." Athena simply nodded. "Just remember that we won't be able to see much regardless if you throw a blue fire spell."

"Alright here goes nothing." She dropped the pickaxe and once her left hand was completely free, she began to chant the fire spell, though feeding more of her own mana instead of using the environment. "Flames of destruction heed my call, reclaim mine enemy unto the ashes, Flame Spear!"

The bright spear of orange fire emitted a large amount of heat before she tossed it down the hall, most of the moisture from the floor quickly evaporated as the flame spear was thrown. Thankfully the spell was quite accurate and went in a straight line while also illuminating the path for brief seconds before hitting stones in the end of the tunnel. Athena had her eyes squinted at all times in order to be able to spot anything out of the ordinary other than a metallic glint in the very end of the tunnel, but since it was most likely old tools left from the previous excavation team she simply ignored it.

"I didn't see anything." The inventor straightened her back as she glanced behind her over the shoulder. "And there's nothing behind us either."

"I'm positively sure that sound came from ahead of us." Leona sharpened her senses in order to feel the flow of mana in the air but the moment she attempted to do so a flash of pain assaulted her brain. "Nngh!"

Though it was brief, the intensity of the pain was enough to make her collapse on her knees. Upon hearing a thud from behind, Athena looked over her shoulder and noticed her friend squirming on the ground which made her throw the tools on the floor and holster the derringer before heading over to her.

"Hey Leo what happened?!"

In the tactician's vision, it seemed the inventor was trying to say something but only her mouth moved or to be more accurate, Leona only heard a deafening ringing sound in her ears. She felt Athena's hands clutching her tightly but it was as if the whole world was spinning.

'What is happening to me?!'

She was struggling to stay conscious as her brain throbbed in pain. It was something she never felt before and the worst part is that she didn't even know why it happened.

"Leo, talk to me! Come on!" Athena was trying to understand what was happening but since her friend was unable to speak or even hear, though she didn't know that, it was practically impossible for her to know what to do. "Dammit!"

A few seconds later the sound of clanging metal rang from the passage they came from which made Athena turn her head around.

'It had to be in a time like this!'

The inventor grabbed her derringer and pointed towards the path behind them, at first only the faint low light of the lamp she had left behind was there until she started to see some sort of shadow being cast against the wall on her right. It seemed like a semi-translucent object had been put in front of the lamp for a brief moment as the light was unobstructed.

Athena swallowed dry, not only the hall of stone behind them was a dead end, but Leona was also incapacitated on the ground which left her with the only option to fight whatever it was coming to her.

She grabbed the sledgehammer from the ground and decided to preemptively attack whatever was approaching, but when she peeked right around the corner her eyes widened in shock.

"What the hell is that?!"