Far from the surface of the Overworld, buried within the darkness of the Ravine, the distant screams of a battle echo silently into vacant, empty tunnels of rock. A desperate scream is silenced by the broad swing of an Elven blade. A terrified screech is demolished by an earth-shattering quake. The first breaths of life are snuffed out by the violent squashing of flesh. The air smolders in the aftermath of a flame wall that ravages dozens, leaving only ashes and partially melted corpses behind as evidence of the attack.

Three individuals stand at the center of the desecration. Two dragonkin, their imposing figures untouched amid the carnage. Both looking bored and unamused by the sight before them. The third, a sharp-eyed human male clad in tight clothing, a cloak around his shoulders, with two elven short swords clasped firmly in his clenched fists. Even he looks on with annoyance, leering down on the insects he just needlessly shared oxygen with. At their feet, the remnants of the nest slowly burn away as the Maedra’s broken bodies melt into the air, their mana hearts shattered, crushed, or outright obliterated.

Wordlessly, the human male tosses a piece of paper into the air. The glowing sigil inscribed on the paper expands to fill the open space of the nest. In seconds, the raw mana within the space is purified. Maedra that hid amongst their fallen brethren are suffocated by the refined mana and left to suffer as the trio leaves them to their fate.

“That’s the last of them?” The human male asks, peering over his shoulder as he cleans his blades of the fat and fluid clinging to the shimmering edges.

“It is,” the female dragonkin answers. She sighs and gathers her collection of potions, herbs, and gems she had placed on a large blanket prior to their assault. Beside her, the male dragonkin huffs.

“For now,” he mutters.

“Quiet, you pessimist.” The female dragonkin slaps her tail against her brother’s backside, eliciting a grunt from the male. “Would you rather there be more?”

The male dragonkin sneers and glares at the smoldering nest. “If it means leaving this foul place, no." He packs away his weapons and plucks his pack off the ground easily, slinging it over his shoulder before putting his arms through its loops. He cinches down on the straps, binding the burdensome weight to his frame.

“Good, then shut up.” The female Dragonkin tucks away her magical tools and picks up her own pack. The sibling pair then turn towards their human counterpart, who has just finished prepping his own pack. “What will you do now?” She asks, wondering what the man might do now that his task has been completed.

The human meets their inquisitive stares for a brief moment, then looks towards the Maedra nest. This was the final nest within the Ravine that needed cleansing to eradicate the Maedra presence within the tunnels. This crippled the creature’s ability to live within the Ravine. It took four months to track them all down and destroy them. For four months since Ewana's fall, he had spent every day hunting and killing the Maedra for this very moment. Yet, as great an achievement as it was, he felt oddly numb to it all. As if everything he worked for meant nothing in the end. Though he knew just what an accomplishment this was and the resoundingly positive effects it would have on those living within the Ravine, something within him didn’t feel settled.

No matter how many Maedra he killed, the feeling of wanting redemption for his friends never faded. No matter how much pain he inflicted on the creatures, it didn’t fill the emptiness in his heart. He was still without them and no number of kills would bring them back. It was something he had learned to deal with in these four months- the fact that no matter what he did, nothing could change the mistakes and failures of his past. The weight of that knowledge turned him cold to it all, focusing only on the task at hand. With that task completed and nothing left to occupy his mind, he didn’t know how to feel about it all anymore. As if, at some point, his emotions had become calloused.

“No idea.” The man turns away from the nest and yanks his rucksack off the floor. As he adjusts it on his back, he leads the way into the tunnel back towards civilization. “We still need to fight the Maudrake and secure the route to the surface.”

“Ah… That thing.” The female Dragonkin mutters a response, as if remembering an offhand memory she had nearly forgotten.

Indeed, they had focused on cleansing the interior of the Ravine but that still left the main canyon to be dealt with. While the Maedra numbers within it would be heavily reduced since their numbers couldn’t be replenished from below, it still needed to be cleared out for the Ravine to be declared completely safe. The main canyon was the last bastion for the Maedra, now choked out from the underground tunnels. With nowhere to run or hide, they would be easy pickings for the trio. Among them would be the Maudrake the human man battled with, the one who stole away his Arachkin brother.

“You said it was resistant to magic, correct?” The male dragonkin asks, as if already trying to formulate a way to defeat the creature.

“Yes, but I wonder if that was the case.” The human man responds, scratching his cheek as he recalls his first encounter with the Maudrake. "Apart from the Maudrake, no other Maedra within the Ravine has shown resistance to magic. Not on the same scale, at least. So I wonder if it wasn’t so much magic resistance as something else?” He looks at the female dragonkin.

She silently shakes her head. “There are a variety of ways to resist magic. Without seeing it for myself, I can’t answer conclusively."

The male dragonkin scoffs before a toothy grin stretches over his face. “A trial by fire then? It’s been a while. How exciting.”

The human man chuckles and nods. “I guess so. I can finally put all this training to good use.”

The female dragonkin glances at the two of them before rolling her eyes, an exasperated sigh falling from her glossy lips. “You muscle-brained idiots. Don’t come crying to me if you lose a limb.”

“Worry not, my dear sister!” The male dragonkin smacks his bicep as he flexes his arm. “My limbs aren't easily defeated.”

His joke isn’t received with a laugh but instead earns him a heavy smack by her tail. “Shut up.”

Several days later, the trio stood in the Ravine maw facing down the concerning enemy. It took them two days to reach the main canyon, three additional days to clear out the remnants of the smaller Maedra, and two more days of back tracking to find their main threat. The Maudrake was where they expected it to be- lurking near the entrance of the long downward tunnel that led to the Dragon Vein and the massive surrounding mana pool. What they hadn’t expected was the sheer number of smaller Maedra gathered in the space between. It had been a grind to get to their target. However, now that they stood face to face with the massive creature, they were more eager than ever to tear it to pieces.

The trio shed their packs a short distance from the combat area and then used rock magic to hide them within the wall. The male dragonkin armed himself with a massive labrys and waited as his sister inscribed several physical enhancement sigils onto his figure. The human male prepared his Elven blades, tempered his mana flow, and triggered his Aura-magic to encase his body in a protective skin. The female dragonkin slipped a few mana potions onto her thigh pouch, downed one of them to boost her stores to their limit, collected any excess mana into her staff, and preemptively prepared several paper sigils for expedient casting during the fight should she need them.

Once they were ready, the trio pounced. The male dragonkin led the way, charging ahead to pinpoint the Maudrake's location. The human male staggered behind him, utilizing his Sensory magic to check for any hidden threats as the female dragonkin followed closely behind him. When he found the Maudrake, the male dragonkin’s throat thundered with a powerful roar, calling his allies to his position. They were not far behind and joined him in haste.

Their enemy, a four-legged Maudrake that wielded both powerful magic and terrifying physical strength, was their last true hurdle to fully declare the Ravine cleansed of Maedra threats. It defeated a Guardian-level Arachkin and spent months growing around the Dragon Vein. However, the human male also spent countless hours honing his skills. Developing those abilities for this moment.

“Payback time,” he rumbles, clutching the Elven swords as mana fills their hearts to the brim. The edges of the weapons shimmer to life, glowing brightly within the dark mist lingering within the lower canyon of the Ravine.

The male dragonkin swings his labrys, easily deflecting the heavily swung spear-arm of the Maudrake, opening its side to a barrage of Fire Spears. Their tips, laced with dangerously bright runes, explode on impact. The Maudrake reels from the impact but takes a heavy step to the side, smoothly cutting the inertia of the hit to keep it from losing its balance. Through the smoke, a pair of elven blades thrust forth, their mana-laced and hyper-sharp edges carving through its sturdy flesh. Pain erupted outwards from the wounds, earning an enraged scream from the Maudrake as green liquid oozes from the deep cuts. The human male notes the lack of burn damage from his spells.

Before the Maudrake can respond to the side-attack, the labrys in front of it swings heavily at one of its forward feet. The long edge of the two-headed axe carves out a chunk of flesh, opening a massive gash just above the knuckled hoof. More green liquid spurts forth and the Maudrake staggers backwards. The male dragonkin takes a defensive stance, repelling another thrust from the speared-arm and opening its side to another strike from his companion.

The Maudrake snarls and sweeps the spear-arm across the air, forcing the dragonkin to backstep out of the way. The human is similarly forced to avoid the strike, but rather than retreat, he advances. Pushing forward, he sprints beneath the beast’s legs and unleashes a barrage of explosive Fire Spears on the Maudrake’s underbelly. The soft flesh is pelted by the spells, the tender underbelly scorched and scalded by the intense heat. The Maudrake screeches in agony as smoke billows out from beneath it. However, the human notices his attacks again fail to leave lasting damage aside for minor burns.

As the beast recoils, its eyes quickly search for the human, its crystalized right arm glowing as mana gathers within it. The sign of a spell being charged - an opening. The dragonkin male slams his labrys into the ground to shield himself. To his left, the human male instinctively draws stones up from the ground to create his own protective wall. The Maudrake, concentrating on the two threats in front of it, fails to realize their defensive posturing wasn’t due to its own magic.

No, it was to protect them from the caster it hadn’t noticed standing just out of its line of sight.

“Dan’na, eridum mir las paryim. Polyaris, yi orest an bahkmatula. Fir vest madris. Fir vest fatim. Fir mir Ioris. Casim dir stellaris ack mir ereskitum! Alda! Miz! Lyris! O’ Laurdrasim!” At the feet of the female dragon kin, a massive purple sigil spreads outwards. With each word of power she speaks, it glows ever brighter. With each finished sentence, an additional ring of strength is added to the sigil until six of them are perfectly stacked on one another. The lines contained within those rings are sharp, flowing efficiently to make the most of every drop of mana fed to the spell. Four circles within the much larger sigil are created by those lines, with even smaller circles bubbling to life within them. As the sigil is completed, a large purple circle appears at the Maudrake’s feet, establishing a caster-target connection.

The moment the purple circle appears beneath it, as if sensing the change of pressure in the air, the Maudrake’s eyes suddenly shift left towards the true threat. A realization too late.

“EN TOMBERUS!” The female dragonkin’s eyes flare purple as she slams the bottom of her staff into the ground. The ground cracks at her feet and the air thunders through the Ravine as the massive volume of mana collected into the spell is triggered. The sigil around her collapses into a singular point at the base of her staff. The mana flows through the staff as a medium, shooting up through the wood before a massive ray of concentrated mana fires out of the top. In the air around the Maudrake, four additional circles of mana appear and swirl slowly around the beast. Out of each of them, similar beams of concentrated mana fire outward.

In unison, the five rays of power smash into the Maudrake, tearing through its skin and decimating its body with overwhelming magical power. The gathered mana in its arm is dispelled and though it withstands the initial barrage, its body fails to keep up with the onslaught. Soon, it’s howling, screaming in agony as its body is cut apart by the massive rays. Black lines carve into its flesh, slothing off large hunks of meat and cauterizing the wounds instantly as the flesh evaporates on impact. Though its arms flail helplessly to protect its body, its feet remain anchored in place, stuck. The purple circle beneath it flares brightly and the dragonkin clings to her staff, struggling and sweating as the spell burns through her reserves.

She holds out for nearly twelve seconds before her strength wavers, her concentration withering under the spell's heavy toll. Unable to withstand the immense pressure, she collapses to her knees and her staff pops out of the ground. The purple circle beneath the Maudrake vanishes, as do the four floating sigils in the air. The mana rays cease as the spell ends.

Though the female dragonkin is on her knees, her partners immediately shift back to the offensive, pausing only to assess their foe's state. In anticipation of their follow-up, the human conjures several Fire Spears, staging them over his shoulders as he waits for the smoke to clear. The male dragonkin moves swiftly to his right, positioning himself between the Maudrake and his kneeling sister.

When the smoke clears and the Maudrake collects itself, the experiment results are clear. The Maudrake’s right arm, the crystalized club where mana collects for casting its large spells, is dark and lacks color. Upon closer observation, one could see several cracks splintering along its length from where it had taken excessive damage. From his position, the human male stares intently towards that arm, his eyes glowing a soft blue as he triggers his Sensory magic. He searches the arm from tip to elbow, searching for signs of mana within it. As they thought, there was none. The arm was void of mana. To his trained eyes, it was black and hollow. Effectively dead.

When brainstorming the different types of magic resistance, they concluded there were three potential types of resistance they may have to contend with. The first was naturally evolved or developed resistance to a specific element. Such resistances were naturally gained from living in certain conditions, such as fire magic resistance due to living in volcanic regions. The second type was active resistance where the caster created a barrier to protect themselves for a short period. The third type of resistance was channeled resistance. By linking their mana flow to their body, the caster could passively defend themselves from spells and attacks. This was so long as they had mana to maintain the protective layer.

They ruled out the first option immediately as Maedra had no natural resistances. They had also largely ruled out the possibility of the second, as the human hadn’t seen the Maudrake erect any barriers during their initial brawl. After further discussion, there was only one remaining option. While they couldn’t be certain, they decided to test the theory. Utilizing a powerful channeling spell with enough strength to overwhelm the beast from the start, they would put its protective abilities to the test.

During the first fight, the Arachkin Guardian attacked the Maudrake with magic. There was no doubt about that. However, he failed to do so consistently enough to fully drain the Maudrake’s mana stores. Whenever he did cast, the Maudrake was quick to make it difficult. As if aware that it couldn’t fully expend its mana lest it fall victim to those spells, the Maudrake kept the distance between itself and the Arachkin short. The Maudrake relied on the close exchange of blows and kept the Arachkin off balance to ensure it always had mana on hand in case a spell was cast and thrown its way.

Now, they could confidently say why. Its secret had been exposed. There was no hiding it now.

“Jake!” The male dragonkin’s voice cracks the air, spurring the human male to life.

Channeling magic through his blades, the boy leaps forward, wind cracking at his heels as he launches himself toward the Maudrake. Beneath him, the prepared fire spears screech into the crystalized arm. Like bombs, they disintegrate the hardened crystal, shattering the arm and blasting away massive chunks of the dead limb with every impact. The human continues to pelt the arm even as he tumbles over the beast, leaving no opportunity for it to hide the limb as he tears it to pieces. The Maudrake roars in a mix of rage and agony, stumbling to the side, turning and flailing with its surviving arm. Its primary source of defense is turned to dust right before its eyes.

In an attempt to stop the onslaught, the Maudrake swings its spear-arm at the airborne spell caster. The wild swipe was aimed pathetically and out of desperation, which made avoiding it child’s play. The man uses his wind magic, catching his weight and accelerating towards the floor. The arm flies over his head harmlessly, exposing the Maudrake’s chest.

The human’s feet touch the stone and he kneels. Raising his hands, he conjures six Stone Breaker spells, three to a shoulder, and fires all six directly into the Maudrake’s chest. At near point-blank range, the Maudrake fails to move its arm quickly enough to defend. The spells, refined and more heavily developed within the four months of harsh combat in the tunnels, easily blow through the Maudrake’s thick outer shell in successive, thunderous collisions. Massive gouges in its chest are blown open as entire pockets of meat are reduced to bits. Fired in two organized stacks, the six breakers create two stacks of three, similar to the sixth side of a die.

In doing so, the human reveals the location of the massive crystal within the Maudrake’s core.

Locked on, he grins. “Got it!” He shouts, twirling his elven blades as he shifts from his knee to his feet. Leaning forward, he shoots into the gap between the Maudrake’s feet, avoiding a downward stab from the beast’s heavy spear arm.

“Good!” The male dragonkin fills the rear gap behind the human and brings his labrys down on the spear. He slices off the pointed tip and effectively blunts the weapon. Green ooze spurts out of the open wound, spraying the area as the Maudrake recoils from the injury. As if unaccustomed to so much pain, the beast shrieks and staggers about, its body bleeding and burning all over from the excessive damage it sustained. Though the fight had been short thus far and the trio hadn’t performed many offensive attacks, the difference in combat experience was clear. The trio was efficient and targeted key weaknesses of their enemy, operating at a level only refined teamwork and planning ahead could warrant. The Maudrake, on the other hand, relied too much on its supposed impenetrable shield. Without it, it was just like any other Maedra. Soft. Squishy. And-

“-a waste of fucking space.” The human male stops beneath the Maudrake and raises his hands upwards. Around himself, he conjures eight Stone Breakers, their tips aimed directly at the joints connecting the four legs to the main body. As they form, the battle mage adjusts their attributes. He sharpens their tips, adding additional fins to the back ends of their cylinders for stability. He then tilts the fins at strong angles that’ll cause them to violently spin. Once they’re formed, the mana within them stable, he launches them in unison.

Once the spells are shot, the human vacates the space, clearing the Maudrake’s body as the spells slam into its limbs. The Stone Breakers bury into the joints, their high speed rotations causing them to dig deep into the meat and churn into the midpoints of each joint. Then, the explosive runes within their tips ignite, causing violent wind gusts to shear the tender inner meat apart. Unable to hold the weight of its heavy upper body as the tendons and muscles are shredded to bits, the legs cave in. The Maudrake collapses to the ground in a massive heap.

The human male and the male dragonkin pause at a safe distance from the creature. They both watch the Maudrake flail helplessly on the ground, powerless to move. Unable to protect itself. Unable to do anything but cry and howl for help. Help that would never come. It was all alone. It's howling would reach no friendly Maedra ears and there was no escaping the inevitable.

The dragonkin takes a step forward at first, but stops immediately as he remembers why they chose this method of fighting. He looks to his right, seeing the expression of the human compatriot he fought beside. Unlike the dragonkin, who was content with finishing things as they were, the human found joy in those cries for help.

Slaughtering the Maedra beneath the surface was revenge. He killed them because of the agony they made him feel when he lost Yae, Tul, Hulgrok, and dozens of others during Ewana’s collapse. Hunting them. Killing their nests in the harshest ways possible. Suffocating them by poisoning the air they breathed. It was all done out of extreme, unfiltered hatred for their kind.

But this... felt different.

“Ah…” he mutters, squeezing the blades in his hands. He steps forward, maneuvering himself to the front of the Maudrake’s line of sight.

The Maudrake swings at him weakly, unable to reach the man because of its position. With a simple cast, the man blows apart the spear-arm at the elbow with a pair of Fire Spears and a Stone Breaker, severing the last weapon the Maudrake has. Unable to do anything but flail, the human watches it cower as he steps forward. The Maudrake panics, screeches desperately, and leans away in terror.

“...This is closure.” With those final words, Jake destroys the Maudrake’s crystal with a barrage of stone breakers, crushing the massive jewel beneath in an overwhelming display of fury and months of pent-up emotion.

Even when the crystal is broken, the spells do not stop. Only when there isn’t even a shard left of the crystal do the spells finally end. The Maudrake’s body slumps to the side, lifeless, expended, never to disturb the Overworld with its horrific presence again.

At its feet, Jake sheathes his twin blades and lets out a long exhale, his shoulders going slack as the tension falls away. The heavy burden that had pulled at them for so long finally washes away.