Chapter 456: There’s Actually Diamonds [Bonus - ]

Chapter 456: There’s Actually Diamonds [Bonus Chapter]

To her right, a feral silver blur detonated across the cavern floor.

WHOOSH!

Lupina had completely dropped to all fours.

The silver-haired demi-human’s wolf ears flattened tightly against her head with her bushy tail whipping wildly behind her for balance.

Her three-inch retractable steel claw gauntlets extended from her knuckles with a metallic shik as a towering ten-foot Hobgoblin armed with a massive iron-spiked tree trunk blocked her path, letting out a deafening earth-shaking roar.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Lupina’s amber eyes suddenly ignited with a brilliant supernatural sapphire-blue flame.

Deep within her core, her internal mana channels violently expanded, circulating a thick untamed energy through every muscle fiber in her limbs.

The air around her began to distort with raw pressure.

She bared her sharp white fangs, a low growl vibrating in her throat as she whispered a single enigmatic phrase.

"...10x."

KRA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Reality seemed to bend and snap around her silhouette.

Lupina did not merely accelerate... she transformed into a frictionless terrifying streak of pure gray-silver destruction.

Moving at a speed completely imperceptible to the naked eye, she shot forward like a living hurricane.

’DIE!

She shot directly through its center of mass.

SHRED-SHRED-SHRED-SHRED!

In less than a single imperceptible fraction of a second, the air shrieked as hundreds of vacuum claw slashes erupted simultaneously across the giant brute’s entire frame.

SPLAT-CRUNCH-POP!

By the time Lupina reappeared twenty feet behind the beast, skidding to a halt on all fours with smoke rising from her steel claws, the ten-foot Hobgoblin had already ceased to exist as a creature.

In an instant, its armor, flesh, and muscle were pulverized to ribbons, and its massive skeleton collapsed into a heap of delicate shattered fragments that looked like broken fish bones scattered across the bloody stone.

The mysterious terrifying surge of 10x power vanished as quickly as it had ignited, her glowing blue eyes fading back to amber as her mana channels settled.

’All of my energy is almost gone...’

Regardless, Lupina didn’t pause for even a second.

SWOOSH!

She flipped effortlessly through the air, executing a tight acrobatic triple spin before landing with both knees slammed firmly onto the shoulders of another charging Hobgoblin.

THUD!

"DIE, YOU UGLY BAG OF ROTTEN FILTH!" Lupina cursed ferociously, her steel claw gauntlets blurring into a frenzied, blinding flurry of strikes.

SLASH-HACK-RIP-TEAR!

Her three-inch steel claws repeatedly tore across the beast’s face, shredding its eyelids, blinding its yellow eyes in a spray of blood, and gouging deep chasms across its jawline.

Before the blinded, screaming beast could even raise its hands to defend itself, Lupina executed a vicious, cross-slashing cleave that severed its head entirely from its shoulders.

SPLAT-THUD!

As the recruit maidens, Morrighan, and Lupina slaughtered the remaining goblin ranks with devastating efficiency, Aurelia made a direct undisturbed beeline straight toward the stone throne at the far end of the chamber.

The ten-foot Goblin King panicked.

Seeing its entire royal guard obliterated in mere seconds, the corpulent monster let out a desperate shriek.

"SKRRRRR-GRAAAAAH!"

The King reached down with its massive flabby arms, lifting one of the three-hundred-pound limestone boulders resting beside its throne. With a violent heave of its bloated shoulders, it hurled the colossal rock through the air straight toward Aurelia’s head.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The massive boulder whistled through the smoky air like a falling meteor, carrying enough force to crush a cavalry horse.

Aurelia didn’t even slow her serene gliding stride.

"Haah..."

She casually swayed her upper body three inches to the left, her body fluttering gracefully as she let the giant rock scream harmlessly past her shoulder.

BOOM!

The boulder smashed into the limestone wall behind her, shattering into a thousand powdery fragments that rained down on the cavern floor.

"GAAAK!" the Goblin King roared in terror, hoisting the second three-hundred-pound boulder and hurling it with even greater force.

WHOOOOOOSH!

This time, Aurelia raised her right arm, her slender hand sheathing itself in a thin razor-sharp blade of pure white Argent Flame.

SHING!

With a casual, almost lazy flick of her wrist, she swung the holy fire blade horizontally through the air.

KRA-SHAAAA!

The massive three-hundred-pound boulder was cleanly sliced in half mid-air.

The thermal intensity of the holy fire cauterized the stone as it cut, sending the two heavy halves tumbling harmlessly to her left and right as she strode effortlessly through the center gap.

Aurelia closed the remaining distance in a single fluid step.

The Goblin King desperately swung a massive, jagged iron cleaver downward in a final panicked strike.

SWISH!

Aurelia gracefully stepped inside the beast’s reach, her movement so tranquil and effortless that she appeared to dance across the stone.

She placed the palm of her left hand gently against the center of the King’s bloated iron-plated chest.

"May your corrupt soul return to the ash from whence it crawled," Aurelia murmured with serene finality.

"[Argent Inferno]."

VUUUUUUUM... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

A pillar of blinding holy fire detonated from her palm.

The terrifying heat did not leave behind a single drop of blood or bone. In less than a second, the ten-foot Goblin King, its heavy iron armor, and the very granite blocks of its throne were completely vaporized into a brilliant swirling cloud of sparkling white embers that gently drifted toward the cavern ceiling.

The chamber fell into silence as the chaotic horde of over eighty goblins and their monstrous commanders had been entirely eradicated.

Sitting atop Valkyrie at the entrance of the village, Silas watched the final sparks fade away, resting his golden sword casually over his shoulder.

Beside him, the Princess was bouncing slightly in the saddle, clapping her small hands together with breathless admiration.

"Magnificent! Truly magnificent!" the Princess cheered brightly, her blue eyes sparkling as she looked at the warrior maidens across the battlefield. "Lady Morrighan’s shadowy chains were breathtaking, and Lady Lupina’s speed was unmatched!"

"Well fought, girls," Silas called out, offering them a proud encouraging smile. "Clean, efficient execution across all ranks."

Morrighan stood tall amidst the carnage, her heavy spade-tipped tail settling calmly behind her and a touched warmth reached her molten-gold eyes at the Princess’s praise.

Lupina, standing atop a pile of goblin corpses, wiped her steel claws against her leather pants, puffing out her chest with fierce wolfish pride.

Silas looked around the wide, empty limestone chamber, his eyes sweeping over the crude stone huts and the scorched remains of the throne.

"Well," Silas remarked, stroking his chin with a slight disappointed sigh. "We weren’t able to find a single exposed crystal vein in this entire chamber, either. So this could mean that excavation and deep tunneling will need to be done to reach the actual deposits. And that means calling in Brida and the other heavy hitters, but that will have to wait until tomorrow."

While Silas spoke, the Princess casually shifted her weight, leaning her small frame against the uneven limestone wall bordering the left side of the cavern entrance.

CLICK! KRRRRRR-RUMBLE!

Beneath the delicate accidental pressure of her back, a hidden hollow section of the limestone wall suddenly gave way with an ancient grinding of stone!

"Eep!" the Princess gasped, stumbling backward and catching herself against Valkyrie’s pommel as a three-foot section of the rock face slid smoothly into the earth, revealing a concealed narrow passage tunnel leading deep into the mountain’s core.

And shining out from the depths of the hidden tunnel—

GLIMMER! SHIMMER!

A breathtaking kaleidoscope of vibrant, multi-colored light instantly illuminated the dark cavern.

Embedded densely along the walls, ceiling, and floor of the secret passage were hundreds upon hundreds of raw, uncut Mana Diamonds... glowing in brilliant pulsing hues of cerulean blue, radiant emerald and royal amethyst, radiating with rich concentrated mana.

Silas blinked, staring into the glittering tunnel as a wide, triumphant grin spread across his face.

"Well... look at that," Silas chuckled warmly, turning to look at the blue-haired royal maiden in his arms. "Looks like we found the real treasure after all."

He leaned down slightly, meeting her gaze with genuine appreciation.

"Thank you, Princess. Your keen eye just saved our mining corps three whole days of excavation work."

The Princess’s azure eyes widened, and a deep radiant crimson blush instantly swept over her delicate cheeks all the way to the tips of her ears.

She quickly looked down at her lap, her fingers shyly twisting the fabric of her leggings with a small blissful smile curling her lips as the light of the Mana Diamonds washed over them.

"You– you’re welcome."

The narrow, concealed passage connecting the goblin settlement to the hidden depths of the mountain was barely wide enough for two people to walk shoulder-to-shoulder.

The air inside the fissure was immediately different... gone was the suffocating sulfurous stench of the goblin bone-fires, replaced by a crisp coolness that smelled weird.

’Fuck.’

Silas quickly realized the logistical constraint of the tunnel.

Valkyrie, standing nearly as tall as a draft horse with her broad muscular shoulders, could not simply trot through the jagged limestone gap without scraping her sides raw.

With a smooth, fluid motion, Silas swung his leg over the saddle and dropped down to the stone floor.

He reached up, placing his hands firmly around the Princess’s slender waist, and lifted her down from the Blessed wolf’s back, setting her gently onto her boots.

"Valkyrie, you’ll have to squeeze through carefully," Silas instructed, patting the dire wolf’s snout. "Keep your head low."

The Blessed wolf let out a soft compliant chuff, lowering her broad head and carefully picking her way through the narrow opening, her claws clicking methodically against the bedrock.

Silas followed right behind her, keeping the Princess close, with Aurelia, Helen, and the rest of the recruits filing into the tunnel in a single organized column.

For the first thirty paces, the passage was completely cloaked in darkness, illuminated only by the floating orb of Aurelia’s Argent Flame.

But as they rounded a sharp, ninety-degree bend in the limestone, a breathtaking impossible radiance washed over them, completely drowning out the celestial fire.

"By the gods..." Sarah whispered, her void-iron sword drooping toward the floor.

"It’s... it’s an underground sky," Brenda breathed, her eyes wide with awe.

The tunnel opened up into a sprawling cavernous geode.

The walls, the uneven floor, and the sweeping vaulted ceiling were entirely encrusted with thousands upon thousands of raw uncut Mana Diamonds.

But what made the chamber truly spectacular was not just the sheer volume of the precious stones... it was the light.

High above, near the apex of the cavern ceiling, dozens of jagged, naturally formed fissures pierced straight through the mountain’s crust. Brilliant unfiltered shafts of midday sunlight poured down through the cracks.

As the raw sunlight struck the exposed crystalline facets of the Mana Diamonds, the light was refracted, scattering across the chamber in a prismatic kaleidoscope.

"This is where that light came from..."

Swirling beams of cerulean blue, radiant emerald, and royal amethyst danced across the girls’ armor, painting the entire cavern in a shifting, breathing tapestry of multi-colored brilliance.

The mana in the air was so dense and pure that it felt like standing in a gentle warm river.

The Princess stepped forward, completely mesmerized.

Her azure eyes reflected the swirling lights as she approached a cluster of cerulean diamonds protruding from the cavern wall.

"It is utterly beautiful," the Princess murmured, her voice filled with quiet wonder.

She reached out with her small hands, gripping a loose, fist-sized blue diamond that was only partially wedged into the brittle limestone.

With a soft grunt of effort, she wiggled the stone back and forth until...

CRACK!

It snapped free from the bedrock. She held the heavy glowing gemstone up to the sunlight, watching the internal facets shimmer with trapped mana.

She turned back to Silas, her brow furrowing in genuine, innocent confusion.

"Lord Silas... if this entire cavern is filled with such priceless, magnificent treasures, why are we not mining it all out right this very moment? Surely we can gather enough to fill our dimensional storage!"

The recruits blinked, looking between the Princess, the glowing walls, and their own empty hands.

Several of them instinctively tightened their grips on their spears, clearly entertaining the idea of chipping away at the walls.

Silas leaned against Valkyrie’s flank, crossing his arms over his chest as a warm amused chuckle rumbled in his throat.

"It’s a fair question, Princess," Silas replied, his voice carrying effortlessly through the echoing chamber. "But the answer comes down to pure logistics and the integrity of the ore. We are currently deployed as a combat unit, not an excavation one."

He pointed a finger at Helen’s spear. "If we tried to mine these diamonds right now, what would we use? Your void-iron swords? Your ash-wood spears? If you strike a raw Mana Diamond with a combat edge at the wrong angle, you won’t extract it... you’ll shatter the crystal matrix, completely destroying its internal mana conductivity and rendering it totally worthless."

The girls exchanged slightly embarrassed glances, slowly lowering their weapons.

"Furthermore," Silas continued, pushing off the wolf’s flank and pacing slowly through the prismatic light. "proper mining requires heavy specialized equipment. Thora’s runic pickaxes and structural bracing to ensure the cavern doesn’t collapse on our heads while we dig... If we wait and bring the heavy detachment tomorrow, and the day after, we’ll have the proper time to meticulously extract, catalog, and organize the ores."