Temujin

  Oh … they would pay for this!

  Not accepting his offer of help with their little Nation Boss issue was alright, that was their prerogative. They were allowed to make those kinds of choices.

  He even understood why they would have tried and eventually succeeded in guiding the monster towards the Mongolian border.

  However, that did not change the fact that they were dumping a nigh-apocalyptic foe in his lap after having grandiosely proclaimed themselves capable of dealing with the issue themselves.

  Even taking the reports as to how much they’d weakened their foe at face value, it would still not be easy to deal with a Nation Boss. Still, revenge would have to wait, sadly. A large-scale inter-nation war amidst the seemingly endless flood of monsters was highly unlikely to lead to a desirable outcome, let alone when one of the involved nations had access to nuclear weapons.

  He would not forgive or forget, he would delay.

  For now, he had a different question to answer:

  Did he want to summon help for this? Chances were he did not need to, but he still would, for two reasons.

  The first was simple, risking this confrontation on his own for pride alone would be more than foolish.

  As for the second, well, he wanted to know the true character of his allies.

  They had gone to help their allies in America, true, but would they do the same for him, a man they likely considered a future danger? And how thorough would their response be? A token force, a full deployment, or something in between?

  These were the questions he would receive answers for. They may not be definitive, but they were answers nonetheless.

  ***

  Tristan

  “Alright, this is officially insane,” I announced after taking a few seconds to think about what I’d just been given. Fionn had just asked me to give him a [Knowledge Trade] of all the current negotiations and treaties I had going on to get him up to speed, and as per usual, he’d sent more new spells my way. The usual procedure. Any knowledge I had was a single meeting and Skill activation away from being passed onto anyone he wanted taught or shared.

  Except this time, I’d gotten a pair of spells that were designed to work in conjunction with [Century Storm] to turn me into a walking war crime.

  “And yet, I trust you to keep this trick to yourself and only use it when strictly necessary,” Fionn replied, gesturing around at the rather barren plain. “This is the site of an illegal chemical dumping ground, there is very little you could do that hasn’t already been inflicted upon the area. So, would you like to try out your new spells? I’ll summon the rain.”

  Technically, [Restoration of the Old] could fix material damage like that, but it would be highly ineffective on a comparatively unimportant patch of soil, making its use a bit of a waste.

  I nodded slowly. “Which one, [Acid Rain] or [Devouring Rain]?”

  Two spells that transformed falling rainwater into a kind of corrosive, but I had no idea what the difference was.

  “[Devouring Rain],” Fionn said. “It unleashes a mixture of sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide designed to devastate organic material, a modification of the original spell.”

  Wait … that sounded familiar.

  “Piranha solution, right?” I asked. I’d watched several videos on YouTube of people melting chicken legs in the stuff and the like. It was horrific stuff, heating up as the “target” carbonized, then rapidly disintegrated into nothing. Well, it became Carbon dioxide, but nothing visible.

  Anything it struck would not only suffer chemical burns but also severe heat as the corrosive liquid burning through their body began to boil functionally of its own accord.

  Fionn nodded. “That’s the non-systematic name.”

  “And [Acid Rain]?” I asked.

  “Pure sulfuric acid, meant for eating through metal and stone,” Fionn replied. “It does not produce toxic fumes, is fairly stable, all things considered, and unlike several more exotic chemicals, the spell accepted it.”

  “Uh … and [Devouring Rain] does produce fumes?”

  “You’ll want to protect yourself, especially if the substance reaches its boiling point,” Fionn said, not needing to say anything else. I already knew [Purify Air] and how to hold it in an area around me to create a constant “shield” against airborne irritants, and worse.

  But after a long moment, he added “This is very much a weapon of last resort. It will, at the bare minimum, devastate an entire area, melt everything aboveground, destroy all life down to even the microorganisms in the soil, and should any heavy metals be dissolved, they will leach into the groundwater and contaminate it.”

  Yeah … a highly effective “fuck that entire area” technique. Hard to control, near guaranteed to cause collateral damage of the material sort at the very least, and just in general a fairly nasty capability to wield … but by God was I glad to have it.

  “After use, dragging up rocks from below, pulverizing them and throwing dust on the acid puddles can speed up the neutralization. Limestone in particular can render it harmless, though the effectiveness of that technique will vary wildly based on the ground’s mineral composition. Even so, simply putting more material onto the ground puts another layer between the newly-formed acid swamp and the world above.”

  Also, I was impressed with Fionn’s grasp of the chemistry of the situation. It might have seemed like I found a new blindspot of his omniscience every time I talked to him, ranging from the limitation to this world to the fact that he couldn’t see the System, not to mention how he needed to be aware that he needed to look for something to, well, look.

  But it was at times like this that it became readily apparent just how much knowledge he eternally had at his fingertips.

  “So, would you like to try out the spell?” Fionn offered.

  And I was about to say yes when my damn phone rang, with the Mongolian national anthem, no less. A couple of days ago, I’d gone through all my contacts and granted all professional ones specific and memetic ringtones that would let me instantly identify a caller, or at the very least, their general affiliation.

  The Mongolian national anthem was, obviously, for all things related to Genghis Khan.

  A cursory check with [Piercing Gaze] revealed that the number wasn’t being spoofed, though I conducted it in the same motion that I put the phone to my ear.

  “Tristan Vogt speaking,” I answered the call, immediately recognizing the voice on the other end. Genghis Khan’s assistant, giving me a calm but rapid-fire explanation. The Chinese Nation Boss had gotten guided onto Mongolian land, Genghis Khan was riding out to confront it and had called upon us to follow through on the treaty obligations.

  “I can be outside the governmental palace with Fionn Mac Cumail in two seconds,” I offered, while using [Will of the Sovereign] to see who had the time to go help. “Dietrich von Bern and my sister will take another minute, anything beyond that will take longer.”

  As I spoke, the portal to Mongolia was already opening, right on the steps of the building I’d indicated. And in front of Genghis Khan, who’d apparently been waiting.

  “I don’t believe that will be necessary,” he announced. “We won’t need to go quite that far. I require some reinforcements, not a full mobilization. The Chinese devastated the monster already, we just need to finish the job.”

  Well, it hadn’t sounded like that on the phone ... not to mention that Sarangerel could have cut me off the moment I’d offered to bring Fionn …

  Which, I realized, might have been the entire point. Request reinforcements for an existing problem, then see what we, well, I, did. Immediate full helpfulness, or a half-assed response that fulfilled the letter of our agreement, and maybe even, in some vague, distant, way, the spirit, but definitely showed a certain lack of … enthusiasm, maybe?

  Either way, I hoped what I’d done had surpassed whatever bar he’d set. I mean, it was as fast a response as I could muster, but did he know that? And it wasn’t like I could ask, if he knew I knew it had been a test, he’d disregard whatever conclusion he’d drawn from what had happened, positive or negative. Irrespective of the fact that I’d figured everything out after the fact.

  Though considering how he’d announced he didn’t need any more reinforcements, maybe I’d full-on passed, no games required?

  Either way, it seemed like it was time to stop falling so deep in thought because he was switching his attention back onto me after a brief discussion with Fionn.

  “Will you be joining us, ambassador?” he asked.

  “Yes,” I nodded. “I’ll be able to summon reinforcements directly to the battlefield if necessary, and I do know a few spells.”

  “Such as?” Genghis Khan asked, already turning towards the street.

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  “Summoning and controlling storms.”

  “Can you ensure that only the monster is struck by lightning?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Then do that. [Instant March].”

  In an instant, the world around me vanished into a blur, the landscape flashing past too quickly for me to see much of anything, the blue of the sky and drab green of the steppe turning into streaks above and below, until they were once again replaced by yet another image, an army camp of sorts.

  I’d describe it as the result of some bored deity bashing together a modern-day army base with a horde’s camp from sever centuries ago. Horses drinking from buckets next to tanks, men with bows sitting in the backs of pickup trucks, seemingly preparing to use them as their way into battle.

  I mean, it looked weird, but this was an age of magic. I could blow stuff up by looking at it and thinking, just for example.

  With a few of the right Skills, be they in the hands of the archers of Genghis Khan himself, those normally archaic weapons could hit like an anti-tank rifle at the very least.

  Fionn and Genghis Khan continued to talk in low voices, and while I wasn’t deliberately eavesdropping, they were standing rather close and had made no moves to increase the distance.

  Based on what I overheard, they seemed to want to fight the Boss on their own.

  “There it is,” Genghis Khan announced, pointing, then glanced my way. “Cast your spell, then stand clear.”

  So I did, and stuck to following them with my eyes, until I saw the monster itself, a four-meter tall figure of shining silver that rippled with every step it took, six arms wrapped in armor that had to be either stone or, more likely, System-hardened terracotta, and a head that was not atop its neck, but staring at us from the center of its check. Cree-py.

  And its nameplate.

  Now, wasn’t that a mouthful?

  Also, now I knew what it took to end a Nation Boss without access to powerhouses with Levels in the 50s, 60s, and maybe 70s. I wasn’t too sure of Fionn’s Level.

  But the damn thing was still alive, and all the nuclear weapons thrown at it had even given it a new ability, or at the very least, affected it enough to change the name. Yeesh. Also, once again, the System seemed to have a rather twisted sense of humor.

  ***

  Temujin

  The monster was both more and less than what he’d expected. Small, for a Nation Boss, nothing like even the massive statue of himself that had become a Raid Boss in the beginning of this challenge, but there was immense power packed into that frame.

  And [Battlefield Analysis] was practically shouting in his ear that there was danger afoot, an invisible field of deadly … light? Invisible light? That destroyed the body of all those that got close, and poisoned the land in countless ways that would take literal decades to fade. Salting the earth sounded like a child’s prank in comparison.

  Granted, the second layer of physical enhancement should insulate him and his fellow ancient from the consequences of combatting this creature, but even its remains would remain dangerous for … how long?

  That … either he’d found the first outright inaccuracy in the System, or he’d have to have a serious talk with his advisors. If something his Skill had quantified as “walking nuclear waste,” surely that meant that there was actual nuclear waste lying around somewhere?

  It was at this point that lightning began striking the monster, half a dozen bolts in the first second alone. One of its swords, raised towards the sky and acting as the highest point, detonated in an instant, and liquid quicksilver exploded from its body with every strike, though it was likely that by the time this attack was able to bring down the monster, it would be halfway to Ulaanbaatar, with all the damage to the land that entailed.

  [Remote Administration] connected Temujin to his ally, focussed down onto a single fellow human, granting him complete oversight and communications ability.

  They split apart, Fionn running one way, Temujin the other, with two suddenly extending arms cracking into the soil in the spot they’d just vacated a split second afterwards.

  A golden spear appeared in the Irishman’s hands and hacked them off, with the wound somehow not sliding back together despite it being an obvious ability for such a monster to have, while Temujin went straight for the monster’s torso. The grinning skull in the center of its chest was the obvious target.

  The Nation Boss responded by sweeping his leg with its own, complete with an unnatural elongation. So Temujin activated [Moment of Glory], braced himself against the ground, grabbed the limb, and yanked.

  Instead of tearing off the limb as might have happened on a normal being, however, it simply elongated, got thinner, more vulnerable. So when he kicked it, his foot went straight through, severing the leg, and in the same motion, he threw it away, too far to reconnect. Hopefully.

  Three of its four remaining arms struck down at him and he parried, the boost from [Moment of Glory] still active, sending the blades into the ground, which promptly flowed over them as though it were water, trapping them. And then, Temujin charged. The Skill ran out before he was halfway there, but it got him close.

  And then, he punched the skull, which gave away rather easily … no, it did not give away at all, it simply slid away, deeper into its body … until it went flying out the other side, where it splattered amidst a small puddle of quicksilver while the body it had left behind fell on it.

  Temujin forced his eyes and mouth shut as liquid, toxic, irradiated metal flowed past him, entirely inanimate. Apparently, it was no longer under control. And [Remote Administration] showed that the other ancient had obliterated the spot the skull had landed with enough telekinetic force to shatter several modern tanks.

  So he sat up through the mass of quicksilver, wondering how he was going to clean this all up.

  “Do you need the body in any way?” Fionn asked, walking up to him.

  Temujin shook his head. “I need it gone.”

  “So you would be alright with it all … going away?”

  “Yes, damnit,” he growled. This toxic mess might not do too much to him, but he’d likely have to throw his armor away for fear of fatally poisoning or irradiating anyone he dealt with. He … before he could finish that thought, the entire mess did, indeed, just … go away. Only the dead grass did not grow back.

  ***

  Tristan

  [Courtmage of Neutrality Lv. 42 -> Courtmage of Neutrality Lv. 43]

  [Skill gained: Catastrophe Sense]

  Oh, Level! Though I could have done without the ominous Skill … or, more likely, when something catastrophic did happen, really really couldn’t have. As in, it’d be the only reason I was still alive. So, what did actually do? No sense in putting off reading the description, at any rate.

  Hmm, not as bad as I thought. The realization that I truly needed it was ever so slightly horrifying, but, well, that was the world I lived in and the path I’d chosen to walk.

  “I had a thought,” Genghis Khan announced as he walked back over to the camp, entirely clean. “You can provide reinforcements to any place you’ve been, from wherever you are, yes? Would you have the time for a short tour of Mongolia, and the battlefields we confront the first wave of each challenge on?”

  He grinned. “I hear you’re quite the scholar, Ambassador Vogt. How would you like to learn more about the first army to truly integrate magic and modern technology?”

  Well, the answer was obvious, hell to the yes!

  … though I phrased that more diplomatically.

  So I used a portal to send Fionn back and was shown to what I’d call a luxury limousine crossed with an APC, complete with food, a map table, and basicalyl everything else one needed to stay. One of several.

  “Oh, Ambassador,” Genghis Khan called after me, causing me to freeze, one leg already in the car. “I don’t know how useful this will be in your diplomatic endeavors, but I believe you’ll get a kick out of it, as people say nowadays. [Instantaneous Training: Mangudai].”

  Whoa, that was actually really useful. But it was mostly just cool. Proper Mongolian horsemanship, expert archery while on horseback, and knowledge of many standard tactics of the greatest horde to ever grace the face of the planet were nothing to sneeze at. Granted, the knowledge would have been more useful in the hands of a strategist, rather than a diplomat, but knowledge given to me didn’t have to stay with me.

  “Thank you,” I inclined my head. “I wish you good luck in the fourth Challenge.”

  Then, I fully pulled myself into the luxury APC, where I was soon joined by a trio of experts on the topics I’d been promised knowledge on.

  It was all rather fascinating. I’d been half-right, it was Genghis Khan’s Skills that allowed his people’s horses to match cars, and it was the same instantaneous training he’d granted me which allowed everyone to work together near-seamlessly.

  But most of the offensive power came from the people themselves, granting his army a vast array of varied and flexible firepower.

  It was all incredibly interesting, though I was careful to take note of how the information was being passed along. There was a heavy focus on academic information and what would be needed to work alongside the Mongolian armed forces, while minimizing the information that could be used against them, or would expose weaknesses.

  Granted, there was a ton of overlap there, information on tactics was inherently exploitable, but obviously, providing immediate help, even if hadn’t really been needed, had earned a tremendous amount of goodwill.

  I also got to use [Knowledge Transfer], becoming fluent in Russian and proficient in the handling and usage of firearms, in exchange for sign language and an economics degree I’d traded for weeks ago and never used.

  Also, on a whim, I fixed the Genghis Khan monument that the man himself had trashed when it had become a Raid Boss.

  ***

  And, eventually, I found myself back on that hill in Ireland.

  “Ready?”

  “Ready!”

  I grinned savagely, cast [Devouring Rain] on the little downpour Fionn had summoned, and the world. Went. Nuts.

  The clear liquid that hit the ground stayed clear for about … no time at all. It hit the ground and ripped into the grass like a malevolent force, hissing like a million snakes while it began to burn. Anything living began to carbonize in an instant, turning coal-black before being vaporized into nothingness, while the all-obliterating liquid began to boil, a sea of roiling piranha solution stripping the land bare.

  A barn or storage shed of some sort that had been standing in the targetted area and while, like Fionn had said, [Devouring Rain] was not specialized against metal and concrete, it was still part sulfuric acid. The layer of rust covering the whole thing vanished near-instantly, and then, the surface slowly began to pit.

  The effect vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving me and Fionn standing in the middle of a wasteland that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a nuclear apocalypse movie.

  Well, it seemed my earlier description of “fuck that entire area” hadn’t been far off. In fact, if anything, it’d undersold things.

  Though other than giving me a renewed respect for the sheer devastation magic could cause, this little experiment gave me an extra bit of information. I did not have enough magic to cast both the rain transformation spells and [Century Storm]. I could weaponize regular rain, or have another mage summon it, but not both.

  And without using my ability to choose a “favored spell” that was not only easier to cast but also cheaper by a quarter, I’d have trouble casting [Century Storm] on its own.

  Well, I did have a Skill Boost left …

  This was my fifth upgrade of [Arcane Core], officially making it my second-most upgraded Skill behind [Knowledge Trade].

  Also, that was a neat little upgrade. Not that big of a game changer under normal circumstances, when I cast [Century Storm], I was usually behind someone a lot more powerful than myself and in a position to directly control the spell. But in a situation where that wasn’t the case, it’d be damn useful.

  Less than a week to practice, well, everything, before the next Challenge showed up.