Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] Chapter 238: Book 4: Chapter 3: Dragon-kin

Read chapter 238 of Aetherios System [Slow Build OP MC, Isekai LitRPG/Cultivation] by TTReynolds on NovelPedia.

Book 4: Chapter 3: Dragon-kin Chapter 3 The air in the volcanic tunnel tasted of metal and acrid sulfur. It nailed Alex in the face like the snoot of a sprinting greyhound the moment they dropped below the rim of stone. The heat rolled off various exposed seams of magma. His senses were assaulted along with the heat by the hiss of steam and the consistent drip of condensed aether from the walls. Lamps hung at set intervals of the tunnels. Each was a small cage containing crystal globes pulsing pale light. Down below, the mountain felt like it was breathing in a deep slumber. Or like a massive, patient beast that tolerated them at its waiting opened throat. Alex led the group forward, because that was what he did now: lead. He put the weight of everyone’s survival on his shoulders, whether he liked it or not. They looked up to him, and he couldn’t let them down. Obby’s mental presence hovered in his head like an itchy pebble in the back of his skull. The small enchanted item was mapping and annotating everything. “ Pack of six, concentrated heat signatures moving deeper, ” he reported. “ One larger signature at the tail. Solid-stage threshold on that last one, too. Definitely dangerous, with a high aether output. ” Alex answered with a dry sound that was close to a laugh, but not quite. Lovely. A beast family reunion. At least they are in one place and we don’t have to go hunting down stragglers. They slipped through the tunnels in tight formation. Garret and Henry took the front with Alex with. They were a living wall of muscles and metal between Henry’s sheer size, and Garret’s new shield. Ghrukk and Doran moved on the flanks, ready to rip anything that tried to sneak up on them into two polite pieces. Holly floated a half-step above the floor near the middle of the formation. Wind aether moved in glittering ribbons around her ankles to keep her aloft. Also in the middle were Kate and Zach, both of whom watched the shadows while Devon kept his arcane rifle up and ready to sight far ahead of them. Myrae carried a spool of light-thread and healing potions at her hip, prepared for whatever might come. Surprisingly to Alex, Symon and Aburi had chosen to come with them. Symon lingered near the rear. His appearance was all lavish robes and a dangerous smile. While Aburi was the opposite. His presence was a hulking, calm thing that made the tunnels feel safer by his sheer mass. They traversed the tunnels under the mountain carefully, searching their quarry. They were closing fast thanks to Alex’s [Aether Sight] and Obby’s processing power filtering all of the incoming aether strands. Along with Devon’s scope letting them see far ahead through aether-thick steam and ash. Then a pair of two-legged heads ducked out from a side fissure, their bright, reptilian eyes set in armored skulls. Their tongues flickered in and out, tasting at the charged air. These were fire-drakes, which were lean, quick reptilians bred in volcanic environments. Smaller cousins to old world Draconic Wyrms. “Contacts at the bend,” Alex said. “Ghrukk, Doran, push left. Garret, Henry, hold center. Dev, cover right. Holly, keep overhead. Everyone else is on containment. Remember to take them alive. The mission is to capture, not set up barbecues.” He drew the plan in the space of a single breath, laying out a crisp choreography. The first exchanges with the arcane beasts were messy and chaotic. Garret planted his tower-shield and ate the first drake’s charge with a collision so loud it punched its echo into the surrounding stone. While the shield-tank was holding it busy, Henry’s vines erupted from the cracked floor, and began to snake themselves around the drake like living shackles. They wrapped around a hind leg as the drake tried to spin off Garret’s guard, but Henry held it fast. Ghrukk slammed into another of the beasts from the flank. His halberd was sweeping in a brutal angle that cracked at the drake’s scales with a sound like crunching bread crust. Doran’