I check the side quest and its reward.

Side quest: Survive

Reward: 500 shards

Seeing how high the reward is, this is dangerous. Yet, it still feels low, aren't we against the Calamity?

“No, no, no, no,” Elydor mumbles under his breath while he examines the barrier. With his class, Mana Harbinger, he's probably already realized how strong the barrier is.

“Varrik, go and keep watch. Take Samuel and Otto,” he quickly calms down and orders his men, “Evir and Zen, get your asses over here and take a look at this with me."

Everyone else is pushed away from the barrier, and in the darkness of the smooth-walled tunnel lit by a few skills, they start examining the barrier. At the same time, a few more people from Storm Brigade also disappear to where we came from, towards the passage to the Champion´s house, to keep watch.

There is a hint of panic on everyone's faces as they move around, trying to find a way to pass through the barrier.

(Try to stay calm and be ready for anything,) I say through the link the twins set up for us, and while looking around, I notice Obelia staring at me.

It's not the first time that has happened. Ever since she felt me examining the circle that teleported us here, she keeps glancing at me once in a while. Once, she even asked one of her guild members to examine me, and I felt a thin, almost impossible-to-notice thread of mana reaching me. After I noticed it and destroyed it, they didn't try again.

She reacts to me catching her gaze by nodding shortly, as if in some sort of greeting, and I return the gesture. Obelia then turns back to her guild. Her face is still calm, and her eyes covered in circuits continue to look at the pale white barrier created by the Living Tree.

“This doesn't seem that good,” Tess whispers next to me, not using the twins' link probably because she doesn't want them to hear.

“After a few days, they will find out that they can't pass through the barrier, so they will most likely want to get back into the city and try to find a different way,” I answer back in a whisper.

“But the tree already seems to know about us, so the ones that exit the tunnels would most likely end up dead. Even though I still don't know why the tree is not attacking us inside of the tunnels,” she says back.

“Yes, they will send us out first, and Tess, we are not strong enough to face the tree. Not right now, not without more preparation,” I tell her.

Tess just nods solemnly, “We will have to fight if they try to push us out.” There is a determination on her face.

“Oh, and Tess,” I move closer and whisper even quieter, “We already are under the attack of the tree.”

Her eyes widen, and she leans her face closer to me. “Nat, what is happening?” There is urgency in her voice.

“The moment we reached the barrier, the tree started attacking us. It's some sort of hard-to-detect attack that uses really small amounts of mana. It's almost unnoticeable.” I tell her.

I feel in the air tiny particles of mana that try to reach our bodies, touch them, enter them, and then do something to them. I'm not at the point where I've found out what they do, but there's no way I would allow them to touch us.

“So Tess, I'm dealing with it and also protecting our group, but it's difficult. Tell the others to group a bit more and move somewhere to the side, a bit further away from the barrier,” I say.

At that moment, my skills level up.

[Perception - lvl 36 > Perception - lvl 37]

[Mana Domain - lvl 2 > Mana Domain - lvl 3]

To defend against that attack, I'm using my domain to create a field around myself, and it expands enough to cover members of our group. Then, while using [Perception], I locate particles of mana and then destroy them with my own mana, which is easier to manipulate within [Mana Domain].

It's hard to do, so it takes quite a bit of my attention, and sometimes some particles slip by me, and I have to use [Resonance] to destroy them.

I tried just running a disruptive field, but it didn't work that well. It's almost as if the Tree's particles are hard to hit without locating them first. The attack of the Calamity is not that strong; it's just hardly noticeable, slow, and constant. To be honest, I'm not sure how long I can keep it up.

Because most of their attention is on the barrier, almost no one noticed it, well, except Obelia. The woman noticed my usage of my skills, and after talking with a few more of her guildmates, they also found out what was happening and then urgently started doing something similar to what I do.

They didn't bother telling Elydor, but they were a bit less careful than me, so Elydor noticed them using mana and then examined the air. A series of curses that escaped his mouth were quickly followed by him starting to radiate a lot of his mana that started to push all the particles away.

Where I tried to use as little mana as possible, he just uses constant pressure that creates a field in a larger area, and a few of his men do something similar.

Yet, some smaller particles continue to pass by. Something I did notice while trying to use [Resonance], but they did not.

(Aaron, connect me to Obelia,) I say through the link, and soon he does so.

The guild master of Storm Brigade accepts the link he creates, curiosity getting the better of her.

(Not enough,) I say through the link and then disconnect.

For the first time, a hint of surprise appears on her face, and hurriedly she starts examining the air around her guild members.

That much should be enough.

Half a day passes, and they are still at it. The symbols are continuously drawn around the barrier and filled with mana. Items are used, even some they just took from the Champion's manor.

They even attack the barrier with dozens of different attacks. Yet there is no change at all.

Min-Jae says that the tunnel is a few miles long, so there should be enough air for months for us. We also have plenty of food, so no one panics thus far, nor throws around ideas of leaving the tunnels.

The attack we are under is well known already, and they continue to have a few people to deal with it. At some point, Elydor created some item out of an expensive-looking mana stone, and it's enough for his men just to infuse it with mana, and it creates a field that pushes away the invisible mana particles of the Calamity.

They also noticed that just a simple push was not enough so there are a few more men and women from both of the big guilds who keep switching places and continue to push away the particles using a lot of mana. They do it successfully, but it takes a toll on them.

(Asshole?) Biscuit asks me in my head.

I reach out and pet him, (Not yet.)

Two more days pass. And for some, it's getting harder and harder. The ever-present silence and darkness of the tunnels, the constant attack from the Living Tree, and the barrier blocking us are enough to put most of the people on edge, and even some members of group 4 become a bit touchy.

The twins become quieter. Isabella starts spending more and more time near me, connecting to my emotions. She says that it's hard to handle feeling the constant nervousness of others, even though Sophie's skill blocks some of Isabella's fear.

She also says that I am weird as I continue to play with the mana stone in my hands while observing their attempts to break the barrier.

I gulp down the piece of dried meat and just shrug my shoulders.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 39 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 40]

[Mana Domain - lvl 3 > Mana Domain - lvl 4]

Three more days passed, and the first of my skills reached level forty. I made significant progress while trying to inscribe circuits into the mana stone.

Sophie, wanting to take her mind off what's happening, also starts helping me, especially now that Isabella almost constantly stays by my side.

Lily offered for me to try using her [Disintegration] on the barrier, but I just told her to wait. Even though her skill is terrifying I don't think she has enough mana to destroy it or create a passage. Not without sacrificing most of her body to do so.

Tess is trying hard to keep the group from becoming too... unbalanced, and it seems to be getting harder.

After one unsuccessful attempt to destroy the barrier, Elydor notices me sitting there, examining the mana stone. Angry and frustrated, he sends a pulse of mana at me, destroying the stone in my hands and throwing me against the wall.

I apologize and then watch as even Obelia tries to calm him down.

In the end, he lets me go, and I pull out another mana stone and continue what I was doing again. This time a bit more carefully and attempting to hide the stone.

Some members of group 4 give me worried glances that I didn't understand, especially now that I constantly keep [Focus] running and actively blocking certain emotions.

POV Sophie Martinez

He is becoming quieter and quieter. He wasn't that talkative before, but now he rarely says anything.

A week has already passed. A week in these terrible, always-dark tunnels, and everyone is growing tired from the constant worry and the ever-present darkness. Yet he continues to sit there, lit by a few orbs floating nearby, his eyes glowing as he continues to examine the barrier of the Living Tree, attempts to break it, and the mana stone that he has now hidden in the sleeve of his shirt.

It's amazing how much progress we made in the past few days, something that would surely have taken us much longer outside. The inscription he works on is way beyond me, but even that is enough to help me to improve my skills, just from observing.

But I worry. I worry for Isabella, who tries to act brave, but I feel she's trying to only focus on his feelings and not even touching mine. I can't imagine how terrible it must be for her, feeling the emotions of everyone. So she clings to him as if he is her raft in a stormy sea.

Nathaniel doesn't seem to mind it that much, and once again I'm amazed by the will he possesses, the determination he shows, and the sheer strength of his mind.

He is constantly maintaining a field around us, around the entire group 4, and unlike other members of the expedition, his field uses much less mana. It's more accurate, yet it must also take a much greater toll on him. Nathaniel keeps it up for days, and I don't remember if he has slept since this all began. He waits, and I don't know what for. And that's what scares me the most.

Something will happen, something terrible. He knows it, and he is expecting it.

When Tess asks him about it, he always tells her not to worry and not to distract him as he continues to keep his field running. I tried to help, but I wasn't able to do it for too long, a few minutes at most at a similar level to his. The particles are too hard to locate and too difficult to influence, even though my skill is able to do so. So I continue trying and improving.

Again and again. I push myself even further, seeing Isabella hugging Nathaniel with closed eyes.

I clench my teeth and try as hard as I can.

It takes a while, but the field I create allows me to see these particles as well and try to destroy them. Once again I realize how difficult it is. And he's working on inscribing a mana stone while doing this?

A few more days pass and screams wake me up.

Quickly, while summoning my mana, I get to my feet and turn towards where the screams are coming from, after locating Izzy who still clings to Nathaniel. He also looks towards the source of the screams.

And there, on the ground, one of the members of Serpent's Eye continues to twitch, scream, and groan in pain, scratching his chest and body while tearing his clothes.

With horrified looks in their eyes, his guild members continue to watch, and it takes me a while to see what they have noticed.

There are things, small green things, all over the man's body.

It takes me a bit longer to realize that they are leaves. Green leaves a normal tree would have.

And right now, those leaves are growing from under the man's skin.