Master Of None

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Walker, Mordant, and Midnight began pulling the shadows closer. They knew that if they ran in to undead mud mantis that they would be facing a harsher challenge. However, they still wanted to do the most that they could to avoid detection. 

At the same time, Walker and Gil stayed closer together, this wasn't to hide better but to put their heads together with the wind. The air was all around them. Therefore, the wind elemental mana they could sense was also all around them. 

Gil was not adept in sensing it in the same way that Walker was. He had the higher affinity because he was strongly bonded to Zephyr. However, she was not coming out at all. Instead, she had been helping Ventus earlier and still needed to recover. That was the price that came with helping a dragon use massive amounts of wind elemental mana. 

"Just stick with me and tell me if you feel any small changes in the air around us or ahead. It might be some distance away, but you will still feel it. It's specifically the wind elemental mana reacting to something moving. You should feel it when we move." Walker talked softly to Gil. it was how he felt the wind elemental mana around him. 

Walker could easily sense the manas around him. He could help manipulate the darkness mana while also manipulating the wind elemental mana. That was just the perks of being able to manipulate all manas. Not to mention his training thus far in controlling manas overall using natural mana as the key to do so. 

As he explained the best way to catch the small changes around them, Gil was clearly starting to understand himself better as well. Every single step, the air around the group had to move. It didn't stay the same as they pushed through it. Just like water, there were changes in some small way or another. 

These small changes were what some monsters with natural wind affinities would use to hunt. They could wait in ambush and react instantly. Some monsters had very fine hairs on their bodies that helped them do so. This was what Gil thought as he felt Walker's sensing of wind and how it also enveloped him. It was a learning opportunity that was more than anything else most people would ever have. 

When Walker used the abilities to manipulate elemental manas, he was already doing it differently than mages would normally. This was because he had sensed the natural flows of manas due to the natural mana affinity he had. Therefore, he used his senses and his body's mana to manipulate elemental manas at a more natural level. 

This was why he was able to show Gil the way that the manas moved around them even though they were not necessarily controlling the wind elemental mana. Just by sensing it, Gil saw that there was more around him. 

The natural flow of air through this dried riverbed and the many sandstone tunnels was extremely complicated. It was something that most people only picked up when they were trained to do so. "What's that?" Gil felt that they were having some sort of push back. As if the wind around them had just become slightly stronger. 

"That's something ahead of us. It moved and the air can flow better now. We have a monster ahead." Walker and the others crouched down more. Mordant and Current watched carefully to see what the party would do. They were technically recovering their manas too but they also didn't see a reason for a powerful dragon to be involved in this. 

Not that they wouldn't act if needed. It was just impractical to use their strength and risk collapsing the entire sandstone cave which was finally able to begin recovering. Even without water here yet, it was a sure thing that water mana would be coming more and more. Current was having an easier time drawing some small amounts from deep in the earth below the dried river bed already. 

"There it is." Gil whispered as the shape which everyone would have assumed to be part of another cave pillar shifted. The shadow looked odd but it was enough for Walker to get an all around appraisal. 

'Undead mud mantis

Starved to death by the rapid decrease in food and habitat, this is one of many undead mud mantis forced to wander with food as its focus. Due to their sharp instincts, the undead mud mantis was able to dig out and attack many of its own kind from the silt. This caused it to become bloated as it rotted since it is unable to properly absorb nutrition. 

The twisted form that it has is dried out by years of being unable to find moisture. This leaves an odd weak shell around it and whatever it dried out within its stomach. The earth that normal forms around its sharp bone blades fell off leaving a weaker bone blade with high sharpness. 

They are very quick and will attack anything nearby them that moves. Their eyes are more or less blind leaving them to focus on their instincts more now. This causes them to attack walls, falling dust, and anything else that makes a sound. The best…'

Walker stopped what he was doing and called for the eternal orb to take form. He felt it becoming a spear in his hands. But this wasn't just the average spear. Walker had once seen a  spear with a small round shield on it. This attachment made it possible to attack while somewhat hiding from counterattacks. 

It had just been a random weapon he had seen. Nothing that he imagined he would use. But when he saw that the undead mud mantis had a weak body and was fast, he knew that he had to be able to deflect an attack while dealing one. Instead of sending Su with a shield charge, it was better to end it with this one attack. Therefore no one would be hurt and they could keep pushing forward. 

As Walker left the group while waving everyone back, they watched him take a stance. The scuffle of his feet made the undead mud mantis jerk around. Walker could see where some parts of its body were oddly stretched when it had long ago eaten its own kind. But he could also see the holes from dry rot in its exoskeleton. Not to mention the remnants of packed earth on its body. 

With a target found, the undead mud mantis moved as if it was screeching. But no sound was able to be made after being dead for so many years. It charged at Walker with a bladed arm slicing out rapidly. The speed was definitely above what Walker would have been able to react to. If he had not used the all around appraisal and just attacked, he would be gravely hurt. 

Now Walker had been prepared. He took a hard stance and thrust the spear forward. The scythe like arms of the undead mud mantis struck the shield part of the spear causing the blades to chip and deflect upwards and downwards respectively. The spear tip of the eternal orb spear shield form kept pushing forward. 

The sound of dry cracking as the spear penetrated the center of the undead mud mantis's body was loud enough to echo along the sand stone caves. Enough to notify anything else ahead of the party that they were coming. Fortunately, Walker only had to face one enemy right now. 

Feeling the weakness after attacking, Walker jerked the spear to the side and completely severed the undead mud mantis in half. This was impressed by the standards of battle since everyone knew Walker had not used this form for the eternal orb before. Yet, it was also a testament of how weak these monsters would be. They were nothing like the intense undead that had been above. These were a more natural undead formed more naturally in a way. 

"Hear that?" Remey grimaced while she and Su started to push to meet Walker. Remey knew she could end an undead mud mantis with a single attack. Su knew she could easily defend that attack since she had seen the speed these undead monsters had. Both would be able to efficiently take them down as they came. 

The scuttling legs and the slight slamming as things his tone proved to be evidence that many more of these undead mud mantis had been left behind by time. But there were also sounds of fighting. "I would say they aren't friendly with one another." Gil smiled as he knew this made things easier. The undead mud mantis did not differentiate between ally or foe. They just attacked blindly to try and get food of any kind. 

"That should make it easier to attack as well." Onyx used the shadows to completely cover him. He wanted to take a shot at these monsters too. 

….

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