"Hey, wake up."
Hikari opens her eyes.
Rey was standing in front of her cheeks.
The giantess turns her head.
"Rey?"
"It's time to get moving now. Hope you had a good nap. You've been out for more than a day."
Hikari tries to sit up.
Her body's stiff.
A nice smell.
It was coming from a steel crate.
She opens it.
Warm hot stew.
She digs in, drinking directly from the crate.
It disappeared quickly.
It was half of the volume she has back at the estate.
But a warm stew out at the front is always heartwarming.
She reaches for the ration pack.
She has to fill the rest of her stomach with dried rations.
Across the cave.
The breaching team was getting their gear ready.
Unlike the regular infantry, they were in full steel plate armour.
A light crystal atop their helmets.
Their belts were slotted with dynamite, acid flasks, flares, bombs.
Their weapons were not the standard muskets.
Harpoon that was loaded with a single bolt the length of a man's arm.
Flamer throwers.
Motors that hurl bombs.
They were meant to slay monsters.
"Welcome to the breaching team, Hikari."
The voice of Rey's megaphone.
A two metre tall hunk of steel.
A cannon mounted on its shoulder.
A harpoon attached to its right hand and a drill on the left.
Its back was loaded with Rey's supply compartment.
The cranking of its gears.
A tin can with pedals for legs walks towards Hikari.
The sound of air depressurizing.
Conk! The lid on the robot's head flipped open.
Rey pops his head out.
"Well, what do you think? Impressive isn't it. "
Hikari studies the robot.
An armour powered by mana.
There were plenty in Moradale.
She could sense its core positioned at the groin of the robot below the chamber.
"Adorable"
Hikari tries not to laugh.
Rey looks at her with his dead eyes.
He pops back down into the hatch.
Conk! Conk!
Robot sounds.
The pedals cushioned with rubber on its wide paddles muffles its sound.
"Alright! Form up!"
He blasts through its mega phone.
The armoured infantry lines up in two columns before the entrance deeper into the mines.
Rey forms up at the back.
Behind him, a mini steam tank that would haul the troop's supplies into the caves.
Hikari finishes her rations.
She stands up and stretches.
Touch her toes.
Side rotations on her hips.
Twist her ankles.
That's all the cramped space inside the cavern allows her to do.
She had been sleeping and living with her armour the whole time.
It seems like she could trust the salamander skin not to eat her in her sleep.
She strapped on her swords and mounted her harvest sack.
It felt just a tad heavy from the loot she collected from the mana vein that is hiding at the bottom below her stack of ration packs.
A pickaxe and hammer had been prepared for her.
Ones that are her size.
She hoisters them on her waist.
Given the short march distance and cramped space.
A bit of extra weight for more weapons isn't a bad idea.
They could come in very handy for fighting in a mine.
Hikari positions herself at the front of the column.
A barricade of steel stands in front of her.
She turns to Rey.
"Whats this?"
"Your shield, we're going to blast down walls a lot. I need you to carry it so that it shields the rest of us from the rock blast."
It was an impressive piece of defense.
Three layers of steam tank plating welded together.
The sides were curved to better deflect projectiles at an angle.
Spikes on the bottom allows the shield to stand vertically without having to lean on its wielder.
It was up to the level of her stomach so that it would cover her fully if she got on one knee.
"Nice."
Hikari normally would avoid shields as they hamper their mobility.
They don't even guarantee protection as there are magics that could pierce or get around it.
But it'll be very useful when pushing through a narrow corridor.
She straps the shield handles onto her arm.
It was heavy.
It weighs at least a ton.
Her muscles can handle it, but the front weight puts pressure on her back.
Her harvest sack balances the weight.
She turns her head and nods at Rey's robot at the back of the column.
"Alright! Ladies and gentlemen. We are about to enter the mines. Look sharp! They have been closed in a while so we don't know what kind of nasty stuff has made it their home. Nothing in the cave is friendly to you. They all see you as their next meal. And don't go picking up mana crystals and get yourself killed. There's a team behind us that will do that."
Two men went around HIkari's shield.
They strapped explosives onto the stone before hastily hiding behind Hikari.
Kaboom!
The wall exploded into pieces.
The rubble pelted Hikari's shield, making a loud clanking sound.
"Forward."
Rey's megaphone.
Hikari advanced through the smoke.
The scattered stone pieces crunch under her boot.
A brief sound of spiders skittering away.
It was dark and empty, except for the dim glow of mana crystals and sparse spots of cave fauna.
The men fan out and briefly sweep the cavern.
It was empty.
The mine tracks were still in good shape.
An empty trolley. Several crates of ore ready to be shipped stacked up by the side of the cavern.
The men drilled picks into the walls and hung up small lanterns to light the place.
It's just the first cave.
There shouldn't be anything dangerous.
The mini steam tank rolls over the pile of stone behind them.
Behind them another group comes in.
They began clearing out the rubble and checking the mine tracks.
They took down the lanterns hanging at the top of the mine and began replacing them.
This would lay the breaching team's supply lines.
Hikari followed the mine tracks up to another cave in.
She rests her shield.
Pulse.
Pulse.
The mana form of the hearthstone house.
She could see in the dark but she can't see through walls.
The cave in was too thick for her to map out the next cave.
She places her hand on the blockage and channels.
Shatter.
It didn't work.
She was a bit worried.
She tries again.
She pushes more mana.
Crack.
She manages to crack the stone.
It was not cracking nearly as easily as when training with Sheela.
"The stone down here is not as friendly to our mana form due to the difference in mineral composition. But it still works well enough in the mines. You just gotta keep practicing. Don't use too much mana, you're gonna need it for a fight."
"Yes."
Hikari keeps practicing.
She tries to make adjustments until she finds the right one.
She was able to dig through part of the cave
"Form up!"
Rey orders.
Hikari stops practicing.
She was able to dig through a few boulders.
The men shovels away the loose stone.
The breaches plant the explosives.
Kaboom! The wall was shattered into pieces.
They march through a long corridor into another open space.
The men sweep the area.
Another warehousing point for ore.
It was spacious enough for Hikari to stretch her arms up.
The crates were filled with it.
They were removed from the earth and just left when the mine was evacuated.
The rear team soon showed up and began removing them.
They would have to make space for supplies
Rey pops up head out.
"Good thing there are these spaces. They were here when the mine was initially excavated for the ore. Once the ore was exhausted, these spaces were turned into something more useful such as storage and even living spaces."
"Interesting."
"Go practice shattering stones now. Or take a break. This place is going to take a while to clear."
…
Kaboom!
They broke into another cavern.
Cave spiders skittering away into their micro tunnels.
The men lit the walls with lanterns. and began plugging those tunnels.
It was a living space for miners.
Double stacked beds.
A water tank and a stove.
The tank was still filled with water.
One would doubt if it's still safe to drink after so long.
"Listen up Ladies and gentlemen. Looks like we have used up our charges. Pat yourselves on the back. It means we're at the half way point. Nothing dangerous had shown up. But it might get exciting for the next half of the push. Keep your powder dry. Rest up and fill your bellies. It won't be long before we start the next push."
The men just lean against the walls in their armour.
It's a pain to have to take them off and put them back on again.
Hikari does likewise.
The cavern was more than spacious enough for her to stretch out her legs.
In the previous cave, the work continues.
The engineers were setting up rail tracks, wall lighting and support columns.
Miners clearing away the loose debris and collecting mana crystals.
She could hear them from here.
It was an uneventful expedition so far.
All they encountered was spiders, small pieces of mana crystal and spots of cave fungus.
Hikari bit into her ration pack.
On the other hand, she held a piece of stone in her palm.
Shatter.
After a brief pause, the stone shatters into pieces.
Reconstruct.
The small pieces coalesce together and shatter again.
She couldn't quite get the reconstruction part.
She picks up another stone and shatters.
There was no shortage of those around.
Conk. Conk.
Rey drove his robot and parked it beside her.
Hikari could hear him eating from inside his armoured suit.
"Pssh can you hear me?"
Rey whispered in his armoured suit with the speaker phone off.
"Yes."
"Did you remember what I said? Don't bring any loot back from the mana veins?"
Hikari glances at her harvest sack.
"Yes."