Museum Core Chapter 97 (Start of Book 4): Vengeance Most Foul

“… We now know for certain who was responsible for trying to kill you. We have proof. Please don’t start World War 3.”

Thomas stared down at the man standing in the entrance hall of the Natural History Museum, his expression a combination of exhaustion, apprehension, and … glee? Granted, that last one was fairly well-hidden, but it was there.

An odd mix of emotions, and combined with what he’d just said … well, it was hardly something one wanted to hear from a high-ranking government official.

Rowan Frye, the Director of the Bureau for Preternatural Affairs, had a lot of power, far more than his position would indicate, and was suffering from borderline pathological stress due to the demands his job placed upon him … yet he’d taken the time to show up to deliver this news personally. That alone told Thomas how seriously he took this.

As for the request regarding the Third World War … that actually told him quite a bit. If an over-the-top response on his part risked starting it, that meant the culprit was a nation of significant power and influence.

And if the potential conflict was of a global scale, that meant it would have to be kicked off by two massive factions, the east vs the west, and purely by his location, Thomas was aligned with the west. Current tensions due to a certain administration aside, if this had been a government in the West, him doing something stupid was highly unlikely to start a world war.

Ergo …

“So, tell me, Director Frye, was it Russia or China?”

Frye grinned. “At first, the evidence was leading straight to North Korea, but that was pretty obviously bullshit, if they’d had the resources to hire eight D-Rank mercenaries for a downright suicidal contract, they wouldn’t be having a lot of the problems we know they’re suffering from.”

“So whose catspaw were they, then?” Thomas asked.

“Russia,” Frye said. “We were pretty sure they were responsible from the start, but to be honest, it’s embarrassing it took us this long to get proof.”

“I was under the impression that blaming them was considered something of a cliche,” Thomas commented dryly.

“Cliches are cliche for a reason,” Frye shrugged. “Or are you trying to tell me you didn’t find any of those crazy decorations from the Halloween Event in some history book? Besides, we got there by following the evidence.”

“Alright,” Thomas responded. “We know who to blame, how do we make them pay? How do I make them pay without plunging the world into disaster?”

Because there was a high likelihood that part of the reason why he was here was that he had an idea. And considering what Thomas knew of the man, even if he didn’t end up using whatever he offered, it would definitely be worth listening to.

“May I make a suggestion?” Frye offered, then continued as Thomas made his recently arrived monkey avatar motion for him to do so. “We could kill two birds with one stone here. A group of commandoes, sneaking into the Siberian transformation zone, killing their anchor and looting everything they can get their hands on would likely hurt them quite badly without sparking an international incident …”

“… and you’re hoping it would redirect the fury you believe me to be feeling towards the Russian people,” Thomas finished, saying the quiet part out loud. “You don’t have to worry about that, I know who I’m actually mad at.

“But you’re right, harvesting their transformation zone out from under them would be delicious revenge.”

He grinned, wolfishly, the expression likely terrifying on the fang-filled face of a spider monkey.

“What I am going to deliver onto those bastards is not vengeance through fire and steel, but karmic retribution. They went after me because they see their transformation zone as their ticket to becoming a superpower once more and don’t want others to have the same opportunity … so I’m going to take that shot at world domination away from them.

“I’m going to keep that up until eventually, they have to start looking elsewhere for places to empower their supernaturals, but there is only a single place that offers infinite opportunities, and they will be forever barred from it, doomed to fall behind the rest of the world until even their vaunted military no lonster stands even the remotest chance of getting them what they want.

“No dictatorship would ever risk the common man getting real power, so the populace not only won’t be harmed, but very little will change for them overall. But those in power, the political leaders and oligarchs, those who would have profited had their ploy worked … they’ll know that they either screwed themselves, or got screwed by whoever made the decision.

“And when someone tries to make a deal, perhaps unaware of my knowledge of the whole affair … I’ll point them at whoever truly caused all this in the first place.”

Then, finally, Thomas offered Frye a wry grin.

“You wouldn’t happen to have any recommendations for reputable mercenary groups I could pay to keep hollowing out this remnant of Kristalia, would you?”

Frye shrugged. “Not off the top of my head, but I’ll get you a list. But if you’d like, we’d be willing to take a crack at it ourselves.”

“I’ll take that into consideration. My fairy also has some ideas as to what your people will be facing in Siberia. Send your team here once you’ve assembled it, if you would, so I can customize their gear and give them all the information they could possibly want. And thank you for telling me all this,” Thomas told him. “But I do have to ask: are you sure you can actually take the anchor beast? Last time … last time didn’t go so well. And I don’t think I can drive the Belfast into the heart of Russia.”

Frye nodded. “After meeting the Hunger, we managed to definitively prove the link between the size of a transformation area and the strength of its anchor. The one in Siberia is weaker, our forces are stronger, and we’ve managed to … find all the information the Russians had on the monster. We can actually prepare for this one, specifically.”

He pulled out a manila file folder and placed it on the ground in front of him.

“And if they sent you falsified data in the hope that you’d do something stupid?” Thomas asked. He didn’t think Frye would have fallen for that, considering his intelligence background, but it still needed to be said.

“Then they’d have also had to falsify reality,” Frye replied with a wry grin, pulling out a second folder. “We do check these things.”

Then, he pulled out several pictures that were obviously satellite images, including one that seemed to depict a battle between a dragon and humans wielding what looked to be crystal-based magic.

“Actually, the Russians have been trying to kill the dragon for a while, and guess what, they’ve been getting their teeth kicked in every time they make the attempt. I guess leveling is hard without a Dungeon. But they really want its hoard.”

“I’m guessing we also know where they got those amulets of obfuscation,” Thomas commented. “I trust I will receive the artifacts to copy?”

“Naturally,” Frye replied, placing down everything and taking a couple of steps back.

“Thank you, this will be … helpful,” Thomas said, grinning internally.

Frye raised a hand and gave a slight wave before turning around.

“I’ll leave you to it, then. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Oh, I will,” Thomas called after him.

Then, he began to plot. And just like any good scheme, this one started with him bugging his ever-faithful assistant for information.

***

Elias looked utterly adorable, for once, there on the floor, surrounded by countless sheets of paper, covered in both writing and photos, each bage several times larger than the dimutive fairy who was striding back and forth with his posture like an action movie general, ramrod-straight and serious beyond measure … not that Thomas would ever actually tell him that.

After all, the fairy was a full-grown adult, at least twice as old as himself.

Then again, Elias was also using his soulbound weapon, a magical spear that had finally resized itself for him, as a pointer, tapping parts of whatever files he was referring to … he really was cute. And it was only through supreme effort of will that Thomas managed to restrain himself from digging out one of the analog video cameras and recording the whole affair.

“So, what we have here is a standard gemstone dragon. Name and appearance aside, they don’t actually have too much in common with regular dragons. No ability to spawn minions, no melding their magic into their surroundings, different physique … actually, I’m going to shut up about regular dragons.

“Gem dragons have the same first three powers, every time. The first one is their physique, obviously, they’re made from gemstones, but are magically not as brittle as you’d expect them to be. They can also heal themselves by eating gems and turn others into crystal with their magic.”

“That sounds dangerous,” Thomas commented. The way things worked in reality might differ from his imagination, but at least in theory, petrification was a nasty ability.

“Exactly,” Elias replied, pointing the butt end of his spear towards Thomas’ core. “But that’s why you’ll be making something to counter it.”

“Sounds doable,” Thomas said. In fact, he already had an idea on how to make that happen.

“Now, the second power is where things get complicated. It allows them to channel the power of whatever stone they’re made from … but these pictures are crap, so I can’t tell what we’re dealing with. Could be amber, could be tiger’s eye, maybe a yellow opal or maybe even an overly dark citrine … anyway, depending on elemental and conceptual associations, this thing will have a lot of different self-buffs on top of its breath attack.”

“Uh-hu …” Thomas replied. That did, indeed, sound complicated. And not all that useful beyond “we know that we know nothing.” Which was actually useful when you were self-aware enough to acknowledge it, but didn’t help much beyond that.

“But the third power is what’s really going to be a power. It empowers their shell and turns it into a single piece that stores all damage that hits it until that store reaches the point where it could destroy the shell in its entirety. Basically, until you’ve hit it hard enough to break all its scales, you won’t be doing even the slightest bit of damage while it’s already tearing through you and your allies.

“It won’t care how you attack it or where you hit it, you can be the world’s greatest sniper and shoot it in the eye, and while that shell is up, it won’t care one bit.

Well, that didn’t sound like fun. Although he’d love to throw that power on one of his monsters …

“And what do these things get for C-Rank?” Thomas asked.

Elias shrugged. “C-Rank is where they actually start to be able to choose their power.”

Then, he pointed at the pile of reports. “But maybe there’s something in here that’ll help us figure it out?”

***

There was, in fact, enough information present for them to piece things together. Because these freaking reports were seemingly infinite, an endless parade of officers attempting to excuse their failiure to execute a mission they never should have been sent on since they hadn’t been given anywhere near the manpower or equipment needed to succeed … which they couldn’t say, because that might be taken as criticism of the state, and might result in them being found “having committed suicide by shooting themselves in the back several times.”

But in the end, Thomas and Elias had figured it out. It was some kind of projection ability that allowed the dragon to attack through nearby crystals that it had created, using them as the source of its breath attacks or launching crystal shards from them.

It would have been sooner … but, well, there’d been a whole lot of other fantastical claims made about its abilities to put the blame for a more-or-less disastrous raid on the dragon, rather than the officers themselves or their superiors.

Finding a mention of what could be the fourth power had been easy. Finding tangible proof was a fundamentally different thing.

But they’d managed it … now what the hell were they going to do with this information? Warn the strike team, once assembled, to “stay away from crystals”?

The entire darn lair was made from crystals, for crying out loud!

At the end of the day, the best they could do was pass along the information and leave it in their hands, as well as properly equip those who would exact vengeance on his behalf.

In terms of needed magical items, one was obvious. Something to block out the transmutation power of the gemstone dragon, just like what Elias had already said.

Ring of Golden Purity (C-Rank, rare)

A ring forged from the finest metal, empowered by the will of a dungeon core, and enchanted to protect the wearer.

This ring will render the one who wears it as impossible to tarnish as gold itself, making them almost immune to curses, hostile transformation effects, and many forms of acid.

This ring cannot be lost or accidentally removed.

Energy Draw: tiny, as needed

A simple band of D-Rank steel, which had been rendered incredibly durable by its rank, infused with a power based on the incorruptible nature of gold, as the description said.

Of course, that rendered the name incredibly misleading, but at the same time, who cared? It was also likely for the best that these things didn’t come out looking like wedding bands or promise rings, because that would send all sorts of confusing messages.

And as for the soulbinding, that was less to limit the value of what he was handing out and more to make sure the people who wound up in Siberia didn’t lose them at the worst possible time.

After that … it was mostly a matter of getting the people there, and arming them to actually beat the dragon. Making weapons, new and otherwise, was an old hat, something he’d been doing the entire time. Improved melee weapons, guns upgraded with as many supernatural elements as he had access to, custom enhancements, etc. Whatever was needed.

Like the second ring he’d made.

Ring of the Skybound Infiltrator (C-Rank, uncommon)

A nigh-unbreakable osmiridium ring that will only leave its wearer’s finger upon their death.

When launched into the sky with the intention of landing in a specific destination,  this ring will stabilize the wearer’s flight, minimize air resistance, nullify the majority of the consequences of traveling at such speeds, and hide them from the prying eyes of the mechanical variety.

This ring cannot be lost or accidentally removed.

Energy draw: low when active

Thomas had gone slightly too hard on this one; this particular piece of gear decidedly hadn’t needed to be a C-Rank artifact, but to be honest, everyone who’d be wearing them would also be at that Rank, so things would be fine.

These things were basic and would synergize nicely with the transport he’d designed for everyone.

Well, was designing. He was trying to reshape the Belfast into a submarine, allowing him to get it as close to the coast as possible, and from there, he was figuring he could hurl them to their destination using a giant sloth or the like. With the ring stabilizing their flight, they should fly far. And land safely. That was important too.

But something to enhance the offensive potential of the wearer should be usable too.

“Hey, Elias, do you think that shell blocking an attack counts as ‘mitigating’ it in the eyes of the System?”

“It should, why are you aski- …” the fairy laughed. “You’re evil. I wholeheartedly approve.”

The previous anchor beast that had been killed, “The Hunger,” had had an extremely annoying ability that started empowering attacks anytime one of its strikes was blocked, dodged, or otherwise mitigated until it managed to land a clean, often devastating, strike.

It didn’t matter how good a fighter you were; unless you killed the monster before the power could build up properly, it would hit you. And the more you could drag things out, the harder the blow.

And if every time you struck the monster until you finally overcame its defensive ability, charged the ability … was there a better power to enchant a ring with?

Of course, Thomas also needed to choose a proper material to fashion the ring out of, and there was only one creature he could think worthy, one whose pattern he had only gotten last week, when someone had brought him a stuffed display piece.

Ring of Rampage (C-Rank, epic)

A ring formed from the bones of the unstoppably furious honey badger, decorated with rubies to look as though it were dripping blood, enchanted to allow its wearer to tear straight through any obstacle they may face, especially when said obstacles are too fast to strike or too tough to injure.

Any time one of the wearer’s attacks is dodged, blocked, or heavily mitigated (either through defensive abilities or via maneuvers), this ring gains a charge, charges will continue to accumulate until wearer runs out of mana or sufficient energy has accumulated to either guide an attack to the point where it is unavoidable or empower it so it can break through an enemy’s defenses.

This ring cannot be lost or accidentally removed.

Energy draw: tiny per strike

Although … this was a weapon for melee fighters. And neither Abrams nor Henderson had overly much mana. They’d likely be unable to use all the gear he was preparing for them.

… there had to be a better way to do this. Back to the drawing board.