It looked like an arctic base of some kind.

  Minus the bright red coloring and general sense of adventure in the pictures and youtube videos Wade had seen.

  If anything, the base looked like it wanted to remain unseen, hiding in the recesses of the darkness. The largest section was a fat metal tube, with some additional square buildings added to the side made of wood and metal.

  He could see one of these was opened wide to the elements like a garage, showing supplies, ropes and tools inside.

  And all of it was held up on several dozen small metal feet, like landing gear keeping everything off the ground. It all looked sturdy, almost like a spaceship.

  Crates were scattered all over, along with barrels and other scattered items that looked like their owner had left just this morning.

  The entire base was nestled into a tight little alcove of bone, to the point the ceiling of this area was almost connected with the roofs of this base.

  Wade would have described this as the back end of a half-submerged cave. He saw had no other way to reach the little base ahead beyond jumping over the chasm of liquid mana before them.

  Like a natural moat leading to a recessed pocket. The defensive options were clearly intentional in the base selection here.

  Creatures capable of jumping across this moat would be giants, too big to fit into the alcove beyond the docks.

  Creatures that were human-sized or smaller, capable of fitting in the pocket ahead would likely not be strong enough to just flat out jump the entire path, even with mana empowering their legs.

  Or maybe they could, but those legs would probably explode out with that much power pumped in. Wade remembered his earlier discussion with Medy about body strengthening. There were limits, and it was based on the body's ability to resist damage caused by mana.

  He'd thought of the strengthening techniques more like blowing air into a balloon. Too much and it might pop, or something equally gruesome like that. Most things he'd learned about mana had made it seem far less wizard-magic and far more body-magic.

  Minus firing arcane bolts from his hands. That part was awesome.

  But the last fight stayed in his mind, how he hadn't been able to really think of any kind of spell on the spot to cast, despite having infinite mana to work with and a deathwish. Hell, if he'd just thought of video game spells, he'd have at least something to work off of.

  He'd need to seriously sit down and brainstorm all kinds of options back when he was on earth. Grab Jason, sit down and start talking shop. Ready in action some plans and then practice them until it came more naturally to his head under pressure. That part couldn't be cheated with a System helping him.

  What he could cheat however, was using Eri. That skeleton came with all the mana he needed, and could technically use as much of it as he goddamn wanted without repercussions. Wade and Jason could come up with ideas, and Eri could give them a quick sanity check on earth to see if they were possible. That would narrow down what Wade should use his limited amount of practice per round in Azdrial for.

  "Rich mining camp." Bael grunted, surveying the location.

  Wade realized that the shoreline on the other end had more than just the semi-circle shallow bone slope inwards. There was an actual dock built onto it, like a pier, built over struts leading over the shallow slope of liquid mana up until the edge where Wade could start to see a large underwater cliff, where the bone simply fell away like there'd been a hole punched through.

  On the docks, the only thing of note was a large wheel holding a mass amount of rolled up chain, connected to a shark diving cage suspended nearby. Only with thick glass in between the bars.

  The demon came to a stop, and set Wade down on the ground, turning to the contraption at the base of the lake ahead of them, directly opposite to the docks across the moat.

  Wade tried to muster his groggy mind into focus, he'd seen this kind of contraption before on old boats in order to lift the anchor back up. The word floated to his mind soon enough: A capstan.

  Which meant chains and anchors, but as he looked for those, he found instead pulleys and chains leading up to the ceiling.

  He just had no idea why anything like that was here at all.

  "Think the bridge still works?" Medy asked, looking over the same contraption, answering Wade's unasked question in one go.

  "That's a bridge?" Wade asked, looking for any sign of it.

  "It's submerged under the liquid mana." Bael pointed to the lake. And Wade saw more clearly he was pointing to dark metal chains coming down from the pulleys on the ceiling. Four chains going into lake, holding something below. A pair on their side of the shore, and another near the dock ending.

  "This Coffin's deserted, we should be safe to cross." Bael said, looking past the chains to the silent base beyond the moat.

  "Oh? How can you tell?" Medy asked, head tilted. "Looks pretty functional, nothing's broken down that I can see?"

  Bael pointed to the lake, more to the shoreline. Something under the liquid, but Wade couldn't see from this angle. "Nobody's mined the regrowth. You could send a skeleton from the shoreline at this range, would be trivial."

  "Oh. Oh! Yeah that's pretty odd. Don't think I've ever seen a lake that's left completely unmined like this." She took a few more steps closer to the shoreline on their end, looking down at the lake. "Oh, I can see it from here, none of the chains look snapped off. Looks in good shape too."

  Bael stepped up next to her, looking into the moat-like lake. "You better hope the gears still work. We have no other tools, and I'm no combat mage. I doubt you are either." He turned with a snort, back to the wheel.

  "Hey, I'm a pretty good mage!"

  Bael lifted an eyebrow at her while he grabbed the spokes of the capstan and started to shove into it. "Can you air-walk or cast a bridge under your hooves? With this much liquid mana under your hooves?"

  There was a grunt in his voice, as he tried to push the mechanism further. It didn't budge. He stopped, looking at her expectantly.

  "Well…." She went to the other side of the wheel and both of them began to push at the same time, although Wade wasn't quite sure how much power she was even capable of, given her slim frame. "Maybe not that level of magic control. Also, I think there's stuff that must have grown inside the gears on this thing, it's really jammed up."

  "You don't say." Bael gave a snort, then let go, and knelt down to investigate. "If it was bonemoss, we would have easily ground through it. Must be some kind of shell or calcification inside."

  "Maybe mana crystals grew on the underside of the bridge? It's past the pressure depth where they start growing, they might have gotten into the links?" She asked, going over to look at the lake like Bael had a moment ago.

  "No. Crystals only grow on bone. That bridge is wood and metal."

  "Well, not like anyone really knows all the rules to this realm, maybe if we left something down there long enough with big enough mass like the bridge it would happen?"

  "Do you see any crystals on the bridge?"

  Medy stepped over to the lake, and Wade could see her squint down into it. "Uh, not really. Looks just like any other bridge underwater? Minus anything growing on it. But it could be a different story under the bridge!"

  Bael grunted, "You have your answer already. Now come help me with this. Faster we get to the other side, faster we get to safety. Nothing crosses liquid mana, we'll be safe on the other side."

  "Maybe we can just push through whatever's stuck?" Medy turned to walk back, then equally knelt down by the base, looking around for the inside gears. "It's all made of actual metal. Looks good quality, could be stronger than whatever grew around the gears?"

  "And risk breaking the entire thing? I'll not chance this. We clear the obstruction as much as we can before we try and brute force anything."

  Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  He lifted a protective panel off something, and the pair looked inwards.

  Wade tried to stand up from where he was seated, the entire thing was a bit of a trial. But after a quick dizzy spell that felt like he'd sat up too fast, he got his bearings and walked over to the shoreline, trying to see what they'd seen from this close.

  "Damn." He muttered to himself.

  There really was a bridge underwater. Or undermana.

  It was far deeper, but he could see it because the general glow of everything in the lake here illuminated it.

  Eerie would be a word for it. The thing looked perfectly preserved, and only slightly moving in the liquid, likely from the few bits of motion on the chain when the pair of demons had tried to move the wheel.

  But the liquid mana was clear, and Wade could see the lake went down far deeper than he'd ever seen. The bridge outright looked to be suspended over the void, despite being within the water. All around the edges of the lake here, after a certain depth, he started to see crystal growth on the sides of the bone. Brittle white crystals, in flower-like geometric patterns, that grew more dense and sturdy the deeper it went.

  It was like he was looking down into a geode. Just very deep and filled with water.

  On the other hand, the submerged bridge looked exactly like he'd expect a medieval castle gateway to look. "It's all wood?" Wade asked, looking between the bridge and back to the demons working on the gears.

  "Most things are." Bael grunted. "Congratulations on having eyes."

  "Wouldn't it rot underwater?"

  "Other way around." Bael grunted.

  "Submerging anything in liquid mana kills everything growing on it, including rot." Medy added almost at the same time. "It's a pretty easy way to preserve anything."

  "Few things want to eat wood already, let alone wood soaked in raw mana." Bael added. "This realm's the only place where there might be creatures that could. And I don't know of a single one that does. If nothing here wants to, nothing across all the realms will."

  Wade stared back down at the bridge. "Identif-" A bout of nausea hit him mid-sentence, and he rolled on the ground gagging.

  Nothing came out, he'd already emptied his stomach earlier. But the clammy and cold feeling was extra present.

  "Don't do anything that would strain your body." Bael said, looking him over for a moment before turning back to his focus. "We'll carry you to the other side once the bridge is set. Got that?"

  "Got it." Wade said, giving a weak thumbs up before slowly sitting himself back up from his knees. He half-crawled far enough away from the shoreline so that if he rolled into the ground again, he wouldn't splash into the highly lethal liquid mana lake.

  The backpack felt heavy, and so did the gold compass in his pocket. "You know, for a civilization that can use actual magic enchantments, I'd have thought you'd have some kind of more advanced ideas than manually moving a winch to lift and lower a wooden bridge?"

  The phone in his pocket buzzed.

  "It's intentional." Bael grunted out before Wade could check on Play's message. "Coffins move often, everything needs to be easy to setup or easy to pack. A bridge like this is the former."

  Wade nodded, that did sound very mundane in a way. Play had more info on that.

  Only Nathir knew how to make anything with real tech and magic lol

  Azdrial's got steampunk-ish things at best. Earth looks like an alien sci-fi world in comparison, it was wild when I first got here ╮(︶▽︶)╭

  Bael grunted again, likely lifting something heavy out of the way for the pair to investigate the gears further. A finger prodded something out of Wade's view, deeper into the open panels out of his sight. "There. See under the larger gear there?"

  "Oh, I kinda see it? What do you think it is?" Medy asked. "White granite calcification of some kind? Salt?"

  "No. It's living bone growing under the gear. Looks dried out enough to shatter at the tips, the base will need more work. Blast it apart."

  The sounds of cracking bone and wet squelching came from the contraption as the two demons knelt beside it, clearing away the obstruction. Wade watched them slowly extract white, jagged fragments and chunks of flesh, like deranged dentists working on something far larger than teeth.

  …

  Could there be teeth growing out here?

  Wade didn't want to think about it. This place was creepy enough without the thoughts of that.

  As if murphy's law had specifically heard him and considered it a challenge, Wade and the demons all heard sounds coming from another tunnel entrance leading right to them.

  Skittering. On a lot of feet. And it sounded big.

  "I got it!" Medy stood up from the work, "I'll be on deathwall duty, you get the bridge out."

  Bael nodded, standing up. "It's clear enough. I'll see if the rest breaks apart." He grabbed the spokes. When he pushed, Wade heard the sound of an arm and leg snapping. The kind of visceral sound that was making his stomach turn and his adrenaline spike. Again and again. But slowly, the wheel turned under Bael's force, in odd spurts of speed and jarred resistance.

  "Bone's thin enough to break apart, we're clear." Bael grunted, gave a few more pushes and felt no more resistance.

  "Okie dokie, sounds good!" Medy called out, as she hurried past Wade, up to the tunnel. She extended two hands out, and Wade saw something shimmering in the air, connecting from the ground right at her feet, climbing up to the tunnel roof and then colliding with the sides like a giant seal.

  Not a moment too soon. Something hurled out of the darkness beyond, slamming into the mana wall with fury.

  Level 42 Mana-Armored Serpent - 93%

  Wade felt his legs flail as he tried to push himself backwards.

  "Don't worry about that." Bael grunted as he pushed the wheel. "So long as Medy keeps the wall powered and anchored to the sides of the walls, she can repel that creature for a good amount of time."

  "Yeah, I've done this a few times already before." Medy said. "Common tactic when someone's already got a leak or suit break, you know? Gives the others on the team a chance to get away, assuming you liked them well enough to go that far."

  "Flattered to be part of the 'well enough.'" Bael grunted back.

  "Yeah, well, once the bridge is up, I'll need some cover fire to keep that thing off me while I run though. Please and thank you." She sounded a little strained. Like keeping the wall of mana up was taking a physical toll.

  He snorted at that. "As if we wouldn't."

  "Maybe we should just kill it while we can?" Wade asked. Level wise, Bael should be able to deal with it, although Medy would be hard pressed.

  "I'll have this raised up far faster than it would take to scare that thing off." The demon grunted. "And, as soon as creatures hear there's a fight and counter-struggle, they know the victor won't be unscathed. I leave it to your call, ask and I'll handle it."

  Wade wasn't certain if he should be left to call the shots, given his current delirium state. "Uh, what do your recommend?"

  "Speed. You're dying, and you're our only escape. Faster we get you to the other side, faster all of this is done."

  Medy grunted from her wall. "Also, they always said it's better to focus on escape than standing ground to fight anything. If creatures show up mid-mine, we're told to pack up and hike back home. Creature infestations never end out here."

  Wade could see some logic to that. Maybe Bael was used to that paradigm too. But they were tagged with a debuff drawing enemies to them already. It might be a moot point.

  On the other hand, the creature wasn't making that much sound. Skittering feet scratching at the mana wall made next to no sound at all. A dull thumping sound that Wade wasn't quite sure was his imagination or not.

  Wade rolled over on his knees and slowly got back up. "I can help you push faster."

  "You can help by not dying faster." Bael grunted. "Or having a team of undead to do the work, but complaining wastes time I don't have, so I won't."

  That last phrase was a short three word idiom used by demonkind which had so much context behind it that Wade's head felt a small headache form as the information rushed in. The english variation had been more of a mouthful, but the side context that wasn't said was where the meat of it was.

  Cultural context, multiple meanings of the word 'complaining', history behind the idiom being warped over time from its original use, capricious masters being a headache to all demonkind these days about timelines not being met, and… a bit of dark humor even.

  ...

  Was this a demonic inside-joke among the entire population?

  As Wade's language blessing translated over the span of one highly loaded second: It was indeed.

  He shook his head clear, realizing he'd actually sat back down and lost track of what was going on for a moment while his brain processed the information.

  "If something else comes, use that weapon of yours to hold it off." Bael grunted, deciding this would be a good middle ground. "I'll follow behind with the blade."

  Wade nodded, then went over his current combat plans that were left working.

  He still had two more modified grenades for emergency use, and one unmodified grenade with the four second fuse. He'd lost his own Glock earlier, but there were still two others in his backpack. Eri had the rest of the junk, so what Wade had on him was the important items. He got a spare out, checked the magazine was full and ready, and holstered it to his belt.

  He then pulled out a random bit of junk to chuck at his leg, while his hand took out the last unmodified grenade. Pin still in place, but ready in action to be pulled out for his full combo.

  He could dodge roll while sitting, so there was no need to get up. He was as ready as he could be for combat now.

  The chains rose steadily upward, pulled by Bael's relentless turning. All four anchored on the ceiling moved in unison as the bridge lifted. Apparently the mana water remained still enough that it wasn't impeding his progress.

  The lifting bridge was the definition of slow and steady, and after one minute, it was already far closer to the surface now.

  "It's leaving!" Medy shouted, as the giant snake-like thing with legs and armored chitin turned on itself and raced off, having gotten upset the tapping and checking for a weak point on the seal hadn't giving it any results. "It'll be coming for a different direction, everyone keep ears out for it please!"

  Wade nodded glumly, but tried his best. For a few seconds it was silent by the lake, just the sound of clicking as Bael turned the wheel.

  They all heard the monster come back at the same time however, and it was evident it was coming through another tunnel. Not very sneaky.

  Medy jogged over, spread her hands out, and once more a wall of power flickered to life, sealing itself on all sides of the bone.

  "Halfway there." Bael called out. "Get ready to run across the br-"

  The demon moved in one fluid motion. He jerked his head downwards as a bolt of mana flew at the back of his head, missing him.

  His blade was out in the same motion, his left hand extended out to return fire back at the source of the attack.

  The wheel rolled backwards for a few inches before it hit a lockpoint, holding the prior work. The bridge wavered under the mana, swaying slightly as it stopped rising.

  Bael's counter-bolt flew directly at a figure in the darkness, slammed into him but dissolved around a glowing shield of mana. Wade recognized that was the same effect from his own demonic armor.

  "Oh shit." Wade hissed, seeing exactly who it was walking up the tunnel at them.

  "You failed faster than even I had expected." Not-Leon laughed, blade already drawn out. "Weakness is to be extinguished and your flame is sputtering. The work no longer worth the air you dare breathe. Your last labor will be serving as a lesson to your kin."

  The idiom was equally far shorter and punchier in the native Nathir Not-Leon was apparently determined to speak in for some reason Wade's addled head couldn't fathom.

  But Wade's blessing translated it fully and filled him with the context behind it:

  Those words were said by a slavemaster right before they executed a slave.