Devil's Apocalypse

It had been a week since the initial exploration team had come back devastated. Other than the one event of activity when the group entered the fog, it had remained completely inactive. It wasn't even known as fog amongst the majority of the camp and instead was just called 'the creepy mist' as one could easily see through it unless you directly entered its depths.

Most of the members of the exploration crews' time was taken up with simple day to day chores of carting around resources, making supplies and turning the camp into a proper miniature base with fixed buildings which were built to be functional and sturdy. There were also constant patrols sweeping the perimeter and people that would use telescopes and other such long distance surveillance equipment to make sure that nothing happened in the crater but, up to this point, there was no noticeable activity and, with how little vigilance was needed in this seemingly completely harmless environment, everyone naturally began to relax a bit.

John and his group were no exception to the lack of specialised work in demand right now and did their bit to help in the building of abodes, though, with the fact that he was missing an arm, John himself could not supply as much help as he originally would've been able to. Be that as it may, he was fine with this because it gave him time to think about the hallucinations he'd been having lately.

Nonetheless, John and his group, which had now formally welcomed Tycheros, still tried to actively keep up to date with what was happening around the forward base as they didn't want to be caught off guard in any situation.

"The leader just sent back a messenger to the base not that long ago. Since we have completely stabilised our position and have the minimum requirements for laboratories, he is requesting the mages ȧssociation send down some senior researchers along with tools so we can identify the properties of the mist." Tycheros reported to the rest of the group who were sitting in their allocated room, in the lodge.

The mages ȧssociation was founded only a few months ago and it doesn't have a lot of members due to the strict requirement of having to be a mage to join, though, that fact makes perfect sense. It's whole purpose was for mages to come together and research mana and how to utilise it. Essentially it was a science lab dedicated to advancing magical knowledge and technology.

"What!? They're sending more people down there?! Are they not afraid of retaliation from the monster!?" Joey cried out in disbelief. The other two who were listening also couldn't help but nod slightly to this exclamation as, the last time they attempted to get information, most of them died.

"They're not planning on entering the mist. The current strategy is to go to its border while attempting to gain a sample to take back and, just as a precaution, they've even commissioned a 15 metre long chain made from a mystic alloy in case someone goes into the mist for whatever reason."

"Jesus, that would've cost an exorbitant amount of money. I guess after that first run they're not taking any chances. Honestly, I only heard of one or two blacksmiths who were even capable of combining mystic metals and most of the attempts ended in failure sooo… yeah." John stated while thinking about how rich you'd need to be to buy something like that but, on second thought, considering this entire expedition is funded directly by the base they would most likely not even worry about the exchanging of money, apart from the fee to pay the workers, and just take the materials straight from their stash.

"Agreed. Anyway, that about sums up everything I've heard recently." Tycheros finished while looking over everyone.

The rest of the group didn't have much to add so, after talking for another fifteen minutes, they all went to bed while they each thought about the future.

A week later, a miniature convoy from the mages ȧssociation arrived carrying 14 mages, which was a relatively large force considering the meager amount of mages in the ȧssociation, and the equipment they needed to get started on their jobs. After taking a day to settle down and organise their belongings, they headed out to the edge of the mist to start their research. This time, the only members were 6 mages and a dozen guards as the specialised work didn't need any additional volunteers, which John and his group were perfectly happy about due to them originally being worried that they'd be requested to escort, being the only surviving members from the original exploration.

The research crew also donned suits of the same design and function as the original team, due to them seeming to function properly the first time, and headed off. They planned on staying down there for the entire day despite the fact that they can't eat in the suits.

In the afternoon, John spotted the group coming back and started hanging around in order to try and hear something and, from the snippets of conversation, it turned out that the mist was caused by something other than mana. They had absolutely no perception towards it, yet they could still 'see' its location by 'seeing' where the mana was not. Apparently, where the mist met the open air, the mana just seemed to fade and disappear but, at the same time, the mist was quite absent at the edges as well.

In the end, they simply observed and saw how it reacted to different objects and they're planning on heading back down the next day to attempt to attain a sample of the mist which they had prepared sealing containers for.