Author: Apollos Thorne
Date: 2018-08-17 04:00:00+00:00
Keywords: Fantasy; Magic; Young Adult; Fiction; Role Playing Games; Science Fiction Fantasy
Description: Surviving Lord Darius's attack put Elorion's level over the top. He must soon leave the Mistress's Labyrinth for the unknown dangers of the Underworld.There are three paths that stand before him. Should he absorb all the Blue Magic he can find, power level his fellow captives, or take on the bone palace alone?The Underworld is waiting...
Publisher: Apollos\Thorne

Underworld

Through the Belly of the Beast

Book 2

By Apollos Thorne

Copyright © 2017 by Apollos Thorne

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER 1 – BACON FOR DESERT

CHAPTER 2 – MAGIC FOOD

CHAPTER 3 – THIEVERY

CHAPTER 4 – GREETINGS

CHAPTER 5 – DECISIONS

CHAPTER 6 – THE BONE PALACE

CHAPTER 7 – EARTH ELEMENTALS

CHAPTER 8 – LEVELING

CHAPTER 9 – THE OVEN

CHAPTER 10 – FLIGHT

CHAPTER 11 – BASH

CHAPTER 12 – MIND SYNERGY

CHAPTER 13 – HELLFIRE

CHAPTER 14 – INTO THE UNKNOWN

CHAPTER 15 – RATS

CHAPTER 16 – THE BELLY

CHAPTER 17 – INDIGESTION

CHAPTER 18 – MAGIC FROM ABOVE

CHAPTER 19 – WELCOME

CHAPTER 20 – CLEARING THE WAY

CHAPTER 21 – CORNERED

CHAPTER 22 – BLOCKING THE WAY

CHAPTER 23 – HORSE’S HEAD

CHAPTER 24 - SANCTUARY

CHAPTER 25 – INCOMING

CHAPTER 26 – WOULD YOU LIKE TO DANCE?

CHAPTER 27 - AFTERMATH

CHAPTER 28 - PREPARATION

CHAPTER 29 – CURIOSITY

Chapter 1 – Bacon for Desert

I cast Lesser Blood Drain on every lowbie zombie we came across as I walked with Aeris. The dull-grey stone of the Head Mistress’s Labyrinth under the dim glow of randomly placed Light Orbs didn’t have the dreary effect you might think. This was one of the lightest areas in her entire dungeon, and with the addition of added light from our personal Light Orbs, it was rather relaxing. As relaxing as it could be surrounded by the ever-respawning undead.

Lesser Blood Drain was powerful enough that I didn't have to bother killing these mobs with an attack spell. It dealt close to two hundred damage itself. The stronger the enemy I cast it on, the less damage they would take. Outside of the newbie area, it would do little more than fizzle out until after I had killed stronger enemies.

I sent out my Skeleton Warrior, who picked up all the loot and stored it in a large pack I had bought for him that was strapped to his boney back. It might seem like a waste of a level 170 Skeleton’s abilities, but the convenience was worth it. He was great for collecting the little odds and ends Lydia would need for her alchemy. The less I had to touch rotting flesh the better.

Where’s Olivia and her Nature Magic when you need it? Her vines could easily gather loot and bring it to her and were much quicker than waiting on my minion to go from corpse to corpse.

One of the primary reasons I could consider these rooms filled with rotting animated bodies comfortable was certainly not just due to the lighting. Aeris had found a way to help with the smell as well, but it had nothing to do with her Wind Magic. She cast Mage’s Deodorant on them. It masked the scent—not exactly neutralizing it, but it made a big difference. She did use Gust to filter air out of the room, but the deodorant allowed us to pass by the nasty mobs without choking up.

I only had to use Lesser Blood Drain on a creature once every seven days to keep my drain bonuses, but it had become such a habit I probably did it a couple hundred times each day. It was a sub-spell of Vampire’s Might, which seemed to have more to it than just draining blood, but that was all I had access to at this level. There was no experience bar for the spell, but I was pretty sure the more I used it the faster it would level. These zombies were too low to give me any additional stats. I hoped leveling up to Intermediate Blood Drain would give me a big boost in the stats I could earn.

“I never thought I would say it, but I really want to be able to drain zombie blood too,” Aeris said with a pout.

She wore her polished plate mail that shone in the subtle light of the Mistress's Dungeon. Her black cloak billowed about in gentle waves as we continued our stroll through this room. I wasn't sure if the cloak's movement came from her forward motion, or, as I suspected, an invisible aura of air that surrounded her. As her Wind Magic grew more powerful I wasn't sure what to expect. Neither was she.

My eyes met hers as I snickered. She deposited her helm in her inventory and looked to me, pleading that I do something about it. Her large eyes that had once been deep blue had changed with her increase in power to a cloudy color, but it hid none of her mischief.

I simply shrugged.

She sliced the head off one of the last zombies with her Wind Slash with little effort before we entered the next section of Skeletons.

We didn't slow as we killed every Skeleton that got in our path. We didn't have to. She was able to sling her Wind Slash spell so quickly now that the Skeletons fell in two at the spine with little more than a look from her.

After the vampire Lord Darius had attacked the Head Mistress and lost his life, our fears of the mid-level skeletons had mostly vanished. It had only been two weeks since we had been kidnaped by the Mistress, and yet we were starting to realize how powerful we had become, and ultimately, how powerful we weren’t.

Once a day, all my fellow captives had agreed to start meeting at the Skeleton Sentinels for a few hours of group tactics training. Yesterday had been our first day. Only two days had passed since Skyler had been returned to us from the Mistress’s clutches, but with my ability to heal exhaustion, we had all tried to make the most of our time.

Except for my solo hunting, most of my time had been spent with Aeris. It wasn't just because we enjoyed each other’s company, although I wasn't exactly hiding that fact any longer. We were on another errand for Russ who was determined to collect as much rare ore as possible before the new forge was finished in about twelve days.

Travis had taken to mapping out the Mistress's Labyrinth. A Labyrinth was a type of Dungeon with a giant maze of tunnels and hidden rooms for those curious and strong enough to find them. There were even different ranks of Dungeons, but it seemed that advanced information on a Dungeon was only available to those with the right examination skill. Thankfully, Travis had the skill, but it wasn't as simple as examining an item. A dungeon had to be explored to a certain extent before its rank was made known. It didn't seem like a very useful skill if we had to find out the hard way what kind of danger there was before Travis’s skill told us anything useful.

His real usefulness was found in other areas. If it wasn't for him, we would have never found the Rock Lizards. They were ugly little buggers that looked a lot like gators with the heads of hairless beavers. No surprise that they mostly munched on rocks and your occasional skeleton that lost its way. Not only did they drop rare ore and the occasional gemstone, but they also had a knack for finding the best caverns with a good supply of the best ore. They were Russ’s favorite.

They didn't respawn like the Mistress's undead minions did, so once we cleared them out they were gone. It also meant that they didn't follow spawn patterns, so we found them scattered all over the place. Our fellow humans with mining skills had taken a break from clearing the area that was to become our new home so that they could pick clean a cavern we had cleared of Rock Lizards just yesterday. It was a new spotting of Rock Lizards that Aeris and I were heading to now.

“Bacon jerky?” I asked, removing my gauntlet and retrieving a half-eaten bag from my inventory. We both had our shields and weapons put away as we traveled back and forth through these low-level areas. I was also helmless and wearing my green rune-covered plate mail.

“We just ate breakfast. You're still hungry?” Aeris asked, amused.

“This is dessert.”

“Bacon for dessert? Really?”

“Now that I can afford it? Yes!”

She rolled her eyes, but her grin remained.

“Okay. Just one piece though,” she replied.

Handing a generous strip over to her, I watched as she tore off a large chunk.

“It almost makes you feel sorry for the rock-beavers, doesn't it?” I asked, using the nickname I had given the lizards. “Can you imagine going all of your life and never trying bacon?”

“Do you think they even have taste buds?” she asked, tilting her head up in question.

“How else can they tell the difference between rocks?”

“Texture. They probably just like the way certain things...”

“Crunch?” I replied, finishing her sentence.

“Yup!”

“I don't know. I like my bacon every way. Both crunchy and slurpy.”

“Ewww,” she said scrunching up her nose. “You’ve got to at least cook it.”

“I'm not saying that you should eat it raw, but there is nothing wrong with it coming with a nice dose of bacon juice.”

“That's disgusting. It needs to be a little crispy.”

“It’s startling that you share so much in common with the rock-beavers,” I said with a sigh. “Are you sure you aren't part beaver?”

She stopped and huffed out an abnormally large amount of air for a single breath. Suddenly, I found myself stumbling forward from the gust of wind that struck me from behind.

With a chuckle, Aeris retorted, “Are you sure you aren't a rock-beaver? You share so much in common with them when you’re crawling around on all fours.”

When I caught myself, I looked up with all the fabricated offense I could muster and glared at her.

We shared a laugh.

Humor was something we both fled to as a coping mechanism for this totally messed up situation we found ourselves in. But I could feel that there was a difference from how things had been before Lord Darius had come. Life felt more precious when it could be stripped from you at any time.

***

“Are you ready?” I asked, taking a step out from behind the boulder standing between us and forty Rock Lizards.

The spell form of Creature Observation gave me a type of magic vision. It was called Mana Sight and required a steady stream of mana. Activating it to get a clearer view in these darkened caves, the world lit up and I was able to see the mana that flowed through all matter. Living things had a much brighter density of mana than inanimate objects which made it easy to pinpoint them.

This cavern that Travis had found was a naturally formed cave that had been uncovered when the Mistress's dungeon had first been excavated. It was connected to a side tunnel in the Skeleton Archers’ area of the Labyrinth. We had walked about two miles through side tunnels just to reach the entrance. From there it had taken us a few minutes to get to a place where the cave opened up. That was where we found the Rock Lizards.

“I thought you would never ask,” Aeris whispered.

I hesitated for a moment as I considered whether I should cast from my mouth or just use my hand. Casting from my hand gave me the ability to keep my eyes on what was around us, but it lacked style points.

Having already made that mistake once, I chose to go with what was the most practical and raised my hand in the air above my head.

“Now!” I called, slipping out of Invisibility I released a jet of flames into the air.

Aeris's Gale met my stream of fire. The additional oxygen fed the flames, and like pulling the trigger on a giant cannon, it surged forward, exploding into the room and devouring everything in its path. My Flamethrower merged with Gale and turned into something we had agreed to call Dragon's Fire.

Rock Lizards’ scaly hides were just as solid as they sounded. Instead of burning to death, they melted like butter in the microwave.

It wasn't just a burst from a magic inferno that did them in, but what had been a cool cavern trapped the heat and turned it into a raging furnace. Every Rock Lizard caught in the area found no escape.

“Bacon jerky?” I asked as I lowered my hand.

“Are you trying to get me fat?” she teased. “Sure.”

The experience was barely measurable at this point. I had gained one level yesterday. One. After ten hours of clearing the Skeleton Sentinels, not to mention all the other mobs I had killed or drained traveling back and forth, I had basically out-leveled the Mistress's dungeon. It shouldn't have bothered me, but danger was always looming. Not to mention the others were starting to catch up.

My level wasn't the only avenue I could progress in though. Vampire’s Might and the ability to leech stats was a big advantage, but the low-level mobs of the Labyrinth weren’t powerful enough to give me much of anything. There was also finding new creatures to use Force Learn on. Leeching some new Blue Magic was near the top of the list. But that alone wasn’t enough.

Mel, our necromancer, was building a small army that was able to fight for him as he slept. Because he could focus his attention on other things, he technically had the greatest ability to level up out of all of us, even if it would be a few days before his Skeletons leveled enough to get the most out of his ability. And that was only one example. Olivia, our Nature Mage, could fill an entire room with Skeleton-devouring plants and clear them repeatedly as they spawned.

In other words, if I didn't do something soon I would get left behind.

I set about the work of cooling the cavern down. This task proved more difficult than killing a bunch of Rock Lizards. Instead of casting Ice Shard, I manipulated the spell to make a large ice cube of sorts and just summoned about ten of them and placed them around the room near the walls.

Aeris helped by creating a wind vortex that swirled around in the center of the room. It was nowhere near as powerful as a twister, but I suspected she was almost at the level of power needed to create a small one if she went all out.

Stepping back into the passageway to get away from the loud howling of the wind, I leaned against the wall to think.

Aeris had climbed faster in levels than anyone else besides me. At first, it was because of my help, but as she came into her magic, she discovered she had a natural speed to her casting that I doubted anyone could match. It must have been a Wind Magic thing. At level 181 she would be the next to reach level 200, and soon after that, she would reach 1,000 Wisdom. I knew how much of a power boost it would give her. I could also rest easier once she reached it, knowing she would be able to better take care of herself and the others.

“What's wrong? You look like you've seen a giant melted otter,” she said with a snort.

I found her standing there looking at me with a hand on her hip. Instead of her flirtatious grin, she had one brow raised in concern.

“I'm still thinking about opening up the Bone Palace and giving the first floor a go. I know it’s selfish. I should wait for everyone to catch up to my level, but I also feel like I'm wasting time. I'm just not sure what to do next,” I replied.

“You could always go with Travis and help him map out the labyrinth to steal all the Blue Magic you can while you're waiting.”

“That's true. I could also try enchanting, mining, even botany.”

“Definitely botany. Although Olivia might take that as flirting.” She chuckled, walking over and leaning against the rough cavern wall next to me.

“We can't have that,” I replied.

“Poor Russ?”

“Poor Russ.”

We shared a laugh.

“I don't know what the right answer is, Elorion,” she said, leaning against my shoulder. “I'd say try to help power level the others, but honestly they are killing fast enough in their groups that you would just be an experience drain.”

I shrugged.

“Your desire isn't completely selfish,” she said, turning to look me in the eye.

I met her gaze.

“Without your going off and power leveling as you did when we first got here we would have died more than once. Give it a day, and if you find nothing else to do, then I say go for it. You're going to bring me, right?”

Immediately, I wanted to reject her request. The danger was unknown. Who knew what strengths and levels the mobs behind those boney doors possessed. A part of me wanted to go off and explore. To just do my own thing.

Shaking my head at myself, I finally replied, “Sure.”

“Took you long enough to respond. I was getting worried,” she countered.

“I was just thinking I should charge you to come with me.”

She offered me a fake chuckle and didn't even bother to roll her eyes, before saying, “Whatever. I know you only see me as an incredibly attractive girl and a living air conditioner.”

“No,” I said, shaking my head.

“No? To which part?”

“Oh look,” I said, walking past her. “Things seem to have cooled down. Let’s get our loot.”

My Skeleton that had been standing guard at our rear came trotting up to help with the haul.

I didn't have to look back to see her expression. The gust of air that pushed me forward told me all I needed to know.

I smirked.

Chapter 2 – Magic Food

The pounding from Russ’s hammer greeted us as we entered the vast hall that had once been the newbie skeleton area. It had been cleared out in minutes by either the Mistress or her Lich. I still couldn’t rightly judge how much mana that would have taken or what kind of spell could do such a thing in so little time. I looked up to see the same eerie light that also filled the rest of the Mistress’s dungeon throughout its main corridors. The height of the ceiling varied. It only reached about two stories high near the entrance to our old base that still contained the merchant shops, mess hall, barracks, and armory, but near the center of the room it reached at least five stories in the air. Since we had started construction, there always seemed to be numerous Light Orbs setting the room aglow, which reminded me of a stone age shopping mall.

The dwarves seemed to work endlessly as they built the forge. Lydia, our alchemist, was always in her dugout crafting station that looked like a small high school science lab. She did very little fighting unless she had to, but it seemed her tireless work in alchemy gave her a fair amount of experience. She was undoubtedly the lowest level of all the human captives, but still, she had nearly reached level 120, which was pretty impressive for a crafter. Never mess with the lady that plays with poison if you ask me.

I gave my Skeleton a mental command to head to Lydia’s lab. I always made a point to stop by and say hi to her, but she seemed to feel more comfortable with my minion than me, so I sent it to offer her the drops that might interest her.

We stopped by Russ, who was gripping a small blade in his tongs that glowed bright orange as he pounded on it with his hammer. Everything was in place. He had a stand set up off to the side with three crafting books lying open atop one another. His furnace was alive with mature coals and each tool was hanging in its place on his tool rack if he wasn’t using it.

Pooling mana around my eyes to view the magic around me had started to become an obsession. After feeling the connection with mana that came when using Force Learn on Lord Darius the moment before he died, I couldn’t get enough. After the battle, I had feared Blood Drain would cause me to lust for blood like a vampire, but that had proved to be untrue. The true danger was that I couldn’t get the feeling of energizing power out of my mind. The worst part was that magic seemed to be everywhere and in everything.

I watched Russ as he worked. He wasn’t capable of casting magic, but as he practiced his craft I was able to see the subtle glow that exuded from his large form. I amped the mana I used to 200 mana per minute to use Mana Sight to further enhance my vision. Time seemed to slow as my senses became more aware of the magic around me. To use Force Learn as I had with Lord Darius, where I was sucked into his being in his state of weakness, it took thousands of MP that was necessary to release all at once. I had already tried it on Russ, but I suspected I wasn’t able to connect with the mana inside him because he wasn’t in a weakened state or dying. I could be wrong though. It could have also been that he hadn’t unlocked any school of magic.

He had once been an overweight teenager that dreamed of little else but games and the fantasies they provided. This place had changed him seemingly overnight. He had shed his body fat and become a small titan of muscle. It wasn’t the shredded muscle that Skyler, our highest melee damage dealer, had, but it was firm and bulky. His genius was in his Constitution. Mixed with his talent for blacksmithing, I didn’t doubt he could wield his hammer non-stop for forty-eight hours straight without having to rest.

I could see visibly currents of magic flowing through him, which made me suspect this was just how his body channeled the mana he possessed. Though I was barred from seeing everything, I could at least feel the magic as it worked with the muscles in his arm, shoulder and back to lift and direct his hammer. His connection with the hammer was the most interesting part. The magic inside of him didn’t so much as overtake the hammer but joined with it, providing it with fuel and purpose. This wasn’t one of the advanced hammers the dwarves had mentioned that could contain magic, but a simple tool of steel and wood.

Drawing my eyes away from him, I looked up toward the ceiling. Magic floated about in clouds of dull, translucent color. I knew some of the magic was from the dozen or so light orbs that hung in the air overhead, but the blue and green currents between them and all around were something else entirely. I suspected that all matter possessed magic.

Turning to Aeris, I saw she was looking at me with her hands on her hips, annoyed.

Before letting the amount of mana I funneled into Mana Sight diminish, I took a few moments, that would only seem like a second to her, and examined the silvery energy all around her. She had allowed me to do an experiment and I confirmed there seemed to be a barely perceptible breeze coming off of her, but I didn’t know if this was really her magic or air itself. There was so much that we still didn’t know.

With a sigh, I lowered my eyes to the magic chains of glistening shadow that were fastened around her neck. We each had them. I knew this to be the Mistress’s spell that siphoned our excess energy and transported it back to her. The chain was not perceptible without Mana Sight, but with it active I was able to see them around her neck and magically flowing off into the distance toward the Mistress’s chambers. The walls between us didn’t matter. It passed right through them like they weren’t even there.

One positive was that since I could see the chains, I would always know where the Mistress was. I didn’t know what use I could make of it, but eventually it might come in handy. Not only could she use it to track us down, but I could use it to find her.

“Sorry,” I said as I dropped most of the mana from my eyes. I kept 50 mana per minute funneled into the spell even if the mana around me was only barely visible while doing it. Time didn’t slow much with this small amount, so it was worth it. I could still see enough that if there were any strange changes to the magic around us, I should notice it.

With a nod, Aeris lowered her hands from her hips and turned to Russ. “Hey, big guy!”

He didn’t stop what he was doing immediately but pounded on the short blade two more times before lifting it from his anvil and examining it. With a nod to himself, he walked over to a thick wooden table, placed his blade in a vice and tightened it until he felt it was secure, then sat his hammer and tongs on the table.

With a big grin, he looked to Aeris and said, “Hey Aeris! How was the haul?”

My fist met his in a knuckle bump.

“Better than the last one, I think,” she replied.

“Oh?” he asked.

There were five crates as high as my knee that stood open and that were already filled with different kinds of ore. We both took turns unloading the different kinds we had picked up from the Rock Lizards and putting them in the appropriate bins.

“It looks like you will soon need more crates,” Aeris continued after unloading her inventory.

“So it does. Thank you again for clearing the place out,” Russ replied as he looked from crate to crate like a toddler with new toys.

After saying our farewells, we headed toward the mess hall.

“You’re really quiet,” Aeris said, brushing up against me as we walked.

“I’m brooding over what to do next,” I replied.

She stopped and looked at me like I had lost my bacon. “You can’t say that you’re brooding.”

Raising a brow, I asked, “Why?”

“It just sounds weird. You can say that about someone else, but never about yourself. It makes you sound like a teen celebrity trying too hard to say something deep and failing terribly. Besides, the best brooding is done in silence.”

“I get your point. So, your advice to me is to stop talking? That way my brooding will be more genuine…”

Aeris crossed her arms across her chest and glared at me.

Holding my hands up to beg for peace, I added, “I think I just need taquitos to go with my ranch dressing to cheer me up.”

“I’m sure you do. We should hire an imp to follow us around just to carry all of your snacks,” she replied.

“You think we could do that?”

Her glare narrowed to a razor's edge.

***

“Taquitos please!” I called as soon as we entered the mess hall.

Little had changed here. The eight stone tables with their benches on each side had been pushed closer to the long benchless table at the back of the room that had once held our newbie loaves of bread and water bottles. It was near the counter where our imp friend waited on us. He had proved to be very helpful after my action of warning the Mistress had delivered a bag of coins into his possession. No one else was here except the three of us.

“’ello, sir!” the flying creature called from behind the counter. “Taquitos it is, with a bowl of ranch?”

“Good call.”

The imp made almost a choking sound as his chest vibrated in response to my compliment. Is he purring?

We walked through the midst of the tables and up toward the counter. As we did, Aeris asked, “Do you have anything that could lighten a sour mood?”

She looked at me like I was spoiled meat.

“I do,” the imp replied as he flew off to the side to prepare my snack in the kitchen.

“Really?” Aeris asked, looking at him in surprise. “I was teasing, but if you really got something…”

“Ha!” I said sarcastically.

“Well,” the imp said from the back as he worked, “I’m not sure you humans could stomach it. The Mistress said that humans are picky eaters.”

“Oh. I guess that’s true,” Aeris replied. “But since you mentioned it, what is it?”

“You have a few options. Dried Weat Mushrooms give good dreams but also cause drowsiness. Unprocessed Muck-cow Milk causes euphoria to the point of short-term insanity. Although, if you heat it to a high temperature for about ten seconds, it makes a happy concoction. You can also use Muck-cow Milk to cook with, something like cave-swine hind chops will give you a mild dose without the insanity. There are a few other things, but that is probably your best option.”

“Did you say cave-swine?” I asked, suddenly more intrigued than grossed out.

“Yes,” he said, coming around the corner and rejoining us at the counter. “Did you want me to add some to your order? It's more expensive than what you are used to because of the ingredient’s properties.”

“What are cave-swine exactly?”

“You are seriously considering this?” Aeris whispered in my ear.

I gave her a wink.

“They are similar to what you would think of as pigs, except their first form is about twice as large. They taste very similar, but it’s their ability to absorb the properties of other ingredients that is top of the line.”

“Interesting,” I said, scratching at my chin. “Two things. What do you mean by their first form and can you make them into bacon?”

“They have at least two other forms. Their first evolution is into a humanoid type creature that is much smaller than their first form, but they’re fast and vicious with their tusks. They don’t taste very good during their second form. In their third form, they stand about a head taller than you humans and gain intelligence, including the ability to speak. Though I use the term intelligence loosely. They do taste the best in their final form, but it’s hard to come by so they become really expensive. To answer your second question, yes. In their first form, they make excellent bacon.”

“I’ll take some then.”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Aeris said, wiping her forehead with her hand.

“That’s what I was afraid of,” the imp said. “I’ll give you the Muck-cow Milk in the form of a dressing so that it will have the mild effects I was talking about.”

“Uh. Okay. How much will it cost?”

“The taquitos will be 550 coins and the cave-swine bacon with Muck-cow Milk dressing will be 2,200.”

“2,200?!” I said, taken aback.

“Yes. I think you will find the effects worth the money,” he replied, making the same purring noise from before.

“Can’t argue with that.”

***

“You are really going to eat that?” Aeris asked from her side of the table.

In front of her, she had a plate holding half of the taquitos and a small bowl of ranch. I had the same, but also a separate plate with three large strips of cave-swine bacon. It really smelled like it! The only thing that was obviously different was the size of the strips. Each strip was about the size of my arm in length and three times wider than a normal strip. They were still cut like a thick slice of bacon, so I wouldn’t need monster teeth to eat it.

The Muck-cow Milk dressing smelled a lot like a creamy alfredo sauce. My interest in it was as piqued as it was by the bacon.

“Nothing like having bacon for brunch,” I said with a grin.

“I think it’s still too early for brunch,” Aeris said, sighing.

I nudged her with my elbow.

“Here goes nothing,” I announced.

Picking up my first strip, I took a small bite from one end. The juices that could only be described as bacon filled the back of my throat as I swallowed greedily.

Looking up at Aeris, I chewed, trying to hide my excitement. The corners of my mouth turned up almost against my will.

“It’s so good!” I said.

“Really?” she said, shifting back in her seat.

“Seriously. I can’t tell the difference.”

She looked at my plate in suspicion, but also with renewed interest.

“Go ahead. I won’t tell anyone you ate cave-pig.”

She didn’t answer but reached toward my plate slowly. Not only did she take a piece, but instead of breaking off a small bite she took an entire strip. She nibbled on one end, then a few seconds later took a larger bite.

“This really is good,” she said with the food still in her mouth.

“I’m curious,” I said, focusing my eyes on my plate. I increased the mana flow to my eyes. As the bacon’s mana became clearer, the food before me lit up like little strips of magic goodness. The taquitos also had a certain glow to them, but it was nothing compared to the cave-swine bacon. There really was no color to the mana, meaning it was probably just magical energy that was element neutral. Immediately, I speculated that because Underworld creatures were bred, born and raised around so much magic, their very existence possessed more magic than the creatures from the world above.

The Muck-cow Milk dressing was just as bright but shone an amber color. Dipping my bacon in it, I took a bite while keeping the mana flowing to my eyes. In moments, the white energy that I saw coming from my own body started to turn the same color as the dressing. I realized in that moment that if we could digest magic and make use of it then this might become a source of power for all of us.

In my excitement, I almost didn’t realize I had started to feel the effects of the magic of the dressing. I felt my ears and brow perk up and my spirit followed. I let the flow of magic to my eyes lessen as I looked up at Aeris.

“If you want to feel as beautiful as you look, you need to try this stuff,” I said, genuinely wanting her to experience this.

“Beautiful, huh?” She leaned forward and put her chin in her hand. “Elorion, are you high?”

“I think so, but not in the way that you are thinking. My mind is clear,” I said, then looked around the room to test my senses. Nothing swayed or was out of the ordinary. “But my mood is, elevated. It’s more like the effects of caffeine than being drunk. Except it’s not just my energy level that’s peaked. It’s like the magic is flooding my system with a warm feeling.”

“First you’re brooding and now you’re under a happy spell. Will this day get any stranger?”

“Yes. I can confirm that there is actual magic in the bacon and dressing.”

She couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Magic bacon! It’s just what you always wanted.”

“I think it might be much more amazing than that. Not only does this food possess magic, but I think we might be able to manipulate it to make some kind of superfood. Aeris. What if I can add healing magic to this bacon? Everyone could use it to heal and recover from exhaustion whether I was here or not.”

“You would really share so much bacon?” she teased.

“Very funny.”

I hadn’t been paying her enough attention to realize she had dipped her own bacon into the Muck-Cow Milk dressing. She took another bite and I saw her aura start to change color. Intensifying the magic to my eyes, I saw her silvery aura mix with amber.

“How do you feel?” I asked.

“If I really look as good as I feel right now, I think I’m probably too good for you,” she said with a snort.

Caught off guard, I found myself staring at her, my mouth agape.

With a charming shrug, she dipped her bacon strip back into the dressing and took a much more generous bite.

“This was a good idea, Elorion. I definitely don’t feel drunk, but I have a feeling I’m bound to do something... Like, watch this.”

She dipped her bacon in the dish again and took another large bite.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said, pointing her bacon at me matter-of-factly. “The only problem is that I have a sudden urge to dance. Don’t mind me.”

She was suddenly standing on her bench and hopped from it to the tabletop.

“There is a problem with wearing all this armor. It’s so cumbersome,” she said, and began to unfasten it.

Her hands began to work faster than seemed natural. After her pauldron was removed, her vambraces, counters, and rerebraces were off in seconds. When her arms were free she was out of the rest of her armor in moments. It was scary how swiftly she moved, and I was pretty sure it had nothing to do with the bacon and dressing. Under her armor and gambeson, she still had a pink long-sleeved shirt and pants that resembled black sweatpants.

“Welp, if you aren’t going to get up here and dance with me, I’ll just have to dance by myself,” she said, giving me a smirk.

With that she was airborne. Flipping back, she moved as if she had spent her life as an acrobat. When she landed a table away, nothing but the ball of one foot met its surface. She cradled her weight with nothing but the strength of her calf muscle. I realized then that there wasn’t an acrobat alive that could land with so little effort. Remembering that her talent was in Dexterity as well as Wind Magic, I wondered if she had been hiding what she was really capable of.

She spun and leaped from table to table as if she was a child and gravity was her plaything.

It was a moment of silliness, but the fluidity of her movements sobered me. I watched her get faster and more creative with her mid-air tumbling. In time, as she leveled, she would become as elusive as the wind. Did she know that what she was doing was basically impossible? That was a dumb question. I knew that she had to have thought about it. Even before flooding her Wisdom and Intelligence stats there had been nothing stupid about her. And now, with increased Wisdom, it was probably something she couldn’t help but think about even if she didn’t want to. I seemed to be becoming even more introspective the more my mental stats increased, so I was pretty sure it was the same for her.

Then suddenly she bounded from the furthest table. Landing against the wall, her momentum kept her going. She launched herself back and flipped with a spin. Like a tumbling corkscrew, she floated back toward the table. As soon as she landed she pushed off again, flipping to the side to take advantage of the spin. She neared until she was a table away.

With a final jump, her spinning stopped, and she launched herself high in the air, skirting the ceiling. Her arms were out as she slowly flipped forward. I caught a glimpse of the look on her face. She was enjoying the feeling of soaring through the air.

At the last moment, I realized where her momentum was carrying her. It was too late to move. A rush of wind surged down against my hair and all around me. I felt a chill go down my spine.

Looking up, I saw Aeris had landed on my head. I felt her foot move to my shoulder and then to my other one. She had turned about and was bending down to look me in the eye. Her eyes were full of whimsical delight.

“You’re upside down,” I replied. At the same time, I marveled that it felt like she weighed almost nothing.

Reaching down, I dipped my bacon strip into the dressing once more.

“I don’t know,” she replied with a wink. “To me, every direction seems like it’s right side up.”

“I’m second-guessing whether this dressing is a good idea. If I have another bite, I fear I’ll start dancing on top of the lunchroom table or something,” I said sarcastically.

“Oh. That doesn’t sound so bad. Eat some more. I would really like to see you try.”

“You should have thought about that before you put on the greatest gymnastics routine in Underworld history. Now all I want to do is sit back and admire you.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, mister.”

“I think it will,” I said, giving her my creepiest grin.

“Maybe,” she said, twisting her head to the side to mock-consider it.

Without another thought, I took a bite. The feeling of levity increased, but only slightly. It seemed the dressing wouldn’t have at cumulative effect. Still, I took a few more bites before standing up from my seat with Aeris still on my shoulders.

“Where are you going?” she asked mischievously.

“I really have a sudden urge to cause some trouble. Want to find Skyler’s group, go invisible, and steal their kills just to give them a hard time?”

“What? No! I mean, yes. But, not all of their kills.”

“Right. Just enough to make them think they’re going crazy. If we’re found out, we can give them some of our new magic sauce.”

“No to the sauce. I don’t want to share.”

I raised an eyebrow in question. Her mouth pursed as she shrugged.

Chapter 3 – Thievery

We knew Skyler and his party would be at the very end of the Mistress’s dungeon, so we had a good distance to trek before we got there. With the Muck-cow Sauce still in our systems, Aeris and I didn’t waste any time.

She had inventoried her armor and still wore her black pants and pink long-sleeve shirt. She bent over to stretch, placing both palms on the ground as if humans were supposed to be that flexible.

I cast Invisible on both of us after removing my plate mail. I had invested in some Umbro soccer shorts after everyone had given me a hard time with my other athletic shorts. They were still pretty short. My long-sleeved shirt was charcoal blue with Level Up written in yellow across the front. After going Advanced In The Buff, I turned to her.

She was already shaking her head. “No thank you. I never showed you everything I got from leveling when we defeated the vampire's minions,” she said.

Holding out her hand, she closed her eyes. The muscles of her temples flexed. A silver cloud seeped out of her palm and surrounded her ethereal form. It started to collapse as it filtered into her limbs. I was only able to see it because I was observing her with Mana Sight, but the small aura of silver had intensified. She now shone like a silver torch when I looked at her with Mana Sight. Invisible held back her aura from the rest of the world.

“Do try to keep up,” she challenged.

I felt the surge of magic echo off her as she shot out of the mess hall like a bolt.

With a chuckle, I sped after her. Turning into the hall, I saw that she had already covered the one hundred meters of the hall before it opened up to our new base.

I had only taken a few strides when she reached Russ. Instead of going around him, she jumped, floating over him and his entire forge with effortless grace.

All I could do was shake my head as I picked up speed. I might not have had any special talent for speed, but with the base stats of 130 Strength and 137 Dexterity, plus an additional +300 to each stat from In The Buff, I didn’t need it.

Reaching Russ, I dipped low and launched myself up into the air. As opposed to floating, I barreled over him and pounded into the ground nearly thirty feet away. My landing was loud enough that everyone in the room looked in my direction, but I was already off again and heading out of the room.

They would likely guess what was going on when my Skeleton minion came lumbering after us.

I lengthened my stride and set a steady flow of healing magic into my system to battle my exhaustion before it could take hold of me. Like a truck with the gas floored I plowed through anything that got in my way, speeding from room to room.

I had almost made it to the Skeleton Archers before I saw Aeris again. She wasn’t running in a straight line.

She swerved toward the closest skeleton, and cast a compressed Gust that blew it apart. Skidding under a flying femur she immediately jumped when she regained her footing to clear the mob’s skull before gravity could pull it to the stone floor.

A skeleton to her left was her next victim, but as soon as it was in pieces, she was already destroying another, then exiting to the next room.

Hundreds of bones drummed against the floor as I followed her from the room.

I charged forward, catching her, but only because she continued to weave about, killing skeletons and leaving a trail of bones in her wake.

The competitive side of me couldn’t help but see it as a challenge.

I let an Intermediate Health Bomb build in each hand. As she set her sights on entering the next room, I launched one forward. It shot by just ahead of her.

Just before we entered, a flare of light went off near the middle of the next room.

She was waiting for me with her arms crossed when I reached her. I saw that my Health Bomb had done the trick and taken out most of the Skeleton Archers.

She narrowed her gaze, accepting my challenge. Quicker than my eyes could follow, she turned and darted for the next room.

I tried to keep up, but without boosting my buffs even further there was just no way.

Like wading through rocky terrain, I had to watch my step as I ran from room to room to keep from tripping over the remains of the mobs she killed. Her speed and mobility were impressive, but I was sure she would soon slow. Then another full minute passed and she was still going, baffling me with how she had the endurance necessary to still be moving. As we got deeper into the dungeon, there were fewer skeleton bodies than before. The difficulty was getting higher, but she didn’t stop massacring them. When we reached the doorway to the Skeleton Sentinels, I found her waiting for me.

I heard the air fill her lungs as she took in a large pull of air. She let it slowly escape from her nose.

“That was fun,” she said, doing her best to disguise her breathing as I strolled up from behind.

Casting Heal on her, I heard no objections since it helped her recover.

“How did you do that?” I asked.

She met my eyes. The color had gone out of them in her see-through state, but her pupils were still visible.

“The Wind Magic buffs usually just make a person faster I’ve read, but my talent adds a weightless property to them. After we beat the Zombie Sergeant, I was able to unlock a few new spells.”

“Do you have some other surprises?”

She scrunched up her nose like I had asked her something inappropriate.

“A girl doesn’t tell,” she insisted.

I snorted, before changing the subject. “Are you ready for this?”

“What do you have in mind?”

***

The bones of the Skeleton Sentinels were mostly hidden because of their excess bone armor. The bone of their ribs was shielded by a thick breastplate of bone plates that fit together like joints. Their waist and pelvis were covered by this same extension of armor. Their legs were wrapped in similar plates and even their feet were encased in extra bone. Three of them stood shoulder to shoulder as one unit.

The sledge brothers didn’t flinch away from a one on one with the three of them. Skyler and the two guys mimicking his fighting style stood their ground to either side of him as the Sentinels marched toward them at a brisk pace.

The three guys were still using war hammers, but their gear had been greatly upgraded. They each wore plate mail, but it was not uniform. The smallest guy, George, was level 154 and had silver runes etched into his grey steel mail. The tallest guy’s name was Perry. He was level 155 and had brown runes in white steel mail. Unsurprisingly, Skyler was the highest level of the three at level 159. He also looked to be thirty percent bigger than the both of them even if he wasn’t the tallest among them. That was saying a lot considering they were all using Strength builds and likely had close to the same stats.

Skyler’s armor didn’t have any runes I could see, but his mail was streaked in black and red. There was no doubt that he beat them in cool points.

When the Sentinels were about fifteen feet out, Trevon, their level 152 Ice Mage, cast a sheet of ice across the floor.

The Sentinels slid forward with each step, crouching low to keep their footing.

Trevon still wore monk-like garb but had upgraded it. He wore teal from top to bottom except for his large bronze belt buckle and a round golden pendant with a red ruby hanging from his neck.

Holding out her hand, Clarissa readied her spell. She was hiding her blond hair under a visorless sallet helm. She was level 150 and wore a black cloak over her purple gown that had the typical mage flare to it. I intensified the magic to my vision to see the brown light seep from her hand and approach the backs of the sledge brothers like a low fog. The magic bypassed them entirely and entered the ground between Skyler’s men and the Sentinels.

A row of stone spikes shot out toward the incoming Sentinels, thrusting up as high as their waist.

When the Sentinels were only a few feet from colliding with the spikes, another hand shot up, causing the caster’s crimson cloak to snap with the sudden movement. The red light that left her hand flew high into the air before smoldering into life, igniting in flame. Fire raged above the battle like the leaves of a great oak, blowing overhead in a tumultuous wind. When the flames could no longer be held in check, they rained down on the Sentinels, engulfing them.

I watched as the fire blinded the skeletons momentarily, but it did more than that. It ate at the bone, greedily sucking all the moisture it could get from the marrow inside.

It was no wonder their Fire Mage, Audrey, was level 158, the second highest level among them. She was also the only caster to wear any armor. It was a smooth leather breastplate of deep red and black that hid under her cloak. She was tall, but petite with caramel skin and her short hair was curled up under her Corinthian bronze helm.

As the skeletons crashed into the stone spikes with flames still blocking their vision, three cold steel sledgehammers were thrust forward into the Sentinels’ shields. The creatures stumbled back, falling to the icy floor.

With their mobs positioned at their feet, the sledge brothers raised their hammers like woodcutters preparing to split wood. Their hammers fell.

It was too easy.

Before their hammers finished the three Sentinels, my healing spell reached the mobs, causing them to crumble into dust. The beautiful flames engulfing them were a perfect disguise for my spell.

Their hammers pounded into the ground.

Aeris threw her hand over her mouth to keep laughter from escaping.

I nudged her with my arm.

We stood a dozen feet behind the Skeleton’s remains. Keeping the mobs between us and the others, they were less likely to see us as we cast our spells.

“Eh,” Perry complained.

“You are getting too powerful, Audrey,” Skyler said, turning and giving her a flirty grin.

Aeris looked up at me wide-eyed.

I shrugged.

“That wasn’t me,” Audrey replied, squinting at the screen in front of her. “I don’t think we got any experience from them.”

“What?!” Skyler bellowed. “How’s that possible?”

“I don’t know…”

I held my finger to my mouth to shush Aeris.

She took a deep breath.

“I’ll pull the next group,” Audrey said.

With my hand on Aeris’s shoulder, I had her duck down slowly.

A fireball soared in our direction, but off to the side, hitting another trio of Sentinels. The skeletons immediately started this way. From the angle that they were coming, I could tell we were safe to stay where we were.

Leaning over, I whispered in her ear. “It’s your turn.”

Just like before, the sledge brothers lined up to face the Sentinels as they came.

Their strategy was one born of necessity to include the strengths of all their party members. They had a lot of variety, so there were so many things they could have done, but still, what they had decided on worked.

The ground froze under the skeletons’ feet and once again they started to slide. Stone spikes shot up to control the monster’s stopping position.

I watched Aeris all the while. Her eyes shifted from one thing to the next as she calculated what she was going to do.

As Audrey’s flame appeared above her prey, Aeris turned her head to the side. When the fire came, a grin turned up the corner of her mouth. Her hand shot out.

Fire funneled down and baked the Sentinels that had almost slid into the stone spikes.

As mana was focused into Aeris’s spell, I could feel waves of energy against my skin. Like a boomerang, her Wind Slash darted forwards and swept across the back of the Skeleton Sentinels’ necks.

Before the sledge brothers had made their first attack, they watched their enemy’s head fall from their shoulders.

“Steve!” Skyler cried. “Was that you?”

“Nope!” a voice called from the shadows.

Aeris and I both jumped up from our crouching positions as the voice came from directly behind us.

In one of my hands, a Health Bullet formed and an Alpha Bullet in the other.

“I found the experience thief!” the voice called again, but he was still invisible to me.

Throwing a couple hundred extra MP into my eyes, Mana Sight lit up the invisible guy like a snowman wrapped in Christmas lights. He had been standing behind me. Taking advantage of my enhanced perception of time, I examined the invisible person with Creature Observation. To my surprise, it worked on him now that I knew he was there.

It was Steve, their dual knife wielder, who was level 161. He was at a higher level than Skyler?

I was able to see the sledge brothers moving in slow motion as they started to head around the stone spikes in our direction. Their mages were also craning their necks to get a better view in case they needed to attack.

In my panic, I foolishly jumped up, shredding most of the Invisibility ethereal properties and summoned my armor, Skeleton General’s Defense, that everyone was familiar with. Was there any way to get out of this? It would take a moment before Invisibility recovered.

I doubted Steve could see us while we were invisible. He had said thief and not thieves which was good evidence of this. He had probably just been watching after they didn’t get experience and saw Aeris appear in a haze when she cast her spell.

Then, I noticed that Aeris was gone. Not that she had already turned invisible but that she wasn’t there at all.

I scanned the room, seeing nothing, but when I finally looked up, I saw her close to the ceiling, moving faster than everyone else. I was about to be found out and all the blame would fall on me. What could I do? There was one thing that came to mind.

Dropping Skeleton General’s Defense, I cast Bat Form.

I didn’t take form immediately. The magic was flowing at its normal speed and couldn’t match the rate of my perceptions.

My skeletal armor dissolved into nonexistence, then my body started to change. My head seemed to stay the same size while my body rose from the floor. I became a giant bat at head level. Immediately, I flapped my wings and began to climb. I would do my best to follow Aeris. Wherever she had gone.

As I released Forced Learn, time sped back into place and I rose quickly, making it to the ceiling with only a few flaps of my wings.

Aeris had flipped upside down and landed on the ceiling, then lunged with her legs, off toward the rear of Skyler’s group.

I followed her by skirting along the ceiling.

“Who is it!” Skyler bellowed as he made it around the stone spikes.

“I could have sworn that I just saw a large skeleton, but now it’s gone,” Steve called.

“Could it be a boss mob?!” Clarissa asked with a stutter.

“A boss mob killing other mobs?” Skyler replied.

“We didn’t get a kill this time either!” Audrey confirmed.

As they gathered around Steve below, an idea came to mind that was too good to pass up. It was time I shared one of my favorite jokes even if it would give us away. It would be well worth it.

Looking toward Aeris, she had made her way to a side room and entered safely without anyone seeing her.

With a little bat shrug, I decided it was time.

Turning toward the group of confused players, a large dose of giddiness shot up my spine and I let out a squeaky laugh. I flew right at them.

Diving down, I opened my bat mouth in a fang-filled grin and screeched, “Batman!”

They turned to me as one, ready to fight.

My large bat eyes went wide. Immediately, I retreated out of bat form and cast Skeleton General’s Defense.

Instead of meeting the brunt of their magic and steel, they jumped back.

I landed on the ground with a solid thud and started to roll.

“Elorion?!” Steve cried.

Nearly ten feet away I came to a stop.

“What in the Underworld are you doing, man?” Skyler demanded.

Collecting myself, I hopped to my feet. Turning to them, I looked through the eyes of the Skeleton General’s Skull and saw both relief and irritation.

I was no longer able to help myself. What started as a snicker soon turned into a full belly laugh. I tried to answer the question while holding myself back, but it proved difficult.

Uncasting my skeletal helmet, I ultimately told them the truth. “It’s Aeris’s fault!”

“No, it’s not!” she called as she stepped out of the room behind them.

Their eyes went wide as they turned to see her there.

“It was your idea!” she insisted.

“That’s right! I had this genius idea, and instead of stopping me, you decided to come too. It’s totally your fault.”

Clarissa started to giggle, shortly followed by Audrey.

Aeris’s mouth hung open as she shook her head but was interrupted before she could respond.

“What idea, to steal our kills?!” Skyler accused.

“Well, kind of,” I replied, scratching my head. “Honestly, we ate some magic bacon with happy sauce and wanted to see your faces when your mobs started dying without explanation.”

“You stole our kills, man! That goes against the gamer code! It’s totally unforgivable and not cool either!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his response.

Audrey rolled her eyes and hugged Aeris who had stepped up next to her.

“That was pretty funny,” Steve said, coming out of invisibility.

“Batman!” George, the shortest sledge brother, yelled with a laugh. Everyone joined him. Everyone but Skyler.

Taking his helm off, Skyler wore a nasty scowl.

“I’ll make it up to you, Skyler,” I promised.

His scowl remained as his brow raised in question.

“You thought I was lying when I said that there was magic bacon and happy sauce... Would you like to try some?”

“Seriously,” Aeris encouraged. “The sauce holds properties that make you really, really… uh, happy.”

“Haaappyyyyy,” I said, drawing out the word like it had some special power.

“You guys are acting kind of strange,” Audrey said.

“I do like bacon,” Skyler said as the hints of a smile started to overtake his scowl.

“My man!” I declared.

We had all come together in a huddle as they started to discuss how much longer they were going to hunt when a dark static began to bombard us from the entrance of the room. We all turned at once.

A small woman with vibrant red hair hanging down past her waist stared back at us. The magic power that beamed off of her was clear as day even with minimal mana funneled to Mana Sight. When I increased its mana flow, she looked like a black sun with tendrils of dark magic snaking off of her.

Only after we had seen her did she draw back the power emanating from her. It was then that I saw her red silk dress that hung from a single shoulder over her enticing form. She was barefoot, which seemed to add to the illusion that she was delicate and needed extra attention.

“So, you are Lilith’s new pets. A bunch of weak idiots.”

“We are getting stronger!” Skyler spat. “Who are you?”

“Someone who is really hoping you will make a mistake, so I’ll have an excuse to devour you.”

If there was ever any question in my mind as to what she was, that had been answered. She was undoubtedly another succubus.

Chapter 4 – Greetings

Immediately, I empowered my vision with excess mana and cast the skill of Creature Observation to get as much information from her as I could.

Mistress Nava

Ancient Succubus

Level: ???

Creature Observation gave me almost nothing, except her name and a confirmation that she was more than 500 levels higher than we were.

I cranked up my Mana Sight ability to 500 Mana Per Minute, maxing it out, which gave me a clearer idea of how powerful she really was. The dark energy that ran through her was intermingled with crimson light. I believed it to be mana of the Fire Element mixing with her Dark Alignment, which meant she probably had a talent with fire. Compared to my human friends, the magic that flowed around inside of her was liquid in consistency instead of airy like smoke. That was an ominous foreboding.

Almost the same number of popups I had received when trying to steal Blue Magic from the Head Mistress appeared before me with a message I was sadly getting used to seeing.

You are unable to learn this spell at this time.

There was one exception that would have caused me to facepalm if the situation hadn’t been so dire.

Pedicure

Tired of your toenails being the bane of your very existence? Are they so hideous that a Kobold won’t even give you a second look? This little doozy of a spell is your new best friend! At low levels, it will keep your toenails shapely and polished. At mid-levels you will gain access to every shade of polish for any special occasion. At high levels, your wiggly stability appendages will become masterful works of art! Cast it often! Cast it now!

Of course, my eyes immediately fell to Mistress Nava’s feet. There was so much magic flowing that I had to pull back the amount of mana I used with Mana Sight to even see them.

As I had suspected, each nail depicted a pitch-black pit bull with massive fangs and horns between its ears from a different angle. Smoldering flames escaped from the sides of its mouth like living drool with smoke billowing from its snout. The worst part was that the Hellhound was depicted in typical cute puppy positions.  On her right big toe, the creature’s head was turned to the side with some humanoid’s arm hanging from its jaws like a chew toy. The demon pup looked like it was smiling.

“Stealing Blue Magic when you first meet someone is considered rude!” Nava hissed.

The muscles in my upper back clenched like a fist. There was only one reasonable explanation for her to be able to speak to me at the same tempo I was perceiving time. She was also using Mana Sight.

With the flick of her finger, black tendrils of magic surged right at me.

I reinforced my Skeleton General’s Defense by funneling more mana into it before the tendrils struck me. They snaked around my legs, tightening like a school of pythons.

I maxed out Mana Sight to focus my mind and speed up my perceptions, hopefully before my legs were crushed.

Thankfully, my bone armor protected me from coming directly into contact with the Dark Magic, so my legs didn’t get thrashed. Since I was of the Light Alignment, if my body made any contact with Dark Magic the reaction would be extremely dangerous.

As her tendrils moved to turn me upside down, I focused Advanced Healing into the air in one spot mimicking Audrey’s trick with her Fire Magic. Instead of creating an overhead flame-shower, Light Magic gathered above me for an uncomfortable amount of time. The pressure built.

When I guessed it would be enough, I released my hold. Light Magic burst toward the tendrils like a massive Wind Slash of Light.

Like cool water on heated steel, our magics warred with a violent sizzle as they met in the air between us. Just a dull knife on tough meat, there was a moment of strong resistance, but the force and density of my spell won out.

As the bindings around my legs were cut off from their source, they immediately lost power and dissolved into nothing.

Panicking, I had funneled a foolish 3,000 MP into my Advanced Healing spell. I scaled back the mana to my eyes by three quarters, to only perceive time twice as fast.

Skyler and his fellow sledge wielders rushed forward and placed themselves in front of me.

As much as I appreciated the gesture, I had the urge to knock my knuckles against the backs of their helmets. Did they not know how powerful she was?

“So, you are the one with old blood. At least you have a little imagination,” Nava said, ignoring them and turning to look at me in the way her Hellhound might when curious. “Torturing you would be so difficult because it would be so easy to kill you with all that Light Magic flowing inside you.”

The thought seemed to have lightened her mood because her scowl changed to an awful smirk. She added, “I do love a challenge.”

“What do you want?!” Aeris said, now standing at my side.

“All of you… for lunch,” Nava said with an airy laugh. “I’m all for playing with my food, but what Lilith is doing here is ridiculous. The moment she gets bored of you or loses interest, just know that you are mine. It’s only a matter of time really. When you live to be a thousand years old as she has, staying motivated becomes a challenge and you develop… quirks.”

It felt like one of her tendrils was still around my gut and had wrenched tighter. Looking down, I saw that wasn’t the case. Instead, I just had a healthy case of dread.

I felt like a fool. I had already seen the Head Mistress falter in her new diet of not eating humans, so why should I be surprised that one of her fellow succubi was just waiting for the right time to devour us. We needed to get out of here. We needed to get stronger.

“Thank you for your visit, Mistress Nava,” I said with the kindest tone I could manage. “I’m sure the Head Mistress will be pleased that you have found a way to help encourage us to work harder.”

Her smug look fell from her face as she became deadly still. Her lips parted as she looked at me as if I was a large plate of magic bacon. Her lip trembled as she imagined how I would taste.

I really hated being looked on like a piece of meat.

“You will not die quickly human,” she said, glowering at me.

With that, she turned and walked away. Her figure and the movement of her hips called out to me, but I closed my eyes to combat her allure. When I opened them a moment later, she was gone.

“Can you tell the Head Mistress?” Aeris whispered the moment she was gone.

“Maybe. I’ll see if the imp in the cafeteria can get her a message,” I replied, but my mind was focused on what Nava had said. “I have seen the way the Head Mistress treats the other succubi. We are probably safe for now, but I don’t think this succubus is wrong that eventually the Head Mistress will get bored, or too busy with other things to bother with us.”

I couldn’t imagine the Head Mistress doing much to her kind in our defense. Since the moment we had entered the Underworld our predicament hadn’t changed. Our lives were in danger and there was almost nothing we could do about it. I was pretty sure I knew what had to be done, but I was secretly hoping that after Lord Darius had been defeated that we would have a time of rest before the next extreme danger presented itself. Any semblance of rest had only been an illusion.

“How come all the hot girls are the most dangerous?” George jested, breaking the silence that had started to linger.

“I should encase you in rock!” Clarissa rebuked, turning her back on him.

“Pretty or not, that woman’s an idiot. Who goes barefooted in a dungeon?” Skyler chided.

My eyes went wide, but I didn’t dare to look at him, let alone answer his question with the obvious. Rebuking him would achieve nothing. If someone looks like a dainty little girl that walks around barefoot in the Underworld, alone, there are only a few possibilities: She is a poor lost child, is under the influence of too much happy sauce, or she’s a freaking monster!

“We aren’t okay. Are we?” Audrey asked, crowding in at Aeris’s side.

I found both of them looking at me.

My eyes wandered as I stared off, considering how I should break it to her.

When I looked back, everyone else had joined us and awaited my answer.

Wetting my lips, I looked each of them in the eye before I responded. “For now, yes, we are safe, but I wouldn’t count on it staying that way. We need to level up as quickly as we can and get as far from the Mistress and her succubi as possible. As long as we are here we aren’t safe.”

At first, no one spoke.

I watched as they each tried to reconcile our predicament.

“That sucks,” Skyler blurted out, breaking the silence. “How about that bacon?”

No one answered, but when he started to walk toward the exit, everyone started to follow.

“Wait!” Clarissa said. “Didn’t the succubus just go that way?”

“Yeah, but if she wanted to kill us it would have been done already. I’m going to get stocked up. We are in for a long couple of days,” Skyler said over his shoulder. He just kept walking.

***

If the Skeleton Key to the Bone Palace wasn’t stored in the armory at our base I wouldn’t have bothered to go back and would have opened the doors to the tower immediately. Instead, I traveled back to our base with them and took the time to watch the others.

They were silent for three rooms before the whispers started. Everyone depended upon each other for support. Even the sledge brothers leaned on one another, they just didn’t discuss it like the ladies. Skyler rushed toward the first skeleton we ran across and the other two followed. They faced their fear and uncertainty with activity. I had to give Skyler credit, he understood his men well.

As casters, the rest of us spread out. We simply walked forward and blasted anything in sight. With Aeris and me walking with them, we cleared the room with little effort. It gave the girls time as we traveled to discuss the situation. They were much more honest and open than the guys about what they were feeling. I understood the guys’ approach better, but, while listening to them, I realized I was thankful that I had not been captured and brought here alone.

“I still have both of my parents and a younger brother,” Aeris said under her breath as she leaned next to me. She was not talking with the others.

It was kind of random. Why was she telling me this?

“Did you know everyone else here was raised by a single parent?” she asked.

“I didn’t…” I replied, looking to her in question.

“I don’t know why. What makes me different? Sure, I played one of the games the Mistress used to choose us, but I have a lot of people who would miss me. Not that everyone else’s mother or father wouldn’t, but…”

“Were you close?” I corrected myself. “Are you?”

“Very,” she insisted. “I was homeschooled and have always done everything with my family. I know they are devastated, but I also know that I’m needed here. Even though everyone has less family than I do it seems like they miss them more. Is that terrible?”

Her eyes drifted to the ground as we walked.

“I don’t think you miss them less. I think you need them less.”

“I think you think too highly of me.”

Stopping, I replied, “No, I don’t.”

She halted, meeting my eyes.

“So, you’re concerned that you love your family less because you haven’t had the same emotional outbursts the others have?” I asked.

“I guess,” she said, shrugging.

“Is it possible that because you had so much support you are just more stable than most of us? I don’t think you love them less, I think they gave you so much love that you just have no doubt in your mind that they love you even now. In fact, the reason you spend so much time trying to help the others is because you have had excess love, something most of us never had.”

Her eyes met mine and she studied me for a moment.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way.” A small grin turned up her lips, but just as soon as it came it was gone.

“Most of us?” she asked.

“What?” I replied.

“You said most of us. You seem steadier than ‘most’ and I think you are the only person left that hasn’t told me their story.”

“Oh,” I said, suddenly uncomfortable. Still, this was Aeris. I had nothing to hide from her. “My mom raised me alone, but only after I had already turned thirteen. My father was a police officer who was killed in a random shooting when he stopped for gas.”

Aeris’s hand shot to her mouth. “Oh. I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be. It was years ago and, like you, I had a lot of support growing up. When my father was killed, I suddenly had twenty police-fathers who were there for me even if I didn’t want them to be. They made sure that I knew who my father was. He was a great shot and had the sharpest mind. But what always bothered me was that despite all of that he was beaten by a common thug who just walked up behind him without a word. That scares me, Aeris. Say we survive for another week, a year, or even ten years. Is it possible for us to become powerful enough that some random mob won’t just sneak up behind us and shoot us in the back of the head?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she hugged me.

Chapter 5 – Decisions

Pulling up my Character Sheet, I studied it as I prepared for what I was about to do. With all my buffs, passives, armor, and synergies active my stats should have impressed me.

Name: Elorion Edwards

Age: 17

Level: 261

Health Points: 71,516

Mana Points: 19,312

Endurance: 3,768

Mana Per Minute: 3,062

Attributes

Strength: 430

Dexterity: 437

Constitution: 471

Intelligence: 607

Wisdom: 1406

Stat Points: 20

In comparison to the person, I had been when I had first been captured I was on a completely different level. For the Mistress’s dungeon, I was basically overpowered. I had Vampire’s Might that gave me a huge boost to my stats after sucking Lord Darius’s power, bringing my base HP up to 28,516, and my Durable Full Plate Mail of Life that more than doubled my HP by giving me an additional 43,000. Then there was my extraordinary 3,062 Mana Per Minute if I used my Channeler’s Orb that gave an additional 250. It allowed me to keep my spells active and replenished the mana I used quickly. If I took the time to meditate I could double my mana to just over 38k MP. I was nearly invincible against anything that we had faced in the Head Mistress’s Labyrinth.

It was what was outside of the dungeon that worried me. The Mistress had once given me advice that made it sound like she had walked this same path of building a Wisdom-based character as I was. If that was true and she had been at this for a thousand years, then the amount of power she possessed had to be unfathomable. I had seen her defeat Lord Darius while he was shrouded in a glacier of ice using the very element he was so talented in. I wasn’t overpowered against the likes of her but at the most an annoying insect.

The real question I considered was what items should I wield as I entered the Bone Palace? My shield had a massive 60% Magic Dampening, but it was difficult to carry in the same hand as my Channeler’s Orb. Not that I really needed the extra mana per minute with my current setup. Fluid Body and Fluid Mind had a base cost of 5 MPM each and Advanced In The Buff with a base cost of approximately 800 MPM. I didn’t need Skeleton General’s Defense when wearing plate mail, so that gave me a little extra MPM.

I pulled up my passive magic bonus to help me consider what to do next.

Intermediate Mana Flow Understood

Mana rejuvenation is now calculated by 2 points of mana per minute per point of wisdom.

Base mana is now 5000.

All spells cost 40% less mana to cast.

All spells are 40% more powerful when cast.

The greatest benefit of having excess MPM was that I could cast a lot of offensive spells and my MP would be restored so quickly that it was as if they had cost nothing. So, was substituting my remaining 2k MPM for 1,750 worth the protection the shield could offer? I really didn’t know. Up to this point, I really hadn’t had to depend a lot upon defense. That could change, and I didn’t have the experience needed to really weigh what the shield was worth. 250 MPM was worth 250 Lesser Health Bullets, 35 Intermediate Health Bullets or 6 Advanced ones. A shield could save my life…

Since I was walking into the unknown, I decided the shield would probably be the most useful in a death-defying situation.

With my silver scepter that gave +50% to Light Magic in one hand and the dull-faced kite shield in the other, I left the armory with the key to the Bone Palace in my possession.

I was not surprised to see Aeris leaning against the wall waiting for me. She had gone off with the others to introduce them to the magic bacon when I mentioned I needed to use the restroom.

“You’re leaving without me,” Aeris said. It wasn’t a question.

“I am,” I replied. “The imp will let the Head Mistress know about Nava. It should buy us some time.”

Kicking off the wall, she strolled toward me. She didn’t look surprised. She stopped a few feet away and reached an unarmored arm up, placing her hand on my steel-encased chest.

“Fine, but two hours from now I’ll have everyone meet you at the palace gate to get an idea what you have found out. I plan on clearing Skeleton Sentinels until then. It’s about time I catch you.”

“You can try,” I teased, even though I didn’t feel very playful at that moment.

“I think it’s time I show myself a little more attention.”

“The stronger you get, the more help you can be,” I said, encouraging her. “Besides, once I explore, I’ll come find you if it seems safe enough. Hopefully, the Bone Palace will follow the same pattern as the rest of the dungeon and just be slightly higher in level than the Skeleton Sentinels.”

“You say that like you don’t think that will be the case.”

“I don’t, but I could be wrong. Eventually, we will meet someone who’s our match. What do we do then? We are great at killing idiot skeletons, but what happens when we run into an expert magic user? I just hope we survive long enough to figure it all out.”

“Then don’t do anything stupid and come back when you realize how awesome I am.”

I snorted. “Yes, mom.”

“Do I really look like your mom to you?” she asked as she rose up on her toes and was suddenly very close.

“No,” I whispered in reply.

She pushed against my chest with both hands, casting herself back. With a wink as she backed away, she replied, “I didn’t think so.”

Entering the mess hall, she left me alone.

Casting Intermediate Heal on myself, it was time to get busy. I funneled more MP into my Advanced Muscle Buff and took off at a decent jog. When I passed by Russ, this time I went around him, waving as I passed.

All my pent-up anxiety about what I should do next had been swept away like bone dust in Aeris’s wind. I wouldn’t have admitted it, but mixed with my fear, I felt a twinge of delight. I secretly hoped that I ran across an opponent that I could go all out on. I needed to find out what I was capable of. And fast.

Chapter 6 – The Bone Palace

As I entered the Skeleton Sentinels I didn’t waste any time. Standing at the entrance, I extended my scepter and started to push mana into its shaft. At its peak, three arching spikes of silver directed the magic to one point. This seemed to filter my magic and magnify it, adding the 50% strength to my Healing Spells. It took five Intermediate Heal Bombs to clear each section of the room.

After that was done, I marched forward, letting my Skeleton Warrior grab any loot that met the right criteria.

When I reached the halfway point I slowed, noticing someone was standing at the gate of the Bone Palace. Swallowing hard, I recognized him right away as the Head Mistress’s Lich in his butler disguise.

Continuing toward him, I tried to approach without showing any signs of my apprehension, but if I had to guess I was doing a pretty poor job of it.

When I was about ten feet away I stopped and nodded to him in greeting.

His disguise would have been a terrible one in the world above. He was as wrinkly as a raisin but stood with perfect posture. He didn’t look real.

“She’s right. Mistress Nava,” the Lich said in a throaty gentleman’s voice.

“You were there?” I asked, swallowing down another reason to be worried.

“Not exactly. What’s important is that I heard the conversation.”

That complicated things. Did that mean he had the ability to listen to all of our conversations? Did he know what Aeris and I were planning?

“What was she right about?” I asked, not wanting to assume anything.

“It is only a matter of time before the other succubi take advantage of the snack at their doorstep, so to speak, when the Head Mistress is preoccupied,” he replied. Raising his finger in the air, he held it up to halt my reply. “You have less time than I feared. I will keep an extra eye on the succubi, but twenty-three days from now I will go with the Head Mistress to a lunch engagement. We will be gone for three days. When I’m gone I will have little power to protect you.”

My eyes shifted to the floor as my mind wrestled with the logical outcome of having to deal with the other succubi.

“How many succubi live here?” I asked.

“About two thousand at any given time, but only those with the title of Mistress, the succubi leadership, know of your existence. Still, they number over fifty.”

“Two thousand?!” I said, blown away. I had expected a couple dozen, considering I had only seen two with her at any given time…

“Yes. Above us is what’s called the Cavern Level. Most of the Underworld exists at that depth beneath the earth’s crust. The Head Mistress’s palace is similar to a small town. A lot of personal dungeons are built just beneath the Cavern Level like the one you are in now. It’s called the Dungeon Level for this reason.”

“What level is the average succubi?”

“Most of them are in the low thousands. The fledgling Succubi might be in the hundreds, but the Mistresses are ten thousand or more.”

I found my legs starting to get woozy. Even after all we had been through, we were undoubtedly newbies. There was no hope staying here.

“What do we do,” I asked.

“I think you already know. You need to finish the first level of the Bone Palace and get out of here while you still can. Once all of you are gone, the convenience of having you close by will be gone and you’ll be much safer than you are now. After you’ve left, you will only have one real option. You need to build your own Dungeon to protect yourselves. I will do some research on the best place for you to set up shop, but it will take me some time.”

“Thank you.”

He bowed his head in acknowledgment.

“One more thing,” I said, stopping him from going. “Why are you helping us?”

The smile he gave me added even more wrinkles to his unreal face.

“It took me years to convince the Head Mistress to go through with this plan. After seeing your progression, I believe even more that it will end up being of great benefit. Other than that, you will find out soon enough. I am not your enemy. Also, remember that you need to get through the first level of the Bone Palace quickly, but don’t forget to learn all the lessons it was designed to teach you. It will help you by giving you a firm foundation for how magic works. Without that, even if you do survive the succubi now, you won’t last much longer out in the Underworld.”

With that, he started to dissolve into dust before my eyes. Instead of turning into nothing, the dust accumulated in a cloud and blew off toward the room’s entrance.

I stood alone with the Bone Palace before me. I sat down and started to Meditate to accumulate all the mana I could carry. It wasn’t long before I reached 38k MP.

Coming to my feet, I saw a high, arching door that was made up of hundreds of bone pikes fastened to one another with no visible space between them. They were twice my height at their peak. Even the crossbar was made of bone, with a padlock the size of a newbie skeleton’s chest cavity holding it secure. It was locked at the center where the double doors met.

I opened my inventory, depositing my scepter momentarily, and grabbed the Bone Palace Key without having to look. With a deep breath, I cleared the distance to the door in a few strides. I removed my helmet from my inventory and placed it on my head, lowering its visor. I cast Invisibility and Shadow Step, still unsure if there was really any use casting them both, but insistent on being prepared.

I looked down, giving myself a once over. The outline of the green runes on my barrel-chested breastplate were visible in my ethereal form. Still, no one could see them unless they could somehow see through my invisibility spell. I was sure higher-level mobs would just spot me in the magic realm as I had been able to see Travis with Mana Sight. As powerful as my Invisibility spell was, I couldn’t depend on it being undefeatable.

I cast Skeleton Warrior’s shield, which encased it in bone. I hoped it would help protect them and keep them from being damaged if I ran into the need to use them for something other than looks.

My Skeleton Warrior came when called. He had collected only a handful of drops. With a spinning motion from my finger, he spun around and offered me his pack. Looking inside there were a couple of silver coins, an interesting skull cap that gave +60 to Intelligence and a really impressive War Hammer of Howling. It added a combination of Wind and Sonic damage on contact. It was one-handed, so it was a little out of Skyler’s wheelhouse, but I’d offer it to him as a peace offering for stealing his kills earlier. I didn’t know him well enough to know if he would hold it against me.

With a command, my Skeleton Warrior jumped up. With my inventory open, I moved to catch it. Ducking its head, my Skeleton disappeared into its contents. It had worked on the Imp, so I hadn’t hesitated to store my Skeleton Warrior in my inventory. Of course, I removed Skeleton General’s Defense from him while he was in storage to save on MPM.

As a last course of action, I downed one of my Experience Potions that would give me a bump after every kill I made for the next 24 hours.

With everything in place, it was time.

Reaching forward, I placed the teeth of the Skeleton Key into the mouth of the bone padlock. It clicked when the key was in place and I turned it.

Instead of the padlock falling off the crossbar, the key was slurped up into the lock as it started to retract. The bone of the padlock folded in on itself. When it had fully compacted into a small cube, it started to roll, end over end up the holsters that held the crossbar securing both doors. As the padlock devoured itself, it multiplied when it reached the holsters into something like hundreds of little Pac-men. First, the crossbar and then the door were eaten away. Starting in the middle it worked its way out until it had devoured the entire door.

With a flick of my wrist, I equipped my scepter and cast Skeleton Warrior’s Sword over my scepter, encasing it in bone.

Just inside, no more than twenty feet away, stood a humanoid about my height. Instead of clothing and flesh, it was made of brown rock. Its facial features were smooth and well defined, much like a human, but it lacked hair. It was also smooth all over.

At first, I thought it might be a human that had been turned to stone, but when it noticed that the door had been opened, it took a step toward the entrance.

It wasn’t in a hurry, but it came all the same. The sound of stone against stone that I expected to hear as it walked wasn’t there. Instead, there were tiny taps from its feet as they came in contact with the ground.

Funneling 300 MP into my eyes, time slowed enough that I could safely study it for a moment. What I didn’t expect to see was the brown energy that swirled around inside of it with a black sphere in its chest that didn’t get carried off by its internal mana currents. The mana inside of it wasn’t liquid in texture like Mistress Nava’s had been but was thicker than the smoky texture that my fellow captives possessed.

You have gained a better understanding of Animation!

Raising a brow, I had to admit it would be amazing to have an Elemental minion.

Bringing up Creature Indicator, I was able to get a better idea what I was dealing with.

Earth Elemental

Level: 311

Health Points: 10,550

Mana Points: NA

Endurance: 5,275

Strength: 400

Dexterity: 100

Constitution: 1,055

Intelligence: 50

Wisdom: 20

As soon as I saw its level my chest thumped in excitement, but seeing its HP was like trying to dry off with a wet towel. It was the kind of HP we had only seen in elite mobs. Still, if I could find an efficient way of killing it, it was a high enough level to give me decent experience. At least it didn’t seem to benefit from a 1,000 Constitution bonus. I wondered if I could drain it with Vampire’s Might…

For now, I took my time and walked past it. When my mind was sped up through Mana Sight my body still moved at its normal speed, so it felt like my movements were dragging. I avoided any danger by skirting around it.

Entering the Bone Palace, I found the outside walls were the same bone as the door, but the floor and inner walls were made of red stone. This room looked much like the foyer of a rich manor. There was another high, arching door on the far side of the room. This one was made of red stone with engravings covering it from top to bottom.

Looking up, I saw a chandelier like a giant strawberry that was made up of hundreds of grape-sized rubies about three stories overhead. If I could figure out a way to harvest it without destroying it, it looked like it would fetch a hefty price.

The Earth Elemental was the only enemy here to greet me. If there had been anything invisible I was sure I would have seen it with Mana Sight. As I looked around I found two more doors to both sides of the room. Seeing as we were alone, I turned my attention back to the Elemental.

Alpha Bolt was probably the safest spell I could use against it. It had reached level 91 and did over 4,340 damage and cost a measly 34 MP. The variations I had created, Alpha Bullet and Alpha Bomb, didn’t need to level up separately since Alpha Bolt was their base spell. Alpha Bullet also cost only about 9 MP. They might allow me to tear into it. Or a well-placed Alpha Bomb might one-hit it if I could focus the explosion. It was hard to say.

Then there were my elemental spells that were also Blue Magic based. Flame Thrower was a real possibility, but I didn’t think its explosive variant Fireball would do much damage because it would flicker out after its initial explosion. I had used Flame Thrower to melt the Stone Lizards, but Aeris’s Wind magic greatly increased its effectiveness. It might take all of my 38 thousand MP to melt through the Elemental’s 10 thousand HP. If there were more of them, eventually I’d test it, but not until I first found a sure way to defeat it.

To make things more difficult, elements had their opposites, like Earth to Wind or Fire to Ice, but damage spells didn’t necessarily have increased damage against their opposing schools of magic in the way that was so common in role playing games. Throw real-world physics into the mix and it could get downright frustrating. As an example, Wind Magic might not necessarily be powerful against the Earth Elemental that stood before me, but a wall of earth could be very helpful against Aeris’s Gust spell. Not that I had any Wind Magic at my disposal, anyways.

What did I have? Fire, Ice, Neutral and Sonic were the main damage spells in my arsenal. I doubted Healing would do anything against the Earth Elemental, but I would at least try it. The Black Orb inside it, which I suspected was its heart, might make it weak against the opposing Alignment. I also had Decay and Pain—I doubted their usefulness as well but figured they might be worth testing.

Out of all the damage spells I possessed it was the Sonic Magic that piqued my interest the most in this context. It was one of my newest and lowest level spells, but the Elemental might be weak against it. I pulled up the Sonic Blue Magic I had stolen from a Ghoul.

Lesser Wail of the Banshee

Sonic damage expelled through one’s cry. Dead mages who are resurrected for whatever unknown evil become ghouls and have this ability naturally.

I’d forgo casting it from my mouth. Style points didn’t matter when no one could see. At Level 6 it had jumped from a base 1,000 to 1,250 damage, costing a 477 MP per cast down from 500 MP. With Intermediate Mana Flow the spell was 40% more powerful doing 1750 damage and it cost 40% less mana making it 286 MP to cast.  It scaled well. If it continued in this pattern, it would do close to 7,000 sonic damage with my buffs when it reached level 100. I looked forward to the Intermediate level.

Placing myself a few meters behind it, I raised my scepter and cast Lesser Wail of the Banshee at the Earth Elemental’s lower back. I secretly hoped it would cause cracks and send it to the floor crippled. That didn’t happen.

When the spell activated a distortion in the air streamed toward it like a large funnel. Even when viewing it with time slowed, its ripples sped forward faster than my eyes could keep up. As it neared the mob, its radius widened exponentially. The further the spell drifted, the wider the area of attack. Instead of hitting the Elemental in the back, it was enveloped. Immediately, I recognized the issue I was going to have with this spell. It was difficult to direct. A wide area of effect could be helpful, but only if the situation called for it.

The Elemental seemed to shake as the spell surrounded it. A low whistle came from the mob, like the horn on a train.

-1,312 HP

The Earth Elemental began to turn toward me.

I suspected I could cast Lesser Wail of the Banshee one more time before I’d have to move or try something else. I wasn’t entirely sure why the spell had only done 75% of its max damage, but whether it was the stone mob’s armor rating or my theory that it would be strong against earth had been wrong, it was time to try something else.

Flame Thrower billowed out of my scepter in a tight stream. It impacted the side of its head. At level 94 Flame Thrower cost only 12 mana per second to cast and did approximately 1,200 fire damage with all my buffs. As you can imagine, that was not enough for my tastes. I funneled 182 additional mana per minute into the spell to hopefully melt its head.

-982 HP

Though it did seem like the side of its head had started to droop, the low damage output was unexpected.

I started to sidestep away from it. I put some extra distance between us while I was at it.

Ice Shard formed at the end of my scepter and blasted high, hitting the Elemental on the same side of the head.

-530 HP

Even though the shard had left a serious dent, the damage was minimal.

Seriously?

Although I was in no immediate danger, another fear of mine was beginning to be realized. Outside of killing the Undead and enemies weak against a Light Alignment, my advantage here was gone. What if all my spells were weak against it?

I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

I cast Decay on the mob and retreated into a backward creep for a few seconds. Nothing. Pain was just as useless. When I cast a typical Heal spell, there wasn’t even a damage or heal indicator.

I sighed in frustration.

The Elemental stopped trying to turn after me and spun the other way, moving twice as fast as it had before. As it pivoted, its arm swung like it was about to throw something. Its fist disconnected from its arm and flew toward me.

It took little effort to dodge the attack, but I remembered that this thing had 100 Dexterity and 400 Strength. I didn’t want to test its damage output.

With only one thing left to test, I reached toward it, casting Alpha Bolt. I allowed 1,000 MP to enhance the spell. Its purple energy threw sparks as it built at the end of my scepter. When released it barreled forward like a cannon, leveling it in the chest.

It fell, landing solidly on its back. Steam rose off it as the energy dissipated.

-2905 HP.

I shook my head, almost not believing what I saw as the creature moved to climb to its feet. A 1,000 MP-charged Alpha Bolt and it still had half of its HP left?

There was no doubt I could defeat this creature with a few more casts of Alpha Bolt, but it had to have a weakness of some kind. I remembered the Head Mistress telling me the story of the ancient humans that use to live in the Underworld. They had been defeated because the Vampire Lords had first defeated their armor before attacking them. They had chained spells together to get the best effect. It was worth a shot.

Perhaps, if I first fried the Elemental with fire, then attacked it with ice, the temperature difference would cause it to crack like a hot glass run under cool water.

I widened the area of effect for Flame Thrower and began to roast him. His HP was chipped away as the flames surrounded him.

-110 HP

-94 HP

-102 HP

As I released the spell, I focused my mind on what I was about to do. It was a manipulation of Ice Shard that I had never tried. When I had the image of what I was about to do planted firmly in my mind, I let my mana flow.

From the end of my scepter gushed a flow of sleet that caked the Earth Elemental’s legs. They weren’t as thick as his torso, so they seemed like the best target.

The creature resumed trying to catch me. After a few steps and no damage notifications, I was certain something had gone wrong. Were its legs too thick for my plan to have an effect?

I scrambled for another possible combo, unable to keep from grinning when an idea hit me.

Letting the Elemental close in until he was only a step away, I thrust my scepter right at its chest as I let Wail of the Banshee blast sound.

It was close enough that the mob’s torso was blasted with the attack. This time as it started to shake it crumbled apart and blanketed my legs in debris.

-4,515 HP

The Level Up notification streamed up from the floor. I received bonus experience since it was the first Earth Elemental I had killed. Now I was level 262 and had 25 stat points to spend.

Being covered in dirt didn’t diminish my elation. I held my hands up like I had just made a field goal and nodded my head back and forth. I really wished there was a dancing skill to make up for my lack of ability.

So trying to defeat the Earth Elemental with quick changes of temperatures didn’t work, but casting Flame Thrower on the mob must have leeched the moisture out of the rock, leaving it brittle. In that state Wail of the Banshee was able to rattle it to pieces. That was a pattern I could duplicate!

Looking down, I saw what I had half expected. There were two piles of ore nuggets.

4 oz of Iron Ore

7 oz of Bauxite Ore

With a shrug, I picked up the ore and deposited it in my inventory. It wasn’t a lot, but if we could kill these things in bulk then we would have all the common ore we could ever need. I hoped they would also drop some of the rarer ores Russ was after.

There was a sudden rumble from the middle of the floor. I hurried away and braced myself with a hand against the bone wall close to the palace entrance.

What started like a small burrow the size of a mole hole quickly proved to be anything but. It grew in width until it was the size of a family-sized pasta bowl then began sprouting up from the ground.

Is the Elemental respawning already?

As the earth creature started to take form, it was twice the size of the Earth Elemental, with robes of smooth red rock. Its face was just as detailed, but it possessed a crystalline aspect to its eyes and dark pupils.

When its eyes found me while I was cloaked in Invisibility, I knew it was far more than the first creature.

I immediately studied its magic aura. Instead of a channel of cloudy brown, it possessed a dense fog of mana in a much deeper and richer shade of brown. If it had a dark orb it wasn’t visible or was overshadowed by the intensity of its mana.

Casting Creature Observation didn’t give me much information.

Creature of the Earth

Level:?

Strength:?

Dexterity:?

Constitution:?

Well, that didn’t tell me anything except it was a much higher level than me.

“Welcome to the Earth Level!” the creature bellowed with drawn out words and an odd echo to its voice. Even if it could see me, it didn’t match my speed of thought as Mistress Nava had.

Since it obviously knew where I was, I released Invisibility and lessened the mana being filtered into my eyes.

“Oh. There you are!” it said, a grin spanning its slender face.

“Wait… You couldn’t see me?” I asked, taken aback.

“Ha! You are on my chunk of earth! I could feel your every step.”

I stared at him, making the face a fly might make the moment before it splatters on a windshield.

“Do I fight you?” I asked.

“You may, but I’ll just run away,” it replied with a smile.

“Then why are you here?”

“I am the Earth Level Overseer. You can call me The Rock or Hard. Because I am hard as a rock and I am rock. That’s an interesting concept right there. What is it to rock? Most rocks don’t act but are. Is to rock to be, or is it to be hard? Yes, to both, and of course, a resounding no! I rock, for I am of rock, but to define what it is to rock is just as hard.”

I raised a brow.

“Forgive my manners,” he said, mimicking a sigh without expelling any air. “I have a job to do and you have rocks to grind. To your left is the west wing. There you will find Earth Elementals similar to the one you just faced. They will gradually get stronger as you face them until you make it to the last room and face their champion. To the right, it is much the same, except the creatures you face there will be much more unique and possess a variety of abilities. I recommend conquering the west wing before you face the earth creatures of the east. After you have had your fill of fighting both, enter the master door behind me. In there you will face the level boss. It’s pretty simple really. Have fun!”

“You are really here as a guide?” I asked, finding it hard to believe.

“Head Mistress Lilith does not have the time to be here herself,” he said as if that was all that needed to be said.

“Okay… Are the Earth Elementals grouped together behind the door to the left?”

“Uh. I can’t tell you that. Not unless you bribe me. Do you have any gold? I know its softness gives me love handles, but it has the sweetest chew to it.”

“Sorry. I think I will figure it out for myself. Thank you, Rock.”

“Hard,” he insisted, “for I am hard like a rock.”

“How about Rock Hard.”

“I, I do like that. Do I rock, hard, or am I hard like a rock? Could it be both? Thank you, Flesh Soft! Because you flesh, softly!”

Do you tell a rock man that he makes no sense?

“You can call me Elorion,” I offered.

“Very well, Elorion Flesh Soft. If you are not splattered when facing my rock brothers, I shall see you again.”

A thought came to mind and I just couldn’t help myself, so I asked, “Rock Hard, would you like some bacon?”

“Eww. As in the fatty part of those large cave rodents? Keep your bacon to yourself, Flesh Soft.”

“I had to ask.”

“No, you didn’t. But thanks anyway.”

“Later, Rock Hard.”

With a wave, he said his farewell. “Stay soft!”

Turning Invisibility back on, I tried to walk away softly enough he couldn’t track me.

“I feel that!” he said with an echoey chuckle.

“Bye, Rock Hard…”

Chapter 7 – Earth Elementals

I turned my attention to the door to the west wing. Before approaching, I took a seat against the wall and meditated to completely restore my MP to its 38k max. Instead of spending my 25 stat points I saved for later. I was pretty sure I would spend them on Intelligence since that was the stat I was working on increasing to get the bonuses that would come when it reached 1,000. Thanks to Vampire’s Might, I already had the passive bonuses that came from having 100 in all my physical stats, so there was no use pursuing them.

What was important now was finding more of these Earth Elementals and killing as many of them as possible to level up. During that time, I hoped to use Force Learn to strip a dying Elemental of the knowledge necessary to learn the Blue Magic Animation. I also needed to try Vampire’s Might, which I doubted would do me any good. Rocks have no blood after all.

Fully prepared, I approached the door to the west wing. This one was made of red clay and stood only a few feet over my head. The handle was made of a stone bar that hung perpendicular to the ground. With a push, the door swung open on its own.

Earth Elemental

Level: 315

Health Points: 10,750

Mana Points: NA

Endurance: 5,275

Strength: 400

Dexterity: 100

Constitution: 1,075

Intelligence: 50

Wisdom: 20

There was only one mob standing in the middle of the small room as if all it had to do all day was stand here waiting for someone to enter. Its face seemed to come awake as the door opened, as if it had been asleep on its feet.

Calming myself with a breath, I pumped more mana into my eyes to speed up my perceptions to retain the greatest advantage I could.

I knew the basic Elementals like this weren’t immune to my Invisibility like the Overseer had been. Although I suspected all Earth creatures had a similar ability, just to a lesser extent.

The room was square with red stone on all sides, with a high ceiling. There was a door to the left, identical to the one I had just entered through. Behind the Elemental was a gate of red stone bars from ceiling to floor. There was enough space between them that I could see another small room almost identical to this one that held two Earth Elementals. If only I could somehow blast through the bars.

I began by circling the Earth Elemental like the last one I had faced. I didn’t want to make the mistake of thinking that I already entirely understood these creatures. The last one had surprised me by upping its speed and throwing a rock fist in my direction. Still, this shouldn’t take long.

The Elemental walked forward. Its unnaturally soft footfalls clicked as it went.

When I was at its rear, I lifted my scepter and let Flame Thrower rage into life. I drenched the creature in fire for three seconds before stepping forward.

It had turned and taken a step forward before I released my next spell. Wail of the Banshee reverberated into it. I didn’t just cast it once but sent a steady flow of mana into the spell to keep it blaring. At the same time, I started to pour mana into my eyes, readying Force Learn. I quickly passed 1,000 mana and reached 3,000 less than a second later. The extent of the power I was holding back felt as alarming as the first time I cast it and was just as intoxicating.

The Earth Elemental quaked apart. It wasn’t as quick of an end as the last one because I had already taken half of its HP, but even as it fought against the sonic onslaught, it was no use.

As the Elemental shook apart, I watched with Mana Sight as the thick fog of brown mana that flowed through it started to dissipate. It was as if there were cracks in the shell of its body and its life force was starting to seep out. As the brown mana escaped, the black orb started to lose form. It was being pulled apart.

At the moment that the black orb lost form, the torrent of mana that I had been holding back rushed to fulfill its purpose. Time froze, and I was transported into the failing shell of the Earth Elemental. The black orb was little more than a figureless ink blob at this point, but its purpose became clear. The orb had in a sense been the heart of the creature. It was the power directing the Earth Magic in its currents and giving it purpose. The Dark Magic was its life force. The Earth Magic was its clay. Its physical form was one with the Earth Magic. Each without the other could not exist in the same form.

You have learned the Blue Magic, Animation!

Animation

When used, you gain the ability to create and control a Golem. As the spell levels up, you will be able to manage more than one. The abilities of the Golem will depend upon the level of the spell and the item consumed in its creation.

Requirements:

Earth Golem – Ore, or refined ore. Different ores give the Golem different characteristics.

Wind Golem – Pure source of gas. Different gasses give the Golem different characteristics.

Fire Golem – Fire. What is fueling the fire will give the Golem different characteristics.

Ice Golem – Ice, Water, or Vapor. The different forms of water and the water’s make up will give the Golem different characteristics.

Note: For more advanced Golems or Golems using other than base schools of magic, experimentation is required.

I would have forgotten the ore it had dropped on the ground if the notification didn’t mention that ore was required to create an Earth Golem. To celebrate, I took out my bag of jerky and tore off a chunk.

Animation was incredible. It was too soon to say, but it sounded like it had as much utility as blue magic itself. I could only imagine having a Golem of each element and being prepared for any situation. The big limitation was immediately apparent. It limited me to one Golem until it leveled up.

3 oz of Iron Ore

11 oz of Bauxite Ore

1 oz of Silver Ore

I made myself settle down enough that I could get a good read of the situation. I cast Lesser Blood Drain on the rubble that was left of its body with no luck. I had gained about an eighth of a level killing just one Elemental thanks to it being fifty levels higher than myself. If I could find enough of these things my level was about to skyrocket.

What about the others? My original plan was to explore this place enough to know if it would be safe for them to fight here. Looking back, the first Golem hadn’t reappeared, so at least it would be safe in the first room where there was no respawn as far as I could tell. It would be a while before I knew if that would remain true for this room as well.

Seeing no way through the stone bars blocking me from the pair of golems on the other side of the fence, I turned my attention to the door to my left. Was it too much to hope for that there might be some nice loot behind this door?

It was time to do my first experiment with Animation. A big part of me wanted to start with iron, but I only had 7 oz of iron ore in total. I had 18 oz of bauxite.

Bauxite was the primary source of aluminum, but I doubted casting Animation on it would magically make it turn into an Aluminum Golem. I could be wrong.

How much I needed I didn’t know, but I would try not to waste what I had.

Tossing one Bauxite Ore that weighed about 1 oz. to the ground, I shrugged and cast Animation, which cost a base of 5,000 MP, or 3,000 with spell cost bonus. It was more expensive than any base spell I had, but I didn’t hesitate. I channeled more mana into Mana Sight and watched as a thick cord of Light Magic left my scepter and entered the Bauxite Ore.

The Ore started to expand and take shape. Instead of a smooth surface like the Earth Elemental, my Golem remained rough and uneven like rock. When it reached the height of one foot, it stopped growing and stood there with a barrel chest, tube-shaped arms and chubby fingers. Its face was that of a smooshed lizard with small slits for eyes. It had kept the pock marks that the Bauxite Ore possessed naturally and looked like it had large, colorful freckles all over.

What in the Underworld was I going to do with a foot-tall rock gnome?

I studied it with Mana Sight and noticed immediately that instead of a Dark Magic Orb floating about in its center there was a Light Magic Orb. Another difference was that my Golem had a strand of Light Magic coming from me that was constantly supplying it with mana. Perhaps that was the difference between an Elemental and a Golem. One was self-sustaining, and one was not.

That brought up another, much more serious question. Mel, our Dark Mage, was able to use Dark Magic, but it also didn’t harm him when I healed him with Light Magic. With the violent reaction that happened when Light and Dark Magics combined, how was it even possible that he was unaffected? It was only a theory at this point, but I suspected everyone had a Dark or Light Magic orb of some kind, even if it took on a different shape in more complex creatures like humans. Mel had to have a Light Magic Orb to be healed by me, or perhaps it would make more sense to call it his heart, or core. I would have to find him and figure it out.

Bauxite Golem

Level: 20

Health Points: 600

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 11

Dexterity: 66

Constitution: 33

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

I cut off the flow of Light Magic, and the Golem fell to dust.

Seeing that my first Golem was only level 20, I had to take a deep breath to settle myself. I feared it was going to take a while for this spell to become useful.

Quickly, I threw an ounce of Iron Ore to the ground and cast Animation to see the difference. It was still red in color, but with a dull reflective property that hadn’t been there with the first golem and a slightly grey tint. It was twice the size the Bauxite Golem had been.

Iron Ore Golem

Level: 60

Health Points: 2,000

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 60

Dexterity: 40

Constitution: 200

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Interesting. It was three times the level—I assumed this was thanks to the difference in ore—but only twice the size. That was a drawback, but something that could be managed. It gave me even more questions.

The smoky mana that swirled around in this little guy was brown mixed with metallic silver. It had to be the sub-element Metal.

I cut the Iron Ore Golem’s cord of Light Mana, and it fell into a crumbled pile of rock.

Afterward, I summoned another Bauxite Golem with 2 ounces of ore. This one was twice as tall.

Bauxite Golem

Level: 40

Health Points: 660

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 33

Dexterity: 100

Constitution: 66

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

It became obvious that the size of the Golem and its level depended upon the ore that I used. Two ounces of bauxite would not create a Golem of equal size to the Iron one. Also, the Bauxite Golem had a lower Strength and Constitution, but much higher Dexterity than the Iron Ore Golem. That could make things interesting.

If one ounce Ore made a Golem about a foot tall, did ten ounces Ores create a ten foot tall Golem?

At this point, I liked the speed the Bauxite Golem possessed since the Strength and Constitution of the Iron Ore Golem still couldn’t compete with a level 300 Earth Elemental.

Instead of cutting the Golem off from its life source, I threw two more ounces of ore at its feet and cast Animate a second time.

Spell Failure. You can only control one Golem at a time at Animation’s current level.

That wasn’t what I was trying to do, but still, it was good to test my limitations.

Walking over to the Bauxite Golem, I stooped down and picked up the 2 ounces of ore I had tried to add to it.

Holding my hand out, I offered it to the Golem.

It didn’t move.

Since I was supplying the creature with its life force, I guessed it would only move if I controlled it as well. Being a puppet master had never really appealed to me.

I commanded my golem, not with words, but by imagining what I wanted it to do and trying to project the thought toward my minion. It worked.

The two-foot rock doll reached out with its chubby rock fingers and took the ore I set in its hand.

Again, I cast Animation and this time it had the desired effect. The Bauxite Golem shot up in height. It was now four feet tall.

Bauxite Golem

Level: 80

Health Points: 1,220

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 66

Dexterity: 200

Constitution: 122

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

That was more like it. Instead of looking like a pudgy little statue with a squashed face, it was now starting to resemble a humanoid. There was a little more definition in its arms and legs. Instead of a barrel, there was a refinement in the Golem’s stomach and chest. Its head was still too round to be human, but its eyes had widened, showing white pupils instead of black.

My mana was starting to get low. I had used 3,000 MP to learn Animation from the Elemental, about 1,000 MP to suck it dry with Flame Thrower and 2,000 MP with Wail of the Banshee to shake it apart. It would only take a few minutes to recover with my mana per minute, but because I had used meditate to double my MP, mana per minute wouldn’t restore the excess MP.

Each of the three Golems I had made cost another 3,000 MP and an additional 3,000 MP when I had upgraded my current Golem. One of the benefits for the large mana cost was that there was a small drain of 60 MPM to my mana cost. Once I cast it, it looked like it would remain alive until I was through with it, or it died.

There was one last thing to try. I cast Skeleton General’s Defense on the Bauxite Golem. I didn’t bother supplying it with a weapon for what I had in mind for it.

It was like having the Skeleton General’s kid brother as a horned pet. I was so pleased that I would have shared bacon with the creature if it could have eaten it.

As annoying as it was, I sat down in the corner and meditated again. It took me about ten minutes to restore my 38k MP. Once I got a feel for the place I probably wouldn’t bother, but I wasn’t sure I trusted the guy philosophically meditating about being a rock.

Fighting and remembering to send the Golem commands wasn’t going to be easy. I hoped my minion was able to take fairly general commands like my Skeleton Warrior who was too low of a level to help out. If I lost my Skeleton, I would have to Dominate another Undead creature and level it up again. I wasn’t going to take any chances. There were other places where I could level him up quickly and safely.

As I opened the next door, I commanded my Golem to run in first.

Another Earth Elemental stood there to greet us.

Earth Elemental

Level: 310

Health Points: 10,550

Mana Points: NA

Endurance: 5,270

Strength: 400

Dexterity: 100

Constitution: 1,050

Intelligence: 50

Wisdom: 20

The walls to my left and behind the Elemental were made of bone, meaning it was a part of the outer wall of the palace. The wall to the right was the same red stone as the other internal walls, with what looked to be a large switch at its center.

I channeled more mana to Mana Sight again, so I could give my Golem extra attention. My first command was for it to run in circles and dodge the enemy’s attacks.

The Earth Elemental became animated much faster this time with my minion running right for it.

As it turned, encircling the Elemental, it ducked quickly enough to evade the Elemental’s first attack.

The enemy stepped back and spun, putting itself in a better position to throw another punch.

I commanded the Golem to jump away.

Before the Elemental’s fist collided with its head, my Golem obeyed. It had superior speed, but it wasn’t enough to distract the mob without the danger of getting hit if I didn’t guide its movements. Even with the added armor, I doubted it could take more than a single hit.

Stop. I sent the thought to my minion, who obeyed without question.

A stone fist drilled into the side of my Golem’s head as the Elemental extended its right fist. A crack sounded, sending a shiver up my spine. That was not something I wanted to get hit by.

My Golem spun to the ground. The Skeleton General’s Helm was intact, but for a moment the Golem didn’t respond, even when I commanded it to get up.

-892 HP

When it did get to its feet, I saw a crack that started by its temple and zigzagged toward its jaw on the other side of its face.

With low HP, did it lose mobility? I commanded it to dodge.

It ducked below an overhand left that the Elemental leveled its way, then sidestepped a right and bounded back from a front kick.

That was enough.

I ordered it to skirt around the Elemental and run to stand behind me.

As it passed, Flame Thrower billowed into the enemy, followed soon after by a Wail of the Banshee. I picked up my loot off the floor.

6 oz of Iron Ore

2 oz of Bauxite

1 oz Firazite

Seeing the experience and drops, I was starting to finally feel like I was on the right track. It seemed Iron Ore and Bauxite I could expect to drop from each Elemental. Ore like Firazite and Silver I better save for Russ. He could probably make better use of them than I could at this point.

After retrieving the loot, I turned to my Golem and had it march over to me. I handed it an ounce of Bauxite and cast Animate. Its stats didn’t change, but its HP shot up by 305. It seemed additional ore would heal it. I gave it another two ounces that healed it to its max HP. Well, it looked like I was going to have to start storing ore on me at all times. I hoped the 3,000 MP cost of animation would go down because healing was going to get expensive.

I handed it an Iron Ore this time and cast Animate once again. It grew in size, but its stayed the same except for becoming more reflective.

Bauxite/Iron Golem

Level: 100

Health Points: 1,820

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 106

Dexterity: 200

Constitution: 182

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

With the addition of Iron Ore, the Golem now stood over five feet tall with the same Dexterity as before but an increase in Constitution and Strength. Now it could hopefully take an additional hit.

Walking over to the lever that stuck out of the wall like a torch waiting to be lit, I saw an engraving on the wall.

It read:

Pull this lever only when you are ready to move on to the next challenge. If you want to face one Earth Elemental at a time, it will respawn sixty seconds after it is defeated.

Note: Be sure to close the door when you leave so that the Earth Elemental doesn’t attack you if you don’t want to face it again.

Now that was better than I could have hoped for. I would face two Earth Elementals if I pulled the lever as it opened the barred gate that had been shut to me before. That meant there should be a room like this one where I could camp two Earth Elementals at a time. With any luck, I would be able to face three at a time and get a level for every three battles. Four would be better. Then I could level every two.

It had almost been a minute, so I would fight the solo Elemental one more time, then pull the lever and move on. My mouth watered at the thought of leveling!

Chapter 8 – Leveling

After pulling the lever and defeating the two Elementals in the next room, I handed my Golem another Bauxite and Iron Ore, casting Animation once again. Not only did my Golem grow in size and power, but I got an additional surprise.

Animation has reached Level 2!

Taking a look, it seemed like I had some more experimenting to do.

Bauxite/Iron Golem

Level: 162

Health Points: 2,500

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 164

Dexterity: 350

Constitution: 250

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

Either the level of Animate was limiting the level of the Golem I could make, or the ore was. I assumed my level was also affecting it. If it had continued to grow and level at the same rate as every time before it, this one would have been level 240. There was so much to learn.

“Of course, a level 2 spell wouldn’t granted me a golem the same level as I am,” I muttered to myself.

After meditating, I quickly finished two more Elementals in a side room nearly identical to the first. This one also had another lever to the next section where I would face three Earth Elementals if I so desired. There was a two-minute cool down in the current room before the two Golems respawned. I didn’t hesitate to pull it to move on.

I had my Golem run interference as I closed the door behind me. If I wasn’t fast enough, it was likely my Golem would die, and I would have to create another.

The sides of my mouth rose into a grin as I channeled extra mana into Flame Thrower and caught all three of the Elementals in my spell. Channeling even more into Wail of the Banshee, it was time to test how well it would work as a true area of effect spell.

I amped up Wail of the Banshee, which didn’t just rattle the Elementals into dust but caught my Golem and everything else in the room in its wake.

“That wasn’t supposed to happen,” I said aloud.

I didn’t complain when I saw a level up stream up from the floor and I reached Level 263.

I used 6 ounces of Bauxite and 1 Iron Ore from the loot the three Elementals had dropped to create a new Golem with the same stats as before. This time it cost me one less Iron Ore. The spell was definitely restricting what I could create.

It took approximately 3k MP to clear the room with three Elementals. Even with my Golem, I had plenty of mana per minute refilling my pool to completely make up for the mana used. I didn’t bother using Meditation. Enough caution. It was time to speed things up.

I made sure to give the Golem the command to run forward, then run off to the flank before circling back. It was a cheap move, taking advantage of the Elementals’ low Intelligence, but it redirected their attention and let me safely clear the room without destroying my own Golem in less than seven seconds.

With close to the same amount of mana I had used to clear a room of three Elementals, I ate through the rooms with four of them. It took a second or two longer to kill them. With another level up, I didn’t stop.

Pulling the lever, I commanded my Golem to run out of the room to face the horde of five. I hurried to close the door to the side room behind me. I would have to thank the Head Mistress for creating this place that made leveling up so easy.

Exiting the room, I let Invisibility settle into place and took in the five Elementals that had just taken their first steps to rush after my Golem.

As the Golem circled back, I cast Flame Thrower, duplicating the strategy that had been working so well. I spent an extra second to bake them, just to be safe.

Decreasing the flow to Mana Sight, I experienced time at a quicker rate. When experiencing each second as three, even battle gets boring.

With my Golem safely behind me, Wail of the Banshee screamed.

One thing that had not become tedious was watching the Elementals shake apart.

I would level again after killing one more group.

Looking up, I saw a stone fist barreling toward me like a cannonball. Of all the times to have lowered Mana Sight.

One Elemental had survived my attack and had tried a desperate assault on its own. The rest were already piles of dirt.

Stepping back, I cut the mana flow to Wail of the Banshee.  All I could do was react.

The stone fist pummeled into my bone-encased kite shield. It drove my shield back, smacking me on the forehead, whipping my helm back. Off balance, I fell and landed on my rear. Embarrassed and a bit shaken, I retaliated. Jabbing my scepter forward, I didn’t think and unleashed Wail of the Banshee, letting my mana flow without limit.

An immense amount of mana was funneled into the spell. It had no problem finishing the last Elemental, but it didn’t end there. There was so much force that the entire room started to shake. The bars on the far side of the room started to crack.

Immediately, I cut the flow of mana, but it was too late.

The stone bars slowly started to crumble from the top to bottom until there was an avalanche of rubble.

As the dust cloud settled, I saw the next challenge. It wasn’t an Earth Elemental, but a Greater one.

Greater Earth Elemental

Level: 425

Health Points: 14,160

Mana Points: NA

Endurance: 5,275

Strength: 566

Dexterity: 141

Constitution: 1,416

Intelligence: 50

Wisdom: 20

Instead of a humanoid that looked like a normal-sized stone man, this thing had buffed up and looked like a small graphite-colored hulk. Did the different coloring mean my strategy wouldn’t work? If its looks had been the only thing that changed I wouldn’t have been worried, but it was also level 425. If that last group had been able to get a shot off on me because it had taken me so long to kill them, then I just might be in trouble with this higher level one.

There was little difference in its mana flow except for the creature’s size. Regardless, a larger body held more magic power.

When it settled its black pupils upon me, I knew my normal strategy of letting my Golem try to distract it wouldn’t work. Invisibility hadn’t fully engaged before this creature had spotted me.

Without hesitation, it took a step forward, reached back and threw its doubly large fist from its body. It flew right at my chest.

Channeling mana into my eyes, time was once again my ally. As I rolled to the side, I checked my character sheet.

Mana Points: 9,337

I’ve used so much.

I wasn’t close enough to use Flame Thrower yet. Until proven to be unworkable, I would stick to the same strategy.

With Invisibility fully active, I slowly made it to my feet, having to step to the side to dodge another stone fist, which had already started to grow back on the Elemental’s wrist.

This guy was no joke.

I sent my Golem on a collision course, hoping it would be able to dodge the next projectile and give me a few seconds to get closer. While it did that, I made for the opposite side of the room and inched toward the Elemental

The mob lunged forward, clearing almost ten feet. Its fist sped towards my Golem’s abdomen. There was nothing it could do.

In a single hit, my minion exploded at the waist and buckled over to the ground lifeless.

It had been enough. Now positioned at its flank, my Flame Thrower enveloped it.

I feared I would need to let it bake under Flame Thrower’s flames longer than the normal Elemental, but I only allowed the normal three seconds.

Ducking away from a flying fist, I loosed Wail of the Banshee.

As particles started to vibrate off of it, it leaped right at me.

At least it seemed to be working.

It cocked its fist back as it flew.

I could jump to the side and restart the attack, but I watched my mana sink lower and lower as I held the spell. There was another option. Dipping low, I readied for the impact.

As it approached, I lowered my scepter, allowing the spell to continue to reverberate.

The Greater Elemental reached back further with its fist, readying to release all the tension in its neck and hip. It stared right through me. With its head no more than four feet away, its fist flew forward.

I took a step to the side and launched up with my legs from the ground. Mana built at the tip of my weapon. I twisted my torso as my scepter hooked up, jarring it into the Elemental’s chest. The Sonic Bomb I had been holding back ignited.

Wail of the Banshee howled like it never had before. The difficulty of directing the spell disappeared when my bone-covered scepter jabbed into its stone flesh.

I felt no resistance as my scepter drove right through the stone that had been there a moment before. Its back ruptured from the attack and exploded in every direction.

I braced myself against the projectiles that had once been its head and arm. The rest of it fell into gravel and dust.

Not one, but two level ups streamed from the floor thanks to the bonus experience from it being my first Greater Earth Elemental.

With a look, I saw it was a close call.

Mana Points: 1,197

With my Mana Per Minute and my Golem dead, not draining additional mana, I would recover quickly, but minutes were not something I could afford in the middle of battle.

Seeing that I had reached level 266, I immediately dumped my 45 extra skill points into Intelligence to increase my maximum base mana to 39,074. There was no doubt that I really needed to get my Intelligence to 1,000. I didn’t know what kind of bonus I would get, but I expected it to be similar to the massive jump in power I had when I reached 1,000 Wisdom.

I had just defeated a Greater Earth Elemental that was 150 levels higher than me. It was a great accomplishment, but the higher the level and stronger the mob the more mana I needed to make a dent. My limitations were starting to become clear. It would help if I didn’t let my excitement get the better of me.

With 652 Intelligence, I needed 70 levels to reach 1,000. That was something I could do. I remembered that I needed to check back with Aeris soon, but with the respawn rate, I had time to get over halfway there.

Smiling to myself, I turned back from facing the Greater Earth Elementals for now and found the door that led to another group of five normal Earth Elementals. They might get off an attack or two, but now that I knew it was coming, it was something I could fend off. Opening the door, I got to work.

Chapter 9 – The Oven

I had made sure all the doors were closed as I exited the Bone Palace. My Golem I deposited to keep hidden from Aeris. I would reveal it when the time was right. It was time to leave when I was only 9 levels from level 315, so I stayed a little longer than Aeris and I had agreed to. Two hours and twenty minutes later, I exited.

I took a look at the results.

Mana Points: 41,324

Intelligence: 877

25 levels left to go until what I hoped would be my next big jump in power.

“Took you long enough,” Aeris chided from the side of the palace entrance. She was leaning there in her plate mail with her arms crossed and an exaggerated scowl across her helmetless face.

It seemed I had been seeing her like this a lot lately.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, surprised she was alone.

“Everyone but Richard left.”

“Richard?” I asked.

A shaggy brown head popped out from behind Aeris at knee level. He waved.

I think I had only spoken to him a few times. He was the one that warned me through Private Message during Lord Darius’s attack that the group that had been in hiding was being attacked by a platoon of zombies.

I scratched an invisible itch at the top of my helmet. “Sorry.”

“You’re only half forgiven. We were able to hear you fighting from here, so we knew you weren’t dead.”

“Half?”

“Oh yeah,” she said matter-of-factly, “I think you owe me a leech. Like this freeloader here.”

She swung her finger around with a flourish before pointing directly at Richard.

“Hey!” he complained. “I don’t have any offensive talents.”

Standing, he crossed his surprisingly large steel-wrapped forearms across his well-armored chest. He was kind of short but thick like a fighter and carried nothing but a tower shield that looked too big for him to lift.

“What are your abilities, Richard? We haven’t really gotten to hunt together,” I asked.

“Defense and long-distance communication.”

I knew about his communication ability, but defense? I prodded him about it.

“Yes, defense. My talent is wearing armor and wielding a shield,” he said with a shrug. “Unless you want to make a phone call, I’m just a meat shield.”

“That’s amazing. Not everyone can hide behind their cellphone,” I jested.

“Eh. Well, that’s true.”

“So,” Aeris butted in, “how did you do?”

I looked at her blank-faced for an uncomfortable moment, before smiling like a maniacal demon lord.

“Don’t do that!” she said, pushing off the wall and inching away from me. “That’s weird.”

“Is level 315 weird?”

Her mouth dropped open before she replied, “No you didn’t!”

Holding out my Character Sheet to her, I made sure she had plenty of time to take it all in.

“Wait,” she said, still studying it. “What is your max mana when you meditate?”

“41,000.”

Shaking her head, she turned her attention to her inventory. I craned my neck as if it would make it easier to see. She pulled out a small ore and threw it at my chest. It clinked off, doing no damage.

“Uh. What was that for?” I asked.

“No reason. I just thought it was appropriate to hit you with a rock,” she said with a mocking grin.

Richard shrugged, shifting his eyes to the floor.

“Well, if that’s all, I’m going to go back to hunting then,” I said, doing an about-face.

“Don’t you dare, Elorion. Tell us already. What is the palace like? What about the mobs? Is there any loot? Is it good?”

“Are they edible?” Richard added.

Our eyes shot to him.

“I’m hungry,” he said, cringing under the attention.

“You told me you were fine,” Aeris rebuked.

“You said you would help me level while we waited. I wanted the experience.”

Her face scrunched up as she shook her head at him like he was crazy.

I snickered.

“It might be easier if I showed you,” I said, jumping in.

“Let’s go!” Aeris said, suddenly forgetting her scowl and skipping past me.

Had she just been waiting for me to offer?

“Hey, wait up!” Richard said as she left without us. “Should I message the others?”

***

Silver light shone from Aeris’s hand the moment before a compressed Wind Slash shot off, screaming toward the Earth Elemental. The wind spell had been compressed to the length of a dagger’s blade.

The Elemental at the center of the room shuffled back as her attack slammed into it. Her attack engraved a deep groove across its chest.

-412 HP

It was more, much more than I had anticipated.

“Okay, let me dry it out!” I called as the mob turned its attention to her.

“Not yet!” Aeris replied.

She had taken one corner of the room and I had taken another.

“I have one more thing left to try,” she added.

She was decked out in her full plate mail but faced it empty-handed. Instead of an orb or weapon to channel her spell, she wore pearl-colored knuckle rings on her thumb and pinky finger that were connected across the palm by a silver chain. In the center of the chain was a perfectly round crystal that lit up with smoky silver light when she cast a spell.

The light flashed again from her outstretched hand. It wasn’t a Wind Slash that sped forward, but a gale of wind that could have enveloped a small car.

The burst battered the Elemental, sending it crashing to the floor. It skidded back under the onslaught.

-1,499 HP.

“Gale Girl does it again!” Richard announced, deepening his voice like an announcer. He was standing at the entrance.

“Richard!” Aeris rebuked.

Seeing the Elemental still had over 8k HP, I didn’t hesitate to soak it in fire.

After a few seconds, I called, “Now!”

Her hand lit up, expelling another Wind Slash. This one soared right into the Elemental’s throat.

Now that it had become brittle, her spell’s effect was on a whole other level. It cut through the Elemental like a power washer through packed earth.

-3,691 HP

The Elemental’s head started tipping to the side. The mob’s arms caught it before it fell off entirely. Unexpectedly, the rock at the base of its neck liquified and rose up to join with the severed head. Its HP wasn’t restored, but its functionality returned before our eyes.

“Finish it!” I called.

There was a sudden encore of five Wind Slashes. One re-severed its head, and the remainder removed its arms and legs. Its HP had been depleted before the last Slash connected, but Aeris didn’t take chances.

As if thanking it for her new levels, she curtseyed like a refined lady in plate mail.

“There you have it, folks! Bow before Gale Girl, or your limbs will find a better home on the floor!” Richard rumbled.

“Richard,” I said, glowering at him.

“Sorry. I had a Twitch channel. It’s a habit,” he replied.

“If there were other mobs, you could get us killed,” Aeris added with a sigh. She acted as if this was an ongoing problem.

“Yeah,” he said, knocking his helmet against the wall, “sorry.”

We left the room so Aeris could recover her mana. As we waited I cleared the side rooms with two, three and four Elementals.

“Level 186!” she said as I rejoined them.

“How long until you reach 1,000 Wisdom?” I asked.

“25 levels exactly!”

“Holy zombie poo! I don’t even have 500 in a stat.” Richard pouted.

He was level 147, so he really wasn’t far behind the others. He must have been really good at getting a leech. Honestly, in his predicament, I couldn’t blame him. There was also no denying his worth. The ability to communicate across long distances didn’t seem like much until you were going without it.

“Skeletor!” called a familiar voice from behind Richard. It was Olivia. Russ and Travis were there with her.

“He’s not wearing his skeleton armor,” Travis observed.

Crossing her arms, Oliva rolled her eyes and pouted. “He will always be Skeletor to me.”

“Hey, guys!” Aeris greeted.

I held up my hand and gave a halfhearted wave as I shut the door to the fourth side room.

Russ lumbered over to me with his visor up and grabbed me in a bear hug. His plate mail almost seemed too small to contain him. It didn’t have any runes but was brightly polished steel.

Travis patted me on the shoulder. He didn’t wear any steel mail but wore a leather vest over a thick green fabric. Instead of pants, he wore modern-day athletic shorts.

Like a professional cosplayer, Olivia was dressed like an amazon warrior. Not the kind of scantily clad types you see in movies, but in a steel studded vest that hugged her shape while allowing full movement. She had ornate pauldrons, the armor encasing her shoulders, a bronze round shield and a branch with thick, oval-shaped leaves at its end. The branch was a wand that upped her Nature Magic.

When she looked me in the eye I raised a brow. With a huff of a laugh, she turned to Aeris.

After I had left to rescue Skyler from the Head Mistress and returned with him intact, she had started cutting me some slack, mostly.

“The others are a few minutes behind us,” Olivia offered. “How about we get a bit of a head start?”

Over the next hour, I played the good host as everyone else arrived and gave them an introductory course on the Earth Elementals with Aeris’s help. I gained an additional three levels for my trouble.

Olivia was probably the biggest surprise. Entrapping an Elemental’s feet, one of her mob-eating plants rose up behind the monster and wrapped a few dozen feelers across its arms and chest. The feelers suddenly went stiff and jabbed into the earth creature’s torso like stakes into the earth.

The Earth Elemental struggled and tore free with its arms, but as soon as it did, the plant’s elastic appendages snapped back and dug in under its arms.

I watched with Mana Sight as the spell literally sucked the mana from the enemy.

A minute later it crumbled while still in the plant minion’s grasp.

I stared dumbfounded. When I looked to Olivia, she offered me a wink.

Aeris wasn’t any help. I looked to her in question, and she mimicked Olivia’s wink and gave her friend a knuckle bump.

Audrey’s fire was about as effective as mine was, but hers did seem to burn at a higher temperature.

Then there was Clarissa. Since she had the same element as the Elementals things could have gone one of two ways. One, her magic would be completely ineffective against an Earth creature. Or she would have a certain power over them because she commanded the same element. I was wrong on both fronts. She definitely didn’t have control over them but neither was she powerless.

Her Earth Magic seeped into the ground and burrowed toward the Earth Element.

A single stone spike leaped up from the floor, stopping the Elemental dead in its tracks as it struck it right in the gut.

-250 HP

With her palm raised, facing the ceiling, a river of brown mana was funneled into the ceiling above the Elemental.

A rock fell, twice the size of a basketball. It landed on the Elemental’s head, and the mob quaked from top to bottom. Instead of dropping to its knees, cracks spread down the middle of its back. Its head ruptured into gravel.

-4,015 HP

Once again, the Elemental liquified and repaired itself, but Clarissa had shown us an impressive display. The only problem was that after the show I had to save her because she was out of mana.

Trevon’s ice did little better than my Ice Shard, but he could slow it down by covering its joints in ice. It was something I would have to try.

Our bashers found mixed success.

The sledge brothers, with Skyler at their lead, discovered their sledgehammers had the effect of stunning the stone mobs. A well-placed blow would damage the Elemental enough that it had to stop everything to liquify and repair itself.

As I had suspected, when I offered Skyler the one-handed hammer I had found, he shook his head at the offer.

The rest of our bashers who wielded blade weapons did very little damage.

I let the bulk of them settle into a rhythm killing the solo Earth Elemental in the first room. Even Lydia was here and leeching with Richard. They were half the Elemental’s level, but with Skyler leading and the mages limiting the mob’s movements, they overwhelmed it every time it spawned. With the level differential, they were racking up experience.

There was something ominous about our situation that nagged at me in the back of my mind. We had it so easy now. Soon, very soon, I feared every battle we had would be a struggle to stay alive.

“Are you coming?” Aeris asked, knocking on my shoulder with her knuckles as if to see if I was home. With her visor up, for a moment all I saw was a teenage girl dressed up in plate mail. Of course, that was far from the truth. Just two weeks in the Underworld and she had become… more.

Her look turned into a squint when I didn’t respond and she nudged me to encourage me to share.

I smiled back, then replied, “Are you ready for the most intense leveling session you have had in your entire life?”

“You know you are going to be taking bacon breaks,” she teased.

I choked as a chuckle escaped.

“I’ll limit them for you. Let’s get you to 1,000 Wisdom!” I said.

“My hero!” she replied with an exaggerated wink.

I walked with her to join my old group, who were gathered separate from the others, waiting for us.

The excitement on their faces was obvious.

“What’s the plan, Skeletor? Are we going to take on two at a time?” Olivia asked.

“No,” I said, shaking my head. I couldn’t help but to smirk. “We are going to take on all of them. Travis, after we clear each room, be sure to close the door before we move on to the next one. Everyone, call out if you are low on mana. No bashing. Sorry, Russ. Follow my lead. We will only rest when we have to. Let’s go.”

Chapter 10 – Flight

As I opened the door to the second room with two Earth Elementals waiting for us, I had my inventory ready. My Earth Golem rolled out with an ungraceful thud.

Rising from the ground, the Golem ran at the two Elementals, stealing their attention.

“What is that!” I heard four voices say as one.

When my Golem led them off to the side, pulling their aggro, then started to head back our way, I ignored the question and raised my scepter. Flame Thrower spewed out and engulfed the two mobs.

I moved aside to let the Golem exit and the rest of my group jumped back as he did.

Wail of the Banshee screamed as I cut off Flame Thrower. In less than five seconds the two Elementals were dead.

Turning to see the shocked looks of my friends, I looked directly at Olivia and Aeris in turn, offering them each a wink, before hurrying toward the next room.

“Remember the loot and to close the door!” I called. “Come, Golem. We have work to do.”

Without hesitation, I opened the door to room three and put the same strategy to work. Once they were finished, I didn’t stop. With the others hurrying to keep up, I called out, “I think it’s time for Dragon’s Fire. Aeris, you ready?”

“Ready!” she sang.

“Dragon’s Fire?” Russ asked.

We shared a grin.

Opening the door to the fourth side room, I commanded my Golem to remain at the rear of our group. I released my flame into the room at an angle to give Aeris a clear doorway to work with. She handled the rest.

Like a pillar of tornadic wind, Aeris’s Gust spell gushed into the room, picking up my flames and supplying them all the oxygen they could ever want. They burst into life.

If it weren’t for Mana Sight, I wouldn’t have even been able to see the four Elementals at all. Even then, I was only able to make out one of them that was off to the side because of the angle I was at. The wall itself had mana as did the fire, and wind magic was streaming into the room. It was too much obstruction to see through. The mob’s brown aura was overshadowed by the red mana of fire, but it was still clear enough that I could see its outline.

After five seconds had passed I started to get worried. I feared one of the Elementals would get off a Rock Fist before they were finished.

The outline of the Elemental started to get harder and harder to see until it had faded from view.

“Stop!” I called, cutting off my fire spell.

As soon as Aeris halted her own spell I stepped between her and the entrance to the room with my shield ready.

As the seconds ticked by and the magic in the air started to settle, I still couldn’t see any sign of the Earth Elementals, so I started to hope.

“I leveled!” Travis cried.

Even after the magic in the air had faded back, the entire room was still aglow with the Red Mana. Drawing back the amount of mana channeling into Mana Sight, I looked into the room and saw what was left of the mobs with my own eyes.

They stood about half the size they had originally but were nothing more than melted piles of stone.

“Okay, now that’s hot. Rock doesn’t melt like that until about 1,100 to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit,” Russ said with a whistle. “Wait. Close the door!”

Travis did as he said, but not without having to jump back from the remaining heat.

I think everyone had an idea what Russ was thinking.

“Aeris,” I said. “How many more times can you cast that spell until you need to rest for mana?”

“Two more,” she replied eagerly.

“Okay. Russ, we are going to need your expertise here. Let’s create some Elemental-filled furnaces.”

“Dude!” he responded.

“What about the drops?” Travis asked.

“We can mine them out later,” Russ answered.

“Okay. Well, I might need an oven mitt to close the door…” Travis added, scratching his head. “My gloves do nothing against this heat.”

“I got the doors,” Olivia insisted. “Why send a human when a plant can do it?”

***

We moved onto the room with five Elementals. I had Aeris take extra precaution by hiding behind her shield. In the same way as before, I released my flames into the room at an angle and Aeris’s wind caught it and roared into life.

The cyclone of Fire and Wind Magic took little time to fill the room. We pushed it for a good ten seconds before we checked. All five Elementals were giant mushrooms of melted rock.

There was a four-minute timer on the respawn of room four and a three minute one on room three. We moved back to room three and roasted us some more Elementals.

“We have about a minute before room four respawns,” I said to everyone. “Aeris, do you need to rest?”

“Give me about two minutes and I’ll be ready for one more.”

As we waited, everyone examined their character sheets to get a look at their new stats. Now that I was a slightly higher level than the Elementals and grouped with the others, it would take about forty Elementals for me to level up once. If we could literally turn rooms three, four and five into furnaces it wouldn’t matter. We might have found the ultimate way to farm experience from these mobs. Once I reached about level 330, the experience I was getting would plummet and it would be time for me to move on.

We approached room four with Aeris ready to go. I had everyone stand back for a moment as I took a look inside with Invisibility cloaking me. Even though it had been four minutes I snagged one with Creature Indicator and watched as HP rolled off of them at a rate of about 50 HP a second. It was all thanks to the remaining heat. It should take a little less than four minutes for them to die without our help.

Stepping back, I cast Flame Thrower and Aeris followed up with Gust. I stopped her after about five seconds, half the time it had taken us before.

“Close the door!” I commanded.

Olivia’s vine rose up from the ground and pushed the door shut.

“That should do it,” Russ agreed.

“Watch your experience bars,” I replied.

Everyone did so without another word.

As the seconds passed I began to think we had closed the door too early. No crashing sound came from the other side of the door, so I wondered if the heat also worked like a debuff, slowing them down as they melted.

The first Elemental fell. Like dominos, my experience bar rose incrementally as each mob died soon after.

“Ha!” Russ bellowed. “Let me check the room.”

I watched with Mana Sight as crystalline mana gathered at his eyes in the same way Mana Sight did for me. It seemed all examination skills worked in a similar manner.

“You probably don’t need to use as much mana next time,” Russ said, giving me a thumbs up. “Travis!” he called. “Let’s work out while these beautiful people handle the mobs.”

“Hey! That’s not fair,” Olivia complained with a pout.

“Sure it is,” he replied with a wide grin. “You guys have magic. We don’t. When you need us we’ll be ready. Until then, we might as well gain a few extra stats.”

“Makes sense to me,” I said.

We experimented by only casting three seconds of Dragon’s Fire into room five. It worked, but it was about fifteen seconds before they died.

I leveled up.

Russ checked again, and we continued our experiment on the next room. About four seconds ended up being just about right, not just to kill the Elementals, but to keep the room at the right temperature so that it stayed hot for the next spawn.

I was on a pace to level about once every twenty minutes, but everyone else got about four or five levels in the same amount of time. It may not have been as fast as I could have leveled if I had gone off on my own to grind Greater Elementals, but a promise was a promise and this wasn’t bad at all. Besides, if the coming battles were really going to start getting harder, then having a group that could realistically have my back would be priceless.

The other larger group split into two while staying grouped as they took on room one and two at the same time. Their rate of leveling wasn’t nearly as fast as ours, but the solo Elemental spawned after a minute in room one and the two Elementals took two minutes to respawn in room two. It gave them plenty to keep them busy and to keep leveling at a steady pace.

As we started to master managing the ovens that were rooms three, four and five, the respawn times gave us enough downtime to keep the cycle going indefinitely. One hour turned into two, then three finally came.

Aeris neared level 211. I could see the nervous energy build in her with every level she got. By the time the three hours had passed, she was just one level away. 1,000 Wisdom was within her grasp.

Whether she realized it or not, instead of walking heel to toe, she never left the ball of her foot. She sprang along as we approached the next room.

“This is it!” she squealed, unable to hold herself back as we readied for room four. “How about we turn up the heat?”

The spring in her step turned into a full-on skip.

“Okay, but don’t blow me away,” I reminded her.

“I’ll try not to,” she said, doing an about face and sharing a mischievous grin. With a jump she twisted, landing in a side stance as her visor slammed down. She held her shield high and her hand back, curled up in a claw. She looked like a battlemage from an over the top anime who was getting ready to do battle.

“You go, girl!” Olivia called as she commanded her vine to open the door.

My flame leaped into action.

As Aeris cast her spell, her arm shot forward.

The surplus of mana I saw her exude through Mana Sight caused me to take a step back.

Somehow, she was able to funnel two to three times the amount of air that she had before through that single doorway. There was so much force that I had to double the amount of mana I had funneled into Flame Thrower, otherwise she would just push my flame off to the side.

My flames only stopped when her eyes went wide. She didn’t bother to check the room to see if the Elementals were dead.

After what we had just done, neither did I.

She removed her helmet and inventoried it immediately. She skimmed over her character sheet and increased her Wisdom stat. As she checked her new popups her demeanor changed.

Moisture started to build up in the corners of her eyes. When a tear fell, her eyes dropped to the floor. She stood motionless for a long moment.

“Aeris,” I said in a low tone.

Her eyes slowly moved to find my own. She blinked, sending another tear down both sides of her cheeks.

I had experienced the same jump in power that she was experiencing now. I knew how overwhelming it could be.

Opening her mouth to say something, she couldn’t find the words. Instead of telling us what was going on in her head, she showed us.

Suddenly, the air in the hall started to churn around her feet. It rolled across the ground in all directions. We all felt the strength that was behind those waves of wind.

She started to rise. Plate mail and all, her feet left the ground. At first, it was an inch, but soon she floated there with a foot between her and the floor as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As she hovered there she started to remove her armor.

I walked forward to help her, finding it more and more difficult to take each step. If I still had the strength of a normal human, it would have been impossible.

As I helped her from her armor, she finally spoke above the wind. “I’m not meant to wear armor, Elorion! I can fly for fourteen minutes with it on, but forever without it!”

I nodded. Whether I agreed with her assessment or not, how could I say anything now while she was enjoying the moment?

Tears were streaming out of her eyes, but the wind was too fierce for them to roll down her cheeks. They were carried off before they met her cheeks.

No one complained when we missed the timer to move on to the next room.

I inventoried her armor, knowing that it would weigh her down even if she placed it in her inventory. Later, I would have to try to persuade her to keep it, or at least trade it in for something that had better protection than a pink shirt and athletic pants.

As she lost the armor, the wind that streamed off of her calmed considerably.

“I’m not sure I ever want to come down,” she said, giggling.

“If one of you makes an airhead joke, you will have to answer to me!” Olivia warned, walking up now that the air pressure had calmed and standing at her friend’s side.

That sent Aeris into a laughing fit as she rolled back in the air and hung there floating on her back.

We gave her a few minutes to calm down. No one had to remind her we were still in the middle of hunting.

“Let’s go. Elorion, this time, let me. You can sit this one out!” she teased, sticking out her tongue.

Standing before the entrance of the fifth room alone, she wasn’t even holding her shield. With one hand behind her back, she reached forward with her ringed hand.

Air started to churn. Her heels left the ground first, but she continued to rise until her toes left the floor.

A beam of air, much more compressed than I had ever seen her cast, tore through the air.

With Mana Sight at its max, I hurried to get to an angle that would allow me to see.

The wind that entered the room started to cyclone. It grabbed the heat that was still there and smothered the room with it. But the heat wouldn’t be the creatures’ undoing. The Elementals quickly became airborne and slammed against the ceiling. Even as they struggled, the upward air pressure held them in check.

When the wind stopped, the mobs fell to the floor, many of them in pieces. Those that were still alive liquified to repair themselves and moved to get to their feet. They didn’t make it.

Almost quicker than I could perceive, even at five times my normal speed, three quarter-sized air masses darted into the room, one after another. They pierced through the chest of each Elemental, eating away the rest of their HP entirely.

“Olivia,” Aeris said, summoning her.

The smirk Olivia had as she looked Aeris in the eye gave me pause.

“It’s time we bring the groups together. Get Audrey,” Aeris said.

“We need another fire mage?” Olivia asked.

Turning to me, Aeris gave me a pout. “Yes. It’s time we kick Elorion out of the group. Don’t you think?” she said, looking back to Olivia for approval.

There was no hesitation. A smile filled Olivia’s face.

A touch of solemnity softened Aeris’s features as she turned back to me. “Your high level is slowing us down and I know you aren’t getting nearly the experience that you could elsewhere, Elorion. These mobs are still one hundred levels higher than we are, so you better get busy or we really will catch you.”

Crossing my arms, I arched my head back and looked down my nose. “So that’s how it is, huh?”

She held up a finger, stopping me from continuing.

“How many levels until you reach 1,000 Wisdom, Olivia?” Aeris asked.

“Thirty-three,” she replied.

“See? You better get busy. If you don’t reach 1,000 Intelligence soon, you are in danger of becoming old news,” Aeris said, finishing with a wink.

“Challenge accepted,” I replied. “Just know that I am taking my bacon jerky with me.”

Rolling her eyes, she blew in my face. I felt the air pressure build until I had to step back to keep from falling.

“What, no kiss?” I badgered.

She lit up like a red lightbulb.

I turned and walked away before she could respond.

Chapter 11 – Bash

It may have been a joke, but there was a lot of truth to what Aeris had prodded me with. She was the first person other than myself to reach 1,000 in any stat. The bonuses that came with reaching that level were almost beyond belief.

More than that, her talent was in an Elemental Magic. After seeing how my fire and ice spells compared with our fire and ice mages who were half my level, I knew any Blue Magic Wind spell that I might get in the future would never be able to compete with what she was capable of. Not without a lot more mana behind it.

Soon, every caster would reach 1,000 in their stat of choice. It boded well for our survival as a group. I didn’t even have a clue how that would affect our bashers and weapon specialists. What would I become? Sure, I was ahead in level now, but a year from now… Would I end up primarily as a healer with little else except some additional tricks?

What of my Blue Magic? Its utility was amazing, but as my companions became more and more proficient, I feared my elemental spells would become useless. Things like Invisibility would always have worth as I suspected Pain and Decay would in the right situation. My questions multiplied, but there was no use worrying about it. I had some Greater Earth Elementals to kill.

I stood in front of the sixth side room that most likely led to a solo Greater Elemental. Looking through the stone bars that blocked me from progressing to the next room, I saw two Greater Earth Elementals standing on the other side motionless. They were waiting for me to pull the lever to raise the bone gate between us.

I was level 326. In 14 levels I would reach 1,000 Intelligence. Exactly what that would mean I didn’t know, but I did know it should compare to the jump in power I had received when I reached 1,000 Wisdom.

With a sigh, I opened the door.

My Earth Golem sped in. I commanded it to brace itself against the wall and put all of its effort into blocking with its shield.

The Greater Earth Elemental didn’t hesitate to leap in its direction.

An idea had been gathering in the back of my mind as I had fought with the other captives. Mana Sight gave me some interesting options that would have been impossible without it.

The Greater Elemental sent an overhand cross dead center into my Golem’s bone shield.

-324 HP

I rushed forward fully armored, but with my helmet inventoried cutting 5k HP from my total. Skeleton General’s Horned Helm had replaced it so that my face would remain open and unguarded.  I raised my shield as I closed in but left my face wide open. I opened my mouth.

Flame Thrower raged into the flank of the Greater Elemental. I focused on keeping an angle where I wouldn’t fry my Golem.

When fighting the Elementals before, I had found myself channeling more and more mana into Wail of the Banshee because I found no way to direct the damage to a point. Its sonic waves just spread out too rapidly. There was one thing I could do to make up for that. Get closer.

As flames spewed out of my mouth, engulfing its body and blinding me to the Elemental’s dangerous arms and legs, I had Mana Sight cranked up to five times normal perception. Everything seemed to move five times slower. It also allowed me to see the creature’s magical form through my stream of red mana from Flame Thrower. This way if the mob threw an attack I would see it coming.

The Elemental turned its attention from my Golem to me. Its right fist came in wide in what looked to be a right hook. Without Mana Sight accelerating my perceptions, I would have been through. This thing was at least twice as fast as the regular Elementals.

Ducking beneath it, I readied my bone-encased scepter across my chest.

I watched as its arm slowly passed overhead.

Rising up, I swung down. The base of its neck was in my sights. As my scepter neared, I cut the mana to Flame Thrower and let Wail of the Banshee explode from the scepter’s sweet spot. My buffed up 430 Strength and 437 Dexterity worked together to place what I hoped to be a crippling strike.

The impact was gleefully catastrophic.

-3,288 HP.

A tremor shot through the mob’s torso, loosening its structure like a dog shaking off dirt.

It wasn’t over.

The Elemental’s leg swung at me in a low shin kick.

My scepter met it, once again unleashing a burst from Wail of the Banshee on contact.

-2,221 HP

The mob’s leg flew loose of its body and impacted the other side of the room.

In two hits a third of its HP was gone and the advantage was mine.

As it started to fall, I lunged forward, intercepting it. Wail of the Banshee burst from my shield as I slammed it into the Elemental, blasting it off its feet to skid across the floor.

-1,780 HP

Casting through my shield wasn’t nearly as powerful as my scepter but it did work. Maybe I just needed more practice.

True, the Elemental was fast, but I had two times its Dexterity. It was still dangerous because of its 500 strength, but with my stats and Mana Sight, it just couldn’t touch me.

My Scepter came down on the back of its head.

-8,763 HP

Its ungainly body lost all strength, collapsed, and dirtied the ground with gravel and dust.

My idea had exceeded all my expectations. Instead of the 3,000 MP, or more, to clear a room of Elementals, it had just cost me about 1,200. All I’d have to do was make sure I cast Flame Thrower long enough to make the Greater Elementals brittle. The bursts of Wail of the Banshee could cost much less than the typical cast, not to mention that I didn’t even have to channel excess mana into it. I suspected I could clear a room of five of these without spending a full 2,000 MP once I perfected the bursts of magic. That was something I could recover from in less than a minute!

The real question was, could I survive long enough at a melee distance to make it worth the mana savings?

Turning my attention to the drops, what I saw pleased me.

8 oz of Iron Ore

2 oz of Bauxite Ore

3 oz Firazite

Seeing the sudden increase in Iron Ore, I saw it as time for a Golem changeup. Dismissing my current one, I took 6 Iron Ore in my gauntlet and cast Animation, letting the ore fall as they transformed.

Animation has reached Level 3!

Iron Ore Golem

Level: 226

Health Points: 7,530

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 276

Dexterity: 100

Constitution: 753

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

It looked like this one was limited to 100 levels less than my own, just like the ones before. Even after reaching level 3 in Animation there seemed to be no change except that the cost of the spell went down by 50 MP for each level. The large HP gain was exactly what I needed at this point. It was perfect.

I remembered the war hammer I had found before entering the Bone Palace. Pulling it out, I examined its stats.

War Hammer of Howling

+50 to Wind Damage

+70 to Sonic Damage

I considered it for a moment but dismissed it quickly enough. If I had had no elemental damage at all to speak of the hammer may have been worth using, but I had another option.

I channeled 500 MP more into Muscular Buff, giving me an additional 150 Strength and Dexterity. It was time to go fire-breathing battlemage on these mobile dirt dudes.

The last Elemental respawned one more time before I pulled the lever to face the next two. With Mana Sight, I made it through the fight with little effort.

I was back to only needing to kill eight to ten of them for each level I gained.

A stone fist was already airborne as I exited the room.

“There he is!” Travis called out in relief. His words were drawn out and distorted while I used Mana Sight.

Oops. That was right. The others were close by.

My mouth slowly turned up in a grin as I leaped to intercept the Elemental’s flying fist. With my scepter arching back, I swung down, battering the projectile towards the inner wall of the palace, away from the others.

As it drummed against the wall, I leaped again.

The closest Greater Earth Elemental was already barreling for my Golem.

Landing between them, I squatted down and braced for impact.

Wail of the Banshee screamed from my shield as we collided.

I surged up with my legs, lifting the Elemental from the floor with my shield and flinging it back as the spell helped repel it.

I had just manhandled a man-sized rock monster. My physical stats went a lot further than I thought. Why haven’t I been doing this all along?

In two strides I met the next Elemental, my scepter clipping its forward leaning knee as it swung at me. As it fell, I drove it hard to the ground and let Wail of the Banshee sound for an extra second.

-3,009 HP

Even without Flamethrower, the damage I was doing was devastating. Still, efficiency was its own reward. Besides, people were watching.

Flame Thrower roared to life from my mouth as I stood over the downed Greater Elemental.

As its arms reached to push itself up, I swatted them away through my flames, momentarily engulfing my hand and scepter in the heat. I took no damage but was unsure about my equipment.

Seeing the other Elemental was still on its rear, I turned back to the one at my feet and leveled my scepter down upon the mob’s back from high overhead. Sonic magic burst through it as I bashed it to death.

After three strikes it was finished. I dug my foot into the ground, springing from where I stood and rushed to the other mob that was making it back to its feet.

My Golem readied his bone shield to take a blow.

I let my flames leap from my mouth to cake the Elemental’s head in fire.

A giant stone fist smacked into my Golem’s shield. The blow drove him back about a foot.

-322 HP

There you go, Rock-boy! It’s your turn!

I gave the command.

My Golem’s fist flew right at the Elemental’s face.

The shot caught the Elemental on the chin, driving the mob’s head back.

-437 HP

That’s my boy!

As the Elemental reached for my Golem, I bounded forward, smashing my scepter into the Elemental’s face as I passed by.

I turned to see a headless Elemental.

-6,885 HP

Commanding my Golem to retreat, flames escaped my mouth once again. I cast Wail of the Banshee from the end of my scepter as its point touched the Elemental’s back.

Three seconds later it disintegrated, falling to my feet in a pile of rubble.

It struck me as uncomfortably quiet.

Turning, I saw about a dozen pairs of eyes staring at me dumbfounded. Aeris was among them. She floated a few inches off the ground with her head cocked to the side and a curious look on her face.

“What are you guys looking at? It’s not like I can fly, or anything,” I jeered.

Turning my back to them, I collected my loot and approached side room seven, that should hold two more Greater Earth Elementals. All the while, I was internally pumping my fist in the air and screaming, ‘Awesome points!’

Chapter 12 – Mind Synergy

My stats were beyond my level, yet I had kept myself from melee combat except in cases when I needed a little physical exertion. It was something I really should have tested earlier than today.

My skill level was probably below average with my scepter, but because of Mana Sight, I could consider each movement I made before I made it. It was a concept that completely flew in the face of anything I knew about real fighting. A fighter normally trained his body to develop the appropriate muscle memory and relied on the experience of past fights and training to direct their actions when the moment came. Strategy was often settled before the fight even began. There were fighters that thrived entirely off instinct, but normally the greatest fighters were the greatest preemptive planners.

In my case, I indeed had a strategy planned beforehand, but, as the fight progressed, I could take the time to study my opponents and change things up as needed. Still, it wasn’t nearly as safe as it had been when I focused on nothing but casting. If I didn’t push myself, then I wouldn’t know what I was capable of.

Even at half their level, my Golem was no pushover. Charging the two Greater Elementals, he barreled into the closest one. A battering from the mob’s fist didn’t slow him. He ran right through it and drove his shield into its chest.

Commanding my Golem to flee to the flank, I roasted the Elementals as I ran forward. I gained their attention.

It was time I made better use of my minion.

My Golem clobbered the Elemental he’d rushed in the back with his fist.

-388 HP

I leaped high in the air, flying at the opposite Elemental with my flames still blazing out of my mouth.

The mob’s fist left its arm and darted toward me.

It was simple enough to pick the right angle to swat it to the side. Using the same momentum from the swat, I brought my scepter up and crashed it down upon the Elemental’s arm with all my weight behind it. Wail of the Banshee sounded.

The mob’s arm shattered as I struck it, not even slowing the momentum of my downward swing. Its shoulder gave way. The rest of its arm fell away entirely as its thick torso took the rest of the impact.

-8,601 HP

It grabbed at its own shoulder that was no longer there and clawed at its back, trying to hold itself together from the massive cracks that had snaked down its torso.

As it liquified, I showed it no mercy. Stepping into my next swing, I caved in its gut.

-4,116 HP

I watched it struggle to hold itself together and finished it with a Wailing shield bash.

-2,500 HP

I was in time to see the second Elemental swing at my Golem’s head.

Instead of blocking, I commanded him to duck.

The swing missed.

My Golem grabbed at the mob’s front leg and placed all his weight into his shoulder as he tackled it to the ground.

Already in the air, I fell toward it like a meteor in plate mail.

Was my enemy braced against the stone floor?

A manic grin struck my face as my scepter surged down.

-16,413 HP

The Greater Elemental’s torso collapsed.

You have reached level 327!

I took a few deep breaths to recover. Looking at my Character Sheet, my Endurance was still 3,693 out of 3,768 and climbing rapidly. It didn’t look like I would have much of a problem with running out of steam by the time I made it to the five Greater Earth Elementals.

Pulling the lever to face three Elementals next, I hurried out to find the stone bars lifting to reveal my next challenge. It was not as efficient as creating a bunch of furnaces to melt the mobs en masse, but the more I fought with my shield and scepter, the better I felt.

***

Leveling one mob with my shield as my Golem got the next, I bombarded them with fire and sonic destruction. My scepter was becoming far more than just a tool to buff my Light Magic.

I had never been a good dancer, nor really cared to be, but as I moved on to face four Elementals at a time, then five, my mind seemed to relax, and I didn’t have to think about each and every action. The strangest thing happened. I started to have fun.

With inhuman strength, speed and perception, I tore through the living rocks like a toddler does a sandcastle. If I focused only on what needed to be done next, I would miss the way it felt to wield such unbelievable power. For hundreds of years, no living human had been given the opportunity to experience something like this. It was wrong not to appreciate it. To enjoy it.

My mood took a dive when I realized that there was so much good I could do with this kind of power in the world above. If I ever made it home, seeing my mother would be only the beginning. What would I be called to do if that ever happened? What of my healing ability?

Shaking my head clear so as not to dwell too much on life’s what-ifs, I floated through the mist of the Greater Elementals, driving Wail of the Banshee into their chests, shoulders and backs. Collapsing one at the hip, I smacked it upside the back of the head as I spun and battered another one.

I stood in the midst of five piles of rubble. My chest heaved, but only once to settle my breathing back to normal.

The popup before me was the one I had been waiting for.

You have reached level 340!

Leaving the side room and closing the door behind me, I cut mana from my Golem and let myself settle into Invisibility to be as alone as possible. My friends were within shouting distance, but unless I opened the final gate to the next hall, they would be paying attention to their own situation.

Looking at the 5 points I had just earned, I had a sudden thought. What would happen if I didn’t place them? What if I stopped everything now, went back to our base and stopped fighting entirely? There was no doubt the others would catch me in a matter of days. Death would probably come to me soon after. The succubi would kill me if the Mistress didn’t after she realized I was no longer leveling up. It really wasn’t a choice.

I now knew what it felt like to glimpse into the realm of magic and become one with it, if only for a moment. I had felt what it was like to crush rock and dominate anything that stood before me. My progress had been incredibly fast. Was this an opportunity I could really walk away from? There was no doubt in my mind what the answer was.

I clicked the arrow to add five to my Intelligence stat. It reached 1,000.

Intermediate Mana Manipulation Understood

The amount of mana you receive per point of Intelligence now has a multiplier of 150.

Meditation is no longer necessary to reach your maximum mana.

Note: Meditation is still useful for increasing your mana per minute.

The increase in the amount of mana was absolutely insane. When the Head Mistress had said that the path of Wisdom was greater than Intelligence, did she expect me to figure out that I should be 1,000 in this stat, or was I going against her recommendation?

Natural Channeling

You have mastered the flow of mana.

Channeling is now twice as effective.

Your channeled spells no longer have an effective cap on how powerful they can become. Your only limitation is the amount of mana you possess.

You are now able to supply a spell with less mana than is normally required to cast a lesser form of even the subtlest spells.

The only limitation to how powerful my spells could become was the amount of mana I possessed. I was shaking my head.

Mind Synergy

Your Intelligence and Wisdom have both surpassed the capability of greater beings.

All other mana costs and power buffs that affect your spells are negated. This replaces them.

All spells cost 80% less mana to cast.

All spells are 100% more powerful when cast.

For each point of Intelligence over 1,000, power is increased by an additional .02%.

My eyes settled on my total mana. 161,577. Not only had my maximum mana gone up by 120k, but I would no longer have to meditate to reach it!

I fell back on my rear and sat there, staring off as I considered the possibilities. My next goal was to reach 10,000 Wisdom, but that was 1,800 levels away. I wasn’t even level 1,800 yet. Not even a quarter of the way there. There was so much power at my fingertips. If I ever reached 10,000 Wisdom… I couldn’t even fathom that.

Should I get Constitution or Dexterity to 1,000 as well? It was tempting. For only a couple hundred levels I could greatly increase my survival ability.

I continued shaking my head at the possibilities.

No longer was I concerned with how many spells I could cast. I was imagining what kind of new spells I could create with the manipulation of other spells.

Checking Meditation, it seemed its only use now was for when I needed a faster rate of mana regen.

As I thought about it, I strolled over to room eight that possessed three Greater Earth Elementals. I deposited my shield and scepter and opened the door.

I didn’t have Aeris here to increase the effectiveness of Flame Thrower, but then again, it was no longer necessary. Extending both hands, I channeled 5,000 MP into each and drenched the room with fire. Now that channeling was twice as potent as it had been before, my flames licked against the Greater Elementals and they began melting on contact.

Closing the door, I trapped the heat inside and moved on to the next room. Within a few minutes, I had five furnaces blazing. Level 400 here I come!

Chapter 13 – Hellfire

A scream rose up from among the other humans near the entrance of the hall, sending a shudder of alarm up and down my spine. The panic that accompanied the scream became a breathless cry, desperate with terror.

Other voices joined the panic as I turned to see what could possibly be going on. There was no way the Earth Elementals had gotten the better of them, was there?

Suddenly, I found it difficult to breathe. My throat was dry. Hellacious flames now suffocated the entrance to the long hall where we had been hunting.

With Mana Sight, I saw a cloud of crimson power moving about amid the others with ungodly speed. They were in trouble.

I burst from where I was standing to close in on the enemy. I had to get an idea of what was going on.

As I neared, I leaped, throwing 500 mana per minute into Mana Sight to focus my mind as much as was possible. Time seemingly slowed to a trickle as I rose into the air. Then I saw clearly what was attacking us.

It was dark as charcoal with fire blazing out of the sides of its mouth. Instead of ears or a tail, fire glowed in their place. Mistress Nava’s pet Hell Hound held Audrey clenched in its jaws around the waist. It was the size of a short, blocky horse.

Hell Hound

Level:?

Health Points:?

It was such a high level that Creature Observation couldn’t give me any information. It was over level 800.

You are unable to learn this spell at this time.

There was a single popup indicating there was Blue Magic to steal from it. I ignored it for now.

There was so much crimson energy coming off of it that I didn’t think Heal would do any damage to the creature itself, but I cast Advanced Heal anyways in its natural form on Audrey.

A sheet of healing magic sped toward her as she suffered within the monster’s grasp.

The three sledge brothers were on their rear, except for Skyler who was picking himself off the floor.

Part of me wanted to find humor in the wide-mouthed distortion of his face. He was about to launch a war cry before initiating his next attack.

Russ and Travis had been tossed back toward the wall by the entrance.

Our casters prepared to respond, with only Aeris already sending Wind Bullets into the creature’s hide from high overhead.

I saw no sure way to win this.

Allowing my perception of time to tick down to just 3 times faster, it was just enough so that I could direct my spells without waiting long moments for my body to respond to what I was telling it to do.

A charged Ice Shard darted toward it.

As Audrey was blanketed in my healing spell, I saw there was still life in her as she squirmed to get out of its jaws.

The Hell Hound didn’t even flinch as the light magic drenched its head and snout.

-668 HP

It took damage, but it wasn’t even a fifth of Advanced Healing’s normal dealing.

Ice Shard shattered against the mob’s backbone.

-1,098 HP

What?!

Not only did Ice Shard only do a fraction of what it did against the Earth Elementals, it proved that ice against fire would not always work.

As I landed just behind the others, I saw Aeris hovering insanely close to the Hell Hound, maybe a foot from its nose. Her hand was extended as if she was reaching to grab the mob by the head.

There was an enormous burst of Wind Magic as a fully charged Wind Slash hammered into the top of its skull.

With a whip of its head to shake off the attack, the Hell Hound tossed Audrey against the wall with a sickening thud.

I stared blank faced.

Aeris shot up in the air as the Hell Hound snapped at her. She was one of the few fast enough to dodge the mob’s speed.

Advanced Heal flew towards the location in which Audrey had fallen. I found myself shaking as I channeled mana into it.

Dropping my shield, I lifted my other hand and stalked forward.

There was something I had only tested once, back before I had reached 1,000 Intelligence. Then, it had failed miserably.

Other spells reached for the Hell Hound as Aeris flew about, daring it to catch her.

I shouldered my way past Clarissa and Olivia. There was no time to go around or apologize.

With astonishment, I watched Skyler tear at the ground as he charged forward with a speed that completely contradicted his normally moderate but forceful movements.

An unintelligible howl escaped his lips as he dragged his hammer through the air, over his shoulder and down on the Hell Hound’s neck.

-1,633 HP

The monster hunched down from the impact. It turned slowly as flames started to pour out of its mouth with more intensity.

Skyler wasn’t dissuaded. He reached up with his sledgehammer to strike again. He would be dead before he even made the next swing.

Reaching the front of the line, I grabbed his arm at the elbow and jerked him back, sending him flailing. Face to face with the deadly hound, my empty hand shot forward as its mouth inched open to devour me.

Summoning more mana at one time than I had ever dared, I forced 50,000 MP into my palm.

The air itself seemed to tremble as energy accumulated.

For a moment, my heart seemed to stop beating in my chest, or perhaps it was no longer able to beat when it was close to such power.

The base spell I was casting was Ice Shard, but as it started to form I used mana manipulation to create something else. Something I hoped would save us, or at least buy us some time.

I saw it coming but I didn’t have the physical ability to move fast enough. The Hell Hound’s jaw clenched down on my arm just below the elbow.

I gritted my teeth as my vambrace started to give way. I experience the entire thing in slow motion. My own mail dug deep into the muscle of my arm. The pressure increased quickly. As it reached the bone, there was a moment of resistance. Then came the crunch.

-8,324 HP

Pain didn’t come immediately. For a moment, I experience my crushed arm like it was simply a broken tool.

The first throb swam up my elbow and into my shoulder like the tentacles of a jellyfish were wrapped around it. Electricity burned through me and stunned me where I stood.

I could almost feel liquid adrenaline rush through me as my body responded to the pain. A new clarity of focus brightened up the world around me.

The Hell Hound dragged me from my feet with the twist of its head and tossed me toward the inner wall away from where it had thrown Audrey. Suddenly, I was airborne, inching toward the wall in slow motion.

I had the clarity of mind to continue to funnel healing magic in Audrey’s direction with my good arm. In my left, the mana I had been preparing was ready.

Ice erupted from the palm of my shattered arm with more brutality than Dragon’s Fire. Unlike water that fills up every empty space, ice bites into everything in its path.

Just yesterday I had been trying to duplicate the glacier defense I had seen the vampire, Lord Darius, use against the Head Mistress. I had no success. But now that my channeling of magic wasn’t limited by my inexperience and lack of skill, I fed this slight variation of the spell what it had been missing before, an enormous amount of mana.

Even as the monstrous hound threw me aside, ice-filled its still open mouth with razor freeze. When the ice found no more room to move forward it clawed its way into every open space, scurrying out of its mouth and completely enveloping the beast in a tomb of ice.

There was nothing I could do to lessen the impact as I sped backward. I tried to relax my body as much as possible as I collided back first against the stone wall.

-1,852 HP

I greedily healed myself as I slid down the wall and landed on my knees. The spell didn’t affect my arm because my plate mail was still wrenched solidly into my flesh like a crushed aluminum can.

Letting time speed up so the throbs of pain didn’t seem to last as long, I could just make out the beast encapsulated under feet of ice. I had no idea how much damage had been done to it since it was now hidden.

I let my lungs empty themselves as I struggled to fill them again. I quickly named my new spell Ice Prison.

Looking at my friends, I saw the shock on everyone’s faces. Even Olivia, who I had inadvertently pushed to the ground in my rush forward, just stared wide-eyed.

“Elorion!” Aeris cried.

I saw her kneeling at Audrey’s side, to whom I was still channeling healing magic.

Aeris’s forlorn expression sent my insides cringing.

Had I been too late?

A single drop of ice melt stole my attention. Steam started to rise off of the frozen boulder covering the Hell Hound.

I shouted for everyone to jump back. Glancing at my status, I saw I only had 69,947 MP left. Before entering into the battle, I had already spent 20k MP while cooking the Greater Earth Elementals. After all the healing and my stunt with ice magic, I had spent an additional 70k MP.

As if a horse-sized blowtorch had suddenly been lit, the ice that covered the Hell Hound seemed to skip its liquid form and turned directly into steam.

The creature’s flesh that had once been dark as charcoal now glowed with orange fire. The flames of its ears and tail raged feet into the air.

My new spell hadn’t even given us a chance to escape. Its fire was just too hot.

The hound let its jaw droop. Fire rolled out. The flames danced about in the reflection of its eyes as they bore into me.

All my fears were being realized. Had all my leveling been for nothing?

I increased my mana flow to Mana Sight, choking down the pain, and considered trying to escape. With a little luck, I knew I would be able to make it, but the others didn’t have a chance. Aeris could. Travis could possibly outrun it and Steve had stealth. If we all fled now, maybe three or four of us would make it out alive.

It leaped toward me. That movement was all it took for me to know that as its flames increased, so had its speed.

Cutting off mana from my healing magic, I threw away all thoughts of fleeing. Alpha Bolt came to mind, but I didn’t have the time to test it. I knew light magic did very little damage. Ice also did less damage than normal, but it had hurt it.

Jumping to the side, I fled where it was about to land as I prepared my next spell. My left arm hung limply at my side.

Before the Hell Hound hit the ground, the earth itself reached up like a giant fist and grabbed the mob around the torso.

Looking back, I saw Clarissa in as much shock as I was. This Earth Magic wasn’t hers.

Then, I saw Rock Hard, the Earth Level Overseer, hanging from the ceiling overhead. If the shaft connecting him with the rock above was any indicator, he was one with the stone here.

“Bad pooch!” Rock Hard echoed. “I just received a message from Master. I can’t let you harm the humans.”

The Hell Hound’s flames surged, but his flame seemed to have no effect on the metallic rock that now held him.

There was no telling how long the spell would last, so I didn’t hesitate.

With my scepter overhead, I channeled another 50k MP into the base spell Ice Shard. If a charged shard wouldn’t do it and I couldn’t imprison it in ice, there was a much more vicious idea that came to mind.

Ice started to accumulate above me. This time I manipulated the magic into a grand spear. It was twice as long as a man with a shaft as thick as a bowling ball. I tried to compress the ice as much as possible.

Before I let the Ice Spear fly, Rock Hard raised a brow like he had just figured out what I was planning to do.

The colossal ice missile was hard to get moving. I feared I was spending the rest of my mana and the spell holding the hound would fail before I could get it to do any damage. It was the slowest attack spell I had ever cast.

I pumped the appropriate mana into my eyes, preparing for Force Learn as I struggled to get it to fly.

The Hell Hound’s flames blazed hotter.

As Ice Spear neared, it opened its mouth and snapped down on the sharp tip of the frozen missile.

I pumped the remaining mana I had into trying to manipulate it to move faster. I faltered and fell forward, landing on one knee. I had spent my remaining mana. All of it. It took everything for me to just hold my head upright. The muscles in my neck started to quiver as I did.

The tip of my ice spear drove into the Hell Hound’s mouth. Because of its enormous weight, it didn’t slow. As it pierced the beast, relief flooded me as I unleashed Force Learn.

Time stopped as I was pulled into the Hell Hound’s center. Crimson mana raged from the beast, but it was starting to leak out from the wound that was opening up in its throat. That was when I saw its magic core. It wasn’t just a single orb, but a Dark Orb that had grasped hold of the creature’s separate Fire Orb with dark tentacles. The Dark Orb acted as the mob’s core, supplying the Hell Hound with life and consciousness. The Fire Orb was its power.

You have learned the Blue Magic Canine’s Sense of Smell!

There was so much weight behind the ice spear that it completely impaled the hound, exiting out its backend and digging deep into the stone floor.

-88,427 HP

Steaming Hell Hound popsicle anyone?

I completely ignored the popups I received and caught myself with my good arm as my head started to swim. I didn’t have time for this. Pushing myself up, I stumbled over to Aeris who still kneeled at Audrey’s side.

“Your healing magic didn’t work. She’s dying,” Aeris said with a somber tone.

I would have removed my vambrace and gauntlet on my injured arm first, but I had no clue how to bend the steel back without also putting pressure on my injury. I could just cut my arm off and hope healing would restore it. Sure. Why not? I rolled my eyes at the madness of the idea.

Trying to ignore my arm, I let it relax as much as possible as I cradled it against my stomach. I turned my full attention to Audrey’s condition.

Blood was covering the lower part of her leather vest, which had probably saved her from a quick death. Her face was balmy, and her eyes searched the room blankly.

Cranking up the mana to Mana Sight, I saw that I had only recovered 432 MP. It was climbing, but I didn’t know how much mana I would need to heal her, or if I even could.

It was immediately clear that Audrey, unlike the Earth Elemental and the Hell Hound, didn’t contain a mana orb as they did. The Light Magic that gave her life flowed throughout her body, mixing with her other mana, and was spilling out of the bite wounds on her back and stomach. Then the difference became clear. Her life was in her blood. Her magic and her blood were one.

Raising my scepter and letting it settle an inch from her forehead, I let Novice Healing funnel out of me. I already knew it wasn’t doing any good, but perhaps it would help her hold on a little bit longer as I replenished my own mana. It cost me almost nothing.

I cut most of the mana to Mana Sight so that time would speed up where I could easily communicate. “Remove her armor,” I commanded, unable to do it with my injured arm.

Skyler was suddenly hunched over her with his gauntlets removed. He didn’t unfasten her armor but tore it apart where it was laced under her arms down either side of her hips.

Aeris helped raise Audrey up and supported her neck as Skyler carefully peeled the leather off of her.

As I suspected, the armor was not intact. In multiple places, the Hell Hound’s teeth had lacerated the armor and her skin, embedding the hard leather deep into her injury. As long as the leather itself was puncturing the skin my healing magic was unable to complete its task.

“We need to clean the wounds?” Skyler asked darkly.

I confirmed with a nod.

He began immediately.

As pieces of armor were removed from her flesh, the wounds closed up before our eyes. Even Novice Healing seemed to be enough once the magic wasn’t impeded to help her completely recover.

Audrey’s wits started to return.

“Skyler. I really don’t think our relationship has progressed this far,” she teased, cringing from the pain when she began to laugh.

“Shhh,” was all he said as he continued to work.

When she had returned to full health, I teetered to my backside.

With nothing else urgent enough to steal my attention my mind wandered back to my arm. I could no longer ignore the pain. I let In the Buff recede, but even though my arm shrunk in size as my Strength and Constitution stats decreased, it didn’t help.

I rocked back and forth as I fought to stay in control.

“Elorion?!” Aeris said. Her eyes looked frantic as she looked at my arm. “Are you okay?”

“No!” I shouted, not at her, but because it was the only sound I could manage to make. Nausea was building up inside of me.

“Russ!” Aeris called. “It looks like his armor has collapsed on his arm. Can you fix it?”

I was clamping my eyes closed, so I heard Russ approach rather than saw him.

“Not without heating it up,” Russ replied with a sigh.

“Do you have your hammer?!” I growled.

“Always,” he said.

Dropping my scepter, I opened my eyes and swatted everyone back as I wobbled to my feet. Taking a few large strides away from them to hopefully be at a safe distance I placed my good hand above my vambrace where it was crumpled in. Flame Thrower gushed into life. I compressed the stream of fire as it hit the steel. When it started to heat up, I only managed to hold back for a few seconds before I screamed.

Everyone was yelling at me, but I was too far gone to understand what they were saying.

Russ stood next to me, still decked out in plate mail, but instead of a weapon, he wielded a blacksmith’s hammer.

As the steel on my arm started to glow, I smelled burning meat. Clenching my jaw as if that could mask the scent, I let myself cry out.

When I couldn’t take it any longer, I cut mana to my spell and slammed my injured arm against the stone wall.

I clenched my eyes even tighter.

The reverb from Russ’s hammer caused the muscles in my arm and back to spasm. Once, twice, three times was all it took before I felt something fall away from my forearm and ring against the floor.

With my eyes opened, I saw Russ bracing my hand against the wall and preparing another swing.

I yanked my arm away. Without the steel holding my arm straight, it flopped around like a dead fish where it had been crushed.

My stomach wrenched. I lost all the food in my belly.

I sent healing magic into my arm as I pried at my gauntlet, which was still mostly intact but had also been bent in tightly against my wrist. When I finally forced it off, I saw Russ’s handiwork. He had managed to open up the crushed end of my vambrace. It had been pierced by the Hellhound’s teeth, so it fell apart at the puncture marks. I was able to squirm out of what was left of it.

The burning sensation and throbbing slowly started to calm as I flooded my remaining MP into healing magic. Once again, the world around me began to spin. My breathing was heavy as I kept myself from falling over with my good hand on my knee. Still shaken, I looked up and saw everyone standing there in stunned silence.

Seeing I had recovered, Aeris ran to me and grabbed my arm, checking to be sure it was really healed.

I amped up In the Buff once again. It felt odd to be so small.

“It looks like all of you survived,” Rock Hard said from his place on the ceiling. “Master should be here any minute. I suggest you wait. I really don’t think it was a good idea to kill Mistress Nava’s pet.”

It was impossible to miss the fearful gasps that came in response.

Any relief that I felt at having my arm whole faded at the realization that he was absolutely right. Nava had been daring enough to send her pet to attack us despite the Head Mistress’s wishes. Now that her beloved pet was dead, she would probably go psycho-bus and really come after us.

A sob rang out, suddenly muffled by a hand to the mouth. Clarissa.

I saw her near the back of the group. Audrey rushed over to comfort her.

Olivia stood close by. She choked the handle of her wand, turning her knuckles white. She was staring at the remains of the Hell Hound, which no longer resembled a hound at all.

I shut off the part of my mind that feels and retrieved my scepter and shield, inventoried the shield and replaced it with my orb that increased mana regen. Even with it, I would now have to sit down to replenish mana as quickly as possible. Meditation still had its uses. This was the worst possible scenario if we were attacked again. I was out of mana.

Approaching the Hell Hound, I found Travis already there kneeling. A crimson crystal that reminded me very much of the Fire Orb that had been a part of the creature before its death lay on the ground beneath it.

“For some reason, I’m afraid to touch it,” Travis said with a nervous chuckle.

I examined it with Mana Sight.

“It should be safe. The mana seems to be contained inside it,” I offered.

“Oh,” he replied.

Taking a deep breath, he reached out and touched it. Yanking his hand back, he slowly exhaled before finally taking it in his hand.

With plenty of mana for Lesser Blood Drain, I cast it, knowing my window to steal any power that might be in the creature’s blood might end when Rock Hard’s master got here. I suspected it was the Head Mistress, or perhaps the Lich. Please be the Lich.

The now familiar red cloud rose up from the mangled body and accumulated in a fluid sphere as I cast my spell. When the collection of blood was finished, a strand of red streamed out of the sphere toward me. My veins bulged as the power touched the back of my hand. Like an IV the size of a water hose, the beast’s mana poured into me.

Curiosity drove me to watch as the Dark Mana in the creature was transformed to a neutral translucent form as it left the mutilated body. That explained why taking in the vampire and hellhound’s blood hadn’t killed me.

Attributes Drained

+1,000 HP

+500 MP

+200 Dex

+30 Wis

The stats I received were far more than what the average creature gave in the Mistress’s labyrinth, but they were far less than what Lord Darius had given.

“Elorion,” Aeris called.

I spun around, half expecting another fight. There was no explanation needed when I saw what she trying to bring to my attention.

Russ had shrunk. He had taken his plate mail off because it was now too large to do him any good. Instead of the man that had grown to the size of a bear, he was now compressed. He was thinner than Skyler, but still had the muscle definition of a fitness model. If that were all, his transformation would have seemed like a downgrade, but the thickness of his bone structure had nearly doubled. There was something alien to his build, even though he still looked like a thinner version of our friend. He was smaller, but there was no denying that he looked much tougher.

It was no surprise that they had received experience from killing the Hell Hound even though we hadn’t been grouped when I killed it. His group had attacked the Hell Hound before me and multiple party members had attacked it. Experience sharing was a more complex system than what I was used to in most games where only the person that killed the mob got any experience.

At first, Russ stood there speechless as he tried to take in the changes to his body. What he thought of the changes became clear when he gave Olivia a speculative look.

I could only imagine what was going on in that mind of his.

There was a squeal from the back of the group. When I saw Audrey jumping up and down as she still held a distraught Clarissa, it was clear she had also reached 1,000 in a stat.

“Oh. Me too,” Olivia said with a shrug.

Aeris hopped up and her air magic caught her. She drifted over to Olivia.

“I’m so close!” Skyler said as he lumbered over to Audrey to take a look.

“One thousand Dexterity, fools!” Steve jeered.

Well, even though we had almost been wiped out, at least the Hell Hound had left us a bit of a gift in its death. With the four more humans hitting 1,000 in their primary stat, that made six of us now and many were close behind. Sadly, we weren’t going to have the chance to stay here and get everyone leveled.

I turned my attention to my own popups.

Bonus experience for defeating your first Hell Hound!

Bonus experience for defeating a creature 1,000 levels higher than you!

1,000 levels higher? I supposed that that made sense. It moved so fast that even as I perceived time at one-fifth of its normal speed it was moving when everyone except Aeris was standing still.

When I saw that I had only received 16 levels for defeating the high-level mob I felt like I wanted to hit something. Maybe it was irrational, but after the pain and having to heal Audrey, it felt like I deserved more. That we deserved more.

I checked my current stats.

Level: 356

Health Points: 70,516

My health had gone up 1,000 from leeching the Hell Hound but decreased 2,000 from losing the vambrace on my left hand.

Mana Points: 161,777

Endurance: 3,768

Mana Per Minute: 3,062

Attributes

Strength: 430

Dexterity: 637

Constitution: 471

Intelligence: 1,002

Wisdom: 1436

Stat Points: 80

After the big jump in Dexterity, I was only 363 from 1,000. That was only 73 levels away if I spent my new stats on it. That also required me to be in Advanced In the Buff at all times, but honestly, I didn’t think I would ever go into a fight without having it active. It was tempting. Very tempting and I didn’t want to leave my new stats unspent while we were in this predicament. On the other hand, if I put the new stats into Wisdom I would have an additional 350 mana per minute, which would be welcome right now.

I then looked at Blue Magic: Canine’s Sense of Smell.

You no longer have to depend on sight as your primary sense for experiencing the world. You will now be able to better categorize and distinguish smells.

Interesting, did that mean I would be able to track mobs or possibly even notice them when they were invisible? It at least sounded promising.

“Children! Come!” A haunting voice resonated from the entrance of the hall.

A cloud of dust drifted in, and swirled around the ice spear that had impaled the Hell Hound, holding it secure to the Earth. The cloud started to eat away at the ice until it had almost fully receded and then started to devour the Hell Hound’s corpse. All that remained when the deed was done was the hound's disjointed skeleton that lay on the ground in pieces.

When the dust collapsed, and the old man took form, I didn’t jump back like the others but stepped forward.

Crossing my arms across my chest, I greeted him with a glare.

His eyes flickered toward mine. He answered my question before I had to ask. “There was no way to know that Mistress Nava would dare to attack you this soon. She is far more daring than I gave her credit for.”

With an obnoxious twist of his head, his eyes drilled into mine. “It seems someone offended her when he dismissed her like a common underling earlier today.”

With a sigh, I dropped my arms to my side.

“What do we do?” I asked.

“There is only one choice I’m afraid. Flee. Now,” the Lich replied.

“How?!” Skyler soldiered forward, making himself big as if bullying the old man would be possible.

“Well, originally you would only be able to leave if you beat the boss of the Earth Level.” Turning to Rock Hard, he asked, “What do you think? Have they earned the right to move on?”

“I suppose they have,” Rock Hard replied. “A Hell Hound is not a good representative of the Earth Element, but it had a much better offense than I do, and I have seen how they handled my Elementals. I could probably kill a few of them if we fought because humans are so soft, but if they joined together I think they would defeat me now.”

“Wait. He’s the Earth Level’s boss?” I asked.

“Yes,” the old man confirmed.

Turning to the philosophizing rock-man, I asked, “I thought you told me that you would run if I tried to attack you?”

“That is true,” he said with a nod. “Unless you entered the center room, I would have run. It's rude to crush flesh-softs when they don’t realize they are facing a Master Earth Elemental. Besides, like bacon, you have no crunch. What would be the point?”

“Enough!” the Lich warned. “You must go.”

“What about our stuff?” Russ said from Olivia’s side.

“I have everything you will need.”

A bag the size of a regular pack appeared in his outstretched arm. It was leather with a leather flap covering its open end with a strap.

“This is a magic bag. Anything you put in here will only weigh a tenth of what it normally does,” he added.

I looked at it in awe. I had seen magic bags at the merchants’, but the best they had were insanely expensive and only reduced the weight of what you carried by a quarter.

There were numerous questions that came from the others all at once.

“What about my forge?”

“What will we do for food?”

“My flasks?”

“I assure you,” the Lich responded, “I brought everything you will need: the orbulist anvil, rarest ore, Alchemy set and the rarer ingredients, enough food for a few weeks, including some cave-swine bacon and muck-cow milk dressing since the imp said you liked it. It’s all in there.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aeris blurted out. “The muck-cow milk can make you act funny.”

“Huh? No, it doesn’t,” the old man insisted. “It is very similar to the caffeine you are used to except instead of making you irritable or causing heart palpitations it will calm you. If you were acting funny, that was all you I’m afraid.”

Aeris looked to me for reassurance, but I couldn’t deny what he said. Sure, I had felt good, happy even when eating it, but it hadn’t numbed my wits or dulled my senses like alcohol might.

“Also, your necromancer, Mel, is right behind me with Zorik, the cafeteria serving Imp. Mel has retrieved some of the items from your armory. The Imp will join you and help guide you through the Dungeon Level, so, if things haven’t changed, you won’t have to go up to the Cavern Level at all in your travels. Dungeons are created, taken over and lose ownership all the time. There is one that comes to mind that might just work for you all, but it has been years since I ventured there. It will take you three days to get there. Two if you are lucky,” the old man said before tapping his chin like there was something he had forgotten.

I scanned the others, embarrassed I hadn’t realized Mel wasn’t here, but not terribly surprised either. Everyone was looking from person to person hoping someone was making better sense of the situation than they were. I didn't look anyone in the eye.

“Two things. Where is the Fire Orb that the Hell Hound dropped?” the Lich finally asked.

“Here!” Travis said, stepping forward to hand it to him.

The Lich took it and added it to the magic bag.

“This is a lesser gem, but powerful all the same. Many higher level creatures possess these naturally,” he said as he waved his finger. “When you make it where I am sending you to, place this on the altar in the heart of dungeon. It will grant you possession of the area. Any of the magic utilities that remain in operable shape, including traps, crafting stations and the like, will be yours to control. Look out for other orbs such as this one. The more powerful the orb the more power your dungeon will possess. Orbs also have different elements and alignments, just as this one is of the element Fire. As you use them, they can even advance in power.

“As you get more of them, you will also be able to power things like a furnace,” he said looking directly at Russ, “with individual stones.”

“Finally, you do not realize how much danger you are in. Nava is a Mistress, the highest rank a succubus can obtain besides that of Head Mistress. You defeated her pet, but you will have no chance of standing against her. Not yet. Use every trick in your power to get to where I’m sending you as quickly as possible. Currently, I am blocking the spell that would inform Nava that her pet has perished. In doing so, I am also blocking her connection to her pet. She must already suspect what has happened. I will not be able to hold her back for more than a few days.

“The biggest danger to you currently isn’t her though. I can hold her here for a time, but I can’t block her magic if she tries to communicate with someone outside of the Head Mistress’s domain. Also, if another succubus joins her cause, then there might be others that come after you from here as well. I don’t know their politics well enough to make any promises that I can stop everyone that might join her.”

My heart thundered in my chest when I heard the sound of a small army of boney feet enter the Bone Place’s lobby just a room away.

I summoned Skeletal Armor to form up over the gap in my plate mail where my vambrace had been. It overlapped my gauntlet and couter, which covered my elbow. Seeing how naturally it filled in the gap, I added some mana to the spell to let the bone grow until it covered the mail of my entire left arm. It didn’t seem to affect my movements, so I kept it that way.

Looking at my character sheet, I saw I had only regenerated 12,311 MP. If it were Nava or another succubus with a skeleton army then we were in trouble. At least I knew Light Magic would work.

When the first skeleton appeared in the doorway, I took a step back.

The skeleton was about the height of a Skeleton Warrior but wore a full suit of plate mail. The mail didn’t fit right on the skeleton’s thin form, so it looked like it was being worn by a child. As the rest of the skeleton army entered, it grew more comical. One wore tight leather, another had baggy robes over its bony shoulders. It was the one that wore the leather corset that took the cake.

When the largest skeleton appeared behind it, I was able to relax. It had the body of a Skeleton Sentinel and the head of the Skeleton General that had led the Mistress’s army again Lord Darius. I had helped Mel remove the head from the dead mob’s body myself.

The small army of 17 skeletons filed into the room and lined up. They split at the middle where Mel in his black leather armor and bright orange hair walked forward with his skeleton captain at his side. Mel was naturally tall but had been excessively skinny. That was until he pumped his strength to 100. I knew his reasoning, as silly as it was, was to impress Olivia.

I found her in the crowd. She saw him but didn’t really see him. She had just gotten a huge boost in power, so her mind was preoccupied.

I saw that he noticed she was giving her character sheet extra attention. The corner of his mouth curled up.

Using Creature Observation, I then saw what the normally overanxious guy was being so cheeky about.

Name: Mel

Race: Human

Age: 18

Level: 233

When I saw his level, I knew that he had been able to pull it off. No wonder he hadn’t joined us here in the Bone Palace. Besides their ridiculous stats now, his minions must have leveled enough that he was able to take on the entire room of the Skeleton Sentinels, alone. Knowing how fast you leveled when you weren’t grouped, his level must have skyrocketed since we had entered the Bone Palace.

Skirting around the old man, I extended my hand to Mel.

He took it in his but looked at me in question.

“Congratulations are in order, I think?” I said.

His grin grew until it stretched from cheek to cheek.

“Thank you. If only we had more time,” he said with a shake of his head.

I was suddenly feeling a bit crowded as everyone approached him.

“Are these all yours?” Aeris asked as she wrung her hands.

What was it with her and her undead fascination?

“Yes,” Mel answered, a bit sheepish. He changed the subject. “I brought what I thought was the best of the gear in the armory and tried to bring a variety.”

“Awesome, man!” Russ said, walking past him wearing nothing but sweat-soaked undergarments.

Finding a skeleton wearing plate mail that looked like it might now fit him, Russ started unstrapping it from the minion without fear that it might retaliate.

For all I knew, Russ might have had so much HP now that he had no need to fear.

Asking Aeris to add me to their group, I then checked his Character Sheet with Creature Observation.

213,467 HP

Is that even possible?!

He had more HP than the Hell Hound had that was 1,000 levels higher. Although the Hell Hound hadn’t given me any additional Constitution when I leeched it. Its main stat had been Dexterity. That might explain why Russ could have so much more than it did.

One thing was clear: his talent in Constitution made him a real monster.

Glancing at Aeris who was standing close by, I saw she was still insisting on flying even though she was only floating about an inch off the ground. Should we still be considered human?

“Follow me to the exit,” Rock Hard echoed.

“Here,” the old man said, handing me the magic bag.

I was already carrying Aeris’s armor in my inventory, a bunch of ore and a few additional items, like five gallons of water, about three pounds of bacon jerky, my shield, Lord Darius’s ring and, of course, my books. My inventory didn’t lighten any of the weight but magically distributed the weight on my shoulders evenly. With that and my own plate mail, it was probably affecting my endurance. With over 400 Strength, I didn’t really notice it though.

Taking a peek in the magic bag, I was astounded at what I saw. Russ’s anvil was there and had to weight 400 lbs. There were about 100 lbs. of clothing, everything from t-shirts to thick cotton pants. There looked to be an extra pair of boots for everyone and food… There were a lot of canned goods with general things like sweet potatoes, green beans, and corn, but also sacks of rice and pasta. I was happy to see salted and cured meats wrapped and sacked up. All in all, there was close to 1,000 lbs. of goodies inside. I was not happy at only seeing three pounds of the cave-swine bacon though. And there was no ranch dressing. Nada!

The most interesting addition was a handful of books the Lich had added. I would have to wait for later to examine them.

Taking out Aeris’s armor, I deposited it in the magic bag before moving to place the bag in my inventory.

“I’ll carry it,” Russ said with a big grin. “Weight doesn’t affect me like it affects everyone else.”

With a nod, I handed it to him.

He deposited it in his inventory.

“Mind if I take the Hell Hound’s skull?!” Mel called out, unsure who to ask.

Before anyone else could answer, I stepped over, grabbed it around the neck, and yanked the skull from its spine.

“Sorry. It looks like the jaw is not attached,” I said, handing it to him.

“That’s not an issue.” He grabbed the jaw on the ground a few feet away. “I can easily fix it.”

Waving his hand toward the exit, he directed us on. “I’ll follow at the rear with my minions. If there is a surprise attack, they are disposable.”

“I got the front!” Travis called, as he sped past us and into the next room.

“So, I guess that’s it,” I said out loud to no one in particular.

“Yes, for now. The Head Mistress hasn’t abandoned you though, and neither have I,” the Lich replied. “This is probably for the best.”

“Come, Skeletor!” Olivia called, perky as an alley cat that had just devoured a giant rat.

There was a tapping on my shoulder, causing me to look back. Seeing Aeris’s shoe, I looked up to see her standing on my shoulders. She was as light as air and beaming down at me with a big grin.

“You’re going to run face first into the wall as we pass through the doorway,” I pestered.

“Is this better?” she replied as she lowered herself to sit on my head. Her legs dangled down past both of my shoulders and she held on to the bullhorn spikes of my Skeleton General’s Helmet. They almost worked like the steel bars that might secure her in a rollercoaster.

I shook my head, which shook her at the same time.

“Hey, this is great! Keep it up!” she teased.

“You know, we could die anytime,” I reminded her.

“Sometimes you just have to have a little faith. Onward!”

I was starting to think the old man was wrong. Was he sure the muck-cow milk didn’t have any side effects?

The twenty of us followed Rock Hard, a Master Earth Elemental, as he swam through the stone of the ceiling like a mole in the ground. With a beautiful but loopy Wind Mage riding upon my helm, a bunch of gamers-turned-warriors-and-mages at my side, and a squad of skeletons following up behind, we reached another arching bone door. It was the exit from the Bone Palace.

Zorik, the servant imp that had become as close to friendly as I suspected an imp could, flapped his wings in a slow cadence as he hovered at the exit waiting for us. Rock Hard removed a key from an opening in his chest and unlocked the exit.

As the door rose up from the floor, I didn’t know what to expect. Groups of monsters scattered about a large cavern? Instead, we entered a cave with an opening as large as a house and dark with a musty smell.

Chapter 14 – Into the Unknown

I let Mana Sight amp up to five times my normal perception as we sat down to meditate before we headed out. It gave me extra time to consider the strategies we could use as we left the Head Mistress’s dungeon and entered into the unknown Dungeon Level of the Underworld.

The first idea that came to mind was for me to cast Invisible on everyone. The problem was that the creatures we really had to be worried about were the mobs most likely to possess something that could see past Invisibility. Just like Rock Hard, who could feel us through the ground, or the Hell Hound that could probably have smelled us, my Invisibility spell would not disguise us against such abilities and possibly would just give us a false sense of security.

No. As much as I wished it were that easy, Invisibility was not something we could solely depend upon.

Most creatures, including the Earth Elementals, even the Intermediate kind, were mobs that would quickly fall if the twenty of us all attacked at once. Well, not all of us. Our bashers would need to form a line and primarily defend as the casters battered our targets into dust.

It was a simple strategy and probably the most practical one that we could be successful at without a lot of experience fighting as such a large group.

The only question left was whether we should let Travis scout. He was more than willing, but even after he reached 1,000 Dexterity, there was no guarantee that would keep him alive. He had the ability to use invisibility, but his main strength was speed. I remembered back when we faced Dark Elves. We had easily dispatched them during Lord Darius’s attack. They hadn’t been anticipating us and we easily took care of them before they could flee or turn invisible.

I might add, I didn’t entirely trust his Invisibility skill either. It seemed to cloak him in shadow like my Shadow Step spell instead of making him see through. I wished that I had tested his ability more.

Then there was the issue of traps. I had rings that were supposed to let me spot traps and he had a skill. Except for the traps Travis made himself, we really had no idea if we would be able to spot more advanced ones. We had never run into them before in the Mistress’s dungeon.

The conversation about how we should approach the Underworld had already begun among those of us meditating. We were huddled in a loose bunch before the exit.

Olivia was recommending we use me to cast Invisibility on everyone when I interrupted. “It’s a good idea, but it won’t work.”

“But it worked so well before,” Audrey said with a sigh.

I told them about Rock Hard’s ability and the Hell Hound’s scent skill that I had stolen from him.

A number of additional ideas were given, so I waited for everyone to have their say. Most of it was worked out without me having to say anything, but when Travis’s scouting was mentioned I interrupted. “I will go with Travis and scout ahead. I know speed is essential right now, but because we have little experience with traps, keeping a steady pace will keep us alive longer than running off as quickly as we can. Otherwise, I could just buff everyone and we could run the entire way there.”

“He’s right,” the old man said, halting all objections. “This is the dungeon level. It’s a given that there will be traps. Not to mention there are many creatures that take a hide-and-wait approach to hunting. A steady pace will serve you best now. Don’t rush unless you must.”

***

After that, things were sorted out in short order. Without hesitation, Aeris was selected to direct the casters and Skyler was chosen to lead the bashers. Steve, our assassin, would stay to the left flank of the group and only focus on disrupting invisible mobs if we happened to run into them. It seemed his ability to see through invisibility was as good as Travis’s. Mel would watch the rear and only advance to the front line if we ended up facing a large force. Olivia, who also had a skill to detect traps, would be back up in case Travis and I missed any.

Light orbs from our casters lit up the cavern like the noonday sun.

Approaching the serving imp, I noticed the muscles in his neck were twitching as his eyes darted toward the dark cavern every couple of seconds.

Seeing the fear in him, I swallowed deeply.

“Zorik,” I said in a soft tone so as not to spook him.

The edges of his mouth turned up in greeting, but they immediately fled into a grimace as his eyes wandered back to the dark unknown.

“Have you traveled the dungeon level before?” I asked.

He gave multiple quick short nods before responding. “Many times, sir, but always with the Mistress or a caravan. Our odds of survival aren’t good.”

“That is what I wanted to ask you about,” I said pointedly. “We will need your help and your experience.”

“Of course, new master,” he said with false cheerfulness. His eyes only met mine briefly before they returned to spy out the darkness.

“Good. What dangers do you think we are most likely to run across?”

“Er, the dungeon level has many dungeons, many of them the size of great cities, but most of the level is a maze of endless caverns like the one we are in now. There are two types of creatures that linger here. The weak that can’t survive long on the main level of the Underworld and those that want to go unseen. Many of you have grown beyond me, but both such creatures are capable of ending us. There is such a variety that I can’t say what we will meet for sure… You are also wise to beware of traps. Many of the lesser creatures depend upon such things because they can offer them an advantage against creatures stronger than themselves.”

As he finished, I stroked the stubble on my chin so that he could see that I was taking what he said seriously. In truth, I had sped up my perception as he spoke, so I could quickly process the information. I needed him to feel comfortable offering information. Something his relationship with the Mistress most definitely lacked.

“Thank you, Zorik. Will you join my group?” I asked and sent him an invite.

His eyes went wide as if it was something he had not expected.

“Is everything okay?” I asked.

“Wonderful, sir. Servants aren’t commonly given the honor of being part of a group, to share experience. Imps especially,” he replied.

“Why is that?”

He looked at me suspiciously for a long moment before exhaling a long breath. His shoulders drooped forward as his eyes turned down and he answered. “If we gain too much experience imps evolve.”

I inclined a brow to indicate that I didn’t understand.

“Once we reach level 1,000, we transform into our true form, an incubus.”

“As in, a male succubus?”

His face contorted like he had just tasted something that he didn’t like.

“Heavens no,” he spat, but then seemed to reconsider. “You could say we are the male version of an imp’s evolution, but we are much different than succubi. For one, we keep our wings and we don’t have to seduce human women to stay strong.”

“Oh. Why don’t they want you to transform?”

For the first time since our conversation started, he forgot about the darkness of the cavern we were getting ready to head into. A reminiscent grin spread across his face and he replied. “Female imps can transform as early as level 100. This allows them to get stronger faster, but if a male imp ever transforms, we are far more powerful than all but the strongest succubi. This is why we are kept at such a low level. They can’t control us like they do if we evolve. Most imps aren’t allowed to live if they get too close to their transformation.”

“What level are you now?” I asked.

Once again, he seemed to deflate, but he did respond. “Level 204.”

I nodded slowly, letting him see the smile reach my eyes and said, “We will need you to get stronger if we are going to survive out here.”

He almost buzzed like a bumblebee as he straightened up.

“Oh, thank you, sir! I know many spells of both Water and Earth Magic. I can manage some Nature Magic as well. I’ll make myself useful. I swear it!” he assured me.

With that, I turned from him and found the old man waiting for me with Travis at the head of the group. I began the walk to meet them.

Aeris was hovering about ten feet in the air over everyone as she studied the cavern we were about to explore.

I nodded in her direction.

She offered me a smile, but her attention quickly returned to her observations.

The emotions of the day were being blown about like fallen leaves on a windy day. It comforted me to see that she was starting to sober. Not that I really believed she was drunk from the muck-cow milk, but because she had just had a fantastical dream fulfilled, in being able to fly, and minutes later had faced a hellacious death in the clutches of a Hell Hound. It was almost too much for anyone to have to manage.

The old man greeted me first. His eyes were studying me.

“Did you hear my conversation with the imp?” I asked.

“I did,” the old man responded. “It is true that incubi aren’t led by a lustful appetite in the same way succubi are, but they are more prone to lust for power. They will not be ruled over as male imps are. They are males, though, that have received a huge boost in strength. Many of them feed off of women just as greedily as succubi feed off of men, because, for the first time in their lives, they have the power to dominate others. Be wary of letting Zorik evolve. Either kill him first or make sure you are many times more powerful than he is before he transforms, otherwise you may regret it.

“For now, he is probably the best source of information you have. The Head Mistress has given him to you. Use him wisely.”

“He is our slave, then?” I asked, cringing at the very thought.

“No. He is your slave. He belongs to you, not the others. I know your mind, human. Be careful of the amount of freedom you give him. You cannot attribute human nature to him. Just as a lion can be made a pet, it can still kill you on a whim just because it’s in a grumpy mood. Even if Zorik grows to like you, he still has impulses that humans do not. Be fair and even offer him friendship, which is far more than his race is ever given, but remember what he is, or it will come back to bite you.”

Despite the part of me that wanted to reject my ownership of Zorik, the situation demanded my focus elsewhere. I intended to ultimately release him, but for now, I was simply determined not to treat him like a slave. There was no denying that if we survived his life would be better, and freer, with us than it would ever be with the Head Mistress.

“Elorion,” the old man said, regaining my attention. “Lead them well.”

Turning my head to the side, I gave him a questioning look.

“They did not choose me as the leader,” I replied.

The old man chuckled, then said, “Since the first day you got here, you have set the pace for them all. Where you go they will follow.

“The advice I will leave you with is this. Learn to be calculated. Only be vicious when necessary, but when it is necessary, rip the throat from your enemies and let them watch you wipe their blood from your hands as they die. But be gracious when you can, because even the peoples of the Underworld can understand kindness and become your allies.

“Most of all, realize that there is more to Wisdom than stats on a character sheet. It may allow you to follow complex logic, but a moment of anger can tear down a structure that has stood for a thousand years.”

Despite his confidence in my ability to lead, it was his willingness to help that still baffled me. In what universe does a Lich help humans? I was determined to apply his advice about the Imp to him as well.

I thanked him a final time, then stepped past him and cast my form of Invisibility on Travis.

“You’re going to buff me too, right?” he said with a cheesy grin.

Raising my brow, I cast Advanced Muscular and Skeletal Buff on him. Since his character was skill based and not spell based, Mind Buff wasn’t necessary.

“Sweet!” he replied as his body started to grow with the stat increase.

It was too much. His face immediately started to turn red as his body outgrew his leather armor while he was still inside it.

I lessened the amount of mana that was being funneled to about half of what the spell called for.

As he shrunk to a manageable size, he inhaled deeply, sucking in the air he had been missing.

“That’s better,” he said while struggling to catch his breath.

“I never imagined I could buff someone to death,” I said with a laugh.

“Dude,” he replied with a grin, holding out his fist.

I couldn’t help but chuckle before pounding my fist against his.

“Okay, I’m ready,” he said, breathing easier.

With a nod, we both turned and waved to the rest of our group that had formed just outside of the Bone Palace exit.

If everything went just right, the lighting situation would be the most difficult thing the main group would have to manage as we made our way to our new home.

Turning back, Travis and I began our trek into the unknown.

“I have you connected to the lead chat.” Richard's voice rang out somewhere from within my head.

“Okay, thanks, Richard,” I replied.

“Elorion?” Aeris asked.

“I’m here,” I replied.

“Here,” Skyler proclaimed.

“Same,” Travis added.

“Add Zorik,” I commanded.

“The imp?” Richard said in surprise.

“Yes. He is our guide, even if he is staying with the group.”

“Zorik, can you hear us?” Richard asked.

“I can,” he replied timidly.

“Great. What can you tell us about which direction we should head?” I asked.

“For now, just follow this cavern. I don’t remember it having any side tunnels of note. In about a night’s time, we will run into the Belly. It’s a cavern that is so wide that it could hold an army of a thousand dragons. Once there, we will head into the Crystalis. It’s a forest of crystals where we must be wary of ambushes. After that, we should be close to the other end of the Belly. That’s when things get difficult. We will have to find a specific cave and there will be dozens to choose from. If we choose wrong, we could die. Er. If we choose right, we could die.”

“Okay, so we’ll wait for everyone once we reach the Belly. The same after we reach the end of the Crystalis. Let’s keep this channel clear except for when we report in and in case of emergency,” I reminded everyone.

I fixed enough mana flow to my eyes that Mana Sight lit up the darkness that spread out before me. I was blind to what was visible to the human eye because of the lack of light, but I didn’t need to depend on normal sight to see here. Since everything possessed mana, even the rocks of the earth, I was able to see their glow. Colors took on a different meaning.

Travis had a skill that allowed him to see. Since he saw in a more natural way and I saw through the magical realm, our abilities complemented one another. Though I hoped that Mana Sight would let me see through almost every kind of invisibility, if I had learned anything since entering the Underworld, it was that there was always an exception.

Looking to Travis, our Ethereal eyes met. I watched him gulp. We started forward.

“How well do you notice things at a jog?” I asked.

“I notice what others don’t at a dead sprint,” he said with a smirk.

“Do you see everything?”

He hesitated before answering. “No. I could set a pace I’m confident at. Does that work?”

“That works,” I said. “Time slows down for me as I use my observation spell, so don’t worry about me keeping up.”

“Cheater,” he jested. Giving me a wink, he added, “By the way, if we run into a good opportunity, do you mind killing a high-level mob for me? I’m one level from having 1,000 Dexterity.”

Before I could answer he took off at a run.

We were soon running at a pace I would have once considered fast, even though I was now perceiving it as a slow walk. The drawback to using Mana Sight at this level was that I was perceiving time about three times faster than normal. Staying focused was harder when one hour felt like three.

It went without saying that there was no chatter between Travis and me. I let him take about a ten foot lead out in front as we pulled away from the rest of the group that was to follow after us at a steady march.

Without the use of my eyes, Mana Sight took over and left me in awe. The cavern we navigated was a tapestry of glowing color that I now floated through like one might a vivid dream. I almost forgot that our lives might be in danger, but only for a moment.

For what seemed like the longest time, we ran across the stone ground that had been smoothed over from centuries of foot traffic. It gave me the opportunity to activate my new Blue Magic, Canine’s Sense of Smell.

Having my sense of smell heightened flooded me with an extreme amount of information. So much so that I was immediately overwhelmed. I understood within moments that a canine’s ability to see was a secondary sense to them. It helped them pinpoint objects in space, but it didn’t go much further than that. The way they really saw the world, experienced it, was through smell. It was in many ways a more advanced way of understanding the world than the way humans viewed it.

They didn’t just get to know a person by their normal scent but could sense a person’s emotions because of the smells that chemical reactions gave off. They also could generally guess at what you had been doing recently.

It was all too much for me. I kept the spell cast, but only let a trickle of mana funnel into it. This gave me a heightened sense of smell at a level I could grow accustomed to. As I got used to it, I would increase the mana.

A dense patch of muted light shone ahead behind a shelf of rocks along the side of the cavern.

I moved to up my pace, but Travis stopped before it was necessary to catch up to warn him. I almost skid across the ground when trying to stop as quickly as he had.

His eyes met mine as soon as I was at his side. He nodded in the same direction where I had seen the excess energy.

I returned his nod, indicating that I too had seen it.

We approached as quietly as possible from the opposite wall. As we neared, more than one creature glowed behind the rocks.

When we were directly across from them, we saw it wasn’t just a low outcropping of rock, but a small cave.

The creatures that we found were only about three feet tall and walked on their hind legs. They were fur covered and had heads that seemed too large for their bodies, with long snouts and two long teeth on the top and bottom of their mouths.

I used Creature Observation on the closest one.

Were-Rat

Level 73

Strength: 67

Dexterity:109

Constitution: 43

You have understood the Blue Magic, Scourge of the Pest!

Become just as hard to catch as pesky rat! With unreal agility and the flexibility of a master contortionist, you are now able to manipulate your body when in a tight spot to scurry to safety. This spell is passive.

Receiving new Blue Magic came as somewhat of a surprise. It was a good reminder not to assume anything about the new creatures I came across. It was the only Blue Magic related skill the were-rat possessed.

I used Creature Observation on a few others and found they were all under level 100. Since they had a Dark Alignment it was too bad. They were too low of a level to do us any good in the experience realm. At least we should get some bonus experience for killing them for the first time.

Placing my empty left hand on Travis’s shoulder, I equipped my scepter with a few flicks and let an Intermediate Health Bomb fly.

The spell’s light sent the creatures scurrying, but they weren’t quick enough. The mass of light darted to the entrance of their cave and exploded, showering the area in light and were-rat parts.

Level Up!

I now had 85 stat points to spend but would hold back from spending them. 1,000 Dexterity would no doubt be a great help, but I also knew that we had been spoiled up to this point. There was no guarantee we would ever run into a dungeon like the Head Mistress’s again that was designed to help us level up. If the were-rats were any indication, the Dungeon Level might be filled with nearly useless creatures like these. Because of this, I was leaning toward dumping everything into Wisdom once again. As I used Vampire’s Might to drain more stats, eventually I would get the Dexterity needed. It was probably a better use of the stats I received. Still, I would hold on to them for now just encase the need arose.

“Dude!” Travis said in an excited whisper.

“1,000?” I asked.

He beamed.

“I need to run… Elorion, sorry, but can you stay here for a minute. I’ll be right back. I think I could lap a cheetah!” he said with a cackle.

“Uh. Wait a second,” I said, holding up my hands to hold him back from going.

“Zorik,” I said through group chat.

“Yes?” he replied sheepishly.

“We just found a cave of were-rats. We cleared the entrance, but I was wondering if it would be wise to clear them out of their cave? Are they a danger, or do they possess any loot that might be worth it?”

“Er. They rarely live long enough to become dangerous. It is possible though. The highest level I have ever heard of them reaching is 200. They may or may not have anything worth taking. They are scavengers and take junk and good stuff alike. They are fond of mushrooms though. If you find any, it’s probably worth taking them.”

“Thanks.”

Zorik purred as he had once before when I complimented him.

Travis was looking at me with a raised eyebrow as I finished my conversation with the imp.

“Run back the way we came,” I told him. “I’ll clear the cave and you can help me gather anything that might be worth keeping when you get back.”

“Deal,” he said.

And with that, he was gone.

I sighed. I really couldn’t blame him for being excited. With his talent in Dexterity, I wondered how he was unique compared to the rest of us if we had also reached 1,000 in the same stat. It was a question that would have to wait until later.

Turning my attention to the mouth of the cave, I began my approach.

Chapter 15 – Rats

The were-rat bodies that littered the ground didn’t seem to possess anything worth taking. I asked in the group chat for someone to ask Lydia if there was any part of a were-rat she might need for alchemy. Not that I was excited about retrieving it for her. Unlike the undead in the Mistress’s Dungeon, these creatures didn’t disappear, leaving their loot, to respawn later. They were dead, and I would have to take anything she needed from their flesh the hard way.

When Aeris responded that there wasn’t anything she needed, I was more than happy to hear it.

I proceeded into the cave. As low level as these creatures were, it still creeped me out heading into a cave alone.

It only took five Heal Bombs to clear the main rooms of the cave. Close to one hundred were-rats died within a few minutes.

Casting Vampire’s Might as I went, I drained them of their blood to help sustain my earned stats. Only the first one I drained gave me any additional gains. I received +3 Dexterity.

When I reached the last room, a giant glowing were-rat standing nearly eight feet tall stood in the middle of the round room waiting for me. His arms were burly and possessed claws as long as my hand. Piled against the walls all around us were stacks of junk. Everything from colorful stones to weapons, mushrooms and a frying pan…

The creature was hunched over, staring through me as I entered. He didn’t have the ability to see through my Invisibility spell, so I took my time.

I cast Creature Observation.

Chieftain Were-Rat

Level 231

HP: 3,464

Strength: 303

Dexterity:211

Constitution: 179

“Thief! I smell your filthy magic!” the Chieftain barked.

Smelled my magic? Was that really possible for such a low-level creature, even if he were the chieftain? I had heard from the Mistress and Lich that creatures would be able to smell my Light Alignment, but even after reaching level 358 and acquiring Canine’s Sense of Smell, I had yet to experience it.

Instead of ending the mob quickly, I shuffled off to the side and stood there. I started to focus on the smells around me. Had it been there all along, but because I was so used to relying on sight I was missing it entirely?

It wasn’t an easy feat to look past the were-rat’s filthy odor, or the smell of the blood of the dead rats close by. With Canine’s Sense of Smell activated the scents that I was familiar with took on a whole new level of detail.

With a slow shake of the head, I looked past those smells and searched about for something that could belong to the dark energy of the were-rat close by.

What did I imagine it might smell like? A burning smell? That couldn’t be. That smell already belonged to fire. Would it have to be unique then? Something that I had never smelled before? There were so many new sensations to me through the use of this new spell that I couldn’t use that approach. For now, it seemed like an impossible task.

Raising my scepter, I fired an Intermediate Health Bullet into the Chieftain’s chest. It tore through the mob’s body.

-1621 HP

It didn’t kill it in one shot, so I cast a spell that had been nearly useless in the Mistress’s dungeon against her skeletons. Pain.

The were-rat immediately dropped to its knees and started to tremble as its muscles froze up.

I got the sudden urge to hit an imp in the face but realized the only imp I could find would be Zorik. Hitting him just because I got the urge probably wouldn’t be a good precedent to set.

I felt bad when the Chieftain faceplanted, so I cast Advanced Heal and finished it off. Time for some loot!

Draining him gave me an additional +2 Dexterity and +1 Constitution. I had probably reached the limit of what I could get out of the were-rats.

As much as I looked, nothing looked like something I might need for myself. The weapons and odd armor pieces here were in worse shape than the items we had started with. The rocks were literally just rocks from what I could tell. None of them had a large concentration of mana.

I started to scoop up the mushrooms, putting them into a bag I found close by. When I was done with everything else, I noticed the frying pan had a pretty impressive density of fire mana running through it. I had no idea if we could use it, but I relayed what I found through the group chat.

“Take it!” Zorik said with the most enthusiasm I had heard from him since we started out.

“Okay,” I said, reassuring him.

I exited the cave before Travis returned.

“Hey,” I said, holding up a hand in greeting at his return.

He was breathing as if he hadn’t been running at all.

“How’d it go?” I asked.

“Beyond anything I could have imagined,” he answered, shaking his head to himself. Then he hesitated before he said, “But we really aren’t that powerful, are we?”

“Not yet.”

After a long moment, he nodded. “I don’t know if I can outrun death.” His grin didn’t reach his eyes.

“That’s why I’m here,” I said with a chuckle. “I can heal you.”

This roused a belly laugh out of him.

“I’m sorry, man,” he said.

“For what?” I asked.

“I meant to tell you sooner. I thought you were going to leave us when the vampire’s zombies attacked us during the vampire’s assault. I thought you were just a selfish prick that got lucky with an overpowered ability. I was wrong. I’m sorry, bro.”

Feeling rather uncomfortable, I scratched at the back of my helmet. “It’s cool. I did kind of take off on everyone those first few days. I didn’t give you much of a reason to trust me.”

“Well, I trust you now. I just wanted you to know that I have your back as you had ours.”

“Thanks, man. That means a lot. More than I ever thought it would.”

“I know, right? Can you imagine a random gamer you met online risking their life for yours?”

“Never. Maybe mocking me as I died.”

We shared a laugh.

After that, we left the frying pan in the middle of the path with the bag of mushrooms so that the others would quickly see it when they passed by. This would mark the cave as well so that they could take some time to check it out in case there was something I had missed. Then we started again, this time moving at a speed that I would have once considered a full out sprint. With Travis’s 1,000 Dexterity came more than just an increase in speed. It seemed every skill he possessed was based on the stat.

***

To keep myself busy, I tried to focus on figuring out Canine’s Sense of Smell, but it was just too unnatural for me to pick up quickly. Only experience would help me grow accustomed to it, so I kept it activated, but with only a quarter of the mana it required to run at full strength.

We ran for hours more. Only once in the first trek did Travis ask me to heal him to restore his Endurance. It wasn’t because he was in danger of running out either, but, as he explained it, the more exhausted he grew, the harder it was to keep his mind focused. Now that was something I understood.

It was about an hour after the were-rat cave that we ran into our first trap. I wasn’t sure which of us spotted it first. Even though it had a slight red glow as Travis’s traps had the few times I had experienced them, I was also able to see it thanks to Mana Sight. It had a dense white glow made pink thanks to the help of my items.

I turned off Mana Sight to test my ring’s ability as Travis approached it. The world turned black. The trap became the only thing I saw in the darkness. It shone like fire in the night.

With Mana Sight reapplied, I stepped up as Travis knelt down to inspect it.

“Is it something you can disable, or possibly take?” I asked in a whisper, not entirely sure why I felt it was necessary to keep my voice down.

“It is built into the stone, so I probably can’t take the entire trap, but I can take pieces of it to use in making my own. It’s pretty simple really. There is a spring under this floor plate holding the plate up. If anything with enough weight steps on top, it will lower the plate and press a trigger button.” He spoke as he worked.

I soaked up every word of it. Not only did I want to know because it might save me later, but the idea of random machines like this scattered about the world was fascinating. Who knew how many different kinds there might be.

“I see a glow through Mana Sight, but it sounds like this trap isn’t magic in nature,” I observed.

“At least the trigger isn’t. We won’t know what the trap is designed to do until I get this plate off. Or possibly, not unless we set the trap off to know for sure,” he replied.

Travis removed some interesting hooked utensils from his inventory and slipped one underneath one side near the corner. A second one he slipped under the same corner perpendicular to it. Getting down on his belly, I couldn’t imagine he saw much of anything, but within moments I heard a click.

One corner of the plate was no longer attached. He quickly released the other wires holding the plate down against the spring. There was one hook near each corner of the plate. The spring he retrieved was the size of my fist, which he placed in his inventory with the wired hooks. The plate he looked at for a moment before he added it to his collection.

With the plate removed, there was now a small square trench in the floor about two feet squared that only went down about three inches. In the center of the hole was a raised button about the size of my thumb.

“Can we remove it?” I asked.

“It looks like this part is built into the stone. I don’t think I can remove it without trying to excavate around it. It would take too long to be worth it,” he said with a shrug.

“How do we make sure it’s safe for the others then?”

“We destroy it.”

“Mind if I give it a shot?” I asked.

“Not at all. Just make sure you destroy the trigger in the process. It’s likely the kind of trap that is designed to be used repeatedly. That’s why the face plate was so easy to remove. It was designed to be maintained.”

“Sounds good. Stand back.”

We both backed up about twenty feet until we were pretty sure we were out of range of whatever the trap might be designed to do.

Since I had no earth magic, I let Alpha Bolt charge overhead. It possessed impressive force naturally, so I would take advantage of that characteristic of the magic.

When Alpha reached the size of a were-rat, I let it rise slowly in the air until it was a good twenty feet up before I released its pent-up energy. For a moment, it looked down upon us like a purple moon.

Travis was looking back and forth between me and the spell with a look of concern.

Turning from my spell, I gave him a sinister grin.

It shot toward the hole in the ground like a humongous marble released from a slingshot.

The Alpha Bolt didn’t explode on impact but rammed into it. We both felt a quiver in the ground beneath our feet.

“Isn’t that overdoing it a little?” he chided.

There was a sudden explosion overhead and a dozen stalactites fell in the near vicinity of the trap. The stone spikes were easily the length of a man and would have likely killed most normal creatures on impact.

We both stared at the effects of the trap.

“That was a lot more dangerous than what I would have expected…” I said in awe.

“Yeah. And to think we were below that mess just moments ago,” he replied with an uncomfortable chuckle.

“Well, I’m glad you know what you’re doing.”

“I hope.”

I looked to him and he gave me a shrug. “We’ll figure it out,” he offered but turned before meeting my eye.

***

It was a long day. The traps became more constant as we neared the Belly. The only creatures we saw were were-rats, but never in the same concentration that we had seen at the cave. They were mostly in groups of around ten and seemed to be busy doing rat stuff.

Before we reached the Belly, even a mile from our destination, the cavern started to lighten up, not with the light that would illuminate the world to my human eyes, but the light that was only visible with Mana Sight. The air possessed a larger amount of mana than normal. Not only would the Belly be huge, but as we were about to find out, it was full of life.

When we were about a quarter mile away, even Travis slowed to a jog. Exactly how sight worked for him and his other senses I wasn’t sure, but he obviously felt something even if the entrance wasn’t yet visible to us.

As we rounded the final corner, it was like opening my eyes for the first time. If we had been traveling by a waning moon up until now, we had been flung into the heat of the day with the sun high overhead.

I had to decrease the mana funneling into my eyes in order to get used to the intensity of it all. My human eyes were able to take over in part because there was a failing light coming from the Belly’s entrance.

Travis stood still as could be as he took it all in. I realized I was also frozen at the sight.

When his eyes found mine, I motioned for us to both to retreat for now. And we did.

Without the intensity of the Belly distracting us, we continued away from the entrance about a half mile before contacting the others.

“We have reached the Belly. There is light, so you won’t have to worry as much about being able to see, but there is also a lot of life. It is far more dangerous than anything we have faced so far,” I informed them.

“Yes,” Zorik replied. “The Belly is filled with creatures, both dangerous and delicious. If we make it past there, then we might actually make it.”

“Since you have made it and cleared the path, we are going to up the pace,” Aeris said. “Were there any other surprises we might run into?”

“Not that we are aware of,” I replied, looking to Travis for approval.

“Right,” he replied. “Every trap we ran across has been disabled or destroyed.”

“Okay, we will see you soon then,” Aeris said.

“See you soon,” I agreed, bidding her farewell.

***

After my time with Travis, I had grown more confident in my ability to spot and take care of any traps I ran across. Both my rings and Mana Sight had picked up every one of them. It seemed that I was even able to see those that didn’t possess magic because most of them depended upon tension. It was this stored up kinetic energy that Mana Sight picked up on and why its color was white for general, or neutral, energy instead of the color of an element.

“Travis. I have a favor to ask you,” I said.

He crossed his arms as if to object, but then I noticed the smirk he was trying to hide.

“Oh?” he replied.

“I’m going to go scout. I want you to stay here.”

“There is one problem. Aeris will probably kill you for going off and kill me for not stopping you.”

“I know. And I’m…”

He interrupted me, brushing off what I was going to say. “Then Olivia will join her, probably tying me up with some man-eating plant because Olivia always has Aeris’s back. Then Audrey will step in to help because she will agree with Olivia that it was a boneheaded move and Clarissa will automatically join Audrey. Do you see what you are doing to me, man? You are putting me in a position where I will never get a date, ever again.”

“What about Lydia?” I teased.

“You and I both know that Chris already has an in with her,” he said, sighing deeply.

He was serious…

“So, what you are trying to say is that if you let me go you’ll want me to help you get a date?” I asked.

“No! I mean, if you could talk Aeris into helping, that would probably work.”

I shook my head back and forth, bewildered by what he was asking. It shouldn’t have surprised me really. What did I expect? We were still just a bunch of geeky high school kids. Weren’t we?

“Um, sure. I’ll ask her. Although, you probably could have just asked me, and I would have talked to her,” I responded.

“I know. I just wanted to give you a hard time.” He laughed. “But you still gotta ask her.”

Pounding the fist he offered me, our deal was struck.

I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of it all, grinning as I headed back toward the entrance to the Belly.

Chapter 16 – The Belly

I didn’t know what I had been expecting, but as I stepped into the Belly for the first time, the true size of the Underworld struck me. It was immense. Despite the stalagmite towers, great mounds and porous mazes carved through the rock which rose up all around me, with the help of Mana Sight I could see a mile or more in every direction. The ceiling had to be at least a mile up where an eerie light hung like green clouds covering the sky. This was only a fraction, or a single vein, of the Dungeon Level, just one of the levels of the Underworld.

Looking past the size, there was the promise of new Blue Magic and creatures to be drained, but also sure death if I got too comfortable. Fear was present, but it was dwarfed by my curiosity. Even the books I had studied only gave me clues about the scope of what was possible here. The unknown made it dangerous, but also utterly fantastic.

From where I stood, there were hundreds of creatures I could pinpoint. Their mana shone through the crags or was burrowed in the cracks of boulders. Mana Sight gave me the ability to see beyond what was possible with normal sight. I could see through the sparse mana of the rocks to see a mob’s dense energy behind it or within, even if it was dimmed by the matter between us.

The densest patches of mana were no doubt more powerful beings, which I would stay away from for now. Getting easy levels by killing low-level creatures I had never faced before to get the bonus experience would be the wisest course to take. I had hours before the others caught up with us, so I planned on taking full advantage of this opportunity. Still, I hadn’t forgotten the Hell Hound and the lesson its jaws had taught me.

Equipping my shield, I reinforced the Skeletal Armor that had taken the place of my missing counter and vambrace. Skeleton Warrior’s Shield coated my kite shield in bone as Skeleton Warrior’s Sword did the same to my scepter. With my helmet replacing Skeleton General’s Defense, I took my first step.

The way forward was a twisting path between two outcroppings of rock. It was only one of many paths I could take. I ignored the direct route and turned left, skirting against the wall of the Belly, which was made of jagged stone. The ground slanted upward and wouldn’t require me to place myself with rocks surrounding me on both sides, so I took that path.

As I neared the top of the slope, I saw a large creature that looked to possess only a small amount of mana hiding within the wall itself. There was a pink glow coming from the stone in front of it, so I expected it to be a trap of some kind. This must be one of the monster-made traps that Zorik had spoken of.

Removing my Golem from my inventory, I commanded it to continue walking up the path. When it was only a few steps away, still nothing had happened.

Like a man-sized George Forman grill, the wall slammed down on my Golem the moment it took a step directly in front of the glowing wall.

I poured more mana into my eyes to max out my perception of time.

A giant spider lunged out of the trap door, and scurried about, reaching below the slab of rock in hope of getting ahold of its prey. The leftover rubble of what remained of my Golem was brushed aside by the disappointed giant arachnid.

You have learned the Blue Magic Necrotoxin!

This spell allows the user to apply a flesh-eating toxin to a weapon or to spray it at your victim.

Note: Creatures without flesh are immune.

That was easy. I was using enough mana via Mana Sight that I didn’t have to use Force Learn on these lower level creatures.

Before attacking it, I examined the creature.

Trapdoor Spider

Level 131

HP: 1,153

Strength: 104

Dexterity:297

Constitution: 37

Intelligence: 75

Wisdom: 17

It was rather weak. Its mana glowed a deep brown, meaning it was of the Earth Element. It looked like I had already stolen its primary offensive ability, the toxin. Although there was no denying its trap making ability was extremely powerful, unfortunately there was no Blue Magic trap making ability to steal from it. My Golem had been one hundred levels higher than this spider and had been crushed by him in one go.

I decided to forgo Wail of the Banshee since I didn’t want to attract more attention than necessary. Instead, I let three compressed Alpha Bullets fly.

As the spider was lifting its trapdoor from the floor, the bullets pierced deep into its exoskeleton, about a foot from its head. The first two bullets finished it before the third one connected. It plopped to the floor dead.

Level Up!

Without wasting time, I cast Vampire’s Might and drained it quickly. The forest green blood that seeped from its body gave me +2 to Dexterity and +1 to Intelligence.

Instead of moving away, I stood perfectly still and waited to see if anything might come.

A minute later, something did. My old scavenger friends, the were-rats, had arrived.

I finished all three of them with a health bullet each. When I drained them, I didn’t receive any more stats. I had reached my limit with were-rats.

After killing them, I waited another few minutes. This time I had to step back against the wall to not get run over by the next creature that approached.

A cockroach the size of a large SUV scampered toward the dead were-rats from the way I had come.

I half expected to steal some Blue Magic from the giant roach that would follow along the lines of Grossness or Irrational Fear Induction. Instead, I didn’t receive any Blue Magic at all.

Tank Roach

Level 370

HP: 27,695

Strength: 193

Dexterity:124

Constitution: 1,487

Interesting. It was a high enough level to provide me with some decent experience, even beyond the first kill bonus. The only question, would it be worth taking the time to kill it. With 27k HP, it was enough that it might take me a few powerful spells, which would cost more mana than I was comfortable spending.

My strategy of staying still turned out to be wiser than I had imagined.

As the roach grabbed up the first were-rat in its feelers to bring it to its mouth, swift movement drew my eyes upward where I saw a cloaked figure glowing in dark energy. It possessed the face of a man and wielded two scythes drawn in close to its body.

It fell upon the roach, driving both of its long blades into its back until they fully disappeared beneath the giant bug’s outer shell. Tearing the blades out as it drove up with its legs, it pried a large chuck out of the exoskeleton in the process. As it stood, I saw that it wasn’t a man wielding two scythes, but a giant mantis that had rid itself of most of its mantis shape in exchange for something that resembled a cloaked rogue.

You have begun to understand a Pillar of Blue Magic - Shapeshifting.

I nearly lost my window to attack due to my excitement in seeing that shapeshifting was something that could actually be learned. What did it mean by “Pillar” though? It was the first time I had seen that as part of a notification.

I smiled greedily as I cast Creature Observation on it.

Dark Mantis

Level 519

HP: 12,777

Strength: 1,000

Dexterity: 1,509

Constitution: 200

The level of the Dark Mantis only caused me to pause for a moment. When I saw its HP, I almost yelled out in obnoxious mockery.

I blasted it with Advanced Heal and funneled mana into the spell, so as to keep a constant blanket of Light Magic bombarding it. A moment later, I hit it with Pain. I had almost been too late.

The mantis leaped from the roach’s back but was unable to put its full strength into the action before its muscles froze up against its wishes. With its legs frozen in mid-jump it only flew a few feet off the roach before it started to fall.

If Advanced Heal stayed locked on it, it would only be a moment before the creature was dead.

Unexpectedly, the roach started to back up down the path it had come and threatened to crush me between its body and the stone wall at my back.

I jumped up—it was time I changed tactics. Speed would serve me the best.

Landing on the back of the roach, I launched myself toward the opening in its back. Mana started to accumulate in the palm of my hand.

I cringed as orange light radiated off of my spell.

Starting with Flamethrower, I manipulated the spell into an orb similar to Alpha Bolt. Reaching the hole in the creature’s back, I unleashed a compressed Fireball and leaped.

I had planned to land near where I had seen the mantis fall, but before I could make it, the giant cockroach exploded. My Fireball had done its job too well. Gallons upon gallons of bug juice splattered in all directions and soaked my back. The blast changed my trajectory in the air, endangering my landing.

If I didn’t do something I was going to belly flop on the stone floor.

At the last moment, I rolled my shoulder forward, which sent me tumbling as I landed.

It was a strange sensation, experiencing the chaos of such a tumble while my perceptions were sped up. Through the whole ordeal, I never lost my sense of direction, nor did I miss seeing the mantis already in mid-swing as it threw one last desperate attack before its death.

I slowed time even more when I realized my predicament.

There was no angle at which I could cast a spell from my mouth or hand. It might be possible to cast a spell from any part of my body but doing it suddenly in desperation wasn’t an easy feat. There is that.

It was less than a second before the level 500’s attack would connect.

Bone seeped out from every gap in my armor and swamped over me.

The mantis’s scythes stabbed into the extra layer of bone armor now covering my back and I continued my tumble. The impact sent a shudder through me, but the pain that I had expected to jab through my plate mail never came.

Skeletal Plate Mail had been one of my go-to spells for the majority of my time in the Underworld. It had just saved me, even if turning into a human-sized roly-poly wasn’t its normal use.

With a final roll, I came to my feet, shedding the extra bone armor, and faced the Mantis.

The creature’s scythes were dragging. Its death was imminent.

I flooded the extreme amount of mana into my eyes necessary to execute Force Learn. As its dark mana started to flee its body, I cast my spell.

At that moment, I was driven into the being of the Dark Mantis. Not only was its mana held in by the shell that was its body, the mana had been pulling at the shell, manipulating it into the form it had taken before it died.

You have a better understanding of the advanced Blue Magic Shapeshifting.

What?

Even as it died and Force Learn was cast at the appropriate time, I was still unable to steal the Shapeshifting. Out of all the Blue Magic I had run across, it was the one I was most excited about, but it was still out of my grasp. I would have to check my books, but I didn’t remember reading anything about Pillars or Shapeshifting. It was the kind of thing I was sure I would have remembered.

A number of popups and level ups congratulated me. It wasn’t the time to check them.

I cast Lesser Blood Drain on both the roach and mantis at the same time. The way things were going, time was not something I could take for granted. It was likely another monster would soon join us looking for free food.

As both creatures’ blood filled me with new strength, I allowed myself to go invisible before I started to creep back toward the way I had come. To my relief, nothing else joined me. At least for the time being.

I reentered the cavern to see Travis’s ethereal form as he leaned against the wall studying his character sheet. The sneaky bacon thief followed me to get experience!

“Hey,” I said, finding much satisfaction in the way he jumped.

“I, uh. Hey,” he said, scrambling to find something to say.

I held my finger up to remind him to keep his voice down.

“Well, you did say you had my back,” I whispered, muffling my laugh.

“It’s not like that. I just wanted to watch. You didn’t go far so I happened to also get experience,” he insisted.

“It’s cool. I would have done the same. You made out well?”

He stopped squirming in his boots and replied with a smirk. “Eight levels.”

Looking to my own popups I saw I had received nine, thanks to the first time kill bonuses and the mantis and roach being higher levels. Since we were grouped, he got experience, but I got more experience because I was the one that did the killing.

I saw the best surprise when I noticed the stats I had received from draining them. +15 to Dexterity from the mantis and +800 to HP from the roach.

If I spent my 135 stat points on the stat I was only 42 levels from reaching 1,000 Dexterity. I was receiving stat points so quickly from the new mobs I ran across that I settled it in my mind to wait. It was only a matter of time for me to reach 1,000 Dexterity from Blood Drain and there was no guarantee that the levels would keep coming this quickly, or that leveling would remain this fast when I reached higher levels. I reminded myself that I needed over 1,700 levels before I reached 10,000 Wisdom.

It was only a few minutes before I regained max mana even with Meditation.

“I’m going back in,” I whispered to Travis. “This time I’m going a bit deeper. Stay safe.”

He nodded that he would, although I wasn’t sure if he would try to follow me or not. I hadn’t exactly told him to stay here this time around, because I wasn’t sure it was my place to do so. He was a scout. He probably had a few advantages when exploring that I didn’t. I would leave it up to him.

I saw what I recognized as more were-rats scampering about in what was left of the roach’s shell. After what I had just witnessed, I could wait here for other scavengers to come, and with them, predators.

So I waited. There was another creature that joined them, but it didn’t attack the were-rats at all, nor did they seem bothered by it. Immediately, I saw that it resembled a raccoon, but, just like the were-rats, it stood on its hind legs. It was about two heads taller than the were-rats, with the body of a furry brute. Strength was not something I associated with raccoons, but there was no denying its size.

Were-coon

Level 184

HP: 980

Strength: 476

Dexterity: 64

Constitution:196

There was no Blue Magic that registered as I examined it with Mana Sight. Well, at least it would be an easy kill. Hopefully, Travis hadn’t retreated further into the cave. This would be an easy level for him.

Just like the were-rat, the were-coons possessed Dark Mana. A single Advanced Mana Bullet tore through one side of its head and out the other. I received one level for killing it.

The were-rats didn’t even flinch when the were-coon fell over dead. Instead, they turned their attention to it and started to rip into it. That was not something I could allow. I had yet to drain it.

A few Health Bullets later and I was draining the were-coon for +3 Strength. The little were-rat buggers had possibly stolen a few stats from me by feeding on the coon’s body. I drained them out of spite. Of course, they gave me nothing.

And so, my exploration began. I passed by the site where I had first found the Trap-door Spider. From there, I changed direction and climbed. I was soon atop the porous rocks that made up the Belly’s floor. It was fairly flat on this level, which stretched across most of the Belly, but there were a thousand crevices to fall into. From here, I had a much better view with a much clearer way forward.

There were stalagmites the size of small mountains in the distance to my left. I thought I made out the multicolored glowing crystals of the Crystal Forest Zorik had mentioned hundreds of meters away, which I would run into if I went straight. In the distance to the right, there were plateaus like massive lily pads that acted as steps climbing high into that area of the Belly. They possessed a catacomb of caves with almost countless entrances. It was there that I saw the greatest concentration of mana, overshadowing everything else in the area. The intensity of crimson-silver energy sapped the strength from my knees and almost sent me running back below the rocks.

The mana I saw had the density I had only seen a few times. Lord Darius was one and Mistress Nava and the Head Mistress were the only others. It was liquid in consistency as if there was a river of power that flowed inside of them. Whatever this creature was, it was at their level.

Everything inside of me should have been screaming for me to stay far away, but instead, I found myself moving toward the creature, hoping against hope that I could steal some incredible Blue Magic.

After half an hour of walking, I was still only halfway there. It didn’t help that I was going at a slow pace to keep Invisibility in check. I knew this was a gamble and that I was likely missing the opportunity to level even more, but, if things went well, there was a chance I would still have time left to level some more and also come away with some rare Blue Magic.

When I reached the plateaus, there was a much larger distance to reach the next flat than I had thought. It was at least 30 feet up. An entrance to the catacombs was close by, but there was no guarantee I would be able to find my way up through there, let alone find my way out again once I had entered. No, there was one sure way to reach the creature that was about five levels up. I had to climb.

There were a number of approaches I could take to scale the wall. The easiest way would have been to remove my armor to muscle my way, but that would have left me vulnerable. Instead, I inventoried my shield and scepter and manipulated Skeletal Plate Mail and Skeleton Warrior’s Sword to work together to form hooked claws over my gauntlets that extended from each of my fingers. I did the same with my feet by letting vicious spikes extend out from the toe of either boot. I realized then that I could literally go Wolverine on some baddies if I ever had the desire.

With 433 Strength and 657 Dexterity, I scaled the wall by pounding my claws into the stone and making my own hand- and footholds. It was noisy, so I made it quick. Whether a spider would have been impressed was still up for debate, but I guarantee most of them would have jumped out of their exoskeleton if they saw me coming.

The creature’s mana was coming from inside the caves at the top of the highest plateau. I sensed some other creatures were waiting at the closest entrance to me. It wasn’t Mana Sight that had brought the creatures to my attention. It was Canine’s Sense of Smell.

I found that odd, because I hadn’t noticed anything that smelled beastly, but still, I knew they were there. There was a bitterness to the aroma, which was potent to me now, but without Smell activated I doubted I would have been able to describe it, let alone realize that it was the monster’s fear.

It was reassuring in one sense. If the creatures here feared me, then they weren’t as likely to attack. The density of the mana coming from the entrance of the cave was fairly low level, so I wasn’t spooked.

Since I was already making such a racket, I ran to the next wall and scaled to the next level without bothering to let Invisibility take hold.

By the third level, I noticed that there were far fewer creatures here than there had been below. The smell of fear was even thicker, despite that. All I had to do was look up to find a clue as to why that was the case. The Crimson Mana that had originally gained my attention blasted this area with its presence. Normally, mana was a muffled cloud of energy I could see through stone, but here I was able to see the details of the creature’s outline clearly with Mana Sight.

The only movement from the giant creature that I saw was the slow rise and fall of what I suspected was its chest. It was balled up, so I couldn’t determine what type of creature it was exactly, but I was almost positive it was sleeping.

A jolt of euphoria rose up inside of me. If it was sleeping that was better than I could have hoped. The Lich had told me before that sleeping creatures were easier to steal Blue Magic from. I just had to make sure that I made it there with some sliver of silence so as not to wake it up.

I did my best to scale the next wall to the fourth plateau by using handholds that were already there naturally to lessen the noise. There was a stretch of wall where I had to dig my claws in, but when I reached the top, I saw that the creature was still breathing steadily.

It was then that the lack of life around me except for the creature became painfully obvious. There were half a dozen cave mouths within two hundred meters of where I currently stood, and I saw not a single sign of life. The smell of fear had vanished except what was drifting up from the caves below.

Plans for a quick escape flooded my mind. I settled on a few different strategies to flee depending on what the situation presented, but I did not let the danger turn me from my path.

I slowed my approach and let Invisibility overtake me. I even climbed at a pace that allowed Invisibility to stay ethereal. Pulling myself up, I stood at the top of the final plateau where I faced a single cave the size of a jet hanger. The crimson-silver energy I had seen from afar now gleamed like the sun.

My mouth went dry and the strength of my limbs seemed to dissipate. I smelled the bitterness of fear almost immediately as it bled out of me through my sweaty palms. It didn’t take much to realize that the odor I exuded would soon reach the sleeping creature.

There was no need to get closer. I could see the creature’s body in the back of the cave about fifty meters away. I didn’t dare drop Mana Sight, which would give me some indication of what type of creature I was dealing with. Instead, I let the mana flood my eyes, slowing time and preparing for Force Learn at the same time.

I wanted to Heal myself, but fear of discovery drove off my fear of the bodily weakness I felt.

This opportunity would never come again, so I decided to use five times the amount of mana I usually did when using Force Learn. 25,000 mana took an uncomfortable couple of seconds to accumulate. Once I reached it, I let even more funnel in. Before I realized it, I had doubled my original goal of 25,000 mana and felt the muscles in my neck spasm beneath the force of 50,000 mana.

Releasing a pent-up breath, Force Learn was activated.

All of my senses were severed and reattached in a moment’s time. I was in the river of mana that existed inside the creature. No, it wasn’t a river. It was an ocean. The joy I had felt when experiencing Lord Darius’s power was nowhere to be found. Instead, I was left terrified.

“What do you want?” came a voice, not from any distant source, but from the mana itself. It was everywhere!

I had always feared that Force Learn might give away my presence, but never did I think that I would be pulled inside a monster and be able to communicate with it. Wait!

I was stuck. Not that I had ever been able to control my ability to leave a creature when I had used Force Learn, but it seemed there had always been a timer and I left when it was up. I knew this to be true, but I wasn’t sure how. Until this entity was done with me, I would not be able to leave.

“Power,” the voice drummed. “Yes. As all creatures, you seek what you don’t have. Typical. But let me ask you this, why should I give it to you?”

“I want to live,” I said, which should have been impossible. Here, I had no body. I had no mouth to speak or voice box to create sound.

“Again, typical. You will have to do better than that. Maybe I should just eat you. If I do, your power will become a part of me, making you, in a sense, very powerful. Of course, the you that you are now will no longer be and life will no longer be yours.”

“Others depend upon me. Without me, they will die.”

“Do you think it noble to protect your own? All creatures protect what is theirs.”

“But we aren’t monsters.”

“You are becoming tedious. All creatures consider themselves better than all others.”

I found myself speechless. What was I supposed to say? Did he want me to make a case for the goodness of mankind? What evidence did I have to offer? If this creature believed that each sentient creature in the Underworld was mostly the same, then I had no foundation to stand on. I had happily slaughtered other creatures since I entered the Underworld just to grow in power.

“Your silence is promising, creature,” the voice said. “Either you are pondering my question and showing signs of wisdom, or you are an idiot. Even idiots show wisdom in keeping their mouths shut.

“I’m curious. What are you? A Kobold? No, they are rash and rarely show anything but their teeth. Let me smell you. You…”

For what seemed like minutes, the beast was silent. The ocean of mana seemed to press into me and was threatening to crush me, then, at once, the pressure stopped. The voice returned. “Human. It has been centuries since I have smelled your people’s frail form, and your magic.”

This entity seemed interested. With interest, there was a speck of hope.

“I am the only one that possesses this magic,” I said.

“How can that be? You speak truthfully, this I can feel, but how?”

“Twenty of us were brought from the world above to help the Head Mistress of the succubi to grow in strength. We each had different talents in different schools of magic. Some had none. She leeches the excess energy we give off.”

“That is a wise plan, though a surprising play for a succubus. Hrmmm. I am no longer bored. Your story has a few points of intrigue. So, you want power?”

“I do.”

“I cannot teach you anything about Light Magic, but, there is a spell I will let you learn from me. This will suit your talent for Blue Magic.”

“Thank you,” I said, letting my excitement show.

“Now go. And you better go quickly, because I am going to chase you.”

Chase me?! My senses suddenly reentered my body. I stood there staring at the creature that was still in the back of its cave. It was starting to rise. I saw then what its true form was. It was a massive cat. Maybe a lion was more accurate, but its mane was different. It furrowed back and around its neck. It didn’t resemble the shape of a house cat either. Its ears twisted back and up. Its jaw resembled a pit bull’s jaw and its eyes were wide and alive with hunger. Its greatest feature though was that its body appeared to be made of molten metal.

Ignoring the popup I received, I quickly used Creature Indicator.

The only information it gave me was its name. Xaphan.

Doing an about face, I jumped. As I fell to the next level, I equipped my shield and scepter. Landing, I took off at a sprint. I could flee to the catacombs that littered the plateaus, but not only could I end up stuck there with my back to the wall, I could get lost and never come out. Instead, I would get as far away as I could, then retreat to one of the many paths underneath the Belly’s surface level.

I leaped off the fourth level and landed with a roll, propelling myself forward once again with as much speed as I could manage. If all else failed, there was another possibility, but I didn’t want to shed my armor to turn into a bat. Not yet.

I lengthened my stride as I approached my last jump when I felt Xaphan’s energy come.

Jumping, I let gravity take me.

Faster than was possible for me to fall, Xaphan snagged me from the air.

I let Skeleton General’s Defense overtake my armor, turning me into a titan of bone plate mail. Even if I were sure there was no chance of defeating this creature, I wouldn’t go down without a fight.

He swung me with his massive maw, lobbing me to the ground with incredible force.

I cratered into the stone floor.

My eyes opened, spinning, but my mind was still mine. 25,874 HP was gone instantaneously, and I had reverted in part to my maximum base HP. I only had 26,246 remaining. A third of my armor was missing. That could only mean one thing.

I was helmetless. Knowing there was no time to spare, I spat out the blood that was accumulating in my mouth as I showered myself with Advanced Heal and pushed myself up. Coming to my feet I saw that I had left a jumble of shattered bone in the wreckage mixed with crushed rock. Skeletal General’s Defense had saved my life.

I was bewildered that I was still alive.

The breastplate of my Durable Full Plate Mail of Life fell from one shoulder and dangled on my loosely. Looking down, I saw that it had three large cracks spidering out from its center.

I upped Mana Sight as I assessed what might be the last moments of my life.

Xaphan was crouched in front of me, ready to strike, less than twenty meters away. The heat coming off of him sent sweat trickling down my brow.

My shield and scepter had been ripped from my grasp when I hit the ground, so I used my empty hands to yank my plate mail from my back.

Seeing my helmet just off to the side and crumpled like an aluminum can, I pumped 1,000 mana into Skeletal General’s Full Plate Mail, many times more than normal, creating something altogether new. What started as layers of bone plates began to fuse together to form an incredibly thick breastplate with massive shoulder pauldrons. My skull helmet grew with it. Its eye sockets turned down at the nose and extended up and out in what seemed more demonic than human.

I knew my enemy’s speed. Even with my perception at its highest level, I had, at the most, milliseconds to react. My body could not respond that fast.

The giant molten cat shifted its weight to its rear. Its muscles bulged, exhaling steam.

Escaping was my only true option. The amount of mana that thing possessed dwarfed even the Head Mistress. Bat Form might have been my only hope, but after experiencing Xaphan’s speed and being caught in the air, I didn’t dare try my trump card. Not yet. All I needed was a moment. Something that could delay the beast a few seconds. It was not something I could leave to chance or this monster’s good graces. I would have to create my chance.

I didn’t even glance at the popup indicating I had learned Blue Magic. It was true that what I had just experience from casting Force Learn was completely different than anything I had experienced before—but one thing would always remain the same. The Blue Magic I learned would be based on a skill that my target possessed. If that remained true, it was more than likely Xaphan would be tough against or immune to the spell he had let me learn.

That left me with the arsenal of spells I already possessed. I uncast Invisibility and every spell except for my defensive passives, buffs, and my new Skeletal Armor. This left me with approximately 1,500 mana per minute to work with.

Did I have any spell that could hurt this creature? His element was obvious enough through Mana Sight and seeing the lava type substance his body was made up of. It had to be a sub-element of fire and earth.

I could immediately rule out the strategy I had used against the Earth Elements. Heating him up would not dry him out to make him susceptible to Sonic damage. Besides, the hottest temperature Flamethrower could produce was like warm air to a raging furnace compared to the heat he was already giving off.

He was not of the Dark or Light Alignment, so my strength, Healing, was just about useless. There were only two real possibilities: Ice Shard and Alpha Bolt. I had no time, so I would have to try them both. No half measures and no holding back.

I started to build up mana in my chest and the palms of both of my hands. I sent more to my back as I prepared the only thing I could imagine that might work.

Smoldering fumes started to billow out of Xaphan’s nose. He seemed to smirk. Then, with a quickness I could barely comprehend, the hellcat surged forward. He came right for me.

One bone lance after another spewed out of my chest like long poles to keep him back. Their razor points jabbed into his chest as he came.

Numerous bone arms were then birthed out of my back and curled around me like spider’s legs. They shot forward, sharp as spears, and penetrated the monster’s shoulders and mane.

As Xaphan sped forward, his momentum pushed against my defensive assault and jarred me from my feet. I was pushed back at an impossible speed.

-7,369 HP

Bone Lances had extended out and stuck in his chest. Bone Appendages from my back arched behind me like an angel of death, before reaching forward with their deadly stingers and helping to hold him at a distance. I dangled at the end of my bone assault about fifteen feet from his mouth.

As he rose up from his lunge, the beast held my weight three meters off the ground like I was nothing more than an insect to him.

Again, I had just used a mix of Skeleton Warrior’s Sword and Skeletal Armor to create something altogether new in my desperation. Bone Lance and Bone Appendages had cost me though. 30,000 MP.

With both arms extended, my mana swelled.

I had learned my lesson when casting the huge Ice Spear against the Hell Hound. This time I formed many smaller versions of the same spell. Each spear was as long as a person, but only as thick as my arm. Its point was just as deadly, and now there were over a dozen of them.

In my other hand, Alpha Bolt formed, except this was no mere bolt. I knew I would have no problem getting Alpha to fly as I had the vast amount of ice. It was a part of Alpha Bolt’s nature to soar. So instead of a bolt, Alpha grew. In fractions of a second, the purple energy was violating the air before me. It bulged until it was nearly half the size of the tank-roach I had faced an hour before.

Xaphan twisted his head to the side, confounded.

With 100,000 mana split between the two spells, I opposed more than just the monster before me. I defied Mistress Nava’s wish to see me dead. I spat in the face of the Head Mistress who would take my freedom for her own selfish ends. I cried out for the entire Underworld to hear me. I would live!

My spells rumbled as they departed.

Ice Spear Barrage buried long spears of ice deep into the hellcat’s front leg, neck and side before the magma’s heat could turn them to steam.

Super Alpha thundered forward. The shockwave of Alpha grabbed hold of my chest and squeezed. If felt like my lungs and heart were being crushed inside me.

Alpha tore into Xaphan’s mane. His entire shoulder was removed from his body. The mass of energy kept going. It smashed into the ground some 100 feet away and bored down into the crags, toppling a huge chunk of the ground level below the first plateau.

As the giant cat faltered, my position in the air did so as well and I almost hit the ground.

This was my one chance.

I wasn’t happy to be leaving my shield and scepter behind, but it was better than death. I cast the spell to take my Bat Form.

Before my transformation took me, I was ripped from the air.

How had Xaphan recovered so quickly, let alone shattered my bone appendages holding him back?

I was on my back. The giant cat had a single paw resting on my chest, holding me in place. His nose was a mere foot from my face. The damage I had done to him had completely vanished.

To my surprise, my skin wasn’t sizzling nor was my blood boiling being this close to him. I hadn’t lost any HP?

“Power is always earned!” the hell beast rumbled in emphatic fury. “You ask to have what you have not taken!”

Turning his head once again, he seemed to calm, slightly.

“But you have surprised me,” he said, snuffing out a fume-filled grunt. “I was going to kill you, but I think I will let you earn your prize after all.”

His paw was as large as my chest and the weight behind it was so immense that I couldn’t take a deep enough breath to speak.

“Rarely do I wake from my slumber, but when I do it is often because a fool seeks me out to increase their power. After I am done tearing them apart and leave their body mutilated, the Belly comes alive and devours whatever is left,” he said, pulling his head back to finally look me in the eye. “Do you know why they rush to my kills with such fervor and often to their own deaths, human?”

Gritting my teeth, I stopped struggling and glared at him.

His eyes widened and seemed to burrow into me. “Because those that come to me, though torches of power in comparison to my inferno, are many levels beyond the creatures that dwell here. They will eat you and their power level will climb to great heights if you don’t kill them first. Get up.”

When his foot lifted, I scrambled to my feet and healed myself, then applied more mana to mend my armor.

“Look at the spell that I gave you,” he insisted.

I did.

Colossal Blue Magic - Magma

“As you see, but do not yet understand, this spell is a colossal. Each sub-element only has one colossal and no other spells compare. Just as it is among the most powerful spells in existence, it doesn’t level like normal spells do. Already, you have access to its most powerful form, but you have no means to use it.”

I looked at the description and immediately saw what he was talking about.

Basaltic Magma

Spell Cost – 2,000,000 MP

Andesitic Magma

Spell Cost – 1,000,000 MP

Rhyolitic Magma

Spell cost – 500,000 MP

I froze. The base spell cost for the lowest form of magma was 500,000 MP. Even with Mind Synergy, it would cost me 100,000 MP to cast its lowest form. I could only cast it once. It would be possible to channel a smaller amount of mana for a dumbed down version of it, but the further away I got from its base mana cost, the less effective it would be.

Turning my attention to Basaltic Magma, I found myself dumbfounded. How could a 2,000,000 MP spell even exist? When I had faced Xaphan during Force Learn I had felt the ocean of mana inside him. It had been too much for me to comprehend. Seeing such a mana cost started to bring things into perspective. The monster standing before me… what was he?

“Now you truly see. I will leave you now,” he said, moving to turn. “But before I go, a warning. Do not flee until you have cleared this room. If you do, I will begin where we left off. The Belly has grown louder as of late, so I will be watching from my perch. You will earn my gift while you do me a favor. You are cornered, human. If you fight with everything you have left, you might just survive.”

With that, Xaphan turned and strolled away before picking up speed and bounding up to the first plateau.

Not a second had passed before pandemonium broke loose.

Chapter 17 – Indigestion

Perhaps the only remaining grace was that the army of random monsters flooding out of the Belly’s underparts would never be able to come at me with the same speed that Xaphan was capable of. Not even a fraction of it. I supposed that meant I would see my death coming.

I let Mana Sight build until time seemed to flow four times slower.

How sheltered we had been in the Head Mistress’s dungeon. The skeletons and zombies had driven many of us to tears. As I watched roach-tanks, hulking spiders, giant serpents, were-rats, coons and wolves, and what had to be goblins, elementals and gargoyles spew out of the crevices in the rock, it was as if the Mistress’s dungeon had been a tease and now the abyss was finally opening up to devour me.

I had dropped my scepter, my breastplate had cracked, and my helmet was crushed. I allowed the 1,000 mana per minute to continue to run into my new form of skeletal armor. I named it Bone Titan’s Defense.

Looking at my mana, I saw I only had a little over 20k left. It was going up, but it would be 45 minutes before it was full without Meditation. If I had all of my mana this may have been possible, but now that I only had a little over 10% of my mana remaining…

“What’s happening, Elorion?” Travis hissed through group chat.

“Stay back,” I commanded him.

“What is it?!” Aeris demanded.

“It’s like the entire Belly has come awake. Elorion is caught in the middle of it,” Travis said.

Spotting my scepter near the lip of the shallow crater created when the hellcat had thrown me to the ground, I ignored the rest of their questions and ran at it.

A crazed were-rat neared it as it was coming at me.

I slid, skirting across the ground on armored knees. Grabbing my scepter, I swatted the ugly rat upside the head.

He tumbled across the ground and fell into a fissure.

Rising to my feet, I equipped the sphere from my inventory that gave me an extra 250 mana per minute and assessed the situation.

I had enough mana to fire off about 4-5k basic spells, 1,000 intermediate and between 60 and 150 advanced ones. Light magic wouldn’t do any good against many of these creatures. Maybe half of them. Casting would not be enough. Even if I could cast 5,000 basic spells all at once I doubted it would do the trick.

Was it possible to rest my hope on the single cast of a charged spell? I would have to cast Magma with only a fifth of its required mana and I had no idea how useful it would be. An Alpha Bomb could clear everything in a wide area, but there was no way it would be wide enough.

Did that mean that there was no hope?

Could I run from Xaphan even though he told me not to? I knew the answer was no. If he could really cast something that cost 2,000,000 MP, then there was no way my puny Bat Form could fly high enough or my feet could flee fast enough. Not only would he catch me if he cast such a spell, but the Belly would likely be obliterated in the process. The others needed to pass through this place to get to our possible refuge. Even if I died here, the least I could do was clear the path.

The creatures I saw closest to me were on the weaker side, so I didn’t jump into the fray just yet.

I cut mana from my Muscle Buff, allowing the width of my arms and legs to shrink. This made it easier to shed the armor that was still left on my arms and legs. Doing without the layer of protection my plate mail offered may have been foolish, but my helm and breastplate were already gone. My Bone Titan’s Defense would have to work for what I was planning.

There was only one real avenue I could see for me to take. Only one path forward. My talents were my true strength. It was time to push them to the limit.

For some reason, what the Lich had said earlier that day came to mind. “There is more to Wisdom than stats on a page.” Despite all my Wisdom, I knew it was my lack of true wisdom that had put me in this position. Not only was I in danger, but so were the others.

Opening up my Character Sheet, I put all my spendable stat points into Wisdom, giving me an additional 270 Mana Per Minute. I could have reached 1,000 Dexterity, but I would take care of that in short order.

I reapplied Advanced Muscle Buff but this time I flooded it with mana. Thanks to Mind Synergy, all of my spells cost only 20% of the mana they did naturally. Also, since I kept Advanced In the Buff active at all times it had leveled up quickly, even for an advanced tiered spell. When I had first received it, Advanced Muscle Buff had cost 600 base mana per minute to cast without Mind Synergy and gave me 300 to my Strength and Dexterity stats. It was now at level 49 and, with all my buffs, it only cost 70 mana per minute. I increased the flow of mana until it reached 1,000. My Strength and Dexterity soared!

Even with Natural Channeling, which allowed me to surpass the limits of what was normally possible when adding more mana to a spell to make it more powerful, there was still a law that seemed to govern Channeling. The more mana used, the more mana would be needed to further increase the effectiveness of the spell. Basically, the extra 930 mana I added to the spell didn’t give me 14 times the Strength and Dexterity that the amount of mana might suggest. It did little more than doubled it. It was necessary though and well worth it. My Dexterity jumped to over 1,000!

Intermediate Light Step

Speed Increased by 50%

Quick Reflexes Increased by 50%

Jump Height increased by 400%

With 1009 Dexterity, 813 Strength and 472 Constitution, thanks to my buffs, I now had the stats of a level 458 basher. My size increased with my stats, but my excessive Dexterity seemed to keep me thinner than Skyler’s bulk. Had I grown taller? It was incredible, to say the least, but I had already faced a level 500 mantis shapeshifter here. If there were too many high-level creatures attacking me at once, I was a goner.

With 1,000 mana per minute going to Bone Titan’s Defense, 1,000 going to Advanced Muscular Buff and my other base buffs adding up to 210 mana per minute, I still had 932 mana per minute free to use.

I didn’t bother upping Skeletal Buff to increase my Constitution, because I had something better than a larger pool of HP. I could heal. Without my Durable Full Plate Mail of Life, I now had 45,000 HP less than I had before it was broken. Such a loss of HP caused me to second guess my assessment.

I cast Advanced Heal on myself, restoring my max HP to 26,341. Then, I cast Advanced Heal on myself in a way that I had only ever cast on others. Since the base level was 49, with all my buffs and my scepter, Advanced Heal healed for approximately 24,500 HP. I let the mana trickle out of me at a consistent pour, creating a form of Rejuvenation that would heal me for about 1,000 HP a second at the cost of 500 mana per minute. Advanced Rejuvenation was created!

If I needed to, I would add mana to its flow, but the remaining 432 mana per minute would help recover MP and be my reserve.

Looking down at my scepter, there was still one thing left to do. An idea came to mind.

My grin reached from ear to ear as I placed my orb at the butt of my scepter and once again manipulated Skeletal Warrior’s Sword. Bone engulfed the shaft of the scepter and expanded beyond it over my Channeler’s Orb, holding it securely at its base like it was a part of the scepter itself.

Skeleton Warrior’s Sword wasn’t finished there. Bone wrapped itself over the scepter’s business end then started to expand. Before, when my scepter had been wrapped in bone, only a spike had been added, giving the weapon a point, but this time the shaft of the scepter became an extended handle and the spike grew to become a ferocious blade. It curved back like a katana but along the mune, or the back of the blade, there was a serrated bone edge.

It would cost me 300 mana per minute, but instead of a scepter, I now wielded a two-handed sword.

Grabbing the weapons with both hands, I was thankful for my time earlier with the Earth Elementals. Despite my lack of skill with a blade, my stats and my increased perception of time would allow me to make up for it. I hoped.

Though there were only about twenty creatures in close proximity, an army of monsters now ran at me from all directions, close on their heels.

I would not wait for them. Running forward at a speed I had never experienced before, I made the first move. My strides now ate away at the distance, surprising me, and would take a minute to get used to.

I cleaved six were-rats in two in a couple of swings, then danced to the next beast, a fanged Werewolf with possessed eyes that stood as tall as I was and was level 341. My blade slashed down the length of its arm while intercepting an attack. It continued on until it had cut deep into its shoulder and down into its chest. Though it wasn’t needed to finish the Werewolf off, my Advanced Rejuvenation spell that blanketed me with Light Magic added some damage the closer I got to it.

Adding new stats to Wisdom thanks to leveling from the bonus experience for killing my first Werewolf, I didn’t stop.

A giant spider leaped toward me. Skirting under it, I removed its head and let it plow into whatever unsuspecting creature happened to be behind me.

There was no pattern to the attack. It was as Xaphan had said, the monsters of the Belly went frantic with bloodlust after his kills. Was the chance of dying really worth the power they could gain from devouring his leftovers? I knew the answer before I had finished the thought. Power. In the Underworld, it was the only thing that mattered.

A tank-roach plowed through a group of mobs to get to me. It immediately lost its feelers, quickly followed by a front leg when I spun from the first attack and brought my sword up from below and cleaved deep into its underbelly and up through its mouth.

Its momentum smashed into me and drove me into the creatures at my rear.

-1,067 HP

Even with my monstrous armor, I couldn’t take the impact of an SUV charging into me at thirty miles per hour without taking some damage. Rejuvenation took care of the damage a moment later, but I had to spend 400 MP immediately to repair my armor.

I cringed at the mana cost. 400 MP wasn’t a terrible loss, but as it accumulated… It could be my downfall.

Leaping up onto the shell of the roach as it rolled over dead, I slashed at those behind me as I went.

My sword had taken damage, so I sent the mana where it needed to go to repair it as I continued to swing. It was another mana cost, but this was just under 100 MP.

Lesser mobs, often more than one, fell beneath my weapon in a single slash.

Even as I took the high ground atop the dead roach, the mob of creatures swarmed it, both to eat it and attack me. I used their hunger to my advantage, lopping off heads of as many of the creatures as I could before the roach’s exoskeleton gave way. Perhaps I could further use their hunger to my advantage.

It was time to get off.

Taking a running step, I leaped.

Landing among a small mob of goblins, I crushed one underfoot but was quickly swarmed by the creatures and their obsidian knives. The hideous waist-high monsters had green skin, sickly yellow eyes and pitch black facial hair. Since when do goblins have goatees?

Finding it hard to move, I extended the range of my Rejuvenation spell to about two meters in all directions. It cost me an additional 200 mana per minute, but the goblins started to tremble as they came in contact with the Light Magic.

The lowest level goblins died in seconds. I left the rest of them in pieces, clearing some space so I had a small breather. Mobs ran to their dead bodies as much as to me. There were so many creatures coming that it didn’t seem to matter.

As I leveled I continued to add every stat I got into Wisdom when I got the opportunity but I ignored all popups. Having them steal my attention would not serve me now.

A sudden brutish cry rose up from behind.

I had no time to react to it. I jerked forward and flew through the air, landing in the midst of a bunch of spiders.

Drawing back Rejuvenation to reduce its radius since these creatures didn’t have a Dark Alignment, I was overrun by the eight-legged nasties.

In panic, I opened my mouth and let Flamethrower fly. Moving my head around like a person possessed, I spit it in the face of as many spiders as possible. Thankfully, the spell itself didn’t cost much mana since it hadn’t been charged. Another 150 MP disappeared.

Then I sent another 100 MP into my armor to repair a few small fractures in the bone.

Rising up, I slashed about. The creature that had sent me flying stepped up to face me. It was mostly humanoid in shape but stood ten feet tall and looked like the mix of an oak tree and a thorn bush. A level 438 Greater Nature Elemental.

For a moment, everything seemed to stop as we faced each other.

With a shrug, I spewed Flamethrower into its face just as I had the spiders, then surged to the side. Taking advantage, I ended a few goblins while I was at it, then slashed down across the back of the Elemental’s leg, splitting it partway before it got stuck.

Looking up, I saw a thorn-filled arm speed toward my head. Kicking off, I pried my sword from the thick wooden trunk of a leg and rolled.

As I landed, I spun, slashing at whatever had stopped my momentum. A were-coon’s jaw held on to my arm even after I had cut him in two.

Swiping it off, I faced another lumbering back fist from the Nature Elemental.

I considered the skeleton in my inventory or creating a Golem to help, but my skeleton just did much better as a loot carrier than a fighter and couldn’t be resummoned once killed. The Golem cost too much mana for it to be worth it at the moment. If only I could create more than one of them.

Returning to my roots, I cast Decay, but instead of a single cast, I channeled a stream of mana into the trunk of the Elemental. It cost less than 20 mana per minute. Despite the low cost, I noticed it had an effect almost immediately.

Skidding to the side I dodged its attack and sped forward, attacking a flock of gargoyles, if you can call them a flock, that had been hovering behind the Elemental.

The grey-skinned, flat-nosed bat-men tried to climb above the fray which only made it easier for me to catch more of them with each attack.

With a kick to a green spider’s head, I jumped back and found the Greater Nature Elemental with peeling bark and browning leaves. I torched the sucker.

This time the fire did more than scorch it. The fire blazed into the air as it caught, making it look like it had a flaming haircut.

Channeling extra mana to my sword for a short burst, I manipulated the bone into the shape of an axe.

Giving my best snarl, I rushed in, dodging a fist of smoldering thorns, and wound up. I swung with all my strength.

The axe blade bit deep into the creature’s gut, throwing wood chips and leaving vines dangling. The blow seemed to knock the sap out of the nature monster, stunning it.

I forced mana into my axe blade, commanding it to grow. With a blade the size of an extra-large pizza, I spun with the massive blade to build up momentum and leveled it again into the Elemental’s gut. Wood chips exploded out its back as my axe burst through.

There was no time to celebrate. I chopped through a group of goblins fighting over a dead spider before letting my weapon return to a sword.

Group after group died in my wake as I tried and succeeded to create some open space. As many of the creatures fought for the remains of the defeated mobs, it gave me a short breather. I soon learned that rest was not an option. The moment I slowed, death closed in. The mobs that had stopped to feed were soon trampled by others. The only thing keeping me alive was that I kept moving forward.

I repaired my sword again. Seemingly, floating through time, I prepared each action with purpose and as much precision as I could muster. I was a lion among sheep. Some of them had horns and left the occasional bruise, but, in turn, I tore them to pieces.

Countless creatures new to me and different species of the more common creatures I had already faced died at the end of my blade before I had a chance to examine what they were.  My level kept climbing, and I continued to add my stat points to Wisdom.

The more I killed, the more seemed to come. Some continued to try and feed on the ones I had already killed, but the biggest ones made them regret it. They were after the bigger prize. Me. Perhaps those that had thought to spare their lives in the fight to win Xaphan’s kill had finally become emboldened, or the smell of so much death had finally roused them. Each time that I made some room, the space filled up quicker than the time before.

The crowd pushed in upon me from all sides. I saw that my mana had risen to 30,000. It was more than enough to clear the area, but not all of them were sheep. It was only a matter of time before I faced another lion, or possibly an entire pride of them.

Instead of using a lot of mana, I decided to disrupt the enemy’s line. I sent three Intermediate Health Bombs, costing about 200 MP each, into the groups around me, killing countless mobs weak against Light Magic. Those that didn’t have that weakness still found it difficult to stand in the blasts.

With more room to move, I went to work cutting down what remained.

Then, when all seemed to be turning in my favor, the creature I had feared finally appeared. But it wasn’t just one mob. There was a myriad of them.

I only remembered seeing one Werewolf before, and it was in the mid-300s. But now, an entire pack of them had arrived and these were much larger.

Whether out of fear, or inability to get passed the Werewolves, the army of monsters halted their charge. The Werewolves were spread out in a semi-circle standing about forty feet away. To my rear, there was an odd assortment of were-creatures. Rats, coons and what looked like a giant weasel also kept their distance. As before, these were-creatures didn’t attack one another and seemed to be working together.

Using Creature Indicator, I quickly assessed a number of the Werewolves and got a range of their levels. I swallowed hard when I saw their lowest level was 623. The highest was level 796 and each one of them had over 1,000 Strength and Dexterity.

I estimated there were at least thirty of them. Bashing my way through this would be impossible. There was no way I was getting out of this without using mana.

Being surrounded by were-creatures at least gave me the advantage of being able to use Light Magic. Remembering Lord Darius’s attack, I had used a Health Bomb with 3,000 MP to destroy most of the zombies attacking my group. They had been in the 300s. Now, with Advanced Heal, my Health Bomb would be much more powerful. I also had much better passive skills that would greatly reduce its mana cost and make my spell more powerful. Still, I couldn’t chance it. Having to cast multiple Health Bombs would just waste more mana. On the other hand, casting too weak of a bomb could get me killed.

I knew it was coming, that they were readying their attack. You could smell the anticipation like it was something you could reach out and touch. Then it became clear that I was probably smelling some kind of chemical their bodies gave off as the anticipation grew. I took it as a warning. The only reason I was noticing it was because of Canine’s Sense of Smell.

The scent grew more potent until it was almost all-encompassing. Before it happened, I realized, it was a literal countdown.

The sounds of their howls grew more frantic.

I bent low, letting tension build in my legs. Mana began accumulating at the end of my sword.

As if a gun had been fired, they surged toward me.

I jumped.

New to having 1,000 Dexterity and not having had the chance to test 400% jump height, I was astonished as I vaulted high into the air. I started to slow when I was approximately twenty feet overhead.

My 5,000 Advanced Health Bomb took shape at the tip of my sword. As condensed as it was it was only about the size of a basketball.

The small army of were-creatures surrounding me had packed into a huddle below, waiting for me to drop down into their clutches.

Are you puppies hungry? Sorry, but before chow time, you need a bath!

I slashed down. My Health Bomb shot to the earth and mangled those that just happened to be in its path. It exploded, drenching them and everything in the area in light.

I closed my eyes just as it exploded and started my descent. I felt an immense pressure from below, but the creatures had been packed tight enough that they absorbed most of the energy.

Opening my eyes before I landed, I saw that the lot of them had been thrown and were lying at least ten feet away.

I was able to catch myself easily enough with my legs, but just as I turned my attention to the next wave of monsters, I saw movement.

One of the biggest Werewolves started picking himself up and rose to his feet.

Using Creature Observation, I winced at what I saw.

Werewolf

Pack Leader

Level: 922

Health Points: 87,621/120,000

Strength: 1,007

Dexterity: 2,274

Constitution: 1,017

Everything about the beast unnerved me. He had an extreme amount of HP, which was regenerating extremely fast. He had 1,000 in every physical stat which probably gave some crazy bonus synergy. Plus, he doubled my Dexterity, so I could no longer count on superior speed. There was no easy way to put it. This creature could kill me.

When a few more Werewolves started to take their feet, I took a step back, then froze when I realized I could be attacked from behind at any moment. Looking around frantically, I saw the hundreds of monsters surrounding us were still keeping their distance or busy feeding on the fallen.

The respect they were showing this Werewolf caused me to gulp.

I rushed the Pack Leader in hope that he was still stunned by my attack. Luck was on my side as I won a clean slash that cleaved into the monster’s chest.

-4,937HP

As I pulled back to slash again, I saw that the damage my attack had done was almost nothing in comparison to its HP. The cut across its chest was not nearly as deep as I had thought. Worse yet, its HP was still climbing.

I thrust my blade into the creature’s stomach. What I saw next was even more disheartening.

-2998 HP

Regaining his wits, the Werewolf swiped at me, pummeling me off my feet.

I had seen the blow coming, but it was the same kind of speed I had seen from the Hell Hound. It was something I could perceive, but my body just couldn’t move fast enough to do anything about it. Large chips of my armor flew off.

-1,654 HP

Though it was a lower number than what I had hit the Pack Leader with, I had a fourth of his HP. I spun to the floor and started to roll but threw my arms out wide to stop myself. I sent another 300 MP into my armor for its needed repairs. Pushing up, I leapt to my feet and started to prepare another spell. As low as my mana was, magic was my only hope.

We both hesitated.

A new danger approached. The sound was so soft that I was surprised I could hear it at all, but the speed of the rhythm of footfalls that was heading toward us was undeniable. It was only getting faster. It seemed to have started from the other side of the Belly and was clearing the distance between us unbelievably fast.

Choking up on my sword, I prepared as much as I could. With that kind of speed, I feared even with Mana Sight I wouldn’t see it coming.

To my astonishment, seven spear points erupted out of a level 714 Werewolf’s stomach, chest and neck. It had just risen to its feet and stood impaled about 20 feet behind the Pack Leader. Just as quickly as the attack was executed the spears were yanked from the monster. It fell to its knees.

Another spear shot out from behind the fallen Werewolf. It couldn’t possibly hit its next target that stood about eight feet away, but as it reached the peak of its physical extension, I saw energy extend from the tip of the spear that cleared the distance and impaled the other Werewolf in the kidney.

As the first Werewolf fell to the floor dead, a surprise appeared behind it, pulling his spear back and readying it for another attack.

“Travis?!” I cried.

He had just one-hit a Werewolf three times his level.

The Pack Leader was on him before he could respond or redirect his attack.

As soon as Travis had arrived, he was finished.

The Werewolf lunged, clearing a dozen feet in a split second. With its clawed hand larger than a human head, he slashed at Travis’s chest.

With impossible agility, Travis bent back at the waist and dragged the blade of his spear against the monster’s arm.

Jumping back, Travis started to backpedal in my direction.

I quickly made it to his side, casting Advanced Heal on him as I came.

“Sorry I’m late!” he called with an obnoxious grin.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I rebuked.

It was then that I saw the Pack Leader grabbing at the scratch that Travis had left him. The creature’s arm twitched.

“Lydia’s poison!” Travis boasted.

I looked to the double-bladed spear point of Travis’s weapon and saw an odd concentration of black and green light coming from it through Mana Sight.

“Of course!” I said.

Energy filled my sword, transforming the bone into a long, straight, double-sided blade that resembled a claymore.

I hadn’t tested the Necrotoxin Blue Magic that I had stolen from the Trapdoor Spider, but still, I applied it to one edge of my sword. It cost a base of 100 mana per minute at level 1, but with my passives, it only cost 20. On the other edge, Light Magic shone brightly as I fed it a much more expensive 100 mana per minute coating.

“Do you have any silver?” Travis asked.

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye, and he cackled like a crazed hyena.

It looked like about half of the Werewolves had survived my Advanced Health Bomb. With Travis at my side, they swamped us.

Fighting creatures just as fast as we were made their numbers a great advantage. But as the first claw swung for my face, I learned that all I had to do was block.

My Light-charged blade sizzled through the monster’s arm like red-hot metal through butter. I almost expected sparks to fly, but none came.

Suddenly emboldened, I shouldered the feral beast and dragged my blade through its torso.

Turning to see if Travis needed a hand, what I saw left me hardly believing my eyes. As he stabbed at the monster’s chest, the blade of his weapon seemed to splinter. Each segment of his spear solidified into a spearhead of its own and seven spear points jabbed into the mob’s stomach and chest. One caught it in the mouth.

The blow wasn’t nearly as powerful as his first one had been where all seven spear points had impaled the poor beast, but with so many wounds from a single attack, he was doing impressive amounts of damage.

It occurred to me that I really had very little idea what my fellow captives were capable of. Remembering Travis also had a talent with piercing weapons it was clear that his abilities were beyond my expectation.

Although, I wasn’t able to completely go on the offensive, coating my weapon with the Light Magic saved me mana and allowed me to cut away at their high HP with ease.

Even though it took almost all of my remaining mana per minute, I cast Advanced Rejuvenation on Travis and rebuffed him. As he realized what I was doing, he turned it up a notch.

It was then that I saw what it meant to have a talent in Dexterity. Even though each of the Werewolves had 1,000 Dexterity as well, he danced around them like they were drunken overweight teddy bears. Ugly ones.

We whittled them down until the Pack Leader shouldered his way forward and sent me sprawling to my rear. He had already recovered from the poison.

Not to waste time, I removed a few legs of the lesser Werewolves close by, watching warily as the Pack Leader turned his attention to Travis.

Travis’s talent couldn’t make up the distance between 1,000 and 2,000 Dexterity. His spear didn’t stop moving as he scrambled to stay alive. There was no extended spear and his spear remained a single point as he fought back. It seemed there was a countdown of some kind to use his skills.

To reach him, I stepped into a vicious slash, taking it high on the shoulder as I buried my sword in one of the last couple of Werewolves alive. My armor took the brunt of the force but needed another 50 MP to fuse it together in places.

I was too late.

The Pack Leader swatted at Travis’s spear.

When Travis drew it back to reposition for a better angle, he shifted his weight back. The Werewolf saw the shift and lunged. With its lower jaw fully extended, the monster chomped down. Travis’s entire shoulder disappeared beneath the Werewolf’s massive jaws.

Travis howled.

Advanced Heal flew from my left hand as I wielded my sword in my right.

The Werewolf stood tall in response, lifting Travis from the floor.

Heat rose up, reddening my face as I grit my teeth.

The last of the Pack Leader’s Werewolves placed itself between me and my friend. It charged with both claws out, ready to strike.

Lowering my head, I met the beast’s charge with one of my own. Sending Light Magic funneling into the horns at the top of my head, I buried them deep into the creature’s gut.

Ripping my head from the monster’s torso, I brought my sword up through its groin and out the side by its ribs.

Seeing the Pack Leader was struggling with the Light Magic filling my friend, but still not letting go, I bellowed a primal cry as I stormed toward him.

He let him go and turned to face me. Travis fell to the ground in a crumpled mess.

I didn’t stop.

As enraged as I was, an understanding of what it meant to control magic, really control it, had started to bloom in my mind.

This creature was faster than I was. It was stronger than I was. I was at death’s doorstep with no logical reason to think I would win.

As its massive claw sped for my chest, my fist flew to intercept it.

A flash of yellow light shone for but a moment as his attack met mine. For the cost of only 100 MP, the quick flash of excessively condensed Light Magic applied to my bone gauntlet tore through the palm of his hand.

-15,385HP

His size still pushed me back, but my rage faded, replaced with focused spite. As he attacked me, Light Magic met his every move. With small bursts of concentrated energy, I was able to conserve MP and turn each of his attacks into pain-filled defeat.

He slashed low.

Light Magic materialized on my breastplate where his claws connected. It ate away at his flesh.

Instead of stepping back to analyze the situation, the pain infuriated him, and he went into a frenzy. His blows came so quickly that it was impossible for my body to react. Yet, I destroyed him.

Even if my body couldn’t keep up with him, my mind could. Since I wasn’t casting a spell but concentrating mana at different points all over my body, it was easier than flexing a muscle, and just as quick. The bone armor I wore was a perfect conductor of the magic itself since it was void of any magic of its own.

I was battered back and forth, but because of the disparity between our mana, I blunted all of his attacks. Titan’s Bone Defense handled the rest.

With tattered limbs, the Pack Leader arched its head back and howled. It was the pathetic cry of knowing you're defeated.

I lifted my gleaming sword and slowly drove it up into the monster’s chest.

Out of habit, I cast Lesser Blood Drain on the creature as I rushed to Travis’s side.

He had made it to his feet but was leaning forward, holding tight to his spear with one hand as the other dug into the meat of his chest. He had seen what had happened to me and Audrey. He was pulling leather out of his wound so it could heal.

“How did you do that?” Travis asked behind gritted teeth as he continued to work.

“My mana was more compressed than his, so his attacks hurt him,” I said, more than happy to answer his question to help divert his attention.

It had only been possible because we had opposing Alignments. Light and Dark magic reacted when they came in contact with one another. What I had discovered when watching the Werewolf trying to make Travis a snack and attacking the other Werewolves myself with an edge of compressed Light was that there was no reason I couldn’t use this reaction. I could master it. All that I had to do to win the exchange was have a denser concentration of mana than my opponent.

Had the Head Mistress meant to discourage me from figuring this out when she allowed her succubus friend to reward me by attacking me with Dark Magic? Perhaps that wasn’t her intention, but now that I knew, I didn’t have to fear Dark Magic as something impossible to defend against. Sure, I had to filter the energy into an item like my armor or sword to keep from getting hurt, for if Dark Magic touched my skin, even if I condensed my Light Magic there to win the exchange, my body would feel the effects of the impact. I would take damage even if I won out. It seemed possible though that there might be a way to reduce if not eliminate the damage. It certainly wasn’t something I was excited about experimenting with.

The mobs around us seemed to hesitate, wary of renewing their full-on assault. More of them than before were now feeding on the corpses of others.

“There,” Travis said with a grunt.

I didn’t have to heal him again, Rejuvenation did its job, returning him to full strength.

“Maybe they’ve had enough,” he said.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’d let all this experience get away?” I teased.

“Eh. If you put it that way,” he said with a snicker. “Actually, yeah I would.”

“Same,” I agreed.

The moment of calm was bittersweet. A blue beetle the size of a golf cart with silver speckles on its shell burst through the crowd to our flank. It had pinchers for a mouth that were as long as my arm. The greedy insect reminded the rest of them that a couple of delicacies stood right before them.

I took up my sword with both hands once again to face the onslaught, this time with Travis at my side.

Chapter 18 – Magic From Above

How long had I been at this? An hour? Two? How many hundreds of creatures had I killed before Travis had even arrived. Could it have already reached a thousand?

I broke my own rule and glanced at my stats.

Level: 494

Mana Points: 28,901/161,777

Mana Per Minute: 4,392

Wisdom: 2071

I couldn’t believe it. I had gained 127 levels. All the while I had been upping Wisdom but had been too desperate trying to survive to notice that it was over 2k and my mana per minute was over a thousand more than I had been calculating in my head. Even after all the armor and sword repairs, then having to use 5,000 mana on a Health Bomb, my mana pool was far higher than I thought!

Perhaps, we might make it out of this after all.

There was no time to examine my other popups.

The giant beetle was of the Nature Element, so I converted my bone claymore into a battle axe with a gnarly spike opposite the axe blade and coated it with Necrotoxin. Stepping to the side to let it pass, I drove the spike end into the top of its shell.

Almost immediately, it started to squirm as the Necrotoxin took effect. A few moments later, green goo spurt out all over like a fountain of liquid bug guts.

As Travis and I fought side by side, I started to experiment with coating my axe blade with different kinds of magic. Light Magic worked great against Dark Magic beings but had almost no effect on other elements. Since everything had some kind of core of Dark or Light Mana, it was hard to know what effect Light Magic would have. I was blind to the creature’s core unless I killed it, used Force Learn, or just got lucky.

Moving on from Light Magic, I experimented with Ice, Fire, Sonic and Alpha Magic. The Elements of Ice and Fire didn’t help as much as I would have hoped. Once again, it wasn’t like the games I had played, but that didn’t mean they might not be useful in the future. I started to suspect that in order for Fire or Ice to really become useful I would just need to have them at an excessive temperature. I didn’t waste the mana to find out.

Sonic Magic followed different rules than all the other schools. I couldn’t just coat my blade with a layer of Sonic Energy without turning my sword into a quivering mess. Instead, I had to revert to casting the spell from the sweet spot of my weapon in the same way I had when fighting Earth Elementals.

Alpha Bolt was also unique because of its characteristics. One, it was made up of Neutral Magic, or pure energy, without the taint of an Element or Alignment. It did allow me to coat my blade, but the result when connecting with an enemy was that it repelled whatever I hit, giving it a knockback characteristic. The impact also pushed back against my axe, causing damage to it at the same time it damaged the enemy. To get around this, I formed my axe into a great maul that could handle the impact.

My maul smacked a four-foot-tall goblin in the chest, driving its obsidian knife from its hand. With help of the velocity of the swing, the condensed Neutral Magic launched the monster into its buddies a few meters behind it.

Goblin bowling!

Travis jabbed a spider in the eye, before dancing back and stabbing two Were-coons who were trying to avoid being crushed by the spider’s flailing body. His spear extended on his next attack and went all the way through the spider’s head, stopping it from further waltzing about in panic. The three creatures fell neatly in a pile.

We continued to fight what seemed like endless waves of monsters. With Rejuvenation also restoring our stamina, what would have normally been our downfall, our endurance, was now our strength. There was no way to know how long it would take, but we both felt it. We would outlast them all.

If another pack of Werewolves appeared, we would handle it. Giant bugs, goblins, and gargoyles had nothing on us. I was starting to grow confident. Then, a ball of fire landed at my feet and exploded, sending dirt and rocks in all directions.

I only staggered back a foot, but I started looking around frantically to see where the magic had come from. It was no use. There was no creature in the vicinity that I knew to be capable of such an attack.

“Magic!” I called, warning Travis.

He started to search for the origin as well as he tossed a gargoyle aside.

It was dangerously close when I saw another Fireball coming at us from high overhead. No wonder I hadn’t see the source. It was coming from above.

There had to be close to one hundred Imps flocking toward us from the direction of the Crystalis. Dozens of bolts from nearly every school of magic were already speeding our way.

I found it hard to swallow.

Releasing my grip on the sword in my left hand, I summoned Skeleton Warrior’s Shield and pumped an extra 300 mana per minute into it. Instead of the chest-sized round shield, the bone shield extended out until it resembled a gothic surfboard. My Bone Maul shrunk in size at my command to resemble a Bone Morningstar with vicious spikes.

I placed my shield between me and the next explosion of fire.

“Run!” I cried, plowing my way through the wall of mobs in, what I guessed, was the direction of the cavern we had used to enter the Belly.

I knew Xaphan had warned me not to run, but somehow, we needed to find a place to shield us from the incoming downpour of magic. I would get us to the entrance and have Travis run for it. Then, I would figure something out.

It wasn’t long before Travis was at my side helping to carve a line out of the mass of monsters.

The Imp’s spells started to arrive where we had been standing. There was a great outcry as the creatures that fell in behind us were mangled under the onslaught of magic.

I hadn’t wanted to hit an Imp in the face so badly in days. The worst part was, because of their talent with magic, they were far more dangerous than any creatures we had faced in the Belly. Even more dangerous than the Werewolves.

We hadn’t gone far when a stone bullet knocked a were-rat upside the head just a few meters in front of me. From the flock of Imps’ vantage point, for them to lead our retreat with their magic was as easy as turning their heads.

I let my Advance Healing Aura extend to speed our retreat. It fried the lesser mobs weak against Light Magic. With a little room to work with, I turned my attention to the Imps.

It didn’t look like some Advanced Healing Fireworks would do any good. There were some Imps that would likely be weak to Light Magic among them, but there were also Fire Imps, like the ones I had run across in the Head Mistress’s dungeon, and numerous other kinds. From what I could tell there was a different kind of Imp for every school of magic. All except Light Magic.

My MP had reached just over 30k. It was building, but not as quickly as we needed. I fired off a few low-cost Alpha Bullets just to give them something to think about, but they were far enough away that they were easily able to dodge. Dodging their spells wouldn’t be so easy. We were still surrounded by hundreds of mobs.

There was no choice but to lead us away from the place where I hoped we would find some shelter. I lifted my shield to block a brown spore the size of a baseball. A glistening green powder burst forth from it, leaving a thick cloud in its wake.

I jumped back to keep from breathing it in and was assaulted by an ant-headed bigfoot-looking creature that tried to pinch my face off. When it couldn’t reach my head, it grabbed my shield. Rejecting its invitation for a friendly kiss, I removed its pumpkin head with a backhanded swing of my morningstar. That was easy.

Thankfully, the bulk of the spells missed us due to our course correction. The only issue now was that we were heading in the wrong direction.

The powder that had clouded where we had just been dropped an entire group of goblins to the floor.

That was when a tank-roach showed up with the worst timing possible. It poked its head in over some were-coons, blocking the way.

As we diverted our course again to the side, another Nature Elemental showed up, this one in the shape of a horse with a whip of thorns for a nose.

We started to backtrack, more concerned with moving forward than killing. The delay had been too much. We were bombarded with a meteor shower of fire, ice, and rock.

I caught the first few projectiles on my shield, but there were too many. As the monsters before me were battered, so was the ground. Even as I was perceiving time four times faster than normal, the amount of dirt and rock, ice, and fire being thrown about overcame my senses and blinded me in its cloud of chaos.

Reaching for Travis, I caught him on the shoulder pad and pulled him to the floor.

I wedged the base of my shield hard into the rock and sent an extra 1,000 MP into it. Bone shot out from the rim of my shield and encircled us an adult-sized eggshell.

The impact drove me to one knee. As I moved to funnel more mana into my shield, the bone refuge collapsed.

We were driven to the ground. Travis was beneath me. Had I crushed him?

When the pounding stopped, I hadn’t lost any HP, but my Titan’s Bone Defense was in shambles. I basically rebuilt it for 700 MP.

I had to bat my eyes to try and see. The Imp’s spells had churned up a ton of rock and left us in a cloud of soot.

Rolling off of him, I saw Travis was in worse shape. He was breathing but struggling like someone had punched him in the gut. Rejuvenation did its job and I saw a difference in him almost immediately. That was a close one.

It looked like running wouldn’t be an option. I churned up Mana Sight to five times my normal perception and watched the soot clear.

Any monster that had been in the vicinity was now no more. The monsters I did see in the distance were no longer paying attention to us. Every eye was on the Imps overhead. From our vantage point, I saw them before they saw us.

With my eyes to the sky, what I finally saw of the enemy sent a chill up and down my spine.

The Imps were darkening the Belly’s green hue by cluttering the sky overhead. They had closed the distance and were now hovering less than 100 meters away. Each of them already had a spell prepared, glowing in their palms, ready to finish us with a final attack.

At this range, I was easily able to examine them with Creature Indicator. I only had to observe a handful of them to know that these Imps were not like the ones we were used to. Their levels varied from 300 to over 700! Were they wild ones or escaped slaves?

More mana than I currently possessed was aimed right at us from point blank range. It should have made me desperate or afraid. Instead, a realization that this had always been inevitable sent a wave of calm running through me. I had just over 31k MP. If I was going to die, I would take as many of them with me as I could.

What should it be? An Alpha or Health Bomb? My Advanced Health Bomb would do the most damage, but only to those weak against it. Alpha would likely damage all of them. Alpha it was.

Switching my Bone Morningstar to my left hand, I commanded it to reform into a large shield to replace the one that had crumbled. With my right hand free, I lifted it up and prepared to cast.

As the soot cleared enough for them to finally see us, they had the expected reaction. A hundred angry throaty grunts rung out as they took aim.

Noticing Travis through my peripheral vision, I tried to warn him. “I can’t save you. Run!”

He didn’t move. He knew his speed better than I did. He had already calculated it in his mind and knew there was no hope.

“Make them pay,” he replied with his typical smirk.

I nodded that I would. My throat clenched up, but I knew there was nothing left to be done.

With time slowed, I watched the first enemy spell fly. It was a shard of ice, similar to my Ice Shard.

My mana swelled, but it hadn’t yet reached its peak. I watched as the second and the third spells were released.

Is it a blessing or a curse to be able to see death coming? That was an odd thought to have the moment before I died, but perhaps it was appropriate. Did I have regrets? I knew that I had many. I could have been more help to my mother after my father died. I could have worked harder to make her proud in school instead of spending so much time playing games. I could have been a better friend to my other captives. The moment I arrived in the Underworld I had put myself first and seen to my own survival. Perhaps, if I had seen them coming, I could have protected Travis from the Imps. If I hadn’t approached Xaphan it was probable we wouldn’t have met them at all. I could not make up for my failures, but now, I could do everything I could to make sure the others had as few Imps to worry about as possible.

The rest of my body seemed to drain of all strength as the last of it accumulated into the palm of my hand. As I took a final breath before pouring all of my might into an Alpha Bomb, the Imps started to move.

The spells they had already released were diverted and driven back. The Imps flapped their wings frantically to fight an incoming wind. Their attention shifted.

I followed their eye line to find a petite feminine figure in tight leather with her brown hair blowing back from her face. She had placed herself high in the air behind us and faced them head-on.

“Aeris,” I said aloud to myself.

The silver mana inside of her churned like a ferocious storm and was already building.

I held my mana back instead of dumping it into Alpha Bomb. If she was going to do what I thought she was going to do, I would be ready.

She lowered her head, closing her eyes in focus. With her jeweled hand extended, she began to move it in a circular motion.

At her command, the gust that had been buffeting the Imps shifted. As her hand spun, so did the flow.

The Imps cast numerous spells at their new assailant, but as the air started to funnel, they were dragged along with it. None of their spells even got close.

I had seen her Wind Vortex once before, but the mass of air that she was moving this time was on a whole other level.

Travis and I had to brace ourselves as the vortex reached down and began to suck air from the surrounding area across the ground. Many creatures, dead and alive, were sucked up into the growing twister that touched down no more than 50 meters away from where we stood.

Taking a step forward, I held my hand up until I saw in Travis’s eyes that he knew I wanted him to stay back.

The danger I walked toward was no less real just because my friend was commanding it. The base of the twister didn’t seem stable and I doubted Aeris had much control of it. Still, she needed all the help I could give her.

My approach was slower than I desired, but only because of the twister’s pull. When I was as close as I dared, about twenty meters away, I lifted my hand and examined the flow of mana in the twister itself. It devoured anything in its path and pulled it up into its funnel with incredible force.

Remembering how her wind had just pushed my flame aside if I hadn’t used enough energy, I knew I couldn’t hold back for this to work. With all of the mana I had accumulated, Flamethrower erupted from the palm of my hand. There was no way to condense the flame into the tight stream with so much power behind it. Instead, it spewed out of me like a geyser.

As if the twister had been waiting for the fuel I provided, channels of air picked it up and transported it around its funnel and up it went. It reached higher and higher as it intertwined with the air itself.

The heat it produced caused me to have to hide my face behind my own shield. It wasn’t enough. I was being cooked inside of my own armor. Rejuvenation was my only hope. Still, I stood my ground at the mercy of the twister of fire.

How long I extended myself to convert mana into flame I had no way to tell. All that seemed to exist was our endeavor.

The twister started to falter before I did. As soon as I noticed the funnel failing, I pinched back my mana, leaving me with less than 3,000.

As drained of mana as I was, I hadn’t lost all energy, so my wits remained intact. I looked around our surroundings and saw most of the monsters had fled the area, but not the battlefield.

“Elorion!” Travis’s voice rang out.

Turning, I saw him back where I had left him, looking up. His arms were out like he was readying to catch something.

Aeris was falling fast. The smoky silver of her mana that I was so used to being a part of her had faded entirely. She had used every last drop of mana she possessed to save us.

I ran. Before she reached the ground, I launched myself in the air over Travis’s head and caught her frail form. As light as she had been when riding atop my head, without her magic to lessen her weight, a lot of her mass had returned. Even then, she weighed one hundred pounds tops.

Before I even reached the ground, Advanced Heal bathed her in light.

Chapter 19 – Welcome

Aeris was starting to stir, so I stood her up, keeping an arm around her to keep her from falling.

“Did I make it in time?” she asked meekly.

As she said it, the bodies of the Imps and dozens of other creatures that the twister had sucked up started to return. There was a solid thud close behind us.

Turning, we saw a sight that was both demoralizing and invigorating. The bodies of hundreds of our enemies rained down and fell broken on the stone floor before us.

We shared no words. The three of us looked at more death in that moment than we had seen in our entire lives just weeks before.

The other monsters gave us space, but I couldn’t believe that would last for long.

“When you recover enough to fly, do it,” I said, tearing the others from the moment of calm. “We won’t have time for you to meditate I’m afraid. Just recover what you can and stay overhead. We can handle things down here. You just save up mana in case more Imps come.”

Aeris nodded that she understood.

“Travis. Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yup. Doing great,” he jested.

I rolled my eyes but let him see me grin. His insistence on staying positive no matter our predicament was an asset I didn’t want to stifle.

“Olivia,” Aeris said through group chat. “I’m here with Travis and Elorion. We’re alive but on our last legs. Any possibility of upping the pace?”

“Sorry, Aeris. I think we are already pushing too hard,” Olivia responded. “What happened?”

“A small army of flying Imps were about to light our boys up. I dropped them,” she said with a laugh.

“It’s true. She’s our hero,” I said, jumping into the conversation and giving her a wink.

“Imps?!” Zorik screeched. “An army you say? How many?”

Zorik was normally a timid creature. Never had I heard him this frightened, even when he had led me to the Head Mistress the first time. I swallowed hard.

“Close to a hundred,” I replied. “Maybe a little more.”

“And they’re dead? You’re sure?” the imp asked frantically.

I looked around, Mana Sight going strong and saw that the mana glow coming from the dead bodies on the ground had stilled or winked out entirely. If they were still alive the mana remaining would have been moving or flowing about, alive. I looked to the air just to be sure there weren’t any we missed, then answered. “Yes. They are all dead.”

He was silent for a long moment.

I feared we might have killed his family or some long-lost relative. His answer surprised me. “That’s incredible! Bloody wild imps. It’s odd that they would have attacked in the first place though. They only do so if they are confident of a great reward for little work. Do you have any idea what drew them out?”

“Eh,” I said, not excited about informing everyone what I had done through group chat, but it was going to come up eventually. “Well, I spotted this huge mana source, so I went to it and found a creature asleep. So, I tried to steal Blue Magic from it. Doing so woke him up, then he chased me. He caught me but let me live, sorta. When he left the entire Belly came awake and tried to attack me like I was a plate of bacon.”

“What was his name?!” Zorik demanded.

“Xaphan.”

“Of all the foolish things, you went and woke a Primordial Beast?! Do you like death?! Do you have any concept of how powerful a creature like that is?! The Primordial Beast was around before the time of history’s first recording. What in the Underworld he’s doing in a place like the Belly is beyond me, but… But!”

“Point taken.”

“No wonder the Imps were out in force,” Zorik continued as if his rant was the only thing that would ever make me see reason. “They thought Xaphan had left them leftovers of a powerful being for scavenging. Ha! But they didn’t know they would face living creatures that were capable of feasting on their guts! New Master, you are as powerful as you are stupid. Stop it with the stupid.”

After his rebuke, everyone was silent.

“Zorik, did you speak to the Head Mistress this way?” I asked, more surprised at him than angry.

He squeaked like a cornered mouse. “Sorry, sorry, sorry, New Master. Zorik just got excited and he is the stupid one. So stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Please forgive Zorik.”

I burst out laughing. It was only a moment before I realized he was probably cowering at my response.

“It’s okay, Zorik. I want you to speak your mind. There is a lot you know that we don’t. Xaphan is a great example.”

“Thank you, New Master,” he replied, hesitating. “New Master is stupid, but I will help to make you not stupid.”

Aeris snickered, trying to hide it behind her hand.

“Thanks, Zorik,” I said.

“They are coming,” Travis warned.

With a sigh, I prepared myself for the incoming assault. How many monsters could possibly be left? I was amazed after all the carnage they had seen that they were still so willing to throw away their lives. Oh well. If they were going to come, we would oblige.

***

As I had asked, Aeris flew overhead, but she didn’t completely refrain from helping. Instead of focusing on killing them with Wind Slash, she focused on crowd control. She held some of them back with a strong gust or would knock one down in front of others to block their path. With that said, she didn’t waste an ounce of mana and only cast a spell when it was needed.

With her help, we were able to slow our constant forward movement and focus on killing. I buffed Aeris with Mind Buff, further increasing her mana per minute and mana recovery.

Travis and I fought back to back, falling into a fierce rhythm the mobs we faced couldn’t possibly match. Endless as it seemed, the longer we fought, the better we got at killing that odd assortment of creatures.

It helped that many of the creatures no longer seemed interested in us, but in the feast of hundreds of dead bodies scattered about.

When the rest of the group finally arrived, nearly an hour later, we hadn’t faced any new creatures that were able to challenge us. Our friends’ presence was noticed immediately.

Fire and Ice Magic joined with Earth and Nature, tearing great gaps in the creature’s line at the top of the cliff that stood before the Belly’s entrance. They were a few hundred meters away.

Led by Skyler, our bashers charged forward and carved their way up the ramp to the ground level. From there the Sledge Bros pushed out with Russ at their side, swinging a hammer of his own, and Steve the Assassin holding his flank with a dagger and short sword.

The other bashers, half a dozen of them, filed in on the Sledge Bros’ other side with shields and swords. Once they had gained enough ground, Olivia happened.

No, she wasn’t alone. Clarissa’s Stone Spikes jutted out of the ground in a row to both sides of the group with about four feet between them. This time they didn’t stop at waist height but continued to climb until they were a few feet over the bashers’ heads.

Olivia’s vines snaked up the stone pillars and quickly reached out, bridging the gaps between the stone pillars to make a living fence of python-thick foliage to hold the monsters at bay. That wasn’t all. At the top of the pillars, large flat lily pads the size of a car door sprouted up. When they reached their full size, they opened up revealing sharpened thorns all around the edges of the plant’s mouth. The first couple of creatures that dared try to climb over would be eaten alive by Olivia’s pet plants.

Near the center of the fortification, there was one opening with a wider gap between the pillars with no vines between them where I saw the odd weapon swinging about.

“This way!” Aeris called.

She took liberty to use some of the mana she had saved and suddenly a path opened up for us as the bodies of numerous small were-creatures were blown to the side or toppled flat.

We turned to take the avenue she had made for us, but first, I made myself look back. Xaphan’s energy was impossible to miss. He was sitting lazily atop the highest plateau watching. Had he been there the whole time?

Whether it was because my friends had arrived, or he had seen enough, he choose that moment to stand, spinning as he did, he ambled back into his cave. I suspected he was about to return to his nap.

Even though there were still mobs left alive, it seemed he was satisfied with what he saw.

I clobbered a were-coon at the base of the neck, driving it to its knees with my Alpha-enhanced morningstar. Skyler’s eyes went wide when I appeared on the other side of it.

I gave him a wink.

I knew he had been close, but already he had changed from reaching 1,000 Strength. Instead of shrinking as Russ had, he stayed rather massive and exuded neutral energy with every move. I began to wonder if there was really a line between magical and physical

He recovered quickly and called out, “They’re here!”

The looks of surprise and raised brows when we arrived caught me off guard until I realized it was the first time they had seen me in Titan’s Bone Defense.

“Meditate and rest!” Olivia called from the midst of them as they opened up a path for us. She had taken over and was barking orders like a veteran group lead.

We hurried to the back of the group and found room to sit against the wall.

Travis started to list the strengths and weaknesses of the creatures we had fought over group chat.

I took a seat, but Aeris plopped down on top of my head and dangled her legs over my shoulders as she had before.

Travis hadn’t joined us. Rejuvenation and Muscle Buff was still going strong, so he was probably excited to show Skyler and the guys what he was now capable of. He had likely saved my life, so I wouldn’t take that from him. I let the buffs remain.

I did release Titan’s Bone Defense and let it revert to Skeleton General’s Defense. My Muscle Buff also reverted to its normal amount of mana, freeing me up to recover MP even faster.

“Hey!” Aeris said from atop my head. “Warn a girl if you are going to shrink.”

“Sorry!” I said with a snort.

“You better be. I’m also mad at you for almost getting killed.”

“Yeah. That would be terrible. I wouldn’t want you to lose your ride.”

“Exactly,” she said, leaning forward to reveal a mocking grin. It faded quickly. Her genuine concern was clear.

“I really am sorry,” I reassured her.

Her jaw muscles clenched up and she swallowed back what she was going to say. Instead, she gave me a small smile.

It really had been a close one.

Even though Meditation wasn’t necessary to reach my Maximum Mana any longer, as I Meditated, my mana per minute started to skyrocket. It slowly increased the longer I meditated.

I quickly turned my attention to the others, concerned they might need my help.

Mel had stationed his skeletons to guard the entrance to the Belly, which had become our flank. His minions fought mechanically, but it was as if they shared a single mind. They overwhelmed anything they faced, led by their Skeleton Captain that wore the Skeleton General’s head in place of its own.

The necromancer himself stood at the top of the path heading up, a few feet away from where we sat now. He cast large shadowy black hands that sped toward any creature that approached the ledge above his skeletons’ position below.  Pushing them off, he directed their fall to the space in front of his minions and so that they wouldn’t fall on top of them. I would have almost given him the rest of my bacon jerky if he would have been here when I had first been attacked by the creatures of the Belly.

Olivia’s eyes were closed, and vines extended from her fingers and shot into the ground. Despite this, she screamed commands as if she saw everything. After seeing Rock Hard’s ability to feel through the rock, I was sure she was using something similar.

Clarissa and Audrey were side by side. Clarissa kept her eyes on the fortification and drilled anything with a Stone Fist that looked like it was going to make it over. Audrey funneled her fire high into the air and let it shower down upon the mobs a few meters in front of our bashers. Still, it would probably get rather warm on the front line.

Even though I didn’t see the fruit of Trevon’s casting, I suspected he was coating the stone with ice under some baddie’s feet as I had seen him do before. His focus was forward, but he seemed to be looking past what was in front of him.

Our Imp Zorik was doing his part, watching the wall opposite Clarissa. He also used Earth Magic, but held his palm face up, where rocks the size of golf balls formed, one after another, and fired off, hitting anything trying to climb over.

I yelled to him.

Quickly he stopped what he was doing and flew over to me while keeping his eye on the wall.

I explained what I was about to do, so he flew up in the air, just overhead to stay out of my spell’s influence. Then, I extended out an Intermediate Healing Aura further than ever before. Since I was sitting against the stone wall I redirected it from stretching out behind me to save some mana per minute. It reached out, putting our bashers and Mel in its radius. Even though it now cost just over 1,000 mana per minute, Meditation wasn’t hindered, which surprised me. If I cast a spell like Advanced Heal, it would completely interrupt the skill, but passives didn’t seem to have that effect.

I was thoroughly impressed with the lot of them. So much so, that I allowed myself to breathe easy. I turned my attention to my stats.

Level: 555

Mana Points: 47,681/161,777

Mana Per Minute: 5,002

Wisdom: 2,376

I shook my head at what I saw. I had gained another 61 levels. Throughout the fight, I had continued to pump Wisdom and was close to 2,400, which gave me over 5,000 mana per minute! Even without Meditation, it would take me less than half an hour to fully recover my 161k MP.

Looking to my other stats, I saw then what Vampire Might had given me after leeching the Werewolf Pack Leader.

My Constitution had gone up 200 points upping my HP by 5,000. I had also received 20 points in Strength and Dexterity. It was an exceptional bonus for a creature just under level 1,000. But it also reminded me that there had to be thousands of creatures lying dead on the ground that I hadn’t had the opportunity to drain. How many stat points would pass me by? Did they have to?

After a few minutes, my MP reached over 100,000 and I decided there was something I had to try.

“I’m going to stand,” I warned Aeris.

“I’m ready,” she said in too serious of a tone for someone literally riding on my head.

I rose, quickly walking over to Mel to stand at his side. This was the best vantage point to see the area where Xaphan had first thrown me to the ground and where my battle with the Belly had begun.

He nodded to me but didn’t take his eyes off the ledge where he focused on the monsters trying to get at his minions.

Lifting an empty hand, I tried activating Lesser Blood Drain near the plateaus hundreds of meters away. Of course, it did nothing because I was out of range. Since it was considered a basic spell in its Lesser Blood Drain form, it cost less than 5 base MP and even less with my passives. It was one spell I only briefly experimented with to try to enhance with channeling. When trying it on the Lesser Zombies, regardless of how much MP I used it never gave me any additional stats. I had never channeled more mana into it to try to extend its range though.

Since time was tight, but I also had access to Meditation for the moment, I didn’t bother being stingy with a small amount of mana. I let 1,000 MP accumulate in my palm before letting it loose.

My aim was just above the area at the base of the lowest plateau. It was a little less than a mile away if I had to guess. This time, instead of fizzling out, I felt the spell come into being. It sped toward my target like a hungry beast. The mana of the spell itself left me baffled. With more than 200 times the normal amount of mana supplied to the spell, its true nature became known. It was Dark Magic.

What I saw next left me awestruck.

Charged Lesser Blood Drain reached the area, stopping high overhead. From there, not one, but hundreds of strands reached down to the earth. Blood flowed up from the bodies littering the ground. The sphere of liquid power grew to what looked like a massive size even from that distance. When it was finished collecting all the blood it could hold, a long strand shot in my direction. It started to grow until something like a giant pile of blood directed the large collection of blood toward me.

As it approached, it became clear how much blood was on its way. I took a step back. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

The fluid didn’t just touch my hand to seep in from the normal contact point. It swamped my hand, then flooded over and enveloped my entire arm. The surge of energy that came as it soaked into my system was more than just empowering. It was a tidal wave of power that rushed to my heart and caused it to swell. I felt like my arteries were going to burst.

I found myself fallen back, sitting on my rear when my senses returned.

Aeris was floating about ten feet above, staring at me like I was in trouble, or was going to be.

Getting to my feet, I nodded that I was okay.

“Don’t do that again,” she said, releasing a deep breath.

“No?” I said, giving her a shrug.

Without another word, I inventoried my scepter and cast Basic Blood Drain with both hands. Repeatedly, I let dozens of casts fly.

You have unlocked Intermediate Blood Drain!

You will now receive slightly more stats from the creatures you drain!

Due to blood saturation, you are now able to wait 14 days between feeds in order to keep your stats.

The timing couldn’t have been better, although I recognized I should have experimented with Blood Drain more, for I might have reached the Intermediate level sooner.

Immediately, I switched to the Intermediate version of Blood Drain, fed it an extra 200 MP and continued to pepper the air above the areas where fighting had taken place. When I reached the area above where my group was fighting now, I knew they wouldn’t mind so I drained their recent kills.

Before I realized it, I was out of mana. There were close to 50 casts of Blood Drain spread out throughout the cavern, making it look like I was sucking the blood out of the Belly itself. Immense orbs of blood floated above the sea of mobs like the balloons of a grand parade.

When the rivers of blood headed my way, I didn’t know if I should run away, or dance toward them like Wolverine the Musical.

They arrived. My arms drowned in the first few deposits, but as the rest of them came, they found no room to enter, so they flowed into my back and chest. Soon, not even that was enough and the rest of me was completely submerged.

As if all the rivers of the world met at a single point, great ribbons of flowing power pushed into me from every angle. What had felt like pressure, turned into white, searing pain. It was so overwhelming that I became numb to it, or so I thought. A new tingling sensation over every inch of my body started to flourish until I felt intoxicating pleasure.

It receded.

I found myself still on my feet, but my lungs sucked air like I hadn’t been able to breathe during the process. I probably hadn’t. Normally, after using Blood Drain, the feeling of power quickly faded after the spell had finished. This time much of the feeling remained.

Things were different. I had received the blood from hundreds, no, thousands of creatures. No doubt, with the help of reaching the Intermediate level, the spell was more efficient than it had ever been before. The power of the Werewolf pack, the hundred Imps, countless were-creatures, goblins and giant insects filled me.

“You jerk,” Aeris rebuked.

I looked up and saw she had climbed nearly fifty feet in the air and was now floating back down.

“Oh. Did you get caught up in that?” I asked.

“I did,” Mel huffed from the ground.

His red hair was twisted up like an orange Hershey’s Kiss. He had been drenched as the spell dragged all that blood over him before filtering into me.

“Oh man. I’m sorry, guys,” I said, surprised, but finding it hard to empathize because of how good I felt. I offered him my hand.

“Blue Mages are a pain in the butt.” Aeris pouted. She now hovered at my level, face to face, with her arms across her chest.

I shrugged.

“Go on then. Check your stats. What did you get?”

Giving her a grin, I pulled them up and gave them a look.

+6,775 HP

+3,672 MP

+296 Str

+362 Dex

+134 Con

+133 Int

+83 Wis

To say I wasn’t excited would be ridiculous. I had just received over 200 levels worth of stats, not including a good chunk of HP and MP. Altogether it was more than what I had received when draining Lord Darius. But I suddenly felt very small and insignificant. How many times had Mistress Nava done something just like this and received just as many stats if not more in her lifetime? What of the Head Mistress, or the Vampires of the Underworld? Was this a daily occurrence for them?

“What’s wrong?” Aeris asked.

Ignoring the question, I gave her a general rundown of how I had done.

“You’re a monster,” she said. I couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious.

“Let me finish Meditating and we will find out,” I replied.

I now had over 1,000 Dexterity without having to charge Advanced Muscle buff with extra mana and was 50 levels from 1,000 Strength. I’d also got a nice bump in Intelligence and Mana Points giving me a total of 185,849MP!

Aeris joined the others as I sat down again to refill my mana pool. Many of our casters that had witnessed what happened gave me looks. The only person that seemed to be unbothered by it was Mel and he had been the one drenched in the process.

I took the time to examine the new Blue Magic I had received from keeping Mana Sight active throughout the battle.

Stone Skin

When activated, your skin solidifies into stone, leaving you hard as rock and immobile. If you cast another spell, Stone Skin is immediately deactivated.

Eh. It was the kind of spell that I rarely used in the games I used to play, but perhaps I could find some unique uses for it.

Dark Vision

When cast, the world of shadows is revealed to you and the contrast between greys and black becomes much more refined. The distance in which you can see will improve as the spell levels.

Finally, a proper spell to allow me to see in the dark. Mana Sight worked beautifully, but I still feared running into a creature that was able to disguise its mana. This would give me another mode to see, which would only benefit me.

Acid Breath

When cast, a thick cloud appears. There are three ranks. Each rank changes the mist’s properties.  Rank 1 causes watering of the eyes and difficulty breathing. Rank 2 can incapacitate if enough is breathed in. Rank 3 melts the flesh of any creature it comes in contact with.

Note: Mana must be channeled to extend the range of the spell.

Now that sounded even more useful than the Necrotoxin I’d received from the Trap Door Spider. With this spell, I wouldn’t have to touch something to use it.

Tail Regrowth

If your tail is severed, at the expense of mana, you are able to regrow your tail.

Note: If you do not have a tail, or want to manipulate your tail to possess talons, claws, or pinchers, this spell must reach its final level.

I had to read that one twice. Did any part of me want a tail? Maybe?

Mating Call

When triggered, Mating Call allows you to mimic the mating call of other creatures.

You have unlocked an additional subskill of Mana Sight!

In order to mimic a creature’s mating call, you must observe them for an extended period with Mana Sight. The length of time depends on the level and Intelligence of a creature.

My eyes went wide the more I read. Finally, a spell that might be helpful. It would take some work, but it might help me when trying to hunt specific creatures.

Tooth Extension

When chewing into your prey, you are now able to extend your teeth for a deadlier bite.

I just shook my head.

Toe Fungus

Grow toe fungus at will! Whether you like it for decoration or just to season your favorite dish, this delightful little spell will make sure your feet are the talk of the cave bog!

If I knew what creature had given me Toe Fungus, I would have happily killed more of them. I had never been creeped out by roaches or bugs, but anything that ate its own toe fungus needed to die.

Creature Observation Subskill - Clarity unlocked!

You have seen and faced hundreds of creatures. You will now gain a greater level of understanding when Observing them. You can see the information on creatures within 1,000 levels of your own.

When I stood back up, I was ready to move on.

“Do you guys want to head toward the Crystalis?” I asked through group chat.

“I need to Meditate,” Olivia said. “So do the others.”

“Go for it.”

“All of us?” she asked.

“Yup. Shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Okay…” Olivia said, turning to look at me to see if I was serious.

I stepped past her to retrieve my scepter and cast Advanced Muscle Buff on our dozen bashers. With my mana per minute, it took a small fraction of what I was now capable of. I cast Invisibility on them as well, not that they would be able to become completely ethereal with how much they were moving, but it would still make it difficult for the creatures they faced to follow their movements as they faded in and out. I added Invisibility to our casters as well. If a new army of Imps tried attacking again, this time they would get a nasty surprise.

A hoot rang from the sledge brothers in coordinated thanks for the buffs.

Russ rumbled like an excited minotaur. Not that I knew what a minotaur really sounded like. Not yet.

It was a cheap trick, but I cast a number of Light Orbs near the top of our barricade to confuse the enemy and make them think twice about climbing up. Most of the creatures I had faced were much smarter than the skeletons we were used to facing in the Head Mistress’s dungeon, but that didn’t mean they were necessarily intelligent. It bought me a number of seconds until the first Tank-Roach showed his ugly head.

I used Ice Shard as a base spell and formed some nasty Ice Bullets from it. A dozen of them followed the leader and burrowed themselves into the monster’s face.

With Mana Sight, it wasn’t difficult to keep up with the walls to either side of our bashers. And they really didn’t need any of my help after the buffs. Even though many of them had lower stats than I did now, I had seen what it meant to be talented in physical combat when I fought with Travis. They had also been fighting this way since the day they entered the Underworld.

My Healing Aura still bathed the area, giving them the benefit of not having to rest.

I had never really been a fan of playing a support character, but knowing I could join the men up front, or stay back here and fling a number of different spells left me satisfied. Knowing that I had survived the Belly when it was out in force over a period of hours also gave me great relief. How could I complain?

When our mages were ready, they lined up behind me. Holding up my hand, I halted their questions. I removed the Rejuvenation Aura now that they were recovered.

With our bashers still in the heat of battle, I lifted my scepter and flooded it with mana. I released an Alpha Bomb with 2,000 mana. As it peaked over our front line, I had it dive down into the mobs before us about twenty meters out. Like an egg falling to the floor, it burst and besieged everything with its yoke. Bodies flew.

Skyler took it upon himself when he saw the large gap in their defense to unleash a battle cry. It was then that it became very obvious that the slow push of the monster line had been easy for our bashers. As they moved forward, they crushed every creature that got in their path.

With my hand still raised, halting our casters, I limited my next Alpha Bomb to 1,000 mana but started to lob a bunch of them like a madman, carpet bombing everything in sight. Some of the strongest enemies survived, but before I was done I had cast 25 of them and cleared the immediate area and then some.

I started forward.

Aeris’s legs settled down over my shoulders. The others followed behind.

I didn’t join our bashers as they swarmed everything left standing but drew back the Rejuvenation spell I had cast on Travis. It had been based on Advanced Heal, so when I recast it, it was the Intermediate version. Without my Rejuvenation Aura going I made sure each of the bashers had their own individual cast of it.

As we stepped over and around the mob corpses I waited until everyone had passed before casting Intermediate Blood Drain on the bodies behind us. I continued walking and let it fill me as we went.

Even after reaching the Intermediate level of the spell it looked like I had hit a wall. The creatures didn’t give me any new stats.

With over 160k MP still left at my disposal and still over 3k mana per minute filling me with more mana every second, we headed for the next stage of our escape.

Chapter 20 – Clearing the Way

Even though Xaphan had returned to his cave, I still worried about trying to leave without finishing every mob in sight. After surviving long enough for my friends to relieve me, it would be ridiculous to die just because we hadn’t finished the job. I mentioned this in group chat.

“So we can’t leave until we kill every last creature in here?” Olivia said, exasperated.

“Stupid human,” Zorik huffed. “That could take days.”

“We don’t have that much time,” Aeris reflected.

“Zorik. Thousands have already died. Is there no way to make this go quicker? Maybe scare them away for a time?” I asked.

Zorik scratched at his temple as he thought. It was over a minute before he responded. “It could be possible, but we will have to kill hundreds of them all at once.”

“Aeris already created a tornado and kill hundreds of them. Before that I killed thousands…”

“If that wasn’t enough, then Xaphan’s presence has probably emboldened them beyond what is normal. We will have to hit them with an extremely powerful attack, all at once. Let’s get to the Crystalis. There is a good place to set up a fortification. If we do it there we will have a place to recover if it doesn’t work. That is if that is what New Master wants.”

“Sounds good to me,” I replied, encouraging him.

“Same here,” Aeris added.

“Fine,” Oliva said, sulking.

With Mel bringing up the rear and his skeletons having to fight as they retreated, it was a slow process, but no one complained about the experience they were getting. Those who were still waiting to reach 1,000 in their main stat would reach it in a matter of minutes if they hadn’t already.

Mel’s skeletons were the only members of our group without Invisibility, which I kept from them purposely. He had offered to let us use them as disposable more than once, so they became the main target for the incoming monsters.

Skyler’s bashers carved our way forward, although they had widened their line and were extending themselves to kill as many mobs as possible.

Most of the magic users saved their mana and only used basic spells to kill the mobs that ran at us from either flank, in between the gaps between our lead bashers and the skeletons at our rear. With Invisibility, we saw little action.

I remained more active, launching 1,000 mana Alpha Bombs as my MP rejuvenated, not letting my MP drop below 160k.

It took us no more than half an hour to reach the Crystalis even at our slow pace. We stood upon a cliff with numerous dirt paths running down to a forest of blue crystal. The crystals were as big as trees and jutted up from the ground at different angles, often intersecting, creating arches. The most interesting feature of the crystals themselves was their high density of mana. At the core of the crystals was a high concentration of the different prime elements of mana: fire, earth, wind, and water. They weren’t as concentrated as the Lesser Fire Orb the Hell Hound had dropped, but perhaps three to five times more than normal rock.

“Are there any uses for these crystals, Zorik?” I asked.

“They are often mined to make jewelry and some creatures eat them. I’m not sure they will help us any,” he replied.

“This way,” he said a moment later.

There were only a few creatures coming up from the crystal forest to attack us. Mel’s skeletons began taking the brunt of the attack as we shifted directions. Our casters began adding their might to fight off the assault and back up Mel’s minions

Looking to him, I saw that Mel’s focus didn’t change as he walked along beside them. I was keeping an eye on him just in case he got into trouble.

It was another fifteen minutes before we reached a large overgrowth of crystals that reached out of the Crystalis and formed a crystal wall that extended up and over our heads a good thirty feet.

Olivia immediately went to work with the help of Clarissa. It was the same kind of structure they had made before with stone pillars wrapped in great cords of vine.

Our bashers made their way around to the front of the barrier. Mel pulled his skeletons back to let our men take the line.

No longer bothering to use group chat, I spoke so that all of our mages would hear. “Does anyone need to recover mana before we go all out?”

A few took a seat, so I sat with them. It was only a few minutes more before we were all ready. Getting back to my feet, I looked at each of our casters in turn. Mel joined us, bringing our number of casters to seven including Zorik.

Zorik looked up at me with a humble gaze, then dared to say, “The goal isn’t to kill as many of them as we can. It’s to get them to feel our presence. The more mana we use the more of a chance it will work.”

I gave him a nod.

With a cue to Skyler, our bashers pushed past the entrance to our barricade, opening a gap behind them where we could fire off our spells over their heads. We took our positions.

Mel’s skeleton troops filed in and would watch our backs in case any mobs climbed over the barricade and came at us from behind.

We stood in a semicircle behind a line of men who were cutting down monsters by the dozens.

I began first. Holding my morningstar out toward the base of the plateaus where I had begun my war against the Belly, I let my mana build.

Trevon had surprised us all when he said he had 153,000 MP. Instead of aiming for 1,000 Wisdom, he had decided on Intelligence. With only a little over 100 Wisdom, his mana regen took forever for him to recover, even Meditation took him many times longer, but now his massive amount of mana would come in handy for a large channeled attack. He started to build his mana next.

Aeris, Olivia, Mel, Audrey, and Clarissa, followed by Zorik, did the same. Each of us took a different area of the Belly and took aim.

I had considered trying Magma for the first time or using Alpha Bomb because I knew it would harm everything it touched, but if our goal was really just to put on the best show of strength possible, my go-to was Health Bomb. I knew every point of mana would go that much further than any other spell I used.

No one spoke of how dangerous it was for us all to be using all of our mana at once. I had been in this position before they arrived and wanted nothing less than to do it all over again. A good group of Imp spellcasters could wipe us out if they attacked too soon after our attack.

Even with that in mind, I only held back 10,000 MP. This was to keep everyone’s buffs going and to have a small healing reservoir.

Today had been a day of many firsts. This would be the third time I cast a spell with more mana in it than I ever had before. Although, this time I was using almost twice the mana that I had with my attack against Xaphan.

As my Advanced Health Bomb reached 100,000 mana high overhead, I had to push it further up in the air until it was 100 feet up so that we would not be pummeled by energy radiating off of it. Already it was the size of a small blimp and was only growing.

In his monk garb and without a weapon of any kind, Trevon had the same idea, except instead of a giant Health Bomb, he was creating a glacier. It was the size of a house. Both of his hands were raised up high in the air as if he was holding the gigantic mass in place and it would fall, crushing us.

The others formed their spells between ours at a lower elevation. Audrey was creating a giant fireball and Clarissa was gathering rock into one mass from the surrounding area mixed with crystal as opposed to creating the rock itself. I wondered if it saved her mana and allowed her to cast a more powerful spell. Aeris just focused her mana as she prepared to cast. She couldn’t let the spell build like the rest of us otherwise the twister would already start to wreak havoc. Olivia had something similar in mind and was letting her mana build as well. Mel created a black orb. Instead of growing in size, sparks of dark light escaped in all directions. Its charge seemed to be growing more and more as mana was gathered. Zorik summoned a massive ball of water that seemed unstable as it wobbled overhead. It looked like he was about to dump a whole swimming pool on the top of some unexpecting mob’s head.

The energy that accumulated in the space above us started a rumbling in my ears. It was as if the air was trembling.

“Say ‘Ready’ when you reach max mana!” Richard, our communications expert, said.

I was the first to reply, quickly followed by all the others.

“Okay. Here we go. Three. Two. One. Now!” he cried.

My Health Bomb was so large that all I could do was direct it in the general direction of the area I was aiming for.

Wind swept over us in tumultuous waves as our spells fell from above and sped to their targets.

Aeris’s Twister started to form close to where my own spell was flying.

At Olivia’s command, vines sprang out of our own fortification and dived into the group of mobs all around. There were hundreds of them snaking their way throughout the sea of monsters.

As if his bubble had popped, Zorik’s mass of water fell like an avalanche.

Then, Audrey’s Fire Bomb went off. It coated the area in the direction we had come from with rock fragments and death.

Another explosion came from the direction of the stalagmite mountains. Mel’s Dark Energy had struck the ground and sent a wave of black electricity arcing out, frying dozens of monsters where they stood.

Trevon’s glacier of ice struck the grand stalagmites themselves. The one most directly hit started to fall. Like dominos others crumbled in the wake of such a mighty projectile.

My attack was the last to hit. 173,000 mana in an Advanced Health Bomb was something I didn’t yet truly fathom. There was a flash of light that, once started, didn’t seem to have an end. A moment after it started we were driven from our feet from the impact of numerous shockwaves from each of our spells. The ground shook beneath us and continued to rumble like the Belly had started to growl.

The world came back to me and I saw through Mana Sight well before my eyes had recovered.

Only Skyler and Russ still stood but they were dozens of feet away. They walked from monster to monster that had was stunned from the fallout and ended them.

Aeris’s Twister was the only spell still wreaking havoc, but there were no creatures I could see left alive.

As my eyesight returned and the others started to stir, we saw that the Belly was different. It had been altered.

Many of the hills of stalagmite were now piles of rubble. There was a deep crater where Audrey’s Fire Bomb had hit. Another crater competed with it caused by Clarissa’s boulder. But when I saw the area where my Health Bomb had exploded, I found it hard to breath. All but the highest plateau was left in rubble. Would Xaphan take offense?

I found the giant cat quickly enough and almost fell over in relief when I saw he was still curled up like a kitten, taking his nap.

Not only were the plateaus gone, but most of the ground level in that area had collapsed.

Immediately, I sat down and started to Meditate.

The others took in what we had done as they recovered, and our bashers found they had nothing left to kill when they got back to their feet.

I placed 9 more levels worth of stats into Wisdom and waited to see what would happen next. Was it finally over?

Chapter 21 – Cornered

An uncomfortable fear resonated among us as we waited to recover. No one spoke. Our bashers started to pick through the bodies of the creatures they had killed, looting them of anything they found useful. There was no telling when we would have access to trade again, so they passed over things they normally wouldn’t, but collected things like alchemy ingredients that they would usually pass over.

“Lydia!” Chris called, breaking the silence. His curly blond hair was completely hidden under his skullcap, but there was no mistaking the cheery expression behind those eyes. He was wading through the mobs looking for loot with the other bashers and calling for Lydia to join him.

He was one of the sword and shield wielders, but I knew he was more of Dexterity build.

Now that things were safe, Lydia started greedily going from creature to creature with a razor-sharp Bowie knife and filling her inventory with all kinds of nasty things.

She wasn’t the only person collecting materials. Mel took the heads of two Imps and a Werewolf. I would have directed him to the Pack Leader, but that was a couple hundred meters away. The rest of the group collected any items they could find, but unlike most games, were-creatures and giant insects didn’t drop random rare swords. All that they possessed was what they actually possessed in life.

When I had recovered a sufficient amount of mana, I left the barricade and found a good open space before I started to cast Intermediate Blood Drain. In hope of getting more stats, I cast it less times than before but upped the mana used to 5,000.

As I had hoped, the more mana I used to cast the spell the more tentacles reached out to collect blood. The blood ballooned into a much bigger sphere as well. As the first wave of blood filled me, I feel new strength enter me, but it just didn’t compare.

I used all of my mana except for my backup supply of 10,000 and drained every corpse I could find. The take didn’t compare to the first time I had drained from the creatures of the Belly, but at least this time I got something.

+47 Strength

+58 Dexterity

So much blood for so little return. Oh well. In the long run, I needed every stat I could get.

Not because I had heard her, but because I had expected her approach, I asked, “Trevon?”

“He still has a few minutes to recover,” Aeris replied.

Turning, I saw her hovering a few feet away just a meter off the ground. She was looking around, contemplating what had just happened.

“Do you think we pulled it off?” she asked. “Scaring the rest of the mobs away?”

“I’m not sure. I do think we should change to a stealth approach though,” I replied.

She nodded at my answer.

“I better recover the rest of my mana, so everyone isn’t waiting on me,” I said, giving her a grin that didn’t reach my eyes.

As I passed, her hand grabbed my wrist. I couldn’t feel it through my bone bracer, but I knew she squeezed it in an attempt to comfort me.

I stopped.

“Thanks,” I said. “For a minute there I didn’t believe it, but now… I think we are going to make it.”

She held on for a moment longer before letting go.

***

We started to descend into the Crystalis soon after. Even Mel’s skeletons had been shrouded in Invisibility. Our pace was slow so that we never fully lost our ethereal appearance, but that did little to give us any reassurance that we were finally in the clear.

The one thing that helped take our minds off of our anxiety was the Crystalis itself. We had walked through dungeons and caverns since we arrived in the Underworld. The gloom and the shadow of danger that had characterized those places could not be applied to this forest of crystal. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.

A great pillar of red glowed with its own light to our left as we passed under a silver crystal, half as thick, that leaned over and rested against it forty feet up. A blue crystal leaned away from us on the other side of the pillar we passed under now but was much brighter than the average and had a number of smaller crystals branching out. A crop of deep brown crystals was off to the right, sprouting out from a single root, just like a bunch of grass.

The stone that made up the ground was the same blue-grey rock that made up what was left of the ground floor of the rest of the Belly. It glowed dully in the light of the crystals growing closest to it.

My heart thumped faster in the wonder of it all. It felt like we were finally on an adventure. Perhaps there were places in the Underworld that would be worth finding and exploring for no other reason than their uniqueness and beauty.

Aeris leaned down from her place perched on my head and whispered, “If it’s ever safe, we need to come back to this place. It’s amazing.”

“It’s a date, then,” I said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes, but her smile remained.

Navigating the Crystalis was easy enough. Though we did have to divert our course from side to side to skirt around crystals now and then, the growth was never so dense that we lost our sense of where we were.

After half an hour traversing the crystal forest, I finally started to believe we had actually cleared the Belly and scared off any curious mobs that might have been heading this direction after sensing my fight with Xaphan. The others also started to relax a bit more.

From our position and at our current pace we would probably reach the other side of the Crystalis in less than ten minutes. I could see the lip of the rock that acted as the border just ahead and many paths in the rock heading up.

With all the mana surrounding us in the crystals themselves, I became curious to know if there was a way to harvest them. I wondered if the Head Mistress could drain them of power, just as I could drain dead mobs of blood. It was something that I would have to research.

I felt it before I heard anything. A great concentration of energy was approaching from the way we had come from. It hadn’t yet reached the Belly, but it would be here soon.

Seeing the faces of those that were magic sensitive stiffen, I knew they noticed it too, even if they didn’t realize what it was or where it was coming from.

I stopped and said quickly through group chat, “Richard. Can you make it so that everyone can hear me? Quickly.”

“Yes. One moment,” he said, needing to add those not a part of the leadership group.

I was walking a few people behind him when he stopped as well. Everyone started to do the same. They knew something was going on.

“Everyone. This is Richard. Keep it quiet. Elorion has something to say,” he said.

“Thanks, Richard,” I replied before speaking to everyone. “An enemy is approaching. It’s not the mobs we’ve been facing, but it must be someone sent from Mistress Nava.”

Careful to keep her voice down, Olivia interrupted. “You’re sure it’s not Mistress Nava?”

“No,” I reassured her. “Whatever is approaching is powerful, but it doesn’t have the level of power I’ve felt in someone of the Mistress level.”

“How come I can’t feel it,” Skyler asked, louder than I would have liked.

“I can feel something too,” Aeris said, jumping into the conversation.

“Same,” Olivia offered.

“I think it’s because you don’t use mana,” Audrey said.

“That’s a bummer,” Skyler said, his voice faded into the background.

“Whatever or whoever it is, they haven’t reached the Belly yet,” I said, retaking control of the conversation. “We need to up the pace. I think we can be sure that we were able to successfully scare off the mobs of the Belly, but that doesn’t mean they won’t attack if we get too close to their hiding place. Keep an eye out. Let’s go.”

Skyler didn’t wait for another word but immediately started to move, setting the pace at a steady jog.

Russ had waded back into the group as we traveled the Crystalis and had been at Olivia’s side, but now he made a beeline for the front of the pack to run beside Skyler. He had grown in popularity because of his blacksmithing talent and for being the group’s best damage sponge. It was something I doubted he had ever experienced before getting kidnapped and dragged down here, but because of he was so laidback, Russ hadn’t grown arrogant in his newfound popularity. Nor did he seem to possess any desire to compete with Skyler as lead basher. Still, he made a perfect co-captain. He rolled with anything that came and was always among the first to step forward to face it. Though I doubted a single word had passed between them about the subject, Skyler welcomed him.

I was careful not to overextend my Healing Aura as we jogged so as not to harm Mel’s skeletons. Zorik was safe flying just overhead.

It still baffled me that Mel was able to use Dark Magic and yet my Light Magic healed him. When I looked at him through Mana Sight, his mana shone neutral with the same yellow tint as the human bashers who had no talent for magic. Yet, when casting a spell, Dark Magic swelled up in his belly and then flowed to his hands. Even then, my Light Magic didn’t harm him unless it came into direct contact with his Dark Magic as he started to cast it.

The strong energy was getting closer. I wished we could up the pace, but if I buffed everyone too much, I was afraid the presence of so much Light Magic would make it impossible for them to miss us even among the forest of mana-dense crystals. I was already pushing it with our current buffs.

Bending over to get my attention, Aeris tapped on the forehead of my skull helmet. Her eyes met mine as I looked up.

“I’m going to fly low and keep an eye out,” she said.

“Can you feel the direction they are coming from?” I asked.

“I can now. I’ll be careful and not let myself become too visible.”

I nodded, breathing deeply as she rose up from her perch.

When we were a few minutes away from reaching the end of the Crystalis, Aeris returned and whispered in my ear. “I saw a scout.”

***

Aeris explained that the scout she had seen hadn’t been a humanoid but resembled a smaller version of the Hell Hound that had attacked us. This one lacked the flames of the first but was black as night and twice the size of any dog she had ever seen. It had only appeared on the ground level of the Belly for a short time before it disappeared beneath the rock near the same entrance we had arrived through.

It was time to run.

“Richard. I need to speak with everyone again,” I said as I approached him from behind.

“You’re already set,” he replied.

“Perfect.”

He grinned broadly in response. His eyes went wide at what I said next.

“Aeris spotted a scout. We are out of time. Everyone cast Mage’s Deodorant and let’s go,” I said, upping my pace.

Mage’s Deodorant was a general spell the Head Mistress had taught all of us, including those of us without magic talent. I hoped our casting it would mask the way we went.

Within moments I had reached Zorik and cast Mage’s Deodorant on him. He looked down from his place overhead and cringed at the effects of the spell.

“Can you fly on ahead to find the cave we are heading for? I’m going to send Travis with you. He should be able to take out any of the normal mobs you run into with ease,” I said, not hiding the command in my voice.

He nodded and took off without complaint. He quickly outpaced everyone, so I wasted no time and found Travis near the front of the pack.

When he saw me he immediately turned aside and fell in beside me.

“Follow Zorik and back him up. He’s gone ahead to find our exit from the Belly. I’ll make sure Richard has you set up for group chat, so let me know if you have any surprises,” I said.

His smirk seemed larger than normal, but he bolted a few moments later. He was incredibly fast, but his footfalls didn’t sound near as quick as they had when he had approached during my fight with the Werewolf’s Pack Leader. Later I would have to ask him about it.

I checked back with Richard to make sure Travis was set up and called over Olivia. Aeris was right there with us flying low overhead.

“Olivia. Do you mind continuing to lead the casters? You did an amazing job taking the Belly,” I told her.

“You mean rescuing you,” she rebuked, smiling to show that she was only joking. “What about Aeris?”

“Until we leave the Crystalis she will be our eyes,” I replied.

“And you?”

“I...” I said, hesitating. It was a good question. What was I doing exactly? With a shrug, I replied, “I’m going to be wherever I’m needed.”

Then I added, “Richard, revert back to leader-only chat. Make sure Zorik is in there too.”

“Done,” he said.

With that, I drifted back into the group until I reached the final person I needed to speak to.

“I’m ready to stay behind while everyone gets away,” Mel said without me having to say anything. His eyes were fixed ahead with dark purpose.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, I’m staying back with you,” I said, giving him a grin as he turned in surprise.

“Like any of us would just leave you. The plan is to just disrupt them. I have something I think might do the trick,” I said with a wink. “Then I will grab you and run for it.”

***

With that, we upped the pace to a run, but I didn’t dare increase our buffs. For once, everyone would have to run tired. When we reached the end of the Crystalis, Aeris was waiting at the top of one of the stone paths, waving for us to hurry. We did.

Glancing back as we reached the ground level I didn’t see anything near the entrance of the Belly, which was nearly two miles away. We made it.

I turned my attention to giving the last couple of casters a hand climbing out when the distant echo of footsteps sounded.

We froze.

At first, it was a single creature resembling the description Aeris had given that appeared from below, reaching the ground level from the path leading up from the cavern. A few seconds later another black wolf-like creature appeared, then another. Soon, a large pack of the creatures had gathered.

“Go slow,” I commanded in a low voice through leader’s chat.

Our pace was even slower, but we soon made it out of the Crystalis entirely. I had worried about Mel’s skeletons slipping on the steep path, or making too much noise, but they scaled it easier than most of the humans.

We had less than a couple of blocks between us and where I saw Zorik’s mana flow. He was hunched over behind a rock. Travis stood behind him, more confident in Invisibility, and looked toward the wolves that had just joined us. If the cave behind them was the exit we were looking for, then we were just minutes from being out of here.

It was a miracle that, facing the pressure of knowing we could be spotted at any time, no one ran, fading from Invisibility and giving us away.

As we reached Travis and Zorik, Zorik didn’t wait to explain himself, but took off on foot, creeping toward the cave he had led us to.

I stopped, standing next to Travis.

The slow movement of his finger directed my attention back to the wolves on the other side of the Belly.

Someone had joined them.

Two individuals stood behind the wolves. One was tall and thin, with sea-green skin and long dark hair. The other was short and pale, with a dusty blond beard and an insane girth. They both were armored in dark blue mail under grey cloaks. It was difficult to see much more detail, but their appearance caught the light much better than the objects around them, so they stood out.

Turning, I saw most of our group was already entering the mouth of the cave. Aeris stood beside me and Travis still stood on the other side, but Richard was walking toward me at the fastest pace he dared.

“I hear voices,” Richard said carefully as he reached us.

Sounds like a personal problem. I shook off the thought.

“Inside the cave?” I asked.

“No. There,” he said, pointing toward the two figures that had joined the wolves.

“You can hear them?” Aeris asked, amazed.

“Yes. Should I patch them in?”

“You can do that?” she said, turning to me in disbelief.

My eyes were just as wide as hers were. “Do it,” I said.

He nodded.

“I hope they’re dead,” came a voice that hummed like a bass guitar. “If they got in the path of whatever creature caused this much destruction, we’ll probably get to head back early.”

“Lady Contessa will not stop until she is sure they are dead,” an airy, high-pitched male voice objected. “Surely even you felt that enormous surge in power. It was a little over an hour ago. A creature with such power should be easy to find. If not, there is also the possibility that the humans caused it.”

The deeper of the two voices burst out laughing. It belonged to the shortest of the two men, who shook as he laughed. He replied when he was able to catch his breath. “You’ve been reading too much from the ancient histories. These humans have been in the Underworld for a few weeks. I’d be surprised if they didn’t fall over and die from a warg’s fart.”

“Watch your mouth, dwarf. My Lady approaches.”

The dwarf grumbled in response.

“This should be interesting,” Aeris whispered.

I gave her a wink.

Watching us converse, Travis pumped his brow, getting my attention, then gave me a long, slow wink.

I nudged him with my arm.

All at once, the feeling of power I had felt approaching had finally arrived.

Instead of taking the path that sloped up from the entrance, Lady Contessa rose up from the ground below riding upon a mass of dark energy. Like a slug the size of a shire horse, the dark magic oozed up and over the cliff.

The skin of her face and legs was so pale she seemed to glow, but her black gown almost faded into the background from so far away. Her hair was just as black. The only true color I could see was the red of her lips.

The dark energy at her command set her down between the other two figures.

“Well, isn’t this a delightful riddle,” she said in a small, melodic tone. “From what I can see of the destruction, the surge of power wasn’t from just one but multiple sources. Does that displease you, Ujurak?”

“No, Lady Contessa,” the shorter of the two men said, defeated. “Whatever pleases you.”

“And it does. If it was the humans that Mistress Nava sent us to retrieve that have caused all of this, then they are too powerful for me to bring back to her alive. My alibi is here, etched in the stone that they have destroyed. I will leech them myself.”

“This is a splendid turn of events,” the high-pitched man replied.

“It certainly is, my dearest Yaatiesh. Send the wargs to sniff them out. Soon enough, I will dine on their flesh and the two of you will accompany me in pleasure.”

“Sickos,” Aeris whispered sharply. “I’ve heard enough.”

Richard cut off the conversation. He looked back and forth between the three of us like we had just overheard our parents talking about making out.

“Yeah, that was weird.” Travis agreed.

Just then, the wargs dispersed from the three figures in all directions. No less than five were heading right for the Crystalis. I looked at Travis who was shaking his head.

“They are fast,” he admitted.

“Let’s go,” I said, turning to join the others, but not forgetting the slow pace necessary to keep Invisibility active while still out in the open.

“We won’t be able to move quickly in the dark of the cave without using Light Orbs,” Aeris said, concerned. “We will have to move a good distance before daring to cast them, otherwise the cave’s entrance will light up, giving us away.”

“I’ll take the lead once I’m in the cave,” Travis said, reminding us he could see in the dark.

“Mel and I will take up the rear. I just hope we got the right cave,” I said.

Chapter 22 – Blocking the Way

The way this day was going, I was surprised we all made it into the cave without any missteps. Travis quickly took the lead, with help from Steve, our assassin, and led everyone into darkness.

“I’m here,” Clarissa said as she joined Mel and me. We were peering out from the cave’s entrance. The furthest back we could stand was about thirty feet before the cave ramped up to an elevation from which we wouldn’t be able to see out.

“Thanks for joining us,” I told her. “We may have need of your Earth Magic.”

“Are we going to seal the entrance?” she asked.

“Yes, but if everything goes well, the others will make some headway, then we’ll head further in before we raise a wall behind us.”

“Okay. But you should know that I’m not capable of creating a wall big enough to completely seal the way from them in one go.”

The ceiling was about two stories high.

“Don’t worry. I should be able to take care of the rest,” I assured her.

“I should have expected you to say that,” she said with a snicker.

Taken off guard, I raised a brow.

She just laughed louder.

“Come on, guys. Keep it down,” Mel said uncomfortably. His arms were crossed, and his skeleton minions stood behind us in two rows along the walls of the cave, ready to rush forward to defend our retreat if it became necessary.

I gave her a look as if to say she had gotten me in trouble.

“Sorry,” she said to both of us. “I get giggly when I’m anxious.”

***

Our group’s progress was slow. This cave was nowhere near as well traveled as the cavern coming from the Head Mistress’s dungeon. After ten minutes, our group had only made it a little further than a quarter mile. Once at the top of the slope, the cave flattened out so that I was able to see them with Mana Sight from a distance after walking to the top of the incline. Stalagmites formed any place they pleased, including in the middle of the path, making traveling difficult. This made it hard for the few people we had that could see in the dark to guide the rest.

A howl cut through the confined silence of the cave.

“You’ll want to see this,” Mel said uneasily, keeping his voice as low as possible as he called up to me.

I hurried back down the slope and upped Mana Sight. It was impossible to see into the Crystalis with my physical eyes because of the lip of rock around its border, but I was able to see a muted black mana through the rock. It was heading right for us and would be here in a few moments.

“One of them found us,” I confirmed. Mage’s Deodorant didn’t seem to make much difference. I tried to examine it with Canine’s Sense of Smell and was able to pinpoint the supposedly neutral smell almost immediately. It smelled like new plastic.

“What do we do?” Clarissa said, alarmed.

“We use the cave’s slope to our advantage.” Turning to Mel, I told him to be ready.

The first warg cleared the distance up the rock face around the Crystalis in just two jumps. Its nostrils flared as it rolled its head, taking in a great whiff. Without losing step, it headed right for us.

Warg

Level 501

HP: 18,275

Strength: 702

Dexterity: 1,067

Constitution: 731

Intelligence: 72

Wisdom: 67

Besides the creature’s physical stats, its Intelligence and Wisdom were rather impressive. It looked like there were at least 50 of these things. This could get rather nasty.

I didn’t allow myself to use Light Magic even though they were of the Dark Alinement. I knew the enemy had heard this warg’s howl, but there was no way for them to confirm it was us just because their scout found something. It would benefit us to keep them guessing as long as possible.

As the warg entered the cave, I fired off a few rounds of Alpha Bullet.

The giant wolf dodged them with ease.

It ate up the ground between us with bounding strides.

Mel’s skeletons raced down the slope to meet it.

The warg tore into the lead skeleton’s leg, even as Mel’s minion drove its sword into the creature’s spine.

Whipping its head to the side, the warg sent the skeleton flying back.

The rest of Mel’s minions swarmed it. The rain of blows they unleashed finished it quickly.

We leveled up from the bonus experience.

“Two more! Incoming!” I said, seeing their dark mana speeding toward us from either side of the cave’s entrance.

Mel suddenly lifted his hand with fingers outstretched. He clenched his fist. As he did I saw mana leave the dead warg’s corpse. It leapt forward into his fallen skeleton. As the energy entered the pile of bones, it rose up and its broken femur was mended before my eyes.

“Not yet,” I said to Clarissa, placing my hand on her shoulder.

She nodded but took a step back stiffly, trying to keep her nerve.

This time Mel’s skeletons were fully formed up to face the incoming wargs. The two beasts met nothing but a chorus of sharpened bone swords.

The monsters were superior to Mel’s skeletons individually but found out the hard way that when his minions acted as a unit, they didn’t stand a chance. Try as they might, they couldn’t get an angle so that they could tear into one of the skeletons and drag it back. Each lunge brought with it a new set of slashes and piercing wounds.

The skeleton line seemed to falter. It opened up in the middle with enough space to let one of the creatures through.

As expected, one of the wargs went for the gap.

On my peripheral, I saw Mel’s Skeleton Captain surge forward from the back of the group. With two hands dragging a claymore through the air from high overhead, the captain slashed down and cleaved the warg in two.

I nearly shrieked in delight.

With the first one dead, the skeleton’s line opened once again, and they started circling around the warg, cutting it to pieces.

Mel’s skeletons ranged between level 350 and 375, with their captain at level 387. With relatively low levels what they had been able to accomplish today was impressive.

As I cast Intermediate Blood Drain, I check Mel’s level as well. He led them at level 392.

Blood bubbled up and then seeped into my palm.

+175 HP

+6 Str

+12 Dex

The smile that the new stats gave me was quickly wiped from my face when I saw more than ten of them flying toward us from all directions.

“Mel. It’s time to retreat. Get your skeletons back,” I commanded.

He spun and started up the slope. His skeletons filed up both sides of the cave and followed him.

“Clarissa,” I said, turning to her. “Be ready. When I say, give me as many pillars as you can that reach all the way to the ceiling.”

“I’m ready,” she agreed with a small tremor in her voice.

The wargs were now approaching from all directions. Soon they would overwhelm us if nothing was done.

I just wished I had had the time to test this spell first. Mana started to build in my empty hand.

The first warg showed his shadowed face. The next one was right on his tail.

Even once I had reached the appropriate amount of mana, I held fast, waiting for as many of them to come as possible.

In my scepter, I funneled extra mana to a point, just in case this didn’t work.

The first warg started to climb. Five of them had entered the cave.

With Mana Sight speeding up my perceptions, I calculated the monsters’ approach.

As the seventh warg joined us, the lead mob vaulted into the air, its maw open to meet me.

That was close enough. With 100,000 MP focused into the palm of my hand, Rhyolitic Magma erupted.

The warg hadn’t flown three feet before it was bathed in molten lava. It disappeared beneath the fountain that sprang from my hand and never resurfaced.

Heat showered us, causing me to sweat the moment the lava appeared.

I cast Health Rejuvenation on the both of us, then surrounded us with Ice Shards. I let them float in the air close to us to combat the heat. They sweated like a pig going to the roast but helped to shield us from the face of that open furnace.

As the magma hit the ground it started to pool like an enormous orange water drop. It continued to just pour out of me. In seconds the pool overflowed its bank and it began creeping down the slope at a slow crawl. It started to gain speed.

The second warg had no way of avoiding the molten mass. It ran right into it.

The lava pushed right through the creature, quickly overcoming it and pulling it beneath its surface.

By the time the third warg skidded to a stop, it was too late. The lava flow had accelerated and overtook it along with a fourth warg.

The magma continued to gush out of me. I had no idea how long it would last.

A large part of me wanted to finish the rest of the wargs, but the characteristics of the spell were perfect for what I had planned. It was a plan that could save us from having to face the three humanoids hunting us, all together. I hoped.

“Now, Clarissa!” I cried.

“Where?!” she screamed.

“Where the second warg died.”

Like claws dipped in blood, her pillars rose out of the billowing molten rock.

As they did, the flowing magma pushed up against them like water against the pillars of a grand structure. Except, instead of flowing around the obstacle as easily as water might, the viscosity of lava caused it to pile up.

Still, the magma poured out of me, so I raised my hand and started coating the five massive pillars Clarissa raised out of the ground with glowing orange rock.

The temperature began to climb rapidly. It was soon scorching hot and I commanded Clarissa to flee. I think she was already on her way before I had said the word.

I stood my ground, summoning more Ice Shards that now seemed to melt as soon as they appeared. It was a losing battle.

The lava now covered the pillars from top to bottom, nearly sealing us off from our would-be attackers. The problem was that there was so much lava that it was oozing down and starting to puddle at their foundation.

An insane idea came to mind. Using Ice Shard as a base spell I manipulated it into the consistency of slush and let it flow.

The sizzle of evaporating water and the crack of fracturing rock sung. With one hand I sprayed the wall with molten rock and the other with a blizzard of ice. With the ice, I cooled the rock before it reached the floor and slowly worked my way up foot by foot until a solid shell of igneous rock started to form at its base. Where is Trevon when you need him.

With the lava, I sprayed the upper levels until the spell gave out, filling gaps that formed as the liquid rock was pulled down by gravity. When I had finally finished there were only a few small gaps at the top too small for the wargs to squeeze through.

I started to wobble, my consciousness faded. Staring at my MP I still had 37,640 left, so why was I losing consciousness? Gas. Out of panic, I stumbled back, falling. I crawled as best I could up the slope still facing the newly formed wall at my rear and pumped more mana into Rejuvenation.

As if my body hadn’t wanted to rid itself of the gas, but now had no choice, I began heaving. My coughing was so extreme that my stomach clenched up and I was unable to continue moving.

Something grabbed me from behind under both arms and I was dragged backward up the slope. Even after I reached the top and the ground leveled out, we didn’t stop moving.

My coughing continued, but my head started to clear. I saw the boney frames of Mel’s skeletons dragging me even as they slowly crumbled away from coming into contact with my Rejuvenation spell. When those two skeletons failed and fell to the floor lifeless, two more took their place and dragged me another 100 meters before they failed as well.

“I’m good!” I cried out, waving the next two away.

Even then, I sat there trying to hack up whatever poison was left in me. If it wasn’t for my ability to heal, there was no doubt my own magma spell would have killed me.

It was another minute before I made it to my feet. Immediately, I thanked Mel. “You saved my life.”

“It’s the least I could do. You probably just saved ours as well,” he replied.

“Uh, Mel? There’s something I’ve been wondering.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you see in the dark?”

“Sure. What good is a Dark Mage that can’t see in the dark?” he said with a shrug.

“Oh. I just didn’t know.”

Both Mel and Clarissa walked by my side, steadying me as we started the trek to catch up with our group. All the while I hoped the wall would hold. Or at least stay standing for a day or so to give us the time to get away. Deep down, I knew it would be only a matter of time.

Chapter 23 – Horse’s Head

Hours later, we had caught up with the group and were marching at a steady pace. I stayed with the main force as Travis and Steve scouted out the area because I was still coughing every couple of minutes.

I hadn’t allowed everyone to stop for me to regain my MP. I gambled that putting distance between us and our pursuers was more important. It seemed like it had been the right decision. I had slowly replenished my mana anyways and we had covered a lot of ground now that we were making full use of our Light Orbs. This way I was also able to keep Invisibility cast on everyone, even if Light Orb would give away our presence. Being in an ethereal form could save lives.

Aeris had taken her place sitting on top of my head and we walked near the center of the procession.

Mel once again brought up the rear, now four skeletons short of the 17 he had started with. I had apologized more than once even though he told me that it wasn’t a big deal. Unlike me, he just needed to wait until we ran across another corpse to resummon his minions. Undead Dominance only allowed me to animate something that was already dead. If my minion died, I would have to get another and level it up.

“Steve and I have an update,” Travis said through group chat.

“You’re clear,” Olivia said.

“We have reached a place where the cave expands into a large open room. It’s still full of stalagmites and looks natural, but there are multiple tunnels we could take.”

“Is there a large pillar in the middle of the room in shape of a horse’s head?” Zorik asked.

“Uh. Yes,” Travis replied.

“Wait for us. We are getting close.”

“It’s familiar to you?” Olivia asked.

“Yes. The dungeon we are heading to is where I was born,” he said, his eyes staring off.

I shared a quick look with Aeris. Her brow was creased in concern.

No one asked Zorik about his birth, but I knew we would soon need answers.

***

When the cave opened up, I immediately spotted the horse-headed stalagmite at the center of the room. It stood at least three stories tall and overlooked the rest of the room. Unlike the Belly, this cavern was only a few hundred meters in circumference. There were five tunnels we could take.

Travis and Steve met us at the entrance. There were a number of were-rat bodies scattered about. Mobs they had taken care of before contacting us. I didn’t even bother to drain them.

As we entered, without a word, Zorik flew up from his place in the middle of the group and headed toward the horse-headed stalagmite. Everyone remained silent as we watched him fly toward it. When there, he placed his hand on the horse’s head and then nodded to himself before heading back toward us.

Stopping before the group, he hovered at eye height. New resolve filled his words. “As we enter this next cave, we enter into the outskirts of the dungeon. It is vaster than the Head Mistress’s Labyrinth but is most likely still in ruins. Unless there is a new master, few Lesser Creatures will remain. There will be a residue of magic left in the region which usually has that effect. Even greater creatures will find it uncomfortable, so we can expect little resistance as we look for the Master Chamber.

“Once there, we will place the Fire Orb on the pedestal in the Master Chamber. It will allow us to claim the dungeon for ourselves. The power in the orb will activate the Dungeon Engine and allow us to trigger some of the dungeon’s capabilities. These capabilities range from traps to moving walls, crafting stations to living chambers.”

He made a choking sound to clear his voice, continuing in a lower, darker tone. “If there is a new master, then the dungeon may be full of monsters. It might be better for us to flee as opposed to try and take possession of it. Even lesser dungeons can take time to clear. Time that we don’t have. There is another dungeon, much further away, that we could flee to if this one doesn’t work out.”

“When were you last here?” I asked him.

“It’s been two decades,” he said with a gulp. “An Incubus was the master then. He bred Imps and stole them from other Greater Beings. The Head Mistress ultimately wiped out the dungeon and killed him because he was taking her slaves.”

“Was he a good master?” Aeris asked.

Zorik’s eyes shot to the ground. “No. And yes. He wouldn’t allow any imp to reach the level to evolve into an Incubus, but other than that, we mostly lived without fear.”

“Clarissa,” I said, interrupting to draw the attention away from Zorik. “Raise a wall to block the way we came. Rest if you have to between casts, but make it airtight.”

“My pleasure,” she said.

Wading through the skeletons at our rear, she began her work. She only had to rest once to finish. It looked much better than the atrocious thing that I had come up with.

After she had rested up, we headed out as a group, entering a tunnel to the right of where we had entered. Zorik stopped us to let us know that the next tunnel closest to us was also a part of the dungeon.

I shook my head at the revelation.

“How many entrances are there, Zorik?” I asked.

“Hundreds,” he replied. “But only a few main avenues into the heart of the dungeon.”

Well, that meant we couldn’t just wall the way behind us. Not that that would be wise anyway. If there was a new master of this dungeon, then we might need a way to escape.

I moved with Aeris still on her perch to the front of the group. With Mana Sight going at its fullest it gave me five times my normal perception of time. We approached slowly.

In only a few hundred meters, the rock around us started to change. The blue-grey stone turned blue-green, with waves of blue and green woven throughout. There was even a subtle light that came from the rock itself. Mana Sight made the change even more obvious. It seemed like trace amounts of Nature, Water, and, to a lesser extent, Wind magic were a part of the dungeon itself.

“Welcome to Old Originem,” Zorik said aloud, letting his longing show.

The dungeon tunnel looked to be opening up just ahead. Holding up my hand, I turned to face everyone as we slowed, placing one finger over my mouth to indicate to all it was time to be as silent as possible.

Aeris lifted up off my head, turning to face everyone, and mimicked the gesture for all to see.

Pointing to Travis and Steve, I waved them to come with me. We left the others and approached the opening.

I upped the mana flow to Canine’s Sense of Smell as we closed the distance. The draft of the tunnel brought the air from our destination right to my nose. I smelled no signs of the living. For once, I hoped we wouldn’t run into any mobs. As impossible as that sounded.

The three of us approached carefully, wringing the most out of our stealth and invisibility abilities as we could. Steve crouched along the wall to my left and Travis took the one to my right. I walked straight up the middle of the path, but a number of meters behind them. The chamber started to come into view.

Instead of a cavern, the chamber had smooth stone walls, floor, and ceiling. It was small and rectangular in shape but also rundown, with pits of broken rock that had fallen from the ceiling and walls.

Wind whistled toward us from the hallway of a passage on the left side of the room. It ran throughout the chamber and split, exiting through an open doorway across from us, and passed over us, back the way we came. The room was empty.

We took a moment to inspect both paths we could take, then came back and waved our group forward. Aeris was watching for us and directed them when we did.

I motioned for Zorik to join me at the head of the group.

“Is it a good sign that there are no monsters here?” I asked.

“Yes, but if there was a new master, they would have to have a Master Orb, or a large army to be able to fill these outer rooms. When I lived here, the master was only able to fill the Mid Perimeter and he had been here for two centuries,” Zorik replied.

“So, a lesser master might only have the mid or inner parts of the dungeon filled?”

He made a whooping sound to indicate that was correct.

“Which way do we go?” I asked.

He nodded to the doorway across from us.

We continued on.

It was slow going, but after a dozen rooms, we had run into no life. The only surprise was an inactive trap that Travis had to point out to me in the middle of one of the rooms. It wasn’t the first one he discovered, but all of them were inactive and lacked the magic trigger that would have made them work. It was interesting to note that my trap detection didn’t work if the trap was inactive.

Without Zorik, there was no telling if we would have found the Mid Perimeter, but after about an hour, we did.

I approached with Travis and Steve as we had countless times before down a long hall that was only wide enough for half a dozen people to stand shoulder to shoulder. There was no obvious sign of life as we started to inch forward. Even with Mana Sight, there was no concentration of mana in the area, only the kind common to the stone that the entire area was made up of.

When we exited into the next room, the scale of the place took my breath away. The room reached up one hundred meters at least. The outer walls were curved like a giant semi-circle, with numerous entrances along the wall just like the one we had just entered through. Half a mile across, the inner wall mimicked the shape of the outer, but only had a single entrance that stood twice as tall as a human and had massive pillars to either side which held up a stone overhang. In the middle of the room was a great chasm with a single stone bridge in the middle.

I was able to turn down Mana Sight to see that the blue-green light had brightened enough to allow us to see clearly with the naked eye. Seeing no monsters so far into the dungeon, I began to hope.

Calling everyone to join us, Zorik looked to breathe easier.

“Are we home free?” I asked.

“Not yet, but this is a good sign that any new master has not yet been able to gain much influence. Still. It takes a greater being to kill something that possesses even a lesser orb. Also, if they have activated any of the inner traps, they could kill many of us,” Zorik replied.

“It's beautiful,” Aeris said with a low voice which only I could hear.

“It is,” I agreed.

We approached the bridge as a group. It was wide enough to let us all walk across together. Not that we did without first testing it.

I stopped everyone else from trying and pulled out 8 ounces of Iron Ore. If my observations about how Animate worked had been correct, my higher level would now allow me to summon a higher-level Golem.

At level three, the spell was still expensive, but I would recover the cost in less than a minute.

Setting the ore on the stone floor just before the bridge, I cast Animate. The ore immediately merged into one then began to grow.

Iron Ore Golem

Level: 465

Health Points: 27,500

Mana Points: NA

Strength: 825

Dexterity: 400

Constitution: 1,100

Intelligence: 10

Wisdom: 10

An eight-foot Iron Golem stood before us like a stone hulk. Its weight would be a perfect test.

It had worked. Even though Animate was at a low level, the strength of the creatures I could create was based on my own level. It was exactly 100 levels less than my own.

“And you didn’t use this monster while you were in the Belly for what reason exactly?” Olivia’s voice came from behind me, followed by a long whistle.

Turning, I gave her a wink.

My Golem turned at the same time I did and stepped forward onto the bridge.

From the look of it, the stone that held up the bridge was three meters thick, so I didn’t really doubt its strength, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Once he reached the middle, I commanded my Golem to jump. He only rose up in the air a little more than a foot but slammed into the bridge as he landed, shaking the ground beneath us. The bridge still stood.

Not that I could do anything resembling dancing myself, but that didn’t stop me from commanding my Golem to spin on one foot to face us. Leaning over, he started churning his arms like a professional boxer.

It looked better than I remembered it looking for me in the mirror.

“He’s so cute!” Clarissa gushed from the back of the group.

With my Golem leading, we crossed the bridge and made it to the entrance to the inner section of the dungeon.

“We are almost there. Inside the Inner Chambers are the most powerful traps,” Zorik warned.

No opposition met us, so we went in.

Chapter 24 – Sanctuary

A long hall led from the Mid Perimeter to the inner chambers. It was just as wide as the bridge had been. Almost immediately we ran into what could have been a problem.

After a few meters, there were nasty 10-inch spikes lining both walls just like a real-life dungeon crawler. There was no visible trigger, so we let my Golem go first. Nothing happened. The trap was only about twenty feet long and ran straight into a second trap of spikes overhead.

Once again, my trap detecting items showed nothing and the same went for Travis’s abilities, so the Rock Golem soldiered under it first.

A single line in the stone reaching from one wall to the other came immediately after the ceiling trap. Because there were no trap indicators, I suspected, but couldn’t prove, that this part of the floor gave way, or pulled back to reveal more spikes.

As we exited the hall, we reached a wide room with stone partitions set up, lining the room with a few meters between them. They stood only about four feet tall. Just high enough that you could hide behind them. As many as fifty mages could take cover behind the partitions and lob attacks at whoever dared enter the Inner Chambers from this single point.

“It is safe,” Zorik said with relief. “Come!”

He rose up and flew over those of us that had been standing in the front, passed over a partition and headed for the rear corner of the room.

“Does this mean we can eat soon?” Russ asked suddenly.

Turning as I laughed, I saw him standing next to Skyler. He met my eyes with genuine interest.

“I hope so,” I replied.

“Me too,” Skyler agreed.

With a sigh, I hurried after Zorik with everyone in tow. He was already a few rooms away before we caught him.

Each room we entered possessed the stone partitions for taking cover. Some of the rooms were wide and some were long and narrow. The wider rooms would allow more defenders and the long narrow ones would allow a smaller number to better defend it.

The last room was more like a long hall with a series of open-concept side rooms running parallel with one another. The rooms were really just small nooks. Defenders could duck into one of these side rooms if they were being attacked. When being overrun, they could retreat to the next nook and find cover, launching another attack before retreating to the next one to do it again. They would also make perfect places for an assassin to wait for his prey.

Steve realized I was looking at him and gave me a questioning look.

“What do you think?” I asked.

Understanding registered and he gave me a smirk. “I’m feeling sneaky.”

The first door we had seen still standing in the entire dungeon met us at the end of the hall. It was made of the same stone present in the area but was engraved with powerful wings, like those of a dragon, reaching to the top of the door frame and running down the sides all the way to the floor. They covered the body of some type of demon. The only thing revealed behind them was what looked to be a human face. His face was long with a powerful but slender jaw. His eyes were large and seemed to look right through me.

“That is Xenos. He was the Incubus that was master here. My father…” Zorik said.

With the revelation that he was Zorik’s father, everyone fell silent.

Zorik hovered before the door and placed his hand on the figure's forehead. He closed his eyes, and I watched as his chest hummed. A moment later, he shook as if taken by a mighty chill. Moving with purpose, he grabbed a doorknob that was in the shape of a cross and turned it. The door crept open.

A circular room emerged before us that reached up a few stories into a dome covered in etched artistry. It was terrifyingly gothic; gorgeously so. The same figure that was depicted on the door covered half the dome with his army of imps surrounding him.

Great monsters covered the walls below, underfoot and defeated. There was a Werewolf just as powerful as the pack leader Travis and I had defeated. Dark Elves, Dwarves, a Vampire, a Minotaur and even a Succubus were all depicted in their moment of death.

In the center of the room was a stone pedestal. It clashed with the rest of the room. Instead of a gothic mosaic, its base depicted arcs of lightning fingering out from the base of the stone platform at its top.

I walked softly as I joined Zorik before it.

The platform had nine sockets large enough for the Fire Orb that encircled a single large one at its center.

“You place the Fire Orb at its center. Whoever does will become the Dungeon’s Master, then you must name it,” Zorik said.

Turning to the group of escaped captives, I saw it in their faces. They were ready to have a place to call their own.

Russ waded through the group holding forth the Fire Orb. Even without Mana Sight, I saw that it glowed with red power.

As I took my scepter in my off hand, he handed the orb to me.

Immediately, I moved to place the orb into the socket at the middle of the podium. With my hand a few inches away from taking control, I stopped.

Besides the fact that I was the highest level among us, was I really the best choice to become the master of our dungeon? I had left Aeris and the others waiting for me as I leveled up in the Bone Palace. Only after Aeris had rebuked me did I help everyone out. I had downplayed Mistress Nava’s threat when I responded to her, causing her to attack us in retaliation by sending her Hell Hound. Would we still be in the Head Mistress’s Labyrinth if I had trodden lightly?

I had gone exploring when we reached the Belly instead of waiting for the others. Then, when I saw Xaphan for the first time, instead of staying away from such an insanely powerful creature, I let my desire for new Blue Magic entice me to try and steal from him. What of our current predicament? Would Lady Contessa have even found us if the Belly had stayed dormant and we made it through safely with stealth?

Shaking my head, I knew it wasn’t appropriate to just take mastery of this place without first hearing the others’ thoughts on the matter. I had already been selfish enough.

Turning to the others, I asked aloud, “Who should run this place?”

No one answered. Their reactions were a mix of surprise and contemplation.

Travis took a step forward, the first to have his say. “You should do it. We probably wouldn’t have survived Lord Darius, let alone made it through the Belly, without your help.”

“I agree,” Russ said with a big grin.

“Same,” Mel agreed.

With a cough, Olivia readied her voice.

Those in front of her cleared out so that she could be seen by all.

“If it wasn’t for Elorion, it’s likely we wouldn’t have had to kill every creature in the Belly,” she said, crossing her arms with a tempered scowl. “He’s often distant and going off on his own. Also, he has spent little time to get to know everyone or showed that he cared.

“But,” she said, showing the slightest grin, “with that said, I agree with Russ. He is always there when we need him to be and puts himself in the line of danger for our sakes. Aeris also vouches for him and that is enough for me.”

Russ walked over to Olivia and reached his arm around her, resting his hand on her shoulder.

“I do vouch for him,” Aeris said from her place at the front of the group. With a hop, she floated up and placed herself on her perch on the top of my head.

Holding up my hand, I interrupted. “Before we get carried away, is there anyone among us with a talent that might work well with the dungeon system? Like Travis’s Mapping skill?”

“If I may,” Zorik said quickly. “A map will appear on that wall once an orb is restored to the pedestal.”

He pointed to the wall with a large empty space in the shape of a large rectangle. It was on the far side of the wall close to a door unique from the others. Throughout the circular room, there were four doors in total. Three of them were on this half of the room and would lead back to the Middle Perimeter.

The door across from us was arched and twice as high as I stood. Its trim was made up of what looked to be runes of some language I couldn’t read. A solid stone slab without a handle stood blocking us from entering the area beyond. There was a large empty rectangle of space on the wall Zorik pointed to, but also on the wall opposing it on the other side of the arched door.

“I don’t think my skill would help. What I really need is some pen and paper to map it out,” Travis said.

Everyone looked around to see if anyone else would step forward.

“Nope. There is no one with a special dungeon master skill. That would be cool, though,” Aeris said from above me.

“So, no objections?” I asked.

When there were none, I found it difficult to speak. What Olivia had said of me was true and I knew it.

I remembered that the Head Mistress’s Lich had said that Wisdom was more than stats on a character sheet. He hadn’t been lying. So, what was wisdom? With my stat so high, I was now able to make logical connections with an exponentially higher number of variables than ever before. But that didn’t make me wise. There was one thing all of the mistakes I had made the last couple of days had in common. They had all been selfish. I’d never considered myself arrogant, but I had cut myself off from certain considerations because I was only taking what was best for me into account. It seemed the key to true wisdom was humility.

If I hadn’t been humble before, I felt it now. Despite my faults, everyone was willing to look past them and let me take control of the dungeon that we would all grow to depend on.  I needed to do better by them. I would do better.

“Okay,” I said, more to myself than to the others. “But I will need your help. Olivia, you’re my magic advisor and will remain the leader of the mages.”

Numerous heads nodded in approval.

I continued, “Skyler, you are my melee advisor and will remain the leader of the bashers. Russ, you’re his second and will also be my crafting advisor.”

They both received multiple pats on the back.

“Travis, you’re our scout and will be in charge reconnaissance. Mel—” I wasn’t sure what position to give Mel. All I knew was I wanted him as an advisor. “You are my Dark Magic advisor. I know this is kind of selfish, but I’m weakest against Dark Magic and will need your input.

“Finally, I want Aeris to be my second in command,” I said, patting her leg.

Her knuckles rapped against my skull helmet, bringing chuckles from the crowd.

“Out of everyone here, she knows everyone the best and is always a breath of fresh air,” I said with a chuckle.

Another knock clanged against my helm.

When I looked up, she reprimanded me with a look.

I mouthed the words, “I couldn’t help it.”

“Each and every one of you has unique talents,” I continued. “It’s only a matter of time until we will need your advice, so be ready.”

Holding up the Fire Orb, I waited as everyone prepared themselves. Turning, I examined the pedestal, hesitant of which socket to place it in. Zorik had mentioned the center, but the orb seemed to small.

“Put it in the middle,” Zorik said, still hovering at my side. “As you get more of them and more powerful orbs, you can replace it. The middle one though is what will give you mastery of this place and bring it back to life.”

“Thank you, Zorik. I also want you to be an advisor if you agree to it,” I said.

His eyes found mine and went wide in astonishment, mixed with disbelief. It was one of the first times he had looked me in the eye for such a long time.

After a long moment, he gave me a concise nod.

With all of that out of the way, there was only one last thing to do.

Turning to face the altar, I took one last look at the orb that was somewhat smaller than a baseball and watched the mana inside it swirl about. Reaching forward, I carefully set the Fire Orb in the center of the platform. As soon as it touched, the crimson mana leaped from the orb into the altar, lighting up the numerous streaks of lightning spidering out of its base. They shone deep red.

What started as a murmur turned into a buzz, as energy filled the room. Like a small rumble of thunder, the empty map Zorik had pointed to burst from the stone and was suddenly visible as if it had been etched there all along.

A second rumble came from the second empty wall. A question appeared there carved out in the rock.

What will you name your Dungeon?

“Any ideas?” I asked, looking back to the others.

“Bed and breakfast!” Russ called, chuckling.

Skyler burst out laughing, pounding his fist against his friend’s armored shoulder.

“Vale,” Olivia suggested.

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

Crossing her arms, she rebutted, “I miss skiing, okay?”

“If we are going to use that as our criteria, how about Santa Monica?” Travis said with a big grin. “I miss the beach.”

“Chocolate ice cream!” Clarissa cried.

“Gutbuster chili cheese dogs!” Russ said, nodding his head.

“Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream!” Audrey sang.

As everyone called out their favorite foods or places to visit, I shared a solemn moment with Aeris. The heartache was written all over her face as she leaned down and our eyes met. This was a moment to enjoy, but it was also a moment to remember all that had been taken from us.

“How about Sanctuary?” Aeris asked, lifting her head to face the crowd as her voice rang above the clamor.

“It’s not original,” she said when the commotion calmed. “We were all chosen in part because we were gamers. There are numerous games that come to mind that have used Sanctuary to name different locations. It’s because it is so common and that it will remind us of where we’re from that I think it’s perfect.”

Almost immediate, heads started to nod. The lightheartedness of the moment passed, replaced by reminiscent longing. There was no going back, and everyone knew it. But we also felt the weight of what we were about to do. We had found a way forward. A place to call our own in a new world that wanted nothing but to leech us of power or see us dead. We had fought to get here and here we would stand.

I saw the answer written firmly on the faces of the men and women before me.

Turning back, I aimed my words at the Fire Orb that had awakened this chamber.

Another rumble came from the wall that had posed the question to us. The words vanished, replaced by the name of our new dungeon. Sanctuary.

Below the name, numbers appeared.

20,000/20,000 Dungeon Points

Before I could inspect them further, the entire dome above us started to quake.

My eyes shot up. The image of the Incubus Xenos and his imps was skewed as they bent and transformed. When the process was complete I had to place my hand on the pedestal to keep from falling over.

Where Xenos had been an image of me appeared in his place donning Titan’s Defense, with an enhanced Horned Skull Helm. Atop my helm, Aeris was perched, but instead of sitting, she stood, a single foot on my head, with her hand held out and the image of a twister in her palm.

Skyler stood on my right side, followed by Russ and then Travis. Olivia stood on my left, with Audrey, Clarissa, and Trevon at her side. The rest filled in next to them, even Zorik. He stood next to Mel, who was exactly my opposite, facing me from the other side of the dome.

Like lightning had just struck multiple times, a series of thunderclaps sounded from the area beneath our new portraits. Just as the greatest enemies that Xenos had defeated appeared under his feet, the strongest monsters we had defeated appeared under ours.

The Werewolf Pack Leader was there with his arms shredded just as they had been the moment before his death.

The Zombie Sergeant that led the platoon of Zombie Foot Soldiers that had attacked us during Lord Darius’s attack was also there, stunned as he had been after Russ’s headbutt. There was a Dark Elf Assassin, an Orc Brute, and the Lesser Ghoul that we had also defeated during the vampire’s attack.

The shapeshifting Mantis was there as was the Nature Elemental, a Tank-Roach, and a Greater Imp.

Only the greatest enemies we had faced and defeated were commemorated in the stone mural of the Master Chamber. Mistress Nava’s pet Hell Hound was also there, frozen in time as a missile of ice was getting ready to impale it through the mouth. As the most powerful monster we had defeated, he was depicted directly under me.

“That is the most awesome thing I have ever seen,” I heard Travis blurt out.

A number of whistles and similar comments quickly followed.

The Fire Orb started to glow. A cone of light shot up about eye height and a crimson face appeared before mine.

Jolting back, I held out my hand and flooded mana into my palm.

“Elorion!” Zorik said curtly. “This is Khun, the spirit of the Dungeon.”

Looking around, I saw every one of us was preparing a spell or had our weapons drawn.

“Eh,” I started to say, before finding something intelligible. “Hi…”

“Master,” the face replied in a deep, soothing voice before bowing its head. “I was called Khun by Xenos, my latest master, but my name can be changed if you will it.”

Lowering my hand, I relaxed my posture before responding. “No, that will be fine.”

“Very good. I will now unlock the door to the dungeon’s Living District. I suggest you have your servants explore to become accustomed to the area. On foot, it will take a couple of hours to see everything.”

The stone slab that blocked the arching doorway started to fall with a giant moan.

I almost laughed at him calling the others servants, but it really was no surprise if an Incubus was the last master here. I addressed the issue. “These are my friends, Khun. I do not keep servants.”

The head twisted to the side as if confused, then turned to Zorik and asked, “And the imp?”

Without hesitation, I replied, “He is one of us.”

He registered the new information with a slow nod, then continued. “I would recommend you have your friends explore the Living District. It is in a sad state I’m sorry to report, but you can use Dungeon Points, or DP, to remedy some of the damage now. I will wait for you to decide before we discuss them further.”

Turning, I found Olivia, then Skyler, and motioned for them to join me.

If I had any doubt that either of them was up for the task, the stern demeanor they both held proved to me how seriously they took their job.

I addressed them. “Take the group and explore the grounds. We need to know we can safely turn our backs to this new area.”

Before they could respond, Khun interrupted. “That is unnecessary, sir. I feel no signs of life in the area.”

Spinning abruptly, I asked the dungeon spirit, “You can feel all life in the dungeon?”

“Yes, master,” he replied.

“What of the Mid and Outer Perimeters?”

“Look here,” Khun said, drawing my attention to the map on the wall.

At its center stood the Master Chamber. It was where we stood now. Through the arched door, we would find a massive area shaped like a slice of pie that was the Living District. Just opposite it was the area we had just traveled through. It was an even larger area in the shape of a much wider slice of pie.

Turning back to the passage from where we had come, I saw that we had entered in through the middle of three rooms. Each of these led to the rooms of the Inner Perimeter and remained separate, extending out into the larger rooms of the Mid Perimeter, which were also separate.

The middle room was the wide-open area with a chasm that split the room in two, with only a bridge to cross at its center. The room below the middle room housed a room-filled maze. I always wanted to have a maze! The room above the middle one possessed a long narrow path right down its center with a deadly gulf on either side. Lining the walls, on the other side of each gulf, were platforms that stretched the entire length of the room where archers or mages could stand and pummel any monster that was trying to make it the length of the narrow path.

From there, the Mid Perimeter opened up to the Outer Perimeter made up of the random run-down rooms and narrow halls that reminded me of so many video game dungeons. There was also no separation between the areas, but neither was there any logic to their layout, so it would have been as easy to get lost there as it was the maze.

Seeing a compass at the top of the map, I saw the northern part of the Outer Perimeter starting to glow near the furthest rooms.

“In the glowing area, there is currently an infestation of were-rats. Besides yourselves, there are no other living creatures in this realm,” Khun reassured us.

“If that changes, notify me immediately,” I commanded.

“Very well.”

***

“The servant quarters currently house a maximum of 2,000 occupants, but to repair the halls and rooms, it would cost 1,000 DP to repair each room and 3,000 to repair each of the forty main halls.” Khun continued to list off all the needed repairs. “With your current DP, you could restore one hall and seventeen rooms.

“There are also five dining halls that cost 6,000 DP each. They come with their own kitchen. There are two banquet halls costing 12,000 DP that share a much larger kitchen that costs 5,000 DP by itself.”

“Hold it,” I said, shaking my head.

Aeris was now standing by my side and met my gaze as I blew out an overwhelmed breath.

“You’re thinking we should focus on defense and worry about living arrangements later?” she asked.

“I am.”

Turning to Khun, I decided to see how helpful the dungeon spirit could be. “We are being pursued by a succubus with a dark elf, a dwarf, and about 40 or so wargs at their command. With the DP we have to spend, what would you recommend?”

“I would recommend getting to know the Dungeon’s defensive offerings and spend your DP wisely,” the dungeon spirit said.

I nearly facepalmed.

“Zorik?” I asked, turning to him as he hovered nearby.

He was the only person that had stayed behind with Aeris as the others went to explore. Well, him and my Golem that now stood guard at our rear.

“I don’t know a lot about how all of this works, but I remember Xenos kept the maze and center room of the Mid Perimeter heavily trapped and left the north room with the narrow pathway open so that friendlies could approach. There were also Ice, Nature and Wind Elementals he could summon,” he replied.

“Those traps we saw in the hall that led here could come in very handy,” Aeris admitted.

“Would you like me to show you every trap location and give you their characteristics?” Khun asked.

“Yes, but first. Can you wall off the Mid Perimeter or Inner Chambers?” I asked.

“I can wall off the maze, and repair and lock the doors to each doorway in both areas.”

“How much would it cost to block off the maze?”

“4,000 DP.”

“Yikes. It’s expensive,” Aeris said, wide-eyed.

“For the cost, a meter-thick stone wall is raised to completely block off the Inner Chambers from the maze. It will also be indistinguishable from the rest of the stone walls of the maze, so even if they decide to try and break down the wall, it will be nearly impossible for them to guess correctly and destroy the right wall. If they knock down any other section of wall, they will be faced with more walls,” Khun insisted.

“That’s not bad,” she replied.

“That takes care of one way they can approach. There are at least two more.” Still not convinced, I asked the dungeon spirit if he was sure there was no way for them to get access through the Living Distract.

“I am sure of it. Besides the door behind me, the closest tunnel is more than a mile away with solid earth between it and your dungeon,” Khun said.

“What of the Elementals?”

“You can summon Lesser Elementals for 1,000 DP each, Greater Elementals for 5,000 DP each and Master Elementals for 25,000 DP each. As the imp said, you have access to Ice, Wind and Nature Elementals, but also Fire since you are using a Fire Orb on the pedestal.”

I nodded and asked, “Does that mean we can add additional stones of different elements to summon different Elementals?”

“Yes. That is one of the reasons to supply me with greater sources of mana. Another is to increase the DP you have available to spend. Even though your DP will replenish over time, it will take five days for your 20,000 DP to recover. And a higher DP will allow you to access greater defenses like a Master Elemental.”

It made me wonder, did that mean that the Mistress’s Bone Palace was run by its own orbs that gave Rock Hard and the other elementals life?

“We are going to need to get more orbs,” Aeris suggested.

“Yeah, but where?” I asked.

She shrugged.

“Well, I guess we better go through each and every trap. Also, the doors while we are at it,” I said.

“That would be advisable, sir,” Khun said. “And I would recommend doing it quickly. A warg just entered the outskirts of the Outer Perimeter.”

My heart seemed to skip a beat.

“I’ll get the others,” Aeris said in alarm.

“Only my advisors,” I directed. “Have everyone else forget about the Living District for now and start exploring the Inner Chambers in the middle section.”

“We are going to trust that it’s safe?” she asked, motioning to the open arched doorway behind us.

“Yes. For now.”

“Okay, Master,” Aeris said, overemphasizing the last word.

I arched my brow in query.

She gave me a wink before flying off quickly to gather the others.

With a deep sigh, I turned to Khun to see him smiling back at me for the first time. He looked rather cheeky.

Chapter 25 – Incoming

“Status,” I commanded.

“The 38 wargs have covered 18 percent of the Outer Perimeter. But it won’t be long now. They are heading in the general direction of the northern sector toward the Middle Perimeter,” Khun replied.

I nodded as I watched it all unfold on the Dungeon’s map in the Master Chamber. The 38 red dots that sped from room to room indicated the wargs that searched for us now.

“Travis,” I said through group chat as I watched his blue dot near the mid sector. He was south of their heading, but it was still dangerously close.

“I’m finishing up,” he replied.

“They seem to be taking the bait. You have at most two minutes.”

“No problem. Just finishing with this trap. If some of them don’t go for the easy prey, they won’t like what they find.”

“Great. When you’re done, hurry back.”

Turning to Richard whom we had to thank for being able to communicate with one another, I informed him, “It’s time.”

He stood with me in front of the map, watching the enemy’s movements closely.

Without turning to look at me, he replied, “Okay, boss. I’ll let you know if they change course, or if the succubus and her two henchmen show up.”

I internally shook my head as he called me boss but didn’t let it show. Everyone seemed to be giving me random titles.

I set off at a jog and went through the northern door into the Inner Chambers. Wasting no time, I cleared the partitions like a hurdler and hastened through each room. Entering the northern room in the Middle Perimeter we had started calling The Pits, I was faced with the long narrow stone pathway up the middle with two deep chasms to either side. The stone was the same blue-green that made up the rest of the area and glowed with its own subtle light. Each pit was approximately 200 meters down to its bottom and was composed of jagged rock. It just waited to devour anyone who fell.

Russ turned to me with a sloppy grin. He stood in the middle of the pathway with a plate of torched cave-swine steak that Audrey had prepared for him with her Fire Magic in seconds. She had already retreated to the middle room we had started calling The Bridge to join the others. Russ had taken the cooked meat and ran around in the Outer Perimeter to spread the scent around the entrance of the northern room before dragging the scent this way. Since his job was mostly done, he was now standing here as our bait and enjoying the steak.

Turning off to the side, I followed the path along the wall that skirted the pit. It led to one of the long side platforms. It also ran the length of the room but was cut off from the entrance the wargs would enter from. Aeris hovered a few feet off the ground, wringing her hands and Trevon paced back and forth. They had positioned themselves at the middle of the room, so they had a good vantage point to work their magic on the long narrow pathway running down the center.

Before I reached them, a howl rang out from the entrance. It funneled into the room like the blast of a horn.

I took off at a run and reached the others just as the first warg joined us at the entrance. It was coming at a brutal pace.

Russ sawed at his slab of meat with his fork, insistent on one last bite before setting down his plate.

“Here they come!” Richard cried through group chat.

“A little late,” I said offhandedly. “There might be a delay. Try to anticipate two seconds ahead of where you see them on the map.”

“You got it, boss,” he replied.

Trevon reached back with his hand, then swung forward like he was trying smack the warg from this side of the chasm between us. A mass of blue light shot out from his hand and struck the path near the middle of the room, covering it in a sheet of ice.

The first warg soldiered toward it, a few strides away when at least a dozen more wargs appeared. They fought each other, jealously trying to make it through the entrance first. They must be hungry.

Stepping forward, Trevon jabbed with his other hand, exuding more of the blue magic. It struck the path once again, this time closer to the entrance.

The first warg was surrounded with ice on both sides. The newcomers still had plenty of room to enter and build up speed.

Aeris rose up higher in the air as her excitement grew. Her hands came together, and she held them close to her chest.

Reaching the ice, the first warg’s paws found no purchase and swam out as its chin smacked the floor. It skidded the entire length of the sheet of ice before stopping on smooth stone. It scrambled to pull itself up off the ice with its front legs, struggling to get to its feet.

The large group of wargs didn’t stop when they saw their fellow warg faceplant. They barreled into the ice-covered patch and the first few succumbed to its slippery surface, but the wargs in the rear quickly caught on and leaped, clearing the ice patch entirely.

I watched as Trevon weighed his next move. He waited as more wargs took to the bridge.

The first one neared Russ.

Turning around, Russ placed his plate of food behind him on the ground as he chewed a mouthful of tough meat. As he knelt over, he equipped a shield that looked like a big slab of steel and a short, one-handed hammer. The hammer’s head looked like it had a streak of purple down its side, so I wasn’t sure if it was made of steel or something else.

When he rose to face the giant wolf, Russ’s grin was gone; instead, he was looking at the creature like it was his next piece of steel to beat into submission.

The warg’s tongue drooped out in excitement as it neared its next meal.

My heart thundered in my chest as the creature lunged for my friend. He had guaranteed he would be able to handle a couple of them and would only need our help if there were three or more. Even still, Russ had only just reached level 402. The warg was level 629.

The warg’s jaw expanded in a grotesque fashion as its eyes rolled back into its skull. The jaw grew wide enough to devour Russ’s entire upper body. As it twisted its head to the side, that looked to be its goal.

Russ swung his hammer. Purple light appeared surrounding his weapon, enlarging its striking surface to the size of a frying pan. It smacked the warg’s lower jaw, forcing it closed and hurling the monster dangerously close to the edge.

The warg clawed at the stone floor with its front paws as its rear legs slipped over the cliff.

With a nudge of his hammer to its nose, Russ sent the warg flailing into the pit.

“Now!” Aeris cried as she extended her jeweled hand and started to build up mana.

Trevon was ready. With both hands extended forward, one aimed at each end of the causeway, he released a massive amount of mana from either hand. Something resembling small blue meteors shot forward, striking the pathway at both ends.

The path before Russ exploded as an overgrowth of ice sprouted up twenty feet in the air with dozens of vicious spikes ready to meet the mass of wargs heading right for it. At the same moment, the doorway to the room shrouded over with ice entrapping 31 of the 38 wargs.

Aeris’s wind started to blow. An immense gust of wind met the wargs covering the full length of the bridge. Russ scrambled to grab his plate before running for the exit. The wargs still struggling on the patches of ice were the first to fall.

Not leaving anything to chance, Trevon fired off numerous smaller projectiles that coated the rest of the pathway in ice, adding his ice-covered guarantee.

The wargs started to tumble to their deaths en masse.

I leveled up twice.

Soon, all but one had entered the pit. The final warg started to grow. Its transformation was gut-wrenching and quick.

With Mana Sight turned up near its max, I saw dark mana extend out and take shape before his physical body met the new mass. We now face a Dire Bear.

You have learned the Blue Magic Mighty Maul!

At the cost of 1,000 Endurance, you are able to strike a single blow with the equivalent of 500 lbs. behind it.

That would really come in handy with my ability to heal my endurance.

You have almost fully understood Advanced Blue Magic Shapeshifting!

Blah! Again with the almost?! Flooding my eyes with mana, preparing Force Learn, I was determined this time to steal the evasive skill.

I watched its mana fluctuate oddly as the creature began to change. Dark Magic seemed to be its base, but there was blue and grey mana mixed in. Then, when it shapeshifted, a shade of green was added to the mix.

We all had the same idea. Aeris, Trevon and myself all prepared our quickest attack spells and let them fly.

Wind Slash hastened forward faster than Trevon’s Ice Spear and my Advanced Health Bullet. Before it arrived, the Dire Bear roared.

The roar was so immense that the air around it seemed to quiver. It was emitting Sonic Energy. The Wind Slash seemed to dissipate into nothing as it swam through the sonic energy. Trevon’s ice and my Health Bullet did the same.

Interesting trick. More than happy to test the extent of the monster’s ability to disrupt magic, I hesitated when it lowered its head and fire erupted out of its mouth, melting the sheet of ice beneath it.

There was something wrong and it wasn’t the fact that a bear was breathing fire. I wasn’t sure if I could ever be surprised again after entering the Underworld. If the ability to breath fire was really its natural ability than I would have gotten a Blue Magic popup. Since I didn’t, that could only mean one thing. It was using magic.

Creature indicator showed me something terrifying.

Dire Bear Form

Level: 1,032

Health Points: 156,075

Mana Points: 252,600

Strength: 2,537

Dexterity: 542

Constitution: 2,081

Intelligence: 1,684

Wisdom: 1,374

The Dire Bear was level 1,032, which was scary in itself, but it had the stats of a level 600 caster and of a level 1,000 basher.

As it found surer footing, the creature once again started to change. I got the same popup.

You have almost fully understood Advanced Blue Magic Shapeshifting!

The sea green skin immediately gave way and revealed the true form of the Shapeshifter. The succubus had called him Yaatiesh. Creature Indicator changed as he did, revealing his true self.

Dark Elf

Level: 1,032

Health Points: 13,925

Mana Points: 252,600

Strength: 274

Dexterity: 1,271

Constitution: 557

Intelligence: 1,684

Wisdom: 1,374

He had lost most of his melee stats, even if his Dexterity had more than doubled. The most frightening part about it was that he had 50,000 more mana than I did and an Intelligence of 1,600.

“Richard. We are facing a level 1,000 Dark Elf Shapeshifter,” I said through group chat.

“Okay! Sending backup!” Richard replied, sounding stretched thin.

Yaatiesh stood across the pit from us, smirking as his grey cloak blew exposing his blue plate mail underneath. The wind had calmed since Aeris had ended her Gust spell, but it still left the room excessively drafty.

“Rather quaint trap, but it worked surprisingly well,” Yaatiesh commented in a tone that was a mix of compliment and disgust. “There are only four of you? We were under the impression there were close to twenty.”

“We are all that’s left, after the Belly,” Aeris answered slowly.

“You are lying,” the dark elf said with a sigh. “I can smell it.”

“I can smell your hussy from here!” Trevon jeered.

Craning my neck, I looked at him in bewilderment. I didn’t really know the guy, but I didn’t expect trash talk.

“My… hussy?” the Dark Elf asked.

“You know, the gothic chick that smells like warg farts,” Trevon shouted, throwing his arms down like he had dropped the ultimate slam.

Aeris and I looked at each other, surprised he had used nearly the same quip the dwarf had when we were eavesdropping on their conversation earlier in the day. Then, I realized Travis had probably told him. Of course he would relay that kind of detail.

“Wiping out the last of the humans in the Underworld sounds even more enticing now that I know you have the manners of a dwarf,” Yaatiesh said.

Our enemy’s hands shot up.

I watched through Mana Sight as a Fireball slowly formed in his right hand and sonic energy solidified into an air-distorting shield in his left.

Another realization struck me. It might not be helpful having Aeris and Trevon here with me. I would probably be more worried about defending them than figuring out how to defeat this guy.

I prepared energy in my off hand, ready to defend the others if need be, but I also built up a large Advanced Health Bullet with 2,000 MP. I forced the energy to compress more than I ever had, creating something altogether new that I named Sniper Shot. As his Fireball released, I fired my spell in return.

His spell had an impressive speed as it came toward us, but the amount of mana he used was rather minuscule.

Was he unable to sense our levels? Or just testing us?

Aeris easily deflected his attack into the pit with a concentrated Gust.

My Sniper Shot was aimed at the center of his shield. I would test him as well.

As he reacted to my attack, the amount of energy that was flowing into his Sonic Shield increased exponentially. It was far more mana than he actually needed to block the spell. Catching my attack dead center, he braced against it.

The condensed Light Magic was too much to just disintegrate, but it couldn’t pierce the sonic field. The angle of attack was enough that after a moment in a turbulent stalemate it ricocheted off to the side and punched into the wall on the other side of the room.

Trevon flung one of his meteors of Ice Magic at the base of the platform on which the Dark Elf stood.

A funnel of sonic energy rushed from the Dark Elf’s hand, stopping the ice magic as it flew and causing it to explode in midair. Once again, the amount of mana he used seemed like overkill. Either he just didn’t care about conservation because he had such a massive pool of mana, or his ability to sense magic power was very limited.

The Dark Elf jeered, then extended both of his hands toward us. Sonic Magic surged.

It looked like he was done testing us. As his sonic energy turned into focused beams, I realized he was accomplishing the very thing I wasn’t able to figure out with Wail of the Banshee. What was worse was that I had no idea how to protect from Sonic Damage. I doubted any bone structure I could make would keep the energy from reverberating through it. Could I just fight Sonic Magic with Sonic Magic?

Aeris shot up, reaching a height of nearly 40 feet overhead and met the sonic attack with a downpour of wind. This wasn’t her typical Gust magic but churned like a whirlwind. It wasn’t her Twister spell either, because it flowed out from her in a confined stream. Perhaps stream wasn’t the best word to describe it, for its radius was the size of a large car.

Trevon dived out of the way, even as the sonic beams were greatly crippled by being battered by Aeris’s wind.

The Dark Elf raised one hand to redirect one beam at Aeris. The other he kept aimed at us.

I cast invisible on all of us and we scattered, hurrying out of the beam’s path. Now that the three of us were split, one of us would hopefully be free to attack.

The Dark Elf ceased his attack, but he had been able to follow us better than I’d hoped. I needed to end this quickly. It was getting too dangerous.

Removing Invisibility from myself, I pumped mana into my scepter while bolstering my armor by casting Bone Titan’s Defense.

Seeing his eyes widen, I knew I had his attention.

Skeleton Warrior’s Shield also took form and started to thicken. It was a gamble, but if I was right, I had found his weakness.

As he turned both palms toward me, I continued to stream mana into my shield. It was already digging into the floor and rising up over my head, creating a bone wall. I left an open porthole to one side so that I could see clearly and weave other spells with my scepter.

His great beams of sonic energy gushed in my direction.

With a flick of my scepter, I released the Advanced Sniper Shots I had been hiding.

I had been forming them from the moment I released Invisibility. They were scattered along the length of the room waiting for my command in the pit below his line of sight. Their positioning would give my attack different angles for each of the 40 Sniper Shots.

With an arcing trajectory, they raced toward him from below.

I saw it in his face when he sensed their approach. His stance widened as his hands spread out. The beams of sonic energy were cut off and the energy was redirected into two large Sonic Shields.

The Sonic Beams that were already on their way plowed into me.

I had been partially wrong about my shield and armor not blocking it. The thick bone shield and even thicker armor did reduce the vibrations, but by how much it was nearly impossible to tell as my teeth rattled together and my nose started to bleed. I cast Wail of the Banshee, releasing it from my shield, but it seemed to have no effect.

My Sniper Shots drummed into his shields. Each was deflected.

Half of them had already been blocked when one made it past his magic defense and pounded into the plate mail on his thigh. His mail did its job and protected him from the violent reaction that accompanied Light and Dark Magics when they came in contact with one another.

Aeris appeared above me.

Much to my relief, her Wind Magic nullified most of the strength behind the sonic attack.

My mind cleared enough that I could see the damage he had caused.

-4,320 HP

In that short burst, he had taken a tenth of my HP.

A dozen more projectiles carpeted his legs. They staggered him back, so he lowered his magic shields.

I smirked and diverted the remaining three magic rounds right for his head.

One hit the rim at the top of his shield and flew wide.

Noticing my deception, he glowered as he moved to correct.

Before he could, a Sniper Shot struck true but grazed his sideburns. It sizzled as Light Magic met Dark Mana, searing the side of his head and eating a hole through his ear.

He had just a moment to give me a scowl before the final Sniper Shot buried itself right below his eye. Light and Dark Magic howled as they warred. I had to turn away from looking at what was left of his head.

I couldn’t hold back a grunt of delight.

After a moment, with Force Learn ready, I watched closely but stopped myself from casting. His mana hadn’t leaked out as it should when someone was dying.

Suddenly, his body started to convulse until he burst into flames.

You have almost fully understood Advanced Blue Magic Shapeshifting!

A pillar of fire stood where he had once been. It started to take form and soon a humanoid Fire Elemental blazed in his place.

Master Fire Elemental

Level: 1,032

Health Points: 2,311/252,600

Mana Points: NA

Strength: NA

Dexterity: NA

Constitution: NA

Intelligence: 1,684

Wisdom: 1,374

All of his physical stats had disappeared, and his HP was low, but climbing rapidly. His Max HP was now the same as what his Max MP had been. Was this a characteristic of Fire Elementals or some strange Dark Elf ability?

“Hit him with everything you’ve got!” I cried.

Trevon fired off Ice Spear after Ice Spear like a Gatling gun, while Wind Slashes raced toward it.

Since Trevon had Ice Magic covered, I poured mana into an Alpha Bomb.

The Fire Elemental fled with an extreme burst of speed, right for the ice-covered exit.

I didn’t have to say a word. Trevon’s launched one of his ice meteors in the direction the creature was headed.

A 10,000 MP Alpha Bomb flew right behind it.

As the ice meteor struck the entrance, the barricade of spike-covered ice violently thickened, stopping the Master Fire Elemental in its tracks. If he had thought he could melt a hole in the ice a moment ago, that opportunity was gone. The wall of ice was now more than 6 feet thick.

The Elemental turned to flee in the other direction just as Alpha Bomb hit the ice barricade.

The concussion caused my ears to ring, but I didn’t need them as I watched the ice explode, blanketing the Elemental and smothering his flame.

Force Learn activated.

The world disappeared as my senses came alive inside the dying Dark Elf. Just as in humans, Yaatiesh’s Dark Mana swam with his blood, but his two magical talents of Fire and Sonic Magic existed as orbs of power inside of him. Where was the orb of Nature Magic his Dire Bear Form possessed?

As I tried to reach for the orbs with the thought of using them on the Dungeon’s pedestal, I realized they weren’t the same. These orbs started to seep out with the Dark Magic in his blood. They were a part of him.

His ability to Shapeshift was harder to find, but the neutral ethereal orb was there all the same.  He hadn’t had the ability to use Blue Magic, therefore he had no Creature Observation skill to get a true bearing on his enemies. That was why he had used so much excess energy against us.

The ethereal orb I didn’t let slip away so easily. I grasped at it even though I knew that I had no hands to reach for it. With nothing but my will, I demanded it remain whole. Instead of heeding my command exactly, the orb intensified. It became clear. The ethereal orb worked with Yaatiesh’s other talents and his blood when he transformed.

When I was driven out of the dying Dark Elf, I finally possessed the skill I had been seeking.

You have learned the Blue Magic Shapeshifting!

You have unlocked a hidden aspect of Force Learn sub-spell, Steal Image.

Steal Image works automatically when Force Learn is cast.

You are now able to take the shape of any creature you have successfully used Forced Learn on and stolen the full Essence of Blue Magic from the creature.

You will receive bonus stats when transformed depending on the creature’s natural base stats.

You will have full access to your spells, but any spell that you use may harm you in your transformed form if it is weak against the school of magic you use.

Each form will have the ability to level up and undergo creature evolution.

Exception #1: You must have access to the creature’s base school of magic. Example: You must be able to cast Ice Magic in order to shapeshift into an Ice Elemental. Note: If you learn a new school of magic, old creatures you have already stolen the Essence of will become available to you.

Exception#2: You must have enough mana to sustain the creature’s base form. The larger and more powerful the form, the more mana it will take to sustain it.

Note: If you run out of mana during Shapeshifting you will revert to your true form.

After a quick read, it looked really promising. I was even able to pull up a list of all the creatures I had successfully stolen the Essence of.

Fire Imp, Blue Slime, Green Slime, Werewolf, and Hell Hound were the only creatures I could actually transform into. The rest were mainly Dark Magic creatures like Skeleton Sentinel, Dark Elf, Zombie General, and Ghoul, so they were greyed out on my list. I wouldn’t be able to use them, for now.

Sadly, the Dire Bear and Master Fire Elementals weren’t on my list, so it wouldn’t be as easy as watching another Shapeshifter change into different forms.

There was one final form I was able to take. Primordial Cat. The problem was it would cost 100,000 MP a second to sustain. With my bonuses that was 20,000 MP a second. I would only be able to stay transformed for approximately ten seconds. Even then, I wouldn’t be able to use any additional skills.

Primordial Cat

Level: 1

Cost: 100,000 Mana Per
Second

HP: NA (See Magma Manipulation.)

Strength: +5,000

Dexterity: +5,000

Special Abilities: Body of Magma, Magma, Manipulation, Magma Regeneration.

Body of Magma: Your body is transformed into one that consists entirely of magma.

Magma Manipulation: Because your being exists within a magma state, you have full control over the magma itself. Harden or soften your body at will.

Magma Regeneration: If magma is displaced from your body, you are able to return to your Primordial Cat form indefinitely, unless 75% of your magma is lost.

Note: You do not take damage to your HP. Any attack that removes or separates magma from your body leaves you weaker.

Next Level:

Cost: 99,100 Mana Per Second

+50 Strength

+1% Strength

+50 Dexterity

+1% Dexterity

It was difficult to turn away from such an overpowered form. Later.

I passed over the Fire Imp, mostly uninterested for now. Perhaps one day I would have the time to level it up and maybe evolve into an Incubus, but time was pressing. Even if it gave a small bonus to Intelligence, an Imp’s form was frail, and I could probably fly faster in my bat form.

Both Slimes’ forms offered some interesting possibilities. The Green Slime had been nearly invulnerable against physical attacks, but weak against magic. The Blue Slime had been just the opposite. Still, if I took either form I would also inherit their weakness. Would transforming with armor make a difference, or would the armor transform with me like it had with the Dark Elf?

The Werewolf and the Hell Hound seemed the most useful in my current context. How was I able to manage to shapeshift into the Werewolf that had been Dark Aligned was my biggest question. The criteria said nothing of alignment. It seemed the Werewolf Form just kept the base school of magic of the original host. Did that mean if a Werewolf bit you then you would turn into one? Travis was bitten, and he seemed to be doing just fine... Just like my bat form, it seemed there were other ways to transform.

I was able to trigger each listing, which gave me to Werewolf form specifications.

Werewolf Form

Level: 1

Cost: 3,500 Mana Per Minute

Strength: +500

Dexterity: +500

Constitution: +500

Intelligence: -50%

Wisdom: -50%

Special Abilities: Bloodlust, Regeneration.

Bloodlust: When faced with battle, the lust for blood has a clouding effect on the mind, making it difficult to think of anything other than your prey.

Regeneration: Your HP Regeneration is three times higher than your natural state.

Next Level:

Cost: 3,470 Mana Per Minute

+5 Strength

+5 Dexterity

+5 Constitution

Intelligence: -49%

Wisdom: -49%

With its bonuses came great drawbacks. They would likely improve if I leveled it but now was not the time. Keeping a clear mind was of the utmost importance right now. Going all rage monster wouldn’t help anything.

Hell Hound Form

Level: 1

Cost: 10,000 Mana Per Minute

Dexterity: 1,000

Special Abilities: Flame Breath, Fire Aura, Turn Up the Heat.

Flame Breath: +1,000 Fire Damage/2,000 MP

Fire Aura: Passive. +5 Fire Damage/Per Minute.

Turn Up the Heat: For every 100 Mana Per Minute, an additional +5 Fire Damage/Per Minute is given. Maximum damage, 500.

Next Level:

Cost: 9,900 Mana Per Minute

Flame Breath: +1,000 Fire Damage/1,985 MP

+40 Dexterity

The Hell Hound Form’s drain on mana was also pretty extreme. I could sustain it for approximately 20 minutes. The Dexterity bonus was amazing, but it wasn’t enough to justify the cost.

Throwing 25 more stat points into Wisdom, I saw the others starting to head for the exit.

“Richard!” I called through group chat. “We defeated the Dark Elf. Close the entrance to the Northern Room. I’ll let you know when we are out so that you can shut the exit.”

Before he responded, a stone slab started to rise in the doorway to the entrance of the room.

“Done,” he replied. “You better hurry to the bridge. Travis says his first trap has just been tripped. I’ve already recalled the reinforcements that were heading your way.”

“Hurry, Trevon,” Aeris warned. She also had access to leader chat. “They are already heading to the next section.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice!” he said, still trying to catch his breath.

I stopped at the exit and cast Intermediate Blood Drain near the middle of the room with a good 1,000 MP backing it. The wargs’ and Dark Elf’s blood pooled into the customary large orb and filled me. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the surge of power for a moment before releasing a pent-up breath and turning to leave.

I called out to Richard when we were all clear. The door to the room started to rise and thundered closed before we reached the next room of the Inner Chambers.

Chapter 26 – Would You Like to Dance?

As soon as we made it to the Master Chamber, we saw Richard still standing before the Dungeon’s map with his arms crossed in deep concentration.

I saw Lydia walk past in my peripheral carrying a large bag of rice near the entrance of the Living District. She and Richard were the only two humans that were completely untalented in anything related to combat. Part of me wanted to stop and check on her, but again, time was short

Aeris and Trevon went ahead as I took the time to check the stats I had taken with Blood Drain.

+4,750 MP

+8 Str

+16 Dex

+10 Con

+22 Int

+13 Wis

It was a good take, putting my max MP over 193k and my Mana Per Minute was now 5,344. My Strength was now over 800 and getting much closer to 1,000. If I really needed it, I could funnel more mana into Muscle Buff.

“Elorion,” Richard called.

Turning, I saw him glance at me to make sure he had my attention.

“With the two doors to The Pits closed, we only have 8,000 DP left. Any changes to the rest of the plan?” he asked.

“No. If we have to flee, close the door to the Bridge behind us and pull the lid above the last trap,” I replied.

He nodded. “Got it. You better hurry.”

“Thanks, Richard.”

He hid it well, but Canine’s Sense of Smell revealed to me how much he appreciated my words. I knew it bothered him that he couldn’t help by taking up arms. Whether it was his endorphins I smelled or if it was something else, his emotions on the matter were obvious all the same. Too bad this spell didn’t come with a manual.

We had found as we had studied the traps and doors of our new dungeon that the traps were too expensive to spend any points on, starting at 5,000 DP a shot. The doors were a bit trickier. Every doorway could be readied with a door and locked, but there were three different kinds of doors for the normal rooms: stone, steel and enchanted. They ramped up in price in the same order from 1,000, 2,500, 4,000. Then, there were the larger doors, like the entrances of the Mid Perimeter. They were just massive slabs of stone and cost 4,000 DP each.

Completely ignoring the smaller doorways in the Inner Chamber and the Outer Perimeter, we decided to focus on the bigger doors because they would give us the best protection for the cost.

We had Khun raise the wall segment in the maze to hopefully cut off that entrance from our enemies. Having enemies coming at us from a direction we did not expect could easily be our downfall.

We had lured the wargs to The Pits the best we could and had succeeded in taking out the majority of them with very little cost. Yaatiesh was a big surprise, but his talents couldn’t make up for his inability to judge our strength. I didn’t want to think of how big of a nuisance he could have been if he’d had the dwarf and succubus at his side.

After finishing with the wargs and Yaatiesh in The Pits, we closed the entrance and exit to that room behind us for another 8,000 DP leaving us with only 8,000 DP left. Now everything depended upon how things went at The Bridge. If we had to retreat we would close the last main door behind us, then opt to purchase two smaller stone doors and lock them as we fled through the Inner Chambers, utilizing the partitions to hurl spells and take cover as we made a retreat. Finally, even though we wouldn’t have enough DP to activate one of the final traps, with 1,000 DP Khun had said we could just remove the stone slab above the pit of spikes that led directly to the Master Chamber. It was there we would make our stand.

If things really went south, we would have only one other option. Khun would unlock the doors to The Pits and we would make a run for it. I ignored the likelihood that if our enemies pushed us back that far then it was likely that many of us would no longer be alive.

As I entered the Inner Chamber, heading for The Bridge, I checked my character sheet and saw I had 103,862/190,393 MP. I released Titan’s Bone Defense, freeing up some of my Mana Per Minute.

I hurried off to join the others who were waiting for our enemy to arrive.

***

What had been a flat stone bridge at the center of the room that crossed a 20-foot moat had now been transformed. Stone pillars stretched along the bank of the chasm from one end of the grand room to the other. Great vines wove themselves between each pillar, creating a low standing wall on our side of the bridge. Clarissa and Olivia had been busy.

My stone Golem stood dead center of the bridge and would be the first creature to face whatever came next. He was disposable but would hopefully slow them down.

Aeris plopped down on my helm the moment I entered the room.

I couldn’t hold back a chuckle. She had been floating above the doorway just waiting for me to enter.

“My trusty steed,” she said, patting my helm.

“This trusty steed needs to meditate,” I replied.

“I’ve beaten you to it. Why do you think I sit on your head instead of flying around all the time?”

“And you always say I’m the cheater.”

“I sure do.”

When we approached, Trevon had already joined the others by Clarissa on the right side of the fortification. From there he would have a good view, so he could see to cover the bridge in ice. Audrey was also at Clarissa’s side. I hoped she was planning on turning the bridge into a giant skillet for grilling the enemy.

We headed to the left side of the bridge where Olivia and Mel stood in silence, watching the far entrance. Mel’s skeletons were formed up on the other side of the bridge near the corner of the room. It was a good place to flank the enemy.

I cast Invisibility on them now. I didn’t wait to recover my mana before casting it because I had no way of knowing exactly when our attackers would arrive.

Mel turned back and offered me a nod of gratitude.

Our bashers would guard the center of the bridge but would never set a foot on it. Falling into the chasm on either side was too big of a danger. It had a depth of 200 meters, just like the ones in The Pits.

Pillars at the corners of the bridge had vines snaked up around them and reaching out, tying them to two more pillars that were set back away from the bridge at an angle. As our enemies charged, they would have to funnel in tighter together once they reached our side of the bridge before they met our bashers at the mouth of the immense vine siphon.

The sledge brothers would be joined with Russ and Travis to either side. They were the highest-level bashers we had and had also proven themselves. The others, primarily our Dexterity-based bashers, would man the vine walls to the sides of the funnel and try to pick off any creature they could reach as it ran by.

With so many wargs dead, our bashers might end up without much to do, but there was always the danger that Lady Contessa would have some kind of undead army she could summon.

Russ met me as we approached with a half-empty tray of cave-swine bacon. A small amount of grease pooled under the bacon on the shiny serving tray. It was crispy along the edges.

“I thought you might appreciate this,” he said with a big grin.

“You have no idea,” I said, shaking my head in disbelief.

How long had it been since I had eaten? Light Magic seemed to sustain me even if I didn’t eat, but that was no way to live.

Taking a slice carefully to get as little grease on my hand as possible, I took a bite immediately. There was no time to really enjoy it, but I could extend the few seconds I had with it a little longer thanks to Mana Sight.

Reaching our place on the line at Olivia’s side, I took a seat and forced my body to relax and my mind to focus. I didn’t expect we had long.

“Master,” came a voice from behind.

I inclined my head, and Zorik landed and stepped up beside me.

“Is everything okay?” I replied.

“Are you sure the name that you heard the dark elf and dwarf call the succubus was Lady Contessa?” he asked. His eyes darted back and forth.

“Yes,” I replied. “Do you know her?”

“No. Not exactly,” he said, but his anxiety was clear. “What I do know is that succubi are only called by the title Lady if they are purebloods.”

“I’m not sure I know what that means.”

“Do you remember when I explained that imps evolve into incubi if they are male and succubi if they are female?”

“I do.”

“Well. Not all succubi and incubi are made the same way. Imps are born when a succubus, most often, becomes pregnant with a child from an elf, dwarf or human. The same happens if an Incubus impregnates any of these three prime races. But there are some that don’t have to evolve. It's rare, because the only way it’s possible is if a succubus and incubus conceive and have a child together. Then the child is born evolved. Any succubus with the title of Lady was born in such a way but hasn’t yet reached the rank of Mistress. They are considered the succubi nobility and usually have stronger talents than the succubi who had to evolve.”

I took a deep breath as he finished, then released it while grimacing at our luck.

“So, she is probably more powerful than the average succubus of her level, but we know for sure she isn’t as powerful as Mistress Nava?” I asked to confirm.

“Yes,” he said, nodding quickly.

“Does being a full-blooded succubus give her any weaknesses?”

“Not really. The only difference is that a pureblood has more potent talents, but they usually also have less variety. They can usually only use one, and in rare cases two, schools of magic in my experience. Imps that evolve usually have three or more talents.”

“That could be something. Thank you, Zorik.”

“Yes, Master.”

He hopped in the air and moved forward to Mel’s side to see over the vine wall.

If we could be pretty sure she only had one school of magic, that could simplify things. It also meant she probably wouldn’t have as many tricks to hide.

Aeris didn’t say anything, but her hand reached down from above.

I took it in my own and held it as we both recovered as quickly as we could.

A few minutes later we heard an explosion.

***

“What did you have in that trap?!” Russ hollered where everyone could hear.

“Dog shampoo and C4!” Travis answered at a shout.

The whole lot of us burst out laughing.

I wasn’t sure what was really used for explosives in the Underworld, but whatever Travis was using worked. A great blast had come from the north, in the Outer Perimeter. They were getting closer.

A howl rose up, followed by another. Just outside of the entrance to The Bridge, we heard a sudden yelp.

“This last one is the best!” Travis called. “If she offers, never let Lydia give you a shave. She puts poison on everything!”

The snickers that rose up were cut short as a single warg entered at a run but immediately started drifting to the side.

Quickly, I got to my feet.

The warg was no longer heading for the bridge but straight for the moat.

Glancing up, I saw Aeris fly up. She reached the ceiling in a breath.

I was sure the warg was about to fall to its death in a few more strides when its front legs gave out. It tumbled to its back a few feet from the edge. Whatever Travis had pumped it full of with his trap had done its job.

Cheers rose up around me. As they started to settle, I heard what sounded like a clap coming from the entrance.

There was a second clap.

I shrouded everyone in Invisibility. Checking, I saw my mana had reached 174,002/190,399. It would have to do.

All eyes were on the large, dark opening to the room. The clapping remained slow but started to increase. Whether Travis’s traps had finished them or the remaining wargs had fled was unclear. The creature that emerged from the darkness of the Outer Perimeter could only be likened to darkness itself.

Her dress was a dress of shadows. Her arms and face were the only things not covered in the black energy she had wrapped herself in. It was like she used Dark Magic for clothing, not bothering with things like armor or fabric. Her hair floated about. Her long dark strands danced in the energy across her back. She was utterly pale. Almost like a porcelain doll. She was beautiful and dangerous.

Lady Contessa strolled toward us while continuing to bring her hands together in tempered applause.

Out of instinct, I used Creature Observation.

Lady Contessa

True Blooded Succubus

Level: NA

Seeing that her level was over 1,000 higher than mine sent a tremble down my back. I had to remind myself to take steady breaths.

It was hard to view her mana even with Mana Sight at full power. The gown of dark energy she wore cloaked most of her body. It was in her face that I saw her true density of power. Like a thick fog, Dark Mana drifted around inside her. It was denser than what I’d seen in Yaatiesh, but it wasn’t liquid in consistency like Mistress Nava’s.

She stopped directly on the other side of the bridge right before my Golem and turned her head to either side to take in the fortification we had built to stand against her.

I was pretty sure, from what I could see, that her only school of magic was Dark Magic. Even if she possessed orbs of different elements, those usually showed up in smaller patches or tinted the overall mana of a creature. It also meant as a Lady Succubus that she was extremely talented with Dark Magic. That was a huge problem. I feared of buffing the others because my Light Magic would have to be constantly funneled into their bodies. Even with armor, a strand of Light Magic had to remain connected to them to do that. Everyone I buffed would be weakened against any Dark Magic Spell.

“Hello,” she sang in the voice of a young girl. Folding one hand in the other, she held them to her chest as if she held something dear. “There is no way you can know how gratifying it is to meet you. Just imagine being asked by our mentor to run off to the Dungeon Level to chase after a group of humans. One would expect it to be a tedious chore, like shepherding livestock, but you have proven to be full of surprises.”

She smiled fondly before closing her eyes. As she did, she dropped her hands to her sides and looked at us pointedly.

“Now, I must also chasten you, for you have killed one of my playthings. Ujurak is fetching Yaatiesh’s corpse which has made my second favorite toy more grumpy than normal,” she said, shaking her head. “I would take one of you to replace Yaatiesh, but I’m not allowed to keep a human as a pet. Shame.”

Everyone stayed dead still as she spoke. It was impossible to know if she saw through Invisibility or not.

I may have been late casting it, giving her a moment to spy out a few of us, but hopefully it still gave us an advantage.

“There are many ways we can do this,” she said with a gentle tone while almost singing the words. “If you accept your fate, it does not have to be painful. I can make your end quite enjoyable. If not, I can make the pain last. I am not expected back for days.”

Still, we gave no answer.

I saw Olivia squirm in her boots. She wasn’t the only one shifting uncomfortably.

I considered attacking first, but there was too much unknown. Hopefully, Lady Contessa had the same problems Yaatiesh did and was unable to rightly judge our strengths. In this case, we weren’t able to judge hers either.

“Fine. Perhaps, you just need persuading,” she said, mostly to herself.

She flung out her arms before her with fingers spread wide, and ten Dark Magic tentacles shot out from the base of her dress toward us. They were as thin as paracord but ripped through my Rock Golem like a knife through tender meat. With new room to move, they hooked into vines of our fortification with dark claws.

Flicking her hands back, the tentacles pulled, tearing away the vines with seemingly no effort at all. The stone pillars near the bridge, standing at the chasm’s edge, were left bare, exposing our magic users if Invisibility proved to be useless.

I saw Olivia’s eyes go wide. Her lip trembled. With her hand already outstretched, great vines leaped out of her palm. As they slithered forward they grew as thick as the trunk of an ancient oak. They ran along the ground and cleared the 20-foot moat in seconds. Reaching the other side, they reached for the Succubus and entangled her. Her feet were first, then her legs and waist. Within seconds they wrapped around her chest and started to squeeze.

Lady Contessa looked at the python-sized vines as if interested in a new toy.

The rest of us saw the opportunity and took it.

An Advanced Fireball soared right for her as an Ice Spear followed at its side. A charged Stone-Fist and Stone Bullets flew rapid fire from different sides of the bridge. Aeris’s enhanced Wind Slash fell like a bolt of lightning and my Advanced Health Bomb charged with 10,000 MP followed behind them all.

Maxed out Mana Sight allowed me to see her initial response. A single tentacle of charged Dark Mana cleaved Olivia’s vines in two, loosening their grip.

It was the same trick I had used against the Werewolf, although she used Dark Magic against Nature. The two schools of magic didn’t react as Light magic did with Dark, but the highly condensed mana acted like a finely-honed blade against ripe vegetables, cutting the flow of mana as it severed the vines.

Her next action baffled me. She closed her eyes.

The tentacles of Dark Magic whipped forward, intercepting the coming attacks. Aeris’s Wind Slash arrived first, but her vantage overhead did little good. The black cord swiped at it and, just as the vine had been slashed, the greatly condensed Wind Magic was sliced in two. Aeris’s spell split down the middle and struck the ground to either side of the Succubus, cleaving into the stone floor.

A tentacle slapped the Fireball, setting it off near the middle of the bridge. The explosion threw Clarissa, Trevon, and Audrey on their rears. Lady Contessa was unaffected.

The Stone-Fist crumbled as another tentacle snapped like a whip against it.

The Ice Spear was diverted, but the Stone Bullets must have been too small, or there were too many, for the Dark Magic beneath her grew in mass and picked her up, moving her forward and out of the path of the onslaught.

Where she had been standing, my Health Bomb went off.

A great dome of Dark Energy rose up to meet it.

Hope welled up inside me as I saw her defensive spell lacked the concentration of mana to fully block the power behind my spell.

A great sizzle resounded as Light Magic met Dark.

Under the weight of my attack, her dome fractured.

My chest deflated. The reaction between our magics had been so fierce it stopped my Health Bomb’s advance. Her spell hadn’t been nearly as condensed as my Light Magic had been, but it didn’t have to be. She had used the reaction between our magics to implode my attack to conserve her mana. She had a mastery of magic that we couldn’t hope to outmatch.

I lost sight of her as my Light Magic explosion seemed to permeate everything.

Mana Sight was the only thing that saved me.

Lady Contessa had taken the bridge. Her Dark Magic tentacles had already grabbed hold of most of the others. A Dark tentacle wrapped itself around my legs.

Where the tentacles grabbed me, I sensed the bone armor I wore start to fail under the powerful current of magic. As naturally as breathing, I let Light Mana surge into the exact area the tentacles held me. There was no sure way to measure how much she used except by feel. Like flexing a muscle, I applied pressure. All I knew for sure was she hadn’t used enough.

Her tentacle hissed as Light Magic touched Dark. It unwound and shrunk back like a wounded beast.

As things cleared, she looked down upon me from a mass of the Dark Magic that had materialized under her. It looked like an enormous shadow-slug.

All of our casters dangled in the air behind her, tied up by her tentacles at the shoulders and waists. Their faces were contorting in pain. The tentacles seemed to glow with power.

I was wrong. She didn’t have Aeris.

Lady Contessa’s eyes drilled into me. She had four tentacles free.

I watched in slow motion as they all sped my way.

I cringed as a deafening cry rang out. Lady Contessa and I turned to see Skyler flying through the air with his sledgehammer cranked back overhead.

As she diverted one of her tentacles, I cast Pain.

It reached for her, but instead of a bolt, I sent a steady current of mana into it. It reached her a moment before her tentacle reached Skyler; the muscles of her face contorted but it didn’t stop her from swatting him from the sky.

He flew toward open space.

I let Advanced Heal race after him with no guarantee it would reach him.

Our bashers charged in. All of them.

Somehow Mel had found the clarity of mind as she tortured him in her tentacles’ grasp to control his skeletons. They came at full charge at her rear.

Pain seemed to annoy her more than it hurt. Three of her tentacles stormed toward me.

Instead of fighting them off, I quickly repaired my armor and fed it enough mana for the bone to grow. Instead of Titan’s Bone Defense, I completely covered my entire body in a thick layer of bone and coated it in a layer of Neutral energy. Her tentacles grabbed me. As they did, I released Pain.

Let her think I was subdued.

If Skyler had survived his fall, I had given him all the healing he needed to recover unless he had a bad piercing wound. If that was the case, there was nothing I could do, so I released Advanced Healing as well.

I felt the electric claws of her Dark Magic like a static charge around me. It was crawling about on the surface of my armor, trying to get in. I sent a constant stream of magic to repair it as well as continued to fuel the magic shell protecting me. It was costing over 4,000 mana per second. Whatever spell she was using to cause us pain was incredibly powerful.

Invisibility I left running a little while longer. She wouldn’t be able to notice it as she would have Pain.

She tied me up with one of her tentacles as she had the others and let me dangle behind her as she fought off our bashers.

With Mana Sight, I was able to see everything, even through the layer of Neutral energy shielding me. The Succubi’s mana was incredibly dense, so she shone like a black diamond on a white background.

Russ led the charge, but against a creature 10 feet in the air, there was little they could do. The remaining Sledge Bros, George and Perry, both rammed lopping swings into the Dark Magic slug at the Lady’s feet. The energy simply gave way at their swings, then returned as their hammers passed through it.

A tentacle floated above them. It started to glow with power. Dark Lightning shot into Russ, rushing through him, then jumped from him to the next basher in line. All of them fell to the ground. Everyone except Russ. He stood below her, looking up with a grimace on his face. He knew he couldn’t reach her, but, holding his hammer tight, he dared her to attack again.

A tentacle slashed from the side, aimed right for him.

He spun. His hammer glowed with purple light, shrouded in energy. He leveled it against the Succubus’s attack. Something like the clamor of a monstrous gong sounded.

The tentacle snapped where his hammer had struck it. He looked up, sneering.

This time she looked at him curiously before giving him a smirk.

Where the tentacle had once been, it immediately regrew and lunged at him like a spear. An extreme concentration of Dark Magic covered its point and pierced him right through the gut.

Aeris screamed.

Mel’s platoon of skeletons reached the bridge and proceeded to hunch over and let those behind them climb on their backs. Those at the base soon came in contact with the Dark Magic holding Lady Contessa up. It proceeded to suck the life right out of them.

Even as they fell over lifeless, Mel didn’t stop. His Skeleton Captain had waited at the rear and now ran toward the falling platform of skeleton bodies at a full sprint. He jumped to the back of the closest skeleton, landing on one leg. Using his momentum, he jumped to the highest point of the skeleton pile and leaped high in the air.

A tentacle was there to meet him, but Mel was ready. His Captain threw his sword, right at the side of her face.

She moved as he did, dodging the sword at point blank range. A tentacle cut the Skeleton Captain in two right below the ribs.

I wished with all of my being that Aeris had fled at that moment.

The battle had only started moments ago. Lady Contessa was far too strong. Her mana pool seemed endless. We’d never stood a chance facing her head on. How many of us were left alive?

A downpour of highly condensed Wind Slashes rained down on the Succubus’s head.

As I feared, she shielded herself against them by placing my friends between them. Three of them tore into us before Aeris could divert the others. Who had been hit?

Looking at my angle, distance and how I moved at an unsteady pace, I didn’t have a clean shot. I would only get one shot.

“All alone,” Lady Contessa sang. “Come down, wind fairy. If you obey I will make your death pleasant.”

The four remaining tentacles launched toward Aeris, who took off like a dart. Flinging Wind Slashes at the tentacles themselves, she severed the first two she hit, but then they came at her with a higher concentration of mana and became impregnable.

As powerful as the Succubus was, she couldn’t match Aeris’s speed, and a deadly game of cat and mouse commenced.

Every time they got close, Aeris changed direction or picked up speed.

I felt the increase in power before it flooded into the tentacles chasing Aeris. A moment later, they retreated from her and stood up in the air like four wicked antennas. Black lightning splattered the ceiling of the entire room, catching Aeris in its net.

I saw her cast Gust to try to shield herself from it, but it wasn’t enough. She started to fall like a leaf that wasn’t able to stand in the winds of fall.

A tentacle found her, stopping her from hitting the floor.

Another tentacle battered a few bashers from above that had gotten back to their feet.

Bringing her hands together, Lady Contessa clapped a final time. Rocking her head to either side, she beamed in delight.

“That’s more like it,” she said with a sigh.

I heard the other casters she had in her grasp as they screamed behind gritted teeth. Audrey, Clarissa, and Trevon were close together just as they had been before getting caught. I could see as their heads jerked from side to side and fought the pain. Olivia was still squirming, trying to get loose. Mel and Zorik seemed to be less affected, but they were still mostly indisposed.

Aeris wasn’t spared the torture even after she had just been knocked unconscious. Her body spasmed in the tentacle’s clutches.

I couldn’t wait any longer. The tentacle around my own shoulders and waist had pinned my arms to my sides. But my hand was loose enough to grab the tentacle in a vice grip.

“Lady Contessa,” I said with the poise only spite could grant in such a situation.

“Yes?” she said, surprised.

I started to move. Her tentacle swung me around and held me directly before her. I was about six feet away. Checking my mana, I saw I had 167,535 of 190,399 MP.

As I started to reply, I saw the Skeleton General’s skull that was now my helm had been furnished with a jaw after I had granted it more mana. As I spoke, the skull mouthed my words. “You were right. We needed persuading. Please. No more pain. Make our end… enjoyable.”

She twisted her head to the side like a confused cat. “Enjoyable you say, but you speak as if you feel no pain at all.”

Twisting her head to the other side, she pulled me in to examine me closer. “You are the Light Mage. I am sure of it. So how are you wrapped in a cord of Dark Magic and still alive… This armor of yours must be the key. Please come out so I don’t have to pry it off of you.”

“Do you promise there will be no more pain?” I asked.

She giggled. “Oh, dear boy. All your pain will be forgotten.”

Every part of me screamed that this was a bad idea as I reduced the flow of mana to my armor and my helmet started to revert to its original form. The skeleton jaw receded and the bone covering its eye sockets was drawn back.

She bowed her head forward and looked up at me with her large adorable eyes, as if to say, “See, wasn’t that easy?”

“You’re beautiful,” I said in all sincerity.

She shared a sadistic grin.

Bone appendages erupted from my back. Ten of them spread wide like dragon’s wings before thrusting toward her with razor-sharp points. Eight of them I aimed at her legs and arms.

She released my friends in the air where she held them, and they began to fall.

As her tentacle loosened to release me, I held it tight and refused to let it go. Without the Dark Magic’s influence wrapped around me, I let Light Magic flow into the bone limbs that stretched out to skewer her.

Her free tentacles frantically moved to knock my appendages to the side before they could reach her.

The four directed at her feet struck first, then, a fraction of a second later, four more attacked her arms.

Her eyes stared into me as she fumed.

The speed of her tentacles this close to her body was incredible. Four consecutive strikes severed my lower appendages. Four more did the same to those aiming for her arms.

One of my two remaining appendages struck at her face.

She watched it come.

Her final free tentacle thrashed it to the side.

Arrogant eyes burned into me as she ducked forward to evade my last attack.

My appendage missed entirely.

She began to tremble. Astonishment struck her as she looked down. She grabbed at the bone spear that was lodged in her belly.

It was the same bone spear that had erupted from my chest when I faced Xaphan. I had launched it at the same time I cast the appendage aimed for the back of her head. Instead of Light Magic, it had been cloaked in the Neutral energy of Alpha Bolt. My deception had worked.

I knew a wound to the gut wouldn’t kill her, so without a moment of hesitation, I propelled all the Light Magic I could muster into the bone shaft and into her gut.

Facing such a creature as Lady Contessa, it was impossible for us to win. She had walked into the room and subdued us in seconds. Even if she stood still on the bridge and let us attack her with our most devastating spells until our mana was spent, it was still unlikely we would have won. Her knowledge of magic and overwhelming power was just too much for us. The only thing I could think of that could possibly defeat her was magic itself. Only one concern remained. Did I possess enough mana to finish the job?

The moment my Light Magic spilled into her, her head jerked back. Her tentacles whipped around, completely out of control. One found the shaft of my spear and threatened to rip through its Neutral energy coating.

Not bothering to repair my damaged appendages protruding out of my back, I struck with them, burying them in her chest, back and neck. Light Magic flooded into them and soon she started to convulse.

The pressure around my eyes built as Force Learn intensified.

The backlash as Light and Dark Magic met only grew stronger. In a few seconds, I had pumped over 100,000 MP inside her. A new fear arose. She was going to explode.

The others were scattered on the bridge beneath us. If they weren’t dead yet, there was a big possibility that they would die in the blast.

I released the tentacle that had had me in its grasp, my appendages holding me in place. I let bone spring out from my hands toward the bridge beneath me like it was an ever-growing extension.

The bone met the edge of the bridge and reached down to its base like a giant hand latching on. With the hold secure, there was no time to manage anything fancy. Bone swelled up from one side and spread out like a deformed shell to cover anything on the bridge and immediate area.

Time was up.

I released Forced Learn and was dragged into the Succubus’s form. My guess had been correct. She only possessed the Dark school of magic.

At her center, I saw a Dark Magic Orb. Unlike the Dark Elf, this one had substance. The pressure it held was many times anything I had seen except for the vampire and Xaphan himself. The knowledge of her, and what a Succubus was, became mine and I took it.

As I returned to myself, the only popup I was able to see was one that read as followed:

You have stolen the Essence of the Succubi.

I met the blast by throwing up my arm to shield my face and cast Titan’s Bone Defense. Watching through Mana Sight, I saw the destruction as it came, but even watching with five times my normal perception I was unsure if my armor had been enhanced in time.

It struck me, and I flew. Before I hit the ground, everything went dark.

Chapter 27 – Aftermath

My first breath after waking was troubled and miserable. Without thinking, I cast Heal.

“Elorion!” a distant voice called.

I tried to get up, but nothing seemed to work.

“How can he possibly be alive?” a different voice said with a cough.

“Because he’s as hardheaded as I am,” the first voice rebuked. It was Olivia.

Trying to open my eyes, I found it impossible. I forced Advanced Healing Magic to permeate the area when I felt the tissue around my eyes start to burn. It wasn’t the burn of flames, but of red-hot metal searing into the skin. Despite the pain, I channeled as much mana to the area as possible. I wasn’t on fire. My eyes were regrowing.

As my sight returned I knew what I was going to see before I saw it. Titan’s Bone Defense hadn’t been in time. My torso was mostly in one piece with my bone plate mail in ruins on the floor beneath me, but my arms and legs with a thinner coverage of bone had been blown to ribbons in the explosion. I had probably only survived because I had raised my arm to shield my face.

I didn’t know how long I had been out, but my HP was down to 4,628/41891 even after I had already healed myself. It looked like growing back limbs and bodily organs were going to take a lot more mana than normal.

Seeing that my mana was at 16,009/190,393, I must have only been out for a few minutes. I was unsure how much mana I would need, so I would withhold judgment on whether that was a blessing or a curse.

There was no use delaying. Better just get it all over with as soon as possible.

I focused Healing Magic into my arms and legs. The agony that followed caused me to pass out momentarily, but I regained consciousness while the job was still underway.

My arm that had shielded my face was entirely gone up to the shoulder. For every inch it regrew, it seemed I had to purchase my healing with another 10 seconds of searing pain. My left arm that had been hanging at my side had been severed at the elbow. My legs were in slightly better shape. On my left leg, it was only my foot that needed regrowing. My right leg was missing entirely just below the knee. My chest and gut region may have been charred in places by Dark Magic but healed almost instantly. My undergarments were in tatters but still covered my shame.

After a few minutes of unbelievable pain, I looked up at a dozen people looking down at me. Russ reached out his hand.

His smile was real but laced with dread.

Taking it, I let him heave me up as my Buffs were activated and Skeletal Armor covered me in its familiar embrace.

My first words were the only ones appropriate. “Where can I help?”

The crowd split as Olivia pointed to the bridge. Looking around I saw I had been blown clear to the wall. Thankfully I hadn’t fallen into the chasm to the rock below.

“Russ. Are you hurt?” I asked hastily when I remembered he had been stabbed right through the chest.

“I’m fine. It only took a quarter of my HP,” he replied with a reassuring nod.

I cast a blanket of Healing Magic above the group as I hurried past them toward the others.

Trevon’s broken arm was a quick fix. So were Perry’s cracked ribs. I turned from them with a quick Lesser Heal to the more serious injuries.

Audrey looked terrible with a fractured collarbone and a broken nose, but she was also easy enough to heal. Three of the others were in worse condition.

The bone shelter I had hurriedly erected has been destroyed in the blast, but the far end of it had fragmented into shrapnel and peppered Clarissa, Mel, and Zorik.

Taking a knee at Clarissa’s side, I yelled at Audrey to join us and hold her friend's hand.

“This is going to hurt,” I told Clarissa. Her eyes were hardly able to focus, so I looked at Audrey in turn.

She nodded that she understood.

A bone in the shape of a palm-sized shark tooth was lodged in her shoulder. As I grabbed it I sent a flow of Healing Magic into her through my hand that was braced against her chest. I also let healing flow into the bone itself as I removed it slowly for fear of arteries and other such things that might complicate things that were beyond my understanding.

She grabbed my hand that pulled at the bone fragment as she screamed.

I pinned one arm down and Audrey did the other. As the fragment slipped from her shoulder, a long claw-like fragment appeared at its end that looked to have gone right through her and out her back. The healing was quick after that.

With the healing done, I sat her down quickly in Audrey’s lap and hurried to Mel. Zorik was probably in worse shape but I couldn’t heal him, because of his Dark Alignment. It was possible that Mel could.

His surgery was similar to Clarissa’s but there were three bone shards to remove. Russ didn’t wait for me to ask. He bent down and held one of Mel’s arms. Steve, our assassin, did the same with the other.

Instead of screaming, Mel howled with something that resembled laughter. After the first shard was removed and he had a moment to breathe, he looked at me with a whimsical grin. He was delirious.

I went straight to the next shard and removed it, keeping my pace steady. The last one came out clean, finishing the job.

“Mel!” I shouted, trying to get his attention as the skin finished closing around his thigh.

His eyes rolled around in head for a moment before Russ smacked him firmly on the cheek. He sat up with a jerk, shaking his head.

“We made it?!” he asked, looking at me like he had seen a ghost.

“Yes. And I need your help,” I demanded.

I picked him up as much as helped him to his feet and placed him next to where Zorik lay. A large shard was jabbed into the side of the Imp’s neck.

I walked Mel through the healing of our monster friend. He used his magic in a similar manner I did when healing when he revived and healed his skeletons. The process went smoothly.

When the shard was removed and Zorik regained consciousness, I fell back to my rear and finally allowed myself a moment to relax.

Zorik looked up at Mel in wonder that he had been able to heal him and had been willing to.

After a few deep breaths, I saw several relieved faces looking down at us from those gathered around. When I didn’t see Aeris, I shot to my feet. I searched everyone’s faces one more time, just to be sure.

“Where’s Aeris?” I asked once. When I was met with nothing but the shaking of heads I asked again. This time I commanded them to answer.

“She fell,” Olivia said, choking back a sob.

With a look at my mana, I saw I now had just over 25k. I cleared everyone from the edge of the bridge with a wave of my hand and jumped.

Titan’s Bone Defense greedily enhanced my armor as I fell. With Mana Sight amped up to full power, I saw two bodies below. One was leaning over the other. Skyler had survived.

He was examining Aeris. I wasn’t sure she was alive.

I crushed the jagged rock underfoot as I landed with a solid thud just a few meters from them. I raced over.

Skyler turned at my approach. He must have seen the look on my face, for he scrambled back to get out of the way.

I took a knee at Aeris’s side, Healing Magic leaping into her at the touch of my hand.

She didn’t move.

Her lifeblood had spilled out on the stone beneath her, which was immediately apparent through Canine’s Sense of Smell.

My gut wrenched as I realized I was too late.

“No,” I said with a whimper.

Shaking my head, I just couldn’t believe it.

What could I do? If Healing Magic didn’t work…

In desperation I let Force Learn build, then cast it the moment it was ready. My senses were catapulted into what was left of her dying form.

The silvery glow of her Wind Magic had almost fully disappeared. It had mixed with the Light Magic in her blood, which had bled out from the wounds in her back. I wanted to stay here, in this moment with her forever, but there was almost nothing left.

In this state, with no body and no hands to reach out and hold her. Still, I had managed to interact with the Dark Elf’s mana before.

I tried, but there was no orb to discover. She was fading further, I could tell. How that was possible, I didn’t understand. I thought there was no passage of time when I was in this state.

An orb of power. Humans did not possess them, for our power was in our blood, but I had seen an orb, more than once, hold a monster together and give it its form.

Since there was nothing to grab hold of, I poured myself into her. To my astonishment, an orb of Light Magic started to form in her center. The mana that was left was drawn to it like a magnet until some of the energy that had left her body started to return.

There was only a fraction of it that I was able to recover, but when all of it had gathered together, I felt healing energy flow through my hand. It was the first time I had been able to feel my body when my consciousness was in this state. It would have to remain a mystery for now for I had begun to rebuild the boundaries that held her mana in place. When I was finished, the fog of mana inside her started to flow.

As I returned to my body, I found I held Aeris in my arms with my lips against hers. My tears wetted her face.

When her mouth pushed firmer against my own, I gasped.

She looked up at me with a woozy grin. Aeris was alive.

“I am so tired,” she muttered, not bothering to move from my grasp.

“You almost died,” I said pointedly.

“That explains it. Why is my face all wet?”

I opened my mouth to answer then closed it, trying to think where best to start.

She snorted in weak laughter.

“I’m kidding,” she said.

I could help but to roll my eyes. A chuckle escaped.

“I feel different,” she said, bringing her hand to her chest.

With a nod I admitted it. “I did something.”

“Oh?” she said, shaking her head. “You did something? You did a lot of somethings. Saved my life. Drenched my face with tears. Made out with me while I was unconscious…”

“I also put an Orb of Light Magic inside you.”

“Stop talking,” she said, putting her finger to my mouth.

Turning to Skyler, she said, “Do you mind giving us a minute? I’ll fly everyone out of this pit in a moment.”

Skyler froze like a deer in headlights. After a moment of not answering, he turned and walked away.

Chapter 28 – Preparation

I removed all of my buffs and let Skeleton Armor revert to its most basic form. Aeris held me around the waist as I held her in my arms. She launched us up from the bottom of the chasm. As we neared the bridge we slowed, and she set us both down next to Skyler. He was being examined by Audrey as she gave him a tongue lashing.

Olivia rushed toward us and pulled Aeris into a hug.

“I can’t believe it. Somehow, we’re alive!” she said like a giddy school girl.

Travis appeared before me wide-eyed, holding up a black sphere the size of a melon. I knew what it was immediately.

“It’s another orb!” he said excitedly, handing it to me.

He was right. It was the Dark Magic Orb that had been at the heart of Lady Contessa.

Why she had had an orb I didn’t exactly know. I had expected her life force to be in her blood like the Dark Elf, but I had been wrong. Perhaps it was the difference between a monster race and one of the three prime races Zorik had mentioned: human, dwarf, and elf. Maybe it was because she was a pure-blooded succubus.

I inventoried the orb and offered him thanks.

Heavy steps came at us from the entrance of the room, stopping our celebration before it got started.

“I don’t believe my eyes.” Ujurak, the pale dwarf stood staring at us with his mouth hanging open. He dragged what looked like a dried-out mummy in one hand, which I suspected was what was left of the dark elf.

Immediately, I cast Creature Indicator.

Ujurak

Dwarf

Level: 1,114

Health Points: 289,700

Mana Points: 490

Strength: 2,023

Dexterity: 349

Constitution: 2,897

Intelligence: 98

Wisdom: 203

He only came up to my chest, but his build was so wide that two adult men could sit on either shoulder. His blue plate mail and grey cloak looked menacing enough, but the befuddled way he looked at us eased the tension slightly. Still, he had an insane amount of HP and Strength.

“She’s dead!” Skyler threatened, as he gently removed Audrey’s hand from his arm and marched toward him.

Our bashers started to form up without a word as they left the huddle and followed him.

“Wait!” I shouted.

Skyler raised his hand high and gave a thumbs up to indicate he heard me. He had stopped before reaching the end of the bridge.

I hurried forward and squeezed through the crowd. Sensing Aeris directly above me, I knew we had a chance to end this before a fight even started.

I glanced and saw that I was now level 593. I had gained an incredible 23 levels for defeating the Succubus while being grouped with 19 other people. It was 7 more than when we had defeated the Hell Hound. We had received bonus experience because the Hell Hound had been 1,000 levels higher than us. Not even taking into consideration how many levels I had received since then, it was clear Lady Contessa had been much higher and was easily the strongest creature we had ever faced.

My armor had been at its most basic, so I was currently without a helm.

I walked directly toward the bewildered dwarf and let him see me as In the Buff filled my torso and limbs with size and strength, then Titan’s Bone Defense assembled itself before his eyes. As the horns of my Skeleton King’s Helmet reached their peak, Aeris took her place on my head.

When I was as close as I dared to stand, about two meters away, I lowered my head and looked him directly in the eye.

“Lady Contessa is dead,” I promised him.

There was another moment where he didn’t move, then all of a sudden his face lit up with a grin from ear to ear. He burst out in a howl of laughter. Before I knew it, he was spinning in a circle and stomping as he went. He began swirling the mummy around, then thought better of it and deposited it in his inventory before continuing to dance.

He ignored us in his enthusiastic mirth.

Aeris gave a full belly laugh as I started backing away from the prancing dwarf.

“What are we going to do with him?” she asked.

I just shook my head.

***

Everyone took some time to take in all that had happened and check their stats.

I pumped my Wisdom to 2,707 and my Mana Per Minute jumped up to 5,414, not including the 250 from my Channeler’s Orb.

Most of us congregated on the other side of the bridge and kept an eye on the dwarf as we let him be. His celebration went on for over 15 minutes.

It was time to finally look at all my popups.

Resurrection

By placing a concentration of Light Magic into a suitable host, you can pull them back to the world of the living when they are on the brink of death.

The number of Blue Magic spells I received from Lady Contessa were far less than it would have been if she had been talented with Blue Magic. Still, there was nothing to complain about.

Succubi’s Caress

Through physical touch, you are able to drain the mana from a creature.

This one by itself might end up being extremely powerful. I doubted I would have any problems applying this through one of my bone appendages. After jabbing a creature with the stinger at its end, I could then suck the mana from them as I continued to fight. At least, I planned on testing it.

Seduce

This grants you an aura that triggers the release of oxytocin. Your target will feel drawn to you and have a sudden desire to have your affection.

It didn’t surprise me, but this was one I wished I could throw back.

Lesser Devour

By consuming a creature recently deceased, you are able to leech some of the power they had in life. As its level increases, Devour will increase in the amount of power it can leech.

The very thought of devouring the monsters that I killed was disgusting, but it was likely that the spell would work like Vampire’s Might and I didn’t really have to eat what I defeated. I guessed this was what made succubi so powerful. It gave me an idea.

“Heads up everyone!” I said, raising my voice. “I’m going to try casting Blood Drain even though there doesn’t seem to be anything left.”

Walking to the middle of the bridge, I held up my hand and offered the spell an excessive 5,000 MP. I cast it just overhead.

Dark Magic tentacles burst from the heart of the spell and intruded on everyone standing there and everything in the room, drinking up even the smallest droplets of blood. Before it was done the spell had gathered gallons of what was left of the Succubus in a liquid orb. The blood poured into me through my hand. My power surged.

+10,475 MP

+145 Int

+225 Wis

Closing my eyes, I smiled to myself. Lady Contessa had been just the kind of monster I had hoped for. I didn’t receive unnecessary stats, only the kind that would help me with my character build. My MP jumped to over 226k and my Mana Per Minute was close to 6,000!

Now to try Devour.

With my hand still raised in the air, I cast it with the same amount of mana. I expected it to not be as powerful as Blood Drain because it was the first time I was using it.

Almost immediately I was left scrambling in my confusion. Had I cast Blood Drain a second time? The way the spell reached out with dark threads of energy was identical, but when the sphere started to fill above my head, it was made up of a dark substance, not blood. As it filled me, the power I felt was just as real.

+2,000 MP

+7 Str

+8 Dex

Even though it had seemed to gather just as much substance from the walls of the Bridge, it seemed either its low level or the fact I had already cast Blood Drain had lessened the stats I could leech with it. It was also interesting that I had received Strength and Dexterity with Lesser Devour when I hadn’t with Blood Drain. I would have to test it later. Now it was time to celebrate!

***

The dwarf happily let us lock him between two lesser doors in the Inner Chamber. We spent 2,000 DP on two of the stone variety. When we offered him something to eat he thanked us, but said he had his own.

The group started to gather about an hour later and filtered into the Master Chamber. Everyone spread out so that they had a good view of the pedestal and the new image on the mural above us. Lady Contessa’s defeat was depicted with a bone spear piercing her gut under our images encircling the dome.

Murmurs echoed through the group.

I took out the Dark Orb, and Khun’s ghostly red face appeared above the pedestal.

“Welcome back, Master. It is a pleasure to see that you’re still alive,” he said, sounding genuine while all the time not taking his eyes off the orb I held in my hand.

“Thank you, Khun. We have something for you,” I said, approaching the pedestal.

“That looks like a fine upgrade.” He nodded as he spoke.

“Do I need to place the new orb first, or can I remove the current one and put this in its place?”

“It is better to place it upon the podium first, so I have access to both, but if you remove the Fire Orb, it will be a few days before I will lose the ability to function.”

I looked to Zorik, who I had spoken with beforehand, and offered him a grin of thanks. He had told me that Dungeons were jealous by nature and even though they couldn’t act against your orders, he had seen Khun arguing with Xenos in the past. I had at least been able to confirm that Khun wasn’t lying to us.

Taking the Fire Orb from the middle socket, I replaced it with the larger Dark Orb. Dark energy shot down the veins of lightning at the podium’s base. Seconds later, the wall to the right of the arched doorway thundered.

Now inscribed in the otherwise smooth segment of wall was the name of our Dungeon followed by 50,000/50,000 Dungeon Points.

Cheers rose up as we saw the big jump up from 20,000.

“Russ,” I called, offering him the Fire Orb as he approached.

He looked at me, confused.

“I bet there is a forge around here somewhere that needs to be powered,” I said with a wink.

“Yes!” he replied, pounding his fist into his chest. He stomped off with a big grin on his face.

“What now?” Aeris asked from her perch.

Before I could answer, Skyler’s voice blared. “I’m hungry!”

A chorus of laughs sounded in response.

“Master,” Zorik said, leaning toward me to get his voice to rise above the mirth.

“Yes, Zorik?” I replied.

“We only have three, maybe four weeks of food if we ration what we have.”

Heaving a deep sigh, I thanked him again.

“It seems our first form of business is going to be finding a consistent food supply,” I said to Aeris. Perhaps there’s a way to make our own ranch dressing? It was the number one thing missing from the magic bag the Head Mistress’s Imp had supplied us.

Khun took my words as if I was speaking to him and replied, “That, I could help you with, sir.”

Holding my hand up, I stopped him from going further and said, “Thank you, but first I must take your first piece of advice and explore the Living District. We will discuss it soon.”

Everyone left in their own time to enjoy the first proper meal they had had in a few days. I stayed, taking the first watch of the dungeon map as everyone else ate. Aeris wouldn’t leave my side until I asked her to find someone that had finished eating to take our place. We snacked on bacon jerky. Later, I would set a constant watch, where everyone would take their turn keeping an eye on the map. For now, I would let everyone relax and recover. They had earned a much-needed break.

***

The dwarf snored as he leaned back against the wall in the corner of the room we had locked him in. There was a stone partition running parallel to the wall, so he was boxed in except for the direction we approached from. His head was back, his mouth drooped open and he sounded like a humpback whale trying to blow its nose. The dwarf still wore his blue plate mail, but he had no weapons visible and his hands were folded together, resting comfortably on his stomach.

“Ujurak!” I said with a raised voice, standing a foot away from where he sat. My advisers stood behind me, ready to start the interrogation.

With a snort, the dwarf’s head rocked back and forth before settling to one side. He took a deep breath, that turned into a yawn.

“Ey,” he said, groggily. His eyes stretched open. “Have you decided where you are going to flee to next?”

Looking to Aeris who stood at my side, I raised a brow. This was not how I thought this would begin.

“Why would we run?” I asked.

“Ha! Look.” He sighed, leaning forward. “Lady Contessa was scary, I’ll give you that, but Mistress Nava is going to send her Captain after you next if we don’t return in a few days. Waldemar is far more powerful. You don’t want to have to deal with a Minotaur of a war-bull clan. A war-bull is a paid mercenary, not a slave.”

“How long do we have?”

He looked me in the eye and shook his head in contempt.

“Maybe a week or two. Maybe more. It might be difficult for them to find us if none of the wargs escaped.”

“Does Waldemar have an army?”

“Yes. About eighty strong.”

“Do they use magic?”

“No, boy.” He chuckled. “Minotaurs throw things.”

“We’ll be ready,” I swore, trying to seem more confident than I felt. “Are there any other dangers we can expect?”

He nodded. His eyes never left my own before he said, “Yaatiesh was the son of a noble family. Don’t ask me how dark elf politics work or why he would swear himself to that crazy succubus. But he was here on his own accord. If Mistress Nava doesn’t get to you first, then the dark elves will. If they ever find out what happened to him that is.”

I heard a murmur rise up from behind me. Someone leaned forward and whispered in my ear. It was Russ.

“Maybe we can ally with the dwarves,” was all that he said.

Ujurak suddenly hocked up a big loogy and spat. It landed an inch from my foot.

“Dwarves don’t ally or go friending no spoiled humans!” he insisted.

Note to self. Dwarves have good hearing. His reaction surprised me. Especially after we had saved him from slavery, whether it was our intention or not. The only other dwarf I had met was the merchant, so I didn’t know what way to approach this problem. Remembering the other dwarf gave me an idea.

“What about trade?” I asked.

As quickly as he had turned on us, his scowl turned to a grin.

“Well. If you aren’t looking for no handouts, then perhaps we can do business,” he replied.

“That was easy,” Olivia huffed.

He inclined his head to the side to see past me and said, “Gold talks, missy. Dwarves always respond well to turning a profit.”

“I also hear they like soft sheets,” I replied, remembering the merchant dwarf.

His eyes lit up and he turned back to me. “That they do, my boy!” With a throaty chuckle, he continued, “So what kind of trade are we talking about here?”

“One moment,” I said, before turning around and facing the others.

They all looked at me full of concern, which was appropriate given that we had just learned there was another enemy that would soon be hunting for us. A stronger one.

“Olivia. Can you give the others the news please?” I said.

She gave me a nod.

I continued, “It looks like our break ends here. We need to start to prepare. Meet in the Master’s Chamber in one hour. Those who are interested can stay as we finish with Ujurak.”

“I’ll stay,” Russ said immediately. No doubt wanting to talk to the dwarf about forging. He had talked to many of the dwarves who had still been building our forge when we had fled from the Head Mistress’s Dungeon. Perhaps I should let him lead the conversation.

Besides Aeris and Russ, the others left us here, hurrying off to inform the others and begin planning. Today, we had had a great victory, but with the new revelation about Mistress Nava’s Captain and the Dark Elves, I got the feeling our fighting had only begun.

“Um. One last thing.”

Turning, I saw Mel had stopped at the door.

“Yeah?” I asked.

He replied in all seriousness. “Can I have the dark elf’s skull?”

Chapter 29 – Curiosity

Later that night, I found myself restless and sleep would not come. There was no doubt that I was still wound up from almost dying numerous times in the last couple of days. I had possibly healed myself too recently to be exhausted enough as well, but that was not all. There was another thing that kept nagging at me in the back of my mind. I was trying to put the others first, but this was an itch that just would not go away. Finally, I had given up.

Mel was on watch when I entered the Master’s Chamber. He didn’t seem surprised to see me. At the mention that there was something I had to test and that I was heading to the rooms of the Outer Perimeter, he confirmed there weren’t any creatures in the Dungeon, so I shouldn’t be interrupted. I nodded my thanks.

I made my way through the Inner Perimeter and into the Bridge. Exiting into the Outer Perimeter, I kept going for a number of rooms until I was a good distance away, so hopefully, no one would feel what I was about to do.

I brought up my Shapeshifting menu and found the form that just wouldn’t leave my mind: Primordial Cat. It took an extreme amount of mana and would drain me in approximately 10 seconds. Still, if I could find a way to level up this form to a more manageable mana cost, it might be the kind of thing that could give us a chance against Mistress Nava’s Captain. Maybe even Mistress Nava herself.

With full mana, and without any immediate danger, now was the perfect time to test it. If things didn’t get too out of hand, I could cast it, let it drain my mana, meditate, then do it all over again.

Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths as I tried to calm my nerves. Not exactly sure where to direct my mana, I gave up trying to anticipate how the spell would work and cast Shapeshifting, Primordial Cat Form.

I felt the mana inside me start to push against the shell of my skin. Then the power inside me began to churn faster and faster until I started to heat up. It didn’t burn, but I could feel the temperature of my skin skyrocketing.

Looking down at my empty hands, the pink of my skin hardened into a crust-like substance until it was black as coal. I clenched them into fists and felt strength welling up inside me. Then, I started to grow.

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