Chapter 69

Back in the tent, exasperated Lucifer read his journal. When he quickly did the math, he became pale as death; the three idiots were led by a level-up addict with a fire elemental at his disposal, running around and setting everything on fire.

The passive flow of experience was amazing, but it meant only one thing… He had made a terrible, terrible mistake!

"Yeah, this will not end well… It never ends with the idiot, does it?" He sighed and wondered what he should do next.

"No," an unexpected answer came.

"Aaaa!" "Aaaa!" Lucifer's bodies loudly yelped.

He frantically looked around and saw Kretin still sleeping on the ground, rolling over and snoring.

"Calm yourself. We don't have much time. It's me, You. Really… What happened to you? You were never so stupid," You berated Lucifer.

"That's a lot of 'you'…" Lucifer was… perplexed. This came out of nowhere...

"… Haaah," You sighed, regretting he ever agreed to this, "does not matter. No time. Find Lich Hen'Tai. Remember, he owes you."

"Who now?"

"Hen'Tai! Stop being moron! And find him!"

"Fine, fine… anything else, strange voice in my head?" Lucifer thought it had finally happened. He went mad!

"Try to recall your memories! Countless years are still locked in your mind!"

"How?"

"..."

"You there?"

"..."

"Hey!"

"..."

"O… Oooookay. This just happened..." Lucifer muttered.

He still did not understand how it worked… Why was he named so stupidly? You? Whoever heard of such a name? Even Stone's name was better… Not by much though… Why didn't 'You' show up on his status screen? Why did he only appear when it was convenient? He wondered what they should do next and it said… What was happening here?

Lucifer shrugged, deciding to leave it. The answer would emerge sooner or later. No… not emerge… With Stone, they would probably drop out of the blue sky. Landing right on his lap, knowing his luck.

"Feels good to have your own body… Bodies," Lucifer grinned. Though the last part did not work out…

He could finally stand up and move fairly smoothly with both bodies. Not proficiently, he tripped over and staggered more times than his ego would allow him to acknowledge.

Still, it was enough to kick Kretin in the nuts to wake him up.

The goblin sprang up like a jack-in-the-box, hissing in pain, "boss?"

"Yes." "Now hurry." "And bring me to those four crazies!" "Before they burn down the camp!"

"Yes, boss," he answered without questioning and caught the staggering Lucifer's bodies.

☁☁☁☁☁☁

Stone and his meaty minions hid in one of the unoccupied tents.

Stone, strapped to Moron's back and wrapped in the olive-green leather like a baby, tagged the goblins, who yelled at each other in the middle of the camp.

[You have tagged 51 beings. Challenge accepted!]

"Firey, can you take them all at once?"

"Master, maybe… but it will hurt me…" Gorash reluctantly replied. He sensed the refined mana coursing through Stone's body. He loved [Flux]... And the one with diluted refined mana was the tastiest meal he had ever had… However a raw refined mana?

Stone patiently waited for the elemental to continue.

"Fine! If you carefully hand me some refined mana it should be enough…"

"Good! I like useful minions, Firey!" Stone sent him as much as he could. At once.

"I said carefully! AUCH!" The spark near him flashed and grew.

Gorash cast the [Purple-Flame Tornado of Death] spell. It was three times bigger than before and much more powerful.

Stone remembered he had a nice spell to protect himself. The blueish [Mana Shield] covered him, making him virtually invulnerable against second-tier damage.

The heat wave backlashed on his shield but harmlessly broke part on his shield.

[Your spell Mana Shield gained a level 2 times]

"Master, add all of your heat to it! And keep it flowing!"

Gorash had trouble controlling the firenado. The goblins noticed and shrieked, alarming the others.

Stone sent everything directly to the spell, his soul tethered with anticipation. He wanted to see what would happen.

Gorash decided that the spell was too difficult to control and the sheer power behind the spell strained his will. So he changed the spell in mid-cast through his [Pyromaniac] trait to a fiery ball of pure death; [Fiery Fireball].

Normally, he would not be able to cast this spell, however, the amount of heat and refined mana bestowed by Stone was just enough.

The fire elemental maniacally chuckled and aimed directly amidst the frightened goblin group.

The fireball flew with the speed of a bullet.

'BAAAAAAANG!'

An immense explosion vibrated through the camp and nearby shafts.

The flames cleared out, revealing the pure destruction behind.

The explosion wrecked the entire 'square', leaving only a smoking, charred-black crater. Everything in the targeted area had turned to ash.

[Challenge succeeded]

[Due to artificially raised limits, you do not gain any bonus experience]

[Stone gained 778.71%]

[Lucifer gained 86.52%]

[You have levelled up!]

[...]

Level ups popped up one after another, finally stopping at level 26.

The last time he had mass-levelled-up he almost passed out from pure bliss.

Now? He was like a monk. Calm. Meditating. It even automatically activated the [Meditation] technique.

He was the zenith. He was Stone. He just levelled up. He was amazing. Stone. Mantra. Stone was Mantra. Stone was the level-up. Oooooohhhmmm.

The best feeling soon receded as he stopped glowing and growing, leaving him… Full. He did not crave more of the good feeling. He was satisfied. For the moment at least.

Stone checked his lifeforce. It suffered a slight damage, a mere 100 points of near 300… as he was caught up by the fiery blast that cracked his shield.

He would regrow later. For now, he wanted to look for another prey before the strong goblins returned. Maybe he did not crave the good feelings, but he still wanted them.

And there was nobody to stop him.

"Minions! Carry me!" He ordered Idiot, Moron and Tafur, who were laying on the ground, quivering. They slowly got up and scurried for their master.

"Master, strong! Master, amazing! We serve!" They flattered Stone as they pushed each other, fighting about who was going to carry him.

"Enough! Tafur! You carry me!" Stone had had enough, he was getting tired of his minions getting more and more rowdy. He would have to lay down some rules... later. But now, the hunt would carry on.

They left the area and the smoking aftermath of the [Fiery Fireball] littered with goblins' leftovers on the sides were completely ignored by him, why would a stone care for the lives of… as he looked at the smouldering rocks, Stone felt his will shudder...he who hated the Rock-Breakers, became the Rock-Breaker.

It was only after this existential crisis that he noticed that two dwarves were waiting outside the camp, visibly seething as they looked at the destruction that Stone… no that Firey had caused.

"Oh, here you are Luci! I want my experience! More goblins!" He shouted with his still high-pitched voice. He completely forgot his little crisis.

"You fucking, miserable, piece of stupid mineral!" Lucifer's bodies yelled at the same time as they were unburied out of the smouldering rubble by Kretin, who was shivering too. One of his arms was completely burned off, only a black stump remaining.

"What happened?" Stone asked incredulously as he watched his teacher and friend o slowly get up with both of his bodies. They were messy, a little bit baked, but otherwise fine.

"You happened!" The male said. "Always you!" The female said after. "Fuck, that hurts!" He continued with both bodies. He was finally finding the handle on how to talk properly. He hoped that soon, he would be able to use both bodies doing separate actions simultaneously. Hopefully, there was an expertise for that. Really, anything.