Chapter 31

Master Therdreag

After Master Therdreag shot forward from the gates, he stopped 20 meters above ground with the help of his greaves engraved with a powerful glowing runic word, depicting air, force and hardening.

He glanced down and shook his head as the height made him uneasy. After a brief adaptation, he conjured a newly developed double-rune that could locate strong sources of mana. It was developed by him and several other powerful runemasters for the Army of the Abyss a few years ago.

The blueish double-rune by the usage of refined mana rippled and pulsed with thin spheres, each exactly 150 metres in diameter. They quickly spread. Every time they hit something that exuded mana above the set limit, the runes created an arrow that pointed in that direction. Several more-powerful monsters nearby felt the scan and ran or hid.

The runemaster flickered around in the air until he reached the massacred miners' camp. He examined the surroundings.

There were still quite a few mana crystals in the collapsed makeshift inn. He picked one and smelled it, after which he frowned in disgust, "smells like dwarven stomach," he murmured, but still pocketed every single crystal. He was not the one to waste resources.

Yet again, he rose to the air and conjured the Keen Double-rune.

After ten minutes of flying and scanning the mountains, the three arrows lead him to the three visibly blighted, naked dwarfs. He observed them from a distance. One of them was convulsing in pain and purple fire danced all over his scarred body.

The second dwarf, a female, was holding him and even though the purple fire seared her, the wound regenerated almost instantly.

The third and also the biggest dwarf was erratically cursing, madly laughing and crying... All of that simultaneously. He attempted to forcefully move them, but the purple fire always lashed out at him and he could not heal as well as the female.

Three bags laid next to them. One of them was torn open, with gold, gems, and mana crystals seeping from it.

As he saw enough, Therdreag landed before them faster than the human eye could see and said, "so here you are… And all three of you! What a stroke of luck!"

He gaped at the changed dwarfs with a surprise visible on his face, "eh? Breadbeard?! Eriv?! Dori?!"

How could he not recognize them?! After all, they were his family! The changes were extensive but he could recognise them anywhere.

"Ya wanna mae riches?! Dream on!" Breadbeard, now completely green, taller and bulkier than ever before, rapidly charged at him with a clear intention to kill.

The surprise did not hold for too long. Master Therdreag was a competent and experienced warrior. He scoffed at him as he pushed his emotions aside. He conjured a large-as-an-adult-dwarf rune with arcs of lightning cracking around it.

An immensely powerful lightning bolt emerged from the rune. It raced towards Breadbeard's body in a flash, halting him, but nothing much else happened.

Therdreag, a 5th-rank runemaster, frowned and conjured a new rune, but the enhanced miner was too fast. A fist landed under his ribs. He flew 15 meters back like a cannonball and created a nice, long furrow. The cannon god would be proud…

A few runes engraved on his clothes shined as he sent refined mana into them and created a fiery [Mana Shield].

Breadbeard leapt next to him and began to hit the shield with a barrage of fists.

The sheer power slowly pushed Therdreag back, but the shield held firm and he regained his bearings. The powerful blows landed on the enhanced body of the blighted miner, his blood, coloured like moss, sprayed all over the place.

Breadbeard staggered with every successful blow from his opponent. Therdreag put all of his strength on the last blow to the Breadbeard's ribs. A shock-wave of air appeared behind him and after a few moments of stillness, he flew 15 metres back.

Master Therdreag conjured another double-rune, this time a cold mist swirled around it. A big-ass ice spear slowly emerged from the rune and flew so fast even the blighted dwarf could not react in time.

It impaled Breadbeard's chest, pinning him to the ground. The wound froze and the cold slowly spread throughout Breadbeard's body.

"Cousin, what happened?" Master Therdreag asked with a grave tone.

Breadbeard coughs out a bloody piece of lung and his eyes regained clarity. "Thery, I got blighted in the mine. Eriv too as I forced her to eat crystals…" he said with teary eyes, "there was a third one, runemae'str apprentice. Dafur was his name. I think… I… Hehehe… I killed that boy and the miners in the camp too… oh Dornus, what have I done… Hahaha! Ya wanna mae rich's?… Thery, kill mea. Please," he cried while crazily laughing, his eyes flickering between insanity and sanity.

"Bready… Haaah," a tear dropped on the ground as Therdreag conjured another rune. An ice arrow emerges from it and penetrates Breadbeard's head through his eye, giving him the solace and peace he craved even before this ordeal.

"Thank you, Thery…" Breadbeard spoke his last words.

"Breadbeard!" Tears freely flowed from Eriv's eyes as she shouted. "Dad! How coulda ya?"

"I'm sorry, child… truly sorry," Therdreag apologized with a heavy tone and continued, "you two are blighted too. There are rules I cannot disobey," as he said that, Eriv flinches and horror crept into her red eyes.

"But I can't. I can't kill you two. I will return to Arn-Dul and will be forced to report this. You know our laws. You and your brother will be hunted. Be smart. Survive. Consider going underground or even further; to the Abyss. Grow stronger, take care of each other," his face was rigged with sadness.

He threw her two amulets, "these two amulets are for communication. They are ancient and the art of their creation is long forgotten. The gems and gold in the bags should be enough for you to buy some time in one of the many Abyss villages. Steer clear from Dwarven territory. Try the Druegars."

"I'm sorry," Eriv tiredly said, her tears falling into the purple fire.

"It will be fine, daughter. After you grow strong enough, we will meet again," Therdreag promised. He collected Breadbeard's body and two of the bags.

"Father… thank you," she whispered as she looked at him.

He smiled at her, looked at his convulsing son with dismay, unable to help him. Then he flew into the air and shot towards the portal with incredible speed.

"Eriv, it pains!"

"Shh," she whispered soothingly, "it'll go away, be strong, ya're dwarf!"

"Yes! I'm a dwarf! I'm strong!" Dori proclaimed. After three minutes, he stopped to convulse and slowly gained control over the purple fire. The flame stopped burning Eriv and retracted into his body.

"Maaaasssssteeeeer," Dori twitched again as it sent a message directly to his mind.

"Dori? Somethin' wrong again?" Eriv worryingly asked, completely exhausted.

"Dinna ya hear it?"

"What?"

"Someone hissed 'master'."

"I dinna heard anythin'. Are ya sure ya're okay?"

"Yea, sorry, sis. Ahh, it's good to be alive," he stretched.

"Dad was here," Eriv suddenly said.

"What?!"

"He… he killed Breadbeard. He… was too far… But he let us go… he gave us these amulets, so we can communicate."

"With father?"

"Nae, two of us!"

"Oh… good… We're blighted, right?"

"Yea, look at your status screen."

Dori examined it and proclaimed, "well, fuck… I knew that the mine was cursed."

"We have to go underground, the best woulda be Abyss. Father left us with gold and gems. Some village'll accept us for sure. We have to get stronger, so we can meet dur family again," she explained as she slowly stood up.

"Yea… right ya're. We have each other!" Dori grinned. He energetically jumped up and hugged his sister. She hugged him back, happy, she didn't lose him.

Meanwhile, Therdreag was nearing his laboratory.

"Dornus dammit," he cursed while thinking about his family and what he should say. A thought occurred to him, "but wait… If those three got blighted in the deposit… Who activated the laboratory? Dafur, right? Isn't that Tafur's twin?"

He returned to the portal room and met his favorite apprentice, who explained to him what happened.

"Heh, it seems like my little disciple is hiding something! Hmm… Probably that he killed those two idiots. After this, I need to check the runes… there should be a log of what occurred here. Hopefully," he thought to himself. "Let's go, my little genius! You should not have hidden you are already at the 3rd rank! At least some good news, haaah," he sighed and continued in a grave tone, "I need to report to the Assembly about two runaway blighted and you about the rift."

They walked towards the portal that was slowly nearing its limit, and he asked with a grin, "and what did you say about the mana crystals deposit?"