Chapter 76

"So…" Lucifer was sitting on the ground in a cavern… somewhere. He did not know where. At all.

The <SuperFlux> signature he left in the cave with the storybook had dissolved long ago, not that he'd admit it to Stone

"So?" Jarka was sitting before him with an incredulous expression.

"Luci?" Stone was between them.

The boulder felt like he should do something, but most of his attention was on the mana wall at the entrance as the blue-skinned humanoids tore at it. His mana regeneration was barely able to keep up and from time to time he had to pump refined mana into it. Firey was still sleeping, no matter what he tried. This situation stressed him, which displeased him.

"You don't remember anything?" Lucifer asked.

"Nae!" The amnesiac druegar woman replied. "Ya said I'm Jakra?"

"Jarka."

"I said that…" She cocked her head left.

"Haaah…" Lucifer sighed, "no you said Jakra. You are Jarka. Jaaar~ka."

"Fine… and who're those… those… blue-skins?" She pointed at the savage beings at the entrance.

"Controlled corpses. They want to eat us."

"Oh. And what's this… this… stone?" She pointed at the pebble who had full 'hands' with saving their assess.

"Stone." Lucifer flatly replied.

"Yea, but what is it?" Jarka's eyebrows drew together.

"Stone… with big S. Do you remember anything at all? Like where we are? The layout of the Abyss?"

"No… But ya can ask those dwarfs!" She pointed behind him.

Lucifer froze. He slowly turned 180° and saw a heavily armoured, crossbow equipped dwarven scout emerging from the only other exit in the cavern.

"They're here!" The scout shouted at his group closely behind him.

"Oh… For fucks' sake… It really never ends. Never!" Lucifer cursed. If he would not be so exhausted, he would even ask how they found them. He guessed it was mana-leaking... Idiot.

Lucifer's <SuperFlux> was at an all time low, a mere 20 points, leaving him on the verge of collapse. Stone had to block the blue-skins, Jarka seemed to have lost all of her memories… which was his own fault. Maybe he should not have hit her with such a strong missile. Or maybe he should take greater care of her when rushing through the narrow shafts. Meh…

The six dwarfs surrounded them, equipped with axes, shields and crossbows, from which one looked like a smaller sister of the ballista. Lucifer's eyes wandered at it, asking himself if they were planning to siege a freakin' castle?

"Eriv? Dori?" The captain stepped to them but jumped back, grimacing as he felt the Monster inside, respectively the <SuperFlux>.

The dwarven party aimed at the three of them.

Lucifer examined the dwarf before him and a name immediately surfaced in his memory; Baelgin! The 4th-rank runemaster and a friend of 5th-rank runemaster Therdreag, father of his two unfortunate hosts. He knew them well, which was a great problem. His brains worked overdrive, attempting to find a way out.

"Luci?" Stone weakly asked through their link. Stone had to constantly focus on renewing the wall to stop the blue-skins. It was extremely taxing. He never felt so much tiredness before. He tried to conjure a <Mana Missile> but could not.

"Don't even try… and focus on the wall. And for gods' sake, don't say a thing aloud!" Lucifer sent the reply, his focus solely on the dwarfs.

"Luci! I won't be able to hold it for too long!" Stone cried out, the speed of mana wall's rapid destruction increased yet again. Only thanks to Stone's fast regeneration, he was able to hold his own.

"Hello, master Baelgin." Lucifer decided to talk first, hoping he would not be shot by the nervous dwarfs.

"Who are you?" The runemaster frowned, full of alertness. The <SuperFlux> he was sensing was unmistakable. With one eye he observed the blue-skins, and searched for the source of the mana wall.

"Well… that is a long story, and I will explain it shortly after we dispose of the Myceliar's drones."

"Who. Are. You?" He hissed his question again and pulled out a vial with crystal-clear liquid inside.

Lucifer knew what it was the moment he took it out. A fucking Holy Water Potion from Dornus' clergy! The bane of low-grade Undead, Ethereals and a potent <Flux> suppressor. He slowly looked around at the deeply frowning, angry dwarfs. All of them had the same vials at their waists. At least two of them. That could only mean one thing; the Undead were getting rowdy. His head began to hurt again; What the fuck was happening here?

Stone sensed Lucifer's distress and dropped the wall to conjure a <Mana Missile> to protect him.

"You idiot!" Lucifer screamed as the horde surged inside. His <SuperFlux> was still low, even though his <Refined Mana Drain> was working overdrive. Stone's refinement was not so fast anymore.

The dwarfs forgot their previous targets and began to cleave through the blueskins who were plunging at them without care for their own lives.

'TREEEENG!'

A brown-glowing more of a spear than bolt flew out of the small ballista and pierced through the crowd. It continued unhindered until it hit the wall above the entrance, collapsing it.

Lucifer facepalmed. That did not occur to him.

If Stone would have eyes, his pupils would enlarge. Stone-Breakers!

"Stone! Don't!" Lucifer screamed through their link.

"But! Stone-Breaker! He broke a stone! Look at it!" Stone highlighted the rubble.

"Don't! Or they will break you!"

"But…!"

"Just don't! Please, Stone! Just this once! For me!"

"For you, Luci." Stone agreed, disgruntled. He marked the dwarf in his mind. He would never forget him. The dwarf would die. And that was a promise.

The ballista dwarf felt a powerful murderous intent aimed at him and became full of alertness. The poor dwarf did not know from where it came, but raised the ballista again, after he quickly reloaded it.

"What are you doing, idiot! It's forbidden to collapse a fuckin' shaft!" Baelgin shouted after the rest of the blueskins were easily disposed of. The whole time, he observed the battle without interfering, guarding the Lucifer and the rest.

"Luci? Isn't this bad?" Stone asked.

"Yes. A lot."

"What are we going to do?"

"How is your refined mana?"

"Ten points. And it should refine faster..."

"That is because of me… Fuck it back and forth!"

"So, who are you?" Baelgin turned back to them after he was done berating the poor, disgruntled dwarf who just saved them all.

Before Lucifer could explain, a grey-haired, clearly experienced warrior stood before Baelgin. "Sir!"

"Don't you see I am interrogating prisoners?" Baelgin's eye twitched.

"Sir, we shoulda leave! Now! The Myceliar controllin' the horde won't be far and they'll clear the way soon!"

"Fine! Bag them up!" Baelgin ordered. He hated the Abyss and never truly explored the place. He never wanted to be here. And now he had a mess to deal with. What to say to Therdreag?

Jarka was extremely confused and did not say anything the whole time. However as they neared her with a rope, she began to struggle, hitting two of the dwarfs in the noses before Baelgin himself pacified her with well-aimed rock. No, no skill. Just good olde smacking.

"Luci?"

"Don't do anything! Please, be a nice pebble this time and regenerate mana first!"

"I just wanted to ask if they have my storybook!"

"For gods' sake!" Lucifer rolled his eyes.

"Sir! We founda the source of Blight!" One of the dwarfs pointed at Stone.

"Leave it to me," Baelgin conjured a runic word above his wrist and touched the ground.

"No! Stop!" Lucifer yelled, knowing it would not stop the runemaster. It was for his own consciousness than for anything else.

The rock around cracked and the gravel began to slowly cover Baelgin's arm to the shoulder with the rune hovering above his wrist.

"Oh… fuck…" Lucifer whispered in anticipation of the near future. "Stone! Don't!"

Stone observed the destruction with horror.

"Stone-Breaker! Stop at once!" Stone shouted, angered.

Everyone was completely consternated. The baritone voice came from the boulder. Which as they looked at it, appeared as the Dornus-damned largest mana crystal they ever saw.

Then, they felt the small surge of refined mana and bewildered watched as the <Mana Missile> spell materialized a metre above the pebble.

Stone shot the 11-RM <Mana Missile> at the incredulous captain. Baelgin was no experienced warrior. He was just a mediocre, pampered runemaster.

Baelgin was completely rooted on spot and could only watch as the blue ball of death skimmed through the air nearer and nearer.

His arm was paralyzed as the skill was still activating, which also meant he could not cast another spell, nor trigger one of his protective charms.

However, before the missile could land on him, his soldier jumped in the way of the flying missile. It hit him squarely at the chest, punching a gaping hole through him. Where once was a heart, was now a hole.

Baelgin watched as the dwarf collapsed on the ground, dead as a tree in a desert.

<You have killed a 2nd-tier dwarf>

<5.0% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite>

<Stone gained 4.5% experience>

<Lucifer gained 0.5% experience>

<Spell: Mana Missile levelled up>

Everyone froze.

Their confusion was soon replaced by anger, wishing for retribution for their comrade.

Lucifer inwardly groaned.

The dwarfs picked their weapons and rushed to Stone.

Stone cast one <Mana Missile> after another, but the dwarfs either evaded or just hid behind their thick shields.

The Baby Elemental was still conveniently sleeping and no matter what Stone did would wake him up.

Two bolts hit Stone's shield, almost piercing it. He charged it with more mana again, stretching his amazing mana regeneration to the maximum.

"Bolts!" Baelgin ordered as he saw that the dwarfs were not able to near the boulder.

The dwarfs charged their bolts with skills. Even a few vials landed on him, however, nothing happened.

Stone had to fully concentrate on the flickering <Mana Shield>.

"Luci! Help!" Stone anxiously called for help. He did not like this situation at all. He realized something; he feared death. He did not want to die.

<Spell: Mana Shield levelled up>

Lucifer formed a hasty plan and prayed that it would work.

He gathered as much <SuperFlux> as he could sacrifice without harming himself and conjured a <Flux Expulsion> spell.

The purplish sphere slowly expanded from him. It stopped around a mere metre from him, but he gritted both of his jaws and pushed. It was like taking a dump after drinking Ouzo and eating a goat for a whole week.

The sphere was getting thinner every centimetre he pushed, but soon, it covered all of the dwarfs.

Lucifer smiled. The hallucinogenic properties of every offensive spell functioned as intended.

The dwarfs began to act erratically and fight each other, except the 4th-rank runemaster.

"What are you doing, idiots?!" Baelgin yelled. He only saw the possessed dwarf cast a flux version of spell <Mana Expulsion>. First, he had scoffed at it. It was too weak. But now…

Lucifer was almost out of <SuperFlux> again and he felt like passing out.

Stone used <Weak Manakinesis> and <Mana Carving> to get them out of the bags.

"Her too," Lucifer pointed at her.

"Why?"

"I will explain later! Now hurry up, before the runemaster is free!"

"Okay, okay!" Stone agreed and freed her.

Lucifer picked her up with ex-Dori's body, but the runemaster's skill finally ended. His arm was completely covered in dirt and metal.

"And where do you think you are going?!" He menacingly asked.

"Shit," Lucifer swore.

Stone conjured a normal <Mana Missile> but the raging runemaster caught it with his armoured arm and clenched his fist, turning the spell into motes of translucent mana.

Baelgin grabbed a one-handed mace with the enchanted arm and lunged towards them, breaking Stone's walls of mana like a bull.

Stone realized how weak he was. Until now, he ambushed and surprised only weaklings and avoided the strong ones.

But now, no matter what he did, he could not stop the dwarf rapidly closing on them.

Lucifer made a very desperate decision.

He used ex-Eriv's body and tackled the runemaster to the ground. He grabbed Stone in one hand, Jarka in another and ran as fast as he could.

"Keep the shield up! They had to track us by your leaking mana!" Lucifer sent a message as he blindly ran through the system of shaft and caverns, up and down. He halted around 50 metres away, feeling his connection to the other body rapidly weaken.

He stumbled and collapsed on the ground. He spasmed as his whole being was torn apart. Eriv's body was destroyed and with it, half of his <SuperFlux> was gone. Permanently.

He began to mumble some strange words in a language far different than Stone ever heard. It was gruff, brutal… Even Stone inwardly shuddered when he heard the words.

<Changes in Subordinate talent! Changes in Stone {wielder} talent! Changes in Lucifer {wielder} talent!>