Underworld - Book 4 - Chapter 17

Despite my slower pace, we made it to the meeting place in good time. I had Invisibility cast on myself, but Aeris had asked me not to bother casting it on her. When she was moving quickly, only the most adept would think she was anything more than a gust of wind.

The cavern was nowhere near as big as the Belly, but it was at least the size of a city block. Mana Sight gave me a good idea of what we were dealing with. There were at least a couple hundred mobs hiding behind boulders, inside trenches, and some even camouflaged on the walls and ceiling. None of the mana signatures were anything to worry about. There were a few rare ones, like a group that possessed Water Mana that might give some bonus experience. We only hesitated for a moment before making our big entrance.

Both of my arms were covered in light from elbow to fingertip. I was still in my buffed up form with Bone Titan’s Defense covering the rest of my body and my scepter with the 50% Light Magic buff merged with it. 

“Do it.” Aeris commanded, reassuring me my Artificial Sun spells shouldn’t harm her eyes. She was only in her Wind Sprite Form so that she could stay at a distance.

Just like Laser, there was no set mana cost to the spell, so I’d have to experiment. To get a comparison, I threw up a Light Orb in the middle of the room, which was actually considered general magic and not Light Magic at all. A split second later, I cast Artificial Sun about a meter away using a miniscule 1,000 mana per minute. A visual beam of light shot toward the middle of the room where it gathered in a growing sphere and soon devoured the Light Orb with its size.

The cavern had already been dimly lit by blue and red light from the mana dense rock it was made of. When the Artificial Sun’s sphere bloomed, it cut through the remaining darkness and lit up the room up like the afternoon sun.

A few mobs jumped from their hiding places to face us, but the first we came across was a trio of giant scorpion-like creature with the body of a minotaur. except instead of human, its humanoid form resembled an orc. Skorcs? Creature Indicator said the name of the level 600 creatures were Livisht. Nah, I stuck with skorcs.

A single 10,000 MP beam of Laser burnt a hole right through the closest one’s head. In the same moment, a dozen compressed Wind Slashes peppered the other two leaving them in pieces. Forced Learn gave me nothing.

Getting bonus experience for my first time killing the creatures leveled me up once. There was no time to add my new stat points to Wisdom. The group of water creatures were coming.

A bundle of massive snakes of blue and gold, slithered atop one another like they were fighting to be the first to reach us. It seemed they found the light rather annoying, for their eyes were all tightly shut.

As they neared, I saw that there were more of them than I’d realized. Close to seventy of the creepy things, some as long as a bus, were coming in our general direction. Examining them, I saw they ranged between level 500 and 768. They were called Underwater Treasure Serpents. Finally a name that made sense. The gold on their backs glistened just like real gold in the light. If you saw them underwater, they would look like a moving mass of gold, but up close you would get a rude awakening.

“Disgusting!” Aeris said as she let Wind Slash fly. Instead of numerous compressed castings, she launched a few big ones.

Laser flew toward them, hitting the highest level one between the eyes, but it was unable to burn through it. It was their Water Mana that was absorbing the heat. 

Aeris’s Wind Slash Sliced into them like a giant pizza cutter, but a few of the injured snakes retook their shape, leaving only a few dead from the attack.

I cranked up Laser to 15,000 MP and blasted one in the face. This time it burnt through it and half a dozen others before losing steam. I casted Forced Learn on the dying level 768 one and was rewarded with new Blue Magic.

“Hit the gold on their backs.” I said.

“I noticed that too.” She replied before darting up into the air.

I picked off a few more before she unleashed a giant Wind Slash, cutting fifty of them in half in a single blow. A few more blasts and we finished them off.

I glanced to see that I had gained six more levels and to get a look at my new spell.

Aqua

Creates a large beam of water to soak the enemy. With enough pressure, it can also be used as a hydro drill.

We’d finished them off before we’d really gotten to see them in action. Having access to Water Magic was certainly nothing to complain about.

With the Treasure Serpents gone, a few more creatures bound out of their hiding places to attack, but they were nothing we hadn’t seen before. Most of the creatures on the walls and ceiling chose to flee instead of fight. It was a terrible idea to try to run. All that it did was bring them to our attention as we got in some target practice.

In about ten minutes we had cleared the rest of the cavern of mobs.

I filled up my Wisdom with eight more levels worth of stats and tossed Drain into the center of the room under my Artificial Sun. The blood and flesh conversion took place and filled me with new strength.

+76 Str

+99 Dex

+15 Int

+9 Wis

“Do you think Mel will want some of these Skulls?” Aeris said, hovering a meter from what was left of the serpents.

“It’s a good bet. Is that what I think it is?” I pointed to the golden plank that laid on what was left of the vertebrae of a serpent’s remains.

Shifting in the air, she poked at it with her finger before grabbing it. With a little force she was able to bend it.

“I think it is.” She replied.

I joined her, bending over to grab one. It was like a sheet of gold in the shape of the golden scales that the serpents had on their backs. After examining it with Mana and Light Sight, there was no denying it. They were literal large sheets of gold.

“It looks like we’re taking their heads and skins.” I said, rubbing my Light Mage hands together.

Now that I was able to focus on Artificial Sun, I watched my character sheet. Light Eater was acting as a passive ability and giving me an additional 200 mana per minute. Artificial Sun was costing five times that, but it was still a positive if I was going to be using the spell anyways. I was also still using Solar Mage as a partial form. Adding it to both of my hands really didn’t give me any added benefits over having it covering one hand except that I could now cast it out of either. It would be interesting to know if the mana per minute I received doubled as Laser did when I had it fully activated—Artificial Sun could be twice as bright for that matter.

There was one other thing I had to try. My connection to Artificial Sun had never been cut. It required constant mana, so I’d been feeding it since I’d cast it. Issuing it a mental command, I watched as the spread of its rays started to change. The far cavern wall was replaced with shadows as its rays were condensed to finally direct its power in one direction. A spotlight had replaced the sphere of light and all its energy was directed at me. Light Eater was more than happy to take in the excess light and suddenly its intake jumped to 600 mana per minute. That was three times the normal amount. A quick calculation told me that while I was in full form Solar Mage, Artificial Sun should give me a larger boost to mana per minute than it cost—and who knew how high it scaled.

Satisfied for now, I cut the flow to Artificial Sun and my partial Solar Form, then began stacking the gold scales in a single pile.

We removed the heads of the serpents and skorcs for Mel’s growing army. Aeris had no aversion to popping them off with Wind Slash. It was just another day in the Underworld.

Once it was clear, we looked for other loot, but found little of consequence. A few ingredients for Lydia, but that was all.

An hour later, we found ourselves sitting in the middle of the room among piles of gold and monster skulls. It was one of the few moments we’d had in weeks where we weren’t in a hurry. In a sense, the anticipation was there of our friend’s arrival, but it would be a few hours still until they arrived. Aeris had reverted back to her Sprite Form and was sitting next to me on a small boulder with her legs dangling off the edge. Her hand was firmly in my own, and she was resting her head on my shoulder.

“I’m finding it harder lately to think about home.” She picked at a roll of bread, placing the nibble sized portions into her mouth periodically. “It’s like it’s a strange foreign world that I only visited in a game. The worst part is the memory of my family seems just as distant. Which is weird, because I remember them better than I used to. The more I raise Intelligence the clearer my memories get, but it still feels like they’re getting further away.”

“It’s the same for me. My mom, and dad…” I took a swig of water. I didn’t even need to drink anymore, but it was something I’d done so often that I couldn’t imagine never doing it again. “Once things slow down, I think remembering will get easier.”

“Will things ever slow down, though? What would that even be like? Can you imagine the Head Mistress coming to visit our family of fourteen kids?”

“She’d probably insist they start killing skeletons at age two—werewolves at four.”

“Yeah. It would probably be a bad idea to let her babysit.”

We shared a laugh.

Her tone changed. “El. I really want kids, but the more I think about the more impossible it seems. Not here. I can’t imagine it ever being safe enough, and what would their childhood be like?”

I placed my arm around her and held her tight. “We’ll see.” I whispered. She was quiet for a long time after that. More than once I thought I heard her sob, but she was too still to tell for sure, and it was stifled immediately if she had.

Even if having a lot of children had always been a bit of a joke between us, it was more apparent than ever how important it was to her. It was probably something she’d wanted since she was little and now that she was finally going to be married, the option was stripped from her because of our situation. I wanted nothing more than to be able to make her dream possible, but I couldn’t disagree with her assessment. I couldn’t imagine it ever being safe enough for children either, let alone the two of us.

***

We heard the creaking of carts and crunch of golem steps echoing through the cavern long before they arrived. At the head of the procession was Russ and Oliva walking hand in hand. He was decked out in his chocolate colored armor, and she—had changed.

There was only a slight tint to her skin, but it looked like a mocha-green. The green was more pronounced because it was highlighted by her hair that had become a deep emerald green. It was striking how similar she looked despite the change. Her armor was a gown of wood and leaf, but it was difficult to tell where one started and the other began. It was the quality of her mana that had changed the most. With a single glance, you could tell she had reached Master Rank.

I wasn’t surprised when Aeris transformed in a wink and shot over to her friend using her Wisp form. Hopping from the boulder to the ground, I headed toward Russ, who had left the girls and was coming this way. He only eyed Aeris for a moment.

Reaching out my hand, he walked past it and grabbed me in a bear hug. At least he tried. Lift me from the floor he found impossible.

“What have you been eating?!” He said, taking a step back. 

Patting my skeletal armor covered gut, I replied. “I ate a tomb. Or, at least I have one in my inventory.”

“Aeris turns into Wind Woman and you’re all glowy. You’ve been busy.”

“You could say that. Aeris has a Wisp Form now and I, well, I’m still human in this form, but I have a couple others to show you. And Olivia?”

“She changed when hitting Master Rank with her Nature Magic. Now she’s a Nymph.” He rapped his knuckles against his chin. “Things are getting strange man. She’s not alone. Clarissa is different as well, and Mel, Trevon, and Audrey are all close to Mastering soon.”

“How’s Travis doing?”

“Good. He’s not as loud at night. It might just be me though, but I think he’s been sniffing things a lot more while in his human form. Like I said. Strange.”

We chatted for another couple of minutes before the rest of the group joined us. The golems had parked the seven carts as best they could. Russ and Olivia had brought Steve and Perry with them.

Shaking both of their hands in turn, I came to Steve first. His current gear consisted of dark leather with black painted breastplate, greaves, and bracers. “It’s good to see you man.” Which was true, but I immediately turned to Olivia and then Russ. “Is Mel the only one left keeping an eye out for stealth mobs back at the base?”

Steve smacked me on the shoulder. He was wearing a large grin. “Clarissa has that covered now. Remember that earth elemental that could dive into the ground like it was water?”

“I do.”

“Well, she can do that now. She’s also impossible to sneak up on. I’ve tried it.”

Looking to Russ, I watched him hold his hand up as if to say, “I told you so.”

Turning to Perry who was the tallest in the group and still wearing his chocolate platemail that matched the one Russ was wearing, I shook his hand. “It’s nice to have you back, man. I’m glad to see you got the girls home safely.”

“I appreciate that. It was actually a rather boring trip.”

“I’m really glad to hear that. You guys ready to load some carts?”

“Sure. Where is everything?”

“I’ll take care of most of it.” Motioning with my head behind me, I added. “There’s a surprise over there though that you guys can grab.”

Steve and Perry walked in the direction I had indicated and climbed to gentle upward slope to look down upon the piles we had gathered.

“What the?! Did you kill a bunch of dragons?” Perry called out. “Is this gold?”

I was watching Russ and Olivia to see their reactions to Perry’s discovery. Only, I missed what I was hoping to be a good one for there was a sudden pulse of power coming from one of the tunnels at our flank. I spun as a blue skinned humanoid stepped into the cavern swelling in neutral energy.

It looked like we weren’t going to have to travel to see the goblin elder after all. He had come to us.