Chapter 24: Into The Depths

Chapter 24: Into The Depths

“I can’t close the maintenance door. It’s like the whole structure is shutting down.” Marcus said as he held up the door key.

“And you can’t use your skill?” Sieg asked.

“[Create Key] only helps me unlock things I understand, not lock them again.” Marcus sighed. “The tunnels will be flooded full of goblins in no time, what a shit show. They may even find the hidden exit.”

“What...do?” Leif asked as he drained vitality from frozen troll chunks.

Sieg looked at Marcus. The shorter man nodded and closed his eyes. “Find.” Spectral images flickered in and out of existence around the mages head. He reached up and quickly arranged them into ever shifting orders. A minute passed, then another. Marcus began to sweat, his movements becoming sluggish. Finally he opened his eyes.

“Deeper?” Sieg asked with concern in his voice.

Marcus nodded. “There... there should be another way out... Ugh.” He stumbled and clutched at his head. “Aha, the [Seeker] class is quite excellent, especially after its tenth level promotion. But its skills are really tricky to use correctly.” Marcus explained for Leif’s benefit.

The spriggan tilted his head in acknowledgment.

“Which way?” Sieg asked, his tone worried as he glanced between the chambers now opened entrances.

“Back, back to the statue room. I’ll re-use the skill when we get there, the path I saw was incredibly blurry.”

As the sounds of goblin screeching neared them the three retreated into the Mythhold’s depths.

===

“This way. Through two more chambers then... then there’s some sort of blockage but there appears to be a side route.” Marcus said, pointing the way forward. They left the statue room as the world trembled.

Still at one percent. I guess killing things doesn’t accelerate the process like with my evolution counter. Leif thought.

“I can sense that there's enough mana in each panel for a single blast or whatever they might do.” Marcus said. “Normally I’d suggest we go through a maintenance tunnel instead of trying the room but the way back just collapsed and there don’t seem to be any side exits.”

“Through the traps it is.” Sieg sighed and let his axe disappear. “I’ll be using my face to check these unless either of you want to volunteer." Leif considered this, his body was naturally more durable than both humans and he was currently full to bursting with stolen lifeforce.

His attributes were at their full forty percent increase from [Blight's Bounty]. He shrugged internally and stepped forward. Both humans nodded and stepped back. Leif cracked his neck, lowered himself into a ready pose, focused on [Might] with [Grand Action] and exploded forward.

He burst past the next pair of traps, a dark sphere of energy detonated behind him. Leif felt the residue of whatever that explosion was brush against his back but he didn’t stop. Two lances of ice flew from above but they veered away as they drew closer to smash harmlessly into the floor. Sieg’s doing no doubt.

Two metal tipped arrows a foot in length shot from the next set, one on each side. They curved slightly to track Leif’s momentum. On one side he manifested a condensed shield of golden light and on the other intertwined limbs of ethereal roots curved around his forearm.

The shield shattered and the arrow skidded off Leif’s shoulder. The other impacted his protections from [Gilded Body] and punched right through his raised arm. Leif hissed in pain and stepped back.

He made to continue but Marcus held him back and confidently walked forward. “Next one is lightning I think, allow me.”

Sure enough two bright flashes of lightning erupted toward the man. He raised a hand still wreathed in a purple gauntlet, both bolts curved mid air and struck his fist.

There they were absorbed into the skill's construct, crackling power threatened to overwhelm the working so Marcus ejected the stored power at one of the two upcoming panels. The improvised attack didn’t seem to do any damage unfortunately.

“Arcane magic has its drawbacks, but the versatility is unmatched.” Marcus boasted as he flexed his fingers.

Leif ripped the arrow out of his arm and watched as amber sap quickly filled and closed the wound. The pool of vitality within him had dropped slightly but it wouldn’t pose a risk.

Five minutes later the room was cleared, the chamber behind them was a destroyed wreck from energy detonations and skill usage.