Chapter 171: A Duel Of Idiots

Chapter 171: A Duel Of Idiots

Dorans gaze held steady, staring out into the mist. A few of the others stepped through his vision, their skeletal figures wraithlike and waiflike, battered by the effects of slow starvation. He had seen a few shove fistfuls of dead spores into their mouths on occasion, mechanically chewing and swallowing the grimy substance. Doran had his doubts regarding the nutrition it provided; he had even more doubts about the taste.

Luckily, his own captors hadnt yet forced him to eat. Based on the state of the others, they would likely only do it if his body started to die. Hopefully, that meant it would never happen.

Surely, someone was coming - if not for him, then for Valera. The snake liked her, right? It would come. It had to.

Valera was somewhere nearby. Doran had caught sight of her once or twice, each time sending a wave of relief rushing through his limbs. Just seeing her didnt mean much; try as he might, Doran couldnt get his body to obey his commands. There would be no rescue coming from him. Still, it was good to see that she was nearby. Somewhere where he could know that she was safe, even if she wasnt free.

His body turned again, walking past the strange Seekers corpse for a third time. It was crushed underneath a giant fragment of darkwood, plated armor crumpled below the overwhelming weight. The man - by the size of the corpse, he was sure it was a man, even fully enclosed within a fancy suit of armor as the dead Seeker had been - was a bit of a mystery. As far as Doran could remember, Verdant Grove only had a Nature Core. The armor the corpse wore bore the mana of at least two separate Cores - and one of them was something he had only heard about.

A Shadow Core.

The shadow-infused gem on the corpses chest flickered again, wreathing the armor directly around it in a thick coat of darkness. Damaged as it was, it didnt go far. The gem was nearly shattered and almost spent, its abilities hobbled by a lack of charge. With each flicker of shadow, a bit more of its accumulated mana spilled free. In only a few more hours, it would probably be depleted in full.

Still, even in its ruined state, the thing was a marvel. Orkens own nullsmith wouldnt have had the expertise to create something like it. The man only worked in metal, and the effects he gave items were more haphazard than he liked to admit.

This was something different. Mana imbued into a gem, then slotted into already-enchanted armor to create a greater whole. While Doran couldnt tell what the armors enhancement was, given that he could only look at the crumpled thing, he could still see how well the gem and armor went together. Every time the gem sputtered and its shadows reached out, the armor turned wispy and immaterial. Even the corpse contained within did the same, letting spores slip through the darkness with only tiny hints of resistance. If the gem had been a little less broken, it might have affected enough of the armor to cause the root to fall through the same gap, only to merge with the damaged corpse as the sputtering gem brought it back to reality.

It was even possible that the gems power was how the man had made it so far, though Doran couldnt be sure. He had no way to know how old the corpse was. Sure, there was a terrible smell pressing against his nostrils, but the mist always smelled terrible. It just wasnt a good indication, not in the way that it normally might have been. For all he knew, the mist hadnt progressed that far when the man died. Maybe he had been breathing clean air in his last breath.

Then again, maybe he hadnt. With the way that the spores slipped through the shadows created by the flickering gem, Doran was pretty certain that it would provide some protection. Maybe not in full, since he doubted that it would hold someone in immateriality for very long at a time, but it could have lasted long enough to take a safe breath - assuming that the wearer could breathe at all in that shadowy state.

He really was a mystery, the dead Seeker. Doran wondered where he was from. Had refugees from Verdant Grove found another city first, prompting them to send Seekers to retrieve the Core? Or had someone already been here and died in their bid to help?

Whatever had happened, Doran supposed it didnt matter. The Core was still here, creating more monsters. They had failed.

For now, that was all he really needed to know.

Later, he told himself, hed be able to look more closely. Later, when he and Valera were safe again.

Because they would be, he told himself again, his feet still trudging through the mist.

They would be.

===

Her mind stuttered at the sight, confused. Her body didnt care. It darted forward, blades lifted to clash against mana-empowered steel.

She dodged back, wind brushing past her, as Eriks mace swung in a counter. The man wasnt fighting quite right. He was fast - faster than she remembered him ever being - but that wouldnt have been Eriks normal counter. He would have pressed her more with his sheer mass and trust in his defenses, trying to lock her down before she could maneuver around him.

Valeras body twisted to the side a moment before Dorans axe came down, the heavy blow forcing their opponent to brace against it. The spores in her body flexed, sending Valera hurtling around his upraised shield. She came in close. To her relief, his armor stopped her attack; her blades, sharp as they were, bounced off Eriks armor in a shower of sparks.

Again, Erik didnt react as expected - because this wasnt really Erik, she realized, finally understanding how the man had walked himself through the mist without becoming its victim. The colors were the key. Erik was already infected by something else.

This was the Little Guardian fighting with Eriks form.

Eriks body bent forward, bringing his shield behind Valera and recklessly pulling her close against his chest - and then he bit her around the neck, throwing her away again a moment later. She rolled across the ground, clouds of dead spores working their way into her open mouth.

The wound at her neck throbbed and pulsed, the muscles starting to twist upon themselves uncomfortably almost instantly. The Little Guardians spores fighting against the Nature Cores. Another pulse of warmth from the [Little Guardians Totem] around her neck lessened a bit of the tension, its healing effects wiping away some of the damage.

Her body moved again, trying to push itself upward. Her neck muscles twitched, feeling as if they fought against the movement. The Little Guardians spores again. Valera fought too, realizing that the spores were getting weaker. Without anything to replenish them, she would eventually be free.

It wasnt enough. The spores flexed themselves harder, throwing her body upwards. She charged again, her body a mindless automaton guarding its Core. Valera tried to fight against every step, but she accomplished little. Maybe, maybe, there was a slight hitch - but probably not.

Steel rang against steel as Dorans axe sparked off of their opponents shield once more. Despite coming from what should have been his blindspot, Eriks body turned to meet her approach, mace already swinging. It crashed into her chest, the momentum of her own charge enough to knock the breath from her lungs. Only the strength of her armor kept Valeras ribs from caving inwards.

Her body ignored that, choosing instead to lash out with one blade after another. Again they sparked against Eriks equally-resistant armor. Valera could see the openings in his defense, opportunities to stab into flesh that she could have taken advantage of in an instant. The spores controlling her, less accustomed to armored fighting than she was, continued to apply brute force to the issue. The few times that they actually tried to aim at the mans less protected face instead, he easily deflected the blows. Even at the speed her body could move, the attacks were just too predictable.

It almost made her laugh - would have, if she only could.

Valeras body just wasnt built for brute force. Dorans, however, was. And yet, in just the same way, Eriks body and armor was built to survive against force. They were locked into a duel of idiots, each hammering away at the other in the hopes that one would simply give in.

Still, there was something that kept running through her mind.

If Erik was here, being controlled by the Little Guardian

He wouldnt be here alone.

Valera started to feel a familiar prickling at the back of her neck, long-honed instincts urging her to turn around. Luckily, the spores didnt listen.

They probably should have.