Chapter 30 - ‘’Change of plans’’

  “‘So, what’s the plan?’” Kaelith asked, looking at him.

  Nikolai raised an eyebrow in surprise. “‘What? I don’t know, I don’t have one. Well… I did have the idea of getting the hell out of this dungeon, so I suppose that is the plan.’”

  Kaelith shrugged. “‘We could do that, sure. We could also delve deeper, take on whatever is producing all these undead, claim the rewards, and smile at Azila on the way back as we leave.’”

  Nikolai chuckled; he liked the mental picture, but… “‘Uh, I’m not sure that’s the wisest course of action. We’re just the two of us—well, three with Lurk, I suppose—but still.’”

  Kaelith smiled. “‘Nikolai, what stage do you think I’m at?’”

  Nikolai hadn’t considered it, truth be told. Thinking of people in light of their stage, path, affinity, and all that… he simply wasn’t used to it yet. He thought for a few seconds, then guessed, “‘6th stage?’”

  Kaelith grinned. “‘Not even close. I’m currently at the 18th stage, which means I’m quite a bit stronger than any of the others in here, including those in the team you came in with.’”

  Nikolai just looked at her. The 17th stage sounded impressive, but he really had no way to know. Compared to himself at the 3rd stage… sure, but how much did it even mean? He asked Kaelith about it, and she seemed even more confused than he was.

  “‘How is it you know so little about this? I don’t mean to be rude, but you seem astoundingly ignorant of basic stuff,’” she said, her face a picture of disbelief.

  Without missing a beat, he decided to tell her. There was really no point in secrets with Kaelith at that point. “‘I’m not from this world. I had no idea magic was even a thing two months ago.’”

  Kaelith’s expression went completely nonplussed, then she laughed. “‘No! Really? Then, what stage are you at?’”

  “‘3rd.’”

  She laughed harder. “‘So, you’re telling me that I was not only saved but have bound myself for life to someone who has little to no idea what’s even going on?’”

  Nikolai shrugged. “‘That would be largely accurate, yes.’”

  That tipped her over. She lost all control of herself, and finally, after a full minute of giggling, she asked, “‘Wait, how old are you!? With your race, I kind of assumed…’”

  Nikolai hesitated, looking at her suspiciously. “‘I’m 20, though I guess I’ll be 21 soon…’”

  Kaelith just shook her head, apparently giving up. “‘I can’t believe it… I’ve been traveling to figure this out for well over 40 years, and here you come along and fix everything so easily. It’s honestly a little depressing… I’m 58 by the way.’”

  “‘Oh, you wish it was more painful, more difficult perhaps?’” he said, poking her.

  She yelped. “‘No! It just seems I wasted a lot of time worrying. Well, anyway… the plan? You make the decisions, you know.’”

  Nikolai sighed. “‘I have no idea what I’m even doing, Kaelith. I told you, I don’t like the idea of a bound servant, slavery, or anything similar. We’re in this situation now, yes, but let’s be partners, okay? I want your input, and I have so many questions…’”

  Kaelith grinned. “‘Alright, alright, fine. Here’s what I think: we can probably clear the dungeon. This area is fairly low in mana density, meaning whatever is down there shouldn’t be overly powerful. Dangerous, sure, but with your healing and Lurk to defend you, we should be fine. Also, you’re weak, Nikolai; we need to push your stage up as quickly as we can.’”

  Nikolai nodded slowly. “‘Makes sense. I’ll trust your judgment then. On that note… about stages. How does that work? I get that killing monsters pushes you further along, but how does, say, a blacksmith increase his stage? It doesn’t make sense that hunting monsters is the only way.’”

  Kaelith began packing stuff into the pouch on her hip. “‘The easiest answer is that no one really knows, although there are some prevalent theories scholars seem to agree on. It’s generally agreed that combat is an excellent way to grow your strength. It’s not the fighting itself, however, but rather that you push your limits. Fighting monsters much weaker than yourself can leave you stagnant for years, while facing something life-threatening can push you to the next stage in hours.’”

  Nikolai, who had nothing to pack, just leaned back in his chair and digested that before asking, “‘So take the blacksmith example: if he makes horseshoes or something otherwise simple, he won’t really grow. But if he keeps challenging himself, he might increase his stage faster?’”

  Kaelith nodded, pulling a black leather chestpiece over her head. “‘Exactly, although there are no guarantees. Other cases suggest your path is key. Take me, for example: if I used dark spells to create shadow fire all the time, never actually working with the undead—which is key to my path—that would leave me stagnant too. By the way, what’s your path?’”

  “‘I see, I get it. My path is called Twilight Mage, and it’s essentially centered around using both my affinities in balance… I think,’” Nikolai said.

  Kaelith whistled. “‘Never heard of that class. Perhaps it’s related to your race?’”

  Nikolai shrugged. “‘Might be. Probably yes. I don’t really know; someone interceded in my path, said he wasn’t happy with what I would get, and decided to intervene…’”

  Kaelith froze. “‘What!? I’ve never in my life heard of anything like that, and I’ve read a lot of books, and I mean a LOT!’”

  Nikolai sighed. “‘Yeah, but let’s talk about him another time. For now, this is what’s important: in ten years I’ll have to undergo some kind of trial. My only goal is to grow as powerful as I possibly can before that. I’m pretty damn sure that if I fail, I won’t like the outcome…’”

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  Kaelith gave him a ‘we’ll definitely need to talk about this later’ look, then tightened her armguards and shinguards and belted on an sword to her hip. She bundled her hip long black hair, tied it, then pulled up her hood and fastened the black mask with golden patterns to her face. She nodded. “‘You ready?’”

  Nikolai looked down at himself; he was wearing a slightly damaged suit and a thin grey robe over it. Then he frowned at her. “‘I feel underprepared…’”

  Kaelith giggled. “‘Yeah, we’ll need to fix that. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you—that’s my new life’s calling after all.’”

  The two left the library. Kaelith gave the room one last longing look before closing the door. Nikolai felt a bit sad as well; the room had felt so comfortable and safe, making the cold stone walls of the hallway outside seem even harsher.

  He sighed. “‘Alright, which way?’”

  Kaelith pulled out a hand-drawn map. “‘This is the path I took here,’” she said, showing him. “‘I think we’re pretty close to the end, and the undead here all seem to come from one direction—here.’” She indicated the map again.

  Nikolai nodded. “‘Okay, you lead the way then. I’ve been turned around so many times I began to wonder if there even was a way out… By the way, isn’t this supposed to be a crypt? What kind of crypt has a library? And where the hell are all these undead coming from? You need corpses to produce them, right?’”

  Kaelith held up a hand with a chuckle. “‘Please, let me answer a few of those questions before you go on. First off, yes—the top layer is a crypt, but it was built on top of a city.’”

  Nikolai opened his mouth to ask how that was possible, but she forestalled him. “‘It happened a long time ago, but war happened, monsters happened—powerful ones. Simply put, the city was buried during the fighting. The crypt was built on top of it, the final resting place of the last 52 heroes who protected the city and its people. Finally, the undead are the remains of those who never got out, victims of those horrible events. Some of the corpses are ancient’”

  “‘Uh, alright, thanks. Appreciate the explanation.’”

  Kaelith touched his arm gently. “‘Anytime… Master.’”

  Nikolai shivered. “‘Please… don’t call me that…”

  Kaelith giggled, then dragged him along as Lurk led the way down the hallway.

  It wasn’t long before they encountered an unusually large group of undead. They shuffled aimlessly but reacted violently as Lurk strode into view.

  Nikolai, who had preffered sneaking till now, groaned at the sight—there were quite a few of the moldy bastards.

  He glanced at Kaelith. “‘I’m guessing you can just blast through these?’”

  Kaelith studied the approaching horde, then waved a hand lazily. “‘We can definitely take them, although the big one in the back will take a bit of time. Most of the others are weak, but I count at least twenty. We can still be overwhelmed, and there are only three of us.’”

  Nikolai nodded. “‘Alright, I’ll help thin out the weaker ones while Lurk keeps the big one in check if it charges. Back at the entrance, they seemed to hold back though.’”

  Kaelith nodded. “‘It’s called a corpse lord. It’s marginally more intelligent than the others and won’t fight unless its minions start losing.’”

  “‘Don’t kill the big one, Kaelith. I need to drain as much essence as I can from it,’” Nikolai warned.

  She tilted her head. “‘Why?’”

  He rolled his eyes. “‘I’m going to push as much essence into you as I can—your insides are practically mush at this point, so we need to start healing you as soon as possible.’”

  Kaelith’s eyes lit up. “‘Oh! Right! Makes sense… I kind of forgot about that. I was so relieved it was even possible that the urgency disappeared from my mind.’”

  Nikolai grinned. “‘You know, for an old lady, you sometimes act a bit like a child.’” He stepped forward, drawing the rusty blade.

  Kaelith seemed shocked, spluttering for a few seconds before calling after him, “‘Old lady!? Hey, come back here!’”

  Nikolai laughed and ran, charging to Lurk’s left side. In the dim corridor, the twenty or so zombies seemed daunting, but having trustworthy companions made them fade into the background. He left Soothe on a low burn as he engaged the first monster.

  Lurk swung his enormous sword, and Nikolai witnessed the horrendous pleasure of a humanoid creature being sliced in half. The violence of it rattled something inside him. That could very easily have been me just a few hours ago… he shivered.

  Lurk waded through the horde, indifferent to slashing, biting, scratching, and cutting. The big guy took wounds but didn’t flinch at shallow injuries.

  Nikolai raised his cane, summoning a horizontal barrier. He hurled it forward into the horde like a flat disc. It lost momentum quickly, but the first two zombies were thrown like rag dolls—one losing an arm and a leg—tumbling into those behind them.

  Chaos erupted in their ranks, and Nikolai moved in, striking rotted skulls and brittle necks with his worn sword.

  He occasionally used his cane as a club, bashing heads not to kill but to create breathing room amid the frenzy.

  He dodged a sword swing aimed at his shoulder and kicked the zombie’s leg in one smooth motion. His sword fell; the body went lifeless as its head separated from its shoulders.

  Kaelith shouted, “‘Corpse lord is moving! Get back, Nikolai!’”

  He reacted immediately, weaving back toward her. Eight zombies remained, but Lurk ignored them, rushing toward the large undead with a gurgled roar.

  “‘Move to the wall!’” Kaelith called. Dark flames erupted around her hands.

  Nikolai’s eyes widened. He jumped sideways. Moments later, the roar of flames filled his ears. Most zombies behind him twitched and spasmed violently, then crumbled.

  As the flames died, Nikolai rushed in to dispatch the last two, then turned to see Lurk.

  Kaelith approached, ignoring the carnage, and gestured to the corpse lord. “‘Do your thing.’”

  Nikolai nodded and raised his cane. He cast Lesser Essence Drain, feeling the surge of essence flow. The corpse lord’s empty eyes snapped toward him.

  It let out a horrendous gurgling screech, clawing violently at Lurk to reach Nikolai. Lurk seemed surprised; the monster managed to slip past. The ground shivered with each lumbering step, undead flesh wiggling. Nikolai felt sick, but Kaelith stepped in front.

  His first instinct was to tell her to move, but she raised a hand and hissed something beneath her breath. Tendrils of darkness shot from her hands into the corpse lord. It froze mid-step, then collapsed into a squelching heap, sliding slightly.

  Nikolai didn’t want to think about the ichor it left behind—it was like a fleshy snail with a horrifying stench.

  Kaelith didn’t look back. “‘I’ll hold it a bit. Take as much as you can.’”

  Nikolai focused, increasing the flow.

  His spell was still lesser in strength, so draining the monster fully would take time. His head throbbed as he forcefully limited the essence converted into mana, burning through his own reserves faster than usual. He needed as much as he could take for Kaelith.

  Finally, as he pushed the last drops into the spell, he gasped and cut it off. He placed a hand on Kaelith’s shoulder. “‘I’m done… kill it.’”

  She glanced at him, purple eyes slightly worried, then nodded. “‘Of course.’”

  Lurk, standing over the corpse lord, raised his sword without instruction and swung down hard—once, twice, and a third time. Kaelith’s tendrils retracted. The corpse lord never moved again.