Jerome had painstakingly removed every bit of rock and soil that clung to the walls of the chamber. And what he saw left him awestruck. The previously dark room was now bathed in a radiant blue glow emanating from the intricately carved runes etched into the walls. Jerome was stupefied. He scoured the chamber, trying to locate the source of the otherworldly illumination, but his search proved futile.

He quickly shifted his focus to searching for a way out of the chamber. Focusing his mental energy to scrutinize the wall more carefully, Jerome separated the walls into sections. He sat down in the middle of the chamber and began to examine each section one at a time with his perception.

This is going to be exhausting, he thought. Yet he knew he didn’t have much time. The succubus could come back for him anytime soon. Jerome shuddered—both in expectation and fear. He could feel himself getting aroused again and quickly bit his tongue. The spike of pain helped to clear his head some. He put thoughts of Csala out of his mind and focused on the task at hand.

Jerome pushed his mental energy to exhaustion for almost half a day. His study had led him to discover a hidden pattern within the runes. It was complex and required patience to unlock, which was kind of frustrating. But he persevered. The runes weren’t merely decorative; they formed part of a complex array that acted as a locking mechanism holding the chamber sealed. Whatever the mechanism was, he wasn’t going to be waiting to figure it out.

After numerous attempts, he succeeded in opening a small section in the ceiling—the ceiling wall dissolved and the cramped space shook as dirt and dust cascaded down from the opening, adding to the pile that had already accumulated on the ground.

Jerome lifted his gaze towards the narrow passage, examining it closely. It was barely large enough to accommodate a single adult, and he knew that ascending through it would not be easy.

“Spacious much,” he muttered and dove upwards, the opening closed up as mist formed to congeal into physical material.

Where would I preserve my private chamber if I lived in a place like this? Jerome thought as he tunneled through the narrow space. The rocks in front of him crumbled to grains, not impeding his movement in the slightest. Jerome laughed as he became aware of this. Manipulating earth essence had gotten much easier as well. He decided to go down into the depths of the mountain.

Can this even be called a mountain? He thought.

If every room was like the one he came out of, then it was safe to say that this was an artificial structure. And from the shape of the outward appearance, it was probably a pyramid. An enormous pyramid that breaks through the clouds and into space. Jerome still found himself shocked at the image of the mountain when he was outside it.

He dove down even farther. The thought of some long-lost civilization building something like this was enough to make one’s blood rush with anticipation. There was no way they didn’t leave powerful treasures behind.

Jerome smiled to himself and took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. There must be a lot of treasures to be found here but first I must recover my ring, he thought.

He hadn’t gotten very far when he felt a very powerful wave of mental energy behind him. Jerome’s heart nearly dropped and he sped up. He cursed Csala to be burnt by Noir’s Black Flames for eternity as he pushed to get away from her.

Csala screamed and he felt wave after wave of her psychic assault behind him, but none was able to strike him mentally. Her psychic energy may be powerful, but he was too far away from her.

Jerome also suspected that it wouldn’t work as it did before. He was prepared now. That strange energy from the mind-calming stone buffeted him as he rushed downward into the depths of the mountain.

With his mental energy scanning everywhere ahead of him, Jerome found a room on the edges of his perception that was a bit different from those he’d been scanning. This room was spacious, with no rocks and debris stuck to the walls. Since he was scanning from a distance away, he couldn’t get precise information about what was inside the room since his perception was not powerful enough.

Jerome focused his expanded perception on that location and quickly changed direction. By focusing on just that location, he could tell that this was a room the succubus visited frequently. The space behind him resonated once again with Csala’s powerful psychic energy and Jerome felt his hackles rise.

She was still very far away but was closing in. He could sense her anger and frustration in the air. Jerome pushed his core faster. He dug faster and faster not only to get to the room and retrieve his ring but to be rid of her.

As soon as he got close enough to the room, he pushed his mental energy and unlocked the hatch at the top of the room. Jerome jumped into the room, scanned once again, and walked up to the pile of spatial rings on the table.

He chuckled and stashed them all away. The succubus was close now. He could sense her through the walls and dirt. He didn’t know how he did, he just knew that he did even though she was still more than a mile away from his position. Jerome erupted with fire attribute essence and the temperature in the room climbed. Everything was burnt to ash in seconds.

He quickly jumped into the hatch, closed it, and started towards another direction, hoping to put more distance between them and hopefully find an exit.

~~~

“No, you won’t!” Csala screamed and turned around chasing after him with agility and speed that should not be humanly possible.

She couldn’t believe he was able to free himself from the binding, that was an artifact she had used to bind creatures stronger than she was. He had also figured out how to open the chambers and move through a smaller opening that even she didn’t know about.

Csala was breezing past tunnels in the mountain like the wind. She’d be damned if she let him escape. The kid was just a little bit farther away from the edges of her perception, which was manageable. His aura would still remain present in the air long after he had passed through a certain place. So it wouldn’t be hard following his trail.

It would become a pain, however, if he was taken by another succubus and an older one at that. Thankfully, there was no other succubus in the mountain or its vicinity. If he left though, she would never see him again as Terra Praeta would send him far away.

Csala sped up at that thought, pushing herself faster. She didn’t have essence to work with—the ubus weren’t born to wield it. They were however compensated by mother nature with psychic abilities and enhanced physical strength and agility.

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She soon caught up with Jerome somewhat but could do nothing to stop him because he was moving through a tight space inside the walls, walls that were nearly indestructible. She could only tell because of her perception. Csala pulled on him through the wall with her psychic powers, slowing him down considerably and ultimately paralyzing him.

The human, however, had his own skills and tricks. He started muttering again and the earth moved out of the way. Grains of sand rushed toward him as she watched in shock, buttressing his paralyzed body and whisking him away. He was carried through the narrow tunnel as if he was riding on a wave of sand.

~~~

When the succubus caught up to Jerome, he thought that was the end and his escape was a pipe dream. She somehow managed to turn his limbs to lead and make his body so heavy he found it almost impossible to move his core. The pressure she was releasing felt far more powerful than what Rihal was capable of releasing.

Jerome used the only weapon in his arsenal he had that could at least protect him for a while. He began muttering his earth mantra, stirring the essence in the earth around him. The earth shifted underneath him and he willed the soil around him to crumble into grains of sand. He went further to surround himself with the current of sand, willing it to carry him forward.

Laughing mockingly at her as he left her behind, he could imagine her jaw hanging ajar. He knew he would probably not see the light of day if she ever caught him, but he taunted her still.

Jerome was elated at his exceptional control of essence around him now. He had just discovered something rare he could do! He remembered the Sovereign’s words about how Harun became one with mother nature, able to wield it, making the elements conform to his will.

He hadn’t used a single strand of essence in his core to wield the sand that was carrying him through the tunnels. He had tried but it felt like walking through mud. He had taken hold of the essence in the air at the last moment—how he did it, he wasn’t sure. His only wish right now was to lose the succubus and find somewhere to practice this newfound skill.

If this means that I can do what Harun did eons ago… he quickly squashed the feeling rising up in his heart. He needed to concentrate on escaping the clutches of the succubus and not be distracted.

Jerome felt Csala try to take hold of the sands he was using to transport himself but her psychic energy passed through it like a sieve trying to hold water. Csala screamed in frustration once again and he laughed at her, willing the sand to go faster.

She tried something else he had been expecting for a while—a psychic blast at him. Nothing happened. Jerome felt proud of himself at that and he felt Csala’s frustration build to its climax. He could picture her pulling her hair out and throwing a tantrum and the thought brought a smile to his lips. Jerome laughed long and hard.

The next moment she blasted the sand to smithers causing him to hit the ground hard. He tumbled continuously for a few moments, hitting the cramped up space before coming to a halt. Csala took the moment to revel in her little victory as she came to a halt immediately on the other side of the rock wall with no effort to slow down. It was an inhuman thing to do and even Jerome marveled at her strength in her limbs.

Jerome started muttering again but as the sands gathered around him they were blasted away just as quickly. Some grains even got into his eyes and he blinked rapidly to get them out.

“You can’t continue doing that,” he said. “You’ll wear yourself out in no time.”

“Not before I get my hands on you, love,” Csala replied.

Csala’s voice wasn’t loud but it carried to his ears just as Rihal did when he was being trained. Jerome could feel the cold smile on her face as she spoke, which made him shiver and gulp his saliva down hard.

“Can’t you just let me go? I promise never to tell anyone about you.”

“No can’t do, love. You’re a rare find and I’d be damned if I let one of my sisters catch you before I’ve had enough of you.”

“There are more of you?” Jerome was a bit shocked at that. An army of succubi would not bode well for those that came to Terra Praeta.

“That’s not something you should bother yourself with. Just come out here and stop being a naughty boy.”

“Sorry, but I‘ll have to disappoint you,” Jerome bolted.

Csala screamed. She had thought she had him trapped but the little twerp had been playing with her.

Jerome had been digging a hole in the soil a few yards away, behind him. He used the discussion to buy himself time and when the soil directly behind him was loose enough, he covered himself in metal armor and willed it to move his body, bursting through the soil and dashing away as quickly as he could since his body was still under her control.

Jerome started planning in his mind. He had no way to escape her if he got caught.

Then, don’t get caught, but if you do get caught…, he thought about the other cards he had to play and he sped up.

~~~

Csala seethed with frustration. If she wanted to capture Jerome, she would have to retrace her steps to the chamber he had escaped from and pursue him through the same labyrinth of tunnels he was moving through so she wouldn't get lost. The whole mountain was riddled with a complex network of tunnels, and even she could get lost if she wasn't careful.

But if she returned to the chamber, Jerome would have ample time to slip away, and she would lose. The mere thought of losing incensed Csala, and she vented her fury by slamming her body against the rock walls as she raced through the tunnels.

With each impact, small quakes rocked the tunnels. Rocks and debris flew around her, and she screamed in frustration. Jerome mocked her as he made his way upward, infuriating her further.

After a moment of frenzy, Csala forced herself to calm down and released her psychic energy like a tide. She stood still for a long time as she searched for the quickest way into the tunnels. Jerome took the time to get farther and farther away but that sense of his that could almost tell where she was kept him abreast of her position. He kept pushing through the sand and soon he was far enough that he regained the use of his limbs.

Jerome was not happy about this, though. The succubus was still standing where she was, unmoving. He knew it was only a matter of time before she found the quickest route to him. In the next moment, she shot off in another direction.

Jerome’s heart nearly stopped. He knew she had found a way into the hidden tunnels, and it wouldn’t take her long to catch up to him. He hastened up and changed directions halfway up so he could go around some walls.

Moving through these smaller tunnels was slower than moving through the bigger ones. He would’ve loved to escape her through the hidden tunnels, but he could sense her getting closer.

Jerome’s heart started pounding hard as sweat poured out of his skin like a fountain. This mad woman would probably skin him alive if she caught him. He found another hatch in the rock wall and quickly opened it. He jumped into a new chamber and ran for the door. After unlocking it, he ran off at breakneck speed, his muscles straining with every movement as he zoomed through corridors.

Csala's screams echoed behind him as she discovered he had switched tunnels. She quickly stormed into a chamber beneath her and ran into the corridor chasing after him. Jerome glanced behind him after many twists and turns only to see a rage-filled beautiful succubus bearing down on him like an angel of death.

His only disadvantage was that he didn’t know how to traverse the network of tunnels in the mountain. Csala on the other hand knew it like the back of her hand, so despite his efforts, she caught up to him in no time.

Jerome took a deep breath as he turned around while running. He spat a huge fireball at her. The ball of flame was so hot that the walls of the tunnel they were running through started to dry up and crack instantly. But Csala just waved her hand, using her psychic powers to push the fire out of the way. It crashed into the wall beside her, exploding as it did.

The explosion rocked the succubus a little, putting her off balance as she slammed into the opposite wall. When she got back up Jerome who was a few paces away from her a moment ago was gone.

Jerome didn’t stop to face her. He ran like hell, searching for a tunnel leading upward like the one he used a while ago. However, the succubus was centuries older than him and a lot more powerful in strength and speed. Jerome’s only warning was the wind slightly rushing past him.

Csala caught up to him in no time, grabbing him by the neck and slamming him onto the tunnel wall. With a crack, Jerome felt pain shoot up his right arm. Without delay, Csala broke his left arm as well. The pain was mind-numbing. Jerome sagged against the wall of the tunnel, his muscles twitching constantly as he endured the pain but Csala wasn’t done yet.

She raised her dainty foot and delivered a crushing kick to his thigh with enough force to shatter steel.