Meera landed in the middle of the cavern, dazed and bleeding. Her head felt like it had shattered upon impact. Her nose was bent to the right, and her shoulder or both shoulders were dislocated.
She activated Vitalize right away.
Thanks to Darthin's Essence for making her Mana more potent, it healed her without using too much Mana.
"Meera, are you okay?" Cinders appeared to her right.
"I will be soon." She yelped as her shoulder popped into place. "Cinders, Shade, you two have terrible luck."
"Well, what do you expect from a bunch of animals who were tortured before death and stuck in their torture rooms after." Shade shot back from up above.
"TAKE IT OFF!" The voice boomed throughout the cavern. It shook the entire cave complex and made dust rain down on Meera.
"Let me guess, Edwyn," Meera said.
"He's coming," Onyx gasped from behind. He had backed up into a tunnel.
Meera doubted it would keep him safe from the madman, who was sprinting towards them or, more precisely, her. Each of his footfalls shook the cave, but by the time he emerged from the cave, Meera was up on her feet with chakrams in hand. She was not ready for what came out of the tunnel.
She was expecting a man, but what stood before her was a rotting giant—twenty feet tall. His skin had turned a leathery greyish green. Like the wraiths, chunks of flesh were missing, which exposed the bone underneath, but unlike them, he had a solid form. Edwyn was in his own body, where the wraiths were simply ghosts. This man had died but refused to leave his body. His right leg was missing below the knee, and an ethereal one had taken its place. His clothing was so rotten she couldn't make sense of it. But the most striking article upon him was a green crystal in his much smaller, almost normal-sized left hand, which he hugged close to his chest. Meera didn't need to identify it to know that was the very thing she had come for.
That was the Crystal of Darthin.
"So, you did it," Meera said. "You were actually able to replicate the powers of a god."
"TAKE IT OFF!" he roared, shaking the cavern again.
At this moment, the wraiths chose to attack and rush for her. She was ready to go invisible, but Edwyn shouted. "Stop!"
And they did. They stopped in place. Meera shared a glance with Cinders, and she knew the rat was thinking the same thing as her—he can control the wraiths. This meant two things: first, that Onyx was right, and second, it spelled bad news for her.
"Hey, do you mind taking it down a notch and not bringing the cave down on us," Meera offered.
It was replied with an ear-shattering scream from the mad researcher. Thanks to the Gem of Echoes, it was multiplied severalfold for her. She screamed as she clutched her ears and fell to her knees. Edwyn's scream reached a crescendo and stopped, but his mouth remained open. She frowned at him, and it was only when she felt the wetness between her fingers that she realized that her eardrums had burst.
She took that moment to stand, remove the Gem of Echoes from her pocket, and drop it in her Belt. If I survive this fight, I must attach it to my armor.
Then, when Edwyn's mouth closed, she healed her ears.
"Take it off! Take it off! Take it off!" Edwyn screamed again and again as he came for her.
Now that the gem was put away, his tone had died to bearable levels. She readied to use Shadow Step to move out of the way, only to realize she no longer had the skill.
Okay, armor, don't let me down now.
She ran her Mana through it and willed it to throw mirrors in all directions. The effect was similar to Mirror Blast. Small, tiny mirrors, the size of a coin, shot in every direction. Some even attached themselves to the walls, while most skidded across the floor, giving her ample jump targets.
Edwyn's fist came crashing down on her, but she moved away silently. She wasn't sure if it was the armor amplifying her Mirror Step or if it was Mirror Step's speed itself, but her teleportation was instantaneous. She didn't realize it the first time, but now she had Edwyn's fist as a reference point. His fist was right where it was when she had emerged.
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Not bad for the drawback of needing a mirror to teleport.
"Here," Meera called, then launched a chakram in his ghostly right leg, making him scream.
Edwyn stumbled momentarily, recovered quickly, and snapped his head to her.
"Can we please talk before we rip into each other?" Meera asked, calling back her chakram.
"Take off the necklace," Edwyn barked, frothing a black goo from his mouth. "It doesn't belong to you. I made it for my beloved."
"Yes, I know, but I think your beloved is using you just like she's using me. She sent me in here to get that crystal you're holding."
He looked at the green Crystal of Darthin. "I also made this for my beloved. She's due anytime soon, and I will give her both as my gifts and profess my undying love."
Meera almost felt sad for him. She would have if not for all the pain he caused to make that crystal and all others. By the way, he said it made Meera wonder if he was also under her spell like the men of Cliffmere.
Against her better judgment, she asked him. "Are you under the witch's spell?"
He gritted his teeth. "Don't call her that!"
He threw another punch at her, but she was long gone before it landed. He found nothing but dust.
"She calls herself that now," Meera said, "or well, the people of Cliffmere do. Did you also know that she's put all the men of that village under her spell, and they are her slaves. Did she put you under her spell, too?"
Another fist fell, shaking the cavern and raining dust from above.
"She didn't need to. I love her. I've loved her from the first moment I saw her, and I will love her until my soul is down to nothing." He waved his arm around. "I did this all to show her I don't need to be put under some spell. I promised her that I would give her the powers of the gods, and I will."
Meera could do nothing but stare. He was the worst kind of a monster—a fanatic. He was a love-sick fool vying for the affection of a woman who probably saw him as nothing more than a tool to be used and thrown away.
"We don't have to fight, you know," Meera said. "I'm here because Kalrina sent me to retrieve the Crystal of Darthin for her."
"Lies! You want it for yourself."
"No, it's the truth. She sent me here because it would be entirely bothersome to come on her own." Meera held up her hands. "Hey, her words, not mine."
Edwyn took controlled breaths. "I will pry my necklace off your body after I rip you to shreds. Liar!"
Then he moved for her, but she jumped behind him, and in her haste to talk to him, she realized she hadn't even Identify'd him.
[Cursed Undead – Level 142]
Meera gulped as that was the highest level of any monster, animal, or person she had seen. Not to mention, the man was a zombie. Does this mean I go for the head?
"Meera, now would be the time to fight back," Shade said, drawing Edwyn's attention. He squeaked and zipped away as fast as he could.
"Yes, I plan to." Then Meera paused as the gears turned in her head. If he still has a body, this should technically hurt.
She launched a Mirror Shard Barrage into his chest. It dropped the giant on his ass as he shrieked in pain. Meera grinned ear to ear that finally something other than her chakrams were working again.
The giant researcher didn't take long to get back on his feet. He bled dark blackish blood from his chest, though not as much as Meera would have liked. But he was almost forty levels ahead of her.
As he stood, many mirror shards from her attack fell to the ground, giving her even more targets for her Mirror Step. She patted herself on the back mentally for taking this skill, as even if she didn't have her armor or chakrams, she could always spray the area with mirror shards with this attack and have infinite jump points.
Edwyn gritted his teeth and snarled like a wild beast. He extended a hand to her and launched a beam of darkness. She Stepped away and appeared by his fleshy leg and slashed at it three times with her chakrams. Edwyn fell to a knee, and his beam went sideways, destroying many tunnels.
"No!" he cried and snapped his head to Meera.
She watched black fumes rise from the beam's destruction. Most of the rubble, however, had been pulverized to rocks. That was a powerful attack, and she had to steer clear of it.
Edwyn swung his arm at her, but she appeared on his other side and went to work. She raised a hand and launched another Mirror Shard Barrage into his side. He cried out and hobbled to the side. She threw her chakram at his head, used Mirror Step, moved towards the chakram, caught it mid-air, slashed at his right eye, and Stepped away before he could react.
His right hand—the only free one, as his left gripped the crystal tightly—went to his ruined eye as he shrieked. Meera used this opportunity to Step behind him. She activated Druvis Power, jumped high into the air, and punched him hard with her chakram. Edwyn fell face-first into the ground.
She threw her chakram into his back, Stepped to it, landed on his back, and went to town with a chakram in each hand. She slashed mindlessly as she made her way to his head. Edwyn screamed, trying to incapacitate her, but she fought through the pain in her ears. By the time she reached his head, she was ready to pass out.
Meera used Mirror Blast with a big chunk of her Mana.
The explosion of light and mirrors was so dazzling that she feared it would leave permanent white spots in her eyes. Some of the wraiths shrieked and hissed, but she knew it was discomforting to them at best.
When the light dimmed, she used Mirror Step and backed away. The back of Edwyn's head was split open like a dropped watermelon. His brain, which had been rotten black, spilled out with his dark blood.
"You did it!" Shade cried, flying out of a tunnel on the second floor.
A smile spread Meera's face, but two things were wrong here. One, the wraiths didn't attack or dissipate, and two, she didn't hear a notification bell.
Edwyn stirred and whispered in the faintest voice. "Come to me…"
Then as one, all the wraiths were sucked into the mad researcher.