[Yami, just in case, tell Morgan the Displacer Beast’s weakness.] Drake ordered.

While it was true that any of them could inactivate that strange ability, Morgan’s spell, Magic Missiles, had the ability to track onto the target and hit without fail. Wasting the innate illusion the Displacer Beast’s held around themselves, while still ensuring the attack would maximize the damage they could do. In an environment where they were already at a disadvantage, it was practically required.

[Will do.] She responded promptly.

Yami was quick to follow on Drake’s orders, and Morgan was just as quick to follow Drake’s advice. With a quick shout to the others, Morgan and the others dispatched the first Displacer Beast, cornering it before killing it in a brutal flash of metal and magic.

“Good job, Morgan.” Drake arrived in a flash, with Yami close behind. Morgan’s speed in conveying his strategy to the others was put to work quickly, and it showed results. While it would be difficult to inflict any meaningful damage alone, the other three in his group flowed together beautifully, not missing a beat as they worked in unison and dispatched one of the beasts within moments.

“Yo.” Drake waved to the others playfully as he landed next to the others, which only resulted in a few amused looks, and a roll of the eyes.

Drake took up a position next to Morgan, keeping himself firmly in between her and the other Displacer Beasts. “So, going solo wasn’t the best plan. Only managed to get a hit in before I was outmatched up in those roots. Those tentacles are dangerous.” He remarked with a stubborn smile.

“I can imagine. Even down here, we’ve had a hard time with just two.” Peter agreed.

The Displacer Beast’s attacking Drake quickly bounded down the roots, before joining the remaining beast on the ground. Seemingly unperturbed by the death of one, they would dart into the sphere of light and attack, only to get a glancing blow off on Drake, Luke, or Peter, before quickly returning to the relative safety of the dark surroundings a moment later.

The four looked to each other with a reluctant smile. Just as they had returned to their own formation, the Displacer Beasts had returned to their hit-and-run style of attack once they realized the difficulty of attacking them head on. While the monsters weren’t doing much damage, his own group’s ability to attack was drastically reduced as well.

Drake shook his head reluctantly, before looking to Morgan. This fight was going to end now. They only needed sufficient bait.

“Morgan, that third-tier slot you received, what do you have available?”

“U-uhm…” Morgan shook her head with a faintly disguised grimace, an unsure look clear on her face. “It’s called animate dead. It seemed like the most useful given my single slot, but I’m not sure how well it’ll work.”

“No, it sounds great. Use it now.” Drake nodded forcefully.

“Right…” She nodded uncertainly, before raising her hand. A dark presence welled up in her hand as a bolt of that same energy suddenly shot into the corpse of the newly deceased Displacer Beast. In a rattling, shuffling motion, the corpse suddenly twitched, before it slowly clambered up onto all six of its limbs. Large pieces of flesh began to slough off the creature, and within moments, it looked as if the spell had created a zombie-like version of the creature. Regardless of its appearance however, it looked to Morgan with an utterly subservient look.

“Success...” Morgan shook her head with a fairly disgusted look as she grimaced, before looking to Drake momentarily. “You want to use it, don’t you?”

“Better to have some cannon fodder in a situation like this.” Drake remarked as he looked toward the undead beast. “Yami could attack them like you, but it’d be too dangerous for her to go alone. She’d need to flank them to do any real damage, but that’s too dangerous given how fast they are. Even if she tried to fly away, with the roots in this room, they’d still be able to catch her.” Drake affirmed.

Besides, like I’d ever send her out on a suicide mission like that. Might as well take advantage of any resources we have. He thought haphazardly.

Drake spoke loudly, addressing each of them with his plan. “I’ll go out from you three, and distract them. They’re going to be focused on me, so don’t waste the opportunity.” Drake said as he looked towards her. “And Morgan, your new pet is going to help.” With a quick confirmation from the others, and the undead beast following close behind him, he slowly walked out of the sphere of light and into the darkness of the room.

Now well away from the others, Drake smiled as he reinforced his crystal gauntlets with mana. The form hadn’t changed, but ever since his baptism in the well of mana, he could feel that his mana had grown even more diabolical than before. He still couldn’t use his real power in front of the others, but if he could just manage one solid strike against these creatures, he would be able to kill them with ease.

[Drake…] Yami sounded off on his shoulder, warning him of their approach.

“I know. I’ll try to take them more seriously.” He said. He had overestimated himself when he fought with the wyvern, and he was still getting used to his new body. If he wasn’t careful, the very same thing could happen again, only with the consequences being greater given this body was considerably weaker.

The remaining beasts were slowly approaching him, each of them falsely launching forward in an angry fashion, before jumping back out of fear. The undead beast next to him seemed to have put them on guard. Without a doubt, this was the first time they had ever encountered such ghastly magic.

Well, not that he could blame the creatures. The stench alone was revolting.

Clearing his mind for the fight, Drake watched the calculated movements of the remaining trio of beasts. Their method of attack was simple, if effective. Dash within range, and wear down the enemy through attacks that left no counter play. However, such a plan would only work if the target acted in such a way as to allow that to happen.

In a flash of movement, one of the Displacer Beasts leapt towards Drake, intending to gouge him in a series of blows with the spiked appendages it used for such a method. Drake simply smiled however, before raising his gauntlets in an expected motion. After seeing the attacks so many times, it had become easier to anticipate the movements. In a quick motion, Drake caught both of the tentacles, a diabolical smile glaring towards the creature.

Bewildered by their target’s defense, the other two Displacer Beasts leapt into action, only for the undead beast that used to be their comrade to block their attacks completely using its own body. Morgan and the others followed up quickly, and the creatures were soon blasted by Magic Missiles, with Peter and Luke following up with the flanking attack.

In the end, that’s their weakness. You just need to approach from more than one angle. Do that, and hit and run tactics go out the window quick. Drake smiled to himself. He was pleased with how simple it was.

Turning to his own struggling opponent, Drake chuckled before he pulled the creature towards him in a fierce, ripping motion.

Yami quickly followed suit with the attack, and leaped off Drake’s shoulder. Waving her hand in a fan-like motion, a brilliant series of shards launched towards the creature, only for the illusion to break, and for the shower of shards to miss completely. Thankfully, the illusion only extended to their main body.

“Stupid cat.” Yami muttered resentfully. Still, such an attack was needed. Once the illusion was broken, it needed time to renew, and given Drake’s hold on the creature however, it couldn’t simply escape.

Seizing the opportunity, Drake kept a firm grip on the creature as he pulled it towards himself and brought it within range, before firmly stabbing his gauntlet firmly into its side. The creature let out a horrific shriek of pain as he pierced it, only furthering Drake’s determination. Within a few moments, the injury Drake inflicted began to slowly crack and decay, as the mana absorbed the creature’s life force.

Crying out wildly, the creature abandoned all notions of safety and attached itself firmly onto Drake’s shoulder, before clamping down with its jaws and violently ripping side to side with all its might.

“Dammit…” With a crazed expression, Drake took the blow head on, his cloak slowly becoming more crimson by the moment as it was beginning to be dyed with his blood. The creature clearly had the same sort of mana inside of it that influenced the various roots of this place, as well as the armor of the hobgoblins. His mana was having less of an effect than it should had, and the jaws of this creature were on a whole different level than the spikes they used. He hadn’t overestimated himself, but underestimated it.

Up to this point, Drake almost exclusively faced opponents that simply couldn’t withstand the severity of his mana, but these creatures were clearly influenced by something at his own level, giving them some level of resistance. Nevertheless…

“Die.” Drake muttered in a pained voice, as he put his mana to full force. His initial attack had pierced deep into the creature’s ribcage, and the demonic mana Drake put forth quickly began to atrophy the monster’s organs. Sensing its impending death, the creature dug into Drake’s shoulder even further, as if it was hoping that it’s efforts wouldn’t go to waste with the others.

Glaring at the creature with a crazed smile, Drake intensified his efforts, resulting in the creature quickly slumping to the ground, unable to even hold up its own weight anymore. He quickly pried off the dying beast’s jaws, before looking to the others with a satisfied, but pained expression.

Heavily outnumbered, the other Displacer Beasts were merely being hunted down now, unable to maintain any semblance of their initial tactic, especially after Morgan’s zombie-beast joined in the fray. One was already on death’s door, while the other was forced to look on, merely providing support while attempting to stay out of reach.

“Sorry, but this battle is already over.” Drake held in his laughter. His body had endured a heavy injury, but in the heat of the moment, he didn’t feel anything but a sense of joy. The surge of adrenaline pumping throughout his body nullified the large majority of the pain he felt.

[Reckless as always… Was that really the best way, Drake?] Yami quickly landed on his shoulder, as she saw the beast drop to the ground. With a worried expression, she began to slowly pour in spare mana onto his wound to help mend it as best she could. It was a poor substitute for his own ability, but even mana cores helped him to some extent. Yami could only try to imitate that.

[O-ow… not so hard.] Drake winced at the sudden movement of Yami’s rough landing, and her subsequent healing, only laughing self-depreciatively at himself. It was true, he certainly could have gone about it a different way. However, that would have inevitably left the creature to fight with the others sporadically, and skew the ratio back in the creature’s favor. While Morgan’s undead ‘pet’ wasn’t slow by any means, its speed suffered. Moreover, being an undead, the position of meat shield was best suited for it.

Moreover, Drake knew what he could handle. After nearly dying at the hands of the wyvern, he knew it would take a lot more than what these creatures could give to kill him, despite the severe wound on his shoulder. As long as Yami could heal him up a bit, he should be fine.

“Hyyaahhh!” With a final shout, Peter’s axe came down firmly on the last Displacer Beast, severing its head from its body in a finishing blow. Luke and Morgan quickly heaved sighs of relief as he did, before promptly collapsing to the ground. For adventurers like themselves, this had been the most nerve-wracking fight of their lives. Simply killing goblins didn’t even compare.

“And like that, we’re finished.” Drake collapsed to the ground, completely exhausted and considerably wounded, despite Yami’s efforts. He didn’t realize it himself, but near the end, it was all he could do to stay on his feet.

“Just overall weaker, huh…” Drake mumbled to himself, a depreciating laugh escaping his lips again. His physical abilities in this form simply couldn’t match in comparison to his Draconian form. The pain from attacks was much more intense too, without the natural armor and physique of that form.

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[This was the quickest and easiest way to finish the fight. There needed to be bait, for better or worse. Any of the others would have likely died, even Peter can’t do much if he’s attacked by all of them at once. Besides, he’s best for defending Morgan. Spellcasters are the most important in these kind of fights, after all.] Drake said to Yami, emphasizing the last part especially.

Even if she wasn’t overwhelmingly powerful, Morgan was the most useful for disabling the Displacer Beast’s ability. Without that, they were no better than an average monster. They were just a bit quick, is all.

Still, despite all my talk, that last Displacer Beast was able to put up much more of a fight than I was expecting. I need to eat, and soon, otherwise this wound is only going to get worse. That last bite was deep. A deep grimace appeared on Drake’s face, as the wound on his shoulder continued to bleed heavily.

Peter ran over after confirming the condition of the other two, the worry on his face painted across it as clear as day.

“Drake, how bad is it?” His tone was heavy.

“Do me a favor, and cut out a large piece of meat from these guys, and cook it up for me. I can manage after that.” Drake managed to get the request out, as his voice was quickly becoming more ragged. His breathing was starting to quicken noticeably, and the pain was returning in deep, body wracking waves.

Drake’s voice had been quiet, even to the point where Peter had to lean in to hear correctly, but his eyes went wide in suspicion after he had heard the request.

“Fresh monster meat…?” Peter felt a chill go down the back of his neck as he stood up and grimaced, only standing in place and leaving Drake to stare at him with a dazed, confused expression.

“That’s alright, isn’t it?” Drake gave a pained smile as he looked to Peter.

Peter grimaced to himself, as he seemed to be fighting over what to do. It was common knowledge that the more magical a creature’s meat was, the more poisonous it was, often causing the people who ate it to wrack with pain before throwing it up, or outright dying if they couldn’t manage that. You could let the meat ‘cure’ over a few hours, and that would let most races eat it without any issues. Most proposals for why was that the mana inside simply seeped out over time. That Drake would ask for it so easily, and without any hesitation would mean…

Peter shook off the thought, and turned to the others.

“Right.” Drake’s request solidified a thought in Peter’s mind, but after seeing Drake’s condition, he didn’t ask any unnecessary questions. Walking over to one of the corpses, he promptly lopped off one of the many legs of the creature, before calling over Morgan.

“Cook this up for me, will ya.” He tossed the limb of the creature to her, only resulting in an utterly surprised expression.

“Why would I ever do-”

“Just do it.” Peter interjected, the tone of his voice leaving no argument.

All the while, Yami looked on in worry. It should be working… why isn’t it like before? She thought.

A dramatic injury like this, one which Drake couldn’t heal right away, was really only comparable to the time Gwyn blasted him with magic. At that time, with Drake unconscious and the mana-wyrm form of the Draconian running amok, she had stopped it by pouring in her mana into Drake’s body, healing him considerably and stopping the mana wyrm’s rampage. It wasn’t comparable to his own ability of course, but it healed the worst of his wounds. This body however, it simply wasn’t taking it.

Regardless of the circumstances, his natural abilities shouldn’t have changed. That’s why he retained his ability to heal through mana-infused meat, rather than losing it altogether. He couldn’t eat it raw, unlike before, but it was still the same ability at its core.

This time though, his body wasn’t showing any of the signs that she recognized before. Rather, the spare mana she was putting in seemed like it was disappearing altogether, with none going towards the wound itself. Which meant…

He’s going to rank up, even sooner than I was expecting. Yami thought with horror.

At the initial stage, the body formed the demonic core, and as the demon grew, the core would grow and fill the region it possessed, before violently compressing onto itself to prepare for a rank one progression.

At rank one, the body would be bathed in the natural demonic energy of that core, enhancing the demon’s physical abilities considerably. Even Demonic Lords, who typically prized their magical abilities looked forward to such a stage, as it helped balance their status as a more formidable demon overall.

The speed, power, and aura that one would expect from a real demon, would result from that qualitative change in the core. At the threshold between those two points however, demons would go into a sort of catatonic state, their cores taking every spare bit of mana it could to prepare for such a step.

Given Drake’s unique situation, he would obviously differ somewhat, but the overall process would likely be similar. The influx of mana from the creatures he fought must have guided it along even further than she was expecting.

[Drake, we need to leave the dungeon, and find somewhere to hide. You’ll be ranking up, and soon, within a few hours at the most.] She said with an intense urgency.

[Heh heh… You’re kidding.] Drake sadly laughed, with each laugh becoming more like a strained breath than before.

[We can’t leave like this…] He paused to gather his breath. [We’re in the middle of this place, and we’re practically sealed off given the entrance is being guarded. I’ll have to do it in here somehow.] Drake’s eyes began to flutter slightly, his expression becoming more delirious.

[What?! No!] Yami’s voice practically shouted out in his mind. [Drake, you can’t trust these people. They’ll see you’re a monster, and they’ll turn on you first chance they get. I can’t leave you like that.] Yami shook her head firmly.

[You can just watch after me, right?] Drake laughed lightly, his eyes closing momentarily before opening wide again.

[Ask them to go off ahead, and leave me behind. We’ll be fine as long as we just be… alone…] Drake’s eyes suddenly darkened, and he became completely limp as he began to fall to the ground suddenly before Yami caught him.

[Drake. Drake!] Yami shouted out to his mind, only to be met with complete silence. She looked hastily to Drake’s shoulder wound, before releasing a stream of mana towards him, sealing the puncture holes with crystal. This would only decrease the time he had left, along with completely freezing his recovery time, but he couldn’t be allowed to lose any more blood.

The large bite wound on Drake’s shoulder had been too much. The sudden drop in adrenaline as the fight ended, combined with the large amount of blood loss led him to go into shock as his blood pressure plummeted. He wouldn’t wake up until he had stabilized himself.

“Drake? Hey man, you alright?” Luke looked over worriedly, as he saw Yami lower his unconscious body to the ground before sealing his wounds. Rushing over with the others quickly behind him, Luke attempted to move him to get a better look, only for an intense wave of mana to push him back.

[Stay away from him!] Yami waved her hand, as a large field of crimson mist floating in the air defensively around Drake and herself.

[Don’t move… a step closer.] Yami’s voice shook with emotion, her voice echoing deeply in all of their minds.

Yami had stabilized Drake for now, but it was only thanks to these humanoids that he had gotten so badly injured in the first place. She knew perfectly well how he felt. He was enjoying himself, reveling in old emotions, and old feelings, and those emotions were passed along to her. They were… nice. But, it was that exact feeling that led him to act so dangerously.

Drake was right. He was the strongest among them, even in his weaker form, but he was so bent on fitting in, on not revealing too much of his abilities and scaring away the few humanoids that he seemed to have made friends with, that he put himself in danger. Again, and again.

Not that he didn’t enjoy the danger to some extent, that much she knew. Increasingly, as he became more accustomed to what he could do, he kept pushing himself and his body further, which was what resulted in him becoming such a mess. Because of them, he felt that he needed to do more than what he was capable of, so they weren’t injured. Because of them, he ended up here, bleeding out on the floor as one of the most important times of his new life was approaching.

Because of them.

[Leave us alone. Leave the body of one the monsters there, and go.] Her voice rang out in their minds again, the direction and authority in her voice echoing out over them, despite her small form. In that moment, they suddenly became aware of a very real possibility. Yami might seriously attack them if they didn’t listen.

[Yami, we’re here to-] Peter began to call out to Yami, only for a shard to suddenly plant itself at his feet threateningly. The message Yami was conveying was clear.

“You…!” Luke began to take a step forward, only for him to be pulled back by Peter.

He shook his head, before looking to Yami, gauging her reactions as best he could before letting out a reluctant sigh. “We’ll leave, and go further into the dungeon. You won’t have to worry about us.” He motioned to leave, before turning to her again. [Drake can use that meat he wanted to somehow heal when he wakes up, can’t he?] Peter posed a question to Yami.

Yami tilted her head with a small bit of curiosity before answering. [Drake will be fine as long as you leave a body.]

“That answers that.” Peter muttered to himself. “Let’s go. You heard what Drake said up above, they’re partners. Not master and slave. She won’t let anything happen to him, and this room is cleared out.”

“But-”

“Morgan. We’re leaving.” Peter’s tone shifted. It wasn’t a request.

Morgan stood completely still, only looking up after a moment to the small imp. What she wanted to see was a look of confidence on the small imp’s face, an inkling that she could handle it. But the look she and the others received wasn’t one of trust or even faith. It was one of utter loathing towards herself, Luke and Peter.

“Fine.” She bit her lip, before gesturing to the undead Displacer beast to follow them.

One of the reasons the others were so hesitant to enter the dungeon was because they lacked healing magic. Truthfully, even if they were allowed to help, they wouldn’t be able to help much, and Peter knew that Drake was hiding secrets of his own. If his own imp was so insistent, then the only course of action was to simply listen.

Quickly picking up what gear they brought into the dungeon, Peter and the others slowly made their way across the room, and walk down the winding staircase at the very end of the room. Morgan and Luke entered first, with the undead beast Morgan had created taking the lead position. With Peter in the back, he took one last look towards them, a conflicted look on his face.

[Yami. Take care of Drake. And I’m sorry we got in your way.] Peter spoke to her in a final manner, before he walked down the staircase, leaving both Yami and Drake alone in the room.

That humanoid… Yami shook her head, her own conflicted feelings on the matter being swept away with the serious nature of the situation.

“Ha… Finally.” Yami took a deep breath, before releasing her control over the large mist of mana. “How does he do it..? Heh.” She smiled playfully before looking behind her to the unconscious form of Drake.

“I have a few hours at the most with that layer of crystal covering his shoulder. If I’m unlucky, it’ll be even sooner. Not to mention…”

The main reason Yami was so insistent was her own predicament. With Drake undergoing his own evolution, she would inevitably be forced into soon after if she waited until that point. They would both be left in a situation that put them completely at the mercy of the others. An unacceptable situation, in which case she’d rather…

“Dryad, you’re there listening, aren’t you?” Yami called out to the empty room, her voice echoing off the roots in the wide, empty room.

“Dammit, answer me!” She called out again, even more desperately this time.

There was only silence in response. Whether the Dryad had decided they weren’t worthy of her attention or if she was simply watching the others, Yami was ignored.

“Aaagh! Dammit!” She yelled out in frustration.

Regardless of whether or not this room was safe, that didn’t matter. It was too exposed, too open. At any time, the others could simply walk back up, no matter how unlikely it was, and expose Drake’s secret. If that was the case, no matter how Peter felt, the others might overwhelm him and take matters into their own hands. It simply wasn’t in Yami’s nature to leave that sort of decision up to others.

Yami landed on the ground next to Drake, her eyes desperately darting around the room. “Roots, roots, nothing but damn roots! There’s nothing here I can even use…” She lamented. The Dryad was no doubt laughing at her at this very second. Her and that stupid ‘darling’ the Dryad had mentioned before.

“Roots…” Yami’s eyes suddenly widened, as she looked to the room around her. Dryads, as a species, relied on their trees, and judging by this dungeon, and how every part of it seemed to be influenced by this tree, this particular Dryad had an especially powerful one. The tree itself was likely the source of the Dryad’s affection.

In a world where magic was real, the more powerful natural forces often had a spirit behind it. While the spirit could be connected to the Dryad, much like Drake and Yami, they equally had their own set of values and intentions.

Lifting off the ground, Yami slowly made her way over to a nearby root, placing her hand on it as her lips curled slightly. “Drake couldn’t recognize these roots with his mana. Even now, touching them physically, I can’t even use my mana on them. I can also feel that they contain an immense amount of mana running through them…” Yami’s mind began to spin with the weight of the decision in front of her.

Going above the Dryad’s head, and asking the tree itself for help. If it worked together with the Dryad, it would be an utterly fruitless affair. However, if the intentions behind each of them were different, then…

A hopeful look flashed across Yami’s eyes, as she focused heavily on the root in front of her. “If I can’t rely on the Dryad, then this is my only other choice…”

Spirit… Please…

Yami had always had a skeptical nature. Strangers were always viewed with hostility, she almost always assumed the worst of others, and she would often switch between outright vindictive to loving at the drop of a hat depending on who she was talking to, but at this moment, she was entirely trusting. She had to be.

Please… if you can hear me… She thought desperately.

A sudden shudder made its way throughout the entire room, forcing Yami back from sheer fright as the roots around her vibrated with force.

[Small… one…] A heavy, grinding voice made it to Yami’s mind, the sheer scale of the telepathic link frightening her immensely. She understood now why her head hurt so badly from the Dryad’s message before. She was using the tree as a conduit.

It answered… She backed away further and looked up in a state of wide-eyed wonder before suddenly shaking her head and trying to answer back.

[U-uh… Uh… Tree! Spirit… Um… What do I call… you…?] Yami replied meekly, stuttering over her words.

[Aesir…]

[Right! Aesir, right. Um… please, if you could, can you transport us to somewhere safe?]

The connection suddenly shut itself off from her. There was a long pause, as almost a full minute passed by. For a moment, she believed that she had even been rejected, but just as suddenly, the enormous mental link reconnected with her, and answered her.

[Manna disagrees… But… I will put you and the Draconian somewhere safe…] The slow, grinding voice resounded in her head, as the solid, marble-like stone suddenly opened up under Drake, and swallowed him whole.

Draconian… The race of Drake stood out immediately to Yami. He had been transformed the entire time, no one should have known about him. Still, she didn’t have time to ponder over it.

[Enter…] The voice commanded her, and Yami was all too happy to oblige. She grabbed the piece of meat from the Displacer Beast that Morgan had started to prepare, before quickly following Drake down, the hole sealing up seamlessly behind her.