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The Necromancer vanished into the shadows, reappearing, torch in hand, next to the clay golem. The monster turned on itself without moving. One second, its face was on one side, the next, on its other side. The man vanished before the earthy fists hit him and reappeared laterally.

Vincent dashed at the tree. It was nimble, despite its size, the tallest of all, at about twelve feet. The crown whipped around while thick branches tried to smash the assailant into pieces. Only one strategy was possible: attack the roots serving as feet, dancing the axe's dance to dodge the hits.

Bee entered the room timidly, phone in hand, drone ahead, flying around the metal golem's helmet. The armor raised the heavy halberd to hit the pesky menace. Bee arranged for the drone to intercept the hit at its end, allowing the momentum to build. It was a nice demonstration of skill, almost on par with Jorge's piloting virtuosity.

An invisible fist threw the armor back. It smashed into the wall, twenty yards back, and broke into pieces. Nevertheless, those pieces were trying to put themselves back together, moving on the floor. Vincent pulled his fight over the remains of the metal golem to create some obstacles in their path. The heavy roots began crushing pieces, and the metal golem parts became inert where that happened.

Meanwhile, Bee had figured out his way to help, throwing a huge armor glove toward the door. There was a thin shining force field over the arch, and it disintegrated the object in a blink.

"We can't leave before we beat them!" Bee screamed, rushing to grab a boot.

"Yeah, Sherlock, I see!" Vincent grunted, dodging a blow. The heavy branches were easy to avoid, but the flexible crown had delivered many thin cuts over his face and hands. He thought momentarily about pulling the tree golem toward the forcefield and trying to push the thing into the energy. Still, he risked being fried himself if he wasn't careful. "Zap the tree!" he screamed.

The drone was now hovering above, out of reach. Throwing the golem's boot into the forcefield, Bee retook control of the drone and started shooting electric bolts. The wooden golem started to screech in pain, trying to snatch the drone out of the air, mistaking it for an opponent.

Dumb… Always go for the puppeteer, not the puppet…

The distraction offered Vincent a much-needed window of opportunity. He cut one of the main roots, depriving the golem of most of his mobility, and started chopping farther up. A hollow held a flickering light, most likely a sort of vitals.

Distracted between the two attacks, the tree's fate was sealed, yet Vincent took his time, his mind trying to think as fast as he could. There had been some bad signs. Unwonted friendliness… The revealing of how to use a dungeon core… Why? The Necromancer should have been suspicious of Vincent, as Vincent was suspicious of the Necromancer.

Meanwhile, Bee made the drone hover in a fixed position, making it attack automatically, and was throwing the last bit of metal golem into the forcefield.

The Necromancer was still dancing around the clay golem, which looked mostly intact, but the man had concentrated the torch’s heat on one spot in the middle of the chest. Letting the torch fall, he used the shadows to appear next to the golem and threw a fist in the now cooked and solidified material. It broke. A yellowish gem fell out, clinking several times on the floor, and the golem caved on itself.

The same happened when Vincent hit the hollow directly. The bark gave, and a deep green fist-sized object slid off. The tree golem froze, then fell backward.

Bee's opponent still had a few pieces moving but wasn’t a danger anymore. If the Necromancer had been planning to betray them, this would have been the perfect moment to strike, while his prey was trapped with him inside the lair. Revolver in his right hand, Vincent took aim at the Necromancer.

"Why?" Vincent asked.

"You figured it out, didn't you?" the Necromancer said slowly, lowering his stance like a lion ready to attack.

"Yeah. Did Ludwing put it to it, or is it your—"

"Ludwing?" the man sneered. "Ludwing's a pompous ass! With three cores in my power, I’ll dispose of him and become king myself. Then no one will dare—"

Vincent teleported behind the Necromancer, Bee's ring in his left palm. He forcedly showed it into the man's mouth, covering it with his palm and activating Iron Grip. At the same time, he hit the man's knee pit with his boot, making him bend back, shooting his revolver twice: once in the man's groin, aiming through the space now exposed at the waist, and the second time in the neck, getting the trachea but missing the spine.

The Necromancer vanished into the shadows but reappeared a moment later, contorting on the floor, choking and screaming in pain, flames and blood erupting from his eyes, mouth, nostrils, and ears. He tried to hide in the dark again, but it only worked briefly. Vincent missed the next shot, the bullet ricocheting on the floor, but he got the fourth point blank in the ear, then fired the last bullets in the head, inserting the gun into the Necromancer's mouth. Only then did the man stop trashing his members. The fire inside him consumed him in moments, leaving behind only a dark, oily soot, a shadow painted on the floor.

Fuck… I did it… Vincent gasped. The adrenaline backlash made him fall to his knees. On the other side of the room, Bee heaved, hand over his heart, slackjawing. Vincent let him be, wobbling to get on his feet, reading his notifications in the process.

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You have completed the Side Quest: Kill the commanders of the enemy army 3/3

You have slain Boory Bista, Legendary Necromancer, level 100

Levels x2

+2 Mind for guessing your foe's Evil plan.

You have completed the Quest: Stop the enemies from besieging Sofia.

Level x1

Reward Pending

“Let’s finish the job.” Vincent detached the last blue gem from the metal golem’s plate.

You have cleared the Vault's inner chamber.

Level x1 / +1 Body

Your Karmic Charges are now full.

Leveling is slower now, Vincent noticed. There were other notifications about his skill levels, but those could wait. He walked and waved his hand before Bee's eyes. "Are you in there, buddy?"

"Uh!" the youngster gasped. He retched, and Vincent barely avoided the vomit jet.

"Here, here… it's over," Vincent patted Bee's back.

"Beurch…"

Leaving the scientist, Vincent went to the pedestal. As soon as he approached, a text appeared above the objects.

A disturbance in Karma extracted these Core seeds from their slumber 12 days ago.

Isn't that when we arrived?

Detected by The Raven, the Archetype of Memory and Corvids, they are now the subject of a verbal contract between three parties and four Archetypes.

Next step of the quest: Claim the cores within 1 day. Sign a tri-lateral System-endorsed treaty about the future relationships with the other parties involved in the non-verbal agreement within 4 days. Install the Cores in the three domains before 6 days.

Failure to complete any of these steps will result in the Vault's closure, and other parties will be allowed to acquire them.

"I guess we better move on," Vincent said, feeling his chest. His heart was beating wild, still under the battle's influence. When he moved to grab the cores, another text appeared. He didn’t read it; Bee had arrived there too, dragging his feet on the ground.

"That was brutal, man… brutal…"

"Err… you mean it in a good or bad way?"

"Both… How did you know… forget it… How did you do it? A level forty against a level a hundred?"

"Well…"

"No! Let me tell it as I see it," Bee said, walking back and forth, massaging his chin. "It was a genius plan. The Necromancer's unwonted show of friendship made you realize he planned to take the cores for himself and dispose of us. To have proof of his treason, taunted him into an evil monologue, knowing the drone was recording everything. Corvinus can't deny the truth now. You never used a jump during the golem fight to not reveal your secret move to your enemy.

"The masterpiece was using my ring on him… It's a rookie’s work. It enhances the stats but has no limiter… I didn’t think about it because our stats are low, but a monster like him surely had at least one stat capped… you made him go into overload. A strategists' chef d'oeuvre!" Bee concluded, his chest pumped out, proud of his reasoning.

Vincent put his hands on Bee's shoulders, looking into his eyes. "I was not sure of his treason. I bluffed. I was not going to shoot without proof. That's murder. I didn’t Stride during the golem fight to conserve Karmic Charges. And I had no idea the drone was recording, but now that I do, forward me the video. The ring was a stroke of luck. It was supposed to choke or distract him…"

"You mean we were just… lucky?" Bee swallowed a lump.

"Yeah," Vincent nodded. "I mean exactly that. We should be dead. We were lucky."

"Fuuuuuck…" Bee exhaled.

"What do you make of this?" Vincent gestured toward the cores. Each of them displayed a different text.

Ironclad Core: A former Dungeon Seed, now a Country Core patched up by the System. This Core will enhance anything related to metal extraction, metallurgy, weapon and armor smithing, and fortress defenses. Any precious gray-colored gem will have its properties doubled in this Core's area. Maximum area coverable: 65.000 square miles

This core can raise animated armors as protectors of the land and surround its cities and fortress with spikes and barbed wire protections.

Silvaric Core: A former Dungeon Seed, now a Country Core patched up by the System. This Core will enhance anything related to forests, orchards, tourism, hot springs, running waters, woodworking-related crafts, and similar endeavors. Any precious green-colored gem will have its properties doubled in this Core's area. Maximum area coverable: 78.000 square miles

This core can raise living trees as protectors of the land and use bees and poisonous plants to disrupt hostile armies.

Earth Core: A former Dungeon Seed, now a Country Core patched up by the System. This Core will enhance anything related to earthworks, ceramics, agriculture, irrigation, brickmaking, and road building. Any precious dark-yellow-colored gem will have its properties doubled in this Core's area. Maximum area coverable: 200.000 square miles

This core can raise animated clay golems as protectors of the land and surround its cities and fortress with earthworks.

"We can't let Corvinus have an army of living armors," Bee said. "He already has those knights."

"The only Core who matches the amount of terrain he wants is the Clay one… The problem is what core we should choose… I'd like the forest one, but I guess Irene would want me to pick the metal stuff… for the metalsmithing part."

"Man, we're friends with the Amazons… If the Bogomils have the ironworks, we'll supply you with iron."

"Should we try to attune to the cores?" Vincent asked.

"What if it takes too long and we miss the time limit?"

"OK, we just take them for now," Vincent said, taking the deep green ball in his hand.

The Silvaric Core is now attuned to you.

Really? All it took was touching it? A clew of impatience and urges appeared in his head, aking to the vibes he got from the tigers. The core couldn't wait to grow trees and play with forests and meadows. It was a joyful sentiment, and he knew instantly that he had made the right choice. "Did your core attuned to you?" he asked Bee. "Mine did."

"So fast? Nope, mine is silent for now… Maybe I'll give it to Barbara; she has a lot of affinity for iron from all those swords and gear."

“You’ll sort it out,” Vincent said, offering Bee the blue golem gem. He stored the clay one in his pocket along the last core.