Not now!
[Runeforged overlord] is still…
Mana : 262 312 / 417 100
The laughter continued, getting closer and closer.
Mana : 257 213 / 417 100
We have fifty seconds if I use nothing else.
Pareth got the message and advanced, brandishing his shield.
Sofia grabbed her Scepter which had been floating near her from the moment she dropped it to dig into the Amalgam, and prepared for another close-quarter fight. Since she could not disable [Runeforged overlord], she might as well put that lost mana to good use.
Bookie followed right behind her, refreshing his High-Priest magic boons on both Sofia and Pareth.
The laughter stopped when the creature stepped out of the black fog. Sofia Identified it before she could even get a good look.
[Sunless homunculus - Lv. ??? - Imprint power : 20 - Effect : mana + 2000]
Could be worse.
Sofia grasped two things from the Identify, first being the monster’s level was between 250 and 299, judging from the imprint power, and that this was not one of the smart Sunless like Everelle and Tarren, of which the monster-like unknown level was a dead giveaway. The situation was still rather bad, but far from hopeless.
She summoned the skull choir, a wall of tubular sandworm skulls appearing behind her while Pareth stood his ground.
The creature attacked, Mirroring Sofia’s skulls, a wall of sharp lances of ice appeared above the short creature stepping out of the fog, and the temperature in the corridor instantly dropped to an unbelievable cold.
A first lance hit Pareth’s shield, and while his health did not move, the shield of light started to freeze over and crack.
Step back!
Pareth jumped back while Sofia rushed forward.
Sofia brandished her shield and the rest of the Ice lances came crashing down in a violent stream. From the moment she had seen the first ice lance hit Pareth, Sofia knew she could take them, and as for their magical freezing effect, VPPV had long made her immune to that.
When the last lance hit, Sofia’s bone-covered shield was in bad shape, but she was unharmed.
She finally got her first good look at the creature, which looked a bit like a miniature and Sunless version of the Apostle of Dread she had once killed in Skyreach, it was an unsettling being with twisted limbs, only vaguely resembling a human. Its magic failing, the things lunged at Sofia.
A trident of light shot past Sofia and burst through the creature’s head, stopping it just a meter away from her. Finally, the sandworm skulls were fully charged, they all released their attacks. The concentrated beams of energy slammed against the Sunless’s head. When the beams died down, the creature’s head was missing, but it was still struggling to get out of Pareth’s trident as if that did not matter.
Sofia felt a stream of mana escape from the creature, which told her where its core was, and a huge fire ball appeared above them. The temperature changed from freezing cold to untenable heat.
[Heat Death]
In a move that cost Sofia almost all of her remaining mana, she dispelled the fire ball right before it exploded, and, now knowing where the creature’s core was, she struck it with her scepter.
Sparks of electricity coursed through the Sunless’s body, and it exploded in a thin mist of mana.
‘You have defeated [Sunless homunculus - Lv. 252 - Imprint intact]’
‘[Skull choir] reached level 238’
Sofia made haste to retrieve the imprint before her own mana ran out from [Runeforged Overlord], and once that was done, she walked back with Pareth and Bookie, eventually making it all the way back to the rest area. There was still no ambient mana but at least it was far from the unexplored section. She could not just wait in the half-explored maze, with the possibility that monsters might encircle them.
The group sat in a triangle in the entrance of the dungeon, and Sofia deactivated her armor to relax a bit. She untied her hair and used her fingers to untangle them, wearing the bone-armor helmet for a while never failed to create a mess.
Should’ve taken a brush out before the dungeon started…
Stolen novel; please report.
She got Bookie to toss her a water-stone and started strategizing after having a drink.
“So we found a new type of Sunless. Elemental mages. It was not too tough physically. I’m a good match against these. I have [Heat Death] to negate attacks, VPPV gives ice immunity and fire resistance, and I can get lightning resistance by quick-starting a bolt cast. If we’re ever in a group fight, let the homunculus to me. Bookie, you were fine as a support, but I’m thinking if we’re against an amalgam again, it might be better to send the Mimic with Pareth instead of me, I feel like with its speed it should be able to avoid the black lance attacks. Pareth knows what he’s doing so I don’t really have anything to say.”
Pareth and Bookie both approved with light nods.
“Say, Pareth, you’ve grown a bit more expressive again, no?”
He shrugged in return.
“See? You would barely ever answer before. I don’t get why but you’re more reactive these days. I like it. It feels a lot less like I’m a crazy bone lady talking to herself…”
Sofia stared into Pareth’s shimmering holy flames that stood for his eyes. She would never get bored of staring at them.
“Bookie is the same, too. Hey… Speaking of which… Shouldn’t… Bookie… be able to talk?”
Both Pareth and Sofia turned to stare at Bookie, who jumped back like he was surprised, hitting his skull against the wall in the process, and he threw his hands up in surrender.
Pareth could not speak due to his demigod peculiarities, but Bookie? He was one of Orator’s creations. Was he a demigod of the Deep? That seemed possible, to begin with, his entire existence was weird, how he had even developed a soul was still unexplained, but either way, even if he was a demigod, would his penalty be the exact same as Pareth?
That did not sound right.
Meanwhile, Richard had skeletons like Florencia, who he created himself and who were completely capable of speech.
Sofia stared at the innocent skeleton with narrowed eyes.
“Bookie... Have you been able to talk ever since you got a body and you just didn’t?” she questioned in a playful but accusatory tone.
Bookie threw a hopeful glance at Pareth, but no help came from the silent armored skeleton, in fact, he was staring even harder than Sofia was. Bookie tried to take another step back but he was already against the wall.
There’s no way, right? Bookie?
Pareth had been sitting next to Sofia, he stood up.
It was rare for Sofia to be able to feel Pareth’s emotions. The last time she had felt it strongly had been when she got reunited with Saria, but right then, she could feel Pareth’s burning curiosity in her chest. He glanced at her and this time Bookie was looking at Sofia for help.
“I don’t know what it is exactly that you want to do, but I trust you, go ahead,” she told Pareth with a smirk.
Pareth slowly walked up to Bookie. The small skeleton’s legs were shaking.
Pareth raised a hand menacingly, the flames in his eyes burning brighter than ever.
As the two skeletons held their positions, there was a long moment of silence.
Bookie fell to his knees.
“D- Don’t punish me!”
Coming out of nowhere, the soft voice of a scared young boy.
Sofia had been drinking another sip of water, the surprise caused her to swallow wrong and start coughing.
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!
Pareth lightly shook his skull, his hand came down, he patted Bookie’s skull like he did Sofia’s head earlier that day. Grabbing Bookie from under his arms, he carried him back to Sofia and sat down while still holding him.
Sofia finally stopped coughing, complaining in her head about how dumb it was to still have reflexes like that when she didn’t need to breathe. And now she was staring at Bookie again.
At that moment, it was hard to tell what he was thinking, and for once, Sofia wished that her skeletons had an actual face that she could read.
She sighed. “Of course we are not going to punish you. When has that even ever happened? I’m sorry I didn’t realize earlier. I was so focused on Pareth when I spoke with Richard that we ended up barely even mentioning you… But still… Why would you hide it?”
Bookie looked uncertain. He looked at Sofia, then at Pareth, then at Sofia again, then finally his jaw opened. He no longer sounded scared but more like a sad kid.
“I… I didn’t want brother Pareth to be jealous.”
“Oh…”
“A- Are you mad?” he asked, his voice almost dying in his non-existent throat.
Sofia stood up, dusting her butt and legs as the floor was a bit dusty, and she took a step to be in front of Pareth and Bookie.
She looked at Pareth.
“Are you jealous?”
Pareth shook his head.
“I’m not mad, Pareth, are you mad?”
Pareth gave a gentle pat to Bookie’s skull again.
“See. No one’s mad. In fact, I’m happy that you can talk. You don’t have to restrict yourself for Pareth. I’m sure he’ll be happy to listen to you too.”
“Really?”
“Of course really! You called him brother Pareth? Do you think he would not want to hear his little brother speak just because he himself can’t?”
“Ah… A- Alright. Sorry,” Bookie apologized.
“Come on now, cheer up, you can talk now, this is great news! Do you have any idea how many questions I have for you?”
“I don’t know anything!”
“Hey-hey. I did not even ask anything yet. But let’s start with an easy question. What do you want your name to be?”
“My name?” Bookie repeated like he did not understand the question.
“Yes. Your name. I have been calling you Bookie forever now, but if you don’t lik-”
“No!” Bookie interjected. He freed himself from Pareth’s arms and stood between Sofia and Pareth. Looking proudly at Sofia in the eyes, he declared the following:
“I am Bookie, [The Book of Skeletons]! I am not changing!”
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