Chapter 34: Reinforcements
The Cleric had murdered my dubiously trustworthy new acquaintance without hesitation, that had been unnecessary to say the least and the complete lack of mercy let me understand exactly why people hated these guys and left me sorely tempted to take a shot at him despite the foolishness of that approach. How many "sins" before he crushed me without hesitation or warning. My other friends had told me no one knew the rubric by which the Umbani judged and the Cleric himself had insinuated that I would be ok. But how could I trust him when he was capable of such unprovoked violence. After all they were a people who cultivated a scouring flame within themselves and turned it onto even themselves without hesitation. Hafbracken had been burned by his own flame, nearly charred to death but it had protected him in it's own way. If I attacked now, even with his wounds the giant had a very good chance of overpowering me and even if I succeeded... well, I'd already been warned about the list that Umbani-slayers ended up on. I quelled my rage by focusing on my Level up. I wasn't going to waste the life fore of any more kills on a full experience bar.
Level 6: 0/89 Experience to next level.
Maximum Hp increased to 48
Maximum Mana increased to 102
Second Level Spells unlocked. When crafting a Spell-Candle you may increase its potency to second level via the addition of standard reagents depending on the type of spell. A second level spell gains a 50 percent boost to relevant stats.
Intuitively I understood that Offensive spells required reagents that increased force like the tea leaves Luna had ordered from the capital. Defensive spells required higher tier metals than the iron shavings I used for shrapnel and Utility or healing spells like the Cleanse required addition of herbs of greater rarity than the household culinary fare I was using.
Rarity was based on more than scarcity, higher tiers of item had an intrinsic value that could be detected by those with the proper spells, higher levels of mana or something I assumed. It wouldn't help me now however, I wouldn't be crafting any candles before the worm cult came calling. Instead I scooped up as much worm poison as I could get into my vials, Victoria smiled and gestured to her own collection of purple worm blood and venom that now stuffed her pack. I hoped we didn't have any kitchen mix ups with the stuff.
Luna butted into our moment then. "Well, since our new ally is dead and gone we don't have anyone to keep us hidden down here if the cultists come looking. Is everyone ready to go?"
We all agreed, except for Farrah who was still very corpse-like, slowly and as stealthily as possible we made our way out of the caves, there was no sound of pursuers right behind us just yet but we all knew there soon would be, together we pressed on, Karl and I offered help to the Cleric at first but he shrugged us off, removing an iron boot from his mangled leg so that it would not scrape loudly on the stone below us as we made our way out. Luna crept ahead and I carried Farrah, handing her over to Karl only when the lightweight fighter grew uncharacteristically heavy on my aching muscles.
The tunnels began clamouring with activity when we were only a couple minutes from the exit and our escape quickly turned into a fighting retreat as the enemy poured in on top of us. We fought uphill against a wave of Derro wielding shields and short swords perfect for the tight confines. The Cleric wreathed himself in flame once again as venomous bolts pierced his plate armour, It seemed the Derro had sharpshooters wielding crude crossbows working in tandem with the shield juggernauts.
I used the last gout of flame In my Spell candle, charging it for a few moments while the Cleric moved in front of a collapsing Luna and tried to break a shield wall that was constantly reinforcing itself with purple energy while bolt after bolt buried itself in the determined giant. "Hafbracken get down!" I commanded. The Cleric crouched and shuffled back, massive sword holding the enemy at bay long enough for my own gout of flame to wash over the shield wall and crisp the ranks of ranged attackers ensconced behind them.
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"The candle's flame is a welcome companion to the White Fire" The giant sounded high, definitely more than slightly out of it as flames surged past his swaying, poison-soaked body in a sustained burst.
The Derro cursed my mother, backing away from the flamethrower which guttered and died all too soon as the last of the wax was consumed, I allowed the wax to be drawn into myself, regenerating the last of my wounds and then switched to a blue and rosemary infused candle. The Rosemary went first, purging venom from Luna's body as her demonically augmented boyfriend broke through the flaming shield wall with blows of his barbed and many-jointed limb working in tandem with precision thrusts of his sword that found flesh more often than it deflected off of the porous but tough wood of the shields even as those short blades took a bloody toll of his own flesh. By this point everyone had been hit with at least one dart and Victoria slurred her words as she incanted her spells while I found it ever-harder to focus on the magic within my own candles. Lightning cracked from the blue wax and arced from one body to a second when it hit the shield wall. Then the giant toppled and the Derro advanced across his form, in the narrow tunnel Karl had to retreat to a better position and the Derro covered Hafbracken behind their bodies and shields as they came onwards.
Karl finally took in too much poison for his new biology to handle and slowly toppled in place. immediately he was swallowed up by the advancing Derro just like the cleric had been. Luna groggily staggered back to her feet as my spell flushed out the last of the toxins and then Victoria stopped firing arcane missiles and instead unleashed her oscillating heat wave in an attempt to cut a path back to our allies . With no friendlies in her path she put her all into it and I saw the wood crack and splinter, faces bubble and twist in agony as the wave cooked them from the shoulders up and then the wall of maddened cultists collapsed, already softened up by the pressure exerted by our fallen comrades it simply gave in under the combined assault of my lightning volleys and the microwave attacks of the platinum-haired young wizard.
The shield wall collapsed and then the ceiling followed, the heat and electrical blasts seemingly having destabilised it enough to come crashing down in a cloud of pulverised stone. The demonic fighter and the giant cleric's prostrate forms were immediately hidden from view by a pile of stone and rising dust. "Shit! Fall back, fall back."
We retreated from the cave-in in progress amidst the bloodlust-filled cries of the Derro, I thought we were lost but Luna led us down the next right and then took us up a new path, apparently she could pretty accurately spelunk her way back to the surface and within 5 minutes we were above once more. Experience to level 7 was at 9/89 and we were down 2 men, the Cleric and Karl had been left behind, left as either slaves or corpses while we had gotten away free.
"We have to go back, we can't leave them." Victoria's rationality was nowhere to be seen, her worry for the mutated guard plain to see. I set Farrah down against a tree and wrapped the slender woman in my arms. Her sister put a hand on her back and softly said what I was thinking. "Jack said they have some sort of gondola that takes them much deeper into Derro territory, we couldn't take the raiding force they sent above ground, I doubt we have any better chance against whatever settlement they have down there. There's nothing we can do."
Victoria broke free and looked at her sister with shock. "You can't possibly mean that can you? We've known Karl since we were kids, he's your boyfriend for Ilune's sake!"
Luna pointed at her arm, blood mixed with purplish venom that oozed from a deep cut, it would need either stitches or a night by a warm fire in this world's logic. "I'm covered in these, enough of it knocked out both our brawlers. We can't do this without serious help."
A moment of realisation struck me as I stared at the latest development occurring behind them both, Karl's particular physiology had made him exceedingly resistant to the poison, if that was so then I might know someone who could really help us.
"Merillax."I said it in a flat tone, not a question or curse, just a statement of fact, Luna looked at me strangely, Victoria did the same but I just kept staring right past them at the vision of death leaving the tunnel in our wake. She was here, a pale, pixie-faced demon wearing a savage grin and more black and purple blood than I could possibly imagine was healthy as she clambered out of the Derro hive. Her red hair was still short-cropped with an unmistakable stylishness to it and the black chainmail was still trimmed with impractical but undamaged lace and silk. I raised my sword in a friendly gesture of greeting and Luna and Victoria tunned to face her with undisguised distaste. "Fancy seeing you here"