‘Seriously, what the f*ck is that?’ Lith inwardly cursed at the worm. ‘There is no mention of such a creature in all the bestiaries I own. It doesn’t seem an Evolved Monster but it’s not dumb either. How strong is its core?’
‘Unknown. I can’t see the mana core just like I can’t see its life force. I can barely pinpoint its location by following the anomaly it creates in my mana sense. Either that creature has special abilities or that black stuff covering its body it’s not skin but a jamming device.’ Solus replied.
‘This means I’m not just facing a shaman, but also another unknown enemy. There’s no way someone that can’t even use dimensional magic has tamed or equipped the worm.’ Lith was seriously considering to give up on the crystal.
Whoever had the talent and the means to shield something from Solus’s senses had to be at least as good as her maker. Even if he managed to slay the beast, its owner wasn’t an opponent he could take lightly.
Ragh’Ash completed her chant opening a channel between her and the crystal. Now she could not only access to all of its powers without the need of the physical contact, but also could use the crystal’s energy like it was her own.
It was a desperate move for desperate times. The longer the channel was open, the more likely Ragh’Ash was to die from mana overload. Until then, she would have access to an almost infinite supply of mana.
The first thing she did, was to wrap the holy crystal with the strongest materials the ground had to offer. That way she could completely disregard its safety and focus on the demon.
‘Incoming from your 4!’ Solus warned Lith, who darted upwards just in time to avoid the worm’s charge. It moved so fast, causing only such small trembling in the ground s mouth that without her warning Lith would have never noticed it.
The worm’s mouth was wide open, which allowed Solus’s spirit magic to feed it a generous serving of Fire Roots, Black Lotus’ petals, broken lightning wands, and a sprinkle of green pepper.
As someone who had studied Alchemy during the last four years, she knew exactly what kind of ingredients were never to be mixed. Unless, of course, one wanted to trigger an uncontrollable chain reaction that resulted in the death of anyone in a ten meters (33′) radius.
The first explosion made the worm squirm in mid air, messing with its landing. It hit the ground with the same grace of a wet sock before starting to dance around like a firecracker. Smoke, blood, and teeth came out non stop as the explosions grew in frequency and power.
Lith had barely the time to grin at his partner’s brilliance when Ragh’Ash raised her hand and unleashed a barrage of spells like Lith had never witnessed before.
The ground below him shot rock spikes as big as an arm, the air surrounding him became so cold that frost formed over Lith’s clothes as a hail of fireballs and a lightning storm struck in every direction leaving him no way out.
The shaman’s glowing eyes meant she too was using Life Vision. He couldn’t Blink recklessly, if Ragh’Ash understood how to predict his exit points Lith’s dimensional magic would become useless.
When Lith disappeared from her sight, Ragh’Ash turned around, expecting him being right behind her. She had no idea the spell had a limited range, so she assumed the worst and reacted accordingly. Yet Lith wasn’t there.
He was nowhere to be found to be precise.
Since the worm’s stone hide hid it so well from Life Vision and mana sense, Lith had Blinked behind it to use it as his cover. The worm was still writhing as it coughed smoke and blood, yet the creature refused to die.
The final explosion was strong enough to crack its shell, but not even that seemed to be able to put it down. The worm emitted high pitched noises that gave Lith the creeps. They sounded too similar to the cries of a newborn.
<"There you are!"> Ragh’Ash yelled when the crystal revealed to her the demon’s position. She didn’t care for the worm, resuming the assault while calling forth another lightning from the sky at the same time.
‘How can she have so much mana?’ Lith inwardly cursed before Blinking away.
‘The cold is so intense that if not for my natural resistance and the Skinwalker armor I would be already hallucinating.’
‘It’s the crystal.’ Solus explained while keeping an eye on the worm. ‘It’s like she has a cyan and a purple core. The good news is that her body is already collapsing from the exertion. The bad news is that, at this rate, you will die before her, so please do something!’
Each Blink brought Lith higher until the rock spikes couldn’t threaten him anymore. His survival took priority compared to giving away how Blink worked. Luckily, he had mastered true dimensional magic, so Lith could Blink while weaving another spell.
Ragh’Ash aimed the natural lightning for Lith’s exit point, timing the spell so that he wouldn’t have the time for another Blink. It was the flash accompanying the thunderbolt that revealed her the truth.
Its light was reflected on a throwing dagger near her feet. It wasn’t an enchanted weapon, so not even Life Vision could detect it. She didn’t have the time to wonder how long it had been there that her world turned upside down.
Lith was exactly where she had predicted, but the lightning wasn’t. It was about to hit her instead. After each Blink, Lith had negatively charged himself to repel the incoming lightning and positively charged his set of throwing daggers while Solus spread them in a diagonal line with spirit magic.
Only a small part of the thunderbolt struck him, but thanks to earth fusion Lith managed to escape from the clutches of death. All the remaining energy followed the path of least resistance Lith had created, aiming for that last dagger Ragh’Ash had just noticed.
‘Physics rocks!’ Lith thought as he fell to the ground.
Fear froze the shaman to the point she couldn’t even close her eyes. Yet much to both magicians’ surprise, she survived. The worm that they had left for dead came out of the ground in front of her and shielded Ragh’Ash with its body.
Not even the black armor could resist the power of nature. The cracks caused by Solus’s Alchemical cocktail expanded until it was destroyed, revealing the creature inside.
It was a Rock Worm, a magical beast pretty common inside underground dungeons.
‘What the heck is it doing here and why did it save the shaman?’ Lith inwardly cursed at the beast.
Ragh’Ash didn’t have the time to rejoice. Her body was very close to collapse and for some reason, her strongest weapon had been turned against her. To make things worse, her pet had fallen too.
She had no choice but to use her last trump card. Every time a shaman used the holy crystal, their bond became stronger. The crystal gave them mana and they gave it bits of their life in return.
An expert shaman could feel those bits and use them to access the memories of the past shamans. It wasn’t even a spell, it was simply another kind of exchange, a bit of life of a bit of the past lives of others.
Ragh’Ash could only hope that one of her ancestors knew a spell capable of killing the demon and that accessing it wouldn’t cost her sanity.
Sorry for the late release. I had problems, will try to upload on time.
