The lord raised his hand; three lightning bolts shot out and reached the knights, imbuing them with a buff as their speed increased.
Their armor took a beating but they waded through Rugrat and Erik’s attacks. Rugrat stopped throwing grenades as they were ineffective against the knights.
The spiritas waved his hand again and again in the same motion. A spell formation appeared in front of his hand, spinning and stretching, becoming a cone as Mana was pulled into it, giving birth to green flames and transforming into a flame tornado.
Next time I need to make some with Mortal-grade iron—that way it’ll at least rip these Mana assholes apart. This lord needs to cool it on the fucking casting!
“Unlink!” Erik yelled.
Rugrat and Erik broke their connection and they both pulled out their weapons. Erik engaged the knights, his rounds sparking off their armor but still slowing them.
Rugrat aimed at the lord, who let out a roar. A new purple light fell on the lord and his minions. Their eyes turned from blue to purple.
“Berserk!” Rugrat called out as he fired at the lord. Amazingly, the spiritas lord seemed to move slowly but shifted to the side. The round missed him and slammed into the altar/coffin behind him. The Explosive Shot and round blew a section of the altar apart.
A blue glow shone from within the altar.
“Dungeon core!” Rugrat yelled out. Finally, the thing that they had been looking for all of this time was in front of their eyes!
It was embedded into a formation that passed through the altar and into the rest of the dungeon.
Rugrat didn’t miss how the spiritas lord flickered and the knights’ pace slowed. “They’re linked to the core somehow!”
“Serpentine—shoot it! I’ll distract!” Erik ran to the left as Rugrat ran right. The flame tornado sped up and rushed Rugrat, leaving a deep groove in the ground as it cut its way through the room.
Rugrat ran full out and jumped off a pillar, feeling the heat and the cutting power of the flame tornado as it shot past. It tore the pillar apart and sent rocks flying, hitting Rugrat. He found his feet and kept firing on the formation around the dungeon core.
The lord waved his hands again. Another flame tornado spell was forming. Erik altered his aim and fired on the forming spell. He hit it, disrupting the spell and causing a Mana backlash in the lord’s Mana as it sent its flame tornado at Erik. The knights, who were now closer to Rugrat, started to rush him.
Erik’s Strength and Agility was much higher so it was clear the knights wouldn’t be able to catch up to him.
The flame tornado increased in power as its speed shot up. It rushed Erik, leaving him no room to escape.
Erik cast multiple Ranged Heals on himself and turned in to the tornado.
“Erik!” Rugrat yelled out. He expected Erik to be torn apart; instead, Erik’s Agility and Strength came into play. His explosive force as he shot toward the tornado allowed him to create his own trajectory. His Agility allowed him greater control over his body and he used his Strength perfectly as he only caught the outside of the tornado and was flung across the room.
Erik slammed into the side of the main altar, cracking its side. Erik grabbed the dungeon core. “Yes!”
==========
You have successfully claimed the dungeon: Desert Spiritual Palace for your own.
==========
The lord started to yell out a cry but as he started to cast a spell, power was being ripped from it. His Mana was no longer under its control. The knights became sluggish as they turned from running to barely being able to walk.
Erik pulled out his rifle and fired at the lord. Rugrat turned on the knights and shot them too. In moments, there were four more tombstones in the room.
“Shit.” Erik slumped down and leaned against the broken altar.
Rugrat looked around, scanning the room. He moved to Erik, feeling safe with his buddy beside him to watch his back.
“Crap. Still on potion cooldown,” Erik said weakly.
Rugrat was starting to feel the effects of the fighting. If this was Earth, he would have been out of the fight within the first few moments with the melee spiritas’s blade.
With healing spells and concoctions, he’d needed some time but he had been able to get back on his feet in a few minutes.
Erik wouldn’t have survived back on Earth.
Rugrat’s thoughts turned there. Before he thought anymore, he cleared his throat. “You know if we’ve got anything more to fight?”
“I’m accessing the interface,” Erik said. “Doesn’t show any more spiritas. There are five people in a room, though.”
“Close?” Rugrat asked.
“No, looks like they’re trapped there. I can’t get much information from this. This place is built like a prison, mostly linked to the shackles. If we didn’t deactivate the traps or we had touched the shackles on the skeletons, we would have woken up these bastards earlier.”
A chill ran down Rugrat’s spine. He didn’t want to think what it would be like fighting them in an enclosed corridor or if they were prepared and all awake at once.
Erik grunted and pulled out some salve.
“What’s up?” Rugrat asked.
“Well, I might have broken my back using the flame tornado to get over here. Apparently this altar thing is pretty sturdy.”
Rugrat slowly nodded as he continued to survey the area. He used Simple Inorganic Scan with one of his hands to see whether there were any traps in the area. It didn’t look as if there were. After all, this was the inner area of the dungeon and the home of the leader of the dungeon.
Putting traps in your own bedroom wasn’t the best idea.
“Let’s recover, loot the bodies, and check this place out some more. Then we can go and check on the five people trapped in here,” Rugrat said.
“Yeah.” Erik sounded a bit shaken up. After all, he had another close and terrifying scrape with death.
Rugrat was a bit scared for him. He watched Erik out of the corner of his eye as he shook his head and started to treat his body, focusing on his job and task at hand.
Rugrat could only press his lips together. Needs time to process, be best to keep him active, give him time to just live a bit, see more, do more and get distance from it so he can think on it.
Rugrat tapped Erik on the shoulder.
Erik looked up to him, confused.
They didn’t share any words; there didn’t need to be any. It was Rugrat’s way of confirming a sacred vow: I’ve got your back.
Erik nodded to Rugrat, acknowledging and repeating that same vow.
Rugrat grunted and stood. “Well, more loot. I wonder what these guys have on them.” Rugrat surveyed the room that was all torn to hell from the fight.
Better be goddamn worth it!
Chapter: Collecting Rewards
“What is that?” Ru Xie asked, waking suddenly as explosions could be heard off in the distance.
“I’m not sure.” Feng Yi had heard the sounds of battle earlier and was checking the few defensive formations that they had laid out in the room. It was the only reason that they had survived this long against the spiritas’ and their attacks.
Feng Yi held out his sword, looking outward. Ru Xie pulled out a crossbow. She looked odd with the large crossbow and her small frame.
The rumbling noises continued for some time, the dungeon itself shaking as the ambient Mana in the rooms was drawn in one direction.
A wailing noise cut through all of the walls, reaching the two’s ears before it was cut off abruptly.
With it, the explosions and noises from earlier died down.
“What was that?” Ru Xie’s crossbow shook as she looked to Feng Yi with wide eyes.
“It looks like someone was fighting the spiritas.”
“Did they win?” Ru Xie asked.
Feng Yi didn’t miss the hopeful note in her voice. He looked over and his heart
clenched. He had given up on their situation long ago, but she still hoped and thought that there was a way out of this.
“Maybe,” he said, not willing to break her illusions. Who could defeat the spiritas? The formations only slow them down and they draw out a person’s life force, feeding on it and their Mana to sustain themselves and grow stronger.
Feng Yi didn’t lie to himself. He only had to look at the skeletons on the wall to know the truth: the spiritas’ were keeping them around as food supplies, consuming them slowly, digesting their power and then coming back again later so that they could recover slightly.
Feng Yi had his Mana drawn out of him three times. The others had all passed out after the fourth time, their Mana systems thrown into chaos.
He could feel that he would be no different.
He wanted to yell out in anger, to reverse his fate. A sense of powerlessness fell over him as he wanted to get stronger to defend the things he cared about.
***
Erik had his armor off. Rugrat had patched him up. Even though his body had mostly healed, there were still hidden injuries that needed attention with Focused Heal or time for Erik’s body to recover.
Erik and Rugrat sat against one of the walls, looking at the destruction. They were covered in dirt, grime, and sweat. Both of them still had their weapons out, close at hand.
Erik pulled out Stamina powder, sprinkling it into two pouches of peaches and syrup, and passed one to Rugrat. They ate the peaches and drank the syrup down. The powder added a gritty taste but they could feel their fatigue letting up.
With healing spells, it was hard on one’s Stamina, drawing energy from Mana and their body to recover.
They wolfed down the contents of the pouches, tipping it back to get every last drop of syrup.
“Damn, I’ve missed sugar.” Rugrat licked his lips and put the pouch into his storage ring.
“Yeah, maybe the cookhouse can come up with something,” Erik said.
They fell into silence again.
“Let’s see it then,” Rugrat said.
Erik snorted and picked up the dungeon core. It couldn’t be placed into a storage ring as it was still bound to the dungeon.
Rugrat took the dungeon core in his hands.
==========
Dungeon Core
Grade: Common Mortal Grade
Linked: Desert Spiritual Palace
==========
==========
You have come into contact with a dungeon core. With your title: Dungeon Master, new options are revealed.
==========
Do you wish to:
Take command of the Dungeon
Remodel Dungeon
Destroy the Dungeon
==========
Rugrat put his finger on Destroy Dungeon and a new screen appeared.
==========
Destroy Dungeon: Desert Spiritual Palace
==========
You will receive:
7289x Sandstone blocks
1x Common Mortal-Grade Dungeon Core
5x Humans
23x Thunder Mines
14x Teleportation Crystals
232x Thorium
1x Shield Spell Formation
534x Soul Manacles
1x Mortal-Grade Mana Cornerstone
87x Mithril
==========
Do you wish to destroy this Dungeon?
YES/NO
==========
“Damn, this Dungeon Master gig isn’t bad.” Rugrat looked over the items.
“We can use the thunder mines in Alva Dungeon to bolster its strength—maybe give a few to the formation workshop to break down. Same with the shield. Will have to see how powerful it is—can use it as a last line of defense for the living quarters. Thorium can be used to aid the mages in their armor and clothing. Can also use it for the formations. Soul manacles—maybe look at a few of them, melt the others down for metal. Must be a lot of resources in them. Mortal-grade Mana cornerstone?” Erik’s last words had a note of question behind them.
“Mana stones originate from a cornerstone. They’re said to be the heart of a Mana stone mine. In places of high ambient Mana, they can develop faster, actually growing Mana stones,” Rugrat said.
“So basically an organic Mana battery,” Erik said.
“Something like that.” Rugrat nodded. “And I think I just found it.”
Rugrat could sense the Mana fog in the room was being pulled toward the main altar. In fact, the ambient Mana in the surrounding area had been greatly depleted.
Rugrat got to his feet, shaking off the dust and debris on his body.
“What’s up?” Erik got to his feet as well, his upper body still covered in bandages as he stood.
“I can feel the Mana being pulled into the center of the room. I want to check it out,” Rugrat said.
“Okay,” Erik agreed.
The two of them moved through the area again, passing the knights and the different spiritas creatures with their hovering tombstones.
“Might as well get their loot too,” Erik said.
Rugrat nodded and tapped on a tombstone. He didn’t even look at the contents before hitting the Take All and throwing it into an empty storage ring.
They cleared a path to the center of the room.
Rugrat looked at the bottom of the altar coffin that had housed the spiritas lord. Although he could feel the Mana channeling down below, he couldn’t see where it went.
“Watch out!” Erik slammed his foot down. The strength behind it left cracks in the floor and a hollow sound could be heard. Erik slammed his foot down repeatedly until a piece broke away and light came from below.
Erik kicked some more of the floor free, revealing a glowing crystal that could only be the Mana cornerstone. The Mana in the room was all flowing toward it as the crystal started to slowly absorb it all.
“How long do you think till it’s absorbed all of the ambient Mana left in here?” Erik looked from it to the Mana fog that was dissipating slowly.
“Not long.” Rugrat looked at the remains of the broken formation in the altar. “From this, it looks like the dungeon core was channeling power into the spiritas lord. The Mana cornerstone acted as a storage device. Extra power was stored and pulled from it as time went on.” Rugrat knelt and put his hand on the Mana cornerstone.
His senses had only increased as he had attained the Mana king title.
“It looks like the lord was even consuming the power inside the cornerstone. It needs a lot more power to recover. If we can gather enough ambient Mana, I just want to see if we couldn’t make our own Mana stone mine. We could use the Mana stones to power up different formations and store our power.” Rugrat’s eyes shone as he looked at Erik.
“Basically a growing gold mine.” Erik nodded. “It sounds like a good plan to me. Let’s gather all the loot from the spiritas’ together, give it time to absorb the Mana in the area.”
“Okay. I’ll put down a Mana gathering formation to speed up the process.” Rugrat pulled out a large metal plate and put it over the hole in the floor over the cornerstone.
The threads of Mana fog sped up, drawn into the formation and then absorbed by the Mana cornerstone as it was so close. The cracked and damaged cornerstone started to shine brighter and repair itself.
Erik and Rugrat moved through the hall, looting the spiritas’.
***
Erik tapped on a tombstone.
==========
Spiritas Knight
==========
1x Silver Pearl
34x Gold
1x Bind Spell Scroll
Thorium-plated Sword
Thorium-plated Helmet
Thorium-plated Cuirass
Thorium-plated Greaves
Thorium-plated Boots
Thorium-plated Gauntlets
==========
TAKE/TAKE ALL
&
nbsp; ==========
Erik emptied the knight’s loot into his own storage rings.
“You been picking up any of these pearl things?” Rugrat asked from across the room.
“Yeah. I have no idea what they’re for.” Erik moved to the next spiritas tombstone.
They cleared out the remaining loot tombstones, with Rugrat looting the spiritas lord. He had pulled out an old book and started to read it.
“What you waiting on there, an invitation?” Erik asked as he was clearing up the last of the spiritas.
“It’s the lord’s experimental log. Looks like he’d lost all his goddamn marbles. Unfortunately, his followers were just as far out to lunch,” Rugrat said darkly.
“Well, what is going on here? What are these pearl things?” Erik asked, curious.
“The lord here was a mage called Emerakon. Twisted little fucker wanted to become closer to Mana, gain a greater control over it. He heard that there were beings called spiritas that live off pure Mana and are able to create massive and powerful spells.
“He started off researching the spiritas as purely academic, but as he got closer to the end of his life, he gathered other people who were looking to extend their lives or increase their strength through any means possible.
“He had found a dungeon core, though he calls it the alteration stone in this. He created the dungeon as a gathering place, hidden in the desert but close to multiple cities at the time.
“He and his followers would capture people. Using the manacles, they would bleed them of life force and Mana; using the dungeon core, they purified the Mana and stored it in the Mana cornerstone.
“Then they started to undergo their transformations. They imbued their souls into pearls and implanted it into their Mana cores.
“Then they went to rest in the different altars. They went to sleep and the dungeon core’s refined Mana was meant to enter their body, cleansing them of impurities and then powering up their Mana channels and soul pearls till they were reborn as spiritas.” Rugrat closed the book with a snap.
Second Realm Page 31