The moment my Light Magic spilled into her, her head jerked back. Her tentacles whipped around, completely out of control. One found the shaft of my spear and threatened to rip through its Neutral energy coating.
Not bothering to repair my damaged appendages protruding out of my back, I struck with them, burying them in her chest, back and neck. Light Magic flooded into them and soon she started to convulse.
The pressure around my eyes built as Force Learn intensified.
The backlash as Light and Dark Magic met only grew stronger. In a few seconds, I had pumped over 100,000 MP inside her. A new fear arose. She was going to explode.
The others were scattered on the bridge beneath us. If they weren’t dead yet, there was a big possibility that they would die in the blast.
I released the tentacle that had had me in its grasp, my appendages holding me in place. I let bone spring out from my hands toward the bridge beneath me like it was an ever-growing extension.
The bone met the edge of the bridge and reached down to its base like a giant hand latching on. With the hold secure, there was no time to manage anything fancy. Bone swelled up from one side and spread out like a deformed shell to cover anything on the bridge and immediate area.
Time was up.
I released Forced Learn and was dragged into the Succubus’s form. My guess had been correct. She only possessed the Dark school of magic.
At her center, I saw a Dark Magic Orb. Unlike the Dark Elf, this one had substance. The pressure it held was many times anything I had seen except for the vampire and Xaphan himself. The knowledge of her, and what a Succubus was, became mine and I took it.
As I returned to myself, the only popup I was able to see was one that read as followed:
You have stolen the Essence of the Succubi.
I met the blast by throwing up my arm to shield my face and cast Titan’s Bone Defense. Watching through Mana Sight, I saw the destruction as it came, but even watching with five times my normal perception I was unsure if my armor had been enhanced in time.
It struck me, and I flew. Before I hit the ground, everything went dark.
Chapter 27 – Aftermath
My first breath after waking was troubled and miserable. Without thinking, I cast Heal.
“Elorion!” a distant voice called.
I tried to get up, but nothing seemed to work.
“How can he possibly be alive?” a different voice said with a cough.
“Because he’s as hardheaded as I am,” the first voice rebuked. It was Olivia.
Trying to open my eyes, I found it impossible. I forced Advanced Healing Magic to permeate the area when I felt the tissue around my eyes start to burn. It wasn’t the burn of flames, but of red-hot metal searing into the skin. Despite the pain, I channeled as much mana to the area as possible. I wasn’t on fire. My eyes were regrowing.
As my sight returned I knew what I was going to see before I saw it. Titan’s Bone Defense hadn’t been in time. My torso was mostly in one piece with my bone plate mail in ruins on the floor beneath me, but my arms and legs with a thinner coverage of bone had been blown to ribbons in the explosion. I had probably only survived because I had raised my arm to shield my face.
I didn’t know how long I had been out, but my HP was down to 4,628/41891 even after I had already healed myself. It looked like growing back limbs and bodily organs were going to take a lot more mana than normal.
Seeing that my mana was at 16,009/190,393, I must have only been out for a few minutes. I was unsure how much mana I would need, so I would withhold judgment on whether that was a blessing or a curse.
There was no use delaying. Better just get it all over with as soon as possible.
I focused Healing Magic into my arms and legs. The agony that followed caused me to pass out momentarily, but I regained consciousness while the job was still underway.
My arm that had shielded my face was entirely gone up to the shoulder. For every inch it regrew, it seemed I had to purchase my healing with another 10 seconds of searing pain. My left arm that had been hanging at my side had been severed at the elbow. My legs were in slightly better shape. On my left leg, it was only my foot that needed regrowing. My right leg was missing entirely just below the knee. My chest and gut region may have been charred in places by Dark Magic but healed almost instantly. My undergarments were in tatters but still covered my shame.
After a few minutes of unbelievable pain, I looked up at a dozen people looking down at me. Russ reached out his hand.
His smile was real but laced with dread.
Taking it, I let him heave me up as my Buffs were activated and Skeletal Armor covered me in its familiar embrace.
My first words were the only ones appropriate. “Where can I help?”
The crowd split as Olivia pointed to the bridge. Looking around I saw I had been blown clear to the wall. Thankfully I hadn’t fallen into the chasm to the rock below.
“Russ. Are you hurt?” I asked hastily when I remembered he had been stabbed right through the chest.
“I’m fine. It only took a quarter of my HP,” he replied with a reassuring nod.
I cast a blanket of Healing Magic above the group as I hurried past them toward the others.
Trevon’s broken arm was a quick fix. So were Perry’s cracked ribs. I turned from them with a quick Lesser Heal to the more serious injuries.
Audrey looked terrible with a fractured collarbone and a broken nose, but she was also easy enough to heal. Three of the others were in worse condition.
The bone shelter I had hurriedly erected has been destroyed in the blast, but the far end of it had fragmented into shrapnel and peppered Clarissa, Mel, and Zorik.
Taking a knee at Clarissa’s side, I yelled at Audrey to join us and hold her friend's hand.
“This is going to hurt,” I told Clarissa. Her eyes were hardly able to focus, so I looked at Audrey in turn.
She nodded that she understood.
A bone in the shape of a palm-sized shark tooth was lodged in her shoulder. As I grabbed it I sent a flow of Healing Magic into her through my hand that was braced against her chest. I also let healing flow into the bone itself as I removed it slowly for fear of arteries and other such things that might complicate things that were beyond my understanding.
She grabbed my hand that pulled at the bone fragment as she screamed.
I pinned one arm down and Audrey did the other. As the fragment slipped from her shoulder, a long claw-like fragment appeared at its end that looked to have gone right through her and out her back. The healing was quick after that.
With the healing done, I sat her down quickly in Audrey’s lap and hurried to Mel. Zorik was probably in worse shape but I couldn’t heal him, because of his Dark Alignment. It was possible that Mel could.
His surgery was similar to Clarissa’s but there were three bone shards to remove. Russ didn’t wait for me to ask. He bent down and held one of Mel’s arms. Steve, our assassin, did the same with the other.
Instead of screaming, Mel howled with something that resembled laughter. After the first shard was removed and he had a moment to breathe, he looked at me with a whimsical grin. He was delirious.
I went straight to the next shard and removed it, keeping my pace steady. The last one came out clean, finishing the job.
“Mel!” I shouted, trying to get his attention as the skin finished closing around his thigh.
His eyes rolled around in head for a moment before Russ smacked him firmly on the cheek. He sat up with a jerk, shaking his head.
“We made it?!” he asked, looking at me like he had seen a ghost.
“Yes. And I need your help,” I demanded.
I picked him up as much as helped him to his feet and placed him next to where Zorik lay. A large shard was jabbed into the side of the Imp’s neck.
I walked Mel through the healing of our monster friend. He used his magic in a similar manner I did when healing when he revived and healed his skelet
ons. The process went smoothly.
When the shard was removed and Zorik regained consciousness, I fell back to my rear and finally allowed myself a moment to relax.
Zorik looked up at Mel in wonder that he had been able to heal him and had been willing to.
After a few deep breaths, I saw several relieved faces looking down at us from those gathered around. When I didn’t see Aeris, I shot to my feet. I searched everyone’s faces one more time, just to be sure.
“Where’s Aeris?” I asked once. When I was met with nothing but the shaking of heads I asked again. This time I commanded them to answer.
“She fell,” Olivia said, choking back a sob.
With a look at my mana, I saw I now had just over 25k. I cleared everyone from the edge of the bridge with a wave of my hand and jumped.
Titan’s Bone Defense greedily enhanced my armor as I fell. With Mana Sight amped up to full power, I saw two bodies below. One was leaning over the other. Skyler had survived.
He was examining Aeris. I wasn’t sure she was alive.
I crushed the jagged rock underfoot as I landed with a solid thud just a few meters from them. I raced over.
Skyler turned at my approach. He must have seen the look on my face, for he scrambled back to get out of the way.
I took a knee at Aeris’s side, Healing Magic leaping into her at the touch of my hand.
She didn’t move.
Her lifeblood had spilled out on the stone beneath her, which was immediately apparent through Canine’s Sense of Smell.
My gut wrenched as I realized I was too late.
“No,” I said with a whimper.
Shaking my head, I just couldn’t believe it.
What could I do? If Healing Magic didn’t work…
In desperation I let Force Learn build, then cast it the moment it was ready. My senses were catapulted into what was left of her dying form.
The silvery glow of her Wind Magic had almost fully disappeared. It had mixed with the Light Magic in her blood, which had bled out from the wounds in her back. I wanted to stay here, in this moment with her forever, but there was almost nothing left.
In this state, with no body and no hands to reach out and hold her. Still, I had managed to interact with the Dark Elf’s mana before.
I tried, but there was no orb to discover. She was fading further, I could tell. How that was possible, I didn’t understand. I thought there was no passage of time when I was in this state.
An orb of power. Humans did not possess them, for our power was in our blood, but I had seen an orb, more than once, hold a monster together and give it its form.
Since there was nothing to grab hold of, I poured myself into her. To my astonishment, an orb of Light Magic started to form in her center. The mana that was left was drawn to it like a magnet until some of the energy that had left her body started to return.
There was only a fraction of it that I was able to recover, but when all of it had gathered together, I felt healing energy flow through my hand. It was the first time I had been able to feel my body when my consciousness was in this state. It would have to remain a mystery for now for I had begun to rebuild the boundaries that held her mana in place. When I was finished, the fog of mana inside her started to flow.
As I returned to my body, I found I held Aeris in my arms with my lips against hers. My tears wetted her face.
When her mouth pushed firmer against my own, I gasped.
She looked up at me with a woozy grin. Aeris was alive.
“I am so tired,” she muttered, not bothering to move from my grasp.
“You almost died,” I said pointedly.
“That explains it. Why is my face all wet?”
I opened my mouth to answer then closed it, trying to think where best to start.
She snorted in weak laughter.
“I’m kidding,” she said.
I could help but to roll my eyes. A chuckle escaped.
“I feel different,” she said, bringing her hand to her chest.
With a nod I admitted it. “I did something.”
“Oh?” she said, shaking her head. “You did something? You did a lot of somethings. Saved my life. Drenched my face with tears. Made out with me while I was unconscious…”
“I also put an Orb of Light Magic inside you.”
“Stop talking,” she said, putting her finger to my mouth.
Turning to Skyler, she said, “Do you mind giving us a minute? I’ll fly everyone out of this pit in a moment.”
Skyler froze like a deer in headlights. After a moment of not answering, he turned and walked away.
Chapter 28 – Preparation
I removed all of my buffs and let Skeleton Armor revert to its most basic form. Aeris held me around the waist as I held her in my arms. She launched us up from the bottom of the chasm. As we neared the bridge we slowed, and she set us both down next to Skyler. He was being examined by Audrey as she gave him a tongue lashing.
Olivia rushed toward us and pulled Aeris into a hug.
“I can’t believe it. Somehow, we’re alive!” she said like a giddy school girl.
Travis appeared before me wide-eyed, holding up a black sphere the size of a melon. I knew what it was immediately.
“It’s another orb!” he said excitedly, handing it to me.
He was right. It was the Dark Magic Orb that had been at the heart of Lady Contessa.
Why she had had an orb I didn’t exactly know. I had expected her life force to be in her blood like the Dark Elf, but I had been wrong. Perhaps it was the difference between a monster race and one of the three prime races Zorik had mentioned: human, dwarf, and elf. Maybe it was because she was a pure-blooded succubus.
I inventoried the orb and offered him thanks.
Heavy steps came at us from the entrance of the room, stopping our celebration before it got started.
“I don’t believe my eyes.” Ujurak, the pale dwarf stood staring at us with his mouth hanging open. He dragged what looked like a dried-out mummy in one hand, which I suspected was what was left of the dark elf.
Immediately, I cast Creature Indicator.
Ujurak
Dwarf
Level: 1,114
Health Points: 289,700
Mana Points: 490
Strength: 2,023
Dexterity: 349
Constitution: 2,897
Intelligence: 98
Wisdom: 203
He only came up to my chest, but his build was so wide that two adult men could sit on either shoulder. His blue plate mail and grey cloak looked menacing enough, but the befuddled way he looked at us eased the tension slightly. Still, he had an insane amount of HP and Strength.
“She’s dead!” Skyler threatened, as he gently removed Audrey’s hand from his arm and marched toward him.
Our bashers started to form up without a word as they left the huddle and followed him.
“Wait!” I shouted.
Skyler raised his hand high and gave a thumbs up to indicate he heard me. He had stopped before reaching the end of the bridge.
I hurried forward and squeezed through the crowd. Sensing Aeris directly above me, I knew we had a chance to end this before a fight even started.
I glanced and saw that I was now level 593. I had gained an incredible 23 levels for defeating the Succubus while being grouped with 19 other people. It was 7 more than when we had defeated the Hell Hound. We had received bonus experience because the Hell Hound had been 1,000 levels higher than us. Not even taking into consideration how many levels I had received since then, it was clear Lady Contessa had been much higher and was easily the strongest creature we had ever faced.
My armor had been at its most basic, so I was currently without a helm.
I walked directly toward the bewildered dwarf and let him see me as In the Buff filled my torso and limbs with size and strength, then Titan’s Bone Defense assembled itself before his eyes. As the horns of my Skeleton King’s Helmet reached
their peak, Aeris took her place on my head.
When I was as close as I dared to stand, about two meters away, I lowered my head and looked him directly in the eye.
“Lady Contessa is dead,” I promised him.
There was another moment where he didn’t move, then all of a sudden his face lit up with a grin from ear to ear. He burst out in a howl of laughter. Before I knew it, he was spinning in a circle and stomping as he went. He began swirling the mummy around, then thought better of it and deposited it in his inventory before continuing to dance.
He ignored us in his enthusiastic mirth.
Aeris gave a full belly laugh as I started backing away from the prancing dwarf.
“What are we going to do with him?” she asked.
I just shook my head.
***
Everyone took some time to take in all that had happened and check their stats.
I pumped my Wisdom to 2,707 and my Mana Per Minute jumped up to 5,414, not including the 250 from my Channeler’s Orb.
Most of us congregated on the other side of the bridge and kept an eye on the dwarf as we let him be. His celebration went on for over 15 minutes.
It was time to finally look at all my popups.
Resurrection
By placing a concentration of Light Magic into a suitable host, you can pull them back to the world of the living when they are on the brink of death.
The number of Blue Magic spells I received from Lady Contessa were far less than it would have been if she had been talented with Blue Magic. Still, there was nothing to complain about.
Succubi’s Caress
Through physical touch, you are able to drain the mana from a creature.
This one by itself might end up being extremely powerful. I doubted I would have any problems applying this through one of my bone appendages. After jabbing a creature with the stinger at its end, I could then suck the mana from them as I continued to fight. At least, I planned on testing it.
Seduce
This grants you an aura that triggers the release of oxytocin. Your target will feel drawn to you and have a sudden desire to have your affection.
Underworld - Through the Belly of the Beast: A LitRPG Series Page 30