Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Gathering

A group of four shadows arrived at the area of the Forest of Death that had been assigned to Jhinkro. There had been no news of the shadow for days, nor of attacks. They went with the intention of degrading it, and putting another shadow in its place.

They separated and met a few hours later, all of them tense, restless, perhaps anguished. Even for a while, the corrupted spirits forgot about the hatred that each felt for the other side.

"I haven't found him. There're hardly any corrupted beasts either, nor a trace of the army that he is supposed to have assembled," Kroljo explained.

"I've only found a hole with some sign of fights. It's strange, but it doesn't explain where Jhinkro is," Kraro stated.

"The same. However, I've found signs of a great battle, along with a huge pit. In a nearby cave, the miasma is weak inside, as if it had been purified," Jralon related its findings.

They all looked at each other. This was unexpected. Perhaps, it could even explain why there were hardly any corrupted beasts.

"I've found traces of a faery aura," Jreneg reported solemnly.

"It's not possible! A fairy could never get here!" Kroljo contradicted it.

"I can show you..."

All the shadows followed Jreneg, uncertain and anxious. Just as it had said, there were traces of a fairy's aura, and not just any trace.

"I think Jhinkro has died here because of the fairy," Jralon frowned.

"But... How did she get here?" Kraro wondered aloud.

"No idea. Maybe, the purified cave can give us a clue. Maybe, they put some kind of teleportation spell, and the fairy came through there," Kroljo suggested.

"Shit. We didn't expect this," Jralon cursed.

"I'll take care of the area to prevent this from happening again," Kroljo proclaimed for itself the ownership.

"A fairy shit. My team will take care of it," Jralon refused.

"You aren't capable. Leave it to us," Kroljo contradicted him.

"You'll only be fairy food," Jralon sneered.

"Idiot."

"Moron."

"Fairy."

"Miasma purified."

"Gentle."

"Kind."

They spent a long time insulting and arguing. After long hours, the area was divided between the two factions, although they would later regret it. If they had thought about it calmly, they would have left the area to their rivals.

There were almost no corrupted beings left, so they had to bring them from other places. It was a nuisance.

"Lihn! Be careful!" Jilon warned the archer.

"Boom!"

"Ah... Thank you, Jilta."

"You'll thank me later. Move on."

Jilta had stopped with her shield the tentacle of the huge Hell Octopus, the final boss of the dungeon. She was a sturdy demihuman, with features that seemed to the feline mage to be that of an ox.

He was at the end of the room, watching the adventurers who were facing the boss, without interfering. He had come there with them, but he didn't belong to the group. They had simply met along the way.

Lihn, an agile demihuman with cheetah features, moved quickly, jumped on a tentacle, and tried to get closer. Its earlier attack had caught her leaping backwards, dodging another of its tentacles.

"Thank you, Meltok," Lihn thanked without looking back. "Thank you Jilon."

The wizard, Meltok, had cast an Ice Beam to stop one of the tentacles coming towards her, thus making her job easier. Another of the tentacles was attacked by Jilon's arrows, thus preventing it from trying to stop the fast warrior. Her role was to deal damage.

She managed to reach the boss's body and stab one of her short swords with Decapitate. Nonetheless, she had to quickly retreat in front of the octopus's defense. It had released a large amount of ink.

She quickly came behind Jilta, the group's tank, as she received a Remote Heal from the healer. The other warrior flew backwards past her. He had been pushed by one of the tentacles, that had struck him as he was coming back. It had been a hard hit, but he hadn't anything broken.

They looked at each other. It was clear that they couldn't beat it. They had wanted to try, but it was evident that they weren't powerful enough. They were tired, with barely any mana, while their enemy health was still close to 50%.

Just then, it had split, which caught them by surprise while they were planning to retreat. It had changed phase, and now there were two smaller ones.

Jilta barely managed to stop one of them, shield up, knee bent. The other one Propelled itself with its eight tentacles and a stream of ink towards the mages and archers. They attacked it desperately. The adventurers knew that they didn't have time to retreat, but also that they could hardly stop it with their depleted strength.

With ease, the octopus pierced through the Mana Shield that the healer had raised as a last resort, thus threatening to trap them. Undoubtedly, it would be fatal.

Although smaller, the enemy that was rushing towards them was still enormous, so they could feel only terror. Suddenly, a huge Fire Arrow pierced through it, and tore it apart. Another pierced the one barely blocked by the exhausted Jilta.

Relieved and exhausted, they slumped to the ground, while breathing heavily.

"Thank you, Merlin," the archer thanked.

Everyone thanked the powerful mage. Just because he was there, they had dared to try. It was a good experience, but too dangerous without back up.

For the feline demihuman, that dungeon was too low level. It had hardly taken him less than a day to get there, since he had the maps of all the floors. To a king, they were easy to get.

Not wanting to stay there any longer, the group teleported out of the dungeon after tearing up the entrance ticket, thus leaving him alone.

With Treasure Hunter, he summoned a small mana snake, which approached a wall. There, the mage used the pass he had obtained in the game.

A light flashed, and the wall opened to reveal a narrow tunnel. After glowing his staff, he stepped into it, and left his attendant to collect plants and minerals. It was the spitting image of his wife when she was a kid.

He arrived at a brown color small puddle, to which drops of water of that color fell from a stalactite on the ceiling. The water passed through the soil and, little by little, absorbed the mana and the substance.

"It's corrosive. It must be the Ulcerating Essence..." he reasoned, after touching the puddle with a branch,

Therefore, he took out a container specially designed for that type of substance, and filled it with the liquid. Then, Merlin activated the teleportation circle, and arrived at the outskirts of the city that housed the dungeon.

Wasting no time, he opened a Gate, and headed towards the next dungeon. There were still quite a few ingredients to collect. He had let his children take care of many of them, but for the ones in the dungeon, he had to go himself. A visitor's pass was needed to open the tunnels in the final boss room.