The underground world was now more chaotic than it was before.
Scores and scores of Imps and Gremlins marched off toward the direction of the mine.
Many troops and groups of beasts were guarding the area.
The rush of imps seemed endless, and the sounds of battles could be heard from afar.
Emeros had secretly scouted the region with Philip and Serena and determined the current state of the mine.
Mage Perment also sent Emeros an important message to refrain from returning. And even the plan to deliver the book had to stop with the interference of Mage Rorcast.
There were also battles occurring all over the region, and monster screams, and howls could be heard as the imp army was now trying to take over the region.
Dozens of imps and gremlins continued to attack a large mantis. Five of the mantis had died from the attacks of the gremlins and imps, and only the large mother mantis was present.
It fought and easily defeated the imps and gremlins. But the wounds it took were piling on it, and it was bleeding in many areas thanks to the powerful attacks of the team.
But the mother mantis fought, forcing the Puks to take action and join the battle.
Emeros, Philip, and Serena were all covered in a strange paint that camouflaged them within the cave and masked their scent.
They managed to move through the underground world, looking for enemies to hunt or capture. But with the chaos, finding a battle they could exploit was easy.
The Puks and the giant mantis began to fight.
FWIP! FWIP! FWIP!
Arrows were suddenly shot toward them.
But these arrows now had poisons soaked on them and even had powerful entropy poison and causing the mantis and the Puks to suffer in pain.
Emeros ran, and he was carrying the large saw-blade of the Chort.
It was inefficient to use this weapon, but at the death of the Deadwood Troglodyte, Emeros could level up to level 6 and now could wield the massive weapon with speed and efficiency.
Emeros ran, and as he was about to reach the Puks, he spun around and slashed the large saw-blade.
SLASH!
The wide slash didn't slice the three puks in half, but it left a deep cut as the saw teeth left a horrifying and gut-dropping wound.
Emeros ran deeper into the middle of the battle and aimed for the giant mantis, which was already covered in wounds from the Puks.
"[Pronto]!" Emeros activated his spells as the mantis stung its two sickle arms.
Emeros evaded it, slid down the mantis's body, and made a saw cut right in the insect's abdomen.
SLASH!
"ROOOOOARRR!"
The mantis screamed and quickly tried to escape. But the wound it received was causing its insides to spill out. It had received too many wounds that its chitin army had vastly weakened.
STAB!
Philip had jumped in. He could kill the remaining imps and stab the mantis in its head. It was too afraid and in so much pain that it didn't notice Philip waiting.
The mantis couldn't roar and succumbed to its many wounds, and it stumbled down.
THUD!
Emeros turned to the side and saw Serena drinking the blood of the Puk as she bit the creature on the neck.
The Puk's lower body was barely clinging to it and had no strength to fight back.
Serena had to use a knife to open a wound and drink the beast's blood.
She had already tasted Emeros and Philip's blood and didn't hesitate or was disgusted by this bite.
She realized that her appetite for blood was increasing.
She easily drained the blood of the creature and felt a strange energy flow within her.
Emeros was quickly cutting the mother mantis's bodies into smaller pieces.
"Load them up. This will be great as a source of food for us. Mage Rorcast loved mantis meat when he was still human."
"This mantis was big! What was the level of this beast?"
"Level 12. But it was too weak thanks to its fight with the imp army." Emeros explained.
"We can't bring them all back. We only have three wagons... What about the other corpse?" Serena asked. There were dozens of imps and a few mantes. It seemed like a waste to leave them.
"Take three mantis, four puks, three gremlins, and a dozen imps in one pile so we can drain the energy. We'll absorb it here." Emeros ordered as he took the formation plate.
The imps, gremlins, puks, and even the young giant mantises had all their energy drawn out and bestowed to Serena and Philip. Surprisingly, Emeros's spell was so fast that it was already over.
"We leveled up!" Philip cheered.
"The Deadwood Troglodyte already had given us more than 300 experience points each. But it wasn't enough to help us reach the next level. But now we can. Load up the remaining corpses. I still need to harvest the moss growing here. The ones that the mantis feed on can be used to create healing herb mixes." Emeros ordered.
With the memories of Rorcast, Emeros better understood the entire underground region. The great amount of mana now appearing all over the mines was causing many magical herbs, mushrooms, and other plants to grow.
The Mantises took refuge in the place as herbs fed it. But this spot was often a battlefield as many monsters would challenge ownership.
But thanks to the battle, Emeros had easily found many corpses to make them reach the next level.
Emeros observed the stat growths of each as he harvested the moss on the walls where the mantis fed on.
---
Emeros Vasilius
Level up!
Level: 5 -> 6
Experience: 932/1432
Strength: 32-> 37
Magic: 15-> 16
Dexterity: 37-> 44
Vitality: 32-> 35
Intelligence: 298 -> 379
Force: 15-> 17
Hit points: 420 -> 450
---
Serena
Next level: 1399/2101
Level 6-> 7
Strength: 23 -> 27
Magic: 6 -> 7
Dexterity: 33 -> 39
Vitality: 24 -> 28
Intelligence: 35 ->39
Hit Points: 340 -> 380
Force: 3 -> 5
---
Philip
Level 6-> 7
Next level: 1388/2032
Strength: 17 -> 21
Magic: 4 -> 5
Dexterity: 33 -> 39
Vitality: 18 -> 22
Intelligence: 39 -> 41
Hit Points: 280 -> 320
Force: 4 -> 5
---
Emeros was pleased with the progress of the group as their stat growth was above the normal range. Even Philip, who had weaker strength, now had grown up. Serena's stats continued to excel more compared to the rest who were humans.
The group quickly retreated. But now, they were dragging a wagon that had a pile of beasts above.
Emeros would often scout ahead and throw rocks to lead the imp monsters away and would even harass local monsters with arrows while crying out in imp tongues.
The monsters would then attack the nearby imps, and Serena and Philip would sneak ahead in the commotion.
Like this, the group was able to return to Rorcast's room.
Don and Wesret were immediately treated with the moss after it was ground and mixed with some healing potions.
They were applied all over their body, and they began to grow.
After they were treated, Emeros used the formation plate and increased the two levels.
---
Wesret
Level 6 ->
Next level: 1384/2093
Strength: 20 -> 25
Magic: 3 -> 4
Dexterity: 30 -> 36
Vitality: 17 -> 20
Intelligence: 49 ->51
Hit Points: 270 ->300
Force: 4 ->5
---
Don
Level 6 -> 7
Next level: 1345/2163
Strength: 16 ->20
Magic: 7 ->9
Dexterity: 28 -> 33
Vitality: 16 ->19
Intelligence: 54 ->56
Hit Points: 260 ->290
Force: 2 -> 3
---
The two felt the energy flow in them and was heightening their recovery rate. Some of the fractures were quickly mending.
"Today, we eat and recover. If possible, I want you guys to continue the juggling exercise. I'm sure you've noticed that it helps. Don, I need you to start training in your magic. You should have enough magic now to use the formation plate to absorb enemies and to open this door. We will train you in that, and I need you four to go out and gather some more resources."
"What will you be doing, Master Emeros?" Wesret asked.
"I need to start working on what I know. The knowledge of Mage Rorcast has aided me and helped me understand a lot of things that my master ranted about." Emeros explained as he began to chop up the body of the mantis.
"You four will be my hunters and harvesters. This will also act as training for you. We need to increase our levels. If we are to take down the rest of the mages that opened the seal, we have to get ready. The imp horde over this region is acting as our cover and is preventing the three other mages from going here. But we may need to stay here and level up and increase my potion crafting skills. I need to put what I know to practice and create those pills..."
"Those pills?"
"Yes. The other three mages are just like Rorcast. They are plant creatures due to the legacy they found here. This was also the first curse of the seal. In order to open the demon gate, they had to assume the forms of demons. They are stronger now. We won this round by luck. Your slashes and attacks were doing 15 to 18 damage on his hit points."
"Fifteen to eighteen? That sounds small."
"Yes, it is. Rocast's health was over a thousand!"
"So even if we manage to level up, we still can't attack the enemy. We need weapons! No wonder the sword I used barely made a wound on his wooden body!"
If the weapon's quality was better, then my attacks would have done more damage!" Wesret recalled.
"That's what we need. And going back to the village is dangerous. Mage Perment messaged me not to go back just yet. The town considers us the primary suspects, and Mage Perment is actually scheduled to face trials and is being treated as the primary cause. That's why I need to hurry up. Unless we create the potion, people will accuse us of being servants of the demon even if we can present Mage Rorcast's body." Emeros thought.
"So even mage Perment is imprisoned?"
"Yes. No doubt this is the work of the Barons we met. And now, the guards that we insulted are adding more fuel to the fire. So my plan is to create the potion and make it look like Mage Perment made that. I will also deliver the book to him to present Mage Rorcast's journal. We have five days to prepare. And then, to save Mage Perment, we have to return!"
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