Chapter 16: Deeper

Invoking spirits... the possibilities start to pile on my mind. It is evident from the description that I can’t just invoke any spirit. It will probably fail if I try to bring back to life an utterly slaughtered body. Or the body of an enemy much stronger than me, for that matter.

Can I check the status of my spirit? Status. I skip all my information and go straight for the spirit’s one.

[Kobold Soldier]
Health: 350
Mana: 20

Soldier [8]
Sword Mastery [3]
You intuitively know how to handle a sword. Furthering your mastery allows you to perform more complex and accurate movements.

It is painfully weak and simple... Either it lost some quality in the process, or they are like this from the start. And, considering the little effort it takes us to kill them, I’d lean towards the second.

“Isha!” I get her attention. “I can use this new spell to scout our enemies’ spells. I can see a short description, although maybe not completed.”

“Use it on the Shadow Mage too.” Isha immediately commands me.

It’s just a question of trying it out, but I want to leave the mages last. If they end up being as powerful as they seem, they would be too valuable assets to discard. I’ll start with the soldier, and I’ll keep one of the mages.

I approach the body of the remaining soldier. The worst-looking one. It’s missing one leg, and its whole body is burnt and covered in holes. “Nothing to lose,” I say mostly to myself, “Invoke Spirit!”

The old one evaporates as I say the words and cast the spell. A ghostly fog starts rising from the dead body, but just as it should be taking the shape of a kobold like it did the last time, I get a daunting notification.

[Invoke Spirit has failed]

So it’s like this… Not only I can’t get the spirit, but I also lose the one I previously controlled. It makes sense, of course, but it means I’ll have to be careful if I decide to use it in the middle of an exploration or a battle. Shadow mage it is, then!

“Invoke Spirit!” This time, probably thanks to the corpse’s objectively better state, the spirit raises and comes under my control.

[Shadow Mage’s Spirit]
Health: 130
Mana: 170/170

Shadow Caster [12]
Assimilate [5]
Teleports you from one shadow to another. Costs 5% of your mana. It can be cast every 10(-4 L) seconds.

Burst [2]
Hurls a slow patch of darkness to the enemy with a cost of 10mp. The longer it travels, the less damage it produces and the slower it moves. Its peak damage is 40(+1 L)hp with a travel distance of less than 20cm. It has a cooldown of 5 seconds.

Shroud [6]
Every time Shroud is cast, the surrounding light is absorbed as mana. The subsequent darkness burns enemies for [“Percentage of darkness” / (27 (-5 L))] magical damage per second. If Shroud completely devoids the space of light, it induces fear.

No wonder we were almost wiped from this spell! That would mean it could, potentially, have infinite mana while doing an insane amount of damage per second. And we had that Mental Break that amplified the damage. It wasn’t him that cast it? Maybe it just wasn’t transferred to the spirit.

I relay all the information and proceed to do the same with the last mage.

[Arcane Mage’s Spirit]
Health: 100/100
Mana: 300/300

Arcanist [15]
Arcane Protection
Shields the user for 100 physical damage. Costs 50 mana, has a cooldown of 30 seconds.

Discharge
A spell that lets the caster channel as much mana as he wants. Up to 200 mana, deals 0.5 magic damage per mana spent. Up to 300 mana, deals 1 per mana. Onwards, 2 per mana.

Mana symbiosis
Mana recovery rate triples. Loss of all mana will make the caster enter into a weakened state.

Aha, this would explain how he endured so much, and also that massive burst on Lillia. Luckily it must have spent most of its mana when attacking her, close to 210 probably. Add to the equation its shields and my Mana Drain, and it triggered its weakened state. It seems the spirit failed to retain any of the spell levels, so the real one was probably stronger.

“Let me rest for 2 minutes, and I’m ready to go! Dorian, scout the path ahead, please.”

By the time I’m fully recovered, Dorian’s back with some news. “The path ends a few hundred meters ahead, but there is a rather large hole with a ladder going down. Certainly manmade.”

We follow his lead and, indeed, we find the… ladder. “Are you sure this is safe?” My question receives no answers. I wasn’t expecting any at all. It’s obvious it isn’t! Hell, it’s rotten and missing some steps. “We’ll have to leave the cart here.” It’s far from full; we only took two swords and two books from the last battle. Either way, I’m not exactly worried about someone coming and robbing us.

Summoning up all my courage and even more, I decide to go first. I’m acting the leader, am I not? One step at a time, I try to make sure it holds firm. I place a foot, shake it a bit, and wish it resists. Time seems to have slowed down almost entirely. I can feel the sweat dripping from my forehead. Come on, come on, almost the- A loud crack interrupts me, my foot losses its support and-

[You have lost 40hp]

“FUCK! I knew it!” I stand up and shake off the dust from all over me. “It’s your turn now!” I shout back to the top. “Apparently, it’s not deep enough to kill you if you fall.” I’m becoming an expert in the matter.

One by one, they go down and meet me. Of course, none of them manage to fall. Not even the fucking mole known as Rand. How? “Let’s go. There is only one way from here!” I say, quite unfriendly probably.

At random points, seemingly following no logic at all, we encounter small groups of enemies, which I use to test my spirit. It seems to have some autonomy besides my orders. For example, I can order him to help Rand, and there is no need for me to micro-manage it. Which is fortunate, to be honest. If I had to personally tell it to attack every time, I’d have already dismissed it. Other things, like spells, require some input from me, but nothing much. For example, I can order him to cast Arcane Protection whenever it needs and cast Discharge at a constant rate with 20 mana.

Every time we kill a full group, we use the resting period to carry their valuables to the cart. A duty we rotate and do in pairs. We’ve got a shop to open, and it won’t buy itself up. Maybe it is not much, but every bit we can get counts.

There is one thing I can’t make sense of, tho. Until now, we have found parties composed of two or three soldiers, a mage accompanied by an archer, a shield-bearer alone with mages. They don’t follow any order, and their formations are far from making any sense.

“Isha, don’t you think their formations and groups are stupid? I mean, why have a mage and an archer together without any frontline at all?”

“They may seem stupid, but they are far from it. Either there is a motivation we have yet to understand, or they don’t think we pose a high enough threat to take us seriously.”

“How could that be? We have been killing them for 3 days already. Since we got down, I have leveled up, and even some of my spells have. Aren’t they giving us free experience?”

“It is clear they know we are here. The corpses are no longer there. They didn’t bother to bring reinforcements. They haven’t attempted to ambush us. Nothing of this is mere coincidence.”

“I hope you are wrong, and they are just naive.”

Although, deep inside me, I know it can’t be right. As she said, it is not a coincidence. Even the most primal being, without the ability to think, would attempt to defend itself. Instead, they are allowing us to kill them. I mean, yes, it’s a game. This is what games have always been doing. But this one is supposed to take pride in its realism. Rats and mice were once the rules of the continent, after all.

The shallower part of the cave forked at times, but down here we have been following the same path for almost an hour. Most baffling than anything, the walls are turning more irregular and rough by the moment. It’s obvious they have been made by Kobolds. But why keep its dimensions big enough to fit humans? We are standing as we did before. I could even jump if I wanted. Not to say, several people can walk side by side.

Some more kills here and there. Heal leveling and reducing its cooldown even more. My spirit form also gains levels and increases its effects. Overall, it’s being a fruitful day. Way too much, actually.

“Mark, light ahead! I’m falling back to you.”

“Dorian has just told me there is light ahead,” I tell the group.” Be ready for whatever we might find there.”

We wait for Dorian to reach us and then proceed with utmost caution. Kobolds can see flawlessly in the dark; they don’t need light at all. The exception being that mess hall where they were celebrating. This is what makes this unexpected situation dangerous. Is there something inside that needs light to see? Another party?

As we approach a turn, it becomes clear from the flickering that there are multiple torches or fires inside. We can not yet see what awaits us there. “Rand you will be in front, with Lillia close by. Mike and me in the middle. Dorian will watch our backs. Go!”

We pick our pace out a bit and ready our weapons and minds. Turn right. And.

“Took you long enough to get here, humanss.” A high-pitched voice, nasal and distressing, addresses us. It pronounces all esses by dragging them as if its tongue slightly played around the teeth. However, that is the last thing I’m concerned with.

Are there… a thousand? No, more. For as far as my sight can reach, all I see are kobolds and mice—an army of them. A whole football field packed and overflowing with them.

“Fuck.” I whisper as subtly as I manage to. “Dorian, you might make it out of here. Run!”. I pause for a moment, thinking if I should say it at all. “Take the cart with you!” I shout as he already turns tail.