Arcanist In Another World-Chapter 5: Help?

It was still dark and damp in the complex cavern system when he woke up, body stiff from the tough bed of the cave. The air reeked of rot, which could be what that Void Magus meant when he asked Valens to cleanse the Necromancer’s rot.

“There has to be a source, then,” he muttered as he lifted the Blockage spell, and managed a Lifesurge across his body to wash the tiredness off by letting it dissolve into a wave of lifemana. That was the beauty of a Lifesurge. A scalpel that could seep under the skin without tearing it when needed and a wave of healing mana to flush the damaged area when it was dissolved.

He felt his bones click with pleasure as he started off the sloping path.

A cold wind across the stretch welcomed him. Valens pulled his fingers up, waiting at the ready for a Fireball in case one of those creatures came barreling down, keeping one eye on the Resonance for his sound vision to catch any minute movements ahead.

It was another perk of being one with the Resonance, but it wasn’t what the other Magi often thought as to be. The sound vision was more like a hastily sketched circular painting with Valens as the center point, its diameter approximately ten feet. Good for getting a feeling of the patients, but ultimately a far worse option for intricate wounds than Lifeward’s perfect precision.

But here, Valens used it to spread his perception, which allowed him to catch any unwanted guests before they actually showed themselves. Useful indeed as with it he didn’t have to go around the cave with a Fireball burning in his hand. That saved him from a bunch of skeletons, no doubt.

An hour into his stroll, he began to suspect as he’d not yet seen any skeletons out for his life. If this was to be a trial, then perhaps he’d cleared the first part and now he was moving toward the second, likely more dangerous, step. He perked up, eyes narrowing down, back stiff as a stone.

When he turned another corner, the moss coating the cave grew lustrous and started spraying a greenish fog that hung thick in the air. Valens couldn’t pick anything harmful from its frequencies other than a certain abundance of death mana. Odd that. As it seemed purposefully laid there to lash at anything decisively dead.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be the opposite?” he muttered, slightly intrigued.

The wind beckoned him onward, so he obliged, and stretched his right foot cautiously into the fog. He didn’t know what he expected, but the fog remained indifferent against his skin, after which Valens took a big step forward.

It was heavy in the fog. Moving through it felt like slogging knee-deep in mud. Valens considered for a moment to open a path for himself with a Gale, but decided against it when he found a skeleton flailing desperately a few paces ahead.

“A screen of fog, placed here to stave off the dead?” Valens arched an eyebrow at the skeleton, reaching into the Resonance to get a feel of the sight. Death mana had cuddled around the creature like a host of worms, nibbling at the foul mana resting inside of those bones, sucking it away and sending it to… somewhere up the cave.

[Skeleton: Level 8]

It was one of the weaker ones he’d come across lately, but still the way it was rooted to the ground, and wailed in gurgling, rasping cries made him pause. Why would it only target the skeleton where there was a living, breathing man inside its boundaries?

Shaking his head, he stepped past the skeleton and moved on. He came across similar sights on the way, numerous skeletons just lying there over the ground, motionless. Dozens of them bested by the fog, their bones empty of the mana that kept them animated.

“It does feel a little different, now that I think about it,” Valens said. There was a certain feeling to the fog that was more intricate than the foul mana inside those skeletons. It was… as if something was guiding it. Yes. An intent beyond its reaches.

Was it the Necromancer? Valens shook the thought off. The name might be odd, but it suggested something about the dead, and he was more or less sure those skeletons were a part of the trial.

He didn’t know how long he trudged on, but at last he reached the end of the fog, air growing clearer a few paces ahead. A dozen skeletons were waiting for him. Stopping, he scowled at the creatures. They were digging the ground with their fingers, and seemed to be searching for the source of the fog that blocked their passage.

“Interesting,” Valens said, raising his hand. “I suppose I have to clear the path. Pardon me for the heat.”

He sent a Fireball into their ranks, watched the burning droplets splatter across their bones. They remained glued to their mission, refusing to look up at him even as they burned with the flames. Their hiss lacked the true pain. More like a response, Valens presumed, to being burned alive.

You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 8]!

You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 14]! For killing a creature above your own level, you are granted bonus experience.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

You have leveled up! 5 Stat Points granted!

You have managed to defeat [Skeleton - lvl 15]! For killing a creature above your own level, you are granted bonus experience.

You have leveled up! 5 Stat Points granted!

…

Ding! [Fireball(Proficient): 3 > 4]

It took him three Fireballs, all of which he constantly fed with his mana, to deal with this group. One or two of them tried to make for him toward the end, but as soon as they set foot in the veil, the greenish fog coiled around their bones and nailed them to the ground where the strange mana sucked them dry.

After the tiring effort, Valens mopped his face and checked his inner source. It seemed dealing with a dozen skeletons with active mana flow cost him about one third of his mana source. Lucky that it was renewing constantly, but for good measure he waited inside the fog to get his source up to full.

He didn’t know what horrors awaited him beyond the veil.

Onward, he continued and passed over the burnt piles of bones. This wasn’t what they expected when they started preparing for the ritual. His Master insisted a group of Magi would welcome them beyond the gate. They couldn’t have been ignorant about their situation, he’d said, and there had to be a reason why they’d not yet come to their rescue.

Valens doubted it. He’d never been optimistic, unlike his Master, and could see the gaps in that reasoning. The old texts might’ve mentioned a certain connection between the so-called nine worlds, but at no point did they talk about there being a high Magus order waiting to help any Magi in need.

No. If there was one thing clear from the texts, it was that these worlds had remained separated from each other for too long. That, coupled with sealing of the Void, brought more doubts than hopeful musings to Valens’s mind.

Painful memories, now, gnawing at his heart. He stretched the Apathy tight over his mind and focused on the path.

He paused when the Resonance picked up another presence along the path, this one sending a jolt of alarm down his back. It came around the corner, so strong that it rang true like a morning bell in his ears.

And this one carried that unique note of consciousness.

He couldn’t be careless, though, not because he sensed someone alive on the path. If this was to be a trial, then chances were whatever was alive there might come at him with a spear or a sword. It could be a Magus, even, sent here to test his mastery over the spells.

His fingers itched with nervous expectation. His knowledge about Warmagic could at best be considered shallow. Other than the Inferno, and a simple Fireball, he didn't have the chance to learn a lot. The fault lay in the Empire’s strict laws against dangerous magic, of course. Not only did they burn the old texts, they also hanged every single Magus that ever dared to venture deep into that field of magic.

Breathing in deep, Valens decided to take a peek before making a decision. He craned his head, focusing on the Resonance as it painted a picture in his sound vision. The first thing was the greenish fog’s heavy song, pressing down upon the ambient mana from behind him. Then came that note of consciousness, stark above the rest of the frequencies.

He saw a man clad in plated armor there, fingers wrapped around a silvery, glinting sword nearly his size. A true warrior. Dangerous. Underneath the armor… Valens frowned as the Resonance teetered in his mind. He was too far away to pick out intricate details, but that armor and sword alone were enough to take his chances.

Rounding the corner, he neared the hulking figure as he kept his left hand behind his back, fingers burning with flames. Valens caught him staring at the side of the wall, to a gleaming jewel cocked deep into the stone. “Hey there,” he said, voice cold. “I’m not entirely sure who you are, but I think I’m lost.“

The man stirred in a way a seasoned warrior would, and brought his sword up as he took a step back, huffing out a breath as the walls groaned around him. The sprinkle of light coming off from the jewel quieted as the stone sunk slowly into the wall, vanishing from the sight in mere moments.

“A lost soul?” came the man’s answer in a gravelly voice. He moved then, chest-plate rattling, the tip of his armored feet scraping against the ground. A greenish fog started rolling round his shoulders in waves and slithered upward, seeping into sockets of the helm where his eyes burned like two emeralds.

Something was off. Valens felt the Resonance, but the frequencies were too strange. Twisted and mixed into each other. Alive but not quite. Not entirely dead, either. He was breathing still, but mana was coming out of his being rather than air.

“We must be kindred spirits!” the man growled, stepping closer, a single piece of rotten flesh dangling from his upper lip.

Flesh. All rotten and blackened, reeking of death so terrible that bile piled in Valens’s mouth. His fingers started shaking, the heat of the Fireball splashing against his back. Then came another step, and the man was standing in his sound vision.

Bones caged underneath the metal carapace. Draped with rotten flesh oozing with pus. A giant heart-shaped stone gleamed from the left side of its chest — caged under its ribcage, thumping a strong beat.

This was no man. This was an abomination, a monstrosity even worse than those skeletons he’d faced. And it was nearing him. That sword looking painfully sharp.

[Undead Soldier - Lvl ??]

“You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for help,” the undead soldier hissed through yellowed teeth. “But you weren’t supposed to see that sphere—“

Something jammed into the Resonance. Hard. The frequencies of the world muddled into a nauseating mess that dinned inside Valens’s mind. He doubled over with a free hand over his stomach, bile spilling through his clenched teeth, vision blurry as the world spun around him.

“Uhh,” came the undead’s grunt, pained. The sword’s tip scraped against the ground, nicked a deep vein into the earth as he stumbled toward the sidewall. He bashed his helmet, and it clanked high over the din, the metal screaming and screaming away.

Valens flung the Fireball in haste, hoping it would patch the Resonance back. He couldn’t hear anything. His ears were bleeding. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. Bones rattled and his bare feet slid across the ground.

“W-What is happening?” the undead’s voice, sounding a deal away now, but still approaching him.

Valens picked himself up and floundered through the path, managing another Fireball in his hand, cursing as the frequencies stabbed at his brain.

“Wait! Who are you?” said the creature. It was closing in on him. “That was some skill there, but it doesn’t make any sense. How can a young man such as yourself be Level 13, and you’re even a damned Mage!”

Valens dipped the Fireball down the earth, stretching the flames about the ground in a way that coated the cave. He was hoping they could keep the creature away, but it came barreling through the flames, cleaving them as easily as cutting hay.

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

“Stop! It was a misunderstanding!” it growled. “I can help!”

…..