We made it back to the front of the cave, and I quickly set up a ward around the tree. The enchantment took effect, and we all headed back as our mana was almost back up. By the time we made it back, we could have some rations and let our stamina come back up as well our mana bars would be full.
After just slightly over twenty minutes, everyone was ready to go again.
We gathered into formation, and I started to chant with a neutral spell as we entered. I was ready when the door opened, revealing a couple of the dead bodies from before rotting, and we stepped over them. The first turn and there laid another door. This time though, the material of the bricks wasn't stone. The door looked to be a type of metal instead of wood. We had now reached the real heart of whatever was going on. Gloom might have been entirely correct in her assumption. Her theory seemed to be holding even more water now.
Iona stepped up to the door, and I continued my chants. Fidel seemed silent though not starting her chants yet. Hers required timing, though, making pre-chanting a hard thing to pull off. Iona then opened the door, quickly revealing a dusty but bricked floor on the other side. I spotted two people but heard three exclamations as I change the world for them on the other side. Fidel started to chant as an armored man stood in front of us, blocking our entry. The two others came up from behind and began to chant audibly.
I started to chant, changing the world around everyone while Iona started to battle with the armored man. The two behind him threw a fireball and a weird darkness thing through the gaps towards Iona. Fidel started to chant on her own while Viccy shot arrows aiming to constrain the steel armored man's movement. Iona and the man evaded and attacked in an odd dance that continued while Fidel cast a much longer spell than usual.
The battle was moving rapidly, and both Iona and the Steel armored man took hits from both magic and arrows. It was the rapid pace with rapid sounds coming out. Still, Fidel had not finished her spell as Gloom cast healing spells to make sure Iona would outlast the armored man.
Finally, I finished my cast changing the world into a world of a blizzard. The snow-covered the two mage's sight of us, and they gathered closer to the armored man. Then Fidel finished casting her long spell as they neared the man so they could cast again at Iona from a shorter distance. Inside the room, clouds started to grow. First, it was small, no more than an inch large. Those clouds spread threateningly, but none of the enemies could see it as the blizzard blew around them. Those clouds soon filled what we could see of the room, and lightning started to arc across those clouds.
Boom! A loud arc of lightning spelling the toll to the enemies we were facing realizing they were in a powerful spell. The Clouds no longer grew and Lightning from them arced down, hitting each of them. It didn't stop with one as Fidel looking to be in a trance, showed a rare smile. The lightning continued to rain, and the Steel armored man no longer fought with Iona as his body shook as more and more lighting hit him repeatedly over and over. The mages behind him stood still, no longer chanting spells as their skin blackened and fire erupted from their clothes.
The clouds didn't stop hitting them over and over as I ended my spell, knowing it was no longer needed. A minute after the storm had started, did it stop shooting lightning onto the hapless victims below, and the clouds started to disappear. Fidel's expression returned to normal, and her face slightly paled.
The quick ending to the fight and the new spell that we saw from Fidel surprised us. Still, we went through the door as I looked at my notifications.
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Retainer of Darkness Heavy Guard Killed 5000 XP
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Retainer of Darkness Corruption Container Killed 4000 XP
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Retainer of Darkness Mage Killed 5000 XP
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As I then picked up, the charred bodies' loot dropped as the smell started to permeate the area we were in, making it smell like poorly fried meat. I asked Fidel what that spell was.
"Tha was a High tiered Thundercloud spell," Her cold voice started to explain. "It is an extremely hard spell to pull off and requires the enemies to be unable to retreat. I rarely think of the spell since it has minimal use." She then fully turned to me, showing me her pale face closer up as I looted the bodies. "I realized after the last battle near the door that your Illusion magic can easily cover up the biggest weakness of this spell." Realization dawned on me. "The formation of the Thundercloud is slow and takes time to form. It isn't a massive range on the spell either, making it easy to escape if one notices the formation of it."
I wasn't the only person whose eyes became larger, thinking about how powerful this spell was with Illusion Magic added.
"This comes to the second Downside of this spell." She said, cutting into everyone's surprise coldly. "It uses two-thirds of my vast mana pool to cast this spell. I am, exhausted and I need to regenerate mana. Please pass me another mana regeneration potion." She finished holding her hand out.
I promptly put the potion in her hand and thought about it. It made sense that such a powerful spell had extreme cost. This was a powerful spell. The limited use, though, was mitigated because I was an Illusionist. I then turned back to the loot to see what we got.
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You have received Corrupted Mage Staff(Uncommon)
You have received Steel Helm
You have received A Small key
You have received Burnt book
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None of them dropped a coin purse for the first time, and I smile seeing the Mage staff. I quickly inspected it.
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Corrupted Mage Staff (Uncommon):
+2 Intelligence
+5% To all Corruption Magic
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It was one of the best drops we had received today, and I passed it to Fidel. She looked at it and handed it back. Her cold voice speaking up, "This is of no use to me. I am not a Corruption Mage, and this would only hurt me to use. This is something Mages using this branch of Magic can use. It is a highly disgusting piece of equipment that I look down upon for how useless it is." She announced, only surprising Myself and Viccy as I showed it to her.
"Why do you look down upon it?" I asked, curiosity again filling me.
"This Mage staff is something made from a terrible crafter. They barely know anything about their craft and used rare Corrupted wood to create this travesty. The wood itself being reforged or fletched into proper arrows would increase its value." She said with disdain clear in her voice. "I know novices in staff crafting that could do a better job with this rare material." She finished.
Gloom took it out of Viccy's hands and nodded in agreement. "As you are aligned with the Demons, this would be better sold off as a material than a Staff." She confirmed, handing it to me. "We do not have a Corruption mage in our ranks either, making it worthless to us.
My eyebrows rose, and I put it into my large storage bag that was starting to get heavy. I started to notice the weight that it was becoming. It reminded me that although it could hold many items, it would eventually weigh me down. The fact that I had no strength meant that it would steadily start to sap my stamina. The amount of wolf loot inside was not helping. We could eat some of the meat on the way back would aid in that. I turned to Fidel to ask more questions when we heard voices start to come from deeper in the cave. We all became quiet, and Iona drew her Katana again, ready for battle once again.
Three Enemies engaged us. One was armored, while the other two were Corruption Mages. I started to chant, as did Fidel, although she wasn't looking so good becoming paler. Viccy was first to respond, shooting an arrow hitting the hand of a mage as he was about to cast a ball of something black. The Mage screamed as the black stuff engulfed his body. The battle continued as the Black stuff dripped off the mage but didn't kill him. It was still helpful to know as Iona engaged the armored attacker. Fidel got a bolt of chain lightning cast-off hitting each mage before coming back and hitting the armored attacker.
I finally got my cast off, changing the world for the two mages. Iona was their target, and they started to each cast their bolts harmlessly, hitting the wall above her as I changed their height perception. With the Mages' threat mitigated, I started to stop their perception of the Arrows coming at them. Viccy soon Hit both killing them as Iona killed the armored one. Without the doorway being blocked, the battle became a lot easier.
With another battle over, Both Fidel and I looked pale as Gloom told us, and we cleaned up the battlefield taking the bodies with us as we retreated. Mana reserves on Fidel and I being the lowest and Iona pulling up the back with Gloom leading, we headed back to the ward to rest.