Stone observed the chaos with interest, while Dafur finally reached the shaft. They slipped through the crowd to the village.
"We need to find another exit. I can't stay here. The shaman wants mea for somethin', and I'm naet interested to find out for what, but first…" Dafur madly grinned and jogged into the unguarded temple. His innate greed enhanced by the blight emerged.
"Luci? What is he doing?" Stone curiously observed as Dafur rummaged through the chests and looted everything that was not nailed down.
"From the look of it, I would say he is stealing," Lucifer deadpanned, not knowing if he was dreaming. He survived a fall directly into the stomach of the 5th-tier Monster. When finally out, his new companion, a blighted dwarf, whose druegar appearance was good enough to fool the actual druegars, proceeded to loot some shaman's temple. He wanted to scream, wail and laugh. He did not do that. And even if he did, he would never admit it. Stone be the witness.
"Looting…" Stone repeated the word. That sounded interesting. So many things laying around for taking. He liked that concept.
"Stone, we will never talk about this. Never! Do you understand?"
"Why?"
"For once, don't ask me and answer you understand."
"Okay, I understand. We will never talk about being vomited by a monster."
"I am glad you get it," Lucifer was thrilled. The pebble was truly a great student. "Now, tell this thieving idiot to finish. I don't think we can deal with that shaman."
"Dafur, Luci says we should go," Stone obediently repeated.
The blighted dwarf completely ignored him, rummaging through the shaman's property with fervour it could be compared to a starved goblin who was teleported to an elven royal kitchen.
"What is wrong with him?"
"He is blighted, and I guess this is one of the many side effects he will suffer until he levels up... Or dies."
"Can we help him?"
"Hmm… let me think," Lucifer fished in his memory. He was never in high-tier hosts. Even though he was bored to hell from time to time, having it spiced with moments of pure terror, he got used to having someone who depends on him for wisdom and leading. And to wake up Dafur… Slapping him? That would enrage him in this state. Talking to him? Stone was not very good at that. It would end up in slapping and the order of things after that was already established. His mind rapidly spun, attempting to find a solution.
Meanwhile, Dafur found some clothes, not the nightgown, but classic pants and tunic. He also discovered a sturdy, dark leather armour with metallic lining covering vital areas and engraved by low-grade two runes; passive for hardness and active for basic [Mana Shield]. It was not much, but for him, it was the greatest treasure. Clothes and armour! He even did a small victory dance.
"Loud!" Stone complained. Dafur ignored him. Why did everyone ignore him when he complained?
While Dafur was sorting through the ill-gotten goods, throwing out things he deemed worthless, two villagers outside spotted someone inside the temple as Dafur was quite loud. Who would have known? They should have listened to the talking stone.
"What're ya doin' her'?!" One of them shouted at the crazed 'druegar' who was holding a bag, clearly filled with stolen goods and some pebble. Dafur turned to them with a crazy expression, "mae rich's! Not yers! Mae!"
"Loud!'' A high-pitched voice, enhanced by mana, reverberated in the room. The villagers froze. A bluish wall slapped Dafur over the right cheek. His face turned angry. The wall hit him over the left cheek. He became enraged. Again, the wall hit him in the right cheek, but with as much strength as Stone could muster.
That woke Dafur up, "what happened?" He asked incredulously as he shook his head.
"Luci explained it's the side effect of blight," Stone replied, his focus on the startled villagers.
Dafur wanted to slip through before the villagers regained their bearings, but was too slow. He was stopped by one of them with a one-handed axe, "wher' do ya think ya're goin'? Be nic' boy and wait her' for the sham'n!"
Dafur hastily retreated and conjured a fiery rune, but the second villager threw at him a dagger, interrupting his channelling. So, he activated the [Mana Shield] at his newly acquired armour. A thin, but firm, translucent film enveloped him from head to toe.
"Damn! Stone! Attack them with maximum power! Aim for eyes or mouth!" Lucifer apprehensively ordered as he saw that the situation was not looking very well.
Stone focused on shaping and carving a half-a-meter long arrow from refined mana above himself. He shot at a villager's head who was wholly caught off guard. However his instincts kicked in, allowing him to slightly evade. The RM mana arrow pierced his shoulder and disappeared into specks of light. The confused druegar searched around, searching for the wizard or Monster.
[Your skill Mana Carving gained a level]
"Where are you aiming?! Eyes! Eyes!" Lucifer anxiously exclaimed. His own skills were still not up to par to help in this battle.
"He evaded! If you are so smart, help!"
"Moron! I could not properly train yet! My output is too small!" Lucifer explained, realizing that this is the first time Stone got cheeky. "Did he reach puberty? Please, gods! I don't want to raise a teenage mineral," and while inwardly praying, he said, "and stop talking! Attack!"
While pouting, Stone observed the two druegars and one blighted dwarf… and their messy and loud struggle..
"Now!" Lucifer drew on the great opportunity.
Stone learned from the past mistake and conjured another arrow with the rest of his refined mana closer to the target.
'Swish!'
The arrow caught the villager with the axe off-guard and went straight through his eye to the brain. The druegar dropped dead, scaring the second one to hell. The druegar with daggers retreated towards the exit, defending himself from Dafur.
[You have killed a druegar 4 levels above yours]
[Due to the artificial breaking of limits, you will not gain a bonus experience]
[21,70% experience is split according to talents Subordinate and Parasite]
[Lucifer gained 2.17% experience]
[Stone gained 19.53% experience]