The Fool's Freedom

There was no time for explanations. but if the demon hadn’t reacted by canceling [Soundless] it would’ve probably been too late for them.

Zirida’s skin grew hotter in an instant. Alan briefly wondered if it was some body-boosting skill involving her blood, then held on for dear life as she began recklessly climbing toward the platform. There was skittering and poofs coming from the darkness around them and Alan felt a sense of urgent panic rise inside of him. He was helpless, being carried like a backpack over the dark chasm.

Thankfully, the woman didn’t care about being careful anymore and they managed to reach solid rock by the time the first *pop* sounded nearby. The breeze of air being displaced made Alan tense. The first treant shifter was upon them. Then many things happened at once.

[Monochrome Armor] went off instantly, covering him in shadows and making him feel much more centered and calmer. Almost at the same time [Mortal Peril] activated and the blood ropes holding him loosened. He had a split second to decide what to do. He dodged to the side while pulling Zirida along.

The weird wooden limb covered in crumbling rocks crashed where they had been a moment ago. Alan felt a surge of bloody swords fly around him and toward the creature. The rocks took the brunt of the impact, but Zirida was still too strong for the monster. In mere seconds it fell into the chasm, screaming, while the blood swords flowed back.

“Above!” Xil’s warning came.

Alan sent a shadow flame blade up, right as a smaller treant appeared a few meters above him making the wooden body freeze in the air for a second. What could technically be called its abdomen was devoid of rocks and the blade tore in, doing much more damage than Alan had anticipated. Either his stats were providing a sufficient boost in some way, or the creature was much weaker than the one the dolls had ridden on.

The monster still fell, threatening to crush him. Alan moved to the side, careful not to misstep and doom himself, and avoided being squashed below it.

Soon, he was a blur of shadows as he danced on the small platform with barely room to spare, avoiding the attacks of the treant. His shadow blades were doing a lot of damage to it and he swung his daggers wildly at any chance he got.

He caught a glimpse of Zirida. She had moved to the edge of the platform and was holding the uncovered candlestone in one hand, probably trying to find a way forward. Her blood swords were making quick work of two of the monsters, while simultaneously stabbing at the rock wall in random places. Alan couldn’t see much from his position but guessed that she was probably feeling her way through with her blood while busy with the fight. Or something like that.

Alan doubted there would be enough time.

For some reason, the darkness wasn’t bothering him once he cast [Monochrome Armor]. It almost felt comfortable and his eyes quickly started seeing further and further. The scene that was revealed to him almost got him stabbed by an errand limb, which he promptly cut off with the flaming dagger.

Like newly hatched spiders the treant shifters crawled everywhere, jumping and popping out of thin air to get closer. They seemed almost lethargic. Many were small, but only in comparison to those he had seen so far. The smallest were still as large as a motorcycle. Some were not covered by any rocks, and their flesh was almost pale and soft looking, despite the wooden texture. They crawled slowly, like snakes on the walls, using tiny limbs to slowly move forward. The bigger ones were faster most were using six, eight, or even up to twelve limbs to walk toward the two of them.

There was not a lot of space for all of the monsters to attack at once, and only a few utilized their ability to teleport, but doom was coming. If they got surrounded things would be over, unless Zirida had some hidden trump card.

Alan gritted his teeth and rushed between the limbs, hoping his shadows would be able to tank the hits. Then, he aimed at the lamprey's mouth and let loose a charged [Shadow Slash] combined with [Imbue Fire]. Following was a second attack from the ritual dagger. Its enchantment didn’t seem that efficient here, but it was still a tiny boost.

You have slain: Corrupted Treant Shifter (47)

The message came and Alan ignored it. Another few were nearing and one of them was almost too large for the small platform. There didn’t seem to be much time to act. The rest of the mass of the shifter was coming closer and closer, but they were careful to leave some distance between each other for some reason.

Alan sent a barrage of shadow blades and kept it up while using the opportunity he created to take a few steps toward Zirida. The blood swords raining on every enemy that came close seemed to dodge him on their own. Zirida’s range was limited, but she was a bringer of death unlike any Alan had seen fight. Comparable only to Wuros, maybe. Alan looked down and the darkness parted before his eyes. Some parts could be traversed, but the drop was high and the risk great.

“There is something like a ramp down there. A landslide that sinks far into the darkness. Whatever you do, don’t go towards the bottom of the chasm!” Xil’s voice sounded.

“There’s a place we can jump toward,” he said, keeping up the barrage.

Instead of answering, she grabbed him and blood sprung from her arm wrapping around his. It was much stronger than her arm alone. His shadows didn’t react at all, probably somehow aware that what she was doing was not intended to harm him.

Then she jumped and Alan almost dropped his daggers as he was dragged along. He did like she had and forced the shadows covering his weapons to wrap around his wrists. Losing the enchanted daggers would bring his power much lower. The treant shifters followed close behind with renewed vigor now that the danger of the blood swords was gone.

Blood sprung from Zirida’s arms and body and dug into the wall next to them slowing the fall while simultaneously showering them with rocks. Some hit Alan, while others – the larger ones – were successfully stopped by the shadows around him.

Alan braced for impact, but the shadows lessened most of it. A large part of his armor was fully gone though. They landed on a sloping wall that disappeared downwards into the darkness. It seemed to be a result of a massive landslide and the two of them quickly gathered their bearings and started running up instead.

Alan boosted his legs to keep up and occasionally looked back, sending shadow blades to the nearest shifters. More often than not they dodged the ones covered in flames, while tanking the others.

Suddenly, popping sounds sounded all around and a few of the monsters appeared ready to strike with their twisting limbs. Alan’s shadows tanked one of the hits while he managed to dodge another. A third struck him and sent him flying right into Zirida. The two tumbled on the ground.

Red instantly exploded everywhere and a dome of blood covered them. Zirida stood up, her body was bleeding from almost every single one of the scars and she was whispering something oddly reminiscent of cursing. Tentacles of blood supported the dome and connected it to her body as the center. It was silent inside, but Alan felt it shake under the attacks of the shifters. The flow of mana around her was going insane and Alan was sure anyone would be able to feel it. It was almost like an explosion waiting to happen.

“Brace yourself,” she said. Her voice was low and strained, but a wild grin broke on her face.

All he could do was recharge his armor and pour some mana into his body. He almost reached for the curse but decided against it as the recent experience was still fresh in his memory. [Sacrificial Attack] was a last resort kind of thing and he didn’t want to overdose on the parasite’s life force.

The blood suddenly exploded everywhere and there was wild screeching the attack seemed to be devastating to many of the monsters. Dust and limbs were flying all around. Large scars had appeared on the stone walls around them. The wooden flesh was torn into pieces as if it were under gunfire.

Some of the nearby blood returned to Zirida, but most seemed to be gone. The girl slumped on the ground heaving and Alan took this as his cue to act. While the destructive use of her skill had cleared the area around them, the main force of the shifters was still crawling toward them, thankfully still slower than the ones he had seen above. He grabbed her and started running. Her body felt oddly fragile at that moment.

“Light,” she mumbled. Alan realized that they were running in complete darkness, although that didn’t seem to stop his eyes.

“I can see.” He answered. The candlestone had remained somewhere behind and a glance let Alan know that the treant shifters didn’t care for it. He had a few more, but it was not needed for now.

He ran up the landslide, avoiding jagged rocks and trying to be faster than the many-legged monsters behind. It was a tough call. Carrying another person was proving to be a challenge too, so he used some of his mana to bolster the stamina and each second step propelled him further and further.

The terrain was full of jagged rocks and sand but it didn’t bother him in the slightest. He saw some narrow spaces ahead, which could probably allow them to move or hide. He briefly hesitated. There was no way to tell which was an actual tunnel and which was a dead end that would land them in a position worse than the current.

“Left one!” Xil barked.

Alan didn’t hesitate as he rushed in. It was barely enough for the two of them, but it was not that hard. The darkness once again parted in front of his eyes and he went deeper and deeper.

The screeching echoed behind and he heard the creatures hitting at the stone around. He turned around just in time to see a few smaller worm-like ones follow them with tiny limbs. Daggers of blood quickly skewered them and ended the pursuit for now.

Hopefully, they had left the worst behind.

Alan kept moving forward despite that. He needed to put as much distance as possible between the horde of monsters and the two of them. Zirida’s breathing had grown much calmer and he could vaguely sense that she was forcing the energy inside of her to move in the same patterns he had observed before.

“Thanks, Xil.” Alan finally said in his mind. It was hard to talk to the demon in the middle of the chaos. Without him, they would have been doomed.

“My prison is weakening thanks to your crazy adventures. Soon, I will be more powerful than you can imagine! And maybe even free! Just a couple hundred years more! Hahaha!” Xil replied, making Alan smile. “Also, you owe me a shrine when you get out, you ungrateful bastard.”

“Sure thing, Xil.”

He continued forward until the passage widened and they reached yet another cavern. Alan slowed his breathing down and carefully observed every rock and nook he could find for traces of monsters. It was small and closed off, but it continued so far upward even his strange new vision could see only blackness.

Alan sighed and chose a cover to set Zirida down. He hesitated then took a small gulp of vitality from the curse, before taking out his staff and using it to speed up the mana regeneration process. He stayed vigilant, not allowing himself to observe the processes in the cleric’s body as he had done before. Distraction could be their death, though Xil would probably warn him in time.

“There is something here.” Xil suddenly said. “Something precious. Focus.”

Hmm?

“Where?”

“I only know it’s here. I have a knack for sensing treasure. Do some work.”

Alan did just that. There was mana swirling all inside of Zirida, and nothing else. He took out a candlestone and set it next to the woman just in case.

He walked around in a circle around the cavern and closely examined everything. He saw nothing but rocks until he noticed a strange energy coming from one of the corners of the place. He went closer and almost felt the mana avoid the place. It was a small piece of bark. It was very similar to the covering of the parasites that canceled skills and protected their glassy bodies. However, this one was much larger in comparison, spanning almost the length of a beer bottle and two fingers width.

Alan reached to take it and pulled back quickly as his fingertips went numb. The skin had blackened. He frowned and willed some mana to cover his hand before trying again. The piece of bark quickly made the mana scatter much like the skill of the parasites had done.

Finally, he took out the dagger he had taken from Nadia. It had a decent enchantment but the blade was all cracked and broken. He used it to carefully drag the piece of wood out of the crevice, then grit his teeth and touch it with the finger of his left hand. It took a few seconds to put it away in the shadow inventory, in which his finger became almost fully black. There was no pain and some mana fixed it all.

That’s bound to be precious. If it was a treasure akin to the token from the Bazaar… couldn’t he do something to his bones with it? If he could drain mana, he would become a true menace. It was probably a pipe dream, considering the reaction, but that wouldn’t stop him from trying.

He went back to where Zirida was meditating and sat down, wondering if she had noticed what he had been doing. He dismissed [Monochrome Armor]. There were two uses of the skill left and Alan wasn’t sure how much time had passed.

It was not long before Zirida’s eyes opened.

“Alan?” she whispered.

“Yeah. You alright?”

“Somewhat. Did we manage to escape?”

“We’re talking, aren’t we? You’re fucking scary, you know?” he said before he managed to stop his mouth.

“Thanks,” she smiled. Zirida looked around and frowned. The candlestone did a lot more than it could in a regular cave, as the many glass rock surfaces made the light bounce everywhere.

“I guess we will have to climb up,” she sighed.

“Yep.”

She stood up and stretched a bit. “Well, hop on. This was fun but I don’t want to miss the next big wave on the battlefield. Or do you think you can climb it alone?”

Battlefield?

Alan looked up and considered. He could use his daggers but they didn’t do much against the stones. Not like Zirida’s weird blood. And he didn’t trust he would be able to climb without decent support.

“Fuck,” he sighed and stood up.

“Like a baby on its mama’s back.”

“Shut the fuck up.”