Jess nervously looked at the back of the Arcane Mage stood next to the creature actually controlling the dungeon. Sure, she was confident in her strength now, but rlin was a famously powerful mage. Even if he failed to reach the 'Master' grade, that was sothing logically unachievable in the first place.
There weren't that many 'Master' skill holders in this world; the fact that she had t four of them was already an achievent in itself. rlin was extrely powerful, and Jess had no idea what had happened ever since he disappeared. At the very least... he looked different than the illustrations that had been shown of him.
His eyes were surrounded by dark shadows that made it appear as if they sunk deep into his skull, and his skin was unnaturally pale, as if soone had actively painted him white. And not only that, but now that Jess was looking more closely, his arms seed a bit too... long.
Not only that, but his gaze was strong and penetrating, and Jess' whole body shivered as she realized his irises were pure black.
She nearly gasped as the realization set in, but it was already too late. rlin stretched out his hand toward Jess, and she felt a tight grasp around her throat. Her feet lifted off the ground through so sort of invisible force, and no matter how much she tried, she just barely managed to scrape the ground with the front of her foot as she was dragged toward rlin.
"Well, well, well... A little rat, huh?" He asked, though clearly not expecting an answer. His voice was sharp and... inhuman. Like sothing was completely and utterly wrong about rlin at this point in ti. For a few monts, he just stared at Jess as she was unsuccessfully trying to rip the invisible force away from her throat to allow her to breathe, before her body suddenly jolted into the air.
She was flung against that large mass of flesh in the center of the room, and not only just once. Like an upset child with its doll, rlin used Jess to hit that mass of flesh, "You imbecile! How could you place her so close to us?! Imbecile, imbecile, imbecile!" he practically scread, as Jess could feel the air escape from her body.
Luckily, it didn't seem like that mass of flesh had bones or even cartilage; the impacts were well-cushioned, even if that didn't completely negate the pain she felt at being forced through the air so roughly.
rlin clicked his tongue, flicking his wrist as he threw Jess to the other side of the room. Now, she hit the brick wall, scraping over the ground and breaking her arm in the process. She imdiately started to use healing magic inwardly, but the fact that she finally had the opportunity to breathe again took precedence right now.
"But..." rlin muttered, as he approached Jess curiously, "At the sa ti, you do have so great materials to offer... Girl, you are a mage, correct?"
Jess glared at rlin intensely, but clearly, he didn't really care, "Yes, yes you are... Are you not curious as well? What would happen if I plucked the abilities of a human mage and placed it into a goblin... or maybe a lizardman?" he asked curiously, before seemingly getting an epiphany, "Oh! Or would you, instead, maybe like to be reborn? I have a wonderful catalogue for you to choose from...
I could give you the wings of a harpy, or a troll's regeneration? The mimicry abilities of a doppelganger might not be too shabby for you..."
Fear filled Jess' body and mind. Sothing was wrong; really, really wrong. Sothing was off about rlin. He felt too... too far away. Too massive, too...
powerful. He gave off the aura of sothing greater, but at the sa ti, it was familiar. She didn't know how she recognized it, but she did. If only she could rember, she... she might be able to co up with sothing.
"Ah..." Jess let out. She suddenly realized what it was. Or rather, who it was that rlin reminded her of. It was Eiro. As if he had been reading her mind, rlin snapped around his whole body.
"You! You!! How did you escape, how, how, how?! You, no- what- how could I forget about you?! Where did you go, you-" rlin stared at the large map that was floating in front of the wall, which was still being manipulated by that mass of flesh. On there, a small sigil was moving at an incredibly fast speed throughout the dungeon, navigating it as though it had a plan.
From where she was kneeling, she was practically able to hear rlin's heartbeat. But even when she looked at his face, she couldn't tell whether it was out of fear, or maybe even excitent.
And that mont was exactly when sothing else happened. A certain scent entered rlin's nose. Confused, he stared at its source, noticing smoke rising from the body of that large mass of flesh, as its body began to convulse in imnse pain. rlin turned toward Jess, who simply had a soft smile on her face.
Jess may have forgotten about Eiro for a short while, but she hadn't forgotten the things that he taught her. And one of the things that she was taught was how to activate magic from afar using her own blood as a conduit. She still wasn't able to do it from too far away, but if she was able to distinctly see her own blood, that was generally a hint that she was close enough to do so.
And after rlin's bout of anger, there were so splatters of her blood that had co onto that creature's body. Of course, it wasn't a lot. But that wasn't needed either. Jess wasn't trying to kill that creature anymore, she was just trying to roast its flesh.
And then, now that she had air in her lungs again, she released all of it at once; a strong gust shot through the room as Jess blew the smoke down the hallway.
As rlin once more extended his hand toward her, choking her as he did before, except this ti with the clear intention of ending her once and for all, he also extended his hand toward the doorway, and the wind that Jess created was stopped. Even if a mont too late.
As her sight went dark, Jess managed to glance at the map. The sigil that had been moving around so rapidly, searching through as many hallways and rooms of the dungeon as possible, closing in ever so slightly, had suddenly started moving perfectly. In a direct route, the sigil was approaching the room. And just a few seconds later, Jess saw a figure in the doorway. Eiro had made it.
"Good job, Jess," he said, smiling at her as he extended his hand. She felt the magical grasp around her neck suddenly disappear, as rlin let out an ear-deafening scream. Jess stared at the mage, whose arm had been detached with so quickly-cast magic.
But she once more felt her body being pulled at, even if incredibly gently this ti around, as Eiro used different magics to pull her over toward him.
"...You take care of the thing controlling the dungeon. It's not strong, but it has multiple cores and stinks of troll regeneration," Eiro said, and Jess quickly thought of so spells that she could use to counteract a troll's fast regeneration. However, if he just tried, Eiro could do so much faster... so why wasn't he?
Jess looked up at Eiro's face, as he intently stared at rlin. But it wasn't rage. Or at least, it wasn't 'only' rage. Of course, Eiro utterly despised rlin for what he had done at the academy, but what Jess saw on the Demon's face was mostly another emotion. It was caution.
Basically the mont she realized that was when she realized sothing else; what she had thought to be a scream of pain and terror coming from rlin was instead an extrely distorted, ugly laughter. Sothing so inhuman that she was barely able to recognize it as such. The detached arm next to rlin suddenly started wriggling on its own, and like a snake began to slither back up rlin's body.
As if nothing happened, the mage grabbed his limb and pushed it back into place. And with so few simple motions of his other arm, he used invisible needles and threads to stitch his arm back into place, without breaking his laughter for even a mont.
"So he gave up on Avalin? I guess even the Monster King realized he would never be able to get his hands on her anymore... but you? You seem like a rather shabby replacent," Eiro said with a deep stare, taking in every tiny movent rlin was making.
And suddenly, rlin's laughter stopped, "Do you think you're better than ? Well, until recently, I would have agreed, but now, now, now... I have ascended! I reached that which I truly yearned for! The pinnacle of life!"
Eiro pulled out his daggers, tensing up his wings to get ready for anything. And then, rlin continued.
"Let re-introduce myself... I can hardly be called the sa being anymore! Dear Eiro... the Fool greets the World!"
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