Back in the cavern where the small army's bodies were slowly starting to decay, even with David's best effort to set all the bodies in a single pile and turn as many of them into undead as he could, the situation was rapidly evolving as well.
Out of everyone present, only three people remained to be christened with the chance to form a mana lobe: Killian, who was still uncertain about the safety of it all, along with Liu Yan, whom Alex was reluctant to let at it, and Aapo, who insisted on going last.
Out of the ones that had already passed, everyone had managed to form a mana lobe, even if so of them had a little more trouble, like Cory, who couldn't for the life of him focus on this, as he felt the gaze of everyone on his skin.
But after half an hour, only three were left, and Alex was hopeful.
He was feeling the effects of constantly draining his mana to make Aether particles, but at least his party's chances of surviving drastically improved.
Looking up at the three remaining people, Alex grinned.
"Who's next?!" he exclaid, looking at them in turn.
Killian looked at the other two, keeping his mouth closed, but his eyes almost prayed to them silently to go before him.
Looking at the silent trio, Alex sighed and turned to look at Liu Yan.
"Fine. I'll pick for you. Yan, you're up," Alex roughly said, interrupting the silence.
They were wasting precious ti here, and there was no telling when the kobolds would be on top of them again. There was no ti for hesitation right now.
Even with his reluctance to give Liu Yan a chance to beco a powerhouse that may or may not be on their side, Alex had more imdiate concerns. Even if he couldn't put a hundred percent of his trust in the man yet, he still wouldn't allow him to die in here.
Liu Yan walked before him, his body slightly trembling with anticipation and nervousness.
"You told the others this was like in New Eden. Is that true? Because if it is, we might have an issue," he said, pursing his lips.
Alexander frowned at his words.
"What kind of issue? You're a mage inside New Eden, correct? You should have done this before."
Liu Yan laughed dryly.
"Your first statent is correct. Your second... a little less so," he replied, looking at Alex nervously.
'Do I really have to tell him this?'
"Explain yourself, Liu Yan. And don't pussyfoot around it, either. We are running out of ti, and you are not the last one who needs to do this."
Liu Yan hesitated for a few seconds, feeling the intense pressure of Alexander's glare grow by the second, before sighing loudly.
But before he could open his mouth, David spoke over him.
"You were one of them, right?" he asked Yan.
Liu Yan's gaze snapped to David, his eyes narrowing.
"One of them?" he asked, uncertain what the necromancer was alluding to.
"You were one of the few who got it right off the bat in New Eden. Their mana cores. You were one of the 'Chosen of Mana,' right?" David said, staring at him intensely.
Liu Yan's eyes grew round as he stared at David in disbelief.
"How did you-
"It doesn't matter how I knew. You were one of them. This makes your progress slower on this side, but it's good for the future," David said, looking at him with a grin.
Then his head turned to Alex.
"Skip over him. His mana lobe will never form with our help. He's already promised a brighter future. If he survives long enough."
Alex was confused, but trusted David enough to listen to his claim.
"Fine. In that case, Killian. You're up."
Unfortunately for the group, before Killian could protest this, a reaction ca from
Alexander's mana, deeper into the tunnel at the end of the room.
Sothing was coming toward them. Many sothings, to be precise.
"Fuck. Alright, we don't have ti for this anymore. Let's hope it was enough for now," Alex said, pulling his sword back out of its sheath.
Noise started to flow into the cave, a cacophony of growling and screeching, along with the steady march of hundreds of footsteps.
"They're here!" Alex shouted, taking a defensive stance.
Kary flew over his head, suddenly landing at the tunnel entrance from where the noise ca from, a grin plastered on her face.
"Let's try this bad boy out. I've been itching to use higher-powered spells for a while now," she mumbled, lifting both hands before herself.
As the first kobolds appeared around a bend in the tunnel, rage on their faces and bloodlust in their hearts, Kary whispered.
"Logith's wrath: Torrential Flas."
A burst of fire erupted from her extended hands, lighting the tunnel and half the cavern behind her in green light as the flas burned forward with the hissing of lting stone and howls of pain from the kobolds.
The fire didn't stop at the bend, the pressure behind it pushing to keep going forward as it curved and followed the path around the corner, eting the incoming kobolds with burning
pain.
The howls of pain never lasted long, individually, as every kobold t a fiery death quicker than any of the group mbers had seen before. And the echoes past the bend never reached their ears as the torrent of flas roared them into the void.
Kary held this fla alight for almost thirty seconds before her body started feeling heavy. That's when she chose to end the spell, deciding it wasn't wise to burn herself up.
But the damage was done.
The stone on the walls, ceiling, and floor were glowing in red heat, lted to a smooth surface into the bend, and Kary grinned.
"That dumb dragon may not have given much, but I'm still satisfied," she comnted.
Alex walked to her side, whispering into her ear.
"That was dragon fire, right?"
She nodded, the smile on her face unabating.
"Damn. If I'd known sooner you had access to this, I would have rushed you into forming a
mana lobe," he chuckled, half-jokingly.
Kary elbowed him in the ribs, pulling her tongue at him.
"Stop ssing around. I'm sure you can tell this, too, but I didn't get all of them. More are
coming. We need to get ready."
"You're right," he replied, his face serious again.
He turned to the rest of the group, who were still staring at the tunnel entrance,
flabbergasted.
"Alright! Form up!"
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