Veraform was concerned. There were still nine other adventurers, along with this new group of five. Half of mechamputax was destroyed. He had five new souls, but what could he do? Veraform had a feeling the recently deceased didn’t meet the requirements of making a bonework demon, but he decided to channel on the red mage to see if he could get something.

With the mana gained from fighting and killing three people he must be able to get something worthwhile. It cost him 40 mana before anything happened to the corpse, but when it did it very suddenly started to deteriorate and disappear, leaving behind a small bluish stone in the shape of a heart. The process had also given him 15 KP and a notification.

Wow!

You found a Reagent!

Use these to give a boss new powers!

Reagent obtained: Iceborn Heart

This would help. He called Mechamputax to retrieve the heart. Meanwhile he turned his focus elsewhere. The Adventurers had continued onward. Luckily they had taken a pathway that led away from the stairs. Veraform had time.

The other corpses might drop something useful as well, he thought. They were mostly mush and bone since the blisters had exploded so violently. It was difficult to tell who was who and so Veraform simply channeled on the gorey mess as a whole. With his remaining mana he managed to create something new out of the mess of flesh and bile. The flesh congealed together and protrusions of various limbs and fingers stuck out. It was like a large slug made of corpses.

It moved slowly. Veraform couldn't imagine it actually being a threat to normal adventurers let alone a group this big. He turned his attention to what he assumed was his only hope at the moment. The iceborn heart. He had Mechamputax go back to the room it was deposited in. When the bonework demon touched the small cold heart there was a notification.

Uh oh!

It looks like you want to apply a level two regent to a creature that hasn't used a level one regent yet!

No. No no no no no. This was Veraform’s only hope. It had cost Mechamputax's decoy just to kill three of them and now more were arriving.

Veraform turned his attention to the newcomers.

"And what's a leper gotta do in a dungeon?" The huge man in little clothes asked.

"It's a sort of lifelong dream of mine and when you can't guarantee a long life then lifelong dreams get a little urgent. Being a leper I've got no money so I figured a newborn was my best chance and with this one having it's limits broken was practically an invitation from the gods themselves!" The man let out a laugh that got hoarse near the end.

"This isn't a vacation. This place is dangerous and we can't afford liabilities." It was Rhoam who protested.

"I may not look it but I won't be needing protection."

Rhoam glanced at the mage. "It may sound absurd but he at least believes he's telling the truth," she answered the implicit question.

"Fine, just stay out of the way. We aren't here for sightseeing," Rhoam was angry. It would be satisfying if Veraform weren't in such a dire situation. His only hope was that the lost woods would disorient the group enough that his minions could slay them.

Rhoam’s group progressed faster than Ricthers. They also didn't take any wrong turns. The nondescript man led the way as if he knew the fastest path to the stairs. This was bad. Was he using some ability to find the right path? Would it work in the lost woods? He had to get the ranged minions to the second floor before it was to late. He commanded them to hurry there before Rhoams group did.

Veraform had Mechamputax teleport to the sigil room closest to the stairs, the one with the flesh slug. Mechamputax would follow them to the second floor once they made it. Veraform decided to put the slug to use and had it make its way to intercept Rhoam and see how the group would handle it. There wasn't a single look of surprise as they entered the room with the creature. Their pace didn't even slow as the mage pointed a finger and three fire at the slug. It was a casual attack, and yet it burnt through the creature leaving it dead and charred in only a few seconds.

Meanwhile Richters group was preoccupied traveling through part of the dungeon that only had dead ends and rats. Veraform was more concerned with the group traveling directly to his core.

Rhoams group made it to the stairs without a word. They started their descent just as silently. Rhoam’s anger likely kept the others from starting any small talk.

"A fairy floor," the nondescript man finally spoke as he stepped into the second floor. As they stepped into the lost woods the nondescript man immediately turned to face the quickest direction for reaching the core room. "Just to be clear, we aren't killing this thing, right?" He asked the group.

There was no reply as the other two looked to Rhoam, knowing the question was really for him. After a moment of silence their guide stopped.

"You wouldn't have come if I said I was going to kill it." Rhoam finally said.

"For good reason. These things aren't exactly common and there isn't another particularly close. The people here could use it," the mage spoke up.

"It killed Marcus!" As if to reply, Mechamputax let out it's howl.

"RHOAAAAAM!" And for that brief moment where the intruders should be paralysed all of Veraform’s minions fired at Rhoam. He was likely the most vulnerable of the group to the paralysis, and he was the one who actually wanted to kill Veraform. Veraform didn't know what the alternative was.

The reactions were swift. The mage raised a barrier to block some blasts, the large man brought his arms up to defend anything that would have targeted him and the nondescript simply stood, somehow more motionless than before.

Rhoam was struck by two of the blasts. His anger was palpable. The blasts did next to nothing to him. A minor singe at best. The minions glad before there could be retaliation.

"Clever," the leper spoke to himself. Rhoam heard. The look he got in return was filled with hatred as Rhoam approached the leper.

"Rhoam," The mage said firmly.

Rhoam’s hand went to the lepers collar in an attempt to intimidate him.

"You want to kill it."

"Because it killed my student and now it's killed more people!"

"There's no changing your mind." It wasn't a question. The mage eyes went wide as she raised her hands to cast some spell.

This was Veraform’s chance. He had the minions fire another barrage of attacks at Rhoam again. Veraform would throw his bones at the mage feet though in order to open a portal and capture her.

There was a grand flash and as the light faded the leper lay on the ground and the mage had a bubble around herself, the large man and the nondescript man.

Every blast had hit Rhoam but he stood unhindered.

"What's going on?" the large man asked.

"The leper took Rhoam, we need to leave." The mage answered. Veraform was baffled. The leper was dead but upon checking his souls he had gained nothing.

The other group had found their way to the stairs and were making their way down.

"Can't we save him?"

"Not unless the leper takes someone else. I'm teleporting out, get close."

Rhoam, or the leper in Rhoam’s body, just watched. As the three others vanished, Richters group entered the lost woods.

"Dungeon. Handle the other intruders. I will wait here and then we can talk. I won't hurt you."

Veraform was baffled. So much had happened and almost none of it was in his control. He didn't have the resources to distrust this new Rhoam.

He got to work positioning his minions around the woods. This was going to be close.