Chapter 50- Tricks of a Dagian

Morpheus sprinted back through the trees, he could see death magic being spewed into the air through the gaps in the canopy. He could feel someone was wrong.

It was the same feeling he had when he was in the dwarven dungeon.

He broke through the tree line to see Theodore kneeling down, gasping for air.

“Get out of here boy!” Theodore shouted at him.

All the people who stayed were on their last leg. Terra’s Children looked exhausted and aged. The rest of Theodore’s group had backed off from the shaman. He could see another two people laying face down on the ground.

The goblin shaman was now floating in the air, death magic swirling around him.

Morpheus teleported over to Theodore and threw his arm over his shoulder, he sprouted his wings and flew to a safe distance.

“Get the rest!” Theodore weakly said.

Morpheus didn’t hesitate and flew back to the rest of the bodies laying down. They were dead, their bodies felt weak as Morpheus turned them over.

A lick of death magic flew over his head, exploding a hutt.

“Fuck!” He shouted.

The shaman wasn’t moving, it’s eyes were completely black. Death magic was pouring out from every hole in its whole body as it was levitating. Streaked of the death magic flew into the nearby trees and ground causing wood and dirt to spew everywhere.

He feared for his life and left the bodies on the ground, he tried to fit them in his pouch but the size was reduced because of the damages.

“Get out!” An elf shouted to him.

He wings flapped and he flew to the back of the camp where a lot of injured and exhausted adventurers were.

“How is a shaman that strong?” Theodore asked as Morpheus crouched down next to him and started to heal the dwarf.

“It is enhanced.” The elf said, still staring at the shaman.

“To fucking right.” A merfolk said defeatingly.

“Fuck we gotta kill it now. Killed three of our own!” Theodore angrily said.

“Impossible.” The elf said truthfully.

“I don’t give a fuck! I’ll die to bring it down!” Theodore shouted as he tried to get up.

“Stop! Think rationally!” Morpheus said, holding his shoulder.

“Ahh fuck!” Theodore screamed, shaking Morpheus's hand off his shoulder.

Suddenly from above, a large spear of light magic shot down and into Theodore’s head. His head exploded, covering Morpheus and an elf with brain matter.

He was in shock, Theodore’s head had just vanished.

“The Bright Light!” An elf screamed.

Morpheus was still in shock, staring at Theodore’s corpse that fell back in his arms.

Terra’s Children all began hissing and started firing their arrows and vine magic towards the orange sky.

“We have to leave now!” A merfolk shouted.

Morpheus was still holding onto Theodore’s headless body.

“C’mon! Move!” A merfolk shouted, grabbing Morpheus’s shoulder.

Reality had hit him now, he looked up to the sky and saw multiple light spears preparing to fire.

(Mage, Patron of the Bright Light, Level 186)

He scrambled from underneath the vice-guild master’s corpse and caught up to the group.

“Run!” One of Terra’s Children shouted.

Light spears began to rain down from above, exploding the ground at their feet.

Morpheus picked up an elf that was limping and ran as fast as he could.

More spears began to fly down from the sky, one of them hit a dwarfs leg exploding it to pieces.

“Take her!” He screamed to one of Terra’s Children.

He handed the elf over and ran back to the fallen dwarf. He grabbed the dwarf and flew away to catch up to the rest of them, Absolute Heal flowed in the dwarf and started to regrow his leg.

The dwarf was screaming in pain as Morpheus dodged left and right, the spears coming a few inches from himself and his wings. He was terrified, he had never seen such powerful magic before.

Terra’s Children began firing off arrows as they were running, all were deflected by a flash of white light.

“Just run!” Morpheus screamed above the group. He dropped down and he and the dwarf began running again with the group.

They ran into a denser part of forest, taller trees with a thicker canopy.

“Hide!” An elf yelled out.

Morpheus fell under a half fallen tree along with most of them. Terra’s Children ran up a tree under and held on under a thick branch.

“He won’t follow us down here.” An elf whispered.

Morpheus swallowed the lump in his throat. A spear landed next to him, kicking up dirt that stuck to the blood on him.

Morpheus could see smaller flickers of white light through the canopy, more spears rained down but the group stayed in silence.

The young chimera stayed extremely still, even when a spear came within a few metres of him. They stayed in hiding until the spears stopped raining down.

He looked up to the tree and saw one of Terra’s Children press a finger against her mouth, she silently scaled to the top branch of the tree and peeked through the canopy. She waited for a few minutes, sniffing the air and looking into the sky.

She climbed back down, under a branch and put three fingers up. His group on the ground nodded in unison and they waited for three minutes before moving.

“Who was that?” Morpheus asked in a quiet tone.

“Patron of the Bright Light, high elves.” The dwarf who he helped said.

“Why did he attack us?”

“She.” An elf corrected him.

“Why did she attack us?” He asked again.

“The Bright Light disagrees with living with other races, impure, they call the other elves.” The dwarf answered.

“They are trying to weaponize monsters.” An elf said.

“They have.” Morpheus responded looking down.

The dwarf who he helped began crying. “That bitch got Theodore.” He weeped while rubbing his nose.

“Cowards attack.” The elf said, staring into the ground.

“Fuckers will pay for this.” The dwarf said.

“We mustn’t mourn, not yet. The other group may be in danger.” A merfolk said.

The dwarf nodded. “Ye right.”

Morpheus was upset, but not devastated. He had witnessed a lot of death in Arios and it didn’t affect him as much.

The mood was very solemn as they moved through the trees to the smaller camp. They ran around a small mountain to the edge of the first camp they attacked.

The dwarf in front held up a closed fist.

Morpheus peeked over his shoulder, all he could see was Big Sam laying on his back with his eyes closed.

He checked his party status but it said Big Sam was alive.

“The groups alive.” Morpheus whispered.

The rest of them were in a different party so only Morpheus knew he was alive. The rest of his party’s status were all at full health too, but he couldn’t see them.

“Noia, check the area.” He whispered to one of Terra’s Children.

The female elf nodded and jumped up to a tree branch, she began to jump from branch to branch. Noia began to sniff the air around the small camp. She was the elf that laughed at Hammer’s comment on his behind.

(Scout, Child of Terra, Level 116)

She was the lowest level out of all of Terra’s Children.

Noia made her way back.

“He’s pretending to be dead.” She whispered.

The dwarf nodded, he had taken the Theodore’s roll.

The reduced group silently crept over to Big Sam. He looked much bigger than before.

The dagi opened one eye as he heard footsteps approaching him.

“Are they gone?” He whispered.

The dwarf nodded.

Morpheus bent down to help Big Sam up, the young chimera had to literally roll him over.

“Where’s Theodore and the others?” Big Sam asked while dusting himself off.

The dwarf shook his head.

“The high elf got them?” Big Sam asked.

No one replied.

“When I saw the bright light, I hid everyone and pretended to be dead.”

“Good choice.” Noia said.

“She flew over us and headed in the direction of Elusia.”

“Elusia?” Noia questioned and glanced at her party.

Big Sam nodded.

“We must warn the elders immediately.” Noia sternly said.

“Go. We’ll sort the rest out.” The dwarf said in a depressing tone

Noia nodded and her group set off at a fast past.

Morpheus sat down on a fallen hut, he lit a cigarette and thought about the recent fight. He kept thinking that it was all his fault, he sent the shaman into a frenzied state which was probably why the others and Theodore died.

He thought about if he didn’t use Terrify that the outcome could have been worse. He gritted his teeth and brought up his notifications.

You have levelled up Terrify Level (3)

You have levelled up Arcane Pulse Level (19)

You have levelled up Spartans Ethos Level (E) (4)

Viking Blood Axe 901/10000

‘Congratulations’ you have earned Death Magic Resistance Level (1). You have encountered a powerful death magic user.

He was disappointed he didn’t get a level but his skills were levelling nicely. He had finally gained Death Magic Resistance, he had encountered it far too often to not earn it. He brought up his skills and stats.

General and Class Skills:

Terrify Level (3)

Full Body Combat Level (13)

Dance of Battle Level (E) (5)

Archaic Wings Level (E) (6)

Arcane Pulse Level (19)

Arcane Tuning Level (E) (2)

Arcane Blink Level (E) (3)

Viking Blood Axe 901/10000

Spartan’s Ethos Level (E) (4)

Battle-Axe Mastery (E) (5)

Absolute Heal Level (E) (5)

Resistances:

Death Magic Resistance Level (1)

Corrosive Resistance Level (4)

Miasma Resistance Level (10)

Poison Resistance Level (1)

Mind Magic Resistance Level (4)

Shadow Magic Resistance Level (3)

Fire Magic Resistance Level (5)

Pain Resistance Level (17)

Fear Resistance Level (9)

Status

Health:9180/9200

Stamina:14321/15340

Mana:3168/3760

Stats

Strength: 98

Vitality: 115

Constitution: 84

Endurance: 100

Agility: 84

Wisdom: 56

Intelligence: 85

Charisma: 33

Luck: 18

He heard Big Sam scoff, followed by his fat squirming to his back.

“I hate this part.” Big Sam said as he grew two times his usual size. The skin on his back parted and people began to walk out. The rescued girls had cloth wrapped around them and Hammer came skipping out followed by the rest of them.

“Ah! Fresh air!” Hammer exclaimed. The eccentric bard soon acknowledged the gloomy atmosphere.

“Theodore?” He asked, his voice for the first time truly sounding sincere.

The dwarf shook his head.

Hammer was silent, it was the first time he actually shut his mouth.

“Can you girls walk?” He asked the shook rescued girls.

They all nodded meekly with red rubbed eyes. Morpheus felt terrible for the them, rape in his eyes was worse than murder.

The sun was now breaking through the mountain, it was a beautiful sight but it didn’t brighten their moods at all. They all started the walk in silence, the mission was successful but it cost a lot of lives.