“Misting confirmed,” Naster said, his eyes still closed as he controlled the Digger. “Still no enemy force.”
“Okay,” the High Priest said, sounding a little more relaxed. “Check the lake.”
“Reentering the lake,” Naster said.
What would they do when they found the bodies? They already knew the guards were dead. They would certainly search this cavern as a next step, and both exits had large metal doors blocking them. Analyze had said the doors were weak to acid, and Ruwen had just received ten gallons.
Ruwen removed the Enormous Acid Gland from his Void Band, opened the tube on top and squirted a little acid on the door’s corner. He returned the acid gland to his Inventory and studied the reaction. As the acid ate into the door, green smoke rose, and Ruwen quickly pulled the smoke into his Void Band to keep it from giving him away.
After a few seconds, Ruwen’s hopes were dashed. The acid had affected the door, and maybe with all ten gallons and just as many minutes, it would make a proper opening. But he wouldn’t have ten minutes. He thought of the Observer spell Blink, and how it would make his escape trivial. He’d never missed a spell more in his life.
When they searched this cavern, he had no way to hide, and he thought about his War Marshal’s Suffocation Bracer. If he started Fortifying with it on, it would make him invisible. But they could still trip over him, and the bigger issue was having to use his Spirit to activate the invisibility. If they discovered he could Harvest Naktos would learn of it, and that led to the apocalypse.
Ruwen knew that using his Spirit, he could kill everyone in this room and destroy the revival baths. But if even one of them hadn’t bound here, his secret would be out. And it was highly likely not all of them had bound here. If there was an attack on this mobile temple, someone needed to revive to explain what happened.
“I found the guards' bodies,” Naster said.
“Does it look like a sludge attack?” Rooster asked.
“They don’t appear damaged enough,” Naster replied. “But it is hard to tell with just touch. I’m confident there isn’t anyone else in the lake. Checking the access tunnel to the main reservoir.”
Ruwen had little time left. He cleared his mind to give his Cleverness Attribute room in his thoughts.
“Tunnel seems empty,” Naster said.
“Okay,” Rooster said. “It doesn’t appear like an assault. But a Spy or Assassin is still possible. Let’s search the caverns.”
Ruwen fought the growing panic and triggered Last Breath to speed his thoughts and give him a little extra time to think. He channeled fifty Energy into Sixth Sense to provide the most detailed information possible on the surrounding resource nodes.
Most of what surrounded Ruwen was granite, and small flakes of terium and other precious metals were scattered through the rock. The stone had cracked two hundred feet away and methane leaked upward, but that didn’t do him any good. A vein of obsidian snaked its way to the surface, but even if he dug through the brittle glass, he couldn’t fit through the opening.
Movement on his overlay meant his time was almost up. It looked like he’d need to fight after all. While his body could take significant damage, and his Regen was respectable, the concentrated damage he’d receive would overwhelm both. Just like with the Bone Sculptor, he weighed the risk of exposing his Harvesting abilities or dying. At least this time he would only cause his own death.
To buy a little extra time, Ruwen cast Minion, and three seconds and one hundred Mana later a granite figure emerged from the rock. Minions, constructed from nearby materials, would help the Worker with simple monotonous tasks. It had vague features and couldn’t fight, but he hoped it would be a distraction.
Ruwen immediately channeled twenty-five Energy into Fallen Heroes, and a level twenty Fighter appeared next to him dressed in black plate and a cloak. Its face, through the slits in its helmet, looked like black fog. Ruwen and his level formed the template for the apparition. Since his body had the durability of plate, it made sense the apparition would materialize that way. It concerned him that the apparition didn’t have a weapon, but there wasn’t anything he could do.
There were enemies coming from both directions. Ruwen pointed at his minion and whispered. “Run as fast as you can and avoid contact with others.”
The minion turned and dashed out from behind the crates. Shouts echoed in the cavern as the minion flew by the closest guards. Ruwen turned to the apparition. “Attack the priest in the middle of the room.”
The apparition disappeared around the crates, and a few seconds later more shouts filled the cavern. Ruwen knew his Minion and Fallen Hero wouldn’t last long, but he still didn’t know how to escape, and needed their distraction to buy time. And another idea occurred to him that might give him an extra minute.
Verifying with Stone Echo that no one stood next to the crates, Ruwen moved fifteen feet along the wall, until he’d reached the far edge of the metal door. He cast Shed, picturing no windows in the structure and the door against the metal gate. A second later his Mana dropped by fifty and once again darkness surrounded him.
Ruwen triggered Glow and looked in satisfaction at his ten by ten by ten stone room. He stepped up to each wall and channeled one hundred Energy into his level five Harden spell, transforming the granite into diamond. Moving from wall to wall and the ceiling and floor, in just seconds he had encased himself in a diamond cube.
Sitting cross-legged, Ruwen again cleared his mind. There had to be a way out of here. His shed shook as something large struck the wall. Probably one of the Mages unleashing their power. He thought again about using the acid, but he didn’t
