Elín crept through the undergrowth, considering each step carefully. Her movements were as silent as ever, though in this case, it didn't really matter. The noise emanating from the camp they were circling made sure that noticing anyone approaching by sound was almost impossible. Elín soon spotted a tall tree with branches dense in leaves – ideal for surveying the camp without being seen. Having scaled the tree, she scanned the area. The camp was littered with tents of varying sizes. It was clear that this was not a small operation; someone really wanted to get into the hidden lair that lay beyond the rubble. The workers had made good progress, as well: a large opening had been dug into the mountain. Remains of old, well-crafted pillars were sticking out from the debris that still blocked some parts of the entrance. There was no telling exactly how far into the mountain the workers had progressed, as the constant stream of labourers disappeared inside the breach. At the very least, the wagons that emerged from there were still filled to the brim with rocks. Regardless, it was clear that Dane and his group couldn't afford to tarry. Elín quietly pointed at one of the tents at the very edge of the site. It was much larger than most others, and made from colourful, and most likely expensive, cloth. Notably, a large, lizard-like skull had been affixed above its entrance. "Perhaps you should check that one out? We might find out who's responsible for this dig," Elín whispered. "Yeah. Let's hope that it is empty," Dane responded as Elín quietly slid back down to the ground and started approaching the tent. Some guards had been posted around the perimeter, but none of them managed to spot Elín. Of course, these men didn't seem to be too alert. After all, who would bother approaching an archaeological dig?
Judging by the fact that the men guarding the camp looked more like mercenaries than soldiers, it was likely that this was a private endeavour. That is to say that it wasn't the White Order, which did raise a question. How had they managed to discern the lair's location? Hopefully, the tent would offer some answers. Two guards were posted at the tent's entrance, but that wasn't an issue. As Dane was noncorporeal, he could just float inside it, while Elín stayed outside. The inside of the tent was furnished like a mansion. Expensive pelts covered the ground, and all of the furniture had been expertly crafted of the finest wood. Dane quickly examined the tent and noticed a pile of parchments resting on the table. He floated over to them and started to skim through their contents. Much to his dismay, they consisted only of reports concerning the finances of the excavation. Unless Dane was interested in the wage rates of the dig's workers, he would find nothing of importance among the documents. Still, he noted that the seal that had been stamped onto them featured a prominent black snake. Dane was sure that he recognized the symbol from somewhere, but before he could come up with anything, he heard noises approaching the tent's entrance. Two men entered the tent. The other was the very image of a wealthy merchant, dressed in fancy garments and sporting a grand moustache. The other man was the polar opposite of the mildly obese merchant: he was very tall, very muscular and sported a bald head with scars running down his face. He wore heavy plate armour and carried a longsword. Judging by the man's posture, it was very clear that he also knew how to use the weapon.
"I swear, these workers are just so lazy! We should have cleared the entrance almost a week ago, yet they tell me it's going to take another day!" the merchant-looking man bellowed, waving his hands. The warrior seemed to be fairly fed up with the man's words but opted to stay quiet. Suddenly, an amulet that had been attached to his belt started vibrating. The merchant was about to continue his tirade, but the warrior raised his hand. "Hang on. We might not be alone in here," he said, laying his hand on the handle of his mace and scanning the tent. "Hogwash. Who'd come here and why? You don't need to be so on edge, Maximus," the merchant said, sitting down in his plush chair. Still, the warrior, or Maximus, kept looking around. Seeing this as his cue to leave, Dane floated back to Elín's side. Though he had been invisible, it was quite possible that the warrior's amulet had somehow sensed his presence. "We need to leave," he whispered as he reached her. Immediately, she started her retreat to the forest. The warrior had exited the tent and was now talking with the guards posted outside it. His words seemed to motivate them, as they drew their swords and started surveying the area. Had Elín and Dane left ten seconds later, they would've been found out. Thankfully, they were able to elude all of the guards and after a brief trek, they reached the rest of their group.
As soon as Reinhardt had spotted the tracks on the road, he had ordered the group to head into the forest. They had stopped only when Reinhardt had been convinced that they couldn't be spotted from the road. He had immediately ordered Elín to survey the area. Just before they had left, Reinhardt and Kharan had exchanged a worried look. When the pair returned from their reconnaissance mission, only Reinhardt and Jekaterina were waiting for them. Immediately, Reinhardt jumped up. "So? What did you see?" he inquired. "Well, it was like you feared. Someone is currently excavating the ruins," Dane said, sensing the anxiety in Reinhardt's words. "There were no standards or anything, so I couldn't tell who was organizing it. I'd assume the project to be a private one, so at the very least, the White Order doesn't seem to be involved." Reinhardt nodded, stroking his beard nervously. "I see. Do you have any clue as to how far they have progressed? Were they already in?" It was apparent that Reinhardt was uncharacteristically worried. Then again, it was understandable. They had come so far, yet it seemed like someone was going to pass them by right at the goal line. "The man I assume to be the one responsible for the operation did say something about getting inside in a day," Dane answered, only now realizing what all this meant. There was no way the ones excavating the lair would give the body to them. Indeed, it seemed like his dream of regaining a body was about to be dashed. Surprisingly enough, Reinhardt took the news well. In fact, he breathed a sigh of relief, even it was a bit strained.
"Then I suppose there is still some hope for us," Reinhardt mumbled crossing his arms. He seemed to be deep in thought. Jekaterina, meanwhile, didn't seem to be too bothered by the whole ordeal. She was currently sitting nearby, sketching an image of a plant into her notebook. "Where are the others?" Elín asked. Before Reinhardt could answer, however, Kharan and Milo emerged from the forest, atop their mounts. "We found it! By my beard, we found it!" Kharan exclaimed. Reinhardt nodded and joined the dwarf on the mountain dragon's back. "Excellent. But we need to get moving immediately. Our competitors are almost inside themselves, as it would appear." The expression of glee disappeared from Kharan's face, replaced by a stern look of determination. "Hey, you. We're going, and that means that you have to move, too," Milo sighed. He had ridden next to Jekaterina and had shoved her lightly. Now with even the scatter-brained mage in tow, the group headed out. Kharan led them toward the mountain. As they neared it, they could hear the sounds of pickaxes hitting stone in the distance. Soon they reached a narrow and very old trail, almost imperceptible due to the vegetation that had sprung up. "It is exactly like my father's notes said. There is a secret entrance at the back of the old fortress," Kharan explained as they moved along the trail. The incline was quite steep, so Jekaterina's and Milo's horses struggled to move in places. Meanwhile, the mountain dragon and Elín's horse, Frost, showed no sign of slowing down. Finally, they reached a dead end. Kharan dismounted and walked to the mountain's side. He dug up a bizarre-looking object from his bag, and after some fiddling about, the stone rolled away, revealing a passage. "Even the key works exactly like he described," Kharan said, triumphantly holding up the object in his hand.
The hallway Kharan had revealed was pitch black. While he and Elín would have likely managed just fine, Jekaterina, Dane and Milo couldn't see anything. I wouldn't be surprised if Reinhardt could see in the dark... Then again, why can't I? I mean, how do I see in the first place, it's not like I have eyes? Well, questions for another time, Dane mused as Kharan hefted his large back-bag from the mountain dragon's back. After some shuffling around, he pulled out a portable version of the lamps Dane had seen at the dwarven city's outskirts. He twisted a knob on brass housing that covered the glass container, which contained the ball of moss itself. Soon it lit up, lighting the way. Jekaterina was looking on with an enamoured expression. "How does that work? I sense no mana from it, but somehow you were able to turn it on so easily!" Kharan shook his head, starting to walk down the passage. "Sorry, lass, but I can't tell you. Unfortunately, us dwarves are very secretive about our inventions," he said, in a somewhat apologetical tone. Jekaterina was visibly disappointed yet made no effort to pry the secret from the dwarf. Most likely, this was due to the fact that they were about to enter a lair no human had laid their eyes on for the last century. "What shall we do with our horses? I don't know about your 'dragon', but I doubt the horses would be very happy staying inside..." Milo asked, peering down the dark hallway. "Let's leave them here for now. I don't think anybody will come around, and we won't be staying in there for long, anyway," Reinhardt answered, after some deliberation. Milo nodded and started tying his horse's reins to a nearby tree. Both Milo's and Jekaterina's horses seemed unsettled by the presence of the mountain dragon, but Frost didn't seem to be bothered in the least. Leaving them outside was somewhat risky, but Dane couldn't be bothered to worry about that. The only thing he could think about right now was how close his new body, and life, seemed.
As the group moved through the hallway, they could hear the rhythmic strikes of the pickaxes the workers wielded on the other side of the lair. The hits sounded like a clock, counting down the time the group had before whoever ran the excavation would get through. "I wonder..." Jekaterina muttered, breaking the silence. "Is this what elven ruins look like? I was under the impression that they were quite a bit fancier. The building style here is very function-over-form, nothing like I would expect of the elves." "You're correct. This has to have been built by the dwarves, right?" Dane chimed in, examining their surroundings. Unlike in elven ruins, the walls weren't white and filled with engravings. Instead, everything was a shade of grey. The straight lines and blocky design were a far cry from what Dane had seen at structures that had been built by the elves. Kharan puffed up his chest and nodded. "Indeed. This lair was built by us as an outpost some three hundred years ago. That's why everything is so utilitarian, this place was built to withstand any kind of attack." "...Until the dark lord waltzed in and took the place for himself," Reinhardt added with a teasing tone. "Well, that was because this place had been left undermanned, not because of the structure itself. At any rate, I think this is it." The group had arrived at a large door. Some dwarven runes had been engraved atop the door frame, but Dane could only guess at what it said. There weren't many humans around who understood Dwarvish, a fact the dwarves were all too happy to maintain. Once again, Kharan used his key at the door, and it slowly started to swing open. "This key was left behind by my father, who worked as the chief engineer at this fortress. He was here when Narul took it over, and never left the place after that."
The door led to a large circular room, as dark as everything else inside the lair. At its very centre stood a tall figure atop a pedestal. When the light from Kharan's lamp hit it, Dane was startled to see that it appeared to be a man. He was covered in a cloth of some sort, only his mask visible. Before anyone else could react, Elín had already drawn her bow and taken aim at the figure. "No need to worry. That thing won't be moving anywhere without our help," Reinhardt said, with elation in his voice. Finally, Dane realized what he was looking at. "That's it, isn't it? The body." "Yes, it is. The magical body, the corpus arcanum. The finest creation ever made by dwarven hands," Kharan sighed, looking at the silhouette with great reverence. Reinhardt coughed loudly, but Kharan didn't react to it in any way. Instead, he slowly walked to the artefact and threw down his back-bag. "Well, then," he said, laying down the lamp so that it lit the room as well as possible. "Let's get to work, shall we? The thing's been sitting here, gathering dust for the last hundred years. It's practically screaming for maintenance!" Up until now, the dwarf had seemed quite reserved. Faced with this construct, however, his face practically glowed with enthusiasm. Reinhardt laughed and joined the dwarf. "Well, you're right. After all, we don't have time on our side," he said, rolling up his sleeves and laying down his hat. "The rest of you might as well make yourself comfortable. This is going to take a while."
***
"Nnngh... There we go!" The metal mask that had covered the corpus arcanum's face hit the floor with a large clang as Reinhardt finally managed to pry it loose. "Careful! As far as we know, that is the last representation of the fourth dark lord's face!" Dane shouted, floating over to the piece of metal. "Eh, whether or not people know what the man looked like doesn't really concern me. I mean, the man was a mass-murdering tyrant. He might as well fade into obscurity as far as I'm concerned." "Tyrant or not, he is still a part of history. And quite a major part, at that," Dane retorted as he examined the mask. It seemed to be made out of solid gold and depicted a man who was perhaps in his early forties. The facial features reminded Dane of the desert merchants he had occasionally seen during his travels. So, the theory about him being from the East is actually true. Fancy that, he thought as he shifted his attention back toward the body itself. Now that both the mask and the cloak covering the artefact had been removed, he could truly appreciate the beauty of the construct. The easiest way to describe it was to say that it looked like a set of plate armour, clearly made by an expert. That being said, it was much slimmer, to the point where its proportions were that of an unarmoured human, if a tall one. The face, now uncovered from under the mask, was almost completely featureless save for the two gems that had been embedded onto it, most likely acting as eyes. On the body's chest, there was a slot for a soul gem. Elín was sitting next to the entrance, bow on her lap. She was examining the amulet that housed Dane. Her face was as expressionless as ever, but Dane could feel a sadness radiating from her due to the fact that the amulet linked somehow their emotions. He moved over to her and formed his body.
As Dane's apparition started to materialize, Elín was initially surprised. When she realized what was going on, she let go of the amulet and turned to face Dane. "You holding up OK? It seems like you're sad for some reason," Dane inquired. Elín tilted her head, seemingly confused. "I can feel whatever you can feel, you know," Dane continued, crossing his arms. For a while, Elín stayed quiet. Then she looked down and sighed. "I see. I'm sorry for worrying you." She took another look at her amulet and shook her head. "You know full well how protective I am of this amulet. This is because it belonged to my mother. On her deathbed, she asked me to keep good care of it." "Oh..." That would explain why she has been so reluctant to give it up. But then this means... "I... I'm sorry. We're in this situation only because of the mistake I made. If there was any way we could do this without your amulet, I'd want to do that," Dane said, looking at the corpus arcanum. Reinhardt and Kharan were both feverishly working on it. Every now and then they quietly discussed some aspect of the restoration but always quickly got back to work. "But I don't think there is a better alternative. I know this is a lot to ask of you, but are you still willing to go through with this?" Much to his relief, Elín nodded. He felt some other feeling stirring inside Elín but couldn't recognize it. However, he had a hunch that it was a positive one. "Of course, I'm willing to give it up. After all, we've come so far. I believe that my mother would have approved of me using it for someone I care deeply about," she said, averting her gaze for some reason. Her ears were twitching and seemed redder than usual. Before Dane could say anything else, a loud bang reverberated in the room followed by a long litany of dwarven curse words. "I'll... I'll check what that was about," Dane said as he swiftly floated away.
It turned out that the commotion had been nothing major. Kharan had merely dropped his tool as he had tried to reach the machinery within the body. "Blast it! Why do some of these parts need to be so hard to reach? I bet that even an elf would have trouble fixing this thing!" he spouted, picking the instrument back up. "Didn't you say that this was your people's finest work? It seems to me that it isn't so fine after all," Reinhardt jibed. It seemed like he was working on the magical parts of the construct while Kharan focused on the more mechanical aspects. "Bah! You know full well why these things are the way they are. No one but the dwarves could have made this thing work!" It seemed almost like the two might start a more severe argument, but Jekaterina butted in with a question. "Hmm... You say that you dwarves built this machine, but I recall Reinhardt mentioning that it was found rather than built. Which is it, really?" Kharan laughed, which made Reinhardt grit his teeth and grunt, clearly annoyed. "Aye, lass, he might have said that. And in a way, he is correct. But then again, what my ancestors found was nothing but scrap metal. During the war against the first dark lord, our armies sacked an ancient elven city. Deep within they found, among other things, this 'corpus arcanum' – though it was far from complete. Evidently, the one working on it had abandoned the project, perhaps he just couldn't make it work." Kharan's words really seemed to rile Reinhardt up. Dane became worried, but the man just shook his head and sighed deeply. This made Dane wonder what the relationship between these two was like: no one had ever managed to annoy Reinhardt so much and then gotten away with it. "That being said, even our best engineers couldn't figure the thing out, so it was just stored away. Until one day, someone stumbled upon it and realized what had to be done. And that someone was my father."
Kharan tightened something inside one of the body's joints and stepped back, crossing his arms. He looked at the body with pride. "My father was one of the finest minds our city had ever seen. Even the grand gate outside our city was rebuilt by him, to be more efficient. Before his time, it wasn't half as impressive nor was it very practical. This gained him quite a bit of recognition, so it wasn't surprising that when the mountain king heard that my father had expressed interest in working with an ancient artefact, he immediately went all in. This fortress was converted to become his laboratory where he toiled away." "Your father was a genius, all right. However, even he couldn't truly make this thing truly work. It is inexorably linked to magic, and with only mechanic components, it will not function as intended. Thus, he needed someone who could wield magic. This is why the approached me," Reinhardt added. It seemed like he was finished with his work. "Since you didn't know where this place was, I'd assume that Narul struck before you ever reached this place?" Jekaterina asked, completely disregarding the fact that Reinhardt had just revealed that he was over a hundred years old. That being said, perhaps it wasn't that surprising after everything else he had done. Reinhardt nodded while Kharan got back to work. "Indeed. Seems like the dark lord somehow caught wind of the project and laid siege to the city. Despite how well defended Stahlgriff is, it was obvious that Narul's endless army of the undead would have eventually broken in and slaughtered everyone. So, the mountain king made a terrible choice. He gave up the location of the laboratory in exchange for a non-aggression pact. It is quite likely that this was just to buy the city time to prepare, but the dark lord ended up honouring the contract. Then again, he was finally defeated only a few months later."
"The whole matter was a huge embarrassment for the whole city, so all proof of the transaction was destroyed. Even I, the lead engineer's son, knew not of what had transpired. The whole project had been a military secret to begin with, so I had no knowledge of what exactly he had been doing and where. It was only when Reinhardt here contacted me that I found out the truth," Kharan said. His voice was calm, and he showed no expression, but Dane was sure that talking about this had to be emotional for the man. "At the time, I had thought that the body had been either lost or destroyed during the battle, but then I met one of the dwarves that had worked here and escaped when the White Order arrived. Unfortunately, we were at a prison camp and the dwarf was executed before he could reveal the location of the fortress," Reinhardt continued. "As such, I immediately went to Stahlgriff, but the mountain king wasn't exactly responsive to my inquiries, even if I helped him out a great deal. Perhaps the event had been so shameful to him that he'd rather have all evidence of it buried. However, that was when I met Kharan and we decided to continue his father's work. With some detective work, we managed to find the key to this place and discovered a notebook that described a hidden back entrance to the place. Still, there was no map. As such, I started my quest to get into the White Order's archives. And the rest you probably know, for the most part." So, we're all just going to ignore the fact that Reinhardt got caught, was at a prison camp and even somehow escaped it? Dane thought as Kharan nodded and turned around. "As we didn't have any blueprints, the repair was quite difficult. However, the components used were of an exceptionally high quality and I know how my father worked, so I'm confident in saying that the body has been restored."
The air in the room suddenly felt electric. Finally, it was time. Everyone gathered at the body, waiting eagerly to see if their journey had been worth it. Slowly, and reluctantly, Elín removed her amulet and handed it to Reinhardt. "I suggest we hurry. The sounds are much closer now. It's not going to be long before they break through." Reinhardt nodded and walked up to the body. He started to mumble to himself, most likely casting magic of a very complex nature. Jekaterina joined him next to the body. It was already getting quite late, so she was quite old. Dane was worried about how she would be able to handle the very demanding soul magic required, but they were out of time. He just had to hope for the best. Reinhardt's magic was starting to take effect, as a small hatch opened up in the body's chest. He smashed the amulet and retrieved the soul gem, which made Elín shudder. As she was no longer wearing the amulet, her and Dane's feelings were no longer linked. Still, it didn't take a genius to figure out that this was probably quite painful for her. I really do owe her big-time for all this. After we're done here, I will really need to start paying her back, somehow. Reinhardt carefully placed the soul gem inside the body and closed the hatch. He turned to Jekaterina, who nodded. "Are you sure you should be doing this? You're quite old, so you might mess the spell up," Milo said, nervously tapping his foot. Jekaterina chuckled, causing Milo to blush. "How sweet of you to be worried about me. But worry not, I will be fine. Soul magic is one of the taboo schools of magic, largely because it uses fell mana rather than the usual mana normal spells utilize. That means that I will be able to complete the spell, though it will do a number on my body. But as I'll be reborn at midnight anyway, it doesn't really matter. So, let's just do this."
"Now, then," Jekaterina muttered, licking her lips nervously. "I'm going to bind your soul to this construct. I'll be honest: I've never done anything quite like this. However, I do know the theory and I'm fairly certain that I'll be successful. Are you still up for it?" Dane nodded, but then realized that he had already dispelled his ghost form. "I am. And I'm also sure that you'll be able to do this," he said. Thankfully, the fact that he was noncorporeal meant that the tone of his voice didn't betray his nervousness. "I'm glad to hear that. Now, you will most likely lose your consciousness when I start. Hopefully, you'll be bound to the body when you wake up again," Jekaterina said, placing her hand on the corpus arcanum's chest. She started chanting her spell, and Dane could faintly feel the mana around them start moving. He had never seen anyone cast a spell with fell mana, and it was obvious that the process was much more violent and, more to the point, unpleasant than normal magic. The flow of mana was somehow more chaotic, even malicious. She was doing something forbidden, and Dane felt like he now understood why it was so. Fell mana was more potent than regular mana, and it allowed its wielder to perform incredible feats. But it carried a heavy price, as was evident from the pained expression on Jekaterina's face. Suddenly, it became dark and Dane couldn't see or hear anything. Here's hoping that this will actually work. It would really be quite anticlimactic if the binding failed and I would just disappear, Dane thought to himself as he felt his consciousness start to fade. But if I do survive, at the very least I'll finally be able to be of use to my compatriots.
Slowly, Dane started waking up. He still couldn't see or hear anything, but he could feel that something had changed. During the time he had resided in the amulet he had always felt... insubstantial, for a lack of a better word. Like he could blink once and just disappear. That feeling had completely vanished. It was still different from when he had had his own body, but most likely, he would never feel like that ever again. Regardless, he felt more concrete than before. He even felt mana circulating through his body, and in great quantities. Oh... Is this how archmages feel? Dane thought as he was mesmerized by the incredible volume of mana, many times more than the amount he had possessed in his original body. I suppose it makes sense. If Narul wanted to use this body as his own, it would have had to have a capacity to match his own. Still, the amount of power here is just... incredible. Then he started to hear a sound, akin to tinnitus, which slowly morphed into recognizable speech. "... Still not done. We just have to wait," he heard Reinhardt saying. "But they've already broken through! It's only a matter of time before they reach this room, and then we're boned!" Milo insisted, sounding very nervous. Dane realized that he was running out of time, and luckily for him, almost immediately regained his vision. Immediately, he could see that everyone in the room was getting ready to leave the room as soon as possible. Elín was posted at the door, holding her bow at the ready. Milo was sitting next to Jekaterina and supporting the female mage with his shoulder. It was evident that she was absolutely worn out from the spell. "All right, I'll carry..." Reinhardt started, but was cut off when Dane took his first step – and promptly felt from the pedestal, face first.
"Wha... Dane?!" Reinhardt shouted, as Dane slowly got back up onto his feet. As it had turned out, operating this new body was going to take some getting used to. "Yeah, it's me," Dane said, surprised by his voice. He sounded nothing like himself; the body's voice was incredibly monotone and metallic. "Great timing. Now, I know that you'll have trouble moving, but we need to get going – right now," Reinhardt said, nodding at Kharan, who picked up his back-bag and started to walk toward the door. "Milo, you help Jekaterina. I'll support you, Dane," he continued, offering his shoulder. They started moving forward, and with Reinhardt's assistance, Dane finally started to get the hang of his new body. By the time they were at the entrance, he could walk by himself, even if his gait was incredibly stiff. When they passed Elín, Dane had to have a double-take. He could've sworn that he saw a brief smile on her face, but when he looked again, she merely tilted her head with her usual deadpan expression. However, her ears were fluttering like crazy. She's pretty happy about the situation, given that she just lost her precious amulet, he mused as they started to make their way toward the secret entrance. They were frozen in their tracks when they heard a voice from behind them. "Where do you think you're going?" the merchant running the excavation said with a smirk, appearing from the dark corridor. Next to him stood Maximus, the warrior, who had already drawn his mace. In addition, around ten mercenaries bared their weapons and smiled in a very unpleasant way. "Everything within these ruins belongs to me, and especially the corpus arcanum. Now, you've done me a great service by repairing it, so I'm willing to let you go if you just surrender the artefact to me. Immediately."
Dane judged the situation. Both Reinhardt and Elín were very capable fighters. There was no doubt that Kharan, Jekaterina and Milo could handle themselves as well, which left just Dane. He was in a new body, and his control over it was still patchy at best. Still, he now possessed power the likes of which he had never felt before. All his life, people had been protecting him. Now, at last, he possessed the ability to return the favour. Deep down, he knew that what he was about to do was rash and ill-advice; after all, he still didn't quite understand how his body worked. Still, the desire to be the one to save everyone for once overpowered him. "Let me guess, you lot are with the Black Serpent cult?" Reinhardt said, trying to somehow defuse the situation. Oh, so that's why I recognized the symbol. These are the same people that caused my death, Dane thought, becoming even more convinced that he had to do something. For some reason, Reinhardt seemed genuinely nervous as he glanced at their surroundings. "Oh, but we are. Did you perhaps recognize me? I am a well known and widely respected merchant after all, and..." the merchant started, but was cut off by Reinhardt. "No, but I did recognize your partner there. If you know of the Black Serpent cult, you also know of Maximus the Unrelenting. He is quite... infamous." The merchant seemed annoyed at Reinhardt's words, but Maximus chuckled. "If you know of me, you probably also know that resistance is futile. Hand over the body, or you'll experience for yourself why I'm so well-known," the man said. His tone was in no way threatening, but the fact that he made Reinhardt, someone who had single-handedly disposed of an inquisitor, nervous, concerned Dane a great deal. He decided to act.
Dane stepped forward and raised his hand. Reinhardt swung his head to look at him, and his expression turned to horror. "Don't do it!" he yelled, but it was too late. "Ikkytnanroh!" Dane shouted, pouring all of his mana into this one attack. As the spell went off, he immediately realized his mistake. The spell he had decided to use was a very advanced offensive attack. Though Dane had been fairly skilled in magic, his low amount of mana had meant that such a spell was far beyond his reach. Now, though, his body was practically surging with mana. However, he had used way too much of it. A blast of hot air emanated from his body as an enormous torrent of flames spewed forth, engulfing the entire corridor in its fiery embrace. The poor mercenaries hadn't even had time to feel pain, as their bodies immediately turned to dust. Finally, Dane ran out of mana and he fell to the ground. Of course. My body runs on mana, so if I use it all, I won't be able to move. This is bad, he thought as he lay on the ground helplessly, staring at the hellscape he had created. Much to his surprise, someone lifted him up from the ground – quite a feat, as he must have weighed almost two hundred kilos. "You maniac, look at what you have done!" Reinhardt, the one who had lifted him up, berated Dane. "Were it not for me and Kharan, you would've burned your friends to ashes!" Kharan, the only other person to be conscious in the group, nodded. "It is good that we dwarves have a high resistance to heat. But let's get out of here before even I start to feel light-headed." Kharan picked up Elín and Jekaterina while Reinhardt took Milo and the group headed for the exit. A few minutes after they had disappeared, a figure emerged from the fires and fell to his knees. The man, Maximus, panted heavily and thanked the amulet of protection that had saved his life yet again. He cared little for those that had perished in the flames. However, his expression was still grim. He had failed, someone else had made off with the body. The resurrection had been postponed, once again.