CHAPTER 64 The Bloodthirsty Urge to Go Burn Down Drendil’s Castle

Keith

[Error! High Tier Spell: Dark Flare has failed. You take base mana cost x3 modifier damage to Health.]

[Warning! You have ManaBurn. You will continue to burn mana until you Rest. Mana burned at 1/3 base rate due to Arcane Sage Perk: Slow Burn.]

[You have 01:18:42 until Death by Mana Burn.]

The dungeon boss on level nine had spawned mini bosses. While Keith was distracted blowing them up, the boss had managed to slide a tentacle of darkness around his leg—which he couldn't see very well, since he was holding a princess in a princess hold in his arms.

This was the first time he'd tried to fight while protecting someone, and it was very distracting.

The tentacle broke Keith's high-level "By Draconic Flame that Bursts Forth, [Dark Flare]" cast, and he felt the spell rebound.

Every time. He'd had more spells fail since Henrietta had shown up at his castle than he'd had in the last decade.

It was the work of willpower to clean up the boss through the [Mana Burn] pain, down a health potion, and teleport out of there.

By the time they were back in the market outside the dungeon, Keith was fighting a pounding headache and the still-burning sensation where [Void Damage] had sliced his arm.

After he sat down with Ria, Keith shuffled a bit and popped a green high-grade mana potion. He sighed as he recovered a hundred mana, giving him extra time before he passed out. He could force himself to stay awake until he died from the mana bleed, or he could let sleep take him and start recovering … Unfortunately he'd be out for a good sixteen hours and he didn't want that.

Better to push it to the last minute and use mana potions to get back to Gren's Keep. Safer too, when assassins were still running around the forest.

He was seriously resisting the bloodthirsty urge to go burn down Drendil's castle. He didn't know what exactly had caused Henrietta's crippling phobia, but her begging him to, "Let me out," implied this wasn't simply an I-got-trapped-in-a-dungeon-pit-for-too-long fear and more of a someone-locked-me-up-and-wouldn't-let-me-out type of response.

He could hazard a guess as to who could lock a princess up in a dark room until she broke.

As much as he wanted to go off and destroy everything … Keith still had Henrietta to see too and a bed with his name on it. For now.

His shoulder's still hurt from where the wings had dragged behind him. He'd dropped a good amount of mana in order to sustain his [Flight] spell at its highest speed, and his construct wings suffered from getting whipped behind him. The floor boss had even torn one of the wings trying to pull him from the sky, not realizing it was actually a spell keeping them aloft.

He'd made the wings when he was ten. They were useful and looked impressive, but they were not durable or a replacement for the actual high-class magical spell.

After portaling out, he'd ordered a private tent for them and set about taking care of Henrietta.

Which led to their current conversation. He meant what he'd said. As soon as they were home, he was going to drop her off straight into their dungeon for another Rufus session.

Before she could get upset over attacking and injuring him, Keith changed distraction tactics.

"Did you level up?"

Henrietta opened her mouth to say something but then closed it again. "I think so. Let me check."

Notification tabs were usually annoying when there were important matters to deal with. Case in point, his own incessant [Mana Burn] reminders. He held her a little tighter as Henrietta got a faraway look, reading the updates.

"I'm level sixty-eight!" she let Keith know. "One second."

It took longer than a second to go through everything she needed to finish leveling up. Her character sheet must have been as long and obnoxious as his, what with her being over level sixty.

As a person grew, at each new level they gained one attribute point in Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Perception and Charisma—until the end of childhood. That was age ten for most races. After that, the system granted two attribute points per level up to put where anyone willed.

Keith resisted the urge to tense as he asked, "Are you keeping with your current trend of having the same level and Strength?"

The idea of her crushing diamond into powder came to mind. It was glorious to imagine.

"Actually … I think I'll put it into Dexterity and Perception. I'm tired of traps," she admitted.

"Would you like me to find a professional Rogue to teach you some tricks?" He didn't have any on staff since the Goose Incident. But there were a few famous adventurers in Gren's Keep who could be convinced.

"Good plan," she said, still reviewing her character sheet. "I get to choose a new perk, so I'm just reading the list now."

Keith sat back, much more comfortable now that he wasn't juggling Ria up front and wings in the back. He wondered if he should make her a pair? A flying, sword-wielding Henrietta ready to cut her foe in half from across the battlefield would be a sight to see.

That was another thing. Keith stared down at Jacqueline, the magical [Void Damage] sword, perfect for completely and utterly destroying him.

He suddenly recalled the exact words in Madame Potts's prophecy. Mass murder indeed.

All of the spells he'd learned that were mid or high level were from his godmother's hoard. They were all of them dragon spells, and they were all of them useless against Jacqueline's crit damage.

If she attacked him … could he win?

His golems might be able to hold up long enough for him to escape. He could also use his wits to defeat Henrietta by trapping her or taking her sword. There were hundreds of golems that he could summon to fight the Heroine of Justice if he were prepared to do so.

[You have 00:48:42 until Death by Mana Burn.]

Keith pinched his nose. He needed twenty potions to last until they arrived back at the Damp Gizzard, and he needed them now. In less than an hour, he was going to pass out on the floor or just stay awake until he died.

His necromancer wasn't on holiday anymore, but she was clear across the kingdom and wrapped around Julia's dark sword-calloused finger. He would have to hope Henrietta would use her Revival potion on him … and that thought was almost as embarrassing as admitting he was dying now. She already had enough worries.

And he didn't want to admit his weakness.

The most obvious choice was still to make it back to Gren's Keep intact and then get some rest. So while Henrietta was choosing her perks, Keith used his skill [Share Senses] with Hubert.

The crow had followed them to the Damp Gizzard before wandering off to do crow things. Now he was riding along, he sent the crow to pick up some health and mana potions. Merchants were willing to give things to the construct after Keith projected his voice, and soon, Hubert was carrying a sack filled with life-saving jars to their tent.

Keith left Hubert with instructions on where to go. He should arrive before Keith outright fell over.

He would get Henrietta settled, empty the potions from his storage space and from Hubert, and then they could be on their way.

At least, that was the plan.