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Chapter length: 1,643 words

Current novel length: 103,649 words

Chapter 36

Arven, Myla, and Sylfinas arrive just to see her fall down in a pool of blood from multiple deep cuts on her body.

Kixo is irritated by their sudden appearance. "I'm too busy right now. Try again in about, never." The jewel shines.

The entire liquid in the moat begins to animate and flow out of the trench of its own free will as a single mass, partitioning itself into four large but bantam compared to its previous size, individuals. Objects not made of stone in contact with the oozes corrode fast with a hiss, but they each traverse sluggishly. Arven safely removes Kaera's bloodied body before one of the oozes absorbs her, and he drops her by Myla and Sylfinas.

"Is she alive?" Arven asked.

Sylfinas checks for a pulse, coating his hand in blood in the process. He shakes his head, "I'm not detecting a pulse. I'm afraid she's dead."

"Dammit!"

"She's not entirely dead. There's a minimal amount of life remaining." Myla closes her eyes and places her hands on Kaera.

"Let me help, Myla."

"No, Sylfinas. This is something only I can do. Normal healing spells and potions won't work." Sweat runs down her face as she concentrates harder on taking life from the world and channeling it into Kaera, rekindling the flame. Arven and Sylfinas witness particles of light materialize out of thin air, even though the chamber is not adequately lit, and flow into Myla and then into Kaera.

"Must sleep now." Myla faints into Sylfinas's arms while Kaera stirs awake.

"Arg, what happened to me?"

"You nearly died, or you actually did," Arven answered. "Myla brought you back to life."

"Where is she?"

"She's resting over by Sylfinas."

Kixo took note of Myla's gift during the process. "That girl, bring her to me this instance. She's squandering her talents being with you."

Kaera and Sylfinas instinctively put themselves in front of her. "You're not laying a single finger on her," Kaera growled.

"Figured that would be the case. I forgot how slow these oozes are. Wind Nature: Expedite!" The four oozes accelerate at a faster pace, catching the group off guard. That should keep them out of my hair. Arven, Kaera, and Sylfinas converse while evading an ooze; the leftover ooze is after Kaera.

"These oozes are going to be a problem," Sylfinas said.

"Thanks for pointing that out, Captain Obvious," Arven retorted.

"We severely lack in range capabilities. Hitting those things would result in corrosion of our melee weapons and make them useless. Merrick's unable to fight, so that leaves Sariel as the only one with range for offense."

One ooze is hit from out of nowhere following a thunderous boom. Through the smoke, Arven and the others see Lorna ejecting the cartridge in the chamber by lifting a metal hood, removing a large round around her waist, placing it in the smoking chamber, and cocking the hammer.

"Woo-hoo!" Merrick cheered.

"Having all the fun without me?" she asked.

"Too much fun for us," Arven answered. "Care to join?"

"Don't mind if I do." Lorna aims down the rifle's barrel and squeezes the trigger, causing another boom sound and plume of smoke erupting from the barrel, and the injured ooze is on the verge of death; the form undulates from the bullet impact.

"I can use your help, Sariel," Sylfinas requested.

"I didn't hear 'please,'" she responded.

"Please."

"Much better. What can I do?"

"Well, we're dealing with oozes, and they're highly caustic, meaning getting up close and personal is bad. Range attacks are what we need, and you have some spells that you can use from a distance."

"So, I'm doing the bulk of the work?"

"You have Lorna. She's the Wood Elf with the big rifle. She'll be alleviating the workload."

"Not to sound like I'm ungrateful, but can't you hurry the fuck up a little bit?" Merrick inquired. "He's almost done doing something, and I'm-ahhhh!" Kixo actuates the throne, and it initiates a drilling process by siphoning off Merrick's power, causing agony in him, and directing it up to the ceiling, forming a portal.

Kixo moves around the throne to face the intruders. "Now that's done, I can deal with all of you meddlers and obtain that girl when I'm done. You think that a few spellcasters," making eye contact at Lorna, Sariel, and Sylfinas, "and a construct is going to make all the difference? Well, I hate to break it to you but, you lose. There's nothing you can-" A high-velocity chunk of lead perforates Kixo's skull, shattering the jewel and ejecting grey matter, ending his monologue and turning the oozes into puddles of acidic sludge.

"Bullet Nature: Shut the Fuck Up," Lorna said casually and blew the smoke away from the business end of the rifle.

The throne doesn't deactivate after Kixo's death, and the portal continues to aggrandize its circumference. Merrick grits his teeth in pain as everyone, omitting Myla, gathers around.

"We're going to have to remove these restraints. I don't see an off switch anywhere on it," Arven said as he reached for one.

"You're going to get shocked," Sylfinas warned, just a little too late. The throne transmits a jolt of electricity to Arven's arms, knocking him on his rear end.

"That was stronger than anticipated."

"Let me try!" Kaera said, following Arven's footsteps.

"You're insane, Kaera!" Sylfinas shouted.

"Ouch," she groaned after suffering the same fate as Arven.

Sariel uses two healing spells on them, and they get up. "That was dumb of you."

Shut it, you overgrown pixie Arven thought. "There's a barrier. What now?"

Lorna turns at Bolts, "Here's your opportunity to shine, Bolts."

"Clink-clank!" it remonstrated against the idea.

"You don't know for sure it works against constructs."

"Clink-clank!"

Sylfinas attempts to coax it, "Lorna may be on to something. The barrier precludes living flesh to pass through; we know that for certain. However, in theory, inorganic material becoming animated would have no trouble infiltrating. You're a Mechar so, you're the only one that can substantiate the theory."

"Clink-clank!"

"You're right," Lorna agreed with Bolts, "It's weak as fuck."

"Clink-clank!"

"Maybe that was a bit harsh."

"Bolts won't do any physical activities other than maintaining an iron grip on Merrick while the rest of us exert away from the throne and pull him out. Will we get electrocuted? Guaranteed, but it may not make us recoil than by directly touching the barrier. This is our only chance, Bolts. The portal is expanding and is covering half of the ceiling."

Bolts looks at Sylfinas, then to Lorna, the portal, Merrick, Arven, and Kaera, and repeats the cycle two more times. "Clink-clank."

"It'll do it!" Lorna exclaimed. Everyone cheered.

"Arven and I will be in front while you two will be at the back."

“I concur, Kaera," Sylfinas said.

The group forms a line starting with Bolts, Kaera, Arven, Sylfinas, and Lorna. As Sylfinas hypothesized, the barrier does not repel Bolts, and it latches onto Merrick. Still, Arven's muscles and everyone else's suddenly tense up from the electrical current coursing through their body. In unison, they pull five times before freeing Merrick. The portal shuts, and Kaera lifts his unconscious, smoldering, but breathing, body over her shoulders. Then they run into another predicament.

The oozes return and are out of control with their expansion, covering the majority of the floor, cutting off the group's escape route, and it shows no sign of stopping.

"Now what do we do? Any ideas, Sylfinas?" Kaera asked.

Sariel hovers at the edge of the ooze. "Leave it to me. Divine Nature: Searing Ray!" A beam of concentrated light fires from Sariel's hands, carving a straight path to the exit by parting the ooze away. It slowly regains its lost ground. "I've made a path. Hurry up!"

"You heard the angel; let's haul ass and get the fuck out of here!" Lorna shouted. After taking a brief pit stop for Sylfinas to pick up Myla, the party successfully cross the path and exit the chamber. Dagobert and Evorul are in the next room and about to enter into the ooze chamber when they and the group meet each other.

"What are you two doing in here?" Lorna asked them.

"We're a curious bunch, you know that, Captain. We will inevitably be here at some point," Dagobert responded.

"Got any Scatterbox left?"

"Just two remaining, Captain," Evorul replied.

"Can you collapse the entrance to that room over there and seal it off? There's something in there that we don't want escaping."

"When it comes to explosions, Evorul and I are experts. We can do it with no problem. Just leave, and we'll get to it."

"Thanks, you two."

"No problem, Captain."

The group hears an explosion go off and the crumbling of stone by the time it enters the main chamber, about to exit the edifice. Lorna issues a retreat to her remaining crewmembers while she, Bolts, Arven, Kaera with Merrick, and Sylfinas with Myla run towards their rowboats. Not wanting to lose their prey, the Serexi pursue them through the jungle and onto the beach, where they proceed to fire arrows at them. Lorna retaliates by shooting her two revolvers, and the Gnome brothers use their last bead to throw a fireball. Due to the bows' simple design, the range for the Serexi is extremely limited in coverage, and it doesn't take too long for the people on the rowboats to go out of range. After everyone is on the Howling Gale along with the vessels and other items, Lorna issues a command, "Let's leave this place. I'd rather deal with the Drow than the savages. I'm not giving them an opportunity to board my ship." With the preparations in place, they make an exodus to the Kerithian Sea.

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