Standing on the dark sand as the eerie atmosphere surrounded me, I looked at the status and the quest before wondering where I should begin and how I should begin.
"Since dark magic is favored here, then let's start with that," I decided to depend upon dark magic more as compared to light magic. [Mana Burst] still had 20 seconds left, so I pondered a little before looking at the mountain at a distance from here.
"Let's take a look at it first," I decided as I ran as fast as I could, traveling the wasteland from the beach side to the mountaintop within a few seconds. Considering my speed, I guess this place should not be much of a problem for me.
Reaching the top was easy. The next part was to locate Evelyn and Oriel.
[Eyes of Mana!]
When I used this skill, I ended up turning blind for a few moments. It was similar to the experience of Mirag Town, when the entire city was covered with dark mana. I suppose this place is similar to that.
But still, I found what I was searching for.
Like a single star in the night, there was a bright light coming from the other side, showing signs of light magic. If I were not wrong, then that place must be where Oriel is.
"Let's go before my mana runs out," I sighed as I started running again, this time towards the light area where Oriel was supposed to be.
-Whoosh!
-Whoosh!
Took another few seconds before I found myself in a graveyard of sorts. There were chained skeletons all over the area and wraiths that were all slowly walking in a single direction. Not too far from where I was standing, a single man was fighting against the wraiths approaching him.
-Clank!
-Slash!
"A place to die for, eh?" I smiled awkwardly at my own poor joke before moving closer to that person and, yes, as expected it was Oriel. Unlike previously, where he looked young and handsome, now he seemed a bit aged and his eyes were sunken as well.
'Seems like he hadn't eaten for days now,' I thought before looking at the unconscious girl who was behind him. Or maybe not… she was barely conscious as she prayed silently to the Goddess of Light.
"She won't hear you, you know?" I spoke out, getting the attention of both Oriel as well as her. Oriel seemed regretful, as if he had finally lost his will, while Evelyn seemed to have given up without even bothering.
'How long had they been fighting for? Well… I wanted to try these spells too…'
I then raised my hand as I used a skill that I learnt from Ameliana while I was training with her. In essence, she taught me 5 skills, and I learnt to create 2 more with a bit of creativity…
The one that I wanted to try the most was, though…
[Life Steal (Rare)!]
[Effects: Allows the user to steal the life of a being and convert it into mana!
Mana Conversion Rate: 10 HP: 5 MP
Maximum mana at a time that can be stolen from one being: 250% of Wisdom!
Maximum number of beings from whom the mana can be stolen at a time: 5
Cooldown: 5 Seconds!
Note: Resistance of the being would reduce the effect of the skill based on the amount of Intelligence and Wisdom the enemy has!]
The max mana I could steal at once is 375 x 5, which is 1875. While doing individual damage of 750 HP. Though there is a resistance to it too.
-Kreeech!!!!!!
The wraiths closest to Oriel died in an instant, making him widen his eyes as his eyes darted to me. He had a confused look, wondering why I was doing that. His eyes were trying to understand the motive behind my actions.
"Wraiths are monsters that are born out of resentment and darkness. They don't have their memories from their times when they were alive. In fact, they don't even have a will of their own," I began explaining as I moved towards Oriel.
"In all honesty, their power is driven from the surrounding dark magic, and as long as their resentment is there, they would be near immortal. Something like light or fire magic would work against them, but if the intensity is low, they would come back again later even if you succeed in killing them," I continued without paying attention to him.
The other wraiths also began moving towards me, shouting and screeching to the top of their lungs.
[Life Steal!]
-Kreeech!!!!
"But without any proper body, their health is pretty fragile. While physical attack doesn't do much, if you succeed in taking their mana, which makes up most of their base, they would die out pretty quickly," I smiled as I used [Life Steal] again.
-Kreeech!!!!
"Though the look in your eyes doesn't seem like you want to know about that," I smiled at Oriel, who was totally on guard against me.
[Chains of Darkness (Uncommon)!]
[Effect: Allows the user to create chains of darkness that binds evil forces and does continuous darkness damage!!
Chain Length: 20 Meters
Dark Damage: 10x Wisdom!
Mana Cost: 200MP/Sec!]
And then I killed all the wraiths in an instant by attacking their weak core. Didn't take even a second as I looked at Oriel looking at me.
"What does a dark mage want from us?" He was totally on guard, ready to kill mode, as he pointed his sword at me.
'Dude. Haven't you exhausted all your mana already? Are you sure you should be wasting your strength like this?' I wanted to say that, but I had to stay in character.
"The girl is dying. Would you like me to save her?" I asked with a slightly creepy smile as I observed him. His face turned a bit ashen as he looked at me before turning to Evelyn.
It was as if he was contemplating whether to ask for my help or not… but in the end, as a kind little fella, he ended up giving up as he asked in a bitter tone," …save her…"
"That wasn't that hard now, was it?" I smiled as I moved towards Evelyn, who was barely looking at me. She observed my face as she cursed slightly with whatever energy she had." I would rather die than be sa-"
Though before she could complete her sentence…
[Purify!]
And yup…. I pretty much healed her by 30% of her health in an instant, removing all her ailments and problems.
"-Saved by a dark… mage?" While Evelyn looked at me with a blank face.
'I guess, I will only use dark magic in the turn where I am completely sure on how to get out of here,' I decided on it as soon as I figured out that Evelyn would die if I don't use this spell in this situation.