Chapter 222 – Necromancer’s Turn.

“Could you two knock it off… You were supposed to make all of this easier, not harder…”

“( ¬_¬ )”

“See, even Gleam is getting tired of it.”

Rusty said this while looking at the two suits of armor. Both were pushing against each other, their hands locked together in a contest of strength. It was a battle neither of them could win, as they shared the exact same stats.

“I will, my dear Rusty, once this buffoon of a hero accepts my superiority and learns to follow tactics commanded by my superior intellect!”

“You’re full of it as always, Aburdon. Who would ever follow someone like you? Even your own armies abandoned that so-called superior intellect of yours!”

“What did you say? I could not hear you very well, hero who was betrayed by their so-called friends.”

If Rusty had a human face, he would be frowning. After creating bodies for both Aburdon and Alexander, they had headed back into the dungeon for another round of tests. Even though the mana cost was high and he had less than sixty percent remaining, the two proved to be quite useful, at least when he was actually able to deploy them.

With them around, battles ended more quickly, but there were several downsides. One was their appearance. They looked like living suits of armor, which naturally drew suspicion from adventurers. Rusty could pass himself off using his special armor and speech abilities, but whenever the two were present, his disguise began to fall apart. Moving as a larger group became troublesome, as it often invited attacks.

To alleviate this problem, he would probably need to fashion different frames for them. More unique appearances that could blend in with the people around them and keep their visors or eyeslits from glowing. Each time they spoke, the light would flash slightly, indicating that there was no human beneath.

The other issue was simpler and far more irritating. The two would start fighting the moment they were given the chance. This diminished their fighting power, as they seemed to be working against each other. They competed over who landed more strikes or who was more useful during battle. While it was amusing at first, it was something that could cost him dearly. In a world focused on power and combat, even a small flaw could lead to disaster.

“Quiet down, you two. If you keep fighting like this, I’ll stop giving you bodies altogether.”

They were forced to stop, as Rusty’s commands were still absolute. Even so, yelling at them in the middle of combat was not advised. If he issued an order that conflicted with their current actions, they would freeze for a second or two, leaving themselves open to damage. Despite this, Rusty remained in good spirits. He hoped that, given time, the two would learn to work together. He had already seen something similar among the humanoids. At first, Gwen and Syber had not cooperated, but in the end, all of them managed to work together to achieve their goal.

“Okay, let’s try going deeper into these crystalline caver… hm?”

*DING*

Before Rusty could continue, he heard a chime in his mind. For a moment, he was confused, then he remembered a new feature he had enabled recently.

“Oh, did the summoning chamber become accessible again?”

His access to the crafting portion of the forging section of the soul forge had become available for frequent visits. The same could not be said for the Summoning Chamber. To make it easier to track its availability, a notification option had appeared. He had previously enabled it for the crafting downtime timer, and it had chimed several times before. This chime, however, was slightly different, indicating that it belonged to the second feature.

“Now this complicates things…”

“( ╹ -╹)?”

Gleam tapped the side of his helmet as he came to a stop, silently asking what was wrong.

“We might have to head back, Gleam. I want to use the summoning option as soon as possible.”

“( • ᴖ • )”

Rusty knew that the timer would only begin once the chamber had been used. The situation was further complicated by the fact that returning now would take several hours, requiring them to travel back through the dungeon and all the way to the safety of the city.

“Why wait? Just do it here, my dear Rusty.”

Aburdon stepped closer, having instantly identified the issue.

“You’ve tested it before, right? Even if you enter the soul forge, our bodies can still move.”

“That’s true…”

Rusty pondered the idea. They were still in the crystal covered dungeon, where the monsters were only D rank. The last time he had entered the soul forge, he had been gone for less than a minute. This was not a full evolution, only a brief visit where time functioned differently.

“What do you think?”

Rusty looked toward Gleam and Alexander, waiting for their decision.

“( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و”

“Oh, that’s right, you’ve learned a few things. We could do that. Great idea, Gleam!”

“(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)”

Even before Alexander could answer, Gleam offered a solid proposal. The area was filled with crystals and various rock formations. Normally, it would be difficult to hide in such an environment, but if someone could use earth magic to shift the terrain, that changed everything.

“I think it’s worth a shot, but we should move into an area other adventurers are unlikely to wander into.”

Alexander shared his thoughts, and Rusty nodded. There were places adventurers avoided since they led nowhere and offered no resources or monsters. A few such areas existed here as well. They could search for one themselves or simply ask Aburdon, who knew the entire layout from studying maps. It did not take long to reach one. When they arrived, they found nothing but a wall, its sides embedded with crystals.

“( •̀ ᴗ •́ )و”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you then.”

Gleam’s idea was simple. Along with Aburdon and Alexander, he moved close to one of the walls while she raised the earth around them. Soon, a solid earthen barrier rose and shifted into place, enclosing them for protection.

Stolen story; please report.

“While I’m out, listen to Gleam. No fighting between you two, okay?”

The space they now occupied was cramped but large enough to fit the entire group. Even so, the two guides ended up bumping into each other and immediately began complaining.

“Get that elbow out of my face!”

“Only if you move that foot.”

Is this really going to be fine…

“(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)”

“I’ll leave it to you, Gleam. I should not be gone for more than a minute.”

Gleam seemed confident that she could handle things. He sat down on the ground and entered the summoning chamber. It looked the same as before. As he approached the console, he tried to see if he could visit Gwen again, but just like last time, he could not.

“I expected as much. It probably will take her a while to get stronger, so that leaves me with…”

He glanced at the other summoner he had recently visited, Teral, but just like Gwen, his icon was grayed out, and there were no missions there with him involved.