Chapter 159 The Dungeon Graveyard Pt. 5

I opened my eyes wide at that familiar voice despite the pain coarsing through me. "Stoney?" I whispered.

"Haha, that's right I'm so happy you remembered me. Took us awhile but we finally got strong enough to come back. Lizaria was able to pick up a little bit of your spatial magic thanks to that weird world you sent us to and after a bit she built up enough power to open up a gateway to bring us back. It was supposed to bring us back straight to you but I guess it took us off course a little bit hehe.... that's fine thought, gave me a chance to cause a nice little present for everyone."

As he talked it gave my body time to regen enough for the pain and haze to pass and now I could see as a massive green metallic scaled dragonoid stood towering over me with a wide grin on his face. He had a similar build to how Gaia looked now after his recent transformation but I could tell that Stoney was more used to his current power. If I could guess anything by the pain I experienced and by the fact that I only felt his presence seconds before he sent me flying, I would guess he is stronger than me yet again.... I don't know if Desmaros or Lizaria are here nearby but I can't let them get to the others or let the others come near.

I tried to stand up but Stoney planted a foot on me and slammed me back into the ground.

"Uhuh, no can do cousin. See, I wanna play a little bit with ya. I have some tension I gotta release after training for so long in that godforsaken no mansland that you banished us to. Did you know that we didn't need to eat or drink anything there? Yea not bad right? Well what if I told you that our bodies still screamed at us to do those things? Hahahah! But it wasn't our bodies NONONONO! IT WASN'T IT WAS A FUCKING MONSTER THAT LIVED THERE hahahahahaha. IT fed on our suffering! IT fed our desires to see you die! It Fed on US!" Stoney started to say with incoherence and maniacal laughter. I could see it in his eyes that he had lost his mind and that made this whole situation even worse.

I shot a spatial bullet at his face and knocked his foot away from me. I didn't care about any pain I would feel since this guy had lost all of his marbles to some monster in that other world.... As he was falling I landed an uppercut that was more powerful with him falling onto it. It ended up causing him to start to spin back up right but that was when I spun around and shot out my leg and concentrated mana to solidify it further. I felt the impact but when I looked I saw as Stoney only moved a few inches while he dug through the earth. He smiled at me with his eyes still trained on me.

"Nice try Vex. But my scales are way thicker and can handle more than you can ever hope to dish out." He said before he cocked back an arm and sent out a punch that was barely visible before I felt a pressure on my chest and then an air blast that sent me flying backwards again. I felt as the left side of my ribcage had completely shattered into dust inside my chest and my heart was stopped. I landed and was staring up into the sky as I was opening and closing my mouth like a fish gasping for air.

Thankfully my Regeneration kicked in seconds later and through a painful process that I had to feel every every moment of. I was back to fighting form again. I had to gasp for air when it was finished but aslong as My head wasn't cut off or my soul taken away, I was basically immortal. I picked myself up and dusted myself off but as I looked around I didn't see Stoney, I started to panic and looked around frantically but all I saw was more and more of the zombies and skeletons as they closed in around me as I started to smell the distinct iron scent of blood and looked down to see that it was pooled at my feet.

Wiping my face I found out that both my mouth and nose were leaking it in abundance but I couldn't feel any weakness from massive bloodloss. I was confused but I didn't have time to stand around and think since I was about to get swarmed and I still needed to find Stoney before he found my family.

"You should stay here Vexsus... Stay here with me for a little longer." A sulty voice spoke in my ear as a hand brushed itself up my shoulder than down my chest as a blue half lizardwoman walked in front of me. She walked for a few feet while shaking her curvy hips while her tail waved around drawing my attention to every detail.

"How are you Vexsus. It's been awhile hasn't it?" She spoke as she turned around and crossed her arms under her ample assets as if to exentuate and to put them on display. I was on edge but at the same time something was trying to claw its way inside my brain and take control.

"Lizaria... long time.. no see. I see that you have gotten... Bigger." I said with a smirk trying to not let her notice the pressure I was under to keep control of myself. I knew she was using some kind of Hex magic combined with maybe charm or something. but I was resistant to charm and some effects but Her special type of magic was able to bypass resistances... I just had to keep trying my best to overcome it.

"Hmph, even now you put on this big tough guy act. I saw that you had 3 other girls up there. 2 of them had your mark but yet one didn't, why is that Vex? Something wrong with little Vexy down there?" She asked with a light playful tone as she walked up to me. She looked up into my eyes and place her hand on my chest and ran her fingers down it.

"You know, I can help with that, if you want that is." She kissed my chest and then licked it all the way up before tip toeing up to my chin. "I can do things those other girls can't Vexsus." She whispered. "I can fulfill your every desire, I still want you even after what you did to me. I am still willing to forgive you.... all you have to do is beg."

"Mmmmm, dammit Lizaria. That monster made you go crazy to didn't it? I'm sorry but I won't beg, but if you want I can try and do something for your mind? I can try and repair it if you want. I know better magic and have better control over it. I can help you but I need you to stop this and help me stop the others, Where is Stoney and Desmaros?"

I pushed her away and held her at arms length while looking at her in the eyes. She looked back for a few seconds and looked between both of mine as if seriously deciding something... But ultimately it was like something snapped and she screamed in a high pitched voice before she grabbed her head and with a blast of air she flew up into the air and flew into a cave not far from where we were.

"Dammit! I have to stop them.... But I need to make sure the others are ok first." I turned towards where I felt the signatures of girls mana from and jumped and summoned my wings to burst from my back as I flew towards them as fast as possible. I saw as the horde had closed in on the camp sooner than I had expected and the camp was now completely surrounded. I stopped just above the camp and flapped to stay in place as I focused and created a circle of magic that would encompass the camp itself. I would funnel the ambient mana around me to create a barrier and as a bonus it would also be able to be able to draw in the ambient mana to supply itself and stay stable.

It was a few minutes before I had enough of the power stockpiled enough to place it down and when I did I dive bombed down and crash landed on top of two skeletons that were attacking a wounded werewolf soldier on the ground with its hands up in a last ditch futile attempt at defending itself. I slammed my hands down and instantly around the camp emerged a huge magic circle that erected a blue semi-transparent barrier that flashed slightly whenever one of the monsters banged against it. It wouldn't last forever this way but atleast it would give the survivors time to get some healing done while I take care of the creatures in the near vicinity.

Now was the time I wish I knew some fire type spells or atleast could manipulate the element. But I could partially manipulate the element of light from way back in the days of my time in the dungeon.... But that just ended with my breath attack of light so lets do that then.... hehe

I drew in a deep breath and focused a good portion of mana in my mouth. I then focused even more all the mana until it all condensed down to once singular point. I could start to feel a burning sensation as the ambient heat radiating off that point was almost to much to handle. After a few seconds the burning sensation starting to die down but I soon turned towards the creatures and in a sweeping pattern I opened up and let out a huge beam of pure light. It only lasted for a few seconds and afterwards I had steam coming from my mouth as regeneration was mending the damage done and regrowing my teeth but the swathes of damage I had done to the horde was plenty to uplift the morale of the army behind me. I soon heard cheers and roars from behind me as I sat down right there to rest and let my mana recupe.

Soon Necro came over and put a chair down beside me and sat down. "So they are back huh, Desmaros came and saw me while Stoney tossed you around like a soccerball ya know. They have no allegiance to me anymore. They are under the control of a Mindflayer, I knew as soon as he showed himself that he was being used and I broke the connection but it only lasted a minute before he was back under that things control."

I looked up at him in amazement. "How though? I mean, I only did what I did in pure heat of the moment style bullshittery, but still, to think that there was a mindflayer where I sent them is just.... That's to much even when I hated you from the bottom of my heart I would never of wanted to sick a Mindflayer on you."

"Yea, same here. Those things are a damn nightmare to handle... To be honest Shadow Eaters are easier to handle than those bastards. But since they have been banished from this world and have an almost impossible way to get back in than we have to only break the control over these 3 and it should be alright."

"What do you mean almost impossible?"

Necro looked at me like I was stupid and didn't say anything while just looking at me.... We stared at eachother for a few moments until it clicked in my head.... It was because of me that there was now a way for it to cross over.

"Nevermind, continue." I said as I looked down at the ground.

"Good job on that by the way... But I didn't know there was still one alive so I can't blame you to much. I can only hope that it didn't implant one of them or any of them with it's seed and is growing an offspring or that will be hellish. Did any of them showcase any new abilities? Maybe having to do with anything mental like charm or telekenisis or anything?"

"Shit. Really? Well, Lizaria all of a sudden showed up and I felt as if something was trying to take control over my brain. but since I have a slight charm resitance I was able to fight it off. I didn't know much about her abilities before I sent her to the other world so maybe she was implanted. She did try to seduce me but then she freaked out and ran off to a cave."

"Ok, so let's go off the assumption that she might have an embryo of a Mindflayer inside of her that is slowly taking control of her and changing her. If we can get to her and stop it fast enough that we might be able to halt its progress and maybe reverse it before it's to late... But it's a huge and quite possible impossible maybe. We need to get going immediately but I don't think they will let us get close enough... I'm guessing Desmaros is inside the dungeon causing a constant dungeon break and forcing more and more monsters to spawn and escape out to here.... The nearest settlement isn't far from here and if we don't stop the horde than that place is done for."

Necro was wringing his hands together and I could tell from his voice and his facial expressions that he was actually worried about those people. I was legitimately shocked because even after everything recently, I still had the impression that he was planning something in the background. Maybe some plan to lower my guard or something like that or use Hannah some way.... But maybe he was showing us the real him and that this was him really caring about people and hoping that I would actually help him.

I couldn't help but be stunned. "Are you really worried about these people Necro? What about the ones you think are plotting something against you?" I asked.

"I still want to get to the bottom of that. But I serious don't want to let those people die. I lost my entire family after some bullshit a long time ago to a dungeon break just like this one. Nobody was around like we are to defend our town and we were overrun in a matter of seconds Vexsus... Me and a few servants escaped while the warriors and my parents stayed behind to fight and buy time.... I watched as monsters ripped my parents apart and ate them as I was carried away...." He looked at me dead in the eyes with a fire blazing in his. He was serious in his convictions about this and with that passion I couldn't help but nod my head and agree to help him.

"Aslong as you make my daughter happy Necro... I will help you." I held my hand up to him and we shook.

We walked towards the tent that held some of the already healed people and my group aswell.

"Now, I gathered enough mana for another Breath attack and afterwards That will be the cue to run towards the cave and start the counter attack ok? Who will come with us?" I said and ofcourse my group all raised their hands and Hannah raised hers aswell. Necro raised his and even Vannessa raised hers. I raised my eyebrow at her and snuck a quick peek at her body since she wasn't wearing her heavy armor anymore. She had just come back from the medical tent and was instead  wearing a set of clothes that clung to her figure and man did it show off her body. She wasn't skinny by any means but instead she had a figure of a fit warrior. She was tall, atleast 5'10", the way she stood told me she was used to carrying around heavy armor and swinging around weapons that required strength. She stretched and her shirt lifted up slightly and I caught the sight of a set of abs just barely shadowed by the shirt.

'Snap' 'Snap'

Kitsoma snapped her fingers in front of me and brought my attention to her face. She was glaring at me with all knowing eyes but her mouth was in a smirk. Mara and Lula was glaring Mischieviously at me aswell and Hannah was chuckling at me to.

"Aw man I was staring too long wasn't I?" I sighed and said as I hung my head while shaking it. Vannessa was blushing when I looked up at her then and she turned to face away from me and walked out and didn't come back for a few minutes and when she did she was wearing her full armor and a helmet that covered her face while she had a huge greatsword on her back.

"Now look what you did Vexsus, you just had to ruin the view for all of us didn't you." Mara said with a huff.

"Can we get back on task here people? Time is kinda of the essence after all right?" I asked hoping to get the attention off of me and thankfully it worked as Necro took over and directed us over to a map of the dungeon layout that was mapped out through several expeditions. He pointed out where several trap rooms were and where some treasure rooms were but before I could get excited he said that those only replenished when massive quanities of mana were concentrated in the dungeons and that only happened when huge amounts of deaths of monsters happened... or adventurers...

But then he showed us a huge room at the end of the dungeon that any gamer worth their salt could clearly see was the boss room and in the back was some kind of drawing of like an opening or something like that.

"This is what we call the 'portal'. It leads to another world and through it monsters can come through at regular intervals but there is some kind of limiter that I have yet to fully understand because in some dungeons the strengths of the same species of monsters might be lower than in some other dungeons that of the same type.... It's odd and I have no idea what's causing them to appear. But I have closed a few and when that happens the people that close them get a huge boost in strength from the accumulation of mana over however long that dungeon had stayed open."

I couldn't help but whistle when He said that, If what he said was true than I went around closing dungeons I could easily become insanely powerful quite easily.... But what was the catch in all of this? There had to be because Dragons with almost near immoratality should be at the top of the food chain with this kind of powerup just waiting to be taken.

"Downside is that once the process of closing the dungeon starts, it will take away some of your life force. So basically think of it as it'll give you a huge boost in power but at the cost of shortening your lifespan..."

"Hold on. You said you closed a few of these already, so then you have a shortened life span?" Hannah asked already with tears threatening to fill up in her eyes as she held his hands.

"No, my darling. I unlike the normal riff raff am a human lich. I am as close to immortal as a can be. I will live for aslong as this world will be circle around the sun." He reassured her before giving her a kiss. I narrowed my eyes at that since I knew better and if he was a lich then there was only one thing a lich could use for immortality... He had a Phylactory somewhere and If I'm right he couldn't be far away from it or else he would be weakened.

"Why don't you and Hannah and Vannessa stay here and protect the camp while me and my group go into the dungeon and route out the 3 and see if we can stop the dungeon break. I can close the portal if need be." I said since I didn't want nor need to risk him being in that cramped area and if something were to go wrong and his weakness get hit by a stray attack than one of my cards for survival will go down the drain.. I'd rather leave it in the deck for a better game than play it here.

I got a few stares of shock but Necro stared at me the most with intensity and I stared back. Either he spilled the beans or I would. I raised my brows at him in a knowing manner but he only shook his head and that made me sigh.

"Necro isn't Immortal like he says Hannah... I mean yea guess he is..."

"Vexsus Don't you fucking say it dammit!"

"Then You do it! She Deserves to know Necro! You say Your Immortal but since you closed a few portals I bet all that power overloaded it didn't it? It's cracked right now right? Your power is leaking out isn't it? How long has it been going on for huh? You bit off more than you could chew thinking your lich powers could handle it but you overestimated the powers of this world! Just like I did! Now show me." I demanded and stood there with my hand out towards him and waited.

Necro just looked at me like a child would that got caught with something that was now in front of his parent. I knew I was weaker than him but that was up until a few moments ago...

Everyone was dead silent around us and you could hear nothing but the occasional pounding of the monsters against the mana barrier protection us. "Everyone. Go attack the monsters to take some of the stress of the barrier and leave me and Necro for a few minutes." I knew I put him on the spot now that I had a second to think so I sent the others out the tent and when the left that's when he sighed.

"You are a fucking bastard you know that?"

"Yes I am but serious man? Just show me ok? If you are going to take care of Hannah I need you in the best condition plus I need you to help me with the others since I have no idea what I'm supposed to do about a Mindflayer offspring."

He nodded before a splash of darkness appeared from his shadow and he reached in and pulled out a necklace with a round ruby red like crystal that had glowing red cracks all over.

"It happened after the last dungeon. I felt fine up until I finished it, All of a sudden I felt a huge surge of pain and it felt like my life was draining from my body at an incredible speed. It was like a vampire on steroids was attached straight to my heart. I pulled this out and that's when I noticed all the cracks on it. Yea I am more powerful but when I use that power I feel that pain again, It took me awhile but it got to where I can use a couple of big spells with just a few minor annoying pains but anything beyond that and I'm bedridden for a day or more."

"What have you tried to do to fix it?"

"Shit what haven't I done?" I've used Phoenix blood, I've used Dragon blood, I've used Lich blood.... That was hard to come by, by the way... Actualy liches don't exactly have blood did ya know that? I had to ground up lich bone barrow and mix in my blood to create a psuedo mix. Anyways. I used rituals that were supposed to help with cracked Phylactorys of some liches.... Nothing has worked. none of the research I have read and done has mentioned anything like this before. I think it has something to do with the overabundance of power that flows through the portals themselves and into our world."

"Ok? Sooo Stupid and entirely dumb question but what about making a new Phylactory? I see that you used like a crystal but what about using something with more magical properties? I don't have very many scales left but I can give you one of mine? I know my neck has a few scales that I can regrow. What if we take those and form a Phylactory with those? Wouldn't that hold the power better?"

Necro looked at me in complete amazement. Wide eyes and open mouth like that idea never even passed his mind. "My god, I didn't think of that! This whole time I have been trying to fix the one I have now but never have I even thought of trying to make a whole new one! hahaha Vexsus your amazing! .... OH yea one problem... MY SOUL IS ATTACHED TO THIS ONE FUCKING GENIUS!!! HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO MAKE A NEW ONE!" He yelled at me and so I just smacked him and sent him to the other side of the tent. I was trying to help I wasn't going to get yelled at for that.

"If you put your soul in a fucking crystal once than you can split and put another piece into something else. It's not my job to figure it out for you. I'm only doing this for Hannah, your the idiot who took to much power. I'm trying to make sure my daughter has enought time with her husband to be happy and that's it. You wanna yell at me than I'll take your phylactory and shove it so far up your ass that you won't have to worry about fixing it because it'll be inside your goddam heart!"

As I was walking to help him up Kitsoma rushed in and yelled. "We got trouble A big Green Dragon just appeared from the cave and is headed this way!"

Me and Necro just looked at eachother before we both simultaneously said "Fuck."