Chương 69: Unblocked

No! No, no, no! Evan felt panic rise again, squeezing his chest, making it hard to breathe. And then… he felt something. Something inside of him. He couldn't quite describe the feeling. At first, he thought the experiment had already started. That the corrupted mana was already flooding his body. But what he felt wasn't unpleasant. Something had just happened to his mana, to his skills, but it did not feel like corruption. More like someone had released a clamp.

He saw the Professor walk over to Oliver's glass cylinder.

"Let's start with this one. He looks the strongest of the bunch. His chances of survival are the highest." He leaned over the control panel attached to Oliver's cage and started channeling mana into the runes. Evan watched him work with gritted teeth when he suddenly realized what had changed inside of him. What that released-clamp feeling meant. His teleport skill was no longer blocked! Evan had no idea how or why, but he was suddenly absolutely sure he could teleport again.

He suspected Benedict might be behind it, but he had no time to think about it. He needed to act before the Professor turned Oliver into his next experiment. After looking at his remaining mana points, he did some quick calculations in his head and came to the conclusion that he had enough mana left for one single teleport with a limited range. If his math was correct, he could make it to Catriona. Without wasting any more time, he gathered his meager remaining mana and activated [Teleport].

He'd used the skill so often his aim was excellent by now. He vanished from his glass cage and reappeared right in the middle of Catriona's cage within a split second. Victor Vason and the Professor were so busy activating Oliver's chamber that they didn't even notice what had happened, just a few feet away. Evan crouched down next to Catriona and propped her up into a sitting position. She was deadly pale, and blood was still seeping out from the hole the mantis had pierced into her armor.

The tunic underneath was drenched in blood, but her eyes fluttered open. She looked around, confused, eyes swimming for a moment before her gaze focused and settled on Evan.

"Don't speak," he whispered. He had no idea if these glass cages were soundproof, so he didn't want to take any risks. The longer Victor and the Professor remained oblivious to what was going on behind their backs, the better.

"You still have your mana potion, right?" She nodded weakly.

"I know it's a big request, but I need you to give it to me. I think I can get us all out of this, but I need more mana." Catriona didn't hesitate. With a low groan, she lifted her hand, and a small glass bottle filled with yellow liquid appeared in her palm. Evan gave her a thankful nod before uncorking the bottle and drinking the potion. His mana pool refilled with every gulp. When the bottle was empty, he had regained almost 80% of his mana, but he knew that wouldn't last long.

Not with half a dozen instances of [Curse of the Locust] continuously draining him. He needed to put his mana to good use before it was all gone again. Evan reoriented himself and focused on his sword, lying several feet away from Catriona's cage. The runes in front of Oliver's chamber had already started glowing deep violet. Evan needed to act fast. If Benedict was right, he had mere minutes to put a stop to this, or Oliver would be forever changed.

[Teleport] got Evan out of Catriona's chamber and landed him right next to his sword. He picked it up and already felt a lot better about the whole situation. He had mana at his disposal and a weapon in his hand. He could do this. The sword made a soft clinking sound when he picked it up from the tiled floor, and that finally drew his enemies' attention. Victor's eyes went wide.

"What? But… how did you get out? You—" The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Evan didn't wait around until Victor had thought things through. He used [Teleport] again to appear right in front of Victor and sent a burst of mana into his sword. The red-glowing blade came down on his enemy with force. Victor scrambled to the side, but Evan still landed a glancing blow on his shoulder, leaving a searing cut in the flesh. Victor cursed in pain.

He pulled one hand up, summoning the dark smoke Evan had seen before. It quickly condensed into the bats they'd already fought, but the swarm was much smaller this time. Victor was definitely running out of mana. A few feet away, the Professor seemed to have come to the same conclusion, because he abandoned whatever he was doing with Oliver's test chamber and hobbled away toward one of the tunnels leading out of the colosseum. Evan turned around, setting off after him. He couldn't allow the man to flee.

He needed to be stopped before he could continue his sick experiments elsewhere, but Victor had different ideas. He sent his bats after Evan. Their claws scratched his face and their flapping wings obscured his vision, making him lose track of the Professor. Evan blasted the entire swarm away with a powerful [Super Nova], but it was already too late. The Professor was gone. Anger flaring, Evan turned around. With the swarm gone, there was nothing standing between him and Victor Vason.

To Evan's surprise, Victor looked genuinely scared. The smug grin was gone, no more taunting words and overconfident threats. His hands were shaking as he drew a dagger from his belt. Evan nearly laughed out loud at the sight of the small dagger. He slapped it out of Victor's hand with one strike of his sword, cutting off three of his fingers in the process. Victor cried out, clutching his bleeding hand to his chest. Evan ended his suffering quickly.

He lunged forward and his sword went clean through Victor's chest, emerging from his back with a spurt of blood. He made a choked gurgling sound. Blood welled out of his mouth. Then the head of the Vason family slumped over. Evan needed some force to pull his sword out of his body again. Victor fell to the side and died, eyes wide open.

[You killed Victor Vason] [You gained 174 experience points] [You looted 17, 893 mana stones] [You looted 8 plague affinity crystals] [You looted 1 Fire affinity shard] [You looted 1 Mist affinity shard] [You looted 1 Shadow affinity shard] [You looted Gem of Absorption] [You looted Gem of Boosting] [You killed the current owner of a bound item (Vason Estate Key). Do you want to bind the item? (Warning: Bound items cannot be sold or gifted) Y/N] Evan did a double take at the last system prompt, but he did not have the time to read it thoroughly. The runes in front of Oliver's chamber were still glowing violet, and the air inside the chamber seemed to have a light pink tint. Evan rushed over, sent mana into his sword, and prayed the mana-empowered blade would be strong enough to cut through the glass.

He rammed the red-glowing sword right into the glass wall, and the glass started to melt around it like plastic before cracks started to appear. After only a few seconds, the entire chamber burst into a thousand glass shards, raining down on Oliver. He seemed to have regained consciousness since the mantis dropped him into the chamber, but he was injured and weak. Evan propped him up and grabbed his head between his hands.

"Olly? Can you hear me? Are you going to be alright?" Oliver blinked, looking a little dazed, but nodded.

"I'm okay. Go free the others." Evan ran off to do just that. Victor was dead, and the Professor was gone, but there was still a giant mantis somewhere, and who knew what other monsters Victor was keeping here. He cracked open Catriona's and Luca's chambers. Catriona managed to walk out of her prison on her own, and she immediately went over to her fox to gather her into her arms. Lys seemed to have broken at least one leg and couldn't stand or walk on her own, but she was in better shape than Evan had feared.

Luca was still unconscious, which deeply worried Evan. He was still enough of a nurse to know prolonged unconsciousness was not good, not even for a magically enhanced mana user. When he checked Luca's status in the party screen, his fears were confirmed. Among other, less concerning injuries, it listed [Status Condition: Brain Bleed].

"He needs a healer," Evan told his friends.

"Very soon."

"He is our healer, Evan," Oliver said. Both Evan and Oliver had wrapped their arms around Luca, carrying him between them as they slowly made their way back out of the training hall.

"Then we need to bring him to the Whisperleaf clan. They healed you. I'm sure Grainne can help Luca too."

"It's a day's journey, even in tip-top shape," Oliver said.

"I'm not sure we'll make it there in time."

"And I'm not sure we'll be welcomed there," Catriona added.

"They will blame you for making me leave."

"But that was your own choice," Evan protested.

"Doesn't change much. Maybe in a year or two, when things have settled a bit, you could attempt to go back, but right now they're going to be so angry they'll shoot you on sight."

"But he needs a healer!" Suddenly, a loud noise echoed through the hall, sounding like it was coming from a hundred speakers at once.

"Can you hear me?" a voice asked. It was crackling, like someone was speaking into a very cheap microphone with damaged volume control. Ears hurting, Evan winced.

"Benedict? Is that you?" he asked, repressing the reflex to cover his ears with his hands.

"Ah, this works. Great. Yes, it's me. I'm not a healer, but I do have a couple of healing potions."

"Where are you?"

"Still in the control room. Can you bring your friend here, or should I come down to you?"

"Stay where you are, Benedict," Evan said.

"The Professor is still at large, and I don't want any nasty surprises." There was a moment of silence before Benedict's voice returned.

"Alright, I'll wait here. But hurry up. If the Professor really comes through here, I don't want to meet him alone. The man creeps me out." Evan thought that was a very understandable sentiment. He gripped Luca's limp body a little tighter and quickened the pace.