Reincarnated As A Plant Life

Chapter 276: Minecrawlers [XVI]

A group of furtong arrived a minute later and got straight to work.

Ursa had come along with them.

"We found Aternite in the other cavern. Pagan ordered that they be collected and brought to you."

Lucius breathed freely for the first time since he came down here; it was like a heavy weight had been lifted from his chest.

However, he fought against the urge to drop his guard, no good would come from it. After all, he still had the issue of the diseased Morrentor to deal with.

"Tell Pagan to have them ready, separate from the other minerals, and wait for further instructions," he replied.

As Ursa was leaving, a furtong with greyed skin approached Lucius. It had a hunched back and trembled with every step it took.

"We cannot be here," the furtong said in a slow shaky voice.

"And why is that?" Lucius replied, regarding the furtong. Despite being nearly the same height as him, it lowered its gaze against his.

"That creature is cursed, we must leave before it spreads. You should not have shown it the light," the furtong said. As it spoke, it took several glances at the Morrentor, shifting and trembling with every glimpse.

"Cursed?"

"The first ones punish us for our work here, for the Council's work here," the furtong replied, talking as if it had a foul taste in its mouth. "It gets the Morrentors first, and then us… but it kills us quicker."

"By first ones, you mean the creatures that made the forest?" Lucius asked. It seemed that every species had their own version of the fae, their own myth based around them.

The furtong nodded its head slowly, not paying him much attention —its eyes fixed on the Morrentor.

"There's nothing to be afraid o-" Lucius was about to say, right before something 'cold' crawled down his neck. He instantly turned around, already taking a step away from the Morrentor.

The room went silent as everyone turned their attention to the cage. A thick mist began to seep out of the Morrentor's rotting skin, glowing bright red as it shifted in the air. It slowly took the form of an eyeball, which scanned the room, before focusing on Lucius.

~I know this presence,~ he thought to himself, already trying to call out his crux.

He was a blink too late.

The eyeball fired a beam, zapping right past him and piercing the Furtong he had just been talking to. An instant later, he fired a beam of his own and -despite it lacking any substantial power- the eyeball poofed out of existence.

Ghost was by his side only a beat later.

"Everyone, out!" Lucius shouted.

A gurgling sound filled the air, drawing Lucius's attention to the furtong that had been struck. It was on the floor, convulsing, with blood coming out of its nose, eyes and mouth. Its skin, turned to a rotten shade of green right before his eyes, tearing open to reveal puss-filled wounds. He covered his mouth, taking a cautious step back.

The furtong stopped moving only a few seconds later, a trail of red mist emerging from its bloody mouth. The mist collected into a ball and began hovering towards the Morrentor.

Lucius fired a solar beam at it, poofing it out of existence.

"Should I kill it?' Ghost asked, her eyes glued on the Morrentor.

"Wait," Lucius replied, his head down-turned in thought.

~Should we kill it? If this energy presence is really what I think it is, then this mission just got a lot more dangerous,~ he thought to himself.

He would've said yes, under any other circumstances. However, the prospect of getting a Morrentor was too good to throw away just like that. With it, they would be able to create bases twice as fast, start their own mines, and even employ battle tactics that weren't viable before.

"No. Whatever curse this is seems to only target the furtong. Nothing happened when it was just you and me," Lucius explained. "It seems there's also a time requirement. Maybe two minutes before it attacks a furtong."

~But even if I know all this, how am I going to deal with it?~

His energy reserves were low and he wasn't going to underestimate this 'curse'. Waiting around was also out of the question, especially considering the nature of the energy presence they were dealing with.

A commotion outside interrupted Lucius's train of thought. The furtong were stumbling over each other to make way for someone.

Pagan emerged from the crowd a moment later, his crux bathing the entire room in its golden intensity.

~He sensed it too?~ Lucius thought, as Pagan walked into the room.

"Lighted One," he sighed in relief, his eyes studying Lucius for a moment before fixing on the Morrentor.

Without a word, he moved to stand in front of Lucius, his face scrunched up in anger. The solar energy in the room began to surge, as his crux glowed brighter.

"Stop," Lucius said, grabbing Pagan's shoulder as if to pull him back.

"That creature, it's-"

"I know."

Pagan glared at the Morrentor for a moment, before relaxing. His crux, however, did not go dim, he still very well wanted to sear a hole through the creature's head.

~I could have him try and heal it, while Ghost and I cover him. But that would risk losing all of our most powerful at once, ~ Lucius thought to himself.

~Maybe just me and him?~

~ No, it won't be enough.~

He already knew what he had to do, what he had been scared to do since coming down here.

Kumulipo.

He wasn't fond of the idea of potentially falling into a magic-induced psychosis, but it was either that or they left the Morrentor here. Though, Lucius had half a mind to do just that.

~If I can destroy the curse energy inside the Morrentor then it should take care of the curse. And in the event, it's more trouble than just that, Kumulipo is the only viable weapon in my arsenal,~ he decided.

He wasn't going to make a habit out of using kumulipo… or at least that's what he was telling himself.

"Move everyone further back down the tunnels," he said. "I want to try something."

Pagan gestured to the furtong to go, not moving from his position.

"You and Ghost too. It might be dangerous, and I'll need someone to clean up my mess in case things go wrong," he added.

Pagan opened his mouth to protest, but decided against it, bowing before heading out with the others.

Once everyone was gone, Lucius began to call out Kumulipo. It was like trying to turn rusted gears. However, a few breaths later, its dark glistening energy filled the room. A cold chill came with it, soothing against the damage that his Rena overuse had done.