9 - Chapter 9

Here it comes again …Burris lowered his head and rubbed his temples. He had experienced this pattern of conversation thanks to the time he was in the other plane. The Skeleton King always followed his train of thought in silence, and then he took him off the subject off guard, and didn’t allow him to return to the original topic…

What’s more important, Roth’s question was too difficult to answer. What is more interesting about him? What’s the problem? Maybe he could get over it with a joke, but Burris wasn’t good at joking…

Just as he was getting anxious, Roth suddenly turned his head and looked in a certain direction.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Burris.

As soon as his question came out, there was a loud noise in the direction of the gate of the tower, just like if someone was smashing the gate with a battering ram. Burris stood up and disappeared into thin air. Roth grunted a few words annoyed, and then turned and ran out to the floating disc.

When he came to the gate, Burris found out that he was quite right about the type of sound, the loud noise was really caused by a battering ram. Of course, it was a battering ram created with magic.

It was Heisong. He had returned and used his enchanted staff to cast a huge ironclad rhinoceros collision sound, and then had fallen unconscious in front of the tower. The bone chair didn’t follow him, and looking at his difficult position, maybe it was already broken around somewhere.

Burris carefully sensed the magic fluctuations around him. There was a strong necromantic aura remaining on Heisong. Of course, he was a necromancer himself. What was strange is that he seemed to have crushed two enchanted crystals and used several huge rhinoceros’ collisions. In his left hand, he was still holding a scroll of parchment that had not been successfully used, it contained a chain detonation spell.

Heisong hated these warlock’s favorites spells. He didn’t like to use them, and he was really not good at using them, but it was always right to prepare some magic items for self-defense. Now he actually had activated a bunch of elemental burst spells, this was not like him.

Burris proceeded to focus on the clearing in front of the tower and the forest in the distance. The place where the mage lives is so annoying –want to detect abnormal magic fluctuations? This is a mage’s territory, there are magic vestiges on the large area of land centered around the tower. Multiple traces intertwine with each other always, causing ‘abnormal’ fluctuations everywhere. If you intend to investigate thoroughly, you must find a certain time to check it out, otherwise, if you make a hasty observation like this, you won’t get accurate results.

Roth also went down into the hall and was astonished to find the elf laying outside. Burris called two golems; one picked up the elf and the other closed the gate. Then, he cast a spell and briefly disappeared. When he came back, he brought a suitcase, but the golems, the elf and Roth weren’t around. Just when Burris was getting nervous, Roth’s voice came from the handrail on the second floor of the tower: “Don’t panic, my dear. We are here. The guest room on the second floor has a bed and a bathroom, it’s more convenient.”

“How did you get there?” Burris stepped on the floating disc and rose to Roth’s side.

"

"

“Using a floating disc, just like you.” Seeing that Burris was going to climb over the guardrail, Roth reached out to help him, however, Burris was so nervous that he didn’t notice such a thoughtful gesture.

“No…I mean, how did you order Will and Thecla to come up too?”

“Who are Will and Thecla?”

“Those two golems”

“Could it be that all your golems have names….?” Roth took Burris to the guestroom. “They didn’t listen to my orders, so I had to kiss them. Then, I gave them orders and they followed me here. The elf seems to be in a bad condition.”

The golems were stationed outside the tower, and Heisong was lying on the bed. His body was stiff, his brows furrowed, his breathing was weak and fast, and he looked like he was caught in a nightmare.

Burris sat down next to him, then he took out a green glass bottle from the small suitcase, and mixed the liquid in it with some powder, poured it into the palm of his right hand and pressed Heisong’s forehead.

Burris asked Roth to hold the vial with the open lid and bring it close to Heisong’s nose. He seemed to smell the potion, his expression relaxed, and his breathing eased a lot.

“It has never happened before, it really has never happened before…” Burris said to himself, slightly shaking his head.

“What has never happened before?” Roth asked.

Burris said: “No matter who or what the attacker is, he had the audacity to attack Heisong within the Mountains of No Return. Moreover, judging from his reaction, his usual spells may have not been useful to fight his enemy, but his opponent could use death magic on him and defeat him effortlessly. Fortunately, his prepared protection spells played a little role, otherwise he would be dead. After he escaped back, probably he didn’t have the strength to cast a spell asking for help, and the ordinary knocking on the door couldn’t reach the upper floors of the tower, so he used the giant rhinoceros collision sound….no, maybe it was more than that, maybe he must use the fastest speed to attract my attention because….because the enemy chasing him has already caught up with him…”

Roth thought for a while: “So…anyway, this is not normal, right? No one usually bothers you like that?”

“Of course not. The Mountains of No Return have treaty with Sago. Invading my territory is the equivalent to declaring war on Sago, and vice versa. All the military organizations and the Adventurer’s guilds in the Confederation of Ten Nations know about this, and for my fellows spellcasters, I… I’m actually very famous. They don’t dare to pick on me unless they have a mental problem.”

Roth said: “Maybe it wasn’t a military organization, nor was it a mage. Can’t it be an otherworldly creature or something? Infernal creatures? Or maybe a poisonous dragon of nine heads and nine tails?”

“Then what are they trying to do?” Burris wiped his forehead. “Besides, I opened the gate just now. If there is anything that wants to attack the tower, it would have been be a good opportunity…. Why should they avoid it? Wait, my Lord, what is a dragon with nine heads and nine tails?”

“There is no such thing at all.” Roth pressed Burris’s shoulder. “I just wanted to enliven the atmosphere. My dear, you seem to be nervous, you need to relax to help this elf better.”

Burris nodded, stopped talking, and focused on taking care of the still unconscious elf necromancer. Burris used the magic potion to help Heisong recover some physical strength and found a curse spell on him. It was not difficult for the former Burris to dispel such magic, but now it is different. He knows what to do, but he can’t evoke high-level magic…

With the mentality of trying, Burris briefly explained the removal spell to Roth and asked if he could cast it. Roth thought for a while and said: “Well, I can’t cast the spell you said, but I can remove the curse of death from the elf in another way. I can remove all necromancy damage sustained, no matter what kind of spell it is, no matter how strong the caster is.”

Burris was a little surprised by this ability, but if he thinks about it carefully, it is not surprising that a demigod can do this. He moved a little to the side: “Well…can I trouble you?”

“Why are you stepping back?”

“Don’t you…don’t you have to kiss him?”

“I haven’t finished yet.” Roth said. “In terms of discipline, this is divine magic, not an arcane spell. What’s more, it needs to be chanted, and the content of the chant is not an incantation, but a passage of a code from the ancient gods…You can think of it as a word of command for channeling power, I have to rely on this command to guide the damage on his body away. But now I must rely on my own mouth to cast spells, so the problem is – I can’t chant while kissing.”

As an experienced old mage, Burris’ mind turned quickly: “I can think of a single spell –spellcasting transfer! The caster transfers the spell he is casting to his companions and they can finish the spell for him…”

“You mean…”

“If you can, transfer the spell to me. I’ll save Heisong.”

“Indeed, I can do it.” Roth stood with his hands on his hips in front of Burris. “Then I’ll have to kiss you.”

“I know. It’s important to save Heisong.”

“What’s more, what I am going to do is not the ‘spellcasting transfer spell’ that mages are familiar with, but a divine spell similar to it. It will bring you unfamiliar feelings, and you are going to feel a little uncomfortable. Don’t panic”

“I’m mentally prepared. My Lord, I have known for a long time that our powers behave in a different way.”

Roth continued warning him: “I will fill your mind with a chant that you won’t understand. You don’t have to memorize it; it will come naturally. The spell will guide you, don’t resist, just follow it.”

“Hurry up and kiss me, I understand that.”

“No, listen to me.” Roth leaned over and put his hands on Burris’ shoulders. “You are not a divine spellcaster, and your body is just the one of a common human being. When divine magic flows through your body, it will bring you a great burden.”

Now their postures were a little awkward…Burris’ head was raised, his body was tense, and he was obviously very nervous. Roth held his shoulders, slightly lowered his head and gazed intently into his eyes…. It was almost like they were really going to kiss, instead of preparing to cast a spell.

Burris forced himself to be serious, after all, this matter was really serious. “I have felt this burden.” He said. “Last time…That was when you sent my soul back to my body and changed it back to twenty years old, the situation was very similar.”

“That’s right.” Roth moved one hand to the mage’s waist and pulled him closer, holding Burris’s chin with the other hand. “Don’t worry, the burden won’t be heavier than last time.”

The mage closed his eyes, with a clearly and visible helplessness on his frown. Roth stared at his tightly closed thin lips, bowed his head and kissed him.

With clarity and integrity in his mind, Burris forced himself to define the current situation as casting rather than kissing, just like a doctor taking off a woman pants for medical reasons rather than to take liberties with her.

He stood upright, without any resistance but not indulging either, striving to maintain a decent standing posture until the end…Soon, he couldn’t hold on. Roth not only pressed his lips together, he also took turns holding the upper and lower lip of the mage, so that their lips rubbed against each other, and then he gradually increased the pressure, even biting him lightly from time to time…

Burris endured for a while. He wanted to ask if this was a necessary process or Roth was doing whatever he wanted…At this point, the spell transfer began.

An icy force was poured into Burris, spread from head to toe, and then rose up and took hold of his mind. Amidst this force, there were many clear and strange characters. Burris couldn’t understand their meanings, but he could pronounce them. After each character was read silently by him once, the icy force left his mind and gathered at the tips of his fingers.

Burris’s legs lost strength and almost fell to the ground. Roth hugged him in time and held him to his chest.

“Are you all right?” Roth helped him and sat him at the edge of the bed. “The spell transfer was successful, but do you still have the strength to finish casting?”

Burris nodded and did not answer, as if saying a word at this time would also increase his burden. He turned to face the unconscious Heisong, covered his forehead with his left hand, pressed his right hand on his chest, closed his eyes, and began to recite the divine characters entrenched in his mind.

Every time he pronounced a word, that word disappeared in his mind, neither the character nor the pronunciation remained. At the same time, mist began to overflow between his fingers. The mist coiled in the air for a while, and then it dissipated along with the chanted spell. This was probably the curse drawn from Heisong’s body.

Burris’s mind was empty for a second or two. He tried to stand up, but he was held in place by Roth’s hands. Roth sat behind him with and put his hands on his shoulders gently and he leaned back on Roth.

“Don’t stand up yet.” Roth said in the mage’s ear. “Standing up now will make you dizzy. It’s like squatting for a long time and suddenly getting up.”

“I understand, thank you.” Burris was really a little dizzy, like when he was doing an experiment for two days and two nights…

He resisted exhaustion, put his hand on Heisong’s wrist, and then let out a sigh of relief. The elf was out of danger, and his pulse returned to normal.

Roth asked: “Is the elf all right?”

“He is all right. Maybe he will have to sleep for a while…”

“Why is his face so pale?”

Burris pointed to the copper basin at the side. Roth curiously dipped a towel in water and wiped it on Heisong’s face. The skin that had been wiped with water suddenly showed a healthy color.

Thanks for reading and as always, tell me if you spot a mistake 🙂 🙂 🙂