Stage 19: Dig and Run.

With my eyes closed from exhaustion, the weakness in my body kept advancing despite Ofelia's efforts to channel her divine power to delay the effects of radiation on me. Even as the griffin flew through the skies, splitting the clouds with its stormy flutter, the nerves in my skin could barely feel the lightness of a subtle breeze at ground level.

- "Hey you, priestess. Be frank with me, my friend is in very bad condition. Do you think she can be saved?"

- "Even if you ask me, I don't know how to answer you. This goes beyond everything I know of diseases and curses. That miasma brimmed with so much corruption that as soon as we set foot on the ground I felt like my head was about to explode. Whatever it is, that thing cannot be something that belongs to this world" – With her slightly emaciated appearance, Ofelia continued to heal me despite the dark circles under her eyes due to lack of sleep.

- "Now you are honest with me. Are you taking us to that ruined city just on a whim to fulfill the wish of someone who is going to die?"

- "No, she is not the kind of person who would ask for something as stupid as a place to die. I can bet he has a plan in mind." Clenching her fists with the expression on her face disjointed, Sandra tried to convince herself of those words while she did not stop thinking with fear about my outcome due to the deterioration of my appearance.

- "Philius was once a prosperous city, perhaps we will find something that is of no use" - Located within what was once the territory that comprised the fallen kingdom of Esterum, the port city of Philius had been known as one one of the most important trade centers in the world. Receiving ships from different kingdoms, the city flourished in its business model, along with its outstanding mining industry. Earning the nickname of the pearl of Esterum.

- "Sandra, look over there. I can see a slight glow on the horizon."

- "Yes, I can see it too. We are already close to the damn coast" – As we approached the limits of the coast, the air breeze was charging with that subtle salty flavor that seasoned my chapped lips. It was a slight pain accompanied by tingling, but that sensation gave me peace of mind knowing that my body still had a chance to save itself by the simple fact of experiencing that annoying stinging sensation.

Upon descending on the white sand of the beach, Sandra released the enchantment that allowed the golem to move. Returning to its form of simple rocks that fell to the ground, as if that mythical being was once again lost into oblivion.

- "Master, what do you want to do?" – Even the monotonous voice of the oracle sounded in my ears as if it had an essence of concern, while I used my little strength to sit up and try to open my hurt eyes before that blue sky of the ocean.

- "Faust, locate and determine the concentrations of iodine and potassium in seawater, air and living beings in the ocean" - The interface of the system looked deteriorated, as a reflection of the condition in which my body was. Blinking at times as if it were a computer monitor that had been damaged during an accident.

- "Amelia, there is something I can help you with" - Leaning her body next to mine, Sandra had a firm expression on her face as if hiding her concern. Trying to calm myself down to the fact that the meat on my body was beginning to fall off in small pieces.

- "Sandra, you are the best alchemist in the world, right? So you must have created at some point new matter from the existing"

- "Yes, that is the most basic thing to be able to consider yourself a rookie alchemist. Why do you ask me?"

- "Then, create something for me. Anything, using the materials that surround us" – Surprised by my request, Sandra spread her hands over the sand and cast a transmutation circle while the water in the air condensed along with the sand on the beach. Compacting into a core that glowed with a strong electrical charge that chirped in the air. Finishing her creation in the shape of a fist-sized rudimentary crystal, Sandra placed it in front of me with a self-satisfied expression.

- "Faust, did you analyze the structure of Sandra's enchantment?"

- "Affirmative, the structure of the mathematical model of the enchantment is reproducible with the system in its current state" - Getting up somewhat awkwardly on the soft surface of the sand, I took a few steps until I approached the sea with the help of Ofelia who supported the weight of my body.

- "Very well, isolate the potassium and iodine molecules present in salt water with an extension of five hundred meters"

- "Starting molecular decomposition, intermediate structure analysis of ionic bonds present at the atomic level. Assimilation failure, the element is being lost in the reaction." – Feeling fatigued from the use of my mana, I realized that the process required too much energy given the state of my body at the time. Shaking my head desperately suffocating for an instant due to lack of air.

- "Fausto, how viable could it be for me to connect my conscience with Sandra?"

- "Master, for this it would be necessary to establish a soul bond. Do you agree with that?" – As in the case of Faust during the incident in the Medea forest, establishing a binding pact was a desperate measure that I did not feel comfortable carrying out. If we linked our souls, Sandra's will would remain present but her hope of life would merge with mine. Combine our souls before the scene of imminent death? Honestly, if I found myself in the position of the alchemist, I would reject that proposal out of hand.

But contrary to my pessimistic thought, the moment I told Sandra of that possibility, the young alchemist took my hands and joined her forehead with mine.

- "Hey, if it weren't for you. I would remain chained to that dead town, consuming myself in my regrets until the end of my days. If you say this can save you, I'm willing to put my life on the line for you. Where you go, I'll go" – Feeling the warmth of her words, my tears kept flowing hugging her, thanking her for her valuable proof of friendship. While my hair ended up falling with the last part from the root.

- "Faust, establish the soul bond"

- "Request confirmed, awaiting a response from the entity to be linked" - Like a flow of threads coming from my chest, a line of mana connected with Sandra's heart at the same time that her body felt the shock coming from the critical state in which that my organism was. Knocking her down on the sand screaming in pain as if deep agony consumed her from within.

- "Ugh, Amelia. How is it possible that you endured this torment all by yourself! My body burns like it's burning inside!" – When I saw the alchemist's body writhing in the sand, the memory of my father in the hospital came to my mind while the nurses subdued him to supply him with morphine. Making me think how much suffering that man had to go through at the gates of death.

- "Link completed successfully, the neural connection parameters with the host have been established"

- "Whose voice is this? Why is it in my head?" – Recovering a bit from the physical burden that came from the soul link, Sandra was surprised by the existence of the base system with which I was constantly communicating.

- "Greetings guest, my name is Fausto. A supporting artificial intelligence to ensure the end-user experience is satisfying" – With a stunned expression on her face as she reached her hands up in the air trying to touch the screen in front of her, Sandra looked like a little kid who has discovered a new toy . At the bewildered look of Ofelia, who thought that we had both gone crazy.

- "Master, do you want to transfer a copy of the knowledge base labeled as inorganic chemistry?"

- "Yes do it. Just don't send it all at once…" – Before I could finish my request, the system downloaded into Sandra's brain all the information she had acquired about chemistry in my time as a student in my past life. Causing a severe headache that made her put her hands to her head with her eyes wide and drooling from her mouth.

- "Curse! What the hell was that?"

- "Don't worry, it happened to me the first time too"

- "Master, if I remember correctly in his case I think he urinated..."

- "Fausto, don't go into details" – After laughing at each other, Sandra began to analyze the information that had to do with radioactive poisoning. Its nature and fatal implications on living organisms.

Changing the expression on her face at times, the alchemist understood in a very bitter way the origin of that devastating explosion that wiped the town of Litho off the map. Shaking his head in disapproval of that ominous destructive power.

- "Amelia, so in your world you have weapons of such terrible destructive power? Unlike fire elemental magic and spells, for a seventh circle mage even his attack power only has a superficial effect on matter. This thing I'm seeing not only destroys matter on a macroscopic level, but also upsets the subatomic balance making ionic bond chains unstable."

- "Anyone who listened to you in my world would never know that until a few seconds ago this subject was unknown to you. You are very quick to assimilate knowledge" – Showing me her head as if she wanted me to caress her hair to congratulate her, Sandra had changed the expression of her face for a calmer one. As if he had found the ideal way to save the three of us from the effects of radiation poisoning.

- "Your name is Fausto, right?"

- "Affirmative guest."

- "I need you to establish an active mana channel on the main lines of Amelia's body. Concentrate the fork directly to the mana core of his heart so that he won't reject the alchemy injection"

- "Master, the suggested procedure has a high risk of failure with the current conditions of the main body. Do you want to grant permissions to the guest?"

- Yes, Faust. I authorize you, just do as she tells you" – Giving Ofelia a signal with her eyes, Sandra began the transmutation of the elements dissolved in the seawater. While the priestess sustained my vital signs with the infusion of divine power through the mana channels that had already been created.

Breaking down the salts present in seawater, the alchemist took the elements of iodine and potassium, recombining them into a stabilizing salt very similar to the potassium iodide used to treat radiation-exposed patients on my world.

- "Listen to me, busty, I need you to hold her tight. When this substance enters your bloodstream, it will cause intense pain as if the members of your body were torn off. Do not let her convulse for any reason or we will lose her." – Plunging into concentration, Sandra seemed unperturbed by my shouts as she kept the transmutation circles one after the other to shape the chemical compound in an efficient manner. Knowing full well that the slightest hint of impurity would cause my body to reject the treatment.

- "Mrs. Amelia looks better! I think we did it!"

- "Idiot, don't let your guard down! Keep injecting your divine power and try to repair the vital organs or he will go into shock." – As the alchemist said, my body, which for a moment I thought was recovering from the effects of radiation, began to convulse again, surprising Ofelia, who with great difficulty was able to use the weight of her body to subdue me against the sand.

- "Master, the condition of the main body is above 50% efficiency margin. Do you wish to cast the healing spell?" – With those encouraging words from Fausto, I bet my luck at that moment and began to recite the song of great healing using Ofelia 's mana . Who felt a slight pang in his heart, as his mana core became unstable.

- "It hurts, it hurts a lot!"

- "Amelia, now it's your turn. Hold her while I give her the treatment, she was already at her limit, but your spell has made her collapse" – Taking Ofelia on my lap, I began to conjure the mana channels repeating the same process that Sandra used with me. Little by little causing the priestess's body to stabilize and her mana core to return to normal.

In the same way, Ofelia and I took Sandra and began to heal her, seeing how the damage received on her body was almost as considerable as mine. Thanks to her alchemical arts, Sandra had been able to withstand the radiation load on her body, but it was inevitable that all that stress would not take its toll.

As soon as he was in our hands, the procedure on his body lasted for several hours until the sunlight was hidden by the tidal horizon. Plunging into darkness only bathed in the rays of moonlight that shone on the white sand of the beach.

With the arrival of night, the cold coming from the sea breeze forced us to take refuge in the ruins of one of the houses that were still standing within that forgotten city. Taking the wood from the furniture to make a fire that would allow us to warm our battered bodies.

- "You really did it Sandra, you are amazing. I don't think even I would have been able to synthesize the compound if I had tried."

- " Hey, hey, hey. To be honest, I didn't think I could make it either. I was just doing it desperately to save you. I mean, I didn't like the idea of dying so young."

- "So all that speech about where you're going I'll go, was it a lie?"

- "Huh? Why do you have to bring that topic up again? After I said those words I felt stupid!" - Hiding her blushing face behind an old blanket that we collected from the belongings of that house, Sandra grumbled sadly causing us to laugh as we felt how the heat returned to our bodies.

- "Crash"

- "What was that noise?"

- "I do not know! But it seems that it comes from the basement" – With her eyes fixed on the ground and her hands together on her chest, the priestess brought her ear closer to the wooden floor of the old shack trying to capture more clearly the source of that mysterious noise.

- "It's probably a rat, right?" - With a trembling voice, Ofelia approached Sandra hugging her tightly like a fearful child.

- "Hey, don't stick your fat sacks to my body!"

- "Excuse me, but if it weren't for that noise, I wouldn't even think of getting close to you! Witch!"

- "Damn busty, repeat it if you dare!" – Just at the moment that they were held by the hair, the foundations of the house began to shake in a fierce jolt that gave the impression of being an earthquake. Making the ceiling beams collapse almost to the point of crushing us in their fall.

- "This place is not safe! We must get out of here as soon as possible" – Taking the hands of my companions, we began to run between the floorboards avoiding the rubble, barely reaching the door, jumping outside while the support structure of the house fell down reducing everything to rubble.

- "Hey! They are fine?" – With Ofelia crushing her face with her chest, Sandra barely managed to get her hand out from under her, raising her thumb. While contemplating how the ocean waves began to shake violently along with the sand on the beach.

- "Yuck! Get off my slug!" – Lying Ofelia to one side, Sandra shook off the sand while struggling to stay upright before the tremor that did not stop shaking the ground below us.

- "Sandra, don't tell me that this area is seismic!"

- "Not that I remember, but I think that right now you wish it were" - As soon as I finished pronouncing those words, a serpentine silhouette emerged from the sand giving a dark growl as if it were a dragon.

- "Oh, it can't be, tell me I'm dreaming!" – Still on the ground, crawling backwards, Ofelia's face was terrified as she contemplated that imposing animal that she had only read about in books as if it were a legend.

- "Warning, master. The presence of a level 9 mythological beast has been detected."

- "Wow, wow, wow. Wait, Faust. Are you telling me that this thing knows how to use magic?"

- "Amelia, take Ofelia and start running at my signal" – Standing firm on her legs clenching her fists, the expression in Sandra's eyes was injected with a determination as firm as stone. In front of us, the imposing enemy that loomed large was none other than the mythical lord of the seas: the ancient serpent Leviathan.

According to the stories transmitted by the oral tradition within the mythology of Pandora, the Leviathan was a serpent that had the power to unleash the fury of the oceans in the form of a typhoon. Devastating the coastal cities in ancient times, the settlers who saw their livelihoods threatened offered sacrifices from time to time to appease the fury of that titan.

- "You are crazy? How do you even think that you can face that beast by yourself in your current condition?"

- "I know I have no chance of winning! But at least I can buy them time to flee and hide from that monster" – Without giving him time to respond, Sandra jumped squarely into the jaws of the sea serpent, drawing transmutation circles to summon golems from the sand. Which were destroyed just with the simple touch of the tail of the imposing enraged animal.

- "Damn it, there is no solid ground to create more resistant golems"

- "Guest, can I suggest something?"

- "Honestly at this moment I can take any advice even if it comes from a jalopy like you"

- "I'll pretend I didn't hear that. However, within the information she obtained from my master, there may be a method to make the sand as resistant as a rock" - Closing her eyes for a moment to reach her maximum concentration, Sandra opened her eyelids with a malicious flash in her eyes. eyes followed by a defiant smile filled with emotion.

- "OK, let's try it!" – Creating concentric circles with alchemy engravings similar to the creation of metals and glass, Sandra summoned chimeras that shone with the rays of moonlight like beautiful finely cut diamonds. Which were thrown once more against the Leviathan's skin, but this time, causing deep wounds on the flesh of the beast that gave a moan of pain, lashing its tail against the sand.

- "Yahoo, this is great! How is it possible that this material is used for simple toys? – Within the memories that I had assimilated from my past, the young alchemist carefully observed a light material widely used in the creation of mobile devices. Composed in its elaboration mainly of aluminum oxide and silicon dioxide, gorilla glass was a flexible and resistant material that provided durability against the rough use of mobile phones.

Made entirely of that mysterious compound, the golems not only became faster, but were also able to withstand the sharp touch of the sea serpent's scales for longer.

- "Look, Amelia! I'm cornering this damn snake" – Elated by her achievement, Sandra lowered her guard against the enemy. Giving the Leviathan enough time to launch a heat ray, which almost immediately destroyed the crystal golems, reaching to destroy the alchemist's right leg. Throwing her against the sand breaking her bones making her unable to move freely.

- "Damn, we have to go for her" - At the moment I tried to run to her side, Ofelia's strong grip stopped me in my tracks just at the moment that the snake turned its jaws against us, just narrowly missing that powerful beam that could have evaporated us in a single instant.

- "Don't go, that thing is unstoppable! If we are in his sights, it is certain that he will destroy us as soon as he has us within his reach."

- "I understand that you are afraid! But I can't abandon Sandra, so don't stop me. I promise I'll get back to her, you just run to that cave and wait for us. I'm going to get your attention. Run!" – Following our improvised plan, the priestess ran through the arena without looking back, while I sneaked in front of the beast using illusory magic.

- "Master, the guest user is in a critical condition. His musculoskeletal system has been damaged by 70%, it is impossible for motor functions to function properly"

- "Can we repair it?"

- "Affirmative, but I think your main concern should be another" - Suddenly the appearance of the sea serpent began to change. Demuding its scales giving way to others with a coarser appearance like obsidian slabs. Which began to vibrate like the tail of a rattlesnake, projecting through the air like sharp arrows that whistled cutting the air.

Without being able to control the direction of their shots, the Leviathan's projectiles impacted on the structures of the ruins of the coastal city, splitting the walls of the houses as if they were sheets of paper with a very clean cut. If any of those scales were to hit us, it would almost certainly maim us without giving us a chance to show defense.

- "Sandra, resist! I'm getting to you now" – Raising my staff, I changed the shape to that of a bow and began to shoot mana arrows towards the monster's eyes, trying to buy time by blinding the beast to take Sandra's body and flee.

- "Amelia"

- "Shhhh, be quiet! You need to conserve your strength, so don't speak unless it's necessary" – When she was in front of the alchemist's body, she could see how part of her ribs had pierced the skin of her abdomen, letting her blood flow over the fabric of her clothes. Where his right leg should have been, there was only a pulsing mass of flesh barely supported by the thin filaments of cartilage of what had once been his limb.

- "Magna sanitatem" – Invoking the healing spell more times than I can remember, little by little the alchemist's body regained consistency, stopping the bleeding. But sadly, his leg was past the point of return. Recovering its shape only as an atrophied member on which Sandra could hardly lean without help.

- "Let me here! I'm only going to delay your escape."

- "You are insane? How do you think I'm going to live if you die?"

- "Hey, this is not the time for kitsch."

- "Ahem, guest. What my master means is that, being bound by contract, their life spans are shared. If one of the signing parties dies, the other will follow accordingly.

- "What did you say?" – Taking Sandra in my arms, I lifted up the stunned alchemist who quickly felt stupid for misinterpreting my words. Raising her hands to her face as shame consumed her.

- "Geminos exspiravit" - Summoning my phantasmagorical clones again, we divided before the perplexed look of the beast, which in anger waved its tail over the sand sweeping the surface destroying my projections.

- "He may be a beast, but he is not stupid! Do you have any plans?"

- "I do not have one. So move those hands and create some golems to give us time to run away" – Casting transmutation circles onto the arena, lion-shaped golems rushed out at the base of the snake, while boosting into the air with my wind magic, taking out my wings to use my incomplete draconic form.

- "Master, the mana source is still unstable. The wings will not resist the gusts of wind for long."

- "With a demon, just let me think!" – Dodging Leviathan's deadly scales in the air, one of my wings was hit by one of those projectiles, being cut off. Making us fall into the sand, rolling down the dunes while I covered Sandra's body with my arm.

- "What are they waiting for? Run and get inside at once!" – Right at the entrance of the cave, Ofelia launched her divine magic on us, creating a protection dome that barely resisted the friction of the snake's scales. Allowing us to reach the entrance of the cave, which was buried by the rocks at the moment that one of the projectiles hit it squarely.