Chapter 87 Rescue

River and Cormyth backtrack the path that River took using the markings he did earlier. River release a sigh of relief upon confirming that it is indeed the same room where he left Phraan and the unconscious Ryder.

"We're here, let's go get them and get out of here as soon as possible." River said. Even though a ray of hope shone his way, the feeling of exhaustion is still prevalent.

"I agree with you there." Cormyth answered while trying to pick up Ryder on the ground. He has a better physique than River due to his job being a Knight.

River on the other hand approach the sitting Phraan at the corner.

"Hey Phraan get yourself together we're going out of here." River said while shaking Phraan.

River is slowly getting worried since Phraan is not responding even with his vigorous shaking.

"What's wrong with you Phraan!?" River exclaimed. "Stop joking around!" he added when Phraan is still unresponsive.

River eyes widened when he saw Phraan starts melting into his embrace. Its like his whole body turn into a slime-like consistency.

"Wh-what's happening?" River asked in a panicky voice. "Cormyth help me here!" he shouted while trying to comprehend what just happened to his guild mate.

River turn around to ask Cormyth for help once again however what he saw is a scene that doesn't even make sense one bit.

Cormyth and the unconscious Ryder are both floating in the air without support in sight. Both of their eyes turned white.

"Cormyth! Ryder! What's happening?" River asked while pounding his head still trying to make sense on what's happening.

Cormyth and Ryder suddenly starts convulsing. River tried to pull them down but a strong invisible force is keeping them afloat.

After a few minutes of convulsing their body explodes but instead of body organs splattering out, it turns into a swarm of locust that scurried away from the room they're currently in.

River slump down, the exhaustion finally caught up to him. His vision slowly fades and he drop down on the ground.

He didn't fight the exhaustion, not in the slightest. He is feeling hopeless and the fear enveloped his whole existence.

"Brains... Harvest them..." commanded by a humanoid creature with four tentacles by its mouth.

The undead arc priest who clearly can't articulate any words just groans in agreement and proceed to cast a spell at the dead body of the elf.

Without chanting any spell a dark magic circle appears at the lifeless elf. The outer circle consist of runes that looks like its not from this world while the inner circle consist of elven and dwarven runes. A skilled Wizard or Rune Knight would be able to decipher the inner circle but there's zero percent chance to decipher the runes from the outer circle.

After a few minutes the lifeless body of River turn into slimy texture and his brain is now floating in the air. The undead arc priest then casted another skill and a black hole portal appear out of thin air where it store the brain.

Once the humanoid creature confirmed that the extraction is done he wave his hand and the undead arc priest follows behind it. The two of them walk towards the exit.

N'Ikrikex and the undead arc priest speeds up their pace. It seems that N'Ikrikex can't wait to feast on the fresh brain he extracted from their victims however it still needs to ask permission from its superior because if the brain is of higher quality it should go first to their Elder Brain.

After a few more minutes of traversing the basement they finally arrive where its superior Qrr'Askath is waiting for the good news they bring.

"Did you completed the task?" Qrr'Askath asked while sorting countless brains that is place at a long table.

N'Ikrikex just nods and wave at the undead arc priest as if saying to bring out the freshly extracted brains. The undead arc priest just groans and follows N'Ikrikex orders. A black portal appear once again and it took out the four freshly extracted brains from their victims.

Qrr'Askath stop what its currently doing and looks up at the direction of the undead arc priest that is presenting the brains. Its wave his hand and the brains floats into his direction.

Without uttering a single word it proceed to inspect the brains one by one.