B3 - Chapter 32: Darkness Seeds

Both Colossus and Nightmare let out rough, exhausted breaths, then the direwolf stepped over the assassin's cooling corpse and looked at Seth's shoulder. 'Are you alright?'

"Yeah," Seth grunted, his voice tight with pain. "Just be ready to move. We don't know how close the other units are. They could be on us any minute."

Drawing a shaky breath, he cradled his dangling left arm with his right hand and made his way to a nearby cedar tree. Bracing his back against the trunk, he set his jaw and yanked his shoulder back into its socket.

A sickening pop echoed through the clearing.

Seth hissed through his teeth, vision flashing white. After a few seconds, he forced his fingers to move, then tried to rotate the joint. It responded—but the pain remained sharp, far worse than it should have been with a simple dislocation.

That dagger and that scroll certainly did some damage, he thought with a wince.

Lumi hovered near his chest, paws glowing as she cast her basic healing spell on his torso for the second time. Seth looked down at the anxious Luminous Otter and gave her a small, strained smile.

"I'm fine, Lumi," he whispered. "Go heal Colossus and Nightmare. They're both still bleeding."

Lumi tilted her head, her large eyes blinking with obvious confusion. She stayed rooted to his shoulder until Seth pointed toward the giant scorpion and the direwolf. Understanding finally dawned on her, and she flew toward Seth's two companions.

As the otter started mending the deep cracks in Colossus' shell, Nightmare turned his attention to the corpse of the Hurricane Eagle. The direwolf used his fangs to rip open the chest of the beast, tearing through the reinforced feathers until he'd reached the inside.

Seth turned his gaze back to Morsh and cast Intermediate Identify on his equipment.

"Holy shit," Seth breathed. Two Legendary pieces of equipment.

Gear with that grade was forbidden in Kastal by the King, according to the members of the Champions of Chaos. But if he took those as war spoils, even the greedy ruler might have to turn a blind eye and let Seth keep them.

Or Selena.

He wasn't about to change his fighting style and swap Dusk Scythes for daggers, so she was the wiser choice. She will get better use out of those, he thought.

There was no way he'd leave gear of this quality to rot in the dirt, though Seth still went for the Endless Pouch first in case any soldiers of the Empire arrived.

He crouched, ribs screaming in protest, and unhooked the velvet pouch from the man's belt. The moment he pushed his consciousness into the pocket space, his eyes widened.

It was packed: stacks of Instant-Spell scrolls, specialized tools to disrupt detection wards, and multiple types of bombs.

Three items tucked into a corner drew Seth's attention: a metallic rod etched with faintly glowing runes, a circular device with a hollow center, and a thick glass jar pulsing with a slow, rhythmic light.

Seth narrowed his eyes and cast Intermediate Identify on each of them.

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Seth stared at the items' description, his jaw hanging open in shock.

Seth recalled Hector's words back at the Primalist Den in Asethka. Extracting a Seed or a Legacy was viewed with deep disdain and considered a dark practice under normal circumstances—but in war, the rules shifted. Using a tool to harvest whatever Morsh carried would not be seen as a crime in the eyes of people from the Rift City.

Seth glanced toward his companions. Lumi hovered near Colossus, her soft golden light focused entirely on the scorpion's cracked shell, carefully sealing fractures now that she'd stopped all the bleeding. Nightmare had just finished ripping open the corpse of the Hurricane Eagle.

Colossus let out a low rumble through Link. 'We should give that beaststone to Little Sister Lumi. She did well, Big Brother Nightmare… and she even cast the spell you wanted so much on you!'

Nightmare huffed and raised his head, the green crystal now clenched between his jaws. 'She's not part of the pack.' His fangs pressed down harder, seeming like he might crush the gem on the spot.

Seth exhaled slowly and turned back to Morsh's body, ignoring the bickering behind him. The chance to secure another Seed was far too rare to waste—even with the risk of reinforcements arriving at any moment. He wasn't about to miss it.

Seth pressed the circular extractor against Morsh's chest and readied the glass vessel to receive whatever emerged.

Seth had no intention of having any of them absorbing it here—this would be handled later, somewhere safe.

The moment the device touched Morsh's cold skin, two lines of shimmering text appeared above the man's corpse.

Seth's eyes widened, and a curse slipped from his lips. "Holy hell…"

He had no experience with the extractor, though he didn't hesitate; instinct took over as he fed a steady stream of aether into the device. Light flared around the corpse, gathering into a dense sphere at the center of the chest. It pulsed once… twice…

Then it split.

Two dark crystalline spheres—resembling beaststones—rose from the body and hovered silently in the air.

Colossus turned his head, his mandibles clicking in curiosity. 'What's that?'

"Seeds," Seth answered between two short breaths before casting Intermediate Identify.

Seth's throat tightened. The effects were incredible, especially the chance of a cooldown reset.

'Darkness Seeds,' Nightmare said with a hungry rumble. Gaze locked onto the dark crystals and saliva gathering at the edge of his maw, he let the Hurricane Eagle's beaststone fall at his feet.

Raising an eyebrow, Seth pointed at the green gem. "You don't want that anymore?"

Nightmare barely spared it a glance. 'Emergency ration can have it.'

Seth looked over to Lumi and gave a small nod. "As you wish."

The moment he lifted the vessel, his eyebrows rose. Compared to the Seeds he'd found in the Cave of Elements, these were surprisingly light. Either the special containment vessel accounted for the difference, or perhaps it came from the fact that the Seeds had already been absorbed once before. Curious, he slipped the sealed jar into his Endless Pouch. To his surprise, it vanished inside without any resistance.

Nightmare immediately let out a frustrated growl. 'Why put them in there? If that thing lets us move them around, put them in my teardrop necklace instead! I'll absorb them right away to get stronger.'

"And have you spent the rest of the battle absorbing them instead of fighting by our side?" Seth retorted. "That'd be absurd."

'I'd be quick this time,' the direwolf argued. 'I didn't know how to do it the first time.'

Seth rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. That doesn't sound like bullshit."

Nightmare huffed but didn't push further. He knew Seth was right.

Seth knelt, retrieved the Seed Extractor, and slipped it back into his pouch before moving on to Morsh's armor, stripping the corpse of its gear with his one uninjured arm.

Every unintentional shift of his left shoulder sent a jagged jolt of pain through his body, causing him to grit his teeth. He stowed all the gear away in his Endless Pouch except for the concealment ring, which he slipped onto one of his fingers, and the Unshackled Bracelet. He briefly removed his combat gauntlet to slide the artifact onto his wrist before securing the leather straps once more.

Once he'd finished, Seth pushed himself upright with a pained grunt and looked down at Morsh's corpse.

Even as a Rogue, the assassin had endured an absurd amount of attacks and injuries before finally going down. The resilience wasn't normal. There had to be some logical explanation for his ability to fight long past his limits. A rare subclass... or perhaps a Legacy?

Unfortunately, if it was the later, it would die with him. Seth had no idea how Legacies could be extracted. Odds were it required a specialized tool, much like the Seed Extractor for Seeds. One he didn't had.

What a waste.

With a quiet sigh, he turned toward his companions.

Lumi was still flying in slow circles around Colossus, her small form glowing softly as she inspected every inch of the scorpion's shell. She lingered over each fracture, carefully mending what she could. Nightmare lay nearby, licking at wounds that had stopped bleeding but were far from healed.

Even though Lumi had boosted him in the heat of battle, she didn't seem inclined to help him now that the danger had passed. Without the urgency, her attention was entirely on Colossus.

Seth exhaled and pulled a long strip of sturdy cloth from his pouch. He bound his injured arm tightly against his chest, then secured it against his stomach to limit the pain. Jaw clenched, he reached for one of his Healing Potions inside his pouch.

He hadn't used a single one since the war had begun.

Priest healing was faster and stronger; potions were only meant to be used when there wasn't an actual healer in an adventurer's party. Still, Seth eyed the vial filled with the shimmering red liquid. Maybe it would do a better job on the internal damage than Lumi's spell would. If he couldn't fix the shoulder right away, he'd be out of the fight for days.

And that would be terrible news for his squad.

Seth uncorked one of the vials and drank its contents in a single gulp. The liquid slid down his throat like cool silk, spreading a dull, numbing warmth through his chest. He tossed the empty glass aside, then looked back toward Lumi, who finally drifted over to Nightmare.

The otter cast a small burst of healing light into his wounds before snatching up the green beaststone at his feet and clutching the gem to her chest as though the exchange had been prearranged.

The moment Lumi began absorbing the crystal's aether, Seth recalled all three beasts into the teardrop necklace. He didn't waste a second and pulled out the Vanishing Pocket Watch from his pouch.

Any imperial soldiers nearby would be on high alert, and he had already shifted his shared bond from Illusionary Emptiness to Shadow Step during the fight with Morsh. The artifact would be his safety net.

Seth broke into a run and tore through the timber. His boots pounded against damp earth and stomped down roots as he pushed himself forward. Every snapping twig, every rustle of leaves around him made his head snap to the side, senses on high alert.

He maintained that grueling pace for nearly fifteen minutes to put some distance between himself and any nearby Empire's soldiers before finally slowing to a halt.

Leaning heavily against a moss-covered tree, Seth clenched his jaw and looked down at his bound arm. Even if the enemies advanced cautiously, they would reach the stronghold in less than half a day. If they abandoned that caution for whatever reason, they could be at the gates in under half an hour.

Things will get complicated if that happens, he thought with a sigh.

Seth pushed himself off the trunk, ready to move again, then abruptly stopped as his core flared. A surge of dread shot down his spine like lightning, and he spun around, raising his right arm to intercept an incoming strike.

Nothing came.

The Spirit stood a few feet away from him, and its empty eyes were locked onto him.