Julius had completely run out of mana. He was only able to float around and watch as his friends battled against the large plant monster. After the long exhausting fight they had finally brought it down.
Voice-"You made an incredibly brash decision"
Julius-"Because I'm out of mana?"
Voice-"You are in a vulnerable position where you are unable to use any magic to defend yourself. And with your tiny form you're completely helpless"
Julius-"Wow, vulnerable, unable to defend myself, and completely helpless. Bit redundant don't you think?"
Voice-"I'm simply hammering in the point"
Julius-"Well I needed to make sure my friends would survive, and I needed to use every last bit of my mana to do so"
Voice-"You could have just made one robogolem instead of two, or no robogolems at all"
Julius-"You saw how they were just barely able to win. I couldn't hold back at all"
Voice-"It's not worth putting yourself in jeopardy. I'm placing a restriction on you to only be able to use up to 90% at a time"
Julius-"You can do that?"
Voice-"My purpose is to allow you to reach your full potential. And you can't do that if you get yourself killed"
Julius-"If I can't use my mana to fight it then what would be the point of having that mana left over"
Voice-"You can use it to flee. Most beings in this world can't fly away at light speed"
Julius-"I wouldn't run away if my friends were in danger"
Voice-"Your companions are not my priority"
Julius-"Well they are my priority"
Voice-"They would have died already without you. They are holding you back"
Julius-"Well they took down the monster which I couldn't do on my own. I'm just glad they're okay"
Voice-"The monster's soul was separated from it's body and was then absorbed by Damion"
Julius-"Seemed to be the only way they could beat it. Maybe Marigold could have purified it if she had enough time"
Voice-"Damion had to promise before to not use his dark magic to absorb souls"
Julius-"That's for people, using it on a monster like that should be fine, I think"
Voice-"It was a human soul"
Julius-"What are you talking about. Are you saying that thing was a human?"
Voice-"It used to be a human, at some point it transformed its physical form into that monster but its soul remained human"
Julius-"Do you know if the human intentionally turned themselves into a monster or were they turned into a monster by somebody else?"
Voice-"I am unable to determine that"
Julius-"Come to think of it, Damion was shouting at the monster about someone. I thought maybe he knew someone that the monster killed but what if he was talking to the monster itself. Who did he call the monster again?"
Voice-"During the battle, Damion repeatedly said the name 'Desmond'. This name is identical to his-"
Julius-"His brother. Do you think that Damion's brother somehow turned into that monster? What are the odds of that?"
Voice-"Based on our current knowledge of Damion's past. We can infer that Desmond was also a curseborn. The odds of people with dark magic transforming into monsters like the one we battled is higher than the odds of a normal person turning into one"
Julius-"I guess that makes sense. People turning into monsters sounds like a dark magic kind of thing"
Voice-"However there is a bigger problem"
Julius-"What is it?"
Voice-"When one curseborn absorbs the soul of another curseborn. It caused the curseborn to advance to a demi-lich"
Julius-"A demi-lich? Does that mean Damion is going to turn into a monster!?"
Voice-"No advancing to the demi-lich stage results in minimal physical changes. You'll notice that part of Damion's hair has turned white"
Julius continues floating around in the air, he hovers towards Damion who is asleep on the ground.
Julius-"You're right, part of his hair did turn white. I hadn't noticed that before. So if he doesn't turn into a monster, what happens if he becomes a demi-lich?"
Voice-"Turning into a demi-lich means that he will gain a considerable boost to his magic power"
Julius-"So like when the rest of the team got our skill's evolved?"
Voice-"Yes, however in addition to their spells becoming stronger his base amount of mana will also be greatly increased"
Julius-"Well that sounds great"
Voice-"You're forgetting what Atlas told you. Dark magic corrupts a person's mind, meaning the more they have the harder it is to remain a good person. There is also a second problem, demi-liches are likely considered dangerous people and will likely be targeted for assassination"
Julius-"Well for the first problem, I can probably use my skills to undo any alteration to his mind. But for the second problem, I'm sure we can figure something out. It probably won't become a problem till later anyways"
Just then a golden beam struck through the ceiling and obliterated the remains of the monster. The adventurer Archimedes then floated down with his dragon wings.
Julius-"I must have some bad karma"
Voice-"This individual has a higher amount of mana than the monster you just fought"
Julius-"Slightly more right?"
Voice-"..."
Julius-"Slightly more... right?"
Voice-"No"
Julius-"Please let them be friendly"
Archimedes-"A guy with a magic bow, some guy with a broken sword, a girl with muscles... You guys are fellow adventurers I assume"
Julius-"Good he's an adventurer, that must be a good sign"
Voice-"Just because someone is an adventurer doesn't mean they have good intentions"
Julius-"Well with Atlas in charge I'm sure he would only pick good people for his higher ups"
Archimedes-"I'm here on Atlas's orders. He said a new upper A rank monster appeared. Was that thing it?"
Julius-"See, Atlas sent him here. He's got to be a good person if he works for Atlas directly"
Archimedes-"Well, seems I've found my monster. Ascended Holy skill: god's forge"
Julius-"What is he talking about? And an ascended skill?"
Julius watched Archimedes dash towards Damion, slash a piece off of Adam's sword, and then toss Adam away. Damion after having just recently woken up teleports out of the way from the attack.
Julius-"No! They can't fight this guy off, even with my boosts"
Archimedes-"I don't know what's up with you guys, but I'm just here to kill this thing"
Voice-"I told you Damion would become a problem. I didn't anticipate it would happen this quickly"
Joe tries to reason with the adventurer but is slapped. Elise shoots a laser beam at Archimedes but he slashes right through it. He then dashes towards her at blinding speed and punches her in the stomach.
Julius-"That's impossible, this guy is moving faster than light. Just having a bunch of raw power wouldn't allow someone to do that"
Voice-"He's likely using a skill similar to Atlas that allows them to counteract the laws of physics"
Julius-"So he's as strong as Atlas?"
Voice-"No, he is still considerably weaker than Atlas,. He is likely one of the lower ranking members of the S ranks"
Marigold-"That's Prince Archimedes!"
Joe-"As in the Prince of the dragonfolk? Isn't he an S rank hunter?"
Julius-"Prince Archimedes? Seems you were right about him being an S rank hunter. I need to stop him from killing Damion"
Voice-"You're still critically low on mana, even if you were at full power you still couldn't defeat him"
Julius-"I told you earlier, I can't just let my friends die. I just need to get Damion out of here"
Voice-"You don't even have enough mana for an attack spell"
Archimedes-"Ascended holy skill: time binding chains"
Archimedes creates multiple floating golden chains. He snaps his fingers and they surround everyone except for Julius and Damion. After shortly talking with Damion he trapped him inside the chains too.
Julius-"A time manipulating move?"
Voice-"It seems to have frozen everyone in time that got surrounded by it"
Archimedes-"I mean I'm definitely supposed to kill him right? That's like 99% what I gotta do. I feel like I'm forgetting another name though, what was it? Like Jules or something? Is that one of these guys?"
Julius-"Jules? He must be talking about me"
Voice-"It's possible"
Damion uses his dark magic to escape from the time binding chains.
Julius-"I have to help him, I have enough mana to talk and glow right"
Voice-"You can use your sound skill, I would advise not using your light skill so he won't know your exact location"
Julius-"Sound skill: voice amplification"
Julius-"Stop!"
Archimedes-"Who was that?"
Julius-"You need to stop attacking Damion"
Archimedes looks around and doesn't see anyone. He also doesn't sense Julius either due to him being low on mana.
Archimedes-"No seriously who is that?"
Julius-"I'm the person you were just talking about, Julius"
Archimedes-"Julius?"
Julius-"You thought my name was Jules"
Archimedes-"Ohhhhhh. Hey, so where are you?"
Julius-"I'm floating in front of you"
Archimedes-"So you're invisible?"
Julius-"No I'm just very small"
Archimedes-"No need to be rude"
Julius-"No, I'm actually very small, did Atlas not mention that to you"
Archimedes-"What? Of course he did"
Archimedes(in his head)-"Did he, what if this guy just said that to bait me into lying"
Archimedes-"If you're trying to make me look like a fool it won't work"
Julius(in his head)-"The Archimedes back in my world was a lot smarter than this one"
Julius-"Listen I can explain everything. Atlas is aware of Damion, and he put him under my care. So he definitely didn't send you here to kill him. If you were looking for a powerful monster to kill it was the big statue over there"
Archimedes-"How did this group take down an upper A rank monster?"
Julius-"I gave everyone a power boost with my support skills. I also created those two golems to help fight it that you destroyed with that spear. We wouldn't have been able to win if it wasn't for Marigold's holy magic that weakened it and Damion's dark magic that finished it off. It took every last drop of mana that I had"
Archimedes-"I suppose that makes sense"
Damion-"Everything Julius just said is true"
Julius-"Now can you please stop attacking us"
Archimedes-"I'm sorry but... I can't do that"
End of chapter 94