Eritance - Chapter 50

It took some time for me to find the passage that I was looking for. I constantly had to be on the alert for drow patrols, as well as magical traps that might have been set for intruders. So far, I had killed three more drow as I explored the castle interior.

Things were starting to get into a crunch for me. I’m sure that any moment they would notice an intruder was here and it would be that much harder to successfully complete the mission. I hurriedly continued exploring the different passage ways until finally, I found one that led to the underground area.

Taking the stairs downward I found that it did indeed lead to a dungeon. However, the problem was that as I searched, I found that all the cells were empty. In fact, there weren’t any guards to speak of down here. I was beginning to think that they must have confined Orkin to one of the upper rooms, when I saw a figure collapsed in the corner of the last cell at the end of the dungeon.

I couldn’t quite see the figure, as their body was turned towards the wall. The appeared to be sleeping with their feet shackled to the wall. I could tell that this person was human though, it had to be Orkin.

“Don’t say anything. I’m here to rescue you” I brusquely said. With that I began to work on getting the cell door open. I didn’t see any kind of keys or an area around that might house the keys, so I would have to try to break the bars with brute force.

The only problem was that the bars were extremely tough in this dungeon. I had originally thought that the bars were only made of iron, so it wouldn’t’ have been a problem to bend them with my bare hands. However, try as I might, I was unable to bend the bars with my brute strength alone.

The cell must have been reinforced through magic. The magic must have been powerful at that. I was beginning to wonder how important this Orkin fellow must have been. Normally, you would expect that a merchant would be locked away in a normal cell, but not one that was strong enough to resist powerful beings. It didn’t make any sense. I would have to get to the bottom of who this Orkin really was. I didn’t believe that he could be a simple merchant any longer, not after seeing the cell that he was placed in.

Unfortunately for me, I hadn’t learned any spells that would help me with picking a lock. After getting through this mission, I would have to find a class that would teach me these types of skills. I had to weigh my option carefully now.

I could try to hit it with a focus punch, but I wasn’t sure if that would work. It would double the strength of my hit, but it might not break the bars. On the other hand, it would probably make a loud noise. If I made any loud noises the drow elves would probably discover me. So, I couldn’t very well do focus punch.

There was also focus blast, but it had its drawbacks too. It probably wouldn’t make as much noise, but it would also more than likely kill Orkin. I would have to blast the whole cell, there was no way a normal human could survive my focus blast.

There was only one option I had left that could possibly remedy the situation. Over the past few months I had trained myself to control my relic power much better. I made a discovery on my own. I found that, if I applied the principles of focus blast to maintaining energy outside my body, it was possible to create an energy aura around my body or my equipment.

In this case, I had been practicing enhancing the strength of my sword by apply finely controlled energy to the blade. This would increase the sharpness of the blade immeasurably and also make it much more durable.

If it was this, I could probably slice through the bars without making a lot of noise. On the other hand, it wouldn’t kill Orkin. So, this was really the only option that I had at my disposal. However, like focus blast, it was very taxing on my stamina.

I had made a lot of progress when it came to control of my power as well as increasing my stamina a lot. However, I still hadn’t found the best method of doing so, so that I would be able to use it as a normal attack like I could focus punch.

I decided that it would be okay though because it shouldn’t take that long to get through the bars. After which, I could rescue Orkin and move him to safety. Although, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t brought any way of transporting Orkin. This would be rather irksome, but at the very least I could probably tie some rope to one of the doors and use it as a sled. He could then sit on the sled and I could pull it.

In this way, we would be able to move much more quickly than if he were moving on his own. It wasn’t ideal, but it would get the job done. Next time I would have to remember to bring a horse or something with me so that I wouldn’t have to become the horse in the future.

With that thought in mind, I began to focus my energy. I needed to maintain absolute focus and gently guide the energy onto the blade. If I went to quickly, I could easily overload the blade and cause it to shatter. That would not be good for either of us.

Slowly, I guided the energy out of my body and enveloped the blade with my aura. This aura greatly strengthened it. I hope this works!