Chapter 178: A Divine Touch [8] (2/2)

But why engineer a cave-in? Why not occupy the tunnels and press forward, begin the siege of Myria in earnest? After this victory, what were the yaomo waiting for? Unless they didn't intend to take the city. Ju Feng considered the yaomo's strategy. So far, they'd struck at Myria in a series of small-scale engagements, harrying the dwarves and dwindling their numbers, never committing too large a force to any single attack. What if it was all a ruse to distract from their true objective?

Gallazza and the Arcane Script Sphere. King Laggarma was right. Somehow, they were the key, important enough that the yaomo sent their warlocks with a sacrificial army. And the whole dwarf group fell right into their trap without knowing better.

Fury brought renewed energy to Ju Feng's body. If he could use his full power here, he would have dealt a great damage to the yaomo forces. But this strange blood world wouldn't allow that. He had to get out of here, get back to Myria—and Chang Chang. First, he had to free himself. Luckily, whatever had crushed his arm initially wasn't what pinned it now. Wedged between two large boulders, his arm had healed enough from the herbs that he could move it with very little pain. He worked it carefully free from the stones' grip, tearing the sleeve of his robe and earning a dozen smaller cuts and bruises in the process.

When he was free, he sat up. Magical lights had kindled at various points around the cavern, and Ruen could begin to see the shadowy remnants of the Cavern of Forgotten Souls. Bodies lay everywhere, though there was very little left of those corpses that had been closest to the entranced yaoguai.

”Abron.”

Ju Feng spoke the name in a hoarse whisper. The runecaster had been near him when the blasts started. Ju Feng looked around but saw no sign of him. He got gingerly to his feet and moved through the dark cavern, keeping his eyes on the ground. Every few feet, he encountered a body. He knelt next to the still forms and felt for a heartbeat. None that he touched were alive. Grateful for the wavering darkness so he would not have to see the full extent of the mutilation inflicted on the dwarves, unless he switched to his spiritual sight which he wasn't inclined to do.

Ju Feng kept moving, searching for Abron. He worked his way to a wall, leaning against a pile of rubble. The medicinal herbs had mended his arm and taken away the greater share of the pain, but he was still exhausted from the fighting, the squinting and creeping in the dark, and the stench of death that blanketed the cavern.

He reached into his spatial sac and threw a piece of turtle meat into his mouth. He continued moving slowly. His leg bumped against a solid object. Ju Feng heard a soft moan then the hiss of a weapon cutting the air as a dark shape lunged at him. Ju Feng threw his hands out blindly—better to lose his fingers than his head—and got lucky. He caught a wooden axe handle, but the weight of the blow knocked him several feet backwards.

Flashing eyes and a dirty brown beard filled his vision. Ju Feng didn't recognize the dwarf at first, but the axe blade had three familiar yellow horns jutting off it.

”Obarn, It's me—Ju Feng.”

It took Obarn a long time to recognize him. Ju Feng's arms ached from holding back the axe, but finally the dwarf eased back. Ju Feng expected a stream of curses in Dwarvish to follow, but Obrin did the last thing he ever expected.

He burst into tears.

Ju Feng caught the dwarf at the shoulders before he fell. It was as if he'd used the last shreds of his strength for the blow with his axe. He sobbed quietly, barely making a sound, but his shoulders trembled violently under Ju Feng's hands. Looking over his shoulder, in the dim light, Ju Feng saw the reason for Orban's tears.

Abron lay on the ground, his face swollen with bruises and gashes that made him almost unrecognizable. Ju Feng wouldn't have known him if not for the runes still faintly visible under the dirt and blood. A pile of rubble buried the right side of his body. Ju Feng was convinced the runecaster was dead, but when he guided Orban to sit next to the body, he saw Abron's chest rising and falling.

”He's alive. Orban, your father lives.”