Eri clicked his jaw, swinging his greatsword at the critter ahead.

  It continued trying to be stubborn, looking to slip past him in order to go after the tasty demonic morsal making a retreat.

  Not if Eri had anything to say about it.

  He clicked his jaws a few more times, chuckling at his own joke.

  Say about it. Hah. He could joke himself dead.

  And speaking of dead things, this thing would soon join him if it kept trying to get past his guard in the stupid way beasts did.

  He gave it a slight pass, and it in fact, did exactly as he thought it would have and tried to race ahead.

  The Nathir greatsword slapped down hard into the exoskeleton, right on top of the head, and the beast recoiled as parts of the chitin cracked deeply.

  This was the point the monster decided it wasn't worth it to keep chasing after Bael, because the skeleton standing here was way too annoying to deal with.

  The monster promptly turned and left, leaving Eri all alone in the clearing.

  Good. Eri nodded his skull, sheathed his greatsword back on his back, and went to work for task number two that his crazy boss asked for.

  Was it a pain to be digging through all this blackrot for a bug?

  Well, yes, but no. Catching bugs had been one way slaves in his time got extra food in, so to him it was more like farming. He was well versed at it, and squashing bugs over in this 'hell' region had been a lot of fun. Like playing with his food almost.

  Plus they glowed a certain color that he could sense after a while of getting used to their presence, so finding them was easy enough.

  He dropped his backpack, shuffled through the contents to find a nice shirt, tied it up into another good sack, and then went digging through the translocated dirt transported by the group here.

  That man attacking them earlier, speaking in Nathir.

  It clearly was not the Leon that Eri had gotten to know back on Wade's amazing Earth.

  His Leon was rather nice, jovial, good company to hang out and equally enjoyed music.

  This Leon came in speaking words that all slaves loathed. Like a Kneebender would.

  Big difference.

  Eri was going to enjoy hunting that one down whenever he showed up again.

  The Nathir were dead and gone, and the only regrets Eri had about it was that he wasn't responsible for it himself.

  He scooped dirt off in large wet chunks, scanning through for a worm glowing black with a thin white outline.

  Halfway through his search, there was a scuffle outside, and he saw a pack of smaller four legged animals all race together. Running after something or relocating. They saw him in the dirt, and gave him a wide berth.

  Much more polite compared to that giant centipede thing. Eri decided he would be merciful to the wildlife here and not go hunt them down for sport.

  But he did spend some time staring at how they appeared as they skirted by. Such strange life forms.

  Such a weird realm too. Bones and bits of flesh growing like mold everywhere. All filled with enough mana he sensed his own bones regenerate any amount of mana he used.

  He felt basically indestructible here.

  And soon he was done with his task, catching the sight of a small glowing bit of worm just under the dirt. Already trying to scrabble its way back inside.

  He scooped the entire thing up, and into the makeshift sack. Dirt and all. Then tied it up, lobbed it into his backpack, put that back on his shoulders and patted his skeletal hands clean.

  Yep. Mission accomplished. Now to go after Wade and the others.

  He turned his skull, looking for what the demon had told him to keep an eye for. The glowing mana markers Miss Medy would have left behind.

  He quite liked her. She had the same kind of appreciation for the world that he did. Hopefully Wade could bring her back to Earth. He hadn't been there for long, having a travel buddy to see the sights with together for the first time appealed to him.

  Bael too, but that one likely didn't have any costumes he could wear to slip by attention.

  Who knows. His boss was rather crafty in coming up with ideas.

  He got jogging, then sprinting forward, feeling the lack of any kind of restriction on him. No growing tired, no feeling like his lungs were heaving. Not even the weight behind him was at all a bother.

  Sure he couldn't eat, smell or a few other nice-to-have's from living, but nothing some good free magic spells couldn't fix up with enough imagination.

  Admittedly, he did take a somewhat scenic trip following after Medy and Bael's trail. The world here was wild. And unfortunately for Wade, very dangerous.

  But not for Eri. He splashed through pools, got to watch the small microecology move around in the glowing shorelines of these rivers, feel the squishy meat-thing under his boots and later in his hands as he scaled through up and down the terrain.

  What wildlife. What life in general. Wade could take pictures of things with his flat screen machine. Maybe Eri could get one of his own to take photos of nature like this?

  He'd love to document everything. There was such vibrant colors here. So many glowing shades of blue, and the creatures here looking almost vivid violet and grey made an excellent contrast.

  His boss owed him backpay anyhow. Eri clicked his jaw, idea firm in his head. He was going to get… a camera. That's the word. He felt the blessing of language filter in the idea all at once.

  And the vague concept that there were hundreds of different cameras out there.

  Wonderful. Divine. Excellent.

  Eri had a spring in his step, passing by the larger wildlife. A few looked to be drawn to him, almost unnaturally so. There wasn't curiosity in their eyes, but rather something else.

  They all got a hold of their senses the moment they realized the moving target they were drawn to wasn't at all living or worth hunting.

  It seemed there were some limits to whatever Wade had said they were inflicted with. A lure trap of some kind.

  Eri continued after the group, taking turns and divots, following behind at each glowing signpost left by Medy.

  Until he heard sounds of fighting.

  Up ahead the tunnels, he caught sight of the ruckus and unhooked his greatsword once more.

  Bael. The less-fun demon. He was currently fighting off another serpent like monster, and had attracted another enemy. A smaller beetle-like monster that was nipping at heels basically. Looking to take potshots at both targets.

  It was the underdog in this, and was hoping both sides got too tired to pose a threat. A scavenger.

  Eri raced behind the creature, casting free magic on his boots to silence his path forward.

  With all the stealth and sound of a falling feather, Eri sliced straight through the thing's head with one mana-empowered impact swing. It instantly died, the blade breaking right through the exoskeleton shell, into the head and out the mandible jaws under.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  He then turned his attention to the larger serpent, stabbing his blade into one of the segments, then diving away from a screeching jaw snapping shut right where he'd been.

  All good fun, he'd stared down Nathir golems before, this was a cakewalk in comparison.

  "Skeleton." The demon ahead breathed out. He was certainly being cautious on the other hand.

  Eri clicked his jaw, pointing past the tunnel, asking about his boss.

  "We found the Coffin, yes." The demon said, sword still aimed at the monster there. "That man came, he is a skilled fighter, beware."

  Eri turned and raced off. He'd heard all he needed to. That man was his kill.

  Bael grunted, "Fine, I'll hold the monster here at bay, be fleet of foot."

  Maybe he wasn't as fun as Medy was, but Eri could respect that the demon knew who was the priority to protect.

  He empowered his sprint faster. Racing down the tunnel until he entered a much larger antechamber. It was practically illuminated by a massive lake by the center, over which a bridge suspended by metal chains was waiting.

  He could see past it was the base they'd been searching for. And frantically moving around, grabbing equipment and looking for something, was Medy.

  Without a second to waste, Eri jumped over the bridge and sprinted across the glowing lake, over to the other side.

  He landed on the metal docks with a heavy clang, and Medy whipped around.

  Her face shifted from panic to relief, then back to panic.

  "Eri!" She jabbed a finger toward the glowing lake behind him. "Down there! Wade sank in there with that other guy who attacked us! He's still alive, somehow! I don't know how, but I can still see him moving down there!" Her hands shook as she tried pointing wildly. "I looked from the bridge, you can see down through the liquid mana if you focus. And he's moving down there."

  Eri clicked his jaws, moving back a few feet, back onto the bridge and looking down into the glowing lake just under.

  Way below, all the way off the edge of the underwater cliff, he could see a tiny figure struggling to climb up. There weren't any crystals to really grab hold of, Wade was quite literally drilling holes with magic each time he slapped his hands on the bone.

  He moved strangely, almost jerking motions, his legs were dangling under him, and Eri realized there was a glint of metal sticking through his gut.

  As in a sword.

  Which was probably cutting him up each time he moved up.

  "I don't know how he's still alive down there, the pressure alone would crush me, and he's been down there for like, ten minutes now. He should have drowned down there, but he's-" She cut herself off, turning back to a large mechanical contraption built into the pier.

  An observation crane of some kind. Eri had no idea, but he saw it was a bunch of metal chains all holing up a glass jail cell, with metal bars. Reminded him of a Nathir slave exhibition cell. They'd leave slaves dangling up there on market, so that the Nathir clients passing by could inspect the goods in person.

  He instinctively disliked the cell, though he could tell it probably wasn't made to jail someone. The chains looked like they would drop someone down to the abyss below.

  He turned his skull to her, the question unworded.

  "I can't swim down there myself. But if I can take the lift far enough, I might be able to cast free magic walls and help push him up bit by bit." Medy yanked on a lever that refused to budge. "I just never got to use one of these things before, I can't tell how it's supposed to work!"

  Ah. Well, he had a solution to this.

  Eri walked back off the bridge, set down the backpack, and then gave her a quick warning look.

  Keep an eye on the bag please. Don't open it. Bad bug inside.

  Satisfied, he dug out two of Wade's Earth-daggers. Bought from the local sports store. Then grabbed anything heavy and tied it on his belt, all while ripping off his already half-destroyed earth snow jacket. He needed the liquid to pass through his bones, not turn himself into an underwater parachute.

  Satisfied with the preparations, he turned, and raced off back to the bridge.

  It had no railing, just being a flat piece of wooden planks bolted together, held up by four chains. So jumping off into the abyss was child's play for him.

  He fell forward, spread out like a viking, daggers held underside, and belly flopped into the liquid mana.

  And then sank like a rock. Straight down.

  The weight he'd attached on his belt worked great, he could see through the lake as he rapidly descended.

  It didn't hurt. If anything, it felt right. Like he'd jumped into a warm bath. He could feel the mana dig into his bones, revitalize his body and heal the few bits of damage back to full.

  Wade wasn't as lucky. And as Eri got closer, he could see his boss was in rough shape. Very rough shape.

  If he managed to get him out of this one, Eri was going to demand that camera. A good one.

  He held his decent angle, feet first, keeping himself close to the underwater cliff, until he was right in range.

  Wade's movements were sluggish, jerking. Very wrong. Like strings were attached to the basic joints on his body, and something was puppeteering his body instead.

  Was he possessed?

  His boss turned his head up, saw Eri, and his eyes widened in recognition.

  Not possessed then. Else Wade would have been trying to warn him or something.

  Eri didn't waste time with questions. He released the belt weight, stabbed a hold for himself with one dagger, immediately arresting his fall, then swung into the cliff. Next he grabbed his boss and yanked him over to his back. That done, he went to work, scaling straight up like an insect up a wall.

  He didn't just climb up using his own strength. There was tons of mana everywhere, so he pushed the power into his bones and forced his new body to make full use of it.

  Wade's body spasmed against his spine, but Eri held firm.

  Almost there. He was almost going the same speed as a steady jog, his daggers stabbing without pause. Leaving only a trail of floating bone shards and punctured holes behind where he climbed.

  And then he was free, the cliff turning into a very smooth slope that he could stand back up on his feet. Turning into a very shallow puddle-deep bit of water.

  Bael was halfway over the bridge, sliding to a stop to stare backwards as Eri emerged carrying Wade.

  "Is he still alive?!" The demon called out.

  Eri didn't bother answer, he had work to do. And soon he was rushing over the bridge, directly at Bael.

  The demon knew better than to just stand there in the way, equally turning and running the rest of the way.

  "We're through, start lowering the bridge!" He called out, taking one mana-empowered leap off, back onto the docks. Eri followed suit, feet hitting the docks right after Bael, as the bridge behind started falling down fast into the water again, splashed hard on the surface, chains bunching up on the four ends as they fell faster than the bridge did, until the bridge properly began to sink under the lake and the chains grew mildly taut following behind the decent.

  On the other side, a giant serpent skittered over, then hissed at the distant food.

  No creatures survived in liquid mana. They knew better than to make the attempt.

  "Get… inside." Wade coughed out over Eri's shoulders, blue glowing liquid getting coughed out. "Safe.... spot. Bed."

  That extraction thing. Eri could understand.

  What he had no idea about, was how to even get into that base.

  But Medy and Bael sure did. They were already at the feet of this thing, climbing up a few metal railings before pulling at a metal-wood looking doorway.

  It opened weird. Like a suction cup unpressing itself from the base, before swinging over extended hinges.

  "Is it… safe?" Wade wheezed, coughing out the rest of the liquid mana. Clearing his throat and lungs fully.

  "It's made to last." Bael said, opening the doorway the rest of the way, "If it hasn't imploded, it's still working."

  Medy zipped inside, then came back outside. "He can't come with us." She said, eyes wide, pointing right at… him.

  Eri tapped his chest in question.

  Bael held a hand out for Wade. "There's mithil chains and netting inside the second airlock. It acts as a filter for mana, converts it into heat."

  Eri considered. He had clothing, he could probably put on something thick enough to be able to pass by.

  Could he do that in time however?

  He looked behind him at Wade. Then promptly pulled him off his back and handed him wordlessly to the larger demon ahead, before taking two steps back off the railing.

  He could hang out here. Not like this world was dangerous to him. And he already knew he'd be yanked back with Wade anyhow soon enough.

  Bael grabbed the half-lucid human, taking on the mantle.

  Then turned, and raced into the airlock, following behind Medy. With both of them inside the first section of the coffin, he sealed it back shut.

  The outside mana would no longer flow inside this chamber. "Outer door locked, safe to open inner door." He called out, following the old protocols he remembered having to do from a lifetime ago. Opening both airlock doorways at the same time was just asking to break everything inside the diving bell.

  In one moment, the entire area lit back up to life, awake again with people as Medy forced a burst of mana through the metal wires that fed into runes for light.

  She then opened up the second airlock door ahead. And beyond were large draping nets of mithril. Larger chains of it at the start, slowly turning into finer and finer links that were further off into the rear of the chamber.

  They walked through and sealed the second door shut behind them, leaving themselves within the mithril filled chamber, alone with Wade. The rest was simple from here - they walked through the chains, the metal rustling over them. Equally they both took control of the mana within their bodies and flushed it out into the world, where the mithril would absorb it.

  It was an older technique, but also way easier to maintain. If any of these chains melted off, all that had to be done was to bring another chain and hang it off the hook where the prior one failed.

  Already they could see the mana in the chamber was getting sucked into the larger chains first, which had far more capacity. Those began to radiate heat outwards, converting the excess mana, but didn't glow red in the slightest. Not even close to their failure point.

  By the time they were moving past the thinner mithril netting on the other end of the airlock, the air had been mostly completely filtered of mana. They were safe.

  The final airlock remained, and Medy wordlessly opened it up, the pair entering the Coffin proper.

  There wasn't any sign of life inside. Only dust everywhere, and clearly rotten out bunk bedding. The entire place stank of decay, long gone.

  "Bed." Wade wheezed.

  Medy and Bael obliged, putting him gently down on the nearest bunk, one grabbing a metal case of first aid bandages, opening it up.

  Mana had been used to completely eradicate anything living inside, before it was brought back into the coffin, but when Bael opened it up, he saw the cloth within had rotted away, turning into dust.

  So instead he took his blade and cut off a piece of his own borrowed cloth, to pack the wound in.

  Pressure had to be put into that, but when he turned, Wade was holding a hand out instead. "Don't.. bother. It's f-fine. Pull sword."

  Bael nodded, looking over to Medy who equally looked confused.

  They both knelt by the dying mortal. Even safe as they were here inside the Coffin, they had all been exposed to far too much mana. They'd die soon after him regardless.

  Bael grabbed the blade and pulled it out of the man's gut in one smooth motion, putting it off to the side. The poor mortal was already in such shape he hardly felt the slice. Blood freely flowed off the bedside from the wound.

  "H-hand." Wade called out, almostly blindly trying to grope the air with shivering hands.

  Medy grabbed one with gentle care.

  Bael knelt down and equally grabbed Wade's other hand.

  "Mortal. It has been a strange journey. If this is where it ends, I have no reg-"

  His words were cut out.

  Because everything changed, all at once.