Master Of None

Walker felt that all the air had just been taken out of him, he looked at the chaos as dwarves rushed to check their loved ones along with those that ran to search for their precious materials. Many of those who had run had left behind their life's work or the things they had spent their life mining for while others had been separated from family. 

"Think you can walk to meet the king of the deep caves? He seems pretty hard headed compared to the other two, but their attitude just seems like it's that way." Gil hoisted Walker up to a proper standing position and threw an arm around his shoulder to stabilize him. 

"If I can catch my breath then I should be fine. It seems like I keep using mana faster than I can get it." Walker shook his head and steadied his feet. Midnight was looking at him with worry since she felt that he was on the verge of collapse. 

Gil whispered close to Walker's ear, "You could have tried that demon title skill you got, right?" He wasn't sure if this was something that Walker would have wanted to be said out loud. 

"No, it would have left me with a single mana. I do wish I could have used swords and stuff though. The I have a lot of skills lately for dual wielded swords, and the slash zone would have made quick work of them." Walker shook his head because he was annoyed that he had been so limited. 

"But you could use your new lava magic. It looks like they won't mind if you go around making some dangerous pits of fire and molten rock." Gil was trying to keep things on the bright side since he knew that Walker was kicking himself. The interaction with the king had put Walker off his game.

"You're right, I should be able to use those skills. If we encounter a larger slime the lava fissure is able to swallow it whole and then I can make lava lances to take down the others. I should have used the lava as soon as I came down but I was worried about others around me even though I could control it. Gil, I have a lot to work on." Walker was solemn as he thought about the way he had fought. 

"We all do, but that means we have a lot more strength just waiting to be shown off." Midnight huffed along with Gil as Walker stepped forward and let Gils' arm fall off him. He breathed slowly and stood taller. He knew that worrying over how the battle went would just waste time. He had the third king of the dwarves to meet. 

Gil watched Walker take a stronger stance and was glad to see that he had managed to shake him out of his own head. Gil knew that Walker often got caught up this way and had long adapted to situations like this, but it was still worrying to see just how much it affected him. 

Walker became more composed with every step until he came through the opening of the largest stone processing building. There were many work tables and tools used to identify ore quality and examine other things found while mining. The long machine that was attached to the roof appeared to be able to take the dirt from inside and out behind the building. 

"Walker! Over here." Remey yelled for them to come over to where she was standing with the king of the deep caves. "I was able to get in here and force this guy to let me near their water storage area. They have a ton of water for when the machines get too hot so I just dropped a barrel of my basic potion in it and told them to spray it at the slimes."

"Yeah whatever you say girl. Whatever you put in the water worked so I will let you stick around. If you want a job you can have it. So, what else are you here with troops for? Did that people pleaser finally decide to help out? Isn't he afraid he will lose all his golems and that surface dweller won't give him more to play with?" 

The king of the deep caves appeared to be the most hard headed and blunt of all the kings. "The surface hunting the slimes and dealing with the steel skinned worms forced there due to the slimes. The king of the middle was able to take back the merchant district with our help and we will be able to take back the caves as well. That is why he sent golems." Walker summed things up as best as he could since the kings all seemed to prefer short and sweet. 

"Good, then go do that. I would say it will take fifty to sixty years to get to every inch of known caves. Then another two or three for all of the discovered and mapped natural caves. And then for those, we don't know maybe a hundred or two hundred. Then you can move to those that connect to the surface and everywhere else." 

The sarcasm that was in the king of the deeps voice was easily the strongest Walker had ever encountered. The sarcasm Remey had used was nothing in comparison. "Well, we did bring you a basic potion that our alchemical brawler made to help you with the slimes. If you just want to deal with them yourselves we can let the golems get eaten along with all your ores so they go to waste. I am sure that is for the better." Walker was plain and blunt looking at the king.

"Huh, you do have some back bone then. Good, a weak hero is a useless hero. We can't flood the entire cave with water mixed with your potion. Tell me a better plan." The king flipped the script and began speaking as an equal to Walker instantly. It appeared that his harsh words were only to test him.

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