Lith would have liked to ignore him, but Morok and Quylla were the only ones capable of helping him to defeat the Golems. On top of that, he had no idea how many constructs were left, so he needed all the support he could get.

After handing to his fellow Ranger something rich in calcium and proteins to compensate for the amputation, Lith used normal tier four light magic to complete the regeneration process of Morok"s missing toes.

Now both Rangers were beat and in dire need of rest.

"How long do you think we have?" Phloria asked.

"Hard to say." Ellkas replied. "Depends on how smart the Golems are and if there really is someone guiding them. We have destroyed all the surveillance items on the way to the living quarters, so they might search the entire corridor.

"Best case scenario, we have a few minutes, so shut up and rest."

Lith had to agree, their situation was beyond dire. The only way he had to increase their chances of survival was to use Invigoration on all of those present, but that meant turning any doubt they might have into certainty and being forced to kill them all later.

Both he and Solus racked their brains while taking deep breaths to absorb as much world energy they could without resorting to Invigoration.

"Minutes? Then why the heck did you have me create such a huge array?" Neshal said. Her breath was ragged and her hands trembled so much that it was hard for her even placing the mana crystals necessary to fuel the Earth Blocking formation.

"Because otherwise we would have only a few seconds of respite and because the larger the array, the further the Golems have to stay from us." Ellkas helped her to sit down on the floor and gave her some food.

Neshal took just a few bites before losing consciousness. She was way past her sixties and using so much mana in less than five minutes took a great toll on her stamina.

"How can you be so calm and why do you seem to be the less tired among us?" Gaakhu asked Yondra.

"Those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds took Rainer, but getting angry will not help me to save him." Yondra was sitting cross-legged, in a meditative state to calm her mind and regain her mental focus faster.

"The Golems took the a.s.sistants alive whereas they tried to kill us old fogeys, so I guess they want young bodies. I doubt the Odi will start the procedure before catching the Captain, the Rangers, and Quylla.

"Rayner will be fine as long as I stop the Odi from capturing them. As for my youthfulness, unlike you, I"m not so dumb to make an enemy of a rejuvenator. On the contrary, I sought both his services and friends.h.i.+p." Yondra explained.

"How can you be so sure that we"re dealing with the Odi?" Ellkas asked, inwardly cursing himself for not thinking about getting rejuvenated as soon as they had opened Kulah"s doors.

Ellkas knew about Lith"s status, but he took pride in his well-preserved physique. Asking to be rejuvenated meant admitting he was getting old, and that was one big bullet to bite.

"First the elevator, then the flat card. We checked everything, there was no security measure that the Captain might have triggered. Also, Golems can"t change their protocols without a direct order." Yondra explained.

"What do you mean when you say that they need us for the procedure?" Phloria asked, doing her best to pretend to be tired. Her mind was a blur. Now too many things finally made sense, bringing her just a small leap of fantasy away from Lith"s secret.

"Silly child, you misunderstood my words. They don"t need you for the procedure, they need you to stop quarreling about who gets who." Yondra"s voice was calm, but her words were terrifying.

"I disagree." Morok said. "They were clearly trying to kill me."

"If that was the case, you would already be dead." Yondra sneered. "The Golem tried to make you faint, but you are too dumb to know when to give up and that saved you. As simple as that."

Morok bit his lower lip in frustration, swallowing his pride. There were many things he would have liked to do and say but he lacked the strength necessary. He could hear the Golems" stone feet hitting the metal floor in the distance.

"Do any of you has something I can use as a weapon?" Lith asked. Solus"s glove had too short a range to be useful. He looked at Morok"s hammers in envy, wis.h.i.+ng he still had the Gatekeeper.

A series of "No, I"m sorry" was the only answer he got. Lith tried to keep calm, but if the Odi were still alive, then the Golems were the least of his worries.

"Yet it doesn"t make sense." He thought. "If they achieved immortality with Life Merging, how did they lose the war? If they didn"t, how the heck are they still alive?"

Solus was trying to solve that conundrum as well, but she had no answer to offer him.

"Quylla, what kind of weapon can a Mana Reactor be?" Lith had no time to lose. He could hear at least a Golem getting close.

"Why do you think it"s a weapon?" Quylla already felt ashamed for thinking that the Odi had considered turning themselves into Golems. Her crazy theory had turned out to be just foolish. Those things weren"t eternal life, more like eternal agony.

"Because I think we have misunderstood this place from the beginning. This isn"t a medical facility, but a military facility to develop new weapons for winning the war against the "lesser races"." Lith replied.

"They are all based on life force and you are the best Healer I know after Manohar. Think about it. How would you weaponize a hypothetical endless supply of energy with light magic?" He stood up, the Golem was almost at the fringes of the array.

Life Vision confirmed what his enhanced senses already told him.

"I expect you to have an answer for me when I get back. I"m going to buy us some time." Lith walked toward the corridor leading to the living quarters.

The Professors looked at him as if he was a mad man, Morok with an odd savage grin of camaraderie, while Quylla tried to stand up before Phloria stopped her. No one said a word or tried to stop him.

Crazy or not, they were in desperate need of rest.

"Sit down, sis. We are both tired." Phloria was still pale, but her voice was stern and her eyes as hard as steel.

Quylla was about to rebuke that she felt perfectly fine and that she wouldn"t let Lith fight that battle alone. And that was the moment she understood her sister"s words.

She wasn"t supposed to be fine, at all. In her experience, after sustaining such severe injuries and using so many tier five spells, she was supposed to be barely conscious, yet she was overflowing with energy.

Quylla became pale as well, her knees buckled from the shock. As she sat down again, the Professors thought that her previous outburst was just because of an adrenaline rush.

In their eyes, there was nothing special in Lith"s healing. Not now that both women were sweating bullets, incapable even of standing up.

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