Headed by a Snake

Tycondrius glared at the Lone Shadowdark in disbelief, "Mister Lone, was that a question or a statement?"

Tycon was at a loss, trying to discern just where Lone had learned such a loathsome tactic. The Warrior had searched for loot inside of a corpse\'s anal cavity. Was it something Dragan had taught him? It sounded like something Dragan had taught him.

"I uh... it was a fact," Lone looked around for help. Lulu was still working on opening the Wizard\'s cabinet. Sasha was pretending to shoot arrows with her new shortbow, making tiny \'chuu\' noises. Wolfrider and Margeaux were absent, on account of being deceased.

Tycon crossed his arms, "Why... in the seven hells and eleven heavens did you think to root around a dead man\'s arse?"

"I dunno, Boss." Lone began to babble, defending his actions, "He seemed like the sneaky sort of guy. And... and sneaky sorts hide things in their butts!"

Lone\'s logic offended Tycon\'s senses... "Do you consider me... a sneaky person?"

"Well... you do wear a dark cloak all the time, Boss?"

Tycon grimaced. He looked at the Assassin\'s mundane cloak. It was similar in color and design to his own.

Still, he was not amused, "And does it look like I regularly shove items of import up my arse, Mister Lone?"

Lone cringed and began to babble meaningless excuses, which Tycon chose to ignore. Instead, he mentally commanded his System to analyze the ring... from a hygienic distance.

Tycon cut off the young man\'s blather, "--Spin the ring\'s face about a half-circle, if you would."

Barza Keith, the Lone Shadowdark, opened up the ring, revealing its contents: a folded piece of paper and a small capsule. The capsule was a lethal ingestible poison. The paper revealed a series of instructions, directing the death of a Wizard named Konstantin Dunzis.

As the 5th floor\'s corpses consisted of an Assassin, a maid, and a piece of garbage, Tycon induced that the man had failed his mission.

Konstantin Dunzis... The name sounded familiar.

Tycon looked at the man in the family-portrait. He looked familiar, too.

He felt a tug on his cloak. Sasha pointed to the side of a room where a large board, covered in chalk-scrawl had been hung.

Tycon decided to let go of the mystery of the Wizard\'s identity. He had more important things to deal with.

...

The large board that Sasha held interest in displayed a complex ritual, involving several dependent magic circles. The device itself was a flat wooden board covered by an alchemical substance, allowing script to be written in chalk which later could be erased with a damp cloth.

Reusable writing board. Technology was marvelous.

Tycon pointed at the runic lines, written in ancient Elven, "The complex formula on this board is part of a series meant to be inscribed around magic circles.

"This line channels and focuses specific energies. This one marks a dependency to the Central Circle... notably... this main line. Tell me why that is."

Sasha pursed her lips, thinking over Tycon\'s question.

Because of the young lady\'s Oracle Class, Tycon expected her to understand the rudimentary basics of the script. Even if she couldn\'t understand its meaning, the make-up of the magic circles and their various formations were inherent to all casting Classes.

"(The second Divine Circle does not sing without the Base Prayer,") Sasha smiled in understanding.

"Correct, young lady." Tycon ruffled Sasha\'s hair, "Now, we shall take a step back and address the Spell\'s main functions... here. This line in the Central Circle, do you recognize its usage? --And speak in Common, please."

The chocolate elf pursed her lips, concentrating, "Thissss.... isss... like... water."

Tycon nodded. It was close, "(How is it like water, Beautiful Child?)"

"(It controls the flow of mana... It flows like a stream to a river. It drips like a gentle rain,)" Sasha tilted her head, "(Is Sasarame correct?)"

"You are, indeed correct. This line limits the flow of mana, and can be adjusted for a burst of energy, or a longer-lasting, steady stream of power."

Sasha hissed happily, performing a wiggling dance.

Tycon took a piece of chalk and wrote a few symbols surrounding the line, "What will happen if I link this line on the left directly to the one on the right... bypassing the limiter."

Sasha placed her hands on her cheeks, "The mana... will flow... all of it?"

Tycon nodded, "And what happens when there\'s an overflow of mana?"

Sasha pursed her lips to the side again and rubbed one of her long ears, "The spell... fails."

"Fshhhh..." She made the sound of a spell fizzling out.

Tycon chuckled, "Correct."

Sasha wasn\'t wrong. However, with the amount of mana the spell was handling, it was far more likely to cause a catastrophic explosion, damaging all ritual casters involved.

He turned back to where the blonde demoness was working, "Lulu, how is your progress on the cabinet?"

Lulu leaned over, "I\'m almost... there~!"

The cabinet glowed brightly, and then abruptly dimmed with a sound of shattering glass, much like the barrier breaking at the tower\'s entrance, "OoohHHhhh YESSS!!! It feels so GOOOOD!!"

Tycon kept an impassive expression, "Are you quite done?"

Lulu breathed an exaggerated sigh of relief, "Yup. Come on over, Boss."

Tycon walked over and glanced into the Wizard\'s personal stash. Various arcane components were hidden inside, in particular, obvious expensive gems and liquids and materials kept in thick and expensive vials.

Lulu hopped up, lifting one of her heels to her behind, "I\'ve got your blue gems, Boss!!"

"Very well-- Oooh, are those government bonds?" Tycon swept the papers up into his spatial ring.

The smaller items of value, gems and high-value coins, he began placing into his wallet.

"Mister Lone!" Tycon called out, "Invictus is looting everything unmarked and of value in this room. Any issues?"

Lone shrugged, returning a half-smile, "Nope. Screw this wizard and his mimics."

Sasha tugged on Tycon\'s cloak and pointed to Lone with concern. A coatrack was sneaking up on Lone, likely another of the Wizard\'s mimics.

Tycon sighed, "Mister Lone. Contact, rear."

Lone rolled forward, escaping the coatrack\'s sneak attack, "How DARE you show yourself before the LONE SHADOWDARK??!?"

The young warrior engaged in battle with the coatrack, his most hated enemy.

Lone had become quite skilled at fighting mimics.

...How... how many mimics had he fought in this tower?

Lulu rested her chin on Tycon\'s shoulder from behind, nuzzling her cheek into his, "So what\'s the plan, Boss?"