Chapter 26: Hoffman Ruins

-Hoffman Island, Precis

Hoffman island was surrounded by sheer cliffs and spires of rock. When asked, the captain explained that those along with sharp rocks hidden underwater made the island a natural fortress. It only had two was to get into the interior (well, three if you could somehow fly like a bird, which Precis thought was entirely possible). One was this hidden beach that took good navigation and a separate landing boat to reach. The other was only accessible to small ships carrying at most five people. But despite the good defensiveness from external attacks, apparently living in the valley of the mountainous island was so rough that no town, no matter how tiny or large, was able to last.

When they got off the landing boat, they were greeted by the remains of many groups before them. Poles from what once had been docks remained sticking out of the water, some with a few boards attached. An old lighthouse of patchwork structure stood on a cluster of rocks out in the tide, barely kept in operation to help boats get to this beach. Rubble on the ground amid lots of grass showed where streets had once been, with footprints of various buildings remaining.

One stone house was on the beach, the sailor on the landing ship saying that it was for the lighthouse keeper. Apparently one would have to be mad to work there, even with the high payments from Lacour and Eluria. And if the keeper wasn't mad, they'd probably end up so. Precis wondered how the lighthouse worked and if it could be improved through machinery. Then again, she was only visiting this place in order to get to bigger and better machines elsewhere.

"Best of luck to you, Master Leon," the sailor said, staying behind with one of the soldiers to keep the landing craft safe.

"I don't need luck," Leon said. Maybe rude, but kind of cool at the same time that a kid younger than her could have such confidence. Precis had a good deal of confidence in her skills too, but she'd encountered enough problems and unexpected failures that she knew caution was good too when needed.

They headed away from the beach and down the old streets, heading towards the biggest and most intact structure in sight, possibly on the whole island. It was a huge stone step pyramid, surrounded by many stone slabs arranged in some pattern that must have meant something to someone. Precis wasn't sure what, but then again, they were just a bunch of big rocks and not all that interesting. Maybe there weren't any machines here other than the lighthouse. That wouldn't be interesting.

Fortunately, the lack of machinery didn't stand for long. At the top of many stone steps, they entered a room that ended too soon. The wall had fine lines running through its metal structure, with two circles that looked like big buttons. "Looks like a dead end," Rena said.

"Oo, but what about the buttons?" Precis asked eagerly. "Buttons always connect to machinery! Well, except clothing buttons, and those don't count."

"It's not machinery," Leon said, annoyed as he walked over to the right button. "At least, I don't think so. And it might look like a dead end, but it's definitely not. Odd that it's closed, though. I guess the last group through here wanted to make extra sure monsters didn't get in." He pushed on the button in front of him; there was a click, but nothing happened. "Hmm..."

"I'll get the other one!" Precis said cheerily, running over before anyone else could claim it and slamming both of her palms onto it. It clicked too. Unfortunately, it had no effect. "Aw man. Is there any way to tear the wall apart to see what's going wrong?"

"Actually, it would be more prudent to try pushing both buttons at once first," Leon said. "This place does need to be secure and we wouldn't want to compromise it. Ready on the count of three?"

"Okay!" Precis said, and waited for Leon to count to three before pushing the button again.

This time, there was an effect. The clicks were followed by a series of clanks, then the grinding of gears. Parts of the wall pulled back, then all slid into the wall, floor, or ceiling of the big frame. After a few seconds, it looked like a completely whole hallway leading to a stone staircase. Only the fine lines suggested that it could be a wall again.

"Really stellar puzzle-solving there," Opera said sarcastically.

Precis didn't really hear her. Instead, she ran into the frame area to look at it. "Wow, that is totally machine-based, Leon! Didja see how smoothly it all went, coming apart and going back into a new shape like a jigsaw puzzle? That's awesome engineering there! But wow, how did ancient people know about machines when hardly anybody does today?"

"It's clockwork, which I believe is similar to but not entirely like the machinery that you and your father work with," Leon said, heading through the frame's hall. "Didn't you hear the gears?"

"Clockwork is totally machinery too!" Precis insisted. "It's transferring energy and movement from one part to another using physical interactions of the gears' teeth. Clockwork just doesn't rely on electrical or water-vein power."

Leon pricked his ears up. "What's water-vein power?"

"Jzfseamodt," Claude said.

"Claude, mind your translator spells," Opera teased him, giving him a nudge that was either playful or rebuking.

"Oh, sorry," he said, clear once again. "Right, what is water-vein?"

"It's water-vein power," Precis said as they walked down the stairs. "At least that's what I call it after seeing it at work. See, if you put water in a tube, then stop up both ends of the tube with sliding corks, while keeping as much air out as you can, with that structure, when you push on one cork, the other cork moves! And it gets better. See, if you use one cork bigger than the other, then the smaller cork gets pushed a lot when you push the big cork a little. Some of my machinery in my punching hand works on something like water-vein, but they have tiny tubes because that's where I first saw it in use. I have some of the calculations written down in my reference notebook on how it works."

"It makes sense, and would have a lot of practical applications," Leon said, thinking about it now.

"You both lost me at clockwork," Ashton said, causing much amusement in the others (except Dias who was nodding).

"Uh-huh, that's why more people should learn about science!" Precis said. It was actually easy and reasonable once you got past how intimidating it could seem.

Leon cast a light spell as they got to the bottom of the stairs. Reflectors on the walls threw the light around, helping illuminate this hallway. While there were a few small rooms to the sides, he led them to a wall extrusion opposite the stairs. "Well whether the main door is clockwork or not, I'd like to see what you think of this room. It lets us get to the underground mine tunnels."

She brightened. "Ooo, a power lift? I totally have one of those in my house!" When Leon pressed a button on the wall, the pointed extrusion split in half and slid aside, showing a plain small room with a stone-like finish. "Although this one is a lot more dull than mine. They're convenient, but you can't slide down a power lift like you can with a staircase bannister."

Twitching his ears, Leon said, "Right... you can't. You have strange priorities."

"No I don't," she said. "I mean, you have to sneak around to do that anyhow in case some hoity-toity person gets mad about it, but it's fun!"

There were seven of them and the lift room wasn't that big, so they split into two groups to get down to the mines. Rena could cast a light spell too, so neither group was left in the dark. While it was plainer, Precis did have to admit that this lift was smoother than the one in her home. She got herself into Leon's group so she could talk to him about how lifts had counterweights which actually made their operations easy to understand.

Once they were all down in the mines, Leon summoned a book to check a map of Hoffman Ruins. "This place has been used to mine more than just energy stone, so the tunnels follow where the veins of valuable minerals were more than straightforward paths," he said.

"Does everyone have the protective gear equipped?" Claude asked, looking around the group. They had, but it was good to check. That was how a responsible and admirable leader was, Precis thought. But as admirable as it was, she wondered briefly if she had much of a chance to win his heart. After all, he seemed to think a lot about Rena and her opinion.

Still, they hadn't said anything about being officially boyfriend and girlfriend, so maybe she still had a chance to sneak in between them. Leon decided on the path to take and led them through the rough tunnels.

-Leon

"The monsters down here are really dangerous," Ashton said, at the end of one fight with Salamauraders. The huge lizards could breathe a toxic vapor that would put poison into a person's lungs, as well as turn their flesh stiff and unfeeling. Normally, that would be a huge problem and why any thoughtful expedition here would bring lots of curative spring waters and healing poultices.

Strangely, it wasn't much of an issue on this tip. Sure, they were getting affected by the roving lizards. But Rena somehow knew curative magic, most helpfully a spell that would quickly neutralize many toxins. Leon tried to ask her about it, but unfortunately she wasn't well-trained as a mage. Her magic, as excellent as it was, was all performed on intuitive feelings rather than rational understandings of the elements and their harmonies. Not ideal, but even he couldn't argue with the results.

"That's natural selection at work for you," Leon said to Ashton's statement. "The monsters here have always fought each other over territory and claims to the energy stone deposits. This means that they grow exceptionally powerful when compared to similar specimens from other areas."

"And probably why towns keep failing around here," Opera noted.

"Or even just mining operations," Ashton said. "There's evidence of them all over, but we haven't run into another person yet."

That was true. Crates, mining carts, iron tracks, bridges over streams, and even some active explosives were all still lingering around, waiting to be used. On some walls, mosaics of mostly religious figures had been drawn out by bored workers. But no actual miners were around. Or should be around, since there weren't any records of current mining being done here.

"A lot of the operations end in tragedy here," Leon said. "That's because people stay on too long. We're just getting what we need and going, so there should be no trouble for us."

Compared to the last time Leon had been here, there weren't quite as many monsters. A bunch of those Salmauraders and some haunted suits of armor with huge shields, but still not many in total. And this group of adventurers were getting through them faster than the Lacourian knights, which was a nice advantage. Sure, he was the only one capable of refining the mineral here, but this should go by quickly.

They even reached the actual deposit before they had to break for the day. Deep in the mines, a large cavern always seemed to hold a cluster of raw energy stone. There was a great deal of heraldry power in the room; if Leon closed his eyes and let his mind wander, he could just about hear it. But that was a dangerous and foolish thing to do. For some reason, the luminescent green crystals had a maddening presence. Where other places of power might have a gentle whisper, this room would hold many conflicting whispers to confuse and overwhelm an unprepared listener. Although, his parents never said it felt like whispers to them, just a swelling of heraldic power that could warp one's thoughts to become obsessed with the mineral.

"So this is your energy stone, huh?" Opera asked. "Doesn't look like much."

"It contains great heraldic energy," Leon said as he went over to the mineral cluster. Claude followed him over. "And it will be mixed with some impurities, so yes, it is unimpressive in this state. But that's because you all have protection and won't be affected by its..." A bright flash of light came from behind him, along with an unearthly chime. Leon stopped immediately, worried. What was that?

"Rena?" Ashton asked. When Leon and Claude turned back to them, they saw that Rena's pendant was emitting strange pulses of light, even pulling away from her chest.

"I didn't do anything," she said, puzzled and worried herself. She caught the pendant, but it kept pulsing. "Huh, that's the strongest reaction yet."

"Is it reacting to the energy stone?" he asked. "Because you said it was made of refined energy stone."

"Refined energy stone shouldn't react like that to the raw mineral," Leon said. At least, he'd never seen or read about it doing so. And what was she doing with a refined energy stone crystal as a pendant? It seemed like a complete waste.

Their conversation was disrupted by a howling from a group of monsters, including one that dropped right behind Leon and slammed him in the head. His reference book for Hoffman Ruins fell out of his hands and sprawled out on the ground, much like he was. Feeling panicked, Leon scrambled for his book and pulled it close. The pages were a little dirty, but hadn't torn. Meanwhile, Claude was fighting off a large purple gorilla, the one that had attacked him.

Oh... them. Leon started to collect his wits again as the other adventurers in the group set about to attacking the three other gorillas that had come out of hiding. The gorillas were uncommon animals, although more had been seen lately as they were easily turned aggressive. But they were primarily physical fighters only, so this should be a cinch for these people. In fact, Claude almost had his dispatched already. Leon looked around for one that could be trouble to aim a spell at. That was when he spotted a fifth gorilla, keeping to itself and currently out of sight. A heraldic pyramid shield appeared around it... wait a moment. Those gorillas should be incapable of that kind of shield.

There was a snap of heraldic energy from the fifth gorilla, leading to a web of lightning appearing above all of them. Before Leon could even recognize it, the Thunderstorm spell struck everyone in the room, gorilla and human alike. It was very painful... no wait, he should have better magic defenses than anyone in the room! Why did it still hurt him this badly? How did the gorilla even cast a spell? It shouldn't be capable. This didn't make sense! Leon shuddered, trying very hard to clamp down on a burst of fear. No, he was supposed to be the professional scientist here. He couldn't go losing his nerves.

"Leon," Claude said, hurrying to his side while a curative spell from Rena hit all of their allies. The blond man leaned over and took his shoulder. "What is it?"

"They shouldn't be capable of that, or casting any spells," Leon said, clutching his book to his chest. "No way, how..?"

"Calm down," Claude said in a quiet but firm voice. "We can wander about that after when they're taken out of..." he looked around to see how the others were doing.

"Yeah, um," Leon said. That was the correct procedure, although not the correct words. Looking around the room, Dias had killed one and was now helping Precis take down another. Ashton had used his dueling moves to get by the fifth gorilla and keep it from casting again. Rena was trying to keep away from the gorillas and see who needed her help, with her pendant still pulsing. However, that left Opera caught between two, between the one Ashton had left off fighting and the one she'd been handling. Still, the blond woman was holding her ground, in part to keep their attention on her rather than on Rena. Leon quickly cast a Black Saber in order to help Opera until Dias and Precis could go assist her.

And then a strange bang disrupted the battle. A streak of brightly glowing material flew downward to strike one of the gorillas harassing Opera. The attack completely melted half of its body, even the bones, to a disgusting meaty glop. Wandering who that was (and not wanting to look at that result for very long), Leon looked up on top of the energy stone cluster, where it had come from. There was a man standing up there, with messy blond hair and a dirty brown long coat (although how dirty it was was hard to tell from here due to the color).

Looking at the man up there, Leon felt a sudden chill. Something wasn't quite right. He had an heraldic presence that Leon had never seen before, but the presence felt familiar all the same. The presence didn't match the man's body either, as if some other entity had control of him. Another entity, cruel and full of hate... an entity that felt like it had come straight out of a nightmare.

Leon froze up on the spot, his mind full of irrational fear. Someone in the group called out to the man and he jumped down from his perch. Inexplicably, afterimages of a sickly green followed after him. He didn't know who the man was, but he knew the entity in control of him somehow. That entity would kill any one of them with a flick of the wrist once they'd served their purpose. For a moment, he wondered if he'd been killed already. Was someone protecting him?

No... the one who protected him was gone.

There was a movement close to Leon, which nearly caused him to scream. He recognized it as being someone he knew, but for some reason the person's identity wasn't clear. But, this person was strong; this person could protect him. He grabbed hold of the person's waist tightly, not caring how it looked but just wanting that entity to leave them alone.

-Opera

There was a few tense moments in the battle, when another mad gorilla came out of hiding and hit them all with a huge lightning spell. Ashton saw the need to get over to it quickly and engage it in battle. Probably a good idea, so as to keep it from casting the spell again at least. However, that left Opera handling two gorillas at once, on either side of her.

She was tempted to bolt, but then saw Rena trying to run out of the way to cast her healing magic. The girl was in danger from these two, if they decided to pursue her. As Opera felt like she could handle the gorillas better (especially when Rena got around to casting), she fired some alpha-rated plasma bursts at the gorilla in front of her, then whirled around and smacked the one behind her with her rifle to keep it from getting interested in Rena. It worked, at the cost of having the first gorilla punch her in the back.

While it winded her, a black blade struck the gorilla now in front of her and killed it. That would be Leon, she recognized. Good for him. And Dias and Precis were starting to head her way, which was even better. Opera pulled her rifle up to her chest defensively and turned to face the other, backing up while she did so. She still needed a moment to recover from that last attack.

Then the gorilla was half-disintegrated by what looked like a beta-rated plasma burst. But, there were no legal weapons that she could think of that would fire such a potent plasma bullet. Such things were restricted to the military and primarily used against armored foes or reinforced walls, not an insane wild animal. It certainly stopped the threat, but in order to use her alpha-shots without breaking the UP3, she had to disguise them as a specialty fighting move.

The source of the blast came from on top of the crystal cluster, from a man with a familiar silhouette. The energy stone extend its green glow to his legs and parts of his upper body, but that face, with three eyes... "Ern?" Opera called out, setting her weapon in her back holster.

He jumped down from the crystals and once he was on ground level, it was clearly the man she'd been looking for. Ernest didn't seem well, though. He didn't mind getting dirty on his expeditions, but this seemed worse than usual. On his face, a few dark vein lines could be seen, a sign of being close to exhaustion in a Tetregenes. Not only that, but his upper eye was unusually still and he didn't have any of the protective equipment Leon had mentioned in his lecture the other day. "So it is you, Opera," he said with a discordant smile. "It's wonderful to see your shining grace again."

What? The greeting perplexed her, as he'd never really flirted with her before. Or with anyone. "Err, yeah," she said.

"Why are you using forbidden heraldry devices like that?" Claude asked, uncertain. He was closer to Ernest and the crystal cluster than the rest of them were. Strangely enough, Leon was clinging to Claude in fear, the back of his coat occasionally moving. Well she'd not seen Leon having a tail before, but he looked so much like a Fellpool that it wasn't surprising.

But that anomaly was quickly forgotten in her concern for Ernest. She thought she'd be overjoyed to see him again. But her gut told her that this wasn't right. "Yeah, you know how the elders feel about that," she said. "You shouldn't have even brought it here."

"It's just a trifle, nothing to worry about," Ernest said, keeping the demolition gun in hand. But even he wasn't that nonchalant about flaunting the galactic law. "Besides, you were in trouble. How could I not come to your rescue? I'm happy to see that you've crossed such an incredible distance to this... barbaric land to find me. Please, come here." He held his free hand out to her.

In the corner of her vision, Opera could see Rena smiling, probably thinking it was a sweet gesture. But it wasn't. She grabbed her rifle again and aimed it at him. "What the hell did you do with Ernest?!" she shouted.

"Excuse me?" he asked, trying to appear clueless and innocent. His third eye moved then, sluggish but trying to find her.

She glared at him, but was reluctant to pull the trigger. What if it was Ernest, but someone else was controlling him? She wouldn't forgive herself of shooting him. But, she had to be stern here. "You're not Ernest! He'd be more careful with a device like that, and he would absolutely never call anyone barbaric. Let him go!"

That changed the being's attitude. "Or what, you'll shoot him?" His right hand with the demolition gun shook while he spoke, and continued shaking as he snapped it up. "Fine, so I'm not Ernest. But is he the one you see before you or not? Maybe you can tell." He stopped speaking for a moment, as if he was trying to say something else. "I will shoot someone if you come any closer. Get out of here, all of you. Now."

"I'm going to get him from you," Opera said, but she still couldn't shoot. She knew that she would brave any danger to come after Ernest. But, to risk hurting him in the process? Or give up when she definitely knew he was in trouble? What could she do?

For once, her mind was a total blank.

-Leon

"What the hell did you do with Ernest?!"

Opera's accusation snapped Leon out of his panicked state. He looked around and found that the strange man was facing off against Opera. And, Leon was holding tightly onto Claude. For a second, he felt his face get warm with embarrassment. He hardly knew this person; you didn't just hug someone out of nowhere like this. However, Claude didn't seem to mind. He even had a hand on Leon's back, trying to reassure him.

"What..?" Leon whispered, looking back at the strange man. He spoke with two voices, one male and one female. It was the female entity that had terrified him, but now that he looked at her again, she didn't seem quite as familiar.

"I'm not sure," Claude whispered back. Seeming to have an idea, Claude crouched down and looked at Leon. "You're the expert on energy stone around here. Is Ernest possessed by it, and what can we do about him?"

A question that he could answer. Leon latched onto it and opened up his book. "He's gotten addicted to its presence, but the possession is from another being altogether. It might be possible to separate them, although it's hard to say how easily the spirit can be destroyed or driven away."

"We've got to try something," Claude said.

Leon nodded, then turned his ears towards the possessed man... named Ernest, apparently. He now was threatening the others with his powerful but strangely small device; his poor hold on it suggested that Ernest was trying to fight against the possession. Good, it helped Leon sense where magic ran between the two. If he adapted his Word of Death spell to target the possession line instead of the life force, which took altering the runes in his head but that was easily done... he cast the spell to cause a ghostly skull to appear behind Ernest and snap the possession line cleanly.

With that link broken, his struggle turned into convulsions, keeping him from standing. Opera dropped her weapon and ran to him, while Ernest managed to eject the parasitic entity from his body. A succubus with thick green hair and small bat wings flew out of his back, gradually turning from smoke into flesh. "Ugh, who cut out my control?! I almost had him all to myself." Then she looked in his direction and narrowed her eyes. "You, little boy..." she snapped her fingers and sent a bolt of lightning at him.

Claude immediately stepped in front of Leon and caught the bolt in a parry. Briefly, Leon sensed it split in two before both halves struck Claude. The force of it nearly knocked hm over, but through sheer willpower, Claude remained on his feet and guarding Leon. Meanwhile, Ashton appeared in triplicate around the succubus and struck her with Dead Triangle, making her wail. It at least kept her still while Dias sprinted past Opera and Ernest. Precis went up to the pair and stood by them, waiting to see if they'd need help.

"You can't parry a spell," Leon said, feeling his heart pounding. That was a chose shave. "Not without the right weapon."

"Had to try," Claude said in a strained voice.

Wanting to help, Leon opted to cast Delay on the succubus so that she didn't get away from Ashton and Dias. It was only after he cast it that he realized this was all wrong. It'd be far better for Opera and Precis to be fighting the succubus directly, since they were women and the succubus wouldn't try to possess them. However, it still worked out. The two of them struck the succubus so hard that she opted to escape into the air rather than try to overtake them. "Ugh, I don't mind rough play, but you're being completely too serious," she said. Then she turned into an orb of pink light and shot off into the earth where they couldn't pursue her.

The light of Rena's healing soon came over Claude. "Are you all right over there?" she said, coming towards them. But she stopped by Opera. The older woman was holding Ernest, who wasn't moving now.

"Wait, don't heal him quite yet," Leon said, coming to stand by Claude. "We need to get him out of this cavern and away from the energy stone. Then use Dispel before any other curing spell, and a spring water if he'll drink it."

"Will the rest of you take care of that?" Claude asked. "I'll stay here with Leon while we get the mineral."

"Okay, we'll do that," Rena said.

"Would one of you boys help me carry him?" Opera asked, getting Dias to agree to it.

But, were there other spirits, gorillas, and monsters around? Leon glanced around the room, uncertain. It all sounded so easy in his head; just come here, get the mineral and start its purification process, then leave. Maybe the others who had come with him before made it seem easier than it was.

"I think we're clear for now," Claude said.

"Y-yeah, then I should get to work," Leon said, going over to the clusters. He sent his book away into magical storage and pulled out his refinement kit. It was like a large black suitcase with heavy duty locks. Putting his hand on the case to undo the enchanted lock, he took the canister for the first refinement stage as well as a couple of larger tools. Most of what he needed was inside the canister already, to save space.

"Were you not expecting anything like that to happen?" Claude asked.

"Um, no," Leon said.

"You don't have much defense against things you don't know about, huh," he said, starting to pace around behind him, keeping watch. "Or seeing others suffer."

He turned his ears down. "What's so bad about not liking seeing others in pain?"

"I'm not saying it is," Claude said. "It's just, you were freaking out badly there. Are you okay?"

Leon paused before opening the canister. "Um, well, I guess... I don't like surprises. I plan out a lot of things and try to consider all possibilities within the bounds of science. But then things happen that I don't anticipate, and, well, since I didn't anticipate them my plans are worthless. It's not that I'm a coward or anything, I..."

In his pause, Claude said, "It's fine, no one can be brave all the time."

Normally he'd be annoyed by someone else telling him what to do when he hadn't asked. But it wasn't like that this time. Claude was trying to help him, but doing so in a way that wasn't being condescending or telling him that he was just young. Well, now he had to focus on is work. And thanks to Claude being there, he didn't feel worried now. "Ah, all right. Claude... thank you."

"You're welcome, Leon," Claude said.

Harvesting the energy stone was mostly complicated by its heraldic presence. With the right tools, the crystals weren't hard to cut off of the cluster. Leon took off pieces as big as an adult's fist, weighing them and using detection spells to see what percentage of impurities were in the mineral. He had to gather a weight that was thrice what was required for the Lacour Hope, to account for impurities and the refinement process. Actually, they could get away with just twice the required weight given the average purity of the Hoffman crystals, but getting the extra amount accounted for potential mistakes and lessened the chance that they'd need to make a return trip. Any extra material could be set aside for other projects.

Once he had the right weight, he placed them in the first canister. It had the thickest wall and was the largest of the group, since it would handle the raw mineral. Then he screwed on the top half tightly, making sure that the sealing spells activated. The very top of the canister could then be twisted off, through which he carefully filled the canister with a mix of chemical solutions often used by alchemists. This was another step that required a trained scientist or alchemist for, as the solutions had to be in a certain ratio and handled with intelligent care. Once the canister was full and he double checked for the solution's activity, he screwed the top back on and made sure it too sealed tight. Then the canister went in the central slot and activated the clockwork mechanism that made sure it had the proper agitation applied. With extra pieces put back in and the suitcase shut tight, the container would make sure that any outer agitation or spells didn't affect the process.

He left the room with Claude and found that the others had managed to wake Ernest back up. The three-eyed man didn't look too well, but at least he was himself again. Not only that, but the others also looked tired, still battered from that last battle and all the others they had fought coming down here. "We're done here," Claude said. "How is he?"

"I did all I could, but right now, I think he just needs a good meal and a long sleep," Rena said. "But it's an awful long ways out of here."

Leon brought his book on the ruins back out and used magic to flip through it while talking. "There's a cavern that miners used for living quarters nearby; we stayed there last time we came here. Let's see, it's..." looking at the map, he looked over to the northeastern tunnel, "in a side tunnel just down that way. Shouldn't take long to reach as long as the monsters don't bother us."

"I hope it's not too far," Opera said, coming over to them. "Hey Leon, Rena said that she thinks you undid the possession."

Leon shrugged. "Not entirely, but I did cut off the connection between him and that succubus. He cast it out on his own, which is pretty remarkable."

"Looks like you still made it possible, though," she said, and then picked him up and gave him a tight hug. "Thank you, Leon! We couldn't have gotten him back without you."

Caught by surprise, Leon's face turned pink with embarrassment. "Ah, er, I was just doing what was reasonable! Put me down." Behind them, Ernest laughed. Leon twisted his ears back and thankfully Opera set him down. "Let's get to the rest area."

"Lead the way," Opera said cheerily, going back over to Ernest to make sure that he was well enough to walk over there with them.

Hoffman Ruins is not a fun dungeon, although I do like the scenery. It is tolerable if you remember to buy a bunch of status cure items, but I sometimes forget to do that even knowing it's coming up. The enemies can inflict paralysis, stoning, and poison, sometimes all at once. After going all the way in and fighting the boss (three of the gorilla monsters with Thunderstorm, painful if you let them cast), you have to go all the way back out through more enemies. And Ernest's possessor if you've triggered him to appear, although it's easier than most of the standard battles there. I've gotten a game over while heading out of the ruins due to not buying enough curative items.

Yeah, the youngest playable character has the Word of Death spell (and I've never seen it work). Leon's not a goth kid by any means, but his spell list might make one think otherwise, what with Wounds, Demon's Gate, Shadow Flare, and so on.