The Homeseeker: Elemental Adventurer LitRPG [Isekai] (Series Complete!)

"Rep!" Zalan screamed, reaching his arm out for his friend.

On the floor, Rep's eyes drifted with a glazed-over look. Everything twitching at unexpected intervals, his limbs were wrought with agony, each movement looking more painful than the last. But Rep's face registered none of it; totally incapacitated.

The Arachulas in the room seemed to sense the immobile prey, finally regaining their collective consciousness and hunger for flesh. Some spun from the walls and scuttled their way toward him.

"No!" Zalan called. "No!"

He slashed a manic beam of Elemental Light at one of the spiders, boring a hole through its body and killing it instantly. Another few had the chance to spit wads of web at Rep and pin him down, preparing him for a later meal. His body continued to thrash under its new binds.

"Get up! Rep!" Zalan pleaded. Warm blood ran down his face and he struggled to remove himself from the ground.

The Mind of Madness began to turn back toward him, its focus finally away from its recent victim. Zalan didn't care about the potential of getting blasted. The fear was gone. He felt nothing but rage for the Mind of Madness.

"Die!" Zalan screamed, blasting as much Elemental Light as he could at the Mind of Madness.

"Stay away from it!" Finnegan called from behind his metal shelter. "If you are struck, I will be trapped in here with it, utterly blind!"

Zalan kept his power directed straight at the Mind of Madness, trying to drill a hole the same way he did with the Arachula. He barely made a mark on the surface of its uncanny face. The Mind of Madness stopped moving.

"Zalan, please!" Finnegan begged.

"I can kill it!" Zalan screamed, blinding himself with the amount of Elemental Light he was outputting.

The Mind of Madness stared him down, the damage not enough to cause it real harm. With no attempt to shield himself, The Mind of Madness blasted Zalan with the full force of its power. Zalan twisted his face away as he braced himself, bearing the blast and all the power that came with it.

"No!" Finnegan screamed in fear.

Finnegan's eyes opened wide in confusion. Light still filled the room. Zalan wasn't lying on the ground, incapacitated. In fact, he was still fighting back. Blast after blast of Elemental Light came flying from his arms. Finnegan stared in confusion. The Mind of Madness seemed to be moving slowly, stunned that its prey didn't fall into a mindless heap on the floor. But it had no muscles in its face to indicate surprise, so it only watched with dark, sunken eyes.

"Zalan?" Finnegan called.

"I can do this!" Zalan cried out.

The Mind of Madness let out another ray of black light, enveloping Zalan in opaque darkness. The room lit up as soon as the attack stopped. Zalan lowered his hands in frustration.

"I can barely hurt it!" He ran his hands through his hair, stomping on the floor.

"How are you doing that?" Finnegan called.

Zalan finally looked over his way, acknowledging him.

"I can't kill it!" Zalan lamented. "I don't know how to get Rep back up! He's gonna die if we don't help him!"

"Get away from the center of the room. Get to cover!" Finnegan yelped.

He was flabbergasted that Zalan had taken two full hits, from the Mind of Madness. He didn't want to be around when the blasts started taking hold again.

Zalan got up and began running. The Mind of Madness stared, its head slowly turning to follow Zalan with its deep, recessed eyes. If Finnegan could read an expression on its inscrutable, monstrous face, he was certain it would be that of confusion. What kind of man could withstand the Mind of Madness?

Zalan bounded over the side of the cart, a sheer panic in his eyes. He looked back at the Mind of Madness, then at the ground in thought.

"How did you do that?" Finnegan asked again.

"Rep got hit! We need to kill that thing so we can get out of here immediately!" Zalan said.

"You got hit!" Finnegan said, then immediately registered the second sentence. "How are we supposed to kill the Mind of Madness? Rep is gone and your explosion did not affect it!"

"Rep isn't gone yet," Zalan said sharply.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Fine, but you only have me, and I am at a severely low Level to go up against one of the worst creatures in existence," Finnegan said firmly.

The Mind of Madness had begun to turn their way. Zalan thought hard about how to defeat it. He thought back to all the monsters he'd fought since coming up against the Mind of Madness. The closest thing that this creature reminded him of was the Thalassic Terror in the middle of the sea. But they never figured out how to defeat that, only to make it run away. Could the Mind of Madness be scared off as well?

"Zalan, we may have to run. Try and flee the mines," Finnegan said.

"Not an option," Zalan said. "You can go, but I'm not leaving Rep here to die."

Finnegan looked out at the opening to the room, then pinned himself back behind their metal barrier. The Mind of Madness had looked at him. He couldn't imagine being struck by its dark beam again.

"How did you survive its blasts?" Finnegan asked. "If I know that, I may be able to help."

"Listen, I have an idea," Zalan said. "When I was only Level Three, I was able to kill an Elemental Dragon with the help of Rep and some friends."

"Another lie? At a time like this?" Finnegan said, angrily annoyed.

"I swear it's the truth! Rep mentioned it earlier, remember!" Zalan said urgently.

That got Finnegan's attention. He sat up a little straighter and listened closely.

"What does that matter now?" Finnegan asked.

"Because you're going to be a great adventurer. And because you're going to kill the Mind of Madness."

Finnegan's eyes went wide. He wanted to look over the mine cart, but could feel the presence of the Mind of Madness growing closer. He couldn't imagine that creature being killed, much less by himself.

"How?" Finnegan asked, desperation fueling the word.

"Throw some rocks at the Arachulas and then grab the sword stuck on the bottom of the Mind of Madness," Zalan said.

"What?" Finnegan asked.

"It's here, no time to explain!"

Zalan stood and began running, Finnegan standing in protest then immediately ducking back down. The Mind of Madness was too close. It would attack them both, either leaving them both to die or incapacitating his only shot.

"Zalan, I can not!" Finnegan called out to him.

"If we try to run, we die. If we're going to die here, we're going to die trying!" Zalan said as he ran. "Attack the Arachulas and grab the sword stuck in the head!"

Zalan blasted the Mind of Madness with Elemental Light as he ran. The creature twisted toward him, losing interest in Finnegan behind the mine cart. Zalan was heaving as he ran, his lungs empty and his body on the brink of collapse. Drops of blood continued to escape him, his vision threatened to throw the world into a collage of blurs. He had been running and fighting too hard in such little time. Not to mention, he was out of ideas, not even certain this plan would work.

Zalan cast a look over his shoulder. The Mind of Madness was bearing down on him, its eyes focused with murderous intent. Zalan saw a few rocks fly from behind the mine cart. Most missed, but some of Finnegans throws managed to graze two different spiders. The monsters rushed around in pain. Zalan hoped that would be enough.

Finnegan peeked his head out from behind the mine cart and looked at the Mind of Madness with maximal terror strewn across his trembling lips.

"That should do with the spiders!" Zalan said. "Grab the sword!"

Finnegan reluctantly forced himself around the cart and rushed toward the Mind of Madness in a mad dash. He froze in place as a beam of darkness enveloped Zalan, shrouding his Elemental Light and causing the entire mine to grow dim. The blast stopped and Zalan stood proud, his body imbued in Elemental Light.

"Come on!" Zalan encouraged. "You're almost there!"

Finnegan screamed in fear and ran frantically toward the Mind of Madness. Stumbling on his way, he was able to close the gap without the Mind of Madness taking notice. He ran as fast as he could and jumped high, barely hanging onto the hilt of Zalan's sword stuck in the floating monster. His legs flailed anxiously under him. His arms protruded with veins as he gripped with all his might.

"Zalan! I got it! Now what?" Finnegan asked.

"Hang on!"

"For what?" Finnegan screamed.

Finnegean gripped tightly with both hands as the Mind of Madness tried to fling off the excess weight. Zalan began running back toward the mine cart to Finnegan's dismay.

"Where are you going?" Finnegan exploded. "Do not leave me with this thing!"

"Hang on!" Zalan called out.

Zalan began blasting Elemental Light toward the walls, attacking all the Arachulas he could find. He killed two, then turned back toward Finnegan. The young man screamed as the Mind of Madness put more effort into spinning to and fro. Finnegan's face and arms were a bright red, growing darker by the moment.

"A few more seconds!" Zalan promised, blasting another spider from the wall.

"The sword is slipping out!" Finnegan called.

Zalan killed another Arachula, then swiveled his head back to the monster. He could see his blade edging outside of the monster. He cast a beam of Elemental Light to Finnegan, imbuing just the blade. Then, he added more power, extending the light off the tip of the blade and curving the end with razor sharp energy. His quick thinking worked, and he was able to stick the sword into the Mind of Madness like a hook. But only for as long as Zalan could keep up his energy output. His vision was fuzzy.

"Zalan?" Finnegan called, waiting for the next move as Zalan knelt down in place, running out of energy.

"Hang… on…" Zalan said between deep breaths.

He looked up and saw one more Arachula alive on the end of the room. He threw powerful Elemental Light, searing through its head in a moment and causing its body to topple to the ground.

"I can not hold on any longer!" Finnegan screamed desperately, his fingers and face purple with strain.

"Don't drop, it's working!" Zalan pleaded, his vision almost completely overtaken by fatigue. "Just a few more seconds!"

Finnegan closed his eyes tightly, focusing as hard as he could to get a precious few more seconds out of his grasp. The Mind of Madness flailed like a sprinkler, throwing Finnegan's body around wildly. The young man's body began to glow faintly, energy crescendoing around his body. Zalan's arm fell limp and he collapsed backward. Totally spent, he couldn't imbue the blade anymore. It slipped out.

Finnegan's body fell with the sword. Then, less than a foot away from the monster, the young man exploded in an insanely bright, white light. The Mind of Madness was left with a hole in the bottom half of its head, like a cannon fired from point blank crashed into its base.