Magical runes of various colors intertwined and flared across the silver slime. The mercury soul puppet, once so frail it could not even hold its shape, rose from amidst the shattered debris.
Slender, razor-sharp blades sprouted from its body, transforming the once-pudgy little creature into something as terrifying as a spider in an instant.
The runes shifted to a baleful crimson, resembling compound spider eyes that locked glare onto the svirfneblin before it.
"Die!"
Having suffered days of torture, the little creature unleashed the first roar of its life!
A massive fireball erupted, blowing three svirfneblin straight to pieces. The billowing inferno illuminated the subterranean gloom, terrifying the remaining svirfneblin.
Recovering from their shock, they raised their weapons and charged at the mercury soul puppet.
None who scratched out a living in the Underdark were cowards; in this lightless abyss, the fragile had long since been devoured bone and all.
Arrows rained down upon the mercury soul puppet, yet barely had they penetrated half an inch into its body before losing momentum and sliding harmlessly off its surface.
Ordinary, unenchanted arrows could not inflict the slightest injury.
Even the lightning bolts cast by the gnome mages merely gave the mercury soul puppet's movements a momentary hitch, and nothing more.
Even a legend like Anbaixiu found the mercury soul puppet's magic resistance a headache, so what harm could these clumsy gnome mages hope to cause? If it had not gone so long without consuming metal that it fell into a weakened state, how could these svirfneblin ever have captured it in the first place?
The mercury soul puppet remembered how they had seized it—roasted over fire, dunked in water, repeatedly hammered until it was left at death's door. Now, blessed by the deity, it was time to repay every bit of that torment in kind.
The crimson runes across its form flashed, shifting to a brilliant bluish-white light, and a violent burst of electricity flared over its body.
Chain Lightning!
The terrifying spell leaped repeatedly among the enemies, charring a broad swath of svirfneblin into cinders.
Immediately after, the mercury soul puppet brandished its razor claws. Leaving pitted gouges in the stone floor with each scuttling step, it charged at blinding speed toward the remaining svirfneblin, skewering its tormentors clean through one by one.
Only when both magic and physical strikes proved utterly futile did the svirfneblin realize the sheer horror of a mercury soul puppet.
It was a monster beyond anything they could fight.
Wails of agony echoed through the underground, and the pungent stench of blood drifted far into the distance. Soon enough, other subterranean predators would be drawn by the screams and the scent. But before then, the mercury soul puppet had already exacted its revenge, slaughtering all dozens of the svirfneblin.
Gazing upon the masterpiece of its vengeance, the little creature let out an exultant battle cry!
"Mercury God! Mercury God! Your blessing, my revenge! Behold, I have completed my vengeance!"
For the first time, the little mercury soul puppet felt a surge of wild ecstasy and excitement, utterly unlike the dull routine of eating and sleeping back in Mercury City.
It was the cleverest child among the mercury soul puppets, which was why it had managed to slip past layered guards and pull off the grand feat of running away from home. Yet it was also an inexperienced child. It had no idea that the metal veins near Mercury City had been picked clean long ago; its strength had steadily drained away, and after wandering with an empty stomach for gods knew how far, it was captured.
In the depths of fear and despair, that great deity had answered!
It was a call through bloodline, the deity of the mercury soul puppets granting it power!
Having triumphed over its foes, the child excitedly displayed its achievements to this god.
Yet what it received in return was not praise, but a furious roar: "There is no Mercury God! There is no Mercury God! Our creator is the Bone God! Only the Bone God!"
The mercury soul puppet, swaggering only moments before, immediately curled into a terrified ball and timidly repeated, "Bone God, Bone God! Our creator, the only Bone God!"
Yet the great presence seemed unsatisfied. With supreme majesty, it projected Anbaixiu's visage directly into the mercury soul puppet's consciousness.
"Remember this! The Bone God! The Lord of our creation!"
The little fellow shouted louder and louder. As part of the younger generation, it had never laid eyes on the lich who created their kind, but now it knew: this was its creator, the Father God of all mercury soul puppets!
Far away in the divine realm of the God of Alchemy, Evil Silver Shaded felt a wave of exhaustion. Communicating with its offspring for the first time was surprisingly draining. On the verge of slipping into slumber, it gave the runaway brat one final admonition: "Eat well, sleep well, grow well! Offer everything to the Bone God!"
The little fellow hurriedly responded, "Eat, sleep, grow! For the Bone God!"
Hearing this steadfast response, Evil Silver Shaded closed its eyes in satisfaction. It was genuinely exhausted this time and needed a good, long sleep.
Deep beneath the earth, the little fellow called out several more times, but received no further answer from Evil Silver Shaded. The brat looked around in bewilderment, deciding it was best to return to the City of Quicksilver. The outside world was far too cruel; one careless step and it might be captured again. Home was much better.
Eat well, sleep well, and when grown up, dedicate everything to the Bone God!
Such was its current aspiration. But... which way was home?
Trapped inside that bottle, it had failed to keep track of the path. Which direction led home?
With no other choice, the little creature devoured all the metal from the fallen weapons and picked a direction at random.
The slaughter of the svirfneblin soon drew a horde of scavenging monsters—subterranean giant spiders, cave vampire bats, and more. A chaotic free-for-all ensued, turning the battlefield into an even greater mess.
A few hours later, only scattered scraps of flesh and bone remained. No one would ever know what had transpired here.
Even deities were not omniscient; neither the God of Alchemy nor Anbaixiu detected this bloodline connection. Seeing Evil Silver Shaded fall into a deep slumber, Anbaixiu wrote it off as "overeating."
The God of Alchemy agreed. They had indeed stuffed the fellow with an obscene amount of heavy metals; perhaps it had been a bit too harsh. It was best to let Evil Silver Shaded sleep it off.
This sleep lasted several days. Yet when Evil Silver Shaded finally woke, another mercury soul puppet—half the height of a person—was sitting beside it.
Watching this newborn bounce and scamper straight toward him, Anbaixiu hurriedly summoned a dozen magical hands to scoop it up. But the moment those hands woven of magic touched the mercury soul puppet, they dissolved into nothingness, and the surface of the magic mirror was smashed to pieces once again.
Anbaixiu felt as though he had taken a blunt blow to the head. Though it was not particularly painful, the impact was undeniably solid.
The God of Alchemy restored the magic mirror with a wave of his hand, then grabbed the newborn creature to examine it closely.
A moment later, the God of Alchemy exclaimed excitedly, "It degraded! This little fellow's power is far inferior to Evil Silver Shaded!"
Yet before the God of Alchemy could celebrate further, the little creature twisted and morphed, wriggling free of the deity's grip. It assumed the form of a small human child and scampered to the side of the magic mirror.
Kneeling before Anbaixiu, the mercury soul puppet declared with utmost reverence, "Great Bone God, your loyal servant begs for your blessing. Please grant me a name; I offer my soul and my all to you."
Anbaixiu had never heard a mercury soul puppet speak with such fluency. Even Evil Silver Shaded, the oldest of their kind, was a simpleton who could only stammer out rough approximations of its thoughts.
Anbaixiu turned helplessly to the God of Alchemy. "Teacher, we have a big problem. The mercury soul puppet's physical power degraded, but its intelligence went up."
Chapter 584