"Dancer! Damn it, what took you so long?" the Doctor roared, his voice faintly tinged with weakness.
"What happened?" Dancer had barely connected the communication when the Doctor's words left her somewhat baffled. But she quickly noticed his condition, and her tone turned serious. "What happened?"
"I'm currently being hunted by one Death Knight, two Soul Eaters, one Seed of Curse, and three Elemental Lords."
The Doctor lowered his head to dodge the scythe blade whistling overhead. Crystals condensed in the air to form a shield, blocking an Elemental Lord's breath, and his speed increased considerably as a result.
Dancer fell silent, likely digesting the clearly overwhelming amount of information.
"Aren't you in the dwarves' underground mines right now?"
"Yes. Who the hell knows why there are so many high-ranking undead here! Don't tell me the underground world has completely become these undead creatures' paradise!"
Relying on his innate ability, the Doctor temporarily shook off the pursuers behind him.
His body, already on the verge of collapse, was nearly at its limit. The bandages wrapped around him had been thoroughly soaked by fluid seeping from his wounds.
The Doctor felt that his body was like a house leaking drafts from every direction, and like a bottomless bucket. His strength was draining away at an alarming rate; the backlash from using Flower Nectar to forcibly raise his power had already surfaced.
"I don't know. That wasn't included in the intelligence we gathered," Dancer said slowly after a long while.
"Forget it. Let's not talk about that."
The Doctor leaned against the wall, gulping down breaths. His lungs even made repeated hissing sounds, and there was a hole clear through the center of his chest.
It was the wound left behind when a spear thrown by the Death Knight had pierced him.