World Tree Online: The Mountain Valley War: 2nd Dive Concludes

by M. A. Carlson

  “Who are you, really?” I asked.

  “Now that would be telling,” Jinn said with a playful smirk.

  “Can I ask something?” Pwn chanced speaking up.

  “Ooh, as long as it’s a good question, I’ll allow it,” Jinn said. “But if it’s not . . . well, I might torture you before I kill you.”

  “You’re a Demon, right?” Pwn asked.

  “Yes, but that was a bad question,” Jinn said, taking a step forward.

  “Now hold on, just one more question,” Pwn said, holding up his hands in an effort to forestall his death.

  “Fine, it just means your death will take longer,” Jinn replied, sounding bored.

  “That means you were summoned to this plane of existence, right?” Pwn asked.

  “Ooh, that was a clever question. But I’m not going to answer it. It would cause me too much trouble later,” Jinn replied.

  “Cool, that answered my question, ‘Void Banishment’,” Pwn cast suddenly.

  All I saw was a small black dot form in the middle of Jinn’s chest and with a scream of pain, the Demon Rabbit was sucked inside in an instant. The black dot then vanished with a small pop of sound.

  Quest Alert: Demon’s Rising 1-5 (Recommended Level 16-18) – Completed!

  Find and destroy all the Demons that have been summoned into this plane of existence before it is too late, and a Demon gate is opened.

  Reward: +150,000-Experience

  What the hell? I didn’t expect that. I hadn’t done any research into the Demon quest line previously, there was too much else going on.

  Quest Alert: Demon’s Rising 6 (Recommended Level 17-19)

  The Demons have been defeated. The General torn asunder and the spy banished. All that remains is the one responsible, the one who dared summon Demons into this plane of existence. Find and defeat him before he tries again.

  Reward: Experience, Hidden, Hidden, Hidden

  Do you accept this quest?

  Yes

  No

  I mentally accepted the quest just to get it out of my sight. Otherwise, I was frozen in place, staring at the spot Jinn had just been standing. I was in awe. Slowly, I looked toward Pwn.

  Pwn just shrugged. “She gave herself away. As soon as she dodged my question, I knew my hunch was right.”

  “What hunch? What the hell was that?” I asked.

  “Dude, I’m a Void Mage. I work against the Demons as a kind of Demon Police. If anyone summons them to this plane of existence, I’m supposed to banish them back,” Pwn explained.

  “But you . . . you’re a . . .” I was at a loss for words.

  “A player killer, that’s true. But that doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the PvE stuff as well. That said, even I won’t stand for that kind of crazy,” Pwn elaborated before pointing at the space Jinn previously occupied.

  “Where did you send her exactly?” I asked.

  Pwn shrugged again. “The Demon realm.”

  “Can she come back?” I asked.

  Pwn shrugged yet again. “She was summoned here by someone. I imagine someone else can summon her back. Though if she really is a Demon and she failed her quest to get revenge . . . it might be a while before she’s allowed back, even if she is a player.”

  “And how do you know that?” I asked.

  “Void Mage, I told you,” Pwn said.

  I wasn't pleased with that answer. As if it was supposed to answer everything. Rather than question Pwn further, I just made a note to go to the library at my earliest convenience and do some research on Demons and the Void Mage class.

  “So, my turn for questions, are you really the jerk that made the ‘Puzzle Box’?” Pwn asked.

  I cursed in my head. I had hoped he would have forgotten that part. “Yeah, it’s true,” I said, there was no point in denying it.

  “I hate you, I really do,” Pwn said. “That stupid game occupied way too much of my time in high school.”

  “Sorry,” I said. I didn’t really have anything to apologize for, but it was easy to give him the platitude and move on.

  “Yeah, whatever. So, why were you up here? I thought I was screwed when she grabbed me,” Pwn changed the subject.

  “Oh, we were on our way to assassinate the Duke,” I answered. “Want to help out?” I figured if he saved me from certain death like that, then the least I could do was let him tag along.

  “I suppose I could come along,” Pwn said, trying and failing not to look excited.

  “Then let’s go, my friends are probably wondering what happened to me,” I said, moving back toward the streets.

  “Your friends are . . . violent,” Pwn said, looking at all the destruction and the bound and gagged Patrolmen that lined the street.

  I was kind of impressed that Rose and the others had managed to capture so many. I didn’t see a single dead body among them.

  “I imagine if we follow the path of destruction, we’ll eventually find them,” I said, jogging in the direction of the bodies. I just hoped there were no high-level players this way or we would be in real trouble after I burned both casts of ‘Justice Bringer’ against Jinn. I shook my head banishing the thought, I would think about Jinn later. That was a bag of crazy I didn’t want to open at the moment.

  We found the rest of my friends two floors up. They didn’t even seem to notice I was missing.

  “I’m back,” I said.

  “Jack, wait . . . what?” Rose questioned, blinking then shaking her head. “What happened? Where are we?”

  Rose’s confusion was echoed by the others, it was as if a spell had been broken and suddenly the Patrolman she had just been fighting, wavered and vanished, as did all the ones they captured behind us.

  I cursed again as I realized that was exactly what happened, Jinn strikes again. It also raised my fear of her even higher, those were some really powerful illusions if they lasted even after she had been banished. “I think I hate illusions more than anything in the world right now.” I said, making the decision right then and there, improving my ‘Mental Armor’ skill was extremely important, maybe the most important thing I did going forward. I needed to get it to Rank X as soon as possible.

  Mental Armor

  Level: 25

  Experience: 74.55%

  Skill Effect (Passive): Your mental toughness grants you a 1.25% chance to resist mental effects.

  “Damn,” said Heath, long and slow. “So that’s what that feels like.”

  “But how? Who?” Micaela asked.

  “Bushy,” I said. “Or should I say Jinn.” Seeing the looks of confusion on their faces, I explained what happened, minus giving them my real name . . . though I don’t think I would mind telling Rose my real name . . . but that was something to think about later.

  “Well that was a giant mind melt,” Baby complained. “Is that how she forced her way in with us so easily?”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  “Wait, she died during that first attack. She respawned with us at the Hammerton graveyard,” Rose countered.

  “I don’t know how she pulled that off. Probably another illusion,” I said.

  “Might have been a copy technique,” Micaela said, earning surprised looks. “What? I might have seen some books in the archive when Bushy . . . erm . . . Jinn was there with us. One of the books in the section Bushy was looking through had a title ‘Chi Doubleganger’ or something.”

  “Doppelganger?” I asked.

  “Yeah, that,” Micaela said.

  “Great, so she can also make copies of herself, just what we needed,” Rose complained.

  “Nothing for it now, she’s banished and won’t be back for some time. Now, Bye-bye said something about assassinating a Duke,” Pwn interrupted, making everyone else realize he was there.

  “You invited him?” Rose asked, glaring at me.

  “Yeah, he kind of saved me back there, I figured the least I could do was let him join us for this,” I explained myself.

  Rose narrowed he
r eyes, thankfully at Pwn and not me this time. “Fine, don’t get in the way.”

  Pwn raised an eyebrow but ignored her.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Rose softly, gripping her hand and thankful when she didn’t pull away from me. Happier when she hugged me.

  “I don’t like that . . . feeling like that,” Rose said softly in return. “I want to learn ‘Mental Armor’ and then max it out.”

  “I’m with you one hundred and twenty percent,” I replied, hugging her a little tighter.

  “Are you okay? I know you didn’t say it, but it sounded like she really scared you,” Rose said.

  “Terrified me,” I said honestly. “She knows my name . . . my real name.”

  “You have security, right?” Rose asked, looking up at me worriedly.

  “Yeah, but if she has the skill to find my real name, my security system probably won’t be much of an obstacle,” I said.

  “You should emergency log out then,” Rose said.

  “If she wanted me dead-dead, then she wouldn’t have come after me in the game. She wants me to suffer. I’ll still be upgrading my security system when I log out, but for now I should be safe,” I said.

  “That isn’t very reassuring,” Rose whispered.

  “I hate to break you two up,” Gras started. “But we really should get moving again. Those Patrolmen might have been illusions, but there still might be real ones.”

  Rose hugged me tightly for a moment then kissed me. “Okay, let’s go assassinate a Duke,” she said cheerfully.

  I snorted a laugh at the change in attitude. “I’ve always wanted to commit Regicide,” I joked.

  “The Duke is not a King, you know,” Gras said.

  I shrugged, “Close enough.”

  Without the Patrolmen slowing us down, we were basically able to run the streets all the way to the top.

  “Heath, check it out,” Rose said, stopping us short of making the final turn up the last grand stairway.

  “You got it,” Heath said, activating his ‘Stealth’ skill and vanishing.

  I had barely sat down on the stairs to drink from my stamina thermos when Heath returned.

  “Yeah, without Bye-bye’s ‘Justice Bringer’ there is no way we’re getting through that door,” Heath said, thumbing over his shoulder and up the stairs. “Four adventurers, all above level 50.”

  “So, she screwed us worse than we thought,” Pwn complained.

  Jinn had done a real number on us . . . on me. I sagged feeling defeated by the game for the first time.

  “Are you sure?” Micaela mumbled. “Okay, but if you’re wrong, I’m putting you back on that island after I find a replacement.”

  “What’s up, Micaela? Are you okay?” Baby asked.

  “I’m fine. I was just talking to Palm, he was the Duke’s brother, I think I told you that before, anyway, he says he knows of a secret entrance,” Micaela said.

  “Anyone have any better ideas?” Mardi asked.

  “I’m game,” I said, standing up.

  “Great, follow me,” Micaela said, running back down the stairs.

  “You heard her,” I said, giving chase and letting a little of Micaela’s youthful exuberance infect me. Considering there was no hope of getting through the other way, I was happy to cling to any hope there might be.

  “Heath, can you get us into this door?” Micaela asked, standing in front of a locked door two floors down from the Duke’s throne room.

  “Sure,” Heath said, kneeling in front of the door.

  “Are you sure there is a secret entrance here?” Gras asked. “We searched pretty thoroughly for any secret ways into my father’s throne room.”

  “Palm says there is,” Micaela answered, shrugging. Her head kind of tilted then as if she was listening to something. “Ooh, that’s kind of neat.”

  “What is?” Gras asked.

  “Huh? Oh, Palm said only a Shaman can open it. Your grandfather set it up that way,” Micaela answered.

  “Okay, but will it open for you?” Gras asked.

  “No,” Micaela said smiling. “But it will open for Palm.”

  And Micaela strikes again. Without her spirit from the lake, we never would have found our way here or been able to avoid the players guarding the actual entrance. It was too coincidental. I smelled Godly intervention written all over this. Still, I wasn’t going to complain . . . this time.

  As soon as Heath got us into the room, a storeroom, if the crates were any indication, Micaela led us to the back of the room.

  “We need to move that stack of boxes,” Micaela said, moving to the largest pile of crates in the room and taking one of them and moving it away, stacking it against the next wall.

  Begrudgingly, we all pitched in, even Baby grabbed some of the smaller boxes and flew them across the room.

  When the wall was clear, Micaela stood in front of the wall, her brow furrowed in concentration. Then she cleared her throat once. “Open Sesame,” she intoned seriously, then broke into a fit of giggles when the wall shifted and moved to reveal a stairway going up.

  “Did you really need to say that?” Gras asked.

  “No, but it was really fun. I’ve always wanted to do that,” Micaela gushed.

  Rose smiled but didn’t comment as she led the way into the hidden stairway.

  The stairs went up a floor to a landing and then up again to a second landing with no obvious door.

  “Palm says, once the door opens, we’ll be in the throne room,” Micaela said.

  I looked at Gras and Mardi. I was compelled to check one more time. “Are you two sure about this?” I asked. “Once we go in that room, there is no turning back.”

  “Bye-bye, I’m sure, relax. Everything will work out,” Mardi said, smiling at me.

  “I’m sure,” Gras said. “I owe that bastard. I could never live with myself if I didn’t help bring him down, no matter the consequences.”

  “Okay, everyone, buffs, check your mana and stamina then let’s do this,” I said, we had reached the point of no return.

  The door appeared with a loud grinding sound that no doubt warned the Duke we had arrived.

  “Jack, make sure the door is barred,” Rose yelled as she moved into the room. I moved right behind her running for the door.

  “Micaela, help me with this,” I said, trying to lift the crossbar and struggling with the log.

  “I got it,” said Micaela, easily lifting the bar and dropping it into the brackets, barring the door and trapping ourselves inside with the Duke.

  Rose and the others stood before the throne where a much older version of Gras sat, staring down on my friends unconcerned. His nameplate read , well within our capability.

  “Interesting,” I heard the Duke say before I caught up to my friends. “You come to me willingly, Mardi du Hammer. I must say, I am surprised by your willingness to die. And you bring my traitor son with you. I shall enjoy quite the victory today.”

  “Not if you’re dead,” Rose yelled back, her shield slamming against an invisible barrier.

  “Please, do not resist. You will make a mess of the carpets,” Duke Shrove replied nonchalantly. “You do not have the power to break through my barrier. And none of you can combat my slaves.”

  I looked around quickly but didn’t see anything.

  Micaela growled. “Earthshaker, tear down that throne!” she shouted, punching a closed fist into the ground. The ground in front of her fist cracked, a wave of earth cracked and split, quickly approaching the barrier and continuing through it until the throne cracked in half, unseating the Duke in the process.

  The Duke stood slowly but there was nothing nonchalant about him now. “Where did you get that spirit?” he demanded loudly, focusing on Micaela.

  “What’s wrong, Rover? Do not like the Shaker? Then I guess you better get moving,” Micaela said, speaking with an odd Scottish accent that didn’t belong. “Earthmover!”

  The stone under the Duke sudd
enly buckled, lifting him and then dropping out from under him.

  The Duke scrambled to his feet this time with haste, his eyes looking around wildly. “Cursed spirit, you should have been eaten by now. How dare you come back here! I’ll kill you this time!”

  “Here, Rover,” Micaela said, whistling. “Here boy!” she teased, whistling more.

  Finally, the Duke charged, leaving behind the protective barrier, it was exactly the opportunity Rose needed. She intercepted the Duke, slamming her shoulder into him and sending him skidding. Rose didn’t relent, slamming the edge of one shield into him then the other.

  “Hex,” the Duke finally shouted, and Rose froze in place. She then turned around slowly, her eyes looking around wildly. Then she charged, this time at Micaela.

  “I’m so sorry,” Rose said after the charge. She turned to face the Duke but hesitated to charge again. “That spell of his, ‘Hex’ it allows him to control you. I don’t know if it’s a range thing or a limited number of actions. Whatever it is, be careful.”

  “Hex,” Duke Shrove shouted again but I didn’t see anything until there was a scream of pain from behind me.

  Gras had stabbed Mardi in the back. He yanked his knife free, “Mardi, I didn’t mean . . . oh God Ivaldi, what have I done?”

  “Okay, so it’s not a range thing,” I said, looking back to the Duke only to find him missing. “Where did he go?” I asked.

  “You weren’t watching?” Rose asked.

  “Neither were you,” I said.

  “Curse of Silent Pain,” the Duke said.

  Mardi and Gras both dropped to the ground, writhing silently in pain.

  “The only downside of that spell is the silence. I would so love to hear their cries for release. As for the rest of you, leave and I will kill them quickly. Don’t, and they will suffer a long and excruciating death,” the Duke threatened.

  “Or, we just kill you really fast,” Micaela said, throwing a fireball from her ax, Sundance. It cut through the air just two feet away from me. When the flash cleared, the Duke was visible again.