Player Reached the Top. LitRPG Series. Book IV

by Rick Scar

  “But that’s all for now, guys! Thank you for watching. Please feel free to leave your comments under this video, and in the game’s official forum. Check the Age of Ascension website for the times of our future broadcasts. My name is Sarah, and it’s time to say my goodbye. See you! Have a nice day!” A close-up of her sweetest smile and winking eye completed the first-ever live broadcast of Ascension.

  While the reporter was doing her job, the rogue, who was still coming round, and his prisoner had been surrounded by three clan leaders. The rest stayed in the distance, glaring at those who had been their allies just a short time before, but who were now back to being their enemies.

  Son of Hercules wasn’t there; he had been killed by one of Evil-In’s skills. Mollie and Berserker were gulping down health potions to restore their HP. Gloomy Hangman’s health bar was at 100%, as if he hadn’t even taken part in the fighting… or perhaps he had just been healed already.

  “Hey man, we’re dying to find out, what shit have you got us into this time?” The Faceless Army’s leader crossed his arms, waiting for Will’s response.

  “This shit is called quest completion. Give it a try. You might like it.”

  “Do you really think that’s funny, you milksop? You were inches away from fucking up the whole raid!”

  “Hey! Calm down, bro. What’s done is done.” After removing his helmet, Ronald tossed it into the inventory. “I can see why you’re so angry, but it’s already happened. And it worked well for us.”

  “What if his circus trick had failed? What then?”

  “You know what then.” Kingmaker beckoned one of her men over and started giving out orders in a low voice to show just how little she cared about this argument.

  “Okay. She’s just a girl, but you, Berserker… Why are you siding with this clown?”

  “Watch your mouth,” Will snapped. He wasn’t going to take any personal insults.

  “Oh, easy, easy, everyone.” Crimson Berserker spread his arms in a conciliatory gesture. “There are no real sides here, so stop playing the victim, Gloomy. You’re being childish.”

  “Sure, I’m no golden boy like you. But my clan lost just as many lives as yours. And what do we get instead of a good drop? An NPC monster left alive for an unknown reason. We have to kill it. That’s the only way to compensate for at least part of our losses. Just look at her armor. Her spear. She must have lots of other valuable loot. And her pendant…” Sliding his gaze down the Ifrit’s neck, Hangman frowned as he searched for the item. “Where is it?”

  “It disappeared once it touched the ground. You can try and find it, but you can’t kill the Ifrit. She’s the key to something valuable.”

  “Can’t kill her? And who’s going to stop me, eh? You? Ha, ha.” His eyes were shooting daggers at the rogue. “I might have thought about it if 60% of my clan wasn’t here. And the Messengers. They’re sure to take my side.”

  “And we’ll take his. Are you going to challenge us?” Berserker said coldly. “Did you forget the main goal of this quest? Every survivor of this battle was marked out by the system. Don’t tell me you didn’t get any rewards or XP.”

  “XP? Why would I give a fuck about that? Are we in some sort of a fucking sandbox? And rewards were only given to a few. Less than 10% of those who actually contributed. We want more. It’s nothing personal, just business.” Hangman turned to Will who was standing to the side, peering at Evil-In. The Ifrit was so silent it was hard to believe it was her that had painted this whole area red with blood shortly before.

  “Raven. I know why you need her. You want to kill her alone and take all the rewards for yourself. Alone… or with these two, perhaps. But you’re not getting away with that. If she doesn’t die here and now, you’ll be blacklisted by our clan.”

  “Oh, see, that’s where you’re wrong. And I must say, for someone who just talked about doing business, you have a very strange way of going about it. Why would you get out of doing that, I wonder? Especially considering the fact that I’m not even from this floor, so you’ll have to declare a clan war with these.” Will pointed at Ronald and Mollie with his eyes.

  Gloomy Hangman smirked. “You’re right,” he said suddenly, “I just hate brazen upstarts like you.” He spat at the ground. “But I always put the clan’s interests first. I’m ready to forget the Ifrit as long as we’re adequately compensated with gold, or with items of golden rank or higher. I’m speaking for my own clan only and not on behalf of the Messengers; you will have to sort their compensation out with them. And if I ever hear that you’ve deceived me and stealthily killed her to take all the drop… then you will see that all the strongest techniques I’ve used on enemies before were just a warm-up.” Looking at the Ifrit’s chained-up hands, he asked one final question: “Will you tell us how you got those handcuffs?”

  Raven said nothing and smiled feebly as he pretended to lift an imaginary hat like Daltaro would do.

  “Fuck you,” the Faceless Army’s leader commented, before wheeling around and heading off for his clan. “Our job here is done. And you,” he glanced over his shoulder at Mollie and Berserker, “don’t forget what we agreed.”

  “He is unbelievably dumb.” Will shook his head. “I never thought anyone would be so insistent about loot dropping.”

  “From what I know about him, I’m not surprised he can’t think about anything but getting as much for himself as possible,” Berserker said, apparently unimpressed by Hangman’s behavior.

  “Forget him.” Kingmaker stood by Raven’s side, crossing her arms. “Why did you side with us?”

  “Unlike this guy, I can see that a good Ifrit is not necessarily a dead Ifrit. My clan wouldn’t mind a trip to another continent.”

  Chapter 220. Evil-In’s Fate. The Price of Secrets

  “…a nd I’d love to hear more about the handcuffs. This pair is one of those they use in prisons, yeah? Me and my guys once tried to get some, but it turned out to be impossible: getting past the barrier, the guards, and then finding them in the maze. Some of us even tried to kill the guards, but they just got sent to respawn.”

  “Do you know that saying about how knowing too much?”

  “…can hurt you?”

  “Oh, that’s how it ends? It sounds like a threat.” Will shrugged and turned to Mollie. “Where’s your lover?” he asked, changing the subject.

  “My… what?!” Mollie was taken aback by the rogue’s embarrassing question. “I really wish I could kill you sometimes.”

  “A lover?” Berserker was unaware of the details of Mollie’s personal life.

  “None of your business,” the RD leader snapped. “I hate you, Raven. I’ve already messaged for her to come here. What are you going to do with this one?” It wasn’t difficult to guess that she meant the Ifrit.

  “Looks like I won’t be able to visit another continent any time soon, however much I’d love to. Considering how long this journey took her, you’d better be prepared to spend twice as long taking her back. So, I’d rather leave her with you and…”

  “I don’t mind.”

  Raven and Mollie slowly turned to the female voice, which had interrupted them.

  “No one asked you,” Will snapped, totally forgetting that NPCs of that level weren’t your regular mobs. For them, being defeated didn’t mean automatic acquiescence to the will of the winner.

  “Looking at you, I don’t think you have any brains at all.” Evil-In winced at the pain of losing to such inept and stupid creatures. “From what I’ve heard, you’re going to use me to reach that dead continent, yeah? But you worms seem to have forgotten why I came here in the first place.”

  The three players considered her words for a moment. A synchronous “Ah” escaped their lips as each of them understood what their prisoner was talking about.

  “Because of the vampire,” Will said. “Shit. I really thought she could make this task easier for your clan…”

  “Hey,” Ronald intervened. “What about my clan?” />
  “Yeah,” Will dismissed him, not listening to Berserker at all. He suddenly froze and jerking his brows upward. “Hey, wait. So that idiot… wasn’t that dumb, after all? And we…No. I’d rather not think about it.”

  “So that means, from what she said… it looks like we have no reason to keep her alive.” Mollie shifted her gaze between the two men, inviting them to agree.

  “Yeah. But I wonder, why the hell did she confess that to us?” Will knew he couldn’t use the Obedience Crystal to subdue this creature. For him personally, she held little value, if any. “What do you say, o supreme being?” he asked sarcastically.

  Evil-In was surprisingly calm. “Looks like you worms have totally forgotten about my power, too.”

  “You can’t use it while you’re in the handcuffs.”

  “I can’t. But all of you, except maybe two or three of the strongest ones, will be destroyed as soon as you set foot on that continent. While I was imprisoned, those ravaged lands gave birth to lots of horrifically strong monsters: they’re so strong, even I had trouble fighting them. I am your only chance of surviving this journey, you puny creatures.”

  Attention. New information regarding Khau’Krash continent has been obtained.

  According to Evil-In the Bloody Ifrit, the dead wasteland has become home to strong monsters following her imprisonment.

  A lead to a new location, The Land of Monsters has been obtained.

  The three players received this message at the same time, and their eyes met a few seconds later. So that continent is populated with creatures that Evil-In can’t even destroy? Isn’t that too much for Floor 3?

  “But why share that with us?”

  “I’ve told you before: I’m bored. And that place still has things that are tough enough for me to fight properly.”

  “Is that your way of offering to help us?” Kingmaker inquired with some surprise.

  “You must be crazy, you mangy dog,” the Ifrit snapped. “I couldn’t care less about any of you. I just want a good fight to enjoy. A fight with someone who can resist me.”

  “But we defeated you,” Berserker reminded her.

  Shooting him an arrogant glare, the Ifrit shook her head and sighed, “Yes. I wish I knew how you managed that.”

  For the next five minutes, Mollie kept demanding to kill this Ifrit scum more and more insistently. Ronald argued they had to find a way to force the prisoner to comply with their demands. Before they knew it, they were discussing a joint expedition to the new continent.

  In the meantime, Will considered a possibility that had just crossed his mind. It was a way of subduing any creature, even one that was 200+ levels his senior. But it came with a prohibitive price. The Box of Wishes. Raven wasn’t sure whether he should waste the power of this item on subduing a single Ifrit, even if it was a tremendously strong one. One of Mollie’s guys could do that by putting a nuclear arrow into the Rollin’ Dice’s quiver.

  Will would have preferred not to disclose to anyone that he even had this item, but Mollie… He could trust her. Although, she would still have to sign some papers.

  “I have an idea. But first, I’d rather let Ulfmar see her.” Taking his prisoner by the elbow, Will led her towards the tower with the secret chamber beneath it, to where the vampire was hiding. Mollie and Ronald hurried after them, also curious about how the vampire, who had spent ages dreaming of vengeance, would react to the news.

  Seven minutes later, after descending a set of wooden stairs, Will knocked on the chamber’s steel-riveted door. “Ulfmar! We’ve won. You can come out now.”

  The soft footsteps stopped behind the door. The lock fell to the floor with a clink and the door swung open, revealing a pale-bluish man standing silently on the threshold, having wrapped himself up in his cloak. He stared at the rogue with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

  “Is she...” The vampire’s throat twitched as he swallowed nervously, “dead?”

  “No. Alive but powerless. Look.” Will hastily pulled out the pendant to show it to the vampire, whose eyes had opened wide at the word “alive”. The two of them were in private; there would be no unnecessary questions coming their way. Raven wanted to prepare the vampire before he came face to face with the thing he had spent his whole life fearing. He would rather not remind Ulfmar of his experience under the effects of Terror. “Do you know what this is?”

  “No. But…I can feel an evil aura. Her aura.”

  “It’s her pendant. The source of her power and her weak spot. I took it away from her and put a set of handcuffs on her to block all her magic. She’s upstairs. Would you like to…to stab her with a knife, maybe? It might be a relief.”

  Will was doing his best to let the vampire see his Big Bad Wolf was now toothless, looking more like a puppy than a dangerous predator.

  The last vampire’s inner struggle was written all over his face. His fear of the Ifrit, who had destroyed his whole family, was near-impossible to overcome; like a rabbit’s fear of a snake.

  When you’ve been bathing in fear, day after day; when weakness has been relentlessly enveloping your body to the point where you can no longer stand… How are you supposed to overcome this after so many years? Where are you supposed to find the strength to take even a single step toward your worst nightmare?

  Ulfmar was strong… once. But his recent trials had drained him of strength, and the last drops of his confidence had seeped away.

  “I… I’m afraid I can’t. I’ve always dreamt of seeing her dead, but… you clearly have a different plan for her. I think it’s better if I leave this floor and have a fresh start, just as I promised you I would. You’ve complied with my request, young man. Now you will have my eternal gratitude. Please forgive me for being so weak.” Ulfmar lowered his head and hid his face in the hem of his cloak.

  Hearing these words, Will couldn’t help but remember all the victims of the terrorists and maniacs he had rescued. They’d had the same fear in their eyes.

  “As you wish, man. As you wish. I understand. Have a rest. I’ll just sort a few things out and come back for you. Kingmaker’s people will escort you to the hotel.”

  “See you, young messenger.”

  ***

  “Rako.”

  “Raven.”

  The two of them glared at each other with undisguised annoyance. After parting with Crimson Berserker, Will and Mollie had waited for the witch to arrive, but her arrival produced some strong tension between her and Will.

  “As you can see, the Bloody Ifrit has been captured and poses no threat.”

  “I see. But without her…” Rako’s gaze instantly shifted to Mollie, before filling with awe and admiration. “Without her, you’d have died a quick and painful death. Like a pig daring to attack a lion.” She spat with contempt.

  “Crazy witch. I wish I could rip your tongue out.”

  “Don’t you dare call me that, you bastard!”

  “She’s overreacting to you,” Kingmaker commented pensively as she watched from the side.

  Evil-In winced and snorted loudly as she witnessed this discussion. She made no attempt to break free.

  “Give. Me. My. Reward. Witch,” Will uttered slowly, curbing his anger with this woman. “Or should I tell Amatelia you have failed such a simple task?”

  “How dare you,” she hissed, but she still pulled out three scrolls. “Here. Choose one. Each one contains an inner-circle skill. I wish I knew why my sister agreed to give these out.”

  Sighing, Raven applied Identification to the scrolls.

  NOT ME

  Rank: Secret

  Active skill: Apprentice

  You can instantly exchange places with any item or creature.

  Range: 50 feet

  Target weight: <24 stone

  Energy required: 300

  Cooldown: 2 min

  MASTER EVALUATOR

  Rank: Secret

  Active skill: Apprentice

  You can tell which poison will have the strongest eff
ect on your target at first glance.

  Poison effect bonus: +30%

  Mana required: 500

  Cooldown: 4 min

  NIGHT FURY’S RAGE

  Rank: Secret

  Active skill: Apprentice

  Invented by one of the Twelve Sisters during the Inquisition War, this series of six attacks targets the enemy armor’s weakest spots, damaging it to the point of destruction, regardless of whether the armor is -man-made or natural.

  Spending: 30 influence points

  Cooldown: 2 min

  Note: When used against players, this skill reduces the Defense attribute of the targeted body part or piece of gear to 0.

  The second mana-using skill was a bad match for Will’s rogue character. Although he had enough mana, spending it on a skill like that would be inefficient. Pondering over the remaining two options, Will eventually picked Not Me. Granted, the other skill was really handy, but he would rather not add to his collection of IP-spending skills.

  “That’s all. You may go report to your seniors. I want everything to be ready when I arrive.”

  “Don’t tell me what to do.”

  Ignoring these words, Raven waited for the witch to leave. He was really angry now and could have killed her, but that was hardly a reasonable thing to do considering his business with the Conclave.

  After having complained to Mollie and been comforted by her, the witch finally left.

  “Fucking bitch,” Will blurted out, no longer able to contain his temper.

  “She’s not that bad,” Mollie objected. “Whatever. You told me you had an idea about this one. What is it?”

  ***

  The Arpin’s Dawn Inn

  There were four people in the room: Will, Mollie, Evil-In, and an excited girl whose nickname was Sky Maiden, a player from the Rollin’ Dice clan. She had already signed the NDA, and Raven had started explaining the task to her, using simple words to tell her about what had happened to the vampire.