Star Paladin: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 1)
Page 32
Guy grabbed Dave by the collar and dragged the boy into the woods. He looked back. Dianna had clothed herself, face red with embarrassment rather than excitement. Dave just killed the mood.
“Bruh! What were you planning to do? Slit my throat because I was going to bang your sister?!”
“Actually, I came to find you two.”
He narrowed his angry eyes. “For what?”
Dave gestured with his head in the direction he had arrived. “Follow.”
“Dianna,” Guy said to her. “Come with us. Your brother has something to show.”
Guy and Dianna followed Dave through the dark wilderness, stopping at pulsing lights that brightened the trees. Dave ducked behind a rock. Guy and Dianna hid behind a tree, then peeked around its trunk to see where the lights had appeared.
It came from a ship that had landed in the field—a spaceship with a design Guy couldn’t recognize by star-dweller standards.
Dave pointed at it. “That is what.”
Guy’s heart started racing. Leave it to the bad guys to soften his dick. “Fuck . . . the sentinels are here.”
“We should warn the city,” Dianna suggested to Guy.
He looked at the ship again, noting that there were no signs of anyone nearby. It was only the landed ship. “No, it’ll take too long to return. It might be too late when we get the word out. It’s just the one ship, and it looks smaller than the one that chased us here, probably a scout.” Guy pulled Asteria’s Sword out and left the cover of his tree. “Let’s take ‘em out now before they become an issue.”
Chapter Forty-One
Guy accessed his Party screen and used it to shoot out invites to Dianna and Dave. “Okay, group up with me.”
The two siblings accepted.
Guy | HP: 758/758 | MP: 188/188 | AP: 0/100
Dianna | HP: 341/341 | MP: 0/0 | AP: 0/100
Dave | HP: 408/408 | MP: 0/0 | AP: 0/100
They drew their weapons and fled from their hiding spots. Ahead, the idle sentinel craft waited. Guy kept looking to his left and right, half expecting an ambush. But no such thing happened. He wished he could see what was beyond the ship as they crept across the grass.
“I don’t understand,” Dianna whispered. “Why are they here?”
“I think they found out we landed here,” Guy replied.
Dave grunted. “You brought them to our world?”
“Yeah, well, now we’re gonna send them packing!”
A buzzing of fae wings echoed in the air. Guy looked up and winced.
Imperial Trooper (Berserker) | LVL: 15 | Rank: C
Imperial Trooper (Berserker) | LVL: 15 | Rank: C
Imperial Trooper (Medic) | LVL: 15 | Rank: C
Imperial Trooper (Berserker) | LVL: 15 | Rank: C
Imperial soldiers landed ahead of them with weapons drawn.
Guy and Asteria’s Sword led the charge, using a combo of slices to the left and right, upward swings, jumping slashes, and diving rolls to evade, coming up behind an imperial to cut into their back. Dianna kept mobile and tossed her chakram. Its sharp blades sliced faces off. If she timed it right, she’d sometimes throw and hit multiple imperials at once, increasing the rate of her AP gain.
When Dianna played the song for Requiem of War I, the party gained a tremendous advantage, especially Dave with his twin daggers. Dave approached the last imperial by entering stealth, then crept up behind to slit his throat. He pushed the corpse to the ground.
“They brought the fae with them . . .” he said, looking down at the dead with their fairy wings sprouting from the back of their armor.
“Makes sense,” Guy said. “Sacrifice the afflicted fae rather than risk sending the sentinels.” He looked at the idle sentinel ship ahead, a threat they had to stop before it was too late. He pointed at it with the tip of Asteria’s Sword. “Let’s keep pushing! If they make it to the city, they’ll slaughter everyone and harvest their crystals.”
“Crystals?”
“I’ll explain later.”
Guy led his party to the sentinel ship, their searching eyes looking for a way inside. “This ship is their way off the planet,” Guy whispered to the two. “If they learn it’s at risk, I bet they’ll come running back to stop us.”
“That should get them to pull away from the city,” Dianna said. “Hopefully, the others too.”
Guy grimaced. “Others?”
“This is not the only city blessed,” she said.
“Wait, so there might be more fae than this?” Dave asked. “Maybe we should turn back?”
“No, we make our stand here! We have to stop them now before it’s too late!”
Dave shook his head. “I don’t think we’ll survive the next fight.”
“We’ll be fine, you know why?” Guy faced the ship, smiling. “Because you’re partying with the best Paladin in the galaxy!”
“Pretty sure you are the only one too,” Dave said.
“Yeah, and?”
“You could also be the worst, and there would be no way to tell since we cannot compare you.”
“Yeah, but even if I were the worst, I’d still be the best by default!” The two siblings shot worried looks. “Look, let’s just deal with this ship. We fuck it up, double back to Coldhorn to resupply, let everyone know what we found, and search for other threats.”
Dianna inched her nervous hand to her chakram. “Okay, if you say so.”
“If worse comes to worst, just run, and I’ll hold them off. Don’t worry about me.” He continued searching the hull of the ship, noting its strange craftsmanship. “It’s my job to protect the party.”
Guy made two circles around the vessel just to make sure they missed nothing. They didn’t. He found the main entrance, or at least something that looked like it. It was not standard design in the fleet, almost alien. Next to the door lay a red glowing triangle, the open command Guy assumed, or a door chime. Only one way to find out.
Guy pushed it and stepped to the side, holding Asteria’s Sword high and ready.
Nothing happened.
He pushed it again. “Dingdong.”
On the third attempt, the door exploded.
The explosive blast of red-orange flames hurled Guy, Dianna, and Dave away from the ship. They hit the grass and tumbled. Not even the human racial trait could have withstood that.
Guy | HP: 411/758 | MP: 188/188 | AP: 60/100
[Burning]
Dianna | HP: 47/341 | MP: 0/0 | AP: 80/100
[Burning]
Dave | HP: 102/408 | MP: 0/0 | AP: 100/100
[Burning]
They lost a chunk of HP and received a negative status effect.
Burning
HP is gradually falling as your body is on fire.
“Fuck!”
Guy leaped to his feet. Dave and Dianna groaned in misery. Their HP was low enough to feel the pain of burning. Guy’s wasn’t. They needed healing, and quick. He opened his Inventory screen and scrolled through the list, his eyes searching for HP potions—
Boom.
A powerful beam of purple energy hit Guy, forced him to his knees, and stacked on a second effect pulsing near his name.
Dark Touch
Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence are reduced by 50%.
Because of that, Asteria’s Sword felt a lot heavier than usual. It took Guy both hands to hold it, and even then, he lacked the strength needed to swing it correctly and the mental capacity required to stay focused. Slowly, Guy got back to his feet just in time to see who had given them the magical sucker punch.
It was Wylume.
The Nox Knight stood, holding his sword tight, its blade glowing with purple energy, as his black armor shined with light from the small fires that spread to the grass. With a swift cleave across the ground, Wylume’s sword released another surge of purple energy, striking Guy’s chest hard.
The shockwave threw the Paladin to the ground, back first.
Guy | HP: 132/758
And it remo
ved a chunk of his HP. The pain was kicking in. The closer he got to zero HP, the more it hurt. Even getting up was painful.
Guy stood again, huffing and puffing, worried about why Dianna and Dave never got up.
The reason paralyzed his heart for a second.
Dianna | HP: 32/341
[Burning] [Unconscious]
As for Dave, he couldn’t see him.
Dave | HP: 93/408
[Stealth]
Dave used his AP for stealth.
“Ah, at last we meet again, Paladin.”
Wylume stepped forward, aiming his sword low. Guy tried to wave Asteria’s Sword, but his low strength made his aim waver. Instead of running to make a dashing strike, Guy wobbled to Wylume, struggled to swing Asteria’s Sword, and missed. Wylume laughed as his blade pulsed with purple radiating energy, slashed the ground, and discharged a shockwave bolt of darkness through Guy’s chest.
Guy went down and his hands were so weak he couldn’t keep Asteria’s Sword in his grip.
Smoke lifted from his chest while the purple energy ate into Guy like acid. He couldn’t brush off the energy sapping his strength. His HP continued to drop from the fires burning his flesh. Guy hoped Dave would share the item he had used to get rid of the flames.
Ahead, Wylume and his glowing purple sword ambled to Guy, smirking deviously. Guy’s only escape was to kill Wylume before Wylume killed him, and he doubted Dave was going to stick around to help. Asteria’s Sword was far out of his reach. Guy crawled to it, knowing he lacked the strength to use it, extending one red-soaked hand for it, his legs unable to make him stand—
A big sabaton kicked Guy to the ground.
Wylume stepped on Guy’s head to pin him there. He heard Wylume laugh as he stepped off Guy, then kicked his face. It launched Guy up and down, and he lost more HP, down to 23 now. He sat up to see Wylume reach for Asteria’s Sword, holding it with his free hand.
Smoke rose from Wylume’s hand around the hilt of Asteria’s Sword. It looked like the hilt was burning him. Wylume winced and grunted, tossing Asteria’s Sword; he brought up his hand that had held it and glanced at the flesh radiating with blue light. According to Guy’s vision, Wylume’s HP fell to 92 percent, just by touching Guy’s sword.
“No matter,” Wylume said, his gaze shifting to Guy’s downed body. “We shall recover that later—”
Dave emerged from his stealth. Guy was wrong about him.
The young Assassin plunged his twin daggers into Wylume’s chest. The Assassin saved the day, or just his sister, while he left Guy to die. He was happy with either choice.
Wylume snarled and spun to deal with Dave. His daggers had only pissed Wylume off. With one firm strike, Wylume cut a grisly wound across Dave’s torso. Blood poured down like a crimson waterfall. Dave tried to ignore the pain but couldn’t keep his shaking hands steady—
Wylume sliced off Dave’s hands.
Dave stared at the bloody stumps of his wrists, squirting blood up and onto his face stilled with horror. It looked like Dave was crying blood as he screamed. Wylume silenced Dave’s wails of terror with a big stab through his red-soaked chest. A purple glowing blade tore through Dave’s insides and pierced out his back.
Dave | HP: 0/408
Wylume removed his sword and kicked Dave’s carcass down. Guy was powerless to do anything, his body full of pain that kept him still and forced him to watch what Wylume did next.
Wylume approached Dianna, yanked her head up by the hair, and angled his blade to her throat.
“Don’t do it, Wylume!”
Wylume snorted. “Do what?” And slit her throat. “Oh? You mean that? Sorry!”
Dianna | HP: 0/341
He released Dianna from his grip and left her to die with her face down in her own blood.
Uncontrollable anger ignited within Guy. He wondered if the emotions in him were what people felt when he used Provoke on them—because as of that moment, Guy was ready to sacrifice everything just to attack Wylume.
“You motherfucker . . .”
“Motherfucker is not my name. It is Wylume.”
Dave was dead.
Dianna was dead.
But neither had evaporated into crystals. Looking closer, Guy saw their LP flash over their bodies.
LP: 10/10
Was there still hope for the two? Wylume put his sword into Dave’s face and cut the flesh in no particular direction, carving it, mutilating it. He lifted the weapon and brought it down, again and again, then to his chest, stabbing it repeatedly until the red pulp of meat was barely recognizable as human.
Dave’s HP didn’t drop. Of course not, he had none left.
His LP decreased with each of Wylume’s actions.
LP: 8/10
LP: 5/10
Guy’s hope had faded. He held his hand to Wylume, almost ready to beg for him to stop. “No!”
“Sorry, but it had to happen,” Wylume said. He continued the mutilation of Dave's body.
LP: 3/10
LP: 1/10
The last stab of the sword hit, and Dave’s LP dropped to zero.
Dave’s corpse evaporated and turned into a large crystal. Wylume collected it, smiled, opened his Inventory screen, and tossed the crystal inside.
“Do not hate me for this,” Wylume said. “You brought this death to them. You and your uncle.” Wylume looked at Guy. “By the way, what happened to your uncle Matthew?”
“I . . . I don’t know.”
“Liar.” Wylume turned to Dianna next. He was going to hack her dead body and bring her LP to zero.
That’s why they hadn’t changed into crystals. They have to lose LP first. It’d explain why the empire was so ruthless to the slaughtered people back at Muruai. They had to attack their bodies to lower their LP.
Guy crawled to his fallen sword, dragging blood across the ground. He had to end this.
“You know what happened to your uncle,” Wylume continued as he sauntered to Dianna’s corpse. “He took you to the fleet. He is there somewhere, hiding among you star people. And, when we find the fleet . . .” He chuckled. “Oh, they are going to be in for a shock when they discover their machina cannot defeat us and that sentinel ships are far more advanced than theirs.”
Guy stopped crawling. Wylume had thrown Asteria’s Sword far away, and Dianna would be a crystal by the time he reached it. It was faster to make an all-or-nothing rush to Wylume to save her—
Wylume made the first downward stab, piercing her back.
LP: 9/10
There must be a way to revive people with zero HP. Why else would the LP system be there?
And another strike.
LP: 7/10
The anger fueled Guy’s will to stand. Adrenaline pumped through his veins. Guy wobbled a bit, but he was confident he could rush and tackle Wylume. He was the Paladin, the protector of the party, and he couldn’t just lie there and watch Wylume butcher them.
Guy charged.
Wylume stabbed her body again.
LP: 6/10
Wylume was close now. Guy’s tackling charge was seconds from impact.
LP: 5/10
Wylume spun, sneering at Guy, then swung.
Slash.
Guy lost his left arm at the shoulder.
He screamed on his way down. Shock kicked in when Guy’s severed arm hit the ground, pumping out red. It surprised Guy that he stood and faced Wylume with one arm, determined to put an end to this fucking insanity—
Thrust.
Wylume put his weapon through Guy’s abs. Pulling it out revealed the bad news.
Guy | HP: 11/758
[Bleeding] [Severed Limb: Left Arm] [Dark Touch]
His screens tracked it all. At least the burning stopped.
“Fuck!” Guy held the stump on his left, gushing a river of red.
“All your fault, Guy,” Wylume said and returned to Dianna. “Oh, that’s right. I know your name. Your childhood friend told me everything. Rachael, was it?”
“What?!”
“Yeah, we have her.” Wylume looked at Dianna and resumed her body’s mutilation, stabbing it repeatedly, covering the grass with her gushing gore. “As much of a pain as it is to kill leveled people, they deliver the best spoils.”
Dianna’s party status gave the bad news.
LP: 0/10
She evaporated before Guy’s horrified face. He failed.
Dianna’s body had turned into a crystal and an ocarina, the one she had been using. Wylume picked up both, storing the crystal in his Inventory screen and wincing at the ocarina. “Well, sometimes, the spoils are the best,” Wylume said.
Wylume didn’t store the ocarina and tossed it over his shoulder. It landed beside Asteria’s Sword.
Wylume turned to him, holding his weapon glowing dark purple. “As I mentioned, this is all your fault,” Wylume continued. “You picked the wrong planet to taint and the wrong planet to hide on. These two died because of you, not me! I am just doing what is needed to protect the galaxy from a threat.” He kneeled next to Guy, shoving his grinning face to Guy’s bloodied one. “Tell me where your fleet is.”
“Fuck you.”
“Funny, Rachael said that too. But I am quite sure there is no region of space called ‘fuck you.’”
An imperial soldier saluted Wylume. “Your orders?”
“Same as before,” Wylume said to the imperial soldier. “Kill all the afflicted, spare the unafflicted.” The soldier saluted again, then entered the forest, shouting to his comrades to relay Wylume’s orders. Wylume returned to Guy. “You see? We are not evil. We are not here to commit mass murder. We are here to prevent it, contrary to popular belief.”
“Could have fooled me.”
“Killing millions to save the lives of billions is a tough decision, believe me,” Wylume said. “But this is necessary, or we will all die. With that said, tell me, where is your fleet? Innocent lives could fade if you withhold that information from me!”
Guy collected a wad of phlegm and saliva and spat into Wylume’s face.
The Nox Knight wiped it off with the back of his wrist.
“Very well,” Wylume said, bringing up his shimmering purple sword. “Your last memories will be that of the party you failed to protect. They were right, too, you know. You are the worst Paladin.”