“Get serious Vic. We still have to deal with Barska.”
That sobered him up.
“I know.” He looked down at the ground, twiddling his foot.
Is that...shame? I wondered.
“I know what he did to you.” He admitted in a subdued voice. “I still got all your prompts and notifications, so I know what you had to endure. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you had to go through that. But I also know that you pulled through, and somehow you even got stronger. Your immersion is now much deeper than before. You’ve accessed and activated Dark Mana on your own, and that’s damn impressive...for a meat suit. You could almost qualify as a VI.”
“Thanks, I guess.” I muttered, shaking my chains meaningfully.
“Right, your chains.” hobgoblin-Vic stepped toward the table and picked up a thin, barbed torture tool. “I don’t have the key, but I can try to pick the lock with this. If that fails, I can just kill you, so you respawn back at the settlement.”
“Try unlocking my shackles, but dying is not an option.” I emphasized. “That’s not the plan.”
He froze in the act of reaching for my shackle, and looked at me in surprise, “Don’t tell me you want to be tortured some more!?”
“No, I really don’t. But I have a plan. If it works, Barska and the hobgoblins will be a thing of the past and then we can waltz out of here at our leisure.”
“Ha! I’d like to see how you manage that trick.” He started fumbling with the lock. He was not a locksmith, and slipped frequently, leaving cuts all over my arms in the process.
“Ouch!”
“Sorry boss.”
That went on and on.
“Crap!” Vic swore after 30 minutes of failed attempts. “That is a ridiculously high-quality lock! It’s going to take longer than I thought.” He resumed his fumbling with the shackles.
A commotion came from outside, followed by sure, heavy steps coming down the stairway. I recognized the sound. Barska was returning.
“Vic! We're out of time! Leave the body on the floor and hide somewhere, hurry!”
He dropped the metal tool he was holding and looked around in panic, “Shit!”
Purple tendrils flowed out of the hobgoblin’s nostrils, mouth and ears, twining back together to form Vic’s purple-goblin body. The abandoned hobgoblin corpse fell to the floor and dissipated, absorbed back into the world. Vic scampered over to some boxes on the far side of the room, and changed himself into a purple box.
Nice camouflage. I grunted approvingly.
I wrapped my hand around the chain to hide the scratches Vic attempts had caused.
We were just in time. Barska entered the chamber, palpably filling it with danger. In my Mana Sight his eyes were pits swirling with burning red energy. He was angry. Very Angry.
“You lying piece of goblin dirt!” He spat out as he came closer. He reached for the bone dagger on my belt and with a powerful thrust shoved it right through my belly, including part of the handle, taking a quarter of my hit points away. He then swung his arm across my face in a slap that set my ears ringing.
“The scouts I sent to the location you provided encountered a powerful bear matriarch, only one of them escaped to report your betrayal.” His face was contorted with anger, his aura was blazing red. “I warned you what would happen if you lied. It seems that losing your eyes wasn’t enough for you. But that’s not a problem. I have ways to make you experience pain like you never imagined. I will melt your limbs in acid one after the other, and feed you healing potions to make sure you stay conscious and experience every instant of it fully. You will suffer and cry and beg. All that will remain of your weak body will be a head and torso, a pathetic, drooling, broken shell of a goblin.”
I maintained my composure, but I can’t deny his description rattled me. It most definitely did not sound like something I wanted to experience.
He continued in a calmer tone, “But there is some good news, despite your deception, you still lost.”
I looked up to him at that. What is he talking about?!
He grinned smugly, his red aura blazed as if in anticipation. “The scouting party I sent to the location you provided was the second party I dispatched today. I sent another party to backtrack the trail you left from your settlement to my camp. They returned not long ago.”
Oh shit! I thought in alarm. In our haste to reach the hobgoblins, Malkyr and I hadn’t bothered to cover our tracks. We probably left a trail any novice tracker could find! This explained my premonition; the hobgoblins know where my settlement is!
“Yes, exactly.” Barska nodded, immensely pleased at my now worried and alarmed expression.
“I just sent an Ogre squad to your little-hidden valley. In a few hours they’ll reach it and destroy everything in sight. When they destroy your ancestral cemetery, that will be the end for you as well. But until then…” He drew a vial full of yellow liquid from his belt, “I’m going to make you suffer.”
Shit, I hadn’t planned on him finding the village! I thought anxiously.
I needed one hand free for my plan to work. I originally planned on bluffing a second time, promising to show the clan’s true location on a map - forcing him to release me, but he no longer required that information. My plan was ruined.
“Wait! Wait!” My thought raced as I desperately tried to find a way out of this mess.
“I know the location of a great treasure! It could be all yours!”
“Not interested.” he pulled the cork from the bottle, which started exuding noxious fumes.
Damn! What then? What!? Think! I thought in near panic. Every moment that passed brought the demise of my clan closer and closer.
“I know the location of another boss!” I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.
That made him pause.
His eyes narrowed in suspicion. “You have already proved to be a liar, why should I listen to you?”
“He taught me how to control shadows, he is much more powerful than me. If you manage to kill him, you would surely gain god-like powers.” I sprinkled bits of truth into my tale. Anything that would make it sound more believable.
He growled in frustration. I guess he really wanted to hurt me, but I had managed to dangle a more appetizing fruit in front of him.
“Where is this godlike creature?” he demanded in a booming voice.
“I can draw you a map.”
“You’re blind, fool.”
“So?”
He growled again, his eyes shining with hate. After he considered a moment, he finally calmed down, his aura dimming slightly. He reached into the satchel hanging at his belt, and retrieved a scroll and a key. He unrolled the scroll with one hand and with his other, he reached to unlock the still shackled hand that I offered.
The lock snapped open, and my arm was released, leaving me hanging by one arm.
Pushing a piece of charcoal into my hand, he held the parchment in front of me. “Draw. Now!” he barked.
I tried moving my arm. It was equally numb and pulsing uncomfortably from being immobile and under strain for so long. Shakingly, I moved my arm and pointed one finger, slowly tracing a line across the scroll. Barska’s eyes followed in anticipation. I moved my finger past the edge of the scroll and continued the motion, raising it away from the scroll and finally stopping when I was pointing directly at the center of Barska’s torso. I dropped the charcoal.
“What’s the meaning of this?!” he demanded angrily. “Are you trying another one of your useless tricks?”
I reached for the accumulated well of hot rage deep inside me, loosening its restraints, unleashing it.
“This,” I began to smile, “is Blood Wrath.”
Incandescent Void-energy exploded from my fingertip in a pencil thin line, glowing like a negative sun. Barska’s red magic flared on
ce again, and stopped the beam effortlessly.
But I wasn’t finished. The Rage that had accumulated over my torture was too much, and held back for too long, to be released instantly.
I clenched my teeth, and forced all the rage-power out, surging through my arm. The void-beam grew as thick as my fist, blasting from my hand open hand at him. Barska’s armor flared as the void-black beam burned through it like tinder, and then punched a tunnel straight through the middle of his torso.
The beam died abruptly, like a light switched off, my rage spent.
Everything froze around us, as if the universe held its breath.
Barska just stood there, wide-eyed in surprise and fear.
Blood Wrath [Piercing Attack] hit Barska for 1775 damage, [2536 * 0.7 SR]
Being tortured for hours, losing health, then regaining it and losing it all over, created an overcharged repository of concentrated rage energy. In addition to helping me keep my focus and sanity, it charged Blood Wrath dozens of times over. I took advantage of that fact, by using the Piercing Attack option I gained at Apprentice rank of that skill, letting the overflow of rage drastically increase its damage output.
Barska’s face was dumbfounded as he looked at the wide hole in his chest. Finally, it was his turn to be impaled.
He took a faltering step, then fell backward onto the stone altar.
Barska was still alive somehow. Unable to move, he flailed weakly on the altar. Then he screamed, many different voices echoing from his mouth. His red armor appeared, phasing in and out, the red wings swept across the floor in uncoordinated jerks and fits. He looked every bit the demonically possessed fiend that he was. Something evil in him was keeping him from dying.
With a flick of my mind I removed the sacrificial dagger from the wound in my stomach. It came out with a moist sucking sound; quick like a band-aid. I was beyond the kind of trifling pain it caused. I sent the dagger to hover above Barska’s eyes, taunting him.
With a smile on my face, I gently guided the dagger down, piercing his skin and pushed it in, slowly going deeper, all the way into his black demon heart.
Surprisingly, he still didn't die. Instead Barska’s screams grew as veins of darkness spread out from the dagger. The screams were music to my ears. Tendrils of darkness rapidly spread over his body.
No! This is too quick! I thought angrily.
I concentrated, directing my senses at the black tendrils. I could feel them hungrily consuming life and flesh. I grasped at the darkness with my mind and asserted my will over it.
The spreading darkness slowed and stopped. Barska kept screaming, his body half-consumed by the void. Changing from his box shape into his goblin one, Vic rushed over holding the key Barska had thrown away and unlocked my remaining shackled hand.
I finally let go of the chain and fell to the ground. Then, ignoring my weakened state, I carefully got to my feet and bent over in a crouch, murder filling my soul. Barska was still screaming. Taking my time, I stretched my limbs, forcing circulation into my partially frozen legs. Barska’s screams never stopped.
I hobbled over to the altar.
I stood crookedly over the creature and looked coolly down at him, reveling in his agony.
I never considered myself a cruel person, but here lay the one who brought so much fear and misery to me and my people. I felt a surge of pleasure at his suffering. But it was still not enough.
“Barska”, I called softly, drawing his attention. He heard me even through his inhuman screams, and looked at me with his fiery red eyes.
“I vowed you would be consumed by darkness and Nihilator would have your soul, remember?” I said pleasantly. “It’s time to make good on my promise.” I straightened up, flexing my will over the dark tendrils invading his flesh. I added with a hiss, “no one messes with my woman.”
With those final words I released the hungry darkness, once again allowing it to spread, but this time slowly. Very slowly.
As the ravaging Void-black resumed its advance, Barska's features distorted hideously as he screamed. Through his open mouth 'other' voices wailed curses and spewed disturbing multi-toned syllables that no human, or goblinoid, voice should ever have made.
I controlled the darkness, carefully making sure his head was consumed last so he would experience the entire process. He continued screaming as his body was transformed. When the darkness finally engulfed his head, Barska’s screams ended, and he was gone.
One down, one to go. I thought grimly. I intended to pay all my tormentors back in kind.
I dropped tiredly, sitting on the floor and leaning back against the base of the altar.
Above me, I sensed the Barska shaped blackness condense as it became a Void Crystal. A myriad of system messages assaulted me, but I ignored them for the moment.
“Finally! He’s dead!!” Vic exclaimed. “Honestly, I didn’t think it would take you so long to kill one lousy hobgoblin!”
I gave him a withering look.
“Ahem...I mean, good job boss! Well done! You can be a scary bastard when you put your mind to it, you know?”
I was exhausted from the ordeal and my mana was still being drained by the Manaleeches. Though now that my hands were free, it wasn’t much of an issue for a Dark Mana master. I directed my mind toward the channel of mana the leeches were, well, leeching off, and stymied its flow. Blocked from my mana, the Manaleeches were effectively ‘disarmed’. It was the magical equivalent of putting the safety pin back into a grenade, though this pin required a tremendous amount concentration to hold in place. The leeches were still physically connected to my body by the suckers burrowed deep into my flesh, but at least the draining had stopped. I grabbed a Manaleech in my hand. To my mana-vision it looked like a bulb of radiant dark-blue energy. I ripped it off me, blood sprayed at my face. It was painful, but compared to the torture I went through, it was nothing. I placed the three engorged, glowing mana leeches carefully on the floor. They wriggled there, too bloated to move. They had sucked hundreds of MP out of me, and were extremely, dangerously, volatile. I had to be careful not to damage them, triggering their self-destruct defensive mechanism.
Now that the leeches were off, my mana pool was filling at its normal rate.
“Vic, watch the entrance. Let me know if anyone approaches.”
Though I was not yet completely out of danger, I allowed myself a few moments to recuperate and go through the awaiting messages. I wasn’t too worried about the screams drawing uninvited guests. After all, they heard me screaming for hours without interfering.
Quest Updated: Dark Missionary
You have dedicated a place of worship to The Cult of Nihilator.
Remaining places of worship to dedicate: 2
Quest Updated: Find and Kill Some People for Vic
You have finally killed Barska, one of Vic’s targets.
Wait for Vic to identify additional targets
+500 reputation with Vic. New rank gained: Friendly. Points to next rank: 3900
Barska sacrificed. +240 Faith Points (Cult of Nihilator) [base 60 X 4 using an altar]
Vow completed: Sacrifice Barska
Reward: +100 Faith Points
Next Faith Rank reached. Current Rank: 1. FP required for next rank: 400
Blood Wrath skill level increased to 13
...
Blood Wrath skill level increased to 23
Dark Mana skill level increased to 18
Dark Mana skill level increased to 19
Level up! You have reached Character Level 15. You have 1 ability point to allocate.
Level up! You have reached Character Level 16. You have 2 ability points to allocate.
Luckily, even without my eyes the messages were still visible to me.
I finished reading the messages. It was a very lucky coincidence that the killing blow sacrificed Barska over the altar. I hadn’t planned on that, but it turned out well. Consecrating the altar had granted me a progression in one of my most difficult quests, and n
etted me a huge amount of Faith Points in the process.
Defeating Barska awarded me enough XP to level up twice. I would probably still have to fight my way out of here, so I opened my character sheet and invested the two new ability points into Mental, bringing it up to 19.
I stood up tiredly, and looked at the pile of items left on the altar at the death of Barska.
Despite all the pain I had experienced and the internal struggle, I still felt the tingle of avarice at the sight of all that loot. A large Void Crystal, bigger than my palm stood out among all the other items. I Analyzed it.
Void Crystal. Level 8000....
holy shit! I thought in amazement. Eight thousand? Barska was worth that much energy?!
It was clear why he’d been so persistent in hunting me, if that was how much energy a boss was worth. I assumed eating my heart was his method of extracting that energy out of me.
Now that I thought about it, I realized it’s also probably how Nihilator gained energy to sustain himself during his imprisonment. His hounds fed him every creature they could find.
Time was pressing. The Ogre party Barska had sent to destroy my clan would still be following their original orders even though Barska was dead. Every moment that passed brought them closer to my settlement. But I had to recuperate first. I was still wounded and my mana pool had just started to refill.
I slid back down to the ground.
I would take a few moments to rest before delivering my vengeance to the hobgoblins and Ogres above. And Elenda. Oh yeah, I hadn’t forgotten her.
29 - Out Of The Zoo
I shut down my mana sense and leaned tiredly against the altar.
Life Reset Page 67