by EA Hooper
Samael slowly climbed to his feet. “Dear friend, you should not have come. You don’t—” He paused, finally raising his eyes to the man in the straw hat.
Archie motioned for him to continue. “I know I’m not Thomas. Just keep following your script.”
“You don’t understand what happened that night,” Samael slowly continued. “It wasn’t a strange beast of the dark that took our friends. It was I. When we were separated, I tried to take this temple’s hidden riches for myself, but I was cursed and transformed. Please, my friend, hurry away before it’s too—” The NPC let out a scream of agony, and a forcefield appeared over his body.
Vincent aimed his fingers, but Archie stopped him before he fired.
“Woah, hold on,” Archie said. “Let him transform. I can’t access those Reward Points if he dies in human form.”
The forcefield around Samael bubbled and burned his own skin. His bones snapped and twisted. It looked like someone had pulled his body on a stretching rack, and he quickly outgrew his clothes and armor. His muscles throbbed and enlarged, snapping the plates of his mail. Soon, he stood four meters tall, his skin as leathery as the Abyss Lurkers. Even the bones in his face had twisted, forming a sharp-toothed snout.
Vincent grimaced as he watched the terrible transformation. That certainly looked painful, he thought, feeling sorry for Samael. That guilt vanished in a flash as the monster raised a hand and sent their party flying in different directions with an explosion of black smoke.
With his decades of experience in getting tossed around by monsters, Vincent easily twisted himself around midair to land on his feet. The black smoke filled the chamber in shifting clouds that only seemed to block his view of certain areas. It looked like the clouds had separated him from his friends, but even his Darkeye couldn’t penetrate the dense haze.
The leathery, werewolf-like monster emerged from a wall of black clouds, moving at superhuman speed that put even Quinn to shame. His monstrous arm glowed with purple magic as Samael clotheslined Vincent. The dungeon boss slammed the Ranger into the nearest pillar, cracking the 400-rated marstone.
Even with Vincent’s Gravity Shield, the blow knocked the wind out of him. He still managed to shoot two Void Guns through Samael’s chest, but black smoke flew out instead of blood.
Samael released Vincent and leapt back into the cloud seconds before Quinn approached.
“Where is he?” the Fighter asked.
Vincent coughed and tried to catch his breath, but he pointed in Samael’s direction. His ally dove into the black smoke, and seconds later, Vincent heard—and even felt—the shockwaves of powerful attacks happening in the dark.
Xan hurried from another cloud. “You need healing?”
“No,” Vincent replied, finding his breath.
A pillar in the dark haze crumbled, and then Quinn bounced off the nearby floor. Her momentum tossed her into a cloud, leaving a trail of blood in her path.
“Help her,” Vincent told Xan. “I’ll take care of this thing.”
The Ranger cast Zero Field, splitting the black cloud where Quinn had been fighting the boss. As the haze parted, it revealed Samael leaning low to the ground as he prepared to jump toward them.
The monster’s leg muscles throbbed and twisted, almost like a spring winding up. He launched himself through the air like a rocket, but Vincent stopped his momentum with Zero Field.
Spell Upgrade: 62%
Vincent had just enough mana left to cast Black Cinder, and he released the void embers at close range as the boss tried to swipe at him. Thousands of holes punched through Samael, sending wisps of black smoke into the air. The monster’s claw still tore through Vincent’s Gravity Shield and armor, and he felt the scythe-like blades dig into his chest.
Samael struggled to stay upright with so much smoke streaming from his injuries, though he still found the energy to bury another claw into Vincent and smash the man into the ground.
Vincent thought he saw the respawn screen for a split-second, but then a flash of light revived him. He saw Xan standing over him, but his eyes turned to the limping monster as Quinn knocked Samael into a pillar with Gravity Fist.
The monster collapsed into the shallow water, shrinking back into a human before Vincent could Scan his boss form. His injuries vanished, but he still looked like he was dying. Archie glanced around the corner of a different pillar before approaching the other NPC.
“Forgive me,” Samael said. “It was the curse of the temple that made me into that monster—that forced me to kill my comrades.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Archie replied. “Just kick the bucket already, Samael. You’ve been sitting down here for far, far too long.”
Samael nodded, crumbling into dust.
Archie poked the air, prodding a hidden interface that only he could see. “Alright, I disabled this quest, so now Samael won’t respawn down here.”
“What’ll happen to him?” Xan asked.
“To his point of view, it’ll feel like he’s taking a long nap,” Archie replied. “At least until ARKUS finds a new role for him. He’s one of those problem NPCs Vince mentioned. Acted out quite a bit in the early days, so ARKUS threw him down here as part of a quest. Maybe it’ll find a better use for him one day.”
“So, you can teleport us, right?” Vincent asked.
“Yep,” Archie said. “You three want to check out my inventory first? I rummaged around and found some new items.”
A menu popped up, showing him the items he could trade for with Archie. He noticed a few items that had intrigued him last time had been sold, but new things had taken their place.
Jump Crystal (100 for 1 Token) – “The best deal in town.”
Checkpoint Crystal (10 for 1 Token) – “I know of a guy that uses these to fight S-Class monsters by himself. What a crazy dude.”
Wayback Crystal (20 for 1 Token) – “Leave one of these somewhere, and you can take any Jump Gate back to it.”
Infinite Rope (1 Token) – “That’s a lot of rope!”
Frequency Tuning Fork (1 Token) – “You’d like this, Vince.”
Orosteel Arrow (1 Token) – “This arrow returns to your hand after it strikes a target.”
Kabuki Mask (1 Token) – “Play nice with low-class monsters.”
Rune Chalk (1 Token) – “Easy runes, but they only last one day.”
Great Sword (2 Tokens) – “It’s not a greatsword. Just a great sword.”
Great Greatsword (3 Tokens) – “This is a really great greatsword!”
Deft Boots (3 Token) – “Orosteel boots with the Deft Enchantment.”
Real Crystal Ball (10 Tokens) – “Use this to spy. Takes a lot more scrolling than you’d imagine.”
Endless Ether (30 Tokens) – “This bottle refills slightly slower than you can drink it. Too bad it’s only regular ether.”
Endless Elixir (30 Tokens) – “Same, but with elixir.”
Jump Moon (50 Tokens) – “A glass sphere you can feed Jump Crystals into to travel between worlds. No gates needed.”
Daisteel Sword (100 Tokens) – “Unbreakable. Cuts through anything.”
“What’s the Deft Enchantment?” Quinn asked Archie.
“Ah, I see you’re checking out the boots,” Archie replied. “The Deft Enchantment is quite a high-level one. It’s basically Unlimited Wall-Walking, Water-Walking, Sound-Dampening Ninety, and Double-Jump rolled into one.”
Quinn thought for a moment. “I only have three tokens, but I guess I’ll take it.”
Archie nodded and accepted her tokens. The boots appeared right on her feet, replacing her old ones.
“So, about that infinite rope,” Xan said. “Is it really infinite? Cause rope has always been a problem for us.”
“You have to spend mana to unravel more,” Archie explained. “Your current mana pool would get you about six-thousand feet of rope.”
“Guess I’ll take it,” Xan said.
“Thank you, ma’am!” Archie repli
ed, warping the token from her hand to his. “I’ll even attach a grappling hook free of charge. You’ll have to spend a tiny bit more mana to make it materialize, though.”
“I’ll take the chalk,” Vincent said, handing over the token.
Archie accepted, putting the chalk in Vincent’s inventory with a snap of his fingers. “You don’t want the fork?” the NPC questioned.
“I thought about it, but I’m already an expert at frequency control,” Vincent replied.
“Yeah, it took Jim and me way longer to develop negative energy abilities, even with his advice,” Quinn told Archie. “Vince has got a talent for it, I guess.”
“I wouldn’t call you an expert,” Archie said. “Just a very fast learner. You take this fork off my hands, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. It’ll show you how much control you have over specific frequencies.”
Vincent hesitated, trying to decide, before finally handing Archie another token. The fork appeared in his hand in an instant.
“Go ahead and try it now,” Archie said. “Just so you can be sure I wasn’t conning you.”
Vincent held the tuning fork in his hands. He could already feel the reverberations of natural frequencies bouncing off it. Even the subtler background frequencies felt more powerful as they ricocheted off the fork. When he moved it around, it was like dragging the fork through water because of the invisible wavelengths pushing against it. He concentrated, trying to zero out the frequencies like he’d done with his rune hammer in the battle against Lucas all those years ago.
After a few seconds, a black line appeared around the tuning fork, and the other wavelengths stopped reaching it.
??? – 87%
“Eighty-seven percent?” Vincent questioned.
“That’s the level of control you have over what you call zero frequency,” Archie said. “Hang on, I might be able to tweak the data to rename it for you. Also, it’s uncommon to get your best score on the first try, so you should give it one more shot. Although, once you hit ninety percent, it’s almost impossible to raise it higher without decades or centuries of practice.”
Vincent focused more intently before remembering that trying too hard never helped with negative energy. He ignored the fork and moved his thoughts to his breathing. That was an old meditation technique Monika had always told him to try when he was stressed.
Zero Frequency – 88%
“Now try something else,” Archie said. “Let’s say… fire frequency. I couldn’t help but notice you only ever combined a single fire spell with negative energy.”
“He tried a fireball spell, but it turned to ash,” Xan noted. “That’s why he developed an ember spell to use as the basis for Black Cinder.”
“If you start with a big enough fire and improve your frequency control, I bet you can create something even deadlier,” Archie said.
Vincent channeled fire frequency, feeling the hotness in his hands. The tuning fork lost its black line and turned red-hot in seconds, although it didn’t burn him.
Fire Frequency – 42%
“Forty-two,” Vincent said, sounding almost embarrassed.
“Oof,” Archie replied. “You’ll need to work on that. Try for about sixty, then you might make a great fire and void spell.”
Vincent nodded. “Thanks for the advice.”
“No problem,” Archie said. “Guess it’s time for me to send you three on your way. Hopefully I’ll have better junk to trade when we meet again.”
“It was nice meeting you, Archie,” Xan said, shaking his hand.
“Same to you, ma’am,” the NPC replied.
Archie tipped his straw hat, and then the three players saw a flash of light.
When Vincent looked around, he found himself standing on a Jump Gate. Xan and Quinn stood beside him, glancing around in confusion. Ophire’s fog seemed to stop upon reaching the nearby area, even revealing the sky. All three raised their eyes to the world hanging above.
Styxis awaited them.
Chapter 12 | Year 47
Player: Noah the Relentless
Location: Cryasal (World) | Western Garden (Region)
Class: Ranger
Subclass: Warden
Vitality*: Lv 286
Spirit: Lv 266
Resolve: Lv 260
Perception*: Lv 287
Agility: Lv 261
Strength: Lv 260
The husband and wife marched toward the Jump Gate in the distance. Noah’s eyes could already make out the floating silhouette of their target: Atarah, the Left Hand. They knew the angel wouldn’t strike unless they attacked first or tried to step onto the gate.
Noah couldn’t help but eye his abilities in the menu. He’d developed them specifically to fight the angels, but it was his shield he was most proud of. It’d taken almost eighteen years to cultivate, but he believed it might be the thing to give him an edge against the impossibly strong enemies. Negative energy was world magic’s opposing force, after all. That was something Isaac had told him years ago.
Negation Shield (Requires Negate) – Mana Usage: Very Low to High+ | Replaces the user’s Mana Shield. | Generates an invisible box-like forcefield around the user from negative energy. This forcefield destroys non-living objects or spells before they strike the user. However, it drains the user’s mana. More powerful spells and objects require more mana to destroy. This shield cannot destroy spells or objects in contact with players or monsters (example: a sword in a player’s hand).
That shield was the ultimate defense against projectile attacks. The only downside was that Noah knew it left him vulnerable at close-range. That rarely mattered on Lavrin, since the hell ants could easily tear through Mana Shields. He thought it more useful to protect himself from the workers’ acid spit, especially when exploring the Seventh Path he’d discovered years ago. It had led him so deep into Lavrin that he sometimes got lost for weeks at a time. Something about that path kept calling him back down there, but he tried to shake the thoughts from his mind.
Only the angel mattered at that moment.
Noah continued toward the gloomy-looking angel, but his wife stayed behind. Amelia made several Light Doppelgangers, already preparing to heal him when he needed it. She’d been his unbreakable support for decades on Lavrin, and he trusted her to keep him alive for as long as possible against the angel.
His nerves trembled as he slowed to a stop in front of the Jump Gate. He stared up at the angel, and the frown on Atarah’s face grew more intense.
It’s almost like she doesn’t want to fight, Noah thought. Maybe she doesn’t want to hurt me. It’s only her job. He tried to imagine what her eyes looked like behind her mask. Probably very sad, but that doesn’t matter. I have to kill her all the same.
Orange platforms appeared under Noah’s feet, creating a staircase toward the angel. He continued until he stood at an equal height to the white-haired foe, and then Noah equipped a basteel axe.
The angel raised her hand to blast him, but Noah struck first, casting Flatten above Atarah. He brought down the wall of negative energy on her head, and to his own surprise, it slammed her against the Jump Gate, cracking the 999-rated daistone.
White and black light flashed as the negative energy pushed against the angel’s protective field. It almost looked like the world magic and negative energy were dancing—or rather fighting—with one another.
Noah cast Flatten again, slamming it down right as the first use faded. The attack smashed a small corner of the Jump Gate to pieces, and the ground caved in, shaking the area. Noah’s hands trembled as he chugged a double-sized container of mega-ether. One of his wife’s doppelgangers appeared on the case next to him, casting spells to quicken his mana recovery along with giving him a few minor buffs.
His trembling hand reached out to cast a third Flatten, but a flash of world magic engulfed his field of view. Amelia’s doppelganger died in an instant, and Noah’s barrier staircase evaporated. His body tumbled through the air, landing in a slump dozens of
meters away from the attack.
Noah stood and looked at his body. He’d lost quite a bit of mana, but the angel’s blast hadn’t actually harmed him. A wicked smile crossed his face, and he held back a laugh as he equipped another double-sized potion. He spilled half of it because of his nervous shaking, but another of his wife’s doppelgangers appeared and used a spell to help restore his mana.
Atarah floated up from the ground, looking battered by the attacks. Glowing blood dripped down her body, and one of her arms appeared broken.
Noah’s eyes widened, and he spat out the last of his potion with a wild laugh.
I hurt an angel! And if she can be hurt, she can be killed.
The angel twisted its broken arm back into shape before launching a smaller, quicker blast. Even with Noah’s high level of Perception, he barely sidestepped it in time. The ground behind him exploded, but he ignored it, focusing on the next few blasts.
Noah charged forward, zigzagging between attacks. Barrier platforms formed beneath his feet, allowing him to climb higher with each step. One blast shattered the platform he’d just made, but his shield prevented him from getting hurt.
As Noah caught himself with a new barrier, he hurled a basteel axe through the air that lodged itself in Atarah’s chest. She barely registered the injury as she raised both hands for a much larger spell.
Two of Amelia’s doppelgangers appeared beside Noah as the angel gathered white magic together. The copies burned through all their mana, killing themselves to cast Amelia’s signature spell, Mana Overcharge.
Noah felt his mana reserve briefly double, and he cast Flatten in front of himself as the angel released her next attack. The world magic collided with his negative energy, and the flickering white and black happened again, but this time it engulfed Noah’s entire field of view.
The entire Western Garden seemed to shift from white to black to white to black, then a massive, blinding explosion spread out from the point of impact. However, the explosion bloomed like a flower away from his protective wall.
Noah still felt pounding shockwaves from the explosion, and he steeled himself, tripling the layers of platforms that kept him in the air. He glimpsed a sphere of white light that Atarah had cast to shield herself from the backfiring attack.