Demon Lords (World-Tree Trilogy Book 2)

by EA Hooper

  “How about this?” Juniper said, raising a hand toward the wall. A fast, combustive blast rocketed from her hand, sending a wave of fire against the stone. Even with Vincent’s high Perception, he almost didn’t Scan it in time.

  Impact Blaze (Mage Only) – Mana Usage: Medium+ | Unleashes a fiery blast through the air that explodes on impact.

  “It’s not my strongest fire attack,” Juniper admitted, “but it’s fast, holds together well, and hits hard. That should limit the possibility of it being snuffed into embers. From what I’ve heard about negative energy, and seen from the Demon Lord, that should work well as the basis for a spell. It’d be pretty easy for me to teach it to you at your level too. Just start with your other fire attack, try to compact it, and push it out of your hand faster. You gotta feel it pop, if that makes sense.”

  Vincent raised his hand, readying Flame Wave. Hotness built in his hand, and he focused on compressing it. His mana reserves drained faster as he tried to raise the power of his fire frequency at the same time. A hundred levels ago, such a brute-force attempt at developing the spell would’ve drained his reserves dry, but he knew he still had mana to spare. When Vincent finally cast the spell, he tried to force it out faster, imagining himself casting Mana Cannon.

  The flame didn’t hold together as well as Juniper’s, but it spread out just before hitting the wall.

  Spell Creation: 1%

  He repeated this process several times, drinking ethers between each attempt. After about twenty blasts, he noticed the fire holding together a little better.

  Spell Creation: 2%

  “This’ll do well,” Vincent said, not wanting to waste Juniper’s time watching him develop the spell.

  “If you use the forge’s power to make it more challenging, it can speed up the process too,” she told him. “It’s too bad you’re not working on a shield, though. This forge has an even more useful setting for that.”

  Vincent paused, thinking of how impressed he’d been with Jim’s new shield.

  Maybe I should take inspiration from him and develop my own advanced shield. But what could I combine it with? Zero Field shouldn’t produce a different result from Gravity Shield. A pure void shield didn’t work at all, either—I tried that before Gravity Shield. The only other thing that might work is my Density Field. I could go the tank-mage route with that, but I’d lose mobility because of the weight. Then again, it wouldn’t be much different from wearing full basteel armor.

  “Yeah, I guess I do have an idea for a shield,” Vincent told her. “I don’t know if it’ll work, but I’m interested to see this other setting on your forge.”

  “Step back to the center of the room,” she commanded, changing the runes with a wave of her hands.

  Vincent returned to the center, and then he felt hundreds of pinpricks across his body that made all his muscles tense. “What is that?” he asked.

  “Micro mana beams,” she replied. “Hundreds of them hitting you from every angle. You can focus the beams, increasing the power up to a four-hundred rating, but by that point they’re only doing damage on a cellular level.” She waved her hand again.

  Vincent didn’t feel the pinpricks any longer, but a numbness began to spread across his body. After a few seconds of standing there, he noticed red splotches on his skin where the microscopic beams were opening blood vessels. “It’s cutting through my Gravity Shield,” he noted.

  “Then try out your idea,” she said.

  Vincent held his hands to his body, trying to cast Density Field on himself. He focused on his Gravity Shield at the same time, trying to visualize the two spells merging. A heaviness fell over his chest, but it passed after a few seconds, so he cast the spell again. The gravitational field over his body trembled, becoming visible for a few seconds. He felt the heaviness again, this time over his entire body, but then the weight faded.

  Spell Creation: 1%

  Vincent wanted to cheer, but he didn’t have the strength. He stumbled away from the effects of the microbeams before coughing up blood onto the floor.

  “Sorry, I probably should’ve warned you about standing there too long,” Juniper said, disabling the runes with a hand motion. “It might seem a little brutal, but shields always develop faster when being tested against stronger attacks. The game treats all of those microbeams as though you were getting blasted by a bunch of four-hundred-rated spells.”

  Vincent drank an elixir, but he raised a thumbs-up with his other hand to show he was okay.

  “You held out for longer than I expected,” Juniper said, looking impressed. “Most people start vomiting blood right away at that setting. Only my Titan Skin can stand up to it for more than a couple of minutes.” She pounded a fist against her chest to make her orange-colored shield shimmer long enough for Vincent to Scan it.

  Titan Skin (Requires Plated Barrier Shield | Requires Cushion Shield) – Mana Usage: High | Replaces the user’s Mana Shield. | Generates three inches of barrier microlayers over the user with a 300 Magic Rating.

  “It acts like super thick armor without slowing me down,” Juniper explained.

  “That reminds me of Quinn’s old shield,” Vincent told her. “Only yours is way stronger.”

  >Alexandria: We’re back at Juniper’s shop. Did you already leave?

  >Vincent: No, I’m downstairs. I’ll be right up.

  “Well, my friends are here,” Vincent told Juniper. “I’m glad to be working with you, though.”

  “Same to you,” Juniper said, shaking his hand.

  The two players hurried back upstairs, where they found Xan and Quinn waiting.

  “You find any good quests?” Vincent asked.

  “Here’re the ones offering the most,” Xan said, handing Vincent several leaflets.

  Dry Maggots (Bounty Quest) – Lonely Larry is offering 25 gild per Dry Maggot. | Larry’s Note: Don’t ask why I want them. Larry has received 221/600 Dry Maggots.

  Good Deal for Tomb Tomes (Bounty Quest) – Carly Say So is offering 1200 gild per Tomb Tome. | Carly’s Note: Grayvere. Underground. Glowy guys drop them. Carly has received 0/10 Tomb Tomes.

  Chains Chains Chains (Bounty Quest) – Lazy Hollifer is offering 700 gild for Ghost Chains. | Hollifer’s Note: chains chains chains. Hollifer has received 3/25 Ghost Chains.

  Want Pitchfork (Bounty Quest) – Spellslingin’ Antonio is offering 30,000 gild for a Pitchfork of Smiting. | Antonio’s Note: Heard someone got one from Elfry once. No idea where or how.

  “We have over a dozen more, but the maximum payouts are much lower,” Quinn said, handing Vincent more leaflets. “I figured we can just keep an eye out for these cheaper items, even if they don’t help much.”

  Vincent added every bounty to his quest list, then gave them the leaflet he’d gotten from Devon.

  “Wow, so we’re going to Grayvere first, right?” Quinn said, looking at the bounty.

  “I guess so,” Vincent answered. “That’d be the fastest way to pay for the pipeline. Juniper and I worked out another deal I’ll explain on the way there. She even joined the Crickets.”

  “Welcome aboard!” Xan said, shaking Juniper’s hand.

  “Thank you,” the girl replied. “Now, you three should hurry along. We all have a lot of work to do, and there’s no telling how long we have until the war starts up again.”

  Chapter 18 | Year 93

  Player: Vincent the Wanderer

  Location: Grayvere (World) | The Cemetery (Region)

  Class: Ranger

  Subclass: Mage

  Vitality: Lv 186

  Spirit*: Lv 195

  Resolve: Lv 178

  Perception*: Lv 201

  Agility: Lv 186

  Strength: Lv 185

  It’d only took three Jump Crystals for Vincent to travel from Styxis to Grayvere. The low cost surprised him, and he couldn’t help but wonder why so few players would want to farm a Dead-World that was so accessible.

  The gravity felt about the same as Eramar’s, abo
ut three times heavier than normal. His eyes swept across the hundreds of tombstones and the several mausoleums that covered the nearby hills and valleys. He couldn’t see any farther, however, because a rolling fog covered most of the world beyond that point.

  His teammates had barely stepped off the Jump Gate when hundreds of revenants rose from the nearby graves. The skinless, undead monsters shook off the soil, then charged in their direction.

  Okay, now I see why people don’t want to come here.

  The three players had had decades of practice fighting revenants on Eramar, so they didn’t bother wasting mana. Vincent and Xan both equipped Guardian’s Blades, and Quinn used her Brave Warrior’s Sword. With their speed and skill, they carved through the horde as they made their way to the nearest valley.

  Vincent sent a message through voice chat, knowing the growls and screams of revenants would make it difficult to hear if he spoke out loud.

  >Vincent: So, did you two get any ideas of where to look for that stuff?

  >Quinn: No clue. Someone told me those mausoleums randomly have underground passages that lead into dungeons and special areas. However, the monsters use world-shaping magic to change which ones lead to where.

  >Alexandria: Sounds like Vince could just use his Builder’s Tome to open a passage for us, right?

  >Vincent: It’s worth a try.

  They sped past the slower revenants, but continued to cut down the ones in their direct path as they hurried for a hillside with a mausoleum built atop it. The entrance had been sealed over with greystone, but Quinn smashed it open with Breaker. Vincent hurried inside the dark chamber, knowing an army of revenants would be close behind his teammates. Once Quinn and Xan stepped inside, he equipped his Builder’s Tome to his offhand and rebuilt the wall.

  Xan immediately cast Clarity, revealing four large stone coffins. The lids flew off the moment light touched them, and massive draugrs climbed forth, snarling as their eyes glowed blue with ice magic. The temperature inside the chamber dropped dramatically, and frost climbed up the walls.

  Vincent fired two Void Guns through the brain stem of the nearest draugr. By the time he turned his head, Xan had killed one with a Light-Drain Longsword. Quinn Vanished behind another, then slammed her hands together at its neck, creating a gravitational force that shook the building. The attack obliterated the back of its neck, including the brain stem.

  Gravity Clap (Upgraded) – Mana Usage: Medium | The user creates gravitational disturbances around their hands that exponentially increase in power as they press against each other. | Upgrades – Shieldshatter: Increases the chance of knocking out magical protection. | Armorshatter: Increases the chance of breaking weapons and armor. | Bonebreaker: Increases the chance of breaking bones. | Stonebreaker: Increases the chance of damaging strong materials other than weapons and armor.

  The last draugr dove at Vincent, but the Ranger sidestepped with superhuman speed before turning and slashing. Ghostfire ran from his blade, eating into the draugr’s frozen brain stem. The monster screamed in pain, but Vincent knew it hadn’t been a killing blow. He dove forward again, slashing through the damaged tissue while engulfing his blade in more ghostfire. With his strength and speed, he ended up taking the draugr’s entire head off with the second swipe.

  “Nice,” Quinn said, watching the head crumble into dust mid-roll.

  They grabbed the items dropped by the monsters, then Vincent opened a pit in the floor with his tome. He tried to keep the cost down by making the hole small enough for only one person to move through at a time. The pit only went down about five meters, but when it reached a dead end, he spent a little more to go deeper. The new extension revealed a chamber below that Xan’s Clarity only partially revealed.

  “There’s something down there for sure,” Vincent said. “I’ll check it out.”

  He swapped his Builder’s Tome for a rune torch, then dropped through the opening. The fall brought him into a dusty, old chamber full of stone coffins. He glanced across the room, looking for tunnels, and then his eyes met with those of a glowing monster.

  The draugr, which had crystalline bones and green eyes, growled and dove toward Vincent, but then came to a sudden halt. A floating chain with a green glow seemed to keep the monster pinned to one corner of the room. Vincent couldn’t see the chain touching the wall or the draugr, but there seemed to be a force holding him back. He thought about True Scanning the monster and the chain but decided to save the extra mana by using the starter spell.

  Crystal Draugr – Monster Class: B+ | Age: 235 | Sex: Male | Number of Offspring: 16 | Personality: Hungry

  Ghost Chain – Material Rating ??? | A ghostly chain that can hold any monster below A-Class. The user can set limits for the distance the monster can move and the conditions of its release. If a player outside of a chained monster’s range attacks it, it will be released.

  Quinn dropped beside Vincent, and Xan followed.

  “We heard a monster,” Quinn said, raising her fists.

  “Hang on, it’s being held back by one of those chains we need,” Vincent told them. “This thing’s stronger than a normal draugr, so let’s plan this—”

  Quinn immediately leapt across the room, trying to slam her hands together against the sides of the draugr’s head with Gravity Clap. Her attack fell short, however, as the monster threw a lightning-fast jab into her stomach, sending the woman hurtling across the chamber.

  The ghost chain seemed to lose its power and it fell against the floor, releasing the monster. A split-second later, Vincent pulled his head to the right, avoiding a powerful swing of the draugr’s fist. The monster gave him no time to fight back before it tackled him to the ground.

  Vincent felt the immense weight of the monster pinning him to the floor. If it wasn’t for his Gravity Shield, the draugr might’ve even snapped his ribs with the tackle. He pointed a finger upward, shooting two Void Guns through the crystalline neck. In his panic, however, he missed the brain stem.

  The monster brought his fist down like a hammer, trying to smash Vincent’s skull, but the Ranger jerked his head just barely out of the way. The floor shook and cracked under the force of the blow.

  Vincent saw Xan had summoned another Light-Drain Longsword, and she pressed both blades against the monster’s neck. The draugr huffed, losing his strength as he struggled to raise his fist. Vincent equipped his best hardened-verasteel helm just before the monster struck. Even with the draugr’s strength draining fast, the blow dented the helm and tore a gash in Vincent’s scalp.

  Quinn struck the draugr in the head with Gravity Fist, blowing his skull and crystalline neck to pieces with a single blow. The heavy body flopped backward to the ground with a loud thud as Vincent removed his helm. Xan sacrificed both her swords, transferring the light to heal her friend’s head.

  Vincent squinted his eyes, waiting for the blurriness to leave his vision.

  “My bad,” Quinn said, looking regretful as she helped him to his feet.

  “No worries,” Vincent replied. “I kind of missed your recklessness.” He grabbed the only item left behind by the Crystal Draugr.

  Tomb Tome – A dusty book with world-shaping runes inscribed. You can use this item to construct a small mausoleum from greystone, but the Tomb Tome will be destroyed in the process.

  “Hey, I got one of those tomes too,” Vincent said. “Looks like they’re weaker versions of my Builder’s Tome. They’re only good for a single use and only build small mausoleums.”

  “Oh,” Xan said, thinking. “That explains why one district of the Outer Sanctum had a bunch of creepy-looking buildings. They use those tomes to speed up construction.”

  Quinn stared at the coffins that lined the chamber. “So, what do you think is in these?”

  “Monsters,” Xan replied.

  “Yeah, probably monsters,” Vincent said.

  Quinn opened the nearest one, finding it empty. Old runes had been scratched into the inside of the coffin, and she eyed them clos
ely. “I think I’ve seen runes like this before. They warp monsters from nests to places where they can jump out at players.”

  “Is there a way we can activate them?” Vincent asked. “We could just warp from crypt to crypt and farm items.”

  “I doubt it,” Quinn explained. “It’s monster magic. We’re just going to go back and make our way through the night of the ugly dead.”

  “Actually,” Xan said, stepping toward the coffin. “I learned a few things about monster-based magic while traveling with Zhang. His team used all sorts of tricks to farm monster locations, including taking advantage of stuff like this. I might be able to trick it.”

  Xan held a hand toward the runes, and Vincent Scanned the pulsating aura that flowed off her hand.

  Monster Switch – Mana Usage: Low | Generates a monster-type frequency from the user’s hand. Can sometimes open access to monster-only areas.

  The runes on the box flashed to life with magic, and Xan stepped back in surprise. “Oh! It actually worked?”

  “Wait a moment,” Vincent said, eyeing the runes. “Don’t activate it until I get an idea of where it’s taking us. Some of these markings are similar to range-markings of other runes I’ve studied. It looks like this one has a preset location.” He stepped over to the next coffin, removed the lid, and looked over the runes. “Yeah, each one sends things to a different location.”

  Quinn jumped into the first coffin. “Xan, send me through!”

  “We don’t even know where it goes!” Vincent warned.

  “Who cares, let’s just go for it,” Quinn said, grinning.

  “Sounds fun to me,” Xan said, activating the runes with Monster Switch.

  Magic swirled around Quinn, then a second later a light flashed across the coffin, and she disappeared.

  Vincent jumped in next. “Alright, let’s see what’s on the other—”

  Xan activated the rune before Vincent finished, and a magic glow encompassed his vision for several seconds. He stumbled out of the coffin, finding himself in a larger chamber where Quinn was fighting several draugr. It looked like they’d been held back by two ghost chains, but she’d already disabled the restraints with her attacks.