by Nikita Thorn
“Something… like that?” Seiki drew a deep breath as he looked up toward the mysterious silhouetted Ruins of Hitsu Temple above the village.
“Yeah, I guess,” said Ippei, a tiny spark lighting up in his eyes as he followed Seiki’s gaze to the top of the hill. “And it will be Beta all over again once we get there.”
Beneath the foreboding shadows of the temple ruins, the combined Spirits were getting larger and now towered high above the mounted players. They were not uniform, Seiki realized, and must have represented the unfortunate villagers killed by the Demonic Clan. As more and more were combined, the forms of the Spirits kept shifting, changing from man to woman to unrecognizable burnt skeleton. Seiki was rather glad their semi-transparent form obscured much of the gruesome details.
The West Defenders had now further adapted their strategy. Since they knew every combination let out an area burst that was increasingly dangerous for the troops, they now went in with smaller groups, leaving their main forces idle at the side of the field.
Soon, all that remained of the enemies were the last two gigantic Spirits, one in the middle of the field, and one at the southern edge. The ryoushi girl, who Seiki remembered was called Renna, was kiting one of them. She and her sub-unit of ten or so were galloping ahead of the angry Spirit, turning back once in a while to shoot slowing shots. In the middle of the field, several smaller samurai sub-units were taking turns pushing the other Spirit around with Sweeping Blade Formations and some other abilities Seiki did not recognize.
Ippei seemed to understand perfectly what was going on, and he leaned forward in excitement. “Oh, they’re gonna grab,” he cried.
Seiki had no idea what his friend was talking about. The ryoushi girl was still galloping with the Spirit in pursuit toward the one being stalled in the middle of the field.
“The ninja,” Ippei pointed out.
At the northern end of the field, a group of ninja troops had gathered, their hands clasped together in front of their chests as if in prayer. They were apparently in the middle of spell-casting, and streaks of dark mist started whipping about them like a swarm of insects.
The clan leader Nobuki let out a loud Shout, and the two idle ryoushi units standing by on the side started showering the stalled Spirit with slowing shots, allowing the samurai troops to withdraw from melee range. Renna’s ryoushi group had sped up into a gallop now, not directly toward the stalled Spirit, but toward the main forces at the eastern side of the field, and Seiki finally saw what they were trying to do.
They were waiting for a perfect straight line between the two Spirits and the ninja troops. As soon as they were all aligned, the ninja unleashed their cast, and a stream of dark mist shot straight toward the Spirit on the far side, enveloping it with tentacle-like smoke. Then, as if pulled by an invisible force, the Spirit flew straight across the field back toward where the ninja had set up their Formation.
“That’s the ninja grab.” Ippei was holding his breath. “Which is arguably better than kitsunebi,” he admitted.
Seiki now perfectly understood what the West Defenders were doing. The captured Spirit slammed into its twin in the middle of the field. The trajectory was perfect, and the two Spirits merged into a swirling mist of pale blue.
The clan was playing it safe, since subsequent combinations were setting off stronger explosions. By using a ranged ability to finish the last combination, they could clear everyone out of the point blank of the burst and avoid unnecessary damage.
“I haven’t even thought of—”
Ippei’s impressed remark was interrupted by a deafening boom of thunder, which was perhaps much stronger than anyone had anticipated. The shockwave threw Renna off her horse and sent the majority of the troops on the field flying off their mounts.
It did not stop there; the grass wavered where the shockwave touched it, traveling fast in every direction in an invisible bubble.
Eyes wide, Ippei let out a Shout, adding a little bit more defense and resistance to him and Seiki just in time. The force slammed into them like a solid wall, knocking them flat on the grass. Seiki felt his health dip to half. Ippei, having also Braced in time, managed to keep more than two-thirds.
“Nasty.” Ippei coughed.
Luckily, it was a one-off hit, over as soon as it happened, and Seiki blinked and looked back at the field. “That doesn’t look good.”
The distance played a major role. The West Defenders, despite being of much higher levels, seemed to be suffering much worse damage at a closer range. The explosion had dismounted all of them, and had killed nearly half the troops on the field. The ryoushi units, despite being further away, had less defense and had taken as much damage as the melee troops. The ninja had lost all his group members at once and was himself hanging on to a sliver of health.
In the middle of the field was now the final enemy of the stage. Unlike its previous forms, the combined Cursed Spirit was no longer simply larger versions of itself, but was shifting rapidly between different appearances. Whatever it was, the West Defenders were not prepared. Sae let out a command and her surviving units all concentrated a blanket heal over the area, restoring about a fifth of their lost health, but that looked measly compared to the damage sustained.
Ippei scrambled to his feet, his eyes wide with alarm, then he let out a curse.
After a second, Seiki realized why, when he checked the Spirit’s label.
Onryou. HP 1/184000.
One was a bad number. That meant the monster was not meant to be fought, and that some other condition had not been met.
“What did we miss?” cried Ippei.
The answer came in the form of a chilly whisper, which sounded directly in his mind like a mental caress by a frozen hand.
You will pay for the sins you have committed against this village!
Seiki shivered. The message must have been universal. Beside him, Ippei grimaced. “It was the…” He trailed off as his eyes widened.
“The Demonic Clan!” Seiki came to the same conclusion at almost the same time. “The Demonic Clan spear in the village! That’s why it’s there.”
The West Defenders had not caught on to the fact. Even when they shared the knowledge of the village layout, not having been the ones to map the instance, they must have missed the significance of the broken Demonic Clan items lying about in the scenery.
The Onryou spun around, fixing its blue-burning eyes on the surrounding players, and the voice once again whispered in Seiki’s mind.
There is no escaping our vengeance.
The Onryou stopped as its eyes locked on the ninja, who was further away from the rest of the group. The man let out a yelp, but his timely Shadow Strike failed to save him. A Spirit raised its arm and a split second later, he dropped dead from the Drain.
The confused, injured and dismounted West Defenders were now in disarray, with Nobuki shouting something about staying within healing range. The Onryou, having unleashed its Drain, now switched to striking out, killing more troops who had failed to avoid the blow.
“We’ve got to tell them,” cried Ippei, his hand already reaching for the horse whistle.
Seiki and Ippei had luckily had their horses dismissed when the explosion had gone off, sparing them from the mount lockout. A few seconds later, they were galloping down the small hill toward the field where the Onryou was wreaking havoc on the West Defenders army.
Despite being caught off-guard by the unexpectedly strong initial explosion, the West Defenders were quick to recover and had managed to figure out the trick to avoid the Life Drain the Onryou had used on the unfortunate ninja earlier. They moved around, in and out, forcing the Spirit to use melee attacks and delaying Drains with rapid position changes.
“Stay in range!” Nobuki, the West Defender leader, was shouting as he directed his troops to bear the brunt of the Spirit’s attack as it struck out at the army around it. “Sae, you’re too far away. Come closer! Endo, get that bash
in.”
The houshi units were running on foot, trying to keep to the backside of the angry Spirit. Seiki gritted his teeth as Fubuki rushed straight into the fray of what was most likely sure death. The Onryou suddenly spun around. It was now over fifteen feet tall, in the form of a hanged corpse, its neck broken, hanging limply to the side, while the blue-glowing flames behind its eyes seemed to pierce through him, sending chills down his spine.
There is no escaping our vengeance.
Seiki shivered as the whispery echo filled his mind, and at that moment he understood a few things at once. That particular phrase served as a warning. Very much like previous forms of itself, those outside of physical range could be targeted for the Life Drain, and its attention made it very clear that it was now directed at him.
“Keep going!” Ippei yelled, and Seiki galloped ahead against the inexplicable dread blooming in his head. The strategy worked, however. As soon as Fubuki navigated past a group of ryoushi troops on foot at the edge of the physical range, the Onryou broke its gaze and turned its attention back to the closest samurai unit. The eerie feeling gripping his soul evaporated.
The chaos was far from over. Seiki now found himself in the middle of dispersed soldiers running in every direction. Fubuki, obviously spooked, was trying her best to avoid both the confused soldiers and the swiping arm of the Onryou.
“The Demonic Clan weapons from the village,” Ippei shouted. “We need to collect them!”
Across the battlefield, the West Defenders caught the hint.
“There’s a broken shield in the village ruins!” cried someone who had found the item in his memory.
“Aki, Yosh, go!” Nobuki shouted.
The two ryoushi, Aki of the West Defenders [Level 26] and Yoshitsune of the West Defenders [Level 27], instantly broke away from the group. The mount lockout had not expired, so they were on foot.
“Three things, right?” shouted Aki to his clan mate.
Now that everyone knew what they were supposed to be looking for, searching their memory for the location of the items was not difficult. The spear was in the bathhouse, and there was a piece of broken shield somewhere in a pile of rubble, and an arrow stuck to an inn wall.
“I’ll go for the shield piece, you should be able to get the other two,” Yoshitsune shouted back.
“Burn something!” The group’s healer Sae yelled in panic from the distance. “I can’t keep this up!”
“I’ll buy you some time to get out of range,” Ippei shouted to Nobuki, as he turned his black war horse around and started galloping away.
Things were happening all at once, and at first Seiki was prepared to follow his friend, but then he realized that it would be utterly pointless.
Forcing himself to concentrate, he figured out what Ippei had in mind. The Onryou targeted the player furthest away out of physical range. To make sure he was that player, Ippei had already drunk an energy potion and pushed all his resources to out-gallop the ryoushi, in hopes that this would save them from becoming Drain targets before they made it to the safety of the ruins. Nobuki understood his intention and was slowly moving the Cursed Spirit away in the opposite direction toward the village, to give the samurai the required distance.
It appeared to be working. The Onryou stopped flailing for a second and locked its eyes on Ippei. Seiki drew a deep breath as he pulled Fubuki to a dead stop, just as the whispered warning grated against his nerves once more.
There is no escaping our vengeance.
The cast of Protection of the Sea came more naturally to him now. The shield left his hand and enveloped his friend as the samurai flew toward the beginning of the instance.
Ippei raised his hand to acknowledge the aid but spared no backward glance as he burst through remaining waves of straggling soldiers.
Seiki waited. In this single point of stillness in the middle of chaos, he felt with acute awareness what was happening around him. He knew exactly what was going to happen in the next few seconds to the different moving parts of this whole system, and as he stood his ground, he saw with perfect clarity how he fit within it.
Against an Onryou adjusted for Level 25, his meager shield would hold for only a few seconds, but this was at the point where those few seconds actually counted for something. The Onryou raised its skeletal arm in the direction of the galloping samurai and started its deadly cast of Life Drain.
Less than a second later, Seiki could already feel the pending damage immediately filling up, looming above him like a dark cloud. Even when more than twice his total health of damage had already been absorbed, there was simply too much of it. The unabsorbed portion spilled onto Ippei, who dropped off his horse as his health drained to zero.
Seiki counted six seconds. He did not even try to activate the Crimsonfire Tekko, as he was quite certain there was no workaround for this bargain.
Since he was by then more than sixty feet away, a portion of absorbed damage shed off as promised, flowing past him without touching his health. The rest, however, was more than enough to finish the job, and it crashed down on him a moment later like floodwater through a broken dam.
The last thing he remembered was a notification lighting up in his consciousness that told him that at least one of the ryoushi made it to the village ruins.
Card in play: Engraved Card of the Fallen Troops
Obake Card of the Horse Deck. Call in one of Shinshioka’s fallen cavalry units to aid you in your war attempt. The mounted ghost troops do no damage and disappear as soon as they take damage, but draw the enemies’ attention for as long as they remain on the battlefield.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Perhaps cheating death twice on the same day was too much to ask, and Seiki felt a strange sense of accomplishment as he slowly opened his eyes. Above him were eerie dark gray clouds, and underneath his body was the dry, hard grass, the same kind that covered much of the instance.
Ippei had earlier pointed out key locations within the instance, so he knew exactly where he was. The revive point was on a small mound slightly north of the entrance, in a tiny clearing enclosed within a black pine grove. The surrounding trees were sparse enough, but a layer of gray mist hung behind them, hiding the rest of the instance from sight. All over the dark cracking barks were red paper strips that said ‘Spirit Confinement’ in black bold characters, which Seiki guessed were magical seals that would stop players from leaving the resurrection area until revived by a houshi or called back into action by a War Card.
Every War Instance had its own unique revive point, usually themed to fit the atmosphere. This one had the usual incense pot on a small stone altar in the middle, but none of the usual mattresses that made resurrecting a slightly more comfortable experience.
Dying had put him on Slight Fatigue, but the first degree of the effect was so mild it hardly mattered. Seiki had died enough times to simply shrug off the nausea and push himself into a sitting position.
A few feet away, sitting cross-legged on the grass, was Ippei, who was further along the journey of recovery. It had not been five minutes, and the samurai could still not move from the spot, and now he sat with a rather thoughtful expression on his face as he studied something invisible in the air.
Seiki turned his attention to his notifications and realized what had drawn his friend’s attention. In the short period between their deaths and resurrection, the West Defenders had managed to activate several additional War Cards:
Card in play: Inscribed Card of the Clever Fox
Kitsune Card of the Equipment Deck. Reveals hidden shortcuts and paths through barriers throughout the instance.
Card in play: Inscribed Card of the Swift Steed
Ronin Card of the Horse Deck. Players and troops gain 20% extra mount speed for the rest of the instance.
Card in play: Engraved Card of the Honored Cleric
Houshi Card of the Honor Deck. Players and troops take 5% less damage for the rest of the instance, occas
ionally gaining the Blessing of the Honored Cleric for 3 seconds, which attempts to equalize the health percentage of every player, transferring health from players with higher health to those with lower health.
Checking the tano-shrines on his mental map, he noticed four out of five white dots had now dimmed. The only one remaining was the one he had found in the bathhouse, which must have been difficult to get to. Seiki guessed it meant the West Defenders had hope of beating the challenge.
Ippei turned toward him, an excited grin on his face. “They’re really going all out with the Cards. It’s going to be close, but…”
“Well, at least those are the right Cards,” said a voice behind them.
The ninja, Kisho of the West Defenders [Level 25], who had died at the beginning of the boss phase, was pacing restlessly near the back of the clearing. “Did they figure out the Demonic Clan items?”
Now Seiki finally had time to observe the man. Unlike most ninja who were dressed in purely dark colors, the man was in a mixture of Shinshioka set and other black leather pieces, except for his metal arm guards that boasted a long strip of dark gold down to his hands. Like most ninja, however, he wore his hair short, and kept the lower half of his face hidden behind black cloth. “Every time it’s me mapping the whole village, you see, and I never thought anything of the Demonic Clan stuff. When the boss came out at 1 HP, I knew immediately, and I was about to tell Nobuki.”
“Don’t worry,” said Ippei. “Your friends know what to do. We told them.”
“Oh,” the ninja looked relieved by the news. Then he shook his head as if deciding that there was nothing he could do at this point. “Anyway, which one of you was the Beta guy again?”
The abrupt change in subject threw them off a bit.
“That would be him.” Seiki nodded toward his friend.
Ippei let out an amused breath and shrugged.
“Cool,” said Kisho. To Seiki’s surprise, the ninja then turned to look at him. “So you must be Reiji?”