The Destroying Plague

by Dan Sugralinov

  “And how many treasure hunters have you already sent to the Nether?”

  “Um…” Flaygray faltered. “You will be the third. But those two, to tell the truth, are here too… Nobody wants to die for no reason, you know how it goes…”

  “For centuries? Do you know how much time you’re going to be here?”

  “Listen, boy, math isn’t my strong suit!” he said petulantly. “What business is it of yours anyway? For us guards, time does not exist. We awaken when an invader appears, and once they are dispatched, we go to sleep again. It’s even fun!” he bleated, a note of challenge in his voice. “Now do you want to fight or not, thief?”

  “And if another thief like me kills you?”

  “Guards don’t die, if you haven’t yet figured that out. What Step are you on?” The satyr examined the floor under his hooves. “The second? Who was before me?”

  “A hedgehog.”

  “The savage from Meaz? He has a bristling personality! And you defeated him?” the satyr asked doubtfully. He took a few more paces back.

  “Yes. But he didn’t talk to me, unlike you. I think I can get you out of here, Flaygray.”

  Focusing on the guard’s icon, I sent him an invite to my group. I didn’t know how an NPC would see that exactly, but I’d managed to group up with Patrick, and invite the kobold renegades to become adepts of the Sleeping Gods too.

  “I suggest you join my party… And I’ll introduce you to Behemoth too,” I promised. “If you want…”

  The satyr froze and his eyes glazed over. Was the AI trying to calculate this non-standard situation? Flaygray unfroze and then asked in a businesslike manner:

  “What do you want in exchange?”

  “Will you help me defeat the other guards?”

  “That goes without saying!” he said in annoyance. “There’s no other way out of here. How many years of my service do you require?”

  “Um… None. Once we get out of here, you’re free to go wherever!”

  “No, no, no, Scyth, you won’t pull the wool over my eyes!” The Satyr laughed and gestured threateningly with a clawed finger. “You aren’t as simple as you seem, haha! You say you’ll let me go just like that? No, there’s definitely some trap there! What about a year? Would a year of my service suit you? Only I warn you in advance, I drink heavily and become very irritable when my mouth is dry.”

  “Deal!” I extended my hand to shake. “Then accept my invitation to my clan.”

  The reason for him joining was obvious: the clan bonuses would help us in the next Steps, and some of the experience would go to the clan.

  Flaygray, a level 31 satyr, has joined your group.

  Flaygray, a level 31 satyr, has joined the Awoken clan.

  Achievement progress — Treasury of the First Mage: Path of Courage — 2/99.

  Reward: +10% movement speed in treasury.

  Either this was a hint that I was going to need to run, or there was just no meaning in it and all these rewards were in the core of the location.

  You got Seed of the Flesh-Eating Tree Protector.

  The second Step brought me almost ten thousand experience in total, the same amount of gold and an unusual artifact that turned up in my bag on its own.

  Seed of the Flesh-Eating Tree Protector

  Epic

  Of this seed, planted in blessed soil, a Tree Protector will grow. Releasing iron-hard and deadly mobile roots all around, it protects its owner and their allies.

  The extremely rare fruit of the Tree Protector have advanced magical effects and are used to make delicacies.

  The fallen leaves of the Tree Protector are a powerful ingredient in alchemy.

  The bark of the Tree Protector is resistant to fire and magic. With its high durability, it is often a component in the creation of shields and armor.

  Gardener craft required!

  Imagining this predatory tree in the clan fort, I grinned a carnivorous smile. I hoped one of Manny’s people would want to retrain as a gardener.

  * * *

  We approached the third Step fully armed and fully recovered. Then we had to wait another ten minutes while my Revive Pet cooled down, but then we had Iggy with us. As soon as it appeared, the pet rushed the satyr and felt him for a long time with his antennae whiskers. The satyr murmured something in displeasure and Iggy answered with a short chitter and stepped off, now just darting jealous glances at our new ally.

  All this time, Flaygray looked at the open gates longingly, but said nothing. Either he didn’t see the portal glimmering at the end of the gloomy corridor, or he knew that he couldn’t get out without me.

  The important thing was to figure out whether the guards’ levels would increase with each Step. I decided for myself that if they did, then there was no point in risking it. But the next guard was the same level as Flaygray, thirty-one. A wordless stone golem that was immune to magic. The satyr’s fire magic was useless, as were Iggy’s abilities. But both of them found a way to help me: the satyr threw crushing strikes with his hooves, the pet fired volleys of needles.

  The Golem Guard dropped my first ‘dummy,’ as I called them:

  Belt of the Undefeated

  Epic

  Scalable

  Use: binds to soul, taking on attributes according to owner’s class.

  Flaygray was distressed that I couldn’t use the new gear. I couldn’t drag the item out of my Treasure Hunter’s Bag.

  The next two Steps added a Basic Levitation Magic Tome and another ‘dummy’ — some gloves. Neither guardian — a fat ten-foot-high caterpillar and a bear-like creature — presented particular difficulties.

  By the twenty second Step, I was getting sick of the monotonous battles, but there was no reason to leave the treasury: the mobs were still three levels higher, and the boss guardians — four. My skills and stats, boosted beyond my level, helped us to overcome the difference without difficulty. Especially with Flaygray’s help; he proved himself a strong fighter. I talked and he burned our enemies from afar. All the skills I was using were leveling up, and it even occurred to me that after the treasury, when I got to Darant, I’d need to visit the archery and Unarmed Combat trainers.

  By Step thirty-six, my bag was full of dummy items for every slot, including jewelry. There were some really awesome artifacts too, like Bottomless Healing Potion. Of course, I regretted again that I couldn’t use it in the treasury.

  That said, my achievement progress strengthened me with each Step. The rewards turned out to be non-linear: for example, after the eighteenth guard, the bonus to base damage jumped straight up to fifty percent. My resistance to all elements, my defense and critical hit chance also rose. The thirty-ninth Step unlocked a new promising stat: +1% chance to stun opponent for 1 second when dealing any damage.

  The only thing that bothered me was my health, which was constantly dropping from the treasury debuff, so I put all the stat points I earned from leveling up into Endurance.

  The forced exit from Disgardium that should have struck after midnight didn’t happen. I got a message that “due to special gameplay conditions” I was able to spend as much time as I needed in the capsule.

  The forty second guard was a reptiloid from a race of raptors. As soon as it appeared, I showed my wrist. What had piqued Flaygray’s interest might work again. At each Step, before the fight and during, I tried to talk to the guard, promising to help them escape the treasury that had begun their prison. With the reptiloid, it was pointless.

  “He doesn’t understand you,” the satyr bleated. “These reptiles died out long before my time. They didn’t speak the common tongue in those days. Let me try.”

  Addressing the raptor, the satyr emitted a series of guttural, interrupted noises. The six-foot-five reptile reared up on its two powerful legs and listened with interest. He looked at me, nervously twitching his mighty tail. Turned his head to one side like a bird, then to the other and looked at the satyr again; then emitted a long, ear-splitting roar from its
toothy maw.

  “Go closer, raptors have awful vision,” Flaygray said.

  “What did he say?”

  “He laughed. He doesn’t believe that Behemoth would become your patron.”

  I approached the raptor hesitantly, keeping my eyes on his extended, curved claws. The creature’s upper limbs had developed into full-fledged arms, and its hands allowed it to hold a short spear with a broad, serrated tip about as long as my hand. After showing him my wrist, I stepped back. The raptor squealed something and his name turned yellow.

  “He agrees,” the satyr translated. “Says he’s willing to take a risk for the chance to see the abyss the world has fallen into while he vegetated here, since a Sleeping God has chosen such a weakling as you to be initial. To tell the truth, Scyth, I think the same. By the way, our toothy friend is called Ripta.”

  Ripta the Raptor accepted my invitation to the group and clan. We hadn’t just gotten ourselves a deadly warrior, but also a tank. At that moment I believed for the first time that I could complete the treasury. Both Flaygray, who had gotten the same experience as me, and Ripta exceeded me in level, had the health bars of bosses, and therefore they took most of the damage thanks to Sleeping Invulnerability.

  The gates opened again to herald another successful Step, the achievement ticked up another level, adding a percent to my dodge chance, and another item went into my bag.

  Diamond Worm Cocoon

  Legendary

  Personal item.

  Free pet.

  Diamond worms are extinct underground monsters that grow up to a hundred feet long. With a very thick skin covered in diamonds, they easily burrow paths through stone, cliffs and volcanic rock. No predators or monsters dared to enter the territory of the depth worm, lest they themselves became pray when the true master appeared.

  Attention! This type of pet belongs to the free category: it must be bound to a specific area.

  To hatching: 0/10000 experience.

  Could I release the worm in Kharinza? As long as it didn’t eat all our miners…

  Things started to go even quicker in the sanctuary. It took us only a few short minutes to send the minions to sleep, and we tore the guards apart faster than they could recover from emerging from their portals. It even got a point when I’d forgotten the last time I’d taken damage.

  By the sixty ninth wave, I reached level thirty-three. I didn’t expect any cooperation from the guard at this Step — it was hard to talk to an insectoid, a monstrous beast with four powerful lower limbs, a bag-like body and two upper limbs, sharpened and serrated along their entire length.

  Colicoid Guardian, level 37

  Boss

  Using the strategy we’d worked out, Ripta rushed the boss, but as a surprise to all of us, Iggy overtook him. Firing at the guard like a bullet, the pet chirruped at us and then spoke to the mob. It answered. Iggy chittered something again.

  Flaygray said something about Azmodan’s cock and the Faun’s ass and asked a question.

  “Is your overgrown fly intelligent?”

  “It never even occurred to me until just now,” I answered in embarrassment.

  Ripta lowered his spear, turned, screeched something at the satyr and then spoke to the boss, imitating the insectoid’s chittering.

  “The raptor understands the language of the colicoids,” Flaygray explained. “He just gave the guardian the same offer you gave us.”

  The surreal sight of the raptor speaking to the gigantic insect continued for a couple of minutes, then Ripta said something to Flaygray and he translated:

  “His name is Anf. He’s coming with us.”

  * * *

  The new member of the Awoken looked like a mixture of a spider and a praying mantis. The insectoid Anf’s ability was to bind enemies in a spider web, which removed all risk from our task. Standing as far as possible from the center of the hall, I calmly leveled up my archery and talked to Flaygray. The satyr commentated on events.

  “Oh, I know that triton! I fought with him when I was the treasure hunter…”

  The variety of races among the treasury guardians had long since stopped surprising me. The majority of the creatures represented in modern Dis didn’t exist in the places players hadn’t yet reached. Like, for examples, the hedgehogs from the unexplored continent of Meaz from the first wave. Unfortunately, the other guards didn’t react to my mark from Behemoth, and some even aggroed on me with a particular vengeance after I showed it.

  As we approached the ninetieth Step, I stalled more and more, thinking about leaving the treasury. The debuff had cut my health in half, but each time I wanted to stay. I doubted the next boss would kill me in one hit, and my new clanmates wouldn’t let him hit again. Each of them, Flaygray the Satyr, Ripta the Raptor and Anf the Insectoid all accepted the conditions. I had no idea for the time being what I’d do with them for a while year, but all in good time. Time…

  Dawn was already breaking in the real world, and I couldn’t skip school on the threshold of the citizenship tests, so I stopped even looking at the loot. One of the memorable items added to my bag was the set legendary Svyatogor’s Chainmail. At first I didn’t even pay any attention until my thoughts hitched on the familiar name — I remembered Xan and Bill, guests at Eve’s birthday party, discussing this set piece.

  As I got closer to the end, I stopped even taking part in the fights. Ripta tanked, Anf tore open enemies from behind and Iggy and Flaygray shot from range. I got involved again toward the end, releasing a series of special shots from my bow. Sure, that kind of behavior was unlikely an example of courage, but the system paid no attention to that. It seemed courage was judged by the very fact of staying after each subsequent Step in the treasury.

  The battle with the ninety eighth guardian, the Nether Demon, stretched out a little. The boss kept spawning little minions, firing off ranged spells and intelligently switching to attack ranged targets, stunning Ripta and Anf with a special ability: the air around the demon collapsed, the boss itself appeared next to one of us and the two meleers were quickly pulled into the free space, crashing into each other and breaking bone and chitin.

  The demon almost killed me the one time it ended up next to me, but, praise the Sleeping Gods, I fired a Combo at it in desperation and compensated for some of the damage with Lifesteal, then, without waiting for him to hit again, I used Lethargy for the first time in the whole treasury. The boss had a chance to ignore the ability’s effect, but luck was on my side. We finished off the demon before he could recover, using all the group’s crowd-control abilities.

  One percent — that was my maximum health when we came to the last Step of the Path of Courage. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong: a succubus appeared from the portal.

  Succubus Temptress, level 36

  Elite

  While the enchanted Ripta couldn’t tear his lovesick eyes from her, seeing the ideal raptoress, the others, recovering from their surprise, attacked and successfully finished her off — the spawn of the underworld could only control one intelligent creature at a time. The next two succubi chose Flaygray and myself as their targets, for which they paid dearly: Liberation removed the control, returning the Charm to the succubus. The mobs came in turns.

  With my heart beating like a drum, I awaited the next wave. Iggy ran rings around the opening portals to immediately attack with Deadly Chirp and Binding Toxin. I prepared to use my Ghastly Howl as it came off cooldown.

  The three temptresses placed Charm on my allies just as my Ghastly Howl sounded out. One of the succubi managed to strike Iggy with her scathing whip, cutting off a wing. The pet fell to the floor, but the others woke up. The succubi stopped controlling their spells as they ran in Fear and fell easily to the group. I didn’t hold back then — I let loose as much damage as I could. With my leveled-up skills, bonuses from the achievement and high stats in general, I gave the succubi some heavy hits.

  The last portal unsurprisingly released a Succubus Guardian. I was ready f
or anything. Almost anything. Just not for what Flaygray shouted joyously at the start of the battle.

  “Nega, you licentious harlot! You got stuck here too?”

  “Flay?” the succubus said in surprise. “What the hell are you doing here, you pervert?”

  The goatish satyr and the devilishly beautiful succubus hoofed toward each other, embraced and joined together in a passionate kiss. Some time later, coquettishly fluttering her eyeglasses and bargaining for the sake of it, Nega joined the Awoken and the last slot in my bag filled up:

  Righteous Shield

  Divine Artifact