Rowan ordered every unit to retreat by a hundred meters from the first Colossus. He Examined.
Colossus Enforcer (Demon): Level 192
Health: 114,010
Mana: 120,560
Stamina: 350,20
Buffs: Dark Flame Amour (Bonus to armor and all resistances, buffers against projectiles), Haste (Global speed increase), Rage (Increased melee damage, lowered accuracy), Metamorphosis (Threshold Skill)
Metamorphosis?!
Fire-Dark mana geysered and the Colossus flexed its wings in the transformation. Its remaining arm morphed into a crackling, molten longsword. Charred, glowing bone encased its body, its visage far more fearsome than before.
It swung its blade.
Rowan pinged the girls to retreat as a hundred-meter wide wave of flame and black electricity washed over the battlefield.
Ambiguous appeared by Rowan and blinked him to safety.
Then the unthinkable happened: the flood of chaos and fire attracted a third colossus.
Rowan gulped and ordered a total retreat. This couldn’t be happening. These weren’t even bosses and he was losing—badly. How powerful was the boss? It had to be at least A or S rank.
“Go go go!” Gabrielle yelled, “All in on the one with the fire sword! It's at 3% and paralyzed!” Every minion obeyed her order and rushed it.
3% and paralyzed?
Rowan reeled and double checked. 3% and paralyzed indeed. “How did it lose 17%?!”
“Chaos recoil, ya silly!”
“Hmph, someone didn’t read the game manual,” Ambiguous said, tone mocking. She blinked away and appeared by the thing’s head—
And finished off the last 1% with a blade through its cracked, crumbling visage. Its eyes winked out of existence and fell forward. Dead. Finally. After all that battling, one level 192 not-a-boss demon was downed. Incredible. The boss in here had to be something truly out of this game’s hell.
“No one told me there’s a manual…” Rowan mumbled.
Gabrielle giggled and rustled his hair. “There isn’t. Just teasing ya!”
There wasn’t time for celebrations. The other two Colossus’ had recovered from the friendly fire. 39% and 83% health. Rowan dished out mental orders to his units to intercept the third Colossus. “Girls, take the weak one!”
“Yes, master,” Ambiguous said in a strange tone.
Gabrielle slapped her Mana Shield. “Let’s go, ya hussy!”
They disappeared in a puff and flash.
What was that?
No time to ponder—his stalkers and imps and owls had already engaged the Colossus. He resumed his micro-managing ways, long given up on pelting it with not-so-effective ice attacks. Its fire was dense and hot enough to counter his ice, unlike the elementals before.
Then a thought sprang like a mouse-trap going off in Rowan’s skull: he could raise the Colossus if he dumped his four unallocated skill-tier points into Raise. He checked the skill, flicking a thought to his units to just dodge.
Active Skill: Raise
Raises a corpse to an Undead minion.
Skill Level: 47, 25%
Skill Tier: 3
Channel duration: 2 seconds.
Mana Cost: 200
Effect: 2 maximum targets. Usable on skeletons. Corpse decay weakens the resulting minion. 23% fewer minion slots used, minimum 1 slot.
Tier Effect: Not usable on world bosses or targets of 30 or more levels than yourself. Cannot be used on world bosses of Tier 7 or more. Minion skill tiers are capped at your highest class skill tier.
Rowan was level 134 and three additional tiers of Raise would allow him to target the Colossus’ corpse. He’d have an incredibly powerful minion if he invested the points.
But skill-tier points were only granted every 25 levels starting at 100, rare and valuable. And he’d been saving the points for a powerful skill…
Was it worth it?
Three of his stalkers disintegrated as he debated. Damn, he needed to make a decision this instant.
Rowan hardened his jaw and dropped three points into Raise.
Skill Tier Level-up (x3): Raise
Raises a corpse to an Undead minion.
Skill Level: 47, 25%
Skill Tier: 6
Channel duration: 2 seconds.
Mana Cost: 200
Effect: 2 maximum targets. Usable on skeletons. Corpse decay weakens the resulting minion. 23% fewer minion slots used, minimum 1 slot.
Tier Effect: Not usable on world bosses or targets of 60 or more levels than yourself. Cannot be used on world bosses of Tier 8 or more. Minion skill tiers are capped at your highest class skill tier.
He waved his wand, shaping Ice-Dark mana into the complex pattern at the tip. The dark word for Raise left his tongue. He poured every last drop of mana into the smoldering corpse, unsure of how much reservation it needed.
The Colossus ate his power in a spiral vacuum till an additional 15% of his mana was reserved, the price of about thirty stalkers. A good ratio. Its eyes flickered to life and it took sixteen whole minion slots. Every wound sealed and its clawed hand regrew in a grotesque web of flesh and bone and mana.
Rowan shackled it to his will with another pump of mana before it could resist. It picked up its whip and joined the fray in its first form, taking the third Colossus by surprise.
The girls glanced at the sight, their features twisting in confusion as they danced around their opponent. He flicked them a message.
Rowan Black (Raid Chat): Used three skill-tier points on Raise.
Gabby LeMort: Awww, what a waste…
Ambiguous Pain: Yeah.
They could judge all they want. This was his character and his decision. He’ll live with the consequences and hope it didn’t gimp his future too badly.
Rowan’s Colossus fired its eye-lasers and finished off its target. Another Colossus corpse fell to the ground in a rumble.
Soon enough, all three Colossus’ was under Rowan’s control while the girls grumbled about his horrible, dumb decision and how it might cost them their dark continent. He merely shrugged as they headed for the ruby structure at the center of this oversized chamber.
Rowan tuned them out. Renewed confidence pumped in his blood. With these three god-like demons on his side, that raid boss isn’t going to stand a chance.
One question floated to the top of his mind: why didn’t the real boss join the fight? It couldn’t be like in other games where the boss idles in their throne room all day and night while its forces died. The pirate and bandit bosses actively joined the front lines when necessary. Gabrielle and Ambiguous were of similar opinion when he asked.
“Careful,” Gabrielle whispered, 100% serious. Unusual for her.
Rowan nodded and nipped his arrogance in the bud. He couldn’t underestimate the game right before a boss fight.
Chapter 28
Raid Boss 2
The crystalline structure was a twisted, ruby spire in the shape of an apple core, stretching from the floor to the chamber ceiling. The chamber itself was the inside of a hollow, disk-like apple. The floor and roof inclined at a gradual slope of a few degrees over several miles. Rowan appreciated the unique, fairly creative design. He hadn't encountered anything like this before in previous games.
Gabrielle and Ambiguous had resumed their chatter after the second mile. No more Colossus Enforcers puffed into their way—the three bound to Rowan’s will were the only guards. No other demons stalked this vast expanse which could hold millions. This subterranean structure was a true feat of engineering. A wonder, a rare gem of this trope-ridden world. The AI controller had outdone itself here.
They now stood before an onyx and ruby totem-like shard in a circular hall inside the apple core. Twenty or so feet tall and circled by a metallic ring. Gabrielle was crouching and reading its inscriptions. She sure took her time along with Ambiguous. Rowan apparently lacked the proper dark crafting professions to understand the vocabulary.
The twisted r
uby walls gave off its own glow and mixed with Gabrielle’s blue lamp, the colors reminiscent of a cyberpunk game Rowan had played the other month. Ruby and onyx and an assortment of other gems spiraled overhead in a slanted, pear shape. It was a nice look, he had to admit.
“Mmmmm,” Gabrielle mumbled, “The inscriptions have faded… We must be the first to reach this place in hundreds of years.”
As he thought. None of the demons had respawned on this floor or the previous floors. They had to be summoned by the boss.
The boss that wasn’t here.
Could it have already been defeated? It would explain this empty hall.
Rowan circled the edge, tracing his fingers along the grooved walls. This ruby core had to be worth billions of gold coins by his estimate—enough to buy himself a real-life mansion if he sold the gems slowly. Or several in-game mansions if he wasn’t a wanted half-blood. A shame.
And if the boss was already dead, the gems here would’ve been mined long ago by those greedy dwarves. “Do you think the boss is already dead?”
“No,” Ambiguous said, cutting him a glance, “This looks like one of those raids where you have to summon the boss. Like the earth elemental boss a while back. You needed to bring a quest item or the boss wouldn’t appear.”
That sounded logical. “Are we missing a quest?”
“Maybe.” Her tone was uncertain.
“Nope,” Gabrielle said, “It says here only the dark chosen few are able. The rest of the line is faded.”
Rowan paused his gait. It was surprising that a demonic raid was walled behind a requirement that asked for a dark class player. Perhaps it wanted the light players to capture a darkie.
Ambiguous said, “Dark chosen few? That’s us right?”
“Yup!”
“How do we summon it?” Rowan said. He strode to the totem and eyes the few remaining inscriptions. Of course, he still couldn’t read it.
“Dunno,” Gabrielle said and Ambiguous shrugged. “It could be simple as pumping some of our dark mana into it.”
“Then let’s try that,” Rowan said. He beginning to tire of waiting. “We've decided on the strategy?”
“Yuppers.” Gabrielle hopped to her feet and flashed that brilliant smile. “Lure the boss outside if we’re not sealed off and let the Colossus’ tank.”
Rowan nodded. It was a simple strategy but all they had. He hadn’t found any reports of this boss encounter on the forums—not a single post discussing this underground, demon-infested fortress. It looked like they were indeed the first to crawl this dungeon. A world-first. He smirked at the accomplishment. Count on idiotic piggies to not fully scour a dungeon near a starting town.
“Alright,” he said and gave the command to his minions. A pair of Owlish Overseers leading a pack of stalkers and Mages puffed around the shard. A single Colossus puffed next to the shard, wings flapping gusts of wind. This was pretty much all Rowan could fit without risking severe friendly fire.
“Who wants to do it?” Ambiguous asked, her sleek brow raised.
Tilting his head, Rowan made a quick judgment. Ambiguous was the tankiest of the three but 75% of her shield points were reserved. Gabrielle was the current tankiest. It had to be her. “Gabrielle.”
“Fine,” Ambiguous said, understanding in a heartbeat.
“Knew it,” Gabrielle quipped and palmed the shard. Her dark mana fluttered around her figure and licked at the ruby. Then flared as she poured an impressive percentage of her total into it.
A minute passed, Rowan gripping his wand with white knuckles and counting his pulse. Gabrielle poured endless mana into the gem. The hall broiled with her power, a maelstrom of water, earth, and dark mana. Rowan bathed in her outpour. Gabrielle’s essence soaked every fiber in his body, mixing with his own till she and he were almost one.
More minutes passed and the air was opaque from mana. The shard remained unresponsive.
She cut the flow. “Didn’t work.” She shrugged, face blank and unreadable.
Rowan grumbled—time for approach B: his dark mark on his right palm, granted by the dark gods. He was their chosen according to The Frozen Calamity quest description. He didn’t want to be the one summoning the boss but it looked like he had no other choice. A shred of annoyance curled around his jaw. “Ambiguous. Be ready to blink me away any moment.”
“Of course,” she said, voice smooth.
“Don’t worry, my less-grouchy Rowan. If ya die, I got another resurrection draught for ya!”
Rowan huffed, ignoring her, and presented his mark to the crystal. He gathered every drop of mana in his blood and directed it to his palm like he was firing a bolt. His mana surged. He blasted it into the crystal in a pure, undiluted form. Black and icy-blue stormed the shard in a stream of black, fire-like frost laced with the goo of his black mark.
The ruby reacted in seconds. It glowed bright flesh, flashing black once.
Twice.
An airy current of Fire-Dark mana of infinite intensity buffered around Rowan’s shield, his mana bar rapidly draining. Ambiguous seized his bicep and flashed him to the entrance next to Gabrielle.
The crystal shattered into sparkling dust. The floor rumbled and the entire structure bloomed.
Then nothing. The mana disappeared. The rumble subsided.
A dialog decorated with onyx, rubies and black flames appeared.
World Event, The Dark Ruby Core, has commenced.
A demonic power below Greenwood Spine has been awakened.
Triggering Adventurer: Rowan Black
Difficulty: ?
Recommended level: ?
Location: The Dark Ruby Core, Demonic Citadel, Stonehurst Mine
Unknown difficulty. Shit. Those Colossus Enforcers better be sufficient.
Rowan slung his gaze at Gabrielle. “Did you just get—”
“Yup, it’s normal.”
He swiveled his head left and right. He tugged on the link to every minion and none reported back sightings of a boss outside. “Where’s the boss?” he asked like a piggy boy.
“Did you check behind your ears?” Ambiguous drawled.
“Maybe it’s in your pants,” Gabrielle said, “I think I saw a snake in there.”
Ambiguous howled with laughter.
Rowan let out a raspy breath. “Shut it, you two aren’t—”
“Huh, what was that? Who’s there? Zar, is that you?” said the voice of a boy. Young and innocent. It came from the far wall.
A prisoner?
Gabrielle puffed over and Ambiguous followed with Rowan in her grip. She let go a second later and he flexed his aching arm. The two girls possessed far too much strength.
“Who’s there? Zar? Did you find me?” the boy said again.
Something in the crystal clicked and an invisible seam parted. A hidden panel in the ruby swung open like a fridge door.
“Zar?” A dark-haired boy wearing black leather no older than eleven or ten stood in the doorway, his head at Rowan’s stomach, his figure slim and lacking any muscle. Malnourished and silky looking with that pale skin. His brown human eyes widened at the sight of the trio.
Rowan Examined the kid.
Zaine Everlight (Human): Level 2
Health: 110
Mana: 100
Stamina: 100
He eyed the hidden room, finding a small, straw and oak bed next to a wooden drawer supporting a framed picture of a brown-haired girl. Zar, his friend or family, probably. A small ruby lamp glowed red-white next to a jagged door which Rowan assumed led to a bathroom.
While Zaine stared in silence, Rowan concluded: this was a cell, similar to the one in the psychiatric institution but poorer, more boring. A strand of sympathy ran from his eyes to his stomach, tugging at his heart.
Gabrielle spoke first, “Heya, little Zaine. Did the big bad meanie boss kidnap ya?”
She didn’t just zap the kid?
Well, she needed information and Zaine was all they had.
Zaine blinked a fe
w times over the course of twenty seconds. His eyes alternated between the trio. His features slowly morphed into a scowl. No words. He must be untrusting of strangers. Gabrielle’s tattered, dark robes that wafted a constant black miasma didn’t help either.
“Ah…” Gabrielle mumbled, touching her chin as she leaned forward. “Do ya understand me?”
That was a pointless question. The only languages in this game were English, the primordial language, the dark language, and various unintelligible animal noises.
Rowan cleared his throat and put on a polite mask. He held out a palm and said with a jolly voice which children should like, “It’s alright, Zaine. You can talk to us. We’re just here to defeat this dungeon’s boss. You’ll be back with your family in no time.” Just pry the information from the kid’s skull and maybe use him as a hostage later—if the humans valued this kid enough.
Aeon Chronicles Online_Book 1_Devil's Deal Page 33