That dreadful Phoenix of Mass Resurrection burst forth from the tip of his blinding sword.
He chuckled as his heart turned to stone and Gabrielle inched closer to him.
“Prepare to die, Rowan,” she said but not in a grave tone—no, she was cheerful.
Zaine Everlight: Don’t resist. Need willing sacrifices for my Ultimate summoning.
Oh.
Why the fuck didn’t Zaine do this earlier? Was Rowan the raid leader or not? Gabrielle knew of this ultimate summoning and not him.
Rowan sighed and grumbled. This was an amateur-hour tier of strategy.
Gabrielle giggled. “He needs like half a thousand unwilling sacrifices too, in case you’re wondering.”
“Oh…” Rowan rolled his eyes as searing chains wrapped around his neck, summoned from dimensional tares scattered throughout the courtyard. There will need to be a serious discussion and spanking regarding communication after this city is captured.
Chapter 40
We've got this
The king’s resurrection Phoenix squawked over the ruined square and spread its golden wings in a burst of painful light under the cloudless sky. Rowan squeezed his eyes shut as the fiery chains tightened around his neck, chest, and limbs. Every patch of skin and muscle screamed in pain, his health points draining far too slowly in this willing sacrifice.
Suddenly, the chains squeezed with infinite force and it was over. Rowan stared into utter blackness.
You have died. The dark gods find your sacrifice hardly interesting.
Respawning in 14 hours and 59 minutes. Would you like to watch your death?
Of course, his sacrifice was hardly interesting—it was meaningless. Gabrielle would use one of her Resurrection Stones and then use her last resurrection draught on him. Ambiguous would be revived by Zaine if she didn’t carry a stone. At most, this sacrifice would result in less than a minute of delay. Sixty precious seconds in this win-or-fail situation.
Rowan fidgeted and watched the death-replay while the seconds counted down. Hundreds of dimensional tears ripped through the courtyard, chains shooting at newcomers and players who’d blindly accepted the king’s resurrection. All struggled, all attempted using their movement skill or cut at the chains. All unwilling. They died in screaming agony as their bodies crumbled into black ash. Perfect.
The king stood like an idiot, staring at the scene with his sword limp at his side. His full-helmet hid his reaction though—a shame. This would’ve been a screenshot-worthy moment, Rowan’s World Boss besting Dorian’s World Boss in an epic reversal. Rowan would hang it on his cell-wall. Perhaps Roth could arrange for that.
The first of his royal guard stepped through his portal, a Blademaster judging from his longsword and flexible armor, and began shouting the moment his eyes swept the scene. That seemed to break the king’s trance. His figure disappeared in a fountain of gold-white light and slammed into Zaine.
While hundreds of unwilling players struggled and died in the chains, the demigod’s body unleashed a torus of fire, blasting the king back with surprising force.
No, not surprising. Zaine was a demigod and the king was not.
The familiar blood-like summoning pentagram flared into existence on the courtyard.
A dialog appeared.
Gabby LeMort has used a Resurrection Draught on your ash remains. Do you accept? (You will resurrect at the location you died at)
He accepted with a mental shout of his intention. The scene faded back into view and that Searing Light Aura burned the top layer of his skin before he activated Mana Shield.
“Phew, it worked!” she said cheerily, “Thought ya’d spawn back in the cave!”
Then cool relief washed his skin, her wand waving at the side of his vision next to the party list, all icons in full color. Rowan scanned the pandemonium unfolding across the courtyard. Every Group Portal had closed. Most of the reinforcements had turned to ash and fed the spinning summoning pentagram in the backlines. Less than a hundred had escaped the sacrifice, beasts included.
The king battled Zaine in the skies within a hundred-meter sphere of dark fire—the same barrier which had enclosed the Dark Ruby Core. The king was more geared than Zaine, so Rowan supposed taking him out of the battle like this was a smart move. Somewhat smart, at least.
They moved with dazzling speed which Rowan’s eyes could not follow. He caught glimpses here and there of parrying blades and shield-blocks within crackling dark mana and bursts of golden light. Zaine stood on small circles of fire glued to his feet while the King walked on a hexagon of light. It was similar to Ambiguous’ Arcane Platform skill.
A Lightning Mage attempted to aid the king from a defensive line by the library, those Light Screens up again. The electricity splashed against the barrier.
Though Zaine’s assigned owls and the King’s Priests could heal through the barrier. They dealt measly damage to each other, some kind of white miasma buffering against Zaine’s chaos attacks. This was a true battle between S rank tank-bosses. A slow drag.
Rowan zeroed in on the defenders. Over thirty screens covered their line. Five were of Divine Veil tier. Dorian had revived and escaped the summoning—which was taking a billion minutes to complete. He flung a myriad of flame blasts at nearby Undead Priests and Owlish Overseers. Looks like he’d grown a brain while dead.
Rowan fired a chain of Tainted Ice Blasts as a wave of Mortars streaked to their position.
Tidal waves erupted from behind the shield.
Rowan’s blasts froze much of the water and formed a wall which impeded the mortars. Fucking hell.
Gabrielle laughed between curse chants. “That was pretty!” She was having the time of her life.
“Yeah,” he grunted, swallowing his embarrassment.
And resumed pelting the defensive line.
Among remaining Imps and Stalkers and a Colossus, Ambiguous dueled Warriors and other melee characters. They all had Life Links. A giant eagle hurled blue lightning at an Undead Paladin. She blinked into the way and her onyx skin glinted, absorbing the electricity. The skill could absorb any mana-based attack if Rowan's memory was correct.
Rowan pointed and blasted the eagle.
A greenish-brown shield appeared and his ice dispersed.
Gabrielle chucked a Paralyzing Totem next to a scaled dinosaur. Blue sparks shocked it into place. “Beastmaster has really strong big minions with heavy shields but a low minion cap.”
“Got it.” Everything had shields. The AI controller might as well rename this game to Shield Chronicles.
She suddenly spun around—her detection ward activating.
That Blademaster from the Royal Guard somersaulted from behind and landed on the roof, dodging curses and arrows quite impressively. He didn’t say a word as charged with blurry speed. His longsword erupted in white lightning, slashing at Rowan.
This was an interesting move, to say the least. A distraction?
Rowan’s elite guard reacted without command. An Undead Paladin passed Rowan a Life Link—he’d missed that skill when he’d first glanced their skills. Lightning sparked against his skin, dealing no damage or pain while an Undead Priest kept the Paladin at full health. So useful.
A Stalker’s blade parried the next slash and a Colossus’ whip lashed at the Blademaster. Three Undead Mages flashed in front of Rowan and joined in with elemental blasts. The Blademaster unleashed a lightning vortex, then rolled and dashed away, retreating like an overly-agile pig. Rowan Examined before he disappeared into the streets.
[Divinely Blessed] Morrow Highwind (Blademaster): Level 239
Health: 1,570,100
Mana: 300,150
Stamina: 975,500
Buffs: Royal Blessing (Permanent health and resistance multiplier), Lightning Blade (Increased melee range and bonus lightning damage), Fleetfoot (Increased agility and movement speed)
“Hehehehe.” Gabrielle planted a Dark Essence Totem on the roof. Cool dark mana radiated from its emerald idol an
d healed the shocked Stalkers and Paladin. “What a dumb doggy.”
Rowan wasn’t buying it. That had to be a distraction. His minion guards were in clear view. “Distraction,” he said and swept his gaze across the stalemate battle once more.
But what?
“We’re running out of fodder Imps. They’re stalling.”
Fine. Reasonable explanation. “Or maybe he really did want to be a hero”
“Probs.”
The Imps were expendable—and something far worse was coming.
Rowan eyed the summoning pentagram. It spun and pulsated with Fire-Dark mana like a heart. It was close to completing. He could feel it in his own churning mana and blood.
Rowan Back: How long till the summoning completes?
Zaine Everlight: 4 minutes left.
Damn.
Gabrielle’s cheek puffed at the corner of Rowan’s eye.
He kept up his ice blasts. Another Light Screen shattered.
They were really quickly running out of Imps, down to a few hundred now, and his Undead Paladins were dwindling. The rampaging beasts really tipped the fight in the good players’ favor. Five dinosaurs and two eagles. Beneath the Light Screens, Lines of boar-like creatures launched spikes barbed with a green substance. Poison.
Fifty more Imps disintegrated as another mortar wave arrived. Only the T9 Light Screen remained.
An Undead Paladin died and its Dark Mana Shell shattered, raining dark mana atop Imps and supporting Undead. Rowan raised the nearest Paladin corpse and ordered it to replace the shield.
Then Zaine’s health bar at the left dropped to 40% in a gargantuan blast of light, originating from the king overhead. He retreated to the barrier’s edge as the Undead Priests focus-healed.
This wasn't looking good. The sluggish pace had really cost them. The spawn point had been destroyed seconds too late—all thanks to poor communication and Rowan's own stalling back at the gate. Threads of worry began to lace through his chest.
Ultimate skills were going off left and right, these reinforcements far more powerful than the defenders before. Especially the five Royal Guard characters. Warrior, Blademaster, Priest, and two Mages. Tidal waves, lightning storms, giant arrows, and an invulnerable Warrior decimated the remaining Imps.
Ambiguous’ health dipped to half as she started to become overwhelmed. She retreated to the mid-lines.
Rowan growled and glanced at Gabrielle. She was being a shield-penetrating curse-turret again, nothing more she could do. The square was covered with defensive and paralyzing totems and her soul-themed skills couldn’t penetrate shields or best a Life Link. Her bombs were less effective than her curses here.
Tainted ice erupted from the tip of his wand every second as he micromanaged important units along with Gabrielle and wracked his brain for ideas.
Colossus eye-beams and mortars took down two T9 screens. Not enough.
Think, dammit. Think!
He sank into the familiar cool of his amulet, always a calming anchor at his chest.
Three minutes left on the summoning. Zaine took another large hit, down to 20%. A Colossus retreated to the backline for healing. Three Owlish Overseers died, Rowan’s management slipping. Everything was falling apart. Was it over? Did Dorian win? Did he let down his beautiful Gabrielle? Light pain gripped his chest. They'd have to retreat soon.
He swallowed in between blasts and flicked Gabrielle a private message.
Rowan Black (To Gabby LeMort): I’m sorry. I was too slow back there.
She flicked him a glance, those big swirling eyes hard and ecstatic.
Gabby LeMort: Don’t worry. We’ve got this.
So confident as usual—his incredible Gabrielle.
Rowan Black: How? We’re about to be overwhelmed.
She smirked between two Laceration Curses.
Gabby LeMort: The king is only toying with Zaine for a reason. When high-tier dark bosses die, they release a giant wave of dark mana. It’ll wipe them out and the king might even have to use Divine Mark.
Oh. So that was how Zaine had lasted so long with no gear.
And Sacrifice him? They needed him for future battles and new demons.
Rowan Black: He’s too valuable.
Gabby LeMort: Don’t worry… hehehe…
Could she somehow revive or save Zaine? But he was an NPC. They couldn’t be revived. There wasn’t anything in the game which would make them immortal—
Unless…
Rowan Black: Divine Blessing?
Gabby LeMort: Not that. ^_^
He snarled at her. This wasn’t a time to play games—in this VR game. That little tidbit wasn’t lost on Rowan. Only his quirky, amazing Gabrielle could act like this on the brink of failure.
Rowan sighed and amped up his rate of ice blasts while saving two Undead Priests from Dorian’s laser. It had grown in girth. That fucker just wouldn’t stay dead.
Another wave of mortars blasted the screens. Two left.
Two minutes left on the summoning.
10% health on Zaine, healers struggling.
Rowan’s heart sank by an inch.
Ambiguous tanked flamethrowers from every dinosaur. She flashed away for healing.
The last Clawed Fire Imps turned to ash and the deluge stopped. They paused in the momentary surprise, then charged. Every Undead Paladin erected a Dark Mana Shell. But none were tier 9. They shattered in seconds under the hundreds of attacks, Dorian, the beasts, and the Royal Guard dealing the most damage.
Rowan was about to call for a pull-back before the chatbox vibrated.
Ambiguous Pain (Raid Chat): Don’t retreat! Summoning pentagrams can be destroyed with enough light blasts.
A hot roar thundered up Rowan’s throat as mana fumed in his veins.
Gabrielle dared to laugh. “Ya didn’t know?”
One Colossus Enforcer disintegrated. A tidal wave buffered against the next mortar blasts. The Royal Guard led the charge into the back-lines—and the summoning pentagram. One minute left.
The defenders shredded into the backline, making their way to Rowan and Gabrielle. They let out a loud cheer that the smart noise cancellation didn’t filter. Dorian’s was the loudest. The game was taunting Rowan, mocking him in his near-defeat.
They were seconds away from the summoning pentagram when the chatbox vibrated again below a ping.
Zaine Everlight asks for your attention.
Zaine Everlight: The rings and amulet and tiara are soul anchors that can resurrect Zar if you collect them. She’ll greatly reward you, Rowan.
Rowan flinched as the boy blinked in front of him and took a curse and ice blast to the chest. At the same time, his arm rose and his katana zipped across his neck in a spray of blood. He didn’t have his fire armor up—and he wasn’t wearing the mask. Tears flowed from his human eyes as his health bar dropped from 4% to a tiny sliver.
Well, that wasn't a sight you'd see every day.
As Zaine’s health points hit zero, a lick of guilt prodded Rowan’s stomach but was overshadowed by boiling anger that he’d just lost his T8, Demon-Knight World Boss.
But at least he could replace Zaine with his sister—and Gabrielle was hinting at a way to save the boy.
Something wispy and blue shot into the child corpse before everything went black, the world consumed by the fallout of Zaine’s death.
Then power greater than anything Rowan had experienced since first logging geysered in his body, strengthening every muscle and bone while his Ice-Dark mana ascended to an almost unbearable potency. Alerts flooded his interface, two were standing out the most.
World Event Update, The Dark Ruby Core!
Zaine Everlight has been defeated!
Killing Blow: Rowan Black, Gabby LeMort, Zaine Everlight
Assists: Xapham Zuriel, Dorian Ambersown, (Expand to see others)
World Event, The Dark Couple Rises, has commenced!
Rowan Black and Gabby LeMort have ascended to tier 6 World Bosses!
Triggering Adventurer: Rowan Black, Gabby LeMort
Difficulty: ?
Recommended level: ?
Location: Water Mage Spire, Draconian Kingdom East Coast
Chapter 41
Do it!
Gabrielle’s chain of Laceration, Bone Break, and Blood Boil curses fluttered off her tongue without thought. She’d practiced spell chains for countless hours and developed many continuous wand movements which could invoke spells without pause. This was the reason she valued wands over staffs or focus orbs. Flexibility and sheer speed more than made up for the lack of damage bonuses. Dumb little Dorian still hadn’t caught on, stuck with that clunky silver staff for years now.
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