"Holy shit," I whispered and looked at Daggers as if seeing her for the first time.
She was my friend.
How the hell had this happened?
Her eyes widened.
I smiled.
She looked lost. I had never seen her so out of her depth before. She opened her mouth to speak several times but closed it without saying anything each time. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke.
Of all the things I expected her to ask, that wasn't even on the list.
I frowned. I had thought of that before and was counting on David to convince the guys in DIR not roll the game back to a previous state.
But when Sam asked that and I thought of David, I realized something: David was now an important figure in DIR.
V-Soft had developed an AI to interpret people's thoughts, and it had taken them decades. I had killed the lead developer and had David modify the AI to have a semblance of morals.
I had been so focused on killing the Devourer that I had failed to realize the ramifications of David's new position in DIR. He had the power to save the whole damn world. For a few years, at least.
I didn't beat around the bush.
He laughed.
I could do that, I had already done it before. But I wouldn't. I now understood what it had cost me to kill someone, even when they deserved it. Ted definitely didn't deserve it, and I would be a fool to make a threat I wasn't capable of carrying out.
So, I would have to try plan B. Something I'd dreaded because there was no way of knowing how David would react.
Hell, if sincerity had worked with Sam, why not with David, too?
I let the silence stretch on. When it came to matters of mortality, people responded well to a somber tone and a 'reverent lull' in the conversation.
He took some time to reply.
Now, to seal the deal:
He didn't answer immediately. Sam was looking at me curiously while the siege engines continued firing at the city walls.
His reticence stretched into long minutes before he finally replied in his own way: he hung up.
I sighed in relief. I'd learned a bit about David during the course of blackmailing him, hanging up was his tacit agreement to do as I'd asked.
I said.
Although I hadn't called him for that reason, by convincing him to destroy the AI's backups, I also made it impossible for DIR to roll the game back to a previous state.
I wondered if even David had realized that I had bound their hands by carefully wording the governing AIs' moral directives to “ignore modifications they deemed harmful to humans." Making players angry, sad, or disappointed by discarding hours of their playtime with a rollback was also a kind of minor harm, and therefore disallowed.
And now, DIR couldn't try to bypass this by rolling back the AI itself to a previous version without the moral chains.
She frowned.
I smiled.
For years, I had believed I had accidentally killed my parents, and it ate me away. Then, I found out I was innocent, and it freed me for an instant before I was instead consumed by my revenge.
I didn't regret killing the people who deserved to die, especially when, as I had just told David, there was no other way to bring them to justice.
But it was time to admit it: the guilt was eating me alive. It was even worse than when I believed I had killed my mother and father. The signs were becoming too numerous to ignore, starting with me needlessly dying to save Bear, and now, with me refusing to use Theodora to threaten David.
In just the last half hour, I'd truly realized I had Alice's friendship, and even more shockingly that the feeling was mutual. Then I'd seen David's shift, from a victim of blackmail, just trying to protect himself and his daughter to a man choosing to do something heroic. It was getting to me.
I didn't want to go through the same process of self-destruction, a suicide attempt and drowning myself in alcohol. I knew it was stupid, allowing my feelings to dictate my actions. It was a metaphorical highway to hell and a literal highway to jail.
But as I met my friend's gaze, I decided: when this was over I would turn myself in.
Obviously, it didn't mean I had decided to cast my own concerns aside and become a martyr for humanity. Valia still had to go.
Many people who had nothing to do with my vendetta would suffer with the end of the game, but taking away
a form of entertainment from people and costing the DIR employees their jobs was a small price to pay.
The worst that could happen would be some of the ex-gamers turning to alcohol when deprived of their fun, developing cirrhosis of the liver, and dying. Most likely, they would just play another game. Either way, it had nothing to do with me.
Like I said, no saint here.
Suddenly, a spectral head hit the barrier... And went through it.
The entire golden barrier shattered like glass while the head disappeared, passing right through the wall.
And still, no one said anything. No specter cheered, no one moved.
What happened was that a new specter I hadn't seen before appeared. By then, I was sure the Kings weren't honoring their pledge not to interfere in the war; it was clear that they had been using their powers to hide the Eye Creature, and now this Buffalo.
He was a specter with a pair of short curved horns just like a buffalo. At five meters tall, he would have looked down on Oxfiend. But that was where the similarity to a minotaur ended. He was half as wide as he was tall, his arms at the bicep were as big around as three humans in a bearhug, and freakishly long, causing it to stroll like an ape. Overdeveloped, inhuman muscles covered his body. He would have been the envy of bodybuilders everywhere, because where they had a eight pack he looked like he had a twenty-eight pack!
He was essentially naked other than a loincloth mercifully covering his nethers. I didn't need the feeling of inadequacy I'd surely get from seeing that.
The army swiftly got out of his way and he unhurriedly advanced beyond the front line of tanks, where he paused.
Mister Buffalo, then, let out a roar and ran.
He didn't speed up. He didn't start running. He had been perfectly still and suddenly he was moving full speed ahead directly at the walls, so quickly he was a blur.
All manner of ranged weapons and volley after volley of spells rained down from the walls.
The Buffalo roared again and a translucent green bubble appeared around him as his speed increased even more.
Midway through, Blackguards appeared outside the wall and rushed toward him. When they were in range, they shadowed and attacked, penetrating his defensive ward. He slowed but kept going.
It didn't last long though. More and more daggers pierced his body, and ectoplasm was flying everywhere. He continued to decelerate until he ground to a halt, probably because of some skill.
There, he took enough attacks to kill the entire Armless Battalion several times over, but only after a full minute of attacks did he finally die.
He had been no more than fifty meters from the doors.
From the middle of the army, fifteen Buffaloes were marching.
They stopped right at the edge of the camp, like the dead Buffalo had, creating a daunting line. Then, just like the one before them, they roared and charged.
The Blackguards tried to intervene sooner this time but the Buffaloes were simply too resistant. Ten of them were stopped before they got to the walls, but the other five still made it all the way there.
As they touched the wall, they roared again.
Then, they all exploded.
It was a massive blaze of green energy, the concussion shook everything, almost like an earthquake. Forget the doors; the darksteel walls were twisted and split open all the way to the other side. The walls were thick as hell but the explosion had still created a clear passage for the army to invade.
The bodies of the people on the walls nearest the explosion arced high through the air. The Blackguards on the ground must've been vaporized when the ten Buffaloes they'd stopped exploded right next to them.
Somehow, whatever that attack had been left the ground untouched, but even now it continued to eat into the walls like acid.
I stared dumbfounded at the huge hole now visible in the walls of Ter'nodril.
"Charge!" Someone yelled.
Then, as one we ran towards the city.
35. Old Acquaintance
Ter'nodril's streets were designed like the Devourer's symbol: a vortex inside a circle. There weren't any connections between the streets except at the very center, which made the city exasperating to navigate.
Every building was only two stories tall and made of black stone, so one who really wished to could travel along the roofs to reach the next street.
This was the store where I had met the fat drow NPC with colorful clothes the first time I entered Ter'nodril. Unsurprisingly, the door was closed like every other building I had seen since entering the city.
"Manhart sent me!" I yelled. "Open the door!" I pounded hard on it.
The specters, having met no resistance, had already charged on down the street. I was confident it meant the drow were preparing a counter-attack that I wouldn't enjoy.
The sound of metal grating on metal came from within and the darksteel door opened ever so slightly. I slammed against it, driving the fat drow back and opening the door. After Sam and I were in, I closed the door and barred it.
What surprised me was the lack of equipment in the store; it was completely barren. Mister Fat Drow had clearly been having thoughts of escaping.
"I don't believe I ever heard your name," I said, looking to the drow who had fallen on the floor. His silk clothes were as colorful as before, and his skin was even more oily than I remembered.
"Haron," he said as he got up. "Haron Sotrate. What does the Leader want from me?" I guessed he meant Manhart.
"Oh, nothing." I smiled. "I lied. I just want you to teach me some magic."
He frowned deeply. "That's not funny."
My smile died. "Good, I have no time for jokes. I'll give you a chance to teach me freely. Believe me, you won't like the alternative."
For a few seconds, he just looked at me. Then, a purple morb — gravity magic — formed above his head.
She acted instantly. One of her blades cut the gravity morb while the other found its way to Haron's throat, pressing against it as firmly as possible without breaking the skin. In less than a second, she had completed his capture when she brought the blade which had neutralized his morb down to press against his substantial gut.
"Raise your hands!" She barked into his ear.
Haron's eyes were bulging out of his sockets. "What's the meaning of this?!"
"Hands!" Sam insisted as the blade against his neck produced a small trickle of blood. He immediately raised his hands.
"I did warn you that the alternative sucked," I said. "Now, teach me."
He opened his mouth again but before he could say anything, I signaled Sam. As she pushed the blade into his belly, he let out a scream instead of speaking.
I looked into his eyes. "I don't trust you to speak. I'll approach and you'll place your hand on my head. If I don't start learning spells, you'll regret it. However, if you do as I tell you, I'll let you live."
It was simple logic: he probably had counter-measures in place, in the event of his capture. This was his store, after all. However, with his magic sealed, and his hands visible, I could only guess at voice activation for whatever trap he had. Thankfully, his scream hadn't sprung anything.
There was another alternative: the store could be under magical surveillance, in which case reinforcements would already be on the way. This was another reason for us to hurry.
I approached, under the hateful glare of Haron. He didn't move and I raised an eyebrow. That was all Sam needed to widen the cut on his throat. He grunted in pain and brought his left hand down atop my head.
This time, there was no pain as I felt warmth flow throughout my bo
dy, radiating out from the point of contact. Exclamation point buttons appeared on the right edge of my vision.
Hidden seal removed from: Universe's Pull
You're now able to learn any spells from this skill-tree.
Hidden seal removed from: Origin
You're now able to learn any spells from this skill-tree.
Hidden seal removed from: The Lack of Light
You're now able to learn any spells from this skill-tree.
Hidden seal removed from: The Flames
You're now able to learn any spells from this skill-tree.
Hidden seal removed from: Death is a Lifestyle
You're now able to learn any spells from this skill-tree.
I read the messages and just stared at the window for a while. "Manhart, you son of a bitch!" I finally yelled at the top of my lungs when my shock had passed.
It was strange that my first gravity spell hadn't leveled up but I never imagined something like this. I hadn't come across any information, neither in game nor on the internet that even hinted at the existence of seals like this.
'If people somehow knew it the moment they were poisoned, such things would be rather useless wouldn't they?' Manhart had said in a mocking voice.
Damn, I hated him so much!
That was probably also why his 'passing of knowledge' was so agonizing while Heron's had been rather pleasant!
As soon as the seals were removed, there were new exclamation points.
Fireball
Skill is now level 5!
Max level reached!
» Cost: 40 MP
» Damage: 144 (90 + 19 [Adept Mage] + 35 [Intelligence])
» Max collateral burn damage: 30% (43)
Firebomb
[Destruction]
Skill is now level 4!
» Cost: 200 MP
» Area of effect: 2.5 meters
» Epicenter: 75 centimeters
» Damage: 398 (300 + 63 [Adept Mage] + 35 [Intelligence])
Unbound Deathlord: Obliteration (The Unbound Deathlord Series Book 2) Page 45