I don’t have much of a choice do I? I asked.
Nyx stayed silent. I closed my eyes and sat down, crossing my legs. I heard the sounds of sword fighting in front of me, the sounds of metal against metal. I heard the man speak out to me, but his words I could not make out, my concentration too focused to let me listen in on whatever he had to say to me. I trusted Freya to keep him away to me, and so I turned to my own task.
A chant began in my mind, of words that were unfamiliar to me and yet I somehow knew. I focused on the energy within me, channeling it to my chest. I felt power surge into my veins, flowing in and out of my heart, with every pulse of blood and air that coursed through me. Thirty seconds later, the words stopped.
“FREYA, MOVE!” I opened my eyes, and put my hand straight up at the sky. “Injela Reikian!” I yelled.
The elf shot out of the way, and just in time at that. The sky darkened in a flash, and all of a sudden, a massive blast of dark energy shot down, striking the man where he stood. Rock and snow crushed under the force of the attack, and I and Freya backed away to safer ground, afraid we’d get caught in the plethora of fissures that ensued. A good part of the mountain side broke away, collapsing and tremoring to good amount.
Nyx said. “I can’t believe you actually used that move.”
It’s still a nerfed version, I said. I’m not confident enough to use the whole thing. I’m not strong enough either.
“Still,” the spirit said. “Darkness Divine is not an attack to mess around with.”
I heard laughter echo from within the chamber of dark energy sinking into the ground, and the attack cut off, its power depleted. The man stood in the center, now hunched onto one knee, but with about a third of his health still remaining.
He chuckled as he stood himself up. “Impressive, Diablo,” he said. “You are more of a threat than I had expected. Looks like I’ll have to take it up a notch as well.”
He put his hand up into the air. “Rosou Liara!” He cried out, and before I could even flinch, it happened.
A massive bolt of lightning crashed down onto me, striking me where I stood. Pain and thunder exploded into my head, forcefully pushing themselves through my body. I collapsed to the floor almost instantly, my limbs turning numb. Beeps resonated in my mind for a few seconds. And then everything went black.
I died.
***
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Darkness surrounded me, trapping me in a silence that I hadn’t wished upon myself. I felt the muscles in my body ache, and they held stiff as I tried to move, making me feel as though I was stuck in half-broken ice.
“Nyx, what’s going on here?” I asked.
Silence replied.
Everything around me was still, as though the darkness was stuck in time.
Did I accidentally summon Frozen Night? I wondered. That wasn’t supposed to be possible though. The recharge time for that spell was immense. Using it so frequently was impossible.
A voice laughed through the darkness, its tone deep and rustic. “It is nice to see you again…Diablo,” it said, speaking my name with a certain toxicity.
“Who are you?” I asked, turning around, searching for the source of the sound.
“Amusing,” he chuckled. “Do you not remember the voice of your greatest enemy?”
“Okay you’re going to have to be more specific here,” I said, smiling a bit at my own lack of seriousness.
“Don’t belittle me, Eternal,” he boomed, the force from his voice sending vibrations along my skin. “It would serve you well to remember the Lord of the element you are in.”
“The element I am-” I froze. “Azmuth,” I said.
“Do not call me that!” he yelled, his voice even more forceful than before.
Azmuth Razugan, I realized. The Dark Lord.
Questions peppered my mind immediately. Where was he? What was he doing here? Did he have a reason to come talk to me like this? Where had he been all this while? I hadn’t heard a single person mention anything about him since I first saw him three months ago, and having him show up now out of the blue was not on my list of improbable things that might totally happen to me.
“You seem perplexed,” he chuckled.
“What do you want from me?” I asked. “Where even are we?”
“I want nothing from you, Eternal,” he said. “You will set yourself to do what I want either way.”
“What?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“It is the way of the Phantom Lord,” he chuckled. “Misfortune seems to be your thing.”
“Shut up,” I muttered. “What do you have to do with what your Alliance is doing right now?”
“What have they been up to?” he asked. “I hope they found a better way to summon me to the world again. They didn’t do a very good job of it the last time.”
“Why are you acting innocent?” I asked. “Are you telling me what they’re doing now has nothing to do with you? Are you saying the Alliance you founded is putting you aside and focusing on something else?”
He chuckled. “You yourself felt the Void blade sink into my chest, Diablo,” he said. “Are you so afraid of a dead man?”
“Yes, especially if he’s speaking to me without any form.”
“That is because I no longer have a form,” he said, amused. “Though it hurts my ego to admit it, the last time we clashed, your powers were strong enough to completely wreck my physical self. All I have now is…this. A consciousness that simply connects to this world.”
So he’s just a spirit now, I thought, feeling very relieved that I didn’t have to worry about attacks from him for the time being.
“So you can speak to the people of this world,” I said. “And yet you say you have no clue what the Dark Alliance has been up to.”
“I do not concern myself with what my Alliance does, Zoran,” he said, and then his voice turned serious. “They will raise me from this darkness someday, and when they do, I will come after you. I will not forget my revenge, Diablo. It would do you well to run away while you still have the chance. You and those you love will not cherish your lives for long.”
“You came all this way just to threaten me?”
“Threat? No, not at all,” he said. “This is more of a warning.”
“Got to say, I’m quite confused about why you’re even talking to me in the first place.”
“What can I say?” he chuckled. “It is nice to speak to old ‘friends’ once in a while. However, my time is up now, I must take your leave. Goodbye, Diablo.”
“Wait, I-”
My eyes shot open, and sensation immediately returned to my body. Darkness left my sight and I slowly began seeing things again, the image of the night sky entering my eyes, the black sprinkled with the jewel-like lights of the stars. A gentle wind blew past my face and I felt the damp soil under my skin, my fingers digging into it unknowingly. I slowly sat myself up, rubbing my eyes as I looked into the darkness before me.
What was that? I asked myself.
“You’re awake,” Nyx chuckled. “Finally.”
Good morning, I said. What happened?
Well… he said.
DING!
You have resurrected. As a penalty, you have lost Warrior’s Restoration Potion (x5). You have lost Mage’s Restoration Potion (x10). You have lost 1200000 Sol. You have lost 400000 XP.
Normally I’d have been extremely mad at that, but I knew those penalties weren’t really that much of a handicap. For example, the XP drop didn’t even decrease my level progress by 10%. The Sol drop took away less than 1% of all the money I had on hand. And I had numerous potions left over.
Honestly, it was almost as though the penalties for resurrection had…softened.
“Yeah, so you kinda died, do you remember?” Nyx asked.
“Oh,” I mumbled, looking at my hand, feeling the pain still linger from that man’s lightning. “Yeah. I remember. Who was that guy?” I asked, recalling the man in the white armor.
“White and gold does seem like a cliché they’d use, but I don’t know. That man felt very different. It was odd.”
“I feel what you mean,” he said. “It still bothers me that he was that strong.”
“Freya and Nazu,” my eyes widened. “Do you know if anything happened to them?!” I asked, my tone panicky.
“Calm down,” Nyx said immediately. “We don’t know what happened after you died, and we have no way of knowing either. You need to keep calm about this and not worry too much.”
“Easier said than done,” I mumbled.
“Mmm,” he said. “I couldn’t hear your thoughts while you were knocked out. Did something happen?”
“Ah,” I said.
“What?”
“I had a visitor.”
“A visitor? In your mind?”
I nodded. “Azmuth Razugan”
“Azmuth-” he paused. “The Dark Lord?!”
“Yeaaaah,” I said, dragging my voice.
“What the hell? How did he even get inside your mind? What did he want with you?”
“I’m actually not sure,” I said. “I didn’t gain anything from the conversation. He didn’t comment on what the Dark Alliance was doing. The most he did was threaten me about the vengeance he was going to deal onto me once he returned to reality.”
“Well at least we know he isn’t back yet.”
“That’s true,” I said. “But with the Dark Alliance being as mysterious and perplexing as before, we don’t know when that might happen.”
“Anything else important?”
“I did find out he’s just a spirit now,” I said.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, apparently, our last battle caused him to be stripped of his physical form,” I said. “So right now he’s just a consciousness roaming around.”
“I guess that’s good?”
“Yeah, I’m not too sure,” I said. “He’s a problem no matter what his form is.”
“Anyway, how do you feel now?”
“I’m fine I think. Where are we though?”
I took in the sights around me and quickly noticed a round rock in front. I crawled a step closer, taking a better look, and I immediately froze.
A tombstone, I jumped back, sitting up straight now. I jerked my head around, and realized there were many more stones all around me.
“Your map says this place is called the Akhar Graveyard,” Nyx said.
A graveyard, I stared at all the tombs around me. A crow cawed as it glided past the sky overhead, its cry setting the theme for the eerie place I was in.
“For a man titled the Undead Emperor, you sure seem nervous in a graveyard,” Nyx chuckled, teasing me.
“Hey, I haven’t used any of those powers yet okay?” I said. “And plus, the dead are scary, no matter what kind of person I-”
Something tugged my leg and I stumbled before catching myself from falling. I turned around and my hair nearly stood up straight. A skeletal hand had dug out of the tomb I was on, and had latched onto my ankle.
“Yikes!” I yelped and yanked my leg back. The skeleton’s hand broke at its wrist and the bony fingers flew into the air, landing past some bushes ahead. I heard cracking and popping fill the air, and all of a sudden, skeletal beings were rising from the ground all around me, ambushing me at once
“Isn’t it pretty cliched for skeletons to be attacking me at a graveyard?” I asked.
“It’s also something that shouldn’t have scared you as much as it did right now,” Nyx chuckled.
“Shut up please,” I said and turned to the beings around me. I used my Analyze skill on the one closest to me.
DING!
Race
Skeletal Warrior
Level
121
Health
1020
Mana
400
Stamina
670
That’s not too far off from the ones I faced in Ikarius, I thought.
I heard rumbling sound beneath me and I quickly jumped back to an open spot. The ground I had just been on broke apart, and a pillar of solid earth shot into the sky, absolutely obliterating any skeletons that had been within three feet of the spot.
There’s an Earth Mage here, I realized, and I looked around. I noticed someone in robes, but in the starlight of the night, I could see that it wasn’t a human being, but a skeleton.
A skeletal mage, I figured. That actually sounded very cool, but also a little unsettling since I wasn’t too sure of what such a warrior was capable off. I quickly use my Analyze skill on it after making sure I was far enough from danger for a few seconds.
DING!
Race
Skeletal Mage
Level
213
Health
1220
Mana
2320
Stamina
470
Oh wow, I thought.
“That’s almost double the level of the warriors,” Nyx said.
And as if on cue, a few skeletal warriors charged at me, their bones rattling in accordance. I quickly pulled out my sword and swung hard. Three strikes later a pile of bones lay on the floor before me.
The rest of the skeletal cohort charged, and I heard rumbling come from the ground once again. I glanced at the mage and noticed him standing with his hands up to the sky, no doubt summoning a spell.
I need to take it out first, I shot ahead, ignoring the skeletons in between and attacking just it. My sword passed right through its body, and it dissolved into nothing. For a second I’d have assumed I’d killed it, but I knew enough to realize I’d just taken out a decoy.
The ground beneath me contorted, and a pillar shot up fast, smacking me high into the air. I came down with a tumble and smacked back to the damp earth.
Tsk, I grit my teeth, standing myself up. Can’t believe I fell for that one.
“Can’t believe the mage was clever enough to even set up something like a decoy,” Nyx said. “They’re not supposed to be that smart about their battle plans.”
“Mmm,” I said, my eyes focusing on the wave of skeletons charging at me. I thrust my hand into the air. “Uher!” A dark phoenix rose from the ground, this time larger and more raging than before. It shot into the skeletons and a large section of them sunk to the floor, dead.
Wow that attack felt a lot better, I said.
“It’s because we’re in a graveyard,” Nyx said. “Your Dark Arts and Death Arts are automatically powered up since this is a place of darkness and death.”
Ahhh, I said. I should have realized that.
I looked at the next wave of skeletons coming up to me, these a lot smaller and weaker than before. I summoned the phoenix once again and in about five seconds they were all down on the floor, their bones disintegrating into the ground.
I saw the mage a few yards behind the dead warriors, its hands up in the air. I surged up to it without hesitation and sunk my blade straight into its chest. I’d expected for it to disappear like before, but this one wasn’t a clone. Its health bar quickly sunk down and it collapsed to the ground, dissolving to dust and returning to the earth.
DING!
Congratulations! You have defeated Skeletal cohort (Lv 151). Reward: 700000 Sol. Reward: 200000 XP. Reward: Robes of the Skeletal Mage. Reward: Shield of the Skeletal Swordsman. Reward: Staff of the Skeletal Mage.
DING!
Congratulations! You have cleansed the Akhar Graveyard of the undead that plagued it. Fame has been increased by +100. Resistance to Dark Arts increased by +5%. Resistance to Death Arts increased by +5%
DING!
Congratulations! Your Dark Arts spell ‘Uher: The Dark Phoenix’ has increased to Level 15. Attack will increase by +1% for every twenty foes killed. Effect lasts twenty seconds.
Damn, that’s neat, I grinned.
“Well, you seem to be having fun,” a form walked out of the dark
ness. I immediately went into my attack stance, Dawnbreaker gripped tight in my hands. I could tell from the voice that this was an old man, and that made me more worried. Almost all my interactions with old men so far had been them trying to kill me.
“Threatened by me, eh?” he chuckled, his form slowly showing under the starlight. An elderly man with a full beard and a familiar grin on his face walked up to me. “Surely you haven’t forgotten me, Diablo.”
My eyes widened. “Krof,” I said.
“That’s Grand Wizard Krof to you,” he said. “Even if you’re an all-powerful evil overlord who nearly destroyed the kingdoms millennia ago.”
“It’s good to see you,” I chuckled. “What are you even doing here?”
“Ijyela,” he said. “The elven witch wouldn’t stop pestering me to come find you. She was convinced you were hurt, said she had a dream of you writhing on the ground in pain.”
She must have reacted to that man in white attacking me, I realized, remembering Ijyela had her weird vision-like dreams sometimes. I looked to Krof. “How on earth did you find me though?”
He chuckled. “Did you forget? I spent years tracking energy signals similar to yours,” he said. “It is hard but not impossible for me to try and find you. Although it did take me nearly a whole day to even track which region you were in.”
“A day?” I asked, wondering how long it had been since I’d resurrected.
“What exactly happened?” he asked. “What are you doing in this graveyard?”
And so, I told Krof everything, about what had happened over the last few days, of how the Alliances and the Black Guardians seemed to be after something. He listened to me patiently, and when I got to the part about the man in the white armor, his eyes immediately widened.
“A man with a helmet shaped like a dragon head,” he mumbled softly. “And you say he was too strong for your Analyze skill to even work.”
The Eternal: Dragonborn - A LitRPG Saga (World of Ga'em Book 2) Page 16