The Tree of Ascension: A LitRPG Apocalypse (Peril's Prodigy Book 2)

by Craig Kobayashi

Health: 4,150/4,150

  Level: 29

  Station: none

  Mana: 0/0

  Description: Skin Beetles are scavengers that will feed on any number of natural fibers including plant material, skin, pollen, animal hair, feathers, dead insects, etc.

  They would be able to deal with the Level 29 Skin Beetle easily enough. Garath and Athios shifted into their human forms and stood beside Sharon and Daisy, while Obawon forced the Skin Beetle around, turning it with well-placed sword strikes to position its back to the casters.

  The fight was short and ugly. With the beetle’s attention on the tank, Athios placed a dimensional enhancement around Daisy and Garath who, in turn, blew the beetle to kingdom come. A Mana Crystal floated out of its body, which Obawon touched, causing it to split into ten smaller orbs - each zipping over to one member of the Raid for distribution.

  You have received 3 Mana Crystals.

  Mana Crystals will be stored in your Items panel until spent, traded, or until your death.

  Begin combat log:

  [you have been awarded 4,350 Experience Points for slaying Level 29 Skin Beetle]

  End combat log.

  As soon as Garath dismissed the Mana Crystal prompt, a new counter appeared in his mind's eye, Courtesy of Alice. Another prompt appeared, but Garath dismissed it to be read after they finished their chest-given task.

  Skin Beetles: 1/10

  Earthworms: 0/10

  Mole Rat: 0/1

  Time remaining: 7:36

  Alice hadn't been playing around when she told Garath that her rare non-combat Class would be useful. Situationally indeed, miss Lore Keeper. He marveled as the counter for Skin Beetles jumped to 3/10. Group one was apparently getting work done as well.

  Obawon led group two back the way they had come, now weaving between the bone white pillars. They quickly located and dispatched another three Skin Beetles, each time finding them near either a rib bone or a patch of glowing blue mushrooms. Garath passed that information to group one over the Raid communication channel. He kept a ranging eye out for the worms they'd need to locate next.

  The problem with finding worms though, was that they were rarely found outside of their natural habitat—the dirt. Garath considered how to draw them out as group two downed another beetle.

  Skin Beetles: 9/10

  Earthworms: 0/10

  Mole Rat: 0/1

  Time remaining: 4:48

  They needed to figure out how to find the worms quickly if they had any hope of completing their mission within the given time frame. That's when it occurred to Garath. Worms come out of the ground when it rains. He'd seen it a million times. The simple, silly, slimy creatures would sprawl out on wet cement, apparently unconcerned about how vulnerable they were, every time it rained. He turned to face his group excitedly.

  "Daisy, do you have any water spells?" he asked.

  "Yeah, why?" Daisy replied.

  "Read me the skill description really quick," he ordered.

  "Okee, hold please." Daisy's expression went blank for a moment, then her voice took on a tone of recitation as she continued. "Purple Rain. The effect part says, ‘drench an area of three square meters with a deadly rain’, and then the math stuff."

  "Hmmm," Garath hmmm'd thoughtfully. He wondered if the worms would still be drawn to the moisture from Daisy's spell, or if they would avoid it due to the damage it would cause them.

  "Okay Daisy, cast Purple Rain over there," he said, pointing to an open patch of dirt near the gallery's center. "Keep casting it until I say stop, okay?"

  Daisy nodded and channeled her Mana into the spell. A few seconds later, a slimy brown earthworm popped its too-large head out of the dampened earth. More and more of its slimy body came slithering out of the ground until it laid out nearly seven feet long, with only its tail still submerged.

  Another worm surfaced, and then another. Within seconds, perhaps a dozen huge worms were sprawled out, wiggling and vulnerable on the patch of wet dirt. The Purple Rain didn't seem to bother the creatures much, despite the minimal damage it was causing each second. Garath watched as the displayed Healthbars of the worms dropped minutely from the rain, then topped themselves back off. He noticed a raindrop icon appear below their nameplates and willed more information to present itself.

  Moistened - While Moistened, Earthworms’ Health Regeneration is increased by 150%.

  Garath let Auto's group know to meet them as soon as he saw the Skin Beetle counter reach 10/10. With the gang all back together, they made quick work of their worm requirement. They went down wiggling, but without putting up much resistance, netting Garath 20 Mana Crystals and 16,150 Experience for his contribution to their demise. Even after Daisy stopped casting Purple Rain though, more worms kept surfacing. Garath glanced at the Alice-provided counter in his peripherals again.

  Skin Beetles: 10/10

  Earthworms: 12/10

  Mole Rat: 0/1

  Time remaining: 1:22

  The Earthworms counter ticked up to 13/10 while he was looking at the counter, his damage-over-time spells were apparently continuing to kill even some of the worms who’d thought to escape by slithering back into the perceived safety of the earth below. Just then, one of the worms that had died began to wiggle and Garath knew his hidden Skill, Death’s Medium had just reanimated the carcass. He wasn’t sure how useful an undead worm would be in a fight, especially considering how easily the Raid Group had just downed a dozen of them, so he just gave it a mental command to attack other worms. Garath smiled as another subterranean bonus kill from his DoT spells gave him another 1,600 Experience Points, but frowned at seeing that they had just over a minute to locate and kill a Mole Rat.

  In the nearly nine minutes they’d been running around inside the underground gallery, nobody had caught even a glimpse of anything but bugs and worms, not a mole rat to be seen. Then Garath remembered then that moles, not unlike worms, spent the vast majority of their lives swimming through the dirt and digging tunnels. That’s also when he remembered one of the main sources of food for the furry, subterranean mammals—Earthworms.

  Unfortunately, Garath’s revelation celebration was short lived, as every source of illumination in the cavern winked out.

  The Raid Group froze, breath held as they desperately clung to their other senses in the pitch darkness. For a few seconds there was no sound, no light - Garath felt trapped in an endless black plane. Even if he shifted into House Cat form, the improved night vision wouldn’t help, because there was no light for the enhanced retinas of a feline to make use of. Sight useless, sound absent, Garath turned to his inhuman sense of smell. He took in a searching breath through his nose, but he could only make out the individual odors of his Raid members and the sour sting of the dead worms in front of him. Then the ground beneath his feet began to rumble. Ah, shit.

  “Back away from the worms,” Alice suggested, her disembodied voice shockingly close to Garath’s ear.

  All ten members of the Raid took a few steps back, each hoping they were actually moving away from the worms and not closer to them in the complete darkness, as the rumbling grew more intense. The timer in Garath’s peripherals read 0:39 when a new smell presented itself. Fur. Fur and dirt. Something erupted from the ground, throwing Garath back to land on his ass a few feet away.

  “Daisy, Blast! Straight up!” Garath shouted.

  Immediately, a fireball started taking form a few feet to the Necrologist’s right, then shot up toward the spinal column, lighting the cavern like a burning chandelier for a few seconds before darkness returned. In those few seconds, a lot happened.

  The Dungeon Team located their mole. When Daisy’s ball of flame first lit up the room, Garath saw the elephant-sized creature slurping up the recently slain worms like a bowl of slimy spaghetti. The light caused the massive rodent quite a bit of discomfort, as it screeched and shielded its face with one huge clawed hand as the ball of flame reached its peak. Garath watched Warrion slip back into Stealth an
d moved toward the creature’s backside. Auto charged to attack. And then it was dark again.

  Daisy didn’t send another Blast! toward the Mole Rat for fear of striking one of the Raid’s melee fighters, but Garath had already selected his target. He started channeling Mana into Creeping Death, even as he gave Handsome orders to do the same. Garath heard a clang of steel striking steel, and someone cried out in pain.

  “Daisy, keep the lights on!” Garath shouted.

  Garath heard another muffled cry from the blind melee battle somewhere in front of him. He and Handsome both cast Creeping Death again in the darkness, releasing the twin DOT debuffs as Daisy lit up the gallery again with another fireball.

  The creature shrieked as the light from Daisy’s spell caused it pain. This time, before the Blast! hit the ceiling, a dimensional disk appeared above it. The fireball fell through, then reappeared from a second disk directly above the Mole Rat. The Fire Magic crashed into the creature and detonated on impact. Auto was raking at the mole’s backside with Obawon, Atlas, Bill, and the Dreadreaver when the second Blast! lit the room. Garath didn’t get eyes on Warrion, but he’d seen him slip into Stealth moments before, so the Necrologist didn’t think twice about it. He didn’t have the inclination to Inspect the creature once he could see again, but was happily surprised when he noticed that they’d already made significant progress on taking the beast down within the few seconds since engaging. Its Healthbar was already near 50%. A quick glance at the timer displayed in the corner of his vision showed 0:19, so direct damage would be a better use of his time and Mana. He switched to Felfire Bolt and gave Handsome a mental command to switch to Death Bolt.

  They continued their barrage, joined by Daisy when she saw an opportunity to land her attacks without the area-of-effect accidentally lighting any Raid members on fire. The Mole Rat, forced to do so by whatever governed the aggro table in this new world, lurched to face Auto, then locked in bestial combat. Sharon and Maimon worked in tandem to mitigate the swipes of large, vicious claws that raked Auto’s front and sides while the other melee fighters moved to attack its flanks. The timer in Garath’s vision was at 0:03 when the Mole Rat finally collapsed, lifeless. For several seconds, everything was dark and quiet once again. Then the moss gave off its faint glow again, followed shortly by the patches of mushrooms.

  You have received 5 Mana Crystals.

  Mana Crystals will be stored in your Items panel until spent, traded, or until your death.

  Begin combat log:

  [You have been awarded 11,350 Experience Points for slaying Level 30 Mole Rat]

  End combat log.

  With the cursed chest’s challenge taken care of and the lights back on, Garath scanned the battlefield.

  Warrion was lying on the ground near the side of the now-dead Mole Rat covered in blood. He wasn’t moving. Garath ran to his side.

  When had this happened? He’d heard the sounds of battle, but everyone in the group had taken damage before, and assuredly would take damage again. He didn’t even consider that someone could go down that quickly. He knelt beside Warrion’s still form. There were five large rents moving horizontally across his body, the lowest carved deep cuts across the front of his calves and the highest removed what had once been the face of Garath’s friend. A prompt appeared informing Garath that as Warrion’s Guild Leader, he would receive the items in the Assassin’s Items panel, but he couldn’t care less about that.

  Garath knelt next to Warrion’s corpse, staring hopelessly at the mangled form until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder, followed by a second hand on his other shoulder. He looked up. Sharon and Athios both looked how Garath felt.

  Shock. Disbelief.

  Garath had completed high-level Raids in games where, if anyone but the tank took a single attack from the monsters within, they’d almost certainly die. He knew it was possible that The Tower would be like this, but...

  “How could I have let this happen?” Sharon asked, eyes red.

  “It isn’t your fault, Sharon,” Garath told her gently. “Sometimes…” he couldn’t even finish the thought, let alone finish putting together the sentence. The white ball of light he could always feel at the base of his skull flared in frustration. Garath was reminded that Tarzan had the ability to resurrect someone within a few minutes of their death, and that his use of Tarzan’s Skill to make his human form immune to the Soul Taint rendered her useless for two weeks. His friend was dead, and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight – Decisions, Decisions

  Nearly an hour of somber condolence followed Warrion’s shocking death. Eventually, the Party decided to leave his body there, inside of the massive bear carcass. There was some debate regarding his remains, but logic and logistics won out over sentimentality.

  The Party had all known when they had entered that there was no going back once inside, and their only chance of making it out alive was to move forward. And so, saddened by the loss of their Assassin, the Party surrounded the gold-plated chest on the gallery’s floor.

  Garath reached out a hand and placed it against the gold plating. It was warm to the touch, almost comforting. A prompt appeared and Garath gave it a half-hearted once-over.

  You are within the body of Si-am’ Whimstick.

  Si-am’ thanks you for slowing the decay of his physical form. As one of The Tower’s Guardians, Si-am’ is bound to Its purpose. If allowed to fully decompose, he will cease to exist.

  For your service, he would like to present you with the opportunity to move forward.

  As a group, you must choose between the following options:

  Face Si-am’s Spirit Guardian to receive the rewards within this chest

  Leave Si-am’ to rest, forgoing the rewards

  ***Either choice will provide the entrance to the next Level of the Dungeon.

  Hold your hand atop the chest to reveal the potential reward.

  Si-am’s Whimstick

  Attack Damage: 49-56

  Attack Speed: 2.125

  DPS (damage per second): 25.941

  Durability: 325/325

  Item Score: 168

  Two-handed weapon

  Type: Staff

  Quality: Excellent

  Rarity: Legendary

  Spell Targeting Assistance: Advanced

  +150 Wisdom

  +150 Vitality

  +10% to base damage of all Skills and Abilities

  ***Carved from the bones of the Legendary Si-am’ Whimstick.

  Item Requirements:

  Level: 30

  Garath turned from his inspection of the staff to look at his Party. The prompt, it appeared, was issued to the Party as a whole, if the vacant expressions on their faces were any indication. One by one, each member of the Party approached and placed one hand on the chest. Impressed expressions were on the faces of each of them as they stepped away from the chest. Once everyone had their look, they all looked to Garath for leadership.

  “What do we do, boss?” Auto asked.

  "We should take option two," Daisy volunteered.

  "Daisy, I'm going to level with you," Garath told her. "There is a zero-percent chance of that happening. The gear upgrades we can pick up down here are the only way to make the Dungeon pay the cost of Warrion's life. Unless giving it all back to this Si-am' Whimstick can bring him back, then there's no way in hell I'm letting him die for nothing."

  "Maybe Daisy's right, Garath. At least with option two we can definitely get out of here," Athios said.

  "Out of this stinking hole in the ground, sure. But we all know the only way out of The Tower is to defeat it," Garath replied.

  "Option one then?" Auto asked.

  Garath nodded.

  "I concur," Alice said. "As I told you all before, the Dungeon’s difficulty scales to the cumulative power of the Party within. It will not be as if you are now fighting a ten-person fight with nine people. The Tower accounts for all variables, including the loss of a Party member.
The relative difficulty of the Spirit Guardian will therefore remain unchanged."

  Garath was glad that Alice had taken his side on the matter. She had a way of putting things that left little room for argument. It wouldn't have made a difference to his stance on which option to take if she didn't agree with him, but this way made convincing the rest of the Party much easier.

  Finally all on the same page, Garath chose option one, and they got into position for a boss fight. After a few seconds, Garath heard the rush of feathered wings and the screech of an eagle coming from the tunnel through which they’d come. Everyone turned to see the Spirit Guardian of Si-am Whimstick enter the gallery on majestic wings.

  The eagle was surprisingly only two or three times bigger than a typical golden eagle. With a single beat of its wings, the ghost-like apparition knocked most of the Party off their feet. Garath pushed himself back upright with the help of his staff, then triggered Inspect to see what they were dealing with.

  Thunderbird

  (Spirit Guardian of Si-am’ Whimstick)

  Spirit Beast

  Health: 375,000/375,000

  Level: 30

  Station: Boss

  Mana: 105,000/105,000

  Description: unknown

  Garath was confused, he’d been expecting a bear. He became even more confused when a Native American-style totem pole sprang up from the ground near the chest, rising about fifteen feet before Si-am’s Spirit Guardian landed atop it. The golden eagle apparition spread its impressive wings, moving them back and forth to keep its balance.