New Game Minus: The Complete LitRPG Fantasy Trilogy

by Sarah Lin

  "I think it's just delaying us," Danniah said softly. "Before he ran away, the Outsider said something about being 'close to breaking through' - he must be working on something big."

  "Likely breaking through the barrier the Mirror Court put up so that he can contact Earth." Bloodwraith pushed to his feet, carrying Danniah with him before setting her on her feet. "Then we still need to hurry to stop both of them. Where's Meara?"

  They all turned to look and his gaze followed theirs. In a niche in the bend of the cave, Meara sat against the wall, her gaze blank. As he watched, her body occasionally flickered, sometimes even disappearing for a moment. She was clearly not well and he suspected what he might need to do to help her, but first there was an immediate concern: he recognized this cavern.

  "When I came through here the first time, there was a much stronger wolf. Has it attacked yet?"

  Danniah blinked. "Not yet. We haven't explored the cavern at all."

  "Kill it - I don't want it to become infected with Fellsilver." They nodded and moved further in.

  While they were doing that, Bloodwraith knelt down next to Meara, trying to feel what was wrong with her. When he summoned a box for her, it was pure twisting chaos, even worse than it had been in the beginning. She had been this bad once before, after the battle with Daek, but he had thought she had it under control. Hopefully he could find some way to-

  There was a loud yelp from further into the cavern and Danniah leaned around the corner. "Uh, I think we got it. It was kind of big but not really that strong."

  Of course it wouldn't have been a real threat, considering that he had managed to kill it alone when he was a low Level barbarian. Bloodwraith snorted in amusement, but then realized something: he hadn't received any notification about the victory. Had Alan managed to prevent him from gaining any EXP in addition to the other consequences?

  He checked his box and saw that it read [EXP: 1,981,344/2,214,338]. Though he had been seriously disoriented, he was certain that was higher than it had been before. Just to test, Bloodwraith headed out of the cavern until a wolf attacked him. After killing it there was again no notification, but his EXP total increased by a single point.

  Then Alan must have severed him from the guidelines of the system, but not the system itself. He could still gather strength from those he encountered, it simply wasn't announced so flamboyantly. Considering that the gain had happened immediately, that actually might work in his favor. Looking at the numbers... 232,993 EXP remaining to Level 20. It was no longer so impossible.

  Still, it was irrelevant compared to Meara. Bloodwraith returned to her and knelt down at her side, holding her hand. Extending his will in her direction, he let himself fall into the void...

  Again his mind found itself falling through nonsense space, and as before the spheres containing the cabin in the woods sped toward him. Soon they were all around him... but this time, they were different. He saw the Forest of Beginnings in a few bubbles, but others were filled with different scenes. Pieces of Cresthaven, Manascas, and a city that must have been Edsdam. Glimpses of Danniah, Izzy, and Gharavi. None of him, yet he still found himself encouraged to see that Meara's inner being had changed so much.

  Regardless, he needed to find her instead of these fragments. He gained control of his movements and floated through the mental space, examining each bubble until he found Meara herself. Eventually he discovered her: instead of being curled up against herself, she stared wide-eyed into nothingness, an expression of awe on her face.

  "Meara?" This time when he touched the bubble, the experience didn't end. Instead, Meara spoke in a soft voice.

  "It's so vast... I never realized..."

  "Are you alright, Meara?"

  "The power the Tuner used... more than anything else I felt, it's the power that shaped our world... it brings everything into what they consider the natural order... it tried to turn me back into the girl from the Forest of Beginnings." Though Meara still didn't focus on him, she smirked in a way that reassured him. "It didn't work."

  "That may be good, but we need you in the real world, Meara."

  "Oh... how long have I drifted? I didn't realize..." Suddenly her eyes shifted to meet his, then it all fell away and he was back in the cavern.

  Meara squeezed his hand in hers and sat up, clearly back to herself again. Danniah rushed from the side and hugged her fiercely. "Are you alright, Meara? Did it injure you somehow?"

  "I'm actually better than before." Meara gently touched Danniah's hair, but then her expression became serious. "Get your helm back on. There's a lot of Outsider magic in this place and things are going to get bad if we don't do something."

  "Yeah, but what can we do? Charge straight into the battle?"

  "I'm not sure of our strategy, but I can help even the odds." Meara reached into her cloak and eventually pulled out a bottle that glowed pure white. "I used the enchanted water from the Testing Dungeon as a base, then twisted it with everything I've learned from the Outsiders. This is the best I can do."

  She produced a potion for all of them, each one a slightly different color. When Bloodwraith tried to look at the boxes for them, they were a garbled mess no matter how much he focused. But since he trusted Meara he drank his and a box soon appeared.

  [Buff: Bloodwraith Glitch

  All attributes improved by +10%. Outsider effects weakened by 50%.

  This buff will last for 1 hour.]

  "Not as strong as a specialized potion," Meara said, "but I figured you'll need to be as flexible as possible given how conditions might change. It will also protect you against Fellsilver and direct manipulation by the Earthian."

  From the mouth of the cavern, Gharavi executed another wolf that started to come close, then turned back to them. "Even with that advantage, I think running into the battle would be a significant risk. Many of the monsters aren't exceptionally powerful, but there are new false adventurers appearing everywhere and there are Fellsilvered corpses all over the ground. Going out there would be suicide."

  Danniah nodded. "Yeah, with just the five of us, I don't see how we could get through..."

  Her words stirred something in Bloodwraith's mind. As he looked around the cavern and the clearing outside, filled with wolf corpses, he stopped thinking about them as a mere annoyance. No, perhaps it could be more than that... standing up, he extended his power and attempted to summon an Undead Companion.

  It took some work, but eventually a skeleton wolf emerged from the ground. Bloodwraith smiled and glanced at Gharavi. "Can you use the Wand of Undead Dominion to take control of it from me?"

  "If you don't resist, I should be able to." She blinked at him. "Just what is this about?"

  "I have an idea, but it will take a little time." Even as he summoned another wolf skeleton, Bloodwraith turned to Meara. "Go on ahead and scout the battle. We need to figure out exactly how to apply our force."

  Beginning to understand, Meara smirked and headed out. Meanwhile, Bloodwraith kept summoning wolves and Gharavi continued taking control of them. She added in necromancy of her own, raising the dead wolves as crude ghouls. With her Intellect increased to such high levels, the number of wolves she could control would be very high indeed...

  [Undead Companion skill reached level 20!

  Maximum number of Undead Companions has doubled!

  Damage done by Undead Companions increased by 5%!]

  "Ooh!" Izzy perked up, feeling the surge of new power. That was a positive, but Bloodwraith didn't care about that, just acquiring numbers. Bit by bit, he came closer...

  [Quest: Regain Your Power progressed!

  Re-acquire true necromantic power.

  Sub-Quest III: Develop the capacity to control an undead army.

  Sub-Quest Complete!

  EXP +5000]

  He hadn't thought about that quest in a very long time, and it no longer drove him, but Bloodwraith smiled...

  Chapter 34

  Meara drifted over the forest, observing the
chaotic battle around her and more importantly observing the reality beneath it. The Forest of Beginnings had always been a deceptive area, essentially a funnel designed to guide a new adventurer. Paths and clearings shifted as necessary to guide them to her house and the passage into the real world.

  All of those subtle changes had been torn open, leaving only a valley. A large area had been ripped apart, so many trees uprooted that it had become a messy plain. On it the two sides clashed viciously: Fellsilvered monsters with no regard for their own safety and glowing adventurers who seemed to gladly throw themselves into danger. Overhead, the dragon was flying and unleashing streams of silver flame that devastated both sides.

  She took a moment to examine the false adventurers more carefully. They seemed to be shells of magic, akin to illusions granted a bit of substance. Somehow the Earthian Outsider must have created them, perhaps by repurposing the system that created new bodies for adventurers. It certainly allowed him to create an army quickly, holding off his enemy, but that did nothing to stop her.

  A Fellsilvered troll saw her and stomped in her direction, reaching out to grab her. Though the Outsider magic had once deeply troubled her, Meara stood firm. Its hand passed through her and she shivered... but that was all. Since her first encounter with Fellsilver, she had been extensively exposed to Outsider magic from the Earthian, not to mention the Tuner trying to reset her fundamental being. The Aesidh magic could no longer touch her.

  Drifting through the main body of the battle, ignoring both sides attempting to attack her, Meara climbed up a pile of corpses to get a better look at the field. The battle flowed back and forth unstably because the two sides were asymmetrical. While the artificial adventurers all seemed like basically similar variations on a few archetypes, the Fellsilvered creatures ranged from weak peasants to massive beasts.

  Above all, the dragon rampaged over the battlefield, laying waste with swaths of silver flame. As she watched, a group of artificial mages concentrated fire on it, sending it crashing to the ground, its body flattening many creatures underneath.

  As soon as it was down, a company of glowing adventurers charged out toward it. Yet they seemed oddly coordinated compared to the others... before Meara could figure out what bothered her, the dragon rose. It contemptuously roared and then consumed the entire rushing group in a single burst of flame.

  Instead of burning, the adventurers shattered into glowing lights that kept moving forward. Yes, that matched what she'd seen of the Earthian: this army wasn't his greatest weapon, it was just biding time. He worked in more subtle ways, the glowing lights wafting into the dragon's body.

  After jerking irregularly, the dragon suddenly turned, breathing flame into the swath of Fellsilvered creatures. They kept charging mindlessly and it looked as though their forces might be devastated, but at that moment two Aesidh floated to either side of the dragon. Silver magic flowed out from them, suffocating the sparks and gradually bringing the dragon back under their control.

  Though the battle continued to rage, Meara understood that it was a distraction. Instead she turned her gaze to the far side of the forest opposite the entrance: there she saw groves of trees that had not yet been touched. In the heart of them she knew she would find the small prison and the link to other worlds. The Earthian was there, trying to contact his world, while the Aesidh cared only for pushing through his defenses to reach him.

  A group of Fellsilvered creatures broke free of the battle, entering the forests beyond the adventurers for the first time. At their head Meara saw Belkarin, wielding a thin sword that glowed with otherworldly magic. It seemed as though he had broken through the enemy, but at that moment a dark-clad form moved to intercept him.

  Marrin fought with only her knives, yet she easily cut through the Fellsilver vanguard and struck Belkarin. The two of them began trading blows, surprisingly evenly matched. When Meara reached out to try to steal their equipment and hopefully get them both killed, she found herself repelled. The Aesidh was using his full power and Marrin had been enhanced and reinforced by the boxes, granted additional power in order to fulfill this role.

  Part of Meara wanted to cheerfully approach, just to see the look on their faces, but that would be unwise. Marrin might not be able to hurt her, but she couldn't discount the possibility that Belkarin might have Outsider magic that could affect her. Furthermore, her purpose was to gain information, not give any to her opponents.

  "You should not be here." The voice came from her side and Meara turned to see the Keeper standing there. "Your place is in the house, to welcome the adventurers. Return there."

  "I don't think I'm going to do that." Meara turned and smiled at him. "Why don't I deliver the mysterious messages for once and you can fuck the adventurers?"

  "Do not corrupt the order of things!" The Keeper threw out a hand, but not with a bolt of light magic. Instead Meara felt an unnatural force strike her, not pushing her body but connecting with her soul. It was as if he was using the boxes themselves against her... but she had grown very used to boxes.

  "Oh, I've already corrupted a lot." Meara pushed back, just as she had pushed back against the Outsider. The pressure on her eased and she threw her soul against the Keeper. He scowled and redoubled his efforts, creating an invisible clash between them.

  "Such power should not be! You must be purged of this corruption!"

  Meara was trying to decide if it was worth wasting a quip on someone so humorless, but at that moment any words were overwhelmed by a terrible howling. Even Belkarin and Marrin stopped their battle to turn and look.

  From out of the forest rushed an absurdly massive army of undead wolves. They crashed into the battle less like combatants and more like projectiles, howling and attacking mindlessly, overwhelming in their sheer numbers. Though the Fellsilvered monsters and the adventurers were recovering, the wolves still punched deep into the battle, allowing Bloodwraith and the others to rush into the gap.

  "What... what is this?" The Keeper stared in horror, prompting Meara to smirk.

  "This is what happens when you put wolves around every corner of the woods."

  When he turned to stare at her, she fully exerted herself, throwing her soul against him. The Keeper went flying backward with surprising speed, sailing into the forest. Meara wanted to go after him, considering that he was one of the only people who she could fight one-on-one, but she recognized that it wasn't her priority. No, they needed to get back to the beginning.

  Marrin had disappeared from the battle somehow, leaving Belkarin shouting orders. He met with two of his Aesidh allies, pointing violently toward Bloodwraith's group as they fought their way through the battle. Once his orders were given, Belkarin turned and rushed into the woods. Several glowing adventurers tried to stop him, but he cut through them easily.

  So he was planning to confront the Earthian himself while the battle held off everyone else. Bloodwraith's army of wolves was beginning to falter, but it had taken him most of the way through the battlefield. Unfortunately, the Aesidh were moving to intercept him, and it looked like they had magic to spare. This was something she could do to help.

  Unfocusing, Meara let herself flow over the battleground until she was beside Bloodwraith. He didn't even blink when she appeared, just glanced in her direction. "Yes?"

  "Ignore the Aesidh following us. I'll handle them."

  "Huh." He glanced at her for a moment, but then just nodded. Danniah, Izzy, and Gharavi seemed a bit more surprised, so Meara just gave them an enigmatic smile and drifted to the back of their group as they rushed into the trees.

  Behind them, the Aesidh were beginning to catch up. Meara moved into their path and raised her arms to either side of her, letting her cloak billow out. "That's far enough."

  She hadn't been sure that alone would work, but the Aesidh came to a halt. They stared at her for a moment, then laughed loudly before one of them managed to speak. "You're going to stop us? You?"

  "Why not me?"

  "Bec
ause you're nothing but an Earthian toy." The Aesidh moved closer with mocking smiles. "As it happens, we enjoy playing with Earthian toys. You can be so... pliable, once your controls are modified."

  Meara felt alien power surge against her being, as if trying to change her Affection value. But she and Bloodwraith had long ago twisted that into a wrecked shell of what it had once been, so it did no good. The two Aesidh quickly began to frown, their expressions turning cruel.

  "You think you can resist us? All the power you possess is nothing to us... we will enslave you to our will soon enough!"

  "Oh no!" Meara threw a hand across her forehead. "Please don't do that, oh terrible conquerors. Is there anything I can do to convince you to spare me? I'll give you anything. What if I gave you potions? What about money?"

  "Stupid wench! There is nothing you can give us to-"

  "What if I gave you 15,829 rocks?"

  They stared at her in surprise for a moment, then Meara threw open her cloak and opened her inventory. In an instant, every single rock she had picked up over the course of her life exploded outward, crushing both Aesidh and the landscape in an avalanche of stones.

  Though it didn't harm Meara, the rocks crashing in all directions did end up burying her as well. As she slowly worked her way back to the surface, she grinned. Completely worth it.

  ~ ~ ~

  An avalanche taking out a large portion of the forest behind them was not what Bloodwraith had expected, but he wasn't complaining: it put more obstacles between his small force and the raging armies. They kept running through the forests as quickly as they could, closing in on their destination.

  Had the Forest of Beginnings been so large the first time? It was as if all the strange twistings of the forest had uncurled themselves, the raw power of the battle flattening them into this extended forest. But with the fighting behind them, they were getting much closer. If he managed to stop Alan, he thought all of the artificial adventurers would disappear. The Fellsilvered monsters might prove more difficult, but if Belkarin was dead, there was no existential threat there.