Gloominess +2: Congregation. A LitRPG series: Book 2

by Elian Tars

  You have received 100 points of damage.

  Way out…

  Chapter 32

  The Escape

  It seemed like everything started racing around me. I could smell everything very clearly. It smelled of… A dog, and a little bit of wine; there was a very distinctive smell of blood, and what seemed to be violets. Violets… Damn it; I don’t think that I’ve noticed local women wearing perfume. Perhaps, that was because on Earth perfume had so many chemicals in it that the natural perfume they used here smelled too weak to me. But there was only one woman I associated with this flower.

  “Boom!” Sounded a muffled explosion from somewhere far behind me. I opened my eyes and realized that I was half-lying on Vella’s back, and that Una was holding me from behind. How did the Bullkorg let herself be mounted by a Gleam of another God?

  “You saved me. Thank you,” straightening my back, I glanced over my shoulder.

  “You’ll owe me one. But in truth, thank the Great One. It was he who advised me to pay attention to your condition. Halt! We’ve arrived, girl!”

  Exhausted, the dog slumped down on her belly on the shore of the Lake of Grace. Only now I noticed that Vella’s HP, as well as mine, was in the red zone. The Aura must’ve affected her, too, but my loyal helper was further from the Gods than me, and dealt with the pain better.

  “Okay, losers, so long. I’m going back,” Una’s smile couldn’t hide the tiredness that was heard in her voice.

  “Take care,” was all that I could say. There was no point in offering her to stay; it would’ve just destroyed her.

  “Oh, I’m not weak enough to let some weaklings take care for me,” she said cheerfully and even winked at me. “Bye! See you!”

  She waved and ran back to the fence, climbing over the boards without any difficulty.

  I looked around and saw about seventy people, all tired and dirty, but with full health bars; well, we were near the source after all. The villagers either looked at me wearily, waiting for orders, or glanced tensely at Glozeysk/Rira, who was methodically throwing pieces of fresh raw meat around the shore. As if having felt my gaze, Glozeysk turned around and cheerfully said:

  “There’s one more swine left, Gleam-gan. I’ll finish soon.”

  With these words, he threw a big chunk of bloody meat into the water and went to the poor victim. The huge hog began to rush about the cage-wagon; Glozeysk opened the door without a second thought. The enraged animal rushed forth, but fell onto the grass a moment later with its throat cut. Wasting no time, Glozeysk plunged the knife in the still trembling carcass and began to cut it into pieces. He was doing it so easily and effortlessly, as if he was cutting soft butter. How did he manage to do it? Rira wasn’t an Avatar, so Glozeysk couldn’t use his divine powers. Was it some special knife? Potions? Or was it just the skill, honed for hundreds of years?

  “It’s not very humane, Senior Disciple,” said Golin, shaking his head and approaching me, expressed the villagers’ thoughts.

  “Yes! What kind of a horrible ritual is that?”

  “You told us that we were normal even though we were fighting in the name of Darkness? That we’re still good people, so to say.”

  “And now you make the girl do such nasty stuff!”

  “Easy, fighters,” said Glozeysk, taking a break from playing butcher. “I’m not Rira now, I’m Glozeysk. He told you, right?”

  The villagers were blinking in surprise, trying to understand what they had just heard. I told them this morning that Rira, and one of our allied Gods, would be busy fortifying the Lake of Grace. I thought that there was no need to go into details. Still, we all believed that we would be able to hold the enemy before Glozeysk would finish the ritual, so I decided not bother the good folk. Unfortunately, because Einar, Karus and Aerida appeared and interfered, everything went down the tubes.

  “Glozeysk couldn’t appear near the source personally,” I said loudly. “He needed to possess someone’s body temporarily. Rira accidently found out about it and volunteered. She did a very heroic thing. Thanks to her, we can protect the Lake of Grace!”

  People fell deep in thought. I was sure that there would be more questions. Luckily, Kane abruptly jumped to his feet and said:

  “A few squads went round our allies. They are already close.”

  “Get ready to fight!!!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

  It took them only three hits to smash the fence, and about thirty of Tsunter’s soldiers and rangers rushed to the Lake. We camped close to the shore, so that we would be able to use the source’s energy. Our biggest advantage turned to be our biggest disadvantage as well — our trump card healed not only the villagers, but also the enemies, and since both sides dealt each other more damage than was healed, the fight could drag on. And if the reinforcements joined the enemy, we would lose.

  But we found a solution pretty fast — Kane, Mara, and I had to attack one target simultaneously. Tsunter’s bowmen tried to do the same trick, but Vella and Horn rushed into their ranks and messed up their plans. Looking at the zombie-bull, I remembered the Bears. They were all, to different degrees, stuffed with grenades, and it was a pity that the necromancer had used up all of our “fire ships”. He must’ve had a reason not to save them for the finale.

  But we were winning even without their help.

  “Done!” I heard Glozeysk’s triumphant shout behind me.

  Glozeysk has finished! I reported to the God of Darkness.

  “My Followers!” The Old Man appeared above us a moment later. “You’re fighting well! And you’ll definitely win! Remember, my Disciples and I are with you!” With a wave of his hand, he put buffs on us, increasing all the effects received from the Darkness by twenty five percent.

  “For the God of Darkness!!!” the fighters roared, hailing blows upon the enemies with even more frenzy.

  Above us, the Old Man floated to the Lake. I couldn’t help turning to look at him. I cursed. He had taken his transparent form and gotten smaller; he also seemed, at least to me, somewhat hunched as he hovered over the water’s surface. Say what you want, but fighting another God was very hard for our Patron.

  The water surface rippled, and a colossal Frog jumped out on the shore with a loud splash. Blood, fresh meat and streams of energy, released during the sacrificial offering, sped up the Tree Frog Guardian’s evolution process, turning it into a Shaman. Glozeysk really knew how to get the maximum result. Besides, he used some tools only he knew, like herbs, potions, and powders, to speed up the process even more. Thinking about it, I realized why the Frog had said that it “wanted to grow by itself”. I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that our forced intervention had made the Shaman weaker than it could’ve been had it gone through the long process of natural evolution.

  Whatever the case might’ve been, the Frog was level 100, just like the Shaman that I had met in the lands of Decay.

  The amphibian bowed to the Old Man with respect. I would love to have been able to hear, what exactly our Patron said to it, but new forces were already hurrying to help the enemy. While the God of Darkness was busy, we had to fight and cover his back.

  “Do not retreat! Let’s defeat them!” the enemies cried.

  “Baron Tsunter is coming! Don’t act like cowards!”

  “We’re fighting puny villagers!”

  At first, I failed to understand why the enemies were so encouraged. Had Rugus’s forces been defeated? Were Tsunter’s remaining troops on their way to us?

  Jade lightning flashed over the fighting men.

  “Ohhh!!!” the Old Man groaned, arching his back. An enormous arrow made of divine energy pierced his body. Damn you, Aerida! Haven’t you backed off yet?!

  Looking up angrily, I saw her flying across the sky. Aiming, she pulled back the bowstring, ready for the next shot. She unclenched her fingers that were holding the nock of the glowing arrow…

  “The hell you will, bitch!” I heard a sneering voice and noticed a figure leap in
to the air.

  I froze as I watched Mara’s body turn into ashes. She was smiling triumphantly until her face disappeared. Jumping in front of the shot, she had definitely saved the Old Man; the arrow that went through the girl continued flying toward the God of Darkness, but had lost a considerable amount of its speed and almost stopped glowing. Our Patron, who was whispering something to the Shaman and gesticulating, didn’t even notice when the arrow hit his shoulder.

  Dodging the sword of one of Tsunter’s warriors, I attacked him in return, glancing sideways at the pile of ashes. Kane had already hunched over the remains of his beloved. Shuddering, he started moving his hands in the air, and I saw the cold blue energy gather on his fingertips.

  “Hell, no! I’m not going to give you a chance to resurrect the bitch that dared to get in my way!” Aerida cried balefully and flew so close to us that all of the Followers of the God of Darkness got under the effect of her Aura. Unable to handle the pain, the fighting villagers started groaning and falling, clutching their heads.

  “What’s wrong with them?” asked one of Tsunter’s soldiers.

  “Who cares, let’s finish them!”

  The pain from her Aura was terrible, but it was more tolerable than before, probably because I was within the range of the Lake of Grace. I could think easier. I understood that I had to save the congregation and Kane.

  “Use two hundred lives to activate the Power of Light.”

  The Altar got hot as usual and burnt my hand. Feeling that something was wrong, Aerida turned in my direction; but she was too late — a powerful beam of Light shot through her body and flew up into the sky.

  “Damned worm!” she hissed, clutching her holed collarbone.

  In all honesty, the result wasn’t very impressive. The Power of Light x1.5 left a hole the size of a couple of feet in diameter in the body of the previous Shaman, but the more powerful version of the spell made only a tiny hole in the Goddess. Given that the beam was ten feet wide at the beginning…

  Be that as it may, I managed to buy us some time and distract a powerful enemy.

  I have finished, boy. I can’t stay here anymore. I’m leaving. Save yourselves, too!

  I didn’t realize at first why Aerida started gagging. However, the message that popped in front of my eyes and the increased pain explained everything.

  You have fallen under the effect of “Rugus’s Aura”. You will receive 100 points of damage every second spent within its range.

  You have received 100 points of damage.

  Lilac sand filled Aerida’s throat, nose and ears. Enraged, she looked at us and wheezed something before she disappeared.

  Things were happening so fast that I missed the moment when Tsunter’s soldiers stopped attacking Old Man’s defenseless Followers that were lying by their feet, and scattered in horror. Our Patron did everything he could for his congregation and had vanished together with the Goddess of Hunt.

  “I a-a-m hi-i-i-di-i-ing the La-a-a-ke!!!” cried the Shaman who had been named the First Awaken.

  The ground under our feet trembled. I almost fell. The Frog jumped back into the Lake. The water rushed downwards and the shores stretched toward each other; a moment later, where once stood the Lake now stood a small hill, covered with grass and bushes.

  “We should leave! Quickly!” I shouted. My fighters knew what to.

  “Don’t hurry, Gleam of the Ancient!” Einar roared. When did he appear?

  Looking up, I saw the figure of the God of Military Virtue hovering over my fighters. Rugus attacked him at once. The God of Control had lost his turban somewhere, and now the bald spots were shining on his head; his rich kaftan turned into rags, and his left side was drenched in divine blood. Nevertheless, Rugus wasn’t giving up, and was trying to buy us some time.

  “Not so fast!” Karus roared, cutting his opponent with his scythe.

  I couldn’t feel the effect of the Lake of Grace anymore. As soon as the third God appeared, I collapsed. I could only shudder and bleed. Is it happening again? Who will help me now…?

  “It was nice doing business with you, Gleam-gan,” said a familiar voice barely audibly into my ear. “I hope this won’t be the last time we cooperate. Hide it.” A cold knife handle was tucked into my hand. I put it in my inventory without looking at it. “See you.”

  A moment later I heard the same voice. It didn’t sound as confident.

  “Sir Senior Disciple… I’m sorry… I had to choose another God. I wouldn’t have been able to help you otherwise. Thank you for everything. And please, take care of the people of my village.” Warm lips shyly touched my cheek, and I heard fast retreating steps.

  Blood covered my eyes. There wasn’t a single whole spot in my body left — my bones were crushed, and my muscles had turned into mush. My HP was already in the red zone…

  By some miracle I managed to turn my head and see Rira. My brain, barely working at this point, found it very hard to understand what my eyes were looking at. What’s she doing? Did she stop in front of the astonished Gods? She drank a potion…. Oh, Rugus disappeared?

  The explosion was almost noiseless; a glimmering ball of energy, which grew inside the girl, exploded her body into hundreds of pieces. The released wave paralyzed Karus and Einar.

  Hurry up, boy, you have only a few seconds! wheezed the Old Man.

  Though the Gods were very close to us, their Aura didn’t affect us anymore.

  “Take each other by the hands! Come on! Quickly!!!” Kane shouted, rushing to the warrior closest to him. “Don’t waste your time on the dead!”

  “Come on!!!” I said, and tossed Erg’s unconscious body over my shoulder.

  The terrible race against time began.

  I clenched my teeth, and passed Erg, who was blinking in confusion, to Nyck, a plump man with a curly beard. A lot of the villagers were unconscious; there were also a lot of those who were slow to react in a stressful situation. However, Shawn and other leaders of Ilyenta, had their wits about them and were energetically bringing their fellows together.

  I took another body and stood near Kane.

  “Everything’s ready!” the chief shouted.

  “Wait, I’m late!” someone said to the left of me.

  “You… Stop…” Einar managed to say with an effort. Damn, the Gods are already moving.

  “On the count of three!” I cried, taking Kane’s hand. “One…!”

  “I’m ready!” the same voice to the left of me said. I remembered how most of the villagers listened to me with serious expressions on their faces when I told them about the escape plan. However, a couple of them couldn’t help commenting with obvious skepticism in their voices. I would’ve probably had the same reaction if I were in their shoes. It was pretty strange for an entire combat squad to stand still and hold each other’s hands. I was sure that we looked ridiculous.

  “Two!”

  But I didn’t care. The main thing was to maintain the “chain”. Those who didn’t join me would die.

  “Three!”

  Elusive Darkness.

  ***

  Choose the point of resurrection you wish to be teleported to:

  Athefeh’s Gravestone

  Shard of Zira’s Gravestone

  Shard of Sherr’s Gravestone

  The pitch-black Darkness around me was filled with pain. Stifled, exhausted groans seemed to be sounding from everywhere. In this part of space I didn’t have a body, but if I had one, my skin would be covered with bleeding cracks and would burst from the atmosphere around me; my head would explode and my internal organs would turn into a mush.

  But in this condition, my soul, will, or mind suffered… I didn’t know how to call it. I soaked up the pain and shared it with our Patron.

  During the fight the Old Man got hurt, and now he had to carry his congregation through him. Our God had been too weak for such ordeals until now.

  “Shard of Sherr’s Gravestone,” I said quickly, realizing that the longer we stayed in the Darkn
ess, the harder it was for the Old Man.

  Attention!

  You don’t have enough HP to be teleported to the selected location. You will die and be teleported at your designated location.

  You died.

  You have been resurrected at your designated location. You have used 10 % of your rebirth energy.

  The Darkness soon dissolved, and I found myself near a small rock in the middle of the forest.

  “Cough-cough…”

  “Damn it, are we still alive?”

  Shrouded in the disappearing black smoke, the other Followers of the God of Darkness began to appear near me.

  “Did you hear that?” asked a voice from the woods, about a hundred yards away from us. There was a fire burning nearby.

  “Have they come back?”

  “We have to check!”

  The night before the battle I spoke with the Old Man. He advised me how to save his congregation after protecting the Lake of Grace. Choosing a place deep in the woods in the south-east, I hid a piece of stone, taken from one of the broken gravestones from Ilyenta’s cemetery. I removed the resurrection point from the cemetery itself, understanding that whoever was destroying my gravestones, would go check the area around the village after capturing it and would find the cemetery.

  And now all of the survivors, both those who had left the village earlier and those who fought till the end, met here, deep in the forest; crestfallen, broken, tired, and deprived of strength and hope.

  “So little of them returned...” whispered the old men who met us.

  “Where is my dad?”

  “And where is my Heln?”

  “And where is Lima?”

  “Uncle Shawn,” a girl about ten years old uncertainly tugged at the chief’s sleeve. “Where is Rira? Is she late as always? Will she come soon?”

  The head of the village swallowed a lump that was stuck in his throat and turned to me, silently asking for support. I had already counted and realized that more than half of our warriors were left to lie on the streets of their home village. From the two hundred people that we saved several days ago, only one hundred and seven remained.