Total Immersion: Dark World: A LitRPG Adventure
Page 19
Oni rests against the wall farthest from where we spawn. He watches, but does nothing.
He’s enormous, all different hues of blue, with a muscular human body, sharp blue talons on his hands and bare feet, two eyes set like a person’s would be, with a third eye in the center of his forehead. He has huge, pale blue tusks coming out from the sides of his jowls, and two twisting-back, dark blue horns sprouting from the front, top of his head.
There’s almost something sad about him, but I can’t put my finger on it. I get the feeling he’s been in this cave for a long, long time without any contact with the outside world or beings from it.
Sid summons Keres.
Oni floats up, able to fly without wings. Must be his magic. He points a fat, taloned finger at Keres, and then at Simple.
Doolittle starts buffing Keres and Days, and throwing one on Simple he wouldn’t usually use. We all saw that finger move.
Oni flies at us.
Day uses Invoke Inner Demon.
Oni stops dead and turns on Days, lashing out with a clawed hand. Days ducks and pushes the other hand coming for him away with his Onyx Steel.
Keres wastes no time and is all over Oni, scratching and biting.
Sorry casts Weaken Enemy. Oni gains Offense Down.
Very few mobs will lose hate from Days, and even as he uses Crushing Blade on Oni, the great blue demon from time forgotten, taking off 30% of his HP, Oni assesses Sorry.
Then he turns his attention back to Simple and points at her again. Her Nuudle eyes get gigantic.
Oni uses Disaster Strike. Simple cannot use Special Ability until end of battle.
“Dammit!” she screams. “It’s like he knew I was going to put the White spells on Keres!”
Simple casts Ball Lightning. Oni takes lightning damage.
Oni has lost interest in Simple and now turns to Keres, who chewed on his shoulder the whole time he dealt with Simple. He scratches her across the face while slapping her, and I see black blood and marks appear on her face, then almost instantly fade.
Doolittle casts Deep Heal on Keres.
Keres gains some HP back from the hit, but it’s like it meant nothing to her. I guess in Keres’ eyes, Oni’s size was a benefit for her hopeful future feast.
Sid casts Contemplation. Days gains Protection.
Sid casts Mantra.
“Silvia,” I mutter.
Days gains +331 ATT.
“Why are you doing that?” Days yells.
“Drain him!” I call out as he dodges an Oni foot.
“Crap!” Days says.
He gets closer to Oni. “Why don’t you get Keres to do something, Sid?”
I have her moves memorized, but I’m looking at them again. I have to do something before Days gets that hate with his killer special move.
Sid commands Drain Blood. Keres drains Oni’s blood, reducing HP by 30%.
Oni rakes at Keres with his facial horns, trying to knock her out of the air and away from him. She’s relentless, not one bit worried about his rarity. She thought of nothing but the taste of his demon flesh on her lips. Both their HPs drop, but not too much.
“Now, Days!” I say.
Days uses Special Ability: Soul Gather.
Oni’s HP starts going down like mad, as it should in the three seconds the ability demands, and in a flash, Oni spins on Days.
Oni uses Swallow. Days is swallowed.
It all happens so fast. I have no clue what happened to Days as he went into Oni’s maw and disappeared down his gullet, and I look at Oni. Do I see regret in his eyes? Because Days was taken from the battlefield before his Special Ability had time to finish its magic, Oni still stands, but at 20% HP.
With Doolittle’s attention on Keres, she has full HP.
Sorry casts Blind. Oni resists.
“Sid, he has 20%. What are you doing?” Simple pleads.
I’m frozen, watching this great blue demon, Oni, going toe to toe with another type of demon, Keres. She’s taking chunks out of him that grow back within seconds, but they must hurt the great summon. He shows no fear or pain in his three eyes, just keeps focus on Keres. He’s not even really fighting her, I realize. He’s being defensive. He’s made no instigating moves.
“Simple, I can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t let her eat him.”
Her eyes practically pop out of her head. “What the—He’s not even fighting! It would be easy.”
“Just look at him, Simple,” I say, and point.
She looks, but her face pales. “I want him gone. Do something! Mantra me and I’ll finish it.”
I almost do, just to get these conflicting emotions over with. How can I feel sympathy for this great beast of a summon who could obviously take us all out with some devastating move, like Xiuhcoatl’s sun? He could Swallow us one by one. I don’t know any of his moves because he isn’t using them.
Sid commands Retreat.
Keres gives Oni one last nip at his forearm, and then floats back to me and hovers at my side, black eyes bright and bloody lips curving in a small smile.
Doolittle casts heals and buffs on the four of us left. I can’t even muster a Spontaneity or Mantra for Simple to blow him up and finish him off. I’m a terrible Mystic. I’m supposed to defeat him with Keres, but I’ve seen what Keres can do. I realize then and there that I’ll never be able to use Keres against an opponent. Nothing deserves what she can deliver.
“I can’t,” I say. “She’s too… too…”
Simple runs up to me. “Mantra me. Look at him. He’s watching us. He’s going to do something soon. Mantra me and I’ll end it.”
For the love of gods everywhere, the thought of electrocuting him into losing and submission I cannot do. Maybe it’s those three sad eyes.
Sorry casts Tribal Curse using Dowsing Limb. Oni is cursed.
Whatever that Dowsing Limb is, it made Tribal Curse take down a lot more DoT than usual. Oni’s already close to 8% HP before I know it.
“I’ll do it,” Sorry says. “This is what you get for swallowing Days,” she yells at Oni.
Oni turns to face me directly, all three eyes examining into my very being. I feel like he knows everything about me in these moments as the curse DoT drains him down, down, down, and he makes no moves to fight. He simply watches me.
Then his HP is 0%, and all fades…
I’m in the cavern alone with Oni. I’m feeling the cold again, which some part of my body ignored during the adrenaline fuel of the fight. He sits with his legs crossed and the same curious look in his three eyes that he had when he lost the battle.
“You shouldn’t have lost,” I say. Maybe I’m candid because of how he looks at me. It feels like we’ve met, like I’ve had him as a summon before. Like he knows my every intention and is weighing all his findings.
Finally, he says in a deep, smooth voice, “I have not seen Keres since she was Isabel.”
“Is Isabel the name she went by before she became Keres?” I ask.
He nods, still not blinking, nor taking his eyes off me.
“Why didn’t you fight? I mean, you must have some moves that could have stopped us; you have to. Right?” I don’t get his passiveness in battle. I need to understand it, even before I know if he’s my summon or not. He invokes a deep curiosity in me to know the unknown things of existence.
“You are a Mystic I can serve. You, too, fight defensively. There is no other way that has honor, and all demons must have honor.” He bows his head. “You did not serve me as a dish to Keres. I know what she is and what she can do. You showed compassion in battle for your foe.” He looks back up at me.
“You’re not my foe. I don’t know if it was compassion, but I’ve seen her feed, and plenty of times.” I stop talking.
“You couldn’t let her do that to me. Why?” He leans down toward me. His teeth are twice the size of my head, and sharp.
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“Peaceful Nuudle Mystic, I will be your summon. Continue to be compassionate, and we will be great partners.”
I cock my head at him. “But you’re a demon. I thought demons were made to be destructive?”
“Nobody made me. Your demon lore is generalized. Demons are simply from another realm, and that is the only difference. I’ve been stuck here by a curse, unable to live in the realm with my fellow demons. Do not worry. I will obey your every command. I believe you have good judgment. You will not make me act like your stereotype of a demon.”
He collapses into a royal blue mist and swirls into the middle of my chest. My heart is filled with joy and bliss, as always when I get a new summon, and then all fades to black.
I’m back in the cave in White Elf Territory. I turn on guild chat before the others waiting there see me. I want to know what happened to Days, and then Simple spies me.
“You’re back! Oh, Sid! Did you get him?”
The three of them surround me.
“Where’s Days?” I ask.
“When Oni swallowed him, it warped him to the southern-most point of Mylop Territory. Doolittle is trying to nail him down for a tele back here,” Sorry explains.
“Nail him down for a teleport?” I ask.
“In Dark World,” says Doolittle while looking at a magic map, “you have to know where they are to tele, not just party up and cast it on their character icon in party mode. Ah, I think I got you, Days.”
In guild chat, Days says, “Is that Sid? You get him, man?”
“Yeah. Yeah, I did.”
I can hear him grinning as he says, “Totally worth being swallowed for. How many players can say they’ve been swallowed by Oni, for Christ’s sake?”
“Hang on,” Doolittle tells him. “Tele-ing now.”
Doolittle disappears, and a second or two later, Days appears first as a pale, glowing white light, and then his whole body forms as the light fades. He wastes no time. Doolittle springs up out of white light next.
“Sid, let’s see him, come on,” says Days.
The others urge.
“Okay, here we go.”
Sid summons Oni.
He comes from my chest in his royal blue mist, forms, and hovers quietly, watching me pensively. It’s hard for me to look away from him long enough to see what he can do, and after a moment, I check out his ability list, reading it to the others as I go.
Description:
Oni is a timeless demon of Nactria and Shinto. Practiced in meditative arts, Oni fights with honor and respect, and calls on the destructiveness of demons only when there is no other option. His name has been associated with disease and destruction through the ages, but myths do not make the demon. Oni carries abilities of protection for a demon of his kind.
Abilities:
Disease—Deals Damage-over-Time, 15% HP every 5 seconds until stopped or commanded so.
Demon Call—Calls demons from the ancient underworld, who, under Oni’s command, cause massive mayhem, destruction, and death to foes.
Disaster Strike—Stops target’s Special Ability attack for the duration of engagement.
Seizure Ability: Swallow—Swallows target whole and sends them to random spawn point.
“Wow,” I murmur. “He could have torn us to pieces.”
“Why didn’t he?” asks Sorry.
“And being swallowed wasn’t bad. It was like going through a Kila Crystal,” adds Days.
“He told me before he agreed to be my summon that my ideas about demons are, uh, generalized. I think that’s the word. Oni?” I say to him. He’s floating nearby, barely fitting in the cave’s dead end, sharing a royal blue light with us.
He says nothing. Just watches with those three eyes.
“Thanks, Oni,” I tell him anyway. “I got ya.”
Sid dismisses Oni.
“He makes me nervous,” says Sorry.
“That’s because you just watched him eat Days,” Simple says.
She puckers her lips, then says, “You’re probably right.”
“Maybe you have generalized ideas of demons, too,” says Days. She punches him lightly on the arm and then he’s all smiles.
“Thank you, guys. I mean it.”
“Like I said, you’re a natural Mystic. Anyone else would have had Keres devouring him in less than ten seconds.” He holds out his hand for a high-five, which I give him. “You felt sorry for Oni, and that’s what made him your summon. You saw more in him than a beastie to add to your collection.”
Maybe. All I know is during that fight, seeing Keres trying to gorge herself on any exposed body part on Oni, and Oni not really fighting back… I mean, come on. He has to be the last summon before Ananta. And by looking at his ability list, he had no desire to hurt us, but he sure as hell could have. In the heat of the battle, I realized he wasn’t destroying us, not putting up a fight once I wasn’t commanding Keres to hurt him.
I decide I like Oni and wonder if he’ll ever be a talker like Djinn. I seriously doubt it, but wouldn’t that be something?
~
Calla doesn’t appear at my grave when I summon Oni in the eternal cemetery storm. I really need to invest in an umbrella.
I don’t know what it means that she’s not here. I ask Oni, but he doesn’t answer.
I’ll have to do some figuring. Even if I did get Ananta’s quest, I’d need to treasure hunt, clothcraft and make some scrolls before being prepared for that. Need to talk to Master Gronai, show him Simple’s red leather book. See what he makes of it. I’ve flipped through it, but the runes are so very different from what I know.
As I walk to Kleeple after treasure hunting with Djinn on the fourth day after claiming Oni, a mailbox icon saying “1” appears in my interface. Who’s sending me mail? Nothing’s up for sale in the AH.
Once in the Nuudle capital, I get to the mailbox. I’m stunned when I see the letter has the official seal of Bane and his territory. I open it.
With respect to Nuudle Mystic Sid,
You have been invited to an audience with the great, wise, and generous Bane of Dragonbane Territory. Your scheduled time is this coming Shealaday at 2:00 p.m. You will arrive at Bane’s tower fifteen minutes early. The great life-changer Bane has been watching your Mystic progress and would like to meet you in person, as no Mystic has come this far.
No need to reply. It is assumed you will not miss this opportunity.
Malcrumt, High First Guard of Bane
I laugh, and then crumple up the invite and toss it back in the mailbox. Like hell I have time for NPC bullshit. Bane’s as rotten as they get, and it’s probably one of the NPC quests where you can choose the not-so-honest route in gameplay and get special rewards. Of course, you make a million NPC enemies. Screw that and screw Bane. I have my own stuff to deal with. Like Shell.
Of course, I told the whole guild what she did to me. I left out exactly how unbearably painful it was. Everyone was shocked, but especially Days. I didn’t like having to tell him that, but she killed me. On purpose. For him. I hate him, I hate him, I hate him. I’m certain he manipulated any romantic feelings she has developed for him into making her believe whatever she wants as long as she does what he tells her to.
We know it, and we all have to be on guard from now on.
CHAPTER 15: THE LINK
I slam my Shaman Stick against a Moog. I’ve never picked up another weapon. The lightning enchantment from Anella turned out to be so damn good, but I didn’t realize it at the time. Simple has enchanted the crap out of it for my class stats. I can’t get a weapon as a Mystic that can do as much physical damage as my ATT stat, which is now 203, and the enchantment does that much damage. And plus my Strength stat is higher, so my physical hit’s not god-awful. So
, with one hit from my staff and a slap from Djinn, one of the forty little fur ball Moogs that had popped on us when we got to the end of the dungeon, Elis Lea, dies. We’re killing them fast with no damage to ourselves. Even Doolittle seems to be enjoying using his Light-Imbued Dagger on Moogs and seeing them fall over, poof!
Can getting Summon Within, that move Shell used against me that I’d never heard of, be this easy? Sure, the dungeon run took three and a half hours, but nobody’s been hurt, and this must be all there is. Whew. I feel relief, and I casually command Djinn to warp a particularly cute Moog to its HP. It vanishes in a green puff of smoke.
I notice Sorry zone out while lazily fighting a couple of Moogs with her AoE debuffs and staff, and she gets a headbutt in the gut. She looks pissed and wipes both of the Moogs out.
I try to see what caught her attention. Oh, lord. Even though I’m using Djinn, Keres’ shadow-self has made an appearance, and she’s gorging herself on Moog bodies before they fade. It’s getting bloody over in that corner of this dungeon battle arena, where Days is tanking about fifteen of the buggers. My compadres haven’t seen Keres do this, and I’ve never told them about it.
Well, we’ll discuss it later. I decide to end the fun so Keres will stop disturbing my friends by multi-targeting all the Moogs left, glancing up at Djinn. He nods down at me.
Sid commands First Wish.
22 Moogs are warped to Home Point.
“Hey!” Days yells. “I was collecting them to see how many I could get at once. Spoiled my fun.”
“Sorry. It was Keres. I hadn’t told you guys about her odd habit, but Sorry just saw her.”
“So did I,” Simple says with a shiver. “What was that about? You had Djinn out.”
“I saw her doing it right next to me,” Days adds. “She’s not so tough, just wants a good meal. Right, Sid?”