World-Tree Online

by EA Hooper

  Jim used Gravity Bounce to leap above the battlefield, and then he held himself in midair with Gravity Web. He fired two Mana Magnums at the ground in front of Farah, kicking clouds of dirt into her vision.

  Vincent fired Void Gun through the dust clouds, hitting Farah in the chest. The negative energy tore through her phantasmal vines and left a gaping hole where her heart had been.

  Farah’s eyes widened, and she tumbled backward, but a nearby Justiciar cast Revive before she turned to dust. She caught her footing, knocked the dust clouds away with her blue fan, and then sent a shockwave at Jim with her red fan.

  Jim bounced away from the attack, pivoted in the air, and sent a Void Crow toward Farah. She extended several vines from her arm, but his crow ate through them. The void spell tore through the entire length of vines, but evaporated before it reached her.

  Xan cast Barrier Longsword and Light-Drain Longsword, and then approached Fynn. She took a defensive stance with her barrier sword ready to block and her phantasmal blade ready to strike.

  Fynn took a relaxed pose and kept his vision on the rest of Xan’s team.

  “You don’t consider me a threat?” Xan asked, noticing his pose and lack of attention. She jumped forward, and her barrier sword met with his basteel blade. His blade dug into her barrier, chipping it, but then she swiped with her other weapon.

  Fynn backstepped away from the blade, but it neared close enough to steal a small amount of light. His helm focused on her, and he grunted. “You’re a pesky one, aren’t you?” He leapt forward, slashing at Xan. She narrowly sidestepped and glanced his armored hand with her phantom blade, stealing a little light. Fynn pushed forward more aggressively, and Xan’s barrier sword cracked as he struck it with a heavy-handed swing.

  “It doesn’t matter what tricks you have,” Fynn told her. “My equipment and levels are too far above you.” He swung through her blade, shattering the barrier and knocking out her Light Shield.

  Xan rolled away from a potential killing blow, jumped to her feet, and hurled the Light-Drain Longsword at the man. He sidestepped, but the blade stole more light. Fynn charged at Xan, sidestepping a stray Void Gun shot from Vincent, and drove the sword at the young woman’s chest.

  Xan equipped two hardened-verasteel longswords, crossed them, and pushed the basteel blade over her head. She shoved Fynn off his balance and slashed through his double-layered Mana Shield. The Wolf Lord caught his footing and brought his blade down, but Xan dipped away, pivoting so the edge only chipped an armor plate. She sidestepped another swipe, and then jumped away to put distance between them.

  A chuckle echoed from Fynn’s helm. “Alright, you’re pretty good.” He glanced at his allies as Quinn and her doppelgangers tore through the Justiciars. “Dang, they didn’t last long.”

  As the Justiciars turned to dust, the seeds implanted in their bodies flashed with light, leaving behind human-sized phantasmal flowers. Phantom vines spread from the flowers, locking them into the ground, and a long thorn protruded from each pistil.

  Only ten Justiciars besides Farah and Fynn remained, and Quinn pushed them back toward the gate. However, Farah raised her fan, and the phantom flowers shot down Quinn’s doppelgangers with high-velocity thorns.

  Quinn sidestepped one spike, but two more dug into the chains of her armor. She retreated to her group, and River put up a barrier. The flowers fired at Xan, though she was able to dodge the thorns as she retreated.

  Farah launched a Mana Cannon at Xan, and the ground exploded below the girl’s feet. Xan tumbled forward, but Jim landed beside her and carried her back to the team. The Cleric’s armor had been shattered by the attack, and the broken chains were stained red with blood. Athena healed her sister, and Xan swapped to another, lighter set of armor.

  After Farah drank an ether, she and Fynn cast Mana Cannons. River, Xan, and Vincent stopped the attacks with a combination of Zero Field and forcefields. The other ten Justiciars joined in with Mana Magnums, and Farah’s flowers launched more thorns. The attacks broke through the Void Knights’ defenses, shattering River and Athena’s shields, and tearing into everyone’s armor.

  Xan held up her hand, and the Light-Drain Longsword she’d thrown raised off the ground. The phantom blade struck Fynn in the back, hit two other Justiciars, and then flew back to her hands. She gathered the mana from the light it had drained and cast World Fountain at the edge of the courtyard. The rainbow rain fell on their party, slowly healing their wounds and recovering their mana. They chugged potions, and then fired back on the Justiciars with Mana Magnums and void attacks.

  Vincent took out two Justiciars with Void Guns, and Jim decapitated three more men with Void Crow. More flowers sprouted from their dust, but several of the other flowers withered and vanished as they ran out of mana.

  “Use mega-ethers!” Farah shouted at the few remaining Justiciars. “I’ll drain as much as possible.” She downed a mega-ether herself, and then cast two Mana Cannons at the Void Knights. As she absorbed more mana from the Justiciars, she launched two more Mana Cannons.

  The bombardment of mana tore through the Void Knights’ newly cast forcefields. One blast hit Athena and knocked her off the ground, leaving a trail of blood from the spot she had been standing to where she landed. By the time Xan turned to shout her sister’s name, Athena had turned to dust.

  River roared, dropped the barrier she’d just made, and gulped down a mega-ether. She fired Mana Magnums at Farah, but the shots barely scratched her vines. Farah replied by forming thorns along her armor. She fired three thorns at River that ripped through the girl’s body. One struck her in the head, and she turned to dust before she hit the ground.

  >Quinn: That’s it! I’m tired of that woman. I’m going for the kill.

  >Vincent: Wait—

  Quinn dashed across the courtyard, kicking dirt below her feet as she ran at superhuman speed. The Justiciars and flowers fired at her, though she dodged all but one shot that struck her shoulder.

  Farah’s eyes widened as the woman approached at high speed. Out of desperation, she launched all her thorns at once. Quinn Vanished through most the attacks, but one hit her in the stomach.

  Quinn pulled her arm back, readying Gravity Fist, but she saw Fynn in the corner of her eye as he swung his basteel blade at her neck. She raised her other arm, charging Breaker in the split-second before his blade struck. His black blade tore through her arm, but a combination of her Gravity Shield and Breaker slowed it from taking off her head.

  Quinn turned and punched at Fynn with Gravity Fist, but he sidestepped the attack. The gravitational shockwave still knocked the man across the courtyard and even snapped the body of a Justiciar that had been standing a few meters behind him.

  Vincent, Xan, and Jim charged forward, but Farah fired first, hitting Quinn at point-blank range with Mana Cannon. The attack shattered her armor and knocked her toward her allies. Xan caught her, restored the missing flesh with repeated Flash Heals, and then worked on Quinn’s missing arm.

  The two men continued toward Farah. Vincent swung Song of War, hitting her arm with a shockwave before she could raise Scarlett Nightmare to do the same. Jim released a Void Crow at her, but her vines pushed against the ground, moving her away from the attack. She tried to hurry to the nearby Justiciars, but Jim had his Void Crow circle around. The attack hit her in her slender frame and ripped her body in half.

  Farah gasped as the top half of her body fell. The last few Justiciars rushed to save her, but Vincent cast Black Cinder and wiped out the rest of the group.

  Farah watched the dark embers float toward her as she lay in the garden. “What a beautiful attack.” She marveled at the embers until one poked a hole through her skull.

  Vincent heard quick footsteps and turned as Fynn leapt at him. The old man slowed the basteel blade with a shockwave from Song of War, then blocked it. Fynn shoved Vincent back before turning to swipe at Jim as the Rogue raised his hand to cast a spell. The basteel blade cut off Jim’s hand, and h
e stumbled away with a pained shout.

  Vincent used the last of his mana to fire Void Gun, and it hit Fynn in the head. The attack shattered Fynn’s basteel helm and left his slim, cold face covered in blood.

  It didn’t kill him? Vincent tried to fire again, but found himself out of mana. That basteel—it’s denser than any metal in this game. Of course, my Void Gun couldn’t eat all the way through it.

  Fynn pressed forward with Breaker-charged slashes. Vincent blocked the attacks, but he didn’t have the mana to slow them. Three strikes chipped Song of War, a fourth cracked it, and then Fynn snapped Vincent’s blade in half and sent the old man tumbling to the ground.

  The Wolf Lord angled his heavy blade and jumped forward to finish off Vincent, but a phantom sword hit him in the chest and held him back. “No!” Fynn shouted, his voice straining. “I’m so close.” He swung through the phantom blade, destroying it, but Xan stepped between the two men and jabbed Fynn in the chest with a second Light-Drain Longsword.

  Fynn struggled to raise his heavy basteel blade. He tried to break through Xan’s new sword, but she stepped away and let him fall to the ground. Fynn’s bloodied face turned to Vincent, and he stared at him with wild eyes. “The angels—I have to beat the angels. I can’t lose so easily.”

  Xan angled her blade beside Fynn’s throat, and her spell devoured his remaining light. The Wolf Lord’s eyes turned soft. “Well played, but this isn’t over yet.” Fynn crumbled into dust, but he left no item crystals behind.

  No crystals? But his gear wasn’t soulbound. Vincent couldn’t focus on the question for long, however, because fatigue threatened to overwhelm him. He and his friends scrambled for the World Fountain on the other side of the courtyard.

  Jim chugged two mega-elixirs with his remaining hand. “Please tell me there’s no one as strong as them.” He watched his fingers slowly regrow and winced at the stinging pain.

  “Probably not,” Vincent said. “Lucas is trying to wear us down as much as possible before we reach him.”

  “Well, they did a good job of it,” Quinn said, rubbing her regrown arm. “I’m out of mega-potions and quality armor.”

  “Me too,” Jim said.

  “I have a few mega-elixirs left,” Xan said. “No mega-ethers, though.”

  “Take my last mega-ether,” Vincent said, handing her the item crystal. “So long as I have regular ethers, I’ll be able to unban everyone, and I have hundreds from looting Justiciars.”

  Quinn glanced at the gate and the large door a few meters behind it. “So, this is it? At long last, we’ll have our battle with Lucas. We only need to kill him, right? Then unban Valery and let her ban him when he respawns.”

  “Actually,” Vincent said, staring at the map Sam had made, “I was thinking of using the Beholden Eye to burn a hole straight into his dungeon. I don’t want to give them a chance to move her if they haven’t already done so. If we kill Lucas, but his Justiciars take her away before we get to the dungeon, then we might never find her.”

  “He’s watching everything we do with holographic projectors,” Jim noted. “I see viewing runes all over the courtyard. If Lucas sees us free Valery, he might panic and run away. Then we’ll never get him.”

  “We can do both,” Quinn said. “I’ll fight Lucas to distract him, and you three can free Valery.”

  “I can free Valery alone,” Vincent said. “You three should try to subdue Lucas—or kill him if he’s too well-protected. All it takes is one Gravity Fist or Void Crow. Just target him immediately.”

  Jim and Quinn nodded.

  “And I guess I’ll be their support,” Xan said. “I don’t have Gravity Shield, so I might get banned. But if Quinn and Jim charge him the moment they see him, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

  “I might be able to knock you out of being banned with Gravity Wave,” Quinn noted. “I guess we won’t know for sure unless we’re forced into that situation. But hopefully we’ll capture or kill Lucas quick enough that it won’t matter.”

  “You three go on ahead,” Vincent said. “Tell me if you see him, and then I’ll burrow into the dungeon while he’s distracted. If all goes well, you’ll have him subdued when I bring her to the great hall.”

  “Let’s do this,” Quinn said, running to the gate. She smashed it open with Gravity Wave, and Vincent’s three friends hurried to the great hall.

  Vincent followed his map to the spot where the dungeon reached the closest to the courtyard. He equipped the Behold Eye and readied himself as he waited for his friends to respond.

  >Quinn: Lucas is here, but so is—

  >Vincent: Hello? Quinn? Jim? Xan?

  There’s no way they died so quickly. Lucas must have runes to disable communication in the castle. Maybe he added it after he discovered Sam had betrayed him. I’ll just stick to the plan and trust my team.

  Vincent activated the Beholden Eye, and the item dissolved in his hand. Static filled the air, and rocks lifted off the ground at the spot he aimed at. A massive wave of mana fired from his palm and blasted the ground. The wave ate through ten meters of dirt and even left a hole in the floor of the dungeon.

  I wonder if this is a spell I can learn later? Vincent thought, in awe of the power.

  He dropped into the dungeon and gaped at the cells along the hall. People stood frozen and wide-eyed in almost every chamber.

  Lucas froze all these people? That’s sick. I’ll free them later, but right now I need to focus on finding Valery as quickly as possible.

  Vincent followed the map on his HUD to a stairwell. He hurried to the lowest level, tore through the hinges of the gates with Void Gun, and then approached the two large cells as he drank ethers. The Ranger stared at the screens, noticing Valery and another woman in the nearest cell. Sam’s map showed the other woman’s name was Harper, and it also noted that Zhang was in the cell across the hall.

  Vincent stared at the control panels by the gate. How do I open this thing? Whatever, I’ll just blast it.

  He fired Void Gun at the hinges of the sealed door, and then opened it. Vincent raised a hand at Valery and cast Zero Field. White and black lights flickered as he pulled her out of stasis.

  The woman gasped as she fell to the ground. She stared with wide eyes at her trembling hands before raising her gaze to Vincent. “You’re a moderator?”

  “No, I’m a cheater,” Vincent replied. He disabled the barrier that split the cell with Void Gun, and then cast Zero Field on Harper.

  Harper fell to the ground, panting for breath and trembling. “That monster. I can’t believe he froze us for so long.”

  Valery stood from the ground and stepped to the dividing line where the barrier had been for most of her captivity. She blinked at it, then crossed over to hug Harper. “We’re free! Harper, we’re free!” Tears flowed down Valery’s face, and she whimpered on Harper’s shoulder. “I—I can’t believe this day has come. Am I hallucinating?”

  “You’re not,” Harper said, crying too. “But you need to get it together. Lucas might come for us. Isn’t that right, whoever you are?”

  “That’s right,” Vincent said. “Right now, my friends are fighting him. Two of them are immune to his bans like I am, but they still need our help. Valery, I need you to ban Lucas.”

  Valery looked at him, breaking into a half-laugh half-cry. “Ban Lucas? Ban him?” She wiped the tears from her face. “I don’t even remember what it’s like to cast a spell.” She shaped her hand into a gun and fired Mana Gun at the wall. “Oh, okay. I got it. It’s all coming back to me.”

  Valery paused and sniffled as her crying came to a stop. “It’s so strange. I’ve been held captive for decades, but now that I’m free, I remember I’ve only been logged in for a short while. This lifetime of captivity was only a few minutes. My brain can’t reconcile these two different sets of times.”

  “Everyone has those same thoughts,” Vincent said. “The game messes with your perception of time. We’ve been here decades, yet also for minutes, b
ut now’s not the time for your existential crisis. We need to stop Lucas. Whether his reign has been years or minutes, and whether his crimes are real or virtual, he’s caused too much suffering. You need to ban him and end this.”

  “He’s right,” Harper said. “You need to stop him, Valery.”

  Valery nodded and tightened her hand into a fist. “Gladly.”

  Vincent stepped across the hall to the other chamber. He drank ethers, and then broke the hinges with Void Gun. “Let’s free Ice Knight Zhang while we’re at it.”

  “This’ll be a chance to practice my shot after so long,” Valery said, approaching the entryway. She hit the Ice Knight with Mod Gun from several meters away.

  Zhang fell to the floor and gasped for breath. “Move away from the door!” he shouted, trying to stand. “The runes—I noticed a long time ago there’s another layer.” Zhang stumbled toward the door, but then the runes on the walls glowed with magic.

  Vincent grabbed Valery and pulled her away as a mana explosion tore apart the room. The shockwave threw them across the hall and even knocked Harper off her feet.

  The old man gaped at the destroyed room, but he saw no sight of Zhang. He eyed the viewing runes throughout the dungeon.

  Lucas figured out what we were up to. It took him a while, though, so my friends must’ve put up a fight. But if they haven’t captured or killed him by now, then something’s gone wrong.

  “We need to hurry,” Vincent told the women. “Lucas knows we’re here, and he knows Valery is free. We need to get to the great hall before he retreats.”

  Vincent pulled Valery to her feet, and the three players rushed for the staircase.

  Chapter 36

  Player: Lucas the Chosen Lord

  Location: Valahym (World) | Midrun (City) | The Lord’s Castle (District)

  Class: Sheriff (Moderator)

  Vitality*: Lv 123

  Spirit*: Lv 130

  Resolve*: Lv 128

  Perception*: Lv 129

  Agility*: Lv 125