The Land: Predators: A LitRPG Saga (Chaos Seeds Book 7)

by Aleron Kong

  The undead from the sixth floor had arrived on the seventh and the fifth-floor guardians were right behind. More arrows were flying up again; the undead were of a lower level, but there were more of them. The Death mages of those floors began casting as well and the melee fighters rushed upward, screaming and howling to spill living blood.

  The flames had died, lasting only thirty seconds, the inhibiting magic of the Mausoleum more than halving the potions’ lifespans, if not their damage. Richter and the chupacabras continued firing down the stairs, but for every undead that fell another came behind it, and the creatures had no fear of pain or death. The leading edges of the lich’s army had made it to the first floor.

  Quasea began a casting. The noctimancer’s spell was one that Richter knew himself, but at a much higher tier. When the chaos seed cast his 1st-tier spell, Weak Cloying Darkness, a ten-foot cone of thick blackness shot from his hand. When the shapely gnome enchantress cast her 4th-tier spell, Enhanced Cloying Darkness, a literal deluge of night poured down the stairs, decreasing the movement and attack speed of every creature by 60%. It spilled down the steps, blanketing the seventh level and some of the stairs leading down to the sixth. The effect of her spell surprised even the sorceress, as she was seeing the buff effect the Mausoleum had on her Dark magic for the first time.

  All the while, Richter shot enchanted arrows at the creatures approaching from above. Quasea’s spell had slowed the monsters that were on the stairs, but more continued to flood upward. Seeing the sea of undead, he dropped his bow and rushed forward. The chupacabras continued to fire and Quasea screamed at him to come back, but he ignored it all. More vials of Life oil broke on the steps and the potion coated the grey metal. He managed to smash five against the steps before an arrow broke against the dead center of his chest plate. Richter was knocked to the ground and the back of his helmet struck the steps hard. The helm protected him from a concussion but his bell was still rung for a second as the combat info washed over him.

  BEGIN COMBAT LOG

  Skeletal Archer strikes Richter with Necromium Arrow for 0 points of Piercing damage!

  Piercing Damage: [(+13 Skeletal Archer’s Bow + 7 Necromium Arrow) + 96% for level 48 Archery + 50% for 31 points of Dexterity] – [(27 Armor + 10% Fitted + 25% Matched Set + 15% Piercing + 20% Synergy +36% Light Armor skill) + (10 Life Defense + 11% Sun Sapphire)] = 0 Damage

  END COMBAT LOG

  Richter blinked and made his way to his feet, thanking his lucky stars for his new chest piece! Just because his armor didn’t let the arrow penetrate didn’t mean it negated the physics of the attack. The force of the shattering arrow still transmitted through the breastplate and left him sore, but moments later he was back in the fight.

  The chaos seed smashed a few more vials and then ran back up the stairs. Stooping low and turning, his fingers glowed red. His mana dropped by seventy-nine points and a golf ball-sized ball of orange flame shot from his hand. One foot later it was the size of a grapefruit and three feet later the size of a basketball. It impacted the ground and exploded, sending flames ten meters in every direction. The damage from Weak Fireball was only twenty to twenty-five, but it also ignited the pools of oil Richter had left all over the stairs. Any undead caught in those began to burn!

  That didn’t stop the army of undead. They reached the Life flames and ran right through them. Many gained a Burning status as they walked through the four-foot-high flames, but they just didn’t stop! Richter picked his bow back up with a curse and kept firing.

  Multishot arrows with Sonic Damage wrought horrible Earth damage and sometimes disarmed or even shattered the armor of the undead, sending shrapnel flying back through their bodies. Freeze arrows with Ignore Defense penetrated the armor of the dead, turning one into a block of blue ice that fell and shattered. Moments later, the pieces were crushed under the boots of the other undead racing up the stairs. Dual enchanted arrows enspelled with Death and Fire magic punctured the shields of necromancers that tried to climb the stairs. Richter had never been so perfect. Never more focused on the task of delivering death to the undying. Yet still they didn’t stop and Richter felt like he was running out of time. He knew he was running out of arrows.

  “Work, damn you!” Zarr cursed. He was having the mist workers push the blocks of stone down into the grey metal stone steps, but they were contouring to the stair much slower than he had expected. He stood up to push on the tops of stone himself, but an arrow whizzing by his head made him duck back down under cover.

  “How much more time, man? These fuckers are still coming!” Richter shouted.

  “More!” Zarr spat back. The mist workers continued to push, but enemy arrows found them as well. The defenseless constructs normally had a 50% reduction from physical damage, but they were away from their home and one arrow was enough to finish them. First one disappeared in a puff of grey mist, then another. Then two at once thanks to a blast of Death magic. The others did not notice and continued on with the task at hand.

  Richter ducked behind a stone as well and reassessed the battle through Alma’s eyes. Yoshi’s strike team had cleared the eighth floor and had moved on to the ninth. Half of the Dungeon beasts had been slain, but they were still savaging the level twenty-nine to thirty-seven undead defenders. The poison on their claws and tusks meant that even one successful attack would decrease an undead’s HP by the hundreds of points.

  The mauler was battling against two undead that were both over nine feet tall. They worked in tandem, clearly intelligent and well trained. Both looked like disembodied shadow creatures housed in suits of plate armor. The only detail Alma could see was a pair of glowing red eyes. A moment later, he saw they were also Professionals.

  Even as Richter watched, one used a Talent that let him double the length of his blade and cut deep into the mauler’s thigh. The Labyrinth monster's counterattack was to rake its deadly talons down the knight’s body, opening him and his armor like a can opener. A black shadow fled the destroyed armor with a shriek, but the other Warrior didn’t waste the opportunity. It swung its battle axe down in a powerful chop and severed one of the three fingers on the mauler’s left hand. The boss howled in true pain and swung its other arm, catching the undead in the side and flinging him down the side of the Mausoleum.

  Near his own position lower down on the pyramid, Alma could see the monsters pressing through Quasea’s spell, getting ever closer to her master.

  *Should we bond?* she asked him, desperation in her voice.

  *No!* he sent back. He’d emptied his quiver and had needed to remove another bundle of enchanted arrows from his Bag of Holding. He shoved them into the quiver, loosed the tie and kept firing. The process took five seconds. It felt like it took a lifetime as he saw the leading edge of the lich’s army had almost reached the second level. Richter thanked whatever god might be listening that there were thirty to forty feet of stairs between each level. Even seeing the undead this close was enough for his heart to hammer in fear.

  * I need you on overwatch and support. We only have seven minutes once we bond! Help Yoshi!* He fired a Multiarrow of Freezing at a skeletal archer. The arrow split into four copies, each doing Water damage and injecting poison into it, before ducking back down behind a stone block to dodge return fire. The undead dropped his bow, waves of golden Life energy washing through his body.

  Alma sent back her assent, but continued to worry. The fact that her Life magic didn’t work here meant she was cut off from almost every casting she knew. The dragonling could only use spell schools of the Powers Richter had unlocked and only the spells he knew in those schools. She could still use the few Air spells he knew, but only Weak Lightning was offensive. It, and her psychic attacks, had a several-minute cool down. Still, she followed her master’s orders.

  Casting Weak Haste, Alma swooped down upon Yoshi’s position. Circling to the side, she flew in from behind the undead still fighting on the ninth floor and fired a concentrated Psi Blast. The Mental magic caught
six of the high level undead in its beam. Two collapsed to the ground, twitching, and the other four were staggered. As she passed the strike team, she also cast Weak Errant Wind, increasing the group’s ability to dodge projectiles by 30%.

  It wasn’t enough.

  Even as Alma climbed back into the air, she shared the butcher’s bill with Richter. Another five sprites were dead and only ten Dungeon beasts remained with the strike team. The mauler had lost over half its health and was moving much slower. Splotches of purple-black magic shot through its body, surging and retreating as its regenerative powers tried to keep up. It was losing.

  Kentyiro was down. She wasn’t sure if he was alive or dead, but a pool of blood was growing beneath him. Corporal Schroeder’s head lay next to his still-twitching body and Ox bled in multiple places even as he swung an axe into the body of a seven-foot-tall zombie. The undead took the hit without flinching and swung its own mace into the guard’s face. A wet, meaty thunk was the only response as Ox collapsed to the ground. Arrows and bolts of energy continued to fly from above, extracting a terrible toll on the allied forces. Still, his people did not quit.

  Yoshi ran up behind the monster that had killed Ox and executed a complicated sword form that he had only mastered after reaching the third rank of his blade style. The hulking zombie’s gigantic arms fell off of its body almost at the same moment. Stupefied, it turned around to look at its attacker. With a disdainful grimace, Yoshi drove his blade through its mouth and into its brain, leaving it as dead as the brave man it had just killed.

  The remaining members of the strike squad did the rest. As the last undead fell, not a single member of the allied forces remained unbloodied. The mauler surged up to the tenth level. The boss was eager to hurt the skeletal archers and magi that were wounding it so savagely! Yoshi, Sion and the few others that could still walk, stumble or crawl downed their health potions if they hadn’t already been consumed and climbed after it.

  *We need more men!* Richter sent urgently to Hisako. There was only one more level of undead to conquer before the vampire guardians of the roof, but the undead of the tenth level were by far the strongest. Even the mauler was staggering under their firepower as it climbed the stairs. He also had his own problems to deal with. The undead army had almost reached the foot of the Mausoleum, which meant they were only minutes from overwhelming his forces. It was time to roll a hard six!

  Richter ordered the mist workers holding the boulders to come close. Zarr had managed to get the first two blocks to meld with the stairs and, thank the banished gods, they were stable. Each time a block was finished, the mist workers that remained were sent up the steps to find any wounded and carry them back through the portal. Not many were left, and they had lost a great deal of health just being away from the mist village, but they would serve until death.

  Zarr looked drained, as if the river of his magic was being forced through a straw, but he didn’t quit either. The Mage downed a blue mana potion and cast Stone Sealant again, locking the third stone in place. A shimmering green paste appeared under the marbled quartz block, making a bond stronger than moonstone. The third-tier spell would not last forever, but it would last long enough. While it did, the stone wall would not be moved.

  He began to start on the fourth, but an arrow finally made it past Caulder’s shield. It pierced the dwarf’s shoulder and he went down, disease flowing through his veins. More arrows struck the mist workers holding the stone and it fell to down the side of the Mausoleum, leaving a massive hole in their defenses. Richter cursed because they could not risk more people passing through the portal just to bring another stone, but his frustration was nothing compared to Quasea’s rage. The noctimancer screamed and cast spells down the steps as fast as she could only to find her magic counteracted by three lower level undead casters that together were strong enough to thwart her.

  Richter dropped his bow and rushed over to Zarr, pouring one of his precious health potions down the dwarf’s throat. The geomancer screamed as whatever filth was on the arrowhead continued to course through his veins and arteries, wreaking damage in its wake. Thinking a silent apology, the chaos seed forced the arrow even deeper into the dwarf’s shoulder until the tip came out the other side. Then he cut through the shaft and pulled the remnant out through Zarr’s back. Blessedly, the geomancer had lost consciousness. Richter prayed he had done enough to save the dwarf’s life, because he had no more time waste.

  The horde was coming.

  Twenty more sprite archers had come through the portal that was now starting to flicker.

  *I cannot risk sending anymore and my mana will not last much longer!* Hisako sent with a mental shout.

  Richter sent back his understanding and then reached into his Bag of Holding for a series of vials. Each one had a thick grey fluid at the bottom and a darker grey gas atop it. Opening the first, a stink even fouler that on the air of the Mausoleum filled his nose and made his eyes water. He quickly poured the Allure Potion of the Crypt Mistress over the boulder and ordered the mist worker to throw it down the steps.

  The gleaming white rock, about the size of a beach ball, bounced down the stairs, picking up speed. It missed the first two undead it reached on the stairs, but struck the third center mass. The armored skeleton was knocked down and lost hundreds of points of health. Even better, the forward rush of the undead slowed and many turned to follow the stone that was covered in the pheromones of the undead-seducing demoness. Richter cheered when he saw his now impassioned enemies go after the rock and shouted, “Hope you fuckers like blue balls!”

  He ordered the mist worker that had been holding the boulder to pick up Zarr’s delirious body and throw him through the portal. Richter hoped the rough handling didn’t hurt the dwarf more, but sending the mist worker through as well would risk further portal instability. The construct did as it was ordered and Richter began to pour another allure potion on the next rock. Fifteen of the sprites began firing down at the undead still climbing the stairs and the other five raced up to help Yoshi’s strike team. The withering fire thinned the ranks of undead climbing the stairs, but they still advanced like a wave of Death. Skeletons, zombies and ghasts surged up the stairs, fell howls and roars coming from their throats.

  The battle raged on.

  With Zarr safely on the other side of the portal, the sprites were able to focus fire and, using enchanted arrows, destroyed the three skeletal magi that had been opposing Quasea’s Dark magic. Without their interference, she was finally able to cast her strongest spell again, Sucking Tar. The magic moved down the stairs, snaring undead and dragging them to the final death. With an exertion of will, she widened the spell to cover the width of the stairs. When Richter looked at the voluptuous Mage though, he could see the strain on her face and the shaking in her arms as she tried to control the spell.

  “How long?” he called to her.

  The desperation in her eyes was answer enough. She had bought them time, and her spell stopped any possible advancement of the undead army up the stairs. It would not last long. To make matters worse, Hisako had been right. While some of the undead mindlessly ran into Quasea’s spell, others possessed more than enough intellect to find another way. He watched as the undead rushing up from the sixth floor split once they reached the seventh. A third of the army continued straight up the stairway into the sucking maw of Quasea’s spell, but a third ran left and the remainder went right… towards the other stairways.

  *You were right!* he sent to Hisako. *They’re going to flank us!*

  *Hurry!* was the only response, but this time her message came through weaker, clearly communicating her stress and exhaustion.

  Richter told the sprites to hold the beachhead and prepared to race up the stairs to help clear the tenth floor when he heard a deafening roar, multitudes louder than any other sound on the battlefield. He actually received the debuff Partially Deafened, and his head whipped back around to look down at the canyon between the plain and the Mausoleum. All
he could whisper was, “No,” as a skeletal hand, fifteen feet in length, reached over the lip of the crevasse and slammed onto the ground of the first floor. A moment later, a skeletal head three times as long as he was tall peered over the side of the edge, mouth open in screaming rage.

  Name: Devastator SkeletonDisposition: Blind Rage

  Devastator Skeletons are colossal-sized undead, normally reaching 60-80 feet in height. Comprised of the individual bones of thousands of undead, they have a deep and abiding hatred of the living. These monsters are not only horrifying enemies, but can transport other undead and exude a powerful Fear aura.

  Level: 48

  Health: 8128Mana: 183Stamina: 5927

  Strength: 383

  Agility: 52

  Dexterity: 48

  Constitution: 812

  Endurance: 592

  Intelligence: 18

  Wisdom: 15

  Charisma: 4

  Luck: 19

  Special Abilities:

  Fear Aura – The sight of this horrible creature makes enemies run in terror

  Transport – Can carry other undead size large or smaller, which are immune to attack until they detach from the Devastator

  “Lord Richter,” one of the sprites called out, distress lacing his voice.

  Richter completely understood. He had already resisted the Fear effect thanks to his resistances and high stats, but he could feel the effect growing as more of the devastator was revealed. Another sprite called his name, and he responded, “I know. It’s a devastator!” His head whipped up towards Yoshi’s strike party fighting several levels above and his eyes locked on the mauler. The chaos seed’s heart sank as he realized what he had to do. The lich had a devastator…

  They needed Omega Supreme.

  CHAPTER 100 – Day 150 – Kuborn 39, 0 AoC

  *Yoshi,* he called out. *I need the mauler back down here!*