by Aleron Kong
“That’s it?” Sion asked aggressively.
“Yes, sprite!” Lucasz spat. “Keep your tongue between your teeth. My brother’s agreement does not absolutely protect you from me.”
“Yes, it does,” Richter told him with deadly intensity. Lucasz looked at him with clear malevolence. Months ago, he might have risen to that challenge, but he had grown as a man and as a ruler. He did not have time to indulge this, but he would not forget in the future. “Is there anything else you can tell us?” he asked Mikaal.
The older vamp had flashed an angry glance at his impetuous brother and then turned the same expression on Richter. Whether that was because they had not received the Heart Crystal yet or because of Lucasz’s behavior wasn’t clear, but when he spoke to the chaos seed, there was at least a modicum of respect in his voice. “No, I do not.”
Richter looked at him a moment, then tossed the Heart Crystal to Mikaal. The vampire’s eyes flashed, but he caught it effortlessly, “Then I consider our bargain fulfilled.”
You have relinquished control of the Heart Crystal of the Shadow Trench.
The Mutual Vow has been fulfilled by both parties.
Mikaal looked at the clear jewel in his hand as if he could not believe it was there. “A human that keeps his word. Perhaps this new age truly will mean something new for all of us.” He thought a moment then reached into his robes and handed Richter a blood red coin.
You have found:
Blood Gold of the Silent Dream Vampire Clan
Durability: 12/12
Item Class: Uncommon
Weight: 0.02 kg
Traits: Can be used as currency and is the equivalent of ten gold crowns. Also serves as a marker to indicate the favor of the ruler of the Silent Dream Clan.
“Perhaps we will meet again one day,” Mikaal stated, “but if any of your people are caught in our domain without this coin, they will be considered prey. I hold this to be within the bounds of nature and our agreement.”
“Fair enough,” Richter said. “I do not have a similar token for you though.”
Mikaal smiled, and it was as cold and ruthless as the pointed fangs it revealed. “If we come to see you, it will be in the dead of night, and you will never know until we are already there.”
With that pronouncement, Mikaal spoke in a hissing yet eloquent-sounding language to Lucasz. Both vampires spun, and by the time they had finished their turn, they had both transformed into giant bats. Each had a wingspan of seven feet, tip to tip. They flapped away, leaving nothing behind.
“You have to admit,” Richter stated begrudgingly, looking after the disappearing vampire bats, “that was a baller exit.”
CHAPTER 102 – Day 150 – Kuborn 39, 0 AoC
The conversation with the vampires had another unexpected benefit.
Your Gift of Tongues Ability has identified a new Language: Tongue of the Fallen.
Richter dismissed the prompt. It might come in handy in the future, but now was the time for battle. He slowly extended an arrow and confirmed the shield was indeed gone. With silent nods and bound in purpose, the three men climbed the final staircase. They held their heads high despite the fact that they were each bleeding, bruised and pale.
As they climbed, the three men kept scanning for more defenders, but they didn’t see another soul, living or dead. Caulder led the trio, his mace held at the ready. When they reached the top, Richter looked around. The roof looked exactly as it had in Nien’s memory.
The floor was made of the same grey metal blocks as the rest of the Mausoleum. About thirty yards away was the large stone sarcophagus with the lid closed. Eldritch light leaked from the edges around the top. The only wall was directly in front of them, the other sides were open to the air. It only took one wall; one was enough to seriously freak all of them out.
Sion and Caulder were especially discomforted as they hadn’t seen the horrifying faces that seemed frozen in agony before. Even for Richter, who had witnessed it in Nien’s memory, it was so much worse seeing it in real life. The mouth and eyes of each face were holes that crossed the breadth of the wall and let the dancing green light shine through. The light just made it seem like the faces were actually alive and being eternally tortured.
Richter spoke quietly to both of his comrades, “Stay focused. The lich was in the coffin when I was viewing the memory. That’s what we check first. If he’s inside when we push the lid back, then we stab him to death and get the hell out of here. Now how does that sound?”
“Let’s do this,” Sion responded, holding his elementum short sword.
“Sounds like a perfect plan to me, milord,” Caulder said with a low voice. “If he is not in there?”
“Then we go to Plan B,” Richter told him grimly.
“Banished gods, please let the lich be in the coffin,” Sion prayed, really hating Plan B.
Richter nodded in agreement and they slowly stalked forward. Their heads were on a swivel, but still no enemies appeared. The chaos seed reached out a hand to push the lid aside, but Caulder stopped him. Shaking his head, the sergeant set his mace down. Then, he started to push.
The lid moved remarkably easily. So smoothly, in fact, that it flew off to the side and landed with a resounding crash! Richer cursed as he leaped forward with Black Ice raised. Sion leaned forward with an enchanted arrow nocked, and Caulder scrambled to pick up his mace again…
It was empty.
Sion fixed the sergeant with a glare and Caulder glared right back. “It wasn’t my fau-” the man began before looking puzzled. He met Richter’s eyes for a solitary moment before his eyes erupted in green flame. Caulder was not even given the time to scream before his skeleton ripped itself free of his body. Bits of flesh and blood flew everywhere, including all over Richter’s face. Sion issued a startled curse, both of them looking in horror at the monster that had just emerged from their friend’s body.
Name: Mausoleum Guardian Disposition: Hatred
This skeleton is formed from a savaged corpse cursed by eldritch magic. The skeleton grows stronger the longer it is exposed to eldritch energy and will remain on this plane indefinitely, using the soul of the slain as an anchor. It traps its victim’s soul, tormenting it until this creature is destroyed. This undead retains all the skills, abilities, qualities and expertise that its victim had in life. If destroyed, it will continue to feed off the eldritch energy in this building until it is resurrected.
Special Attack: Eldritch Growth – Creature gains levels and power the longer it is exposed to eldritch magic.
Level: 19
Health: 380Mana: 210Stamina: 290
Strength: 32
Agility: 27
Dexterity: 27
Constitution: 38
Endurance: 29
Intelligence: 21
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 8
Luck: 15
The eldritch glow inside of the coffin flared and a tether of the same neon green energy appeared between the skeleton and the sarcophagus. Analyze showed Richter that the skeleton gained a level in just that first instant of contact, and it grew two inches in height.
This is Caulder. This is Caulder. This is Caulder! The thought just kept running through Richter’s head. He was so distracted that he didn’t even hear the loud clicks that reverberated through the floor. His mind was completely consumed with disgust and sorrow as he looked at Caulder’s remains. More flesh was either falling or being burnt away by the eldritch flames surrounding the undead. The guts fell out of the front of the chainmail the skeleton was wearing, wet loops making a meaty slap sound as they hit the grey metal floor. It looked at Richter and reached toward him with a burning hand. That threat snapped something in Richter and he turned cold. Normally, in battle, his emotions ran hot and a primitive side of him took control. This time, all he felt was dispassionate fury. This thing had killed his friend. This thing still had his friend’s soul. This thing had to die!
Sion shot it with a Freeze arrow wh
ich dulled the green flames in its chest somewhat. It knocked the monster back one step and that was all the opening Richter needed to attack. With quiet fury, he swung Black Ice at the same spot. There was no finesse in his attack, just pure hatred. His first swing knocked the creature down to its knees. The second opened a rent in the chain mail. The third fractured its rib cage. The tether of eldritch light continued to heal and increase its power, but not even the Mausoleum could match the damage Richter’s Named Weapon was inflicting with his powerful swings.
He attacked the skeleton until pieces were missing from its skull, its arms had been hacked off, its leg bones had been shattered and the remains of Caulder’s organs were splattered across his armor. The skeeling scales were no longer white. Sion could not stop him. With each swing, names streamed through his head. Ox, Schroeder, Kentyiro, Yoshi, Zarr, Caulder, Petal… Each name was a recrimination both to himself and the Universe for letting his friends and comrades die. Each name made him sink further into a cold rage as he bludgeoned the skeleton that had once been a man he’d respected. Both his rage and sword blows turned on the sarcophagus as well, but the stone was unyielding. Even his most powerful swings could barely scratch the large coffin. In the end, Alma was only able to reach him when she blocked his sight of the felled monster with her own body.
*You have done it,* she said softly in his mind. *You have one more battle to fight, my love. Come back to us.*
Richter swung his blade a final time, and a sob ripped its way out of his throat. He looked at his familiar. Alma was right. There was one more creature he had to kill and it was high past time that the lich died the final death. He turned and glanced at Sion, for the first time seeing the fearful gaze his best friend adopted when Richter lost control. A heaviness fell onto his heart at seeing his best friend’s expression, but he didn’t say a word. He would talk to Sion about it at a later time. Right now, there was blade work to be done.
Richter looked down at the body of the Mausoleum guardian.
“It’s not dead,” Sion commented. The tether of eldritch light still connected it to the coffin. Richter had hacked it to bits, but the cracks in the bone were already healing.
“Not yet, but it will be. We finish the job. We go to Plan B. If we survive, we can mourn for our friend later.”
Sion nodded. They were both about to walk towards the wall of faces when a roar made Richter look back towards the stairs. That roar saved their lives. The two behemoth monsters hadn’t made it to the top of the Mausoleum yet. In fact, Richter couldn’t even see them as they were hidden from view by the floor, but he did see a flash of red. The chaos seed grabbed Sion’s shoulder roughly, keeping him from taking a single step away from the stone sarcophagus. The sprite looked at him sharply, but Richter maintained his grip on his friend and continued to stare at the floor. As he watched, more red glows appeared. First five, then twelve, then more than fifty and Richter stopped trying to count.
He looked at Sion and said, “Traps.”
Richter kept watching and almost the entire floor behind them turned crimson. The farthest traps appeared first and then more hidden triggers turned red like a slow-moving algae bloom. At first, he thought he was seeing traps arm themselves in succession, but then he understood what he was really seeing. The traps closest to the stairs were the lowest level. The ones getting closer to the back wall were better concealed and his Pierce the Veil skill was having to struggle to see them. Which meant… there still might be traps he just couldn’t detect in other areas that weren’t glowing red yet.
Richter looked past the sarcophagus towards the wall of faces. After a few seconds, a few more red glows appeared, but it was nothing like the sea of scarlet closer to the stairs. He knew in his gut that didn’t mean the floor between the coffin and the wall of screaming faces was safe. In fact, it meant just the opposite. There were traps. They were just too high level for him to see.
He looked bleakly at Sion, “I’ve got some bad news.”
“Any good news?” the sprite asked with gallows humor.
Richter looked at the hundred yards of real estate between them and the door, through the wall of faces. A football field of grey metal that had been seeded like a deadly and invisible minefield, “No… and he’s twitching.”
Sion looked down at the monster created from Caulder’s remains and saw that some of the bones were indeed connecting back together. A couple swings of his elementum short sword fixed that problem, at least momentarily. “It’s not going to stop growing stronger,” the sprite said with a mix of resignation and sadness. They were both trying not to think too much about the fact that one of their friends had just died in one of the worst ways imaginable.
“I know,” Richter answered quietly, “which is why you need to head back through the portal.” He held up a hand before Sion could even respond. “Look, man. We both knew this might be a one-way trip even if everything had worked out well. It didn’t. We had to fight our way through floors of these fuckers and a lot of people died. And now Caulder-” He stopped talking for a moment, the words catching in his throat. “Caulder has already paid the price, and we haven’t even seen the lich yet. Now we’re stuck here in a sea of traps that I can’t even detect. Even if I could, I wouldn’t have the time to disarm them all before one of those giants fighting it out only a few floors below us wins.”
He laid his hand on Sion’s shoulder, “I can’t change any of that. What I can do is coast right over these traps with my Cloud Running skill and hope they don’t have a proximity trigger. It’s only thirty yards back to the stairs. I’d be willing to bet that there aren’t any traps once we clear the roof. I’ll carry you there. You make it back through the portal. I’ll finish the lich. Once I’m done, I’ll see you back in the village.”
“You think you can kill a centuries old master of magic that knows you’re coming? I thought you’d finally learned your lesson trying to do everything yourself! You think I’m not hurting too? Caulder wasn’t the only friend I lost today, Richter!”
“We do not have time for this!” the chaos seed shouted. The sounds of battle below them were growing louder, which meant the fight between the two giants was growing closer. “Wake up! I’m not making it back through the portal, man. And if you come with me, you’re probably not making it back either! I know that I can Cloud Run you the thirty yards to get to the stairs before my stamina runs out. I do not know that I can get us the more than hundred yards to the wall. I don’t even know if the ground will be safe if we do make it to the wall. Even if we do make it that far, and even if we do kill the lich, I can’t leave this Mausoleum intact. I can’t let Caulder’s soul be trapped here forever!”
“Plan B?” Sion asked in irritation and anger. “And you intend to die when it happens?”
“If that’s what it takes,” Richter shouted.
“You’re out of your fucking mind,” the sprite said softly. “How do you even know if that will work?”
“I don’t. That’s why I’m throwing everything I have at this. All of it, including what I gave you earlier.”
Sion was quiet for a moment, “How do you know that you’ll come back this time if you die? You told me what Heman said. You’ve already died twice. This might be your last life.”
Richter forced a false smile, “Hey, don’t worry, I’m a lucky guy.” The smile slipped away, “Besides. It’s been a wild ride, man. I’ve got no complaints, but what I do have is more than a thousand people counting on me. That includes all of your people too. I have to do this.”
The sprite looked at him quietly again, but then he nodded. Richter sighed in relief that his friend was actually listening to him. He could save at least one person he loved. The miniscule joy faded when Sion spoke, “Everything you’re saying is right. I know that we will most likely not return, but I am a Child of the Forest. I know you’re trying to save me, but you’ll need my help to save everyone else. Now, you’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
Richter looked at
his friend and his heart tightened. He would not show the disrespect of ignoring his friend’s choice though. “Together then.” The two men clasped wrists, and then he looked at Alma. The dragonling flew down to him and he caught her in his arms. The extra armor was lightweight, but he took care to avoid her new claws. She looked up at him and licked his face.
*It all relies on you, my love. Be safe,* he told her. *You’ll need all the speed you can get. I need you to fly like the wind. That’s why these are for you.*
He brought out both Psi Crystals he’d gained from the chupacabras and had her inhale the Mental energy. She siphoned the blue-white glow from each and he quickly accessed her status page. This time, there was no doubt or hesitation in his choice.
You have purchased: Flight Speed II. Alma’s base speed is now increased by +20%.
Total Psi Points Remaining: 64
You have purchased: Flight Speed III. Alma’s base speed is now increased by +30%.
Total Psi Points Remaining: 24
The last points he left for her to use if needed. If they survived the next hour, then they could invest them into whatever Enhancement she wanted. In the meantime, her body glowed with the energy of Thought magic. Her wings lengthened, but also thinned. The actual structural composition of her bones changed, becoming harder and lighter at the same time. Her face thinned and the snapping movement of her tail became more pronounced. Alma had become a deadlier version of herself.
*I will not fail you, master!* Her tone was hungry and eager as she leapt from his embrace with two items clasped in her claws. She flew almost straight up, gaining altitude until she flew through an opening high on the wall. In the process, Richter finally saw what was beyond the wall. It had been obvious that each level of the Mausoleum was smaller than one below it, but he hadn’t known that the back of the Core building was flat. He’d been mistakenly thinking of it like a pyramid when really it looked more like a ramp.