Soulstone: The Skeleton King: A LitRPG Novel (World of Ruul Book 2)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Undead are about fifty percent stronger at night.” Cain shook his head. “I mean, you can do what you want, but I know what I’d do.”

  “Got it,” I said, glancing at the others. “Thoughts?”

  “We go anyway,” Dark Heart said with absolute conviction. “For one, we don’t have time to wait. While it may be harder, I’m pretty sure we’ll get more experience and better drops too. That’s how it was in Titan Gate.”

  “I guess we’ll find out,” Crash said, in a way that told me we were, in fact, going to venture through the Wasteland of Chaos and into the Ravine of Despair in the dead of night. Worse, my scythe wasn’t repaired, and I still only had one usable dagger. Something told me my goblin short sword wasn’t going to cut it for this little trip, but there was nothing to do about that.

  Still, maybe I’d find a better dagger out there? So far, we’d managed to gear up fairly well, and we’d only done one dungeon. It stood to reason that by the time we completed the Sword of Infinite Sorrows, we’d have some nice gear, and that’d definitely help us on the road to soul stone recovery.

  “I’ll go if Kahn goes,” Two’ Manchu said, watching me closely. Then he took a deep breath and let it out through his teeth, and I could have sworn, I could actually see the hamster running on the wheel in his mind. “It seems dangerous, but if the experience and drops are better, we may as well try. The wasteland itself wasn’t so bad during the day, and we are a lot stronger now.”

  “All right, don’t let me spoil the party,” I replied, glaring at them. “Let’s go kick some undead ass.”

  “Glad you found your balls, princess,” George said as we headed toward the gate. “I was beginning to wonder…”

  7

  By the time we made it through the Wasteland of Chaos, I was really starting to hate the place. Dark Heart had been correct about the monsters giving better experience at night because we’d leveled a lot faster than we had during the daytime, but man did it reek. The smell of rotting flesh and decay was so bad, I’d nearly used George as a gas mask.

  Still, other than the horrid stench of undead flesh, the whole experience, pardon my pun, had been fairly rewarding. Not only had I reached level ten and now did an extra damage with both spells and physical weapons, but my magical damage reduction had increased by one as well. Bonus, I was nearly level eleven. Two’ Manchu and George had both managed to reach level ten as well, although both were barely a quarter of the way through the level.

  Dark Heart and Crash had each gained gain a level too, and were thirteen and twelve, respectively. It was sort of a little sucky for Crash because even though he was now a high enough level to learn level three spells, there was no one to teach him out here. We’d need to go back to town for that, which sort of sucked.

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t go back and get Crash Turn Undead?” I asked as I stared down the craggy path that led into the ravine of despair.

  “No. We’ve been through this. We don’t have time for that,” Dark Heart said as she stared down at the cave below. “Now let’s go.”

  With that, she took a step toward the maw of limestone and hatred that gaped at us from the gnarled, blackened land below. Warm, moist air blew from the entrance, making me feel wet and sticky, and I was still more than two dozen feet away.

  As I sighed and began to follow her, the entrance to the cave twisted into a jagged snarl and evil laughter filled the air, causing my heart to hammer in my chest. I wasn’t sure what was in there, but there was no way it would be good. Fun, maybe. Rewarding, possibly. But good? No chance.

  “Did you hear that?” Two’ Manchu asked, glancing around with barely contained panic on his face. “Or is it just me?” He swallowed hard. “Honestly, I’m not sure which is better.”

  “I heard the laughter too, buddy,” Crash said, putting a hand on Two’ Manchu’s shoulder. “But it’ll be okay. It’s just a dungeon run like any other. Besides, if a piece of the Sword of Infinite Sorrows is inside, we have to get it.”

  “Yeah,” Two’ Manchu said, shaking his head. “This is just another dungeon… albeit a spectacularly rendered creepy dungeon, but a dungeon nonetheless, and like the dungeons I’ve faced before, I’m going to go in there and kick its ass.” He tried to look brave. “After all, there was nothing to fear but fear itself.”

  “And spiders,” I said because I absolutely hated the spindly-legged beasts. They were pretty much the thing I feared most in the world, so much so, I’d never even gone into the arachnid area in TG even though there was a really good rogue item that supposedly dropped there. “And I don’t see any spiders,” I added, straightening my spine and squaring my shoulders before walking toward the entrance. Each step closer brought with it a fresh wave of panic that rippled along my flesh like a million scurrying beetles, but I ignored it as best I could.

  “Are you sure you want to go in there, boss? This place kind of sucks,” George said from next to me, and as I glanced down at him, I realized Dark Heart had stopped just outside the entrance instead of going inside. Lame.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to push down my own fear and ignoring my trembling legs as dark wind howled all around me. “I’m going in there. With or without you guys.” I smiled at the bunny. “You can stay with them if you like.” I quirked a glance at Dark Heart. “I’m sure the lady will keep you company.”

  “Are you trying to imply something, boss? Because I wouldn’t be much of a rabbit if I didn’t come along.” He shook his head at me. “Even if it’s really fucking stupid.”

  “I’m not scared,” Dark Heart piped up, one hand on her hip. “I’m just waiting for you guys. Who knows what will happen once we step inside.”

  “Fair enough,” I said before glancing back to see Two’ Manchu and Crash were nearly here. Good. I’d been willing to go inside without them, but I didn’t want to go inside without them. “Let’s make this place our bitch.”

  “Consider it done!” The bunny nodded fiercely at me. “Or my name isn’t George W. Rabbit.”

  “What’s the W. stand for, anyway?” I asked as I moved past Dark Heart and stepped through the threshold and into the cave itself. The moment my feet touched the stone floor inside, pain erupted from inside my brain as a presence invaded my mind, radiating through my temples like a bass guitar turned up to face melting intensity.

  A scream tore from my throat as I collapsed to my knees under the sudden strain, and as that happened, Dark Heart took a few steps toward me. She said something, but I couldn’t quite make it out through the thrumming agony in my head. No. Something was wrong. Really wrong. I knew this from the core of my being, and not just because my health was starting to drop.

  “Stop talking,” I wheezed, holding my hand up to stop her from coming closer. Whatever this was, it could get the rest of them, and if it did, there’d be no one to save me. Besides, if Dark Heart came in here and died trying to save me, everyone else would die too.

  “What do you mean?” Dark Heart asked, as Crash and Two’ Manchu pulled up to a stop just behind her. “What’s going on?”

  “Give me a sec, I don’t want you guys to get trapped in here trying to save me,” I snarled as my health began to drop. “Something is wrong with this cave, and if something happens to me, I don’t want you all going down with me.”

  “Kahn, you can’t be serious?” she asked, anger filling her eyes as she stood there, unsure of what to do. “I can help you. We can do this together.”

  “No!” I cried as a fresh stab of pain sliced into me, causing me to glance at my HUD. My brain wave synchronization with the game had somehow increased from eighty-six percent to eighty-seven percent, showing I was becoming more integrated to the virtual world. And it was still climbing. Worse, the more it increased, the faster my health dropped. Fuck.

  “Whoa,” Crash said, swallowing hard. “Kahn’s sync numbers are going insane. What the fuck is in there?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m not waiting to find out,” Dark Heart replie
d, stepping in and reaching a hand out like she was going to try to pull me back out. Only, before she could touch me, a scream erupted from her full lips, and she dropped mid-motion, grabbing her temples with her fingers.

  As her health began to fall, like me, her synchronization rate began to climb too, and as it did, the pressure on my senses relaxed a touch. Not enough for me to really think, but enough to realize how to fix the problem. Or, you know, get us all killed.

  “Get in here! The more people, the better.” I yelled as my vision began to darken around the edges and a red haze colored the horizon. “We need to share the effect!”

  “Okay,” Two’ Manchu said, glancing at the two of us. “I’m coming in there, but remember what I said about haunting you when you get me killed.” The barbarian tried to smile as he came inside, but that smile was instantly replaced by a look of absolute agony.

  Only, my pain lessened, and what’s more, my synchronization rate stopped climbing. By coming in here, Two’ Manchu had somehow caused the weird spike in synchronization to stabilize.

  “Crash, you too,” Dark Heart said between gasps of air. “I think the whole party needs to be inside!”

  Then Crash shook his head. “No. I don’t know what’s in there, but it’s clearly hinky. Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

  “Get in the cave, you fucking baby!” George said, and as Crash turned to look at him, mouth already open in reply, George delivered a bunny drop kick to the priest’s face.

  Crash stumbled sideways, and as he flailed in an effort to try to keep his balance, George hit him again, knocking him into the cave. As soon as he crossed the threshold, my pain evaporated, and my sync numbers returned to normal.

  “Thanks, George,” Two’ Manchu said, getting slowly to his feet. Then he marched over to Crash and kicked him in the ribs hard enough to drop Crash’s health by six percent, which also caused him to get flagged for Player Vs Player combat. “Worth it.” He mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can’t believe you were going to let us die in here.”

  “I wasn’t,” Crash wheezed, shaking his head. “I just…”

  “You’re welcome, Tubby,” George replied, ignoring the babbling priest as he hopped inside after us and looked around. “Guess it doesn’t affect me.”

  “Not surprising. You’re part of this world,” Dark Heart said, getting to her feet and offering me a hand because I was still laying there. Part of me wanted to ignore it, but I didn’t feel well enough to do it just to spite her.

  I took her hand and let her help me up while I sucked in massive lungfuls of virtual air. I knew I wasn’t really breathing, and whatever had been going on seemed to be over, but it had me worried because it’d hurt in a way I’d never experienced before. It was almost like someone was trying to jam information into my skull with a live wire, and that made it seem like a bug.

  While I’d known I was in a virtual world, something was not all peaches and cream with this game, and I had exactly zero desire to die to a fucking bug of all things. Assuming, of course, it was a bug.

  “Are we just going to ignore that he was a total dick bag?” George said, glaring at Crash as the priest got to his feet. “Because I vote we roast him with oil.” He glanced at me. “I hear Kahn’s sort of into that sort of thing.”

  I ignored George and turned to look around. Part of me was annoyed with Crash, true, but a lot more of me was annoyed with the game. And the worst thing was, even though my stats weren’t going ape shit, anymore, I could still feel a vague pulse at the back of my brain. No, whatever had happened when we stepped inside the cave was clearly still going on. It just didn’t hurt as much.

  “Crash, I get it. You’re scared of dying, and you didn’t ask to be here, but try not to be a dick, or I’ll kill you, got it?” Dark Heart took a deep breath. “I’m not going to do it now because clearly the cave wants us all in here, but it’s not cool. We’re all for one, remember?”

  “Yeah, got it,” Crash said, coming up next to me. He looked more shaken than anyone. “I’m sorry. I just got scared.”

  “Dude, we’re all scared,” Two’ Manchu said, and his voice held both anger and concern. “But you still only get one life here. There are no continues, remember? Besides, if Dark Heart dies, you die anyway.”

  “So she says,” Crash replied, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. “But either way, it won’t happen again.”

  “Well, it might happen again,” Dark Heart said, menacingly. “But it definitely won’t happen two more times.”

  “Great, you’re all going to kill me if I fuck up. Got it,” Crash said, taking a step past me and raising one hand. “Light.”

  A sphere of light appeared in front of him, causing shadows to leap across the walls as he took a step forward into the cave. Black ichor clung to the nooks and crannies, glistening in the light radiating from his spell. He turned to glance back toward us, but as he did, his eyes widened in horror.

  “Um… guys?” He pointed past us, and I turned to see the entrance was marred by thick gray mist. Green lightning crackled along its surface in a way that told me we wouldn’t be leaving that way. At least not without becoming Kentucky Fried.

  “That’s nothing. Just a little lightning.” Two Manchu swallowed and looked like he was trying to encourage himself, but from the way he spoke, his nerves were long past being on edge. No, they’d leapt the chasm and were running wildly away.

  “Um, so what now?” Crash asked, and as I turned back toward him, I saw him standing in front of a sheer rock face. He had one hand pressed against the stone like he’d been searching for a secret passage but hadn’t found one.

  The shadows crept closer, niggling around us and sliding across the floor, causing the hair on the back of my neck to stand at attention. As I rubbed my clammy palms together and spun in a slow circle, the thundering mist behind me looked no less inviting than the shadowy rock on all other sides.

  “Why the heck is everything so weird?” I yelled in frustration, but in the confines of the cave, my words were quieter than a mouse’s whisper. Somehow, the shadows had absorbed all traces of sound.

  System Message: Zone: Ravine of Despair has been downloaded. Content will adjust accordingly. Congratulations. You are the first players to enter this zone. Both Rhuvian drops and experience points will be doubled while within the zone.

  “What?” I said, staring at the glowing text emblazoned across my HUD, and as it began to fade away into obscurity, I realized the tingling in the back of my head had vanished.

  “Do you guys see that?” Two’ Manchu asked, pointing at the air. “I’ve never seen a system message before.”

  I was about to reply to him because I hadn’t either. So far, almost all game related data had been told to me by Elizabeth. Only, before I could respond, something snapped to my right, and I jerked my head toward it. Nothing but creeping shadow. Well, this was just great, just peachy fucking keen.

  “While it’s cool we’ll get a bonus,” Crash said, turning back toward the darkness clinging to the wall, “Shouldn’t all the zones be loaded already?”

  “Evidently not,” Two’ Manchu seethed, smashing his palms against the wall. The shadow beneath his blows almost seemed to come alive, writhing like squid tentacles and feeding on his frustration and his fear. “Evidently, whenever we enter a zone for the first time, it will fry our brains.”

  “Well, at least we’ll get extra stuff while we’re here,” I said, and as I made to give everyone a reassuring smile even though I was as creeped out by what had happened as they were, the surrounding shadow began to speak.

  “You are not good enough to enter my domain,” the shadow said, and its voice came from everywhere and nowhere. “You are but tiny, small things. You really think you can come into my domain and disturb me?”

  “Says you, but there’s always something everyone can do. It may not seem like much, but there always is.” Two’ Manchu smashed the shadow as with his fist and his health dropped slightly. S
lowly, he raised his hand and stared at it, and instead of agony filling his face, rage exploded across his features, and I understood why. It was one thing for him to say he wasn’t good enough. It was another entirely for this stupid cave to pronounce him so.

  “So you say, adventurer. But we shall see. Often, a life is only valuable in the warning it provides others.” Something in the shadows to Two’ Manchu’s left shifted, and he whirled, swinging his axe through the air. He struck something dark and wet. The thwack of metal hitting flesh filled my ears as Two’ Manchu stood there seething, blood running from his torn knuckles.

  “What is it?” Crash cried, but before Two’ Manchu could respond, the darkness wrapped slimy tendrils around the barbarian’s arm and jerked him off his feet. I reached out, trying to pull him free, but as I touched Two’ Manchu, the darkness slithered across the barbarian’s skin and onto me.

  Cold unlike anything I’d ever felt exploded from the inky blackness, slithering across my skin, and as I tried to rip myself away, the darkness spoke, its words bouncing around in my head like a billion billiard balls.

  “Have you ever been in love, adventurers?” it asked, posing the question in a voice that sounded like a thousand flapping bats. “Because if you have, there will be no solace in that.”

  “What kind of question is that?” I asked before I could stop myself, and as the words left my lips, the darkness streamed over my face, pushing my voice back down my throat.

  Pain surged up inside me as I tried to claw the writhing darkness from my face, but as soon as I touched it with my free hand, it stuck fast. Panic seized me as I tried vainly to pull free, and I’ll be honest, the only thing that kept me from freaking the fuck out was one simple fact. My health wasn’t dropping. If my health wasn’t dropping, this wasn’t actually hurting me. It was a small consolation, sure, but any port in a storm, right?