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

by J. A. Cipriano

  “Oh!” Dark Heart said, and she sounded embarrassed. “I forgot. I learned a level three spell from Gereng called Resist Elements. I’ve had it going, but it didn’t seem to do much, but maybe it’s helping now? Let me cast it on you guys.” She wrinkled her nose. “At worst you have a useless buff.”

  “You had a buff, and you didn’t cast it on us, anyway?” Two’ Manchu asked as soft silver light enveloped him. “I’m starting to think you’re a piss poor party member, and that’s ignoring the whole ‘responsible for putting our brains in jars’ thing.”

  “It’s not that, really,” she said, turning to look at us. “I don’t have the mana to keep all you guys refreshed and buffed. As it is, I’m going to set these to expire when the time is up.” She raised one hand and white light leapt from her finger tips and encircled each of us.

  System Message: You have receive the buff: Resist Elements. Your resistance to Fire, Earth, Water, and Wind has increased by 10%.

  I wasn’t sure if that was good or not because ten percent didn’t seem like that much, but either way, my stasis bar had stopped dropping, so yeah. Score.

  “That seems fair enough, I guess, and thanks, that buff seems to be helping,” Two’ Manchu replied, grumbling to himself. “Just so you know, I don’t think I’m ever going to not need you guys to buff me though.” He sighed. “Even if I had the mana to refresh the buffs. I was just informed by Jenna Jameson that I can learn level one spells since I’m level ten now. Guess that’s what I get for having low wisdom and intelligence.” He smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I made my HUD talk like Jenna Jameson, wanna fight about it?”

  “You said it, not me,” George said, as Dark Heart finished casting the Resist Elements buff on Crash.

  “Maybe we’ll get some items to compensate,” Crash said hopefully, his eyes glazed indicating he was looking at a menu. “After all, there were those helmets in Titan Gate that when worn let you cast certain buff spells at any level and with reduced cost. Those were based on the notes I received, so they probably exist here.”

  “That’s true,” Two’ Manchu said, rubbing his chin. “I had the Mighty one for my barbarian, and it let me cast the strength buff for half cost. That buff alone gave me five strength. ”

  “Um… if you guys are done being pansies, I think we have a problem.” Dark Heart said, pointing ahead. As she did, light sprang from her fingers, illuminating the landing below. It was filled with suits of armor filled with blue ethereal light, and what’s more, all those empty suits of armor were moving around.

  “Something tells me those aren’t friendly,” Crash said, swallowing hard. “And I really hope they aren’t what I think they are.”

  “What do you think it is?” I asked, leaning forward so I could get a better look. It looked like there were at least fifty suits of armor moving around down there. Most were in terrible disrepair, and were more rust than metal, but some of them were pretty dangerous looking. Worse, it didn’t seem like they actually had bodies inside those suits.

  “Living armor,” Crash said, sighing hard. “They’re a type of undead monster. They’re basically ghosts living in suits of armor like undead hermit crabs. In TG they were only in the Tower of the Ivory Mage though.”

  “I’ve not been there,” I said, picturing the huge marble tower that sprang from the hills in the snowy island of Isla Nor. It was a hub for magic users, and since I’d had a rogue, I’d never spent much time inside, even though I’d spent quite a bit of time in the town of Isla Nor, which surrounded the tower.

  “It’s not that surprising, to be honest.” Crash rubbed his chin. “Most people don’t go there because it’s a fairly low level place and was added during an expansion at a later point in development. The first three floors of the tower are mostly shops and stuff for low level magic users, and the top five floors are filled with low level monsters, culminating in a demon boss.”

  “I’ve killed lots of living armors when I was hunting for a drop for my friend’s archer,” Two’ Manchu said, glancing back at the two of us. “They’re hard-skinned mobs and will break your weapon, but otherwise they’re normal undead. Not too bad, if I’m remembering right.”

  “How long did it take you to kill one?” Crash asked, glancing back at the barbarian. “Because if I recall, they had a ton of health, and took some time even with my max level priest.”

  “Four or five hits.” Two’ Manchu shrugged noncommittally. “At max level with a silver sword.”

  “Great, so that means you probably did forty or fifty damage a hit since silver does double damage to undead,” Crash replied, shaking his head. “That means they probably had two-hundred and fifty health.” He pointed at me. “Kahn has the most health in our group and only has two-hundred-forty-nine.”

  That was an excellent point. If they were as strong as Two’ Manchu thought they were, then each one would take all of us to defeat, and there were tons of them. If we got swarmed, it’d be over.

  “Look, we could sit here and debate stuff, or we could man up and lure one to the stairs so we can see how strong it is,” George offered, using his small size to hop up past Dark Heart. “Then if it’s too strong, we run back into the room and make it chase us while the rest of you blast it.” He threw a few bunny-sized jabs through the air like he was boxing. “We’ll do it like the zombies, using the stairs as a choke point.”

  “Why is the NPC bunny making plans?” Dark Heart asked, glaring at the bunny before sighing. “But yeah, let’s try that and hope they aren’t tribal. George, you wanna blast one?”

  “Probably not wise. If I do, it might freeze in place long enough for others to get close and get chain agroed.” He glanced back at me as if to say, “Can you believe this chick?” “But if that’s what Kahn wants, I’ll certainly do it.”

  “Or I could just shoot one with my bow,” Two’ Manchu said, unslinging the cheap bow we’d bought so long ago from Dora. He nocked an arrow and pointed it at the closest living armor. “Homing Arrow.”

  Blue light wrapped around the silver arrow as it arced through the air and struck the living armor in the side of the helmet. There was a loud ping as the arrow fell emptily to the floor and the creature turned its beady, sapphire eyes upon us. Then it floated upward through the air toward us.

  “And holy fuck, they can fly!” I cried, pulling out my own bow and putting a couple arrows in the monster. Only, I was pretty sure they were doing next to nothing because they just bouncing off the creature.

  As it got closer, Dark Heart raised one hand. “Turn Undead.”

  Golden light sprang from her finger tips and wrapped around the living armor’s body. There was a sound like wrenching metal as the spell pulsed like a solar flare. Then the glowing sapphire eyes went out, my experience bar shot up by ten percent, and bits of rusted armor fell to the ground, and clattered across the stone floor.

  As the level up light danced around both Crash and Two’ Manchu, indicating they’d both leveled up, every living armor turned toward its fallen comrade and stared at its remains. Then what sounded like punishing hydraulics filled my ears as the armors parted to reveal a giant-sized version of the creatures. Darkness clung to the silvery shield and sword gripped in its ogre-sized hands. As it approached, the fallen living armor turned its head toward us.

  The blue eyes inside its helmet flashed malevolently as it slowly raised its ridiculously huge sword and pointed it at us.

  “Attack!” it groaned, and the sound was like someone shearing metal in half with an axe.

  Panic surged through my veins and my heart hammered in my chest as I stared at the massive creature. There was no way we’d be able to fight it here, if at all. No, we had to fight it in the main room if there was any chance at all. That way we could all hit it at once, besides, there was no way we could deal with this many baddies at once. If we could get past the entrance, it would work as a natural choke point. So, you know, two reasons to escape.

  “Retreat to the main room,” I cried as th
e living armors surged toward us up the stairs.

  I turned on my heel and sprinted back up the stairs. There was no way we could fight them on the staircase, but if we got back into the main room, maybe we could fight them as they came out like George had suggested. Either way, I was fairly sure that big one couldn’t get through the opening, and I didn’t want to fight him one on one, let alone while being attacked by a million minions.

  More golden light flared behind me as I reached the top step, and as I whirled around to see my friends coming closer, I called out to my pet bunny. “George, as soon as Dark Heart is through, blast the crap out of them. We have the high ground, so let’s use it.”

  “On it, boss!” the bunny replied, spinning around as frost began to crawl across the stones beneath his feet. “I’ll turn ‘em into ice cubes.”

  There was another flash of golden light, and my experience bar moved up another ten percent, indicating Dark Heart had managed to turn another monster. Jesus, I’d gained forty percent in the last three minutes. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure that was over because a quick glance at our party window revealed her mana to be about done. Damn.

  I readied my bow, aiming at the hole in the ground as Crash burst through and came to a stop beside me. His spectral blades gleamed inside, slashing at the armors closest to our friends and leaving glowing red welts across the armors, but not appearing to do much damage otherwise.

  While it was slowing the monsters down, it wouldn’t be enough. As Two’ Manchu came flying out of the hole, I realized Dark Heart had been too far behind, and worse, one of the armors was about to start coming through the door, which would cut off her escape.

  “Fuck!” I cried, unleashing a homing arrow at the living armor. The attack hit it between the eyes, snapping its head back, but otherwise did nothing of much importance. Dark Heart was still inside and there was no way I was killing it with Homing Arrow. That was for damned sure. No, we needed something big.

  “Crash, what’s a bow skill that can knock it back?” I asked, readying another arrow as Two’ Manchu fired at the same living armor I had. The arrow pierced the plate on its chest and stuck there, but still it kept coming.

  “Um… you could try Concussive Arrow. It’s a level ten hunter skill.” He waved his hands, directing his blades to attack the living armors chasing Dark Heart. “I’m sure you’ve seen it used before. It’s the one with the purple rings.”

  “Got it,” I said because I had seen it a bunch of times. It was a commonly used knock back skill that allowed hunters to kite their opponents easier. This time as I readied an arrow I visualized the skill and muttered the words, “Concussive Arrow.”

  As I released the silver arrow, my mana dropped by ten, and purple energy trailed off of it like a comet tail. The arrow slammed into the living armor, throwing it back several feet down the stairs, allowing enough room for Dark Heart smash it to the side with her shield and make it through the entrance.

  “You are trying to learn the skill Concussive Arrow, however, you already have ten active skills. Please retire a skill or Concussive Arrow will be lost. You have ten seconds to comply,” Elizabeth told me, and while I understood what she’d said, I had no idea what that meant because I hadn’t been aware there was a skill limit, nor did I know how to retire a skill.

  “Elizabeth, what does that mean?” I asked aloud as Dark Heart whirled on the steps and slammed her warhammer into the recovering living armor, shattering it into pieces and causing blue leveling light to flow around her, indicating she’d leveled up. Better, it meant she had full mana once again.

  Her lips curved upward as she reached her hand out toward the closest of the oncoming monsters. “Turn Undead.”

  “There are two types of skills in Ruul. Combat skills and Trade skills. While there is no limit to the amount of Trade skills a player can use at any given time, a player is only allowed ten active Combat skills. The rest of the skills must be retired. Please note that while retired skills will not lose any skill levels, they will gradually lose experience toward the next level at a rate of one percent per day. To move an active skill to the retired skill list, you must retire the skill by saying retire skill and the name,” Elizabeth elaborated as I watched a counter count down in front of me in big glowing numbers.

  Damn. I had to hurry and retire something. If I didn’t, I’d lose Concussive Arrow, and after that display of power, I knew I’d need it, if only for this fight.

  “Retire skill Blade Rush!” I cried, and as the words left my mouth, the skill disappeared from my skills window, and Concussive Arrow replaced it. While it was my highest skill, it was also useless without a scythe or two-handed weapon. I’d just have to make sure I cycled it out before the end of the day, but even if I didn’t, I wasn’t that far into skill level three, anyway.

  “What’s going on, Kahn?” Two’ Manchu asked as he pulled out his axe and readied to step in beside Dark Heart and bash, bash, bash his way to victory.

  “Evidently, you can only have ten skills active. You can move active skills to the passive list by retiring them,” I grumbled as a frown turned the corners of my mouth down. “I was messing with it, sorry.”

  I was about to say more when the ground lurched beneath our feet, and I saw the glint of the huge living armor through the doorway. Its head burst through the door, and as it did, Dark Heart smashed it in the face with her warhammer. The creature didn’t even act like it felt the blow as it pulled its upper half through the opening, clipping the sides of the stairway and glitching so his armor phased through the opening.

  “He’s stuck!” Crash said, staring wide-eyed as the giant living armor struggled to come fully through the stairs, but found itself stuck in the doorway and unable to move further into the room. Relief shot through me. If it was stuck, maybe we could beat it before it got free.

  “Who cares, it’s blocking the other ones inside. Let’s use that to our advantage,” Dark Heart said as she attacked again.

  As her warhammer came down, the giant armor spun, slamming its shield upward and knocking away Dark Heart’s attack in a spray of sparks before lashing out with his sword. The creature’s massive blade slammed into Dark Heart’s shield with enough force to launch her across the room, and as she crashed to the floor like a broken mannequin, it began to laugh maniacally.

  “Come, for it is death you desire, I’ll be happy to oblige you,” it said in the voice of the erupting volcano. Then it smashed its shield and sword together and turned its sapphire eyes upon us.

  13

  “Concussive Arrow!” I cried, unleashing another shot with my bow. The energy wrapped projectile slammed into the giant living armor caught in the doorway, but if it cared, it didn’t show. Instead, the creature turned toward me and narrowed its sapphire eyes.

  “If that is the best you can do, I’ll die of boredom long before you can kill me.” It waved its sword in my direction. “Now come closer so I can kill you.”

  “Um… I’m not sure what to do, guys,” I said, glancing at Crash. “Any ideas?”

  “Let me try using Mind Break,” Crash replied, narrowing his eyes at the monster before waving one hand. A faint pink glow surrounded his fingers before congealing into a ball of soft pink light the size of s softball.

  “What will that do?” Two’ Manchu asked as Dark Heart got to her feet and wobbled toward us. Her health was still pretty high, over eighty percent, but that blow from the giant living armor definitely seemed to have dazed her, anyway. Maybe it had a stun effect attached? If so, that was bad. Fights where tanks got stunned almost always required two or three to swap the boss when one got stunned.

  “It should let us see his HP and mana,” Crash replied, hurling the pink orb at the monster. “Then at least we’ll know if we’re hurting him.”

  “Good call,” I said as the pink softball shattered against the giant living armor, enveloping him in a cloud of pink vapor. Then the creature’s armor began to glow, and as it did, health and mana bars appeare
d above its head.

  “Oh, fuck,” Two’ Manchu muttered, shaking his head as he stared at the meters above the creature’s head. “That thing literally has ten thousand health, and so far, we’ve done all of three damage to it.”

  “George, blast it!” I growled, readying another arrow because I wanted to see how much damage it did to the boss.

  “On it, boss!” the rabbit said, unleashing a blast of frozen death at the trapped creature. As the ice ball shattered against its armor, the creature’s health dropped by two.

  “Um… that’s really bad,” I said, staring at the creature in horror. “Even if we used all our mana and arrows, we’ll never get close to killing the creature.”

  Crash nodded. “Yeah, I’m not sure how to beat it if magic and weapons aren’t effective.”

  “You need a corrosive attack,” Dark Heart said, glaring at the armor. “Trust me.”

  “Okay, I’ll buy it,” Two’ Manchu said, turning to look at the paladin. “Where do we get a corrosive attack?” He glanced around like he was trying to find something. “Because last I checked, we don’t have any corrosive augmentation gems to use.”

  “What we really need is a necromancer,” Crash said, shaking his head. “They have that corrosive blast spell.”

  “Um… so learn it and use it?” I said, shaking my head at the priest. “I mean, there’s no reason you can’t.”

  “Fair point, but I don’t remember how the skill works or anything. I never used it since I didn’t play a necro. It was pretty high level, and as we know, necromancers were never super viable…” He shut as he raised his hand in concentration. “So it isn’t like I faced them a bunch or anything.”

  I set my jaw. He was right. I’d never really faced necromancers in high end PVP, and they almost never came on raids since most of their utility was around summoning undead and using curses, none of which were viable when there weren’t loads of dead bodies around.