by John Gold
“How long ago did the invasion end?”
“The last battle for the stationary portals to the Inferno was four months ago. After that, we had two weeks of fighting on that side, and there are now four player cities setting up raids on the fortresses of the higher demons.”
“Is Anri Diuval still alive? The last time, they scapegoated the demonologists.”
“You won’t believe this, but he went missing. Nobody can find him. His protection detail lost him after one of the fortress battles, and nobody’s seen hide nor hair of him in the last six months. Maybe, he anticipated what you’re talking about. Maybe, he was killed in a dark alley.”
Femida’s team teleports off to Ovidius, where she wants to do some work in the dungeons that appeared by Airis Castle after the three gods were killed. Only players at her level can go down there, making it one of the safest places in the world for her.
My astral source is still half full, so I keep going toward Tanatos. I am attacked by six natural gods, two more raid bosses, and a whole flock of giant seagulls. The latter actually cheer me up, as seeing them means I’m getting close to land.
The Tanatos shoreline is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. There are enormous statues visible from several kilometers away, standing at least five hundred meters tall and sculpted to look like humans. It’s not the first time I’ve seen art pieces like that, though I haven’t been able to find any mention of what era they were made in or by whom.
The entire shoreline is one steep cliff that makes the statues look even taller. I have to climb up to get to the island of the gods.
Great place of strength
Mana restoration speed +200%
Global event: A human stepped foot on Tanatos for the first time.
Global event: The great monsters from the ocean deep have been awakened. The world’s monsters have begun to invade.
∞ ∞ ∞
Plezara was a residential area in one of the colonies on the face of the Moon. The people living there were high-income even by Moon standards, and it was built as a four-kilometer circle of spacious apartment buildings around a park that duplicated the flora and fauna found on Earth.
Figiraldina Elmaro pulled herself out of her med capsule with difficulty and headed toward the kitchen. Regardless of how mentally exhausted she was, she had a proud smile on her face. She’d witnessed a global event and even directly participated in it. In fact, as soon as the global message had gone out, Leon had sent her a generous reward. The young god apologized for the inconveniences he’d caused her, wished her the best of luck in her future endeavors, and promised military aid if she ever needed it. It was only then that Fiji realized that Leon also had his mind set on a trip to Tanatos. Rumors were going round about his interest in the location, and there was even a department within the Golden Hand focused solely on preparing warriors for an attack on the island. Leon hid the whole thing behind the banner of preparing for war with the other gods, the only problem being that the warriors had been training for awfully specific types of conflict that had nothing to do with the other gods. Leon couldn’t declare open war on the natural divinities and the population of Tanatos. They could have destroyed him and his clan if they so desired.
When Fiji turned twenty, she moved out of her parents’ house and rented an apartment in Plezara. She met her other half, Akane Kitoji, or Ekron, half a year later. When Sagie left for the Gray Lands, the girls started spending all their free time together, and the trust they shared gradually grew. Ultimately, Roni admitted that she was from the second generation, a citizen of Lunar. She had incredible amounts of inborn strength, but Fiji had already grasped the difference in their development potential. Ekron’s was almost at the ceiling already. In fact, she’d started her path in Project Chrysalis in order to raise it. Fiji had also started her path in Project Chrysalis, though more because she didn’t have a choice. And after she met Sagie, she was able to go much farther than her own potential would have taken her. Figiraldina Elmaro was part of the fourth generation, with just a minuscule portion of the abilities previous generations had, not to mention a miserly development potential. But she had worked hard, investing heavily in her future and the person she could end up becoming. In her eleven years in the game, it had meant constantly leveling-up, building her survivability, and mastering the art of battle. And all this was just a foundation she could use to become someone in the outside world.
The smell of freshly brewed coffee pulled Akane from the bed, bringing her tiptoeing quietly to the kitchen. She embraced Fiji tenderly, kissed her on the cheek, and playfully nibbled at her ear. Any man who saw her would have assumed she was no more than twenty, though the more experienced among them could tell by her speech that she was much older. Her body was strong. Agility and grace coupled with a delicate feminine love for all things beautiful and fragile. And compared to her, that’s exactly how Fiji looked. The couple brought together strength of character, extensive life experience, childlike inquisitiveness, and a love for the whole world.
The day before, both of them had left the waters that washed ashore on Tanatos and gotten to Airis Castle just as an ancient divinity had bolted out of the abyss. It was an enormous dragon with stumps in place of wings. That was perfectly fine, however, as no wings could have been powerful enough to lift its island-sized hulk up into the air. It was pitch-black, and it fell asleep as soon as it crawled out of a fissure in the planet’s crust on the Ovidius shore. Lava trickled off its body; its health bar dropped down to 30%. But two hours of rest regained it another 20%, and that was apparently enough for the ancient divinity to fly off in search of cities and villages to destroy. It ate anything that lived as if they were tasty snacks. It gobbled up villages and scorched fields. The council of young gods put together a continent-wide quest, collecting all available players and mercenaries, requesting aid from the magic societies in all the nations, and pulling nomadic tribes into the cities. Even their combined might turned out to be too little, however.
Mage swordsmen and paladins came after the dragon, but they just didn’t have enough resistance to the fire aura the ancient divinity was putting out. Even Margul never had that kind of size or survivability. Niamir, which was the dragon’s name, could regrow the scales in his armor faster than the mages could notice and attack, which meant that nothing could stand in its way as it destroyed settlement after settlement, moving deeper into the continent. The council started receiving disturbing news from all over the world about similar situations. It was only then that the divine magic and special battle divisions Leon and the other gods had been preparing for the assault on Tanatos were brought to bear.
A blade of faith, the strongest of the divine single-target attack spells, first wounded, and then killed the dragon. An enormous sword made entirely of magic appeared over Niamir, so large that the pommel was hidden in the clouds. The dragon survived the first blow, though it took off half its health. Its strong and incredibly thick skin saved its life when it directed the force away from its nearly severed neck. The sword buried itself in the ground, disintegrated, and did deadly mental damage to everyone in the vicinity. Hundreds of players died in the first couple seconds, with the same amount killed by the silvery mist blown toward them by the wind.
The second blow, the one that killed the divinity, had even more force behind it. And it needed every bit, as the dragon had instantaneously restored all its health. Per Leon’s request, Femida and Ekron participated in the battle as a separate fighting detachment. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Leon picked up a couple strong fighters; Femida’s squad got money and security in the lands Leon controlled. Having just taken a break after a long battle, they had to get back into the game. The world had descended into chaos: monsters had destroyed whole cities, leaving nobody alive; the demons, sensing weakness, laid siege to the human fortresses in the Inferno.
And in the middle of all that, Fiji received another incredibly important message from an unknown sender. Just t
he fact that he was able to fool the system and send the message meant that he was among Lunar’s ruling class. He only ever gave important, precise information, information Fiji needed to obtain great strength, and it was his letters that told Fiji about Isaac and how she should introduce him as a relative. It was only when she got to know her partner better that Femida realized how important that was.
The first letter she received contained detailed instructions on how to get her blood knight armor, and it also included the amount she needed to pay for all the extras when she was creating her character. That was followed by information on where Sagie had gone after the battle for Airis Castle. The most surprising part was that the clone had been delivered to Arpa the day before Sagie came out of his coma, and the mystery sender had taken care of transporting the boy’s real body. Femida had only learned that Sagie was coming to Valhalla for her the moment he showed up.
But the day before, Fiji had gotten a new letter that was just as succinct as all the rest.
Don’t help Sagie on his trip to Tanatos.
∞ ∞ ∞
For the second day in a row, I avoid venturing too far from the shore. The local fauna ranges from Level 8000 to Level 10000, and I see bales of flying turtles with short wings instead of legs.
Monster, Boa Shore Turtle, Level 8001
And they’re the weakest of the local monsters. Yesterday, I attacked one so I could try some turtle soup. My lightning bolt barely touched it, just crumbling its shell a little, and instead of turtle soup, I got a battle with a whole bale of the flying creatures. A sphere of darkness and hellfire spear win the day for me. The shells turn out to be capacitive armor, crumbling until they disappear to reveal the vulnerable body. You can also kill them by landing a shot to the head or jamming a sword into their wing sockets. That’s exactly what I end up doing, shooting them down with hellfire spears and finishing them off with my bone blade. Just one bale of twenty turtles gives me two whole levels.
Level 3053 unlocked
10 attribute points available for distribution
Then, another message pops up, this time, in the local chat.
Note! All items on Tanatos can be destroyed.
One of the turtles was able to bite my right hand off. I look down to see that a bone gauntlet is reaching out once again to cover the new hand that has already regenerated. What I’m wearing regenerates using my health, and my impressive survivability means that it would be awfully hard to destroy even one item I’m wearing.
When Femida left, I wanted to try out my rainbow sunset, though I realized the recoil was guaranteed to kill me. I definitely won’t be able to continue deeper into the mysterious continent. The local bots are all 5000 levels higher than me, and here I jumped into a dangerous battle with no food, no partner, and no advantage. I’m not going to be making that mistake again. Instead, I start growing my tree.
No matter what I do, it doesn’t become a place of strength.
During the night, I’m woken by the feeling that someone is watching me. They’re neutral, showing no emotion or interest whatsoever. But I’ve met someone like that before, by my tree in Kurg.
I carefully climb out of the trunk, making no sudden movements, to see a very surprising picture. First of all, Azami, the highest natural divinity, is standing right in front of me. He has at least a dozen different protection amulets hanging from his antlers, and his hide is covered in drawings of a kind of magic I don’t recognize. Second, there’s an eagle the size of a dragon crouching next to him. His feathers range from brown to black, and I notice that the color depends on his mood. He clearly doesn’t like me. To round everything off, there’s an Ent.
Changeling, Rogue, ???, Great Natural Divinity
It isn’t just a giant or a mountain; an enormous, living tree is sitting quietly to my left. His palm is above my tree and it looks as though he could swat me like a fly. The darkest of dark reigns around me to the point that I can’t even see my own feet. Even the sound of the ocean and the rest of nature is gone. It’s just me, three supreme divinities, and my tree. All of us glisten with a silvery light. They’re all beaming divine energy, something that is clearly supposed to tell me something as they speak with each other wordlessly. All I can do is stand there wondering what they want from me. Maybe, they’re going to offer me a quest. I’m going to turn them down if they do. I have more important things to worry about.
Just like last time, Azami appears in my consciousness rather than speaking to me.
“Why do you shine like a god but behave like a normal wanderer? You have a stable material form, though you also have a source of strength in the astral. You aren’t an angel, you don’t belong to any of the ancient races, and you aren’t a supreme demon. Why do you hate everyone but show love to them also? What are you?”
That’s quite a few questions, and he’s the kind of interlocutor I can’t ignore.
“I’m a demigod.”
Azami flashes sadness, as if I’m some kind of careless child.
“You aren’t an angel, you aren’t ancient, you aren’t a demon. You’re human, and you haven’t been through a single rebirth ritual. You only have one material form. What are you?”
So, you can only become a demigod after you go through a rebirth ritual? That means it’s possible, and I could have competition.
“Prayers are gestures of the heart. In the heart, feelings take form. In the heart, feelings bear fruit. You said that. Those who seek strength find it, and I was able to combine my body with an astral source. I made myself a demigod without any ritual.”
Again, Azami is grieved. I sense sadness and sympathy.
“You’re taking the path of destruction, not harmony. You wish only for your own prosperity rather than the mutual flourishing of all beings. At the Lone Tree, you showed the character of one following a path of strength and gratitude for all things, giving life, shelter, and gifts, while punishing villains. You respected the dead and were unafraid to kill. But still, that was done in harmony with the world. Now, you embody hatred toward human and god alike, though a tiny part of you still loves the children of nature. You could tip the balance of harmony in your own mind by taking on divine strength.”
“I spent two years swimming in madness, and I know for sure that I won’t be showing off my newly acquired powers for the sake of it. Because of that, there’s no reason for enmity between us. That’s what you came to find out, isn’t it? You can sense that I have no emotions whatsoever in my mind.”
Silence hangs heavy in the air. Even the darkness changes slightly, growing thicker. The eagle’s feathers turn dark blue as he starts flashing open aggression, to which LJ instantly reacts by throwing up a magic shield. My bone blade starts sliding out of my hand. We silently look each other in the eye amid the complete darkness. Azami definitely knows that I’m not experiencing any emotion, though he also knows that I’ll attack the second I have reason to. He and Rogue say nothing as they watch the quiet standoff. But when the tension reaches breaking point and the air hums like some kind of power station, the eagle suddenly turns black and stops exerting his power. Azami turns and leaves, the eagle flies off, and the darkness starts to lift. I’m not sure where the Ent went. Something that big couldn’t have walked by without me noticing.
Once again, I hear Azami’s voice at the edge of my consciousness.
“Peace cannot be won by force. It can only be won by understanding.”
When the darkness finally disappears, I can’t find a single trace of the gods. The only change is that the grass and shrubbery have dried up as if squeezed of life. That tells me that similar changes happen for plants and other living creatures when they’re within range of concentrated, raw, magic strength. Plants do their best to survive by boosting their internal processes, leading to their own exhaustion. Small animals die prematurely of old age. And just like that, I learn another secret about magic.
My new tree didn’t take any damage. Instead, it grew a little while it was und
er the Ent’s palm. I wonder if he could teach me that trick. I need a new combat advantage, and my tree would certainly fit the bill, boosting my overall strength pool, giving me the tree keeper buff when the fighting starts, and upping my chances of survival. And that is how my personal invasion of Tanatos begins.
I spend days growing my tree until the crown covers the stone giants. To get it that big, I have to boost the power and scale of my life aura ten times over. It also gets some juicy fertilizer every two and a half hours in the form of a panacea spell. But that’s just the beginning. When my combined health clears a billion, my face breaks into a smile that doesn’t bode well for the local bots. Ablom shows up on the second day. Yep, that’s his name.
Monster, Ablom the Progenitor, Level 8110, raid boss
Two hundred years ago, back on Earth, there were movies about an enormous lizard that breathed fire. I’m meeting the prototype for those movies. He walks upright, and his roar crushes stone and my bones, even if he doesn’t breathe fire. Femida had already informed me that similar beasts are ravaging all the continents. Unhappily, this one is striding toward me from a ravine between two statues, an angel and a demon the same size as the stone giants down by the coast. Ablom is just about even with them when a maximum dead star comes flying in his direction.
The 10 million mana I pour into the spell has a predictable result. Ablom notices the sphere coming at him and throws up a diamond shield. The spell hit it right at the thickest part as I transitioned to the second phase of my onslaught.
A gravitational well rips up chunks of earth, stone, and small trees, even sucking in a bale of flying turtles. Not a single blade of grass within two hundred and fifty meters remains untouched by the spell. Trees fall, boulders drag through the soil, and small animals are sucked into the epicenter of the magic trick. Ablom clings to his earth shield, which is being battered by a barrage of rocks, and even I’m just about sucked in. While my legs have interlaced with the spreading roots, my joints give out and I’m yanked forward when the gravitational wave hits. I feel myself shooting forward toward the enormous stone sphere. Then, the spell attack moves on to the third stage, which doesn’t kill me for the sole reason that I’m under my tree. To draw an analogy, it’s like surviving a thermonuclear explosion just three hundred meters from the epicenter.