World-Tree's End

by E A Hooper

  They peered down the maze of hallways branching from the entrance. Everywhere Vincent turned he saw basteel doors that he assumed led into different Kill Chambers. The halls appeared empty of players or monsters, and his attention was drawn to the runes above the doors.

  “Ah, crap,” Jim said, staring at the runes. “That’s not good at all.”

  “What is it?” Vincent asked.

  “One thing that caused friction in the guild was that I didn’t want Kill Chambers on this world,” Jim explained.

  Vincent raised an eyebrow. “Why’s that? I thought the Challenge Rating made it a great place to train.”

  “Oh, it is,” Jim replied. “The monsters they were sparring against were the problem. I didn’t like the idea of trapping them, but no one listened to me.”

  “What kind of monsters?”

  “Moss-men. At first glance, you’d think they were like any other monster, but they’re actually kind of smart. The first time I sparred against one in a chamber, it begged me to free it. Fynn and Zhang were the ones running the facilities, and they ignored my worries. Even Xan and Quinn thought I was overreacting.”

  “I understand how that could be frustrating,” Vincent said, “but what’s not good about this situation, exactly?”

  “Those runes keep track of the number of the people using the chambers, the number of monsters inside, and the chamber’s remaining power,” Jim said. “Normally, each of those rooms should indicate at least one monster inside.”

  “It was two or three per room last time I came here,” Devon noted.

  “And now?” Vincent wondered, staring at the dull runes.

  “Well, let’s just say all these rooms are without power,” Jim answered. “The moss-men have probably all escaped by now. Keep in mind that our guildsmen have basically been torturing them for decades.”

  “And you said those monsters are smart?” Vincent wondered.

  “I’d put their intelligence on par with the devils,” Jim said. “They’re not like the hell ants you used to kill repeatedly. These things can hold grudges.”

  “Look!” Devon said, pointing at the runes above one door at an intersection. “This one still has power, and it says it’s above capacity for people.”

  “Maybe the angels kept everyone in this one,” Jim said. “It’s weird there aren’t any monsters listed. There should be angels in there to stun them, right?”

  Jim opened the door, and the other men followed him inside. Several dozen frozen people stood around the room in various positions. Most carried shocked expressions, but a few still held weapons in their hands. Fynn the Wolf Lord stood in hardened-basteel armor with his blade poised overhead, mid strike. As Vincent walked across the room, he felt a buzzing frequency blocking his magic.

  “You have anti-spell runes in here?” he questioned.

  “No,” Devon said, staring at the walls. “These runes were hastily modified. You think the angels did it? Some of the players have Gravity Shields, so they probably needed to make sure our people couldn’t recover mana, else it’d free them from being stunned.”

  “That must be it,” Jim said, approaching the wall. He took a hardened-basteel dagger and started cutting through the runes one by one. “Let’s break these and get some magic back in here.”

  Vincent equipped Endless Edge, but the blade couldn’t cut through the magic protecting the runes. Jim tossed him a hardened-basteel dagger, and he found its edge worked well enough. The three men cut through symbols until enough of the anti-spell runes had been damaged that everyone started to feel their magic again.

  Fynn was the first to move as his Gravity Shield activated, and his blade struck the ground as he fell forward. He searched through the crowd, then spotted Grinning Gwendolyn and Worldly Ryker. Using a gravity-shifting attack of some kind, he knocked both of them out of their immobilized states. Both players caught their breaths before standing.

  “Well, that sure sucked,” Gwen said. “Is that what it was like for people Lucas banned? Oh man, I can’t believe we ever helped that guy.”

  “Fynn, I should’ve listened to you and finished a shield with negative energy,” Ryker said.

  “Don’t worry about that now,” Fynn said. “We need to be ready to fight the moss-men when they get back.”

  “Moss-men?” Vincent said as he knocked more players free with Zero Field. “I thought the angels trapped you here?”

  “Only a few angels survived the fight against us,” Fynn explained, “but the moss-men escaped after the facility lost power. They overtook the surviving angels, then placed us here. They even rewrote the symbols.”

  “They’re smart enough to alter runes?” Vincent questioned.

  “I told you guys!” Jim said. “Those things were too intelligent to keep here.”

  “Fine, you might’ve been right about that,” Fynn admitted. “Either way, we need to prepare ourselves. How’d you even get past them?”

  “We didn’t see any outside,” Devon said. “There were two angels flying above the entrance, but the halls are empty.”

  “Damn, they might’ve headed for the other facilities,” Fynn said, turning to Vincent. “They’ll try to free their brethren. Something like this happened early on when we started building these facilities, but we stopped them with the full force of our guild. Only two hundred moss-men can exist at once. They form a hive mind that’s connected to this world’s ecosystem. Their only goal ever since we took over Helixos has been to reunite with one another and get revenge against us.”

  Jim shook his head. “Man, I knew it—I knew this would happen! I learned not to mess with intelligent monsters after the devils, but you guys didn’t want to listen.”

  “Okay already,” Fynn huffed. “I already said you were right. With the angels here too, we might as well abandon this world. We can deal with either the moss-men or the angels, but not both at once.”

  “Well, I for one don’t have a Gravity Shield, so I think I’ll take my leave,” Gwen said. “See you all back at Edgelight!” The young woman flipped a dagger into the air, caught it, and then dramatically stabbed herself through the heart.

  The rest of the crowd followed Gwendolyn’s lead and killed themselves. Only Fynn and Ryker remained from the dozens that had been trapped in the room.

  “I might not have a Gravity Shield, but I’m not running away,” Ryker said. “I was one of the people that wanted to build these chambers, so I’m partially responsible. I’ll help you guys as much as I can.”

  “Thanks, I appreciate that,” Vincent said, sending friend requests and team invites to Ryker and Fynn.

  Fynn looked above Vincent’s head, and then shook his wolf helm in disbelief. “I built these chambers to catch up to you in levels, but the gap has only grown.”

  Vincent was about to reply, but then he felt his magic disappear once again. He looked down at his hands in confusion. “Uh, guys.”

  “I noticed it too,” Fynn said, hurrying toward the basteel door. It slammed shut before he reached it, and he found it locked. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “I don’t understand,” Devon said. “Why don’t we have magic?”

  “They probably made new runes along the halls of the facility,” Fynn said.

  “The moss-men can draw runes that fast?” Vincent asked. “It would take a bunch of runes for the suppression field to pierce these walls.”

  “The sixty we had at this facility could easily have done it while we were talking,” Fynn told him. “Those things are lightning fast, and they probably made extra limbs to draw with using their shapeshifting abilities.”

  “I’m struggling to believe we got duped by moss monsters of all things,” Vincent said.

  “They’re really some of the most fascinating creatures I’ve seen,” Ryker told Vincent. “Technically, each one is A-Plus ranked, but that’s only because they gain more power when connected to the Life-Drain Moss and one another. Individually, they lose most of their magical poten
tial, but they’re still incredibly fast and strong.”

  “No wonder you used them for Kill Chambers,” Vincent said. “If they’re A-Plus, they must have good Challenge Ratings.”

  Fynn sighed, equipped a hardened-basteel sword, and tried to chip away at the hinges of the door.

  “Hang on, I should be able to break us out of here,” Vincent said, equipping his Builder’s Tome. He tried to spend points to dig a tunnel through the wall.

  Unable to use Builder’s Tome here without the owner’s permission.

  Vincent stared in confusion. “What? It says it won’t work without the owner’s permission. Who owns this building?”

  “The moss-men own this world in its entirety,” Jim explained. “Just another reason we never should’ve built anything here.”

  “How long do you think it’ll take to break us out?” Devon asked Fynn.

  “An hour, maybe,” Fynn said, striking the hinge again. “Two at most.”

  “That’s too long to wait,” Ryker said. “Move out of the way, Fynn. I’ll blow down the door with a Lotus Capsule.”

  Fynn retreated from the door, and the other men gave Ryker plenty of space.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t be more help,” Ryker said, equipping the capsule. He grabbed onto the door hinge with one hand, then popped the item into his mouth.

  Mana exploded across the room, knocking everyone but Vincent off their feet. When the light faded, he saw the hinges were half melted and that the blast had knocked open the chamber door. The men stepped into the hall, finding hundreds of crude runes drawn over the halls.

  “Those runes won’t hold power for very long,” Vincent noted. “They were only buying themselves time to free the other moss-men.”

  “Considering the lead they already have on us, they’re probably close to reaching Facilities C and D,” Fynn said. “The players there might’ve had time to kill themselves before the angel attack, however. They struck this facility and A first because they were larger. If we make a beeline straight for A, we might get there before them.”

  “That’s good thinking,” Jim said. “My granddaughter and Zhang should be at Facility A. I’d be surprised if they’re not still holding back the angels, especially since that facility has a ton of valuable equipment. We should hurry and head to A. Devon, I want you to scout out C and D to be sure. Have a Lotus Capsule ready in case something happens.”

  Devon nodded in reply.

  Vincent hurried for the exit, reequipped his Ghost Cloak, then saw his map update another facility. It was in a different hemisphere, so he ran at his full speed. As he traveled, he noticed the moss’s lifeforce draining had become more aggressive. When he stood on barren ground, the nearest patches seemed to wiggle as if coming to life.

  This entire world is against us, and it sounds like we deserve it.

  Chapter 17

  Vincent followed his map for two hours, making only the briefest of stops at place without moss. After the first hour, Devon updated the team, letting them know the moss-men had already overrun Facility D.

  Shortly before Vincent neared his destination, Devon said he’d arrived at C just in time to see the moss-men overtake the angels. He waited until the moss-men cleared out before going inside to make sure there weren’t any people trapped within. Like Fynn had predicted, everyone at those two facilities had killed themselves before the angels could capture them.

  >Devon: Be warned, the moss-men are probably heading your way.

  >Vincent: How long will it take them to get here?

  >Fynn: Twenty minutes at most. Once they merge with the moss outside, they can travel much faster than us.

  >Vincent: With so little time, maybe we should let them fight the angels, then deal with whatever side survives.

  >Fynn: No, we can’t let them or the angels break into the lower levels of the facility. There’s valuable equipment we need time to relocate.

  Vincent reached a massive crater with thirty angels floating above it. The hatch to the facility was barely visible at the bottom. Four Watchers had formed a prism of light around the crater, which Vincent assumed blocked communication for anyone underground.

  >Vincent: There’re a ton of angels here. Even more than the mining facility.

  >Jim: Yeah, I just got close enough to see them. It’s odd they focused so much attention on this facility. Fynn, is there something important you forgot to tell us?

  >Fynn: This is our largest training facility. I’m sure the people underground are holding back the angels. That’s the only reason they’d need to send this many.

  >Jim: Seriously, Fynn, I’m going to find out one way or another. That equipment you’re talking about—it’s not from the experiment I told you and Zhang to shut down, is it?

  Fynn went silent over voice chat for a few seconds before finally answering.

  >Fynn: Look, you hadn’t left Edgelight in years, and we had no idea if Vincent was coming back or not. We needed something to give us an advantage over the angels. Even your own granddaughter thought it was a good idea.

  >Vincent: What kind of experiment?

  >Fynn: It all started with Quinton’s newest model of portable rune cannons. We wanted to mass produce them, and I got some inspiration from your fight with Lucas all those years ago. You remember how you used the rune hammer to channel negative energy? I thought maybe we could apply that same idea to a mass-produced weapon, but we needed test subjects. The moss-men form their bodies by absorbing world magic from the planet, so they’re good substitutes for the angels.

  >Jim: Our guildsmen were torturing them with experimental weapons, Vince. The whole thing disgusted me, and I ordered them to shut it down. They told me they had.

  >Fynn: We listened to you for a few decades, but it took too long for our guildsmen to develop void spells. According to Isaac, it’d take void power greater than anything we possess to crash the game. If we aren’t willing to do something drastic, then we might as well wait out the timer.

  >Jim: You don’t have to worry about void power. Vince has something in the works that’s bigger and stronger than anything you could imagine.

  >Fynn: Is that so?

  >Vincent: Once I finish my spell, I’ll be able to hit the skybox with more void power than everyone else combined.

  >Jim: Yeah, so your experimental weapon isn’t needed, Fynn. It’s over, got it?

  >Fynn: Fine, but—

  Fynn immediately fell silent as a hundred green figures leapt into the crater at once. Even Vincent hadn’t heard their almost completely silent movements until the moment they seemed to rise from the moss. They dove with superhuman quickness, and many of them clung to angels in midair. The first few angels to react responded with world magic, but the mossy creatures absorbed most of their spells.

  Vincent stared at the nearest figure. Although the moss held a humanoid shape, its body constantly shifted and turned, clumps breaking and reshaping with each passing moment. They stood about three meters tall and had a surprisingly bulky appearance. Vincent True Scanned the monster, then sorted out everything but the important information.

  Moss-Man #43 – Monster Class: A+ | Ageless | Sex: None | Personality: Anxious | Challenge Rating: +12,000% | Death Triggers: Full Body Total (if 60% damaged), Lifeforce (if 100% lost) | Moss Rating: 600 (Low World Magic Charge) | 700 (Medium World Magic Charge) | 800 (High World Magic Charge). | Weakness: Fire (60% more effective), Ghostfire (70% more effective).

  The foe must’ve sensed his spell somehow, because it suddenly turned and dove at Vincent’s hiding spot. A huge fist of moss struck him in the chest, hitting harder than a pillar of basteel. Even with Vincent’s Density Shield, the attack knocked him down the incline, and he rolled across the moss-covered ground, feeling his lifeforce slowly sapped away.

  Moss-Man 43 made another dive for Vincent, but the Ranger hit first with Voidfire. The black flames exploded across the ground, engulfing the creature in an instant. As the spell faded, Vincent hurried back to his prev
ious hiding spot. When he reached the high point, he saw the moss-men were winning the fight against the angels. Most of the moss-men possessed a white glow by that point, and he guessed their ability to absorb world magic gave them an edge over the angels.

  While the Judges had been overrun, the other types of angels put up a better fight. Paladins tore through moss-men with mithril weapons, although they had trouble delivering killing blows. The four Watchers in the crowd fared the best, overpowering the moss-men with more powerful attacks. Their beams of world magic could even disintegrate the moss-men with a direct shot. However, the moss-men started to overwhelm them with numbers as their allies dwindled.

  >Vincent: I think the angels might lose. That’s better for us, right?

  >Jim: Not if the surviving moss-men are all super charged with world magic.

  >Vincent: What do you think, Fynn? Should we go in or wait? Fynn?

  When Vincent didn’t get a response, he glanced at the hatch at the bottom of the crater, noticing it’d already been opened.

  >Vincent: I think Fynn bailed on and went inside. I’m going to follow him.

  Vincent slid down the side of the crater. He heard Jim say something, but the voice became scrambled as he entered the prism of light over the crater. Vincent zigzagged around fighting moss-men and angels, then dove for the hatch. He cast Zero Field on himself and floated down to the bottom of the tunnel.

  A few seconds later Jim landed beside him with a thud, and they both unequipped their Ghost Cloaks. Vincent looked around and saw halls with various rooms that had runes above them. Those still had power, though, and he remembered from before which symbols showed whether there were occupants.

  “These moss-men haven’t escaped yet,” Jim noted, “and none of the runes show any players inside these chambers.”

  The two men hurried through the main hall, checking the runes above each door. Numerous rooms and halls had collapsed during the initial attack, but they found a mostly unbroken stairwell going down to the lowest levels of the facility. Vincent noted at least a hundred shielding runes along the walls of the stairwell, and he took a guess that those defenses might’ve bought his guildsmen a few minutes to retreat.