"Burn!" He roared, blasting the corridor around the bend with a boosted stream of fire he kept burning for several seconds, flashing the feralest of grins when he heard a pair of screams, quickly pivoting around and racing back to his crew as a handful of cries could be heard before spinning around, Synergized Ward raised before him as he snap shot an Ice Spear before he even saw a target, feeling a dark surge of satisfaction when one of three crossbowmen stumbled to the ground, the man screaming as his knee exploded in bone and gore a second before all three crossbowmen fell to blaster fire and Julia's lightning.
"Good thinking," Dirk allowed, Val winking right back at him.
"Anyone got a mirror?" Val asked, Yin gulping and patting her uniform's pockets, Julia sighing and slapping a hand mirror into his hand, her hard gaze meeting his own.
Val blinked at the sudden prickly tension, but there was no time. He simply nodded his thanks and loped back to the bend, angling his mirror to look down the corridor, somehow not surprised to see a full dozen crossbowmen with weapons ready, one actually aiming for his mirror, bolt missing by inches as Val pulled back his hand.
Val turned back to his companions. "Julia? Any chance you can cast your arced lightning when you can't see the target?"
Julia scowled before looking thoughtful, finally shaking her head. "No, Val, I can't. No one can. You need to see someone to form a mental link with them, to even get the magic to release to a prospective target. Some spells will always hit what you aim at, some you need skill, just like shooting a crossbow. But most of the time, you need your foe in your sights."
Val frowned, then slowly smiled. "SOP for taking out a known nest of snipers, Dirk?"
Dirk grinned as Val slipped out one of his vials, releasing his hold on the now bubbling mixture within.
"Communicate coordinates, and send air support to bomb the hell out of their position."
Val grinned. "And if we don't have air support..."
"A vial of magical explosives should do just fine," Chris declared as Val risked half a second to pivot halfway around the corner and toss underhanded, darting back even as a flurry of crossbow bolts whizzed at or close by his position, Val already racing back towards his friends, his shield hastily raised and facing the bend as the corridor suddenly shook and roared, all of them thrown back by the force of the shock wave, muted as it was by distance and traveling around the bend.
Dust, coughing, and the sudden fear that the entire cavern complex would collapse, but only for a second as the sparkling Elementium laden dust welled up and quickly settled.
"You're fucking insane!" Yin declared, before flashing a brilliant smile. "Like Bond meets Indiana. I love it!"
Val flashed a quick grin, yelling as his ears were still ringing. "Shields up, everyone! We have to seize the moment now, while they're shaken, and take out any other group up ahead while their heads are still up their asses!"
Dirk frowned before nodding. "Corporal's right! All right, kid, you want it so bad? Lead this dance. Show me what you can do."
Val dipped his head, turning to the group. "Okay. Same positions as before. I'll take point. First, we'll make sure none of those bastards are standing, then I'll scout around the bend they faced. Same mirror trick as before. Same tactic as before, if needed. I have two more vials."
"Um, Val?"
Val turned to catch Yin's excited, nervous expression. "I'm ready to level up!" Val turned to Dirk who patted Yin's shoulder.
"This isn't the best time. We're right now trying to get a drop on our foes, and there are no real good shelter points. Are you okay waiting? I know some people need to rest and quantize immediately."
Yin blinked thoughtfully, slowly shaking her head. "The first time I leveled up was pretty intense. But now I feel fine. No pressure in my head or anything, just like I'm bursting with potential I want to express!"
Dirk nodded. "Good. We'll keep going, then. I'm a big believer in advancing my base statistics, that which defines me. We can always study a new skill, but we can't normally make ourselves stronger, faster, smarter."
Yin nodded. "But I can learn magic arts and spells and even arcane skills I see you guys practice twice as fast as normal, but only up to your level. I'd be silly not to take advantage of that."
Chris whistled. "That's a damn sweet knack."
Dirk nodded. "And right now, with things coming to a head, we'd be foolish not to encourage you to develop yourself as quickly as possible. But if I had one bit of advice to give, it would be to advance your mana pool every level." Dirk grimaced. "It slowly compounds, and I missed the boat a time or two myself, but never again."
Yin nodded solemnly. "I'll do you guys proud, you'll see."
"Good. Val?"
But Val was already scouting ahead, loping forward with an eye out for traps, all but tasting peril in the air ahead.
There.
Another natural stone barricade right before the tunnel opened out into a grand chamber that he could just make out, doing his best to tune out the screams beyond.
Half a dozen men waited at that ambush point. Three wielded crossbows, three slings, and Val quickly darted back around the final bend before they could make him, having already sensed the deadly surprises they had waiting.
Dirk raised a brow as Val double-backed.
"Val?"
"Six men, sheltered before the entrance to the main chamber. Three have crossbows, three have slings with explosive vials ready to fire. I caught just a glimmer of several tripwires set up down the hallway."
Dirk frowned. "Ugly. What are your thoughts?"
"I don't know if I can catch slingshotted flasks as easily as I could catch thrown ones, but maybe I can neutralize them." He turned to Julia. "Alternately, Julia could lash out with her lightning, guaranteeing those vials rupture in their foolish hands, most of the backblast hitting the massive room beyond. I'd cover her as best I could, of course."
Dirk frowned. "I think you're taking a terrible risk, trying to stabilize those things mid-air while also trying to dodge crossbow fire. But I don't like the thought of risking Julia."
"Don't worry, Dirk, I'm a big girl and I can take care of myself," Julia said. "Besides, shocking them with lightning and ducking back is probably the safest play. I'll pop my head and my arm around the bend ahead like Val did before, fry the fuckers, and pull back." She turned to Val and grinned. "I don't even need boy wonder to shield for me. I have my own." Instantly, she summoned her Synergized Ward. "And it's more powerful than his. So I'll be just fine."
Refusing to be dissuaded, Julia marched into position, Val accompanying her despite her confidence, his ward also summoned and ready to whip around, should it be needed.
Julia winked. "Don't be so stressed, sweetheart, I got this." Flashing a saucy grin, she darted her head and an arm around the bend. "Impulsa!" she shouted, and Val could feel the sudden discharge of energy, yanking Julia back just as a roar filled the corridor, hastily backing away, both their shields before them only a half second before they were both blown off their feet.
Moderate wounds and 20 points of concussive damage absorbed. 10 mana spent.
"You guys are mad!" Yin laughed moments later after Dirk helped pull a coughing Julia to her feet, Val stumbling upright seconds later. "And now my blue bar feels like it's overflowing!"
Chris grinned. "I'm ready to level up now, myself. Fanfuckingtastic! I love this game!"
Val looked at his friend's mismatched leg armor, showing the signs of recent damage, still red with Chris's blood before they had bandaged what had fortunately only been a light wound, deferring using a greater healing potion until it was needed, limited as most were in how much and how often they could take it. "But this game does play for keeps."
Chris grimaced but nodded. "That it does, buddy, that it does."
And then they heard the screams.
17
Val hissed and turned back to the now rubble filled corridor, jagged fragments of crystalline rock filled with bril
liant obsidian gold fire Val could almost taste. But there was no time.
"Val!" Dirk hissed.
"Something's going down. There's a hell of a lot of screaming." Ignoring his de facto leader's curses, Val carefully scouted the final stretch of tunnel before the opening into the main chamber, all the traps ruptured, chunks of burnt, scattered flesh and one perfectly preserved and surprised looking head all that Val saw of the final barricading force before he darted a cautious look at the room beyond, awed despite himself to catch a glimpse of what must have been tons of Elementium infused crystals glittering overhead, feeling the strangest sense of deja vu, as if he had been there before, struck with the oddest of insights.
Are these somehow crystal growing rooms? Counterparts to the Silbion farms? Both of them absorbing the magical ether? Val wondered, his train of thought cut off abruptly by a fresh burst of panicked cries.
And then he caught sight of the source of the screams. One of the sources, catching sight of a helpless sobbing captive in chains being pulled away from her fellows and dragged before what almost looked like a crucible of stone. Val raced forward, sticking to the shadows in what was a far dimmer section of the room with the crystals so far overhead, most of the present light from the massive pile of crystals within a cage of iron.
Val could feel the dark magics radiating from the blood red runes beside the cage, the bars beginning to glow as the struggling woman was inevitably dragged before it. Val was suddenly struck by the darkest of epiphanies, understanding exactly how the rebels had obtained their Elementium.
"Please!" the struggling captive screamed, receiving only a blow to her kidneys from a black-robed man spitting curses at her.
"You will be silent, reprobate, and face the crucible of pain and purification for daring to serve the Dominion instead of your true masters!" Dark eyes blazed with unholy glee as the girl crumpled before his blows, the two burly men assisting him quickly grabbing the battered woman by her arms, their own dark grins widening by the screams and pleas of the captives chained close by.
Val felt time start to slow beyond the power of his recast haste spell, his mind slipping into battle reflexes dark and cold.
He counted seven armed rebels near blackrobe, and he continued to lope toward them, hidden by the dim shadows alone.
"Sir, what about the intruders?" Murmured one guard glancing nervously towards the entrance.
The black-robed executioner sneered, kicking the unflinching guard. "Fool. Don't interrupt the ritual! Clearly they perished with the last round of explosives. The idiots you put on guard duty were too stupid to handle the sacred vessels with appropriate reverence, and they got their just deserts! As you will, should you dare to interrupt me again!"
The man trembled, bowing his head. "Yes, sir."
His eyes then widened as the cruel looking mage coughed a sudden gout of blood, gazing stupidly at the massive spear of ice that had torn through his intestines before jamming into the back of the altar.
"Glacie Pilum!" Val roared, Synergized Ward flaring to life from the palm of his left hand even as his right jutted out, spearing the lead guard through his mouth and blasting out the back of his skull, the man dropping like a lifeless marionette, all his strings instantly cut, his confused partner collapsing beside him seconds later.
"Intruder!" Cried out the nearest of the guards who had spotted Val, drawing his sword as did his fellows to the accompanying background screams of alarmed and terrified captives.
Val flashed a dark smile as his foes closed, feeling hot magics blaze to the fore, knowing it was time for a quick change of tactics, eager to bring pain and death to his foes.
"Burn!" Val roared as the nearest pair closed, swords a heartbeat away as they suddenly jolted to a stop, choking out agonized wails as a stream of liquid flame blasted from Val's palm in a furious blazing arc he washed over them as they stumbled away, screaming from faces already melting from the heat, hair instantly blazing as their eyes were poached by the flame, screams cut off in horrid gurgling cries as they choked on the liquid fire that had seared their lungs.
You have successfully cast Boosted Firestream! Multiple Critical strikes inflicted upon both your foes! Toasty! Cost to cast after 3 vicious seconds of incinerating flame: 25.5 mana.
And Val was already pivoting and moving as his enemies closed, shifting and charging the closest pair before they realized their folly, roaring for their death as he smashed into them, swords torn from hands as he knocked them flat with a shield bash that somehow worked every bit as well with his magical ward as it did the real thing if not better, then washing them both in unforgiving flame before pivoting around and blasting hot death into the screaming guard now frantically rolling upon the ground like a burning torch, the mirror of the pair at Val's back as Val's crimson magics left searing burns upon all three.
Not enough to kill, but Val had embraced his battlesenses to the fullest, somehow knowing just when to pivot and lash out with Ice Spear the minute one of a pair of shieldmen closed, the other stumbling back from Val in panic as his friend collapsed in screams and blood before blinking in stupefied disbelief as Val's second Ice Spear blasted right through his raised shield, as if he had been struck by a charger's lance.
The three gasping, sobbing men, burned but not butchered, were finally trying to stumble to their feet only to fall back down when Julia's lightning tore through them, Val's friends gazing at him so strangely at that moment.
"Damn, but that boy can fight," Yin grinned.
Dirk's gaze hardened. "We'll have a real long talk soon, Val. Now report."
Val took a deep breath, trying to quench the killer's fire in his heart, gazing at the burnt and speared bodies all around, eyes at last turning to the still sobbing captive by the sacrificial altar, bruised, battered, but very much alive.
"A dark mage was going to sacrifice the captives to purify the Elementium directly, bypassing the need for the highly mechanized refinery outside. I took issue with his manufacturing plans, so I thought I'd open him up to new ideas."
Val smiled coldly at the fallen mage even now trembling in the extremis of agony with Val's spear piercing his intestines, pinning him to his own altar of sacrifice. A stream of blood poured from the man's mouth, his face chalky white with impending death. He gazed at Val in terror and awe in equal measure.
"What coven do you represent, wizard? Why... why do you strike us down? The Christos Coven has won full rights to this territory in the bids for reclamation." The man coughed and groaned, gazing piteously up at Val. "I am Ebonair, loyal seneschal of the coven. What price... what price between our covens to come to an understanding?"
Val felt a ruthless sneer coming to his lips, a sudden shiver of intuition telling him just what role to play, flowing into a part recalled as if long forgotten, yet suddenly as real as his own dark reflection.
"Fool! Do you truly think I am one of your planet bound wizards? Do you not yet understand who I am, what I am, the debt that is owed to me?"
The man blinked in stupid confusion.
Val flowed up to him, pinning the man with his furious gaze, gripping one palsied hand in his own and crushing the bones tightly as the man winced and moaned. "I am Dauda, fool! Even the Highlords know their place before us, and you dare to truck with me as if you were my equal?" Val's gaze lingered upon the spear stuck in the man's intestines. He flashed a cold smile, fingertips flicking the shaft as the man groaned in agony, before snarling in the horrified man's face.
"You will tell me what I need to know and you will tell me now! What fool told your master he had any right to interfere with our operations? To plunder resources your entire counsel knows to reserve for our use alone? Well? Tell me, you pathetic excuse for a sniveling wizard, and let us end this wretched folly!"
Intimidation check successful! Ebonair is terrified of you!
"But, but, how? You, you cast magic with the ease of a Highmage!"
Val's laughter was filled with contempt. "Do you truly n
ot understand, little man? All your jealously guarded secrets, all those delicious little enchantments of death and woe each of your covens thinks well hidden from the others?" Val bent closer and whispered. "We know them all. Every secret of every coven. Just as we know all the secrets, all the killing arts, of every Highlord who thought himself a true contender for power. Tell me, worm, how many times have you heard of favored apprentices gone missing? Elite proteges eager to win the admiration and beds of lords confident in their power, their might, whispering dark, delicious secrets to their most worthy disciples?"
Val's smile grew as the wizard's eyes widened. "Who do you think controls them? All the puppets upon all the boards upon all the worlds of this Galaxy. All of them, masters of their chosen arts. All of them, subservient to the dark lords they serve before all others." Val looked towards the heavens and chuckled. "There were some who dared to challenge our power. And what an absolutely fascinating end that council of fools suffered."
Deception check successful! Ebonair truly believes you're part of an ancient coven of assassins, with eyes and ears upon every planet in the galaxy!
Ebonair began to shake, so great was his terror. "Lord Dauda! May night's mistress protect us, we had no idea! Christos won the rights to this mine by right of deed and challenge, as all our customs demanded! The Mages Council said nothing about Dauda interests. Nothing! I swear it!"
"Shh..." Val murmured to the sobbing man coughing blood still. "Now is not the time for protests, my little puppet. No. Now is when you will reveal to me all your delicious secrets. Every silver-tongued whisper buying you a few more seconds of blissful mercy. Mercy before your final song is sung."
"Oh please, Master Dauda. Please!" the man sobbed; tears, snot, and blood all streaming from his face. "I'll tell you anything!"
Val nodded matter-of-factly. "Yes. I know you will. Starting with what your real goals are in this mine."
Ebonair paled and swallowed.
Endless Online: Oblivion's Price: A LitRPG Adventure - Book 3 Page 29