Underworld - Scorching Sun: A LitRPG Series

by Apollos Thorne

  The next fight was getting ready to begin.

  Chapter 22 – Dwarf Princess

  The next combatants that had the privilege of fighting in the central arena were two local vampires that were sanctioned because it looked like it would be an exciting fight. I don’t think anyone was under the illusion that they had a chance of winning against any of the favorites though.

  I’d seen the female Lightning Mage fight before. It was a well fought match on both sides, but she eventually came out on top. It was tame compared to the first fight, but it lasted longer and neither side were willing to give up.

  After seeing Eshana go all out, I spent much of the second fight weighing my options on how to best defeat her. The use of Magma would have to be limited. Metal Dragon would be fun to use as well, but she had the ability to manipulate the environment of a wide area. Unless I went in with the mind to do absolute damage, which meant likely killing her, I’d instead put myself in the position of being caged. I had little doubt that she also had the ability to cause much more trauma than she did in her fight against Parth.

  Glancing down at Eshana, I couldn’t see her face, but she’d avoided eye contact while returning to her seat. It was possible she just hadn’t noticed where I was sitting. It was also possible that she’d shown some hidden cards and was a bit glum, hoping that she could’ve saved them for later in the competition.

  The time had come for the main event. Wearing another suit jacket-cape over his nondescript armor, Manu Shah headed to the arena without stopping at the top of the stairs. All eyes were already on him and he knew it. I assumed he believed it to be below his station to make an appeal to the crowd for their support.

  Lusa Egotak had always kept a low profile, so she also didn’t stop. Over her own armor she wore a green hooded cloak that she hadn’t used in her previous matches. Her hood was still lowered so her round feminine features could still be seen. I confirmed for my own sake that she had no sign of a beard.

  “Pay special attention to Manu’s strategy,” Jale said through mind-speak.

  “You think he will win?” I replied.

  “I hope that I’m wrong, but he’s just too domineering. You’re the only one I think really has a shot at beating him in the preliminaries.”

  “I see…” I took a closer look.

  Manu Shah

  Character Sheet

  Level: 16,419

  Health Points: 5,252,500

  Mana Points: 40,017,500

  Attributes

  Strength: 10,811

  Dexterity: 11,370

  Constitution: 10,505

  Intelligence: 80,035

  Wisdom: 10,029

  Even compared to my own buffed stats, he was a monster. He had 40,000 stat points beyond his level. Not only was he Trueblooded, but his physical stats were also ridiculous because he had been raised on a diet that few vampires could afford. Thankfully he hadn’t been able to place his extra stats however he liked, or he would already have the 100,000 Intelligence stat bonus. If that were the case, my Light Magic would be my only chance—a slight one at best.

  Checking Lusa’s character sheet wasn’t much help.

  Lusa Egotak

  Character Sheet

  Level: 5,879

  Health Points: 9,666,000

  Mana Points: 5,448,500

  Attributes

  Strength: 14,618

  Dexterity: 6,919

  Constitution: 16,110

  Intelligence: 10,897

  Wisdom: 20,137

  Despite her level, her stats were closer to someone at level 13,500 and her Health Points were higher than normal for someone with the same Constitution. Shamash had mentioned that dwarves had an alternative progression system just as the vampires who drank blood did, but I still needed to research it.

  Unlike the last fight, there were no words exchanged when the fight officially began. Lusa threw her Nature seed to the ground and her tree started to grow. Manu began walking toward her while Darkness Aspect Dark Magic seeped from his palms.

  With every step the Trueblooded vampire took, the cloud of Darkness at his feet seemed to grow. At first it clung to the ground like a low-lying fog, but in a few seconds the cloud grew until he disappeared into the gloom.

  The dwarf’s defensive tree had already surrounded and enclosed her. I looked carefully across the arena floor for any sign of her poison-wielding plants, but it was difficult to see anything through the cloud of Darkness. Her tree easily took root in the stone tiles, but I wasn’t sure if her poisonous flowers would have the same ability. The stone was supposed to be nearly indestructible after all. This central arena could leave Lusa at a disadvantage.

  Unlike Eshana Dara’s quickly constructed pool of water, Manu’s Darkness cloud wasn’t restricted to one area. It only kept growing until it was encroaching on Lusa’s ginormous tree’s trunk. The tree had completely cut off Lusa from the outside world and its trunk was more than a dozen feet wide. It was different than the tree I had seen her summon before. This one had grown to be more than three stories tall with its branches full of pine needles. Unlike a typical evergreen, it wasn’t cone shaped from top to bottom, but created its own canopy that hovered over half the arena like an imposing overlord.

  “Interesting,” Alexandria said under her breath.

  Just as Manu’s cloud of Darkness filled the rest of the arena floor, the tree’s massive branches began to quake. What happened next happened so fast that only Mana Sight allowed me to track the motion. More than a thousand pine needles shot towards the ground like a deadly rain of razor sharp icicles. The cloud of Darkness put up no resistance.

  Dark Mana blazed from inside the cloud as monstrous claws of Corruption swiped at the sky, knocking the needles aside like falling leaves. Manu had given away his position.

  It was exactly what Lusa was waiting for. The entire auditorium lit up as the rest of her pine needles, tens of thousands of them, glimmered with green light before flashing toward the area inside the cloud where Manu was standing.

  My jaw dropped before I realized I’d reacted. I wasn’t the only one. I heard Jale make an audible gasp from a few seats away.

  The pine needles seemed to have hit their target, for the claw of Corruption didn’t defend.

  I shared a look with Jale, who was just as surprised as I was. Could it be over? It was not an attack I could easily fend off either. I feared even my Crimson Incubus armored skin wouldn’t come out unscathed. So many needles might even kill me.

  Across the arena the announcer had come to his feet. It looked like he was about to call it for Lusa, but he was thrown back before he could say a word.

  Corruption magic erupted from the same spot Manu had been standing. A massive black arm with a purple glow reached toward the sky and attacked the canopy of branches above it. Like a sharpened blade, the branches were cleaved without exception.

  The cloud of Darkness cleared from the concussion. Manu’s form appeared. He was covered in Corruption from head to toe and the massive arm seemed to have replaced his own.

  A second arm of Corruption shot forward and grabbed the tree’s trunk as if to strangle it. Such an immense use of mana gave Manu absurd power. It might drain him quickly, but…

  There were still many remaining branches which suddenly twisted themselves together to make a colossal cord. It ignored the arm of Corruption that was still hacking at its branches and drilled toward Manu with incredible force.

  He diverted his hacking arm to grab at the cord. There was an explosion of power as he caught it. His arm grew in size as the branches came to a halt.

  With a glance, I saw that even Alexandria was on the edge of her seat.

  Manu was at his limit when a giant root that had been hiding at the tree’s rear swung across the ground to club the vampire from the flank. It was as thick as he was tall.

  I expected him to remove his arm from the tree’s trunk to try to block it, but instead a third arm shot from his side to grab at
the root. I could see that his mana was waning. How was he even able to act?

  As if two primordials were doing battle, one an avatar of Nature and the other of Corruption, they wrestled with one another to a stalemate. The moment of their struggle seemed to stretch on.

  It was only when everyone heard a single mighty crack that everything started to unravel. The cord of many branches was the first to fail. It was only a few smaller branches in the bunch that snapped at first, but after a few failed, the rest lost support. Manu ripped the cord in two.

  That same arm reached for the tree’s trunk to join with the second that was trying to pry it open. It was then that the remaining root was crushed to a pulp by Manu’s third arm.

  When it also rushed to claw at the tree’s trunk, there was a sudden flash. A figure had arrived before the third arm could add its strength to the struggle.

  I saw him as only a blur. A blur who carried a Warhammer with a business end as wide as a man’s torso. He swung it down at the ground between the two competitors, severing the arms of Corruption as if they were jelly. A wave of force swept toward Manu Shah, threatening to thrash him into ground hamburger.

  A second figure flashed and stood before the wave of force. An aura of Dark Mana surrounded him. As a wall to a breeze, it blocked the wave as if it weren’t even there.

  The dwarf who had stopped Manu’s attack had already turned his back to the Trueblooded vampire and his savior as he pried Lusa out of the corroded trunk. After my experience with Ujurak and dwarf personalities, I expected the senior dwarf to complain or even start a fight, but when he turned back to see who had blocked his wave of force, he didn’t so much as change his expression before leaping with an unconscious Lusa under his arm and returning to the stands.

  I shook my head while considering what type of power Manu Shah possessed. It might border on my strength when I was transformed into my Primordial Cat Form. In many ways, he reminded me of Lady Contessa except he’d had a chance to grow up. He was going to be a much harder opponent than I expected. Especially since I couldn’t rely on my Light Magic to defeat him. To use it in equal measure to his own would be impossible for a vampire who was naturally a Dark Magic being. If I used Light Magic at full power, I might as well just show up in my human form.

  “Is this what you were wanting me to see?” I said to Jale through mind-speak.

  She stopped the conversation she was having and turned to look me in the eye. “No.” She shook her head. “We knew about his use of Darkness Magic, but in order to employ as much power as he did, he must be bordering on the Grandmaster rank. That’s the only thing that could explain it.”

  I didn’t respond to her right away. Seeing my hesitation, she asked, “Do you think you’ll be able to defeat him?”

  “Perhaps,” I replied. “But not without trying to kill him. That won’t be my intention, but there’s no way I’ll be able to hold back.”

  I had no idea who Manu’s high level escort was, but he left leaving Manu standing alone. The young noble then turned in our direction. As if to make a public statement, he looked at the Tirs for a long moment. Eventually his eyes landed on me. Without a bow, or any show of mutual respect, he turned to leave.

  “It looks as if Manu Shah also has the intention of not holding back,” Jale said. She appeared to quickly converse with someone else before adding, “Do what you have to do. The family will protect you, win or lose. Even if you kill him.”

  “I don’t want to cause the Tirs unnecessary trouble.”

  “You’re not. At the worst, you’ll be an excuse they use to escalate the tension that already exists between us. But Zerin, I must issue you a warning. If you end up killing him, or even if they choose to believe that that was your intention, your only hope will be to rely on the Tir family’s protection. The elders will only allow that if you forgo becoming Trueblooded. There will be nothing I can do if you take it as your prize. It will be out of my hands. Think on it carefully. I know you believe you have something that you have to do that I can’t help with. It might be a wiser move to drop out of the competition and find a different way.”

  Her advice once again caught me off guard. I didn’t know why her kindheartedness still baffled me, but some part of me still wanted to believe that she acted the way she did because she had nefarious intentions. She was offering to take me in, to adopt me into her family in a sense, and yet I was still thinking evil of her. It was time to put an end to my assumptions about vampires as a whole once and for all. Just like humans, there were plenty of wretched ones, but there were also the honorable.

  “Thank you, Princess Jale,” I said in all sincerity. In that moment, I wanted to tell her the truth. Not just about the Head Mistress’s mission, but also about being human. I didn’t, of course, but I decided that from now on I’d trust her. “I’ll stay in the competition. If the Shah family really does take offense, then I’ll have to rely on you.”

  She gave me a warm nod. She knew that my words meant that I was choosing to trust her.

  I didn’t exactly know what my decision would mean for the plans Shamash and I had made, but perhaps the Tir family could be of some help…

  Chapter 23 – Shapeshifting

  I said my goodbyes then returned to my room. After seeing what Manu Shah was capable of, there was much I needed to do. Not only did I need to rethink my plans, but I also needed to figure out my strategy to defeat Manu without the danger of killing him. Limiting myself to casting was no longer an option. It was like facing Lady Contessa again except she had matured and become an experienced duelist. I hadn’t really beaten her the first time. I’d just gotten lucky in my desperation.

  If there was one thing I’d learned since coming to the vampire realm it was that I was at my weakest while gathering mana and waiting for my channeling to reach its peak so that I could cast a spell. Manu had the same weakness. The appropriate strategy wasn’t difficult to figure out. Executing it was the challenge.

  Shamash returned a few hours after me. I explained to him what had happened in great detail. I also explained to him how I’d decided to rely more on the Tirs’ protection, even if it lengthened the time it would take for me to accomplish the mission Lilith had sent me on.

  I’m sorry, Aeris. Hold on a little longer.

  The Tir family might end up being a long-term ally that could give Sanctuary a place to flee to. I explained everything through mind-speak to keep my intentions from the Head Mistress in case she was listening in.

  Shamash was surprisingly unresponsive to the decision I had made. When I thought of it from his perspective, it likely meant I’d have to lean toward his preferred method of growing as powerful as possible.

  He was beginning to explain as much when we got a knock on the door.

  The man who was standing there when I opened it seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place him. “Master Zerin,” he said, giving me a bow of mutual respect.

  He moved to the side, and the person behind him stepped forward. Parth Gul…

  I bowed my head woodenly, unsure why he’d show up at my hotel room.

  “Hello, Zerin,” he said with a grin that reminded me of Manu Shah’s when he’d been trying to invite me to join the Shah family. “We haven’t had a chance to be formally introduced. I’m Parth of the Gul family.”

  What are you selling?

  Not forgetting my manners, I stepped back from the door. Shamash was already standing with his hands crossed behind his back. His reaction was flawless.

  “It’s my pleasure, Master Gul,” I said warmly. “Please, come in.”

  “Thank you.” He strolled in, giving the room a once-over. “I’ve always found the Javed Hotel pleasant and classy. Are they treating you well?”

  “We have no complaints.” I offered him a seat.

  He waved his hand as if it would be unnecessary. “Very good. Let me know if you have any problems. My family has close ties with the Javed management, and I’d be happy to smooth over any issues that
might arise.”

  I thanked him as was proper but knew the reason he was giving me such favor was because of the true reason he was here—whatever that might be.

  “Is there any way I might be of service to the Gul family?” I said after all the pleasantries were over. I purposely didn’t mention anything about his recent loss.

  “Yes. As a fellow Blue Mage, I think you can. I’ve been trying to glean from your Shapeshifting ability during your fights, but even though I’ve made progress, I haven’t been able to fully unlock it. As a Blue Magic Pillar, I’d be in your debt if you could help me.” He narrowed his eyes to weigh my reaction.

  I nodded repeatedly as if I were taking in what he’d said. At the same time, Shamash’s voice was sounding in my head in warning. “There are two ways to bestow knowledge on someone. If he simply wants you to change forms so that he may observe, there is no harm in it, but if he wants you to give him the knowledge directly, it will cost you your hard-earned experience to do so. Depending on how much he has already understood, it might require you to give up 100 to even 1,000 levels. If the price is right, like a body of Trueblood, then it would be worth it, but if he had access to such an item he’d have already used it.”

  “I’d be more than happy to demonstrate the process for you,” I said.

  He glanced back at his escort. The door had already been shut behind them. The man nodded back at him. When he looked at me again, he smiled. “There’s nothing to worry about. I’m just confirming that the room is secure. The Gul family has provided me a Blue Magic instructor who is knowledgeable about the Shapeshifting Pillar. Sadly, he has not unlocked it himself. From what he’s explained, I should’ve already unlocked it. Blue Magic is only his First School of Magic, so it takes him longer to unlock new abilities, but he’s having the same problem. We deliberated and have concluded that we’re missing a piece of the puzzle. When a Blue Mage learns Shapeshifting through observation, they must watch the process from start to finish. If they never see the true starting form, then it is impossible to fully understand the process…”