Path of Darkness

by A P Gore

  Easy enough.

  Wrong.

  A wolf showed up. This one was level 5, and then came its herd. The wolf boss with red eyes was a level 6 monster, and its claws shone with bright red light, indicating the presence of some kind of magic.

  Jon gasped as other monsters revealed themselves one after another from the cloud of dust.

  There was a three-eyed fox herd and then a wild cat herd. Only, the cats were one meter long, nearly venturing into their older siblings’ territory. These five packs made around two hundred monsters, clawing at the gate.

  "Brace for impact!" Jon shouted as the monsters dived at the wall and gate.

  With their heads and claws, the monsters charged the wall. Their heads butted against the joints while their claws scratched at the wood.

  Their efforts were futile. They didn't make any impact on the wall. Even the level 6 monster only dealt 1-2 HP damage to the wall.

  "Let's show them who we are." Jon made some noise, attracting some monsters’ attention, but none could reach a man on the three-meter-tall wooden tower.

  A wicked smile popped on Jon's face as he activated his Lock formation. Half an hour ago, he had buried his flags in position. Fortunately for him, the strongest monster pack—the wolf pack—was in his range.

  With a wave of his hands, every monster inside his froze, unable to do anything. They hissed, growled, and struggled, but they couldn't get out of the Lock.

  Flashing a grin at Maggie whose eyes had bulged in shock, he cast his new spell.

  Call Lightning.

  Clouds gathered over the formation area, quickly turning black. Lightning flashed through them. For a moment, most of the beasts stopped attacking and shot fearful glances at the clouds. The monsters locked inside the formation area panicked. Pleading growls echoed from their mouths. Too bad, they couldn't do anything other than growling more and pleading with their eyes.

  Then came the first lightning strike.

  A beam of white light shot from the clouds and struck a wolf on its head, scorching its brain and burning it black. The lifeless body of the wolf fell to the ground. The formation only locked living things, and that wolf wasn't one anymore.

  Jon wished the first strike had hit the wolf boss, who was growling impatiently now.

  The second strike injured another wolf, then the third came and then a fourth. Soon, the area of lightning shifted, and another area started shooting bolts of lightning at the wolves. Though only the first strike in an area would have max power, the other strikes injured the wolves badly, filling the area with their painful cries.

  For the next minute, roaring thunder filled the battle area, but the wolf pack was long dead, and no other group dared enter that area.

  While the Call Lightning cooldown finished up, Jon checked on the other three groups.

  Phenomenal. Especially Grimish's group. He had the dogs locked out in a formation, and Grimish was like a demon plowing through the battlefield. Constantly moving at lightning speed, he cleaved the beasts with his shovel like cutting cabbages on the farm. Level 5 monsters were a joke for him. With every swing, he either beheaded a monster or sliced them deep enough that the land below him was wet with blood that ran like a river. And that bastard enjoyed it. Grinning like a maniac, he laughed while slicing the dogs apart.

  "That Grimish, he's too cruel." Maggie shivered.

  "I agree." Jon shook his head. There was nothing he needed to do there. The remaining two groups were slowly but surely cutting down their pack of monsters. They weren't as fast as Jon or Grimish, but they were doing fine. Nothing to worry about there either.

  Turning away from them, Jon focused on the last group that was pounding on the wall near him like a battering-ram. The cute-looking cats.

  Waving his hand, Jon cast Acid Vines one after another at the four corners around them. The vines jolted into action and started shooting their burning acid spray at the cats. For a moment, the pack of wild cats stopped in their tracks, unable to spot the attacker. Once they did, they attacked the vines, devouring them in an instant. That was the weakness of his vines: they literally had no life of their own. But Jon had cast few more vines already. The cycle continued, slowly eating through the cats.

  Maggie stepped closer to him, staring at the vines he had cast. "I must say, you’ve got some interesting spells there."

  Jon didn't know how to reply to such praise. He wasn't good at this. “Hmm.”

  "But your vines won't fare well against the next wave. If these are level 5-6, the next ones will be levels 7 and 8. The third wave will be 9-10, and the fourth will have a level 12 or 13 boss."

  Damn. Level 13 boss? Really?

  Chapter 47

  Jon studied the horizon, taking in the height of the dust cloud coming at his village. It looked thicker than the last time. So, the monsters were strong.

  Maggie was absolutely right. The second tide consisted of all level 7 monster packs and level 8 bosses. Even the monster species were different. Bears, bulls, lions, and apes made the cut this time. And their bosses had mutated organs, like the three-eyed lion, four-horned bull.

  Jon took a deep breath and instantly regretted it. Monster corpses littered the ground around him, and it stank of blood and gore. All the blood and mushy organs made his morning breakfast want to come back up. Baked meat. Yes, his village had received meat as part of the initial food resource, and that food didn't rot with age.

  By the time the second tide arrived, all the monsters from the first tide were dead, and the wall had suffered 10-20 HP damage. When he considered the 1000 HP the wall had, it was nothing.

  "I'd have panicked if you didn't apply the strengthening lotion to the walls. They’ll mostly increase your repair cost. Nothing to worry about." Maggie smiled, flashing her perfect white teeth. Her smile had a warming effect on his heart. Somehow it made him feel relaxed.

  Again, she was right. Though the second tide attacked the wall with their huge claws and horns, the wall held up well. Most of the fierce attacks chipped away 10-12 HP each.

  While Jon was getting cozy, a strange thing happened. The bosses separated from their packs and grouped up to attack a portion of the wall near the gate.

  Damn, the bastards had Intelligence.

  And their damage output made his heart race. Their one combined attack dealt 35 damage to the wall.

  F-k. The worst thing, they were meters away from his formation flags. 35, 32, 30, and the wall’s HP dropped by 100 points in the span of a few seconds.

  “Call Lightning!” Jon shouted, aiming at the boss pack.

  Thunder cracked, and lightning rained down on the bosses. The first one struck the four-horned bull, depleting ninety percent of its HP. Jon hoped the next lesser lightning strike would kill it, but the boss swiftly moved away from Call Lightning's area of effect and survived.

  Damn.

  The other bosses followed, moving away from the lightning, and attacked another side of the gate.

  Too bad for them, couple of them accidently walked inside Jon's formation area. With a devilish smile, Jon cast his Lock formation, freezing the two bosses in place.

  Seeing his friends stuck, the four-horned bull charged into the formation area and got stuck himself, giving Jon a laugh.

  One after another, Jon cast a few Acid Vines around the three bosses, and then cast Earth Spike, dealing constant damage to the stupid bosses. Like a tap left open, their HP depleted at a rapid pace.

  When the Lock was about to expire, Jon funneled Spirit into it and reactivated it, continuing the bosses’ torment. His Spirit drained like crazy, but it only gave him satisfaction as the bosses squealed in pain and agony.

  Now it was time to call the thunder.

  “Call Lightning.”

  Boom. The first bolt struck the four-eyed lion and reduced it to ashes. Acid Vines had depleted fifteen percent of its HP, and the rest vanished with the first lightning strike. The second strike hit the four-horned bull who had already lost most of i
ts HP in the last Call Lightning attack. The third boss dropped in no time, and Jon focused his attack on the remaining two bosses who were almost helpless without their friends, managing to only do 12 damage with each attack.

  Yet, that was higher damage than Jon could take. So, he cast multiple Acid Vines to destroy them.

  Suddenly, a figure appeared before one boss and stabbed the boss's right eye with a shovel. It was Grimish who swiftly killed the boss monster. Another swift swing of his shovel, and the final boss died on the spot. That guy was a killing machine.

  "You said the elite monster will come in wave 4, yes?" Two waves were over, and they had fought nearly four hundred monsters. According to Mitch, there would be six hundred more to come, and Jon had already gained 3 levels worth of experience. If he weren’t in the middle of a battle, he would have gained access to the skills and stat points, but the experience wouldn’t take effect until after the battle.

  "Yes, the last one,” Maggie said. “And don't treat a level 13 or 14 elite as a normal boss. He’ll have multiple spells to buff other monsters. With one swipe, he can deal heavy damage to the wall."

  "Boost other monsters?" Jon shot a thumbs-up to Grimish who went back to his team.

  "Yes, with its war cry, it will boost other monsters’ stats by thirty percent and its own stats by twenty percent. It's like gaining 2-3 free levels out of nowhere." She eyed Jon. "Do you understand what that means?"

  Jon nodded. He understood what she meant perfectly. If he could get a thirty percent stat increase at level 9, his battle prowess would skyrocket. In the end, it came down to how much Mana/Spirit or Strength/Dexterity you had to deal the damage. As long as you had high enough stats, you could annihilate the opponent with raw power.

  Maggie continued, her expression grim. "Though you won't lose your village if the elite breaks through the wall, you'll still lose fifty percent of your resources as a punishment. So, winning that way is like half losing."

  "What?" Why didn't anyone tell him about this before? Half his resources. Damn, he couldn't lose 2400 wood all of a sudden, just because a monster broke his wall. The game developer must’ve had his home robbed when he was little. How else would he get such nasty ideas?

  "You didn't know?" Maggie shot him a strange look. "I thought you had a level 20 player as your advisor." She glanced at the tower where Grimish stood talking with others. The second wave was almost finished, so he had some time to catch his breath.

  "That's bad, but don't worry,” Jon said. “I'll lock the boss in place."

  Maggie furrowed her brows. "Will that work on the boss? Aren't you like level 6 or something?"

  "My Lock formation can work on a level 20 player as well. Why? Shouldn't it?"

  Maggie shook her head in disbelief. "No way. No control spell works on monsters five levels above you. Are you sure about this?"

  Jon shrugged. "Yes, I've used it four times by now." Grimish had died each time he used it on him.

  "Strange. That shouldn't happen. Anyway, so you are planning to keep the elite stalled for the remaining time?"

  Jon smirked. "No. I'm planning to kill it." If he didn't have Underground Vine, he would have tried buying time. But with Underground Vine and Lock, he could deal effective damage to a specific target.

  DEATHBLADE TWIRLED the dagger between his fingers as the level 7 monsters marched on the village. It looked amazing. Thousands of monsters marched on a tiny village. The only problem was the woman he wanted stood on a small guard tower facing the tide. What if her beautiful face was scarred? Though she would heal with some potions; he wouldn’t see that translucent skin getting bloodied.

  Ashima, the level 26 assassin he had managed to invite from the Death Hounds division stood beside him. "Is that the guy you want?"

  A man with long hair stood next to Maggie, waving his wand and casting spells. He had unique spells like raising vines and calling lightning. Actually, his spells didn't fit any class Deathblade knew of. Neither a witch nor a wizard, not even a warlock. What class was he? And why couldn't he cast perception on him?

  "Yes, sir," Deathblade said. Though he was a branch leader, with Death Hounds it paid to be extra cautious. The special team was formed and maintained by the head of the guild, Kurush, and any mistake would be reported directly to the guild leader.

  "And the girl too?" Ashima's dark gray eyes shone with greed as he stared at the woman.

  Suddenly Deathblade regretted calling Ashima here. He was known as the pervert of the Death Hounds, and he had his eyes set on Maggie. "Yes, sir." His voice was almost a whisper.

  "Change of terms. I'm taking that girl with me to Blackwater." Ashima flashed his greedy teeth.

  The regret in Deathblade's heart instantly doubled. Maggie was the whole point of this operation. Without her, he didn't give a crap about the guy with the weird spells. But he had no choice anymore. Even if he declined, Ashima will take her away. With thirty level 25 assassins following Ashima, what could he do to avoid that?

  "Yes, sir," Deathblade said.

  Ashima turned toward one of the other Death Hounds. "Messy, fire the Rage spell at the last wave. Let them taste the power of that level 14 elite monster and his minions."

  "But Maggie..." Deathblade's voice filled with concern.

  Ashima chuckled. "Don't worry. I'll be her knight in shining armor once I save her, and didn't you say she has a defensive spell to protect herself, anyway? She’ll be fine for a few minutes without me." He stroked his mustache.

  "Yes, boss." The heavyset Messy stepped forward and pulled a tier 2 magic scroll out of his bag. It was a large-scale Rage spell scroll. It was used to enrage level 20 and below monsters, putting them in a berserk state. It was normally used in large scale guild wars, but now it would be used to annihilate a level 0 village. Too bad for them.

  Chapter 48

  The third wave was under perfect control.

  Half the monsters of the third wave were dead or critically injured. With four Lock formations acting simultaneously, Jon and his team were making their way through the remaining monsters when a disturbance drew Jon’s eyes to the horizon.

  The fourth wave was coming, and if the earlier waves raised clouds of dust, this wave raised a veritable dust storm, wrapping even the small mountains in it.

  Though he’d expected the next wave to be more difficult, Jon's heart still sank when he saw the giant dust storm. Four hundred monsters and an elite surely made a grand entrance. The clock in his vision showed a ten second countdown, and looking at the hundred or so beasts from waves 2 and 3 still alive, they weren't going to wrap it up in time.

  "Team, let's get to plan B. Just stall them. If you see the damage increasing in one place, just use Lock." His gaze jumped to Grimish who dashed into the monster heard at his signal. In plan B, Grimish’s primary task was to lay out flags for the formation. Formations were good, but they required a setup, which was difficult in an ongoing battle.

  However, Grimish's speed ought to counter that disadvantage nicely. Grimish was faster than any level 20 player, so a level 14 elite was no match for him in speed. No matter what, Jon had to stop the elite from using his war cry. If he had to run down there himself, he would have done it—though he probably would have ended up in his respawn room. Actually, thinking about it, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. A nice cup of coffee would make up for the pain and inconvenience of his death.

  As Grimish dashed between the monsters, dodging their attacks and retrieving all the buried flags, Jon prepared his Underground Vine spell. He hadn't used it yet because of the Spirit cost. For that spell, he needed 250 Spirit from his 310 pool. It would leave him practically dry, even with his 14.61 Spirit regeneration. It would take him at least 13 seconds to regenerate, if he didn't cast another spell. And he had to use the Lock formation too, and that cost 200 Spirit.

  Damn, he would be treading on the edge of the Spirit debuff here. Every time his Spirit bar reached zero, the system applied a debuff, reducing his Spirit re
generation for a few minutes.

  Rubbing his chin, Jon prepared his spell, channeling the Spirit through his hands, ready to cast as soon as the elite arrived.

  Underground Vine unavailable.

  What the f-k? What did that mean?

  Rolling his eyes, Jon accessed his character sheet. Underground Vine was grayed out.

  But why? What happened? Suddenly, he remembered the vines that Gargarth’s red eye had dropped, and then there was an evolution complete message as well a while back.

  He quickly pulled the vines out of his Bag of Holding.

  For a moment, the bright light coming out of one vine blinded him completely. When he could see what was going on, he found the vines wrapped around his legs like a puppy trying to get attention from his owner.

  God, what had happened to them? One vine had turned an inky black, sucking the light from its surroundings. Looking at it gave him the feeling of staring at dark space with no end. The other vine exuded brilliant white light and gave off a feeling of meeting an angel. Not that angel's existed, but that's how they portrayed them in the real-life cable shows.

  Another message popped up, and the vines disappeared.

  System: Binding the vines to the new spells.

  What the heck happened here? And where were his vines? Frustrated with the system's stupid behavior, he opened his character sheet again. Two new spells had appeared in his list.

  Vine of Darkness

  Tier: Semi-sentient (Unique spell bound to the user. Can't be taught or converted into a skill book.)

  A soul-devouring vine. Devours souls of living things to unlock seals. Each seal grants a new power to the caster.

  Current seals: 7

  Opened seal: 1

  Seal of the Soul (Seal 1): Deals 100 damage per second to the target. If the target falls below 10% of their life, it devours its soul. Current Souls: 0/100. Cost: 300 Spirit, then 30 Spirit per second after 10 seconds. Spirit cost will be returned if the next seal is unlocked. Vine returns to the caster after one minute of use unless recalled. Next seal unlock requirement: 100 souls.