Arcane Kingdom Online: The Fallen City (A LitRPG Adventure, Book 3)

by Jakob Tanner

  The creatures fell to the ground and the experience points rushed across my HUD.

  +147 EXP!

  +147 EXP!

  +147 EXP!

  “Nice,” I said, heading over to the bodies and materializing my sword. I carved out the mnemonic stones and obsidian shards from the dead mobs.

  After I finished gathering all the materials, I stood up straight and took in the stairs. Still a ways to go to get to the top. I stepped forward and the party followed after me.

  We continued up the steps. Every platform had another set of three fallen soldiers. They got progressively tougher to beat the further we went up. Their special bone abilities got more and more unique. One of them created sharp prickles from all over his body, making it impossible to get close to him. Another’s spinal cord stretched out from its neck and attacked like a scorpion pincer. The tough mobs meant we were close to the Ultriga Weapon.

  We reached the summit of the winding steps, out of breath and exhausted.

  “Tell me this is the end,” huffed Kari. “I never realized what a pain it would be to be so small. For every step you take, I take three more!”

  “Yes—but think of all the places you can hide,” said Shade. “Plus, it’s cute how small you are.”

  Kari’s cheeks blushed. Then she went red in the face all over. “I was going to say thanks but then I remembered who I was talking too! What do you want Mr. Suave Persuasion, so many stats in luck he’s basically cheated the system?”

  Shade grinned. “I guess you saw right through me. I thought it might make you take the bad news more easily.”

  Kari’s shoulders dropped. “What bad news?”

  Shade stepped out of her way and presented the entrance to the temple. It was another stairwell. This time spiraling below the ground.

  “You’d think they would put the entrance at the bottom then.”

  “Too easy,” said Shade. “Shall we?”

  28

  The entrance to the crypt was a doorway of shadows. A few steps and then nothing but blackness. I conjured a fireball in my hands and lifted it up above my head.

  “Clay Hopewell—human torch,” smirked Serena. “Lead the way.”

  I took a step into the passage. A rustle echoed through the chamber. The staircase spiraled downwards. We continued deeper into the darkness. A faint glowing light emerged. It was coming from the bottom. I hurried my pace and everyone asked me to slow down. The human flashlight was moving too fast for everyone.

  We got to the bottom and the light was glowing in a large square chamber across a hallway.

  “The Ultriga Weapon might be in there,” said Jackson. “But one thing is for certain. That’s a boss room.”

  “Isn’t there usually a glowy purple flame to indicate the final room of a dungeon?” said Serena.

  “We’re not in a dungeon,” I said. “This is a temple, remember?”

  “Temple, shmemple,” muttered Kari. “Looks like a dungeon to me.”

  “Alright guys,” I said. “This is the moment we’ve been waiting for. We’re getting closer to the end of this quest. Follow my lead. Be ready for any traps or—despite it not being a dungeon and clearly a temple—a boss monster.”

  We hurried down the hall and entered the large chamber. In the center was a lectern. Resting above it on a stand was a silver turret attachment, similar to the guns attached to the Horizon’s Dream. The end of the barrel had four pincer-like claws.

  “Do you guys think that’s it?” I said, taking a step closer to it.

  I was still a good few meters away from the device when the room shook. The floor trembled. The walls vibrated. Rocks from the ceiling fell to the ground. A golden light formed in the center of the room, right beside the pedestal. The light slowly grew bigger, taking on the contours of a person. It was like a golden hologram. The shining body grew a tail and cat ears. It was a Lirana ghost. From a plain doll-like figure, the ghost grew a set of ethereal samurai armor and swords sheathed at its side. A nameplate appeared above its head: [Spirit Warden].

  “Who summons me?” bellowed the ghost. “Who steps into this sacred yet vile temple? Turn back now. Begone. Whatever you seek, it isn’t worth it.”

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and spoke back to the spirit warden. “We seek the Ultriga Weapon. Our homeland is in danger from an invasion. The weapon is our only hope to save everyone we hold dear.”

  The spirit warden stepped towards us. His face was emotionless; yet it was detailed. He had once been an ordinary Lirana man. He wasn’t born the guardian of this lost temple. The ethereal golden material of which he was composed, still captured the lines beneath his eyes, the furrow of his eyebrows. He must have been middle-aged when the fall of Ariellum had happened, when the Ultriga Weapon had shot through the core of the Illyrian continent. He was a warrior in a previous life. A general, or a sergeant. High-ranking and skilled enough to be trusted with the eternal task of protecting the legendary weapon.

  “You seek safety through destruction?”

  “Is it not necessary?” I asked. “Here you are with swords, guarding this device. Surely, you’d use violence to stop more violence from being dealt by the wrong hands.”

  The spirit guardian paused. “You are less foolish than you appear. Yet you sound like my people before we destroyed ourselves and our homeland.”

  Serena placed her hand on my shoulder and leaned towards me and whispered in my ear. “Do you think it’s telling the truth? Should we listen to it?”

  “It’s a test,” I whispered. “By walking away from it, it will give us the weapon. Sort of like: those who do not seek it, will get it kind of thing.”

  “I do not trick you mortal,” bellowed the golden spirit at the center of the room. He stood there, motionless. Calm. Stoic. “And you cannot trick me. I see it in you all, the desire to acquire this ancient weapon, this artifact my people regret having made, this relic who others wish was destroyed centuries ago.”

  I wasn’t expecting this. A monster or a demon perhaps but not a ghost warning us to walk away.

  “You shouldn’t take this weapon. It isn’t right. It’s cursed. This is my final offer: go at once or face my wrath.”

  We didn’t move.

  The spirit unsheathed its sword. “Please don’t make the same mistakes we did.”

  We still didn’t move. We made no gesture to leave.

  “So be it,” said the spirit.

  The spirit guardian flickered then disappeared.

  He reemerged right behind Kari and dug his golden translucent samurai sword right through her stomach.

  Kari’s whole face went pale. Her eyes bulged. The samurai spirit ripped out his blade. Blood seeped in a circle where the spirit sword had been. The crimson liquid stained her outside armor. She was down to 10% HP.

  Jackson and Serena charged the spirit guardian, creating a division between the boss and our healer. Shade slid across the ground, grabbing Kari who’d fallen to the floor. He materialized an HP potion in his hand, ripped off the cork and poured the liquid down her throat.

  Life returned to her face. Her HP meter jumped back up. The hole in her chest sealed. It was insane how much pain and destruction this game dished out and how quickly it was undone with a cure spell or a small potion of red liquid. It helped balance out the insanity.

  “I’m sorry,” Kari croaked. “I let you guys down.”

  “You didn’t,” said Shade, helping her up.

  “Guys, don’t lose focus,” I said. Healing our healer at the start of a grueling boss battle was a terrible way to begin a fight. It got us off on the wrong foot. Bad for morale and bad tactically. We were now all over the place. Playing catch up.

  Jackson spiraled in the air, delivering a wind-based drop kick. The move clashed with the spirit guardian’s golden blade. Muscled leg against spirit blade. The two met, shaking the ground beneath them. They both pulled away. Jackson back flipped and landed cleanly back on the ground.

  Serena came in
next, delivering crushing blow to the spirit guardian’s backside, but the boss was quick. He spun around and met the blade with his sword.

  The boss was too fast. I had to slow him down before he used the devastating teleport ability again. A crippling debuff or two would diminish the power of his surprise attacks.

  “Make sure you’re casting defensive buffs on yourself as well Kari,” I said. “His teleport ability means he can completely disrupt and undo our party formation. We need to be prepared for it.”

  “Sure!” said Kari, lifting her small staff and free hand in the air and showering herself with golden protect magic. A small shield icon flickered beneath her status bars.

  I stretched out my arm and threw out lightning cage. A blue whip of electricity flew out from my palm and across the battlefield. The spirit warden stabbed the ground with his sword, creating a great gust of energy. The torrent of wind knocked Jackson and Serena back. The gale then disabled my lightning spell; the crackling lightning puttered and disappeared.

  I swiped my arm across the air and circled back, conjuring a plate of ice in front of me. I then shut my eyes, disappearing in a crackle of electricity. I reemerged in front of the spirit warden, between Jackson and Serena. I wasted no time, stretching out my arms and pushing with as much force as I had. A gale of wind emerged from my push and propelled the spirit guardian onto my sheet of ice.

  He calmly marched back across it towards us. The move didn’t work. He was invulnerable to normal debuff spells.

  “I’m really not digging this,” I said. “Anyone have any ideas.”

  Kari shot off a heal spell towards the warden. His barely diminished HP went back to full.

  “My bad,” said Kari. “I thought it might work the same as the undead.”

  “It was worth a try,” I said.

  “Do you give up yet?” asked the spirit. “As you can see: you won’t be able to defeat me.”

  He walked back towards us. Serena re-engaged him in a battle of swords while Jackson and Shade threw out attacks at his rear. The spirit was so fast, he was able to meet them all.

  “There must be a trick here,” I said. “Some way to stop him.”

  “There isn’t,” said Serena, between heavy breaths and swinging her sword. “He’s protecting one of the most powerful weapons in the game. It makes sense he’d be difficult to beat.”

  He was able to block everyone’s moves. Was he super fast or was he simply predicting all of our strikes? He must have a weak spot. We attacked him from all sides: back, front, rear. There was only one place left to try.

  I electric blinked back into the fray, but this time I emerged right between the spirit guardian’s legs. Looking up at the guardian’s crotch, I lifted my hands and conjured two massive fireballs and launched them into the Spirit Guardian.

  The guardian jumped up and retreated. His HP bar dropped by around 5%. He shook his head. He stretched out his arm and pointed his sword at us. He then dipped the sword to the ground and tapped one of the square platforms on the floor. The stone floorboard flickered away, revealing a starry spacescape below.

  “This feels like one of my hangover dreams,” said Shade, reloading his flintlock pistols.

  “What happens if we fall in there?” asked Kari, clutching her healing staff closely.

  “I don’t want to find out,” said Serena.

  “Let’s be careful,” I said. “We’re in a sealed off area of the game world right now. Like the fallen soldiers, death might work differently if we fall through there. There’s good news though: he’s immune from all angled attacks except from beneath him.”

  “I got just the move you guys,” said Serena, rushing towards the spirit warden. She ran towards him, leapt in the air, triggered charge attack right towards his feet. She rolled upon landing, crouching beneath him. She swung her sword upward, yelling, “Upward Slash!”

  Her blade swing launched the spirit guardian into the air like a volley ball player passing a ball to their teammate.

  “Weak from below,” said Serena. “Well, now is your shot.”

  “Great stuff,” yelled Shade, sliding his guns into his waist and switching to his daggers with speed and grace. He ran towards the falling spirit warden and leapt in the air to meet him halfway with his knives. “I’m sorry Lirana ghost. This plan wasn’t my idea, but if you’re gonna mess with my friends, well, then, I’m gonna mess with you!”

  Shade unleashed mug shot into the spirit’s thighs. The warden’s HP bar dropped by 3% from the critical hit.

  The spirit regained composure as he fell and landed gracefully with one hand on the ground and the other resting behind his back for balance.

  “Same tactic again,” yelled Serena, running forward to face the Spirit Warden head on.

  “Enough is enough,” said the spirit. He stabbed his sword in the ground and the gust of wind knocked Serena back. She stumbled, edging closer to the gap and the starscape below.

  “Serena!” I yelled. I threw out my arm and stretched my fingers wide, unleashing an air blast. The gale of wind shot from my hands in Serena’s direction. I ran towards her, chasing the blast of wind I’d sent her way. I hoped it would knock her to the side away from the ledge.

  But it didn’t get there in time.

  Serena fell through the gap into the space area. I dove towards the edge of the opening, holding out my hand, ready to grab onto hers. Yet looking over the edge, she was gone. Nothing was there. Just the empty nebulous galactic space of nowheresville.

  I waited for the fallen party member prompt in my HUD, but it didn’t appear. The missing confirmation only made me feel worse. A party member death would suggest death operated normally in this unlocked zone. Nothing meant abnormality. Nothing meant Serena was gone for good. My last real connection to my life prior to A.K.O. Someone who knew me before this, before the ZERO virus, before it all.

  I stared down into the empty cloud of space. Shit. This was my fault. I’d brought Serena here. I’d made the decision to take this quest. All I wanted was to protect her and our future life together and yet here I was, facing her ultimate demise.

  “Clay—watch out,” yelled Shade.

  I glanced over my shoulder and saw the shadow of the spirit warden. He lifted up his foot in preparation to knock me into the gap to nowhere.

  I shut my eyes, disappearing into a crackle of electricity, right as his foot was about to smash into my back. I reappeared across the chamber, tears in my eyes.

  This guy had killed Serena. He was killing us all. How were we supposed to stop him?

  There was one solution staring in front of me, but I refused to accept it. The spirit warden had told us from the very beginning to walk away. Turn around. Give up on the Ultriga Weapon. Was it really possible to do so? After Serena had fallen through the cracks of space and time. How did we walk away now? No. We wouldn’t walk away. We’d defeat this thing and get the Ultriga Weapon for Serena’s sake.

  “Guys,” I said, materializing an MP potion in my hand. “Keep it distracted.”

  Jackson and Shade nodded, charging towards the Spirit Guardian. Kari quickly cast protection and offensive buffs on both of them.

  I guzzled down the blue liquid, feeling the fresh liquid mana course through my body and seep into my veins and replenish my magical abilities.

  Time for my new plan. I shut my eyes, envisioning where I wanted to emerge in my blink, right below the spirit. I dematerialized into a burst of electric flashes and reappeared beneath the spirit. This time, however, I wasn’t only going to attack its weak spot. I raised my hands, a cool power rushing through my wrists. A burst of lightning shot from my palms and wrapped around the spirit warden’s thigh. A paralysis symbol flickered beneath its status bar.

  I stayed put on the ground, conjuring a field of ice behind the spirit. I directed my hands at the warden, who was squirming in the grip of my lightning cage spell, and unleashed an air blast. I knocked him back and he skidded against the plate of ice.

&nb
sp; Jackson and Shade ran to unleash a flurry of attacks, but the boss stood up remarkably quickly. The status debuffs disappeared. He stabbed his sword into the ground and knocked Shade and Jackson back.

  He unsheathed another spirit sword, so he was now dual-wielding. “Time is running out,” spoke the warden. He then yelled, “Ronin’s Odds.”

  He disappeared in a flash. A sharp pain coursed through me. The spirit sword poked out of my stomach. The room spun. The blade slowly disappeared from view as the spirit warden dragged it from my bleeding flesh. I turned around, my hands sparkling with lightning, ready to land a hail-Mary stun shot, yet my hand impacted nothing but air. The spirit warden was gone.

  He was behind Jackson, dealing the same wound he had to me. In seconds, he was behind Kari, then Shade. He returned to where he was. We were all in the red final bits of our health points.

  Ronin’s Odds: a samurai ability to even the playing field when fighting against multiple foes.

  “Heal yourself first Kari,” yelled Shade. “We’re all dead if we can’t heal.”

  Kari nodded determinedly and cast a cure spell on herself.

  I expected another onslaught of attacks but instead, he sheathed his swords.

  I materialized an HP potion and guzzled it down. My stomach wound sealed up as my health points shot back up into the green. Would it be enough to save me from whatever attack the spirit warden was now initiating?

  A powerful orb emanated from the spirit warden, growing out of him and getting larger and larger. The whole room began to disintegrate, the floor at the boss’ feet shattering away and opening up the galactic starry space Serena had fallen into.

  He was self-destructing, emitting a final explosion to destroy the infiltrators of his sacred temple.

  “I am of the opinion we need to get the hell out of here,” said Jackson.

  “I concur,” shouted Shade. “Oh boy, do I concur!”