Raze (The Completionist Chronicles Book 4)

by Dakota Krout

  “How? How!” the Hierophant shrieked, wild-eyed with fury. He looked around, seeing no one at the altar. Then he noticed an unnatural glow at the top of the deforming altar. “Some kind of power device? Is that a thing here?”

  The green fire flared up on his hand, far less dense than before, and he reached toward Joe. “I can always re-convert this place, but you’ve cost me weeks of work! Better finish this quickly.”

  Chapter Thirty-three

  “Ah don’ like ye, ye don’ like me! Let’s keep our slop ta ourselves!” The first chord of Bard’s Counter Song gave Joe exactly the boost he needed in order to break the hypnotism. In a flash, the Rituarchitect twisted his staff to block the green-glowing hand. Then he jumped backward, pumping stamina into escaping.

  Bard was standing on the collapsing altar, blood flowing freely from a wound on the back of his head. His song was as off-key as usual, but to Joe, it was the sweetest thing he had ever heard. Joe started calling out right away, “Alexis, obscure! Poppy, armpit! Jaxon! His spine is too straight!”

  “Oh no!” Jaxon had both hands facing the Hierophant, and he was reaching forward with a dangerous glint in his eye. “Spines need proper curvature!”

  Poppy’s rapier was speeding toward the armpit that the Hierophant had left unguarded with his attempt at doing something to Joe, and Alexis slapped a vial on the ground from a quick access bandolier she wore as a belt. Oily smoke covered the area in an instant but vanished in a shockwave of green flame that exploded in a nova around the Hierophant.

  “Do you think I am so easily brought low?” His words shook the air with power and fury. Everyone close to him, including the double handful of remaining cultists, were sent flying. Most of them were even on fire, so Joe sent out a wash of his group healing spell to give his stricken allies a boost. “I am the Hierophant of the Burning Mind! You are worms!”

  Joe jumped to the side as the place he had been standing was incinerated by a continuous burst of flame. The Hierophant was seething, his eyes narrow. “It is too early, but you have forced this. Never forget that it was your actions that released Gameover upon Eternium!”

  “What in the abyss is he on about?” Poppy called as he skewered a smiling cultist. There weren't too many left at this point, maybe a hundred, but they were the most highly-leveled of the cultists.

  “Not a clue!” Alexis threw a vial in a high arc at the Hierophant, and as he reached up to swat it aside, she whipped another at him. The first broke as soon as it was touched, and the second shattered on the man. The gases that poured out of the two interacted, and somehow formed into a tight column that encompassed the Hierophant before sinking into him. “That’ll give him something to write home about!”

  As the cult leader got away from the strange creation, his skin started to welt. He sent two palm-shaped flames at her, one of them landing on her thigh and lighting her on fire. The sheer force of the impact caused an audible *snap* as her bone cleanly broke. Alexis dropped, and the Hierophant went to finish her but screamed and started furiously itching at his skin and coughing.

  “Ah, geez, ow!” Alexis sucked in a breath and shouted at the others, “Nasty itching powder! His whole body is going to tear at his concentration, and he’s gonna get interrupted during spell casting!”

  Those words were her last for now, as a geyser of flame hot enough to cause the marble floor to bubble and pop sent her to respawn. The Hierophant sneered, “Not enough to keep you alive.”

  Humming began to increase in intensity as the remaining cultists tried to overpower the party, and Poppy was taken to the ground. He rolled back up and put a dagger in his off-hand to help deal with the large number of people charging him. Bard had joined the fight as well and was easily able to overcome the hypnotic tones now that their opponents were no longer being amplified by the building. He was using the cultists as cover, a very weak shield since the Hierophant had no trouble roasting his people to get at them.

  Still, it slowed the attacks and made them inaccurate. This kept Bard alive, and he used his remaining time to the fullest. His axes were whipping back and forth, taking down an unarmored cultist with each swing. Joe hadn’t been idle through this, and sprays of acid and Shadow Spikes were alternating from him every few seconds. Then every cultist stopped moving, simultaneously releasing a groan and dropping to the floor.

  “What just happened?” Joe looked sharply to the Hierophant, who was staring at Jaxon with hatred.

  “That. hurt.” The Hierophant backhanded Jaxon, the simple strike moving too fast for Joe to see. Somehow, Jaxon managed to dodge the majority of the blow, but his arm was torn off by the force the strike contained, and he was sent spinning across the room with blood flying away from his amputated limb. “I don’t care about converting you anymore. You lost your chance.”

  Joe made the connection right then. The cultists falling, looking withered but still alive. The sudden physical boost of an obviously magical nature, on to a person Joe was certain was an actual human from earth. That meant… this was a guild or at least acted like one. The Hierophant was a guild leader, and he had just pulled all the stats from his people.

  Even though Joe had realized this, it didn’t matter. The Hierophant blurred across the room, stomping down on Jaxon and popping his head like a grape that had been squeezed too hard. Then he incinerated Poppy and the cultists surrounding him. In an instant, he was a hundred feet away and had grabbed and tossed Bard into the wall. “Better make sure he’s gone this time.”

  Joe felt like he was moving in slow motion as the Hierophant was zipping around. Joe channeled Acid Spray, and the potent liquid destroyed the cultists on the floor with practically the first drop. No wonder why, their constitution had been reduced to ‘one’. He jumped into the air as high as he could, swinging his staff in a wide arc. The Hierophant was coming after him now but was visibly slowing as the people he was draining stats from died. At this point, if there was a handful of living cultists remaining, Joe would have been shocked.

  Now breathing heavily as he ran at Joe, the Hierophant sent a fireball upward at the falling man. There was little power behind it, comparatively, but the explosion still made Joe lose control and fall to the floor in a tangled, bleeding heap.

  Health: 160/270. Might want to get a shield up!

  The Hierophant tackled Joe as he tried to get to his feet, and Joe lost another ten health as his head bounced off the floor. The Hierophant was still far stronger than Joe, thanks to whatever boost he was still getting from living cultists. He pummeled Joe, his fists still covered in welts and now blood. “You think this has been easy? You think I’m just going to let you pop off to respawn somewhere and come back to hunt me again? You’re mine, and you’re going to be working for me!”

  Joe was able to cast Mend on himself as the Hierophant monologued, and seeing Joe return to full health seemed to make his opponent fly into a rage. Flames sprouted on his fists as he concentrated, and Joe retaliated by ballooning his mana out into an Exquisite Shell. As a fist came down, Joe’s protection solidified and flames cascaded around him.

  The Hierophant obviously didn't like that; he screeched and started slapping Joe’s face over and over. Each strike blocked Joe’s vision as flames pooled around him and a palm was stopped mere centimeters from his face. Joe was struggling, trying to cast any spell he could, but the Hierophant grabbed his staff, ripping it from Joe's hands and tossing it to the side.

  “This is the most boring battle I’ve ever been in!” Joe yelled at the Hierophant. “You can't hurt me, I can’t hurt you, and we are rolling around on the ground like a couple kids having a fistfight!”

  “I’d be happy to talk it out.” The hypnotic words bounced off Joe's Mental Manipulation Resistance, no longer being amplified by hundreds of people and a place of power. “Just lower your shield, and we’ll become best friends!”

  Through all of this, flaming flurries of fists were flashing in Joe’s face. The Rituarchitect decided to mess with th
is jerk a little. “Yes… lower my shields…”

  Hearing the words, the Hierophant paused in confusion. Joe took that chance to Acid Spray him in the face. The cult leader screamed and rolled away, the acid causing many of the welts on his face to burst. The pain of the itching gas and acid combined made the man howl as he rolled around on the ground, and Joe realized that all his bonus constitution must be gone at this point if he was feeling this poorly.

  “Something you either forgot or just don't understand, Hierophant, is that when you have an actual deity… well, there are bonuses for capturing a powerful cathedral like this. The divine energy? The mana? It has somewhere to go.”

  The North Cathedral of Chlorophyll Chaos has gained protectors! Six Divine Juggernauts have spawned within the cathedral!

  You have earned a reward from the continuous quest: Reclamation of the lost. After claiming a Cathedral and Place of Power for Tatum, you have been blessed! You have gained: +5 Intelligence. Temporary buff: Mana Node.

  Mana Node: so long as you stand in this cathedral, all spells cost 25% of their normal mana cost. Mana regenerates at triple speed. Lasts 1 hour.

  “Six? Even the Grand Ritual Hall only got four… though I guess that was only a mid-sized temple?” He looked over at the Juggernauts that had appeared, really glad that they were on his side. Just like the others he had seen, these ones stood eight feet tall with matte black armor covered in shifting, glowing runes.

  “Awaiting assignment,” six exactly synchronous voices spoke.

  “Grab him, make sure that he’s completely helpless,” Joe ordered them.

  “Instituting helpless target mode.” One of them moved forward, a huge naginata lifting into the air. The edge flashed a deep purple, and the Juggernaut dashed forward and took off the Hierophant’s arms and legs in a smooth motion. The wounds cauterized instantly, and Joe winced as the man shrilly screamed. The Juggernaut grabbed the Hierophant’s neck and squeezed just hard enough that he could breathe but couldn't speak.

  “Not… not what I meant.” Joe barely kept himself from puking. That had happened on his order, even if he hadn't wanted it done that way. He needed to be clearer. “Let him speak.”

  “Kill me, you coward,” the man spoke around coughing.

  “Aren’t you the one who was all worried about me going out and coming back to kill you? I feel like you’d be way more dangerous to let go. You know, cause you have a cult of over a thousand brainwashed players? Nah, I just need to figure out what you were going to do to me.”

  “You’ll find out right now.” Paul The Hierophant still managed to smile despite his situation, and Joe was on guard right away. He jerked his head to the side. “You freed the Sliver without putting a leash on him. Now we all die.”

  Joe looked over, seeing that the structure in the center of the cathedral had finally bubbled away and into ooze. It had only lasted this long because it was steeped in decades of power and, more recently, a continuous supply of blood and life energies. The same blood that was used to contain… was also meant to strengthen and bind the horror that was now emerging from the pit it had been sealed within.

  A name tag appeared above the creature as it pulled itself out of the place it had grown for decades. Bright red formed above its head, resolving into the largest health bar Joe had ever had the misfortune of seeing; it was like seeing a rainbow that stretched across the horizon.

  Sliver of The Burning Mind: Gameover.

  Chapter Thirty-four

  Gameover: this Sliver is only a small portion of the unending hunger of The Burning Mind. Caution! Any Travelers eaten by this creature will have all their data deleted, a true game over. Use utmost caution! Each true death will strengthen Gameover, granting new and horrible abilities.

  Joe looked up at the towering abomination, his mind having trouble processing what he was seeing. “What kind of sick game is this?”

  Think octopus, at least in terms of the beak and multiple waving limbs. It didn't have the bulbous body, instead looking like a stretched trampoline with eight eyes, three mouths, and teeth. So many teeth. Oddly, all the teeth were flat like an herbivore’s. Joe had been expecting sharp, pointy, scary teeth. Gameover looked like it had just got a set of braces off, and the dichotomy was just another thing that bothered him.

  *Uughh*, it screamed; a deep and oddly manly scream like a weightlifter that had just completed his best set ever. Then it began to move, and its limbs slapped the floor as it barreled at the group. Joe was grabbed by a Juggernaut and tossed across the room. Five of the six Juggernauts attacked the creature as it came close, various weapons lashing out. Joe righted himself in the air, landing in a crouch thanks to his Aerial Acrobatic skill, which even ticked up a level from the usage.

  Joe looked on in awe as the Juggernaut’s danced around the floor-shattering spikes that were raining on to them. Blood poured like rain as Gameover took wounds that would leave any number of creatures paralyzed, drained, or dismembered. Still, the thing’s health barely ticked down at all. The vast health bar even refilled when there was nothing actively hitting it, and Joe wondered how anyone was ever supposed to defeat this.

  Then he remembered the creature’s name: Gameover. If this was its weakest form, it was likely that no one was supposed to be able to beat this. A Juggernaut took a hit and detonated like a phosphorus bomb, all the fragments latching on to the being that had killed it and dealing a huge amount of damage over time. Gameover responded by lopping off that limb and focusing on landing strikes on the other Juggernauts. In moments, another fell, and Joe realized that he needed to figure out a way to help.

  He scooted forward, dropping his staff and dual casting—then channeling—Acid Spray. Acid was supposed to be good at stopping regeneration, right? He controlled the streams as much as possible, trying to get acid only on Gameover. He was mostly successful, and the continuous damage started to prove its worth. Joe could keep this attack up nearly indefinitely thanks to the ‘Mana Node’ buff, so he tried to do exactly that.

  Then another Juggernaut was smashed, and the battle started to turn against them quickly. A shard of floor hit Joe hard enough to break his Exquisite Shell and send him flying. He stared at the ceiling, blinking as the Stunned! debuff wore off. He started to sit up, but an odd sound made him flinch and look to the side. It was the Taglock that he had given Jaxon? He must have dropped it! Picking it up, a plan formed in Joe's mind. “I really hope this isn’t stupid.”

  Skill increase: Magical Synesthesia (Novice III). Don't read, fight!

  “Fair.” The taglock went into his ring storage, and Joe took a deep breath to get himself ready. “Juggernauts! Distract it!”

  He ran at Gameover, which was luckily focusing on the Juggernauts. Joe pumped every drop of mana he could manage into his Exquisite Shell, the Mana Node buff allowing him to create an overshield four times stronger than he had ever before managed. He smoothed and curved the front portion of the shield upward. As he reached the edge of the blood on the floor… he jumped forward and at an angle. He shot across the wet ground, his Shell acting as a toboggan.

  Gameover saw him about to go under its body and started to move to crush him. The Juggernauts took Joe’s orders very literally, however, and the one holding the Hierophant decided that a treat would be a good distraction. It threw the man at Gameover’s maw, to the Hierophant’s delight and terror. Seeing the flying body, Gameover paused and accepted the gift.

  Both groups had made a terrible mistake.

  Joe finished traversing the ground, leaving a clean path where he had been. He had stored gallons of blood inside his codpiece, and he didn’t look back as he got to his feet. Joe got up and ran, ending up at the pit Gameover had crawled out of. Pulling out his taglock with the Ritual of Containment filling it, he poured on Gameover’s blood and activated the ritual at the same time as tossing the needle into the hole.

  The taglock landed at the bottom of the pit and formed into ritual circles. Joe looked back, expecting
Gameover to drastically weaken. This ritual made the target lose health, mana, and stamina at an unbelievably fast rate when they were out of the containment. So, valid expectation. What he saw made him cringe. Essentially, he had only managed to slow Gameover’s regeneration. Now some of the damage being done was at least sticking, but it really didn't matter.

  Gameover’s body was rippling, and a new growth appeared on its body: a perfect bone spearhead longer than Joe’s body was tall. It aligned with the body of a Juggernaut, then launched out faster than the guardian could react. The bone went through the powerful creature, then retracted, pulling the huge body to its mouth. A harpoon? Joe looked at the two remaining Juggernauts and made a choice. He ran for it.

  He got out of the door and was empowering every step with a jump. Mana, stamina, whatever it took… he needed to get out of there! He passed the tree where the Scout had secured himself and realized that he was running toward the Wolfmen Village. “Nope, nope, nope!”

  Joe altered his course and sprinted away. He had no idea if Gameover could track him or would even bother to follow him, but somehow, he felt it would. Joe almost screamed as the Scout appeared beside him, running casually beside him. “What happened? Why are you fleeing as coward does?”

  Joe declined to answer, the echoing rumble of the side of the cathedral crumbling being enough to stall any future questions. “Desert! Where?”

  The Scout sniffed the air, not looking back even as trees behind them were smashed apart. That could be anything, after all. He altered their course, and the pair sprinted in a straight shot across the forest. They passed multiple creatures; Rosebeasts, Imps, Ents… it didn't matter. Soon, they had almost a dozen hostile monsters chasing them. Frankly, if they killed him, he wouldn't need to worry about Gameover for a few hours. Then again, if the beast got out and started eating farmers… Joe ran harder.

  “Head start. Thirty-two constitution.” Joe turned his head to the side and puked as he ran, something he hadn't done since his early days in the army. Gameover was faster than them, and if he slowed at all, the lead he had gained would be lost.