by John Gold
I dash off around the corner of the next building in stealth mode. Somewhere nearby, I hear the footsteps of a pair of zombies—the undead are hurrying over to where the skirmish just took place. Breathing slowly to calm my heartbeat, I dive behind some kind of stone bench. Then, I take out the flask of water I brought with me and take a few mouthfuls. There’s no food or water to be found, so I need to conserve what I have. Some dried fish are next. I don’t even chew, afraid that might bring the zombies following the scent.
The zombies don’t find me, rats run by a couple of times, and they’re always followed by possessed demons. The ghost of a stray dog who finds me dies to a spear of darkness. I can’t stay in one place, so I get up and head on in search of the demonologist guild. If it’s anywhere, it has to be here in the business district.
I move quietly, as if ghosts and demons are hiding behind each wall. My bare feet slide along the cold stone road, the weak, spectral light illuminating the empty street. There are no zombies, no rats, no demons, no ghosts—it’s like they’re afraid to show up around here. Crouching and activating stealth, I study the street more carefully. The buildings are closed, and there are red crosses and circles on the doors, but I don’t see any ghosts—none at all. Nothing moves. Then, my perception highlights a spot on the road. It’s barely visible, no more than a meter in diameter…but it’s moving. One, two, three…five! They’re all moving blindly.
Ghost, Hell Python Spirit, Level 2518
Damage received: 108000 (ignored: 12500000)
6400/6400
Part of the street is behind me, and this is where I’m attacked. The spot shows up under my feet, and what looks like a giant snake latches onto me. Happily, it only has a mental body, which means it only does mental damage. Its friends start slithering over to introduce themselves to the unlucky traveler. Another couple appears near an alley.
I can’t use ranged spells where I am, though the same isn’t true of my tattoos.
“Gehenna fire! Maximum!”
Damage received: 515710 (ignored: 1177204)
6400/6400
The road under my feet hisses and pops, and the stones around me start looking like pans that have been used to fry meat. The snakes wriggle, dying in the hellish oven, and ten seconds later, I’m alone in the street.
Finally, I can look around more carefully. I don’t see any snakes or moving spots. It’s the same lifeless, soundless emptiness, just my breathing and the crackling stone breaking the silence. Even with how quiet it is, I move in stealth mode as softly as I possibly can. Nobody’s behind me. I don’t have to turn around—my perception is so strong that I practically have eyes in the back of my head. Suddenly, that changes, however, and I do turn, expecting to see anything, even death or the gates of Hell, but just not that.
Near the house where the snakes attacked me, right in the corner, a demon is hiding. All I can see is half his face and one broken horn. In his hands, which don’t have a hint of skin left on them, he’s clutching an enormous sledgehammer in his hands. He peeks out of his hiding place as if playing hide and seek. But this time, I’m the rat he’s going to chase. His lifeless eyes gleam green, his jaw swings open and closed without making a sound, and we stare at each other.
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I dash toward the intersection. I neither see nor hear my opponent—we’re running through enemy territory, though the devil himself wouldn’t scare me with someone like this demon behind me.
I get to a turn and duck left around the corner.
Damage received: 33260 (ignored: 81422)
6400/6400
The corner of the building shatters with the blow from the sledgehammer, shards of stone burying themselves painfully in my leg, and I collapse. The demon raises his weapon for a final blow.
“Dwarf hammer! Dragon breath! Wind of death! Dwarf hammer! Weaker healing! Rose of death! Lightning! Lightning! Tornado!”
Not enough mana
“Ma…”
The wall is long-since gone, the foundation has been shattered, the street is boiling…but the demon is still alive. In complete silence, he stares me dead in the eye… From now on, we’re blood enemies. He raises his hammer, and I dash headlong down the street. He’s a monster! His resistance is incredible, he has ten times my health, and his level is almost two thousand above mine.
The wall of the building to my left explodes, and I look back to see the handle of the sledgehammer poking out of it. I shouldn’t have turned—the demon is close. The only way to explain the fact that he missed is that he has one eye and a bunch of rotten muscles.
The demon sprints after me and throws out his hand, catching the sledgehammer as it flies toward him. Telekinesis! I don’t have time to think through what that means for me, as my pursuer hurls his weapon at me again. This time, it smashes through the overhang of the building in front of me. That was his second throw to find the distance, so the next one isn’t going to miss. But half a second to dive to the side is a lot when you’re running fifty meters a second.
An enormous paw whips over my head; the sledgehammer whistles past on its way to rejoin its master.
“Light hammer! Maximum!”
It’s been a little less than a minute, and I have enough mana for a hammer blow with ten streams. It costs all of the 10000 mana I have.
The spell pounds the demon into the ground. There’s an explosion, and I’m thrown across the street.
Debuff: Blinding 3… 2… 1
Still unable to see anything, I leap up and keep running. The fact that the explosion didn’t make a noise can mean only one thing: the demon is still alive. Using the time I’ve bought, I turn to see how much health the demon has. He’s already up on his feet and running after me, and he’s still at forty percent. What a beast!
There’s a crossroads up ahead, so I decide to see if I can duck out of his field of vision.
But no sooner do I look in front of me than the demon is right there. That beast teleported!
He’s already winding up for a blow, and I’m dashing right into his arms. At the last second, a dwarf hammer knocks his aim off enough for the sledgehammer to go flying over my head.
The battle is pushing us both to the limit. He uses silence, speed, teleportation, and focus with his sledgehammer; I have my mana regeneration and a wide variety of spells.
The sledgehammer buries itself in the ground all the way to the shaft. I throw myself at the demon’s legs, and he falls to the ground.
“Dragon breath! Maximum!”
I won’t be able to use that again for another twenty minutes, and my tattoo would kill me. The demon’s whole left side is burnt away, the hefty bones and spirit inside now on display.
Damage received: 54570 (ignored: 81422)
6400/6400
Just a quick backhanded blow with his left hand throws me against the next building. Yeah, I wasn’t ready for this.
The demon gets up and dashes toward me, sledgehammer in hand. A quick swamp spell causes him to lose his balance.
“Dwarf hammer! Maximum!”
I’m out of mana, my spells are on cooldown, and I need a few seconds.
Leaping to my feet, I sprint off down the street toward the next district. I won’t survive a direct hit from that thing.
Rats are running ahead of me with zombies off to the side, but the most dangerous enemy is the completely silent one behind me.
My teeth clench, my ears strain, my eyes are wide, and I look like a hunted animal. Monster!
He teleports to right in front of me, and I bowl right into him.
The demon looks at me with his one eye. Only half his facial muscles remain, still, I’ve never seen that much venom and malice before. The sledgehammer whirls above his head…
“Firefly!”
The bright light hits us both, but it saves me and slows him down for a second. The sledgehammer crashes to rest on the road where I stood just a second ago. That trick won’t work twice.
“Light spear!
Maximum!”
I can only boost the spell four times, but I have the demon down to about twenty percent. What a beast!
I’m almost out of spells, I have no mana, and there are enemies all around, but I want to live. While the demon is pulling himself together after the hit from the light spear, I run off. If I can buy myself just one minute, I’ll have a chance of surviving.
What could be worse than having your enemy disappear from behind you? The demon is gone almost immediately after I take off.
Silence once again reigns on the streets of the dead city.
A second goes by, then two, three, five, ten… I run up to a corner where the road takes a turn, but my perception saves my life yet again. He’s on the other side of the corner!
Right in front of me, the building shatters under the weight of the sledgehammer.
Through the cloud of dust, I see the demon take another swing, his weapon filling with ghostly light.
Damage received: 78560 (ignored: 81422)
6400/6400
The demon pounds his hammer into the ground to create a shock wave. The houses within a fifty-meter radius are reduced to ruins, and I’m thrown into the mouth of a cave. That hurt!
How am I supposed to kill this monster? He teleports, he does area damage, he has complete silence, there are traps, and, of course, he’s wielding that enormous sledgehammer… He’s the maniac of the dead city.
I have two-thirds of my mana back up. The demon comes rushing at me, sledgehammer dragging, and I’m having a hard time seeing how I’m going to survive. It’s time to use a spell I have for just this kind of situation.
“Power of darkness!”
We’re enveloped in a sphere of darkness twenty meters in diameter. Neither of us can see or hear…but I have my imp eye.
Seconds tick by. We move around the pitch black silently, never stopping in one place. The demon can sense where I am too, though not as well as I can sense him. The problems start when he realizes he can herd me up against the ruins of the buildings. As soon as I trip, he leaps forward and engages.
He barely has enough time to lift his sledgehammer before I attack.
“Wind of death! Maximum!”
It lands with full force. The hammer disintegrates; the demon’s body starts to fall apart. First, I see the skin and flesh rot away before my eyes. Then, the bones disintegrate, and finally, all that’s left is the ghost that used to possess the dead demon.
It’s the ghost of a man in a dark-red mage’s cloak. I’ve never seen a color like that.
Ghost, Piroxis Aransky, Level 2788, raid boss
There’s no chance I can win a fight with a mage two thousand levels above mine. I’ve always been able to get away with expertise and my ability to leverage the unexpected, but that difference is just too big.
The ghost, however is calm, just the faintest smile on his face. He brushes some nonexistent dust off his shoulder, looks over at me as if I don’t exist, and walks off down the street.
Achievement received: Titanbane. Thirty-eighth rank.
Kill an opponent 1900 levels higher than you.
Reward: +190 to all attributes
Level 874 unlocked
135 attribute points available for distribution
Is it really luck when you’re let off the hook by someone who could kill you at any moment? When your teeth are chattering, you’re bathed in a cold sweat, and your body has stopped obeying you? When your heart is skipping beats right and left, when tears are pouring from your eyes? What’s wrong with me?! The hormones… I’m a coward! Come on, keep it together!
There’s a sepulchral silence reigning in the district I’m in, though the creatures living there are starting to appear now that the raid boss is gone. I hear rats squeaking, dried-up zombies murmuring, and doors to the houses around the corner creaking. The possessed demon wasn’t the only one, either. I counted at least three on my way here, which means I need to hide and catch my breath.
Two deep breaths clear my head, sharpen my perception, and push me forward.
Filthy and soaked with sweat, I run quietly up the street using stealth. My bare feet slip across the cold stone, the ghostly light coming from the stone arch above illuminating the roads in the city of the dead.
Three small districts later, I still haven’t found the guild building. The quiet has me more scared than the zombies grumbling or the giant rats squeaking. Even the breeze the ghosts make as they walk by is better than the silence. When you aren’t expecting anything, and life suddenly freezes, your hair just stands up on end. He’s watching… He’s waiting… He wants to play…
Half the day goes by, and I’m starting to feel hungry and tired. Drainage channels line the road on either side. One of the stone plates they’re made of is missing, and the opening is just wide enough for me to wriggle into. Just in time! No sooner am I hiding in the basement than the door scrapes open.
Very quietly, crawling on my stomach, I find a gentle descent into the dead city’s sewage system. I don’t head any further. Who knows what could have spawned there in the last two thousand years? Curling up comfortably, I fall asleep right there in the tunnel.
What kind of dreams do you have when your brain is damaged, your hormones are out of whack, and you’ve just been through that kind of stress? I just doze, finding some relief. In the meantime, my consciousness splits: while I’m resting, LJ the cat is on the clock, and my seven combined streams of consciousness dream. It’s an enormous field of yellow flowers coming up to my waist, the sky and clouds like the ones they have on Earth. I’m not alone; there’s a girl taking me somewhere by the hand. She’s a step ahead of me, and I’m barely moving, not keeping up. Her red hair falls on her shoulder blades, she’s wearing a white dress, and her body is hefty…strong. I can’t see her face, and LJ doesn’t want me to look at her. Why not?
The field of yellow flowers is endless, and I have no idea where we’re going. The girl, however, definitely does. It’s a sunny, summer day, with a warm breeze and warm soil under my bare feet. Everything is almost real it’s so bright and pleasant, but it’s still a dream. The smell of the flowers, the wind playing with the girl’s hair, the blooms brushing against my hand…and I wake up.
It feels like I’m running out of time. I need real healing—my hormones are influencing the way I think too much. In my dream, I cried, wanting to stay there rather than return to this awful world.
When I crawl out of the sewer channel, I notice that my hiding place has been discovered. There are three rat tails lying next to the hole, not to mention deep scrapes that look like they could have been made by a large sledgehammer. Apparently, Piroxis found a new body and is in a hurry to get back to his games.
The city of the dead really took a beating, regardless of how the mages tried to save it after the cataclysm. Some of the buildings are underground, others are collapsed, and the latter look dangerous to venture into. The demonologist guild building suffered the most. It ends up being located right at the fault line, and it sank a good dozen meters into the cleft. With the roof collapsed, you can look down into all the rooms and hallways making up the third floor.
Somewhere nearby, zombies murmur, which tells me that the demon isn’t anywhere close.
I make my way down into the crevice, listening for any sound as I go. It isn’t the possessed demons back on the surface that I’m afraid of; it’s what could be in the building. I’m fine with rats or ghosts.
Everything is quiet.
The building was made completely out of stone, which saved it from being destroyed.
There’s nothing on the third floor besides dirt and trash. The paintings have faded, one of the walls collapsed, the furniture is all destroyed, and it looks like a library’s storage room. I know the information I’m looking for survived, so it can’t be here.
I find the stairs going down.
The second floor isn’t in the best condition, though the furniture here was destroyed by time, rather than the cat
astrophe. I find bedrooms and a couple of offices, though they’re bare of anything worthwhile.
The first floor is in the best condition. Also, the air is moister, which is odd. There’s the administration desk by the door, three walls covered in quests, and a small café for the mages. The outside door was apparently torn off by a powerful spell, though the opening has been covered up with stonework. When the building fell in, the first floor was next to the old sewage system, and it looks like the moisture seeped in through the stone. I find perfectly preserved stairs in the administrator’s room leading to the basement.
There’s just one stone door fortified with powerful enchantment, and a recess that reads magic rings instead of a key. The door quietly swings open to reveal the way down into the basement.
I find myself in the room from which the building was managed. It’s in great shape, almost as if the earthquake only happened yesterday. The Air Magic lectures I’ve attended have included some information about the deep conservation spell, though hearing about it and seeing the results with your own eyes two thousand years later are very different things.
In front of me, there are four large mana storage crystals, an enormous desk with a map on it, and two doors leading to other rooms. There aren’t any books or information about demons- nothing useful, that is, unless you count the discharged crystals that find their way into my inventory.
The first door leads to the guild’s storeroom, though the empty draws scattered around tell me it was probably emptied before the earthquake hit. The mana from the crystals probably went toward creating a teleport for the last demonologists hiding here to get away through.
I have to push open the other door. It’s stuck on the opposite side.
There hasn’t been a single body in the entire building. Until now, I haven’t even come across tracks left by anyone. In this room, however, there are eight corpses. The far corner features a large self-sacrifice seal with seven mages at the tips and one at the center. Collective suicide to boost the power of a spell… What do you have to do to a demonologist guild to get eight of them to do this?
