Gestation

by John Gold

  I only get the chimerology skill after my fiftieth chimera. I destroy them all, every last one. My altar of chimerology reeks of dark magic, and even the aura of death appears. Mental damage can’t touch me, though it can absolutely get into my head.

  The three-volume series on chimerology was written in blood with detailed examples and ways to interact with blood magic. That’s enough to get anyone going! I create something terrifying that straddles the border between chimerology and necromancy, none of the books on the dark arts covering anything like it. I just happen to guess, based on how incomplete the seals are, that a ritual like this is possible. But what does a concentrated burst of necroenergy get you? Creating scalable personal items using your own blood takes a three-level seal. The five-sided contour on the outside offers the primary energy, while each subsequent contour enables you to control it and imprint that on the enchanted item. But I only realized that you can expand the seal to the fourth contour when I finished studying the books on chimerology from cover to cover. Thinking in several streams at once makes it easy to add what’s missing. The seal wasn’t complete, and it required a grand master in chimerology, necromancy, and blood magic. I’m taking a huge risk, but I want to do this… My intelligence calls for a seeker! I follow it.

  I need a lot of space for a seal this big, so I go back to feeding energy into the tree I’m under. It gets so big, it reaches the clouds. There are plenty of bodies and lots of water in the soil, meaning that it can grow quickly.

  There are five large seals, one each at the tips of a star, and another at its center, six in total. It takes a week for me to draw the whole thing in blood because it keeps disappearing after twelve hours. To see the whole thing, I have to stand in the middle and jump. But I did it! Luckily, one thing that’s different about the fifth circle of Hell is that the bodies don’t disappear. They decompose, but that takes a full month. I already checked.

  In a word, it took me a long time to prepare: two months preparation, a week handling the details. But finally, I’m done, I got some sleep, and I had something to eat. Let’s do this!

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Eliza was giving a seminar on social education for girls. Since they often get caught up with the wrong crowd, you have to teach them how to protect themselves.

  It was a routine seminar with a group of girls she’d already been working with. They’d been coming for weeks and could expect their level of citizenship to be bumped up when they finished their studies and got their qualification.

  “Miss Donovan, excuse me. It’s an emergency. Anji is doing necromancy.” Moro contacted Eliza via the infonet during the seminar, having created a screen in the auditorium.

  “What, he’s raising corpses?”

  “I wouldn’t have bothered you over something like that.”

  “Then, what’s the problem? Mass sacrifices again?” She stopped. “No, you would have told me that right away. Okay, out with it.”

  “Anji made a pentagram that covers more than a square kilometer. He’s using blood magic and necromancy, and it’s hard to say what end result he’s going for.”

  “But we told him he can’t do mass sacrifices! What is he trying to do on that scale?”

  “I’m not sure. I counted 2500 corpses he’s using as energy sources.”

  “Oh, god, did he slaughter a whole city? Bring him here this instant!”

  “I can’t, the ritual has already begun. It took me a while to collect the facts since the seal is so big.”

  “Mm…” Eliza grabbed her head, almost as if she had a toothache. “Show me.”

  The boy was covered in blood and sitting in the center of an enormous magic symbol. Mysterious writing covered every inch of his body, and his left hand held onto a bracelet on his right arm.

  The corpses were disintegrating into dust, which formed into a black cloud and migrated between the levels of the seal, going from circle to circle to draw the energy of death into the center. The blood seal was so powerful that it was starting to catch fire. Finally, all the energy gathered in the center and was swallowed up by the magic symbols on the boy’s body.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  I’m thrown back into the astral, where I’m greeted by the howl of thousands of souls. A minute later, an enormous island forms, and I am thrown onto it with incredible speed. If it wasn’t for my instantaneous healing and empowered body, I would have died from the impact. My whole mental body senses creatures looking at me. They’re so great, their wrath and scorn burn all the way through me.

  “I don’t care what you think! I’m going to do it!”

  The only response I get is a barrage of corpses pouring down on me from the sky. They’re shooting at me! I use a large, flat rock as a shield, as catching one on the head might be enough to kill me, though the rock soon starts to crack.

  Soon, I realize that it isn’t zombies raining down; it’s demon-possessed bodies. They’re all maxed out on mana, too.

  I have to do more than just kill them, I have to burn their bodies. I batter them, break them, set them alight. Every fire arrow turns one of my enemies into ash that will never harm me ever again.

  As soon as I finish off the demon-possessed bodies, a river of other beasts pours out of the astral and heads in my direction. I’m hit with magic, arrows, spears, swords, cold, fire, and rocks. I lose track of time. Giving up is not an option.

  A lone cliff is the only high point on the island, and thirty-meter leaps take me there. I find myself on the tip, grab my bow, and start shooting. The charge I put into each arrow, however, is so strong that the astral itself starts vibrating and drifting. As I fire down at everyone trying to get to me at the top of the cliff, I dodge large projectiles. The arrows and magic being fired at me bounce off harmlessly.

  Finally, the battle breaks in my favor and the enemy starts to retreat. As soon as the island is empty, I go back to feeling the angry glances being cast in my direction.

  “You think I’m afraid of you? You think you can kill me just because you want to? I don’t care who you are, and I’m going to get what I want!”

  In answer, an unknown power tears the island in half, something like a sword. At the last moment, I catch a glimpse of the blade’s owner, somebody heading right toward me, but then I’m pulled out of the astral. Wait, what? My opponent turns out to be me, only in my demon appearance and with a sword in my hand. The blade flashes, and I’m sure that it’s on par with my bow. I’m flooded with the yearning to take it for myself.

  Astral bone sword

  A chimerologist wanted to create a sword that would be the personification of himself. It is linked to both the soul and the body of its master, being no less than another of his body parts.

  Effect: Lets you create spells and imbue your sword with them. The durability of the sword depends on your stamina level, and the maximum charge is equal to your mana. The speed at which you can empower it depends on your morale.

  Requirement: Non-level ability

  That isn’t an item; it’s a chimeric skill. So, I was almost killed in the astral with my own sword? I created something beautiful, wonderful, and surpassingly powerful. It had to have been my sword on the island, which means it had to have been me.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  The boy left the astral seventy-five hours later, having spent almost four days in the capsule. The orphanage cocoons weren’t designed for that, so he was hospitalized as soon as he got out. He then spent two days at the hospital. Eliza, in turn, slept for almost a full day after her seminar.

  After this incident, the boy’s punishment was to spend almost six months away from Project Chrysalis. He sent a full report on child rights to the people in charge, however, indicating what the maximum punishment could be. Vaalsie gave him a month on top of that for breaking the rules governing the capsule, but the boy was still over the moon that he was only getting two months.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Anji spent those two months well, passing all the exams he had lined up for t
he next three years of study. One requirement for getting citizenship was a minimum level of education.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  It’s been fourteen months since I started playing Project Chrysalis, and I still remember the smell of father’s tobacco and the taste of mama’s cooking. I even feel thankful to Rachel and Bernard for sending me here. Eliza was right: my karma in the project would have dropped drastically after what I’ve done, only there are no gods here to curse me. There’s only me, the sinners, and the devil. My abilities have grown in leaps and bounds, I’ve been able to drive far past what I used to be limited to, and I have my skills, my magic, my forbidden arts… I’ve well surpassed even my own expectations. That wouldn’t have happened in the regular project lands. There aren’t places there that do the same continual physical damage as the auras in Hell. There are only a few places where there are monsters above Level 1000, too. I’ve covered all the weaknesses I brought with me from that world, though I lost what was most important to me: my parents and friends.

  As soon as I log into the game, I decide to look at what I was able to make. I pull the sword out of my right palm with my left hand.

  The weapon doesn’t have a guard. It’s a bone blade with a small hilt. I can infuse it with magic, turning it a cold white color, and a mere wish is all it takes for the built-up energy to fly out in a shock wave that works like any other blade. Fire, darkness, light - the energy can take any form. The only problem is that I can’t use the sword to heal. That makes sense though, as does the fact that the strike can’t take the physical form of water or earth. It’s basically the bow, just without the recoil issue.

  My astral double was able to hew the island in half, though all I can cut into is a root. Of course, it is three meters across. My double is probably really high-level, so he could have killed me with one blow if he hadn’t been busy with his tomfoolery. Or was that just a warning? Either way, I’m better off not facing certain death in the astral anymore.

  They told me I couldn’t do any more of those rituals, though I’ll bet they won’t punish me for creating a bone hound. It ends up being seven meters tall, made to look like Cerberus, and it bounds across the swamp until it gets to the hole and dives in with me.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Current location: Sixth Circle of Hell. Graveyard of the City of Dis.

  Fields of Ash

  Sadly, the dog doesn’t make it through with me. I’m by myself. But this is what people think of when they think of hell. Everything around me is burning, even the earth. If I hadn’t built up the amount of damage I can ignore back in the first circle, I’d have died the second I got here.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Damage taken: 50000 (ignored: 280515)

  22560/22560

  And this is the periphery! I can’t imagine what it must be like in the center. Oh, and there’s the guard. He isn’t alone, however. There are three figures, each of which reminds me of Miss Donovan.

  Unfortunately for them, they turn their back on me. I’m not about to play fair with three opponents at Level 550.

  I climb into one of the graves, where I find that the fire damage is much higher, reaching 150000. That’s okay though, since I need a second to prepare for my shot.

  Even though I give it the maximum charge, I only kill one of them. The other two are stunned, and I kill them with ordinary spells. There was no way I was going to be able to pull off a second shot with the bow, and I wasn’t about to die by making a stupid mistake like that.

  I get two rings and earrings from them.

  This circle is very different to the others. The sinners here are constantly being tormented by fire coming right from their graves. They die and are reborn over and over again.

  I’m drenched in sweat, notwithstanding my advanced resistance to fire. The local furies are Level 400, and I have to collect victims one by one for my combined health ritual.

  I walk up to the walls of the City of Dis. They tower above me at the very center of the circle, and the intense heat means I can only use demons. The local sinners die frequently too.

  Experience is a beautiful thing. I’m able to boost my fire resistance and get to the next hole in just two weeks. Taking 500000 fire damage starts to feel normal, even if it’s still hard to breath.

  The hole is right next to the city, on the other side. I jump in, and that’s when the fun starts.

  I’m dropped right into a pool of boiling blood. Can’t see a thing! When I break the surface, centaurs start shooting arrows at me.

  That turns out to be a big mistake. One dolphin kick, and I’m flying out of the water and at one of them. He wasn’t expecting that kind of agility from a sinner, and he definitely wasn’t expecting a charged sword.

  I take him out with one sweep of my sword, hurl destruction spikes at the second, and then tackle the third straight into a ditch.

  I get a bow and some arrows in with the loot.

  Then, I check out my mini map.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Current location: Seventh Circle of Hell. First Belt. Phlegethon.

  Pits of Boiling Blood

  Ooh, this is brutal! There are guards at every turn, three of them, in fact. Whatever, time for a bath, a bath of blood.

  Back in the Middle Ages, on Earth, there was a countess who bathed in blood. She has to be somewhere around here. It isn’t bad, regardless, and I even find it kind of relaxing thanks to my 550000 resistance to all kinds of thermal damage. It’s thick and warm… I’m almost overcome with the feeling, having long since become accustomed to hearing screams all around me.

  I find the exit to the next belt at the bottom of an enormous pool of blood. Actually, it’s more like a lake of blood, just with a passageway to the next belt where the bottom should be.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Current location: Seventh Circle of Hell. Second Belt. Suicide Forest.

  Copse

  My guess was that I was going to be dropped into a city, but I turn out to be in a forest with trees growing out of the bodies of still-living sinners. Flaming dogs chase those of them who are still able to run. Up in the trees, there are harpies sitting and giving me unpleasant looks.

  I’m not even counting the number of demons I’ve killed here. In fact, I only stop killing them when they stop coming after me. Harpies are weak opponents, though they’re much nimbler than what I’m used to. Of course, their agility doesn’t stand much of a chance when I stun them in midair. At one point, it’s practically raining harpies, and killing them when they’re stunned is easy. I’m also happy to be hit by lightning. I haven’t taken any electric damage in four months.

  The trees are odd here. They have faces. Maybe, they’re relatives of that walk-tree. Just to see what will happen, I shoot one of them with weak healing. The misery being experienced by the man under the tree stops, though the tree itself comes after me. I don’t bother burning it, instead chopping it in half and breaking off some branches. These will be a great present for father to replace the branches he gave me. I gather some of its fruit and decide to take revenge on the harpies for attacking me. In the neighboring grove, there’s a few dozen of the evil creatures, so I stun them, drop a seed on each, and shoot an arrow with weak healing. Huh, the trees take the face of their victim, complete with their death grimace!

  What’s the first rule of any circle of Hell?

  Always head to the center.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Current location: Seventh Circle of Hell. Third Belt. Flammable Sands.

  Desert

  For the second time in this circle, I take thermal damage. I’m in the middle of a desert. All around, sinners burn, while a fiery rain pours down from the sky. I’m burning, too, though I don’t really mind. The damage is minimal. If it were lava, that would be different, but a little fire rain doesn’t bother me.

  The closer I get to the center of the circle, the stronger the downpour. Right at the edge of the border, the fire is blue, set against blood-red flashes in the sky. Beautiful!


  And there is the hole leading to the next circle of Hell.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Current location: Eighth Circle of Hell. First Belt. Eternal Crossing.

  Path of Pain

  The entire eighth circle is boring after the chimerology and necromancy tricks I pulled. The only thing worth mentioning is my encounter with Geryon, a fight that took a whole day. The death machine’s only weaknesses are his sluggishness and nine-meter height. In close combat, he’s a Level 700 monster with six arms and six legs, the kind that’s impossible to beat. Three shields, three spears. I have to keep running away and shooting back at him with my bow, and the only reason he dies is because I’m able to shatter one of his shields. I get the other two in with the loot. When I first saw him, I thought I was going to die. Actually, my very first thought was that he was a statue. But the way he waved those spears around… He hit me, too, though I was able to block the hit and mitigate the damage in my demon appearance.

  It takes me two weeks to get through the tenth belt, what with having to deal with innumerable diseases. I take 75000 damage to both my physical and mental bodies at the same time, and that’s just from the shroud.

  The belts get so narrow that I can see the other side after just six hours of running. Between them, there’s a shroud full of air, thick with the stink of decay. If it weren’t for the guards, I would stay here longer.

  This is where I first see the classic devils armed with pitchforks. It takes me a while, but I’m finally able to “convince” a pair of them to boost my resistance by combining our health pools. Their Level 600 is almost too much for me, though blood magic and seals tip the scale in my favor. In other words, one ritual goes to help the other. Stun spikes work on the devils, though they don’t last very long at all.