Nova Terra: Liberator - A LitRPG/GameLit Adventure (The Titan Series Book 5)

by Seth Ring

  Throughout the bizarre conversation between Thorn and the members of the Devil Blood organization, Mayari’s already pale face had been growing paler. It was obvious that the Devil Blood officers had no regard for her since her army of cultists had been defeated. Choosing to focus their attention elsewhere, they simply left Mayari to her own devices, though in doing so they had revealed much to Thorn.

  “I guess you are not as close to them as I thought,” Thorn said, taking a step toward the sealing circle. “Time to get you out of there, how do we do this?”

  “All you have to do is break the circle while wearing the ring. As long as the ring enters the sealed area, the seal will be nullified,” Mayari said, her shoulders slumped like she had given up.

  Watching her carefully as he got closer to the magical seal, Thorn did not let his guard down. If the quest description was anything to go by, Mayari was exceedingly dangerous, and he did not believe for a second that she had accepted her fate. Taking a deep breath, Thorn did his best to quiet his mind so that he would be ready for anything. Stretching out his hand, Thorn felt a tingle when the ring passed over the arcane circle that surrounded Mayari.

  *ting*

  Like the shattering of glass, the air around Mayari trembled as the circle lit up with arcane power. The tremble grew stronger until even Mayari’s figure shook in Thorn’s vision. Blinking, he did his best to keep Mayari in view while taking a few steps back. As Thorn arrived at the door to the room, the red-masked figure bowed and snapped their fingers, vanishing on the spot.

  “That seems awfully convenient,” Thorn muttered, trying not to allow himself to be distracted.

  “Wow, you really did it! For a moment I honestly thought that you would choose to leave me locked up in here forever!” The sense of defeat was gone from Mayari’s voice, and a gleeful happiness had replaced it. “Tell me, Lord Greymane, what would you like for your reward?”

  *ding*

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As the two different options flashed across Thorn’s vision, he felt the world slow down around him, and for the briefest of moments he actually wavered. Even with the incredible advantages he had, the thought of a unique five category class was enticing.

  “Join me, and you will become one of a kind. The most powerful man to walk Angoril. You will command a legion of unstoppable warriors, and with me by your side we shall sweep aside all who would challenge your rule, crushing the continent under your heel!”

  Despite the fact that everything had slowed down, Mayari’s words flowed into Thorn’s head as normal, the coercive pink mist coming with them. Still clear-headed despite the enchanting effect Mayari’s words held, Thorn saw the corrupted High Priestess getting to her feet. With a slow motion flick of her thin wrists Mayari snapped the thin black chains that had kept her bound. Without their magic they were no stronger than iron and could not stand against her strength.

  An insane grin inched its way across her face as the tips of five tails sprang up behind her. More pink mist poured out of her tails, forming a giant clawed hand that began to drift toward Thorn, sending a chill down his back. Somehow, in his hyper aware state, Thorn knew that the pink claws were actually shooting toward him incredibly quickly, even though they currently appeared to be moving through thick molasses.

  Throwing any thought of going along with Mayari out of his head, Thorn drew up his [Spiritual Sense] and expanded it until it filled his entire body. Though it stopped at his skin, it caused his aura to explode wildly, filling the room with a crushing presence and casting everything in a faintly yellow light.

  The pink hand that Mayari had conjured was smashed back, deforming back into a thick cloud. Even Mayari herself was knocked backward as the aura coming from Thorn took her by surprise. Without waiting for her to recover, Thorn stomped hard, activating [Predator's Leap] to send himself shooting straight up toward the ceiling of the room. He followed [Predator’s Leap] up with [Moon’s Reflection] just before his body slammed into the ceiling. As his body turned incorporeal, he rushed through the stone roof into the dirt hill piled on top of it.

  Behind him he could hear a roar of rage so powerful that it began to shake apart the hill around him. Just before the two seconds of [Moon’s Reflection] ended, Thorn activated it again, continuing to fly upward. His arms broke the surface of the hill, quickly followed by his head and his chest. As his body started to come back into focus with [Moon’s Reflection] wearing off, he thrust both palms at the ground, freeing his legs. Pushing off of the shaking earth, Thorn launched himself down the hill in a wild tumble as everything exploded behind him.

  *BOOOM*

  The players surrounding the cave quickly took refuge behind their shields, trying to block the flying dirt and stones as the entire top of the hill blasted apart. From the massive hole she had created, Mayari rose into the air, surrounded by five thick arms made of pink mist that extended from her tails. Using the arms like the limbs of an octopus, her body floated in the air. Gone was her docile, innocent air, and in its place was a savagely beautiful bloodthirst that radiated from the fallen High Priestess of Hati, seeking to infect anyone who came in contact with it.

  [It is time to end this once and for all, betrayer!]

  Mani’s voice was no longer confined to Thorn’s head as it echoed in the minds of every creature in the valley. The silver furred wolf crouched slightly, her fur bristling as her eyes locked onto Mayari.

  “Ahahaha! Is that you, sister? How delightful!” Mayari’s mad laughter echoed through the valley, causing all the surrounding players to wince in pain. “Who could have imagined that you would have lived until now? Are you sure you want to do this? The last time you were barely able to trap me in that wicked seal. Do you really think that you will be able to beat me? You could barely hold me back then and I’ve only gotten stronger!”

  [Enough, witch. Come and meet your doom!]

  As her words fell, both Mani and Mayari launched themselves at one another, colliding with an earthshaking slam. Ripping and tearing at each other, they crushed the surrounding buildings into dust, forcing the players to flee backward. After half a minute of brutal fighting, Mayari jumped backward, letting out a titter that sent shivers down the players’ spines.

  “Hehehe, I see you brought some minions, sister. Is that what you were relying on to win against me? Well, I learned my lesson, you see, and I have not been idle. You may have trapped me, but my minions have been hard at work! Rise, Bloodkin, RISE!”

  From deeper under the ruins of the temple a guttural roar rose in response to Mayari’s words, and four gaping holes appeared in the ground. Thick, clawed hands appeared first, followed by slavering maws and bulging muscles as four huge Bloodkin that were nearly twenty feet tall each rose from the pits.

  “Hasta, take battalions six through ten and lock down the two Bloodkin on your side. Battalions one through five, you’re with me!” Slightly dusty, but no worse for wear, Thorn began giving commands as soon as the first bloody claws appeared. “I want one hundred ranged DPS from each battalion to focus on Mayari! Battalion one support, keep Mani as healthy as you can! Support from battalions two through five, pick up the slack as we fight the Bloodkin! Iron Wolves!”

  “KILL!”

  Splitting like well-oiled machinery, the Iron Wolf army quickly divided and headed toward their targets. Hasta selected five hundred ranged DPS players from the battalions under his command and sent them to Mina to assist in attacking Mayari. The support team from battalion one set up behind Mani, getting ready to do their best to keep the massive silver wolf alive.

  “Battalions two and three, you’re on the Bloodkin on the left. Four and five, you take the Bloodkin on the right. Battalion one, as soon as aggro is stabilized, hit the Bloodkin on the left as hard as you can!”

  The four massive monsters finally pulled themselves out of the pits, roaring up at the sky. As they looked around for targets, they quickly found themselves completely swarmed by players. In the center of the
ruined temple Mani and Mayari were locked in a ferocious battle to the death, surrounded by a crowd of players who were either healing Mani or blasting Mayari with deadly ranged attacks. At the edges of the ruins the huge Bloodkin were completely locked down by a constantly rotating set of tanks while the DPS players bombarded them with spells.

  Standing back, Thorn watched the field carefully, keeping his eyes open for any changes in the fight. Sure enough, as the first of the Bloodkin sub-bosses fell to 75% of his health, he threw back his head and roared, gaining a temporary invulnerability. Turning to the left, he began to charge toward one of the other Bloodkin, knocking the players who were in the way to the side.

  Just before the invulnerable Bloodkin arrived next to the other Bloodkin, the players managed to cut its health down to the 75% mark, causing it to throw back its head just like the first and charge toward the Bloodkin to its left, leaving the first Bloodkin standing where it had just been.

  “They’re rotating at 75% health. Try not to let them stack up!” Thorn commanded, quickly scanning the last two Bloodkin who had yet to move. “All DPS, focus on getting the last two down to 75% so we can get them repositioned.”

  With all of the DPS shifting their attention, the third and fourth Bloodkin soon repeated the same process as the first two, shifting over one position. This time, knowing what to expect, the players were able to clear a path for them and avoid getting knocked out of the way. Once the Bloodkin were back in their positions, the Iron Wolf players settled back into the rhythm that they had used at first, rotating tanks while the DPS hammered the sub-bosses.

  Keeping a careful watch, Thorn tried to help the teams adjust their speed, trying to ensure that each of the Bloodkin was losing health at about the same rate. Just as he suspected, as soon as the sub-bosses hit 50% of their total health they began to react again.

  “All tanks and melee, pull back. Hit them with stuns just in case but stay out of their path.”

  Throwing back their heads again, the four Bloodkin roared with rage and then darted to the right, heading back to their original positions. This time, instead of stopping, they continued their charge, rotating an additional spot. A few players, not expecting them to continue moving, had stepped forward to begin attacking only to get run over by an enraged twenty foot tall Bloodkin. After arriving at their new spots, the Bloodkin stopped and began attacking again as the players flooded toward them.

  “Mina, how is it going?” Thorn spared a brief glance at the center of the ruins where even the rocks had been ground down to a fine powder.

  “It is a really good thing that Mani is here,” Mina said, pausing to cast another spell. “Our damage can barely get through, and this fox lady is flattening everything she touches. If we were fighting her ourselves we’d all be dead. Seriously, I don’t know where you found the giant wolf, but you should keep her around.”

  “Uh, yeah, I think she is keeping us around. Pretty sure they are both world bosses like Courdum.”

  “Well, however it is, just be thankful that we have a big bad friend. Otherwise we’d be super dead.”

  “Are you helping at all? Should I pull your team to kill the Bloodkin?” Thorn’s brow furrowed as he watched the Bloodkin sub-bosses get closer to 25% of their health.

  “No, we’ve almost got her down to 40%. I mean, silver wolf has been doing most of the damage, but our attacks are forcing the fox lady to use her pink aura to block us which keeps her from completely blocking the silver wolf’s attacks.”

  “The silver wolf’s name is Lady Mani. We’re about to fall into enraged mode, so I’ll call for you when that happens. We’ll need help burning the Bloodkin down as fast as possible.”

  “Got it.”

  Closing the call, Thorn watched the Bloodkin carefully, trying to anticipate when they would hit 25% of their health. With Nova Terra’s lack of health bars, it could be hard to accurately judge an enemy’s remaining health. Most support players had a slightly better sense of it to assist them in their healing, but the best way that Thorn had found was to watch their body condition. As the Bloodkin took more damage, the number of wounds that their bodies carried grew more severe and their reaction times began to slow down.

  “Keep your eyes peeled, everyone. We’re getting close to 25%.” Thorn’s eyes kept moving between the four sub-bosses as he spoke in the general channel. “We don’t know if they’ll repeat their pattern or do something else so be ready.”

  *OWOOOOOOOOO*

  At almost exactly the same moment the four Bloodkin threw back their heads and let out an earthshaking howl. Waves of sound radiated from them, buffeting the tanks and sending them stumbling backward. Just like before, the Bloodkin followed this up by beginning to move from their positions. This time, instead of charging toward each other, they began to stomp this way and that, moving in an unpredictable manner that forced the tanks to run to catch up.

  One of the Bloodkin seemed to spot Thorn who was standing at the edge of ruins and suddenly accelerated, charging toward him. Startled by the abrupt shift, the tanks around the charging Bloodkin were unable to react in time and were quickly left behind. Warned by the players’ shouts, Thorn turned to meet the incoming charge. Bracing himself, he got out his tetsubo and took a deep breath. He was confident in being able to stop the Bloodkin for at least a second, but beyond that he was not so sure.

  Slavering jaws and massive, bloody claws filled his vision as the monster neared him, its body shedding large streams of blood as it charged. Closer it came until Thorn could see the details of its rotting teeth in its wide open mouth. Deciding to meet its charge with full force, Thorn was about to activate [Armor of the Earth] and launch an attack of his own when he saw a flicker of movement from the corner of his eye.

  “FOR THE STONE KING!”

  Six large stone covered Dwarves dashed toward the Bloodkin, huge shields smashing into its legs so hard that it completely flipped over. After their attack, they fell back, joining Drada and Felph who had appeared next to Thorn.

  “Never fear, your Majesty, we will protect you from this abomination.” Felph’s voice boomed across the battlefield, amplified by his helmet.

  “What are you doing here?” Thorn asked, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from nearby players.

  “We have come to fulfill our duty, your Majesty,” Drada said, leveling her staff at the Bloodkin who was struggling to his feet. “[Earth Bind].”

  The ground under the Bloodkin’s feet softened as the arcane command flowed from Drada’s lips, causing its feet to sink into the ground. All around it, the earth started to swell, locking onto its body and hardening, trying to keep the struggling monster in place. With a furious roar it broke free of the stone shackles, lunging away, only to find itself surrounded by a wall of angry players.

  “Don’t let it get away again!” shouted the lead tank, casting his taunt.

  Swarming around it, the Iron Wolves began to attack with renewed intensity as Thorn moved out of range, closely guarded by the Dwarves of the Stone Legion. Everywhere Thorn went, the massive Dwarves stood around him, giving him six feet of space on either side. Drada and Felph stood at his left and right, keeping themselves behind him at all times, even when he turned.

  Slightly annoyed that the Dwarves were staying so close to Thorn, Akira jumped down from Mina’s shoulder and ran over to him, shifting into her combat form as she got nearer. For a moment two of the Dwarves considered trying to stop the little red creature, until she grew to three times their size and flames burst from her three tails. Wisely choosing to step out of the way, they gave her plenty of room as she ran up to Thorn.

  [Master, when did you get more pets? I’m still your number one pet, right? Why are they standing so close to you?]

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Glancing at the Dwarves that surrounded him, Thorn nearly burst out laughing. Scratching Akira under her chin, Thorn shook his head.

  [They’re not pets, Akira. They’re, um, bodyguards? Subjects?
]

  [Do they follow you around?]

  [Yeah.]

  [And they listen to what you say?]

  [Yup.]

  [Do you feed them?]

  [Uh…]

  [And give them a place to live? And tell them when they’ve done a good job?]

  Thorn just stared at Akira speechlessly as she shifted back to her small form and jumped up on Thorn’s shoulder. Looking quite pleased with her impeccable logic, she patted his head with her small claw.

  [They’re pets.]

  This time, Thorn failed to hold in his laughter, increasing the number of strange looks he was getting. Turning his attention back to the field, Thorn saw that the four Bloodkin sub-bosses were nearly unrecognizable from the attacks that pounded into them. They were beginning to slow down even further, so Thorn drew his arbalest and leveled it at the Bloodkin closest to him.

  “Mina, follow my target and hit them with everything!”

  Mina’s head snapped around at Thorn’s shout, leveling her wand at the Bloodkin who had just taken a massive siege bolt to his shoulder. Following her lead, the rest of the thousand DPS Iron Wolf players changed their target, raining down a veritable storm of attacks on the Bloodkin. Ice, flame, lightning, stone, and all sorts of other arcane elements slammed into the sub-boss, bottoming out its health almost instantly.

  With a roar of rage, the Bloodkin lurched and fell to the ground where a second round of attacks made sure it stayed down, never to rise again. Before the echo of its last cry of rage had left the air, the sharp twang of Thorn’s arbalest alerted the players to their new target. Turning as one, the DPS players focused their attention and quickly obliterated the next sub-boss. Normally, when a boss fell to one percent of its health it would enrage, temporarily gaining both strength and speed as it flailed about. Though the Bloodkin did possess an enraged state, the concentrated damage from close to two thousand players was simply too much for them to handle, cutting them down before they could activate their ability.