I breathed a little easier as I realized Nihilator wasn’t begrudging me for destroying his ‘gift.’
My bloodlust somewhat satiated, I became aware of my surroundings and the sounds of a battle taking place outside my cell.
Then a familiar voice shouted, “Oren, help!”
The underground darkness was deep enough for me to instantly sense everything nearby. The Mob Squad was in trouble.
I grabbed Kuzai’s level 1,444 void crystal and teleported outside, past the barred window, appearing inside a two-meter wide corridor.
At least a dozen NPCs were closing in on Raystia and her group from both sides of the corridor. There was also an unconscious player I didn’t recognize on the ground, but I didn’t waste time dwelling on her. Though killing Kuzai was immensely satisfying, my inner goblin still raged for blood and I planned to indulge.
Opting to conserve my remaining 1,500 MP, I expended two of the direballs stored in my staff, one to either side of the corridor.
My aim was spot-on. The walls contained and condensed the explosions and the 20-something enemies were instantly transformed into a storm of shredded flesh. A single man had survived the blast, but my soaring dagger fixed that, plunging into his eye socket and reducing him to liquid darkness
“Holy shi—” Fox didn’t get to finish the sentence as a stone fist appeared out of the red mist in front of him, hitting his shield and launching him backward.
The bugbear fell at my feet, and a moment later, a human-sized golem stepped into the open, followed by two others like him.
“Get behind me,” I called out sharply and moved to block the golem. A fist hit me fully on the stomach, inflicting roughly 200 points of damage. I caught the second one with a mana shield, expanding it so it completely blocked off the corridor.
The other two golems stepped forward, and all three of them rained blows on my shield, draining my already badly depleted mana bar. The golems were merely level 50, but they were completely impervious to magic, so none of my spells, not even Drilling Arrow, would be able to harm them.
Luckily, I wasn’t just another helpless spellcaster. My spear-staff materialized in my hands as I drew it from my inventory, and I stabbed forward. The tip of the Epic-ranked weapon punched through one of the golems’ waists and got stuck. Before I could pull it back, the golem clamped down with both hands around the shaft, keeping the weapon lodged in.
“Get the hell out of here,” I shouted to the Mob Squad. “I’ll keep them occupied.”
“We can’t!” Raystia cried back. “This corridor circles around. And there are three more golems somewhere. This girl was a prisoner, we can’t let her die in here!”
Just as she finished speaking, the golems made their appearance, coming into the corridor behind me.
I cursed. I should have simply grabbed the five players and teleported us all away, but now they were too scattered and there was not enough time for that. The golems were too close.
The goblin in me howled and demanded I fight back but my spear was stuck, and my magic was useless. I had another weapon in my arsenal though. I released one hand from the staff and brought out a spatial satchel, turning it upside down. A thick Viridium cylinder hit the floor and a moment later, answering my mental command, it liquified and streamed over my body, transforming into my shell.
I estimated the golems weighed roughly 250 kilos each, meaning it would take 250 MP per second to lift them. I had just over a thousand MP left – not enough to handle all six, especially with my mana shield still active. The three new golems were charging the players at my back. I couldn’t risk the few seconds it would take to drain a void crystal; the golems might kill the rescued player by then. I had to act now.
I dropped the shield.
The closest golem didn’t hesitate to step in with a raised fist, but I was faster. My shell extended a limb that wrapped around the construct’s torso. Two more limbs lashed out, grabbing the other two golems, keeping them at arm’s length. I turned to watch the other three golems behind me closing in on the Mob Squad. Riley and Fox desperately tried to stop them from getting to the others, but one of the golems slipped in and went straight for the unconscious player.
I flung the first animated statue with all my magical might, turning it into a golem-shaped projectile. My aim was true, and it hit its mark with enough force to make both of them shatter. I launched the second one, destroying it and its target. Then I took a moment to aim carefully at the one pummeling Fox, the delay costing me another full second of mana drain, before I sent it flying as well. The golems collided in a shower of dust and stone, littering the floor with debris.
I stood there, panting and sweating, the strain of having my mana hover at a one percent almost making me swoon.
Dark Mana spell school increased to level 103.
“Damn,” Misa said as she surveyed the wreckage. “That was one hell of an entrance, Chief. We were close to being toast.”
“It helps that he has oh, about 50 levels over us,” Fox said.
“Don’t be a sourpuss,” Misa retorted. “We just leveled twice from that fight.”
“Still.” Riley looked at me with a strangely prideful expression. “Taking down 20 fighters and six golems single-handedly in under ten seconds is pretty impressive.”
“Hey Uncle Oren,” Raystia said. “Thanks for coming to our rescue.”
“I assume I owe it to you for turning the magical light off?” I asked.
The catgirl nodded.
“Then it’s me who should be thanking you. If you hadn’t come when you did …” I didn’t want to think about it. Now that I was mostly back to my own mind, the prospect of what Kuzai intended to do to me was daunting. There was nothing worse than the feeling of being too weak and helpless to act – not even torture.
I refused to be weak.
“Give me a second,” I said and moved toward the gore-covered floor. I picked up the void crystal the single thug I’d sacrificed had left behind and crushed it in my palm. It felt like poetic justice to be replenishing myself using the remains of my slain enemies. The crystal turned into dust, but my mana bar didn’t budge. What the hell? I winced as I realized the cause. The death debuff must have also extended to prevent me from drawing mana in this fashion. That was a problem. I had exactly 156 MP to last me for a full day. Sixty levels ago, that would have been a respectable amount, but I was in the 80s now. I shook the crystal dust off my hand in disappointment. At least I was safe. For the moment.
I looked back at the awaiting players. “Thanks again for getting me out of there.”
“Don’t mention it, buddy,” Riley said cheerfully. “It was impressive seeing what a high-level priest can do. I’m feeling better now about this whole ‘serve a dark deity’ thing.”
“Of course, if you feel really indebted,” Fox added, “feel free to cough up some gold, or better yet – XP.”
Misa shook her head. “Foxy, the gall … Kaedric’s quest reward is more than adequate.” She flashed me a mischievous grin, letting me know she wouldn’t mind another reward.
I chuckled. “Vic would have said something else besides ‘gall.’”
I looked around for my companion, then realized he wasn’t there. His body had been destroyed when I died. I had to resummon him, but I needed to conserve my meager amount of mana.
“We need to get out of here,” I said. “I can teleport us all away, but then I’ll be limited for the next 24 hours.” I preferred to save the remaining MP for emergencies. Granted, it wouldn’t be enough for most of my spells, but Drilling Arrow was as effective as it was cheap, and the mana I still had would suffice to cast it six times.
Misa shrugged. “Go back the way we got in?”
/> Raystia nodded. “I’ll make sure the way is clear.”
The others seemed to accept her suggestion, so I didn’t object. Raystia winked at me, then somehow blended in with the surrounding shadows. I could still make out her silhouette, but I was sure she’d be invisible to anyone else.
“Who’s that girl?” I asked, motioning at the unconscious player.
“Her name’s Ayelet,” Riley said. “We found her locked up in here.”
“The bastards kept her half-starved and forced her to do research for them,” Fox said.
A growl escaped my throat, and when I spoke, it was like I was chewing out the words. “Everance promised to give all players a free pass. If they lied to me …”
“From what she told us before passing out, she was being held by Crowley’s criminal organization,” Riley said. “These guys don’t exactly follow the city rules.”
I cooled off a bit. “I should’ve killed that bastard when I had the chance.”
“Are you going after him?” Fox asked eagerly, his hand moving to his weapon.
I checked my homicidal tendencies, forcing myself to take a deep breath. “No. We need to get back to the army. Our three-pronged approach didn’t work as well as we hoped.”
“While we wait, we should probably retrieve the book,” Misa suggested.
“Damn, I nearly forgot,” the bugbear said.
“What book?” I asked.
“The one inside the cell you just escaped,” Misa said. “The researchers back at the clan need it to complete some big project.”
“Oh.” It hadn’t occurred to me to grab the book on my way out. I studied the bars with a frown. I’d hated the idea of losing several dozen more MP on teleporting in and out again. But as I studied the wall, I was able to see two rough rectangular shapes an arm’s length apart, glowing with faint magic. “There it is.” I pressed down on both spots at once. There was an audible click, and the wall swung open.
“Bloody hell, I looked everywhere for that,” Misa complained. “What’s the use of being half-elf if I can’t even find a secret door I know is there?”
I grinned at her. “Better being a full-on monster.”
“Apparently.”
I retrieved the book sitting atop the altar, then, as an afterthought, struck out with my spear and shattered the cemetery.
“What did you do that for?” Riley asked.
“Just a precaution.”
Raystia materialized from the shadows. “The way is clear all the way up to the secret passage into the library.”
“Shouldn’t we ransack the place?” Fox asked.
“I’d rather not stay long enough for Crowley to send reinforcements,” Riley said nervously.
“We’ll be fine as long as we have Mr. Big Chief over here.” The Bugbear hooked his thumb at me.
I shook my head. “We can’t delay. And besides, I’ve got one hell of a death debuff I need to shake off first.”
“Also,” Raystia chimed in, “it looks like they cleaned up the place of anything truly valuable. So unless you want to start hauling hundreds of kilos worth of Weisflower stems …”
“I get the picture,” Fox said. “Let’s go.”
***
We followed Raystia out of the compound, and I was calm enough to think.
For a few moments, I was worried the company techs would log me out. I was supposed to maintain my composure to avoid further aggravating my condition, but the ‘quality time’ Kuzai and I had shared had no doubt caused a major spike in my bio readings. The entire torture session had probably taken no more than two minutes in-game, which from the outside would only appear like a couple of seconds. So I took my time now, taking special care to regulate my breathing and quiet my mind, not wanting to give them any further reason to intervene.
Thankfully, we encountered no more enemies on our way out, so I was able to remain calm.
A thin librarian stared in shock at me and the unconscious player we carried but didn’t try to stop us from leaving. It took another ten minutes to return to the temple, where I connected the portal to Goblin’s Gorge. “Take Ayelet to the inn and tell Daimmen to give her a room and make sure she’s fed and cared for.”
“Will do,” Fox said. “We can also collect our reward while we’re there.”
I waited until all of them passed through, then I readjusted the portal and stepped in.
***
I appeared in one of the three outposts we’d left behind, right next to the second bouldite tribe we’d conquered. I saw a few dozen soldiers milling around the courtyard. There were barely a handful of scouts on top of the wall.
Something was very wrong here. I felt my anxiety mounting and forced myself to take another steadying breath.
“Father!” Lirian flew into my arms while I was still trying to get my bearings.
I embraced her tightly. “Are you alright? What happened? Where is everyone?”
“I’m well, Father,” she said. “Savol ordered our remaining troops to protect me when we fled, even though I asked him not to.”
Maintaining my composure was easier now that I knew my daughter was safe, though the mention of ‘surviving troops’ was troubling. “What happened?”
“We were winning,” she said. “But then a second force appeared and attacked our rear. Sullivan ordered the retreat, staying behind with most of our forces to buy us time to escape.”
I nodded in approval. The strategist did the right thing. Armies could be resurrected and outposts rebuilt, but my daughter couldn’t be allowed to come to harm. “Where did the second force come from? Did our scouts miss them?”
“No. They walked right over our corpses,” Nero said grimly as he approached from the outpost’s open gate. His body was covered in blood and his eyes held my gaze. “Well met.”
“What happened?” I asked.
The half-dragon shook his head. “The bouldites were too strong. The assembled militia forces couldn’t hold against them. We fought to the last. We made them pay for every step they took, but in the end, it just wasn’t enough. We lost everyone in the militias, even Akzar’s bosses. The bouldites had roughly 150 soldiers remaining which then closed in on our army. I am sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I said. “But why haven’t you resurrected our troops? Where’s Sullivan?”
“Coordinating the defenses,” Lirian said, nodding toward an approaching player. “There he is.”
I sighed. “Will someone please tell me the whole story? I feel like I’m dragging it out of you bit by bit.”
“Nothing really to tell, Chief,” Sullivan said. “We were losing so I called for a retreat. The bouldites pursued. We lost nearly all of our bonetis mounts so we couldn’t shake them off. Luckily, the pursuing force seems to be composed of several different tribes and they don’t work well together, so they splintered off into smaller groups. I sent out teams led by our remaining veteran bosses to bait them away from attacking the outposts here. Malkyr and Hoshisu went with them to coordinate. They’re doing fairly well drawing them away, but there’s still one group of bouldites at an attack distance from us. They throw some rocks, we shoot some arrows, then they fall back. I think they’re only doing it to keep the pressure on to prevent us from resurrecting the army.”
As if to emphasize her words, a thundering ‘BOOM’ reverberated through the walls, sending down dust. Soldiers shouted from the battlement, letting loose a few volleys of arrows before putting down their bows. No one seemed alarmed by this development.
I got the picture.
“Alright,” I said determinedly. “Time to turn this around. First thing, we’ll clear out the nearby bouldites so we can resurrect our soldiers. We’ll hunt down their scattered groups then continue forward.”
Nero nodded. “With your help, I have no doubt we will emerge victorious.”
“Hold on,” Sullivan objected, staring hard at me. “We weren’t surprised to learn you died, but how the hell did you kill a thousa
nd bouldites on your own? Some of the scouts reported that the entire enemy force was torn to shreds.”
“No time for that now, I’ll tell you all later,” I said. “How many bouldites are outside our walls?”
“Thirty.”
“And how many forces do we have right now?”
“About 200, spread between the three outposts.”
I glanced at my mana bar. It remained constant at a low 156 MP, enough to cast six Drilling Arrow spells with some change. I also had a single Direball spell stored in my staff. It was all I had to work with until the death debuff wore off. It was going to have to be enough. “Alright, rally the troops. We have some bouldites to kill.”
***
The bouldite lieutenant’s eyes shone with glee at the sight. The three outposts had opened their gates and several hundred puny hobgoblin and Ogre weaklings poured through. The time for hit-and-run tactics against their walls was over.
“Smashers, with me!” he growled. “Hurlers, shatter their lines.”
The enemy’s three groups had each moved separately, trying to flank his forces. The lieutenant’s lips peeled back in a snarl. They were all going to die.
***
Nero’s force was the first to engage. The three battalions, each led by a different player, circled the bouldite group, being careful to keep moving to avoid the boulders hurled at them. The maneuvering finally achieved what it was supposed to. A force of 20 club-wielding bouldites left their hurlers behind to charge the half-dragon’s group.
Nero’s claws met the leading lieutenant’s flailing giant mace while the rest of the warriors clashed against each other. The first onslaught was costly; half the soldiers in Nero’s group of 80 died instantly while others were paralyzed by the lieutenant’s mental debuff, but the maneuver had achieved its goal. The enemy was divided.
I diverted a trickle of my meager mana supply into my legs as I charged toward the force of ten hurlers. The other two battalions moved to engage the melee group from opposite sides.
Life Reset: Salvation (Life Reset - Neo Book 6) Page 41
