Swordsman of the Rift

by Brandon Varnell

  And that was when Michelle used her next attack.

  Sparks of golden electricity raced along her body, gathered around her hand, and then flew forward. They struck Naamah, whose shrieks of pain grew even louder. Sparks flew off her body as she threw her head back to howl out her pain. She didn’t even notice her head striking the wall. She didn’t notice the blood running down her face. The lightning fried her insides, causing smoke to pour from her mouth, nose, and ears. When the attack finally settled down, the woman remained where she was, her body still.

  Adina walked up to her and began draining the woman of her life like she’d done for Maliperum. Meanwhile, I turned to Michelle.

  “That attack was new,” I said, raising an eyebrow.

  Michelle shook her head. “It isn’t a new attack. I’ve been able to use it this whole time, but I’ve never had a reason to. It is currently the most powerful attack in my arsenal.” She glanced at Naamah as the woman’s body disappeared, then sighed. “Of course, at its peak, that attack would have fried my enemy so badly their bodies would disintegrate.”

  I nodded as I checked my status and saw that our battle with Naamah had caused my level to increase by three whole levels. That woman must have been incredibly powerful to give me such a boost. I now had 30 status points and 6 skill points to spend. What’s more, I had unlocked the ability to use several new skills, including Berserk, Dual-wielding, and the Shield skill.

  The first thing I did was allocate my status points. After that, I selected the Dual-Wielding skill, which cost 10 skill points to activate. When I activated the Dual-Wielding skill, several new branches that had been grayed out suddenly appeared before me. I frowned at the new skills. All of them were related to my Dual-Wielding skill, meaning they were abilities I could use in conjunction with my new one.

  Double Slash: The ability to unleash a powerful combination attack while dual-wielding two swords. Damage dealt is doubled upon successful attack. This attack is not as effective against heavily armored opponents.

  Whirlwind Axel: An upgraded variation of Whirlwind Slash. Using two blades to spin on the balls of your feet, users can unleash a ferocious tornado-like force of energy that slices into multiple opponents at once.

  Triple Thrust: Stab your opponent three times in rapid succession. Critical damage dealt. This attack has the chance of instantly killing any opponent whose level is lower than your own.

  Each skill required one skill point to activate, and like my other skills, their strength could increase by allocating more skill points to them. After a moment, I activated Double Slash and Whirlwind Axel, then allocated the remaining points between them.

  Now my stats looked something like this:

  Name: Bryan Jenson

  Class: Magic Swordsman

  Level: 62

  Magic: Red/fire

  Attack: 150

  Agility: 150

  Defense: 140

  Magic Defense: 140

  Mana: 120

  Total Status Points available: 0

  Special Skills:

  Whirlwind Slash: Attack +5

  Death by Piercing: Attack +5

  Fire Slash: Attack +5

  Fireball: Attack +5

  Dual-Wielding (passive skill)

  Whirlwind Axel: Attack +4

  Triple Thrust: Attack +4

  Total Skill Points available: 0

  As I finished allocating all my skill points and status points, Adina ran up to me and threw her arms around my neck. She sought out my lips for a passionate kiss. I barely had time to get my head on straight, but I did my best to kiss her back. Wrapping my arms around the succubus, I pulled her close, enjoying the way her barely clothed tits squished against my chest.

  “That was amazing!” Adina said, not even bothering to contain her excitement. “The way you impaled Naamah on your sword gave me chills! The good kind of chills!”

  I opened my mouth to speak again, to say something super witty, but then Adina shoved her tongue into my mouth for another enthusiastic kiss. Her tongue filled my mouth. It was a pretty incredible feeling.

  “Are you two quite finished?” asked Michelle, hands on her lips.

  I would have said something, but Adina still had her tongue in my mouth, swirled her tongue around to stir up the saliva we were sharing, and only then retracted her face from mine. A string of saliva connected us before it was cut by the distance. With a satisfied grin, the succubus stepped back.

  “Don’t worry. I’m done.” She gestured toward Michelle. “You can have your turn now.”

  “Hmph.”

  Michelle released a huff, and I thought she was going to say something like angels didn’t act so frivolously, but then she walked up to me and stopped just before entering my personal space. Her cheeks grew red as she looked at me. Crossing her arms, she turned her head.

  “T-the man is supposed to take charge in situations like this,” she muttered, which I guessed was her way of saying “I’d like to kiss you, but I don’t want to admit it” or something similar to that.

  “Right.”

  I chuckled as I placed my hands on her hips and drew her close. Michelle didn’t resist as I leaned down and pressed our lips together. A sigh escaped her mouth as I applied a light pressure and nibbled on her lower lip. She gasped when I slipped my tongue inside of her, but then her own tongue tentatively rubbed against mine, sending electric arcs of pleasure through my body.

  I think we would have stayed like this for awhile yet, but just as I was about to deepen our kiss further, a loud and surprised voice squawked from the other side of the chamber.

  “W-what the fuck?! Bryan?!”

  At the sound of the voice, Michelle leapt out of my arms. Adina and I turned to look at the source of the voice. Several people were standing near the secret passage where the imps, trolls, and succubi that Naamah had summoned emerged from during my first fight with her. There stood Elric, Vyra, Brad, and a woman I didn’t know with bright blonde hair, large tits, and dressed in Viking-like armor.

  “You guys are late. I already took care of our little succubus problem,” I said to them, smiling at their stupefied expressions.

  Chapter 10

  We were sitting inside of the chamber where Adina, Michelle, and I had defeated Naamah. I was actually surprised by how easy it was. I’d been expecting a much harder fight, but maybe I only thought that way because of the first time I fought her alongside Brad, Elric, and Vyra. We had been only at level 50. Meanwhile, Michelle and I were quite a bit stronger now.

  My sword was back in its sheath. I had to pry it out of the wall where Adina had kicked it. Speaking of, the two lovely non-human ladies were sitting on either side of me, facing the wary Brad, the grinning Elric, the scowling Vyra, and the curious blonde woman… whose name I still didn’t know. I should really fix that.

  “I knew you were still alive,” Brad said with an expression that resembled admiration. “When we traveled out of the Rift Plains and logged out to get back to Earth, we noticed that you were still alive. All of your vitals were functioning and your brain activity was normal… well, relatively normal minus a lot of spikes in your pain receptors. However…” He glanced at Adina and Michelle, then chuckled. “I never expected this. You remind me of a friend I know. He also teamed up with an otherworldly being, though he did it to find his dead wife.”

  “Uh huh…” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I didn’t think it was important. “Anyway, I think all of us need to get caught up on what everyone has been doing. I see you’ve got a new member on your team. Care to introduce us?”

  “My name is Christine Douval,” the blonde woman with massive mammaries introduced herself. I noticed that her skin was somewhat orange. At first, I thought it was a bad tan from a tanning booth, but the more I looked at it, the more certain I became that wasn’t the case.

  “Christine was one of the first people to enter the Rift Plains,” Brad explained. “She’s not an avatar like you or me. Th
is is her physical body.”

  Christine nodded and explained further. “I stumbled upon a portal while I was working my dead-end job. I ended up in a strange world, and I probably would have died, but a group of women calling themselves Valkyries took me in and trained me. They taught me magic and how to fight, and they allowed me to Soul Bond with one of their worlds.” She caressed the vambraces covering her arms and smiled as if remembering something pleasant. “Since then, I have been traveling through the numerous worlds in the Rift Plains and helping other people who have become stuck here.”

  “We actually stumbled on her by accident,” Elric added. “We were arguing about how to go about rescuing you when she appeared before us and offered to help.”

  As he finished speaking, Vyra scowled. “Correction, we were trying to decide whether or not mounting a rescue mission was even worth it.”

  At those words, Michelle, who had been silent to this point, frowned. “You would leave a comrade behind?”

  “It’s not like I wanted to,” Vyra groused, looking away from the archangel’s stern expression. “But the chances of a successful rescue mission seemed pretty damn slim, especially after we got our asses kicked fighting that woman.” She sighed. “Not that it matters now. Looks like you took care of the cunt.”

  “Damn right, we did,” Adina cheered. “We beat Naamah good!”

  “We’ve explained our situation to you,” Brad suddenly said as he glanced at Adina. “Why don’t you explain what happened after you were captured? I’m sure everyone would like to know.”

  It was a fair enough point. I did my best to explain how I’d been captured, tortured for information, and then worked with the two women beside me to escape. There were a few moments I left out, like how I had sex with them both. I didn’t think that was important. After informing the group about what happened to me, I looked at Adina and Michelle.

  “Care to introduce yourselves?” I asked.

  “I am Michelle.” The archangel went first, her head held high, chest thrust out. “I am an archangel of heaven, though I was expelled from heaven recently thanks to the rebellion that broke out when we angels gained free will.”

  “And I’m Adina!” The succubus raised her hand and gave them a broad smile. She seemed incredibly happy. “I’m the daughter of Lilith, Queen of the Succubus, and I’m Bryan’s lover alongside Michelle!”

  At the mention of being my lover, the four newcomers looked at me like they were seeing me for the first time. Brad was blinking like he didn’t understand what Adina had said, Vyra’s scowl had grown even deeper, Elric was giving me a discreet thumbs up, and Christine looked at me with undisguised interest within those deep cerulean eyes. Michelle was giving Adina the stink eye. Her cheeks were a light shade of pink.

  “I thought we were going to keep silent on that,” Michelle hissed.

  “Were we?” Adina looked honestly confused. “No one said anything to me.”

  Michelle’s response was to bury her face into her hands.

  “So while you were trapped within this world, you picked up a pair of lovers?” Brad said in shock.

  “Er… more or less,” I admitted, not quite sure what else I could say now that the cat was out of the bag.

  “Yup. You definitely remind me of my friend.” Brad sighed and rubbed his forehead as if trying to rub out a headache.

  I shrugged. I didn’t know who his friend was, so I really couldn’t say anything about that.

  “In either event, now that you’re here and you’ve defeated Naamah, we can continue to travel further into this world,” Brad continued as he stood up. “This dungeon is just one small section of this world. Our goal is to completely clean out this world of all hostile forces, defeat the Dungeon Master, and become the master of this world.”

  “Right. You want to become the dungeon master,” I said with a grunt as I stood to my feet.

  Brad gave me a fierce grin. “You bet I do.”

  Everyone else also stood up. I helped Adina and Michelle to their feet. The people around me were getting ready to leave, hefting their equipment over their shoulders, making sure their weapons were secure, and checking their supplies. It looked like they had somehow brought equipment over. I wasn’t sure how that worked, but maybe Christine had something to do with it.

  However, just as we were getting ready to move out, a loud gurgling erupted all around us. Brad, Elric, Vyra, and even Christine moved into a combat stance as though expecting an enemy to ambush us. Michelle and I, however, looked at Adina. The succubus was holding her stomach, tail hanging limply from her body as she stood with a slouched posture.

  “Erm… do any of you have food?” she asked sheepishly. “I’m really hungry.”

  Her words caused the four who’d come after we defeated Naamah to look at her like she’d just said something phenomenally stupid.

  It turned out they did pack food into their belongings, or rather, Christine had brought food along with her. Because she was not an avatar but an actual person, she needed to eat in order to live.

  I found it rather odd how I didn’t seem to require food. While I could eat, and it did satisfy me, eating wasn’t required for this body to survive. It was just another matter that caused a disconnect with this whole situation and made it seem like all this was just a game.

  With Naamah’s death, cleaning out the rest of this dungeon was an easy matter. We swept through it like a hurricane, defeating every demon within the dungeon.

  Our levels didn’t increase during this time. Well, mine, Michelle’s, and Adina’s didn’t increase at all. I wasn’t sure about Brad, Christine, Elric, and Vyra. I didn’t even know what their levels were. However, I wasn’t sure ours could increase from fighting such weak creatures anymore. It was just like Adina and Michelle said: The higher a person’s level became, the harder it was for them to level up.

  After what felt like several hours of tedious work, our group finally arrived at what looked like the entrance to a crypt. A pair of pillars stood on either side of a dark entrance. The stone walls appeared old, cracked and crumbling in places, and a cold breeze blew in from the dark opening, causing goosebumps to appear on my arms.

  “We’ll rest here for now,” Brad announced. “The demons in this lower level are much stronger than the ones we’ve been fighting up to now. We should use this time to prepare ourselves.”

  As he spoke, everyone branched off into groups and sat down. Vyra and Christine sat together, having seemingly grown close during the time I wasn’t around, and Elric sat with them. It looked like he was trying to hit on Christine without success. The woman politely but firmly rebuffed all of his attempts. Despite this, the man did not give up and kept trying. I would have admired his persistence, but I felt like he was annoying the two women.

  Brad stood alone in front of the cave entrance, his serious expression making it look like his face was carved from stone. I wondered what he was thinking. To be honest, I still knew next to nothing about this guy beyond the fact that he knew a lot more about the Rift Plains than most people and was probably loaded with money.

  Michelle and Adina sat next to me as I leaned against the wall. Adina, being the more affectionate of the two, was resting her head on my shoulder. Michelle was not doing that. However, she had discreetly reached out to grab my arm. I think she was too embarrassed to do anything more in front of so many people.

  “I’ve been thinking,” Adina said.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” Michelle quipped.

  Adina stuck out her tongue before continuing. “This body of yours is just an avatar, right? The real you isn’t here?”

  “That’s right.” I nodded. “My real body is currently hooked up to a super high-tech virtual reality rig that lets me travel to the Rift Plains.”

  Nodding, Adina’s nose wiggled a little. It was such a cute gesture from the sexy succubus that I felt warmth fill my chest. As she leaned further into me, her breasts squished against my arm, allowing me to feel t
he wonderful elasticity of her tits.

  “That means me and Michelle haven’t actually had sex with the real you since that isn’t your real body.” Adina pouted up at me. “I’m rather upset by this fact.”

  Leave it to a succubus to be upset by the fact that she had sex with an avatar body and not my real body. On the other side, Michelle’s face took on a strange expression like she was thinking about something really hard, while also trying not to blush.

  “There isn’t much I can do about that right now,” I admitted with a smile.

  “I know,” Adina said morosely.

  “Since this is not your real body, I have to wonder what will happen after all this,” Michelle suddenly said. When Adina and I looked at her, she cast her gaze at me, her complex expression containing numerous mixed emotions. “Once we have secured this world and your friend becomes the master of it, what will happen to us? You are going to travel back to your world, right? Back to your real body on Earth? That means you won’t be here anymore.”

  Now that she had spoken her thoughts, I could see the worry contained in her face, the uncertainty. It was surprising that she would worry about this so much. At the same time, it did make me happy that she was worrying about this. It meant she was serious about our relationship.

  I placed a hand on her thigh and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “You don’t have to worry about that. It is true that I’ll need to return to my body, but that doesn’t mean I plan on disappearing. Christine said she arrived on the Rift Plain by stumbling through a portal back on Earth. That means if I can find a portal, I can come back.”

  “You’d do that?” asked Adina, leaning forward even more, eyes containing a fervent glow like they contained all her hope. “You would leave your world for us?”

  Gazing at Adina’s pink lips caused my mouth to go dry. If I wasn’t surrounded by other people, I would have kissed her. Smiling instead, I gave her a firm nod.