by Rick Scar
The rogue was in the clan leaders’ group chat. Each clan was broken down into twenty detachments led by sergeants; each five detachments formed a larger group commanded by a captain. Besides this, each detachment had a liaison officer who was forwarding the senior commanders’ messages to all players.
After he had escaped Evil-In, Raven stopped for a better look at the battlefield from a safer spot than the tower.
Players were falling one after another, the beach was illuminated by flashes of light and awash with spurts of blood. A large dog was running through all this turmoil, hunting down the XP that had been dropped by the dead players: Will wasn’t going to waste such a great opportunity to develop Hades, and anyone who didn’t like it could go to hell.
The fighting had been going on for about twenty minutes when he finally got the coordinates of what was supposedly real Ifrit. One player had spotted a difference between the Ifrit he had been fighting and those the others were combatting: this version of Evil-In would often flash a predatory grin, her eyes oozing arrogance and contempt.
Wasting no time, the rogue rushed in this direction. As he approached Evil-In, he saw how she executed players one after another without applying any visible effort and ignoring all their skills and spells, as they did virtually no damage.
Fuck. She’s ruthless. Better observe her for a while so I don’t waste my skill.
Another fifteen players had to die before Raven agreed it was the real Ifrit.
Voice of Truth.
Select target.
Chapter 217. The Carnage. Part 1
O nce he had selected the target, the Ifrit’s body lurched forward, just like the Lamia’s had done when Will used this skill on her. Evil-In’s blood-covered hand froze in the air just as she was reaching for an enemy’s neck. “This… this magic… WHO HAS DARED TO USE THIS ON ME?!” Her enraged voice harbored every drop of fury she had been accumulating over her long imprisonment.
No, seriously: why does she look so young? She can’t actually be fifteen. And why is it female? I thought all Ifrits were male.
Will messaged the chat that he had successfully applied the skill. Within the fraction of a second it took him to send the message, the enemy’s eyes found him and blazed with the urge to kill – but she couldn’t do it as she was restrained by the powerful magic.
“Let’s begin. What are your strongest abilities and skills?”
“You puny worm! Do you think I’ll just…” The Ifrit coughed, her face became utterly bewildered. “You scum!”
She covered the distance between her and Will in an instant, but she failed to kill him once again, unable to overcome the effect of the Voice of Truth.
Even a global raid boss can’t resist it, huh? I wouldn’t expect anything less from a skill which costs 200 IP.
***
Fifteen minutes later
Will finished listening to the answer to his first question in a state of shock. What he had heard was literally stunning, paralyzing his will.
Monster. This Ifrit is an incredible monster. How can any creature ever have that many skills at once? What the fuck? How are we supposed to fight THIS?!
Raven struggled to understand why a creature like this would even be placed on Floor 3. He wouldn’t be surprised if he had encountered something like this on his own, but here… What the hell was going on?
The players from the Fortuna clan standing around them couldn’t believe it either. Will could read their downcast mood on their faces.
Shit. Even our combined strength won’t help against that. He had two questions left. Raven took a lungful of air and tried to relax while he still had the chance. Once his interrogation was over, the carnage would begin, and apparently, the enemy’s top priority would now shift from the vampire to Will.
“Is there any way to settle this dispute so that you leave this continent without destroying it or killing anyone?”
“What? Ahahaha! Only a puny piece of shit would ask a question like that! Absolutely not. I’m so bored. Why would I give up my fun? Everyone around here is so weak, so helpless. They keep moaning about their puny fates. I’ve been watching it for three hundred years, but now I’m fucking tired of it. You hate being weak? Then become stronger! It’s so obvious, but not for you squealing worms. You won’t even try to change anything. I HATE YOU!”
Evil-In’s whole figure oozed contempt and loathing, her aura of oppressive, arrogant power was felt by everyone around her.
“Oh, I see. I’ll ask you another question later. Not now. I can’t waste my last one on such a small issue.” Instead, Raven asked, “What is your fatal weakness?”
A crimson shadow drew over the Ifrit’s face. She glared at the rogue with such loathing he felt like he was on the verge of being killed by her stare alone. Her whole body trembled with the urge to kill. Raven swore he would have heard her teeth grind to dust if he had been standing any closer.
“You are nothing! Mud on the boots of this world. A bunch of nobodies! The weakest things I’ve ever seen. Plague rats who can only moan when you’re being wronged, and you…” Her dress blazed up, transforming into intricate red armor with scales and plates that seemed to be made of light soaked in spilled blood. The Ifrit’s face changed, becoming more mature; now she seemed to be in her late twenties. In her hands appeared a small spear topped with a sharp, twisted blade that looked like a slaughterhouse hook. “You’ve met an enemy you can never beat. I will show you, puny feces of nature, just how far below me you stand.”
Evil-In seemed to have realized that it was the last question; once she had answered it, she would be able to kill again. She couldn’t resist it any longer; her most cherished secret escaped her lips as they parted in a broad grin. Even though she was sure that none of her puny opponents would be able to use it against her, she hated being forced to share it. “This pendant.” She flashed a small red ball that was dangling from her neck on a chain and pulled it from beneath her armor. “If it is destroyed, I will lose all my strength. But do you worms really think any of you will be able to manage that? You won’t even be able to wound me.”
The last question had been asked and answered, and time was ticking on. The ruthless killer, who had gone crazy with boredom, tucked the pendant back in and raised her spear, activating one of the skills she had told Will about. “Ahahaha. I can’t wait to destroy you all!” Her glare drilled into Raven’s back with a promise of excruciating pain as he ran to the prepared traps. “Run, little rat, run, while your entrails are still in place and not on the end of my spear.”
As she spoke, large drops of blood appeared on the spearhead, merging into a basketball-sized ball. It was the Bloody Moonset, an AoE skill which paralyzed everyone within range and killed them as their blood resonated with the dark magic. Being hit by this skill meant death. Even for Raven. However, knowing the skill’s range and speed, he managed to escape it at the very last moment, Leap-ing not ahead, but upward and diagonally. A red ball landed right where he had just been.
The Ifrit squinted at Will as she hung in the air, paying no heed to the magic spells and arrows which were barely doing any damage to her. The rogue knew she was immune to the Obedience Crystal, and probably to Dancing of Time as well. He also knew she would definitely be affected by Salvation, but this attack needed to be saved for a better moment.
Will and the clan leaders hadn’t really been expecting Evil-In to chase him after the Voice of Truth, but they were still on their Plan A. According to this plan, Will had to run to the traps that had been prepared for their enemy: the best ones the NPCs, thieves, rogues, and goblins (this race was miles better than anyone else at constructing intricate traps) could possibly craft.
The Ifrit’s magic attack speed was incredible. As he dodged them by doing crazy cartwheels in the air and on the ground, Will cursed this rabid, female monster. He hadn’t felt this humiliated since that giant rat had driven him onto the roof.
Just give me a chance, you bitch, and you’ll be begg
ing for mercy, he thought as he leapt away from another red sword that had been cast to intercept him. Will hadn’t disclosed his personal Plan B to anyone. He estimated the probability of it working at 0.01%.
The plan was to put Prison Chains on the Ifrit.
“Ahahaha! What an agile little monkey. But patience is not one of my virtues.”
Over the course of these endless two minutes, the attacking players had reduced the Ifrit’s health by 15,000. It was a drop in the ocean, but it was still something.
When Raven suddenly stopped and turned to face his chaser, she sensed that something was wrong.
“So, you’ve brought me here on purpose. To the traps? Ha, ha. You puny ra…” Before she could finish the last word, several long arrows pierced her neck. Crafted by special recipes obtained by the Faceless Army and Messengers of Heavens, some of these arrows dealt triple critical damage and debuffed the enemy with Shock for three seconds, while others prevented them from casting any spells for two seconds. The main problem was that the bows for these arrows were really hard to pull… But the fifty archers that had fired from all directions around where the Ifrit was now standing proved how profitable using this kind of weapon against a monster like this could be: they had reduced its HP by 50,000 in just ten seconds.
The Bloody Ifrit realized her mistake. She made a weird gurgling sound and opened her mouth wide, releasing a cloud of mosquitos at the archers.
“Do any of you even know why I am a bloody Ifrit? You’ve challenged a god without even knowing that I rule over blood! Any vampire or other puny bloodsucking thing is but a pale shadow of my power. The power over your blood, the true value of which you scum have never appreciated. I will destroy you and use your blood to gain even more power, as I have always done with shit like you!”
As she spoke, a flaming barrier rose up all around her, repelling the arrows. Her spear was pointed at Raven and the players behind him as it started to extend. It now was now nine-foot-long and able to cast more powerful attacks. It looked like a living creature, some sort of Vanarian weapon, and it would suck in the blood of fallen enemies through its sting-like head, making its master even stronger.
***
Two hours later
Having exhausted all the physical and magic traps, as well as all of their simple attacks, the players were now applying their skills that required IP. While they were facing an immediate threat to the whole continent, everyone had forgotten their hostility toward the other clans. They were now fighting side by side to save everything they had already achieved in this game.
They had survived two stages of the Ifrit’s transformation and driven her health down to 50%.
Her raging fury drowned the players one after another like a storm wave, cutting their throats and bellies, filling their entrails with magic explosives to activate them within a crowd of their friends and allies. No one escaped this bloody mess. With blood all over them, some players would slip and fall – right onto her piercing spearhead, leaving themselves with terrible wounds. The devil, who had drowned this whole continent in blood once before, was flashing up all over this hell of a battle, reaping death.
Raven had been hit by her attacks four times already, but thanks to his Leased Life and One Foot on the Flip Side, he was still on his feet. He had been attacked whenever he had got too close to the enemy. But he had had his reasons for doing so; he was waiting for an opportunity. The raid boss had long started targeting her rage at those who managed to drive her anger to new heights. So, Will guessed that this was his best bet. It was risky, but he believed it was a risk worth taking.
Evil-In’s much-feared skill was unleashed on the players once her health was down to 40%. Her spear, which was already twenty-feet-long, began emitting waves that pressed a thousand players to the ground. This level of power over blood actually matched her title. Anyone affected by it could no longer use their skills as the life slowly drained from them.
The range of this skill, which was called Mass Absorption, reached 50 feet. This is why so many players were affected at once. But even once they knew about this skill it was hard to get prepared; the main problem was that it started working instantly. Once it had been activated, the players only had three seconds to react.
Will’s Leased Life was on cooldown, but he still had Prince Arrey’s locket. But first he had to survive the enemy’s skill for the minute that it lasted. None of the unaffected players were able to help; once they entered the skill range, a player would immediately collapse to the ground, hemorrhaging HP.
The place once known as the peaceful Abode of Silence had now been reduced to a wasteland. The rocks that shielded the bay were drenched in blood; the ground moved up and down heavily like the torn chest of a wounded animal, coughing up lumps of earth. The deep and long pits were filled with bloody water and the bodies of NPC mercenaries who had come here to earn wealth and glory.
While he was pressed to the ground, Raven couldn’t help but remember the other bloodshed he was trying to forget. This sea of fake blood was depressing. Why was he overreacting like that? Was it because of the increased sensitivity level?
As his health hit 10%, the Joker’s Ring was triggered for the first time that day, puffing a dense cloud of smoke.
Oh. I totally forgot.
The ring’s effect was useless so Will just waited for his health to get down to critical again to apply the Golden Dragon form.
By knocking 10 HP per second off each victim, Evil-In restored her own health with tremendous speed. The past hour of fighting had been a waste of time.
Chapter 218. The Carnage. Part 2: The Finale
T he number of tickets sold was sky high. Very few players were willing to let an opportunity like this pass by: they would be able to feel the heat of a battle against an awe-inspiring enemy and find out how it ends in real time.
Sarah, just like the rest of the spectators, had a half-transparent body, which was unaffected by and unable to affect the world of Ascension. This enabled her to stand right in the epicenter of magic explosions while commenting on them, or even next to Evil-In when describing her weapons and gear and explaining the effects of her skills to those who had just joined the broadcast and hadn’t read the information beneath the video.
Unlike the reporter, however, the spectators couldn’t move freely about the battlefield; there would be no point in the reporter’s presence otherwise.
The spectators’ area rotated around the battlefield, sometimes overlooking it from the top, but the distance always remained the same: it had been fixed in the broadcast settings.
“Dear audience! We seem to have reached a turning point. We can see Evil-In using another, highly powerful skill, wiping out everything our brave heroes have achieved. If they can’t destroy the enemy’s pendant, this continent, which is home to millions of players, will perish.” Seeing the Bloody Ifrit’s HP restore at an intimidatingly high speed, Sarah took the tension to the next level.
“At last, this skill has expired! Several scores of players have been killed by it as they were already wounded, but others have been buffed or have taken their potions, and now they are ready for the second round of fighting for their lives.” Everybody could hear her voice. The Abode of Silence was surrounded with hundreds of thousands of people watching the bloody performance with excitement, as if it were a colossal football stadium.
“Now, look!” Sarah screamed as the first drops of a sudden rain fell to the red ground. “At last, the clans have decided to use this! Their unique items that have the power to decide the outcome of the battle. This rain has been summoned by one of the nine jugs that belonged to the Knights of Light! An incredibly valuable item is being used right now, and what’s this…Yes! Other clans are using theirs too. They don’t want RD to have all the glory.”
Sarah pretended to be surprised by what the players were doing, but as a matter of fact, she was already aware of all the plans the clan leaders had. This had been part of the deal; the more informa
tion she had, the better use she could make of it by playing on the audience’s emotions.
One of Fortuna’s players opened the second jug, and the dry rain that was pouring from the heavens turned into snow as the two mass spell effects overlapped.
The Jug of the Light Knight Samrael (Unique, Disposable)
Rank: Unique.
Power Contained: A Heavenly Warrior Spirit
Increases the allies’ in-battle mana and energy by 30%.
Range: 1 mile
Duration: 30 min
Note: This power is amplified when combined with the powers of other eight Knights of Light.
Neither Rollin’ Dice nor Fortuna knew what the combined effect of this jug and Tikhrail’s would be. But, once both jugs were open, every player within their range got a message that their energy and mana had been increased by 50% and that the enemy’s magic was temporarily blocked.
And that was just the beginning.
“Dear audience, It looks like the fighters are not dispirited in the slightest by Evil-In’s restored HP! The RD and Fortuna players have given all their allies a chance by blocking the enemy’s magic, but her tremendous physical might is still here. They had better be careful! And…hey, what’s that? I’m going over to the Faceless Army to see what they’re doing. Oh, I see their players are putting together some kind of large structure! I wonder what that is.”
“It seems to be taking a long time. While our heroes are busy assembling their secret weapon, let’s take a look at the Messengers. Their ships, as you’ve seen before, hit the beach a long time ago, with many of their crew being sent to respawn. What will they do now to keep up with the allies?”
Sarah dashed about the battlefield, commenting on what the players were doing, for a good ten minutes until Raven caught her eye.
