With Guy dead, and Rachael asleep and her body slowly floating in the riverbed, Nijana, and Synaria moved to deal with the last lingering threat, the Blade Dancer, Xanthe. Synaria met Xanthe head-on, and the two dual-wielding women clashed in a display of quick whirling slashes. Synaria was faster and stronger, of course. Nijana made sure that was the case with Swift Carrol.
The sigils adorning Xanthe’s arms, legs, and around her navel glowed. The shadow angel got AP to dance. Nijana and Synaria were fucked.
The Blade Dancer struck a vigorous pose, swaying her hips in a three-second exotic and forbidden dance. Nijana put her back to Xanthe, then shouted to Synaria. “Turn!”
A surge of astral energy left the Blade Dancer when her routine finished. It hit Nijana’s back, felt warm, but did nothing else. You had to witness a Blade Dancer’s dance for it to take effect. Nijana turned around and grimaced. Synaria had a woozy grin on her flushing face and obeyed Xanthe’s wishes. She had to because she watched Xanthe performed Alluring Waltz. Synaria became Xanthe’s ally.
Nijana frowned. “Fuck . . .”
She had two dual-wielding women to deal with.
Xanthe spread and flapped her raven wings and flew beside Synaria.
“Oh dear, did I steal your best friend?” Xanthe said. She lowered her lips and gave Synaria’s cheek a sensual kiss. “Be a dear and bring that Bard’s head to me?”
Synaria dashed to Nijana. Above, Xanthe flew toward her as well. Nijana couldn’t fight them both and spun to escape. Swift Carol’s effect carried her quick steps away. It also allowed Synaria to keep pace since she had the song’s buff active. Nijana had a fast-running Assassin swinging at her back and a vengeful diving shadow angel using her twin scimitars to cut into Nijana from all angles. Nijana went from 455 HP to 310, fast. Xanthe’s last strike pushed Nijana to the ground. She looked up in time to see Synaria shove her daggers into Nijana’s chest, bringing her HP down to 221.
Nijana kicked Synaria off her, rolled to the side—
And narrowly escaped from Xanthe’s deadly dive.
The shadow angel missed and ended up stabbing her blades into the grass. Xanthe pulled them free, and glided toward Nijana to slice her again, then rotated around to cleave Synaria in the face.
Synaria’s charm faded, and Xanthe knew it was coming.
The druid Assassin couldn’t do anything to counter Xanthe. She would rise to evade Synaria’s weapons, then dive like a hawk to strike. Xanthe got AP again, then used Alluring Waltz. Of course, Synaria failed to turn around like Nijana did. Once again, Synaria joined Xanthe at her side, and the two resumed their assault.
Nijana buzzed her wings, and this time she met Xanthe in an aerial battle below the treetops. Synaria, under Xanthe’s spell, waited for Nijana to fall. A fae and shadow angel danced in a bladed and deadly competition above, their weapons clanging periodically.
Nijana checked her HP.
Nijana | HP: 101/455
Xanthe hit her more than expected. That meant Xanthe was building AP off her. Soon, Xanthe would dance again or use Brisk Strike. Nijana deflected what twin-bladed strikes she could, pushed off Xanthe, and drifted backward, her wings buzzing. She put as much space between her and Xanthe as possible, then tossed the Marauder’s Chakram at the incoming shadow angel. Nijana twirled and flew away with her hand raised to collect the throwing weapon upon its inevitable return.
She caught it.
With the Marauder’s Chakram in her grips again, Nijana spun about in the air to throw it at Xanthe, then twisted around to fly up and above the trees. She held her position in the sky and looked down. Xanthe ascended from the cluster of green leaves, launching herself upward to slash. Nijana threw the Marauder’s Chakram at Xanthe and flew in a circle above the forest to keep her distance. She had the range advantage while flying. Xanthe couldn’t do shit so long as Nijana kept her fairy wings in motion and drifted around and around. There was one problem, Xanthe was gaining on her. Nijana had forgotten what Synaria told her about shadow angels. Their racial trait gave them a speed advantage in the air. Nijana could glide in circles all she wanted, but the Blade Dancer shadow angel would catch her soon. She kept tossing the Marauder’s Chakram back at Xanthe, regardless.
Nijana checked her AP and grinned when she saw it was at 90. Just one more hit to go. She drifted backward, held the weapon, took aim, and—
Crash.
Xanthe slammed into Nijana at full speed.
The two women tumbled, spiraled, and fell to the surface. She couldn’t get away. Xanthe was in striking range with her scimitars and cut into Nijana’s flesh. Her HP fell to 46 as trickles of fae blood dripped to the forest below. Nijana repositioned herself in midair and met Xanthe head-on, Bard against Dancer. Two charismatic-based classes who had the power to control the battle with a single AP ability or two.
Xanthe struck Nijana once more, kicked off of her, and held a striking pose in the sky. It left Nijana with 9 HP. The sigils on Xanthe’s arms, legs, and belly glowed as the winds blew the ends of her dancer’s bedlah. Xanthe spun, taking the first twirls to perform a forbidden dance in midair.
Nijana put Dianna’s Ocarina to her lips and played Lullaby.
Xanthe never finished her dance. She just instantly fell asleep. Then fell from sight. One couldn’t sleep and fly at the same time. A snoozing shadow angel plunged headfirst into the ground. Nijana dove to finish the job. By the time Nijana flew down and past the treetops, Xanthe had hit the surface and cracked her skull open.
Xanthe | HP: 17%
She lost a lot of HP from the fall damage. It surprised Nijana that Xanthe hadn’t died on impact, though she was pretty close to it. The fall had awoken Xanthe, and she stood up shaking her head now drenched in a splash of crimson—
Synaria was free of the shadow angel’s allure and used Execution.
Execution was an Assassin’s most deadly AP skill. It was an ability that instantly killed a target below 25 percent HP and was bleeding or suffering from some sort of cripple debuff. Xanthe’s head injury made her bleed a lot, and the Marauder’s Dirk slashed her neck so hard you could see the cut arities squirting red across the Assassin’s leather miniskirt.
Xanthe fell to her knees, dropped her weapons, and held her cut and torrential blood-gushing throat. The surge of never-ending gore reddened Xanthe’s hands, her eye-catching cleavage, and ruined the pretty belly dancer’s outfit she wore.
Xanthe looked at Synaria, who stood above her. “You . . . fucking . . . bitch . . .”
Xanthe | HP: 0%
Obtained: 900 Experience Points
Evidently, Xanthe, like Guy, was a party leader.
Nijana has attained level 12!
“Okay . . .” Synaria smiled and sheathed her twin Marauder’s Dirks. “That worked out better than I planned!”
“Didn’t know both were leaders,” Nijana said.
She examined Xanthe’s body for loot to steal. The only thing valuable was Xanthe’s Lumière Aspirant’s Gold Bracelets, socketed with charisma asteriarite. And as Nijana recalled, the system only allowed her to register one item as her accessory, and as a Bard, instruments counted as them. However, Xanthe’s bedlah looked pretty, though. She kneeled to strip Xanthe naked—
Synaria pulled on her shoulder. “We got to go!”
Nijana saw movement in the woods. Averyl and possibly Tempeste were running to them. There was no way she and Synaria could defeat the Spellsword maiden. She let go of the blood-soaked outfit, blew a kiss goodbye to Guy, then fled into the woods with Synaria.
The two found cover behind a tree after fifteen minutes of running and looked back. Their plan had worked. The sudden death of Guy and Xanthe sent their friends rushing to search the area, then waste time resurrecting their dead. As life returned to Guy, he reached for his fallen weapon and held it, wincing.
Nijana pointed at Guy.
“That sword,” Nijana whispered to her druid partner. “If only we had more time, I could have taken it.”
<
br /> Synaria narrowed her eyes at Asteria’s Sword. “Is it worth a lot?”
She looked at the druid with scheming eyes. “Have you ever seen a Paladin?
“No, right. Hmm.” Synaria stroked her chin as her bunny ears slowly rose.
“That sword changed him into it,” Nijana said. “Just think of the coin we could make if we sold it.”
“But let us not get greedy now.” Synaria opened her Inventory screen, pulled out Averyl’s Flame Priestess’s Robe, and offered it to Nijana. “We got a big heist to pull off.”
Nijana held the Cleric’s attire, feeling its smooth cloth that looked like a pyromaniac weaver made it out of flames. She read the Flame Priestess’s Robe’s information and winced at the 69 wisdom and 60 intelligence requirements. Nijana had 53 and 24 wisdom and intelligence, respectively.
“Fuck.”
“What is it now, lass?”
“This is a Cleric dress . . .”
“Yeah, and? What were you expecting?”
“It would appear that the corruption has deemed me neither wise nor smart enough to wear it.”
“Well, shite, forgot about that,” Synaria laughed and patted Nijana’s shoulder. “Correction, lass, we got to get your Cleric leveled.”
“I thought I can’t switch classes until level twenty?”
“Aye, so get your stabby rapier out. Tis time I showed you me secret to leveling up fast.”
Chapter Forty-Two
Coming back from the dead was rough. Guy figured he’d be used to it by now, as this wasn’t the first time someone resurrected him. Each time he came back, he had to shake off lingering memories of his death, the pain that went through his body, his natural animal instincts screaming into his mind and telling him that this was it, that Guy would never return unless he fled or fought off the threat.
Now, those natural instincts were plain confused. Guy wondered what the long-term psychological effects would be.
Then there was his LP.
As Guy stood on his bare feet, he opened his Status screen.
LP: 8/10
He sighed in relief. Despite the multiple deaths, Guy hadn’t lost any since his arrival on Alfheimr. Being able to die and come back wasn’t something he could rely on forever. With no known ways to recover LP, every point of lost LP put him closer to the realm of permadeath. If he kept up dying and losing a little bit of LP, then one day, he would turn into a soul crystal regardless if there were a Cleric or Medic nearby to raise him from the dead.
The same rule applied to the others. They had to avoid taking advantage of Resurrection and Revive or risk the grim reaper showing up and asking to be repaid.
Averyl drank an MP potion and walked to the river where Rachael was bathing. The fae princess was wearing a lower-ranked Cleric Temple Dress. Averyl’s Flame Priestess’s Robe had mysteriously vanished. Averyl idled to cast Resurrection on Rachael.
Worry punched Guy in the chest for a moment.
Nijana had put Rachael to sleep with Lullaby. How did she die? Guy looked at Rachael’s body, face down and floating on the river. Rachael had drowned in her sleep. Bards were deadlier than Guy thought. Put someone asleep in the water, and they would drown. Put someone asleep near a cliff, and they might roll off to their death. Or you could just shove them off. Nijana would make an excellent ally if she wasn’t playing for the other team.
Life returned to Rachael and she arose from her floating death. She coughed and spat out the water that had entered her mouth and flailed her arms and legs about in a frenzied panic. Guy held Rachael tight to console her. Rachael was new to the concept of dying and Resurrection.
“Rachael, you, okay?” he asked her.
It took Rachael a few, but she finally calmed her shaking limbs down. “I’m fine, thanks,” she said and yawned. “Wow, that was a deadly power nap!”
Rachael stood on her own, cast Regeneration to restore her HP, then cast it once more on Guy. Averyl cast Resurrection on Xanthe, who had lain in a pool of her own blood. Guy and Rachael watched as Averyl brought a ray of light from the heavens to touch Xanthe’s corpse. Slowly, Xanthe’s blood moved in reverse and entered the massive slash on her neck that sealed shut seconds later. Xanthe opened her eyes, sat up, and groaned. Averyl waved her Flame Priestess’s Scepter and restored some of Xanthe’s HP with Starlight Recovery.
“That druid Mage we encountered a few days ago did this,” Guy said.
“Yeah, I recognize her bunny ears,” Rachael said. “Seems she has an Assassin leveled too. The PKers are here.”
Averyl gasped as her fairy wings tightened. She looked at Guy and Rachael, holding the Flame Priestess’s Scepter to her chest. “If that is true, then we must search the area for them.”
“Agreed,” Guy said as he retrieved Asteria’s Sword. “But first, let’s find Kam before he bleeds all his LP away.”
They found Kam’s body four minutes later, face down, ass up. And looking closer, it looked like the Assassin stuck her daggers into Kam’s anus. She literally fucked him in the ass with her blades. The light of Resurrection came down to touch Kam’s corpse, undoing his fatal wounds and bringing life back into the faun. He sat up as Averyl cast Starlight Recovery to top up his HP.
“Stay focused, everyone,” Guy said to the group. “There are PKers in the area.”
“That’s not all,” Kam said. “Nijana’s here too.”
“We know,” Rachael said. “Figured that out the hard way.”
Kam picked up his fallen Aspirant’s Lance and strapped it to his back. “I ran into Nijana before an Assassin got the jump on me.”
“If I didn’t know any better,” Guy said, narrowing his eyes. “I’d say that they are working together.”
“Why would Nijana work with the PKers?” Rachael asked him.
“Probably the same reason why that Assassin stole Averyl’s robe,” Kam revealed.
The two childhood friends looked at the faun, eyes wide open.
“The Assassin stole it?” Guy asked.
“Aye,” Kam said. “Saw it with me own two eyes. Went to follow, then . . .” Kam rammed his right fist into the palm of his left hand. “. . . bam!”
“Hold on . . .” Tempeste said. She stepped toward Kam, arms crossed, face frowning. “What were those two eyes of yours looking at before the Assassin stole the dress?”
“Uh!” Kam laughed. “Well, er, nothing you need to concern yourself with, lass!”
“Lots of soaking wet tits, I would imagine . . .” Rachael said dejectedly.
“So, anyway!” Kam cut in, attempting to change the subject, no doubt. “So, Nijana, Assassin PKer, and Averyl’s missing Cleric dress.”
“Which way did they go?” Tempeste asked.
“No idea,” Rachael said. “They must have run away after they slept me, killed Guy, then killed Xanthe.”
“Let’s break into small teams and search for them,” Guy suggested.
“Uh.” Rachael pointed at his chest. “Might wanna get changed first?”
“What?” He looked down. Guy was still wearing his boxers. “Oh fuck, right. Give me a sec to run back and grab my stuff.”
“Let us not take too long,” Tempeste said, and pointed her left index finger at the late afternoon skies, “less you want the undead to feast on your brains.”
“Oh, so we are just going to forget about Serzax?” Ulysses said.
Guy paused for a bit before grimacing at the star-elf. Ulysses had made a good point. “If Serzax escaped on that imperial airship,” Guy said. “Then there isn’t anything we can do until we return to the Sirocco. Nijana is on foot, and the primary reason the White Dragon wanted us to come here to start with. Let’s deal with Nijana first, then move onto Serzax and the empire.”
Guy was back in his gear and looking like a trench coat swordsman from outer space. He led his party, comprising of Tempeste, Rachael, Kam, and Ulysses. Xanthe took over the leadership of the second party, being herself, Henrietta, Averyl, Zuran, and Remy. The two gro
ups covered as much ground as they could and searched the surrounding area for Nijana and her druid Assassin. They found many wild and aggressive creatures to battle, but no PKer duo.
Nobody complained about the experience points gained. They all needed it and leveling up was their secondary objective anyway. Speaking of which . . .
Guy checked his experience points.
EXP: 2157/5559
Almost level 20, and I still hadn’t decided what my subclass would be. I better give that some more thought soon.
Ulysses’s communicator beeped midway into their search. The star-elf held his hand out to the group.
“Hold on,” Ulysses said and pulled out the device. “Arn is in communication range again.” Ulysses picked up the call and put the communicator to his face. “What is it, Arn? Good news and bad news, eh? Let’s hear it. Uh. Hmm. You sound happy for a man who’s about to burn up in the atmosphere. Please tell me you didn’t call to brag about the hookers you’ve been fucking. You about done laughing at the fact I’m not getting laid? Okay, so what is it? Airships coming from the north, heading south . . . hmm. Yeah, you’re right. It must be New Svartálfar. Where did the imperial airship go? Okay, I’ll hold . . .”
“That sounds like progress,” Guy said as Ulysses lowered the communicator.
“Arn’s been tracking the imperial airship,” Ulysses said. “He said it disappeared from sensors when it flew into some mist-covered region.”
Guy rubbed his chin. “Thick fog shouldn’t block sensor scans.”
“I agree,” Ulysses said. “But for some reason, it is. And get this, a fleet of New Svartálfar airships left that mist area too. Arn wasn’t able to scan those ships until they had left. He’s going to try again and see what’s going on.”
“. . . Ulysses?” Arn’s muffled voice said through his communicator.
Ulysses put the device to his face again. “Yeah, I’m here. What’s up? Can you scan the mists? Sensor scans get reflected, eh? Yeah, that’s fucking weird, mon ami. It doesn’t make sense at all. Well, yeah, that’s true. Game rules are calling the shots now, not reality.”
Mirror Princess: A LitRPG Space Fantasy (Sword of Asteria Book 2) Page 32
