There wasn’t nearly as much time to think of a plan as Joshua expected. A few minutes of this would burn through his armor and kill him. A little experimentation with Pestilence gave Joshua an opportunity. It was risky, but there was never a better time for risks than free-falling from the atmosphere.
Joshua formed a single platform of Pestilence directly beneath him. Flight wasn’t an option until he was much closer to the ground, and he would be dead by then. At his current speed, the platform couldn’t form fast enough to catch his whole body. His right arm hit the platform, followed by a sickening crunch as he bounced off it.
You have taken 16,000 damage!
Remaining HP: 79,000/95,000
The impact nearly tore off his arm, but it had worked. It had also completely ignored the barrier that his stored mage robes gave him, something that would need to be investigated later. His speed had slowed to a more manageable degree, giving Joshua time to think. At this kind of speed, he would hit the ground in just a few minutes, but it would mean dozens of more impacts like that one. It would work, but it wasn’t ideal. In this situation, not ideal was the best he could hope for.
Joshua repeated this process several more times over the next few minutes. It was impossible to tell exactly how far he fell between each new Pestilence platform, but he made sure to do it before the speed built up and his armor started to melt. Each impact from there dealt significantly less damage than the first, allowing him to heal up. That gave him enough time to heal back the lost health, otherwise the constant impacts would have killed him.
On the bright side, he had a great view. Joshua was in a perfect position to watch the space and air battle in action. Some of the drop pods had survived the fall and reached their destination, he had just been caught in an unlucky one. Even worse, he was so far off course that he would land tens of kilometers away from the original drop site.
He had been lucky to be in one of the first pods to drop. More had tried to follow his group, but by then the Saints had calibrated their weapons. Not a single pod beyond the first few dozen got even close.
To Joshua’s great surprise, he wasn’t the only one falling. At least two other players, both tier 5 as well, were making their way towards the ground. One had a pair of wings and was far ahead of him while the other had a jetpack, making their falls both slower and much safer than his. The war was drawing every high tier player in the game, and Joshua was no exception.
Eventually, Joshua noticed that he was falling slower than before. The situation was still perilous, but he was able to wait noticeable longer between impacts. Even with the slower fall, he had managed to catch up to the guy with wings. When he saw the players status, a crazy and possibly suicidal idea popped into his mind.
Gadiel, Angel of the Saints Who Cleanse
Tier: 5
Level: 2
HP: 100,000/100,000
Gadiel was a member of the Saints Who Cleanse, and that made him an enemy. He hadn’t seen their drop pods, but it was possible that the player just jumped from the ship to see if he could make it all the way down. Joshua wasn’t able to steer himself very well, so he took another risk when the time for his next platform came up. He formed the platform earlier than normal, smashing his entire body against it instead of just an arm or a leg. He took over 10,000 damage, but it meant that he could choose the direction he fell in next by jumping off the platform, and he chose straight towards Gadiel.
Gadiel didn’t even know what was happening until a dark blur flew past several hundred feet away. Joshua had missed his jump by a fair margin, but the twenty swords he had sent in Gadiel’s general direction didn’t. One cut through his wing, sending him tumbling through the sky, while another flew straight through his leg, severing it.
While Gadiel was still trying to right himself, the swords turned around midair and came back at him. The angel never stood a chance as they turned him into a pincushion. Joshua leaned back and grinned as the kill notification came in.
Enemy soldier slain!
Zandrius earns 50,000 (250,000) EXP
Killing the tier 5 enemy players gave much more EXP than killing bounty hunters had. Most of the future kills probably wouldn’t go so easily, but any second thoughts Joshua had about choosing to join the war were dashed.
The ground was rapidly approaching, and Joshua was prepared for it now. He formed another platform to slow himself down one last time, and then activated his flight. Joshua’s entire body jerked back as the flight stopped him from falling. It was still forceful enough to deal damage, but much safer than bludgeoning himself every few minutes.
Keeping the flight active drained several thousand Pestilence per second at this height, so Joshua was only able to use it to stop falling. A few repetitions of this and he finally reached the ground. He had long since lost sight of the original landing point, but he knew roughly what direction it was in, so he would make it their eventually.
The area Joshua landed in was another wasteland, much like the Irradiated Zone he had first entered while leveling. If there was any radiation damage, it was so low compared to his current regeneration that it wasn’t even worth mentioning.
Using Airborne Pandemic and Pestilence Manipulation to increase his speed, Joshua shot across the wasteland at a speed that would make cars jealous. He spotted enemies every now and then, but the strongest he saw was a low-level tier 4. They were so far beneath him that he didn’t even bother to stop at this point.
It didn’t take long to stumble upon a dungeon. Joshua had to force himself not to rush straight into it and try to level up more. The adrenaline from freefalling was messing with his mind, making him want to jump into a fight even though the dungeon was only tier 3. The Demons either hadn’t made it out this far or had not bothered upgrading this dungeon.
As the distance flew by, Joshua started to see and hear signs of combat. Bodies, weapons, and craters littered the ground as he sped along. Hundreds of bodies began to paint the landscape, the color of their equipment marking them as both Demons and Saints. It was impossible to tell what tier the corpses were, but judging by their armor, none of them had been below tier 4.
Explosions rang as Joshua closed the distance towards the original drop site, and the bodies started painting a picture. The Demons had used hundreds, if not thousands, of low-tier soldiers to defend the drop site, while the Saints had sent the same to try and take it. If either side had sent their stronger soldiers, there would have been a lot less of that side’s corpses.
Joshua crested a small hill blocking his sight of the drop zone and bore witness to the final moments of the confrontation. On the Demon’s side were three players, all tier five, but only one stood out.
Azunim the Chronologist
Tier: 5
Level: 2
HP: 72,000/110,000
Azunim was wearing a traditional green mage’s robe and pointed hat, but what stood out was his staff. It was made of golden metal, with an ornate clock sitting at the top in place of a gemstone or crystal. It was clear to anyone looking that he was a mage that controlled time, but wasn’t that supposed to be a Chronomancer?
On the Saint’s side stood five players, all tier 5, along with seven more tier 4 soldiers. Joshua thought he had arrived just in time to help turn the tides, but Azunim’s next actions proved him wrong.
“In January, Everything Froze”
A wave of ice extended from the tip of Azunim’s staff, coating the ground and slamming into the Saints. The soldiers were killed immediately, but the players were able to evade. Just when Joshua was about to jump in, Azunim kept attacking.
“In One Second, The World Split”
Azunim swung his staff horizontally, and a razor-thin wave of force shot out from it. Three players were able to jump above it, but the other two weren’t so lucky. One was bisected immediately, while the other raised a shield he was holding. Joshua saw no visible effect and thought the attack failed, but the player collapsed shortly after. On closer insp
ection, the wave of force had cut him in half, completely ignoring both the shield and his armor. The armor was the only thing keeping his from falling in two separate pieces.
Joshua was starting to get a good idea of what Azunim’s powers were at this point. It seemed like he didn’t control time, but instead had a unique ability for every different unit of time he could think of. The next ability proved it.
“All Crumbles With A Thousand Years”
The last three players seemed to shrivel up as the players rapidly aged, causing their bodies to turn to dust. Azunim collapsed to the ground afterward, causing Joshua to sigh in relief. As strong as he had gotten, taking on five other tier 5 players was beyond him. If Azunim had wielded that kind of power without consequence, it would have damaged his spirit.
Azunim the Chronologist
Tier: 5
Level: 2
HP: 3,000/110,000
Was he using his own HP to fuel the attacks, or was the damage a side-effect? Joshua didn’t know but ran towards the group anyway. Azunim looked like he would be a powerful ally, so making friends with him now would be a good idea. Maybe Pestilence Sacrifice could be used to heal others?
Whatever Joshua’s plan might have been, everything went wrong almost immediately. The group saw him coming and raised their weapons again, thinking he might be an enemy, but lowered them when they saw his armor. No member of the Saints seemed to wear anything but white and gold, certainly not a suit of black armor.
It wasn’t until he was close enough to speak that catastrophe struck. A massive spinning sword, bigger than Joshua’s body, flew straight through the gathered players. It cut off one of the player’s arms instantly before curving midair, taking another one’s legs. With two players crippled in an instant, the sword found its resting place buried deep in the ground.
Buried in the ground directly behind Azunim, who was bisected diagonally by the giant blade. The Chronologist was killed instantly, without even a moment to react. As his staff clinked on the ground, the blade flew out back towards where it had come from. Joshua turned his head to follow the blade, and watched as a large man, standing in the wasteland nearly half a kilometer away from the fighting, snatched it out of the air.
Joshua rushed out to meet the figure, leaving the other stunned players behind. With Azunim dead, there was no one to defend the two wounded players, which left the job to him. It would have only taken a few seconds for Joshua to reach the sword-wielding man, but the conflict came even faster, as the man saw Joshua’s charge and met it.
Just a quick glance told Joshua that the man was on a different level than the others he had seen. He was shirtless and pantless, despite wearing massive bone shoulderguards and an equally intimidating helmet, along with what looked like a metal-thread loincloth. The more that Joshua looked, the more he couldn’t help but think that the man was familiar…
“Mane is that you?”
Mane, the Angelic Berserker
Tier: 5
Level: 1
HP: 150,000/150,000
“Zandrius? Hah, I didn’t think you were coming back after the old priest wasted you!”
Mane, the berserker that had been in the same group as Joshua when they cleared the Irradiated Tower dungeon. Of course he had joined the Saints, Joshua thought. There was a very real chance that most players didn’t even know joining the Demons was an option, given how unusual their recruitment had been. The Saints had even landed right in the middle of town to recruit people. Khymer was probably with them too.
“I hadn’t planned to” Joshua responded, “but the war was so tempting. It's too bad that we ended up on opposite sides.”
“It is?” Mane’s tone took a hostile turn. “I’ve been wanting to try killing you since you triggered the Paradigm Shift. You were practically the same level as us when that dungeon started, but your Blessing put you so far ahead without telling anyone.”
Joshua took a step back. If Mane knew about Blessings, then that probably meant he had one too. Joshua drew his shield just in time to deflect the massive broadsword that came flying at him, the blow sending him flying backward.
“I can tell by how much you leveled back then that you have nothing but Blessings of Growth, but that’s not what I chose! Where you picked Growth, I picked Power!”
Chapter 13
As most players begin to reach tier 5, they will notice that their leveling slows down significantly. Tier 5 serves as Macrocosm’s first soft cap, a point where players are meant to slow down and focus more on skills and equipment than levels. We expect that, given the truly absurd variety of skills, equipment, and other activities available, most players will never advance past tier 8. Those who do will almost always possess Superior or Deific Blessings of Growth to shorten the ever-increasing time between each level. Of course, those who continue to advance without these powerful blessings will find themselves more powerful due to their advanced skills and equipment. – on Paramount Classes, from The Chronicles of the Founder
Joshua regained his footing and charged Mane, hoping to end the fight before the sword had a chance to return. Twenty flying swords formed, encircling and attacking the berserker. Mane, rather than showing worry of planning an escape, grew an ear-splitting grin as his sword quickly spun back to him.
Mane snatched his Buster Sword out of the air, bringing it around in a wide arc that obliterated half of Joshua’s flying swords. The massive blade was covered in a blood-red aura that seemed to devour the swords as it hit them, destroying them entirely and leaving Joshua unable to recover the Pestilence. Seeing the loss, Joshua immediately dispelled the other swords to keep the loss at a minimum.
“That’s a neat trick ya got there with the dancing swords, but they’ve got nothing against my Rage Aura!” Mane was almost shouting, heated up at the chance of getting a real fight.
“They aren’t the only trick I’ve got up my sleeve,” Joshua responded in kind, getting excited, but on the inside he was worried. If Mane’s Rage Aura could destroy his Pestilence, it countered almost every ability he had. Hoping to buy some time to think, Joshua flooded the area with his Virulence Aura.
“Oh, looks like your own aura has gotten pretty powerful, covering everything like that. I still can’t extend mine beyond my body or weapons. I’m afraid that won’t be enough though!”
Mane started spinning, and Joshua recognized the move instantly. The berserker’s whirlwind, a devastating area attack that he had seen Mane use before. Mane tore through the Virulence Aura right in Joshua’s direction, barely giving him any time to think.
Joshua panicked and jumped into the air, creating platforms underneath him as he climbed higher. He couldn’t get too high due to the increasing cost of maintaining the platforms, but he could get high enough to avoid Mane’s swings.
Mane, almost as if he heard Joshua’s thoughts, threw his sword once again. The spinning blade tore through the platform Joshua had been on just moments before, having already jumped away and created a new one.
“Ok, fine, stay up there! I don’t know what that platform is, but I bet it costs energy to keep up. My throws don’t! I can keep this up all day.”
The sword returned to Mane’s hand a moment later before immediately being thrown again. Joshua didn’t have any time to think of a plan as he was forced to jump from platform to platform or risk being torn apart. This continued for just over a minute before he finally reached a simple conclusion.
Joshua could actually keep doing this indefinitely if he needed to. The platforms at this height, around 100 feet in the air, cost just over 5000 Pestilence per minute. He regenerated double that, which meant he was actually regaining his lost Pestilence while dodging. The problem came with what inevitably came later. All of the Demon soldiers were either dead or wounded, and given the number difference, it was more likely that Saint’s reinforcements would arrive first. Looking in the sky, Joshua could already see them coming in, though just as far-distant dots slowly flying down.
He had to end the fight quickly, and that meant taking a risk. Just as Mane grabbed his sword out of the air once more and prepared another throw, Joshua swung his own sword, extending the blade far enough to cut Mane. The berserker was caught unaware by the sudden attack and took a shallow slice across his chest. The wound did little damage and failed to critically strike, as extending the blade such a long distance meant severely weakening it. Ultimately, it just served to make Mane look even more intimidating as he stared at it before turning to glare at Joshua.
As Mane turned, he had expected to see Joshua sitting on his platform, maybe preparing another swing. He didn’t expect to see the Blight Lord flying through the air towards him, shield-first.
“All right then, that’s how you want it?! Fine!”
Mane started spinning, prepping up his whirlwind for when he and Joshua inevitably collided. That time came just a second later, as Mane’s sword struck Joshua’s shield. Under normal circumstances, considering Mane’s raw power, the blow would have sent any equally-leveled player flying.
Instead, Mane heard what sounded like shattering glass, and his sword cut almost halfway through the shield before coming to a stop. Joshua had extended his Adorned robe’s barrier to his shield, negating a large part of Mane’s damage before breaking. Mane stared in terror as the shield began to reform almost instantly, fueled by Joshua’s Pestilence, trapping his sword inside it.
The Omnithaneum Page 12
