Keymaster

by Sergey Zaytsev

  Later! As soon as the creatures froze, enchanted, the Uniq finished them off and the enemies’ heads rolled across the floor. I instantly found myself near the Direcat, but she had already shook off the bola and jumped up on all fours, furious and ready to continue the fight. But there was no one to fight with. When I looked around, the last Imp, having recovered from the knockdown, jumped up and ran for its life. Its blurred figure disappeared in the, now open, exit. I know from past experiences that a fleeing enemy, in most cases, ran to get help.

  “Fury, get it!”

  Picking up a trophy bolo and fastening it to the belt, I rushed after the enemy, hoping to get it before Soulcatcher’s backlash reached me.

  Rushing ahead of me, fast as the wind, Fury plunged into the tunnel first. When I flew in after her, the Imp had been taken care of. Fury caught it some twenty steps from the entrance, knocked it off its hooves and bit its neck with her powerful jaws, crushing the spine and reaching level 6. I approached her and stopped nearby. She was breathing heavily, flanks swelling and fur bristling. Her mouth opened in a grin, and bloodlust slowly subsided from her eyes. What a beauty! But I would rather admire her later, as dull tiredness enveloped my whole body, taking away any desire to move, speak, or think unless needed.

  Of course, the den wasn’t about to let us rest — the Imp had managed to do his dirty work and the soil under the soles of my boots began to tremble familiarly. The guard smelled us. Normally, one should run into the hall and deal with the enemy there as it was more spacious, but I had no strength left in me for another race. When the Demon appeared in the twilight of the tunnel, I gave the command:

  “Burst Attack!”

  Dodging to the side, Fury pushed off the wall with all fours, and charged at the Demon from the side. She was two times smaller than the enemy, but her mass and strength were enough to knock down even such a powerful creature. However, the Demon’s neck was much thicker than that of an Imp. Fury’s fangs ripped the skin and sank deep into the muscles, without slowing it down at all. Foul blood gushed out of the wound, the Demon jerked upward, throwing off the Direcat as if it were an annoying bug, and turned around, clearly intending to bite the brazen cat’s head off...

  I stepped forth with the intention to get closer. I moved like a robot with neither fear nor rage in my step, but with a single desire burning in my soul — to remove the obstacle standing between me and freedom. Half-crouching, I sharply straightened myself up and, with all the remaining strength, thrust the blade straight into the wide open, monstrous mouth. Piercing the palate, the blade reached the brain. Hitting a vulnerable spot activated Assassin’s Gambit, and the Demon collapsed onto the floor. The heavy carcass pulled the blade stuck in its bones and muscles, and I had to let go of it to stay on my feet. However, I still lost my balance and landed on my ass.

  Fury fell on the floor beside me; flames of rage died out and were replaced with exhaustion.

  Congratulations!

  You have reached level 13!

  Current XP: 470/66,430

  You are exhausted. You require rest and food.

  Synergy effect has been interrupted. Energy required...

  I know, damn it! The pets had 40 out of 100 stamina, and mine was even worse. I couldn’t see myself, but I was sure that I looked like a corpse. We sat there, breathing heavily and looking at each other, regaining strength, but not feeling the slightest influx of it as there was nowhere to get any. After using Enchantress, Tinnie was as exhausted as we were. She landed on my left shoulder. Spiritual Link, which she had to constantly maintain, took a lot out of her.

  Chapter 26

  Feeling sluggish, I fumbled through the backpack, took out an esc and gave it to Tinnie. The XP from the Crystal was just enough for her to reach level 9. Ignoring the flash of light that followed a level-up, I realized that the backlash from Soulcatcher had less of an impact this time. As there was no severe physical damage, there was no exhausting regeneration either. Another note for the future. How many of these notes have I already taken in this endless solo-dungeon?

  We were all sick and tired of it, but damn it, there was no time to rest just yet.

  I needed to feed Fury and return to the hall to pick up the loot from the chest and the corpses. I stifled a sigh. Sheer force of will helped me get up, pull out the Bone Slayer and thrust it into the Demon’s carcass. A ringing “ting!” followed. The handle remained in my hands; the worn out blade broke at the base. I looked at it in confusion, and then I threw it away. To hell with it all.

  “Fury, it’s all yours. Screw the skin, tear it up if you want. Tinnie, follow me, we’ll talk about your behavior later...”

  Ignoring the embarrassed squeak behind my back, I walked to the hall, but had to stop at the entrance. But I was too late. The entrance to the hall was being overgrown right before our eyes; the chest had already disappeared in the growth of black and red shoots. The walls and floor stirred, enveloping the Imps’ corpses. I had only five escs left. No emotions. No curses. I was too tired. I just turned around and went back to the...

  A new hall had appeared.

  I had no clue how long it took us to break through. At some point, I realized that I was no longer aware of the passing of time and was just trying to survive.

  And there it was, the final battleground.

  I observed it without leaving the tunnel, paying extra attention to the thing that stood where a chest usually would have been. I think I expected to see something resembling a real heart, only gigantic, red and pumping blood. But instead of that was a giant egg, about seven feet tall, with a translucent shell and the same translucent content. Inside the egg was a huge “yolk” that looked like a miniature scarlet sun, wrapped in a dense network of small blood vessels that shone and vibrated. This “yolk” would regularly flare up, dispersing the darkness for a second or two, and then vanish almost completely.

  It was my ticket out of this damned place.

  Heart of the Den

  Level 20

  HP 666

  It was extremely important not to hurry and fully use every given moment of respite. I needed to think, weigh my options and take another look at my matured pets’ abilities. This den wasn’t intended to be soloed, but to be done with the help of a party. The fact that I was still alive and so close to its Heart was nothing more than coincidence and dumb luck. It was better not to think about it, as not to undermine my faith in the already slim chances.

  Tossing my bag and Flame to the side, I sat on the ground and lay on my back. To a passerby that would’ve looked pretty brazen, but I wasn’t afraid of a premature attack. The hall was empty and the guards would appear only after I had entered their territory. I was so tired that any flat surface on which I could stretch and relax was as good as a comfy bed. I wanted to close my eyes and float away into the realm of sleep for a year or so...

  Alas, I couldn’t afford sleep yet. Where was I? Oh, right...

  Tinnie’s XP was steadily reaching level 10. If I used her accumulated skill points right now to get Spiritual Link’s rank 3 that would surely boost the energy exchange between the three of us... However, something told me that there was no need to hurry. At this stage, any gain would increase the cost of it, and we couldn’t afford that right now.

  Fury had already caught up with Tinnie and had learned Metamorph a long time ago. I picked it without much hesitation, as she would gain 150% defense and damage during the transformation at rank 3, but...

  Fool me twice…

  As the skill cost 75% of all available reserves, I couldn’t experiment recklessly, especially considering our general state of chronic exhaustion. So we managed without it. At level 15, Head-Eyes became more dangerous and strove to entangle our legs with roots shooting from the dirt floor within their AoE zone. Luckily, they were still pretty slow. Demons attacked three more times, but didn’t even get a chance to cause us any real harm; our team had worked out its elimination tactic to perfection. I felt like a doll, an automaton
fit for murder and nothing else. The burrow behind us kept growing, not allowing us to linger in one place for more than two or three minutes. Fury had to tear pieces of meat of the fallen enemies and eat on the move. It was easy for such a beast to tear off a chunk of thigh with one move of its powerful jaws. Still, as she didn’t have time to eat properly and fill her Hunger bar completely, she now looked almost like a skeleton. Her skin was full of holes. She had taken all of the damage but didn’t manage to heal properly. I, too, had to forget about fixing or replacing my banged-up upgrades.

  Funnily enough, I myself totally missed the moment when I reached level 14. The flash that follows a level up went unnoticed in one of the many grueling fights. I deliberately hadn’t invested the accumulated ninety stat points. The reason was simple and had nothing to do with saving. The moment when it could have still been done painlessly had long passed. Additional body restructuring would require new energy expenses, and I was already at my limit. I’ll figure it out once we survive this mess. The five skill points could also wait. I was thinking slowly and didn’t want to screw up something. Also, my theory about ranks was confirmed. Two-handed Weapons had reached rank 3 and, as with Soulcatcher, the system offered a similar reward.

  Speaking of weapons...

  I stirred and took my sword and backpack. Flame had completely stopped shining. I needed to replace the Crystal. Thanks to the Demons, I had some in stock. I inserted a new Crystal. Fumbling through backpack, I noticed that I had managed to drop the pipe. Grinning, I picked up and examining it as if I was seeing it for the first time.

  Silent Girlfriend

  Artifact, magic pipe

  Unique item

  Built-in Ability: Divine Patronage (inactive)

  The item is soulbound to [Wisecracker].

  I never tried it out.

  Another missed opportunity, missed initially deliberately, and now... It was too late for experiments with the patron. I had no room for error. If it required any sort of ritual or anything that would make me vulnerable instead of helping me, then I was fucked. I should have sorted things out with Alan the Dark earlier. Why didn’t I? What was I so afraid of that I kept avoiding having any contact with this deity?

  Back in the sandbox, I managed to find out that before reaching level 50 I had no right to change my patron and that I would just have to learn to get along with the one that I had. Alan the Dark chose Pops to be his neophyte for his predisposition to calculated cruelty. He made me a neophyte for the sake of revenge in order to compensate for the loss of his previous adherent. At least that was what Ears had told me. But I hadn’t changed. Ears said that interacting with a patron depended on whether the player had a backbone or not. So what prevented me from doing it in time? Stubbornness? Fear? Or something else?

  People say that a person’s soul is a dark place, but sometimes it’s impossible to understand your very own soul. If I were a smart man, I would have, as Alan’s follower, used his help. But I was a stubborn and prideful man, and I didn’t want the help of someone that that asshole Pops used to serve. Circumstances had changed a long time ago and it was time for me to get my head out of the sand. Any sort of advantage would help me in this location. Maybe I was acting like this out of vain pride thinking that I can do this on my own, without some patron’s help? But this reality hadn’t been invented by me, and it was not for me to change its laws. All one could do was to try to use those laws to their advantage, and not ignore any opportunity for survival that presented itself. Any opportunity. Even a dark one.

  My enemy also reasoned this way — the end justifies the means. This way of thinking led him to his doom, both literally and figuratively. On the other hand, what the hell were even dark and light? Those are just labels. What becomes of yourself and your soul depends solely on you and your actions, not on the color of your patron’s aura!

  And then my eyes fell on the hand in which the pipe lay.

  The silvery web, the Sign of Alan the Dark...

  ...was gone.

  Neophyte of the void. Ridiculous. I finally understood it. He was either so fed up with my stubbornness that he left me to my own devices, or... I froze in amazement. Hell! It just occurred to me that Alan the Dark couldn’t have followed me to Lunar Rainbow. After all, according to the legend of Phoenix Shriek, the local and foreign deities fought so hard, that they knocked each other out of this world. Were there taboos about divine patrons then? Once in a while the most ridiculous and unusual of thoughts would swim up to the surface from the deepest depths of one’s mind. Sometimes, too, the most obvious of things would become hard to see. Did Alan the Dark ever manage to gain access to this world? It is possible that he didn’t. So much doubt and mental agony, and for what?

  The pipe remained useless.

  However…

  I filled it with tobacco from the pouch and lit it with the lighter. Doing this wasn’t easy for someone without a smoking habit; the process required skill and experience, but it was still doable. The fragrant smoke almost immediately presented its beneficial effects. Muscle tension began to subside, my consciousness cleared, and my soul felt at ease and became filled with calming emptiness. Back in the sandbox, Ears, may he live a long player’s life with endless saves, provided me with excellent tobacco. Maybe it was for the better that the pipe was now more fit for daily use?

  The silence began to feel suspicious. Two minutes had passed without anyone trying to kick my ass. I looked around and shuddered. Just a step behind me, the tunnel was blocked by a dense wall of weakly stirring shoots that have crept up unnoticed and halted. Had the smoke scared them off?

  I then heard a languid, sensual sigh which made me abruptly turn my head. Fury cautiously raised her head, searching for new danger with a fierce glare. The fragrant smell of smoke not only stopped the shoots, but it also made the guard appear earlier than I had planned.

  From behind the Heart she came out.

  The woman of my dreams.

  Chapter 27

  A waterfall of dark, silky hair framed the inexpressibly beautiful face, falling in luxurious waves over her fragile shoulders and voluptuous breasts, not so much hiding as revealing everything attractive to a shameless stare. Hair reached the aspen waist and silky waves flowed further down and past her thighs, down the slender legs to the toes of her small feet. She was so adorable that it caught me breathless. A blast of adrenaline struck my nerves; waves of heat and cold splashed over my body... Stepping forth gracefully, she slowly moved in my direction. I began to rise, stepping towards her, as if in a dream, and...

  The insidious charm of the moment was destroyed by vigilant Tinnie.

  With a furious squeak, taking off from my shoulder, she hit me in the eye with her heel with all the strength she had — a technique she had perfected on the Head-Eyes. Crying out in pain, I recoiled. When I looked again in front of myself, intending to yell at Tinnie, I suddenly realized that my obsession with the fair maiden had vanished. Completely. Instead of the unearthly beautiful creature appeared something much different and not so beautiful. It was still a completely naked woman, and even though her hair remained the black and silky and figure perfect, her skin was now covered with crimson-red scales. Twisted, blue-black horns grew sprouted out of her skull and her feet turned into hooves; wrapped around the goat-like legs was a long tail.

  Keeper of the Heart, Succubus

  Level 20

  HP: 6,666

  Creature of Chaos

  She beckoned me forth with a finger adorned with a sharp, black claw. She then smiled at me, parting her full, beautifully contoured lips, revealing a row of small, sharp fangs. For some reason, this unpretentious pantomime made me shiver internally. Thanks to Tinnie’s timely intervention, the Succubus’s attempt to bewitch me didn’t succeed. Her appearance no longer inspired unrestrained desire, but unconscious horror, which made the muscles convulse with shudders.

  A wave of air hit my back; the shoots had begun to move. Picking up my bag and sword, I stepped
into the hall, not waiting to be forcibly rushed in. Fury followed me with a soft leap. The Succubus smiled promisingly again. I unwittingly smiled back, feverishly remembering everything I knew about those creatures of dark and chaos.

  She was in no hurry to attack and didn’t even demonstrate aggression. She stood beside her beloved Heart, swaying her hips “seductively”, and waiting for something. The Heart flashed, erasing the outlines of her body with a bright light, and then faded. Twilight embraced the Keeper’s figure; the reddish light in her narrow eyes flared up and faded in unison with the beating of the Heart. Her uncertainty was betrayed only by the tip of her tail, which nervously patted the hooves. Unless, of course, I had incorrectly interpreted the gesture. Different race, different body language; I could’ve been wrong. Why is she hesitating? Why would she be afraid of me? Maybe she’s confused by Fury and Tinnie? Are they unusual opponents for her? Maybe it’s unusual for her to see only one player going against the final boss?

  Something cracked between my teeth. The pipe! Lost in thought, I had bitten it so hard that I was about to break it in half. Without taking my eyes off the Keeper, I took the pipe out of my mouth. I couldn’t put it in my backpack; I needed to knock tobacco out first so that I don’t end up burning everything in it...

  The Keeper’s gaze moved from my face to Silent Girlfriend, as if hypnotized. Why is she attracted to it?

  Let’s check it out.

  Trying not to make any rash movements, I put the pipe and the backpack down. They would only hinder me during the fight. Her gaze moved lower. Instead of guessing about why she liked the pipe, I wanted to focus on the Keeper herself while I still had the chance.

  Succubi were demons of sleep; supernatural beings from beyond the Edge, from the inhuman world, which skillfully used their victim’s unconscious state to control their will, impose unusual desires, and enslave their soul. Not so much warriors, as treacherous temptresses, they gained people’s trust, playing the friendship and intimate attraction card. What was she capable of? Tempting me hadn’t succeeded. Tinnie, not sensitive to mind-affecting magic, protected me from it. The first round was mine. However, that meant nothing. Trying to seduce for this creature was the same as breathing for me. What else? I vaguely remembered something about darkness which the Keeper could use, blinding the enemy. One should also be wary of a kiss, otherwise something bad might happen. Imagining that toothy getting close to your lips... Brrrr! No, better to stay a virgin than to know such dubious “happiness”. As she was the “final boss” there was a possibility that she could call her Demon minions to help her during the battle.